Beat The Devil

The devil isn’t creative, but he is consistent, and that’s exactly why so many of us keep getting hit in the same places. We start with the blunt question: can you beat the devil? Then we go straight to Matthew 4 and watch how Jesus responds to temptation in the wilderness, not with a new trick every time, but with a repeatable pattern that works when you’re tired, hungry, isolated, and stressed.

We break down three practical tactics Jesus uses to win spiritual warfare: knowledge, wisdom, and choice. Knowledge sounds basic, but it’s where most of us leak power, because our first defense is “It is written.” We talk about why Bible reading and Bible listening matter, how what you store in your heart eventually comes out of your mouth, and why “I didn’t know” is a dangerous way to live when you have access to Scripture, teaching, and community.

Then we push deeper into wisdom: applying Scripture correctly when the enemy twists it. Proof texting, selective Bible quotes, and feel-good teaching can make almost anything sound spiritual. We show how Scripture interprets Scripture, why God doesn’t contradict Himself, and how to test what you hear in a world full of noise. Finally, we land on the missing piece: choice. Not more talk, not more excuses, but making war, building barriers around your weak spots, and advancing with the armor of God and the Word as your weapon.

If this challenges you, don’t keep it to yourself. Subscribe, share it with a friend who’s in a fight, and leave a review with the one area you’re ready to make war against.

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Transcript

Recap And The Real Enemy

Josh 0:02

Alright. So as we start our message this morning, our challenge last week was this identify an area in your life that you are weakest in. And that's gonna come back into play today because we're gonna look at the flip side of what we did last week. So last week we looked at the devil really only has three plays to attack us with, right? We have the desire of the flesh, desire of the eyes, and pride of life. Those are the only three ways we have ever seen the devil attack. And that's what we spent most of our time looking at last week. This week, though, we're gonna look at the flip side of that and we're gonna see how Jesus is victorious in uh defeating the devil and how we can be too as we continue to look at our big idea, which is the same this week as it was last week. Can you beat the devil? See, and and I heard it back here, and that's where most of us live, right? No, he's this big powerful being, but hopefully by the time we get through this, not only are you leaving here today going, yep, I can beat the devil, but you're also leaving with the tools to know how to beat the devil. And if you're sitting here today going, hey, the devil doesn't exist, then I have failed you as a pastor. Because we have an enemy, and we have an enemy that the Bible says is like a roaring lion seeking only to kill, steal, and destroy. And he does that. So I'm gonna pray and then we're gonna jump into that. Father, I thank you so much for your word, and it is because of your word, Father, that we even stand a chance in this life. Father, I pray as we go through your word today that that God, it just be your word. That it's not my thought, it's not my opinion. God, it is your power and spirit that change us from the inside out. Father, I pray we we are open to hearing your word today. And I pray, Father, that your word just completely wrecks our hearts before we leave. Father, we pray all of this in Jesus' name. Amen. All right, Matthew 4, starting in verse 3, it says this. And the tempter, and the tempter came and said to him, If you are the Son of God, command these stones to become loaves of bread. But he, that's Jesus, answered, It is written, Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God. Then the devil took him to the holy city and set him on the pinnacle of the temple, and said to him, If you are the Son of God, throw yourself down, for it is written, now that's the devil saying, For it is written, he will command his angels concerning you, and on their hands they will bear you up, lest you strike your foot against a stone. Jesus said to him, Again it is written, You shall not put the Lord your God to the test. Again the devil took him to a very high mountain and showed him all the kingdoms of the world and their glory, and he said to them, All these I will give to you if you will fall down and worship me. Then Jesus said to him, Be gone, Satan, for it is written, You shall worship the Lord your God, and him only shall you serve. Then the devil left him, and behold, angels came and were ministering to him. All right, just like last week, I'm not trying to sit here and go through each individual like scenario that Jesus faced. And here's why. All of the scenarios Jesus faced fall into one of those three categories, right? Desire of the eyes, desire of the flesh, pride of life. We looked at that in depth last week. If you weren't here, you didn't hear it, you can go back and listen to it. But it's not the specific. And this is what we like to do. We like to sit here and go, okay, but specifically, how would I deal with this? And I'm sitting here going, what we need to really do is not look at the specific, because the specifics are going to be different every time, but look at the whole. Because if we start and we we take a step back and we go, okay, these are the only three tactics that the devil has, then we can do and act as Jesus did and as Jesus overcame and have victory, even when we are isolated, hungry, and in the wilderness. Because Jesus really uses three tactics to defeat the three tactics that the devil threw at him. I'll even give you the ending. You ready? Here's the three tactics knowledge, wisdom, and choice. Those are the three things that we as Christians really need to dig into because those are the three ways we fight back against the devil. See, if we notice, Jesus had the same response to the devil in every single situation. It did not matter what the specific attack was, Jesus' initial defense is the same. It starts like this it is written. See, knowledge is the first thing we have to understand. Knowledge is where we have to start because this is our first defense. So let's start our defense by asking ourselves this question: do you how well do you know what is written? Think about that. Because if our first defense is knowledge, shouldn't you be able to start with, it is written? And most of us, if we're honest, probably don't spend as much time in the Bible as we probably should. I'm not saying all of you. Some of you are very well at just on a random Tuesday texting me out of the blue, going, I was reading this random verse. Hey, can we talk about this? And I'm all for that because this is our first defense. Because how are you going to defend something if you have no idea what you're talking about to defend with anyway? See, Jesus starts with, it is written. In Psalm 119, 11, the psalmist says this, you ready? I have stored up your word in my heart, that I might not sin against you. Why did the psalmist store up God's word? So that he may not sin, so that he may not be defeated by the devil. How many of us is that our first response? Or how many of us are like, hey, we have God's very word? Think about this. Like, you guys remember, some of us in here might, right? Who Johann Gutenberg is? Anyone? Never mind. He invented a very powerful thing. The printing press. See, before this, it was very hard to go, it is written, because unless you were like super rich, you weren't taught how to read anyway. And I get it. If we were to like take an ELA test in this room, we're gonna be kind of all over the place, right? Like I'll tell you right now, I'm a slow reader, very slow reader. Kayla will outread me any day of the week, as far as numbers of pages go. However, I still know how to read, and therefore, I should spend time reading. Because unlike prior to our buddy Johan, we all in here have access to what? The Bible. Like every single one of us in here. In fact, on my phone, I have access, on my iPad, on my computer, I have access to every translation of the Bible ever written. And you know who else does? Every single one of you in here. And it's not even a paid app. This is completely free. And if you if you are someone in here who's like, well, you don't you don't get it, I struggle to read. First of all, yeah, I do, because it is a struggle for me. Hooked on phonics did not work for me. Okay? Number two, guess what you don't have to do anymore? Read. Because on your app, there's a little button that has a little sideways triangle, and all you gotta do is hit play, and it will read it to you. But see, we don't put stock in how important it is to know what the word of God says. The reason the psalmist is sitting here going, I have stored up your word in my heart, is because out of the abundance of the heart, the mouth speaks. What you put in will eventually come back out. And I hated that I said that even in front of my mom, but since it's Mother's Day, I'll give her the wisdom and credit on this one, because that's what I heard my whole life. And when I stop and I think back to the music I used to listen to, I can see why four-letter words came out so fluently. Because that's what I was putting in. So how, if you're not putting Jesus in, how is Jesus going to come out? If you're not storing up God's word in your heart, how are you going to use it when it's time to defend against the devil? In fact, later on in that same psalm, in verse 105, the psalmist said this, Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light unto my path. What's guiding your life? We got in a really good discussion during the Bible this past week in class, in which we were talking about the hard thing with morality. In other words, the hard reason we have with going what's right and wrong is what do we base morality on? For the most part, here's what we base it on, right? This is what I was taught growing up. This is why, and we'll see it when we get to Matthew chapter 5. Jesus says this a lot. It you have heard it said, but truly I say to you. In other words, some of us weren't taught the right things. Some of us weren't taught the things that the Bible teaches. That's why Jesus spends time correcting that. But see, when we look at morality, what are you basing your life on? Like what is your standard? Is your standard what seems right? Because the Bible would say that too, right? There is a way that seems right unto a man, but that way leads to what? Death. Destruction, depending on what version you're reading. And here's the thing: can we stop and go, it is written? Or are we choosing to just be ignorant about what is written? Because I'll tell you right now, I hated this excuse. I hated, and I know I just sounded like Kayla and JT, but I hated when I was a cop. You would pull someone over doing like 60 and a 25, right? And you'd walk up to the window. What do you think the first thing when you go, hey, the reason I'm pulling you over today is you were doing 60 and a 25?

unknown 11:01

I didn't know.

Defense Two Use Scripture With Wisdom

Josh 11:03

Oh, who said that? Apparently, like this is a big thing, right? Oh, I didn't know. I didn't know the speed limit was 60. Or uh, I didn't know the speed limit was 25. And and then you they would usually follow it up with something like, I thought it was 50. And it's like, okay, cool, let's go with your wrong information, but you realize it was 60 still, so you're still speeding. Like if you're gonna like play ignorant, at least go, I thought the speed limit was 65. I thought I was going five under. But number number one is that. Number two would be ignorance is not a criminal defense. In other words, if you were to get arrested for something and then stand before a judge and go, hey, I didn't know, guess what? They still, still go, you should have, you chose to drive. You chose to go, hey, I have a driver's license, I can legally do this, which means you are assuming that you know. It's the same thing when it comes to fishing. Like, I love watching, it's called a rest cam. Actually, and I hate watching it because it makes me so angry. But they'll go out and like, you know, just the other day they released one, it was this these guys, they had like nine like snook that were illegal, and they caught them in a gill net. And their defense is, well, I didn't know we couldn't use gill nets. When you chose to do that activity, you went, I will take all the responsibility that I'm supposed to know what is right and what is wrong. When you sit here and go, I am a Christian, what you are doing is taking on the responsibility of going, I know what is right and what is wrong. Because when you eventually stand in front of Jesus in 2 Corinthians 5, 10, and it tells us that we will be judged according to that which we have done, you can't sit there and go, Well, I didn't know. I thought that that was okay. I was told, because Jesus is gonna go, no, no, no, no, but I gave you my word. I told you. And you called yourself this. So now you can't sit here and plead ignorance. Think about it. It is written that already exists in this argument. Because in Romans 1.20, Paul would say this that his invisible attributes, namely his internal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived ever since the creation of the world in things that have been made. So that what? It's there without excuse. Here's the thing that's saying what? Ignorance isn't a criminal defense. You can't sit here and go there is no God because you have creation. So if you have creation, you must have a creator. You have no excuse. And again, in Jeremiah 31, 33, it says this for this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, declares the Lord. I will what? Put my law with them, and I will write it on their hearts, and I will be their God, and they shall be my people. See, the first problem we have with ignorance defense is the Bible shows us that's not. The Bible is sitting here showing that we have creation and therefore must have a creator, and that God's law has been put on our hearts and minds. Here's the thing, think about this. In almost every culture around the world, regardless of the religion, regardless of the way they were raised, regardless of that, almost every culture says murder is wrong. Now I want to say this with this caveat. Here's what murder is the unlawful, intentional killing of a person. Because the first thing I had when I read that stat this week was there's some religions that actually glorify the killing of. And yep, that's true. But in their mind it isn't unlawful either. Because if you go into their culture, it can still be unlawful. So why does almost every culture in the world sit here and go, murder is wrong? Because God placed his law on your heart. Think about it. Do you guys really need me to stand up here and tell you this you do is wrong and this you do is wrong, and this you do is wrong? Why not? Because you already know it. Think about it. Why did you learn to lie in your life? Because you didn't want to get in trouble, because you knew what you were doing was wrong. And so you learned how to do even more wrong to cover up the wrong that we do. So we can't stand before Jesus on that day and go, I didn't know. And the next question is, well, how should we know? Well, for starters, we have the Bible. If you don't have a Bible in here and you're like, I don't believe in technology and all that, let me know before you leave. I have 40 of them sitting over in my office. I will glad you give, I will gladly give you one. Because you can sit down and you can read the very words of God, and you can know for yourself what the Bible actually says. And if you're someone in here who's like, hey, I struggle with reading, I don't want the app to read to me, cool. Let me know a day and a time that works for you, and we will make a day every week where we can just sit down and read the Bible together. Like we can do that. We can do it over the phone, we can come do it face to face. Because you need to know what the Bible actually says. And you're gonna see why that is so important in just a second. Another way you can do this is this is why we have so many resources. Every day at 6 a.m., Field Notes, which is just gonna be a breakdown of this message, goes up on podcast. All you have to do is look up field notes and go, oh, let me subscribe to that. And every day at 6 a.m., you're gonna get a daily devotion that says exactly what we're talking about today. Every Sunday, we gather together, and we do what? We work through a book of the Bible. Like we're we're I don't just jump all over the place giving you topical sermons that I think you need to hear. I went, no, we're gonna start in Matthew 1, we'll go through Matthew 28. Anybody want to take a guess on what we're gonna do after we get through Matthew 28? We're just gonna pick another book and we're gonna go, okay, we're gonna start in chapter one, and we're just gonna go through the end of the book. Because we we believe in preaching the whole counsel of God. You can spend time at missionscent.org. There's videos, there's QA's, like, there's podcasts, like we try to give you every single resource you can so that you are without excuse. And if you have questions, this slide comes up all the time. Text them. Go, hey, you were preaching this. Can you talk more about that? So, when the devil comes to tempt you, what is the first thing you should be able to say? It is written. But just like you heard at the end of every episode of G.I. Joe, knowing is only half the battle. That's great, you got the information. But that's only half of the battle. See, most people know tomatoes are fruits. And most people also know that you don't put a tomato in a fruit salad. Unless you're Kayla, who has some sick obsession with tomatoes. But see, the second thing we have to understand on how Jesus overcomes the devil is he has the wisdom to properly apply scripture. This is something like we we have to be very careful with. Because I will tell you right now, there's a lot of people in this world that are really good about taking scripture and twisting it to mean what they want it to mean. And guys, it's not as hard as you think it is. Like, think about it. Jesus in Matthew says this anything you ask of me in my name, I will give to you. Does he mean anything? He does. That's why he used the word anything. So then why have I asked Jesus for stuff and he didn't give it to me? Does that mean his words are wrong? Because I'll tell you, I've asked Jesus for a lot. In fact, the famous theologian Garth Brooks would say that some of God's greatest gifts are unanswered prayers. Because if I'd have got everything I'd have wished for, my life would probably not look the way it does. But see, that's wisdom. Wisdom is taking the things that I know and actually rightfully applying them. See, when the devil took Jesus to the pinnacle of the temple, the devil used Psalm 91.11. The devil used this verse to tempt Jesus. Like the devil went, cool, you you you can go, it is written. Guess who else knows what is written? Your enemy, the devil. In James, it would say it like this: that even the demons believe. Demons know who Jesus is. Look at every single interaction Jesus has with the demon. They know he is son of the Most High. They even go, are you here to destroy us before the appointed time? Like they know that there's a time that they'll be destroyed. So for the devil now to go, hold up, hold up, okay, cool. Like you're using the Bible as your defense, but isn't it written? He takes them up to the peak of the temple. Most people argue that this is about a 450-foot drop. And if Jesus would have just gone, you're right, it's in there. God said, if I just throw myself off, the angels will come down and catch me. This would be about as stupid as you at the Grand Canyon looking at this massive drop, going, I can do all things through Christ who gives me strength. I'm gonna evil con evil this with no rocket, no motorcycle. I'm just gonna run and jump. Because the Bible says that if I have faith the size of a mustard seed, well, I believe that Jesus can grab the other side of this canyon. And go ahead and pull it back when I can't jump far enough. And you guys see how easy it is to take scripture and make it mean whatever I want it to mean? And there's pastors that do this for a living, just so everybody in here is on the same page. And they can make you feel all sorts of kind of things. And they can make you feel like, oh, yep, God's only about your prosperity. Let me ask you, do you really think that the God of the universe is spinning everything in his hand so that you can be rich here in the world? That's going to be destroyed? Like, think about that. But yet Jesus has wisdom because when the devil comes to him and goes, hey, here's what the Bible says, he goes, This ain't a new tactic either. Because in Genesis 3:1, we see the devil is talking with Eve. And what's the devil do? Did God actually say that if you ate the fruit you would die? Like, is that what God really said? And Eve actually has a pretty good defense. She's like, no, God told us we could eat of the fruit. We just can't eat of that fruit. She has knowledge. She knew that they weren't supposed to eat from that tree. She knew that's what God actually said. But this is what the devil does is he twists the word of God. He twists it so that we can make it think that, oh, this means something else. And see, and we can have knowledge. You could have Genesis to Revelation memorized. A lot of atheists do. In fact, when I was in seminary, I was shocked at the amount of people I was in school with that just blatantly went, hey, I don't believe in any of this. I just want to be able to argue against the Christians. So if I learn what you know, then I'll know all your arguments and know thy enemy is one of the rules of the art of war, and then I can actually just defeat you at this. The devil knows what the Bible says. But wisdom is knowing how to use that knowledge. See, if Jesus would have gone, you're right, yep, the Bible said that and threw himself off, probably be talking about a different thing right now, wouldn't we? Like, kind of wouldn't have been the Messiah at that point, right? However, what we see is Jesus again uses scripture to define scripture. So one of the things that like I get accused of from time to time is that I use too much scripture and that it's a fire hose of information, and I don't give enough time for that to really marinate and what's going on. But here's why I use the amount of scripture I do. I never want to proof text what the Bible says. Because God isn't going to contradict himself in his word. In other words, he's not going to tell me something different in Leviticus as he's going to tell me in Romans. Those two things are going to go together. In fact, just the other day, I was having a conversation with someone, and that was what we were talking about. He was like, well, you know, God changed from the Old Testament to the New Testament. Well, Hebrews would tell us that Jesus is the same yesterday, today, and forever. So how did he change? And they were trying to explain like the sacrificial system of Leviticus and how now we don't do that. Like we're not gathering together on the Day of Atonement and sacrificing. In fact, if we were to butcher an animal, it's probably to put it on a smoker, right? Now, that being said, did that change? No, but Jesus Himself already told us that. I did not come to abolish the law, I came to fulfill it. So because the law has been fulfilled, because sin has been paid, because all of this has happened, because I walked out of the grave, we no longer have to do this. Bless you. See, and what proof texting is, is I found this one verse and it says this, so I'm gonna use that out of context of everything else scripture is saying. Because I want this one verse to mean something different. I'm gonna tell you guys, sometimes I read the Bible and I want it to mean something different. Like there are some times where I'm like, okay, all right, Jesus, I hear what you're saying here, but can you just put an asterisk at the end of that sentence and go, that applies to everyone else but Josh? Like, can't my anger just be enough to cause righteous change? Because it's real easy for me to get angry. And yet it doesn't. Another example would be this. Mormons. Listen very carefully. Mormons would say that you believe the same thing they do. They would agree that Jesus is the Son of God. They would agree that Jesus went to the cross, that he was murdered, that he was buried, that he rose again. They would sit here and go, hey, we believe the same things. They also believe that polygamy is given from the Bible. Well, where do they get that from? Well, Jacob, the father of the Israelites, how many wives did he have?

unknown 27:41

Two.

Josh 27:41

Two. We have polygamy. Not only did Jacob have multiple wives, but so did David. Solomon. Solomon had 700 wives and 300 concubines. And some of you guys in here are like, oh, dude, that'd be great. Would it? Because you struggle with one wife. Imagine that time, 700. Good God, that would be terrible. You know who else did? Lamech. So what they do is they use these things and they go, but the Bible shows us this. But the problem is, is Genesis 2.24 shows us, therefore, a man shall leave his mother and father and hold fast to his wife, and they shall become one flesh. So how many wives should we have? One. Now, just because someone else sinned, does that now give me the excuse to go, he did it? I mean, think about it. Your kid gets in trouble. What's the first thing out of their mouth? Well, so-and-so, everyone was doing it, right? This is what, well, if everyone was jumping off a bridge, probably because I don't want to die alone. Like, what do I want to be the last person in the world for? So if everybody else is doing it, might as well, right? He would say that too. But see, this is an example of proof testing. It's when we take the Bible and we just want to use certain parts. Thomas Jefferson was famous for this. Thomas Jefferson literally took a pair of scissors and cut out parts of the Bible that he didn't agree with. And I tell you this all the time. The Bible was given to us so that we can bend to it, so that we look more like Jesus by doing the things Jesus did. The Bible was not given to us so that the Bible would bend to the things I want it to bend to. Because, see, when God gave Adam, Eve, he didn't give them a harem. He didn't go, hey, I knew it wasn't good for you to be alone. Here's 50 women. Just have fun. Go forth and multiply. God went, no, here is your one wife. Best of luck to you. Happy Mother's Day. Right? And that honestly brings up a whole nother point. Just the amount of sheer information that exists today in the world. Tim and I were talking about this before service. So if you don't show up a little early, I want you to understand you miss a lot of good conversation. But one of the things we were talking about is how truth nowadays, how hard it is to actually sit here and go, this is true. We were talking about the moon landing, and I get it. There's wild different views on the moon landing, and I'm not gonna give you mine right now. But one of the things that we were talking about was for every argument he could bring up for his side, I could bring up an argument for my side. And if you really pay attention, isn't that the same with any topic? Like now we're getting all these videos about UFOs, right? Oh, do extraterrestrials exist? Maybe. I mean we got videos of this little tic-tac, right? I go, did 9-11 really happen? Maybe. And really, if you guys want to have fun, I can just give my microphone over to JT right now and we can really get into some deep things. But see, there's so much information out there that it's easy for the devil to go, well, which one's true? Because listen to me very carefully. There's a lot of pastors in this world, and there are pastors that will preach the exact opposite of what I'm gonna tell you. And unfortunately, you get to sit here and go, oh, well, which one's true? And you know how we normally come to that conclusion?

unknown 31:51

No.

Defense Three Choose To Make War

Josh 31:52

Oh, but which one do I what was it, Stephen? Yeah, which one do I like? Because that's the one I'm gonna go with. In fact, didn't the Bible already tell us this? In Timothy? Doesn't Paul say there will come a day when men will no longer endure sound teaching? Why? Because they want their ears tickled. Because I want to hear the things I want to hear. I want to hear that I'm special and unique and all of the things. And I want to hear that God just loves me so much that he will just bow down to me in my whims and desires. Here's the problem. You make a terrible God. If you had the power of creation, what would this world look like? You would make it in your image, right? I'll tell you right now, every single one of it, we would have came, we would, first of all, we'd be on a boat right now. Because this wall the world would just be water. It would be water world. Do you guys remember the Kevin Costner movie? We would all have gills, we could dive down and find old artifacts, like it'd be awesome. But that's why I would make a terrible god. And unfortunately, there's a lot of people that are led astray by information out there that isn't biblical. They're led astray because it sounds good to them. And they're led astray because we go, we don't want to actually hear the truth. Jesus was tempted with the same thing. When the devil went, yeah, it is written that if you throw yourself off, his angels will catch you. And Jesus had enough wisdom to sit here and go, hmm, not what that means. So we have knowledge as part one and wisdom as part two. And these first two are why we have the church. But the final thing we see here with Jesus on how to defend ourselves against the devil is something, honestly, that I see so, so very little of in the church. And I'm not even gonna say this one because I believe John Piper actually says it best. I hear so many Christians murmuring about their imperfections and their failures and their addictions and their shortcomings, and I see so little war. Murmur, murmur, murmur. Why am I this way? Make war. Jesus is the word of God, and he has the knowledge of the word. Jesus is wisdom personified. In fact, in Luke 2.47, we see a 12-year-old Jesus at the temple, and it says that all who heard him were amazed at his understanding and his answers. Imagine this, a 12-year-old just blowing a doctorate away. Jesus doesn't struggle with knowledge, he doesn't struggle with wisdom. But you know what he does do that we don't? Makes war against the devil. You can have all of the knowledge in the world and you can understand the word, every word and da and iota, but Jesus chose to put it into action by making war. And counseling, this is something I tell a lot of people all of the time. You can have every single tool known to man, but if you do not use those tools, they are useless to you. And yet, this is where we as Christians live. Listen, what is it that you're lacking in? Are you lacking in knowledge? Knowledge is super easy to get. You spend time at missions.org, I promise you you will get knowledge. You don't want to read? Call me up. I promise you I can teach you knowledge. Knowledge is super easy. Wisdom? Wisdom comes with time, right? Wisdom comes with experience. Wisdom comes with all of those things. Guess what? You could get wisdom. In fact, what does the Bible say about those who lack wisdom? Just ask. That's all you gotta do. Just go, hey God, can you give me wisdom? Can you help me understand what the word is saying? And you know what God will do? He will bring people into your life to help you understand what the Bible is saying. Listen, I put this text questions up all of the time because I sit here and go, this is what I love to do. I've told you guys over and over and over and over and over. If someone would just go, hey, um, Josh, I have a question. I will stop my message wherever I am and go, okay, let's talk about your question. I love when people come up to me after service and go, hey, you were saying this, but this is what? That is discipleship, and that's what we're called to. We're not called to just sit here and be a consumer. We're not called to just sit here and listen to me ramble on and on and on. We're not called to just sit here and go, mm-hmm. Because I see it every week. We just sit here and we go, mm-hmm, yep, yep, yep, that's right. But we don't do anything with it. What good is that? How many times have I told my own child, JT, you already he I he could yell at himself. He already knows what I'm gonna say. Knowledge isn't the problem. And in his case, it's not even wisdom. He'll sit there and go, I know this was wrong, but I wanted to do it anyway. It's our ability to make war that we struggle with. Because so many of us are sitting here going, well, I'm not a confrontational person. Well, your enemy is. Let me ask, if someone were to just like break the door down now and start shooting, how many of us are like, I'm just gonna sit here because I'm a pacifist? I go, I wear something on me every day to go, no, no, no, no, no, I'm gonna take the war to you. Because I'm going home. And I go, but none of us. I told you last week the devil only has three things. Three things. And yet he beat you time and time and time and time again. It's three tired plays. And when Jesus got tired of playing with them, you know what he did? Be gone. That's it. He didn't have to get into some verbal jiu-jitsu. See, the problem is we like to play with them. We like getting beat up. We like sitting here going, oh, I'm gonna spar with them. Listen, you're no match for that. You're gonna get tired long before the devil does. You're gonna get warned out long before the devil does. At some point, you have to choose to make war and put your knowledge and wisdom to use. Because we don't. You go into Ephesians 6 and it talks about the whole armor of God. What is the only offensive weapon in the entire armor?

unknown 38:47

Sword of the Spirit.

Build Barriers Around Your Weakness

Josh 38:48

Sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of God. That's it. That's all you got. Every other piece of armor is defensive. Like my faith is defensive. The shield of faith that I use to extinguish the fiery darts, that's a defensive thing. Can you use a shield to be offensive? Sure. But its primary function is defense. And what that means is things are going to come at you. Your faith is what makes you continue to go. Because you sit here and go, I have the word of God to fight against. But most of us don't have and don't believe the power of the word of God. Most of us aren't gonna sit here and go, but it is written. Because most of us don't even know what was written. Because you spend so many times of your life doing what? Listening to crap music, watching crap movies, watching crap TV. Tim was trying to give me an example or an illustration about Niagara Falls, and the only reference I had was, oh yeah, what the one Pam and Jim got married on. It's from the office. How much of our life is dedicated to going, hey, I'm gonna dive deep into Jesus? How much of our life is dedicated to going, hey, you know what? I'm gonna go into prayer with Jesus. How much of our life is actually dedicated to sitting here going, I'm gonna sit in the glory of Jesus? How much of your life is dedicated to work? Because we ain't got a problem with that, do we? Some of y'all pushing 70, 80 hours a week. You're good with that. I'm gonna just listen to the music that you know all the cool kids are listening to. I'm gonna look like, sound like, talk like, act like the world, and then wonder why my life is complete and utter garbage. Because there's no difference between us and the world. Because our goal is to sit here and go, how close can I get to the world and not be of the world? See, listen, going back to Genesis 3:1, Adam and Eve had the knowledge that God actually did say, don't eat from that tree. Adam and Eve had the wisdom to not eat from that tree because they had existed prior to the devil coming to them, correct? So they knew and had the wisdom, but what they lacked was putting a fence around the dang tree so that they couldn't even get near it. Because what if they would have used some of the other trees and went, hey, let's build a barrier between us and that tree so we're not even tempted to go eat from its fruit. How many of us do that? None of us, right? Because I'm strong enough, I can overcome enough. I got this. Listen, you struggle with porn on your phone? They have apps that you can add someone else's email to that will literally tell them, hey, here's what so-and-so is looking at. Why aren't we doing that? No one's ever came to me and been like, hey, can I use your email? Because I got that. Right? We struggle with, hey, um I only drink on the weekends. Then come hang out at my house. We just made two gallons of fresh sweet tea yesterday. I reached out to someone yesterday and was I was complaining because I know this weekend's gonna be long. And I was like, man, I might have to get back on the dew. For those of you that don't know, that is Mountain Dew. It's the nectar of the gods and it gives you energy for weeks. And they weren't like, hey, no, you've been doing really good. You haven't been on it for like six months now, don't fall back into it. And that is just a joke. But isn't that what we're called to do? Isn't that what Galatians 6:1 says? That if any of you are caught in transgression, those who are spiritual should go restore them in gentleness and love. But is that what we do? No. Because we're just gonna get wrapped up in our week. Right? See, the reason our challenge last week was to identify the area we are weakest is that is the first step. You have to know where you're weak. And when you're weak, you know what you need to do? Put up a concrete steel-enforced wall around that area. Go, I'm not even going close to that area. I gotta go, I get it. I'm weakest when it comes to my temper. I'm weakest when I filter everything through anger. And I'll tell you right now, you know the first place I go to? Anytime I hear anything that is remotely not positive, right to anger. And you know who suffers for it? My wife, my kids, some of your kids, friends. Like seriously, I I Let's just do full transparency if we're gonna put all the ugliness out there, right? I explained to your kids this week in the Bible, do you think that I never get the urge to punch a child in the face throughout the day? I'm gonna tell you the same thing I told your kids. I do. Now I don't, and I won't, because I don't want to be local pastor and teacher arrested. And then when I'm sitting in jail, look at people going, they're like, What are you in for? I'm like, man, I beat up a 12-year-old dude was mouthing off, and I did what his daddy should have done. Probably not gonna go over well in jail, right? But see, some of us, that's what we gotta do. We gotta start putting our foot down. We gotta start making war against it because we murmur, we complain, we sit here and go, oh, this is never gonna get better, it's never gonna change. Of course it's not, because you don't do anything to change. So if you continue to do what you've always done, guess what? You're gonna get what you've always got. Nothing's ever gonna change. If we go as Uncle Joe's and we compete in this barbecue and we come in dead last in every category, guess what? Me and Joe are gonna sit down and we're gonna go, okay, where'd we go wrong? Okay, apparently pink chicken is not a good turn-in. Maybe next time we cook it longer, we get the temperature up a little higher. Maybe next time we use spices like this. You get into a fight with your wife. Are you walking away from that fight going, okay, next time, here's how I should handle this? Because I'll tell you right now, my dad lied to me right before my wedding. He was like, Look, son, here's how me and your mom have been married so long. Anytime you guys get into a fight, just grab her by the hand and look in her eyes and go, yes, dear, you're right. And I was like, perfect. My dad just gave me the get out of jail free card. So that first fight me and Debbie got into, I reached out and I grabbed her hand. I went, you're right. I'm sorry. She started wailing on me with the other hand that I didn't grab. And like, I've never heard that many cuss words come out of a person. And I went, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa. And when I told my dad the story, he just started laughing. But do you think that that was my reaction next time we got into a fight? No. I went, hey, this didn't work last time. Let me do something different. And this is what we need to be doing. That is what repentance is. We turn it into this big churchy thing. It is literally just doing different. It's making war against the devil. It's looking at the devil and going, you are not this big bad that we are powerless to fight because I already know what you're gonna do. And I'm telling you, if I already know your moveset, guess what? You ain't got a chance. Because I already know how to defeat you. The first thing is I need to start looking at the devil and going, he's defeated. Jesus crushed his head. Go back to Genesis 3:15. It's the proto-Eugellion, the first gospel. You will bruise his heel, but he will crush your head. Which one would you rather have? A stub toe or a beat-in cranium? Because the devil got his cranium beat up, and we need to start to choose to fight him. Some of you, you need to actually use these words. You ready? Let the words come out of your mouth. Be gone, Satan. When it's hitting you, when that person that keeps screwing with you continues to screw with you, be gone, Satan. When you're having that bad day, be gone Satan. Say it loud and say it proud. Sit here and go, get away from me, Satan. I am a child of God. You have no authority over me. I'll tell you right now, when my kids were little, especially the girls, because JT was never really little. Like he was always a scrapper. But when the girls were little, we used to like train them in all sorts of things. So we'd be at the store. I came from law enforcement, like everybody was a pervert to me. Okay? So I was like, here's the deal. If someone ever grabs you at a store, what do you yell?

unknown 48:17

Not my daddy.

Josh 48:19

Not my parents, no, no, no, no. What do you yell?

unknown 48:22

Not my daddy.

The Weekly Challenge And Final Charge

Josh 48:22

Not my daddy. I want everyone to know that you don't belong to them. Because if you're yelling, not my daddy, one, your actual daddy's going to hear. And if you think that I'm just gonna let you come grab one of my children, especially at that point in my life, you got another thing coming. And two, I want everyone around you to know you don't belong to them. Some of you live your life like you belong to the devil. Like he just has this power over you that you just can't break. Jesus already broke it. There's nothing left for you. Why are you fighting an enemy that's already been beat? Some of you, you just need to sit here and go, you know what? Your mind tricks of reminding me of who I used to be, those don't, those don't matter anymore because I know who I am in Christ. Some of you, you need to go, your flesh tricks of getting me to just please myself. You need to understand, like, no, it is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. Some of you, with this whole eye trick of getting me to see things that are going to make me happy, you need to go, we're done with that because I have a good, good father who gives me good gifts. And if you didn't realize that was pride of life, desires of the flesh, desires of the eyes, and every single one of those were verses that went back with it. It's the same thing as going, it is written. Because you defeat him with what was written. So as we close, you want the secret of beating the devil? Look to the cross. The cross is where Jesus laid down himself so that you can be free. Set your eyes on Jesus, being lifted up and don't lose sight of that. He loved you enough to make that walk, to carry that cross so that you can be free. You need to start telling the devil, be gone, we're done. So our challenge this week is this make war. Last week you identified where you're weakest. This week, build up those embankments. Actually be proactive in this. Stop being defensive with your life. Stop living, like most of us, you're just surviving your life. Things happen to you. So you're constantly on your heels. I know most of you in here are not trained fighters. But do you realize that the fighter who advances wins 90% of the fights? The fighter that's sitting here going towards the enemy and towards the danger is the fighter that wins. You know why? Because you can't fight off your heels. We can do this if you guys need a practical exercise after service. If someone's like, hey, I wanna, I wanna punch you. The only thing is, is you have to punch me off the back of your heels, and I'm gonna punch you as I'm advancing towards you. Okay? And I'm I'm cool with it. I will let anyone in here do that. But I sit here and go, we need to start advancing. Understand when Jesus says that the gates of hell shall not prevail, he is sitting here going, hell can't even defend itself. In other words, we're gonna walk up to the gates and we're gonna kick the gates over. That's advancing war language. Because the gates could stand for eternity as long as they're not being attacked. And some of you, that's what we need to do this week. You need to make war. You need to sit here and go, I'm done being a victim. I'm done letting life happen to me. I'm gonna live the life that Christ has called me to because it is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. I'm gonna do the things that Jesus put to do because it's no longer I who live, but Jesus who lives in me. I'm gonna take risk and I'm gonna step out in faith because I don't need to be afraid of the devil because he's already been beaten. So here's what I'm gonna do. I'm gonna live the life. I'm not just gonna let life happen, but I'm I'm gonna happen to it. So maybe that's going, I'm gonna read a chapter of the Bible every day this week. Maybe you're sitting here going, you know what, I'm gonna listen to field notes every single morning this week. Maybe you're sitting here going, you know what, I'm gonna read the daily devo every day this week. But I'm going to make a choice to fight back against darkness. Because no weapon formed against me shall prosper. Because I fight from victory. Death, where is your sting? So as I close, maybe you're sitting here today going, I'm ready to make war, but I don't know how. I'm here for that. Maybe you're sitting here today and you're going, I'm ready to make war, but I need prayer. I'm here for that. Whatever it is that I can do to serve you, that is what I am here for. But make no mistake, Christian. It's time for us to start making war. Because that's how you beat the devil. So, Father, I ask and I pray that if there is anyone in here today, Father, that you're sitting here going, hey, time to wake up, let's go fight. That God, they awake, oh sleeper. That we put on the full armor of God and that we start making war. That we stop fighting from the defensive, we stop fighting on the heels, but that God, we press forward and we advance in the fight. That we take the fight to the enemy instead of sitting here letting the enemy continue to fight us. Father, I pray for knowledge, I pray for wisdom, and I pray for choice to fight back, to make war. Father, I pray all of this in Jesus' name.