The Real Upside Down

Salt Church, how are you doing today? Good to see you. Oh, look at the happy people. So good to have you with us. You online who are with us today, we miss you so much if you're a regular attender and you're not with us today.

But if you're a guest, we're so thankful that you are with us. And if you're a guest today, we're thankful that you're with us as well. Perhaps a friend or family invited you or maybe you just felt the need to come to church today. You are absolutely welcome and absolutely wanted. There is a connection card that you probably received coming in.

It's a blue card. And if you would fill that out for us, if you're new, we would love, we would love, love, love to connect with you, give you some more information about the church. I promise we won't harass you with anything. We just want to let you know that we love you and we thank you for being with us today. Also online, there's saltchurch.

org slash card that you can fill out right there online and connect with us as well. And if you have children today, we've got some fun activities right after the service. Please don't rush off right away. Go out. We got some games, some treats, and they're painting pumpkins, doing some fun stuff for the kids.

And that's what we're doing today with our family day. We thank you that family is here today. Amen. We're all family. Amen.

Such a good day. Such a good day. And we're kicking off fall. This is kind of our kickoff fall day. So we've got a lot of really, really cool things coming up this year.

So we are especially, you know, we're going into Christmas. Christmas is going to be here before we know it, guys. And we've got a lot of fun outreach activities happening before then. And I can't wait to share those things with you. But next week will be our next guest lunch.

Some people are asking, you know, about our guest lunch. We had it planned this month for October 16th. So next week we are having our guest lunch right after service. We call it Lunch with Leon, and you are welcome. You can go right by our Next Steps area on the way out, receive any information you need about Lunch with Leon, about registration for salt groups or any.

Anything like that, take the next steps to get more information with Salt Church. Next steps, you see the big sign there, okay, as you go out. And you can connect with somebody right there at the table. So we are beginning a new series, I'm super excited about this series, called Stranger Stories. And you may be familiar with the popular Netflix series, Stranger Things.

Some of you may have not seen it, some of you have seen it. But let me just give you the plot, because I think it goes really good with what we call The Real Upside Down. That's the title of this message today, The Real Upside Down. It's very popular, it's won a lot of awards, and Screen Actor Guild, Grammys, all kinds of things happened with this film. This just popped up on Netflix a few years ago, and just went crazy.

And it takes place, the story kind of takes place in this small town called Hawkins, Indiana. It's a fictional town, where a group of kids begin to experience some type of supernatural occurrences. In fact, one of the kids is taken into this place in which they call The Upside Down, another dimension. And the heroic acts of these kids, you know, coming together to find their friend and figure out what's going on. They discover along the way that there's this top secret government project that's happening right there in your town.

And they've opened up a portal from one world to the other, this supernatural world and the natural world, which could potentially threat all of humanity. Interesting story, because there's a lot of parallels to The Real Upside Down here. Now, let me just make a disclaimer, because I might receive some hate mail this week, because some people are probably like, you know, what is he telling me to go watch this? I'm not telling you to go watch this series. I'm not telling you to go home and binge watch Nightmare on Elm Street.

Horror movies are okay. Let's just get that out of the way. This is just simply a message to help you understand really what's going on in the supernatural. Because we are in a season where we're thinking a lot about the supernatural, right? With Halloween coming and whatever you believe about this or that or celebrating, it's all a part of where we are right now.

And I think it's important for us to look and get a perspective of the real spiritual world that's taking place in the background. And the Bible talks about spirits and entities and other worldly beings, if you want to say that. In fact, the spirit, we're going to talk about some of those things. Next week, we're going to talk about the Holy Spirit, which is God, that you need in your life to guide you, a supernatural power that God gives us, who he is. He is the Holy Spirit, by the way.

They have a350-murosmythman, by the way? So among the first two mechanisms we look at the symbol setting of the symbol and place in aassociation of the世界? Which means we look at the educational, so we respect these systems that exist, And He gives us power to be able to live this life, walk with us, to fight what we have in this supernatural world. Because there is a battle between good and evil happening all around us right now. There is a story, an overarching story.

And then week two, or week three rather, we're going to talk about demons. Demons, yes. We're going to talk about demons in church because demons are an actual real thing. And we want to give you a biblical perspective of how demons work, how they act, what they can do and can't do. And then the following week, we're going to talk about angels, angels, and what they mean, and how we are to perceive them, how we are to view them, and how they connect with God, heaven, us, and things like that.

But there is, in fact, a real enemy in the world. The Real Upside Down, there is a battle going on between good and evil as we speak. There are two kingdoms taking place right now. There is the kingdom of light, and there is the kingdom of darkness. And there is a constant battle taking place.

Now, let me say this before we get started. There tends to be, in Christian circles, either an overemphasis on the enemy or demons and the way they affect us. And there can be an underemphasis as well. There can be an overemphasis in that some people just call out a demon for every little thing that happens in their life. You know, they flunk their test because they didn't study for it.

Well, a demon caused that, right? Or my car broke down. A demon caused that. Or I didn't get to work on time today because the demon of my alarm clock kept me in bed a little longer than it should have. Some people just tend to blame every emotion, every disease, every mental disorder on a demon.

And we don't want to go that far, okay? We don't want to blame everything on demons. But we also underemphasize the importance of knowing that there's a real enemy in the spiritual. There is a real enemy in the spiritual. It's taking place, and he wants to harm you.

So, you know, for many it might, well, I don't really believe in demons. I don't really believe in the spiritual world. Or if we believe it, we don't really want to talk about it. So we don't want to underemphasize that. But one of the devil's greatest deceptions is to convince people that he isn't real, or he's not really that bad, or he's kind of a joke, you know, with the red suit and the horns, you know, and the pitchfork.

That's what he wants to convince people. Or he's actually for you, and he's not that powerful. And those are wrong thoughts about who the enemy is. He is, in fact, real. He is very powerful.

But we have something more powerful on our side. Amen? We have God on our side. And what's fascinating about God's story is that the Bible doesn't just give us a lot. A list of doctrines, you know?

It's easy for us to come to church and just label out all the doctrines, and it almost comes across as kind of boring in some ways, you know? And it's important for us to know those things, you know, creation, the fall, sin, the blood of Jesus Christ, and His restoring all of mankind. This story that's going on that we're personally involved in, that God loved us so much that He gave His Son. All these beautiful things that we really need to take as important things, but we often overlook the reality that there is a whole epic battle, epic story taking place in places we can't see. There's more going on than we can currently see.

The naked eye cannot see all that's going on in the world. There is good. There is evil. Good will ultimately triumph in over evil. In fact, the victory has already been won, and there's prophecies that are yet to be fulfilled about the future.

So it's just a powerful story and almost, in a way, entertaining to read and learn about, right? To learn about these things. So today, as I start this series, I just want to give you an understanding of the war that we're in. Just to set up for the next few weeks, all these different things we're going to talk about. But we're in a different type of war.

We are not in a physical war. We are in a spiritual war. In fact, Paul gives us some insight here in 2 Corinthians 10, beginning with verse 3 through verse 4. For though we live in the world, we do not wage war as the world does. The weapons we fight with are not weapons of the world.

Though we live in a physical world, there are two kingdoms that are spiritual, and they are battling it out. And we don't fight with natural weapons. We fight with spiritual weapons. God gives us spiritual weapons, faith, prayer, God's Word. We have all those things to fight the battle.

And he goes on to give us more insight in Ephesians 6, 10 through 12. He says, finally, be strong in the Lord and His mighty power. Be strong in the Lord, meaning you need the Lord's power. You cannot fight this battle on your own. You need God as a part of your walk in this battle.

You don't have enough strength to win the battle. Only by the power of God can you win the battle. But it says, but put on the full armor of God so that you may take your stand against the devil's schemes. He's planning. He's plotting.

He's scheming. He's sly. And he doesn't like you, okay? And he's doing everything he can to study, to be sneaky. He's a snake.

The Bible calls him a snake. He's got so many different things he's called. And it's all about deception for him. And it goes on in verse 10. It says, I didn't want to see this and we can do it all.

It says, For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of the dark world, and against spiritual forces of evil in heavenly realms. Meaning that your battle is not against the government, okay? Your battle is not against Hollywood. Your battle is not against the person who wreaks havoc in your life that just makes your life miserable. That's not your battle.

There is a spiritual world, a real spiritual world happening behind the scenes, and that's what Paul's given us here. And what you see with your eyes is not all there is. We need to get that perspective first and foremost in our thoughts, in our heads, as we walk out this life, as we live this world that the havoc that's being presented in front of us when we are angry at that person for what they've done. It is not them. There is something greater happening.

Take that perspective in mind. Because this world is very powerful. And if you had the eyes to see, if we had the eyes to see, we would see it all around us. So there's two things that are very encouraging here about understanding that there is this battle going on, this supernatural world. The first is you are not alone in the battle, okay?

You are not alone in the battle. There are many places in Scripture where we see the supernatural world open up, but I think this particular story shows us exactly what's going on with us as believers as we walk out this life. In fact, Elisha is the prophet, and he has a servant with him, and Israel is at war. And it starts here, when the servant of the man of God, and let me point that Scripture out to you, 2 Kings 6, 15 and 17, when the servant of the man of God got up and went out early the next morning, an army with horses and chariots had surrounded the city. Could you imagine, as you walk out of your home, out in the streets of your city, and you see hundreds, probably even thousands of soldiers and chariots surrounding your city?

What would be your response? Well, here's the servant's response. Oh, my Lord, what shall we do? He asked the prophet, what shall we do? What was his response?

He says, do not be afraid. Those who are with us are more than those who are with them. Those who are with us, he could see things that this servant couldn't see. And then Elisha prayed, O Lord, open his eyes so that he may see. Then the Lord opened the servant's eyes, and he looked and saw the hills full of horses and chariots of fire all around Elisha.

So there were more, way more. It's powerful. When he opened his eyes, he looked up, and there were way more angels standing guard, ready to... You don't have to fight the battle with them. You are not fighting the battle alone.

They were not fighting battle alone. You don't have to fight your battle alone. God has forces ready and engaged to walk this battle out with you. You do not have to fight it alone. And the second thing is your prayers are way more powerful than you even think.

They're way more powerful than you think. I love this one, this example from Daniel because it gives us a perspective that, you know, we're not just praying empty words in the air and expecting them somehow to reach God and maybe God will answer them or God won't. Things actually shift and move when we pray. And I can't tell you how many times I say this, but your prayers really matter and stop demeaning your prayers because they're powerful. Here's Daniel and he's praying to God.

It says, do not, don't be, and this is the angel. The angel appears to Daniel after he's prayed. He says, don't be afraid, Daniel. Since the first day you began to pray for understanding and to humble yourself before God. Your request has been heard in heaven and I have come in answer to your prayer.

But for 21 days, and this is what was happening in the spiritual realm while the angel was trying to get to him in prayer. He says, for 21 days, the spirit prince of the kingdom of Persia blocked my way. Meaning this demonic force was blocking the way for the angel to come in. Then Michael, one of the archangels came to help me and I left him there with the spirit prince of the kingdom of Persia. Now I am here to explain what will happen to your people in the future for this vision concerns a time yet to come.

So what was happening in the background as Daniel was praying, God heard it, he released his angels, this battle took place. I mean, what a story, you know, this is going on in prayer, okay? When you pray, forces are battling to get to you, to answer your prayers. The devil wants to stop it, but we have something more powerful. We have God, we have the spirit of God.

And here we see this battle that we cannot see. So you have a spiritual enemy. Let me just talk about the spiritual enemy for just a second. What does the devil, the adversary, do to us, okay? What does he do to us?

Well, number one, he blinds the minds of unbelievers. He blinds the minds of unbelievers. In fact, 2 Corinthians 4 says, the God of this age has blinded us or blinded the minds of unbelievers. Perhaps you've experienced this. Maybe you've experienced this.

Maybe you're here today and you're not kind of, you're still not there, right? Jesus sounds wonderful and everything, but maybe you still don't believe. Maybe you're, you're. Almost there, but you're not because, you know, is this real? Is this just something?

Maybe you're distracted, you know, you're already thinking about what you're going to do after church. You know, I'm listening, but I'm not. And that's what the enemy does. He distracts. He blinds us.

He makes us callous to the good news of Christ. And when we preach the gospel, it does not return void, right? So when the gospel goes out, it even says in Scripture, some will hear and some won't. Some will accept and some won't. And we share the gospel.

Because the enemy is always at work because he does not want you to be free. He does not want you to be set free. He's working and plotting to keep you imprisoned and he wants to blind your mind. The enemy blinds the minds of unbelievers. In fact, the God of this world, even, the God of this world or the God of the age, as this particular Scripture says, what is the God of this world?

Obviously, Satan has been given. Scripture tells us that Satan is the God of this world. But other gods, money, power, pleasure, the distractions that are there, the gods that we serve in this world distract us from true freedom that we only find in Christ Jesus. We only find in Christ Jesus. And true freedom is under the canopy of being freed to serve, to be a servant to Christ.

He blinds us. He blinds unbelievers. And he, secondly, he steals the word, God's word from you. He steals God's word from you. Perhaps you've experienced this before.

Maybe you came to church and you were on fire and you're kind of moving towards something. You're intrigued by what was said or you have this unction in your heart to know God a little more, to go to his word or maybe to get. And then you go home. And then you get distracted. And then you go to sleep.

You wake up the next day and it's gone. Like that fire is just gone and it's left you. Maybe you've experienced that before. That's because it's Satan. He steals God's word from you.

The word may be working on you, but he wants to steal the word of God from you. Matthew 13, 19 says it like this. Jesus says, when anyone hears the message about the kingdom and does not understand it, the evil one comes and snatches away what is sown in his heart. He quickly wants to snatch away anything that is being sown. And we have to recognize that, that he wants to steal the word of God.

He wants to steal that seed that's been planted in your heart, that seed that wants to grow and root in good soil. But he's going to do everything he can to keep that ground hard and keep that ground distracted so that you cannot experience the freedom that you have in Christ. He also sets traps. To ensnare you. He sets traps to ensnare you.

Now, what do you know about a trap? When you set a trap out, maybe you have a mouse in your house and you have to set that trap out. Or maybe you hunt and you put traps out. What do you do? You put something out that is a desire of the creature that is going after, you know, coming into the trap or luring them into the trap, right?

You lure them into the trap with something enticing. And that's what Satan does. He studies us, guys. He is very, very, very smart, okay? He's not an idiot.

He's studying you. He's using things to entrap you. He's finding your weaknesses. Maybe you've decided, you know what, I'm tired of living the partying lifestyle. I'm going to start getting on the straight and narrow and do the right thing.

God has been really dealing with my life. And you go home and you say that. And then that night, your friends show up with a keg of beer. And it's like, okay, what's going on here? Or you're trying to escape lustful thoughts.

You know, you're really trying to work on getting your mind and your heart on Christ and get the lustful thoughts. And then an image appears. And you're like, what in the world? Or maybe you're working on handling your money better. And a sale comes to Best Buy or something.

You start buying everything. A clothing sale happens. And you're like, what? There's just these temptations that take place. And he's, who is that?

That's Satan. That's the deceiver. And 2 Timothy says it like this as they were praying for the people and that they will come to their senses and escape from the trap of the devil who has taken them captive to do his will. He takes them captive. He entraps us.

He ensnares us. And then he fights to stop you. He wants to stop you from pursuing the will of God. He wants to keep you from doing the will of God. He will do everything he can.

He will stop the work of God in your life. Perhaps you're someone who's decided, you know what? I'm going to trust God with my money and begin tithing. And what happens? Your car breaks down.

What in the world? I thought I was going to be blessed, you know? And now here this happens. It's Satan. Maybe your marriage is on the rocks and you've decided, you know what?

I'm going to do something nice for my wife or nice for my husband. I'm just going to fix this. I'm going to do it right. And you go home and you, you know, from work or wherever you're coming from, when you decide that, and you have the fight of the century. And you're just like, what in the world is going on?

Because he wants you to stop what you're doing. Stop doing the will of God. Maybe you're trying to, and this happens a lot, maybe you're trying to share your faith with a friend. You're concerned about a friend's spiritual life and you're trying to share your faith and you plan to connect with them over coffee or over dinner or invite them over or hang out at the beach or whatever. Whatever it might be, and there's always something.

They're either sick, or job comes up, or, and they're legitimate things, you know, and it just seems like, okay, why can't I ever connect with this person? It's Satan, because he wants to keep you from pursuing the will of God, and it's not a coincidence. This is how Satan works. It's how Satan does things. In fact, 1 Thessalonians 2.

18 says it like this, For we wanted to come to you, certainly, I, Paul did, again and again, but what happened? Satan stopped us. Satan's trying to stop you, and then he plans to destroy you. He wants to destroy you because he hates you. Let me say that again.

He hates you with a hate that is far beyond any hate that you can ever understand. He hates you. He hates your marriage. He hates your family. He hates your health.

He hates your relationships. He hates your job. He wants to destroy them all. In fact, it says that the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour. It doesn't say he's going to do a little bite.

He wants to devour you. He wants to take you out. He does not like you. He plans to destroy you. So that's your enemy there.

Now, there's a lot of other things that the enemy does, and I could spend, you know, two hours talking about it. But those are some main things that you need to understand about the enemy. So there's a spiritual battle. So how do we fight this battle? Well, Paul gives us some great insight in Ephesians 6, 13 through 18.

If you're following along, you can connect with that. He says, Therefore put on the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground. And after you have done everything to stand, you stand firm then. And here's why he says, With the belt of truth buckled around your waist, with the breastplate of righteousness in place, and with your feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace. In addition to all this, take up your shield of faith, which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one.

Take up the helmet of salvation and the sword of the spirit, which is the word of God. And pray in the spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests. And with this in mind, be alert and always stay on praying for all the saints. So what does he say? He gives us spiritual weapons.

First of all, put on the helmet of salvation. Put on the helmet. Before you even go into battle, what do you do? The first thing that you do is put on the helmet. Because if you get hit in the head, you're gone, right?

You need to protect your head. You need to protect your head. And from the evil one with the truth that you are in Christ, that he has died for you, that you are a child of his, that you have been saved, not by works, but by grace, and your mind is protected knowing that you are secure in Jesus Christ. And no one, guys, no one can snatch you out of his hands. He loves you.

He gave his life for you. He walks with you. You have security knowing that you are saved. So any time you come into battle, you can claim salvation. That's a powerful thing that you can claim.

You have salvation. And then the breastplate of righteousness. It tells us to cover our breasts, our chest with righteousness. Because why? Your heart is deceitful.

It's drawn to things that aren't of God. Your heart will lead you to unrighteousness, and you need to protect your heart. In fact, Scripture says no one is righteous, not one. And our best attempt at righteousness is filthy rags, according to Paul. But God gave his son so that you could wear this beautiful breastplate of righteousness.

You have righteousness. You have righteousness. You have been made right in God's eyes. Although your heart is drawn to evil, it has been made right because you wear the righteousness of Jesus Christ, who was the only one who saves us from our sins. And you can wear the breastplate of righteousness and be confident in that very thing.

Think about the prodigal son when he comes back from doing all that he had done, and he comes back to his father just wanting to be a servant, if anything. And maybe his father would take him back in. What does his father do? He runs out in the field and just loves him and kisses him. And what does he do?

One of the things he gives him is a white robe representing righteousness. He puts righteousness, a white robe, to cover our sins. That's how much he loves us. He died for us, and we can claim that righteousness. And when the devil says, you're not right, you're bad, you're so this and you're so that, you'll never mount to anything, your history's so messed up, you can say, I have the righteousness of Christ on me.

I'm wearing his righteousness. I don't know. I feel like saying amen to myself here because, gosh, Lord, I thank you so much for righteousness, Lord. And then the shield of faith. The shield of faith.

Whenever those fiery darts are thrown at you, because there's going to be negative thoughts that are coming to you. The devil's going to tell you. He's going to look at the very thing that you're insecure about. He's going to take hold of that, and he's going to use it against you. And he's going to want to take you off course of where you need to be in Christ.

What do you do? You say, I know who I am in Christ. I am blessed coming and going. God has said he will prosper me and he will not harm me and he will give me. A hope and a future, and you can be an overcomer by the blood of the Lamb and the word of your testimony.

What is your testimony? That Christ Jesus has saved my soul. He has made me new. He has made me a new creation. I can hold on to that faith.

I know that I'm a child of God in faith, and I can conquer every evil thing that's thrown my way. And then there's the belt of truth. What does a belt do? Hold your pants up, right? You can't run into battle with your pants down.

In fact, the belt on the armor held the whole armor together. It was the central piece. If the belt wasn't on, the armor would fall off, and you wouldn't be protected. And Satan is a liar and a deceiver, and he wants to take truth from us. And we have the belt of truth that holds everything together.

Truth frees you and prepares you for battle. You can live in truth and know truth. And the truth, what, will set you free? That's it. The truth sets you free.

Just as a belt sets you free to run into battle and do what you need to so you don't have to worry about your pants falling down, so does truth. Truth does that for us. We have truth, and we can lean into that. And then the shoes of the gospel of peace. Why can I go into a battle and be calm and peaceful?

How can I endure these things in life and be peaceful about it? Because of the gospel of peace. I have the gospel of peace that is ready for me. I put those shoes on, and I run with the gospel of peace. And then there is the sword of truth.

This is the one instrument that you can attack with. The rest are protective armors, right? They're defensive. This is your only offensive weapon that you have, the Word of God. And if you are a believer and you're not equipped with the Word of God, then you're very ill-equipped.

You need to be equipped with God's Word. You need to know God's Word. How did Jesus respond to Satan and his temptations? The Word of God. It is written.

It is written. It is written. We can use the Word of God to attack every evil that comes against us. We have that available to us. It's like a two-edged sword is what the Word of God is.

And it will slice truth and faults. And we can hold on to that truth. And then an extra thing to show you is that when you have the whole armor on, what's left open? Your backside. People can attack you from your backside.

The enemy can attack you from your backside, right? That's why you need Christian brothers and Christian sisters and people to hold you accountable and people to pray for you and people to encourage you and people to build you up in the church. You need those people around you. You cannot do it on your own. You cannot do it with people who are not believers.

You need believers in your life to walk life with. To do life with, and to encourage you, and to hold you accountable. And then it says pray in the Spirit in all occasions. Pray in the Spirit in all occasions. Prayer is our access into the Holy of Holies.

Prayer allows us to enter into God's presence. It's a powerful thing that God has given us. People don't pray, okay? Christians don't pray. Why?

Like they should. Why? Because they don't believe it does anything. We don't believe in the power of prayer. And right here in Scripture it says pray in the Spirit in all occasions.

Ask those requests. Ask of me. Pray about this. Pray about that. We need to continue in prayer all the time.

In all occasions we do this. Stay in prayer. Wear the armor of God. Put every piece on. And watch what God does.

Watch how God brings you through those battles. So just to recap real quick. What did we learn today? That you are not alone in your battle. There are forces ready, equipped, and available for you.

You do not have to walk these battles alone. Number two, prayer does way more than you even think. Your prayers go a long way. God hears your prayers and He's moving. Don't think your prayers are just going into the void somewhere.

They are actually making a difference. And we are to put on every piece of the armor so that we can go into battle. Because Satan is a deceiver. Satan wants to kill you. Satan wants to destroy you.

Right? But we have everything available for us in these spiritual weapons. Not physical weapons. Not a physical war. But an upside down world.

A spiritual war that's going on. And you have been set up for victory. Why? Because the victory has already been won. Amen?

The victory is all... We fight for... We don't fight for victory. We fight from victory. Thank you for those two hand claps.

That was great there. We fight from victory. Man, some of you are not excited about this. We fight from victory. You have won.

God has won. There you go. God has won the battle. That should be encouraging to you. That should be strength to you.

Jesus has already won the battle. Let me just show you this. You, dear children, are from God and have overcome them because the one who is in you is greater than the one who is in the world. You have the one that is greater than the world with you and in you and has won it. Look at this.

Luke 10, 19. I have given you authority to trample on snakes and scorpions and to overcome all the powers of the enemy. Wow. Nothing will harm you because you sit on the side of victory. Amen?

Amen. God, in Colossians 2.15, it says, God stripped the spiritual rulers and powers of their authority. And how did He do this? With the cross.

He won the victory and showed the world that they were. It's the cross. When Satan saw Jesus on the cross, for a minute he thought he won. This is the battle I have won. But when he came off that cross, and he rose again from the dead the third day, victory was won.

Victory was won. By the blood of the Lamb and the word of our testimony, we are overcomers in the battle. We have everything available for us to fight the battle. Understand this, church. Satan is working.

Satan is scheming. You know, you come out of one battle, you're going into another. But, Jesus doesn't promise us that we won't face battles in life. That when we follow Christ, that everything is going to be hunky-dory, we're going to be fine for the rest of our lives. He doesn't promise that.

In fact, sometimes he says it will get worse, because we are followers. But the truth is, we can walk through these battles with joy. We can walk through these battles by overcoming the situation, because the situation doesn't define us. The God who loves us defines who we are. He walks with us, and he gives us everything that we need to overcome the battle.

So maybe you're going through a battle right now. Maybe there's a war going on in your heart and in your head. I'm telling you, the battle is not against flesh and blood. It's not a physical battle. It's a spiritual battle.

And God has given you everything you need to fight that battle. So tap into what God has for you. Let's pray today. Father, I pray for every person here today that may be going through a battle. Maybe they're experiencing warfare today, Lord Jesus.

I pray, God, in the name of Jesus that you would be with them, Lord. That you would encourage them, Lord. That they would see that you have, you know, truth and righteousness and the word and prayer and all these things available for them, and they do not return void, Lord. I pray that those things supernaturally would be placed upon them a double portion, Lord, so that they can fight what's going on in their lives. Let them know that you were there, that they're not going to walk it alone, and they can always come to you in prayer knowing that you will come through, that you are superior, that you are a God who owns it all anyway.

And you are there with them to live. There are some here today with all heads bowed, eyes closed. Maybe you've never trusted Jesus Christ as your Savior. Maybe you've never tapped into this thing called the blood of the Lamb that overcomes the things that we're going through. And you're here today and you're like, oh, you know, is any of this real?

Maybe you're struggling with whether, you know, should I give my life to God? That's the enemy trying to take away the seed that's been planted in you because the Spirit of God is calling you. You know it in your heart. I don't have to know it. You know it.

And today may be your day to make a decision for Jesus. He loves you, cares for you. He gave his life so that you could overcome all of this. So if you would, if that's you today, and if you would pray with me and everybody can pray this together, Father, Father, I believe that you are the Son of God and you died on the cross for my sin. I believe that you rose on the third day and I receive that promise that you would be with me and you would come into my life and come into my heart.

So come, come into my life. Lead me, Lord. Be a part of me. I want a relationship with you. I don't.

It's not by works. It's by a relationship. Lord, I want a relationship with you. So I give my life to you. Praise God.

Praise God. Can y'all give God a hand clap of praise? Look, look, I know there are some of you who gave your life to Christ today. And I know it's hard to take the next step. I don't have hands raised or anything like that because I don't want to embarrass anybody.

But please let us know if you give your life to Christ, you can put it right there on your blue card. You can hand it off to the next steps table. Next steps are baptism. We've got baptism coming up in a few weeks. You can get baptized, become a part of the family of God.

There's all kinds of opportunities right there on that blue card. We don't want you just to stay where you are. We want to help you get to the next place in your biblical law. And we love you and thank you so much. So join us next week for part two of the series where we will talk about the Holy Spirit.