Viola Solid Rock Assembly
Resist
Well, hallelujah. Tuesday night, revival service, praise God. I'd like to just say a word about the end of this service. In about 45 minutes, don't hold me to that. It might be less, maybe a minute or two more. I'm going to ask something different than I normally do. My altar philosophy is surgical. God, what are you doing specifically? I know there are some of my contemporaries, and I don't fault them for this, but they'll call everybody to the altar and then kind of hype them up to raise their hand and get one of the staff over on the side to take a picture and put it in the newsletter on the website. And I'm OK with that. Just never been my philosophy. It's more specific. But tonight, I'm going to differ from that. Tonight, I'm going to be preaching. It's not-- I don't have any mess to make up here. There's no objects. There's no illustration. There's a lot of scripture, and there's less stories. This is an important message. When I finish, I am going to call for everybody 19 years of age and younger to come and stand in front of this altar. And please don't take offense, ladies. It's just how I feel prompted. I'm going to ask all the men in the congregation to come and stand behind them, and you'll know why at the end of this message. It was a man who wasn't a preacher. He wasn't flamboyant or charismatic. It was a man that changed my life. Almost all of my passwords as an adult and all my banking and all the other passwords that you need have something to do with the man that 42 years ago took an interest in a broken down teenager. I wouldn't be here today without that man. Luther Reader, oh, him and dad, I could never repay. I've honored him every way I could. I preached his funeral. He invited me to church. He cared about me. He was protective of me. And some will call for all the men. Now, I know sometimes men don't like to do what they're not good at. I get invited to play golf a good bit. I'm fairly athletic for an old fat guy, but I hate golf because I'm not good at it. You play 18 holes. I shot 100 once, but it was on all 18 or it was on nine. I think it was on nine. I don't like playing golf. And then men get intimidated because their wives are so much further advanced in their mind spiritually than they are. But I'm here to tell you, they can never-- as much as I love all the women in my life, there's something about the priesthood of a man in the world and in a home, no one can replace that. And it doesn't matter if you know all the books of the Bible. If you're a man, I'm going to call you if you're comfortable and can't come down because there's a bullseye on our kids. And we're going to believe God for a difference tonight. If you are away from God, you're not walking with him. I'd remind you that he loves you. He loves you, and he will save you, and he will help you in every way possible. And I woke up in April and I woke up I woke up quoting this scripture. That's where this message comes from. This spring, I just woke up and it was so urgent on me. I literally woke up to my own mouth saying this very scripture from 1 Peter chapter 5, 1 Peter chapter 5. We're going to pray, kind of set this message up and then I'll read the text. Heavenly Father, you told us to redeem the time because the days are evil and make the most of every opportunity. These men and women and young people are here on a Tuesday night. Some of them, the only reason they're here is because they love you. They're exhausted. The week has been challenging. And I'm asking you, God, to help us to redeem the time. And you help me prophesy, Lord. And in 40 minutes or so, whenever we come to this altar, let there be spiritual transactions. Thy kingdom come, thy will be done in this altar, Lord, as it is in heaven. Do something deep. Do a deep work in the lives of your people tonight. I praise you and I thank you, Lord, in Jesus' name. The message is called resist. History is full of people who've engaged in a resistance movement. I looked up in research resistance movements. And there are hundreds and hundreds of resistance movements in history. I don't know most of them that I found, but I do know a few of them. And I'll highlight a couple of them on the screen. In 1960, there was a Greensboro sit-in. There was a Greensboro sit-in in 1960. And it changed the course of the civil rights movement in America. It happened in my home state where I lived down the road for me in Greensboro, North Carolina. It was a powerful resistance movement. And then there was the Selma to Montgomery Marsh. Go ahead. The Selma to Montgomery Marsh started in Selma, Alabama. Went 50 miles to where I preached two weeks ago in Montgomery, Alabama. And it's that 54-mile hike to the state capital, even though it was confronted with deadly violence. It changed a national mindset. Then there was Tiananmen Square. I don't know if the old-timers in here remember this. Tiananmen Square went out in Chinese. The little Chinese guy holding a grocery section squaring up against the tanks. That was a powerful resistance movement. And then the last one is Chauchescu. Chauchescu was a brutal dictator. I remember taking a group of kids to Keishin on Moldova, and we stopped in Bucharest, Romania, and we went to a cemetery. I told the kids at the cemetery, I want you to walk all the way through this cemetery for 20 minutes, and then I want you to come back and tell me what you noticed in the cemetery. And they did, and some of them didn't get it, but a lot of them got it. They came back to the past show. Everybody in the cemetery is a teenager, somebody that was in their early 20s. Everybody, everybody, all the graves. I said there was a brutal dictator named Chauchescu. He lived in a house bigger than the Pentagon, the biggest house in the world. He ate chicken cord on blue, had swarries every night. He had lobster bisque, and his people stood in line for eight hours for a healer bread until all those kids in this cemetery rose up in a resistance movement. It was on Christmas Day, 1989, that he had a summary trial, and he was executed. That was a powerful resistance movement. There are other resistance movement in this room. Some people know about him, and some people don't. There are ways that you men and women have resisted the enemy of your soul, and though it may not make the history book, it is making Heaven's book. Here it is, 1 Peter 5, 8. Be sober, be vigilant, because your adversary, the devil, walks about like a roaring lion seeking whom he may devour. Resist him steadfast in the faith, knowing that the same sufferings are experienced by your brotherhood in the world. Resist him steadfast in the faith. Resist literally means to stand or set against. It's like a face-to-face confrontation. It's the idea of an army facing off against an enemy. It's in the aorist imperative tense, which means resist now. It's an urgent matter. Men, it's an urgent matter that we resist. Resist is different than attack. It means to withstand or be firm against someone, someone else, and their onset towards us. It doesn't say in this scripture, it doesn't say in this scripture that we're supposed to fight the devil. It says we're supposed to resist the devil. We're supposed to stand against the devil. The devil is the most powerful angel that God ever created. He's not the opposite of God, he's created. He's a created being, and he's powerful. And we are called by Simon Peter, by the Holy Spirit through Simon Peter, that will stand our ground against his attacks. We're not supposed to maybe fight the devil according to this scripture. There are other scriptures that would say, maybe we should be offensive against him, but it certainly doesn't say we're supposed to run from the devil. We don't have to run from the devil. There are things that we have to flee from according to the Bible. 1 Corinthians 6, 18, flea morality. 1 Corinthians 10, 14, flea idolatry. 1 Timothy 6, 11, flee the love of money. 2 Timothy chapter 2, flea run away from youthful lust, which means you are to continuously flee, flee according to the president, imperative tense. But we are not instructed to run away from the devil. We are instructed to start a resistance movement against the enemy of our soul, the devil. And God is calling his church to be part of a last day ladder company, but he's also being, he's calling us to be a part of a glorious, resistance movement. So here's the question before we pray, before I ask these young people to come and the men to stand behind them. How do you and I resist the devil? I'm gonna give you three or four answers. Number one with intelligence, with intelligence, with intelligence. The first piece of intelligence is to know who you're fighting. That's why terrorism is so insidious because you don't know who they are. You know, you can't really spot the terrorists. You think you can spot them, but you don't know who they are. But we know who we're fighting. We are fighting Satan. The Bible says we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but principalities, powers against the rulers of darkness of this age. The new living says we are not fighting against flesh and blood enemies, but evil rulers, mighty powers in the dark world. And I found 31 names for this enemy according to these scriptures. I'll give you a few. Accuser of the brethren, adversary, angel of the bottomless pit, the beelzebub, beelile, crooked serpent, dragon, enemy, evil spirit. Father of lies, the great dragon, the great red dragon. Leviathan liar, lying spirit murderer. He's the old serpent, the power of darkness, power of the world, power of the devils, prince of the power of the air, the ruler of the darkness of this world, Satan, serpent, spirit who works in the children of disobedience, he's a tempter, the God of this world, the unclean spirit and the wicked one. And we are not unaware of his schemes. The Bible says his second Corinthians 211, Satan will not outsmart us for we are familiar with his evil schemes. Translated in other version, his design. The message paraphrase says we're not oblivious to his ways. The King James says we're not, we're not unaware of his devices. And if you study school shootings, it just happened in the state I got saved in. I was the Georgia district youth director and I've actually preached in the high school that that kid in Georgia came from before he went to Winder when he was at Jefferson. I've done an FCA thing there. One thing that all of these mass murderers, almost all of them have in common, is that when they are pressed and they confess, they each say that they are hearing voices that told them to do it. Where do you think the voice comes from? What I'm talking about is life and death, it's heaven and hell, it's important. And one of the devices, one of the devices is that he walks around like a roaring lion. Now he's been called a snake because he's subtle and he whispers and he's like an angel of life. But in this context, Peter says he walks like a roaring lion and the Christian life sometimes can be compared to a jungle war. Remember I took a group of kids to Singapore, out of the master's commission kids, we went to Singapore and then we went up into Malaysia and there were 200 kids we were preaching to and the missionary decided to have a jungle midnight hike. What could go wrong? Midnight jungle hike. That's why I'm glad I'm not in the youth ministry anymore. You have the midnight jungle hikes. My son was with me, he was 12 years old. We're at the very back of the line. It was in the '90s so, you know, what cell phone technology existed, but not everybody had one. And we're walking and then we stopped for like an hour. We don't know what's going on at the front of the line. Nobody can communicate to us, but the bridge, the little walking bridge was out and they had to help these Asian kids one by one to cross this creek. Meanwhile, while we're back at the line there, we're seeing eyeballs looking at us from the jungle, where no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, He's scared of the life out of us. We heard a couple of roars. My 12 year old was not down with that program. He's a tough kid, but he was crying. I want to get out of here, dad. Walking about like a roaring lion. Now lion is compared in the Bible to strength and majesty, encourage Jesus, Christ, God, Israel, the tribe of Judah. But in this context, it means a menacing, ferocious predator. It's a predator in fierce hunger. And what the roar does, like a roaring lion, and I've heard people say he has no teeth, he has to roar, I don't make light of the enemy of our soul. I don't get placed to him, but I don't make light of him. I think the roar, the roar of a lion, will immobilize the victim. A roar paralyzes people with fear. My son, Joseph, the one that was in the jungle, took his kid to the zoo two months ago. And he said there was a roar, a city block away that rumbled right where he was standing, one of those lions roared. And that's how the enemy does us. He is unpredictable and he intimidates by fear. A lion can bound about 100 yards in five seconds. They run 20 feet per strides, one guy said. When I took karate, I tell Pastor Joseph today at lunch, I took karate as a kid, I didn't wear it on my sleeve, but I knew how to fight. And I was 13 years old and I was fighting 35 year old men. I was beating them 'cause I thought I was something else. I didn't realize 'til I got to be 35, we're just old and fat, I mean, kids quick. But they told me to, one of the things that they taught me was to do a KI, I don't know if I'm saying it right, where you, the guy says go, and it's just a, like that right there, just a KI. And so when I was in Sedalia, Missouri, I think, got a tournament and I was fighting a brown belt. I was a white belt and that guy went, that referee said fight, as soon as he said fight, I said, and that kid got so scared that he froze, I kicked him in the stomach and I won. (audience laughs) So I thought I was something, the next guy came up, he was a yellow belt and he hit me in the ribs and broke my ribs, so my tournament was over. (audience laughs) Lions want people, Lions want the herd to be moving. And he runs down the weak ones and freezes them in fear. And he certainly has been defanged at the cross, so to speak, but he's still potent. He wants to devour souls. And the Bible says, your adversary, the devil, like a roaring lion, roams about seeking, that means to go and search for, to strive, to find. He's on a search and destroy mission to discover. And he's an accuser of the brethren. He accuses men to God and he accuses God to men and he accuses men to one another and he accuses men to themselves. That's his specialty. And he's looking for any weakness to exploit. Even our strength can be a weakness. The Edinburgh Castle was one time invaded by an enemy and they were that a steep, steep, mountainous cliff. They didn't even guard it because they didn't think anybody would come from that side. That was a strength that they thought they had, but that's where the enemy came and overtook them. And Satan has acquired long experience in the art of temptation. He comes to devour, to devour means to literally drink down the swallow, to swallow up completely. Sudden destruction. Paul uses this verb to explain that the death is swallowed up in victory, to swallow means it disappears. That's what Satan wants to do to us to disappear us. In Tampa, Florida, there was a guy named Jeff Bush. Jeff Bush said good night to his brother and to his sister-in-law. He was just simply visiting his brother. He said, "I'm going to turn in tonight." He went to the back of the house and went to bed and a sinkhole opened up and the brother and the sister-in-law got out, Jeff Bush has never to this day been found. He was devoured. That's the idea of what somebody, some old boy might say, "That old devil, "he's trying to get me to drink a beer "but the good Lord, he's a helper." I mean, he don't want you to drink a beer. He wants you to be an alcoholic and run your car off in the road and hit a tree. He wants to devour us. It means to be chewed or torn or broken into pieces. And when you get devoured, you become part of that person that devours you. You become a part? I had beef tips and rice for lunch. And by the way, it was outstanding, but it became part of, it's gone. It became part of me. And that's the enemy's desire. He doesn't want to just paw at us. He wants to devour us. Jesus came seeking sinners, but the devil comes seeking saints to make us ineffective. He is not God, he is not omniscient. He's not the opposite of God, but he has a vast network that's been around for a long time. So this is the intelligence that the enemy has a pretty big territory, first John 519 on the screen. We know that we are from God. The whole world lies in the power of the evil one. You see the news, you just watch the news tonight and you can see that. Ephesians 2-2, in which you once walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the heir, the spirit who works now and the sons of disobedient. He's a slanderer. I had one devotion, good devotion today. That means I did half the work of the enemy because the Bible says that Satan accuses us to God, night and day. He's having two times with God. So I need to step up my game, but he accuses us and he accuses us to ourselves, throws missiles into our mind. And what that does, gentlemen, I'm gonna talk to you for a moment. What that does is it puts us on a cycle where instead of praying that mountains would be moved and blessings would come and miracles would happen, we catch ourself in a spiral of always thinking we're not good enough because the enemy is in our ear, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, seeking to divide. Luke records that Satan himself entered into Judas Iscariot in the Luke 22-3. He traffics not only in accusation, but in lives. John 844, you are of your father, the devil and the desires of your father, you want to do. He was a murderer from the beginning and does not stand in the truth because there is no truth in him when he speaks a lie. He speaks from his own resources. He's a liar and the father of all lies. He tempted Ananias to lie, and you know what happened to him in Acts chapter five. He's fell down dead. Satan, our enemy, traffics in theft and murder. The thief comes not to steal but to steal and to kill and to destroy John 10-10, but I've come that you might have a life. He asked David, the devil asked David, according to First Chronicles, to take a census. And now Satan stood up against Israel and moved David to number Israel. And that one decision cost 70,000 lives, 70,000. That's like 191 jet airplane 747s packed to the brim falling into the sea because the devil lies and traffics and lies and traffics in doubt. And this was happening to our young people. Men, that's why we're going to stand behind these kids today. And all that they represent in this church, in this community. And Satan, from the very beginning, Genesis, I believe chapter three, did God say, we read in this book, what sin is, but there's such a diabolical thing among our young people right now that this same tactic is being used. Well, actually, wouldn't you read that it says, it didn't really mean that exegetically and hermeneutically and homiletically, it means that you're supposed to do the exact opposite. That's a tactic of hell. It's a tactic of hell. Genesis three, one. There's a massive infrastructure of emissaries and demons. John Piper says a wartime mindset must include shrewd knowledge of the tactics of the enemy. Ephesus says, take no part in unfruitful works of darkness, but rather instead expose him. So we do it with intelligence. We've got to do this. We've got to resist him steadfast in the faith with intelligence and with awareness. He says, be sober. He said, be sober. Sober means not intoxicated or drunk, habitually temperate, especially in the use of liquor. In the New Testament, it figuratively means to be free from every form of mental and spiritual intoxication to be calm and collected in spirit. Circumspect, self-controlled, well-balanced, clear-headed, self-possessed in all circumstances. It's in the aorus, tends to gain urgent action. Do this now. Keep your head clear now. For other places, the Bible commands us to be sober. And part of being sober, one guy says, is not blaming everything on the devil. I know people to do that. I got a buddy that's a comedian, African-American guy. He was on the America's Got Talent. He went pretty far. His name's Mike Godwin. We've done some shows together. He wears bow ties. His career in comedy has taken right off. He had a bit one time. He said, some of my boy the other day, I said, man, I've been trying to call you. Something's messed up with your phone. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah, they cut me off. Devil's been busy. Mike says, I looked to my friend and said, devil ain't been busy. You didn't pay your phone bill. That's what that is, right? You can't blame everything on the devil. You have to be aware, though. You have to be sober. Be vigilant to what really is a demonic attack. Keep calm and carry on was a motivational poster produced by the government of the United Kingdom in 1939 in preparation for World War II to raise the morale of the public because the bombs were coming. That's the idea here that Peter has given to us. Be sober, be sober, be vigilant. Vigilant means keenly watching to detect danger. Be an ever alert and awake, sleeplessly watchful. It's like keeping your head on a swivel. When I walk the Appalachian Trail, I can tell you, I would come up on these markings where bears were certainly there based on what I was about to step on. And I had my head on a swivel. My wife is terrified of snakes. She has a phobia about it. We live in a little subdivision called Dakota Woods. We have woods in our backyard. We've been there 13 years. She'd never been in the woods. She'd never been in the backyard. And so I was on that Appalachian Trail. And I just got a signal. I hadn't had one in a day or two and I called my wife. I said, "Hey, baby, show us so good to hear from you. "How you doing? "I've been praying for you." I said, "Baby, I'm doing pretty good. "We've had a great day." Hey, Steve, be careful. There's a rattlesnake behind this rock about stepped on. Anyway, and she fell out. She fell out, she gone. She was gone. You got to keep your head on a swivel if you're walking in dangerous places. And as a believer, we keep our head on a swivel. Not afraid, not fleeing, but aware. Oh, this doesn't seem like this should be happening. Maybe this is something else. Be alert. That means be awake. Keep watching, keep watching, keep alert. Stay on alert, stay awake. Means to do it now, imperative. Now Peter knows what he's talking about. He knows what he's talking about. He's the one writing this. Jesus says in Luke 22, "Simon Simon, Satan has asked "to sift you as wheat, but I have prayed for you "that your faith will not fail, "and after you've returned around, "you're going to strengthen the brothers." That's what we just read in 1 Peter, is the answer to Jesus' prayer. Simon Simon, "Satan has asked to sift you like wheat." That is a verse that tells us that we need to be aware. Luke 22, 40, when he came to the place, he said to them, "Pray that you may not enter "into temptation, but Peter didn't do it that time." He slept, he slept. The secular Greek used this verb in the idea of walking across a creek on slippery stones. Be vigilant, be aware. Watch where you're walking. Where we walk is important. On that Appalachian Trail, those two guys would go ahead of me 'cause they're in such a great shape. Then they'd wait for 20 minutes while I just hiked my own hike and just got to 'em at my own speed. So they ran up ahead of me and I was walking along and in nature called me to do something specific. And so I walked into the woods, take care of a small transaction. And if you've ever been on the Appalachian Trail, they have blazes, they have blazes. So we're walking along and we see as dead possum by the tree and I said, "Look, God, I took a picture "of the dead possum and the guys went on ahead "and then I went up in the woods. "I came back and I kept following those blazes. "I kept following those blazes." 20 minutes went by, 30 minutes went by, 40 minutes went by, an hour, hour and a half. And I'm getting nervous, they got my water. I'm getting pretty nervous. The two hours go by, I'm like, "Where did these guys go?" They fall off the cliff. Pretty soon I turned around, one of them had dropped their pack and they were sprinting. They got to me, "Shoo!" I said, "What are you guys doing, man, this ain't funny. "You got my water, why didn't you wait on me?" He said, "What are you doing? "You have walked back to where we started this morning." (audience laughing) Then they said, "That dead possum didn't give it away." And I said, "To be honest with you, "when I saw it, I thought, "Dear God, something's killing all the possums "on this mountain." That's a true story. It's important where you walk. It's important where you go. It's important where you step. It's important that you follow him, that you keep your head on a swivel, know where you're at, know what's going on. And I like what Spurgeon said, I never thought about it before. He said, "Temptation is, "sometimes it's not that bad of a thing "because temptation will keep us awake." He said, "Children do not run away from their father's side "when the big dogs bark at 'em. "There's something about temptation "that keeps us close to God "because it's always gonna be around us "until we go to heaven, "but we have to keep our head on a swivel." Then you resist him with awareness, you resist him with intelligence, and you resist him with weapons. With weapons, look at the verse on the screen, "For the weapons of our warfare, "they're not carnal, but mighting in God "to pulling down strongholds, casting down arguments "and every high thing that exalts itself "against the knowledge of God, "bringing every thought into captivity "to the obedience of Christ." Resist him, steadfast. That means stable, solid, having a strong foundation, like a rock, compact like a rock, immovable. So many of our young people, that's another reason I'm gonna ask you men to come and stand behind our young people as we pray for them. So many young people, especially where I live in a metropolitan area, they're deconstructing their faith as a movement. What does that mean? That mean they grew up in a church, but has somebody heard them? I'm not talking about abuse, I'm not talking about real physical abuse that is felonious. I'm talking about hurt their feelings, gave them some correction, it hurt 'em. So they're just pulling down everything that they've ever believed and try to reconstruct their faith. Now my kids say that's not such a bad thing, Dad, I think it's, I think when a kid is raised in the faith and then they begin to doubt everything they've ever known, that that is a problem. And the Bible says we are to resist the devil, steadfastly, above all else, Ephesians 6, 16, take the shield of faith with which you can quench all the fiery darts of the devil. First John 5, 4 says this is the victory that's overcome the world, our faith. Now we'll put this scripture on Ephesians, Ephesians, finally brother, and this is the weapons, this is the weapons that we fight with. Be strong in the Lord, in the power of his mind. Put on the whole armor of God that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil, here they are. But we don't wrestle against flesh and blood, against principalities and powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual hosts and wickedness and heavenly places. Take up the whole armor of God that you might be able to stand and withstand in the evil day, having done all to stand, stand, having done all to stand, having girded your loins, your ways with truth, having put on the breastplate of righteousness and having shod your feet with the preparation to gospel of peace, above all, take the shield of faith, quench all the fiery darts of the wicked one, and take the helmet of salvation, the sword of the spirit, which is the word of God, pray in always with all prayer supplication, be in watchful, be in watchful, there's that word again, watchful to this end with all perseverance and supplication. For all the things you do it with weapons, I used to preach an illustrated sermon. I lost all those props. It was, I had a police shield, I had a flapjacket from Ranger Joe's in Fort Benning, Georgia. I had a Rambo knife as a sword of the spirit, some boots, pretty cool, had a belt. The sermon was called Don't Fight Naked. And the Lutherans asked me to preach that at the Youth Rally in 1994. In the morning they asked me to give a 20 minute homily, that's a whole nother story. I'd never been to a Lutheran church before. And they assigned me a coach to help me know when to stand, when to sit and all that, and they had communion right in the middle of the sanctuary. I preached my homily, went through and got my elements, like a good Pentecostal boy, took them back to the seat. And I looked up and everybody was doing the elements right there as they walked by. And then that guy tapped me on the shoulder and said, "Father, why did you bring the elements back to your seat?" Before I could catch my mouth, I said, "I just got mine to go," which was not the right. About that time my son was six years old at the time, he went, "What is this junk?" It was real wine. So I then right in the middle of that, at the end of the service, Dr. Darcy Leerson was a dentist who invited me to do the youth rally, the priest or the pastor, whatever, said Dr. Leerson, talk about tonight and he stood up and he said, "Yeah, you want to be back tonight, Joe, he's great. He's bringing us an illustrated sermon call, "Let's get naked." I said, "No, that's a different seminar now. Don't fight naked. We can't fight naked. We got to fight with all that stuff that's up there on the board." With those weapons, with fasting, Mark chapter 9, this kind comes out but by prayer and fasting with worship. We fight the enemy. We resist the enemy. We don't flee the enemy. We resist the enemy with weapons that he has given us. And finally with relationship, briefly, with relationship. He said, he said, "Be sober. Be vigilant for your adversary, the devil, walks about like a roaring lion. Seek it and we may devour. Resist him steadfast in the faith. Here's important. Knowing that the same sufferings are experienced by your brotherhood in the world. Knowing means absolutely positive beyond a chance of doubt. In the perfect tense, it speaks of the permanence of their knowing. One commentator I studied about this passage said, "It's like PRN, the nurses in the room might know prorenata." That means you take the medication as needed. You have this knowledge, PRN, that whatever you and I go through across the world, our brothers are also facing it. Because one of the tricks of the devil make us feel all alone. Elijah beats the devil and then he complained to the Lord, "I'm the only one left." And the Lord said, "Actually, there's 7,000 in Israel. You're not the only one." A study came out recently about the record loneliness and levels for young people. They're more socially connected than ever before in history and they're more disconnected personally than ever before because they're isolated and that's the enemy's goal. But we have to have relationship. We have to fight with relationship. Knowing that all over the world, the struggle is the same. First Corinthians 10-12 on the screen, no temptation. As overtaking you, except that is common to man, but God is faithful. And he will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you're able. But with temptation, he'll make a way of escape. That you might be able to bear it. Brotherhood all over the world. That's why I kind of understand somebody going through a horrible ordeal, cancer, heart disease, or something like that. And nobody knows about it because they kept it private. The way I understand that is if they put it out there on Front Street, then they've got a part-time job of answering everybody updating everybody and communicating with everybody that says to pray for them. I get that. But man, if I've got a problem, you're going to know about it. I mean, a big problem. If I'm in the ditch, you're going to know about it. Joe Garner is going to know about it. The MVPs are going to know about it. The brother and all over the world that are suffering, they're going to know about it because I need people on my team to help me because I'm on their team too. You resist with having a relationship with God. James 4, 7 says, "Submit to God. Resist the devil. Resist the devil and he'll flee from you. Draw near to God and he'll draw near to you. Submit, that means to line up with what God wants. It's the humble man or woman that Satan will flee from, not the one that's filled with pride and arrogance." Jude says, Michael, the archangel, in continuing with the devil when he disputed about the body. He didn't bring a reviling accusation, but he said, and this is how we resist. The archangel, a powerful archangel, says to Satan, "The Lord rebuke you." That's how we do it. Jordan, close to God. You know how they study counterfeit bills? You probably know this, when they teach the Secret Service, that department and the Treasury to study counterfeit bills, to know what looks counterfeit, they teach them to know what the real thing is, to understand the nuances of, because if you know what the real thing is, forward, backwards, upside down, inside out, you can spot a phony. That's how we resist getting close to God. In conclusion, in conclusion, lions like to keep the herd moving, because when they stop and they're grazing, the lion can't spot the weak one and the slow one and the sick one. But when they're running away from the lion, they can spot him and say, "Okay, there it is. There it is." That's the tactic of the devil. Luke 4.13 says, "The devil had ended every temptation he departed from him until an opportune time resists the devil and he'll flee from you." Here's the good news. I know it's been kind of heavy, but here's the good news. The gospel is good news. You don't have to be afraid of the young person. You don't have to be afraid. If you have Jesus in your heart, you do not have to be afraid of the enemy of your soul. You just have to be aware. Here's the good news. Romans 1620, "The God of peace will soon crush Satan under your feet." 1 John 4 says, "It's on the screen. You are of God little children and have overcome them because he who is in you is greater than he who is in the world." I remember reading about Spurgeon and one of the great saints who woke up and saw the devil at the foot of the bed and when he woke up and saw that evil entity, he went, "Oh, it's just you," and he rolled over and went back to sleep. Romans says in chapter 8, "I'm convinced that death, life, angels, even diabolical angels, principalities, things present, things to come. Nothing shall separate me from the love of God." Couple of more scriptures maybe. 1 John 2, 14, "I've written to you, fathers, because you've known him who is from the beginning, and I've written to you, young men, because you are strong, and the Word of God abides in you, and you have overcome the wicked one." So we resist it. We don't run from him. We don't fear him. We don't negotiate with the enemy. We resist him in Jesus' name. I didn't give this to the media. I didn't give this to the media, but there's a video, and I'm not going to try to show it to you, because it's too big of a room. But there's a video and it's called The Battle at Kruger. It's a grainy little video. I'm only just showing you this so you can kind of get an idea what the video shows is there's a little water buffalo at the water's edge, and these little water buffaloes away from the herd, "I do it myself!" I'm big buffalo, and lions resist him, steadfast in the lions, like lions surround this buffalo. Do you have a picture of it that, yeah, lions surround this little water buffalo, and they start kind of gnawing on him. One of the reasons I don't want to show it is because kids will get scared, but it's got a good ending. And they drag that little water buffalo down to the edge of the water there in Africa, and they're working on this buffalo trying to take its life, and what happens from the water, oh, crocodile grabs a little water buffalo, and they have a tug of war for this buffalo. It's over, it's over, but one of the coolest things about this video is the camera, and you might want to do it on silent if you show it in front of your kids. I think that the tourists that are taking this video start kind of cussing a little bit, but the herd of buffalo, they turn around, and they walk back, and all these lions are surrounding, and then they start moving down like that, and then one by one, the herd. And gentlemen, that's why I want you to come pray. You're going to be the herd tonight. One by one, the herd took their horns and flipped those lions 30 feet in the air and ran them all out, and the little water buffalo stood up, shook itself off, and walked back into herd. So I'm not going to be by myself no more. Ladies and gentlemen, tonight we are the herd. We're going to resist them for ourselves, and we're going to resist them for this generation. Let it never be said in Biola, Arkansas that there was some kind of a school shooter, because we're going to pray. We're going to pray when you come up here, I'm going to show you just a simple prayer that I pray over my kids every day and grandkids. Would you stand to your feet, Lord God Almighty, we just praise you and thank you for the power of your word. This wasn't a flowery, fancy sermon, but it is a word that's right now. Be sober, be vigilant for your adversary, the devil, walks about like a roaring lion, seeking him, he may devour, we are to resist him, steadfast in the faith, knowing this that the same sufferings are experienced by our brotherhood in the world. That is a right now word, and I'm asking you to do special things in this altar today in Jesus' name. So now if you're a 19 or younger, would you come up here right now? I'm asking for all of you to come up here, y'all can start playing any time you want. All of you just stand in front of this altar, single file line, go out like that. That'll work, that'll work, thank you, thank you, thank you, ladies. Y'all got fantastic kids up here, you've got some great kids, and are they awesome? Okay, now what I want you to do, all of you turn around and face, because we're going to worship the Lord in just a moment before we pray, before we pray, we're just going to bless his name because he inhabits the praise of his people. Now gentlemen, men who are 20 and above, if you don't mind just coming and standing behind them, standing, you're the buffalo today, you're the buffalo, we're locking our arms and we're saying not today, that little buffalo belongs to us, it doesn't belong to the crocodile and it doesn't belong to the lion, this belongs to God, these kids belong to God, and we're going to fight for these kids. So don't do anything yet except just worship the Lord, we're going to take a little season here and bless his name, we worship you today God. Jesus, go ahead God. [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] Hallelujah. We're going to pray in a moment, I just, the Lord just kind of showing me some things from when I was a kid. I'm going to share it with you the verse that he gave me, here's a good, here's a good reference to a lion, I think it's a Proverbs 18 1, the wicked run and no one pursues but righteous people stand bold like a lion, one of the tactics of hell is fear, when I was a kid and we had to go through, well actually it was a little before my time, my parents would go through drills, nuclear holocaust drills where you'd get under a desk at school like that would stop a nuclear blast from killing you, they were always afraid. The enemy tries to keep us scared. I remember when I was a 18-year-old boy, I'd just been born again for just a few weeks, I was with my friend and I was seated and I sensed this, well since this evil entity in the back seat, now I was a tough kid, I was the only white kid on my basketball team in an inner city, I was scrappy and I, when I felt that, I was terrified, I ran into the grass, I fell down, started crying, my friend ran over and said, what was it, was it the enemy, that's what my friend said, I said, yeah and that was first time I ever heard anybody praying in the spirit outside of a church service, my friend praying for me that night, white 2K came and everybody was terrified, COVID came, everybody was terrified, what these men and I, we're going to pray over you is boldness and not to be afraid, you don't have to be afraid of the wicked one because greater is he that's in you than he that's in the world, we don't have to be afraid, we don't have to be afraid, so this is what I pray over my kids and gentlemen, if you, if you all you know to pray is God keep them safe, just pray that prayer, God keep them safe, God keep them safe, I pray this, I prayed it today in my time with the Lord, Father today I plead and pray the precious blood of our Lord Jesus Christ, the holy Lamb of God, over Joseph, Lauren, Kenan, Madeline, Susie and my life, Chelsea, Marie, Ezekiel, James, Margaret, Ed, Maggie, Marie, Brooklyn, Christine, Little Riley, Brooke and the little one that's on the way and I pray the angels of the Lord, we can't round about each one of us so God keep us safe, keep us safe in Jesus name, that's a simple prayer, I pray it every day and I believe God hears it every day and he answers, so now let us pray for these young people, let's pray for these young people, mamas and grandmamas you welcome to stretch your hand out, these men of God are going to stand behind these, we're the Buffalo today, we're turning around say not today, not today, Father we plead and pray the precious blood of our Lord Jesus Christ, the holy Lamb of God, over every one of these children and youth God, that no weapon formed against them will prosper, that nothing will come nigh unto their tent, God, but you're going to keep them safe, stir up and fan into flame the gift of God that is within them and surround them Lord, surround them for those who may be going through temptation, right now they may be going through temptation cause somebody's in their ear trying to tempt them away from the things of God, I pray that you will overwhelm them by your love and your power and your grace and help them taste and see, taste and see that the Lord is good, put your hand on their shoulder if you want to fellas, in Jesus' name, we pray over these young people, in Jesus' name, no weapon formed against them will prosper, there's destiny in this altar, I feel it, I feel the destiny of God, oh hallelujah, thank you for these world changes, Lord, thank you for protecting them, keeping them safe, Lord, thank you, Lord, that you give us the right thoughts as we sleep, you're always on the throne, you're keeping us safe in Jesus' name, in Jesus' name, in Jesus' name, oh let's just keep worshiping the Lord as we pray, keep praying for them, we're going to worship the Lord too. [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] Yes Lord, the schemes of the evil one we say, the Lord rebuke the enemy of our soul, we plead your blood over the doors of the schools in this county, we pray God your angels would be all around, that nobody would bring any kind of stupidity into our classrooms, protect these kids from unsafe drivers, protect them Lord from bad decisions, and I pray you just keep your hand upon them in a powerful way. The Bible says that there's a distinction that the Lord makes between Egypt and Israel, and I'm praying that same kind of distinction on these kids, there's a distinction between these kids and the kids of the world that God you're going to keep your hand on them and protect them, in Jesus' name, praise God, praise God now mamas, grandmamas, I'm going to tell everybody that this altar that you can kind of go to the side or go back to your seats and thank you for coming and thank you men and I'd like some of them maybe some of the men that know the Lord to just hang out and help me pray. Young person and dad, grandpa, grandma, mama, if I'm going to say something and this might resonate with you in your life right now, some of you feel like you're going two steps forward, but three steps back, two steps forward, but three steps back and you just seem to not be able to catch any traction. Perhaps you feel like you're under some kind of oppressive attack right now, that somebody's grabbing your ankle and somebody's grabbing your head and they're trying to pull you apart. You need some prayer. These guys are going to kind of split the, split the red sea here and I'm going to stand down here and if that connects with you and you're like, yeah, I'll take the prayer tonight. I'll take the prayer that God would cover me and protect me and help me and take away this darkness. This is whatever this thing is that's trying to bring me down. Hey, if Elijah can kill 400 prophets of Baal and then go into a cave and say I'm the only one. There's no shame in where you're at. The only shame is to stay where you're at when there's help, when there's people that will bear your burden and help you. So as we continue to worship, if you need special prayer that God would protect you, me and pastor, maybe some other men of God are going to surround you and believe for that, Lord. Thank you, Jesus. Thank you, Jesus. Come on, the altar's open. Oh, the baby and the kids, the love of your friendship is unlike anything I've ever known. May I never lose the wonder of your presence. May I always stand in awe of who you are. Oh, the beauty and the kids, love of your friends. It's unlike anything I've ever known. May I never, may I never lose the wonder of your presence. May I always stand in awe of who you are. Oh, the beauty and the kids, love of your friendship. It's unlike anything I've ever known. All like me. Holy Spirit, all like me. Holy Spirit, all the way. Let your glory fall down. Let your glory fall down. Holy Spirit, all like me. Holy Spirit, all like me. Holy Spirit, all the way. Let your glory fall down. Let your glory fall down. May the Freshman, the fragrance of heaven, pour your spirit out, pour your spirit out. Holy anointing, the power of your presence, pour your spirit out, pour your spirit out. Holy Spirit, some rushing wind, power of God, pour within. Holy Ghost, breathe on us, we pray. As we rip in, turn from sin, revival limber, smother in breath of God, penising to cling. And maybe a Freshman, the fragrance of heaven, pour your spirit out, pour your spirit out, pour your spirit out. The hearts that burn will lead to you, hear a light in faith and deep. Refiners fire, drink them more deeply. So be the church, prepare your life. Let the flame see bright, king and king, don't thong, is where we pray. Then maybe a Freshman, the fragrance of heaven, pour your spirit out, pour your spirit out. I'm holding anointing, the power of your presence, pour your spirit out, pour your spirit out with me. We need a Freshman, the fragrance of heaven, pour your spirit out, pour your spirit out. I'm holding anointing, the power of your presence, pour your spirit out, won't you pour your spirit out? And let all the redeemed help the scyens see, that we can hear the wind flow away. Move upon our praise, sons and daughters see, that we can hear the wind flow away. Let all the redeemed help the scyens see, we can hear the wind flow away. Move upon our praise, sons and daughters see, we can hear the wind flow away. Let all the redeemed help the redeemed, from the scyens see, we can hear the wind flow away. Move upon our praise, sons and daughters see, we can hear the wind flow away. And we need a Freshman, the fragrance of heaven, pour your spirit out, won't you pour your spirit out. I'm holding anointing, the power of your presence, pour your spirit out, pour your spirit out, winning a fresh wind, the fragrance of heaven, pour your spirit out, pour your spirit out. I'm holding anointing, the power of your presence, pour your spirit out. Lord why not here, why not now, why not visit this region with a mighty move of God. We don't want you to do it so we can be talked about and byola can be whispered around the countries as the place where God is moving so that somehow we have bragging rights. No, we're desperate, we're desperate Lord for your presence and your power. What's real? As for you, the anointing, you receive that anointing is real. We don't want the fake or the phony or the hype, we want the real move of God in this church, in these schools, in the other churches in this county, in this region, this area below the winds of revival into this place, God. I pray that there will be students in the school that will be supernaturally affected by your Holy Spirit, that people will be filled with the Spirit just walking down the hallway, hallelujah, that people would be healed, that marriages would be put back together, that the oppressive addiction that may be in some of these homes around this county that God you'll deliver people and set them free. Lord, we praise you for that. We thank you for that. With men, things are impossible, but all things are possible to him, who believes and we're believing in this room tonight for your best, for your best. Thank you, Jesus. So now I like this, I just don't want to go home, but I want to drag it out either. Let's keep worship and see what the Lord might say. Thank you, thank you, worship leaders. Thank you, Lord, thank you, Lord, thank you, Lord, thank you, Lord, thank you, Lord. Who's loving those two generations? I know that you will keep what Kala means. I'm calling on the God of Moses, the one who opened up the oceans. I need you now to do the same thing for me. Oh, God, my God, I need you. Oh, God, my God, I need you now. How I need you now. Oh, rock, oh, rock, oh, pages, I'm standing on your faithfulness. On your faithfulness. I'm calling on the God of Mary, whose favor rests upon the lonely. I know if you all things are possible. I'm calling on the God of David. Who made a shepherd boy courageous. I may not face Goliath, but come on, sing it. Oh, God, my God, God, my God, I need you now. How I need you now. Oh, rock, oh, rock, oh, pages, I'm standing on your faithfulness. On your faithfulness. Oh, my God, my God, my God, I need you. Oh, God, my God, I need you now. How I need you now. Oh, rock, oh, rock, oh, pages, I'm standing on your faithfulness. On your faithfulness. Well, the Lord dropped us in my spirit just now. The scripture Jesus told the disciples, "Don't rejoice that demons are subject to you. Rejoice that your name is written in the Lamb's book of life." Maybe in this room today, and in this revival or sometime recently, you've given your heart to Jesus, but nobody really knows about it. Here's the other verse you put in my mind, "We overcome the devil by the blood of Jesus and the word of our testimony." I'm not going to count to three or have you bow your heads, but if you have given your heart to the Lord and you want people to know that recently, or you have not given your heart to the Lord, but you want to do that tonight, I'm going to drop this microphone to my kneecap, and I'm going to wait here in silence for about 60 seconds. We keep playing. That'd be great. If you want to give your life to Jesus, or you're just moved to say, "Yeah, I have recently done that, and I want everybody to know it, then I'm going to give you 60 seconds to respond." Nobody will judge you. You know what we'll do? We'll start applauding and thanking God because there's a party in heaven, and there's a party on earth. That's what you want to do. Do it now. Praise God. Praise God. That's why we rejoice past to come pray over these young people, would you? Lord, I just thank you for the hearts of these young people, Lord. I thank you for what you're doing in their lives. Lord, I pray that what you're doing in their lives now will retain, or that it'll go further, that they'll go deeper in your word, that they'll go deeper in their walk with you, God. I pray that you protect them, Lord. Lord, that you put people around them that will build them up and strengthen them, God, and not tear them down. Lord, I pray that you help us to be a safe harbor for these students, that you just move in their lives, God. Lord, help us to be a light, to shine and direct. Lord, we just thank you. We praise you for them tonight. Lord, I thank you for what you did in these altars, God. I thank you for what you did in the church tonight, God. I thank you for what you're continuing to do through the survival, God. I pray that you just continue to move. Lord, we're believing we're going to hear reports of what you've done this week for weeks to come, God. Lord, we just thank you. We praise you tonight. Lord, I pray that you watch over these people and protect them as they travel to their homes and bring them back here safely in your name. We pray. Amen. Amen. We'll see you tomorrow night at seven o'clock.