Dressed for Success

Hey, welcome to Revere Church. We are so glad that you're joining us today. Whether this is your first time or this is your home and your community, we're so glad that you're here. There's a few ways that you can get plugged in and get connected and help make this house feel like a home. Whether you want to join a community group or a serve team or maybe you're ready to take your next steps in your faith and get baptized, there's a link below that you can click to find out more information. We're also a community that believes in giving back to God what belongs to him through tithes and offerings. We are able to support our local and global communities. And if you have a heart that wants to partner with God with what he is doing in and through this house, there's also a link that you can click down below. Service is about to start. We hope you enjoy. Are you free today? Yes! For those in this room and for those watching online, welcome to Revere. My name is Bianca and I'm one of the pastors here. And I'm gonna start today's message with a word from our sponsor, my Bible boyfriend, Paul the Apostle. You don't have to turn there yet

because I put it on the screen as a little warmup. He says this, finally, after we have gone through worship, after we've experienced prayer, this is my word to you. Finally, be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power. You can be strong, not in you. You can be strong because there's a power, a wonder working power on the inside of you. Put on the full armor of God so that you can take your stand against the devil schemes. For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms. As we gather here at church, we aren't just gonna worship, though we've experienced worship. We're not just gonna pray, though we've experienced prayer. We're not just gonna study scriptures, though we study the scriptures. Today, I wanted to create space to also mourn the state of the world and our nation. I know we have a global family that watches online. And if you are not familiar with what's going on in the United States, let me not be myopic and just make it about us.

But we've experienced some trauma this week, the last two, three weeks. This is what's happened on American soil. A refugee woman was brutally murdered in a subway while bystanders watched. And people will say, it's not that deep. It happens all the time. This week, a high school shooting in Colorado left a community shattered. And people will say, it's not that deep. It's happened before. Two weeks ago, a man entered a church in Minneapolis and opened fire on adults and children. 18 people were injured and two children, Fletcher Merkel and Harper Moisky, were killed while worshiping Jesus. And people will say, it's not that deep. He was mentally unstable. And this week on a college campus, Charlie Kirk was killed in public, targeted for his beliefs. And people have said, it's not that deep. That's what happens when you speak out. Please hear me ever so clearly. It is that deep. In fact, it's deeper than you think. And family, this is not just in our backyard. This is a global issue. There's wars raging in Israel, Palestine, Ukraine, Congo, Sudan, where places and people

are completely displaced and living in fear. These are not just political conflicts. There are spiritual battles at play. And this is what Paul talks about in evidence of Ephesians chapter six. So before we sit down, I wanna open up and invoke the name of Jesus, the light of the world that will pierce even the darkest places. So will you add your faith to mine online and in the room? If you feel comfortable, will you raise a hand declaring the Lord will get victory? As we come before and we say, Jesus, thank you that you are the light of the world. Thank you that you have made us carriers of the light to go to dark places. And so as we open up your word today, Lord God, I pray that our ears are open, our eyes are open, our soul is open to receive from you today. May your presence be made manifest in our midst. Speak to us, heal us, heal our lands. We come before you and say, search our hearts, God, and give us what we need to serve you daily and to love a very broken world in Jesus name. Amen and amen. Go ahead and turn to your neighbor, say hello. If you're watching online, drop in the chat box where you're tuning in from. We are nosy folk. We wanna see you and celebrate you.

Welcome. Welcome to Revere. Like I mentioned, my name is Bianca, and if you know me, I take this platform and this pulpit seriously. I want the words that are dispensed to not only have a weight to them, I want them to have a holiness to them. And so while we are facing as a nation not just a political issue, we need to bring light to the fact that we are also addressing a spiritual issue. I love that Paul, as we opened up service, he's waking up the people of God. And we as a community, we will not be tone deaf to the depravity of humanity in society. So when people around in social media, on media, on technology are saying, it's not that deep. Family, I've come with a different message. I believe that it is that deep. It's deeper than you think. Let me reiterate what Paul said in verse 12. If you brought your Bible, open it up and turn with me to Ephesians 6. I gave you a warning last week that I want you to bring your Bibles. If you don't have a Bible, Amazon.com. There you go, you will have it by tomorrow. But if you need a Bible, we have one for you. If you say yes to Jesus, that is our gift to you. We want to resource you. And also if you need a Bible, we would love to resource you and stop by the welcome center.

But Paul says this in Ephesians 6, he says, our struggle is not against flesh and blood but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms. Now back in November, we planned out where we were going as a church. We take the teaching and exegesis of God's word very seriously in here. And so back in November of last year, we started praying and planning for this series. What will our church need as we think about the nourishing diet that we want to provide as Bible teachers and communicators to the sheep. And we knew that we had to gird up, we had to be battle ready. We sensed that the Lord was doing something. But listen, if we ever thought we were prophetic, given the week that we just had in this nation, oh, my goodness. I would just say, it's like the Lord did it. I'm positive that we heard from God. If there was ever a time to buck up and battle, it's now. Now Paul, as we will see out of anyone else in scripture, speaks the most militant about our faith. Don't have to turn there, it's on the screen. Second Corinthians 3, he says this... On the contrary, they have divine power to demolish strongholds.

So Paul is using very militant language. And in 1 Timothy 1.18, Paul tells Timothy, his son of the faith, to battle well. In Philippians 2.25, Philemon 1.2, and 2 Timothy 2.3, he refers to believers as soldiers. So let's make it very clear, Paul wasn't asleep. Paul knew what was up. He very clearly writes to his friends in Ephesus, modern day Turkey, modern day Cusadasi. Also, speaking of the modern day, save your Euros, because in 2027, we will be going on the footsteps of Paul Cruz, and we're going to actually go to Cusadasi, aka Ephesus, and we're going to be in the city that he wrote to the Ephesians. Oh my gosh, I know. Are we fun? Yes, we are. Here at Revere, fun is fun, is of value, okay? Yes. But Paul writes to his friends in Ephesus. You love my shameless plug, that's marketing. Yes. Paul writes to his friends in Ephesus, and he basically says, dress for success. This is war, and if you are not dressed for battle, you will get taken out. Maybe you're here today, and you're like, oh my gosh, that sounds really serious. Like, it's not that deep.

Baby, it is that deep. Now, at this point, it might sound theoretical, so let me make it practical. You have what you need to succeed, but you got to put it on. I have been boxing on and off for 10 years. I love it. I was a Rocky fan, and then that made me like a boxer. And I had a shoulder injury. Why are you laughing? Don't let the high heels fool you, okay? I'm from East L.A. You got post-up, you know what I'm saying? I had a shoulder injury, which precluded me from training. But I've done some physical therapy. I'm feeling better. So last Monday, I decided that I was going to go in for a training. I had my headgear. I had my water bottle. I had my gloves. I was ready. Except I forgot my wraps. Now, if you know anything about boxing, the gloves will protect your hands, but the wraps steady your hands. They steady your joints, and they steady your wrists. I said, you know what? It's fine. I'm cool.

We don't need the wraps. Fifteen minutes in, I realized you made a big mistake. A week later, I'm still feeling the effects of not having what I needed to succeed. Now here's the thing, I have the gear, I didn't put it on. I'm here to tell you as we go into this series called Suited Up, you have the gear, you gotta put it on. Listen to what Paul says, not just to the Ephesians, but I believe he's telling us today. Let's continue on and go to verse 13. Therefore, so everything he mentioned, we're in a spiritual battle, the devil's out there scheming, there's spiritual darkness at play. Therefore, because of all that, put on the full armor of God, somebody say, suit up, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground. And after you have done everything to stand, somebody say, suit up, stand firm then, with the bell of truth buckled around your waist and the breastplate of righteousness in place. Somebody say, suit up, and with your feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace. In addition to this, take up the shield of faith with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the spirit, which is the word of God. Somebody say, suit up, so over the next six weeks, we're gonna be taking each of these listed elements that Paul says are needed to suit up

and that we have at our disposal. But we're just not gonna talk about them in general. We're gonna talk about them as in why it matters to us as believers. See, we are prone to think that going to church and knowing a little bit about Jesus is gonna make us prepared for battle. I love you too much to let you be ignorant. That is not the case. In fact, in scripture, we see some people that are trying to invoke the name of Jesus and get the same results. See, during this time, people were familiar with the works of Jesus and that because of Jesus, people had experienced miraculous things. The lame could walk, the deaf could hear, the dead could live, and that his disciples, those who followed Jesus, were experiencing, disseminating the same type of miraculous things. Paul the Apostle in Acts chapter 19, don't turn there. I'm gonna put it on the screen in a second. In Acts chapter 19, Paul the Apostle is performing the miraculous. That so much so that if somebody touched his handkerchief, they were healed. That if somebody was sick and they walked, Paul's shadow passed them, that they would experience healing. Well, some sorcerers at the time, they saw that and they're like, ooh, we can make

some lucrative money off of this. So we're gonna say the name Jesus. We're gonna do what that guy Paul is doing and get the same results. Look at what happens in chapter 19 of Acts, starting in verse 14. Seven sons of a Jewish high priest named Scevo were doing this. They were trying to copy Paul. But the evil spirit answered them. So they were trying to have an exorcist. They were dealing with some demons. And the demon says, Jesus, I know. Paul, I recognize. But who are you? And the man in whom the evil spirit was, and the man in whom was the evil spirit leapt on them, mastered all of them and overpowered them. So they fled out the house naked and wounded. They walked in unprepared and walked out wounded. Just to make sure we're all on the same page, if you start a fight with clothes on and you end the fight with clothes off, you lost. If there is an urgency on my part, if there is intensity in my speech, let me tell you why. This is a spiritual battle. Let's be clear. Let's not get this misconstrued and let us not have a misunderstanding. In this life, and if you sustain in life,

you've got to know how to fight. You can't be sleepwalking. You cannot think that no trial is gonna come your way. You're never gonna have a problem and life is going to be perfect. This is war and you must fight. But the war that we are waging is not man versus man or woman versus woman or man versus woman. No, this war that we're fighting is not against flesh and blood. God is real and the devil is real. And the devil's assignment is to destroy you. And sometimes it looks like tragedies that we've all witnessed within the last month globally. And sometimes it's more personal. Sometimes it is a quiet, subversive, personal blow. And the enemy knows if he cannot take you out physically, he will come for you spiritually. So he will attack your faith. He will attack your hope. He will attack your joy. He will attack your identity. He will attack your intimacy with God. And those battles are equally as deadly as physical battles. And if you want to know how to fight in the spirit, let me tell you something. You gotta get some grit about you. You gotta walk with some edge about you. You gotta stop walking down with your head hang low, letting the devil trample.

You and punk you you've got to start fighting back. You got to get some push in you You got to get some gangster in you You got to look at the enemy and say I'm not afraid of you because greater is he that is in me than he that Is in the world you will come at me one way, but you will flee in seven. I know who my God is I've read the book. I know you are falling and you're trying to take me with you. Uh-uh Uh-uh, not today saying not today his power that works within me can abolish any warfare that you are throwing at me What's you gonna do about it? See I'm a chosen child of God and I have his full armor. So come at me I'm not afraid. No, please hear me say I'm not saying go try to pick a fight with the devil. I Am saying learn how to fight and You gotta start learning that when fear creeps in and darkness takes over. It's not time to run away It's time to fight in the spirit because we understand that we're not warring against flesh and blood But we are warring in this spirit realm. Therefore, we will speak a word regardless of the outcome We will speak the word regardless of what's going around us. We will speak the word regardless of what we see We will speak the the word of God regardless of the results We make a decision that we are gonna fight against principalities of darkness because we don't fight in ourself We fight with the power of God. So stop fighting with your feelings Stop fighting with your thoughts. Stop fighting with your flesh. Stop fighting in the comments of Instagram. Stop fighting the physical man Start fighting with your inside start fighting with the arsenal of weapons that God has given us the tools that God Has given us to wage war and to defend ourselves from the tactics of the enemy Because the truth of the matter is family this war is not gonna stop this war is not gonna stop So you got to choose to suit up and go to battle somebody shot back suit up Let's break this down I Want us to go through this text and I want us to circle some words because Paul is about to give us and the Ephesians some marching orders for battle Finally verse 10 be strong. I want you to circle strong family. I need you to be strong in who in The Lord and in his mighty power Put on if you brought your Bible want you to circle put on this is the marching orders put on the full armor of God

So that you could take your stand. Yes, you got to stand up You got to stand up against the devil schemes now when we discuss the devil Most of us will conjure a cartoon image of a little red devil That's wearing a skin-tight red suit has a long horned tail has horns and a pitchfork But that's not what scripture says about the enemy No, no, Jesus says that our enemy has come to still kill and destroy and in John John in Revelation 20 says this about our enemy that he is the accuser of the brethren He's trying to remind you of everything that you're not see Satan Satan knows your name He knows your name, but he calls you by your sin and our Heavenly Father knows your sin and chooses to call you by your name He's the accuser of the brethren open your eyes and begin to see Ezekiel says this about the enemy that the devil has sinned that devil is full of violence have a proud heart and has been corrupted See, I want to be very very succinct and clear the enemy Wants to steal your identity Destroy your faith and pull you away from God See he's fallen from God and he's like if I'm going down all y'all gonna come with me That is his blatant assignment Paul warns us that the devil is scheming My daddy always said you got to be like a gecko You got like one eye on the world and then one eye on God you got to be careful The Greek word is through cha like watch your back. Okay? It's true. It's true. Just kidding. Just kidding Spanish speakers are like laughing and non Spanish speakers are like through cha Greek. Just kidding It's like ghetto slave or what's up, you know, watch out watch out The devil is very clear. He wants to distract you He wants to attack you and he wants to tempt you look at verse 12 for our struggle Our struggle I love Paul doesn't say when you struggle This is ongoing We will struggle We have struggled

We're gonna continue to struggle is Not against flesh and blood but against the rulers against the authorities against the dark against the powers of this dark world How many would say that the world is very dark right now and against the evil forces the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms? Paul wants to make it very plain and they have a sense of urgency to get ready This is war and you are walking around naked with a toothpick thinking you are going to win this battle. If you knew the enemy wanted to sabotage you, wouldn't you want to know? If you knew you had items to protect you, wouldn't you want to possess them? You can. And that's why Paul is very serious about this. The enemy doesn't want you to win. He wants to sabotage you. Those are the schemes of the devil. What does he want to do? He wants to distract you. He wants to attack you. And he wants to tempt you. He will distract you from worship. In first service today, it was like all the bells in hell were going off. I can't even begin to tell you. The screen was funky. The lyrics didn't come on. We sang a new song. Ain't nobody was singing. And let me tell you something, I think that was the devil. Why? Because scripture says that God inhabits the praises of his

people. And ain't nobody could sing because there were no words. I'm over here praying in every language I know. Get behind me saying absolutely not. Fix the technology. I'm going to worship in spite of not. I'm going to make up words at this point. He wants to distract you from worship. How many, don't lie, how many got into a fight with their kids or their spouse today on the way to church? Oh, no one wants to raise your hands. Thank you. Thank you. Exactly. Yes. And everyone is like this with their baby pinky. But they are sitting next to their spouse and they want to call them out. Yeah. If you didn't sleep well on Saturday night and you woke up tired and hit the snooze button eight times and not come to church and watching online, spiritual warfare. You might be sitting here thinking, it's not that deep. Maybe. Or maybe it is. The enemy will attack your obedience. You make a decision, I'm going to start obeying God's word. I'm going to start tithing and live a life of generosity. And all of a sudden you are hit with a big bill or an option to go on vacation.

Joy is of you, you know. I will be generous on vacation with my tips, you know what I am saying. We start switching scripture. Yep, yep. Someone hits your car, dings your door and doesn't leave a note in the church parking lot. You start serving in church and all of a sudden all hell has gone loose in your house and you are like, it was better when we were carnal. It was better when we showed up church hungover. You set a day aside to fast and pray and somebody shows up with donuts and coffee at your job. Just because, that's the devil. Sugary carbs, that's the devil. That's the devil. It's not that deep. Maybe. Maybe it is. The enemy will try to distract you. The enemy will try to attack you. The enemy will tempt you with old patterns. You decide to stop smoking. And someone just happens to give you a vape pen, a dime bag, a little freezy. And you are like, well, it's from the earth, Lord, so it's from you. You are tempted. You are tempted. It's Friday night and you are lonely.

And you decided I will dedicate my life of purity unto the Lord. And then your ex hits you up. Bro, it's not that deep. It's not that deep. You might be sitting here thinking, do you not believe in coincidences, Bianca? Sure, I believe in coincidences. But not everything is the coink-a-dink. The devil has schemes. He's scheming. He's scheming. And please hear me say, on a message like this, we're talking about spiritual warfare, my fear is that I will be like Bobby Boucher's mama. That's the devil. From Waterboy, you know. Football is the devil. That's the devil. They're the devil. I'm not saying everything is the devil. I'm just saying, it could be. Watch out. Okay. I'm asking you just to wake up and see the devil is at play. I'm seeing a generation of people go to battle with the toothpick when you got the word of God as your sword. But we don't want to pick it up. Oh, the Bible is confusing. The Bible is confusing. The Bible says that if you need wisdom, that he will give it to

you liberally and without reproach. To understand his word with revelation. You are like, oh, praying is so hard. It's hard if you think it's a religious obligation. But if you talk, if you talk to Jesus as a friend, you don't have to have all the right words. Say all the right things. You can just say, I have a need. And I know that there is a spiritual battle. And I don't know if I'm equipped for it. I don't know if I want to. So Paul tells us, prepare for battles. Get suited up. Be dressed for success. And then he tells us to put on our full armor. Why? For our struggle. Verse 12... This is not against flesh and blood but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms. This is not in my notes but let me say a burden on my heart that I am seeing. Given everything that has happened over the last couple weeks. I am seeing a lot of things online or I am hearing religious Christian people say, oh, come Lord Jesus, come. And they are asking us to make it all go away. And they are speaking for the time that Jesus will come and redeem and rescue the church.

And I understand the posture. But I am not praying, come Lord Jesus, come. Because the world is dark and there's people that need the saving grace of Jesus. And we are called to usher in heaven on earth. And so until Jesus does come, Maranatha, we are here to battle. Sometimes it's easy to take a look at our life and think that all of this is happenstance. All of these situations that happen in life are just coincidences. But it could be the very thing that is preparing you for what God has called you to. See if you were to look at my life, I would never as a child say that ministry was for me or that I was going to be a pastor. I was never going to be one of the 15 women leading ministry ever. And so I had no paradigm for it. If I am honest with you, I literally thought the Lord is going to make me a billionaire so I can bankroll the church. I have the gift of generosity, that sounded like a good gig to me. I had my whole life planned out, I was going to be a gallery owner and bankroll the church and pay for missions and that was going to be great. I look back at the puzzle pieces of my life and I can see God's plans. He was preparing me back in the day for what I will be doing in the future.

And what I am even doing now. I had a conversation with my dad this week. And it was funny because we were laughing about, I was always the one that said I never wanted to be in ministry. I knew the warfare that happens when people step into saying yes to Jesus. And I was like, nah, it's too much. Nah, I'm good. But there were signs and God was preparing me for what he has in store for me. My dad oversaw the parking lot ministry at church. He saw a problem in the parking lot ministry and solved the problem not by complaining but leading the parking ministry. If you have a problem here, that's the Lord knocking on the door of your heart, join the serve team. But my dad would wake up at 5 o'clock and I begged my dad, take me with you to church. And we would come to church at the age of 6, 7 years old and I would sit in the back of this trolley cart and drop orange juice on my dad. There were signs that the Lord was preparing me for ministry. I remember going to Mexico with my dad a long time ago and it gave me a heart. Not just for the hurting and for those that had lack but a heart for the globe and a heart for the world. There were signs. When I was homecoming queen my senior year of high school, you are given a space when you are walking down the 50-yard line during the football halftime and they are about to announce who the queen is.

And you use that time to give a bio, the clubs you are involved with. My favorite color, what I want to do. I use that as a ministry opportunity. The announcer read over the speaker phone, Bianca wants to let everyone know that Jesus is the Lord and Savior of her life and he loves you and has a plan and purpose. There were signs that I would be doing what I am doing now. Because God wants to prepare you for what he's prepared you for. And when God asks you to suit up, I think we are prone to think if we are in this big dark scary world and everything is a battle. You are not hearing me say that. You are hearing me say, God has given you what you need to succeed. Suit up. I remember I was serving post-college, I was serving at a ministry here in Orange County. On Monday nights I would gather as a young adult gathering and I served on the prayer team. And when they said yes to Jesus, they would come forward and pulled to the side and I would walk them through what it means about their decision saying yes to Jesus. I would give them a Bible and tell them this is the best decision and pray for them. That particular night people came forward and everyone was partnered off. So I began to clean up since I didn't have anyone to pray with. I began to clean up and pick up Bibles and pens and saw someone standing in the corner.

She was wearing nylons and she had Doc Martens on and a denim tattered skirt with holes and silver safety pins. She was wearing a Ramones T-shirt that was cut off and cropped up and had a denim vest and tons of buttons and safety pins. Her lip was pierced. Her eyelid was pierced. Her ears were pierced. She had jet black hair and thick liquid eyeliner. And I walked over to her and I said, hi, were you prayed for? And she had this weird laugh. No. I said, would you like prayer? No, no. I said, what's your name? And she just kind of laughed. I said, no, what's your name? My name is Heaven. I said, wow, what a beautiful name. Hey, can I pray for you? No, no, it's okay. I said, can I put my hand on your shoulder? Because I think you need prayer. And she said, I could. So I put my hand on her shoulder and began to pray. And God is so good that God will use people to speak to his people in very unique ways. As I was praying for Heaven, I sensed that the Lord had dropped something in my heart, a word for Heaven.

And I said, Heaven, did your uncle take advantage of you when you were little? Did your uncle hurt you? And she'd been laughing all through this prayer. And I knew that there was something on that laughter. And listen, I wasn't all like, it's a demon. I don't even want to open up that box. I just felt like, that's a dark laugh, okay? That's a dark laugh. And I said, did your uncle hurt you when you were a child? And the laughing stopped. She said, how do you know? I said, because God wants to speak to you right now in this moment and let you know that God didn't want that to happen, that God has seen you. And from that moment, you have been trying to cover your pain and your shame. And you've been living with secrecy and you're turning to drugs and you're turning to alcohol. And this laugh, this laugh is not from you. This laugh is to mask the pain and to keep you safe. But you don't have to laugh anymore because that laugh is not you. The Lord wants to give you a right laugh. The Lord wants to bring joy to your life and restore your name, which means Heaven. She fell to her knees and began to weep and weep. I prayed for her. I asked her if she wanted to know this man named Jesus.

And as we were praying, she said, how did you know this? And I said, well, you know, when you have a relationship with God, He wants to speak to you. And I began to think about all those things that had prepared me for waging against darkness in that moment. And I said, hey, I really sense that you like did drugs before you came into church. And she's like, oh, how did you know that? I was like, well, you smell like weed and doesn't take a profit. I said, but I believe that you are gonna experience freedom from that addiction. And you can experience the freedom of forgiveness today. Do you know that the Lord wants to equip you to suit up not just for you, but for others. So we are waging a war against darkness, but He's given you what you need. He's given you what you need. He's given you what you need. You just have to put it on. That moment that I prayed with Heaven wasn't just a prayer moment. It was a battle ready moment. And the fight isn't gonna show up when the devil is at the door. The Lord wants to prepare you. So when that door wants to open, you're ready. You're ready.

God has given us the ability to withstand spiritual warfare. But in a room of this size, maybe you feel like your ability to stand has worn really thin. Maybe today you feel too weak to take a stand. Maybe you feel too tired. Maybe too sad to wage this war against darkness. I get it. But you don't have to be alone in that. The truth of the matter is, is that there is an army of people, an army of faith that wanna stand with you to let you know you're not alone. Now, this is not a prayer for salvation. This is actually invitation for believers. Because there's people in this room where you're like, I wanna get ready. I wanna take a stand. Paul said seven times in six verses to take a stand, take a stand, take a stand. Because if the enemy attacks you and you're sitting down, you're easily prone. Stand to your feet, have a good stance, and get ready to move forward. But you might feel tired and you might feel weary. You might have doubt. So today in this service, we're creating space just for you to experience a sense of his strength. Paul says, you got power and it's his strength. So if you're feeling a little thin, a little weak, a little feeble in your faith, we're gonna pray for you.

That the spirit of God begin to prepare you now to walk out into Monday ready to go to war. Not with a toothpick, but with the sword of the spirit, which is the word of God. Read a Psalm, read a proverb, take five minutes. Some religious people are like, that's not enough time. It's a start, okay? We could do that. We could do that. Spend five minutes in the word of God. Spend five minutes in prayer. Take your stand. This is not for everybody, but if you're here and you're like, I need God's strength. I need a fresh feeling of his strength to do what God has called me to do, I wanna pray for you. So I'm gonna invite you, if you know, I need the strength of God in this season, because I feel like this week, this month, this year, this decade has been too much. I wanna be battle ready. I wanna suit up. I'm tired. That's you. I'm gonna invite you to stand to your feet. So I don't come with a political agenda. I come solely with the ambition of pastoring you into wholeness. Pastoring you and encouraging you. The spirit of God can give you

what no man, woman, or child can give you. No therapist, no prescription, medication can give you. It's his strength. Do not feel obliged. If you and God are good, if you and God are good, praise the Lord, there's a lot of people standing right now. We are clearly jacked up. I love this, yes. Yeah, this is great. So I'm gonna invite you, if you'll feel comfortable, a posture to receive. Will you extend your hands in this moment of receiving God, receiving his strength. Thank you, God, for your strength. Thank you, good shepherd, that you see your sheep here. And when we lack and when we don't have enough, you are the God of more than enough. And so I call upon that God to see the men, women, young and old, who are in this space that are desiring you. God, there is a battle and you're preparing us not just for our freedom, but for the freedom of others. So give us the strength that we need to usher heaven to earth. Our heart is to love you. Our heart is to serve you. Our heart is to wage war so that people could experience freedom and life in you. And so I ask that you go before us as we discover how to suit up

and how to be battle ready for what you've called us to. And now from this position of victory, God, we give you all honor. We give you glory. And we say in advance, thank you in advance for the strength that we will possess as we walk out these doors and face this week. God, from that place and posture, we worship you because you are a God who has given us victory. To you be the glory. In Jesus' name, amen. Let's worship God. ♪ This time of us, this time of us ♪ Come on, how you gonna fight, church? Come on.