How to Fight Spiritual Battles You Can't See | Lakepointe Church | Pastor Jonathan Pokluda

Every week, release a podcast that corresponds to the sermon, it's like a little bit of a deeper dive where we hit some things that didn't make it into the sermon, some theological concepts. We talk about things that are going on in our culture and how to think about them from a biblical perspective. We call that podcast Live Free, an episode releases every Monday that corresponds to the sermon. If you would like to check out Live Free, just go to the Lake Point YouTube channel and look for the podcast tab there. We'll see you at Live Free. And now, enjoy this Bible teaching. (audience applauding) - Lake Point, how are we? So good to be, good to be home with you. It feels like home, it feels like home. As he said, as Pastor Josh, that I was here in Dallas and when we were here, I was serving young adults and we would bring some of them into our home. They would live with us for a season. We would disciple young men, I would disciple young men. And there was one particular individual that moved here from New York City. He was a fireman there in New York City during 9/11 and I was so excited about just getting to know him as a newer believer and was gonna invest in him. And there was so much of his identity wrapped around that career.

He had the FDNY vanity plates on his car and he had this gnarly tattoo. It was like a big shield. Said FDNY and these flames coming up over his arm and kind of had the fireman helmet and axe and my kids were younger at the time. They would walk around the house in his yellow helmet and had his fireman coat and the kind of dragon behind and they would just walk around the house. And I would be inspired by the stories that he would tell. I asked him specifically about 9/11. Like what was it like to be there? And he shared just kind of some heroic stories. And I said, hey, would you write a devotional? Like from the Bible, a devotional, we'll publish this on the internet. People can read it and be encouraged. We wrote this really powerful devo about what it was like to be a fireman during 9/11. And as we posted that on the internet, the fire department of New York City reached out to me and said, hey, that guy was never one of us. And I thought, wait, what do you mean? And they said, man, we've checked every roster, every name we have, he was not one of us. And my mind runs to, and not much surprises me, done ministry, I'd done ministry for a decade. I mean, I felt like I had seen everything, but I just thought the great links that he went to, to show that he was from the fire department

of New York City. He had a tattoo, he had the license plates, he had the uniform, had all of the things. And yet if he had to fight a fire, he would be no better equipped to do so than I am. He is not prepared to come against the fire. He's pretending he is acting. And I wonder how many people in the church are in a similar place. Like we say, hey, we believe we're in the spiritual war. We believe there's demons and fallen angels and Satan is real. He's here and he's a tempter and he seeks to still kill and destroy and we're walking. We're in the Lord's army, I will never, but I'm in the Lord's army. Yes, sir, but we're not really ready for warfare. And we're getting our lunch eaten in the spiritual war. And the reason I'm so passionate about this is because I grew up in the church. I went to church every Friday and every Sunday I went to church school. I'd get out of one church and go to another church. I went to Baptist youth group on every Wednesday night. I went to Dawson McAllister and the church retreats and the conferences and church camps. And yet I didn't have a real relationship with Jesus Christ. I knew when to raise my hand at the Psalms. I knew the lyrics and I memorized some scriptures. But I was losing in the spiritual war

because the Holy Spirit was not living inside of me alive and active. And I want you to know that the risk, the danger of pretending to be a follower of Christ but not actually having a real relationship with him in the spiritual war is deadly. Then I don't want you to leave here afraid but I do want you to leave here aware that you would know how to live as a real Christian, a real Christ follower in warfare that you would understand the battle. There's a story. I'm gonna be in Ephesians chapter six. This is the spiritual armor chapter if you wanna turn there but I'm gonna start in action. penning this letter to the church in Ephesus, is he's doing powerful ministry. He's a fresh convert, Saul to Paul. Even as he walks his shadows, or people are getting healed that they touched his shadows, or a handkerchief that he's touched. And then there's these seven brothers, and their dad's a Jewish priest named Skiva, and they go out. They kind of fancy themselves as exorcists. They see people get demons cast out of them, and they're like, "You know what, we can do that." And then these seven brothers go to this man who's possessed by a demon, and they say, "In the name of Jesus, who Paul talks about, come out." And here's what happens. One day the evil spirit answered them, "Jesus, I know, and Paul I know about, but who are you?" Then the man had the evil spirit jumped on them, and overpowered them all. He gave them such a beating that they ran out of the house naked and bleeding. Let's talk about that for a minute. This fight did not come down to decision. This wasn't like UFC. Let's turn to the judges. Seven guys go in a house with clothes on, and they leave with no clothes on and bleeding. They lost. Now, you have an interpretive challenge. Did that really happen? Is that true? History? Does it happen today? Does it just happen then?

What's going on there? It's in your Bible, the Bible, the authority, the word of God. Is that true? So that really set out into a three-year research project on spiritual warfare, because I was confused by it. I'm like, "Is this stuff real? What can demons do? Can they make my car battery go dead? What is it that they can actually do?" I just wanted to understand it. I just started studying everything that the Scripture says about it and what's been written about it. I want you to leave here tonight with an understanding of how you can have victory. Really, Paul writes this letter to the church in Ephesians, the church in Ephesus, about 60 to 62 AD. He's on house arrest in Rome, and what I think he's doing is he's looking at this Roman soldier that he's most likely chained to, and he just starts describing a real authentic Christian. That's why I'm like, "Hey, you don't have to be afraid. You just have to live as a true follower of Jesus Christ, but don't pretend." Because what was wrong with the seven sons of Sceva? They didn't know Jesus. You know who knew Jesus? The demon did. The demon knew Jesus. Jesus, we know. Paul, we know about. But who are you? And so Paul, on house arrest, starts to describe what you do if you are a true follower of Jesus. And I think this is, because you may have grown up in church where it's like, "Put on the helmet of salvation, the belt of truth, and the breastplate of righteousness, the feet fitted with the readiness of the gospel, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God, and the shield of faith." And I'm like, "How? Is the helmet on? Is it on straight? Is the helmet in the room with us?" I'm like, "How do we do? And I'm just kind of a real guy. I don't like playing church games." So I'm just like, "Hey, let's be honest. What do we do with this?" And this is what I think's happening is I think he's describing an authentic follower of Christ. He says verse 12, "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." This is huge. Your enemy's not your neighbor with the barking dog. Late at night, your enemy's not your cousin who's crazy and says crazy things at Thanksgiving. Your enemy's not your roommate. Your enemy's not your spouse or your ex. Your enemy's not that person who voted different than you. Your enemy is demons. It's demonic forces in this world. And he's going to tell you what you need to have victory over them, because they're telling you to starve yourself, to cut yourself, to be, to poison yourself with alcohol. And I need you to know this like before I go any further, okay? This church,

this place, is different, man. I mean, if I lived here, I'd go here. The whole country's watching you guys. Whole country's learning from you, because all, like what America needs right now is courage and clarity. And you guys are bringing it. This leadership here is bringing it to the entire country. Last week 890 people were baptized here. What, what, okay, okay, like real question. You think Satan's got Charles name on some whiteboard in the war room of hell? Better believe, you better believe he does. Here on earth, not even in hell. Here on earth in the spiritual realm. You better believe he does. I'm so thankful for this place and I'm thankful for Pastor Josh and the leadership here. And I'm thankful to read this very important letter to you guys, therefore put on the full armor of God. So that when the day of evil comes, that's the moment of your greatest temptation. That you may be able to stand your ground and after you have done everything to stand. Stand firm then with the belt of truth buckled around your waist. If you're gonna be ready for warfare, if you are a true follower of Christ, then you are number one, walking in truth.

First thing you do, number one, walking in truth. What does that mean? Okay, there's things that are true and there's things that are not true. Satan is a liar and he wants to tempt you with the things that are not true. At any time you sin, okay, first of all, when you sin you let them in, you give them a foothold, which turns into a stronghold. When you sin you let them in, you believe a lie. So you've got to know the truth. And most people, the next generation, they're not on a truth journey, they're on a happiness journey. They're not saying what's true, they're saying what makes me happy, what's gonna give me freedom? Well, the scripture says when you find what's true, you find freedom. 'Cause you can think that you can fly and you can climb to the tallest building around and you can jump off because your truth is that you can fly, but capital T truth called gravity is gonna pull you to the earth at 200 miles an hour and you're gonna shatter every bone in your body. And the most loving thing that I can do is tell you, you can't fly, you're not a bird. So you learn the truth and you boldly share the truth and you bring that courage and clarity that the world needs.

You're walking in truth with the breastplate of righteousness in place. The breastplate guards what, it guards what organ? What vital organ? The heart, it guards and protects the heart. The truth and the heart of a believer and it's the breastplate of righteousness. So if you're a true father of Christ, you're a number two, acting in righteousness. And I'm gonna fly like points. So you write down what you can, you take what's helpful to you, but I'm just gonna keep going. Acting in righteousness. Your heart, it's protected by righteousness. Okay, your heart, it works like Netflix. You guys know how Netflix works? You watch the office, they're like, what about office space? What about suits? You watch Gilmore Girls. It's like, what about gossip girl? What about the summer I turned pretty? What about the, like whatever you look at, it says, hey, let me give you more of that. That's how your heart works. It's like a bloodhound. Woody Allen famously said the heart wants what it wants. No, the heart wants what it's fed. What are you feeding your heart?

Did young adults ministry for more than a decade? I would come off a stage like this. I'd stand right here, some young woman who'd come up to me, had this conversation so many times. Pastor, I need some dating help. What do you need? I only date losers. I'm only attracted to losers. Guys that are no good for me, can you help me? Sure, I can help you. What's your favorite song? No, no, relationship help. Oh, no, I got you. You're just curious, what's your favorite song? I mean, I don't know. I don't know, please, please, please. Sabrina Carpenter, Virginia Beach by Drake. I mean, anything by Taylor, Queen Taylor, you know, Taylor? Love Taylor, okay? I gotcha, I gotcha. What's your favorite show? Pastor, relationship, we're gonna get to it. We're gonna get there. What's your favorite shows? (audience laughing) Love Island. Found your problem. You're systematically feeding your heart. Find Loser 101, okay?

Like this is what you're doing. Oh, you thought those songs? yourself and be like, "Look at me, grow more holy." No. No, you're being taught what you want. What does Proverbs 4, 23 say? Above all else. More than you guard anything. Guard your heart for everything you do flows from your heart. Your parent, you're like, "Man, I don't know what's wrong with my kid. Is there phone?" This was wrong. It's the stuff on their phone. I just don't know what to do. Take away their phone. Okay, that's what you do. Well, I just need a permission. You got permission. Take the phone. Take the block it down, man. They're like, "Mom, we should have went to church tonight." And with your feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace. So you're positioned in truth. You're walking in truth. You're acting in righteousness. You're a true follower of Christ ready with the gospel. You represent the gospel. You're ready with the gospel of peace, it says. We're like, "Oh, I'm so afraid to share this super controversial message that God loves you so much He died for you." So terrible. Like, you know, such a message of hate. God loves you so much that He gave His only son for you. You know, I've been sharing the gospel every day since I trusted in it. No one's ever hit me, acted violent toward me. I mean, most of the time they're just super thankful. I mean, I shared it two days ago. The lady was cutting my hair, paid somebody to do this to me if you can believe it. She, you know, I was like, "Hey, do you believe in God?" She's like, "Yeah, I believe in God. My life's just a train wreck right now." Look, what do you believe about God? I just share the truth that Jesus gave His life for her and raised from the dead and that same spirit's available to her. And she's just like, "Man, you have no idea how much I needed to hear this today." And we prayed right there for her to receive Christ. And then the barista, the barista was like, "Hey, do you have a faith?" Because I'm spiritual, but I don't like to force my beliefs on people. You know, I don't like, I don't like to give them my opinion. And I was like, "Man, I totally understand. Hey, listen, should I go, should I go drip or pour over?" He goes, "Oh, you got to go pour over." I go, "Whoa, bro. Don't be pushing your beliefs on me." He goes, "I go, I go, hey, how much more important is faith when someone believes happens when they die?" He goes, "Yeah, you give me something to think about there." Oh, yeah. Later on that day, I was talking to Uber driver yesterday, "Hey, do you have a faith? Yeah, I'm a Christian. Okay, let me ask you these two questions. You know, I always ask these two questions. I did last time,

I was here. I'm going to ask you again tonight, between 1 and 10, 10 being certain, 1 being not so sure. If you died today, how certain are you that you would go to heaven? So let me ask you, but don't answer out loud. Okay, this is just you and God right now. Think of a number. Let me ask again, between 1 and 10, 10 being certain, 1 being not so sure. If you died today, how certain are you that you would go to heaven? Think of a number. Get a number in your head, or you have five, or you have six, seven, or you have two. Think of a number. Everybody think of a number. You got it? Okay, let's do this real quick. Shut your eyes, if you would. Close your eyes. I'll watch your stuff. Close your eyes. When I say your number, just raise your hand. Okay, if you're going to start in the middle, 4, 5, or 6, what's your raise your hand? Lots of 4th all over the room. I got you. I got you. Okay, you can put it down. Go low, 1, 2, or 3, zero. Let's see. Uh-huh. Yeah, 1, 2, 3. Yeah, got you. Okay, all right. 7, 8, or 9. Raise your hand. All over the room. 7, 8, 9. Okay, put it down. Put it down. Put it down. All right, open your eyes. Okay, let's talk. Like point. Let's talk. If you just raised your hand, you're ready. This is the hard part. But hang in there with me. Okay, don't walk out yet. If you just raised your hand, you're not ready for warfare. Okay, I need you to know that. Yeah. See, he's going to have his way with you, man. You're not protected by the blood of Christ. Right. Um, he says in 1 John 5, 13, "I write these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God so that you may know that you have eternal life." Just in case you were like, "Well, this Bible say I can be attended." Absolutely does. Okay. "For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life is Christ. Jesus, if you confess with your mouth that Jesus Christ is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised in front of that, then you will be saved. Do you believe Jesus died for your sins? Do you believe he died for 90% of your sins? 80% of your sins, 70% What are you gonna do in hell? The only thing you can do in hell is pay for your sins forever. If your sins are paid for, you don't have to go to hell. Okay, we gotta get this understanding around the gospel. It's so important that you understand, oh, I have been sealed by the Holy Spirit. I belong to God, I, it's not, I'm not mostly Christian, somewhat Christian,

90% Christian. I'm the, in that arrogant, only if God's a liar. You're not boasting in your works. You're right? For it is by grace, you have been saved through faith. It's not of yourselves, the gift of God, not by works so that no one can boast. You've received the gift or you haven't. It is binary, okay? It's binary, you receive the gift or you haven't. And if you've received the gift, then you are protected. But if you haven't fully, don't fully grasp, then you're walking out there with a giant target on your back. Okay? In addition to all of this, take up the shield of faith. Now listen, and this is why it's so important to me, with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. So if you have a real relationship with Jesus, you are number four, firm in faith. You're ready with the gospel and firm in faith. Roman shields were not like Captain America trash can lids. They were like doors. They were like five-foot wooden things. And if you wanted to defeat the Romans, you just had to have a fiery arrow because it would become kindling, you know? A campfire at that point. But they would take leather, soak it in water, and then stretch it over that five-foot door

and then be protected by it. And the leather would extinguish the fiery darts of the enemy. And so as he uses this language, he's saying, hey, your faith, this is important. Okay, this is the really important part. Your faith is what protects you from the enemy. That's why he's saying the shield of faith, which extinguishes the enemy's attack. And you say, man, that's interesting. That Paul wrote that right here. That's a little bit of a stretch. Does it say it anywhere else? So glad you asked 1 Peter 5. Peter nouns. Now, Peter, your enemy of the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour, resist him standing firm in the, what? Oh, yeah, that's right. Standing firm in the faith. That's how you're going to overcome the enemy. So, okay, this faith, which protects us from the fiery darts, what we stand in, which protects us from the roaring lion, right? Protects us from the enemy. That's cute. So we got Paul, we got Peter, anyone else? Oh, yeah, glad you asked. Jesus in Luke chapter 22 is talking to Peter and he says this strange thing. He says, hey, Pete, Satan has asked me to sift you like we to which if I'm Peter, I'm like, just say no. We'll just tell him, like, just make like an 80s drug campaign.

Just say no, Jesus. But he doesn't. You know what Jesus says to Peter? He says, so I'm going to pray for you that your faith won't fail. Okay. Like point you convinced, your protection from Satan is your faith. He hates you, he hates your marriage, he hates your children. Okay. He hates your job, he hates your family. He's got strategy against you. Your protection is what your, that's right, your faith. That's what's going to protect you. And I got saved in the dispensational cessationists, like mostly cessationists. Crazy movement of God. I'm so thankful. And if you don't know what those words are, it's like, it was like Father, Son, and Holy Bible a little bit. You know what I mean? It was just like, like, at least that was mindset. I'm so thankful for the church. Don't get me wrong. But I, and I learned the Bible. I mean, I was taught the Bible, but I didn't know the spirit demons. I'm like, has this stuff real? And I've been to Africa. I've been to Zambia. I've been to, you know, Kenya. I've been to Mass Amara. I went to Haiti six times. I've been to the Amazon jungle three times.

And people are like, oh, they were demon, and I had heard about it, but I never seen it. So I was kind of like always assumed people were just exaggerating, you know what I mean? And there, I'm, listen, I am in Aspen, Colorado, one of the nicest country clubs in America for a ministry fundraising event. Okay? And I'm in, I'm in the, like, you know, restaurant area, the nice part. And this guy comes in off the golf course, khaki pants, polo tucked in, title, title-ish shirt. I mean, hat on. And I'm bored. I'm sitting there. I'm like, I'm going to share the gospel with this guy. So I go up, hey, bro. You know, we're talking. I'm like, hey, you have a faith. He goes, yeah, I'm a Christian. I go, oh, cool, man. I'm a Christian. I say, he goes, yeah, but man, when I go to pray, like, I can't pray, like something happens like, oh, like, you're distracted, you know, you're straight. And he goes, no, no, not like, I'm distracted. Because, like, my throat closes up. And I'm like, what? Like I'm three chapters in and this happened. He goes, "Ah, my throat closed." I'm like, "What do you mean your throat closes up?" He goes, "I'm telling you something physical happens to me "when I try to pray." And I'm like, "Well, that's weird. "I go with that." And I'm just like, "Small time."

I'm like, "Oh man, that sounds demonic." He's demonic. You sound like my mom, man, demonic. It's not demonic, "Oh, my bad, my bad." And I go, "Well, let me pray for you, man. "Let me just pray over you." And my buddy by the grace of God walks up and I'm like, "Hey, I'm about to pray for this guy. "Just let's pray for him." It's just us, we're in the country club, country club in America, you know. And I'm just like, "Lord, would you just bless my friend, "you know, protect him for a grace and favor?" And Lord, there's anything demonic here. Would you just sign? He goes, "No." I was like, "Well, what was that?" And I go, "And Lord, just if there's any demons here, "he goes, "Nah." And like, arm goes up and he starts doing this. And I'm like, "What is happening?" And I'd love to be, I'd love to tell you like point that I was like, "Cate blowing in the wind." Like, "Come out in the name of Jesus." But I was like, "Please don't jump on me, "please don't jump on me, please don't jump." And I'm like, "Man, I don't know what to do. "They didn't teach me this stuff, you know. "I didn't even know this was real, you know." So I'm like, "What are they doing TikTok?"

So I'm like, "All right, in the name of Jesus, come out, "you know, in the name of Jesus." And he gets real big and loud. And he's growling and barking and making this crazy noises. And I'm just like, "Is this really happening?" And I'm like, "In the name of Jesus, come out, "in the name of Jesus, come out." In the name of Jesus, by the blood of Jesus, come out. And he kind of gets big and then he gets small and he kind of just stops. And I'm like, "In the name of Jesus, set him free, amen." And he goes, "Well, I didn't expect that to happen." (audience laughing) I like, "Bro, that makes two of us, man." Like, my heart is racing. Like, what was that? My other buddy was like, "Oh, those were demons, man." I was like, "What are you?" Like, it was a Wednesday. He's like, "Oh, yeah, those are demons." It's like, "Man, how is our shelter?" It's all real, man. So I want you to know, I'm not here playing games with you. The whole book, all the stuff in it, it's all true. You know? And they've been hiding lately. And showing up on airplanes and stuff. I just want to make sure you're ready, you know? Faith, protected. That's why I make a big deal about you leaving here,

not being a nine. There'll be a 10, I'm certain. You don't need to be afraid. First John 4-4, 'cause the one who is in you is greater than the one who's in the world. Second Corinthians 4-4 says, "Satan's the God of this world." In the lower case, you've got to this world. First John 4-4, greater than he who is in the world. Take up the helmet of salvation. You need to be aware of your salvation. That's number five, aware of your salvation. Okay, meaning you're renewing your mind around it. You're setting your mind, what do you think of? Real estate are fought over, I'm sorry, battles are fought over real estate, wars are fought over real estate. The spiritual battles fought over the real estate of your mind. Okay, like they want your thinking. Okay, there's propaganda to get you to think, satanic thoughts, demonic thoughts. And you think, well, I can't control what I think. Well, that's interesting, let's test that. I want you to think of a yellow school bus. Picture it, yellow school bus says school bus on black on the side. You say it's got the wheels, the yellow school bus. You see it? Think about it, picture it in your mind, yellow school bus. What you just did is controlled your mind.

Okay, it turns out you can change your thinking. So he says, think about whatever's true, whatever's noble, whatever's right, whatever's pure, whatever's lovely, whatever's admirable. If anything's an excellent praise, where they think about these things, Philippians 4. He says, do not conform any longer to the patterns of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, Romans 12-2, right? So you want to think about the things of God and the sword of the spirit, which is the word of God. So we're feeling our minds with the truth of God's word, which is the sword of the spirit, number six, responding with the word. If you're a follower of Christ, a true believer, ready for warfare, you're responding with the word. Jesus was tempted three times by Satan himself. He responded three times with memory verses from Deuteronomy. How are you gonna do? If today your only hope for overcoming Satan is all your memory verses from Deuteronomy. How are you doing, right? 'Cause what lies does he tell you guys? What does Satan tell you? Give me one. You're not worthy? No, not worthy. Oh, I'm created in the Imago Day, Genesis 2, His only God and something that whoever believes in Him should not perish. I'm not worthy."

He says, "Walking away worthy tells me I was worth dying for." He might say, "Hey, you should look at that." And you say, "No, I made a covenant with my eyes." Job 31, not to look lustfully at a-- you could say, "Matthew 5, I'm going to gouge out my eye and cut off my hand rather than look lustfully. I'm not going to do that." He could say, "You should be anxious. You need to worry. Be anxious." Philippians 4 says, "Don't be anxious about anything but in everything." My prayer and petition, present my request, Matthew 6 says, "Do not worry about tomorrow for tomorrow has enough trouble of its own." 1 Peter 5 says, "Cast all your anxieties on Him because He cares for you. Say you're lonely. You're all by yourself. You go, "Dude, we're on Me, 25," says that, "Never will He leave me, nor forsake me, that He's always with me." You know? He said, "Man, you need to get yours. You need to have that." He said, "No." Scripture says, "Godliness with contentment is a great gain. You've got to have that word on your heart." Okay? You've got to be ready to sort of the Spirit because the way you fight the lies is with the truth. He says, "And pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests with this in mind, be alert and always keep on praying for all the Lord's people." And so if you have a real relationship with Jesus, you are engaged in prayer, engaged in prayer.

Okay? That's a late point. I'm talking about walkie-talkie prayer. It's not room service prayer. So I'm not talking about, "Hey, I want chocolate cake at midnight." I'm talking about, "Hey, I'm going into the Starbucks and there's lost people here. Who do you want me to share the gospel with? Hey, my children are at school right now. Would you just be protecting them right now? They're in algebra class in the seventh period. Would you be with them? Would you not let them be influenced? Hey, I'm going into home from just got off work and, you know, I'm going to be checked out because I'm tired, but would you help me to be engaged? Would you give me the stamina? Would you be the energy to be a great husband, a great wife right now? Yeah, I'm going, I'm going to my in-laws house. You got to be with me. You know, whatever, like your walkie-talkie prayer, like everybody, anybody at war times talking to their commander-in-chief. You got to be in constant communication with him, okay? If you want to win at warfare, you need to be in summary, number one, walking in truth, two, acting in righteousness, three, ready with the gospel, firm in faith, aware of your salvation, responding with the word, and engaged in prayer, okay? And that's how you know you're ready for warfare, okay? It just spells warfare, you'll see that, I did that for you. What was that? It was guys weekend. Went to like a hunting and fishing club thing and place and we were in my buddies and he was so proud because he got these good steaks, the big fillets, and he had a brand new big

green egg. He was like, you got to see my, I'm going to grill these steaks for you, I'll purge them with me, big green eggs over his, the deck in the backyard and his big wooden deck and he's got the big green egg on the big wooden deck with the big fillets and he forgot potatoes. And he, I was like, hey, we'll go to the store and grab potatoes. We load up in the Tahoe and we go down to the stores like 20 minutes away and when we come back with the potatoes, I open the car door and I just hear, help, help, I'm like, what's going on? Walk around to the back of the house, the whole deck is on fire, bonfire man, like crazy. What had happened is the big green egg had lighter fluid underneath and the lighter fluid got hot and kind of burst and all the lighter fluid went underneath the deck and was like cooking it from underneath and it was just a mess and the house is connected to the deck. So he grabs the water hose which is wound up in one of those boxes and he pulls the box and it pulls it off this shorter hose and so he's back here with like a four foot hose arching it. He's like, help, help. So we go inside and we just get like red solo cups and we just start filling them up every bathroom, every sink and we're just coming out like, take that, you know, take that, right? And we were just trying to put out this huge flame with these cups of water and, and we can win man, somehow by the grace of God, like the fire goes out and we're like, you know, the deck is gone but the house is safe and we go to bed that night and I wake up the next day and I'm going to get some coffee that's got a, you know, a curig and I'm going looking for the cake cups, you know, and I open the cabinet and they're underneath the coffee maker in the cabinet, strep to the side of the wall, is a big red fire extinguisher. (gentle music) Blake, come here, bro. He walks in, what's up, man? What's up? What's going on?

Go, "Hey, buddy." Hey, check this out. And he looked and goes, "Oh, yeah." I forgot I had that. I was hoping I'd never have to use it. I was hoping I wouldn't have to use it on my kids in my marriage at work. So I got, I trust you, I mean, I love you. I know you, you're a God, I'm here at church, you know? But like, make my life comfortable. Don't make me use faith. Like don't make me have to be the same thing as me. I'm like, "What's going on?" I'm like, "Oh, I'm not going to be the same thing as me. "I'm not going to be the same thing as me. "I'm not going to be the same thing as me. Don't make me have to demonstrate that I actually trust in you, you know? Like, I'm telling you right now, I trust you. That's enough, right? Like, don't make me prove it." Right. Put your leave here, like, point and walk out those doors in your cars, go back to your homes, work tomorrow. And live with that faith. That's what the world needs right now. Just your coworkers needs what your children need. You want to mess up a kid, tell him you believe in a God you never talk to, okay? Live with that faith.

Live with that faith. Let me pray that we would. And Father, would you just bless us and protect us? Keep us and let your faith shine on us. Thank you for the work you're doing through this place. The courage and the clarity you're bringing out of this place. (gentle guitar music) If you were a nine earlier, eight, seven, six, five, four, three, two, one, if you're any other number than a 10, would you want to be a 10 right now? Would you just raise your hands, just put your hand up where you're at? I'd say, yeah, all over the place, yeah. Way to go. It's so courageous, man. I love that. Father, as you see your brothers and sisters, your sons and daughters right now, raising their hands, just saying, hey, we want to go all in with you. We want to live with a faith that's a protection from the enemy and who seeks to steal, kill, and destroy. Would you give us that faith? Help us to believe fully in the finished work of your son. Thank you for your grace. Thank you for salvation. Since Jesus' name, amen.