Our Common Enemy

[00:00:01] Speaker A: Thanks for tuning in to the Met Church Podcast. Here at the Met, we are all about connecting people to God and one another. If you have any questions or want more information about what's happening here at the church, then head to our [email protected] we would love to stay connected with you throughout the week through social media, so be sure to connect with us on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter now. Enjoy the message. [00:00:24] Speaker B: Well, good morning everybody. We're beginning a brand new series today and I hope you'll be a part of this one because I'm excited about it. It's called Invisible War and I think it really addresses what we are seeing in our world today, what's impacting a lot of churches and communities today. And that is a real fight between good and evil, between God and the devil. And we're gonna be talking this morning about something that we all have in common, and that is we have a common enemy. We have a common enemy. He is the source behind all of the contention. He is the source behind all of the confusion. He is the source behind all of the confrontation that we're seeing happening in this world. If you ever doubted there was a real literal devil that is walking about seeking whom he may devour, you have to look no farther than our news. You have to look no farther than the discussions that happen oftentimes within our own communities. When the Bible speaks of the devil, the Bible speaks of him as a roaring lion in First Peter, chapter 5, verse 8, who walks about seeking whom he may devour. Where God is trying to bring us together, he's trying to draw us to himself. The Bible says the devil is trying to divide. And one of the tactics of the enemy that you see time and time again throughout Scripture, and you see it time and time again throughout history, is a strategy called simply divide and conquer. In fact, when the Bible describes the devil and when Paul says concerning him, he said, look, we are not ignorant of his devices, 2 Corinthians 2:11. We're not ignorant of his devices. What did Paul mean by that? Paul meant that if you want to know what the enemy will do, look back. Look back in scripture, look back in history and look and see what the enemy has done. He's not an original. He will do what he has done. And when Jesus describes why he came into the world in John 10:10, he said, I came that you might have life and have it more abundantly. Isn't that a positive, wonderful message? Jesus came to give us life and give it more abundantly. But however, don't stop reading in John 10:10. You know what the second part of that verse says? He said, but the enemy came to steal, kill, and destroy. So you have this contrast, this paradox, where on one hand, God is all about life, and he's all about life to the full and an abundant life and giving us joy and peace. And while he's in the business of doing that, the enemy is in the business of stealing and killing and destroying. Let me tell you something. Anywhere God is at work building, the devil will be at work blasting. Anywhere God is at work in the lives of a person, the devil will also be at work in the life of a person. I had a guy tell me one time, he goes, bill, you know what? I never faced all the problems that I faced until I got my heart right with God and I got my family in church. And these are his words. He said, all hell has come against me since I did that. And I said, well, I think I can explain it. Before, you didn't really represent a threat to the cause of the devil. You're not serving the Lord by your own admission. Your family wasn't really locked in. You weren't really trying to really pursue God. But the minute you did, you got on the radar of the enemy. And again, anywhere God is at work building, the devil will be at work blasting. But I said, the good news about the bad news is one of the signs that you're not running with the devil is when you're running into him. And so I'm just suggesting your heart this morning that there is a real literal enemy that we all face. He is our common enemy. He has been at war against God, and he has been at war against righteousness. And he's certainly been at war against his church since the very beginning of time. In fact, the passage we're gonna really drop into in this series is to better equip us. And it's that great verse in Ephesians, chapter six. And I just wanted to give you the precursor to what we're gonna drop into that talks about how we should arm ourselves against this common enemy. Look at with me in Ephesians 6. Look at these two verses. He says, finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord and man. If there's ever was a time that Christians, that people who love God and follow him ought to be strong is now. And he's saying, look, there is an enemy. You've got an enemy. You've got an opposition. You've got an oppression that's coming against you. So you need to Be strong. And by the way, he wouldn't say that if it wasn't possible to be strong. So he's talking about a strength that is accessible. He's talking about a strength that is available. Listen, guys, it is possible for us to stand against the assault of the evil One. And not just stand, but to withstand everything he throws at us. Be strong in the Lord, in the power of his might, put on the whole armor of God. And that's what we're gonna be talking about in the series, that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. And then look at this next phrase. Our fight is not against flesh and blood. Really, it is not. In fact, In Ezekiel, chapter 28, God brings a judgment against the King of Tyre. And really, when you read what God was saying to the king of Tyre, he wasn't necessarily talking to the King of Tyre. He was talking to the power behind the throne. He was saying to the King of Tyre, you're doing what you're doing and you're acting the way you're acting because you are an emissary to. You are under the influence and you're following after the dictates of the evil one. Oftentimes God does not speak to the person. He speaks to the power behind the person. You remember when Jesus talked about going to the cross to his own disciples? And he talked about being betrayed. And Simon Peter said to him, lord, that that will never happen on my watch. And Jesus looked at him and said, get thee behind me, Satan. Wait a minute now. He wasn't calling Simon Peter Satan, was he? No, he wasn't speaking to Simon Peter. He was speaking to the power behind the words of Simon Peter. He said what you said in trying to prevent me from going to the cross, that wasn't something that was in your heart. That was something in the mind of Satan. And so the devil. My point is the devil will work through people. It's exactly how he does his thing. And so all of a sudden, we start fighting with one another and we fail to real. There is a power behind the person, and the power is the influence of the evil one. He said, our fight is not our. We're not to wrestle against flesh and blood. But he underscores it. I wanna underscore it here. It's against principalities, it's against powers. It's against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual wickedness in heavenly places. So he's talking, folks, about a real literal evil entity, a real literal evil person in this world. And that is in the person of the devil. In fact, when you look back in Ezekiel 28 and you look back in Isaiah 14, God did not create the devil to be the devil. He created him to be the son of the morning. And he became the father of darkness. And the reason that the devil became the devil is, According to Isaiah 14, is pride started in his heart. He said in Isaiah 14, five different times, I will be like God. I will ascend above the throne of God. I will establish my throne above the throne of God. Five times he says, I will, I will, I will. And all of a sudden the Bible said iniquity was found in the heart of the devil. And God cast him out of heaven, down to the earth. And along with the devil came all of the host of heaven that was following him in that rebellion. And and now they're known as demonic angels that are alive and well on the earth today. And I'm saying to your heart this morning that as strongly as I believe in a holy Spirit, I believe in an unholy spirit. And just as I believe in holy angels, I believe in hellish angels. And you and I as Christians need to be better prepared to face the oppression and to face the opposition that we're facing in our world today. Here's what's happening to us, and I don't know that everybody even recognizes it. We're shooting at the wrong thing. In Matthew, chapter 10, and in Mark, chapter 13, there's prophecy that is given. And the prophecy says that in the last days before the coming of the Lord, brother will turn against brother, sister will turn against sisters, families will turn on each other. And we're seeing that in our world today. Now, one of two things in my estimation is going to happen as a result of these things. Number one, we're going to see one of the greatest spiritual awakens we've ever seen in our world. I think that could happen. I think God could send a revival. I pray it happens in our church. And it would result in tens of thousands of people coming to Jesus as their Savior. And that will correct the confusion. And the conflict is when people get to Jesus, that takes care of a whole lot of things. And so I'm saying that could happen, or conversely, Jesus Christ could return. The Bible says in the last days, evil men and seducers will wax worse and worse, not better and better, but last worse and worse. And so we're seeing kind of that prophecy being played out in our world today. Again, the strategy of the evil one is often to divide and conquer I grew up, my dad was a Baptist pastor, so I grew up in that world and I saw how even Christian people could turn on each other. I always say if you never been in hurt in church, you just didn't go long enough. Well, my dad was an old fashioned pastor. I love him to death. He's in heaven today, I'm sure of that. But he was pretty narrow on how he viewed things. I mean he looked at it and he would say basically being Baptist wasn't enough. You had to be the right kind of Baptist. Now I don't know how many of you can relate to what I'm about to say, so play along with me. I'm going somewhere with this illustration. It was one thing to say I'm a Baptist, but what kind of Baptist are you? I mean are you an independent, fundamental by believing, devil hating, sin chasing, KJV believing? I mean what kind of Baptist? And that's a thing, What I just said is a thing. Or are you one of these left wing, liberal, crazy wild eyed Southern Baptists out here somewhere? And so you had these two camps and then within those that wasn't even enough of what kind of Baptist are you? Are you got the right brand? Are you the right kind? We had to narrow it even more. We had to even get more narrow. It wasn't enough just to be a Baptist and be a Baptist that's associated with the right group. We had to be a Baptist that's associated with the right version of the Bible. I want the version Apostle Paul always used. Give me that King James version. I mean if you look at that RSV or niv, Bless God. I don't know if you're going to hell or you're going to heaven. I think you're going to hell. You're in the wrong version of the Bible. And then let me throw one else out there in case I hadn't hit you yet with anything music. Dear God in heaven, if you sing other thing, anything but the hymns, you are a liberal left wing church. That's. Yeah, but you know, what are you doing this new music? And I'd say, well, wasn't Amazing Grace a new song at one point? Quit bringing facts into here. Let's get back to the, let's get back to the issue at hand. And I mean we, I'm just saying we fussed and fought and divided over things that didn't amount to a hill of beans. What kind of Baptist are you? What kind of Baptist. So do you associate with what is the Bible that you, what is the version of the Bible. What is your views on music and what kind of music? And then we. And then you get into the issues of Calvinism or Arminianism. Are you a five point Calvinist? Are you a three out of the five point Calvinist? Where are you? Are you a hyper Calvinist? Are you an Arminius? Are you somewhere in between? That's a real thing. Kids Google it. And then we got into eschatology. What do you believe about the end times? Do you believe in the rapture of the church? You don't believe in the rapture of the church? I believe in the rapture of the church, by the way. But you believe, you don't believe. All right. Do you believe in the tribulation? Okay, are you a pre tribulational, mid trib? Are you post tribal? Do you believe the rapture's coming and then the tribulation begins so the church is leaving prior to the tribulation? Or do you believe three and a half years into the tribulation, mid trib, you're going then? Or do you think the church will go through the tribulation and you'll come on the other side before the millennial reign of Christ? So do you believe in the rapture? Yes. No. Are you pre trib, mid trib, post trib? We're not done yet. Now we gotta get to the second coming of the Lord. Are you premillennial? Are you post millennial or are you amillennial? What happens when you put ah in front of a word? It negates the word. For example, to muse is to think. To think. Museum a place to go. To think, to be ah mused is to be made, not to think. And so anytime you put ah in front of a word, it negates the word. So if you are amillennialist, that means you didn't believe in the millennial reign of Christ. It's not gonna happen. If you were a post millennialist, that means you believe that the Lord will establish his kingdom on the far side of the thousand year reign. And if you are a pre tribulational premillennialist. I'm a preemie. I believe in the rapture. Pre tribulational premillennialist. But if you're not, then. Or if you are a pre tribulationist, that means you believe that Jesus will come prior to the millennial reign of Christ on the earth. I'm just saying, if you've never heard those terms, you're going, huh? And then we Got a little more narrow. My dad believed that if you smoked, you couldn't be a Christian and smoke. And I always. I kind of looked at it like, well, you can smoke and go to heaven. You know, smoking won't send you to hell. Just makes you smell like you've been there. So what? And then, God forbid, should you drink wine? Oh, dear God in heaven. Now, you can be a preacher that weighs 400 pounds, but, boy, don't you drink a glass of wine. There's a funny story. Not that some of that's not, but it's about Charles Spurgeon, the great Baptist of. Of London, built one of the largest churches in the world. And one of his buddies was Dwight L. Moody, the great Moody of Chicago. And they would preach for one another. And Moody was a big man, heavy man, and Spurgeon was a big band. But he wasn't as heavy as Moody. Moody loved to eat. Well, if Charles Spurgeon had an Achilles here, he loved cigars. And so they're sitting together, the story goes, and Spurgeon and Moody are looking at one another, and Spurgeon has a cigar, and he's talking to Moody, and Moody looks at him. Cause there were ads going around London that were advertising that Charles Spurgeon, the pastor of the largest church in London, smoked cigars. And they'd say, smoke the brand. Charlie smokes. So can you imagine seeing me on the. Oh. Anyway, so Moody says to his buddy Spurgeon, he says, charlie, aren't you worried that young people are gonna see you smoking a cigar? And that. That's gonna be a bad, you know, testimony to young people seeing the famous pastor smoking a cigar. And they said. Spurgeon just kind of drew off of that cigar and leaned forward and tapped Moody on his big old belly. You get it? The point is, I grew up kind of in a world where we looked for things to divide over. I met Cindy Jean, and dear God in heaven, she was Baptist, which, whew, got past that one. But she didn't go to our church. Well, my dad preached that you young people out there, you marry not only within our denomination, and you not only marry within what we teach them, you marry within our church. It was a large church. But I'm telling you, after a while, when you've been raised with these girls, it's like dating your cousin. I don't have any experience doing that. I'm gonna say, right. I'm gonna hurry and say, I have no experience doing that, I would imagine. I tried it, and it was odd. Went out with these girls. They're cute girls, sweet girls. I love them. Some of them probably watching online right now. Wonderful girls. But I just known it was. I don't know how to translate that other than it just didn't work for me. And somebody told me about Cindy Jean. I met Cindy. She went to OD Wyatt. So I met her. She came, watched me play football, and boom, boy won her over. But one of the things that I heard, a little bit of a scuttlebutt that went through the church is she's not a part of our church. She goes to that other Baptist church down the street. Isn't that crazy? Is that the craziest thing you've ever heard of? And then, of course, you sure didn't go to picture shows. We called them picture shows back then. Movie theaters. I remember, man. My dad was death on the. You don't go to the movie theater. Well, it's a clean movie. Well, you can get clean water in the toilet. But I don't want to go to a movie. I didn't, honest to God. That's what he said. So when I became the pastor and I didn't work for him anymore, me and Cindy snuck off and went. But I had that beat into me so much. I mean, this is crazy, but I had that beat into me so much. We went to a movie, Honest to God, in Temple Texas. We were staying in Salado, but we went to Temple Texas. Cause I just knew somebody was gonna see me. Our pastor's in a filthy picture show. First movie I saw at the movie was Beverly Hills Cop. Great movie, right? And the whole time I'm in there, my head's on a swivel. Don't get me wrong. I love the way I was raised. I'm grateful for everything. That my dad was genuine, sincere, and he softened a lot of that as he got older. But I'm saying, that's the Baptist lane. And I was in the Baptist lane. And all of a sudden I'm realizing, man, did you know, shocker, there are gonna be people in heaven that weren't Baptist? Oh, dear God. I can't believe I said that. That came out of my mouth. I mean, they weren't raised and they're not. They believed in the same Jesus. I mean, it was just amazing to me when I kinda got outside that very narrow way of thinking. I realized that a lot of what I've been taught was good and genuine and sincere. But it pitted one person against. Pitted one Christian against another. Not over important, over silly Stuff you hear about that church that split over a chandelier. They proposed that we put a chandelier in the sanctuary, and they actually split over it. And the guy that led the split said, I'm against it for three reasons. They said, okay, we'd love to hear this. He said, number one, he said, ain't nobody in this church could even spell the word chandelier. He said, number two, there's not a soul in this church that could even play a chandelier. And thirdly, he said, we don't need a chandelier. What this church needs is some more light in this auditorium. That's not. That didn't happen. I'm just saying. But I'm saying the things that we split over and divide over are not good and evil. A lot of it's just opinions. You say potato, I say potah. Let's just call them. Can you see the evil, sinister work of the evil one to get us split and divided over things that are not essential? Now, there are some essentials. There's good and evil. There are some things that are important. But I'm saying that's not where most people draw lines. Most people draw lines on the insignificant things, the things that aren't even. The things that aren't salvific. The most essential thing, folks, I could say to you from this platform, from this stage is the difference Jesus makes in your life is the difference between heaven and hell. We can agree to disagree on a lot of stuff. Not everybody agrees with everything I teach or believe. I'm very conservative. I'm conservative in my views of Scripture. I'm conservative in my politics. I'm a conservative guy. But not everybody agrees with me on that. And that's okay. I'm just saying, man, when you get right down to it, the most significant thing and the most important thing is what did you do with Jesus? When we stand before God one day, he's not going to say, were you a Baptist? Come on in. Do you believe that King James Version? You sing the hymns, right? None of that new stuff. The most important thing he's going to say is, what did you do with my son? Did you receive him or you rejected him? I have people in the church that disagree with me on a lot of stuff. You can disagree with someone without being disagreeable, but, boy, that's not the spirit of our world right now, man. They don't just sack the quarterback. They go after his family. And I'm saying somewhere we have to recognize, where does that come. Where does that Hostility. Where does it come? Can I tell you? I know where it comes from. Kill, steal, kill, destroy. I know what it's not. Life. And life more abundantly. I know what it results in. Brother against brother, and sister against sister, and family against family. And I'm saying, at some point in time, we need to come back and make the main thing the main thing. And quit falling out over things that one day will not amount to a hill of beans. When we stand in the presence of God, people fall out with each other. I talked to a guy at the service this morning. And his church had just gone through a major division, a major split. And he said, I appreciate what you have to say. I told him in the early service, I said, you're going to spend an eternity with some people that you won't even speak to down here on this earth. And I'm crazy enough to believe God may put you next door to them. So every time you gotta go with the mail in heaven, you gotta look out your blinds and see they're not on the street. I can go now. That's not gonna happen. But you get my point. I mean, really. I remember growing up, all my. I mean, I had probably the majority of my family were Democrat growing up. Most of you are that way. My grandparents. Oh, my. Whew. Are you kidding me? My granddaddy would have voted for the devil himself if he had random. In fact, he voted for him a few times on the Democratic team. I remember growing up and my grandparents had a picture of John F. Kennedy framed in their living room. Oh, John F. Kennedy. I mean, they probably lit candles under that thing. And. I mean. But I don't ever remember having big fallout discussions over that in our family as a kid growing up. I mean, my dad, he would have. Jim Wright, who was speaker of the House back then, Democrat, Fort Worth for many, many years. He'd come to the church, he wouldn't have him speak. Cause that wasn't his thing. But they were buddies. He was friends with Tower. John Tower, who was on the other side. He was friends with both of them. They hung out. So I grew up in a little different world where you had Democrats in your family, Republicans in your family. Cindy's grandfather was funny. He was pretty politically active. Cause he's an old railroad man in the Democrat Party. And he sat down with me one day, he was trying to smoke me out on some political issues. Cause I played with him. I just wasn't gonna go there with him. This is funny. He's in heaven. And I love Him. And he'd say, bill, I know most of you preachers now. I know you're conservative. I'm saying, papa, I see this coming, but go ahead. So I've got my coffee. I'm looking at him. He said, I know where you are on the. I know where you are on the sanctity of life. I know you're against abortion. Yes, sir. I know you believe life begins at conception. Yes, sir. I know you believe that marriage is between a man and a woman. Yes, sir. I know where you are on that. He said, but I'm worried about your brother in law. And I said, why is that? He goes, I think he might be turned into a Republican. He was dead serious. And I said, well, let's pray for him. That's the closest thing to weirdness that I ever saw in our family over that. It just wasn't an issue. And now, oh, dear God in heaven, if they. Oh, I'm not going to. I found out they voted one way or they're part. Do you know they're a Methodist. A Methodist. They don't believe in immersion. How can you go to heaven? You're just getting like brill cream. A little dab will do you, man. That's all the water you're getting. Or you're a church. Christ. We're the only ones going, man, that Baptistry right there will make sure we get there. I mean, some people will fall out over stuff. And I'm just saying if we could stop long enough to analyze what's behind it, what's behind the distraction, what is behind the division. And I'm telling you, we have a common enemy whose job it is on this earth to get us away from good and evil, to get us fighting one another. And not him and not the. And not the right issues, not the right fight. He's trying to get us distracted and divided. And man, the scripture warns us clearly that the fight is against this principality and this power that's on the earth. And so I'm just wanting to underscore as I set the table for this series that I'm excited about doing, because next week I'm going to talk about the belt of truth and the importance of truth in our world. And it's not your truth and my truth and everybody's got a truth. I'm gonna talk about truth next weekend and the significance of that and what the Bible says about it. But this morning, for the benefit of my note takers, let me just touch four things before we go home about this common enemy. Number one, be careful with the danger of passivity. That's the first point, passivity. If you sit back and act like he's not a threat and act like he's not after you and after your family and after your relationship with God, and hear me this, your fellowship with one another, then you're naive. You're just naive. The danger of passivity, oftentimes we fail to realize this enemy is smart. This enemy is subtle. This enemy, by the way, is spiritual. I would argue that he probably knows more scripture than the average Christian. He quoted scripture to Jesus on the mount of Transfiguration, and Jesus had to correct him. He knows the Bible, and the Bible even says the devil has enough sense to fear God. So my point is the danger of passivity is one that affects everybody. And you have to be extremely careful that you stay very proactive. Cause he's coming for you. He's coming for your family. He's coming for the church. He's coming for anyone who takes a stand for that which is right and that which is righteous. The danger of passivity. Here's the second thing I'd tell you to watch out for. Danger of pride. Pride. I told you earlier, pride is what made the devil the devil. I will. I will. I will. What did Jesus say in the garden when he prayed, not my will thine be done? And man, the minute we become full of pride and we think we're the only ones that's right. And our views, the minute pride is a man, it's a deceptive thing. And so that pride is one of the things the devil will use to infect and influence the minds and hearts of people. Be careful about pride. I'm hitting these really quick. Cause my time is about gone. Number three, be careful with presumption. Presumption. Just assuming that the devil is not really targeting you, that he doesn't really have a purpose or a plan for your life, or presume that you're capable of handling his assault on your own. Let me give you a good verse to think about in Jude 3. It's that little book right before Revelation in Jude. I'm sorry, Jude 9. Jude 9. The Bible says Micah the archangel, which was the archangel in the hierarchy of angels, is the most powerful angel. This archangel and Michael the archangel. The Bible says in Jude 9 got into a dispute, he got into an argument with the devil. Here are these two powerful beings. They're fighting and they're arguing over. Here's the issue where the body of Moses was buried. Now, I talked about Baptist arguing over crazy stuff. Can you imagine that one? So here's Michael the Archangel arguing with the devil over where the body of Moses was buried. And here's what happened in that read, Jude 9. Michael the Archangel, as powerful as he is, says to the devil, the Lord rebuke you. Meaning that he stepped back basically and said, as powerful as I am, I'm not powerful enough to take you on in my own power. I'm gonna send Jesus in here. And I'm just suggesting that when we become presumptuous and we just think that we can handle this and we can deal with the pressure and we can deal with the temptation, and we can do this without God, we can do it without his church, we can do this without his word. Boy, that is a trap. You can fall in that, the danger of presumption. Because the most powerful being God created. This archangel, recognized in his own power he couldn't take on this enemy. And he stepped back and basically said, get him, Jesus. So be careful about pride and be careful about presumption. And here's the fourth one and I'm gonna pull the nose of the plane up a little bit on this one. Be careful about pessimism. Pessimism. Here's three things I'd tell you about this enemy. He's a decided fact, he's real, he's a destructive force. He has power to destroy, but he's also a defeated foe. That when Jesus came out of the grave of the keys of death and hell hanging by his side, he literally has the power and has conquered the devil. In fact, when you read Colossians 2:15, the Bible says Jesus spoiled principalities and powers. Jesus made a show of them, openly triumphant them over it and triumphant them in it. Meaning that when Jesus stepped out of the grave, he shows all the power and authority over the prince and power of the air. So there's no point in being pessimistic. I don't want you to leave going, oh my goodness, I'm gun shy now, knowing the enemy's after me. I don't want you paranoid. I want you to realize that the safer you are, the closer you can get to Jesus. Let me give you this illustration. We'll go home. When I grew up, we had in this area, I think it was in Grand Prairie, we had this place called Lion Country Safari. Anybody remember Lion Country Safari? So a few of you do. For you younger kids here, it was kind of a drive through zoo, right? Where you stayed in the car and you drive through, you go through the lion section. You go through the elephants and you go to the primates. And it was fun. They'd say, don't roll the windows down, and for heaven's sake, stay in the car. And isn't that funny? They have to tell you that. It's like the signs at the cemetery says, closed at dark. As though anybody needs that sign. Let's go hang out, have a picnic. But the point is, they had the signs for a reason. So obviously somebody rolled the window down at some point and somebody got out of the car at some point. So the lawyer said, please tell people to keep their windows up. And for God's sake, tell them to stay in the car. Well, when you drive through all of the areas, especially those areas like where the lions are, you knew those things could kill you in a heart, but you didn't have fear and you didn't overthink it because you're in the car. It's not that I have the ability to defeat the lion. I don't. That lion could eat me and enjoy me. Oh, I got a big fat one here, you know, I mean, so it. Yeah, but he's not a big threat to me as long as I stay in the car. And so I'm saying as I close the message, while we have a real enemy that's alive and well in this world, he's trying to divide us over everything, and he's trying to get us to fight one another and get our eyes off of him and onto one another. While all of that's true, the safest bet, the safest way you can protect yourself against him is stay as close to Jesus as you can get. Stay as close to Jesus as you can get. Abide in him, lean into him, look to him, live for him. And I'm telling you, the closer to Jesus you get, the less that lion will threaten you and the less. Well, let me say it another way, the less that lion will have success against you because you're in Christ and you're with him. You're in the car. Stay in the car. Let's pray together. Lord, thank you for allowing us to have some fun this morning and to. And to laugh a little bit. And then, Lord, just to consider the tactic that our common enemy often uses. Yes, there's good and evil, and yes, there's true and false, and we understand that. But, Father, we also understand the tactic that he will use to turn us against each other. Brother against brother and sister against sister and family against family. And so, Father, I pray you'll give us wisdom to see the tactic. And while we stand and believe in truth, to speak that truth in love and to realize, Lord, that you have a purpose and plan for our life. And the most significant thing we can do as a church and the most significant thing we can do as a Christian is to lead people to Jesus Christ. So, Lord, I pray you will guard us, go before us, give us wisdom, and Father, give us courage. Help us, Lord, to do the thing that you've called us to do and to keep the main thing. The main thing. And finally, Lord, I pray for my friends here today who may never have trusted you as savior, that this might be the moment, right where they are watching online or watching the service at some later point where they'll say, lord Jesus, come into my heart, forgive my sin. I believe you died on that cross. I believe you rose on Easter. And right now, Lord, with all that I know about me, I trust all that I know about you, You, Lord, receive me. Today is my prayer in Jesus name. Amen. [00:36:13] Speaker A: Thank you so much for tuning in today. If you have any questions or prayer requests, please contact us by visiting metchurch.com so that we can follow up with you this week. We look forward to seeing you next week.