Where the Battle is being Waged- Youth Lectures 2024

Hello and welcome to the West Side Church's special podcast

In Ephesians chapter six, beginning with verse number 10, the Apostle Paul, he says, finally, be strong in the Lord and the strength of his might. Put all the full armor of God so that you'll be able to stand firm against the schemes of the devil. For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the powers, against the world, forces of this darkness against the spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenly places. As you allow those verses to kinda just soak in your mind for just a moment, let me just extend a word of appreciation to the shepherds of this wonderful church and to my dear friend, brother Mark Roberts for this invitation that they have extended to me to be here this weekend with this wonderful church. Also wanna thank Brother Truth and brother Don for their wonderful work yesterday, and it's certainly an honor to be able to share the pulpit today with one of my mentors, brother David Banning, who will be going after this lesson. I really appreciate these men and their work for the Lord. I especially also appreciate this church and all these young people over here and your love for the Lord and the fact that on a Saturday afternoon you are here, you're studying the Bible, you're singing praises to God, you are trying to equip yourself to be a soldier for the Lord in the days of your youth. May God bless you and your parents and your grandparents, and this just wonderful church. Thank you so much for allowing me to share in this weekend with you. I want to begin by asking you a question, and my question is, have you ever in your life visited a battlefield? You ever visited a real battlefield before? This is something that is pretty easy for us to do in the United States of America. Throughout this amazing country in which we live, there are numerous battlefields for us to visit. For example, there is the Gettysburg Battlefield located in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, and there is also the battlefield of the Alamo and the battlefield of San Jacinto and Saratoga and Pearl Harbor and Little Big Horn and Bunker Hill and just so many others. There are all kinds of battlefields throughout this wonderful country, and one of the things that I often find myself doing whenever I'm able to visit a real battlefield is I often find myself pausing for a moment or two and reflecting on all of the numerous realities attached to the site that I'm looking at. For example, one of the things I like to do whenever visiting a battlefield is I like to pause and reflect on the fact that in this place many years ago, a real battle took place, a real battle took place, a real battle took place here at the Alamo, a real battle took place at San Jacinto or at Pearl Harbor. A real battle took place here on Omaha and Utah Beach. A real battle took place here in the valley of Eli where David killed Goliath. Real conflicts took place on these battlefields and now only did real conflicts take place, but also a lot of lives were lost. Also, a lot of people died, a lot of people lost husbands and fathers and brothers and cousins and uncles and people that they had a close relationship with. A lot of people perished on these battlefields and there was an outcome, there was an outcome. In every one of these battles, there was a winner and there was a loser. Those are just a few of the realities that I find myself reflecting on whenever I'm blessed to visit a real battlefield, and the reason why I'm bringing that up is because it ties directly I believe to what the apostle Paul is saying in Ephesians chapter six. For all the young people here this afternoon, I wanna ask you another question. Do you realize, do you realize that every single day you're going out to battle? Do you realize that every single day you are engaged in conflict and combat? You are engaged in exactly what the apostle Paul is talking about in those verses going back to these verses that we began with. I want you to notice how in those verses the apostle Paul is talking about a battle. He's talking about a battle, he's talking about a spiritual battle that God's people are engaged in against the spiritual enemy and the outcome has spiritual consequences. The outcome actually has consequences tied to our souls. It actually has consequences attached to our relationship with God and where we're gonna be in eternity. In fact, I submit to you this afternoon, my dear friends, the like in the battles that take place in this world, this battle Paul was talking about here, it also takes place on a battlefield. It also takes place on battlefields. It also takes place on battlefields that we are setting foot on every single day. For example, one of the battlefields where this battle Paul is talking about is being waged is on the battlefield of the body, the battlefield of the body, the battlefield of your body, and so will you please go in your Bible to one Corinthians chapter six. I know you got your Bible with you. I don't care if it's paper form, digital form. If you got your Bible, get it out and let's go ahead and go to one Corinthians chapter six and appreciate what the apostle Paul says beginning with verse number 18. In one Corinthians, the sixth chapter, beginning with verse number 18, the apostle Paul says, he says, flee, flee. Notice that word immorality every every other sin that a man commits is outside the body, but the immoral man sins against his own body. Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God and that you are not your own for you've been bought with a price therefore glorify God in your body. So I want you to notice with me how in all of these verses we just read here in every one of these passages, the apostle Paul talks about the body, he talks about the body, he talks about that verse 18, verse 19 in verse 20, that when Paul talks about the body here, please understand that he's talking about that body that you look at in the mirror every single day. He's talking about that body you take selfies of. He's talking about that body sitting in that pew right now. He's talking about the body that is physical and that houses our souls. According to the Apostle Paul, it matters. It matters what we do in that body. It matters what we do with that body. It matters how we treat that body and how we use it every single day. In the case of the Corinthians, that was something that they really needed to understand because in their culture in in their society 2000 years ago, people using their bodies for the purpose of sexual immorality, well that was the norm. That was a popular and wily accepted practice. That was something that was part of pagan worship. That was even something that a brother in this church was involved in and no one was doing anything about it. That's one Corinthians chapter five, right? You see, living in a society and a culture that was promoting the message of it doesn't matter what you do in your body, the Apostle Paul reminded these Christians of the truth. He reminded them of the will of God that it does matter what you do in your body. In fact, not only does he remind the Corinthians of this, but also wanna go to what he says to the Thessalonians, please go in your Bible to one Thessalonians chapter four, and in one Thessalonians chapter four, beginning with verse number three, Paul says in one Thessalonians four verse three, for this is the will of God your sanctification. That is that you abstain, you stay away from sexual immorality, that each of you know how to possess his own vessel and sanctification and honor not in lustful passion like the Gentiles who do not know God. Notice that word in verse four vessel. You see that word vessel? When Paul talks about a vessel there, he's not talking about a boat, he's not talking about a ship, he's talking about the body, the physical body. It matters what we do in that body. God doesn't want us to use that body for sexual immorality. And so once again, we see it matters what we do in our bodies and with our bodies. But let's add to that what Paul said to Timothy in one Timothy chapter two is we go to one Timothy two and we look at what the apostle says to the young preacher and what he should be preaching to the people of God in one Timothy two in verse nine. Likewise, I want women to adorn themselves in proper clothing modestly and discreetly, not with braided hair and gold or pearls or costly garments, but rather by means of good works, as is proper for women making a claim to godliness. What do we need to see there? Where there we need to see that not only does it matter what we do with our bodies, it also matters what we put on our bodies. It also matters how we dress. It also matters how we as Christians present ourselves to the world, as people who claim to be following someone who has the highest moral standard. It matters what we do with our bodies. It matters what we put on our bodies. And then look at one more passage here. Please look at some first Peter chapter five in verse eight. There's just one particular thing I wanna look at in this verse, if you don't mind, in first Peter chapter five, in verse number eight, Peter says, to the people of God, be of sober spirit, be on the alert, your adversary, the devil prowls around like a roaring lion seeking someone to devour. Now, for the purpose of this study, I wanna focus just on one word in that verse, and it's the word sober. Do you see that word? What does that word mean? Well , the word sober carries the idea of having sound judgment. It carries the idea of being able to think clearly and being able to be aware of your surroundings and the various situations you find yourself in. What Peter is saying practically is not only does it matter what we do in our bodies and what we put on our bodies, but it also matters what we put into our bodies. It also matters what we consume. It also matters if we put anything into our bodies that impacts our ability to be sober minded. What I just want you to see is in all of these passages, we learn something very important. We learn that as the people of God today, we're in a battle. We are in a battle. We are in a battle against wicked forces for our bodies. We are in a battle against an enemy who wants to influence us to believe that using our bodies for the purposes of sexual immorality, having sex and we're not married, that's okay. Fooling around with your boyfriend or your girlfriend, that's okay. Drinking alcohol, that's okay. Smoking marijuana, vaping, that's okay. Flaunt your body and the kind of clothes that you choose to wear, you using foul language, allowing your eyes to linger on things and consume things that are unholy and ungodly. All that stuff's okay. That's what the enemy wants us to believe. We're in a battle for our bodies, but now only are we in a battle for the body. Let's add to our list and say this, we're also in a battle for the mind. We're in a battle for the mind. And when we say the mind here, let's be clear. We're talking about our thoughts, we're talking about the things that we ponder on and the things that we allow to come into our spiritual hearts. We are even talking about the kind attitudes that come from our spiritual hearts or our minds. And Solomon is saying that very thing in Proverbs chapter four and verse 23. In Proverbs chapter four and verse 23, Solomon says, watch over your heart with all diligence. You need to guard that why? Because from it flow the springs of life, from your heart, from what's inside of you, from even your very thoughts flows, so many important things, flows, even the kind of attitude that you're gonna possess in life. Let's put that with what the Apostle Paul says. And second Corinthians chapter five or second Corinthians 10, I'm sorry, and verse five, two Corinthians chapter 10 and verse number five, Paul and two Corinthians 10 and verse five, he says, we are destroying speculations and every lofty thing raised up against the knowledge of God, and we're taking every thought captive. Notice the war language there, the battle language there. We're taking captives in this war and it needs to be what Paul talks about. We're taking every thought captive to the obedience of Christ. Notice how contrary to what you may hear some folks try to tell you today, according to the Bible, we can control our thoughts. We can control the things that we're thinking about and allowing to flow through our minds. That's what Paul says here. We have to do that if we're gonna win this war. But then you put that with one more place please, because I want you to notice how in Matthew chapter five, Jesus already addressed this before Paul, even you go to Matthew chapter five and you look at some challenging verses that Jesus provides in the great sermon on the Mount In Matthew chapter five in verse number 27, our Lord Jesus, he says in Matthew 5 27, you have heard that it was said, you shall not commit adultery. But I say to you that everyone who looks at a woman with lust for her has already committed adultery with her where in his heart, there are many other verses we could put on this, but you get the point. You see where we're going here. You see that according to the Bible, our minds or our battleground, our minds, were a place where battle's being waste every single day. Every single day. I have to make a choice as to what am I gonna think about? What am I going to allow to linger in my mind? What kind of things will I allow to flow through my heart? Will it be the things of the enemy? Will it be things involving lust and adultery of the heart as Jesus talks about in those verses, will it be things involving me always being suspicious of others and always assuming the worst and the actions and intentions and intentions of other people? Will it be things involving pride? Will it be things involving me thinking that I'm superior to other people? I'm superior to other people because my , my parents, my family has a lot of money. I'm superior to other people because of the color of my skin. I'm superior because I'm tall, because I'm skinny, because I'm a straight A student, because I'm a great athlete, because I've grown up in the church because I'm a third, fourth generation c Christian. You see, the enemy wants me to have a mindset that is full of pride and he also wants me to have a mindset that's full of jealousy. He also wants me to look at the blessings of other people, look at the blessings of my peers and be jealous. Be bitter about that . Be bitter because I don't have what they have. My parents, they didn't buy me that kind of car. I don't live in that kind of house. I don't have a mother or a father who does that kind of stuff for me. I don't get to take those kinds of vacations. I don't get to travel to those kind of places. I don't get to wear those kind of clothes. The enemy wants me to have a mindset that is full of jealousy, and he also wants me to have a mindset that's consumed in in selfishness. He also wants me to have a mindset where in my life, all I'm doing is just thinking about myself. I just care about me. I care about what I want. I care about my best interest first. Whenever I don't get my way about something where I'm gonna pout and I'm gonna blame other people and I'm going to be resentful and bitter, that's the kind of battle we're waging every single day. We're waging a battle for the body, a battle for the mind. But let's put this on the slide also. Let's talk about the battlefield for your faith. Let's get down to it a little bit, and I'm gonna ask you to please go in your Bible to the book of Judges. I'm gonna invite you to go to what may be the darkest time in Israel's history, the period of judges, judges chapter two. Please join me there in judges chapter two, because many of you are familiar with the fact. In the book of judges, we find this vicious cycle that the people of Israel engaged themselves in. They get involved in idolatry, and then an enemy, a heathen nation begins to oppress them and then they call on God for help. They repent and God raises up a deliverer, a warrior to save them, and then they serve God for a little bit and then they get back involved in idolatry and the cycle just keeps going and going and going. Four over 300 years, Darkest time in Israel's history. And in this verse, we see what contributed to that. In judges chapter two in verse 10, judges two in verse 10 says, all that generation talking about the generation after the time of Joshua, all that generation also gathered to their fathers and there arose another generation after them who did not know that's the key. Young people who did not know the Lord nor yet the work which he had done for Israel. You see what the Bible's saying to us there? Notice how after the faithful generation, a Joshua's day died, after that generation was gone, the next generation that rose up was different. They were different. Unlike the generation before them. They didn't know the Lord. They were not committed to serving the Lord and worshiping the Lord. They actually forsook the Lord and they got involved in idolatry. That's what was going on in the time of the judges and brothers and sisters. I want us to understand that that same stuff goes on today. It goes on today. You see, unfortunately today, there are generations of families in local churches across this country and across the globe who love the Lord. They love the Lord, They serve the Lord. They worship the Lord. They have faith in the Lord. But eventually in some places, another generation rises up who doesn't do those things. Eventually, in some places, another generation rises up that doesn't view going to church as important. They don't believe that the Bible is in fact the actual word of God, and Jesus is the son of God. They don't believe in biblical morality and the pattern that God has for worship. They don't believe in what the Bible says about the work of the church. In fact, in some cases, and in some places, another generation rises up that doesn't even believe in God at all.

That

Happens all the time. And we could spend a lot of time going through all the excuses that people give as to why this stuff happens. But here's the bottom line. The bottom line is this. This kind of stuff happens. Unfortunately

Because

So many people lose on this battlefield, they lose the battle for their faith. In fact, maybe we could just summarize all this up here by saying that another place where this battle's being waged is on the battlefield of our allegiance, our allegiance, our loyalty, our commitment. You know, in all the cases of those battlefields that I mentioned earlier in the lesson, the fact that there were armies at one time gathered on those battlefields, that means something. That means there was a time when there were some armies on those battlefields and everybody had to pick a side. Everybody had to make a choice. Everybody had to choose someone to be an allegiance with. And that same thing is true when it comes to the spiritual battle and this spiritual war that's being waged right now. In fact, the enemy knows that and he will attempt to challenge that. He will attempt to challenge that in times of trials and crisises in our lives. Whenever we start having some problems in our lives, whenever we're facing moments of crisis and challenges, the enemy will try to get us to doubt God in those moments. He will try to get us to doubt God's love for us and God's care and concern for us. He will try to challenge our commitment to the Lord, just like he tried to challenge job's commitment to the Lord in the Book of Job, right? The enemy will try to challenge our commitment to the Lord in times of trials and crisis is , and he'll also do that when we find ourselves in tempting situations, whenever we find ourselves alone with somebody that we're attracted to, whenever we find ourselves alone with our boyfriend or with a girlfriend, whenever we are tempted to cheat on the test to make a good grade or tempted to lie to our parents because we don't wanna get in trouble or tempted to seek revenge against somebody who's been bullying us and picking on us every single day, the enemy will try to use those moments to test our allegiance and our loyalty to the Lord. And he'll also do this with the kind of people we choose to be our friends. He will try to get people close to us who will persuade us to leave the Lord, people who will pull us away from God, people who will pressure us and try to get us to compromise our godly principles, to influence us to break God's heart with sin. Well , I just want you to see is these are the places where the battle's being waged every single day for every single one of us. But now we gotta answer this question. Now the question is how do we win? How do we win? It's not enough just to know where the ballot's being waged. We gotta know how to win on these battlefields. And so lemme suggest four things to you that are gonna be found in our key text. Ephesians chapter six, when you go back there one more time, please . Ephesians chapter six, and I wanna read the whole text here this time, not the whole chapter, but the bulk of our key text for our weekend, Ephesians six. Let's go back to verse 10, please. Ephesians six, 10. The apostle Paul says, finally, be strong in the Lord and in the strength of his might, put on the full armor of God so that you'll be able to stand firm against the schemes of the devil. For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against rulers, against the powers, against the world, forces of this darkness against the spiritual forces of wickedness and heavenly places. Now look at verse 13. Therefore, take up the full armor of God so that you'll be able to , to resist in the evil day and have it done everything to stand firm. Stand firm. Therefore, having girded your loins with truth and having put all in the breastplate of righteousness and having shot your feet with the preparation of the gospel of peace, in addition to all taking up the shield of faith with which you'll be able to extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one and take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the spirit, which is the word of God. Let's stop right there. Let's just stop right there. I want you to notice what the apostle Paul says here. Paul says here that if we're gonna win on all these battlefields, there are four things, at least four things we're gonna have to do. And the first thing is this. You wanna win on the battlefield of the body. First thing you gotta do is you gotta resist. You gotta resist. You gotta stand firm. That's what he says in verse number 13. And maybe a simpler way we could put that is to say this as the people of God. We're gonna have to say, no, no, no, we're not gonna do that. No, we're not gonna break God's heart. No to every sin the devil tries to tempt us to engage in, we're gonna have to say no to every temptation know to every sin that the enemy wants us to commit in our bodies, gotta run away from that stuff. Gotta flee from that stuff. Isn't that what Paul said to us in one Corinthians six and verse 18, did he not say in one Corinthians six and verse 18, flee literally run away from sexual immorality. Probably the greatest example we have of that in our Bibles, and you know where I'm going is the case of Joseph, right? Look in your Bible. Genesis chapter 39, because we go to Genesis chapter 39, we learn some important information about Joseph. Joseph was sold into slavery by his family. Eventually he ends up in Egypt working under a man named Potiphar Potiphar's , his master and Potiphar's wife feels an attraction for him. She wants to have an affair with him. She tries to take him by force to get what she wants. But Joseph, even at, at your age, look at what the Bible says he did. Genesis 39 and verse number nine. He says, Genesis 39 and verse nine, there's no one greater in this house than I, and he has withheld nothing from me except you, because you are his wife. How then could I do this great evil and sin against God? As she spoke to Joseph Day after day, he did not listen to her to lie to , to lie beside her or be with her. Now, it happened one day that he went into the house and do his work and none of the men of the household was there, was there inside. She caught him by his garment saying, lie with me. And he left. That's the key part. He left his garment in her hand and had fled outside. He left his garment in her hand and fled and went outside. So there are a couple of things I want us to appreciate here. First, I want us to appreciate the fact that even though Joseph is a young person, probably in his late teenage years, and he's a long way from his family and for all he knows, he may never see them again. He's all the way in Egypt. He still knows that God sees him <affirmative> . He knows that God sees him. He knows that even though he's all the way in Egypt, a long way from his family, God can see exactly what he's up to and his actions have an impact on God. That's the first thing to see. But the second thing to see, the second thing to see is when Joseph finds himself in a situation to commit sexual immorality with another man's wife, he runs, he flees. He gets out of that situation literally. And if he could do that as a young person all the way in the heathen country of Egypt, you, you can do that today. I can do that today. We all can do that today. We can also say no to use in our bodies in ungodly ways. We can also flee from every tempting situation. You can break up with that boyfriend or that girlfriend who's trying to pressure you to have sex. You young ladies, you can break up with that boy who's feeding you that lie that if you love me, then you will do this. You will have sex with me. You can get rid of that garbage man. You don't have to be with him. You can run from that. You don't have to go to that porn website . You don't have to drink what's in that bottle. You don't have to smoke that joint. You don't have to vape to fit in with the crowd. You don't have to put on clothes that are inod or use your your mouths to say filthy words that are unholy and and ungodly bring disgrace to the Lord. You don't have to do any of that stuff. You know why? Because you were made in the image of God. You were made with the ability to choose. You were made with the ability to choose to resist. In fact, something that will help you resist and tempting situations is making sure that you constantly fill your mind with scripture. You gotta keep constantly filling your mind with scripture and brother truth. He made this point to you, brother Don made this point. I'm making this point because it's a point that we have to drill home over and over again 'cause it's critical. It was critical to the Apostle Paul. It is the main thing that Paul was emphasizing when giving us the full armor of God. Did you notice that you go back to Ephesians chapter six and and what is Paul talking about? Well, in Ephesians chapter six, you look at verse 14, he talks about girding your loins with truth. You look at verse 15, he talks about sh your feet with the preparation of the gospel of peace. You drop down to verse 17, and he talks about the sword of the spirit, which is the word of God Over and over again. In this section, the apostle Paul is telling us that the word of God is a big deal. The reason why it's a big deal is because with it, we fill our minds with the things of God. With it, we fill in our minds the things that Paul talks about in Philippians four and verse eight, the things that are honorable and right and pure and lovely and good with it. We fill our minds with truth, with it. We're able to renew our minds and bring them under subjection to Jesus Christ. The word of God is what we have to constantly feed into our minds and into our hearts. But the question is, how exactly do we do that? How do we do that? Well, you know how we do that. We do that by simply reading the word of God all the time. You read it in the morning, you read it in the afternoon, you read it When you get home from school, you read it before you do your homework. You read it right after practice. You read it before you go to bed at night. You listen to it, read to you in the car as you make your way to work or as you make your way to school. We read it every day with our kids parents. We read it every day with our parents, young people. Whenever we gather with saints in an occasion like this to listen to the word of God proclaimed, we listen carefully. We follow along in our Bibles. We challenge ourselves to make sure that we're really trying to understand the point that's being made. You see, when we constantly feed our minds with the word of God, the enemy is gonna have a difficult time winning on this battlefield. He's gonna have a difficult time deceiving us and to believe in his lies and corrupting us from within. He's gonna have a difficult time influencing us to make ungodly decisions with our bodies. We have to resist. Gotta fill your mind with scripture. But let's go to this next part and talk about how do we win the battle for our faith? We win the battle for faith by making sure we do our best to develop a genuine faith, a genuine faith. And Paul deals with that also, in Ephesians chapter six of verse 16, he talks about the shield of faith. When Paul talks about faith there young people, he's not talking about somebody else's faith. You're not talking about your mama's faith, not talking about your daddy's faith or your grandparents' faith. He's not talking about a faith that you can't inherit or something that is the result of you riding on somebody else's spiritual coattail. No, when Paul talks about faith here, he's talking about a genuine faith. He's talking about your own faith. He's talking about you having a faith that is the result of you studying the word of God and trusting it and believing in it. And when I see that, when I think about that, I can't help but also not think about Timothy. Remember in two Timothy one in verse five, Paul said to Timothy that he was mindful of his sincere faith. Remember that? How did Timothy get that? What does that mean that Timothy had a sincere faith? Well, that means this. That means this. While his mother and his grandmother certainly taught him about the need to have faith, he did not have their faith. He didn't have his mother's faith or his grandmother's faith. He had his own faith. He had a real faith, an authentic faith, a genuine faith. That is how you win the battle for your faith. Please listen very carefully. If you wanna make sure 10 years from now, 20 years from now, 40, 50, 60 years from now, if you're blessed to be alive, then that you still have the same love for the Lord that you have in the days of your youth, that you're still valuing times like this, where you can come together with God's people to worship and praise his name. If you wanna ensure that you are still in this army for the Lord decades down the line, then please make sure you're doing all you can right now in the days of your youth to develop and maintain your own faith. Get your own faith. You have to be sold on Jesus and Christianity yourself. You right now have to ask the critical questions. You gotta talk to your parents and the shepherds of the local churches that where you are a part of, you have to be willing to go to them and talk about the doubts you may have. There's nothing wrong with doing that. There's nothing wrong with taking a journey of investigation so that you can be convinced with all your heart that Jesus is the son of God and the Bible is the word of God. If you don't do that, if you don't develop and maintain a genuine faith that is your own, it's only gonna be a matter of time before you lose this battle. We must develop real and genuine faiths. In fact, that brings us to the last word I want us to think about, and that's this word right here, this word commitment. We wanna win the battle for our allegiance, then we gotta be committed, gotta be committed to the Lord. And I'm taking you back to Ephesians one more time, please. One more time. Ephesians six. And you've listened very well and I really appreciate it. In Ephesians chapter six and verse 10, Ephesians six and verse 10, listen to what the apostle says here. Finally, be strong in the Lord And in the strength of His might be strong in the Lord, in the strength of his mi , of his might . Notice how in beginning this section that's about the full armor of God before telling us what that is exactly . Paul first mentions God. He first mentions the Lord. He says, before you put on the full armor of God, you gotta make sure you are strong in God. You gotta draw your strength from God. You gotta understand that if you're going to experience victory on any one of these battlefields we were talked about that we've talked about, then it's not gonna be because, because you're so strong on your own, it's not gonna be because we can quote a lot of scripture or because we've been to , we haven't missed a worship service in 20, 30, 40 years, or because we've done so many good and righteous deeds in our lives. No , if we're gonna win on these battlefields, it's gonna be because of the Lord. It's gonna be because we're constantly drawing near the Lord and we love the Lord and we trust the Lord and we're committed to serving him with all our hearts. I wanna submit that committing ourselves to the Lord should be a very easy thing for us to do for at least three reasons. First, it should be easy for us to do because the Lord loves us. He loves us. He loves us more than anyone else in our lives. Young people, your parents love you, your grandparents love you. The brethren love you. There are so many people who love you in your life, but no one. And don't forget this. No one loves you like the Lord. No one loves you like Jesus. And he proved that 2000 years ago when he went to the cross and died for your sins and my sins. So it should be easy for us to commit ourselves to the Lord

Because

No one loves us like the Lord. But then secondly, it should be easy to do this because he's stronger than the enemy. I mean, on his best day, the enemy may be stronger than us, but he's no match for the Almighty Lord. And then thirdly, it should be easy for us to do this because of the consequences of being on the other side, the consequence of being on the wrong side of this battle. They are huge. They are eternal. They are worse than anything we can imagine. Today. What I just want you to see is every day, every day we're fighting a battle. We're fighting battles, but we can experience victory on every one of these battlefields when we resist wickedness and when we constantly feed our minds with scripture. And when we develop a rock solid and genuine and strong faith, and when we commit ourselves to fully following the Lord who cannot be defeated. And so may God bless you, may God bless all of us as we strive every single day to fight in the army of Jesus so that we can gain the ultimate victory and be with him forever. Thank you for your attention. I really appreciate it. Thank you.

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