PRAYER
It’s so good to be back, there is no place like home. First, let me say: Amber and I received what God wanted us to receive while on sabbatical, we learned what we needed to learn. God positioned us where we needed to be positioned. God showed us what He expects from us.

So when I left for sabbatical we were down to one Sunday School teacher, that teacher was me… At the time we were running a solid remnant in every class. Now, when I came back, I saw that number has now nearly doubled. So, Well maybe my being gone turned out to be a really good thing. Haha pause.
Sunday School Plug: If you’ve never been to Sunday School let me paint you a picture
I can’t believe how fast the 12 weeks flew by. While we were on sabbatical, we went to about a dozen churches. To be balanced, most of what we saw was very edifying, but some of what we saw shocked us. I’m going to share it with you. While we were resting and renewing in this time God asked us a formal question,  and it reqlly made Amber and I think. The question made us think about things like:
Our willingness to fight for the faith – which is a big one.
Also, Our willingness to fight for our most precious natural resource:  our Children.
So we prayed about things like Our faith, Our future, and Our legacy.
In a minute l’m going to give you the same  formal question God gave us and my goal is that it positions you, as it has us, into an attitude of individual readiness for the future, and responsibility for now.

There are the things that are here now: like the banning of Christians for story hour, and pockets of Secular culture calling June Pride month… and then there are the things that are yet to come. It's not for me to say all that is on the horizon, but from what I do see I can say I don't think as a whole the American Church is ready for what's coming.
After today, you are going to be ready for what’s coming.
Listen, no matter how the future shakes out Jesus isn’t going to be shaken by it, nor should you be.
Church, you need to be prepared not scared!

And that starts with ONE Little Thing; Faith. It takes Faith to have confidence in God. It takes Faith to do what's right<-> not what's easy, it takes Faith to put on God's Holy Armor every day...it takes Faith- to stand strong against the enemy. and to fight the good fight.

Hey. I'm not even preaching yet I'm just getting warmed up.
Chinese Missionary: Story… After the Covid racquet, a Mega-Church Pastor flew a Chinese Missionary to the States. The Mega Church Pastor began to show the Chinese Missionary all their campuses …

These last 12 weeks Amber and I felt just like the Chinese Missionary, as if we were visiting another country. While many things were good, the things that were bad- shocked us.
Folks, the church is losing its DNA. Am I allowed to tell you that I’m scared by what we saw?  Can I tell you that The DNA of the Church in the United States has begun to change, there are those among us, Sort-of, Almost Christians, who are changing.
What I’m about to tell you are the real things that Amber and I actually saw. We saw a Pastor spend more time trying to sell his books from the pulpit than he spent exposing the cost of eternal damnation. We saw a Senior Pastor openly brag from the pulpit about not repenting after sinning, as he claimed that his church was alive while, quote, a ton of other churches around his were “dead churches”. …...Pause…..
We saw less fellowship, less hunger, and less learning.
We saw fewer participants and fewer workers….
We saw more idealism and consumers, more ideologies and qualifications, and We Saw Churches obsessively more concerned with people coming in; than people going out.
Can I tell you something you already know? The time Timothy warned us about has arrived in real time – 2 Timothy 4:3 says “ For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but after their own lusts shall they heap to themselves teachers, having itching ears;” ….
In Summary, We saw good but we also saw bad, we saw the Cupcake Christianity of today, and it wasn’t pretty. These are the type of Christians who craved a life equipped with a thick, heavy, and layered cocoon of candy-cane so-called Battle-ready Armor. A Covering like a marshmallow, or a gummy bear, or something else without a spine. A false armor that completely sealed and protected one from the duties of a Christ-centered life, rather than an armor that allows divinely empowered participation in it. Pause….

We all know that Comfort has its place, but too much of a good thing can hurt you. For example, when a person goes up to their window, TV, or smartphone, looks outside, and runs back to the castle of the couch crying into their bowl of Chick-fil-A soup waiting for the rapture to come, that’s a person who is too comfortable at their church.
Either Pastor hasn’t given them a vision, given them a duty, or in general, they don’t have the discipline to understand that the privilege of being a child of Christ comes with the responsibility to be in the world, even if you’re not part of the world. Romans 12:2 says if you're a Believer you still need to operate in the World-
The only way to operate in the world and not fall prey to the world is by divine empowerment through the Holy Spirit.
I’m still getting warmed up now, come on.
Friends,  these are things you need to know because if you get too comfortable as a Christian you won’t have a lot of vigor and vinegar left to stay the course.
So the  formal question God asked us, is the same question I'm going to ask you:
Are you going to fight, or are you going to forfeit?

Either way, it's going to take faith. Here's why you need to listen because if you’re going to fight, you are going to need to know the 3 pillars :
• how to fight
• what it’s going to cost
• and who you're up against ……Repeat.
There’s a lot on the line right now, think about this… you’re in the actual month the secular culture has chosen to celebrate the most odious of all sins: Pride.
Pride is literally at the root of every sin. Sin is ugly, sin makes people say and do ugly things,and friend’s things are getting ugly –

Pride doesn’t reason it kills, it steals, and it destroys, That’s why Pride is a Goliath you need to take head-on.
If you’re going to fight, you’re going to need to know how, let’s see what the Bible has to say: Turn to Ephesians 6:12.
As you’re turning there, you’re going to realize that my King James Version of the Bible may be worded slightly differently than the Bible you have or the one in the Pew. Why is that? Over time the English language has dramatically changed, which has changed our philosophy of exactly how to translate the Bible into English and other languages:
We currently have: 5,800 Greek New Testament manuscripts.
Over 10,000 Hebrew Old Testament manuscripts
And over 19,000 Coptic, Syriac, Latin, and Aramaic manuscripts.
From These Original Texts dating back thousands of years: there are 3 Philosophies used to translate: Formal, Functional, and Optimal Equivalence.
Formal Equivalence: - focuses on translating word-for-word and is literal as possible. Formal equivalence Bibles would be the ESV, KJV, and NASB.
Functional Equivalence: focuses on a thought-for-thought translation. The goal is to make the text easy to read and easier to understand. Functional Equivalence Bibles would be the NLT and NIV.
Optimal Equivalence: is a balance of word-for-word and thought-for-thought where needed for the reader to better understand. The HCSB would be considered an optimal equivalence approach.
When I was in College I was taking a class on Genesis and the teacher suggested that we read the book of Genesis from 4 different Equivalencies of the Bible to see where we may discover the differences at.
Now at the time, I didn’t take the assignment seriously because I had the version of the Bible that I had and that was that. However, after college, I began to explore this idea of reading different Equivalencies of the Bible, and what I discovered was each one fed me differently, today I use all 3 Equivalencies of God's Word interchangeably.
So, if you’d like to read from a different Equivalency of The Bible too I'll leave that as a challenge for you.
Eph 6:12 Is where you find that If you’re going to fight you’re going to need to know how, and that begins with knowing who your enemy is.
For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places. Or If you have the NIV high places equals the Heavenly realms: which we will look at here in a moment.
So who are you fighting? You’re not fighting flesh and blood. In other words, you’re not fighting: your co-workers, your kids, your family, the guy driving too slow in front of you on the morning commute to work and you’re already 10 minutes late, nor that lady who took your parking spot, you’re not fighting against flesh and blood.
Eph 6:12 says, you and I fight against the rulers of darkness, principalities, and powers....whom rules the darkness? Satan. You and I are fighting against Satan Period. Satan is the one who ruffs you up with temptations every day. And whether you like it or not you and I fight spiritual wickedness in the first and second heavenly realms.
The heavenly realm is a term used in Scripture to refer to one or more of three distinct realms.
1.       Psalm 104:12 speaks of “the birds of the heavens” —this would be the first heaven, the atmosphere of Earth.
2.       In Isaiah 13:10 we find “the stars of heaven and their constellations”—a reference to the second heaven, aka outer space.
3.       And Revelation 11:19 describes the opening of “God’s temple in heaven”—the third heaven, or God’s dwelling place.
So 3 realms: the earth, the stars, and God’s dwelling place.

Our fight takes place in the 1st and 2nd realms of heaven. This is to say our fight is here in real-time, right now, and our fight is specifically against wicked demonic forces… who oppress and tempt, and if you’re not a believer they can possess, and otherwise attempt to influence you and the people around you.
You can see some pretty crazy things in the first and second realms, and that’s why when people say they see aliens I believe them. It’s kind of impossible to not be aware of aliens now that the U.S. Government has opened the Arrow Office which has logged over 140 Unidentified Ariel Phenomenon.  However, what you and Matt Walsh may believe to be intergalactic aliens I believe to be trans-dimensional beings, i.e., the spiritual forces of wickedness at work in the 1st and 2nd realms.  Or in a name, Satan.
Satan dwells among us on earth and Satan is a threat to us.
Satan was originally from the 3rd realm of Heaven, but since has been removed As Jesus said .” In Luke 10:18 “I saw Satan fall like lightning from heaven.
Satan is here because he isn’t able to return to God’s Dwelling place in the 3rd Heaven, although we do see God communicate with Satan on God’s terms at least during the time of Job as recorded in Job 1:6-7: “Where have you come from?’ Satan answered the LORD, ‘From roaming through the earth and going back and forth in it’”.
Satan’s fall from heaven is at least symbolically and I think literally described in Isaiah 14:12–14 and Ezekiel 28:12–18
These two passages are controversial as while they are specifically referring to the kings of Babylon and Tyre, they also reference the demonic spiritual power behind those kings as being Satan.
In the same way, Satan influenced or possessed those Kings. Satan and his minions continue to influence those around us through demonic oppression, and temptation, and if you’re not a Christian there can be demonic possession…now I say demonic possession cautiously in this time of Hollywood because of the movies that involve Catholic Exorcists and cinematic flair.
Where you have some Hollywood actor playing a Priest, driving out to a 300-year-old house on a dead-end street at midnight in the rain. Listen no movie can ever capture the reality of demonic possession, nor can any person really explain all the nuance and intricacies, outside of personal experience, of demonic Oppression, and perhaps that’s because we’re supposed to know the facts and not every detail when it comes to the demonic.
Here are 3 Essential Keys concerning the demonic: what we know and why:
1). We know that Jesus delivered demons out of people and that Jesus told His disciples to cast demons out of people as well.  For the purpose of releasing them from their infirmities.
We see Jesus instructing His disciples in the practice of deliverance In Matthew 10:1 Jesus summoned His twelve disciples and gave them authority over unclean spirits, to cast them out, and to heal every kind of disease and every kind of sickness.
Jesus also said, delivering people of demons is commonplace and normal if you're a believer.
You see that in Mark 16:17 These signs will accompany those who have believed: in My name they will cast out demons, they will speak with new tongues.
Jesus is the one who imputes His righteousness to us, and it is in His name there is authority to cast demons out. Mark 3:15.
So the first thing we know is that Jesus is our Chief Corner Stone, per Ephesians 2:20,  and we via Jesus's divine imputation are allowed to deliver people from demonic strongholds.
2). The second Key is knowing your weapons to battle demons are not of the flesh, that's why, trying harder to stop… doesn't work.
Addiction is; of Satan and against the flesh,  if you have an addiction you have demonic company - if there's something you don't want to do, but you can't stop doing it, you have demonic company …that's why you can't get free to be good by yourself, Even though Satan will convince you that you can win without God’s help; all day every day.
1 Pet 5:8 says Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour:  Satan isn't looking to trip you up, He is looking to utterly destroy you now and for generations to come.
If you want to get Free to be good. You need the divine power of the Holy Spirit.

2 Corinthians 10:3-5 says:
 3 For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war after (or with) the flesh:

4 (For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty through God to the pulling down of strong holds;)
5 Casting down imaginations, and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ;

Okay, the Final Key:
3). Perhaps the most overlooked part of the fight is how we fight. The Bible says in Eph 6:14-18

14 Stand firm then, with the belt of truth buckled around your waist, with the breastplate of righteousness in place, 15 and with your feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace. 16 In addition to all this, take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. 17 Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.
18 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.
..there's A). Armor, and B). Prayer.
The Armor is a Spiritual application by the Holy Spirit for the divine protection of the wearer- YOU. And it is applied piece by piece through prayer.
Again, The Armor is a Spiritual application by the Holy Spirit for the divine protection of the wearer- YOU. And it is applied piece by piece through prayer.
With the armor and through Spiritually Empowered Prayer you have the duty and the privilege of asking for divine power to destroy strongholds in every form they present themselves. In 3 words: Destroying your Goliath.

Getting Free to be Good & Destroying Your Goliath is the same thing!

This Crazy Powerful Practice is concealed in the Old Testament and revealed in the New Testament. Let me take you to 1 Samuel 17.
This is the story of David’s Great Courage in defeating Goliath, and is one of the most well-known of any in the Bible.

What did David consider his source of strength and courage? It wasn't the 5 smooth stones from the river bank, it wasn't the armor Saul put upon him, it wasn't the sling.
See David wanted God all over him, and David knew he needed Spiritual armor to defeat Goliath. David said, in 1 Sam 17: 37 The Lord who rescued me from the paw of the lion and the paw of the bear will rescue me from the hand of this Philistine.”
It was King Saul, a non-Believer, who placed more trust in physical armor, rather than God’s. So, King Saul put the physical armor on David and David couldn't move. So, he took it right back off because David knew that it was the Spiritual application of God's armor that was needed to destroy Goliath.
Whatever the Goliath is in your life: Addiction, Fear, Doubt, Anxiety, Confusion, or Addiction. I said addiction twice, because only God should be omnipresent in your life.
Your Goliath is the thing that wants to be omnipresent in your life: Goliath wants to be your every desire and your every fear.
What is your Goliath? And do you want God to break it off of you? See some folks get Stock Holm syndrome and they don't want their Goliath to go away. The very thing that is causing them pain is the thing that they believe gives them their identity, gives them their life, when deep down it can only kill, steal, and destroy.

it's going to require the Spiritual application of the Full armor of the Spirit to defeat your Goliath. Do you have a Goliath that needs defeating?
See King Saul's armor was man's armor, and man's armor makes a mockery of God’s Full Armor of the Spirit.
Man's armor is the fallen image of God's armor: you have:
the Bedazzled belt of lies to hold up your image and status on social media.
The Breastplate of Pride to humbly hide your arrogance.
The Helmet of fantasy to escape reality and gorge yourself on falsehoods disguised as truth. False love, false friends, and false hope.
The Shoes fitted with cowardice to follow or endorse tomorrow's fads today, no matter what it'll cost you or someone else in the end.
The shield of money to put out the flame of the Holy Spirit needed to trust, love, and cherish God.
The Sword of Compromise to Keep the Peace by the Capitulation of Scripture
Pause: All right, I need to wind this thing up here.
I know some of you got Goliath's you're ready to break off right now.
•I know some of you are ready to break off some lies others have said about you and you have said about yourself,
• I know some of you are ready to break off some Pride,
• Some of you need to break off fantasy.
• Perhaps you need God to break off your cowardice of sharing the Gospel message with others, and
• perhaps you’re one who needs to laydown the shield of money so you can finally trust fully in Christ alone.
•And Maybe for you it’s time to put down the Sword of compromise.

What is it for you, what does God need to break off? Is your Goliath a generational curse, is your Goliath a thing you swore to yourself many years ago - I'll never let someone do that to me again, what is the Goliath in your life?

You have a Goliath in your life if you have things that keep coming back: when you repent of them, they come back, when you rebuke them, they come back. And the reason They keep coming back is because you have the wrong armor on.

Maybe one piece of the armor is right, but the reason you can't get free to be good is that you can’t compromise with Goliath. If you run away from Goliath You’re going to need to choose what God gets and what the devil keeps, G K Chesterton reminded us that the devil always plays for keeps.
The Devil is a gentleman, and asks you down to stay
At his little place at What'sitsname (it isn't far away).
O blind your eyes and break your heart and hack your hand away,
And lose your love and shave your head; but do not go to stay
At the little place in What'sitsname where folks are rich and clever;
The golden and the goodly house, where things grow worse for ever;
There are things you need not know of, though you live and die in vain,
There are souls more sick of pleasure than you are sick of pain;
There is a game of April Fool that's played behind its door,
Where the fool remains for ever and the April comes no more.
And that is the Blue Devil that once was the Blue Bird;
For the Devil is a gentleman, and doesn't keep his word.
I'm trying to close, you have no idea how hard I'm trying to close but I've got to get these 2 last little points in:
The Bible says, if you're going to fight you need to put on the full armor of the Spirit so you can stand against the whiles of the devil, without it, you and I are sure casualties.
So I must ask, how do you put the full armor of the spirit on ?
You pray it on. Prayer is how we fight our battles. Prayer is Fighting. Prayer is to be a continuous rejoicing, a continuous communication with God throughout the day.

Prayer is how we fight our battles; prayer is how we overcome temptation. Prayer is the Fighting that dismantles Goliath. Prayer makes you whole, connected, and complete. Prayer is the FIGHTING in how you fight your battles.

Maybe your like me, and you’ve had a hard time with Prayer. I used to have a hard time Praying, prayer can be hard, especially Public Prayer but then I read I Thessalonians 5, and now I can Pray without ceasing.

1 Thessalonians 5:16-18 is how you pray.
16 Rejoice evermore.
17 Pray without ceasing.
18 In every thing give thanks: for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you.
Prayer is rejoicing, without ceasing: giving thanks in all circumstances. And, knowing that by participating in prayer you are in God's will. God’s will, that’s a good place to be.
Now I don’t do this for everybody, but I’m going to do it for you, all throughout the pews I placed a prayer for you to take home and use as the official Kick-off to daily committing to putting on the full armor of the Spirit. Use it as a Bible bookmark and a reminder to pray on the Full Armor of the Spirit every day.
This is it Friends: I have O-N-E L-a-s-t formal question for you:
Are you going to fight; or are you going to forfeit?
It's up to you to apply the full armor of the Spirit. Verse 11 says with it you can stand against the whiles of the devil without it you're a sure casualty.
So,
Are you going to fight; or are you going to forfeit?
It's Choice 1 or it’s Choice 2. See it’s 2, it's binary, you've always had binary, and it'll always be binary.  The only reason some small and noisy parts of culture are trying to get people, especially young people, and specifically young girls to believe there are options besides binary is because anything God makes the devil tries to imitate, steal, and pollute.
God made us in His image and likeness, and demons want you to remake yourselves into their image and their likeness.
Life and how we understand life is binary...DNA is a double helix, it contains 2 chromosomes: Everything at bottom is binary: For example even if you divide people into binary and non-binary – it’s still only 2 choices!
It always 2 choices:
There's right there's wrong.
There's better, there's worse.
There's truth, there's lies.
There's peace there's calamity.
There's Good there's evil.
There's order there's chaos.
There's life there's death.
There's Heaven there's Hell.
There's the fire of revival and there's the fire of judgement.
There's fighting.  There's forfeiting.
Are you going to fight or are going to forfeit?
There is a fight coming and now has arrived: If you choose to forfeit it's going to cost you: you'll be steamrolled, flattened, tossed around like a wet rag, and hung out to dry all while going through the hellfire from yesterday's demons today. And it'll cost you. Oh it'll  cost you my friend, it'll cost you your confidence and water down your faith. It can even cost you your family for 3 to 4 generations to come the Bible says.
If you choose to fight, you're ALSO going face the hellfire of yesterdays demons  today. You're going get popped in the mouth by giant Goliaths who don't want to back down, Goliath's who will want to cancel you simply for being a follower of Christ who tells people the truth out of love for others made in the Imago Dei.
In an age of demons, God is prepared to empower and energize you to live for Christ. To fight the good fight and run the good race with confidence and boldness in your heart, Faith in your life, truth in your legacy and the Bible says God will bless you unto the 1,000th generation.
You have 2 choices and you need to choose one.
Are you going to fight, or are you going to forfeit?
Buster Douglas boxing story.
Buster Douglass was a no name boxer, ranked 3rd contender in a small name league who somehow landed a fight with Mike Tyson. By all counts he was a 100:1 nobody long shot to beat the Heavy Weight Champion of the World.
Buster's mother was so proud of her son that he made it to a bout with the World Champ she started telling everyone she knew and everyone she didn't. My son is going to beat Mike Tyson she said. Buster wasn't  so sure. But his Mom kept saying, On Feb 11 my son Buster is going to beat Mike Tyson.
30 days before the fight, in January 1990 Buster Douglas' Mother died.
At that moment Buster had 2 choices: to fight: or to forfeit.
Buster chose to fight. Buster got into the ring with indestructible Mike Tyson and he chose to fight. On the cards Buster was winning, but at the end of the 8th round Tyson landed a bomb that should have ended it all. Buster slapped the mat in disgust as he stood back up the bell rang and Buster made it safely back to his corner.
Buster cam abck out for more frustrated, beaten and hurt, Buster wasn't going to give up- With tenacity, grit, determination and faith Buster Douglass kept fighting, and kept fighting and in the 10th round Buster did the impossible, he landed the blow that knockes Goliath out, absolutely shocking everyone! A 10th-round knockout of indestructible Mike Tyson.
Buster didn't have perfect circumstances, but he went out to fight.
Except one person, Nobody gave Buster a chance but he went out to fight.
Buster was doing everything right on the paper, but he still got knocked to the mat.
Some of you are asking God for perfect circumstances. God is asking you to fight where you're at!
Some of you got nobody giving you a chance. God says you're more than a conqueror
Some of you are doing everything right on paper, but you're still getting knocked to the mat.
You gotta do what my friend Buster did. Start Fighting!
Joel: Pour Spirit
Deut: Head Not Tail.
Acts:1-8
Here's what we’re going to do,  if you’re ready to have the Authority of Jesus break some things off of you, and off of your family so you can be free to get good, so you can defeat the Goliath in your life, and so you can prepare to fight the sins of the fathers which are visited on the 3rd and 4th generation I want you to make your way up to the altar area at this time. I’m also requesting our prayer warriors to join us and for the worship team to come on up at this time. ( prepare to sing the song I surrender all, I surrender all, all to Jesus my precious Savior I surrender all)
As you’re coming up here I want to share this with you.
There’s a place where we learn about why we need to break sin off of us. Exodus 34:7 where God says that He will punish the children and their children for the sins of the parents to the third and fourth generation. Now what does that mean?
Let’s start with what the Bible says.
 à The Bible says elsewhere that it would be unjust for God to hold the children guilty for the sins of the parents.
still , the Sins of the fathers affect the children? True.
Every major Bible theme is introduced in Genesis and the rest of the Bible explains those themes.
So take the Genesis story of Joseph: Joseph’s brothers are jealous of him and sold him into slavery.
But that sin of jealousy didn’t come out of nowhere. Joseph was the son of Rachel who was Jacob’s favorite wife.
Jacob had showed extensive favoritism to Rachel and Joseph, then the sons of Leah took it out on Joseph when they sold him into slavery.
I’m not saying Leah's sons are innocent. I’m just saying that they were actually collectively responding to anger and bitterness over the sin’s of their father.
Put it back one more step... Jacob had a favorite son, probably because his Dad Issac had a favorite son too...Jacob's twin brother Esau...put it back one more step...Issac learned favoritism from his father Abraham who banished Ishmael from the camp when Issac was born. So there's the 3 generations, but Jospeh stopped it at the 4th, when he chose to release it. And so are you willing to release the part of you that came from you earthly father
If there’s one big takeaway from generational curses that need to be broken off  it’s that sin is serious. It is deadly serious.
It’s like John Owen, the Puritan always said, “You got to be killing sin, or it’s going to be killing you at any given moment.” One of those two things is happening and not just in you, and you and your children and those you influence for generations to come.
Now here's the 2nd part:
Exodus 34 also says that God keeps faithfulness with 1000s of generations. And what that means is that God is much more merciful and healing than our sin is damaging.