Ready or Not - On Guard Wk 1

Good morning, Church. My name is Pastor Ryan. For those who don't know who I am, I am the past of this church. I'm excited to kind of see you guys a little bit. You guys may see my shiny ball because I know all the light is on me and it's okay. I put a little spit wax on and it today. So have a nice little listening to it. You know, I'm kind of rusty. I feel like I'm kind of to have a priest in a couple of weeks. And so any time I get out of my rhythm, it's, you know, I had to kind of get back into my my my flow. But, you know, growing up as a as a young man, as a child, going back into the 1980s, we didn't have all of the electronic devices that my children your children are so privy to today.

Right. They didn't have the iPads or the cell phones or the PlayStations, the with the X boxes. You know, back in my day, come on, church. We had a walking trail. Anybody had to know what I'm talking about. Just raise your hand and we're going to work for those those millennials and Gen X. Let me just break it down to you really quick. It was like the survival of the fittest. You had to kind of hunt for yourself and kind of build things and you had to get to the next destination and they'll let you get a broken will. And it went away, right? Because the Indians would come in and just kind of take your stuff. See, and it wasn't in like the, the, the 4K pictures that you guys have today.

No, we had a lot of boxes like the the pixels and it was just bad. Yeah. See, that's that's how we grew up. You know, when my brother and I, you know, I'm a twin have I'm a twin and my brother now, you know, growing up, we we played cowboys and Indians. And, you know, many of you guys can kind of relate. You know, growing up, we didn't have all the resources that was afforded to searching for my children. You know, we had to make up games and things like this. And when you play cowboys, Indians, just what you had to do, you had to get a broomstick, go 1/2, recruit them. Just for those who don't know how to play, just in case you had to get a broomstick like this. Right. And just kind of go around. Yeah, y'all know what I'm talking about, right? See, we didn't have the sound effects back then. We had to make our own sound effects. Doo doo doo doo doo doo doo doo. Good at it. And then you know what I'm talking about? You made all this sound effects, right? That's how we grew up. That's how we grew up, you know, my brother and my sisters and stuff. And so, you know, playing cowboys, Indians with all the the sound effects, you know, that was in my in my my kind of was the poor people way to kind of just play games.

You know, not only that, you know, we we play marbles. That's a whole nother generation. See, marbles, we used to, you know, draw, draw a circle in the dirt or on concrete and the object of the game of marbles is basically you had a hit, you had a shooter, marble. You had to put the Marvin in your thumb like that. You had to get down low and just kind of fling to kind of knock the other marble outside the circle. Come on, George. I know what I'm talking about. You know what? I'm talking about it. He always hear what I'm talking about, man. I'm getting there. Only, Doug, don't go. Don't get too far ahead. Now, see? See your my my day needs the boys play marbles in the girls. They played jacks. Yes. Y'all know what I'm talking about? Here you go. One Z to the three. Easy. Yes. And because my sister now my mom had two boys and two girls, we had to play jacks with my sisters. So low key, I got kind of good at jacks. And it's all right, though. All right. But that's how we kind of that's how we grew up and growing up in the streets of New York.

Well, the upper streets of New York City. Well, we kind of grew up in the upstate in New York, Rochester, Buffalo and Syracuse. We played street football. We did play on the grass. We played in the streets. Yeah. So the end zone was, you know, Miss Martha's car. And then the other end zone was like Dr. Paul's car down his way. So we had seen that car, car mode, meaning that car motion was coming along the way. You have to kind of walk to the side to let the car pass and you get back up again. Right now. Yeah, you know, we played street football. The girls play hopscotch, right? You know? You know what I'm talking about? Yeah, y'all know what I'm talking about, right?

Come on, now. And if you didn't play hopscotch, there was this game, which I can never guess. I guess girls had the way of doing it, but it was double Dutch. Double Dutch? You. Nobody else is. Now, it's a whole new revolution of jump rope, right? Jump rope. Just have one string. Right, this is jump rope. But no, that she had to kind of get that, you know, I could never get that part where, you know, you had to kind of bob and weave a little bit. You know, you got to get the little rhythm. Yes. Your pass to get a rhythm. Oh, right. You had to get a little rhythm. Right. Because what would happen is that you had to jump in at the right time and kind of but I think my sister was setting so every time I tried to jump in the rope a little bit faster, my oh, I think my sister was trying to get my brother and I but, but the point I'm trying to make is that back in the day, we didn't we didn't have those games that the kids have today.

But but even in there, we played another game called like Freeze, tag, freeze. Hey, Mother, may I get. Yes, Red Rover, Red Rover, all that stuff we used to play. But my aunt. A red light. Green light? Yes. Hi, ladybug. You know what red light. Green light is? Yeah. Did you just say you had no camera? Camera, green? I said, did you know what we're like? Really? Yeah. Okay, this is my new show, so I was about to give my brother a quick answer. Yes, because you have to pass down from generation to generation certain things about how to. Okay, we'll talk later. Go ahead. Still have to see. But my all time favorite game was hide and seek. Yeah. Huh. Hide and seek was my all time favorite. And the best part about hide and seek. I used to love playing it at night. That takes the game to a whole nother level. Hide and seek was it was the object of the games. Basically. You were basically you have a team of people. You have to choose people.

You know how you used to start off when you play hide and seek, we should say one, two, three. There you go. Say that. Yes, man. You know what I'm talking about. See, like I. So you have a group of people like one, two, three, not it. And then you go from there didn't I didn't I didn't, I didn't know they got it.

That's how we used to do it. And then once you found the person who was the object of the game was that they begin to count to some type of pre proscribed number like 50 or 25. And then everybody else were going high. But you always just test the person who was counting, right? Make sure the eyes were close. Right. You see, because you know them jokers. My brothers be like this. Like, come on, Brian. They like we see with one eye open, they come all and so you see, you know, make sure that, you know, the eyes were they weren't they were looking because the object the game for everybody to go hide in the person will have to go see and then we get to the number 27, 28, 29, 30.

You're ready or not. Here I come. I'll do church. Today we start our new series about spiritual warfare. And truth be told, ready or not, the enemy is coming. The enemy is coming your way. I've heard it before that either you're currently in a battle, you're leaving a battle, or are you about to go into a battle and ready or not, the enemy is coming. My question is, are you ready for the enemy to come at you? Are you really ready for the enemy to come at you in such a way that do you know how to handle it? And you would never win a battle that you know, that is that is not taking place. You can't win a battle that you don't know that is taking place right before you and many of us, you and I, we're in a battle.

You don't even know it sometimes you may not see it or you may not even recognize it. But the battle is at your front door. And so to give context to our scripture today, we're going to go first, Peter, chapter five verses one through seven and I'll be reading from the new version first. Peter Chapter five verses one through seven. If you don't have your Bible, it should be up on the screen for you as well. First, read a chapter five verses one through seven. Cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you right? Be alert and sober. Mind your enemy The devil prowls around like a roaring lion Looking for someone to devour But it says Resist him. Stand firm in the faith because you know that the family of believers throughout the world is undergoing the same kind of sufferings. This is the only time when misery loves company, right? Knowing that my other brother and sister in crisis, they're during the same type of challenges that I'm that I'm faced with. There's comfort to know that God has chosen us to do that.

Verse says it in the God of all grace, who called you to in His internal glory in Christ after you have suffered a little while, were himself restore you and make you strong, firm and steadfast? Come on, Church. Yes, I am in right there by myself to him, be the power forever and ever. Amen. Our first point is this Your opposition is your opportunity for God to use you and your opposition that you're in right now is your opportunity for God to use you forgot to begin to use you in such a way that God has chosen you to walk through exactly what you're walking through, the way that you're walking through it, if you're

looking solely for him. And oftentimes that opposition that we see, we don't really embrace it. We don't lean into that opposition. And that's what God wants us to do, because it gives us the opportunity to see who God is or for us to proclaim who God is. Like, how do we respond when opposition is our front door? Are we respond with the love of Christ?

We're responding with the faith of Christ. Too many people mistakenly say that the devil we know, the Devil's our adversary, and that the devil has to get permission from God to touch us. And that's, you know, that's that's that's biblically true, right? Because we see that through through Joe. Right. Joe was faced with so many different problems and situations in his life because he had to get the devil had to get permission from from God to have the opposition that he was encountering.

But there's there's a caveat to that. There's a caveat. The scripture says that Joe was perfect and upright in all his ways, that by itself is the reason why he had to get the devil, had to get permission from God because he was perfect and upright. So for me to get opposition from the enemy, technically the devil doesn't have to ask God because I know I'm not perfect and I'm not upright.

Right? I am, man all day long and sin is same with me. And so don't think that God, the devil has to get permission from God to ask if he can inflict opposition in your life. Because opposition is going to come, brother, if you're ready or not. If you're if you're ready or you're not. See, the devil went to petition for God. And this is what this was God's response. This is Joe. Chapter one, verse eight. Since then. Then the lower said is say, have you consider my servant Joe? There's no one on earth like him. There's no one on Earth like him. Well, he is blameless and upright. A man who fears God and shuns evil. I fear God. I'm a good day. I show evil on my better day We try to walk coldly right. But I fall every single time. Even as your pastor, I'm not perfect. My thoughts, my mind, the things that I think about, the things that, you know, I've been trying to take captive, hold up. There's this. There's this. A sinful man within me. So begin to act myself.

How am I going to make it out? Like, how am I going to make it out of this situation that I find myself in? And I shouldn't be asking how I'm going to make it out. I should be asking God, why did I make it out? What is the purpose of the opposite sin that I mean? Well, what is that you want me to learn from the opposition that I'm faced with? And better yet, who can use my opposition to help bring them closer to you? Right here? Why did I make it through? What threat do I oppose? Stephen Furtick of Elevation Church once said that the enemy only attacks what is valuable. That is so true. If there wasn't any value who you are, then the enemy won't be attacking you.

So in the other side of this, if the enemy's not at your front door, then what? You're not doing right? If you live in for the world, if you still doing what you're doing, then it means you're on his team. Why should he touch you? He got you already, right? But you're doing something different if you're a kingdom changer, a kingdom mobilizer, then the enemy feels threatened by you. Yeah. So I believe that the greater the attack, the greater the call to the greater attack on your life, the greater the call, the greater the opposition is going to come. Think about it. Pharaoh sent his entire army after Moses. We talking about a couple of people. We're not talking about a couple. 100 people. We talk about thousands. He sent them after Moses. Moses changed everything. Well. So Pharaoh is going to send his army after one guy. Then what is the enemy going to do to you? The enemy only attacks those who is threatened by the enemy only text those who has value the enemy attack those who are he, who's he's afraid of. I want you to think about this.

I want you to think about everything that you've been through. Really. Just just think about everything that you've been through this year. And, you know, give me I'll give you the past three years. Think about it. Everything that you've been through for the past three years and what the enemy tried to do to stop you from being who got us called you to become every argument that you had with your spouse.

He tried to stop you. He spent his entire arsenal after you. But we no way he may for harm. God is going to use for good. Yes, God is writing your resume. I want you to get that. God is writing your resume. What do you mean? The everything that you've gone through. Tell the enemy. Check my resume. Oh, I got a master's in hard knocks. I got a doctorate. It can't get right. I'm just saying, I got a Ph.D. in life, so come at me. Give me all that you have. Because graders, he. That's Amy. Then he's the best in the world. You can come everything any way that you want. But I know I'm sold out. I know I'm not a Princeton. I know I'm moving forward. Tell the enemy to check your resume. You don't know who you are. Has you forgot who your daddy is? This goes out. I need you guys get it? Okay. Church this war that we're fighting, this spiritual battle that we are up against, you need to know the authority that you possess. All right? I said I need to remind you the opportunity that you have so far.

For 5 seconds, I want you to think about those dark areas in your life that you've been battling for the past three years or five years. The opposition that you've been faced with this past past year has been difficult. What I say the enemy has been hard pressed after me. Then I know if he's hard pressed after me, he's after you guys and I finally know the rhythm of the enemy. Now the enemy will come after my family. You will come after my church. You will come after my staff. Every single attack has been against my family. The church in our staff. And I can't catch a break like I came. I came. You just go to the ring and go to the corner. Like, can I, can I, can I get some water? I can't afford to do that. So always have to be ready. Always have to be on guard. So church, you know, I'm gonna give you guys 5 seconds just to think about me, give you 10 seconds to think about the things that you've been going through, the things that you've been fighting get. Then we give another 10 seconds. We can just do a quick hallelujah because we're making it through right? Because God is through writing your resume and I want you to think about the job that you lost, maybe that house that you lost or even that spouse walked out on you, or even the sickness that you've been encountering or even a marriage that you almost gave up on.

Come on, church. It's been rough, has been pretty. So I want you guys to hold on to that thought real quick, but then I need you to say hallelujah. Hallelujah. Anyhow, so church, tell me I'm say one, two, three. I want you guys just give God a quick 5/2 praise break because he is worthy of it. All right, day and night. Night and day. Right? Come on. Church is not for me. It's for God. Yeah, I, I I'm glad you had it for right now, because that was kind of week like it is. Oh, yeah. I've been at the final four. I saw Golden State play. Come on, plague is my Celtics. I'm still kind of salty about that. And I was screaming at the TV, know you, I want us to really think about how the enemy tried to take you out this year.

And it's you still standing and it's just so pressing in. And if God has called you to become. Yes, come on, church. Oh, yeah. Just go. What, what, what, what? What's good? He was like. That was great. Yeah, I don't somebody's good. So let me tell you this one. Oh, I'm tired of the enemy having my life because I know the call that he has on his church and I know the call that he has in my life. And I know the call that he has in your life. Yes. It's a greater the opposition is greater. The call. I'm gonna give you the three points real quick and we'll let you go. Verse says, Be sober, be village. Because your adversary, the devil as a roaring lion walk is about seeking whom he may devour. Point number one, to be sober. Yeah. And we're going to talk about it. What does it mean to be sober? Right? What does it mean to be so we know. So we're the opposite of sober is is drunk. My testimony. I can confirm or deny that I have never been drunk before this. That was B.S., right? It's actually truth be told, it's probably even a A.D. after I, you know, receive Christ comments. I'm just telling the truth right? Even what I was saved and sanctify Holy Ghost through a fire baptized. I will still turn it up and do with some crazy stuff what we call faded.

But then I begin to change my environment, I begin to change my community. I begin to change the people that I begin to sit with and do life with and begin to challenge me to do better, to become better, to live out what God is calling me to do. And Sober by Miriam Webster. She says, to not, not drink or be intoxicated, but more importantly, sober, defined by Merriam Dix dictionary says to be clear headed if so, do you mean to be clearheaded? So is that always about drinking to be in toxic hate it. But to be clearheaded we have to be mentally, physically, even technically and spiritually clear. We have to be mentally ready. What do you think? There's boot camp, right? Why do what do Marines and Navy and our armed services go through boot camp? Because they need to push you through mental stress to make sure that you still be able to stand the fight. They give you technical skills. They test your body, even your spirit.

So to be sober, have you ever seen someone drunk before? I'm sure we all seen. I mean, you guys got Tik Tok or Facebook or Instagram. You've seen it, you know, watching on TV. You know, they try to do the live no steps or you see whatever happens, you know, we we've all seen it before. We see that their speed and their motor skills, their their cognitive thinking is is kind of just going out the window. Studies shows that every 45 minutes someone dies from being a drunk driver. Every 45 minutes, that's a 14% increase year over year. So to be sober is that way. You know, when you're in the fight, you're able to make the right decision at the right time. Point number two, need you to be ready. Judge 18 tells us this The thief comes to steal, kill and destroy. But I have come that you may have life and life to the full. But I like the way the good old King James says the thief. Come, come in. And we put that on it. The thief cometh not but to steal a.q and to destroy.

Yes, I am that they may have life and that they may have it more abundantly. God's desires for you and I is to have a life that is filled with abundance. I mean, that is an overflowing of abundance. There's an overflow over God once for you and I, we have to be ready because the enemy wakes up every morning and his main desire is to steal your joy, his desires to steal your identity, his desires to kill your purpose, his desire to kill your potential. His desires to destroy God's plans for your life. Yeah. The enemy wakes up every morning with that intent in mind to take your joy, your identity, your purpose, your potential. Right? So the time to be ready is not the time to get ready. The time to be ready is not the time to get ready for life. Now we drive two cars purposely, she says.

Okay, because she don't want to talk about it just a little bit. I'ma talk about myself. How about that? We drive two cars because my wife is late, right? Well, she, she, she, she, you know. Oh, she said vengeance is mine. Oh, oh, gosh. He says might be able to do it. All right, keep it. Holy, Felicia. The time to be ready is not the time. We have a 6:00 appointment. You got to be there. Six, right? The time to be ready is now. When? The time to get ready. You have to always be ready. Yeah, you always have to be suited up. Ephesians six tells us that a very popular scripture six chapter, chapter six verses ten from 15. This is finally be strong in the Lord and in His mighty power. It says to put on the full armor of God so that you can take your stand against the devil. Asking for our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, and gives the powers of the world against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms.

This is therefore put on the full armor so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground. And after you have done everything to stand and stand firm with the belt of truth, book it around your waist with the breastplate of righteousness, with your feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace. In addition to all of this, take up the shield of faith with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. Take the helmet of salvation, a sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of God, and pray in this spirit, and 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.

Dave, if you can bring that rack up for me real quick, verse 18 says this again, and I pray in the spirit and all occasions in all kinds of prayers and requests with this man. Be alert and always keep on praying for the Lord's people. For here I got an armor of clothing right? Don't judge me under God.

Looking at one of the suits, like what in the world is going on? The things I do for my friend who works in the hotel industry to make sure our team engagement pinky is on point. Yes, this is a Halloween suit and your boy was looking good. I was going to let you know I was flossing. Scripture tells us this that we should put on the full armor of God. And the problem with that is that many of us have the resources, but we don't even use it there. We have a closet full, full of of armor that God wants us to use in the 21st century. Are more well equipped to live this Christian faith than any other century that's known to man more resources, more churches. I mean, we just have everything at our hand, but yet we don't utilize what we have.

See, the only time we use resources when it's a special occasion, when I am going through a situation, it might be once a year where I find myself that I'm so lost and I'm so this distraught because the world is having his way with me. I might put on the armor of God that God has afforded me to have. So that's why I wanted to have this one time suit, because I'll wear the suit once a year. Any other time of the year is not benefiting. God has given us the breastplate of righteousness, the belt of truth. But yes, sometimes when we go into a fight, when God is giving you a three piece suit. Wow. Well, we don't have the full armor. He has equipped us with having a full suit, but yet we don't use it. Then as some suits, you know, we don't pull out until we know we need it. This is my Will Smith suit. My bad boy suit. Bad boys. When he did a little thing like that came wrong. Mike Lowery. Mike Lowery. Everybody want to be like Mike, y'all going to be retired like Mike. Do. But God has given us the opportunity to put on the full armor of God. But yet the armor that God has given us sit in the backseat. It sits on a shelf. We don't bring it to church on Sunday because we have these things.

We don't open it up until all hell is breaking loose. What truth? And then when that happens, it's too late, right? I mean, God is going to grace you through it and he'll bring you through. That's that's one thing. But what God intends for us to do, going through the opposition, what he's trying to build and what he's trying to develop in you, you have to be ready before they even happen. And so what God wants us to do is to live a life not only on guard, but a life be ready that we're always wearing our armor. I would never take off my belt. My, my, my belt of truth. I would never leave my sword or the spear, which is the Word of God. I will always walk in peace. The breastplate of righteousness, the helmet of salvation. We have to wear our armor. 24 seven. Yeah, good. As everybody. I've been an accident that you be blindsided before that you got T-boned. You don't know what happened. That's how the enemy come about. We're like, we're in a world where. How did it happen? Where did that come from? Because you weren't ready.

But if you have your armor on, whatever happens, you can come back up and stand, he says. Stand firm, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in work and the grace of the Lord. Point number three, this you should resist. Be sober, be ready and resist the enemy. Now the verb resist demands that you act is an action. Verb is a verb made up of two words. On one hand it says against, and the other hand it says Stand. So in a military context it tells you it's a metaphor. Commanded you to hold your ground and to not retreat. So what God is showing you that you need to hold your ground and you need to stand firm, that you're not call to retreat from the battle, but stayed in.

Oftentimes we're walking away from the battle that we're fleeing from the battle. But, you know, God chose us to do this. He chose us to flee from loss, run from those who have those, those strong internal, ungodly like desires. But he does not tell us to resist. He says, How do we resist? The same way that Jesus did in Matthew chapter four. He never tells us to flee while we're in opposition. He tells us to stand for verse eight, says this Stay alert. Watch your great enemy, the devil. He prowls around like a roaring lion and says Like a roaring lion. Begin to look at that, he says, like a lion. Who's he imitating? He's imitating Jesus. You would never see in Scripture where the Bible says that our adversary, the devil, is the lion, because we know there's only one line of Judah.

And at first, Peter, chapter five, he says he's wrong. He's he's walking around like a lion. So he is the accuser, the author of False Hope and Lies. So he will disguise himself in such a way to make you believe something that it is but is when is not right? That's right. That's why the scripture says like a lion, because he's not the lion. I do. So to give you some some context of what this really is, there's a picture that's going to be on the screen. It's a throwback picture, my brother and I. Yeah. Never. That's my twin brother. That's my ace in the hole. I can be like Brian, but I'm not Brian. Right? I can. He can be like Ryan, but he would never be Brian. I think for many of you may not know which one is which. So just just a quick quiz for those that may know us. I'm not going to put my mom on the spot or wise because they may get it wrong to which one is Brian right? If I'm right. All right. So I know which what it is. It's right. So let me let me come down here because Brian is on the right. I am on the left. And just notice I'm an inch taller than my brother knows nothing of it. The point that I'm trying to make is this the enemy wants to come in and present himself in such a way that would trip you up.

He would call you things that you're not. He would place you or he'd try to position in places that where God is. Are you not to be? And we see this in Revelation. We see this all the way through from Genesis to Revelation that the author of Lying from Day One was twisting the Word of God. We see that in the very beginning of time, and what God wants United to do is to stand firm on the truth as our worship team make their way up to the stage. As I'm wrapping up, I want to close with a particular passage of Scripture. It's the latter part of First Peter Chapter five. It says it's in verse 12. Peter's writing says, I have written this. I've sent this short letter to you to help you help Silas, whom I commend to you as a faithful brother. My purpose in writing to writing this to you is encourage you today to assure you that what you are experiencing is truly part of God's grace for you.

So what Peter sees there, what he is writing, what he's reminding us of, is that that he's reminding you that God's grace in you, through this process, He wants you to stand firm, is to stand firm in his grace and know that the peace of Christ will be with you. We as a church today, as we begin to open up this first week of our summer series called Unger, which is a series about spiritual warfare, I want you to remember that the fight that you're in today is developing the faith that you need for tomorrow.

The very fight that you find yourself in today is developing the faith that you're going to need tomorrow. So lean into that fight. Lean into those situations where God has shown a mode, you've developed you, because we know that greater the attack, the greater the call in your opposition is your opportunity for God to use you. So let us stand let us stand today and we're going to close out with the song. I think it's only fitting the song that we're going to sing as we close out today's I Got to turn it around. May God begin to turn around your situation. May God begin to turn around your circumstances. May God begin to turn around even the way that you are looking where you're at today. Because greater see this in you in this vessel the heat of the world because God turning some things around right now for you and I want you to believe that I want you to sing this song out with all of your heart and know that God has purpose, that you are here today.

And remember, there's nothing that you can do that will leave you so far away from God that you can come back. And so if you don't know who Christ is for yourself and you're seeking a Savior, you seek, you want to walk with you just come up. We want to pray with you. If you just want somebody say, you know what? I just need someone just to pray with me. Today, our elders, our deacons are here, our staff, our pastors are here. And we just want to love you. And we want to let you know that you're not alone. Amen. Amen. Thank you.