Holy Conspiracy - The Church In Jihad

Holy Conspiracy - The Church in Jihad - Ephesians 6:12-12

Intro.: No amount of smooth talk can camouflage the reality of the battle in which we are engaged. Politically correct words cannot mask the conflict we face: nations at war, shattered lives, broken homes, suicide, rape, abuse & rampant immorality.

First and foremost I want you to see that this battle is the Lord’s, not ours. Only when we see this can we wage victorious spiritual warfare.

I declare to you today, “We are at war”! But no war in history can compare with the battle we are fighting. I am talking about the spiritual battle you became a part of the day you gave your heart to Jesus. This war affects every area of your life. You can’t avoid the conflict. There is no foxhole to crawl into that will shield you from the effects of this battle. But many Christians don’t even know they’re at war. Others have become casualties. They’re discouraged, depressed and defeated. Others affects are divorce, conflict, and abuse.

I. THE ESSENCE OF THE BATTLE

Def.: Spiritual warfare is that conflict being waged in the invisible, spiritual realm but manifests in the visible, physical realm. The cause of the war is something we can’t see. But the effects are very visible in the problems we face all the time.

A. People are not the real problem

1. As bad as people can be, they are merely conduits for this battle

2. Satan has succeeded in getting us to fight people rather than that which is

causing people to be the way they are

NOTE: Everything we see in the visible, physical realm is caused, provoked, or at

least influenced by something in the invisible, spiritual realm

II. THE IMPACT OF THE BATTLE

A. This Battle Effect your Personal Life

1. Financial struggles

2. Emotional troubles

NOTE: If Satan can seize our emotions, he can destroy our ability to function by

crippling us emotionally or leading us into destructive & addictive behavior

B. This Battle Effects Your Family

1. The devil messed up the first family in the Garden of Eden

2. We have been dealing with the effects of their sin ever since

EXAMPLE: Paul wrote to husbands and wives in 1 Cor. 7:5, “Stop depriving one another, except by agreement for a time that you may devote yourself to prayer, and come together again lest Satan tempt you because of your lack of self-control.”

Paul is saying that when a husband and wife don’t have a fulfilling sexual relationship, the devil sees that lack as an opportunity to come in and bring about moral destruction in the family. Spiritual warfare gets right down to the nitty-gritty aspects of everyday life.

C. This Battle Effects Church Life

1. Paul told Timothy to watch out for “doctrines of demons” that will infiltrate

the church (1 Tim. 4:1)

NOTE: The church is being undermined in many places today by teachers who

claim to teach the Bible, but are teaching doctrines from hell.

NOTE: Anyone can quote the Bible, but few can extract the truths contained therein

and deliver them to the spiritually hungry

D. This Battle Effect Culture

1. Finally, this battle affects the life of a nation, the culture in which we live

NOTE: According to passages like Daniel 10, entire nations are influenced by the invisible battle in the spirit realm

III. THE BATTLE AND THE ENEMY

A. Remember, we can’t escape the effects of spiritual warfare

B. We need to learn how to fight

NOTE: Our ability to deal with the spiritual realm will determine whether we win or

lose in the physical realm.

C. Satan’s job is to get us to ignore the spiritual realm

1. If he can divert us from the spiritual realm, he can divert us from finding spiritual solutions.

D. The Enemy’s Goal

1. We are surrounded by our spiritual enemy, but the battle is not for land or anything physical

2. This battle is for glory

a. Who is going to be worshiped?

E. The Enemy’s Strategy

1. Speaking to the carnal church, Paul wrote in 2 Cor. 11:3, “I am afraid, least as the serpent deceived Eve by his craftiness, your minds should be led astray from the simplicity and purity of devotion to Christ.”

2. Satan is out to deceive us, to trick us into buying his lies and temptations

Concl.: We are at war, whether we want to be or not.

You are in a war, whether you believe it or not.

There’s no place to hide from this war

If you don’t fight the good fight, you will be a casualty of war,

You may already be a casualty without recognizing it.

This was affects your life, your family, your church and your culture.

Don’t fall into the enemy’s trap, set your eyes on God, set your goals on heaven and set your hand to the plow, don’t look back, but look up for your redemption is drawing near!