I. EXORDIUM:
Who is the Champion in you?
JESUS CHRIST.
2 Corinthians 13:5 (Amplified Bible)
Examine and test and evaluate your own selves to see whether you are holding to your faith and showing the proper fruits of it. Test and prove yourselves [not Christ]. Do you not yourselves realize and know [thoroughly by an ever-increasing experience] that Jesus Christ is in you—unless you are [counterfeits] disapproved on trial and rejected?
II. AUDIENCE PROFILE:
Believers/unbelievers
III. OBJECTIVES:
To show that JESUS CHRIST won over all these enemies and that the LORD JESUS CHRIST lives within me.
IV. TEXT:
Ephesians 6:12 (Amplified Bible)
For we are not wrestling with flesh and blood [contending only with physical opponents], but against the despotisms, against the powers, against [the master spirits who are] the world rulers of this present darkness, against the spirit forces of wickedness in the heavenly (supernatural) sphere.
V. THESIS:
Praise, worship, glorify, adore, bless, honor, acknowledge and thank You very much LORD JESUS for You have brought us moment by moment to parade of victories for Your Glory and Honor alone.
1 Corinthians 15:57 (Amplified Bible)
But thanks be to God, Who gives us the victory [making us conquerors] through our Lord Jesus Christ.
VI. TITLE:
Wrestling match on earth
VII. EXPLICATION:
A. Author: Apostle Paul
B. Date written: 60 A.D. to 64 A.D.
C. Purpose: To show believers their position in CHRIST and encourage them to walk accordingly
D. To whom written: church at Ephesus
VIII. MAIN BODY:
Ephesians 6:12 (Amplified Bible)
For we are not wrestling with flesh and blood [contending only with physical opponents], but against the despotisms, against the powers, against [the master spirits who are] the world rulers of this present darkness, against the spirit forces of wickedness in the heavenly (supernatural) sphere.
Ephesians 6:12 (New King James Version)
For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places.
A. We don't wrestle with flesh and blood
"For we are not wrestling with flesh and blood [contending only with physical opponents],"
Our enemies are spirits not human beings. We wrestle or vibrate them in the name of JESUS. That's the only name they recognized, they will bend their knees and say their lips that JESUS IS LORD!
Philippians 2:10-11 (Amplified Bible)
That in (at) the name of Jesus every knee should (must) bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth,
And every tongue [frankly and openly] confess and acknowledge that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.
There's always a wrestling match on decisions that we make in life. That's why before I do it, I rely on GOD'S WORDS first and foremost, see what the LORD JESUS has to say about that thing and I renew my mind according to GOD'S WORDS and not according to my likes.
Luke 13:24 (Amplified Bible)
Strive to enter by the narrow door [force yourselves through it], for many, I tell you, will try to enter and will not be able.
1 Corinthians 9:25-27 (Amplified Bible)
Now every athlete who goes into training conducts himself temperately and restricts himself in all things. They do it to win a wreath that will soon wither, but we [do it to receive a crown of eternal blessedness] that cannot wither.
Therefore I do not run uncertainly (without definite aim). I do not box like one beating the air and striking without an adversary.
But [like a boxer] I buffet my body [handle it roughly, discipline it by hardships] and subdue it, for fear that after proclaiming to others the Gospel and things pertaining to it, I myself should become unfit [not stand the test, be unapproved and rejected as a counterfeit].
2 Timothy 2:5 (Amplified Bible)
And if anyone enters competitive games, he is not crowned unless he competes lawfully (fairly, according to the rules laid down).
Hebrews 12:1 (Amplified Bible)
THEREFORE THEN, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses [who have borne testimony to the Truth], let us strip off and throw aside every encumbrance (unnecessary weight) and that sin which so readily (deftly and cleverly) clings to and entangles us, and let us run with patient endurance and steady and active persistence the appointed course of the race that is set before us,
Hebrews 12:4 (Amplified Bible)
You have not yet struggled and fought agonizingly against sin, nor have you yet resisted and withstood to the point of pouring out your [own] blood.
B. We are wrestling against the following:
1. principalities and powers
2. rulers of the darkness of this age
3. spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places
"but against the despotisms, against the powers, against [the master spirits who are] the world rulers of this present darkness, against the spirit forces of wickedness in the heavenly (supernatural) sphere"
There's no way of winning other than the consciousness of our mind that we are seated in and with CHRIST higher than our spiritual enemies. Always remember that the battle is not ours but the LORD's. The LORD JESUS CHRIST already won making us victorous every moment with Him.
Ephesians 1:20 (Amplified Bible)
Which He exerted in Christ when He raised Him from the dead and seated Him at His [own] right hand in the heavenly [places],
Ephesians 2:6 (Amplified Bible)
And He raised us up together with Him and made us sit down together [giving us joint seating with Him] in the heavenly sphere [by virtue of our being] in Christ Jesus (the Messiah, the Anointed One).
1 Samuel 17:47 (Amplified Bible)
And all this assembly shall know that the Lord saves not with sword and spear; for the battle is the Lord’s, and He will give you into our hands.
1 Corinthians 15:57 (Amplified Bible)
But thanks be to God, Who gives us the victory [making us conquerors] through our Lord Jesus Christ.
I don't want to discuss the organizations of the enemy but what I want is the organization of CHRIST in the Heavens.
Matthew 16:18 (Amplified Bible)
And I tell you, you are Peter [Greek, Petros—a large piece of rock], and on this rock [Greek, petra—a huge rock like Gibraltar] I will build My church, and the gates of Hades (the powers of the infernal region) shall not overpower it [or be strong to its detriment or hold out against it].
Let us know that the ROCK is CHRIST JESUS not Peter, Peter's name means a rock (small rock) but the LORD JESUS is saying another ROCK - Peter means Petros meaning "a piece of rock" if the LORD JESUS is intending to build His Church on a piece of rock of course, the LORD JESUS is not practicing what He preaches, which is not the situation in all of JESUS's Life and Ministry. The LORD JESUS if He means that Peter is the first pope, He will just say straight on you Peter I will build my church, but He is saying "on this rock" I will build my church. On this rock means "petra" meaning "mass of rock"
We saw after this commendation by the LORD of Peter, the LORD JESUS denounced Peter, that Peter was called "satan" by the LORD JESUS because Peter is unstable in all his ways, but the LORD JESUS CHRIST is stable in ALL of His Ways because He's not human only but also GOD.
Matthew 16:23 (Amplified Bible)
But Jesus turned away from Peter and said to him, Get behind Me, Satan! You are in My way [an offense and a hindrance and a snare to Me]; for you are minding what partakes not of the nature and quality of God, but of men.
IX. CONCLUSION:
Praise, worship, glorify, adore, bless, honor, acknowledge and thank You very much LORD JESUS for You have brought us moment by moment to parade of victories for Your Glory and Honor alone.
