We're At War - Introduction Series

Revelation 12:1-5, 7-8, 17

We’re at War!

September 26, 2021

Most of you know I’m a sports guy. I enjoy watching and playing sports. One thing that drives me crazy when watching is when you hear an announcer say that the team or individuals LOOK FLAT.

Have you ever heard that said about your team? It means they’re not into the game, they have no energy, they’re not really ready to play. I’ve heard it most for football and basketball teams. I’ve heard it for tennis players as well. Maybe it’s hard to get up for every game. Yet, I find it remarkable that a team knows they’ve got a war, because in a sense that’s what competition is, and they’re not ready for it. You know what I mean?

It’s not always easy to get all excited for each day as well. We often go through the motions of life. Sometimes we kind of sleep walk through the day. And if your life is on TV, the announcers may say, ‘they like flat today.’

I say all of that to let you know we’re starting a new sermon series today. It’s going to be different. I’ve spoken about this topic a bit, but never with as much background that I’m going to do, which is next weeks message.

What I’m going to be talking about and doing it in many different directions is war! It’s not the typical war I’m going to be talking about. It’s a spiritual war. We’re going to be looking at spiritual warfare. Yup, fun topic! But I believe this is so, so important in our world!

This is kind of the process I’m going to be using. Today is more of an introduction, to help us see that we really are in a war. Next week, we’re going to see how, where, when and why this whole thing started. It’s going to be a little more of a Bible Study sermon. Then we’re going to look way, way back to Genesis and see how this all played out, and that may actually take me a couple of weeks. Then we’re going to bring it present again and talk about how we can invoke God and help protect ourselves.

Obviously, we’re talking about satan.

There’s a problem, though - - because this isn’t a war we’re going to fight in the physical world. We may think that, but that’s part of the delusion. It’s a war unlike any we’ve ever seen, a war unlike any we’ve been part of. Actually, it’s a war we’ve already experienced, but maybe haven’t realized.

It’s the longest unrecorded war in human history. You see, our battle is not with one another, as much as we might look at one another with disdain, mistrust and enmity. As he is finishing his letter to the Ephesians, Paul puts it best . . .

10 Finally, be strong in the Lord and in the strength of His might. 11 Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the schemes of the devil. 12 For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places. 13 Therefore take up the whole armor of God, that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand firm. - Ephesians 6

Do you understand what Paul is saying?

You see, our battle isn’t against one another, our battle is against forces of evil which places those temptations, thoughts, desires and addictions right in front of us. They lead us into battles within ourselves and with others. Some cause us to sin.

Our battle is against the forces of evil - - not against flesh and blood. As Paul says, it’s against the rulers, authorities, the powers of this dark world. He’s talking about satan, the devil, the evil one, lucifer . . . or whatever you want to call him.

But you see we don’t take this topic seriously, do we? We don’t want to talk about evil. It’s either too scary or we laugh it off, really, because it’s too scary. We like to joke about the devil as the one wearing a silly red cape who’ harmless.

Yet, Paul tells us we need to be strong in the Lord, using His strength. So we put on God’s spiritual armor. Not ours, ours is weak, but we put on God’s armor so that we can withstand the war and we have the confidence to stand firm in battle.

Yet, satan would lead us to believe we can act like there are no consequences in life. Then when we’re caught, we blame someone else. That will be in 2 weeks when we look at the garden scene with Adam and Eve. It’s a daily battle and if we’re not equipped and ready for war, then we will lose the battle. We can’t be flat.