Sermon Title- “Spiritual Warfare- What’s Your Draft
Status?”
Sermon Subject: “Every Christian is at War in this world”
Scripture- “Ephesians 6:10=18
Date- 02 May, 2004, Fourth Sunday of Easter


The Draft
Story of the Alpha Holy Spirit Weekend- As I stand here and talk about Satan or his minions in the room and spiritual warfare, too many Christians today are silently thinking that I have lost my mind, gone over the edge. Too many Christians today do not believe in Spiritual Warfare or Satan as anything other than a symbol for evil. In the survey we took in church a couple of months ago some of the results that bear on our subject for today are;
Bethsaida Mount Zion Walker’s
BWV 0% 20% 7%
God is 100% 85% 100%
Jesus 100% 85% 85%
The Word 60% 55% 35%
Witness 40% 55% 45%
Satan 80% 50% 45%
Satan’s biggest lie and greatest triumph is to deceive Christians into thinking that he does not exist.

It is very hard in my experience to be an avid reader of God’s Word and not believe in Spiritual Warfare and Satan as a living being. In the Old Testament in
Isaiah 59:14-17a God says, “Our courts oppose people who are righteous, and justice is nowhere to be found. Truth falls dead in the streets, and fairness has been outlawed. 15Yes, truth is gone, and anyone who tries to live a godly life is soon attacked.
The LORD looked and was displeased to find that there was no justice. 16He was amazed to see that no one intervened to help the oppressed. So he himself stepped in to save them with his mighty power and justice. 17He put on righteousness as his body armor and placed the helmet of salvation on his head.” That’s how God prepared to fight against His foe.
In 2 Timothy 2:3-5 Paul writes, “Endure suffering along with me, as a good soldier of Christ Jesus. 4And as Christ’s soldier, do not let yourself become tied up in the affairs of this life, for then you cannot satisfy the one who has enlisted you in his army. 5Follow the Lord’s rules for doing his work, just as an athlete either follows the rules or is disqualified and wins no prize.”
Peter writes in 1 Peter 5:8 & 9a, “Be careful! Watch out for attacks from the Devil, your great enemy. He prowls around like a roaring lion, looking for some victim to devour. 9Take a firm stand against him, and be strong in your faith.”
And in 1 Thessalonians 5:8 Paul writes,” But let us who live in the light think clearly, protected by the body armor of faith and love, and wearing as our helmet the confidence of our salvation.”

Are we in a war? For too many Christians today there are mine fields under their feet and bullets whizzing by their heads and they are totally oblivious. Either they are ignorant of what God’s Word says on the subject or they know but just do not care. The founders of our nation were Christians who clearly understood that the world is a battleground for the war between the people of God led by Jesus Christ and reinforced by Angels and the people of the world led by Satan and reinforced by his fallen angles. The war is over your soul and mine. Today, too many Christians see the world as a playground where they can indulge their wants and desires for pleasure. Historians already refer to this time in the history of our nation as “The Post-Christian Era”.

Satan is confident enough to attack the Son of God. Read Matthew the 4th Chapter. If he has no hesitation about attacking Jesus, he will not hesitate to attack the holiest of saints. Satan has three primary goals and as we look at them, see how well you think he is doing.
First, he is out after every Christian. Devour in 1 Peter can also be translated as drown; Satan wants to drown you witness for Christ. When you witness for Christ you walk close to Christ and Satan can’t get at you. But if he can sow a little doubt that you have anything to witness to or fear that you might be laughed at or ridiculed or hesitancy that you might offend anyone, Satan will destroy your witness and have a hold on you. He will do his best to embarrass you, ruin your reputation, slander you or whatever else it takes to make you a non-combatant for Jesus.

Second, Satan wants to destroy the fabric of Christian homes and the sanctity of Christian marriage. The Christian home is where the faith is passed on and more soldiers for Christ are raised up. Satan will divide, sow doubt, encourage unequal yoking where there is tension rather than unity over worship, bring temptations to both spouses, convince us that God will approve of all sorts of coupling arrangements other than a man and woman joined in Christian love and that it is all right to kill babies. How is he doing.

Third, Satan is out to bring down the Church of Jesus Christ to render it ineffective in the war for souls. He will find ways to discredit church leaders, ways to divide congregations, denominations and world unity of the church. He will raise up people in the congregation to gossip, toslander, to always be negative, to condemn and to criticize. He will find ways to focus congregations on creeds, rituals and liturgy and get their eyes off of the person of Jesus. He will get Christians in the Church to argue over how Communion is served, how many hymns to sing, what kind of music to sing, and when to take up collection. Satan will deceive churches into thinking that worship is optional, that Bible study is unnecessary, that one hour a week spent in church is sufficient time spent with God and that gathering to pray is totally unnecessary. Young people will see little reason to go to church and attendance and membership will shrink rather than expand. How is he doing?

Hear again Ephesians 6:10-18. We can prepare, but first we must realize we are at war against a powerful and clever foe. Then we have to put on the armor. It is not optional, God’s Word says do it. It is our duty. If we are pricked by one of Satan’s darts in an exposed area, it is not God’s fault. God has provided the complete armor, but is up to each of us to put it on. Since it appears that all Christians have a 1-A Draft status in God’s war with Satan, we had best put on the whole armor. Then we are prepared to resist Satan. James, the brother of Jesus, says in James 6:7 & 8a, “So humble yourselves before God. Resist the Devil, and he will flee from you. 8Draw close to God, and God will draw close to you.”

.Next week we will look at the foe, Satan