 Striking the colors. Striking the colors and I'm reading from my notes here from the online dictionary it says that striking the colors is a military term which means to lower your flag in surrender. So back in the days when naval warfare was more common where you would have ships representing this country and ships representing this country they would go to seas and they would have their cannons and they would shoot at each other. The moment that a ship lowers its flag it means that it has now officially surrendered to the enemy. That means that the enemy now has legal right and ownership over that ship. Our flag is our faith in Jesus Christ. It is by our faith that we are known by people. People see your faith, people hear your faith and they know okay this person has sworn allegiance to Jesus Christ and that is why it is our faith that the devil wants to take, wants to destroy, wants to bring up down in our lives. The devil may be attacking us one way today and another way tomorrow but I want to let you know as long as you're receiving attack it's a sign that your faith is still making noise. The moment that you are not experiencing attack, you are not experiencing adversity, you are not experiencing enticement, temptation and and issues that that seems to conflict with your faith. That's when you should be worried. If someone is living a beautiful peaceful life there's no attacks everything is just good you need to look at where your faith is. Is it high up shining above anything else in your life or is your faith being lowered gradually in your life? As long as you're keeping your flag up, as long as you are declaring your faith in the name of Jesus, as long as you are standing through the pain, the difficulties, the sickness, God or mighty has control over your situation and as long as you're doing that the devil can never board your ship. There is three different areas in which the enemy tries to get us to strike the colors, to lower our flag, to surrender our faith. Number one, he tries through adversity. This can be sickness, long-term sickness, short-term sickness, it can be that someone has passed away in your family, it can be that you have lost your job, it can be divorce, it can be rebellious children, it can be other financial situations, difficulties, hardship, adversity. The devil tries through adversity and the purpose of this is that he wants us to surrender our flag in submission to an overwhelming enemy. The second area that the devil tries, he tries through enticement. This can be moral compromise, it can be falling into sin, it involves your weaknesses, your temptations, things that conflict with your faith, things that cause you to feel guilty, things that makes you to look at the world instead of God Almighty. One example is in the book of Genesis 25 where Jacob offered a bowl of soup in trade for Iso's birthright. This is a perfect example where Iso chose to willingly hand over his flag in trade for temporary pleasure. The third area in which the devil tries to attack us, to strike us, to get us to lower our flag is enmity. Number one, adversity. Number two, enticement. Number three, enmity. Enmity is basically when you are experiencing bitterness or anger towards God, where you feel like God has not done what he promised he would do to you. Maybe you feel like it's taking too long for him to answer. Maybe in fact you're struggling to believe if he even exists. So if you're feeling bitterness towards God, anger for how he could let certain things happen to you, to your family, to your friends. Maybe you have a family member that have passed away. Maybe there are tragic accidents that happen in your family. Maybe there is someone who is chronically sick in your family or maybe you are the one experiencing that. And you feel that bitterness and anger towards God. God, if you exist, how could you allow this to happen to me? God, how could you allow such situations to happen to me? God, you better prove yourself or I'm turning away from you. You have never done anything for me, God. You have never done, you have never blessed me. You have never treated me in any special way. God, I'm beginning to doubt if you even exist. Let me tell you that this is one of the areas, the strongest areas where the devil tries to attack us to steal our faith. What he tries to do through enmity, he tries to make us throw away our flag, believing that it can do nothing for us. In the medieval times, when people went out for war, there was always a flag bearer. The flag bearer, other people would ride on horses with their swords and their lances and all kind of stuff. There would be one flag bearer. This flag bearer would have no weapon. He would not be able to protect himself if someone attacked him on the battlefield. But he's so responsibility was to keep the flag of their allegiance up high so that everyone who were fighting could see the flag up in the sky. And they knew as long as the flag was up in the sky that it was something still worth fighting for. It was still worth battling for because that flag gave them hope. I want to tell you today, your flag is giving people hope. Your flag is the sign that Jesus Christ lives. And he never said goodbye. The devil will try to bring that flag down. Don't ever surrender to that enemy. Jesus Christ has promised as you and I keep our flag up, he's coming for you because he never leaves a soldier in the battlefield. In the book of Exodus 17 verse 11, the Israelites were fighting against the Amalekites. And Joshua went out to fight against the Amalekites. But Moses got an instruction from God Almighty and I'm reading from verse 11. And so it was when Moses held up his hand that Israel prevailed. And when he let down his hand, Amalek prevailed. And so it was, but, sorry verse 12, but Moses hands became heavy. He was dropping his hands. He was holding them up. And as long as he held them up, the armies of Israel were winning the battle. But his arms got heavy. He started dropping down his arms. And it says, so they took a stone and put it under him and he sat on it. And Aaron and her supported his hand one on one side and the other on the other side. And his hands were steady until they're going down of the sun. So Joshua defeated Amalek and his people with the edge of the sword. I want to tell you today, you are Aaron to the people around you. Never you believe that you are called only to hold up your own flag. As Christians, we are called to go out there, see your friends and family. Those that nobody else notices, notice their faith, encourage their faith, help them to hold their hands up. Because as Moses was holding his hands up physically, he was holding his flag up in the spirit. I want to encourage you today. Make sure that you are a flag bearer for Jesus. Make sure that you are lifting up the arms of people around you.