 Good afternoon Pastor David. Hey John. Welcome everybody to a random moment with Pastor David Unfiltered. Pastor last Wednesday you started a series on spiritual warfare. Isn't that fun? It's been warfare ever since Ephesians chapter 6 and I'm looking forward to the study tomorrow because you're going to start looking at the weapons. But you know one of the things that's interesting is when you pointed out last week that when we think of spiritual warfare sometimes we think it's this big dragon that we're fighting or it's the the big demon or a lion jumping out in front of us and when reality you know it can be a number of things it could be our flesh it can be it can be a number of different things but you mentioned that it can be the smallest thing and and you were sharing that last week that this battle that we have is warfare that we go through it's a wrestle and that wrestle seems like it speaks of close hand-to-hand combat and and so our fight with this spiritual realm is not only just the big big demons and stuff it's the everyday battles that we go through that is a close quarters fighting yeah and so when we look at this God you spoke a little bit about the whole armor of God it talks about when we put this armor on the next thing we're to do is stand how does that happen when we're in this wrestle this close contact of this battle we have this armor you're going to be introducing the belt of truth but yet we're to stand yeah it's a girdle something you'd be familiar with to God the girdle of truth yeah um when paul is speaking of that like i was mentioning to the church as we've been going through Ephesians you know we are it is broken into the three words sit walk stand and i was reminding our our fellowship of the first three chapters being seated in christ in heavenly places and the things that that relates to and then we go into the fourth chapter and we begin to speak of the walk of the believer because the walk of the believer is always going to be built on foundationally by who we are we're seated in christ you know so knowing who we are prepares us to walk as those who know who we are in christ etc but we also have warfare and the warfare sit walk stand the warfare comes you know after being seated after our walk and then he reminds us of the fact that we're in a spiritual battle so yeah we were not against flesh and blood but against principalities and powers you know and the weapons of our warfare are not carnal but mighty in god so spiritual warfare requires obviously spiritual weapons and so last week we looked at our enemy and the fact that he is a commander over his troops if you will the fallen angels who followed his lead and all and so we began to look at the origin of the battle and now we begin to see the weapons of our warfare and so paul begins in a in a way that he's actually he's enumerating the way that a soldier would actually dress or be prepared and he began by girding himself girding his waist with a belt a type of a belt because he would wear a tunic and the tunic could trip him up so he would lift the tunic and cinch it in his in what we call the girdle or the the belt that he would wear so that belt that he speaks of is the first thing the soldier would be adorning himself with and it's it's truth so we'll be looking at truth in sense of it as being it in terms of content as well as in terms of its mental application we'll be looking at that because we not only know truth but we need to act on truth and so we'll be looking at that because in the war we need to understand that the weapon the primary weapon that we have it's an awareness that there is such a thing as truth it's kind of like when Jesus was standing before the political governor Pontius Pilate who asked Jesus what is truth well that is still something that people are asking to this day and because we have such an array of opinions as to what is truth i'll be sharing a little bit about knowing the content of truth which would be through our study and preparation through the word of God and our application of truth which takes place when we're in spiritual warfare because even as Jesus was you know confronted by the enemy and Satan himself began to attempt to tempt our our savior Jesus's response is what we're supposed to be responding he said it is written it is written it is written so his weapon of his warfare that he used to defeat satan said get thee behind me is uh is the word of God so we'll be looking at what truth is a little bit tomorrow why we can trust the word of God excuse me and the application of it and you know one of the things that you've mentioned because people are even saying today well truth is relative right and i think being able to build that foundation of what true truth is is vital to the rest of the pieces of the armor but i like what you said i don't think you said it you're teaching we said it in conversation that oftentimes when we're going to get in a battle we take time to study the enemy no you study the end and and this is where the belt of truth comes in because in order for us to know our enemy we must know God's word and uh and be prepared because i think it was you that mentioned that you knew somebody that day i have a friend of mine now who is a martial artist and he said that he before he would enter into any physical combat he said i studied him and the way he said it it made sense to me he was looking for his strengths and his weaknesses just by observing him so the way he was standing even the way that he posed himself these were all um insights into this friend of mine so that he'd know how to attack and so being aware of our enemy to know that um you know that he is a like a roaring lion prowling and seeking whom he may devour but Paul speaks concerning his devices and his strategies his methods and um you know so we have to be aware of the enemy it's not that we admire or it's not that we get caught up in it's that we need to be aware that he uses a variety of things the less of flesh less the eyes pride of life he uses various things but he always seems to return to the same three core things that worked for him when he when he was there in the garden and presenting to Eve the original temptation he still does that there are only three basic areas that he usually strategizes and works on with us and so we need to have truth we have to be aware of what his devices are and we need to withstand because Paul says stand and then he says stand a second time and then he says withstand so stand the first time he uses it I believe in first verse 13 it speaks of standing it's a Greek word that means to stand with your feet planted as a victor somebody who's already overcome so the mentality of the warrior is to know that we've already in Christ overcome we're seated with him we've walked with him so we can stand and overcome but there's another word that is used the second time he uses word stand and that's more of a word that means to be braced and ready you know it's like a lineman on on a football team who's who's he's braced you know for the onslaught that he's going to have when the the rush the person rushes you know you have to be ready for it you need to handle that these huge linemen and all of that well they're prepared they're braced for battle and that's what Paul's talking about it's the war is won Christ won that war for us and we know the end of our enemy because revelation tells us he's cast into lake of fire so he's a defeated foe but that doesn't mean the skirmishes don't continue and so you have to be prepared embraced for it so that having done all you stand you can stand victorious and we'll be looking at that tomorrow look forward to this I want to invite you guys to come out and join us tomorrow at 7 p.m. for a Wednesday night service it's a time of worship and getting into God's word and time of fellowship so want to invite you guys to come on out it's going to be a good study I look forward to it and so just want to thank you guys for tuning in pastor thank you for uh thank you for sharing a little bit about what we're going to be what you're going to be teaching on tomorrow and again church family coming out and join us it's going to be a great time God bless you guys again thank you pastor David and we'll see you guys soon