 Okay, good morning. One second. Yeah. Okay, welcome everyone. Thanks for joining. Okay, thanks for joining. I'm good to see you all online. I'm good to see you all everyone here in the class. Let's go to chapter 10, page 69 in your PDFs. The local church, the pillar of truth. I don't know what's the page number in the hard copy. 194, okay. Cool, thank you. Local church, the pillar of truth. 1 Timothy chapter 3 verse 15. This verse should become like John 3, 16 for us, okay? And we're talking about the subject of the church. So remember 1 Timothy chapter 3 verse 15. You can hear me, Francis? Just Nina, can you hear me? Okay. Should I be a little louder? Okay. All right. So it says, but if I'm delayed, that's Paul saying if I am delayed, I write so that you may know how you ought to conduct yourself. You remember this verse on the last class? Okay, we emphasized on the word conduct, right? How you ought to conduct yourself in the house of God, which is the church of the living God, the pillar and ground of truth. Okay, so the church is also called to be so many things we are learning. I mean, in this second section, we're learning about the different facets of the church, right? Which is the blueprint. What did we learn in the last class? Church as the family and in under that we learned different sections, right? One is how to conduct yourself. Every family has a culture and the church needs to have a strong culture, et cetera, et cetera. And so one of the another facet of the church that we are continuing to learn in this chapter and chapter 10 is that we are called to be the pillar of truth. Okay, so the pillar and ground of truth. That's very important. The pillar and the ground of the truth. It's not the pillar of ground or of whatever you want it to be, pillar of truth. So I ask this question all the time. What is the difference between a fact and a truth and truth? Yeah, he knows this pretty well because I once asked this many times. I think it's a very important understanding that we need to have the difference between a fact and a truth. The fact can change, but the truth is constant, right? The fact with the report you say, okay, this evening it might rain, but it can change. It might not rain, right? So that's a fact. The fact is the man was born blind, but Jesus can heal him. The fact is the woman had an issue of blood for 12 years, but Jesus can heal, right? That is the truth. Jesus is the constant. He is the truth, isn't it? So if you can, let's very quickly look at Galatians chapter 2 verse 9 and Revelation chapter 3 verse 12. Let me read it for us. Galatians chapter 2 verse 9. I'll read, yeah. Okay, so it says, and when they perceived, okay, let me read from the ESV version. I prefer that just a little better. And when James and Caiaphas and John, who seem to be pillars, perceived the grace that was given to me, they gave the right hand of the fellowship to Barnabas and me and that we should go to the Gentiles and they to the circumcised. Okay, so the second half of the verse has a very different context when you look at the entire chapter. But we just look at what they are referred to as or they're known as, right? James and Caiaphas, who seem to be pillars, right? So the leaders of the early church were seen as the pillars of the church. Okay, now why is this language used? I mean, you know, Bible is full of imagery, right? Bible is full of metaphors. It's like this, like that. And this section, especially when we say about God's blueprint, it's all about different imagery, right? We should know when to take a certain verse literally and when to look at a certain verse metaphorically or like an analogy, right? When you look at it, if you take revelations literally, then I think it's some horror book or something, right? Like Dragon coming out of the, oh my gosh, you know, so it's a huge problem that happens, right? And so we need to be very, very wise of looking at the imagery, right? When to take a certain passage metaphorically or analytically or analogy-wise and all of that. Okay, so here leaders of the church are considered or as seen as the pillars. Okay, so when you look at ancient structures or buildings, man-made structures, especially the structures built by the Romans and the Greeks, they had a lot of pillars, isn't it? So when you look at the ruins of the old buildings, you can look at lost ruins of Rome or Greece, Greece especially, it was a very beautiful country, Greece, right? And the civilization in general, the Greek civilization, they gave so much to the world in terms of science and even music, you know, we look at major scales, minor scales, it all... There was nothing known as scales back then, it was known as modes. So we get a lot of things from the Greeks and their structures had a lot of pillars, right? Nowadays the modern structures don't have a lot of pillars because it's not the trend, it's not the fashion, right? Because yeah, whatever. So but pillars were important, okay? What was the other scripture that I gave? Revelation 3-12, okay. Revelation chapter 3 verse 12, let's look at it. So it says, the one who conquers, I will make him a pillar in my temple of my God. Never shall he go out of fit and I will write on him, okay? And the name of my God and the name of the city of my God, the new Jerusalem, which comes down from my God out of heaven and my own new name. That is an awesome, awesome, awesome verse, okay? It's just packed with, you can have your like five parts sermon series from just that verse, okay? If you just study it. But just the first half of it, it's again, if you have a red letter Bible, you will have those letters in red, right? Because Jesus is saying, so every word that's highlighted in red is spoken by Jesus. So he's saying, I will make him a pillar in the temple. So if Jesus is saying that, you know, that I will make you a pillar, he could have said so many other things, isn't it? So that means there's some emphasis and importance on that word pillar, right? The last half of that first verse, 1 Timothy chapter 3 verse 15 says, conduct yourself in the house of God, which is the church of the living God and the church is supposed to be the pillar and the ground of truth, okay? A pillar that supports something and the ground, a solid foundation of what? Of truth. That means it's supposed to be constant in what it believes. It's supposed to stand for truth. Anyone who enters or comes should know that, okay, I can trust in this place or in this person because there is some constants in it. And that is the truth, isn't it? So why did Jesus say that he is the way and the truth and the life? Look at that series of the progression of that choice of words. He's saying he is the way, right? And when we talk about the ways of God, the Bible says it has a lot to say about the ways of God, right? His ways are just, His ways are righteous, His ways are holy. That's all the things, that's what the Bible says, isn't it? So His way will lead you to the truth and the truth or the revelation of the truth of who he is leads us to life. Understood? And that revelation is very important and that's what God is calling us to be as a local church is that the world should look at the church and know what the truth is because there's constants and not the other way around. The church should not be looking at the world for the truth. Okay, something terribly wrong is happening there. Are you with me? But is that happening? When the people look at the church now, I'm talking about the universal church, okay, do they look at the church and go, yes, they speak the truth? It's a sad reality, okay? We are supposed to be known, we are to be at the pillar and the ground of truth. But we are work in progress. Are you all with me? Yes, this is very important, guys, is that you and I as individuals or as a collective to strive for the truth. Okay, it's not just a word that we can get too accustomed to and to become very familiar. It's possible that we can become very, very familiar with that word called truth, but it's so much more powerful. If Jesus is referring to himself as a truth, we can't simply ignore it. It's worth the study. If you're saying, Jesus is saying that I am the way, that means that word needs to be studied. Are you with me, right? We can't just, okay, he is the way, the truth and the love. I am the way, the truth and the life I live. There's one way. Jesus, we can't reduce it just like a jumpy song and then move on with life. So he is the way, the truth and the life. And we as a church are called to live and move in the truth. John chapter 17 verse 17 says, sanctify them by your truth. Your word is truth. John 1717, easy to remember. Remember this all the time. Sanctify them. That means cleanse them, purify them. Consecrate. All of those words mean the same. Sanctify comes from the Latin, ancient Latin word sanctus. Again, which means holy. From that word we get sanctuary, which means a consecrated or a holy place. Okay? So sanctify them or purify them or consecrate them by your truth. That means the truth cleanses us. The truth purifies us. The truth consecrates us. It sanctifies us. And comma, oh no, there's no comma, it's a full stop. It says your word is truth. Psalm 119 verse 8 I think it says, how can a young man live his life pure? By living according to your word or laws. You all know the exercise I made y'all do with Psalm 119. You remember, no? Forgotten. Okay. Pully Mark, okay. Assignment by Pastor Roshan. Mark every verse of Psalm 119. It's a love poetry for God's word. And again, if you haven't read that Psalm, I would encourage you to do that. It's someone has taken the time to express their love for the word of God. That's beautiful, right? Your word is a lamp unto my feet and a light unto my path. Same Psalm verse 18, open my eyes to the wondrous things of your word. And the first half of that verse, John 17, it says, sanctify them by your truth. So sanctification is a very important process, isn't it? Joshua chapter 3 verse 5. Let's see. Joshua chapter 3 verse 5. So this is Joshua saying. Joshua saying to the people because God tells Joshua. What does he say? Consecrate yourself or sanctify yourself today for tomorrow the Lord will do wonders among you. So you sanctify yourself today. Why? So tomorrow God can do wonders among you so that he can work among you tomorrow. So the manifestation of God working in you and through you depends on the sanctification or your consecration. And how you do that? Through his word. Why? Because his word is truth. Why is his word truth? Because Jesus is the word. In the beginning was the word. And the word was with God and the word was God. The difference, you've heard of a denomination called Jehovah's Witness. So why they don't believe in Jesus as the Son of God? They believe Jesus as the Son of God but not as a God is because there's a small article in the first verse. It says in the beginning was the word and the word was with God and the word was a God. They've added an article there. In the beginning what we say in our Bible is in the beginning was the word and the word was with God and the word was God. Not a God with upper G, upper case G. All of that details. Okay, very important. Right. Just a small little put an uh. God. Everything is same. Right. So the local church, we are called to uphold the truth. We are called to walk in holiness. We are called to live life in constant consecration so that God can move in and through us daily. So as leaders, if we don't sanctify ourselves today, don't expect God to work, move among you tomorrow. Okay. Are you with me? So speak the word, teach the word, declare the word, proclaim the truth without compromise. Are you with me? We'll learn a little bit more about it as we go on. So John chapter 17 verse 15 to 19 raise up people who will will be upholders of truth. So we are transitioning in from who we are called to be and to into raising people. Right. So you're the leader, ministry leader, senior pastor. You stand for the truth. You preach and teach the truth without any compromise. It's also your responsibility to raise people, a team of leaders, young people, old people, doesn't matter in the same way that they would walk in truth. They would proclaim the truth without compromise. Right. And so just two things how you can do that is one, you teach them that they need to be sanctified by the truth. They need to be sanctified by the truth, the word of God. So the word of God, the Bible says so many things about the word of God. Jeremiah says his word is like a hammer. Right. Hebrews chapter four verse 12 says his word is like a double-edged sword. Right. Efficiency five, forget which verse 12 or something that his word curifies us. His word sanctifies us. His word is like a lamp. You see all these imageries, right? Okay. The importance of the truth. And then you encourage them. And you can't buy constantly preaching teaching week in and week out, not just once a year or twice a year about the importance of the truth. Right. Week after week after week as leaders. First you walk in it. River always flows down. River doesn't flow up. Unless geographically and actually there's something happening. It always flows down and let it be seen in and through your lives. Right. And this is not the pressure of to be perfect. It's being perfect and striving to live a holy life is two very different things. Right. We wouldn't need Jesus. Yes. And that is not a license to continue living in a sinful life. Are you with me guys? Oh, okay. So far. Yeah. Good. Okay. One important section in your notes you would see is beware of compromise. This is one of those words that will not make it onto your t-shirt. Or your sweatshirt. You will not have this word on your, you know, because we will always like to have cool names on a t-shirt or a sweatshirt. You know, let's make a sweatshirt. Let's put compromise. You know, oh, more than conquerors. Yeah. That will make up to the t-shirt warriors. Yeah. Winners like live for Jesus will make, you know, all these, but compromise will not make it onto a t-shirt or any fancy because it doesn't sound very fancy. But that's the word that kills a lot of Christians spiritually. Mark my words. Or in this case, mark my word. Compromise will absolutely ruin your life. It will kill the fire that you have for God. Hindi is a word. It's okay. It's just this one time. No problem. What's happening? Compromise. That will destroy your calling. It will ruin your calling. That will put off the fire that you have for God. There were a tribe of a bunch of people in the Old Testament during the Bible times who made a vow called the Nazarite vow. I think I've spoken about this a little bit. Nazarite vow is first mentioned in Numbers chapter six. There were people who were radically were set apart for God. And during the period of that vow, the vow consisted of many things. One is they were not allowed to cut their hair. They were not allowed to drink wine or touch dead bodies. And all of that signifies something. You know what I'm saying? And so they were radically set apart. Any man or woman from any tribe, as soon as they made that holy vow, it was called as a holy vow or a vow of separation unto God. And so when God wanted to move or do something significant in Israel as a nation, historically when you read, He would raise up a Nazarite. So the Nazarites were very important bunch of people. So they would not compromise with the truth. And like I say, among us, you can make a choice to make a vow. And this day and age of modern day, we can replace the word vow with fast, a Nazarite fast. I'm not going to talk about that much because it requires a lot of time. In the Old Covenant, in the Old Testament, there were people who could make that choice or make a Nazarite vow. They could go before the Lord and say, Lord, I'm going to make a Nazarite vow. I'm going to be set apart for a certain period of time for this one month or two months. I'm not going to drink wine. I'm not going to cut my hair. I'm not going to go anywhere close to the dead body. Okay. Like I mentioned, all of that signifies something. I'm not going to talk about it now. But when God decided to do something significant in the nation of Israel, historically, he would raise up a Nazarite and this person would not have a choice. They were born as a Nazarite. Samuel. Samson. One person in the New Testament. John the Baptist. Yeah. So they were... John the... Don't confuse me as a person from Nazareth as a Nazarite. It's like, oh, I'm from Christ College. I'm a Christite. It's not how Jesus is. Jesus doesn't have to make a vow. He's holy. He's God. But you get the point, right? So there were people of no compromise. Samson compromised. He lost his vision. Before he lost his sight, he lost his vision. Two very different things. Are you with me? Right? So compromise will ruin. This absolutely ruined the call of God over your life. Okay? So John chapter 17 verse 16 in that section, it says, they are not of the world just as I am not of the world. This is Jesus praying. He's saying, they are not of the world just as I am not of the world. As soon as you and I become believers, we need to realize we are on a pilgrimage. We are just passing through. This is not our home. We are not off this world. Are you with me? Yeah? It's like you are in Bangalore, but you're not off Bangalore. Guntur. Some pride there. You get the point, isn't it? So as a church, one, we just started off by looking at the, we are called to be pillars of truth, the ground of truth, etc. It says, I am not of the world. Now you would have heard of the seven fears of the world, seven fears of the society. So seven fears of the society is where you can, where you can have an impact. So the seven fears are religion, family, education, government, business, media, arts and entertainment. These are the seven fears that make up the society. Are you with me? Sorry. Anyways, so if you want to have an impact, and if as a church, if you are called to have, be an impact, to make an impact in the city or a society, these are the seven fears that we need to look at. How can each, some of you might call it to be to say an arts and entertaining or education or government. When you think of Daniel and Joseph, they were placed in a sphere of government that could have an impact. So every sphere can have an impact on the different parts of the society. Are you with me? What are you searching for? It's not there in the notes in case. Yeah, it's not in that notes. Yeah. Any questions? Any thoughts so far? We're good. It's more on then. I'm just, I'm just dwelling a little bit on word compromise. Matthew 513, it talks about being assault in the light. You're the assault of the earth. But if the salt loses its flavor, how shall it be seasoned? Again, imagery. If assault loses its flavor, the salt is the whole purpose of the salt is to enhance flavor of all the other ingredients. If it loses its flavor, that means in other words, influence. If it fails to be an influence, it's lost its purpose as an individual and as a church, as a collective. If we fail to influence, that means we've lost our purpose, our vision of who God has called us to be, right? So provide biblical response to current issues. 1 Corinthians 14, 8. Or if the trumpet makes an uncertain sound, who will prepare for battle? Now we can listen more again. It's connected to the next section. Let's look at the practical ways of how the local church can implement this. First one, ensure that the preaching and teaching from the pulpit is sound, strong, and uncompromising. In the previous chapter, we looked at the importance of pulpit ministry. You remember that, right? Same subject, couple of chapters prior. The importance of pulpit ministry, the importance of it, the significance of it. So ensure the preaching and the teaching is not compromised. Address real life issues, problems and challenges with the word of God. Speak the truth in love. All of this is for us guys. Address real life issues, whatever. Now what are real life issues? You can Google it or ask chat GPT or ask people. What are some of the real life issues? What are you going through? I have challenges with anxiety. I have problems with peer pressure. I give into peer pressure. How do I overcome addiction? How do I overcome temptation? All of those are real life issues. The list can go on. Address real life issues, problems and challenges with what? Not your own intellect with the word of God. It's the word of God that gives us strength. It's like a hammer that breaks everything, bondages. It sets us free. It consecrates us. It cleanses us, etc. Empower and encourage believers to live by the truth out there in the world where it really matters. Whichever sphere that they are in, encourage them to live by the truth that the word declares us to be. Challenges to be prepared for, complex issues may arise that will require some serious study of God's word. Complex issues, homosexuality, divorce, euthanasia. You know what euthanasia is, right? Mercy killing. Mercy killing. Okay, Google it. Abortion. That's again a long debate that you can have. You'll be surprised how many Christians would are for abortion. Okay. And all of that. So these are all what can be considered as complex issues. These are not the only things that's mentioned in your notes. There are so many complex issues. You'll be surprised as leaders, the kind of questions people will come up and ask, right? And as leaders, you might not always have the answer, which is fine. It's absolutely okay to say I don't know than to come up with something of your own and that would misguide them. So say I don't know. Let me come back to you on this. So you go back and do your own study. You study. You do your own research. Different sources. What the Word of God has to say. Are there some established teachers on this topic? Very credited teachers. A universal salvation is, so I mean, it's like once you're saved, you're, you know, you can, yeah, you can do whatever you want kind of a thing. Yeah. Right. So that's on the chapter 10 of a church being called to be a pillar of truth, the pillar and the foundation of truth. Okay. Let's move on to the next chapter, the local church, chapter 11 and army. I like this imagery of the church. It's one of my favorites, I should say. Sorry. The chapter. Yeah. Local church as an army of God. So this is another imagery that the Paul uses very a lot in the New Testament at least, you know, as warriors, as soldiers, as an army of God. And so he's referring here to church as an army of God. Okay. So Matthew 16, 15, 19, how many of you remember the passage? We started off this course with that. And the gates will not prevail. Yeah. Thanks, friends. Yeah. So that is a very military kind of a term or a language or imagery that, you know, it's, it's being painted over there. So, and then Apostle Paul uses that a lot in his epistles, Ephesians chapter six, the armor of God. Where do you use armor? Go cooking. Let me put on the armor. Okay. Oil splash. Okay. So as a church as a local church, we are called to be the army of God. Okay. Let's read some more scriptures. Philippians chapter two verse 25. Yet I consider it necessary to send you ifroditus, my brother, fellow worker and fellow soldier, but your messenger and the one who ministered to my need. 1 Timothy chapter one verse 18. This charge I commit to you, son Timothy, according to the prophecies previously made concerning you, that by them you may wage the good warfare. Some more scriptures. 1 Timothy chapter six verse 12. Fight the good fight of faith. Fight it. Fight the good fight of faith. Lay hold on eternal life to which you were also called and have confessed the good confession in the presence of many witnesses. Some more 2 Timothy chapter two verse three and four. You must therefore end your hardship as a good soldier of Jesus Christ. Verse four. No one engaged in warfare entangles himself with the affairs of this life. That he may please him who enlisted him as a soldier. Anybody feeling like a warrior yet? 2 Timothy 4 verse 7 says, I have fought the good fight. I have finished the race. I have kept the faith. There are two things that he refers constantly. One is the imagery of the structures, Paul when he write pillar of faith and all of this. The other two references that he constantly uses to paint the picture is of a warrior, a soldier and often athlete. Again, athletics was pretty huge during the period, Roman period, right? Olympics and all was their idea. Yeah, it was huge. So, you know, you know gladiators, right? I'm not talking about the movie. Okay, it's like, oh, Russell Crowe is like, you know, but all those fighting in the cages, you know, Colosseum, the famous structure in Rome. I think it's in Rome, right? You know, so it goes back there. So he's seeing all of this, Paul is seeing all of this. So it's very normal in the Bible times. Again, you can learn this from God even like God always used the tangible to explain the intangible. Should I say that again? God always used the tangibles to explain the, or to make us understand the intangible. For example, he would use the tangible of the tabernacle of Moses as a shadow of who Jesus is eventually going to be, right? And it's just like giving an example or parables. You use the parable as an analogy or a metaphor or an example to explain something of the kingdom of God, right? So Paul, again, time and time and time again, he's saying, okay, hey, fight it, fight it. John chapter 10 verse 10. What does it say? John 10, 10. The thief comes to steal, kill and destroy, but I have come to give you life and life in abundance. Okay, so anyone wants to come and steal? Say I want to steal Rin's phone. She's misspaced her phone, by the way. So she's searching for it. She's physically here, but mentally I don't know where she is. So say where's my phone? Where's my phone? Where's my phone? Anyone wants to come into your house and steal? Yes, sir, please come. Please, please take whatever you want to take. Please, sir, even if you are not trained to be a warrior or a soldier or a policeman or whatever, you will resist, isn't it? Yes, the Bible says resist the devil and he will flee. There's an action of a fight that we are called to do, right? If a thief will come, there is an enemy out there, a real, a very real enemy. Okay, he's not just an imaginary guy. He's a very real enemy who wants to steal your joy, your peace, everything good in your life. He wants to not just kill you, he wants to destroy you. That means he wants to make you look like you never even existed. He completely wants to wipe away your name from the history. That is how much he hates you, a very real enemy. What are we called to do? Not just give up. Take a stand. Bible, how many times, time and time again, it says stand form. Stand form. Stand form. Right? We are called to be like a house that's built on. Same thing. Why is man built his house upon the rock? You know that song, right? See, now the other guy was not doing something wrong. He built his house upon what? You know this word, the term called rock bottom? Have you heard of rock bottom? Or WWF? Doing the rock Johnson. The rock bottom was a signature finishing move. No. And rock bottom again is not that phrase comes from not when you fall down and hit a rock. That's not what's called rock bottom. You dig and you keep digging. You dig so deep until you find a rock. Until you hit rock bottom. The foolish man also dug, but he didn't dig deep enough until he found the rock. And Jesus is a rock of ages. The psalmist says, when I'm going through deep waters and I'm in trouble, lead me to the rock that is higher than I. Psalmist cries out, lead me to the rock that is higher than I. Are you all with me? So all of this is to paint a picture to say that we are not to go easy against the enemy. We are called, we are called to advance in that Matthew chapter, Matthew chapter 16 verse 15 and says, okay, the gates of hell shall not prevail against you. We learned that very initially that gates are very stationary. All it can do is open and close. As a church, we are called to advance to the gate. The gate will not move. It will be there only. We are called to go to the gate and destroy it, destroy the works of the enemy, go to the different spheres of the society. Go to this gate of education. You see something is wrong with that. You see something evil. Something is not right about it. Kids are being taught about homosexuality in school. Go to it. That's where you're called. Go and fight. Intercede. Don't just like, oh, yeah, they're teaching about homosexuality in school. What can I do? I have no strength, you know. Oh, go pray. All answers you want ready made. Microwave. Okay. Cold water. 30 seconds. Oh, hot water. Okay. Yeah. Let's see. Ah, spoon feed. Right. Romans chapter eight was 37. What does it say? Yeah. More than. Yeah. See, I didn't have to finish it. More than conquerors. Where is the language used again? A conqueror. Yeah. You don't become a conqueror, but just by sitting on a throne, just, you know, drinking, sipping on your wine, eating grapes all day long. No. Why do we call Alexander the Great? Why do we associate conquering with so many other great civilization like the Roman civil empire? Conquer different parts of the world. Isn't it? They just didn't sit back and enjoy. They advanced. If we are called more than conquerors, like we are winners already, but are we advancing in faith? Do we have that attitude of a soldier or a warrior? The kingdom of God suffers violence and the violent? Yeah. There's no force only. Yes. Right. So first Peter chapter five was eight and nine. It says be sober. It's in your notes, by the way. First Peter chapter five verse eight and nine. It says be sober. Be vigilant. Because your adversary, the devil walks about like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour. Like a roaring lion. He's waiting to pounce on you to steal, to kill, to destroy. And so what is he saying? Be sober. Be vigilant. Be vigilant means what? Be alert. Like a watchman placed on the wall. Again, in the olden days, every city, every fortified city had a watchman's around the fort on top. The whole duty, the responsibility was to stay up all night, just have a watch. Is any threat coming towards them? So be vigilant. Be alert. How can you be alert? It starts off with the first words there. Be sober. So be sober is what? It's a word that is associated with, when do we call a person? Oh, I'm sober now. I used to be an addict. I used to be an alcoholic. I used to be a drug addict, but I am sober. That means I don't take any of those things. And because you're not an alcoholic or a drug addict, that means you are saying those things cannot influence you. Are you with me? So you've heard statements like, I was under the influence of the alcohol. That's why I did this. I didn't know, I had no control over what I was doing. I did that because I was under the influence, right? I've mentioned this before that the word influence is the only word that can define leadership in one word. Influence is not a place of position. It's about who in the team is influencing who. If the leader doesn't have strong influence over the team members that he is leading, any one of the team members can have an influence over the entire team, good or bad, right? So if you're under the influence of, I'm just using again practical tangible things, say alcohol or a drug, it's influencing you. That means you're not being sober. And if you're not sober, you can't be vigilant. You're not alert. If you're not alert, what will happen? You will still kill and destroy you. Bindas. He'll use you like a playground. Full football, basketball, every game he'll want to play on you and ruin our life and he'll be happy. Verse 9, resist him. Stand firm in faith or step fast in faith knowing that the same sufferings are experienced by your brotherhood in the world. Efficiency 4.27 says, not give place to the devil. Just let's do more scriptures and we'll conclude with the section, okay? Efficiency 6.12. We know this verse. It says, we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers, the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places. Look at the words that he's using. He's not just saying, okay, you're fighting the devil. He's saying fighting against principalities, against the powers, against the rulers of the darkness of the age or the prince of the air, against the spiritual hosts of... Spiritual hosts, hosts is what? Army. When we say he's the Lord of hosts, he's the Lord of all the angel armies we sing, no? Right? In Joshua chapter 5, when Jesus... I mean, that's a theophany. What is happening there is that theophany or Christophany is what? Is a manifestation of pre-incarnate Christ. So when he shows up to Joshua, he's saying, I'm coming... I'm here as the Lord of hosts, as the captain of the Lord of hosts. Right? And so here he's saying, against spiritual hosts of wickedness, army of wickedness in the heavenly places. More on, 2 Corinthians 2.12. Let Satan should take advantage of us for we are not ignorant of his devices. And finally, Zechariah chapter 13 verse 7. As he talks about the enemy, he knows if he strikes the shepherd, the sheep will flee. Right? So pray for your leaders. Pray for me. Are you with me? So it's very important to be vigilant, to be alert, to be sober. We can't compromise. You like it or not? Look at me. You like it or not? You and I are born into a warfare. Okay? You and I are born into a warfare. Any area of your life that needs a breakthrough, that means there's a warfare happening in that area. Right? Don't let the devil have his way. Resist him. Okay? We'll stop here. We'll continue in the next class as we go on.