OCT 6 2024 | One Thing: The Purpose of the Church S1E6 | The Power of Prayer in Spiritual Warfare

Sea Change Church · OCT 6 2024 | One Thing: The Purpose of the Church - S1E6: The Power of Prayer in Spiritual Warfare
Ephesians 6:10-20
Automated transcript. Not reviewed for accuracy.

would be in lockstep with each other in the direction that you have called us in lord and continue to just give us discernment and guidance guidance on what that is i pray that you'll receive every bit of today's offering and use it to expand your kingdom in jesus name we pray amen the book of ephesians chapter 6 verses 10 through 20 finally my brethren be strong in the lord and in the power of his might put on the whole armor of god that ye may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil for we wrestle not against flesh and blood but against principalities against powers against the rulers of the darkness of this world against spiritual wickedness in high places wherefore take unto you the whole armor of god that ye may be able to withstand in the evil day and having done all to stand stand therefore having your loins girt about with truth and having on the breastplate of righteousness and your feet shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace above all taking the shield of faith wherewith ye shall be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked and take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the spirit which is the word of god praying always with all prayer and supplication in the spirit and watching thereunto with all perseverance and supplication for all saints and for me that utterance may be given unto me that i may open my mouth boldly to make known the mystery of the gospel for which i am an ambassador in bonds that therein i may speak boldly as i ought to speak this is the word of the lord well a praying church has the favor of god and is pleasing god and just seeing results and great rewards a church should be called a house of prayer i'm in a little group we call my people it says if my people that means you're church people it doesn't mean the people that aren't saved it means my people who are called by my name will humble themselves and pray prayer makes the enemy tremble one of my favorite is be anxious for nothing but all things by prayer and supplication make your requests be known to god and the god of peace will keep your heart and mind in christ jesus and so we don't have to live in fear or anxiety or stress or worry just let go and let god he says cast all your care on me for i care for you he delights in us coming to him well welcome to la joie christian fellowship i am joshua i am the campus life pastor and this is your first time here look i hope that you just felt the love of god when you came through those doors i pray that you were greeted and i pray that this message that god has placed upon my heart that it will bless you that it will encourage you and that it will reveal something to you that you quite didn't know or realize uh until today uh so as you guys know we are in our gps series so i'm closing it out which is uh honor and then next our next series pastor i will be leading that next week so i'm looking forward to that and when i was kind of putting this message together i truly heard god as i'm stressing about how to bring this all together god to set rest he just really told me to rest and i i'm gonna tell you right now like i don't know what it is that you may be going through i don't know what circumstances that you may have in your life which trials or whatever it may look like for you but i want to say to you to rest just just rest and rest does not mean that you do nothing at all but rest means that we are still and we understand and know that god is who he says he is that's what rest is about and i truly believe that prayer is the foundation to actually resting in what god's word says about who we are in him so when we're talking about gps and we get to the prayer part and that's going to be the focus of today i went and did uh some research and looked at a few statistics on what uh what our prayer situation is when it comes to america and it says this about prayer it says despite the the trend of declined church attendance and religious affiliation prayer remains a vital part of many americans according to a recent study americans collectively spend a estimate of 3.6 billion minutes in prayer when i said i was like oh i was like man i wasn't expecting that and that's a day 3.6 billion minutes a day in prayer and 87 of those that actually pray 87 of those say that they actually experienced god actually answering a prayer that they actually made to god so when i actually like just just looked at that statistic i was a little kind of perplexed of what i just read because i wasn't i thought it was awesome don't get me wrong i thought it was truly great but when i when i started to look at just our nation and what everything has going on when i started to look at the wars when i started to look at the the national disasters when i started to look at like the political unrest that we have in america it really just it for me it didn't add up i was like man okay i i see that amazing number 3.6 billion a day that's amazing i see that and understand that but it just really was not kind of lining up with me because i know in god's word it says if my people who are called by my name will humble themselves and pray i will heal the land so i was a little like uh okay lord like what am i missing here what would i we doing all this prayer 3.6 billion but we still have this unrest just in america right now currently and as i was driving i heard just the holy spirit say to me he was like they pray amiss they pray amiss and amiss is just really means just praying wrong wrongly right so i was like okay so i went to the bible and i got that scripture that we find in james and it's james 4 verses 1 through 10 i'm gonna read this entirely it says what causes quarrels and what causes fights among you is it not this that your passions are at war within you you desire and you do not have so you murder you covet and you cannot attain so you fight and quarrel you do not have because you do not ask you ask and you do not receive because you ask wrongly or amiss to spend it on your passions you adulterous people do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity with god therefore whoever wishes to be a friend of the world makes himself a enemy of god or do you suppose it is to no purpose that the scripture says he yearns jealously over the spirit that he has made to dwell in us but he gives more grace he gives more grace he gives more grace therefore it says god opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble submit yourselves therefore before god resists the devil and he will flee from you draw near to god and he will draw near to you cleanse your hands you sinners and purify your hearts you double-minded be wretched and mourning weep let your laughter return to mourning and your joy to gloom humble yourself before the lord and he will exalt you now when i went to that scripture and read it i first looking at myself i was like man am i that person who comes to god and pray to him and i pray wrongly and am i that god am i that individual and yes i am i am like a lot of times i just come to god like god i need you to do this and i give him this long list and there's this whole thing that i need him to accomplish in my life and i'm praying wrongly i think we have gotten to a place where religion has consumed our prayers i think we have gotten to a place where religion is consuming how we pray how we approach god and we just do it just just any kind of way whatsoever and i hope that as you go as we go through this sermon as we go through this message that you understand that prayer is the foundation of spiritual strength prayer is the foundation of spiritual strength and if you will prioritize prayer prayer as the foundation of your spiritual strength i truly believe that so much so many things are changing your life but if you always come to god with this long list of things that god needs to do for you you're going to miss it every single time and it's so easy to forget like how to come to god and pray how what we should do or even set time aside to pray to god like it's it we get caught up in our daily routines if you have kids if you have a job if you have different responsibilities it sometimes become hard to set aside time for prayer but i know that if we forget to pray you're missing a lot you're missing a lot but forgetting can cost you forgetting can truly cost you and you know for me just to get kind of a little personal every time i forget that i have four kids it costs me every time i forget i have four kids my wife has a great bright idea she's like hey babe let's go get something to eat i'm like yeah let why not let's go to texas roll house and get something to eat i love their little buns and the buttery that comes but it's just so good and then i forget i got four kids i forget and usually those four kids do not eat everything on their plate so now i'm mad because i know that when i go to texas roll house i'm spending at least a hundred dollars at least and for you that may not be a lot for me that's a whole lot okay that's that's a lot so now i'm like we go to texas roll house have a good time but then in back of my mind i'm calculating how can i make this all back but i'm calculating i'm like okay if i go to work super early i drive on a highway doing 35 miles per hour that'll save me on gas right uh i'm like and then if if i all of a sudden just fast for the next three days i don't have to worry about lunch or breakfast so i'm good so i i make that back so because i forget that i have kids i forget that how much they cost on a regular basis and they always hungry they're just always hungry i'm just like man can y'all just like feed yourselves like come on like it's crazy like have you ever forgot to pay a bill like is it has anyone ever forgot to pay a bill i i right you know we have been there and they charge like three times the amount that it was cost and you like because i forgot to pay y'all like i'm gonna give you your money but man you taking all my money because of my forgetfulness like it's crazy it is crazy but i wonder have we forgotten that we're in a spiritual warfare i wonder have we forgotten that we are in a spiritual warfare second corinthians 10 3 through 4 says this for though we walk in the flesh we do not war after the flesh for the weapons of our warfare are not carnal but mighty through god to the pulling down of strongholds see a lot of times the situation that you have going in your life it's it's more spiritual than what you think now now what i'm not saying is that if you're running in the house and you stump your toe in a corner that's spiritual warfare that's not what i'm saying at all right it's not but there's things that you are struggling with that that is like a a thorn in your flesh that has not been removed and you're trying to figure out like what's going on look it's spiritual warfare and prayer is the foundation to getting over some of the things that we go through that's why in verse 10 it says this it says be strong in the lord and the strength of his might be strong in the lord in the strength of his might not your might not your mom's might not your kids might not your husband wife might no no in his might and what i realize is that a lot of us do not understand or know how to be strong in god we don't know how to be strong god at all whatsoever and i was talking i'm like okay god how do we be strong in you like what does that even look like holy spirit said one of the things you have to do joshua you have to renew your mind you have to renew your mind colossians 3 verse 2 says this it says set your minds on things that are above not on things that are on the earth set your mind on things above not on things of this earth you see i've counseled a fruit uh a lot of people in my just my lifetime and one thing i have come to realize is that in our minds we create this scenario this situation that's going on that's in our mind and because we have not placed god's word in our mind it creates this anxiety or this depression that we can't get over because set your mind on things above it takes effort it does not happen by osmosis of just calling yourself a christian it doesn't happen like that there is a process that you have to take in order to get your mind to be set on things above because if you don't it will destroy you it will destroy you amen and so we have to get to a place to where we are intentionally setting our minds on things above and the reason why we want to do that the reason why we have to do that is because we need god's peace we need god's peace isaiah 26 3 says this it says you keep him in perfect peace who mind is stayed on you because he trusts in you you see prayer it helps us to get to a place where our trust is placed in him and not our own will not our own doing and once again i'm not saying that we don't have to do nothing at all but what i am saying is that if you want to walk a life that's in perfect peace you have to trust in the one who's died for your sins who's redeemed you who saved you who's brought you back from destruction you have to get to a place that you put your full trust in him but do you understand that you are in a spiritual warfare because the devil is always bringing different schemes to keep you from what god's plans and purpose are for you but do you know that you're in a spiritual warfare you see sometimes i think we forget that all the things that god has done i truly think that we forget that the god who told noah to build an ark is able to help you out i sometimes i think we think i think we forget that the god who who spread at the red sea for moses and the iris i think we forget those things i think we forget about the god who was with the three hebrew boys in a fiery furnace like if god is able to do those things i don't know what your situation is i know what mine is but i don't know what yours is we have to get to a place that pray prayer becomes our altar that prayer becomes the altar that we present to god on a daily basis basis because i know that a man with a renewed mind is a man that has not forgotten that he's in spiritual warfare that he has not forgotten that he's in spiritual warfare so we have to be strong in the lord and that first blank on your paper if you're taking notes i want you to put this i want you to put that to be strong in the lord you must put on a full armor of god not not a piece of it not just a sword you have to put on the full armor of god and just to give you a little background i kind of talked about this last week but paul is in prison speaking to churches in ephesus and these churches in ephesus the culture that he is actually preaching to or sending this letter to they they're dealing with a culture of witchcraft they they worship in artemais sorcery magic all these different things that they're dealing with and here is paul in prison probably looking at a guard or something like that and he's telling them hey look you got to put on the full armor of god god and i truly believe that if you're trying to have on the full armor of god you have to have prayer you have to have prayer because prayer aligns our hearts with god's truth the better of truth like the world will if you don't have god's truth the world will actually make up truths for you the world will say hey look you know you do some stretches you're lining chakras up and that's gonna get you right you're good to go the the world will say hey look take a moon bath and you'll be good to go right uh uh the the world will say amen dominate your wife don't love her dominate her and and it'll all work out look the world will give you a solution for whatever problem you have your life currently right now and it's a scheme of the devil to keep you from coming to the one who can actually provide who can actually give you a way out who can actually give you truth that will change your life and of course in the direction of where you're going currently right now you see see prayer also it cultivates righteousness in our lives the breastplate of righteousness prayer also prepares us to carry the gospel of peace the shoes of peace like prayer does strengthen us to actually have the shield of faith that when we're going through tough times we can lean on that we can hold that and knowing that hey look this may be a tough situation right now but i still have faith in the god that i serve prayer reinforces our identity in christ and prayer also helps us to grab the word of god to use it effectively to help someone else out or to defend someone when we need it like seriously imagine a football player right going to a football game without no equipment at all whatsoever but going out there saying he's going to play he's going to get injured very fast right imagine a soccer team not having a goalie they're going to lose uh imagine someone from the padres walking up right now going to the bat without a bat it's silly right so imagine a sinner without knowing Jesus as they save you it's destruction look prayer is our communication to god so we have to maintain the full armor but prayer is that foundation and that second uh blank i want you to write this to be strong in the lord you have to cultivate a deep prayer life if you're taking notes you have to cultivate a deep prayer life if you truly want to develop a strong prayer life if you if that is your desire in here today if you like you know what i do want to have a strong prayer life the first thing you have to do and understand is that you gotta understand that once you go into prayer you have now just stepped on holy ground that once you start praying that there's a holy ground and it takes a certain level of humility and it also takes a certain level of reverence when we come to pray to god and look i've been guilty of this like i'm just coming just praying and i'm i'm kind of lax today days with my prayer i'm just like lord just you know you see what's going on help me out and all that good stuff like that that's not gonna work or or maybe you know you pray you're praying and you fall asleep like that's not wrong i'm not gonna say that's wrong i did it several times okay but we have to remember that when we are in prayer it is holy ground holy ground listen to what the wisest man said about speaking to god in ecclesiastes 5 1 through 2 he said this he said guard your steps when you go into the house of god god to draw near to listen is better than to offer the sacrifices of fools for they do not know that they are doing evil but but be not rash with your mouth nor let your hearts be haste to utter a word before god for god is in heaven you are on earth therefore let your words be few you see the bible talks about a person who regards iniquity within their heart the lord will not hear for them see i love prayer because it's a equal playing ground like we were all sinners saved by grace every single person i don't care how much money you make i don't care what degrees you got i don't care how much success you have i don't care how poor you are i don't care prayer is a level playing ground and you have to understand that hey look if it wasn't for jesus down across from our sins i wouldn't even have this connection back with the heavenly father you see i i love how abram spoke to god and he said this he said i am nothing but dust and ashes job said i am vile these are men who were considered to be righteous so always remember when you're going to pray to god remember where you came from that the god of this world has saved you has delivered you has taken care of you has provided for you no matter how much effort you thought you put into it if it wasn't for him you wouldn't have nothing you have right now but i also want you to understand to make every request known unto god i don't care what it is make every request known i don't care how small how little i don't pray for dogs look make every request known because god wants to hear it like my kids always are hungry and asking for stuff and they don't have a problem with asking day in day out as if i'm not going to feed them like i feed you every day like come on like what are we talking about but they make their request known every day it never stops it keeps on coming back the the the begging that can have a snack can i know you can't have a snack can i have a snack go ahead get a snack you know like it's just keep just keep asking i don't care what it is keep asking listen to this amazing parable this is what keeps me asking because this parable right here i always ask luke 18 1 through 8 it says this and he told them a parable to the effect that they are always to pray and not lose heart he said in a certainty there was a judge who neither fear god nor respected man and there was a widow in the city who kept coming to him saying give me justice against my adversaries for a while he refused but afterwards he said to himself though i neither fear god nor respect man yet because this widow keeps bothering me my kids i will give her justice so that she will not beat me down by her continually coming and the lord said hear what the unrighteous judge says and will not god give justice to his elect who cry to him day and night will he delay long over them i tell you he will give justice to them speedily nevertheless when the son of man comes will he find faith on earth will he find faith on earth we have a tendency to lose faith when it doesn't happen on our time i know for me personally i kind of got my list and like god over here you take a long time you're taking a long time like what's going on and sometimes we could lose faith because it doesn't happen in our own time but my question to you is do you pray or have you lost faith do you pray or have you lost faith over the things you're praying for because to be prayerless is to be without god's guidance to be prayerless is to be without the guidance of a god who cares for you a god who wants to actually rescue for whatever you're going through like we have to be be very conscious of creating that altar we pour out our hearts to god that we're not giving a request we're saying hey god i need you to intervene on my behalf i need you to reveal to me what's going on here i need you to to help me in this situation like even when i get up here to pray i'm like god like i don't have no words for none of these people in here like if you don't give me anything i'm just gonna sit here and look at everyone in their eyes okay like know right now i'd never want to be the the preacher or the pastor who comes up here and just preaches a word because i get an outline and just i could just teach that i could read a verse and just teach from that now i want to make sure that whatever it is i'm depending solely on god to provide for me every single time verse 18 it says this praying always with all prayer and supplication in the spirit and watching thereunto with all perseverance and supplication for all saints praying always with supplication in the spirit like we have to get to a place that like james 4 and 8 says that draw near to god and he will draw near to you i don't care what your situation is i don't care what you're struggling with i don't care what you have to overcome with it doesn't matter draw near to god and he will draw near to you and as god gets closer to you those things start to fall off but you gotta create an altar of prayer you gotta let the foundation of everything you believe in prayer is the foundation that you build your life off of because if it's not you're gonna be easily deceived when things are not going your way you're gonna easily be deceived if you receive blessings all the time you're like man everything's going good for me like make sure that your life is built off of prayer i'm going to say this quote right quick from a book that i've been reading from jc it says this but this i do say that not praying is a clear proof that a man is not yet a true christian he cannot really feel his sins he cannot love god he cannot feel himself in debt to christ he cannot long after holiness he cannot desire heaven he has yet to be born again he has yet to be made a new creature and this for here is in your notes you may boast confidently of election of grace faith hope and knowledge and deceive ignorant people but you may rest assured it is all vain taught if he does not pray like don't be deceived like if you're not communicating with god i don't know what you're believing in like this we have we should always look for errors in our life to say god okay what do you want to do in this situation and i'm not perfect at it nor am i looking for anyone to be perfect at it but i know it every single time i go to god like god i wanted this what you think about it nope okay cool i'm gonna turn god god i wanted this really bad not right now okay i'll wait like like god the holy spirit would speak in in that type of way to kind of guide you like he does that for a reason because you're his child you're his child he wants to take you away from a harmless way but if you never communicate with him try it i don't hit my head against the wall too many times for not doing it okay i'm done seek god in every single thing and i'm gonna close with this right here as we come in for a landing uh the application to prayer one of my uh pastors who i still talk to today look up to i've been in the mission for a long time he he will always use this uh acts prayer formula and it's in your notes too as well i'm not gonna go through all of it but it's in your notes and it the four things are adoration confession thanksgiving supplication like incorporate those i want you to take take this bulletin and look at those and read through those so that you give it a better understanding of how should i approach this holy god what is it that he's looking for me use that formula and someone gave me a one also i'm gonna say that they i guess i didn't like the one i had but i appreciate this because it's really good it says pray the p stands for praise the r stands for repent the a stands for ask and the y stands for yield i thought that was pretty cool too whatever formula you want to use or whatever however you want to do it just draw near to god and he'll draw near to you amen amen at this time we're gonna switch gears in our service for communion and i'm super excited to lead communion today and what i want to do is invite the community team forward as we get the elements prepared and ready for all of our amazing volunteers who serve and stay in your seats right now as they get prepared for that and i'll move this over but i want you to prepare your hearts for uh taking communion today i really want you to think about like okay god what is it you want from me how can i pray more how can i make this a part of my everyday life and as we come forward uh for communion let us remember exactly what jesus did on the cross for all of our sins because it's so easy to forget sometimes we have we stand a lot of us live around this area just in california generally it's beautiful and you you can forget that someone purchased someone died for everything we have available to us now so as we stand to our feet i'm gonna have the first hour start coming on down by the way so you can start coming down now are you are you hurting and broken within overwhelmed by the weight of your sin jesus is calling have you have you come to the end of yourself do you thirst for a drink from the well jesus is calling oh come to oh come to the altar the father's arms are open wide forgiveness was brought with the precious blood of jesus christ oh come to the altar oh come to the altar leave behind your regrets and mistakes oh come today there's no reason to wait Jesus is calling Bring your sorrows and trade them with joy From the ashes a new life is born Jesus is calling Oh, come to the altar The Father's arms are open wide Forgiveness was bought with The precious blood of Jesus Christ Oh, come to the altar The Father's arms are open wide Forgiveness was bought with The precious blood of Jesus Christ Bear your cross as you wait for the crown Tell the world of the treasure you found The Lord Jesus, the night he was arrested, took bread And after giving thanks to God, he broke it and gave it to his disciples saying, Take, eat. This is my body given to you.

Do this in remembrance of me. Let's take a little bread. In the same way he took the cup saying, This cup is a new covenant sealed in my blood, shed for you for the forgiveness of sins. Whenever you drink, do this in remembrance of me. Let's drink of the cup. Amen. Every time you eat the bread and drink the cup, You proclaim the saving death of the risen Lord until he comes.

Let's bow our heads in prayer. Gracious God, May we who have received the sacraments live in unity of your Holy Spirit, That we may show forth your gifts to the whole entire world, O God. We ask that you lead us, guide us into your truth, O Lord God, That we seek your face, O Heavenly Father, And never forget exactly what you do on the cross for all of our sins.

For it in your name we pray. Amen. Let's all stand and ask you to say the Lord's Prayer. Our Father, who art in heaven, Hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done, On earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread, And forgive us our trespasses, As we forgive those who trespass against us. Lead us not into temptation, But deliver us from evil.

For thine is the kingdom, The power, The glory, Forever, Amen. Amen. As we close our service today, I pray that everyone take the word of prayer To be the most, One of the most serious things as a believer that we can do, And never forget just exactly what God has done for all of our sins. At this time, I'm going to go ahead and bring the prayer team forward as we close the service.

I just want to pray a special blessing over the entire congregation. And let's bow our heads in prayer. Heavenly Father, We thank you for this day, Oh Lord God. We thank you for your word, And the gift to be able to come to your throne of grace, Oh Lord God, To commune and talk with you, Oh Heavenly Father. And I pray that we never forget, Oh Lord God, Of what you did on the cross for all of our sins.

Lord God, I pray right now, Oh Lord God, That you bless the people, That you bless them, Lord God, That the word of prayer, Lord God, Will be planted within their hearts, Lord God, And that it will bring forth fruit, That's pleased not to you, Oh Lord God. If there's anyone in here today, Oh Lord God, Who does not know you as Lord and Savior, I pray they come forward to our prayer team, I pray they go back to our next steps table, To ask questions, Oh Lord God, And I pray, Lord God, That as they draw close to you, Lord God, That you will continue to draw close to them, Oh Heavenly Father.

For we thank you for all you have done, We thank you for what you're doing, And we thank you, Lord God, For your protection over all people, Oh Heavenly Father. For we thank you, And we praise you, For in Jesus name we pray, Amen. Amen. If you need prayer, Please come to the front, And the prayer team is up here, We'll try the next step, Take on the back.

Oh come to the altar, The Father's arms are open wide, For forgiveness, For forgiveness,