Do Demons Know Your Name?

All right.

All right, everybody. Welcome back to the King's Council with myself, Riley Meek and Christian Edwards. What's up?

What's up? What's going on?

Happy Friday. Yes. It's another day. We have breath in our lungs. We're gonna dive into this today. Welcome. Let us know where you're dialing in. I always say dialing in, Right. I'm used to, like, conference calls, but let us know where you're tuning in from. How about that?

There you go.

We want to know where you guys are tuning in from. We'd love to get to know you guys a little bit more. For those. Whether you're on rumble. YouTube. Where else we streaming on? Where do we stream Jace? Those two. Jace is in the studio today helping us out. He's like, yeah, doesn't want to talk or any of the podcast feeds. Whatever. Great to have you guys here. We got a great topic today.

1.

I'm fired up to talk about this. We're titling this episode here. Do demons know your name? Do demons know your name? And I think this is something that. I mean, that title sounds like straight out of a horror movie maybe, right? But this is something, I think as believers, as Christians, this is something that we should really consider. Do demons know our name? Because the spiritual realm is very. It's more real than this computer I have right in front of me right now. And there is a. I mean, at the end of the day, we're. I would say we're being watched. Right. Scripture tells us that. That we are entertaining angels even. Right. But I also believe that there are those on the other side that are watching as well. Right. My prayer every day is, man, when I feet hit the ground, I want hell to go. Oh, crap, he's up. Yeah, he's up. What do you got to say about this?

Yeah, I was thinking about this, and this is a topic that I chose because when you were talking a couple weeks back on the podcast about, you know, that. That dash in between the day you. You're born and the day you die. What. What are you going to do with that dash? Whether it's a short amount of years, many years, what do you do with that dash? And obviously, you know, we're still at the forefront of our hearts and minds is Charlie Kirk, his family, and the mission of Turning Point USA in particular, TP usa Faith and what they're doing. But again, just one of the things in my own self, processing through everything was, I know demons knew the name of Charlie Kirk. I knew. Yeah, I know he was on the enemy's radar.

Yeah.

And for, for this topic. Yeah, it sounds like, oh, did demons know my name? But. And you may not. You may think you don't want demons to know your name, but you do. Because if they don't know your name and you're just irrelevant, you're not on the radar of hell, then. Then what are you actually doing for the kingdom?

Yeah, right.

That's truth, man.

That's truth. Yes. It's like the moment when you, when you give your life to Christ or you receive Christ as savior, it's like you have. Now, the earth here is not a playground, right? This is, this is a battleground. And if you are. I think we even said this last week about counting the cost. Like if you've counted the cost of what it takes to, to, to pick up your cross, you know, and you're willing to die for it. Like, if this is a battleground right here, like you get. We're, we've entered this thing and I think we need to wake up every day with this mind of not like, oh man, I gotta, gotta get to the battleground of like now, man, my sword is sharpened, right? I've spent time in the word of God. I've put on the entire armor of God, right? And now I'm ready to hit this ground running. This is why I think morning time is such a crucial time. Like to wake up in the morning and to equip yourself, to armor yourself up before you take on the rest of the world. It's so important. I don't care if you have to get up at 4 in the morning, 3 in the morning, like you got to do. You should do it. And I, I challenge myself even on this. Having a, a newborn, it's like, don't necessarily know when he gets up, right? Kind of run on a. We're getting into a little bit more of a rhythm now. So I, I do know when like, I need to start to get up a little bit earlier to versus I. Sometimes we wake up late and it's like we're running and it's. The whole day is stressful, right? But I mean, you know this like when you just get in the word. Like every Tuesday morning we, we hop on at 6am with some dudes within the king's council. And it's like we dive into scripture. We pray with each other, for each other. And it's like there's a different feeling when you come off of that when you enter that day. And it's like, why Wouldn't we do that every day? Why wouldn't you just spend some time. We just talk about even doing like breath work. It's like, man, we just feel better doing that.

Right.

But it, it's like when we, when we sharpen the sword, when we're equipped to. Ready, Ready. And enter, Enter this battleground, that is when the demons are gonna shudder. Yeah, right. And, and I think that the main scripture we're going to dive into today is Acts 19. Yep, got that. Because we literally just talked about it. But Acts 19, you guys maybe have heard of this story in the Bible, right? The seven sons of Skiba.

Yep. Yeah.

You wanna, you wanna dive us into that, man?

Yeah. And even to preface it, when we say yes to the Lord and we become a child of God, we are signing up for battle. We are in warfare. And that's probably not how you were, how somebody led you to the Lord or how you were drawn to Christ by saying, yeah, every day you're going to be in the enemy's crosshairs. There's going to be warfare. It's battle every single day. The devil wants you dead. The, the demon, his demons, his minions want you dead. But that, that's part of the gig as a Christian. The, the good news is, is that we, we don't fight for victory, we fight from victory. And yeah, this warfare is real. If you're one of those ho ho hum Christians that every day you're calling somebody like, oh, warfare, oh, the devil. Well, the devil is real. We're to be aware of his tactics, right? We, we know he's a father of lies. We know that he mislead, deceive us. One of the greatest things he could do is just simply distract us. Oh, right. Especially today. Right, right. Just distract us. Just get our mind off of things that aren't even sinful. But we just kind of put Jesus on the back burner and then all of a sudden something else takes the place of Jesus sitting at the throne of your heart. All of a sudden you have an idol that all of your affection, all your attention is drawn towards so, so that the enemy is real. But we do fight from victory. And we're going to just talk about the authority today that Jesus has given us. We know that this is a, a spiritual warfare, that there's a whole lot going on in the unseen realm. Sometimes I just think, like, if I could just put on glasses where I could see angels and demons, what would it look like? Right? And it's like I, I like to think the closer I am with Jesus, the more time I spend with him, that there's just this encampment of angels around me. My household, my family, just being on guard. And, and I think part of what we do in our prayer time, in calling upon the Lord and, and really claiming some of the promises of scripture. I think that actually happens, but we can't see it. But we, we know it's there. We know angels are there. We know demons are there. I know you had an experience with a demon and, and, and you a few times use the authority of Jesus name. So I don't know if you want to share that now, but I could.

I guess I didn't even think about that, but yeah, I mean, this is.

Well, you know what, Let me read this first.

Let's do that.

And then, then we'll get into that.

We'll get into that. I mean, this also before you even get into that. I know I do this all the time, but I, I remember even seeing. And there's been lots of videos online on former, like, leader of the Satanic church. I don't know if you saw any of these videos of. But he goes into debt. Who, who is now a born again believer in Jesus Christ, which is incredible. He still has wicked gnarly tattoos and. But he, he would like, go into. I listened to one of these episodes that he was talking on, and he was talking about, like, he knew. They knew when they were like, dialed into the, the enemy, when they, they knew, like kids that were protected, like, they, they were, they. They couldn't, they didn't have authority over them. And what is, what he was really getting into is just like the power of prayer. As a parent, when you're, when you're pleading the blood of Jesus and protection over your child, like that is your, your duty. Yeah, right. And. And because, because they did not have the ability to infiltrate those kiddos, which, I mean, I would. I don't even remember the guy's name. It's. He's like some Russian guy or something like that, but very interesting stuff.

I'll.

I'll try to. I'll look him up here while you're, While you're talking.

And speaking of which, Halloween is coming up, so we should probably. I don't know what day of the week it falls on, but that Friday of whatever day, the week of Halloween, we should probably get into that a bit.

Yeah, let's do that. Let's do that. Yep.

Yep. For sure. Because we don't let our kids celebrate Halloween. Our kids Never went to school on Halloween, participate in any little parties.

Really? Never even let them go to school. Huh.

Interesting. Well, for those who don't know, when I married Lucy, I was blessed with four beautiful kids and that's the way Lucy raised them. And she errors on the side of not entertaining demons at all. Which is good because Paul says in Scripture that when we entertain demons, when, when we have. When we have idols in our lives, when we, when we entertain the things of the enemy, they're. They're going to swarm to us. Right. So why, why put your kids through that? Why. Why put yourself through that? So this passage here comes from Acts 19, and I'll start in verse 11. Just so you kind of see the, the power of God working in the lives here in the apostle Paul, but just in general, when we're called to the kingdom, we have power, we have authority. And it's not us, it's the holy lives within us. But verse 11 starts with, Now God worked unusual miracles by the hands of Paul, so that even handkerchiefs or apron. Aprons were brought from his body to the sick and the disease left them and the evil spirits went out of them. So imagine that you are so sold out for Christ and so filled with the Holy Spirit that it's like, oh, here, take this handkerchief. Just, just toss that on your, your sick son over there and he'll be healed.

Come on.

Or that. That demon possessed person. Yep. Just rub, rub some of that. Touch my body. So just let it touch their bodies. It's. It's miraculous. Yeah. Then some of the itinerant Jewish exorcists took it upon themselves to call the name of the Lord over those who had evil spirits, saying, we exercise you by the Jesus of whom Paul preaches. Also, there were seven sons of Skiva, a Jewish priest who did so. So these traveling exorcists, essentially, they're, you know, it's somewhat making a mockery of the spirit realm, but that, that's what I mean. People have been doing that from the beginning of time. They. If you can make money off of something that. Right, yeah. So traveling exorcist, imagine that as a gig where there is. Who, who's the. The guy you sent me some of his clips who just every week he's engaging the Spanish dude. Engaging. Casting demons out of people.

Isaiah Salivar.

Yeah, yeah, yeah, right.

He's not Spanish, is he? Salivar, I guess.

Salivar, Yeah.

I don't know.

I don't know. Yeah, Isaiah.

Yeah, he's like, just last week this happen. It's like, what? Right, right.

You don't need a lot of white Isaiah, do you notice? True. Yeah.

I mean, he's, he's got something in him.

Yeah, yeah.

Anyways.

But just in general, like, black and Spanish are usually Isaiah's. Well, how come white people don't name their kids Isaiah?

I don't know, man.

It's interesting. Yeah. I thought Isaiah was a black man. Come to find out it's biblical.

Yes. Right.

Anyhow. And the evil spirit. So the, the seven sons of Skiba, these traveling exorcists, they're. They're trying to cast out this, this demon in the name of the Lord Jesus. Because that's who Paul is, casting out demons in Jesus's name. And the demon speaks, it says, the evil spirit answered and said, jesus, I know. And Paul, I know. Who are you? Then the man in whom the evil spirit was leaped on them, overpowered them, and prevailed against them. So that they fled out of that house naked and wounded. Meaning that demon put a whooping on.

Yes.

On their tails. Right.

He opened a can.

Yes. With this. When I read that, I'm like, oh, man, if I'm casting out a demon, would the demon say, I know Jesus, I know Paul, Maybe say, I know Charlie Kirk. Yeah, but, but who the heck are you? Who's this guy using the name that has power and authority, but who are you? Yeah, right. And for me, when we look at that dash between the year we're born, the year we die, I want the devil, every demon from the pit of hell to know my name. And it's not because I, you know, it's not like I get recognition for that. I'm getting recognition in heaven and I'm getting recognition in hell. It's not going to get me more followers. It's not going to bring more people to this, this show. But it's like, wait a second. If Paul's name could be known in the spirit realm because of the power and authority he possessed, which we all have as believers, but sometimes we, we have it and we just like, ah, you know, I'll tuck it, tuck it in here. And you don't let that thing grow. Right. The power, the authority that we have, it, it's to grow the, the miracles that we see in the book of Acts. I don't think that the gifts of the spirit died in that first century with the apostles. I believe that. It's just that we're, we're some weak Christians across the board where we. One of the things that has happened over the Years we have become distracted, right? We're the most distracted generation in all of time. Right? And it's just like we don't engage with the Father to then engage in the spiritual realm with that power and authority.

Yes, absolutely, man. So no question that there's power. There's power in the name of Jesus, right? And this is what I would even have a story to talk about, but because it even reminds me though, Matthew 7 When, when Jesus is like, those guys are like, hold on. We cast out demons in your name. We did all these things in your name. And Jesus is still like, away from me. I never knew you, right? And it's like that, to me is one of the scariest scriptures out there. It's like, you may be able to do certain things in the spirit realm because of the name and the power of Jesus, but I think what our overarching theme or what we want to get to in, in today is that there is, there is spiritual authority that you have just because you claim yourself to be a Christian. These guys claimed, right? They, they, they, they made the claim and the guy's like, what? Yeah, I know Paul, I know Jesus, but me who you. Right, right, right. And they get. And they got a whooping and so that there's like an actual spirit authority that, that we can walk in if we, if we abide in him, right? And this is where I think a lot of that it's going to come through. What we want to go through is like a framework or maybe steps to maybe even like a path to pursuing righteousness, if we want to call it that, of how to have, how to truly be intimate with God, right? And have that intimate intimacy with him, to ultimately carry the confidence and the faith to be able to, to do what he says to do. Like we are to cast out demons, right? We are to, to raise the dead. Scripture says this. And yet why, why, why do we not see it so often here in America? We hear stories of amazing things happened across the world, but it's like, where, where is this? Like, have we quenched the spirit here in America?

Yeah, right.

It's, yeah. So there's just, there's a power and authority that, that comes from having relationship with him, right? And, and, and in alignment with him ultimately, okay, God, Jesus is, is Lord of my life. I want to, I want to submit or surrender my life to him. And, and this is ultimately what I think we'll walk through today with him on, on kind of a how to. Right? This is our, my hope out of this show is that it's not just. We're not just going to talk in theory and talk about Bible stories, but it's like, this is how we walk the walk. This is how we, we pursue this thing. This again. Sanctification. If you're a follower of Jesus, sanctification, you are sanctified, meaning you are, you are holy, you are, you are righteous because of what Christ did on the cross. But also it is a process that we go through. It's. It's the old already and not yet concept of sanctification. And, and so many Christians, I think, are, are still drinking milk. Right. And, and they haven't taken the steps of, of maturity in their, Their walk with him.

Yeah.

Right. And this is me for a long, stinking time.

Yeah.

Long time.

Yeah. Demons, they don't fear religion. They don't feel fear rituals. They fear relationship. Like, if you're in real relationship with the Lord, He. He's the one who equips us.

Yeah.

He's the one that charges us. He's the one that endows us with the spirit, and that's where the power and authority comes from. So if we're not in real relationship with Jesus, if we're not going back to the well, you know, if you got a Tesla, right, if you're not plugging up again, getting it charged, then you're gonna run out of gas and be ineffective. You're going to be useless at some point. So the, the demons, they, they, you know, a lot of us as Christians that you'll tally maybe your spiritual maturity on, you know, oh, didn't miss a Sunday this year. How many ministries did you. Did you serve in? You know, even. How many people did you lead to Christ? Did you baptize people? All those things, you could tally it up, but at the end of the day, enemy's like, meh. Right. Okay.

Yeah.

Yeah, that's cool.

So true. Yeah, absolutely.

Apart from the, the leading people of Christ, maybe the, the leading people to Christ is a big deal. It is a big deal, but ultimately it's like, like, what do we have to do here in this earthly realm to be on the radar of the enemy? Because when the, when the enemy it. I don't want him to have a day where he could just kick his feet up and just relax. Right? Because he's like, oh, I know Christian Edwards isn't going to force me to get off my, my tale today.

Yep.

Right.

Yeah.

Right.

Absolutely. And that's where a lot of Christians may even think, like, when they're Experiencing turmoil in their life. Right. Or they're experiencing hardship. It's like we oftentimes think, oh man, it's maybe, maybe it's a close, a closing of the door from God. And it's like, no man, if you're truly walking in step, things are not going to be easy. But you are going to have the grace, right? Meaning the, the power to continue to pursue. Right. When, when Paul had the thorn in its sides, it's like God's like, no, my grace is sufficient for you. Yeah, right.

And so doesn't mean it's easy. It doesn't mean you have enough.

You have enough. Absolutely.

Yeah.

And, and I think a lot of this comes back to your identity in Christ.

Right.

And you know, I think a decent analogy for this is like we think of a police officer. It's like if you see a police officer without his uniform in, his badge on, it's just a normal human being. Right? But the moment you see the, it's like we'll speed a little bit and then all of a sudden we might see a cop car on the side of the road. It's like we come right into line, right. And it's not because of the human being, it's because of the authority that he bears. Yeah, right. And so think of it this way. It's like it's not even us or you walking in the spiritual realm. It's. It's the authority that's been granted or given to you to actually walk in that. Right. And if you're, if your identity is in Christ like you should you when you walk into a room, man, like I want people, I want demons to shudder. I want, I want them to start manifesting, right. Which in the careful what you wish for.

True.

But dude, I want it, man. I want to live so freaking. I want to live such a radical lifestyle that like I want these things to take place and occur. And, and when you are experiencing like attacks, I don't want to over spiritualize thing in this, but when you are experiencing attacks, like I, I kind of get excited because I've known that right on the, you know, when those attacks are happening or when I've come to this complete area of desperation, it's like the only way that I'm going to get through this or out of this is by God's grace. That's exciting to me because it's not by my power, by my might, but, but I'm walking in the spiritual authority that only God can actually give and grant to us.

Yeah.

So I think it comes, a lot of it comes back to just the, the identity that we, we have. Like are we truly. Is our, is the authority that we, that we walk in, is it, is it rooted in Christ? Have, are we abiding in him? Right. John 15:15, whole chapter on this of like abide in him, right? And know there's going to be pruning seasons and things that are going to take place. Like the moment you actually surrender as, and submit your life. Like in your, in your prayers, like God, whatever it takes. This is me six years ago. He took me through the ringer and in like all aspects of life.

Yeah.

Mentally, emotionally, physically, financially, like and obviously spiritually of, of getting me to. And no, no. And I'm just beginning, right? It's like I want to continue to be challenged. I want to continue to be pruned so I can, I can walk in this authority that, you know, obviously Paul did, I mean, even, even think of Paul like, you know, the, the story of him going to, you know, on the road to Damascus and then he, he meets Apollos, right? And then for like three years there's. He just went and studied the word of God. Yeah, right. It's like he, he was, he was understanding identity, I think. I mean it doesn't give us reference to that, but I gotta believe he's understanding, okay. This is who I am. This is the authority I have. And that then he comes on the scene and it's like bam. Yeah, right. Like he's raising the dead, healing the sick, cleansing lepers, like doing, doing the thing, man. Like that's what I want to be doing here.

Yeah, right.

So how do we do this?

And one of the things does too is he endures, he perseveres, he keeps going. Talked last week about running the race, you know, with our eyes fixed on Jesus. And think about that. Even that. You ever watch, not that like for entertainment, you're watching a marathon or anything, but if you like see a clip at the end, if it's close, you know that they're at that pace and they're getting through the 26 miles and then all of a sudden they see that finish line and they just kick it up a notch.

Yeah, right.

So if we keep our eyes fixed on that finish line, which is Jesus Christ himself, who, who's going to like welcome us into heaven when this race is over, then. Listen, I don't care how old you are at any point of your life, run your race with your eyes fixated on the, the author and perfector of our faith and kick it up a gear. We all need to kick it up a gear as Christians. Do you want to mention. Because like that story, I know you've shared it on the, the podcast in the past.

Have I?

I think you have.

Okay.

Or maybe, I don't know, maybe it's a coaching call. Maybe it was a Bible study. I don't know. I've heard it multiple times. But ultimately, just because you, which, which one?

Hold on, are we talking about?

You have many stories of Cat.

I've got a few.

Casting out demons. Well, I didn't cast the one in the, the room.

Okay.

When you weren't even in a real good place with the Lord. But the authority of Jesus's name.

Yeah, yeah, absolutely. This is.

Thank God he didn. Who are you?

And I know, right?

Whooped your butt and then you ran out naked.

Yeah. This is probably like eight, nine years ago. So before we lived in another house prior to this and Ash and I were, and we got married in 2016. And so it was probably in, Right. And around that time. Absolutely not living for the Lord. But I, I had that background. Like I, I, I knew that that was real. I, I've had many experiences just from, from a young kid, I remember. And so it wasn't that, that wasn't real. But again, Jesus was not like Lord of my life until for the, really the last like five, six years. And so, but even this time it's like I knew, right? And so, I mean, we had a lot of weird, crazy things going on in our life. And one night, well, it happened a couple different nights, right in and around the same time frame. One night was just so bizarre. My laptop closed up against the, the wall of our bedroom. In like around three in the morning, Ash wakes me up and says, she's like, what are you doing? I'm like sleeping. And my laptop was in the middle of our bedroom, open and booted, booting up. Like in the center of our bedroom, open and booted, booting up. We've been sleeping. Ain't nobody else in the house except my, my dad in the basement. And I know he ain't doing, coming in, doing this. And so it was, it was just like this eerie, weird feeling. Like we went multiple nights where we just didn't even sleep in our bedroom. We would sleep downstairs on the couch because we knew like there was just like this nasty presence. And one night we were sleeping in there and I woke up and I looked at the ceiling and Ash was like awake at the time too. And she goes, do you see that? And there was this black, like spidery kind of looking just like a glob on, on our like wall slash ceiling, like right in the, in the corner of it. And I was like, yeah. And I got up first off, like, I mean it certainly wasn't walking in like my authority by any or like, I wasn't like, again, I knew of the spirit realm of this, in this standpoint and I knew that there's power in the name and that was the only thing I knew to do. It's like, I'm not going to go like, wrestle this thing. So I got up and I walked directly at it. First off, I'm like, I'm going to protect my wife out of this thing. As a scumbag as I was, I was still at least, you know, honorable in that aspect. And I just, I walked right up to it and I literally pointed directly at it like this. And I said, in Jesus name, you are not allowed here. You have to be out in Jesus name. And I just kept saying in Jesus name. And the thing, it like started to shift, shrivel up. This is, it was so wild. It started to shrivel up and then one last time I said in Jesus name, get out. And it went and it was gone. It was freaking wild.

Yeah.

But it happened. It was real. It was a real thing that, that took place and we went back to our crappy lives at that point.

That wasn't a wake up call for.

You, believe it or not. It wasn't. It was just like, okay, let's go back to bed.

Yeah. If that happens again, I'll just plead Jesus.

Yeah. And I, I forgot about that until like a few years ago when it was like, oh my gosh, I've had many encounters.

Yeah.

Like, yeah. Even prior, not long before that. Yeah. I'm not going to go into all of those things. We'll do, do another episode on that or something.

But do, do you think the enemy, the, the enemy is not omniscient, Right. He's not a counterpart to God. He, he's a created being. He's a fallen angel. The counterpart to the devil would be Michael the Archangel, right? Yeah. So he's not.

The only three angels like mentioned by name in the Bible are Lucifer, Michael and Gabriel.

Right? Yeah, yeah, yeah.

So, yeah. And just so people know, it's like, it's not like God versus the devil. They're not like this. It's, it is like this. And this is why when we talk about in the spiritual authority, like It. There's no comparison.

Yeah.

Like, they must submit. They must submit.

Yeah. Yeah. Amen. For. For me, I. I've been. I've encountered, like, demon possessed people and. And all that, but it was only, like, two years ago at. In my house in the morning, I like to sit outside on the porch and just spend some time with the Lord. And it was a warm day. So we have one of those nets that you, like, put up, like the screen that you kind of, like, walk through.

Yeah, yeah.

Just leave the door open. Yeah. So when that door is open, it's open. It like, swings all the way on the inside of the house. And I was sitting out there in the middle of prayer. The door slammed. I was like, look at the time. I was like, oh, Ezzy must be up already, right? I go into the house, he's asleep, Lucy's asleep. I'm like, okay, that's weird. Like, I didn't know. Even if the wind blows, just that door is so far, like, swings so far on the inside of house, it wouldn't like, yeah, vacuum it shut. Right? So I was like, okay. And then it was either later that day or the next day where I was in the house by myself and I heard a door slam upstairs. And I was like, okay. Then it was like, something's going on here, right? Yeah. And I immediately got anointing oil, just blasted worship music, which we do all the time. There's always worship music playing in the house because you want to, like, you want to guard all the gates of. Of how the enemy can infiltrate you, your mind. You want to guard your mind, you want to guard your heart, you want to literally guard your house. And worship music is a way to do that. Think about if the. If that. If demons tremble at the name of Jesus and you're playing worship music all. All the time, and yeah, they're. They're praising Jesus, then that the enemy will. Will kind of have to be forced to take a step back. Yeah. So I just took that anointing oil. I. On my phone, the. The worship music was playing in our prayer room, but on my phone, I had the worship music. I went to every room in the house, anointed every room, and just similar to what you did, just literally talk to whatever that thing is, whatever that evil spirit is, and in the name of Jesus, go, yeah, you're. You're not welcome here. You have no authority here. And nothing. Like, I guess we got him because, like, nothing happened after that. But it's real. When you see these weird things and the enemy part of why he's so good and why he's. He could deceive so well. And even when the Antichrist comes, he's not going to be so opposite of Jesus. Right. Like, what makes counterfeit money good, it's very close to the real thing. So when the enemy comes, he. He comes in something that. That looks like it could be the good right thing, but it's actually just to get you. Because if the enemy gets us to veer off course just a little bit and just a little bit, and we don't realize we're veering off course. One day we wake up and we're like, oh, my God, I'm so distant from God. I feel no power, I feel no authority. I. I feel no presence of God in my life. And then usually if you spend time with the Lord, you pray, you fast, you kind of reflect, you're like, oh, man, I. I been going down that. This. This track that's just a little bit off chart. Right. But anyhow, let's get back into this because we do have somewhat of a spiritual checklist. Yep. As to how we could be fully equipped and walk in this authority that God has given us. And I think the first thing is really surrender.

Yeah.

Right.

It is. I struggle with this word a little bit. I like the word submission better. And the reason for that, I'll say is, like, when I think about surrender, I think about, like, you begrudgingly lost. Right. Like, if you think about the. If you're in a battle, it's like, we're going to surrender. We lost. Like, they waved the white flag. It's not that they wanted to. So I. This is me mentally, I like to think of submitting better, where it's like, no, I'm. I'm not. I'm. Not only am I surrendered, but I am submitted to your will. Like, I'm. I. I will do what you tell me to do.

Well, it's not just you, because James4.7 says, Submit to God. Doesn't say surrender to God.

I knew. I like James.

Right.

I knew it. Right.

Submit yourselves to God. And then it. He says, resist the enemy.

Yeah.

Flee. Right. So we. We're submitting to God. We're resisting the enemy. And part of that resisting the enemy is not entertaining him. Right. Like, how many. I'm a male, and so I could speak to this from a male's perspective, but when it comes to lust or, you know, that, that. That girl at the gym with the skimpy outfit. That's. Yeah. You Know, doing some sort of exercise in front of you, like two in.

Her butt up deadlifts, no question. Right, right, right.

So it's like, okay, now with any sin and keep in mind that the enemy will try to. To stumble us in any which way. Whatever our weakness is, best believe he's going to come at us in that regard. So if I entertain, it's not even when we have a thought, a sinful thought, right. That it's not sin yet. Unless you start to entertain that thing. As soon as you start to entertain it, then the enemy is like, okay, he tries to crack the door open and when you entertain it, you're just kicking the door wide open for him, basically saying, come in. And it's once we start to entertain. So resisting the enemy isn't just, you know, locking yourself in a room and with holy water, anointing oil and all worship music 24 7. No, we resist the enemy by just withstanding the banana peels, if you will, that he throws in our track.

Yeah, that's good. That's also James 1:15 that you just said. It's like then after desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin. And sin, when it's fully grown, gives birth to death. So it's like, it's not that we have thoughts, right? We, we. There's things that pop up. But when you entertain it, as you mentioned, you're, you're. You're giving birth to it.

Yeah.

Right. It's like you've given into that. And scripture tells us that like, God's always going to give us a way out. Right. It's not like we didn't just like, oh, whoops, I, yeah, messed up again. Like you, you've. You always had a choice in this.

Right?

Even if sometimes you got to go back all the way to, okay, you can't go to that gym anymore.

Right.

Right. Maybe. Or you need, you need to unfollow these people.

Right.

I've had to do that many times because it's just like I don't need this in my life.

Right.

And, and especially on social media, there's so much junk.

Yeah.

You know, that is just not. I, I know it's not good for me to. Because ultimately if I desensitize myself to that, even like all the, the, you know, the, the murders that are just like online, like, you can just see the, the death of Charlie, the, the woman that was stabbed be prior to that. And like you're there. What I feel is happening is, you know, I mean, obviously the enemy has Been working in the media medium. It's a whole. We should do podcasts on that man in the channels.

Right.

Like, there's programming that's taking place. I think the enemy's been working in that. And they're like, de. Gradually desensitizing us. Why? We need to be hypersensitive within the spirit realm of like, nope, I'm not going to do that anymore.

Yep.

And. And choose, you know, be submitted to those things that are good. So first thing, back to this checklist. First thing is surrender slash submission.

Yeah.

Right. Being submitted.

Yeah.

Right. And this could be like, I've. I've. I've given my life to Christ. Or maybe not. Right. At this point, it's like, I do. I want to. And it's like, again, count the cost.

Right.

Are you willing to. You're willing to run this race? Yeah, we hope you are. God hopes you are. His desires that all men would be saved. But it's up to you. You get to count the cost on this thing. And, and if. If it's worth it to you, which I can promise you it will be because the, the other option is not good. Right. So. But if you're willing to run this race, it. It comes into. Okay, not just saying a prayer, but it's. It's literally submitting to Jesus is Lord of my life. All right, like, this is it. Number one. What would step two be?

Yeah. And daily, Jesus says in Luke 9:23, deny yourself, take up your cross, follow him daily. So it's a daily act. You don't just submit to Jesus. You know, you're at church and they do an altar call, you slip up your hand and you're saved. And that's it. No, this is a daily process. We submit every single day.

Yeah. And taking up your cross, like, I think that can get thrown around a lot in church world. And it's like, what does that actually mean? The cross being an instrument of death.

Yeah.

Right. Meaning you are dying to yourself and you are submitting to the Lord on this. That's what means taking up your cross daily actually means like, I'm dying to myself. I'm not going to feed the flesh.

I'm going to.

I'm going to feed my spirit.

Right.

So I. Even leading into the second one, I think fasting would even be incredibly perfect for this too.

Right.

Involved with intimacy and prayer.

Yep, Yep. Right. So, yeah, intimacy and prayer, that would be the second thing. So first you submit, then your prayer time. Prayer is so important. And even as we see revival in the wake of Charlie's assassination. Right. Prayer is the catalyst for that.

Right.

We, we saw all the prayer vigils and yes, we're praying for Charlie's family. We're praying for loved ones who, who knew him and were mourning the most. Right. But also prayer for not just a nation, but a world to be awakened from the slumber that they're in, just kind of coasting through life or perhaps rejecting God outwardly and willfully in a rebel rebellious lifestyle towards God. And so revivals, you know, we talked last week how, you know, the, the blood of the martyrs will, will spark these revivals. But prayer is a big factor in.

That and it's probably one of the, the least. What does it say? Leaned upon things or it's like everybody knows prayer just like kind of comes along with Christianity. But are you actually doing it?

Yeah.

Right. Are you actually, are you just surrendered or are you submitted?

Yeah, right.

It's like again, begrudgingly like, okay, Jesus is savior just because I don't want the alternative.

Yeah.

I don't know if that's going to do it. Right, right. I mean, that's up to God. But I, Scripture tells us that they will, they, they will know us by our fruit. Right. And I think this checklist here is all about bearing fruit. Right. If you do these things, you will be fruitful.

Yeah.

Right. And it's, I think you can be very productive and not bear fruit, but I don't think you can be fruitful and not be productive at the same time. Like in a lot of, you know, I know we have a lot of like business owners, entrepreneurs that listen to us. It's like I was very productive in a lot of things, but I didn't bear fruit.

Yeah.

Like biblical fruit. What is, what is that? Right, right. And so, and that's how we're going to be known. Right. And it's not, it's not going to be by. We claim to be a Christian. Right. And I, I, if people come to me and they introduce themselves as a Christian, it's like, well, I should like to me, I'm like, well, I'll wait and see.

Yeah, we'll see.

We'll see any self.

I'll be the judge of that.

Exactly. Yeah, exactly. But that intimacy and prayer, it's like that, that is, that's where we grow. Right. And, and prayer is a two way street. Right. It is like, and I think the biggest thing is, is praying through scripture. Even like when you're spending that quiet time, if we know that there's power in the word of God. Like if we really, if we're committed to this and we're submitted to this and we believe that the Bible is, is the word of God. Right. The infallible word of God. And I'm, I'm now going to submit to this. Like we should memorize scripture like this, this should be like be able to flow through us and it doesn't happen overnight.

Right.

This is what discipline slash discipleship actually takes. Yeah, Like I'm gonna, I'm gonna spend time in the Word and I'm gonna start to pray these scriptures out.

Right.

I remember I used to write them down on a little post it card or note and I'd have in my pocket and whenever I put my hand in my pocket I was reminded like I could run rerun through that and that could be my prayer through throughout the day. So it's, it's like etched in our memory that, I mean that's literally sharpening the sword. Right. It's like that, the sword of the spirit. It's like that is what it is like when you speak, this is what this in the spiritual realm they have to submit to. Right. And but if you're not walking in authority, you're just reading, reading the book of like treating the Bible like it's a history book or something and not actually the living breathing word of God. There's, there's a difference in that.

Yeah, that's so good. And prayer is just really communing with God. You know, there's times when you're in prayer and you're just kind of listening, you know, and there's times where you're just exalting him or extolling him and praising him and worshiping him. That. But it's two way communication. Yeah, it really is. And there's nothing better than, I mean, you know, if you could call your spouse or call a bud just to have a good conversation and just fellowship. I mean, how much greater is it with God himself? Right, right. And how I'm still blown away when you feel, when I feel like God's speaking to me something. And if you ever hear the voice of God, you know, like hear it in your spirit and, and hear it in your heart. I don't know. Too many people have audibly heard the voice of God, but it's so loud in your spirit that you feel like you audibly hear it. If it's anything contrary to the word of God, it ain't God. Okay, yes. Just rule of thumb there. But It's. It's nothing short of miraculous. It's supernatural for. For a God who sits in heaven but is also everywhere. Right. He's. He's omnipresent, Can. Can speak to me directly. And then you just feel so precious in his hands because there's a lot of people he's created. There's a lot of things he's created a lot of animals. There's a. But wait a second. You're taking the time to speak directly to me. That's amazing. Amazing. So we got the intimacy and prayer. And prayer. It's not a last resort. A lot of people, we. We pray when we absolutely have to, and God will. Will turn up the fire in our lives to get our attention, to get us to that place of prayer. But it should be our. Our first option, our first weapon, not a last resort. And then we move on to obedience. Right. Are we actually going to be obedient now to the word of God? Are we going to be obedient when the Spirit prompts us? Are we going to be obedient to those things? Even the small things? I. I think that God will instruct us to do small things to. To see, to show ourselves approved. That he could, you know, give us that. That bigger mission, that bigger assignment and. And know that we're trustworthy to actually act upon it and be obedient to what he's telling us to do.

Absolutely. And I think intimacy and obedience, like, they. They go so hand in hand together on this because, you know, and I even think of my children, Ellie and Titus, like, I'm not. God is not going to love any of us more or less. Like His. His love is. It's 100% right. It's like he's not going to love any of us more. And I'm not going to love my kids anymore if they do something bad or if they do something wrong, because I love them. Right. But I can be more pleased with them. Right. And I think this is. Is a. Is a great example. Like, can we be more pleasing to God?

Yeah.

And First Samuel says that to obey is better than sacrifice. Right. And. And, you know, obviously we want to repent and we know that we are saved, you know, by grace through faith. And it's. We. We understand that. But I think so many Christians rely on this. They live on this grace train where it's like, oh, you know, my. Let grace abound. Right. So I'm gonna do what I want to do. Yeah. And. And they. That that's how they're Living their life versus actually no obedience over sacrifice every day. And, and that's a life that's, that's not only pleasing to God, but honoring. But I think that's just who I want to be. Right. Because I want to be a vessel that God's going to actually use here on this earth. And I mean, obviously he will use anybody. He uses a freaking donkey. Right. Like, he'll use. He'll use anything and everybody for. To accomplish his will. But I want to be involved in that.

Right.

It's like I want to. I want to make myself available. And I know that if I'm having intimacy with him and I'm choosing obedience. Right. Not in a religious way, but in a relation, relational way of that I want to be pleasing to him. Yeah, right. Think of any of you have kids watching this. It's like when they do something to please you, you don't love them anymore. I hope you don't. Right. But you're like, yes, yes.

Like prouder.

Yeah.

Yeah. You're proud of that?

Yeah, yeah, absolutely.

And the more intimate you are with God, the less it feels like a burden to be obedient. You want to be obedient?

Yeah, exactly.

Like, how many times have you woken up and you're like, oh my God, I gotta go to church today. And just like, you're just like disgruntled at everything. Yeah. And it usually ties back into where, where your relationship is at with Jesus. But yeah, when you were saying that any parent can identify with that you're not going to love your child any more or less.

Right.

But like, when Ezzy. When he does something, then I. I tell him when I'm proud of him. And like most nights I'll tell him that even if there wasn't like a big thing that he did, because I want him to know that I'm proud of him. And like, not only is it. Am I. Please, is mommy, please. But God is pleased with, with what you did today, the decision that you made. If he did something that took more courage than it. Something that's outside of his comfort zone, you know, it's like, man, and what a feeling that is to just. And you don't even know how to express it to your kid that, that you're just that proud. It's like, oh man, nothing feels better. So what do you think God thinks about us?

Right?

Like, I want to be that pleasing to my Father in heaven.

Yeah.

As much as I want my kids here on earth to. To be pleasing to me out of their Obedience.

Yeah, and it's, it's obedience, I think, is above and beyond. Just, you know, what this scripture tells us to do, right? Like, we know the commandments, we know those things. And what I love about even the law in the Old Testament, the fact that Christ didn't come to abolish the law, but to fulfill it. And it's virtually impossible to be completely obedient to all of those laws. But I do believe, like, if you, if you actually spend any time studying those and reading those, like, it is a way for, like, life is just going to go better for you if you do those things. Right. And so, and this was a mindset for me early on of like thinking Christianity was rules and restrictions and things that I can't do anymore and thinking it's like a bummer versus, like, no, this is how life is going to go well for you. And I'm like, man, this, this book is good. Like, this is our operating manual. And when we, when we take that mindset, it's like, all right, this is, this is what I want to do. This is what I'm going to do. It says not to lie. Okay, I'm not going to lie anymore.

Right.

It says, do not murder. All right, I'm not going to murder. Right. Like, obviously some are big moral things that are etched upon your heart regardless. But there's, there's a lot of things I think that we, in the everyday life of when you are intimate with him, you start to be sensitive to the Holy Spirit and it's those little promptings that God will start to use you more and more. So obviously it's like the Bible is, you know, if anything goes against the word of God, that ain't from God. But now when you're out in public, and I remember this years and years ago, I was probably like 19 at the time. I was going way back now, way back when I was like walking with the Lord really at that time. And I remember I was driving downtown Minneapolis and there was this, a homeless guy on the street. He wasn't even holding like a sign or anything. He was just like standing there. And I felt like right then to like, you need to go give him 20 bucks. And I was like, this is like a one way street. This is a real pain in the butt.

Yeah.

But I did like, I, I've looped back around. I had to get back on the road again. And I, I drove by and I was like, God told me to give this to you. And I don't know what God's gonna do with that. But I wanted to be obedient for that. Because I do know that if we're obedient with those small things, he will give us more. Yeah, right. And this is why I've even committed. I was so proud. You mentioned being proud. Like, yesterday, this was. Ellie had a volleyball game, and a couple days prior to that, I was telling her of, like, this is why Ellie, we have incredible conversations on the way to school, and I was just talking to her about, like, being obedient and. And with the little things. This is why, like, a few years ago, I just made this commitment when life was financially in turmoil for me. Like, there was a point in time in my life. I saw, like, a penny on the street or any change, I'm like, it's worthless. I didn't care about it, But I, like, committed. I'm like, no, I'm gonna. If I see a penny, I'm gonna value that just as much as I would value $100 bill or anything else. I mean, just. That's a silly thing in my life, but that was just something that I shared with her. And then yesterday, she's like, oh, she gets, like, out of the car and goes back and comes back and chose me a dime. I was like, yeah, baby, yeah. And the dime doesn't buy anything. But it's like, the point is, like, are you going to steward the little. Well, so I can put you in, you know, charge of or in responsible. Have responsibility for more?

When you said you committed to picking up a penny, did you just make a decision, or do you feel like God was leading you?

I definitely felt like that was a conviction in my life of, like, am I going to value. Because I think for a period of time in our life, it was like money was rolling in. And it's like, I was very irresponsible financially because we had a lot of.

Yeah.

And I've. I fumbled the ball, I think. And this is where, you know, I. I'm very frustrated with decisions that I made in the past. Nothing I can do it about it now, but I can make better decisions moving forward. And that was a time where God was, like, just convicted me, like, are you going to. Are you going to steward this? Well, the little things? Because I want to do way more with you. I think. I think everybody listening. God wants to do so much more through you and in your life if you're committed to the little things. Right. Because we all want it. We want these big things, incredible things to happen. But how do You. What do you do in private? Like, what? Because God sees, All right? And if you're. If you're just the guy that wants the. The credit and the glory, like, I want. I want zero credit. I want zero glory on this earth. Right? Because Scripture tells us, like, that is our reward if we get it on this earth.

Like, I want.

I want to give anonymously. I want to be like, nobody know my name, because I want to make a name in heaven more than anything else.

Yeah, so that's good. So with obedience, if our answer is yes to God before he even asks, then we're just gonna grow in that authority that we have.

Yeah, absolutely.

So next one we have here is boldness. Kind of goes hand in hand with obedience, because even when you drove past that homeless guy, you're obedient. But it also requires a boldness to, you know, perhaps stop traffic, just to.

Sure.

Fulfill what God is calling you to do. And we talked.

That's kind of easy. That was from that example. But there's other many examples of, like, God prompting you, like, hey, go pray for that person. It's like, oh, you know, I mean, I've had this. I was like, I don't know. How are they gonna feel like? And then it's like a check in my spirit of like, well, do you fear man, or do you fear God? Yeah, right? And this is, I think, a question every Christian daily needs to deal with. Like, do you fear man? Do you fear of offending them? Even if you're a pastor of a church, like, are you. Are you watering down your message for fear of offending them? If that's your. If that's how you're delivering your messages, you're gauging them like, bro, do you really fear the Lord? Like, you are to correct and lead people in an appropriate way, and if God gives you that prompting, maybe God tells you to water down a message. I have a hard time believing that because I don't think Jesus or Paul or any of the disciples water down any messages. They spoke truth. Right. But back to the boldness. It's just like, did you. Did you do the things that God called you to do even though they were way out of your comfort zone?

Yeah.

Like, we have to. We have to do the uncomfortable until it becomes comfortable. Right. Boldness isn't just, like, carelessness. It is like, I am doing this because of the authority that backs me. Right? So even if I telling Ellie this the other morning, like, even if the person makes fun of you, even if they. They're you think you're going to like, lose a friend because of it? Like, they weren't a real friend.

Right.

But you have to be bold in your faith because you serve an audience of one.

Yeah.

Like, I don't give a rip to what people think about me anymore because of. I think again, it comes back to just this framework of intimacy prayer that leads to boldness to do what? The world seems awkward or weird or crazy or stupid or silly. It's like, I don't care.

Yeah.

Okay. I'm not accountable to you.

Yeah. Yeah. But that lack of boldness in the church is why there's so much passivity. And it's acceptable now. It seems it's not acceptable, but it seems that it's acceptable where you don't see a lot of conviction. Just boldness has gone by the wayside. And ultimately demons don't care if you're not opening your mouth. Yeah. That. But you're on your. Their radar if you're, if you're opening your mouth, if you're making noise for Jesus, especially when it costs you. So if that means, even for pastors, if you're going to be bold, you're, you're still speaking and declaring truth, but you're bold about it. You're not worried about the, the 10% of your church that you think maybe voted a different way or you don't want to ruffle any feathers. And I mean, Bible's clear in the, the, the end days, the, the last days, the end times, that, that there's going to be leaders of the church that give way and they succumb to, to those who have the itchy ears, like whatever your ears want to hear. That's what I'm going to preach because I want them. Because we have a budget and we're going to make sure we, we, we attain what we set out for this year because we, we got to put that new walking track out back on the property. We got to raise that half a million for that. I mentioned that because somebody I know went to a church and it was his first time at this church, and that's. They spent a lot of time talking about the offering to build a walking track that cost half a million.

Hey, obesity is rampant in America, man.

So obesity is rampant in America. Yes.

But I think of that and then I think of ministries that we partner with like Troy Brewer and them, like 500 grand would literally rescue hundreds, not thousands of kids.

Yeah.

Being sexually molested.

Yeah.

It's like. And you want a walking track. Give Me a freaking break. Right, Whatever.

So moving on. So then it's love. And all these, they're kind of somewhat interchangeable. They kind of blend into one another. But then that word in the Greek that I love, that stands for love in action. Agapeo. Right.

That's how you pronounce it.

Agape. How do you pronounce it?

Agape.

No, but love in action. The. Like, the verb tense of it.

Oh, so you put on the payo.

Yeah, Agapeo.

Okay. You're like. Here's like, that's how you put a.

Bible teacher agape out.

I get it. I get it.

Okay. Yeah. No, that's the. The word in action.

Agapeo.

Okay. All right. And it's because the real authority that we have is not just in our words. We're to be bold, we're to be obedient, we're to make some noise for Jesus. But how are we loving people? Right? And part of loving folks is correcting them when they need correction. And we're to do it in a loving way. And there's no. You know, there's times where you need to be stern with somebody. Anybody who's a parent knows this. There's times where you gotta. You gotta go for tough love. There's times where it's, you know, you're very gracious and thinking of my son, my oldest son, Isaiah. Because we went from everything on the spectrum from. From, like, overly gracious, where it's like, it's okay, son. Just give me a hug. Yeah. To get out. You're moving out. Like, I could get out of the house. It's like, don't talk to us. You know. You know what you're doing is wrong. We're not tolerating here. Get out. Right. And then everything in between. But the Holy Spirit will guide us for each person. Because ultimately, that there's no one siiz fits all version of evangelism, Right? Yep. And, you know, part of what we talk about, you know, just in, like, sales training and stuff like that, some of the coaching that we do. The way you communicate goes a long way. Your tonality, your facial expressions. Right. So how can you best. You know, if you're. If you're evangelizing somebody, how can you not get the door slammed in your face? Right. It could start with the way you say hello. It could start with a smile. Right. So many things. So we're to be savvy in it, but also very spirit led. Yeah. To. Because there's times where I. I've ministered to somebody and God just gave me a download. And you're. You're speaking word. Like prophetic words. I remember it wasn't too long ago I was speaking with this woman, and God just told me to show her this. This verse. I don't even remember the verse that it was, but it was like, I always have my Bible on me. So I was like, God's telling me to go to this verse. And I read it, and she just broke down in tears, and it meant every. Like she knew exactly what that meant. And I'm like, cool, thank you, Holy Spirit. Because right. If I had to, God. God gave me as much to show her the verse. Not so much to like, go. Go in depth in it. Sure. And. But that was it. So. Yeah, the way we. We love folks, and God gives us the ability to love the same way he loves us. And we're commanded to love our enemies. We're. We're commanded to lay down our lives if need be. Yeah. For. For a brother. Right. So that love in action and all these things that if we. Again, these aren't just like spiritual checklists, but if we do all these things, then we will. That. That spiritual authority that we have will absolutely heighten. And I just want to read real quick. I think we're going long here. It's all right. We get caught up in time. But in Luke 10, when Jesus sends out the 70, right? I. I laugh every time I read this. Sends out the 70, and they come back to him in Luke chapter nine, and it says, Then the 70 return with joy, saying, lord, even the demons are subject to us in your name. It's like, this is. This is pretty cool. It's pretty rad, right? And Jesus said to them, I saw Satan fall like lightning from heaven. Behold, I give you the authority to trample on serpents and scorpions and over all power of the enemy. And nothing shall by any means hurt you. Nevertheless, do not rejoice in this, that the spirits are subject to you, but rather rejoice because your names are written in heaven. Come on. It's like, okay, because. Wait a second. My name's written in heaven. My name's in the book of life. I'm filled with the Holy Spirit. I have the power and authority of Jesus Christ. Christ, I. I fight from victory, not for victory. And I have this much power and authority. It's like, why does the church look the way it does today? This isn't just like, oh, pastors have this authority, right? This isn't Bishops, apostles, you know, Leaders of the church. No, no, this is his disciples. And I, I, I find myself now because I often talk about believers and unbelievers, and it's like, I don't even want to say that because we know that even the, the demons believe.

Yeah, right, exactly. Yep.

They believe. It's just that they don't submit. They, they don't make Jesus, Lord. And, but it's like the, the demons know who Jesus is. They just don't serve him. They, they rebelled against them.

Yes.

So it's like I, I don't want to be known as a believer of Christ. I want to be known as a follower of Christ. Like the followers of Christ are described in scripture.

Yep, absolutely. So to, to just recap quick, it's surrender slash submission to folks here.

Yep.

Intimacy and prayer. Right. So this is your, this is like checklist, like, all right, God, I'm going to be submitted to you surrendered all area, every aspect of life. Right. Intimacy and prayer. When you spend that time with him, you're you praying scripture. Right. I think even just prayed. What you just like that would be a prayer of mine, like, thank you, Lord, that you've, you've given me the power to trample over. Right. Like when you, when you start to own this and declare this, it becomes just etched in your, your being of who you are. Because all of this is, is comes back to the identity.

Yes.

Right. Which is going to lead to obedience and boldness and ultimately that love and action that you had mentioned. Because the reality is Paul, Paul wasn't feared because he was Paul. Right. He was, he was feared by the demons because of the identity that was, that he had taken on. Like, he is a, a Christ. Like the authority that he had because of who Christ is and who, what he has and is using through Paul. Right. It could be in anybody. Right. But Paul, God chose Paul to use in that situation. And, and I think God is looking for more and more of those Pauls to rise up. Yeah, right. I mean, we, we've talked about Stephen last week being a martyr and then, you know, it, that, no question, like, even Steven's heart, the fact that he was like, God, don't hold this against him. I bet that right there was like Paul had been like, huh, right? Like, what's this guy taking that? Like, we're, I'm literally standing here commanding people to stone him, and I'm approving of this. And he's like, don't hold this against him. That's like forgiving your enemies, man. It's like, how do we. How do we walk this thing out as. As believers here on this earth? Because that everything we do is. Is.

Is.

Could be planting a seed in somebody else. And you will give an account. Like, I mean, I think there's going to be many things when. When we get to heaven, like, we didn't even know what is it in Philippians where it's like, it's. We're going to be credited to that. We're of. Of other people. Like, when we've planned, planted seeds and somebody else watered it and somebody else reaped the har. It's like, now we're gonna. We're gonna get credit for that in heaven.

Yeah. Amen.

Which is amazing. Just like, walk this thing out. Be bold in your faith. Be obedient to what he has for you and expect to live the abundant life. Right. We know John 10:10, Jesus comes to Jesus. The enemy comes to steal, to kill and destroy. And a lot of people just end that scripture right there. But you got to continue. It's like, but God came to give us life and life abundantly.

Yeah. Amen.

Right. And. And when you. When you start to be submitted and surrendered to him, you develop intimacy and have a prayer life with him. You become obedient. You just want to become obedient to be bold and actually love in action. So, yeah, it's a great little checklist.

Yeah.

Good job putting that together.

Oh, thank you. Thank you.

Right on.

And remember, greater is he who lives in you as a believer. See, I caught myself a believer, not just as a believer, but one who has professed Christ as Lord and Savior, who has received everlasting life upon that declaration of faith. And greater is he who is in you than he who is in the world, that being the enemy. So whether you're new to Christ, if spirit of God lives in you, it's the spirit of Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ. God himself actually lives inside of you. He's greater than the enemy. All his demons put together. Anything you plus Jesus is greater than anything the world could throw at you. Yeah, that's. Who is it? Saul's son, Jonathan, when it was him and his armor bearer, when he looked at. Looked out at all the Amalekites that were getting ready to attack, and he was like, we got this. And it's like, I could imagine the armor bearers. Like, we don't even have weapons over here. And. But he's like, no, we got God. Yep. And. Yeah.

Come on.

Yeah. And ultimately, if you die engaging in this battle, that we're all in as children of God, then that just means that God saw fit to call you home. Yep. And it's not a punishment, it's a reward. Right. To live as Christ, to die is gain. So, yes, there's going to be morning, there's going to be grieving on earth. There's emotions. God created us to be emotional beings, but ultimately, no, the, the second we check out of here. Paul was even like, yeah, in Philippians, you could see him even think about. I was like, yeah, I kind of just want to get to heaven, but I'm here on earth, so, you know, I got to do what God's calling me to do. Yeah, but it's like that's how we should all look at every single day.

Absolutely.

Like, if God calls me home today, yes, there's going to be grieving. But guess what? If I let my wife, Right. If I let my children. Right. They know that not only my mission as head of household, but they're on mission as well. Right? We're all on mission. I don't care how young your kiddos are, if they're old enough to, to know Jesus, my son, right now, he's five years old. If the Lord took me from this earth, then at five years old, he's old enough to know that every night we're praying together every night. Every what? We're reading Bible stories every day. Every morning we're doing devotionals. That prayer time. He's got his own little prayer mat. He had a nanny that wound up moving, but she made him this prayer mat and like decorated it and it sits in the bedroom and he goes over there and he bows down and he says his prayers and.

Nice.

Yeah. She sent us a video that the first night she brought it over, she was watching them and she took a. Like, she came around the corner, like, she didn't even tell him to pray. He was down on the mat praying. And I was like, we're trying to make out what he was saying because, like, there's some prayers that he says, but it was something that, not like a, a generic prayer. I was like, oh my God, this is amazing. He was only four then. Yeah. So love that. It's like, yeah. And at the end of the day, do you think the enemy or any of his minions like the fact that I have a five year old that's praying like that? Heck no. So am I even more in the crosshairs? Yes, he in the crosshairs. Yeah, that. But we proclaim and declare these promises of God over our lives, we pray the scriptures and we know. Listen it. Like we said before, it's not God here. And his adversary, the devil is like, right here opposing him. No, he's gonna get crushed in the end. His future is the lake of fire. He's already a defeated foe. Yep.

Foe. Yeah, I love it.

Go ahead. Yeah, wrap something.

I. I held my tongue because we're already a little overrun.

Okay. That's one thing. When we weren't in the. The same room doing these podcasts, you didn't rap as much.

Yeah, well, you bring out the best in me.

Well, I wouldn't say there's anything good about when you sing around. Come on. Come on.

Yeah. All right, well, let's wrap this up, dude.

Yes.

Yeah. Anyways, guys, you guys know we're live here every Friday and. Yeah, what time? I was just gonna say. What time do we do? This is a 10 or 11. Jace, that we. What time is it right now? Okay.

All right.

10 o' clock central Standard Time. Join us here every Friday. I don't even know the time zones anymore, but anyways, guys, we love you guys. And again, if. If you like this, if you. If you want to even dive more into this, I always want to give a shout out to kingscouncilbiblestudy.com Christian leads 99 of those still going through the Book of Revelation. Right?

We just finished. We finished what? We wrapped up.

Missed the last one.

If you showed up.

I know. Sorry. I was. What was I doing this. I took Ellie to school. So we're done with Revelation. So join us. What's the next one? What are we going through next?

We're actually doing some topical studies, but I think we're going to dive into the Book of Colossians.

All right, well, join us. Kingscouncilbiblestudy.com every Wednesday morning, 7:00 clock Central Standard Time. That being said, you guys have an incredible weekend and we'll see you next week here. Peace.

Peace.