Speaker 1: Thanks for joining us for Daily Hope with Pastor Rick Warren.
Speaker 1: Today we bring our series The Invisible War to a
Speaker 1: close as we take one last look at how the
Speaker 1: unseen world of good and evil intricately shapes our day
Speaker 1: to day existence. Join us for eye opening biblical insights
Speaker 1: into the spiritual dimensions that influence our lives in ways
Speaker 1: we never imagine. Right now, here's Pastor Rick Warren with
Speaker 1: the final part of a message called never fight your
Speaker 1: battles undressed.
Speaker 2: Now, the fifth thing you need, and of course this
Speaker 2: is what a soldier needs, is he puts on the helmet.
Speaker 2: And of course the helmet was probably the most important
Speaker 2: part of a soldier's war centurions where because if you
Speaker 2: get a head wound, that's often a mortal wound. If
Speaker 2: you lose your head, you lost it. And so you
Speaker 2: want to have I mean, not many people are walking
Speaker 2: around headless, right, Okay, So you want to wear a helmet.
Speaker 2: And he says, you got to put on the helmet,
Speaker 2: and that's the next verse, verse seventeen. He says, you
Speaker 2: need to put on the helmet of salvation. Salvation. Now,
Speaker 2: what is the purpose of a helmet? It is to
Speaker 2: protect your mind, your mind. And so the fifth piece
Speaker 2: of weapon of weapon protection you need is sanity. Sanity
Speaker 2: and sanity means I protect my mind from evil thoughts.
Speaker 2: I protect my mind. That's what a helmet does. It
Speaker 2: protects your mind, It protects your head. And if you're
Speaker 2: going to win the spiritual battles of life over doubt, discouragement, depression,
Speaker 2: defeat and all the things you got to learn how
Speaker 2: to control your thoughts, you got to have sanity. I
Speaker 2: didn't say hanity. I said sanity protecting my mind from evil.
Speaker 2: Now what is it that protects my mind from evil? Salvation?
Speaker 2: When I get put on salvation, I get a whole
Speaker 2: new mind. Let me just say it this way. If
Speaker 2: you don't know Jesus Christ, if you don't have him
Speaker 2: in your heart, if you're still outside the family, you
Speaker 2: friend have zero protection against Satan, none whatsoever. Satan's not
Speaker 2: afraid of your words. He is afraid of God's word.
Speaker 2: Satan's not afraid of your thoughts. He is afraid of
Speaker 2: god thoughts. And it is salvation that protects your mind
Speaker 2: and protects the home of a salvation. Now, I don't
Speaker 2: want to go into this in a lot of detail
Speaker 2: because We've spent weeks talking about the importance of guarding
Speaker 2: your mind, but it is amazing to me what people
Speaker 2: allow in their mind, what they'll read, what they'll think,
Speaker 2: what they'll listen to. You know, let's just admit it.
Speaker 2: Do you know what television is? It's a drug with
Speaker 2: a plug. That's really all it is. It's a drug
Speaker 2: with a plug. And most of it on there is
Speaker 2: not really very good for your brain. There's some good stuff,
Speaker 2: and there's some stuff that's just fluff, but there's a
Speaker 2: lot of stuff on there that's actually bad and it's
Speaker 2: not good for your mind. The Bible says this in
Speaker 2: Colostion three two. Keep your mind on things above, not
Speaker 2: on worldly things. That means when Satan puts a dart
Speaker 2: and he shoots a dart of doubt in your mind,
Speaker 2: he goes, I'm not going to believe that I got
Speaker 2: the helmet of salvation on. Instead, I'm going to think this.
Speaker 2: You cannot choose what happens to you. You cannot choose
Speaker 2: everything that's going to happen if you do, but you
Speaker 2: can choose what you think about. You have one hundred
Speaker 2: percent control over that. And when you choose to think
Speaker 2: on things that are good and true and right. And
Speaker 2: just when you choose to think on the word of God,
Speaker 2: you are putting on the helmet of salvation. Now when
Speaker 2: you think about each of these issues, integrity and purity
Speaker 2: and serenity, peace and certainty and sanity, you know what
Speaker 2: that is. It's a perfect picture of Jesus. What this
Speaker 2: is talking about is letting Jesus Christ live through your life.
Speaker 2: Nobody has more integrity, more sanity, more purity, more certainty
Speaker 2: than Jesus Christ. Now there's one other thing that you
Speaker 2: have to have in order to fight the battles in
Speaker 2: life and win. And Paul says, you got to put
Speaker 2: on every piece and the fifth piece is maturity. If
Speaker 2: you write this down, maturity And what is maturity just
Speaker 2: knowing a lot of the Bible? No, it is knowing
Speaker 2: the Bible and knowing how to use the Bible against Satan.
Speaker 2: Maturity is the ability to use the Word of God
Speaker 2: against Satan. And unfortunately, most people don't know how to
Speaker 2: do this. You may have been in church for a
Speaker 2: year or two years or ten years and you've heard
Speaker 2: lots of Bible taught, but you don't know how to
Speaker 2: use the Bible again, satan. That is maturity, how to
Speaker 2: use the word of God against the devil. Maturity is
Speaker 2: when you practice the word of God, not just know it.
Speaker 2: Now here's a passage on the screen. It's not on
Speaker 2: your outlines. It's a long passage, but it's important. Hebrews
Speaker 2: five twelve to chapter six, verse one. Let me read
Speaker 2: this to you. Paul's talking to believers, and he says,
Speaker 2: you know, you, guys, you've been Christians for a long time,
Speaker 2: and you're still immature. You're still babies. He said, you
Speaker 2: ought to be able to be a teacher. In fact,
Speaker 2: here's what he says, though by this time you've been
Speaker 2: a Christian this long, By this time, you ought to
Speaker 2: be teachers. Now you ought to be teaching the Bible,
Speaker 2: not just sitting listening to it. But he said, you
Speaker 2: still need somebody to teach you the elementary truths of
Speaker 2: God's Word. You need milk, not solid food, he said.
Speaker 2: Anybody who lives on milk is still a spiritual baby.
Speaker 2: But solid food is for the mature. And then here's
Speaker 2: the definition of maturity. Who by constantly practice. In other words,
Speaker 2: not oh I know that Bible, not I've studied that Bible,
Speaker 2: but I practice the Bible, who, by constant practicing have
Speaker 2: trained themselves, and you can train yourself. That's maturity, who
Speaker 2: by constant practicing have trained themselves to distinguish good from evil.
Speaker 2: What's he talking about there? Maturity is when you know
Speaker 2: the Bible so well that you go, you hear an idea,
Speaker 2: you go, oh, that's not of God. Of course that's wrong,
Speaker 2: that's foolish, that's dumb. This is right, that's wrong, and
Speaker 2: you can quickly judge. You know that's not right because
Speaker 2: I know what the Bible says. That's wrong. That's the Bible.
Speaker 2: That's a good thing. I shouldn't say that. I should
Speaker 2: say this. I shouldn't do that. I should do this
Speaker 2: because you've trained yourself to know right from wrong. He says, Therefore,
Speaker 2: let us leave the elementary teaching about Christ. Teaching is
Speaker 2: about Christ and go on to maturity and of faith
Speaker 2: in God. Now, the seventh weapon that a soldier would have,
Speaker 2: and of course this one is important, is his sword. Now,
Speaker 2: a sword is so important because this is an offensive weapon.
Speaker 2: You see the are you ticklish? Tom? This shield is
Speaker 2: a defensive weapon, but the sword is an offensive weapon.
Speaker 2: This one is where you're going after Satan rather than
Speaker 2: him coming after you. You're taking over territory, you're expanding,
Speaker 2: you're enlarging the kingdom. You're going after what you want
Speaker 2: to go after in life. Because you're not just defending
Speaker 2: yourself as some poor person under attack. You're saying, I'm
Speaker 2: coming after you, buddy. You're not gonna get my family, Satan.
Speaker 2: You're not gonna get my job, Satan. You're not gonna
Speaker 2: get my career. You're not gonna get my marriage, you're
Speaker 2: not gonna get my mind. I'm coming after you. And
Speaker 2: the Bible calls this the sword of the Spirit. And
Speaker 2: notice the next verse, verse seventeen. He says, you take
Speaker 2: the sword of the spirit, which is what is it?
Speaker 2: The word of God? Look up here, this is your sword.
Speaker 2: The Bible is your sword, and the Bible says it
Speaker 2: can cut and the sharper your sword is the more
Speaker 2: you can do with it. This is your sword. Now
Speaker 2: here's that. Listen to me very very closely. The Bible
Speaker 2: does not become your sword until you memorize it. If
Speaker 2: it's all the words you're in this little book and
Speaker 2: you got on your shelf, it does you no good
Speaker 2: at all. But if you memorize a Bible verse. It's
Speaker 2: in your mind, and remember that's where the battle is.
Speaker 2: Now it becomes a sword. If you have a Bible.
Speaker 2: You could have one hundred Bibles on your shelf, and
Speaker 2: as long as they're closing on the shelf, they do
Speaker 2: you no good. There's no power in them just sitting there.
Speaker 2: It's only when you take truth out of here and
Speaker 2: you put it in here and you remember it, then
Speaker 2: it becomes a sword. Now, Jesus taught us how to
Speaker 2: fight Satan in the temptations that he went through in
Speaker 2: the wilderness, And in every temptation he answers Satan's dart
Speaker 2: with a quoted scripture. And Satan said, why don't you
Speaker 2: do this? Why don't you do this? And Jesus is
Speaker 2: modeling it for us. He says, well, it says in
Speaker 2: the Bible da da da da Da Da Da da
Speaker 2: da da, and he quotes back. Now, Jesus did not
Speaker 2: pull out his pocket old Testament when he was tempted.
Speaker 2: And when Satan said, look, I'll give you all these
Speaker 2: things if you'll fall down and worship, he didn't say,
Speaker 2: you know, I know somewhere over here in Deuteronomy, hang
Speaker 2: on just a minute, okay, Iatan, hang on, I know
Speaker 2: over here, somewhere there's a verse that said, oh yea, yeah, yeah,
Speaker 2: this is it. Oh no, no, that's not it here. No, no,
Speaker 2: he he just quoted it. He had it in his mind. Now,
Speaker 2: let's admit he did have an advantage because he wrote it. Okay,
Speaker 2: he wrote it. But the Bible does not become your
Speaker 2: sword until you memorize it. The single most important thing
Speaker 2: you can do as a Christian is memorize verses that
Speaker 2: help you. Barnutt I started this when I was seventeen
Speaker 2: years old. I have memorized thousands of Bible verses. That
Speaker 2: gives me power, because when you're tempted, you never have
Speaker 2: a Bible with you. Let's say you're tempted to spend
Speaker 2: money you don't have on something you don't need, and
Speaker 2: you're in Nordstroms and you see this good looking dress,
Speaker 2: and Satan says, a fiery dart man, you'd look sexy
Speaker 2: in that, but you can't afford a three hundred dollars dress.
Speaker 2: And he said, oh, come on, just get to put it.
Speaker 2: Charge it. You can't afford it, but charge it now.
Speaker 2: You're not going to pull out a verse out of
Speaker 2: your pull out a Bible at that point, going now,
Speaker 2: I know somewhere over here talks about not spending money
Speaker 2: you don't have. You need to add it verse memory.
Speaker 2: You say, what do I have to memorize the Old Bible?
Speaker 2: Of course not what do you memorize the verses that
Speaker 2: help you in the most tempting areas that you have.
Speaker 2: If you have a problem with impatience, you better be
Speaker 2: memorizing some verses on patients. If you have some problems
Speaker 2: with anger, you need to be memorizing them versus on anger.
Speaker 2: If you have a problem with watching where your eyes
Speaker 2: go and lust, you need to be memorizing some verses
Speaker 2: on lust. If you have a problem with spending too much,
Speaker 2: you need to be reading through problems and going, oh,
Speaker 2: that's a good one, And you write it down on
Speaker 2: a little white card, and you keep it there, and
Speaker 2: you keep saying it over and over to you got
Speaker 2: it memorized. You don't have to memorize the Old Bible,
Speaker 2: but you need to memorize the ones that help you.
Speaker 2: If you're always copping out and not telling standing up
Speaker 2: and saying what you believe, you need to memorize some
Speaker 2: verses on courage. If you have problems with doubt, you
Speaker 2: need to memorize some verses on doubt. So whatever you're
Speaker 2: struggling with, that's what you need, because then you got
Speaker 2: a sword to fight back. Otherwise, when Satan puts us
Speaker 2: on your right, you got nothing to fight back with.
Speaker 2: You're like, I'm just gonna take you on, Satan, and
Speaker 2: he stands back and goes. You think I'm afraid of
Speaker 2: your words. I have no fear of your words. But
Speaker 2: when you quote the word of God, that's sword. That's
Speaker 2: the sword. And let me wrap it up with two questions.
Speaker 2: First question, how do I put on all this weapon?
Speaker 2: Is this guy handsome? You know? I tell you what?
Speaker 2: Now you know what, ladies, just godly hunker, burning love,
Speaker 2: is single and he will wear this on a first
Speaker 2: date if you want to. You owe me. You owe
Speaker 2: me on that one. How do you put on this
Speaker 2: with this weaponry or this armor so you're protected against
Speaker 2: Satan and discouragement and doubt and all these things that
Speaker 2: he throws at you. Two words, write this down through prayer.
Speaker 2: Prayer is the way you put on the armor. You
Speaker 2: put on all of these pieces by praying about them
Speaker 2: and you say, God, today, I need integrity in my life.
Speaker 2: I need it. I need to know your truth and
Speaker 2: I need to do your truth. I need to build
Speaker 2: my life on truth. And God, I need purity in
Speaker 2: my life today. And there's a lot of impure things
Speaker 2: out there. I don't want impure relationships, impure thoughts. I
Speaker 2: don't want impure motives. I need a clean heart. And
Speaker 2: you ask God to give you a clean heart, and
Speaker 2: you say, God, I'm so dressed out. I need I
Speaker 2: need serenity today. I need peace. I need to put
Speaker 2: on the shoes of good news of peace. And God.
Speaker 2: Today I'm gonna be anxious and I'm gonna have worries
Speaker 2: and I'm gonna have fears. And God, I need you
Speaker 2: to give me serenity and I want to put on
Speaker 2: the shoes of peace. That's how you say it. And God, Today,
Speaker 2: when there's doubts come at me, I need certainty. I
Speaker 2: need to know. And you just mentally dress yourself. You
Speaker 2: don't go into battle undressed. And God, I need sanity.
Speaker 2: My life is insane right now. My schedule is insane.
Speaker 2: Right now, my world is insane. Right now. I need sanity.
Speaker 2: I need the helmet of salvation. I need you to
Speaker 2: help me protect my mind from all the goofy ideas
Speaker 2: that Satan tries to throw in there and go, you're nuts,
Speaker 2: and all of those wacky, crazy thoughts that I get.
Speaker 2: I need sanity and God, I need maturity. And I'm
Speaker 2: going to memorize the Bible verse. You know, if you
Speaker 2: memorized one verse a week, at the end of this year,
Speaker 2: you'd have a fifty two versus memorized. That means you
Speaker 2: got fifty two swords to use. You're no longer defenseless
Speaker 2: against Satan. You need maturity, and so prayer. Write this down.
Speaker 2: Prayer is how we fight the battle. A lot of
Speaker 2: people don't get prayer. A lot of people think prayer
Speaker 2: is just something you just tag on. It's kind of
Speaker 2: like singing the national anthem before a game. Yeah, you know,
Speaker 2: it's kind of nice. It's important to do, but it
Speaker 2: has no relationship whatsoever to the game. It's like, oh,
Speaker 2: say and you you know, and then and every colaugh
Speaker 2: and then the real game starts. A lot of people
Speaker 2: think that's what prayer is. Did you just kind of
Speaker 2: do it? You do it before you eat, you do
Speaker 2: it before you go to sleep. You do it in
Speaker 2: the morning, you do it before a meeting, and it
Speaker 2: doesn't really You didn't have to put your mind in
Speaker 2: gears like Charlie Brown Christmas Special and the teacher. Wow
Speaker 2: wow wow wow wow wow wow. Why uh, And it
Speaker 2: doesn't even matter.
Speaker 1: No.
Speaker 2: Prayer is how you fight the battle. Prayer is how
Speaker 2: you win the battle. And you put these things on. Now.
Speaker 2: Last question, when in your day is the best time
Speaker 2: to get spiritually dressed for battle? Morning or evening? Yeah? Yeah,
Speaker 2: because when you get up in the morning. That's why
Speaker 2: you should have a quiet time in the morning. You
Speaker 2: get up in the morning and you sit down and
Speaker 2: you pray and you mentally put on the spiritual warfare
Speaker 2: because you're getting ready to go out into battle. Doesn't
Speaker 2: make a whole lot of sense to end your day
Speaker 2: with a quiet time because you know that means you
Speaker 2: get all dressed up in your war gear and then
Speaker 2: you get in bed. That would be uncomfortable, okay, And
Speaker 2: so you need to do it at the start of
Speaker 2: the day. My challenge to you that you will begin
Speaker 2: to use this metaphor in your prayer life and use
Speaker 2: it with regularity. Memorize this metaphor so you can pray
Speaker 2: these six things so you can say, Okay, God, I'm
Speaker 2: going into battle today. I need to have these six things.
Speaker 2: I need integrity, I need purity, I need serenity, I
Speaker 2: need certainty. Come on, God, I need your help. I
Speaker 2: need sanity, I need maturity, and know what it means.
Speaker 2: If you can memorize this, you can spiritually prepare yourself
Speaker 2: for battle every day, and you're going to start living
Speaker 2: in victory. What's bow our heads? Father, We know that
Speaker 2: Satan lasts when we try to fight him without any
Speaker 2: armor on and without any weapons. Forgive us for all
Speaker 2: the times that we've thought other people or the enemy.
Speaker 2: Help us to realize we're not fighting against people made
Speaker 2: of flesh and blood. But the problem is behind the
Speaker 2: problem problem, and it is the spiritual evil, the satanic influences,
Speaker 2: the evil rulers and authorities, the unseen world, the powers
Speaker 2: of darkness. And we're not going to win by human methods.
Speaker 2: Help us to put on the mental armor of integrity.
Speaker 2: Knowing and doing the truth of purity, keeping our motives
Speaker 2: clean of serenity, living and speaking good news of peace,
Speaker 2: and living in harmony. Help us to put on certainty.
Speaker 2: Trusting your promises and sanity, protecting our minds from evil
Speaker 2: and maturity using the word of God. Help us to
Speaker 2: practice using it, and that we would do it, realizing
Speaker 2: that is prayer. In prayer, we win the battles. If
Speaker 2: you've never invited Jesus Christ into your life, say this prayer.
Speaker 2: Jesus Christ, as much as I know how, come into
Speaker 2: my heart plus against Satan without you. I need you
Speaker 2: to save me. I need salvation. I need the helmet
Speaker 2: to protect my mind. So I asked you to come
Speaker 2: into my heart and life and change me in your name.
Speaker 2: I pray. Amen. Hi everybody, this is Rick and I
Speaker 2: hope you enjoyed today's broadcast. You know, if you just
Speaker 2: prayed that prayer for the very first time, or you
Speaker 2: just recommitted your life to Jesus again today, would you
Speaker 2: let me know about it. There's something real about sharing
Speaker 2: your commitment. So write me Rick at pastor Rick dot
Speaker 2: com and say, Rick, I prayed that prayer of commitment.
Speaker 2: I gave my life to Christ. And I'll send you
Speaker 2: some material that will help you on your journey with Jesus.
Speaker 2: And I'll also pray for you. God bless you.
Speaker 1: You're listening to Pastor Rick's Daily Hope. We're so happy
Speaker 1: you've chosen to study along with us today. Every day
Speaker 1: our faith is assaulted by the world's values, our sinful nature,
Speaker 1: and the forces of evil. But by wilding God's word,
Speaker 1: you can find the wisdom to discern, the strength to endure,
Speaker 1: the grace to grow, and the power to fight and
Speaker 1: win this battle. That's why we're excited to tell you
Speaker 1: about the Invisible War Scripture Box, filled with fifty two
Speaker 1: scripture cards hand selected by Pastor Rick. These key verses
Speaker 1: will help you put on the armor of God, remind
Speaker 1: you of God's promises, and replace Satan's lies with God's
Speaker 1: eternal truth. This set of fifty two beautiful full color
Speaker 1: Bible verse cards comes in a silver, full leather scripture
Speaker 1: box with an embossed Bible verse on top. It's a
Speaker 1: great way to have the Word of God with you
Speaker 1: when you need it most, and will send you the
Speaker 1: Invisible War Scripture Box when you give a gift to
Speaker 1: help Daily Hope take the Word of God across our
Speaker 1: nation and around the world. Quantities are limited, so get
Speaker 1: your Invisible War Scripture Box today. Go to Pastorick dot
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Speaker 1: Or you can just text the word hope to eight hundred,
Speaker 1: six hundred five thousand and four. That's the word hope
Speaker 1: to eight hundred six hundred five thousand and four. Today
Speaker 1: is the last day to get this great resource, so
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Speaker 1: we look into God's Word for our daily hope. This
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