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[0:00] Hallelujah! Thank you for tuning in to this powerful message by David Entry at Karis Phase 2,! Our Christ Centred Youth Services. You can never find Christ outside of the open Word of God.

[0:13] May Jesus Christ reveal Himself to you as you listen. Ephesians chapter 6, 17 says that, 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 there unto with all perseverance and supplication for all saints.

[0:43] 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.

[1:06] Verse 21, But that ye also may know my affairs and how I do. Tychikos, a beloved brother and a faithful minister of the Lord, shall make known to you all things, whom I have sent unto you for the same purpose, that ye might know our affairs, and that he might comfort your hearts.

[1:34] Peace be to the brethren and love with faith from God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Grace be with all them that love the Lord Jesus Christ in sincerity.

[1:52] Amen. Wow. Paul the Apostle. Father, thank you so much for giving us a privilege to get into your Word. We pray that give us understanding, illumination.

[2:03] Holy Spirit, breathe upon us what we have to hear from you, and open our ears so we can hear clearly what you are saying to us, to your glory. In Jesus' name.

[2:15] Amen. All right, let's take it from verse 13. Wherefore, take the whole armor of God. Let's just say the whole armor. The whole armor.

[2:26] Then it says that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all to stand. So, eventually, you must be standing.

[2:41] After everything that has been done, you must be standing. And the next verse says, Stand, therefore, having your loins get about with truth.

[2:53] So, the belt of truth. So, let's try and count the number of armor she mentioned here. Number one is the belt. So, the belt of truth is what? Having the breastplate of righteousness.

[3:04] So, truth, belt, breastplate of righteousness. And your feet shoed or short with the preparation of the gospel of peace. Three.

[3:15] So, shoe. Belt, breastplate, shoe. The next verse. Above all, taking the shield of faith. How many? All.

[3:26] With which you will be able to quench the fiery darts of the wicked one. And the helmet of salvation. And the sword of the spirit.

[3:39] Which is the word of God. So, this is a clear description of what Ephesians was talking about. And those days, the soldiers didn't use guns. Paul had in mind the Roman soldier.

[3:52] And don't forget, at the time he was writing the epistle of Ephesians, he was in prison. That is why in chapter 3 verse 1, chapter 4 verse 1, I therefore the prisoner of Christ.

[4:05] Okay. So, he was in prison being surrounded by soldiers. Roman soldiers. So, he said, good. You have given me a good picture of how spiritually things must be like.

[4:17] He tells us about the belt of truth over there. And then, after that, the breastplate of righteousness to protect your heart.

[4:28] The belt of truth to hold the attire together, your armor to attire together. So, you can be agile. The breastplate of righteousness to cover your heart. The helmet of salvation to cover your head, your mind.

[4:42] That tax that Satan meets out against your mind, your thinking, your soul. And then, the shield of faith, faith to be able to quench.

[4:57] Or, the devil has darts, fiery darts. When he throws them, anything it touches, the thing catches fire. But you need your faith. So, you take your shield of faith to be able to quench all the fiery darts of the enemy.

[5:15] And the only assault weapon we have, or offensive weapon we have, all this is defensive. To defend yourself. And as some of you might be aware, there's nothing to cover your back.

[5:28] I can never go back. Because if you turn back, you have become more vulnerable. Nothing covering your back. So, don't go back. Don't backslide. It doesn't matter what happens to you.

[5:39] Don't backslide. You dare not backslide. Because Satan will get a big advantage. He will show you he's never been your friend. He will show you he has always been an enemy.

[5:53] And all the prayers you have prayed that has worked against him, he's waiting to the day you backslide. Yes. Satan revenges very aggressively. He will always revenge.

[6:05] Even Jesus, when he overcame the devil in Mark chapter 4, Bible says, and the devil liveth him for a season. No, no, he'll come back. Satan always makes a comeback.

[6:17] He will depart because he overcame him. But he'll come back with vengeance. In Luke chapter 11. He said, when a demon leaves a person, he will come back.

[6:32] He will come back. Doesn't matter what happens to you. Don't dare backslide. Unless you are never born again.

[6:45] But if you are really born again and you backslide, Satan will make sure you will pay heavily for being in Christ. Or attempting to be in church.

[6:57] And praying. Some of you, when you are praying. Especially. Your mother has always been praying. We bind the devil. We bind the devil. Satan. We bind the devil. And you are backsliding. When we stand here, we say, in the name of Jesus.

[7:15] Amen. Satan says, okay. You better not backslide. And God has also told you, you are always covered in me.

[7:26] Unless you turn your back against me. Then your back is not covered. You are not covered. So the armor of God doesn't cover your return.

[7:40] It's one way ticket. Praise the Lord. So we see the sword of the spirit is the only offensive weapon.

[7:51] And it says, which is the word of God. The word of God is your only advantage when it comes to dealing with the devil. Not even your prayer.

[8:04] The word of God is your sword. When he saw Jesus in Revelation chapter 2. John, it says that, and they proceeded out of his mouth, two-edged sword.

[8:19] His mouth. Somebody whose sword is coming out of his mouth. Not a tongue. Not his tongue. Sword. Because the word of God in your mouth is like sword. Now, when you read your Bible, you study the word of God, it's like you are loading bullets into your magazine.

[8:39] Most of you, you've only loaded one. Sunday morning. Sunday afternoon. Monday, there's nothing in your gun. Yes. Sword of the spirit is the word of God.

[8:53] Those days, they used not to use guns. But now, what we use is gun to offend. Offensive weapon. And he's saying, as a believer, your only offensive weapon is the word of God.

[9:04] And you don't read your Bible. Anytime you receive God's word, you read God's word, you are loading bullets into your spiritual system. Bullets. Bullets. And when Satan is coming around, he's careful because he knows you can fire.

[9:21] Look at how Jesus overcame the devil. Luke chapter 4, verse 4. Satan came and Jesus released the bullet. Bam! The word of God. He hit the devil. But he doesn't live permanently.

[9:33] But as long as he says, hasn't left, and he has bullets, he can't lose. He didn't hear what I said. Don't backslide. Just load bullets into your system. Satan will keep coming, but he can't overcome you.

[9:46] Because we are more than conquerors. Amen. Amen. So, Satan came to Jesus, and he said, if you are the son of God, meanwhile, a word just came, a few verses, when he was being baptized.

[10:02] This is my beloved son, in whom I will please. The word came. As soon as Satan came to attempt him, the word he heard from God was the first thing he came to attend. But thank God he had not just heard the prophetic word.

[10:16] He has also read his Bible. So, he has a personal encounter and a personal relationship with the word of God. So, Satan comes to him, he said, if you are the son of God, command is about food.

[10:34] Command stones into bread. Jesus said, but man must not live by bread alone. Even if bread is not there, I'm living on another superior bread. Then verse 5 says, then the devil taken him up onto a high mountain, showed him all the kingdoms of the world in a moment.

[10:51] In what way is this going to add to you? He says, let's concentrate on the things that make for building of one another. Yeah.

[11:02] Let us concentrate on the things that make for building, building one another. Romans chapter 14 is there. 1 Corinthians chapter 14 verse 26 talks about building one.

[11:14] Let all things be done for edifying. If you use NIV, for building up. And last week I was mentioning. Things that build people. Bible says that if people say they love you, they will build you up.

[11:30] You know, you're my brother. I really love you. I want to tell you what's going on. I really want you to. It's not loving you. God shouldn't be telling you that information. Yeah. 1 Corinthians chapter 8 verse 1.

[11:41] He said, knowledge buffs up, but love builds up. Love builds up. So, there are some things you don't want, you don't have to know.

[11:52] Even though you might have an interest in knowing. Some people, when they tell you, do you know what's going on? Tell them, I'm so happy I don't know. Cut it.

[12:03] Cut it. Because if you move one step further, you'll be zapped into something. Remember I told you, sin will take you farther than you plan to go. When I was learning and I came across, I said, what a blessing.

[12:19] I said, you think you are playing with sin, but sin is not playing with you. Sin is not playing with you. You think you are playing with it. Sin is not playing with you. Sin will take you farther than you plan to go. It will make you pay more than you plan to pay.

[12:32] It will keep you longer than you intended to stay. I was telling somebody, if a GP gives you, you said, I've been having a lot of headaches, I can't sleep.

[12:43] God forbid, that will not be your stomach. And it gives you medication that, take this every night before you go to bed or when you wake up in the morning. And you don't do it. You don't do it. And it tells you that, usually don't do this, maybe, let's say you like, okay, like watching a lot of movies on the computer.

[13:04] And the doctor said, don't do it because that's part of, but you don't take the medication, keep watching. Do you know you go back with a more bigger problem? What would the doctor say? Well, I don't care.

[13:17] What did the doctor say? I don't care. I told you. No, he can't say that. He has to give you another prescription. And if you don't follow that prescription, a bigger problem comes. He cannot say, I don't care.

[13:28] He still have to help you out by giving you another prescription. That's his job. His job is not to report you to the police or your mother. His job is to help you mend.

[13:41] That's every spiritual person. Your job is to help another Christian brother, another Christian sister. Let's leave wild sin. Let's come to shorts, U.T. shop shorts.

[13:53] It's just, okay, I won't go more than five scrolls. By the time you realize you have done 52. Easily. Easily.

[14:04] How about reading your Bible? So I will definitely reach. You let me go and come. Because sin promises what it never can give you.

[14:18] It will never give you. It gives you a promise of a life that you can never attain. So, you have to load your system with the word of God.

[14:32] Satan never leaves you alone. Satan came to Jesus, tempted him, and then took him to a place where you can have more options. He showed him. What is Satan showing you? At this stage of your life, there are some things you don't need.

[14:47] You don't need. You don't need. But Satan will make you see some things. And what we see, what we hear, watch this. What we see, what we hear will always have an impact on how we feel.

[15:01] Don't think you are so invincible. In spite of what you see, in spite of what you hear, it will have an impact on you. And all of us, what you see, what you hear, will invariably have an impact on you.

[15:15] Have an impact on your emotions. And it will cast a shadow on your decisions. Because of what you have seen. Because of what you've heard. What you see matters.

[15:28] But there are some things that, ooh, say, there are some things that you need to see. In the word of God. In your journey with God.

[15:38] There are some things you need to see. You need to know. You need to hear. Somebody's glorious testimony of dedication. And what has happened. How it has turned out. You need to know some of those things.

[15:51] It will build you up. Some things when you hear and you see, it's pulling you down. It's pulling you down. It's a curse.

[16:01] And Jesus said, I have another ammunition for everything you say. Then Jesus said, thou shalt not tempt. It is said. You always have an ammunition.

[16:13] That's when Satan leaves him. For a season. Take the sword of the spirit. It is not physical.

[16:24] It's not visible. But in the spirit, it's effective. You need to believe. If you don't read your Bible, you are not hurting a pastor. If you don't read your Bible, you are hurting your strength.

[16:36] You are getting weaker and weaker and weaker and weaker and weaker and weaker and weaker and weaker and weaker and weaker. Because you can't serve God in the strength of your intelligence. In the strength of your willpower.

[16:48] Willpower is not strong enough to resist the devil. Willpower is not strong enough to resist the devil. you need word power. You need word power.

[17:00] You need word power. The Bible says in the book of Jesus chapter 4, it says resist the devil and you can resist him but you need word power. Am I talking to somebody?

[17:13] Take the sword of the spirit. Stop beating yourself and thinking that you are not a strong Christian. There's no strong Christian anywhere. There's no strong Christian.

[17:24] We are all weak but the word of God. We are all weak but the word of that's why he said be strong in the law. Not one of us is a match for the devil.

[17:41] You can't match the devil in power and in smartness. You're not a match for the devil but the word of God inside you. The devil is not a match for the word of God inside you.

[17:52] A man with the word of God inside him Satan is always threatened by such a one. Take the sword. Listen, without the word of God you can fight.

[18:05] You can fight. There's no progress forward without fighting on. You may not go back because you keep defending yourself but to make progress you have to fight forward.

[18:18] You can defend yourself but that doesn't mean you are making progress. Do you understand what I'm saying? Defending yourself is not equal to progress. You have to start advancing taking new grounds but taking new grounds means you got to fight.

[18:36] You got to fight. Take new grounds for your marital future. Take new grounds for your spiritual life. Take new grounds for your academic life. Take new grounds for your financial life. Take new grounds for your career.

[18:47] Take new grounds for your family. Nobody has achieved what you are trying to achieve in your family and you are taking new grounds you better get some bullets some bullets into your system so when the devil tries to bite you he bites into an iron rod.

[19:07] You are very, very weak outside of God's word. You don't have a problem. The things you go through it's the same.

[19:21] If you catch me you see the blood is not green. The blood is not gold. It's the same blood. The basic constituents of your blood is the same for everybody. So the same thing we all go through.

[19:34] We are all human beings as vulnerable as everybody. What distinguishes us from others is the word of God we keep taking in. We keep taking in. You are not eating.

[19:44] How can you be strong? Even nowadays when you go to the gym if you want to build muscles there are this kind of protein shake. Protein shake. Yeah. I bought one or two but it's not nice.

[20:00] Protein shake. The word of God is everything all in one. It's your main meal. It's your protein shake. It's your beverage. It's your dessert. It's everything in one.

[20:11] Man must not live by bread alone. But by the way you need it in your system. You need it in your system. Show me a man in whom the word of God is living and I'll show you a man who cannot fall by to the tricks of the devil.

[20:27] How many of you have had times where you feel so strong in the Lord? And if you look it's connected to the word of God and it makes your prayer life even more effective. I'm trying to make a case for somebody.

[20:41] You are not weak. Stop entertaining those lies from the devil. You are not strong. You are not as strong as that other person. That other person probably might even be weaker than you.

[20:54] But he tries keeping himself on the word. If you find preaching boring your future will be boring. You won't like the future you get because you are too weak to be able to build or configure that kind of future.

[21:11] You need God's word in your system to be able to configure the kind of future you admire. You prefer. So sometimes I take the Bible and I know I have to read.

[21:23] There are so many things I have to attend to. Sometimes now I'm turning between oh no okay let me just stay with my Bible but I need to do this. Okay how many verses now? Oh I just did a hell.

[21:33] I have to not because if I don't read it I've sinned but it's a personal discipline you have to give yourself to it.

[21:45] It says that take the time and the trouble to keep yourself spiritually fit. You have to. First Timothy chapter 4 verse 7 it says exercise unto godliness.

[21:58] Exercise it. It says exercise yourself unto godliness. bodily exercise prophets. Verse 7 says exercise yourself rather. Do you know what it means?

[22:08] If I keep doing press ups every day every day press ups and I know there are different styles sometimes you can do one and then do one and sometimes you can do different type of press ups I'm here to learn all those ones but do every day just press ups you know my muscles will build up.

[22:28] I don't need injection so I exercise myself onto strong muscles. Strong muscles don't happen because you wish it but it's a result of what you are doing a process you are giving yourself to and so spiritual strength is also a process you give yourself to and invariably you begin to realize that you are spiritually fortified.

[22:51] It's not because hands are laid on you it's not because you don't want the fact that you don't want to sin doesn't mean you won't sin but now you should know that. You should have known that by now but the fact that you don't want to sin doesn't mean you won't sin.

[23:04] You have to put in systems that will help you to be strong to be able to resist that word I've hid in my heart. Take the sword of the spirit which is the word of God.

[23:15] The real thing I was going is the next verse. Praying always with all prayer and supplication in the spirit and watching there unto with all perseverance and supplication for all sins.

[23:28] Let's go to English and that version. Praying at all times in the spirit with all prayer and supplication to that end keep alert with all perseverance.

[23:43] Now you realize that he didn't enlist prayer as one of the armors but it takes prayer for the armor to work.

[23:58] So with that in view, you see, after you have taken the belt of truth, breastplate of righteousness, helmet of salvation, shield of faith, sword of the spirit, he said, after you've done all that, now pray with all prayer and supplication.

[24:16] There's a difference between prayer and supplication. What's the difference? Supplication is targeting one specific thing and dealing with it in prayer. Prayer is covering everything. So Psalm 119 verse 147, I arise before dawning of the morning and cry for help.

[24:33] I hope in your word. I arise in the morning and call on your name. That is prayer. Supplication is going to God on a specific matter.

[24:46] So supplication is asking making petition, it's the same as making petition, on a particular thing. You need prayer, just praying and supplication and for your armor to work and be in place, prayer is needed to undergird this whole exercise.

[25:05] You can't live Christian life without it being undergirded with prayer. You need to take God serious early and fight with the help of God.

[25:17] Don't fight human beings. The devil has determined to keep you grounded. Meanwhile, you are supposed to be flying high. So that's why me, I got born again early and I took church serious.

[25:33] I was doing it clean and right because I took Christ serious. Serious! Tell somebody to be serious. He didn't look at the person's face.

[25:45] Look at the person and say, be serious! But the good news is you will definitely make it. Some people don't even believe it.

[25:57] I said, you will make it! You will make it! You will make it! You will succeed! You will break through! In Jesus' name.

[26:10] Thank you for choosing to listen to this message by David Entry. We hope you are blessed by it. You can connect with David Entry on all relevant social media platforms including TikTok and Threads.

[26:22]  There's also many more messages to listen to from David Entry on all relevant streaming platforms and on the Karish Church app. Be blessed!