Transcript of message from TV Broadcast 659 -- taken from Closed Captioning Text

-- Brother Phil Enlow: I think you know if you serve the Lord at all that we're in a warfare. And a warfare pretty plainly implies that there is an enemy. I mean we're not just like Paul said, shadow boxing. We're not just beating the air and putting on a show, and getting in the ring and saying, I'm the greatest, and punching the air.

There is a real Satan. There is a real evil host that is against us, that is in control of this world situation. God has fixed it to where if we serve God, we're going to have to serve God in the context of an evil world that is arrayed against Him. Others have said in the course of this meeting that at some point in the past...the Bible doesn't say when that was, except it was obviously before the temptation in the garden, sometime prior to that...that Satan, this great and mighty angel, led a third of the host of heaven in rebellion against God.

There was a wisdom, if you want to call it that, that came into his heart that said, I'm gonna make my own way. I'm gonna be my own boss. I'm not gonna accept my place. And it was that kind of a spirit that was ministered to Eve first, and then secondarily to Adam in the garden. It was, God's holding out on you. You can't trust Him. He has a hidden agenda when it comes to dealing with you. And here you are just sort of mindlessly agreeing with Him, when He's holding out on you. God knows that the thing He has forbidden you, if you only would take that, would actually make you like one of the gods.

She looked. She considered. She did the very thing she shouldn't have done, all the way down the line. She listened and the rest is history. So that's the kind of a world that we live in, and the Christian life...you know it's described by Paul in one place, the beginning of it, where it says, God has, "...translated us..." out of the power of darkness "...into the kingdom of His dear son." There are two kingdoms.

( congregational amens ).

We're in one or the other. It's not something where you can say, oh well, I guess I'm gonna go join Christ. There is a power...God has...God's power has to get you loose from that. There is a power that grips the minds of men today and it is gripping them like never before.

( congregational amens ).

We need...you know one of the songs, I noticed that it talks about the warfare and the fight of faith. As we look to the coming of Christ, it's going to get darker, folks. We are going to need the armor that God has provided for our minds. There is a battle for this right here. And I know that God has done something for us, but there is a Christian walk...we cannot always be in services where the power of God is present in such an atmosphere that we can just kind of roll through it and all our problems will just kind of recede. We are going to have to get out in the real arena of our everyday lives where the rubber, as the saying goes, meets the road and learn how to live for Christ.

( congregational amens ).

This is not rocket science as the expression goes, nor is it something we haven't heard. But I can tell you from my own experience, and I can tell you from watching you, that these are things that we need to know in a much greater way, because so much of the time, they are theory to us. We know, for example, that we're supposed to live by the word and bring "...into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ." But do we in fact do that? The problem is we don't even recognize, most of the time, that we are under satanic attack.

( congregational amens ).

We live as though our problems are other people, they're circumstances, they're mysterious things that happen to us that we do not see that there is a cunning, powerful, wise, smart, experienced adversary that we cannot see, who is arrayed against us, whose whole being is devoted to our downfall.

( congregational amens ).

Folks, we are in over our heads if we attempt to come against this and to withstand that in our own strength. We cannot do it. We need God's help.

( congregational amens ).

We need Him to...well, why, for example, does Paul tell us that the need is the renewing of what?

-- Congregation: Mind.

-- Brother Phil Enlow: Of our mind. Something has to change and there is no magic formula where God just snaps his fingers and we go from people of the world who think like people of the world to suddenly...wham! We're just way off here and we see everything perfectly clear. It doesn't happen. There is a step by step, day by day process where God wants to so change our way of thinking that we can begin to recognize our adversary in all that he does, and to withstand him and to be able to recognize and repel his attacks. Now I'm gonna say this going in--do you believe that God would ever put you in a situation that you could not, with His help handle?

-- Congregation: No.

-- Brother Phil Enlow: See? We know what the scriptures say. That's part of the battle, see. We need to know what God has said in His word. He will not allow "...you to be tempted above that ye are able, but will with the temptation also make a way to escape, that..." what? You may be able to escape it?

-- Congregation: No. Bear it.

-- Brother Phil Enlow: Bear it. Most of the time that's the answer. That's what God wants us to be able to do, is to simply stand up to it. Instead of it bowling us over and constantly beating us down, we're able to stand our ground.

( congregational amens ).

So I'm gonna go ahead and turn...I don't know...once again, I guess this is the best way anyway if the Lord will order our thoughts, and I pray that He will. But I'm gonna go ahead and turn to a favorite passage in Ephesians chapter 6 and just see what the Lord will emphasize here tonight.

We certainly know that it begins in a wonderful way. It says, "Finally, be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power." (NIV). Now if God's first admonition to us, or instruction to us in this regard was, you all get strong here. You gear yourselves up. By God, you just talk yourselves into...work your will--make your will strong, and just...no. I thank God that there is a strength that is available to us.

I'm gonna refer to something rather silly here, but it illustrates a point. How many of you've ever seen "Angels in the Outfield"? It's a rather silly movie about the California Angels and how some real angels, who were kind of silly angels if you ask me, were there to help the players that were not capable of otherwise doing what they were doing to win a pennant, as I recall...whatever it was, to be successful.

And some washed up pitcher would just basically make his arm go and 'wham' that ball would just fly through there because it was actually an angel making it go. Well I'll tell you what, there is a kind of...it's kind of comical, but I believe with all my heart there is a truth illustrated in that. If we go our own way, if we do our own thing, we are on our own, folks.

( congregational amens ).

That's the danger of self-will. What did the Lord say through the prophet? He said, "...stubbornness is as iniquity..." (KJV).

-- Brother Jimmy Robbins: And rebellion.

-- Brother Phil Enlow: Rebellion--yeah, and rebellion. Stubbornness and rebellion...basically they're like iniquity and witchcraft. That's the word I was looking for. Basically what you're doing with a stubborn spirit about anything, you are saying, hey, devil, come. Got a good meal for you. Come feed on me. Come eat me. You're making...you're turning yourself into devil's food.

( congregational amens ).

God is wanting us to get to the place where we can stand up and, with a submissive spirit, get in a place where His mighty power can operate. And I'll tell you, when we are doing in faith what God says, you're not on your own. You are never, ever on your own. God will always back up your efforts. You may not feel some great inspiration. You may be weeping for a night, but joy will come in the morning. But I'll tell you, even when you're weeping, God is with you.

( congregational amens ).

He said, I'll never leave you nor forsake you. Folks, this stuff is critical if we're going to be successful in the Christian life and not have to come back here in a few months and cast all the devils out of everybody again. Now I know there's always gonna be needs for sure, but God wants us to become mature and to learn how to fight the good fight of faith. It is a fight, folks, and we can win, because we are not on our own.

( congregational amens ).

There is a power that will help us if we will believe in it and trust ourselves to it and understand. "Finally, be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power. Put on the full armor of God so that you can take your stand against the devil's schemes." Now you've heard so many times how the Greek word is stratagem. It's related to the English word strategy.

It means there are devil's who sit down and say, now how can we defeat Kenny Wilkinson--or put your name in there. How can we do it? What's their weakness? Let's think about this. Let's devise a plan of attack. We can tell him this and we can tell him that. Here's an area of his life where he just has an inborn weakness that goes all the way back to the beginning of his life. Let's really hammer that one. Let's get him. Let's wait 'til he's really tired. You and I better wake up and realize we cannot float through life.

( congregational amens ).

I'm not saying this to scare anybody because there's no reason to be afraid. That's not the point. But there is a reason to be awake. There is a reason to be aware that there is an enemy who is out to destroy your life and to ruin it. Now if you're a Christian, if you're a blood-bought child of God, there's nothing he can do about that. But, boy, he can make a mess of our lives, if we listen to him.

That's the whole question. There are two sources of wisdom in the world and we are going to be listening to one or we're going to be listening to the other. All of us--all of us, more than we realize, are just simply listening and accepting certain things that are coming into our 'pinkin'--our punkin heads--punkin heads, whatever.

( laughter ).

That's all right, I only stutter when I talk. Anyway we're listening to a source of wisdom that comes into our minds and not recognizing, not even critically thinking, not even...just assuming that's a perfectly legitimate thought. It came from me. It seems reasonable to me. But how do you think the devil is going to get to us? What does the devil have to fight with? What is his weapon?

-- Congregation: A lie.

-- Brother Phil Enlow: It's a lie. That's it. Christ absolutely, and utterly, and finally, defeated him at the cross.

( congregational amens ).

He took from Satan every weapon that he had against us. If we come to trust in the blood of Jesus Christ to cover our sins, if we trust in Him to come and to make us new creatures in Christ, we have what Jimmy was reading the other night in Revelation chapter 12--salvation and strength have come to God's people. We have everything that we need to stand.

But, folks, the devil still has one weapon with which he will fight and fight as much as he can--that is a lie. He will put something in your mind that is designed, if you'll believe it, to bring you into a degree of captivity. If you're in captivity tonight, I can tell you, on the authority of God's Word, what's going on. Somewhere, somehow, you listened to Satan. And you kept listening, and it became a habit to think in a certain way.

That's why we need our minds renewed, folks. We need to be people of this Word if we are going to stand against the wiles of the devil, at any time in history, let alone this hour, when God is going to allow satanic power to reach a zenith that it has never reached before in all of human history. We're going to have to be people of this Word.

( congregational amens ).

We're just gonna have to be simple enough to say, God, you said this and I'm standing on this. And God will back up a people who believe what He has said.

( congregational amens ).

And so, we need to take our stand in the full armor of God against the devil's schemes. "For our struggle is not against flesh and blood..." (NIV). It's not the fellow next to you. It's not the circumstances. It's the power behind all of that. It's "...against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms."

You say, I don't believe in any of that stuff. Well, I tell you what, if you don't see that--if you don't see...oh, I'll tell you what, you're in a world of hurt. You're in a lot of trouble. You might as well toss this whole Bible out, because this Bible tells us plainly that God has an enemy, who is the enemy of our souls, and we're gonna have to reckon with him if we serve God. But oh, I'm so thankful God has given us what it takes to do the job. We don't have to be afraid, we just got to be aware.

"Therefore..."--because of this, in view of this--"Therefore put on the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes...." It doesn't say 'if' the evil day comes, does it? You and I--every one of us, we cannot slip and slide through life and avoid trouble. We cannot avoid battle. We cannot avoid difficulties. If your Christian life consists of trying to sort of keep a low profile and slip and slide around, you're not going to be much of a Christian. God has called us to step forward and actually go on the offensive for Him.

( congregational amens ).

If we sit back and, as the expression goes, circle the wagons and wait for Jesus, we're not gonna do much. God has called us to take the offensive for Christ. It's not only just fighting for ourselves. God wants us to get to the point where we can begin to fight for other people.

( congregational amens ).

We need help, one another--we all need help. We need strength from God. We need deliverance. We can help one another if we'll look to God and gain victory and knowledge ourselves. God...what do you think He wants to do? Do you think He wants to help us? Of course, He does. There's nothing He longs more than to give us and equip us to do whatever is needed.

"Therefore put on the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand." Well, I see two things in that. Sometimes we get in a situation when we do everything we know to do. So, what do we do? We say, well I've run out of gas now, that's all I know to do. I guess the battle's over. Oh my.

-- Brother Jimmy Robbins: Keep standing.

-- Brother Phil Enlow: Keep standing.

( congregational praise ).

Now, on what ground--on what basis can we keep standing? We've just said that we've run out of gas. We don't know anymore to do. We've done everything we know to do. Well there is a ground and that's simply...God, You're gonna have to take over. If I don't know anything else to do, what can I do but say, Lord, my eyes are upon you.

( congregational amens ).

God has never called us to do the whole thing. He always will put you in situations where your only option is to trust God. You know, I love the story my dad use to tell many times, actually it's in a book that was written about 150 years ago, almost--close to it. It was some situation where I think there was a health need, and there was a conversation going on about it. They were wondering, is there anything else you can do? You talked to this doctor and you talked to that one. This was back in the 1800's when they didn't have all the stuff they have now. And they said, no, we've done everything we know to do. We're just going to have to trust God. And the guy said, "Alas, has it come to that?"

( laughter ).

You know what we ought to say is, 'at last', it's come to that, 'cause that's what God wants in the first place. God will always...don't you be dismayed. Don't you say, God's got it in for me. Don't you say, God has put me in a situation I can't handle. Don't ever lose your courage in the face of the enemy. God will back up his children.

( congregational amens ).

Think of what He told Joshua. How many times he said, be of good courage. Don't you be dismayed. Don't you give up in your mind. That's where we give up. That's where the defeat comes. But I'll tell you when that evil day comes--when the Lord allows something that you are just flat, in over your head to happen to you, you lift up your eyes and you say, God, my eyes are upon You. Based upon what You have promised me, I'm gonna stand my ground and just trust in you. Praise God!

"...When the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand..." So sometimes it's just standing when you don't know what else to do. But I'll tell you what else. God wants us to be able to stand when the battle is over, because there is going to be a conflict between us and the devil. And when the battle is over, somebody's gonna be left standing, and that's us.

( congregational praise ).

That's us. If we'll use what's God's given us, that could be us every single time. "Stand firm then, with the belt of truth buckled around your waist..." Praise God...and a cough drop in your throat. No.

( laughter ).

"Stand firm then, with the belt of truth buckled around your waist, with the breastplate of righteousness in place, and with your feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace. In addition to all this, take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one." By the way, what are the flaming arrows?

-- Congregation: Thoughts.

-- Brother Phil Enlow: They're thoughts. The devil doesn't sit there and fire little arrows at you. He fires thoughts into your mind that enter and you've got to learn to recognize...this intelligence did not come from God. It came from another source. I've got to...in every circumstance, I've got to evaluate what comes into my mind by what God says.

( congregational amens ).

You want victory? That's the key to it. God'll back up His Word. "Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God." I noticed something awhile back. The Lord just kind of touched my mind about this scripture. If you will notice, every single piece of armor in one way or another is talking about the Word of God--every single one. It's truth. It's the truth of the righteousness. It's the gospel. It's all these things.

Everything goes back to the covenant of God and what He has done for us. He pictures it as protection, as the ancient warriors would have had. But every piece of the armor comes back to one single thing. It's the Word of God.

( congregational amens ).

You just take the gospel of peace. If you don't have good footing in a battle of the type in which he's describing here, you're in trouble. And I'll tell you what, if you know--if you know that you have a right to look, as the song goes, to look the devil in the eye and say, I am forgiven, because you know what the gospel says---you know what the Word of God says, I'll tell you, the devil cannot knock you off your feet. You're gonna stand there and say, devil you can say what you like, but I'm standing on the gospel of Jesus Christ.

( congregational amens ).

It's the truth that's gonna help us to hope. And you trace every one of these things back to the Word and you'll see that that's what it is. It's simply...we have to know what God says. That's why we have to learn the Word, and to memorize it, and to use it.

I noticed again when I was thinking about Joshua, and I was reading about him recently. One of things that the Lord said in a very particular way to Joshua, in chapter 1. I'll just turn to it, you know the scripture. "Do not..."--verse 8--"Do not let this Book of the Law depart from your mouth; meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do everything written in it. Then you will be prosperous and successful."

That sound like a pretty good prescription? If we are constantly looking into this Word, and learning, and listening to it as God would teach it to us...God's very willing to teach you and me, if we are willing to be good students, God will teach us what we need to know. And I'll tell you what--God is such a wise teacher. His lessons are suited to right where you and I are at. It's so incredible when you really stop and become aware of God's dealings with your life. How many of you know what I'm talking about?

( congregational amens ).

You have been in a particular situation and God has given you just the Word. Now, He didn't answer all the great theological questions, but He gave you a Word of faith for you to stand on.

( congregational amens ).

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