Wartime Alertness

Take your Bibles, if you would please, and turn to the book of Ephesians. Ephesians 6:18 is where we'll be today. One phrase for the subject of wartime alertness. We live in a day where spiritual warfare is not something the Christian believes is a reality. And so I want to help us to understand that we don't live at Disneyland where it's a facade on the front of every building and fake along the backside. We don't live in an American dream. We don't live in an American fantasy land. Christians live in a New Testament reality, but an American Christian has a facade. An American Christian does not see spiritual warfare as their daily reality. And so I would hope to be able to prod us today to be able to understand that we live in a war zone. We live in a war zone — it requires alertness.

And so notice with me this word "alert" in Ephesians 6:18, "Praying at all times with all prayer and petition in the Spirit, and to this end, being on the alert, with all perseverance and petition for all the saints."

Let's pause for just a moment and pray together. Lord, thank You for this instruction that Paul has given the Ephesian church not only to engage in prayer but also to be alert. I pray that You would help us to understand this. In Christ's name, amen.

The problem with American Christianity is that we're surprised by fiery trials. Turn if you would to 1 Peter chapter four, verse 12, where we're instructed not to be surprised by fiery trials. In 1 Peter chapter four and verse 12, it's very clear: "Beloved, do not be surprised by the fiery trials among you." And the rest of the verse goes on to give us a purpose for these fiery trials. But also in verse 15, the responsibility lies with you. "Make sure that none of you suffers as a murderer or a thief or an evildoer or a troublesome meddler." So the alert Christian is making sure that they are not on this degrading, sinful path. In verse 15 it says that you're not suffering as a murderer or a thief or an evildoer or a troublesome meddler. We've spoken about trials of perfection and trials of correction. This is an admonishment, a warning to make sure that you're not suffering because of your foolish sinfulness. So if you're going to suffer — which is promised for Christians — make sure you're suffering for the causes of Christ and not because you're silly or stubborn or stuck in your sin. And so do not go down that degrading path. Be on alert and make sure that you're keeping yourself within the faith.

Back to Ephesians chapter six — we see as well that sometimes we are surprised by flaming arrows. In verse 16 it says, "In addition to all, having taken up the shield of faith, with which you will be able to extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one." Sometimes as Christians we're simply surprised because of the flaming arrows and they catch us off guard and they pierce to the heart and boy do they hurt really, really bad. I'm saying today that if we can apprehend what it means to be on alert — what this original word is meaning — if we can apprehend this and apply it to our life, then we are not going to be surprised when the fiery trials come.

I have an ancient faith study Bible that was given to me, and in the note on this particular text it says that Jerome states, and I quote, "Satan has cleverly transformed himself into an angel of light," 2 Corinthians 11:14. "He is striving to persuade us to regard him as a messenger of goodness. He employs deceptive lying omens and every ruse of evil to trust him. And then Satan says, 'Thus says the Lord.'"

Do you get that? That Satan is wanting you to listen to him and then he's going to quote, "Thus saith the Lord." And did he not do that to Eve and to even Jesus? And so as he quotes Scripture he's going to twist it, and therefore we need to be on the alert.

In Ephesians 6:18 it says, "Being on the alert." Turn to Deuteronomy chapter four and verse nine and see that even back in Old Testament days we are called to keep ourselves and to watch our souls very carefully. Deuteronomy chapter four and verse nine is prodding us to make sure that we are right with God so that we can teach the gospel to the next generation, who can pass it down to the next generation, and it just keeps on multiplying and going. So that is every person's responsibility — to be, which is New Testament language, a disciple maker who is making disciples. And so here could possibly be the Great Commission in the Old Testament, but it starts with you keeping your soul correctly.

Let me read the whole verse. Deuteronomy 4:9 says, "Only keep yourself and keep your soul very carefully, lest you forget the things which your eyes have seen, unless they depart from your heart all the days of your life." But here's a change in direction. "After you have watched yourself carefully, now you are then to make them known to your sons and your grandsons." If it's not enough work to teach our own children, you're responsible then also to teach your grandchildren. Some of you may say, "I don't have children." Well, yes you do. The Apostle Paul didn't have biological children but he sure had adopted spiritual children, and look at the example of him and continue in that way. Pour your life into making disciples who can make disciples. See that you pass the gospel on to the point where it reaches not only this generation but the next. But first, keep your soul diligently.

In the Hebrew, this word "keep" — keep yourself and keep your soul very carefully — is shamar. And it means to guard, to have charge, to protect. You must guard your heart. You must protect your innermost motives. It also means to watch. It also means to watch for. And then fleshed out, it means to train and to restrain and to preserve. There's a whole lot here. When Jesus prayed this same idea — to keep His disciples within true Christianity — in John chapter 17, Jesus prayed that the Father would keep the disciples in the shelter of His love and within His grasp.

Satan wisely deceives and he gets to the heart of the matter, to our hearts. And we are responsible to make sure that what is inside of our hearts is in alignment with the Lord — we must be alert to that point. You must watch your soul carefully. You must watch your heart. You must think about what you are thinking about. Have you ever heard that said before? Maybe you have if you've been here for quite a while. It's been a while since I've said that, but that is true Christian discipline — to think about what you are thinking about. To think about what you are feeling and to examine it, bring it under submission to the Holy Spirit according to what the Bible says. You don't have the freedom to think about what you want to think about. You don't have the freedom to feel what you want to feel. In fact, you must bring your thoughts — Philippians 4:8 — you must bring your thoughts to think and dwell upon the things of Christ and see things through a biblical worldview. Otherwise, we're just subject to our warped feelings and our warped thoughts, and we don't know all that is right and true.

So developing a biblical worldview is part of keeping your soul and keeping your heart carefully. Think of the things that you do carefully — line by line, word by word, examination. We truly, as Christians, need to walk circumspectly and examine our motives, examine our feelings, examine our thoughts, and watch ourselves carefully. This is being alert. So we need to wise up and be on alert.

Why? Why do we need to wise up and be on alert? Well, we live in a spiritual war zone and there are casualties. Also, all of Satan's schemes are not repulsive. They're not obvious. They're not on the surface going to turn your stomach. These schemes are not so obvious as to turn your stomach to the perversions of what he is intending for you to know and do. In fact, the ones that are obvious — like Kenneth Copeland, who is emphatically proclaiming that God is the biggest failure ever in the Bible — you say to yourself, "How in the world could anybody claim that God is a failure?" Well, Kenneth Copeland states that no one has lost more than God has lost. He has lost his top-ranking anointed angel. He has lost the first man that he ever created and the first woman that he ever created. He has lost his entire world and he's even lost a third of the angels that he created. Therefore he is the biggest failure. That's Kenneth Copeland, the false prophet — that we know is repulsive. You bring your thoughts underneath the Scriptures and you quote what the Bible says. John 6:39 says, "Of all the Father has given Me, I lose nothing."

So God is not a failure. God hasn't lost anything. But Kenneth Copeland has perverted a perception and you must be on the alert to be able to know for sure what truth is. But this is obvious. Not all things are obvious. Some things are obvious — like Jesse Duplantis, who did a theological face-plant with a stomach-turning, perverting statement such as this: "God needs you more than you need God." I'm telling you, I'm surprised that he didn't get blown off the map.

Some of these things are repulsive when you hear them — stomach-turning and shocking. But not all that Satan does is repulsive and shocking. Not all of Satan's schemes are vile on the surface. Just because you can detect these doesn't mean you've arrived spiritually. Don't think your spiritual maturity is beyond Satan's ability to tempt and get you. If so, if you think too much of yourself, then you could be bamboozled. You could be subject to Satan's trap, and he is a master at setting traps. Matthew 24:24 says this: "False Christs and false prophets will arise and will show great signs and wonders so as to deceive, if possible, even the elect." And so the Bible makes it very clear that you must be on alert, because Satan is so good at setting traps and fabricating schemes that he can deceive, if possible, even the very elect.

Turn to Luke chapter 18 if you would. I want you to see this — how even the disciples fell into this trap and were corrected. I want to see how you shouldn't trust yourself. I want to see how you should recognize and be on alert if you somehow start to find contempt in the brethren.

In Luke 18:9, this is a wonderful parable and Jesus has some very striking contrast here to bring these truths to the surface. In Luke 18:9, the Bible says, "And He also told this parable to some people who trusted in themselves that they were righteous and viewed others with contempt." You know who He's talking about here. And then He gives this parable: "Two men went up into the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. The Pharisee stood and was praying these things to himself: 'God, I thank You that I am not like these other people — swindlers, unjust, adulterers — even like this tax collector right here beside me trying to pretend like he's something.' In verse 12, 'I fast twice a week, I pray, I pay tithes of all that I get.'" Now on the other hand, "But the tax collector standing some distance away was even unwilling to lift his eyes to heaven, but was beating his chest saying, 'God, be merciful to me, a sinner.'"

Jesus explains in verse 14: "I tell you, this man went down to his house justified — saved, justified — rather than the other. For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and the one who humbles himself will be exalted."

Oh, we must be, my friends, very alert not to fall into the trap of the Pharisees. It's so easy in American Christianity to view yourself as having arrived. You've got it all right. "I know how to discern. I know how to read the Bible. I know how to pray. I go to church." Look at that tax collector — and with disdain, you have become a Pharisee. You think you're better than someone else. Oh, I pity you. Not because you have a Bible and you have a relationship with God — Jesus says this warning: do not be Pharisaical.

Verse 15, "And they were bringing even their babies to Him." By the way, let's put a little caveat here — so happy to see so many children in our worship service worshiping together. And you make yourselves at home. Whatever you need to do to care for your children, noises do not bother us. We love families worshiping together.

Listen here: "And they were bringing even their babies to Him, bringing their children to Christ so that He would touch them. But when the disciples saw this" — now you see this. This is my point. The disciples got Pharisaical here. And this is my warning for you to be very alert and keeping your soul so that you do not become Pharisaical. The disciples saw it, and they were rebuking them. Can you imagine — the disciples, who were walking with Christ, turning their nose or shoving away those who were coming to Christ? The very opposite of what the Great Commission is and what Jesus was teaching the disciples to do — to go and to call them to come to Christ. They were rebuking them. But Jesus — thank the Lord He was there right away to correct this error. "But Jesus called for them saying, 'Permit the children to come to Me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of God belongs to such as these. Truly I say to you, whoever does not receive the kingdom of God like a child will never enter it.'"

Do you see the weight of what Christ is wagering on the souls of those who are acting Pharisaical here? This is so important for us to be able to see this. Oh, you may be saved, yes, but you can also fall away and act Pharisaical. Do not turn your nose to those who need Christ. You're no better than anybody. In fact, as you climb in the area of spiritual maturity, you should be becoming more and more humble and more and more gentle and more and more kind and more and more peaceable.

And so many false Christs can arise and deceive even the elect. Here the Pharisees arise and act like they've got their act together and somehow even influence the disciples to act like this. And we need then to make sure that we are on alert, praying not just for ourselves, but for others as well — as what the context of Ephesians 6:18 is calling for. We need to be alert for ourselves and for others. You know why? We have to do this because Judas was right under the disciples' noses and they didn't sniff him out. Jesus did. But that's a fact. And have we not even had Judases or deceivers in our own camp doing deceiving and deceitful things right underneath our noses? I'm calling us to spiritual alertness.

And so how did they start to slip away? I think they lacked wartime alertness. How do those who seem to walk such a narrow path start to slip away from Christ? I think they were not examining their soul and being faithful to root out even the very thoughts of contentiousness, the very thoughts of divisiveness among the brethren, the very thoughts of sin. I think that they tolerated sin in its conception. As well, I know that leaven leavens the whole lump, and sin is never satisfied.

So brothers and sisters, I plead with you today to examine your heart, to make sure that you are thinking rightly and that your heart is in alignment with the Lord. We're not perfect. We're not going to think perfect. We're not going to feel perfect. But you can surely repent and submit. And you can surely be on alert, like the Scriptures say, so that you are not going to fall for the schemes of the devil. Satan is slick. He worked through the Pharisees to get to the disciples. Satan is slick — he can work through others to get to you. Not all of Satan's schemes are repulsive on the surface. Not all of Satan's schemes are vile. Not all of Satan's schemes are so obvious.

In 2 Corinthians chapter 13 and verse five, the Bible says, "Test yourselves to see if you are in the faith. Examine yourselves!" — with an exclamation point. That's 2 Corinthians 13:5. And then in verse seven, "That you do no wrong, but that you do right." And in verse nine, "We pray that you would be restored." And so this is you being responsible with the condition of your heart and soul.

So schemes that trick you — I'm talking about like us, our family of faith right here, the ones who love God's word, who have as our commitment to continue in the word and so prove that we are disciples of Christ, John 8:31. I'm talking to us — how can Satan scheme you, trick you, trap you, and lure you away from Christ? Well, turn to John chapter one and verse 38 and see where Jesus gets to the heart of the matter.

John chapter one and verse 38 — the context is that John the Baptist has been discipling his disciples. He's been teaching men to be disciples of Christ. He's been foreshadowing Christ to come. He's been prepping everybody for the Messiah to come. He's been teaching what it is to be a Christian and to follow Jesus. And so John the Baptist is now directing his disciples to go follow Jesus because Jesus is now here. He even states emphatically, "I, John the Baptist, I must decrease, and He, being Christ, must increase. So go follow Him." And so now the disciples of John the Baptist are being directed to Jesus.

In John chapter one and verse 38, when Jesus turned and noticed them following, He said to them — and here's the question that I want you to consider — "What do you seek?" What do you seek? What do you long for? What are you after? What are your motives? What are you doing this for? Why? Do you seek Jesus — essentially is what He is saying. Do you seek Jesus? Do you seek the Messiah? Do you seek God?

The God of the Jews — to be a political revolutionary war leader to free Israel from Roman dominion? Do you seek Christ for self-intended motives? Do you seek Christ perhaps as one who can make your life better, to get you beyond a hand-to-mouth existence? Fishermen — they may not have been too awfully well off.

So are the disciples seeking Christ for the wrong motives or are they seeking Christ for the right motives? And for us today, do we seek Christ? If we were to be honest, be on alert, be watchful, and look inside of our soul and examine ourselves — do we seek Christ for perhaps some type of affirming counselor that we want Him to affirm where we're at? The majority of people in existence today want that kind of Jesus. They want a papa to smile at them no matter what sinful state they're in. They want a granddaddy to affirm them no matter what they say their sexual identity is. They want a counselor that's going to affirm them in their sinful state. And you see that the majority of sinful preaching is focused upon lifting up the self instead of crucifying the self. People flock to a self-exalting message rather than a self-denying message. People flock to what makes you bigger than God. That is the appetite for today.

And so Jesus settles that right up front. He says, "What do you seek? What are you here for? What are you coming for? What are you doing? Why are you doing this?" And so essentially Jesus is being on alert — which means to be watchful with intent. Let me talk to you about this word "alert." If you're taking notes, listen closely. This is important because it means more than to be awake. Yes, in the garden Jesus uses a very similar idea to say, "Awake with me and be on alert." But it means more than just stay awake. It means more than just being watchful. This word "alert" in Ephesians 6:18 means that you are looking for a motive. So inwardly you need to be looking for your own motives and examining yourselves. And then also it means actively guarding.

You are actively guarding your heart first. Like Deuteronomy 4:9 says — "You first. Your spiritual walk with Christ comes first." You need to make sure you are in alignment with the Lord. But this word also — it's just beautiful — it also means that you are watching and looking for the motives of others. And Jesus said, "You will know them by their fruit." Right?

Look with me back in Ephesians 6:18. I want you to see that this word "alert" is not only talking about you, but it's talking about others as well. "Praying at all times with all prayer and petition in the Spirit, and to this end, being on the alert with all perseverance and petition for all the saints." And so your alertness and your prayers are to be not only for yourself, but for all of the saints. This idea of alertness is a shepherdly metaphor. Just as a shepherd actively watches over the sheep to guard against the wolf's intent to eat the sheep, so then we are to be on alert, actively guarding our heart motives and actively aware of the inner intentions of others who are around our own.

In a word — parenting. Do you not watch closely and listen closely to those who are influencing your children? Oh, I know the mothers' and fathers' ears are perked, and they're within earshot of what friends are telling their children. I know good and faithful parents who are always monitoring and watching out and on alert for their children — rightfully so. Do not throw your children to the wolves. They can't just go over to any person's house. They can't just watch anything they want. They can't have access to the internet in their bedrooms without being monitored. They cannot be given a free rein. You've got to watch out for them. You've got to be on alert. This is parenting. This is also for yourself.

And Jesus' question reveals that Satan can snare the heart. Satan can draw you away, so we must be on alert. So then I ask you — what do you seek? What do you seek? In 2 Peter chapter one and verse 10, it says, "Be all the more diligent to make your calling and election sure, for in doing these things you will never stumble." If you would take seriously, first of all, seeking first the kingdom of heaven and His righteousness, then all of these things will be added unto you. The Bible is giving you a surefire way to be able to move forward without stumbling.

You might think to yourself, "Oh, I stumbled last week. It was terrible, the suffering and the trials that I went through." Hey, listen to me — you may be conflating the trials of this life that God has allowed for your life to mature you with stumbling. That's not stumbling. Stumbling is falling into sin and then living out the consequences for it. And you look back and you're like, "Yeah, I stumbled. I was stupid. I did that sin. I chose to do that sin. I'm at fault for that sin. I'm living it out. I own it." That was a stumble. That was sin. But the trials of this life are meant to perfect and to help you if you are walking with Christ. This is important to understand — the difference.

So the spiritually young disciples there — as Jesus was asking them, "What do you seek?" — as they were seeking to follow Christ, as they had been taught by John the Baptist: "He's the Messiah. He's the healer. He knows all things and He can teach you and He can give you purpose and meaning and life besides this hand-to-mouth existence." Jesus is rightfully so known as the Alpha and the Omega. And so they're seeking a Jesus — "Can you give me these things and I still keep my life that I want to live? Can I have you as my personal healer? Can you help remove the sickness from my life and help me feel good so that I can make more money? Can you help me feel good and strong so that I can design my own future? Can you help me, dear Jesus, not to be filled with anxiety so that I can make sound decisions so that I can be the master of my own soul?"

This is heresy. And Jesus covers it right up front. "What do you seek? Do you seek Me as one who can dispense all of what you want so that you can do your own thing? Or do you seek Me as one who is God, the God of your life? Do you seek Christ as Lord and Master of your heart or do you want to be your own lord and master and never yield to Him?"

Nathanael was absolutely astonished. In John chapter one, Nathanael saw that Jesus knew all things and he was astonished at the fact that Jesus was able to tell him secret things about himself. Here's my warning. Be on alert because Satan imitates and fabricates what Christ does and who Christ is. And he even goes to really long, far, extreme measures to develop these fabrications and to bamboozle you or to trick you. Satan is clever and he wants to fabricate himself as one — like Jerome said — as one who is speaking to you good things: "Thus saith the Lord."

And so be on alert. The deceiver, the delusions, the fake impressions — they are truly out there. And the masses are deceived because they seek Christ for their own health and their own wealth. The masses flock into these false prophets because they are self-intended rather than selfless. Colossians 2:8 says to not be taken captive by empty deception. You can picture yourself in a jail cell in life if you are taken captive by false prophets or by false teachings, or if you are self-intended, or if you are seeking Christ for motives that are not biblical. Be on alert. Watch your soul. Watch yourself — that you're not seeking Christ for perhaps His wisdom in order to be smarter and make more on your paycheck.

Beware — you can be allured in by all kinds of false teachings around this whole globe and in this particular area. Ephesians 4:22 exposes the fact that your own desires can be your own deceitful downfall. Ephesians 4:22 exposes that our desires can deceive us and our heart can be excited and we can get on an emotional high to the point where our own lusts deceive us. Ephesians 4:22 says this: "Lay aside, in reference to your former conduct, the old man" — so you're to lay aside these things, the old man, the flesh — "which is being corrupted in accordance with the lust of deceit."

Your lusts, your wrong motives, can deceive you. Your very motives on the inside of your heart can be the deceitfulness that leads to a lot of turmoil and disastrous results in your own life. If you are all about yourself, then it's at the expense of being selfless in your marriage. If you're all about yourself, it's at the expense of sacrificially serving and loving and raising up godly children. If you're all about yourself and the world revolves around you in your own mind, then it's at the expense of being a humble servant. It's at the expense of even being able to use the gift that God gave you in the local church, because humility is the necessity in ministry. And if there is no humility, then there's not going to be any ministry.

That's a litmus test — humility and gentleness — so that your lusts and your self-intentions are not driving how you do what you do. We must be on alert. Jesus vetted His disciples by asking them, "What do you seek?" And then we see from that that they were called to be responsible with their own souls, to not allow the flesh to flare up. Satan uses our own desires to trap us. In Ephesians 5:6, the Bible says, "Let no one deceive you" — and by the way, that includes you. Let no one deceive you. Don't let Satan deceive you. Don't let false prophets deceive you. Don't let prosperity preachers deceive you. Do not be deceived. But most importantly, don't let yourself and your own feelings deceive you so that you act in an unbecoming way.

According to the documentary American Gospel, Bill Johnson in Redding, California allures people all over the planet to Bethel Church. And as I've examined this, everything that Jesus is and offers is what they utilize in a perverted way to allure people to come to Bethel Church. They've mastered the appeals there. Bethel Church has mastered the appeals of excitement, offering emotional closeness to God, offering inner healing, purpose and meaning for life, and how to be anointed and to use God's power to be successful, influential, and to transform culture. Bethel knows what they are doing, and they are leading people into the traps of Satan. Bill Johnson said, and I quote, "We have a biblical precedent — Jesus raised the dead." The reason why I bring that up is it's a shock factor. So he's going to equip people to raise the dead.

This poor lady who lost her two-year-old called out to all of America to pray that her two-year-old would be raised from the dead. She lost her two-year-old and she believed in this false theology. And you know the end result — she was crushed when the prayers did not raise her two-year-old. How do you get from where you are right now to that point? This gradual decline — Satan uses your desires to get you to this point. And by the time you're there, you don't even see it.

They've mastered these appeals. And so they fabricate the healings and the prophecies and binding Satan and loosening the Holy Spirit and tongues and power over culture and businesses and the arts and governments and nations and media and more and more and more. They're fabricating God's presence by the deceitful trickery of a "glory cloud" — you've probably heard of this — which is nothing more than gold dust dumped in the AC vents. It's trickery. It's schemes. I truly thought to myself, who would fall for that? But you know what? When you have been bamboozled and allured emotionally and tricked and gradually worked into that place, that's just sad. But the masses are flocking to it. Now they're building a new campus — ninety-something million dollars.

They fabricate removing sicknesses. They fabricate spiritual intelligence and charge a lot of money for it. Bill Johnson and Bethel must be warned against. Even here — with this false prophet school of healings and such — we're six miles away, right over here. Jesus' image — they've got the same school, the same theology, the same everything, six miles away, right over here.

We see at our local restaurants so many servers who come in, and boy are they glazed over, happy in Christ. They're so happy to be here. They've sold everything and moved over here to go to this school of ministry and prophets — or whatever — to learn how to speak in tongues, to learn how to heal, to learn how to do all of these things. They've been bamboozled. They've been tricked. 2 Timothy 3:2 says, "Men will be lovers of self, lovers of money, boastful, arrogant, and blasphemers." And so they are using the innocence of young spiritual people to their advantage. So be on alert for anyone listening to Bethel music and messages, and warn them that this place is evil. Bethel music is nothing more than like a gateway drug. When well-intentioned pastors and worship leaders and churches put Bethel music up and give credit to Bethel music, they're doing nothing more than allowing all of their young people to have a gateway to all of this satanic garbage. And if we do not expose this, then who will? Because they're not self-examining. They're not discerning. They're not looking into it. They're just grabbing it and going.

Folks, we need to be on the alert for ourselves and for our own and for others who influence our own. In Ephesians chapter six, verse 18, it's very clear that your alertness is not just for you. It's also for others as well. It's popular music. This music inoculates. This music blinds. This music is a gateway to Bethel. People from around the world are flocking over to Redding, California, and that has totally changed that town. So much so that they have infiltrated the city and they're on the boards, and now their church members carry a majority vote and dictate what the city does at the expense of normal procedures. They're overriding normal procedures because they now have a majority vote — three, two, two. And by the way, most of them are women.

So their music is a gateway to get there. They're not repulsive at the onset. It seems good. It seems right. It seems like you're worshiping Christ. It seems like you could be, truly. But then you'd be lulled into numbness and a spiritual stupor and you can no longer tell the error. This happens not just in regards to Bethel Church, but all over the place.

You could say perhaps that spiritism is a force of wickedness. In Ephesians chapter six and verse 12, we're to stand against these spiritual forces of wickedness. I'm telling you that Bethel is a spiritual force. And even the college in their town — the president of the college testifies to the demonic activity that is so obvious. The college president in that town talks about how the students at the college regularly report demonic activity in the dorms, and it's a huge problem. And they all go to Bethel.

Now the rise in the interest of the things of darkness and these spiritual forces has been translated — and not just for the young, but also for the sophisticated and the educated. And Christian beliefs — so they would say to us — are for the simpletons, and they need a crutch. Christian standards are far too boring. They belong to people like the Amish. Contemporary, educated, sophisticated, post-Christian thinkers and intellectuals delve into this occult activity regularly — such as black magic, divination, psychics. I've often wondered how in the world these buildings, these road-fronts, stay in business — the psychics. How do they get enough revenue? The mediums, the fortune tellers, the pagans — they're filled with witchcraft. And today we have a rising interest in all of this, inserted into things like haunted houses. Be on alert.

Christians must be on alert and watchful — not watching these things and downloading these things, not participating in these things. Spiritists claim that they have access to vital information about your future. And so now they're appealing to you. They have contacted the dead on your behalf — but they're actually contacting demons. Christians warn against these things. They read the stars — astrology. Spiritists claim that they can foresee things like diabetes, a future love in your life, a new job opportunity, and even warn you of dangers to come. All of these things are so focused on you. And like King Saul consulting a medium in 1 Samuel 28, he abandoned God and went after Satan.

So voluntary engagement in spiritism opens up a door that cannot be easily closed, and you are allured in by your own desires, slowly and subtly. So Christians must stand against these things. We must talk about these things. Not only do they influence ourselves, our own, our children, but they're influencing churches. I'll explain. So don't open that door. Avoid the deception. You do not want demons swarming your life night and day like bedbugs, like mosquitoes, gnats, noxious fleas, termites, spiders, rats. Who wants those in your house? Much less what the Bible says — snakes, lions, and dragons — demons.

Sam Waldron writes in Modern Exposition that we live in an age of anti-authoritarianism and historical isolationism. And from these two components, this has created a ripe environment to seek out all of this mysticism and to seek out all of these various ways of seeking — not God — but their own self-interest. Historical isolationism is this: we all know what we know from this generation only, and that what we know is superior to what people in the past have known. So I don't need to know what they know. I'm going to isolate myself in history to my own generation. And so that's one of Satan's schemes — to pervert history or to remove history and convince people they've arrived.

Historical isolationism: "You've arrived. You know all that needs to be known. So you, you're good. You don't need to submit to a God who is all-knowing — you know what's best for your life. And if you don't, you can go find a medium or a psychic who can tell you what you need to know."

Charles Hodge addresses this: "One who claims to see or know what is hidden from other men, whether this knowledge be obtained by intuition or inward revelation — in most cases these methods were assumed to be identical and coming from God, hence mystics could give the immediate guidance of God."

You think to yourself, "Oh man, never." Hmm. Has this mysticism in fact been a part of your life? Has this kind of mysticism come through the pulpit to your ears in prior churches? Has this kind of mysticism of immediate guidance of God come into your relationship with Christ — that you think perhaps you can look into your relationship or your prayer life with God and get immediate guidance from God, as if God told you? Have you ever had someone tell you "God told me" and play the spiritual trump card? "Well, God told me." And you think to yourself, "He didn't tell me." Or have you heard this: "I got a word from the Lord." Right? As if they are higher on the spiritual totem pole than you are. And then all of a sudden the ignorant ones would say, "Oh, they're so spiritual. They got a word from the Lord for me. They're so much closer. They're holier than I am. They walk with Christ more. They know more about the Bible. I need to listen. I need to yield my heart, yield my life to this method."

Do you see how Satan is so slick in fabricating things to where he can allure you away from Christ? Mystics and spiritualists and psychics basically have entrenched us with this idea of looking into things to spiritually apply what we want to see. Apophenia is the word. If you want to look at circumstances in life and you want to perceive patterns in life and you want to be a Christian mystic, then you'll be getting signs from God in every little twist and turn in life. "Oh, that must mean this. Oh, this happened, that must mean this." And every little twist and turn in life — whether it's the weather, whether it's a stoplight, whether it's something somebody said — then you are looking into things which you want to see. And that is a result of being influenced by mysticism. And so we do not want to be Christian mystics. We want to align our hearts and minds with the Bible.

"Oh, who do I marry? God, give me fifty green lights to my potential beau's house and I'll know that I'm to marry him." All these different things. So don't super-spiritualize things. Take a good look at that man's life and see if he is a disciple of Christ, if he loves Jesus, if he denies himself and takes up the cross and follows Christ. And over time you have seen the evidence of him in his prayer life, in his fellowship with the saints, and he's a member of a church, he's under accountability. You take a look at this man's life, you talk with people around you and say, "What do you think of this man, this life? What do you think? Is this a godly man?" You get advice, you get wisdom, you get counselors to pour into your life. And if you are pursuing what the Bible says about a righteous man, marry him. Don't get all apopheniacally. Don't look into things. It will drive you crazy and at the worst case leave you astray.

Now we can't do what the Bible calls us to do — to be alert with ourselves and one another — on our own. We need, in context with Ephesians 6, the power of prayer among ourselves. And so Paul — you would think of as a spiritual giant. "Oh, this man, he can be on alert for himself and others. He doesn't need anybody's help." You would think that, right? But the exact opposite is true.

And like Ken preached so well a couple Sundays ago, he asked for the prayers of the Ephesians so that he could make clear the mystery of the gospel and so that he could continue to preach the gospel clearly. And he did that as well in Romans chapter 15, verse 30. It says, "Strive in prayer for me." So Paul is calling for the church in Rome to pray for him. He did that as well to the church in Thessalonica, 1 Thessalonians 5:25 — "Brothers, pray for me," he said. "Brothers, pray for me, pray for me. Help me grow in my faith. Help me preach the gospel." In Philippians 1:19, he is saying that the ministry that happened was through the prayers of the Philippians. And so we need to be praying for each other. We need to be asking for prayer from each other so that we can be on alert. Even Paul was on self-alert and needed prayer.

John Calvin said, and I quote, "Once you have the armor on, now fight by prayer. This is the true method to obtain from God every blessing. And we must continue in prayer. Though we do not immediately obtain what we desire, persevere, earnestly praying in both prosperity and in adversity." And so I would simply sum it up like this: if you're not praying, you're not fighting. And if you're not fighting, you're losing alertness. It's not only a shepherdly point of imagery — it's also military imagery. Fight by prayer. You will literally win by prayer. The battles that God wants you to win will be won by prayer.

Is there a point in your life — in your marriage, in your parenting, in your job — anywhere — where success is by prayer? God's will will happen as we are praying.

F.F. Bruce states that we must be persistent in prayer and also watchful with spiritual alertness, lest we be overtaken unaware by some spiritual enemy. Sinclair Ferguson says, "Alert means to keep our wits about us. This verb, 'keep alert,' has the basic meaning of a shepherd watching their sheep — their task all the more necessary because of the presence of wolves and other wild beasts that threaten the flock."

And so I say to us: we live in a war zone, be on alert. The greatest thing that I think fools us — we are self-deceived — is that we are living aloof from God and not alert. As we walk through what we would see would be a Disneyland-like life. We love going to these places. You have a sense of wonder and a sense of safety, right? But it's just a facade. It's not real. It's like it's put on. Real life is in Christ. We don't live in this American dream. We live in New Testament Christianity. And when you deny yourself and take up the cross, then you have true joy and true life that is lasting.

Quickly, some take-home truths.

Number one: guard your heart with Scripture. You need to be regularly in the word of God. Guard your heart with Scripture. Consume as much of the word of God as you possibly can. Have a devotion time, plus have a study time. Consume it through your ears by listening to the Bible. Consume it through your eyes by watching and looking at all you can. Consume more of the word than you do anything else. Guard your heart. This is going to be guarding your heart. This is building a fortress in front of your precious heart. Listen to me — don't listen to everybody. If you open your heart to everybody, you'll be hurt over and over and over and over again. You must guard your heart. The only ones who truly should be speaking to your heart are the ones whom you discern have the right to speak into your life. Everything else is just potential noise. So guard your heart. Get the Scriptures at the very center of your heart. Listen to the trusted ones who are preaching the word and speaking into your life from a biblical worldview.

Number two: watch out for each other. Oh, that's the whole purpose of a church — to be able to see when a brother or sister is struggling. Perhaps they're struggling and we can bear one another's burdens. And perhaps we can be a solution to the suffering. Perhaps we can pray together and get over some obstacles together and then get to worshiping God together and studying the Bible together and having all of these faithful elements of the local church together. Watch out for each other. And as you are not forsaking the assembling of yourselves by regular meeting and worshiping together, you can watch out for each other.

Number three: listening without discerning is disastrous. Listening without discerning is disastrous. If you're just listening and listening and listening and your heart is wide open, the gates are wide open, then anything can march in. Any old flaming arrow has access to hurting and destroying your heart, perverting your mind, and such. So we really should be having God as our fortress. And so what gets to us is through our Father. What gets to us straight to our heart is sifted through His hands.

Number four: stay self-alert. Stay self-alert. Watch yourself. Examine yourself. And tell yourself truth. Don't listen to yourself — tell yourself. I say smart people talk to themselves. Tell yourself. Tell yourself what the Bible says. When flaming arrows are coming, raise your shield of faith — which is to respond with what the faith says about the flaming arrow. Say what the Bible says about that attack. Say what the Bible says about that thing.

If you don't, and flaming arrows get inside and they hurt you, and you do not practice this good adage called HALT — if you're hungry, angry, lonely, or tired, just hold up, HALT. Okay? Don't make any important decisions. Don't let your words fly when you're hungry, angry, lonely, or tired. If you're perhaps hurting, if you get an arrow to the heart, then just hold up, pull back, get in the word and pray, be healed by God, and then come back up. But if you do not manage your soul correctly and you are hurt by a flaming arrow, then there's a good chance you're going to hurt somebody. You could become that flaming arrow. You could in turn hurt people that have hurt you — the exact opposite of what you want to do as a Christian. The exact opposite of what Christ did. Well, He took it on the cheek, did He not? He took it on the cross, did He not? He lived a sacrificed life, did He not? And so now we as Christians must be very careful that we are not used by Satan in our weak points to hurt other people, because Satan is really good at perverting and twisting things in our mind and skewing the emotions and making you act out of Christlike character. Oh, it's terrible when we say things that we regret.

Humble pie doesn't taste good, but it's necessary. Oh, it's terrible when we do things out of a sinful disposition. We have a weak moment and we do things that we regret. I'm telling you, be on alert. Watch your soul carefully. Watch yourself.

So many people do not go to church because of people. We need to watch our demeanor and watch our words and watch how we impact others. So many wonderful children of God do not go to church because they've been stung.

Now, as we close, I would like to ask you, in this hymn of invitation, to reflect upon the message and think about personal obedience to being alert.

Let's pray together. Lord, we do thank You. We ask that You would help us to be faithful spiritual war fighters. That starts with us being on alert with our own soul and keeping ourselves right with You. And then we would be able then to be faithful to help watch over other souls. The very definition of what it means to be an elder is to be one who watches over souls for You. To be given oversight over a flock, Lord, is a tall calling. To be given oversight to parent children is a tall calling. To be able to handle Your word and to be able to impart its truth is a very high calling. Help us to rise up to these things faithfully. First of all, it starts with us walking closely with You, to repent of our sin as we do them and to confess our faults one to another and to be healed.

Thank You, dear Jesus, for this wonderful flock, this wonderful church. I pray that You would continue to enrich us and to make us obedient to following in Your ways — the ways of self-denial. Dear Jesus, I pray that You would empower us not only to be bright lights for You, but also help us to be discerning — not to be bamboozled, not to be influenced by the mysticism of this day that thinks that we could be spiritual elites like the Pharisees who influenced the disciples even to reject children coming to Christ. Help us never to fall into those traps.

God, I pray that every child and every family that You send here to the Beulah Baptist Church would feel welcome. I pray that we would put ourselves out of our way to make them feel welcomed and invited to come to You. I pray that our congregation would continue to be selfless givers, selfless servants. Pray, dear Jesus, that we would walk circumspectly, that we would be very careful in how we live. I pray that we would watch our words. We would be very intuitive and alert as to how our words are affecting others. I pray that You would help us not to be sharp, not to be short, but to be gentle and kind. The condition of our heart is revealed through the words of our mouth. And I pray, dear Jesus, if anyone here today needs some refinement in this area, that Your gentle, wonderful Holy Spirit would draw them closer in understanding where they perhaps fall short. You can reveal this to them. I pray that You do that.

Lord, if anyone here has not been saved by Your drawing and they've not been saved by the ability to confess their sin to You — if they've never been saved by repenting and turning to You — I pray, dear Jesus, that You would draw souls unto Yourself. You said, "Whosoever will." And I pray whoever here is being drawn by You would confess that You are not just God, the sovereign King, but You are Lord of their life. I pray, dear Jesus, that they renounce their self and all of their motives that would not be biblical in approaching You. They would humbly come to You transparently and say, "Forgive me of everything. Every thought, every motive, every deed, past, present, and future. Forgive me, dear Jesus. I believe that Your payment that You paid for on the cross covered it all and I need You. I need You. I cannot save myself. Only You can give me a new heart." I pray, dear Jesus, that You would grant faith and confession and repentance and humility and a true transformation of life to many. In Christ's name we pray. Amen.