Timothy J. Clarke - Spiritual Warfare: Opener

I want to do this series on spiritual warfare now. I’m so glad we had good services during the conference; we shouted because that may have been the last shout you’re going to get this month. I want to look at this idea of spiritual warfare because, watch this, church, there’s a difference between dress parade and battle. The average Christian—I’m talking here today—loves to put on their dress parade clothes on Sunday and Saturday. We like to come in, do our little march, salute, and wave the flag, but how many of you know this? When you get ready for battle, you don’t put on dress parade clothes; you put your battle gear on. So I want to look today at the nature of the warfare you and I are in. The good thing is, watch this, y’all, we know the person we get to look at tonight is none other than Jesus. Here’s what you ought to see that should bless you: if Jesus was tested, tempted, and had a spiritual battle, you know you’re going to have one. Would you tell your neighbor, «Say neighbor, a battle is coming your way»? Now there are three things I want to look at real quick. In fact, I want you to announce my theme with me for the month. Say, «Spiritual warfare: the battle you cannot afford to lose and why you don’t have to.» Okay, so say it again: «Spiritual warfare: the battle you cannot afford to lose and why you don’t have to.» Now watch this, y’all, you should have been shouting on the subject because the first thing you see in the subject is the nature of the warfare; it is spiritual. Okay, let’s try that one more time because for some of you, that went right over your head. The nature of the warfare that we’re in is spiritual. Somebody holler, «Spiritual!» Now the reason why I need you to say that, grasp that, understand it, and receive it is that one of the tricks of the enemy is to get us fighting one another and not realize it’s spiritual. You got—you got none of y’all because y’all come on Saturday night, but other folks will come to church and fight everybody they see. They fight the men of valor in the parking lot; he won’t tell me where to park. They fight the greeters; «What you grinning at?» They fight the ushers; «You don’t tell me where to sit!» They fight the worship leader; «I feel like standing!» They fight me; «I don’t want to talk to my neighbors!» From the time they enter the parking lot to the time they go home, they are in open rebellion and conflict with everybody in the church. Here’s the danger, y’all; are you in the room with me? You spend so much effort and energy fighting each other that when it’s time to fight the real enemy, all your energy is gone. Somebody say, «Spiritual!» and it’s warfare. Now, the definition of warfare is armed conflict. Now, I’m going to say this; please don’t get upset, don’t get offended. We used to have a saying in New York: if you go in to fight spiritual warfare, the battle you cannot afford to lose tells you what’s at stake, and what’s at stake is nothing less than your eternal destiny. That’s why now, church, I want you to hear me—it’s why this series is so important. You and I cannot afford to lose this battle because if we do, we’re going to lose our souls. Now here’s the last part: spiritual warfare, the battle you can’t afford to lose and why you don’t have to—that’s the good news. And here’s the hope: God has given us weapons. Okay, okay, two people got happy: God has given us weapons! God has provided for us everything we need to defeat the devil. Boy, I wish somebody would get a hold of that! Alright, let me do this. How many of you have been in the military? Let me see your hand. If you’ve been in the military, keep your hand up. Come on, let’s celebrate these folks with their hands up. Now, watch this, watch this. When I was a little boy, they had this toy soldier called GI Joe. Okay, don’t leave me out here by myself; somebody else played with GI Joe! And then, I think due to women’s liberation, they got a GI Jane, but that’s a whole ‘nother story. So GI Joe—now GI Joe—GI was not his name when I was in the war; I thought that was his initials, GI Joe, until somebody told me «GI» means «government issue.» And watch this; here’s what that means: when you joined the military—Army, Navy, Marines, Air Force, whatever—any of the four branches, watch this: the moment you join, the government issues you everything you need: your clothes, your weapons, your food, your sleeping arrangements, your transportation—it is provided by the government. Y’all are missing this! When you become a soldier in the army of the Lord, everything you need—tell your neighbor, «I’m okay!"—come on, tell your neighbor to help me out, «I’m having issues!» Everything I need is given to me, and every weapon I need—I don’t have to go to the Army-Navy store; I don’t have to go to the pawn shop and buy it—when I get ready to fight, whatever weapon I need has already been given to me.