The Devil in Your Marriage

That we thank you that you are our Lord. . I'm so grateful that we get to do what we do presently, . Be it in a multi-purpose room, a gym, our car- Goodness, we got headphones to do it on a run or a hike.

God, we get to worship you, We get to listen to your word, We get to read your word, We get to gather together freely.

What we get to do now is amazing and, Lord, I pray that you would give us the discernment- No, let me go further than that- The conviction to do what we are called to do, recognizing that we live in a day and age that we have luxury to do it. I pray this wouldn't just be something we add on to our already busy week, but that you would be the center of our lives. God, we love you and we trust you. It is in Jesus's name that we pray and God's people said, amen.

On your way to your seat, won't you say hey to the person standing next to you?

Let them know that you're grateful that they're here. I've decided to stop saying neighbor. It reveals where I'm from too quickly in our conversation. Some of you people need to know me a little bit before you know where I'm from.

I, I appreciate your laugh.

Not everyone does it, So you're special today. I'm really excited We're going to be finishing our series. Our series will call- was called marriage conversations- Have a conversation about marriage. It's pretty self-explanatory.

I've learned that on YouTube.

Self-explanatory helps. I like these creative sermon titles, but none of y'all do so. We're changing. Oh, I appreciate you.

Don't suck up to me though, cuz I'm just kidding with you.

I'm just kidding. It's been a good series. We went one week longer than I initially anticipated, because last week we had a sermon called we have to talk about Fight Club. I talked to you about the practical aspects that God wants you to know when you're- I mean, we're- all fighting at some level with our spouse, Whether it's iron, sharpening iron, the super biblical Christian spiritual way of doing it, or you're frustrated at each other And you're just.

You're just fighting right now.

Maybe you're just on the verge of something bad in your life or in your marriage, or maybe you're just you're struggling to get along with one another. I think we're all in a fight at some season of our life And we need to know how to deal with that rather than getting into a fight and thinking "Oh my gosh, it shouldn't be this way" And I'm like "Probably not". But you live in a sin, you live in a sin-filled world And your partner and you I. My sermon title today, I'm going to give it to you real quick.

It's Fight Club Part Two, Because the enemy is roaming around seeking to steal, kill and destroy, And he's very problematic to all of us.

Last week, I, I, I started with a verse in Ephesians, chapter 6, verse 12. And it says this: "For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in this heavenly realm". Lots of repetition. Let me remind you of the repetition really quickly: Not against flesh and blood, against the rulers, authorities, powers of this dark world, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms.

Paul's trying to help you understand that there is a fight, and there's the one between you and your spouse, or you and whoever, and then there's the one that is one layer below.

It's this cosmic war between good and evil, light and dark. God, the devil. Now it's interesting. I want us to keep something in mind, because the devil.

I heard one pastor say it: the devil's on a leash.

Well, the devil's like a lion, a roaring lion, but he's on a leash, is what the pastor said. It was a really good way of putting it And I want you to know that what you're facing right now with your spouse is but a skirmish. I read a story recently about World War II. Cuz I'm 38 years old, you know, 38 years old, dude, World War II phase, Anyone, Anyone, get it Like.

You have a World War I phase, World War II phase, Civil War phase, just general history phase.

It's just a dude thing. Men, mostly women there, but men, you understand when you're older? And if not, what are you doing with your life if you're not learning about World War II? But anyways, I was reading about World War II and there was a.

There was a battle that took place after the war ended.

It was with a kind of disconnected battalion, They hadn't received the memo and they're holding ground in Germany after America and the Brits had already come in and conquered Berlin. And I'm reminded of that story that I read when I think about Satan's ability to derail you, Because God's already won the war in the cosmic realm If you don't know that. But many of us and Satan himself have clearly not gotten the memo. If you don't know that, the memo is this: that 2,000 years ago, God sent his son, Jesus, to live a perfect life, die on the cross that he didn't deserve, raised to walk 3 days later, He is now seated at the right hand of the Father in heaven and he intercedes or petitions on our behalf.

He also sent his Holy Spirit to dwell in those of us who have confessed and believe that Jesus is Lord, and he has given us power and authority and the capacity to overcome and conquer the enemy.

But the devil didn't get the memo And many of you didn't get the memo. So the devil is like that, that disconnected battalion who's still fighting a war that's already won. So what he tries to do is he tries to embed himself into the fabric of your life, Your parenting, your, your marriage, The way you interact with church, Where you go to work, the people you spend time with, the culture you were influenced by. He tries to embed himself into all of that And some of us.

Since we didn't get the memo, we allow him to derail our progress, But because of what Jesus did.

It's in a different realm. You didn't see it physically. We see what's physical, We don't see what's cosmic. This sermon's going to be a little more.

It's going to be pretty weird, like, I'm going to talk about heavenly beings and, you know, cosmic realities that are behind the scenes of what we currently see.

It's like there's these sheets that we see the physical, and then there's something else happening. We talk about that today. I felt really nervous about it. It's what the Bible says.

I think it's going to be really helpful for you.

But if you're brand new to church and you're like "This is weird", Yep, I got you Totally agree. At the same time, it's true And the truth is, Satan's trying to embed himself into every fabric, every aspect of your life, so that he can derail you from the progress, if you're a believer, that you've made in Christ. And for some of you, since you didn't get the memo about what Christ did, he is already derailing you And he thinks he's won. He's just not gotten the memo, But I have, And it's a very encouraging one, I hope, today to encourage you in your marriages and encourage you in your faith, cuz this series- just like the AI series that some people thought they didn't like cuz it was all about AI.

No, I talked about AI.

It was about the image of God, And if you missed that part, it stinks for you. This marriage series was not about just people who are married. This is about people who are following Christ Jesus. What does it look like to follow him wholeheartedly, in such a way that, when we get to this point and recognize that there is a cosmic battle being fought that we don't presently see, are you going to stand firm or not?

And in your marriages- I've been trying to be really practical- that Satan has embedded himself into it.

You might not think it. Yeah, he has, Like all of you. It may not be as strong in your marriage as he is in another person's marriage, but, trust me, he has embedded himself into your marriage. But I told you last week- and this something to keep in mind if you weren't here, I want you to hear it, Because the way Satan embeds himself is in you or in the other person in your marriage or some randos outside of your family, and then they come in and start causing problems.

He embeds himself into physical situations.

I just got to remind you. He's the enemy. Your spouse is not. I don't care what they did.

Oh, I don't care what they did, Your spouse is not the enemy, Even if they wronged you deeply, your spouse is not the enemy.

Now there may be things that you got to deal with. There may be some significant things that would require you to make some really hard decisions, Be it abuse or or adultery or some other thing. I know there's really difficult things you got to navigate. Even then, your spouse is not the enemy.

This is something Jesus understood about us: that while we were hostile to him on the cross, he still said: "Forgive them.

They know not what they did". Your spouse is not the enemy, And so I'm going to give you my big idea and I'm going to walk you through a few different cosmic realities that have very practical implications. Here's Here's the big idea, and I want you should write it down or type it or just record it so the AI can give you a transcript later. Don't stress about the skirmish, be it with your spouse, with your kids, in your relationships, when Jesus already won the war.

I know you've been to church and they talked about cosmic realities, but, oh man, I really hope I can help you today There's a.

There's a scene in the Old Testament that acts as a good microcosm, that that helps you understand this bigger cosmic conversation In the Bible. When you hear this like angels and demons and all this other stuff, you might as well lump it into a, a genre or category that we like to call apocalyptic. Right, We think of apocalyptic meaning end times. Apocalyptic actually means like revealed truth.

There's something behind that.

When you dive into it, it shows you the character of God and what he intends to do. That's a. That's a very simplified version of apocalyptic literature, but the best microcosm of that is a story in 2 Kings. I don't know if you've heard of Elijah and Elisha.

Elijah was a prophet of God to Israel And after him came a person.

Apparently he had a double portion of what Elijah had, So this guy was like doubly blessed compared to Elijah. Now, Elijah was a pretty dope prophet, but Elisha even more legit. And Elisha had this servant dude like a sidekick- young Padawan, if you will. His name was Gehazi- Sounds like a Jedi name.

You know His name was Gehazi.

And there's this moment where the king of Aram is encamped against another group of people and Elisha and Gehazi are involved in this entire conflict And there's this one moment where there are a lot of people that the king of Aram has brought against Israel And what Gehazi, the sidekick, the non-profit person, sees causes him fear, But Elisha encourages him to pray, take a pause and look again. And what Gehazi sees after this moment is a Revelation: That, though he sees the king of Aram and his armies, behind that he saw a swarm, a horde of angel armies, a heavenly host. Some translations might say That is apocalyptic literature in its nutshell. That is the cosmic conversation in a nutshell.

It is what you see that may cause pain, fear, suffering, frustration, stress, and then behind it- and this is always true- you don't see it, but there's something behind what you see that is also happening.

There's another scene in the book of Daniel, chapter 10, where Daniel prayed that God would work on his behalf, And he waits 21 days and then one of the angels comes to him and says: "Hey, paraphrasing here, Sorry, it's been about, it's been a little long. We've been working on something, But now we're here". In other words, the heavenly host in the cosmic realm. God, was doing something for 21 days before Daniel had clarity or Revelation about what that was.

And in your marriage.

Two things are true at the same time. The devil is present, but also everybody, Everybody, say "But also" Christ is present. Both are happening at the same time. Christ is present at the same time.

Satan is present at the same time.

One seeks to derail you, steal, kill and destroy, separate what God put together. The other wants to build you up, wants you to honor the covenant and wants you to live life in a way that is abundant and never ends. Both are true, Yet we don't see either of them. So when I say it's just a skirmish, what I mean is if you just see the physical fight you had with your spouse, if you just see the physical realities around you, you are missing something so significant because we serve a God who, behind what we see, is always working for the good of those who love him and are called according to his purposes.

.

I say always and you're like: "But it's been a long while". For Daniel it was 21 days. That's a long time for him to wait when there's a pretty time-sensitive situation happening. Right, It's pretty, pretty big situation.

Y'all heard about Lazarus.

I'm not going to preach on him, cuz I'm We're going to preach on him in the next series. But Lazarus- hey, four extra is a is a little time, but Jesus was doing something. God was doing something on the other side of things that we don't presently see. He's always working.

So, while Satan may be working and trying to derail your marriage, God is working to restore it, to redeem it, to lift it up and perform miracles in it, It, it.

You don't see either of them, but you really you need to understand what's happening, Otherwise, you're just going to be stuck in a skirmish to a war that's already been won. I don't want you to be stuck. You don't want to be stuck. Say yeah or no, No, No, none of us want to be stuck.

See, that was an easy question for you to answer.

That's why you did it. I want to talk to you about what to do when you're stuck in a skirmish style. I try to give you these points briefly. First off, when you get stuck in this skirmish, this is, this is a fight between you and your kids, fight between you and your spouse, struggling with life in your present season, whatever it is, When you get stuck in something like this, because we all struggle with it, maybe, maybe your spouse did something to wrong you.

Maybe they're just have been annoying in a specific way for the last 8 to 10 years and you're like, done with it.

I don't know what it is, I'm just being. It's real. You know, it could be the way they clip their fingernails. It could be something they did to you that you never thought they would do to you.

It could be either or, you know, probably it could be both.

That's a terrible day, You know, But we all get stuck, focused on what's physical. So when you get stuck in that, the first thing you need to do is you got to remember there are others present. Like I said, the devil's present wants to destroy you and God is present. More specifically, Christ is present.

He intercedes on your behalf And if you have believed in Jesus, even if you haven't believe it or not, God's trying to draw you to himself.

And as he tries to draw you to himself, you open the eyes that you have and see what he's doing. God will man. He will be like the father who met you out in the open when he could have just sat on the porch. No, God wants you so much to come into a relationship with him that he, he draws you to himself.

All we got to do is open our eyes, receive the free gift of God, confess with our mouths that Jesus is Lord, believe in our heart that God raised him from the dead and we will be saved.

And once we're saved, God's trying to build you up, But that doesn't mean Satan's not still trying to attack. So in your marriages, Satan is trying to attack and God is trying to restore. Both are present, Both are relevant. Neither are seen because they are a part of the cosmic battle occurring.

But I found it interesting because the simple recognition of that reality actually changes quite a bit pragmatically.

For you, Think about it On one side. If you recognize that could be the devil in your relationship. Now let me be. Can I be?

Can I be careful for a second, Cuz I don't want you to turn into those old ladies that I grew up around.

I'm from the South, so I can say this- you know I'm not trying to be judgmental- Those old ladies who came up and said, "Oh, it's the devil Got me today. It's the devil, It's the. It's always the devil". I want you to know it.

The devil's always present, He's always prowling, He's always roaming.

You are also present and you got some stuff to work on, So it's both right, It's, It's, It's the devil. Look at your neighbor and tell them: Look, Look at them, Come on, Come on, I don't see any heads moving to the left or right at all. It's you too. You got some stuff to grow in.

Yeah, I don't feel bad for you blaming the devil.

He can get blamed all he wants to, but that doesn't always help you. Sometimes you blame the devil, and use him as an excuse to not actually develop the way that God's called you to develop. So sometimes you got to work on you. When, in your relationship, I've learned that it's both right.

The devil's there.

The devil's trying to stress me and my wife out, And so when something may happen and he allowed for or caused a situation, then I am responsible for the way that I respond. And when I gripe or get harsh because I'm stressed, maybe it was Satan, but I'm the one who said that. Right, sweetie, Yeah, Yeah, she's shaking her head, And vice versa, And vice versa, She said it too. .

Y'all ain't ready for me to be real about marriages in this place, And I don't want you to be like them old ladies in the South Who?

It's always the devil, It's both. But just simply recognizing that Satan's in it and taking long enough to think "Oh, you know what's happening behind what she's saying or he's saying", Pausing helps. That's a very practical thing that you should totally do. If you say the first thing that comes to your mind, definitely not going to work out for you.

I can't tell you how many times I've been like "Are you crazy" And I didn't.

I didn't say it, though, I had to pause. I had to pause. I thought "It's the devil", But you don't say that to her, Cuz it's probably the devil in you more than it is the devil in them, cuz half the reason you don't fix your arguments is because you won't take responsibility for it. So it's probably the devil in you before it's the devil in them, but the devil nonetheless.

And recognizing that radically shifts the fabric of your marriage- It really does.

It gives you time before response and it gives you a perspective that goes beyond what's physically happening. And the only way you solve your arguments- half the time anyways- is at some point when both of you were flooded long enough, you're like "Is this really that big of a deal" And you realize: "This is just a skirmish. Do you love me? Yeah, I love you too.

Let's work on the bigger thing that God wants us to do".

He wants us to engage in the real war and recognize he's already won and walk forward in confidence and step on the head of the serpent, rather than be stressed out about the serpent biting my heel I can't be stressed about. There's also a truth. Satan's involved, but Jesus is present too. Now I want you to close your eyes for a second.

This is fun, fun thought experiment.

Picture that last fight you had, Even if you're not married. Picture last fight you had. Jesus was there. Just recognizing that might cause you to pause.

For a second right.

You don't have to see him physically. It's not necessarily that Jonathan Roumie guy in The Chosen series. You just but. But Jesus is right there in every argument you ever have with your spouse.

Yes, Satan, but Jesus is present.

What if you just pictured Jesus standing there when you're fighting with your spouse? And this might be too practical for some of you, but like I'd be about to say I love you, sweetie. I mean if you just took long enough to think about the fact that, cosmically, God is there trying to work on your behalf and what happens is Satan derails it. But also you look at him and you don't love him enough, or you don't care enough, or you're not, like, cognizant enough to recognize he's present, to look at him and be like, "Oh, I should pause because of the fact that you died on the cross for me.

You love me so much that you would take your lofty throne and say, 'I don't need it right now for this season, so that I can save them'".

You forgave me in spite of all of my hostility and wrongdoing. Yet I'm looking at this person and I'm about to say something wrong to them, because I need something from them. But you've already provided all this necessary for me. You pause and think about the fact that that Jesus, who covers you, healed you, redeemed you, saved, you, is right there.

It'll change the way you, your spouse.

You say, "Well, pastor, you don't know what they did" And I'm like "I don't care", Cuz I know what he did. He, He did it And he's there. Remembering that Jesus is present in the room will solve me a bunch of dumb words. I think They could be helpful, but it's more than just recognizing, Because I think it's not just.

We remain in our practical skirmish, And then God and the heavenly realm are over here on this other side of the sheet, and they're fighting some cosmic battle that I have nothing to do with.

No, I think God wants you involved in that battle. Let me, let me prove it to you, cuz Jesus does it himself in Luke, chapter 22. He says, right before he's about going to be delivered, to be crucified, he says: "Simon, Simon, Satan has asked to sift all of you like wheat, But I have prayed for you, Simon, that your faith may not fail". What I want to say is this: when you're stuck in a skirmish, you not only need to recognize that others are present, you need to use prayer as the gateway to interact with that cosmic fight.

Yeah, I don't get to do it by talking, I get to do it by engaging with my creator.

What Jesus is saying there is: he's saying: "Yeah, I, I know that you're like, like Judas is about to deliver me, you're going to slice a dude's ear off and, then you're going to flee and you're going to cuss some little girl out because she thought you were connected with me", Like all that's going to happen physically. Jesus wasn't even concerned about that skirmish. He said: "Satan has asked to sift you like wheat". The sifting was what Peter did, But the bigger battle was what Satan did, And.

When you recognize that, like Jesus did, what does he do?

He doesn't say: "So I, you know, I call down the heavenly realm and they're physically going to protect me and protect you and all this other stuff. No, no, no, no. He said: "I prayed, I prayed, I entered into the cosmic realm and that fight with prayer that you may have faith". And it's so interesting because we see this throughout Scripture.

I already mentioned Daniel, chapter 10.

Daniel prayed, Heavenly host shows up and say: "Sorry for being 21 days late". Elisha and Gehazi prayed and then the eyes of their hearts opened up and they saw what was behind King of Aram's army. All throughout Scripture we see this occur, including Jesus' prayer. Prayer is the literal thing that connects you to what is happening in the cosmic fight.

So once you recognize that the cosmic fight is happening, use prayer as a weapon to engage in that battle, Like pray that the Lord would open the eyes of your heart, that you would see some of this stuff happening, That you wouldn't be so stubborn in the logic that we've all been taught that you would think, "Ah, it's just this".

I don't know about you. I've gotten too old to think that it's just this physical skirmish I'm dealing with. There is something at me, there's something at you. There is something seeking to derail all of us.

And God has won the battle.

But Satan's still fighting a skirmish And it continues. Once you get like, once you start praying- and when I say prayer, I'm not talking about this habit we all formed when we were younger, this, you know, this base level prayer. I'm not saying there's anything wrong with it. I'm saying prayer as a gateway into the cosmic realm, to, like, start fighting battles that God's already fighting.

That is not some rote memory thing.

This is you on your knees in prayer, truly peering into the cosmic and saying "God, I need you". God, I know you've won, but Satan's still attacking me right now. He's attacking my wife, He's attacking my husband, He's attacking my kids, He's attacking so-and-so, And I need you to do this. I know I don't have the capacity to change them And it don't look like they got the capacity to change them.

And even if they can start the habits right now, it's going to be several years of incremental changes before it occurs.

God, I need a miracle. I can't perform it, but in the heavenly realms it says: you're working to my good, You fight for me. That's why I love prayer warriors. It's mostly those different older women, That is true, though I wouldn't let- I wouldn't let a lot of them up here to talk to you guys about a bunch of stuff, but I'll let them in their prayer closet.

Dude, I, I'm not kidding, I love prayer warriors.

We call them prayer warriors because they see the behind the sheep. Yeah, I don't know how they do it. I don't know if it's just a gift of God or just light brain damage that helps them see through it, but they do And I love it. I had a lot of people come in here this morning and they saw these little They're.

They're actually tables that the kids sit on, And so they-, you know they lift up in the chairs or booths.

And people came in here this morning and said: "I feel like I'm in an old school Pentecostal church with these pews" And I told them to hold up with that. But then I thought about it and I was like: "You know what I like that". I always joke around. I said I need at least five Pentecostals in my life so somebody prays over me with authority.

You know I need some prayer warriors in this place, People who recognize that have like incremental habit production is not going to get you what God's trying to do.

It helps you fight the skirmish, but it doesn't win the war. That's what Jesus did. So I got to tap into the heavenly plane and the way to do that prayer. It's time for us to start praying- not just habits, but life.

Like Paul says, caught up in the third heaven.

You ever prayed so hard that it's like you got this runner's flow while you're praying Something. The ones who said, "Yeah", You need to come pray up here on this prayer team. Man, I love prayer. You.

You might be thinking, "Well, how's this help me in my marriage".

Do you think you're going to fix your spouse? You might think that Good luck. The best you can get is having a formation by griping at them long enough, That's. I said "".

I didn't say him, I'm talking to both of you at the same time, Like nagging, griping, like I don't know, stonewalling until they feel bad enough to change a little bit, making them feel guilty about all this stuff.

Jesus says there's no kind of, Or Paul says there's no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. Yet we'd be guilt-tripping our people all the time. It's not the way that we ought to live. But when you pray, God can do something way quicker than you'll ever do it.

You can sit there and say, "I'm waiting on them, I'm going to do this, I'm going to do this".

This is like "I'll come to church but I'm not going to encourage them to do it. Or I'm not going to pray but I'm going to be frustrated at them for this, frustrated at them for this". Man, goodness gracious, just go to God about this and he will help you. He'll give you the words to speak to your husband.

He'll change you inwardly.

It'll be this amazing prayer of meditation. That's what most of us learn. Most of our prayers are like Eastern meditation. It does absolutely nothing except calm our spirit just a little bit.

But the prayer I'm talking about is access heaven type prayers, Where you're so saturated in God's word that it changes the way you think about the world.

I love me some prayer ladies. That sounds weird, but when we started this church, dude, it is a weird thing for someone to like text you in the middle of the night, In the middle of the night, and tell some specific thing that they were praying over you, And sometimes it's like "Yeah, let me get back to sleep". Other times it's like, "What You were praying that". It's because when we connect with God in that way, over time, God starts to reveal to us: This is apocalypse.

Prayer.

Ladies, get more apocalypse than most of us Because they're praying. I spend so much time on prayer, But some of y'all going to go home and you're going to try it. You just do it long enough, Beat your head against the wall long enough. God will speak to you.

I promise you that, Unless you just got some random, like me-centered music in the background, I don't know, But, like dude, God will do it And you're not going to get these things done on your own in any ways.

That ultimatum isn't going to do anything, but cause them distress and maybe change a couple habits. Yeah, God doesn't need an ultimatum. He draws their hearts to himself with his loving kindness, And that's just where it starts, though. This is how you access the heavenly, But there are weapons that we've been given.

In Revelation, chapter 12, verse 11, it's talking about those who died for their faith.

But here's what it says. It says they triumphed over the enemy, or the beast, or Satan, by the blood of the lamb. By the blood of the lamb. I think this is so much more practical than it sounds, though it is cosmic, Cuz we're talking about like a beast, you know, a beast that God defeated and, you know, eventually dropped him into this bottomless pit and all this other crazy stuff that you read in Revelation.

But Revelation started with just a call to God's people being faithful to God through difficult seasons.

And so that's the physical, but behind that physical turmoil that is filled with persecution and even death of one of theirs named Antipas, Guess what's happening? A battle, And in that battle it says that they triumphed over him by the blood of the lamb. Now, the blood of the lamb, the best, the best way for me to describe it to you is to talk about Passover. Passover in the Old Testament was when God was delivering Israel from the hand of the Egyptians, And the last plague was the death of the firstborn.

Y'all have all seen it.

In The Prince of Egypt, right? Well, the death of the firstborn, the angel of the Lord was going to come through and every firstborn would die unless they had taken the blood of an animal or lamb and put it over their door. And if there was blood over the door, they were passed over by the angel of the Lord and their firstborn was spared. So when we talk about covered by the blood of Jesus, what we're saying is the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men.

So because of our sin- and we all fell short- we are destined, unless there's a correction, to spend eternity separated from God in hell, And then there's an enemy roaming around trying to get us there.

But when we confess with our mouths that Jesus is Lord and believe in our hearts that God raised him from the grave, then we're saved. We're covered by his blood on the cross. You're covered. What it means?

It means the wrath of God passes over you.

It means Satan has no hold on you. Everything is different because we've been covered by the blood. So how do they overcome By the blood of the lamb? We're walking around acting like we're not covered, filled with insecurity.

When we interact with our spouses, We're insecure.

I'm scared that they don't love me like they said they did 6 to 10 years ago. I'm scared that my lifestyle is not going to be the way that I want it to, because this person has different habits than I, habits than I anticipated. I'm scared that my friends aren't going to like this person. My family already doesn't like this person.

I'm stressed to no end because I'm not happy.

Pause on that skirmish. I've been covered by the blood of the lamb in the cosmic battle between good and evil And I'm going to spend eternity with God and I can live an abundant life. Now, regardless of whether I ever get married And when I do get married, regardless of whether my spouse ever changes, I'm still covered by the blood of the lamb. That ought to change the way that you interact with your spouse and it shows us that you spent time looking, peering beyond what you currently see, to understand that if I'm going to conquer the enemy, I've got to.

I've got to lock in and recognize that I'm covered by the blood.

But it doesn't stop there. It says they overcame by the blood of the lamb and the Anyone know Word of their testimony, The word of their testimony. Have you ever realized? Sometimes you got to speak something out loud before it comes to pass.

I've realized that maybe you haven't.

So not only are we called to remember others, that others are present in our skirmishes, that prayer is the gateway into the cosmic fight, that the blood of Jesus is our covering in the cosmic fight, but by the word of our testimony will we get out of the skirmish and triumph over evil. So the word of God and the word of your testimony is your weapon in the midst of the skirmish, and I cannot emphasize how much God's word and the word he gives you through experiences is amazing weaponry for you. This is why Paul says: "Think on the things that are true, right, honorable, pure, lovely and of good repute, and the peace of God will be with you". He says this because Satan isn't giving you the truth of God.

He's giving you lie after lie after lie after lie.

He says: "They should be doing this. Divorce them". He says: "If they loved you, they would have done this earlier. Divorce them".

He says so many things to us.

But we've got to go beyond that skirmish and recognize what Jesus has actually done. And I know, I know it's like marriage is hard. It's difficult. They may have wronged you.

You might be looking at me saying, "Well, you got lucky and married that girl".

Yeah, she's a Christian girl- never, never, kissed a guy before me. I'm so blessed, But, but, but, dude, like I grew up in it and I've known enough people in this room and at my other churches that I've seen it- There is nothing other than the blood of Jesus and the word of your testimony that is going to prime you to have a long-lasting and successful marriage. Nothing better. I know they should work on their stuff, but I can.

I can tell you this: they're not your responsibility, They're his.

So stop looking to them for covering. Stop looking to them so that you can tell the stories that these other randos, who never fought once in their marriage, tell you. Like, dude, like, yeah, tell them the truth, Help them grow, Say what you need to say, but do it from the posture of somebody who knows that they've been covered by the blood and who has a testimony that continues to develop. Cuz, when I know what Jesus did for me, it makes it way easier, easier for me to interact with them.

I You've got to understand that your fight with them is but a skirmish and Satan is all up in that.

But all you have to do is switch your posture. Start reciting some of God's word a little bit, Get it so saturated within your brain that that comes out more naturally than all the other dumb stuff you've been saying. And once that happens, it dude- I cannot emphasize enough how much, if you just put God's word in, it'll start pushing out the office, It'll start pushing out the Game of Thrones, It'll start pushing out the Game of Thrones, House of the Dragon or whatever y'all be watching these days. It'll push out all the stuff your dad said or your mom said.

It'll push out all the cuss words.

It'll push out all the mean words. It'll push out all the bad mentalities. It will shift everything as you are transformed from the inside out, as God restores your soul and sanctifies you to bring you into eternity with him. And- And if you can get on that trajectory, your spouse will love it, because they will feel loved and respected and cared for.

Because when you pursue Jesus first- this is what this entire series is about- It creates the best possible outcome for you and whoever else.

Just get the word of God in your heart. Get the word of God in your heart. And the last thing that I'll tell you, and I'll close with this: Revelation 12:11, right after the word of their testimony portion. It says they did not love their lives so much as to shrink from death.

This is what Jesus did for us: Started in a lofty place, Died on a cross Because he considered your salvation more important than his lofty place.

That is what God has called each of us to. In fact, I'll say it this way: You've got to consider yourself second or third, or fourth or fifth or later as you operate in this world. This is how Christ operated. He humbled himself to the point of death on a cross.

You, Let's humble ourselves just like these, these martyrs of old who overcame by the blood of the lamb and the word of their testimony and recognize that, even if I die in this skirmish, God has won the battle, .

And that enables me to think of myself later than I think of my God, my spouse, my kids, my church. In fact, I want to offer myself out as a drink offering. This is why Paul had the same mentality. Why?

Because when you love the Gospel that much and when you see what he's done for you, you can't help but offer yourself up in line with the calling he's given you.

So do that with your spouse and your life will change radically. But some of you, you're not there yet. It might be that you're not there because you're only seeing the physical. There is a cosmic plane, And so pray to God right now to open the eyes of your heart, that you might see the heavenly things.

And I know it sounds weird for those of you who have only been stuck in the scientific logic.

I'm not even going to justify it. It doesn't change reality. And so, for those of you in the room that are ready to allow God to cover you by the blood of the lamb, I want to give you that opportunity, cuz it will change everything. You may say something like: "God, I believe, that Jesus is your son.

I believe he died on the cross and I believe right now you're fighting on my behalf, even when I don't see it, even when you're 21 days later, even when I don't know why you haven't solved my problem yet.

God, I believe in you. Forgive me of my sin and help me walk with you so that I might see all that you do. God, I love you, and I trust you. God, I pray for every person in this room that they might see you and that it might shift their life.

It is in Jesus' name that we pray and God's people said amen.

Hey, if you guys would stand, we're going to do one more song. I thought it was just such an amazing opportunity for us to worship God and think about the cosmic and recognize that, though we fight a battle, he's won the war. Let's worship.