Will you please turn to the Gospel according to Matthew, Matthew 16:18.
And I also say unto thee, that thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build My church; and the gates of Hades shall not prevail against it.
And will you please turn to the letter to the Ephesians, Ephesians 6:10-12.
For the rest, brethren, be strong in the Lord, and in the might of His strength.
Put on the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil.
For our wrestling is not against flesh and blood, but against the principalities, against the powers, against the world-rulers of this darkness, against the spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places.
Dear Lord, we do commit this time into Your hands. We do expect Thee to speak to us. We pray that Thou wilt give us the spirit of wisdom and revelation unto the full knowledge of God.
We pray that our eyes may be enabled to see what Thou hast seen. We pray that Thou wilt really bring us into Thy full victory over all the forces of evil, that Thy plan for Thy beloved Son might be accomplished. We ask in Thy precious name. Amen.
Yesterday morning, we shared together on this matter of why there is conflict. We saw that, in the very beginning, when God created the heavens and the earth, there was no conflict whatsoever. Everything was harmonious. All creation worshipped God without any questioning.
But sadly, one archangel, created in such perfection, given such talents, and having such power, began to think of himself. Pride began to rise in his heart. He was not satisfied with what God had given to him. He wanted to be equal with God. He wanted the place of the beloved Son of God.
And because of this, he was dismissed from the throne of God. It was during that period that the earth in which we are living today entered into the ice age. It was covered with darkness, filled with waters, frozen; everything on earth died.
It is very easy for God to put His enemy to death, but God has a better plan. So we find in the book of Genesis, “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.” And the earth entered into void and emptiness. But thank God, we find the Spirit of God brooding over this destroyed earth to recover the earth so that it might be habitable.
Now, why did God do such a thing? It is because God wanted to bring man into the creation. We mentioned already how God created man in His own image, after His own likeness. This was something God had never done before.
He did it because He wanted to use man, created a little lower than the angels, to defeat the enemy and all his devices. So that is the reason why we are here, brothers and sisters.
Satan has so blinded the eyes of man that we do not really realize why we are here. We think that we are here for ourselves. But when God created man, He had a noble and glorious aim. He wanted to use us to destroy His enemy. He wanted to use us to accomplish His purpose concerning His beloved Son.
Unfortunately, our forefathers fell into the snare of the enemy, and they became allies of the enemy instead of overcoming the enemy. That is the reason why we are born with a fallen nature. We are self-centred, independent, and we live for ourselves.
But thank God, He never gave up what He had purposed. So we find God sent the second Man into this world, even His beloved Son. He came to be the Man of God’s heart.
Throughout His life, He never lived for Himself. He never acted anything out of Himself. He never spoke a word out of Himself. Throughout His life, He denied Himself, took up His cross, and followed His Father.
In His life, He defeated all the temptations and threatenings of the enemy. By His death, He put the god of this world out of the world. He took all these enemy forces into captivity and made a show of them on the cross. In other words, His victory is absolute.
And He gained His victory not as God, but as Man, fulfilling all that God had made man for. Dear brothers and sisters, He came to save us and to bring us into Himself.
So today we become allies of God. We are on God’s side. Because of this, we find the enemy begins to assault us, trying every means to weaken us so that we may not be the vessel used by God for the defeat of His enemy.
That is what we briefly shared together yesterday. Now this morning we would like to go a step further. We would like to ask the question: What, after all, is the conflict in which we are all involved today? What is the nature and character of our conflict?
You know, brothers and sisters, I often feel that we as Christians have a wrong concept. When we were under the yoke of sin and hardship, we almost had no hope whatsoever. We were heavily burdened.
But thank God, our Lord Jesus says, “Come, come to Me, all ye who are heavily burdened. Come to Me, and I will give you rest.” I think, brothers and sisters, all of us, before we came to the Lord Jesus, have gone through such situations.
But when we really come to the Lord Jesus, we find what He has promised is true. He gives us rest. The burden of sin falls away. Our sins are all forgiven. The fear of death is gone. Better than all, He has given us His own life. We are born again into the kingdom of God.
Now, brothers and sisters, we have all experienced how the burden fell away, how we were walking, as it were, in heaven. Then we begin to have a wrong concept. We think that now everything will be rosy.
Now we will be, as it were, borne on a sedan chair and carried into heaven. There will be no more conflict, no more tribulation, no more suffering. We expect smooth sailing into heaven.
And to our surprise, we find that this is not so. We find another kind of conflict comes in. Another kind of tribulation comes upon us. When these things come to us, we begin to feel that living the Christian life is very difficult.
How we sigh, how we murmur, how we blame God for everything. So we wonder why it is that, after we are saved, our Lord Jesus promises that He will take care of us—and He does.
He has even numbered our hairs. If He has numbered our hairs, is there anything about us that He will not think of? We are in the very heart of His heart. There is no question about that.
But strangely, we find that we are still in conflict. I will put it in a truer way: we are in a battle. There is a battle for life in each and every one of us. So we would like to ask the question: Why?
To me, I feel there are two opposite reasons. One is that formerly we belonged to the enemy. We were his allies, and because of that he did not trouble us. But now we have become his enemy.
Actually, the conflict is not between you and the enemy. The conflict is between God and Satan. But because now you are on God’s side, naturally you become his enemy. He can do nothing to God. He is already defeated.
So he turns all his anger upon those who belong to God.
Now you remember in the book of Revelation, the church at that time was so dead, so he left the church alone. If you remember Revelation 12, that vision, you find the woman clothed with glory and in travail to bring forth, with the red dragon waiting before that woman.
Now, why is it that the dragon would not swallow the woman? Because the woman then meant very little to him. That woman, in a sense, represents the fallen church. When the church is in such a condition, the enemy can rest, knowing that it will do him no harm.
But why was the dragon waiting there? He was not going to swallow the woman, but he was waiting for the man-child that was to be born. He knew that when the man-child was born, that would be the beginning of his end. The man-child was to be God’s vessel to bring him down.
But thank God, when the man-child was delivered, immediately he was caught up to the throne. Then, you remember, the enemy—the red dragon—turned his wrath upon the woman. And how God made provision for that woman.
So, dear brothers and sisters, this is the way the enemy always works. In the very beginning of the church, his interest was to try to break down the church. But when the church became a fallen one, he was looking for that which comes out of the church: a remnant, the overcomers, because that will affect his fate.
That is one reason why we who are the Lord’s, and to whom the Lord has promised every protection, are yet in conflict. All the enemy’s wrath is upon those who are the Lord’s. He knows that one day he will be finished, so he uses delaying tactics, trying to delay the day of his destruction.
But, brothers and sisters, there is another reason. Why does God allow such things to happen to us if He has already won the victory? Why does He leave something for us to finish up?
It is like in a war. The decisive battle has already been fought. The enemy is already defeated. But after that there must be the routing of the enemy. The enemy has to be completely wiped out.
In a sense, brothers and sisters, this is what is left for us to do. We are not to fight the decisive battle; it has already been fought. The Lord Jesus on Calvary’s cross said, “It is finished.” The work is done. The battle is won.
But God leaves, as it were, the residue of the enemy to His church, that the church may finish up what Christ has already accomplished.
You know, it is like when God led the children of Israel into the promised land. He had already promised Canaan to the children of Israel. Whenever He promised, it was as good as done. In the sight of God, it was done, because God has no time factor. To Him, everything is present, even what to us is future.
So far as God is concerned, it is promised; it is done. But when the children of Israel entered into the promised land, they had to fight for every inch of the land. To put it another way, they had to put their feet down.
Whenever the sole of their foot stood, that was their possession. This is the way of the Lord, brothers and sisters. The victory is already won. The inheritance in heaven is already given. But it is the will of God that we have to put our feet down.
Whenever the sole of our foot steps, it is ours. So you find this is another reason why God permits conflict in our Christian life: because He wants us to learn how to walk.
He wants to mature us. He wants to discipline us. He wants to see that the life in us is exercised and growing, that we may grow into maturity and be fit to be the bride of His beloved Son.
We must be like His Son. We must be transformed and conformed to His Son. In order to do that, conflict and tribulation will do this work.
So you remember Romans 5. After our Lord Jesus has accomplished all these things in our salvation, it says that tribulation gives birth to endurance; endurance brings in approvedness; and approvedness brings in hope. Hope will not be in vain, because the Spirit of God fills us with love.
So, brothers and sisters, God has a reason why He leaves some battles and remaining forces for us, that we may be able to wipe them out until the work is done.
This is the same thing you find in 2 Peter 1: how we add one thing after another. After faith, we add virtue, knowledge, self-control, endurance, godliness, brotherly love, and love for all, that we may enter into the kingdom abundantly and not just be barely saved.
So, dear brothers and sisters, we do find that even though the enemy means evil, God means good. He uses it to complete and perfect us, just as He did with Joseph.
You know, Joseph’s brothers envied him and sold him into Egypt. How much suffering Joseph passed through! But thank God, he was faithful to God. He believed in God, and in due time God raised him up to be second in the great empire of Egypt, even to save his brothers.
So, dear brothers and sisters, this is the wonderful strategy of God. Do not murmur when we find ourselves in trouble, when we find ourselves in conflict. Thank God, because He is using the enemy to complete us, as well as to use us to defeat the residue of the enemy forces.
Now, having said that, we would like to know the nature of the conflict through which we are passing today.
The apostle Paul tells us that our warfare is not against flesh and blood. By appearance, as we continue to live our Christian life in this world, we are surrounded by people of this world, and even by those who are the Lord’s and who are dear to us.
Oftentimes, we find the enemy uses the people in the world and even those who are the Lord’s. The enemy tries to use them as his instruments to give us trouble and bring us into conflict.
If we do not know the wiles of the enemy, we may turn our eyes to these people. We may think they are our enemies. We may even turn against those who are our dear friends, our family members, fellow workers, and fellow believers.
We find that somehow the enemy tries to use flesh and blood to give us problems and trouble. When we are under such an attack, how easy it is for us to look at the instruments the enemy uses to trouble us, instead of remembering that they are only being used by the enemy.
Even though they are permitted by God, they are being used by the enemy. The real enemy is not there. The real enemy is behind the scene.
So the apostle Paul tells us that, knowing the wiles of the enemy, we are not fighting against flesh and blood. We are fighting against the one who hides behind all these things.
The enemy is so clever. He knows how to manoeuvre. He knows how to do things. Do not be deceived by him.
First of all, brothers and sisters, by all appearance, as we continue to live as Christians and try to follow the Lord, we will find how the world will tempt us and attack us. The enemy will even use fellow believers, family members, friends, and all kinds of situations to trouble us.
Do not be deceived, because we ought to know that our warfare is not against flesh and blood.
Now, I do acknowledge that it is easy to say. But when we are really in that kind of situation, how often we become blind! We try to resist. We try to fight against them. We consider them our enemies, and we fall into the trap of Satan.
So the apostle Paul says, “Our battle is not against flesh and blood.” When you are following the Lord, the enemy tries every means to put hindrances along the way. Sometimes he tries to persuade with sweet words. Sometimes he tries to threaten.
If he can tempt you, he will tempt you. If he cannot tempt you, he will persecute you. This is what we find throughout the Christian ages.
But, brothers and sisters, remember one thing: you are not really his target. His target is something bigger and broader than you are.
Now, what is his target? His target is the church. This is the reason our Lord Jesus said, “I will build My church upon this rock, and the gates of Hades shall not prevail against it.”
The Lord is building His church. When the Lord is building His church, all the gates of Hades will be opened. The full force of the enemy will be poured upon the church that the Lord is building.
Because he knows that when the church is built, that is the end of him. His wrath is really against the church that the Lord is building.
Again, I have to say: why is it that the church today is not the direct target of the enemy? It is because the church has fallen into the world, so it can do the enemy no harm.
The church that the Lord is building does not mean what men try to build. I often feel that people say, “So-and-so is a church builder.” There is no such thing.
The Lord Jesus Himself said, “I will build My church.” Whatever man builds is not His church. That is the reason some people say, “This is my church, built by me.” Well, sooner or later, it will fall, because it is no match for the enemy.
But the church that Christ is going to build—even though all the gates of Hades may pour upon it—cannot be overcome. Instead, it will overcome.
So, dear brothers and sisters, the target of the enemy today is not you and me personally. The target today is the church that our Lord Jesus is building. He is building today with you and me, and that is the reason why you and I are involved.
But anyway, brothers and sisters, we thank the Lord that this is a battle, a fight of faith. The nature of our conflict is a fight of faith, a good fight of faith.
Now, what is faith? We all know that faith is believing in something that Christ Jesus has done on Calvary’s cross. This is where faith casts its anchor.
You cannot find faith in yourselves. Oftentimes, we try to build up faith, as it were, and try to hypnotise ourselves: “I believe, I believe, I believe,” as if, when you say, “I believe,” faith will rise up in your heart. Brothers and sisters, this never works.
Faith is casting your anchor outside of yourself. Do not believe in yourself.
So, in this spiritual conflict, we cannot trust in ourselves. If you are trying to defeat the enemy by your own strength, your own wisdom, and your own power, you will find that he is much bigger than you are.
The apostle Paul says that we are not fighting against flesh and blood; we are fighting against principalities, those who rule over an area; against authorities; against the spiritual forces of darkness that control the darkness and throw darkness around; and against the spiritual power of the enemy.
In a word, our enemies are much stronger than we are. We are no match for our enemy. But thank God, they have already been overcome. Our Lord Jesus has already taken them captive and made a show of them openly by the cross.
So how can we fight this battle? Not by ourselves. The apostle Paul says, “Be strong in the Lord, and in the might of His strength.” That is the only way to fight this good fight of faith.
I always remember the story of a little girl. She believed in the Lord Jesus, and she was happy in the Lord. One day a man came to tempt her and said, “Little girl, I understand you believe in the Lord Jesus.” She said, “Yes.”
He asked, “Are you happy in the Lord?” She said, “Yes, I am happy in the Lord.” He said, “Well, if one day the enemy comes to your door, knocks at your door, and wants to come in, what can you do? You are just a little girl. How can you stand against that big enemy?”
The girl thought for a while, and she answered, “I say to the Lord Jesus, ‘Go and open the door.’” So the Lord Jesus went to open the door. When the enemy saw the Lord Jesus, he said, “Pardon me, I knocked on the wrong door,” and he fled.
Brothers and sisters, this is our strategy. Unfortunately, when conflicts come into our lives, we tend to resist by ourselves. We tend to depend on ourselves. We struggle and we fight, but eventually we are defeated.
So the only secret of victory is: be strong in the Lord and in the might of His strength.
When you read the book of Acts, the beginning of the church on earth, you know that when our Lord Jesus ascended to heaven, before He went, He had laid a foundation. He laid a foundation through His life and through His death.
When He left, He said, “It is finished.” The foundation was laid. Everything was done. So He returned to heaven.
But after He ascended on high and sat on the throne of His Father, did He have nothing to do? What is He doing today?
I remember there was an old lady. She believed in the Lord Jesus and wanted to be baptised. According to the custom of that time, she had to be questioned by the elders. The elders were sitting there, and this old lady came. They began to question her.
They asked her one question: “What is the Lord doing in heaven?” The old lady thought for a while and said, “Well, the Lord Jesus is looking down from heaven upon me, trying to find any fault in me.”
Of course, she did not pass. But this is not what the Lord is doing there.
We find that after the Lord had ascended on high, He was told that He was anointed by His Father. The ointment fell upon His head, but it did not remain there. The ointment came down to the beard and over His clothing, even unto His feet.
Our Lord Jesus was anointed Lord and Christ, as Peter declared on the day of Pentecost. Because He was anointed as Christ and Lord, the ointment began to flow down. On the day of Pentecost, the Holy Spirit came down.
The one hundred and twenty believers were individual believers—the best individual Christians you could ever gather together. There was never any gathering of better Christians on this earth. Think of the apostles there. Think of Mary and the brothers of the Lord. Think of those who returned and waited in the upper room, praying.
On the day of Pentecost, the Holy Spirit came down. He came down from the Head and came down to the Body. The one hundred and twenty individual believers, a congregation of one hundred and twenty individual Christians, were baptised into one Body.
Now, that is the real meaning of Pentecost. The real meaning of Pentecost is not the sight and the sound. Today we emphasise the sight and the sound, but that is not Pentecost.
The real meaning of Pentecost is that the Holy Spirit came down and baptised those who believe in the Lord Jesus. Not only on the day of Pentecost—the one hundred and twenty and the three thousand—but even today, whenever anyone believes in the Lord Jesus, the Holy Spirit has baptised that person into the Body of Christ.
That is the meaning of Pentecost. Being members of the Body of Christ, you are given grace and gifts to minister to Him.
So in the beginning of the church, you find glorious things spoken of them: how the Lord added to them day by day; how they were totally delivered from self-possessiveness. Nothing belonged to themselves. They belonged to the Lord, and all their things belonged to the Lord. The Lord had every right over them and over all that they had.
Within thirty years, the gospel was preached to the end of the world, which at that time was the city of Rome, the centre of the world. That is what our Lord is doing today.
But, dear brothers and sisters, you can see right away that when the Lord was building His church, the enemy was busy. How he tried to destroy the church by every means that he could use!
You find that in the early church there were Ananias and Sapphira. They were believers. When people gave up their property to feed those who remained in Jerusalem, Ananias and Sapphira wanted the same thing: to be praised by the brothers and sisters.
They sold their property, but they kept some for themselves. They brought the money to Peter, and Peter said, “Is that all?” They said, “Yes.” But the discipline of the Holy Spirit was quick, because the presence of the Holy Spirit was so real and living. Immediately, they were smitten to death.
But the enemy did not give up. As you go on to Acts 6, there was murmuring beginning.
At that time, people had come to Jerusalem for the feast on the day of Pentecost. After they were saved, they did not go back; they remained there. Of course, they had no home and no occupation, so they had to be fed and given places to live. The believers opened their houses and began to feed them.
Among the Jews at that time there were two kinds of Jews: Hebrew Jews and Hellenistic Jews. Hebrew Jews were those who remained in the promised land. Hellenistic Jews were those who had left the promised land and lived in Gentile cities.
The apostles—only twelve of them—were familiar with the Hebrew Jews, their situation, and their homes. They were not familiar with the Hellenistic Jews who came and dwelt in Jerusalem. So the supplies for the widows were neglected, though not purposely.
When this happened, there was murmuring. You know, murmuring is always the beginning of trouble.
Brothers and sisters, I often say that we are not afraid of problems. If problems are rightly solved, they are blessings.
Here you find that when the murmuring began, the Holy Spirit immediately gave the apostles spiritual sensitivity. They had spiritual sensitivity; they could sense that something was not quite right. Brothers and sisters, spiritual discernment is the greatest need in our days.
They realised that something was not right, and you find that everything was put right in a glorious way. The so-called deacons, those who would take care of the food, were appointed. The apostles said, “We have to devote ourselves to prayer and the ministry of the word. Choose among yourselves seven men, full of the Holy Spirit, to take care of the food.”
Whom did they choose? The majority of the Christians in Jerusalem were Hebrew Jews; the minority were Hellenistic Jews. Yet nearly all seven chosen by the church were Hellenistic Jews, except one, who was probably a Hebrew Jew.
Do you see what is behind that? There was no jealousy, no enmity. It was love overflowing. The Hebrew Jews did not worry that their widows would be neglected. They were willing to let the Hellenistic Jews elect representatives.
Brothers and sisters, when this happened, the church grew, and the word of God spread.
Then, of course, the enemy would never give up. He was always following the church. He tried to cause problems between the Hebrews and the Gentiles. He tried to divide the Gentiles and the Hebrews.
Some Pharisees who had been converted to Christ insisted that the Gentiles had to be circumcised and had to keep the law. That nearly broke the church into two. But thank God, in Acts 15, at the Jerusalem council, you find the Lord prevailed, even though the enemy would never give up to the very end.
So, brothers and sisters, we have to remember this: what the enemy is really targeting is the church.
Because you are a member of the Body of Christ, that is the reason you become his target. He will try every means to keep you from maturing. If he can keep all the believers in Christ as babies, then his days will be prolonged.
But once there are enough mature believers, his days are numbered. It is as serious as that.
So, dear brothers and sisters, do not be afraid. Do not be fearful because you find that your path is not all rosy. There are many conflicts and many troubles that will come to you in all kinds of ways. But remember: behind it all is the enemy.
Now let us consider some illustrations—some real things that are happening. Among the disciples, Peter is the one who always stands out. He was an extrovert. He liked to talk, and he was always the leader among the disciples of the Lord.
But when Peter became a disciple of the Lord, of all the disciples Peter was the one, as it were, who stood out to be disciplined by the Lord Himself. Oftentimes I feel that if Peter would just shut his mouth!
In Matthew 16, Peter, by the revelation of the Father, made that public confession of the Lord Jesus as the Christ, the Son of the living God.
Our Lord Jesus said, “Simon, son of Jonah, this is not something given to you by man. Flesh and blood cannot reveal it. It is My heavenly Father who has revealed Me to you.” Ah, Peter was lifted to the third heaven.
But you know, the enemy always comes in when you are lifted up. In the same chapter, the Lord began to reveal to His disciples how He must go to Jerusalem, be betrayed, be crucified, and on the third day rise from the dead.
What did Peter do? Out of his goodwill for our Lord Jesus, he took hold of the Lord and rebuked Him: “Lord, never! You do not need to do that. You can have the kingdom without the cross.”
Was he thinking of the Lord, or was he thinking of himself? If the Lord should go to the cross, where would we be? We would also have to go to the cross.
Outwardly, you find it was natural love. But behind natural love, it was the enemy working.
But thank God, our Lord Jesus had such spiritual discernment. We do not have it, but He had such spiritual discernment. He knew it was not Peter; it was Satan. So He turned around and said, “Get thee behind Me. Thou art not mindful of the things of God, but of the things of men.”
Brothers and sisters, if you were there and you were Peter, doing this thing, and the Lord said, “Satan, get thee behind Me,” would you continue with the Lord? Probably you would say, “Goodbye. That is it.”
But not Peter. He stuck with the Lord.
When the other disciples began to say that the words were too hard, in John 6—“How can we eat You? How can we drink You and have eternal life?”—they found it too hard and left.
The Lord said to the twelve who were following Him, “Do you want to go also? If you do, you may.” Peter said, “Lord, we have followed You. You have the words of life. Where can we go? You are the Son of God. We will stick with You.”
Throughout the life of Peter as a disciple of the Lord, you find again and again how the Lord dealt with him severely.
Peter was a fisherman, a professional fisherman. He fished by casting nets, not by using a hook. You remember how the collector of the temple tax came to him and said, “Does your Master pay the temple tax?” Peter said, “Yes,” without thinking.
He went into the house, trying to tell the Lord about it, and the Lord spoke to him first: “Peter, who pays the temple tax—the king’s sons or other people?” Of course, Peter understood that the Son should not pay any tax, because it was the temple of God and our Lord is the Son of God.
But the Lord was gracious to Peter and said, “All right, I will pay it—and for you too. Go and fish, and when the first fish comes up, open its mouth. There will be money to pay the temple tax for you and for Me.”
Peter went there to fish. In my life, I have fished only once, and I lost patience. The fish would not come! Peter sat there—I do not know what went through his mind—perhaps, “Come quickly!” But the fish did not come.
Finally, the fish came. Brothers and sisters, what a lesson—a lesson of patience. Peter was an impatient person, an impulsive person. The Lord was training him.
Peter said to the Lord, “If You go to death, I will go with You. If nobody else will, I will.” How he trusted himself! But the Lord said, “You will deny Me.”
Brothers and sisters, we find how drastically the Lord dealt with Peter in order to make him that vessel. On the day of Pentecost, he stood up and preached the first gospel message.
You find that in the life of Paul, he was a persecutor. After he met the Lord on the road to Damascus, he became the persecuted, until he became a martyr.
But then you also think of Demas, who had a good beginning. He was with Paul, working together with Paul. But at the last minute, when things became too difficult, he left Paul and went to the world. This can happen too.
So, dear brothers and sisters, we are in a conflict. Whether you are conscious of it or not does not matter. But it is not a battle against flesh and blood; it is a spiritual battle.
We are the battleground. The enemy tries to get us, not because we are that important, but because that is his only way to delay his destruction.
So there is no surprise. We should not be surprised by trouble. But, brothers and sisters, if the Lord should allow these troubles, and allow the enemy to use all kinds of means—reasonable and unreasonable—to come upon us, let us not forget that we are not fighting against flesh and blood.
We are fighting against principalities, authorities, spiritual darkness, and spiritual forces of the air. We are not fighting by our own power and strength. We are fighting the good fight of faith, trusting the Lord, relying upon the Lord, and allowing the Lord to work out His victory in and through us.
So this is the nature of our conflict. The apostle Paul said, “We are those who know the wiles of the enemy.” May the Lord help us.
Dear Lord, we do commit these scattered words into Your hands and pray that the Holy Spirit will illumine Thy word to us, that we may see clearly what conflict we are involved in here, and teach us how to be strong in the Lord and in the might of His strength, to the glory of God. In His name. Amen.
Thank you. Thank you, brother.
Brothers and sisters, we would like to take a few moments to seal this time up in prayer. So if we could just stay a few moments, and then I’ll have a…