Phil Beach Jr. emphasizes the necessity of being a follower of Christ, highlighting that true strength comes from surrendering control to God rather than relying on our own abilities. He discusses the resistance many face when called to follow, suggesting that this resistance is often a barrier to experiencing God's peace and joy. The sermon encourages believers to put on the armor of God, which is essential for standing against spiritual challenges and recognizing the enemy's strategies. Beach reminds the congregation that our strength is found in the Lord, and through brokenness, we can learn to depend on Him fully. Ultimately, he calls for a renewed commitment to prayer and reliance on God's power in our daily lives.

You learn to follow. You're of very little ability to be useful to the Lord. You have to be a follower. You have to learn to follow. How well, how well do you do in following? You know, some of us right now are being tested how well we follow. And oftentimes we will discover that there's resistance that rises up in us when we have to follow. And the Lord would want to teach us that this resistance is not just toward the earthly thing that's irritating us, but it's something that is actually there toward the Lord. We have to follow. Jesus said, if any man will what? Follow me. Being a Christian is about following someone else. Are you a good follower? You like to lead? That's okay if you like to lead if it's in its right place. But if you like to lead and resent following, you're going to have a hard time with the Lord. A real hard time. And you know what? If you belong to him, he loves you so much he's not going to let you get away. You know what he'll do? He'll break you. He'll break you, not destroy you, but he'll break you. And in your brokenness, you know what you'll do? You'll say, all right, Jesus, you be the leader and I'll follow you. And with that will come such joy and peace. And you know what? A lot of a lot of those panic attacks will disappear because you know why a lot of people have panic attacks. They have to be in control. They have to be leading high blood pressure pills will go down the toilet. You know why some people, not all, but some people have high blood pressure because they just have to be in control. Give you five. They just have to be in control. They just don't like taking the position of having to be led because if you're being led, you can't call the shots. Can you? No, you can't. And sometimes you're going to be led down ways that guess what? You wouldn't choose for yourself. It's just not good for it. It's just it's just against everything that you think is best. Right. And so we resist. And the Lord says, don't resist. Don't resist. I know best. Who's the shepherd in this whole thing? Am I the shepherd? Young people, listen carefully. Listen carefully. You're going to have to learn to be led. You're going to have to learn to be led. You have to learn to follow. So, Father, we thank you for your word. We thank you for the spirit. We thank you for the deposit that you have brought to us this morning, a great deposit. Lord, please guard this deposit. Because it is so easy why we're here in this setting, in this atmosphere to see so clearly what you're saying to us and to sense the. The work of your spirit in our heart, many of us, Lord, here have been renewed in our call to pray, couples have been touched with a renewed desire to pray as husband and wife, making it a priority. There's been a renewed sense in our heart of having of wanting to make sure that we're right with you and right with one another. Stop putting off issues that need to be dealt with, heart issues with one another. Lord, we see that. But oh, how, how easily it is for the enemy to come when we're not in this environment and try and rob us from this and try and steal it from us. And so we pray, Father, in the mighty name of Jesus, your very words that you prayed for us. I pray not that you would take them out of the world, but that you would keep them from the wicked one. We pray each one of us here, Lord, would be kept from the wicked one in the mighty name of Jesus. Amen and amen. Turn your Bibles, please, to Ephesians. Ephesians chapter six, beginning in verse number ten. Finally, my brethren, Ephesians chapter six, verse number ten, or another possible translation to this finally is this. Lastly, as a matter of great importance, be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power. Brothers and sisters, do you know that God this morning has visited us and that God has ministered to us by his Holy Spirit? And God has commissioned us and, in a sense, reawakened our awareness of certain very important things in our lives. However, as wonderful and marvelous as this is, we cannot maintain this victory without the Lord's help, without the Lord's strength, and without the Lord's power. And this is what we're going to look at. Ephesians chapter six, for a few moments, verse ten. Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord and in the power of his might, or be strong in the Lord and in the strength of his might. Put on the whole armor of God that ye may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. Brothers and sisters, let's pray the Holy Spirit will help us to hear this morning. Father, please open up your word to us. Make it a living word. Make it a revolutionary word. Make it a quickening word. Make it a delivering word. Lord, make it a word that gets deep into our heart and into our spirit. Make it a word, Lord, that helps us to see the only way to maintain the position of victory that you have called us to this morning, the position of prayer, the position of faith, the position of believing you, the position of calling upon your name as couples, the position of praying daily without fainting, without becoming unfaithful, the position of praying for our children daily without becoming unfaithful, the position of living with eternity on our mind and not becoming sedated by life under the power and illusion that this world and what we're involved in is going to last forever. Lord, let this word this morning be the power that you use by the Holy Spirit to bring us to the place where we see the source of our victory, the source to be able to maintain such a position. Please, Lord, do it, Lord, so that nothing that was sown this morning into our hearts will be lost by that wicked one. Nothing will be lost by that wicked one, but that all might be preserved in your garden and bring forth lovely fruit pleasing to yourself. We pray in the mighty name of Jesus, our Lord and our Savior. Be strong in the Lord and then the power of his might. Keep your finger there and go to Colossians, which is to the right of your Bible. After Philippians, Colossians chapter one, verse number nine, chapter one, verse number nine. For this cause, we also, since the day we heard, do not cease to pray for you . And to desire that you might be filled with the knowledge of his will in all wisdom and spiritual understanding, that you might walk worthy of the Lord unto all pleasing, being fruitful in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God. Listen now. Verse 11 Strengthened with all might according to his glorious power. You see the strength there and the might that we're being encouraged to be filled with. It belongs to another, even the Lord. It's his strength. It's his might. It's not long before we realize that our own strength and our own might fails in this Christian life and that our own strength and our own might starts out like a mighty flame but ends in a smoking bang. It just dissipates, doesn't it? We need a source of strength outside of our own selves. We need a source of strength that only God can provide us through his son and through the word of God. That's the first awakening that comes to our hearts as God begins to deal with us and God begins to teach us. Now, keep your fingers in Ephesians and go to Isaiah chapter 40. The Lord is in the process in all of our lives through all of the different things that we're going through. You remember last week, winemaking? How many remember that? Winemaking. We learned about winemaking and we learned about being emptied from vessel to vessel. And each time we're emptied, we're leaving behind as we go to the next vessel a little bit more self, a little bit more sin, a little bit more pride. And we ought to be leaving behind each time we're emptied from vessel to vessel, from circumstance to circumstance, we ought to be leaving behind a little bit more of that deceiving reliance upon self-strength. Reliance upon self-strength. Because each vessel we go into, no matter what it is, there's always an opportunity to discover a little bit more of that dependence we have on our own strength and recognize for what it is and pray God will just take it from us. Release, release it, release it from us, Lord. Help us, help us, Lord, not to trust in ourself. You see, Isaiah chapter 40, verse number 28. Hast thou not known? Hast thou not heard that the everlasting God, the Lord, the creator of the ends of the earth, faints not, neither is weary? There is no searching of his understanding. He gives power to the faint and to them that have no might. He increases strength. Even the youths shall faint and be weary, and the young men shall utterly fall. But they that wait upon their Lord shall renew. A better translation is they that wait upon the Lord shall exchange their strength. They shall exchange it. They shall exchange their strength for the strength of another. It's the strength that comes from the Spirit of God. It's the strength that Paul is referring to in Ephesians 6 that we just read. Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord and in the power of his might, Colossians 1, 12 through 16. Paul's praying, okay, dear ones, I'm praying that you would be strengthened with all might by the Spirit of God. But you know, oftentimes when we hear that, you know what we say, and it's not a conscious thing. I'm doing quite well, thank you. I'm pretty strong. Has that idea been crushed in your life, or is it being crushed? I hope it is. And if it hasn't, it will be. I'm doing quite well, thank you. I'm pretty strong. In Isaiah chapter 40, verse 31, it says, the youth shall faint and the young men shall utterly fall. The youth and the young men there represent the best, the finest of human strength, the finest. God says, it's going to fall. It's going to faint. It's not going to be of any value in this spiritual battle we're in. A good prayer to pray as we hear the word of God is this, oh God, help me to look to you for your strength. Some have made promises to God because God has led you in his word to claim certain promises. But in claiming those promises, you went forward and you stumbled and fell, and some of them you've just even given up on. They're just things in the past, and you don't even like to think about it because it brings a sore spot to your heart. You know why? Because in your zeal, you laid hold of what God said and tried to do it in your own strength and in your own power, and you failed, and you failed, and you failed, and you thought, well, maybe I need to just try a little harder, and you fail, and you get to where all you see is failure in your life, and you start getting under the power of guilt, under the power of, I'm not a good Christian at all, self-pity, and you basically give it up, and then you just focus on your life and natural things, and you focus on just doing what you know to do, and you just sort of live at a distance from those quickening words that God has put in your heart. God is speaking to a number right now, and he's saying, no, I have not. Listen, I have not cancelled those promises that I gave you in my word, and no, I've not forsaken you, and no, I'm not mad at you, but yes, I did let you on your own for this season, and it's so that you could stumble and fall, but not be destroyed, but to learn, to learn that your strength and your power and your might cannot carry you through, can't carry you through. Now, I love you so much. I let you get your broken nose and bloody nose and front tooth knocked out, spiritually speaking. I've let you get scrapped knees and scraped knees and scraped elbows, spiritually speaking, but here's what I'm doing now. I'm your healer. I'm gonna heal your knees. I'm gonna heal your nose. I'm gonna heal your teeth, but I'm gonna leave a few scars. Oh, I hope we're hearing. I'm gonna leave a few scars. Now, listen, the scar is not gonna hurt too much, but it's gonna be just a little tender, and the reason I'm gonna leave a scar, it's not because I despise you, but I love you so much, I don't want you to forget, because when you see that scar, you're gonna say, Oh, God, that reminds me that if I trust in my own strength and in my own wisdom and in my own might, I'm gonna miserably fail you. Now, some of us are wanting God to remove the scars in our life, but God says, No, I won't, but I'll give you grace. I'll give you grace. God called Peter. God commissioned Peter. God anointed Peter, and then Jesus left Peter for some reason, and Jesus let Peter deny him three times by the fire. Why did he do that? He wanted to teach Peter that he couldn't trust in Peter. Now, Peter's denial did not cancel the fact that God loved Peter and that God had a call on his life and that ultimately Peter would become a vessel through whom Jesus would work mighty works, but Peter had to go through that denial, and do you know that during the rest of Peter's life, there was a scar that never went away? You know what that scar was? I denied the Lord three times. Now, listen carefully. Where's the scar in your life right now? What has the Lord let you do? Some of you are saying, why didn't some of you are bitter? Why didn't you stop me, Lord? You could have. You're God. What scar is there in your life now? And it tells you, and as you look at that scar, you see one thing. This is the result of me taking it into my own hands. Now, the devil's a liar, and here's why, because that scar in your life does not disqualify you from going on. That scar in your life does not cancel what God has whispered to you and what God has showed you in his word. Actually, it's seeing that scar that we hear Jesus say, feed my sheep, go forward, but now go forward with fear and trembling and weakness, depending on the strength of another one, depending on the might of another one. Oh, the broken promises, huh? Oh, the broken promises. How many here have ever heard the Lord speak to you through his word and say, I want you to pray more hands up. And how many have failed? Why our failure is not because of God. It's always because of us, but God lets us fail because he wants to teach us verse 31, but they that weigh upon the Lord shall exchange their strength. They shall mount up with wings as eagles. Now, by the way, eagles soar in the heavens and they're being carried by the wind when they soar in the heavens. They're not flapping. They might get up. They're flapping. But once they're up there, they're not flapping. They're soaring. They're being carried. By the strength of something other than their own self, it's the wind is carrying them. That's what God wants us to learn, how to be carried by him. They shall mount up with wings as eagles. They shall run and not be weary. They shall walk and not faint. Now, that's impossible if we're running by our own strength and if we're walking in our own strength. All right. Go back to Ephesians. Please, Chapter six. That's a little bit. That's a little bit, just the tip of the iceberg of what this verse 10 is all about. Be strong in the Lord and in the power of his might. Put on the whole armor of God that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. Another version, put on the whole armor of God that you may be able to stand against all the craft and strategies and evil plannings and plottings of the devil. Brothers and sisters, please listen. All right. Do you know right now that you are a marked person? We can't live in a fantasy world. You know, you're a marked person if you're a Christian, if Jesus Christ is inside of you, you're marked. There's a contract out for your life. Did you know that? And you're a marked person by virtue of the fact that now as a believer, you are associated with Jesus Christ. More than that, Jesus Christ lives inside of you. And all the powers of hell and all the powers of darkness are arrayed against one purpose, to keep Jesus from shining in and through your life. Put on the whole armor of God. What is the whole armor of God? Romans. Turn your Bible to Romans, please. Romans chapter 13, beginning in verse number 11. Put on the whole armor of God is what it says in Ephesians that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. Romans chapter 13, beginning in verse number 11. Knowing that the time that now, once again here, and that knowing the time that now it is high time to awake out of sleep, for our salvation is nearer than when we first believed. The night is far spent. The day is at hand. Let us therefore cast off the works of darkness, and let us put on the armor of light. Let us walk honestly, not in rioting and drunkenness, not in chambering and wantonness, not in strife and envy. Verse 14. But put ye on what? The Lord Jesus Christ. So what is the armor of God? The Lord Jesus Christ. Put on the Lord Jesus Christ. Put on the Lord Jesus Christ. Put on the armor of God. Now listen, to put on the Lord Jesus Christ also means and take no and make no provision for the flesh to fulfill the desires. So to put on the armor of God is to put on the Lord Jesus Christ. We do this by faith. We do this by acknowledging the word of God, acknowledging God's truth and asking God to help us live in the power of Jesus. But in doing that, we at the same time are taking no thought as to how we might fulfill the desires of flesh, because the ground the enemy has, listen carefully, the ground that the enemy has to destroy us is found in the flesh, the powers of the flesh. How many of you have been tempted lately to eat a stone? How come? How come you're not tempted to eat stones? Because it doesn't correspond to a desire in your heart. You can't be tempted to do something that is not inherently in your nature. And so therefore, understand this, that when the Bible says to put on the whole armor of God, back to Ephesians chapter 6, that you might be able to stand against the wiles of the devil, the craftiness, the plot, the evil plottings of the devil. What are the evil plottings of the devil? They consist of all of his strategy, listen carefully, all of his strategy implemented against you, particularly fashioned and aiming at something in your flesh, hoping that if he can get a hold of something in your flesh, some kind of appetite in your flesh, and you're unguarded and unaware of what he's doing, you're going to follow after that bait and you're going to end up walking after the flesh. And in walking after the flesh, you're going to what? Miss God's best. Because God says that we are to die to our flesh. So let me ask a question. How many here have said that God has spoken to you sometime over the past five years through his word and has said to you, I'm calling you. He's put faith in your heart. I'm calling you to pray more, not bondage, not legalism, not following a rule or a code, not talking about bondage like that, but a living word where you've seen it from God's heart. And yet you failed. Why? What wile? What strategy? Does the devil bring to you, to you personally that corresponds to something in your earthly nature that you buy into that causes you to fail to pray? Come on, let's get this right down to where we live. God's word is not somewhere up here, brothers and sisters. It's not somewhere up here. It's right down where we live. Why aren't we praying? Why aren't you praying? You just raised your hand and said, oh yes. Then why aren't you praying? Don't just say, oh, I'm not too sure why. Oh, I don't know. You can know. You can pray, God, show me. You remember the prophet would come to the king and the prophet would reveal to the king the plans of the enemy. God can give us understanding if we're willing to accept it. One of the baits that the devil uses is he tempts us to be lazy. You know why he tempts us to be lazy? How many of you are tempted to be lazy sometimes? Well, now that's a real temptation. Why? Because inherent within flesh, inherent within the earthly nature is what? Oh, I just want to eat, drink and be merry. I just want to have a good life. I just want to live the good life. Is anyone here tempted to just live the good life and not deal with these spiritual battles? I mean, cut me a break. I live in the real world. I can't deal with these spiritual battles. Just make me happy. OK, that's why many of us aren't praying. Simple, isn't it? And what is it? It's just the word. It's just opening up the word. What's another bait that the devil uses? What about discouragement? Why should I pray? I prayed and prayed and nothing happened. How many are tempted to be discouraged and just give up the whole idea of prayer? Anyone? Why not? Why are we tempted to be discouraged? Because inherent within flesh, inherent within the earthly nature is the propensity, the proclivity, the tendency, the inclination to be discouraged because in our earthly nature, we need sight. Right. We need to be able to touch it. I can't do this if I can't see any reasonable reason for doing it. That's another while. So you know what the devil does? He comes to you right before you're ready to pray and he takes one of his fiery darts and he ignites it and he pulls it back and he shoots it into your bosom. And all of a sudden you go, oh, God, I'm so discouraged. And then at that time, your wife or your husband says, hon, let's go out for some ice cream. Oh, my God. Oh, my God. I'm discouraged and I love ice cream. Do you think this is reality? This is real. This is the world we're really living in, brothers and sisters. And so what do I do? I say, forget about prayer. I want coffee. What kind do you want when you get it? Hazelnut, hazelnut. So the thought of hazelnut is going to do battle in your desire to pray, especially if you're discouraged. Come on. What's that? Now, this is all flesh. This is flesh. Now, what are we supposed to do with flesh? The Bible says crucify. How are we supposed? How are we supposed to relate ourself to flesh? What is our relationship to our flesh as Christians? Dead, buried, crucified. This is what Jesus means when he says deny yourself. What do you mean deny yourself? Deny the part of you which is part of yourself. I can't separate my flesh from who I am and somehow departmentalize my life. That's like saying, well, my body is not really who I am. That's dangerous. Because then if my body is not really who I am, then if my body sins and commits fornication, I have not really committed fornication. You know what that is? Antinomialism. That's one of the heresies of the... I know we never get like that here. Real high theological. But that's antinomialism. That's the heresy that the material part of me is not really who I am. And so the logical conclusion to that is what? Doesn't matter what it does. So I can commit fornication. I can commit adultery. I can indulge in all kinds of sin because it's not really me. Now you see the danger of that? Now let me ask a question. How are you and I supposed to get acquainted with these strategies of the devil? You just see now we just spent 20-25 minutes and the light that's coming into our hearts. How are we supposed to grow in our capacity to recognize the enemy's strategies? How? Anybody? What are some ways that we can grow in recognizing? What's that? Read the Word. Good. Christine, read the Word. What does the Word do? The Word gives us light and understanding. What's another thing we can do? Read the Word in what? Pray if we can overcome the hazelnut temptation. Pray. What are we doing right now? What are we doing right now? Sharing with one another. Coming under the hearing of the Word. How often do we do that? How often do we do that? Not as often as we should. Why not? Because we like idle chatter. Does this go back to desperation? If we knew how desperate we were, would we get together as often as we could? Yes, we would. And so the reason we don't is simply because what? We haven't been hit hard enough. We're still living by what? The flesh. Huh? We're happy the way our life is. Exactly. So what's going to happen as we begin to awaken to these things more and more? Number one, we're going to begin to desire. And it's not going to be law. It's not going to be a law. All right, now we officially make these the rules of our fellowship. No, it's not law. It's love. It's desperation. You don't have to write a rule down for a beggar. A beggar knows to go out and beg. I need help. What's going to happen? Number one, we're going to start getting hungry for the Word. But you know what happens when we get hungry for the Word? We start taking out of our diet the stuff that's not necessary. That's taking the time of the Word. What are you feeding your mind with? How much of the Word are you taking in every day? How often? Number two, number two, number two, not only the Word, we're going to start recognizing, oh my God, we need to get together and wait on God and open up the Word and share. What's the Lord teaching you, brother? Well, this is what he's teaching me. Wow, that's a confirmation. Oh, I feel strengthened in my spirit. Let's begin to pray. This is what the early church did. They lived around the Word of God, the hearing and preaching of the Word of God, and fellowship one with another. Was it a cult? Was it a legalistic cult? No. It was men and women who were desperate for God. They were in love with God. So this is where we're heading. All right, we're going to close now. I just wanted to give you a little taste of how to get into the Word of God and learn and understand what's happening in our lives. Now watch this. Now watch this. Verse number 12. For we wrestle not. How many feel like you're in a wrestling match spiritually? Every day, every moment of the day. Don't forget you're wrestling. You're wrestling. Watch this. For we wrestle not against flesh and blood. It's not against people. It's not against humans. But we're wrestling against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places. Brothers and sisters, we are wrestling against all the powers of darkness because they are trying to what? Overthrow our faith and dependence in Jesus and His Word. Ultimately, the powers of darkness are working in your life and my life to overthrow the power of God's spirit to transform us so that we are obeying God's Word. That's what they're doing. And we just showed for 15 minutes how he does it. If he gets us to stop praying, he's overthrowing. If he gets us out of the Word, he's overthrowing. If he gets us to where we're no longer caring for one another, he's overthrowing the work of God. You see it? All right, we're going to close on a note of victory. And here's the note of victory. Whatever God has shown you through His Word this morning, we're going to pray that He'll perform and believe Him. And we're going to resist together the devil's lies. Don't accept a condition where you never, ever, ever are able to fulfill what God has called you to do as inevitable. Don't accept it. Because God intends to give you through Jesus the power and grace to do what God's calling you to do. And we're not talking about great mighty things now. We're talking about husbands, love your wives. Wives, submit to your husbands. Brothers and sisters, pray without ceasing. Brothers and sisters, get into the Word. Brothers and sisters, learn to forgive. These simple things. Okay, let's bow our hearts in a word of prayer. And you know what? I just feel quickened of the Lord. I'm not going to pray. We just want to spend a few minutes and I would just invite as many as would like to just pray out a prayer in order to acknowledge what God is doing in your heart. And we'll just pray like that. Don't be timid.