In this sermon, the speaker shares his experiences of preaching at a particular church for the past seven years. He mentions that the congregation has always been receptive to his messages on spiritual warfare, but something changed after another preacher, Jack Taylor, visited. The power of God was evident, and many people's lives were transformed. The speaker emphasizes the importance of being willing laborers with God and shares a story of a friend who had a close relationship with Jesus and saw great success in evangelism. The speaker also references a story from Watchman Lee's book about the importance of staying in Jesus to resist the devil's attacks. Overall, the sermon highlights the power of God's presence and the need for believers to be actively engaged in God's work.

Water up here, they're expecting me to preach a little longer tonight also. I trust that the Lord has been good to you today. I know that He has been as available to you as He is ever. And if you haven't met Him, it's not God that needs to do something. I'm not asking this question that I'm going to ask to embarrass you. But I have really been praying about this service tonight. And the Lord is just leading in a particular way. And I just keep saying, well, Lord, this crowd is not ready for what I want to say tonight. And I want to check the crowd out a little bit. How many of you have been with us all week? Amen. About almost half the crowd, and some of you haven't missed over a night or two. And how many of you is this your first night? Wow, that is quite a crowd. I hope you're not too shocked. But I want to speak to you tonight on spiritual warfare. And this is in line with what I have been saying. It's what I have been leading to. And so it shouldn't be foreign to those that have been with us. And I trust that the Lord will prepare us all tonight for this particular time. In the book of Ephesians, the sixth chapter, we will count. But before we get there, I want to stop off by just one verse and read it to you. Out of 1 Corinthians 3, the ninth verse, where it says, We are laborous together with God. We are laborous together with God. It's strange, but somehow, some way, the devil is able to lead all of us, if not all of us, enough of us, into extremes about truth. And when truth is out of balance, it's error. And some way, somehow, Satan is leading our people today into a misunderstanding of leaving things to God. I guess we are reacting to so much stress that we say, Well, we're under so much stress, the only thing I can do is just leave it to God. And when we leave it to God, it seems that this idea is prevailing by the works that I see in the lives of people, including myself. To leave something to God means, well, God, you've got to do it, and if it doesn't get done, it won't get done. And you just totally leave it to God. And I mean, he has to do it. And it's getting to the place that he's going to have to start calling on donkeys and snakes and chickens to get the job done. You say, Why did you mention those? Because those are the creatures he used in the Bible. Snakes, chickens, donkeys, it's all right. Leaving it to God really means, Lord, I have come to the end of myself, in that my ability, but I come totally available to you for your ability. And then you become a collaborer with the Lord to accomplish that end. And so God works through you and me as individuals. We're collaborers with the Lord. We're collaborers with the Lord. Now, for instance, the Bible says that the devil is a defeated foe. How many of you believe that? Amen. Say it. Amen. You say, Brother Manley, why do you want us to say it? Before this sermon gets over, you'll know why I want you to say it. Now, if you were really on your toes when I said Satan was a defeated foe, you said amen. You know why? Because your agreement with what I say when it's the truth makes it so. Thank you. I mean it makes it so here now. Thank you, Brother Barrett. I got two amens that time. You know, see, you may not realize it, but you can really help a preacher preach. You can not only help him preach by saying amen to what he's having to say, but when he preaches the truth, you declare the truth with him. Amen. Now, you're already fanatical, so you might as well just go ahead and play the part you already are. It doesn't sound good, but you understand what I mean. I may get off the point here a minute. I hope you all will make a note so I can come back to where I'm leaving it. I'm going to chase a rabbit. I was reared around shouting Baptist, not clapping Baptist. That's right. The first time I heard clapping in the Baptist church was First Baptist Church, Castle Hills, in San Antonio when Jack Taylor was pastor. And I was so ill that I would have to sit on a stool to preach. And I'd sit on a stool for about ten minutes, and the Holy Ghost would come, and I'd get off of that stool, and I'd preach for an hour and a half, two hours. And that first night I preached to that crowd, about a third of the way through the message, man, they just broke out clapping. And I almost ran. Because I'm used to shouters. I'm really used to shouters. Let me just share one little story with you. And this is the kind of obedience that I'm expecting out of you to see the glory of God. My wife was reared in a very, very, very traditional, traditional Baptist church. Did I get that across? Traditional. And not only a traditional Baptist church, but a Baptist church that was the nearest church to Louisiana College campus. So you can imagine how traditional and how crusty that thing was. You know, as well, you have a tendency to have all the intellectuals in some environment like that. Well, they didn't have all of them, but they had one or two. And also the president of the college, a part of her time there, was her first cousin. And I mean, she was reared. I'm giving you just a picture of her being reared in this traditional atmosphere. And so one time, I'm going to jump way up the road now. One time I was in North Carolina in a revival meeting. And my wife decided to meet, to drive up to North Carolina. And she and the kids got in the car and spent the night, by the way, here in Atlanta. And got up early the next morning, drove on up to where I was and got there in time for the church service. And there she was on the front pew in her best dress. Kids were there. And there I got up and preached, preached my heart out. The Holy Spirit, and I mean God was not there in that church at all. The Holy Spirit said to my wife, said, Take your handkerchief out and walk around this church one time shouting. Now what if he asked you to do that? What about it, ladies? I mean, man, you know what she did? She got her handkerchief out and walked over and went up that aisle just saying, Thank you, Jesus. Thank you, Jesus. Just praising Jesus. Just waving that handkerchief. She went all the way down the other side and walked right back to the front. And when she got to the front, there was 13 lost people following her. And the glory of God came and filled the house. Amen. Now, it really takes that kind of obedience to the Lord if you're really going to learn to walk with Jesus. Now, I'm just getting you primed up for the message. I'm going back now where I left off. We are co-labors with the Lord. We are co-labors with the Lord. And when God gets ready to do something, He moves through people. And as co-labors with the Lord, when the Lord gets ready to do something, it's because He's already done it. And He must get us to discover it and believe it in order for Him to do it. You say, Brother Manley, that sounds crazy to me. No, positionally, judicially, the Lord has already done His work. But we must discover what He's done. We must believe it so He can do it. Now, what I'm doing is changing worlds on you. In the spiritual realm, the Lord has already done His work. And in the material realm in which we breathe and live, He hasn't. But when we wake up to the fact that He already has in the spiritual and we trust Him, then He moves heaven into earth. Now, I've been talking about that all week. But He moves through the believer. Now, let me, I'm not digressing here, but I am sort of out on the fringe here, but I think this relates to what I'm saying, basically. And I know it's what God wants me to say and bring you in with me. How many of you know what praying through means? Would you raise your hand? About a third of this crowd. A preacher? Now, that's something. You know, I thought every Christian knew what praying through meant until I started asking around. And a third of this crowd, and you'd say this is an above-average crowd. Amen. It's above-average crowd. Knowing what praying through really means. Especially after I preached on it Monday night. Boy, I'll tell you one thing, no wonder God's leading me to preach this sermon again. I'll tell you. Now, praying through is simply a child of God becoming burdened. Concerned is a good word. Burden is a spiritual word for a type of concern. Concern may be a little broader than a burden. Burden is more specific. Being burdened about something and going to God and staying with God till you get that answer in your heart or in your hand. Now, until the church learns how to pray through, she will never have revival. Now, listen to me carefully. God cannot afford to send a church revival that doesn't know how to pray through. Because the demons of hell can take it over in those high moments of glory. And I say tonight that the church must learn how to pray through. The individual, if they are going to have a significant victory in their life, they must learn how to pray through. I'm serious about this. And I realize tonight I'm talking to people that are serious. I believe you're not just a casual passerby-er tonight. You're here because you want to be here. And I say this to you about praying through because it's something that was normal in the church 30 years ago. It was normal in the church 40 and 50 and 60 years ago. It started dying out with our influx of humanism, results of humanism, about 30 years ago. But when I first started in the ministry, there was still a little bit of it left around. You would not think of seeing God come in mighty, mighty, mighty power until you'd prayed a revival through back when I first started out. And I started preaching 30 years ago. And so I say to you tonight that praying through is a type of prayer that affects you, it affects God, and it affects the devil. Now, praying through, first and foremost, changes you. That's right. Praying through changes you. Now, I'm just giving the introduction to what I'm going to say. And while I'm doing it, I'm giving you an outline that you might like, might be interested in using. It's another message on prayer. Praying through binds Satan. Binds Satan. You see, Satan has been defeated at Calvary. He's been defeated at Calvary. Calvary purchased us rights. Calvary's bought victories. Satan was defeated at Calvary. But he must be literally bound. He must be literally rendered inoperative. He must be rendered defeated on every given situation. If the defeated Calvary left him totally heftless from that time on, then the purpose of evil would be nil, and there would be no reason for the devil. But the victory at Calvary actually placed at your disposal and my disposal the victory of Calvary so individually we can come up against the devil and claim that victory and get all the benefit of evil, all the benefit of glory, and see Satan rendered inoperative, powerless, bound on any given situation. And see the glory of God. See the will of God that's done in heaven done in earth. But the will of God done in heaven cannot be done in earth until Satan is bound. Until Satan is bound. Then not only does praying through bind Satan, but praying through releases God. Now, in Ephesians 6, we have, to me, the scripture that God left us here on earth to help us in this hour. Tenth verse says, Finally, my brethren, 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. For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places. Wherefore, take unto you the whole armor of God that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand. Stand, therefore, having your loins girt about with truth, and having on the breastplate of righteousness, and your feet shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace. Above all, take the shield of faith, wherewith ye shall be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked. Take the helmet of salvation, the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God. Praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, and watching thereunto with all perseverance and supplication for all saints. Now, I want to go through these verses with you. It says, Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord and in the power of his might. There's only one way for the child of God that's a warrior, that's a prayer warrior, to stand, and that's to stand in the power of his might. A person that's going to be a prayer warrior must know how to rely on the strength of God. If they stand to face the enemy in their own strength, they'll be defeated for sure. And then he tells us here in this portion of scripture about the clothing of the prayer warrior. Now, let's talk about the clothing of the prayer warrior for just a moment. He says here, Put on the whole armor of God, in that thirteenth verse. And then in the thirteenth verse and the fourteenth verse, he says, Stand therefore with your loins girt about with truth. The first time the word truth is mentioned there. And having on the breastplate of righteousness is the second piece of garment. Your feet shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace, the third piece of garment. Above all, take the shield of faith, the fourth piece of garment. Wherewith you shall be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked. Take the helmet of salvation, the fifth piece, and the sword of the spirit, which is the word of God, the sixth piece. And did you notice that as I read this list of the garments or the clothing for this prayer warrior, out of the six, the word of God is mentioned twice? Now, there's a reason for that. Now, let's go back and look at this. Take, for instance, the loins girt about with truth. The Bible says that Jesus Christ, the Son of the living God, is truth. So when I look at the armor, the clothing that I'm supposed to put on, the first piece I see is truth. And when I look in the word of God, I find that Jesus is the truth. I look a little further, the breastplate of righteousness, and I know for sure that Jesus is my righteousness. So when I look at the second piece of armor, I find it's Jesus. He is my righteousness. And then I see the preparation of the gospel of peace, and I find that Jesus is my peace. Jesus is more than a state of being. He is a person, and he is my peace. Not only is my peace, but Paul said, Galatians 2.20, that we live by the faith of the Son of God, so Jesus is our faith. And wherewith we shall be able to quench all the fire darts of the wicked, the helmet of salvation, and Jesus certainly is your salvation. And the word of the Spirit, which is the word of God, and again we say Jesus is the word. Now, I believe the armor that a child of God must put on is nothing more and nothing less than Jesus Christ himself. We need to learn how to put ye on the Lord Jesus Christ. And we put him on by faith. And the way we put on Jesus is we get as right with God as we know how to get, as right with our fellow man as we know how to get. When we get right this way and right this way, then we trust the Lord to be our armor. Now, the amazing thing about this armor is this. You're not only filled with the armor, but you are clothed with the armor. The Bible says you're filled with the Spirit, and you walk in the Spirit. Now, that's so beautiful. You know why? Because when you are in Jesus, you are protected from the wiles of Satan. Now, there's a little bug that lives in the sea. Now, there is a little bug that doesn't live in the sea. In fact, there is a little bug that lives in the sea. But you know there's a little bug that doesn't live in the sea. I'm trying to impress you with something. This little creature that I'm telling you about goes down underneath the water and builds him a nest. And that nest is like a bird nest, but it's round. But inside, it's hollow. When he gets that little nest built, you know what he does? He crawls into that vacant spot, and he blows a bubble, and he gets in the bubble. Now, that little fellow is in the sea. But Brother Merritt, he's not in the sea. Now, he's in the bubble in the sea. Amen? Now, when I get right with Jesus and put Jesus on, I've got Jesus in me. But I'm in Jesus. And I want you to know something, friend. I'm in this world, but I'm not of this world. And I want you to know you can put ye on the Lord Jesus Christ. And the person that knows how to put on the Lord Jesus Christ is the only person that is of any consequence whatsoever to God or Satan. The rest are hobos. Amen? You give Satan no threat until you learn how to put on Jesus. When you put Jesus on, friend, then I want you to know you're a threat to the devil. And I call Abraham to accomplish, available to accomplish everything that God wants. You've got to learn how to put that on. Get right. Just right with Jesus as you know how to get. Then trust Jesus to be your fullness. Get filled with the Holy Spirit. You say, I don't know how. Just get as right with God as you know you can. Ask Him to show you ever sin in your life. Confess it. Put it out of the blood. And then just claim the fullness of the Lord Jesus, best you understand. Someone can lead you to the fullness of the Spirit. But you've got to learn this. Now, I want to tell you something. As long as you walk in the Spirit, Satan can't handle you. He throws the wiles of the devil, the fiery missiles. He'll fire them. He'll fire these missiles at you. But as long as you're in the bubble, he can't do anything but touch Jesus. Amen. And I want you to know he'll stand right outside of that bubble, and he'll throw things right into your mind inside that bubble. Amen. And I want you to know if he gets your attention and throws things in your mind, basically that's the way he does it. That's his first approach. And you stick your head out of the bubble, act on your own, try to handle it, pay attention to him, give heed to him. He gets your head out of that bubble, he's got you. I think there's a great illustration that Watchman Nee tells in one of his books. It says what I'm saying. He said when the Japanese went into China back in the late 30s, the Japanese had these big tanks, and the Chinese just had these little rifles. And these little men with these little rifles were nothing up beside these huge tanks. So they devised a little plan. They'd get all along the road where these tanks would be coming with these rifles, rifling, and they'd just shoot away. It was over. Now, friend, as long as you stay in Jesus, the devil can peck away all he wants, but he can't handle you. When he gets you to stick your head out, it's over. Defeat is on the way. Now, he says here in this portion of Scripture that we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places. Now, here is, we talk about evangelism today, here is our problem. We talk about church growth today, here is our problem. We talk about spiritual growth, and here is our problem. You don't believe me, do you? We are wrestling with flesh and blood. On the basis of the lost, we are appealing to their understanding, our sometimes in lesser moments and sometimes in very sophisticated moments, to their emotion for a response to the understanding, our response to the emotion to a commitment to God, and beloved, we call that commitment conversion, and call that person a Christian. The Bible says that the battle is not with flesh and blood. In our evangelism, if we realize that first the strong man must be bound, then the powers of Satan is broken, and the word goes to the spirit of man. Certainly there is understanding, certainly there is emotion, but it is in its proper order. We wrestle not with flesh and blood. Now, brother, you take that verse of Scripture and let God speak it in your heart, and you will get back to praying in this church. You will get back to seeing that no conversion can ever take place apart from an invasion from an almighty God, and beloved, the almighty God does not invade until saints cooperate and bind Satan. We wrestle not with flesh and blood. Church growth. Satan runs wild in the churches and stops church growth. But where he really runs wild, apart from keeping the lost lost, he really runs wild in keeping the saints in immaturity, because it's only when his power structure is broken that the spirit is free, where they can really receive the word of God. Let me share this little, what I'm saying with you, out of an illustration that's right up to date. For about seven years now, Jack Taylor and myself and Ron Dunn, Dudley Hall, and maybe one or two other men that I can't recall right now, have been going to this church one after another. I've been going about every other year. And in these seven years, I think I've gone four times to this church. And I mean I have preached these truths to a packed house every night. And in fact, I brought two messages along this line on spiritual warfare. Man, they just sat there and ate it up. Tapes. Man, they buy tapes, they buy books, and you just sell everything out. It's just unreal. But here, Jack Taylor was up there a week before last, and he preached. And they heard, just like they'd been hearing. But all at once after Jack left, the Sunday after he left, the power of God just was there. And you could say, Jesus loves you. And the hearts would light up. And lives would be changed just by old statements. I mean, the word would just be received. See, Satan is being bound. And people are stomping off the streets. One man stopped his motorcycle, came in, and got saved. I mean, God's beginning to move spontaneously. They're just receiving the word. Your pastor talked to Jack today. Jack called me yesterday. Told me about it. Now, what I'm saying is, unless we can bind the strong man, our battle is not with flesh and blood. We can appeal to reasoning. We can appeal to the emotions of man. But, beloved, the word of God goes to the spirit of man and makes life. And that will come about when we are able to realize that our battle is not with flesh and blood, but it's really with the forces of hell and learn to bind them. I'd like to give you just two or three illustrations that really mean a great deal to me. Jim Hilton. Now, do you know Jim Hilton? Any of you know Jim? He's one of the men that God has allowed to see revival in his own church. And he is in a church in New Albany, Indiana, Graceland Baptist Church. And last week, the revival just broke out there, and they had to extend it another week. Well, in that church, that church last year, when I was there, the pastor just prayed, Oh God, whatever it takes to have revival, I want us to have it. Had a heart attack. He was sick. Had to have an operation. And he wasn't even in the meeting. And so, I preached this message one night on Saturday night. And I told those people, I said, Now, this message is not to be just heard. It's to be experienced. And when I got through preaching that message, about 35 of those church members decided, Well, the message is to be experienced. We're going to pray till God gives us a word about tomorrow, which was Sunday. And I want you to know, friends, that bunch prayed. And they stayed there hours. And I told them, I said, I just can't physically handle it. So, I'll pray with you, but I just can't handle it physically. But I know you're supposed to do it. And they just saw the face of God, and really, God came down. And when I came to church the next morning, they said, Preacher, God has given us the assurance that Satan is bound and off of this service. And man, I'll tell you, I got up and preached. And they had about 150-something people in the choir. And that church was packed out. And they had one black woman in that church. Had been there for 20 years. And everybody knew she was a saint, and they accepted her. And there was no kind of resentment towards this woman at all. And I mean, they all respected her because they knew she was real. And I mean, they loved her. And she was right in the middle of that choir. Just right in the middle. When I gave the invitation, that woman came out of that choir shouting. And the reason is because her niece was sitting out there that she'd been praying for for 20-something years. And she saw that niece start heading to Jesus. And when she saw that niece start moving out to come to Jesus, she couldn't stand it any longer. She just came out of that choir shouting with both hands in the air. Well, there was a short deacon. That was the chairman of the deacon board. And if you, I can't picture that church to you, but their platform is as wide as your church is. It's that wide. And it has about three steps down from the platform down to the floor, main floor. And that deacon was standing over there. And when she passed out by that deacon and started down to the main floor to meet her niece, that deacon reached over her back and grabbed her and tried to hold her arms down to keep her from shouting. This is the funniest thing I ever saw. She drug him all the way across the front of that truck. That's so funny. I stopped and laughed right in the middle of that thing. But when the clouds cleared away that morning, there was over three hundred and something people that had come. Boy, I want you to know, God moved in. But you know what? It was because some people realized that God was ready to do something, and they became co-laborers with Him to see His will done. I think I just should tell you this in close. Back down in Texas years ago, I was in this revival meeting, and one of my dearest friends was there that night. And he was the associational brotherhood president, an outstanding man. Let me try to give you something of his background. He was a professional ice hockey player, college graduate, executive for Gulf State Utility. And that particular year, God used him to win five hundred souls to Jesus. Now, that old boy walked so close with Jesus that he'd come in in the evening, late afternoon, pick up the paper—I'm just telling you about one occasion, but this happened constantly—picked up the paper, looked over where it had a list of all the people in the Baptist hospital, and he saw a name of a man, and the Spirit of God said, he's ready to get saved. Told his wife, said, I'll be back in a little bit, I'm going to the hospital. Went to this room, knocked on the door, and the man said, come in. And the man was in bed crying with a Bible, and he'd been praying that God send him a preacher by. Now, that man led over five hundred souls to Jesus in one year like that. Isn't that something? Just walking with Jesus. Now, that man came up to me after this service and said, preacher. He said, the devil has this service bound. Now, to those that have ears to hear, I'm going to say something. I said, what do you mean, four people got saved tonight? He said, you know what your problem is? You're too satisfied with what the devil lets happen rather than being dissatisfied until you see what God wants to happen. Man, he laid me out. So I think I probably reacted in the flesh a little bit. I said, well, if you know so much about it, why don't you show me what you're talking about? And he said, I'll be glad to. Every night in that church, about thirty-five adults would go back and pray for an hour after the meeting. They'd pray that God come in mighty power for about an hour. We didn't join that crowd. We went to another room. We got in that room to pray, and you couldn't pray. And I remember this man saying, oh, God, cleanse me. And then I remember that man saying, Satan, you have no right in this room. This room has been paid for, and we've been purchased by the blood of the Lamb, and you have no right in this room. And man, the light of glory was on that room from then on. And then I heard that man pray, Satan, Jesus has bought and paid for the souls in this town, and you have no right here, and I'm claiming them for Jesus tonight. And he claimed the souls in that little old town for Jesus. He bound the strong man off of that service, and the next morning when I got up to preach and started preaching, people weighed me down, six people in fact, and said, can I get saved? Boy, I knew there was a different atmosphere in that place. Yes, sir, it's different. That night, 19 people came to Jesus, and one of them was a 60-year-old man. They'd been praying far for 30 years, and those people were so beside themselves, they said, sir, how did you get here tonight? We've been trying to get you to this church for 30 years. How did you get here tonight? He said, I just wanted to come, and there was nothing to hinder me. I said, all these years I've been hindered. I knew what was going on, because I'd gotten in on it. God was just merciful. Now, beloved, our battle tonight is not with flesh and blood. It's not with flesh and blood at all. And I believe with all of my heart that we must realize that we must stand against the devil. He said, well, how can we do that? Well, the Word of God is mentioned twice here. And I'm cutting this message way short. But the Word of God is mentioned twice here. And there's a reason for it. I believe one of these occasions, it's Jesus. And the other, it's the rhema of God. The Word of God means the Holy Spirit takes the word and places that word as a sword in your hand. And I believe that word there in that 17th verse, I believe that is a specialized word to you for a given situation that gives you the right to stand against the forces of hell with the Word of God. You see, you need a weapon to stand against the devil. And the Word is the weapon. The Word is the weapon. You can stand on the Word. And then the other weapon is mentioned in that 18th verse where it says, all prayer. That means all kinds of prayer. And if you were here Monday night, I listed those kinds of prayer. Confession, partition, praise, intercession, and the spoken word of faith. And, beloved, prayer is the other weapon. And you can take the two-edged sword in your hand and prayer. And tell the devil exactly what the Word says about him. And when you do, then God converts the Word of God from the pages of this book into reality, into your environment. Psalms 149 just really says it all. Sixth verse says, let the high praises of God be in their mouth. Do you have any idea what the high praises of God is? You know what I believe it is? I believe it's saying what God says. I don't think there can be anything greater than that. It's saying what God says. Let the high praises of God be in their mouth. And a two-edged sword, where? In your hand? To execute vengeance upon the heathen and punishment upon the people. To bind their kings with tongue chains, their nobles with fetters of iron. To execute upon them the judgment written. What is the judgment written about Satan tonight, by the way? He's defeated. You say, Brother Manley, I can't do that. That's strange. The next phrase says, this honor have all his saints. Praise you, the Lord. I want to tell you something. Most of us are so blinded as children of God that we have so little understanding of the truth of God that we are sitting around criticizing the politicians in Washington for what's going on in our nation when what's going on in our nation is the total responsibility of this crowd sitting right here tonight. We can literally control what's going on in Iran tonight if we had the understanding of the Bible and the courage to believe God. And if you don't believe that, it's because you are ignorant of the Word of God. When I hear men playing politics, playing with the politicians and all that junk, it makes me know just how literally ignorant we are as God's people. You say, you're getting mighty tough. I'd like to wake you up. Amen. We're drunk on ignorance. Brother, our battle is not with flesh and blood. If you don't believe that, we couldn't even carry out a rescue plan. Amen. That's just typical. Our battle is not with flesh and blood. And until you can see this, Brother, Satan will constantly eat away at your personal life, eat away at your family life, eat away at your church, eat away at your nation, eat away at your world, and eat away with your eternity. He said, it won't eat away with my eternity. Yeah, it'll rob you of every reward you could get. I guarantee you it will. Satan will just push you in the corner and let you be a milling-mouth pussy-footer that just plays around at the game of religion and be a little old church mouse sitting over there in the corner afraid something's going to happen. Amen. When God has really, my dear friend, saved us, endowed us, endued us, and literally invested into us everything it takes to be kings and priests and mighty soldiers, we're playing the game. For we have the two-edged sword in our hand. Let the high praises of God be in our mouth. And say to Satan what? What God has said. It's written. How did Jesus deal with the devil? How did he deal with the devil? He said what? It is, why, Brother Manley, but Lord, the angels. The angels were afraid to deal with the devil. Sure. Well, if the angels were afraid, what about us? Well, I'll tell you what, friends, I've got something on the angels. You say, what's that? The precious blood of the Lamb? And they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb. And the word of the testimony. Well, I've said enough. I'll tell you, folks, you're going to be responsible for what God has let me say to you. Until you can bind the strong man, you'll have a glorified social club. And that's about what our church has turned into. Amen? The only time a church has any right to say it's a church other than a social club is when the only explanation for it is the supernatural. The rest of it is a social club. In the name of Christianity. Amen? Would you bow your heads with me, please? As our instrumentalists begin to play our invitation, let me ask you something. Has God made you responsible tonight? Will you procrastinate with what you've heard, or will you do something about it tonight? Has God made you responsible tonight? Just the fact that you were able to see that you could pray a thing through. Praying a thing through is praying through till you have been changed unto his likeness, agreeing with God to bind the forces of hell to release God. Lord Jesus, as I bow here with this congregation, Lord, I'm not living what I preached tonight. I have. There were times when I would pray a church through. All I asked was that the pastor would just agree with me. And Lord, I've just said my health is so bad I can't do it anymore. Lord, I confessed this to Marian before I came over tonight. But I'm confessing it to you. I confess it to this church. But Lord, what I preach tonight, you know you said it. You put it in my heart to preach. And I'd like for you to forgive me. I know I'm responsible. Lord, I'm responsible for my nation's condition. I'm responsible for my family's condition. I'm responsible for my personal condition. Lord, I'm responsible for my responsibilities as evangelist like this meeting this week. So I don't know how to give this invitation tonight. So I'm giving it the only way I know how, and that's just to get open and honest with myself. Lord, forgive me and cleanse me. And quicken me. And endow me. Endow me. Endue me. To enable me. Oh, Lord Jesus, again. Lamb of God, somehow, someway, that this meeting, Saturday and Sunday, may reach such spiritual dimensions that, Lord Jesus, sinners will be saved and saints will be freed. Lamb of God, would you help us, Lord? I'm going to ask Brother Marin tonight to change the invitation, whatever he's got going to, unless he has this one. There is a fountain filled with blood drawn from Emmanuel's veins. I want us to sing about the blood. And if you want to come tonight and get honest with God and respond to the light that God's given you tonight, I trust that you'll come. Now, friends, let me tell you something. You're not dealing with flesh and blood. You're not dealing with flesh and blood. The devil will keep you there in that seat. He'll keep you in your condition, make you passive.