How was this morning? And I have no doubt this crowd does. Let's run over to 2 Corinthians chapter number 10. 2 Corinthians chapter number 10. And we're going to pick up from verse 3 and 4 again. And then we'll move from there. Once you get there, let's all stand as we give reverence to the precious, life-changing Word of God. Hallelujah. Thank God we have this Word to feast upon. That's 2 Corinthians chapter number 10, verses 3 and verses number 4. The Bible says, God's Word says, under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, as Paul writes to the church of Corinth, he says this, For though we walk to live in the flesh, we do not war after the flesh. For the weapons, the armor of our warfare are not carnal. No, no. But mighty through God to the pulling down, the demolition of strongholds. Passing down imaginations. Every high thing that exalted itself against the knowledge of God and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ. We started last Sunday on talking about this invisible war. We picked up Tuesday about the Invisible War. We're going to talk this morning about not only the Invisible War, but preparing for the war. Are you prepared for the war? Are you ready for the battle? Let's see what God has to say this morning. Father, help us. I beg you in the name of Jesus Christ to clean my heart. It's wicked. Clean my mind. Clean my ears and my hands and my feet. Scrub me real good, and then make my vessel pliable for your use. And I pray God should help me to speak the words that you'd have me to say that will flow from my lips. And I pray God should take your words and let them hit the ear, not the physical ear, so to speak. Well, you've got to hit the physical ear, too. So hit the physical ear, but also the spiritual ear, and seek down to the spiritual heart. And I pray that, God, that you would reveal to us how we need to be prepared for the war, prepared for the battle, prepared for the skirmishes that we will, not might, but that we will face. And I pray that God, as we read the word of God, I pray God we find ourselves being strengthened by the word. I pray God we find our faith being increased because of the word. And your word teaches us that faith comes by hearing and hearing by the word. And so Father, I pray you take the word right now and let it become alive to us. Feed us with it. Yes, sir. Feed us. And with that, God, we'll thank you. And then, God, if there's anything else, meet that need to help us, Lord. I beg you, in the name of Jesus, help those who will be listening, those who are watching. God, help them, and we'll thank you for that. Also, yeah, be with my brother Bill Payne. He's preaching this morning. Touch him, anoint him with fresh oil from heaven to preach your word. And God, help all of us, because we all need your help. For it's your son's name we pray, Jesus. Amen. Amen. May we see you. The invisible war that we are facing is a war that you and I need to be prepared for. And if you are being prepared, that means that you are making preparations, that means that you are getting ready. Now watch what it says here in verse three, not because I have a stuttery speech, but I want us to really have this thing sit down in our minds. Verse three says, for though we walk in the flesh, we do not war, we do not combat, the enemy in what? In the flesh. So in other words, my friends, we are fighting a spiritual war. The Bible says in the next part of the verse, the next verse, for the weapons, the armor of our warfare are not carnal. They're not fleshly. They're not bodily. But they are mighty, the Bible says, through God. Number one, I don't care what weapon you have. It won't have any kind of strength or any kind of stamina. aside from God empowering it. The Bible says it's through God. Then he goes on to say, my dear friends, but it's my due God to the pulling down, I would like that, the demolition of strongholds or that which is holding you and I. The Bible says that these weapons that we'll put on will enable us, through the power of God, to demolish that which is trying to hold us. I wonder what has a hold of us this morning. What has a hold of our mind? What has a hold of our heart? What has a grip on us? And that grip is so tight, my friends. No matter how you try to pry it loose, it won't get loose. It's like one of them, it's a rock violin. When it's all locked on, is that the only thing I'm thinking about? The pinball. When they lock on, they lock on. And some of us have pit bull problems. Pit bull problems. I mean, they latch on to us, and we shake that thing, and it's just, argh, argh, argh. It won't let go. It takes a greater force, a greater power, than what you and I have in ourselves. It takes the power of God Almighty. And the Bible says, by the way, it's not the physical hand that's going to pull it off, because we need spiritual weapons. The Bible was on the same line, dear friends. Casting down. What are we talking about? Casting down. Destroying imaginations. That's false. And every high thing. All my thoughts know. It tells you what type of thoughts. What types of high things. What type of thoughts. Every thought, every high thing that exalted, that raised itself against the knowledge of God. There are thoughts, my friends, that are beginning to put in our minds that go against God. They go against what his word teaches us. The Bible says, though, that we'll be able to tear these things down, bring into captivity every thought to the obedience of who? Of Christ. Folks, that's where the war is at. Primarily, the war is right here. It's in my head. It's in my mind. And I see his manifestation through my actions. The Bible says in another verse, as a man thinking, what? So is he. Your thoughts have a lot to do with how you and I react and how we respond. That's why the enemy attacks our head. He bombards our minds with all kinds of stuff, some guns in hand. Put on the whole armor, God. Get ready for this invisible war. Be prepared for this invisible war that you and I face. Now, let's run very quickly to Ephesians chapter 6. And we're just going to touch on one verse, maybe two, and then we'll stop there. Look at Ephesians chapter number 6. And look what it says, Ephesians 6. And look at verse number, we'll pick up at verse 10. The Bible says, finally, my brother. By the way, let's do us all a favor Let's not try to attach these promises or these principles to someone who is not a believer. So a lot of times, we try to take these things and say, we're going to hear about it. This is what the Bible says. Just do this right here, and you'll be all OK. No. Brethren, it takes the power of the Holy Ghost. And if you're saved, where's the Holy Spirit living? Inside. Only inside. If you're not saved, you don't have the indwelling of the Holy Spirit. So no matter how you might read these principles, my friends, they have no ability in your life until you are saved, brought forth and born again, and filled with the Holy Ghost. He said, find me my brethren. The word brethren means those who are born from the same womb. He said, find me my brethren. He says this, be strong in your own strength. Oh, I'm sorry. Be strong in the Lord and in the power of his might. And here it is. Put on part of the armor. I'm sorry. My Bible all messed up this morning. Put on the whole armor of God, that ye may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. For we wrestle not against John, and Paul, and Samuel. That's flesh and blood. but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of darkness in this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places. Wherefore, take unto you the whole armor of God, that ye may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand. Then it gives a list. We need to put on. Now we ain't going to preach on that this morning. What I do want to preach on is verse 11. He says, put on the whole armor of God that you may be able to withstand against the wiles of the devil. The first thing you see, my friends, is the command to prepare. He's asking us. He says, put on. When your kids get up to go to school, what do you say? Put on. Put on your clothes. Go get a bath. Brush your teeth. Good afternoon for a boat. You say, hey, put on your stuff. Put on your uniform. You know, depending on what school you're going to. Put on your uniform. Put on that stuff. You know? This is Jackie, works at Cracker Barrel. And when she goes to Cracker Barrel, what do you have to put on? Her stupid uniform. Her stupid uniform. Her stupid ugly uniform. And that stupid ugly uniform identified her as being an employee of Cracker Barrel. Yeah. I mean, if I was walking around, anybody would ask me about this or ask me about that. But if I got that uniform on, they'll, excuse me, can you help me? And some folks who work at some retail places, they don't want to wear the uniform. Then what am I asking? This is my coming back, you know. They be running. But we ain't down south. Man, down south is so different. Now, you down south, once you cross that, where that Mason Dixon line is at, you down south, you walk to the store, they run to you. Hey, can I help you? What do you need, ma'am? Over here to help you. They come in there. How can I help you? Up here, everybody's like, you know, smell it. But that uniform signifies that you work for that particular establishment. And God tells us to put on the whole armor of man. The whole armor of God. Because see, man's armor won't work. Y'all know the story, basically, about David and Goliath. Remember when David was going to fight Goliath, and there wasn't What did Saul do? Saul went and got his armor, and said, here, put this on, David. And David was trying to put that stuff on. He was like, this ain't going to work. Let's do this real quick. This will be a short message, I think. Luke stands over here at first standing. Luke at first standing in chapter number 17. Luke at first standing in chapter number 17. Luke stands over there. Is that right? Is that right? Luke is first standing. And I'm all in kings. The same. There was that one. Read 1 Samuel chapter 17 and drop down and look at verse number... Verse number 38. Verse number 38. 1 Samuel 17 verse 38. The Bible says, And Saul armed David with what? His arm. And put a helmet of brass upon his head. And also he armed him with a coat of mail. And that's not mail you get out of the mailbox. And David burned his sword upon his armor, and it stayed to go. For he had not proved it. And David said, sir, I cannot go with these. This ain't going to work. For I've not proved it. And David put them off him, and he took a staff in his hand, and chose the five smooth stones out of the brook and put them in the shepherd's bag, which he had in a strip and a sling within his hand. And the Jew neared to the Philistine. The Bible, and we're going to read verse 9. But he had the armor. And he said, this ain't going to work. I've not proved these. I've not tested these. This ain't going to work. Let me get what I know. Let me get what I'm used to working with. The person before that said he slew the bear and the lion. He took care of them. What did he do? He took you. Well, my dear friends, don't put it on the world's arm. The world says they do something to you, you know what they do? Get them back. What they say? Come on, come on. We're going to test somebody up. Wait a minute, what does that word say? That's what that word got said? I don't know what it said back then, but I'm going to test somebody up. Now, what's the Bible say? A soft answer for all. Turn away wrath, but breathe His words. Stop anger. Somebody say, well, I'm bound by what's there. OK, I'll tell you what's there. Look at Proverbs 29. Look at Proverbs 29. And look what it says over here. Proverbs 29. And I believe it's in verse, they're moving from verse 1. They're moving to 2. Some of y'all prayed against me. I know this crowd. Where's that going? I'm going to find them. We're staying all day. Where is that? Fifteen. Fifteen, thank you. You go, that's where it is. Who's that here? Popper and 15 verse 1. Popper and 15, we went to everybody here. Think of Proverbs 15 verse 1. A soft answer turns away wrath, but dreavous words stir up anger. The tongue of the wise uses what? Knowledge. Everybody wants to know, I'm wise. Are you sure? We said, sir, we use knowledge of life, but the mouth of fools. Woo, my soul. Who would think that here? It pours out foolishness. And most of the NSA drip. When you pour something out, it's just dusting out here. It's like, shh. And the Bible says, a person, my dear friend, the mouth of fools, that means unwise person, pour out foolishness. It's going to come pouring out. And that thing's like, oh. But you know what? Once it's spilled out, it's out. The ground's wet. So the best thing to do, like the Bible says, this, my friends, is a soft answer. But that's weakness. I can't be walking around. People found that way. They come at me and I'm like... I don't know what it's talking about. It's not talking about so much the tone of your voice, but it's the content of what you are saying. There are soft words and there are harsh words. I'll let you use the examples that's flowing in your mind right now. But it's a big difference between the soft words and harsh words. The Bible tells us this. So Bob, I'm trying to get you this. All of this, by the way, is a part of putting that on. Because we're not talking about it this morning, but Bob says, be dirt, or I'll be dirt with truth. The belt ain't truth. Truth is God's Word. And be surrounded with that truth. Man, I'm not trying to put you on that yet. But what does the belt do? It holds up your clothes. See, the truth will hold you up. A lie causes you to fall apart, but the truth will hold you up. And the truth of God's word keeps us intact. And this is the truth of God's word. He doesn't lie. A soft answer. So next time, my friends, whether it's your spouse, or whether it's your friend, or your cousin, whoever, when they come at you, and they come barking, hoo, hoo, hoo, hoo, ha! Don't you go back, hoo, hoo, hoo, ha, ha, ha, ha! No. Yeah, I don't know who he's looking, to be honest with you. But instead of barking back, say, God, give me wisdom to know how to respond. Because I know if I'm not careful, this is going to turn into World War 16. And that's not what we need. Now, let's flip back over. Let's flip back over to where? Ephesians. Go back to Ephesians. So we see, first of all, the command to prepare. God says in Ephesians chapter 6, in verse number 11, he commands us to prepare. He says, put on the whole armor of God. That is the full armor of God. So we see, first, the command to be prepared. Secondly, we see the purpose for preparing. What's the purpose for preparing? The Bible says this, that, this is the reason why, that you may be able to stand. That word here, my dear friends, be able, means to be of power. Put on the whole arm of God so that you may be able to stand. So you can have the power and the ability Because if you ain't got the whole arm of the law, you ain't going to stay. A lot of us this afternoon, we're going to go home. Some of the guys are going to go home. And you're going to turn the TV on and watch a football game. We can all rejoice this weekend for the Bears, because they don't play. So we know they're going to be all right. But nonetheless, they're doing great. But this here, by the way. But nonetheless, though, we don't want these guys on the football field. And what are they going to have on? They're going to have on helmets. They're going to have on pants. All this stuff to protect them when they collide with the opposing force. But they don't have that stuff on them. And get hit. Somebody's going to get hurt. Oh, yeah. What you talking about, preacher? If you don't put your whole arm on them, when the enemy comes, boom, and hits you, you are going down. All right. You're not going to be able to. When the enemy comes, my dear friend, if you are not prepared, if you don't have the armor on, if you don't have the weapons arrayed on to fight back against him, you will not stand. So that's why he tells us that the reason is this, so that you'll be able to stand. The purpose is that you'll be able to have the ability and the power to stand. That word, stand, that's a good word. It also means continue. Some of us have stopped. We've not continued. We've not continued. We've stopped. Because we did not have a whole arm of God on us, the enemy came by, pushed us around, and instead of standing or continuing, we stopped. We stopped reading our Bibles. We've stopped praying like we ought to pray. We've stopped trying to help other people because we got hurt ourselves. We have stopped doing a number of things because we didn't have our armor on. And because of that, we are not continuing. But you know what you can do? When he heals you back up, put your armor on. And then, my dear friends, within any time, you are able to stand. You are able to continue to go forward. Could we just read in our verse from the day that when, what's it say in our bulletin? Let's see what's in there. Yeah. It says, if thou faint, that means you ain't standing if you faint. If thou faint in the day of adversity, thy strength is what? Is small. Sometimes, my friends, we think, man, I got it. I'm good to go. adversity comes, the wind starts blowing, and we're all over the place. We're everywhere. We're just thrown all over the place. The world's happening right here. We're clinging on, trying to hang on. We realize, I ain't as strong as I thought I was. There's one thing, by the grace of God, I'm not going to say, I am a strong Christian. All right. We going to say it, how strong you are. No, I'm going to struggle to trust in Christians, right? And I'm going to be empowered by the Holy Ghost of God. Because you'll find out just how strong you are. And so usually, when we start talking like that, my friends, I'm strong. I'm a strong Christian. I'm a rock with you. I'm a strong Christian. Usually, we've now crossed over to the area of pride. You know what the Bible says about pride? Woo, it's hard. You can hit the ground hard. But it ain't to hurt me. It's always to help me. And my friends, the Bible tells us that if we are going to be able, we're going to stand against anyone who comes, then we must be prepared because he is coming. And then the third thing we see, the last thing we see is this, or almost the last thing we see, we see the strategy against our preparation. The Bible says, put on the whole armor of God that you may be able to stand against what? The wiles of the devil. The word wiles also means strategy. So you and I will be able to stand against not only the strategy, but in this verse here, actually, the trickery. of the devil, the wiles, the trickery. The devil, the Bible says, and the word devil here also means, my humble words, false accuser. The false accuser is going to use trickery, my dear friends, to try to defeat us. And when a person uses trickery, he's trying to be slick. You know what they say about you. You sure you didn't say it? You didn't miss it? You want to check what they said? Just don't listen to them, girl. I don't want to miss it. I don't care what they said. I don't want to know what they said. If I want to miss it, then guess what? I can say, hey, what's up? But they can tell me what she said. Hey, what's up? And most of the time, there's always some ads. There's always some ads. I'm going to tell you something. Okay? Then I want you to tell Stephanie. Then Stephanie, I want you to tell Brett. Then Brett, I want you to tell Stevie. Then Stevie, I want you to tell Kalika. You know what I'm talking about. I want you to tell Kalika. Then Kalika, I want you to tell Ciara. Then Ciara, I want you to tell Jessie. Then Jessie, I want you to tell your mama. Oh, yeah, okay. I'm kidding. I love you. I love you. What? Okay. What did they say? Three six six times three. I said, this is what I'm saying. Three tick tocks and a beat. Three six six times three. She said three six six times three. I said 3 6 5 7 8. But you see how that has changed? Now by counting up 3 6 6 and what and who? What did you say 3 6 6 and what? What did you say? 3 6 6 5 7 8. You know what I'm talking about? But that's what happens. By the time it gets to someone else, it has changed. And one little word can change everything else about what you actually said. So the next time somebody says what they said, it might not be what they said. It may be totally different. But those are some of the trickery. Those are some of the tricks, the enemy, the wows that he tried to use. So we see the command, the purpose, and the strategy against our preparation. The Bible says that the devil, that you may be able to stand against the wows or the trickery of the devil. He's going to try to trick us. He's going to try to slick us. He's going to try to do his best, my dear friends, to cause us to not be able to stand. And then lastly, we see this, the reason for the powers. The Bible says, for. This is the reason. We've become a whole arm of God. For we wrestle not against flesh and blood. And that word here, wrestle, means to combat. It means to struggle. It means hand-to-hand combat. And hand-to-hand combat is up close. Our hand-to-hand combat is not, though, the Bible tells us, He is not flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness, sins, depravity, plots, iniquity, and high places. The word high, that means above the sky, the airways. Above us, there's battles. We're going to talk about some of this stuff, about the satanic battles. You know, the demons or fallen angels fight against those angels that are fallen to God. There's a spiritual battle that takes place that you and I cannot see with the physical eye. But the Bible says this. You put on the whole armor of God. And he said this, verse number 13. Wherefore, take unto you the whole armor of God, that ye may be able to withstand. Withstand in the evil day and have it done all to stand. He says, in the evil day. Folks, there's a bad day coming. There's a bad day coming. But when that bad day comes, are we going to have the whole armor on so we'll be able to withstand when that bad day comes and have it done all to stand, to continue, to keep going. In this battle, in this war, the enemy's trying to pick us off one at a time. One at a time. All of us, if you've been slaving half a week, all of us know that somebody, that one time, used to serve God fervently. I mean, they were on fire! I mean, they were, they were crying for charge! Charge! And now they can't find anybody. They got wounded in the battle. The enemy used tactics. The enemy was using strategy. The enemy was using trickery. And now, my friends, this is where I'm at. I'm not going down there, a bunch of hypocrites. I'm not going down there. I feel this hurt. I'm not going down there because this is going to happen, that's going to happen, and you didn't hear about this one. You didn't hear about that church, that pastor, or that believer, that Christian. Well, most of that church that was there was my family last night, yesterday. I was told, I said, listen, I can't lie. I can't lie to you. I'm going to tell you the truth. We're going to have to stop this. As some of us be in church, some of us deaconing, and some of us choiring, and ushering, and all this kind of stuff, and we're going to be drinking full nights over it. That's the truth. We've got to stop this. Amen, amen, all that kind of stuff. Sure enough, afterwards, I saw them. I said, what did you do? I went over there. I said, I'm here to check them cups. They're all we got here. They're just Coke. They're just Coke. But see, when you used to do that kind of stuff, you knew that smell. I said, they're just Coke, all right. They ain't just Coke. Did you jump on me? Did you get your power up? Did you get your confidence up? Yes, you got it. Right, right, right. You know. They know. They know. I was letting them know. I know. We both know. So what do you think will happen? There's something called the Holy Spirit. I know we don't know much about him. We don't know all much about him. But the Holy Spirit doesn't walk with you and I can't do that. You just plant the seed. That's the way I come out of war. Then one day, it might be Sunday, he was sitting down in Chicago downtown, on the curb. He came by with a wagon, telling people, trying to get them to stop and all that kind of stuff. And he was looking at them, he had been drinking. He used to play ball with the White Stockings, baseball, making a lot of money. He saw him come by, got up, all his friends were right there. He said, Boris, pour it out. So I'm done. Walked in Pacific Park, Michigan. Life was changed. Came to Great Banks for Lord Jesus Christ. What happened? Somebody planted some seeds. So one day, while he was sitting with his buddies, somebody came by and he seen that. He said, Uncle, I'm back. And you know what's going to happen? You plant them seeds. Your relatives, your friends, your associates. Don't be mean to spirit. Don't be unkind. Just plant the seed. Just plant the seed. And one day somebody will say, you know what? I'm tired of this. All right. I'm tired of this. I mean, it's like I'm a yo-yo. I'm just like, you know what? I'm tired. I'm tired of going this way, this way. I'm in. I'm out. I'm in. I'm out. And this is getting tired. I think I'll just give in. I'm tired of going back and forth. But now when you get in here, you've got to get your arm going. You've got to get your arm going. But I thought everybody in the church thought everybody in the church loved everybody. Well, yeah, I am. Sorry y'all feel me. But imagine this. How many of y'all got more than eight siblings? You got more than eight siblings? But if you have siblings, how much would you love your siblings? Do all y'all get along? Will you let him go to the library? What do you think of siblings? But your siblings, and some of y'all have done, your siblings, you've done things that hurt them? You knew it was gonna hurt them? They hurt you, you go get back at them? All that kind of stuff. But they still got the same blood running through your veins, that same DNA running through there. And the family of God, if we all have a sin nation, if we think that we are all gonna agree on every single thing, we are deceived. I don't agree with my own sin on everything! So how in the world do we have to deal with everything? I mean, think about it for a second. Man, that's why you wish you hadn't done this. Man, what's wrong with me? What was I thinking? We're not going to grow up every single day. And unfortunately, things are going to be sad things when you're done to hurt one another. But you ain't got to do that. You take that before the father. What's your daddy tell me how I'm growing up? I told you take this. I don't tell you what. Well, I figured I need to take care of this and that. Now you're both getting old. I'll tell you what my grandmother did one time. She went there, put that thing off. I don't forget who it was. And I remember one of us fighting. The other two were fighting. We was all lying there watching, you know. But I mean, they were fighting. And Grandma Jenkins, she came in. She went up there. She came down those stairs. Man, she grabbed that thing off there, the bar thing off that thing. And man, she started swinging. I mean, she was, boy, y'all stop it. She was hitting everybody. We were all running. Everybody was on top of stuff. We were moving. Gone. I ain't know nothing. You ain't come tell me what happened either. I was watching. Get him. Get him. Get him for me. He better bother me, too. I saw my cousin yesterday. He's a big boy. And I see him yesterday. He's, oh, now. I jumped around like, man, I say, I can whoop him now. He's about, anyway. The whole arm of God. We done. I'm going to show you this. We done. So we see, my dear friends, the Bible teaches us the command, the purpose, the strategy, and the reason. And we're not going to touch on all this today. But it tells us exactly what the arm of God is. You look at the next verse in Galatians chapter 6. It says this. Galatians 6. Galatians 6. Ephesians chapter 6. It says this. It says this. Verse 14. Stand therefore. I want you to watch these weapons. Stand therefore having your loins girt about with truth, having on the breastplate of righteousness, having your feet showered with the preparation of the what? Gospel of peace. Above all, taking the shield of what? Faith. It's made out of faith. Wherewith you should be able to quench not some, but all the fiery darts of the wicked, and take the helmet of what? Salvation. And the sword of the what? Spirit. Spirit, which is what? The Word of God. The Word of God. Notice all these weapons we're talking about? They're spiritual weapons. Amen. Because we are fighting a spiritual war. Amen. Now, we got a little bit of slugger. I want to go whoop somebody. No. Bring it to the master. So Lord, give me the truth about this situation. Show me how I need to respond. I want to carry the good news of peace. I don't take the sword and spear, which is the word of God. Help me use the word of God to combat the enemy when he comes and attacks me. What does the word of God have to say? I need that helmet of salvation, helmet of deliverance, the helmet that protects my what? My mind. My head. The enemy's shooting at my head. I got my shield of faith, so I can quench, I can extinguish all the fiery hearts. When those thoughts come in, I just do like that, just pull up, boom. Hit my shield of faith. Not a finger, a shield of faith. How do you get faith? Word of God. Word of God. Yeah, one question then. Have the enemy been deceiving you? Has the enemy been deceiving you? He's been using his weapons. He's been coming at your mind. He's been coming at your head. He has been attacking you, bombarding you with all kinds of thoughts. Thoughts of defeat. Thoughts of disappointment. Thoughts of non-deliverance. All thoughts of unrest. Thoughts of anger. He has thrown all these things at your head. But you know what? He has. We have someone that can deliver our minds this morning. And that someone is Jesus Christ. And he does it through the power of the Holy Spirit. And you ask yourself this question, who am I going to serve? Am I going to serve the king of kings? Or am I going to serve myself? The Bible says, thou yourself, thou thyself, thou thyself, and therefore the Savior. Well, at the time of the decision, what we're going to do is get some help from the master. Father, thank you for your many wonderful blessings. And I just pray, Master Dodd, that, well, this is just kind of like an introduction, really, but I pray, Master Dodd, that you help us to realize that we are fighting a real life enemy. But this enemy is using spiritual weapons. And if we are fighting a spiritual battle, a spiritual war, I thought we need spiritual weapons to be able to fight back with. So I pray and ask God to help us when we get ready to go through these few messages. I don't know how many of you want me to do, but whatever you want me to do. But as we get to go through these things, Lord, I pray God will put on the whole arm of God, so we will be able to stand. So we will be able to continue, not to stop, but continue to go forward for the Lord Jesus Christ. I ask God that someone that wants to come talk to you about some matters this morning. Maybe it has nothing to do with the message I preached, but yes, it's spoken by my mother. I'm going to talk to you this morning.