Four Ways that Prayer is Nurtured, Part 3

In this part of the sermon: Martin begins by emphasizing the importance of extensive Bible reading in church, contrasting it with secular sources of knowledge. He then situates the sermon within his series…

Martin contrasts the knowledge of God gained from extensive Bible reading in church with the lack of such knowledge from primetime television, newspapers, offices, or average universities, emphasizing the unique role of the church.

Now will you follow, please, in your Bibles as I read from Ephesians, chapter 6, the sixth chapter of Ephesians, verses 10 through 20. May I say, for some who may be visiting among us, if you attend the ordinary evangelical church, you've probably thought, boy, they do an awful lot of Bible reading in that church. Well, that's right. You're not going to get much knowledge of God in primetime television.

0:15 - 0:45 Read in full sermon

In this part of the sermon: Martin expounds 2 Corinthians 10:3-5, explaining Paul's defense against accusations of walking 'according to the flesh.' He clarifies that while believers live in the flesh, their…

To explain 'walk in the flesh,' Martin gives examples of Paul's ordinary human experiences like eating, sleeping, burping, and having bad breath, to show he was not superhuman but lived a normal bodily existence.

For though we walk in the flesh, now notice he doesn't say we walk after, kata, according to the flesh, but though we walk in the flesh, and now he uses in the flesh in a different sense. In the flesh here simply means though we walk as ordinary human beings. Paul had to eat, Paul had to sleep. If he ate too quickly, he'd burp.

11:42 - 12:06 Read in full sermon

Driving home: They are mighty before God, mighty because God has designated them as weapons in the war, Mighty because God himself attends the use of these weapons and makes them effectual.

The 'strongholds' of the enemy are described as fortresses with thick walls, high walls, and turrets, illustrating the entrenched nature of the devil's lies and the difficulty of overcoming them without divine power.

It is a picture of the enemy of Christ and of his servants and of the people of God. And they have holed up in their fortresses. And these fortresses have thick walls and high walls and turrets. And the apostle says in this warfare where we have weaponry that has been given to us by God and are divinely given.

16:43 - 17:07 Read in full sermon

The point: Avoid the temptation to meet the challenge of the world with carnal weapons like human wisdom, secular entertainment, or massive organization, as these fail and lead to a secularized church being controlled by darkness.

Martin quotes Philip Hughes' commentary on 2 Corinthians 10, warning that using human wisdom, secular entertainment, or massive organization to meet the world's challenge not only fails but leads to a secularized church being conquered by Satan.

Only spiritual weapons are divinely powerful for the overthrow of the fortresses of evil. This constitutes an admonition to the church, and particularly to her leaders, for the temptation is ever present to meet the challenge of the world which is under the sway of the evil one. Now note carefully what he goes on to say. The temptation is ever present to meet the challenge of the world which is under the sway of the evil one with the carnal weapons of this world, with human wisdom and philosophy, with the attractions of secular entertainment, with the display of massive organization. Not only ...

20:08 - 21:24 Read in full sermon

The point: Avoid the temptation to meet the challenge of the world with carnal weapons like human wisdom, secular entertainment, or massive organization, as these fail and lead to a secularized church being controlled by darkness.

Hughes' metaphor 'men's tower becomes their tomb' illustrates how the fortresses of wrong thoughts and self-sufficiency, intended as defense against God, ultimately lead to spiritual death.

Unless these bulwarks are cast down by the gospel of God's grace in Christ Jesus, men's tower becomes their tomb. Their tower of defense becomes their tomb. What a picture! Men willfully, deliberately, hiding in the fortresses of wrong thoughts about God.

23:24 - 23:52 Read in full sermon

In this part of the sermon: Transitioning to prayer as a specific strategic weapon, Martin expounds Mark 9, the account of the demon-possessed boy. He highlights the disciples' failure despite their…

Martin vividly describes the father's distress over his demon-possessed son, imagining the morning routine and the horror of finding the boy foaming, grinding teeth, and unable to speak, to convey the graphic reality of the situation in Mark 9.

That is, he is possessed of a demon, an evil spirit that has made him unable to speak. And wheresoever it takes him, it dashes him down, and he foams and grinds his teeth and pines away. Think of this father with this boy. Imagine what it would be like to get up in the morning and call your son to breakfast, and he doesn't come.

28:10 - 28:32 Read in full sermon

The point: Engage in a 'new level of commitment, earnest, believing, persistent, not going to let God go kind of prayers' for those entrenched in sin, especially children who have resisted ordinary means of grace.

Martin uses the metaphor of the devil 'looking over the top of his embattlement... and sticks his tongue out at you' to illustrate the enemy's defiance and apparent victory when individuals remain entrenched in sin despite the church's efforts.

I believe God is speaking to me not in voices from heaven but out of his word in passages such as these, saying, my son, there's going to be a breakthrough in some of these situations in which the devil, as it were, almost looks over the top of his embattlement, over the top of these walled cities in which he holds his captive and sticks his tongue out at you. What is all your preaching done? What is all your praying done till now? Look, I've got them.

39:29 - 39:58 Read in full sermon

The point: Engage in a 'new level of commitment, earnest, believing, persistent, not going to let God go kind of prayers' for those entrenched in sin, especially children who have resisted ordinary means of grace.

Martin cites examples from prime time TV shows, including blatant occult themes, illicit sex, and homosexual relationships, to illustrate the increasing paganism of society and how the devil has 'thickened his walls' and 'razed his towers.'

And as we were reminded last week in the seminar with Dr. Jones, as we see our society becoming more and more pagan with prime time TV shows blatantly celebrating the occult, I know it not because I watch it but I get the TV guide and read what's being shown so that I know what I'm talking about. Several prime time, family hour programs suffused with the occult. The latest statistics, almost 70% of all the programs have some display and reference to illicit sex.

40:25 - 41:04 Read in full sermon