Dena Davidson [00:00:00]:
Welcome to the Bible study pod. I am Dena, and I am joined by two of our friends from the Adventure campus. Jason, go ahead and introduce yourself.
Jason Dixon [00:00:07]:
Hello. Jason Dixon here, and I'm one of the pastors over at Adventure.
Dena Davidson [00:00:12]:
That's right.
Cameron Wells [00:00:12]:
And Cameron Wells, also one of the pastors at Adventure.
Dena Davidson [00:00:16]:
Okay, very nice. I love the lack of distinction between your titles. So no one has. Ambiguity is the best idea, what you guys do over there. That's wonderful. Love it. Well, I guess you have to go visit the Adventure campus to find out more.
Cameron Wells [00:00:27]:
Come find out.
Jason Dixon [00:00:27]:
That's perfect.
Dena Davidson [00:00:28]:
Love it. All right, we are in Ephesians 6. If you have been loving this book, then you are probably pretty sad because it's drawing to a close. But Ephesians 6 is one of the most important chapters in all of scripture for understanding how we can rightly fight the right battles. So let me go ahead and read. It says this, finally. Do you get the sense there, friends? Like, finally.
Cameron Wells [00:00:56]:
I don't know.
Jason Dixon [00:00:56]:
Some people are feeling that way.
Dena Davidson [00:00:58]:
We're not exactly.
Cameron Wells [00:00:59]:
I felt that at the end of Acts, not at the end of Ephesians.
Dena Davidson [00:01:01]:
Yes, I agree. But I don't know if like. Like when they read that, finally they were like, huh, huh. Yep, Exactly. Paul, finally.
Cameron Wells [00:01:08]:
Appreciate it, dude.
Dena Davidson [00:01:09]:
Or I think from Paul's point of view, it's more like, all right, this is the. You know, this is the. This is the apex of what I'm saying. I have been marching towards this conclusion, culmination of everything. Culmination. Here we go. Finally, be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power. Put on the full armor of God so that you can take your stand against the devil's schemes.
Dena Davidson [00:01:32]:
For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world, and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms. Therefore, put on the full armor of God so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground. And after you have done everything to stand, stand firm. Then with the belt of truth buckled around your waist, with the breastplate of righteousness in place, and with your feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace. In addition to all this, take up the shield of faith with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one, take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the spirit, which is the word of God. Incredible passage. So let. We love to talk about context here on the Bible study.
Dena Davidson [00:02:23]:
So we joked a little bit earlier, but let's really dive into that word. Finally. Where are we coming from in Ephesians? That sets us up for that finally.
Cameron Wells [00:02:33]:
Well, Ephesians kind of broken up, and Paul really lays out as the blueprint for Christ's church. And so he lays that out. You know, chapters one through three and then four through six get really kind of ground level on the believer. And I feel like we lose a lot. You know, in Scripture, it can be difficult to sit down and actually get into your Bible. And so we'll do like a chapter or we'll do like a, you know, a sub chapter. But if you were to read the book of Ephesians in totality, and you actually read it like the letter that it was written to be, you get to the end and you. And Paul has laid out all of this doctrine, all of this theology, all of this groundwork, and then he says, finally, this is what you're supposed to do with that.
Cameron Wells [00:03:19]:
So after all of these incredible things that I've told you, what do you actually do? You do these things to take your stand.
Dena Davidson [00:03:26]:
That's right. So good. And it's really about instructions for Christian living. And most immediately, we've just covered a few really challenging passages in all of the New Testament that talk about really controversial issues. So, wives, submit to your husband. Slaves, obey your masters. And I think sometimes in the midst of trying to unpack those really challenging verses, we forget the conclusion that Paul is marching towards. Basically, he's saying, this is not the person to fight.
Dena Davidson [00:04:01]:
This is not the person to fight. This is not the person to fight. And you keep hearing that word, submit. And, you know, you're supposed to die to yourself and, you know, submit and submit. And at some point, I do think there's probably this urge in us, like, okay, well, is that the Christian life just to. To lay down completely and always be trampled on and walked over? And it's just this path of continual submission. But then he gets to this part in Ephesians where he says, finally, this is who you should fight. This is the battle that you are called to.
Dena Davidson [00:04:33]:
So I think sometimes we lose that context of, yeah, these are the wrong people to fight. You're not supposed to fight your spouse. You're not supposed to fight these earthly people. But there is an ancient enemy of your soul that you are called to fight.
Jason Dixon [00:04:47]:
Yeah, that enemy wants you to lose in every way, shape, or form. And Paul coming back here with this finally as after he's laid out all this. And Cameron, I love what you said. We do. This is a Letter and letters are meant to be read. Not study this a little bit. It's no, read this letter. And then finally, there is this battle going on.
Jason Dixon [00:05:06]:
And the battle is linking, going back to all of what Ephesians is talking about is our identity. And our identity is in God. That's where our identity is. And I love kind of this finally piece is. It's saying, hey, this is the foundation of everything. And I love, if you've ever heard of John Wood, an amazing UCLA basketball coach, tons of national championships, and he would, at the beginning of every season, sit with his new players and teach him how to put on their socks so they didn't get blisters on their feet. And so he. This is the foundation of you playing on this team.
Jason Dixon [00:05:41]:
These are your feet. And so this is Paul saying, listen, this is it. I've told you everything. This is it. This is what you need to focus on. So, yeah, I love this section.
Cameron Wells [00:05:50]:
Yeah. I feel like verse 12 is everything, especially right now in our cultural moment. Our struggles are not against flesh and blood. And to your point, it's like we don't. We don't actually want to fight this battle. We want to fight other battles.
Dena Davidson [00:06:06]:
Yes.
Cameron Wells [00:06:06]:
And I want to fight the battles of flesh and blood. I want to fight the battles of politics and culture war. And like, those are the battles I want to fight, but those are not the battles I'm called to fight as a. As a believer, as a Christian. Right. It's like when things are not going well in my marriage, I don't want to engage in that and problem solve because it's hard and it hurts and you got to do self reflecting and you're usually wrong. So I'll go mow the lawn or I'll clean, you know, part of the house. And like, I will go fight other battles except the one, the only one that matters, which is the relational problem that my wife and I have to figure out together.
Cameron Wells [00:06:43]:
I'm not fighting her. Right. It's me and her against the problem. I don't want to fight that. So I'll go pick other battles. And it's like Paul is like, the church needs to stop fighting the wrong battles within. Yeah.
Jason Dixon [00:06:54]:
Yeah.
Dena Davidson [00:06:55]:
I don't know how you feel about musicals, Jason, but Cameron and I, we.
Cameron Wells [00:06:59]:
Have just outed me.
Dena Davidson [00:07:00]:
I just outed you. I'm so sorry. This is a Viking myself in front of you. Yes, please.
Jason Dixon [00:07:05]:
I was an athlete, but I was in show choir.
Dena Davidson [00:07:07]:
Stop. Okay.
Cameron Wells [00:07:09]:
Show choir sounds worse than musical theater.
Dena Davidson [00:07:11]:
So choir. Yeah, that probably is Worse. Okay, I think you're on our team now.
Jason Dixon [00:07:15]:
I just took that for you, Cameron.
Dena Davidson [00:07:17]:
Thank you. So the new, the new Wicked movie is coming out in a couple of weeks. And a huge premise of the first Wicked movie is this old idea that the best way to unite people is to give them a common enemy. And that story is being told through the Wicked musical because it's happening in society right now. We see it everywhere. People cannot help but unite by painting the other crowd as the enemy. Right. Like, all right, it's, you know, pick, pick your favorite person to pick on.
Dena Davidson [00:07:48]:
It's them who's the problem. They're the ones ruining America. Oh, they're the ones ruining the church. And we're always trying to unite people by picking a common enemy. And so the temptation, I think, is to come along and be like, okay, well, Christians are peace loving people.
Jason Dixon [00:08:04]:
Right?
Dena Davidson [00:08:04]:
Like, we are messengers of peace. The gospel of peace. It says it later on in the scriptures. But the truth is we have a common enemy. There are true battles to fight. The instinct to unite by picking a common, common enemy is actually not wrong. Yes. It's just that most Christians alive today, we might be picking the wrong enemy.
Dena Davidson [00:08:26]:
We're, we're picking a flesh and blood person to unite against or to unite behind instead of fighting the real battle that Ephesians 6 calls us to fight. I mean, you guys are, you guys are pastoring at Adventure. How do you see this? How do you see us falling prey to the devil's schemes of trying to, you know, make us fight the wrong battles?
Jason Dixon [00:08:48]:
Yeah, I think, I mean, we see it in our local communities. All across the country is just churches fighting each other and churches pointing out you didn't do this right or you didn't do that right. So you need to leave that church and come to this church. And it's just a, it's a hard thing. And I think that's why Paul, just like you said, Dana, is trying to identify. This is like we have to move past that and we have to focus on what's going on. I do like NT Wright when he talks about this. He says that Paul is not suggesting that the Christian life is a minor skirmish.
Jason Dixon [00:09:22]:
It is a full scale battle, but one whose victory has already been won in Christ. And I think when the church is coming against each other, we're forgetting that because we're trying to win and not recognizing the victory that's already been won. So yeah, that is something that we see going on daily.
Dena Davidson [00:09:41]:
Man, that's so powerful. Just thinking about all of the energy that churches and church people are putting right now, even to winning Christmas. Right. Like, who's gonna have the best aesthetic look and who's gonna have the best flyers, you know, that are gonna get mailed out into the community, and who's gonna have the best guest artists and just all of these ways. Or who is perhaps preaching the true gospel theologically the most Greek packed into their message. And, you know, they got every theological.
Cameron Wells [00:10:14]:
Live donkeys.
Dena Davidson [00:10:15]:
Exactly. Or not live donkeys, because we would never do that to the animals.
Jason Dixon [00:10:20]:
Real birth.
Dena Davidson [00:10:21]:
Wow. Too far.
Cameron Wells [00:10:23]:
It's an Atlanta thing.
Dena Davidson [00:10:27]:
Now. I'm excited to actually visit Atlanta during Christmas. I think you're so right, Jason. We're putting all this energy into fighting each other and winning. When Paul calls us to fight the real battle now. Yeah, go ahead.
Cameron Wells [00:10:45]:
I also think it's so important to point out, because he says it so many times throughout this section of scripture, that the word that he keeps going back to is stand, withstand, stand your ground. He doesn't actually tell us to go win anything. And I feel like we in the church or in the Christian world, like, we need to go win the culture war. We need to go win people for Christ. We need to go win. And he's like, at no point in scripture does God tell us, okay, go win, to your point, because he's already won. All we have to do is stand our ground and withstand the evil one because he has won. And so I feel like when your mentality is, I have to win, that's what brings you outside of the bounds of your theology or of what scripture teaches, because you're.
Cameron Wells [00:11:32]:
You're. You're shooting for something that God never intended you to go after.
Jason Dixon [00:11:36]:
He's actually taking the pressure off of us because all of the pressure that if. If you've ever played a sport when you're trying to win, that is pressure. If you know that game is over, you're fine. Everything is just easy. And if we as followers of Jesus just understood, we've won, the hard part's been done. Now let's love and let's stand in who our identity is, and that's in Christ.
Dena Davidson [00:11:59]:
That's a totally different picture. Like, I mean, sometimes I do. I think you're right. Cameron. Read this. Like, I've got my armor on, and now I'm going to go slay Satan, right?
Cameron Wells [00:12:09]:
And you lose that. You.
Dena Davidson [00:12:11]:
You lose that battle. You, Dena. And I'm like, oh, watch me at the belt of truth. But I think you're right. Like, this is. We are fighting from a position of what Christ has already achieved for us and already given to us. Right. We're not actually like the Israelites who have to go out and, you know, fight for the promised land.
Dena Davidson [00:12:31]:
We have been given the promised land, and now we just need to stand firm and defend against the devil's schemes.
Jason Dixon [00:12:38]:
Yeah, yeah.
Cameron Wells [00:12:39]:
Romans 8 says that, you know, for we are more than conquerors. Right, but we're not doing the conquering. Says we're the. We're more than conquerors.
Dena Davidson [00:12:47]:
Through.
Cameron Wells [00:12:47]:
Through him who loved us.
Jason Dixon [00:12:49]:
That's the key point.
Cameron Wells [00:12:50]:
All through him.
Jason Dixon [00:12:50]:
Through him.
Cameron Wells [00:12:51]:
It's not through me. It's not through Dena.
Dena Davidson [00:12:53]:
This is just like a little Dena Aoin who just wants to fight with her sword.
Cameron Wells [00:12:58]:
L OTR reference right there.
Dena Davidson [00:13:00]:
Yes. But my people are with me. Don't worry. So I. Okay, I want to take this from the perspective of someone who's like, all right, great. My battle is not flesh against flesh and blood. What on earth does that mean? Am I gonna be fighting, like, it was just Halloween recently. Am I fighting these little demons running around? Like, is there like a devil on my shoulders? Like, what does it mean that there's this spiritual realm where things are happening that I may or may not be aware of? And can I actually believe that? As someone who lives in the 21st century and knows about science.
Dena Davidson [00:13:37]:
Right, Speak to that perspective. Someone who maybe didn't grow up reading Frank Peretti and knows that there's demons.
Cameron Wells [00:13:43]:
I did read Frank Peretti. The oath messed me up for the longest time.
Jason Dixon [00:13:47]:
Can you talk about that camera?
Cameron Wells [00:13:48]:
That's. That's a after hours pod. The first person I thought of when you said that was, like, me, like, I. The. The person I battle with the most is me. And I think the person I'm supposed to battle the most with is me. And I think Paul understood this. Paul, I say this all the time at Adventure.
Cameron Wells [00:14:08]:
You know, I. I don't know you guys or all of you, but, you know, I'm willing to bet Paul was a better person than. Than you. He was a better person than me after he found Jesus.
Dena Davidson [00:14:17]:
I don't like how you looked at me first. And that.
Cameron Wells [00:14:19]:
Sorry.
Jason Dixon [00:14:19]:
Actually didn't even say better. Better Persona. And Cameron, he knew.
Cameron Wells [00:14:24]:
He knew scripture better than us. Mostly because he wrote half of it, right? Like, Paul. Paul knew his stuff. And yet all throughout his letters, he goes back to the same phrasing. He says, I, Paul, chief of sinners, I, Paul, the worst of the worst. And he understood that nobody needed Jesus more than him. And when you really grab onto that, that frees you up to love other people and to forgive other people, because you know that if God could do that for you, I could do that for anybody else. But once you start to go, Dena needs Jesus a little bit more than me, it gets a little harder to forgive you.
Cameron Wells [00:14:58]:
It gets a little harder to love you. And so, like, I'm the person that I have to battle with the most and. And where I have to hold the line and, you know, push back against laziness, push back against greed.
Dena Davidson [00:15:11]:
And.
Cameron Wells [00:15:11]:
Because if. If those lines fall in my life, I can't expect anybody around me to change. So I think starting with me is. Is probably the first thing that I think of. Yeah. I don't know if any of that made sense.
Jason Dixon [00:15:23]:
Yeah. In recognizing that. That in you and Dena and myself and all of us, you know, John 10, the enemy, he comes to steal, kill, and destroy. And so those things, what you're talking about, whether it's greed, whether it's pride, all of these different things, they are stealing. They are trying to steal things that our identity is. And as Jesus, our identity is in Christ. And so every time those come up, every time that I feel this way about you or I'm jealous of you, when we talked about fighting the church earlier, that is something at work in us. That is these powers in this dark world, the evil that is trying to take away from our identity, which is in Christ.
Jason Dixon [00:16:04]:
So I think that scripture that John 10 still kill and destroy. I know, and I recognize that there is something out there against me and is wanting me to move away from who God has called me to be.
Dena Davidson [00:16:18]:
That's so good. And I think if you study human history, you will recognize there is. There is this force of evil that seems to lie behind all of the darkness in the world. And there. There is a human element to evil, but then there also seems to be, like, this goes beyond human evil. There. There is a powerful darkness that lies behind it. And I think it helps when you're trying to rightly unpack a scripture like this, and you're like, okay, so there's this unseen realm with these little beings, these heavenly authorities and powers.
Dena Davidson [00:16:55]:
It really helps to situate Christianity and its theistic worldview and compare and contrast it to some of the other alternatives. So if you guys will allow me, I'd love to do, like, a little mini deep dive into what. What theism competes with so that we can just situate this passage in the marketplace of ideas and know what we're choosing between.
Jason Dixon [00:17:16]:
That's good.
Dena Davidson [00:17:17]:
So first is materialism. Materialism is basically like in the beginning were the particles and only the particles, and there have ever only been the particles. This is atheists, most skeptics, Marxists, and most human humanists. Carl Sagan, a famous atheist and materialist, he says this. The cosmos is all that is or ever was or ever will be. So this is an idea. It's actually a relatively recent idea in the history of human ideas. But some people, it's the only idea they've ever truly considered because they've been steeped in scientific thought.
Dena Davidson [00:17:54]:
And they thought, okay, this is the only knowledge that we have of the world is what I can see and sense and know through the exploration of my senses, through the use of my reason. The fatal flaw for materialism is that essentially it leads to nihilism, especially when it comes to the meaning of life and morality. If really all there is is what is material, then there is no grounding for morality and there's no grounding for meaning. So that's kind of. That's. That's the hard thing about that worldview. In the marketplace of ideas, if that is the view that you're going with, then that's the. The burden that you are accepting, is that ultimately it ends in nihilism.
Dena Davidson [00:18:36]:
There is no ultimate meaning for life and no grounding for morality. And then on the complete opposite side of the spectrum is something called monism. And so monism is kind of like New Age religions, which basically says everything is spiritual, right?
Jason Dixon [00:18:54]:
Like, all of it.
Dena Davidson [00:18:56]:
All of it. Like the trees, the particles, like, we're all one. We are all part of the divine mind, and everything is divine. So what is great about that worldview is that it really answers people's inward quest for this is this is there's more to life than what I experienced through the use of my senses. So against nihilism, it basically says, like, there is meaning in everything, right? And that's why so many people are drawn to it. And so they don't read a verse like this and say, oh, this is a problem for me. They're like, yeah. Yes.
Dena Davidson [00:19:30]:
Like, there's this whole connection between.
Cameron Wells [00:19:34]:
It's their favorite.
Dena Davidson [00:19:35]:
Yeah. They're like, it's the only yes and amen. Like, there. There are all sorts of things. The fatal flaw, unfortunately, of this worldview, though, is that it starts out really seeming like a salvation story, because in it, you know, you, Jason, you are divine, right? You are part of the divine. The problem is when you Begin to actually know yourself. Since Cameron didn't think you were a sinner. I do.
Dena Davidson [00:19:58]:
I think you're a sinner. When you actually begin to know yourself, then you know, okay, well, I can do anything, except I cannot. There are parts of me that need saving. And if I am part of the divine mind and there's nothing outside of me because all is one, then that means I am responsible for saving myself. And that is the very thing I cannot do. I cannot save myself. So if you accept that idea in the marketplace of ideas, then that's kind of the burden that you're accepting, is that you are now responsible for your own salvation. Then.
Dena Davidson [00:20:29]:
Then there's this theistic idea. So all the Abrahamic religions, Christianity, Judaism, Islam, we have this concept that there is the seen realm and there is the unseen realm. God is the ultimate foundation for everything. He created everything, but he is separate from his creation. For the theists in the marketplace of ideas, this is. This is beautiful and unique because it gives grounding to what we experience. The physical world matters because it was created by a good God and is therefore worthy of study and exploration. But it also gives credence to the fact that we are looking for things beyond what is seen, such as meaning and beauty and ultimate value, grounding for our morality.
Dena Davidson [00:21:17]:
If you were like, whoa, I got so lost in that. Let me just bring it back here. My friend Holly, she. I was having this conversation with her Christian fencing instructor, and they were having all sorts of conversations about God. And Holly was having such a hard time believing in this unseen God, like there was this whole realm that she could never know through the exploration of her senses. She just had to trust and believe and have faith in this unseen God. And so wisely, the fencing instructor said, holly, I believe that you know that you know that you know that you know that murder is wrong more than you know that there's a trash can behind you. Don't look around.
Dena Davidson [00:22:01]:
So she froze. And she, As a materialist, she had to say to herself, I think there is a trash can behind me. I just saw it with my eyes. Like, I have a memory of seeing that and experiencing that. But he's right. Even though my materialistic worldview can in no way account for my knowledge that murder is wrong, I know that murder is wrong and would be willing to stake my life on it in a way that I am not willing to stake my life on what my sensory exploration of the world yielded to me. So if you kind of land in that camp that Holly did, just consider where you fall in the marketplace of ideas, because this is not an awkward scripture that Christians have to be ashamed of. This speaks to something very profound, which is that there is this unseen realm, and it is the realm where our true battles lie.
Dena Davidson [00:22:54]:
All right, thank you for indulging me philosophy.
Jason Dixon [00:22:57]:
Yeah.
Cameron Wells [00:22:58]:
It reminds me a little bit of CS Lewis's argument from desire, which is, you know, if I'm hungry, it must be because there is food. If I have something, if I have something in me that I fundamentally or foundationally desire, it must be because that thing exists. And I think, you look around the world, I think everybody has a desire for purpose and meaning. So purpose and meaning must exist.
Dena Davidson [00:23:23]:
Amen. That's so good. Yeah. And. And morality, because we. We hunger and thirst for justice. You know, all of the outrage that's burning on social media is. Is really just reflective of this inward human hunger that the world be put to rights, and we can deeply sense that it's not.
Dena Davidson [00:23:42]:
Yeah. So helpful. Okay, so we have talked a lot about verses 10 through 12. We're just going to take it to verse 13 because, you know, we have Wesley on next week, and he was a little salty. I'm not going to lie to you. He was.
Cameron Wells [00:23:55]:
Wesley never gets salty, which even eats salt.
Dena Davidson [00:23:59]:
That is so true. Wesley's salty is like, oh, man, I'm really bummed, you know, so that's his salty flavor. So we're going to reserve, actually diving into the different pieces of the armor of God. But let's close with verse 13 and then do some application. Therefore, put on the full armor of God so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground. And after you have done everything to stand. Any closing thoughts on those verse before we get to application?
Cameron Wells [00:24:33]:
Well, some of the. Some of the commentaries that I've read lay out that when the day of evil comes is not signifying like a specific day when all of evil is unleashed on humanity, and then we've got to withstand on some last battle. But it's simply when life is at its worst. And where I immediately go to is when David fights Goliath. I believe it's 1st Samuel 17, he shows up. He's just this little shepherd boy, and he's like, I'll fight the guy. And, you know, everybody else is too scared to fight this mammoth human being. And Saul puts his armor on David, and David realizes, this doesn't fit me.
Cameron Wells [00:25:14]:
It's too heavy. This is not going to work. So he says, no. And he. He goes and gets his Sling, he gets his five rocks. Because David understood that even though it was a physical battle, it wasn't really a physical battle. It was a spiritual battle, and God was about to do so. The takeaway for me, it says, you know, therefore, put on the full armor of God.
Cameron Wells [00:25:33]:
Like, physical armor is not going to win you a spiritual battle. So stop trying to arm yourself with a worldview. Stop trying to arm yourself with a political ideology. Stop trying to arm yourself or protect yourself with physical things. When we're fighting a spiritual battle, it has to be God's armor, not your own.
Jason Dixon [00:25:52]:
That's good. And it, I think, with that, therefore. So you need to put on this armor, because the enemy is real. It's just another recognition. It is there. Like you were saying, it's not when it comes the enemy, the evil one is here. But the idea of that the enemy is defeated and has been defeated through Christ. I know we mentioned that earlier.
Jason Dixon [00:26:16]:
His goal, the enemy's goal is to try to find little defeats in us. And that's when our identity comes into play. Play through Christ. And so I think that's what's taken away, is recognizing the reality of what we're facing. Yes, but then recognizing the reality of the one who already faced it with his life, and then he overcame it.
Dena Davidson [00:26:35]:
So, so powerful. So as we're moving to application, reading through this passage, all these ideas we've considered, what is one simple application that you want to leave our listeners with?
Jason Dixon [00:26:50]:
For me, I wrote this down, that people aren't the enemy. The enemy just loves to use people. And we had talked about it some earlier, but understanding that as followers of Jesus and as just human beings, we are called to love each other, not label each other. And the enemy is doing everything that the enemy is trying to get us to label each other and me, label Cameron as this, or label Dena as this, or label anyone is something that I need to battle against. And so for just us as followers and believers of Jesus is to love people. And that's what our identity is. Because that is the one true thing that pushes this away. And it's.
Jason Dixon [00:27:33]:
The enemy just wants us to not answer the phone. Not answer the phone. I did, and I got rid of that. But the enemy wants us to not see and created in God's image right here. Created in God's image right here. That's his goal. Yeah, that's his goal.
Dena Davidson [00:27:48]:
That's good. Love it.
Cameron Wells [00:27:51]:
I would say, you know, intentional. I think it goes back to intentionality. I think that's the reason that Paul is writing Ephesians. And I would say just because you're fighting good battles doesn't mean you're fighting the right battles. And I think one of the things that the enemy loves to do is get us chasing good things that are ultimately not the right thing. Right. Striving for. For the political alignment that we believe in and like, safe neighborhoods and like, all of these things that we post on Facebook about.
Cameron Wells [00:28:21]:
And like, those may all be good things, but according to God's word, it's not the right thing that we need to be drawing battle lines in the sand for. And I think we can get distracted with the good that we miss the God. I hate that I made that little. But I think that's the. That's the point.
Dena Davidson [00:28:39]:
I love that you hate that you did that. Some. Someone's like, oh, I'm writing that down.
Cameron Wells [00:28:42]:
And you're like, but I think that it's. I think that it's true.
Jason Dixon [00:28:46]:
Right?
Cameron Wells [00:28:47]:
It's not just that, like, I'm constantly doing evil things, and it's like, the enemy's got me. It's like I could be. Devote my life to good things and miss the God things that he's trying to do in my life.
Jason Dixon [00:28:56]:
Yeah. The enemy wants to stay hidden. And when it's not just outright, he's hidden.
Dena Davidson [00:29:00]:
Yeah. That's so good. My application point as someone who loves movies is I want you to go watch a real old school good versus evil movie. To be honest, you're probably gonna have to go back more than 10, 15, 20 years. I don't know if you guys have noticed this trend, but it's like everything is about having empathy for the villain now. Right?
Cameron Wells [00:29:24]:
Like, so many attacks, they're just misunderstood. They're not even really villains.
Dena Davidson [00:29:28]:
They are. And there. There is absolutely a place for that. But we no longer tell classic good versus evil stories. I don't know where that died off somewhere around when truth went out of fashion. But there is an importance to watching a good versus evil story because there is real evil in the world, and this passage is calling us to recognize that. So go watch the good versus evil story, whether it be Lord of the Rings or Die Hard, which some people love. And I think it's a good versus evil story.
Dena Davidson [00:30:05]:
And I'm like, those are the two bookends.
Jason Dixon [00:30:08]:
I was about to say Home Alone.
Cameron Wells [00:30:11]:
If you want a good family option.
Jason Dixon [00:30:13]:
And would you ever guess that Die Hard would have come out of Dean's outfit?
Cameron Wells [00:30:16]:
That was the last movie I was expecting.
Jason Dixon [00:30:18]:
Speaking of Christmas movies, I was really.
Dena Davidson [00:30:20]:
Trying to cover the spectrum of, like, my Lord of the Rings friends to Die Hard. I hate that movie.
Cameron Wells [00:30:26]:
So she was like, I lost some of the audience with Monism, so I need to get them back with Die Hard.
Dena Davidson [00:30:31]:
We are all about them views here. You got to keep the people happy. I love it. So go watch a true good versus evil story and say, God, I pray that you would make my heart hate evil in the same way that I can watch this villain and everything in me says yes when they finally get what they had coming to let me hate evil to that extent. Because I think it's only when we have that true guttural reaction to evil that we'll have the strength to actually fight the right battles and not fight the lesser battles that you're calling us to not fight.
Jason Dixon [00:31:08]:
Great.
Dena Davidson [00:31:10]:
Okay, so if you are like you've barely touched on the armor of God, I actually have no idea what the armor of God is all about. No worries, because that is what we will be covering in the next episode of the Bible Study Pod. We love that you have tuned in. We pray that these episodes are so helpful to you. You can help us by liking this, sharing it, subscribing, and doing everything you can to get the word out about this Bible Study Pod. Because when more people get the word of God into their lives, everything about our world and our own heart gets better. Thanks, friend.