Thank you John Mark. It's really good to be here. It really does feel like a second home

here at Bridgetown. One of the things that always warms my heart is in the contemporary

worlds you know that you sort of have a spiritual relationship with another church when you

look at your podcast on iTunes and the other church is the most recommended church alongside

yours. But so it's good to be here and I'm talking tonight about something which is almost

the game changer in how you view not just your faith but the world. Jesus in Mark's gospel

has this healing where a man who is blind comes to him and Jesus does something strange.

He puts saliva on his fingers and puts it into the man's eye sockets and asks him if he's

been healed and the man responds and says I can see but I see people but they look like trees.

Some of us are touched by Jesus but the way that we're looking at the world is unclear

we're not wearing our glasses or we have the wrong prescription. Jesus then again does the

same thing and then the man sees clearly. So my prayer is that tonight is bringing into focus an

essential element that's really central to this series. Central not just this series as a teaching

series but central to what it is to be a follower of Jesus and particularly in a city like Portland.

So we're going to open the scripture jump right into it. If you have your Bibles turn to Ephesians

chapter 6 verse 10. There's a famous passage on spiritual warfare in here and I'm not going

to read this bit but we have the classic description of the armor of God. spiritual armor I don't

want to get into that. I actually want to get to the first couple of verses which set that up.

So we're going to begin at 10. Finally be strong in the Lord and in His mighty power. Put on the

full armor of God so that you can take a stand against the devil's schemes. Paul speaking to a

church in Ephesus. Multicultural environment. Dominant, political, military and economic power of

Rome. Greece with soft power to influence people's minds. All kinds of different beliefs swirling

...