Here's a question most people have never thought to ask. Why was Lucifer in the Garden of Eden in the first place?

Not how he got in. Why he was there.

Jon Stoe spends part two of Battle in the Heavenly Realms on that question, and the answer comes from an unlikely place. A prophecy in Ezekiel 28 aimed at the king of Tyre, in what is now Lebanon. Except halfway through, the prophecy stops describing a human king and starts describing someone else entirely. Someone called the seal of perfection, covered in precious stones, and given a specific assignment.

From there Jon traces the line through Isaiah 14 and Revelation 12 and lands back in Genesis 3, where the enemy walks into paradise carrying no weapon at all and does something far more effective.

Preached Sunday morning, August 9, 2026. Part two of Battle in the Heavenly Realms, from Ephesians 6, Ezekiel 28, and Genesis 3.

Litchfield Church of the Nazarene is a welcoming, bilingual community of faith in Litchfield, MN, whose mission is to produce fruitful disciples of Jesus Christ. We gather every Sunday at 10:45 AM. New messages drop on the podcast each week. Subscribe on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or your favorite app. Learn more at litchfieldnaz.com.

In the late 1800s, doctors believed disease simply appeared out of nowhere. Then a French chemist named Louis Pasteur said something that sounded absurd: there are living things too small to see, they're on your hands and your food and everything you touch, and they can kill you.

Jon Stoe opens a new series with that story, and then asks whether we're making the same mistake about something else.

Paul spends five chapters of Ephesians on ordinary life. Marriage, parenting, work, getting along with people. Then chapter 6 arrives and he says something that barely seems to belong in the same letter: your real struggle is not against flesh and blood.

Jon works through what Paul meant, what Jesus said to the religious leaders in John 8 that Jon calls genuinely unsettling, and the two lies he thinks the enemy leans on hardest. He closes on a distinction worth the whole message: we are fighting from victory, not for it.

Part one of Battle in the Heavenly Realms, from Ephesians 6.

Litchfield Church of the Nazarene is a welcoming, bilingual community of faith in Litchfield, MN, whose mission is to produce fruitful disciples of Jesus Christ. We gather every Sunday at 10:45 AM. New messages drop on the podcast each week. Subscribe on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or your favorite app. Learn more at litchfieldnaz.com.

A woman who had worked the front desk of his church for thirty years told David Graves she missed him. He asked what she missed, expecting something about his preaching. She said she missed his smell.

That turns out to be the sermon.

In the last message of the week, Graves goes to 2 Corinthians 2, where Paul describes God leading us in triumphant procession. It's a specific image. A Roman triumph was the parade a conquering general received, and Rome required four conditions to be met before granting one. Graves walks through all four, shows how Jesus met every one, and asks what that means for people who assume they're still fighting for a victory rather than from one.

Then there's the incense carried at the back of that parade, and a dry cleaner in Olathe, Kansas named Mona.

Morning service, Sunday, August 16, 2026. A bonus episode from our 2026 Prairie Lakes District Assembly and Family Camp. Theme: The Next Yes, Becoming Christlike Disciples.

Litchfield Church of the Nazarene is a welcoming, bilingual community of faith in Litchfield, MN, whose mission is to produce fruitful disciples of Jesus Christ. We gather every Sunday at 10:45 AM. New messages drop on the podcast each week. Subscribe on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or your favorite app. Learn more at litchfieldnaz.com.