[SPEAKER_01]: today we are starting a brand new series come on now all right we have uh... jumped out of the series that we were in uh... which we spent a month there so it was fine uh... moving on to uh... to the next best thing that i believe that the lord is put upon my heart and uh...
[SPEAKER_01]: And that is this, we're going to take the next couple of weeks talking about being equipped and ready, equipped and ready, come on, someone say equipped and ready, equipped and ready.
[SPEAKER_01]: And I want to just really take some time to really just talk about, you know, allowing ourselves to be what the Bible says is equipped for the good fight of faith, right?
[SPEAKER_01]: And knowing how to endure, being steadfast, remaining steadfast in our walk with Jesus, and that's in a lot of different ways.
[SPEAKER_01]: But one thing that I'm grateful for is I'm grateful that the Lord has never allowed me, or never left me to be empty handed.
[SPEAKER_01]: Come on, how may you can attest to that today?
[SPEAKER_01]: That no matter what you've been through, no matter what you've experienced, that at the end of the day, he didn't leave you empty handed.
[SPEAKER_01]: But he has equipped you with everything that you need, to be victorious, to be successful, amen, to be more than a conquer through him who is our strength, amen.
[SPEAKER_01]: And so he has equipped us with every good thing that we need, but we need to understand what is that.
[SPEAKER_01]: What is it?
[SPEAKER_01]: It's one thing for a preacher to get up here and say, you've been equipped with every good thing.
[SPEAKER_01]: And then you leave here and you're like, what have I been equipped with?
[SPEAKER_01]: Or for how?
[SPEAKER_01]: what are you talking about right and so it's like well that's something that we need to understand then if if he said that he's equipped us if he said that he he wants us to remain steadfast in our walk with him well then how do I even do that right because it has everything to do with with our future like what's coming what's coming down the road so really when it comes to this kind of this kind of topic I really actually want to spend the next couple
[SPEAKER_01]: Actually, I don't think I've ever really preached on for as long as I've been preaching for many, many years now.
[SPEAKER_01]: I think I just post on social media, 16 years now, and I don't think I've ever taken an opportunity to actually sit down and break down what is one of the most amazing, really scriptures.
[SPEAKER_01]: And that is talking about the scripture in Ephesians chapter 6 where it talks about the full armor of God.
[SPEAKER_01]: You know, I think sometimes we forget about the armor of God.
[SPEAKER_01]: We forget that we can be armored up if you will, suited up for battle, suited up for our walk-in faith.
[SPEAKER_01]: And so if he's equipped us with things, we need to understand and learn what has he equipped us with.
[SPEAKER_01]: And I believe it starts right here in Ephesians 6 when it talks about the armor of God.
[SPEAKER_01]: So let's go there.
[SPEAKER_01]: Ephesians 6, we're going to read verses 11 through 17, it will be on the screen if you want to follow that way.
[SPEAKER_01]: Ephesians 6.
[SPEAKER_01]: verse 11 through 17, it says, put on the full armor of God so that you can stand against the tactics of the devil.
[SPEAKER_01]: Now some of us, let me just stop right here and say some of us have been beat up side to head by the enemy because we have forgotten to put on our armor.
[SPEAKER_01]: We've allowed the tax, we've witnessed the tax, we've experienced some attacks in our life because we have neglected being equipped and putting on the full armor of God.
[SPEAKER_01]: He says, put this on so you can withstand the attack of the evil one.
[SPEAKER_01]: It goes on.
[SPEAKER_01]: For our battle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the world powers of this darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavens.
[SPEAKER_01]: This is why you must take up the full armor of God, so that you may be able to resist in the evil day, in having prepared everything to take your stand.
[SPEAKER_01]: Verse
[SPEAKER_01]: with the truth like a belt around your waist, righteousness like armor on your chest, and your feet sandled with readiness for the gospel of peace.
[SPEAKER_01]: In every situation, not some, in every situation, take the shield of faith, and with it, you will be able to extinguish
[SPEAKER_01]: Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is God's word, amen.
[SPEAKER_01]: So if you're taking notes this morning, the title of today's message is, I'm not moving.
[SPEAKER_01]: Come on, look at somebody and tell them, say I'm not moving.
[SPEAKER_01]: Come on, tell them with some boldness, with some confidence, with some maybe a little bit of some drama and some sass, if you will, and look at them and say I'm not moving.
[SPEAKER_01]: I'm not moving.
[SPEAKER_01]: So the book of Ephesians is really one of, I believe it's one of my favorites, but it's one of the greatest books in all of the Bible, not only because of really all the truth that's in it and all the different subjects that it talks about because it hits a lot of different things, but more importantly, it really contains a lot of revelation for us as believers when it comes to our identity as a child of God.
[SPEAKER_01]: And when you read the book of Ephesians, you really discover two things really quickly throughout all of Ephesians, the six chapters that it contains, is you find out two things who you are in him and who he is in you.
[SPEAKER_01]: It's important to know those things.
[SPEAKER_01]: It's important to know that who you are in Christ Jesus, but it's also important to know who he is within you.
[SPEAKER_01]: Amen.
[SPEAKER_01]: It's one thing for somebody to get up with a microphone and say, you are a child of God.
[SPEAKER_01]: But what does that mean?
[SPEAKER_01]: And then how am I God's child?
[SPEAKER_01]: See what I'm saying?
[SPEAKER_01]: It's one thing to know I'm a child of God, but how do you understand that God chose you as his child?
[SPEAKER_01]: We can go on with a million different examples of this all throughout Ephesians, but it's important for us to really know who you are in him and who he is in you.
[SPEAKER_01]: And so in chapter six, we really began to see this phrase several times that's used throughout the chapter and it says, put on the whole armor God, or some of your versions may say, put on the full armor, right?
[SPEAKER_01]: put on the full armor of God.
[SPEAKER_01]: And it doesn't just say it once or twice.
[SPEAKER_01]: It says it multiple times, telling us to put on the full armor of God.
[SPEAKER_01]: Because the reality is, there's really no sense of true protection in victory if you only put on part of the armor of God.
[SPEAKER_01]: A lot of times we say, well, I'm going to have victory out.
[SPEAKER_01]: I'll really, maybe I'll equip myself with the sword and just the sword alone and I'll be able to do all that God has called me to do and withstand every attack and do all of these things, but no, that's not how it works.
[SPEAKER_01]: It says, put on the whole, the full, the entire armor of God.
[SPEAKER_01]: It's a full portion.
[SPEAKER_01]: And we must put on the whole armor of God.
[SPEAKER_01]: But Paul makes this big statement in verse 13.
[SPEAKER_01]: Chapter 6, verse 13, he says, this is why you must take up the full armor of God so that you may be able to resist in the evil day.
[SPEAKER_01]: So that you may be able to resist in the evil day.
[SPEAKER_01]: Paul is not talking about all of the good days that you have.
[SPEAKER_01]: Paul is addressing the fact that there will be days coming that are evil and that you will absolutely need the armor of God.
[SPEAKER_01]: There are going to be days when darkness is knocking at your doorstep and you will need the armor of God.
[SPEAKER_01]: There are going to be days when you go into work.
[SPEAKER_01]: And it seems like everybody is against you and the odds are against you and all that kind of thing.
[SPEAKER_01]: And you need the armor of God.
[SPEAKER_01]: So when we look at that scripture and it says that you may be able to resist in the evil day, the word evil there and we could put it on the screen is the Greek word, Paneros, which means labor, pain, sorrow.
[SPEAKER_01]: It says, put on the full armor of God so that you may be able to resist the evil day, not talking about like when all hell breaks loose upon the earth.
[SPEAKER_01]: That's not what I was talking about here.
[SPEAKER_01]: It's that you may be able to endure the days where you just are laboring.
[SPEAKER_01]: When days are painful, when they're rough, when they're difficult, when there is sorrow in your day, put on the full armor of God so that you may be able to resist those laboring painful, sorrowful days.
[SPEAKER_01]: This is amazing, because we have the capability in those kind of moments, those seasons, those days in our lives to be able to withstand and to resist those kind of days.
[SPEAKER_01]: And how is that by putting on the full armor of God?
[SPEAKER_01]: So Paul writes, and he says, hey guys, I really need you to put on the full armor.
[SPEAKER_01]: Because in this Christian walk, in this Christian journey, there will be days of victory.
[SPEAKER_01]: There will be days of blessing, there will be days of absolute breakthrough and overflow and God is moving and all these things but listen guys, there will also be days when it's challenging.
[SPEAKER_01]: There will be days when it's frustrating, when it's chaotic, when you do not want to get up out of bed.
[SPEAKER_01]: There's going to be days like that.
[SPEAKER_01]: There are going to be days when you just, if you could do anything about you would absolutely not go into work that day, or you would not see that person, or you would not want to be around this group of people, or maybe you just, you don't want to be around your family, or whatever it may be, there are going to be challenging days like that.
[SPEAKER_01]: And Paul says, that's the day when you need the whole armor of God.
[SPEAKER_01]: You don't need it, you don't need it when everything, you feel like everything is going good, but you need it when you're enduring the laboring kind of days.
[SPEAKER_01]: The painful days, the sorrowful days.
[SPEAKER_01]: The things that let's just say this, the days that are out of our control.
[SPEAKER_01]: The days that just don't make sense.
[SPEAKER_01]: The things just don't line up correctly.
[SPEAKER_01]: It's in those days that Paul just really pushes this, like you have got to have the full armor of God.
[SPEAKER_01]: Now, what's interesting is that there is no piece of the armor that guards or protects your backside.
[SPEAKER_01]: Have you ever thought about that?
[SPEAKER_01]: You've got the top, you've got everything to the bottom, and everything in the front.
[SPEAKER_01]: But there's actually nothing that really guards the backside of you.
[SPEAKER_01]: Well, why is that?
[SPEAKER_01]: God never created you to retreat or turn around from those kind of days.
[SPEAKER_01]: He created you to face some head first, face forward, to fight the good fight of faith, with the armor that he has equipped you with.
[SPEAKER_01]: If you were to look at one of these kind of days, unequipped, and you said, nope, I'm not
[SPEAKER_01]: for full-fledged attack, full-fledge war.
[SPEAKER_01]: So God, I believe it was really intentional when it came to the armor to cover the front side of you so that you always knew that you can move forward.
[SPEAKER_01]: And that no matter what comes against you, it says the flaming arrows of the evil one, no matter what comes against you, you can withstand all of those things.
[SPEAKER_01]: Because you're covered by him.
[SPEAKER_01]: Come on, somebody say amen.
[SPEAKER_01]: Hallelujah.
[SPEAKER_01]: And so, really, as believers, as soldiers, as those that are in the army of God, I don't believe God ever intended for us to give up.
[SPEAKER_01]: But I do believe that He intended for us to stand and to fight and to be victorious.
[SPEAKER_01]: God knew that we would have to fight some stuff.
[SPEAKER_01]: He was very, very, it was very evident that he knew that.
[SPEAKER_01]: He knew that we were going to have to fight.
[SPEAKER_01]: But he also created us to be victorious in every single one of those battles.
[SPEAKER_01]: Amen.
[SPEAKER_01]: And so listen, you don't need the armor of God if you're just going to remain a coward.
[SPEAKER_01]: The armor of God is useless if you just want to be a coward because cowards run away from battle.
[SPEAKER_01]: cowards retreat in battle.
[SPEAKER_01]: It's the child of God that looks straight in the eyes of the enemy and straight into the eyes of darkness and can say confidently, this is why I've been born again and I will win this battle.
[SPEAKER_01]: I will be more than victorious.
[SPEAKER_01]: I am a conqueror through Christ Jesus.
[SPEAKER_01]: I know we don't want to hear it, but it's just the facts because Revelation 21-8, it tells us that.
[SPEAKER_01]: Because this whole list of people that, I mean, I don't know, this is like, oh, this is like really intense.
[SPEAKER_01]: No, not trying for it to be intense, but it says, even the cowards, even the cowards will, their share will be the lake of fire.
[SPEAKER_01]: So I don't want to be a coward in my faith.
[SPEAKER_01]: I want to be full of faith.
[SPEAKER_01]: And if that means that I'm going to have to fight some things and I'm going to have to increase my faith and my expectancy for God to come and move on my behalf, and that's exactly what I'm going to do.
[SPEAKER_01]: But I'm telling you one thing, I will not turn around and retreat when the attack comes.
[SPEAKER_01]: Because that's exactly what the enemy would have you to do.
[SPEAKER_01]: That's what he would love for you to do.
[SPEAKER_01]: It says, no, put on the former God so that you may be able to withstand, that you may be able to resist.
[SPEAKER_01]: And so you got to make up your mind that in the days of darkness, in the days of fear, in the days of evil, that you are not going to get run over.
[SPEAKER_01]: You got to make your mind up in that.
[SPEAKER_01]: I'm not going to get run over.
[SPEAKER_01]: I'm not going to be defeated, but I'm going to do exactly what I was made to do.
[SPEAKER_01]: I'm going to be exactly who I was created to be, Amen.
[SPEAKER_01]: In first John 5-4, it's a powerful scripture.
[SPEAKER_01]: She says, this, everyone who has been born of God conquers the world.
[SPEAKER_01]: Well, thank God, you know, everyone that's been born to God conquers the world and look at it, this is the victory that has conquered the world are faith.
[SPEAKER_01]: The attack, remember, is not against you, the attack is against what you have in you.
[SPEAKER_01]: It's against your faith.
[SPEAKER_01]: And the enemy knows that if he could take out your faith and he's won.
[SPEAKER_01]: And so that's why we got to increase our faith and remain faithful and endure.
[SPEAKER_01]: Hallelujah, put on the full Armoured God and fight the good fight of faith.
[SPEAKER_01]: We were already made to conquer.
[SPEAKER_01]: And that amazing.
[SPEAKER_01]: He didn't, God didn't create you with the ability to conquer.
[SPEAKER_01]: He created you to conquer her.
[SPEAKER_01]: You don't have the capability to conquer.
[SPEAKER_01]: He already made you a conquer.
[SPEAKER_01]: Yes.
[SPEAKER_01]: You can fight and win everything that comes your way.
[SPEAKER_01]: Glory to God.
[SPEAKER_01]: So whatever you're facing right now, whatever you may be dealing with in your life right now or your family or your finances or whatever, you need to proclaim over those situations by faith that this is my victory.
[SPEAKER_01]: And I already know that I am a conquer in this situation.
[SPEAKER_01]: And when you start proclaiming things that way, start speaking things that way, then I'm telling you right now, you will see a flip.
[SPEAKER_01]: You will see a change of circumstances because now you are fighting at face forward and you're not fighting it with your own personal strength.
[SPEAKER_01]: You're fighting it with the strength of the Lord, with the power of your faith.
[SPEAKER_01]: Glory to God.
[SPEAKER_01]: So the soldier of God, the believer, is always moving forward because we're full of faith, because we have victory in Christ Jesus, amen.
[SPEAKER_01]: So it's because we're always moving forward that we've been given the armor of God.
[SPEAKER_01]: And the armor of God, I believe, is given to us for two reasons, and we find this straight in Ephesians, chapter six that we just read.
[SPEAKER_01]: For two reasons, according to chapter six, verse 13,
[SPEAKER_01]: to resist.
[SPEAKER_01]: And the word resist there is the word antihistomy, which means to withstand to set against, to withstand.
[SPEAKER_01]: So resist, we're with standing, we're coming against what is coming our way.
[SPEAKER_01]: So it says that you may be able to resist in the evil day.
[SPEAKER_01]: Remember that you may be able to resist in those laboring, painful, sorrowful days.
[SPEAKER_01]: Now this is where we get our word antihistamine, right?
[SPEAKER_01]: For those that may be have dealt with allergies.
[SPEAKER_01]: You know all about that.
[SPEAKER_01]: You know exactly what it is.
[SPEAKER_01]: It's the antihistamine inside of allergy medicine that helps to block the allergen from affecting you, right?
[SPEAKER_01]: Now, I'm not a doctor or a scientist or anything like that, but I do understand that that medicine doesn't take away my allergies, that medicine helps block the allergen from affecting me, right?
[SPEAKER_01]: So, there have been times where
[SPEAKER_01]: You know, I've woke up in the morning and, you know, you go outside and then just boom and it hits you.
[SPEAKER_01]: Right?
[SPEAKER_01]: Well, when you take the allergy pill at that point, it's actually too late.
[SPEAKER_01]: You got to take it in advance before it comes on you, right?
[SPEAKER_01]: So if we know, I mean, you know, we have Gabriel and our house who's just always dealt with the allergies since he was born.
[SPEAKER_01]: you know pretty severely at times.
[SPEAKER_01]: So he's on medication and that he takes every single night before he goes to bed.
[SPEAKER_01]: If he doesn't take that medication before he goes to bed at night, the next day he is miserable.
[SPEAKER_01]: And it doesn't matter if it's spring or whatever.
[SPEAKER_01]: I mean, the seasons is irrelevant for him.
[SPEAKER_01]: But if he don't take that, then he is, I mean,
[SPEAKER_01]: And so if there's one thing that I understand about allergy medicine is that allergy medicine doesn't stop the allergies allergy medicine blocks the allergens
[SPEAKER_01]: And so when Paul says, put on the whole armor of God so that you can resist, what he has saying is, as an armored force that is moving forward, when you encounter an evil day, the evil day, it can't touch you because it's been blocked by a resistance already.
[SPEAKER_01]: Come on, in that good, that word right there, it's already been put into your favor, that you've been able to resist, you've been able to withstand it as already put up a block against the tactics and the schemes of the evil one.
[SPEAKER_01]: Amen.
[SPEAKER_01]: And this is what more than conquerors really blows kind of people they really understand.
[SPEAKER_01]: As someone who has more than a conqueror, you can say, let hell come against me, but it cannot win.
[SPEAKER_01]: Let the attack come my way, but it cannot win.
[SPEAKER_01]: Because I know what it means to resist.
[SPEAKER_01]: I can withstand.
[SPEAKER_01]: I am putting a block up against the attacks of the enemy.
[SPEAKER_01]: And some of you need to get really this, and to his to me attitude.
[SPEAKER_01]: This, and it hits to me authority, if you will.
[SPEAKER_01]: That says, I will not be taken down.
[SPEAKER_01]: I will not let the enemy take out my kids or steal my money because greater is he, who is in me than he who is in the world.
[SPEAKER_01]: I put on my resistance.
[SPEAKER_01]: I put on the blocker against the attacks of the enemy.
[SPEAKER_01]: I quit myself with the full armor of God.
[SPEAKER_01]: Try to come my way, Devil, but it's not gonna work.
[SPEAKER_01]: It's not going to work.
[SPEAKER_01]: And some of you really need to start getting bold in that way.
[SPEAKER_01]: And really start declaring things like that.
[SPEAKER_01]: You say something like, I ain't going to be the road kill for the devil today.
[SPEAKER_01]: There's just not.
[SPEAKER_01]: That's not going to be me.
[SPEAKER_01]: I'm not going to get run over and left on the side of the road.
[SPEAKER_01]: Absolutely not.
[SPEAKER_01]: of God in Christ Jesus, to resist to withstand and this is what I think when I hear that, that hell was making progress until it ran into you.
[SPEAKER_01]: That's what this makes me think about.
[SPEAKER_01]: Is that hell was making progress until it ran into you?
[SPEAKER_01]: And when it ran into you, it ran into your faith.
[SPEAKER_01]: It ran into somebody who was armored up that knew how to resist to withstand the attack.
[SPEAKER_01]: Amen?
[SPEAKER_01]: And so, let hell come your way, but it's not gonna be able to overtake you.
[SPEAKER_01]: Amen?
[SPEAKER_01]: And that's when you kind of have to laugh at the devil sometimes.
[SPEAKER_01]: you know, that was cute, nice try, but you're not going to take me out.
[SPEAKER_01]: You're not going to take me out.
[SPEAKER_01]: Darkness was making progress until it ran into you.
[SPEAKER_01]: But I want to ran into you.
[SPEAKER_01]: The Jesus in you stood up and said, we will not be moved.
[SPEAKER_01]: Come on somebody and all of a sudden you can now bully proclaim I am not going to be moved amen and so some of you really have been pushed I believe by the devil for a really long time You've been pushed around been playing with you, but now you're really grasping this revelation and this understanding that you cannot be moved
[SPEAKER_01]: Amen.
[SPEAKER_01]: Because what the enemy fails to understand is that there is a God within you that will not quit.
[SPEAKER_01]: He will not quit.
[SPEAKER_01]: And that is in you as much louder than the attack against you.
[SPEAKER_01]: Come on, I said that Jesus within you is much louder than the attack against you.
[SPEAKER_01]: Hallelujah.
[SPEAKER_01]: So resist, listen, resist doesn't mean to hide.
[SPEAKER_01]: Resistious says not to date, but devil, I'm not moving.
[SPEAKER_01]: Not today, Devil.
[SPEAKER_01]: I'm not moving.
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah.
[SPEAKER_01]: That's what resist is all about.
[SPEAKER_01]: Amen.
[SPEAKER_01]: Then it goes another step further.
[SPEAKER_01]: The armor of God, I believe, is given for us to resist.
[SPEAKER_01]: We read that.
[SPEAKER_01]: And then the second thing that it says in Ephesians chapter 6, verse 13, it says, is also so you can stand.
[SPEAKER_01]: to resist and to stand.
[SPEAKER_01]: You say, well, wait a second, and that about the same thing, because resist meant to withstand.
[SPEAKER_01]: No, it's actually something completely different.
[SPEAKER_01]: And if you look at the word they're stand, it actually takes off the first part of the word that we learned a minute ago.
[SPEAKER_01]: It's just now the word histomy, which means to cause to stand, to set in place.
[SPEAKER_01]: This is where we fully grasp the revelation of the fact that we cannot be moved.
[SPEAKER_01]: Because I am going to stand.
[SPEAKER_01]: In other words, I am going to be set in place.
[SPEAKER_01]: I can't be taken out.
[SPEAKER_01]: I can't be moved.
[SPEAKER_01]: So when the enemy tries to, nope.
[SPEAKER_01]: I'm standing on the firm rock, the firm foundation.
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, okay hit, okay you hit me, but I cannot be moved.
[SPEAKER_01]: I'm set in stone, right?
[SPEAKER_01]: I'm set in zone.
[SPEAKER_01]: So resist says the attack is coming, but I'm not gonna give up an inch.
[SPEAKER_01]: But then Stan says, I'm fixed.
[SPEAKER_01]: I'm set in place and I will never be moved.
[SPEAKER_01]: Amen?
[SPEAKER_01]: Do you understand the difference?
[SPEAKER_01]: Again, resist says the attack is coming, but I'm not gonna give up an inch.
[SPEAKER_01]: It's more of a mindset.
[SPEAKER_01]: It's more of an understanding.
[SPEAKER_01]: But then stand says, I am fixed, I am set in place, and I will never be moved.
[SPEAKER_01]: Understanding who you are.
[SPEAKER_01]: So, Antah is to me, and he's to me, we're not going to just resist and hold our ground, but we're going to lean forward and we're going to make progress.
[SPEAKER_01]: Amen?
[SPEAKER_01]: There are evil days when it feels really like hell is breaking loose and you put on the armor of God and you plant your feet on the truth of the Word and you say, I'm not backing up, but there are other days when you've done everything you know to do.
[SPEAKER_01]: And instead of backing up, you actually lean in and you move the kingdom forward.
[SPEAKER_01]: I coach basketball, middle school boys basketball, pray for me.
[SPEAKER_01]: I coach middle school boys basketball and when they're like, you know, not getting it or, you know, whatever.
[SPEAKER_01]: And it's early.
[SPEAKER_01]: I mean, I got to be at the school by five thirty in the morning.
[SPEAKER_01]: I mean, it's early.
[SPEAKER_01]: You know, just one of the many hats that I wear.
[SPEAKER_01]: But when they're fooling around or they're making mistakes or whatever, you hear that term tossed around now a lot.
[SPEAKER_01]: And there will always be some kid that says, come on guys, lock in.
[SPEAKER_01]: Have you heard that?
[SPEAKER_01]: Have you heard a younger person lately say lock in?
[SPEAKER_01]: Right?
[SPEAKER_01]: They're like lock in, get it together.
[SPEAKER_01]: And I think about that when I think about this right here.
[SPEAKER_01]: Like, I'm going to get locked in.
[SPEAKER_01]: Like, and I'm not going to just like stand, but I'm going to even lean forward.
[SPEAKER_01]: So that way, I know I cannot be moved.
[SPEAKER_01]: Like, I'm leaning in to what God has for me.
[SPEAKER_01]: I'm leaning into my future.
[SPEAKER_01]: I'm leaning in.
[SPEAKER_01]: So come hell or high water, it don't matter.
[SPEAKER_01]: I'm leaning in.
[SPEAKER_01]: Amen.
[SPEAKER_01]: And some of you got to, some of you got to really get that today.
[SPEAKER_01]: Maybe you got to put it on your mirror or write it down in your car or put it on your refrigerator.
[SPEAKER_01]: And you got to say, moving forward.
[SPEAKER_01]: I'm leaning in.
[SPEAKER_01]: I'm not going to just stand here and allow that text to come.
[SPEAKER_01]: But I'm going to withstand.
[SPEAKER_01]: And I'm going to resist.
[SPEAKER_01]: And I'm going to stand.
[SPEAKER_01]: I'm going to be set in place.
[SPEAKER_01]: And I'm not going to just be here.
[SPEAKER_01]: But I'm going to lean forward.
[SPEAKER_01]: because I know what's coming.
[SPEAKER_01]: I know that there are great days ahead of me, and I know that I'm more of the victorious.
[SPEAKER_01]: I know that I'm the victorious of Christ Jesus.
[SPEAKER_01]: I know that if I could just lean in, it don't matter what comes my way, I'm always moving forward.
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah.
[SPEAKER_01]: You cannot go backwards if you're leaning forward.
[SPEAKER_01]: It don't work.
[SPEAKER_01]: The only direction I want to go is that way.
[SPEAKER_01]: Come on, I only want to move forward.
[SPEAKER_01]: I only want to progress.
[SPEAKER_01]: And so if I want to progress and move forward and be successful in the things of God and in the kingdom and what God has for me, I've got to lean in.
[SPEAKER_01]: I've got to set my feet in place and don't allow anything to take me out.
[SPEAKER_01]: But I know that I'm set on the firm foundation.
[SPEAKER_01]: I'm armored up, I'm leaning in.
[SPEAKER_01]: Amen.
[SPEAKER_01]: Hallelujah.
[SPEAKER_01]: So it's time to move forward.
[SPEAKER_01]: So turn to someone say it's time to move forward.
[SPEAKER_01]: Turn to someone else and tell him confidently.
[SPEAKER_01]: It's time to move forward.
[SPEAKER_01]: Hallelujah.
[SPEAKER_01]: So how do we resist and how do we stand with the armor God?
[SPEAKER_01]: Again, it's one thing for me to get up here and say,
[SPEAKER_01]: Then that's when it goes into the next part of the scripture, starting in verse 14.
[SPEAKER_01]: And it starts to address how we can stand.
[SPEAKER_01]: It says, stand, therefore, and then it gives us, right here, the exact script, the play by play, if you will, it gives us everything that we need to be able to stand.
[SPEAKER_01]: So the Lord has equipped us, has equipped you with six pieces of armor that you can resist and you can stand with six pieces of armor and today I just want to quickly address the first two and then we'll take time over the next couple of weeks to hit the others as well and I want to go in order the first one is the belt of truth and then the breastplate of righteousness.
[SPEAKER_01]: Now, I think that, you know, you may say, you know, one of them is your favorite or one of them is more important than the others.
[SPEAKER_01]: But what I believe is like it's very, the Lord was very particular about how he inspired Paul to write and how Paul put this down for us to understand.
[SPEAKER_01]: Because he starts it with the belt of truth.
[SPEAKER_01]: You would think that he would start maybe with the top piece, the helmet.
[SPEAKER_01]: or maybe the bottom with the shoes.
[SPEAKER_01]: But he starts right in the middle with the belt.
[SPEAKER_01]: It's interesting.
[SPEAKER_01]: So I had to ask myself, well, why?
[SPEAKER_01]: Why do you start with the belt of truth?
[SPEAKER_01]: And then, and then you go into the breastplate of righteousness.
[SPEAKER_01]: Well, because a Roman soldier,
[SPEAKER_01]: Back in those days when Paul was writing Ephesians was fully armored with these same pieces of protection.
[SPEAKER_01]: And it was essential to their armor that they would put on for battle.
[SPEAKER_01]: But what was interesting about the belt specifically is that the belt held the entire Roman armor together.
[SPEAKER_01]: Now you think about us today, like we got to put on our belt to keep our pants up.
[SPEAKER_01]: Right, well, you're better at least.
[SPEAKER_01]: I wear a belt every day, cause I ain't never gonna let these things fall.
[SPEAKER_01]: I was like, you know, it's not gonna happen.
[SPEAKER_01]: I'm gonna make sure these suckers stay on and they're on their tight.
[SPEAKER_01]: They ain't going nowhere, okay?
[SPEAKER_01]: So the belt is important for my wardrobe, okay?
[SPEAKER_01]: Like, I need my belt on, all right?
[SPEAKER_01]: Every day, I don't leave the house without a belt.
[SPEAKER_01]: I mean, some people do that, some people don't.
[SPEAKER_01]: When it came to the Roman soldier of that time and it came to their armor, the belt was much like our belt today except for the belt actually is what connected all of the pieces of armor together.
[SPEAKER_01]: Not only that, but the Roman soldier's rank and his level of authority could be identified
[SPEAKER_01]: Today, you know, our troops or whatever, they'll have it across their chest or maybe the color that they're wearing or maybe something on there.
[SPEAKER_01]: There's some sort of identification to show what they are, what their level of authority is.
[SPEAKER_01]: But at that time, you knew their authority, you knew their level of command, you knew who they were by the belt they wore.
[SPEAKER_01]: because every belt was different and every belt represented a different position in the army.
[SPEAKER_01]: The belt was so important because the sword couldn't even be carried without the belt.
[SPEAKER_01]: The breastplate would move all around if it wasn't secured and snapped into the belt.
[SPEAKER_01]: So the belt was more than decoration.
[SPEAKER_01]: So because of this, this is why Paul, I believe, mentions it first before anything else.
[SPEAKER_01]: Because Paul had a lot of time sitting behind bars watching soldiers.
[SPEAKER_01]: He understood how the Roman soldier was put together.
[SPEAKER_01]: And so he was able to sit there and study how the armor worked and how it was for their benefit.
[SPEAKER_01]: and how the soldier would carry themselves and carry themselves with the armor and he understood the importance of the belt first and foremost over any other piece.
[SPEAKER_01]: Why?
[SPEAKER_01]: Because before you can get anything else and before you do anything else, you better make sure and know the truth and have the truth apart of your life.
[SPEAKER_01]: He says, put on the belt of truth.
[SPEAKER_01]: You don't know what it means to be righteous.
[SPEAKER_01]: You can't even put on the breastplate of righteousness if you don't even know the truth.
[SPEAKER_01]: So he has to start with the truth.
[SPEAKER_01]: The Bible says, what?
[SPEAKER_01]: It's the truth that sets us free.
[SPEAKER_01]: So Paul understood that before you can put on any other pieces of this armor to fight the good fight of faith,
[SPEAKER_01]: You better know the truth of the Word of God, and you better know the truth about who he says you are, and who he's created you to be.
[SPEAKER_01]: How dare you put on the armor and not know who you even are?
[SPEAKER_01]: It was the belt that identified the fact that they were a general, they were a commander, they had some authority, and it's for us to understand today that if we're gonna have some authority in our walk with Christ, if we're gonna take our stand, then we need to know what it means to have some truth in our life.
[SPEAKER_01]: put on the belt of truth and you better hear me today church in a world full of deception and in a lack of truth you got to get some real truth there's a lot of lack of truth or there's a lot of false truth out there and the problem is it's not just out in the world it's also in the church there's a lot of corrupted truth
[SPEAKER_01]: And we believe everything that we hear.
[SPEAKER_01]: And we make it truth.
[SPEAKER_01]: When in reality, it's a watered-down version of the truth.
[SPEAKER_01]: Isn't it amazing how the truth is now being marked as hate?
[SPEAKER_01]: I've literally had biblically inspiring.
[SPEAKER_01]: You know, like, truth filled, social media posts,
[SPEAKER_01]: get blocked or shadow banned or get a little thing that pops up and says this is against community guidelines or against community standards.
[SPEAKER_01]: Who's?
[SPEAKER_01]: Like by speaking truth.
[SPEAKER_01]: You remember when COVID became a thing?
[SPEAKER_01]: Of course, everybody remembers that.
[SPEAKER_01]: And COVID was rampant and it was all this.
[SPEAKER_01]: And if you put anything on social media about COVID, like you could easily get blocked.
[SPEAKER_01]: I remember Instagram, if you typed in, if you typed in COVID in a description on your post or you put it on your story and you wrote the word COVID out, that Instagram would begin to suppress your content and begin to block what you were putting out there.
[SPEAKER_01]: Because there was a hindrance to the real truth.
[SPEAKER_01]: And then want the real truth out there, but it's amazing today how you can speak the truth and it's taken as hate.
[SPEAKER_01]: You can speak the truth and it's taken as, oh, you're a Christian nationalist.
[SPEAKER_01]: I'll take it, whatever.
[SPEAKER_01]: And it's crazy.
[SPEAKER_01]: So listen, we don't.
[SPEAKER_01]: We don't want a version of Jesus that fits us or matches our expectation.
[SPEAKER_01]: We need a version of Jesus that shakes us to the very core and brings truth in every area of our lives.
[SPEAKER_01]: And so before you put on any other piece of armor, you need to begin to put on the belts of truth.
[SPEAKER_01]: Amen?
[SPEAKER_01]: Hallelujah.
[SPEAKER_01]: And you need to get you some truth.
[SPEAKER_01]: If you don't got truth, you need to get you some truth.
[SPEAKER_01]: You need to get into the Word of God and you need to find out the truth about you.
[SPEAKER_01]: The truth about your situation, the truth about your family, the truth, hey listen about your own salvation.
[SPEAKER_01]: You need to get you some truth because it's the truth of the Word of God that will not allow you to be moved.
[SPEAKER_01]: The breastplate.
[SPEAKER_01]: The rest of the armor, the sword, everything was able to be intact because of the truth that held it together.
[SPEAKER_01]: You can say all day long, I'm saved, I got the Hellman's salvation, I got the sword, all that, but if you don't have the truth, you actually don't have nothing.
[SPEAKER_01]: You got to have the truth.
[SPEAKER_01]: Amen.
[SPEAKER_01]: Glory to God.
[SPEAKER_01]: So what I want to do is I want to take the next several weeks and break down each one of these pieces of armor so that we can truly understand because look, when you may be able to testify to the same exact thing church, I don't know.
[SPEAKER_01]: I remember when I was in children's church and we'd seen the songs about putting on the armor of God.
[SPEAKER_01]: and we talk about it and we do this, you know, the drawlings and we have the felt board and we put the soldier together, come on anybody remember those days, and I felt board days anybody, anybody?
[SPEAKER_01]: Okay, we got a few.
[SPEAKER_01]: Josh.
[SPEAKER_01]: Oh big time.
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, big time.
[SPEAKER_01]: All right, great.
[SPEAKER_01]: Thank you, Josh.
[SPEAKER_01]: But I remember like, oh yeah, God wants us to put on the armor and then I realize now, it's like, well, what is the armor?
[SPEAKER_01]: How does the armor work for me?
[SPEAKER_01]: It's one thing to say, I put on the full armor, oh, God, when I woke up this morning, I prayed and I put it all on.
[SPEAKER_01]: What do you even know what it is?
[SPEAKER_01]: Do you even know what it's about?
[SPEAKER_01]: Do you even know what it means?
[SPEAKER_01]: Because if you put on the helmet first, you actually are out of order.
[SPEAKER_01]: If you just took the sword and you're like, here we go, you're out of line.
[SPEAKER_01]: He says, you got to start with the belt of truth.
[SPEAKER_01]: You got to know the truth about you.
[SPEAKER_01]: The truth, who I've created you to be, who I've called you to be.
[SPEAKER_01]: I have called you more than a conquer, but you only get that revelation by knowing the truth.
[SPEAKER_01]: I have called you blessed, but how does that reality of blessing even become real for us and unfold in our lives if we don't even understand the truth of it?
[SPEAKER_01]: says, put on the whole armor of God, not some of it, put it on, equip yourself, and you may be able to fight the good fight of faith, that you may be able to resist and stand in the evil day.
[SPEAKER_01]: When things are crazy, when things are confusing,
[SPEAKER_01]: when there's troubling times and frustrating situations and circumstances around you.
[SPEAKER_01]: How we can understand the first thing that I need to do is I need to armor myself up.
[SPEAKER_01]: The attack, I realize that there's a attack before me right now, but I'm not gonna just allow it.
[SPEAKER_01]: I'm gonna armor myself up.
[SPEAKER_01]: And I'm gonna go to war.
[SPEAKER_01]: And if that means I go to war and prayer, then let's go.
[SPEAKER_01]: If I just got to start worshiping and just start praising and getting on the, then that's what I got to do.
[SPEAKER_01]: As you understand that all of these things are weapons of warfare.
[SPEAKER_01]: Your prayer life is a weapon of warfare.
[SPEAKER_01]: Your worship is a weapon of warfare.
[SPEAKER_01]: The praise that you bring to God, the adoration that you lift up to him, whether it's a clap or a shout or a song or whatever, those are weapons of warfare.
[SPEAKER_01]: That's how you get on the other side of stuff.
[SPEAKER_01]: You don't get on the other side by leaving your armor off to the side and sitting there and just allowing all of it to take place and sitting back and saying, oh, I guess I'm just being attacked by the devil today.
[SPEAKER_01]: You ain't going to get basted, but he quit yourself, put on the armor, and first inform us, get the truth of who you are, so you know how to fight, and armor yourself up, fight the good fight of faith, stand strong, wage war against the devil when he's trying to wage war against you.
[SPEAKER_01]: fight hard.
[SPEAKER_01]: We don't fight a weak face church.
[SPEAKER_01]: We're strong and Mike.
[SPEAKER_00]: Thank you for listening to today's message.
[SPEAKER_00]: We pray you were inspired, challenged, and marked by the word you heard.
[SPEAKER_00]: If this message blessed you today we encourage you to subscribe to the Church of the City podcast.
[SPEAKER_00]: There you can find more faith-filled messages to uplift you and help you on your journey
[SPEAKER_00]: For more information about Church of the City, head on over to www.cotcdfw.com.
[SPEAKER_00]: And until next time, remember this, the best is yet to come.