[SPEAKER_01]: Ephesians chapter 6, starting in verse 11, we've been reading these same couple verses for the last couple weeks, but Ephesians chapter 6 verse 11 through 17, it says this, says, put on the full armor of God so that you can stand against the tactics of the devil.
[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.
[SPEAKER_01]: So that you may be able to resist in the evil day and having prepared everything to take your stand.
[SPEAKER_01]: Next slide, how do we take our stand?
[SPEAKER_01]: Stand there for with truth, like a belt around your waist.
[SPEAKER_01]: righteousness like armor on your chest and your feet sandled with readiness for the gospel of peace in every situation so I say every situation every situation not just some but in every situation take the shield of faith and with it you'll be able to extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one take the helmet of salvation the sword of the spirit which is
[SPEAKER_01]: God's Word, amen.
[SPEAKER_01]: So if you're taking notes this morning, the title of today's message is faith still works.
[SPEAKER_01]: Faith still works.
[SPEAKER_01]: Come on, if you believe that with me today, you believe faith still works no matter what I want you to say amen.
[SPEAKER_01]: Because we know that the greatest thing that we have is our faith, right?
[SPEAKER_01]: It's our salvation in Jesus, believing in Him and what He can do.
[SPEAKER_01]: Hallelujah.
[SPEAKER_01]: So, Father, we thank you, Lord, for your Word this morning.
[SPEAKER_01]: We thank you, Father God, for the revelation of your Word.
[SPEAKER_01]: We thank you for teaching us, imparting something new.
[SPEAKER_01]: Within us today, Father God, we thank you, God, for what you are doing in this place.
[SPEAKER_01]: Lord, we are so expectin' this morning for you to continue to speak to us, for you to continue to move in this place.
[SPEAKER_01]: In Jesus' name, everybody said, amen, amen.
[SPEAKER_01]: All right, so just to recap, as we've been doing the past couple weeks, I know you've heard it many times, but just follow along for a moment, but Paul says in verse 13, he says, this is why you take up the full armor God,
[SPEAKER_01]: So that you may be able to resist right in the evil day.
[SPEAKER_01]: The word evil there, remember is that is that Greek word Paneros, which means labor, pain, sorrow.
[SPEAKER_01]: So that you may be able to resist in the evil day in the laboring day, the painful day, the sorrowful day.
[SPEAKER_01]: What Paul is saying is that, obviously, you know, we are gonna have great days, but they're also gonna be days when
[SPEAKER_01]: It's not so great, right?
[SPEAKER_01]: There are going to be laboring, challenging, sorrowful days that we're going to experience.
[SPEAKER_01]: And so if you remember, I shared with you that the armor of God specifically was given to us for two reasons in the evil day, according to Ephesians chapter 6 verse 13, remember is to number one, resist and number two to stand.
[SPEAKER_01]: And that word resist there, and remember is that word anti-histomy,
[SPEAKER_01]: They're on the screen and so Paul says, you know, you've got to put on the whole armor of God so that you may be able to resist right so that you may be able to withstand to stand against right the things that are trying to come against you.
[SPEAKER_01]: All right, and then he said not only is it so that you can resist, but it's also that you can stand.
[SPEAKER_01]: And that's that word, histomy, which means to cause the sand to set into place.
[SPEAKER_01]: Your feet are planted, you are set in stone, you cannot be moved.
[SPEAKER_01]: So not only are you resisting, what is coming against you, you've put up a block about of what's coming against you, but you're also, your feet are firmly planted, you cannot be moved, you cannot be knocked over, you cannot be taken out.
[SPEAKER_01]: Amen?
[SPEAKER_01]: Come on, somebody say, I'm in.
[SPEAKER_01]: Hallelujah.
[SPEAKER_01]: And so the first week, we learned about the belt of truth, right?
[SPEAKER_01]: And I talked to you all about that.
[SPEAKER_01]: The truth comes first before anything else that
[SPEAKER_01]: We have to have truth around our waste because before we have anything, remember what we have to have truth.
[SPEAKER_01]: And that's something that we got to always remember, moving forward.
[SPEAKER_01]: Before I have anything, I got to make sure that I am grounded in the truth of God's word and the truth of who he says I am and the truth who he's called me to be, all of those things, understanding the power of the truth of God's word, amen.
[SPEAKER_01]: And the second week we talked about the breastplate of righteousness,
[SPEAKER_01]: understanding that the righteousness of God protects the most vital parts of who we are, protects our heart, first and foremost above everything else.
[SPEAKER_01]: Amen.
[SPEAKER_01]: And God is in protects us and I taught you about that armor, that that chest that's around the chest piece that it cannot be cracked, it cannot be pierced, it cannot be penetrated, but it is there to protect us.
[SPEAKER_01]: Amen.
[SPEAKER_01]: And that's what the righteousness of God is all about.
[SPEAKER_01]: And then, last week, we talked about the shoes of peace.
[SPEAKER_01]: Amen?
[SPEAKER_01]: Remember, when it talked about the scripture there, the shoes of peace is, as we come under peace, right?
[SPEAKER_01]: We learned about that, that word sandal there, that word sandal means to come up under.
[SPEAKER_01]: So, we come up under peace, right?
[SPEAKER_01]: And we are able to stand and reside in a place of perfect peace.
[SPEAKER_01]: God is a God of peace.
[SPEAKER_01]: He's not a God of chaos.
[SPEAKER_01]: He's not a God of confusion.
[SPEAKER_01]: But he has a God of peace, and he desires that we all live and walk in his perfect peace, amen.
[SPEAKER_01]: And so we talked about that last week.
[SPEAKER_01]: So this week, we're addressing the shield of faith, amen.
[SPEAKER_01]: The shield of faith.
[SPEAKER_01]: And let me just say this right off the bat.
[SPEAKER_01]: that the shield of faith is a supernatural weapon used to deflect every bit of doubt and every bit of temptation.
[SPEAKER_01]: It's the shield of faith.
[SPEAKER_01]: Not only that, but the shield of faith is a faith-filled weapon to fight against all fear.
[SPEAKER_01]: When Eric was closing worship earlier, he kind of said some things, and I'm like, wait a second, did he see my notes?
[SPEAKER_01]: Right, and it's, but it's the shield of faith that puts a block up against fear, which we know that really the number one tactic of the enemy is fear.
[SPEAKER_01]: He loves to instill fear into you, if he can get you into a place of fear, he pretty much just feels like he's captivated you.
[SPEAKER_01]: And fear can absolutely take over you and fear can actually take you out.
[SPEAKER_01]: Now, fear does crazy things to people, right?
[SPEAKER_01]: It does crazy things to people.
[SPEAKER_01]: And so that's why we got to be so careful.
[SPEAKER_01]: So it's the shield of faith that deflects and blocks against all traces of fear.
[SPEAKER_01]: you know, some people are constantly living in a state of fear and they're constantly living in the what if this and what if that and you know what if this happens and what if that happens and what if this person does you know all that kind of like literally living life on the edge but not in a good way.
[SPEAKER_01]: living in constant fear, and I just want to say this right now before we dive too much into this this morning that if you don't start utilizing your faith-filled fear deflecting weapon that the Lord has really graciously equipped you with, fear will absolutely overtake you.
[SPEAKER_01]: It's time, as believers, it's time, as those that stand in a place of faith that we understand that we have a weapon that we can put up to deflect every bit of fear that tries to come our way.
[SPEAKER_01]: What did the Scripture say?
[SPEAKER_01]: It's to come against the flaming arrows of the evil one.
[SPEAKER_01]: That's how I picture fear, coming in like a flaming arrow.
[SPEAKER_01]: And it comes in, it tries to hit you real hard out of nowhere.
[SPEAKER_01]: And it can fear, can burn things up really quick.
[SPEAKER_01]: And he says, it's the shield of faith that literally you can put up to extinguish all of the flaming arrows of the evil one.
[SPEAKER_01]: Every bit of fear that's trying to come against you in your life.
[SPEAKER_01]: You can put up the shield of faith and it blocks every single one of them.
[SPEAKER_01]: And I don't know about you, but really, I don't have time
[SPEAKER_01]: I need my faith to rise up, and I need it to take its place, and I need a fight against the enemy schemes and his tricks and his tactics when it comes to fear.
[SPEAKER_01]: And it's by taking up the shield that will allow me to fight fear and kick fears, but rather than fear, kicking my butt.
[SPEAKER_01]: Glory to God.
[SPEAKER_01]: So turn to your neighbor and tell them, say, get your shield ready.
[SPEAKER_01]: because it's time to defeat fear with faith.
[SPEAKER_01]: Come on, that's weak, come on.
[SPEAKER_01]: Say, get your shield ready.
[SPEAKER_01]: Because it's time to defeat fear with faith.
[SPEAKER_01]: Amen.
[SPEAKER_01]: All right, so not only it is, thank you Josh.
[SPEAKER_01]: Not only do you equip yourself with some truth around your waste, really holding everything together.
[SPEAKER_01]: It holds everything together.
[SPEAKER_01]: Not only do you have the breastplate of righteousness reminding you constantly who you are in Jesus, the shoes of peace that keep you in a constant state of readiness because peace is your portion, but then you also get a shield.
[SPEAKER_01]: And there were two different kind of Roman shields in the day.
[SPEAKER_01]: One was like a small circular type shield,
[SPEAKER_01]: It was almost like a training shield that they would use for training, for battle.
[SPEAKER_01]: It was also used as just a one-on-one kind of conflict type shield, where if they had to take one person out or if they were battling against a small group of people or something, there was a singular
[SPEAKER_01]: circular shield that they could use, that they can navigate well and be able to fight against one another.
[SPEAKER_01]: But then there was another kind of shield that the Roman army would use, and that's the shield that we're talking about here in Ephesians 6.
[SPEAKER_01]: And that was a shield which is translated to the word Thurios, which means literally a large object protecting every part of the soldier.
[SPEAKER_01]: So it says, take up the shield of faith.
[SPEAKER_01]: Don't take up your little Captain America shield.
[SPEAKER_01]: He says, take up the shield of faith.
[SPEAKER_01]: Take up the big shield.
[SPEAKER_01]: Not the one for just one on one battle.
[SPEAKER_01]: But take up the big shield that literally covers you from head to toe.
[SPEAKER_01]: I don't know if you've ever seen pictures like that, but of a large shield, and you could just imagine what Paul seeing as he's sitting in these prison cells, and he's really like watching and examining these
[SPEAKER_01]: these Roman soldiers as they're there and as they're, you know, as he sees everything that's going on and he sees the small shield that's used for certain things and then he sees the kind of shield that you can set on the ground right here, you know, that's about, about yay high, right?
[SPEAKER_01]: And when you pick it up, it protects every bit of you.
[SPEAKER_01]: It says, take up the shield of faith.
[SPEAKER_01]: Take up the therios of faith.
[SPEAKER_01]: Take up the object that literally protects you from head to toe.
[SPEAKER_01]: Which is amazing because all the other armor is literally used to protect us from head to toe.
[SPEAKER_01]: So not only do we have the armor that we have head to toe, but we also have the shield that protects us head to toe.
[SPEAKER_01]: which is amazing.
[SPEAKER_01]: So the shield of faith could have been completely excluded out of this whole thing.
[SPEAKER_01]: But he says, you gotta have the shield of faith that covers you from the top to the bottom.
[SPEAKER_01]: It's a whole body covering shield.
[SPEAKER_01]: It's a faith protector that guards you from head to toe.
[SPEAKER_01]: It's a faith protector that guards you from the top to the bottom.
[SPEAKER_01]: And you literally are fully covered.
[SPEAKER_01]: And so if you're taking notes this morning,
[SPEAKER_01]: There's three factors of the shield of faith that I want to teach you about.
[SPEAKER_01]: Three factors of the shield of faith that I want to teach you about.
[SPEAKER_01]: And I'm hurrying a little bit this morning because I don't normally have four pages of notes but I do.
[SPEAKER_01]: So I'm trying to speed it up just a little bit.
[SPEAKER_01]: All right, so three factors of the shield of faith.
[SPEAKER_01]: Number one is this is that the shield enables you.
[SPEAKER_01]: The shield enables you.
[SPEAKER_01]: Ephesians chapter 6 verse 16 says in every situation take the shield of faith and with it you will be able, you'll be able to extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one.
[SPEAKER_01]: And with that, you will be able to extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one.
[SPEAKER_01]: So the word there for able is the Greek word, dynamists, dynamists, which means power, ability, strength.
[SPEAKER_01]: So this completely changes how you view this scripture.
[SPEAKER_01]: So he says, take up the shield of faith, right?
[SPEAKER_01]: And with it, you will be able, you will have the power, you will have the ability, you will have the strength to distinguish all of the flaming arrows of the evil one.
[SPEAKER_01]: So you need to know that the shield is not just a prop.
[SPEAKER_01]: The shield is not just a piece of the armor, but the shield is actually something that gives you power and ability and strength to fight against the devil.
[SPEAKER_01]: You say, oh, I thought it was just the sword that fights against the devil.
[SPEAKER_01]: No, it's not just the sword, it's the shield.
[SPEAKER_01]: It's the shield also.
[SPEAKER_01]: In every situation,
[SPEAKER_01]: Take the full body covering shield of faith and with that you will have the power and with that you will have the ability and with that you will have the strength to extinguish all of the flaming arrows of the evil one.
[SPEAKER_01]: This is not just a little shield that absorbs just a little bit of the enemy's blows.
[SPEAKER_01]: or half of the blows.
[SPEAKER_01]: No, this is not a whimpy shield that barely helps us get through the situations of life.
[SPEAKER_01]: No, no, no, no.
[SPEAKER_01]: This is a shield that has the power of God that enables you that gives you the strength that you need to fight and to win in every situation.
[SPEAKER_01]: Quant, if that doesn't make you excited, I don't know what does.
[SPEAKER_01]: That he has literally equipped you.
[SPEAKER_01]: He has equipped you with the peace of a weapon of armory.
[SPEAKER_01]: That literally gives you power, gives you ability, gives you strength to fight against the devil.
[SPEAKER_01]: A lot of times, he will say, oh, the enemy just attacking me and I don't know what to do and it's coming left and right and all this.
[SPEAKER_01]: Take the shield of faith.
[SPEAKER_01]: because the scripture teaches us right there that it's the shield of faith that we'll put a stop against all of his arrows.
[SPEAKER_01]: The enemy is hitting my family and he's hitting my job and he's hitting my finances.
[SPEAKER_01]: Take up the shield of faith.
[SPEAKER_01]: I mean, it's as simple as that.
[SPEAKER_01]: I know he said, well, it's not as simple as that, but it really is.
[SPEAKER_01]: It really is.
[SPEAKER_01]: Take up the shield of faith.
[SPEAKER_01]: Quit leaving your shield behind and allowing the devil to have a heyday with you.
[SPEAKER_01]: And let me just help us all for a moment because there's some people that literally have a complaint about everything in life.
[SPEAKER_01]: Have you ever met anybody like that?
[SPEAKER_01]: I mean,
[SPEAKER_01]: No matter what it is, well good.
[SPEAKER_01]: You've been delivered, praise the Lord.
[SPEAKER_01]: And at least you admitted it, I'm just kidding.
[SPEAKER_01]: I didn't know you that way, so that's great, praise God.
[SPEAKER_01]: You know, you get people that complain about everything.
[SPEAKER_01]: Everything.
[SPEAKER_01]: It's like, man, if we would just literally take up the shield of faith, it's almost as this, we would have nothing to complain about.
[SPEAKER_01]: Like the enemy would have nothing to come, you know, nothing would be able to hit us.
[SPEAKER_01]: You know, we wouldn't be able to sit back and just complain, complain, and what was me?
[SPEAKER_01]: You know, you remember I taught you the first week that there is no armor that covers your backside.
[SPEAKER_01]: And it's like that for a reason because you are never created to retreat from battle.
[SPEAKER_01]: You were always created a fight and to win, right?
[SPEAKER_01]: Not only do you fight, but you win every single time.
[SPEAKER_01]: And in the shield of faith, really protects you from any kind of blow that could come at any direction.
[SPEAKER_01]: The shield of faith is so large that it can protect you at any given moment you can go like this, where you could put it above your head or whatever it may be.
[SPEAKER_01]: It's a powerful weapon.
[SPEAKER_01]: If you love Jesus, and if you have Him in you, you've got to know that the world is going to hate you, and you've got to know that the devil he's always going to be out war against you.
[SPEAKER_01]: All right?
[SPEAKER_01]: I mean, just because McDonald's didn't give you your French fries with your burger, doesn't mean you're being persecuted.
[SPEAKER_01]: I mean, persecuted here.
[SPEAKER_01]: I didn't get my fries, you know?
[SPEAKER_01]: But you've been to realize that without having your faith as a shield, things will only get harder for you.
[SPEAKER_01]: But things don't have to be harder.
[SPEAKER_01]: They can actually be much easier.
[SPEAKER_01]: If you just take up the shield of faith, take up the shield of faith.
[SPEAKER_01]: And number two is this, I love this, is that the shield fights for you.
[SPEAKER_01]: All you got to do is take up the shield.
[SPEAKER_01]: Notice that Paul didn't say, take it up and then do this and then do that and follow all these steps.
[SPEAKER_01]: No, all he said was, is take it up, pull it out, pull out the shield and allow the shield to fight for you.
[SPEAKER_01]: Maybe all your life, but do you actually understand what it is?
[SPEAKER_01]: Do you actually really understand what faith is?
[SPEAKER_01]: And let me give you the most simplified definition today of faith.
[SPEAKER_01]: Faith is just believing in God.
[SPEAKER_01]: It's just believing in God.
[SPEAKER_01]: Not believing in what somebody said or a person or whatever,
[SPEAKER_01]: And you want me to tell you what faith does, faith doesn't just block something from hitting you, but faith is so strong, so powerful and so significant that it also gives blows back.
[SPEAKER_01]: It doesn't just block the blow from hitting you, but it also gives the blow back.
[SPEAKER_01]: Amen.
[SPEAKER_01]: You see, your faith doesn't just block against the attacks, but your faith also fights back against the attacks.
[SPEAKER_01]: You don't just have to stand there and put up the shield of faith, and just say, well, I'm just waiting until this war ends.
[SPEAKER_01]: I'm just waiting until this attack is over.
[SPEAKER_01]: No, the shield of faith, you can actually fight with it.
[SPEAKER_01]: You can fight with it.
[SPEAKER_01]: And this is why you take up the shield of faith and you cannot lose because faith doesn't just protect you, but faith also fights for you.
[SPEAKER_01]: When you have faith in God, when you are standing in a place of faith in God, faith doesn't just protect you, but faith fights for you.
[SPEAKER_01]: Faith knows how to kind of push you out of the way and say, hold on, this is what God says in this moment, right?
[SPEAKER_01]: Faith can kind of push your flesh and your own stinking way of thinking and kind of push you out of the way a little bit and say, no, this is how you're supposed to think right now.
[SPEAKER_01]: This is what you're supposed to say right now.
[SPEAKER_01]: It's one thing to know faith, it's another thing to live in faith.
[SPEAKER_01]: to walk in faith, allow faith to make all the decisions for you, you know, allow faith to be the answer for you, you know, and when you allow faith to take its place, it's rightful place in your life as a believer, you will see that not only, not only are you blocking the enemy, but you're also fighting the enemy.
[SPEAKER_01]: that your faith is a powerful weapon.
[SPEAKER_01]: It's a powerful weapon.
[SPEAKER_01]: It's not just so that you can say the salvation prayer and just say, oh, I know who Jesus is.
[SPEAKER_01]: I haven't asked my Savior, no, but faith really puts you in a place of victory.
[SPEAKER_01]: Faith really can speak when you don't know what to say.
[SPEAKER_01]: Faith can act on your behalf when you don't know what to do.
[SPEAKER_01]: It's a supernatural thing.
[SPEAKER_01]: That's why the Scripture says, have faith in God.
[SPEAKER_01]: As simple as that.
[SPEAKER_01]: Have faith in God.
[SPEAKER_01]: Because reality is, listen, you can't have faith in anybody.
[SPEAKER_01]: You can't have faith in nothing.
[SPEAKER_01]: But you can always have faith in God.
[SPEAKER_01]: And the faith that you have in God will never fail you.
[SPEAKER_01]: It will never let you down.
[SPEAKER_01]: Amen.
[SPEAKER_01]: The faith that you have in God will never allow those arrows of the enemy to penetrate you.
[SPEAKER_01]: It's impossible.
[SPEAKER_01]: It doesn't work that way.
[SPEAKER_01]: But faith not only blocks, but faith also fights.
[SPEAKER_01]: Amen.
[SPEAKER_01]: You know, isn't an amazing that God didn't just give you your faith to stand.
[SPEAKER_01]: but he also gave you your faith so that you can be victorious.
[SPEAKER_01]: You know, if all faith was so I can just stand, that would be very exciting.
[SPEAKER_01]: But the fact that he allowed me to stand but then also be victorious, that's amazing.
[SPEAKER_01]: That's amazing.
[SPEAKER_01]: And that's the great God that we serve.
[SPEAKER_01]: Amen.
[SPEAKER_01]: And listen,
[SPEAKER_01]: You know, my faith doesn't just help stop the attack of the enemy, but my faith knows how to fight back.
[SPEAKER_01]: And when the devil's trying to beat me upside the head, it's the faith that I have in God that beats the devil upside the head.
[SPEAKER_01]: That serves the devil and shows him and gives him notice of who he is and where he really belongs.
[SPEAKER_01]: It's my faith in God.
[SPEAKER_01]: And when you truly understand this,
[SPEAKER_01]: You'll go from saying things like, please, Lord, give me faith in this situation.
[SPEAKER_01]: To saying things like, thank you, Lord, that my faith is rising up.
[SPEAKER_01]: And I know I'm not just gonna be protected, but I'm also gonna defeat the devil in all his plans.
[SPEAKER_01]: It's one way to say, oh God, give me faith in this situation.
[SPEAKER_01]: You shouldn't have to ask for faith.
[SPEAKER_01]: He already gave me faith.
[SPEAKER_01]: All you gotta do is stand in faith, believe, fight in faith.
[SPEAKER_01]: He said, people say, all the time, my faith is so weak.
[SPEAKER_01]: Who's faith is weak?
[SPEAKER_01]: God's faith ain't weak.
[SPEAKER_01]: Your faith is in God.
[SPEAKER_01]: So when you say my faith is so weak right now, what you're saying is my God is so weak right now.
[SPEAKER_01]: His faith has never diminished, it's never failed.
[SPEAKER_01]: It's never ceased to be victorious.
[SPEAKER_01]: And so when you stand in a place of faith, you are always victorious.
[SPEAKER_01]: You are more than a conqueror through Christ Jesus because of you simply your faith in God.
[SPEAKER_01]: He says, if you don't have anything, have faith in me.
[SPEAKER_01]: The world will, the world will fail you.
[SPEAKER_01]: People will fail you.
[SPEAKER_01]: Your money will fail you.
[SPEAKER_01]: But if you just have faith in me, don't you worry, brother, don't you worry, sister?
[SPEAKER_01]: I will take care of you.
[SPEAKER_01]: I will protect you.
[SPEAKER_01]: I will guard you.
[SPEAKER_01]: I will help you.
[SPEAKER_01]: I will always be there.
[SPEAKER_01]: It's the faith that you have in God.
[SPEAKER_01]: Faith is a beautiful thing.
[SPEAKER_01]: It's a beautiful thing.
[SPEAKER_01]: So you don't have to have weak faith that barely gets you by.
[SPEAKER_01]: But you have been equipped with a supernatural divine faith that really knows how to put the devil in his place.
[SPEAKER_01]: Hallelujah!
[SPEAKER_01]: Why?
[SPEAKER_01]: Because you are a faith-filled,
[SPEAKER_01]: You are a faith-protected, faith-fighting warrior.
[SPEAKER_01]: Amen?
[SPEAKER_01]: Come on, that is who you are.
[SPEAKER_01]: You need to clear that over yourself that I am a faith-field, faith-protected, faith-fighting warrior.
[SPEAKER_01]: Hallelujah.
[SPEAKER_01]: You know, you just got it.
[SPEAKER_01]: Sometimes you just got to get like a dog.
[SPEAKER_01]: You know, sometimes you just got to grow a little bit.
[SPEAKER_01]: You know, I mean, Maverick, one of our dogs, I mean, he's a sweetest guy, but if you get up in his space, or if he has a bone or a toy or something, you go to reach for it, I mean, he's gonna show you his teeth.
[SPEAKER_01]: And he'll become, you'll go from sweet Maverick to, you know?
[SPEAKER_01]: But that's the way we got to be when it comes to our faith.
[SPEAKER_01]: That when the devil starts coming and trying to take what belongs to us, we got to get like a dog sometimes and be like, ah, you know, I got faith, you know.
[SPEAKER_01]: You ain't going to take me out, devil, but I'm a dog today, you know.
[SPEAKER_01]: I mean, that's the kind of faith that we have to have.
[SPEAKER_01]: I mean, we don't have time for no weak, scissy faith.
[SPEAKER_01]: We got to be like a dog.
[SPEAKER_01]: I know, some of you don't like this.
[SPEAKER_01]: It's like some of you are like, looking at me like, man, come on, but it's true, it's true.
[SPEAKER_01]: It's true, because really in moments when you let your faith guard down, when you've literally just kind of stepped away a little bit outside of the realm of faith in God, and then you know that's exactly when the devil was just absolutely eating your lunch.
[SPEAKER_01]: And I'm not giving him credit.
[SPEAKER_01]: I'm just saying there's a way to prevent it.
[SPEAKER_01]: And we've been given that graciously by God.
[SPEAKER_01]: Amen.
[SPEAKER_01]: So you need to declare that over your life every single day.
[SPEAKER_01]: That I am a faith-filled, faith-protected, faith-fighting warrior.
[SPEAKER_01]: Amen.
[SPEAKER_01]: I mean, sometimes you, you know, life may just be throwing every ranch at you and maybe you just need to look at yourself in the mirror and your bathroom and just grow a little bit.
[SPEAKER_01]: So, you know, I ain't going to let this take me out today, you know?
[SPEAKER_01]: I'm looking at myself, you know, square in the face and I'm saying, no, I'm being filled with faith today.
[SPEAKER_01]: I'm going to be a dog today, you know?
[SPEAKER_01]: All right.
[SPEAKER_01]: I think everybody's passed the dog thing.
[SPEAKER_01]: I wonder if you go to church, you know, and learn about today, I'll learn how to be a dog.
[SPEAKER_01]: What kind of church are you go to?
[SPEAKER_01]: So number one, the number one is the shield enables you.
[SPEAKER_01]: Number two, the shield fights for you.
[SPEAKER_01]: And number three is that the shield, it helps you to advance.
[SPEAKER_01]: The shield helps you to advance.
[SPEAKER_01]: It is really hot in here, glory to God.
[SPEAKER_01]: I'm burning up and it ain't the fire of God is the sweater maybe it's a little bit of the fire God but yeah see like I'm getting like blasted with that guy right there so praise the Lord all right glory to God so the shield helps you to advance okay now one of the ways that the Roman army were trained to fight
[SPEAKER_01]: specifically to fight back against their their enemies is that they would get into formations, right?
[SPEAKER_01]: And uh, formations are are important, you know, we still have formations in modern day military, whether it's the air force, you know, they'll get into certain formations in the sky or whatever it may be.
[SPEAKER_01]: And one of one of the formational tactics that
[SPEAKER_01]: That was used back in the day with the Roman soldiers when it specifically came to their shields was to formal wall around them and on top of them on the sides of them.
[SPEAKER_01]: And this was called the Testudo Formation.
[SPEAKER_01]: She could see there.
[SPEAKER_01]: You see the large, you know, this is obviously a, maybe a modern look at what this will look like.
[SPEAKER_01]: There's shields probably looked nothing like this, okay?
[SPEAKER_01]: And maybe they did, I don't know, to our surprise.
[SPEAKER_01]: But this is how big the shields really were though, okay?
[SPEAKER_01]: So this is that large shield that we're talking about this morning, but the Roman army went when they would want to get into a formation to defeat the enemies, right, to defeat against another army that's attacking them or they're maybe trying to
[SPEAKER_01]: You know, take over or whatever it may be, they would get into this, to student formation, which they would literally cause a barrier on all sides of them, including on top of them.
[SPEAKER_01]: And maybe you've seen like old war movies or, um,
[SPEAKER_01]: You know, shows on the history channel or something and you've seen something like this before.
[SPEAKER_01]: And this is the kind of formation that they would literally be able to get into in a moment's notice that would allow them to advance no matter what was coming their way.
[SPEAKER_01]: And the reason why they would get into the test-stoodle formation was so that they could not just literally block the arrows or the spears or whatever that was flying their way, but it was so also that they can keep moving forward even though those things were coming their way.
[SPEAKER_01]: Hallelujah.
[SPEAKER_01]: You know, oftentimes in life, we kind of just the attack comes and we just kind of take it.
[SPEAKER_01]: It kind of just kind of frees up in place.
[SPEAKER_01]: But when it comes to the shield of faith, when it comes to having faith in God, faith doesn't just stand and take it.
[SPEAKER_01]: Faith says, I know it's coming against me, but I'm not going to stop.
[SPEAKER_01]: Come on, somebody.
[SPEAKER_01]: Faith says no matter what is coming against me against my family or whatever it may be, I'm gonna get into the right posture with God.
[SPEAKER_01]: I'm gonna put my faith, I'm gonna increase my faith right now.
[SPEAKER_01]: Put my faith on like a shield.
[SPEAKER_01]: And I'm gonna keep moving forward.
[SPEAKER_01]: I'm gonna keep advancing.
[SPEAKER_01]: And nothing is gonna hold me back and nothing is gonna stop me from moving forward.
[SPEAKER_01]: Hallelujah.
[SPEAKER_01]: Come on, somebody say amen.
[SPEAKER_01]: It's that kind of faith that we got to have.
[SPEAKER_01]: And the shield of faith can literally, it can literally put into a position where we are protected on all sides.
[SPEAKER_01]: We're protected on all sides.
[SPEAKER_01]: The formation was like a modern day army tank.
[SPEAKER_01]: Well, you would see as an army tank today, that nothing can penetrate it, and it keeps moving forward no matter what.
[SPEAKER_01]: You know, you throw some soldiers in the tank, and if you need to get from point A to point B throw him in the tank, they're gonna get there.
[SPEAKER_01]: Put him on foot, maybe not so easy.
[SPEAKER_01]: Put him in a moving force that is fully surrounded by armor.
[SPEAKER_01]: And that doesn't stop moving and put him in that and they're gonna get to where they need to go.
[SPEAKER_01]: And you know, the enemy is shooting arrow after arrow, after arrow, and he's trying to stop you in your life.
[SPEAKER_01]: He's doing everything he can to put a stop against you.
[SPEAKER_01]: And the enemy really, he has a way of trying to strategically shoot arrows towards you that he thinks is going to, he thinks is going to penetrate you and get you.
[SPEAKER_01]: But then when we take up the shield of faith, it doesn't matter which direction that he shoots it from, we're protected.
[SPEAKER_01]: Hallelujah.
[SPEAKER_01]: And the Roman army, they understood this.
[SPEAKER_01]: And they were able to advance in this way.
[SPEAKER_01]: And no matter what shot, no matter what was shot, their direction, they were always able to move forward.
[SPEAKER_01]: And listen to Devil, he's trying to throw everything he can at you, not only is it not affecting you, but glory to God, you're still moving forward today.
[SPEAKER_01]: Hallelujah, come on, somebody say, hallelujah.
[SPEAKER_01]: Not only is his attack not going to affect you, but you're still going to move forward no matter what.
[SPEAKER_01]: Turn to your neighbor and tell him neighbor, you're still moving forward.
[SPEAKER_01]: Come on, look to somebody else and tell him neighbor, you're still moving forward.
[SPEAKER_01]: Now, don't be comfortable with the person next to you.
[SPEAKER_01]: I want you to make eye contact with somebody against the, maybe on the opposite side of the room with you.
[SPEAKER_01]: And I want you to look at them and I want you to tell him neighbor.
[SPEAKER_01]: You're still moving forward.
[SPEAKER_01]: Now sometimes we just need to hear something like that.
[SPEAKER_01]: You know, you're not frozen in position right now.
[SPEAKER_01]: You know, just everything hitting you and hitting you.
[SPEAKER_01]: I mean, some of you may feel that way, but you need to know that your faith, your faith is not operating that way.
[SPEAKER_01]: Your faith is deflecting against the attack of the enemy and it's allowing you to progress and to progress.
[SPEAKER_01]: It might be one baby step at a time, but don't you worry, you're still moving forward.
[SPEAKER_01]: Hallelujah.
[SPEAKER_01]: And listen, as long as you're moving forward, let me tell you you're winning.
[SPEAKER_01]: As long as you're moving forward, you're successful.
[SPEAKER_01]: And nothing's going to stop you.
[SPEAKER_01]: Nothing's going to stop you.
[SPEAKER_01]: Listen, it's not that the arrows have gotten worse or that there's more of them lately in life.
[SPEAKER_01]: It's just that the shield of faith, the shield of believing God.
[SPEAKER_01]: Let me tell you, it still works.
[SPEAKER_01]: You know, the attack can come stronger and stronger.
[SPEAKER_01]: It can come out of greater force.
[SPEAKER_01]: But the shield still works.
[SPEAKER_01]: Faith still works, church.
[SPEAKER_01]: Faith still works no matter what.
[SPEAKER_01]: And here, if all I've got is my shield, it's still a work.
[SPEAKER_01]: In other words, if all I got is my faith, and I don't got nothing else.
[SPEAKER_01]: Let me tell you, it's still will work.
[SPEAKER_01]: Hallelujah.
[SPEAKER_01]: But something crazy, but something crazy then begins to happen when I understand how faith works.
[SPEAKER_01]: And I understand that I can find somebody like an Eric, and I can say, okay, now I got another faith warrior.
[SPEAKER_01]: And we're gonna, we're gonna link arms and listen, not only do I have my shield, but I got his shield now, protect to me, and all of a sudden now I have Melissa on this side, and I know that I got my, I got my, I got my, I got my, I got my girl on my left and I got my shield in front of me, and listen, when, when we're going to war like this, nothing can stop us.
[SPEAKER_01]: Nothing can stop us and this is this is the significance and the importance of surrounding yourself with faith-filled people because maybe maybe just maybe I just don't feel it today but because I got this one on this side and this one on this side maybe they're making up a little bit of the difference for me.
[SPEAKER_01]: You know, maybe I stopped my toe and it hurts a lot, you know, and I'm living by and life right now.
[SPEAKER_01]: But I've got, I've got some strong warriors that are beside me that are connected to me and at the end of the day, we're one unit.
[SPEAKER_01]: And so even if I'm stumbling or if I'm falling behind just a little bit, when they take a step, I take a step.
[SPEAKER_01]: And even though I maybe have a limp right now, and maybe I don't feel so great, but when they take a step, guess what?
[SPEAKER_01]: I don't get left behind.
[SPEAKER_01]: I get to take a step also.
[SPEAKER_01]: And when we understand that, it changes everything.
[SPEAKER_01]: It changes everything.
[SPEAKER_01]: And here's what tends to happen, because I believe not to give the devil credit, but I believe he understands this all too well.
[SPEAKER_01]: This is why the enemy wants to get you
[SPEAKER_01]: if he can get you isolated, if he can get you lonely, if he can get you all by yourself, where you feel like you're by yourself in this battle and nobody's there with you to fight with you and you don't have no help and you don't have no prayer warriors or whatever it may be, then that's when he's got you.
[SPEAKER_01]: That's when he's got you.
[SPEAKER_01]: You are most vulnerable when you get into a place of isolation.
[SPEAKER_01]: where you are susceptible, let me tell you, to the attack.
[SPEAKER_01]: Because, again, I'll remind you, there is nothing guarding your back side.
[SPEAKER_01]: And so, if you're out there all by yourself,
[SPEAKER_01]: You can feel like you have every weapon that there is under the sun, and you can feel like you don't got none at all.
[SPEAKER_01]: But if you are out there, isolated, let me tell you, when they come at you from the front side, and they come at you from the back side, something's going to hit you, and the devil says, Godam, I got him into a place of isolation.
[SPEAKER_01]: That's where I wanted him.
[SPEAKER_01]: one of the arrows was able to penetrate.
[SPEAKER_01]: That's why isolation is dangerous.
[SPEAKER_01]: It's very dangerous.
[SPEAKER_01]: You know, maybe you bought the lie of, well, I could fight this battle on my own.
[SPEAKER_01]: Or I don't need anybody's help in this battle.
[SPEAKER_01]: I don't need anybody's help in this situation.
[SPEAKER_01]: I got this.
[SPEAKER_01]: I'll figure it out.
[SPEAKER_01]: And the enemy has got you right where he wants you.
[SPEAKER_01]: What happens to the baby calf that gets separated from its mom that gets separated from the herd when there's lions or hyenas around?
[SPEAKER_01]: If you'd think for a moment that the calf is going to survive, you're wrong.
[SPEAKER_01]: I've seen plenty of shows and documentaries and all the kind of things I've seen plenty of things on film that show the importance of being with your group.
[SPEAKER_01]: And that when one of these animals strays off by itself, it don't matter how strong or how big or whatever it may be.
[SPEAKER_01]: But you get off over, over by yourself, let me tell you, the enemy says I see them over there.
[SPEAKER_01]: They don't go up their person on the right.
[SPEAKER_01]: They don't go up their air with them, mm-hmm.
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, I see it.
[SPEAKER_01]: They don't go up their malice.
[SPEAKER_01]: So they don't go up their territory behind them.
[SPEAKER_01]: They don't go up any of that right now.
[SPEAKER_01]: And that's exactly how.
[SPEAKER_01]: If you've ever studied how animals hunt, that's exactly how they hunt.
[SPEAKER_01]: They figure out a way to get one in isolation.
[SPEAKER_01]: And if they can get one alone, they've got dinner.
[SPEAKER_01]: And it's easy.
[SPEAKER_01]: Hear me, people who've got you need each other more than you know.
[SPEAKER_01]: You need this church more than you know.
[SPEAKER_01]: I don't care if life is great.
[SPEAKER_01]: If it's all flowers and candy and all this stuff right now, wonderful, but at some point,
[SPEAKER_01]: You're going to need each other.
[SPEAKER_01]: And when everything is hit in the fan, and when everything is fallen apart, it seems like.
[SPEAKER_01]: It's not best friend, so-and-so out there that's going to take care of you.
[SPEAKER_01]: It's another believer.
[SPEAKER_01]: Somebody with faith that can link arms with you and say,
[SPEAKER_01]: I see what you're going through, but I'm going to stand with you.
[SPEAKER_01]: I see what you've been facing, but I'm going to pray with you.
[SPEAKER_01]: I know the situation that you're in right now, but we're going to fight and we're going to fight together.
[SPEAKER_01]: There's something about understanding the importance of being connected with other faith-filled believers.
[SPEAKER_01]: And I'm grateful for that today because I know
[SPEAKER_01]: that when the attack comes my way, I don't ever have to fight it alone.
[SPEAKER_01]: I don't ever have to fight it alone.
[SPEAKER_01]: But I know that when an attack comes my way, I can make a phone call to Robert so quick.
[SPEAKER_01]: Then I can shoot a text message to Jesse so fast or whoever it may be, I know that in a moment I can reach out to those that I'm connected with and that I know that they're going to be there and they're going to stand with me and they're going to pray with me, they're going to fight with me.
[SPEAKER_01]: And listen, some of you, let's be real honest in the room right now, some of you wouldn't even be sitting here today if it wasn't for the fact that other people helped you get out of the mess that you were in, that fought with you, that stood with you, that believed with you and faith, that prayed you out of that situation, that said, you're going to come to church with me, whether you want to or you're not, you're going to come to church with me, whether you want to or you're not.
[SPEAKER_01]: You're gonna get your butt in the door because God has something for your life.
[SPEAKER_01]: There is nothing like linking arms with faith-filled people that can get you on the other side of your situation.
[SPEAKER_01]: Church is not a place where you come and you sneak in and you sneak out and you don't communicate or relate or whatever.
[SPEAKER_01]: This is a place where we come together.
[SPEAKER_01]: It's not a place where we just worship.
[SPEAKER_01]: That's great.
[SPEAKER_01]: We come here to worship all day long.
[SPEAKER_01]: We will be here at a worship.
[SPEAKER_01]: But this is a place that when you're going through something, you know that in the room, there is plenty of people that will stand in the gap with you.
[SPEAKER_01]: We'll fight with you as the importance of community.
[SPEAKER_01]: It's the importance of your herd.
[SPEAKER_01]: knowing that I've got a herd that will protect me.
[SPEAKER_01]: All right, let the lions prowl, but I've got my pack.
[SPEAKER_01]: I've got my group, Josh.
[SPEAKER_01]: And listen, when you can get into the testudo formation with your brothers and sisters in Christ,
[SPEAKER_01]: Every area is protected, and all your weaknesses are covered.
[SPEAKER_01]: All your weaknesses are covered.
[SPEAKER_01]: You know, sometimes you're like, I don't want anybody to see my weakness.
[SPEAKER_01]: And when we link arms together, we cover each other.
[SPEAKER_01]: Like, yeah, you may be weak in that area, but when I link arms with you, like, where
[SPEAKER_01]: Right?
[SPEAKER_01]: We're on week your song.
[SPEAKER_01]: Hallelujah.
[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 of faith.
[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.