One of the first and one of my favorite card games to play as a kid was the Game of War. Anybody play that growing up? I loved it because it was really easy to explain, right? You split the deck of cards into two decks, you flip a card over, whoever the higher card is, they win that round, right? And so you're going back and forth and you want face cards, you want the jacks, the queens, the kings, the aces, and you get really mad if you get like a 2 or a 3 or a 4, right? And so you flip the card over and you win. If you flip it over, they win, you go back and forth. And if you flip over the same card, then you both, you both declare war, right? And then you put 3 extra cards down, and you flip, and then whoever gets that higher card gets all those cards. And you keep going until 1 stack has all the cards and 1 stack doesn't. Now, why do I share this? Well, today actually marks what's called Pentecost. So it's 50 days after Easter. And so traditionally around the world, uh, it's celebrated as Pentecost is the beginning of the church. And so there was 50 days from East, including Easter Sunday, to then Acts chapter 2, in which the Holy Spirit comes down, the gospel is preached, repent from your sin, believe in Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior, and thousands of people get saved. And the largest movement in world history, the church begins. Now, how are those two stories connected? Well, when the Holy Spirit comes down, God essentially stacked the deck in favor of the believers. In other words, God gives you a higher set of cards, that no matter what the world throws at you, that you have a higher card to play. That you have the very Holy Spirit, the same spirit that just conquered death, is now living in the lives of believers. And so that whatever this world throws your way, understand that you have a higher card, a higher calling to play. And that you can give victory and experience victory, not just in heaven someday, but in real life, experiencing eternity today through the power of the Holy Spirit through faith. Because everybody that came in today is fighting some kind of battle. Anybody fighting a battle today, right? Amen. There's some that vocalize it there, but in others, even if you don't wanna vocalize it, we, we got something, right? Maybe it's health, maybe it's financial, maybe it's relational. Maybe it's mental health, maybe it's worry or anxiety, maybe it's a battle with an addiction, or a pattern of sin. Whatever it is that brought you into the room or connected you online today, there is something that we work through that is a battle, right? And so how do we win the battles in our lives? Well, when Jesus died on the cross, he took care of the penalty of sin. In other words, he paid a debt that we could not pay. So that we could experience the life that we are not meant to experience on our own strength and power. So Jesus took care of the penalty of sin when he died on the cross. Now, when the church begins at Pentecost and the Holy Spirit comes down, the Holy Spirit takes care of the power of sin. In other words, as human beings, we, we do live in our flesh, that we do make mistakes and that we do fall short of the glory of God. However, with the Holy Spirit in your life and the word of God, he then gives you the ability to live a spirit-led and spirit-filled life, so that the power of sin doesn't have to reign over you, but rather, instead of being overwhelmed, you can actually overcome the sin in your life and to live the life that God has called you to. And so Jesus dealt with the penalty of sin. The Holy Spirit deals with the power of sin. And then we are praying for and hoping for the return of Christ, because as we know in Revelation 20, at some point, when Jesus returns and ultimately sets up new heaven, new earth, he will deal with the very presence of sin. And when he casts Satan and all his demons into the lake of fire forever. So here we have this battle, and what do we do in the waiting? Right? What do we do when we leave a church service, and we go into the struggles that we have Monday through Saturday? Right? Well, if you're taking notes, I encourage you to write this down. That faith that never fights slowly fades. Faith that never fights slowly fades. Isn't it interesting that in a passage where we just got done talking about marriage, the very next thing that he talks about is war. You think about that? Right after he talks about how to have a healthy family dynamic, he says, and it's a war. Right after he talks about how to be a good employee or a good employer and how to have a work life that honors God, he says, oh, you're in a war. And so the, the book of Ephesians is all around your identity in Christ. And so the first three chapters talks about uh what does it mean to worship God. And that we are called saints, that we are saved by grace through faith. And it's all about this worship of who God is, and that being a child of God. And then in chapter 4, he says, therefore, he says as a prisoner of the Lord, he's writing from prison. He says, walk in a manner worthy of the calling to which you've been called. And so the 1st 3 chapters of the book of Ephesians talks about the worship of God and your identity. And and so you go from sitting with Christ, and then the next 3 chapters talks about walking with Jesus, and living out your faith day by day. And then he's gonna end today, not with sitting with Christ, not With walking with Christ, but how do you actually stand for Christ in the difficulties of battle? And so he's gonna lift us up. He's gonna go through and give us what's called the armor of God. And we're gonna see this picture here as we're wrapping up our series, because we've talked about so far, what does it mean to walk in love, to walk in light, to walk in wisdom, to be spirit filled in your relationships, in your marriage, in your parenting, and in the workplace. And if you try to live for God in any one of those areas, it's gonna be difficult. And so rather than running away from that, he actually leans into it and says, here's how you can win the battle within. So if you have your Bibles, go ahead and open up to Ephesians chapter 6. If you don't own a Bible, we'd love to give you one today. You can stop by the welcome table in the lobby. But we're gonna pick things up here in verse 10. Verse 10. Finally, Now, that's a pastor's finally, right? Like when a pastor says in closing, or one last thing, we usually have another 3 or 4 closings to go. And so Paul's gonna actually make some more points, but he's saying, look, we just talked about marriage and parenting and not be drunk with wine, but, but with the Holy Spirit and how we live this out. And so finally, let me tell you about how you handle the troublesome events that you're walking through right now. So finally, be strong in the Lord. And in the strength of his might. So he's not telling them to panic. He's not telling them just to white knuckle and just work harder. He says, no, no, be strong in God. Take part of his power, his strength. Verse 11, put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the schemes of the devil. It's a reminder that we're in a battle. I think sometimes we think that Christianity is just singing, you know, worship songs and then eventually waiting to go, you know, we get promoted to a cloud in heaven with a harp, right? Just like, oh, no problems ever in my life. Like, no, he's writing in prison. might lose his life to a group of Christians who are being persecuted and attacked. And they're even fighting each other. And so there's battles all across the board. And so he's reminding people, you are at war. And the devil does not want you to win. So you have the schemes or the methods of the devil. He's very smart. He's very witty. He's very intentional, and he's not gonna win in the end. And so he's gonna do everything in his power to keep you from becoming the man or the woman that God has called you to be. Verse 12, for we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places. Let me ask you, how close do you have to be to wrestle somebody? That's hand to hand combat, isn't it? So he's saying you are having spiritual warfare, hand to hand combat with demonic forces and Satan himself. Now, people make two mistakes when it comes to understanding demons and spiritual forces. One is to think that everything is a spiritual attack. I'm just being attacked today. No, you're just not, you just had Taco Bell late at night last night. You know what I mean? Like, oh, I'm being attacked. No, you're just not doing your job. Like, like, understand that there's responsibility there. But the other side, the other mistake we make is when we, we don't give credit that we're in a battle. Like there are spiritual forces at play. Other places in scripture, it says, Satan is like a a prowling lion, walking around looking for someone to devour. So we have a spiritual force that is against the perfect God that doesn't want you to succeed. And he knows Jesus is gonna win in the end. And so in the meantime, he's gonna do everything he can to divide, to distract, to destroy, and to take you down. So we have to be aware of that. When you wrestle, it's up close. Verse 13. Therefore, take up the whole armor of God, not part of it, the entire thing. That you may be able to withstand in the evil day and having done all to stand firm. So we're called here to put on the whole armor. We're called to take up the armor of God. This means that this is a daily choice. Anyone when their kids were little, struggled to get their toddlers dressed. Like, and it's always right before you had to go somewhere, right? Right before you're in it, cause my man here's got 5, OK, we're praying for Chris and there he's in it. But you, it's a victory that you're here today. You got, you got all the kids in, this is a win. He's like, you go as long as you want. I'm, I'm in peace right now. My kids are just like, go 2 hours, we're not gonna go 2 hours, calm down. But when you got littles, you understand, right? Like when you go home, like sometimes just getting out the door is a challenge. I wonder how many of us forget to get spiritually dressed in our day. We think that singing one song or a couple songs for a few minutes on a Sunday is supposed to equip us for the remainder of the week, when in reality, we need to put on and take up the armor of God every single day, right? Same author writes to the pastor of Ephesus later, his name's Timothy. And in 1 Timothy 6:12, he says, Fight the good fight of faith. Take hold of the eternal life to which you are called and about which you made the good confession in the presence of many witnesses. Fight, meaning it, it's a battle. The good fight, that means there's, there's bad fights out there. Not every fight's a good fight, right? And then it says, fight the good fight of faith. So by calling it the good fight of faith is both the location of the battle, I think like in history class, the Battle of Gettysburg was fought where? At Gettysburg, right? So the good fight of faith, the location of the battle is your faith, and then also faith is the key to have victory in that battle. It's what do you believe in? Who do you believe in? Right? That shapes who you are and what you do. So fight the good fight of faith. I love that phrase, take hold of the eternal life to which you were called. Have you ever tried to give one of your kids a hug and they're like, come here, give mom or dad a hug, and they're like, fine. They stand there. Oh, then there's another time though, when you say, come on, give mom and dad a hug. And the kid just plants one on you and gives you a big hug and kiss. Like, I'm the best parent in the world, right? Like so you feel that there's a difference when Jesus takes hold of your life, and when you also take hold of his. Can you take hold of the eternal life to which you've been called? Can we agree that not all marriages are the same, right? You might be legally married, but you want a great marriage. Same thing when it comes to Jesus and your faith, that you wanna have a life that takes hold of who you're called to be and what you're called to do. So what does that look like? Where he goes on, and he talks about putting on the armor of God. Putting on the armor of God. Now, I grew up in what feels like the OG time of children's Sunday school classes. Anybody that grew up in the 80s and 90s, like it was great, like, cause you had the of both, yeah, the combo of both worlds, like you had the overhead projector with the little things that slide in, right? They came in was great. You were meeting in a base. hadn't changed in 3, right? And it was taught by someone's grandma's in a sizes there was like a cloud like a lightning bolt and a shepherdhow a shepherd. Right? And you, and you learn these children's stories. Uh, as an adult, one, I appreciate it because not only were you taught then, that was also the introduction of like cartoons for Jesus, right? So you had Veggie tales, you're learning from Bob the tomato, and Larry the cucumber, and it's awesome. But we forget, like we, we keep the stories like they are for kids. But have you ever stopped to think about how intense those kids' stories actually are? Like, think about it. What's one of the first stories you learned as a kid in church? It's Noah's Ark, right? Oh, look at the animals. It's a boat, it's animals. Oh, here, children, here's how the entire earth was wiped out from existence because of their evil living. But we get distracted because there's a giraffe coming out the window. You know what I mean? Well, I, I say all this because this is what it was for me with the armor of God. There used to be this thing where you could get an armor of God kit. Anyone remember those things? It was like, it was like a gray thing. There was like a red cross on it. It was one size fits none. Uh, you know what I mean? Like, cause if you were little, it was too big for you. And if you were older, it was way too small for you. And somehow every set was the same. It had a visor that came down and you're like, I'm a, I'm a soldier for Jesus. And I was like, yeah. And so the problem is, is that I, you never graduate from that view of it. And you forget that Paul wrote this to believers who their entire lives were at stake. Paul was actually chained to a Roman guard when he wrote this. He was on house arrest, and so there were some privileges in the sense people could visit him, he could see people, he could write letters, which is why we have this. But he was chained to a Roman guard in other places, he shared because he was chained to the Roman guard, he actually witnessed to the entire Imperial Guard. because while the guards viewed him as a prisoner, ha ha, you're chained to us, he said, no, he flipped it. You're chained to me. It's your job to watch me. And so I'm gonna preach the gospel to you 4 hours at a time. And so as the guards rotated through, every single one of them heard the gospel because he had a captive audience. See what I did there? And so he's in prison, and so he's there and he's writing letters. And so here's he's writing a letter to a church that was experiencing persecution. And just imagine yourself being there. See, man, I need an illustration for spiritual battle. He looks up. Oh, OK. Not only is it encouraging to the church, but also how demoralizing to those guards. He's like, oh, you think that armor is good? We got something better, higher card, right? You think that 7 of spades is good, right? King, the kings, got them, right? Like you're going through like whatever the card the Roman Empire would play, he's like, nope, we got a higher card when we're playing war, like we talked about to start off this message, and understand that the armor of God was essential to the Christian life. So in this armor, he's gonna share with you 7 pieces. The 1st 3 are things that you wear. The 2nd 3 are are things that you put on or take into battle. And then the last one, the 7th item is something that you need at all times. So you got 3 items you gotta wear, 3 items that you take into battle, and 1 item that you need at all times. And he says to put on or to take up the armor of God. All right, let's jump into it. Continuing things in verse 14. Stand therefore, having fashioned the belt of truth, having put on the breastplate of righteousness, and as shoes for your feet, having put on the readiness given by the gospel of peace. In all circumstances, take up the shield of faith with which you can extinguish all the flaming darts of the evil one and take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God. Praying at all times in the Spirit with all prayer and supplication to that end, keep alert with all perseverance, making supplication for all the saints and also for me that words may be given to me in opening my mouth boldly to proclaim the mystery of the gospel for which I am an ambassador in chains that I may declare it boldly as I ought to speak. So let's talk about this. What, what is this greater army that uh the armor uh for us in the spiritual army, not just a child's story, but what we need right now to go into work this week, in our marriage, in our families, in our parenting, in our friendships, in our dating. What can we take with us from script from scripture right now in this moment into our Monday through Saturday? OK, 7 things. First item he tells us to put on is the belt of truth. Now that feels weird, if I'm being honest, right? The armor of God, the first thing you need to put on is a belt, right? Unless you're living in Texas and you got a really sweet belt buckle, the belt's not typically the first thing you think about. However, it's essential to what you wear and it's essential to the armor. I've officially crossed over into the older generation because I look at teens today and I naturally think, pull your pants up. You know what it is? You know what, you know what I mean? Like every generation, apparently as a teenager, like, we don't need our pants pulled up. And it's just like we immediately think, like, oh, we don't need a belt. What's the purpose of a belt? Belts are stupid. And we're like, no, pull, pull your pants up, you need a belt. OK? And Paul here is saying, it's time to pull your theological pants up. OK? You need the belt of truth. Why? Because the belt of truth fights the lies. It fights the lies Do you know, when we pray, we say the words Amen, which means, may this be true, or I believe this or I agree with this, right? And so when you're praying a prayer, you typically end by saying amen, which means, may this be true, or I affirm this to be true. I believe what I just said. OK. As believers, as Christians, here's the thing, we have to stop saying amen to the lies of Satan. Right? It says in John 8:44 that Satan is the father of lies. And so when When you fight this negative inner voice that says, I'm not good enough, I'm not worthy, like I'm the worst, it's the end. I, I, and you, and you see this over and over again, then we start to believe this and subconsciously we start to say, yeah, that's true. When in reality, what Paul writes in Ephesians is that being a saint is an identity and sin is an activity. Satan tries to flip the two. He tries to make sin your identity, that you are your worst moment. You are your worst sin, that you cannot be loved, you are not good enough because of what you've done. And then instead, he flips it and he makes being a saint or being a child of God an activity. Being a child is to do this, say this, look this way, do this thing. No. He says, you are a child of God, because of the goodness of God and what Jesus did when he died on the cross as payment for your sins. And so you are a child of God because who God says you are, not what the world says you are. And that your sin, even in your worst moments is really an activity, something that is done counter to the relationship God wants for you. But then the belt of truth helps hold together all that is right. It says in John 8:31 and 32, it says, you shall know the truth and the truth shall set you free. And then a few verses later, it says that if the sun sets you free, you are free indeed. And then in John 14:6, Jesus says, I am the way, the truth and the life. So you can know truth because Jesus Christ is truth. Truth is a person. That feelings are important, but feelings aren't the foundation of truth. Because feelings can. Play with your mind, right? Whereas truth is directly connected to reality of who God is and what God has done. And so in the Roman soldier case, the belt was essential because the belt did two things. Number one, the belt allowed for movement. So they wore, you know, robes and, and gowns and things at that time. And so they would actually gird up the the gown or the robe and tuck it into the belt so that they could run free. The same is true when you know what is true, you can run free because you're not questioning everything in your way. And so the belt actually allows for movement and freedom. And then second, the belt actually carries the weight of everything. And so the breastplate, which we talked about, we're gonna talk about next, actually would rest on the belt, or if you had a sword or something else, it would clip onto the belt. And so you had the belt that holds all things together. In the same way, knowing Jesus as the truth allows you to move freely in this world as well as it, it has the ability to carry the weight. For those that study counterfeit money, they don't actually get qualified or become an expert by knowing all the counterfeits. Yes, they study some, but there's always a new way, a new counterfeit happening. But what they do is that they know the dollar so well. That by knowing what is true and what is real so well that they can instantly spot what is the lie. That's what knowing the truth does for your life, is that if you know Jesus as the truth, that will set you free, that will allow you to move with freedom, and that you'll be able to spot the lie, because it can carry the weight of the battle that you're facing right now. So we gotta pull our theological pants up, and we gotta put on the belt of truth, #1. Number 2, the armor of God includes the breastplate of righteousness, the breastplate of righteousness. And that's important because the enemy likes to attack the heart. The enemy likes to attack the heart. Proverbs 4:23 says to guard your heart. And then there's this idea of why righteousness. Well, there's two concepts when it comes to righteousness. There is positional righteousness, and then there's practical righteousness. So positional righteousness, in other words, right standing before God, which was really decided by Jesus Christ himself. It says in 2 Corinthians 5:21, that he who knew no sin became sin so that we could become the righteousness of God. And righteousness is really right standing before God. So just think of the word right. What is good, what is right, what is true? And so you have the positional righteousness before God to be declared free, to be declared his son or daughter, the child of God. But then there's also practical righteousness, which is connected to living. That's why we are called to be holy as he is holy. And so it's one thing to be legally a child of God, it's another to have a growing close relationship with him. That's why we're called to take hold of the eternal life to which you've been called. So when you have the breastplate of righteousness, it guards your heart. And there's an important distinction here. There's a difference between condemnation and conviction. So condemnation is, and sorry, I, I don't mean to put condemnation on this side and conviction on this side, like these are the unholy people, although you are. Um, but But there's a difference. And so it says in Romans 8 that there is no condemnation before Jesus, because here's what Satan will do. He'll tempt you like, oh, you can be like God. God didn't really say this. God wants you to be happy. And so he just gives these little drops and then you fall for sin. He goes, got you, you're a horrible wretched sinner and God will never love you again. And so you start down this path, you sin, and then you start to hide. That's what Adam and Eve did, right? They sinned and the very first people in the history of the world tried to hide and battled shame. And so Satan will come in and he'll do that, he'll get you to sin. And then run and hide, and you, you start to condemn yourself that, oh my gosh, I'm the worst. This God will never love me. I'm the worst person. And then we start to spiral. So then we start to isolate, we start to lie, we start to put walls up, and then now we're pulled away. And so now Satan wins in that way. So that's condemnation. But where conviction comes in is that you should also feel bad when you sin. I get nervous when people sin. They're like, oh the grace of God. It's like you don't feel bad at all. It's actually good for the Christian to feel bad when they sin because it's the power of the Holy Spirit in your life. The difference is between conviction and condemnation is that conviction will lead you to repentance and lead you back to God, or condemnation leads you back to yourself, and you start to isolate and pull away. And so it pulls you into isolated darkness as opposed to stepping into the freedom and warmth and forgiveness found in light. So the breastplate of righteousness is so important because it will guard your heart. And that conviction that the Holy Spirit brings actually leads you to a deeper relationship with him. The 3rd item that we have in the armor of God is the shoes of peace, the shoes of peace. It actually says the gospel of peace in there. And that's because the gospel stabilizes us on the move. Now soldiers would wear padded shoes or sandals because they walked through a lot of varieties of terrain. And so enemies would spike the grounds with spiky things, so they didn't have explosions back then, but they would line up the path with spiky things to slow down the movement of the soldiers. In the same way, we have to have the right shoes on for the job that is at hand. Right? I've made the mistake before as a total dad move, like, like, come on kids, let's go to school. We get in the car and they're getting ready to get out of the car and like one of my kids isn't even wearing shoes. Any parent relate or am I just the worst parent in there, OK, I probably am. But anyway, so I'm like, what, you can't go to school with no shoes on. Like it's 100 degrees out, you can literally fry an egg on the ground. It's like, well, the best teacher's experience, we'll see you in the afternoon. No, I didn't do that part. OK, I didn't do that part. But you are like, are you kidding me? Like you, what, what are you wearing, right? It drives me nuts as a basketball coach, when teens go to the gym and they start playing full-on basketball in flip flops or in slides. I'm like, God, you're gonna roll an ankle, you're gonna like, what are you doing? We have shoes for a reason. Have you ever been hiking on one of the trails out here in Arizona and come across somebody who's hiking in flip flops? You're like, that person's crazy, right? OK, well, the same is true for us. How many of us are in battle? We are in spiritual warfare and flip flops. It's like, no, no, no, no, you need the right shoes because the ground is shaky. Where this reminds us is that even when the ground is uneven, you are reminded, nope, Jesus died on the cross. In the gospel, the good news is that I have the peace of Christ with me, that in all things, I can stay calm. Right? That's why the disciples would be able to stay calm in the boat in the middle of a storm because they have Jesus in the boat. That's why Jesus in the worst excruciating pain on the cross. Facing the wrath of God himself, still have a diff differentiated self in which he was fully present. He says, John, please take care of my mother. To the thief, you're gonna be with me in paradise. God forgive them for they know not what they do. Why? Because he is regulated. He is himself. He has peace. It's important to have the right shoes on, because when you are on shaky ground, the gospel, the peace of Christ will stabilize you. It's not saying that the ground is not filled with spiky things, but rather the shoes will keep you moving forward. Right? The gospel doesn't avoid the problems that you're facing, but it is gonna allow you to take one step after the next, OK? Those are the three things you wear, belt of truth, breastplate of righteousness, shoes of peace. The 3 things you gotta pick up in the battle or take with you into battle are this. Number 4, here is, or the 4th item of the armor is the shield of faith. This is important because we need each other for protection. There were two different types of shields for Roman soldiers. There's a little circular one for battle, um, in those, but then there was a larger one for the more intense battles. And the same root word for shield is also the root word for where they get the word door because it actually took up like the size of the person. And Roman soldiers had this formation called the uh Tudo, which is Latin for tortoise, where if you think of the movies, actually get this correct, where soldier Roman soldiers would lock shields together. And then shields would come over top and so they would move into a battlefield. It was like a shell-like figuration, because the flaming darts would come in and they would protect not just themselves, but the person next to them. And that's important because your faith isn't just for you. Your faith is also for the loved ones near you. I was counseling a couple one time and they said something and it was so good. I was like, I'm totally gonna steal this. I feel like you're counseling me. So the couple was going through a struggle and one spouse said to the other in that moment, and, and they said, uh, look, I know you're struggling, but right now, I have enough faith for the both of us. Isn't that good? I have enough faith for the both of us. You need the shield of faith, but you need it in community, that collectively as brothers and sisters in Christ, we're holding up them when we can't see, it says in 2 Corinthians 5, it says uh 5:7, it says, we walk by faith, not by sight. So when the world doesn't make sense, when you are getting attacked, it's described flaming arrows. That's how serious this thing is. OK, when you feel like you got flaming arrows coming your direction. The shield of faith, the belief in God, that is true, and the belief of the community members around you is enough to sustain you in that moment, to keep you moving forward. You need, you need the shield of faith, not just for yourself but for each other. The next item, a part of the armor of God is this, here is the helmet of salvation. The helmet of salvation. That's because the battle is often won or lost in the mind. Our theme verse for this year as a church is Romans 12:2, says, do not be conformed any longer to the patterns of this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind. That if Satan can't get to your heart, he's gonna try to get to your head. That we have to remember that we are saved by grace through faith. That it, it's God that brings about salvation. And that that salvation really secures us, not only for the future, but also in the present. You know, we have so many extreme sports now that we play that require helmets. And what we do instead of stop playing those sports, we just get bigger and bigger helmets, right? Like even if we, if we're watching football now, you have people that wear helmets and then they have helmets for the helmets. Have you seen these things like the concussion? Protection things and people are like, oh boo, like we don't need those. And then the parents are like, no, we need, we need them right now, right? And, and so here's the thing, is that you need a helmet in your life theologically because it's gonna prevent you from getting a spiritual concussion. Right. Because what you think and how you think matters. OK. So you need the shield of faith, you need the helmet of salvation, but the other thing you need to take with you into war is the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God. It's the word of God. And Jesus himself fought temptation with the scripture. Right? In Matthew chapter 4, he gets led out into, he gets led out into the wilderness and Satan tempts him, and he doesn't answer back with how he's feeling in that moment. But he responds back with the very word of God. Cause it changes things. It really does. Is that the word of God is a higher card to play. It's gonna win that battle. That when you're not feeling it, when you feel isolated, when you feel alone, that you can go back to what is true, because God's promises are not based on how you're feeling. God's promises are not based on your circumstances. God's promises are based on his word. And he will always keep his word. There were different types of swords for battle. The word for sword here is actually a combat sword, which makes sense because earlier in the passage, he says, you are wrestling with spiritual forces. So you need the combat sword within reach to fight your daily battles. And the word for word, there's a couple different words for word. In John one, for example, it was Lagos. So in the beginning was the word, and the Word was with God and the Word was God. In this case, the word here is actually Rima, which is means which means the spoken and applied word of God. Some of us are trying to fight but without a weapon. You need the word of God to fight against the temptations of God. When I was feeling spiritually stuck years ago, I started reciting the promises of God over and over again. And over the course of the next 18 months, it started to change how I viewed God, how I viewed myself, and what he called me to do. I would say Romans 8:31, God, you are for me. If God is for me, who can be against me? Right, I would say, uh John 14:16-17. I say, God, you are with me. Right? If God is with me, or Joshua 1:9, he says, if God's with me, I can be strong and courageous. was the first one who was with me. The next one was John 14:16 and 17, which says, God is in me. So I'm gonna send my helper, the advocate to dwell inside of you. I say, God, you are for me, you are with me, you are in me. And I would say, God, you work through me. That's Ephesians 2:10, for we are God's workmanship. And then I would quote First John 1:9 and says that it says God loves beyond me, because it says, if we are faithful, if we confess our sins, he's faithful and just to forgive us and cleanse us from all unrighteousness. So I'd begin my days saying, God, you are for me, you are with me, you are in me, you work through me, you love beyond me, because those are true. What do you want me to do today? And slowly but surely started to shape. How I thought of God, how I thought of myself, and what I was called to do. And through that shaping would lead me to do some things like adopt a kid, go to grad school, start a church. Came out of that because if you change how you think with the Word of God, it changes how you live. Last thing here. And this is, I think, the most important because it's actually what he spends the most amount of verses on, is prayer. We forget that prayer is a weapon in battle. Prayer is something that you need at all times. First Thessalonians 5:17 were called to pray without ceasing. Philippians 4:6 says, do not be anxious, but through prayer and supplications bring your request before the Lord. Matthew 26:41 says to watch and pray. And it just continues forward. You notice it he doesn't describe armor in the back of a Roman soldier. I don't think he does that because we're not called to retreat, we're called to press forward. And then even Paul himself asked for prayer, not to be delivered from the battle that he was in, but to give him boldness and courage in it. And if Paul was humble enough to ask for prayer, you and I need to ask for prayer. On a daily basis. We need to go beyond, I'm just, I'm fine, I'm fine. I'm fine. No, we need prayer. If Paul needs prayer, you and I need prayer. Because what we know to be true is this, that faith that never fights, slowly fades. Deconstruction from faith doesn't happen overnight. It's one small drift, relaxing, distraction, compromising decision at a time. That if we're not putting our faith to use, if we're not building up our faith, the weak, the muscles get weaker, right? If you ever had a cast on your hand or your foot, when you take the cast off, your hand is weaker. Why? Because you haven't used it. Right. That's atrophy. We, we don't want spiritual atrophy in our lives, that rather your faith was made for the fight. So it's time to stand up, to stand firm, to jump into battle. Cause as Christians, we don't fight for victory, we fight from victory. Enough to where Paul. In prison for his life. Chained to a Roman guard says, you think that's good, we got a higher card to play. We got a better armor for a better battle that's gonna bring victory in the end. Will you pray with me? Dear God, we know that nobody drifts towards Jesus accidentally. We drift slowly, quietly. Impassively We drift away from prayer, from truth, from community, and even intimacy with you. So God, I pray. That we would just come back to you. God, you do not die on the cross for us to live spiritually captive, but rather you gave us armor. Because we are in a battle worth fighting for. Help us to fight for our marriage, for our mind, for our family, for our joy, and for our calling. God help us to remember that we don't have to fight for victory because we fight from victory. That Jesus, you already defeated sin and shame and death and darkness through the cross and through the resurrection. So God, help us not to drift. Help us not to disengage, to fade away, but rather, God, help us to put on the armor of God every single day because we are in a fight, a good fight of faith, that God, because we know that our faith doesn't fade. That when we put on our armor daily through the power of your Holy Spirit, that we can not only jump into battle, but we can win battle, that we can stand up, that we can stand firm, that we can see your glory in this battle for faith in our family's lives today and tomorrow, this week. Help us to put on the army, armor right now, to join your army right now, so that we can bring you glory with how we spiritually fight our battles. We love you, God. It seems sometimes we pray. Amen.