The Armor of God (Part 1)

And this is, you know, obviously we're talking about, I guess you

could say, building blocks, building blocks of the Christian

faith. And there's a lot of things that

we've been going through with prayer, faith and, you know,

everything else that we talked about before that the armor of

God is one that is very important.

And as as far as introduction goes, we're in a great battle

against the world, against the flesh and against the devil.

And the Bible says that in in first John chapter 2.

1 John 2 · chapter mention

But we must not be surprised at the constant warfare and the

trouble. Soldiers don't like war, but it

is their job. I thought that was a great

statement. You know, we the, the Hayden and

Esther were here over the weekend and a lot of you got to

meet them and got them. I was telling the I think I was

telling Miss Tawana and, and whoever was in there, Brother

Ryan, that, you know, I said, yeah, I got them to the train

station at 5 O clock yesterday morning because they had to head

out. I was like, wait a second, it

was actually this morning. It feels like yesterday already

was such a long time ago. But they're, they're taking the

train up to New York City. I think I mentioned that, but

they're hitting like every place in the whole country.

But anyway, we went to, we took them to Washington, DC on Monday

because they wanted to see all the different sites and

everything. So we went to the the Tomb of

the Unknown Soldier and watch the changing of the guard and

actually got to see something as many times as I've been there, I

got to see something that I hadn't seen before.

There was a bunch of school groups there and I guess, I

guess maybe because it was spring break or I don't know how

they set it up. But one of them, one of the

schools, actually, they did it with a couple different schools,

but the last one that laid a wreath there at the Tomb of the

Unknown Soldier, they actually played taps and they had the

military guys out there with the trumpet playing taps, you know,

And that was, that was really neat to see.

And then yesterday, I went up to Quantico, which is that, you

know, when you're driving up 95 and you see that big Marine

Corps museum right there, And I actually preached the funeral

for a Marine. He was 95 years old, but he

fought in Korea. And because he had fought in

Korea, he was eligible to be buried in the Quantico National

Cemetery, which looks very much like Arlington.

It's right around the corner from where that museum is at.

But we did the, there's a, there's a Chapel right there

that's, that's within. I mean, it's all windows.

And you, as you're looking through it, you're looking right

at the Marine Corps Museum. And so there was a couple things

that we did in there as well. But you know, to, to see how

sharp everything is. And, you know, so they had

Marines that were there that, you know, that that were the

pallbearers. And everything's just, it's just

sharp and crisp and, you know, every movement is, you know, is

just all of them do it exactly at the same time.

And I think that's one of the things that that Hayden and

Esther were shocked by two, especially when we're at the

Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, everybody's shoes clicked at the

same time, you know, and it's just like, how do we don't have

stuff like this? How do they get their shoes to

click? And, you know, they're not even

looking and they're doing it at the same time.

You know, it's just, it's really sharp.

And, and, but I think this is a great statement.

Soldiers don't like war, but it's their job.

And that's what they that's what they do.

We're not yet in heaven. We're at we're in the enemy's

territory and we must keep fighting until the war is over.

But I thought about this, you know, as sharp as our Marines

are, as sharp as our military is, and as much as they train

for all those things to be sharp and to be the best in the world,

you know, how much more should we be that way for Christ?

You know, and, and I, I mean, I get it, people, different people

have different personalities and things like that.

But you know, when I, when I see a Christian that's just a slob,

you know, it doesn't give a good name to Christ.

You know, you go into their house and they got stuff

everywhere and they, they live like, you know, I don't know,

just, I mean, I think as a Christian, you ought to be sharp

with everything that you do. That's how, you know, I get

people asking me all the time. In fact, we, we met somebody in

Fredericksburg yesterday, my wife and I, and she said, are

you, are you in the military? I said, no, I'm a pastor, you

know. Oh, OK, you look like you were

in the military. Just the way your hair was cut

and the way you were dressed and all of those kind of things.

I said, I get that a lot. But I'm in the Lord's army.

You know, it gives, it gives you an opportunity to talk about

the, about the Lord, right? And, and, and I think that's the

way it ought to be with everything that we do.

You know, you got to be sharp. You ought to do things and you

ought to do things to the best of your ability.

And you can do that without a lot of money, right?

You don't have to have a lot of money to be sharp and to dress

sharp and to be on time and to do the different things that,

that make you stand out, right? We're in the Lord's army.

So we're in a battle. And soldiers don't like war, but

it's their job. And, and as Christians, listen,

I don't like confrontation. I don't like to, you know, I

don't like to have to call out evil necessarily, but it's our

job. That's what we do as Christian

soldiers. And, and that's, that's what

we're doing here on this earth. And so until we're in heaven,

we're going to fight battles, which by the way, that's another

reason why, you know, crossing the Jordan River into the

promised land. I mean, that's a, that is a,

that's a, not a picture of, of crossing into heaven.

It's a picture of the victorious Christian life, right?

You don't have battles in heaven, but you do have battles

in the, in the, in the Christian life.

And there are times when you fail, which is where we see with

AI and some of these other things, right?

And it's a battle, it's a, it's a, it's a war that we're in.

So #2 we stand in God's power. The believers armor is provided

by God. That's why it's called the armor

of God. And Ephesians chapter 6 and

Ephesians 6 · chapter mention

verse 11 calls it that. Put on the whole armor of God.

We don't stand in our own power. We have the victory.

We don't have to be afraid of the devil, but we have to stand

against him and be on guard, right?

You've heard it said many times, I've read the back of the book.

And we win. We know that we win the battle,

all right, or we know that we win the war.

We're going to lose the battle now and then, but the armor is

available to all of us. But as he makes the point here,

we must put it on and learn how to use it.

And that's what the rest of this passage talks about is, is what

those pieces of armor are, what those pieces of armor represent,

and how we should be using them. So First off, is the loins good

about with truth? Let's, let's just start back in

verse #10 and we'll read through verse #14 to talk about the

loins good about with truth. But it says finally, my

brethren, be strong in the Lord and in the power of His might.

Put on the whole armor of God, that ye may be able to stand

against the Wiles of the devil. For we wrestle not against flesh

and blood, but against principalities, against powers,

against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against

spiritual wickedness in high places.

I mean, that's what we're dealing with.

If that does not, if that, if that doesn't open your eyes to

help you understand exactly what's going on in the world

today. We wrestle not against flesh and

blood. It's not the people that we're

wrestling against, although sometimes there's a face to

those, you know, to those, to these things that and we blame

this person or that person or this politician or that

politician. And you know, obviously they're

the ones that are doing it. But we're not wrestling against

them. We're wrestling against

principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the

darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high

places. Wherefore because of that, take

unto you the whole armor of God that you may be able to, to

withstand in the evil day and having done all to stand, stand.

Therefore having your loins girt about with truth.

That's the first one loins girt about with truth.

So the loins must be protected in battle.

That's your, that's your midsection, that's your, that's,

that's where your power comes from in a lot of ways.

But because if you're wounded in the loins, you cannot continue

to fight. The protection is the truth.

And this refers to truthfulness or honesty.

God is a God of truth and his people must be truthful people.

By the way. In fact, let's turn over to

Titus chapter 1. Keep your finger there in

Titus 1 · chapter mention

Ephesians chapter 6. We're going to be coming back

Ephesians 6 · chapter mention

there through the rest of the the rest of this lesson this

evening, but turn over to Titus chapter 1.

Titus 1 · chapter mention

We'll read that in a second. But I think, I think that's one

of the ways that Christians have failed the most in their daily

life is in this area of truth. Not that we won't stand for the

truth of God's Word, but that so many people have no problem

lying or just, I mean, call it stretching the truth, call it

whatever you want to call it, but they have no problem saying

something that's going to make them look better, right?

And until you actually think about it, until you actually

start noticing it in your own life, you'll just do it without

even thinking about it. It's like a used car salesman.

They'll tell you anything you want to hear as long as you buy

that car, right? And, and there's a lot of

Christians who do that with their lives and, and with, with

everything that happens. Oh, yeah, I was just getting

ready to do that. Well, you weren't, you forgot,

right? I mean, but, but we don't even

think about it and we say those kind of things or Oh yeah, he

was whatever. And, and you know that it's not

true, but nobody can prove it, right?

But we've gotten so comfortable and so smooth at telling lies

that we don't even have any problem with it anymore.

But what we don't realize is it's whether whether it's easy

to prove or not, if it's a lie, it's a lie.

If it's not the truth, it's not the truth.

And it's, it's going to harm your spiritual life.

And that's what I mean, your loins gird about with truth.

It's, it's, it's such an important thing to protect.

It's where your where your power comes from.

But verse #12 one of themselves, even a prophet of their own,

said the Cretians are always liars, evil beasts, slow

bellies. This witness is true.

Wherefore rebuke them sharply that they may be sound in the

faith. That's the, as we're saying, in

contrast, the Cretians were liars.

That was their reputation. But that should never be the

reputation of somebody who is a child of God.

Don't go to him. He'll tell a lie straight to

your face, right? How many Christians have that

reputation? I can't.

I don't know if he's I can't tell if he's telling me the

truth or not. How do I know if he's if he's,

if he's lying to me or not, right?

Because we just lie so easily. But lying is of the devil.

John 844 What is that? You are of your father the devil

and the lust of your father. You will do It was a murderer

from the beginning, and abode not in the truth.

When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own, for he is a

liar, and the father of it Lying is of the devil.

It doesn't matter if you call it a little white lie.

It doesn't matter if you call it stretching the truth.

It doesn't matter what you call it.

A lie is a lie if it's not the truth, and it is of the devil,

right? And it's of the old sinful

nature. Ephesians chapter 4 in verse 22

Ephesians 4 · chapter mention

through 25, it talks about that. So lying is of darkness.

It's of this world and we must put it off and put on the new

man, which is Christ. Therefore, if any man be in

Christ, he is a new creature. Old things are passed away.

Behold, all things are become new.

Look at Zacchaeus, right? Zacchaeus is a perfect example

of that. Zacchaeus was a tax collector.

He was a liar, he was a cheat. But what happened when Zacchaeus

got saved, everything changed, right?

He gave all the money back. He quit the lies.

At least that's that's what we're left to understand in

God's Word. By the way, I want to show you

this turn over to Revelation. This is a completely off topic,

but it goes right along with this Revelation Chapter 9.

Revelation 9 · chapter mention

I believe it is. Yeah.

Talk about repentance, right? And, and this and just, you

know, I brought up that verse, First Corinthians 517.

Therefore, if any man be in Christ, he's a new creature.

Old things are passed away. Behold, all things have become

new. And you got this, this new idea

out there today. It's not new, but it's, it's

around. And, and a lot of people have

talked about it. You know, repentance is just a

change from unbelief to belief. No, it is, it is repenting.

Repenting of your sin is realizing that you're a Sinner

and wanting to put that sin away and going in a different

direction, right? And I've said this 1000 times,

we don't stop sinning in order to be saved.

But when you get saved, you should stop sinning.

There ought to be a change in your life, right?

And you have all these people. Oh, that's works.

You're trying to tell people that they have to stop sinning

in order to be saved and that they have to repent of the of

all their evil works and everything else.

Well, look at this, OK, Revelation Chapter 9 and verse

Revelation 9 · chapter mention

#20. And the rest of the men which

were not killed by these plagues, yet repented not of the

works of their hands, that they should not worship devils and

idols of gold and silver and brass and stone, and of wood,

which can neither see nor hear nor walk, Neither repented they

of their murders, nor of their sorceries, nor of their

fornication, nor of their thefts.

So I guess everything changes during that time and you

actually have to get saved by works, right?

No, it's because that's what repenting is.

Repenting is turning away from those things.

And he said these men that repented not of those works,

right? That's what repentance is.

So anyway, side point, but that's a great verse.

If if when people try to tell you that that repentance is just

a change from unbelief to belief and that you're trying to add

works to salvation when you're bringing repentance into the

issue. That's, I mean, that's a perfect

verse for that because it very plainly lists things that they

did not repent of that needed to change.

But anyway, lying, lying is of the devil and there are many

reasons why people lie. Number one, lying is often

caused by fear. It was fear that motivated

Abraham to lie about his wife not once but twice right when he

was in Egypt. Genesis chapter 12, verse 11

Genesis 12:11–13

through 13. I think this is a wonderful

passage because Abimelech was the king and Abraham talked to

his wife Sarah, who was his half sister, but it was his wife.

And Abimelech said, oh wow, she's a beautiful woman.

Is this who is this your wife? No, no, it's not my wife, She's

my sister. Don't kill me and take her,

right? So Abimelech said, great, if

she's not your wife, then bring her to me.

I'm going to marry her, right. But what the Bible says, and

this is a wonderful passage that Abimelech, God came to Abimelech

in a dream and told him that this was Abraham's wife.

And he said, I did it in the innocence.

I, I didn't, I didn't intend to lie.

I didn't intend to sleep with this woman and, and, and sin

against God, right? And, and the Bible says that God

kept Abimelech from sinning against him because of that,

right. But it was fear that motivated

Abraham to lie about he was afraid for his life.

He thought that he was going to get killed if he didn't lie

about it. Peter denied Jesus out of fear

of man. Luke 22 talks about the same

thing. All right, Proverbs 22 and verse

2529, verse 25. The fear of man bringeth A

snare. The Bible says there in that

passage. But lying is often caused by

hatred as well. In fact, let's turn over to

Proverbs 26. This is a verse that you'll

recognize, hopefully. Proverbs 26 and verse 28.

A lying tongue hateth those that are afflicted by it, and a

flattering mouth worketh through it.

A lying tongue hateth those that are afflicted by it.

So lying is often caused by hatred.

People tell lies about other people to hurt them.

That's why the devil told lies to Eve.

That's the motive behind spreading false rumors.

This is a pretty interesting thing he says.

In the 1980's the head of the Bible Society in Nepal sent out

a letter to the church is claiming that I, David Cloud,

had burned Bibles, but it was a complete lie.

He did that because he wanted to force me to stop preaching and

leave the country. This is a really interesting

one. Hindus tell lies about

Christians to hurt the cause of Christ.

For example, some Hindus in Nepal say that Christians must

be baptized naked in cows blood. Well, that's enough to keep me

from converting to Christianity, right?

And that's what they're trying to do.

But it's, it's lies that are that are being spread because of

what? Hatred?

They hate the Christians and they don't want to see people

convert. So they make up things about

them to try to keep people from converting.

So it's caused by fear. It's caused by hatred.

Lying is also. And if you're still there in

Proverbs, turn over to Proverbs chapter 20.

Proverbs 20 · chapter mention

Lying is caused by covetousness. And boy, this is a big one.

This is a really big one, especially for those who are

businessmen out there. Easy to tell a lie about

something. Boy, isn't this, isn't this what

we see happen so often? And that's why, again, that's,

that's why we have, you know, the, the reputation out there of

a used car salesman. They'll tell you anything you

want to hear as long as you buy the car.

And it might, it might barely make it off the lot, but it made

it off the lot. You know, they'll put something

in it that'll make it so it runs smooth until the next time you

have to change the gas, or I mean, put gas in it or, or do

something else. And the next thing you know,

it's sputtering and shaking and falling apart, right?

They'll tell you whatever they have to tell you because of

covetousness. They want that money, right?

Salesman. A lot of times the salesman have

pressure that's being put on them by their bosses or by the

president of the country or by whoever to lie to somebody to

get them to buy a product, right?

And as Christians, a lot of Christians fall into that trap.

Well, it's just business. I just this what I have to do,

right? If I'm honest, I wouldn't sell

anything. Well, you don't think God will

bless your honesty? Absolutely He will.

And if there is no other choice than to tell a lie, then you're

in the wrong profession and you need to find something else.

It is never right to tell a lie. But it all comes down to

covetousness, right? Proverbs chapter 20 and verse

Proverbs 20 · chapter mention

#14 it is not. It is not, saith the buyer.

But when he has gone his way, then he boasted, oh, it's

nothing, it's nothing. Then he starts boasting about

it, right? Proverbs 21 and verse #6 the

getting of treasures by a lying tongue is a vanity tossed to and

fro of them that seek death. That's a pretty strong

statement. The I mean, but that's exactly

what he's talking about. If you're making money because

you're lying to somebody to try to get them to buy your product

or to buy into whatever it is that you're doing, the getting

of treasures by a lying tongue is a vanity tossed to and fro.

So people lie when they want to buy or sell.

They also lie to gain position and power, such as in politics.

Boy, if we don't have a perfect example of that in the

governor's mansion right now, somebody who ran as a moderate

and, oh, I'm not going to raise your taxes and I'm not going to

gerrymander the elections, and I'm not going to do this and I'm

not going to do that. And before they'd even sworn her

in, they were already saying all the things that they were going

to do. And they did all of them, right?

I mean, a few of them got struck down, thankfully.

But all of the, the gun laws in the, you know, this

gerrymandering thing, I mean, when you say this is a temporary

measure to bring fairness to the elections, I mean, that's about

as about as straight of a lie as you can tell somebody, right?

They know full well that it's not going to be a temporary

measure and they know that it's not bringing fairness to the

elections. But that's how they're selling

it to everybody because they want that position and they want

that power, right? And it's all about covetousness

because when you're in that position and you have that

power, you make a lot of money, right?

Which is why Ilhan Omar and these other ones who are making

$170,000 a year in Congress are now multi, multi, multi

millionaires. How long has she been in

Congress? Like 5 years, Six years, and

she's worth $30 million, making $170,000 a year.

Isn't that an amazing thing? I'm in the wrong business.

Maybe I need to go to Congress and see what they're doing

right. But that's exactly what it is.

It's all it's lying that's caused by covetousness.

And then I think both of these go hand in hand.

But lying is caused by selfishness and pride.

It's often inconvenient in this world to speak the truth, all

right? That's why Ananias and Sapphira

lied in Acts chapter 5. They had pretended to be more

Acts 5 · chapter mention

spiritual than they were, and they lied in an attempt to hide

their selfishness. Well, I think that's a lot of

people don't necessarily lie only with their lips.

People lie with their life too, right?

You show up at church and you're one way.

You act like you're something that you're not.

You're somebody completely different when you're at home.

That's telling a lie. It's lying about who you are

based on who you're around, right?

And boy, there's a lot of things that we could say about that,

but it's caused by selfishness and pride.

Why? Well, if somebody finds out that

that's the real me, then I'm going to lose my, you know, my

reputation at church, and I'm going to lose my reputation at

work and I'm going to lose my reputation at this place.

And it's all about selfishness and pride.

So lies destroy the believer spiritual armor and allow the

devil to have an inroad into his life for one big reason.

What is Psalm 6618? If I regard iniquity in my

heart, the Lord will not hear me, right?

So is a lie a sin? Is a lying iniquity, right?

And how often do we confess those things to God after we

just told somebody without even thinking about it?

Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah, don't worry about that.

I got that. Or or.

No, that's not the way that is or.

No, that's not what happened. This is what happened.

And it was knowing full well that it was a lie, right?

It's lying is one of the easiest sins.

I think maybe, maybe throw in pride and maybe some

unthankfulness and maybe some covetousness and things in there

like that. But lying is one of the easiest

sins to commit because most of it is done so easy that nobody

knows that that's what you're doing many times.

And it's very easy to get away with it.

Now, obviously you get caught and then it's a big problem.

But most people are not telling big lies.

Most people are just telling little lies.

Little lies here and. There and they never confess it,

they never ask God's forgiveness.

And then they then they're going to show up in their prayer

closet. They're going to show up at a

prayer meeting. They expect that God is going to

hear them. If I regard iniquity in my

heart, the Lord will not hear me.

Lying is sin just the same way. And so when you lie you, you

lose the armor that protects you and you give the devil an inroad

into your life. So back in Ephesians chapter 6.

Ephesians 6 · chapter mention

The Armor of God. Ephesians chapter 6 and verse

Ephesians 6 · chapter mention

#14 we read the first half of that verse.

Stand there for having your loins good about with truth, but

then also having on the breastplate of righteousness.

The breastplate covers the heart and it's a very important part

of the soldiers armor, right? Which is why most of the time

when, when the the soldiers, especially in our military,

obviously they're not wearing armor, but they're wearing a

version of it. And almost always that, that

body armor that they wear is protecting they're midsection,

right? You got a lot of vital organs in

that area. And your heart is the most

important of all of them. If you get shot in the heart,

you don't have much of a chance of surviving, right?

So the breastplate covers that, that very important area.

So the protection is righteous living.

And again, I, I, I, I try as as much as I can to stress the

importance of that holiness in the importance of holy living,

the importance of righteousness in our lives.

And we go back to Ephesians chapter 4 through 6 talks about

Ephesians 4 · chapter mention

putting away all of those things.

So let's go back to the Ephesians chapter 4 and we'll

Ephesians 4 · chapter mention

just cover these quickly. But what is what is righteous

living? Well, it's putting away anger.

Verse 26, be angry and sin not let not the sun go down upon

your wrath. It's not stealing.

Verse 28 Let him that stole steal no more, but rather let

him labor working with his hands, the things, the thing

which is good, that he may have to give to him that needeth

working and giving to help others.

Verse 28 Then he may that that he may have to give to him that

needeth right. That's another one pure speech.

Verse 29 let no corrupt communication proceed out of

your mouth, but that which is good to the use of edifying that

it may minister grace unto the hearers.

By the way, turn over to keep your finger there.

Turn over to Matthew chapter 12. Talk about pure speech.

Matthew 12 · chapter mention

I pointed this verse. Out before but it's been a

little while since I pointed this out Matthew chapter 12.

Matthew 12 · chapter mention

I want you to think about this because boy, this is this puts a

whole new perspective on pure speech.

Matthew chapter 12 And this is Jesus talking, He's talking to

Matthew 12 · chapter mention

the Pharisees, which He was constantly on the Pharisees,

obviously because of who they were, and what they were, and

how they were. But verse #36 the Bible says

this, But I say unto you, that every idle word that men shall

speak, they shall give account thereof in the day of judgment.

Every idle. Word that men shall speak, they

shall give account thereof in the day of judgment.

I wonder how many idle? Words we have in a day.

Where we say things. And by the way, that would be

your cuss words. That'd be your words that are

close to your cuss words, right? Those are idle words.

They're they're words that just don't mean anything that you're

that you just throw in and add to your speech for no reason,

right. But could you imagine what that

list is going to look like when we stand before God and He says

that every idle word you're going to give account thereof in

the day of judgement? That means you ought to.

Be very careful about the words that you use and what you say

and how you say it and when you say it right doesn't doesn't

really leave a whole lot of room for for cursing and swearing and

all of those other things right something that we have to be

very careful about. But that's what he says.

If you're going to live righteously, then let no corrupt

communication proceed out of your mouth, but that which is

good to the use of edifying that it may minister grace unto the

hearers right being kind and forgiving.

Verse 32 Be kind one to another, tender hearted, forgiving one

another, even as God for Christ's sake hath forgiven you.

Putting away fornication and uncleanness.

Chapter 5 and verse #3 But fornication and all uncleanness

or covetousness, let it not be once named among you as become a

Saints. Putting away covetousness.

You just mentioned that one. We just read it.

Having no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness.

Verse 11 Have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of

darkness, works of darkness, but rather reprove them.

Redeeming the time. Verse 16 because the days are

evil. Being a submissive wife.

Wives, submit yourselves unto your own husband's is unto the

Lord. Being a loving husband.

Verse 25 Husbands love your wives, even as Christ also loved

the church and gave himself for it.

Being an obedient child, children.

Verse 1 of chapter 6, obey your parents in the Lord, for this is

right. Being engaged, compassionate and

a wise father. Fathers, provoke not your

children to wrath. Being a diligent servant.

Verse 5 through 8, being a just master #9 all of those things.

And that's, that's just a small portion of the Bible commands

that were given. But those are, those are ways

that we protect that righteous living and doing things that are

pleasing to the Lord. And then and then Ephesians

Ephesians 6 · chapter mention

chapter 6, you should be right there because that's pretty much

where we ended. But verse #15 and your feet shot

with the preparation of the gospel of peace.

So the believer is to be moving forward into the enemy's

territory or not to be on the defense hiding behind the castle

walls. And I believe that's that's one

of the reasons why Christianity is in the state that it's in.

We have allowed the enemies of Christ to be on the offensive

for far too long. And we've just.

Sat there and taken it, right? They tell you that you have to

accept LGBTQRST Plus and we just say, OK, well, I guess I won't

say anything about that, right? You see what's happening with

this? What's that guy's name?

Jaden Ivy. Basketball player for the

Chicago Bulls, right there was there was a player that was on

the Chicago Bulls that got that got arrested and got convicted

of assault and battery and all kinds of different things and

ended up spending some time in prison.

They gave him a 3030 game suspension.

The Chicago Bulls, Jaden Ivy spoke out against the NBA's

Pride Awareness Month and they fired him.

They kicked him off the team. They said it was conduct

unbecoming or conduct detrimental to the team.

The only thing that he did, I mean, he, he, he plays hard.

He gets along with all of his teammates.

He no fights, no arguments, no nothing.

He spoke out against the LGBTQ and what the NBA was doing with

that and the Bulls dismissed him and said that he was detrimental

to the team. That's that.

We have allowed that to happen. Do you know that the of all of

the the gays, lesbians, transgender, all of those people

who identify with all of those different alphabet soup

acronyms, 5% of the population? Identify as one.

Of those thousand different things, 5%.

And yet, there's something. Like 100 days a year where they

are celebrated. One of them is for an entire

month. There's such a small.

Portion of the population, you know why they went on the

offense and everybody else, Christians included, went on the

defense and said, OK, let's just hide behind the the walls of the

church. Let's hide behind our Bibles.

And you guys just go do what you're going to do because we

don't want to be offensive to you.

So you just, you just continue to go on the offense.

If the 95% of the people that don't agree with it would

actually stand up to it. There would be no LGBTQ plus in

the United States. There would be no

transgenderism. There would be no transgender

issues that we're fighting against.

There would be no lawsuits because you're trying to force

somebody to make a cake for your gay wedding.

There wouldn't be any of those things.

But we went on the defensive, they went on the offensive and

we just let it happen. Right, we need to get back.

On the offensive and if and if Christians would all stand up

together. You see the reason why people

like Jaden Ivy don't stand up is because they most people don't

want to lose their jobs. And so they just don't say

anything because long as it doesn't affect me.

Long as it doesn't affect. Me, I'm not going to say

anything about it, right? If every Christian that agreed

with him would actually stand up and agree with him, he'd

probably get his job back. He'd probably get $1,000,000 and

win a lawsuit and everything else, and then they would never

do that again, right? But all the other Christians,

well, at least it wasn't me. They got fired from my job,

right? I agree with him.

I wish more people would stand up and do that, but not me,

right? Because we're living on the

defensive instead of on the offensive.

We let them live on the offensive.

And there's such a tiny percentage of them, and I'm not,

I mean, that's just one issue. I mean, think about the

abortionist. I mean, there's not that many

that agree with abortion, but they're loud, they're vocal,

they're offensive about it. And everybody else just.

Says, OK, well we don't want to offend that tiny little portion

of the of the population. So you guys just go ahead and do

what you're going to do, right? That's how we live.

We move into the devil's territory by proclaiming the

gospel. This is the great light that

moves back to darkness and that's what Jesus commanded.

Mark 1615 Go ye into all the world and preach the gospel to

every creature, right? Five times.

The commandment to preach the gospel throughout the world is

repeated in the New Testament. Matthew 28, Mark 16, Luke 24,

John 20, Acts 1, all of those right?

That's one of the reasons why we we give out the cards and why we

make it a competition to to get you excited about it, right?

Because how else are we going to win this world for Christ if we

don't go tell them? How else are we going to go on

the offensive if we're not out there putting the gospel into

places where people can see it and getting it into their hands

and, and not trying to be, but being in your face about it,

right? I'm not ashamed of the gospel of

Christ. Why should I have to be sorry

that I'm trying to hand you a track to tell you how to go to

heaven, to tell you how to get your sins forgiven?

Why should I be the one that's that's shamed into not doing it

right? You should be ashamed of not

taking a gospel track. But but but we're the ones who

are like, I'm sorry Sir, but I would like to give you this.

Would you, would you please take this from me and and read it

when you get a chance? Oh, thank you so much for taking

that right. Why do I have to be the one

that's ashamed? I'm not ashamed of the gospel of

Christ. It's the power of God unto

salvation to everyone that believeth.

Right. But we, we are.

So used to living on the defensive that we're afraid to

do anything for the cause of Christ, right?

And a lot of people get charged politically and they want to go

do something in politics or a lot of people get charged in in

business and they want to go use their money to to affect good

and do all these other things. What people need more than

anything is Christ. And if we would put our efforts

into winning people to Christ, we'd probably see a lot more

people one and we would see people's minds being changed and

we would be on the offensive, right?

And they would be the ones that were be on the defensive, not

us. Putting on gospel shoes #3

refers to something you do every day and all the long life's way.

So when we're talking about feet shod with the preparation of the

gospel of peace that is putting on your gospel shoes every time

you wake up. I am ready to go give the gospel

out. I've got gospel cards with me.

I've got, I've got a I'm looking for opportunities.

I'm praying and asking God to give me opportunity to share the

gospel. And then what he does, I'm using

that opportunity to share the gospel.

There you'd be. When you're actually looking for

ways to share the gospel, you'd be surprised at how many ways

God actually gives you to do it. The people who always say, well,

I don't, I don't see that many people are.

I don't really get that many opportunities.

You know why? Because you're not looking for

opportunities. If your feet were shod with the

preparation of the gospel of peace, you would find a lot more

opportunities out there. You're not looking for them, so

you let them pass you all the time.

Right. You let them.

You let. Those opportunities go by and

you let them go by so much that you don't think that you get

opportunities, but you do if you look for them.

And and you know what? Most people are not rude.

There are some people who are rude about it, right?

There are some people are going to say no, I don't want that,

blah, blah, blah. Riley gave a track to somebody

in Sam's the other day. We were walking around.

Of course, they were still trying to get their numbers up

for Sunday, but she gave a guy in Sam's a card and he said he

started, you know, he took it. But he said, I mean, he was, he

was asking her all kinds of questions about, well, do you

know this? And do you know this and do you

know this weird ideas? I have no idea what he was

talking about, you know, but most people are not going to be

rude about it. They're going to take a card,

right? And you just never know how

God's going to use it. I think we'll be surprised to

find out how many people are in heaven that, that, that scanned

that video and watch that 15 minute video and accept the

Christ as their savior or people that you talked to that you lost

touch with because you moved away.

But you worked with them and you shared the gospel with them and

they got saved later on. And you just, you'd have no idea

where you went or how to get in touch with you.

You're going to be surprised, I believe, and you're going to

wish that you had done so much more in the area of witnessing

for Christ. I think I've told you this

illustration before, but I remember that there was a there

was a, it's an old like Arab, you know, not wives tale, but

mythical story. I guess these guys were walking

along the road with their camels and, and this heavenly being

showed up right in front of them and said, I want you to pick up

these rocks in front of you and put them in your bag.

And when you get to the when you get to where you're going

tonight, you're going to be both excited and disappointed.

And they were like, what in the? World this thing.

Disappeared and there rocks litter pick up rocks and put

them in our bags. OK, fine, whatever, we'll pick

up some rocks. So they grabbed a little handful

of rocks and they stuffed them in their bag and they got to

where they were going. And as they were unpacking that

night, they opened up their bags and realized that those rocks

had turned into diamonds. And of course they were excited.

Oh, look at these rocks or diamonds.

And then they were disappointed because they said, oh, imagine

if we had picked up a ton of more of them, you know, and

that's, and that's exactly the way it is when we're going to

stand before God, You know, we'll be excited for the ones

that did get saved and we'll be happy that they that we led them

to Christ. But I think we're going to be so

disappointed that we didn't share the gospel more, that we

focused on humanitarian things and focused on politics and

focused on this and focused on that and all of these other

different things, conspiracy theories and all these other

things that we tried to do to change the world.

When in reality, if we had just LED more people to Christ, we

would have a lot bigger impact. That's what Feat shod with the

preparation of the Gospel of peace is talking about.

Shoes are something that you walk in all day long.

It refers to something you're continually busy doing, not

something that's done for a special situation.

A Christmas choir program. VBS program Just once in a

while. #4 putting on. Gospel shoes as part of a

spiritual revival because spreading the gospel is so close

to the heart of God and so necessary for His best blessing

and for spiritual fruit. Those who do not.

Witness do not have protection from the devil because they're

living in disobedience to God. We can't effectually resist the

devil until we submit to God. James 47.

Submit yourselves, therefore, to God, Resist the devil, and he

will flee from you. You're dead tonight.

Nobody's awake but putting on gospel shoes as part of a

spiritual revival. Because when you lead people to

Christ, what's the last thing that Jesus told people to do

before he went into heaven? Go tell.

Right, Matthew 2819 and 20, the last couple verses in that in

the entire book of Matthew, right Acts chapter 1.

Acts 1 · chapter mention

You shall receive power after that.

The Holy Ghost has come upon you, and ye shall be witnesses

unto me, right? That's what His whole focus was

on. The Son of Man has come to what

seek and to save that which was lost.

That's why He came. So when you do what He came to

do and when you do what He told us to do before He went back

into heaven, you were doing something that was very close to

the heart of God. So you will experience your own

personal revival when you get busy winning souls to Christ.

I want you to think about this. How many people have you shared

the gospel with? Giving out tracts is great.

You should. But how many people have you

shared the gospel with in the last six months?

How many times have you sat down with somebody and gone through

the entire plan of salvation with them?

Now how many people? Have you won to Christ in the

last, let's just say two years? Have you won anybody?

To Christ, well, I just don't get opportunities.

No, you do get opportunities. You're just not looking for them

or you're not looking hard enough because I tell you this,

I get opportunities all the time.

And I know that I'm. I'm in a little bit more of a

position to be able to talk to people, but God gave me the

opportunities and I took those opportunities.

And that's why I go to breakfast with people all the time.

So I go to lunch with people all the time.

And you know what I do when I go to lunch with them?

I know what your problem is. You need Christ, you're building

on a foundation that is going to crumble.

You need to have a solid foundation.

That's why your life is in the condition that it's in.

You cannot build something that's going to last on a soft

foundation made out of sand. It's going to keep crumbling.

What you need is Christ. You need to build on a solid

foundation. You know how easy that is to

tell somebody that they're looking for answers.

They don't know what to do. They don't know where to turn.

They don't know what what the answers are.

And you have them. But you're not looking for the.

Opportunity to tell people that. It's not hard to.

Meet somebody or to, to get involved in some kind of

organization or something like that and go sit down for lunch

and give them the gospel. And, and I'm thankful God's

given me some, some opportunities to, to witness to

people in very high positions in this area, supervisors and, and

police officers and, you know, all kinds of different people.

But you've got to take the. Opportunities.

That's why God keeps giving you the opportunities, because He

knows you're going to take it. You wonder why you don't ever

get to give the gospel out to somebody because you're not

looking for ways to do it. Feet shod with.

The preparation of the gospel of peace means you are looking for

the opportunities to do that. And when you start sharing the

gospel and you start seeing people get saved, you'll be

surprised at how that makes you get your life right with God

because you want to be effective in doing that.

Right. That's why.

That's why my focus is so much on witnessing and holiness.

They go together so closely. When you witness, when you share

the gospel, you're going to want to live a life that's right with

God. Because why do all that if you

don't have any power to share the gospel?

If you don't have any power to answer the questions that they

have, you don't have any wisdom that comes from God.

But then when you're. Holy and when you are right with

God, you cannot help but witness, you cannot help but

look for opportunities to share the gospel and when that's why

those things go together so closely.

And it's exactly what he's saying is that when you when you

put on the gospel shoes, it'll, it'll give you a personal

revival in your own life. Because you start seeing.

That happen. You can't help but.

Tell somebody else and tell somebody else and tell somebody

else and look for more opportunities and you get

excited about it. That's why the reason that's

that's. The reason why most most most

Christians in most good independent Baptist churches.

Are just. There.

They're not doing. Very much at all for Christ.

And they have no desire for witnessing.

They have no real desire to be right with God.

They have no real desire to do anything else.

Because God gives you. These opportunities and your

feet are not shod with the preparation of the gospel of

peace. You are not ready to share the

gospel at at a moment's notice. And you see an.

Opportunity and oh man, I probably should have give that

one. I should have given him a track

man. I should have.

Given him a track when you say that 100 times.

Don't you think you're kind? Of in a position where you need

to make some changes, start sharing the gospel a little bit

more, start listening to the Holy Spirit when He tells you to

give somebody a track and instead of living with regret,

you live on the offensive and go give that person a track.

When you start doing it, you. Find out that it's really not

that hard. It's really not.

Sharing the gospel is not really that hard.

You just got to do it right. It's like making a presentation

at work. First time you ever made that

presentation, you're probably really nervous.

But once you do the job and once you've done that presentation 50

times, you can get up there and do it in your sleep almost

right, Given the gospel is the same way, right?

When you see somebody and God puts it on your heart to go talk

to them, or when you have an opportunity and you say, hey,

how about if we get together for lunch, let's let's talk about

this, whatever it happens to be, I know what direction I'm going

to steer that conversation. And they're not leaving there

without me sharing the gospel with them.

They may not know that. Yeah.

All right, that's great. Let's sit down for lunch.

Yeah, I'd love to do that. Right.

Who's going to who's going to turn that down?

Very few people will turn that down.

But then you always steer the conversation back toward giving

them the gospel, and you find out it's really not that

difficult. God gives you the wisdom, and

God gives you the the courage and the boldness to do it.

So those don't, those who don't witness, don't have the

protection from the devil because they're living in

disobedience to God. We can't effectively,

effectually resist the devil until we submit to God #5

preaching the gospel requires preparation.

The believer must learn how to preach the gospel to different

types of people. You have to learn how to deal

with sinners arguments. That reminds us that each church

is to be a training center to exhort and prepare soldiers for

the warfare, right? I mean, I've, I've been through

a whole series, I call it Wolves in Sheep's Clothing, and talked

about all the different religions and what they're going

to say to you and, and what their arguments are going to be

against the Gospel. And, and I can't preach it every

week or every month or even every year.

But you can go back and you can watch those series and you can,

you can go back and look at those things and remind yourself

about how to talk to the Mormons, about how to talk to

the Jehovah's Witnesses, about how to talk to the Catholics

and, and you can share the gospel with them.

And when they come to you and they say, well, what about this?

Well, yeah, you might have a point there.

No, you don't. It's not in the Bible, right?

But if you have no idea how to lead somebody to Christ, you

need to get saved. You're on your way to hell.

Well, how do I get saved? Well, well, you need to ask

Jesus in your heart. What does that mean?

If you don't have any idea what it.

Means then how are you going to lead somebody to Christ, right?

I've told you this before. Start with first John 513 in

your Bible, right down next to it, Romans 323 and next to

Romans 323, right? Romans 623 and next to Romans

623, right? John 316.

I mean, you can, you can, you can walk yourself through the

Bible. You got to do something to

prepare yourself to be able to share the Gospel, right?

And, and if you have no idea what these other people believe,

then how are you going to share the gospel with them, right?

I always, when I'm, when I'm talking to somebody, I always

try to figure out what their background is 1st.

And if they tell me that, oh, I was raised Catholic, but you

know, we didn't really stay in the Catholic, well, then I know

that their mindset is everything that they're doing is based on

works more than likely, right. So I don't want to say all the

Catholics are wrong on all of that stuff.

Now, sometimes if they're asking and they're, they're kind of,

you know, down on the Catholic Church themselves, then I'll

tell them all the reasons why everything that the Catholic

Church does is wrong. God, God gives you the wisdom

and how to, how to do those things right, how to talk to

somebody about those things. But I can, I can steer that

conversation in a direction away from works and toward grace and

toward a gift of God and all of those things.

If I know their background, they tell me they grew up Jehovah's

Witness. You're going to.

You're going to take. The conversation in a different

direction. You know, most people that

you're talking to are not ex Mormons because they don't

usually come out of Mormonism unless they get saved, right?

But sometimes they come out of that background too.

And now I know how to talk to them because I know a lot of

what they believe, right? That's where studying comes in.

That's why it's why it's so important to study God's word,

to read God's word, to memorize God's word.

You know what happens when you memorize God's Word?

He. Brings those verses.

To mind when you're sitting there talking to somebody, if

you've never memorized it, you don't have an idea of what to

say to these people when they ask you this question or when

they bring up this argument or when they talk about this.

I could say, well, the Bible actually says, right.

That's why it's important that you memorize the references to,

right? Memorize the reference with the

verse. Somewhere in the Bible it says

something about. It's not very helpful either.

Right, But you memorize the verse and the reference together

and you can take them to that passage or you can say, well,

the Bible says in John 8, ye are of your father the devil and

lust, your father. You will do, I mean, whatever,

whatever it happens to be, right?

That's why it's important that you memorize.

That's why it's important that you study.

That's why it's important that you know what you're talking

about when it comes to those things, right?

That's why it's necessary. So you you have to understand

those things, and preaching the gospel requires that

preparation. So you learn.

How to preach the gospel to those different types of people.

And as you learn it, it gets easier and easier and easier and

easier to share the gospel. And then you're not hoping that

God doesn't put somebody in your past.

So you don't have to talk to somebody.

You're looking for ways to talk to them.

You're looking for ways to get the gospel in there.

And, and I try to give you a lot of illustrations and I try to

give you a lot of verses and I try to give you a lot of things

that you can use when you talk to somebody about the gospel,

right? It's a great, it's such an easy

illustration that people can understand, right?

And so I'll end with this because I could, I could go on

all night about it because it's, it's, it really is, it's

something that's so important that, that we understand and

that we know. But one of the easiest things

for people to understand when it comes to why is my life falling

apart? Why is nothing seemed to go

right? What I mean?

I just, I don't have the answers.

I don't know what to do. The easiest thing in the world?

Is to give them an illustration about building your house on a

rock or building your house on sand, Right.

Everybody understands that. So you say, well, look, would

you ever go build your house without building it on the

foundation? Well, no.

Why? Well, because it's going to

eventually it's going to fall down.

It's exactly right, Right. You might make it all the way

through the entire process of building that house and it looks

beautiful, but as soon as you get a big storm that comes

through, everything is going to collapse.

Right now, just because you built on a solid foundation

doesn't mean that everything's going to be perfect, right?

You could build on a solid foundation and a storm could

come through and you could lose a shutter, you could lose some

siding, you could lose a few shingles, but those aren't that

hard to fix, right? You built it solid and it's

built on the right foundation. Doesn't mean that everything's

going to be perfect. Doesn't mean that there's not

going to be any storms. Life is still it has some bumps

and some bruises and some difficulties and everything

else. But when you're built on the

solid foundation, you can go fix those things.

You're not starting over every time you hit a rough spot,

right? But most people are building on

sand and they're, they have not built on the foundation of Jesus

Christ. And so when you go through a

rough patch in your marriage or you know, when I'm talking to

these first responders and things, you, you, you go on a

rough call, You see something that was really difficult to

handle and everything collapses. Everything falls apart because

that's a storm. But your entire house fell down.

And now you're now you're ready to kill yourself because

everything that I've built my whole life on is just gone now,

right? And if I'm going to, if I'm

going to have something that I can live in, I got to start all

the way over and build it all the way back up again.

And I said, and what most people do is they build it back again

on sand. You can if you you.

Can lose your house all the way down to the foundation, but if

you still have the foundation you can always build it back up.

It might be difficult, but you can build it back up.

If you have no foundation, you have to start completely over

every single time. And it just falls apart.

Right. And most people can understand

that. They say now the foundation that

that I'm built on is Christ. And so doesn't.

Mean that my life is perfect. It doesn't mean that I don't

ever have any struggles. Doesn't mean that I never have

any issues. But it's a whole lot easier to.

Replace a few shingles and a couple pieces of siding than it

is to rebuild the house every time something happens, right?

Because it's built on the solid foundation.

And then you go back and tell them what that solid foundation

is, and you start them all the way through and you give them

the message of the gospel. It's an easy illustration for

people to understand and it may not work for everybody.

Right, but especially. Somebody who's a builder or

who's a contractor or who does anything in that kind of

community, it's an easy one for them to understand.

It's an easy one for the first responders to understand.

It's an easy one for a lot of people to understand, right?

But you have to be looking for opportunities.

You have to be looking for ways to share the gospel.

And if you're looking for it, you'll find it.

You will find it. If you're not, you'll never have

opportunities. And I don't know why, but God

never puts anybody in my path. No, He does.

You just don't. You just don't see them because

they walked right past you. Feet shod with the.

Preparation of the gospel of peace is people who are looking

for opportunities to share the gospel.

And when you start doing it, it gets easier and easier and

easier. And when you start doing it,

you'll find a personal revival in your own heart because you'll

want to be right with God so that you can share the gospel in

a way that is pleasing to Him. So a lot of things here that we

could talk about and, and, and we'll, we'll just, we'll briefly

review this next week and then we'll jump into the rest of

these things and finish it up. But let's pray we'll be done.

Father, again, we thank you so much for your goodness to us.

Thank you for the opportunity to be here tonight.

Pray that you'd help us to take these things to heart.

God, those whose hearts are the hardest and have such a hard

time sharing the message of the gospel, may you soften their

hearts. May you help them to have a

desire to please you in this area.

May you help us all, may you help us all to be witnesses for

you and not just say that we that we are witnesses, not just

give out a card here and there, but to really share the message

of the gospel and to really try to look for opportunities to

share the gospel. God, may you help us to be

soldiers in the army of the Lord that are living on the offensive

and sharing the message of the gospel with as many people as we

can. God, may you help us to do that

until you come. Thank you again for all that you

do for us. In Jesus name, Amen.