Rick Warren - Never Fight Your Battles Undressed! – Part Two

Today on Daily Hope with Pastor Rick Warren, we continue

in our riveting journey through the series The Invisible War.

In it will explore.

The unseen world of good and evil and see how

it impacts our day to day existence. Join us for

eye opening biblical insights into the spiritual dimensions that influence

our lives in ways we never imagined. Right now, here's

Pastor Rick Warren with part two of a message called

never fights your battles undressed.

Now, the second piece that a Roman centurion would put

on is they would put on over the tunic some

body armor, some body armour, and they would have a

breastplate which would cover the heart, and then the other

part of the body armor would cover the rest of

their vital organs, the lungs and the liver and the

kidneys and all of those things. And so oh, soldier

is going to go out into battle without body armor on,

without the breastplate and the body armor. Now the Bible

Paul says, what you need for your spiritual battle is

what he calls the breastplate or the body armor of righteousness.

And notice the next verse he says, put on the

belt of truth. And then he says with the breastplate

of righteousness protecting your chest. What's in your chest, your heart.

He's talking about your heart here. Now, what is righteousness?

Righteousness is purity of heart. That's what it is. And

so the piece of the second piece you have to

put on in your life is purity. First integrity, knowing

and doing the truth.

And second you have to put.

On purity, which means keeping my motives clear, keeping my

motives clean, having a pure heart. That's what rights and

he says, when you put on the breastplate of the

body armor of righteousness, you're saying, God, I want a

pure heart. I want to have pure motives. Let me

show you a couple verses. The Bible says in Psalm

chapter twenty four, look at this, who may ascend to

the hill of the Lord, who may stand in his

holy place? What does that mean?

Who can?

It means who can get close to God? That's what

it means. Who can get close to God? And here's

the answer, he who has clean hands and a pure heart.

Now that doesn't mean perfection, because none of us are perfect.

But a pure heart means that even when you do

the right wrong thing, you want to do the right thing.

That's a pure heart.

Even when I do the wrong thing, I regret it

because I want to do the right thing.

That's a pure heart.

And Jesus said, blessed or blessed are the pure in heart,

for they shall see God. Only the pure in heart

get to be close to God. Now, if you want

to be blessed, you want to be blessed in your family,

you want to be blessed in your business, and you

want to be blessed in your finances, you got to

have a pure heart. God will not bless and impure heart.

And so you need to.

Put on not just the belt of truth integrity, but

you need to put on the breastplate of righteousness, which

is purity. Keeping my motives clear. Now, is your heart pure?

You don't have to have a lot of talent in

life to succeed, but if you want God's blessing, you

do have to have pure motives. Now, Satan always wants

to attack you with impurity.

And the reason he.

Wants to attack you with impurity is if he can

get his foot in the door, you're a goner. And

so he'll attack you with moral impurity, pornography, movies, books, songs.

I mean if I said get a drink of water,

go out here and drink out of the gutter, none

of you would go out and drink out of the gutter.

So why are you watching all those gutter shows on television?

You see?

Mind pollution is far worse than physical pollution because your

mind is all you've got, and when you allow anything

to go in your mind, you are polluting. You say, well,

that's kind of stuff. I watch that stuff. It just

doesn't bother me. That's the problem. That's the problem. If

it doesn't bother me, it means your conscience has already

been seared. You know, if your conscience was clear and pure,

it would bother you. The fact that you can hear

all that kind of language and it doesn't bother you

means you don't have a pure heart. Now if you

want to, if you don't have a pure heart, a

brave heart. If you don't have a brave heart, dad

a pure heart, you're a pushover for Satan. You don't

have to be strong, but you do have to have

integrity and purity. You have to have the belt of

truth and the breastplate of righteousness. Now, another way Satan

will try to gets you to be impure is through greed,

because if he can gets you greedy and wanting more,

He'll get you to cheat on your taxes. He'll get

you to accept the shady business deal to shave the edges.

He will try to get a door.

A jar in your life to success through praise, to applause.

So you don't depend on God anymore. You have to

keep your heart pure. If you don't, you're going to

lose the.

Battle in life.

But on the other hand, if you keep the pure heart,

your motive is pure. Satan fears the person with a

pure heart, not the perfect person, but the person with

a pure heart who wants to do the right thing.

Now you don't have to be afraid of him. He

then is afraid of you.

Now.

The third thing that a soldier would put on are

the shoes, and the a Roman soldier's shoes had hobnails.

If you can see these in the bottom, there were

little nails that were nailed in there to make the grip.

It's kind of like cleats cleats on a football shoe

or cleats on a golf shoe. Because you needed these

shoes with hobnails so you didn't go slip sliding away

on the battle. You need to be able to take

a stand and hold your ground. You didn't want to stumble.

You didn't want to slide, you didn't want to fall.

No Roman centurion would go into a battle and crocs, okay,

because you're gonna go slip, sliding away. So you would

put on these shoes, and Paul says, this represents peace

in your life. He calls them the shoes of the

good News of peace. Look at this next verse. He says,

on your feet, wear the shoes of good News. There

was the good News shoes. Somebody should start that brand,

good News shoes prepared to share the gospel of peace. Now,

as I said, a Roman soldier, he needed to have

good footing so he could stand his ground so he

wouldn't slip. Now for you to stand spiritually so you

don't slip, so you don't slide, so you don't stumble

in the next ten years and lose everything you've got,

so you don't fall away. You're gonna need the shoes

of good News prepared to share the gospel of peace.

Circle that phrase, the gospel of peace. Now, what is

he saying? If you want to stand in life and

stand up under the storms. You're gonna have to be

at peace.

Now.

He's talking here about relationships. There are three kinds of peace.

Peace with God, peace with myself, and peace with everybody else.

It's called reconciliation. Peace with God, peace with myself, and

peace with everybody else. Jesus called it the Great commandment.

Love God with all your heart, and love your neighbor

as yourself. Make peace with God. Make peace with your neighbor,

make peace with yourself. Be in harmony God, be in

harmony with your neighbor, being harmony with yourself. He's saying,

be reconciled to God, be reconciled to other people, and

be reconciled to yourself. He said, if you got conflict

in your life, you have just opened the door to

Satanic attack.

He said.

If you don't have peace in your heart, if your

mind is not at peace and your heart is at peace,

then you're going to be wide open. You're a pushover

for Satan when you're not at peace. When you're not

at peace, Now where do I get this peace that

gives me my solid ground? Obviously, if I get up

in the morning and I'm at peace, I'm at peace.

With God.

I'm at peace with you, and I'm in peace with

the world. I've got a strong footing I can stand.

If I don't have peace relationally in any of those relationships,

I'm a pushover. How do I get that kind of peace?

Look at you might write this down. The third thing

you need is serenity. Serenity Serenity is living and speaking

the Gospel of peace. If I'm going to get dressed

for battle, I need integrity, living and doing the truth.

I'm going to need purity, and that is having my

motive is clear, and I'm going to need serenity, living

in peace and speaking peace to other people. I live

it and I speak it. Now, where do I get

that kind of peace? If you don't have serenity in

your life, you're a pushover for Satan. If you're anxious,

you're worried, you're irritable, then you're a pushover for Satan.

So you need the Gospel of peace in your life.

How do I get it? The Bible says this in

Psalms and says in Psalm one nineteen, great peace have

they who love your law? And what is the law

of God? It's the Bible, Great Peace to those who

love this book.

And nothing can make them stumble.

I love other translations that it says, great peace have

they who love your law, and nothing can offend them.

In other words, the more I love this book, the

less I'm offended by what you say. The more I

love God's word, the less I'm offended by what happens

to me. I'm not offended by all the things that

people try to be offensive to me. Why because I

love God's word more than I love myself or more

than I'm worried about what you.

Think of me. Now follow me on this.

Satan is going to attack your integrity with lies, and

Satan is going to attack your purity with lust. But

Satan is going to attack your serenity with worry. Every

time you worry, you are open. It's like leaving yourself vulnerable.

It's not wearing the shoes of peace. When you're worried,

you're not at peace. And Satan can you just push

you over because you're anxious, You're fearful, you're worried, and

so he's going to cause that lack of relational peace

is going to cause you to be anxious. Now, the

Bible tells us that We're to do two things with peace.

We are to live it and we are to speak it.

We are to live peacefully, and we are to speak

peacefully to everybody else. Look at these verses. Romans twelve

eighteen says this, as much as it is possible, as

far as it depends on you, live in peace with everyone.

God says, I want you to be a peacemaker, not

a trouble maker. I want you to build harmony, not conflict.

I don't want you to be critical. I want you

to be a peace builder and a bridge builder. And

he says, as much as possible, I love that part.

As far as it depends on you, some people, have

you learned it's impossible to live at peace with them.

May have been your mother, or your dad, or somebody,

or your boss. And you go, no matter what I do,

I just can't please her. No matter what I do,

he is unpleasable, no matter what I say. You know

what the Bible says, as far as it depends on you,

you take care of your part. There's some people you

just can't please. There's some people you just can't be

at peace with.

But he says, as.

Far as it depends on you, you are to live

in peace. That's reconciliation. And if you have unreconciled relationships, friend,

you are wide open for Satanic attack because you're not

wearing the shoes of peace. You don't have peace in

that area, in that unreconciled relationship. That's the one area

Satan can put that spear into your side.

The other thing he wants you to do. God says

you need to speak it. You need to speak peace.

Look at this verse Tewod Corinthians five says God was

in Christ making peace between the world and himself. That's

why we call our outreach the Peace Plan, because we're

to go make peace between the world and Christ. In Christ,

God did not hold the world guilty.

Of it's sin. That's good news.

In Christ, God didn't hold the world guilty of at sin,

and he gave us this message of peace. We share

the message of peace through the Peace Plan. So we

have been sent to speak for Christ. Now, notice it

says sin. When you're sent somewhere, that means you either

got to walk or run or do something.

You got to move. Can you understand now why peace are.

Shoes Because shoes you gotta wear shoes to walk. If

you're being sent somewhere, you need to wear shoes. And

he says, if you're going to share the message of peace,

you need to wear the shoes of peace because you're

being sent to speak for Christ. It is if God

is calling to you through us and we speak for Christ,

when we beg you to be at peace with God.

Now you can't do the peace plan without going. That's

why the Bible says, go into all the world. But

the problem with a lot of people is this. They

want to live in peace, but they don't want to

speak peace. A lot of people are scared to death

to talk to other people about.

Jesus, who is the Prince of peace.

And a lot of times you have friends and neighbors

who need to hear the good news of peace, and

you chicken out, you lose your nerve, you.

Take the shoes of peace off.

And because you take those shoes of peace off, you

want to live in peace without speaking peace. The Bible says,

everybody around you, you need to tell them about the

good news. The God's not mad at you. He's mad

about you. And God wants you in his life, and

God wants you in his family, and he died for

you so you can have peace with God. What you

need to do is to speak up and speak up and.

Say what you believe.

Now, Paul says, the fourth thing you need in the

spiritual battles what he calls the shield of faith. Look

at this verse verse sixteen. And at all times, circle

all times, just some of the time.

He said, you don't go to the grocery store.

He says without this, at all times, you carry the

shield of faith, for with it you will be able

to put out all the burning arrows by the evil one. Now,

he says, you need the shield of faith in order

to protect yourself from the burning arrows that Satan's gonna

gonna throw at you. Now, what is the shield of faith.

It is the fourth quality you need in life, and

it is certainty. Certainty is the shield of faith. And

certainty is trusting the promises of God when everything is

going wrong in my life. That's the shield of faith,

the certainty of I know what God has said and

He's going to help me through this. So I'm going

to trust God when all these arrows are coming at me.

I saw a bumper sticker many many years ago, and

it said God said it. I believe it. That settles it.

That's okay. But really the bumpersticker should say God said it.

That settles it, whether I believe it or not. Because

God's truth isn't based on whether you believe it or not.

It's still true even if you don't believe it, because

God cannot lie. God said it. That's settled it, whether

you believe it or not. What God said about sex

is true, whether you believe it or not. What God

said about life is true, whether you believe it or not.

What God said about money is true, whether you believe

it or not. And when you put your faith in

the shield of faith, you have the certainty that God's

promises are true, even when it appears that they are

not happening in your life at that moment. Now, the

Bible says, all all these burning arrows come at you.

I love the King James version of this, It says,

the fiery darts. What are the fiery darts that come

at you? Well, they're all mental. They're all mental. They

are things that Satan puts in your mind. Let me

give you what some of the fiery darts.

Are doubt and write that one down.

Doubt is a fiery d Did God really say, can

you really trust God? Isn't that just your interpretation? Well,

maybe that's for another time. Did God really mean that

when he said and he creates doubt?

That's a fiery dart.

Discouragement is a fiery dart, and Satan goes, You're never

going to get any better. Things are never going to change.

It's only going to get worse. Why do you even try?

That's a fiery dart. Discouragement, doubt, delay, Why is this

taking so long? I wanted it to happen by now,

but it hasn't happened. Delay is a fiery dart. Difficulty

is a fiery dart.

Why is this so hard?

Why is it so hard to make my marriage work?

Why is it so hard to get a job? Why difficulty?

Depression is a fiery dart. I just feel like giving up.

I feel like it's not worth it. I feel like

it's I can't even put any effort into it, delay, defeat,

all of these things. When those things happen in your life,

you need certainty, And when life is totally uncertain and

it's thrown up in the air, you need certainty more

than anything else. You need the shield of faith in

your life. And the shield of your faith will help

you handle those darts like the dart of doubt. Now,

what do you do with the dart of doubt? Here's

what you do. You doubt your doubts and believe your beliefs.

Whenever you used to a right believing your doubts and

doubting your beliefs. Satan has just cracked the door open

in your life and you're open for Satanic attack.

And you need that certainty.

And the reason why he says always carry the shield

of faith is because he's always shooting at you. He

wants to create doubt in your heart. Now, the Bible says,

without faith, it is impossible to please God. So you

have to have the shield of faith. You got to

carry it with you. I'm gonna trust God no matter

what my feelings say. I'm gonna trust God, no matter

what my eyes tell me. I'm gonna trust God, no

matter what I'm hearing. I'm gonna hold on to the

shield of faith. That is certainty.

You're listening to Pastor Rick's Daily Hope. We're so happy

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