Ephesians Part 10 - The Armor of God

Mark: How are we doing today? Doing good? Come on, it's been so good to worship today with you guys. Jesus is here. Amen. We're gonna open up the word. We're gonna be in Ephesians. Surprise, surprise. Chapter 6. And I am tasked with the assignment to finish the book today. So you guys gotta help me out. We'll cover the rest of Ephesians 6. I'm excited to share with you. I've been really ministered by the Lord in this in this chapter in the last few days, and I'm excited to share with you. So open with me, Ephesians 6. We're gonna start in verse 10. And by the way, Dana, thank you so much for sharing that word. Wasn't that so good? Can we just thank her? I felt like the Lord had just placed her here to show us, like, practically what it looks like to live this Ephesians six thing. We're gonna get in. So I was like, okay, amen. Let's just go home. She preached the message. But here we are. Okay. Are you there with me? If you're there, say amen. Okay, Ephesians 6. So we're gonna read through the whole thing, and then we're gonna come back and work through the different passages and portions. If you have your Bible, you can follow there. We also have it up here for you. All right. Here's what some of you are saying after ten weeks in Ephesians. Finally, be no I'm joking. It's been so good though. It's been a solid journey through the book, so so rich. So finally, be strong in the Lord and in the strength of his might. Put on the whole armor of God that you may be able to stand against the schemes of the devil. 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. Therefore, take up the whole armor of God that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, having done all to stand firm. Stand therefore, having fastened on the belt of truth, and 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. 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 the words for which I am ambassador in chains, that I may declare it boldly wait, the words may be given to me. In opening, sorry, my mouth boldly to proclaim the mystery of the gospel, for which I am an ambassador in chains, that I may declare boldly as I ought to speak, so that you also may know how I am and what I am doing. Ticicus, the beloved brother and faithful minister in the Lord, will tell you everything. I have sent him to you for this very purpose, that you may know how we are. And that he may encourage you and encourage your hearts. Peace be to the brothers and love with faith from God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Grace be with all who love our Lord Jesus Christ with love incorruptible. And we all say, Amen. Let's pray. Pray with me. Lord Jesus, as we've been singing and declaring this morning, you are our victory. You are the victorious one. Even as we talk about warfare, we become aware that ultimate victory comes from you, from your bloodshed on the cross, your resurrection, your ascension, elevated above every other name. As in 1 Corinthians, you say. Thanks be to God who gives us victory in Jesus Christ. So today we thank you. We thank you that you have done what we could never do ourselves. And we stand in your victory. We stand in your goodness. We stand firm in Christ. I pray that today you would open up the scriptures for us. You would. By your spirit speak to us, encourage us, give us hope, increase our faith, reveal yourself to us. For your glory, we pray today. Amen. Amen. All right, all right. I'm excited to jump in with you. We're gonna do just a quick little recap since it's our last portion of the book. We started this off, and Pastor Josh laid out a framework for us. ⁓ this brilliant author, really, back in the day, wrote a book called Sit, Walk, and Stand, Watchmen Knee. And He laid out this framework for the book of Ephesians, where chapters one through three, and then four and five, and then six are three portions of our walk in Christ, of our life in Christ. The first portion is that we are seated with Christ in heavenly places. We're only seated there because of Christ, and we're seated with Christ. That's who we are in the Lord. The second portion is our walk, which is how we are to walk now that we are seated with Him. Walk in love, walk in a manner worthy. Of your calling in Christ. Walk in unity, walk like Christ walked. And the third portion is to stand. And now we stand in Christ. And this is who we are in light of. Our seating, our position, our life, our behavior. Now, this is how we stand in the spiritual world to the forces and the pressures that come around us. This is how we get to stand. We stand in Christ. And here's what Washman he said about that order there. Sit, walk, and stand. The order matters. He said no Christian can hope to enter the warfare of the ages without learning first to rest in Christ and in what he has done. And then through the strength of the Holy Spirit within to follow him in a practical holy life here on earth. So the order matters. We've been doing a lot of sitting and walking, and now we're standing. This is where we'll be today. And as I've reflected on this passage, the context of the passage has really spoken to me a lot. So we're gonna start off from that place, asking ourselves the question: where is Paul at when he's writing these words? What's happening around him? What's the surrounding environment and climate? Where is he coming from when he's writing this to the Ephesian church? Well, we know that he is in prison. He's imprisoned in Rome. This is his first imprisonment. And out of the two imprisonments in Rome, and the first one, he was in house arrest. So he is standing. In this house now that he had to rent and pay for with his own money, but he was chained to a Roman guard 24 hours a day. So think about it: whether he's sleeping or awake, eating, walking around, there's a Roman guard that's walking around with him, and there's a chain that's linked to him that's linked to this guard 24 hours a day for two years. How do we know that? The book of Acts tells us that. If you go back, you read Acts 28, it's all it's all there that he was with this kind of imprisonment for two years and he had a guard all the time. Now, scholars and commentators say that those guards would have shifts of four hours each and they would rotate. So now you have the imperial guard of Caesar, all of the Roman highest soldiers around Paul, and they're rotating and they're sitting with Paul for four hours at a time. And our Paul has a captive audience. Quite literally. For four hours. So, ushers, bring the chains. We're gonna need four hours of your attention today. No, I'm just kidding. I'm just kidding. So he had a captive audience for four hours, and we see that Paul here is most likely talking to them about Christ. I mean, if you're sitting with Paul for four hours, what do you think he's gonna talk about? And when we we read the letter of Philippians, for example, we we start to see that Paul was preaching to them. And in Acts 28, it says that he was proclaiming the kingdom, teaching about Jesus, and many were coming, and he was doing that without hindrance in this prison. Listen to what ⁓ Paul says here in Philippians about this time in prison. And by the way, when he was in prison, he wrote four epistles in this imprisonment. He wrote Ephesians, Philippians, Colossians, and Philemon. So in Philippians, he's in the same place when he's saying these words. In chapter 1, verse 12, he says, Now I want you to know, brothers and sisters, what has happened to me, meaning being in prison, that what has happened to me has actually served to advance the gospel. So the church is concerned, they're worried, where's Paul? He's our leader, he's planted this church and he's saying, I want you all to know what has happened to me is to advance the gospel. As a result, it has become clear throughout the whole palace guard, that's the Praetorian, the the guards of Caesar. It has become clear throughout the whole guard. And to everyone else that I am in chains for Christ. In Philippians 4, he says this to the church as he's wrapping up the letter: Greet every saint in Christ Jesus. The brothers who are with me greet you. All the saints greet you, especially those of Caesar's household. The saints in Caesar's, he is planting an underground church over there. There are saints in his household now with Caesar who have heard the gospel, who are in chains with him, who are listening to the gospel, who are standing, they're greeting the other churches. Isn't that fascinating? And you can imagine, you know, as you read the book of Acts, for example, before this, we know the story. When Paul and Silas were put in prison, in jail, and they're singing and they're worshiping and they're praying at midnight, and this miraculous jailbreak happens, and an earthquake comes, and the doors swing wide, and everybody knows is amazed that these guys are worshiping and praying, and they get to get out of jail and the Jailer comes to Christ and now Poe is in prison again and you can imagine in his first few days there he's probably going to God and saying, Hey God, remember what you did in Philippi? Can you do that thing again? Can you do that thing again for me? Can you get me out of here? After a while, I got the impression that Paul kept coming to God. And we can imagine this dialogue. We don't know if it happened. Hey God, can you get me out of here? And God responded and said, hey, this time is a little different. This time, prison is not keeping you from your mission. Prison is your mission. So a shift happened inside of Paul that he started to see like, this is no longer just a prison. This is my mission field. And I think that's a word for a lot of us. We know that Paul is the kind of guy when you read Philippians that he believed that God could make a good lemonade out of any kind of lemon. You know what I mean? He was that kind of guy. If you read Philippians, actually, even though he's in chains naturally. He sees himself as the freest man on earth. Let's read Philippians four, actually, which is just a couple pages after Ephesians six. Here's what he says in Philippians 4 and verse 11. Not that I am speaking of being in need, for I have learned in whatever situation I am to be content. I know how to be brought low and I know how to abound in any and every circumstance. I have learned the secret of facing plenty and facing hunger, of abundance and need. I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me. This is the kind of thing that Paul is writing in prison. What is the secret of being content in every season? What is the secret of contentment in every season? The strength of Christ. The presence of Christ. His strengthening presence with you. If you can learn how to rely on his strength, not your own, that is the secret to contentment. So throughout the letter, he's talking about joy and joy and joy, but he's in prison. Now that is important so we understand the context of Ephesians 6. And where we're gonna start here. But I believe that is a word for us as we start this morning. For some of us. Some of us are asking God now to get us out of a place where he's wanting to get the gospel in there. God get me out of here. And it's like, I'm not trying to get you out of there right now. I want to get the gospel in there. Sometimes the victory and the breakthrough is not external in the circumstances, but it's inside of you. True victory in the spirit comes from the inside out. As Dana was sharing here. True victory over fear happens here first, not out here. Now, for some of us, maybe we are facing A situation in this season now where it where it seems like we've been restricted, where we are confined, where we are stuck in many ways. Maybe it's a relationship or a career situation, maybe it's a financial situation. And I just believe that the Lord wants to meet you right there and change things inside of you today. So then now you can ask him, Lord, what is your perspective about this? And maybe, just maybe, he's gonna let you see what heaven sees. And in the case of Paul, it was no longer a prison, it was a mission field. Is for anybody here this morning? Okay, let's dig into the verses now. Verse ten through thirteen. Here's how he starts. Finally, be strong in the Lord and in the strength of his might. Again, Can do all things through Christ who strengthens me. It is in his strength that we can be truly strong. I want you to imagine this with me. Paul now, for two years, is sitting with these guards, he's writing letters, and he's becoming friends with them. They start to realize this guy is not a threat to us. So they're sitting down with Paul, and maybe it's a hot day, and we're imagining here that this guard is sitting there after conversation for an hour or two. And all of a sudden he comes and he says, You know what, this helmet is very heavy. I'm gonna take this thing off. And he puts his helmet down. And then he goes and says, You know, this sword is heavy. I'm gonna put it down too. These shoes, they're kind of bothering me. So he kicks off his shoes. And now Paul is sitting there looking at this armor, sitting right in front of him, across from him. And he's thinking, you know what? The Roman Empire thinks they're strong because of this armor. They think they're really strong because they have a helmet, because they have a sword, because they have a shield, because they have sandals and a breastplate and they have a belt. Do you know what our strength is? It's not that strength. Our strength is his might. Our strength comes from him. Now we are also in a warfare. But our war is not like their war. We're not fighting against flesh and blood. We're not even fighting Caesar or Nero or any other Joe or Jane out there. We're fighting against powers of darkness and principalities. rulers in this present age. And so from that angle, he's writing this, he's saying, hey, here's where our strength really comes from. It comes from him. And now we put on the whole armor of God. And the armor of God is the strength of God, that you may be able to stand against the schemes of the devil. Now, this is not the first passage that we see the armor of God come up. We also see it in Isaiah, and then later on we see it in Thessalonians. And here's what Isaiah says about the armor of God. If you go with me to Isaiah 59, he's prophesying and he's saying, He put on righteousness as a breastplate and a helmet of salvation. Does that sound familiar? Helmet of salvation on his head. He put on garments of vengeance for clothing and wrapped himself in zeal as a cloak. You get to verse 20, he says, A redeemer will come to Zion. Now, who is this redeemer that's coming to Zion? It's Jesus. Now in Ephesians, later on in Thessalonians, he's telling us to put on an armor, but here in Isaiah, God himself puts on an armor and steps into the battle to fight for his people. Why is that important for us this morning? Because the armor of God is the armor of Jesus. When we put on the armor of God, we are putting on the victory of Jesus. So when we're taking on the victory of Jesus and dressing ourselves up, we're dressing ourselves in his victory. Therefore, we can stand against the schemes of the enemy. That word standing against means to hold your ground. So, if we're standing in his victory, we're not fighting. Take the ground, but we already have the ground because he wants the ground. Here's what Colossians two says. He says that on the cross he disarmed and defeated the powers of darkness and made a public spectacle, taking all their powers and disarming them. Therefore, this is how we show up to warfare. Is that good news to anybody here today? When we show up to any kind of pressure or fear or accusation, intimidation and lies, we're showing up with the victory of the cross, we're showing up in Christ standing because of him. And so he says, put on the whole armor of God and stand against. I think the first conclusion here as we talk about the armor is that. Christians need armor. If you're taking notes, you need to write that down. Christians need armor. I'm not talking just about pastors or staff people or people you listen to or watch or admire. Christians need armor. I'm talking about moms, I'm talking about parents, and I'm talking about teenagers, and I'm talking about teachers, and I'm talking about people in all kinds of spheres and work. We need armor. And you don't need armor. Just go for a walk in the park. You don't need armor just to go to a playground. You need armor for a battleground. If there is no enemy and if there is no conflict and if there is no resistance, we don't need armor. So he's assuming that that exists. And here's something that we all need to become. familiar with and realize that when we say yes to Jesus, right then and there he transfers us to the kingdom of darkness into the kingdom of the sun in his light. And right then and there, because we have aligned with his kingdom, we become a target to his enemy. Because we have aligned ourselves with Jesus, we become a target to his enemy. He's not happy about that decision. Here's what Charles Spurgeon said about that. He said When he comes to Satan, it is good news that he is my enemy. I would rather have him as an enemy than have him as a friend. Now, some people think about, you know, you read Revelation and it says that when Satan fell, and you know, when Jesus talks about him, it talks about him. He doesn't talk about a it, like he's a being, he's an angel. He fell and he brought down with him in rebellion a third of the angels that now work for darkness. And people say, ⁓ my goodness, there are a third of the angels out there working for darkness. And we gotta look at it from the other angle and say, They got one third, we got two. Plus God. So got one third, we got two thirds in God, so I'd rather be over here. And when we talk about spiritual warfare, you know, there are two common ditches that we can fall into. How many of you guys know that for one mile of road, there are two miles of ditches? There are two common ditches that we can fall into. The first one would be that everything is spiritual warfare. This belief that, you know, there's a demon behind everything, like I can't pay my credit card, that's a demon, you know. I missed my mortgage or my car. I hit another car in a wreck, or it's demon, you know. No, you just need to pay attention. Don't be on your phone, you know. So that's one belief. Everything is warfare. On the other side, the other ditch is nothing is warfare. We live as if the enemy is not prowling and roaring like a lion, trying to attack. We live as if he's not. The enemy of old, who is a father of lies and is trying to deceive and trying to intimidate and steal the joy and undermine the confidence and the faith and the hope in Christ and with his lies and his deception. Here's what C.S. Lewis said about this very topic in these two ditches in his famous book, The Screw Tape Letters, which is a classic, brilliant book. He said, There there are two equal and opposite errors. Into which our race can fall about the devils. One is to disbelieve in their existence, the other is to believe and to feel an excessive and unhealthy interest in them. I'm gonna read that again. There are two equal and opposite errors into which our race can fall about the devils. One is to disbelieve in their existence, and the other is to believe and to feel an excessive and unhealthy interest. In that. Hopefully Ephesians six today is gonna give us a biblical, Christ centered vision for what warfare is meant to be. And if alignment with Christ brings warfare, then not all warfare is a result of something we've done wrong. Sometimes warfare is because we're doing something right. Amen. So here he goes. We do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, this verse 12, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers of this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places. Now he's now describing the ranks of an army, and thinking he is surrounded by Roman army and the military center of an empire. And he's looking at these soldiers come and go, and he's seeing their horses, and he's seeing Their armors, and he's seeing their weapons, and he's saying, This is how darkness operates. And he breaks down and he says, But we're not fighting against flesh and blood, but against powers. That's important because this verse frees us to discern a spirit, to test the spirit, and not condemn the person. If I'm not fighting against Joe or Jane, I don't need to condemn them. I don't need to judge them. I don't need to hate them. They're not even my real enemy. My enemy. In the spirit. And so Paul is teaching them, hey, hey guys, this is what the real war is about. And and when you go into war, the first thing that you need to know when you're building strategy, as I hear, is that you need to know who is your enemy and what are their strategies and how do they operate. And so Pa is describing it, saying, here's our enemy. And in verse 13, he says, Therefore, take up the whole armor of God, that you may be able to withstand in the evil day. That means you're standing and you're not gonna be moved. That means you're gonna hold that ground. That means you're gonna stand in the victory and the pressures will come and you're gonna withstand when things don't go the way you hoped they would. And having done all to stand firm. We can only stand firm if we're standing in Christ. Everything else is shakable. But his kingdom alone is unshakable, transcends time. And will forever be firm ground. So we can only stand firm when we're standing in Christ. Stand, therefore, having fastened on the belt of truth. Now, what is this belt? We're gonna work through the different parts of the armor, and I want you to think about what this means in light of who Jesus is. Because when we're putting on the armor, we're dressing up with Christ. So I want you to think of that. What is this belt of truth? Back then they would have so much that would be on top of them with the breastplate, with a robe, with you know the shield, with ⁓ all all the armor that they were wearing, that they had a belt that would hold all the pieces together. And when they were going into battle, for example, they would pick up like the bottom part of their robe and they would tuck that into the belt so they could move and be more agile. You know, you see this passages in scripture where it says. Gird up your loins. And that's what that means. They would pick up the bottom part and they would tuck it into their belt. And so what he's saying is the truth of Christ is what holds this whole thing together. This is what makes you be able to move and fight and operate in this warfare. It is truth. Truth is your friend when you are in battle. And then he talks about the breastplate of righteousness. Now this one is a fascinating. Breastplate of righteousness would be something that would cover your chest and your abdomen. Go like from here to here. And it would be made out of metal, sometimes leather, and it had to be strong to protect your vital organs. So right here, it would cover your chest and your abdomen. And your chest at the time, different than nowadays, they would believe that the thoughts of a man or woman came ultimately from their heart. You know, we read in scripture where it says, As a man thinketh in his heart, so is he. To think in your heart, like the ultimate source of thoughts was the heart. And so you have a breastplate of righteousness covering your chest, covering your vitals, and then covering your abdomen. And right here, your your guts is what they believed was the source of all the emotions and the feelings. So in our armor, we're putting on a breastplate of righteousness that is covering our thought life and our emotional life. And those tend to be the two most common targets of the enemy. Chest and the guts, but now in Christ, who is righteous, we are covered against the attacks of the enemy, against our thoughts and against our emotions, because of his righteousness. Hallelujah. The Bible says that he who knew no sin became sinned, so that in him we would be the righteousness of Christ. The term the Bible uses is imputed righteousness. We are before God. Just as right as Jesus because of what he did on the cross. So everything that's right about the Son becomes right about us when we are in him. And then now when the enemy comes and tries to hit at our thoughts and tries to hit at our emotions, we are standing in his righteousness and we say, No, no, no, no, no. He has made me clean, white as snow, he has forgiven me. There's therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. If anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away, behold, the new has come. ⁓ All of that is covered by his righteousness. Hallelujah. And as shoes for your feet, put on the readiness given by the gospel of peace. Now, these were sandals that they would wear to battle. Some of these sandals would have nails under them. And so when they were fighting, they would not move when they were pushed against. They would be able to stand firm. And what he's saying here is that the readiness of the gospel causes us to be able to stand firm and stand ready. There's if there's something we need to run to, we're ready to go. And if somebody's pushing against us, we're firm on the ground. That's the gospel. To be ready in season and out of season to preach the gospel. You know, that word out of season literally means inconvenient. To be ready to preach when it's convenient and when it's inconvenient. Do you know that is actually our weapon of warfare? Preaching of the gospel, the standing on the gospel, knowing the gospel, walking on the gospel, that is warfare. Gospel of peace. In all circumstances, take up the shield of faith. Can you say shield of faith? This one is awesome. Shield of faith. How does the Bible describe faith in action? In Hebrews 11, it says that faith is the assurance of things hoped for and the evidence of things not seen. Something that I've come to realize recently, and that I think it's so crucial for us to remember. If faith is the assurance of things hoped for, then faith and hope walk hand in hand. Stay with me here. So if there's an attack against your hope, that's an attack against your faith. Because hope sees it and faith grabs a hold of it. And if you don't have hope, It's harder faith to attach yourself to it. And so to a lot of us Hop. When is deferred can cause us to become disappointed, as the Bible says, hope deferred makes the heart sick. A lot of times we're asking God, give me faith, give me faith, give me faith. And what he's wanting to do is restore your hope. Because if you don't have hope, your faith can't operate. So some of us, it's like I don't have faith. Everybody has a measure of faith. But the problem sometimes is that we don't realize that we lost our hope. And so the enemy knows that and he comes against your hope. And when I'm talking about hope here, just to be clear, I'm not talking about wishful thinking or just ⁓ optimism. Although, you know, there's a place for that. I'm talking about hope in the character and in the promises of Christ. I know who he is, I know what he said, I'm gonna believe and I'm gonna expect that. And and so a lot of times we get disappointed in a relationship as we go about life, and if we've been alive for more than a couple years, we're gonna run into a disappointment. Right? It's a part of life. What do we do in those times? We need to bring that to Jesus. We need to let him restore our hope so that our faith can operate again. We need to bring that pain to him. And so he's saying here, this is the shield of faith. It's what holds you. And you gotta have that hope. And you gotta have that faith. Because that's your assurance of things that are to come. That's your assurance of what's ahead and the things you're not seeing, even in the moment of battle, you can hope. Like Abraham, who hoped against all hope. There's a reason why he was the father of the faith. The Bible says he hoped against all hope. So to have big faith, you gotta have big hope. Can you say that with me? Big faith? Big hope. There's not a thought that comes from God that is void of hope. If there's a thought in your mind that is void of hope, it's not from God. Hello yeah. Then he goes on to talk about the helmet of salvation. Verse seventeen, take the helmet of salvation. You know that salvation is meant to transform your mind. A lot of us think of salvation as something that is done to our spirit and that secures a destiny and a future, and that's true. But salvation is also meant to permeate your mind and transform your mind. In 2 Timothy chapter 1, verse 7, Paul tells Timothy, he says, God has not given us the spirit of fear, but of love, power, and a sound mind. Now that's his spirit. You know what the word for sound mind is there? It's the word sophonia in Greek. And that word sophronia is formed by three different words. The word sozo, which is the word for salvation all throughout the New Testament, meaning you're healed, you're delivered, you're saved, sozo. The word freno, which is your mindset, the way you think, your thought life, and ism, system. Sophronia. So what he's saying is that God, through his spirit, has given you a new operating system in your mind because of salvation. So that when you think about things, you're thinking of them in light of salvation. And that is a helmet for you that will protect you so that you can discern the lies, so that you can hope for what's to come. And you know what? This is important to state as well. Salvation, it includes that moment where you make a decision. And we can say, in that moment, there's a salvific grace. But we have been saved, we are being saved, and we will be saved. Here's what I mean by that. When we say yes to Jesus, we are saved that we receive his justification, we become right before God. He forgives our sins. In the present, as we are being saved and working out our salvation, that's sanctification. He's making us like Christ. And in the future, when he comes and brings us to himself and glorifies even our physical bodies, then that will be our glorification. Stay with me. In justification, he deals with the penalty of sin. You no longer have to pay for your sin because Jesus has paid for it. In sanctification, he's dealing with the influence of sin. He's making you to be just like himself. In glorification, he's gonna deal with the presence of sin. Sin won't even be in the picture anymore. Even in our bodies that are now perishable will be imperishable. And so the helmet of salvation is like. When you're going through a hard moment, you're like, you know what? I have been saved. He's saving me and I will be saved. I have hope. This protects my mind. And now I can think in light of the cross, in light of his victory, in light of his salvation. So you have a helmet. When those thoughts come, when those darts come, when those lies come, you have a helmet. And the sword of the spirit, which is the word of God. Now, this word for sword here is the word Makirah in Greek. It's the same word that we see in Hebrews 4, where it says that the Word of God is living and active, sharper than any two edged, two-edged sword, so that he can cut through bone and marrow, thoughts, emotions, so and spirit. This word Makira is not the sword that is like the long sword, it's actually a shorter sword that was used for. Close combat. So it looks like a dagger. And here We see the sword of the spirit being this short weapon that you can use for close combat. And by the way, we see Jesus using that sword when he was in combat in the desert. How did he fight the enemy in the wilderness? Through the word with the sword. How important is it for us when we are in warfare that we know the word, that we have the word in us, that we memorize the word, that we speak the word, that we tell ourselves the word, that we tell the enemy the word? That's our weapon. And so Jesus in the desert, you know, three times it is written, it is written, it is written. He didn't sit around. That's the readiness that we were talking about. That's the word that is in you that's ready for combat. That's the sword. We gotta have that. But this sword was not only used to attack the enemy, but it was also used to do surgery in yourself. In case one of the darts or one of the arrows flew over the shield and got to our hearts or it got to our side or it got to our abdomen, that sword now would be used to do surgery and pluck out the arrow and the dart. And that's the word of God for us. Where you can go to your own self and minister to yourself with the word. You can meditate in it day and night. You can tell yourself the truth. You can use your mouth to do surgery on yourself. When it's aligned with Amen. That's Makira. Then it says, praying at all times in the spirit. Come on. And this year is like make prayer a habit. Yes, pray in the spirit. But also make it a habit. Whether it's loud prayer, quiet prayer, long prayer, short prayer, prayer when you're crying, prayer when you're laughing, prayer when you're going, prayer when you're going to bed, prayer when you're getting up, when you're going. Prayer. Teach yourself to make prayer a habit. When you're driving your kids to school, you're praying. When you get worried about something at work, you pray. When you think about a person, you pray for that person. When you think about a financial problem, you're like, Lord, do you know the way? What do I do about this? What's wisdom in this? Prayer, prayer, prayer at all times is warfare in Christ. And then He says, Keep alert with all perseverance. Can you say perseverance? What a virtue. Friends, we need that virtue. In this day and age where everything comes quick and fast. With our microwaves and our fast foods and and our 30-second videos and our phones just being like it if our phone takes 30 seconds, we're like, why is this thing so slow? Right? And we like turn the Wi-Fi off and turn it back on, and we like plug things in, plug them, and we're like, what is going on? We need perseverance. We need to know how to endure patiently when things are hard, to have hope when it's hard. Even if we're in prison, we get God's perspective and we're like, this is not just the prison, this is a mission for you. Perseverance. Hardship comes, and you're standing, you're standing, you're standing, standing over time in the strength of Christ. Heard Heidi Baker say this once. She said, if ultimate victory is in Christ, all we gotta do is not quit. If we don't quit, we win. That's why she said, if we don't quit, we win. Perseverance. We're almost there. Verses nineteen and twenty. Says also for me that words may be given to me and 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. It seems like Paul is relating warfare with boldness. That's one symptom of warfare. Oftentimes will cause you to not be bold, or will try to to intimidate you, to undermine you, to take your confidence in Christ, to cause you to be timid and shy about the faith. And Paul is saying, pray for me, because I ought to be bold. I gotta declare with boldness. So he's saying Pray for me. And you see, imagine imagine you're going through your prayer list, you're in the ancient church, and up there it's like, pray for Paul. The Apostle Paul. Who wrote most of the New Testament is asking for prayer during hardship. Here's another important lesson. We stand stronger in warfare when we stand together. We need each other. Find a trusted believer, share with them so we can stand together in the battle when the hard time comes, when the challenges come. Boldly standing together. Can you stand with me by three minutes, let's stand together. Here's verses twenty one. 24 That you also may know how I am and what I am doing. Tychicus, the beloved brother and faithful minister in the Lord, will tell you everything. Paul's not even trying to talk about himself very much. It's like I'm sending you a guy, he'll tell you what's going on. I have sent him to you for this very purpose, that you may know how we are, and that he may encourage your hearts. Peace be to the brothers and love with faith from God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. And he finishes the letter as he starts. Grace. He opened up the letter saying, Grace be to you all. And he finishes saying, Grace be with all who love our Lord Jesus Christ with love incorruptible. Now those two final words right there. All of this sitting, standing, walking, is unto something. It is unto loving Christ with a love incorruptible. And we can only sit if we sit with Christ. We can only walk when we walk with Christ and stand when we stand in Christ. He is the center, he is the reason. He is the go. He is worthy of it. So that we are seated with Christ in heavenly places. We walk in a manner worthy of Christ and we stand firm in Christ. He is the reason of the whole letter. I want to pray for you before we go. You could close your eyes just as we honor this moment. Maybe you're here today and you sense just this conflict between light and darkness. You you just know that you need divine strength, you need armor and You need God. Let me tell you, ultimate victory over darkness only comes through Jesus. So I want to pray for you today. I pray, Lord, for boldness to fill our church and I pray that we'd be able to stand firm. And I want to pray now for those of you today who are in that place, knowing you need Christ, but maybe you're yet to make a public decision. Maybe you're here today and you're like, maybe for the first time or you're returning to him and you're like, I don't want to leave this place without knowing that I belong to Christ, that I can stand in Christ, that I have peace with God. And if you're here today, whether it's the first time or you're coming back with nobody moving now, I want to pray for you. If you're in that place, can you just boldly lift up your hand? You just need to make a decision for Christ today. I see you, brother. I see you over there. Then anybody today that's just like, I just know I need Christ. I want to open up to Him. Hallelujah. If this is your first time, if you're coming back to Jesus today, I want you to tell a friend before you leave. I want you to stay in community. But right now, I just want to bless those of you who lifted your hands. I pray for grace. I pray for the strength of Christ. I pray for the light of Jesus and this whole armor to come upon you today is in Christ. Can we all say amen? Can we celebrate Jesus together? Hallelujah. Thank you, Lord. Leslie, as we close the letter, as we close the letter, I want to read this last verse over you to bless you as you go. Grace be with all who love our Lord Jesus Christ with love incorruptible. God bless you. Have an amazing Sunday. We'll see you soon.

2 Timothy 1:7