Understanding God's Armor

My name is James Buntrock.

I'm an associate pastor here at Glorious Way Church and it is my privilege and honor to get to bring to you a midweek fill-up on God's Word.

And so, if you're watching at home, I encourage you to have your Bible handy, because we're going to do a little bit of a Bible study tonight and that's going to require you to open it up and look in the Scriptures and understand what's being read.

You'll probably have some homework before the night's over because I'm not going to read all of it for you, but we're going to dive right in Tonight.

The message is titled Understanding the Armor of God, and this is based out of Ephesians, chapter 6, beginning in verse 10.

Ephesians 6 · chapter mention

And so we're going to read some Scriptures out of Ephesians tonight.

We'll start here in Ephesians 6.

It says in verse 10, finally, my beloved brethren, be strong in the Lord and in the power of his might, put on the whole armor of God.

And I'm going to pause right there, because anytime you've got Scripture that starts out with therefore, or finally, you know that there's other things that precede that Scripture that we've got to pay close attention to.

So this one starts out in verse 10, finally, brethren.

So it's given instructions.

Last instructions, that means there were other instructions that preceded it, and so I want to go through some of those and set up the whole armor of God so we can understand what this stuff is and what it does and how do we use it.

And so to understand this, let's go back to Ephesians, chapter 1.

Ephesians 1 · chapter mention

And I'm not going to read all of this, but we're going to look at Ephesians chapter 1, chapter 2, chapter 3, chapter 4, chapter 5, and chapter 6.

Ephesians 1 · chapter mention

So we're looking at all of Ephesians tonight, but we're going to do it real quick and we're going to kind of hit some high points.

And so in Ephesians, chapter 1, I want you to know that Ephesians is broken up into different segments or different topics.

Ephesians 1 · chapter mention

This first one, the first three chapters of Ephesians, really talks about who you are in Christ, or your position in Christ, or your authority in Christ, what you have there, specifically in Ephesians, chapter 1.

Ephesians 1 · chapter mention

Well, we'll get to that.

But Ephesians 1 through 3 is position in Christ.

4 and 5 is how to live.

And then we get to the finally, brethren put on the whole armor of God.

So we're going to start in Ephesians, chapter 1, in verse 3.

Ephesians 1 · chapter mention

It says this.

Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in heavenly places in Christ, just as he chose us in Him before the foundation of the world.

That we should be holy and without blame before Him in love.

Having predestined us to adoption as sons by Jesus Christ Himself, according to the good pleasure of His will, to praise, to the praise of the glory of His grace, by which he made us accepted in the beloved.

In Him we have redemption through His blood and forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of His grace, which he made to abound toward us in all wisdom and prudence.

Having made known to us the mystery of His will, according to His good pleasure, which he purposed in Himself that in the dispensation of the fullness of time he might gather together one all things in Christ, both which are in heaven and which are in earth in Him.

In Him we also have obtained an inheritance being predestined according to the purpose of Him who works all things, in the purpose of Him, who works all things according to His counsel, of His will.

That who first trusted in Christ should be the praise of His glory.

In Him you also trusted after you've heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, in whom you've also, having believed, you were sealed by the Holy Spirit of promise, who is the guarantee of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession to the praise of His glory.

So all the way through there, that's a lot of words, there are a lot of things that we have, but that is a description of every spiritual blessing in heavenly places in Christ, and so we're going to take through those a little bit.

Verse 3 was blessed, as you have every spiritual blessing.

Verse 4, he chose us to be holy and blameless.

Verse 5, you've been adopted.

Verse 6, you've been accepted, you're redeemed through His blood according to the riches of His grace.

In verse 7, and you have the forgiveness of sins, you have wisdom and understanding, and you have mysteries revealed of His will, and so there are mysteries out there that the world doesn't get to know, but they're being revealed to us, and that's in verse 9.

We've been given an inheritance, in verse 11.

We've been sealed by the Holy Spirit, in verse 13.

And that Holy Spirit is the guarantee of our inheritance until the redemption is fulfilled.

The Holy Spirit is the title deed.

You know we talk about faith being the title deed of things that belong to us, and we have these things by faith, but the Holy Spirit is the title deed of God's possession of us.

In other words, that's the proof to Him that we are possessed by Him.

The Holy Spirit is a title deed for God that we have been adopted and we are being possessed forever.

Ephesians 1 through 20, I'm sorry, ephesians chapter 1, verse 20, all the way to chapter 2, verse 6, it talks about us and our place in Christ being seated together with Him in heavenly places, far above Ephesians, chapter two, beginning in verse 14 and all the way down to verse 21.

Ephesians 1:20

So your homework tonight is to go read Ephesians all of it.

It's just six chapters, it's not long, it's not hard, but it's gonna come together for you so that we can understand the finally part of putting on the whole armor of God.

So Ephesians, chapter two, verse 14 through 21,.

It talks about Christ being our peace.

It talks about us being built together, fitly joined together, and Christ is the cornerstone of this body.

We're a building being constructed together.

In Ephesians chapter three, verse one through 13,.

It talks about the mystery.

It was mentioned here in the first chapter, but in chapter three, verse nine, it says and to make all see what is the fellowship of the mystery, we get to know some mysteries.

What is the fellowship of the mystery which, from the beginning of the ages, has been hidden in God, who created all things through Jesus Christ, to the intent that now the manifold wisdom of God might be made known by the church to the principalities and the powers and heavenly places?

Until this point believers didn't know about the principalities and the powers and we're gonna talk about that in relation to the whole armor of God.

But those were mysteries that had to be revealed to the church first, and so that's in chapter three, in chapter four and five together.

This basically talks about how to live.

So chapter four, the first part, talks about walking in unity.

Then it gets to the spiritual gifts and how he gave some to be apostles and prophets and evangelists and pastors and teachers for the equipping of the saints, for the work of the ministry and the edifying of the body of Christ, until we come to the unity of faith and the knowledge of the Son of God, to a perfect man, to the measure of the stature, the fullness of Christ.

So we're being grown in these things.

It talks about the new man and the Holy Spirit.

Chapter five talks about walking in love and that we're supposed to be imitators of God as dear children.

We walk in love, as Christ also loved us and gave himself for us.

In verse 15, chapter five, verse 15, going down for the next about six or seven verses.

There it talks about walking in wisdom.

See, then, that you walk circumspectly, not as fools, but wise, redeeming the time because the days are evil, the days are evil and you can see that out there.

So we have to have a wisdom to defend against that evil out there.

And then it says, therefore, be not wise in your own eyes, but understand what the will of the Lord is, and do not be drunk with wine whereas excess, but be filled with the Holy Spirit, speaking to one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody in your hearts to the Lord and giving thanks always for all things to God, the Father, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, and submitting to one another in the fear of our Lord.

Verse 22, going down several verses.

It talks about marriage, talks about wives and how the wives relate to the husbands and the husbands to the wives and how that relationship compares to the relationship that Jesus has with the church.

Chapter six in the first part, this is a message to children and parents.

This is how to be good kids and how to be good parents.

Those first four verses, and then you get into verse five and it talks about bond servants and masters.

And I know that there was a servitude in that time.

You had slaves, you had indentured servants, but really this has more to do with the economy of the day and how many people, how many of you out there watching, have a boss and you have to relate to your boss a particular way.

And so whatever you do out there, we've got to do all things as unto the Lord, it says.

And then finally, so you've got life instructions all the way through there, and then finally we get back to the whole armor of God, where it says and finally and finally put on the whole armor of God.

And so I'm gonna read Ephesians 6.

We're gonna read several verses there and so that the audio team, the video team, can put up the proper verses, I'm gonna start with the new King James in verse 10, and then promptly flip over to the amplified.

And so, in verse 10, finally, my brethren be strong in the Lord and in the power of his might.

In verse 11, put on the whole armor of God, and the amplified it says the armor of a heavily armed soldier which God supplies.

So your armor doesn't come from anywhere else but God supplies it, and so if you're serving God, if you're in his kingdom, then this is just equipment that is available for you.

It comes with the territory of serving God, the armor of a heavily armed soldier, which God supplies, that you may be able to withstand against the wiles or the military strategies of the devil.

That you may be able to withstand against the military strategies of the devil.

A lot of Christians don't recognize that we're in a war and that's part of the problem.

I just think they're floating through life, living life, and the devils at war with them.

There are military strategies at work against believers every day, and so you've got to understand that, and they come from the devil.

Verse 12, we are not wrestling against flesh and blood or contending with physical opponents, but against the despotisms, against the powers, against the master spirits who are the world rulers of this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of wickedness in heavenly or places or the supernatural sphere.

Therefore, we take up the whole armor of God.

So there's a finally, and there's a therefore.

So we have this armor as described.

Therefore, we take up the whole armor of God that you may be able to withstand in the evil day.

And having done all to stand, we continue standing.

And here's how we stand Stand, therefore, having girded your waist with truth, having put on the breastplate of righteousness, having your feet shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace, above all, taking the shield of faith with which you'll be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked one, and take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the spirit, which is the word of God, praying always with all prayer and supplication and the spirit being watchful to this end, with all perseverance and supplication for all saints.

And then Paul says and for me?

So you can pray for me.

We're supposed to be praying, but he said pray for me, that utterance may be given to me, that I may open my mouth boldly to make known the mystery of the gospel for which I'm an ambassador in chains, that I may speak boldly, as I ought to speak.

And so we're talking tonight about understanding God's armor.

So we talked about military strategies.

The attacks of the devil are twofold.

They're either an outward attack, something from the outside coming against us, or it's an attack from the inside.

Somehow he got on the inside and managed to attack us from within, and so if you're gonna defend against those attacks, you gotta understand where they come from.

So let's go down each of the pieces of this armor and understand some things about this tonight.

So, first of all, what was the first piece of armor?

It was the belt of truth.

And so the devil comes to accuse the brethren.

We know that he can't accuse anything to God about us because he's been cast down.

But what he can do is he can accuse us to us.

He can accuse us and he does.

And so what does he accuse you with?

He accuses you with guilt and with shame.

He tells you that you're inadequate and incapable of doing something.

You can't do it.

Something's too big, too strong, too powerful, you're too weak, out of position, whatever.

So he accuses you of all kinds of things and feeds your brain with those.

So that's kind of an internal fight.

Right there, the devil attacks your mind and your way of thinking.

You have to answer that with what Jesus said about you.

You have to know your identity, and so you can go back to Ephesians, chapters one through five and parts of six, and understand what Jesus said about you.

You can understand that you're seated together with him in heavenly places, that you're part of the body of Christ, that you're blessed with every spiritual blessing and you can go through those.

And so, understanding your armor, you have to understand what you have, or where that comes from, or what that protects or defends against, and so the devil's gonna come to accuse you.

To you, he's gonna take the truth and he's gonna twist it.

But you've got the belt of truth, and so that means you get to answer with the truth, you get to respond, and that's exactly what Jesus did.

He responded with the truth.

So know your identity and know your authority.

That is what you're authorized to do and that represents the belt of truth.

Next we'll go to the breastplate of righteousness.

You gotta know that your righteousness doesn't come from you.

The devil's gonna tell you that you're not righteous.

You know, when you were first, when you were born again, when you received salvation, the Holy Spirit witnessed with your spirit on the inside.

So you are that spirit and the Holy Spirit witnessed with your spirit and you recognized that you were born again.

You had life where you didn't have life before, and it didn't come from anything that you did.

You're not saved by works, you're saved by grace, and it's a gift of God.

And so you're not saved by your own goodness Thank God for that, because our goodness wouldn't amount to it but we are saved by his goodness.

His goodness is infinite, and so we're saved by what he did.

We're saved by his goodness.

In Romans, chapter five, verse 17, it says for if, by one man's offense, death reigned through the one.

So what is that talking about?

That's talking about Adam and the original offense.

Adam was on this earth, he had dominion.

God gave him dominion over everything that was on the earth, and Adam lost that when he violated God's command, when he broke the commandment, and so that was one man's offense, for if, by one man's offense, death reigned through the one.

Much more, those who receive abundance of grace and the gift of righteousness will reign in life through the one Jesus Christ.

So we have a gift of righteousness.

It was the righteousness that belonged to Jesus and he gave it to us, and so how much more do we get to reign in life with that righteousness we ought to reign.

Adam in the beginning reigned over the earth, he had dominion over the earth and then he lost that.

But Jesus got it back for us.

And so our role is to reign once again in this life with the righteousness of Jesus.

It's not our own, it's His, but that's our breastplate of righteousness that covers our core.

He chose us, so in Ephesians, chapter one we talked about some of these things.

He chose us to be holy and blameless.

We're adopted, we're accepted, we're redeemed through His blood and it's according to the riches of His grace.

And so all of those phrases that you read in Ephesians, chapter one are the foundation of the breastplate of righteousness.

Right there we have righteousness.

It's not ours, it comes from Him.

And so put on that breastplate of righteousness.

Next it says your feet are shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace.

What does that mean?

It's like putting on shoes.

Your feet are protected, your feet have shoes, and that's a preparation of sharing the gospel of peace.

Well, why do you gotta put on shoes to share the gospel of peace?

Remember the Great Commission.

Jesus said all authority in heaven and earth is given to me.

And then he said go, and so you're not gonna get too far without a good pair of shoes.

And Jesus said go.

Our Great Commission, our commission, is to go and not just a little bit out there.

He said go into all the world.

And so why do we go into all the world as a soldier with this army We've got this with this armor on.

Why do we need to go?

Why can't we just reign in this life where we are?

Because there was territory that was lost and we've gotta go claim that territory back.

We're taking things that the devil stole and we're taking them back, and so we need to go those places and we need to be prepared to go those places.

So there's a preparation that goes with sharing the gospel, and that is you gotta know the gospel, you gotta be prepared to share the gospel.

1 Peter, chapter three, verse 15, that says but sanctify the Lord, god, in your hearts and always be ready to give an answer.

Always be ready to give an answer to who?

To everyone who asks you a reason for the hope that is in you, with meekness and fear.

So on our side, meekness is not shyness, meekness is not weakness.

Meekness is really a military term that carries with it the idea that, at a small voice or a small commander, at the suggestion of something you immediately obey without question, you're fully submitted to your Lord.

That's what meekness is being fully submitted, very responsive, immediately responsive.

And so we've gotta have an answer for the hope that's on the inside of us, for anyone that has a question at any point in time, and we do it with an immediate response, a quick response, and with fear fear of God, not of the person that we're talking to.

We're carrying the good news and we've gotta go places to do that.

So your feet are shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace.

You're fully prepared to go and respond at a moment with the hope that lies within, and you have an explanation for that.

We're not here to defend God's word, we're here to proclaim it.

But we have the answer and we need to be prepared to give it.

So next is the shield of faith.

You know that Jesus is the author and finisher of our faith, and without faith it's impossible to please God.

We know that faith is the opposite of fear, and fear is gonna tell you something that's opposite to God's word.

So if God says something, if he says it in his word.

We ought to believe it and we ought to respond to it and act like it's true.

But sometimes fear creeps in and fears the opposite of faith.

So fear says that you're believing the opposite of what God said would happen.

You're believing the opposite of that, and so you've got to have faith in God's word.

You've got to believe what God's word says.

Faith resists all attacks.

You can resist everything with faith, and so that's the shield.

You've got armor that protects various parts of your body, but at any point in time you don't wanna let an attack come all the way to your armor.

You wanna catch that in your shield, and so you've got a shield of faith, and so faith resists every attack of the devil.

It keeps him from getting on the inside to attack you from the inside.

It keeps him from attacking the outside, those fiery darts of the wicked one.

He's always firing stuff at you.

And so the answer to that is hold up your shield of faith or simply believe what God said and act like it's true.

There's an action that goes with faith.

So it said that we should take up the shield of faith and we should put on the helmet of salvation, the helmet of salvation.

So that's your brain bucket.

The helmet goes on your head.

Your spirit is a reborn spirit that lives in this body, and your flesh is not reborn.

You still have the same old body that's prone to the same old things.

And so your flesh and your spirit are constantly at war with each other.

There are lusts of the flesh.

The Bible tells us not to fulfill the lusts of the flesh and so your spirit and your flesh are at war.

And the deciding factor comes down to your mind, your will.

What do you will about this situation?

And we know that God is a spirit and the Holy Spirit is in communication with our heavenly Father and the Holy Spirit's in communication with our spirit.

The Holy Spirit is not gonna talk to our brain.

The God is not gonna talk to our brain or our will.

This is where the devil comes in and he tries to get in on the inside and he tries to throw thoughts into your brain and get you to think certain things and think certain ways.

And if you own those thoughts, if you take ownership of those and think that you thought that and then you begin to act on that or speak that, then that thought becomes a stronghold there.

It starts as an imagination and then it grows into a stronghold, and so we don't wanna let it get that far.

We wanna recognize where those thoughts come from and that they're not your thoughts.

They're thoughts that came from the outside and snuck their way in.

And so just check your thoughts.

They gotta line up with God's word.

But your helmet of salvation is there to protect your way of thinking.

What is that way of thinking?

Well, they're back to some verses in Ephesians, chapter one.

We kinda hit some highlights there.

What is that way of thinking?

Well, I'm redeemed by the blood.

According to the riches of his grace, I've been forgiven.

These thoughts coming from the devil are gonna tell you things that you're guilty, that you're not worth very much.

He'll try to hit you with depression.

But you gotta recognize that you've been redeemed, you've been given through his blood.

You have the riches of his grace.

You've been blessed with all spiritual blessings.

You have forgiveness of sins.

On top of that, you get to know some stuff, some secrets.

You've been given wisdom and understanding and the revealed mystery of his will.

You get to know his will for your life in little increments and be led by the Holy Spirit.

We have wisdom from God that trumps every earthly understanding.

We can attempt to understand things with our brain, and I'm guilty of that a lot because I have a logical brain and I like to think things through and I like to plan things.

As an engineer, that's my background and I like to overplan things and over consider things, think about them too long.

But God wants somebody who's gonna be quick, to obey and not contemplate what he just told you to do.

If he's Lord, you obey, and he doesn't give you the whole plan out in front, but he leads you step by step.

His word is a lamp into my feet and a light to my path, so I can know immediately what's in front of me, but I don't get to know what's way out in front of me.

We get there by obeying one step at a time, and so we have wisdom from God and he gives us understanding, and the Holy Spirit is there to show us things to come, and so all that is protected by the helmet of salvation.

You know what came with salvation and you get all of these things and more.

And then it talks about the sword of the spirit.

Now, the sword of the spirit is the word of God and that's your offensive weapon.

So, as a soldier, I've got this armor on and I'm not just here to play defense and defend from all the attacks of the devil and hold my shield up and cower and hope that nothing comes through all of this stuff that I'm wearing.

No, we're here to go places and take ground that had been lost, and so we're there to.

We're prepared, we've got our feet shod with the preparation.

We're prepared to go share the gospel of peace, and along the way we're gonna encounter an enemy that wants to kill us, that hates us, and our offensive weapon is there to cut and to slice and to dice and to do harm to the enemy, and that is the word of God.

And so in Hebrews, chapter 12, it says this about the word of God.

Hebrews 12 · chapter mention

I'm sorry, hebrews, chapter four, verse 12,.

Chapter four, verse 12, it says for the word of God is living and powerful and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the division of the soul and the spirit and of the joints and marrow, and as a discerner of the thoughts and the intensive heart of the heart.

And so you know, I know that some Christians out there equate the soul and the spirit.

But you are a spirit and you have a soul, and that's your mind, your will, your intellect, and those two are oftentimes closely joined.

And sometimes your soul, your soulless way of thinking, overrules your spirit, because you haven't been building your spirit up and your most holy faith.

You need to build your spirit and be strong and be a spirit dominated somebody.

But that word of God will separate the two and so you can recognize what is a thought and who am I.

I'm a spirit and this is my soul.

This came from my brain, my way of thinking, and that's a carnal thing, and so the word of God will separate that out and you can recognize what's what.

When Jesus went out into the wilderness, when he was beginning his ministry, the devil tempted him.

And the devil didn't just give him a blatant temptation, it was a little bit twisted, it was a little bit deceptive, because he would always use a piece of God's word and then misapply it and provide that temptation for Jesus.

Yes, jesus was tempted, but Jesus sliced back, he cut back, he cut the devil, and he did that when he answered with the word, and so we could come up with things in our brain to answer with, and that's not going to be effective.

You'll end up in an argument with the devil.

Don't argue with the devil.

Answer the devil when people, when you're in public places, when you're on your job, you've got family, you've got friends, you've got whoever and they're presenting lies to you.

Our job is to answer with the word and not to defend the word, not to make excuses for the word and certainly never apologize for the word.

But our job is to speak the word or speak the truth in love.

That's the sword of the spirit and that's what's going to cut on their side.

It'll cut their soulish way of thinking.

Apart from the spirit, on the spirit in the soul, the word of God is going to separate things in their life.

It's going to separate truth from lie, right from wrong, good from evil.

It's going to divide on their side and they're going to be confronted with a question.

They're going to have to answer that question.

They're going to have to choose a side.

God said choose you this day, whom you will serve.

And so that's what the sword of the spirit does.

It cuts, it divides, it separates.

It brings people to a point of decision where they have to choose this way or that way.

But that's an offensive weapon and that's our primary weapon.

In Romans 10, verses eight and ten, eight through ten, it says.

But what does it say?

The word is near you, in your mouth and in your heart.

That is the word of faith that we preach that if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you'll be saved.

For what the heart believes, one believes unto righteousness, and with the mouth, confession is made unto salvation.

And so, again, the word of the spirit, the God's word, the sword of the spirit, is in your mouth.

You were saved because you spoke God's word in your mouth, you believed it in your heart and you spoke it.

And so when those things come together, it goes into action in your life.

And so that is the word of faith that we preach that you believe in your heart and you confess with your mouth.

And so, daily confession.

What are you confessing about your life?

What are you confessing about that situation?

What word are you speaking?

Is it your own word?

Is it something you heard?

Is it something you read on Facebook, or is it God's word?

Are you answering things in your life with the right tool, the sword of the spirit is the right tool to answer all of that with the mountain is going to say that I'm too big, I'm too strong, it's going to take too much work, you can't move me.

But Mark, chapter 11, 23, says for assuredly, I say to you, whoever says to this mountain again God's word in your mouth, whenever you say to this mountain, be cast in the sea, and you don't doubt in your heart, but you believe those things which you say will be done, you'll have what you say.

Mark 11 · chapter mention

So it's say, say, say.

The word in your mouth will answer when the mountain says it's too big, it's too much, it's too heavy, it can't go away, it's too big to fail.

Yes, no, it's not.

God's word in your mouth will move that mountain.

We answer the lies and the distortions just like Jesus did when Jesus was tempted in the desert and the devil came to him he's.

There were lies and distortions.

There are all kinds of lies and distortions in the world today, and so we're not warring against people, but when people are presenting these lies and distortions, we answer with the word, and we can't be afraid to do that and we can't be ashamed to do that.

Romans one, verse 16, for I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ.

It's the power of God unto salvation for everyone who believes.

So when you're hearing these lies and distortions, we answer with God's word.

The offensive weapon, and that offensive weapon is the power of God unto salvation.

This person's presenting lies and distortions because they're serving the devil, the father of lies.

That's where they are and you answer with the word and the power of God comes in and it can be unto their salvation.

When you answer with God's word, verse 17, for in the righteousness of God, is revealed from faith to faith.

As it is written, the just shall live by faith, and so we live that way.

But it says in verse 18, for the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against.

So again, the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against when we speak His word.

It goes against all ungodliness, all unrighteousness of men who suppress the truth in unrighteousness.

People want to shut you up, they want to suppress the truth in unrighteousness, and the word of God will answer that.

And so I go back to that relief picture from the Toronto Blue Jays.

I think his name is Anthony Bass and he posted a video out there on Facebook, or maybe it was Instagram.

He didn't even make the video, but it was a video that came from Ephesians, chapter five, where it says have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, but rather expose them.

And so and this was in the context of all the LGBTQ mess that Target and Bud Light have taken to and he just thought it was a good video and that it was true and that it would answer some of this stuff.

Well, he didn't hold up the shield.

He was missing some part of his armor because he did the right thing, he put some truth out there.

But as soon as the devil came and attacked against him, he immediately apologized for God's word.

He backed down to the devil, he retreated, he gave up ground to the devil and he read the apology that was given to him.

And now he's gone to an indoctrination camp where he's using the tools and resources provided by the Toronto Blue Jays organization, where they can reeducate him with, no doubt, lies from the devil.

And so they're reeducating his brain, or brain polluting him, and he's going to have to be brainwashed to get right again.

He's going to have to be washed by God's word.

The world brain pollutes and God's word will brainwash.

But that's sad that he retreated on that.

And so don't ever back down to the devil, don't ever retreat on this stuff.

You have an answer for the hope that lies within.

It is the power of God unto salvation.

So do not ever be ashamed of the gospel of Christ.

That's the answer.

And you answer the world, you answer the lie, you answer the trouble with the truth of God's word.

And so again, let's just go back and read the scripture about the whole armor of God.

And so in Ephesians, chapter six, verse 10, finally, brethren put on the whole armor of God.

In verse 14, stand, therefore, you put it on and you stand.

Verse 14, having girded your waist with truth, having put on the breastplate of righteousness it's not my righteousness, it's his.

I have what my Bible says I can have.

I am who it says.

I am in Christ.

I have the authority that Christ gave me because I'm righteous.

Verse 15, my feet are shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace.

I am poised and ready to go into all the world and preach the gospel, to preach the good news, and I'll do so at a moment's notice, with meekness, immediate responsiveness to my Lord and in the fear of my Lord.

Verse 16, above all, taking the shield of faith with which you can quench all the fiery darts of the wicked one.

And so I carry that shield of faith.

I believe what God's word says.

I don't believe what the devil says, what fear says.

Remember fear and faith are opposites, and so don't ever speak fear, speak faith.

That's your shield against all the attacks of the wicked one.

And I have the helmet of salvation.

The helmet of salvation.

So I am bought with a price.

I'm not my own.

I put on the Lord Jesus, I fill my mind, I'm renewing my mind with the word of God.

And so you're defending against the attacks of the devil.

When those thoughts come in, I don't believe them.

I recognize where they come from and I answer with God's word.

I have the helmet of salvation and I have the sword of the spirit, which is the word of God, my offensive weapon.

And so, while I'm going to preach the good news, along the way, I've got attacks.

People come against me, they say things and I don't defend, I don't retreat, I don't back down, I answer with God's word.

I cut through that attack and then suddenly I'm not the one who's on the defense, they are, and they're forced with a question, they're brought to a place of decision.

It's the power of God unto salvation.

So they have an opportunity of salvation when they hear God's word.

And then Paul finishes up.

He said being watchful to this end, with all perseverance and supplication for the saints.

And so he's talking about praying.

What do you do while you have the whole armor of God?

Well, you pray without ceasing.

Pray, pray, pray, but don't do it without putting on the whole armor of God.

So the whole armor of God is not just something that you do when you know you're going into a battle.

It's not just something you're gonna put on.

I know I'm gonna go someplace, I've got a big thing to do.

I better go ahead and suit up and put the whole armor on.

Some days I just walk around with a shield, some days just a helmet of salvation.

But today, man, I'm really going in a treacherous place.

I better put all of it on Now.

Just put it on every day.

It's by faith.

It comes with the territory because of who you are and what you're called to do, and so it's a daily thing.

Put on the whole armor of God.

Understand what each piece does, what you have in Christ, who you are in Christ and what you can do in Christ, and let's take back the territory that's been lost, the whole armor of God.

Understand the whole armor of God.

Amen.