Armored With Shoes

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Turn your Bibles to Ephesians chapter 6.

Ephesians 6 · chapter mention

And uh it's starting.

I don't know about you, but are you getting the fever, the summer fever, like it's almost here?

I know the kids, any kids here ready for school to be out?

One hand.

That's you need school to be out, let me tell you.

Well, we got a little taste of that this week.

Got to go down and uh watch some racing from the Chelsea track team, and um it was exciting.

It was the the state uh meet was down near the beach, so we just had to go see about the beach.

And uh, you know, just had to.

But I was reminded sometimes you get going, and life can come become background noise.

And I just wanted to say, church, I'm so thankful to be the pastor of the church at Chelsea Westover.

I'm so thankful for you and uh just the opportunity that we have to invest, and uh you just make life good.

And I'm thankful for you.

And I wanted to share that this morning and being thankful, I don't know if he's in the room, but um y'all need to wish Benji Wilson a happy birthday today.

His birthday was not today, but wish him it anyway.

It was yesterday, right?

And uh I won't tell his age, but anyways.

Benji Benji and the team are showing.

This will make preaching exciting.

I can I can promise you, I think I know where Benji is now.

Well, we're gonna roll on, but anyway, wish him happy birthday, and uh hopefully we get past this.

Ephesians chapter 6, we'll get started.

Ephesians 6 · chapter mention

I was thinking through this this week, and um the shoes.

Everybody has a good shoe story, I hope, right?

Everybody got a shoe story.

Well, I worked in the shoe department at Steinmart.

Um anybody been to Steinmart before?

This is not, this is not a man's store, I want to tell you.

There was about three pairs of men's shoes in the whole place, and I was working at Steinmart, and my very best, I think, shoe story was one day a lady came in, she began to talk to me, and I did not know at the time who she was.

I found out later by some other people that this was an important person, but her name was Kay Arthur.

And if you in this world that we live in, you may know the name Kay Arthur.

She did precept Bible studies and very, very well known in that world.

Anyway, Kay Arthur came up to me and she said, she was looking at a shoe and she said, Do you have this in a stiletto?

And I know the look on my face was very puzzled because I had no idea what in the world that meant.

I just looked at her and I said, I'll go look in the back, which had like three pairs of shoes, and I knew, but we when it were able to talk after that, she told me about uh things she'd done at the school I'd been in, Tennessee Temple, and so that afforded me a neat opportunity to meet someone who was very studied in the Word of God.

In 2021, the global brand Air Jordan raked in$4.8 billion in revenue.

Does anybody here remember one of the first promotions by Jordan?

If you go back, you can think on it.

And this is fun today.

We're gonna keep preaching though.

They'll figure it out.

They'll figure it out.

Anyway.

But Air Jordan, they started the promotions about these shoes, and in the commercial, you remember, they say, Mike, what makes you the best?

Is it the short haircut?

He said, no, Mars.

He said, Mike, is it the extra long shorts?

He said, no, Mars.

He said, Mike, it's gotta be your short socks.

He said, No, Mars.

Mars says, it's gotta be the shoes, Mike.

It's gotta be the shoes.

And as you think about that brand that went off, man, it was the shoes for Jordan.

He might have made some money in basketball, but let me tell you, it was the shoes.

Now, those are MJs, but I want to tell you in the Bible, Paul said 2,000 years earlier, in order to stand, it's gotta be the shoes.

In Ephesians 6, I want to read 10 through 15.

This is what it says.

Let me get to Ephesians 6, just a moment.

It says this, finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord and in the power of his might.

Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able key to stand against the wiles of the devil, for we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, powers, rulers of darkness of this age, against the spiritual host of wickedness in high places.

Therefore, take up the whole armor of God that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all to stand.

Stand, therefore, having gird, we learned this, your waist with truth, having put on the breastplate of righteousness, and having shod your feet with the preparation of the gospel of peace.

Pray with me.

Father, we love you today.

We're thankful to have the opportunity to study your word.

And God, we ask that you would, Lord, do a work in our hearts.

God, I know that there are people here that need to practice this piece of armor.

Lord, we need the preparation of peace in our life.

And God, we know that Satan's at work and he's looking to distract, to destroy, Lord, to devastate.

And God, we're asking that, Lord, you would show us how to have a life that has peace and that gives peace.

Lord, bless your word today in Jesus' name.

Amen.

The first thing I want you to see this morning is there's shoes of posture.

Shoes of posture.

Now I'm not sure with what's going on if we'll have pictures, but if we do, there's we do.

There's a shoe, and the Roman shoe is called a calagacea, and it's a leather boot with a hobnail bottom, and that shoe was worn to support the feet of a soldier and to give them optimal grip.

It was a shoe for posture.

Letter A is this.

We see the weapon is a weapon of stance.

A weapon of stance.

That cleated shoe allowed a man to be stable.

Allowed a man to be stable.

I want to make a confession this morning to you.

I was a thief once.

It's true.

And once I figured out how fun it was, you couldn't stop me.

I stole second base, third base, every opportunity I got, y'all.

I'd see y'all were thinking bad on me.

It is Sunday.

One time, because of that, and it was one of the reasons that made me pretty decent at baseball, there was a competition at the Minor League Stadium, the Blue Rock Stadium in Wilmington, Delaware.

And afterwards there was a hit pitch and run contest.

So I signed up and I got myself down there.

I was about 14 years old, and I just knew all the scouts, all of them that were watching, the thousands, maybe millions in the stands we're gonna see.

And so I got down and pitching, you know, pitching, it was just a throwing competition, really, to see who could throw farthest from home plate.

Did okay.

Hitting did okay, but I, this is it.

I'm gonna dig in.

And so I dug in and I got myself ready to run, and I knew I was gonna blow them all away with my speed.

And I got myself running, and I want to tell you something that makes running difficult.

Running against others, and it makes running difficult not to have cleats.

So I dug in, and with 50,000, maybe 500, behind me, I dug in and I took off and I began to run on it.

On step three, I began to somersault and did two rows in front of all these people.

I fell flat on my face.

I thought this was it.

This was going to make me.

It didn't.

It didn't.

I wasn't wearing shoes that were helping me be stable.

Ladies, let me ask you a question.

Y'all want a man who can stand on his own feet, right?

Not even one.

Amen.

There we go.

A man that works hard, pays his bills, a leader.

You say, I need a man who's bona fide.

There's a movie called O Brother, Where Art Thou?

And if you hadn't seen it, this man named Ulysses Everett McGill goes to prison, and when he comes out, he meets up with his girls and his wife Penny.

And Ulysses Everett McGill finds out that his wife Penny threw his girls.

He said, Daddy, Mama said you got hit by the train, and we're about to have us a new daddy.

His name is Vernon T.

McGill.

Or Vernon T.

Waldrup, I'm sorry.

And they said, Is that right?

Well, Daddy ain't been hit by no train.

And they said, It's, well, Mama said this, that Vernon T, he is bona fide.

He's got a real job.

He says, Is that right?

Well, it was all about stability.

Stability, your stance.

You know what the opposite of stability is?

James 1.8 says that a double-minded man is unstable in all his ways.

An unstable man falls easily because he doesn't have the right shoes on.

His feet are not shod.

That word shod is hupadeo, and it means to bind or to be fastened to a person.

When a person has the shoes of peace, they'll leave today with shoes binded.

That peace is binded about them.

Maybe you're here today and you need to do a shoe return, a shoe exchange.

I want to ask you an honest question.

Are you at peace?

Is there turmoil and tension in your life?

I want you today, church, as your pastor, I want you to leave with peace.

And I want you to ask that honest question.

Preaching is preached for a response.

Are you at a place of peace in your life?

Well, I want you to look back because Paul was not just stating something needed in chapter six, but he's been walking towards it throughout the book of Ephesians.

Look at ver or chapter three, and we're gonna look at verse 16 through 20.

Says this that he would grant you according to the riches of his glory to be strengthened with might through his spirit in the inner man, that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith, that you, being rooted and grounded in love, may be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the width and length and depth and height to know the love of Christ which passes knowledge, that you may be filled with all the fullness of God.

Now to him who is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that works in us.

It said there as it started, strengthened in the inner man, in the peace of a man, your strengthened, you're it says, strengthened and grounded and rooted.

That word rooted is hirazu, which means to be fixed with roots, a picture of tree with roots that are fixed deeply into the ground is so very stable.

And then the next word it gives was grounded.

Themile to lay a foundation.

We're rooted and we have a foundation.

In all of chapter three, Paul spends explaining the mystery that those who have received Jesus Christ carry his work with their feet.

Look at chapter three and on.

That's what he says, because it goes on to explain walking.

All the way from chapter three on, our stance, what he's telling you, has to be a stance that's eternal, not temporal.

I want you to think about something.

This life might last a hundred years for some, but in the scope of eternity, what is a hundred years?

So bind yourself.

When you are in this life, bind yourself, shod yourself to peace.

In Colossians, it says it this way.

Paul, again speaking, said, set your mind on things above.

The posture of a stable man.

Remember, James, unstable, double-minded, all over the place.

But a stable man's posture is not easily tied up in temporal things.

His gaze is fixed on heaven.

It's easy to know where a man like that stands.

Ephesians four times in a row, it says, withstand, stand against the wiles of the devil, and having done all to stand, we stand.

We're able to stand because of the shoes of peace.

Verse 20 said this.

It's interesting there in Ephesians 3 that we looked at.

Verse 20 said, God is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all, according to that hiranzu, that that grounded man, that power of God will be evident in a grounded man, a person who has that foundation.

And we're gonna find out later what a man that doesn't have that, what it's like, but a grounded, someone grounded in the gospel peace, listen to me, they're grounded beyond this life.

They're grounded with a mindset that's heavenly.

Most people don't live in peace because they're living for everything that is temporal.

I want you to see my eternity wire that I brought today.

Alright.

So if this wire is any representation, it could rap and wrap, and we can put it in a full circle.

But you can imagine this as a representation if we pulled it around full circle of eternity.

If eternity lasts all this time in a full circle, and I want to tell you what this life is represented.

If you got cameras and you want to zoom in, this life, this 70, 80, 90 years, is represented right here.

And eternity goes on and on and on.

And what it seems like is that many men live as if this is the only thing that's ever going to happen in the history of time.

And every decision we make, the way that we rule our family, the job that we have, the purpose that we live in, we live as if everything has to fall right here.

And the Bible says in Matthew, lay not up for yourselves treasures here on earth where moth and rust us grow up, where thieves break through and steal.

He says, Live with a mind set on things above.

But very often we're living as if this is the only thing.

If the next party, the next feeling, the next high, the next whatever is all it is.

And I want to tell you, a man who is stable lives for what's in the whole wire, lives with a mind fixed on things outside.

And the reason he has peace, we're going to talk about.

Letter be.

It's a weapon of support.

To shoes a piece or a weapon of support.

Muhammad Ali had a famous saying.

He said, I float like a butterfly, I sting like a bee.

And I want to tell you, I don't believe his secret was in his uppercut.

I don't believe it was in a hook or a jab or even his overwhelming strength.

But Muhammad Ali had the best feet in the business.

He had feet that could move.

He had dancing feet, and nobody could touch him.

I want you to think about something.

If you got the belt of truth and you've got the breastplate of righteousness, but you're fighting off your back, you can't generate a whole lot of strength from that position.

If the enemy gets you on your back, and you're tense because life has come and everything's come at you, and you've given up because all of that destruction and depression, whatever, and you're just on your back.

My sister used to beat me.

It was no good.

She's six years older than me, but she would stick a knee in this arm, a knee in this arm, sit herself on my chest, and she would just slap me.

Bam! And I the only thing I could do is try to generate some leg strength and flip her off me.

She'd just sit, and that and them knees were digging.

You can't do nothing from your back.

There's no fight from your back.

You have no movement.

In this world, I want you to know the enemy has people tripping and slipping and falling over in the shoes of peace.

Allow us the support to stand.

I talked already.

Paul said all through Ephesians, walk in unity.

He talked about what you need to do to walk.

Walk in love, walk in light.

These are all things that guide us to peace.

But I want you to see in Ephesians chapter 4.

Ephesians 4 · chapter mention

Another walk that Paul gives.

Verse 1.

He says, I therefore, the prisoner of the Lord, beseech you to walk worthy of the calling with which you were called.

He says, walk worthy.

If you're going to call yourself a Christian, then walk worthy.

And that word there is the word vocation, and it's the Hebrew word is classis, and that's invitation.

In a general sense, he's saying, walk worthy of your salvation.

Walk worthy of your salvation and walk carrying your salvation.

I want you to understand that a non-Christian no less desires stability and peace, but has no means.

Because if you don't understand the end of things, you don't understand the means to get there.

You've heard the quote, the ends justifies the means.

And Satan, listen, I mean, he's out there offering all kinds of peace, counterfeit peace.

His forms of peace are euphoric.

His forms of peace are painkillers or nicotine or alcohol or drugs.

His painkillers, his peace are sex and experience, his his painkillers, his highs, his feelings, those are the wrong shoes.

What do you mean, Pastor?

You see, peace is on the inside of a person, and you can't fix the inside of a person with something that is on the outside.

Look at Ephesians chapter 4, verse 14.

Ephesians 4:14

So, what is the world going through?

Ephesians 4, 14.

That we should no longer be children tossed to and fro and carried about with every wind of doctrine by the trickery of men and the cunning craftiness of deceitful plotting.

So be no more tossed to and fro, just carried about with every wind, just tossed around.

You ever seen someone tossed to and fro?

I told you I got to see the ocean this week.

I was reminded when we were in youth ministry in Indiana, we took some kids to the Atlantic Ocean and got to see some of the funniest things they had never seen an ocean.

They believed they had a beach in Indiana.

Think about that.

Right?

We went to the Brookville Lake, which was the beach.

And so we got down there, and uh this one girl, her name was Stephanie, she got in the ocean.

I'm telling you, Stephanie, at that point, 10th grade, maybe 75 pounds, literally soaking wet.

And she got in that ocean and she was she had a big smile on her face for a minute.

And then the next thing I know, Stephanie was here, Stephanie was there.

She'd go to get up, and a wave would knock her back down.

Stephanie rolling, tumbling.

Stephanie, I mean, she made it strong four minutes.

She was in the ocean just ragdolling her.

And the next thing I know, we played for a while, a few hours.

Stephanie's been knocked out.

Stephanie fell as that ocean wore her out.

So she slept for like two hours on the sand.

She got up for the rest of the week.

She had half her face was sunburnt, this arm, all of it.

The effects of being tossed back and forth.

I want you to know Satan seeks to throw people just that way today.

And it's not, it's not missing in our culture.

Let me tell you a couple of the false doctrines that are still being taught today.

You've heard the prosperity gospel movement, right?

Like if you serve God, he's gonna send buckets of cash your way.

Who's not signing up for that deal?

Right?

I accept the gospel, Lord.

Right?

It's just not in this book.

Okay, it's a false.

Thing to be teaching.

And these guys, I'm telling you, some of it pops up through feeds, and they're talking about their prosperity, and just it's it's crazy the way that they're speaking about it.

How about this?

There's a phrase.

Some of these are just phrases.

God will never give you more than you can handle.

Yes, he sure will.

He's given me plenty more than I can handle.

If I hadn't had him, I'd have broke.

Now God gives me what he can handle.

1 Corinthians 10 31 says there's no temptation taking you, such as common to man.

There will always be a way to bear that.

Temptation, but not God won't bring trials and struggles.

No, that's a false, another prosperity version of something to be said.

Algernon Sidney popularized this quote: God only helps those who help themselves.

That is false.

That is false.

Some of y'all know, maybe it's part of your story, but if it had not been from God getting you up out of the gutter, you'd still be there, wouldn't you?

God doesn't operate that way.

In fact, the scripture says that he came for the sick and not the well.

But people operate under these ideas and theories.

Oh, that sounds good.

I'm not saying don't work hard.

I'm not saying fall down and don't try to get yourself up.

But saying that God won't help somebody who's in a mess, that's just not truth.

How about evolution?

Still supported in our schools.

We just turn an academic eye, right, at this nonsense that's continually purported, and it's like, you know, bang! And a car showed up.

Are you kidding me?

Like, I'm telling you, they got more faith than I got because my face as an intelligent designer created.

And they said, bang! And here comes whatever.

But it's taught as if it's truth.

And we just move along.

People hear me are everywhere being tossed to and fro by this sleight of man.

Listen, I've known good men who were in church, who were following what seemed like this book, and who are now studying rocks and eastern mysticism, new age ideas.

Why?

Because they got away from the shoes of peace.

Their feet were not bound to it.

We stick to this book, the whole book.

Nothing but the book.

That's what we stick to.

Because the whole council of God will put peace in your life.

God will stick to you if you're in his book.

People go looking.

It's not that they're not looking, they're looking for something.

Well, I'm gonna take you to the second point this morning, the shoes of position.

Hold your place in Ephesians and turn over to Romans chapter 10.

Romans 10 · chapter mention

Romans 10, 9 and 10 and verse 13, we're gonna read.

It says So peace is two things, right?

Peace is we have an eternal peace, but then we'll we'll have a peace we're gonna look at that has to do with our fight on this earth.

That if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised him from the dead, you will be saved.

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

For whoever, verse 13 calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved.

I want you to hear this is a gosh, this is a gospel, a couple of scriptures, but it's about a position.

Positionally, because of Christ for eternity, that's the whole wire, when you come to know Jesus as Savior, positionally, you are given the peace of God.

Okay?

You're covered by the blood of Jesus Christ, and everything for eternity you have been given.

And what it says, if you confess, if you believe with your mouth, there's some people here today, that's never happened in your life.

And I want to tell you, it's the greatest thing that can happen.

You're going through turmoil and tension and struggles.

You need this peace.

And until you repent of your sin and make a change of path, a change of pattern, your life will continue to have, and I'm not telling you that because you become a Christian, you're going to lack peace, but you'll be able to walk through struggles with peace.

Okay, positionally, you are awarded peace, those shoes that give you a position.

Letter A is this.

Well, it's also a weapon for this earth.

Paul was talking to believers about needing these weapons for the fight of this life and for what's to come.

And so he says, in a battle, movement is critical.

How do you know that you're engaging in your life in the right way?

What you think about this?

Our movement is confirmed by peace.

Pastor Danny used to say to me, if there's peace, then you move.

No peace, don't move.

If there's peace, then we can maneuver.

Practical, Pastor, help me.

What are you saying?

Should I take a job?

Do I have peace?

Should I take a ministry?

Do I have peace?

Should I adopt?

Do we have peace?

Should I give up something?

Do I have peace?

Should I marry?

Do I have peace?

Should I let my child dot, dot, dot?

Do I have peace?

Your maneuvering is from a place of within.

Do you have peace with God on it?

Is there something that requires today steps of change?

You need to pray and ask God for peace.

If you're married, you need to pray and ask God to give you both peace.

I don't think God operates in a world where he says marriage is his institution and one will have peace and another totally not peace.

So the way that Heather and I operate, if we have peace about a decision, then we operate together in God's peace.

And so we're able to maneuver through life because we have peace.

I want to tell you, life without Christ, at best on earth, is stressful.

A lack of peace, listen, you've been around people.

It makes you edgy, it makes you defensive, it makes you unable to relate to others, it makes a person angry.

And so it's a weapon for living in this life and making decisions.

I want to tell you, if you're a Christian and you're lacking peace today, that's a flag.

If you're lacking peace, I'm not talking about you're going through something that's just come up and it's been a little struggle, but you're lacking, you're just, you can't get to that place of peace.

Romans 16, 17, listen to what it says.

Watch out for those who cause divisions among you.

Someone who lacks peace.

Proverbs 6, 16 through 19 states this.

And he and he and he mentions a seventh.

And one of those seven things God hates is those who sow discord among the brethren.

If you're a Christian today and you're causing a lack of peace, God hates that.

There's not a whole lot in the Bible that says God hates, but he hates someone who's causing division amongst his Christians.

A lack of peace.

Hebrews 12, 14, and 15 says, strive for peace with everyone that no root of bitterness spring forth and causes much trouble.

Matthew 5 says this, blessed are the peacemakers.

I want to ask you, is there tension in your life between you and a brother?

Is there tension between you and a family member?

I want you to know our part, a Christian, is to make peace.

That's hard to swallow, but I want to tell you, don't wait for someone.

This life is too short to be waiting for someone else to take up the mantle.

You say, all the time they're saying, I gotta be the bigger person, Pastor.

Yeah.

God gave you that peace so that you would do that.

A Christian is to make peace.

Own your part.

You can't be liable for someone else's part, but you can own your part and you can take responsibility.

And listen, start the conversation.

Blame it on church.

Here's the line.

Tell them today, my pastor said this, and I felt convicted, and I just need to talk.

Say, why, Pastor?

For peace.

Life is too rough and rocky, and you need to have shoes on that help you for movement, for peace.

Paul said this to the church at Colossae.

Turn to Colossians chapter 3.

Colossians 3 · chapter mention

Colossians 3, 13 through 17.

It sounds like Paul's harping, in turn, making it sound like I'm harping, but I want to tell you, this peace is important.

He said, Bearing with one another, verse 13 through 17, and forgiving one another.

If anyone has a complaint against another, even as Christ forgave, so you must also do.

But above all these things, put on love, which is the bond of perpet perfection, and let the peace of God rule in your hearts to which you were also called in one body, and be thankful.

Let all the word of Christ dwell in you richly, admonishing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs with grace in your hearts.

And hear this.

And whatever you do, in word or do, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus.

You say, Pastor, I can't do all those things.

I can't go to those people.

I can't, you don't understand.

He says, Do it in the name of Jesus.

Yes, you're right.

In of yourself, you may not be able to stand the idea, somebody that hurt you, some way that you've been hurt, or something that happened, but I want to tell you in the name of Jesus Christ, he said, if there's a way for peace, then have peace.

We have inner peace as Christians because we have eternal peace.

It's through a position.

Ephesians 2, he said it this way: you were afar off and have been brought near through the blood of Jesus Christ.

That proximity we've been brought near, it says to the Spirit and to the Father.

We can do this life differently because of that position.

I want you to know life is going to hurt you.

You're going to have pain.

There's going to be struggles.

But if you got your feet shod with the gospel, when a storm comes and when a tempest tosses you, when you lose a friend or you lose a job, or something doesn't go the way that you thought it was planned, and life seems to get you upside down, you're still able to stand.

It made me think of uh the 1996 Olympics.

I don't know if many of you remember, but Carrie Strugg was in the 1996 Olympics, and she took some adversity, and we've got a video I want you to see of what Carrie Strugg did.

Four nine three, or better.

The last goal is the only one.

There's a picture here of her coach, I'm gonna talk about it in a second, but she flipped off of that and she had one more opportunity, and everything for the U.S.

gold medal fell at her in that moment, that second vault.

It was either gonna be a gold or not.

And she came in even though she had been knocked down, even though she had been hurt, even though there was a struggle, and her coach said, I just need one more good one.

And she went in, she landed, you saw she hit, she kept that leg up, and she got the score that gave the United States the gold.

And I want you to see this picture.

I thought about her coach who carried her after that to the ceremony.

And I thought about this question: who is your shoulder?

Are there people in your life that you feel better just because they entered the room?

Callie will on occasion say, Dad, I need to go for a car ride.

Or she'll say, Dad, can we go on a date?

And that's code for I need to talk to Dad.

Sometimes Heather says, I need to go over the mountain.

She needs bucks and clucks, Starbucks and Chick-fil-A.

But often that's code for I need to talk.

I need someone to talk to.

Some of y'all will remember the old songwriter I was reminded of this week wrote, Let us have a little talk with Jesus.

Tell him all about our troubles.

He will hear our faintest cry, and he will answer by and by.

For your stay on this planet, Jesus is the ultimate peace.

Isaiah 26, 3 said, For he whose mind is stayed on him has perfect peace.

So what are you focusing on in life?

I want to tell you the climb, the battle, the stuff, all of it.

And I know you hear me say it, and I'm sorry that it sounds like a broken record, but it seems like it's just our world.

And I don't want you to leave here empty.

I want you to have peace.

And it's Jesus.

That is the answer.

He is the ultimate.

He is shalom.

Jehovah Shalom.

He is peace.

Well, it's also a weapon for eternity.

Letter B.

Look at John.

John chapter 14.

John 14 · chapter mention

So we see how peace is used for us in this life to fight our battles and make our decisions.

Well, one day this peace is going to have an impact outside of this life.

Jesus was at the Passover in the upper room with the disciples, and this is one of the things that he spoke to them.

John 14, he said, Let not your heart be troubled.

If you believe in God, believe also in me.

In my father's house are many mansions.

If it were not so, I would not have told you.

I go to prepare a place for you.

And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to myself, and that where I am, there you may be also.

And where I go, you know, and the way you know.

So Jesus had the disciples all together, and literally, probably the most shaken time of their ministry life was about to happen.

Literally, the most lack of peace, the greatest trial, the greatest struggle, the crucifixion of their authority, their leader was forthcoming.

And before all that happened, Jesus says to them, a penetrating thought.

He says, This He says, Let not your heart be troubled.

Don't let your peace get messed with.

The enemy seeks to take your peace.

He says, But remember this, hear me, church.

I'm preparing a place for you.

And if I prepare a place for you, one day I'm gonna come back and I'm gonna take you to be with me in that place.

And I don't know what life has thrown at you.

I don't know what kind of disease has been thrown at you.

I don't know what the worst has come at you.

But this is what reminds me, it doesn't matter what comes.

One day I'm going to heaven.

I don't get all excited about death.

One day, you can't scare me with death.

I'm going to heaven.

If I become diseased, I'm going to heaven.

If corona comes back and shuts down the grocery store, I'm going to heaven.

And if they come shooting at my door, I'm going to heaven.

I'm not scared if the whole world is at war.

Because my father left and is making lots of mansions, and one's got my name on it.

And you're invited to a party.

I don't know what it is, but I want y'all there.

Hopefully, we can have some CCW church.

No matter what the enemy throws, it's temporary.

One day I'm going to be with Jesus.

And so he gave me this weapon.

The last thing, can you imagine?

He said to the disciples, oh, it's going to get really, really rough.

Don't let your heart be troubled though.

Walk right on through it.

I mean, like a tornado's just coming, and you're just got my shoes on.

Tornadoes come and the car breaks down.

I got my shoes on.

The kids are tense.

I got my shoes.

It doesn't, I got peace.

Satan, you cannot affect my peace.

He said, Don't be troubled.

He told the disciples further in John 14, 27, peace I leave with you, my peace, not as the world gives.

We've already attacked that.

Not as the world gives, but he's talking about the Holy Spirit.

If you have me, you have the Holy Spirit.

And if you have the Holy Spirit, you're sealed.

That's the stamp, that's the marker one day when Jesus returns.

He's going to say, That's mine, they're mine.

And that seal, because of the Holy Spirit, will be peace for you on this earth.

And that marker, one day, the Father's going to open up a book called the Lamb's Book of Life.

And he's going to say, There are names in here.

There are names in here.

And you'll be able to enter into heaven.

That's peace.

I want to tell you, church, there's one of two things that happens for a person when this life is over.

They either enter into eternal peace, always living, always worshiping, or a person will die forever, never dead, in a place called hell, the opposite of peace.

It's a weapon for your eternity, but it's also a weapon letter C for evangelism.

It's also a weapon for others' eternity.

If you'll go back to Romans, I want you to see Romans chapter 10.

Romans 10 · chapter mention

So what do we do with this piece?

I'm fine, I'm working through some of that stuff, Pastor.

I I I figured out, I've grown, I've been able to walk through trials, some struggles.

Well, what do I do with what God's given me?

I'm so glad that you asked that question this morning.

Romans 10, 11 through 17 says, For the scripture says, Whoever believes on him will not be put to shame, for there is no distinction between Jew and Greek.

For the same Lord is Lord over all.

Whoever calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved.

And then verse 14, how?

Important question, how then shall they call on him in whom they have not believed?

And how shall they believe in him of whom they have not heard?

And how shall they hear without a preacher?

And how shall they preach unless they are sent?

As it is written, how beautiful are the feet of those who preach the gospel of peace, who bring glad tidings of good things.

And how shall they hear that word hear without a preacher?

The word preacher will get on that and say, That's okay.

I got a preacher, I'll send them to him.

Not quite.

The word is Keruso, and that means someone who can proclaim.

If God gave you those lips, another word for it is a herald.

And then it says, and how shall people would say, Well, here's the conflict then, Pastor, how shall they preach unless they are sent?

See, Pastor, they are sent.

That's just talking about the disciples, right?

The apostles.

That's what the word apostle means.

Sent.

So literally, those on mission, well, Matthew 28, 19, and 20 says, Go into all nations, sharing the gospel.

And at the end of that verse, it says, And lo, I am with you to the end of an age.

Well, that's interesting because the disciples were just in a period of time, and guess what?

They came and they went, and the age continued.

But Jesus said, I will be with you.

Talking to the church, to the end of the age, to the end of time.

And so every person who would come after the disciples, that's you and me.

If God saved you, he gave you a gift of peace.

And he gave you the Holy Spirit, which has given you a very special gift.

Everybody here has a gift, an ability, a skill that's been given by God if you've been saved.

And you've been given that, not, listen, I want you to be the best in your field, but God didn't give you that gift so that you would climb the ladder in your field and be the best in it.

He gave you a gift and ability because you have a circle that you influence.

So if you're really good at cooking, you influence people that like to eat.

If you're a fireman, if you're a policeman, a teacher, God gave you a gift so that you could share that peace that He's given to you.

That's the whole purpose.

That's the commission.

So the people in your family circle, the people at your work, that you would bring God glory and preach this good news.

That's why you've been given the gift.

Well, I thought about this story and those shoes.

And I thought about some of the greatest to ever share the gospel of peace.

I love Billy Graham.

I love the story of Billy Graham.

I've read a couple of biographies on Billy Graham and an incredible, incredible life.

The greatest evangelist of the 20th century.

I'm looking now, and people, I can't find people in our time that have somebody comparable where they go, Well, what about Billy Graham?

We need that.

We need that.

But in 1936, Billy Graham, listen to this, worked at the Belk's Department Store.

And this is a story told about him.

He was unable to find the proper shoe size for a lady.

Billy Graham, so honest and kind, actually tried to talk the lady out of buying the pair of shoes, but this woman insisted, and it says she wobbled out of the store uncomfortably.

And people said from that point later on that Billy Graham couldn't sell any souls, but he sure could win souls.

I thought about Billy Graham.

Very interesting.

Billy Graham came to Christ in 1932 at an evangelistic crusade that was given by a man named Mordecai Ham.

Mordecai Ham had been invited by a group of men who had been inspired at evangelistic meetings by former baseball player Billy Sunday.

Billy Sunday, we're getting somewhere, learned and was trained to become evangelist under the training of a guy named Wilbert Chapman.

Chapman dedicated his life to Jesus while he was under the preaching of a famous preacher named Frederick F.

B.

Meyer.

Meyer, his story started, he became an evangelist because of a sermon he heard in a little chapel under the preaching of a man named D.

L.

Moody.

D.

L.

Moody was a man who shared the gospel, estimated a hundred million people heard the gospel from his lips.

Three million people estimated came to Christ under Billy Graham's ministry.

Can I tell you what D.L.

Moody was doing the day he came to know Christ?

Church, a Sunday school teacher, walked in to the Holt shoe store.

D.

L.

Moody was selling shoes.

He was a shoe peddler.

A man that would traverse the world, ties the gospel of peace to the ministry of Billy Graham, who worked in a shoe store.

Can I tell you what John the Baptist said one time about shoes?

John the Baptist, who Jesus said was the greatest man to touch the face of this earth.

Other than Jesus, it had to be true.

He said, That's Jesus.

I am not worthy to latch it the sandal strap of his shoes.

Because those shoes were carrying everywhere the gospel of peace.

And Paul said in Romans there, how beautiful are the feet of those who share the gospel of peace.

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