The Helmet of Salvation

I want you to turn with me this morning to Ephesians chapter 6.

Ephesians 6 · chapter mention

Boy, I tell you what, I'm excited about the message this morning.

Because I am convinced that if we get it, that the most strategic piece of all the weapons, and they all are important.

They're all important.

But the most strategic piece of armor has to be the helmet.

And you'll see why by the end of this message.

Does everyone have a worship guide?

Anyone need a worship guide?

Now I want you to notice something.

Everybody got a worship guide.

You got to have one.

Everyone needs one, or at least a family, because, all right, on the bottom is John 15, memory verse.

I told you we're going to start memorizing a verse a week as a church.

And now you have to bid with me.

I'm a King James memorizer.

I've been doing that for 35 years.

So but I don't care which verse you memorize version you memorize it, as long as you memorize it.

But if you hear me quote, even this is not what I'm going to quote, but then I'm going to read it.

But John 15, 3 is one of the key verses I'll be using today in this message.

And it says, Jesus said, Now you are cleansed through the words that I've spoken unto you.

Now ye are cleansed through the words that I've spoken unto you.

The memory verse here says, You have already been pruned and purified, which I love that translation, by the message I have given to you.

You've already been, I like that, pruned and purified by the message, the word, the, hey, hey, the Torah, the actually the Rema, the living, hey, experiential word and the logos, the written word.

Amen?

So, that's important.

So that's our verse.

Now, next week, we will, I may ask you to quote it, okay?

We will quote the verse here.

So memorize the one on, and I will too.

And so next week, right before I preach, we will quote the verse together.

Hey, I'm convinced we start doing this, we're going to see the power of God because his word is with power.

Can I get an amen?

His word is with power.

Luke 4.32.

All right.

So today I want us to look at as we pick up in Ephesians chapter 6.

Ephesians 6 · chapter mention

He says in verse 13, let's go back because we hadn't read the whole section on the armor in a while.

Therefore, take up the whole armor, not just one piece, not just three pieces, but all the armor, that you may be able to withstand in the evil day.

Hey, in the war day, in the war times.

And having done all to stand, stand.

You know what I see?

There's a lot of standing.

You got to stand first before you can stand second.

Amen.

But you got to stand.

And I also really believe the reason you stand, because sometimes you go down.

The righteous fall seven times, but they get back up again.

Proverbs 24, 16.

Amen.

So when you go down, you got to get back up and stand.

And so we see, he tells us, done all to stand, stand, therefore, having girded your waist with truth, having put on the breastplate of righteousness, and having shod your feet with the preparation of the gospel of peace.

Now, what did we say last week?

All those first three pieces, God does for us.

Can I get an amen?

I meant the belt of truth.

Once we put the belt of truth, Jesus, because we said each piece of armor is literally, when we put on the armor, what are we doing?

We are putting on Jesus Christ.

Amen?

Every piece of the armor is literally putting on Jesus Christ.

So once we build up the truth, Jesus is the way, the truth, and the life.

No man cometh in the Father except by Him.

And then as we put on the breastplate of righteousness, we know that's that imputed righteousness that God imputes to us, gives to us.

We don't do anything for it, we receive it.

And then the feet of peace.

We shod our feet with the peace of God that passes all understanding, that keeps our hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.

So basically, those are the three things that God really does for us.

And it's kind of a permanent doing.

Once it's done, it's done.

Amen.

We believe in eternal security.

Once you get saved, you're saved.

Now you got to make sure you get saved.

Hello.

So I said, Well, how do you know?

I said, I'll tell you how you know if you're really saved.

You should know them by the fruits that they bear.

That's what Jesus said.

I didn't say that, Matthew 7:1.

Matthew 7:1

You should know them by the fruits that bear.

If you're saved, you're going to act saved.

Hello?

You're going to smell saved.

You're going to have your deodorant on.

You know what that means?

You're going to have the Holy Spirit.

You're going to, hey, come on now.

Now, so those three things.

And now all of a sudden, the next three pieces of armor is something we do.

We have to take up the shil of faith.

And now we've got to put on the helmet of salvation.

So that's what we're going to be looking at.

Take the helmet of salvation, and then next week we'll look at the sword of the Spirit.

But today, I want us to talk about the head, the helmet of salvation.

So I want you to know something.

I'm trying to tie it all together with us as we go.

Victory in this visible world.

What you and I live in, what we see in the senses of our world, what we see, what we hear, what we smell, what we taste, what we touch.

The victory in this visible world comes from the invisible world, the spiritual world that we tap into through the person of the Holy Spirit of God.

It's important you understand that.

Because you cannot have spiritual victory, hey, with I'm talking about visible senses, feelings, application.

You can't do it.

You'll fall every time.

So when I was playing football, we had to wear helmets.

And why did we wear helmets?

To absorb the contact.

Right?

I mean, let me tell you something.

We're seeing all these studies now with the concussions and all.

Probably most of us had concussions and didn't even know it when I was growing up.

You know what they did for us?

You got knocked out halfway.

They came over there and they took this ammonia little sauce and they would break it and you'd be like this, and they go, you go, woo-hoo! Yeah, you alright.

Get back in there.

I mean, really?

Anybody remember those days?

I played, I played the state playoff game with a broken nose.

Literally, the pulling guard hit me, broke my nose, I'm bleeding everywhere, my nose is over here.

Coach comes in, I go, Coach, I think a broken nose, he's he looks at, well, it might be.

He said, Let me see.

Say, give me some tape.

Put a piece of tape, give me some sauce.

All right, get him.

Go get him.

I'm serious.

I'm not joking.

That's not made up.

That's the way it was.

But the purpose of the helmet was to absorb the attack.

So when you and I, this morning, we've got to put on the helmet of salvation.

Say this with me, church.

Put it on.

Put it on.

Put it on.

Put it on.

We've got to put on the helmet of salvation to absorb the attacks of Satan.

Because they're coming.

I thought about this.

The helmet is placed on the head to protect from brain injury.

When the brain is damaged, I've done a little medical research.

When the brain is damaged, are you ready?

Bodily functions are impaired.

Now, have you ever thought about this?

You can be in the hospital and you can be, are you ready for this?

Your heart can be beaten and your heart can be vibrant.

Your lungs can be breathing and you receiving air and I meant your bodily functions are able to work if the brain waves were working, but the brain waves aren't working.

They're not sending those nerve-ending responses to the body.

So basically, if the head's dead, the body's dead.

Hello?

The heart can live without the head.

The lungs can breathe without the head.

But if the head, the brain is dead, you're dead.

Why do you think Satan goes after the head?

Back in the Roman days, in Jesus' day, what do they do?

They cut off the head.

Why?

Because the head is the covering and the active organ that makes all the body function.

So when your head has their wrong thinking, your body has their own action.

Are you with me?

That is why the helmet of salvation is so important.

We got to put it on.

Say it with me.

Put it on.

Say this.

Put on the helmet.

Put on the helmet.

We've got to put it on.

What the brain, and watch this.

This is going to get good.

What the brain is to the body, the mind is to the soul.

What the brain is to the body, the mind is to the soul.

The soul is controlled by the mind.

The key to spiritual victory over Satan is tied to programming the mind.

No doubt about it.

See, the mind responds with what's programmed into it.

So it's very important that we put on the helmet of salvation.

The way you change your actions is by changing your thinking.

Let me repeat that.

That's very important.

The way you change your actions is by changing your thinking.

E.

V.

Hill had a great message, and I've heard him preach it several times when I was at liberty.

He titled it Stinking Thinking.

And that's going on today.

When you and I are allowing our mind to be filled with junk, with garbage, with stinking stuff, our thinking is going to be evident that our process that's going into our mind is dysfunctional.

And when it's dysfunctional, guess what?

You're going to act dysfunctional.

Very important.

You and I act on self-perception.

Have you ever thought about that?

How we see ourselves is the way we function.

Let me repeat that.

The way we see ourselves is the way we function.

If you see yourself as a failure, you'll be a failure.

If you see yourselves as successful, you will be successful.

Why?

It's all about the programming.

It's all about your thinking.

That's why we have to put on, say it with me, put on the helmet.

We've got to put it on.

Because it guards our thinking.

So what is the helmet of salvation?

That's what we're going to be looking at today.

That was just a little insight that I thought was pretty good from the physical and physiology side.

Every Christian has probably experienced times of defeat.

Is anybody in here that's never had a defeat in your Christian life?

Because if there's one person that has never had a spiritual defeat, God help you.

Because you're in your number one target for Satan.

He's coming after you with everything he's got.

But there's not one of us.

You know why?

Not one has not had a spiritual failure.

Because all have sinned.

And come short of the glory of God.

There's none righteous, no, not one.

There's none that understands none that seeketh after God.

Romans 3.10.

We've all been there.

Can I get an amen?

We've all had times of defeat.

Satan is constantly.

You know what I realized?

I'm 64.

Be 65 in December.

Qualified for Medicare.

Hmm.

Yeah.

Never thought I'd make it.

Hadn't made it yet.

All right.

But watch this.

And I really thought about this as I was working on this message.

Satan is and right now constantly at work trying to wear down our defenses.

You know, have you?

I really thought in my middle, but in my middle part of my Christian life that I'm going to get this thing.

I'm going to get it down.

And then I, you know, it's going to be cruising on, baby.

Here we go.

You know what?

The more I grow, the more attacks I get.

I started thinking, you know, God says He's been mindful of us to bless us.

But you know what I've learned after 30, I mean, after 40 years of walking with the Lord, if in order to get a blessing, you got to have a battle.

Hello.

And I've learned the more battles you get, guess what?

The more blessings you get.

Huh?

You mean I got to have a battle before a blessing?

Yeah.

And you know what else I've learned?

The tougher the battle, hey, the greater the blessing.

Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego.

Daniel in the fiery furnace.

Daniel in the lion's den.

David with the Goliath.

You go back, and they had a great battle, but after the battle, they had a great blessing.

So what I've learned in my life of 40 years of walking with the Lord is that Satan is going to do everything he can to wear me down defensively and corrupt my mind with temptations and realizations.

Oh, that's just not real.

Oh, yeah, it is.

You can't live like that.

You can't be on the mountaintop all the time.

Well, you can be on there a lot of the time.

But the key is when you hit the valley, you get back up, you stand, and when you're done, all you can do, you stand, and next thing you know, you're up there having a spell on the mountain.

You know what I used to do when I was running?

I used to run a lot till my knees went out on me, Carolyn.

And in Virginia, we it's called the it's called the Seven Hill City.

It's where they do the Virginia Ten Miler.

And I can remember running up those mountains all the time.

And you know what I learned to do with Dr.

Horton?

He was a marathon hundred-mile runner.

Not 25 miles, but a mile.

And he'd say, All right, love it, we'd be going.

We'd be going.

He'd say, Don't look up.

You look up, you stop.

Just look down.

Just keep going.

I started going.

Hey, hey! Keep going.

Keep your eyes on the ground, one step at a time.

Keep going.

Stand.

Stand.

Keep going.

Next thing you know, we get to the top.

He said, now look.

And we saw the whole city of Lynchburg.

Beautiful.

Even though my heart's going 200 miles an hour.

And that's what he's talking about.

Satan's going to do everything he can.

Now let me tell you something.

I went back and I thought about this.

Oh, this is so good.

Jesus said, For I know the thoughts.

Now the word thoughts in Hebrew means plans.

I know the plans that I have for you, says the Lord.

They are plans for good and not evil, to give you a future and a hope for you to prosper.

Jeremiah 29, 11.

That's what he has for you and me.

But in order to do that, what have we got to do?

We've got to put the helmet on.

Come on.

Put the helmet on.

Because that's the key to the whole success, is what we think, what we, hey, what we see of ourselves.

And what we have to do is to see ourselves as Christ sees us.

And that's through his mind and through his word.

But Satan is actively.

Satan has a plan for your life too.

And that is basically to disrupt God's plan for your life.

Do you know that's his plan?

Satan's plan is not for you to prosper, for not do you have a good plan, not for you to be successful.

Satan's plan is to disrupt God's plan for you.

Pastor, how does he do that?

I'll tell you, very simple.

Listen, he hey, he gets you thinking the wrong way.

That's where it all starts, right here.

We've learned that putting on the spiritual armor means to put on Jesus Christ.

It is only in him that we can be victorious against the wiles of the devil, against the schemes, the strategic.

Do you know the word wiles there literally means one of the synonyms?

Strategic?

Now wait a minute.

Think about that.

Strategic.

Do you know he is strategically Satan thinking how he can disrupt what God has planned for you?

Have you ever thought about that?

I didn't say, hey, he's not in that red suit with a pitchfork and a pointed tail.

He is strategically doing right now, setting traps and tricks to disrupt God's plan for your life.

Because if he can, he knows he has disarmed you as a witness for God.

So how do we protect ourselves?

What?

Put on the helmet.

Put on the helmet.

Philippians 2.5 says, let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ.

1 Corinthians 2, 16 says that we, in your outline there, we have the mind of Christ.

Wow.

1 Peter 5.8 says, be sober, be vigilant.

By the way, the word sober, there's more than just being sober from liquor.

Hello.

It's other words.

You know what that word sober literally means?

I looked it up in the Greek.

It literally means to be alert.

It means to be watchful.

Well, here's another synonym that I love.

It means to be vigilant.

Well, what does vigilant mean?

Well, let me tell you what I found out.

The word vigilant literally means keeping watch for possible danger and difficulties.

Now think a minute.

Be sober.

Be watchful.

For, hey, difficulties that are coming your way.

Attacks that are coming your way.

You, to decommission you, to put you on the sideline, so that you'll be what?

Not effective for Christ.

You will not be an ambassador.

You'll be, hey, a bench warmer.

And he's scheming, strategically planning to do that.

Be sober, be vigilant.

In other words, what is he saying?

Watch for danger and difficulties coming.

They're coming.

Be sober, be vigilant, because your adversary, the devil, you know it.

Say it with me.

As a roaring lion walks about seeking whom what?

And then what, see, we've got to go to verse 9.

You know what verse 9 then says?

How do you do that?

He tells us in verse 9 in 1 Peter 5.

He says, by keeping the word of God.

By keeping the word of God, by putting on our helmet of salvation.

That's what it means.

I personally believe that the mind is the most fiercely, are you ready, contested battleground in all our spiritual life.

I really believe that.

I know after 40 plus years of walking with the Lord, I am constantly attacked and tempted with my thinking.

Always.

Every day.

Every day.

Every, every day.

I believe that.

The mind is more than just the place to store the assurance of our salvation.

That's important, of course.

But the mind also encompasses the worldview, the way of life, that processing information about our past and present and future.

Have you ever thought about that?

Satan ever tried to trip you up like he does me with my past.

Anybody, anybody like that?

Man, you start thinking you got it, and all of a sudden you're ever being a whisperer in your ear, oh yeah, but remember this?

You think you're spiritual?

Remember this?

Remember how you treated this person?

Remember what you did that nobody knows but you?

Oh, those are the ones that really get you.

Hello.

Huh?

And you know what?

You think nobody knows.

But you.

The only problem with that, the eyes of the Lord in every place.

Be all the evil and good.

That gets me every time.

Proverbs 15, 3.

Every time.

Hey, what about your present?

You ever get tripped up with what's going on right now in your life?

Hello?

What, every other day?

Maybe every day?

How did I do that?

I'll tell you how you did it.

It's your wrong thinking.

It's the stinking thinking.

You got your mind in an area that it ought not to be.

Can I get a know me?

And it's there because guess what?

You've got the breastplate of righteousness, you got the belt of truth, you even got your sandals of peace on, but guess what?

You've you even got the shill of faith, but you forgot your helmet.

Man, you're there.

You're all dressed up.

And all of a sudden you say, whoa, where'd that come from?

Oh, my helmet's down there.

Yes.

The thinking process.

What about your future?

You ever get tripped up with your future?

Huh?

Let me tell you why you how we get tripped up with the future.

You ready?

It's going to help you.

Because you're thinking about something you want to do that you hadn't done.

Or you're thinking about something you did that you ought not have done.

Hello?

You with me?

And you're wondering how that's going to affect your future.

Be not deceived.

That's the right thinking, by the way.

Be not deceived.

God is not long.

Whatsoever man soweth, that shall he reap.

So Satan keeps you.

Oh, you can't be a pastor.

You can't do this.

You can't be a missionary.

Look at all of what you did.

Look at what you're doing.

You see?

And you've been thinking that, you've been wondering where that came from.

He is strategically attacking you in your past, present, and future right now.

That's good, preacher.

The reason you're not saying much, you know who you're saying.

You think I followed you this week.

No, you know what it is?

I just followed me.

Amen.

Are you listening?

This is important, folks.

I'm telling you.

That's Satan.

That's the way he works.

Alright, let me show you.

Ready?

Here it is.

Sow a thought.

This is worth writing down somewhere.

Sow a thought.

Reap an action.

Sow an action.

Reap a habit.

Sow a habit.

Reap a character.

Sow a character.

Reap a destiny.

I'll say it again.

If you walk out of here understanding just what I said, it's worth you being here today or watching online.

Sow a thought, reap an action.

In other words, if you don't deal with that thought, the moment it's there, good or bad, if it's good, do it.

If it's bad, don't do it.

But if you don't deal with that thought, what it's going to turn into, if it's a bad thought, before long, you'll be doing a bad action.

And if you keep doing that action, which is coming from the bad thinking, you're going to turn, hey, sow a thought, reap an action, sow an action.

Then it's going to turn into a habit.

And then if you keep doing that habit, it's going to turn into who you are.

It's going to turn into your character.

And then guess what?

That's your destiny.

That's where you heard it.

And if it's bird, you heard it to the culture and death.

Why do you talk what you've got to walk?

Why do you come from the front?

I know what you're thinking.

Yeah, I have.

I've given you an introduction.

Number one, let's look at it.

We must have a paradigm for processing all the data and framework for our thinking.

There's got to be a process.

And that framework, let me tell you where that framework comes from.

From Jesus Christ Himself, Luke of Philippians 2.5.

Let this mind be in you which was in Christ.

Jesus, Colossians 3.1, 2.

You've been, hey, saved, you've been risen with Christ.

Seek those things which are above by what?

Setting your mind on things above.

Amen?

Colossians 3, 1 and 2.

So that's our framework.

That's where we're going.

So let's look at it.

It's really pretty simple.

Understanding the helmet of salvation.

What really is it?

Here we go.

Buckle up and start writing.

A?

It is a, hey, it's in Christ Himself.

It's personified in Jesus Christ.

It's Him.

You know what?

If you would think about Him as much as you do.

Alright, let me put it this way.

Here we go.

I'm going to put it right down where the rubber meets the road.

Where that four-wheel drive Jeep meets the road.

Climbing that mountain.

Alright, you ready?

Here it goes.

What you get up in the morning and you're thinking about.

What you're thinking about during the day.

And what you're thinking about when you lay your head down to go to bed.

Is what you really love.

Hello.

You okay?

Uh-huh.

And can't can I tell you something?

You can twist it any way you want to twist it.

But your thinking is programmed by what you like the most.

It's what you think about the most.

Now some of you are going to be real spiritual and say, I think about my wife all the time.

I do.

I really do.

But I think about Jesus a little bit more.

Because I know if I get anywhere in my thinking going, any other than those two places, I'm going to get myself in trouble real quick.

Because see, I'm a doer.

My thinking process, when the computer says, poop, I thought, hey, I don't wait long.

I'm a doer.

That's why I've got to make sure what I'm putting in is right.

Because that's what I'm going to be doing.

Can I get an amen?

And the only way I know it's right is through the Word of God.

Secondly, by the way, the verses there, 1 Corinthians 1, 24 and 30, say that Jesus Christ has become for us the power and wisdom of God.

Look at B.

It is our prerequisite to any kind of ministry.

No helmets are required to ride a motorcycle in some states.

Can I tell you that's ludicrous?

Can I tell you that's stupid?

Because do you realize where Ben's fixing to go home to Africa?

He leaves in a few days.

Gonna be gone almost a month.

Who's gonna be playing the drums, Benji?

Oh, ace is going from the base to the drums.

Amen, brother.

Go.

I bet he'll be getting it back there too.

All right, I love it.

All right, but now think a minute.

I'm a motorcycle rider, been for all my life, but now I'm gonna be a Jeep rider.

Rider.

You heard that.

Oh, I say rider.

She's always been on the back on the motorcycle.

Now I'm gonna be in the passenger seat in the Jeep.

That's okay.

No, no, that's true.

She rode her own motorcycle for 10 years.

She did.

This woman's tough, I'm telling you.

All right.

Hey, the Holy Spirit and Susan keep me straight.

You know what she said?

She said, You ever cheat on me, you'll be dead and I'll be rich.

And nobody ever knew it.

That's the part that scared me.

I said, what is that woman feeding me?

Get back to the script.

I know.

Okay.

All right.

All right.

Now listen, here it is.

20.

There's anywhere from eight to ten people get killed every day over in Tanzania where we're going this November on motorcycles.

And most of them, it's because of head injuries on motorcycles, because that's all they ride.

But nobody wears helmets.

It's crazy.

It's crazy.

So what I'm saying is, now think a minute, let's get now to the spiritual world.

It would be crazy to know that Satan is coming after your head, and you don't have your helmet old.

He's coming after your head.

I got to thinking about it.

You know why?

The anointing in the Word of God was on the head.

Not the heart, not the feet, but the head.

Surely goodness and mercy shall dwell in the house of the Lord when David was anointed.

Are you with me?

He's coming after your head.

So it's a prerequisite for any kind of ministry.

When the early church was choosing a group of men to handle the distribution of the food to the widows in Acts 6, 3, remember what?

It was required that they'd be full of the Holy Spirit and wisdom.

Other words, it was required that they had their helmets on.

See, it's the power of God in your life.

Paul wrote in 1 Corinthians 2, 4 and 5, my speech and my preaching were not with persuasive words of human wisdom, but demonstration in the spirit and power of God.

Every time I get up from about 6 in the morning to about a quarter to nine when I walk out to come on over here, I am praying and yes, I go back over the message, but I'm just saying, every verse, I read them again and out loud to myself and in my heart, and I'm saying, God, let the Spirit speak through me through the power of your word.

Let it never return void, but accomplish where you send it.

Isaiah 55, 11.

It is the power of God in your life.

You know what he says in Jeremiah 23, 29 about the word, is not my word as a fire?

Watch this.

And like a hammer that breaketh the rocks in pieces.

You know what that hammer?

Ooh, you know what that hammer is?

Every time Satan's throwing those strategic traps and those tricks and those stones and those rocks to trip you up and to, hey, get you out of God's will.

God's word with that fire and hammers coming around.

Bam! Bam! Bam! Bam! Because when the negative thought comes, the word comes and it destroys it.

What about Jesus on the Mount of Temptation?

Same thing.

Get thee behind me, Satan, for it is written.

D.

It is produced by reading of God's word.

Paul wrote to Timothy that it was the scriptures which are able to make thee wise unto salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus.

Why do you think your pastor parents, please don't let your kids ever get out of a one or a Bible study or this programs we've got designed for them for this summer?

It's all about us putting the word in their hearts and in their minds.

Why?

So that they will think right.

And if they think right, they will live right.

But you gotta help me.

You gotta help me.

We're doing everything we can.

We're going to the reason we build a soccer fields, building all that.

My three kids would tell you right now, I wanna did more for them than anything, as far as memorize the scripture.

It's changed their lives.

Can I say the one thing I've had a lot of young preachers say, Pastor Danny, and I used to do this to the older preachers.

I'd say, when I'd get a chance to sit down with them, I'd ask them this, David.

If you could tell me in two or three sentences what God used in your life to bring you to where you are now.

I'd say that I already know that's hands down.

Memorizing the word of God.

Y'all can tell I memorize a little bit.

Almost an hour a day.

Just memorizing.

But I have to.

Why?

Hey, to impress you?

Absolutely not.

Impress God?

God knows every word.

How am I going to impress God?

You know why I do it?

To keep my thinking right.

You let me miss a little bit and my thinking will go woo!

Why is quiet time so important?

To keep your mind thinking right?

A proverb of day keeps the devil away.

And then E, it is possible through prayer.

James 1 5 says, if you like wisdom, like, hey, ask.

And God gives to all liberally and without reproach.

Ha ha.

Woo! James knew that wisdom would eventually become the need of every believer.

We must see the helmet of salvation as the focus of the believer's mind on continually acquiring and walking in the wisdom of God in Jesus Christ.

For God gives wisdom out of his mouth comes knowledge and understanding.

Proverbs 2.6.

2 Peter 3.18, but grow in the grace and in the knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

Once we understand the nature of the helmet of salvation, it is personified in Jesus Christ.

It's the prerequisite for any ministry.

It's the power of God in your life.

It's produced by reading God's word, memorizing God's word, and it's possible through prayer.

I got thinking about that.

I want you to see this.

Yeah, we got time.

I don't know if I got the verse up there, Jason, but if you can, go to Luke, go to Luke 24.

Remember the disciples on the road to Emmaus.

Jesus had been crucified, buried.

And they're walking their their the Bible says in this chapter.

Let me find it too.

Here we go.

Verse 24, and a certain of those who were with us went to the tomb and found it just as the woman had said, but him they did not see.

In other words, he's resurrected.

And we these two disciples.

Cephas.

And the other one I call Rufus.

Rufus and Cephas.

Actually, there is a Rufus in there, by the way.

But anyway, they're they're talking about all that had happened.

They're really gloomy.

Words here is gloomy.

They're down and out.

They're down and out.

And all of a sudden the stranger just walks up.

I don't know if he walked in between them, but just walked up and started walking with them.

Now you and I know who it is.

But they don't know who it is.

Pick up that story with me.

Jesus said in verse 25.

He said to them, Oh foolish ones, mm-mm.

You ever felt that way?

Now this is the real kicker.

Slow to heart to believe in all that the prophets have spoken.

In other words, you find it so hard to believe that what I said was going to take place.

How many times have we read the word of God and we felt like, oh, is that that's here's what we say.

It's not that we don't believe it, but we say we don't see that happening in our lives.

That's still non belief.

You with me?

And the reason it's non belief is you haven't entered.

Into that spiritual world yet.

You're still living on the physical world, the sight, what you hear, what you see, what you smell, what you taste.

You haven't entered into that spiritual, invisible realm yet, which can only come through the person of the Holy Spirit, through the instrument of the Word of God, literally consuming it and living it and applying it every day, every minute of every day.

And watch what happens.

Ought not these that Christ to have suffered these things and entered to his glory?

In other words, he said, hey, he's just doing what God told him to do.

Now, are you ready?

This is where I really get excited.

And beginning at Moses and all the prophets, he expounded to them in all the scriptures the things concerning himself.

Now, preachers, you want to learn how to preach?

You want to see how to preach, teachers?

You preach Jesus.

In every book of the Bible, in every verse, you find Jesus.

When I taught homilytics, I said, here's how you preach.

All the prophets.

He preached the whole council of God, not just the feel-good side.

Then they drew near to the village and where they were going, and he indicated that he would have gone further.

But now watch.

But they constrained him.

Let me tell you what that means.

The Holy Spirit was moving so magnificently through what Jesus was saying, the Word of God, that they knew something was up.

They grabbed him.

Whoa, you can't go.

Don't leave us.

Teach us more.

Now, see, let me tell you something.

When you get where they are, I won't ever have to worry about you coming to Bible study.

I won't ever have to worry about you coming to church because you can't wait.

You want to grab that truth.

You want to grab, don't grab the preacher, but you want to grab.

Because you want more.

This is what I'm talking about.

You want to get into that spiritual dimension.

You got to want it more than Alabama football.

You gotta want it more than Auburn football.

You gotta want it more than hunting, fishing, all that.

You gotta want him more than anything.

That's when you start entering into the supernatural.

You're walking in the flesh.

I'm walking in the flesh.

We're just doing things that anybody can do, and we call it Christian.

They constrained him.

You know what I'd do?

Which y'all are pretty good though.

But I would literally faint if I got through preaching, you said, No, preacher, please, no, we won't mow her.

That's what I'm talking about, folks.

You don't go to a football game that's I already know I've been to them with you.

It's over time, we're going home.

Hello, you okay out there?

Now look at verse thirty-two.

And they said one to another.

Did not our hearts burn?

Within us.

Why?

While he talked with us on the road.

Now I know what you say, yeah, but that's Jesus!

You're not Jesus!

Wait a minute.

Finish the verse.

Finish the verse.

Look at what it says.

And while he opened the scriptures to us, you know what set the hearts on fire?

The word of the living God.

The Rama, the Logos, the written living word.

It is the spirit that quickens.

The flesh profits nothing.

These things that I speak unto you, they are spirit and they are life.

Let me tell you what's going to happen when you get into that supernatural.

Verse 33.

So they rose up that very hour and returned to Jerusalem and found the leaven and those who were with them gathered together, saying, The Lord has risen indeed, and has appeared to Simeon, and they told about the things that had happened on the road and how he was known to them and the breaking of bread.

Now, as they said these things, Jesus himself stood in the midst, and basically what happened, they went back to Jerusalem saying, He's alive, he's alive, he's alive.

See, when you enter into that supernatural, invisible dimension of the power of God through the Word of God, through the person and teacher of the Holy Spirit of God, you can't help but wherever you go, holler, Jesus is awesome.

It's not a show.

I don't just raise, hey, I don't just wear that bracelet.

Look at me.

I wear that bracelet because that's real in me.

I'm not ashamed.

I forgot to ask Susan.

I want her to sing, I'm not ashamed of the gospel.

I love that song.

All right.

Number two.

I'm preaching this morning.

Two uses for the helmet of salvation.

Ready?

Defending ourselves in this hostile world.

Anybody think this is not a hostile world, you asleep.

First, the defensive use.

Look at it.

Defending ourselves against the hostile world for the record.

Let's establish that this world is hostile.

There's a built-in conflict with a Christian.

Hey, when a Christian lives in this world, Jason, throw up, yeah.

There it is.

You adulterers and adulteresses, know you not that the friendship of this world is enmity, hostility with God.

Whoever therefore wants to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God.

There it is, folks.

And then Jason, if we went over to John 15, 18, 19 in your outline there, Jesus said, Why do you think they're gonna like you and love you when they hated me?

They hated me, they're gonna hate you.

Amen.

See, wait a minute, get back.

When the helmets, why do we have the helmet on?

Because we're thinking like Christ.

And when you're thinking like Christ, it's totally opposite of what the world's thinking.

And most of your friends, it's totally opposite.

You ever wonder why you feel weird around your some of your friends?

Can I help you?

I'm gonna really help you.

Sit up, listen.

You know why they they're thinking you're weird?

Listen, you're weird.

Hello, you okay?

You're weird.

You are.

You're going against everything the world stands for.

Because it's in total conflict with who you are.

And that's why please don't throw your kids to the lion.

Teach them, clean up a child in the ways you go, and they'll not depart from it.

Amen.

Right now, I look at Aiden Hunter.

Whew! That there, that's where this is the key right now.

I'm glad those sixth graders now are in the big church.

I won't bore you.

Defending ourselves in a hostile world.

B.

Demolishing strongholds of the mind and heart.

Got to a place where an enemy became entrenched.

Do you know what a fortress is in the ancient world?

It was a place where an enemy became entrenched.

In the realm of the mind, a stronghold can be established.

Hey, listen, based on willing participation.

Are you ready?

In lies, lust of the flesh, envy?

Actually, I started writing stuff down, then I just said, oh, the Holy Spirit said, just go to Galatians 5, 19.

I'm not going to take you there, but write it down, then go read it.

The lust of the flesh, the lust of eyes, and pride of life, but all the things that you actually do every day are found in Galatians 5, 19 through 21.

The immorality, the sorcery, all that.

I mean, the list of everything that you do a lot every day is right there.

And let me really kind of slap you in a loving way.

At the end of that, he says, if you continue doing these things, there's no way you're going to enter into the kingdom of God.

You know what he's saying?

There's no way you can be saved.

I didn't say you couldn't be a church member.

I didn't say you couldn't be on the roll.

But you're not changed.

You're not saved.

And then verse 22, he says, but there's a contrast.

The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, long suffering, gentleness, goodness, meekness, temperance, again, so there's nothing to compare with.

You've got to get that kind of those that list of stuff out of your mind.

Somebody asked me the question the other day, can a Christian have a stronghold in his or her mind out of which Satan operates?

Absolutely.

You can be saved and still have stinking thinking.

You know why?

Because you don't grow.

You get saved and you stop.

You ever seen a baby stop growing?

How would you like change diapers all your life?

Now you know how I feel sometimes.

Did he say that?

No.

I'm not talking just about you.

I'm talking about all of us.

And what I meant to say.

I'm not apologizing.

Poor, poor Jesus.

He says they're still in diapers.

They're still in diapers.

You know what I let me go.

I'm gonna confess up.

I was there for about five years after I got saved.

I'd grow a little bit and I'd go back.

You know why I went back?

I quit growing.

Hey, I quit entering into the spiritual world, uh the invisible world, and I stayed back to my my world, what I can see, what I can feel, what I can hear, what I can taste, what I can touch.

And I lost and failed every time.

It wasn't until daily I'd get up and say, Lord, I can't do this by myself.

I can't do this.

I'm dragged by my friends to do this and this and this and this and football and athletics, w which can be a great platform.

And after I got control of my thinking and the Spirit of God controlled me, it was a great platform for me to witness.

But but but when you're thinking wrong, you're acting wrong.

And the only way you can get out of that baby stage is to go from the milk to the meat.

Can I get an amen?

And when you get to the meat, you're starting to enter into the invisible.

And let me tell you, when you really get a good taste of a real good steak, nothing else will do.

Am I right?

Or go back there with the boys in the kitchen and get more I better not say that.

Everybody be lined up.

But you go back there in the kitchen every Sunday morning.

I come in a little when they say, preacher.

When you get the real thing.

God won't you.

All right, let me wrap it up.

My toes are hurting.

Let me say something.

And I would never say anything to hurt you.

I am preaching, and I think most of you understand that by now.

When I I that was a strong ride a while ago.

I understand that.

That's to me.

It's not just to you.

Do you understand that?

I'm not saying I'm not up here.

I'm up here with you.

He's up there looking down on all of us.

I'm preaching to me.

I need that.

Sometimes in football, every once in a while back in that, they can't do it now, but back when I was growing up, every once in a while I'd mess up more than once sometimes.

And Coach Heath loved me to death.

But he'd grab me by the face message and he'd say, Look at me!

Look at me! Love it! What are you doing?

Oh no! Come on! Fill that hole! You went left when you should have gone right.

Now, get it right.

So every once in a while, Jesus has to do me that way.

Love it, what are you doing?

Amen.

Don't you know better?

I ain't here, Papa.

Oh, God love you, Papa.

Daddy boy, what are you doing?

You know better.

I'm gonna beat the tar out of you.

Actually, wouldn't say tar, he said, I'm gonna beat the devil out of you.

As I close today.

I think I filled in all the verses.

Did I fill them all in?

Amen.

I got it, honey.

She's the teacher, I'm the exhort.

Now listen.

There's only one way to have the right thinking.

And that's through the Rhema and the Logos.

Rhema saying living experiential word.

Logos the written word.

You with me?

You're with me.

Can I challenge you?

That's why we're going to start memorizing scripture together as a church, one verse a week.

Anybody can do that.

We can all do that.

Because I want the power of God in our lives this summer and this fall.

I really believe this church, listen to me.

I've not said this even to my wife.

But just recently I've been, the Lord's really laid strongly on my heart.

I believe that we're going, as soon as we're in the midst of the fields about to get done, everything that eventually, hopefully, maybe within a year or Jim, we're working hard.

We're still working on once we know what we really know we need to do, we will tell.

We'll get together and have our meeting.

But I really believe that God, now listen to me.

Please listen to me.

I believe through what we've learned through the book of Revelation, and now as we're finishing up this armor, I think God has shown us the future.

And now he's preparing us for the present.

And the past is already gone.

Nothing we can do.

We don't talk about the good old days.

We talk about the great days now.

Can I get an amen?

But I think he's preparing us so that he can do what he wants to do.

And can I tell you something?

He can't do it.

He can't do it if we're walking in the physical world.

Okay?

You listening to me?

We got to get our church into the end this world.

The spiritual world.

Now let me tell you what that means.

That means commitment and responsibility to every one of us.

Not just the preacher, not just the church council.

All of us.

We got to say, okay, Lord, here am I.

Send me.

Isaiah, send me.

Send me.

I want to be a part of this.

I want to be a soldier.

Can I tell you something?

There's no armor for the backside.

There's no retreat.

Hey, you stand.

I love the 300 Spartans movie.

Oh.

They hail that thing for 300 kills, like 10,000.

300 Spartans.

It was the cliff.

So if they were driven back, they would go off the cliff.

It would stand to death.

Stand today.

It's over.

Hey, you it's over for so many plus years, but it's over.

But if you stand for it, it'll just be in the beginning.

We get too.

Somebody asked me.

Somebody asked me back.

What would somebody take?

All the different stuff.

I have come to the conclusion in my whole life.

God needed David.

More than we need.

And after studying the book of Revelation, the new king, the new words, and the new Guess what?

They David helped me all of us.

Hello, don't laugh at me.

I'm serious.

So I feel better.

I've already put in my request.

Where am I matches?

So I'm okay.

David, I'm okay.

Sometimes that's just me and the lower.

But if we want to let you get up, just want me and the lord talking about it.

And every time I get the I just get up in his lap.