The Shoes of the Gospel

Thank you so much for letting us make it just to share with you what the Lord did in Costa Rica and uh just wanted to uh share a little bit.

First of all, I just want to thank everybody for uh being part of the trip.

And thank you.

Russell and Ben and Bob are our faithful go-to deliverers to the airport that get up at 0 dark 30.

So just want to thank them for always being willing to do that.

I want to thank you for being part, for praying for us, and I'm gonna show you how much that connected that is.

But we did have our new team members this time, and I just can't wait for you to hear from them and hear all that God did in them and through them.

So um, I always tell you on the prayer list as we go into these countries to pray for mine and eyes.

And people say, mind and eyes, what do you mean?

Well, what I mean is when these people, our big suitcases go through the x-ray machine, and they see everything we have in there.

So when they mine went through, they pulled it aside.

It's a big, huge gray bag.

They opened it up, I looked across to the other x-ray machine, and there was a very huge red one.

I thought no, here we go.

The others have gotten through, so I pushed them on.

I said, No, because I didn't want them to decide they needed to look through their bags.

So they're looking through my bags, and they point to the underwear, and I said, as for the children, you know me, I'm talking not even.

I said, Can you imagine having the underwear fifty kids?

So we had to bring them some underwear.

So they moved from that and they went to my moon ties.

Can you believe they questioned my moon ties?

And so he pointed, and I said, Oh, they're moon pies.

You know a sweet treat.

And he looked and he pointed to a supervisor.

He said he needed to talk to a supervisor.

And I said, Okay.

So he took the big old bag over there, and he was coming back, and I wasn't sure what he wanted to say, and I said, Do you want to say he might like them?

And uh he said, and he pointed and he said, get a supervisor up and I said, sure.

So I said, thank you.

And so many of our team members said, I thought I was gonna lose weight on this trip.

Just for the record, we didn't lose any weight.

And oh, we were uh at the Posada in Land where they rescued the girls from human trafficking.

And last time I was there, I rocked babies.

But this time I got to go with a one and two year old.

And I just want to tell you about this one.

This little boy, he cried from the moment we went in.

Nothing we could do would consoled him until they brought the food out.

And I thought he could relate to his son.

So he then he just looked at me like, are you gonna feed me or not?

So we had quite a little relationship there, and then he went to everybody else to get food.

So I had to share this with you.

This was amazing.

So they had rice all over them for eating, feeding themselves mostly.

And uh, we wiped them off, got them all clean, and they had just died onto their back.

We had rubbed their back for about 30 seconds and they were out.

So we had never seen anything like Christy Suzanne and I were just amazed that 13 kids were asleep within a minute.

So you had to see that.

And then we also got to go to a feeding center.

This was new for me, and so it was exciting to see that.

This lady had started this ministry.

We got to um serve food to them, and it was a blessing because some of these kids have been abandoned by their parents, some um had their mind and fighting because he would kill somebody, and so as we were there just swinging these little kids and playing with them, it was their safe paper where they could be safe, where they could be good, where they could loved Jesus and how much he loved him, no matter what she loved him.

So it was an amazing industry.

So thankful we got to be there.

And Judy was one of our first time members, and she kept saying, You're gonna hold of me.

So you'll have to ask her about that.

She couldn't be with us because she's with her grandson in graduation in their church, so ask Judy about that.

But I'm gonna let Suzanne now tell you about her experience.

After you get all teared up.

Um, I'm gonna talk about the church.

We visited there, but first of all, Daedra wanted me to tell you a little story.

She makes it look kind of funny.

Um, a few weeks before we went to Costa Rica, I get to see that I really didn't know Daedra, and I didn't know if she would say issues.

She said, please send me a copy of your testimony.

I'm gonna pray I bring you to Costa Rica.

I was raised with another denomination and testimony, you know, like hear a lot of testimonies and does she make me saved?

And then the pressure is really out.

I was talking to a friend, and I said, You know, we're gonna go for this testimony.

And I said, That's not a testimony in a heartbeat.

So the day before I forgot Pastor Danny's book in the mail from Jesus' office.

Page for this testimony.

Page five, how to write a testimony.

So I just gonna say after about six revisions, I emailed um Dieter my testimony, and I said, here it is, but just promise me I won't have to do it in Costa Rica because she said, that's fine, but you're gonna have to speak in church when we get back.

I said, Fine, I can do that.

So anyway, um our procedure was every day in Costa Rica after supper when we all piled off to the bay and we go back to our stay in Dedrome to prepares for the next day, but so we were going to leave where we were going.

And um, she said, Tomorrow we're going to church.

And she said they have a small English-speaking class at this all Spanish church, and people that want to learn English will be there too.

And she said, I think this is where I need two people to give their testimonies.

So, speaking of God's law is Patsy over here, I am telling you.

Because it was it was stoned and silent.

And I was like, And I know it wasn't as long as it seemed, but I thought Deanna was going to come out of her chair.

But anyway, I did get my testimony along with Patsy.

It was a blessing, but I went to the church we visited.

It was Elizabeth and Gary's church, who are our missionaries over there.

In Costa Rica, La Biblia disse, Eglesius, and it translates into the Bible Says.

She said it's the only church they visited.

That they went, and uh, sure enough, the Bible says the preacher preaches the Bible.

Susan had a uh translator by her.

She said he went straight by through the Bible and were, you know, just like Pastor Danny, and um they were flashing the uh Bible verses and we were flipping back and forth because we could figure those out just like we do here.

And they were a bunch of hookers.

So Elizabeth and Gary knew exactly what they were doing, and uh they uh so appreciated us being there, and uh, we could sing one song and they loved him.

But what impressed me so much about this church was their love of missions.

Now they're 15 years old, and they have by the end of the year, they will have to build missionary plants all over the world, and they had them bring out to uh remember from their missionaries in Indonesia, Spain, uh one in Costa Rica, Afghanistan, Turkey, Pakistan, Peru, and South America.

And what is so amazing is that in their all the church, this church, this church supports these families 100% financially.

Each family financially.

And I just they're just it was a wonderful experience that reminded me so I didn't want to come home and wanted something else in my church.

So I really like sister churches and it was really a good experience that reminded me of how.

All the socks were identical.

All you have to do is hold them up, one's longer, one's shorter, they don't go together.

So that was quite a treat for Alyssa, but not for the mom of all these 50 kids.

So that was really joyful for us.

My prayer in January.

Well, one thing I can found, and thank you all, I'm sure.

You know, the only person that can help try me is Susan.

She's got to be faby, so bear with me, my leave children too.

Um oh my goodness.

What an awesome, awesome trip.

My prayer in January was to be older.

I know with the way I talk all the time, it's hard for me to believe, but I want to be older.

And uh first thing that we had there being obviously after I had the opportunity to go on a street history.

We were told, you can go if you want.

If you don't, that's okay too.

Um, I believed.

I said, I'll go, I'll go.

Riding in the bus.

We're gonna go downtown to this area after dark in a homeless area, and we're gonna walk for miles.

We're going to give sandwiches, we're going to minister to these marvelous people.

All I can see is my husband's face saying, What are you thinking?

I shocked so far in the past, and they knew obviously something was wrong because I'm never quiet.

I pray that I may.

Finally, I think I whispered to me, or I am so scared.

The gentleman from the church there that was hosting us dined on his guy, his name was David.

And my son left hand, big is good, my husband's big, I'm not afraid.

Um isn't my favorite, and I just told David.

We talked about these captive Jesus.

It was like this wonderful blanket communication around the halls, place, and of course we had a picture of how we run down his train station.

We walk down there, he has a pitch black, there's a tree everywhere.

I mean, I definitely know what I was thinking.

Danny goes back and he said, There's a gentleman that lives back in, and he says he's here.

So he peaks around me very carefully.

He comes back and he says, he's here.

He wants to go.

The Holy Spirit shines me now, and I said, I'll go.

We walk back there, and Isaac was scary woman.

And um, it's a man, but there was this control looking thing, and this man was on top of your mouth.

He absolutely looked angel and we gave him a little bag of the same.

We gave him a little strength.

And I don't have this guy.

It did actually jump your everything.

Is it like your best friends available?

There would be some children.

We have a start to be shared.

They say to be in Spanish, if you're in English, but it's like we're gonna get a little bit of a look at all this underwear, y'all.

And um, they allowed us to ride in the back of the underwear, like a child, something like that.

What a gift! And we want to thank you all for participating in Riches for Babes.

What is Sanji?

We could have gone into the thousands, but we can only carry so many without getting put in the jam.

But these are so ironing.

Now, Neither went over there saying rosemary lyre.

And I did, I love to iron as a lyre.

I pray for each of these children, I could see them out the window.

I'm learning, as you can see, and really on my best job, and I enjoyed that time with my Lord and watching the kids, and they'd come and they'd talk to me and they'd sing.

So it was just awesome.

So I'm just telling every one of you, please, please plug in, plug into ministry.

It's it's awesome.

Here's Patsy.

Okay, so this was my first mission trip that I have ever been on.

I was sitting in church one Sunday and uh DJ showed a video, and then afterwards she said, I just need somebody to come hold babies.

And I thought, well, I've done that for twenty-five years.

I can go hold babies, okay?

But there was a lot more than just holding babies on this mission trip, okay?

We I found Walmart.

That's the first thing I went to.

I wanted to find a Walmart because I don't know if I know I became assistant manager in Everness and um I've been away from the church for a long time because they sent me away for training and I have um missed my time here at the church and I've learned that there's a way to work that schedule something coming church on anymore.

Okay, well this is motorcycles at this Walmart?

Okay, that's how they get around in Costa Rica, and let me tell you, when I told you it took you an hour to go three miles, it took you an hour to go three miles because I mean we're not going because I got the right of one and then uh that was our security guard.

Okay, this is a lot of words.

We're talking about your Elizabeth and you have to find a job, and we needed some clothes, and then I brought some clothes, then um, so I brought this up and not before, we gave them to the door, and then I gave them to her the next day.

Um testimony.

So this was something for me, but you know our testimony.

It's powerful and somebody can always need to hear.

You know, God has a reason of why we share our testimony and who we share testimony with.

And there are so many people um that you can help that you can serve the gospel with just from no one because they never thought in a million years that you ever went through anything that they ever went through.

And so I learned that really quickly God can use that, God can even use that here with um now in Birmingham.

You know, I have a lot of people come from downtown and um God teams are really we got to play with them and this was we took the bees to um we took a bunch of bees to the beating center, and then we let them even the moms were over there playing with the bees.

I mean, the moms are young and so we just wouldn't want them to come over there and play with the bees and we were playing with the kids.

I mean, it wasn't really with him.

He was running rambling.

I don't know.

I'm like, okay, so anyway, um so I wanted to I wanted to make sure I mentioned a few things.

Also, this was my first trip.

I actually wanted to go when I first started to come into this church um in 2016 I heard dangerous being in another group and I wanted to go then, but it just wasn't the right time for me.

So when I heard again before Christmas.

I knew I was going.

Regardless of what I had to do.

I knew I was going.

Um my biggest hurdle would have been in the money.

Do not go simply because you think you cannot afford it.

Um just going on this trip alone and just being with this amazing group of women that I respect and look at so much which is unbelievable and a blessing to me when I first heard coming.

Not only these ladies out here, but it's also Nava and Harry.

You know, those ladies welcomed me with open arms and has really taught me the love of God.

You know, that if I could sum that one thing this past year and a half, God has done for me.

God has healed my heart.

God threw this church into these women.

I know.

I know, I know, I know that God loves me.

And that's why I wanted to go on this trip.

I didn't have much to offer other than you know, painting nails or giving out bracelets.

If that's all it took, then I you know, I went.

I did have some some anxiety, you know, a week or so before, and the day before I called my sister just upset, and I was determined I don't want to go.

I don't want to go and I was upset.

And she she just simply asked me, you know, why why are you so scared?

And I couldn't give her that answer.

And I praise God for her, and I praise God for for at that time bringing people into my life that did not say, Well, maybe you shouldn't go.

They encouraged me to go, whether they themselves had, you know, some anxiety about it.

And I praise God that I went.

Um, as I said, this group of women are for me are just you know just amazing.

One of my favorite things just about being with the group was the devotion in the morning and then singing, you know, singing on the way to wherever we were going.

That touches my heart.

Um in so many ways.

Ways just the comart camaraderie between um women in a situation like this is just amazing, and through them I learned so much.

Okay, so for the trip.

Um let's see, okay, so you can see some guys hanging, holding their arms up with the bracelets.

The bracelet says God is bigger, and I'm sure some of you have seen those bracelets, but they've meant a lot to me.

My sister gave me one a few years back that she had a friend whose son was dying of leukemia, and so we were passing the bracelets out in memory of her son.

But I kept this bracelet, and then I just started wearing it because I started thinking, God is bigger, God is bigger than anything I've ever gone through, anything I'll ever go through.

And it's just a reminder, just like Pastor Danny's Jesus is awesome bracelets.

Even when I'm at work, you know, I look down if I'm having a bad day, you know, dealing with a difficult coworker.

I can look down and just remind myself, hey, I'm a Christian, and my God is bigger than any anything else that's going on.

So, and then that was at the little, I forget what it's called, but it's the ladies' home, and that was just some of the babies.

I got to take care of the, I believe those were right out of year old.

But this is hanging clothes at the orphanage.

Now, what I did like about the orphanage is that everybody had a task, and as long as I'm assigned a task, I can do it.

Just tell me what to do, and I'll do it.

Um, this was the last day at the feeding center, and it was it was the most special day for me and also the most difficult.

I you know, it was the most difficult for me.

For one, I was tired, I I was emotional and just ready, really ready to get home.

But I sat there and I colored that photo for a little girl, and I wrote her name on it, and then it said Princess of the King, and she kept it.

So that was that meant a lot to me just to be able to color a little photo like that.

And then, of course, painting nails.

I I was gonna bring a lot of fingernail polish to paint their nails.

I know it sounds silly, but I ended up just bringing a couple of bottles.

Well, I just so happened I had a bottle that day and I was able to sit and just paint their nails, just make them feel special for that moment.

And, you know, as a woman, it in my everybody wants to feel special like that.

And so just sitting there, and I couldn't really talk to them because I couldn't talk in Spanish, but they felt so pretty afterwards, you know.

Um, and then of course we played soccer.

I don't know if you I don't think anybody's mentioned it, but you can see we're playing soccer there.

Now, this is my favorite photo.

The little guy, when we first started, that little guy in the hat right there was not, he wasn't on our team, but he came, he started playing with us afterwards.

Well, and he was really good too.

He he helped us out a lot.

Although I think we were winning to begin with.

Um now I am a little bit competitive, you know, but that guy, I guess he's, and I love this story because I've taken so much from it.

I love this story because right here's the goal, and he set it up just perfect for me and walked away, and it just let me kick it in.

And I've thought about that, and I thought to myself, you know, what humility and grace that young man had, because I don't think I would have done that.

I'm too competitive.

My goal, I I wanted to get the ball and the goal.

So I don't know if I would have thought to do that in that moment, but I've thought about that since, and it's just taught me so much about humility and grace, and just not always being the center of attention, but you know, if I'm right, for example, a co-worker at work, I don't have to point out that she's wrong.

You know, I need to show humility, humility, and grace, and I've actually used that since I've been home.

And again, I just I praise God for these women and this this church.

Y'all have no idea what y'all have meant to me and my family.

So I have been on, I guess, 10 mission trips, and I'll have to say this was one of the very, very best.

It was these these ladies were wonderful, and what a blessing to hear them give their testimony, especially those that gave it the first time.

Um we did sing at church that Sunday morning.

The the first song that we did this morning, that kind of became our theme song, I guess, of the week.

And uh, and I'll tell you something about it later on when we get to another place.

Um before we left, um, about a week before we left, God spoke to my heart and he said, You've got to give your testimony about David dying.

And I said, Okay, and I've learned that, or I'm learning, I never want to say I've learned, if God tells you to do something, you will be miserable if you don't do it, if you're not obedient.

And it's sin.

So as we were sitting in the bus, and Deedra was asking, you know, who wanted to give their testimony because she wanted two in the um the small English-speaking service and then one in church.

And so I was really kind of sitting back, not that I wasn't gonna do it, but I wanted to give others a chance.

So I told her when I think we got out of the bus, I said, um, God has told me specifically this is what I've got to do.

And so we felt like it would be best to give my testimony in the big service because there would probably be more people in there that, you know, you go to these foreign countries and and they don't have the health services we do.

So um, you know, there's there's a lot of deaths.

And so um after the service, um, this man came up to me.

I had a I had several people come up to me, but he had not lost a loved one, but there was a couple in the church, a young couple, and her husband had been killed in an automobile accident.

And he said, I so wish they had been here this morning.

And I said, Would you please tell them, you know, what God can do, how he can use those bad circumstances and and and and help you to minister to other people, because that's my mission now is to minister to widows, and that's one of my ministries, but um, it was really, really sweet.

His name's Javier.

Probably God in action is my favorite place to go for there.

There is a place in my heart for these men.

These men have been on drugs, they come to this ramshackle of a place.

I mean, if you saw it, it would break your heart.

It's a barn.

It is, it's an old barn, and it looks like it's about to fall down.

And when Deedra and I were over there in November uh trying to sort of figure out, you know, what the group would do that was going to go to Costa Rica, the um, well, Elizabeth was telling us that the government comes in constantly and wants to shut them down.

The reason being when these men come, they do nothing but read the Bible for one month.

They don't, they don't, they don't work, they don't do anything but read the Bible.

Um and so people, you know, the government doesn't like that.

So um Elizabeth was telling us that the government wanted to shut them down because they didn't have this wooden door in this one place, and they didn't have windows in the little dorm rooms.

Now that sounds crazy.

They have the roof's about to fall in, they need a new roof.

I mean, there's so many things, and there's been a lot of churches from this area that have gone over, and they've they had to buy stainless steel counters for the kitchen, or they were gonna shut them down.

They had to put tile in the um um in the kitchen and the dining area, or the government was gonna shut them down.

I mean, just silly things.

And um, but anyway, um, a door was bought to put up, and Keith is the director of the of the ministry.

He's this is another miracle.

Oh, and and windows were put up.

They weren't put up yet.

They were they were purchased, but they weren't put up yet.

Um Keith does not speak one word of Spanish.

He runs this center for Spanish-speaking people, and he told me that day that there is always one person there that can interpret for him, a Spanish-speaking person that can interpret for him.

I mean, it was amazing.

Um, and I don't know if we have the picture.

Well, it was during this time.

They had graduation of five men um while we were there, which was a blessing, and uh, because we got to see that.

And as we were singing that first song, there was a man, I don't think we have a picture of him, he was in a suit, and he was on his knees on the floor, tears streaming down his face.

And I don't have any clue if he knew what we were singing, but the the Lord was just blessing him through that song.

And we found out later he was a pastor and got in mixed up in drugs, and he was so thankful to be here.

And and and um, and they told us too that most of these men they do work af after they, you know, go through some of their rehabilitation.

They do work, they have um, they have uh chickens there, they have a garden, um, they they cook their own food.

I mean, it's really a neat place.

Um, but most of the men that leave there don't come back.

You know, they they get involved in in um ministry or you know, uh a good job, and I guess go back to their families, I'm not sure.

Okay, so Candy.

I have all kinds of stuff up here.

I was a little apprehensive about going on this trip because usually when I go out going on trip, I go with Clay.

And uh but I'm so glad I went.

It was really, it was really fun.

Um the street evangelism really spoke to my heart too.

There were I'm not gonna say a lot about it because Rosemarie has already told you about it, but I do want to tell you, we walk through, um, instead of me seeing Clay's face, I saw my father's face who's uh uh used to be a police officer, kind of looking at me like, what are you doing, Candy?

But you know, God just pretty much from the point of stepping out, God put a piece over me from the top of my head to the toes of my feet.

And I I just really was not apprehensive at that time.

But I saw a young man who stood out to me, a different man.

He came up to us quickly and he said, Um, you know, I used to be a teacher.

And I thought, you know, there's a lot of people on the streets who really aren't sure how they got there.

Choices that they made that took them that way, and now they can't get out of it.

But as we can this is just the laundry, but um just keep going.

I want you to go to um, this is when we were at the feeding center.

Stop here.

This again was Keith Britton, and he said that he was a he had recovered from drug addiction.

He was a drug addict for 17 years.

So God has used exactly what put him down to pull others up.

So there is another man that you just talked about, Christy.

The man in the purple suit.

So go to that picture, just right there.

He's in the middle, he's praising the Lord even now, you see.

They carried him into the rehab center.

He was in such bad shape.

He couldn't walk in.

That sinner's making a difference, and they are um they need a chicken coop, by the way, and we need to find a way to get it for them because they are self-sustaining, and Chris, you've already told them about how the place looked.

They were so proud of it though.

You guys, they were so proud.

And I thought, well, you know what?

It rains a lot in Costa Rica, so this is a roof over their head.

They're not out in the rain.

These men are off the street, but the difference is the word of God that they are putting into them.

The difference is that personal relationship with Jesus Christ that is turning their lives around.

And a verse came to me, and I want to share it with you.

It's Psalms 40, it's 1 through 4.

It says, I waited patiently for the Lord.

He inclined to me and heard my cry.

He drew me up from the pit of destruction out of the miry bog.

He set my feet on a rock, making my steps secure.

He put a new song in my mouth, a song of praise to our God.

Many will see and fear and put their trust in the Lord, but blessed is the man who makes the Lord his trust.

Blessed is the man.

So these men are leaving there, changed.

And I want you to know he can change you today.

He can make a difference in your life.

He can do it.

Reach out to him, make him your personal savior.

Oh my goodness, how in the world am I gonna wrap that up?

I have to tell you, the men in the center, they were they were very proud of their facilities, and it was a barn.

They showed us a mud cellar where they kept their vegetables, but they had a stainless steel table in the middle of that mud cellar.

Um, it was incredible.

Um, I had I got to do all my favorite things.

And sometimes when you go on a mission trip, you think, well, if I'm not a preacher, or if I'm not of this, or I'm not of that, I can't do anything.

But I I got to teach, I got to uh just with our team lead devotions, and out of Philippians, which I marked if I can get it open, Philippians chapter one, Paul said, I always pray with joy because of your partnership in the gospel.

And that was really our theme for the whole week, that we were partners with God in the ministry this week.

And so we were partners as we were taking care of uh widows and orphans, which is exactly what James said.

Pure religion is this, that you take care of the widows and the orphans, and we had the privilege of doing that.

Some of the places that we went, um uh sharing early in the morning, and and and Deedra likes to start early, just so you know.

So the chickens did wake us up, but we were having devotions, I think at six or seven o'clock in the morning, and uh, and then getting on the bus.

So it's six o'clock, so it's six o'clock in the morning, but we were up early.

Um they have 12 hours of daylight, so the sun comes up at five and goes down at five, and we just about lived that way.

So we were up at daylight, and we we so we enjoyed fellowship together uh and strengthened ourselves for the ministry that God had for us, whether we were doing the street ministry and passing out sandwiches and the gospel, we were partners in the gospel, even in that.

And with Elizabeth and Gary, the work that they're doing to get to be a little part of it.

And I just want to say a word about what Gary and Elizabeth are doing.

We got to participate in some of the ministries that they regularly serve, and it was such a joy to have a partner in the gospel.

As Elizabeth was translating, we don't speak Spanish, and so um one of my favorite things that I got to do, we we went to um a school for girls and their ages 12 to 18.

They were in high school, they were in a school for them.

They had been rescued out of uh sex trafficking and the streets.

The reason they were there is because they were all mamas.

And so this center where we're rocking the babies and taking care of the children, and I was not in the room where the one and two-year-olds had the nap routine down.

I was in the crying room with the six-month-olds trying to shove stew, you know, and we're thinking, but babies shouldn't be eating this, and they don't eat the American way.

We were trying to get them to no teeth, trying to serve them mushy, chunky soup.

And uh so we we took care of those babies, but the mamas were there going to school, 12 to 17-year-olds, mamas.

And so we were with the babies, but we also took um some Bibles that Elizabeth had obtained that had the thumb marks in them with the gospel, and so we were able to share the gospel with all the mamas in that center.

And so I as I walked through the Romans Road in English, Elizabeth would translate in Spanish.

And you know, it she was just like that boy playing soccer that just set it up for me because she didn't have to do that, she could have just done that herself and let us just pass the Bibles out.

But she let us be a part of the ministry, and we got a chance to do what little things we could, and so we would share, and each one of the ladies would take a girl or two and hand them the Bible and help them find the pages, and they could read it for themselves.

It was marked, they could read it.

So every one of them read the gospel, heard the gospel, and was able to have a Bible in Spanish.

And and we weren't even sure if they'd even let us give them to them.

But not only did she let us give them the Bibles, but we got to present the good news of Jesus, and it was such a blessing.

Um, I also got to do some of my favorite things.

I think um I may have showed.

Oh, was there a video that I was supposed to stop?

I'm so sorry.

Um, we okay, is that this is a little bit of what it's like to talk with a translator.

We're in the beauty school, they they were teaching the girls uh cosmetology.

They also had a kitchen, and so we were in the bakery.

You can tell them they're doing the flat iron.

Who in here is a sinner?

We all are sinners.

Okay, so we tell we get to tell the story that though we are sinners, that God loved us so much that he sent Jesus to die for us.

So we got to share the gospel, we got to uh do the street evangelism, we got to play with babies, which is fun.

I also got in the kitchen, I couldn't resist, and so I we we learned how to fry plantains, which if you stay for lunch, you're gonna get to taste some plantains.

I don't know that they're gonna be exactly what we had in Costa Rica, but we're doing the best we can with the produce of plantains in Alabama.

But we also um the last day in the kitchen where we ate every day for breakfast, they let me in there, and I was able to share a little bit with those ladies in the kitchen that have been feeding us all week, and I made them cinnamon toast French toast while they made us plantains and they showed me how to do fried cheese too.

Anyway, wonderful, wonderful.

Um, thank you for letting us go.

Thank you for praying for us, thank you for supporting us, and I I pray that as God gives you opportunity that you will listen to the voice of God.

Wow, wow.

Let's give the ladies a hand, amen.

Yes, what a joy it is.

Can you imagine?

Do you see what dear little church here in Chelsea?

I'm talking about Chelsea Westover is doing all over the world.

Let's stand right now and just give the Lord a hand.

Amen.

Amen, amen, amen.

Now I want you to take your worship God out.

And ladies, that was awesome, unbelievable.

And now I'm excited about what we're gonna be looking at today.

We've been putting on the Armor of God.

We've been looking at the pieces of armor.

And I want you to turn with me in your Bibles to Ephesians chapter 6.

Ephesians 6 · chapter mention

Ephesians chapter 6.

Ephesians 6 · chapter mention

And we're going to start by looking at verse 15, where we see that Paul says, after we have put on the breastplate of righteousness, after we've girded up our tunic with the belt of truth, now he says that we must shod our feet.

I love that.

And your feet sandal with readiness for the gospel of peace.

In other words, and really, you know, shoes play a very important part in our life.

Can I get an amen?

If you walk into my closet, you will see one little thing of shoes for me.

Most of those shoes are really tennis shoes, new ballots, that I have a wide foot, but I have to use them because of my knees.

If I do not have the right comfort, the right give, my knees begin to ache me from all the football and weightlifting days that I should not have been doing with the weightlifting anyway.

But there's shoes for everything.

My wife has a few more shoes than I do, and I'm not going any further.

But you ladies usually have a pair of shoes for each outfit, and that's okay.

That's if it if it floats your boat, amen.

But shoes play a very important part in our life.

And when we come to this passage, in Paul's day, Roman soldiers wore, hey, hob nail shoes.

You say, what does that mean, Pastor?

It means cleats.

Shoes that had cleats upon them.

For example, for modern day, how many of you play golf?

Any golfers in here?

Okay.

Think about your golf shoes with those little cleats.

Okay?

What about soccer?

Anybody plays soccer?

Okay.

Think about your cleats on your soccer shoes.

Football.

Back when I was playing football in high school, many, many years ago, we had pleats that you actually screwed on that dug into the grass so that when we fired out that we didn't slip.

So this is the purpose of our feet being shod with the gospel of peace.

We are to be steady.

We are to be firmly, hey, now here it is, firmly grounded in what we believe in.

Can I get an amen?

And that's why he says, putting on the gospel of peace.

The sure-footed Roman soldier was a picture of the Christian who is properly sharded, which means he is prepared for battle.

Ladies and gentlemen, listen to me.

We have to be prepared for battle.

If you're not prepared for battle, you're going to lose.

You're going to lose.

You know what I'm convinced about most Christians?

Most Christians lose not because Satan is more powerful, though he is, but we lose because we, two things.

Number one, we really don't know who we're fighting.

And secondly, we don't prepare to fight the battle.

Amen.

And today, I want us to look at this powerful instructions.

I think today, as I was working on this all week, and man, I couldn't help but listen to Tony Evans preach on shodding your feet.

And I thought to myself, oh my goodness, if we grasp this.

In fact, the illumination that God gives Paul or Paul and then Paul gives to us is phenomenal because I'm convinced, ladies and gentlemen, we can have our sword sharpened.

We can have our shield of faith ready, we can have on our helmet of salvation, and we can be girded up with our tunic, with the belt of truth.

But ladies and gentlemen, if we don't have on the right shoes, if our shoes are not on and prepared, and we do not have the treats and we're not standing firmly, it's not going to matter because we're going down with one blow.

And once we go down, it's over.

You've lost the battle.

When a Roman soldier went down, the chances of him getting back up were very slim.

That's why the shoes were so important.

So let's look at these shoes this morning.

Number one, let's look at the relationship.

What are these shoes?

And what are the shoes that the Christian wears?

Listen to what Paul says.

They are the shoes of the gospel of peace.

The gospel of peace.

And since gospel means, what does gospel mean?

It is the Greek word arena, arena.

And it literally means the good news.

It means the good news.

You know what the word reina literally means?

It means tranquility.

It means contentment.

It means, hey, and I love this, that we are exempt.

I love this.

We are exempt from the havoc of war.

We are exempt from the havoc of all the trials and tribulations that come to us.

Now, I don't know about you, but when I read that definition, I said, whoo, yes.

Wouldn't you like to be delivered from the havoc of trouble?

Wouldn't you like to be delivered from the worries of our troubles and our problems?

Well, we can be.

If we understand that we put on the right shoes, and the right shoes is the gospel of peace.

It means safety, harmony, prosperity, security.

If we don't have on the shoes of the gospel of peace, we have no tranquility.

We have no contentment.

We have no safety.

Wow.

That's powerful, folks.

So we see how important the shoes are.

So let's look at the relationship of the shoes to the armor.

First of all, we've already established in our study that spiritual armor of God, hey, that write this down that Jesus Christ is our armor.

He is our armor.

It is his righteousness, his truth, his salvation, and his word that protects us from the enemy.

Can I get an amen?

And we know that to be true.

In fact, we see when we put on our spiritual armor, we put on the Lord Jesus Christ.

And we, hey, because he says, for as many of you were baptized into Christ, we put on Christ when we get saved.

He becomes our armor.

And that is so true.

The shoes guard us wherever we go.

And in Christ, when, hey, wherever we go, we go in peace.

One of the greatest examples, I believe, with all my heart, is for us as Christians, exhibiting, hey, that we are fully equipped with armor, but especially the gospel of peace, the shoes, that our feet are shod with the gospel of peace, is how we respond in the most crucial times of our life.

And I'm going to prove that this morning.

In fact, I think the greatest witness we have is when we respond with that peace, that contentment, and even that joy when we ought to be, hey, not just sad, but distraught.

But yet there's a joy, as Candy said in Psalms, that we've been brought out of the muck and our feet have been established upon the rock, and he's put a new song in our heart.

It's when we're singing when we ought to be sighing.

It's when we're singing when we ought to be crying.

It's when we're singing when we ought to be dying.

People look at us and say, how do you do that?

Well, it's with the hey, shoes of the gospel of peace.

That's what it is.

And what tremendous insight.

One of the greatest things during World War II, when England was literally being bombed every night, every night by the German army.

I'm talking about with their bombers.

Hey, Winston Churchill, the great commander at that time, would come on the radio and give the people encouragement and give them words of encouragement, letting them know that we're not giving up, we're not giving in, that we're gonna stand and we're gonna stand and we're gonna stand.

And every night the people would allow those words of encouragement from Winston Churchill to encourage them.

And that is exactly what Jesus Christ does for the body of Christ.

He encourages us.

I love what he continues tells us, and it's so true.

Jesus says in Ephesians, what Paul says in Ephesians 3.12 that we have boldness and confidence by faith in Christ Jesus.

Ephesians 3, 12.

In the midst of our battles and struggles, he comes to us and he speaks words of truth and peace.

He reminds us that he is with us and he will never leave us.

I love, look at Isaiah 41, verse 10.

Isaiah 41:10

Isaiah 41, verse 10 says, Fear not, for I am with you.

Isaiah 41:10

Be not dismayed, for I am your God.

Notice what he says, I will strengthen you, I will help you, I will uphold you with my right hand.

I love what Joshua says.

As God tells Joshua, as I was with Moses, I will be with thee.

Joshua 1.5.

Ladies and gentlemen, listen.

God is with us.

And what a tremendous insight that is.

Oh, I love.

Hey, he says in John 16, 33, these things have I spoken unto you that in me ye might have peace.

In the world ye shall have tribulation, but be of good cheer, I've overcome the world.

Wow.

So how do we overcome the world?

We overcome the world by shodding our feet with the gospel of peace.

Which brings me to the second thing.

Notice the requirement of the shoes for the armor.

Luke 21, 26.

In Luke 21, 26, Jesus says that the that people here, that at the end of the age, men's hearts would be failing them from fear of what was about to come upon the earth.

Now, if we looked around the world today, we'd start thinking about that too.

Our world's in a mess.

Can I get a oh me?

I mean, we're one launch away from nuclear Holocaust.

I don't think you understand how close we are.

You think it was back in Kennedy's day we were worried about Cuba.

Hey, it's been magnified a hundred times that right now, and we don't even realize it.

That's how close we are.

People are constantly gripped with fear.

Many people live without peace in our world.

And I thought to myself, we're living in a world without peace, so how do we bring peace to the world?

We bring peace to the world by exemplifying that peace in our lives.

When the people see us, and in the midst of a calamity, in the midst of a challenge, in the midst of an unbelievable situation, we are calm and we're tranquil and we are content.

And not only that, we are strengthened, and we bring strength to that situation and calm to that situation, and hope to that situation, and even joy to that situation.

They know that something's different that they can't explain.

And you know what it is?

It's the peace of God that passes all understanding.

That she, hey, that keeps our hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.

You don't understand that.

I don't understand that, but the power of the Holy Spirit upon us brings that peace.

What a joy to know that we have that kind of peace.

Which brings me to, I think, one of the key reasons about being shod, having our feet shod with the gospel of peace.

And that is number three, the reasons for the shoes as armor.

Look at this.

Go to Matthew 6.

Oh, this is good.

Go to Matthew 6.

And Matthew 6, verses, Matthew 6, verses 25 through 34.

Matthew 6:25–34

Matthew 6, verses 24 through 34.

Matthew 6:24–34

It's powerful.

Unbelievable.

In verse 25, look at what he says.

And here we find five reasons why, without our shoes of peace, we are unprepared for spiritual war.

Now, this is good.

This is one of the key purposes of why we have to have on the shoes of peace.

Watch this.

If you and I do not have our feet shod with the gospel of peace, here's what happens.

First of all, he says, Therefore I say to you, do not worry about your life what you will eat or what you will drink, nor about your body, what you will put on.

Is not life more than food and the body more than clothing?

Without shoes, you and I are ungrateful.

We're ungrateful.

If we don't understand what we are and who we are in Christ, we're ungrateful.

The last question here is kind of sarcastic and rhetorical one.

He says, if we're not grateful for God's daily provisions in our life and for our life, hey, then we're demonstrating that we don't have the confidence and the peace and the assurety that God can take care of us.

Hey, take care of us.

In other words, if we're not giving God credit and thanking him for daily provisions, and is that not the Lord's prayer?

Daily provisions, thanking him for today.

Ladies and gentlemen, listen to me.

We ought to get excited right now, this day, right now, this moment, that you and I got up out of bed.

We're breathing, we're living.

God has blessed us, He's blessed our children.

We just watched these graduates going into another time of their life, and we've been a part of all that.

We ought to be having a spell every day.

Amen?

Every day.

Instead of taking it for granted.

Or getting up and I have to be given to it.

Every once in a while I get up and I'm sore.

Anybody else like that?

I know I'm the only one.

And you young people say, well, you're just getting old teacher.

You know?

But I mean, you ever get up and you just kind of start whining, complaining.

You know what my grandmother used to say?

Hey! Quit whining.

You're blessed.

I'd start whining, hey, quit whining.

Danny boy, you're blessed.

You're blessed.

And and guess what?

When she was an emblem for 13 and a half years, laying in a bed that my grandpa had to help her go to the bathroom and bathe her knoll.

You know what she'd say?

Quit whining.

We're blessed.

And I'd look at her and say, How in the world can you say you're blessed when you're an invalid?

Yeah, I'll tell you how she was able to do it, because she had the shoes of the gospel of peace in her life.

That's how.

That's how.

Unbelievable.

And that's what he's saying here.

He says, Be careful for nothing, but in everything by prayer and thanksgiving.

Let your request be made known to God.

That's verse 6 in Philippians 4.

And then he says, verse 7, and the peace of God that passes all understanding shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.

Can I get an amen?

Yes.

And then look at the second thing, verse 26.

Without shoes, we're unreasonable.

What do you mean?

Look, look at what it says.

Look at the birds of the air, for they neither sow nor reap nor gather in the barns, yet your heavenly father feeds them.

Are we not more valuable than they?

What God does for the lesser parts compared to humans who are the crown of his creation should serve as an encouragement to us that if he's going to take care of the birds, hey, my soul, look what he's going to do to us.

And what he's going to do for us.

So we see how important right here this is.

Hey, that don't be unreasonable, be thankful.

And that's a tremendous insight that he gives to us right here.

It is unreasonable to consider that God would care for the birds of the air and not for those who he's created in his image.

Wow.

Faithful is he that's called you.

What?

Say it with me.

Who also will do it?

Philippians 1 6, 1 Thessalonians 5 24.

He that has started good work in you will fulfill it.

Then look at the other thing.

See.

Without shoes, you're unproductive.

Look at verse 27.

Which of you, by worrying, can add one cubic to a stature?

You know what that means?

One single moment to your life.

Do you realize you worry and cannot add one moment to your life?

In fact, it can take away.

Do you realize what I've learned?

And I'm still having to learn this as Christy said every day.

80% of what I worry about never happens.

Hello?

So if I'd spend that 80%, hey, of my energy that I'm using worrying into the 20% that, hey, I could really make something good happen.

Listen, folks, worrying is sin.

And Satan loves for us to worry.

He loves to keep us, hey, all tied up in knots.

If we have God's peace about the past, the present, and the future, he can't keep us, hey, in that kind of worriful state.

God controls the past, the present, and the future.

And what a tremendous insight that is for us.

Tremendous.

Which brings me to the D.

Without shoes, you're an unchristian.

Look at verse 31 and 32.

Make a pretty strong statement about those who spend their time worrying instead of living in peace.

Notice what he says.

Therefore do not worry, saying, What shall we eat?

What shall we drink?

What shall we wear?

For after all these things the Gentiles seek.

In other words, he says, and I love what he says in the Gospels.

Remember when he rebuked the disciples when they were in the boat and he was asleep and they woke him up?

And they said, Do you even care?

And he turned to them and he rebuked him and he said to them, Oh, ye have little faith.

Ladies and gentlemen, when we don't trust God daily and have that contentment and that peace and that restfulness and assured that he is in charge, we are worrying, and when we are worrying, that is sin, and sin is unchristian.

Wow.

That's pretty powerful, isn't it?

I don't know about you, that just nailed me.

But what do we do?

We turn to our money, we turn to our worldly possessions, and that's not where it is.

Without our shoes apiece on, we look like just the rest of the world.

And watch this.

When we look like the rest of the world, we're not an example to the world.

Big difference.

Which brings me to E.

Without shoes, you're unprepared.

Look at verse 33 through 34 contain the well-known admonition to seek first the kingdom of God.

Look at what it says.

But seek ye first the kingdom of God and his righteousness and all these things should be added to you.

Therefore, do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about its own things.

Sufficient for the day is its own trouble.

And it said, don't worry about tomorrow, because tomorrow is going to bring its own worries.

You got to take care of today.

This is the day the Lord hath made.

What?

I will rejoice and be glad in it.

You may not be here tomorrow.

Last week when I worked that explosion in Harpersville, that 36 young, 36-year-old young man named Chris went to work not knowing that he would, hey, not go home that day.

But just like that, he opens the door and he's blown into eternity.

How real it is.

How real it is.

The only preparation we need to quench our fears and raise our hopes is to prepare our feet with the gospel of Jesus Christ, the gospel of peace.

Oh, I love what he says in Psalms 29:11.

Psalms 29:11

Listen to this.

The strength of the Lord, hey, gives us strength to help.

Hey, hey, the strength of the Lord gives strength to his people.

The Lord blesses them with peace.

Wow.

Isaiah 48.18 says, if you had heeded my commandments, then your peace would have been like a river and your righteousness like waves of the sea.

Whoa! And man, when I stopped there, I had to stop and go back and exegetically take Isaiah 48.18 apart.

He's literally saying, if you're walking with your feet shod with the gospel of peace, which literally means you're listening to his commandments, and I'm going to show you this in a few minutes.

He says, your whole life's going to be like a fresh river running over you, and the waves of righteousness will be just covering you.

You know what that means?

It means it doesn't matter what you face, what you go through, God's there with you.

Man.

Man.

Wow.

Unbelievable.

Which brings me to the last thing.

I'm going 90 miles an hour.

But y'all have already heard one good sermon.

But I can't not give you this armor.

Listen.

The requesting of the shoes for the battle.

Any army soldier would tell you, or even athlete, like when I was a football, we would go at the beginning of the season and request our equipment.

You request your equipment as a soldier.

And so here's the key.

If you, uh hey, so I'll use the term to illustrate how we get our shoes of peace.

So now we request our shoes of peace.

How do we get them?

Ready?

Get ready real quick.

Hey, first of all, you have to meet the author of peace.

Do you know the author of peace?

Here he is.

Here he is.

Here's how the Bible describes him.

1 Corinthians 14, 33.

Are you ready?

Ready?

Listen, for God is not the author of confusion, but of peace in all the churches of the saints.

Ladies and gentlemen, you can't be in confusion in your life and have the peace of God in your life.

Or you cannot be in confusion and be walking in the Spirit of God who is in your life.

Whoa, that's good, preacher.

If you're confused, I'm telling you, it's not the Lord's problem.

It's your problem.

No, it's not.

It's about no.

I don't care what anybody's done.

If you are a Christian, you've got the power of a living, risen Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, through the person of the Holy Spirit of God that will help you overcome whatever you've been through.

Now thank God for godly counselors and pastors and people that come alongside to help us do that.

But it's not them, it's the power of the Holy Spirit of God through the commandments of God, his truth.

There's no confusion in how would you like to live a life free of confusion?

Hello?

Am I the only one in here confused this morning?

Hello.

Give me some help here.

Amen.

So we've got to, hey, he's the, hey, he's not the author of Jesus.

Now, watch this.

Get ready.

Take me about three or five minutes, but what I'm about to give to you is one of the most liberating insights God's ever given me, other than the other day, on the three types of righteousness.

Everybody's still talking about that message.

The imputed righteousness, self-righteousness, and the imparted righteousness.

All right, watch this.

All right, Jason, take us, go to 1 Thessalonians 5, 23.

I want you to see this verse.

This is God just, oh, oh, I'm telling you, I've never seen it in this enlightenment.

Now may the God of peace himself sanctify you.

Now, sanctify means what?

Set apart.

In other words, God wants you for himself by himself.

Can I get an amen?

When you get saved, God says, You're mine.

Say this, say this with me, church.

I'm God's.

Come on.

I'm God's.

Okay, He sets you aside.

He's a jealous God.

He doesn't want anybody else to have you but him.

And so now how does He set you aside and make you all Him?

Alright, watch this.

He's, and by the way, He sanctifies you what?

He doesn't half-heartedly do anything.

Can I get an Amen?

And see, Satan, hey, half-heartedly does everything.

He gives you half truth, half flesh, half false.

Hello.

But not with God.

He's complete.

Now watch.

And may your whole spirit, soul, and body be preserved blameless at the coming of our Lord.

Now most people just read through that soul, spirit, body.

Spirit, soul, body.

Now watch this.

There's a reason for that progression.

Are you ready?

See, here's how the Holy Spirit works.

When you get saved, you receive the Spirit.

Before you receive the Spirit, you had soul and body.

Because soul is your emotional, ready?

Will part of your life.

We talked a little bit about that last week.

Now don't miss it.

So till you get saved, you have the soul and you have the body, and your soul is your emotions, it's your will.

You're doing what you will.

And when you emotionally are doing what you will, then your body follows your soul.

Because your soul, your body is piggying back off your soul.

Now, do you get that?

Wake up, don't miss this.

It's not gonna be long, I promise.

Did you get that?

So, and if you're piggying back off your soul without the spirit, you're headed to one destination, total destruction.

And he uses that through the lust of the flesh and the lust of the eyes and the pride of life.

Remember?

1 John 2, Satan's got you on his path.

You're all caught up in everything that he wants you to be caught up in.

And then all of a sudden, bam, you hear the gospel, you hear the testimony, bam, you get saved.

For by one spirit are you all baptized into one body.

1 Corinthians 12, 13.

The Holy Spirit comes and grabs you.

And I mean, radically, you remember when you got saved?

Woo! I remember it to this day.

It radically changed me.

Therefore, if any man be in Christ Jesus, he's a new creation, old things, but hey, passed away, behold, all things come to you.

Woo! I'm not the same old man I used to be.

I'm changed.

My heart, hey, my heart changed, my attitude changed, my thinking changed, my actions changed.

How did that take place?

Because I got the spirit.

Woo! Now watch this.

Bam! Now I got the spirit.

Now the spirit is telling the soul what the soul ought to be doing.

Now the soul is piggying back off the spirit.

And when the soul is piggying back off the spirit, feeding the soul, now the soul is feeding the body, and the body's piggying back off the soul, and it's piggying back off the spirit, and so now the body is doing what the spirit says it ought to be doing.

Do you see?

Do you see it?

That's what that means.

Somebody say that's good, preacher.

Wow.

But what Satan wants to do, so hey, watch.

Your peace is coming from the spirit, which is feeding the soul and your emotions and your will.

It's what the spirit says it ought to be, which means woo! You're calm.

I don't act calm, do I?

I got the I got the 220 spirit.

Amen.

And you got that peace that passes all understanding.

Why?

Because your emotions and your will is being fulfilled by what the spirit's telling you to do.

Now watch.

Your peace comes from the Spirit.

Now watch this.

Satan will give you peace, but it'll be a false peace.

Now what's the difference?

Satan's peace comes from the outside.

In.

God's peace comes from the inside.

Out.

So yes, Satan will give you peace with popping pills.

Yes, for a little while.

Valium.

Prozac, I think, has become now one of the leading narcotic drugs prescribed.

Hello.

He'll give you peace for a little while through a bottle to get you to escape.

He'll even give you peace through athletics and the world's entertainment system for a little while.

But the problem is when you get through and it wears off, you're still miserable.

But when God gives you peace, when the Holy Spirit of God takes up residence, He's going to give you a peace of God that passes all understanding.

That keeps your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.

Woo! That's good.

It's from the inside out.

Peace like a river.

Is that not good?

That's good to me.

That's good.

So the second thing, you gotta meditate upon the Prince of Peace.

Isaiah 26, 3.

Are you ready for this?

You got to see this.

He will keep you in perfect peace.

Uh-oh.

Whose mind, what, is stayed on you because he trusts in you.

Amen.

Is that not?

Hey, the Hebrew text means the peace of peace.

It means the song of songs.

It means the king of kings.

In other words, what he's literally saying, it's the best peace one could ever have.

The peace of all peces.

We maintain our peace on an ongoing basis by meditating upon the person and promises of Jesus Christ.

We stay focused on him.

That brings me to see.

How do we do it?

We manifest the spirit of peace in our life.

Galatians 5.22 says, but the fruit of the Spirit, what?

Love, joy, peace, long-suffering, gentleness, goodness, against us, there's no law.

And the way we manifest that peace is by exercising trust in God.

Now watch.

In the middle of difficult circumstances.

I'm convinced of that.

If we manifest a sense of calm and quietness in our life when there is turmoil all around, then we are manifesting the present of Jesus Christ in us and we are manifesting peace in our life.

Wow.

What a beautiful.

Now watch this.

That's why I never had understood the second part of this verse until now.

And I've known it and just took it for granted.

You know the first part.

Psalms 46, verse 10 says, Be still and what?

Psalms 46:10

And know that I'm God.

And we usually stop there.

But it finishes by saying, and I will be exalted unto all nations and to the whole earth.

I never understood it till right now.

That part.

I mean I did, but I didn't.

What he's saying is, when you're still, and you're calm in the midst of a world that's headed to hell in a handbasket.

Division, war, murdering, killing, rape, all that's going on right now, divisiveness, sad day in America.

All that going on.

You're calm.

And you've got a song to sing.

And you're right in the middle of it.

And all hell's breaking loose and you're still singing.

Oh, why?

Because of be still and know that he's God.

Because the spirit is feeding the soul, and the soul is telling the body what to do.

And when all hell's breaking loose, it's saying, be still and know that I'm God.

Oh, when you get that that knock on the door and you've heard of a tragedy and somebody's been killed close to you.

Be still and know that he's God.

When you just went through a divorce, be still and know that he's God.

When you've had anything and the doctor pronounces you got cancer, be still and know that he's God.

Don't allow Satan to start feeding you from the outside in.

With all the what ifs.

What ifs?

There are no what ifs with my God.

It's a be still with my God.

Why?

Because we know.

And all things work together for good.

To them that love God.

To them who are called according to his purpose.

And I close.

Meditate on and memorize the word of peace.

You gotta see this.

And I'm through.

Look at Psalms.

You know what I think we're gonna start doing?

Lord laid this on my heart in this message.

We're gonna start memorizing a verse a week together as a church.

Can I get an amen?

And I'm gonna put it on the outline every week, and for next week, here's your verse.

Okay?

Here's your verse, and we're gonna quote it out loud as a church next week.

Psalms 119, verse 165.

Psalms 119:165

I want you to see what it says.

Great peace have those who love the law, and nothing causes them to stumble.

Now I like the King James, that's the new King James.

But let me tell you what the King James says.

Great peace have those who love the law, and nothing shall offend them.

Hey, how many of us get offended?

Probably once a day.

No, no, no.

Some of y'all lying.

I'm gonna say that again.

How many of us get offended?

Every one of us.

Why?

There's no peace.

Hello?

You okay?

There's no peace.

You know what?

We put on our flip-flops and walked outside that day.

We didn't shy at our feet with the gospel of peace.

And so we flip-flopping around, next thing you know, I'm not seeing.

Well, you just lost your testimony.

Hello?

But see, when you walk out and you got you've taken time to put on the hey, the sandals and gird them up and put them up and check the spikes and meditate and memorize and stay in the book and pray.

You walk out, and old Sister Fluffy Head comes by and says something.

That was a terrible message.

Instead of me saying, Well, who in the world do you think you are, Miss Holy Spirit?

I just stand and say, God bless you.

God bless you.

My wife irritates the fire out of me instead of me telling her off and regretting it and getting repercussions my own self for a month.

I just stand.

Actually, she never does repercussion.

I'm the one.

You hurt my feelings, I'll pout.

You know why?

I'm on my flip-flops.

I'm in my flip-flops.

I don't have my cleats on.

Because see, when I have my cleats on, it doesn't matter what comes.

Bam!

Air, bam, bam, bam, I'm still standing.

Bam! Bam! I'm still standing.

You know good, bam, I'm still standing.

You know good, I'm still standing.

Sister Fluffyhead's gossiping on the phone about the preacher.

Hey, that's okay, I'm still standing.

I'm still standing.

Do you really see how important the shoes are?

Without the shoes, you're going down.

And you keep the shoes on.

By allowing your soul, your emotions, your will to be fed and piggybacked off the spirit.

And you do that by what I just gave you.

Meet the author, meditate on the word.

Know the Prince of Peace.

Manifest the spirit of law, love, joy, peace, long suffering.

And how do you do that?

Right here.

The spirit.

The soul.

Piggyback off the spirit.

And then the body, guess what?

Piggybacks off the soul, which means it does and reacts what's right.

Isn't that good?

That's why you had to hear that before we left.

It's good.

That's helped me this week.

You just don't know how that's helped me this week.

And I never had understood those couple of verses.

And I've been a seminary dean.

The soul, the body, the spirit.

That was worth you coming.

Because the invitation is this, and I'm through.

Is your peace coming from the inside out?

Or is your peace coming from the outside in?

But it's coming from one or the other.