I've Got What I Need to Stand | Pastor Earl McClellan

Excited about what God has in store today.

If you have your Bibles, open up with me to the book of Ephesians.

Your ushers go ahead here in Dallas.

Go ahead and pass those containers.

If you have your prayer cards or you brought your offering, you can drop those in there.

Ephesians chapter number six.

Good job, team.

Y'all crushed it today.

Y'all crushed it.

Ephesians chapter 6.

Ephesians 6 · chapter mention

I got a loose page in my Bible.

I guess they say uh warn the Bible is a holy life.

Ephesians chapter 6.

Ephesians 6 · chapter mention

Beginning in verse number 10.

It says, Finally be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power.

Put on the full armor of God so that you can take your stand against the devil's schemes.

For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world, and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms.

Therefore, put on the full armor of God so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground.

And after you have done everything, to stand, stand firm then, with the belt of truth buckled around your waist, with the breastplate of righteousness in place, and with your feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace.

In addition to all this, take up the shield of faith with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one.

Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the spirit, which is the word of God, and pray in the spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests.

With this in mind, be alert and always keep on praying for all the Lord's people.

If you like to take notes today, the title of today's message is I've got what I need to stand.

I've got what I need to stand.

Uh today at our Dallas campus, we actually are going to be uh hosting the SMU football team.

Uh so like 175 massive individuals will be here at Shoreline City.

And um these guys, when you when you play football, and you know this, you put on your helmet, you have your shoulder pads, uh, you've got your cleats because you are going to battle.

Makes total sense.

The time that a a football player may not be wearing um their stuff, well, maybe be for a walkthrough or something.

You know, we got we got a team walkthrough.

Uh they might show up to the field, would not have their cleats on, could have on their Jays, right?

And they're just they're in their street clothes and they're walking around and they're kind of walking through the plays of what's gonna happen on game day.

You don't need your your helmet and your shoulder pads for a walkthrough, but you definitely need them for the game.

I was uh praying and and going through all that we've been navigating and thinking through and processing through, and as we have been in the month of August walking through Galatians and Ephesians and Philippians and Colossians, remember uh giants and joy, protein and cardio.

Uh, we're walking through all of these things, and this is the text that jumped off the page at me for my life and for your life, Shoreline City, because right now I am feeling that a lot of us are treating life like a walkthrough and not like a war.

We're treating life like I don't need a helmet, I don't need shoulder pads, I don't really need much of anything.

She throw me my slides.

That's all I really need.

I'm trying to coast through life, enjoy life, and little do you know that the Bible here is teaching a very important truth that you and I are not just in a walkthrough, we are in a war.

I'm hoping I can catch some of our attention before you end up wounded on the battlefield, not understanding what is going on, maybe allowing the deceptions of the enemy to take you off course.

I'm praying in Jesus' name.

I'm able to catch a couple of people before they end up in a spot they don't want to be in.

But there's enough of us under the sound of my voice that you know that we are in a war because you've experienced the arrows, you've experienced the pain, you've experienced the warfare, you recognize that there are things that have been coming against you for a really long time, and you know your eyes are already open to the fact that the devil comes to steal, kill, and destroy.

But Jesus came to bring us life and life to the fullest.

I'm hoping today, from the balcony all the way to the floor, additional seating online at every single location for every teenager and young adult, married person and single person, that today there would be a revelation that our eyes would be open to what this text is trying to teach us so that we can move forward and be who God is calling us to be.

In verse number 10, look at it again.

We'll put it on the screen if you didn't bring your Bible.

It says, Finally, be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power.

Be strong not in yourself, in the Lord.

Be strong in the Lord.

Be strong in the Lord.

I am not preaching self-reliance.

I am not preaching you muster up enough strength.

I'm not preaching that you just gotta pull yourself up by your bootstraps.

That right there will leave you, and you won't have what you need to make it through the life that God has called you to live.

What I am proposing here is what the text tells us that I want you to be strong, but I want you to be strong in the Lord.

Now, the the verb here that is used in the original language carries with it the idea of something that's continuously happening.

It's not a one-time event, it happens over and over and over.

Um, you know when you're working out, I got a couple heads going, I have no idea what you're talking about.

When you're working out, even if it's a walk, and that that's that's a good workout.

I've been doing my walks.

I told you all this.

I got my dog doing my walks.

Hurt it helps with visceral fat, so I've been doing my walks.

And uh so I'm I'm not a runner at all, but anytime I go on a walk, I don't just take one breath and try to walk for 15, 30 minutes on one breath.

If you're going to play basketball, tennis, football, pickleball, you go into a hit workout, you go into Pilates, you don't take one breath and just hold it.

No, you breathe in and you breathe out.

You breathe in and you breathe out.

It's continuous.

The breathing gets you the oxygen that you need to keep on moving forward.

The verb here is carrying that idea that this is not some one-time breath that you take.

When you're gonna be strong in the Lord, you keep on breathing in and you keep on breathing out, you keep on breathing him in and you keep on breathing him out.

Some of us are uh would say things to me like, man, yeah, last time I went to church was Easter.

That's one big breath in.

You've been holding your breath that long?

No wonder you're fainting.

Last time you read your Bible was a week ago.

No, no, in and out.

Breathe in, breathe out.

Breathe in, breathe out.

This is the rhythm that you and I need in order to be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power.

Verse number 11 uh is telling us that you and I are called now to put on the full armor of God.

Put it on.

I read this and and and this verb is what it says put it on, but it can also uh I wrestled with this something when I read it because I didn't love the idea that some of us could walk away thinking I like I put on my salvation, and then I can take off my salvation.

I can put on my righteousness, then I can take off my righteousness.

Because the Bible doesn't teach that.

Once you give your heart and your life to Jesus Christ, you are saved to the uttermost, top of your head, to the soles of your feet, and your behavior is not the thing that can take away your salvation because you didn't get it by works, you don't lose it by works.

Your righteousness is a free gift that comes through the finished work of Jesus Christ.

So you don't like, you don't sin, then all of a sudden you're no longer righteous in God's sight.

Yes, you must repent, but you've already been made brand new because of the grace and the power of Jesus Christ.

So the idea of putting on and putting off, I thought some of us might think, uh-uh, I'm in one day and I'm out another day.

I'm good one day, then I'm not good another day.

He loves me, he loves me not.

He loves me, he loves me not, and that's not what the Bible teaches at all.

The Bible teaches that while you and I were still sinners, Christ died for us, that his love for you is unconditional, and there is nothing that can separate you from that love.

So when I'm reading put on, what does that mean?

Uh, really, what he is saying here is live out.

Live out your salvation, live out your righteousness, live out the peace that comes from the gospel, live out faith.

He's not saying like you just put it on and take it off, he's saying live it out.

Um, if you are single, 27, single, or 37 and single, uh, 47 and single, uh, you might be mad about that.

And um, I want you to know that God still sees you and knows you and loves you uh for sure.

And and if he has that special someone for you, uh shoot, I pray they're in the house today.

I pray they're in church.

Matter of fact, all single people stand up.

No, just kidding, just kidding.

Um but if you've been single for a period of time and you get married, you're 37 and you get married, you don't know how to be married.

You know how to be single.

A ring doesn't teach you how to be married.

A ring and the covenant and the words that you say, you're married, but it doesn't teach you how to be married.

So when you come into marriage, you now still have the mindset and the patterns and the behaviors of a single person.

What you want what I want you to do each day, connecting with this the scripture, is I want you each day to put on marriage, meaning live it out.

It's new habits and new flows and understanding new new uh ways of going about things.

I want you to live it out.

He is saying here for all of us, I want you to live out what has been secured for you through the finished work of Jesus Christ.

It is not like it's laying on the ground.

You ever been invited to a dinner or something and you don't have clothes for it?

They're like, oh, everybody's dressing up.

You're like, man, I only got shorts, or I don't have a tuxedo, and you think I gotta go find this.

I don't want you thinking, I gotta go find righteousness, I gotta go find salvation.

It is at the foot of the cross of Jesus Christ and available to all of us.

And once you have given your heart and your life to Jesus, this is yours.

Live it out.

So now keep on going with me in verse 11.

It says, so put on the full armor of God so that you can take your stand.

Everybody say stand.

So you can take your stand against the devil's schemes.

The devil be scheming.

Looking.

How can I get him?

How can I get him?

Talking about sports.

Um, there'll be a scouting report that you would have on the opposing team.

The scouting report uh tells you the tendencies of the players on the team.

I was asking the Lord this week, Lord, what are my tendencies?

What is it the enemy, when he looks at me, he goes, Oh yeah, I can get him with that.

What are your tendencies?

You got some?

There's some stuff that will tempt you that will not tempt me.

There's some stuff with the person on your right and your left that will tempt them but won't tempt you.

There's some things that can, they just get you.

They just you go to anger quick on that one.

Somebody else is like, chill.

Come on.

Why are you acting like that?

You're like, you're not, it just gets you.

It's a tendency.

It might have to do with alcohol, it might have to do with selfishness, it might have to do with anger.

There's a tendency that you have, and the Bible here tells us that the devil is scheming, going, I'm gonna find, I'm gonna find the tendencies.

Because let me tell you this, this is what's gonna open some of our eyes.

The devil is interested in killing you.

Killing you.

Not you having like a bad life, you just kind of being average.

But you not only not living up to the purpose and the call that God has on your life, but that he would absolutely destroy you and everyone connected to you.

The devil is interested in stealing, killing, and destroying.

That's it.

Now we're walking through life like it's a walkthrough, and the devil's over there going, I'm gonna watch how he walks.

I'm gonna watch how she walks.

I'm gonna see.

Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

I'll wait.

I can get him with that.

What happened to them at 12?

Okay, yep.

I'll wait.

I'll hold that.

I'll hold that one.

I'll hold that till they get in a relationship with somebody that God sent their way.

Then I'll go ahead and drop that bomb right there in the middle of it, so I can try to destroy their life off of something that happened when they were 12.

So I'm gonna make sure they hold on to that resentment as long as they possibly can, because I can see that tendency.

I can see they're walking with that limp, and they have not been willing to surrender that to the Lord right there.

And as long as they're not willing to surrender that part of their life to the Lord, I know I can chain them in that area of their life, and I can chain them there, then I can get them chained in this other thing, and then I can make them think that God's not for them and the church is not for them, and people aren't for them, and all of a sudden I got them isolated, and now I got them isolated all by themselves, and I'll wait 15 years if I have to, I'll wait 25 years if I have to, because the devil is not interested in just trying to make your life bad, he's trying to kill and destroy your entire life.

He's not interested in you just having a bad marriage, he's trying to kill your marriage, destroy it.

This church, the devil is scheming to destroy it.

That's why divisiveness and disunity and dishonor and selfishness and pride and ego, where these things are allowed to persist and overtake without any repentance and surrender our hearts and our lives to Jesus, the devil goes, Yeah, yeah, yeah, I can get him on that.

I can get him on that, I can get him on that.

The devil is scheming to destroy your life.

Now, I am not saying this to scare you.

I want you to be aware.

You don't need to be afraid.

You got the full armor.

Matter of fact, we should not be afraid because the victory is already ours through the finished work of Jesus Christ.

You aren't trying to defeat the devil, the devil's already been defeated.

When Jesus came out of that tomb, Colossians teaches us this: that he made a public, that Jesus made a public spectacle of the enemy triumphing over him in his death.

The cross and the empty grave is an announcement to all the world and to hell.

I already won.

Jesus already has the victory.

So you're not here like in a battle with the devil.

No, my friends, you are standing in the victory that Jesus has already given you, and the problem is we don't understand the victory.

So the devil's over here scheming, scheming, scheming, scheming, scheming, scheming.

How do I just how do I destroy him?

Oh, let me let that resentment stay right there.

Resentment stays right there.

If that resentment can stay there, then I'll kill him.

Keep on going with me here.

For our struggle, verse 12, is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world, and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms.

Verse 13.

Therefore, put on, live out the full armor of God.

So that, this is verse number 13, so that if the day of evil comes, away.

No.

What's it say?

When?

Not if.

When?

Stop being surprised that the day of evil is coming.

Stop being surprised at the attacks.

This is what the enemy does.

This is what you and I are in.

It is not a walkthrough.

It is a war zone.

And since it's a war zone, you and I have to, when you become husband and wife, understand that this is an announcement to it's a billboard to the world of Christ loving the church.

It is a picture of what God is wanting to do in the earth.

This is a picture of God saying, Hey, your marriage is going to be a light and an example to everybody around you.

So when they see how you treat each other, they're gonna be like, What is different about that?

And you're gonna say, Because Jesus has changed and transformed us, and now your marriage becomes a billboard.

So do not be surprised that if you are a billboard, you get arrows coming at you because the devil is trying to destroy the picture that God put in place.

Teenagers, you're not living your life for yourself.

Young adults, we're not just sleeping around because I'm trying, I'm just trying to feel I want I want to really enjoy this season of my life.

No, no, no.

It's a trap and a lie from the pit of hell to try to destroy your very life.

It's not if, it's when.

The day of evil comes.

When it comes, take your stand.

Watch this, watch this.

I like this.

When the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground.

And after you have done everything, to stand.

I mean, put verse 11 up there for me, real quick.

Verse 11 of chapter 6 has stand.

Um I think verse 13.

Go to verse 13.

It has stand.

Verse 14.

Stand, stand, stand, stand, stand.

He is telling the church at Ephesus, and he's also speaking to us.

You never back down.

You never back down.

And I know there is a version of Christianity that is out there.

It's in the ecosystem, it's in, it's on YouTube, and it's on Instagram, and it's on TikTok, that is trying to paint some picture, that Christians were called to be punks and weak and live some soft life.

My friends, that is not the heritage of being a follower of Jesus Christ.

Christians have always been men and women that would stand in the face of trial and in the face of persecution, and we'd be willing to worship and give and serve and love and pray.

No matter what was coming our way.

Do not believe the lie that there is some weak.

I almost said a cuss word.

Listen, I don't even cuss.

Guys, I don't even cuss.

I don't even cuss.

My wife cusses.

I don't even cut.

I almost.

And she doesn't, she's holy.

Um I almost was like, yo, we I was like, whoa, whoa.

Back that up, Earl.

But I'm angry.

I'm angry that there's some version of Christianity that's just being dealt to us.

And we're like, oh yeah, let me be comfortable.

Oh yeah, let it be easy.

Oh yeah, let me be safe.

We were never called to safe.

We were never called to easy.

We were called to take up a cross and to live for the glory of God.

This is what's going through your veins.

You're not crossed as a follower of Jesus.

You've got the Spirit of the living God who has baptized you and filled you and empowered you to be the hands and feet of Jesus in your generation.

And I know people at your job are crazy.

But the power of God on the inside of you is greater than every single thing that you're facing at your job.

And I know it can be hard, and I know it can be difficult, and life can be difficult.

You're trying to raise kids today?

Man, goodness gracious.

There's so we put on the phone, the kids have in their hand a ticking time bomb.

A phone that will tell them you're not good enough.

You weren't invited to this.

Now you know right away you're not good enough.

You're not welcome.

We don't want you there.

You gotta learn how to plead the blood of Jesus Christ.

You have to walk, we have to live out the full armor of God.

We have to recognize that what God has given us, because a day of evil is coming.

Take your stand.

Now I was seeing this word stand, stand, stand, stand, stand, stand, stand, stand, stand, stand, stand.

It was stand so many times.

And I it was rubbing me not the wrong way, but I was like, well, Lord, what about?

Like, I'm not a stand around person.

I like to move.

Like I want, I want to move forward.

I'm not just standing around.

So I was reading that and I'm feeling a little bit conflicted.

That I feel like God has wired me and us to take ground, like to move forward.

And here, being told to stand.

So in digging into it a little bit more, recognize when the apostle Paul is saying here, uh stand, he he's not saying like be inept and don't ever move and don't ever do anything.

He's saying there has been that the military language carries the idea that that some land has already been occupied, some land has already been purchased fought for, purchased, and won.

You ever play King of the Hill?

And and the person on the top is the one who's in charge, and everybody else is trying to come up there and pull the person off.

The idea is stand not from the bottom of the hill, but you're standing because of the finished work of Jesus Christ on the top of the hill.

So since you have what you need in Jesus, stand and don't let the attacks of the enemy knock you off of the place that Jesus Christ has given you.

Stand.

Stand.

Stand.

But we're too often like, oh, attack.

And some attacks are so real that it can make you wonder, should I just live a life of mediocrity in hiding so I don't get attacked anymore?

Truth be told we're moving into this Dallas building.

Man, we had some attacks come our way that we had to ask ourselves, is this worth it?

Is it worth it?

We came to the conclusion after being on our knees and crying out to God, it surely is.

Jesus is worth it and you are too.

Because the devil doesn't play fair anyway.

Go ahead and hide.

Do you think that will mean no more arrows are coming your direction?

So I say you might as well go ahead and go all in for the cause of Jesus Christ and live for God's glory.

If the attacks are gonna come anyway, let me just go ahead and say, God, you can have all my skills, my talents, my abilities, my money, my pains, my ups and my downs.

You can have it all.

Okay.

You guys just send day out here so I can so I can so I can end this.

Verse number 14.

It says, Stand firm then with the belt of truth buckled around your waist, with the breastplate of righteousness in place, with your feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace.

In addition uh to all this, take up the shield of faith with which you can extinguish all the all the flaming arrows of the evil one.

I mean, it goes down the line of all of these pieces of the armor.

Truth.

Truth.

One of the devil's greatest tools is deception.

Make you think that what is not really what it is.

So that you will drift and end up in isolation, anger, bitterness, frustration, whatever.

Some of us have not been to church in years because of deception.

You know everybody at church is like.

Everybody?

Everybody?

So it's fascinating that you don't want to be judged, but now the deception has put you in the seat of a judge.

And now you're judging everybody else's motive when you don't even know everybody.

And it makes sense.

Oh, I don't do that.

I don't do church.

They're all hypocrites.

All of them?

You met everybody?

Deception.

A little twist.

Warp your mind, fog your vision.

Get you a little bit off.

A little bit off with your parents, a little bit off with your roommate, a little bit off with your co-workers, a little bit off with your spouse.

Just not seeing everything correctly.

But in Jesus, we have truth.

Get rid of that fog so I can see properly.

How much of salvation?

Again, you don't lose your salvation based on your works.

This is a free gift of God that came to the finished work of Jesus Christ.

Once you surrender your heart and your life to Jesus, you are saved.

Not losing this because you made a mistake.

If you lost it because you made a mistake, I'm telling you, all of us are cooked.

Every last one of us.

You and I received this free gift of salvation and were made brand new.

That's why I worship.

That's why I can walk in joy.

Even when I have so much, so many problems and pains coming my direction.

Man, God's on my side.

He loves me.

My feet are fitted with the gospel of peace.

Not anxiety, not hesitancy, peace, so I can move forward with confidence.

The shield of faith, I'll probably end right here.

Uh it was the size of a door.

Their shield was the size of a door.

It would hold this shield up.

And it says, You can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one.

It's connecting to how they did battles back in the day.

So they had the shield, the size of a door, and they would take their shield and they would dip it and drench it in water.

So that when the flaming arrows came and they hit the shield, they would be extinguished because the shield was saturated in water.

Even when we were singing worship songs today, I felt our faith was just being saturated in the presence of God.

That's why we sing, it's just being saturated, it's being dipped into the presence of God.

So when I take my faith out and I go into my workplace and I go with my friends and I go to my school and I go into my family, all the flaming arrows that are coming in my direction, they will not be the things that take me out.

Because I got a faith that's been saturated in God's presence.

We're praying, we're praying people, we're praying people.

I don't know how to pray.

Yes, you do, because you know how to talk.

Help, God, that's a prayer.

I don't know what to do.

That's a prayer.

All these things will push us forward to help us become all that God is calling us to be.

You have what you need to stand, you have what you need to stand, you have what you need to stand, and all of it was found in the finished work of Jesus Christ.

If you and my family, bow your heads just for a moment.

As your heads are bowed, if you're under the sound of my voice, you've never given your heart in your life to Christ, you've never mim first, you've never made him number one, never made him the boss, never made him the ruler of your life, but you're saying, I don't want to go my own way anymore, I want to go the way of Jesus.

I don't want to be first to my life, I want Jesus Christ to be first.

Maybe you gave your heart to Christ at one point in time in your life, but you slipped away, you've gone another direction.

You're saying, I don't want to go my own way anymore, I want to go his way.

I want to rededicate my life to serving Jesus.

There might be a mother or a grandmother or aunt or uncle or a friend praying for you right now.

They knew that today was gonna happen.

They prayed for today to happen.

You know in your heart it is time for you to surrender your heart and your life to Jesus Christ.

If that's you, you've never given your heart to Christ, so at one point in time you didn't you slipped away.

You're ready to give your heart to Jesus on the count of three.

I just want you to throw your hand in the air and say, Yes, that's me.

Ready, one, two, three.

Just lift your hand up.

You're saying, yep, that's me.

This is beautiful, friends, all over.

You're saying, yep, that's me, that's me.

I want to give my heart and my life to Christ.

I want to make him first, want to make him number one.

I'm gonna ask everyone to do me a favor, put your hand over your heart right now if you would not mind.

I want everyone to repeat this prayer out loud after me.

Say, dear Jesus, I ask you to forgive me of all my sins.

I admit I made mistakes.

And today, I give you my heart, I give you my life, give me the power to live for you in Jesus' name.

Amen.

And amen, can we lift our heads up, clap our hands?

Yeah.