Winning the War - Fire Extinguisher

If you want to click, flip in your Bible, we're going to bounce around a little bit, but we're going to start in Ephesians 6 again.

We're in this series called Winning the War.

We're talking about the armor of God, right?

And so over the last several weeks, uh, we have been talking about different pieces of the armor.

If you missed it, you can head over to our YouTube page.

You can get on your favorite podcast platform.

Go back and listen to them if you want to.

But my encouragement is if you've never been a note taker in church, this might be the moment to do that.

Pull out your note app.

You can stay off Instagram or Facebook for 20, 25, uh, maybe 30 or 35 minutes is how long it takes me to preach.

You'll be all right.

Jot a few notes down and let this begin to encourage you to figure out how to win the battle in your life.

Today we want to talk about a message entitled Fire Extinguishers.

I don't know about you, but I love to burn things.

Anyone else?

Come on.

I just have to make sure it's not windy and it's been raining before I burn stuff.

And I made that mistake last fall because we have a burn barrel.

Like I don't just shred my stuff, I burn my stuff.

I give nobody a shot to find any of my stuff.

And so, man, I lit that burn barrel last fall.

And then I went back to feed the horse, and I came back up to the house, and that fire wasn't in the burn barrel anymore.

That fire was in my fence row.

And so I had to suddenly figure out how to chase a fire going in two directions down my fence row and put it out before my wife realized what happened.

Every husband in here, you know what I'm talking about.

Because you know you're gonna get in trouble the moment she finds out.

So I get that all stamped out, right?

I'm finding a way to put the fire out again inside.

She's like, it smells like something's burning.

I'm like, what?

I mean, so she looked out the window and she saw this black streak going down both sides of the fence there.

Life, if we're honest, sometimes it just feels like that, right?

It feels like we're fighting some fires.

And we're gonna see in Ephesians 6 in a moment that that's the way the enemy actually gets described for the way he attacks us.

That in life, it feels like we're always putting out a fire.

Maybe life isn't going as easy as you thought it would when you said yes to God.

Maybe you thought that day that I just surrendered my life to Jesus and I got saved.

My life was gonna become rainbows and unicorns, and everything was magically gonna get better.

And then reality sets in, and what happens?

Like it actually seems like it gets harder.

Anyone else feel like that?

Like the more I try to follow God, the harder life gets.

And it's like, man, wait a minute.

I thought that fire was supposed to go out, and it feels like it's spreading.

God, I'm trying to do what you asked me to do, but it doesn't seem to be working right.

That maybe it's one of those moments where you prayed you didn't get the promotion, you got betrayed by somebody.

The fires in life, it feels like we wrestle against right now is if we live in a world that is trying to make it impossible to find out what to trust.

If you haven't figured out yet, we're about to hit another election season.

Ugh.

Right?

And it's gonna be this moment where it's like, which which side do I listen to?

Like I hear two stories about the same thing, and I don't know which side is true.

We turn on the news, and all the news is there to do is to try to get us to believe a story, but is it the story?

And is there any truth in that story?

We jump on now, and AI is everywhere.

We can't tell what's real and what's not because of AI.

Like the problem used to be anybody, you might have some grandparents like this.

They used to share this picture on Facebook.

Like, if you love Jesus, share this post.

And they thought they were really sharing Jesus, but it was Obi-Wan Kenobi from Star Wars.

And if you guys, you don't have to raise your hands so you don't embarrass your grandparents, but I'm just saying, like, like it's getting harder to figure out what I can trust in the world that I see right now.

Maybe the reality is I prayed, I asked God, and he didn't answer my prayer.

I've had some of those moments.

Maybe God didn't fix my marriage like I thought he was going to.

Maybe he still hasn't turned my child back to him and they're running away from him.

My finances keep falling further and further behind.

I prayed for healing, and healing hasn't come.

And so, what do we do in these moments where it feels like we're constantly fighting a fire?

That's the beauty of what Paul's trying to do.

Like the reality of why the Lord would give us this thing, where he would call it the armor of God, is because it's not so that we can just get to heaven one day.

It's so that we can find victory here on earth now, until we get to heaven one day.

And so we've been looking at different pieces of the armor, and we're gonna see one here, but we're gonna start in Ephesians 6 at verse 10.

I want to just keep building every week.

I think there's something important when we hear scripture being spoken into our hearts and minds.

So Ephesians 6.10 says a final word, be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power.

Means you don't have to be strong by yourself, be strong in the Lord and his mighty power.

That should take the pressure off anybody.

Put on all of God's armor so that you'll be able to stand firm against all the strategies of the devil.

For we are not fighting against flesh and blood enemies, but against the rulers and authorities of the unseen world, against mighty powers in this dark world, and against evil spirits in heavenly places.

Therefore, put on every piece of God's armor so that you will be able to resist the enemy in time of evil.

Then after the battle, you will be standing firm.

Notice what he's guaranteeing there.

He's guaranteeing us victory.

He doesn't say you may be standing firm.

He doesn't say, I hope this works out for you.

He says, After the battle, you will be standing firm.

You want to figure out how to make it through this life and be victorious.

He's giving us the recipe right here.

And so here we go.

Verse 14, stand your ground.

Putting on the belt of truth.

Remember, we talked about that, and the body armor of God's righteousness.

For the shoes, put on peace that comes from the good news, so that you will be fully prepared.

And in addition to all these things, here we are today.

Hold up the shield of faith to stop the fiery arrows of the devil.

Today we're going to talk about faith.

God's been building, He's trying to help us understand how to find victory.

He's trying to equip us, He's trying to make us victorious.

And so He says, Trust in my strength, trust in my power, stand firm on my truth, right?

We talked about truth a few weeks ago and why the enemy would do all he can to destroy truth in this world so that we would not have something to be able to be equipped with.

We talked about navigating with the armor of righteousness, that doing things God's right way leads to his blessing.

And we talked about peace last week.

So often we're moved by emotions.

So often we're moved by circumstances, and yet the peace is what we put on our feet because God's called us to be moved into every situation we're moved into by his peace, not by emotions or circumstances.

And here we are with faith.

Why would he use the picture of a shield?

So if you understand Roman soldiers and the way a shield would work, here's the way they worked.

They were made out of leather to begin with.

And they weren't just a piece of leather.

They would take six pieces of animal hide and sew them together.

You know, talk about some strong leather.

When you put six pieces of leather on top of each other, you've created a very strong shield to protect you.

And those little round shields that you see in pictures, those were just for moments where they were marching through after they won.

The real shields that they took out were almost the size of a small door.

They were wide and they were tall so that they could protect them from everything that would come their way.

If you understood the way they would work, they would actually hinge their shields together with other Roman soldiers so that when they walked in battle, it wasn't just my shield.

There was a row of us locked together.

You want to know why we do church together?

Because you don't need to just be out there by yourself.

You need to lock your shield with some other people's shields so together we can walk together in what we do.

And then they wouldn't just have one row here.

They would often have the next row behind them have a second layer of shields on top so that whether something was coming at them or coming from above, they had a row of protection that they could move and march through.

Why are you telling all this?

Just wait.

I promise we're going to understand it when we look in scripture here in a moment.

And the beauty of all of it, if you understood a shield, is you understand leather has to be taken care of.

Anybody had a good pair of leather boots that you had to oil up?

You learn that if you're going to have a saddle and deal in the leather world, you better learn how to oil stuff up and take care of the leather that you have.

Leather requires some care because if it doesn't, it dries up and gets brittle and breaks.

And then what they would also do before they would go into battle after they had oiled them is they would soak those shields in water so that when they went out, if the enemy shot a flaming arrow at them and it hit that shield and stuck in it, it would be extinguished and go out.

Context is everything, and it helps us understand what God's trying to do.

That's the picture we have to get in our mind.

We we talk about a shield of faith.

This is what Paul would have been describing.

And so, how do we get to this place where we're equipped with the faith that God has getting us to?

Well, let's look at a few different scriptures.

You can take notes as you want to if we're going along here.

But Romans 10, 17, you want to be equipped with faith.

It says, so faith comes from hearing, that is hearing the good news about Christ.

You want to know how to equip faith in your life.

Then you have to learn that faith is connected to God's word.

You want me to tell you why church is so important?

Because there's something powerful that happens when we come together and hear God's word together.

You want to know why we talk about reading scripture in your life outside of this moment?

Because scripture is one of the most powerful ways you and I can equip our life with faith.

If we don't read the Bible, your faith will falter.

It's impossible.

Just like there's no way it's gonna work.

Because all of our faith is based in Christ and the work that he did at the cross.

And how do we understand that work and how it applies to our life?

When we open up that Bible and start reading from Genesis to Revelation, there's a secret there.

Jesus is in the entire Bible, even in the Old Testament.

It's one story that's pointing to him from beginning to end.

And it's so important that we learn to open up the Word of God and read the Word of God, not because it's what a Christian is supposed to do, it's because it equips us with the faith that we need to resist the enemy when he comes into our life.

And so, what would be the one thing if I was Satan that I would try to do so that you would not have the faith?

I would try to find every reason possible to get you to never open up your Bible.

Because if you don't read his word, you have nothing to believe in.

And if I read his word, then suddenly he understands that we're equipping our life with a truth.

That belt.

If you understand Roman soldiers, you want to know what that shield hung on when they didn't walk around?

When they weren't using it in battle, it hang on their belt, the belt of truth.

It's an analogy when Paul gave this analogy.

The two are unseparable.

You want to have faith, it requires understanding God's truth.

There's something powerful that He does in our life when we begin to read up and fill up our life with His scripture.

The more you read it, the more you're filled up, the more you're filled up, the more your faith is filled up.

How many of you crazy people out here love to drive around and see how close to E you can get before you fill up?

Psychos, man.

I'm telling you, what's wrong with you guys?

Gosh.

Faith is like filling up the gas tank, man.

Like the more you read scripture, the more you are filling up the tank so that your faith has something to be fueled by.

And the more you neglect scripture, hear me.

One, it's what Satan wants.

He does not want you to read the Bible.

And so the more you neglect scripture, the more you empty the faith tank because I don't understand the truth that he's called me to stand on.

And so it's why as a church we do this thing called a Bible reading plan every year together.

Why would I do that?

Because one of the greatest things I could ever get you to do as your pastor is to get you to read the Bible and believe what it says.

Period.

If you would do that, it would change everything.

And it would fill up your faith tank so full that you would learn to resist everything that the enemy would throw your way.

And here's the beauty of it.

The Bible is this crazy book that you just don't read one time and understand.

I can't tell you now how many times I've read through the Bible.

I've lost count.

Every time I read it, though, it's like I find something that I didn't know was there the last time I read it.

Or every time I read it, I'm reminded of something that I forgot.

Any of you guys ever forget something?

All you gotta do is ask your spouse.

I know, like they'll be honest.

Like we need reminding about things.

Like there's reminders I put on my phone to remind me, hey, you're supposed to make sure you unload the dishwasher today.

And I set a timer for four o'clock so I get it done because I need a reminder.

If you want to have faith, sometimes we need a reminder.

And one of the best reminders we can get is opening up the Word of God and reading it together.

Finding a group to be a part of so that I can find some other people that can help me grow and understand scripture together.

Maybe it's finding a person or two in the church and just saying, hey, I'm trying to grow.

I don't know how to do this.

Would you help me?

And then sit down and do something together.

There's a ton of people that would love to help you grow.

And they may be just waiting for somebody like you to say, hey, I feel this tug to grow in my faith and understand scripture better.

Would you help me?

And they would.

We got to fill up the faith tank.

Romans 10, 17 tells us that.

We got to keep going though.

But if we're going to be equipped by faith, he talks about it in that scripture.

He says, Hold up the shield of faith.

If you understand that word hold up or take up the shield of faith, then it means faith requires personal responsibility.

Notice what he said.

You notice he did not say God will hold up the shield of faith for you.

He told us, you grab a hold and hold up the shield of faith.

See, so many times we want to make faith God's responsibility, and God's like, nah, nah, nah, nah.

Like, it's your responsibility.

I've given you all the faith you need, but you got to pick the shield up and hold it.

You guys ever have kids?

You say, go clean the room, go do the dishes, and they say, I don't know how.

They know.

They just don't want to.

Because it's time for them to learn to pick something up for themselves.

And this is God's way of telling you and I in this moment, you want to learn to have faith.

Somewhere you and I got to take some responsibility to grab a hold of the shield and hold it up.

We're getting mad at God or we're getting mad at the enemy for beating us.

And God's like, bro, the shield is on your belt.

You're just not picking it up.

Hold it up.

The invitation means you and I have some responsibility when it comes to faith.

Yes, God wants to help us, and He wants to give faith to us, and He wants to impart us with a grace to be able to have faith.

But then somewhere we have to pick the shield up and say, God, I'm gonna put it into practice in my life.

I'm gonna do the right things that help me hold up my shield of faith.

So my question to you is what things are you doing in your life to help you hold up your shield of faith?

Let me give you some real scenarios.

What circle of friends do you have in your life?

If you don't have friends that are encouraging you to hold up faith, you've got the wrong circle of friends in your life.

If you have the kind of friends that get you to lay your faith down to be around them, it's time for a new circle of friends.

You should have some friends in your life that help you hold up your shield of faith.

And here's the excuse I hear from people.

Yeah, but man, God has called me to reach people that aren't saved.

And I hear that all the time.

Yes, he has.

But what he has not called you to do is to lower your standard of life to reach those people.

He could reach them just fine without you having to lower your shield down and lower your standard to do it.

Some of us, we need some friends in our life that will tell us what we need to hear, not what we want to hear, that will challenge us and say the hard thing to our face because they love us.

Pick up your shield.

You need to find that kind of circle in your life.

You want to learn to hold up the shield of faith?

Man, what are some things that you need to do?

Listen, if you're married, maybe one of the best ways you can hold up your shield of faith is grab a hold of your spouse's hand tonight before you go to sleep and pray with her.

Wild idea, man.

Maybe before you walk out of the house tomorrow, grab her hands and pray with her.

Hold up that shield of faith for your marriage.

You're gonna figure out how to hold up the shield of faith for your kids.

Open up the Bible and talk about faith with your kids.

Don't wait for kids' church to do it on a Sunday.

Next time you're sitting down at home, talk about it.

What'd you learn today?

What scripture did you read?

What do you think that means for you?

You're like, man, I just don't know how to have that conversation with my kids.

Then it's time for you to disciple and grow in your faith so you can learn how to have that conversation with your kids.

Because that's what God's called us to do.

That's what it looks like to take up, hold up our shield of faith.

We're called to take that thing up, to take those steps, to be discipled yourself.

Maybe you've given your life to the Lord, haven't figured out the next steps.

Well, the next step is to keep growing in your relationship with Jesus, and you need somebody to disciple you.

And if one hour on a Sunday, maybe you come every week, maybe you only come twice a month.

You're not being discipled.

It takes more than this.

It takes an intentional daily walk with Christ, an intentional investment to grow and learn Him.

And maybe if you're there and you've got some maturity, then maybe what Jesus is telling you is you need to go find somebody to disciple.

The goal wasn't just to become a fat Christian that sits in church and wait till I get to heaven.

Can't believe you call me fat.

I mean, I didn't mean it that way, all right.

But somewhere if we get mature, we should be helping somebody else grow in that maturity.

That's why we talk about being followers as one of our core values.

Invest in followers, not because I want a bunch of people as a leader to follow me.

It's because at the end of the day, all we've been called to do is help people follow Jesus.

That's what a disciple is.

How do I invest in people so they can follow Jesus better?

That means I have to be invested in, and that means I have to invest in other people.

That's why we have group sign up.

I mean, I'm gonna keep beating that drum.

At some point we blame God for weak faith, and it's really just because we put the shield down.

I know.

Uncomfortably real, right?

Because if we're holding the shield up and we got faith, he said it will extinguish every fiery arrow of the enemy.

The moment you let it down.

Keep going.

I know.

I gotta keep moving.

I want to stay there longer.

He talks about it, he says that the the the hold up the shield of faith to stop.

That word to stop, if you go look it up in Greek, faith makes room for God's power.

That word to stop that Paul uses there in Ephesians 6, 16 when he talks about the fiery arrows, is the word that's connected to the Greek word dunymus.

You know what that means?

It's the same word connected in Acts 1, where scripture talks about the power of the Holy Spirit in our life.

He's telling you and I, if we're not still, let me connect one more dot for you.

When you leverage faith in your life and put it into action, the power of God fills your life to stop every fiery attack of the enemy.

So are you telling me that I have the power to stop the enemy?

When you activate your Your faith, it activates God's power, and you have everything you need to stop every attack of the enemy because it's not just you putting faith in God, it's God putting faith in you by putting his Holy Spirit into your life and giving you access to his power.

If I feel weak in my life, it's almost inevitably every time it's got nothing to do with God.

It's got everything to do with the fact that I let my shield down and I'm not taking steps of faith anymore.

Because when I take steps of faith, God's power is promised to you and I.

The two are interconnected every time you take a step of faith.

It's like God pours an extra measure of the power of his spirit into your life to give you the ability to do what you couldn't do in your own power.

So if you feel powerless today, you may tell you the best thing you can do to start to feel God's power at work in your life, take a step of faith.

It's scary.

Yeah, it is.

God didn't say anything about wait till you're not scared to do it.

Do it even though you're scared.

Because God honors faith.

You know how you read a story about David killing a giant?

Because one kid held up a shield and ran onto a field and just put faith in God, and the power of God supernaturally filled him.

It wasn't just the fact that David had an ability to sling a stone and hit that giant, it was that the power of God filled David in such a way that he gave David the ability to do that very thing.

Was it David or was it God?

Yes.

Both.

God's power is a promise to you and I through his Holy Spirit that he's placed in our life.

That he wants to fill you up with his power.

Power, hear me.

We're gonna make this really simple.

Power to be the husband God created you to be.

To be the husband your wife needs you to be.

Power to be the wife your husband needs you to be.

Power to be the mother or father you've been called to be.

Power take your pick.

You mean it's like that granular?

A hundred percent that granular.

He's trying to do all he can to partner with you so that you can find victory in this life.

And one of the quickest ways we do it is taking a step of faith to follow God and trust him and move in the power that he's called us to.

That there is an explosive power that waits for us.

It's the picture of the shield, right?

And I talked about how they would link those shields together and it would create a wall that was almost unpenetrable as they moved out into battle.

Think of it this way: when you have God's power at work, when you activate faith, like it's an iron tank going to war.

If you know history, I love history at all.

You want to know what shifted World War I and World War II?

The invention and the implementation of the tank.

Now it had its limits in some ways, but what it did open up was suddenly a row of the enemy would have a machine gun fire just trying to plow people down.

But all of a sudden, if I could get an arsenal of tanks in front of me moving forward, now I've created a barrier to deflect the fire of the enemy.

And I'm not just playing defense, but I finally actually found a way to punch through the wall of the enemy.

And victories that happened on both sides in World War I and II were often formed around who had the right tanks in the right position, in the right space to protect their people and open up a door where they could penetrate the enemy line and get behind them.

That's the picture that Paul's trying to paint here with faith.

Man, when I pick up that shield and I link it with God and other people, one, I've had an ability to play defense against the attack of the enemy, but suddenly I also have the ability to punch and push through the enemy lines around me and actually begin to defeat what he's trying to do.

That I don't have to just take the hits anymore, I can start dishing them out as well.

That's the picture God's trying to give us in this moment when he talks about us being equipped with faith.

And so let me ask you in your life, if you had to be completely honest, when's the last time you took a step of faith in your life?

Like if you had to honestly assess your life, when's the last time you did something that just truly required a step of faith from you?

I don't need an answer, but somewhere if we're gonna hold up faith, it means we should probably be doing something that requires me to actually trust and have faith in God and not myself.

Because He's given me the power to do that thing and overcome.

Two, faith guarantees, or I gotta keep going, not three.

I'm on three or four.

I don't remember what number I'm on.

We're talking about flaming arrows.

Faith guarantees us the victory.

If you understand arrows and flaming arrows in this picture of history, there were usually two types of arrows that the enemy would shoot that were on fire.

One of them they would dip in tar and they would light the end of it and they would shoot it at their enemies.

The second was much more deadly.

They would take an arrow made out of cane, they would plug up the end and they would fill it with an explosive flammable fluid, and then put the arrow on the end of it and light it so that when they shot it into something and it hit, the shaft would explode and it would be an exploding ball of fire that would spread everywhere.

That's the picture Paul's painting when he talks about the fiery arrows that the enemy would shoot.

Like when I think of fiery arrows, you'd have to grown up in the 1900s, but how many of you guys remember who Rambo is?

Rambo, first blood, hiding out there with that bow and arrow, shooting explosive arrows everywhere, right?

That's the picture of the enemy, man.

He's just flinging whatever explosive arrow he can at you and I, trying to see what would stick.

And what God is saying in this moment is when you have faith and my power fills you, you have the ability to extinguish everything the enemy would ever throw at your life.

Everything.

Let me say that again.

Everything.

No matter what you face, God has already promised you victory.

Challenges that haven't even showed up in your life left, they might surprise you.

God hasn't been surprised by anything that's happened in your life, and there's nothing in your life that's going to surprise him that he's not already made a plan for.

So that you can overcome everything the enemy would throw at you.

That victory may come in the fullness one day when we cross this side of eternity into heaven with him, but it's also victory that he's promised us right now while we're here on earth.

That there is an ability to win, to overcome.

You don't believe me, Colossians 2.15 says this.

It says that he disarmed them.

It doesn't say he will disarm them, he did disarm them.

Victory is yours now.

When you hold up faith, no matter what you face in life, Romans 10 13, or not in Romans, 1 Corinthians 10 13.

We all know this scripture.

The temptations in your life are no different from what others experience, and God is faithful, he will not allow the temptations to be more than you can stand.

When you are tempted, he will show you a way out so that you can endure.

You need a promise of God's truth to put a stake in the ground and put faith in.

1 Corinthians 10 13 is a great one.

And I hear people say, Man, God said he would never give me more than I can bear.

Well, that's not true.

He said he would never give you more than you could bear when you trust him, because he would make a way out.

When you depend on you, it's hard.

When you depend on him, then it doesn't matter what you face because he'll always make a way out for you.

But I gotta know truth, to pick up some faith and know what it says to have something to stand in.

Faith to overcome takes some tending to.

You know that leather that talks about needing oil?

If you understand a picture in scripture, you want an illustration if you study out scripture.

One of the symbols for the Holy Spirit in scripture is oil.

I don't think it's a mistake that Paul puts some of these analogies together.

Leather requires oil to be maintained and stay strong.

You and I, Paul's reminding us hey, the moment you do this, God will fill you with the power of his spirit, all of the oil you need applied to your life so that you can withstand every attack of the enemy.

And then scripture often uses a reference of water for scripture.

Like Ephesians 5, if you go back and you read part of what it's describing in marriage, it talks about the washing of water with scripture.

There's this image in this picture that the more we read scripture, the more we soak up in our faith the ability to extingu the enemy would throw at us.

If I'm not trusting his Holy Spirit, if I'm not reading his word, you got a dry, crusty, cracked-up shield.

Kind of like my grandpa's 1970s pickup truck, like that dash was so dried out up there, like it was cracked and peeling everywhere.

And but when I pick up my faith and I invite the Holy Spirit to come fill my life with his power, and I pick up my faith and I get into the word and I soak my faith in his word, then it doesn't matter what the enemy throws at me.

I have everything I need.

It was his promise to overcome everything the enemy would throw at me.

And so the challenge for me, for you, and are we ready for what the enemy wants to do?

If you want to understand why we do what we do in church, here's why we do what we do.

We talk about a Bible reading plan every year.

My invitation is to do nothing more than to get you to read scripture.

Why?

Because it requires the ability to know scripture for my faith to be strong.

That's all I just want you to read the Bible, man.

Not to check a box, not to make you a good Christian, not to try to appease God.

I want you to read scripture because when you do, it fills your heart and mind up with faith.

That's why I want you to read scripture.

That's why I encourage you.

You're like, well, I already missed this year, man.

It's it's August and it's almost over.

Like, I'll pick up next year.

No, just pick up where you're at, man.

It's okay.

If you're easily distracted, get a paper version then.

Don't read it from your phone, okay?

That's what I do in the mornings.

I'm I'm so like squirrel ADD, all right?

So I just I look at my Bible reading on my plan on my phone and then I lock that sucker and I get the paper version out because I just I know I'll get sucked in by a text message or an email and then it's gone.

But you need it, get into it daily.

If you're like, I don't read, then listen to it.

You drive around enough.

I mean, if you're going into Columbia to go to Andes, praise God, you should.

It's a 20-minute drive.

Turn on the Bible and listen to it as you go.

It's why we push for groups, because we need to hinge our shields together with other people so that we can form a wall of protection, not just for ourselves, but for the people around us.

Because for some of us, we're having a hard time holding up our shield.

But man, I can find a friend who's got a little more strength and I can hitch my shield to their shield, and together we could hold this thing up.

Or you can just lay it down and walk back out of here carrying the same problems you did as you came in.

We have these moments where we invite you to serve.

Man, I don't invite you to serve because I need another warm body feeling the whole.

Man, I invite you to serve because there's something that happens in our faith when we quit making ourselves the center of our faith and we start making Jesus and other people the center of our faith.

It lifts up our shield of faith and gives us courage because we suddenly realize it's bigger than just me.

Every time I ask you to give, I don't want your money.

And God does not need your money.

Every time I invite you to give, it's picking up that shield of faith and saying, Man, I am trusting God with my finances, knowing that He can do more when I'm generous with what He's given me than I could ever do holding on to all that's mine for myself.

The reality is we're sitting here today because somebody else picked up a shield of faith for you and made a way so you could hitch your shield to theirs.

This Sunday, believe it or not, it's it's the second anniversary of this church.

How cool is that?

And so for some of you, maybe you don't have the context, or maybe you've heard stories.

Let's go on a picture journey because the picture is worth a thousand words.

August of 2023, we sat in the Bob Lamone building.

12 people.

Two rows of people today.

That was it.

Moments where we were in that building together, moments where it was 12 people.

But what I love is some of those people that are in that picture are still in this church today.

Or happen to have just moved away recently.

I'm trying to steal them back from Montana somehow, but and somewhere along the way we outgrew that and we moved into the community center.

The community center 25 was a big Sunday.

Why do you keep talking about numbers?

I don't care about numbers.

Numbers are people, and I care about people.

So I'll fight for numbers because I'm fighting for people.

And somewhere along the way, we started running out of room there, trying to get ready to launch, and we started meeting in the primary school.

And a few more people come along.

And here we are, two years later from launch Sunday.

Here we are in a space where we're beginning to see we're moving from a primary school into running out of space in here.

We put out every chair we could to make sure we had enough room.

Three Sundays now, I don't know what today's at, but three Sundays now we pushed 260 or more here in service.

Listen, I don't say any of this for any other reason than to say for some of you, you're here today because somebody else three years ago held up a shield for you.

And I don't ever want to forget where we came from because it means we'll always be able to see where we're going if we remember where we came from.

Numbers I could care less about.

People I care about.

And if people matter, then we're always gonna do everything we need to do to make as much room as we can for as many people as we can because they need to hear and experience Jesus.

And if that makes you comfortable, I'm just gonna say I'm sorry now in advance.

But I'm not going to tell somebody I don't have room for you here.

I'm always going to make room.

Because people matter.

And somebody held up a shield of faith for you so that you could link their shield to them.

I mean, the reality is my wife was one of the first ones to hold a shield up.

Because when we had this dream, and I said, baby, that means we got to sell this house, we got to leave our jobs, and we got to move to a place where we got nothing.

She said, All right, I'll hitch my shield to that.

Let's go.

And other people along the way have hitched shields.

And one by one, God's putting us together and He's building something formidable, but it's only happening because people are willing to take steps of faith.

And because people are taking steps of faith, God is honoring that.

Look around.

Every week there's new people, every week we're growing.

I mean, we're filling up groups, two of them are full, and there's spaces that are starting to get limited in some of the others, and we're making room for people to grow.

Why?

Because somebody's holding up a shield of faith saying, I'm gonna do all I can to help you grow.

And so the question I would have for you today is, man, where do you need to take a step of faith in your life?

As we stand all across this place, we're gonna get ready to worship.

I got some friends, they're gonna come down front to pray with you.

And here would be my challenge that I would just give you right now.

Hear me, you can just take this message as a really cool message, and you can walk right out of the door, and nothing can change.

Or where do you need to take a step of faith in your life?

Man, I just I'm telling you, I believe with all my heart that God is speaking to somebody today.

He wants to do something in your life, but he's waiting for you to swallow your pride enough to step out and hitch your shield with somebody else.

And when you do, that's the biggest step of faith that you can take.

And when you do, God's power will fill your life and he'll honor that faith every time.

Maybe it's the faith to press on one more day.

Maybe it's the faith to believe in a miracle, maybe it's the faith to believe like Shadrach, Meshach, and Abendigo when God was about to throw them in the fire, that even if you don't save me, I'm still going.

Like faith that God, even if you don't answer this prayer the way I want to, I'm not giving up.

I'm still going in.

As they sing, and if you got anything going on where you need somebody to pray with you, take a step of faith, step out, swallow your pride, don't worry about what anybody else thinks because Jesus wants to meet you here in this place today.

He wants to do something in your life.

If you need prayer, you got people down front that love you, that care for you, that want to hook up their shield with you, hold that arm together and believe God to do something in your life.

If that's you, come down front as we sing and let the Lord begin to move and work in you.