Standing Ground: The Sword

Today, though, we've got to get really close, not quite, but like really close to wrapping up the series that we've been in for the last six, seven weeks.

It's a series called Standing Ground.

We've been studying something that we often refer to as spiritual warfare.

That's the phrase that you may hear this scripture reference to.

It doesn't actually say that that word in the scripture that we're going through, but that's the concept.

Ephesians chapter 6, verses 10 through 12.

Ephesians 6:10–12

A final word be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power.

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 evil rulers and authorities of the unseen world, against mighty powers in this dark world, and against evil spirits in the heavenly places.

This is a core concept, something that Jesus talked about often, something that Scripture talks about often.

It's that there is a spiritual world.

There's more than just what we see.

And it's amazing if you study the history of science, how much science has borne that out, that there's so much more than what we're able to see.

And we've learned so much about that over the course of the last few centuries that every time we think we've seen all there is to see, no, no, it turns out there's more.

Well, Scripture says that there's things we can't see.

Not even with microscopes, only through the spirit can we see it, can we discern it?

There's a spiritual world.

And in that spiritual world, there's a lot of good things.

There's God, there's angels, there's miracles.

But in that same spiritual world, there's a lot of evil.

And we have terms like evil spirits, demons, Satan, the devil.

That's the spiritual world that Paul is referencing.

And he says that that world is aligned against us as the followers of Jesus.

That we have a battle that we are fighting in.

Whether we realize it or not, we are fighting a battle.

A spiritual battle.

Now we can choose to believe in this or not, but all I can say to that is that if you were the enemy, would you prefer the people you're fighting to believe in you or to forget that you're there?

We have to be careful that we're not ignorant to the fact that there is a spiritual world.

And it overlaps.

Paul says that look, sometimes something's happening in your life and you think you're just dealing with life itself.

You think you're just dealing with circumstances.

But there's more to it than that.

We have an enemy.

An enemy who's who's powerful and against us.

But here's the good news he's not as powerful as our God, not even close.

And he's already been defeated, and we've already been equipped with everything we need to resist every temptation, every lie, every struggle that we could ever have with our enemy.

And Paul describes that in the next few verses.

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

And then after this battle, you'll still be standing firm.

Stand your ground, putting on the belt of truth and the body armor of God's righteousness.

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

In addition to all of these, hold up the shield of faith to stop the fiery arrows of the devil.

Put on salvation as your helmet, and take the sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of God.

So we've been going through these pieces of armor, these pieces of spiritual equipment, one week at a time, one piece.

And today we get to the sword, which is like the coolest part, right?

It's the only offensive weapon that it tells us that we have.

You know, we've got armor, we've got a helmet, we've got a shield and all that, but but just picture yourself going into battle.

If you get armor, you know, if you're getting suited up and there's a helmet placed on you, and there's there's body armor, and you've got the belt, and you've got the boots, and you've got the shield, and they don't hand you a sword, you're disappointed, right?

You're going, hey, I'm missing something.

I'm gonna need, I'm gonna need a sword.

Like, what happens if my enemy gets close?

I'm gonna need a sword.

Now, the specific sword that Paul would have been referencing would have been what we would call a gladius, which was a Roman sword.

In fact, there's this uh there's this weapon in our nation's history, the Winchester Rifle, in the late 1800s, and it's it's referred to as the gun that won the West.

You may have heard that phrase, the gun that won the West.

And that phrase was actually a play on a phrase that echoes throughout history: the sword that won the world.

The sword that won the world was the Roman Gladius.

It was this sword that the Romans had created, and it was extremely sharp, could pierce armor.

And it was it was a double-edged sword, sharp on both sides.

This was for up close and personal battle.

This is something you would use when your enemy was right in front of you.

This is something that you would use in a duel.

And that's kind of epic to think about, you know, dueling with an enemy.

I don't know if you've ever been in a duel.

I don't mean like an actual duel with swords per se.

I have four kids, so I duel all the time.

Like, you know, like I'm always dueling with someone in my home.

But duels are kind of epic.

There have actually been some really, some really famous duels in history.

You might be familiar with this.

Like one of them would be in our nation's history, Aaron Burr versus uh Alexander Hamilton, huh?

Anyone excited about that one?

You guys know the history there?

William Burr, dude on the right.

Uh he was the vice president of the United States.

And he challenged Alexander Hamilton, dude on the left, to a pistol duel, because they didn't get along, and he killed him.

The vice president of the United States shot someone on purpose and killed him.

And that was like a thing.

That was something people did.

Everyone's like, yeah, well, you know, had a duel.

You gotta like that that happened.

Can you imagine in our culture today?

Like the vice president of the United States challenges someone to a duel, shoots him, and everyone's like, well, you know, that's that's what happens.

It's weird.

It's weird.

I can tell you guys aren't super excited about this one.

So let me go with one that might get people more excited.

How about this one?

Right?

Darth Luke, that's a duel.

And you might be going, like, that's not history, it's cinema history, okay?

We can be loose with our history here, you know.

This is not just a great duel, it's also family drama, and we love family drama, you know?

I don't want to spoil what happens in this part of the movie for you, but it's an old movie.

And if you don't know, just watch the movie.

Um, I'm gonna I'm gonna show you like maybe my favorite duel of all time.

And and uh, well, not of all time, but like my lifetime, my favorite duel, it's this one right here.

It's Rocky Balboa versus Ivan Draco.

All right.

I don't know if you have an affinity for the Rocky movies.

I don't really like love the Rocky movies per se, but when I was a child, I was born in 1983, and for some reason, when I was like maybe, I don't know, nine, ten, whatever, whatever channels we had at my house, this movie and Top Gun were like always on.

And so I've seen Rocky IV and Top Gun 50 times.

Like I can quote each movie, and I just watched these two dudes fight for a really, really long time growing up as a kid.

They're both on steroids.

That is obvious.

Like that is just absolutely obvious.

And the cool thing about this movie is that if you know your history, I'm pretty sure this movie single-handedly ended the Cold War.

Um, so it's a very, very important duel, you know?

Dueling is kind of epic.

It's kind of epic.

You can take the shirtless dudes down, you know.

I look just like that, by the way.

I don't want to prove it, you know, because of humility, but uh anyway.

Okay, those last two that they weren't actually from history, but I do want us to focus today on a duel, on a one-on-one battle that is historical.

In fact, this duel had more at stake than any duel in the history of the world.

And we read about it in Matthew chapter 4.

Matthew 4 · chapter mention

Right after he's baptized, it says, Jesus was led by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted there by the devil.

For forty days and forty nights he fasted and he became very hungry.

And during that time the devil came to him and said, If you are the Son of God, tell these stones to become loaves of bread.

But Jesus told him no.

The scriptures say, people do not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God.

Then the devil took him to the holy city Jerusalem, to the highest point in the temple, and said, If you are the Son of God, jump off.

It's basically saying, Prove it.

For the Scriptures say he will order his angels to protect you, and they will hold you up with their hands so that you won't even hurt your foot on a stone.

Jesus responded, The Scriptures also say, You must not test the Lord your God.

Next the devil took him to the peak of a very high mountain and showed him all the kingdoms of the world and their glory.

I will give it all to you, he said, if you will kneel down and worship me.

Get out of here, Satan, Jesus told him.

For the scriptures say, You must worship the Lord your God and serve only him.

And then the devil went away, and angels came and took care of Jesus.

So we have three moments in this story, in this duel, where Satan himself attempts Jesus.

And every single time, Jesus responds the same way.

He uses his sword.

The sword of the spirit, which is the word of God.

That's what the sword is in Ephesians chapter 6, right?

Ephesians 6 · chapter mention

Take up the sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of God.

Let's backtrack a little bit.

So Satan comes to Jesus in temptation number one, he's like, hey, you're hungry.

Just command these stones to become bread.

You're the son of God, right?

Aren't you?

Like he questions him.

Satan does that so often.

He asks a question that has an implication.

If you are the son of God, what does that imply?

Maybe you're not.

If you are the son of God, well, just tell these stones to become loaves of bread.

You have that power.

And Jesus actually responds by quoting Deuteronomy chapter 8, starting verse 3.

Deuteronomy 8 · chapter mention

Yes, he humbled you by letting you go hungry and then feeding you with manna of food previously unknown to you and your ancestors.

He did it to teach you that people do not live by bread alone, rather, we live by every word that comes from the mouth of God.

Jesus quotes Scripture.

Then Satan comes and he takes Jesus to the top of the temple.

And this is kind of an odd one, but it's it's something I think that we can all relate to.

Sometimes, if you really want to make a name for yourself, you have to do something outrageous.

You have to do something that gets people's attention.

And Jesus had lived up to this point in obscurity.

He's just a carpenter's son from a small town in Judea.

And Satan says, hey, I can help you get famous fast.

Just jump off, do something crazy, do a miracle that shows people who you really are.

And hey, doesn't Scripture say, and now Satan knows Jesus loves Scripture, so he says, hey, well doesn't Scripture say this?

Satan's very, very good at quoting Scripture and twisting it.

That's why it's very important that you know the word, because Satan knows it really well.

And so he he says that.

And Jesus responds by quoting Deuteronomy chapter 6, verse 16.

Deuteronomy 6:16

You must not test the Lord your God as you did when you complained at Massah.

So Satan just goes all out.

Now Satan's like, okay, I'm gonna lay it all out, I'm gonna bring out the big guns, here we go, going all in.

I'll give you all the power in the world.

I'll give you all the power in the world.

You'll be the king of the entire earth.

And I think it's so interesting to think about that temptation for Jesus.

One of the things about Jesus is that he clearly understood who he actually is.

Satan very often tempts us and gets us to forget who we are.

For example, if you look at the first temptation in Scripture in Genesis, he tells Adam and Eve that if you eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, you'll become like God.

But if you look at Genesis chapter 1, when God makes Adam and Eve, he says, Let us make man in our image to be like us.

Genesis 1 · chapter mention

So he got Adam and Eve to doubt who they already were.

Jesus understands who he is.

Satan's offering something Jesus already has.

He's saying, Hey, I'll give you authority and power over the earth.

Jesus says, in his mind, I have authority and power over the earth and the entire universe, heaven and hell combined.

Like you're offering something that I already have, but Jesus sees through it and he responds by quoting Deuteronomy chapter 6, verse 13.

Deuteronomy 6:13

He just has to go a few sentences back.

You must fear the Lord your God and serve him.

And when you take an oath, you must only use his name.

So we have these three specific temptations.

This duel, this one-on-one battle between Jesus and Satan.

And every single time Jesus uses his sword.

He quotes Scripture.

And I don't think I'd ever actually noticed until preparing for this Sunday that he never left the book of Deuteronomy.

That he only used one book.

I thought about that.

I was like, that's kind of interesting, that Jesus defeats three temptations of Satan and he doesn't even have to use more than one book of Scripture.

I don't know if that means Jesus had been meditating on Deuteronomy recently, so it was really fresh in his mind.

Or maybe he was like handicapping himself.

Maybe this was his way to show Satan, like, hey man, we can keep going if you want.

If you want to throw more at me, we can.

I mean, so far to combat you, I've only had to use a few chapters from Deuteronomy, which is the book that most people skip over when they start reading their Bibles.

But like, we can keep going.

I've been studying Psalms lately.

I'd love to bust out some Psalms for you.

You want to go?

You have more?

No?

No, you want to be done?

Okay.

I don't know if that happened.

I just like to imagine Jesus trash talking Satan.

That's all.

You know?

I'll tell you this.

If the Son of God needed to know the Word of God to combat the temptations of Satan, how much more do we?

If Jesus Himself needed to be able to recall from memory the Word of God, the Scriptures, to be able to combat the temptations thrown his way, how much more do you and I need to be familiar with our sword?

The Word of God is powerful.

It's powerful.

There's kind of a movement in modern Christianity, at least in our culture, to get away from so much reliance on Scripture.

That, you know, it's like, eh, you're gonna turn people away, you're gonna like, ah, so, you know, use it, just use it sparingly and use the stuff that everybody likes.

And man, that's a dangerous, dangerous thought.

And it's actually, it's it's dangerous not just because of, I don't know, blasphemy or whatever, it's dangerous because you're you're literally telling people you don't really need to be familiar with your sword.

You don't you don't need to be really familiar, you don't need to practice with it, you don't need to know it.

I mean Satan's got to be excited about that prospect.

If the Son of God needed to know the Word of God to defeat his enemy, how much more do you and I?

The word of God is is powerful.

It's important for us to reflect on it, to sit and just think about it.

Understand this we don't worship a book.

If you're here and you're you're not a believer, or maybe you're a new believer, we don't worship a book.

We worship God, we have a relationship with Jesus Himself.

We love him, he loves us and we love him, and so because we love him, we eat up every word that comes out of his mouth.

Because we we love him, when he speaks, we listen.

Because we we respect him and we know who he is, when he speaks, we we listen.

And we understand that the word of God is powerful.

Hebrews chapter 11, verse 3 says, By faith we understand that the entire universe was formed at God's command.

Hebrews 11:3

That what we now see did not come from anything that can be seen.

Scripture tells us that God's word is so powerful that he just used his word to create the universe.

And it's funny because that that can seem silly.

That can seem like some superstitious belief that God just spoke and the universe was created.

I showed this or something like this maybe about four years ago, but I stumbled across this experiment a few years back that blew me away.

And this is what's happening.

This is sand that's put on a metal plate, and different frequencies of sound are being played in it.

You guys can keep the volume down on that, um, because the sounds are not pleasant to listen to.

But uh, but every single time they they change the frequency of sound that they're running through the metal plate, the sand on the plate rearranges in different patterns.

And it's really interesting because if you think about everything in existence, think about when God created the world.

Everything in this room and in the universe, at the ultimate, like most basic level, it's just patterns and shapes.

Your body, just patterns and shapes, just molecules arranged in different structures, different patterns, and molecules in certain patterns create certain structures and substances and all that, but it's the same building blocks just arranged differently to make everything that we know of.

And so just imagine God at the start of the universe creating and speaking, and his voice coming out at the exact frequency that he knows is needed to create everything that we see and know.

I just think that that's fascinating.

And we're gonna stop looking at it because it's super mesmerizing, and you could just stay here for hours and be like, oh my gosh.

That's just the power of sound.

Sound actually has the power to create.

The word of God is powerful.

It's powerful.

Not only did God create the universe when he spoke, but when God speaks today, he can create things inside of you.

When God speaks to you, he can create dreams and life and hope and vision for the future that you could never have without hearing him.

Please understand that our God is not a God that we just believe in.

Our God is a God that we can know and we can experience.

You can hear from God, you can hear him speak to you.

And sometimes you hear him speak in incredibly personal ways.

But the people I know who who have the closest walks with God, who hear from him the most often, understand that every time they open up the scriptures, they're about to hear from God.

And every time they open up their Bible, they're anticipating hearing from God because God speaks through his word.

He speaks through his word, and when he speaks, it's it's powerful, it's effective.

Isaiah 55, 10 and 11 says, The rain and the snow come down from the heavens and stay on the ground to water the earth.

They cause the grain to grow, producing seed for the farmer and bread for the hungry.

It is the same with my word.

This is God speaking.

He says, It is the same with my word.

I send it out, and it always produces fruit.

It will accomplish all that I want it to, and it will prosper everywhere I send it.

God's word is powerful.

And if we know it, if we study it and we know it and we live it, it produces fruit.

It's it's creative, it makes things happen.

If you want to know who you are, look to God's word.

You want to know who you are, look to his word, look to what he says.

Ephesians 2.10 says, we are God's masterpiece.

He's created us anew in Christ Jesus so we can do the good things he planned for us long ago.

Some of you guys already think you're masterpieces.

And some of you it's it's kind of prideful and you need to chill.

But like, I'm teasing.

How many of us struggle with confidence?

How many of us struggle with believing that we're really worthy?

With believing that we're really capable.

You want to know who you are?

You look to God's word.

You're a masterpiece.

Created in the image of God to do good things.

Good things, by the way, that God planned for you a long time ago.

Those of you who have children, isn't it interesting how often we find ourselves planning for our kids way in advance?

Sometimes that can actually be a temptation as a parent.

You start dreaming for your children, making decisions for your children, where they're gonna go to school, what they're gonna do for a living.

You know, I know I have this one girl, my daughter Lily, she's the most intense person alive.

I was I was looking at her this morning, laughing, and when she laughs, it's just it's intense.

When she cries, it's intense.

When she smiles, everything's intense.

Lily's just human emotion in its purest form, every emotion in its most concentrated form.

And I dream for her, and I pray for her.

And I think about the man that she's gonna marry one day, and I'm terrified.

You know?

Because I know like I'm gonna open that door and I'm gonna be like, nope, not not good enough, not not who I would have planned, you know.

See, the Lord He's already planning things for you.

He planned your life years and years and years ago.

In fact, scripture says that before he even laid the foundations of the earth, Ephesians chapter 2, or chapter 1 rather, before he even laid the foundations of the earth, he knew you, he loved you, and he had already planned to send Jesus to die as a sacrifice for you.

Ephesians 2 · chapter mention

Then it goes on to say this is what he wanted to do, and it gave him great pleasure.

You might ask yourself, how in the world would you want to do that?

Like, what would possess you to do that?

Have you ever loved something so much that you look forward to doing something extreme to prove your love?

That's how much he loves you.

Look to scripture to find out who you are.

If you want to find out what in you needs to change so that you can be who you're created to be, because let's be honest, like, we're all masterpieces, but masterpieces.

Are something that are being made, like we're in progress.

We're not finished, we're masterpieces in the making.

If you want to look to see what needs to change in your heart, look to Scripture.

1 Timothy 3:16 says, all scripture is inspired by God and is useful to teach us what is true, to make us realize what is wrong in our lives.

1 Timothy 3:16

It corrects us when we're wrong, it teaches us to do what's right.

Sometimes reading scripture is very inconvenient.

But it's good.

It's good.

Hebrews chapter 4, verse 12 says, For the word of God is alive and powerful.

Hebrews 4:12

It is sharper than the sharpest double-edged sword.

Cutting between soul and spirit, between joint and marrow.

It exposes our innermost thoughts and desires.

Scripture is useful.

It teaches us, it corrects us.

By the way, Scripture says that the wise person loves correction.

I remember hearing a sports metaphor years back.

A coach had a player that was upset, that the coach was always yelling at him and expressed that frustration.

And the coach said, The day you'll be worried is the day I stop yelling at you.

Because that's the day I no longer care to develop you.

Scripture says that the Lord disciplines those he loves.

He disciplines those he loves.

And so when we feel like we're being disciplined and corrected, we should understand that that's the love of God, that he cares enough about us, that he's helping to make us the best version of ourselves, and he does that through the word of God.

Scripture will keep us safe, it will protect us from temptation.

Psalm 119, 11 says, I have hidden your word in my heart that I might not sin against you.

What blows me away about Jesus is that he didn't have an iPhone when he got tempted.

And the Bible hadn't been put into book form yet because no one had thought up the book.

That didn't exist yet.

And so scripture in those days was kept on these large scrolls that were kept in the synagogue.

People didn't have their own copy of the scriptures.

So when Jesus is out in the wilderness, he didn't have anything with him.

It wasn't like Satan came and Jesus goes, okay, hold on.

Um Deuteronomy chapter 8.

Deuteronomy 8 · chapter mention

It was in his heart.

He knew it.

He spent so much time in the word that he knew it.

I've hidden your word in my heart that I might not sin against you.

If you love the Lord, if you love God, then you have a desire in you to please him.

And we understand that he loves us, that he's blessed us, that we have grace, that we don't have to earn his love.

We have it, but but if you love him back, you have a desire in your heart to please him.

You have a natural desire that should be growing all the time to do what pleases him and to avoid what doesn't.

And this lets us know that the key to that is to know his scriptures.

To know the word.

Psalm 1, 1 through 3 says, Oh, the joys of those who do not follow the advice of the wicked or stand around with sinners or join with mockers, but they delight in the law of the Lord, meditating on it day and night.

They know the word and they think about it.

They are like trees planted along the riverbank, bearing fruit each season.

Their lives never wither, and they prosper in all they do.

God's word is powerful.

It will prosper you, it will protect you, it will reveal to you who you actually are, it will show you the things that need to change in your life so that you can be the person that God created you to be.

It's creative, it's powerful, it will it will change things.

The word of God changes things.

And how many of us need to see something change?

How many of us long for some change?

Anyone in the room need no change today?

You're like, no, everything is exactly as it needs to be.

Everything.

Every detail of my life, all perfect.

No issues, no struggles, no fears, no worries, no anxieties.

No one.

All of us, we we need the word of God.

It's our sword.

It's powerful.

Let me let me let me say this.

Satan's terrified of it.

He's powerless against it.

He twists it, he uses it to his advantage.

But when he comes across someone who knows the word, someone who's who's practiced with his sword, he backs away like three temptations, and he just goes, you know what?

I'm out with Jesus.

He's quoting Deuteronomy, like only the hardcore quote Deuteronomy, you know?

And Jesus didn't even have the New Testament.

We've got double the scripture.

Like that's the beauty of it.

Like Jesus, he only needed half of it.

He gave us more, so we've got even more at our disposal.

And now Satan's like, oh man, there's another, there's another half of the book.

Now we've got to deal with that.

No, if you know the word and and and you use it, it's it's a sword, it defeats your enemy.

And so here's something that I'd like us to do today to wrap up.

Well, actually, we got a couple people getting baptized.

That'll wrap us up.

But then, but before that, I'm gonna ask the worship team to come out and just play a little bit.

And guys, even if if we want to bring the lights on the stage down, just a hair, that would be that would be awesome.

I don't really know what a hair means.

That's a super nebulous thing, but I trust you to figure it out.

Um spend some time preparing for the message and actually ask my wife to help me, because she knows the word really well.

Just looking at scriptures that talk about specific issues, problems that many of us struggle with.

And what I'd like us to do right now is we're gonna pray.

And just, you know, we worshiped earlier, but worship is not singing songs, worship is like a status of your heart.

In fact, in Romans, it says that true worship.

True worship is when you you place yourself on the altar, so to speak, as a living sacrifice.

You basically say to God, I'm yours.

Do with me what you will.

That is true worship.

And so I'd like us to pray and get in that state of mind.

And then I'm just gonna read some scripture.

That's it.

Now, if you have our mobile app, all the scriptures that that we're gonna use today, they're all in that.

You can use it to reference later.

But but here's the thing if if if we mention a struggle that you have, if we mention something that you're currently dealing with, I want you to see that scripture is yours.

That's yours.

And take it, reflect on it, remember it.

That's why we have it, by the way, the mobile app, so you can look it up later and memorize it.

Hide it in your heart so that every time that issue that you're dealing with pops up, every time Satan comes to you, that the enemy comes to you and he brings shame or guilt or fear or worry, whatever it is, that you emulate Jesus and you just pull out your sword and go, shut up.

And you just say the scripture, like say it out loud, because it's powerful.

So we're gonna pray and we're just gonna reflect a little bit.

Father God, I want to thank you so much for the gift of your word.

And Lord, as Americans, we're kind of in an interesting place in the world, Lord.

It's it's good to be reminded that the church, your church, is global.

That we have brothers and sisters on every corner of the earth.

But one of the challenges that we face, Lord, is apathy.

There has never been a generation of people with more access to the Word of God than believers living in America right now.

Lord, we have it at our fingertips every moment.

We have it in book form, we have it digitally, we have it on our phones, we have it in every possible translation that could be known to man, Lord.

We have paraphrases, we have commentaries, we have thousands of years of writings reflecting on your word.

So ultimately, Lord, we we have no excuse not to know it.

But so often, Lord, we we we don't.

Maybe we've listened to temptations or lies that have told us that we're not intelligent enough to understand it, that it's too confusing.

Maybe, Lord, I know I've done this, we've said we don't have time, while we binge watch reruns of old shows on Netflix.

But Lord, just like Megan said earlier during Lord's Supper, we're here.

We're right here, right now.

And no matter how the last week or year or decade has been, we're here right now.

And we want your word to speak to us, Lord.

So we're gonna give your word the value that it commands, the priority that it demands.

And Father God, I ask that as we as we read your word, these aren't my words, these are your words.

As we read these, that every person in this room dealing with anything, whether we list it or not, understands that your word is a powerful weapon.

And our enemy, our enemy will lose when he comes against it.

So give us victory through your word today, Lord.

To any of you that are struggling with anxiety or worry, Philippians 4:6.

Philippians 4:6

Don't worry about anything.

Instead, pray about everything.

Tell God what you need and thank him for all he's done.

Then you will experience God's peace, which exceeds anything we can understand.

His peace will guard your hearts and minds as you live in Christ Jesus.

To those of you battling fear, Isaiah 41, 10.

Don't be afraid, for I am with you.

Don't be discouraged, for I am your God.

I will strengthen you and help you.

I will hold you up with my victorious right hand.

To those of you who have dealt with a loss, Psalm 34, 18.

The Lord is close to the brokenhearted, he rescues those whose spirits are crushed.

To those of you facing temptation, James 4 7.

So humble yourselves before God, resist the devil, and he will flee from you.

This one's kind of specific.

Men dealing with sexual temptation.

Job 31:1.

Job 31:1

I made a covenant with my eyes not to look with lust at a young woman.

To anyone here struggling with illness, Psalm 41:3.

Psalms 41:3

The Lord nurses them when they are sick and restores them to health.

To anyone dealing with injustice, you've been wronged.

Romans 12, 19, dear friends, never take revenge.

Leave that to the righteous anger of God.

For the scriptures say, I will take revenge, I will pay them back, says the Lord.

To those of you who have been hurt, betrayed, Psalm 147, 3, he heals the brokenhearted and bandages their wounds.

To anyone here who's lonely, dealing with isolation, Psalm 139, 7 through 10, I can never escape from your spirit.

I can never get away from your presence.

If I go up to heaven, you're there.

If I go down to the grave, you're there.

If I ride the wings of the morning, if I dwell by the farthest oceans, even there your hand will guide me and your strength will support me.

Anyone struggling with unhealthy thoughts?

Philippians 4.8.

And now, dear brothers and sisters, one final thing.

Fix your thoughts on what is true and honorable and right and pure and lovely and admirable.

Think about things that are excellent and worthy of praise.

To anyone here who's just messed up, just made a mistake.

Acts 3, 19 and 20.

Now repent of your sins and turn to God, so that your sins may be wiped away.

And then times of refreshment will come from the presence of the Lord, and he will again send you Jesus, your appointed Messiah.

To those of you who are dealing with financial stress, Philippians 4, 19.

And this same God who takes care of me will supply all your needs from his glorious riches, which have been given to us in Christ Jesus.

To anyone struggling as they raise a child, I'll skip that one.

That's no one here.

Proverbs 22,6.

Direct your children onto the right path, and when they are older, they will not leave it.

To anyone who's struggling to get along with a spouse, Romans 12.18, do all that you can to live in peace with everyone.

To anyone who's struggling to get along with a coworker.

Romans 12.18, do all that you can to live in peace with everyone.

If you're looking for the right person to date, 2 Corinthians 6.14.

Don't team up with those who are unbelievers.

How can righteousness be a partner with wickedness?

How can light live with darkness?

If you're struggling to succeed at work, Colossians 3.23, work willingly at whatever you do as though you were working for the Lord rather than for people.

To anyone that's just confused, some situation, you don't know what to do.

Psalm 5.8.

Lead me in the right path, O Lord, or my enemies will conquer me.

Make your way plain for me to follow.

We could keep going.

I can promise you this there is no situation that you have faced, are facing, or will ever face that God's word is silent on.

It's pretty amazing to think about the fact that a book whose newest parts are 2,000 years old could speak so directly to our lives today.

That's because the word of God is alive and active and powerful.

It's effective.

Just like he said in Isaiah 55 that we read earlier, when he sends his word, it produces results.

So we're gonna pray and wrap up today.

We got some people being baptized, and that's something that we get excited about.

By the way, Scripture says that this is Jesus in Luke chapter 15, he says that all of heaven celebrates when just one person gives their life to him.

Luke 15 · chapter mention

Just one person.

Oh, there you go.

Verse 7.

There's more joy in heaven over one lost sinner who repents and returns than over 99 others who are righteous in heaven straight away.

So we've got a couple people today, three people total today between both services getting baptized.

That's exciting.

That's exciting.

Yeah, clap for that.

My hope today is that you will value the Word of God.

Because you have it.

Like it's at your fingertips.

You have it.

Study it, know it.

It's powerful, it's real, it's effective.

I mean, I know that ultimately at the end of the day, this is a pastor on a stage on a Sunday morning saying, Hey, read your Bible.

Which is not exactly a new thought.

But hey, read your Bible.

It's the word of God.

It's the word of God.

It's your sword.

And it will defeat your enemy.

Let's pray.

Jesus, thank you so much for this day.

Lord, thank you for this church.

I love this church.

God, this is a family.

And right now we we have the joy and the pleasure to watch our family grow.

And Lord, I just want to pray that as we have people today that go all in with you, they get baptized, I pray that we would come around them as a church and support them.

Lord, we love you.

Father, I pray if there's one person in the room right now that doesn't know you, that hasn't given themselves completely to you, I pray, Lord, that that changes.

I pray right now, Father, that you would stir in their heart, that they would feel you, they would feel something inside of them just tugging and pulling to you, that they would surrender, God, that they would understand that what they're feeling is actually you speaking.

That is your word speaking to them, saying that you want to know them, that you have a whole new life for them, that they would surrender to that.

Lord Jesus, we love you.

Thank you, thank you, Jesus, for giving us your word.

It's in your name we pray.

Amen.