Speaker 1: Hey, what up.
Speaker 1: It's Mark Carter.
Speaker 1: I'm the pastor of Fierce Church.
Speaker 1: Welcome to our podcast.
Speaker 1: I'm so pumped that you're able to join us today.
Speaker 1: I hope this encourages you, inspires you, strengthens you, gives you hope to keep pressing on, and it's my prayer that this sermon gives you a more expansive view of God's love for you.
Speaker 1: Enjoy the message.
Speaker 2: Good morning, hey, happy Mother's Day.
Speaker 2: Happy Mother's Day to you.
Speaker 2: I just want to honor and acknowledge the beauty and the glory that women bring.
Speaker 2: God created Adam and it was good, and then he went.
Speaker 2: Oh, it's not good for Adam to be alone, and he made him a help.
Speaker 2: Meet and mamas, whether you've birthed children, whether you're caring for other people's children, whether you've struggled with birthing your own children, whether you teach other people's children, whether you create spaces where people feel at home, you are a mama in every different way, and I just want to honor you today and recognize you, and the way that you present God's love and God's beauty to the world is amazing.
Speaker 2: So today I just want to think about a little bit some of the things that we mamas do.
Speaker 2: First of all, I just teensy little game for me, if you want to play along how many of you brought a purse today?
Speaker 2: How many of you have at least a pen in that purse?
Speaker 2: Maybe, maybe you, if you have a paper in that purse.
Speaker 2: Do you have gum in that purse?
Speaker 2: Does anybody have a diaper bag with them?
Speaker 2: Does anybody have like an extra pair of shorts in the car, just in case?
Speaker 2: Or, you know, like you're just prepared for everything, right, ladies?
Speaker 2: Like this is what we do.
Speaker 2: We come prepared.
Speaker 2: Is that a thing?
Speaker 2: Yes, head nod, yes, agree, okay, so we come prepared for everything.
Speaker 2: Recently we took our family to Great Wolf Lodge here in Gurnee, and no one has to pack everything but the mom.
Speaker 2: Maybe that's not like in your family, but especially when you have little kids, y'all I'm not kidding I have packing lists for every individual person, so that I just don't miss something because you have to get all the things.
Speaker 2: And then our family.
Speaker 2: We like to just bring our food because it's ridiculously expensive.
Speaker 2: So I'm packing the clothing, I'm packing the sleepwear, I'm packing the snacks, I'm packing all the lists, I'm assembling the team, I'm delegating.
Speaker 2: I'm losing my patience.
Speaker 2: I'm asking for help.
Speaker 2: I'm loading up the car.
Speaker 2: I'm playing Tetris as I'm packing up the car, right, yes, we get exhausted really quick.
Speaker 2: Now I want to pause here for a second.
Speaker 2: Gentlemen, I'm going to mostly be talking to the ladies in a lot of my application points because it's Mother's Day, so we're talking to the ladies, but please do not check out on me here, because I believe that God's word is true, it's living and active, and I think that God's word, even though I'm talking to the ladies a little bit more man.
Speaker 2: It can affect your heart too and affect your life too.
Speaker 2: So let's not check out today, got it Okay?
Speaker 2: So again, mamas are always juggling.
Speaker 2: We're always at the ready, we're always prepared.
Speaker 2: We've got to be Kids to school lunches, extracurricular activities, change over the laundry, prep the meals, grocery shop, water the plants, feed the pets Don't feed the plants.
Speaker 2: I mean, maybe you need to do that too.
Speaker 2: Plan the events, serve a church, nurse the baby, take out the garbage, all the things.
Speaker 2: Everybody take a deep sigh with me.
Speaker 2: Right, it can just feel like so much some days and it's beautiful and it's holy and it's glorious work.
Speaker 2: But we are at risk sometimes because we get so stirred up by all of it that we become, maybe emotionally not well, we're exhausted.
Speaker 2: We maybe become grumpy, bitter, selfish.
Speaker 2: We know that we've got to be prepared, but we begin to put on the wrong armor.
Speaker 2: There's this song that my mom used to listen to all the time when I was a little girl, by Twyla Parris.
Speaker 2: Would you put the lyrics up for me?
Speaker 2: And it says like lately I've been facing battles left and right, but even winners can get wooden in the fight.
Speaker 2: People say that I'm amazing, strong beyond my years, but they don't see what's inside of me.
Speaker 2: I'm hiding all my tears and it's.
Speaker 2: They don't know that I go running home when I fall down.
Speaker 2: They don't know who picks me up when no one is around, and then she's like I drop my sword and I cry for just a while, because deep inside this armor, the warrior is a child.
Speaker 2: Mamas, do you feel that Some days you're like, can I just have a break?
Speaker 2: It's a lot right, like I'm just wounded.
Speaker 2: I'm battle weary and wounded.
Speaker 2: And so, though, sometimes we begin to put on the wrong armor Late night, binging selfish escapism, wine o'clock, complaining, nagging coffee, all the coffee, energy drinks, controlling what we can, because we feel like we're out of control of so much.
Speaker 2: Or we just retreat from the battle altogether and we're like let me have my bathroom time.
Speaker 2: I cannot handle one more question, right?
Speaker 2: Like, come on, we've all been there where you just close the bathroom door and the little ones put their fingers under the door.
Speaker 2: You're like come on, we put these pieces of armor on us.
Speaker 2: But they're really just coping mechanisms that actually leave us more weary and wounded in a lot of cases, and sometimes they lop on with depression and anxiety and more lethargy, and then rage and slander and malice and envy and like can't I just get a break?
Speaker 2: And it starts to get really gross.
Speaker 2: Like we put on the wrong armor.
Speaker 2: But there is something so much greater.
Speaker 2: Y'all, we were not meant to retreat with those coping mechanisms.
Speaker 2: Instead, there is a better armor, a better game plan for all of us who are in a battle-weary state.
Speaker 2: Does that sound like some good news?
Speaker 2: Let's bring it.
Speaker 2: Okay.
Speaker 2: So it's time to stand for the real battle at hand.
Speaker 2: It's time to stand, justin.
Speaker 2: Read those verses for us Ephesians 6, 10 through 18.
Speaker 2: I'm not going to read the whole thing, but I just want to start with.
Speaker 2: Finally be strengthened by the Lord in his vast strength.
Speaker 2: Put on the full armor of God so that you can stand against the schemes of the devil, for our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers of this darkness, against evil spiritual forces in the heavens.
Speaker 2: For this reason, take up the full armor of God so that you may be able to resist in the evil day and, having prepared everything, to take your stand.
Speaker 2: So some truths that I want to extract from that right off the get-go.
Speaker 2: God strengthens you with his vast strength, his vast strength.
Speaker 2: You may be very battle-weary, you may be wounded, you may be exhausted, but God's strength does not run out and the Bible says that they that wait upon the Lord will renew their strength.
Speaker 2: They will mount up with wings like eagles, they will run and not grow weary.
Speaker 2: They will walk and not grow faint, because God gives you his strength.
Speaker 2: He's not running on fumes.
Speaker 2: Strength, he's not running on fumes.
Speaker 2: His strength is vast.
Speaker 2: Second thing to remember the schemer be scheming.
Speaker 2: The schemer be scheming.
Speaker 2: We have y'all a real enemy who is.
Speaker 2: His whole goal is to steal, kill and destroy.
Speaker 2: His whole plan is to just spew lies.
Speaker 2: His whole thing is to just deceive, to twist truth in such a way that you think it sounds right, but it's really totally not, and he is up to no good.
Speaker 2: There's a battle raging, a spiritual battle raging.
Speaker 2: Okay, now this one third truth your enemy is not flesh and blood.
Speaker 2: I'm going to say it again your enemy is not flesh and blood.
Speaker 2: Your enemy is not flesh and blood.
Speaker 2: It is not your toddler who wakes up before they're supposed to wake up.
Speaker 2: It is not your husband who did not do the thing that you asked him to do umpteen times.
Speaker 2: It is not your co-worker who just gets on your every nerve.
Speaker 2: Your battle is not against flesh and blood.
Speaker 2: There is a real spiritual battle at war and we have got to get in the fight.
Speaker 2: There's hope.
Speaker 2: It's time to suit up.
Speaker 2: This is totally not an appropriate TV show, but how I Met your Mother.
Speaker 2: There's this one character who's like suit up.
Speaker 2: This is totally not an appropriate TV show, but how I Met your Mother.
Speaker 2: There's this one character who's like suit up.
Speaker 2: And it's just, he literally shows up in a suit wherever he goes because he just thinks that's awesome.
Speaker 2: But I don't mean suit up like that, although I think it's a good like suit up, be prepared to get in the battle.
Speaker 2: There's a real armor for you to put on that protects you from those schemes.
Speaker 2: It's tailor-made for you.
Speaker 2: Do you know that?
Speaker 2: I don't know why.
Speaker 2: I've read these verses like oh, I grew up in church.
Speaker 2: I've heard like put on the full armor of God Y'all.
Speaker 2: It's God's armor.
Speaker 2: And because you believe in God as the leader of your life and the forgiver of your sins, he's like you are my child.
Speaker 2: I am entrusting this.
Speaker 2: You are now an heir.
Speaker 2: Here is my armor and you'll get to use it too.
Speaker 2: He has entrusted it to you, you just got to put it on.
Speaker 2: You might say but Erica, I'm really tired, I am angry.
Speaker 2: This is really really hard and I just don't want to.
Speaker 2: Can I tell you, probably these last six to nine months for our family have been really, really hard.
Speaker 2: We've been in just a relational tension, not Brandon and I.
Speaker 2: We're great.
Speaker 2: Our kids are great.
Speaker 2: But there's just been an external circumstance.
Speaker 2: It has put us through the ringer and part of me is like God, uncle, could we just be done?
Speaker 2: Like, could we get past this?
Speaker 2: I'm tired, I can't right now.
Speaker 2: And if I were to sit with you in it to steal Carla's words, I would sit with you, I'd hold your hands or I'd cup your face, pretending that I'm a really old granny, because that's who I am in my heart, but not my age.
Speaker 2: But I'd hold your face and I'd say listen, you have more in you.
Speaker 2: God is in this, with you.
Speaker 2: He is leading you the wisest way, even though it may not feel like it right now, and he would not have entrusted this situation to you if he were not intending to empower you, to strengthen you, to give you what you need to get through it.
Speaker 2: He is good and he's entrusting this to you.
Speaker 2: So, y'all, it's time to stand.
Speaker 2: You don't have to right now.
Speaker 2: You are called to more.
Speaker 2: Our bottom line for today is because of God's vast strength, you are empowered, you are equipped and you are enabled.
Speaker 2: So you may feel hopeless, but that is not the truth.
Speaker 2: No, you are empowered, you are equipped and you are enabled in the fight.
Speaker 2: So it's time to get battle ready.
Speaker 2: You ready, all right.
Speaker 2: So we're going to put on the full armor of God.
Speaker 2: This is our little mannequin for today, and so, first of all, we have to put on the belt of truth Now.
Speaker 2: I went over to my dad's last night.
Speaker 2: I was like Dad, you got a lifting belt.
Speaker 2: So this is our belt of truth.
Speaker 2: And what do we do?
Speaker 2: It says belt of truth, Put on the belt of truth, and I'm going to not know how to do this.
Speaker 2: Hold, please, here we go, belt of truth Right around your waist.
Speaker 2: It is the very first thing that God equips you with the belt of truth.
Speaker 2: Now, if you know anything about weightlifting or just anything like that, your core strength is imperative.
Speaker 2: You cannot do anything if your core is weak and flabby.
Speaker 2: You have got to stabilize the very center of who you are.
Speaker 2: If you're lifting heavy things, that's got to be good to go, so that you have the power and the might to get through it.
Speaker 2: Well, god is saying listen, your very core needs to be stabilized by truth.
Speaker 2: By truth, if your core is strong, it enables the rest of you to be strong.
Speaker 2: Ephesians 4.14 says they will no longer be infants, tossed back and forth by the waves blowing here and there, by every wind of teaching and by the cunning and craftiness of people and their deceitful scheming.
Speaker 2: No, if you are in the word, you are stabilized.
Speaker 2: You are not going to be able to be tossed about.
Speaker 2: When you keep your focus on the truth of God, it gives you a firm foundation.
Speaker 2: I want to give you a little just word to the wise.
Speaker 2: I love Instagram.
Speaker 2: I've never been on TikTok, but I'm sure there's awesome things that are on there and God is using some of those tools in powerful ways.
Speaker 2: Can I just encourage you, dear one?
Speaker 2: Do not get your theology solely from Instagram or TikTok.
Speaker 2: 30 second sound bites Do not help you understand God's fullness.
Speaker 2: You have to get it for yourself.
Speaker 2: You have got to be in the word so that you know the truth, so that you can be anchored and secure.
Speaker 2: The Greeks in the Bible times used to think that your center, where your guts were, was like the center of all your emotion as well.
Speaker 2: Ladies, our emotions can go like this, right?
Speaker 2: Yes, awesome Guys.
Speaker 2: God gave us our emotions as beautiful tools to help us see what's going on in our hearts and in our lives.
Speaker 2: Right, they're kind of like warning bells.
Speaker 2: They are horrible guides.
Speaker 2: Do not trust your emotions, okay.
Speaker 2: Trust truth.
Speaker 2: Anchor in truth, get that belt of truth around your waist.
Speaker 2: Priscilla Shire says in her Armor of God study when you have a strong, stable, well-supported core, you can't easily be led astray by the enemy's clever lies.
Speaker 2: Gird yourself with truth and then you're on guard from the word.
Speaker 2: Go when you're tempted to feel swayed by your emotions or a cunning teaching that you hear out there, put on that belt, get stable, speak out God's truth and stand firm.
Speaker 2: Okay, all right.
Speaker 2: So that was our first piece of armor, our belt of truth.
Speaker 2: Now we have our breastplate of righteousness and because you know I don't have a breastplate around the house, but you know what I do have what is this called?
Speaker 2: An apron?
Speaker 2: You know, there we go.
Speaker 2: It covers my chest, right Like it's like a breastplate, almost.
Speaker 2: Okay, it's covering, it is covering us.
Speaker 2: Oh, also, notice what went on.
Speaker 2: First Belt of truth.
Speaker 2: Do you need to see the belt of truth to know that it's there?
Speaker 2: No, it's there, it's stable.
Speaker 2: It can be covered up even by the breastplate of righteousness.
Speaker 2: It covers our chest.
Speaker 2: What does it need to do?
Speaker 2: The breastplate of righteousness.
Speaker 2: It covers our chest what does it need to do?
Speaker 2: It covers our vital organs.
Speaker 2: It covers our heart I need to get in my papers and it covers us with righteousness.
Speaker 2: Righteousness is God's perfection put on to us.
Speaker 2: It gives us freedom from guilt or sin and it makes us morally right or justifiable.
Speaker 2: This is like bananagrams, y'all.
Speaker 2: Here's what I want you to hear.
Speaker 2: We all know that we're not perfect, right, right, especially as mamas, y'all.
Speaker 2: We're not lacking in mistakes or missteps or misspoken words or faces at our kid.
Speaker 2: Do you ever feel like if one of your children held up a mirror at your face, that you'd be like oh that's what I look like when I'm frustrated?
Speaker 2: I should never, ever look like that at you, because that's not what we want to model to them, right?
Speaker 2: But shame and despair can quickly plague us.
Speaker 2: In those moments we can feel like, oh man, I'm just doing it all wrong.
Speaker 2: I don't know how many times I have told my husband like I'm just a horrible mom, like I am really, really bad at this.
Speaker 2: I should just give up and run away because I am not good.
Speaker 2: Like the spiral happens very, very quickly.
Speaker 2: It's easy to want to just throw our hands up and give up.
Speaker 2: There are no perfect moms.
Speaker 2: Bless the Lord.
Speaker 2: There are no perfect moms.
Speaker 2: There is a perfect Savior.
Speaker 2: There is a perfect Savior and his righteousness covers over our heart and he guards us with his righteousness.
Speaker 2: I'm going to teach you just a little theological term.
Speaker 2: It's called imputation.
Speaker 2: I don't know, maybe you've heard it before but essentially what it is is that God looked at Jesus and he looked at all of us and he saw all of our sin and all of the thing that had to separate us from him and he put all of that onto Jesus.
Speaker 2: All of our wrong, he put it onto Jesus.
Speaker 2: That was step one.
Speaker 2: He did not stop there.
Speaker 2: He took all of Jesus' perfection, all of his righteousness, all of the things that he did well, and he handed it back to us so that when God looks at you and me, he sees Jesus' perfection.
Speaker 2: When you make him the leader of your life and the forgiver of your sins, he sees Jesus over you.
Speaker 2: You don't have to wallow in shame.
Speaker 2: You can say kids, I'm really sorry, I messed up, I'm really sorry, I yelled, I'm really, really sorry, I did not model God's love to you in that moment, but I'm not going to sit in shame and like I'm the worst mom ever.
Speaker 2: No, because of God's armor, he put righteousness over me and he puts righteousness over you.
Speaker 2: The breastplate of righteousness it isn't ours to achieve.
Speaker 2: Titus 3, 4 through 7 says.
Speaker 2: But when the kindness and love of God, our savior, appeared, he saved us, not because of righteous things we had done, but because of his mercy.
Speaker 2: He saved us through the washing of rebirth and the renewal of his Holy Spirit, whom he poured out on us generously through Jesus Christ, our Savior, so that, having been justified by his grace, we might become heirs, having the hope of eternal life.
Speaker 2: You and I are now heirs to God's kingdom.
Speaker 2: We have his righteousness covering over us.
Speaker 2: So when we're tempted to allow those arrows of accusation and despair to penetrate our hearts, those lies that we aren't good enough, we're not perfect enough, we're not capable enough, well, because of God's kindness and love, it's not the righteous things that we have done.
Speaker 2: God covers our hearts and we have his righteousness like a breastplate.
Speaker 2: Okay, two down, we got the breastplate of righteousness, and then we have my really janky.
Speaker 2: They were pretty in white, they're not anymore, because y'all were in a battle.
Speaker 2: White shoes can't stay white in a battle.
Speaker 2: So we got our feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace.
Speaker 2: All right, I need to give you just a little bit of context because I, as I was reading this, I was like, oh, this is so good for mamas.
Speaker 2: The sandals that they're talking about, they were almost more like shin guards, because when they used to go into battle, the enemy that they were fighting against would have these stakes in the ground that would like poke up toward the infantry right Coming by, and so there was the frustration of these spikes coming at you.
Speaker 2: How many of you have ever stepped on a Lego, right, okay, so stakes in the ground, kind of like stepping on the Legos.
Speaker 2: Oh, my goodness, it's not going to kill you, but it is a major irritant.
Speaker 2: Yes, okay, as mamas, as dads, as humans, we are in a world that has irritants.
Speaker 2: Yeah, like every day you're encountering this and that and the other thing that just got under your skin and you can't really do anything about it.
Speaker 2: But if you put on the feet, fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace, you can go through that and be like, oh, I don't feel those Legos, or I'm not letting that hit me quite the way that I would have let it hit me before this peace word.
Speaker 2: It's a tranquility, it's the Greek word, irenae, it's an assurance of salvation through Christ, fearing nothing.
Speaker 2: One of my favorite current mama writers, abby Halberstadt, talks about like in her book hard is not the same thing as bad that sometimes we gravitate toward a motherhood of martyrdom, an attitude that is sure to bleed into the way that we treat our families, these little things.
Speaker 2: They get under us right, and they bother us and they frustrate us and we can start to look at it as, oh, I'm just a martyr.
Speaker 2: Nothing ever goes right and this is so difficult.
Speaker 2: But motherhood is a gift.
Speaker 2: The Bible says that children are a blessing from the Lord.
Speaker 2: Our lives, our very lives, the very breath in our lungs is a gift from the Lord.
Speaker 2: It's not martyrdom, even if it feels heavy.
Speaker 2: But what do we need to do?
Speaker 2: We need to have the feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace, the readiness we got to get prepared with it.
Speaker 2: Okay, isaiah 55, 12 says go out in joy and be led forth in peace.
Speaker 2: It's the gospel, it's good news.
Speaker 2: It's good news.
Speaker 2: We have good news.
Speaker 2: We have the very presence of God, giving us life, giving us joy, and as we share this good news, when we fill up with God's peace, it guards against combativeness and it allays other people's anxieties.
Speaker 2: Proverbs 15.1 says A gentle answer turns away wrath, but a harsh word stirs up anger.
Speaker 2: We have an opportunity with our words, with our very presence, to come in and to be gentle.
Speaker 2: Gentleness allays wrath.
Speaker 2: If we were just gentle, if we were to be bringers of peace, we would literally be peacemakers where we go.
Speaker 2: But how do we get that peace?
Speaker 2: Well, another of my favorite mom authors, donna Otto, from her book Finding your Purpose as a Mom, she gives us our answer.
Speaker 2: How do we cultivate a peaceful heart?
Speaker 2: You draw near to the Lord and rejoice that he is near you.
Speaker 2: One of God's names, emmanuel.
Speaker 2: God with us, he is near you, and then you rest in the knowledge that he cares for you.
Speaker 2: You pray about everything.
Speaker 2: You dwell on what is right and what is good.
Speaker 2: So if we want his peace, what do we need to do?
Speaker 2: We've got to dwell on the good news.
Speaker 2: He is with us, he is for us, he is going before us and we will sense his peace.
Speaker 2: He is with us, he is for us.
Speaker 2: He is going before us and we will sense his peace and those little irritants will lose some of their power.
Speaker 2: All right, so what do we have?
Speaker 2: We've got the belt of truth, the breastplate of righteousness, feet fitted with peace, and then what do we have next?
Speaker 2: The shield of faith.
Speaker 2: Ok, so I don't have something to go with shield of faith, because when I was studying what this means, it says it's like a door, and I didn't think I wanted to carry a door here today.
Speaker 2: But imagine if I had a door in front of this right now.
Speaker 2: If you had a Nerf gun, could you shoot my beautiful mannequin?
Speaker 2: No, because a door protects completely.
Speaker 2: Each of these current items cover specific parts, but the door moves with you wherever you go and it covers you entirely.
Speaker 2: It's the shield of faith.
Speaker 2: It's this word pistis, the conviction that God exists.
Speaker 2: He's the creator and the ruler of all things, the provider, and he bestows eternal salvation through Christ.
Speaker 2: And this shield, it covers everything.
Speaker 2: Part of the root word of it actually means a gate.
Speaker 2: This door, this shield of faith, is like a gate and we get to hold it up.
Speaker 2: We get to choose what hits us.
Speaker 2: God is saying hold up that shield.
Speaker 2: There are fiery arrows coming at you.
Speaker 2: Remember it says in every situation, take up the shield of faith with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil.
Speaker 2: One Y'all.
Speaker 2: We have got to guard against some fiery arrows and darts.
Speaker 2: Remember the schemer be scheming, he's up to no good and he's going to try.
Speaker 2: However.
Speaker 2: He can.
Speaker 2: Like an arrow or like a dart, you can't really tell exactly where it's going to hit.
Speaker 2: You don't know where it's going to penetrate, but it's also fiery.
Speaker 2: So if it does penetrate, it's going to get deeper and destroy more.
Speaker 2: I have been down in the fight and hit with some really hard arrows.
Speaker 2: Brandon can attest to just some lies that I have allowed penetrate my heart.
Speaker 2: But we need to guard against them.
Speaker 2: The enemy knows just what to say and where to send those fiery arrows and when to send the fiery arrows right.
Speaker 2: Right when you're low, right when you're tired, right when you're hungry, right when you're already frustrated by something else and his intention is to take you out.
Speaker 2: But when we keep that conviction, that knowledge of the fact that God exists and he's the ruler of all things, and we hold up that shield in the forefront of our minds, those fiery arrows, the schemes, the darts.
Speaker 2: They just lose their power.
Speaker 2: They're extinguished.
Speaker 2: No, no, no.
Speaker 2: I remember God is in control of me right now.
Speaker 2: No, that person is not in control of my situation.
Speaker 2: Oh, no, no, that's right.
Speaker 2: My battle is not against flesh and blood.
Speaker 2: Oh, that's right.
Speaker 2: Oh, no, I need to put on my full armor of God.
Speaker 2: I got to hold up my shield of faith.
Speaker 2: God is in control.
Speaker 2: God is in control, he exists and he is the ruler and the provider and the creator and he bestows eternal salvation.
Speaker 2: When you hold up your shield of faith and you keep that belt of truth around your waist, faith in God becomes like that giant door guarding all of you and extinguishing the arrows.
Speaker 2: Okay, we're almost there, ready.
Speaker 2: Okay, we've got the belt of truth, we got the breastplate of righteousness, we got the shoes fitted with peace, we've got a pretend shield right here, and then we have the helmet of salvation.
Speaker 2: I chose my baseball cap, but I had custom made and it says rooted and established in the love of God.
Speaker 2: So we're going to put that and we're going to pretend there's a head on there and it's covering our heads.
Speaker 2: Now a helmet is covering our brains and our eyes.
Speaker 2: It's covering over our perspective.
Speaker 2: It's shifting the way that we think about things.
Speaker 2: When our sight and our perception are guarded by the salvation of the living God, we're like, oh, that's right, all of this is actually light and momentary, like this is actually not the worst.
Speaker 2: It really is hard, but I have my God who is fully in control.
Speaker 2: I'm going to skip my notes a little bit.
Speaker 2: A little farther, psalm 140, verse 7, says O God the Lord, the strength of my salvation, thou hast covered my head in the day of battle.
Speaker 2: I've been doing a little study on the names of God too, and if you look at that verse, and if you look at that verse, oh God, that's the word Yahweh, that is the creator God, the one from very beginning.
Speaker 2: Now, remember, these are all God, but they describe different pieces of his attributes.
Speaker 2: Yahweh, the very creator God, the one who sets all things in motion, that God the Lord, that's Adonai, that's oh, my goodness, I need to get it in front of my mouth the one who is in full authority.
Speaker 2: This is like a term that you would say to like the man.
Speaker 2: It's recognizing that God is in full authority.
Speaker 2: And then he says the strength of my salvation.
Speaker 2: That's God's other name, yeshua, the very one who has power to rescue and save.
Speaker 2: He has covered your head in the day of battle.
Speaker 2: He's the one who guards you, the God who is the creator.
Speaker 2: He has full authority and he has power to save.
Speaker 2: So what do we do with that?
Speaker 2: Well, when we're tempted in these mental spirals do you ever get in mental spirals where you just can't get out, like it?
Speaker 2: Just your mind is racing and it keeps going and it keeps going?
Speaker 2: Well, we remember Adonai, the one in full authority.
Speaker 2: He has control over all of our circumstances.
Speaker 2: When we are like rehearsing conversations in our head over and over and over, well, we remember Yeshua, the one who has power to save, to get you through this circumstance.
Speaker 2: He's the one who defends us.
Speaker 2: And when, if, the what ifs kind of race through your mind like a ticker tape, we remember Yahweh, the creator, god who ordains all things.
Speaker 2: He's in it with you.
Speaker 2: So, when we put on that helmet of salvation, we remember that the Lord goes before us.
Speaker 2: He is mighty to save in every circumstance.
Speaker 2: Okay, we get the correct perspective when we remember Putting on that helmet of salvation, remembering over and over again Okay, so we've got the belt of truth, the breastplate of righteousness, the feet fitted with peace, we've got the shield of faith.
Speaker 2: Then we have the helmet of salvation and finally this is legit y'all the sword of the spirit it's not sharp which is the word of God, but it's Civil War era Kind of cool, right.
Speaker 2: Sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of God.
Speaker 2: Everything else on our body so far has been a defensive tactic, right, but this is an offensive weapon.
Speaker 2: If anyone has played football, the best offense is what?
Speaker 2: A good defense.
Speaker 2: So you get your defense up first and then you hold up the word of God, the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.
Speaker 2: Again, read this all of my life.
Speaker 2: But y'all, it's the Spirit's sword, it's his sword, he's empowering it.
Speaker 2: Acts 1.8 says but you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you and you will be my witnesses.
Speaker 2: He empowers you.
Speaker 2: That word power is dunamis.
Speaker 2: It's where we get our word for dynamite.
Speaker 2: It's like explosive powerful.
Speaker 2: His word is power, his word is power, y'all.
Speaker 2: Hebrews 4.12 says for the word of God is living and active.
Speaker 2: It's sharper than any double-edged sword able to penetrate I should make sure I have it right Penetrate even dividing soul and spirit joints and marrow.
Speaker 2: It judges the thoughts and intentions of the heart.
Speaker 2: When we hold up the spirit of God with the sword of the spirit, it has power.
Speaker 2: God with the sword of the Spirit, it has power.
Speaker 2: 2 Timothy 3.16 and 17 says all scripture is God breathed.
Speaker 2: And it's useful.
Speaker 2: Guys, his word is useful.
Speaker 2: It's useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness.
Speaker 2: So the servants of God may be what Thoroughly equipped for good work, thoroughly equipped for good work.
Speaker 2: There is good work for you to do.
Speaker 2: You need to be thoroughly equipped by his word, which is powerful.
Speaker 2: The Holy Spirit is the one who makes his word effective and powerful.
Speaker 2: He is one with the most high God.
Speaker 2: He knows what needs to be said in response to the schemes of the evil one, and he knows God's word and he will enable you to hold it up with power and strength.
Speaker 2: It's time to parry.
Speaker 2: I have never once been in any kind of swordsmanship class, but I know that there's moves.
Speaker 2: Right, you got to be ready and you got to have it ready to go, and I'm sure I'm holding it wrong and doing all the things wrong, but that's okay because God's word is living and active.
Speaker 2: It's powerful.
Speaker 2: I don't even need to know how to wield it well, because the Holy Spirit will come in power through it.
Speaker 2: He's the one who empowers it.
Speaker 2: Remember, maybe you remember when Jesus was on the earth and he had his 40 days of fasting?
Speaker 2: The enemy came and he accused and he said all these things to him.
Speaker 2: And every last time Jesus responded it is written.
Speaker 2: And then he quoted scripture back to the enemy, because the schemer be scheming, but he is not more powerful than the word of God.
Speaker 2: So you hold up the sword of the spirit.
Speaker 2: You say back to him listen, man does not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God.
Speaker 2: Jesus himself, in all of his miraculous power, could have jumped off a cliff and had the angels save him.
Speaker 2: He could have made the stones turn into bread.
Speaker 2: He could have all these things he could have.
Speaker 2: He could have.
Speaker 2: But you know what he did?
Speaker 2: He relied on the power of God.
Speaker 2: He set down his own things to do and he was like no, it's the will of my Father, that's what I want.
Speaker 2: So if Jesus, who has full access to God's power, he didn't feel the need to get all stirred up into action and solve all the things, but he stood and he parried with God's word.
Speaker 2: It's probably what we can do too.
Speaker 2: God is already protecting you and already has given you his word.
Speaker 2: One of the good, another one of my favorite Bible teachers See, I'm just giving you all these like potential books to read.
Speaker 2: Ladies Beth Moore, in her book Believing God has this thing that she says and she'll just repeat it over and over when she needs to parry with God's word.
Speaker 2: She'll say God is who he says he is.
Speaker 2: God can do what he says he can do.
Speaker 2: I am who God says I am.
Speaker 2: I can do all things through Christ, and God's word is alive and active in me.
Speaker 2: He enables us, he is moving through us.
Speaker 2: It is all by the power of God.
Speaker 2: So, mamas, when you're exhausted, god is saying listen, I've actually given you all the tools, but you gotta put them on, you gotta sit with me, you gotta learn my word, you gotta be in my midst.
Speaker 2: Now he finishes up that whole thing, ephesians, chapter six, with pray at all times, in the spirit, with every prayer and request, and stay alert with all perseverance and intercession for the saints.
Speaker 2: Y'all, we're almost done.
Speaker 2: What do we do?
Speaker 2: We've got all of our pieces of armor on.
Speaker 2: What do we need?
Speaker 2: We need prayer, we need prayer.
Speaker 2: These are all awesome pieces.
Speaker 2: We need each part right, but we need to be empowered through prayer.
Speaker 2: We have got to get the Lord in the circumstance.
Speaker 2: He's already there, y'all, but we gotta align our hearts with his in it.
Speaker 2: That word pray at all times.
Speaker 2: It's not like the verse which says pray continuously.
Speaker 2: It's a different verb form.
Speaker 2: It means pray right now, at the right time, right when you need it.
Speaker 2: You just start praying Right when.
Speaker 2: Pray right now, at the right time, right when you need it.
Speaker 2: You just start praying.
Speaker 2: Right when your kids are driving you nuts Jesus, my kids are driving me nuts.
Speaker 2: I need your peace.
Speaker 2: Right when your boss is getting on your last nerve.
Speaker 2: Jesus, my boss is getting on my last nerve.
Speaker 2: I need you to calm my heart and I need you to control my tongue when anything is going on.
Speaker 2: Jesus, I need you right now.
Speaker 2: I know often in the New Testament it says immediately, and then you acted.
Speaker 2: I know that you can come right now and you can immediately act.
Speaker 2: So, jesus, I am calling on you, I'm asking you to move in power and then you pray in the Spirit.
Speaker 2: Sometimes we don't know what to pray, y'all.
Speaker 2: So you just sit still and you just say Holy Spirit.
Speaker 2: I know that your word says in Romans 8, 26,.
Speaker 2: In the same way, the Spirit helps us in our weaknesses.
Speaker 2: We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us through wordless groans.
Speaker 2: Jesus, sometimes that's all you've got.
Speaker 2: Jesus, holy Spirit, I need you to pray on my behalf because I have got no words.
Speaker 2: Pray in the Spirit, lay a request before the Lord, because he knows him already and he is waiting to give you his power, his dunamis, to come behind you in power and might.
Speaker 2: And then, lastly, stay alert with all perseverance and intercession for the saints.
Speaker 2: The schemer be scheming.
Speaker 2: We have to stay alert.
Speaker 2: We've got to be mindful of the real battle that is all around us.
Speaker 2: We cannot just lay down in this fight.
Speaker 2: It will not go well.
Speaker 2: We have to stay alert.
Speaker 2: Get your mind off of yourself too.
Speaker 2: Notice how it says that.
Speaker 2: Stay alert with all perseverance and intercession for the saints.
Speaker 2: Everyone is in a battle.
Speaker 2: Sometimes it's really really good to stop thinking about yourself.
Speaker 2: Fix your eyes on Jesus, Start praying for someone else.
Speaker 2: God is giving you strength in that minute and he's asking you to lend it to someone else.
Speaker 2: Use your power for what it's for.
Speaker 2: It's time to stand.
Speaker 2: If you're comfortable with it, I'm going to ask you to actually stand.
Speaker 2: If you're ready to stand in the full armor of God, if you're ready to say God, no, I want to commit to you.
Speaker 2: I want to commit like this is what you have for me.
Speaker 2: This is what I want to do.
Speaker 2: It's time to stand.
Speaker 2: Here's what it says Put on the full armor of God so that you can stand against the schemes of the devil.
Speaker 2: For this reason, take up the full armor of God so that you may be able to resist which that word is withstand, or to stand against in the evil day and having prepared everything to take your stand.
Speaker 2: Stand.
Speaker 2: Therefore, whenever something's repeated in scripture, it means it's intentional, it's something to get your attention Y'all.
Speaker 2: Sometimes you don't even have to do anything major, you just gotta stand up.
Speaker 2: Stand up in the fight.
Speaker 2: He is on your behalf, he is going before you and behind you and he hems you in.
Speaker 2: There is a Chinese leader and pastor from the early 1900s.
Speaker 2: His name is Watchman Nee.
Speaker 2: In his book Sit, walk, stand, he says today we do not fight for victory, we fight from victory.
Speaker 2: We do not fight in order to win, but because in Christ we have already won.
Speaker 2: Overcomers are those who rest in the victory already given them by God.
Speaker 2: Mama, you may be weary, sir, you may be weary.
Speaker 2: You are empowered by the vast strength of God to stand.
Speaker 2: You are equipped for the battle with God's very armor, and you are enabled to be in this battle because the very Holy Spirit of God is with you and praying with groans that you and I don't even understand.
Speaker 2: He is with you.
Speaker 2: Let's go ahead and pray, god.
Speaker 2: We thank you so much.
Speaker 2: You are good.
Speaker 2: Thank you that you equip us, lord.
Speaker 2: Some of us are really, really really battle weary.
Speaker 2: Help us to fix our eyes on you, to remember that you go forth in power, that your word is truth, that you're right in the middle of it, with us, lord, that you have empowered us by your vast strength.
Speaker 2: Even when we're exhausted, you are strong.
Speaker 2: You have equipped us with everything we need for life and godliness.
Speaker 2: You have given us your very armor to sustain us in battle and, god, you have enabled us to stand by the power of your might.
Speaker 2: Help us to stand, therefore, in Jesus' name, amen.
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