Cornerstone Christian Center
Cornerstone Christian Center
Are You Prepared? | Everyday Carry
What do you carry with you every day? Keys, wallet, phone—these items help us feel prepared for whatever the day might bring. But what about spiritual preparation?
Our new series "Everyday Carry" opens with a thought-provoking message about the armor of God and how we prepare ourselves spiritually for daily battles. Through a humorous story about accidentally bringing a pocket knife through airport security in Europe, we're reminded that we can carry all the right physical tools and still be spiritually unprepared.
Jesus challenges us in Luke 9 to "take up your cross daily and follow me"—emphasizing that spiritual readiness is a daily commitment, not a weekend activity. When we're caught unprepared spiritually, we're vulnerable to attacks that could have been prevented.
The armor of God in Ephesians 6 provides a powerful framework for spiritual preparedness: the belt of truth that anchors us in honesty, the breastplate of righteousness that protects our heart while keeping it open to God and others, shoes of peace that carry God's presence wherever we walk, the shield of faith that blocks spiritual attacks, the helmet of salvation that gives us the mind of Christ, and the sword of the Spirit—God's Word—that becomes our weapon against darkness.
Most compelling is the realization that while we might forget our physical tools, our spiritual armor should never be left behind. Faith becomes our currency in God's kingdom, blocking attacks of doubt, fear and anxiety. The peace of God doesn't just rest within us but goes before us into our homes, workplaces, and relationships.
Are you fully equipped for today's spiritual battles? The greatest thing you can carry isn't something that fits in your pocket—it's the presence and protection of God that goes with you everywhere. Join us as we learn to be spiritually prepared every single day.
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Hey, we're so glad that you're getting a chance, we're getting a chance to worship together, that you're here with us. We are blessed, amen. Hey, today we're starting a new series called Everyday Carry, and we had this question for us, which is are you prepared? Are you prepared, are you? You know, I was thinking about this because it's really talking about, as you saw in the video, about the things that we carry on us every day, carrying so many of us. You know, we run with our pocket or our purse and whatever's going on. It's the things that we kind of carry on our person. And I'll tell you this I grew up, you know, with a dad that was a hunter and a fisherman, so I learned to use a pocket knife from the time I was really young, as a tool for everything.
Speaker 1:You know what I mean. You get into this or that, you get into stuff with it, use it as a screwdriver, even though you're not supposed to. You know you do all the things with it, and so I got very used to carrying a pocket knife in my pocket. And so whenever Celeste and I said yes to become missionaries in Europe you know they have different rules on what a pocket knife is versus an American pocket knife. You guys know what I'm talking about. So, like you know, this American pocket knife, this super illegal over there. But I accidentally forgot and brought all my pocket knives to Europe. So I was there and I had my pocket knives with me and we were living in Paris, we're headed to London and we had a it's amazing city, a beautiful place, but they have some knife crimes. So they have some issues with certain types of knives and so you know, I didn't think much of it, I wasn't intending to bring my pocket knife with me.
Speaker 1:But the night before the trip it was like two, three o'clock in the morning and I heard this sound. So I throw a pair of pants on, I put a pocket knife in my pocket, I get my big mag light out and I go look for the noise and I didn't find anything, Thanks be to God. But afterwards I just kind of threw those pants into my bag and I had a different set of clothes for the morning ready to go. So we got, you know, ready to go, got on the train squad through Paris, got to the train station and took the Eurostar, which is like flying in a plane, took that. My microphone didn't like my story. So we take the train across to London. So we get there, I go to put on the next day pair of clothes and, lo and behold, I find my pocket knife on the pair of pants there in my bag. Now this is a blessing. Now I don't know how it got through. It's like going through a flight security I mean, it's that rigid. So somehow it got through multiple checks of security. My bag got to us, but now I had a pocket knife in London so I got to use it.
Speaker 1:We went to Hyde Park. You can see an image of it here. Beautiful park right in the middle of the city. So we go to like Pret-a-Manger or someplace and get like a sack lunch. We go out and have a picnic. God bless us for like five days of sun in London, which never happens, by the way. It's always gloomy and crazy. So we're sitting in the park. It's like you see in this next image. It's like this is from Hyde Park, right when the sun is there, coming through the trees. You're in the middle of this big city, but then you have this epic moment of peace in the middle of the city. We're using the knife to cut up, you know, cheese and crackers and apples and all sorts of stuff for the kids. Our kids were young Jabin was like five and Shiloh would have been like two, so we're somewhere in there, and so that was kind of their age group. So we had a great time.
Speaker 1:But then the end of the trip came and it was time to try to go back to Paris with all of our stuff which I was trying to keep my pocket knife. You guys know what I'm talking about. So I tried to put it back where it was and we tried to go through security. And so we're there at San Pancras and we're at the train, about to get back, and I go through and I put my bag in. Guess what didn't work this time Getting the pocket knife through security at all. So I put the bag through right away. Ma-ma, sir, sir, do you have something in this bag? I'm like, yeah, I do. You know I have a pocket knife. I didn't mean to bring it. Give him the whole story, I just told you.
Speaker 1:And the guy's like okay, okay, is it going to poke me, sir? No, no, it's not going to poke you, it's fine, it's fine. Tell him where it's at. He goes and he reaches in and he pulls it out. And I tell you this he pulls it out and you're not allowed to have a knife that locks Definitely was a locking knife. You're definitely not allowed to have a knife that does this. You know what I'm talking about. It definitely did that too. He opens it and he goes oh, that's fun. And immediately I'm like I'm going to jail, I'm going to prison, I'll never get out of this place. My family's going to go and leave me here, you know.
Speaker 1:And the guy, he's just him, and he goes. I'll tell you what I mean. He closes it up and meanwhile I'm like looking at him and I'm looking at my children, javen's like dad, you have a knife. I'm like shut up, you keep it down. You know like, try not to be in zip cuffs. You know, the guy's so cool man. He goes. I'll tell you what. I'm gonna take this. And he had a sharps box like for, you know, like for medical personnel. It's a red box, has a top. You can put all sorts of needles and stuff in it. He takes my knife. He goes I'm going to put this right side in this box. I go. That sounds like a great plan. I like this plan, he goes and you have a great day. I was like God bless you.
Speaker 1:But it was one of those things where, like, I felt like I was prepared for everything, but then, in some circumstances, I wasn't prepared. Even though I thought I was prepared, I wasn't prepared and I was thinking about it spiritually for us where we can go with everything, we're ready to face our day All the trinkets, the pocket knife, everything that's in your purse of, you know, of the never-ending mom purse. You can have all the things, you can have a pocket knife that has every single little piece that pulls out, that has all the tools and still not be spiritually ready for your day. And we need to be those who, in our everyday, carry our first priorities to go spiritually and be ready in our spirit to face the day, that we're those people that say Lord, as for me, I'm going to be someone who's prepared to face my day and to go after it. So, friends, that's my challenge to us that we would be every day ready spiritually speaking. We have a video for you. All right, what's up guys? Steve, hey, man, what's in your pockets, what's?
Speaker 2:in my pockets? Yeah, nothing, alright, what's up guys, steve, hey, man, what's in your pockets? What's in my pockets? Yeah, uh, nothing, nothing major.
Speaker 1:What's your everyday carry here? Okay, got the phone. Got the phone, got a radio because you're running security Yep, running the safety team.
Speaker 2:Oh, just the essentials, your safety gloves, that's right, let's go you gotta be prepared, always be prepared, stay ready.
Speaker 3:That's right. That's about it. That's all I got.
Speaker 1:That's awesome, man. Daniel, what's up man? Hey, what's in your pockets? I got my wallet, nice nice.
Speaker 2:Oh, picture of the fam nice.
Speaker 1:It's a serious wallet man Costanza wallet. Yup, it's a man's wallet. You got chips Snack as a case. You get stuck out there. Keys and Leatherman, leatherman, that's good stuff, man. You running a phone or no? Yep, phone, okay, phone in the back pocket, excellent, excellent, all right man, very cool, everyday carry, all right.
Speaker 2:Hey, Pastor Angus, what do you have in your pockets?
Speaker 3:Pick me on the right day, bro. I got my little pet worm with me. Always got to carry some hydration. American flag got to have it with you. A little bottle of maple syrup, of course, the keys, my phone let's see what else do we have? Oh, pocket watch, in case the Apple watch breaks down. I've got my trusty pocket knife here for bigger jobs, just in case I need to do a little workout mid-day. Honey, just in case I decide I need something else. Oh, we've got the hymns of glorious praise, let's see. Oh, just a little door hanger for Botswana Prayer shawl. Never know when you're going to be praying for somebody. You know I always like to carry a little helper with me.
Speaker 1:You never, ever want to forget your Bible. All right, thank you, that's right. Don't forget your Bible. Be like Pastor Angus Don't forget your Bible in your everyday carry. I love that so very much.
Speaker 1:You know, one of the things that we do here is that we want to be people who are walking with Jesus wherever he's leading us to go. We use this imagery of Jesus walking with his disciples because that's how we see ourselves that none of us have arrived anywhere. We're still on that journey, following after Jesus, amen. So since we're not perfect, we're going to follow him where he's leading us to go, and so our ambition, individually and corporately, is to be more like Jesus, and so that means, together, that we want to love God, we want to make disciples, we want to reach the world. My challenge to you is this that, as we're about to start a new set of life groups for May and June, my challenge to you is that you would get involved, be intentional in your life with Christ, join a life group. Let it be a challenge to you. Refine you. This is great. We're thankful for these gatherings that we have in this way, but we want to be those who are interacting with each other and building those relationships as well. So let me challenge you to connect, grow and serve the Lord. Amen. So this idea of every day, carry. You know.
Speaker 1:We look to the scripture today. If you have your Bible, your tablet, your phone, we'll open here and it looks like this in Luke 9. It says, and he said to all if anyone would come after me, let him deny himself, take up his cross daily and follow me, for whoever would save his life will lose it. Whoever loses his life for my sake will save it. Lord, I thank you so much, and we pray over your word today, lord, that you would illuminate it in us so it would become alive in Rhema, lord. It would be transformative, it would challenge us. We pray this in the name of Jesus Christ, amen.
Speaker 1:So we've been talking about this idea of are you prepared? And, as we think about it, you know each one of those little attributes of being prepared. It's so vital, I know, for us. You know we do a lot of work around here, around the church. We're very thankful for facilities and things like that, but it takes a lot of upkeep and so we're always doing a project. So on us we're always carrying a knife or tools or something like that, and I can tell you, as someone who's lost lots and lots of Leathermans through airport security I Lots and lots of Leathermans through airport security I stay ready, stay with something on me like a Leatherman or a pocket knife, because you can just use it for everything, and so I was so used to that.
Speaker 1:And, in the same way, whenever we want to be prepared and have the tool for the job on us, we want to be spiritually prepared as well, because you know, if you have the right tool and the right skill set, when you have a problem, you don't have a problem right, because it can be solved. And so that's the same way we think about it spiritually. It's like listen, yes, we're going to have things that happen in our life, but if we stay spiritually prepared, spiritually ready, then we can be those that, whenever that situation arises, we can step up and meet that thing spiritually speaking. And so that's what we're talking about today in this idea of carry your cross. See as the scripture talks to us about carrying your cross, it's a daily thing, and that means that we're gonna say yes to God every day, that we're gonna identify with his sacrifice for us, and that's why the symbol of the cross is so important to us and we use this image of the cross so often, because for us, by faith, we say this is where Jesus took all of the sins of the world. He took my sin, he took your sin, all of our brokenness, all of our mistakes. He took it and paid for it upon the cross, once and for all, for all people. And so for us, by faith, we say Lord, I'm thankful for what you did for me. Because of it, I am forgiven, I am free. Can you say amen to that? And so that's who we are is that we want to be those who are living that life. And so what we say every day, as we get ready for these things, is that we want to be prepared, we want to be those who are in that life with God. And we know it's a spiritual thing that we're doing, because that's what he's calling us to do. It's a spiritual act. To pick up your cross means to identify with Jesus every day, not just weekend to weekend or weekend to every few weekends as we get to church, but every day as a Christ follower. And so what that means is that, if we're going to be spiritually prepared, like having your leatherman in your pocket or the things you need in your purse. The same way, spiritually, we want to be prepared, and that's called the armor of God. And so we're looking today to Ephesians 6, and we'll be highlighting this as something that we use as we use it to pray over us in our life.
Speaker 1:It picks up here in Ephesians 6, verse 10, paul writing to the church at Ephesus and this is his closing challenge to the church he says finally, be strong in the Lord, in the strength of his might. Put on the whole armor of God that you may be able to stand against the schemes of the devil. You say amen to that. Now what we know is that we're called to be those who are strong in the Lord, and that means strong in him, not strong in us. Now he's made us to be people with all sorts of abilities and strengths, and those things are good and we work hard at that. That's what we call in bringing our excellence to God. Nothing wrong with that, but not relying on our strength, but instead trusting in his strength.
Speaker 1:And there's a big difference, I can tell you. You know, I grew up. You know my dad was a tough guy and he didn't try to be a tough guy, he just was a tough guy. He grew up in South Phoenix and was a rough dude and so whenever I was growing up, I didn't grow up, I grew up in suburbs. Man, I was out here, you know, but I was afraid of Rich Brown, so I wasn't afraid of anybody else. You know people be like, oh, blah, blah, blah. I was like whatever man, I'm not scared of you. I know Rich Brown, what do you know about it? I wasn't scared and it got me in trouble because I'd be running my mouth at people I should not be running my mouth at, and occasionally. You know that check got cashed and I learned the lesson.
Speaker 1:You guys know what I'm talking about, where it's like there was a ramification, usually in my face area, and a big nose landing with fists, and so you can understand where I'm trying to be strong in me, like, try to be, like what's up, and that's not what he's calling us to be. We call it be strong in the Lord, and that's a big difference. It doesn't mean that we don't take care of ours and protect ours. It's not what I'm saying. I'm saying that we don't. That's not the ultimate reliance. Our reliance is on the Lord, and so our strength is in him, our character is in him and what we're leaning on is in him.
Speaker 1:If we thought about it and we knew we were getting into a fight, man, it would make sense for us to put on battle armor to go and fight the fight, right? So we think about it, like with this medieval armor example here, where we want to be covered head to toe. We don't want to be left open for anything to be available for being attacked, right? I mean, the first thing that I would do if I was the enemy of you would be like well, where do they not have armor on, you know? And so sometimes we might walk out and we might have a portion of this armor on, but we don't have all of it on, and so what's going to happen is the enemy of your soul. He's going to come and attack you in these weak points because you're not protected. Does that make sense? And I know for me that's what I want to do is. I want to be someone who is walking lockstep with Jesus, that I'm connected to him, I'm going where he's calling us to go. I want to have that mentality, to be strong in the Lord, to have the armor of God on, because it's from him and not from me.
Speaker 1:And the reason this is important is because this next point is that we're not fighting physically against somebody else. The wrestle is against not flesh and blood, but the spirit. It picks up here in Ephesians 6, 12, for we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against rulers, against authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in heavenly places. And so what we know, by fighting these things, you can't do it physically. You don't do more reps in the gym or rolls on the mat to get ready, prepared for this fight.
Speaker 1:No, this is this fight of prayer because it's a spiritual fight and that's why, so often, you know, first conversations we start. So often, you know first conversations we start having, as you know, as pastors, is when you see people saying I'm going through it. I feel distance from God. We're like, okay, where's your prayer life at. Okay, where's your time in the word? At Like we start talking about these things because we know that the battle is not just what's we're in front of us, not just the person around us.
Speaker 1:It's actually a spiritual battle. It's not just the person around us. It's actually a spiritual battle. It's in our mind, it's in our heart, it's in the other person being influenced negatively. It's in our brokenness that we're fighting, and so that's why prayer is such an amazing weapon, it's such an important thing, and as we pray the prayer of faith, we pray for every element of this armor of God to prepare us to stand up against the spiritual fight that we're going to go through.
Speaker 1:What we know, as people, is that we are going to go through the fight. We know it's coming, so we might as well be prepared for the fight that's coming. Amen. So we don't have to be afraid, because we are children of God. Whenever you have a relationship with Jesus, you don't have to be afraid of that, because you belong to him. So, though you may be in the fight, you know that you're gonna win the fight, because the fight is eternally yours in Jesus Christ. We know the promises that are there for us in scripture, and so we stand on those truths.
Speaker 1:It continues here in verse 13. It says this Therefore, take up the whole armor of God that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, having done all to stand firm. Would you say, amen, that we would stand firm? Now we know this, that our days are evil, and since they are evil, then we need to be those who stand firm with all that God provides for us. And I'll tell you, just like any other habit, this is something we start to build into our lives and I can tell you you know, celeste and I have made it a point with our family that we pray the Lord's prayer every time before we like pull out of the driveway or before when we start our day.
Speaker 1:And if we try to take off in the car without someone who's already said the prayer, somebody will start the prayer. You know what I mean. We're like we're in the middle of conversation, blah, blah, blah. We're talking about X, y and Z. We put the car in reverse. We're like our father in heaven. I'm like that's right, that's right, that's right. No, we got to get in lock.
Speaker 1:Yes, and we pray the prayer together and it's that your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven. See, he's with us. He doesn't forsake us. We know this. This is what the Psalm says to us, talking about even the valley, the shadow of death. He doesn't leave us, he's with us. And so whenever we start talking about these things, about putting the whole armor of God, we have to have that perspective. You think about it, how every piece is important, every piece you don't want to leave out, because every piece has something to do with how we're going to interact with our day, how we're going to interact with what we come across. And so that's why, whenever we're praying for the armor of God on us, that's why we pray those prayers I'm sure you do the same. We start praying down our prayer list. When someone shares it with us, we start adding that to our prayer list.
Speaker 1:Man, lord today, be with Pastor Rich today. Minister to his body today, lord, be with this, our friend that's going through this situation. Lord, in this marriage, lord, in this relationship, god, that you would be made known, that they would have forgiveness, that people would come together. There'd be unity in Jesus' name. Friends, we've seen miracles happen because of prayer. So we believe and we stand firm because we've seen it happen.
Speaker 1:People might think of it as some kind of mystical, you know kind of thing. No, no, no, this is what the Lord says Pray and I will make it happen. I'm going to do my will in the midst of you. And so we say your kingdom come, your will be done, lord Jesus, and we ask in the prayer of faith. Now it continues here in verse 14. It says it like this stand, therefore, having fastened on the belt of truth and having put on the breastplate of righteousness. Now, when we think about the belt of truth, it's something that's really important, right? Because the belt of truth is something that it really. It starts the whole process.
Speaker 1:If you can't be someone who's truthful, then how is someone going to believe your testimony whenever you start testifying about the goodness of God, because you're lying about other stuff, and so that's heaven. Help all of us. None of us is 100% on this Like let our yes be yes, our no be no. Help me to be someone who's truth-telling, who speaks the truth and even speaks the truth in love. You know, so many times we might say, like a little white lie to make somebody feel better, but instead of that, just being a truthful person, and instead of being someone who's like hurtful, because they can use the truth to be hurtful against another person too Some of us have been hurt by that. People like just come and get you like man, that hurts. I'm not talking about that. I'm talking about the truth, being someone who speaks the truth all the time, reflecting the character of Jesus. Because as we do that, then what happens is people can trust us.
Speaker 1:This whole assembly, this whole ensemble of all the armor, connects first to the belt, which all the pieces connect to, and so if we first are those who are seeking the truth and what does it say? The truth is in Jesus Christ, so if we're connected to him, then we are going to be truthful people too. At the same time, it says that we're called to have a breastplate of righteousness, and that's something that's awesome. It protects our torso. I know I want everything that's in this area to stay inside my body. On this area, everybody agree. That's why we still wear what Bulletproof vests People wear. That today. That's common armor today. That's one of the main things. You've got to keep it all protected, why? Heart, lungs, guts, everything. Keep it all inside, keep it protected.
Speaker 1:And, spiritually speaking, the Lord's talking to us about having a heart after him. And so often, what happens if we don't? And by the righteousness of Christ, identifying with what he's done for us, it's not our righteousness, it's his righteousness. So, as he's righteous and he's the one that we say Lord, your righteousness is the one that covers me then we can have a soft heart towards God, we can have an open heart towards him that he can use to have a change in others. And if we don't have that righteousness in our life, if we don't identify with what Christ is doing for us, then what happens is we have a hardened heart because we're trying to protect our heart from other people. You wonder so many times why a person who doesn't know Jesus they have a hardened heart towards others. Well, that's why they're trying to protect their heart, because they know how injured we can become. And so what happens is they protect their heart and they start to block it off from God and from other people, and it makes this wall in their heart and friends as Christ followers. That's what God has not called us to be, those people he wants us to have an open heart to him and an open heart to others. Love God, love others, and we can only do that if we are ones that are walking in the righteousness of God, in the way of God, so he can protect our heart for us. Amen.
Speaker 1:Think about this. You think about how someone who's walking in armor, how they are protected from head to toe, and you can see this person you know, man, they're really locked in. And so you can see, wow, this is awesome, like I love this whole thing. But you can be head to toe protected. But if this person doesn't have the right footwear on, they busted right Because they're in the snow, they're in the cold, they're in trouble. So they could be totally protected. But if their feet aren't done right, then they are going to be what? Sitting on the ground trying to rub on their feet, trying to warm it up. So even though you're connected head to toe, like you're going to be in a big fight, if you don't have your footwear right, you're in trouble.
Speaker 1:And so it says this in Ephesians 6, 15, as shoes for your feet, having put on the readiness given by the gospel of peace, I love this Shoes of peace. Now, you guys know I'm a shoe guy, I love shoes. I feel that all my shoes are shoes of peace and I'm like you know, celeste is like you need this pair of shoes. I'm like, yes, I need that pair of shoes. That's shoes of peace. So what about this one. I'm like this is a different colorway of the shoes of peace. I need these shoes. What about these boots? These are the boots of peace. Praise the Lord, you guys getting it. Yet we need more of the shoes of peace, praise the Lord.
Speaker 1:In truth, what it says is that we want to be those who walk in the peace of God, and it says that the peace of God will rest upon us and where we set our feet, the peace of God will be there, not just where we are, but in front of us as he's leading us to go. The peace of God is in front of us, leading the way, and that's a peace of God is in our circumstances. It's not just in us, but, as the peace of God rests upon us, it's where we've put our feet to go. So it's in your home, it's with your family, it's wherever you go, in your workplace or your school or wherever you're at.
Speaker 1:The peace of God would be upon you and not only in you, but it would start to impact those around you, because the peace of God is upon you and that's all we can pray for. That is like Lord, let your peace rest on me. Lord, let your peace go out from me, lord, that we would experience the peace of God, because we live crazy lives and we have deadlines and we have this anxiety and this stress that goes from it. And instead we say, lord, you know what I'm going to do, to the best of my ability, as you enable me to do so, lord. I ask for your wisdom and guidance so I can do these things above what I can do, that you would do it through me, and I ask for the peace of God to rest upon me, that, as I do so, that I would walk in the peace and the presence of God and then I would see that flush of your peace wash over me. See what happens when you start to pray the prayer of peace over your circumstances. See if God won't first change your heart in the circumstance, and how the change of your heart will have effect on others, because they too will be affected by the peace of God. Friends, without the peace of God, we're in trouble Right down in River City. It's crazy. So we have to walk in the peace of God. That was for all of my theater heads who had been singing that song for four days.
Speaker 1:All right, ephesians 6, 16 says this In all circumstances, take up the shield of faith which can distinguish all the flaming darts of the evil one. I love this, the shield of faith in all circumstances. I love it because, you know, we haven't even got to a weapon, but the shield itself becomes a weapon because it's blocking the attack of the enemy against us. And what it says is by faith. By faith, all of everything is. Faith is the currency in the kingdom of God. So by faith, Lord, I accept your work for me. By faith, you have made me righteous. By faith, I'm a new creation in you. So your faith is what blocks all those attacks that come against you, all those mindsets that say you're not worth anything, that you're tied to your past, that you have no future. All these things that attack you are fiery darts in the enemy against your spirit, against your soul.
Speaker 1:By faith we say no, that's not true, because the word of God says this by faith, I block that in Jesus' name. And not just that, but you think about it. We've seen it in battles where people use their shields and together, as the community, the church of God, the bride of Christ, we lock together and by faith we start to take ground against the enemy Because we start to move together. We start to move together and we start to take ground against the enemy by the shield of faith. And so, friends, that's what's amazing about it is that we say, lord, I believe you are who you say you are, and I'm going to stop this mindset that's coming against me right now that I'm going to be broken or I can't do it. No, that's not what the Lord says. The greater is he that's in me than he that's in the world. That we are more than conquerors through him, who loved us. That it doesn't matter if it's brokenness or sword or nakedness or whatever. Guess what. I didn't come into this world with anything. I'm going out with nothing. Jesus is more than enough for me. By the shield of faith, I'm saying no to all this other curse. I'm alive in Christ. Can you say amen to that? And that's where we're going forward.
Speaker 1:Verse 17,. It continues and says this and take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the spirit, which is the word of God. And I love this. The helmet of salvation is so important because, friends, whenever we can trust the Lord for our salvation, it protects us, protects everything. The thing about today. We, even now, today, we put the helmet on right Special forces. They're running a helmet. Why? Because it's important. You gotta protect your noggin and I can tell you it's the same thing for us as we think about it as we it's in practicality today.
Speaker 1:Man, back in the day we used to run a skate park here called Epic Park and we used it before they built the skate parks around it to connect with students and just share the love of God and connect with them. It was awesome. We welded it together, man, tyler and Aaron a bunch of people helped us do it and it was an amazing thing. It ran for a few years and we would set up. We had really big stuff, half pipe and all sorts of drop-ins and all sorts of cool stuff, but I had rules because I was responsible. So I was responsible we had made everybody wear a helmet and sign a waiver. I was like I had made everybody wear a helmet and sign a waiver. I was like, if you try to skate this stuff and you don't sign a waiver or wear a helmet, I'm going to throw you over the fence, which was probably not the right way to say that, but you guys get the idea. So it was like, hey, what are you going to do is do these things. And so I was, like you know, made everybody do it, but for good reason, because we had people getting gnarly going really good, really big, and the air wins, right, because you can't defy the air forever. So you're coming back down and many times you're coming back down with a skateboard or a bike on top of you, and so we had the helmet. Saved us a bunch of times where people would just slam on the concrete and I'd be like, oh, dear Jesus, in the name of Jesus, like helmet got it. I'm like, thank you, jesus, you know, this is awesome, they're still alive, good news. And I'll tell you, like you know, I was like this is awesome, they're still alive, good news. And I'll tell you, like you know, I didn't really think much about it. These kids are resilient man. They could bounce off the concrete, get back up.
Speaker 1:But I was in my mid-20s, still skateboarding, and I was like I can still do this, man, I still got it. I'm going to end up on X Games and be sick. So I'm like and we gapped them. I had a gap in between the two quarter pipes because our half pipe, kind of put them together, put a big gap, and so I came across one side and went real big in the air and landed it. I was like that was sick. So we like, oh, we'll spread them out. So we kept spreading it out, kept spreading it out and I go. The last time we were having an outreach over here was in October, having outreach for the community big crowd. So I'd like push into the thing really really hard, push, push, push, ride up big ollie, big air, and I catch my trucks on the coping, coming down on the other side of the gap.
Speaker 1:And then I was out in space. You guys don't talk about like way, I'm not talking about people in a ship, like last week. No, I was in space, space, me and the ground, you know, and I went like this and I balled up. I was like, oh, mommy, jesus, you know, like calling out, went like this, tucked in and man, I slammed super hard, bam, smacked the ground like this, right on my helmet and right on my side man, and I was wearing like kind of like worn in jeans, but I had one of those old indestructible phones you guys remember whenever phones didn't break, you could use it as a hammer. You could like fix stuff around the house with your phone. You guys remember what I'm talking about. I had one of those in my pocket. It ripped through my pants. I hit so far, so hard on the ground, huge black and blue bruise right here Craziness. It cracked my helmet and I was like I'd like to take this opportunity to say I'm retiring from skateboarding. And that was it. But, man, without that helmet I'd have been toast. It was my salvation.
Speaker 1:And so that's what the salvation, the helmet of salvation, is for us. That he's saying listen, I have already done this for you, so walk in your salvation. You don't need to go and live a different way through the week and need to get resaved on the next weekend. Nothing wrong with that. If you need to get resaved today, man, make that decision for Jesus. But what I'm saying is you don't need to do that as a habit. No, you need to live with the mentality that I belong to Jesus, I belong to Jesus, I belong to Jesus, I belong to Jesus all the way through the helmet of salvation. Why is it the helmet of salvation? Because it gives us the mind of Christ. So we're walking in step with the mind of Christ what he's calling us to do.
Speaker 1:So often we've used an example of your perspective. It's the view by which you see it. When you see it through his view, it's like suddenly, oh, wow, no, you have value because he made you in his image too. Oh, and this is different than I think. And wow, god called me to turn the other cheek and he called me to do these other things. You start to see things differently because you have the mind of Christ, and I love this.
Speaker 1:The other thing he says in that same verse is he says that we're called to have the sword of the spirit, the sword of the spirit. See, for us, the word of God is the sword of the spirit. It's anointed All the people that were authors of this Spirit. The sword of the Spirit. See, for us, the word of God is the sword of the Spirit. It's anointed All the people that were authors of this book, all 66 books put together in one volume. All of it is anointed by God. It was inspired by Him. It has a crimson thread of redemption throughout all of its scripture.
Speaker 1:It's a book that has more original copies, all the way to the back, more than anything we have in Greek literature. It is true, it is the word of God and it can be trusted. And friends, since that's true, then the word of God is a weapon for us against the darkness. It says it says by the sword of the spirit. It means the spirit will make it alive in you as you read it. It will become something that sparks your faith and you can use that against the enemy when those evil things come.
Speaker 1:It's a weapon that's in your hand and so often people will come and ask me a question. They, pastor, I'm going through this situation. I'm like that's man, that's heavy. Let's pray about it. How are you doing spiritually? What's your prayer life? What's your reading time like? Do you have the word of God in you?
Speaker 1:So often the response is no, and it makes sense, right, because the first thing the enemy would want to take out of your hand is your weapon. Man, if I was your enemy, I would want to take your weapon away from you too, because then you can't fight back. See, because in the word it says things like he has given you authority over these things and you can take authority and use the word, the name of Jesus Christ against these things that would come against you. But if you're not reading that, if he's not challenging your perspective, if you're not reading the wisdom of the word in Proverbs, the song that sparks our heart in Psalms, if you're not doing these things, then guess what? You're taking your weapon out of your hand so you can walk out fully in armor the rest of the way, but the only thing you can do is stop the fight. You can't bring the fight to the enemy.
Speaker 1:So, friends, let me challenge you that you would keep your weapon in your hand and in your heart, that you would read your Bible. You let it work inside of you, because it becomes a weapon when those evil thoughts come, when those other things come to you, when depression tries to get on top of you. What you say to it is no, I know who I am in Jesus Christ. I know the value I have in Jesus. I know that he is for me and not against me. He won't leave me stranded. Why? Because the word of God is right here. Me stranded why? Because the word of God is right here. It's a weapon against the darkness. You could take authority over it in the name of Jesus Christ.
Speaker 1:Well, we see that as where we go, as we start to say in my own life first, lord, help me that I give my heart to you. Lord, you'd help me in every area. That hold nothing back. But, lord, not just in my life, lord, I pray, Lord, for your peace, for your wisdom, for your presence. I plead the blood of Jesus Christ over my family, lord, over my grandchildren. Lord, in my workplace, where I go, lord, that you would help me, that I would have your mindset, that I would have a faith that's in you that I would understand that I'm saved by grace and by faith and Lord, that I walk full of the spirit of God. See, because whenever that starts to happen, it starts to challenge who we are and what's going on with us. It starts to be something that becomes a weapon in our hand against the evil.
Speaker 1:One Hebrews says it a little bit different. It says it like this For the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and of spirit, of joints and marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart. See, that's exactly what happens whenever you get the word inside of you. It starts to really cut through all the mess and clarify what it means to have faith in God. Friends, that's what we're called to have and challenged to be is be those who have faith in God, that we're prepared for what he wants to do in and through us, that we're those that, whenever it's challenged to us and it says if anyone would come after me, let him deny himself, let him take up his cross daily and follow me, we can say yes. We can say yes, lord, lord, I, for today, lord, I will pick up my cross, I will follow after you. It continues here.
Speaker 1:In the second part of that scripture it says whoever would save his life would lose it. Whoever loses his life for my sake will save it. Friends, as we're called to be those that lose our life, meaning this life that we chase after because he will give us a much better life, not just for here, but also for eternity, where we walk with him forever. Lord, we pray over this message today, lord, that you would use it to spark hearts towards you, whether you use it for your glory, that we would be those who walk full of your presence and full of your peace. We pray in Jesus' name.
Speaker 1:Friends, today there's an opportunity for you. Maybe you're here and you've yet to make a decision to follow Jesus. Today's your opportunity to do so. It's your opportunity to say yes to him. You have to answer that question of have you embraced Jesus? And maybe you're here and you have made the decision in the past, but you have not been living it and you need to make a recommitment to him. Today's your opportunity. It's not too late. There's nothing that you've done that could separate you from the love of Christ. He loves you so very much.
Speaker 1:You know, we talked about it last week with Good Friday and Easter, about the great sacrifice of Jesus for us. We were reminded of it as we took communion together, of his sacrifices, his body which was broken for us, the blood that was shed for us. Jesus, he was holy, the only holy sacrifice. See, there's nothing we can do to earn the grace of God, and so whenever we think of the cross, the cross is one of transformation. It's one where we see that all of our pain and all of our suffering was taken care of. And as we look at the cross, we start to see where Jesus. He took all of my pain and all of my suffering. He took it to the cross and he paid for it once and for all. He did the same for you because he loves you so very much. He values you so very much that you would have an active relationship with him.
Speaker 1:Today, you know, for each one of us, we hear the challenge that's there and we have to respond. It says by faith. We say, jesus, I believe you are who you say you are. I invite you into my heart and life. I want to start a new relationship with you. The apostle Paul. He writes to the church at Rome. He says it like this because you've confessed with your mouth that Jesus is Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For with the heart one believes and is justified. With the mouth, one confesses and is saved.
Speaker 1:Friends, today is your day. It's your opportunity to say yes to Jesus. I'm gonna ask everyone that's here in the room if you'd stand to your feet and bow your heads right where you're at. If you're online listening to us. Prepare your heart for whatever God wants to do in you. Just take a few moments wherever you are.
Speaker 1:Friends, if that's you, as heads are bowed here, christians are praying for you. Friends, if that's you, you need to make it a commitment to Jesus today. Maybe it's for the first time, maybe it's a recommitment to him. It's a decision for Christ. If that's you, if you just raise your hand right where you're at and say, pastor, that's me, I just want to be included in this prayer today. I want to have this life that's after Jesus, to invite him into my heart and life. Thank you, lord. Thank you, lord as people making decisions. Thank you, God. Thank you, lord. Friends online as well, making decisions, decisions. Thank you, jesus.
Speaker 1:I'm going to ask if you would just pray this prayer out loud after me. Lord, thank you for loving me. Thank you for sending Jesus. I believe Jesus died on the cross for my sins. I believe he rose again. Forgive me of my sins. I surrender my life to you. In Christ's name, I pray Amen, amen.
Speaker 1:Friends, we rejoice with you making a decision to follow Jesus today. What a powerful decision, amazing. Let me encourage you in this that you would let us know about your decision to follow Jesus today. We want to put some materials into your hand. We want you to get baptized this next week, as we have baptism coming. Make that decision public to go after Jesus and if you've made a decision to follow Jesus in recent weeks. Let me challenge you in this that you would follow him in baptism, because that's going public with your faith in Christ being dead to sin, alive in God.
Speaker 1:As we open up this altar, we come back to this last song today, here, and we do so with intentionality, asking for more of the Spirit of God, more of His presence in our lives, for the peace of God to rest upon us and our family, for the wisdom of God to go in front of us, for open doors and closed doors that he would be upon us. And if that's you, if you want to come forward, we'll pray with you. Lord, thank you so much for your word. Thank you, lord, how you speak to us and over us. You challenge us, lord, because you love us so very much.
Speaker 1:Lord, you don't leave us defenseless against the enemy, but instead you give us your armor. Lord, you put on the stuff that's made for us, lord, that's custom, fit to us. Lord, that you want us to be those that speak truth and you want us to be those who have a soft heart towards you. But, lord, that you protect us. And, lord, we want to be those, lord, that stand in faith and quench the attack of the enemy.
Speaker 1:Lord, we want to understand our salvation. Lord that we belong to you and we're going to live with the mind of Christ. Lord that we would have our feet shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace, shoes of peace and where we walk. Lord, that we would have the peace of God go in front of us. Lord that in everything we do, lord, that we would keep the word of God in our hand and in our heart. Lord that we would not be separated from it, but instead you would use that, lord, as a weapon against the enemy. Lord, we thank you for all these things and as we come to your altar today, lord, we ask for an impartation of your spirit, more of your presence, more of your peace, your wisdom, your guidance. We pray in the name of Jesus Christ.
Speaker 2:Amen.
Speaker 1:Hey, let me encourage you in this, that you participate with us in our camps this summer. We have kids camp and youth camp, the men's fishing trip and camp. It's going to be fun and I'll tell you this. Guys, let me encourage you to get a part of it because Javon and I had a great time and Celeste I'm good to go she's envious. Javon had a great time. We've been a part of it last few years, and some of the guys. That's the greatest way that we got connected with them. We built time hanging out and fishing. They caught fish. I still need to catch fish, that's okay. Come and be a part. It's amazing.
Speaker 2:Next week we are having water baptisms, and I'm excited. It's always one of my favorite Sundays to be at the church. But if you want to get baptized in water, please contact the church this week or you can go on the app or the website and sign up. We're going to do it in both services, but we want to celebrate with you and rejoice in all that God is doing in your life.
Speaker 1:Amen. Before we go, I want to pray this blessing over us. The Lord bless you and keep you. Lord, make his face to shine upon you and be gracious to you. Lord, lift up his countenance upon you and give you peace. Lord, I pray a blessing upon your church, your people. Lord, you empower us by your spirit to live your love out to those around us. We pray all this in the powerful name that is Jesus Christ. Amen, amen. Know this. We love you very much here at Cornerstone. God bless you and have a great week.