Forrest: I'm excited that we're getting to be back on K-State's campus this week, this Wednesday.
Forrest: I hope that you'll join us and jump in and be a part of the welcome back extravaganza.
Forrest: And uh yeah, I'm excited about giving away a TV.
Forrest: College students would love a brand new TV, and we're excited to connect with it.
Forrest: I'm I'm also looking forward to the fact that uh we got to do this last year on campus.
Forrest: Uh, but last year we were inviting college students to a 9.30 a.m.
Forrest: service in the movie theater, which I'm pretty sure college students don't even know that 9 30 a.m.
Forrest: exists on Sunday mornings.
Forrest: Um the Church of the Pillow at that time, normally.
Forrest: Uh so I'm excited about this year getting to invite them, just see what God's gonna do.
Forrest: Pretty quickly as we begin to get involved on campus at K-State.
Forrest: There's someone who has been extremely encouraging to us.
Forrest: And that uh person is gonna come here in just a second.
Forrest: And that's Audrey Palmer.
Forrest: She is leading the Lighthouse Campus Ministries.
Forrest: It's been going at K-State for almost 20 years or over 20 years, started by local pastor Gil Finley.
Forrest: It's uh the largest campus ministry on campus.
Forrest: And after God really got a hold of her life during college through this ministry, she now finds herself a few years later as a staff person at KSU and leading this campus ministry and many, many students.
Forrest: So, would you help me, church, in welcoming Audrey Palmer as she comes today to share with us?
Forrest: Let's give it up for Audrey.
Forrest: We are super grateful for you and thankful for you, sister.
Forrest: You have encouraged me so much over the last couple of years.
Forrest: Get that hug.
Forrest: Um, tell us, grab a seat, would love for you to share with us.
Forrest: Introduce yourself to us a little bit more.
Forrest: Too close in the middle.
Forrest: Okay.
unknown: The lights.
Forrest: Hold on, let me see this real quick.
Forrest: Oh, we've got a cut.
Forrest: Check, check.
Forrest: Okay.
Forrest: I love microphones.
Forrest: Audrey, tell us a little bit more about yourself.
SPEAKER_02: Um, Audrey Palmer, most people call me AP.
SPEAKER_02: Um, that's like an affectionate name that I was given by my students um at Kentucky State.
SPEAKER_02: Um, 2010, the fall of 2010, uh came to cashew from the south side of Chicago.
SPEAKER_02: Um, didn't know anything about Kentucky other than Kentucky fried chicken.
SPEAKER_02: And my mom was very hesitant to drop me off in Kentucky.
SPEAKER_02: She just didn't know what to expect.
SPEAKER_02: We didn't know.
SPEAKER_02: Um came here, um, did everything I wanted to do in life as far as like living in the world.
SPEAKER_02: Um, I had, I just lived a full life, but I was very, very depressed.
SPEAKER_02: Um, I lived in a world, and then just along the way, I had people to encourage me and to talk to me and to help me and to mentor me.
SPEAKER_02: And I looked up and I was saved.
SPEAKER_02: No, I'm just kidding.
SPEAKER_02: No, that's not the Lord encountered my life in a special way, and so uh yeah, that's how I ended up here.
SPEAKER_02: Like maybe it's probably more in the middle, but that's like the short story.
Forrest: Short story, but God really got a hold of your life at your time during as a college student at K-State.
Forrest: At the end, at the end, be clear, be clear at the very end.
SPEAKER_02: At the beginning, I don't know, but it was the end, it was the end.
SPEAKER_02: God saved me at the end.
SPEAKER_02: I said, no, no, no, no, no, no, no.
SPEAKER_02: To the end.
SPEAKER_02: I was like, Is that right?
Forrest: Which uh which we're grateful for, we're thankful for.
Forrest: And uh with Lighthouse Ministries, and now you're leading this whole ministry, and it's amazing to see what God has done through you.
Forrest: And I know you have you've just been so encouraging to me in particular, um, as I've been serving with the football team for the last three seasons, and your encouragement and pouring into me, it's just been so incredible.
Forrest: So I can't say thank you enough.
Forrest: Of course.
Forrest: Um, Church, will you join me in saying thank you to uh AP right now for the encouragement she's been?
Forrest: The Lord.
Forrest: To the Lord.
Forrest: We're in this series for the win, and so my question is as you think about uh ministering at K-State, what has victory looked like while ministering there?
SPEAKER_02: I think it's easy to say victory looks like a room full of people on fire for God that's ready to do it all.
SPEAKER_02: That's what we think about when we think about victory, think about the big picture of everything.
SPEAKER_02: But for me, the victory has been um being able to walk through life with people that have been in similar situations or who have similar backgrounds to me.
SPEAKER_02: Um and so victories for me have been small victories.
SPEAKER_02: So seeds, being able to plant seeds and not being not looking at them.
SPEAKER_02: I believe it's in Zachariah um four, I think four and ten maybe.
SPEAKER_02: Don't don't look it up yet.
SPEAKER_02: I believe it's in Zechariah.
SPEAKER_02: I know that for a fact.
SPEAKER_02: And it just talks about how we should not despise small beginnings.
SPEAKER_02: And so there were times where we had one person at Bible study, two people at Bible study.
SPEAKER_02: There are times where we had 110 people at Bible study on a college campus, on a historically black college campus, um, wanting to know more about the Lord.
SPEAKER_02: But what strikes me and what makes me excited about what I do is the fact when I have people that come to me and say, Man, like you just don't know how much you've impacted my life.
SPEAKER_02: And I know that there's nothing that I can take glory for.
SPEAKER_02: I can point it all back to the Lord and say, this has nothing to do with me.
SPEAKER_02: So the victories for me are the small wins and um the seeds that I get to plant on a regular basis.
SPEAKER_02: Even some of my students don't even come to Bible study.
SPEAKER_02: They're like, I'm just gonna tell you, AP, I'm not coming to Bible study.
SPEAKER_02: I don't want to.
SPEAKER_02: I'm like, okay, you know, but I'm still able to sow seed and encourage those students as well.
Forrest: Yeah, does uh a student come to mind that you think about when you think about those small seeds?
SPEAKER_02: There's so many, honestly.
SPEAKER_02: There are so many.
SPEAKER_02: Um, I have been fortunate to work in student success.
SPEAKER_02: I don't work there now, but when I worked there, I worked with all the students.
SPEAKER_02: So I was I had access to every student.
SPEAKER_02: I was over orientation, I had a summer bridge program, I was I was over advising for a small period of time.
SPEAKER_02: So I had access to every student.
SPEAKER_02: Um, every yeah, just every student.
SPEAKER_02: So I've like been able to really plant a lot of seeds, but um I just think about like my team because it's a lot, it's very hard to live for the Lord on a college campus.
SPEAKER_02: Right.
SPEAKER_02: Um, I guess hard is subjective.
SPEAKER_02: It's hard, in their opinion, to live for God on a college campus, but I can get I can attest to it.
SPEAKER_02: When I was in college, I didn't want to live for the Lord either.
SPEAKER_02: I wanted to do everything and it yeah, it didn't work out.
SPEAKER_02: But um there's so many students.
SPEAKER_02: I I don't think I can name one, but I guess Ray's here, so I can use Ray.
SPEAKER_02: Hey Renee, everybody say hey Renee.
SPEAKER_02: I met Ray, and Ray was like, I said, ooh, Ray Ray needs the Lord.
SPEAKER_02: I'm just kidding.
SPEAKER_02: But he's from Louisville and um has such a great heart, but I was cons, you know, I would just have concerns about him.
SPEAKER_02: And um, you know, I won't say that I did this alone.
SPEAKER_02: Like the Lord placed people in our lives to help us along the way.
SPEAKER_02: And so I'm glad I was excited to be a part of his life, and I was like, this is like my little nephew or something.
SPEAKER_02: So I just started loving on Ray, and you know, he was kind of like tough, and I was like, he ain't gonna be tough for long.
SPEAKER_02: The Lord's gonna get a hold of that heart.
SPEAKER_02: Um, but he's been through so much, and I mean, he's here, so it's easy for me to testify of the goodness of God and his life, and like the Lord has literally transformed this man's life.
SPEAKER_02: He came to KSU, he just wanted to do something different with his life, and I've watched the Lord work in his life, not just spiritually, but also naturally.
SPEAKER_02: He's had so many opportunities, and I always tell Ray, I don't know, I'm about to cry.
SPEAKER_02: I always tell Ray how important he is to the world and how he's really gonna make a change in the world, and it's bigger than just him and his how impacted his family is by his obedience to the Lord.
SPEAKER_02: And um, Ray tried to act all hard, and then one day he texted me and he said, AP, I got a magnet for you.
SPEAKER_02: And I was like, What, you know what?
SPEAKER_02: He was like, I got we took a picture together, he put it on a magnet and it's in my office on my wall.
SPEAKER_02: And so everybody comes in, they're all jealous that that Ray and another student have a magnet on my wall.
SPEAKER_02: But I just I I deeply love this, I love the students with everything I have inside of me.
SPEAKER_02: So to see, you know, even him sitting around here, and I didn't even know Ray was gonna be here, but everybody, you know, so I'm happy to see him and just making those investments, having those conversations, taking the time out of my day to understand that the day is not my own.
SPEAKER_02: God, when I wake up, Lord, what do you want to do with my day?
SPEAKER_02: Because I already have a plan.
SPEAKER_02: I'm very, I'm type A.
SPEAKER_02: I got everything laid out, and then the Lord's like, oh yeah, but you missed this.
SPEAKER_02: I'm like, well, you know, I really want to plan on doing that.
SPEAKER_02: But he has a way of like putting things in my pathway where I'm like, you know, I get a knock on my door, I get a text message, like I need you.
SPEAKER_02: The Lord has placed me there strategically, so I would never um I I just there's there's no no words.
SPEAKER_02: Like, I'm just grateful for it.
Forrest: That's so great.
Forrest: And I think about right now, AP, what you're walking in, which is decades of ministry that's been happening at K-State, that now you are stewarding and leading and uh connecting with students.
Forrest: Our church, we're brand new.
Forrest: We're just two and a half years old, and so our relationships are young.
Forrest: And uh I believe and know as God uh called us here to Frankfurt to plant here in Frankfurt and also to Kentucky State was also a piece of that call that the Lord was placing on my mind, mind and heart, which I've told you many times, you know that.
Forrest: And so I wonder from your perspective, Audrey, how can we best pray for these college students that you're ministering to so much, that we're beginning to build relationships with and have friendship with?
Forrest: What what would be the best way for our church to be praying for you, praying for the college students right now?
SPEAKER_02: I need a lot of prayer.
SPEAKER_02: Are y'all praying for me, church?
SPEAKER_02: I'm kidding.
SPEAKER_02: No, um, I would say just to continue to pray for um like uh harvest, you know, at the at the campus.
SPEAKER_02: I feel like again, seeds are being uh planted.
SPEAKER_02: I think um again, we don't think about our small interactions or oh, like I don't know if I should say this, but Forrest was, I I told Forrest like a long time ago when I first met him, like, Forrest, you're gonna really, really have a foot in the door at KSU.
SPEAKER_02: And he was like, I don't know.
SPEAKER_02: I'm like, Forrest, you're gonna have a foot in the door, like you're gonna have influence, you're gonna build.
SPEAKER_02: And his heart has always been so pure.
SPEAKER_02: And I love that about uh Forrest, just honoring my brother.
SPEAKER_02: Like you are, he has been a great big brother.
SPEAKER_02: He has sent me in his office and told me some stuff like you, anyway.
SPEAKER_02: I don't want to talk about it.
SPEAKER_02: I thought I was leaving, and he was like, Are you sure?
SPEAKER_02: I was like, Yeah, I'm sure.
SPEAKER_02: And the Lord said no.
SPEAKER_02: But anyway, um, Forrest, along the way, you know, just having those conversations, don't think that you can't impact them because of their demographic.
SPEAKER_02: Don't think like love extends beyond um skin color, uh, religion.
SPEAKER_02: I mean, when I say religion, I mean like denominations.
SPEAKER_02: Right.
SPEAKER_02: Um, the Lord has put it on my heart um to be a person of reconciliation between generations, races, as well as looking at denominations.
SPEAKER_02: Like, I think we are so broken up in the body of Christ as a whole.
SPEAKER_02: And so the Lord has really put it on my heart like a mandate to make sure that I'm standing in the gap to mend like different gaps that there may be.
SPEAKER_02: And so I would just say, like, everybody that's in this room has a responsibility to the world, to the nations, like to continue to pray and understand that your prayers do, the Lord does hear your prayers.
SPEAKER_02: Like you should pray.
SPEAKER_02: You should pray at all times.
SPEAKER_02: But concerning KSU specifically, um, we just need um, there is just so much um oppression there, oppression, depression, um, and a lot of addiction.
SPEAKER_02: And so people that come come to KSU is very unique.
SPEAKER_02: And I don't know what your understanding of historically black colleges and universities are, but our school, along with Central State and Ohio, are very different and unique in how we recruit students.
SPEAKER_02: So a lot of HBCUs recruit southern, like southern residents.
SPEAKER_02: We don't.
SPEAKER_02: We do have southern residents, but majority of our students come from inner cities in the Midwest.
SPEAKER_02: And so Chicago, Detroit, Indianapolis, Cincinnati.
SPEAKER_02: So we can already understand and start to conceptualize what happens in those areas, how they grew up.
SPEAKER_02: Um, not to be presumptuous, but for the most part, a lot of them do come from areas of trauma where, and I did too.
SPEAKER_02: And so I didn't even know it was trauma until I came here.
SPEAKER_02: And people's like, that's not normal.
SPEAKER_02: I was like, people don't die every day?
SPEAKER_02: They're like, Yeah, people die, but they don't get shot in front of you.
SPEAKER_02: Like, and I didn't understand that.
SPEAKER_02: So they have complexities in the way that they have grown up, and so that has also created walls, barriers.
SPEAKER_02: That's also created uh places of where they they have to, they just have a lot to overcome.
SPEAKER_02: And so when you present things, it's easy for them to get addicted to things, and it's easy for them to fall into the temptation of the world.
SPEAKER_02: But I would say, like I said, just pray against oppression, depression, and um addiction.
SPEAKER_02: Those are like some of the main things that I feel like they struggle with.
SPEAKER_02: Identity is big.
SPEAKER_02: If you know your identity, you don't have to deal with all that anyway.
SPEAKER_02: So pray for identity.
Forrest: No, I think I think that's so true, and that's what we're gonna pray right now.
Forrest: That's what we're gonna do.
Forrest: I'm not sure.
Forrest: We're gonna pray over you and uh so um, church, let's all join in prayer right now.
Forrest: Father, we come to you now, Father, and we're thankful for your goodness, for your mercy.
Forrest: Thank you, God, that you, Lord, you grab us and pull us out of whatever hell that we're in, Father, and you place us on solid ground.
Forrest: And so, Father, I just pray right now as just what Audrey has just said, Father, we pray, God, that instead of depression, joy, instead of trauma healing, instead of oppression, freedom.
Forrest: We pray that over college students that have come from all kinds of different walks and places and walks of life to our city.
Forrest: And they are right here.
Forrest: And so, God, I pray right now, it was we're praying in the strong name of Jesus that God, these prayers, Father, that you would hear them, that Lord, we would see your redemptive power flowing through Audrey, her team, Lighthouse, the other campus ministries, our church, Father, and others that have heart, have a heart for the campus that's here right in our community.
Forrest: So, Father, we know, Lord, that you are faithful to strengthen us for this battle.
Forrest: God, we pray, Lord, that you would give favor to Audrey, to her team.
Forrest: Father, I pray, God, that your Holy Spirit would flow out of her like never before as she's serving students.
Forrest: And we pray all this in the strong name of Jesus.
Forrest: And everybody said, Amen.
Forrest: Church, will you give it up and thank AP for being here this morning?
SPEAKER_01: I got another head from you.
Forrest: Oh, there you go.
Forrest: Okay.
Forrest: I've been so encouraged by Audrey.
Forrest: And we're jumping into this series to the second week for the win.
Forrest: And the title of the message today is Spiritual Weapons for the Wind.
Forrest: So you're gonna see a theme a little bit today from what we've already talked about.
Forrest: And we're walking in, and as we began and spoke last Sunday, we're already walking in victory because Jesus has already won the victory for us.
Forrest: It's through his victory on the cross, it's through his victory given to us and imparted to us that we get to walk in his victory.
Forrest: And so if we are in Christ, we have already won.
Forrest: Our destination is now in heaven and not separated from God for eternity.
Forrest: And we've over the last couple of weeks, last week we talked about winning in relationships.
Forrest: Today we're gonna be talking about winning in the resources that God gifts to us, and then next week as we talk about the eternal rewards that God has given to us and how we walk out the winning in this life.
Forrest: Here's the truth.
Forrest: The truth is that in this battle that we're in, God has gifted us weapons, but we have to work the weapons.
Forrest: He's given us spiritual giftings that are imparted by the Holy Spirit.
Forrest: And he's also given us weapons of war for us to fight the battle, this spiritual battle that the enemy wants to steal, kill, and destroy us every single day.
Forrest: And that looks like throughout your week, and maybe even for some of you, this very week, as you've been trying to walk with God and walk out your faith in Jesus, the enemy, this week or another week, has been in your ear telling you this.
Forrest: You don't have what it takes.
Forrest: You don't know enough.
Forrest: You don't have enough scripture memorized.
Forrest: I just you're thinking I just can't stop this sin that I keep doing over and over again.
Forrest: I just I can't stop blowing up in anger.
Forrest: Maybe the enemy's telling you, you know, it's just your personality.
Forrest: Well, that's just your personality.
Forrest: But instead, God has given us weapons for us to use in the battle against the lies of the enemy, but it's on us for pick to pick up those weapons, to put them on, and to put them into action.
Forrest: And we're gonna look specifically at what those weapons that are for spiritual warfare today, and we're going to scratch the surface because we're gonna look at a passage of scripture, eight verses, that really could be a whole sermon series in its own right.
Forrest: And so I'm gonna try my best as we go through and as we journey through this passage for us to look at and for us to be encouraged by God's word.
Forrest: But I I we're trying to do a lot today.
Forrest: Are you all right with that?
Forrest: Are you on it on the journey for me with me today?
Forrest: Uh uh that's what I'm talking about.
Forrest: So, Ephesians chapter 6, these eight verses, starting at verse 10.
Forrest: Finally be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power.
Forrest: Put on the full armor of God, so that you can take your stand against the devil's schemes.
Forrest: For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world, and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms.
Forrest: Therefore, put on the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground.
Forrest: Everybody say, stand.
Forrest: And after you have done everything to stand, stand firm then, with the belt of truth buckled around your waist, with the breastplate of righteousness in place, with your feet fitted with the readiness that comes with the gospel of peace.
Forrest: In addition to all this, take up the shield of faith with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one.
Forrest: Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.
Forrest: In verse 18, and pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests, and with this in mind, be alert and always keep on praying for all the Lord's people.
Forrest: God has given to us, He's resourced us with the weapons for us to wage a spiritual battle.
Forrest: And as we look at these different pieces of the armor of God, we as the people of God, it's on us for us to put on this armor.
Forrest: Starting with the belt of truth.
Forrest: Now, I don't know about you, but I know for me, oftentimes it's very challenging for me to see things in life always through a spiritual eye.
Forrest: Especially if somebody's insulted me, or if somebody's offended me, or somebody says something about me behind my back.
Forrest: It's tough for me to look at them and to see them from a spiritual mindset, and think that, okay, this person that's offended me, what I actually need to see is that there are spiritual forces at work.
Forrest: Maybe for you it's a person that is just making your life hard, like a boss, or maybe an ex.
Forrest: Or maybe a family member who's always tearing you down.
Forrest: And to recognize the fact that what this passage starts and tells us and frames to us is that our battle is not against flesh and blood.
Forrest: That when we're battling spiritually, and we are tempted so oftentimes to think that we are battling with this person, that there's this person that's In front of me, that is got it out for me, that is trying to tear me down.
Forrest: And not recognizing the fact that there is a spiritual battle that is at work in that very moment.
Forrest: That there are spiritual forces, that it's it's not them, it's the spiritual forces of evil inside of them.
Forrest: And there's those moments for me when I stop thinking about the fact that our battle is not against flesh and blood.
Forrest: And I start to think about a person as an enemy instead of recognizing who the true enemy is.
Forrest: Satan, his minions, the powers, the authorities, the spiritual forces of evil.
Forrest: And instead, in those moments of my faith faltering or me following up falling apart, instead, like my belt right now is holding these pants up, praise God, that the belt of truth holds it all together.
Forrest: Just like a belt that you click through the belt loops and you tie around your waist and holds everything together.
Forrest: The truth of God ties together your life and the way that you see your life.
Forrest: See, because the naysayers, there's folks in your life right now, and part of 2022.
Forrest: They want to say that you should believe your truth, not the truth.
Forrest: There's this whole movement right now.
Forrest: Well, your truth is your truth, my truth is my truth, and you need to believe your truth, and I believe my truth.
Forrest: But what we know, church, is that there is a truth.
Forrest: Because it was Jesus who said, I am the way, I am the truth, and the life.
Forrest: No one comes to the Father except by me.
Forrest: Jesus is the truth.
Forrest: And so we take on the truth of God and we put on this truth and we put away lies of the enemy and falsehoods.
Forrest: We put away the lies that we're trying to believe.
Forrest: We put away the lies that we may be telling to ourselves or speaking to somebody else.
Forrest: And instead, we wrap ourselves, we tie it together, we hold things together with the truth of God.
Forrest: And it's truth that all the rest of the armor is based on.
Forrest: You cannot have righteousness without having truth.
Forrest: The truth leads to the righteousness, the breastplate of righteousness.
Forrest: It's protecting your heart.
Forrest: What is righteousness?
Forrest: Righteousness is having right standing with God.
Forrest: And none of us are righteous on our own.
Forrest: Actually, what the Bible says is that our righteousness is like filthy rags to the Lord.
Forrest: But it was Jesus on the cross that when he went and died on the cross for our sins, that he gave us his perfect righteousness that we could then be cleansed and pure before God.
Forrest: And it was because of his finished work on the cross that we can receive righteousness and right standing with God.
Forrest: The Bible says that our righteousness is like filthy rags.
Forrest: So our righteousness on our own is like dirty laundry to God.
Forrest: But we take on his righteousness.
Forrest: Now, I I know this for me.
Forrest: There are oftentimes that when somebody says something, I'm going through something that I uh have a tendency to try to stick my chest out and bow up.
Forrest: Especially when I think I'm right.
Forrest: Because I probably am right.
Forrest: Now, I know there's nobody in the room here today that's a defensive person.
Forrest: I know none of y'all are defensive.
Forrest: I know none of y'all stick out your chest, bow up.
Forrest: When you feel like you've been wrong.
Forrest: I I heard a pastor say a long time ago, two humble people can't fight.
Forrest: If you and your spouse, you and your friend, both have a humble heart, you're gonna work out whatever the conflict is that's going on.
Forrest: Because you're coming from a place of humility instead of a place of being puffed up, arrogant, trying to be so tough.
Forrest: So oftentimes we try to be so tough, be so hard, that we miss what God truly has for us, that He wants to help us fight the battle, that He wants to be with us, that to protect our heart and keep us from being hard-hearted.
Forrest: See, here's the thing.
Forrest: You you think that you can be so tough, but a hard heart is not a replacement for righteousness.
Forrest: A hardened heart to the world, to the things of God, it's no replacement.
Forrest: That's because there's people in your life that when somebody's wronged you, they say forget them instead of forgive them.
Forrest: Forget them.
Forrest: Cut that toxic person out, even though they may have just messed up.
Forrest: Well, you just need to walk out.
Forrest: You just need to file for the divorce.
Forrest: And it it gives a whole new perspective for me when I think about the spiritual forces that were at work, as Jesus hung on the cross and before a group of people with their chests out, hard-hearted, Romans following the law, Jews who believed that they were being righteous to crucify a blasphemer.
Forrest: And Jesus looked out among all those as he was being beaten and bloodied and crucified, and he said, Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do.
Forrest: His enemy was not them, it was the spiritual forces that were working within them.
Forrest: And he said, Forgive them, for they don't know.
Forrest: They don't know what they're doing.
Forrest: It's that type of heart that we have that uh allows us to be able to stand firm.
Forrest: Stand firm.
Forrest: See, that's what the passage says that all of these pieces of armor are about, that they're about us being able to stand firm.
Forrest: And it gives us the fact that we are able to stand firm on the shoes of peace.
Forrest: Our feet fitted with the gospel of peace.
Forrest: That means that no matter where your foot treads, no matter how choppy the waters are, no matter how tumultuous the situation is, you can walk in peace because God has fitted your feet with the gospel of peace that He has given to you because your circumstances and your life and your peace is not based on your circumstances but Christ.
Forrest: It's not based on what the world throws at you, but instead you get to walk throughout your week in the shoes of peace.
Forrest: A friend told me some time ago, and it stuck with me that peace isn't the absence of turmoil, it's God's presence in the midst of it.
Forrest: The peace that's been given to us.
Forrest: And the shoes and the shield.
Forrest: The shield that we get to hold in our hand, to extinguish all the darts of the enemy that's coming our way.
Forrest: This shield that is a shield of faith.
Forrest: We know the scripture tells us it is impossible to please God without faith.
Forrest: And so He's given us a shield for us to pick up, to extinguish the darts of the enemy that's being thrown at us day after day after day, and we hold this shield up, and the way that we have this shield is by saying, I believe.
Forrest: My faith is secure.
Forrest: See, because it's a scripture that told us that it's by grace through faith that you've been saved.
Forrest: Not of yourselves.
Forrest: So no one can boast.
Forrest: But a gift of God.
Forrest: God has given us the ability to have faith, and that faith takes us and is a shield for us in defense.
Forrest: A faith that is a shield for us that leads to faith, that leads to our salvation, this helmet that we place on our head of salvation.
Forrest: Now, I have been accused a time or two of being stubborn.
Forrest: Can y'all believe that, church?
Forrest: Now, I prefer the word driven, okay?
Forrest: That's what I prefer.
Forrest: That's my preferred word.
Forrest: And I know that there's no hard-headed people in this church right now.
Forrest: If you just got looked at by your spouse or your friend, you, it's you, bro.
Forrest: You're the one.
Forrest: You're the hard-headed one.
Forrest: And a hard head, it's not a replacement for a helmet.
Forrest: See, I I know in a room this size, and maybe even today, somebody's walked into this place and you feel like that you got it all figured out.
Forrest: You may even be in this space and you're not even believing in God.
Forrest: All these silly people here who are believing in God.
Forrest: You've been to YouTube university, you've been doing all your research, and you think you're smarter than God.
Forrest: But what the truth is, that if you don't if you are in that space and in that mindset and having a hard time, you don't look smart.
Forrest: You look like you're walking through a war zone without a helmet on.
Forrest: There's bullets that are flying by you.
Forrest: And you don't have the helmet of salvation securely placed on your head.
Forrest: The salvation that comes only from Jesus.
Forrest: You may think that you're so smart, but you're not smarter than God.
Forrest: He loves you.
Forrest: He died for you.
Forrest: And God is real.
Forrest: Boy, a lot of college students today need to hear that, don't they?
Forrest: They need to hear that God loves them and has a purpose for them and has a calling for them and a place for them in their king in his kingdom.
Forrest: And we only know that truth because of the only offensive weapon that we have, the sword of the spirit.
Forrest: I find myself so often trying to do things on my own.
Forrest: Even times I find myself going to God as a last resort.
Forrest: Instead of my first response.
Forrest: You know, there is no shortage of self-help right now in 2024.
Forrest: We got all the social media followers, influencers telling us self-help things how to live our life.
Forrest: You got books, there's video, all the things that we have.
Forrest: There's no shortage of self-help, but it's not about the self-help, it's about the sword of the spirit.
Forrest: For us to be able to know what God has told us and use this as a weapon when the enemy is trying to attack us to know the truth of God's word and have it hidden in our heart.
Forrest: And instead, we just try to do it ourselves.
Forrest: I know you don't do that.
Forrest: I know nobody in here tries to do it yourself.
Forrest: And what ends up happening is you end up coming to the end of your rope only to realize that you can't even hold the rope without God's help.
Forrest: I don't know if you saw this last couple weeks, but in the Olympics, there was uh a sharpshooter from Turkey named Yusuf.
Forrest: And his picture went out all across the internet because in this sharpshooting competition, which he's been in Olympics before, all the competitors have had all of these apparatuses and different equipment all over their faces, and blinders and things to help them focus.
Forrest: And Yusuf walked up with no equipment, just with his weapon, with literally his hand in his pocket, and jump and won a silver medal.
Forrest: First time Turkey has ever gotten a medal in sharpshooting in the history of their nation was because Yusuf walked up, and instead of having all the extra things, he knew that what he needed was the weapon in his hand.
Forrest: Instead of all the extra stuff, all the stuff you think you need to add to God's word, you take the sword of the spirit.
Forrest: And with his help, with his guidance, you strike and you hit the bullseye.
Forrest: Gosh, we try to do it ourselves so much.
Forrest: In our hard work, it doesn't replace the sword of the spirit.
Forrest: Trying to white knuckle it.
Forrest: Trying to do it ourselves.
Forrest: I know that we should use God's word as an offensive weapon because this is what Jesus did.
Forrest: In Matthew chapter 4, Jesus goes away to the wilderness to fast for 40 days.
Forrest: And while he's there, Satan comes to him and tempts him three different times.
Forrest: And each time that he was tempted by Satan, Jesus quoted, memorized scripture to him as his weapon.
Forrest: He said, Man, let's live on bread alone.
Forrest: He said, You shall not test the Lord your God.
Forrest: And then the last temptation in verse 10, I love the way that the message paraphrase puts it.
Forrest: It says, Jesus' rebuttal, refusal was Kurt.
Forrest: Beat it, Satan.
Forrest: Love that.
Forrest: Beat it, Satan.
Forrest: He backed his rebuke with a third quotation from Deuteronomy.
Forrest: Worship the Lord your God and only him.
Forrest: Serve him with absolute single-heartedness.
Forrest: And as we serve God, it is so much better for us to be single-heartedly focused in serving our God than for us to continue in hard-heartedness.
Forrest: It is so much better for us to have a single-hearted focus on the one true God.
Forrest: The Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end, the one who bore our shame, our sin on the cross, and walked out of the grave in victory, that we would join him in that victory.
Forrest: I think it's so interesting, and all of the all of the armor of God, that the only place that is not protected is your back.
Forrest: That's because as believers, we should be protecting one another's back.
Forrest: Some of y'all know Wayne Simpson.
Forrest: Wayne is mad at me now that I'm talking about him right now.
Forrest: But a few weeks ago, Wayne he went to war.
Forrest: He went to spiritual battle because he was having some issues with his gallbladder and went in for some tests, and when they scanned him with his gallbladder issues, they found out that he had a tumor on his kidney.
Forrest: And they told Wayne that they needed to have a procedure, a surgery to take a piece of the tumor.
Forrest: And they told him that it was likely, probably cancer, kidney cancer.
Forrest: They told him it was an 80 to 90% chance that it's kidney cancer.
Forrest: And Wayne went to war.
Forrest: If you know Wayne, he has a servant's heart.
Forrest: He works for the state, he serves on our volunteer teams, he's serving all the time.
Forrest: He's probably greeted you before.
Forrest: You may not even know who Wayne is, but he's probably said hello to you in the parking lot.
Forrest: You may have seen him at time or two.
Forrest: But from that moment, Wayne went to war and asking for prayer.
Forrest: With a small group praying for him.
Forrest: I remember just standing right there in that lobby and praying over Wayne.
Forrest: For God to heal him, for God to touch his body multiple times.
Forrest: And I will never forget standing out there what Wayne said to me.
Forrest: A couple weeks ago, Wayne went to have his procedure.
Forrest: Small group leader was praying for him, showing up at the hospital, lifting up.
Forrest: And a couple weeks ago, at the procedure, the doctor said, No cancer.
Forrest: Completely cancer free.
Forrest: Church, we have to wage war with the right weapons.
Forrest: And whether cancer free or not, I know.
Forrest: I know that he would with that peace.
Forrest: Whether no cancer or cancer, he would continue to be walking with God.
Forrest: Here's the thing.
Forrest: No matter where you are at right now in your walk with God, it is time for you to begin to put on these pieces of armor.
Forrest: Over and over and over again.
Forrest: See, you can't buy this armor on Amazon.
Forrest: Can't be prime shipped to the house.
Forrest: The only way you can access these weapons is by putting them on in prayer.
Forrest: By asking God to fit you with the shoes, the belt of truth, the helmet of salvation, the shield of the spirit and of faith.
Forrest: And to do that over and over and over again.
Forrest: Because the enemy is gonna be attacking you over and over and over again, isn't he, church?
Forrest: And so we have to be ready to wage war with the right weapons that God has given us.
Forrest: Now I also know that today in a room this size, that you may be in this place, but you don't yet have the weapons of war because you have not yet put on the helmet of salvation, because you've not yet given your life to Jesus, and you've not received his gift to you of death on a cross in your place, so that you can then walk in victory, that your last breath will not end your life, but will begin your life in eternity with him, in victory with him.
Forrest: And that today, maybe some of your day, today, for the very first time, for you to believe, for you to step in faith and receive that salvation so that you can be forgiven and free, so that you can be healed and headed to heaven.
Forrest: God very well might want to do that for you today.
Forrest: So I want to.
Forrest: Ask all of us to bow our heads right now.
Forrest: Father, I pray all across this room.
Forrest: Father, for those that are in this place, that follow you, that are believers in you, that love you, that God are constantly being attacked by the enemy.
Forrest: That Father, you would help them right now, Father.
Forrest: That Lord, they would see that God, you have given them resources for the battle.
Forrest: That God, they would take these pieces of armor and then they would put them on every single day.
Forrest: Father, that you would be fitting them.
Forrest: That Lord, you would be helping them, Father, as they're walking in your goodness and in your power.
Forrest: That God, you would help them, Lord, to be walking in faith and righteousness.
Forrest: Father, be walking in your spirit.
Forrest: And that God, Lord, through the last thing that passage said, that we would be praying in the Spirit continuously for God's people.
Forrest: That Lord, we would see you move over and over and over again because this church, these believers have one another's backs.
Forrest: Right now, God, I want to pray for anybody in this room who's not yet received you as Savior, who is before today been in a place of hard-heartedness, maybe being hard-headed and not giving their life to you, for you to save them, forgive them, for them to have forgiveness for their sins, for them to turn towards you.
Forrest: And God, I pray today if there's anybody in this place that is in that place right now, Lord, that they need your salvation, your forgiveness, that God, they would pray to you something like this in their heart and their mind, Jesus, save me.
Forrest: I believe that you're the Son of God, that you died on the cross, that you walked out of the grave.
Forrest: Cleanse me.
Forrest: Forgive me as I turn my life to you.
Forrest: And away from sin.
Forrest: My faith is in you.
Forrest: I give my life to you as you gave your life for mine.
Forrest: Thank you for saving me.
Forrest: Nobody looking around.
Forrest: This morning you prayed that prayer in a genuine place, your heart and mind.
Forrest: There's another magic about the prayer.
Forrest: It's about the sincerity of your heart.
Forrest: But today you prayed that to receive Christ as your Savior.
Forrest: I want you to take an action before God in heaven by putting your hand in the air at my count of three, if that was you today.
Forrest: To receive Christ as your Savior, to be forgiven.
Forrest: That's you, ready.
Forrest: One, two, three.
Forrest: Anyone in this place today to receive salvation in Christ?
Forrest: Father, I pray this morning, God, that Lord is each one of us today are serving you, walking in you.
Forrest: God, whether we're just beginning, we've been walking with you for years.
Forrest: Lord help us, Father, to take and receive the work, your cross for the battle ahead.
Forrest: In the strong name of Jesus.
Forrest: And everybody said, Amen.