Prepare in the Spirit (March 15, 2026)

Worship isn’t a playlist we endure before the real part starts. We talk about worship as preparation, the kind that invites the presence of the Holy Spirit and trains us for spiritual warfare long before the pressure hits. If we wait until life is unraveling to build prayer habits, Bible habits, and spiritual discipline, we’re already trying to learn in the middle of the fight. 

We dig into why salvation isn’t earned by good deeds, and why that truth still calls us to a changed heart posture. When our cup overflows, we’re meant to pour out into the body of Christ and into the community, not hoard comfort and call it maturity. We also get honest about church culture: the goal isn’t a show, flawless production, or just moving “church families” around. The mission is evangelism, repentance, and making the gospel accessible to people who are lost, hurting, or unsure what to believe. 

From Luke 4, we look at how Jesus answers temptation with Scripture because the Word is already stored in his heart. We connect that to daily life, how we speak when we’re stressed, how we handle conflict, and how we stay steady when we’re frustrated. We bring in David and Goliath as a picture of the hidden season, then move into prayer, the armor of God in Ephesians 6, and “watch and pray” from Matthew 26:41 as a practical path to spiritual stability. 

If you’re hungry for a stronger prayer life, deeper Bible study, and real-world Christian discipleship that holds up in a storm, hit play. Subscribe, share this with a friend, leave a review, and tell us: what’s one area where you need to prepare before the battle starts?

Transcript

Worship As Preparation

Train For Spiritual Battle

Salvation Beyond Good Deeds

Stop Making Church A Show

Store The Word Under Pressure

SPEAKER_00 0:29

We're tinkering with live stream, and so we're trying to get all of these little bugs worked out. I have to, I'm I'm so excited that you guys got excited about worship this morning, and here's why. Because my message is because we don't get excited about worship. Okay? I'm being serious because here's what's happened. I'm realizing that oftentimes we come into church and not just us, this is the church as a whole. Was that funny? Listen, you can't you can't be upset when kids laugh at you, especially when you look like this, right? Scott's back. I told him this morning I missed him the last two weeks. I don't know if I do now. Anyway, we come into church and we sit through worship or we stand through worship and we we tinker and we we keep ourselves busy, but we're not preparing for in worship. Amen? Because can I tell you that the point of worship, the point of music ministry is to usher in the presence of the Holy Spirit into this place, right? And so when we are excited about ushering in the presence of the Holy Spirit, he moves in such a way that we can't contain it. We can't understand it, we can't wrap our arms around it. But oftentimes we don't realize the importance of that. Because what we're doing is we're preparing for battle. Right? Because that's the that's the purpose of worship. Now, here's the thing: I've never known a soldier to prepare for war during battle. Right? I was thinking when I was writing this, I was like, you gotta be careful how you tell some of these stories. You don't want to get people to get upset, right? And then I'm like, I don't really care. So I was thinking about the time when I heard the story about SEAL Team 6 capturing bin Laden, and I thought to myself, how do you execute something so strategic and do it in such a way that nobody even knew it was happening? Do you know how they did it? They prepared for months in advance. They had this fake house built in the middle of the desert, okay? This fake compound. They knew what it looked like, but they didn't know for sure what the inside looked like. Okay? And the the SEAL team would go in and they would navigate through this maze that was created for them. And while they slept at night, they would go in and they would knock down all the walls and they would change the whole layout. So the next day when they came back in, guess what they had to do? Figure it out again. And then they would go home and they would sleep and they would come back and it would be completely different. And they did this day in and day out, day in and day out. And they said the purpose was that when they hit the ground, instinct kicked in and they didn't even have to think. They knew what they were doing the minute they were facing adversity. Can I tell you something? The church needs to prepare for adversity. I have been watching the news, I have been hearing the things. Let me tell you something. We think the church in China, the church in Indonesia, we think these churches are persecuted, right? Amen. Hallelujah. It's true. People being killed to preach the gospel, and when they're being tortured, they refuse to relent on the fact that Jesus Christ is King. You guys won't even come to church on Sunday. Well, I said, Oh no, I don't, uh man, you know what? I've got something I gotta do. I'm telling you something. I'm telling you something. You cannot wait until the end of times to prepare for battle. It is happening right now in our midst. We're watching the world unravel around us, and we are not preparing for what God is gonna do in this world. Amen. We are so prepared to go to heaven that we don't think about what comes between then and now. There is so much that our hearts have to be ready for. And I every time I think about it, I think, we are not preparing for spiritual battle. Listen, have you ever seen an athlete show up at a game and that's the first time they've been on the field? No. They condition. You football players do two a day. I don't know what that is. I don't know what they do twice a day, but they do it twice a day. Or at least I assume based on the title, that's what they do, right? I'm the least athletic person you're gonna see. If I'm running, it's my mouth, right? That's a fair statement. It's a fair statement. I'm just saying that they don't wait until they're on the field to start preparing. Firefighters don't learn how to use a hose on the day of the fire, right? That's not how that works. Preparation always happens before the moment arrives. And now I want to ask you a question. When the moment arrives for you to be called into heaven, have you been prepared? Have you been prepared? You can sit there and say, Well, I've been a good person and I've done a lot of really nice things for people. I've supported people when they didn't know how to be supported. I've been really, really genuinely kind to all of the people around me. And then what you realize is that you cannot get into heaven by works alone. That you cannot get into heaven by works alone. Now I want to I want to stretch that for just a second. I want to I want to say something that's not gonna feel good. Okay? We say to people that once you are saved, good works are natural, and I agree with that statement. But then people will say you will naturally want to do good works, and if you choose not to do good works, my question is, are you really saved? Well, but I have to ask you a question then. Are we basing their salvation on those good works? Right? I'm not saying you won't naturally want to do them, I'm saying there are some lazy Christians among us, is what I'm saying to you, right? Is that fair? Like, listen, there are people who will take and take and take and take and take and take and take from the church and from ministry, and what I mean is it's that constant phone call, we need this, we need that, and I don't mean physical things, emotional support, spiritual support, whatever it may be. They will drain a ministry to where it has nothing left to give and then be mad because that pastor didn't call them when they were sick. Can I tell you something? That's not how that works, right? When your cup floweth over, you should be pouring out that excess into the body, right? But the problem is, is oftentimes when our cup is full, we want to hold on to it. This is my cup and it's my fullness, and I shouldn't have to share it with anybody. That's not how this works. Preparing for spiritual battle requires discipline, it requires structure. You have to understand that giving back to the world around you is what is going to truly matter in your walk with Christ. It doesn't get you into heaven, but it changes your heart posture. When you can look at somebody that you don't like and pour out blessings upon them, your heart posture will change, right? This is preparation for what God is calling us to. He is not calling us to perfection, he is calling us to Christ-like. Right? He is calling us to Christ-like. It is not easy, but we have to do it. The victory that we proclaim in public always happens through private preparation. Amen. Listen, I don't walk into the pulpit on Sunday morning prepared to deliver an anointed message without a lot of prayer beforehand. Right? God, this is all you and not me. I want you to, I want people to hear your voice, not my voice. Because if they hear my voice, they're gonna complain it's whiny. I listen. I I it's that joke is gonna live forever. Jesus prepared in ministry, or Jesus prepared in prayer long before he ever went into ministry, right? Because we know the story. Let's go to Luke 4, and we're just gonna read one and two real quick. I want you to hear this really well. It says, Then Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit, remember that part, full of the Holy Spirit, returned from the Jordan River. He was led by the Spirit to the wilderness. So the Holy Spirit is calling Jesus into the wilderness, where he was tempted by the devil for 40 days. Jesus ate nothing all that time and became very hungry. He was filled with the Spirit. The Spirit led him into the wilderness where he was then tempted by the devil. But Jesus prayed himself into preparation. Amen. Jesus has not started a ministry yet. Can I ask you? Never mind. We're not gonna go there yet. We're not gonna go yet. Before he ever preached a sermon, before he ever healed the sick, before he ever cast out a demon, he prepared himself. He is the Son of God. How much preparation do you think the man needs? Probably a whole lot less than me. Amen? Probably a whole lot less than most of us sitting in this building. The problem is somehow we have convinced ourselves that we are better than Jesus. That we don't have to prepare spiritually. Some of us don't even prepare logically, right? Is that true? You come into church thinking, oh, everything's gonna be fine. Everything, it's always the it's it's gonna be just status quo, it's gonna flow. I'll tell you. Remember last week I told you the enemy was working overtime to slow us down? We came in this morning, he was doing the same thing. All the TVs were wrong, nothing was working the way that it was supposed to be. And you know what I did when I started to realize that the power had gone out again last week? I laughed. Because I thought to myself, you know what? You didn't beat me the first time, and you think you're gonna beat me this time? No, not only did I laugh at the fact that he thought he could get me the second time with the same stupid tactic, but the fact that I caught him before he caught me. I didn't even get mad today. I was like, you know what? It is what it is, we'll figure it out. We'll get there when we get there. And guess what? If we don't get there, we don't get there, right? We still gonna have church. God's still gonna show up. It just might not be with a TV behind me or with a live stream camera on, right? I am not here to produce a show. I am here to preach the gospel of Jesus Christ. I am here to bring the lost to Jesus. That's my calling. You know, I was if I told this story last week, you can stop me, but I don't think I did, but I did tell somebody this story. I was listening to a podcast, and they were talking about the fact that we don't actually, I think I did tell this last week because I was talking about Mickey Bell, and he was the one on the podcast. Oh, I was talking to you. Okay, great, wonderful. We don't actually desire to reach the lost anymore. The church desires to bring in families that can support the ministry. Right? Because, see, when I get to brag that my church has grown by 12 families, there's another church going, well, that's interesting because we lost 12 families. Right? We're playing musical chairs with saved people. We're just shifting them between ministries. We're not actually reaching those who are lost and hurt and need to know Jesus, and it's because we make the gospel inaccessible. You want to get me fired up about something? I will never understand a person who is willing to pay$75 a ticket to listen to Stephen Furtick preach. I don't listen, I don't care. And listen, I love elevation music. I think their music is great. There are things that get me excited about listening to some of Stephen Furtick's messages. There's a lot of people I get excited about listening to, but I cannot understand how the gospel costs$75 a person. I'm gonna start charging a cover charge out front, folks. When you come in, it's$75 a person, cash or card, 3% on the card, by the way. Listen, you guys aren't gonna come to church anymore, are you? But you will take your hard-earned money and you will pour it into a ministry that has millions and millions of dollars, and they are reaching nobody more than the people they have already reached. Okay, I'm off topic. But what I'm saying, it is that as we prepare for what God is doing in this place, we have to start thinking about the lost and not the saved, right? I'm not coming in here to preach to get you guys more saved. I'm coming to preach to you to get you to turn to repentance, change your ways, and that we can pour out upon those who are truly lost and without Christ. Amen. Can I tell you that's what the Easter egg hunt does? That's what the Clean Comedy Night does. We do these things so that people will know the name of Jesus and they will know that this building is a beacon of hope. Amen. That this building is a beacon of hope. You can come here lost and broken. You can come here smelling bad with no shoes on. You can show up here and have your hair a fright. Guess what? We don't care. We love you anyway. Some of you, some of you guys have been coming here like that since the beginning of time. Sweats. What? Telling on you. Listen, we have to grow out of that, though, right? But that's the reason that we're here to learn and to grow. All right. Public power, the power that we possess in public, flows ready, from private discipline, right? I have a unique perspective in my life. Well, it's not so much anymore, but I used to. So when I started pastoring, I was also managing a really large company where I was the boss of everybody except for the three owners, right? I reported strictly to them. I was the senior pastor of a church, I was the head of my house, right? And I had no checks and balances in my life. Do you know what unbridled power like that will do to a person? They will make you crazy. Right? And I am thankful that God recognized that in my life and said, We're gonna make a move here. We're gonna shift your life because the discipline that you receive in private is what will make you understandable in public. Right? Now, can I tell you that when I go out in public, or even when my wife goes out in public, she's Michael's wife everywhere she goes. People see my face and they know me, but my hope is that they don't know Michael, that they know Jesus, right? That they see G now, not everybody's gonna see Jesus through me or in me. Not every there are people who know Michael who used to exist, right? But when the spirit changed me, that became a different person. But that became a private preparation, right? When we do things in private, we shouldn't be telling people about them, hoping that we will receive accolades for that private protection, right? Because if I come to you and say, you know what, I was I was doing something yesterday and the Lord really took a hold of me and really tried to, yada, yada, yada, until that change is truly made in my life, because once I've told you and you don't see that change, you're like, he's a liar. Right? I just read an article of a pastor who got fired from his church for a decision that he made before he was ever a pastor. They fired him from his church, the church that he built from one person to over a hundred thousand people. Okay? He had done it almost single-handedly and got fired for something that he did before he was ever a pastor, and they couldn't even prove it. That is not what God has called for the house of the Lord. Right? How bizarre. If listen, I give you guys a lot of grace and a lot of mercy, amen. And if you don't think that God gives me that exact same thing, we're missing out on something here, right? That is the private preparation that I am looking for. I am looking for God to step into my life and make meaningful change so that then I can pour out meaningful change into the community around us. Amen. But we have to be willing to prepare ourselves to do that. Luke, uh, we already did Luke 4, 1 and 2, right? Is that what we just did? Okay, perfect. Yes, perfect. Okay, Luke 4, 4. It says, but Jesus told him, No. The scripture says people do not live by bread alone. Now, the the the devil is standing in front of Jesus trying to argue the word of God with him. Right? Now I've I preached a whole message that there are two truths in every statement, right? Like you tell a story like you remember it, not necessarily like it actually happened, and you believe that wholeheartedly. And so the enemy would cherry pick scripture and he would deliver it to Jesus, and Jesus would say, Right, I hear what you're saying, but you didn't get the whole thing. Right? That is what we should be doing in our hearts. It does you no good to argue with the flesh, right? So when you see somebody arguing about scripture or about politics, what good are you doing by continuing to argue with them? Listen, I've changed how I view the world. I view the world as this those who are willing to change will have an open and honest conversation. Those who are not willing to change will argue, belittle, and call names. You get one chance. You start to argue, and I'm not saying we can't have a disagreement, but if you start calling names and you start to belittle me, my beliefs, or the people around me, guess what? You've lost all credibility and we don't need to have a conversation any longer. Doesn't mean I don't love you, but it means that we are not going to, we're not gonna see eye to eye. I cannot change your mind, you cannot change my mind. We are strong-willed people grounded in what we believe is right. The difference is I know that Jesus Christ died, rose again, and he's coming back soon. And I it's not arguable, right? There's a lot of religions in the world, this is the only one with a resurrection, right? I know for a fact that Jesus is coming back. I don't need to argue with you about that. I need you to realize it. My hope is that you can see that Jesus is real through the way that I behave and the way that I treat people. Now, listen, Jesus went into that battle with the word etched upon his heart. Right? He knew the Father's will, he knew what was going on, and I want to tell you that if the word is not stored in your heart, it will not come out of your mouth when pressure is applied. Right? So when you start to feel pressured, what do you start to do? Call names, right? You get loud, you tell somebody, well, that's the stupidest thing I've ever heard. Sometimes it is. But sometimes we need to come back and say, but you know what? For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son that whosoever should believe in him shall not perish, but have everlasting life. Wow. Right? For God so loved the world. There is nobody else in the history of histories that has loved the world so much that they were willing to give up their only begotten son so that you and I might be saved. Nobody. We should be able to stand on that truth, and if that is not in your heart, like that the kids are learning the Lord's Prayer over in kids' class. Have parents, have you noticed that? Some some of your kids have already learned it, recited it, and gotten a king-size candy bar, right? My daughter shared her candy bar with everybody, didn't get a bite for herself, and I didn't get one. Which doesn't seem fair, but I'm saying that is a very simple item that we should all know, right? Now I'm not saying we should memorize it because, oh, we should, we should. I'm saying you should do it because your heart should desire to do it, right? There are scriptures that we must stand by. Listen, I know my my favorite passage of scripture, get somebody get ready to mark it down, is Jesus wept. It's the shortest scripture in the Bible. You know why I like it so much? It's easy to remember.

unknown 20:28

Right?

David And The Hidden Season

Spirit Power Prayer And Armor

Everyday Protection And Final Prayer

SPEAKER_00 20:29

Somebody says, What's your favorite scripture? No, I'm kidding. It is my favorite scripture because I believe it's in a moment that we get to see Jesus have a little bit of flesh in him, right? Because he's getting frustrated. The fact that these people don't understand what he's been saying to them. Listen, when I look at that passage of scripture, I'm like, okay, Jesus gets frustrated. I can get frustrated, but look how he handles it. And I need to mirror Jesus' handling of frustration. Right? It's the truth. A lot of times when we get frustrated, we get mean, right? Okay, I'll be the only one. I don't mind. I'm okay. All right, thank you. Couple of you willing to be honest with yourselves. That's fine. I think that if we were more honest with ourselves, we would realize that we read the scripture, we know the word, but we don't live out the word. We miss the point, but we've memorized the passage, right? I walk into my kids' bathroom, there are little note cards stuck into their mirrors with different scriptures written on them. And I think it's the most wonderful thing that my wife does for them because when they're brushing their teeth, if they brush their teeth, they can at least have something to read, right? We are putting the word of God into their heart. We're putting it in front of them constantly. Listen, it is important to us that we ground our children into the word of God. Because if listen, they may grow up and they may stray away. They may, they may depart from the word, they may depart from Christ, but I promise you that the seed has been planted that they are willing to come back. We are preparing them for a battle that they will inevitably face in their life. Amen. Alright. We all know the story of David and Goliath, right? We are all fully aware that David was not a warrior when he went to battle with Goliath, right? He was a shepherd from the field sent to feed his brothers. Right? His dad sent him to the battlefield. This is not a good dad, right? I got questions. Because the Bible tells us that he was the The smallest of the boys, and that he was meek, right? And his father said, Hey, why don't you go over to the battlefield and make sure your brothers have something to eat? David shows up, and when he gets there, he hears what Goliath is saying. And Goliath is saying nothing good, it is all bad things, and it is all bad things about God. Not about David. He's not calling David a sissy, he's not calling him a pencil neck, right? What he's saying is, your God cannot protect you. Your God is worthless. And David says, You can say a lot, you can talk about my mama, but don't you talk about my God. Right? And so he goes to Saul and he says, I'll kill him. And Saul says, Okay, let me let me package you up like a warrior. Let me put on this helmet and this chest plate. Let me get you prepared for battle. And David looks at him and goes, I can't go out there like this. If you send me out there, I'm sure to die because this stuff doesn't fit. And instead, he chooses. He chooses to go out into the battlefield with a single sling and five smooth stones. Now, I get down rabbit holes sometimes. Anybody else do that? I found this guy on YouTube that shows you how to use slings like that. Dude, it is real. Okay? He is dead accurate, and he swings this thing around, and when he lets it go, he put it through the middle of a cast iron pan. If it can go through the middle of a cast iron pan, I promise you. I mean, this isn't, it's a pretty thick skull. It's hard for some things to get in there, but I promise you, it'll take you out, right? This isn't a story written to teach us a lesson. This is David, a shepherd, defending God in the most honorable way possible by saying, you can say a lot of things, you can do a lot of things. But David was not a warrior. Now, how did David get so good with a sling? Right. He was he was protecting his sheep. Do you think when a bear came up to David that he fist fought that bear? I guess he probably didn't. Do you think when a wolf would come after David that he would use his hands? Probably not. He got so good with that slingshot. And it's not like the kind of slingshot you pull back, right? This is a thing that you're like when you hear it whistling while you're twisting it in the air, and when you let that bad boy go, woo! I'll make sure we play that video for you sometime because I'm telling you, that guy is wicked. Wicked. How's it is it on there? But is it real? Like the time. Okay, because this is a real guy. I mean, it's mind-blowing. Anyway, he had to prepare before he went to that battlefield. 1 Samuel 17, 37. It says, The Lord who rescued me from the claws of the lions and the bear will rescue me from this Philistine. David had already fought the lions and the bears and the wolves and everything else. David, the battlefield wasn't where David had learned the courage. Preparation happened in the hidden season. Right? And can I tell you that hidden season is what prepared David for kingship? Remember, David was still out in the field when they showed up to anoint him as king. All of the sons lined up and they're like, these this, do you have another son? Because something's not right here. They're like, Yeah, but he's out, he's a he's just a shepherd, he's out in the field. Bring him here. And they break open the horn of oil and they pour it over David's head and anoint him as the next king. That private place that David lived in prepared him for a season of battle and a season of kingship. Now, I think we need to understand that there is a point in which we have to understand that we have to wait for that season, right? It's not every day and it's not for every person. There are some people who may never go into spiritual warfare. There are some people who may never prepare themselves for spiritual battle quite like David did. But we have to understand the importance of that wait. Jesus knew his followers were going to face opposition, did he not? He knew that they were going to face persecution, spiritual battles, and he didn't rush them out into ministry. Amen. What did he do? In Acts 1.8, he says, But you will receive the power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you. Amen. You will receive the power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you. Remember when Jesus went into the wilderness? What was he filled with? The Spirit, right? He wasn't filled with fleshly thoughts. He was filled with the Spirit. And he's telling them, You will be filled with the Spirit. Jesus understood something that was powerful. Preparation in the Spirit produces power for the assignment. Right? Sometimes the assignment is sitting in your chair with your mouth shut. Sometimes the assignment is working in kids' ministry. Sometimes the assignment is working in the cat. Sometimes the assignment is cleaning the toilets. But preparing is what will get you there. I need you guys to understand something. You don't just walk into ministry on day one full of power and ready to go. You don't. And if you think you do, you're wrong, you're mistaken, and you burn yourself out real fast. You wear yourself down, you think nobody likes you, and I just want to tell you that is not how this works. You cannot fulfill the spiritual mission without the natural strength. Right? I will tell you that there have been times in my life that I have gone through seasons and I have preached to you guys through those seasons, and you didn't even know those seasons were upon my life. Right? I just kept going and going. It's like the Energizer bunny, right? Get me two lattes and just let me go. Right? But it wasn't because I wasn't spiritually grounded, it was because what was happening in my life was growing me spiritually, but God was saying, I'm not done yet. God was saying we need to continue to move. We have to prepare ourselves with natural strength for that spiritual mission. The Holy Spirit will equip us for boldness, right? I believe that we preach the word in a bold way. We don't water it down, we don't sugarcoat it for the people around us. He will prepare us and equip us for discernment, right? That's a hard one. I have a pretty good discerning of spirits, and there are people, when they talk to me, I'm just like, something's not right here. Something is not right. And I need to make sure that I understand that before I go too deep into a relationship. The Holy Spirit will equip us with strength and equip us for authority. Equipping us for authority is important. Right? Because you have to understand what comes with authority. A lot of backlash. Every decision you make, somebody doesn't like it, and it doesn't matter how good or bad the decision is. Amen. I told you last week I moved the cross, people lost their minds. It is something very simple, but it is a very powerful symbol to some people, and they don't care whether it's good, bad, or indifferent. All right. Prayer keeps you strong before the storm hits your life, right? So you need to pray yourself up before those storms begin to hit. Jesus warned his disciples about the coming trials in Matthew 26, 41. It says, Keep watch and pray so that you will not give in to temptation, for the spirit is willing, but the body is weak. Now, I want to just tell you that this is the passage of scripture that I have been praying over the men in our church this whole year. And so when I got the opportunity to use it, I was so excited because I need you to understand something. I believe that the men of this church, and I think I say this because we are the heads of our households, right? That we are watchmen on the watchmen on the wall, and we should be the ones praying over our families and our church and our communities. Women, I want you to do that too, obviously. I'm not trying to take away from that. But men, as leaders in our houses, we should be preparing our houses because if our house isn't in order, guess what? The community that we live in will never find order. Keep watch and pray so that you will not give in to temptation. Men temptation is easy for us, and I'm talking about simple temptation. Like, I don't need to buy that, but I'm gonna buy that. Right? Like, I've worked hard all week. I have a right. I'm a man, I can make that decision, right? Am I the only one? Okay. I was just a little worried I might be getting myself in trouble here. I'm not getting myself in trouble. My wife already knows I'm stupid. For the spirit is willing, but the body is weak. Men, when we show up to church on Sunday morning, we say, guess what? I got it together. I'm gonna serve, I'm gonna do all things Pastor Michael asked me to do. I'm gonna do this, that, and the other. I'm gonna do all those things, and then all of a sudden your Sunday comes to serve. Oh man, I gotta go to work. You know what? I think, I think I gotta go to Disney. Not calling anybody out, I'm just saying. I'm saying that oftentimes the spirit says, yes, I want to, yes, yes, yes, please, please, please, but the flesh says, no, no, no, no, no. No, no, no. Because if I do that, they might expect more. Or they might not see the meaningful change that I have proclaimed. That's the big one, right? Because we walk around professing this change in our life, and I'm doing this and I'm doing that, and God is doing something great in my life, and then all of a sudden you show up and we realize that change has not yet taken place. I will never judge you for that so long as you are working towards what God has called you to. I'm not perfect. My wife thinks I am, but I'm not. We must pray for spiritual preparation. Amen. So listen, when we are praying, we should be praying that our that our minds are aligned with God and that our spirit grows stronger and that our perspective changes. Right? That our perspective changes. Because guess what? I see everything through the eyes of Michael. I don't see everything through the eyes of Jesus unless you say something I don't like, and then I can look at it through the eyes of Jesus and tell you why you're wrong. Right? I can find reasons that you are wrong if it's not what I like, but as long as I'm okay with it, I'm not going to fight you on it. I need to see it through the lens of Jesus. Now, preparation will always lead us to spiritual stability. Amen? And I think this is the point that I need everybody to understand. Because we are not, when we come in to church on Sunday morning and we're experiencing this move of music ministry and this worship, we should allow that to prepare us and prepare our hearts to hear the word that God is going to deliver. Oftentimes it doesn't. And then you see this while the word is being delivered. Or this. While the word is being delivered. And we become so enthralled with the things around us. And why is that? It's because we haven't prepared ourselves for the spiritual stability to sit quietly for 30 minutes. I I talked to a girl the other day who is a pastor at a local church, not super local, but local enough. And she said she only preaches for 15 minutes when she preaches. I couldn't even get my illustration off the ground in 15 minutes. Right? Like, how are you delivering the word of God in 15 minutes? Now I'm not gonna judge. That's their church, that's what they do. But I'm just like, I don't I don't know how much meat and potatoes you're giving to the people around you, right? It feels to me like you're giving them the fluffy stuff and you're sending them out, just hoping they figure it out on their own. If I've learned anything, they don't figure it out on their own. Because they don't go to the word. Amen. So when we prepare ourselves, it will lead us to that spiritual stability. It will force us, it will give us the drive and the desire to be in the word and to be in relationship with Jesus. Amen. Listen. Ephesians 6 13, it says, Therefore, put on every piece of God's armor so you will be able to resist the enemy in the time of evil. Can I ask you something? Do we believe that we are in a time of evil? I look around and I don't care what you think about what's going on in the world around us. Look at the people around us. They're broken, they're lost, they're hurting. They don't know, they don't know where their next meal is gonna come from. These people are struggling with basic needs, and all they need is Jesus. All they need now, listen, that's a that's a bold thing for a man to say who's not going hungry and has a roof over his head, right? But can I promise you something? We have been, my wife and I, my family and I, we have been in times of need. Where we've had nothing. We didn't know where our next meal was gonna come from. But we stood firm on the truth. We stood firm on the word of God, knowing that God was gonna continue to bless us, lead us, guide us, and send us to all of the places that we need to be. Amen. And when God would do that in our lives, we were always thankful that he would do that. There are people who don't know who God is, who don't know who Jesus Christ is, and they have no hope because Jesus Christ is not real to them. It doesn't mean he has not revealed himself, it means that nobody has ever told them of the goodness of God. And all my life he has been faithful. All my life he has been so, so good. I have never experienced a need or a want that I knew he couldn't meet. Well, I guess that's not true. I've experienced once that he chose not to meet. But it wasn't because I was gonna die without it. That need was selfish, it was flesh-driven. Amen. Listen. God is gonna continue to bless us. He is gonna continue to pour out his love upon us. He is gonna continue to pour out his love upon those who don't know him, but it is our responsibility to open the door. Wednesday night, we're gonna have a lot of people in this building. Amen. Most of them already saved, but there will be people that walk through that door that have backslidden, that are lost, that are confused, that don't truly understand the goodness of God. It is our opportunity to lead them into the goodness of God. The Easter egg hunt. When we bring those people, a hundred kids, three hundred people total usually come through the door. Church. That is what we are built for. It is what we are here for, to teach people how good God really is in our lives. When we put on the armor of God, we prepare ourselves for spiritual stability. Notice it is notice the phrase is to put on the armor of God, not grab a piece here, grab a piece there. It is the full armor of God every day, so that when you go out into the world, you are fully prepared. We are standing on faith and we are walking in the spirit. Our flesh man is dead and the spirit man is alive. Amen. It is easy to say, it is hard to live. I want to challenge you today to live it. The strongest believers are not the ones who will react quickly, right? They are the ones who are already prepared when the storm comes. When the temptation starts, when the trials are are beginning to build. The prepared believer will always stand firm. The wind may blow, the storm may rage. I am in the storm, but the storm is not in me. I am in the storm, but the storm is not in me. Jesus Christ, who lives within me, calms the storm. He stills the waters. I have nothing to fear because I have Jesus Christ here to protect all of those things. Listen, where's Bob? Bobby caught on fire at work, folks. I ain't joking. That wasn't even an audible guess, Bobby. They didn't even care you were engulfed in flames. They're like, Yeah, he'll be fine. I'm not joking. He was doing something at work, his oil soaked clothes to catch on fire. Because he had his welding gloves on, he was able to pat out the fire. He said it was just his clothes were dripping off of him. But God was standing there to take care of Bobby in that moment. Now I know that sometimes we hear those and we're like, well, no, he was wearing gloves. Do you think that just by happenstance, God said, hey, make sure you wear your gloves today? Listen, have you ever gotten it? Listen, I'm I don't, I wear my seatbelt when I drive, but when I'm in when I'm in the hut, I never put my seatbelt on from work to home. I don't, right? And I think to myself, when I get in the car and I naturally pull my seatbelt on, I went, All right, God, I see you. Right? And guess what it does? It causes me to be more safe. Because I listen to that still small voice. When he says something in my life, I listen and I move according to his will, not mine. Amen? And I need you guys to understand that when these things happen, we have to understand that God is preparing us for those things, even in those small moments. Amen. Preparation in the spirit produces victory for tomorrow. Preparation in the spirit today, what you get out of this message today, should prepare you for what tomorrow brings. Right? When tomorrow, when you wake up tomorrow and your car won't start, it doesn't need to be a swear word. It needs to be, Lord Jesus, you know my need. I'm already running late, God. Help me figure this out. I'm not saying your car's gonna start, but I'm saying somebody might go, hey, I noticed your car wasn't running. Do you need a ride? Right? Or you're gonna pick up the phone and call somebody and they're gonna say, Oh, yeah, I can help you out, right? Listen, we have to understand that preparing today produces victory tomorrow. Don't wait until the battle begins. Don't wait until you're in the storm. Prepare yourself before the storm ever comes. Pray now. Seek God now. Strengthen your spirit now, because God is preparing you for victories that you can't even begin to see. Preparing you for victories that you can't even begin to see. Heavenly Father, we thank you and we praise you, Lord, for your move in this house today. Lord, I pray that every person that's sitting here, that their hearts have been cultivated and that it the word is beginning to take root in their hearts, Lord, that you may prepare them each and every day for the battle that they will face in this world around us. Father, allow our cups to be overflowing so that we can pour out upon the world around us. Allow us to be a beacon in the darkness. Lead us daily, Father God. Guide our steps, guide our words, guide our hands. Father, I thank you for your protection over Bobby this past week. Lord, I pray that you just continue to bless all of the people in the building in that exact same way. Show up for them daily, Lord. Allow them to know that you are with them. I thank you and I praise you, Father. I pray that you bring us back safely at our next appointed time. Father, I pray that we continue to just thrive in the love of Jesus. In the mighty name of Jesus, we pray. And the church says, Amen. We love you guys. We'll see you on Wednesday night.