SPEAKER_00: You're listening to audio from the Via.
SPEAKER_00: If you'd like information on how to get connected, tap the link to our website in the show notes.
SPEAKER_01: Hello and welcome to Via.
SPEAKER_01: It is so nice to see you.
SPEAKER_01: Happy Thursday, friends.
SPEAKER_01: How's it going?
SPEAKER_01: Good to be here with you.
SPEAKER_01: Happy Thursday.
SPEAKER_01: I'm glad to be back in this room for our second time ever.
SPEAKER_01: How about that?
SPEAKER_01: And um, if we haven't met, my name is Clayton, and I have the privilege of serving with our our young adults team.
SPEAKER_01: And tonight I have the privilege of sharing God's word with you.
SPEAKER_01: Uh, but before we start, I want you to just do this.
SPEAKER_01: Would you look at somebody to your right, in front of you, to your left, and behind you, and just say, I'm glad to be at via with you.
SPEAKER_01: I'm glad to be at via with you.
SPEAKER_01: If you have your Bibles, I'm gonna invite you to turn with me to Ephesians chapter 6.
SPEAKER_01: Ephesians chapter 6.
SPEAKER_01: And then hopefully on your way in, you got one of the worship guides from our home team.
SPEAKER_01: And we give those to you for lots of reasons, but we know we give them to you because it is no small thing that God is the creator of the universe and that he speaks to us.
SPEAKER_01: And so when he does, we want to be sure that we pay attention and that we write down the things that he says.
SPEAKER_01: Tonight we are pressing in, pressing on in our collection of talks, focused on spiritual warfare.
SPEAKER_01: And what we've been looking at is what Paul writes about in Ephesians chapter 6, and we're gonna look at tonight what the the end of what Paul says about outfitting ourselves in the armor of God.
SPEAKER_01: And we we know that we want to be adorned, we want to be wearing, we want to be outfitted in the right equipment, because how many of you know without the right equipment, it will always affect your experience.
SPEAKER_01: Like, think about it like this, right?
SPEAKER_01: Remember when you were in middle school or high school?
SPEAKER_01: I don't know if this was true for where you went to school, but like you had PE, you had gym uniform, and you had to bring that to school that was different than what you normally wore.
SPEAKER_01: And then when you didn't bring your gym clothes, you didn't bring those clothes, you had to just like do, you just had to run the mile in the khakis.
SPEAKER_01: And I mean, I don't know about you girls, but that's what I had to do.
SPEAKER_01: That was tough.
SPEAKER_01: Or you've ever, like, I've jumped in the car before to go on a run, and I've gotten to where I'm I'm gonna run, and then I don't have my running shoes, and I've just got like Birkin socks on.
SPEAKER_01: That's gonna affect my experience.
SPEAKER_01: Or have you ever, have you ever been somewhere, you walked in somewhere, and then you're like, you're just like really overdressed, or maybe even worse, really underdressed?
SPEAKER_01: What is that, right?
SPEAKER_01: Wearing the wrong thing, not having the right equipment, affects our experience.
SPEAKER_01: And that, friends, is what's true of so many of us, believers, when it comes to experiencing the Christian life.
SPEAKER_01: We're not adorned, we're not wearing, we're not outfitted with the right of uh right clothes, right equipment, right gear, and it affects our experience as believer.
SPEAKER_01: And then you know what starts to happen?
SPEAKER_01: We go, is this what it is?
SPEAKER_01: Like, is this what following the Lord is?
SPEAKER_01: Is this what Christianity is?
SPEAKER_01: Is this what being filled with the Holy Spirit is?
SPEAKER_01: Is this really what it is?
SPEAKER_01: It's like asking someone who's running uh an ultra marathon in a suit, saying, like, how's the experience going?
SPEAKER_01: Well, it's not gonna be great because they don't have the right gear for the thing that they're trying to do.
SPEAKER_01: For so many of us, we don't have the very gear that God has given us to empower us to do what he's asking us to do.
SPEAKER_01: And so last week we looked at the first couple of pieces of the armor of God and seen what that is and how that applies to our life.
SPEAKER_01: And tonight we're gonna finish them off.
SPEAKER_01: So if you have your Bibles, let's read together in Ephesians chapter 6, verses 16 through 18.
SPEAKER_01: It says this in God's word.
SPEAKER_01: In all circumstances, take up the shield of faith with which you can extinguish all the flaming darts of the evil one, and take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the spirit, which is the word of God, praying at all times in the spirit with all prayer and supplication.
SPEAKER_01: Thanks be to God for the power of his word.
SPEAKER_01: Amen.
SPEAKER_01: If you're taking notes tonight, the first thing I want you to write down is this is that we've got to trust what God says over what you feel.
SPEAKER_01: You've got to trust what God says over what you feel.
SPEAKER_01: In fact, I want you to turn to somebody who's sitting next to him and just say, You've got to trust what God says over what you feel.
SPEAKER_01: You've got to trust what God says over what you feel.
SPEAKER_01: Look at what it says in verse number 16.
SPEAKER_01: Paul writes this: He says, Take up the shield of faith with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one.
SPEAKER_01: Now we've talked about this, right?
SPEAKER_01: We know that Paul is using the armor of a Roman guard because that would be really familiar with the people he's writing to, all of their gear, all of their equipment.
SPEAKER_01: We we know what that looks like, we know what its purpose is.
SPEAKER_01: And what Paul says is he says, take up this Roman shield, take up this shield like the Romans would use.
SPEAKER_01: And what we gotta know, friend, is that this is not Captain America's, you know, garage can top vibranium shield.
SPEAKER_01: We know that a Roman shield is like more like a door, like it's as tall as a person and it's made out of wood.
SPEAKER_01: And so, enemies, if they lit a flame on fire and they shot it at the wooden door, what's gonna happen?
SPEAKER_01: It burns up.
SPEAKER_01: Now I'm susceptible to being killed.
SPEAKER_01: But what they would do is they would take leather and soak it in water and wrap the door in that leather, the shield in that leather, and so then when a flaming dart would come, it would extinguish the arrow.
SPEAKER_01: And so we know that our enemy, Satan, is out to do what?
SPEAKER_01: He's out to steal, to kill, and destroy.
SPEAKER_01: That is his MO, that's his game plan, that's his objective.
SPEAKER_01: And so we know that those flaming arrows are coming for you.
SPEAKER_01: If you are a Christ follower, the arrows are coming.
SPEAKER_01: What are the arrows?
SPEAKER_01: Their lies, their temptation, their accusation, it's doubt, it's fear.
SPEAKER_01: But what does the Bible say is the one thing that will extinguish the flaming arrows of the evil one?
SPEAKER_01: Faith.
SPEAKER_01: He says that the thing that is going to extinguish and protect you from the evil's enemy, enemy's arrows is faith.
SPEAKER_01: And what is faith?
SPEAKER_01: If not, trusting God over than what I feel.
SPEAKER_01: It's trusting in what God says more than how I feel.
SPEAKER_01: That's what faith is.
SPEAKER_01: I mean, think of how the writer of Hebrews puts it in Hebrews chapter 11, verse 1.
SPEAKER_01: He says that now faith is what?
SPEAKER_01: It's the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.
SPEAKER_01: It says, even when I can't see it, even when the situation seems dire, what I'm gonna choose to believe is that what I can't see is true because God's word has said that it is true.
SPEAKER_01: So when we're facing temptation, the thing that's gonna help us overcome is by believing what Jesus says, what the Bible says, what God has said.
SPEAKER_01: When the lies come about God not listening to you, God not being near to you, God not caring about you, you've got to believe what God says over how I feel.
SPEAKER_01: So many of us go, we get in situations and we say, God, I've been praying about this thing, I've been asking for you to do this, you've not been moving, you've not been answering, we start to feel a little panicked, we start to feel distant, we start to feel spiritually cold, and there's a lot- that those are all flaming arrows that are coming to us.
SPEAKER_01: What does the Bible instruct us to do?
SPEAKER_01: Take up the shield of faith.
SPEAKER_01: So no matter how I feel, in faith, the Bible says that God is always with me, never leaves me or forsakes me.
SPEAKER_01: That God is like a friend who sticks closer than a brother.
SPEAKER_01: I may have been abandoned by my family, I may have been abandoned by everyone who's supposed to care about me, but God has never abandoned me.
SPEAKER_01: I might not see it, but I'm believing in faith that that is what's true.
SPEAKER_01: Do you see the difference?
SPEAKER_01: We pick up the shield of faith to extinguish the lies of the either one.
SPEAKER_01: Or we know, right, in our generation, that there's this purposelessness and there's this drift, and people easily fall into life.
SPEAKER_01: My life has no meaning.
SPEAKER_01: I shouldn't be even lived.
SPEAKER_01: If I died tomorrow, nobody would even miss me.
SPEAKER_01: That is a lie, that is a flaming dart of the evil one.
SPEAKER_01: What does the Bible say?
SPEAKER_01: Psalm 118 says, I will not die, but I will surely live, and I will tell of all his great works.
SPEAKER_01: Do you see the difference?
SPEAKER_01: When a flaming dart comes, what can I do?
SPEAKER_01: I'm susceptible if I don't pick up my faith and say, even though I can't see something, even though I may feel something, I'm choosing to believe what God says over how I feel.
SPEAKER_01: But listen, the Bible says that it's the faith that neutralizes the attack.
SPEAKER_01: Notice, it does not say that it removes them.
SPEAKER_01: It doesn't say if you pick up the shield of faith, Satan won't mess with you anymore.
SPEAKER_01: Christianity is not hitting a checkpoint that all of a sudden I'm so holy and spiritual that now temptation or lies or accusation, they don't even affect me anymore.
SPEAKER_01: I don't even, that it doesn't even, it's not even real to me.
SPEAKER_01: That is not what following Jesus is.
SPEAKER_01: That's not the promise here.
SPEAKER_01: The promise is not one day you will never face temptation or sin or guilt or accusation.
SPEAKER_01: It is when I do, I grow in my faith to believe what God says over what I feel, no matter the situation.
SPEAKER_01: Let me see if I can illustrate it like this.
SPEAKER_01: Have you ever, I don't know, excuse me, maybe you went to a camp sometime in your life.
SPEAKER_01: But you know those games where they put a blindfold on somebody and then they set up like this mini obstacle course, maybe it's just like cups or maybe it's like frisbees or something, and someone's got a blindfold on, and then there's a partner who stands behind them who's supposed to guide them through the field.
SPEAKER_01: You know what I'm talking about?
SPEAKER_01: Everybody's seen this, right?
SPEAKER_01: And so what happens?
SPEAKER_01: All of a sudden, a normal task of getting from point A to point B.
SPEAKER_01: Now, if you leave those persons to themselves, what are they?
SPEAKER_01: They're like, you know, they're stepping, like you know, they're doing all the things.
SPEAKER_01: And it you can put like a normal bar that they've got to bend under, and it's like, you know, they're they wouldn't it they do crazy things.
SPEAKER_01: Why?
SPEAKER_01: Because they can't see, and then there's some panic that starts to sit in.
SPEAKER_01: But what is the thing that gets them through the obstacle course if they listen to the voice that's guiding them?
SPEAKER_01: That is what faith is.
SPEAKER_01: That we walk through life, often we feel like we're blindfolded.
SPEAKER_01: Often, something that wouldn't necessarily give us any trouble because of the way that life is going in a particular moment, it's giving us a lot of grief.
SPEAKER_01: It feels like it might just be some red solo cups I don't want to step on.
SPEAKER_01: That may be true, but it feels like it's a pit that I'll never be able to get out of if I take a step in.
SPEAKER_01: And so we get panicked and we don't take a step and we don't step into what God has for us in our life.
SPEAKER_01: We don't walk in obedience with what He's called us to do, and we're we're we're locked.
SPEAKER_01: We're we're doing exactly what the enemy wants us to do because we're we're we're temp we're terrified with the fear of what we don't know because we can't see.
SPEAKER_01: Meanwhile, all the while God is looking at you saying, just listen to my voice.
SPEAKER_01: If you would just trust what I say over how you feel, it would go a lot smoother for you and for me.
SPEAKER_01: And so for you and me, our objective is to listen to the voice of God, to pick up in faith whenever you might feel a certain way, whenever you it it might even be that you can see a situation that look is daunting or terrifying, that you choose to trust what God says over what you feel.
SPEAKER_01: Faith is choosing God's voice over your feelings.
SPEAKER_01: That's the first thing I want you to write down.
SPEAKER_01: The second thing is this I want you to write down that you've got to think like someone who's saved.
SPEAKER_01: You gotta think like someone who's saved.
SPEAKER_01: In fact, do this for me.
SPEAKER_01: Turn to the person you're sitting next to and say, You gotta think like somebody who's saved.
SPEAKER_01: Now, quick caveat.
SPEAKER_01: I'm not telling you, the Christ follower, to think like someone who's saved to communicate some aspect of you've got to do something that's not applicable to you.
SPEAKER_01: If you are a blood bought, bloodwashed believer, you've got to start thinking like someone who's saved because you are saved.
SPEAKER_01: Look at what he says in verse number 17.
SPEAKER_01: It says, and take, pick up, wear, put on the helmet of salvation.
SPEAKER_01: What does a helmet do?
SPEAKER_01: A helmet protects your head, and what is in your head, your mind.
SPEAKER_01: What do we know?
SPEAKER_01: That just about more than anything else, what the enemy attacks is your identity at its core.
SPEAKER_01: Like, think about all the things, all the lies, all the voices when you're driving home by yourself late at night, when you're brushing your teeth, looking at your mirror in the morning, you don't look like don't like what you see.
SPEAKER_01: When you're by yourself, all those thoughts that are from the enemy, what are they going to?
SPEAKER_01: They're going to your identity at your core.
SPEAKER_01: Who you are, your assurance, your worth, your value.
SPEAKER_01: You're not really saved.
SPEAKER_01: You've gone too far.
SPEAKER_01: You'll never change.
SPEAKER_01: No one will ever love you.
SPEAKER_01: You're too dirty, your past is too traumatic, you'll never lead, you'll never have victory, you'll never do what God says that you can do.
SPEAKER_01: What about you'll be just like your parents.
SPEAKER_01: What is that?
SPEAKER_01: That is the enemy attacking your identity.
SPEAKER_01: Why?
SPEAKER_01: Because listen to me, if the enemy can control your thoughts, he can influence your life.
SPEAKER_01: If the enemy can control your thoughts, he can influence your life.
SPEAKER_01: So why does Paul say take the helmet of salvation salvation?
SPEAKER_01: Because, friends, when you control your thoughts, you control your life.
SPEAKER_01: When you control your thoughts, you control your life.
SPEAKER_01: Now, I'm not saying that when you control your thoughts, you have control over everything that happens to you.
SPEAKER_01: I'm not suggesting that this is a way for you to become a godlike character in your life.
SPEAKER_01: I'm not saying God doesn't have control over everything because He do does.
SPEAKER_01: What I am saying is when we, so many of us, are walking around trying to figure out how to live, and we feel like we're being tossed to and fro, and our emotional health and our mental health and everything about us feels like it's up when it's good and it's down when it's bad, and maybe, just maybe, tomorrow's gonna be a good day.
SPEAKER_01: We'll find out, you know what I mean?
SPEAKER_01: Or tomorrow's gonna be a bad day.
SPEAKER_01: All of those things, what does that communicate?
SPEAKER_01: That we are not in control of our thoughts.
SPEAKER_01: But what do we know?
SPEAKER_01: We know that we can be.
SPEAKER_01: And you're like, no.
SPEAKER_01: Clayton, you don't understand.
SPEAKER_01: No, Clayton, I hear what you're saying.
SPEAKER_01: I mean, y'all have talked about it for like six weeks now in a row.
SPEAKER_01: Don't know why you're still talking about it.
SPEAKER_01: You keep telling me that I can control my thoughts, but you don't understand.
SPEAKER_01: I take medication, I've got this thing, my mom was like this, my grandma said this.
SPEAKER_01: This happened to me when I was in seventh grade.
SPEAKER_01: You don't understand, I can't help it, this is how I am.
SPEAKER_01: But watch this.
SPEAKER_01: You know what I want you to do?
SPEAKER_01: I want everybody to close their eyes.
SPEAKER_01: I want everybody to close their eyes just really quick.
SPEAKER_01: I want you to think of a red stop sign.
SPEAKER_01: Just think of a red stop sign.
SPEAKER_01: Cool.
SPEAKER_01: Now, I want you to think of a beautiful mountain landscape with a lake down right in front of the mountain.
SPEAKER_01: Beautiful mountain.
SPEAKER_01: Now, I want you to think to uh some lyrics of any Justin Bieber song.
SPEAKER_01: Alright, you can open your eyes.
SPEAKER_01: You see what you just didn't you just control your thoughts.
SPEAKER_01: No, Clayton, it can't be that simple.
SPEAKER_01: I'm telling you that it is.
SPEAKER_01: What does the Bible say?
SPEAKER_01: The Bible says in Romans 8, verse 1, you are forgiven.
SPEAKER_01: Everything you've ever done, all those things that you would be too embarrassed to tell anybody about because you would just die if they knew Jesus says, if you are in me, therefore there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.
SPEAKER_01: You're forgiven.
SPEAKER_01: Romans chapter 8, verse 15 says you're adopted.
SPEAKER_01: If you feel like you've never been cared for, you feel like the per the person or the people that were supposed to take care of you and love you, abandon you, what does God's word say?
SPEAKER_01: That I've been adopted into God's family.
SPEAKER_01: John chapter 10, verse 28 says that you are secure, that you can't lose your salvation because you didn't earn your salvation.
SPEAKER_01: So even when I follow the Lord and I screw up, and I mean I screw up bad, I screw up big, what God's word says is God still loves me, God still holds me, God still chooses me, I'm still with God.
SPEAKER_01: That, friends, is how we control our thoughts and we think like someone who's saved.
SPEAKER_01: Because when we just let our thoughts come in anywhere that we go, anywhere that we know, look, what do we know?
SPEAKER_01: That every thought is not from you.
SPEAKER_01: And so what we do is we don't sit back on the freeway of our brain with a lawn chair and say, Yep, we'll just let that one go.
SPEAKER_01: Yep, we'll just let that one go.
SPEAKER_01: We are at the guard gate of our mind, saying, Where did you come from?
SPEAKER_01: Nope, you can't get in here.
SPEAKER_01: You know what can?
SPEAKER_01: I'm secure.
SPEAKER_01: I'm forgiven, I'm adopted, I'm chosen, I'm loved, I'm I'm a more than conqueror in Christ.
SPEAKER_01: Because why?
SPEAKER_01: Because that's what God's word says about who I am.
SPEAKER_01: And we know this, right?
SPEAKER_01: We know this.
SPEAKER_01: We've talked about Romans chapter 12 says, renew your mind, be transformed by the renewing of your mind.
SPEAKER_01: We've talked about taking thoughts captive in 2 Corinthians.
SPEAKER_01: Philippians chapter 4 gives us a command.
SPEAKER_01: We are disobeying the Lord if we do not think on what is true.
SPEAKER_01: So all that anxiety, all that I'm not lovable, I'm not worthy, no one will ever accept me, I don't belong to God.
SPEAKER_01: Those are lies and not true.
SPEAKER_01: And when we think on those, we're doing the exact opposite of what God's word calls us to do.
SPEAKER_01: Why?
SPEAKER_01: Because we're not thinking like somebody who's saved.
SPEAKER_01: Here's what I want you to know tonight: you cannot live in victory if you think in defeat.
SPEAKER_01: You cannot live in victory if you think in defeat.
SPEAKER_01: So when Paul says, take the helmet of salvation, excuse me, what do we know?
SPEAKER_01: That by placing our faith in Jesus, we are forgiven of our sin.
SPEAKER_01: We are indwelt with the Holy Spirit.
SPEAKER_01: The things that are true of Christ's followers now become true of us.
SPEAKER_01: I now have access to a life of love and joy and peace and victory over my sin and being different and forgiveness and all the things that God's word says is true, is true when I give my my life and faith to Jesus.
SPEAKER_01: And how was that secured?
SPEAKER_01: All of those things, your forgiveness, your now peace, your joy, your ability to do what God's called you to do.
SPEAKER_01: How can we know that's true?
SPEAKER_01: How was it secured?
SPEAKER_01: Because Jesus Christ died on the cross for your sins and in your place.
SPEAKER_01: Because Jesus was killed, buried, and resurrected, that's why we preach Christ and Christ crucified.
SPEAKER_01: It's why we sing songs about Jesus' death and his burial and his resurrection and his transformation and the fact that he's given us new life.
SPEAKER_01: He's sacrificed for us.
SPEAKER_01: Why?
SPEAKER_01: Because that is our victory.
SPEAKER_01: We don't pick up the helmet and say, we can do this.
SPEAKER_01: We pick up the helmet and say, He already did.
SPEAKER_01: We don't pick up the helmet and say, I can win if I try hard enough.
SPEAKER_01: We pick up the helmet because God already won.
SPEAKER_01: He already defeated the grave.
SPEAKER_01: He already gave me his spirit.
SPEAKER_01: He's already spoken truth over who I am.
SPEAKER_01: What is our greatest hope in life and death?
SPEAKER_01: That we are not our own but belong to God.
SPEAKER_01: That is truth.
SPEAKER_01: That is what God's word says.
SPEAKER_01: And when I think like that, it allows me to be protected from the lies of the enemy, to be and to do, and to walk in the life that God has died to give me, to secure for me.
SPEAKER_01: Do you understand what I'm saying?
SPEAKER_01: So, you gotta think like somebody who's saved.
SPEAKER_01: Alright?
SPEAKER_01: I gotta trust what God says over how I feel.
SPEAKER_01: I gotta think like somebody who's saved.
SPEAKER_01: What's the last thing tonight?
SPEAKER_01: The last thing I want you to see is this is that you've got to speak truth into the fight.
SPEAKER_01: You gotta speak truth into the fight.
SPEAKER_01: Look at what Paul says in verse number 17.
SPEAKER_01: He says, and pick up, take the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.
SPEAKER_01: And if you're keeping score at home, then you would notice that this is the only offensive weapon that is listed by the Apostle Paul.
SPEAKER_01: But here's what I'm really excited about tonight.
SPEAKER_01: You guys want to learn something cool?
SPEAKER_01: Somebody say amen.
SPEAKER_01: When we read this, we go, okay.
SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
SPEAKER_01: I mean, it's the word of God.
SPEAKER_01: I mean, if you've been around church, maybe you've been around church, you'd be like, I mean, I can pretty much sum everything up with, like, you know, read your Bible, pray, and go to church.
SPEAKER_01: And if you do those things, then you know, you're gonna be pretty much okay.
SPEAKER_01: So, yeah, the word of God is the sword of the spirit.
SPEAKER_01: You're like, yeah, I've got my Bible, you know?
SPEAKER_01: But that's not what's going on right here.
SPEAKER_01: There are two words in Greek that mean word.
SPEAKER_01: The first one is logos.
SPEAKER_01: That word means the word in it kind of like its entirety.
SPEAKER_01: Think John chapter 1.
SPEAKER_01: And the word became flesh and dwelt among us.
SPEAKER_01: Right?
SPEAKER_01: It means the totality of God's word, namely Jesus Christ.
SPEAKER_01: Hebrews chapter 4, the word of God is living and active.
SPEAKER_01: It refers both to the word in its totality and to Jesus.
SPEAKER_01: But that is not the word that the Apostle Paul uses right here.
SPEAKER_01: The word that the Apostle Paul uses right here is the word Rhema, R-H-E-M-A.
SPEAKER_01: And what it means is it's literally a spoken word, an utterance.
SPEAKER_01: I want you to see how it's used in, check out this verse in Luke chapter 5, verse 5.
SPEAKER_01: And Simon answered, he said, Master, we toiled all night and took nothing.
SPEAKER_01: Remember, this is a story where Jesus comes to the disciples and they fish all night, they've caught nothing, and Jesus says, You got to go back out and put the nets on the other side of the boat.
SPEAKER_01: Master, we toiled all night and took nothing.
SPEAKER_01: But at your say it out loud with me, word, I will let down the nets.
SPEAKER_01: That word is the word Rhema.
SPEAKER_01: What is he saying?
SPEAKER_01: If you say, like literally at your saying, when you say, drop the nets, I will drop the nets.
SPEAKER_01: And you go, okay, Clayton, cool.
SPEAKER_01: I don't really get it.
SPEAKER_01: Listen to me.
SPEAKER_01: The Apostle Paul is not saying that the Bible by itself is the sword of the Spirit.
SPEAKER_01: He's not saying that the thing that's sitting on your bookshelf that you've never touched or your grandma's gusty Bible is the sword of the spirit.
SPEAKER_01: And then if you would just pick it up every now and then, you can put it in your waistband, kind of like, you know, yeah, I've got a sword on my brother, you know what I mean?
SPEAKER_01: He's not saying that carrying that around is the thing that allows you to go on offense.
SPEAKER_01: It is not in knowing the scripture that it is our sword.
SPEAKER_01: It is in our using of scripture that is our sword.
SPEAKER_01: It is not, friend, in our knowing of scripture, but in our using of scripture that is the offensive weapon.
SPEAKER_01: And so, when we face spiritual attack or we're looking to combat the lies or have victory in our lives, can I tell you it doesn't do you any good to have the Bible on your nightstand?
SPEAKER_01: Like if I just, if I, you know, maybe I can angle myself and get close and like, you know, it's just like a couple inches, maybe like osmosis, we can get over here.
SPEAKER_01: That is not victory in Christ.
SPEAKER_01: Your victory will come from you being able to apply and speak the word of God in and over your life.
SPEAKER_01: And we go, okay, I don't really understand.
SPEAKER_01: What is the best example of this?
SPEAKER_01: The best example, shocker, is Jesus Christ Himself.
SPEAKER_01: Remember in Matthew chapter 4, we've talked about this before in this in this collection of talks.
SPEAKER_01: Jesus gets led into the spirit to be tempted by the enemy.
SPEAKER_01: He gets led into the wilderness, and when he gets there, Satan comes and tempts him, and look what happens.
SPEAKER_01: In Matthew chapter 4, it says, And the tempter came and said to him, If you are the Son of God, flaming arrow, lie, accusation.
SPEAKER_01: Command these stones to become loaves of bread.
SPEAKER_01: Verse number four.
SPEAKER_01: But Jesus answered, It is written, Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God.
SPEAKER_01: Faced with temptation, Jesus doesn't just clutch some old scrolls and say, I've got my spirit.
SPEAKER_01: Faced with temptation, he doesn't just quote some random verse, in the beginning I created the world.
SPEAKER_01: He uses the Rhema, the word, the applied, the spoken word of God, and he quotes Deuteronomy chapter 8, which is crazy because we just studied this several weeks ago, which is what?
SPEAKER_01: God, through Moses, reminding his Israelites after their journey through the desert that more than any bread, more than any water, the very thing that they needed was God Himself.
SPEAKER_01: And so when faced with temptation of bread, of hunger, he's fasted for 40 days.
SPEAKER_01: Jesus doesn't quote a random scripture, but one that applies to his situation and it dispels the temptation.
SPEAKER_01: The devil drops that one and then he goes on to another one.
SPEAKER_01: This is why Psalm 119, you've heard it a thousand times if you've grown up in church, it says what?
SPEAKER_01: To hide God's word in your heart.
SPEAKER_01: For what purpose?
SPEAKER_01: Because the Rhema, the applied spoken word, is the sword of the spirit that will allow you to fight back the spiritual attack in your life.
SPEAKER_01: So, do you know the word?
SPEAKER_01: Do you have the word hidden in your heart?
SPEAKER_01: We've said this before.
SPEAKER_01: Our pastor says all the time that your victory as a Christian will rise and fall based on how much time you spend in the Word of God.
SPEAKER_01: Like, think of it like this.
SPEAKER_01: Let me see if I can illustrate like this.
SPEAKER_01: Let's say that you're going to court, you get accused of a crime, and you're completely innocent.
SPEAKER_01: And you go to court, and Satan is the fancy lawyer, and he comes out and he's got all the tricks, and it's about he he spreads this whole story and lies about the night of the crime and where you were and what you were doing and who you are.
SPEAKER_01: But but the thing is that you're not guilty.
SPEAKER_01: You're innocent.
SPEAKER_01: So if that's the case, in that case, what would you do as your defense?
SPEAKER_01: Would you be like, talk about random facts of like, well, the sun sets in the western part of the sky, and if that was true, no.
SPEAKER_01: You would say the truth.
SPEAKER_01: I wasn't there, I was here.
SPEAKER_01: You can look at my phone data to track.
SPEAKER_01: This is my bank statements that prove that I didn't do that.
SPEAKER_01: This is my DNA that shows that this is who I am.
SPEAKER_01: Why?
SPEAKER_01: Because it's the truth that dismantles the accusation.
SPEAKER_01: Friends, the Bible, the word of God, is the truth of the universe.
SPEAKER_01: It is the truth of God.
SPEAKER_01: And that we, the Bible says that when we submit to it and we hide it and we apply it, it will transform our life.
SPEAKER_01: It will transform our life.
SPEAKER_01: I've told this story before.
SPEAKER_01: But there was a time when I was in college that I was just um, like mentally, I was just like in a really certainly the darkest place that I've ever been.
SPEAKER_01: I was battling depression and all kinds of in, like really anxiety that I'd never dealt with before.
SPEAKER_01: And it all kind of coincided with this season of my life that um I was, first of all, in rebellion to God.
SPEAKER_01: I was in sin.
SPEAKER_01: But really, what it was is it was a source, there was a breakup, honestly, that happened, and somebody had uttered and said some things that I just kind of I heard them and they just kind of took up residence in my mind, and they just kind of became the playlist that started playing over and over again in my mind.
SPEAKER_01: And I was like, on top of all that, I was like wondering, I was changing my major, I was transferring schools, I really didn't know like what I wanted to do or who I was, and so that feels bad because like you're supposed to have a plan for your life, and like what are you doing and how are you gonna get to the next step and all that.
SPEAKER_01: So that was tied in, and so I felt like very like drifty, if that makes sense, and then on top of it, I was believing these lies about how um that no one would if no one would really love me.
SPEAKER_01: Like all the people in my life they were lying about if they really cared about me, and um that was just something that I just like I don't know if that's ever happened to you, but someone said something to you and it just kind of like plays on repeat in your mind.
SPEAKER_01: And so during that whole season, um I moved back in at home with my parents.
SPEAKER_01: Shout out if you guys are doing that, commend you guys.
SPEAKER_01: It's a good move.
SPEAKER_01: And when I moved back into that room, my mom had taken a verse and she had printed it out and she'd put it on my nightstand.
SPEAKER_01: And this is the verse that she printed out.
SPEAKER_01: She had printed out Ephesians chapter 2, verse 10.
SPEAKER_01: It says, For we are God's masterpiece, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared ahead of time for us to do.
SPEAKER_01: And my mom took that verse and she took out we and she put my name.
SPEAKER_01: And so it said, For Clayton is God's masterpiece, created in Christ Jesus, to walk in the good works created beforehand.
SPEAKER_01: And every day I saw it, and every day I saw it when I woke up, and every day I saw it when I went to bed.
SPEAKER_01: And slowly but surely, through a lot of encouragement, whenever those thoughts would come into my brain about who I was and my value and my worth, and if people were ever gonna care about me, I would just go back to that verse.
SPEAKER_01: No, no, no, that's not right.
SPEAKER_01: No, that one's not true.
SPEAKER_01: What is true is that I'm a masterpiece created by God in Christ Jesus to do what God has created me to be.
SPEAKER_01: And that verse really provided me the context of the things that I was needing.
SPEAKER_01: I didn't really know what my purpose was in life.
SPEAKER_01: I didn't have a career plan or a major or a job picked out.
SPEAKER_01: I didn't know who I was supposed to be.
SPEAKER_01: I didn't think that my val my life had any value or or my personality had any self-worth.
SPEAKER_01: And so here's what God's word was saying.
SPEAKER_01: He said, No, no, who you are is a masterpiece created by God for what purpose?
SPEAKER_01: Created in Christ Jesus to do what God has created you to do long before you ever got here.
SPEAKER_01: And every day, slowly but surely, that verse changed my life.
SPEAKER_01: It changed my life.
SPEAKER_01: I'm telling you, it transformed my life.
SPEAKER_01: And so there's still lots of things I struggle with, there's still lots of things I still wrestle with, but of one I am sure I know my value and I know my purpose because God's word says I'm a masterpiece created by God to do what God has set out for me to do.
SPEAKER_01: So do you know the word?
SPEAKER_01: Do you have God's word hidden in your heart?
SPEAKER_01: Because a Bible that you don't know is a sword that you cannot use.
SPEAKER_01: And so I believe in you.
SPEAKER_01: And you go, it seems daunting, Clayton.
SPEAKER_01: I really, if I'm honest, I don't really know any verse.
SPEAKER_01: Maybe John 3.16, but that's it.
SPEAKER_01: And I'm supposed to know all of it.
SPEAKER_01: Just start with one.
SPEAKER_01: Start with two verses, start with two promises.
SPEAKER_01: You can take Ephesians chapter 2, verse 10.
SPEAKER_01: You can write it, set it on your nightstand, set it as your phone background, write it on your bathroom mirror.
SPEAKER_01: Just put it over and over again, and you read it out loud, and you pray it and you say it and you believe it.
SPEAKER_01: And when those thoughts come in, you say, nope, that's not from God.
SPEAKER_01: What is is Ephesians chapter 2, verse 10.
SPEAKER_01: It's Romans chapter 8, verse 1.
SPEAKER_01: And we claim it and we pick up our shield of faith.
SPEAKER_01: We trust what God's Word says over what we feel.
SPEAKER_01: We think like someone who's saved because God's word says who I am when I'm saved.
SPEAKER_01: So I'm gonna believe that.
SPEAKER_01: And I fight back with truth because God's word has given me what is true about me.
SPEAKER_01: So do you know God's word?
SPEAKER_01: And will you commit to start hiding God's word in your heart so you can be who God's called you to be?
SPEAKER_01: Amen?
SPEAKER_01: Would you pray with me?
SPEAKER_01: Lord Jesus, we love you.
SPEAKER_01: God, we're thankful for who you are and for what you've done for us.
SPEAKER_01: God, we're thankful that you are God and that we are not.
SPEAKER_01: God, we're thankful that you have um you are the one who secured our victory.
SPEAKER_01: You're the one who secured our peace and our joy and our life.
SPEAKER_01: God, you're the one who um allows us to do the very thing that we're called to do through you by the power of your Holy Spirit.
SPEAKER_01: So, God, we just ask tonight that you would remind us of that truth.
SPEAKER_01: God, for the person sitting in the room tonight who's who's battling those those thoughts of self-worth and value.
SPEAKER_01: God, we just pray that you, we pray your life over them tonight.
SPEAKER_01: God, we pray your word says, Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.
SPEAKER_01: For every single person in this room is a masterpiece, intentional artwork created by you to walk in work prepared beforehand by you.
SPEAKER_01: God, we ask that you would help us to realize who you are, because when we see who you are, we know who we are.
SPEAKER_01: Jesus, would you speak to us tonight?
SPEAKER_01: Would you convict us tonight?
SPEAKER_01: Would you fill us with your spirit, lead us and guide us, and we'll surrender and obey?
SPEAKER_01: It's in your holy and precious name we pray, and all God's people said.
SPEAKER_00: Via is Silverdale for 18 to 25 year olds.
SPEAKER_00: We gather on Thursday nights at 8 p.m.
SPEAKER_00: in Chattanooga, Tennessee.