Simameni Imara|Stand Firm |A Remedy to Self Sufficiency

Preacher: Thobezweni Sithole

Scripture: Ephesians 6:10-24

Transcript

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Finally, be strong in the Lord and in the strength of his might. Put on the whole armor of God that you may be able to stand against the schemes of the devil. For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places. Therefore, take out the whole armor of God that you may be able to withstand in the evil day. And having done for all to stand firm. And as shoes for your feet, having put on the readiness given by the gospel of peace. 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. To that end, keep alert with all perseverance, making supplication for all the saints, and also for me, that words may be given to me in opening my mouth, boldly to proclaim the mystery of the gospel for which I am and an ambassador in chains, that I may declare it boldly as I ought to speak. Final greetings, so that you may also know how I am and what I am doing. Peace be to the brothers and love with firm from God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Grace be with all who love our Lord Jesus Christ with love incorruptible. This is the word of the Lord.

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We know our actions matter and matter a lot. A doctor who studied hard is usually better than the one who simply wanted to pass exams. Parents who want to be thoughtful about raring their children, seeking to avoid mistakes they inherited from their own parents, are better than negligent guardians. Unfortunately, patients still die in surgery under the care of excellent physicians. And earnest parents mistakenly assume they can get it perfectly right, ignorant of their own blind spots, larger cultural factors and personality differences. What we do matters. We can and do change things. But when we suppose that we can control all our circumstances, we soon find that we can't. We don't say the words, but we live as though the weight of the world were on our own shoulders. And that is exhausting. Behind the patient grin, on our faces, we hide a lingering rage about the endless demands that must be met, unrealized dreams and relational disappointments. And the odd thing is that even when we run into our inevitable limits, we often hang on to the delusion that if we just work harder, if we simply squeeze tighter, if we become more efficient, we can eventually regain control. We imagine we can keep our children safe, our income secure, and our bodies whole. When I complain about getting older, my wife sometimes laughs and says to me, You have two options. Either you are getting older or you are dead. Denying our finitude cripples us in ways we don't realize. It also distorts our view of God and what Christian spirituality should look like. Now, friends, the question is simply this. We always ask ourselves, have I done enough? There's this question that lingers in our lives, in our cities, in our offices, in our homes, in those rare moments of silence where you are confronted by your thoughts, have I done enough? And Kelly Capik, that's the author, he's making this point that man, the weight of the world cannot be borne or beared by you. The theological questions that that that kind of raise a pastoral problem behind all our packed diaries and theology, behind that, that, that, that, the fact that there is an inability in and off us naturally. And we can embrace it as a gift from God. Our finitude, our limitations are a gift from God. Remember, we are created in his image and likeness, but there's a sense in which we're created with limitations so that our dependence on God continues. The theology that I'm speaking about goes all the way to the Garden of Eden. And really, when we look at Ephesians 6 and look at the schemes, the warring and the warfare, the the idea of this text, I want to expose the waters we're swimming in. That perhaps the devil is duping us with this old, old um uh uh temptation, the the temptation in the garden, which is not really eat the fruit. The the temptation is that you can be like God. You you can transcend your limitations, you can live independently, and and and friends, we we even wander beneath the exhaustion that we experience in our lives that uh this this ancient temptation that is dressed in modern clothing, the desire to live as though we are not creatures, as though we should be able to carry infinite pressure with infinite capacity and infinite control. Friends, Paul is not writing to lazy people who have given up on trying to live life, productively so. He's writing to people who are very possibly trying to stand but in the wrong strength. And notice, friends, he in the text he says, be strong, not in yourselves. Look at it. Finally, be strong in the in the Lord and in the strength of his might. The Christian life, friends, is not sustained by your ability to hold yourself together. You you can't hold yourself together, and and perhaps that's the difficulty we are faced with, friends, with our assumptions that uh maturity is self-sufficiency. But the text is calling us, friends, to realize that we cannot transcend our humanity. The text is calling us to to to to actually to stop trying to be infinite long enough to to receive strength from the one who actually has the strength to hold us up. And four points that we're gonna look at, friends. Number one, you need to stand firm. Number two, you need to stand in Christ. Number three, you need to stand on your knees, stand praying, and lastly, you need to stand together. Let's look at it quickly, verse 10. He says, Finally, uh, the idea he has to man stand away, stand aware, stand with a consciousness of the waters you are swimming in. Paul has said in Ephesians, man, that there's glory in salvation, the there's beauty, there's beauty in the church, that there's there's a sense of being called to walk in holiness, to to walk in holiness in our marriages, to walk in holiness in our family um context, in our work, to to walk in obedience, as it were. And finally, yeah, he says, finally. And it's not like a casual ending, like, oh, how long have we been in Ephesians? Finally, no, it's it's it's not that. He says, Before you walk into the world, living this life, there is something you really need to understand. Finally, there's a war happening. Be strong in the Lord and in the strength of his might, put on the whole armor of God that you may be able to stand the schemes of the devil. Paul Paul is using the the idea here. Finally, be be strong in the strength of his might. There's a there's a picture, the Greek word here speaks of an idea of of wrestling. The warfare here is is hand-to-hand combat. It's not like a sniper waiting at a distance. It's close combat. You you feel the breath, the weight of the pressure of the enemy that you can't even see. There's a felt resistance. There's a closeness of warring that leaves you exhausted and you don't have answers to why you have slept for so many hours, but you still feel the weight of being tired. It's not distant warfare, it's close combat. David Wallace, uh, David Foster Wallace uh gives an illustration about two uh young fishes swimming uh along and then pass an older fish, and the older fish uh says, Morning boys, how's the the water? And eventually one fish turns to the other and says, What the hell is water? Friends, the point is obvious that that there are realities that we live in, but we don't know that we are living in them. Because they are not so visible. We are surrounded by them, and and we we we never stop actually to to notice. Friends, that we are living in waters that we are no longer recognizing, waters of performance, waters of self-sufficiency, waters constantly discipling us toward the belief that we should be able to carry our lives alone. And after a while, exhaustion starts feeling normal, prayerlessness starts feeling normal, drifting from God starts feeling normal. And if we look at honestly, friends, looking at our lives at every moment of our lives, we we realize that we are slowly replacing our attentiveness to God with our attentiveness to the things that we think hold us up, and those things, friends, crowd our souls. What was once something that disturbs you now has become something of a norm. And perhaps the most dangerous part, friends, that many of us are fighting the wrong enemy altogether. It says you do not wrestle against flesh and blood. Paul says we do not wrestle against flesh and blood. You you don't you don't wrestle against your spouse. Amen, somebody. Your spouse is not your ultimate enemy. Those who have spouses, your boss is not your ultimate enemy, your colleagues are not your enemies. The EFF and ANCNT, those are not your enemies. But yet, some of us invest so much emotional energy in fighting things we see. We fight the flesh and the blood, we we remain completely blinded to what is beneath. We are blinded to the waters we are swimming in. What the hell is water? Rosemary Miller makes this point the first real enemy in your life is always your own unsubmitted self-life. The real battle is not merely out there, it's also in here. Pride, self-sufficiency, the free the refusal to be needy, the insistence on carrying what only God can carry. And this is why the commandment matters, friends, that uh be strong. Be strong in the Lord, uh, be be strong in be strong in the Lord and in the strength of his might. Do you see that in verse 10? The idea here is is a strength that is received. Be strong in the Lord and in the strength of his might. In other words, Paul is saying, would you receive strength? Would you be, in other words, strengthened? Friends, we are under no obligation to be infinite. Infinity is reserved for God alone. And the enemy wants to deceive us otherwise. Your finitude is not a flaw, your limits are not evidence of failure. Your weakness is not the disqualifier. In fact, one of the most dangerous things you can do in spiritual warfare is to pretend you are stronger than you actually are. Because, friends, the person trying to stand, the person we are trying to stand in is not the is not the strength of ourselves, but it's the we are standing in an armor that is not uh tools but a person. The armor is a person. And friends, the gospel begins when self-sufficiency dies. When you're like, man, I'm I'm needy. I I think I have it all together, but I'm needy. I'm weak, I'm struggling. That's where the gospel, that my power is made perfect in weakness. I'll I'll clothe all the more in my weakness. For for the power of Christ is is is is is all the more exaggerated when uh I lean in and say, Man, I can't do it on my own. Second point, we need then to to stand in Christ, having known the awareness we are in. If we spend enough time, friends, in and around Rose Bank. Uh I I chuckled when I was writing this. In and around Rose Bank, or in fact, if you go to the Diamond Walk, you you'll see a lot of people wearing names. Uh some of the names are actually behind me, if I'm not. Yeah, there's one there, Tom Ford. People are are wearing names. Uh, Tom Ford, Gucci, Fendi, uh, Tumi, Louis Vuitton, or Louis, I don't know how to pronounce that. People are wearing names. You walk for five minutes and you understand that people are constantly wearing names. Others are wearing names in this room. It's I'm not jogging you for wearing names, actually. The reality, friends, that it's it's not really about the fabric itself, but it's about the identity. It's about status, it's about belonging, it's about being projected as something in those names as well. And friends, spiritually speaking, many of us are walking into welfare wearing the wrong names. We are wearing performance, we are wearing achievement, we are wearing a curated Christianity, we are wearing self-sufficiency. Underneath it all, friends, we are wearing exhaustion. We are trying to fight condemnation with productivity, we are trying to fight anxiety with control. Meanwhile, Paul says, take up the whole armor of God, not your armor of performance, God's armor. Notice the tense, it says, having fastened, having put on. Friends, the armor is is already there, available, already supplied, already prepared, already fitted. You don't have to work hard for the armor. We don't have to break your bank for the armor. This this spiritual fit, this spiritual name, this this name that is Jesus is is freely available. We stand, friends, Brian Chapel would say, we stand because God has already supplied our armor. We don't stand in order to receive the armor, we we stand in it. The armor is Christ. The armor is Christ. And for those who are like Bible nerds, you can uh actually write here uh Isaiah 59 verse 17 so that you you really understand that as as I preach, these ideas are not like I'm not I'm not that smart. They are derived from scripture, scripture interpreting scripture. So when we say the armor is Christ, the armor is from Christ. It's a picture of Isaiah uh 59 verse 17. This this just warrior, as it were. Seven centuries before Paul's time, Isaiah 59, verse 17 describes this divine warrior himself who is going into battle. He he put on uh righteousness as a breastplate and a helmet of salvation on his head. The armor Christians are commanded to wear, friends, is armor that Christ wore himself. And friends, that that simply means this: that you are not putting on equipment, as I said, you're putting on a person. The belt of truth. Do you see it, friends? Stand therefore, having fastened on the belt of truth. That's verse 14. Jesus says, Sanctify them by your word, for your word is what? Truth. Satan's friends' primary strategy is is is deception and lies. Many of us are discipled by by our feeds more than our Bibles. We are formed by uh our TikToks and our social media more than we are by our Bibles. Friends, the point is we are always being preached to. Something is pre someone, something somewhere is preaching to you. Whether you you you like it or not, whether you recognize it or not, you are being formed by the billboards. As you walk into here, you see a lot of art pieces. Everything around you forms you. Are you aware of the waters of deception you are swimming in? He says, having then fastened, you you the the belt fastens everything. The ancient belt of the Roman soldier would fasten everything. The soldier would be able to run. You can't run without the belt of truth fastened around your weight. Waist. He put on righteous, righteousness as a best bed, I said. But but the idea of fastening the belt of truth here is to say, friends, you are not what your shame even says. So we are being formed by everything around us, but also how we speak to ourselves. You are not what your success says. You are what Christ says you are. When he says sanctify them by your word, your word is truth, he's saying, May the word of God set you apart. May the word of God define you. Not your sins, not your condemnation, not social media, not the trends, not your your whatever tomb scrolling. May the truth of Christ be what defines you. Would you lean into that? Would you lean into truth? No, no, no, not my truth. Not not some um subjective truth. I'm living my truth. No, not individualistic truth, it's it's it's ultimate objective truth. Truth that does not change because of circumstances, truth that is timeless. I'm on the side of truth. There's nothing else outside of truth, that's what I'm fastened by. And then he goes on to say the prayer. Plate of of of of of righteousness. Do you see that friends in in in in verse 14? The belt of truth and having put on the breastplate of righteousness. Friends, because the opposite of the breast the breastplate of righteousness could be you putting on your own righteousness. Your nose down on other people thinking you're better than them. Because you have a self-righteousness. But also there could be a breastplate of being accused. A breastplate of standing before God and feeling like I can't stand before God. I'm not worthy. No one said you are. Friends, the righteousness we stand on before God. If you are here and you're not a Christian man, you're listening and you're like, what is he talking about? The righteousness, the righteousness being right, having a right standing with God is the righteousness that has been given to us. That's why it's a press plate of righteousness. That's why we say it's the armor of God, it's not our own armor. The righteousness that enables us to stand with confidence before a holy and just God is not our own righteousness. If we came with our own works and our own righteousness, friends, we cannot stand. Stand on the righteousness that is not your own, that is the Christ, the righteousness of Christ that is credited. It's a beautiful picture of I know, and that just write this down or put it on your notes. An imputed righteousness, a foreign righteousness. I had a bad illustration. Uh uh, let me shut up. I don't want to get in trouble. It's not spiritual cosmetics. It's not spiritual cosmetics. Friends, it's it's Christ clothing you in the righteousness you did not generate. Because, friends, the problem here is that we live in a performative culture, and that that is that is infiltrated into church. We dress ourselves with our performance. Thinking that is the righteousness that is required of us. No, the righteousness that God requires of us is the righteousness of Jesus Christ Himself. Friends, you can stand here the whole day. Let's continue quickly. Look at it again. It says The shoes of the gospel of peace. It says in verse 15, and as shoes for your feet, having put on the readiness given by the gospel of peace. Friends, peace with God has already been secured through Jesus Christ. And that changes your footing, that changes how you move, that changes how you navigate life. It gives you a gospel framework. The relation of these beautiful feet in Isaiah and the beautiful feet that Paul is talking about, these feet are the feet of the gospel. Not of Fendi and Gucci. The feet of the gospel is like, man, how do I move in different spaces, whether in business, whether in my marriage, whether in my uh parenting, whether in my uh relations to other people, in my friendships. I move with beautiful feet, the the feet of of gospel peace. I'm not anxious. I have peace with with God. I'm not insecure. I have peace with God. I'm not at war with myself. I have peace with with God. You move into rooms where you could be accused. You don't find validation there. You have peace with God. You you stop living from panic. You stop living from the terror of not being enough. Your life, friends, is hidden in Christ with God. And that is your peace. That's your footing. That's how you move. Lastly, the shield of, not lastly, there's three more to go, two more. The shield of faith. Again, friends, look at it in verse 16. In all circumstances, take up the shield of faith. Not on a Sunday morning. In all circumstances, and I wanna be compassionate in here, it's very hard. Because all circumstances are, they are deep circumstances where you're just carrying a lot. Maybe it's bad news after the next. Maybe you've just been applying for one job after the next and it's just not happening. Would you carry that shield of faith? Maybe for you is is a is an idea of man, this is so intimate, this is this is so hard. This this this this I feel some some sense of shame. I feel like a failure. Maybe it's fear, maybe it's lust, maybe it's despair. Friends, faith is not pretending the battle is not real. You know, like you go into spaces and people are like, have faith. You don't have faith. Wake up at three in the morning and have some some faith. But friends, the the the shield of faith here, it's it's it's it's it's not us holding up faith, it's faith holding us up. It's it's it's this this sense of man, God has said against what uh fear keeps keep screaming, uh, you are my child. Trust me. Faith is screaming, uh, I mean, I'm in circumstances are screaming different messaging. And God says, Trust me, you are my child. I think of Joseph and the the ebbs and flow of his life. There's a sense in which at the end is like, man, what you had determined of purpose for evil, God had uh determined for good. Paul uses that theology in Romans 8. All things, not some things, all circumstances work together for the good, not for some good, not for some random good, for the good of those who are called according to the to his image, to his to his purpose, to be conformed to the image of his likeness. James uses the language, count it all joy, friends. When you go through various different kinds of trials, God does not waste our tears. God does not waste every moment of our life. God does not waste the bitter seasons. Everything, everything, friends, is is not frustrated, is not frustrating God. It's like God uses and orchestrates this to produce this person that Ephesians 2 10 talks about. This this the sculpture, this chiseled person that God has set aside good works for. God is forming you. Would you hold up faith? Would would faith hold you up? Would you trust God? The helmet of salvation, the helmet of what? And take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the spirit. I'll I'll bundle the two together. Now, with the helmet of salvation, I wanted to kind of highlight salvation, friends. The word salvation is is like a diamond. The word salvation is is is is is varied. I'll move back, sorry. The word salvation is is varied. It's like a diamond. You look at one angle, you look at another. It's it's it's it's it's a it's it's a jewel, friends. It speaks to your past, it speaks to your present, it speaks to your future. The word salvation means to be saved. You you are saved already, you are being saved presently, you will be saved in the future. When when Jesus speaks of salvation on the cross, he says, uh tetales, it is finished. It's a perfect tense. Your your your your pro your past has been answered for, your present has been answered for, your future is answered for. Your past, your present, your future sins have been answered for. So the idea of the helmet of salvation, it's a helmet of assurance. That shapes your courage, friends. If Satan can can destabilize your assurance, he destabilizes your courage. The assurance that can one your assurance that I'm I'm safe and secure, I'm a child of God, I'm in him, I'm hidden in Christ. My life is no longer my own. I'm not afraid of dying anymore. Because I have eternal life, I have life presently, I have life in the future. Assurance gives us a sense of hope. Would you put on the helmet of salvation? Would you preach the gospel to your heart every day? Would you remember who you belong to? Your identity, friends, is not hanging by the thread of your last spiritual performance. It's hanging on Christ. And then he says, the sword of the spirit. He says, the sword of the which is the which is the word of God. I want to find it. I I I I memorize, and also for me that okay, wait, hang on. The sword of the spirit, which is what the word of God, yes. The word of God, friends, it it's it's not only the sense of an offensive word, it's it's not a weapon of yes, it's a weapon of what offense, not not offense of like making people feel like offending people, no offense as in like offensive play, attack. You get what I mean? But it's not only that. Jesus used scripture specifically against specific temptations. When Jesus was tempted in in Matthew 4, I believe, he quotes scripture. Satan quotes scripture as well. The irony of that, it's it's not vague inspiration, but it's truth applied precisely, with precision. What does God's word say about this? Again, friends, life is very complicated. We are complicated as well. Like life is complicated, we're complicated, and we we are complicated. You you need objective truth. What does God say about my temptation to divorce? We are tempted in different ways. What does God's word say about my my my my my my my my my my temptation to to give in to my my vices? What does God say about my my my temptation to to place my trust in myself and not God again friends? The sword of the spirit won't tell you how to change an engine, it won't tell you how to drive a car. The word of God is sufficient for all matters of what life and godliness. But friends, you need to know the word deeply enough to speak it into the exact life-destroying things around your life currently. What am I saying? Read your Bibles, spend time in the word, and and the the sense there is spend time in the word, the sense there is kind of like you need to chew on the word. Not like, oh, children, and then you fall asleep. No, it's even one verse and being soaked in it for a week, for a month. That does way more than just like, oh, I just want to binge read the Bible. It's it's chewing on the word, it's not performance, it's not pretense. There's nothing wrong with slowing down, saying, Lord, um I want to understand your word. And you do that in community as well, friends. And friends, here's the great beauty underneath all of this: Christ wore this armor first. Amen. He wore it perfectly. Where Adam failed, Christ stood where Israel failed, Christ stood where we fail repeatedly, Christ still stands. In the wilderness in Khatzamani at the cross, we wore the armor perfect, he wore the armor perfectly so that he could clothe weak people like me and you with his own victory. Amen. I think um I need a can you borrow me the mic. That point, stand in prayer. So standing in Christ is looking at who you belong to and whose you are. That point is to stand in what? In prayer. That's um verse 18 to 20. It says in verse 18 to 20, praying at all times in the spirit, with all prayer and supplication to that end. Keep alert with all perseverance, making supplication for all the saints. Kind of like you need to pray, you need to be praying for someone, you need prayer, and people need to be prayed for and prayed with. Standing in what friends? Prayer. And the beauty of that is he's not referring to the armor itself. It's kind of like Paul moves immediately in the sense into prayer. Notice where prayer sits, it's it's in the text, it's right next to the armor. It's it's it's the armor of God, and and it's it's not in it's not like prayer, instead of the armor, prayer, no. It's it's it's together with, alongside, it's a continuous with it. As you put on the armor, be praying. As though Paul is saying the armor without prayer is merely a decoration. We live in a world, friends, that constantly is discipling us away from prayer. Notifications, whatsapp notifications, Teams meetings, Google this, all of the Instagram notifications, our minds, friends, are permanently interrupted. Our attention is always fragmented, as it were. And somewhere underneath all that noise, friends, prayer is the one that suffocates the most. And and friends, it's it's it's the waters again. We are what swimming in. Because prayerlessness, friends, is really just a kind of like a scheduling issue. It's really just a matter of you not having the time to pray. It's actually a dependence issue. Prayer is the the daily refusal to return to the illusion of self-sufficiency. Prayer is it's it's that it's that genuine uh reality of saying I cannot sustain my own life. Prayer is also time with God, enjoying His His beauty. And perhaps, friends, why some of us struggle with prayer is because, friends, prayer confronts this the deepest lie of Eden, that you can live independently of God. So, friends, standing firm begins on our knees. Paul says, pray at all times in the spirit. Not pray harder, pray in the spirit. This is not religious performance. It's not a kind of like a spiritual theater, as it were. This is you depending uh uh on on the father, communing with the father, enjoying the the father and and his beauty. Is is God beautiful to you? I like Thomas Chalmers. He he he wrote like a an article, or I read an article uh called the expulsive power of a new affection. And and he makes this point that the spirit does not merely command your heart to change, he makes Christ more beautiful than the things destroying you. It's seeing Christ more beautiful, it's having a new imagination for Jesus. It's not the tools and the ten steps, it's your affections. He becomes more beautiful than lust, more beautiful than porn, more beautiful than applause, more beautiful than control, more beautiful than self-sufficiency. Friends, the point is change does not happen by raw willpower. Change happens when you see Jesus as beautiful. That's praying in the spirit. Some of us have regulated or relegated praying in the spirit to some other excesses, but praying in the spirit, friends, is praying in communion with Christ, enjoying the sweetness and warmth of Christ, Him raising your affections. And notice what Paul asks for. Look at his prayer request. Pray also for what? Me, verse 19. That words may be given to me in opening my mouth boldly to proclaim the mystery of the gospel. I could go on the whole day on this one. Because, friends, we all need prayer. Some of you are waiting for the man of God to pray for you. Hey, man of God, pray for me. Hey, that man of God needs prayer. We need to be praying together for each other, with each other. And Paul says, Pray for me, not for comfort, it's a prison let up, by the way. He's saying, not for release from prison, he's saying, pray that I may be bold. Pray that words may be given to me to proclaim the mystery of the gospel. Even in my chains, would you pray with me? Even in my suffering, would you pray for me? Even in the opposition, not for those things to go away, but for me to be bold. The battle has not turned him inwardly, it has pushed him more outwardly. Do we pray for boldness or just mere relief? Do we pray for boldness? Or we just pray for comfort? It's rough. I need more comfort. How many of us say, Lord, would you give me boldness? Friends, it's tough at work. I need to be bold. What would happen, friends, if if this church genuinely prayed like that? If we were praying for boldness, not for performance, as it were, but desperate dependence, as it were, praying for colleagues by name, praying for our apartment buildings by name, praying for Rosebank by name, praying for boldness. Prayer, friends, is not a spectator sport. It's not people doing war out there and you watching and praying for them. No, it is warring itself. It is participating in the war. And underneath all of this stands, friends, Christ Himself. And Khatemani Jesus Christ, sweating blood, what did he do? He prayed. Not my will, yours, but not my will, but yours be done. He did not pray to avoid the battle. He prayed himself into obedience, into surrender, into suffering, into the cross. And friends, because Christ prayed perfectly, we can now come boldly before the throne of grace as dependent children. Not performing, not pretending, but needy, loved, and heard. How much more would that change? I know Neil came up. We're far from finished. Some things will change. It's fine. But we're almost there. Lastly, would we stand together? Would we stand together? This is the last sermon on Ephesians, so uh I need an hour. Anyway, we're almost there. Would we stand together? Look at it quickly. It says, so that you also may know how I am and what I am doing. Taikikus, the beloved brother and faithful minister, and the Lord will tell you everything. I have sent him to you for this very purpose, that you may know how we are and that he may encourage your hearts. Peace be to the brothers and love with faith. From God and the Father, oh God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Praise be with all who love our Lord Jesus Christ with love incorruptible. Now I have a guy, we used to do a city group, so um it's it's this one is not gonna be long. His name is Manla, and I mention him because Saikikus is mentioned here. He called me uh about three days ago. Um says, hey man, yeah, I was listening to some man, so I just want to encourage you. Now, context is we were doing life together in a city group, in what we call here life on life. Friday's like our life on life had a lot of clinics, or in Nibizan, I'm a twin saver. We had a lot of tissues, we cried. Uh, except for Gabriel, everyone cried in that room. We cried, we shared life together, we ate together, but we we carried each other's burdens, as it were, together to the Lord in prayer. Why why do I use Manla to make that point? Friends, Jobek is very isolating. He's from the free state, and he met and found brothers and sisters in Jobak. And in Jobak, when we were moving, he was carrying boxes with me. We're doing life together. Man, it was so encouraging to get that call. To get someone who's like, hey man, I'm just checking on you. How are you doing? Some of us here don't need a lot of theology, we don't need a uh, we don't need uh purple, a lot of text man, we just need to know how are you doing? A phone call, how are you? I just want to I'm checking up on you. Hey man, I'm encouraging you, you're doing well, or hey man, I've been thinking about you. To to know that you are not alone, to know that you have people are around you. So so this this basic call here is that man, would would you not isolate in light of your self-preference? It's a spiritual danger to live in isolation. We stand and we stand together. I'm I'm I'm I'm sending Taikikus to you guys to encourage you. He's been encouraging me. I'm sending him to encourage you. There's a sense of a mutual encouragement. He's calling for prayers, he's asking for prayers, he's sending people. There's a there's a movement here of relationships. It's not a Bible study class after church or before church or a a Zoom call where we like here's a seminar, here's a six-week course on how to be a disciple of Jesus. It is community, it is taking someone for coffee and just talking. I would encourage you, don't live the Christian life alone. Because in isolation, the their shame is loud, their fear is loud, their church hurt is louder, their the fear of vulnerability becomes even more louder in isolation. Those are the places where the enemy exploits you the most in your isolation. The armor was never designed for isolated soldiers. Dare I say that's why it doesn't mention anything about covering your back? Because there's always someone on your side, there's always someone behind you. Would you do community? Maybe it's not Ms. I'm not saying join him. Maybe, maybe it's not Ms. But if you are saying, I want to be here, would you be here? And so after the service, you want to do something on serving and and and um the form actually has some suburbs. If the the suburb you are living in or the area or the township, so suburb it's just the area you live in. If it's not mentioned, write it down. Just kind of say where you are or where you can be to do community. We have community groups already happening, but we want to start more groups. We will figure out the nuts and balls of okay, do we have leaders there? Do we have people? We'll figure that out later. Can we just kind of say, okay, I just I'm here and and we oh maybe there's five people there, and then maybe we we we we make a commitment, we pour someone petrol to to kind of kick kick it off. But but let's let's figure that out together. Let's not let's not be satisfied with a Sunday morning. It's beautiful, God wants us to do it, it forms us, but there's more in standing together. And as I close, this is when they all would start playing, right? I'm sorry, as I close, friends, Jesus Christ stood where we could not, so I don't want you to sit there and be like, yo, this sounds hard. Telling me that I have an enemy. Man, I've never fought anyone in my life. Now you're telling me Satan himself, principality, there's an order there. It's not a puny thing that looks like grey red with horns. There's there's strategy there, there's distraction there, there's a lot of things that are working against me, uh being self-sufficient. Me living as if God does not exist and depending on myself. So many of culture is working against me living in dependence of God. And and you're telling me I have to put on the armor? You're telling me I have to stand firm. You you you you're telling me this this Swahili word, Simameni Imara, I have to stand firm. Are you telling me that? I'm saying, friends, Christ stood where we could not. Jesus stood where we could not. In fact, the question is: who has actually stood firm? Jesus. Who has actually worn this armor perfectly? Jesus. Who has prayed without ceasing? Jesus. Who has faced the powers of darkness without flinching? Jesus. It's not you, it's not me. In the wilderness, Satan came at him again and again, and Christ answered every temptation with the word of God. The enemy found nothing in him. In Chathamani, while the disciples slept, Jesus was what? Was praying, sweating blood, submitting his will to the will of the Father, praying himself into obedience and on the cross, the powers of darkness through everything they had at Jesus Christ. Sin, shame, condemnation, death, and hell itself was upon Jesus Christ. And what did happen? What does that all mean, friends? That where then Jesus has conquered, friends, we we we we bear the spoils of that victory. The fact that he stood perfectly, now we get to stand in that armor. We stand in the finished work of Jesus Christ. There's nothing here that says bring something, it's all saying, would you stand in the armor of God? Would you stand in the strength of his might? Because he's been tried and tested and he stood perfectly so. Would you stand in him? Friends, the the affective uh the affections for Jesus raised would would empower your living for him. In other words, friends, you are living.