SPEAKER_00: Hey, I'm Steve Holt, the senior pastor of the Road at Chapel Hills.
SPEAKER_00: This is the Road Podcast.
SPEAKER_00: Thanks for joining us.
SPEAKER_00: My heart is to empower you to change the world.
SPEAKER_00: I hope this message impacts you.
SPEAKER_00: Alright, gang.
SPEAKER_00: We are in this series within a series.
SPEAKER_00: Okay, so the first series is the book of Ephesians.
SPEAKER_00: And that's been about being a warrior.
SPEAKER_00: That's about the fact that you were born for war.
SPEAKER_00: And what I'm going to say today is that we're going to talk about the armor, but here's the deal, you guys, you're born for war.
SPEAKER_00: You guys are born to be fighters.
SPEAKER_00: So as we see, and I talked about the Great Reset and the stuff that's happening worldwide right now with the Great Reset and Klaus Schwab and those involved with him.
SPEAKER_00: And we had uh President Biden just two weeks ago say we are we are working toward a one-world order, one world government.
SPEAKER_00: He said that.
SPEAKER_00: Walter Cronkite said it 50 years ago.
SPEAKER_00: Barack Obama said it 30 years ago.
SPEAKER_00: So it's happening.
SPEAKER_00: And we can act like it's not happening, we can pretend like we didn't hear it, or act like, well, I don't want to be so right wing that I'm become angry.
SPEAKER_00: That's not what I'm talking about.
SPEAKER_00: What I'm talking about is dealing with the truth.
SPEAKER_00: Okay, so the first message I talked about in Ephesians 6 was Satan, demons, and the fourth dimension.
SPEAKER_00: So I talked about Ezekiel 28, Isaiah 14, Luke 4, temptation of Christ.
SPEAKER_00: I talked about the fact that there are principalities and powers over nations.
SPEAKER_00: And I gave biblical evidence all through the book, all through the book, the Bible, about that.
SPEAKER_00: Then, secondly, last week I talked about the Great Reset.
SPEAKER_00: And you can go back and listen to it.
SPEAKER_00: And I got a lot of just incredible comments from actually all over the country from people who watched it.
SPEAKER_00: And I guess it got sent out and got a lot of views.
SPEAKER_00: So that's great.
SPEAKER_00: Well, today I want to talk about where Paul in his letter to Ephesians is taking us about the armor of God.
SPEAKER_00: But here's three things, three ways that I think we prepare for what's before us.
SPEAKER_00: The first is spiritual, and that's what we're gonna do today.
SPEAKER_00: We're gonna open the word, we're gonna study the word.
SPEAKER_00: Guys, if you're not spiritually prepared, everything else doesn't matter.
SPEAKER_00: Okay, so you gotta be spiritually prepared, or you'll get into fear, or you'll get into anger, or you'll get frustrated.
SPEAKER_00: I want us to be full of righteousness, peace, and joy in this church.
SPEAKER_00: And that's the fruit of the kingdom.
SPEAKER_00: That's Romans 14.
SPEAKER_00: The kingdom of God is righteousness, peace, and joy in the Holy Spirit.
SPEAKER_00: So we're walking in righteousness, peace, and joy.
SPEAKER_00: Secondly, is to prepare individually.
SPEAKER_00: So I'm gonna talk about at the end of the message, I'm gonna talk about how you can start preparing if you know we're without power or we're without electricity.
SPEAKER_00: Um, I want you to be ready.
SPEAKER_00: I want you guys to be ready to know how to do that.
SPEAKER_00: But then thirdly, how to prepare corporately as a church.
SPEAKER_00: We are going to do everything we can in this church to take care of each other.
SPEAKER_00: It's really important, though, that you're in a small group.
SPEAKER_00: You've got to be in a community group.
SPEAKER_00: That we're gonna do some stuff.
SPEAKER_00: I'm not rolling it out today.
SPEAKER_00: I probably won't even roll it out for a couple weeks because we when we roll it out, I want it to be a clear clarion trumpet call, see understand?
SPEAKER_00: But we're thinking in terms of how the church would be prepared as a victorious church if uh if bad tidings come our way.
SPEAKER_00: So let's start this morning with Ephesians 6.
SPEAKER_00: So turn to Ephesians 6.
SPEAKER_00: And when I say it's a series inside a series, we're in the book of Ephesians, but now in Ephesians 6, there's so much about spiritual warfare that I felt like we would start calling this series within the series the invisible war.
SPEAKER_00: So this is Invisible War Part 3, and we've got a couple more coming.
SPEAKER_00: I might even take the invisible war actually into Easter, because and you'll understand why in just a second.
SPEAKER_00: Um, but let's read verse 10, and I'm just gonna read to 15, because I did not get very far in the first service.
SPEAKER_00: Um finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord and the power of his might.
SPEAKER_00: Put on the whole armor of God that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil.
SPEAKER_00: For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, and against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places.
SPEAKER_00: Therefore, take up the whole armor of God that you may be able to withstand in the evil day.
SPEAKER_00: I think we're in the evil day.
SPEAKER_00: I can just tell you, in my lifetime, uh, I think we're the closest to being in an evil day than I've ever been before.
SPEAKER_00: So take up the whole armor of God that you may be able to withstand the devil in the evil day, and having done all to stand.
SPEAKER_00: Stand, therefore, having girded your waist with truth, having put on the breastplate of righteousness, and having shod your feet with the preparation of the gospel of peace.
SPEAKER_00: Okay, so Paul is concluding his letter with how to fight, how you deal with principalities and powers, how you deal with demonic powers both governmentally as well as just spiritually in the life that you live.
SPEAKER_00: Okay, so he's telling us how.
SPEAKER_00: But he's been preparing us all along in the book of Ephesians.
SPEAKER_00: So now go back to chapter one, and in this prayer, this powerful prayer, he's telling us something about the purpose of the church.
SPEAKER_00: It's really, it's really powerful here.
SPEAKER_00: Verse 15, chapter 1, verse 15.
SPEAKER_00: Therefore, I also have to heard of your faith in the Lord Jesus and your love for all the saints, do not cease to give thanks to you, making mention of you in my prayers.
SPEAKER_00: That the glory of our God, of our of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give to you the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Him.
SPEAKER_00: Now that's really important, gang, because that's what we're doing here.
SPEAKER_00: We're walking in, we're being taught, we're being empowered to have a spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of God, verse 18, so that the eyes of your understanding being enlightened, you may know what is the hope of his calling, what are the riches of the glory of his inheritance in the saints, and what is the exceeding greatness of his power toward us who believe.
SPEAKER_00: According to the working of his mighty power, which he worked in Christ.
SPEAKER_00: This is the Easter's coming up, gang, in two weeks, which he worked in Christ when he raised him from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly places, comma, far above all principality and power and might and dominion and every name that is named, not only in this age, but also in the one to come, and he put all things under his feet, and gave him to be head over all things to the to the to the church.
SPEAKER_00: Who's the church?
SPEAKER_00: Us.
SPEAKER_00: He put all these things under us, which is his body, the fullness of him who fills all in all.
SPEAKER_00: Church, we don't fight for victory, we fight from victory.
SPEAKER_00: It's already been won.
SPEAKER_00: You've got to grow in that confidence to know that demons are under your feet.
SPEAKER_00: And if you're struggling with demons, you need to tell them to go to hell and get out of your life and walk in the power of the Holy Spirit because you have that.
SPEAKER_00: And so when he says, put on the armor of God, remember, remember, Joshua's getting ready to go and cross the Jordan River.
SPEAKER_00: He's gonna go into Jericho and he sees a warrior, full armor, all of it.
SPEAKER_00: He doesn't know who this guy is.
SPEAKER_00: And he just shows up and he says, Are you for us or against us?
SPEAKER_00: It says, Neither.
SPEAKER_00: And he says, I come as a commander over the armies of God.
SPEAKER_00: Church, we need to understand, Jesus is a warrior.
SPEAKER_00: He's not just this little guy, you know, kind of, you know, tanned dude with kind of flowing blonde hair that's a surfer boy out of Southern California like you had in Sunday school.
SPEAKER_00: I don't need that kind of Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: I need a warrior Jesus today.
SPEAKER_00: And so he's saying that by rising from the grave, he has put all things under his feet, and by rising from the grave, he's put all things under your feet.
SPEAKER_00: So when you put on Christ, you're putting on a breastplate of righteousness, you're putting on a helmet of salvation, you're putting on a shield of faith, you're putting on a sword of the spirit, you're putting on the belt of truth, and you're shodding your feet with the gospel of peace because he is the prince of peace.
SPEAKER_00: You're not called to be a peacekeeper.
SPEAKER_00: You're called to be a peacemaker.
SPEAKER_00: And if people want to slop around with the pigs, let them slop around with the pigs.
SPEAKER_00: When you slop around with the pigs, everybody gets dirty and the pigs like it.
SPEAKER_00: You're a peacemaker, not a peacekeeper.
SPEAKER_00: And so sometimes you walk into places where there's chaos and God calls you to bring the peace.
SPEAKER_00: But don't get down in there and get in all their little arguments and all their stuff.
SPEAKER_00: You're above that.
SPEAKER_00: But you gotta know who you are in Christ.
SPEAKER_00: Well, he doesn't finish there, he keeps going.
SPEAKER_00: Now go to chapter 3.
SPEAKER_00: So in chapter 3, he reiterates this point of the purpose that he's given all of us.
SPEAKER_00: Verse 8 to me, who am less than the least of all the saints, the grace was given that I should preach among the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ, and to make all see what is the fellowship of the mystery, which is from the beginning of the ages, has been hidden in God who created all things through Jesus Christ, to the intent, I circled that in my Bible, to the intent that now the manifold wisdom of God might be made known by the church to the principalities and powers in the heavenly places.
SPEAKER_00: Verse 11, according to the eternal purpose.
SPEAKER_00: So when my Bible I circled intent and then I drew a line to eternal purpose, which he accomplished in Christ Jesus our Lord, in whom we have boldness and access with confidence, through faith in him.
SPEAKER_00: So what Paul's saying is I'm writing this letter to build your confidence up, that you won't lose heart, that you won't get discouraged, that you'll realize that Christ has done the work at the cross, and then he did the work by rising from the grave, and he now lives in you.
SPEAKER_00: He's within you, and all that you need you have, but you've got to proactively and intentionally believe it, walk in it, act on it, because every time you tell the truth, every time you do the right thing, you are proclaiming the wisdom of God into the principalities and powers.
SPEAKER_00: And so what's gonna happen in your life as you start to live this stuff is you're gonna start to walk into falsehood and you'll recognize it because you're a truth seeker, you're a truth lover.
SPEAKER_00: In the end times, in 2 Thessalonians 2, it says that we will, those will be deceived who are not what?
SPEAKER_00: Lovers of truth.
SPEAKER_00: We're becoming lovers of truth, we're walking in truth.
SPEAKER_00: And so now he's gonna tell us how to do it.
SPEAKER_00: So I'm gonna give you three things, three quick things.
SPEAKER_00: I don't even think I put these in the PowerPoint.
SPEAKER_00: Number one, the church is supposed to be making known the wisdom of God in the heavenly realm.
SPEAKER_00: So I'm making known in the heavenly realm the wisdom of God right now.
SPEAKER_00: God has anointed me this morning to make known from the book of Ephesians the wisdom of God.
SPEAKER_00: Every time you speak truth, every time you tell the truth, every time you you love people and you care for people, you are speaking the wisdom of God into the heavenly realm and you're pushing back darkness.
SPEAKER_00: Number two.
SPEAKER_00: Secondly, the church is called by God to be bold and confident.
SPEAKER_00: To be bold and confident in truth, to be bold and confident in what we believe in.
SPEAKER_00: And then thirdly, the church is called to put on the armor of God, and we're gonna talk about that now.
SPEAKER_00: How do we put on the armor of God?
SPEAKER_00: So let's go back to chapter six.
SPEAKER_00: So, chapter six, we're gonna pick it up, pick it up at verse 13.
SPEAKER_00: Therefore, take up the whole armor of God.
SPEAKER_00: So, so Paul is chained to a Roman soldier in a prison in Rome, and he's looking at this guy, and through the inspiration of Scripture, through the inspiration of God, through the inspiration of the knowledge that he had at that time, the Spirit of God causes eyes, I think, to look at that armor that that Roman soldier's got on him, and he said, That's what it's like.
SPEAKER_00: That's what the battle's like.
SPEAKER_00: It's like that guy.
SPEAKER_00: It's like if we were, if someday I'm imprisoned because of my faith, and they've got me in this room, there might be like a SWAT-looking guy, or there might be a military guy who's in the jail there, and I might look at him and I would say, This is what it's like when you fight.
SPEAKER_00: It's like, and he, so then he goes through the armor.
SPEAKER_00: He says, put on the whole armor of God.
SPEAKER_00: So that you can withstand.
SPEAKER_00: Say, withstand.
SPEAKER_00: This this idea is so important.
SPEAKER_00: I want I want you to look at the definition as I've written it out.
SPEAKER_00: Withstand, compare with anahistamine in Greek.
SPEAKER_00: Antahistame, meaning to cause to stand against.
SPEAKER_00: The verb suggests vigorously opposing, bravely resisting.
SPEAKER_00: Just like an antihistamine blocks histamine, we can stop the enemy's advances.
SPEAKER_00: Okay?
SPEAKER_00: And so what he's saying here is you've got to learn how to stand up, not sit down.
SPEAKER_00: How to stand up, not be cowardly, not run away.
SPEAKER_00: Stand.
SPEAKER_00: Stand your ground, withstand.
SPEAKER_00: It's like the histamine.
SPEAKER_00: It's like the antihistamine withstands to strengthen the body, to strengthen the spirit, to strengthen us chemically in our lives.
SPEAKER_00: God wants you to be strengthened by learning to stand.
SPEAKER_00: And then he says, in the evil day.
SPEAKER_00: And guys, we are in the evil day.
SPEAKER_00: And it's gonna get eviler.
SPEAKER_00: It is.
SPEAKER_00: And that's why I'm gonna talk at the end about how to prepare.
SPEAKER_00: I think it would be uh it would be a mistake by uh the road and leadership if some of us know how to prepare and we didn't train you guys in how to prepare.
SPEAKER_00: Because I'm an outdoorsman, I hunt, I fish, I've been up in some gnarly areas of this of this state.
SPEAKER_00: I've been on edges of cliffs that drop down a hundred feet, just barely making it up, and I'm pumped about it.
SPEAKER_00: And and then we go in, we do our camping, we camp out.
SPEAKER_00: I mean, we are not the guys in the cabins with the guides.
SPEAKER_00: And some of you guys are, and if you invite me, then I'll never say anything again about it.
SPEAKER_00: But other than that, no, I mean, we get up there and we don't have it, we bring stuff with us.
SPEAKER_00: We know how to pre-prepare.
SPEAKER_00: So I want to prepare you guys too, in case the evil day gets really gnarly.
SPEAKER_00: So we're gonna be a church that's ready to go and we're gonna know how to fight.
SPEAKER_00: So the first thing he says is we gotta learn to stand.
SPEAKER_00: So here's how he says, this is what Paul says through the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, that's how we stand.
SPEAKER_00: And he says, first, verse 14, first thing, stand, therefore, having girded your waist with truth.
SPEAKER_00: It's the belt, it holds it all together.
SPEAKER_00: Now, I'd like to say if I take this belt off, my drawers would drop down.
SPEAKER_00: But I'm old enough to know that these that these jeans are tight enough they won't drop down.
SPEAKER_00: But there was a time when they would, okay?
SPEAKER_00: So you you gird your armor with truth.
SPEAKER_00: It all starts there.
SPEAKER_00: You've got to be a lover of truth.
SPEAKER_00: I don't know any parent, I'm sure it's happened, there's a lot of evil people out there, but I don't know them.
SPEAKER_00: They would say to their kids, you know, son, daughter, it's a corrupt world out there.
SPEAKER_00: It's an evil world.
SPEAKER_00: Everybody lies and cheats.
SPEAKER_00: Everybody's up to no good.
SPEAKER_00: And I just want to train you, as my child, to learn how to lie.
SPEAKER_00: I want to train you how to cheat.
SPEAKER_00: I want to train you how to be the most, you'll be the happiest kid in the neighborhood if you'll learn how to manipulate everybody and cheat and lie.
SPEAKER_00: Bad parenting.
SPEAKER_00: Lying, lying always lines you up with bad people.
SPEAKER_00: Lying always lines you up with a bad place in your life.
SPEAKER_00: Telling the truth always wins.
SPEAKER_00: Not always in the short term, but in the long term it always means.
SPEAKER_00: You're on good ground if you learn to tell the truth.
SPEAKER_00: Don't lie.
SPEAKER_00: The biggest thing, the main message, the theme of the great Russian dissident, Alexander Solskynyson was don't live by life.
SPEAKER_00: Write that down.
SPEAKER_00: Put quotes around it.
SPEAKER_00: That's from Alexander Solskynyson, and if you can spell that name, you deserve a medal, man.
SPEAKER_00: That is one.
SPEAKER_00: He didn't even do Alexander right.
SPEAKER_00: Okay?
SPEAKER_00: Alexander Solskynson, don't live by lies.
SPEAKER_00: That's what the media lives by.
SPEAKER_00: That's what the entertainment world lives by.
SPEAKER_00: I remember one time, I'll never forget this, years ago, they were interviewing a producer, a producer and director of movies.
SPEAKER_00: And I think it was like 60 minutes or something, it's 25, 30 years ago.
SPEAKER_00: And I don't know what the question was, but the guy said this, and I never forgot.
SPEAKER_00: He says, Our job in producing movies is to not produce reality.
SPEAKER_00: That's our number one job, because reality's boring.
SPEAKER_00: How many of you are into Marvel and all the fantasy stuff, the movies and everything?
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, well, you're into that because it's not reality.
SPEAKER_00: Because you would, that would never happen.
SPEAKER_00: I mean, if that would happen, then you why would you want to go to a movie and watch it?
SPEAKER_00: Because that's the life you're living.
SPEAKER_00: So, what we like is we like to go in here, this hero just can do everything.
SPEAKER_00: They're all like, they've got every martial art down.
SPEAKER_00: They can use any weapon, they know how to use them.
SPEAKER_00: And I just find myself, because I don't watch a lot of movies, I uh and and I guess if I watched more, I'd get more into them.
SPEAKER_00: But I look at that and I go, that's stupid.
SPEAKER_00: Because I don't want to ruin your all you movie watchers and stuff too much, but I'm gonna ruin it a little bit today.
SPEAKER_00: It's that they they produce non-reality, so you'll go watch them because life's boring unless you change something and you make your life not boring because you're walking in the miraculous power of the Holy Spirit, because you're living in truth.
SPEAKER_00: Truth always wins.
SPEAKER_00: You you guys heard what happened right at the at the Oscars, right?
SPEAKER_00: And the whole slap thing.
SPEAKER_00: They said he slugged him.
SPEAKER_00: I looked at that and went, that's a slug?
SPEAKER_00: You kidding me?
SPEAKER_00: You guys need to get out more often, you know?
SPEAKER_00: Little slap.
SPEAKER_00: And Hollywood's upset about that when they make movies where they just mow people down all the time.
SPEAKER_00: It's the total picture of hypocrisy.
SPEAKER_00: Live by truth, gang.
SPEAKER_00: Let's be a church of truth.
SPEAKER_00: And so what happens in the political realm and stuff even in this county.
SPEAKER_00: People calling each other rhinos and labeling people.
SPEAKER_00: You know what labeling is?
SPEAKER_00: Labeling is an excuse for people who can't get in and actually develop an argument and debate it.
SPEAKER_00: So you just label people.
SPEAKER_00: They're all just liberals, or they're all just this or that.
SPEAKER_00: Folks, quit doing that.
SPEAKER_00: Debate the issues.
SPEAKER_00: Get in there, fight for truth.
SPEAKER_00: You truth is on our side.
SPEAKER_00: That's the reason we started the the uh health recovery ministry, because we knew what we knew about the Natural immunity of our body, and even though the community of healthcare was telling us something else, we decided to just stand on truth.
SPEAKER_00: And then we didn't have to apologize, everybody just got better.
SPEAKER_00: People didn't die around here, nobody died.
SPEAKER_00: Because we stand on truth.
SPEAKER_00: Truth always wins.
SPEAKER_00: In the end, it does.
SPEAKER_00: Just, you know, make a vow today.
SPEAKER_00: I'm gonna quit lying.
SPEAKER_00: Or I'm gonna quit exaggerating the truth.
SPEAKER_00: You know, that's always the problem with marriage.
SPEAKER_00: It's always what leads to divorce.
SPEAKER_00: Is when one spouse or both spouses are lying to each other.
SPEAKER_00: Stop it.
SPEAKER_00: That's dumb.
SPEAKER_00: That's not smart.
SPEAKER_00: And if you do it a lot, you get demonized.
SPEAKER_00: And demons come and they and they build up a stronghold in your life.
SPEAKER_00: And then I have to come along and cast your demons out.
SPEAKER_00: I don't like casting out demons.
SPEAKER_00: You cast out your demons today.
SPEAKER_00: Live truth, you'll cast them out.
SPEAKER_00: You can self-deliver by walking in truth.
SPEAKER_00: That's why it all starts there.
SPEAKER_00: It's the belt of truth.
SPEAKER_00: That's why Solskynitsyn, who looked at the at the Soviet Russian Empire, and he said, that's the problem, is they lie all the time.
SPEAKER_00: And that's the problem in America, is when we lie a lot.
SPEAKER_00: Stop lying.
SPEAKER_00: Let us be people of truth by seeking after having an intimate relationship with the one who said, I am the way and the truth and the life, and no one comes to the Father but through this Jesus Christ.
SPEAKER_00: He's the way to truth that leads to life.
SPEAKER_00: Anyone want that?
SPEAKER_00: And then he gave us this book.
SPEAKER_00: I'm so big on this book because it's changed my life.
SPEAKER_00: It's changed my wife's life.
SPEAKER_00: We read it, we talk about it all the time in the whole family.
SPEAKER_00: We're in the word.
SPEAKER_00: And I'm telling you, the word will keep the devil away, or the devil will keep you from the word.
SPEAKER_00: So you gotta decide to get up early in the morning and pay the price and open God's Word.
SPEAKER_00: If you don't know where to start, start with Matthew.
SPEAKER_00: We call it P B and J, Prayer Bible, and Journal.
SPEAKER_00: Just start with Matthew.
SPEAKER_00: Read a chapter or two and pray it and then write in your journal something God says to you.
SPEAKER_00: Just keep doing it.
SPEAKER_00: 30 days, your life will be transformed if you haven't been doing it.
SPEAKER_00: Truth.
SPEAKER_00: You shall know the truth.
SPEAKER_00: Truth shall set you free.
SPEAKER_00: Always be a truth seeker, not a crowd pleaser.
SPEAKER_00: Always be a truth seeker and not a crowd pleaser.
SPEAKER_00: The church is called the pillar and ground of the truth.
SPEAKER_00: 1 Timothy 3.15.
SPEAKER_00: Truth sets us free.
SPEAKER_00: Number two.
SPEAKER_00: Therefore, having girded your ways with truth, having put on the breastplate of righteousness, church, these go together.
SPEAKER_00: Truth and righteousness.
SPEAKER_00: What is righteousness?
SPEAKER_00: Why is it called the breastplate?
SPEAKER_00: He could have shod your feet with righteousness.
SPEAKER_00: He could have put a helmet of righteousness, breastplate of righteousness, because these are your vitals.
SPEAKER_00: This is your heart.
SPEAKER_00: This is your lungs.
SPEAKER_00: These are your vitals.
SPEAKER_00: It's a breastplate of righteousness.
SPEAKER_00: Righteousness is right relationships.
SPEAKER_00: That's what righteousness is.
SPEAKER_00: Right relationships.
SPEAKER_00: That's what the Sermon on the Mount is all about.
SPEAKER_00: Sermon on the Mount, Matthew 5, 6, and 7, is all about the conundrum of religion and relationship.
SPEAKER_00: You see, when you become religious, then your rules become more important than your relationships.
SPEAKER_00: But when Christ is on the throne of our lives and we're thinking relationally, then relationship becomes more important than the rules.
SPEAKER_00: And here's what I mean by that.
SPEAKER_00: I mean that we get the heart of our kids.
SPEAKER_00: We get the heart of our relationships.
SPEAKER_00: We get the heart of those around us.
SPEAKER_00: That's why it's the breastplate of righteousness.
SPEAKER_00: We get the heart, and the rules and that stuff follows.
SPEAKER_00: Got to get the heart.
SPEAKER_00: The biggest problem in America today is we've lost the heart of our founding fathers.
SPEAKER_00: Not just the Constitution, Bill of Rights, Declaration of Independence.
SPEAKER_00: We can talk a lot about that.
SPEAKER_00: That's really important.
SPEAKER_00: And I'm going to be speaking.
SPEAKER_00: I was asked by Christy Burton Brown, the chairman of the Republican Party for Colorado, to speak at the convention next Saturday at the World Arena.
SPEAKER_00: For two minutes.
SPEAKER_00: Don't get too fired up.
SPEAKER_00: It's just two minutes, okay?
SPEAKER_00: Heart.
SPEAKER_00: We need the heart of America.
SPEAKER_00: We need the heart of the Bible.
SPEAKER_00: We need Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: We need his heart.
SPEAKER_00: Right relationships.
SPEAKER_00: That means that we can have right relationships even though we disagree on things.
SPEAKER_00: We can have disagreements and still love each other.
SPEAKER_00: It's really hard.
SPEAKER_00: But Paul's saying that's that's the first thing with truth is that you have right relationships.
SPEAKER_00: And so that's why he says of the kingdom of God in Matthew 5 and Matthew 6, he's talking about, look, you worry about all these things.
SPEAKER_00: You worry about your clothing, you worry about money, you worry about houses and stuff.
SPEAKER_00: And then he says, seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness.
SPEAKER_00: And all these things will be added unto you.
SPEAKER_00: So men and women, we when we get the kingdom first, things start to line up.
SPEAKER_00: They do.
SPEAKER_00: Because we run, we run from truth.
SPEAKER_00: I know, because I don't like looking at our finances sometimes.
SPEAKER_00: So I say, oh, you know, I've got to work on my sermon.
SPEAKER_00: Doesn't that sound godly and spiritual or anything?
SPEAKER_00: No, you need to look at your finances, you know, and figure something out.
SPEAKER_00: Because truth may always make it always at the end does make you feel better.
SPEAKER_00: You know where you're at, even if it's not good, but you deal with it, right?
SPEAKER_00: And so the kingdom, when we do kingdom things, it's it lines things up.
SPEAKER_00: Things just go better in our lives when we become kingdom people.
SPEAKER_00: And so the kingdom of God and his righteousness, Jesus saying, seek the kingdom and have right relationships.
SPEAKER_00: Seek the kingdom and love your neighbor.
SPEAKER_00: Seek the kingdom and forgive that person who wronged you.
SPEAKER_00: Seek the kingdom and be unoffendable.
SPEAKER_00: Wouldn't it be awesome if we could grow to be a church that's unoffendable?
SPEAKER_00: Because we can fear, I think we can fear God, not fear men, be unoffendable, and still stand on truth.
SPEAKER_00: In other words, we take the hits, and we'll talk about that with the shield of faith.
SPEAKER_00: We're not going to talk about that today.
SPEAKER_00: But we can take some hits, but we're standing in righteousness because we become defensible against truth and with truth and against falsehood.
SPEAKER_00: But when people get personal with us, we don't get personal with them.
SPEAKER_00: And so the only way to do that is to become a person who walks in the power of the armor of the Holy Spirit.
SPEAKER_00: So I think we fight on three fronts, gang.
SPEAKER_00: I think we fight on three fronts.
SPEAKER_00: Here's the first one.
SPEAKER_00: The first one is your flesh, our flesh.
SPEAKER_00: We struggle with our flesh.
SPEAKER_00: I'm gonna call that the Benedict Arnold within.
SPEAKER_00: And if y'all don't know who Benedict Arnold was, he was actually an American general who was a traitor to our country during the Revolutionary War.
SPEAKER_00: We all are traitors within.
SPEAKER_00: We all struggle within.
SPEAKER_00: We lie to ourselves and we say something we know is not true, and we convince ourselves that it is true.
SPEAKER_00: Listen, gang, you have a new heart and you have a new spirit when you were born again.
SPEAKER_00: And when you were born again in Christ, you're given a new heart and a new spirit.
SPEAKER_00: You now can fight the flesh.
SPEAKER_00: You change your battle tune.
SPEAKER_00: Because when you become saved, when you come to know Christ, you now have a battle that you didn't have before.
SPEAKER_00: I was a happy pagan.
SPEAKER_00: I was such a happy pagan in high school.
SPEAKER_00: I mean, I just could party with the best of them, didn't bother me a bit.
SPEAKER_00: I just didn't want mom and dad to know about it.
SPEAKER_00: But I, you know, I did my thing.
SPEAKER_00: And so, you know, at school, I was Mr.
SPEAKER_00: Goody Two Shoes.
SPEAKER_00: I was Mr.
SPEAKER_00: Goody Two Shoes, a present student body.
SPEAKER_00: I'm Mr.
SPEAKER_00: Goody Two Shoes, you know, and I'm I'm doing all these projects all over the county, and and I'm getting all these accolades.
SPEAKER_00: And then on Friday and Saturday night, I was not goody two shoes.
SPEAKER_00: Because I and I didn't care.
SPEAKER_00: Anybody?
SPEAKER_00: Remember that life?
SPEAKER_00: Okay?
SPEAKER_00: Some of you are still living it.
SPEAKER_00: Then you get saved and you start to have a conscience.
SPEAKER_00: And when you have a conscience, now it's a new battle.
SPEAKER_00: Because then you're going, oh, I shouldn't do that.
SPEAKER_00: And you never it didn't even bother you before, but now the Holy Spirit makes it bother you.
SPEAKER_00: So now there's a new war within.
SPEAKER_00: So there's spiritual warfare within that starts to happen.
SPEAKER_00: Secondly, you battle with the world.
SPEAKER_00: You battle with the world.
SPEAKER_00: Satan's command post.
SPEAKER_00: Satan's command post is this world.
SPEAKER_00: And in that carnival of confusion that we go out into every day, God's called us to bring order.
SPEAKER_00: To bring order in the confusion, to not get confused like everybody else does.
SPEAKER_00: Well, again, that's why we put on the armor.
SPEAKER_00: That's why we renew our minds, because God wants each of you to walk with a new kind of confidence that is built on the understanding that I'm a truth teller, I'm a truth seeker, and I have a foundation of truth that I'm gonna live by.
SPEAKER_00: It's great.
SPEAKER_00: And I've got a community of truth seekers with me.
SPEAKER_00: You're not alone.
SPEAKER_00: That's why you're here.
SPEAKER_00: That's why you need to be in a community group.
SPEAKER_00: It's why we need each other.
SPEAKER_00: We don't want any of you to feel like you're alone out there.
SPEAKER_00: We're empowering people to change the world for a kingdom of God revolution.
SPEAKER_00: So I go to the assembly to do the prayer for House District 5 yesterday.
SPEAKER_00: I walk in this packed out, you know, gym, and one road person after another comes up.
SPEAKER_00: Just, man, there's just so many road people.
SPEAKER_00: How many of you were there?
SPEAKER_00: Oh, yeah, a ton of you, okay.
SPEAKER_00: So a lot of people came up and everything, and they're all just, oh, and I can't tell you how many people said, I'm so glad you're here.
SPEAKER_00: This place is weird.
SPEAKER_00: And I said, Well, yeah, I say, you know, welcome to the world, man.
SPEAKER_00: It's tough out there.
SPEAKER_00: I'm glad you're here, though.
SPEAKER_00: Do you want to be anywhere else?
SPEAKER_00: I mean, this is where we're supposed to be.
SPEAKER_00: It's where Christians are supposed to make an impact.
SPEAKER_00: Let's go run from it.
SPEAKER_00: Let's run into it.
SPEAKER_00: Let's run into the battle, man.
SPEAKER_00: Let's run to the roar.
SPEAKER_00: And they were, they did that, you know?
SPEAKER_00: And so I'm proud of them.
SPEAKER_00: I'm proud of all of you guys that do that.
SPEAKER_00: I'm proud of you who raise your families well.
SPEAKER_00: And you pick up your kids.
SPEAKER_00: Maybe they're at school and they hear stupid stuff at school sometimes.
SPEAKER_00: Hear good stuff too, but I mean there's sometimes you're, it's usually not even from the teacher, sometimes it's just from the kids.
SPEAKER_00: Kids are stupid, okay?
SPEAKER_00: And if some stupid kid said something in the bathroom or something, talk about it.
SPEAKER_00: Talk about it.
SPEAKER_00: Set the record straight in a loving way.
SPEAKER_00: Say, well, what do you think of that?
SPEAKER_00: I don't know, what do you think, Dad?
SPEAKER_00: And go, oh, that's kind of a dumb idea.
SPEAKER_00: What do you mean?
SPEAKER_00: Well, because it won't work out well for you.
SPEAKER_00: And I'm your dad and I want it to work out well for you.
SPEAKER_00: Do you want to be successful?
SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
SPEAKER_00: Do you want to be the best you can be?
SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
SPEAKER_00: Do you want to someday have a house like we have here and drive a car like we drive now?
SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
SPEAKER_00: Well, it's going to take work.
SPEAKER_00: And don't listen to that guy.
SPEAKER_00: He's stupid.
SPEAKER_00: I mean, right?
SPEAKER_00: I mean, you say it nicer than that, but I'm saying it for a fact, okay?
SPEAKER_00: Euphemism, okay?
SPEAKER_00: Hyperbole.
SPEAKER_00: I've had people leave the church because I use bad language.
SPEAKER_00: When you're talking to, sometimes when you're talking to kids and you're helping them, you know, you you want to help them understand that this is true and this is this is a lie.
SPEAKER_00: This isn't gonna happen.
SPEAKER_00: It's not gonna work out well.
SPEAKER_00: So put on the belt of truth, gang, and the breastplate of righteousness, right?
SPEAKER_00: Relationships.
SPEAKER_00: And when we do that, it works.
SPEAKER_00: And then thirdly, Satan and demons.
SPEAKER_00: You're gonna fight against Satan and demons.
SPEAKER_00: So first it's your own flesh, it's the world.
SPEAKER_00: And then Satan and demons, the accuser of the brethren, Revelation 12, 7 through 10.
SPEAKER_00: The accusations of Satan are always at the core of your being, your self-image, and your identity.
SPEAKER_00: He tells you you're a loser, you're a failure, you're a dummy, you'll never amount to anything, and you've got to learn to break that voice in your head.
SPEAKER_00: You've got to learn to break that scripting, and the only way, the only way to know how to do that is to memorize and to know and to begin to speak truth back to yourself.
SPEAKER_00: You've got to start saying, I am, I am smart, I have I have a good future, I have a destiny, I have a purpose, I have Jesus, and in the power of the Spirit, I can overcome all of the schemes of the enemy, and I'm gonna put on the armor, I'm gonna put on the helmet of salvation, which means I'm gonna renew my mind today.
SPEAKER_00: I'm gonna put on the breastplate of righteousness, which means I'm gonna have good, right relationships today.
SPEAKER_00: I'm gonna put on the shield of faith, which extinguishes the fiery darts of the enemy.
SPEAKER_00: I'm gonna strengthen my faith.
SPEAKER_00: Faith comes by hearing and hearing by the word of God.
SPEAKER_00: I'm gonna take up the sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of God.
SPEAKER_00: I'm gonna I'm gonna put on the belt of truth.
SPEAKER_00: I'm not gonna listen to lies, I'm not gonna say lies, I'm not gonna believe lies, I'm not gonna walk in lies, and I'm gonna shop my feet with the gospel of peace.
SPEAKER_00: I'm not a peacekeeper, I'm a peacemaker.
SPEAKER_00: Do that every day.
SPEAKER_00: Start at the top, move all the way down, watch what God will do in your life.
SPEAKER_00: It works.
SPEAKER_00: William Gurnell once said, as part of Christ's army, you march in the ranks of gallant spirits.
SPEAKER_00: Every one of your fellow soldiers is a child of the king.
SPEAKER_00: Some, like you, are in the midst of battle, besieged on every side by affliction and temptation.
SPEAKER_00: Others, after many assaults, repulses, and rallyings of their faith, are already standing upon the wall of heaven as conquerors.
SPEAKER_00: From there they look down and they urge you on, their comrades on earth, to march up the hill after them.
SPEAKER_00: This is their cry.
SPEAKER_00: Fight to the death, and the city is your own, as now it is ours.
SPEAKER_00: And so, church, we look to the saints who didn't give up.
SPEAKER_00: We look to the saints who are ahead of us.
SPEAKER_00: That's why biographies are important.
SPEAKER_00: I had a young lady come up, she says, Man, I got your list of books.
SPEAKER_00: You guys know in my blog, I gave you 20, my 20 top books.
SPEAKER_00: She's read like 15 out of the 20 in the last few months.
SPEAKER_00: And she said, Man, Bonhoeffer and Luther.
SPEAKER_00: And she went through those biographies that I had on the end, and I said, Well, what's it done?
SPEAKER_00: I said, Man, it just makes me understand and give a fresh perspective of somebody who was courageous during a much more difficult time than what we're going through right now.
SPEAKER_00: I mean, Martin Luther had to wake up every day, pretty much convinced he's gonna be burned at the stake by the Pope.
SPEAKER_00: And he was dependent on his prince to protect him, or he would have been beheaded or burned at the stake.
SPEAKER_00: Dietrich Bonhoeffer knew after Valkyrie his time was probably up, and that Hitler was gonna kill him.
SPEAKER_00: And so to study their faith and to study what they did is an inspiration to us all of men and women who stand on truth.
SPEAKER_00: And to look at Joan of Arc and what Joan of Arc did against all odds, just a peasant girl leading the armies in France.
SPEAKER_00: It's an inspiration to us all.
SPEAKER_00: What Mother Teresa did in India, what Martin Luther King did during the civil rights movement, which my father was a part of in the South.
SPEAKER_00: Amazing.
SPEAKER_00: Here's what I love about it they weren't very, they weren't, some of these people were kind of jacked up.
SPEAKER_00: You don't have to be perfect to be used by God.
SPEAKER_00: You can have flaws.
SPEAKER_00: God looks for faith, not perfection.
SPEAKER_00: And so sometimes we think, well, I could never do that because I've got this issue and that issue.
SPEAKER_00: Have you read any of those biographies?
SPEAKER_00: These folks had some pretty big issues that were that impeded all that God wanted to do.
SPEAKER_00: But you know what they had?
SPEAKER_00: They had courage.
SPEAKER_00: And they had faith.
SPEAKER_00: And I'm telling you, church, you need courage and faith today, and you can win.
SPEAKER_00: You'd be amazed the doors that God will open if you'll just show a little bit of courage.
SPEAKER_00: Just a little bit of courage.
SPEAKER_00: And you're here at the robe when you could be at so many other churches.
SPEAKER_00: Because that's what you want.
SPEAKER_00: That's who you are.
SPEAKER_00: You are warriors and your worshipers.
SPEAKER_00: And Christ and I am proud of you.
SPEAKER_00: Those are your boots.
SPEAKER_00: Be peacemakers.
SPEAKER_00: Wherever you go, bring the kingdom of God with peace.
SPEAKER_00: The kingdom of God in Romans 15 is not eating, excuse me, excuse me, Romans 14, is not eating and drinking, but righteousness, peace, and joy in the Holy Spirit.
SPEAKER_00: We're not peacekeepers, we're peacemakers.
SPEAKER_00: And when we walk in peace, people start to notice.
SPEAKER_00: I was in a situation a couple weeks ago.
SPEAKER_00: I walked in, it was a chaotic situation here in the county.
SPEAKER_00: And the leader of that particular group in this particular setting came up to me and said, I'm so glad you're here.
SPEAKER_00: And I was there to do a prayer.
SPEAKER_00: And I said, Well, what's up?
SPEAKER_00: She goes, Man, there's just so much stuff going on here.
SPEAKER_00: And I said, Well, let's pray.
SPEAKER_00: And I laid my hands on her head.
SPEAKER_00: And there's some other folks around.
SPEAKER_00: I said, Let's all just pray for, we'll just say her name was Pam.
SPEAKER_00: Let's pray for Pam right now.
SPEAKER_00: And we prayed peace.
SPEAKER_00: Peace.
SPEAKER_00: And peace came.
SPEAKER_00: She did a great job.
SPEAKER_00: She brought some order to the chaos.
SPEAKER_00: That's what we're supposed to do, guys.
SPEAKER_00: We're supposed to shod our feet with peace and come in and bring peace where there's chaos.
SPEAKER_00: Not to join in in the battle.
SPEAKER_00: Don't get in the mud.
SPEAKER_00: Bring peace.
SPEAKER_00: Bring order because you're a truth seeker, you're a truth teller, and you live on the foundation of truth.
SPEAKER_00: Okay, let me close with a few thoughts about preparation.
SPEAKER_00: And I want you to don't turn there.
SPEAKER_00: But we just had a leader's advantage's advance in fair play.
SPEAKER_00: And this was kind of the theme of our time together.
SPEAKER_00: Matthew 24, church, is all about the last days.
SPEAKER_00: And then Jesus says this, watch therefore, for you do not know the hour of the Lord is coming.
SPEAKER_00: Be ready.
SPEAKER_00: That's kind of a big theme of Matthew 24 and 25, is be ready.
SPEAKER_00: Who then is the faithful and wise servant whom his master made ruler over his household to give them food in due season?
SPEAKER_00: Blessed is that servant whom his master, when he comes, will find him so doing.
SPEAKER_00: That's what we're gonna do here.
SPEAKER_00: So I want to I'm gonna roll out just a few quick thoughts for each of you.
SPEAKER_00: And you think, well, now are we becoming Mormons or something?
SPEAKER_00: Okay, the Mormons definitely prepare.
SPEAKER_00: And we actually have studied some of what they do because it's so good.
SPEAKER_00: Um but I want to just give you three really easy things you can do if if just everything went to kapoooe, okay?
SPEAKER_00: And I'm believing because we're gonna have we're gonna have an alert prayer Wednesday night here in the sanctuary, 6 p.m.
SPEAKER_00: You guys know we do the saliva fire prayer from time to time.
SPEAKER_00: We feel called to call one for this Wednesday night at 6 p.m.
SPEAKER_00: to pray.
SPEAKER_00: It's always 90 minutes.
SPEAKER_00: So we start at 6, we end at 7 30, but man, we pray, my wife leads it, Liz leads it, it's gonna be a powerful time.
SPEAKER_00: So we're believing through prayer that we're gonna avoid some major catastrophe.
SPEAKER_00: But if, if the grid went down, okay, number one, water.
SPEAKER_00: Number one, right down.
SPEAKER_00: Water is the most important thing.
SPEAKER_00: You can go 30 days without food, but you can only go three days without water.
SPEAKER_00: So you gotta have water.
SPEAKER_00: So here's our challenge is when you're out just shopping and everything, start picking up those gallons of water.
SPEAKER_00: And I know what's gonna happen is King Supers and Safeway right here.
SPEAKER_00: They're gonna be all out by Monday.
SPEAKER_00: So you might want to go today.
SPEAKER_00: I mean, I just told a thousand people, twelve hundred people to go get water, okay?
SPEAKER_00: Uh for five to seven days.
SPEAKER_00: Think in terms of five to seven days.
SPEAKER_00: Um and I always think when I'm hunting, a gallon of water per person per day.
SPEAKER_00: So if you have five people, you need five gallons of water a day for seven days.
SPEAKER_00: Five times seven is 35 gallons.
SPEAKER_00: And then store that.
SPEAKER_00: And water will store for one year, and it'll be fine.
SPEAKER_00: After that, you probably need like a drop of iodine in it or UV light.
SPEAKER_00: That's another issue.
SPEAKER_00: We won't talk about that right now because that's a year from now.
SPEAKER_00: Now, some people already come, well, I water, I've had my water for like five years.
SPEAKER_00: That's probably not a good idea.
SPEAKER_00: Get that out.
SPEAKER_00: Water your plants, water your plants.
SPEAKER_00: Go get it.
SPEAKER_00: It's only like 99 cents for a gallon, or I don't know, is water going up?
SPEAKER_00: I mean, everything goes up.
SPEAKER_00: Maybe it's a dollar seven now.
SPEAKER_00: But I'm just saying, don't go buy everything up today, but just go and get a gallon each time you go shopping, and then it's not a big deal.
SPEAKER_00: And then start find a closet or someplace where you can put water.
SPEAKER_00: I was down in our crawl space the other day, and I was like, holy moly, I must have had 50 gallons of gallons of water, 50 different containers, and it had been there like a hundred years.
SPEAKER_00: So I got rid of that.
SPEAKER_00: Umber two is food.
SPEAKER_00: Water's first, food is next.
SPEAKER_00: Have five to seven days of emergency food storage.
SPEAKER_00: That would be a really good embryonic start.
SPEAKER_00: And Red Cross has great recommendations.
SPEAKER_00: You can just go to their website, they give you great recommendations, can't do any better than that.
SPEAKER_00: And what I think of is like if you're out and you're in the can section and you're getting two cans of chili, maybe get 10 cans, okay?
SPEAKER_00: And then take eight, find a place, store eight cans of chili.
SPEAKER_00: So I'm talking about non-perishable items, start building it up somewhere in your house for five to seven days of emergency food.
SPEAKER_00: And then thirdly and lastly, is it has this been hard so far?
SPEAKER_00: Okay, no.
SPEAKER_00: No.
SPEAKER_00: It's gonna get better because we got more we're gonna roll out in the days ahead.
SPEAKER_00: But number three, food prep capabilities.
SPEAKER_00: Food prep capabilities.
SPEAKER_00: Now, as a hunter who goes into wilderness, I have a stove.
SPEAKER_00: And I have a propane, I mean, it's easy for me to do.
SPEAKER_00: So if you don't have a stove, you might think about finding that.
SPEAKER_00: If you're in a small group, find out what other people are doing.
SPEAKER_00: There's all kinds of cool ways you can do that.
SPEAKER_00: But just have a way to heat up your food.
SPEAKER_00: Hey, thanks for listening to the Road Podcast.
SPEAKER_00: It's been my joy to be a part of your life today.
SPEAKER_00: And you know, that's part of what we do here at The Road, and this is what I do in having this Road Podcast is to empower people to change their world.
SPEAKER_00: My passion and desire is that you would take God's word through the power of the Holy Spirit and make that relevant for your life.
SPEAKER_00: You know, the reality is that God has placed your life here on this earth to make a difference.
SPEAKER_00: And if you'd like more information about how to grow in Christ, if you need prayer, if you want more equipping in different areas of your life, go to theroad.org.
SPEAKER_00: God bless you.