BATTLE ARMOR

Good morning Revolution Church. Let's all stand and give the Lord a praise and a shout and thank him so much for setting us free. I am not ashamed to praise like this. Some would say it's foolishness, but I say it's worth the risk. I can't forget what Jesus did. No, I am not ashamed to praise like this. Where are those chains that once held me? I'm free, I'm free, I'm free, I'm free. My sin is gone, I'll carry it. I'm free, I'm free, I'm free, I'm free. I'm spoken with the Lord outside. I'm never going back to the way I was. I'll sing, I'll dance, cause I believe. I'm free, I'm free, thank God I'm free. I've got friends that never praise. No one that loves as good as this. And I don't care what anyone says. I'll never be ashamed to praise like this. Where are those chains that once held me? I'm free, I'm free, I'm free, I'm free. My sin is gone, I'll carry it. I'm free, I'm free, I'm free. I'm spoken with the Lord outside. I'm never going back to the way I was. I'll sing, I'll dance, cause I believe. I'm free, I'm free, thank God I'm free. You took the cross and you broke your body. You shed your blood, now the sinner can't sing. My debt is paid and my record is clean. I couldn't do it so you didn't call me. You took the cross and you broke your body. You shed your blood, now the sinner can't sing. My debt is paid and my record is clean. I couldn't do it so you didn't call me. You took the cross and you broke your body. You shed your blood, now the sinner can't sing. My debt is paid and my record is clean. I couldn't do it so you didn't call me. Only God can do it. Only God can do it. Only God can do it. Only God can do it. Only God can do it. Where are those chains that once held me? I'm free, I'm free, I'm free, I'm free. My sin is gone, I'll carry it. I can't walk alone. I'm never going back to the way I was. I'll sing, I'll dance, and I'll believe. I'm free. You took the cross and you broke your body. You shed your blood, now the sinner can't sing. My debt is paid and my record is clean. I couldn't do it so you didn't call me. You shed your blood on Calvary. My debt is paid. I couldn't do it no. Only King Jesus. Only King Jesus. Only God can do it. Only God can do it. Only God can do it. I'm never going back to the way I was. Looking for the Lord and death. I'm never going back. I'm never going back. I'm never going back to the way I was. I'm never going back. I never knew till I felt the scars, how good your grace could be. How you would be my strength. No matter what I have sought, I'll always stay. You're still in control, I will not be afraid. I'll get back up and say, The Lord is with me. The Lord is with me. Ever present in my hour of need. The Lord is with me. You never said it wouldn't be fine. You promised that you would be right by my side. No matter how it seems, My confidence shall be. The Lord is with me. The Lord is with me.

Ever present in my hour of need. The Lord is with me. The Lord is with me. The Lord is with me. Ever present in my hour of need. The Lord is with me. Oh, right by my side. Surrounded by your love. No fear may tell me to tremble. I'm not gonna bow. I may be thrown into fire. But I'm gonna walk out. The heat of the flame won't consume me. It's nothing but smoke. It may look like I'm surrounded. But I'm not alone. No fear may tell me to tremble. I'm not gonna bow. I may be thrown into fire. But I'm gonna walk out. The heat of the flame won't consume me. It's nothing but smoke. It may look like I'm surrounded. But I'm not alone. The Lord is with me. The Lord is with me. The Lord is with me. Ever present in my hour of need. The Lord is with me. The Lord is with me.

The Lord is with me. Ever present in my hour of need. No fear may tell me to tremble. I'm not gonna bow. I may be thrown into fire. But I'm gonna walk out. The heat of the flame won't consume me. It's nothing but smoke. It may look like I'm surrounded. But I'm not alone. The Lord is with me. The Lord is with me. The Lord is with me. Ever present in my hour of need. The Lord is with me. The Lord is with me. The Lord is with me. Ever present in my hour of need. The Lord is with me. How many of you believe that the Lord is with you this morning? Amen. How many of you are grateful the Lord is with you this morning? Amen. Come on, give Him some praise in here. Amen. Come on, we can do better than that. Let's give Him some radical praise. Thank you, Lord. Thank you, Jesus. God is with me.

Amen. You know, Nebuchadnezzar said this, Did we not throw three men in the furnace? Why am I seeing four in there and the fourth looks like the Son of Man? Jesus is always with you. Amen. How many of you are glad that He's always with you? Look at your neighbor and say, Jesus is with you. Even in the storm. Even in the battle. Good to see you guys in the house of the Lord today. Shake hands, bump fists as you guys are seated. Great to see everybody in the house of the Lord today. Thank you. Thank you, all of the first-time guests today. Thank you so much for being with us today. I look back and I saw Ms. Flo Whiteside come on. Flo Whiteside's in the house. Let's give it up for Ms. Flo. Good to see you this morning. We love you. Amen. We love you. Right there's a pillar of this church, and we're grateful for her. She's an amazing prayer warrior. So good to see all of you in the house today. If you are visiting, if you're a first-time guest, If you get a minute, grab a card. There's a Connect card and a seat back in front of you, behind you. Just fill that out.

Drop it off in one of the baskets or out front in the foyer. As you're leaving, we'd love to connect with you. Does the foyer look great or what? Come on. It is so awesome, man. Today, Connie asked me as we were pulling in early this morning, She said, Where do you want to park at today? Because, you know, the parking space is room. I said, It doesn't matter, Connie, just as long as we get to walk through that front door today. Amen. And it felt so good. As a matter of fact, I shouted when I came through the front door. But, you know, for seven, eight, nine months, I don't know, We've not really been able to socialize outside of this auditorium because of the lack of space. We've had hallways or whatever. Now we can hang out and mingle and talk, and I love that. So, anyway, good to see everybody in the house of the Lord today. So grateful that you've come to worship with us. This is a special service. This is a special weekend. Helping Hands is next Sunday. And today, amen, yeah, it's exciting. It's our 19th year of doing this. God has blessed us with the opportunity to do it again. And so grateful for that. But we're going to give you an opportunity to give to the need today. And we've been praying about it. God, what can I do? And so my prayer for all of us is that we'll just be obedient.

We'll be obedient to what the Lord says to do, and the needs will be met. But before we go into that part of it, I want to ask two individuals to come to the stage really quick. Ms. Krista Hitson, would you please come? And Ms. Michelle Collins. If you ladies would, come on, let's give it up for these individuals. Just briefly, so Krista now is overseeing, heading up, helping hands, and everything to do with that. And we love and appreciate her, and she's doing an incredible job. And everybody probably knows, you guys know Eric and Michelle Collins because they've been members here at the church for a long time. But I've asked each of them to share something from their heart today. So if you would, let's just hear what they've got to say. My name is Krista Hitson, as Pastor Pacer just shared with you all. And I'm so blessed and grateful that I get to be the helping hands coordinator at this church. I don't think you all realize how big of a beast helping hands is in this community. If you all were here yesterday at the volunteer training luncheon, could you just stand up for a moment? y'all look at each and every one of these people without y'all we could not make this happen and I have to be very blunt when I say this this is about so much more than book bags and shoes this is another form of discipleship amen when these kids look at these book bags and shoes I don't want them to see Pastor Pacer I don't want them to see me I don't want them to see any of our faces except for Jesus Christ amen this this is that seed for so many of these families that otherwise they they may not feel that love in the community and we have that moment that significant moment to be able to be that light in each and every life that walks in these doors this Saturday y'all I also want to highlight a group of guys we're a recovery church as you know and I didn't actually know they were coming until about 30 minutes ago so I'm excited they're here but the people that were here yesterday at the volunteer

luncheon Epperson ministries was here taking out the trash sweating I mean not complaining about anything can y'all stand up guys this is literally what our church is built on Jesus Jesus didn't show up for perfect folks okay he wanted to put those broken pieces back together make something even more beautiful and each and every one of these guys are in the middle of their testimony and y'all just tell them thank you because without them they're helping clean up set up all kinds of stuff for helping hands y'all and I have to say this morning I got up so early my husband was like what's wrong with you what are you doing because it was like just after 4 and 30 emails in my inbox of participants y'all we've already broken records and more than doubled the number of participants at Greenback school this year and so it's gonna hit I predict before middle of the week we're gonna be close to 1,200 people because we're going up about 30 people every few hours and if you hear my phone vibrating or my watch vibrating forgive me that's what that is those are mama's that are in need those are daddy's that are in need when I call them y'all I've witnessed people this week that are saying I'm just I don't know what to say and they truly you can hear it in their soul that they're just so thankful and that is what helping hands is about the almost 1,900 families that are already signed up for this Saturday here and the nearly thousand that we have at Greenback school this year when it was only 400 last year y'all that's a big deal this is a discipleship this is the hands and feet of Jesus these are the people that Jesus leaned into and didn't walk away from amen so thank you so so much we couldn't do it without y'all I want to give y'all over to my friend here that she could give you a direct account of what helping hands can really do for the community as well I have a question how many in here has ever struggled? how many has had struggled with hope? we can go without food for a little while we can go without water for a little while we cannot go without hope 16 years ago I found myself in a position I never thought I would be in I had lost all hope I was a single mom of three boys and I could not provide I was

trying my best but I was so broken I was broken emotionally I was broken spiritually and I was definitely broken financially and I could not get them new shoes school supplies what's worse I couldn't really feed them we would gather change and go into Food City and get a can of vegetables and split it for supper at night do you know as a parent when you can't provide for your own kids and you see a child standing in front of your refrigerator crying because there's no food you feel like the biggest failure in the world you feel worthless then I was invited to Helping Hands see I had nobody my mom had committed suicide when I was 22 and I had no family whatsoever to help me. I was on my own. It was just me and my three boys all isolated, all alone, and the enemy reminded me of that every hour. So I got invited to Helping Hands and I went. I didn't want to. I was ashamed and I was embarrassed, but I wanted to have my boys some food and some supplies. So I go and it was at the high school and I'm standing in line and my boys are excited and they are happy and all I could think of the entire time I'm standing in that line, how can I commit suicide? I was so convinced that my boys would be so much better off without me, that someone else could provide for them. Someone else could raise them so much better than me because I was a loser and I was a failure and I was listening to the enemy and I was consumed with what he was telling me. But you know what? I walked through those doors of Helping Hands and God opened up his arms to me. I expected judgment. I expected people to look down on me. I didn't get that. You know what I got? I got smiles. I got prayed for. I got loved on. My boys got loved on. They gave them shoes so they could start school with confidence. They had supplies to start their school year with and then they told me to come around back and we got a box of food. My boys were so excited. They was in that box before we ever left that parking lot. Boys eat a lot. So we're driving home. They've got full hearts. They got full tummies and they say, Mama, they invited us to church. Can we go? So we went. I didn't go for me. I went for them. But guess who got blessed? Every one of us. Helping Hands changed our lives that day. My life was on a

trajectory that was not going good. The path I was on was a path of destruction. But you know what? It turned me around and not only did it turn me around because if you touch a mama and you touch her kids and you touch a daddy, you turn them back to God. You love on them. You give them hope that they can't find anywhere else. I came to church and you know what? I had no family but all of a sudden I had all of these arms loving on me. I had all of these people loving on my boys and praying over us and all of a sudden I had a house full of a family here. Let me tell you what God did. I tithed. Very little, right? I didn't make much. I tithed. I was obedient. The next thing I know he's opening up doors. I get remarried to a godly man. Our house becomes five boys. The next thing I know my boys are bringing in more boys. We got bonus kids and right now we had to blow out our dining room wall just so we could have a big enough dining room table to seat everybody every single Sunday at my house for family day. God blessed me sevenfold. Not because anything that I did. Not because of anything that I'm special but just I said yes. God you are with me. You never forsake me and you are loving on me but you know what it took? It took somebody to give. It took somebody to volunteer because what if no one gave that day for helping hands? What if I didn't go? I probably wouldn't be here because I was looking for death but instead I found life and hope that completely changed my life and many others. Praise the Lord. What a powerful testimony. So this morning Connie and I were sitting at the table and I was looking at the numbers and and they continue to increase like you said 30 that I didn't account for this morning but I was looking at the numbers and and it appeared to me $176,000 is what we'll spend on just shoes in the next two weekends. That's a that's a big number. It's a lot of ministry opportunities though. And it's a lot of children that will show up to school with confidence, and teachers that are part of our church and the community, they tell me on a regular basis that we know when Helping Hands happens because we see all these kids showing up in school with their

new shoes on. And so I want to say thank you for your gifts. This morning Connie and I were having a conversation around our table and said what can we do that's meaningful, that's sacrificial, and God what do you want us to do? And that's different for every single one of us. For some people you may not be able to give anything and don't feel bad, don't feel condemned because there was a time when Michelle and Eric couldn't give anything, and that's okay. There's others that are here today and maybe you can give a significant amount, but here's what I would ask, do something that's sacrificial. Do something that's meaningful and that's sacrificial and that God leads you to do. There's multiple ways you can give today. There's envelopes in the seat back, in front or behind you. You can grab that and you can drop it off in the baskets as you're leaving. Just mark it Helping Hands. If you have a smartphone and you would like to give that way, just touch the tap tag on the seat in front of you, hold your phone up to it, and you'll get a drop down that says Helping Hands. And you can go in there and give and it's safe and it's secure. You can give online. You can give from the website. You can give from the church app. There's multiple ways that you can do that. But God's given us an incredible opportunity to serve our community, 19 years doing it. And again, record numbers. So we're so blessed because here's what I have to ask myself is, how many more Michelle Collins are out there that's given up, that said, I can't provide for my children so what good am I? And you just gave a little bit of hope, whether it was through a backpack or a notebook or a pencil or a haircut or tennis shoes or whatever it may be. That's what it's all about.

That's what Ms. Krista is saying. It's so much more than a pair of tennis shoes. It's about giving hope. And so would you, I'm going to beg you to please give to the kids in this community. Please do that today. I remember, I'll never forget one year at the high school, I just had a conversation telling all the guardians why that we're doing what we do. And there was a gentleman that was walking out, going into the area to get his shoes. He had several grandkids with him and he turned around, I'll never forget it. Older gentleman, humped back, he turned around and he looked me in the eyes. I couldn't even hear his words, I could read his lips and he said. And I looked at him closer and he said, my granddaughter's in prison. These kids wouldn't get shoes if it wasn't for that church, this church. So you never know who you're impacting. Please give. Please pray. Ask God, what can I do that's significant? Would you pray? Help me pray right now. Father, we're so grateful for an opportunity to give, for an opportunity to serve, God for an opportunity to share the gospel. Father, we just love you and appreciate you God. Thank you for this church. Thank you for the volunteers that got the hearts behind this church, God. What a blessing it is to stand with these individuals, Lord, that every year when we ask for these offerings to come in, Lord, they provide, they step up and sacrificially give. And I pray today, God, that every single gift, that there's a return from heaven a hundred fold in the name of Jesus, that miracles and signs and wonders would be associated to this particular offering as we reach out to the Michelle Collins in this community,

to the Adam Campbells in this community, to all of those individuals, Lord, who have need. God, we just, we're so grateful for this church and each person that's part of it. And we pray blessings on every single person here. We pray blessings on the remainder of this service. And God, we pray blessings on the Helping Hands event next weekend. In Jesus' name, and everybody say it. Come on, help me. Amen. Amen. Come on, let's give these ladies another big hand clap. Thank you so much. We love you guys. Thank you. Thank you so much. You guys are awesome. Good morning, Revolution Church. We are so glad you're here with us today. I'm Amy. This is Sherri. Sherri, we have a lot going on. We sure do. Welcome. First, we have Connect One Luncheon. It's going to be August 2nd down at the pavilion during third service. It is your opportunity to get to meet Pastor, his wife, Connie, also to some other people who are going to be joining us. It's going to be a lot of fun. I'm Amy. This is Sherri. Sherri, we have a lot going on.

We sure do. Welcome. First, we have Connect One Luncheon. It's going to be August 2nd down at the pavilion during third service. It is your opportunity to get to meet Pastor, his wife, Connie, also to some elders, some deacons, some staff members. You get to hear his future views, what he wants to do with our church. And then on August 9th, which is the following Sunday, we are going to have Connect Two Luncheon. So we'll have lunch both times. Don't want to miss that. Everybody loves lunch. And that's going to be during third service at the pavilion also. So it'll be from 1130. Please go to our website or our church center app and sign up. We look forward to seeing you there. We also have going on is our volunteer pool party, and we are so excited about that. That is going to be at Springbrook Pool on July 29th. We're going to have games. We're going to have bingo. We have a silent disco. That'll be fun. I'm excited about silent disco. There are also going to be a lot of sweets and treats. We also have a gift for all our volunteers. Like we have said, we are so excited to celebrate all that you have done for our church. We can't do the things that we do without all of you. So please go to our website. You have up until July 26th to sign up. We will love to see you there and have a good time with us all. That's it.

Sherri, RCA, we love our school. We are still having enrollments open through August, through August 3rd. So any ages two years old through eighth grade, they can still get enrolled. So we would love to have you part of our RCA family. Church, we are so glad you're here today. If you need prayer, we are going to have our prayer team come forward here in just a little bit. We would love to pray with you and walk this journey with you. Church, enjoy the rest of the service. Let's go! How are you guys doing this morning? Oh, that's weak. How y'all doing this morning? Well, somebody's awake. That's good. That's good. That's good. Hey, man, me and my family are so grateful to be back here at Revolution and all that God is doing. Honestly, it's amazing. And you guys heard just one testimony. Can you imagine how powerful that was? That's just one. Imagine all of the testimonies, all of the impact that Helping Hands has made on this community. I just can't even fathom that. That's crazy. So man, I'm pumped to be back for Helping Hands. It's this Sunday. Sorry, this Saturday. Not today.

Next Saturday, coming up. Yeah, well, I'm ready for it to be now, you know. So we're really excited about that. Hey, last week, Pacer delivered an incredible message. You guys love that message? So good. He talked about honoring our father and mother. And I was saying first service, I actually, I learned something from that as an adult to my father and mother. And so that was awesome. Also, for those that didn't get anything from that, he also talked about how to treat your boss, right? So that was good. Thank you so much for delivering that word, Pacer. Today, we are going to be talking about the armor of God. And so the sermon title is Battle Armor. Come on, somebody. So we're going to start out in Ephesians 6, 10 through 12. Hopefully you guys don't get the snot show that the first service was. I think I got that out of the way. So we'll see how this goes. Ephesians 6, 10 through 12, finally be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power. Put on the full armor of God so that you can take your stand against the devil schemes. For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms. The first point today, the fight isn't always visible, but God's strength is always tangible. So when I look at Ephesians 6 right here, I notice a couple of things. One of the big things I notice is that it says our battle is not against humans. All right, y'all.

In the drive-thru, I see you. you at Walmart in the self-checkout hurry up you know how you we got to stop that right our battle is not against flesh and blood and and as I was thinking about all the things that this entails I thought about politics that was my siren so you just think about all of the things that divide us and I look at that and how does that match up with our battle is not against flesh and blood you know what that tells us that the spiritual forces have a whole lot bigger hold on us than we want to realize and so today it's super important in order to be battle ready because let me tell you something every day is a battle every day and in order to be battle ready we got to know how to put on some armor come on somebody so the scripture tells us very clearly that that our battle isn't against flesh and blood it's beyond things that our sight can see right or our control and and we've got to switch our mindsets from fighting in our own strength to standing in spiritual authority standing one of the things I noticed about this verse that I don't know if you've ever realized and I hope you haven't because this is going to be awesome if you didn't right so don't know it except for the people that heard it first service then you got to remember right everything the pastor says you go anyways put on everybody say put on put on what does it say the full armor of God I actually realized you guys didn't have the scripture up there so sorry I was asking you to quote something hope you know the Bible verses put on the full armor of God did you know that this is the only action spoken in these verses from our side of things put on an active picking up the armor placing it on us put on the armor of God see God's strength is way better than anything you could ever do anything that you could ever dream up God's way is better you always better force Frank right so I know a lot about putting on some I was singing yeah you keep yeah it's on you let's go I'm getting sorry I'm getting sidetracked okay so so I in this last season the last year I have really found out what it means to put on the armor okay put on the armor of God listen when you step out in obedience to do anything God has called you to do you must

everybody say must you must have the armor of God on why is that well the enemy is looking for any crack to get into I don't know about y'all but the kingdom of darkness is completely unified where are we where are we the littlest thing will divide us carpet color chairs drew come on man what about those songs bro that seriously it was awesome wouldn't it the worship was awesome today but as my time as a worship pastor always heard why didn't you sing this song why do you do that well cuz the Lord told me to do this right so so we can divide over the smallest littlest things but the Bible tells us to be unified as brothers and sisters in Christ in fact it goes on to say that it's not even an option to be divided you know what's wild is the kingdom of darkness has no problem being unified they're in complete unity with each other to take us down that should make you mad if you got any competitive nature in you which I do I've got that dog in me right I'm just kidding sorry that's it that's the sports coming back my sports background so so if you got any competitive nature in you feel what I'm feeling right now ain't nobody just gonna run over me right well we let the enemy run all over our family not just us our family all the time We got to do something. Come on. We got to do something. We got to change something So I'm going to tell you guys some stories out of Texas the last year. I have been a pastor in Texas Man, we saw God move in incredible ways. In fact, he was moving so Awesome that when we got the phone call to start praying about this opportunity that we've accepted here I was like this is weird timing Because we're there was so much growth we had to order new chairs For the sanctuary because attendance was going up people were serving in areas that they've they've never served before In fact, one of the coolest stories that I am am so Excited about even even now and I will be for a long time. Is that the people coming into the church were unchurched We didn't church hop. Come on somebody We didn't church hop we went out to the hedges and the highways and found those people that nobody else wanted Right, so so we saw all this growth happening

We saw miracles and I want to tell you guys about two of them One of the first miracles that we saw this this lady And let me tell you this too. So this church we went to they didn't do like coming up and praying right at the altar and so we started that we started inviting people up to the altar and anointing them with oil and If you've never done that, it's it's a trip, you know, it's awesome It really is and so we started doing that And this lady came forward and she said I've had pain in my body For for a long time and and I've went to doctors and they just don't know what's wrong I just have pain all the time. Well my wife Timber Craig She's probably watching right now But my wife has the gift of faith and So she started praying over this woman anointed her with oil. Let me tell you something the next Sunday She came running up to my wife and she said the pain is gone all week. The pain is gone. It's it's it's just gone And and and I knew Within the first few weeks of us being there that God was on the move and some of y'all were praying for us We could see and feel the prayers Seriously, and and then the second ones there was a young mother that came up She told she was told that she more than likely has breast cancer And so we started praying over her and one of our friends here miss Kathy in Tennessee Actually was there at our church visiting us and on that day, so she got to pray with us and so we prayed the prayer of faith over this lady and She went to the doctor and they said oh, there's nothing there. It's just dense tissue Well, we know what the dance was. It was cancer and God healed it right And so we we saw God move in miraculous ways My second week on the job. I preached a sermon and It was about Jesus being in our boat in a storm. You guys know that story and And so what happened is a pre I preached this message. I actually sang a song. I was called the singing preacher So I'm just kidding. I guess I titled myself that because it felt awkward like singing and then preaching so

anyways So we're I'm singing this song that day. You guys know praise you in the storm oldie, but goodie. Come on, right? And and and those those words are so powerful like I'm gonna praise you in this storm I'm gonna lift my hands you are who you are no matter where I am Right, and so we're singing this song and then right after church We have this storm blow through and it blows off the front of our building bricks come tumbling down and and it was wild because the the Hole that was left in in the brick looked like a boat If you ever wonder if God still moves and works he shows up right now right here He's a God of the today not a God of the tomorrow, right? He's he's still active and working And What I love is that these aren't just Bible stories we're reading they're not stories from way way back These are stories to prove that God moves the way he says he does and so Later on we would get an interview with the the local news And so the local news comes and some of y'all were commenting like he's already on the news Look at that guy. It was like three weeks in you know Which was crazy and so so I'm on the news and I was smiling the whole time because in my mind God did this he will provide to fix it that was my mind and so so I was smiling on the interview and I had somebody comment after we're like you were so happy that the church got tore apart I mean I wasn't but sort of you know and so so what happened next was we ended up raising $36,000 over half of it came from outside of our members of our church in fact 7,000 of it came from some random dude in Hemphill Texas none of y'all even heard of that right Hemphill Texas he came and drove down over an hour and right when I was leaving for the day this guy shows up he goes I need to talk to somebody about this right here I was like what the building he's like yeah right there he's like where you guys at on that and I said oh we're about 5,000 short of our goal to be completely funded and he goes 5,000 you say and this dude looked like a average Joe okay nothing special

about his appearance nothing miraculous and this dude whips out his checkbook starts writing and says $7,000 so God made a way God made a way there whether it was no way and and he fixed the building he actually made it stronger than before in fact the awning that was put on the building is steel beams about this thick let me tell you something it ain't never moving unless God does it again which he can move anything but but I'm telling you when God disrupts something he will make sure to give you back what you lost come on somebody and even more so when we went to Texas the Bible verse that God gave us was Joshua 1 9 have I not commanded you be strong and courageous do not be afraid do not be discouraged come on do not be discouraged do not be discouraged for the Lord your God will be with you wherever you go what's crazy about this Bible verse is we had it put on our heart God gave us this to give us peace to move God gave us this verse we show up the first Sunday to the tryout to make sure I don't stink I'm not gonna say but yep stink at preaching and we show up and on their little bulletin for the day the Bible verse that rotates every week just happened to be Joshua 1 9 and and you talk about let me tell you something there are plenty of people that hear stories like this and they're like that why doesn't that happen in my life let me tell you how it happens Oh obedience obedience you're not gonna make it happen God sees your obedience and moves on your behalf right and so we're here having this Bible verse what I didn't realize it says I'll be with you wherever you go what I didn't realize is he really meant it like everywhere we went I'm talking about my kids being blessed I'm talking about my wife being blessed let me tell you what God did real quick I didn't share this first service so y'all gotta y'all got another story so when my wife first got there she had a job at a bank where we came from here she was with our kids not only did we move but she lost the ability to be with her kids in a place that she doesn't know and her mama heart was broken and she asked God like God I just I don't know what to do about this give me faith Lord and she's like so awesome dude she was just like she wasn't expecting anything she just trusted the Lord literally about a month

or so into our time there a job opens up as at the secretary at the school about 20 people applied for it guess who got it my wifey let's go and it was no problem and you know how she got it y'all ready for this she shared the gospel in the interview that's a true story so so God moved on behalf of our family all the way around our oldest son was the star of the basketball team he was being asked to be on a you teams he played a you in Houston He played against some inner-city Houston guys. Let me tell you what God did there real quick, is they had lost all these games because his team stunk. I'm not going to lie to you. He didn't stink, but the other guys, it was tough, okay? And here they are playing against the world's best athletes, and my son's getting discouraged. The next morning, they either win this game or they don't get another game, okay? The next morning, I said, Elias, God is asking you to ask him for help. You've been trying to do this all on your own. Ask God for help. And as we drive down the road, let me tell you what God did. There are signs on buildings about just like trusting God and all these. It was just wild, and I started crying in the truck because I said to him, let me tell you the word I released to him. I said, the Lord just told me you're going to win this game today,

and it's not going to be through your strength. It's going to be through God's strength. Let me tell you what happened. Elias was the reason they won that day, but he wasn't the reason that they won that day because God was actually behind it all. They won on an inner-city Houston team that was more athletic, taller, faster. David and Goliath, somebody? And so what happened next was they won the game, and afterwards, I said, do you see what God can do? So many faith moments, so many faith-building moments happened in Texas, but did you know that that was our training ground for what we were about to walk into? See, when I was the worship pastor here, I just sang a song, but God had more for my life than singing a song. And what's about to happen at this church, I hope you're ready. Seriously, I hope you're ready, because if you're not, too bad, it's happening anyway. God is about to do a miraculous work in this church and in our body, and the Lord told me this morning that for new doors, there's going to be new doors. Come on, somebody. There's going to be new doors open in your life, new seasons, new things, and God is asking you to trust Him,

and you're going to need your armor to get through it. Ephesians 6, 13 through 17 says, "'Therefore, put on the full armor of God "'so that when the day of evil comes, "'you may be able to stand your ground, "'and after you have done everything to stand.'" What? Stand. What? Stand. Stand firm. Does it say do something? What's it say? Stand. Stand firm, then, with the belt of truth buckled around your waist, with the breastplate of righteousness in place, and with your feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace. In addition to all this, take up the shield of faith with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God. Point two today, putting on the full armor produces a full victory. Did I say partial? Full armor. So, God doesn't do things halfway, in case you didn't notice.

That's a trait that only comes from humankind, right? God will finish what he started, amen? So, let's roll through this. I know this is gonna be a lot of info. Maybe you need to, like, refer back to this, right, at another time, but check this out. The belt of truth. In Roman times, that belt held everything together in the armor. It started there. What is this saying to us today? I don't know, maybe your identity? Who you say you are? Who God says you are? Let me ask you a question. Do you know who God says you are? Because if you don't, we better be figuring that out real quick, right? In a world where everyone is confused about identity, okay, in a world where everyone is trying to be a social media influencer, I'm, like, walking the other way, you know? God, just make me what you've made me to be. And whatever happens from here, whatever increase you bring, I'm here for it. The breastplate of righteousness. In Roman times, this protected all of the soldiers' vital organs. And so, in retrospect to us today, it's living in right relationship with God.

Protects us from death blows. So a lot of you have felt like you're about to die in some of the battles you faced. But I'm here to tell you today, when we put on the breastplate of righteousness, we are protected from those death blows. And get this, the breastplate was actually buckled directly into the belt. OK? So if the belt was loose, identity, who you are, the breastplate would slip off. So guess what that leaves you susceptible to? Death blows, right? Some of y'all have been like, my whole family has been death blows for generations. And what I have for you today is put on the armor of God, the shoes of the gospel of peace. We should be walking in peace as we proclaim the good news of Jesus Christ. And in a world of chaos, we have found something the world yearns for, peace. Right? Our steps, come on, are ordered by the Lord. And if our steps are ordered by the Lord, we should definitely be walking in peace. What can harm us? Who can be against us? Psalm 37, 23 says, the Lord makes firm. Everybody say firm. Not your mattress. The Lord makes firm the steps of the one who delights in him.

Who delights in him, right? And so let's delight in him. Let's delight in his ways. The shield of faith. Faith removes doubts. And I know somebody needs to hear this today. Even self-doubt. Self-doubt, right? It eliminates the fear of the unknown. It makes hardship temporary and not permanent. You think the disciples maybe knew some of this? Like, you think they maybe wore some of this armor? Because they were in prison. They were being beat. They were being mocked. They were being rejected. And none of it affected them. Because the faith that they had was what was to come was better than what was current. They had faith and knew that whatever was ailing them at the moment was not permanent. Some of y'all need to look the devil in the face and say, my situation isn't permanent. The Lord and the Lord that I serve and the Jesus that I serve is the God of the impossible. And he's the one that moves when nobody else wants to move. He is for me, not against me. Let me tell you something. Most of my ministry has been God for me when everyone was against me.

In fact, I want to tell you guys, when we went to Texas, I'm going to tell you a little timeline here. And there's way more to this. We'll tell it another time. But when we left here, everybody's like, what are you doing? Are you serious? You're actually leaving? Why? Why? God? God said so? When we showed up in Texas, everybody's like, why are you really here? Why would you come here? What's the catch? What's the catch? And then when we were coming back, people are like, he must have failed. He must have failed. He's already back. Well, how about this? How about none of that is true? How about the enemy is planning things in our head to try to block up the progress for what God has next? How about this? How about the church that I left was actually thriving? And when I left, everybody's like, why are you leaving in the middle of all this? And what I said to them was what I said to this church

when I left. Because God spoke to me, and he told me to go. And if you have never followed the Lord, let me tell you this. You will be doubted every time you make a move for the Lord. You know why? Because doubt over your situation threatens your ability. You start doubting. Like if you start believing some of that stuff, you're like, am I really hearing God's voice? Did God really say? But the scripture tells me this, church. Y'all ready for this? The sheep know my voice. And I'll tell you this right now, I will look like a fool for him. I will look ridiculous for him. I will lose everything for him. When we left here, we burnt the ships. We sold our house. We sold a lot of stuff. We gave it away. We had no intention on coming back, even though we love y'all. We had no intention at all, but God had other plans. And here's what I love about it. I can stand up here today in complete faith and complete joy regardless of what you think of me. And I'll tell you this, man, I have worked some of the longest hours I've worked in ministry since I've been back, and I feel no stress. None. You know why? Because I have thankfulness. Sometimes you need to be removed from a place so that you can be extra thankful for all the attacks that's going to come later. And here's what I'll tell you today. Your thankfulness is directly tied to your joy.

If you are not thankful, you will not be joyful. Don't expect to experience the joy and the peace of Jesus Christ if you're over here worrying about every little thing, being an Eeyore, as my wife says. Right? Don't expect God to move being an Eeyore. Somebody needs to quote that. I'm just kidding. Lastly, the sword of the Spirit. All the parts of the armor of God are defensive, except for this one. This is the offensive weapon. This is a three-point shot, Steph Curry. Yeah. Right? This is the offensive weapon. And Jesus actually uses the sword of the Spirit, if you didn't know, is the Word of God. You know what my family has done the past a lot of years? We go to the Word of God when God's speaking to us. We go to the Word and if it matches up, we know that's God. Because His Word doesn't change. His Word doesn't return void. So we go to the Word of God and it matches up. And get this, when doubt comes crawling in and pouring in like a flood, guess what we do? Back Joshua 1.9. Back Joshua 1.9. Back Joshua 1.9. Right? That's what we did for a year. Every time we got discouraged, He said, don't be discouraged. Every time that we felt like we weren't enough, He said, be strong and courageous. So we refer back to our scripture. You know how important it is to read your Bible? It is impossible. I'm gonna say something, a bold statement. It is impossible for you to hear God and it not to line up with His Word, too. It's impossible. I promise you. I've followed God for a lot of years and I'm telling you right now, His Word will always reaffirm the calling on your life. Always. So Jesus used the sword of the Spirit, the Word of God, in His response to Satan in the temptation in the desert. Y'all remember that? He spoke the Word of God to Satan himself. He resisted the devil and the devil

fleed from him. Today I need some of y'all to realize that the Lord's wanting you to use His Word as a direct quote. Not an inspiration. A direct quote to the enemy's camp. So quote it. Every time I got discouraged, I told y'all, be strong in the Lord. I would say it out loud. I am with you wherever you go. Lastly, Ephesians 6, 18. And pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayer and requests. With this in mind, be alert and always keep on praying for all of the Lord's people. Point three. Praying in the Spirit allows intercession for our weakness. Praying in the Spirit allows intercession for our weakness. The Holy Spirit intercedes for us and prays prayers that we don't know how to pray. You guys realize that? Some of y'all are so mucked up in the mess, you don't even know how to pray. Right? Some of y'all have so many thoughts in your head because you are consumed with the chatterbox. up here you're so consumed with it that you can't even you can't even like when you close your eyes to pray you can't get words out you start thinking of other stuff and I came to talk to you specifically today and I want you to know something you need to speak to the chatter directly and respond in scripture quiet that little mouse that's who Satan is little little crush crush that snake's head come on somebody oh right crush it that's what the Bible says that we have the authority to do because of who Jesus so we crush his little attempts at discouraging us we crush his little attempts at making us not pray we crush his little attempts at putting on the armor of God as we're putting it on he's trying to distract us with something else let me tell you something speak to the curse speak to the curse listen I'm saying a lot of things I didn't say last service it's only the Lord Romans 8 26 through 27 in the same way the Spirit helps us in our weakness we do not know what we ought to pray for but the Spirit himself intercedes for us through wordless

groans and he who searches our hearts thank you Lord for searching our heart knows the mind of the Spirit because the Spirit intercedes for God's people in accordance with the will of God did you know that Jesus prayed for you when he was in the garden he was praying for you did you know that it didn't just stop there did you know that the Holy Spirit prays for you right now Jesus said I must go so that someone greater may come his name is the Holy Spirit and not only is he incredibly encouraging but he's incredibly powerful some of y'all need the fire of God to drop over your life and when you have it you'll never look back the disciples spent some time in the upper room and by the time they came out they had the fire of God and they never stopped working for the kingdom of heaven they never looked back I wonder here's who's here today and you're like super weak in fact you barely made it to church today you actually made a bunch of different excuses and then God interceded for you the Holy Spirit interceded for you a prayer and you ended up here anyway and you came in today weary broken the Lord sent me to tell you today he sent me 13 hours away in a situation that seemed permanent to get me here in this moment to speak to you this word so you were not here by an accident you were here somebody say on purpose God is always walking you on purpose and let me say another thing you don't run with God you walk with him some of you guys have been taking the worldly model of busyness and trying to apply that same model and hear God it don't work that way see God is humble at heart he's gentle and he walks where he goes the reason he has to walk is because you can't possibly you can't possibly intake if Jesus was running I don't know about y'all I hear one word from him and it blows my brain up it becomes millions of thoughts the God that we serve wants to speak to you today and he's coming down in the quiet now we're seven minutes over sorry Darrell but this is very important you are not here by an accident stop walking around like you're defeated stop walking around in weakness be strong and courageous be strong and courageous be strong and courageous come on say it be strong and courageous be strong and courageous the Lord is speaking that over your life today in the matters of

the Holy Spirit right now I know that he is speaking over your life and he's telling you in your specific situation. Everyone has a different one in here. He's saying be strong and courageous because the enemy's coming in like a flood, isn't he? You can't do that. You can't do that. You can't do that. But here's what I know. The enemy tried his hardest to not get me here today. He tried to tell me all the things that people would say about me. I'm being very vulnerable and honest and I hope you know if you don't know me, I'm a very real person. I try to be. And before this whole situation happened with my time here, the Lord tried to tell me all the reasons why I shouldn't come. But let me tell you something. Ain't nobody but God moving my life. I am strong and I am courageous in the Lord. And I hope that you take that title. Be strong and courageous. The Lord is with you wherever you go. He is with you wherever you go. And the Lord, through the song today, you guys sang it, the Lord is with me. My prayer is that you can actually sing that from a place of Him you actually feeling like He's with you. Because when we start singing worship songs from a place of obedience and God knowing, it hits different. It's a different type of praise. It's a different type of worship. So real quick, I'm gonna ask the prayer team to come up. And I want to ask you a couple questions today. Who has been going through a battle without their armor? Who's been going through the fight without a plan? Who's been going through the fight with their own strength? If that's you today, the Lord wants you to link up with your brother and your sister in Christ up here. And He wants you to start praying intercession over your life. The Bible tells us to bear each other's burdens. And whatever burden you're facing today, you don't have to be ashamed of it. You don't have to be... I mean, you should have saw me first service. It's not running down my face. You know? You don't have to be ashamed. Because the Lord is with you. If you want the Lord to be with you today, if you want to feel His presence over your life and over your battle, I want you right now to do something bold. We did this first service. We're gonna do it again. I want you to step out of your seat right now with

everybody looking. Be strong and courageous. Come on. Be strong and courageous. If that's you and you need prayer, come on. Come on. Right now. If you need prayer over your battle, if you need to accept Jesus as your Lord, if that's you, I want you to step out of your seat right now. We are not ashamed of the gospel of Jesus Christ. Come on. We are not ashamed of the gospel. Some of y'all need to defeat your fear by coming forward right now. Some of y'all need to defeat your fear by coming forward. Come on. Right now. If it's you, come on. The Lord's moving in this place. He's been moving in this place, and He's gonna continue to move after your obedience. Come on. If there's anybody else, there's plenty of people up here to pray. It's time to start praying the Lord's strength and His armor all over our life, and to get out the plans of the enemy. Amen? Lord Jesus, we come to you right now and we pray. We seek your face. We ask you, Lord God, to do something that only you can do. God, every battle, every victory, Lord, you are in it. And so, Father, today we put on the full armor of God, and we come in strong and courageous because you are with us. And everything that happens now will be a story later. It will be a testimony later. And God, we look forward to the day to tell the testimony of what you've done, and how you're moving, and how you're working. Thank you for the obedience of the people in these altars. We love you, Lord Jesus. We give you all the praise. Let your name be lifted up in the highest place. In Jesus' name, we pray. And everybody said, let's sing together. The hour is done and it's hard to see what you are doing here in the ruins and where this will lead. Oh, but I know that down through the years I'll look on this moment and see your hand on it and know you were here. And I'll testify of the battles you won, how you were my portion when there wasn't enough. And I'll testify of the seas that we crossed, the waters you parted, the waves that I walked. Singing, oh, my God did not fail. Oh, it's a story I'll tell. Singing, oh, I know it is well. Oh, it's a story I'll tell. Believing gets hard when options are few. When I can't see what you're doing, I know that you're proving you're the God who comes through. Oh, but I know that over the years I'll look back on this moment and see your hand on it and know you were here. And I'll testify of the battles you won, how you were my portion when there wasn't enough. And I'll testify of the seas that we crossed, the waters you parted, the waves that I walked. Singing, oh, my God did not fail. Singing, oh, it's a story I'll tell. Oh, I know it is well.

Oh, it's a story I'll tell. And all that is left is highest praises. So sing hallelujah to the rock of ages. Come on, sing all that is left. All that is left is highest praises. So sing it, sing it. So sing hallelujah to the rock, to the rock of ages.