Game Plan | Part 7

They sing the song of ages to you They're all gone before us And all will believe They'll sing the song of ages to you And the angels cry Holy, our creation cries Holy, you are lifted high Holy, Holy forever If you can forgive them and defend the deed Sing the song forever to the Lamb If you want, if you want its freedom And if you first name Oh, sing the song forever to the Lamb And the angels cry, holy Holy, our creation cries Holy, you are lifted high Holy, holy forever Give your people, give your people, sing Holy, to the Kingdom, please Holy, you will always be Holy, holy forever Your name is the highest Your name is the greatest Your name stands above them all All phones and debates All powers and positions Your name stands above All your name Your name is the highest Your name is the greatest

Your name stands above them all All phones, if they're made Every power and position Your name stands above them all your name Your name is the highest Your name is the greatest Your name stands above them all All phones and debates Every power and position All Jesus of your name Who stands above them all All your people, sing just Holy, to the Kingdom, please Holy, you will always be Holy, holy forever Give your people, sing Holy, to the Kingdom, please Holy, you will always be Holy, holy forever You will always be Holy, holy forever You will always be Holy, holy forever (intense music) ♪ Holy forever ♪ ♪ Hey ♪ ♪ Holy forever ♪ [music] Go ahead, just begin to lift your voice.

Come on, just begin to lift your voice. Go ahead and thank Him for what He's done in your life. Go ahead and praise Him for what He's done in your life. Come on, don't wait for a song. Go ahead and let a song begin to rise out of you today. Right from your heart, right from your testimony. What is God done in your life? Would you begin to shout it? What does God heal in your life? Would you begin to shout it? [music] Holy, holy is the Lord. Worthy, worthy is the Lord. [music] We cry, holy, holy, holy. We cry, holy, holy, holy. We cry, holy, holy, holy, holy. He's the Lord. [music] We follow that. We lay our crowds at the field of Jesus. The greatness of His mercy and love at the field of Jesus. We follow that. We follow that. We lay our crowds at the field of Jesus. He's the greatest of His mercy and love at the field of Jesus. We cry, holy, holy, holy, holy. We follow that. [music] We cry, holy, holy.

We cry, holy, holy. ♪ Yes, we do, we cry ♪ ♪ Oh, we cry ♪ ♪ Oh, we cry ♪ ♪ Oh, we cry ♪ ♪ Oh, we cry ♪ ♪ Oh, we cry ♪ ♪ Oh, we cry ♪ ♪ Oh, we cry ♪ ♪ Oh, we cry ♪ ♪ Oh, we cry ♪ ♪ Oh, we cry ♪ ♪ Oh, we cry ♪ ♪ Oh, we cry ♪ ♪ Oh, we cry ♪ ♪ Oh, we cry ♪ ♪ Oh, we cry ♪ ♪ Oh, we cry ♪ ♪ Oh, we cry ♪ ♪ Oh, we cry ♪ ♪ We shout it, we cry ♪ ♪ Oh, oh, oh ♪ ♪ Oh, oh, oh ♪ ♪ Oh, oh, oh ♪ ♪ We sing, we cry ♪ ♪ Oh, oh, oh ♪ ♪ Oh, oh, oh ♪ ♪ Is the land ♪ ♪ Round one hand ♪ ♪ That can silence the roaring waves ♪

♪ I know that ♪ ♪ That can empty out the grave ♪ ♪ I know that ♪ ♪ It's the only thing that saves ♪ ♪ And it's worthy of all friends ♪ ♪ I call you deep, somebody tell you ♪ ♪ I call you, I call you deep ♪ ♪ Do you believe it ♪ ♪ You're ready and power ♪ ♪ Something comes out of the grave ♪ ♪ Somebody shout it ♪ ♪ Every time I call you Jesus ♪ ♪ I call you Jesus ♪ ♪ I call you Jesus ♪ ♪ I call you Jesus ♪ ♪ I call you Jesus ♪ ♪ I call you Jesus ♪ ♪ I call you ♪ ♪ I call you ♪ ♪ I call you ♪ ♪ I call you ♪ ♪ Something comes out of the grave ♪ ♪ Every time I call you ♪ ♪ Somebody shout the name of Jesus ♪ ♪ I call you Jesus ♪ ♪ I call you Jesus ♪ ♪ I call you Jesus ♪ (music) (music) (music)

(music) (music) (music) (music) (music) (music) (music) (music) (music) (music) (music) (music) (music) (music) (music) (music) Every time I call you I say, say, I call you, I call you, say, say, say, say, say, say, say, say, say, say, say, say, say, say, say, say, say, say, say, say, say, say, say, say, say, say, say, say, say, say, say, say, say, say, say, say, say, say, say, say, say, say, say, say, say, say, say, say, say, say, say, say, say, say, say, say, say, say, say, say, say, say, say, say, say, say, say, say, say, say, say, say, say, say, say, say, say, say, say, say, say, say, say, say, say, say, say, say, say, say, say, say, say, say, say, say, say, say, say, say, say [MUSIC] [MUSIC] >> Somebody go ahead and take ten seconds and let loose more praise. Come on, go ahead, take eight more seconds, let loose some praise. Somebody's down to go, somebody's down to go. >> [APPLAUSE] >> This is your song today, somebody shout. [MUSIC] >> Do you know where you stand today? Somebody say where will death? [MUSIC] Somebody at home, say where old death is now bursting? Where old grave is old victory?

Come on, somebody let loose the praise? [MUSIC] >> Move down, where old death is now bursting? Where old grave is old victory? Death is coming alive, death is coming alive, death is coming alive. [MUSIC] >> Death is coming alive, death is coming alive, death is coming alive, death is coming alive. In the day I call you Jesus, I call you Jesus, I call you Jesus. I call you Jesus, I call you Jesus, I call you Jesus. I call you Jesus, I call you Jesus, I call you Jesus. Come alive, death is coming alive, death is coming alive, death is coming alive, death is coming alive. So we've been in the series called Game Plan, and how to overcome as a believer, how to conquer, how to win as a believer in Jesus. And I pray that for those of you that are seasoned saints, that this is encouraging you and strengthening you and those of you that are in the battle for your life and you feel defeated, you're in the right place. Those of you watching online, you feel like I'm never going to get ahead, I'll never win, I feel like the enemy's after me and the world's after me and my family's after me. You need this word. to Paul's words to the church in Philippi, to those new Christians there. And I wanna read this passage of Scripture. Here's the goal in the game plan. Here's really the goal of every believer. This is it. This is it. You see a lot of victories, you see healing, you see prosperity, you see direction in your life, but here's the true goal of the follower of Jesus Christ. And he said it. Verse 10, "I want to know Christ," that's it. I wanna know in that word, no, there is not knowledge. It is a very intimate term to intimately know him because he intimately knows me.

I want to know Christ and experience the mighty power that raised him from the dead. See, I just think the word is powerful and when you speak it out of your mouth, I just believe it makes the enemy tremble. So how about all of us here, those of you at home, I want us to read that Scripture out loud, okay? This is your goal in life. This is the reason why you exist. You ready? Come on, let's say it together. I want to know. And. And that's not just talking about the resurrection of the dead only. This is talking about resurrection power that lives in you in a daily basis, not only for the power of the resurrection, but to totally defeat and crush Satan in whatever battle you are going through right now as a believer. And those of you who don't know Jesus Christ, what we have access to, you have access to, if you'll just receive him, believe him and follow him and know him, he will reveal to you what he has because this is a battle. This is not just a game. This is a war for your soul. So Paul, not only writes these believers in Philippi, but he speaks to the Christians

at Ephesus, these believers. And I want you to go and look at this one because this is very interesting. We started this last week and I'm gonna finish this part of this message today. But look what he says in Ephesians 6, 10. He says, "Be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power." Isn't it an in stream to the Philippians? He said, that mighty power. Now he says, you gotta be strong in this game, this war, in his mighty power, that resurrection, that supernatural, dunamous power that dwells in the believer. He says, put on all of God's armor so that you will be able to stand firm against all strategies of the devil. For you are not fighting against flesh and blood, but against evil rulers, authorities of the unseen world. You have a real devil after you. Against mighty powers in this dark world. If you're gonna fight mighty powers of darkness, you better have mighty power within you. And against evil spirits in heavenly places, church, can I tell you? I know there's a lot of things going on in our world, but you need to understand your main attack needs to be against principalities and powers, demonic forces that are operating even through people, even through nations, operating even in systems. You need to be going after that with all your might. Go after that.

He says, therefore, now remember what? If there's a therefore, you gotta know what's there for. You are fighting this battle, whether you like it or not. You're in it. I don't care if you hate God, hate me, and you're an atheist and you go right ahead and believe it. It doesn't change the fact that the enemy hates you and he's coming after you. You believe what you wanna believe? I'm telling you, it's not changing that. He says, if that is a reality over there, therefore here's what you better do. Put on every piece of God's armor. Why? So you will be able to resist the enemy in the time of evil then after the battle, you will still be standing firm. And if somebody's standing firm, that means whoever came to fight you, isn't. When the dust settles, you're gonna be the one standing. You're the one who gonna be standing. So we called this series called It the Blitz. And you know what a blitz is? It's a court, in football, it's a coordinated attack by the defense designed to overwhelm the quarterback. So he cannot make the play, confuses them. And in fact, the real thing he wants to do, they wanna sack that quarterback, injure him. Well, I want to tell you the same thing happens in the spirit realm. Satan is overwhelming some of you to attack you with pressure from the world, stress and anxiety, panic attacks, some of you, he's overwhelming you with fear.

You're afraid, what's going to happen to this world? What's going to happen to my money? Am I ever going to have a job? Ay, I's going to steal my job. You're sitting here in panic, and you're in worry. You got so much anxiety over the finances, over the future, over nations, over war, over what's happening, he will overwhelm you with this. Some of you, he's overwhelming you with bitterness and hurt. You've tried our church, could you see if our church can do better than the last church? Because the last three got hurt, and I don't know if I can trust Christians ever again. I know it's real, I'm not trying to trivialize it. I'm just saying to you, Satan is doing everything in his power to overwhelm you with bitterness, with lies, with temptation, with pressure, with stress, with worry, with panic, and what does he really want to do? He wants to sack you and take your faith out, take my word for it. But how many of you thank God? There's a mighty power in you that's more mighty than the powers of darkness and the principalities that seem to be assigned to you. Just remember that. So just real quick, go listen to the whole series, everybody. Go listen, well listen to the whole series, but listen to last week's teaching that connects with this one. You need to know that there are ways of the enemy. So here's what Paul says. Paul says this, he says, stand firm against all strategies, everybody say strategies. There are strategies of Satan, and the Greek word there is methodia, which where you get the word methods. So he says he has a method that's different for you than's different for Pastor Sam, but he knows your vulnerability. It could be your insecurity, your rejection, he knows the vulnerability.

He knows it. So what he does is he uses that strategy and it's a scheme. He's crafty, he's smart, the Bible describes him at this. But here's what his real purpose is, his ways of the enemy. Here's his real purpose. His purpose last week we discovered is to destroy you. That is plain and simple, what he wants to do. You need to understand Satan is out to destroy you, your pastor, anything that resembles the image of God. He doesn't just want you to fumble the ball. He wants to finish your faith where you no longer believe or trust God whatsoever. And Jesus was real clear about it when he said in John 10, 10, he says, the thief, cup not before to steal, kill and destroy. That is Satan's emo, steal, kill and destroy. But I also have a word in 1 John 3, 8 says, for this purpose was the son of God made manifest that he might destroy, that he might destroy every work of Satan. Instead of him stealing and destroying you, greater is the mighty power in you to destroy the works of Satan, the same agenda of Jesus is the same agenda for you and me to destroy him. That's his purpose. And his ploy, what's his ploy? What will he use? What is the strategy? It's going to be to deceive. I know some of you take your time and you sit there and you're watching all these horror movies and everything and you got the devil so big, you're living in such fear. But I'm going to tell you, Satan's weapon is not power. Satan's greatest weapon is not power. His greatest weapon is deception. If he can just twist God's truth, if he can just change it and turn the truth into the

lights, Romans 1.25 says he takes God's truth, turns it into a lie. So actually the lie people start believing the lie and you remember what I said? The lie actually becomes true to them. So it may be true what you're facing in your life or what you're feeling about your life. But it may not be truth. I'm going to say this again. Your feelings are true but take my word for it. They are not truth to live by. They're not. Look at Romans chapter 4 and verse 4. Look what Paul says to the Corinthians about the unbelievers. He says this, people who've turned away from God. He said, Satan, watch this, who is the God of this world, he's talking about this world, his planet, who's the God of this world has done what? Can you say the word blinded the minds of those who don't believe? In fact, then he goes on to say they're unable to see the light of the glorious gospel. I know some of you watch your video reels, your social media reels, and you think, how Can anybody be so deluded as to the minds. And the word "minds" there literally means mindset. It literally means the way of thinking. And you're saying to go, "What's the matter with you?" The problem is, is the culture can get so blind that if you shine light in the eyes of a blind person, you can shine and say, "Can't you see that?" And my hope is I just keep waving the light of the gospel. The light of Jesus Christ says, "Somehow, they see something, just move a glow that moves across the blinds who went and I just saw a glow." That somehow they see the light of the gospel through some glow that we keep shining, that the Holy Spirit opens our eyes to pursue that glow. And that glow is the light Jesus Christ. But you have to understand, folks, there is a mindset and Satan is totally deceived little by little, by little, by little, by little. But who, who are the prey of Satan? Remember I said this, the prey are the careless, especially those in the body of Christ. I want you to see something that Paul says. Now that last one in 2 Corinthians 4, 4, he's saying to the believers, "This

is what's happened to folks. This is what happened." But look what he says to the believers in 2 Corinthians 11 and verse 3. Look what he says, the apostle Paul. He says, "But I am what?" Can you see the word up there? Say that out loud, "But I am what?" Okay, the apostle Paul isn't afraid of anything. He tells him, he says, "To live is Christ to die is gain." In fact, if you put me out, if you just take my life, listen, I don't know whether I'd rather be with him than be with you. So if you take me out and you kill me, you'll be doing me a favor. You're going to get me in God's presence because I want to know him. That's all I'm pursuing. I want him. So this cat who's had the shadow, but listen, this cat has been incarcerated in more prisons than you've driven by. He's been beaten and left for his dead. This guy has all these threats being beat up, left for dead. When this kind of cat says he's afraid, you don't get afraid of anything. You're not even afraid of people killing you. I want to know what you're afraid about. If you're that tough of a person, that's strong and you're afraid, I want to know what you're afraid about. Look what he says to you and I, the believers. He says, "But I am afraid that just as Eve, you know Eve, the one who walked with God on the cool of days, walked and felt the very presence of God, that lady, the one that knew no sin, the one that was in a perfect environment, perfect marriage, perfect living virus, perfect fellowship with Jesus, no sin, that woman." He said, "Just as Eve was deceived by the serpent's cunning, his methods. Your minds, your mind-believer, your mind, young person, young adult, your mind, may somehow be led astray from your sincere and pure devotion to Christ. Church, how may you believe like never before as we are approaching the return of the Lord Jesus Christ? We have to keep our minds attuned to Jesus Christ and his word, lest somehow we get led astray." Yeah? So he says, "These are the ways of your enemy. He's trying to deceive. He's trying to destroy. This is his plan. He does it through deception. But how many thank the Lord that he didn't just save us? How will you thank God he equipped us with the power of his spirit and equipped, as Paul said, with weapons?" So there may be the waves of Satan, but let's talk about the weapons of the equipped. You are a born-again believer. You are equipped. So that's why Paul said, "Let's go back to Ephesians 6, 13." He says, "Therefore, put on every piece." I know some of you are saved and you know about some of the armor that the helmet is salvation, but some of you, "Oh, you got on with your helmet is salvation

and you got nothing else on." Could you imagine the detroit lines going out to play their game and not have any type, no protection whatsoever? Could you imagine that? But yet believers go like this all the time. He said, "Don't fight naked against the enemy." He says, "Put every piece of God's armor on you, so you will be able to resist the enemy in time of evil. Then after the battle, after the battle, you will still be standing firm." This is so cool. So Paul is in prison. Remember that. So he's in prison, and while he's writing, the Holy Spirit gives him a revelation to tell us. Paul is constantly under arrest. So guess who's holding him in that prison? A Roman soldier. The enemy's never been real bright. God uses his weapons to give us great illustrations. And he looks up in the Holy Spirit, says, that's what I'm talking about right there. This is what, and he sees the armor on this Roman soldier standing there guarding him. And it's what he saw his whole life. This is what the believer saw. Was this Roman soldier all the time around him. And you look at this. And he looks at them and he says, now here's the first thing you have. And he starts examining each piece. And the Holy Spirit says, this is what I've given you in the spirit realm as a believer. And he starts pointing it out. He says, the first thing you have is the belt of truth.

Can everybody say the belt of truth. So verse 14, he says, stand your ground, putting on. So how many know you have to be intentional? This doesn't come by osmosis. You have to intentionally be in things to put on the full armor of God. He said, so putting on the belt of truth. Now, the belt of truth, I want to show you the belt of truth. This is kind of what it would look like. That Roman soldier's belt kind of looked like this. This is the best replica of what he would have seen. So this was not a decorative piece. It would decorate, but it's not a decorative piece or a accessory like you might wear. You're saying, you said to your husband, does this belt go with my outfit? This was not a decorative piece. What this piece did, this was strategic. It's interesting that the Holy Spirit would go for this first that you probably didn't see, but it's called the belt of truth. This piece held the entire armor system together. So it supported the sword. Watch this. It had shield clips on it that would hold the shield when they go to battle. So they're not carrying all the weight just on an arm and wearing themselves. It would have a shield clip. And then the breastplate of armor was actually attached to this belt.

And he had to have this one strategic piece held all of it together and he had to have it fastened tight. If he didn't have it fastened tight, then it could fall off as he's maneuvering and he's in battle. It would fall off. It had to be on there tight. He had to make sure because it held everything else. Now, look, you might've had your fashion accessory. You got your belt on. And if your belt comes loose, okay, it's you're gonna lose the one thing it's holding. And the worst thing happened to you is you get embarrassed. That's it. But if this guy lost his belt, he was gonna die. He would be destroyed. He said this belt of truth is imperative because it holds everything else. So here's what I wanna tell you about the truth and the word of God. Truth is what holds your entire spiritual life together. And if you think that you're gonna survive outside of knowing the truth, Jesus Christ and the word of revelation, who he is, you will not survive and some of you are living too loose when it comes to following Jesus Christ with your belt. That's all right. So it's not just about gaining knowledge. It's about gaining him. This is why John 1-1, you go back there,

write that scripture down, just go look for it. It says in the beginning was the word and the word was with God and the word was God. He was with God in the beginning through him, all things were made. So it's talking about Jesus Christ, it's not just him, it is his word. So the word of God, Jesus has to be central and his word because he is the word, has to be central in your life, it has to be a priority because all of your spiritual weaponry is ineffective if you do not seek Jesus and know the word which is Jesus Christ, the truth. This is the reason why I simply said, well, I don't know where to start at pastor, I don't know where to start. Go again to your Bible app, the church app we have, go to church app on your app store, go to church app, look for Grand Rapids first, download that and if you have it, just go to it and go today's sermon, you're gonna see Bible reading plan. You can hit on that and then you can prove other plans that are there but start somewhere, start getting the word, well, I don't understand, well, there's some great translations so you can better and say, well, I don't know how it all works. Well, you know, I don't understand how every morning I get up and eat and then I'm gonna eat lunch today, I'm gonna eat supper today. I don't know how all the proteins and the enzymes

work in my body but just 'cause I don't understand how it works and makes my body grow, Just because I don't know how electricity works doesn't mean I don't flip the light switch on anyway to illuminate my path. His word is a light unto your pathway. It'll start illuminating things. This is so critical. And some of us, I was just talking with one of our elders this morning, I am amazed at how many believers don't know the simplicity of the truth of the Word of God. And they're being deceived. They're starting believing some things in our culture that I just cannot believe some believers. I'm going, it's right here. How does that happen? Because they don't know the truth themselves. In fact, this Wednesday, I know you're going to talk about this, we had this open house on Wednesday. Come, everybody come, hang out, hang out, and get to meet some people, but get to see what's there. One of the classes that's going to be available, and we're going to keep making this available, is a simple class on how to study the Bible, how to read your Bible, how to see Jesus in your Bible. Some people just don't know how to study the Word, so we're going to have small groups on just simply learning how to study and read your Bible. You know why? Because some people don't have the simplicity, and they're living too loose in their life, because the belt is loose. This is the reason why it's so important. Listen, God's Word, culture says, well, truth is relative, that it's always changing. God's Word is not changing, everybody.

God's Word is based on the absolute authority of the perfect Holy God that has showed us the path to walk. That's why Psalm 119 tells us, "Your eternal Word, O Lord, stands firm in the heavens." God has not changed his mind in his Word, everybody. He hasn't changed his mind about the power of his blood that wipes out your sin and gives you eternal life. He has not changed his mind about healing your body, your mind, and your spirit. He has not changed his mind about heaven, that's a blessing. He has not changed his mind, his Word, about hell that is a reality of torment. He has not changed his mind about the baptism of the Holy Spirit. He has not changed his mind about your family getting saved. He has not changed his mind about your mind, about your full of peace. He has not changed his mind, but some people don't know the truth. And that is the central piece whereby your spiritual life is held together. The truth. Next he says the breastplate of righteousness, verse 14. He says, "So stand your ground putting on the belt of truth the body armor of God's righteousness." That word body armor literally means breastplate of God's rights and breastplate of God's righteousness. Here's a picture of it right there. And when you look at this, this was directly connected, as I told you, it was attached or connected to the belt of truth. This one piece of armor protected their heart. The most vital organ, it pushed blood to every other part of the body and the life was in the blood. In fact, the heart is what pushes the life of God to all the other parts of your body, your spiritual walk. Watch this. Without this piece of armor, one will place a blow and it was fatal. It was over.

It was out. So here's what Paul says. You need to cover your heart. Now what does he mean by the heart? The heart is your identity when Jesus Christ comes in that your identity is in him. This is talking about your inward affections that as your identity is in him, it starts changing your inward affections from the things you used to follow now directly toward him. He says, "Cover your heart with the breastplate of righteousness." Well, what is righteousness? Righteousness is right standing with God. You have right standing with God through your identity in Jesus Christ when you are born again and give your life to him. Righteous means the right standing with God through Jesus Christ and his sacrifice on the cross. If you don't, here's what Satan does. He deceives. You don't go to Jesus Christ for your right standing. You go to your own self-righteousness to perform, to believe that you have acceptance with God because of your performance. This is what the law did. The law, they were keeping the law and they said, "Basically, the law was saying, 'Lord, we're performing the law, so we really don't need Jesus. We've already done it through the law.'" That's what it says. "My performance," and here's what self-righteousness is. Self-righteousness is believing your performance can replace Christ's righteousness. That somehow, if we give enough money, if I tend church enough, if I do all these things right, then God will let me in. It will not work, and here's what Satan's going to go for for the believer, that somehow, I'm not reading the Bible enough, I'm not a church enough, I'm not performing enough,

I'm not doing a good works, I wish I wouldn't get angry as much, was so do we. work of Jesus Christ because your righteousness, as I said, is nothing but a filthy rag, and it will not get you into the presence of God." So Paul's battling this. This is why Paul says this. Look at Philippians 3-10. Paul says, "I no longer count on my own righteousness through obeying the law. Rather, I become righteousness through faith in Christ. For God's way of making us right with Himself depends on your faith. Everybody, I'm telling you, it is simply leaning and trusting in what Jesus Christ did. It protects your identity. He says, "Cover it because it leads and brings life to everything else in your walk with Jesus Christ." Then he goes to another piece of armor. He says, "The shoes of peace." I really wanted to call this "killer shoes." Look what he said in verse 15. "For shoes put on the peace that comes from the good news so that you will be fully prepared." So he's looking at this soldier and he looks down at his feet, and this is what he would have seen. He would have seen these shoes here. It was strong leather, but pliable, but then he had these iron hobnails on the bottom of it. That's what he's seen. Some of you have seen these depictions, some preachers preach it with spikes. That's not what they would have worn. It had been more like this, these hobnails, but these hobnails gave them an incredible advantage when they were fighting, and it gave them incredible traction to stand their ground while they were fighting. He says, "You need to put on these shoes that give you stability and strength while you're in the battle, while you're fighting right now." He says, "It's going to give you peace." That word "peace" there, when I look, it's not shalom. The word "peace" there was actually in the Greek. It meant confidence, prosperity. Watch this. Freedom from worry. He says, "When you're in the battle, am I going to die? Is this going to work? Has God forgotten it?" He says, "Have your feet ready standing for him that God is your confidence. God is your supplier, your source, your prosperity. Every success you have comes from God." He says, "And it can keep you free from worry." When you're watching your newsfeed, when you're seeing the video reels, he says, "Would you please stop worrying about tomorrow? Here's the reason why." Not because of your financial portfolio or 401(k), and that's why you're secure. He said, "Here's the reason you're secure because of the good news." The word "good news" there meant the message of salvation. What Jesus did to crush and defeat Satan at the cross is now in you so you can face death

with confidence. You can face this culture with confidence. You can face every panic, every anxiety, every situation in, and have absolute peace in the middle of the battle. Can someone thank God? Victory comes to believers who simply refuse to move. You'll stand your ground. I don't know what's going to happen with school. I don't know if I want to get this job. I don't know what's going to happen with my marriage. Just stand firm in the truth of what you have and be strong. This is why I love what Paul said in Romans 1620. He says, "You may be in the battle, but here's what's going to happen. The God of peace," and it's the same word used in Ephesians. "The God of confidence, prosperity, success, and freedom from worry." He says, "The God of peace is going to crush Satan under your feet shortly." Come on. You may be in the battle. Stay calm. Stay in the word. Your enemy is going to be defeated because he already is. Oh, let's give God some praise on that one just right there just for a moment. Yes. Then he says, "Take up the shield of faith." He says, "In addition to all of these, you got them, every piece. Hold up the what, everybody? Shield of faith to stop the fiery arrows of the devil." I want to show you what it would look like those shields. This is what they would actually look like. It was about four foot high. It was curved, so it would cover almost the entire body. He says, "Use this shield to quench every fiery dust." These are arrows they would shoot with fire in them. This is what they would shoot. He said, "It will quench this to stop these fire arrows." So what they would do with these soldiers, this was wood covered in leather, sometimes multiple layers of leather, but covered in leather, so it was very absorbent. So what they do is they would soak, they would take, before going to the battle, they would soak it in water. So if they shot firing arrows, the water that was soaked up in that shield would actually put that fiery arrow out. Now let me tell you what the fiery arrow was, the fiery arrow was not there to kill them, it wasn't there to destroy them, the arrow was to start a fire to distract them so you could destroy them. And here's what Satan says to you and me, Satan distracts us by sending you fiery arrows to get your attention off of the battle and onto the fire. So right now what's happening is, he's not destroying you, he's just distracting you

with fire. So this is why he's got you ticked off at this person in your family. So it keeps your eyes off Jesus' answer to help get you whole, so he's going to keep you on the last hurt and the last defense that happened 26 years ago in your past. This is the reason why he's hitting some of you with more financial problems, that you don't have the freedom to give right where you are, because he's got you so concerned with the fire arrow you're watching the stock market, you can't even give, you can't even enjoy your money, because of the fire arrow. You're not even enjoying your family, he's got you so worried about your child, what's going on that you can't pursue God for you. He's got you so worried over money and fear and offense, listen in the fight, you got to know you have a weapon of defense that will extinguish the fire so you can concentrate on the real battle. The fire's not there to destroy you, it's to distract you so he can destroy you. How many in a fight right now, come on, how many in a fight, just lift your hand, it's okay, you're in a fight. So if you're in a fight, use the shield, but can I tell you what else you need to do? It's okay for you to use my shield too. In fact, if I was in a fight, if I were you, I would hang out with more soldiers in this place that have got shields to protect you. Now why would I say this? Remember Paul is in the context of Roman soldiers and Roman warfare, and when they would go out to battle an enemy, they would do what's called the tortoise formation with the shields, and here's a picture of it. They would cover the top, they would cover the front, and even sometimes they would cover the side, go to the next shot. They would cover the side. So the more shields, the more coverage you have. This is the reason why some of you are so distracted by offense, I'm not trivializing offenses in church and you have to deal with those things, but I hear more people gab

about church hurt, but they don't gab about work hurt and college hurt and adolescent hurt and neighborhood hurt, but they want to point out church hurt. I'm not trivializing it, but that's what the enemy wants to do. He wants you to get away from other soldiers of faith so that when you're attacked, you get more distractions, but the time you're in the fire attack, you need more shields of believers around you quenching every fiery dart that will help you learn how to grow, how to mature, and how to move forward in Jesus Christ. Oh, come on, how many are you seeing this this morning? Your faith is stronger when you're surrounded by other believers that will carry the faith. This is why. This is why the scripture says in Galatians 6, 2, it says bear one another's burdens. This is the reason why the scripture says one of you shall put a thousand of light and the principle is it will send ten thousand of light. This is the reason why the Bible tells us for sake, not the assembly of yourselves together. It's not because you don't have enough, it's not because you have nothing better to do. It's because you're in a fight and you need every believer with shields of faith, brothers with shields of faith, sisters with shields of faith. This is the reason why Jesus said in Matthew 18, 20, for we're two or three, you're gathered together in my name, there I am in the midst. It's just not me covering you and believers covering you. You got Jesus in the middle of you, covering all of you in the middle of that fight. You need the shield of faith. So look at your neighbor and say, I got you covered, I got you covered, I got you covered. Here's the last one. You ready? Oh, excuse me, the next, the last one, the helmet of salvation. He says, put on your helmet of salvation, I'll show the helmet. It's very interesting, not very pretty, but it functioned well, covered the neck. It protected the head and even protected the cheek. This is what's so interesting.

he nominally changes your heart, he starts changing your mind. So much of the direction of my life is determined by what I let come out of this mouth. Listen, this mouth and these words and this tongue can heal people, or your mouth and my mouth can be like a slivering serpent hiding behind an enamel picket fence to strike people down and destroy your future. So when he says put on the helmet of salvation, he didn't know that God doesn't just change, God doesn't just, God doesn't just guard your mind, he'll start guiding your mouth, which starts guiding your life. His words start speaking through you, his word and his thoughts start coming to your life. He says, I want to guard your mind, your thoughts, and the way that you speak, because words, how many words are powerful, amen? That's why he gives us this final weapon, the sword of the spirit, and he says in verse 17, and take the sword of the spirit, which is what everybody, can you say it out loud? The word of God. Okay, this was not some ceremonial sword, you gotta see this. This sword was used for close, designed for close hand-to-hand combat. It was a double-edged sword, it would cut going this way and it'd cut going this way.

Now, I want you to notice everything about all the other pieces of armor. All the other pieces of armor were all defensive, but the sword, that was for advancing. That was not just defend in your territory, that was to take back territory that the enemies had. (audience applauds) I don't know what it is for you, but there's not just for you to defend what you have. Listen, I'm not just interested in peace-fitty coexisting with Satan and preserving our little island called Grand Rapids First. I am interested in you going, I'm not interested in 4,000 people coming to one place to hear about Jesus. I'm interested in 4,000 people going out of this place to 4,000 places with the word of God inside of them. That's what I'm interested in. Advancing, taking families in homes, education, governments, going into those places with the gospel of Jesus Christ. And let me just tell you, when that enemy saw that sword, it would strike terror because it was for destruction and advancement. The other ones were, this one was to move you forward, was the word of God. The sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God. Start getting the word in you folks, because that's how Jesus did it. In those 40 days in the wilderness,

when he was sitting there being tempted by Satan, three times he defeated Satan. Didn't have to say I'd bind you, he just did one thing. He didn't use miracles. Jesus didn't even use this power. He simply used the authority of the word. And he would say to Satan, it is written. And crush him every time he said it. Those 40 days, yes. You remember, Jesus has been fasting 40 days. He starved you. And Satan looks at him and says, listen, why don't you please yourself, your own appetite for a moment. I want you to turn these stones and command them to be bred. Jesus is starving. What does he say? He gives him Deuteronomy 8.3. Man shall not live by bread alone, but every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God. And any word that comes out of the mouth of God is going to come out of my mouth and your mouth. Then he takes them to the high pinnacle of the temple looking down. He says to him, look, look, look, look. Throw yourself down from this temple and let's see if the angels will protect you like God says you can command your angels and he'll watch over you, he'll have charge over you. He said, now I want you to prove that you're really God. Command the angels.

What does Jesus do? Doesn't flinch. He gives him Deuteronomy 6.16. He doesn't have to sit there and argue with him. He just gives him the word. You shall not tempt the Lord your God. What he was simply saying, I am God, don't you dare tempt me. And then he says, how about this? You know they're going to crucify you. You're sinless, they're going to abuse you. And he takes him and he stands over this kingdom. You want success? Satan says to him, if you'll just bow before me, you can have all this realm. You can have all the kingdoms of this earthly realm. He just uses the power of a sword, the word of God that cuts and destroys the enemy, and he just looks straight at it. You will worship the Lord your God. He alone will you serve. Do you see the power of the word of God? Do you see the reason why I want you to go through the growth path? Do you understand the reason why we want to have small... Do you understand the reason why I want to teach you how to use the word? It's because don't be careless. Don't think you're special and you're the exception. He hates you. He hates me. He hates anything that resembles the image of God Almighty, and that is you. And you need to come with Him with the Word of God. If He's here today telling you you can't be forgiven, look at your lifestyle. If they ever knew about the abortions, if they ever knew about this, if they knew about this, and they knew about this, and knew about this, and he's got you convinced that you can never be forgiven or saved. You can't ever be like Pastor Sam. Well, let me tell you, you've not heard all our testimonies in this room, but I do know one, test me, confess your sins to the Lord Jesus Christ, and He is faithful and just to forgive you and to cleanse you from all unrighteousness. Take the word at it. Take the word at it. Go through the valley of depression. I don't know if I'll ever get out of this, Pastor Sam.

Give Him the word. Weeping may endure for the night, but joy comes in the morning. Yeah, but how many times do I have to fight? It seems like I've got this one thing done and now I've got another problem. Yes, many are the afflictions of the righteous, but the Lord delivers us out of them all. That's the Word of God. Yeah, but Sam, I dedicated my child in church and my child has gone into a way that doesn't want to serve God. They told me they hate God, don't want anything to do with God. Don't you sit there and worry? Take the word of God. Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. You shall be saved and so shall your house. Take that. Give Him the word of God. You have a Pastor Sam? Pastor Sam, I'm so worried. No, no, no, no. My peace I've given to you, not as the world gives I unto you. Take the peace of God inside of you. Yeah, but I'm afraid I'm going to go broke. Yeah, well, my God shall supply all your needs, according to His riches in glory in Christ Jesus. Just give Him back the word for every single thing. Yeah, but I'm in bitterness. Yes, great peace that they that love thy law and nothing shall offend them. That's what the Word of God says. You can overcome it. Stop bringing your feelings and start standing on your faith and put on every peace armor and you're not there just to hold your territory. You're there to advance and take back everything that's been taken from you and your household. Can somebody just give God some praise in this house today, man? Amen. Amen.