That Voice in Your Head? It's Not Yours

I don't mean a real one. I've sized some of you up, by the way. Some of you, the men here, like, look. Some of you look like you got in some fights, right? So I'm just telling you, I'm not talking about the fight you got in a high school in your fraternity. I'm not talking about the fight you got in during boot camp in the Marine Corps. I'm not talking about those fights. I'm talking about, have you ever felt like you're in a fight no one else could see? You ever felt like you're in a fight that no one else even knew about, but you know. You're fighting discouragement. You're fighting anxiety. Feels like it won't shut off. You've been fighting thoughts that you wish you could escape. You're fighting to hold your family together. You're fighting for your kids. You're fighting for your marriage. Some of us are here right now. I mean, we're fighting for our marriage. You're fighting an addiction. You're fighting an old habit that you thought you'd beaten, but it keeps pulling you back. You're like, man, I promise I wouldn't do it, and I'm doing it again, and you're fighting it. You're fighting comparison, been there. You're fighting insecurity. You're fighting loneliness.

You're fighting to get out of beds in the morning. For some of you, you know what it feels like? You're fighting for your faith. You're fighting to trust God when he seems so silent right now. And I say that because we all know what it feels like to be in a fight that no one else can see. And here's the burden that I feel for this series. Too many of us are living discouraged and defeated because we are in a fight and we are in a battle that we do not feel prepared to fight. And we're here today and we feel discouraged and we feel defeated because we're fighting a battle. We don't feel prepared for it. And the two aims of this series built for battle, there's really two objectives. And the first is to open our eyes and wake our hearts up as to why it feels like we're in a battle every now and then. And the second aim of this series is then to prepare us for how to fight the battles that come our way as we can live prepared. And if you think of all this talk about battles and war and we're in a war and fighting, if you think that's all sensational language, you're like, man, don't look down on the head, Jason, you know, to describe what life feels like. I'm just telling you now, it's not my words. These are not my words. You don't need my opinion on life. These words come straight from the Bible.

This idea comes straight from the Scriptures. In fact, for this series over these weeks, we are actually camping out in one passage in the New Testament that we are just working through verse by verse, line by line. It's a passage that is about as empowering as any you will find in preparing us for the battles that come our way. I want to turn to this passage. I want you to see it as Ephesians chapter six. If you don't have a Bible, there's some in the seats besides you in most of our locations, page 898. If you don't see a Bible around you, just go in there on your phone. Open up just Google, Ephesians six, you'll get there. I want you to see this and as you're turning there, let me just tell you a little bit of context what we're about to see. What we're about to read actually comes from a letter that was written by one of the very first followers of Jesus, his name was Paul. He became a leader, a pastor in the church, and he wrote this letter to followers of Jesus who were living in the city of Ephesus. This is a modern day, it was an ancient city, it's a modern, it's still there today. You can find it in modern day Turkey. And we still have this letter recorded for it. Now, here's what Paul often did whenever he wrote these letters.

Ephesians is the same way. The first half of this letter, Paul reminds them who they are in Christ. He's just trying to tell them who they are. You are forgiven. If you put your life changed by Christ, you're forgiven. You're chosen. You're loved by God. He's just reminding them, here's who you are, here's who you are. The second half of the letter gets real practical. Paul's like, now in light of who you are, let's talk about how we live. Here's what it means to live as a follower of Jesus. Here's how Jesus will change the way we live our day in and day out lives. And then at the very end of this letter, in the last things he says, he gives one final charge in light of who we are in Christ, and in light of the life that Jesus Christ calls us to live. This is what he says. Ephesians chapter six, look at verse 10, we'll start there. It says, a final word, in other words, in light of everything we just saw, in light of the fact that you're loved, in light of the fact that you're chosen by God, in light of what God's called you to do, he says a final word, be strong. Let's say that together. Let's just say that together, ready? One, two, three, be strong.

Oh, LCBC, so you can do way better than that. All the locations right now, I need to hear you. I need to hear you, all right? Let's say it again. One, two, three, be strong, that was strong. Be strong in the Lord, and in his mighty power, put on all of God's armor, so that you will be able to stand firm. Let's say that, come on, stand firm. You can do better, you can do better. Let's say one more time, stand firm. Be strong, stand firm against what? Against all the strategies of the devil. We're not fighting against flesh or blood enemies, but against evil rulers and authorities of the unseen world, against mighty powers in this dark world and against evil spirits Paul is saying the reason you feel like you're in a fight that you cannot always see is because, ready for it? You are, you are, you're in a fight, you're in a battle. See, Paul doesn't say that we need to get into the fight. He doesn't say we need to enter into the battle. He's like, no, no, that part's settled, you're in it. You're in a battle, you're in the fight. You are wrestling with an enemy, and you don't stand a chance fighting a fight that you don't know you're in. And Paul is trying to wake us up to the reality that you have an enemy, and you are in a battle. You have an enemy. And that enemy is, as we just read, Satan, the devil,

in all the forces of darkness. Look, I've been around Christians throughout most of my life, my dad was a pastor, so we kind of grew up around him. And let me just tell you, two big mistakes, Christians, at least that I saw Christians tend to make, related to Satan. First is this, one mistake we make related to Satan is this, we give Satan way too much credit. Like we see Satan behind every single thing that happens. It's like, you know, it's like pastor, I'm broke, and I'm in debt, you know, the devil's just attacking me because I'm so broken in debt right now. It's like maybe, or maybe you just spend them more than you make. Could be that, you know, your car breaks down, like pastor, the devil's on the move, a car broke down, maybe, but also you drive a Chrysler. So I mean, that could be, that could be a factor, right? I mean, just saying, I've driven Chrysler's, don't email me, all right? So one mistake we make is we give way too much credit. It's like behind everything. But I actually think there's another side to this, another mistake is the opposite of this. This is the one that I think is way, way, way, way, way more common, and that is that we completely ignore that there is a spiritual dimension to our battles. We don't give a thought to it. We don't see anything. We ignore it completely. We don't even consider that there is a war

being waged in the unseen world for our souls. But if you wanna get serious about following Jesus, you're gonna see that Jesus makes it real clear that the most true thing, listen, the most true thing about this life is not the things we can see. It's the things we cannot see. That's what's most true. It's the spiritual world. It's the battle that is being fought right this second over every single one of us. And I wanna say this with as much clarity as I can say it. And I'm hoping that this sobers us. You have a spiritual enemy who is intent on destroying you, destroying your family and your relationship with God. And if you think I need to lighten up, like slow down, Jase, like just relax a little bit, I'm just telling you again, you don't need my opinion. That's not me saying that. This is exactly how Jesus describes Satan. Listen to Jesus's words about him, John 1010. He says, the thief talking about Satan calls him a thief. The thief, Satan, what does he come to do? He comes only to steal, kill, destroy. That is his mission, that is his intention, that is his aim. He knows that you are the object. Listen to me, every one of you,

you are the object of God's relentless love. And he will do anything and everything he can to rob you of that, to have you live defeated and discouraged. And not only that, we just read it. He has strategies specifically tailored for you to accomplish this. Strategies aimed at taking you out, wrecking your family, your kids, your relationships and stealing all the joy from you. Let me just tell you, here's four strategies. Here's four battle plans that Satan uses all through the scriptures you see this. Distraction, deception, if you're taking notes, write these down, discouragement, division. These are strategies of the enemy. We see this all through the scriptures. Let me just talk about these very briefly, distraction. This is a tactic and a strategy of the enemy to distract us. What does he do to distract us? He will do anything he can to make meaningless things in this life attractive and alluring. Things that really carry no significance become the things that we give our affection and our attention to, why? So that he can get us to spend all of our time and energy gaining the world, but losing our soul. What else will he do? He'll deceive, deception, a strategy enemy. He will lie, we're gonna talk a lot more about this one here in the next couple of minutes, okay?

But let me just say it like this. He will lie to you about who you are and who God is. back, take a seat and live a very small life of discouragement. The last one is division. He will do everything he can to divide you from others and from God. How? He will convince you that the real enemy in this life is your spouse, is your ex, is your neighbor, is your boss and all of a sudden he gets you divided and you're thinking the real enemies out there, you have missed what Paul said, no, no, no, our battle is not against flesh and blood. It's in the spiritual world. Guys, you're in a battle, you're in a real battle, one that cannot be seen but is felt. Have you felt it? And it is more real than anything you can see and you have a real enemy who has devised strategic plans intent on destroying you and robbing you of the purposes God has for your life. Aren't you glad you came to church today? Great for some good news, here's the good news, you and I are not helpless in that fight. We are not helpless in our fight. In fact, look what Paul said next, very next verse, verse 13, he says, "Therefore in light of the fact that you're in a battle, therefore since you have an enemy, therefore since you have a strategies of the enemy coming against you, therefore what? Put on every peace of God's armor." Why? So you will be able to resist the enemy in the time of evil. And then after the battle, what you will be standing firm. You think about the charge, you think about the words that we've already read in these first three verses that we just read, that we've been given. These action words that Paul has given us here, he started off by saying what, be strong, you said it loud and clear, man, you said it with strength, be strong, what do you say?

Put on God's armor, what does he say here, resist, stand firm, be strong, put on God's armor, resist, stand firm, be strong, put on God's armor, resist, stand firm, guys, that is a vision for your life, that's a vision for my life. The no matter the battles that come your way, you can be strong. You can stand firm. You can resist. We can experience victories in our life over the enemy, but listen to me, not if we go through life unaware that we are actually in a spiritual battle, and not if we go through life unprepared for that battle. That's why Paul turns attention in what we're about to read. He turns his attention in the letter now to preparing us for that battle. He's already made it clear, you're in one, and now he's like, I need to help prepare you for that battle, and what Paul's going to do next, Paul is about to give us the cheat code for this fight that we're in. He's going with the cheat code. I love cheat codes. We grew up playing the original Nintendo back in the 1900s. You guys remember this? Remember the one you had to pull out the games and go, to get it to work? Good old days, man. When I was growing up playing that original Nintendo, my favorite game was Contra. Oh, yeah, someone just went, that's the first amen I've gotten today, all right? Contra, you're like a Navy Seal, you've got to go through all these levels, and you've got three lives to start the game. That's it. Three lives, and you've got multiple levels to get through until you get to the final boss battle. Every game in the '80s had a final boss battle, right? The final boss, by the way, in this game, if you've never played, it's kind of weird. It's actually a gigantic heart that shoots shrimp at you, right?

People were high when they made these games, man. I'm just weird. Anyways, so listen, I can never get there. I saw my friends get there. I can never get there. My three lives ran out about halfway through the game. Every single time, I always died halfway through the game until one day a friend of mine opened my eyes to the greatest thing my 13-year-old eyes had ever seen. Up, up, down, down, left, right, left, right, B.A. start. If you know, you know right now. Up, up, down, down, left, right, left, right, B.A. start. Now, what was that? You know, this is back when controllers were, they were complicated, they have five buttons on them, and you do that at the beginning of the game. You do that little code I just did. You got 30 lives for the game. Cheat code. And as soon as I learned that cheat code, listen, I stopped playing scared. I started playing a win because I got the cheat code. I got the lives behind me. I got the lives. And Paul is saying, if you're a follower of Jesus, you have a cheat code in this spiritual battle that is being waged. the battle with authority and strength. We're not backing down. But this cheat code means nothing if we're not using it, if we're not accessing it to fight back. And the way we fight back is found in that little phrase, repeated multiple times that we just read. We said it multiple times. Here it is. This is it. Put on every piece of God's armor. There it is. Paul's like, you're not defenseless. You're not helpless. Put on every piece of God's armor in this fight. It is there for the taking. It is accessible to you when you are in Christ. And Paul is writing this letter. He's writing this from prison. So think about

this. Every day Paul sees soldiers, Roman soldiers parading in front of them. Some people think he actually, as a prisoner, may have been chained, literally chained to a soldier. So he's incredibly familiar how soldiers are dressed. He's incredibly familiar with the armor that soldiers in the first century wore and how they were armored up. Let me show you an image. This is a rendering of a first-century soldier, a Roman soldier. And this is what Paul is looking at every single day. And he's saying, listen, as he's looking at this image right here, as he's looking at these soldiers, he's seeing this armor. He's saying, put on the armor of God. Because you're in a battle. And God has given you armor to wear. He's given you an armor to wear. A cheat code in which to fight this fight. And this armor, this is armor that is available to every single person who has placed their faith in Jesus. And then over the next few verses, Paul unpacked what that armor of God is. He actually talks about the belt of truth, the body armor of God's righteousness. He talks about the shoes of peace, the shield of faith, the sword of the spirit, the helmet of salvation. And he says, all of this armor is there for us to take up against our enemy Satan. So what are we going to do each week? What are we going to do each week of this series for the next, you know, as we close out this series or the next five weeks or so, we're actually going to look at each piece of armor that Paul talks about. And we're going to discover what it means for us today and how we can put it on today. Because we're not going in this battle without it. And so I want to take the rest of our time together here, and I want to unpack the first pieces of armor that Paul talks about. This is what he says. Look at the very next verse, verse 14. He says, stand your ground. Putting on, here it is, the belt of truth and the body armor of God's righteousness. I love this imagery. Stand your ground. That's just such a strong picture. Stand your ground to plant your feet. Say, I'm standing here and I'm not moving. You know, you have a unique calling on your life. You know that you were created on purpose, for a purpose. Every one of you. That God has intentions for your life. And that God's ultimate aim for your life is for you to know him. And to walk with him intimately. And to join him in his work in this world that he wants to do and he wants to use you. God has a mission. There is a mission that God has placed on you. And Satan will do what he can, anything he can to knock you off mission. So what do we do? We stand at guard, alert, ready, knowing that there's going to be spiritual

opposition. That's all right. Come on. We're not defenseless. We're going to stand our ground. Now Paul's about to get real practical. He says, how do you stand your ground? How do you do that? How do you plant your feet and go, I'm not backing down from this battle. He says, there's two things put on the belt of truth and the body armor of God's righteousness. Let's talk about these two things. Let's talk about the belt of truth first. What does that mean? This is what a belt would have looked like in the first century. This would have been a belt that the soldier would have put on. Actually, the belt was the very first piece of armor a soldier would put on. Put this on before anything else. The belt was interesting about Paul as you'll see. He actually walks through the pieces of armor in the same order that a soldier would have put them on. The belt was what distinguished the soldiers from everyone else, the rest of the citizens in the community. It held, listen to this, it held the rest of the armor in place. They were able to hang weapons off of it and it protected your core. Men, just saying, it's protected us, all right. Some translations say this. This is interesting. The King James version in this verse where it says, put on the belt of truth. It says, I love this. Gird up your loins with the belt of truth. I was actually thinking about making t-shirts today, give to all the men. It just said, I'm girding up my loins, but I thought it might be weird if you're in Costco and no one has context for that. We're going to gird up our loins, man. Listen, here's what he's saying. If you were wearing a tunic, which they did, they wore these tunic, these long flowing It kind of robs, right? You can't run, you can't be agile, you can't be mobile in a tunic. So what would they do? They would gird up, they would take up their tunic, and they would tuck it in the belt. But the belt was their way of preparing. Listen, preparing for battle. And this is a way of Paul saying to us, you don't stand a chance to stand your ground against the attacks in the enemy

without first wrapping yourself in truth. Why? Because the enemy is gonna do anything and everything he can to lie to you. He's gonna lie. Look what Jesus said about Satan. This is John chapter eight. Jesus, these are Jesus' words. He says he, talking about Satan, Satan has always hated the truth because there's no truth in him. And when he lies, it is consistent with his character. For he is a liar and the father of lies. You don't wanna be accused of that. Listen, Jesus is saying Satan's native tongue is deception. And he will lie, and he will confuse, and he will deceive about who we are and who God is. He will throw every lie he can at you to try to drive a wedge between you and God. Let's talk about a few lies that Satan will throw. Here's just a few, there's thousands. Let me just point out a few. Here's a lie, here's a lie that Satan will throw away. God can't be trusted. You go through a heart season, you prayed for something that hasn't happened, and all of a sudden he lies to try to get a wedge in there. God can't be trusted. Here's another lie, you're hopeless, you're stuck, you're never gonna change. You keep saying you're not going to, but you do it.

You keep saying you're going to, but you don't lie. Here's another lie, God doesn't love you. You know who you are, lie. Here's another one, giving in doesn't really matter. Yeah, yeah, yeah, you might, it might be wrong, but no one's gonna know, and it's not really hurting you by giving in is not gonna really matter. And by the way, you're wrong, it's not as bad as they're wrong, so it's not as wrong. So you can give in, those are personal lies. Again, there's hundreds and hundreds and hundreds that we've experienced along the way. Lie, lie, lie, those are personal lies. Let me tell you a few, then there's some lies that Satan has just planted into our culture. It's just out there, it's in the air. It's permeated our culture. Here's one, I'll give you a few. Here's one, sex is just physical. That's a lie, it's just physical. And that lie has made its way all through our culture. Like, you know, high fives are physical, sex, like a really intense high five, right? It's just physical, that was way funnier in my head, all right? (congregation laughing) Don't use that for the next gathering, all right. But think about this, think about this. If sex is just physical, guys, listen, come on, you know this, you know this. If sex is just physical, why is it that men

have killed over affairs? It's just physical. If sex is just physical, why is it that some of our biggest regrets, listen man, if we were to sit here and talk and we were to share some of our biggest regrets in life, I can tell you that there will be stories shared about us giving ourselves sexually to someone and then we got used and left behind. And we would talk about that, why is it? It's just physical. If sex is just physical, why is it that it has been decades since the sexual abuse happened and you're still reeling from it? You're not still reeling from the kid who shoved you in the hallway one day because that was just physical. But sex, no man, do not fall for this lie. Sex is sacred, it is a sacred gift created by God to be enjoyed in the context of the safety and security of a lifelong commitment between a husband and his wife and Satan has lied about it and has twisted it and has warped it. That's what he does. Here's another one lie that's just out there in the culture. Here's one. You can earn and you can buy your way into peace. Lie. It's like we convince ourselves, man, I cannot be happy until I have more money.

I can't be happy until I have more stuff. I can't be happy until I have more recognition, more, more, more, more of something. And there are a lot of kids, listen to me, there's a lot of kids who have been left behind and neglected in the wake of a parent chasing more. Satan is celebrating. Here's the last one, just again, hundreds, but I'm just giving you a few. Here's one more that's just permeated our culture. All religions are basically the same lie. All religions are basically, you know, they're kind of all similar, they're pretty much in the same wheelhouse, no. will force a decision that we all have to make at some point. You get serious about digging into the life of Jesus, you will have to make a decision because the claims of Jesus are so stark and so clear that either Jesus was crazy, because no one would claim the things he's claiming, or he was lying, or he's telling the truth and he is the Son of God and he is deserving of our life. Those are your options. There's a lie out there, it's all basically saying. And then you dig into the life of Jesus and know, his claims are the most, listen to me, Christianity is the most exclusive, because Jesus said, I am the way, the truth and the life. And at the exact same time, the most inclusive, because he says anybody can come.

Paul is saying, Satan, the father of lies is going to attack with deception about who God is and who you are, but what are we gonna do, we're gonna stand firm. We're gonna stand our ground by wrapping ourselves in the belt of truth. Let me just tell you the most important moment of my day, each and every day. I'll tell you the most important moment of my day. It is early in the day when I go to my office and I find the same chair that I've been sitting in for years and I sit in that chair before I do anything else and I open up the Bible. And I just take time to hear the truth of God's word and apply it to my life. Why? Because I'm in a battle. That's why it's the most important moments of my day. Because I know I'm in a battle. Each and every day against an enemy who will lie and deceive in order to drive a wedge between me and God. And I need an anchor of truth in the face of those lies. I need a belt of truth put on. This is why I am constantly trying to do anything and everything I can to get you into your Bible. In fact, we tried to make it so simple. We've created Bible reading plans. You can find on our LCBC app. You can find them on the U version Bible app. Doesn't matter, just find one.

We've tried to make it real simple. We've had a million and a half people now go through our Bible reading plans. I can't think of anything I'm more proud of. Because that's us rooting ourselves in the scriptures. But we'll give you a Bible today. If you're sitting there going to, I don't have a Bible I understand. I only got one that's like, you know, gird up your loins language, right? We'll get you one that you can understand. Talk to one of our staff. You see someone in the name tag? We will find you a Bible. This is why we're given every single week. We've got these cards that we're giving. You were handed some on the way in or you had them at your seats. I want you to grab it right now. Here's why I want you to grab it. I want you to put this in your pocket. Because every week we're giving you a new one, it has a passage of scripture. And I want you to carry it with you. We made them pocket-sized because I'm asking you put, I'm carrying it with me all week long. I'm putting in my pocket, why? It's fitting, isn't it? That it's around that area of the belt. We're going to belt ourselves with the belt of truth

because we know, we want to know the truth and we want to live in it. That's why we're giving that to you. We're going to give you a new one every single week. How do we put on the belt of truth to combat the lies? We consistently put ourselves in the Bible to learn the truth about God's character and his purposes for our life. And then what do we do? Then we align our lives with the truth of how God says to live. Even when it's hard and even when it's not popular. We filter every circumstance we face through the prism of God's word and his truth. We do not allow, listen to me, we don't allow the opinions of others to tell us what's true. We don't allow politicians, professors or podcasters to tell us what is true. We don't rely on our feelings to guide us into what is true. Good Lord, we don't do that. My feelings have laid out an incredible case for why I should do something that I inevitably regret it. You know the last person you talked to before the biggest regret of your life? You know who that was? You! We're not going to rely on our feelings. We need something stronger. We don't need to look inside.

We need to look outside to the truth of God's word. You have an enemy who is intent on destroying you with lies about who you are and who God is. But listen, we're not helpless. We're going to be men and women who stand our ground against the lies of the enemy by putting on the belt of truth, by knowing the truth and standing on it. But Paul says there's one other piece to put on to stand your ground, the body armor of God's righteousness. This is an image of the body armor or some translation you say, the breastplate of God's righteousness is what it looked like. Now what did the breastplate or body armor guard? Guard's a heart. You're most vital organ. Guard's a heart. What's interesting is in the ancient world, almost like today, they saw the heart in a more symbolic sense. The heart was the center of our emotions, our will, our decisions. In other words, the heart was a way of talking about the mission control center in your life. And Paul says to put on the body armor of God's righteousness to guard our hearts. See, if the belt of truth is the way in which we stand firm against Satan's lies, the breastplate of God's righteousness is how we guard ourselves against Satan's accusations. Shame, condemnation.

See, when you place your faith in Christ, Satan has no power over your destiny anymore. He has no power over you. but He will try to accuse you and condemn you to keep you stuck in your past, so you don't move forward in your relationship. Stuck from moving forward in freedom that Jesus has for you. And Paul says, we fight the enemy by putting on the body armor of whose righteousness? God's righteousness, not mine, not yours. I know righteousness is not a word we use a lot in everyday language, I think I can make a safe bet. You haven't used that word today. But when we see the word righteousness in the Bible, let me just make it real simple. Righteousness just means this, to be in right standing with God. That's what it means, to be in right standing with God. So when you're righteous, you are right with God. Now, the good news of Jesus is this, you cannot do anything in your own power to make yourself right with God. You and I are too sinful, you are too far gone, you are too broken. You're like, that's good news, yeah, it's good news. Because you don't bring anything to the table. They would make God go, man, that person's great. And here's why I said that's really good news. Listen to what Jesus did for us.

This is in 2 Corinthians 5, it says, and God made him, talking about Jesus. God made Jesus, right? Jesus who had no sin, the opposite of you and me. To become sin for us, he took it on. Why? So that in him, we might become the righteousness, there's our word, the righteousness of God. This is the great exchange that takes place. See, this is the good news of Jesus Christ. He takes your sin off of you and carries it himself and in exchange gives you his righteousness. See, most people believe that Christianity is about helping bad people become good people. If you think that being a Christian is about a bad person becoming a good person, you don't understand the good news of Jesus Christ. That's not what it's about, you've missed the whole point. The good news of Jesus is that you can never be good enough for God on your own. And yet, while you were in your sin and your brokenness, he came and met you there. And he can transform your heart and change you and make you alive to him. He can take your sin off of you and in place, give you his righteousness. And all you've got to do is receive it and believe that his work on the cross counted for you. And when we make that exchange, God does not see us anymore as we were in our sin.

He sees us righteous now, covered in Christ. Think about this in terms of the breastplate that Paul's talking about here. Let's go back to our soldier. Look at this soldier, look at this guy. Have you ever seen, look at the breastplate. Have you ever seen a chubby breastplate? Some of y'all don't know how to respond to that. No, look at this guy. You put on that breastplate, you look jacked. Look at that soldier, you don't know this. He's 48, he's got a dad bod, you didn't know that. Why? Because he's covered, he's covered in the breastplate. You don't see the flab, you don't see the flaws. You see this, when you place your faith in Christ, God doesn't see you in your sin. He sees you as covered in righteousness. When you have placed your faith in life in Jesus' hands, the enemy has lost. He has no more power over you, and he knows it. So he becomes intent on sidelining you and bombarding you with accusation, condemnation and shame. That's not who you are anymore. Jenny and I, we had a big week this week. We celebrated 25 years in marriage. It was awesome, it was awesome. (congregation applauding) 25 years, it was so cool. One of the things we did was we actually drove

to different homes, the different homes that we've lived in over those 25 years, and we just parked outside of those homes, like creepy stalkers, and just looked in the homes, and as we did that, we just talked about, at every home we went to, we just talked about what are the lessons we learned here in this space. And every single one of them had some incredible highs, and every single one of them had some low lows. And we were talking about one of those low moments, and we were thinking about this one argument we got in once, and we were coming home years ago from Cape May, we were there in the summer, and we made a last minute decision, we were supposed to leave the next morning, but we made a decision, let's leave tonight, it was late at night, we get 30 minutes down the road, and I realized, I forgot something at the beach house. So we had to turn back around, so I just added an hour to an already late night, we ended up arriving at our home around 1 a.m., we had the air conditioning turned off all week, save a little bit of money, and it happened to be a heat wave, like epic proportions, so the house read 97 degrees in time. I go to put stuff in the freezer, and I realize as I open up the fridge has been broken for what looks like an entire week, and so everything's melted. in the scene of us standing there in the hallway,

barely dressed, because we're sweating like hogs. I mean, we're just like this. And I know you don't need this image, but we were barely dressed and we're just yelling at each other, voices raised as to who was to blame for the heat wave. It was me, by the way. (audience laughs) So we decided, I mean, at one point, we were like, this is it, we're not gonna talk about this anymore and so we go to bed and I try to make it right. So I'm like, hey, you wanna have some fun tonight? No, okay, I'm not, (audience laughs) even I'm not that dumb. So, wrong time. But here's the thing, we did end up talking about it the next day, but here's what has happened after so many of those arguments. Even when you work it out, and even after there's forgiveness given, and even if Jenny and I are all good, you know what happens? The accusations start. The accusations start, we got a husband or you. But you even let it get to that point. If the church knew how you talked, you'd be exposed for who you really are. There's so many other men who would be better husband. There's so many other men who would be a better father, better pastor, better leader, the accusations. I know mine will, and everything in me in that moment wants to shrink back.

Here's what I know, come on, I know this. Some of you hear that, and I know what you're thinking. Whoa, I've done way worse than a late night argument. Some of you are sidelined from the life that God has for you today. You're sitting on the sidelines because you have bought into the accusations that the enemy has thrown your way. And even now, you know what I know? Even now, over the last 20, 25 minutes, he is fighting against some of you, throwing accusations at you. Even right now, because some of you, over the last 20, 25 minutes that you've been hearing me talk, he's been trying to convince you that everything I'm saying, everything you're saying, no, it doesn't apply to you. Not after the abortion. Not after the affair. Not after walking away from God, not after lies. That righteousness has done apply to you. You have an enemy who will try to destroy you by accusing you and condemning you and reminding you of your sin in your past. And our defense against it, how we stand firm, stand our ground, is to put on the body armor of God's righteousness, not ours. Where we are able to stand firm and say, yes, I did those things, but I am not defined by them anymore. I am defined. Look at this, no flab. Because I'm defined by my savior,

who climbed up on that cross and took my sin and in its place has given me his righteousness, do not shrink back from fighting against those accusations, fight them, stand firm in the face of accusation by putting on the breastplate of God's righteousness. So we choose to believe that what is most true about us is that we are now covered in Christ. It's not our past, it's not our sin, it's not our failures. Those things happen, but it's not what is most true about us anymore. You're in a battle, you're in a battle. Every one of you. You have an enemy that is intent on deceiving you and accusing you. But listen, you're not helpless. You are not helpless in this fight. You have everything you need in Christ to be built for battle. You were built for battle. What are we gonna do? We're gonna armor up. We're gonna armor up against the lies and accusations. What we're gonna put on the armor of God. We're gonna put on the belt of truth, wrap ourselves. We're gonna get into scriptures. We're gonna know who God says we are so that we can see the lies for what they are. We're gonna put on the body armor of God's righteousness to withstand the accusations that come our way. What are we gonna do? We're gonna stand firm, stand firm.

Would you stand with me all of our locations right now, wherever you are? I want us to pray. And I wanna pray for you. I wanna pray for you. There's two groups I wanna just talk to real quick. See, some of you are here and you're a follower of Jesus. You're life changed by Christ. You've placed your faith in Jesus, but you feel defeated today. You feel discouraged. I've seen it. I've been looking at you. I've seen people wiping tears. I know what this means. I know some of you have been attacked. You're feeling like the lies and accusations "Jason, could you just pray for me today? Could you just pray for me? I'm in a fight. I've been in this battle. I want to put on the belt of truth. I want to -- I need the body armor of God's righteousness. You've had all the armor sitting there. You just haven't activated it. You haven't used it. And you're saying, "Jason, I want to use it. I want to use it. I need courage and strength to do that this week.

Would you just pray? Would you bow your head?" But if that's you, if you're saying, "I just need it. I need you to pray for me, Jason. Raise your hand." Because you're in a fight right now. Raise your hand. I see it. All of our campuses, if you're on the chat right now, just put a hand in the chat. Raise your hand. I want to pray for you specifically. Because we're standing together in this fight. So, Jesus, for those who have hands raised, you know exactly specifically the battles that they're facing. You know the attacks of the enemy. You know the lies that have come their way. You know the accusations that have been thrown against them. And I pray, Jesus, as they raise their hand, they're saying they want to step into the authority that you've given us as your followers to put on the belt of truth to put on the breastplate of righteousness to step into who we are. So, God, I pray against the attacks of the enemies in our church's life and the people here. I pray, God, that you would give us the strength to armor up, to stand firm. Not anything we do but in the work that you've done for us. Not in our truth but in your truth about who we are. Would you give us courage to fight and to stand firm? As we continue praying, just keep your heads bowed.

I also just want to recognize some of you here today, you're not a follower of Jesus. You never made that exchange. And the Bible says that if you believe in your heart and you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord, you will be saved. So, right now, if that's you and you've heard all this and you're like, I want the exchange. I want the righteousness. I believe that what he's done for me has taken my sin. Raise your hand. I want to pray for you. Raise your hand. Wherever you are right now, all of our locations, just raise your hand. Yup. Okay. Raise your hand. I want to pray for you. I want you to pray these words after me. God hears you. You don't even have to say that. He hears you. Just tell them right now. Say, I confess. My sin has kept me from God. Tell them right now. Say, I place my faith in trust in you, Jesus. And your work on the cross. Tell them right now. Say, I receive your forgiveness.

And I choose to follow you today as my Lord. Jesus, seal up the work that you've done in our hearts today. Find it up so we leave here different. And we pray this in your name, Jesus. Amen. LCBC. Can you celebrate the people who just prayed and said, Jesus, I'm placing my faith in you. And if you prayed that prayer and you're sitting there going, Jesus, I want you to tell someone. That's your next step. Tell someone. We want to walk with you as a church. Again, come down the front left, all of our rooms. We have people who love to pray with you. Tell someone there. Find staff member. Just tell someone. We want to help you now as you grow in a personal relationship with God. LCBC. God is for you. He's not against you. God is for you. And God has given us all that we need to fight against the lies and the accusations of our enemy. So let's live in victory this week. It's yours. It's yours because he has built us for battle. Thanks for joining us today with LCBC on YouTube. We are so glad that you took the time to join us today. And it's still not too late to be known as a part of our online community by checking in. And so to do that, text YouTube to 20022.

And if you're doing that for the first time, check in with us for the first time. We're going to send you a coffee gift card just as a thank you. We're so glad that you joined us today. Now we can't wait to see all the ways that God can work in your life through this LCBC community. But until next time, thanks for being here. [BLANK_AUDIO]