What The Bible Says About Protecting Your Mind

I just wanna say, it's great to be with you guys today. As Pastor Stu's away, he called me in and said, hey, I'd love for you to take the fifth week of this Battle Ready series. I'm like, I'll take it. And before we get going, I just wanna share a couple of things. First of all, I've been here many years and I don't say this lightly, I say this pretty like heartfelt is, you know, we've been through a lot over the past several years here at Water's Edge Church, but one thing that I love about being here more than anything is serving under an amazing pastor. He's my pastor, our family's pastor, Pastor Stu and Tab. So let's give it up for Pastor Stu and Tab today. They are incredible, incredible people to serve alongside of and through the valleys and mountains and in-betweens, being able to go with them in this journey has been rewarding and also stressful, but also like amazing. So I just wanna say thank you, Tab and Pastor Stu as well. You go and have a seat by the way, I was just totally joking and those of you on our campuses can have a seat, but you're gonna stand up here in just a moment again. We're in the series Battle Ready and we're talking about what does it mean to be battle ready? And for those of you that do not know,

maybe you know this already is the enemy, the enemy is ready to take you out. So your family, your friends, your mind, your heart, everything that you're about, the enemy wants you dead. And I hate to open it up like that, but that's kind of where we're at right now is the enemy does not want you to even be here. The enemy wants to basically take you and everything that you're about out. And so part of following Jesus is you gotta recognize that. And so in this series Battle Ready, we're talking about what does it mean to be battle ready? And we're doing this scripture theme every week and Pastor Stu leads y'all through it. He's done a great job leading y'all through this scripture verse, because it's kind of our theme verse, but we're gonna do something just a little bit different with this verse today, because I got some motions I want to do with y'all. Some hand motions, I think hand motions are a great way to learn a verse. For those of you that like to memorize verses, which is super important, we're gonna share this verse together. We're gonna kind of read it out loud. And so what we're gonna do is everybody go ahead and stand to your feet all across all of our campuses. It's gonna be very interactive.

You better get ready, y'all. It's gonna be very interactive because I think a lot of times when Pastor Stu or I, whoever's up here reading the word, it's like, we're just like, we read the underlying saying, we're just kind of like reading it, but we don't do anything when we read it. We're just like saying it out loud because we're told to. So we're gonna act it out. It's nothing like Simon says or anything, but I'm gonna have you some motion. So our theme verse is as follows. It's up on the screen here. So you guys all know across all of our campuses, every time Pastor Stu speaks, he says what? Underline words, we say what? We say out loud. Thank you. We say out loud. And so when we say it out loud, we just, we don't do anything with it. And so here's what I'm asking you to do. You're gonna have to pay careful attention because I'm only gonna say this one time. So his mighty power, all I need you to do is just go like, yeah, like that. Everybody like that. Mighty power. Great, all 10 of you.

So whenever we say his mighty power, I just want you to give me a power, like power, whatever that looks like for you. Power, right? Those of you online, give me like a emoji heart thing, whatever y'all, okay? Full armor of God. We're gonna talk about full armor of God. We're gonna put on, so we're just gonna wrap ourselves. Fantastic, you're doing great. And then take your stand. So when I say stand, we're just gonna jump. We're just gonna go like this. Perfect. Take your stand. And then our struggle. So our struggle, this one's kind of interesting. We're gonna look at the person next to us and go like that. We're just gonna look at him and be like, no, not you. My battle's not you. That's what that means. Okay, good. And then the full armor, what are we doing full armor? We hug, that's right. And then finally to stand, we're gonna what? We're gonna jump. And then finally at the last one, we're gonna what? Jump. Okay, very good. Across all of our campuses,

we're gonna read this out loud. And as the underlying parts come, we're gonna be very interactive and then you guys can have a seat. Y'all ready? Okay, here we go. Finally be strong in the Lord and his mighty power. That's right. Put on the full armor of God so that you can take your, oh, this is great, against the devil's schemes. For our struggle, no, not you. It's 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. 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, give yourselves a round of applause, y'all. Yes. All right, you guys can go ahead and have a seat. You guys did great. It's just another great way to learn. Those of you that grew up in children's church like I did and got in trouble every week, that's what we did. All right, we did that kind of stuff. And that's why I like memorizing verses

because you put motions to it. It kind of helps you remember that. So I'm gonna pray for us and we're gonna dive in. God, we love you. Thank you for this opportunity we have to just to talk about your word and being battle ready. And we're asking for you to work in our lives today just to be battle ready. Whatever that looks like today for each one of us watching, whether online or in person, God, we're asking for your Holy Spirit to move. And we love you, we praise you, in Jesus name I pray, amen. So as we think about these last several weeks in this Battle Ready series, we talked about this armor that a soldier wears is over about 70 pounds worth of armor. And over the past several weeks, we've talked about a few things. I'm gonna go over with you really, really quick. We talked about, so this Battle Ready series we're in, this soldier, this Roman soldier, as depicted here in just a second is gonna show you what he looks like when he's Battle Ready. And so this image that's up here about being Battle Ready, this soldier is kind of a picture Pastor Stu's been using because of Battle Ready. And Paul's writing saying, hey, if we're gonna be Battle Ready, we gotta have the armor on whatever we may face and encounter.

And so that's kind of where we've been headed and we've been talking about what does this armor, what does this armor look like? So he's gonna take each piece of body armor and talking about what is important in a physical fight, and we're gonna talk about a spiritual fight. So Ephesians chapter six is not about physical fight, it's about the spiritual battles that we have deep down inside of us, and we all have those. And so we talked about the first week, the belt of truth, just buckle it around your waist, knowing the importance of not how you feel, but what you think and applying to God's word. We talked about the breastplate of righteousness, talking about the imputation of Christ's righteousness in you knowing that's him working in you and through you to protect your heart, which is super important. And then we talked about the shoes of peace, talked about wearing the shoes of peace that no matter where you go, the people you come in contact with, the people you lead, the business you lead, whatever that may be, be shoes of peace to them, standing in and taking note of that, that we gotta have peace wherever we go. And then finally, last week, we talked about the shield of faith and how the shield will block those flaming arrows that come our way. And we're all gonna have those in our lives as well.

And this is gonna bring us to today where we're talking about Ephesians chapter six, verse 17 says, take the helmet of salvation. And so today I'm gonna share with you this next piece of armor. So if you're taking notes, you're gonna be able to easily follow along with me. There's no hand motions or anything, just write them down. Take the helmet of salvation. Back in the day, if you remember this in the early 1920s, those of y'all were here, I wasn't around. In the early 20s, 1920s, this term sucker punch came about in the boxing world. I mean, I'm not a boxer, never been in a real fight. A few fights I've been in, but not a real one. But boxing world, the sucker punch terminology came about, whereas in the boxing world, basically if you got sucker punch, it's basically out of nowhere. And it can come from any different direction by people or by something that you'd never know would happen to you. So a sucker punch would basically be something that you know it's gonna attack you at any given moment and it could take you out, particularly when you get several blows taken to you. Well, back in 1990, we talked about the Buster Douglas, Mike Tyson fight. And Mike Tyson was undefeated, but Mike Tyson thought he was gonna go into winning this

and Douglas was the underdog. But after several, several blows, sucker punching Mike Tyson, we all know Buster Douglas won that fight. He was the underdog going in and physically knocked out Mike Tyson. If you've never heard of that word sucker punch, it's basically all different angles you can take in a boxing world, basically to knock someone out over time. And when you think about this for the armor of God and the helmet of salvation, the helmet of salvation is exactly the same thing you and I need to put on because we're all gonna get sucker punched. We're all gonna get those attacks, whether it be from someone or something that it's a complete out of nowhere type punch where you're like, man, how did this happen? And we don't know what to do with it. And so this message today is gonna talk with you about what does it mean for us to be taking on the helmet of salvation? We gotta remember our helmets. We can understand the feeling. Sometimes the hardest punch isn't the opponent in front of you. It can be the unexpected grief, the unexpected betrayal, the diagnosis, the disappointment or loss that blindside you in every step in the arena.

With these types of sucker punches, we have to remember our helmets. The helmet in the Greek word is taken from the Greek word parakephalia. It's a compound word of basically parry, which means to strap on and kephalia means basically the helmet. And so the two words together means you gotta strap on, strap on the helmet of salvation. And as we think about this word terminology wise in the Greek, it's basically saying, hey, for those of you that know who Christ is, when you strap on that helmet of salvation, there's things that happen when you do that, when Jesus Christ changes your life. So as we think about this helmet piece, they were pretty fancy, smancy back in the day, these Roman soldiers' helmets. I have one, basically a picture of one of basically what they look like back. in the day. And so you're probably wondering, well, how can I make one of those? It'd be kind of fun. So it looked more, a beautiful piece of artwork that a simple piece of metal formed to fit the head of a soldier. It was not uncommon for a Roman helmet to be decorated. Farm scenes, all kinds of animals. The helmet was made of bronze,

equipped with pieces of armor that were specifically designed to protect the cheeks and jaws of the course of the forehead. It was extremely heavy. Therefore, the interior of the helmet is lined with a sponge in order to soften its weight on the soldier's head. This piece of armor was so strong, so massive, and so heavy that nothing could pierce it. Not even a hammer or a battle ax. It'd be very hard to walk past one of these soldiers without taking note of them. These helmets made the Roman soldier noticeable. So I was thinking, man, that'd be kind of cool to design my own. Like, I wonder like if Pastor Ben designed his own Roman helmet. You know, what would it look like? What would I want to wear around town? And so I have a picture of one I want to show you guys. And basically this is my helmet that I would like to create that I believe would be important. So y'all want to see it? Yeah. So it has my name on it. So people know who I am. And it's just this groungy bronze looking, kind of rough looking helmet. And that's what I would wear. So I'm not sure what yours would look like.

Mine wouldn't have all the fancy animals and the feather stuff. Mine would just be something that looked like this guy is messed up a little bit. So that's what would be my helmet. So it has purpose. So the helmet has purpose. So in your notes, Ephesians 6, 17, let's talk about this. Take the helmet of salvation. Why would the Apostle Paul compare a piece of weaponry like this to salvation? So the helmet is a piece of armor. Why would the Apostle Paul say, take the helmet of salvation? Well, it has purpose. Your cause, your salvation is the most gorgeous, most intricate, most elaborate, most ornate gift God has ever given you. I'm gonna repeat this again. Because your cause, your salvation is the most gorgeous, most intricate, most elaborate, most ornate gift God has ever given you. Do y'all believe that? Great. Fantastic. So as we think about the salvation, the helmet of salvation, it's the most gorgeous piece of everything you're about because it starts with salvation.

To wear the armor of God, who's that for? Paul's writing to the believer saying, hey, put on the full armor. The helmet is salvation. It's knowing what Christ has done in your life and walking like you know that he's changed. He's changed your life. The Apostle Paul refers to this as the helmet of salvation. When you walk confidently in your salvation of the Lord, you are a noticeable individual. Those people that you see walking around, like something's just different about them. When you're wearing the helmet of salvation, you're noticeable. Like people are gonna notice something different about you. The helmet is what's on each side of one of us. So as we think about this physical battle, the spiritual battle, the helmet of salvation is what Christ has done in your life. Ephesians chapter two, eight and nine says that salvation is what? Is a gift from God, right? It's a gift. Salvation's a gift. So God has given you this gift of salvation to put on. You didn't have to do anything to earn it. He's already done everything for you to get it. As we think about the helmet of salvation and wearing a helmet,

this helmet's on each one of us. That kind of helmet was essential because the Roman soldiers opponent carried a short handled ax called a battle ax. And when the Roman soldiers in battle and they're fighting with battle axes, you can be sure some heads are rolling. And if you aren't wearing a helmet into battle as a Roman soldier, heads were rolling because they knew these battle axes could penetrate them and take them out. And it's the same thing in our lives as well as their battle axes, they're coming at us all the time. It's like, what are we doing to strap on the helmet to be prepared when these attacks happen? And that's what's exactly what salvation will do for you when you wear it like a helmet, it's gonna protect you. But if you don't walk in that, your salvation entails, you're gonna feel the brunt of the enemy's battle ax. The enemy can attack your mind. Think about the helmet, what it protects. John chapter eight, verse 44 says this. You belong to your father, the devil, and you want to carry out your father's desires. He was a murderer from the beginning, not holding to the truth, for there's no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks his native language, for he is a liar, the father of lies.

So as we think about the helmet of salvation, your mind is on your helmet and your helmet's gonna protect your mind. So those of you that battle your mind and your thoughts, which probably most of you do, when we wear that helmet, it's gonna protect that mind. The helmet of salvation is there to protect you. I know all of you in this room probably battle something in your mind every day that the enemy wants to attack you with. It's usually a first person pronoun. It's usually a first person. What I mean by that is, is the enemy's gonna say this to you. If you don't declare the helmet of salvation, here's the enemy's conversation with you. You can't do enough. enough, you'll never change, you can't do it, you're a liar, you're no good, your marriage isn't gonna work, your kids are gonna go astray, you can't do this, you can't do that, you can't be used by God. That's the enemy's language when we don't declare the power of the helmet of salvation. So when we think about things that we battle mentally, like mental illness and these kinds of things, what happens is we gotta put on the helmet to declare, I'm not saying that doesn't happen, but when you declare the helmet of salvation

as a time to protect your mind, it's gonna impact you and how you live your life and how people see you. Because I don't know about you, but there's times I battle my mind, what I tell myself, I battle it all the time. Well, so did Eve in the garden, Genesis chapter three. If you remember, Eve's having a conversation with God and the enemy's attacking Eve saying, did God really say that? And the enemy's gonna attack you by giving you doubts of your walk with God. The enemy loves to attack us in fear and anxiety, through accusation and condemnation, through distractions, through isolation. If your salvation is not worn tightly around your mind like a helmet, the enemy will come to chop the multiple blessings of your salvation right out. Strap it on tight, knowing the enemy has a desire to take you out by battling your mind. That's why the importance of the helmet of salvation is so, so important. Sometimes we can treat salvation like an employee's benefit package. So if you think about those of you, which I'm sure all of you have a job you're gonna be going to tomorrow, or you think about what you got going on this week, you think about the benefits package of salvation,

the helmet of salvation. Here's kind of how we can treat it. We treat it like this. The salvation like an employee package says, hey, imagine someone gets hired by a company and becomes obsessed with the benefits. Health insurance, fantastic. Retirement matching, oh, this is great. Vacation days, unlimited, that's pretty cool. Discounts, they talk about the benefits constantly, but never show up to work. They never care about the company's mission and never develop a relationship with the people who hired them. And sometimes we can do the same with salvation as we can say, hey, you know what, Jesus, you changed my life, but you know what? I'm good, I'm in, and I don't really need to do anything else. We treat it like something like our walk with God is like, okay, Jesus changed my life and therefore you just think, now I can get the benefits of going to heaven one day and we're not realizing the impact it can make on your day to day. It's not a benefits package. It's an eternal promise. Sometimes we can do the same thing with salvation. We love it, we love heaven. We love heaven, yeah?

Fantastic, that's very important. Forgiveness, yeah, like forgiveness, we think about the benefits of salvation, of being able to forgive one another as Christ has forgiven us. We think about peace, man, like to have peace to knowing that Christ is in us, the peace that dwells in us richly. We can have purpose, we can have freedom from guilt. It's God's blessing, but the helmet of salvation isn't meant to remind us merely of what we get from God. It's to remind us of what Christ did for us and who we now belong to. So when we think about who we belong to, we belong to him. And that helmet of salvation should be a reminder that we strap it on and it's tight. It's a reminder that no matter what we battle in life, the circumstances and seasons we go through, the helmet of salvation is there to give you peace despite the circumstances. And you gotta remind yourself of that. It's not a benefits package to enjoy, it's a new identity to wear. Some of us walk around like, oh, this is just, oh, I'm, and we just think we can just do whatever we want, think about whatever we wanna do and just, we live life like it's, oh, it's just, no. This is identity, this isn't something that you choose every day what you're going to do. If Christ is in you,

then the helmet of salvation is on you. Some of us need to strap a little bit tighter and walk around being noticeable because of who Christ is in our lives and identities found in him. That's what we need to start doing. So my question for you today is, are you living the life that God has called you to live when it comes to your identity? Some of us today, we think, well, I know I'm a follower of Jesus, no problem there. I know I'm a follower of him, I remember when he changed my life, fantastic. So now I'll spend eternity with him, so I'm in. I can't wait to see him one day. Friends, your salvation is also supposed to exert a startlingly clear impact on your present daily life. Like you should have a clear impact living different in your life every day, not just waiting for the day you go to heaven. Listen, we can experience heaven right now by strapping on the helmet of salvation and living every day like it's heaven. We can, we can do that every single day. And if we recognize the power that comes from that helmet and the power of Christ in you, his imputed righteousness as we've learned, when you go in that power. you can change the world. And what happens a lot of times is

we don't know who we are. Identification gets messed up because of maybe the environment we go into, maybe the people that we hang out with. And so therefore identity is going up and down. We don't know who we are. John 10, 10. This is what the enemy wants to do. The thief comes only to steal, kill, and destroy. I've come that they may have life and have it to the fullness. Water's Edge Church, Jesus Christ wants to give you life to the full, like amazing fullness of who Jesus is in your life and all the things that he wants to do in you and through you and what's happening is some of you are allowing your mind to get in the way. And the helmet's supposed to protect the mind. If I was to take a poll and say, hey, how many of you struggle with your mind, your mindset? We'd all probably say yes. And that's what happens is when people lose their identity because their mind is impacted. This will only be experienced to the extent that we apply the benefits of salvation in our daily lives. There are many benefits. Receiving salvation is not the same as applying it. We can receive salvation, but what about applying it? When we receive it, that is the moment our lives are changed forever.

That is the moment Jesus Christ changes you forever because it is a redemptive act on the cross. We're set free and forever changed. That's receiving. What about applying? When we apply it and we choose to apply it, the benefits of salvation, which is so awesome, here's what it's gonna do when you apply it. So those of you today, if you're here and you struggle with applying salvation, like applying the helmet of salvation, here's application if you're taking notes. The application of you being able to apply salvation, for some of you, you need to do this right now. Here's what it's gonna do for you. When you apply the helmet of salvation, here's what it's gonna do. It's gonna protect, it's gonna restore you. It's gonna protect you and it's gonna shield you from the daily attacks of the enemy. We talked about the shield of faith, but the helmet will do as well. We choose to apply it, all these things are gonna happen. It's like comprehensive coverage. We strap it on, it's one of the most vital parts of the believer's spiritual livelihood. This helmet of salvation positioned to a snug fit is a representation of a high value, items that are ours in him, our inheritance in Christ. Choosing not to wear it means leaving our mind exposed,

unprotected, like people who don't even own a helmet. So today, I'm gonna share with you three action steps of what does it mean to strap on the helmet of salvation, or maybe for some of you, for the first time putting it on, or maybe for some of you to strap it on even tighter. I remember back in the day in Texas, growing up high school football, our coach would always say before we went on the field, gentlemen, put your helmets on. Put your helmets on, it's time to go to battle. Just remember the game is won between your ears. So we're gonna talk about the mindset today of how can I, Pastor Ben, how can I apply the helmet of salvation when I leave here today? I'm gonna share with you three simple action steps of how you can apply this, because we all battle it, but when you recognize that you have that with you, it's gonna bring you great joy. Here we go, number one. Step number one, identify the toxic thought patterns you've been nursing and recognize them for what they truly are. What are those toxic thoughts that you have? You gotta identify them. You can write them down in a journal, in your phone. What are those toxic thoughts that you have that you know that aren't of God, that you know these thoughts you should not be having? They're strongholds. Along with the enemy, you've assisted

in constructing within your mind. You've come up with this own formulation in your mind about your mindset and what you're telling yourself. You've done it yourself. What are those toxic thoughts? You gotta identify them. The strongholds in your life. A stronghold back in the biblical times was basically like a tower outside of the city that recognized like you gotta penetrate this tower, this big wall before you go into the city. That's a stronghold tower. And so we think about a stronghold in our lives. Usually they're walls that are built up that are keeping you from becoming free that Christ has called you to live free in. Second Corinthians chapter 10, four and five says this. So here's what we're gonna fight with. The weapons we fight with are not the weapons of this world. On the contrary, they have a divine power to demolish strongholds. We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God. And we take every thought captive and make it obedience to Christ. So if you wanna know how to fight the spiritual battle, memorize this verse. This verse will share with you and tell you exactly how to battle the things that are going on in your mind.

Like the power of God's word into your life will change your life when you apply it. But a lot of people don't want to hear that. They want to do other quick fixes that they think will make their mind stronger like social media, people they hang out with, the church they go to, that's important too. But deep down, it's gonna be the Bible, the word of God that you memorize and that you know. The Bible says the weapons we fight with are not weapons of the world. They are the truth of who we are in Christ. And it will take those thoughts from you. That's pretty awesome, right? Jesus Christ will take those thoughts from you that you're having. That's pretty awesome. Like that's freedom. Put your helmet back on and start living like it. Think oftentimes we live life like everything's always wrong. Like, I don't know about your world, but sometimes, a lot of times in my world, it's always something wrong. And my responsibility and calling is to help make it right, or to help people understand what's right and wrong. That can be difficult. People can be difficult sometimes. But the point is, is the goal is to say,

it's God's word that we want to change people's lives. And when you use God's word to change people's lives and help them identify what's going on, it's gonna set them free. Give it up and start living for Jesus and others will see it and wonder what's different about you when you identify it. So write it down. What are those toxic thoughts? What are those things that are not of God that you know that you've allowed in to destroy your joy, to not be present with your family and your job, the way you interact with other people? What are those thoughts? Identify them and write them down. Step number two is once we have the helmet on and strapped on, what do we gotta do? Once you identify it, you gotta confess. Confess. Confess errant thoughtful processes to God and agree with him about your responsibility in helping him to construct these strongholds in your life. Our strongholds are not the enemy's fault. We've done them ourselves. Every time we've nursed and rehearsed illegitimate thinking, we've added another concrete brick to the construction of a stronghold. So you think about a stronghold being built in your mind, it's your responsibility to not put another brick

on the stronghold. And what happens is you can do that with people. You can put strongholds in your life against people that God doesn't want you to do that with. He wants you to take them down because he wants you to walk free in the salvation of who Jesus is and be who he's calling you to be. Don't keep building bricks of strongholds against people or against something or someone or against a church. You just keep building and building and building. You're gonna make a big wall of strongholds and it's gonna be forever built and you're gonna lose the joy that God has because if your salvation is found in Christ, you're gonna want that wall completely done, like no walls. So you gotta confess it. Whether those thoughts were in relation to doubt, maybe today you're doubting the promises and the purpose of God, maybe it's fear, maybe it's insecurity. Rehearsing the enemy's lies made us in essence a partner with the enemy in building up a fortress that has held us captive. And for some of us today, we're being held captive between our ears with our mind. And the helmet is supposed to take that away when you strap it on tight and recognize whose you are. By the amazing grace of God, we have a savior that can forgive and restore all things.

Aren't we thankful for that Yorktown? Water's Edge Church as a whole, we're thankful for that. Man, every single day you wake up, you say, okay, God, I'm here, I'm ready to do what you're calling me to do. And then all of a sudden you go out throughout the day and you get home at night and you're getting to go to bed. You're like, man, that was a rough day. We all have those, but it's recognizing that if there was anything in your life that was toxic through your mind, through your ears, when you recognize that and say, God, I need to give this over to you again, you're gonna start taking away those strongholds, those bricks one by one, and you're gonna become more free in who God's called you to be, to your family, to your job, your friends, and your role in the church. Maybe today God is calling you back to confession and you're asking him to restore your thoughts and bring back to him. Philippians chapter four, great passage. Those of you, if you like wanna know verses to know like what Pastor Ben goes to, like when I struggle with mindset, which I do sometimes, it's this verse right here, Philippians chapter four. It's a powerful verse. It's pretty awesome. Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true,

whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable, if anything is excellent or praiseworthy, what does it say? Think about such things, whatever you have learned and received from me or seen in me, that's pretty awesome, seen in me, put into practice and the God of peace will be with you. What do you think? What do you think? So the Bible says, there's nothing in this passage that says go do. It's all about being who God has called you to be with mindset. It's a mindset thing. Philippians four, seven through nine should be on your phone, on your mirror, in your car, on a repeat about things that you should think about. But the enemy is gonna be there to attack you. Think about everything opposite for the families in here. If you're married, the enemy wants to attack your husband, you, your kids, and if you think about what you need to be thinking about, that's how you lead. That's leadership is Philippians chapter four. These are the things you should think about. And the enemy is gonna be right there to do opposite. So when you recognize it, it's awesome. We're like, oh, you ain't gonna get that from me. Oh, you're.

That's not gonna happen to me today. And what happens is when you recognize it and then you confess it, you're gonna become more influential in whatever you may be doing. Leading your family, in your job, your church. When you recognize those things and think about the things that are above, not on this earth, he's gonna give you peace. That's pretty awesome. Is that great? Just wanna make sure you guys are, I could make you all stand again, but I'm not gonna do that. That's awesome. Okay, step three, here we go, step three. So once we identify it, whatever that stronghold is, you've identified it. And then once you say, okay, God, I gotta give these thoughts to you because man, these aren't good. These thoughts are not good. God, I'm gonna confess it to you because first John one tells us we can, right? We can confess it. God, I hate these thoughts. I don't want these thoughts. I need to get rid of them. Once you confess it, number three, here we go. Last one, we're almost done, is dismantle.

How do you dismantle the mindset of the helmet of salvation? How do you dismantle and get rid of it? Like, how do you like be completely set free in your mindset when it comes to all things in your life? Which we have to do this daily, by the way. Dismantle the stronghold by taking our thoughts captive. What does the Bible say? Take your thoughts captive and make them obedient to who? To Christ, right? You take those thoughts, okay, no way, this is not entering my mind again. I'm gonna take it, but take it captive. God, I don't want this, give it to him. Thank you very much, and then you keep going. Like, that's probably happens daily for a lot of us. Because those thoughts, the enemy will be right there to attack, particularly when you're getting ready to do something like big. Like, whether you're getting ready to go to student camp or a leader, or maybe you're involved in our church, or maybe you're involved in leadership. Like, you have congratulations, you have a target. The enemy's ready to take you out. And when you recognize that and you can dismantle those thoughts that are coming to you, or you're wondering why other people you're leading in your family or at church, those leaders, if you're leading students or leading adults in groups, you're wondering, man, why is all this happening?

It's because those people are wanting to strive to be better. So you have, as a leader or somebody who's in charge, has to be prepared for that. As dads in this room, you have to be prepared for that. If you're wanting to be on fire for Jesus, and you're wanting to have the helmet of salvation in your family, you better get ready. You're gonna get attacked. The enemy's gonna be right there to get you. Single parents, same thing. Mom's trying to raise her kids, the same thing. Strap it on tight and say, man, I got the package of salvation. Not only am I gonna receive it, but here's how it's gonna apply. God, I need your help. Dismantle those thoughts. It's gonna require some proactivity and not passiveness. Same kind of passion and strategy you might put into a new workout plan. You know, you think about people, workout plan, financial planning, all of these things. These people will meet with people, and you tell them what to do. Hey, if you just do X, Y, and Z, then you're gonna, this is gonna happen. Here's the plan. The financial plan is out. Workout plan, whatever plan you want to develop,

it doesn't matter what it is. This same kind of passion you might put into that, it's gonna require what? Hands-on approach. Some of you walk around like, oh, I got the helmet of salvation, and you're just walking around. There's no hands-on approach. The reason why there's no hands-on approach is because you don't understand you have it. When you have the helmet of salvation on you and it's strapped, it's like, man, what's hands-on look like now? Okay, the people I'm leading at home, people I'm leading in my church, people I'm working with at work, my spouse, my kids, trying to raise my kids. I think I have kids. Whatever the case is, man, I'm trying to make this happen. God, I need you. I need you. It's hands-on. You just don't come to church and be like, oh, thank you, Pastor Stu or Pastor Ben or whoever, and oh, you're gonna walk. No, you got to apply it. You should walk into any lunchtime after church today or any breakfast place. You go in, they should be like, man, they're wearing a different kind of helmet, and it should be on the inside.

But meanwhile, we just walk around like everything's wrong. We live in a world like that. This is a military fortress we're talking about, not a flimsy shack. Destroying it requires force and power, the kind that can only come from the consistently applying divinely empowered weapons, and that's the word of God. The Bible says in verse five, take every thought captive. He employed a tone that expresses continuous ongoing action. It's just not on Sundays. So we must understand that being successful in this endeavor at the helmet of salvation, it's gotta be a lifestyle, not a one-time event of receiving salvation, but applying it. Taking thoughts captive means controlling them to control you. Some of you today, you're allowing those thoughts to control everything about you. It means actively replacing the enemy's thinking with God. God's thinking, that means replacing your thinking with Philippians 4, and what the brain is to the body, your mind is to your soul. It's a spiritual expression of your brain. It's the control center. If your mind does not send healthy impulses, your soul will not respond in healthy ways. This is why the enemy works so diligently to cripple you

through negative thoughts and unhealthy patterns of imagination. I close with this story. A young boy got a brand new bike for his birthday. He couldn't wait to ride it. Couldn't wait to ride it. His dad said, hey, put this helmet, put this on first. The boy rolled his eyes. Dad, do I, I don't need it. I'm a good rider. His father smiled and said, the helmet isn't for when everything goes right. It's for when something goes wrong. A few days later, the boy hit a patch of gravel, lost control, and crashed his bike. His bike horse was all scratched up. His knees were all scraped, but his head was protected. When he got home, he picked up the helmet, looked at the deep scratch, crossed the side and realized something. The helmet had taken a pretty good hit, so he didn't have to. That's what the helmet of salvation does for us. Every day, the enemy throws lies. Every day, the enemy's gonna throw accusations at you, gonna throw doubts at you, fears in your mind. He tells us we're failures, we're alone, we're not enough, and God has given up on us, but that's not true. Salvation, the helmet of salvation reminds us what's true. Here's what's true.

We're forgiven, we're redeemed, we're loved, we're chosen, and we're secure in Christ. Isn't that awesome? Absolutely. It's a great reminder. Some of you today need to remember that. You're forgiven. You're redeemed by the blood of Jesus Christ. You're loved no matter what you've done, where you've been, you're loved. You're chosen and you're secure. The helmet doesn't prevent the battle, it protects us in battle. So before you walk out into another week, whatever this week holds for you, put on the helmet of salvation. Remind yourself who Jesus is. What he has done for you and whose you are. Because when the enemy attacks your mind, salvation takes the hit and points you back to the truth that your future is secure in Christ. The battle for your life may be fought on many fronts, but the battle for your faith is often a fight in your mind. So every morning, put on the helmet of salvation. Remember, you don't fight for victory, you fight from victory. You fight from victory, yeah. Thank you. So today, just as we think about application, for some of you today,

you have the helmet of salvation, like you've received it. There's been a time in your life, some of you may be like, Pastor Ben, what are you talking about? Like this receiving the helmet of salvation. The helmet of salvation is like Jesus Christ changing your life. That's what that means. Pastor Sue talked about this, was phenomenal. He's talking about the imputation of what Christ has done for you on the cross is now given to you. And it's the breastplate of righteousness that's inside of you, Christ in you, the hope of glory. It's Christ in you that is all things. Like for some of you today, you don't know what that means. And that's when I talk about receiving salvation. Like some of you today may need to receive the helmet because you never have. Or maybe there's some today that you've received it, but applying it, maybe you're walking around with a helmet that's just kind of barely on, not really recognizing the power that comes from a helmet of salvation. I'm not saying you don't have struggles every day, we all do, but when you recognize it and can declare it, you realize the victory has been won. God isn't concerned with how clean your helmet is. He's concerned with your heart, your heart being in tune with who he is

and what he wants to do in your life. So the question for you, what does your helmet look like? Is it scratched, all banged up, all jacked, like messed up? Or is it nice and shiny because you don't want nothing to happen to it? Maybe today you gotta get into battle more and recognize you have it on, that way you can get some scratches, get some dents in it. Because when you're in God's army fighting for what he wants you're gonna get banged up a little bit, but the helmet's to protect you. So let me pray with you today. Just all across our campuses today, I just wanna close out today just having a time of prayer for you. Those of you on our campuses in person, I just have a question for you. And those of you online as well, do you believe that you have? Receive the helmet of salvation. Do you believe that Christ has changed your life? If you're here today and you're saying, Pastor Ben, I don't know if that's ever happened, but I'm ready to receive that salvation because of what Christ has done for me. If that's you today, I just wanna lead you in a prayer of salvation, to receive that helmet of salvation. And for those of you here that have received it, maybe today God has spoken to you about applying it.

And you know, there's some areas that you need to apply. We need to pray for you as well, that God would just speak to you, and give you opportunities to do that, to apply it today. So if you're here today and you're ready to receive it, I just invite you to say this prayer just silently in your heart, just between you and God, if you're ready to receive the helmet of salvation, which is Jesus Christ in your life. Just from your heart to God, just say something like, Jesus, I wanna know you. I want my sin forgiven by you. I wanna be made right with God in heaven, through you, Jesus. Come into my life and change me. Thank you for saving me. And God, today, we thank you for those of them today, God, that have received this helmet of salvation through Jesus Christ, we thank you for changing lives today. And God, for those of us here that have received, but God, applying this has been difficult. I just pray that you would strengthen each one of us today, God, to apply what we've learned, that the helmet of salvation be strapped on tight, God, knowing that you wanna do a great work in us and through us. And God, knowing that we can be identified by our helmet of salvation, by how we live.

And God, that's giving it up every single day, our mind and our thoughts to you, and thanking them, that Philippians 4, 7-9, whatever's pure, whatever's lovely, God, that's how we wanna thank. And may we just declare that today. We give you all the praise, God, we give you all the honor, and we thank you for saving us, thank you for rescuing us, thank you for redeeming us, thank you for protecting us, thank you for forgiving us. God, thank you that we can have true freedom found in Jesus Christ today. God, we love you, we thank you, in Jesus name, I pray, amen, amen. New York town, Newport News, Virginia Beats, it's been an incredible, incredible Sunday, guys, thank you so much for being here. Let's give it up for all that God's done here today, y'all, come on.