Whose Armor Are You Wearing

Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Let's stand together as we worship. You know, baptism is such a humble and a glorious picture because it's joining Jesus in his death and his humility, where he made himself nothing and entrusting him to raise us up with him. And Jesus is the most humble and yet the most glorious and worthy person. And he has the most glorious name because of what he's done. You know, Paul says it this way in Philippians, in your relationships with one another, have the same mindset as Christ Jesus, who being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be used to his own advantage. Rather, he made himself nothing by taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness and being found in appearance as a man. He humbled himself by becoming obedient to death, even death on a cross. And let's read this next part out loud all together as we lift up the name of Jesus.

Therefore, God exalted him to the highest place and gave him the name that is above every name, that at the name of Jesus, every knee should bow in heaven and on earth and under the earth. And every tongue acknowledge that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God, the Father. We're already worshiping. Let's just continue to lift up his name here together, friends. ♪ You were the Word at the beginning ♪ ♪ One with God the Lord most high ♪ ♪ Your hidden glory enriched ♪ ♪ Now revealed in you our Christ ♪ ♪ What a beautiful name it is ♪ ♪ What a beautiful name it is ♪ ♪ The name of Jesus Christ our King ♪ ♪ What a beautiful name it is ♪ ♪ Nothing compared to this ♪ ♪ What a beautiful name it is ♪ ♪ The name of Jesus ♪ ♪ You didn't want him without us ♪ ♪ But Jesus you brought heaven down ♪ ♪ My sin was great your love was greater ♪ ♪ What could separate us now ♪ ♪ What a wonderful name it is ♪ ♪ What a wonderful name it is ♪ ♪ The name of Jesus Christ my King ♪ ♪ Jesus Christ my King ♪ ♪ What a wonderful name it is ♪

♪ Nothing compared to this ♪ ♪ What a wonderful name it is ♪ ♪ The name of Jesus ♪ ♪ What a wonderful name it is ♪ ♪ The name of Jesus ♪ ♪ Oh there is no other name above your name ♪ ♪ Oh we give you all the glory here ♪ ♪ We lift up our hearts, lift up our soul ♪ ♪ Oh just to thank you Jesus, just to thank you Jesus, oh ♪ ♪ Cause death could not hold you, but great before you ♪ ♪ Before you, and you silence the voice of sin and death ♪ ♪ Now the heavens are roaring, the praise of your glory ♪ ♪ For you are amazing, I am glory ♪ ♪ You have no rival, you have no enemy ♪ ♪ You've won, now and forever God you reign ♪ ♪ Yours is the kingdom, yours is the glory, yours is the name ♪ ♪ Oh Oh Oh Name ♪ ♪ What a powerful name it is ♪ ♪ What a powerful name it is ♪ ♪ The name of Jesus Christ my need ♪ ♪ What a powerful name it is ♪ ♪ Nothing can stand against it ♪ ♪ What a powerful name it is the name of Jesus Christ my need DKJKFNFNFNFNFNMMMMMMMMMMMMMMM ♪ ♪ What a powerful name it is the name of Jesus Christ my need DKJKFNFNFNFNMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMM ♪ ♪ There is power in the name of Jesus ♪ ♪ There is power in the name of Jesus C'mon church sing ♪ ♪ There is power in the name of Jesus ♪ ♪ To break every chain break every chain break every chain ♪ ♪ There is power in the name of Jesus ♪ ♪ There is power in the name of Jesus we believe ♪

♪ There is power in the name of Jesus to break every chain ♪ ♪ Break every chain break every chain ♪ ♪ To break every chain break every chain break every chain ♪ Let's sing together, sing power. ♪ There is power in the name of Jesus yeah ♪ ♪ There is power in the name of Jesus yeah ♪ ♪ There is power in the name of Jesus break every chain ♪ ♪ Break every chain break every chain believe yeah ♪ ♪ Break every chain break every chain break every chain yeah ♪ ♪ To break every chain break every chain break every chain ♪ ♪ I hear the chains falling yeah ♪ ♪ I hear the chains falling yeah ♪ ♪ I hear the chains falling yeah ♪ ♪ I hear the chains falling yeah ♪ ♪ I hear the chains falling yeah ♪ ♪ I hear the chains falling yeah ♪ ♪ I hear the chains falling yeah ♪ ♪ I hear the chains falling yeah ♪ ♪ There is power in the name of Jesus ♪ ♪ There is power in the name of Jesus ♪ ♪ There is power in the name of Jesus ♪ ♪ Break every chain, break every chain, break every chain, yeah ♪ ♪ Break every chain, break every chain, break every chain, yeah ♪ ♪ Break every chain, break every chain, break every chain, yeah ♪ ♪ You have no rival, you have no equal, not forever, not usually ♪ ♪ You have no rival, you have no equal, not forever, not usually ♪ ♪ Yours is the kingdom, yours is the glory ♪ ♪ Yours is the name of the Lord, amen ♪ ♪ What a powerful name, what a powerful name, amen ♪ ♪ The name of Jesus comes to mind ♪

♪ What a powerful name it is, nothing can stand against it ♪ ♪ What a powerful name it is, the name of Jesus, what a powerful name it is ♪ What a powerful name it is, the name of Jesus. What a powerful name it is, the name of Jesus. What a powerful name it is, the name of Jesus. What a powerful name it is, the name of Jesus. What a powerful name it is, the name of Jesus. What a powerful name it is, the name of Jesus. What a powerful name it is, the name of Jesus. What a powerful name it is, the name of Jesus. What a powerful name it is, the name of Jesus. What a powerful name it is, the name of Jesus. What a powerful name it is, the name of Jesus. What a powerful name it is, the name of Jesus. What a powerful name it is, the name of Jesus. ♪ Oh, you make the darkness tremble, Jesus, Jesus ♪ ♪ You silence fear, oh, Jesus, Jesus ♪ ♪ You make the darkness tremble, Jesus, Jesus, oh ♪ ♪ You make the darkness tremble, Jesus, Jesus, oh ♪ ♪ Just to help me out, Jesus ♪ ♪ Just to help me out of here, Jesus, oh, Jesus, Jesus, oh ♪ ♪ You make the darkness tremble, Jesus, Jesus, oh ♪ ♪ Silence for you, Jesus, Jesus, oh ♪ ♪ You make the darkness tremble, Jesus, Jesus, oh ♪ ♪ Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh ♪ ♪ Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh ♪ ♪ I can sing your name for all my life ♪ ♪ For all my life and still find more to love each time ♪ ♪ Jesus, be the name ever on my lips ♪ ♪ You're sweeter every time that I call on it ♪

♪ There's just something about your name ♪ ♪ There's just something about your name ♪ ♪ There's just something about your name ♪ ♪ That makes me cry holy ♪ ♪ There is no other name ♪ ♪ There is no other name ♪ ♪ There is no other name, Jesus, you are worthy ♪ ♪ You have been the friend who never lets ♪ ♪ And I won't forget your faithfulness ♪ ♪ Jesus, be the name ever on my lips ♪ ♪ You're sweeter every time that I call on it ♪ ♪ There's just something about your name ♪ ♪ There's just something about your name ♪ ♪ There's just something about your name ♪ ♪ That makes me cry holy ♪ ♪ There is no other name, Jesus, there is no other name ♪ ♪ There is no other name, there is no other name ♪ ♪ Jesus, you are worthy, there's just something ♪ ♪ There's just something about your name ♪ ♪ There's just something about your name ♪ ♪ There's just something about your name ♪ ♪ That makes me cry holy ♪ ♪ There is no other name, I know, there is no other name ♪ ♪ There is no other name, Jesus, you are worthy ♪ ♪ Oh, you're worthy, you're holy, you're faithful ♪ ♪ You're the name above all other names, Jesus ♪ ♪ Jesus, you're the name inside and you're alive ♪ ♪ You're the one the darkness can't deny ♪ ♪ The resurrection and the life, Jesus, you are worthy ♪ ♪ Jesus, Jesus, You're the only one I can see ♪

♪ You're the rain that made the storm disappear ♪ ♪ You never fail, You never will ♪ ♪ Jesus, Jesus, the man of God, the man for us ♪ ♪ The wounded and the worthy one ♪ ♪ The first and last, the true to come ♪ ♪ Jesus, Jesus, the King who overwhelmed the grave ♪ ♪ The Lord who will forever reign ♪ ♪ The name above all other names, Jesus ♪ ♪ Jesus be the name, Jesus be the name ♪ ♪ Yeah, Jesus be the name that gives all the glory, yeah ♪ ♪ Jesus, Jesus, be the name, Jesus be the name ♪ ♪ Jesus be the name that gives all the glory, yeah ♪ ♪ Jesus be the name, Jesus be the name ♪ ♪ Oh, Jesus be the name that gives all the glory, Jesus ♪ ♪ Jesus be the name, Jesus be the name ♪ ♪ Oh, Jesus be the name that gives all the glory, yeah ♪ ♪ All the glory, yeah ♪ ♪ All the glory, yeah ♪ ♪ Jesus, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh ♪ ♪ Jesus, Jesus be the name, Jesus be the name ♪ ♪ Oh, Jesus be the name that gives all the glory, yeah ♪ ♪ Jesus be the name, oh, Jesus, oh, Jesus, oh, Jesus ♪ ♪ Oh, Jesus be the name, that gives all the glory, oh Jesus ♪ ♪ Jesus be the name, Jesus be the name ♪ ♪ Oh, Jesus be the name that gives all the glory, oh Jesus ♪ ♪ Jesus be the name, Jesus be the name ♪ ♪ Oh, Jesus be the name that gives all the glory, oh Jesus ♪ ♪ Jesus be the name above every other name, above every other name ♪ ♪ Oh, Jesus be the center of our lives, be the center of our lives, Jesus ♪ ♪ Jesus at the center of it all, Jesus at the center of it all ♪

♪ From beginning to the end, it will always be, it's always been you, Jesus ♪ Come on, sing it again, sing Jesus at the center. ♪ Jesus at the center of it all, Jesus at the center of it all ♪ ♪ From beginning to the end, it will always be, it's always been you, Jesus ♪ ♪ Jesus and nothing else, nothing else, nothing in this world will do, only you, Jesus ♪ ♪ Jesus at the center of it all, Jesus at the center of it all, Jesus at the center of it all ♪ ♪ Jesus be the center of everything revolves around you ♪ Sing that again, sing nothing else matters. ♪ Nothing else matters and nothing in this world will do ♪ ♪ And nothing in this world will do, oh ♪ ♪ Jesus you're the center of everything revolves around you ♪ Jesus, sing from my heart to the heavens. ♪ From my heart to the heavens, Jesus be the center ♪ ♪ It's all about you, yes it's all about you ♪ ♪ From my heart to the heavens, Jesus be the center ♪ ♪ It's all about you, yes it's all ♪ ♪ From my heart, from my heart to the heavens, Jesus be the center ♪ ♪ It's all about you, yes it's all about you ♪ ♪ From my heart to the heavens, Jesus be the center ♪ ♪ Jesus be the center, it's all about you, yes it's all about you ♪ ♪ From my heart to the heavens, Jesus be the center ♪ ♪ It's all about you, yes it's all about you ♪ ♪ From my heart to the heavens, Jesus be the center ♪ ♪ It's all about you, yes it's all about you ♪ ♪ And Jesus be the center of your church ♪ ♪ And Jesus be the center of your church ♪ ♪ And every knee will bow and every tongue shall confess you, Jesus ♪ Sing that again, sing Jesus be the center. ♪ And Jesus be the center of your church ♪ ♪ And Jesus be the center of your church ♪

♪ And Jesus be the center of your church ♪ ♪ And every knee will bow and every tongue shall confess you, Jesus ♪ ♪ And every knee will bow and every tongue shall confess you, Jesus ♪ ♪ Jesus, and nothing else matters ♪ ♪ Nothing in this world will do ♪ ♪ Jesus, you're the center ♪ ♪ And everything revolves around you, Jesus, you ♪ So we do just agree as a church family that you are the center of it all. You're the center of our lives. You're the center of our church, Lord. You're the center of our affections, God. We love you, Jesus. We love you, Lord. We honor you here in this place. Thank you for your presence that's here with us, Lord. Yeah, you can just join in. Just tell the Lord, thank you for God's presence. He's here with us. We're not just singing songs to air, but the presence of the Lord is here in our midst. God inhabits the praises of his people. We love you, Jesus. It's in your name we pray, amen. You can be seated. We're gonna continue in worship by the giving of our tithes and our offerings. We give as a way to express our love and gratitude to Jesus. And so if the ushers can come. forward and begin to pass the offering buckets.

You can see different ways that you can give on the screens on my right and left. If you wanna give cash or checks, you can do so in the buckets that are coming around. But if you wanna give digitally, you can see ways to do that on the screens. I wanna thank you for being a generous church and giving to the Lord the overflow of what he has given to you. This morning, we get the joy of welcoming some of our church family members who have been serving Jesus around the world and are back here in Waco for a bit. So I wanna honor with us today, Giles and Amy, they've been serving in the Middle East for two years. You guys can stand up and wave. They've been serving in the Middle East the past few years in their home on refuel. And then we also wanna honor Ty and Britton and their family, if you guys wanna stand up. They've been serving in Central Asia for the past five years. And we just wanna say to both families, thank you for loving Jesus. Thank you for carrying the gospel to the nations. And as a church family, we celebrate and honor you. We're excited to have you in Waco for this season. We wanna pray that you have given yourselves to refreshing others, and this season would be refreshed.

So really glad that y'all are here. Okay, this year, our theme as a church, the thing that we sense the Holy Spirit leading us into that he wanted to do in our midst was to strengthen our family to multiply, to strengthen us as a church family, to strengthen us as a community together, and to strengthen our individual households. That he would strengthen us with his grace, strengthen us with his power, strengthen us with his spirit so that we can multiply his life, his love, his grace, that we can multiply disciples and churches here in our city, in our nation, and in the nations. And I was thinking about that this week in praying about our service, and I was reminded of a passage of scripture in Nehemiah 6 that we'll put up on the screens. And in the book of Nehemiah, the people of God are at work rebuilding their city. God has given them a calling to rebuild that which has become broken, and they're restoring the city. That doesn't come easy or without cost. They face many trials and challenges and much opposition. And in Nehemiah 6, different ones have come to stir up fear and discouragement against the people of God and the work that God had called them to do. I love that it says here in Nehemiah 6, it says, for all of them were trying to frighten us,

thinking they will become discouraged with the work and it will not be done. In all the places that God calls us to serve and to build and to labor for his kingdom, we all encounter trials and challenges and opposition that can leave us feeling fearful and can leave us feeling discouraged. And you might be here today with anxieties that are weighing you down, with places that you're fearful, places that you feel discouraged. If we're honest, we probably all have those places in our lives. And I love what the people of God did in the book of Nehemiah in the midst of anxiety, in the midst of fear, in the midst of discouragement and opposition, they prayed, but now, oh God, strengthen my hands. Now, oh God, strengthen our hands. And the Lord was faithful to answer that prayer and to strengthen them and to give them the strength they needed to persevere in the midst of challenge and to be faithful with what God called them to do. God strengthened them by his spirit. And we wanna take time together here as we gather to pray for one another in the same way. Lord, would you strengthen us today? Would you strengthen our hands for the things that you've called us to?

Maybe that's where you are in school or a job that you are pursuing. Maybe that's in your marriage or with your children. Maybe that's leading a life group or trying to step out and sharing your faith or making disciples. Wherever God's called you, we need his strength. Amen. And as we pray together today, we're gonna believe for the Lord to strengthen us as a family. So here's what I want you to do. I want you to connect with two other people. So again, in little groups of three, two other people around you. If you don't know them, introduce yourself. And what is an area where you need God to strengthen you? Maybe it's like, man, I need help. We have finals coming up in school. I need God to strengthen me for the finals that I'm about to take. Or maybe there's a situation at work where you need to strengthen your marriage. You can just share that shortly, and then we're gonna take time to pray for one another in groups of three. So in just a second, I'm gonna say go, find a couple other. People, and again, where do you need God to strengthen you? And then we're gonna take time to pray for one another

there in our groups. On the count of three, one, two, three, go. Go. Go. Go. Go. Go. Go. Go. Go. Go. Go. Go. Go. Go. Go. Go. Go. Go. Go. Go. Go. Go. Go. Go. Go. Go. Go. Go. Go.

Go. Go. Go. Go. Go. Go. Go. Go. Go. Go. Go. Go. Go. Go. Go. Go. Go. Go. Go. Go. Go. Go. Go. Go. Go. Go. Go. Father, Son, assume your holiness, and forgive us our trespasses. And forgive us our trespasses,

and forgive us our trespasses, and forgive us our trespasses. Lord, we lift up every person here in our midst, God, and we're asking, as the people of God did of old, Lord, that you would strengthen our hands, God, for the work that you've called us to. God, in the places where we're anxious, in the places where we're fearful, in the places where we're discouraged today, God, we're asking that you would strengthen us, oh Lord, by your spirit. In Jesus' name, amen. Amen, amen. Well, we get the joy today of continuing in our Ephesians series, which is all about being strong in the Lord and being strengthened. We're gonna get to hear from Jeremy King in just a minute, who is our young adults pastor. I wanna tell you, I'm excited for Jeremy to share. I wanna tell you three things that I appreciate about him as he gets ready to come bring a word to all of us. Jeremy and Amy, his wife, are both people of encouragement. I can't tell you how many times I personally have gotten a voice memo or a text with, hey, I am thankful for you. Here's what I see of the Lord in you. I wanna serve you, I wanna build you up, I wanna encourage you. Jeremy and Amy just walk in that as people.

I love that about them. So they're gonna bring that encouragement. Jeremy's gonna bring that encouragement to us. Secondly, Romans 12 says that we're not to be lacking in zeal, but to keep ourselves stirred up, being fervent in spirit. And Jeremy and Amy are both people that walk in that zeal of the Lord, a love for Jesus and a passion for his purposes in our city and in the nations. I love that about them. And they have a heart for you guys. They lay down their life to serve our church, not just young adults, but to serve a whole house. And as Jeremy brings a word today, it's not just for the young adults in the room, it's for all of us. And I'm believing that as he shares, God is gonna strengthen our whole family. So Jeremy, come on up. Give him a hand. Thanks, Zach. All right, good morning. What a great introduction. Thankful for Zach Daniel. Well, yes, my name is Jeremy King, and I'm excited to know you. If I don't know you already, I'm a young adult pastor. And my wife, Amy, is lovely on the front row over here. And then I've got three kiddos.

Emmett, who's five. Annabelle is three. Liam is one. And we have a fourth on the way. So we've got a full house. It's gonna be fun. I had a friend of mine tell me, he's like, you know, four is the perfect number. You fill up the three and three on the airplane. You got even teams. And I was like, okay, give me a vision. Give me a vision for this. He was like, we can do this. So we need the strengthening of the family to multiply. So we're in it with you, believing for God to bring it. But hey, we've been in a series on Ephesians, and we are on our 10th message and final message on Ephesians. And I've been encouraged by hearing Mick Murray speak the past couple weeks. And that guy is a teacher, amen. Every time he speaks, I'm like, I'm gonna learn some new words. I'm gonna learn some new Bible history, and this is gonna be good. So we've seen God do some amazing things over this series. We've seen marriages get restored, people get born again, people be strengthened. So we're excited for what God's gonna do in the room. And I would say if you need a miracle,

today is the day that Jesus is here to meet you. That the book of Revelations says that Jesus walks among the midst of his churches. He doesn't sit back and watch them operate, but he walks in the midst of them. So when we gather, we're not just gathering to check a church box, we believe he's in the room. And when he's in the room, things shift and heaven comes. So we're gonna lean into what he's gonna do and believe. Amen? All right, well, if y'all could stand with me for our scripture passage, we're gonna read out of the armor of God, Ephesians 6 this morning. It's gonna be good, so 6, 10 through 17. I'll read it for us. It says, finally be strong in the Lord and in the strength of his might. Put on the whole armor of God that you may be able to stand against the schemes of the devil. For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places. Therefore, take up the whole armor of God that you may be able to withstand in the evil day and having done all to stand. Stand therefore, having fastened on the belt of truth and having put on the breastplate of righteousness and as shoes for your feet, having put on the readiness given by the gospel of peace.

In all circumstances, take up the shield of faith with which you can extinguish all the flaming darts of the evil one and take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the spirit, which is the word of God. Amen. Sounds like an army this morning. I like it, come on. So I get excited when we talk about the armor of God because this is real armor we can put on. And it's saying that, man, we have a purpose now that we've been born again is to see God's kingdom come to the earth, that we don't live a civilian life, we live a soldier's life knowing we've been adopted into a new family. So depending on how you first gave your life to Jesus, you might've heard the gospel shared in different ways. Sometimes we hear this like it's a free ticket to heaven, but in reality, it's a changing of your family. So it means that you used to be part of an old kingdom, an old family, the family of darkness in the blood of Jesus transfers you to a new family, to the kingdom of light of his beloved son. So now you have a new dad, you have new generational blessings, you have a new purpose, and your old self doesn't have to define you anymore. And there's benefits you get to being in this new family. And I was reading through the scriptures through Isaiah 59,

which I know is kind of just buried back in the Old Testament, but I found something really interesting. So when we're reading in Isaiah 59, God is talking about how he is going to defend his people. And I found that he describes himself as having armor very similar to the armor in Ephesians 6. We can put that on the screen. I'll read this for us. It says, justice is turned back and righteousness stands far away for truth has stumbled in the public squares and uprightness cannot enter. Truth is lacking and he who departs from evil makes himself a prey. The Lord saw it and it displeased him that there is no justice. God's talking about how he wants to intervene for his people. He saw there is no man and wondered that there was no one to intercede. Then his own arm brought him salvation. His righteousness upheld him. Now check this out. It says he put on righteousness as a breastplate and a helmet of salvation on his head. He put on garments of vengeance for clothing and wrapped himself in zeal as a cloak. So when Ephesians 6 is saying that we have the armor of God, I believe it's the father's armor

we get to wear as sons and daughters. This isn't like he has like a bunch of different pairs and he just gave you off-brand stuff. This is what he put on when he was fighting for his people. And I was saying, you are now my people. You now have purpose and you get to put it on. You get to wear it. I don't know what it was like in your household growing up, but for me, me and my sister loved to walk into my parents' closet and we would like, just see the man that's like, the clothes look like they're 10 stories high. And I'd put on my dad's like button-up shirts and stuff and try to put on his pants and his tie and walk out looking all baggy. And it was just my dad's joy to watch me walk out wearing his stuff. And there's something about us understanding that we have a father's joy and you putting on his armor and that you get permission to do that. There's things in the kingdom he wants you to know as a son, as a daughter, you don't have to beg for, it's actually his delight for you to put on. So when we're talking. about the armor of God, we read through it and it's talking about Christ's accomplishment on the cross and what it did for you. It is helmet of salvation we put on. It's this understanding of man, I am saved. Like I get to be heavenly minded.

I get to live for a new purpose. The breastplate of righteousness, meaning I actually have a new operating system that's not slavery to sin anymore. I have a new heart that beats for righteousness and it's his breastplate I put on. I have a shield of faith that I get to extinguish the fiery darts of the enemy because who's been lied to already this morning? By the enemy, I have. You kind of wake up and it's just choo, choo, choo but you put up that shield of faith and you believe I am not who the enemy says. I've been born again and I'm new. He gives us the sword of the spirit, which is the word of God and it's powerful. It can destroy strongholds, we get to put it on. We have the belt of truth, so we get to strap on truth and his truth leads us into freedom. So we don't have to go back to our old ways. And we have the shoes of the readiness of the gospel of peace. So at every moment, we're ready to share the gospel. Say who needs to be saved today? Today's the day of salvation. And we clothe ourself with this, say this is God's delight that I would walk this way as a son, as a daughter and I have a purpose to see the kingdoms of this world submit to the kingdom of God, amen?

So when we try to put this on, it normally goes like this. You might not know, but we actually have an exact replica of the helmet of salvation in the back room. Not really, this is probably from Walmart. But when we think about putting on the armor of God, normally we're like, yep, I'm gonna strap it up, I'm gonna look really cool, I'm ready to go. And we think it's just as simple as I put it on and then everything is gonna work. But what we don't understand is this is kind of how it looks in reality, that we have old armor from our old life that we've forgotten to take off, it's called our old self. So we actually come to the table looking like this and sometimes we still have our old anxiety, we still got our old addictions, we still think we are who we used to be, we have the stuff in our family lines we wish we weren't doing just like our forefathers do but we're still doing. We've got mental illness, we've got different things that are plaguing us that we have not put off. And so when we go to put on the armor, we're like, okay, I think I got it, I'm pretty sure I'm saved. All right, that'll work just fine. So I'm gonna take this off. But this is what it feels like when we try to walk in armor when we have our old self still on. And what I think God wants us to see is that Ephesians 4, 22 through 24,

it says, put off the old self and put on the new self. We have it up here, put off your old self which belongs to your former manner of life and is corrupt through deceitful desires and be renewed in the spirit of your minds. And to put on the new self created after the likeness of God and true righteousness and holiness. So it is true, you've been born again, your old self is completely dead, completely removed. But if I take the old ways and carry them with me into my new life, I will be unproductive in the kingdom because that helmet was not very productive on top of the bucket, amen? Amen. So here's my question for you this morning is whose armor are you wearing? That if you have armor from God to put on, but you might have armor from your old kingdom on, the kingdom of darkness, whose armor are you currently wearing? And what are we called to take off? And I'm gonna be painstakingly clear this morning that we are going after putting off the old armor this morning. That if you think that there's something that has a hold on your life, man, I wish I could just put this away, I don't wanna think that way anymore, I don't wanna be drawn that way anymore,

I don't wanna be held back anymore, today's freedom for you. Because Jesus walks in the midst of his churches and as we all agree to put off the old armor, he is gonna put on Christ's accomplishment for you. He's gonna put on the armor of God in replacement. And we've all just by the way, worn every type of armor before. So it's not like, oh man, I've got this thing, I wonder if other people are, we have all worn the armor of darkness and at some point have chosen to put it off. And there might be things today that you realize, okay, I didn't realize I was wearing that, I need to put that off, amen? All right, well, Carl Goley was speaking on our Easter service, if you were here and he talked about King David and his battle against Goliath. And we're gonna jump back into that scripture. But I'm gonna give you just the context for it again. So this is gonna help us see what armor are we wearing and what do we do with what we think we have on. So in this scene, back in 1 Samuel 17, you have the Philistines and they're fighting against the Israelites. And if you know the story, Goliath comes day after day and he's saying, who's gonna come and fight me, send a man and I'm gonna defeat you guys, y'all are all small and I'm better than you

and bigger than you, blah, blah, blah. And the Israelites are terrified. They're like, I don't know how to beat this man. He's huge and I'm not anointed for it, what do we do? And then King David comes along and King David has not been a soldier, he's been out in the field. He's been out with God. And the chapter right before 1 Samuel 17, David gets anointed as king. And so he has a spiritual encounter and out in the woods somewhere where nobody else is, you have David the shepherd boy killing lions and bears with a rock and a sling by himself. And no one even knows he's there. So like if we have any hunters in the room, what if there's somebody that you saw, he was like, I don't know, 15 years old and he comes with like 20 bucks just mounted on the wall and you're like, how'd you get those? Well, a rock and a sling by myself just traipsing around the backwoods of Waco. You'd be like, dang, like, that's special, you know? But this is David, but it's lions and bears. And so he comes across into the Israelite camp and he hears King Saul talking about this problem. And he says, hey, put me in the game, put me in the game. I wanna be used by God and let's see what happens. So let's jump into the scriptures. 1 Samuel 17, starting in verse 37 says,

and David said, the Lord who delivered me from the paw of the lion and from the paw of the bear will deliver me from the hand of this Philistine. And Saul said to David, go and the Lord be with you. Then Saul clothed David with his armor. He put a helmet of bronze on his head and clothed him with a coat of mail. And David strapped his sword over his armor. He tried in vain to go for he had not tested them. Then David said to Saul, I cannot go with these for I have not tested them. So David put them off. I want you to remember that phrase. So David put them off. So here's what happens. David is not from Saul's family line and he has a new anointing from God to take out Goliath. And the issue with this armor is it's Saul's armor. And who knows the last battle Saul fought in this armor? Is against the Amalekites. And in this fight was when Saul did not completely wipe out and obey the Lord in the battle. And the prophet Samuel comes up and says, you are now rejected from being king. So this is rejection armor. This is armor of past failure, armor that's not anointed, armor that can't take on Goliath, but it's what seems right to a man. It's what seems like the way things should go. And the question is what gear,

what armor is David gonna take into the battle? Because David now has a choice. It's true he's anointed, but in this moment, if he takes up the wrong armor, he fails. Can you imagine how the story would go if David decided to trust in man and the way things have been, rather than take up the sling and the stone that God has entrusted him with, the new thing. And I think some of us in the room, you have a real Goliath God has assigned you to, whether it's Goliath in the education sphere, in a different nation, in your family, and you're anointed to take it out, but you're wearing Saul's armor. And God wants you to take that armor off and use the new thing, Christ's accomplishment, and to put off the old ways so you can walk in the new. Amen? Come on. Well, I think I was going on a run when I was thinking about this armor, and God started talking to me, and it's just in my mind, different examples. It's like if we had opposite armor for God's armor, it'd be as if I was wearing the helmet of condemnation from my old life, or I was wearing like the breastplate of impurity, or the shield of unbelief, or the sword of slander, or the belt of lies, or the crocks of fear.

I'll call them crocks, you know, just throw it out there. But you know what I'm saying? It's like we have these old things we're walking in, and God wants us to take them off. And just to be clear again, I grew up, just I love the church I grew up in. We didn't always lean into specifically where does God want to set us free from? And is full freedom really available? And I used to have this thought that there was old kingdom, kingdom of darkness armors. that I was predestined to wear just as my cross to bear. As it turns out, he wants me to put off all of it and put on all of his armor. And there's some folks in the room where you can literally start naming, man, I am struggling with the spirit of divorce that's in my family. I'm struggling with addiction. Some of you like, man, I know there's witchcraft and other spiritual practices that's in my family or I myself have done them and I've never spiritually addressed them to break them off. Some people have anxiety. Some of you have different things, like I don't even know how to explain, I don't even know how to tell someone this, I'm hiding it, I don't wanna bring it to the light. It's like secret armor

that you don't want anyone to know about. And God wants to set you free. And today he's got that power. And to be free is in the blood of Jesus and we call it repenting and renouncing. Real simple, repenting and renouncing. I like these words because when I say repenting, I'm saying I'm turning away from one thing and into another. It's not just saying, sorry, sorry, sorry, it's I'm gonna put off and now I'm gonna put on something different. It's walking the other way. And renouncing is powerful because you're saying I don't agree with it anymore. Any benefit I could have from it, any way of associating myself as this is normal to me, I renounce that. So I've heard some folks say, I actually, I think my anxiety is a good thing because it makes me more productive. No, no, I renounce it. That's not the way of God. Or it might be that, this is my comfort. If I go to this addiction or this person or this thought pattern, actually it helps me get through the day or it helps me sleep or X, Y, Z different things. Nope, I renounce these as old ways

and I repent of them and I want God to come instead. And there's some amazing stories of what God has done here. And I wanna share a few just from, one from a life group I was a part of. And if you're not in a life group, life group is where the power of God shows up. And I just wanna say way to go every life group leader who is sowing into the people in their group, who is making it a safe place for God's kingdom to come. We see people healed, saved, delivered, provided for. His kingdom comes when we gather house to house. So if you're not in a life group, we want you in a life group to experience that and be a part of it. And we have this one girl, I won't share her name, but she joined our young adults group. She was working at HEB. Shout out, love HEB. And I actually share that so that you hear these people are in our midst. Like this isn't a testimony from a faraway land. This is like here, what we're called to do, who we're called to be. So this girl is sharing a life group. She just got born again. And she's like, I'm gonna get baptized. I'm so excited. Baptism Bash again, May 3rd.

If you're not signed up, I want you to do it. She said, I'm so excited to be baptized. And she's sharing about it. And she says, you know, I don't know how it came up. I think she might've like raised her arms or something, but there's some tattoos on her arm. And she shares, oh, those are from before when I was following Jesus. I kind of got into some other spiritual practices. I don't remember exactly what they were, but some type of form of either witchcraft or things with mediums, just other spiritual things. So I got some tattoos about them, but I don't want them anymore. I just want Jesus. Beautiful, right? And so we're in worship. And I just leaned over to her and said, hey, have you ever prayed just to break off any way that's gonna have a spiritual grip on you? She goes, no, I haven't. I said, great, why don't we just pray together? This is on the kitchen floor of my house. And so we're praying together and it was amazing. So I start praying. We just say in the name of Jesus, anything from her old life connected to these practices break in the name of Jesus. And the fire of God came and she started sweating and shaking and she got free.

And she was saying, I've been having terrible nightmares. I have a hard time sleeping. And I don't know what happened. When we prayed, I just felt his presence come. I got super hot. I don't even know why I'm sweating, but I just got free. So it's like a wet blanket got pulled out from over her. And there's a difference because there's some things you must spiritually address. Some things are worked out of us by going to the truth. It's a mental mindset shift. And other things you also must say in anything that's attached or connected to this, we break in Jesus name. Because Jesus gave us authority to cast out demons. And if it was all automatic, what was the authority for? So you need to lean in and some things say, and in the name of Jesus, we command every attachment to this to break. There was another, this is so sweet. Actually, this is a fresh testimony. This is fun, this is on Easter. So I'm in the connect room, and this wonderful girl comes in, and she's just crying. She goes, I wanna get born again. I'm like, well, great, we can do that. And so she gets born again in the middle of the connect room, and as we're praying, she's just saying,

I just feel so anxious all the time. I feel so anxious, and I wanna get free. And so we start praying for her, and then I'm praying, and I just feel like the word suicide comes to mind. And we pray for her, saying, any spirit of suicide, break in the name of Jesus. And she just feels it go. She goes, I've never felt free from that. And so she gets born again. She's been saved for about two minutes. And we start talking about, okay, what is God doing in you? She starts sharing about some hardship with her parents, specifically with her mom. And we said, hey, would you be willing to forgive your mom? Because that's not old armor you wanna take with you. Unforgiveness and past pain can be armor of darkness that keeps us from taking up the Goliath, we'll call it the takeout. And she was willing to forgive. So in about three minutes, healed, saved, delivered, she just goes all in, says, I'm willing to forgive. I'm willing to be set free. I wanna know Jesus, and I'm in. It doesn't mean there's not a truth process and a community process on the back end of that, but this is what God does. And this is what we're talking about, of putting off the old and putting on the new.

And I wanna share one more. All right, there's a guy who is in our young adult ministry, and he is now married, amazing things happening with him. And he was struggling because he kept going back to pornography, kept going back to sexual sin. He said, I don't know, like, what, like, I want to be free, but how do I be free? And I had a dream, and the dream was very short. It was just, I was talking to him, basically. Something happened, I don't know what it is, but it was bad, and then I woke up. He's like, well, that's really short. So I walk up to him, I said, hey, I had this dream. I kind of explained it to him, really short. And he goes, we need to talk. And I was like, okay. So he comes to my office, and I just say, okay, what happened? And he had this hidden life that started with something, when he was 19, he had never shared before. And he had gotten into some more twisted sexual sin. And I just want to say, I know in a room this size, the enemy's goal is to get you to sin and take you farther than you wanted to go. And so there's things in the room you feel shame about, things you don't want to share about. But the moment you bring it to light, Jesus brings you freedom. And today's that day of freedom. The people saying yes are ones who've had past stuff

they've brought to the light. We're like, and we're now all free. So come join the team of freedom and just get it out. So this guy shares all this stuff, everything from male prostitution to things he had never shared before, elsewhere I don't need to explain. This is here. And he even shared about how some of it came in from his dad, and he forgave his dad. And we're just on our knees in my office, just crying, repenting, renouncing, saying this isn't who I am anymore. And he starts walking in the power of God and gets married. And you want to come into life healthy and whole. I just want to say today is a day of putting off the old so we can put on the new. All right, so if we're putting off the old, what do we put on instead? Let's just jump into that again of 1 Samuel 17, the next verse, verse 40. This is where David says he took his staff in his hand so he doesn't take Saul's armor. And he chose five smooth stones from the brook and put them in his shepherd's pouch. His sling was in his hand and he approached the Philistine. So what David does, he doesn't take up his old armor. He takes up what Jesus has taught him in this secret place. He picks up what God's anointing is for him. And as us, as the family of God, as the body of Christ,

this is us putting on the armor of God. This is us saying, I am now filled with Christ and Christ's accomplishment on the cross. And this is gonna be the stone that I sling at Goliath. I'm not gonna use my old ways, I'm gonna use his way. And you put on the new armor, this new accomplishment of Christ through understanding and agreement. You say understanding and agreement. So if you don't understand what Jesus has done for you, you'll still believe lies. If you haven't noticed, it's not enough to be able to pinpoint something as a lie if you don't know what the truth is. If all you have to eat is ice cream and you know you shouldn't eat that much, but you have nothing else to eat, you just eat ice cream, right? But if you know the truth and you understand it, then you can put it on. And that's why, in June, we're gonna do a full-on deep dive of the armor of God and each piece of it. Okay, what is the helmet? What is the shield? What is the breastplate, the belt, the sword, the shoes? We wanna know, what has Jesus given us to wear and to step into? But it's not only understanding it, it's agreeing with it. And like I talked about, we love life group. We have this thing called the five circles of church.

We have our individual time with God, discipleship, life group, church gathered. We wanna reach our spheres of influence. This understanding and agreement is a circle one issue. This is when you are alone with God. Every morning, before the kids wake up, before the sun gets up, whatever it is, you're saying, Jesus, I wanna understand and agree with who I am in you. And today, I put off the old me and I put on the new me, which is you and your accomplishment. I put on the helmet, I put on the breastplate, I take up the shield and the sword and the belt and the shoes and I'm ready to walk today. So if you're looking for what is my practical daily application, this is your practical daily application. Tomorrow morning, when you wake up, you can put on the armor. And when I think about David Stone, we've been saying so much about the name of Jesus this morning and it was beautiful. And when you sing about his name, it kind of elevates our perspective of what could happen in the room, right? And so as we're singing, I was thinking about David Stone that he picked up to slay Goliath. And in Psalm 18, David says, you know, God is my rock. I think that's the rock he was talking about. I used to think about like big rock, you know,

like huge stone, you know. But I think actually David had learned that God is the rock he can sling at Goliath in Goliath Falls. That he's learning, if I learn how to put on Christ, if I learn how to lean in to who God is, the giants fall. And I think this is the same rock in Daniel 2. Nebuchadnezzar has a statue that represents the kingdoms of this earth. And then a rock not cut out with human hands destroys those kingdoms and it becomes established as the mountain of God. And that same rock is Christ and our cornerstone, which we all lean on. And I want you to know Jesus as your rock. Jesus as the one you can put in your sling and his name accomplishes its purpose. He's the one you can lean on. He's the one that will topple every kingdom of this world. And he's the one that we put on. And there's so many men I have walked with who have chosen to put off the old and on the new that at this point last year would have been disqualified from ministry, but at this point this year are seeing people healed, saved, delivered, leading, walking in purity, because they have put off the old. They have not let humility or a lack of humility deter them from getting free. And they're stepping in to be the leaders

God's made them to be. And I think there's other men in the room. It's your turn to step in. It's your turn to step in and say, I'm gonna walk in freedom and purity. I'm not gonna let vulnerability or a lack of vulnerability. I'm not gonna let the schemes of the world keep me from what I'm destined for, but I'm gonna lean in because God has a plan and purpose for you. And today's a day of freedom. And yes, a lot of stories I could share, but when I cover people too, I'm just so proud of our young adult guys. They've been leaning in, going for it. And I would say the same thing for the women in the room. I am not a woman, so I don't know the full story of what it's like to be a woman, but the freedom God has for you and you being open and vulnerable, saying it doesn't matter to me what it looks like, I'm here to get free. Because guys, our next generations are dependent on our freedom. God has a plan for them, but they won't have to walk in where we've missed it if we turn to choose to turn, and they can walk on a greater foundation than what we had if we lean in. And I think if we start to say, okay, what do I not wanna see reproduced in my kids? I wanna see his kingdom come.

It's never too late. It's never too late to make that turn. And again, some of us in the room, there are things that are specific, like we need to address spiritually today. And we're gonna say, break in the name of Jesus. Those things don't belong to you anymore anyways. They're truly anything that you're like, ah, I don't know if I wanna address that today or put that off. It doesn't even belong to you. And we don't even associate it with your identity anyways. So let's just jump in the deliverance process and get healthy and whole. And others of us, it might not be that. It might just be, I need to know what's the lie I need to put down and what's the truth I need to pick up. Like for me, for whatever reason, just by the grace of God, my journey and learning how to walk in purity. I used to be addicted to pornography, walking the ways of the world back in high school. And it was just, I need to learn who am I? It wasn't like I need a specific spiritual thing to happen. I just, I was just believing so many lies. But what also had happened to me as a kid is I had so many nightmares and night terrors. I was like a crazy person at night. And I need a spiritual breakthrough to set me free. Where literally I would sleepwalk around my house screaming, having nightmares.

And then my dad praised me one night and I feel kind of like that girl felt in my kitchen floor at Life Group. His presence came and set me free. And it all stopped in a moment. And so if we don't address things that need to be broken spiritually, they don't break. And if we don't lean into the truth, we don't walk in full freedom. So we're gonna lean into both, amen? All right. Well, let's do this. We're gonna go ahead and pray. If you could stand up with me. And I'm just gonna go ahead and warn you, this is not gonna be the like really quick ministry time. We are gonna pray, amen? And I've been in so many rooms like this where people get so free. It's amazing and beautiful. And what we're gonna be doing is I'm gonna pray over a couple of specific things that we're gonna be putting off. And I would love for you to be repenting and renouncing with me. Your agreement with this matters so much. Your agreement matters for the person sitting next to you, for you yourself. Whatever's coming to your mind of Jesus, I want to put off the old self

because I've really been made new. And I wanna put on your armor. And as we pray afterwards, we're gonna pray for the armor of God and replacement. But if our ministry teams could come up as well, you can go ahead and make your way up quickly if you can. If at any point you're like, man, I want someone to pray for me specifically. There's something I've never shared before. Or I just need freedom. Something feels like it's got a grip on me. I want you to come find someone up here to pray with you. And as we pray, some of you might even feel like physically there's something shifting in you while we pray. It might not even feel the most comfortable, but you just sit there and you just agree. You say, yes, I put that off. Just like David told Saul, I cannot wear these. I will put them off. And then we're gonna pray, amen? Amen, so whatever posture you need to be in, you can kneel, you can sit, you can stand silently. We're gonna pray and you're gonna agree with me. So Lord Jesus, we repent and we renounce any old way. Lord, we take off that old armor. We say we don't want it anymore. We don't want it anymore. We just say every generational curse be broken in this room in Jesus' name.

We just come against the spirit of divorce. We say you can't have our families, but you must come off in Jesus' name. There's those of you, you know people struggling in their marriage. You start contending for them right now. We just say spirit of divorce to go in Jesus' name. We just put off that armor. We just command every spirit of anxiety, break off in Jesus' name. People who struggle to sleep because their mind just keeps racing. You feel like your heart gets tight. We command that to go in Jesus' name. We just put off that armor. We put it off. Just some people feel like there's a confusion around their mind. You feel like you can't think straight. We just say all of that to go. Every harassing spirit of the enemy, leave our people in Jesus' name. We repent of it. We renounce it. And we just say every spirit of lust, every grip of pornography, break in the name of Jesus. Father, I'm asking that your river would flow through the auditorium right now. You would cleanse, you would heal, you would move. And I think there's some folks

where like it's maybe in your family, there's a history of sexual sin and it's trying to visit you. But we say no to that in Jesus' name. We say no to the schemes of the enemy. We say break in Jesus' name. And Father, I'm asking every person who in their past or present or in their family, they've dabbled in witchcraft or other spiritual practices. We command that go in Jesus' name. Would you cleanse it, Father? Cleanse it, Lord. Every agreement with it, we renounce it. And we say leave in Jesus' name. Leave in Jesus' name. And anybody who's feeling afflicted, my testimony is that I got set free from nightmares. So I just say anybody who's got nightmares in the room, we just command that to go in Jesus' name. We put off that old helmet. We put off old helmet of condemnation. We drop the shield of doubt. We put down the sword of God. we put down sluggishness, we surrender the lies, we let go of impurity, and we just say, go in Jesus' name, we're not gonna wear you anymore. Thank you, Lord. And Father, I'm asking that we would forgive, that you release the power of forgive, of forgiving, that we repent and we renounce,

we've held on to unforgiveness. I feel like I'm seeing spouses, someone's been holding on to unforgiveness towards the other, and it's making a foothold for the enemy, and we just repent of it, we renounce it, we just say all that to go, in Jesus' name. And Lord, in replacement, we choose to put on your armor, just wherever you are, we are now putting on his armor, we just say, Lord, give me the helmet of salvation, that you'd put it on each of us as a people, we know we're saved, we're not condemned, that you protect our senses, you protect our mind today. Father, we ask the breastplate of righteousness, you put it on today, that we really have a new heart, we really are born again, we have the righteousness of Christ, we take up the shield of faith. There's some of you, you might even need to act out the shield of faith, you're in such a struggle with work or with family, but you need to raise that and say, I am not submitting to unbelief, I'm not submitting to what the enemy's saying, I'm raising that shield, or you raise it on behalf of somebody else, and we just say, we're gonna take up this sword of the Spirit. Father, would you bring Scripture to mind like it's never been brought before, the Holy Spirit, you said you'd remind us of all Jesus taught us, would you remind us again,

we equip it this morning, and we put on the belt of truth, Lord, would you take out the lies, would you establish us in the truth? Some of you this morning, your response needs to be, Jesus, what's the truth I need to know today? What is the truth you need to establish me in today? And we lace up the shoes of the gospel of peace, the readiness of it, Father, I'm asking a boldness to fill us, a boldness to fill us as a people, to be who we've called to be, in Jesus' name. And I feel like there's some folks in the room that there's a specific Goliath God has called you to take out, whether that's a nation, whether it's the kingdom of darkness or a place, and you need someone to pray for you for fresh faith to sign up for why God's made you alive in this hour. So our band is gonna lead us in song, just we're gonna praise the Lord for His name, and as you pray, as we're suited up in His armor, we're gonna believe His kingdom to come and finish the work here. And again, if we get some more prayer folks at the front, that would be great. If you felt a shift in you, you feel like God was doing something in you in that place of freedom, please come and get prayer, because this is a moment. It's a moment for your generations. It's a moment for your family to lean in and say, I wanna be free, and I'm putting on the armor

in Jesus' name. ♪ I just wanna speak the name of Jesus ♪ ♪ Over every heart and every mind ♪ ♪ I know there is peace within your presence ♪ ♪ I speak Jesus ♪ ♪ I just wanna speak the name of Jesus ♪ ♪ Till every dark addiction starts to break ♪ ♪ Declaring there is hope and there is freedom ♪ ♪ I speak Jesus ♪ ♪ Cause your name is power, your name is healing ♪ ♪ Your name is light, break every stronghold ♪ ♪ Shine through the shadows, burn like a fire ♪ ♪ I just wanna speak the name of Jesus ♪ ♪ Over fear and all anxiety ♪ ♪ Till every soul held captive by depression ♪ ♪ I speak Jesus ♪ ♪ Cause your name is power, your name is healing ♪ ♪ Your name is healing, your name is life ♪ ♪ So break every stronghold, shine through the shadows ♪ ♪ Burn like a fire, your name is power, your name is power ♪ ♪ Your name is power, your name is healing, your name is life ♪ ♪ So break every stronghold, shine through the shadows ♪ ♪ Burn like a fire ♪ ♪ Shout Jesus from the mountains, Jesus in the streams ♪ ♪ Jesus in the darkness, over every enemy ♪ ♪ Jesus from my family, I speak the holy name, Jesus ♪ ♪ I speak the holy name, Jesus ♪ ♪ Jesus from the mountains, Jesus in the streams ♪ ♪ Jesus in the darkness, over every enemy ♪ ♪ Jesus from my family, I speak the holy name, Jesus ♪

♪ Yes, your name is power, your name is healing, your name is life ♪ ♪ So break every stronghold, shine through the shadows ♪ ♪ Burn like a fire, your name is power, your name is power ♪ ♪ Your name is power, your name is healing, your name is life ♪ ♪ So break every stronghold, shine through the shadows ♪ ♪ Burn like a fire ♪ ♪ And I just wanna speak the name of Jesus ♪ ♪ Over every heart and every mind ♪ ♪ Cause I know there is peace within your presence, I speak Jesus ♪