April 30, 2025 • 44 mins
What do you carry with you every day? Keys, wallet, phone—these items help us feel prepared for whatever the day might bring. But what about spiritual preparation?
Our new series "Everyday Carry" opens with a thought-provoking message about the armor of God and how we prepare ourselves spiritually for daily battles. Through a humorous story about accidentally bringing a pocket knife through airport security in Europe, we're reminded that we can carry all the right physical tools and still be spiritually unprepared.
Jesus challenges us in Luke 9 to "take up your cross daily and follow me"—emphasizing that spiritual readiness is a daily commitment, not a weekend activity. When we're caught unprepared spiritually, we're vulnerable to attacks that could have been prevented.
The armor of God in Ephesians 6 provides a powerful framework for spiritual preparedness: the belt of truth that anchors us in honesty, the breastplate of righteousness that protects our heart while keeping it open to God and others, shoes of peace that carry God's presence wherever we walk, the shield of faith that blocks spiritual attacks, the helmet of salvation that gives us the mind of Christ, and the sword of the Spirit—God's Word—that becomes our weapon against darkness.
Most compelling is the realization that while we might forget our physical tools, our spiritual armor should never be left behind. Faith becomes our currency in God's kingdom, blocking attacks of doubt, fear and anxiety. The peace of God doesn't just rest within us but goes before us into our homes, workplaces, and relationships.
Are you fully equipped for today's spiritual battles? The greatest thing you can carry isn't something that fits in your pocket—it's the presence and protection of God that goes with you everywhere. Join us as we learn to be spiritually prepared every single day.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Hey, we're so glad that you're getting a chance,
we're getting a chance toworship together, that you're
here with us.
We are blessed, amen.
Hey, today we're starting a newseries called Everyday Carry,
and we had this question for us,which is are you prepared?
Are you prepared, are you?
You know, I was thinking aboutthis because it's really talking
(00:24):
about, as you saw in the video,about the things that we carry
on us every day, carrying somany of us.
You know, we run with ourpocket or our purse and
whatever's going on.
It's the things that we kind ofcarry on our person.
And I'll tell you this I grewup, you know, with a dad that
was a hunter and a fisherman, soI learned to use a pocket knife
from the time I was reallyyoung, as a tool for everything.
(00:44):
You know what I mean.
You get into this or that, youget into stuff with it, use it
as a screwdriver, even thoughyou're not supposed to.
You know you do all the thingswith it, and so I got very used
to carrying a pocket knife in mypocket.
And so whenever Celeste and Isaid yes to become missionaries
in Europe you know they havedifferent rules on what a pocket
knife is versus an Americanpocket knife.
You guys know what I'm talkingabout.
So, like you know, thisAmerican pocket knife, this
(01:14):
super illegal over there.
But I accidentally forgot andbrought all my pocket knives to
Europe.
So I was there and I had mypocket knives with me and we
were living in Paris, we'reheaded to London and we had a
it's amazing city, a beautifulplace, but they have some knife
crimes.
So they have some issues withcertain types of knives and so
you know, I didn't think much ofit, I wasn't intending to bring
my pocket knife with me.
But the night before the trip itwas like two, three o'clock in
(01:34):
the morning and I heard thissound.
So I throw a pair of pants on,I put a pocket knife in my
pocket, I get my big mag lightout and I go look for the noise
and I didn't find anything,Thanks be to God.
But afterwards I just kind ofthrew those pants into my bag
and I had a different set ofclothes for the morning ready to
go.
So we got, you know, ready togo, got on the train squad
through Paris, got to the trainstation and took the Eurostar,
(01:57):
which is like flying in a plane,took that.
My microphone didn't like mystory.
So we take the train across toLondon.
So we get there, I go to put onthe next day pair of clothes
and, lo and behold, I find mypocket knife on the pair of
pants there in my bag.
Now this is a blessing.
(02:19):
Now I don't know how it gotthrough.
It's like going through aflight security I mean, it's
that rigid.
So somehow it got throughmultiple checks of security.
My bag got to us, but now I hada pocket knife in London so I
got to use it.
We went to Hyde Park.
You can see an image of it here.
Beautiful park right in themiddle of the city.
So we go to like Pret-a-Mangeror someplace and get like a sack
lunch.
We go out and have a picnic.
(02:40):
God bless us for like five daysof sun in London, which never
happens, by the way.
It's always gloomy and crazy.
So we're sitting in the park.
It's like you see in this nextimage.
It's like this is from HydePark, right when the sun is
there, coming through the trees.
You're in the middle of thisbig city, but then you have this
epic moment of peace in themiddle of the city.
We're using the knife to cut up, you know, cheese and crackers
(03:01):
and apples and all sorts ofstuff for the kids.
Our kids were young Jabin waslike five and Shiloh would have
been like two, so we'resomewhere in there, and so that
was kind of their age group.
So we had a great time.
But then the end of the tripcame and it was time to try to
go back to Paris with all of ourstuff which I was trying to
keep my pocket knife.
You guys know what I'm talkingabout.
So I tried to put it back whereit was and we tried to go
(03:22):
through security.
And so we're there at SanPancras and we're at the train,
about to get back, and I gothrough and I put my bag in.
Guess what didn't work thistime Getting the pocket knife
through security at all.
So I put the bag through rightaway.
Ma-ma, sir, sir, do you havesomething in this bag?
I'm like, yeah, I do.
You know I have a pocket knife.
I didn't mean to bring it.
(03:42):
Give him the whole story, Ijust told you.
And the guy's like okay, okay,is it going to poke me, sir?
No, no, it's not going to pokeyou, it's fine, it's fine.
Tell him where it's at.
He goes and he reaches in andhe pulls it out.
And I tell you this he pulls itout and you're not allowed to
have a knife that locksDefinitely was a locking knife.
(04:04):
You're definitely not allowedto have a knife that does this.
You know what I'm talking about.
It definitely did that too.
He opens it and he goes oh,that's fun.
And immediately I'm like I'mgoing to jail, I'm going to
prison, I'll never get out ofthis place.
My family's going to go andleave me here, you know.
And the guy, he's just him, andhe goes.
I'll tell you what I mean.
(04:27):
He closes it up and meanwhileI'm like looking at him and I'm
looking at my children, javen'slike dad, you have a knife.
I'm like shut up, you keep itdown.
You know like, try not to be inzip cuffs.
You know, the guy's so cool man.
He goes.
I'll tell you what.
I'm gonna take this.
And he had a sharps box likefor, you know, like for medical
personnel.
It's a red box, has a top.
You can put all sorts ofneedles and stuff in it.
He takes my knife.
(04:48):
He goes I'm going to put thisright side in this box.
I go.
That sounds like a great plan.
I like this plan, he goes andyou have a great day.
I was like God bless you.
But it was one of those thingswhere, like, I felt like I was
prepared for everything, butthen, in some circumstances, I
wasn't prepared.
(05:08):
Even though I thought I wasprepared, I wasn't prepared and
I was thinking about itspiritually for us where we can
go with everything, we're readyto face our day All the trinkets
, the pocket knife, everythingthat's in your purse of, you
know, of the never-ending mompurse.
You can have all the things,you can have a pocket knife that
has every single little piecethat pulls out, that has all the
(05:29):
tools and still not bespiritually ready for your day.
And we need to be those who, inour everyday, carry our first
priorities to go spiritually andbe ready in our spirit to face
the day, that we're those peoplethat say Lord, as for me, I'm
going to be someone who'sprepared to face my day and to
(05:50):
go after it.
So, friends, that's mychallenge to us that we would be
every day ready spirituallyspeaking.
We have a video for you.
All right, what's up guys?
Steve, hey, man, what's in yourpockets, what's?
Speaker 2 (06:04):
in my pockets?
Yeah, nothing, alright, what'sup guys, steve, hey, man, what's
in your pockets?
What's in my pockets?
Yeah, uh, nothing, nothingmajor.
Speaker 1 (06:08):
What's your everyday carry here?
Okay, got the phone.
Got the phone, got a radiobecause you're running security
Yep, running the safety team.
Speaker 2 (06:15):
Oh, just the essentials, your safety gloves,
that's right, let's go you gottabe prepared, always be prepared
, stay ready.
Speaker 3 (06:23):
That's right.
That's about it.
That's all I got.
Speaker 1 (06:25):
That's awesome, man.
Daniel, what's up man?
Hey, what's in your pockets?
I got my wallet, nice nice.
Speaker 2 (06:30):
Oh, picture of the fam nice.
Speaker 1 (06:31):
It's a serious wallet man Costanza wallet.
Yup, it's a man's wallet.
You got chips Snack as a case.
You get stuck out there.
Keys and Leatherman, leatherman, that's good stuff, man.
You running a phone or no?
Yep, phone, okay, phone in theback pocket, excellent,
(06:52):
excellent, all right man, verycool, everyday carry, all right.
Speaker 2 (06:55):
Hey, Pastor Angus, what do you have in your pockets
?
Speaker 3 (06:58):
Pick me on the right day, bro.
I got my little pet worm withme.
Always got to carry somehydration.
American flag got to have itwith you.
A little bottle of maple syrup,of course, the keys, my phone
let's see what else do we have?
Oh, pocket watch, in case theApple watch breaks down.
(07:20):
I've got my trusty pocket knifehere for bigger jobs, just in
case I need to do a littleworkout mid-day.
Honey, just in case I decide Ineed something else.
Oh, we've got the hymns ofglorious praise, let's see.
(07:43):
Oh, just a little door hangerfor Botswana Prayer shawl.
Never know when you're going tobe praying for somebody.
You know I always like to carrya little helper with me.
Speaker 1 (08:10):
You never, ever want to forget your Bible.
All right, thank you, that'sright.
Don't forget your Bible.
Be like Pastor Angus Don'tforget your Bible in your
everyday carry.
I love that so very much.
You know, one of the things thatwe do here is that we want to
be people who are walking withJesus wherever he's leading us
to go.
We use this imagery of Jesuswalking with his disciples
because that's how we seeourselves that none of us have
(08:30):
arrived anywhere.
We're still on that journey,following after Jesus, amen.
So since we're not perfect,we're going to follow him where
he's leading us to go, and soour ambition, individually and
corporately, is to be more likeJesus, and so that means,
together, that we want to loveGod, we want to make disciples,
we want to reach the world.
My challenge to you is thisthat, as we're about to start a
(08:52):
new set of life groups for Mayand June, my challenge to you is
that you would get involved, beintentional in your life with
Christ, join a life group.
Let it be a challenge to you.
Refine you.
This is great.
We're thankful for thesegatherings that we have in this
way, but we want to be those whoare interacting with each other
and building thoserelationships as well.
So let me challenge you toconnect, grow and serve the Lord
(09:14):
.
Amen.
So this idea of every day,carry.
You know.
We look to the scripture today.
If you have your Bible, yourtablet, your phone, we'll open
here and it looks like this inLuke 9.
It says, and he said to all ifanyone would come after me, let
him deny himself, take up hiscross daily and follow me, for
(09:36):
whoever would save his life willlose it.
Whoever loses his life for mysake will save it.
Lord, I thank you so much, andwe pray over your word today,
lord, that you would illuminateit in us so it would become
alive in Rhema, lord.
It would be transformative, itwould challenge us.
We pray this in the name ofJesus Christ, amen.
So we've been talking about thisidea of are you prepared?
(10:00):
And, as we think about it, youknow each one of those little
attributes of being prepared.
It's so vital, I know, for us.
You know we do a lot of workaround here, around the church.
We're very thankful forfacilities and things like that,
but it takes a lot of upkeepand so we're always doing a
project.
So on us we're always carryinga knife or tools or something
like that, and I can tell you,as someone who's lost lots and
(10:21):
lots of Leathermans throughairport security I Lots and lots
of Leathermans through airportsecurity I stay ready, stay with
something on me like aLeatherman or a pocket knife,
because you can just use it foreverything, and so I was so used
to that.
And, in the same way, wheneverwe want to be prepared and have
the tool for the job on us, wewant to be spiritually prepared
as well, because you know, ifyou have the right tool and the
(10:42):
right skill set, when you have aproblem, you don't have a
problem right, because it can besolved.
And so that's the same way wethink about it spiritually.
It's like listen, yes, we'regoing to have things that happen
in our life, but if we stayspiritually prepared,
spiritually ready, then we canbe those that, whenever that
situation arises, we can step upand meet that thing spiritually
(11:02):
speaking.
And so that's what we'retalking about today in this idea
of carry your cross.
See as the scripture talks tous about carrying your cross,
it's a daily thing, and thatmeans that we're gonna say yes
to God every day, that we'regonna identify with his
sacrifice for us, and that's whythe symbol of the cross is so
important to us and we use thisimage of the cross so often,
(11:24):
because for us, by faith, we saythis is where Jesus took all of
the sins of the world.
He took my sin, he took yoursin, all of our brokenness, all
of our mistakes.
He took it and paid for it uponthe cross, once and for all,
for all people.
And so for us, by faith, we sayLord, I'm thankful for what you
did for me.
Because of it, I am forgiven, Iam free.
(11:46):
Can you say amen to that?
And so that's who we are isthat we want to be those who are
living that life.
And so what we say every day,as we get ready for these things
, is that we want to be prepared, we want to be those who are in
that life with God.
And we know it's a spiritualthing that we're doing, because
(12:11):
that's what he's calling us todo.
It's a spiritual act.
To pick up your cross means toidentify with Jesus every day,
not just weekend to weekend orweekend to every few weekends as
we get to church, but every dayas a Christ follower.
And so what that means is that,if we're going to be
spiritually prepared, likehaving your leatherman in your
pocket or the things you need inyour purse.
The same way, spiritually, wewant to be prepared, and that's
called the armor of God.
And so we're looking today toEphesians 6, and we'll be
highlighting this as somethingthat we use as we use it to pray
(12:34):
over us in our life.
It picks up here in Ephesians 6,verse 10, paul writing to the
church at Ephesus and this ishis closing challenge to the
church he says finally, bestrong in the Lord, in the
strength of his might.
Put on the whole armor of Godthat you may be able to stand
(12:54):
against the schemes of the devil.
You say amen to that.
Now what we know is that we'recalled to be those who are
strong in the Lord, and thatmeans strong in him, not strong
in us.
Now he's made us to be peoplewith all sorts of abilities and
strengths, and those things aregood and we work hard at that.
(13:15):
That's what we call in bringingour excellence to God.
Nothing wrong with that, butnot relying on our strength, but
instead trusting in hisstrength.
And there's a big difference, Ican tell you.
You know, I grew up.
You know my dad was a tough guyand he didn't try to be a tough
guy, he just was a tough guy.
He grew up in South Phoenix andwas a rough dude and so
(13:35):
whenever I was growing up, Ididn't grow up, I grew up in
suburbs.
Man, I was out here, you know,but I was afraid of Rich Brown,
so I wasn't afraid of anybodyelse.
You know people be like, oh,blah, blah, blah.
I was like whatever man, I'mnot scared of you.
I know Rich Brown, what do youknow about it?
I wasn't scared and it got mein trouble because I'd be
running my mouth at people Ishould not be running my mouth
at, and occasionally.
(13:55):
You know that check got cashedand I learned the lesson.
You guys know what I'm talkingabout, where it's like there was
a ramification, usually in myface area, and a big nose
landing with fists, and so youcan understand where I'm trying
to be strong in me, like, try tobe, like what's up, and that's
not what he's calling us to be.
We call it be strong in theLord, and that's a big
(14:15):
difference.
It doesn't mean that we don'ttake care of ours and protect
ours.
It's not what I'm saying.
I'm saying that we don't.
That's not the ultimatereliance.
Our reliance is on the Lord,and so our strength is in him,
our character is in him and whatwe're leaning on is in him.
If we thought about it and weknew we were getting into a
fight, man, it would make sensefor us to put on battle armor to
go and fight the fight, right?
(14:37):
So we think about it, like withthis medieval armor example
here, where we want to becovered head to toe.
We don't want to be left openfor anything to be available for
being attacked, right?
I mean, the first thing that Iwould do if I was the enemy of
you would be like well, where dothey not have armor on, you
know?
And so sometimes we might walkout and we might have a portion
(14:57):
of this armor on, but we don'thave all of it on, and so what's
going to happen is the enemy ofyour soul.
He's going to come and attackyou in these weak points because
you're not protected.
Does that make sense?
And I know for me that's what Iwant to do is.
I want to be someone who iswalking lockstep with Jesus,
that I'm connected to him, I'mgoing where he's calling us to
go.
I want to have that mentality,to be strong in the Lord, to
(15:21):
have the armor of God on,because it's from him and not
from me.
And the reason this is importantis because this next point is
that we're not fightingphysically against somebody else
.
The wrestle is against notflesh and blood, but the spirit.
It picks up here in Ephesians 6, 12, for we do not wrestle
against flesh and blood, butagainst rulers, against
authorities, against the cosmicpowers over this present
(15:44):
darkness, against the spiritualforces of evil in heavenly
places.
And so what we know, byfighting these things, you can't
do it physically.
You don't do more reps in thegym or rolls on the mat to get
ready, prepared for this fight.
No, this is this fight of prayerbecause it's a spiritual fight
and that's why, so often, youknow, first conversations we
(16:05):
start.
So often, you know firstconversations we start having,
as you know, as pastors, is whenyou see people saying I'm going
through it.
I feel distance from God.
We're like, okay, where's yourprayer life at.
Okay, where's your time in theword?
At Like we start talking aboutthese things because we know
that the battle is not justwhat's we're in front of us, not
just the person around us.
It's actually a spiritual battle.
It's not just the person aroundus.
It's actually a spiritualbattle.
It's in our mind, it's in ourheart, it's in the other person
(16:26):
being influenced negatively.
It's in our brokenness thatwe're fighting, and so that's
why prayer is such an amazingweapon, it's such an important
thing, and as we pray the prayerof faith, we pray for every
element of this armor of God toprepare us to stand up against
the spiritual fight that we'regoing to go through.
What we know, as people, is thatwe are going to go through the
(16:49):
fight.
We know it's coming, so wemight as well be prepared for
the fight that's coming.
Amen.
So we don't have to be afraid,because we are children of God.
Whenever you have arelationship with Jesus, you
don't have to be afraid of that,because you belong to him.
So, though you may be in thefight, you know that you're
gonna win the fight, because thefight is eternally yours in
Jesus Christ.
We know the promises that arethere for us in scripture, and
(17:12):
so we stand on those truths.
It continues here in verse 13.
It says this Therefore, take upthe whole armor of God that you
may be able to withstand in theevil day, having done all to
stand firm.
Would you say, amen, that wewould stand firm?
(17:33):
Now we know this, that our daysare evil, and since they are
evil, then we need to be thosewho stand firm with all that God
provides for us.
And I'll tell you, just likeany other habit, this is
something we start to build intoour lives and I can tell you
you know, celeste and I havemade it a point with our family
that we pray the Lord's prayerevery time before we like pull
(17:54):
out of the driveway or beforewhen we start our day.
And if we try to take off in thecar without someone who's
already said the prayer,somebody will start the prayer.
You know what I mean.
We're like we're in the middleof conversation, blah, blah,
blah.
We're talking about X, y and Z.
We put the car in reverse.
We're like our father in heaven.
I'm like that's right, that'sright, that's right.
No, we got to get in lock.
(18:14):
Yes, and we pray the prayertogether and it's that your
kingdom come, your will be doneon earth as it is in heaven.
See, he's with us.
He doesn't forsake us.
We know this.
This is what the Psalm says tous, talking about even the
valley, the shadow of death.
He doesn't leave us, he's withus.
And so whenever we starttalking about these things,
(18:35):
about putting the whole armor ofGod, we have to have that
perspective.
You think about it, how everypiece is important, every piece
you don't want to leave out,because every piece has
something to do with how we'regoing to interact with our day,
how we're going to interact withwhat we come across.
And so that's why, wheneverwe're praying for the armor of
God on us, that's why we praythose prayers I'm sure you do
the same.
We start praying down ourprayer list.
(18:56):
When someone shares it with us,we start adding that to our
prayer list.
Man, lord today, be with PastorRich today.
Minister to his body today,lord, be with this, our friend
that's going through thissituation.
Lord, in this marriage, lord,in this relationship, god, that
you would be made known, thatthey would have forgiveness,
that people would come together.
There'd be unity in Jesus' name.
Friends, we've seen miracleshappen because of prayer.
(19:17):
So we believe and we stand firmbecause we've seen it happen.
People might think of it as somekind of mystical, you know kind
of thing.
No, no, no, this is what theLord says Pray and I will make
it happen.
I'm going to do my will in themidst of you.
And so we say your kingdom come, your will be done, lord Jesus,
and we ask in the prayer offaith.
Now it continues here in verse14.
(19:39):
It says it like this stand,therefore, having fastened on
the belt of truth and having puton the breastplate of
righteousness.
Now, when we think about thebelt of truth, it's something
that's really important, right?
Because the belt of truth issomething that it really.
It starts the whole process.
(19:59):
If you can't be someone who'struthful, then how is someone
going to believe your testimonywhenever you start testifying
about the goodness of God,because you're lying about other
stuff, and so that's heaven.
Help all of us.
None of us is 100% on this Likelet our yes be yes, our no be
no.
Help me to be someone who'struth-telling, who speaks the
truth and even speaks the truthin love.
(20:22):
You know, so many times wemight say, like a little white
lie to make somebody feel better, but instead of that, just
being a truthful person, andinstead of being someone who's
like hurtful, because they canuse the truth to be hurtful
against another person too Someof us have been hurt by that.
People like just come and getyou like man, that hurts.
I'm not talking about that.
I'm talking about the truth,being someone who speaks the
(20:46):
truth all the time, reflectingthe character of Jesus.
Because as we do that, thenwhat happens is people can trust
us.
This whole assembly, this wholeensemble of all the armor,
connects first to the belt,which all the pieces connect to,
and so if we first are thosewho are seeking the truth and
what does it say?
The truth is in Jesus Christ,so if we're connected to him,
(21:10):
then we are going to be truthfulpeople too.
At the same time, it says thatwe're called to have a
breastplate of righteousness,and that's something that's
awesome.
It protects our torso.
I know I want everything that'sin this area to stay inside my
body.
On this area, everybody agree.
That's why we still wear whatBulletproof vests People wear.
That today.
That's common armor today.
That's one of the main things.
You've got to keep it allprotected, why?
Heart, lungs, guts, everything.
(21:31):
Keep it all inside, keep itprotected.
And, spiritually speaking, theLord's talking to us about
having a heart after him.
And so often, what happens ifwe don't?
And by the righteousness ofChrist, identifying with what
he's done for us, it's not ourrighteousness, it's his
righteousness.
So, as he's righteous and he'sthe one that we say Lord, your
(21:51):
righteousness is the one thatcovers me then we can have a
soft heart towards God, we canhave an open heart towards him
that he can use to have a changein others.
And if we don't have thatrighteousness in our life, if we
don't identify with what Christis doing for us, then what
happens is we have a hardenedheart because we're trying to
protect our heart from otherpeople.
(22:12):
You wonder so many times why aperson who doesn't know Jesus
they have a hardened hearttowards others.
Well, that's why they're tryingto protect their heart, because
they know how injured we canbecome.
And so what happens is theyprotect their heart and they
start to block it off from Godand from other people, and it
makes this wall in their heartand friends as Christ followers.
(22:35):
That's what God has not calledus to be, those people he wants
us to have an open heart to himand an open heart to others.
Love God, love others, and wecan only do that if we are ones
that are walking in therighteousness of God, in the way
of God, so he can protect ourheart for us.
Amen.
Think about this.
(22:55):
You think about how someonewho's walking in armor, how they
are protected from head to toe,and you can see this person you
know, man, they're reallylocked in.
And so you can see, wow, thisis awesome, like I love this
whole thing.
But you can be head to toeprotected.
But if this person doesn't havethe right footwear on, they
busted right Because they're inthe snow, they're in the cold,
(23:15):
they're in trouble.
So they could be totallyprotected.
But if their feet aren't doneright, then they are going to be
what?
Sitting on the ground trying torub on their feet, trying to
warm it up.
So even though you're connectedhead to toe, like you're going
to be in a big fight, if youdon't have your footwear right,
you're in trouble.
And so it says this in Ephesians6, 15, as shoes for your feet,
having put on the readinessgiven by the gospel of peace, I
(23:40):
love this Shoes of peace.
Now, you guys know I'm a shoeguy, I love shoes.
I feel that all my shoes areshoes of peace and I'm like you
know, celeste is like you needthis pair of shoes.
I'm like, yes, I need that pairof shoes.
That's shoes of peace.
So what about this one.
I'm like this is a differentcolorway of the shoes of peace.
I need these shoes.
What about these boots?
(24:00):
These are the boots of peace.
Praise the Lord, you guysgetting it.
Yet we need more of the shoesof peace, praise the Lord.
In truth, what it says is thatwe want to be those who walk in
the peace of God, and it saysthat the peace of God will rest
(24:26):
upon us and where we set ourfeet, the peace of God will be
there, not just where we are,but in front of us as he's
leading us to go.
The peace of God is in front ofus, leading the way, and that's
a peace of God is in ourcircumstances.
It's not just in us, but, asthe peace of God rests upon us,
it's where we've put our feet togo.
So it's in your home, it's withyour family, it's wherever you
go, in your workplace or yourschool or wherever you're at.
The peace of God would be uponyou and not only in you, but it
(24:47):
would start to impact thosearound you, because the peace of
God is upon you and that's allwe can pray for.
That is like Lord, let yourpeace rest on me.
Lord, let your peace go outfrom me, lord, that we would
experience the peace of God,because we live crazy lives and
we have deadlines and we havethis anxiety and this stress
that goes from it.
And instead we say, lord, youknow what I'm going to do, to
(25:08):
the best of my ability, as youenable me to do so, lord.
I ask for your wisdom andguidance so I can do these
things above what I can do, thatyou would do it through me, and
I ask for the peace of God torest upon me, that, as I do so,
that I would walk in the peaceand the presence of God and then
I would see that flush of yourpeace wash over me.
(25:30):
See what happens when you startto pray the prayer of peace
over your circumstances.
See if God won't first changeyour heart in the circumstance,
and how the change of your heartwill have effect on others,
because they too will beaffected by the peace of God.
Friends, without the peace ofGod, we're in trouble Right down
(25:53):
in River City.
It's crazy.
So we have to walk in the peaceof God.
That was for all of my theaterheads who had been singing that
song for four days.
All right, ephesians 6, 16 saysthis In all circumstances, take
up the shield of faith which candistinguish all the flaming
(26:13):
darts of the evil one.
I love this, the shield offaith in all circumstances.
I love it because, you know, wehaven't even got to a weapon,
but the shield itself becomes aweapon because it's blocking the
attack of the enemy against us.
And what it says is by faith.
By faith, all of everything is.
Faith is the currency in thekingdom of God.
(26:35):
So by faith, Lord, I acceptyour work for me.
By faith, you have made merighteous.
By faith, I'm a new creation inyou.
So your faith is what blocksall those attacks that come
against you, all those mindsetsthat say you're not worth
anything, that you're tied toyour past, that you have no
future.
All these things that attackyou are fiery darts in the enemy
against your spirit, againstyour soul.
(26:55):
By faith we say no, that's nottrue, because the word of God
says this by faith, I block thatin Jesus' name.
And not just that, but youthink about it.
We've seen it in battles wherepeople use their shields and
together, as the community, thechurch of God, the bride of
Christ, we lock together and byfaith we start to take ground
(27:16):
against the enemy Because westart to move together.
We start to move together andwe start to take ground against
the enemy by the shield of faith.
And so, friends, that's what'samazing about it is that we say,
lord, I believe you are who yousay you are, and I'm going to
stop this mindset that's comingagainst me right now that I'm
going to be broken or I can't doit.
No, that's not what the Lordsays.
(27:36):
The greater is he that's in methan he that's in the world.
That we are more thanconquerors through him, who
loved us.
That it doesn't matter if it'sbrokenness or sword or nakedness
or whatever.
Guess what.
I didn't come into this worldwith anything.
I'm going out with nothing.
Jesus is more than enough forme.
By the shield of faith, I'msaying no to all this other
curse.
I'm alive in Christ.
Can you say amen to that?
(27:56):
And that's where we're goingforward.
Verse 17,.
It continues and says this andtake the helmet of salvation and
the sword of the spirit, whichis the word of God.
And I love this.
The helmet of salvation is soimportant because, friends,
whenever we can trust the Lordfor our salvation, it protects
(28:17):
us, protects everything.
The thing about today.
We, even now, today, we put thehelmet on right Special forces.
They're running a helmet.
Why?
Because it's important.
You gotta protect your nogginand I can tell you it's the same
thing for us as we think aboutit as we it's in practicality
today.
Man, back in the day we used torun a skate park here called
(28:37):
Epic Park and we used it beforethey built the skate parks
around it to connect withstudents and just share the love
of God and connect with them.
It was awesome.
We welded it together, man,tyler and Aaron a bunch of
people helped us do it and itwas an amazing thing.
It ran for a few years and wewould set up.
We had really big stuff, halfpipe and all sorts of drop-ins
and all sorts of cool stuff, butI had rules because I was
(28:58):
responsible.
So I was responsible we hadmade everybody wear a helmet and
sign a waiver.
I was like I had made everybodywear a helmet and sign a waiver
.
I was like, if you try to skatethis stuff and you don't sign a
waiver or wear a helmet, I'mgoing to throw you over the
fence, which was probably notthe right way to say that, but
you guys get the idea.
So it was like, hey, what areyou going to do is do these
things.
And so I was, like you know,made everybody do it, but for
good reason, because we hadpeople getting gnarly going
(29:19):
really good, really big, and theair wins, right, because you
can't defy the air forever.
So you're coming back down andmany times you're coming back
down with a skateboard or a bikeon top of you, and so we had
the helmet.
Saved us a bunch of times wherepeople would just slam on the
(29:41):
concrete and I'd be like, oh,dear Jesus, in the name of Jesus
, like helmet got it.
I'm like, thank you, jesus, youknow, this is awesome, they're
still alive, good news.
And I'll tell you, like youknow, I was like this is awesome
, they're still alive, good news.
And I'll tell you, like youknow, I didn't really think much
about it.
These kids are resilient man.
They could bounce off theconcrete, get back up.
But I was in my mid-20s, stillskateboarding, and I was like I
can still do this, man, I stillgot it.
I'm going to end up on X Gamesand be sick.
(30:02):
So I'm like and we gapped them.
I had a gap in between the twoquarter pipes because our half
pipe, kind of put them together,put a big gap, and so I came
across one side and went realbig in the air and landed it.
I was like that was sick.
So we like, oh, we'll spreadthem out.
So we kept spreading it out,kept spreading it out and I go.
The last time we were having anoutreach over here was in
(30:22):
October, having outreach for thecommunity big crowd.
So I'd like push into the thingreally really hard, push, push,
push, ride up big ollie, bigair, and I catch my trucks on
the coping, coming down on theother side of the gap.
And then I was out in space.
You guys don't talk about likeway, I'm not talking about
(30:44):
people in a ship, like last week.
No, I was in space, space, meand the ground, you know, and I
went like this and I balled up.
I was like, oh, mommy, jesus,you know, like calling out, went
like this, tucked in and man, Islammed super hard, bam,
smacked the ground like this,right on my helmet and right on
my side man, and I was wearinglike kind of like worn in jeans,
(31:06):
but I had one of those oldindestructible phones you guys
remember whenever phones didn'tbreak, you could use it as a
hammer.
You could like fix stuff aroundthe house with your phone.
You guys remember what I'mtalking about.
I had one of those in my pocket.
It ripped through my pants.
I hit so far, so hard on theground, huge black and blue
bruise right here Craziness.
It cracked my helmet and I waslike I'd like to take this
opportunity to say I'm retiringfrom skateboarding.
(31:28):
And that was it.
But, man, without that helmetI'd have been toast.
It was my salvation.
And so that's what the salvation, the helmet of salvation, is
for us.
That he's saying listen, I havealready done this for you, so
walk in your salvation.
You don't need to go and live adifferent way through the week
(31:52):
and need to get resaved on thenext weekend.
Nothing wrong with that.
If you need to get resavedtoday, man, make that decision
for Jesus.
But what I'm saying is youdon't need to do that as a habit
.
No, you need to live with thementality that I belong to Jesus
, I belong to Jesus, I belong toJesus, I belong to Jesus all
the way through the helmet ofsalvation.
Why is it the helmet ofsalvation?
Because it gives us the mind ofChrist.
(32:14):
So we're walking in step withthe mind of Christ what he's
calling us to do.
So often we've used an exampleof your perspective.
It's the view by which you seeit.
When you see it through hisview, it's like suddenly, oh,
wow, no, you have value becausehe made you in his image too.
Oh, and this is different thanI think.
And wow, god called me to turnthe other cheek and he called me
to do these other things.
(32:35):
You start to see thingsdifferently because you have the
mind of Christ, and I love this.
The other thing he says in thatsame verse is he says that we're
called to have the sword of thespirit, the sword of the spirit
.
See, for us, the word of God isthe sword of the spirit.
It's anointed All the peoplethat were authors of this Spirit
.
The sword of the Spirit.
See, for us, the word of God isthe sword of the Spirit.
It's anointed All the peoplethat were authors of this book,
(32:56):
all 66 books put together in onevolume.
All of it is anointed by God.
It was inspired by Him.
It has a crimson thread ofredemption throughout all of its
scripture.
It's a book that has moreoriginal copies, all the way to
the back, more than anything wehave in Greek literature.
It is true, it is the word ofGod and it can be trusted.
(33:17):
And friends, since that's true,then the word of God is a
weapon for us against thedarkness.
It says it says by the sword ofthe spirit.
It means the spirit will makeit alive in you as you read it.
It will become something thatsparks your faith and you can
use that against the enemy whenthose evil things come.
It's a weapon that's in yourhand and so often people will
(33:39):
come and ask me a question.
They, pastor, I'm going throughthis situation.
I'm like that's man, that'sheavy.
Let's pray about it.
How are you doing spiritually?
What's your prayer life?
What's your reading time like?
Do you have the word of God inyou?
So often the response is no, andit makes sense, right, because
the first thing the enemy wouldwant to take out of your hand is
your weapon.
Man, if I was your enemy, Iwould want to take your weapon
(34:02):
away from you too, because thenyou can't fight back.
See, because in the word itsays things like he has given
you authority over these thingsand you can take authority and
use the word, the name of JesusChrist against these things that
would come against you.
But if you're not reading that,if he's not challenging your
perspective, if you're notreading the wisdom of the word
in Proverbs, the song thatsparks our heart in Psalms, if
(34:25):
you're not doing these things,then guess what?
You're taking your weapon outof your hand so you can walk out
fully in armor the rest of theway, but the only thing you can
do is stop the fight.
You can't bring the fight tothe enemy.
So, friends, let me challengeyou that you would keep your
weapon in your hand and in yourheart, that you would read your
(34:50):
Bible.
You let it work inside of you,because it becomes a weapon when
those evil thoughts come, whenthose other things come to you,
when depression tries to get ontop of you.
What you say to it is no, Iknow who I am in Jesus Christ.
I know the value I have inJesus.
I know that he is for me andnot against me.
He won't leave me stranded.
Why?
Because the word of God isright here.
Me stranded why?
(35:12):
Because the word of God isright here.
It's a weapon against thedarkness.
You could take authority overit in the name of Jesus Christ.
Well, we see that as where we go, as we start to say in my own
life first, lord, help me that Igive my heart to you.
Lord, you'd help me in everyarea.
That hold nothing back.
But, lord, not just in my life,lord, I pray, Lord, for your
peace, for your wisdom, for yourpresence.
(35:34):
I plead the blood of JesusChrist over my family, lord,
over my grandchildren.
Lord, in my workplace, where Igo, lord, that you would help me
, that I would have your mindset, that I would have a faith
that's in you that I wouldunderstand that I'm saved by
grace and by faith and Lord,that I walk full of the spirit
of God.
See, because whenever thatstarts to happen, it starts to
(35:58):
challenge who we are and what'sgoing on with us.
It starts to be something thatbecomes a weapon in our hand
against the evil.
One Hebrews says it a little bitdifferent.
It says it like this For theword of God is living and active
, sharper than any two-edgedsword, piercing to the division
of soul and of spirit, of jointsand marrow, and discerning the
(36:19):
thoughts and intentions of theheart.
See, that's exactly whathappens whenever you get the
word inside of you.
It starts to really cut throughall the mess and clarify what
it means to have faith in God.
Friends, that's what we'recalled to have and challenged to
be is be those who have faithin God, that we're prepared for
(36:40):
what he wants to do in andthrough us, that we're those
that, whenever it's challengedto us and it says if anyone
would come after me, let himdeny himself, let him take up
his cross daily and follow me,we can say yes.
We can say yes, lord, lord, I,for today, lord, I will pick up
my cross, I will follow afteryou.
(37:02):
It continues here.
In the second part of thatscripture it says whoever would
save his life would lose it.
Whoever loses his life for mysake will save it.
Friends, as we're called to bethose that lose our life,
meaning this life that we chaseafter because he will give us a
much better life, not just forhere, but also for eternity,
(37:23):
where we walk with him forever.
Lord, we pray over this messagetoday, lord, that you would use
it to spark hearts towards you,whether you use it for your
glory, that we would be thosewho walk full of your presence
and full of your peace.
We pray in Jesus' name.
Friends, today there's anopportunity for you.
Maybe you're here and you'veyet to make a decision to follow
(37:44):
Jesus.
Today's your opportunity to doso.
It's your opportunity to sayyes to him.
You have to answer thatquestion of have you embraced
Jesus?
And maybe you're here and youhave made the decision in the
past, but you have not beenliving it and you need to make a
recommitment to him.
Today's your opportunity.
It's not too late.
(38:05):
There's nothing that you'vedone that could separate you
from the love of Christ.
He loves you so very much.
You know, we talked about itlast week with Good Friday and
Easter, about the greatsacrifice of Jesus for us.
We were reminded of it as wetook communion together, of his
sacrifices, his body which wasbroken for us, the blood that
(38:25):
was shed for us.
Jesus, he was holy, the onlyholy sacrifice.
See, there's nothing we can doto earn the grace of God, and so
whenever we think of the cross,the cross is one of
transformation.
It's one where we see that allof our pain and all of our
suffering was taken care of.
And as we look at the cross, westart to see where Jesus.
(38:46):
He took all of my pain and allof my suffering.
He took it to the cross and hepaid for it once and for all.
He did the same for you becausehe loves you so very much.
He values you so very much thatyou would have an active
relationship with him.
Today, you know, for each one ofus, we hear the challenge
(39:07):
that's there and we have torespond.
It says by faith.
We say, jesus, I believe youare who you say you are.
I invite you into my heart andlife.
I want to start a newrelationship with you.
The apostle Paul.
He writes to the church at Rome.
He says it like this becauseyou've confessed with your mouth
that Jesus is Lord, and believein your heart that God raised
him from the dead, you will besaved.
(39:29):
For with the heart one believesand is justified.
With the mouth, one confessesand is saved.
Friends, today is your day.
It's your opportunity to sayyes to Jesus.
I'm gonna ask everyone that'shere in the room if you'd stand
to your feet and bow your headsright where you're at.
If you're online listening tous.
Prepare your heart for whateverGod wants to do in you.
(39:51):
Just take a few momentswherever you are.
Friends, if that's you, as headsare bowed here, christians are
praying for you.
Friends, if that's you, youneed to make it a commitment to
Jesus today.
Maybe it's for the first time,maybe it's a recommitment to him
(40:13):
.
It's a decision for Christ.
If that's you, if you justraise your hand right where
you're at and say, pastor,that's me, I just want to be
included in this prayer today.
I want to have this life that'safter Jesus, to invite him into
my heart and life.
Thank you, lord.
Thank you, lord as peoplemaking decisions.
Thank you, God.
Thank you, lord.
Friends online as well, makingdecisions, decisions.
Thank you, jesus.
(40:34):
I'm going to ask if you wouldjust pray this prayer out loud
after me.
Lord, thank you for loving me.
Thank you for sending Jesus.
I believe Jesus died on thecross for my sins.
I believe he rose again.
(40:59):
Forgive me of my sins.
I surrender my life to you.
In Christ's name, I pray Amen,amen.
Friends, we rejoice with youmaking a decision to follow
Jesus today.
What a powerful decision,amazing.
Let me encourage you in thisthat you would let us know about
your decision to follow Jesustoday.
We want to put some materialsinto your hand.
(41:19):
We want you to get baptizedthis next week, as we have
baptism coming.
Make that decision public to goafter Jesus and if you've made
a decision to follow Jesus inrecent weeks.
Let me challenge you in thisthat you would follow him in
baptism, because that's goingpublic with your faith in Christ
being dead to sin, alive in God.
As we open up this altar, wecome back to this last song
(41:40):
today, here, and we do so withintentionality, asking for more
of the Spirit of God, more ofHis presence in our lives, for
the peace of God to rest upon usand our family, for the wisdom
of God to go in front of us, foropen doors and closed doors
that he would be upon us.
And if that's you, if you wantto come forward, we'll pray with
you.
Lord, thank you so much foryour word.
Thank you, lord, how you speakto us and over us.
(42:02):
You challenge us, lord, becauseyou love us so very much.
Lord, you don't leave usdefenseless against the enemy,
but instead you give us yourarmor.
Lord, you put on the stuffthat's made for us, lord, that's
custom, fit to us.
Lord, that you want us to bethose that speak truth and you
want us to be those who have asoft heart towards you.
But, lord, that you protect us.
(42:23):
And, lord, we want to be those,lord, that stand in faith and
quench the attack of the enemy.
Lord, we want to understand oursalvation.
Lord that we belong to you andwe're going to live with the
mind of Christ.
Lord that we would have ourfeet shod with the preparation
of the gospel of peace, shoes ofpeace and where we walk.
Lord, that we would have thepeace of God go in front of us.
Lord that in everything we do,lord, that we would keep the
(42:45):
word of God in our hand and inour heart.
Lord that we would not beseparated from it, but instead
you would use that, lord, as aweapon against the enemy.
Lord, we thank you for allthese things and as we come to
your altar today, lord, we askfor an impartation of your
spirit, more of your presence,more of your peace, your wisdom,
your guidance.
We pray in the name of JesusChrist.
Speaker 2 (43:05):
Amen.
Speaker 1 (43:06):
Hey, let me encourage you in this, that you
participate with us in our campsthis summer.
We have kids camp and youthcamp, the men's fishing trip and
camp.
It's going to be fun and I'lltell you this.
Guys, let me encourage you toget a part of it because Javon
and I had a great time andCeleste I'm good to go she's
envious.
Javon had a great time.
We've been a part of it lastfew years, and some of the guys.
That's the greatest way that wegot connected with them.
(43:28):
We built time hanging out andfishing.
They caught fish.
I still need to catch fish,that's okay.
Come and be a part.
It's amazing.
Speaker 2 (43:37):
Next week we are having water baptisms, and I'm
excited.
It's always one of my favoriteSundays to be at the church.
But if you want to get baptizedin water, please contact the
church this week or you can goon the app or the website and
sign up.
We're going to do it in bothservices, but we want to
celebrate with you and rejoicein all that God is doing in your
life.
Speaker 1 (43:54):
Amen.
Before we go, I want to praythis blessing over us.
The Lord bless you and keep you.
Lord, make his face to shineupon you and be gracious to you.
Lord, lift up his countenanceupon you and give you peace.
(44:16):
Lord, I pray a blessing uponyour church, your people.
Lord, you empower us by yourspirit to live your love out to
those around us.
We pray all this in thepowerful name that is Jesus
Christ.
Amen, amen.
Know this.
We love you very much here atCornerstone.
God bless you and have a greatweek.
Hey, we're so glad that you're getting a chance,
we're getting a chance toworship together, that you're
here with us.
We are blessed, amen.
Hey, today we're starting a newseries called Everyday Carry,
and we had this question for us,which is are you prepared?
Are you prepared, are you?
You know, I was thinking aboutthis because it's really talking
(00:24):
about, as you saw in the video,about the things that we carry
on us every day, carrying somany of us.
You know, we run with ourpocket or our purse and
whatever's going on.
It's the things that we kind ofcarry on our person.
And I'll tell you this I grewup, you know, with a dad that
was a hunter and a fisherman, soI learned to use a pocket knife
from the time I was reallyyoung, as a tool for everything.
(00:44):
You know what I mean.
You get into this or that, youget into stuff with it, use it
as a screwdriver, even thoughyou're not supposed to.
You know you do all the thingswith it, and so I got very used
to carrying a pocket knife in mypocket.
And so whenever Celeste and Isaid yes to become missionaries
in Europe you know they havedifferent rules on what a pocket
knife is versus an Americanpocket knife.
You guys know what I'm talkingabout.
So, like you know, thisAmerican pocket knife, this
(01:14):
super illegal over there.
But I accidentally forgot andbrought all my pocket knives to
Europe.
So I was there and I had mypocket knives with me and we
were living in Paris, we'reheaded to London and we had a
it's amazing city, a beautifulplace, but they have some knife
crimes.
So they have some issues withcertain types of knives and so
you know, I didn't think much ofit, I wasn't intending to bring
my pocket knife with me.
But the night before the trip itwas like two, three o'clock in
(01:34):
the morning and I heard thissound.
So I throw a pair of pants on,I put a pocket knife in my
pocket, I get my big mag lightout and I go look for the noise
and I didn't find anything,Thanks be to God.
But afterwards I just kind ofthrew those pants into my bag
and I had a different set ofclothes for the morning ready to
go.
So we got, you know, ready togo, got on the train squad
through Paris, got to the trainstation and took the Eurostar,
(01:57):
which is like flying in a plane,took that.
My microphone didn't like mystory.
So we take the train across toLondon.
So we get there, I go to put onthe next day pair of clothes
and, lo and behold, I find mypocket knife on the pair of
pants there in my bag.
Now this is a blessing.
(02:19):
Now I don't know how it gotthrough.
It's like going through aflight security I mean, it's
that rigid.
So somehow it got throughmultiple checks of security.
My bag got to us, but now I hada pocket knife in London so I
got to use it.
We went to Hyde Park.
You can see an image of it here.
Beautiful park right in themiddle of the city.
So we go to like Pret-a-Mangeror someplace and get like a sack
lunch.
We go out and have a picnic.
(02:40):
God bless us for like five daysof sun in London, which never
happens, by the way.
It's always gloomy and crazy.
So we're sitting in the park.
It's like you see in this nextimage.
It's like this is from HydePark, right when the sun is
there, coming through the trees.
You're in the middle of thisbig city, but then you have this
epic moment of peace in themiddle of the city.
We're using the knife to cut up, you know, cheese and crackers
(03:01):
and apples and all sorts ofstuff for the kids.
Our kids were young Jabin waslike five and Shiloh would have
been like two, so we'resomewhere in there, and so that
was kind of their age group.
So we had a great time.
But then the end of the tripcame and it was time to try to
go back to Paris with all of ourstuff which I was trying to
keep my pocket knife.
You guys know what I'm talkingabout.
So I tried to put it back whereit was and we tried to go
(03:22):
through security.
And so we're there at SanPancras and we're at the train,
about to get back, and I gothrough and I put my bag in.
Guess what didn't work thistime Getting the pocket knife
through security at all.
So I put the bag through rightaway.
Ma-ma, sir, sir, do you havesomething in this bag?
I'm like, yeah, I do.
You know I have a pocket knife.
I didn't mean to bring it.
(03:42):
Give him the whole story, Ijust told you.
And the guy's like okay, okay,is it going to poke me, sir?
No, no, it's not going to pokeyou, it's fine, it's fine.
Tell him where it's at.
He goes and he reaches in andhe pulls it out.
And I tell you this he pulls itout and you're not allowed to
have a knife that locksDefinitely was a locking knife.
(04:04):
You're definitely not allowedto have a knife that does this.
You know what I'm talking about.
It definitely did that too.
He opens it and he goes oh,that's fun.
And immediately I'm like I'mgoing to jail, I'm going to
prison, I'll never get out ofthis place.
My family's going to go andleave me here, you know.
And the guy, he's just him, andhe goes.
I'll tell you what I mean.
(04:27):
He closes it up and meanwhileI'm like looking at him and I'm
looking at my children, javen'slike dad, you have a knife.
I'm like shut up, you keep itdown.
You know like, try not to be inzip cuffs.
You know, the guy's so cool man.
He goes.
I'll tell you what.
I'm gonna take this.
And he had a sharps box likefor, you know, like for medical
personnel.
It's a red box, has a top.
You can put all sorts ofneedles and stuff in it.
He takes my knife.
(04:48):
He goes I'm going to put thisright side in this box.
I go.
That sounds like a great plan.
I like this plan, he goes andyou have a great day.
I was like God bless you.
But it was one of those thingswhere, like, I felt like I was
prepared for everything, butthen, in some circumstances, I
wasn't prepared.
(05:08):
Even though I thought I wasprepared, I wasn't prepared and
I was thinking about itspiritually for us where we can
go with everything, we're readyto face our day All the trinkets
, the pocket knife, everythingthat's in your purse of, you
know, of the never-ending mompurse.
You can have all the things,you can have a pocket knife that
has every single little piecethat pulls out, that has all the
(05:29):
tools and still not bespiritually ready for your day.
And we need to be those who, inour everyday, carry our first
priorities to go spiritually andbe ready in our spirit to face
the day, that we're those peoplethat say Lord, as for me, I'm
going to be someone who'sprepared to face my day and to
(05:50):
go after it.
So, friends, that's mychallenge to us that we would be
every day ready spirituallyspeaking.
We have a video for you.
All right, what's up guys?
Steve, hey, man, what's in yourpockets, what's?
Speaker 2 (06:04):
in my pockets?
Yeah, nothing, alright, what'sup guys, steve, hey, man, what's
in your pockets?
What's in my pockets?
Yeah, uh, nothing, nothingmajor.
Speaker 1 (06:08):
What's your everyday carry here?
Okay, got the phone.
Got the phone, got a radiobecause you're running security
Yep, running the safety team.
Speaker 2 (06:15):
Oh, just the essentials, your safety gloves,
that's right, let's go you gottabe prepared, always be prepared
, stay ready.
Speaker 3 (06:23):
That's right.
That's about it.
That's all I got.
Speaker 1 (06:25):
That's awesome, man.
Daniel, what's up man?
Hey, what's in your pockets?
I got my wallet, nice nice.
Speaker 2 (06:30):
Oh, picture of the fam nice.
Speaker 1 (06:31):
It's a serious wallet man Costanza wallet.
Yup, it's a man's wallet.
You got chips Snack as a case.
You get stuck out there.
Keys and Leatherman, leatherman, that's good stuff, man.
You running a phone or no?
Yep, phone, okay, phone in theback pocket, excellent,
(06:52):
excellent, all right man, verycool, everyday carry, all right.
Speaker 2 (06:55):
Hey, Pastor Angus, what do you have in your pockets
?
Speaker 3 (06:58):
Pick me on the right day, bro.
I got my little pet worm withme.
Always got to carry somehydration.
American flag got to have itwith you.
A little bottle of maple syrup,of course, the keys, my phone
let's see what else do we have?
Oh, pocket watch, in case theApple watch breaks down.
(07:20):
I've got my trusty pocket knifehere for bigger jobs, just in
case I need to do a littleworkout mid-day.
Honey, just in case I decide Ineed something else.
Oh, we've got the hymns ofglorious praise, let's see.
(07:43):
Oh, just a little door hangerfor Botswana Prayer shawl.
Never know when you're going tobe praying for somebody.
You know I always like to carrya little helper with me.
Speaker 1 (08:10):
You never, ever want to forget your Bible.
All right, thank you, that'sright.
Don't forget your Bible.
Be like Pastor Angus Don'tforget your Bible in your
everyday carry.
I love that so very much.
You know, one of the things thatwe do here is that we want to
be people who are walking withJesus wherever he's leading us
to go.
We use this imagery of Jesuswalking with his disciples
because that's how we seeourselves that none of us have
(08:30):
arrived anywhere.
We're still on that journey,following after Jesus, amen.
So since we're not perfect,we're going to follow him where
he's leading us to go, and soour ambition, individually and
corporately, is to be more likeJesus, and so that means,
together, that we want to loveGod, we want to make disciples,
we want to reach the world.
My challenge to you is thisthat, as we're about to start a
(08:52):
new set of life groups for Mayand June, my challenge to you is
that you would get involved, beintentional in your life with
Christ, join a life group.
Let it be a challenge to you.
Refine you.
This is great.
We're thankful for thesegatherings that we have in this
way, but we want to be those whoare interacting with each other
and building thoserelationships as well.
So let me challenge you toconnect, grow and serve the Lord
(09:14):
.
Amen.
So this idea of every day,carry.
You know.
We look to the scripture today.
If you have your Bible, yourtablet, your phone, we'll open
here and it looks like this inLuke 9.
It says, and he said to all ifanyone would come after me, let
him deny himself, take up hiscross daily and follow me, for
(09:36):
whoever would save his life willlose it.
Whoever loses his life for mysake will save it.
Lord, I thank you so much, andwe pray over your word today,
lord, that you would illuminateit in us so it would become
alive in Rhema, lord.
It would be transformative, itwould challenge us.
We pray this in the name ofJesus Christ, amen.
So we've been talking about thisidea of are you prepared?
(10:00):
And, as we think about it, youknow each one of those little
attributes of being prepared.
It's so vital, I know, for us.
You know we do a lot of workaround here, around the church.
We're very thankful forfacilities and things like that,
but it takes a lot of upkeepand so we're always doing a
project.
So on us we're always carryinga knife or tools or something
like that, and I can tell you,as someone who's lost lots and
(10:21):
lots of Leathermans throughairport security I Lots and lots
of Leathermans through airportsecurity I stay ready, stay with
something on me like aLeatherman or a pocket knife,
because you can just use it foreverything, and so I was so used
to that.
And, in the same way, wheneverwe want to be prepared and have
the tool for the job on us, wewant to be spiritually prepared
as well, because you know, ifyou have the right tool and the
(10:42):
right skill set, when you have aproblem, you don't have a
problem right, because it can besolved.
And so that's the same way wethink about it spiritually.
It's like listen, yes, we'regoing to have things that happen
in our life, but if we stayspiritually prepared,
spiritually ready, then we canbe those that, whenever that
situation arises, we can step upand meet that thing spiritually
(11:02):
speaking.
And so that's what we'retalking about today in this idea
of carry your cross.
See as the scripture talks tous about carrying your cross,
it's a daily thing, and thatmeans that we're gonna say yes
to God every day, that we'regonna identify with his
sacrifice for us, and that's whythe symbol of the cross is so
important to us and we use thisimage of the cross so often,
(11:24):
because for us, by faith, we saythis is where Jesus took all of
the sins of the world.
He took my sin, he took yoursin, all of our brokenness, all
of our mistakes.
He took it and paid for it uponthe cross, once and for all,
for all people.
And so for us, by faith, we sayLord, I'm thankful for what you
did for me.
Because of it, I am forgiven, Iam free.
(11:46):
Can you say amen to that?
And so that's who we are isthat we want to be those who are
living that life.
And so what we say every day,as we get ready for these things
, is that we want to be prepared, we want to be those who are in
that life with God.
And we know it's a spiritualthing that we're doing, because
(12:11):
that's what he's calling us todo.
It's a spiritual act.
To pick up your cross means toidentify with Jesus every day,
not just weekend to weekend orweekend to every few weekends as
we get to church, but every dayas a Christ follower.
And so what that means is that,if we're going to be
spiritually prepared, likehaving your leatherman in your
pocket or the things you need inyour purse.
The same way, spiritually, wewant to be prepared, and that's
called the armor of God.
And so we're looking today toEphesians 6, and we'll be
highlighting this as somethingthat we use as we use it to pray
(12:34):
over us in our life.
It picks up here in Ephesians 6,verse 10, paul writing to the
church at Ephesus and this ishis closing challenge to the
church he says finally, bestrong in the Lord, in the
strength of his might.
Put on the whole armor of Godthat you may be able to stand
(12:54):
against the schemes of the devil.
You say amen to that.
Now what we know is that we'recalled to be those who are
strong in the Lord, and thatmeans strong in him, not strong
in us.
Now he's made us to be peoplewith all sorts of abilities and
strengths, and those things aregood and we work hard at that.
(13:15):
That's what we call in bringingour excellence to God.
Nothing wrong with that, butnot relying on our strength, but
instead trusting in hisstrength.
And there's a big difference, Ican tell you.
You know, I grew up.
You know my dad was a tough guyand he didn't try to be a tough
guy, he just was a tough guy.
He grew up in South Phoenix andwas a rough dude and so
(13:35):
whenever I was growing up, Ididn't grow up, I grew up in
suburbs.
Man, I was out here, you know,but I was afraid of Rich Brown,
so I wasn't afraid of anybodyelse.
You know people be like, oh,blah, blah, blah.
I was like whatever man, I'mnot scared of you.
I know Rich Brown, what do youknow about it?
I wasn't scared and it got mein trouble because I'd be
running my mouth at people Ishould not be running my mouth
at, and occasionally.
(13:55):
You know that check got cashedand I learned the lesson.
You guys know what I'm talkingabout, where it's like there was
a ramification, usually in myface area, and a big nose
landing with fists, and so youcan understand where I'm trying
to be strong in me, like, try tobe, like what's up, and that's
not what he's calling us to be.
We call it be strong in theLord, and that's a big
(14:15):
difference.
It doesn't mean that we don'ttake care of ours and protect
ours.
It's not what I'm saying.
I'm saying that we don't.
That's not the ultimatereliance.
Our reliance is on the Lord,and so our strength is in him,
our character is in him and whatwe're leaning on is in him.
If we thought about it and weknew we were getting into a
fight, man, it would make sensefor us to put on battle armor to
go and fight the fight, right?
(14:37):
So we think about it, like withthis medieval armor example
here, where we want to becovered head to toe.
We don't want to be left openfor anything to be available for
being attacked, right?
I mean, the first thing that Iwould do if I was the enemy of
you would be like well, where dothey not have armor on, you
know?
And so sometimes we might walkout and we might have a portion
(14:57):
of this armor on, but we don'thave all of it on, and so what's
going to happen is the enemy ofyour soul.
He's going to come and attackyou in these weak points because
you're not protected.
Does that make sense?
And I know for me that's what Iwant to do is.
I want to be someone who iswalking lockstep with Jesus,
that I'm connected to him, I'mgoing where he's calling us to
go.
I want to have that mentality,to be strong in the Lord, to
(15:21):
have the armor of God on,because it's from him and not
from me.
And the reason this is importantis because this next point is
that we're not fightingphysically against somebody else
.
The wrestle is against notflesh and blood, but the spirit.
It picks up here in Ephesians 6, 12, for we do not wrestle
against flesh and blood, butagainst rulers, against
authorities, against the cosmicpowers over this present
(15:44):
darkness, against the spiritualforces of evil in heavenly
places.
And so what we know, byfighting these things, you can't
do it physically.
You don't do more reps in thegym or rolls on the mat to get
ready, prepared for this fight.
No, this is this fight of prayerbecause it's a spiritual fight
and that's why, so often, youknow, first conversations we
(16:05):
start.
So often, you know firstconversations we start having,
as you know, as pastors, is whenyou see people saying I'm going
through it.
I feel distance from God.
We're like, okay, where's yourprayer life at.
Okay, where's your time in theword?
At Like we start talking aboutthese things because we know
that the battle is not justwhat's we're in front of us, not
just the person around us.
It's actually a spiritual battle.
It's not just the person aroundus.
It's actually a spiritualbattle.
It's in our mind, it's in ourheart, it's in the other person
(16:26):
being influenced negatively.
It's in our brokenness thatwe're fighting, and so that's
why prayer is such an amazingweapon, it's such an important
thing, and as we pray the prayerof faith, we pray for every
element of this armor of God toprepare us to stand up against
the spiritual fight that we'regoing to go through.
What we know, as people, is thatwe are going to go through the
(16:49):
fight.
We know it's coming, so wemight as well be prepared for
the fight that's coming.
Amen.
So we don't have to be afraid,because we are children of God.
Whenever you have arelationship with Jesus, you
don't have to be afraid of that,because you belong to him.
So, though you may be in thefight, you know that you're
gonna win the fight, because thefight is eternally yours in
Jesus Christ.
We know the promises that arethere for us in scripture, and
(17:12):
so we stand on those truths.
It continues here in verse 13.
It says this Therefore, take upthe whole armor of God that you
may be able to withstand in theevil day, having done all to
stand firm.
Would you say, amen, that wewould stand firm?
(17:33):
Now we know this, that our daysare evil, and since they are
evil, then we need to be thosewho stand firm with all that God
provides for us.
And I'll tell you, just likeany other habit, this is
something we start to build intoour lives and I can tell you
you know, celeste and I havemade it a point with our family
that we pray the Lord's prayerevery time before we like pull
(17:54):
out of the driveway or beforewhen we start our day.
And if we try to take off in thecar without someone who's
already said the prayer,somebody will start the prayer.
You know what I mean.
We're like we're in the middleof conversation, blah, blah,
blah.
We're talking about X, y and Z.
We put the car in reverse.
We're like our father in heaven.
I'm like that's right, that'sright, that's right.
No, we got to get in lock.
(18:14):
Yes, and we pray the prayertogether and it's that your
kingdom come, your will be doneon earth as it is in heaven.
See, he's with us.
He doesn't forsake us.
We know this.
This is what the Psalm says tous, talking about even the
valley, the shadow of death.
He doesn't leave us, he's withus.
And so whenever we starttalking about these things,
(18:35):
about putting the whole armor ofGod, we have to have that
perspective.
You think about it, how everypiece is important, every piece
you don't want to leave out,because every piece has
something to do with how we'regoing to interact with our day,
how we're going to interact withwhat we come across.
And so that's why, wheneverwe're praying for the armor of
God on us, that's why we praythose prayers I'm sure you do
the same.
We start praying down ourprayer list.
(18:56):
When someone shares it with us,we start adding that to our
prayer list.
Man, lord today, be with PastorRich today.
Minister to his body today,lord, be with this, our friend
that's going through thissituation.
Lord, in this marriage, lord,in this relationship, god, that
you would be made known, thatthey would have forgiveness,
that people would come together.
There'd be unity in Jesus' name.
Friends, we've seen miracleshappen because of prayer.
(19:17):
So we believe and we stand firmbecause we've seen it happen.
People might think of it as somekind of mystical, you know kind
of thing.
No, no, no, this is what theLord says Pray and I will make
it happen.
I'm going to do my will in themidst of you.
And so we say your kingdom come, your will be done, lord Jesus,
and we ask in the prayer offaith.
Now it continues here in verse14.
(19:39):
It says it like this stand,therefore, having fastened on
the belt of truth and having puton the breastplate of
righteousness.
Now, when we think about thebelt of truth, it's something
that's really important, right?
Because the belt of truth issomething that it really.
It starts the whole process.
(19:59):
If you can't be someone who'struthful, then how is someone
going to believe your testimonywhenever you start testifying
about the goodness of God,because you're lying about other
stuff, and so that's heaven.
Help all of us.
None of us is 100% on this Likelet our yes be yes, our no be
no.
Help me to be someone who'struth-telling, who speaks the
truth and even speaks the truthin love.
(20:22):
You know, so many times wemight say, like a little white
lie to make somebody feel better, but instead of that, just
being a truthful person, andinstead of being someone who's
like hurtful, because they canuse the truth to be hurtful
against another person too Someof us have been hurt by that.
People like just come and getyou like man, that hurts.
I'm not talking about that.
I'm talking about the truth,being someone who speaks the
(20:46):
truth all the time, reflectingthe character of Jesus.
Because as we do that, thenwhat happens is people can trust
us.
This whole assembly, this wholeensemble of all the armor,
connects first to the belt,which all the pieces connect to,
and so if we first are thosewho are seeking the truth and
what does it say?
The truth is in Jesus Christ,so if we're connected to him,
(21:10):
then we are going to be truthfulpeople too.
At the same time, it says thatwe're called to have a
breastplate of righteousness,and that's something that's
awesome.
It protects our torso.
I know I want everything that'sin this area to stay inside my
body.
On this area, everybody agree.
That's why we still wear whatBulletproof vests People wear.
That today.
That's common armor today.
That's one of the main things.
You've got to keep it allprotected, why?
Heart, lungs, guts, everything.
(21:31):
Keep it all inside, keep itprotected.
And, spiritually speaking, theLord's talking to us about
having a heart after him.
And so often, what happens ifwe don't?
And by the righteousness ofChrist, identifying with what
he's done for us, it's not ourrighteousness, it's his
righteousness.
So, as he's righteous and he'sthe one that we say Lord, your
(21:51):
righteousness is the one thatcovers me then we can have a
soft heart towards God, we canhave an open heart towards him
that he can use to have a changein others.
And if we don't have thatrighteousness in our life, if we
don't identify with what Christis doing for us, then what
happens is we have a hardenedheart because we're trying to
protect our heart from otherpeople.
(22:12):
You wonder so many times why aperson who doesn't know Jesus
they have a hardened hearttowards others.
Well, that's why they're tryingto protect their heart, because
they know how injured we canbecome.
And so what happens is theyprotect their heart and they
start to block it off from Godand from other people, and it
makes this wall in their heartand friends as Christ followers.
(22:35):
That's what God has not calledus to be, those people he wants
us to have an open heart to himand an open heart to others.
Love God, love others, and wecan only do that if we are ones
that are walking in therighteousness of God, in the way
of God, so he can protect ourheart for us.
Amen.
Think about this.
(22:55):
You think about how someonewho's walking in armor, how they
are protected from head to toe,and you can see this person you
know, man, they're reallylocked in.
And so you can see, wow, thisis awesome, like I love this
whole thing.
But you can be head to toeprotected.
But if this person doesn't havethe right footwear on, they
busted right Because they're inthe snow, they're in the cold,
(23:15):
they're in trouble.
So they could be totallyprotected.
But if their feet aren't doneright, then they are going to be
what?
Sitting on the ground trying torub on their feet, trying to
warm it up.
So even though you're connectedhead to toe, like you're going
to be in a big fight, if youdon't have your footwear right,
you're in trouble.
And so it says this in Ephesians6, 15, as shoes for your feet,
having put on the readinessgiven by the gospel of peace, I
(23:40):
love this Shoes of peace.
Now, you guys know I'm a shoeguy, I love shoes.
I feel that all my shoes areshoes of peace and I'm like you
know, celeste is like you needthis pair of shoes.
I'm like, yes, I need that pairof shoes.
That's shoes of peace.
So what about this one.
I'm like this is a differentcolorway of the shoes of peace.
I need these shoes.
What about these boots?
(24:00):
These are the boots of peace.
Praise the Lord, you guysgetting it.
Yet we need more of the shoesof peace, praise the Lord.
In truth, what it says is thatwe want to be those who walk in
the peace of God, and it saysthat the peace of God will rest
(24:26):
upon us and where we set ourfeet, the peace of God will be
there, not just where we are,but in front of us as he's
leading us to go.
The peace of God is in front ofus, leading the way, and that's
a peace of God is in ourcircumstances.
It's not just in us, but, asthe peace of God rests upon us,
it's where we've put our feet togo.
So it's in your home, it's withyour family, it's wherever you
go, in your workplace or yourschool or wherever you're at.
The peace of God would be uponyou and not only in you, but it
(24:47):
would start to impact thosearound you, because the peace of
God is upon you and that's allwe can pray for.
That is like Lord, let yourpeace rest on me.
Lord, let your peace go outfrom me, lord, that we would
experience the peace of God,because we live crazy lives and
we have deadlines and we havethis anxiety and this stress
that goes from it.
And instead we say, lord, youknow what I'm going to do, to
(25:08):
the best of my ability, as youenable me to do so, lord.
I ask for your wisdom andguidance so I can do these
things above what I can do, thatyou would do it through me, and
I ask for the peace of God torest upon me, that, as I do so,
that I would walk in the peaceand the presence of God and then
I would see that flush of yourpeace wash over me.
(25:30):
See what happens when you startto pray the prayer of peace
over your circumstances.
See if God won't first changeyour heart in the circumstance,
and how the change of your heartwill have effect on others,
because they too will beaffected by the peace of God.
Friends, without the peace ofGod, we're in trouble Right down
(25:53):
in River City.
It's crazy.
So we have to walk in the peaceof God.
That was for all of my theaterheads who had been singing that
song for four days.
All right, ephesians 6, 16 saysthis In all circumstances, take
up the shield of faith which candistinguish all the flaming
(26:13):
darts of the evil one.
I love this, the shield offaith in all circumstances.
I love it because, you know, wehaven't even got to a weapon,
but the shield itself becomes aweapon because it's blocking the
attack of the enemy against us.
And what it says is by faith.
By faith, all of everything is.
Faith is the currency in thekingdom of God.
(26:35):
So by faith, Lord, I acceptyour work for me.
By faith, you have made merighteous.
By faith, I'm a new creation inyou.
So your faith is what blocksall those attacks that come
against you, all those mindsetsthat say you're not worth
anything, that you're tied toyour past, that you have no
future.
All these things that attackyou are fiery darts in the enemy
against your spirit, againstyour soul.
(26:55):
By faith we say no, that's nottrue, because the word of God
says this by faith, I block thatin Jesus' name.
And not just that, but youthink about it.
We've seen it in battles wherepeople use their shields and
together, as the community, thechurch of God, the bride of
Christ, we lock together and byfaith we start to take ground
(27:16):
against the enemy Because westart to move together.
We start to move together andwe start to take ground against
the enemy by the shield of faith.
And so, friends, that's what'samazing about it is that we say,
lord, I believe you are who yousay you are, and I'm going to
stop this mindset that's comingagainst me right now that I'm
going to be broken or I can't doit.
No, that's not what the Lordsays.
(27:36):
The greater is he that's in methan he that's in the world.
That we are more thanconquerors through him, who
loved us.
That it doesn't matter if it'sbrokenness or sword or nakedness
or whatever.
Guess what.
I didn't come into this worldwith anything.
I'm going out with nothing.
Jesus is more than enough forme.
By the shield of faith, I'msaying no to all this other
curse.
I'm alive in Christ.
Can you say amen to that?
(27:56):
And that's where we're goingforward.
Verse 17,.
It continues and says this andtake the helmet of salvation and
the sword of the spirit, whichis the word of God.
And I love this.
The helmet of salvation is soimportant because, friends,
whenever we can trust the Lordfor our salvation, it protects
(28:17):
us, protects everything.
The thing about today.
We, even now, today, we put thehelmet on right Special forces.
They're running a helmet.
Why?
Because it's important.
You gotta protect your nogginand I can tell you it's the same
thing for us as we think aboutit as we it's in practicality
today.
Man, back in the day we used torun a skate park here called
(28:37):
Epic Park and we used it beforethey built the skate parks
around it to connect withstudents and just share the love
of God and connect with them.
It was awesome.
We welded it together, man,tyler and Aaron a bunch of
people helped us do it and itwas an amazing thing.
It ran for a few years and wewould set up.
We had really big stuff, halfpipe and all sorts of drop-ins
and all sorts of cool stuff, butI had rules because I was
(28:58):
responsible.
So I was responsible we hadmade everybody wear a helmet and
sign a waiver.
I was like I had made everybodywear a helmet and sign a waiver
.
I was like, if you try to skatethis stuff and you don't sign a
waiver or wear a helmet, I'mgoing to throw you over the
fence, which was probably notthe right way to say that, but
you guys get the idea.
So it was like, hey, what areyou going to do is do these
things.
And so I was, like you know,made everybody do it, but for
good reason, because we hadpeople getting gnarly going
(29:19):
really good, really big, and theair wins, right, because you
can't defy the air forever.
So you're coming back down andmany times you're coming back
down with a skateboard or a bikeon top of you, and so we had
the helmet.
Saved us a bunch of times wherepeople would just slam on the
(29:41):
concrete and I'd be like, oh,dear Jesus, in the name of Jesus
, like helmet got it.
I'm like, thank you, jesus, youknow, this is awesome, they're
still alive, good news.
And I'll tell you, like youknow, I was like this is awesome
, they're still alive, good news.
And I'll tell you, like youknow, I didn't really think much
about it.
These kids are resilient man.
They could bounce off theconcrete, get back up.
But I was in my mid-20s, stillskateboarding, and I was like I
can still do this, man, I stillgot it.
I'm going to end up on X Gamesand be sick.
(30:02):
So I'm like and we gapped them.
I had a gap in between the twoquarter pipes because our half
pipe, kind of put them together,put a big gap, and so I came
across one side and went realbig in the air and landed it.
I was like that was sick.
So we like, oh, we'll spreadthem out.
So we kept spreading it out,kept spreading it out and I go.
The last time we were having anoutreach over here was in
(30:22):
October, having outreach for thecommunity big crowd.
So I'd like push into the thingreally really hard, push, push,
push, ride up big ollie, bigair, and I catch my trucks on
the coping, coming down on theother side of the gap.
And then I was out in space.
You guys don't talk about likeway, I'm not talking about
(30:44):
people in a ship, like last week.
No, I was in space, space, meand the ground, you know, and I
went like this and I balled up.
I was like, oh, mommy, jesus,you know, like calling out, went
like this, tucked in and man, Islammed super hard, bam,
smacked the ground like this,right on my helmet and right on
my side man, and I was wearinglike kind of like worn in jeans,
(31:06):
but I had one of those oldindestructible phones you guys
remember whenever phones didn'tbreak, you could use it as a
hammer.
You could like fix stuff aroundthe house with your phone.
You guys remember what I'mtalking about.
I had one of those in my pocket.
It ripped through my pants.
I hit so far, so hard on theground, huge black and blue
bruise right here Craziness.
It cracked my helmet and I waslike I'd like to take this
opportunity to say I'm retiringfrom skateboarding.
(31:28):
And that was it.
But, man, without that helmetI'd have been toast.
It was my salvation.
And so that's what the salvation, the helmet of salvation, is
for us.
That he's saying listen, I havealready done this for you, so
walk in your salvation.
You don't need to go and live adifferent way through the week
(31:52):
and need to get resaved on thenext weekend.
Nothing wrong with that.
If you need to get resavedtoday, man, make that decision
for Jesus.
But what I'm saying is youdon't need to do that as a habit
.
No, you need to live with thementality that I belong to Jesus
, I belong to Jesus, I belong toJesus, I belong to Jesus all
the way through the helmet ofsalvation.
Why is it the helmet ofsalvation?
Because it gives us the mind ofChrist.
(32:14):
So we're walking in step withthe mind of Christ what he's
calling us to do.
So often we've used an exampleof your perspective.
It's the view by which you seeit.
When you see it through hisview, it's like suddenly, oh,
wow, no, you have value becausehe made you in his image too.
Oh, and this is different thanI think.
And wow, god called me to turnthe other cheek and he called me
to do these other things.
(32:35):
You start to see thingsdifferently because you have the
mind of Christ, and I love this.
The other thing he says in thatsame verse is he says that we're
called to have the sword of thespirit, the sword of the spirit
.
See, for us, the word of God isthe sword of the spirit.
It's anointed All the peoplethat were authors of this Spirit
.
The sword of the Spirit.
See, for us, the word of God isthe sword of the Spirit.
It's anointed All the peoplethat were authors of this book,
(32:56):
all 66 books put together in onevolume.
All of it is anointed by God.
It was inspired by Him.
It has a crimson thread ofredemption throughout all of its
scripture.
It's a book that has moreoriginal copies, all the way to
the back, more than anything wehave in Greek literature.
It is true, it is the word ofGod and it can be trusted.
(33:17):
And friends, since that's true,then the word of God is a
weapon for us against thedarkness.
It says it says by the sword ofthe spirit.
It means the spirit will makeit alive in you as you read it.
It will become something thatsparks your faith and you can
use that against the enemy whenthose evil things come.
It's a weapon that's in yourhand and so often people will
(33:39):
come and ask me a question.
They, pastor, I'm going throughthis situation.
I'm like that's man, that'sheavy.
Let's pray about it.
How are you doing spiritually?
What's your prayer life?
What's your reading time like?
Do you have the word of God inyou?
So often the response is no, andit makes sense, right, because
the first thing the enemy wouldwant to take out of your hand is
your weapon.
Man, if I was your enemy, Iwould want to take your weapon
(34:02):
away from you too, because thenyou can't fight back.
See, because in the word itsays things like he has given
you authority over these thingsand you can take authority and
use the word, the name of JesusChrist against these things that
would come against you.
But if you're not reading that,if he's not challenging your
perspective, if you're notreading the wisdom of the word
in Proverbs, the song thatsparks our heart in Psalms, if
(34:25):
you're not doing these things,then guess what?
You're taking your weapon outof your hand so you can walk out
fully in armor the rest of theway, but the only thing you can
do is stop the fight.
You can't bring the fight tothe enemy.
So, friends, let me challengeyou that you would keep your
weapon in your hand and in yourheart, that you would read your
(34:50):
Bible.
You let it work inside of you,because it becomes a weapon when
those evil thoughts come, whenthose other things come to you,
when depression tries to get ontop of you.
What you say to it is no, Iknow who I am in Jesus Christ.
I know the value I have inJesus.
I know that he is for me andnot against me.
He won't leave me stranded.
Why?
Because the word of God isright here.
Me stranded why?
(35:12):
Because the word of God isright here.
It's a weapon against thedarkness.
You could take authority overit in the name of Jesus Christ.
Well, we see that as where we go, as we start to say in my own
life first, lord, help me that Igive my heart to you.
Lord, you'd help me in everyarea.
That hold nothing back.
But, lord, not just in my life,lord, I pray, Lord, for your
peace, for your wisdom, for yourpresence.
(35:34):
I plead the blood of JesusChrist over my family, lord,
over my grandchildren.
Lord, in my workplace, where Igo, lord, that you would help me
, that I would have your mindset, that I would have a faith
that's in you that I wouldunderstand that I'm saved by
grace and by faith and Lord,that I walk full of the spirit
of God.
See, because whenever thatstarts to happen, it starts to
(35:58):
challenge who we are and what'sgoing on with us.
It starts to be something thatbecomes a weapon in our hand
against the evil.
One Hebrews says it a little bitdifferent.
It says it like this For theword of God is living and active
, sharper than any two-edgedsword, piercing to the division
of soul and of spirit, of jointsand marrow, and discerning the
(36:19):
thoughts and intentions of theheart.
See, that's exactly whathappens whenever you get the
word inside of you.
It starts to really cut throughall the mess and clarify what
it means to have faith in God.
Friends, that's what we'recalled to have and challenged to
be is be those who have faithin God, that we're prepared for
(36:40):
what he wants to do in andthrough us, that we're those
that, whenever it's challengedto us and it says if anyone
would come after me, let himdeny himself, let him take up
his cross daily and follow me,we can say yes.
We can say yes, lord, lord, I,for today, lord, I will pick up
my cross, I will follow afteryou.
(37:02):
It continues here.
In the second part of thatscripture it says whoever would
save his life would lose it.
Whoever loses his life for mysake will save it.
Friends, as we're called to bethose that lose our life,
meaning this life that we chaseafter because he will give us a
much better life, not just forhere, but also for eternity,
(37:23):
where we walk with him forever.
Lord, we pray over this messagetoday, lord, that you would use
it to spark hearts towards you,whether you use it for your
glory, that we would be thosewho walk full of your presence
and full of your peace.
We pray in Jesus' name.
Friends, today there's anopportunity for you.
Maybe you're here and you'veyet to make a decision to follow
(37:44):
Jesus.
Today's your opportunity to doso.
It's your opportunity to sayyes to him.
You have to answer thatquestion of have you embraced
Jesus?
And maybe you're here and youhave made the decision in the
past, but you have not beenliving it and you need to make a
recommitment to him.
Today's your opportunity.
It's not too late.
(38:05):
There's nothing that you'vedone that could separate you
from the love of Christ.
He loves you so very much.
You know, we talked about itlast week with Good Friday and
Easter, about the greatsacrifice of Jesus for us.
We were reminded of it as wetook communion together, of his
sacrifices, his body which wasbroken for us, the blood that
(38:25):
was shed for us.
Jesus, he was holy, the onlyholy sacrifice.
See, there's nothing we can doto earn the grace of God, and so
whenever we think of the cross,the cross is one of
transformation.
It's one where we see that allof our pain and all of our
suffering was taken care of.
And as we look at the cross, westart to see where Jesus.
(38:46):
He took all of my pain and allof my suffering.
He took it to the cross and hepaid for it once and for all.
He did the same for you becausehe loves you so very much.
He values you so very much thatyou would have an active
relationship with him.
Today, you know, for each one ofus, we hear the challenge
(39:07):
that's there and we have torespond.
It says by faith.
We say, jesus, I believe youare who you say you are.
I invite you into my heart andlife.
I want to start a newrelationship with you.
The apostle Paul.
He writes to the church at Rome.
He says it like this becauseyou've confessed with your mouth
that Jesus is Lord, and believein your heart that God raised
him from the dead, you will besaved.
(39:29):
For with the heart one believesand is justified.
With the mouth, one confessesand is saved.
Friends, today is your day.
It's your opportunity to sayyes to Jesus.
I'm gonna ask everyone that'shere in the room if you'd stand
to your feet and bow your headsright where you're at.
If you're online listening tous.
Prepare your heart for whateverGod wants to do in you.
(39:51):
Just take a few momentswherever you are.
Friends, if that's you, as headsare bowed here, christians are
praying for you.
Friends, if that's you, youneed to make it a commitment to
Jesus today.
Maybe it's for the first time,maybe it's a recommitment to him
(40:13):
.
It's a decision for Christ.
If that's you, if you justraise your hand right where
you're at and say, pastor,that's me, I just want to be
included in this prayer today.
I want to have this life that'safter Jesus, to invite him into
my heart and life.
Thank you, lord.
Thank you, lord as peoplemaking decisions.
Thank you, God.
Thank you, lord.
Friends online as well, makingdecisions, decisions.
Thank you, jesus.
(40:34):
I'm going to ask if you wouldjust pray this prayer out loud
after me.
Lord, thank you for loving me.
Thank you for sending Jesus.
I believe Jesus died on thecross for my sins.
I believe he rose again.
(40:59):
Forgive me of my sins.
I surrender my life to you.
In Christ's name, I pray Amen,amen.
Friends, we rejoice with youmaking a decision to follow
Jesus today.
What a powerful decision,amazing.
Let me encourage you in thisthat you would let us know about
your decision to follow Jesustoday.
We want to put some materialsinto your hand.
(41:19):
We want you to get baptizedthis next week, as we have
baptism coming.
Make that decision public to goafter Jesus and if you've made
a decision to follow Jesus inrecent weeks.
Let me challenge you in thisthat you would follow him in
baptism, because that's goingpublic with your faith in Christ
being dead to sin, alive in God.
As we open up this altar, wecome back to this last song
(41:40):
today, here, and we do so withintentionality, asking for more
of the Spirit of God, more ofHis presence in our lives, for
the peace of God to rest upon usand our family, for the wisdom
of God to go in front of us, foropen doors and closed doors
that he would be upon us.
And if that's you, if you wantto come forward, we'll pray with
you.
Lord, thank you so much foryour word.
Thank you, lord, how you speakto us and over us.
(42:02):
You challenge us, lord, becauseyou love us so very much.
Lord, you don't leave usdefenseless against the enemy,
but instead you give us yourarmor.
Lord, you put on the stuffthat's made for us, lord, that's
custom, fit to us.
Lord, that you want us to bethose that speak truth and you
want us to be those who have asoft heart towards you.
But, lord, that you protect us.
(42:23):
And, lord, we want to be those,lord, that stand in faith and
quench the attack of the enemy.
Lord, we want to understand oursalvation.
Lord that we belong to you andwe're going to live with the
mind of Christ.
Lord that we would have ourfeet shod with the preparation
of the gospel of peace, shoes ofpeace and where we walk.
Lord, that we would have thepeace of God go in front of us.
Lord that in everything we do,lord, that we would keep the
(42:45):
word of God in our hand and inour heart.
Lord that we would not beseparated from it, but instead
you would use that, lord, as aweapon against the enemy.
Lord, we thank you for allthese things and as we come to
your altar today, lord, we askfor an impartation of your
spirit, more of your presence,more of your peace, your wisdom,
your guidance.
We pray in the name of JesusChrist.
Speaker 2 (43:05):
Amen.
Speaker 1 (43:06):
Hey, let me encourage you in this, that you
participate with us in our campsthis summer.
We have kids camp and youthcamp, the men's fishing trip and
camp.
It's going to be fun and I'lltell you this.
Guys, let me encourage you toget a part of it because Javon
and I had a great time andCeleste I'm good to go she's
envious.
Javon had a great time.
We've been a part of it lastfew years, and some of the guys.
That's the greatest way that wegot connected with them.
(43:28):
We built time hanging out andfishing.
They caught fish.
I still need to catch fish,that's okay.
Come and be a part.
It's amazing.
Speaker 2 (43:37):
Next week we are having water baptisms, and I'm
excited.
It's always one of my favoriteSundays to be at the church.
But if you want to get baptizedin water, please contact the
church this week or you can goon the app or the website and
sign up.
We're going to do it in bothservices, but we want to
celebrate with you and rejoicein all that God is doing in your
life.
Speaker 1 (43:54):
Amen.
Before we go, I want to praythis blessing over us.
The Lord bless you and keep you.
Lord, make his face to shineupon you and be gracious to you.
Lord, lift up his countenanceupon you and give you peace.
(44:16):
Lord, I pray a blessing uponyour church, your people.
Lord, you empower us by yourspirit to live your love out to
those around us.
We pray all this in thepowerful name that is Jesus
Christ.
Amen, amen.
Know this.
We love you very much here atCornerstone.
God bless you and have a greatweek.
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