.
Good morning, ladies and gentlemen.
Welcome to our services here at
Faith Ward Baptist Church.
So nice to see you all here on
this Sunday morning.
If you don't please find your seats now
and grab a hymnal.
Go to hymn 223.
We'll begin this morning.
Hymn 223.
223 is
Springs of Living Water.
Hymn 223.
223.
Once you find your place, we'll lift it up together.
Right on that first, I thirsted
in the barren land of sin and shame.
Hymn 223.
Sing it out together now.
I thirsted in the
barren land of sin and shame
and nothing satisfying
there I come.
But to the
blessing cross of Christ
one day I came.
The living water did
abound.
Drinking at the springs of living
water.
Happy now am I.
My soul is satisfied.
Drinking at the springs of
living water.
Oh, wonderful and bountiful
supply.
How sweet the living
water from the hills of
God. It makes me
glad and happy all the way.
Now glory,
grace and blessing are the
path I've trod.
I'm shouting hallelujah
every day.
Drinking at the springs of
living water.
Happy now am I.
My soul is satisfied.
Drinking at the springs
of living water.
Wonderful and bountiful
supply.
Oh, singer, won't you
come today to Calvary?
A fountain there
is flowing deep and wide.
The Savior
now invites you to the water
free. Where
Thursday spirits can be satisfied.
Drinking
at the springs of living
water.
Happy now am I.
My soul is satisfied.
Drinking at the springs of
living water.
Oh, wonderful and
bountiful supply.
Hymn number 294.
Stepping in the light.
Hymn number 294.
Lift it up on that first verse.
Trying to walk in the steps of the Savior.
Hymn number 294.
Sing it out together now.
Trying to
walk in the steps of
the Savior.
Trying to follow
our Savior and King.
Shaving our lives by his
blessing.
How happy the songs
that we bring.
How beautiful
to walk in the steps
of the Savior.
Stepping in the light.
How beautiful to walk
in the steps of the Savior.
Let it pass
the flight.
Pressing more
closely to him who
is leading when we
are tempted to turn
from the way.
Trusting the arm that is
strong to defend us.
Happy, how happy
our praise is each day.
How beautiful
to walk in the steps
of the Savior.
Stepping in the light.
How beautiful to walk
in the steps of the Savior.
Let it pass
the flight.
Walking
in footsteps of
gentle forbearance.
Footsteps of faithfulness,
mercy, and love.
Looking to him for
the grace freely promised.
Happy, how happy
our journey above.
How beautiful
to walk in
the steps of the Savior.
Stepping in the light.
How beautiful
to walk in the steps
of the Savior.
Let it pass
the flight.
Trying to walk
in the steps of the Savior.
Upwards,
the love word will follow
our guide.
When we shall see him,
the King in his beauty.
Happy, how happy
our journey above.
How beautiful
to walk in the steps
of the Savior.
Stepping in the light.
How beautiful
to walk in the steps
of the Savior.
Let it pass
the flight.
All right, this time
we'll go through our announcements together.
If you don't have a bulletin, slip up your hand
and start with one.
On the inside we have our service time.
Sunday mornings at 1030 is our preaching service.
Sunday nights at 6.
Wednesday nights at 7 is our Bible study.
This week we will be in 2 Chronicles chapter 13.
We've got the so many times listed there below
as well as salvation and baptisms.
Across the page
is the note about how
we finished knocking every door
in Greenlee County
in Arizona.
Also, we knocked every door on the Hopi Reservation
If anyone participated in
either of those two things,
so if you either went soul winning on the Hopi Reservation
or soul winning in
Greenlee County, then
there is a special lunch
for you next Sunday
at 1 p.m.
Please sign up if you're planning on attending
just so that we'll know how many people to prepare for.
And then below that
of course we've got some people
soul winning in Nigeria.
We don't have the details on that yet,
so stay tuned, keep praying for them.
And we'll let you know how that turned out.
And then thank you of course
to everyone who participated in the Fiji
Mission Strip from our church.
We had 23 soul winners out there
that had a total of
750 salvations over the course
of a few weeks.
It was extremely receptive over there.
And so, great job everybody who participated
in that.
And then below that, and then there was also
a group of 20 some people
came from the
church in Australia there with Pastor
Sepulveda, and so all told
all the different groups that were there
and everything, it was a couple thousand
people saved. And so it was pretty
exciting. Below that
we've got the note about the soul
winning trip up to the Navajo
Reservation and also
including a visit to Grand Canyon National
Park. That's coming up this weekend,
this Friday and Saturday.
So the details for that and the
link is right here to my right.
If you have any questions let me know.
On the back we've got the schedule
for the mega conference.
So we've got a whole bunch of guest
pastors coming in and preaching
from July 14th to August 7th.
And if you have perfect attendance
there will be a prize for that.
I will be preaching
next Friday, not this Friday, but next
Friday, July 5th at
Stronghold Baptist Church in
Greenville, South Carolina.
There's a new church out there.
And the grand opening of that new church is
Sunday, July 7th. But I'll be
preaching on Friday, July 5th.
And there will be a big soul winning marathon on the 6th.
And so if you know anybody in that area
be sure to let them know about that.
Other upcoming events, another
small town soul winning trip.
And then also we're going to have a church roller
skating night on August
the 15th. This is where we rent out the
roller skating rink just for our church.
So it's a little ways out, but stick it
under August 15th.
And that's about it for announcements.
Let's sing our next song. Come lead us.
Alright, you should find the insert in front of your hymnal
with Psalm 15. If you don't have an
insert, you can raise your hand and you'll
receive one. Psalm 15.
Who shall
dwell in
thy holy hill?
Lord, who
shall abide in
thy tabernacle?
Who
shall dwell in
thy holy hill?
He that
walk in love
brightly and work
in righteousness
and speak
in the truth
in his heart.
He that walk in love
brightly and work
in righteousness
and speak
in the truth
in his heart.
He that
bide in love
with his son.
Lord, do
with evil to
his neighbor.
For taketh the fun
reproach against
his neighbor.
He that
bide in love
with his son.
In whose eyes
a vile person
is content.
But he onereth
them that fear
the Lord.
In whose eyes
a vile person
is content.
But he onereth
them that fear
the Lord.
He that swear it to
his own hurt and
change it not.
He that put it not
out his
money to his
grief. He that swear it
to his own hurt and
change it not.
He that put it
not out his
money to his
grief. For taketh
reborn
against the
innocent. He that do
with these things
shall never be
blue. For taketh
reborn
against the
innocent. He that do
with these things
shall never be
blue. For
who shall abide
in thy
tabernacle?
Who
shall dwell
in thy
holy
hell?
This is hymn number 248.
We'll sing it out. On that first
Jesus my Lord will love me forever.
Hymn number 248.
Jesus my Lord
will love
me forever
from
with no power
of evil
can sever.
He gave his life to
ransom my soul.
Now I
belong to him.
Now
I belong to
Jesus.
Jesus
belongs to me.
Not
for the years
of time alone
but
for eternity.
Once
I was
lost in sins
degradation.
Jesus came down
to bring me
salvation.
It picked me up from
sorrow and shame.
Now I
belong to him.
Now
I belong to
Jesus.
Jesus
belongs to me.
Not
for the years
of time alone
but
for eternity.
Joy
floods my soul
for Jesus has
saved me. Free
me from sin that
long had enslaved me.
His precious
blood he came to
redeem. Now
I belong to
him.
Now I belong
to Jesus.
Jesus
belongs to me.
Not
for the years
of time
alone
but for
eternity.
Let's
turn our Bibles to Ephesians
chapter 6.
Ephesians
chapter number 6.
As we always
do we'll read the entire chapter beginning
of verse number 1. Follow along silently
with brother Nick as he reads Ephesians
chapter 6 beginning of verse number 1.
Ephesians
chapter 6.
Children obey
your parents in the Lord for this is right.
Honor thy father and mother
which is the first commandment with
promise that it may be well with thee
and thou mayest live long on the
earth. And ye fathers
provoke not your children to wrath
but bring them up in the nurture and
admonition of the Lord. Servants
be obedient to them that are your masters
according to the flesh with fear
and trembling in singleness of your heart
as unto Christ.
Not with eye service as men pleasers
but as the servants of Christ doing
the will of God from the heart.
With good will doing service as
to the Lord and not to men.
Knowing that whatsoever good thing
any man doeth the same shall he receive
of the Lord whether he be bond or
free. And ye masters
do the same things unto them
forbearing threatening knowing that your master
also is in heaven. Neither is
their respective persons with him.
Finally my brethren
be strong in the Lord and in the
power of his might. Put on the
whole armor of God that ye may be able
to stand against the wiles of the devil
for we wrestle not against flesh
and blood but against principalities
against powers against the rulers
of the darkness of this world
against spiritual wickedness in high places.
Wherefore take
unto you the whole armor of God that ye may be
able to withstand in the evil day
and having done all to stand.
Stand therefore having your loins girt
about with truth and having on the breast
plate of righteousness and your feet
shod with the preparation of the gospel
of peace. Above all taking the
shield of faith wherewith ye shall be
able to quench all the fiery darts of the
wicked and take the helmet of salvation
and the sword of the spirit which is the
word of God. Praying always
with all prayer and supplication in the spirit
and watching there unto with all perseverance
and supplication for all saints
and for me that utterance
may be given unto me that I may open
my mouth boldly to make known the mystery
of the gospel for which
I am an ambassador in bonds
that therein I may speak boldly
as I ought to speak. But that ye
also may know my affairs and how I do
take a kiss a beloved brother
and faithful minister in the Lord shall make
known to you all things
whom I have sent unto you for the same
purpose that ye might
know our affairs and that ye might
comfort your hearts. Peace
be to the brethren and love with
faith from God the Father and
the Lord Jesus Christ.
Grace be with all them that love
our Lord Jesus Christ in
sincerity. Amen.
Amen.
Ephesians chapter six we have
this familiar passage about
the whole armor of God
beginning in verse number ten and just
to put this in the greater context of the
book of Ephesians if you remember
we talked about recently how
the book of Ephesians you can really divide
it in half. The first three chapters
are really just talking about
all the blessings that we enjoy
being saved Christians
a lot of assurances are given to the
Gentiles that they are now
accepted in the beloved
they are now the chosen people of God
they are no longer strangers
and foreigners but they are fellow
citizens of the commonwealth
of Israel of the household of faith
and so we have the first three chapters
sort of just giving all those spiritual blessings
about how our salvation is by
grace through faith and
all the things that Christ has done for us
our salvation is just a done deal
but then in chapters four
through six there is a lot more
practical instruction and
practical application
chapter four talks a lot about
having unity in the local church
and just a lot of just
things that we shouldn't be doing
or should be doing about
you know not being drunk as we
get into chapter five about not
stealing in chapter four not
letting filthy communication come out of
our mouth and you know just so many
practical applications
in chapter five we have the passage
about husbands and wives
and how they're to interact within marriage
chapter six is
as we just read telling children
to obey their parents, servants
to obey their masters so after
all of this really just
practical advice about
how to act within the church
how to act within the family
how to act in business and in
life in general he closes
things out in verse ten by saying
finally my brethren
so this is sort of just a conclusion
to the whole thing finally my
brethren be strong in the Lord
and in the power of his might put on the
whole armor of God that
you may be able to stand against the
wiles of the devil for we wrestle
not against flesh and blood but against principalities
against powers
against the rulers of the
darkness of this world
against spiritual wickedness
in high places
and so what you have to understand is that
as we read the advice given
in chapters four, five and six
it seems really straight forward
and maybe
you can even be tempted to look at it
and say well this is going to be easy
simple
piece of cake right? I mean
husbands love your wives and
everything's going to be great
wives submit to your husbands and everything's going to be great
children obey your parents
everything will be great hey as long as you're not
lying and stealing and doing these things
you know life's going to be great but here's the thing
about that is that
it isn't that easy
it isn't that simple because as soon as you
start actually following
the admonitions of scripture and
putting chapter four into practice
and putting chapter five into practice
and putting chapter six into practice
guess what? There's an enemy out there
trying to stop you from
living right trying to stop
you from serving God and to stop
you from having the blessings
that God wants for you and so it's
not just as simple as oh
do the right things and everything's going to be great
no because when you do the right things
there is still an
organized concerted attack
against you that you're going to have to be able to withstand
you know I remember
talking to a young man and
uh well we were having a conversation
about marriage and it was
it was several guys that were married
that were having this conversation and then
this young single guy just said
well you know I don't understand what's the big deal
what's so hard about it it's just husbands love
your wives I mean you know
and this guy then got
married less than a year later
and his marriage lasted about three months
literally you know
but he was just so confident
just husbands love your wives
what's the big deal what's so hard
what's the big deal well you'll find out buddy
when you actually get married
you know you'll find out
what the big deal is when you actually
try having children
running a business doing
whatever you do in life
life ends up
not being as straightforward
and simple as just oh do the
right things and everything's going to be great
no you do the right things and everything's
going great everything's going smooth
but then the devil comes along and throws a
monkey wrench in what you're trying to do
right you're pastoring a church
or you're a member in a church and you're trying
to evangelize the community and what
happens you know the devil comes in
and tries to throw a monkey wrench
into things and
so that's why it's not enough to
just know don't
sin be a good husband
be a good wife be a good parent be a
good child that ends up not being
enough we need to
be ready to stand
in the evil day as
well because
every day is not just going to be a normal
day get up do all the right things
be blessed and go to bed at night
if only it were that simple
it'd be wonderful but it isn't
that's why we've got to be
strong in the lord and in
the power of his might because if
we are spiritually weak then
when the evil day comes we
will fold like a deck of cards
right and we
will not be able to stand up for
what's right so we've got to be strong in the lord
and in the power of
his might and it says
put on the whole
armor of god now when the
bible talks about the armor of
god right what kind
of an of are we talking about
here we're talking an of like
source of right
this armor comes from god
this is the armor that is provided
by god and this goes in
line with the idea of being strong in the
lord and in the power of his
might it's not just our
own innate character
or strength or
fortitude or goodness or whatever
it's going to have to be
from god that we have the power
to get through the wiles
of the devil and the attacks that satan
will bring and
so it says put on the whole armor of god
that you may be able to stand
against the wiles of
the devil right the devil
and his wiles
wiles would be like deceits
tricks traps
different things that he has
concocted for us his
machinations it says
for we wrestle not against
flesh and blood but
against principalities and
powers you know it would be simpler
if it was just a human
physical enemy we could identify
and just hey stay away from that guy
or whatever it's
not as simple as just a physical
enemy that's just easily
unifyable you know we're
wearing one uniform and he's wearing
a different color uniform and so
we know he's the bad guy no
the devil is transformed
into an angel of light
the devil will come in and deceive
you seeming to be
good trying to seem to
be righteous and so we
have to be able to stand against the wiles
of the devil because we wrestle
not against flesh and blood
but against something more difficult
against something more insidious
principalities
and powers
against the rulers of the darkness of this
world against spiritual wickedness
and high places you know those
three phrases together
principalities and powers
the rulers of the darkness of this world
spiritual wickedness and high
places you know when you put this together what you
get is an organized
attack
against God's people not
just random
you know the devil just kind of throwing something
at you out of nowhere but rather
that there is a systemic
organized orchestrated
attack in this
world not just against one individual
Christian but rather
just against Christians in general there's a system
in place that is there
to try to trip you up
and so this is a very formidable
foe this is a really
sophisticated opponent that we're
dealing with here that is coming at
us it's not just a flesh and blood
opponent it's principalities
it's powers against
rulers of the darkness of this
world now what does that even mean
principalities and powers
well powers in this
context are talking about authorities
right the powers that be
right principalities
are again talking about
rulers talking about
uh you know organizations
and powerful
people the rulers of the
darkness of this world and so forth
right so when we think about principalities
and powers we can think about
governments we can think about
corporations right
we can think about religious
denominations you know
powerful organizations
is what we're talking about with
rulers and leaders and people
in charge that are
steering the darkness
of this world and of course
ultimately this is demonic right
satan is at the top of this
evil pyramid
and you've got his minions
spiritually his demonic minions
and then also the human beings
that are working for him
you know there are entire corporations
and businesses and governments
that are out to subvert
right living I mean what
did the apostle Paul just finish telling us
how a marriage is supposed to be
you know with the wife submitting to her husband
with the husband loving his wife
with children obeying their parents
but are there not
entire corporations
and media outlets whose
goal is just to subvert those
values and destroy that
system of the family and so
here we are we're trying to have a biblical family
and we've got this evil
orchestrated attack on the family
trying to get in there and twist
our minds and teach us
all these weird alternative lifestyles
and try to make the Bible look
stupid or try to make God's way look
wrong or stupid or abusive
or whatever right because
the devil hates
God's people and he doesn't
want us to just be able to just go through our lives
living a quiet and peaceable life
and all godliness and honesty
and just evangelizing the lost
he's not just going to let that happen
without a fight he's there
as an adversary
and so that's what the Bible's talking about
when it says principalities
powers rulers of the darkness of this world
it's not just necessarily governments
it could also be
corporations it's also
religious denominations because
keep in mind those are very powerful
entities in the world in which we live
right it's not just the United
States government that has power
it's banks that have power
it's religious denominations that have power
the Roman Catholic Church has power right
these other various
denominations and religions of
East Orthodox and whatever they
have power and
they're wicked they're ungodly
and they're out to destroy
that which is righteous
and so because of this
verse 13 wherefore he says
take unto you the whole armor of
God that you may be able to
withstand in the evil day and having
done all to stand now
when the Bible says here the evil day
I
don't believe that this is primarily
talking about a
specific end times
evil day
in the future or something
like that that you know one generation
is gonna grapple with I think that when
he says uh that you may be able to
withstand in the evil day this evil day
can come at various
points in anyone's
life right just your evil
day right the evil day
is just that day in
which you are under serious
attack and when you are
struggling to you know
keep your head above water spiritually
that's what the Bible is talking about when it says
that you may be able to withstand in the evil day
and having done all to stand
stand therefore now
obviously it jumps out at you just
how many times the word stand
is repeated we were told to stand in
verse 11 in verse 13 it's
withstand stand and
then verse 14 stand so just four times
in a row just stand stand
stand stand and you see
the idea here is
not necessarily that
we are to uh be
as Christians going
and taking over these institutions
and we're gonna defeat the
US government and we're gonna defeat
you know uh the YouTube
and we're gonna defeat Amazon
and we're gonna defeat
you know the Roman Catholic Church
we're gonna defeat the Mormon Church
cause you wanna talk about a demonic
principality in power
it's the latter day Satan Church based in
Salt Lake City, Utah
but you know what the Bible is not telling us
is hey you know
you're gonna go in there and you're gonna overthrow
these institutions folks these
institutions have existed before
we were born and they will always exist right
the devil is gonna have all of
his wicked institutions and powers
and we're not going to be able to
overthrow these things it's not our job
to overthrow these things
and in reality if you stop and think about it
Christ has already
gotten the victory over all of these
institutions he's already won the
battle the battles already been fought and won
keep your finger here and go to the parallel
passage in Colossians
Colossians is a
book that's parallel with Ephesians
most things in Ephesians you'll find
the same stuff taught in Colossians
worded just a little bit differently
but over in Colossians
chapter number 3
or I'm sorry chapter number 2
it says in verse
14 of
Colossians 2 blotting out
the handwriting of ordinances
that was against us which was contrary
to us and took it
out of the way nailing it
to his cross
and having spoiled
principalities and powers
notice the same wording here
having spoiled principalities and powers
he made a show of them
openly triumphing
over them in it and so
you know Christ conquered
at the cross right
Christ's death burial and
resurrection was a
conquering of all of these spiritual
enemies conquering of Satan
conquering of his kingdom
and so in reality
you know the devil and his minions
are already defeated they're already
beaten okay it's sort of like
you read about history
where there will be a decisive battle
where at that point
it's obvious who the winner of the war
is the other side just can't
win anymore
and so that's kind of like when
most of us will kind of think of
as when that war ended but then
the war doesn't officially end sometimes
for a few more months or even a few more years
or something you know like I'm a little
rusty on my American history it's
been a long time but you know I want to say
there was a major battle in 1781
at Yorktown that just kind of
finished the American Revolution
and then in 1783
though is when it was like officially
the war's not over officially till
1783 can I get a witness
alright good
one person says that I'm accurate
it's been years but that seems
vaguely familiar to me
you know you think about other
major battles in history obviously
where there will be a decisive battle
you know
the other side's beaten
but maybe it takes a few months for there to be
a surrender for there to be a treaty
for it to be officially over
you know the decisive
victory is Christ
death, burial and resurrection
it's over for the devil at that point you know what I mean
he's defeated
he knoweth that he hath a little time
you know obviously that's going to be more
literally true in the end times
but the point is that the
devil and his minions are defeated
it's not our job to feel like
we have to go out there
and just eradicate evil
from this world it's a fool's errand
it's never going to happen
you know let's say we were to just completely put the Mormon
church out of business we'd love to do that
some other weird cult would just
bring up somewhere else
you know because this is just the way the
world works this is the way the world's supposed to work
and so God
has allowed that the wheat and the
tares would both grow together at the same time
until the end of the world
that's what the bible says
and so the devil and his minions have already been
defeated but what we need
to do is just stand our ground
is what we need to do
you know Christ has already
purchased the church in his own blood
he's already given us
all the things that we need
to live the godly Christian
effective life
and we've already got everything we need
but we've got to stand our ground
and not give ground to Satan
we need to stand we need to
withstand so in many ways
it's a defensive battle
which is why it's the whole armor
of God and it's focusing
on defensive armor obviously there's a sword
involved but in general it's mainly
a defensive
armor because of the fact that the
battle's really already been won and we just
need to stand our ground as Christians
and not give ground to Satan
and you know what specifically
let's not give ground let's get this
in context why don't we not give
ground when it comes to
one lord one faith one baptism
of Ephesians chapter 4
why don't we not give ground
when it comes to the roles of
men and women in marriage in Ephesians
chapter 5 why don't we not
give ground when it comes to children
honoring their father and mother
you know those are the things the devil wants to
attack and those are the things on which
we should not give any ground
should stand
and withstand in the
evil day stand therefore
and then he talks about
what the whole armor of God consists
of that's going to allow
us to stand in the evil day
it says stand therefore verse 14
having your loins
gird about with truth
and having on the breastplate
of righteousness
and your feet shod with the preparation
of the gospel of peace
above all taking the shield of faith
wherewith ye shall be able to quench all the
fiery darts of the wicked and take the helmet
of salvation and the sword of the
spirit which is
the word of God now when you think
about the devil's attack
on us
we're not ignorant of his devices
he starts out at the very
beginning of the Bible questioning
God's word right
yea hath God said
ye shall not eat of every tree
of the garden and so
as we're going about our Christian lives
and trying to put into practice
what we've learned in chapter 4
chapter 5 and chapter 6
about just how to live the Christian life
the devil's going to come at us
and try to get us to doubt
what we're doing and try to get us
to doubt the wisdom
of the way of life that God
has given us right he'll try to show us
some other way to live our lives
that's supposedly better or
try to get us to doubt
that God's way is going to work
or that the Bible really means what it says
he'll try to twist it into meaning
something totally different and so
if you think about most of these pieces
of armor what they end up
doing is giving us assurance
that we
are in the right place
we are doing what God
wants us to do we do believe
what's right and so
it gives us the assurance when the devil's
coming at us trying to get us to doubt
trying to get us to
you know reject the teachings of God's
word or to live our life according to the way
of this world you know we've got
to be firm on these things and strong on these
things and the first piece
of armor here is having
loins go about with truth you know
understanding that
God's word is
the ultimate truth
we have the truth
and we should be people who care about truth
and hate lies
and so if we care about truth
and we hate lies and we know that Jesus
Christ said thy word
is truth
you know this should help us to stand
in the evil day when it seems like
maybe uh things are falling
apart for us when it seems like
uh our life isn't working
out the way that it was supposed to
even though we we followed God's word
and things aren't going well you know
and then we wonder hey am I
all wrong here
you know maybe maybe these
worldly people are right
maybe these corporations are right maybe
the media is right maybe Hollywood's right
maybe these other denominations
are right and you know you start to
doubt but you've
got to stop and say what
is the truth
according to God's word
right that is going to be the thing
that keeps you
cinched down and tightened up
on the truth it's got to be
you know first of all I love
truth I care about truth
and the word of God is truth
you know that's going to keep us standing
when maybe our life sometimes
isn't going the way that we expected to go
I mean look at a guy like Job
you know Job's doing all the right things
the devil attacks Job
and you know he could be tempted to say
maybe I'm not living my life the right way
maybe following the Lord
is not the right path
maybe I should be listening to these other
worldly people or these other pagans
or something but of course he didn't do that
he kept his integrity
he stayed with the Lord we've got to
have our loins girt about with truth
truth matters we should be
lovers of truth and that
means that when someone shows
us facts we should
accept those facts and not just
deny reality
and even amongst
independent fundamental Baptists you'll get
this kind of reality denial sometimes
when they just see something that goes
in the face of what they believe
they just kind of stick their head in the sand
and whenever I see that mentality I just say to myself
this is not a lover of truth
and you know I wonder if
this person is going to be able to stand in the evil
day when they're one who
ignores truth
you know look when I go soul winning
and I show someone something point
blank from the word of God you know I expect them
to believe it
if they used to believe that it was by works and I'm
showing them that it's by faith I expect them
to change what they believe
because of what the Bible says you know
but then a lot of Christians are hypocrites
because then they'll be shown
clear scripture
point blank from the word of God that's obvious
and then they just don't want to accept it
they just don't want to accept facts
they don't want to accept truth
you know we need to be lovers of truth we need to be willing to
embrace the facts
wherever they lead
even if we don't like where the facts lead
or where the truth leads
you know we should be lovers of truth
one of these reality deniers
a few years ago said
you know we don't walk by facts
we walk by faith
it was like the stupidest quote of the year
maybe even the stupidest quote of the
century
we don't walk by facts
we walk by faith
you know faith should be based in
oh here's another word for facts
truth
faith should be based in truth
oh you're just such a great person of faith
because you have so much faith in lies
I really admire you
I really admire the fact that you have so much
faith in fairy tales
and fables and made up things that aren't true
no my friend
the only thing worthy
about faith is when your faith is in truth
truth
so you got to have your loins girt about with truth
how are you going to stand in the evil day
when your basis isn't truth
truth needs to be your basis
and you know what
young people growing up in these churches
that are just kind of like
a church that just kind of says
shut up and believe it because I said so
but they don't really give like truth
or facts or basis
you know eventually when the evil day comes for those young people
they're not going to be able to stand
with their loins girt about with truth
because they're going to realize that some of the stuff they're taught
wasn't even true
we need to make sure
that the stuff we're teaching is based in truth
so we can withstand the evil day
because then no matter what happens
no matter what the onslaught
we can say you know what
hey I know what the Bible says
I know what the truth is
and I am one who loves
and believes and stands on truth
and so whatever the devil
throws at me I'm standing on truth
I got my loins girt about with truth
you know
sometimes you could maybe
try to think about like which article of clothing
you know goes with which
attribute and you know it's
maybe questionable whether
these things are connected but
but hey you know if you're not girt about
with truth you're going to get caught with your pants
down spiritually
right because the belt or the
girdle is what basically holds your pants
up keep you from being
ashamed because
you're not standing on truth
and so we got to have our loins
girt about with truth and we got to have on
the breastplate
of righteousness the breastplate
of righteousness now there are
some other scriptures that talk about this
breastplate of righteousness
or that kind of deal with this
same idea go if you go to 2 Corinthians
chapter 6 2 Corinthians
chapter number 6
of course
the Apostle Paul
is ultimately
quoting from
Isaiah chapter 59
in Isaiah chapter 59 verse
17 uh talking
about Jesus Christ it says
that he put on righteousness
as a breastplate
and um a helmet
of salvation upon his head
and he put on the garments of vengeance for clothing
and was clad with
a girdle as a cloak so you
have this reference to
the helmet of salvation the breastplate
of righteousness back in Isaiah
and this is something that the Apostle Paul
uses repeatedly obviously
Ephesians 6 is the big famous armor
of God passage but he talks about
the armor of God in his other epistles actually
as well and one of these
uh places where this is touched upon
is in 2 Corinthians chapter 6
beginning in verse 3 it says
giving no offense in anything
the ministry be not blamed
but in all things approving
ourselves as the ministers of God
in much patience
in afflictions in necessities
in distresses
in stripes in imprisonment
in tumults in
labors in watchings
in fastings and so he's talking about
as a minister of God he's going through all
these trials and tribulations and difficult
things but then
he talks about beginning
in verse number 6 you know
how is he getting through these
things how is he living his life
how is he enduring these
afflictions he's doing it by
pureness
by knowledge
by long suffering
by kindness by
the Holy Ghost by love unfeigned
this is how he gets through
these difficulties
of the Christian life right using
pureness using knowledge
and so on
and then it says in verse 7
by the word of truth
by the power of God
and then it says by the armor
of righteousness
on the right hand and on
the left so we have this idea of the
armor of righteousness which ties in with the
breastplate of righteousness
uh by honor and dishonor
by evil report and good report
as deceivers and yet true
he's saying look we're telling the truth but we're being treated
as deceivers you know our people
think of us as deceivers uh
we're as unknown and yet well known
right uh
as dying and behold we live as chastened
and not killed as sorrowful
yet always rejoicing as poor
yet making many rich as having nothing
and yet possessing all things
and so the reason that I point out
this passage is because there's kind of
a question when the Bible talks about
the armor of the
breastplate of righteousness some
people question you know is this
the imputed righteousness of
Jesus Christ that we have as
believers because we believe in Christ
Christ's righteousness imputed unto us
or is this talking about
righteousness as in
doing the right things
you know and I would lean toward
the latter that it's talking about
righteousness as in doing
right you know the Bible is talking
about here how the Apostle Paul
is getting through these hardships
in the Christian life by pureness
knowledge, long suffering
kindness these are things that
he needs to exercise
as a Christian in order to make it through
these hard times
by the word of truth he's got to be in the Bible
by the power of God he's got to be
filled with the Holy Spirit and have the power of Christ
upon him by the armor of
righteousness on the right hand and on the left
you know we've got to
do the right
things if we want to
succeed in the Christian life right
sounds simple but it's true
look at 1 Thessalonians
chapter 5 here's another
allusion to the breastplate
this time the breastplate of
faith and love but another reference
to the armor of God 1 Thessalonians
chapter 5 verse 6
says therefore let us not sleep
as do others but let us watch and be sober
for they that sleep sleep in the night
and they that be drunken are drunken
in the night but let us who are of the day
be sober putting on the breastplate
of faith and love and for
an helmet the hope of salvation
for God hath not
appointed us to wrath
but to obtain salvation by our Lord
Jesus Christ who died
for us that whether we
wake or sleep we should live together
with him wherefore comfort yourselves together
and edify one another even
as also you do so here instead of the breastplate
of righteousness we have the breastplate of
faith and love okay
and so obviously yes
faith is what it takes to be saved
to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ
to believe Jesus is the son of God that he died
for our sins etc but we also go
through life with
faith in God's word about
other areas of life right if we're gonna
you know live the right way we need to trust
everything that God
tells us in the Bible about
how to live our lives like we said
about how to live in the
church about how to have a marriage
about how to raise our children
and how to deal with our parents and so
forth and so we've got to trust those
things and we've got to have love
love worketh no ill to his
neighbor love is the fulfilling of
the law love is doing
right ultimately because love leads
us to do the right things go if you would
to Romans chapter 13 this is the last
place we'll look at uh to kind of
like check out other parts
of Paul's writings
to figure out what he's talking about here with the armor
of God first Thessalon
sorry Romans chapter 13
verse 12 says this the night is
first spent the day is at hand
let us therefore cast off the
works of darkness
and let us put on
the armor of light so again you see here
that putting on the whole
armor of God has to do with
living right and that's why I think that the breastplate
of righteousness has to do
with living a righteous life
as far as actually like living
a life of Christian virtue is what the
Bible is saying it says
let us walk honestly
so he says put on the armor of light
and he's going to expound on that let us
walk honestly as in the day
not in rioting and
drunkenness not in
chambering and wantonness not in
strife and envy but put ye on
the Lord Jesus Christ and make
not provision for the flesh to fulfill the lusts
thereof so let's go back to Ephesians chapter
6 with that in mind
the Bible says in verse 14
have your loins girt about with truth
you got to make sure you're standing on truth
you got to make sure that you're a lover and
believer of truth that you're not one who just
loves to deny reality
and just embrace convenient untruths
but also have on the breastplate
of righteousness
you know if you're going to withstand in the evil
day you've got to know what the truth
is and be willing
to die for the truth but not only
that you've also got to be one
who puts the truth into practice in your life
you know it's not enough
to withstand in the evil day
to know what the Bible says
in Ephesians 4, 5 and 6
to understand what a marriage is supposed
to be like to understand what children
are supposed to be like no no you got to
do those things right
to withstand in the evil day you've
got to be believing those things
relying on those things and doing them
you got to be a doer of the word
if you want to withstand in the evil day
and so you got to have the breastplate
of righteousness and then he says in verse 15
and your feet shod
with the preparation of the
gospel of peace right
so the devil's coming at you
and he's trying to get you to
doubt your way of life
trying to get you to doubt the
Christian way of life trying to get you to
doubt your beliefs
as a fundamental Baptist
and trying to get you to think hey
maybe I should be in one of these liberal
denominations or maybe I should be more like the people
on TV or something or more like
the Hollywood and music industry
types hey maybe I should
you know uh rethink these things
that you know are clearly
laid out in the word of God
so the devil's coming at you with this
how does having your
feet shod with the preparation of the gospel
of peace how does this
protect you
from that type of an onslaught
because if you think about it I mean
having your feet shod with the preparation of the
gospel of peace this is talking about
being ready and able
to evangelize right
because you know how beautiful
are the feet of them that preach the gospel of peace
that bring glad tidings of good things
and so your feet shod with the
preparation
the preparation is that you are ready
you're prepared
to preach the gospel
and by the way
this is one of the reasons why soul winning is so
important obviously
soul winning is important for its own sake
getting out there
and preaching the gospel
to someone getting someone
saved I mean that in and of itself
is an amazing
thing and worth it and something that
we need to be doing just because we love
lost people and we just want to get people
saved obviously soul winning
is an end in and of itself
okay but
another thing that I'm constantly bringing
up to people about why
it's so important to get out there
and go soul winning
door to door and this is a big one for me
is that if you go out
door to door soul winning you will
actually get good
at explaining the gospel
okay and then
when you're in a situation where you
have that loved one that you really care about
that friend that you really care about
that coworker that you really care about and you have the
opportunity to give them the gospel you're not going to be
oh uh uh uh uh uh
you don't know where to turn
you don't have the bible verses
and you know what you're not always going to have a bible with you
you know at the risk of sounding like
that teacher in the 90s who told you
you're not always going to have a calculator with you
and then it turns out you are always going to have a calculator
with you with a smartphone
and I guess yeah everybody's got the bible on
the smartphone
but you know what I don't know about you
I don't want to be fumbling for my smartphone
oh here let me download a bible app real quick
cause I don't even have one
let me figure out how this works you know
trying to shuffle and then oh I don't know where to turn
hey you know what
if I had that primo opportunity to give
the gospel to somebody I want
Romans 3.23 just rolling off my
tongue I want Romans
6.23 rolling off the tongue I want
John 3.16 rolling right off my tongue
I want it to be smooth
I want to be able to easily
and expertly preach
the gospel to someone
and take that opportunity and you know what
that alone should motivate you to get out there
and learn how to go soul winning
even if you don't even
have a burning desire
to get you know random
strangers saved which we ought to
you know I mean God so
loved the world
that he gave his only begotten son you know we should
care about everybody and want to get everybody
saved and just want to get out there
but you know what even if you're just kind of like
eh I don't really care about those people
yeah but there are people that you do care about
so how
good of a job do you think you're going to do
at witnessing to that person
when you haven't witnessed to anyone in
three and a half years
when it's been five years since you've presented
the gospel versus when it's been
five days that you've presented the gospel
who do you think is going to do a better job of giving
the gospel and you know what I know this from
experience because I remember as a teenager
before I'd ever gone door to door soul
winning and I had opportunities
to give people the gospel and
I did a lousy job
I was saved I knew
what the gospel was but I did
a lousy job of presenting
the gospel and
my friends didn't get saved
because I didn't know what I
was I wasn't I wasn't using the Bible
versus I wasn't explaining
things well I just didn't
have the tools
I didn't know what I was doing and I was
real proud of myself that I had witnessed to my
friends but I
you know looking back I did a poor job
and that's why none of them got saved
you know fast forward
to when I turned 17 years old
I start going out door to door
winning souls to Christ now I start
witnessing to my friends now I
start witnessing to people at work and
I'm just getting people saved getting people
saved tons of people getting
relatives saved co-workers
saved friends say why
because I actually learned how to do it
how do you learn
by doing by experience
you know and
you know the
the great thing about a church like ours
is that it's just so easy to get started
because you show up at a soul winning time and you can literally just go
as a silent partner
and you know and if I were you
I would go with a variety of people
you know because obviously
some people in this church are going to be better at soul winning
than others and so I would
go with a variety of people
see a lot of different people
in action see a lot of different styles
see what's out there
learn let them show you the ropes
and then eventually you know
I would encourage you to do the talking but you know
some people will remain a silent partner for several months
and that's okay
you know I would never pressure anyone
to start talking if they
just want to be a silent partner
Pastor Dave Berzins you know he
of course is a pastor
in Atlanta now but back when he first came
to our church he was my silent partner
for like three months
and just week after week he was
just learning and observing
and then finally
I remember the first time he gave the gospel
I remember the first time he did the talking
he literally dropped his Bible
you know the proverbial dropping
of the Bible he was nervous
and but he got somebody
saved you know he
and obviously now not only
is he great at soul winning
I mean he's behind the pulpit preaching whole sermons
you know
but you got to start somewhere
you know and he started out as just being
a silent partner on soul winning but you know
people that have been a silent partner for a really long time
you know I would encourage you
to start doing the talking and start
giving the gospel if for no other
reason than that you will have the preparation
of the gospel of peace
when that opportunity falls
in your lap and it's something that you
really do care about
and so
what does this though have to do
with protecting us against the devils attack
well let me tell you something
my friend the people who don't go
soul winning they're open to
attack from the devil in a lot of ways
because soul winning really
keeps you grounded in
the reality of
the gospel and in the
reality of our Christian faith okay
and people who don't do
any soul winning they can easily lose
touch with this you know when you
see people
getting mixed up into stupid doctrines
regarding salvation like
Calvinism
or just or like repent
of your sins type of goofball
ideas and stuff you know when you see
people going down those paths
these are typically people that are not out soul winning
because these type
of ideas aren't really compatible
with soul winning you know if you're out there
when you're actually out there
in the field in the trenches
living real life actually
pulling people out of the fire
witnessing to people man it keeps you solid
on your salvation doctrine
not only because you're in the
word of God preaching your salvation doctrine
and you're hearing the wrong
objections from them and you're debunking these
wrong objections not only that but you're
also participating
in getting people
saved it makes it very real to you
not just some
theory you know it's sort of like these
these people
that are off in some classroom somewhere
kind of talking about
communism or something and how
communism is really truly wonderful
and it's going to be great and it's going to work out you know
and they're sitting around theorizing you know it's like
it's like Plato or something
you know devising his ideal state
or his ideal republic you know
it's pretty easy when you're just kind of sitting back
in a chair coming up
with your ideal republic
or coming up with your little communist
utopia or something right
but then there are the people that are actually
running countries or
actually dealing with groups of people
in the real world and a lot of these
stupid theories aren't really going to pan out right
you know
there's the guy who's not married
telling you about marriage
and then there's the guy who's actually
been married for decades telling you about
marriage right and it's going to be a little bit different
because of the fact
that stupid ideas
often sound good on paper
but then in
reality they
kind of are shown to be
the falsehoods that
they really are when you actually you know
people are actually doing the work in the field
or like yeah that's not really how it is
you know it's kind of like my dad
was in school
and they were telling my dad that
you know if you get shocked
if you get fried you know from
one arm to the other it'll
kill you because the electricity
will go through your heart and my dad's
like that isn't true because if that
were true my dad would be
dead and I'd be dead
20 times you know
I personally have gotten
shocked with like 110
220 and
277 volts from my right
arm to my left arm
I've gotten all three of those voltages
at least all together
probably 15 to 20 times
personally and yet I'm
still here I'm a walking miracle
no it's just that
it's just that every electrician in the world
knows every who here
isn't are there any electricians here today
okay keep your hand up if you've ever
been shocked from arm to arm
yeah and you're all
alive every
electrician if they do it
long enough is eventually gonna get
electricity from one arm to
the other and get fried and they know
that's not gonna kill you because we've all
done it even at 277
volts I've done it and it was very
painful but it doesn't kill you
again what'll actually kill you is from
your right hand to your left foot
that will kill you because that
does go through your heart or
from your left hand to your right foot
that will kill you but
you know my dad had this guy in school
that this teacher that's saying oh yeah
arm to arm that's gonna kill you
you know he knew that wasn't true but this guy
for this guy is just a theory
he's just looking at pictures of the human body
and he's just thinking about it
from a scientific perspective
right but then there's the guy out there that's going
no man I'm fine you know
you see what I'm saying
and so the point is
that actually being out there
in the field preaching the gospel
to every creature keeps you
no pun intended but it keeps you grounded
you know
in the right
gospel and the right salvation
doctrine and the right doctrines
about evangelism and soul winning
because you know what it's so funny when the
Calvinists act like oh we Calvinists
evangelize and then they bring up some guy from the
1700s that evangelized
it's kind of funny when you have to go back
a few hundred years to find examples
of evangelism going on
you and I both know that Calvinists
aren't constantly knocking our doors
and preaching the gospel to us
or you know Calvinists
aren't walking up to us on college campuses
and trying to win us
to the Lord you know and by the way
all throughout my life I've had a bunch of people
come to my door
or walk up to me in public walk up to me
at the gym I've had people come up to me at the gym
and try to win me to Christ
at the gym who's ever
had somebody at the gym try to win you
to the Lord I've had
multiple times people come
up to me at the gym and give me the gospel
and try to win me to Christ or out
front of the place and you know what I love it
because I'm just like I'm already saved but I'm really
encouraged whenever
people are out evangelizing you know
because I'm talking about true saved Christians
are evangelizing and I've
had people even within the last like two years
I've had like a couple people walk up to me
and try to win me the Lord I guess
I've just seemed like an approachable guy
but I've had a couple people try to win me to Christ
over the last few years and you know
I love that when that happens
because you know it's just like it's so
encouraging that people are out there
witnessing but you know what
it's not the Calvinists
that are out you know they've never
been Presbyterian they just haven't
I'm sorry but they haven't
just the reality is they're
always Baptist or Evangelicals
of some kind hence the name
Evangelical you know
coming up to you and giving
you the gospel you know being
out there soul winning
is going to keep you grounded
in right doctrine and
it's also going to give you
the confidence to know hey
my Christian life is right
what the Bible teaches right
I'm doing it right I need to keep doing what
I'm doing you know what you're
not just going to get de-tethered
and say like man I don't even know
maybe I should just start living like the world
maybe I should just be you know
going down some other path no man
because when you're soul winning it really keeps
you anchored just like
the truth just like the righteousness
the preparation of the gospel
of peace also keeps you anchored in right
belief above all taking the
shield of faith wherewith you shall be
able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked
again faith, faith means believing
believing God's word, trusting God's word
you know the devil's coming at you trying to get
you to doubt the Christian
way of life trying to get you to doubt
his word and the
shield of faith just says no
though he slay me yet will I
trust him I'm going to trust
God's word no matter what I have ultimate
faith in the Bible
take the helmet of salvation
the sword of the spirit which is the
word of God praying always
with all prayer and supplication in the spirit
and watching there unto with all
perseverance and supplication for
all saints and that's really where the discussion
on the armor pretty much ends he
segues into just talking about his prayer
requests and so forth and so
we as Christians we want to have the
complete package the
whole armor of God
look if you think about
armor the whole point of armor
is to cover everything
because whatever is
that exposed portion that's
where the devil's going to go for I mean right
if you're out in battle
whatever is that
exposed area that's where the
enemy's going to aim
right they're not just going to just
stab you in the breastplate they're
looking for that chink in the armor
okay
and so
whatever weak spot
that you have in the
evil day that's what's going
to be exploited
that's what the devil's going to exploit
so if you're kind of one of these reality
denying types that just doesn't really
care what truth is and you're just
kind of like well I just kind of believe whatever my
church says believe whatever my pastor says
whatever I don't really care okay
just tell me what to believe because
I don't really care
you know if you're not a lover
of truth you don't have the whole
package you don't have the whole armor of God
you know
you're not putting
into practice the Christian life
you know you maybe have a lot of
good knowledge and faith and beliefs
but you're not actually a doer of the word
you don't have the whole package
you're not prepared to
give someone the gospel if
we held a gun to your head right now and said present the gospel
you're going to be like
you know you don't have the
shield of faith you're constantly doubting
doubting what
God has told us to do
helmet of salvation
you know here's the thing
obviously if you're saved you're saved
so how do you put on
the helmet of salvation well over
in 1 Thessalonians this is called
for in helmet the hope of salvation
and what that means is
that it's the idea of knowing
that you're saved having
that hope the Bible says that the righteous
has hope in his death
you know oh death where is thy sting
oh grave where is thy victory
you see a lot of Christians
who are truly saved who have believed
on the Lord Jesus Christ they doubt
their salvation I think all
of us have doubted our salvation at one time or another
because we're human you know I know I've
doubted my salvation before we
you know we've all doubted
but at the end of the day
the people who are doubting their
salvation the most are usually the people
that are kind of backslidden
kind of away from church away from
soul winning away from reading their Bible
and they can start to you know
get untethered
from those things even though they are truly
saved they can start to doubt
and look there are people that are saved but they're shaky
on their salvation they're shaky
on their salvation doctrine they're
shaky on the assurance of salvation
you know in order to really have
this piece of armor securely in place
you've got to basically
know that you're saved
and be confident about
why you're saved I know I'm saved I know why
I'm saved I know what it means to be saved
anyway do people have the preparation of the gospel of peace
they got the helmet of salvation
on tight
you know
but you know we've run into people out
soul winning that were saved but they're
they're shaky on it
they're not they're their helmets
rattling all over their head
and you kind of you know obviously
our main goal out soul winning is to get people saved
but sometimes also we just walk up to somebody who's already
saved and we kind of just take that helmet
of salvation we adjust it for them and tighten
the chin strap and
get it on tight and you know that's worth doing as
well that's part
of our ministry as well is
helping give people assurance of their salvation
and helping get people
tightened up on salvation doctrine
and so you know the
helmet of salvation the sword of the spirit
which is the word of God you've got to be reading
the Bible and
praying so look
the bottom line is
when the evil day comes whatever
weakness you have in your armor is
going to be exploited so you want
to make sure that you got the whole deal you
you know you're a lover of truth
you're standing on truth you know the
truth you believe the truth
right you're living a
righteous life in accordance with God's word
obviously no one's perfect but you're putting
into practice the word of God you're following
his teachings you got your feet
shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace
you got that helmet of salvation
you got the shield of faith
you're ready to quench whatever the
devil throws uh things
at you you're quenching those things with
the shield of faith you're reading your
Bible you're praying right if
you're reading your Bible praying
you're standing on truth you're
ready to preach the gospel look if you if you
put these things into practice you will
be able to stand in the evil day
why is it because you're so mighty
no because you're being strong in the Lord
and in the power of his might
and if you will do
these things that you're supposed to do God will do the rest
but if you're one who has
everything I mentioned but you don't
read your Bible
that weakness is going to be exploited someday
you're doing all these things
but you don't pray
that's a weakness that can be exploited
you know you're super faithful
super righteous
doctrinally sound but you don't do any soul
winning you're not able to witness
you know what you're going to become
a victim
of the devil's attack at some point
because he's looking for an opening
and if
you give him an opening he's going to exploit it
and so let's as Christians
make sure that we put on
the whole armor of God and
to realize that look
following the Christian life
and following the principles that we've
been taught in chapters 4
5 and 6 is not
going to be easy
right it seems easy
until you start doing it
and you start getting
attacked
that's where you're going to wish
man I wish I read my Bible
I wish I was ready to preach
all those things are going to suddenly
matter to you when things are going smooth
you don't need these things
the whole armor of God is cumbersome
you know when it's easy
but my friend you better put it on
because you don't know when that evil
day is coming you better be ready for it
Father we thank you so much
for your word
thank you for giving us everything we need
to be fully equipped and armed
to stand in the evil day
Lord help us to withstand
Lord there's an organized
onslaught
of all of the devil's minions
using the media
using businesses, corporations
governments
Lord help us
to be able to
hold onto the ground that you've already
conquered for us at
the cross Lord help us to be able to
withstand and help us to be able
to live that quiet and peaceable life
that you want us to live in all
godliness and honesty and in Jesus name we pray amen
man take your hymnals please hymn number 10
let's go to hymn number 10
near the cross hymn number 10
we'll sing it out together
in that first verse now
Jesus keep me near the cross
hymn number 10 sing it out now
Jesus
keep
me near
the cross
bear a
precious
fountain
bring to
all the
healing
flows from
calvary's
fountain
in
the cross
in the
cross
be my glory
ever
till my
wretched soul
shall find
rest
beyond the
river
near
the cross
a trembling
soul
love and
mercy
have me
bear the
bright and
morning
star
shed its
founding
in
the cross
in the
cross
be my glory
ever
till my
raptured soul
shall find
rest
beyond the
river
near the
cross
oh lamb of
god
bring his
sins before
him
help
me
walk from
day to day
with his
shadows
or me
the cross
in the
cross
be my glory
ever
till my
raptured
soul
shall find
rest
beyond the
river
near the
cross
watch and play
hoping
trust
ever
till
I reach
the golden
strength
trust
beyond the
river
in the
cross
in the
cross
be my
glory
ever
till my
raptured
soul shall find
rest
beyond the
river