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Part of the chapter I want to focus on is starting in verse 10 where the Bible read, 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. And the title of this morning's sermon is The Whole Armor of God. The Whole Armor of God. Christ wants us to be a Christian in every area of our life, not just some areas, not just a little bit. He wants us to put all our faith and trust in him for the saving of our soul, but not just your soul, your whole life, every aspect of your life. And we have six items that the Bible highlights. It's saying, look, you don't want to go to battle and be missing any of these elements. You don't want to go out and fight this spiritual battle today and be missing one of these things. It would be a shame. It's going to be devastating if you don't have one of these items. So let's look at the first item on the list. It says, having your loins girt about with truth in verse number 14. So what does this mean? Well, I think it's important to understand the importance of truth. It's shameful to believe lies today. It's shameful to be hearkening unto lies. The Bible says, if a ruler hearkened to lies, all of his servants are wicked. The Bible makes it clear truth is something that we should desire. Truth is something that we need to have. Go to John chapter number 18, if you would. John chapter number 18. But today, people don't want the truth. People don't like truth. People misunderstand truth. People will say truth is mean. Truth is hateful. Truth is bad. Truth is something that we shouldn't strive for. It's okay to kind of muddy up the truth. Look at John chapter 18 verse 37. Pilate therefore said unto him, Art thou a king then? Jesus answered, Thou sayest that I am a king. To this end was I born, and for this cause came I into the world, that I should bear witness unto the truth. Everyone that is of the truth heareth my voice. Pilate saith unto him, What is truth? And when he had said this, he went out again unto the Jews, and saith unto them, I find in him no fault at all. So Pilate asked this very, you know, vain jangling question. Well, what is truth? Well, let's just figure that out. Flip back to chapter 17. Now, if you look up the word truth in a dictionary, it says fact or reality. And I really like that last one reality. You say what is truth? It's what's real. It's what we see today. That is truth. The truth comes from somewhere. Where does it come from? We'll look at John chapter 17 verse 17. Sanctify them through thy truth. Thy word is truth. The Bible is what is truth. It's what's true. And you say, so what does that mean? It means this is reality. This is more real than any other book. This is more real than the newspaper today. This is more relevant than anything that you could read. You say, I want to know what's going on in the world today. This will tell you what's going on. You know what won't tell you what's going on. CNN, MSNBC, Fox News. I don't care what news channel you turn on. They're going to lie to you and deceive you. That is not reality. This is reality that there's spiritual wickedness in high places. That's what the truth is. But people, when they turn away from the Bible, they don't have truth. They don't like truth. They would rather just listen to lies. They would rather have people just lie to them and tell you things that are good and tell you all our nations blessed by God and we're just doing great. We're doing fine. Let's open our Bibles and decide how we're doing. Let's see if our country is, you know, godly according to God's word. Let's see if our lives are godly according to God's word. Let's see if our marriage is what the Bible says. Let's see if our children are behaving the way the Bible says. Let's see if we're being Christians like the Bible says. Let's see if our church is doing what the Bible says. Why? Because it's truth. It's reality. You say, I want to figure out what I'm measuring up. This is how you figure it out. This is the perfect law of liberty where we look into it and we can look in the mirror and see, hey, what do I look like? And you know what it's going to do? It's going to humble you. The Bible said in Deuteronomy that the king was supposed to read the law every day so that it would humble him so his heart would not be lifted up above his brethren. Why? Because when you read all God's commandments, it'll humble you real quick. You'll realize, wow, I got a lot of things I need to clean up. I've got a lot of issues. But the people that don't like truth, they never want to clean anything up. Why? Because they don't want to live in reality. The reality is none of us is perfect and we need to die daily. We need to constantly be working on ourselves. But people don't want to come to a church that's going to preach the truth. Why? Because it's going to convict them. Because it's going to tell them, hey, you're doing something wrong. You need to change. Go to Psalms 119. The Bible says in John 4, God is a spirit and they that worship Him must worship Him in spirit and in truth. Think about this. In reality, people that are going to, there's so many people in church today, they think they're worshiping Him. But in reality, they're not. Because they're not doing it in truth. They're not doing it according to God's word. The Bible says in Proverbs 23, 23, buy the truth and sell it not. Also wisdom and instruction and understanding. The Bible says truth is so important, you should be willing to buy it. You should be willing to say, I'll give whatever, I'll give any money. I'll do whatever I can. I just want the truth. Unfortunately, people are so apathetic to the truth. The truth is free. I mean, people are trying to hand you a free King James Bible and they just don't want it. They don't want to come to a church that will teach them the Bible. They don't want to, you know, listen to good sound Bible preaching and it's free. I mean, I don't think I charged anybody coming in the door. There wasn't, you know, a bouncer outside with, you know, a fee to come in, was there? Look, but you should be willing to. The Bible says the truth is that important. The truth should be so important to you to figure out what's really going on that you should be willing to buy it. Of course, it's wicked for a church to sell the truth. That's a different story for a different time. Look at Psalms 119 verse 29. Remove from me the way of lying and grant me thy law graciously. I have chosen the way of truth. Thy judgments have I laid before me. I have stuck under thy testimonies. Oh Lord, put me not to shame. Now, here's the reality. People, if you ask anybody, hey, do you want to know the truth? They'll always say yes. They'll always say, yeah, I like truth. I don't want people to lie to me. I want to know what the truth is, but the reality is not everybody really wants the truth. You actually have to purposely decide I'm going to choose the truth. I'm going to choose that I want to know what reality is. I want to really know where I stand, even if it means that I'm not standing in a good place, even if it means I need to make some correction, even if it means I'm going to be approved or rebuked or whatever. I just want the truth. But you know what? Most people don't want the truth. Most people are not going to choose the truth. You have the purpose in your heart. I want to choose the truth. I want to know reality. I want to have the facts of the situation. It's not easy. Unfortunately, a lot of times hearing the truth is hard. People don't like it. You say, hey, you know, they don't want to be criticized. They don't want anybody to tell them anything that's judgmental, right? How many people today? Well, don't judge me. But here's the question. If it's reality, I mean, if it's really true, right? I mean, do you not want to know if there's something glaring, some glaring issue in your life? Go if you would to 2 Samuel chapter number 10, 2 Samuel chapter number 10. The reality is if you reject truth, you will be shamed today. Shame will become on you. The Bible says in Proverbs chapter three, the wise shall inherit glory, but shame shall be the promotion of fools. Every time you lie, shame is going to come upon you. I remember when I was in junior high, I was going into class and this kid was mean to me and he decided to go take a, you know, go to the bathroom before, you know, the bell ring. So I took all of his stuff on his desk and I just like threw it behind like some desk, like some big bookcase in the classrooms where nobody could find it. And I just went and sat back down. So he comes back in, he's like, where's my stuff? You know, what's going on? And he starts making, you know, it's kind of a commotion. And all of a sudden the teacher's getting involved. Like the whole class is now looking for his stuff. We've just stopped having class and we're all looking for stuff. I'm like, who hit it? You know, who's the person that hit it? And they're like going to like, did you hit it? Did you hide it? Did you hide it? And I just boldfaced lie. I'm like, I don't know what happened. I don't know what's going on. You know, I just lied. And the teacher just starts escalating the situation. She's like, whoever did it needs to come up right now. And she's like, everyone in this room is getting attention. Everyone's getting attention. Now this girl starts crying on the front row. She's like, I've never had a detention. Like, I can't tell my parents I had a detention. And they're like, please, whoever did it, just please tell. I never did. I wouldn't do it. I wouldn't budge. I was so nervous. I mean, at that point, you know, once you lie a little bit, you start lying more, don't you? Now there's too much pressure. Now you don't, I've got to lie a little bit more. And then I got to lie a little bit more. And then I got to lie a little bit more. Look, sin will take you where you don't want to go. If I had known that was going to happen, I wouldn't have touched this stuff for a second. I didn't think that was going to happen. Right. But then I just keep lying and lying and escalates, escalates. I come in the next morning, you know, I told my dad, cause I felt so bad about it. He's like, you need to just tell the teacher, take whatever, you know, repercussions. And so I went to the teacher and she was like, I knew it was you. I just whatever. And she didn't even punish me, which I wish she had punished me severely. I needed to be punished. Let's be honest. But the reality is it brought a lot of shame on me, you know, and most of the kids knew that I'd done it. So they were like really mad at me and just brought a lot of shame because I just kept lying. And look, when you lie, when you don't hearken under the truth, shame will come upon you. It's shameful not to tell the truth. It's shameful to lie on the job. It's shameful to do anything that is not right. And sometimes doing the right thing seems like the hard thing, but you'll never regret telling the truth. You'll never regret doing the right thing in hindsight. It might seem super hard in the moment, but we should always strive for truth. We should always strive for reality. Proverbs 13 says, a righteous man hateth lying, but a wicked man is loathsome and cometh to shame. Look, the liars, they're going to come to shame. But it's interesting how he words it in Ephesians chapter six, right? Cause he says, having your loins girt about with truth. What is that? It's emphasis of a belt. I mean, getting your belt on and getting it real tight. So your loins are what? Standing up. So you can stand up. So you got them on, right? Look at second Samuel chapter 10, verse four. Wherefore Hanun took David's servants and shaved off the one half of their beards and cut off their garments in the middle, even to their buttocks and sent them away. When they told it unto David, he sent to meet them because the men were greatly ashamed. And the King said, Terry at Jericho until your beards be grown and then return, you know, the Bible why it's using this illustration because it's a shame to show your buttocks and how many loser guys today, when you drive down the street, they're waddling down the sidewalk, having their pants hanging down to their knees. Look, that's a shame today. That's stupid. You look like an idiot. You look like a baby. You know, you don't look like a man. I never see somebody walking like that or looking like that and think how manly, Oh man, that guy's real tough. I mean, they, they sit there and they're kind of like, you know, they got to kind of like walk like this. Cause you know, they got the pants. They're not about to run. They're not about to jump. They're not about to do any kind of work. They're not about to do anything manly. Why? Cause they're just sitting there like a baby, you know, baby with their diaper full, you know, they got, they got all this diaper full. Look, that is the Bible saying that's a shame. People look at that and they're laughing at you because you look like an idiot. And that's what it looks like to a lot of people spiritually. When you decide, I don't care about the truth. I don't care what the Bible says. Well, spiritually, you look like that guy. You're just kind of like, yeah, I don't know. I like all Bibles, you know? I mean, Joel Osteen's preaching is the best ever, man. It's so good. I mean, spiritually, you look like the guy with his pants hanging down. That's why we need the truth. That's why he's saying, gird about your loins with truth. Have your pants up because it's a shame when you don't have truth. It's a shame when you're confronted with somebody and you're championing for lies, right? Isn't it a shame when you're like, yeah, the Bible preaches a pre-trib rapture. Oh, can you show me a verse where it says that? Uh, uh, no. There's not a verse that says that at all. Well, it says immediately after tribulation, you know, it's a shame to believe lies. It's a shame to not have the truth. Go to Job chapter number 38, Job chapter number 38. Look, if I had my zipper undone, that would be a shame unto me. Wouldn't it? I mean, you look at me, you're like, this guy doesn't know what's going on. This guy's an idiot. And you know what? I'd rather you just tell me so that I can fix it rather than just looking at me like, look at that loser. Look at that idiot. You know, I would rather have the truth. Why? Because I like truth because I like reality. I don't want to have some glaring issue and you're not telling me about it. Don't let sin be suffered upon me. Okay. But the people that don't like truth, they don't want to hear it. They don't have anything to do with it. Look at Job 38 verse three, gird up now thy loins like a man for I will demand of thee and answer thou me. When God is talking to Job, he says, gird up your loins like a man. Why don't you be a man and get a belt today and pull up your pants? And you know what? You need to do that spiritually by getting God's word and getting the truth because it's reality. Look, these guys, they look handicapped. I mean, they don't look like they're, you know, they're waddling, they're handicapped. They're not about to do anything manly. They need to get their belt on tight. And anybody doing a man's job, they got a real tight belt on. They know what's going on. Go to first John chapter number two. You know, another thing they call it fag sag. You know what? There's a, basically they look at this, they say, this guy, I guess he wants men. I guess he's trying to attract men. So you look like a faggot. You look like a queer. You look like a sissy. You say, I don't like that. Well, it's truth. It's reality. That's what people think about you. I don't care what you, it doesn't matter what I say. What if every, if everybody else says you look like a fag, guess what? That's what you're portraying. You look like a fag when you're dressing like that. They say, I don't want to dress like a fag. Well then don't dress like that. It says in Revelation 16 verse 15, I'll read for you. Behold, I come as a thief. Blessed is he that watcheth and keepeth his garments. Lest he walk naked and they she his shame. So in Revelation chapter 16, it's saying, look, when you're naked, it's shameful. And you know what? There's even women today, they'll have these short shorts where their buttocks is literally hanging out at Walmart, at the restaurant, at the mall. It's a shame. It's disgusting. I don't want to see it. They shouldn't even be wearing shorts. That's not a feminine outfit. That's not a godly outfit, but let alone to let your buttocks hang out. That's wicked as hell. And it's just as wicked as the guy with his pants sagging down. Look, women should dress godly and modest and men should dress like men. They need to like the truth. You know, people can't handle the truth. The Bible says in John chapter three, for God sent not his son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through him might be saved. He that believeth on him is not condemned, but he that believeth not is condemned already. And this is the condemnation that light is coming to the world and men love darkness rather than light. For he that, the Bible says, for everyone that doeth evil hateth the light, neither cometh to the light, lest his deeds be reproved. But he that doeth truth cometh to the light, that his deeds may be manifest, that they are wrought in God. Here's the reality. People don't like the truth because they don't want to figure out how bad they are. They don't want to figure out how wicked they are. But the exact opposite of what they think is going to happen will happen. The greatest fear that they have will happen when they don't believe in the Lord Jesus Christ. When they don't get saved. Guess what? They will be judged by their works on the great judgment day and they will be ashamed. And the people that decided to come to the truth, they won't have their sins mentioned before them. So it's the exact opposite. The thing that they're so afraid of, they're so afraid of their sins being mentioned, of their sins being reproved, they don't want to come to the light. But guess what? It will come to light eventually. I would rather have it come to light in the church when I'm reading my Bible when a preacher tells me I'm doing something wrong, get it cleaned up then, then in the great white throne judgment. I'd rather believe in the Lord Jesus Christ and know, hey, I mean, it's not going to be mentioned to me. Look at 1 John chapter 2 verse 28. And now little children abide in him that when he shall appear, we may have confidence and not be ashamed before him at his coming. The reality is, if you don't have truth, you will be ashamed before the Lord Jesus Christ at his coming. Now, obviously, after the Lord Jesus Christ has redeemed us from the earth, after he's rewarded his servants, there's not going to be any more shame. But the Bible talks about how your works on this earth could be burned up and you will suffer loss. There will be a moment where you're going to be rewarded according to how you live your life. And if you never lived according to truth, you're going to have a lot of shame today. There's even saved Christians today, there's saved pastors today, there's saved evangelists today, that you know what? They didn't live their life according to truth and they're going to be greatly ashamed when they stand before the Lord. Why? Because they didn't harken to what this book said. They were doing it in their own flesh and mind. Well, yeah, but we had big Sunday school class. I sang in the choir every single week. I never opened my Bible and got anybody saved. I mean, I didn't even champion for the gospel. I wasn't doing anything godly. I wasn't helping anybody. I gave money to the poor and always bragged about it. I already had my reward, didn't I? They're going to be greatly ashamed. They spent their whole life thinking that they're serving God, thinking that they're doing something godly, but it doesn't matter what you think. What matters? Reality. And what's reality? The truth is what God's Word says. We want to line up our deeds according to reality, according to what the Bible says. We don't live in a fictional world. We live in reality today. Pinch yourself and wake up and decide that the truth is important. Go if you would to Titus chapter number two. So what's the first point? We need to have our loins girt about with truth because if you don't have truth, everything else isn't going to matter. If you show up to the wrong battle, who cares you got the rest of the armor on? You got to show up to the right battle. You got to be on the right team. You got to be on the right side. And look, the Lord, whenever you're in the battle of Armageddon, you're on the winning side. You're on the losing side. And if you're not on the Lord's side, the truth, you're going to lose immediately. There's not even going to be a battle. He's just going to immediately destroy you with the sword that proceeds out of his mouth. Would you guess what that is? Truth. Reality. What's the second thing? It says the breastplate of righteousness. We talked about in John chapter three, I quoted for you the guy that doeth truth. So it's not only right to just know the truth. I mean, hey, I know the truth. I know soul winning is right. I know the King James Bible is the word of God. I know I should pray. I know I should read my Bible. I know I should do good things. I should love my brethren. I know all those things are true. I'm not going to do any of them. I'm not going to go to church. I'm not going to actually go out and preach the gospel. I'm not actually going to do any of the things that are right. I know they're right. Guess what? And if you don't have the breastplate of righteousness, look, you're going to suffer in the battle. If I just go out into battle without the breastplate of righteousness, I'm susceptible to a lot of fatal wounds. You've got your heart. You've got your lungs. You've got your stomach. Any type of real damage to any of these organs, you're going to die. It's going to be very devastating to you. And if you decide, well, I know soul winning is right. So I'm going to go soul winning and I'll show up to church. But I'm going to still just watch all the Hollywood films. I'm going to still just live however I want. I'm going to live in fornication. I'm going to get drunk. I'm going to do all these other things. Look, these are fatal wounds. These are fatal things that can devastate your life. Look at Titus chapter 2 verse 7. And all things showing thyself a pattern of good works and doctrine showing uncorruptness, gravity, sincerity, sound speech that cannot be condemned, that he that is of the contrary part may be ashamed, having no evil thing to say of you. Exhort servants to be obedient under their own masters, and it pleased them well in all things, not answering again. The Bible says, you know, it'd be good for you to have no accusation possible against you. You're not doing anything where the enemy could come and point out some glaring issue and you say, I have no evil thing to say of you. So you know what they have to attack? Godly things. They say, well, soul winning must not be working. And you know, I don't really believe the King James Bible. And, you know, y'all aren't, y'all are just doing something wrong. There's something wrong about your church. I mean, you're going three times a week or you're praying too much or I mean, they just they can't say anything evil. They just make up lies about the good things that you're doing, about what the Bible really says. Go to Daniel chapter number six, Daniel chapter number six. So we see a guy where he's going to be tried. His righteousness is going to be tried and his righteousness is going to preserve him. Now, obviously, we all receive the grace of the Lord. None of us deserve any of the blessings that we receive of God. It's all at his hand in mercy. I don't do anything to get my salvation. But you know what? If you want blessings in this life, God requires us to strive for perfection. Jesus Christ said, Be therefore perfect as your Father, which is in heaven is perfect. You know what God expects you to be like? Perfect. But he realizes you're not. So he gives you long suffering. He gives you mercy. He gives you grace. But the guy that's striving for perfection, God's going to give him more grace, give him more mercy, give him more blessing. And Daniel, look at verse number one. It pleased Darius to set up over the kingdom one hundred and twenty princes, which would be over the whole kingdom, over these three presidents of whom Daniel was first, that the princes might give accounts unto them and the king should have no damage. Then this Daniel was preferred above the presidents and princes because an excellent spirit was in him. And the king thought to set him over the whole realm. Then the presidents and princes sought to find occasion against Daniel concerning the kingdom, but they could find none occasion nor fault for as much as he was faithful, neither was there any error or fault found in him. Then said these men, We shall not find any occasion against this Daniel, except we find it against him concerning the law of his God. What a testimony this Christian is. How come Daniel got so many great prophecies? Well, did he have some righteousness? I mean, the Bible says they couldn't find any fault with this guy. He was faithful in everything that he was given unto. And look, God is going to reward the faithful. God is going to reward the guy that diligently works hard, that does right, has the breastplate of righteousness. They're saying the only thing that we can find fault with this guy is the fact that he just loves the Lord so much. That's the only thing we can attack this guy on. What a great testimony. So then what happens? They throw him in the lion's den. And what happens? The Lord saves him. The Lord preserves him. He closes the mouths of the lions. He is not killed in that moment. But go to 1 Kings chapter 13. We'll see another guy. He didn't take on the breastplate of righteousness. So what happens to him? The Bible says in Ecclesiastes chapter number 10, dead flies cause the ointment of the apothecary to send forth a stinking saver. So doth a little folly him that is in reputation for wisdom and honor. I don't care who it is. You take the godliest person you know, the person you look up to the most. Whenever there's something kind of glaring issue comes out about him, it ruins his whole reputation. It doesn't matter how many works he did. It doesn't matter how godly he was in the past. It doesn't matter what he did. Think about David. Imagine the person you have the most, you know, admiration for. The person you look up to the most, they commit adultery and murder. Is that going to change your opinion of that person? That can change my opinion pretty quick. And look, David, I mean, we're talking about the man after God's own heart. This guy committed adultery and murder. It's going to change his reputation real quick, real quick. And the Bible saying, look, when you have issue in your life, when you're not trying to strive for righteousness, it can ruin your reputation. It can ruin a lot of things in your life. It can be a deadly wound. And we see with David's family, it only caused destruction and devastation to all of his sons. All kinds of wickedness happened in David's life because he decided, well, you know what? I don't need the breastplate of righteousness. I can just wander around in the wilderness of sin. And guess what? Get bitten by a serpent, get bitten by a devil, by the, you know, going out, by letting his lust just bring forth sin. Look at first Corinthians or first Kings chapter 13 verse 11. Now there dwelt an old prophet in Bethel and his sons came and told him all the works that the man of God had done that day in Bethel, the words which he had spoken to the king. Then they told also to their father. So what happens? Well, there's a prophet. He comes into Jeroboam. He basically proclaims against Jeroboam that he's wicked, that the, his bones and the bones of his children are going to be burned upon the altar. And Jeroboam's like, I'm going to take this guy and throw him in jail. And as soon as he stretched forth his hand against the man of God, his hand turns leprous and it's like crippled or something. And then the man of God prays for him and it's restored unto him. And the guy's like, well, you know, why don't you stay with me? You know, you're obviously a prophet of God. Why don't you stay with me and eat with me? And he's like, no, I can't. God told me I should not eat while I'm here. I have to go straight back home. I'm not allowed to eat anything. So on his way home, there's this old prophet, Sam Gitt. No, I'm just kidding. Actually the old prophet's probably saved. The old prophet's, you know, actually a real man of God. This is, you know, like you're Bob Gray or somebody that, you know, actually did good things in the past, but now they're just kind of wicked. He comes to the young guy and he lies to him. He says, oh, the Lord said, it's okay. You don't, you can eat. Just come to my house. The Lord said, it's fine. He had a word from the Lord. He knew what the Bible said, but he just trusts the old guy. He just trusts some old man's opinion. And look at verse number 15. Then he said to him, come home with me and eat bread. And he said, I may not return with thee nor go in with thee, neither will I eat bread nor drink water with thee in this place. For it was said to me by the word of the Lord, thou shall eat no bread nor drink water there, nor turn again to go by the way that thou camest. Now here's the thing. If God tells you that, do you think he could have expected maybe someone's going to tempt me? I mean, maybe there might be some temptation. Look, he had, God gave him this commandment for a reason. He knew what the word of the Lord said, but at the first chance he has, well, you know, Joel Osteen told me it's okay. So I'm just, you know, whatever. I'll just go do it. Some old guy decided that it was all right. Well, look at verse 19. So he went back with them and did eat bread in his house and drink water. And it came to pass that they said at the table, the word of the Lord came under that, the prophet that brought him back. And he cried. And the man of God that came from Judah saying, thus saith the Lord for as much as thou has disobeyed the mouth of the Lord. And it's not kept the commandment, which the Lord thy God commanded thee, but came us back and has eaten bread and drunk water in the place of the which the Lord did say to thee, eat no bread and drink no water. Thy carcass shall not come under the sepulcher of thy fathers. Wow. What a turnaround this guy had. Hey, come with me. The Lord said, Oh, wait, wait a minute. You disobeyed. I mean, talk about a 180. It says in verse 23, and it came to pass after he'd eaten the bread and after he had drunk that he saddled for him, the ass to wit for the prophet whom he had brought back. And when he had gone, a lion met him by the way. So now we have the same situation with Daniel, the man of God. He has the lion coming. And look, the lion, a lot of times is representative of the devil. The devil is, you know, a roaring lion seeking about whom he may devour. The Bible says, look, he's in this situation, but does he have the breastplate of righteousness? Is there no fault in him like we had with Daniel? Is there no way to accuse him? No, he has a chink in his armor, doesn't he? And what does it say? And slew him. And his carcass was cast on the way and the ass stood by it. The lion also stood by the carcass. We see the man of God. He decided, well, I know what the word of God says. He had the loins girded about with truth, didn't he? I mean, he knew what the truth was. He wasn't deceived, but he decided I don't need the breastplate of righteousness. And what happens? The lion slays him. And look, if you know what the truth is today and you just decide, who cares? I'll just do whatever I want. I don't need to be righteous. I don't need to be a clean vessel. Look, you're susceptible to the lion. You're susceptible to the devil. You're susceptible to a fatal wound in your life. Go to Psalms chapter 18. Psalms chapter 18. The Bible says God is not mocked for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap. I'm not going to get recompensed for my sins in heaven. It's not going to happen. So God's not mocked. He's not going to just let Christians just go out and do whatever they want and ignore his truth and just, oh, no, no big deal. Look, he's going to bring down the hammer. Now, of course, to balance this, the Bible does say that God is long suffering. God is merciful. So if I do commit a sin, if I do something wicked, you know what I'm going to do? I'm going to get on my knees and beg and plead to the Lord to forgive me and give me mercy and grace, not according to my righteousness, but according to his righteousness. But at the same time, I can't just live in unrepentant sin and think I'm going to get away with it. As a Christian, as knowing the truth, look, God is not mocked. Look at Psalms 18, verse 22. For all his judgments were before me, and I did not put away his statutes from me. I was also upright before him, and I kept myself from my iniquity. Therefore, art the Lord recompense me according to my righteousness, according to the cleanness of my hands in his eyesight. With the merciful, thou wilt show thyself merciful. And with an upright man, thou wilt show thyself upright. With the pure, thou wilt show thyself pure. This sounds good. Hey, you're doing upright. God's going to treat you uprightly. You're showing mercy. God's going to show you mercy. Hey, you're pure. God's going to be pure unto you. But what does it say next? And with the forward, thou wilt show thyself forward. Look, if you want to be forward, God will be forward with you. So we need the breastplate of righteousness today to protect us from all these fatal wounds in our life. If you decide, well, I know Proverbs 23 says I shouldn't even look at alcohol. But you know what? I'm just going to go ahead and get drunk and drive home. You know what? You're playing with death. You're playing with the devil. You're letting some lion come out there and just devour you. Look, people die every single day in drunk driving accidents. And that's not the only sin in the Bible. Look, there's a lot of sins. And when you mess with these fatal sins as a Christian, if you decide I don't need the breastplate of righteousness, you could be devoured by the lion. We need to be clean holy vessels unto God. That's who he wants to use. He wants to show himself upright to those that are what? Upright. Go to Daniel chapter number 8 now. Go back to Daniel chapter 8. Not only that, the Bible said having your feet shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace. So not only you need the truth wrapped around your loins, not only you need the breastplate of righteousness, but you need to have your feet shod. What is he talking about? He's talking about you going out and preaching the gospel. Now, if you think about warfare today, there's a term that, you know, is negative. It says someone is a sitting duck. What does that mean? They're immobile. They're not moving. They're just out in the open. They're just there. They're not doing anything. They're susceptible to all manner of attack. And the Bible makes it clear. Look, in all warfare, mobility is key. Mobility is important. If you can't move, you can't do anything. And you know what? If we just sit glued to our chairs today, no one's going to get saved this afternoon. If we don't do anything, if we don't go out and actually find the lost and to seek and to save that which is lost, we won't get anybody saved. So we have to use our feet to go out of this building and find them that don't believe in the Lord Jesus Christ and preach him the gospel. You know what? It says having your feet shod, meaning you've done it more than once. I mean, this is a routine. You know what you're going to go do. You know what's going to happen. It's preparing you for all situations. Think about when you go out and warfare, you don't know what the terrain is going to be. You don't know if it's going to be rocky, if it's going to be sandy. You don't know if you're going into marsh. You don't even know what's going on. So you're just ready. And if you go out so inconsistently all the time, you're going to learn there's a lot of different situations. There's a lot of different events. There's a lot of kind of things that can happen. And as you go out more and more and more, your feet become more shod and shod and shod. Now I'm prepared for any situation. I don't care what the situation is out there. I'm ready to give the gospel. I'm ready to move in. I don't care if they're distracted with the kids. I don't care if they're distracted with their job. I don't care if a heretic comes around. I don't know if it's a group of people. Look, there's a lot of different situations that you can come into when you've got soul winning. There's no consistency. The only consistency is that people aren't saved. The only consistency is that when you ask somebody what they have to do to go to heaven, they say be a good person. That's about the most consistency I have when I got soul winning. But you know what? There's a lot of variance when it comes to somebody giving you the time to hear the gospel. There's a lot of different distractions. That's why you need to keep going over and over and over, getting more practice and more preparation and more time. That's why you're a good soldier. You know how to move. I'm not just limited to this one terrain. I got all the terrains because I keep going out there and preparing myself for the battle. Look at Daniel chapter 8 verse 3. Then I lifted up mine eyes and saw and behold there stood before the river a ram, which had two horns and the two horns were high, but one was higher than the other and the higher came up last. I saw the ram pushing westward and northward and southward so that no beast might stand before him. Neither was there any that could deliver out of his hand, but he did according to his will and became great. And as I was considering behold and he goat came from the west on the face of the whole earth and touched not the ground and the goat had a notable horn between his eyes and he came to the ram that had two horns which I had seen standing before the river and ran on them in the fury of his power and I saw him come close under the ram and he was moved with collar against him and smote the ram and break his two horns and there was no power in the ram to stand before him but he cast him down to the ground and stamped upon him and there was none that could deliver the ram out of his hand. So now there's a lot of imagery here. It's talking about the Medo-Persian empire would be destroyed by the Greek empire. The Greek empire we know is represented by Alexander the Great and if you study history the reason why Alexander the Great was such a great warrior? Speed. Speed. He just came in on his enemies so quickly they weren't prepared for him and then he could defeat them and you know what this makes me think of these apartment and the apartment managers. You just get in there real quick they don't even know what hit them. You get everybody saved and by the time you're leaving they're like oh y'all need to get out. Okay well we already got we already did we already won we already won the battle. Look when we were in Atlanta we we went into this apartment complex we tore that thing upside down the other we're dry we're leaving we're about to get out of the gate and some sodomite dike looking woman comes up and she's like y'all need to get out of here and I was like all right we'll see you later we already did the deed we already got many people saved we came in there with speed and you know what if you let the if you don't have any mobility if you don't have the feet you won't win the battle you won't go out and defeat your foes the bible says mobility is important that's why Jesus Christ said go you out into all the world and preach the gospel. He didn't say sit around and wait for them to come begging to get saved. You know what that just doesn't happen. I've never had it happen. I've always asked somebody a question. I've always you know talked to them. Now I've had people that are really receptive you know you start talking to them and pretty much immediately like I want to know how to be saved or please show me what the bible says. You know what people aren't falling down while I'm walking down the street like what I'm going to be saved sir never happens and you know what I don't think it'll ever happen to you either you know it'd be great I'm not you know I'm not saying that wouldn't be great to happen it's just not reality and what were you talking about having your loins good about with truth if that's what the lifestyle of angeles say they say oh you're just going to be so righteous you're going to be so godly people are going to be like just please tell me tell me how how you're so godly and how god's just blessing you so much you know what the world thinks blessing is having lots of money having lots of you know doing wicked things so they're never going to think you're being blessed by god by doing anything godly oh you went to church three times a week oh you dress modestly oh you you don't you know do all these things that the world thinks are great they're not going to look at you and desire that there's none that seeketh after god look we need to confront them with the gospel we need to be like this you know goat and just come upon them they don't see what's happening you're like hey if you're gonna die today you're 100 should go to heaven sometimes ask that question and people they're like whoa I wasn't ready for that question you know they're kind of throwing up guys like I don't know how to respond but you know what it's because they don't have the truth in their heart yet if they have the truth in their heart they'll be able to respond and you're just catching them off guard but you know what those that love truth they'll come to the light won't they they'll realize you know what I do want to know though please tell me please show me I want to know the reality I don't care what man says I want to care what the bible says go if you would to second corinthians chapter five the bible says how beautiful are the feet of them that preach the gospel of peace you say how are your feet going to preach them in the gospel well here's my question if you never use your feet how are you ever going to preach the gospel you can't you have to go you have to move you have to find people you have to be resourceful you know what people are just too busy today though you know there's there's all kinds of distractions but movement is important look at second corinthians chapter five verse seven it says for we walk by faith and not by sight so after he's given us a few things he said loins gird about with truth the blessed parade of righteousness your feet shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace then he says above all taking the shield of faith above all these things you gotta have faith the bible says without faith it's impossible to please him look you could say i know that that's true and i want to try and do it okay and i'm going to use my feet but i don't know if it's going to work i don't you know i don't have a lot of confidence in it look people today they will say i'm going to go soul winning okay there i know the truth i know this right you know i'm trying to live a godly life i'm trying to clean myself up i'm trying to get the breastplate of righteousness i'm using my feet to go but i don't know if it's going to really work hey sir would you want to maybe know if you could kind of go to heaven look they don't have the faith they don't have the boldness to go out and preach the gospel and you know what gets people saved having boldness having confidence saying you know what the bible says you can know for sure if you die you go to heaven can i please show you can i please help you get saved having confidence looking the person in the eye knowing you have the truth having the faith look if you don't have the faith you're not going to get people saved you got to at least believe what you're saying to the person you know the best selves people are the ones that can feign interest in the product they're selling they're saying this is you need this buddy this this where this has been you know missing in your life you got to get this product as soon as you get this product you're life is going to turn up everything it's going to be you know roses on both sides of the street i mean that's a good salesman you're ready to buy it you're like i can't wait to get this product pastor was talking about you know after the church look that's how you should go out and preach the gospel we need to preach the gospel in faith not only that though but in every area of our life if you judge this church by sight you'll probably never want to come here i mean in the flesh this is not the that's not the place i mean did you look outside did you did you look at i mean i noticed it too okay i saw it too i'm not shocked all right but you know what i don't walk by sight i walk you know in by faith i say you know what i just want to go where the truth is being preached today you know i could go to the fancy palace i could go to the the grand you know building where they're going to give me a coffee and they're you know it's really fancy and they have the cool lights and i can sit back i mean they've got you know the legs for the chair i don't know if they have that now but probably pretty soon right i mean it's just cool they got the movies and it sounds fun it's you know all my friends are there it's really exciting but is that the truth is that what the bible says look we need to be walking by faith now where is your faith today is your faith in the things that you see or is your faith and the things that the bible says and what the god's promises are you say at the end of the day am i going to be rewarded because i went to the really cool fancy church or because i actually did truth because i actually went out and preached the gospel because i actually was caring for people and loving people and doing things according to truth look if you don't have the faith to follow god's commandments you're not going to be blessed you say i want to have a really good marriage well you have to have the faith to do what the bible says because if you try to have a good marriage according to the world it will fail that's why so many people are getting divorced today you say i want to have a good marriage i want my husband to love me i want my life to love me the bible says look husbands love your wives look you want your wife to love you you gotta love her back you gotta decide to put time and energy and effort into your wife and then she'll love you but do you have the faith to believe the bible you know some men they think they just want a servant girl some men they just want their wives to just be at their beck and call and to just love them and satisfy all of their wishes and whims and whatever they say yes sir and yes master and yeah whatever you want and they're just supposed to love unconditionally and do it look no the husband is supposed to love his wife care what his wife wants care you know i get to make all the decisions you know what i try to make decisions that i think i think my wife will like that i think my wife would want to go here i think my wife would want to do this i don't want to do it but i think she would want to do it so i'm going to do something that is loving for her but i have the faith to know that if i love my wife she'll love me back and if i love my children she'll love me back and if i show myself friendly i'll have friends and if i go out and preach the gospel i'll get people saved and if i go to god's church where the truth is being preached god will bless me and he will preserve me and he'll show himself upright to me if i present myself upright but if i'm forward he's going to present himself forward but where's your faith today what is your faith in the bible says that the lord is my strength and my shield my heart trusteth in him the bible says the carnal mind is enmity against god for it is not subject to the law of god neither indeed can it be if you try to please god by the sight you will never get there it's got to be by faith go to proverbs chapter 7 and he says above all taking the shield of faith why so it can quench all the fiery darts of the wicked the wicked is constantly throwing darts at you the the wicked is constantly trying to throw sin at you and look if you have the blessed the breastplate of righteousness you have your belt on okay you have your feet not every area of your body's covered you have some shinks in your armor i mean do you really want to get an arrow in the neck i mean you want to get in the you know under the armpit look there's going to be some some shinks in your armor so he's saying you know what you need that shield of faith because you know what you can move the shield of faith and no matter what's coming at you you're ready you're like oh that's coming bam got it but you know what if you don't get the shield it's like uh dead and look the devil the enemy is constantly just throwing dart at you and just throwing dart at you oh you're going to that king james only church oh you dress like a godly woman oh you dress like a godly man oh you hate fags oh you you know you hate the you know you know judaism you hate false religion you hate joe lowstein all these things they're just constantly throwing dart at you and dart at you oh man you're you want to you don't want to vaccinate your children with poison you don't want to get your kid autism you don't want to harm your family oh you actually want to have children you actually want to be fruitful and multiplying like god said they're just constantly throwing attack and dart and dart and dart at you sin and wickedness i mean let's go to the movie house and the whorehouse and the bar you know every single person i know drinks they're constantly throwing that dart at you hey why don't you have a beer buddy hey why don't you have a you know glass of liquor you know in the workplace everybody drinks they're constantly having you know happy hour hey let's all go to happy hour after work no i'm not going to do that they're just constantly throwing that dart and that dart that's why you need to come to church because guess what i'm not going to be throwing those kind of darts at you okay i'm re-throwing the truth at you how many the bible says the truth is a sharp gold it's a go that i'm trying to prick you and say hey get some truth in your life look at proverbs chapter 7 verse 21 and with their much fair speech she caused him to yield with the flattering of her lips she forced him proverbs chapter 7 is talking about a woman in the attire of a harlot and the bible makes it clear that even a godly person can put themselves in a situation where they've gone too far to where they could be forced into even grief a very grievous sin and a man that decides to put himself in a situation with a woman that is not his wife or before he's married just another woman the bible says she can get to a point where she would force him and even sometimes this happens to women women will put themselves in a dangerous situation with men today and they're forced look how many how many news stories a day are about these women being raped these women being sexually assaulted these women having all kinds of horrible things happening to them you know where it's not happening and their father's home and their bedroom where their dad's at home where's that it's happening at bars and happening at from frat house it's happening when the parents aren't away you know aren't there and then proverbs chapter 7 it says the goodman's not home that's why the whores out that's why the whore is dressing like a harlot look at verse 22 he goeth after her straightway as an ox go through the slaughter or as a fool the correction of the stocks you know all the beef that you eat today the cow walked into the slaughterhouse they're just like come on buddy come on in and then they get the rod and they just jam it through his head he's still alive and then they you know brutally you know do all kinds of other stuff but you know what i don't think it's bad i think it's great i can't wait to go eat some beef this afternoon you know you know eat some meat today look at verse 23 till a what dart strike through his liver now what did it say quenching all the fiery darts of the wicked look there's a wicked dart going for the young men today it's all those whores and harlots in the attire of a harlot and the bible says they're a dime a dozen there's just all these darts coming at you they're saying hey come lie with me buddy come lie with me come get caught away with me and you know the young man that decides to go go walk around her corner go get in her bedroom go get somewhere dark alone with her she's going to force him and it's a dart that'll strike through his liver as a bird hasteneth through the snare and knoweth not that is for his life hearken unto me now therefore oh you children and attend to the words of my mouth let not thine heart decline to her ways go not astray in her past for she hath cast down many wounded yea many strong men have been slain by her her house is the way to hell going down to the chambers of death men today's all you know i i can mess around with a little bit we can fool around i won't do anything too bad she's going to force you you don't know what it's going to do she's cast down many strong men but do you have your faith in what the bible says because the bible says to flee fornication meaning as soon as you see the appearance of evil you're supposed to abstain from it why because you have the faith of what god's word says i'm not going to get close to that dart i know the dart she's going to throw at me i know the dart the bible is warning me about i'm going to take the shield of faith and decide god's word is true i'm just going to flee that situation and as a married man i'm not going to get around some other woman by myself we're not going to go just hang out and go get lunch and go be alone somewhere look that's what happened to joseph how'd that work out oh i got thrown in prison i got lied about oh yes it does happen that women lie about men that doesn't mean that all these women are liars but look we need to be careful the situations we put ourselves in and we need to take the shield of faith take god's commandments and believe them today just guess what it's reality you say oh i don't think this woman exists well guess what the bible says it exists and it's reality i know that it's reality let's keep going let's go to uh go to roman's chapter 12 i'll just read for you a couple places the bible says not only that taking the helmet of salvation the bible says in jeremiah 17 10 i the lord searched the heart i tried the reins even to give every man according to his ways and according to the fruit of his doings the bible says god is going to try your reins and you say what are reins the reins is your mind the mind decides what's going to go on it's the one kind of leading going around now the heart's going to influence the mind but at the end of the day the mind can decide to not do what the heart says or to do what the heart says look the heart is where it's getting your desire it's getting your passion it's getting your zeal look god wants to give you the desires of your heart but your mind could decide no i'm gonna do carnal things no i'm gonna walk in the flesh look that's the reins it's where you're going what's going on your mind you need to get that helmet of salvation real real tight on your head because when you get that wrong it's a fatal wound you can't really take any damage to the head the head i mean the head's super crucial the head's really important if you go out to battle you got everything else on well i'm just going to take the head headshot done that's what they go for i mean you get the headshot it's over and look if you get this wrong you're going to be over the bible says in psalms chapter 7 oh let the wickedness of the wicked come to an end but establish the just for their the righteous god trieth the hearts and the reins so the bible constantly says god's trying the heart god's trying the reins the bible says in deuteronomy chapter 8 he says all the commandments that command me this day shall you observe to do that you may live and multiply and go and possess the land which the lord swear on your fathers and thou shalt remember all the way which the lord thy god led these 40 years in the wilderness to humble thee and to prove thee to know what was in thine heart whether thou wouldst keep his commandments or no you say well i feel like this guy's getting away with sin this guy is getting drunk this guy's living fornication this guy is doing whatever maybe i should try it bible sometimes says look god's trying to prove you see what you're going to do hey i showed up to soul winning it was just me and pastor maybe i should stop coming maybe the lord's proving you what are you going to do hey you know i showed up to church and there wasn't that many people hey i decided to go travel somewhere and i could decide to go to church or not nobody's going to know if i did maybe the lord's proving you hey i woke up this morning nobody's going to know what i'm going to do for the next hour i could read my bible i could pray god's going to prove you what are you going to do what are you going to do with all the decisions in your life every single opportunity is a decision to serve christ or not every single decision is important to god you have a moment you have a chance to decide am i going to walk in the spirit or am i going to walk in the flesh look at romans chapter 12 verse 1 i beseech you therefore brethren by the mercies of god that you present your bodies a living sacrifice holy acceptable unto god which is a reasonable service and be not conformed to this world be transformed by the renewing of your mind that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of god now here's how i apply this if you have the helmet of salvation on real tight this means you're not going to a church where there's an unsaved pastor preaching you the bible look if you start getting out going to a church where the pastor is not saved look these are fatal wounds you're not going to do anything for god you're not going to be serving god this is an extremely dangerous situation don't listen to people that are not saved don't harken unto people that are not saved protect your mind today don't be conformed to this world someone that's not saved the only thing that's going to come out of their heart is unsaved garbage is carnal garbage it's enmity with god they're trying to corrupt you and to corrupt your mind you say i don't like your church i don't like your preaching okay well find a godly man that's saved and go listen to him you don't have to come to this church this morning god doesn't say go to pure words baptist church i mean it does say the words of the lord are pure but it does not say you have to come to this church but you know what you better listen to a man of god that's saved don't listen to someone that's not saved i see christians today they'll sell articles of these people preaching the bible or talking about the bible they're not saved they're not using king james bible they're not you know doing soul winning they're not i mean they're just this heretic and they're like well he said something really cool i really like it that is dangerous that is going out to battle without your helmet on look you need to get the helmet of salvation on real tight you say you know what i know what salvation says that that's why i'm not going to go to these churches you know people they don't have this helmet of salvation on real tight they might be saved but they're kind of weak they're kind of weak on calvinism they're weak on losing you know eternal security they're weak on some part of the gospel they hear the lordship salvation it doesn't ring any bells in their ears and so they just harken to an unsaved false prophet it's a deadly wound you know what the bible says without faith or faith that works is dead and you know what all these people have faith without works because they're going to these dead churches and they're not doing anything for god and they're going to die one day and they're going to be ashamed before god they're going to be ashamed that they just lived their whole life without the helmet of salvation on real tight we need to get that on real tight and never let go always know what the gospel says let's go to my last place go to revelation chapter two revelation chapter two lastly the bible says having the sword of the spirit which is what the word of god now here's the cool thing everything else that we've listened so far is defensive every i mean nothing nothing that we've been mentioning is a weapon nothing that we've been mentioned is actually going to help you win the battle and guess what you go out there and you have everything on but you don't have the sword you're not going to win the battle can you imagine me going to a battle i'm like i'm here all right let's go i don't have a sword how am i going to fight anybody how am i going to do anything the guy's got the sword he's going to come up i mean i got the shield i can kind of you know duck and hide but eventually they're going to slaughter me i mean the guy shows up to a battle day without a gun i mean good luck with that i mean you don't have any you don't have any opportunity to fight it's silly it's ridiculous but people do this people go out and they they try to you know do their evangelism but they don't actually use the bible they're not using god's word they're not even preaching anything they're just putting a mailer on like this is the guy that goes out without the sword the bible says in hebrews chapter 4 for the word of god is quick and powerful and sharper than any two-edged sword piercing even the dividing asunder of soul and spirit and of the joints and marrow and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart the word of god is our weapon it's the weapon of the holy ghost look you got the holy ghost inside you once you believe but you know what if you never read the bible if you never go to church and you hear the word being preached if you don't have any bible the holy ghost has nothing to use he's not going to talk to you he's going to bring you to remembrance all things that christ commanded you you need this for the holy ghost to use it don't give him a butter knife give him a two-edged sword give them all the bible that's why you should read it cover to cover that's why you should read all of the word of god so he has the whole sword to use he knows every single way to use a sword and look there's a lot of ways to use a sword you can cut you can slice you can pierce you can you know do all things impale tear slay i mean how many ways do you know how to use your sword today i have one way you know i can cut some butter no you need to have a lot of ways to use your sword and you know what that encouraged soul winners you can get better with that weapon we can get better with our sword we can find out new ways to use our sword and then when we go out and battle we know hey i can fight this i can defeat this not only should you have the sword ready for preaching the gospel how about other areas in your life how about when your family attacks the church you go to how about when your family attacks the bible you use how come when your family attacks your family situation how many kids you have decisions you're going to make homeschooling loving the lord the songs that you sing the fact that you don't want to live in the pleasures of this world the fact that you don't want to drink alcohol all these different battles spiritual battles today that you're going to have you need to have a weapon you can't win that battle without the word of god and here's the thing christians today they come to church and they hear something's wrong but they don't know any bible so then when they're confronted and there's that spiritual battle they fail because they don't have their sword they don't have their weapon you say how do you fight any spiritual battle with the word of god not with my words not with my understanding not with my logic this is why christian apologetics are stupid or idiotic you know why because they go out to battle and they don't have the sword they're trying to use reasoning and logic oh let me tell you about archaeology let me tell you about science let me tell you the the proof of god without the bible you already failed files us without faith it's impossible to please him this is our sword this is our weapon this is what we do damage with against spiritual wickedness look at revelation chapter 2 verse 12 and to the angel the church and pergamos write these things sayeth he which hath the sharp sword with two edges look this is the lord jesus christ he's the one with the sword of two edges go to revelation chapter 19 now flip over towards the very end of your bible revelation chapter 19 look at verse number 15 says and out of his mouth go with a sharp sword that with it he should smite the nations and he shall rule them with a rod of iron and he treadeth the winepress of the fierceness and wrath of almighty god so when jesus christ was on this earth how did he fight the spiritual wickedness with his words he was preaching against the Pharisees he was preaching against the Sadducees they didn't like it that was what he used to war now what does he do in the battle of armageddon he's literally slaying them with the word of god look this is the constant sword throughout the bible look at verse 21 and the remnant were slayed with the sword of him that sat upon the horse which sword proceeded out of his mouth and all the fowls were filled with their flesh there's a spiritual battle raging today i mean there is a raging battle today against the word of god and you say well how am i going to fight it you need the sword you need the word of god that's why it's so important to read your bible that's why it's so important to memorize scripture that's why it's so important to put it into practice so you're not a forgetful hearer of the word you say oh i heard it well did you forget it though are you getting it put deep into your heart and you say well i don't think there's a battle well guess what the bible tells us there's a battle and the bible is truth and the bible is the reality and man i don't see how a christian today can't see the battle today the battle for their children the battle for their minds the battle for their souls the battle for everything go to uh second corinthians chapter 10 just a couple more places we finished this morning the bible says in titus chapter 1 holding fast the faithful word as he had been taught that he may be able by sound doctrine both to exhort and convince the gainsayers for their many unruly and vain talkers and deceivers especially they have the circumcision whose mouths must be stopped who subvert whole houses teaching things as they ought not for filthy lucre's sake one of themselves even a prophet of their own said the cretians are all way lighter liars evil beasts low bellies this witness is true wherefore rebuke them sharply that they may be sound in the faith you know we're going to stop all these false prophets with the word of god by us going out to these neighborhoods and preaching their congregants the gospel and getting them saved getting that helmet of salvation on real tight so they say i don't want to go to that fake church i don't want to go to that church where the guy doesn't believe the gospel that's why i get so angry when soul winners say we don't want to take you from a good church stupid get that helmet of salvation on your head a little bit tighter that's a dumb argument how can you talk to i go to church every single day i've been going to my church my whole life what do you have to be saved be a good person we don't want to take you from a good church are you kidding me are you joking to me i go to this catholic church i don't want take you from a good church what y'all like worshiping satan in that sanctuary i saw a picture of the you know i don't know what they call them the priest he has a chemical sprayer that he's filled with holy water he's walking up and down the aisle pumping and spraying the congregation with holy water how i mean good night that is not truth that is not reality from god's word the things that happen outside of god's church are ridiculous the truth is stranger than fiction today you say i don't like this church well good night you want to be in some palace where the guy's you know using a chemical sprayer on you that sounds ridiculous i want to go to joel osteen's church you know what i hope his church crumbles but you know how it's going to crumble with the word of god you know how these churches are going to close down with the word of god false prophets should be ashamed today because they don't have the truth and guess what when we use god's word that's going to destroy them not something carnal not something fleshly i'm not going to like paint you know stuff on their doors like y'all are false prophets you know i'm not going to heckle them and throw you know you know glass at their windows no i'm going to preach the gospel i'm going to preach the word of god i'm going to preach the truth and it's going to pierce them into their soul into their spirit it's going to think of all their evil intentions and it's going to expose the wickedness of their heart that's what we have to do that's how we have to fight i had you turn to second corinthians chapter number 10 look at verse three for though we walk in the flesh we do not war after the flesh for the weapons of our warfare are not carnal but mighty through god to the pulling down of strongholds casting down imaginations and every high thing that exalted itself against the knowledge of god and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of christ you know i think of verse five i think of the stupid sunday schools being shut down casting down all these imaginations and foolish thoughts people sit in these sunday school classes and they all say i think the bible says this why my bible says this we need to cast down those stupid imaginations and decide what does the bible say today what does the word of god say today i don't care what opinion or imagination of your heart what is reality what is the truth and look he says the weapons what's our weapon it's this you need to get clear in your mind what the weapon is but not only that imagine me just some people get the weapon right but then they jump out to the battle without any armor you're gonna get wiped out real quick you say hey i know what the word of god says and they're like yeah you're not following it yeah you're harkening onto lies yeah you're wicked i can see the wickedness in your life you're a hypocrite look hypocrites don't do great things for god those that are doing that are upright those that are you know serving the god and uprightness those are the ones that god's using greatly go to second timothy this last place we'll go and look there's the spiritual battle today there's the spiritual war look you turn on the tv what do you see fags you turn on you know the internet you get on youtube fags you turn on any kind of news channel there's cramming fags down your throat you go to the public school what do they want to do they want to push the fag agenda down your throat you look at the newspaper they want to push the fag agenda down your throat you go to the store today there's fags everywhere it's so disgusting it makes me want to vomit they keep pushing the fag agenda the fag agenda just coming down your throat and you say how am i going to fight it how am i going to fight it the word of god that's what's going to fight it i misled you i want to go one place go to romans chapter one you say how am i going to fight it with the word of god they're beasts they're wicked they're vile they're abominable they're filthy today and you know what you come into church you say i don't like that it's because you don't like truth it's because you don't like reality you're constantly letting the world conform you to their image to the image of the world you need to renew your mind with the word of god with the truth and that's why i think romans chapter one gives us such a long list it's so great because there's so much filth just constantly pushing you the tv and the music and the movies and the celebrities and this world and your family and your friends and the workplace i mean they're trying to bring them in they're saying you can't discriminate against them it's like hey do you want to hire this fag no he's wicked he's filthy he's disgusting look at romans chapter one it's always a good place to turn to look at verse number 28 and he is they did not like to retain god in their knowledge god gave them over to a reprobate mind to do those things which are not convenient you say well who's the they all right let's back up let's make sure we get this really clear in our mind today look at verse number 26 for this cause god gave them up unto vile affections for even their women did change the natural use into that which is against nature and likewise also the men leaving the natural use of the woman burned in their lust one toward another men with men working that which is unseemly so he's talking about sodomites he's talking about faggots he's talking about butch dykes today all of them the men and the women these people that have rejected god they hate god they don't want to retain their knowledge the bible says god's already given them up unto reprobate mind that's the whole reason they're doing these vile disgusting things a normal person can't do this a normal person would find it too repulsive to want to do it but once they hate god enough he says well i'm going to take the governor off your heart i'm going to take all conscience and morality off your heart now you're capable of any kind of wickedness any kind of of filth that's why it says in romans 1 verse 29 being filled with all unrighteousness fornication wickedness covetousness maliciousness full of envy murder debate deceit malignity whispers backbiters haters of god despiteful proud boasters inventors of evil things disobedient to parents without understanding covenant breakers without natural affection implacable unmerciful man the bible just keeps saying hey you need to just understand what these people are like don't believe the lies of hollywood today don't believe the lies of the media today don't believe the lies of the world today read your bible that's truth that's reality imagine somebody handing you that that's a resume well i'm full of wickedness i hate god i mean i'm deceitful i'm full of maliciousness murder debate deceit malignity whispers backbiters haters of god despiteful proud boasters inventors of evil things disobedient look without understanding covenant just i mean look what what is not on this list every all unrighteousness all of it look we need to get the truth from god's word today that's what's going to help us win the battle that's what's going to help us fight the spiritual battle today go back to second timothy chapter two second timothy chapter two the bible says in first timothy chapter six fight the good fight of faith lay hold on eternal life wherein to thou also called and has professed a good profession before many witnesses how are we going to fight the sodomite agenda today with god's word they hate god's word they hate the truth they hate the reality because they know that's what they're like they know that's why they're so deceitful that's why so many fags are hollywood actors because their whole life is an act it's a charade they have to pretend that they're normal they have to pretend that they're not deceitful they have to pretend that they're not wicked they have to pretend that they're not vile they have to pretend that they want to get married they have to pretend that they love god they have to pretend all their whole life so they say why don't i just make a living out of it and become an actor become a solid might you know in hollywood go to you know new york and be on broadway oh yeah i get to be on broadway and act my whole life because their whole life is an act their whole life is a charade it's not reality it's not the truth look at second timothy chapter two verse one thou therefore my son be strong in the grace that is in christ jesus and the things that thou has heard of me among many witnesses the same commit thou to faithful men who should be able to teach others also thou therefore endure hardness as a good soldier of jesus christ no man that warreth entangled himself with the affairs of this life that he may please him who had chosen him to be a soldier you're a soldier today if you've believed on the lord jesus christ you're in the army i don't you say i don't want to be an army guess what you're in you made it you were drafted you were drafted into the lord's army the question is though now that you're in the battle why don't you get some armor on why don't you get your sword out why don't you get the shield of faith today but christians today they're ignoring a lot of these areas they'll ignore certain parts of this they don't want to get the loins with truth they don't want to have the shield of faith they don't want to have their feet shot with the preparation of the gospel they don't want to use the sword which is the word of god hey they don't got the helmet of salvation on they're listening to all kinds of wicked ungodly false preachers they say well righteousness is that important it's important to protect my heart it's important to protect my lungs the bible says look we're supposed to fight the good fight of faith look we live in this life after we get saved god puts us in the battle i'm glad to be in the lord's army i like a good fight i like that there's you know a struggle that we get to go out and have some meaning in our life look you have meaning in your life the meaning is for you to fight that spiritual wickedness to go out and get people saved but there's a lot of aspects to getting someone saved there's a lot of commandments in god's word there's a lot of things that we need to do we need to not just get this attitude well it's just eat sleep drink soul winning nope there's a lot more look you need to provide for your family you need to get the breastplate of righteousness you need to constantly read your word you need to be going to church you need to be taking care of those your family your wife you need to be loving your wife look there's all kinds of commandments god said to fear god and to keep his commandments this is the whole duty of man look soul winning is obviously the priority but if you don't if you get out of balance with all these other areas you're going to go in the battle and you're going to die you get you don't have the helmet on they're going to go headshot you don't have the best way to righteousness you're going to get impaled you're going to die you don't have the shield of faith a dart's going to sneak in somewhere you don't have your feet you know mobile well they'll just crush you they'll just just drown you they'll do something because you can't move we need to have the whole armor of god don't be just specialized in one area get all the armor be a general you know a generalist not a specialist well i know the word of god really well but i don't you know want to do anything else i want to go preach the gospel no you need to do it all let's close in prayer thank you father so much for your word thank you so much for giving us the opportunity to go out and fight your battle and i know that we get the victory through the lord jesus christ that's through your mercy and through your grace but i pray that we take it seriously and soberly that we'd understand the importance of your truth that we'd go out and champion for your truth that we would take all of the truth from your word and we believe it by faith and most importantly to get that sword we get that sword in our heart we would learn new ways to use that sword so that we could fight so we could actually make a difference so we could go out and change this world it's so ungodly today i pray that you would just allow us to win great battles great victories today to crush the enemy with the sword which is the word of god in jesus name i pray amen