Skip to content The Weapons of Authority Oct 14 · 41 min ...more
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Dr. Tony Evans is the founder and senior pastor of Oak Cliff Bible Fellowship in Dallas, founder and president of The Urban Alternative and author of over 100 books, booklets and Bible studies.
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0:00 Paul is concerned in Ephesians chapter 6 that we understand the tools of authority. He wants to get us back to the source. He wants us to understand0:12 what is the cause of our greatest dilemma, greatest issue, and greatest problem. And so in the greatest single passage on the matter of spiritual0:24 warfare, he is going to now tell us the tools, the weapons, the equipment that you need to fix whatever is0:35 broken in your life. And so today, we'll be able to combine to make you victorious, I guarantee it.0:48 First of all, I want you to know that in these verses, his concern is that believers are equipped with the armor of God. I wanna talk about the need for the armor, the1:00 nature of the armor, and the names of the armor. First of all, the need for the armor. We are told that we need the armor in order to1:12 stand firm. Please notice the word stand firm in verse 11. That's our key phrase. That you may be able to stand firm against the schemes, the craftiness, the wiles, the1:24 cunning, the planning of the devil. Notice he also said in verse 13, the end of the verse, having done everything to stand firm.1:36 He says it again in verse 14, the first line. Stand firm. Why do we need God's armor? I'll tell you why. You1:48 are fighting angels. You are fighting angels. In fact, he says in verse 12, you are not fighting people. The2:00 worst person in your life is not your problem. They're only the vehicle through which the angels are getting to you. The worst situation that you're facing right now are not2:12 is not your problem. It is only the vehicle that Satan is using and his angelic host to get to you. And many of us, for most of our lives, have been2:24 fighting people when we ought to have been fighting angels. Because he says you wrestle not against flesh and blood, you wrestle against the principalities and the powers, that is the angelic world. You can't use2:36 human tools and win a spiritual war. He says that you must use the armor of God. The Bible says in second Corinthians 42:48 18 that we do not look on the seen, but we look on the unseen. We fight an invisible war against an invisible enemy in an invisible sphere,3:00 but it affects us in our earthly realm. This cunning is so crafty. It's called the wiles of the devil. It's called the schemes of the devil. He is3:12 cunning. He hath underground mines that you don't know are there, and you step on them, and all of a sudden they explode. And what does God want you to do? He wants you to 2 words,3:24 stand firm. He wants you to stand firm. Now why would he tell you to stand firm in a war? Don't you wanna go out and fight in a3:36 war? Don't you wanna go out and and win? Don't you wanna storm the enemy's camp in a war? Why would he say, stand firm? Well, I'll tell you why he wants you to stand firm, and there've3:48 been every sermon I've preached up to this point. He wants you to stand firm because Jesus has already won the offensive victory. Yes. That's why he wants you to stand firm. Yes. You're not in this war to fight the4:00 wind. You're in this war to take care of the ground already won. Victory has already been won for you at Calvary. That's the problem why we have so many defeated Christians. They're still fighting4:11 to win. If you're fighting to win, you're not fighting the battle that Jesus fought because the battle that Jesus fought was already won at Calvary. We saw that in Colossians chapter 2 verses 14 to 15. He4:23 has already embarrassed the principalities and the powers. He defeated them. So what must you do? Stand firm. We are like a football team,4:35 where our team is up 72 to nothing. We don't have to score any more points. We just have to stand firm. We just have to stop the other team from4:47 doing what they wanna do. Why? Because victory has already been won. It means to hold on to the territory that Christ has already conquered. The offensive work was4:59 done by Jesus Christ on on Calvary. Satan is trying to rob us of the spiritual blessings we already have. Did you know that you don't have to ask God to bless you? Tell me you didn't know that. Get on your5:11 knees every day and say, Lord bless me today. Lord bless me today. Not. Ephesians chapter 1 verse 3. Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ who hath already blessed us with all spiritual blessings in5:22 heavenly places. Everything God is ever gonna do for you, he's already done. So if you're going out trying to find blessings, then that means you're missing what you already have. Why go out and borrow money if you5:33 already have 1000000 dollars sitting in your bank account? Why go out and say, do you have a dollar if you're a millionaire? Some of us are walking around like spiritual paupers when Jesus Christ has credited our account5:43 with all of the power of the heavenlies. But because we don't understand the victory of Christ and understand our position in Christ, we can't stand firm because we don't know we5:55 won. The victory has already been won. So stand firm. Why? Because of the evil day, he calls it6:07 in verse 13, that you may be able to resist in the evil day. What is the evil day? That is the day when your number comes up. Every Christian in here has a number. That6:19 is a number when Satan is gonna unleash hell after you. You having a good day today? Good. Enjoy it. Because tomorrow may be the evil day. Ask mister6:31 Job. He'll tell you about the evil day. When God let Satan come after him, when his whole world fell apart. There is coming a day when Satan, even at the permission of6:42 God in order to win the angelic conflict, will let Satan Satan give you an evil day. And your job, like Job, is to6:54 what? Stand firm. He couldn't do anything about the loss of his kids. He couldn't do anything about the loss of his health. He couldn't do anything about the loss of his job. He couldn't do anything about the loss of his7:04 career. All he could say though is, though he slay me, yet while I trust him, he stood firm. Yes. He did not let Satan budge him off of his spot. And so what God says is7:16 that you need the armor of God to stand firm in the victory that has already been won. And that's why we spend so much time giving thanks. We wanna thank God for the victory to remind ourselves we have won even when it7:28 looks like we're losing. Even when it looks like we're losing, we have won. So you have to stand firm when hell is unleashed against you. First Corinthians 16 verse 13 says, stand firm in7:40 your faith. See, when you're in a fort, you man the fort. Why? Because you were already surrounded by protection. So you stood7:51 firm. So what he's asking you to do is don't budge on the evil day, but you have to be equipped for that not to happen. Or to put it another way, you have to have8:03 God's insurance policy at work for you. Secondly, that was the need for the armor. The nature of the armor. Please notice, verse 10. Finally,8:15 be strong in the Lord. Finally, be strong in the Lord, and the strength of His might. Now you know what that8:27 says? The battle is not yours, but the Lord's. The nature of the armor is that it's God's armor. That's a passive in verse 10. Be strong in the Lord.8:39 That is a passive imperative. It means it is the Lord's strength that will enable you to stand firm. It is his work. The battle is not yours,8:51 but the Lord's. Or to put it another way, you must learn to dress for success. Now this is a very interesting set of armor here.9:03 Before we get into naming it, I want you to look at 2 verbs, 2 key verbs. Please notice, he says in verse 13, having9:15 girded, in verse 14, and then he said, later on in verse 14, having put, and then he said in verse 15, having shod. The first 39:27 pieces of armor are from the verb to be, and it reads having. But notice the shift in the text with the last 3. He9:38 says in verse 3, taking up. He says in verse 17, take helmet9:50 and the sword, or the sword of the spirit. He moves to the verb to take. 2 key verb changes. Now, I must admit, I've taught this10:01 passage many times, but this was the first time I noticed to this degree the change of verbs. From having to take. What's the difference? Some10:13 of the armor you keep on. Other parts of the armor you pick up as you need it. Having, the first 3, a way of being dressed all the10:25 time. Taking, you keep it nearby so you can pick it up at a moment's notice. In all 6 pieces of the armor, and we'll get to them in just a10:37 second, there are simply 6 ways of saying the same thing. And that is get dressed up in Jesus every day.10:49 Look at Romans 13. Hold your finger here. Look at Romans 13. These are all ways of talking about Christ. Look at Romans chapter 13.11:01 He says in verse 11, and do this, knowing the time that it is already the hour for you to to awaken from your sleep. Because we have a lot of sleepy Christians.11:13 Salvation is nearer to us than when we first believed. The night is almost gone, and the day is at hand. Let us therefore lay aside the deeds of darkness and put on the armor11:25 of light. Same author, Paul, uses the word. Let us behave properly as in the day, not in carousing and drunkenness and in sexual promiscuity and in sensuality,11:36 not in strife and jealousy, but put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh in regard to its lust. He says put on the armor of light, which means11:48 put on Jesus. So if you want to dress for success in the spiritual warfare, dress up in Jesus. The only thing12:00 that's ever scared the devil is Jesus Christ. Let me say that again. The only thing that has ever scared the devil is Jesus Christ. So if you wanna get the devil12:12 off your back, put on your uniform, your Jesus mask. Put on your Jesus Christ appearance, and the devil12:24 won't be able to hang. He won't be able to handle you because you are Christ. You have dressed for success.12:36 So now he moves from the need for the armor to the nature of the armor, and now he gives 6 names of the armor. Let's look at them. Verse 14.12:48 Stand firm therefore, having girded your loins with truth.13:00 Peace number 1, the truth belt. Peace number 1, if you're gonna dress up in Jesus tomorrow morning, and you don't have to wait that long. If13:12 you're gonna dress up in Jesus, you need a belt. You need a truth belt. Now the Roman soldier had this long tunic that flowed down to the ground, but13:23 when it came time to fight, he couldn't really maneuver with that thing, so he would tuck that thing up underneath his belt. So he would have mobility. The belt had loops on it, which would carry his sword,13:35 for example, which would carry some clips so he could connect his breastplate into it. It was the fundamental piece, because everything else connected to it. Everything else hung13:47 on it. In other words, if he didn't have his belt, he couldn't wear his breastplate. If he didn't have his belt, he couldn't carry a sword. If he didn't have his belt, he couldn't hold everything together. To stand firm,13:57 hold on to God's ground that Satan is trying to take from you. He's trying to take your joy. He's trying to take your family. He's trying to take your meaning. He's trying to take your purpose. He's trying to take your14:07 future. He's trying to take your life. He's trying to take all that. And God said, if you just get dressed and stop trying to live a naked Christian life, he won't be able to take stuff anymore. Which means the14:19 first thing you gotta have on is your belt. What's the belt made up of? It's made up of truth. It's made up of truth. What do I mean? A standard14:31 of reality. Truth. I hope you know that we no longer live in a day of objective truth. We live in a day of I think, you14:43 think, we think, everybody has an opinion, everybody has an idea. Our kids are not taught truth anymore in school, in most schools. Truth is gone. Truth is14:54 relative. What's true for you, you'll hear people say, is not necessarily true for me. And the devil will whip your backside without your belt.15:06 See, the devil is a liar. Jesus said he's a liar from the very beginning. He ferments on lies. So if he can get in an environment where there is no objective15:18 standard that will be appealed to, he'll milk it for all its worth. You must have an objective standard of truth. Now, it's amazing. People want objective standards15:30 when it comes to everything else, but not how to live their life. I don't want nobody telling me how to live my life. Some of you teenagers think that way. I don't want anybody telling15:42 me how this is my life. And I wanna live my life the way I want to live it. But now, suppose you went to the doctor and he was getting ready to perform an operation, and15:53 he said, now I think this is where I need to cut. I think that some of the other doctors have another idea where we need to cut, but I think it's here. So let's just check it out and see if I cut right. Is that16:05 the doctor that you want? Suppose you went to a pharmacist, and you went to the pharmacist and he said, well, I think this is the medicine you should take. You know? Now, I have a view. The pharmacist down the street has16:16 a view, and the pharmacist over here has a view. But in my view, this is the medicine you should take. Try it. Or suppose you got on a plane and the pilot said, now I think this is the button I'm supposed to I think this16:28 is the button I'm supposed to push. Now my engineer over here thinks I ought to push this button. And my assistant over here thinks I should have pushed that button. And the stewardess thinks I should have pushed this16:37 button. Let's try this button and see if it gets us off the ground. No. At the doctor's office, you want truth. At the pharmacist, you want truth. In the airplane, you show nothing. Truth.16:49 You don't want no pilot talking about I think, or a doctor say I think or a pharmacist say I think. You're gonna sue him if he think wrong because you want him to think right. And every17:01 doctor, every pharmacist, every pilot wants truth. Well, now if you can respect the truth of a doctor and the truth of a pharmacist and you can respect the truth of a pilot, how come God17:13 can't be yay and all men? He's truth. An absolute standard of reality found in the word of God. And Satan is winning a lot of us17:24 because how we feel is more important than what God says. There is not an objective belt of truth by which we live our lives. And17:36 if that is not there, nothing else will work. Nothing else will latch. Nothing else will be able to hang in there. And you say, well, how does that relate to Christ? John17:49 14 verse 6, I am the way, the truth, and the life. Jesus says, I am truth. So truth is not only a book. It is a book, but it's also a18:00 person. It's the written word, and it's the living word. So So get up dressed in truth. In other words, walk around with a viewpoint that God is true,18:13 and I am not. Neither is anybody else who disagrees with him. Now people gonna call you arrogant. Are they gonna call you narrow? That's a big 1. You are so18:25 narrow. You are so narrow. Yeah. Well, if I have a heart problem, I don't want nobody cutting on my leg. I want him to narrow it to my chest.18:38 I want him to be narrow on a 1 way street. I don't want somebody driving down the other way saying, it's too narrow to only go 1 way on the street. I want him to be narrow. And18:51 if you're gonna stand against the devil, you better get narrow because broad is the way that leads to destruction. And narrow is the road that leads to life. You've gotta be narrow19:03 enough to say this is true and this is not, thus saith the Lord. Now it's important that you know that the belt goes around the loins. It goes right here. That's where the belt19:14 goes. You know why? Because the loins provide the strength. See, if you have to pick up something heavy, you don't just take your fingers and pick it up. What else is it not heavy?19:27 You you need your loin. You you gotta get this hip action in here. You you gotta get these why? Because these are strong. And the truth of God is a strong tower. It is a strong tower.19:39 Second piece of armor. Look at it. Having put on the breastplate of righteousness. Now what did the breastplate cover? It covered your19:51 chest. It hooked into the belt, and it covered the chest. You start with truth, then you move to the heart. The Bible says set your mind on things above, where Christ20:03 is. First Corinthians 5 21 says that Christ is our righteousness. See, he's still talking about getting dressed up in Christ. To pull on the breastplate of righteousness20:14 means to commit yourself to a holy life. Righteousness. Predicated on the imputation imputation of righteousness20:27 that you receive when you receive Christ. Now what am I saying? Most Christians don't know what happened when they got saved. Most Christians only know20:39 he forgave my sin. No, that's not all that happened. Something else happened when you got saved. If you're here today and you know Jesus Christ as your personal savior, 2 things happened. He20:51 took away your sin, but He gave you His righteousness. That's called imputation. That is, He credited to your21:03 account the righteousness that belongs to Jesus Christ. So you don't get up in the morning saying, I'm just gonna be righteous today, because21:14 now you you don't jump back to human effort. You get up in the morning to say, because of Christ, I am righteous today. You start with your position in21:26 Christ before you hit your actions for Christ. Because if you start with your action for Christ without understanding your position in Christ, then it's gonna be your own21:38 human effort with no divine supply. But if you get dressed up in the morning saying thank you, Lord, that I am clean in Christ, and I use first John 1 9 confessing any uncleanness21:49 in my life that doesn't reflect my cleanness in Christ, you're gonna find your ability to be more holy than you ever were before, because it's based on who you are and not just what you're trying to do. That's why22:01 the book of Ephesians spend the first 3 chapters telling you who you are, and then the last 3 chapters telling you how to act. Because if you know who you are, you'll have the ability to act like you should act. The22:13 reason many of us act like we act is because we don't know who we are. We eagles hanging around with turkeys. K? Eagles hanging around with turkeys. And because we don't know who we22:25 are, we don't soar. Some of us have gotta get out of that caterpillar thing and become the butterflies we were redeemed to be. And that means your position.22:36 That is get up in the morning, and after you put on your truth belt, Lord, today, your standard governs my life based on your word. I thank you that I am22:48 already righteous, so that when I step out here, I wanna look like what I am. So get up and put on your breastplate, because if you don't,23:00 you will have an environment where demons can foster. Demons can always foster in an environment of unrighteousness. That is their environment. So if you're in an environment of23:11 unrighteousness, they can foster. That's why the Bible says grieve not the Holy Spirit. Because the Holy Spirit can keep the demons from fostering in this arena, because he can apply and have applied23:23 the righteousness of Christ. And let me tell you something. Anything that God doesn't want you to have is only because it's not good for you. Teenagers, anything that God says don't do23:35 isn't because he doesn't want you to have fun, it's because that particular thing is not good for you, which is why the Bible says, whom the Lord loveth, he disciplines. That's the only reason he says don't do this,23:45 don't do that. He's after our good. So dress up in the morning with the righteousness of Christ. Lord, I thank you that you have already made me righteous, so let me live up to what I already am. Not Lord, help me don't23:57 do this today, and help me don't do that today. Uh-uh. Lord, thank you you've already given me victory over this, and already given me victory over that. You just dressed up with Christ. Thirdly, the gospel of peace.24:10 Notice what he says. He says in verse 15, having already shod your feet with the preparation of the gospel, which gives peace. Gospel of24:22 peace. You know what the Bible says, don't you? The Bible says Jesus is our peace. Ephesians 2 14. Christ is our peace. So we're talking about getting dressed up in Jesus again.24:34 Christ is our peace. The Roman soldier wore shoes with clicks on them. Why? Sure footedness. That's why. Sure24:45 footedness. In other words, being able to move about, to march forward without slipping and sliding. You know? Some of us24:57 live our lives slipping and sliding. You know? That James Brown thing. Just just be slipping and sliding. You know? Every time we step out, we slip oops. Did it25:09 again. Oops. Did it again. We don't have any clicks on the bottom of our shoes so that we have sure footedness. That's what he means by having25:21 your shoes with the gospel of peace. When you live on truth and you live in righteousness, the25:32 peace of God will guard your hearts. It is the good news of Jesus Christ. Now let's deal with a little theology here. There is the peace with God, and there is the peace of God.25:44 Many of us want the peace of God, you know, that good feeling of peace, before we've understood the peace with God. Peace with God means that God is now25:55 on your side. That's what it means. When you're not a Christian, God is not on your side. The devil is on your side. If you're here today and you don't know Jesus26:07 Christ in the pardoning of your sins, the devil is on your side. But when you come to Jesus Christ, guess what happens? You now have peace with26:19 God. Which means that when you get up in the morning and say, thank you, God, that as I start this horrible day in front of me, you are on my side. When that26:30 happens, the peace of God, that feeling of peace you want, will begin to take over. Because you started with the understanding that today, as you go through this wicked day that you face, and you're gonna face26:42 these wicked family members, and you're gonna face this wicked job that God is on your side. So since you have that, you don't need to pop a pill anymore. You don't need to drink26:53 that get up juice anymore. You don't have to do any of that anymore. Why? Because God is on my side. We went on a cruise, did a ministry cruise, and it was the worst storm that the ship27:05 had ever been in. Worst storm I'd ever been in. 30 foot waves. People throwing up all over the place. You know? My wife got a little upset. She picked up the phone and27:17 wanted to speak to the captain. I ain't never heard nobody doing that before. But she's a little ticked off. She said she said, now what is this man doing? Because see, he could have stayed and waited, but he didn't27:28 wanna wait because he had to get back because they had another load to pick up, you know, so it's financial thing. The money thing. But you know the message that the captain came back27:39 with? He said, this is a bad storm, worst we've ever been in, but don't worry. He said, because you have to understand, when this ship was built, it was built with these kind27:51 of storms in mind. He said, the storm may be bad, but the ship is seaworthy. Your storms in life may be bad, but the peace of God is seaworthy. It can28:03 handle whatever storm you face. The storm is bad, but the ship is seaworthy. Go to bed, because the captain, am gonna stay up.28:16 I, the captain, am gonna stay up. The Bible says, what are you worried about? Go to sleep. Jesus is gonna stay up. He is your peace. I know the bills are high.28:28 Go to sleep. Jesus is gonna stay up, and he you never had accounting firm like him. Arthur Anderson can't compete with him. Jesus is gonna stay up.28:41 You have God is on your side. You say, well, he ain't staying up for me. That's because you don't get dressed. You wanna be a naked saint and wonder why he's not covering you.28:56 God is on your side. Next, take. Take as you need it. Roman soldiers didn't walk around with the shield. They only walked around with the shield when it's29:07 time to fight. Take your shield of faith, now get this 1, with which you will be able to extinguish all the fiery missiles of the evil 1. That's29:19 deep. He says, take the shield of faith. This thing was 4 and a half by 4 and a half. It's a huge thing. It would even cover part of the body of the soldier fighting next to you. So the Roman soldiers would line up body29:30 to body, and they will all be covered because the shield was so broad that it covered the whole group as they marched forward. He says, take your shield of faith. Now why must you take it?29:43 The other 3, you must dress up in every day, all the time. But this 1, you pick up as you need it. What is then the thing that you're picking up? What is the thing that's gonna protect you from everything Satan is ever29:54 gonna throw at you? It is acting on the truth that you said you believed. Believe it. That's the bell of truth.30:07 Act on it as you need it. That's the shield of faith. The shield of faith is when you take the truth that you Amen ed on Sunday and you walk it out on Monday.30:18 Used it earlier. Let me repeat it again. You know, when Joshua fit the battle of Jericho, God says, now I know this is a heavy enemy out here, but I tell you what, I want you to walk around this thing, you know, once a30:28 day for 7 days, on 7 days, walk around 7 times. And God says, and I'll take care of the battle. I will fight the battle for you. Now the argument would have been, but that don't make sense. Absolutely. Now let me tell30:39 you a couple of things about walking around this wall looking like a fool. 1 is it's embarrassing. Sometimes to do it God's way is just downright embarrassing. You know, you can be embarrassed. I'm out out here30:51 looking like a fool. Told Naaman God told Naaman, if you wanna be clean to your leprosy, go dip in the Jordan River 7 times. Jordan River is a dirty old river. I mean, you want me to go as captain of this army with31:03 all these soldiers watching me and dip 7 times? That's embarrassing. And sometimes, the act on what God says, where God is gonna protect you with his shield from what Satan is gonna ask you to do is31:15 downright embarrassing. And sometimes it's dangerous. Can you imagine them walking around the walls of Jericho with the army of Jericho looking down on them? Dangerous. Dangerous to do that.31:28 And yet that's with God. And then sometimes it's just difficult. But you said you wanted a miracle. Do you want a miracle or don't you? You can only get a miracle if you act on the truth31:40 you say you believe. So that's not something you're doing every day because all the time you're not faced with that. But when the devil attacks and God says, this is what to do, do it. We we had a couple I was counseling31:51 the other day, and they were having some marriage problems. And I was talking to the guy. I said, now I know trust me. I just said, trust me. I know this is gonna be hard, but I'm asking you to do, just trust me. Based32:02 on the word of God, he came back to me and said, good God almighty. He said, if just doing that little bit brought this much, tell me some more stuff I can act on.32:15 What the Bible is saying is sometimes it's embarrassing, sometimes it's difficult, but it 'll quench the fiery darts of Satan. Now what's the fiery darts of Satan? Arrows. But not just arrows, arrows with fire. That is,32:25 arrows with flame. Satan wants to shoot fiery darts at us. He hits us with 3, 4, 5 things at a time, knowing if we focus on 1, he can hit us with another. If we focus on that 1, he can hit us with another. Anybody have32:36 any days like that? He just hit me all over the place, and they coming all over the place. And you wanna know, how can I handle all of this? I got a problem with my husband, problem with my child, problem with my32:46 finances, problem with my job. I got attacks coming every which way. How can I extinguish them? Answer, you can, but the shield can. So you act on32:58 what you know, God will be out there with his angelic host as the arrows with fire come on going He'll33:10 put out all the fiery darts of Satan. He will cover. See, you can only maybe hit 1 or 2 things, but you may have 20 things at you. Who's gonna blow out the other 18?33:21 He told Nathaniel, the angels of God come up and down Jesus Christ if you're wearing him. And he'll cover the rest. Next,33:33 the helmet. We're almost through. The helmet. Helmet of salvation. What's the helmet for? The head. 1 of the difficult diseases of our day is Alzheimer's. Why? Because you lose your33:45 mind. Your mind no longer works. And what happens when you lose your ability to process thoughts? You lose your ability to live life. See, when the mind goes, everything else goes.33:57 Football players wear their helmets in order to absorb the shock of the blows on their head. The helmet of salvation. The helmet of salvation,34:09 when you are facing a conflict, to take up your position in Christ rather than simply take up the circumstances that you're facing. We got the poe me34:20 Christian. Woe is me. Why this is wrong? How you doing? Not good. Under the circumstances. Well, get from under there. Listen to me.34:31 Circumstances are bad. I'm not asking you to play like you're not going through a rough time. If you're going through a rough time, say, I'm going through a rough time but to pick up the helmet is to say, even though I'm34:41 going through a rough time, my position in Christ because of my salvation, because of what he has done for me on the cross, he has given me victory over this problem, so I'm gonna34:53 face my circumstances from my victory stance, not from my circumstantial stance. We let circumstances become God. And when circumstances become God, God can't be God.35:06 So put on your helmet. I'm not saying that you're not in a war. I'm not saying Satan is not trying to bust your head wide open. I'm saying the helmet of salvation is something that can absorb the blow. The helmet says,35:16 well, Satan, you you messing with me right now, but let me tell you about my position in Christ. My position in Christ says that I can handle this. My position in Christ says I can do all things through Christ who35:25 strengthens me. My position in Christ says that that Jude 24 and 25, to him who is able keep me from falling. My position in Christ, according to Hebrews chapter 2 8 and 9, is that even35:37 though I don't understand everything, we see Jesus. He says we see Jesus, and I'm a begin to focus on Jesus Christ, and not focus on what you're doing to me. And since you're scared of Jesus, as I focus on him, he's35:48 gonna wipe you out of the neighborhood. I'm gonna pick up my helmet and absorb what you're throwing at me right now. Husband getting on my nerves. Kid's getting on my nerves. Let me put on my helmet and absorb it. I'm35:59 absorb it. I'm not just gonna react. You're getting on my nerve. Let me put on my helmet. Because the helmet says that you have self control. The helmet says you have patience. The helmet says you have endurance. Put on36:11 your helmet. Finally, the word of God. Oh, by the way, Luke 2 30 says that Jesus is our salvation. And now the word of God. And take the36:23 helmet of salvation, and take the sword of the spirit, which is the word of God. It's not a sword sword. This is a dagger sword. This thing is about 10 inches long, needle36:35 like point, sharp on both sides. It'll cut you coming and going. The word of God is sharper than any 2 edged sword, Hebrews 4 12 says. It is the word of36:47 God. It will slice the enemy. It will cut him in 2. Now this is different than truth. Truth refers to the36:59 body of God's truth, the scriptures. But the sword refers to the use of the dagger. 1 deals with the body, the other deals with its utterance, its use.37:11 Many of us walk to church every Sunday with the Bible. We just never get around to using the Bible that we carry. You can own a Bible factory and it never become a sword. You can have37:23 Bible sitting on your coffee table, on your mantelpiece, by your bed, and it never becomes a sword, and it never cuts the devil in half. This is the word rhema that means the37:35 utterance. It has to do with that which is declared. Satan tried to attack Jesus, and Jesus said, it is written. Man shall not live by word37:46 alone. Moses tried to deliver Israel by the sword, but it was the word of God that opened up the Red Sea. Listen to me. Jesus did not37:58 dialogue with the devil. He didn't say, devil, leave me alone. Devil, get off my back. Devil, you're no38:19 Ba ba bop. I mean, he couldn't hang with the word of God. Satan loves to hear you talk to him because he knows your word doesn't have any power. Okay? All quote it with me. To all38:31 beef patties, special sauce, lettuce, cheese, pickles, onions on a sesame seed bun. Let's try it again. To all beef patties, special sauce, lettuce, cheese, pickles, onions on a sesame seed38:42 bun. Now everybody at the same time, second Corinthians chapter 5 verse 17. Hello? Hello? Some of you can38:54 quote a hamburger song who can't quote the word of God. No you're defeated in your life. Some of you knew Burger King commercials and Coke39:06 commercials, Doctor Pepper commercials. You can quote them. You can sing them. But when you're in a pinch, you don't know where to go to in the word of God to cut the devil in half. No wonder you're defeated. If youShow more
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