[0:00] Oh yes. So Alex is going to be speaking from Ephesians chapter 6.
[0:14] And if you have the Red Church Bibles, it's on page 1177. 1177. And I'll read and Alex can come up then. We're going to start at verse 10.
[0:32] And we'll finish then at verse 18. Ephesians chapter 6 verse 10. Finally, be strong in the Lord and in His mighty power.
[0:46] Put on the full armor of God so that you can take your stand against the devil's schemes. For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world, and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms.
[1:04] Therefore, put on the full armor of God so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground. And after you have done everything, to stand. Stand firm then with the belt of truth buckled round your waist, with the breastplate of righteousness in place, and with your feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace.
[1:26] In addition to all this, take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.
[1:41] And pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests. With this in mind, be alert and always keep on praying for all the saints.
[1:53] Thanks, Alex. I love the way the angels are applauding already.
[2:11] The reading of God's word, not what I'm going to say in the... So, I didn't get to see the new Power Rangers movie.
[2:23] But I too wanted superhero powers, superpowers. As a child, I wanted to have an invisible cloak, or at least the power to make myself invisible.
[2:40] I would imagine sneaking around the house, or escaping from trouble, or sneaking up on my brother and sister to try and scare them. If I was a superhero, I'd like to be Superman.
[2:54] With the extra superpower of invisibility. Actually, maybe come to think of this, maybe the best superpower wouldn't be invisibility, but invincibility.
[3:07] Would you like to be invincible? Would you like to be invincible? To be able to withstand the greatest trials of life?
[3:19] To have your arch nemesis blast you with kryptonite and still survive unscathed? To be able to survive any battle, or opposition, or sickness.
[3:31] To be able to live forever. To be invincible. Well, unlike being a superhero, which Connor is actually impossible, invincibility is possible.
[3:46] Our passage this morning is going to show us how we can be invincible. As we know, we all enter the world completely helpless, totally dependent on someone to care for us, usually our parents.
[4:04] We are small and fragile and vulnerable. Vulnerable to any attack from either the weather, or a person, or disease. Even gravity causes us problems at some stage.
[4:17] As we grow up into adults, we continue to be vulnerable. Even if we get strong and fit and healthy, we remain vulnerable, because no matter how strong, or how fit, or how healthy we get, we will eventually die.
[4:35] That's pretty gloomy, isn't it? Well, maybe perhaps we will get weak, and old, and slow, and our health will deteriorate.
[4:46] And then we will die. It is gloomy. It's not very superhero-ish. But it's also true.
[4:57] Back in Genesis chapter 2, verse 17, God said to Adam, the first man, not to eat from a certain tree in the garden that God had provided for him. For as God said, when you eat from it, you will surely die.
[5:12] As we know from the story, the serpent came along and said, you'll not surely die. For God knows that when you eat, your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.
[5:26] So right from the start, we have seen a battle between Satan, the serpent, and God. Good versus evil.
[5:39] The life we were given versus the death we have chosen through our rebellion and through our sin. You see, invincibility was what we were created for.
[5:51] I don't think I need to tell you the effects of this rebellion are still being felt. Death comes to us all.
[6:04] In the meantime, life is hard. There's a battle going on. John MacArthur, in his commentary on the New Testament, says that the Christian life is a battle.
[6:18] It's warfare on a grand scale. Because when God begins to bless, Satan begins to attack. That's what happened in the garden with Adam and Eve.
[6:30] God blessed and Satan began to attack. Jesus himself, at the beginning of his ministry on earth, had a 40-day battle with Satan in the wilderness.
[6:42] The end of his earthly ministry in the Garden of Gethsemane, Satan had another go at him, to the extent that Jesus was sweating drops of blood. Here in Ephesians, the Ephesian church also had its problems.
[6:59] Now we could say on one hand that Jesus' problem was that the Jews wanted to kill him. But actually the real battle was much bigger than that. This battle was on a cosmic scale.
[7:11] This was Satan's big move. His opportunity to dethrone Jesus as king. Now rather than getting bogged down in the minutiae of Ephesians today, and get bogged down in the issues of the occult and church unity, which were the issues, and there was other issues going on in the Ephesian church at the time.
[7:30] But today, let's broadly say that the Ephesians too had their battles, and it was ultimately Satan and his schemes at work.
[7:43] Let's open up God's word. Ephesians chapter 6, verse 10 through to 18. It's on page 1177. Ephesians chapter 6, on page 1177.
[7:55] So, look there at verse 11 if you would. Put on the full armour of God, so that you can take your stand against the devil's schemes.
[8:14] Paul calls for them, for the Ephesians, for the believers in Ephesus, to stand against the devil's schemes. Well, how would you feel about going to war against the devil?
[8:30] It's a daunting prospect, isn't it? I don't think I could do it with sword and shield, or even hand grenades and machine guns, for that matter. Paul isn't trying to overwhelm us here with dismay, but rather to encourage us.
[8:44] Our job isn't to go to war, but rather to stand firm. Also, there is an encouragement in 2 Chronicles, chapter 20, verse 15.
[8:56] You can just listen. It's short. This is what the Lord says to you. Do not be afraid or discouraged because of this vast army, for the battle is not yours, but God's.
[9:09] Paul starts this passage with the word, finally. It's a call to sit up and listen. All that he has been saying in the previous five chapters has been leading to this point.
[9:25] These are his parting words to the believers, and so they must be important. It brings all that he has been saying together. So we would do well to sit up and listen up.
[9:35] Back in Ephesians, chapter 1, he begins the letter by giving thanks to God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in Christ.
[9:50] He's speaking to the believers in Ephesus, and so this message is also for us in every Christ-following church. He continues in chapter 1, verse 4, that we are chosen, predestined, and adopted as God's children.
[10:07] We were lavished with his grace, redeemed and forgiven, given the mystery of his will. We are receivers of an inheritance. We've been sealed with the Holy Spirit, and going on in chapter 2, we are greatly loved by God.
[10:21] We have been made alive with new life, created by him for doing good works, and we've been given God's own peace. The list goes on, reminding them of the blessings that they have as saints or as followers of Jesus, the guarantee that they have been made citizens of God's kingdom and are members of his family.
[10:44] Chapter 3 explains that access has been given to God the Father. They have been made powerful beyond their imagination through him, through Christ. They are individually and uniquely gifted by the Christ, in chapter 4.
[10:59] Blessed with gifted leaders to equip them in ministry work, given a new self in God's holy likeness. They have been made light in the darkness, in chapter 5.
[11:11] Offered the fullness of the Holy Spirit, given the resources and instructions to make all relationships with others what God intends them to be. And finally, we come to today.
[11:24] Here in chapter 6, they are given God's full armour to make them invincible against Satan and his demonic forces. Verse 10, Finally, be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power.
[11:41] Or as other versions say, be strengthened by the Lord. It is the Lord who strengthens us. It is only with his strength that we can fight the opposition or stand firm against him.
[11:53] The battles we face are real and daily. We might have health battles. We might have mental health battles. We might have relational battles.
[12:06] We might have marital battles. We might have work battles, personal battles like self-confidence issues or self-esteem. Look at verse 12.
[12:16] For our struggle is not against flesh and blood but against the rulers, against the authorities and against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms.
[12:29] So, our real battles of flesh and blood are not to be underestimated.
[12:40] They are real. But Paul is saying here that our battles are even bigger on a cosmic scale. They are against the rulers and authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms who are fighting for our very souls.
[12:57] This battle is the devil wanting your soul. Now, I realise that to keep going with the superhero theme, I realise that this sounds like something out of Star Wars.
[13:09] Cosmic forces and spiritual battles. So, maybe we just need a lightsaber and the force to help us out. Well, that's not what Paul is saying. This battle, as we've seen, is not a physical battle but it's a bigger battle of the mind.
[13:26] So, to be ready for battle we must be ready in our minds. By putting on the armour of God we are able to stand firm in the battle. With God's armour we are invincible.
[13:38] No power of darkness, no scheme of the devil, no spiritual force of evil can penetrate us with God's armour on. Who wants invincibility?
[13:50] Well, follow with me as we continue to learn how to stand firm in his armour with his power. Verse 13, therefore, put on the full armour of God so that when the day of evil comes you may be able to stand your ground and after you have done everything to stand.
[14:14] His armour protects when we put it on and take it up and helps us to stand firm. So, Paul says we need to put on put on the belt of truth.
[14:31] Verse 14, stand firm then with the belt of truth buckled round your waist with the breastplate of righteousness in place. Paul wrote this letter in a Roman prison and so as he was surrounded by Roman soldiers maybe as he was looking at the soldiers and what they were wearing maybe that was the inspiration for this imagery.
[14:55] Roman soldiers always wore a tunic an outer garment that served as his main clothes. It was a large square piece of material with holes cut out for the head and the arms and it was hung loosely over the soldier's body.
[15:10] In battle most combat was hand to hand and so a loose tunic was dangerous so it could be grabbed or cut easily. So before battle the soldier would carefully pull up his loose bits of material and tuck them into his big leather belt to stay safe.
[15:30] This is where we get the term girding up your loins. Girding up your loins means to be ready. The soldier who was serious about fighting was sure to secure his tunic with his belt.
[15:41] Be ready. But it's the belt of truth that we are to prepare ourselves with. The belt of truth it's the content of God's truth.
[15:53] It's essential for the believer in their battle against the schemes of Satan. The false schemes of Satan like when he tempted Jesus in the wilderness. They can only be successfully encountered with the truth of the word of God.
[16:09] And we'll be looking at that again later. Next Paul tells us to put on the breastplate of righteousness.
[16:23] Stand firm then 14 with the belt of truth buckled round your waist with the breastplate of righteousness in place. The breastplate of righteousness.
[16:35] No Roman soldier would ever go into battle without his breastplate. It was a heavy sleeveless piece of either linen or leather that would cover his whole torso. Onto it were sewn overlapping slices of animal hooves or horns or pieces of metal a little bit like a suit of armour for the torso.
[16:56] Its purpose I hope was obvious it was to protect the heart and lungs intestines and other vital organs. In ancient Jewish thinking the heart represented the mind and the will.
[17:11] The bowels were considered the seat of emotions and feelings. The mind and emotions are the two areas where Satan most fiercely attacks believers. He tries to create in us a certain worldview a sinful environment by which he tempts us to think wrong thoughts and feel wrong emotions.
[17:32] He wants to flood our minds with false doctrines with false truths false information just to confuse us. He also wants to confuse our emotions and thereby pervert our affections morals loyalties goals and commitments.
[17:52] He wants to take God's word from our minds and replace it with his own perverse ideas. He wants to take our pure living and replace it with immorality with greed with envy with hate and selfishness addiction pornography and every other kind of vice.
[18:11] He wants us to laugh at sin rather than repent of it or even mourn over it. He wants us to rationalize it and make it okay rather than to confess it and bring it to the Lord for forgiveness.
[18:24] He seduces us to become so immune to sin in and around us that it no longer bothers us. Put on the breastplate of righteousness. Don't let these things happen to you.
[18:37] Put on the breastplate of righteousness. Righteousness is to be taken and wrapped around us like the breastplate protecting our hearts and our minds. Righteousness.
[18:49] What do I mean by that? Well let me start by saying what I don't mean. I don't mean self-righteousness. This is not righteousness at all but it's seen at its very worst.
[19:01] Self-righteousness is the kind of righteousness that thinks that our own character or our own behaviour or accomplishments please God and will bring his reward. Nothing you can do can make God love you more than he already does.
[19:18] Self-righteousness will actually keep a believer out of the glorious power of fellowship with God and it will keep an unbeliever out of his kingdom.
[19:32] When I say righteousness neither do I mean imputed righteousness. Big word. Imputed. What does that mean? Let me try and explain. Imputed righteousness is the righteousness that God applies to every Christian's account the moment they follow him.
[19:52] Let me say that again. Imputed righteousness is the righteousness that God applies to every Christian's account the moment they follow him. 2 Corinthians chapter 5 21 says that God made Christ who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf that we might become the righteousness righteousness of God in him.
[20:19] So our imputed righteousness is what God gives us. We cannot put on what God has already given us. God's imputed righteousness is the basis of our Christian life and our Christian living.
[20:35] It protects us from hell but it does not in itself protect us from Satan in this present life. The breastplate of righteousness that we put on as spiritual armour against our adversary is the practical righteousness of a life lived in obedience to God's word.
[20:57] So to try and summarise to put on the breastplate of righteousness is to live daily moment by moment obedience to our heavenly father. power. This part of God's armour is holy living for which God supplies the standard and the power but for which we must supply the willingness.
[21:19] God himself puts on our imputed righteousness but we must put on our practical righteousness. Verse 15 whatever sport or activity these days there is always special footwear to make the task more comfortable safer and practical.
[21:49] Likewise a soldier's footwear was also important because very often his very life would depend on it as he walked or marched on dusty roads or over jagged rocks or through rivers or thorns a soldier whose feet were blistered or cut or swollen could not fight well and may not even be able to stand up to defend himself.
[22:14] A Roman soldier's shoes or boots were made tough and durable for these very reasons but they were also impregnated with little bits of metal or nails so that they would have better grip as they climbed slippery surfaces and greater stability as they fought.
[22:30] A Christian's spiritual footwear is just as important. If we have put on the belt of truth and the breastplate of righteousness but not fitted our feet with the preparation of the gospel of peace we are destined to stumble fall or slip and suffer many defeats.
[22:51] The gospel of peace is the truth that in Christ we are now at peace with God and are one with him. So when our feet are ready with the gospel of peace we stand with the confidence of God's love for us, his union with us and his commitment to fight for us.
[23:14] The believer who stands in the Lord's power need not fear any enemy, not even Satan himself. When the attack comes our feet are rooted firmly on the solid ground of the gospel of peace.
[23:29] This gospel was once our enemy when it separated us from God but has become our defender because now Jesus has taken our place and we are protected by a loving heavenly father.
[23:45] We who were once his enemies are now his children and he offers us his full resources to be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power.
[23:57] So having put on the armor that protects we are now tasked with taking up, being active.
[24:11] Whereas the belt, the breastplate and the shoes were armor that never came off while on the battlefield, the shield, the helmet and the sword on the other hand were always kept ready for use when actually fighting.
[24:25] Let's look at verse 16. In addition to all of this, take up the shield of faith with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one.
[24:38] Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the spirit which is the word of God. There are two types of shields that the Roman soldiers used.
[24:49] One was a small round one about two feet in diameter strapped to one arm to deflect swords when in hand-to-hand combat. The other shield is the one we are talking about here. It was one big sheet of wood about four and a half feet high and about two and a half feet wide.
[25:07] It was designed to protect the whole body of the soldier who was considerably smaller than the average man is today. The shield was made of wood and covered with either metal or heavily soaked leather.
[25:20] They were carried in the front lines of that battle and stood side by side and overhead to make a wooden wall which could have been up to a mile wide. Behind this wall of shields the archers would shoot their arrows and would slowly advance on the enemy behind this safe wall.
[25:43] Anyone behind the walls of shields were protected also from arrow attack. Very often they would be shot at with arrows whose tips had been soaked and wrapped in pieces of cloth soaked in tar like in a tar like substance and set alight.
[26:01] The purpose was to maximize damage by having the flame burn and spread and splatter onto the soldiers. However, with these big shields the arrows would be either deflected or extinguished.
[26:15] So we are to take up this great big shield of faith which can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. turn back with me for a minute back to chapter 3 verse 16.
[26:35] I pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you with power through his spirit in your inner being so that Christ may dwell in your heart through faith.
[26:48] And I pray that you being rooted and established in love may have power together with all the saints to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of God.
[27:04] And to know this love that surpasses knowledge that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God. Faith. Faith.
[27:15] The shield of faith. The faith in this letter is the openness, the willingness to God that allows Christ to dwell in us and brings in us a deeper grasp of his unfathomable love.
[27:33] The flaming arrows that Paul writes about could be anything from direct occult attack to devilish persecution. And that's what was happening in Ephesus. But for us in our context, currently it's most likely to be the steady rain of temptations, fear, bitterness, anger, and division that could break up the unity of the church or any family or societal unit.
[28:00] These arrows that are being fired at us are to be countered with faith. Taking up the shield is a deliberate and a positive act, holding on to the God revealed in the gospel.
[28:16] dependent on the Lord. Holding on to the God revealed in the gospel, dependent on the Lord, no matter what.
[28:28] He is the Lord who extinguishes the fiery arrows of the enemy attempting to spread harm and spread panic and division. Next is the helmet.
[28:41] helmet. I hope the helmet is straightforward. It protects the head and the face. The fact that the helmet is related to salvation indicates that Satan's blows are directed at the believer's security and assurance in Christ.
[28:59] In the same way that a helmet would protect a soldier from the blows of the enemy in battle, the helmet of salvation suggests that the blows that come from Satan's double-edged sword are that of discouragement and doubt.
[29:14] Satan discourages us by pointing out our failures, our sins, our unresolved problems, our poor health, or whatever else seems to be negative in our lives in order to make us lose confidence and to doubt in the love and care of our heavenly father.
[29:36] If we are believers this morning, our salvation is secure if we are in Christ. The final piece of armour is the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.
[29:55] Turn back with me to chapter 6, verse 17. Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.
[30:09] the word of God is a spiritual weapon to be used as a defensive weapon in our struggle against spiritual enemies. It needs to be handled well to be most effective.
[30:22] It can only deflect an attack when it is handled with precision and skill. Hebrews 4, 12, describes the word like this. When Jesus was tempted by Satan in the wilderness, he defended himself from each temptation with a passage of scripture that precisely contradicted the devil's word.
[30:53] You can see that in Matthew 4. Here's a challenge to us. If we don't know God's word well, we can't use it well. Satan's only just looking for an excuse.
[31:07] He's only looking for areas of weakness where we are either ignorant or confused and he'll attack us there. The Bible isn't a broad sword to be waved around indiscriminately but it's a sharp dagger to be used with great precision.
[31:22] I just want to pause on that point for a minute because September is just around the corner. There's a new term ahead. It's an opportunity to get into new habits and new routines.
[31:33] So another challenge. How about prioritizing the word of the spirit in your life? How about equipping ourselves well to know God's word well so that we can use it well?
[31:48] Here's a few suggestions. Commit to daily Bible reading to get a daily diet of God's word. You can read the Bible or you can listen to it on audio Bibles.
[32:03] How about committing to meeting up with another believer every week, every other week, just regularly? Spending half an hour reading and discussing scripture together?
[32:16] how about committing to joining or rejoining a midweek Bible study or home group as we call them? Prioritize God's word and getting to know it well so that we can handle it well.
[32:35] Maybe some of you have been considering studying the Bible in a more systematic way. Maybe Munster Bible College is something that you'd be interested in.
[32:48] Either way, commit to prioritizing knowing God's word well so that we are equipped to handle it well when the attacks of the devil come. Verse 18.
[33:04] Prayer is the closing theme of Ephesians and even though it is closely related to God's armor here, it shouldn't be regarded as another weapon because prayer is much more than that.
[33:32] While we are standing firm with all the armor at hand, we are to be in prayer. It isn't something that we add on when all else fails. Prayer must be the air that the soldier of Christ breathes.
[33:47] It's not an accident that prayer is here at the end of the letter. It's not an accident that it's the crescendo of the letter. We started by looking at chapter 1 verse 3.
[34:00] Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ who has blessed us in the heavenly realms with every spiritual blessing in Christ. And then we went through the whole letter looking at that big long list of blessings.
[34:13] We are chosen, predestined, adopted, lavished with his grace. Do you remember that list? And now we've arrived here at the crescendo. It would be easy for us, well me at least, to become quite arrogant with a list of blessings like that because I'm a believer, that list applies to me, so I am all those things.
[34:42] I could take the attitude that I'm redeemed and forgiven. Great, I can do what I want. Or to say, well I'm adopted as God's child.
[34:56] Brilliant, I can treat him as badly as I want, because I'm a child, I still get the inheritance. We need to be careful with attitudes like that.
[35:07] When we read Ephesians, that we don't fall into Satan's trap of making us think of ourselves and how blessed we are, rather than looking to the one who gives us the blessings.
[35:19] We need to be careful not to think how adequate we are in ourselves and lose the sense of dependence on God. And turn that then into praise and to prayer.
[35:32] The letter starts in chapter 1 by looking up at the heavenlies, but Paul brings us, Paul finishes the letter by bringing us down on our knees.
[35:45] We must not fall into the trap of thinking that because we have all these resources and blessings that we can do this Christian life without God's help. God's armour is not mechanical or magical.
[35:57] We can't just pick it up and expect it to produce supernatural feats in battle time. Our divine gifts, our gifts from God, amazing as they are, are useless without God.
[36:08] We need his help. And this comes through prayer. Pray in the spirit on all occasions, with all kinds of prayers and requests.
[36:19] With this in mind, be alert and always keep on praying for all the saints. the three alls here. All occasions, all kinds of prayers and requests and for all the saints.
[36:38] Praying in the spirit on all occasions is simply encouraging an attitude of prayer as we go about our day to be talking to God, making prayer part of our everyday activity.
[36:51] For example, when we are tempted, we hold the temptation up before God and ask for his help. When we experience something good and beautiful, we thank the Lord for it.
[37:02] When we see evil around us, we pray that God would make it right and be willing to be used by him to do so. When we meet someone who doesn't know Christ, we pray for God to draw that person to himself by his spirit and also maybe to use us to be a faithful witness.
[37:22] When we encounter trouble, we turn to God as our deliverer. All kinds of requests and prayers. They can be both general and specific prayers, like the ones I've just listed.
[37:36] They are in line with God's will and nature and word, so we don't keep asking for a Porsche to arrive at our door. In line with God's will and nature and word.
[37:48] prayer. And we pray for all the saints. We can all be guilty of neglecting prayer in our lives. I know I can, especially when life seems to be going pretty okay for us.
[38:01] Well, in light of the battle that we've been looking at here, we can be assured that there is always someone who needs the Lord's help to put on his full armor, even if our life is currently a bed of roses.
[38:15] Pray for each other. pray for each other in the battle. As followers of Jesus, we will be devoted to the welfare of others, especially fellow believers.
[38:28] If we are too consumed with our own battles, even if they're spiritual battles, and not concerning ourselves with others, we will suffer from a destructive self-centeredness. This can lead to isolation from other believers, who if they were intimately involved in fellowship with us, would be regularly praying for our spiritual welfare.
[38:51] When Satan attacks, it's foolish to try and do battle alone. A soldier on guard who sees the enemy approaching doesn't run out and start fighting by himself. What does he do?
[39:02] He reports back to the commanding officer, who then in turn organizes the defense. If we are under attack, report it to the Lord, our commanding officer, and he will organize the troops.
[39:17] In general, God uses his word, his spirit, and his people to accomplish his plans. So trust others to help in the battle, but first run to him in prayer.
[39:35] For those of us who like our own company and the solitude of a quiet life, if there is a battle going on in our lives, it is foolish to try and do battle alone. So be careful.
[39:52] Our fellowship with God is not meant to wait till we are in heaven. God's greatest desire and our greatest need is to be in constant fellowship with him now.
[40:05] There is no greater expression or experience of fellowship than prayer. Praying in the spirit is simply to pray in Jesus name, to pray consistent with his nature and his will.
[40:18] It is to line up our minds and desires with God's mind and his desires. As I conclude, be strong in the Lord, be strengthened in the Lord, so that you can stand firm against the enemy, the devil, and his schemes.
[40:37] Have you noticed the implication of these words? The blessings and benefits I listed earlier, the promise of going into battle invincible, knowing that God has already won the ultimate victory, through Jesus conquering death, this is such great news for those who are in Christ.
[40:59] This victory and this promise is not for those who don't know him. If you don't know Jesus as the Lord of your life, you don't have the security of this help in times of battle.
[41:14] You don't have the assurance of 2 Chronicles 2015, where the Lord says, do not be afraid or discouraged because of this vast army, for the battle is not yours but God's.
[41:27] Battles will come. Will you stand with the Lord or fight it yourself? If you don't know Jesus as Lord of your life, there is reason to fear. The battle is real, as we've seen.
[41:42] How will you stand firm if not with God and his help? If you do know Jesus as Lord, how do you treat him when the heat is on? Do you run to him and throw on the armor he offers or do you run out and take on the enemy on your own?
[41:58] this morning, wherever you are, I plead with you to run to Jesus. We can't survive the battles of life without him.
[42:12] Cast your cares on the Lord and he will sustain you. He will never let the righteous fall. Let's pray.
[42:23] Lord, thank you for the surety of your word. Thank you that in Christ we need not fear because you have won the ultimate battle for us.
[42:41] We need not fear death anymore. Thank you for the gift of every spiritual blessing when we are in Christ.
[42:51] thank you that you greatly love us and that your gifts make us new. Lord, help us to root ourselves in truth, to put on righteousness, to be ready with the gospel of peace.
[43:11] Help us to be obedient. Help us to live holy lives. Help us to put on the shield of faith, remembering you and your goodness in the trials of life.
[43:29] Give us a love and a passion for the word of God. Help us to commit to putting things in place this next term that will help us to know your word well.
[43:42] And Lord, give us a passion for prayer, that we would see it as the best fellowship with you as we pray and unburden our souls to you, asking for your help and claiming the truths of scripture for ourselves.
[44:01] And we pray all of this in Jesus' name. Amen. Our final song, I think I've said it a couple of times. I've used this phrase a couple of times in what I've been saying.
[44:19] The song is in Christ alone. No power of heaven is not in the world. I've been in the world. I've been in the world. I've been in the world.
[44:31] I've been in the world. I've been in the