Bibles turn to Ephesians chapter 6, Ephesians chapter 6, we've spent several weeks studying
the enemy and struggle with that some because it's not an attempt to glamorize the evil
one, to focus us on the evil one, but instead to educate us on the evil one because he's
dark and he's diabolical and he's deadly and he's dirty. Jesus told us in John 10, 10 that
he comes for the only reason, to steal and to kill and to destroy. I'm going to tell you
something, he don't want to give you a headache, he wants to ruin your life. He wants to set
your kids off course, he wants to ruin your marriage, he wants to upset your family, he
wants to weaken your church, he wants to blow your mind. He's not playing, he's dangerous
and dirty and he's not straightforward in how he does it. He's diabolical, he is not hurtful,
he's deadly. It's guerrilla warfare and it's filled with sabotage, filled with subversion.
He'll lie to you. He'll lie to you about you, even in ways that he'll quote scripture to you and
he'll twist and turn that scripture into mistruth or he'll misquote it to you. He'll fill you with
filth and then let you feel justified by it. He prowls around for an opportunity and then roars
as if he's unable to be defeated. And I want to be clear, he hates the gospel.
He hates the gospel and encourages false parodies of the real message of the gospel.
He blinds minds by the loud voices of public opinion, hot trends, current fads. His effort
is the same as it's always been and he fights to make your life worthless. He fights to make
your life baseless. He is at war and his time is limited and he knows it and he's like a wounded
animal. He only comes, it often comes when the devil continues to, it's a hellish battle and we get
weary in it, quite honestly. And that weariness comes sometimes when the devil does those body blows
throughout the normal day. And then there are those days, our scripture today calls it the evil day.
In those days, that's kind of the focus of our passage today. You don't have those days every day, but
somebody is having one today. There's a pain on every pew in this place. I don't know what that is,
but the reality is there's people hurting all around us. And it would help if we knew when those days
were coming because if we did, we'd get ready. Therefore, we have to prepare ourselves for whenever it is.
And when you do that, when you prepare for the bad day, the evil day, the life-changing day, when you
prepare for those rough days, you'll also prepare for the every day. I want you to see this this morning.
Ephesians chapter 6, beginning in verse 13, just verse 13, says, therefore, take up the whole armor of God
that you may be able to withstand in the evil day and having done all to stand firm. The Lord wants us
to stand. Trials are going to come. Battles are going to come. Some of them are going to be nasty.
And we're responsible for this. We didn't talk about exposing the enemy for the last few weeks
to not prepare for the battle. And so we are to resist. Or as the scripture puts it here, we are to
stand. I want to tell you how to stand. We are to stand firmly, firmly. I want to be clear. The battle's
bigger than us. Let us not think that we have the stamina or the spiritual strength to stand in the
valley by ourself against the enemy on our own power. It's not going to happen. It's not in our
strength. Our feet are not going to stay planted. We will slip. We'll fall. We need help. And thank
God the Lord will provide you with all that you need. He'll provide me with all that I need. He'll
provide us with all that we need. We can rely on him because he knows the battle plan. He understands
the enemy. He's stronger and better than the enemy. And it's our responsibility to follow
the Lord's instructions and to come out with victory. However, it is not a light manner.
I'm not speaking of stepping deeper into your Christian faith so you can be with the Christian
elite. I'm not talking about that. I'm talking about warfare, folks. I'm simply talking about winning.
And sometimes winning is pretty and sometimes it's not. But folks, we got to win this.
We got to stand firm. When I, Gideon was challenged by God to take on the Midianites. And I try to say
that carefully because I preached on that one morning and we had a group of builders from the
Mennonite church that attended our congregation that morning. And I kept talking about how we need to
defeat the Midianites. And they got offended by me because I thought I was talking about the Mennonites.
But anyway, he had an army of 32,000. And he told them, if you're scared, on the Lord's instruction,
he said, if you're scared, go home. And 10,000 were left.
I spoke to football teams on Friday afternoon for about 30 years. And when I gave to this story,
I'd always say, men, if you're scared, go home. Tell the coach because you won't amount to anything
on a ball field if you're scared. You won't hold on to the ball. You won't catch the ball.
You won't make the impact. Go home. You're not going to help us. And church, let me tell you
something. If we flinch in the battle, we are not standing firmly and we are susceptible to fall.
Period. There's no excuses. We have to stand firmly. We also have to stand completely,
completely. Take up the whole armor of God. And we'll talk about the pieces of this armor
in the next few weeks, about how the truth holds everything together and how righteousness protects
us, how we need to be ready with the gospel and letting our faith lead and trusting in our salvation.
And we'll talk about the fact that the only offensive weapon that we have is the Word of God.
That's it. The sword of the Word of God. However, I want you to know from the get-go that we don't
need to, we don't cherry pick through the spiritual attributes that we'd like to have. We don't
cherry pick through our strengths. We don't cherry pick through our resources that we're hoping to
lean on. The reality is the army that we represent establishes the battle gear. We strap on what the
commander tells us to strap on and we need to be able to stand in the evil day. Now, when it speaks of
the evil day, it's not talking about the last spiritual battle on earth, it's not talking about
the last day of some apocalyptic battle. It talks about any day regardless. And we don't know when
that day's coming. Remember the strategy of the evil one. If you understand his strategy,
you'll know that he hits when you least expect it.
You got to gird up every day, not just for certain days. And when you do that, you'll be prepared for
when those certain days come along. And he can hit at any time. When I was in seminary, I lived in South
Mississippi and met my wife and we married. And shortly after that, we moved to South Carolina.
And I don't remember, I'm sure they had them, but I don't remember a tornado siren in South Mississippi.
Maybe I was just too busy doing Greek and Hebrew and commuting to New Orleans. I don't know, but I
don't remember that. But when I moved to North Mississippi, they had tornado sirens. And I'd never
heard that before. And so what I was familiar with was a nuclear siren, for instance, you know.
And so when we were in our first storm like that, that siren went off and we had a yard full of trees
and so we got in the car, got the dog in the car, got some sorry weather radio that we bought on sale
and put it in the car, found out how sorry it was during that storm. And we went to the church because
outside of my study was a closet that was made of cinder block and there was no trees around. So we
we hunkered down right in the middle of that facility to watch and see what was going on.
But when we were on our way there, the siren was getting louder and louder and louder. And that was
new to me. I didn't quite understand that. And I thought this tornado is chasing us.
And what I didn't realize is the siren's not hooked to the tornado. It's hooked to the pole that we were
driving near. And as we got closer to the pole, the louder it got. That's how freaked out we were.
My family will freak me out like that. I'm supposed to be the calm one. They panic and get me fired up.
And in the midst of that, in 2011, we had catastrophic storms in our county. Two tornadoes,
12 hours apart, crossed paths with each other, killing people, destroying homes. It was horrible.
And FEMA came in, or as the old boy in the church called her, FEMA, came in. But when he broke his
leg, he said he broke his FEMA. So I think he got mixed up. But anyway, but FEMA came in and said,
if you can buy a storm shelter and we'll pay you back, it was either 75 or 80 percent of the money.
So we went into prayerful discussion of whether the government ever pays you back
and bought a storm shelter, big concrete block made by a septic tank company. Basically,
two septic tanks put on top of each other with a big door inside of it. Basically what it was.
And we put it behind a building in the backyard. And I told my family, I said, I bought that building
so y'all can go out there when the storm comes. Leave me in the house to die. I'd rather die in the house
and be in that box with y'all. So that's...
But in 1936, Tupelo, Mississippi was wiped away. They didn't have sirens.
An F-5 tornado came through and leveled 48 city blocks. Up to a thousand homes were destroyed
and at least 216 people died. Among the survivors was a one-year-old boy named Elvis. Elvis Presley.
Now, what was the difference? An F-5 and no warning. Even when we bought that big old concrete block
and put it in the backyard, they told us, we don't guarantee this against an F-5. They're different.
Two-by-four will go through solid concrete and an F-5. I don't understand that. I'm just
telling you what the salesman told me. I'm sure he was telling the truth.
You can't even completely prepare for that tornado. But if you don't know it's coming,
there's little you can do to prepare yourself and be saved.
And I want you to understand something. I prepared this message two weeks ago in preparation
for last Sunday. Seven o'clock Sunday morning. God changed my tune last Sunday morning and I preached
a different message. I had no idea when I put this image in this slideshow of what we would experience
over the last few days. What North Carolina, looks a lot like that in some cases, would experience.
We had some warning. Not quite three feet of water coming into a valley. That didn't prepare us for
that. I remember seeing 12 to 15 inches. But we had some warning. But Tupelo had no warning.
Didn't know it was coming. And it so devastated that area and they became so familiar with it that it got
their attention. Because tornadoes often go in the same places often. And it's went through tornado.
We lived 15 years in North Mississippi and Tupelo got hit hard at least twice in that amount of time.
Interesting to see how that happens. Let me tell you something. The devil comes rolling through like a tornado
and we don't know when. There's not a siren that goes off.
But we can prepare for it. And the key is to always be ready. He's a prowler and he's a lurker and so he
knows when to hit. He knows when you're on your game. He knows when you're not. He can come at you as a
roaring lion, clawing as he knocks you off your feet. Or he can come as an angel of light,
camouflaged as something good and seductively and luringly lead you away but with a venomous bite.
He'll come after you when you're tired.
He'll come after you when you're depressed.
He'll come after you when you're discouraged. He'll come after you when you're disgruntled.
He'll come after you when you're not feeling good.
We don't have power yet.
We live right here in the city. We don't have power.
We've been picked out about five people that don't have power.
Right there in our little area.
And I am thankful.
I am thankful that I'm not experiencing what so many other people
are experiencing. I am very thankful for that.
But I'm just going to tell you, I heard that generator one too many times.
Yesterday morning. And it just got me.
It just got me. And I began to feel myself
just kind of sinking.
This is getting old.
And I realized
the evil one just
just wants to mess me up
so I can mess other people up
and not be on my game.
It's what he does.
He'll hit you.
When things aren't right.
When it ain't fair.
He'll hit you.
He carefully strategizes.
He customizes his plan of action against us.
He aims at us
at the right time
and the right place
and the right method.
If you don't think you're being watched
you don't need to worry about big brother.
You need to worry about the evil one.
He keeps up with
our weaknesses
and our strengths.
Sees us when we feel like we're too confident.
Knows when we're on guard.
How do you combat that?
Well, you stay ready.
You stay ready with a sense of urgency.
You don't just put pieces of the armor on.
You put the whole armor on.
Not just the helmet.
Not just the mouthpiece.
Not just the padded pants.
You play a ball game
you got to put it all on.
When I was in high school
we had a running back.
Man, that guy could outrun anybody.
If we could just get him to the corner
nobody could beat him down the sidelines.
We were braggadocious.
We were 5-0.
We were ruling the roost
because that boy could run.
Nobody could catch him.
He's a track star.
He was little as he could be.
You couldn't even see him.
But man, he could move the ball.
You could see the ball.
As the season went on
he got popped a few times
and stopped running
and we started losing.
So it kind of changed everything.
But I remember one time he ran
and he got tackled
and his helmet broke.
And the coach said,
Renga!
That's what they called me.
Renga!
So I said,
Well, I'm not a running back
but I'm ready to serve.
I said,
Yes sir.
He said,
Give me your helmet.
The boy can't go out there
with half an outfit.
He's got to have the whole thing.
I won that ball game that night.
Put the whole armor on.
We've got to stand completely, folks.
We've got to stand victoriously.
The scripture says,
Having done all to stand.
That means fully equipped.
That means ready and carrying through.
When the fourth quarter comes
people raise up the four.
You know why?
Because games are won or lost
in the fourth quarter.
You can blow it
or you can win it
in the fourth quarter.
You've got to keep playing.
And if you're in battle,
you've got to keep fighting.
John F. Kennedy,
our 35th president,
was a commissioned naval officer
in World War II.
And in August 1943,
the patrol torpedo boat
that he was in charge of,
PT boat 109,
that he commanded,
was rammed and sunk
by an enemy destroyer
near the Japanese-held
Solomon Islands.
And he and another officer
swam from one enemy-occupied island
to another
looking for friendly islanders.
They finally found some.
They got a message back
to the U.S. forces.
And those in that ship were saved.
It was a heroic act.
And Kennedy was known
as a war hero because of it.
And when they asked him afterwards,
how did you do it?
He said it was involuntary.
They sank my boat.
He had to.
And I'm telling you folks,
listen, child of God,
this ain't an option.
To fail at this
is spiritual treason.
And there are no
participation trophies.
I'm sorry.
1 Corinthians 16, 13, 14
says this.
Be watchful.
Stand firm in your faith.
Act like men.
Be strong.
Let all that you do
be done in love.
Listen, the thief comes
when you least expect it.
So you need to stand firm
in your faith.
You have to trust God.
You have to follow his lead.
The Apostle Paul warned us,
and I've read this passage before,
and I'll read it again.
I think you ought to
hang your hat on it.
1 Corinthians 10, 13,
no temptation has overtaken you
except what's common to man.
You are not an exception
to the rule.
The devil plays the same games
with all of us,
quite honestly.
God is faithful.
He will not let you be tempted
beyond your ability,
but thank God.
But with the temptation,
he'll provide the way of escape
that you may be able
to endure it.
God will step in
if we'll turn to the Lord.
This passage in 1 Corinthians
16, 13, 14 says,
stand firm in your faith.
And then it says,
act like men.
And sadly,
we live in a day
when I need to explain
what that means.
The feminization of America
requires me to be clear,
and I'll probably upset someone.
I'm sorry,
but I'm going to tell the truth.
When Scripture says,
act like men,
it means act like someone
who will protect
what's precious to him.
When it says act like men,
it means act like somebody
who will be courageous
when the enemy comes,
somebody who will be valiant,
somebody who will stand their ground.
And then it goes on
in the next phrase
to say,
be strong.
Don't quit.
We have a lot of males today
that quit.
They quit on their family.
They quit standing
for what is right.
They quit living morally.
They quit having a zeal
for the Lord.
And it's a sad sight to see,
to see somebody
who walked with the Lord faithfully
and just tapered off over time
and now is distant from the Lord
and don't even recognize it.
I meet with men
on Tuesday mornings,
every Tuesday morning
at 6 a.m.
and at 9 a.m.
to basically say,
don't quit.
Men, don't quit.
Don't quit.
You get tired,
I'm tired too,
but don't quit.
Ralph Waldo Emerson
says this,
the hero is no braver
than an ordinary man.
He's just brave
five minutes longer.
You stand until the fight's done.
You don't back up.
Faithful to the end
from this day forward.
Because I want you to remember,
ladies and gentlemen,
you're not fighting for victory.
You're fighting from victory.
Christ has already won.
And because he's won,
we can claim that.
He has,
1 John 4,
verse 4 says,
he who is in you
is greater
than he who's in the world.
And because he's won,
thank God,
your faith in him
will lead us
to victory.
We're to stand victoriously.
Lastly,
we're to stand gloriously.
How do you stand?
You put the whole armor on.
What a powerful statement
that armor is.
It's like a military man
dressed in dress blues,
but yet still ready for battle.
The armor reeks of power.
The Apostle Paul
is who penned these words,
and he's intimately aware
of the Roman army.
He was chained
to a Roman guard in prison.
He knows what they wear.
He knows that they represent,
at the time,
the greatest army of the world.
He knows that they dominated
the known world for a time.
Their reputation
went before them.
Roman soldiers
had the respect
not only of their own citizens,
they had the respect
of the rest of the world.
Their military army
was not wasteful.
It was not inconsistent.
It didn't waver.
The authority
of all the empire
was represented
by the armor
of the Roman soldier.
But folks,
we're not talking
about the power
of the Roman army
in our situation.
We're not talking
about the prestige
of the Roman army
in our situation.
We're not talking
about the reputation
of the Roman army
in our situation.
We are,
I am telling us
to stand
in the strength
of the strongest army
in the known world
for a season.
We're talking about
putting on
the full armor of God.
You want to stand
in the might of God?
You want to stand
victorious for the Lord?
You want the power
of God working
through your lives
to win the daily battles,
to deal with
the daily struggle,
to fight all hell
when temptation hits,
when difficulty comes,
when worldliness seeps in?
If we do that,
then we're to put on
not the mighty armor
of Rome,
but the glorious,
almighty,
ever victorious armor
of a living Lord
who came and lived
and died on a cruel cross
and rose again
so that we could stand
gloriously in the midst
of spiritual battles
we face.
I'm telling you
we ought to gloriously
stand for the Lord.
1 Peter 5,
9 through 11,
I've leaned on a lot
the last few weeks.
I've shared it a lot
and I don't apologize
for that.
Resist Him.
Firm in your faith
and after you've suffered
a little while
the God of all grace
who's called you
to His eternal glory
in Christ,
listen to what He'll do
for you.
with Himself restore,
will Himself restore,
confirm,
strengthen,
and establish you.
To Him
be dominion
forever and ever.
Amen.
How do we stand
victorious?
Only in Christ.
And when we turn
that over to the Lord,
whatever it is, folks,
I'm not making light
of it.
I know in your life
it may be very serious,
it may be very weighty,
it may be very difficult
to deal with.
There are beat down,
shackled people
in this room.
I don't know who you are,
but I know how
the evil one is.
And I'm telling you,
whatever that is,
turn that over
to the Lord
and we win.
Revelation 12, 11
says that we'll conquer
Satan by the blood
of the Lamb
and by the word
of the testimony.
Stand firm
in the Lord.
Not just in the major battles,
not just when
all is on the line,
not just when you feel
an added weight.
Stand firm
in the Lord daily.
Stand firm
in the Lord
right now.
Stand firm
when you leave
this place.
Stand firm
when you feel
like you're alone.
Stand firm
when Monday
hits you right
in the face.
Stand firm
when your pet sin
that you've been
nursing creeps back in.
Stand
for the Lord.
2 Corinthians
2 verse 15
through 17
says this.
So then brothers,
stand firm
and hold
to the traditions
that you were
taught by us
either by our
spoken word
or by our letter.
In other words,
the word of God.
Now may our Lord
Jesus himself
and God our Father
who loved us
and gave us
eternal comfort
and good hope
through grace
comfort your hearts
and establish
in every good
work
and word.
May God
lead us
and may we
stand with Christ
and be victorious
gloriously
not for our honor
but for
his honor.
With every head bowed
and every eye closed,
I want to ask you today,
has there ever been
a time in your life
when you've surrendered
your life
to the Lord Jesus Christ.
He's asking
to forgive you
of your sins
and to come into
your life
and to change you
and you've committed
your life to Christ.
Seven people
we baptized this morning
have all committed
their life to Christ.
Surrender to the Lord.
That's the only way
you're going to have
strength to fight
the battles
in which you do.
The devil will try
his best to deceive you
to keep you
from making a commitment
to Christ.
You can't live up to it.
Well,
he's right.
You can't live up to it
but thank God
by the blood of the Lamb
he gives us the strength to.
You surrender your life
to the Lord today
and he'll give you
victory in your life.
Maybe you're here
and you have done that
and you never acknowledge
the Lord through baptism.
Every time we baptize people
it leads somebody else
to do the same.
Jesus by his commission
and by his example
told us
that we're to proclaim
our faith
through baptism.
It's a first step
of obedience
for a believer.
If you've never been baptized
you come.
I'll talk to you about that
we'll line that up.
Maybe God's leading you
to First Baptist Church.
God's doing a wonderful work
in our church
and I thank God for that.
God's drawing you
I encourage you
to just respond.
I'll guide you
in that process.
Maybe you're here
and you're just shackled
you're just burdened.
You just got stuff going on.
You're having trouble standing.
I want you to know
we're here today
to encourage you
to call upon the Lord
and let him hold you up.
We can be victorious.
We can get through this
and I encourage you
to follow the Lord Jesus.
Do exactly what
he's told you to do.
I don't know
what God's speaking to you about
but I encourage you
to simply be obedient
and do exactly
what he tells you to do.
Nothing more
or nothing less
and he'll be honored
and he'll be pleased
and he'll give you
the strength to do
exactly what he's told you to do.
Lord Jesus I love you
and I thank you
for these dear people.
I ask that you'll move
and you'll work right now
and help us to follow
your lead
in everything that you tell us to.
Give us a courage
that's beyond ourselves dear God.
Be clear to us
in what you'd have us to do
and give us the strength
to do it Father I pray
in Jesus precious name.
Amen.
Stand together.