The Church of Eleven22 - Stand Firm - Stand Firm & Act Like Men: Wk 3

Episode Date: November 2, 2025

We are not called to sit on the sidelines—we are called to stand firm. Week 3 of Stand Firm and Act Like Men calls men to rise up and hold the line—not in their own strength, but in the strength of the Lord. The enemy’s mission is clear: to steal, kill, and destroy everything and everyone we love. But God has equipped us with truth, righteousness, peace, faith, salvation, His Word, and prayer—the full armor we need to fight for our families, our marriages, and the next generation. When you stand firm in your faith, you become the gatekeeper of your home and a warrior for God’s kingdom. Are you ready to fight for what matters most? 📣 Episode Mentions: Scripture Passage: 1 Corinthians 16:13-14, Ephesians 6:10-20 Preacher: Pastor Joby Martin 📌 Supplemental Resources From This Week: The Armor of God: A Father, a Fighter, a Faithful Man - Huck's Story Stand Firm - Stand Firm & Act Like Men: Wk 3 (Full Sermon)  When Men Stand, Families Flourish - Deepen with Pastor Joby Martin 224E3 Stand Firm and Act Like Men Sermon Series    Deepen with Pastor Joby Martin  About The Church of Eleven22 The Church of Eleven22® is a movement for all people to discover and deepen a relationship with Jesus Christ. Eleven22 is led by Pastor Joby Martin and based in Jacksonville, Florida, with multiple campuses throughout Jacksonville and the surrounding areas. To support this ministry and help us continue to reach people all around the world click here: http://coe22.com/donate

How about that? Who's ready to learn how to fight? You ready? If you got your Bibles, I hope you do. Let's go to Ephesians, Chapter 6 is where I'm gonna end up. We're in week three of this series, stand firm and act like men. And what we're really gonna talk about is fighting.

Before we do that, would you join me in welcoming our newest campus to 1122 that this weekend, we open up our campus in St. Augustine. Can you welcome St. Augustine to the family, praise God, amen. Amen. Amen. Yeah, we found an old save a lot.

That's where the campus is. How about that? That's what we pray happens. God saves a lot of people down there in St. Augustine. Well, we're in week three, in each one of these weeks kind of build on one another. You remember our core verse is 1st Corinthians, chapter 16, verse is 13 and 14. It says this, be watchful, stay firm to the faith, act like men, be strong, let all that you do be done in love. And again, I've said this before, that the hub of the middle of the wheel is act like men,

but you don't have to guess what it means to act like a man, that the Bible's going to tell us that the first week we said, okay, remember, if you are a man that was God's idea, you don't have to apologize for that. You need to step into manhood, and we had to ask the question, what went wrong? And the answer is sin went wrong. That God gave every man, worked to enjoy,

a woman to love, and a will to obey, and then sin has infected and affected every single one of those. And if you want to stand up and act like a man, you must first bend your need to the God man, Jesus Christ. That's what led us off. Then last week, we said that we need to be watchful. That's a military term. That means that we are on watch because the enemy is trying to take us out.

And if he can take out the provider and the protector, if he can take out the defender, then by definition, there is a group of people that are left defenseless. Which leads to this week where the Bible says, stand firm in the faith. Stand means to fight. Like to stand up, stand your ground. to take a stand, that's what it means.

And so, men, I'm calling us to fight. I hope you're ready for this. Some of you, you're like, finally, you like to fight. Some of you are nervous. That's all right. You'll get over it, okay? AW Toza says, the most important thing about you is what you think when you think about God.

I think he's primarily talking about God the Father. The most important thing about you is what you think when you think about God. Like, if you think God is distant, then you'll probably live a distant life. If you think God is mad at you, then you'll always try to perform. If you think God has just come kind of sky fairy,

sprinkling pixie dust on you, you'll do whatever you want. But if you think God is a sovereign judge who was a good dad who loves you, then you will act rightly, okay? I want to shift it just a little bit and ask you this question. What do you think when you think about Jesus? Because some people have the wrong view of Jesus. Some people, because of terrible art from the 15 and 1600s, when you think about Jesus, you think about this.

this wimpy, weak, little effeminate Danish guy with blonde hair, straight, no split ends. I don't know if you've been to the Middle East, not a lot of blonde hair, pasty dudes there. It's not in their gene pool. You think he's wearing like a bathrobe with a Miss America sash? It's got a British accent, and he's petting a sheep.

Going, hello, I'm Jesus. And if that's who you think Jesus was, two thousand years ago walking around on earth, you have a terrible view of who Jesus was. He was a carpenter's son. One day he made a whip. He walked into the temple. He flipped over the tables.

That he had the power to talk to the wind and the waves and they had to do what he said. Now he was lowly and gentle on round one, but currently Jesus is sitting at the right hand of God the Father. Just waiting. I mean, just now, dad, can I go now? Is now the time to go? Because he don't know when.

He says he doesn't even know when he's going to return. And at some point, God's the Father is going to tap his boy on the shoulder and go, go get my kids and bring him home. And when he returns, there's going to be a trumpet blast. The heavens are going to rip apart. And he's showing up. How about this? He's showing up dressed in white.

Who wears white to a fight? Somebody that knows they're going to win and then they're going to take long. That's who. And he's got eyes like fire. And he's got tattoos on his quad. It says, Lord of the Lord and Kings of Kings. and he's got a sword coming out of his mouth, and he's riding a horse,

and he's coming back in victory. That's what he's coming back. That is who Jesus is. And that's who we've been called to follow. I hope you know that. Exodus 15-3, the Bible says, the Lord is a warrior, and the Lord is his name. And week one, we spent the entire time talking about the reality

that we are created in the image of God. So if we are image bearers of God, that means that we are warriors. Because God is a warrior, and He created us in his day. Listen, when I was in seminary back in the 1900s, I went to the worst seminary, all right? And it was full of just academics, intellects, and wusses. And that's what I would tell them, all right? A bunch of wusses. They almost didn't let me graduate.

And then they realized they'd have to put up with me more. So they were like, congratulations, you're out of here. All right, so. And one of the things they wanted to do is I had seminary professors with more degrees than Fahrenheit, and they would say that they thought we should eliminate all of the warlike language from the Bible because it made them uncomfortable. And I thought, well, here's a newsflash there, prof. I don't think God was asking you to be an editor to his word.

You see, I think you have lost the narrative. By the way, if you want to be comfortable, then being comfortable is not a Christian value. I don't know if you realize this, but when we were born, we were born behind enemy lines, that we are at war, that in the beginning God speaks everything into existence. Somewhere in eternity past, we've talked about this all the time,

our enemy, our adversary, Lucifer, he was in charge of leading worship to the angelic choir he was wearing or either made of these gemstones that God Almighty was the source of light and because of his pride he got tired of being looked through and wanted to be looked too and he wanted to sit on the throne of God. God cast him out of heaven like lightning to the earth.

And so God creates Adam and Eve in his image there in this perfect unbroken relationship with God. And this servant, this snake, this trickster slithers his way in there and tricks God's creation. And when sin entered the world, it held the door open for all the pain, all the strife, all the guilt, everything you have ever regretted in your life. And because of God's mercy, God doesn't kill Adam and Eve, that he sheds the blood of an animal and makes a covering suitable for them, but because of his justice, he says, you can't be in my presence. And then God is going to send a serpent crusher, Jesus, to come. And ever since from that moment to this very moment, we are behind enemy lines.

We know this very well from the 1010 life. That our enemy's mission statement is in our Bible. The Bible says that he is a thief, the thief. That means he's trying to take something that is not his. Like you, you don't belong to him. You belong to your creator, but he's trying to take you, like your kids, your family. That doesn't belong to him. It belongs to the creator.

He's a thief, and he only comes to steal, kill, and destroy. And that's what he's trying to do. And, man, God has given us the mandate. God has given us the position. God has created us in such a way that we are called to stand on that wall, to stand at that door, to defend. Listen, your deep voice and your muscles aren't for you. realize that, that they are for the benefit of somebody else. And he is trying to steal your joy and steal our children's childhood and steal our freedom. He's trying to kill the most vulnerable,

which will be the unborn. He's trying to kill a generation. The increase in deaths of despair among Generation Z are through the roof. If you don't believe that there's a demon, that there is the demonic, that we have an enemy that's trying to take people out, I'm telling you, you're just too dumb to talk to. And I don't know what to do with you. Because I can't disciple a demon and I can't cast out dumb. So I don't know what to do with you. And he is trying to destroy marriages and families and our country and churches.

And if we don't stand and fight, who will? And so the Bible tells us what to do. Stand firm into faith. Last week, we spent all of our time saying warnings, warning. Don't get taken out. That was so that you could do this week, which is stand firm in the faith. All right, if you're a husband, guess what? Maybe you've heard somewhere that you're the spiritual leader of the house.

That's kind of true. It's just somebody made that up at some women's Bible study. The Bible never says you're the spiritual leader of the house. The Bible says you're the head. You're in charge of the whole thing. Now the spiritual health of everybody in there is a part of what, that means, but that's not all that that means. It means that you are responsible for everything in your house, in your family. Luke 1121 says this, when a strong man fully armed guards his

own palace, his goods are safe. But when one stronger than he attacks him and overcomes him, he takes away his armor in which he trusts it and divides his spoil. Do you know what divides actually means in Greek, it means has his own way with, with a sexual connotation. That's what that means. But the enemy doesn't just want to take your stuff. He wants to have his own way with your wife and your kids and every single person that you love deeply. If you were not willing to stand firm against the devil in his evil schemes, you're like,

all right, you've got my attention. Well, good. Ephesians chapter six, we studied this. I felt like we did a whole series on it last year. We've done a whole series on how to fight this year. But most of the time when we talk about spiritual warfare, what we're talking about is how to fight against the enemy for your benefit. The thing I want to look at today is this,

how do we fight against the enemy for the benefit of somebody else? So if you're a dad, listen, man, I'm 52 years old. I've got two kids, 20 and 16. It's the lens by which I see it right now. So most of my illustrations are going to be that. So if you're a granddad, make the adjustment. If you're an uncle, make the adjustment. If you're a coach, if you're a teacher, make the adjustment.

If you're a single guy, you're going to play like you practice. If you think you can advocate your responsibility in your teens and 20s and then one day just show up in a tuxedo and say I do and then all of a sudden think you're equipped, then you're too dumb to talk to. So why don't you begin to take responsibility for the provision and protection of the women and the children here in our church? And especially, man, our 18 to 25ers, man, we need you.

We need you volunteering in our student ministry. need you volunteer in our kids ministry. Part of the reason is you're still cool. We're not. And you can leverage cool for the kingdom of God in the lives of some of these elementary, middle school, and high school kids. So this is for you to.

Take good notes. Feasus chapter 6, beginning in verse 10, finally, this is why it takes so long. It's not my fault. I have to explain things. The reason it says finally is because for the previous chapter, the apostle Paul has been talking about what it looks to live out your faith in the context of marriage, in the context of home, and in the

context of work. And here's the thing that we're going to realize. If you follow after Jesus, you're going to have an enemy in three of the primary places that he is going to try to attack you. He's going to try to attack your marriage, and he's going to try to attack your children, and he's going to try to attack you at work. Amen? And so he says, be strong in the Lord and the strength of His might. Whose might? His might. So some of you little wimpy guys out there, I got good news for you.

This ain't your mic. This isn't like beat your chest and cowboy up and grr. That's not what we're doing here. That we're going to lean into his strength. In fact, next weekend, don't miss next weekend, because we're talking about what strength means in the scripture. that God has given us strength. This is not for us.

It says, finally, be strong in the Lord and the strength of His might. Verse 11, put on the whole armor of God that you may be able to stand against the schemes of the devil. Over and over and over, you're going to see it that Paul tells the church that Everett says to stand. He says four times in like two verses. This is a military term. If you stand up a division, that means you equip those folks.

you give them guns and armor and you get them ready for war. It means like stand your ground. It means don't lose ground. This is what it means. It means stand up and fight. That you may be able to stand against the schemes of the devil. That word scheme is methodia in Greek, where we get methods. You see, the enemy's tricky.

The enemy's a tactician. The enemy has been. at this a long time and everything God creates, the enemy tries to corrupt. I hope you realize this. Have you ever noticed how good the enemy is at tricking you? Isn't he pretty good? If you've been a Christian a minute,

don't you think that you would be a little further along in your sanctification process? Isn't it crazy? Is it a little bit crazy to you that he gets you with the same tricks over and over and over and over? I've shared this with you before, but first John, the Bible says that the enemy, only has three lures, lest of the eyes, less of the flesh, and the pride of life.

But he dresses up those three lures to try to trick us. And the reason I call it a lure, I'm a bass fisherman, and every lure has a hook. And here's the crazy thing. Every time I say this, nobody ever writes it down. It's the most theologically impactful thing I've ever said. And temptation is tempting. You ever notice that? If it doesn't tempt you, that's not temptation.

And so if he throws out at you that lust of the flesh, but it doesn't do it for you, then he clips it off and he throws the pride of life and tries to get you with that. Because if you're a good fisherman, you don't care how you catch them, you just want to catch him. And that's what he does. And the way the enemy has to come against us, check this out. It's a dirty war campaign of the mind. Why? Because he can't do a full.

Occasionally, sometimes the enemy himself will manifest himself in some sort of kind of like a crazy supernatural way. But here's what he knows. If you were to walk out to your car tonight and the devil of hell is sitting there going to be a devil, what you're going to do? You're going to pray. You're going to come get us.

We're going to fill up a super soaker with some anointing oil and get out there. And we're going to take that devil out, right? You see, because he knows that when Jesus says it is finished, then it was a curb stomp to the head of the devil. And the book of Revelation says he is a dragon, but he's got a mortal wound of the head, and he's bleeding out, and eventually he's going to die when God tells him it's time to die.

And so he can't do a full frontal attack. That's not what spiritual warfare is. That would be like if, I mean, I've used this example before, but think about it. What if our neighbors, I don't, to the south, attacked us? Like Mexico is like, here we come. Ha, ha, ha, ha. What would that take? A minute?

No more Mexico. That's how it goes. If Canada, I mean, what are they going to do? kill us with kindness? They couldn't mount up on their little horses and what'd go, sprinkle us or maple syrup? Like it wouldn't be over quick. These are not equal opposing

forces that are battling it out and we'll see who wins in the end. No, no, no, no. When Jesus says it is finished, it inflicted the final death blow upon the enemy. Therefore, the way the enemy attacks is the way, just like a bunch of enemies of America attacked right now. It's

a dirty war campaign of misinformation. Listen, everybody knows this is fact now. There are bot farms all over the place trying to put all kind of poisonous algorithms into our feeds so that we will all as a nation hate each other, be divided, and not like each other, right? Because they can't attack us full on. This is the same thing the enemy does.

And if you're a man, and especially a man with a family, then you have to fight for the heart, soul, mind, and strength of the people that God has put. under your protection. You got to fight for their hearts. You got to fight for relationships. You got to fight for their soul. You got to create the kind of environment whereby they can follow after Jesus. You got to fight for their mind. That means you have to stand at the door to guard the lies that want to enter into your house. And you have to fight for them physically. That means you physically need to take care of them. This is provision and

protection. And so how do you do that? Here's how you do it. Verse 12, for we do not wrestle against in blood. That word wrestle is not a sporting word. It's a fighting word. It means to fight until you die. That's what that means. This does not mean like you're wrestling against the enemy, like two, take down, and at the end, you shake hands and somebody raises their hand. No, no, no, no. This is wrestling like that scene and saving Private Ryan, where the one guy is fighting the German with the knife and he right through the heart. Remember that one? If you haven't seen saving Private Ryan, you should and say thank you that's ever put on a uniform, somebody that has put on a uniform to stand on that wall for our freedom, okay?

And if you'll remember in that scene, there's one guy, an American soldier, and he's terrified and he's frozen, and he's sitting on the steps, while he hears his buddy fighting to the death and losing, and his fear paralyzes him, and nothing happens. We've got a lot of men that are paralyzed by fear or abdication. Meanwhile, the enemy is having his. way with a generation. It's that kind of fight.

For we don't wrestle against flesh and blood, but against rulers, against authorities, against cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places. So here's what this means. Your enemy's not your boss, or your wife or the kids or your ex. The enemy's not even politicians.

Shriek, no, that's not our problem. And so one of the things, husbands, if we can begin to understand what we're supposed to do is not fight with our wife but fight for our wife, everything changes. If we can begin to understand we're not supposed to fight with our kids, but for our kids, everything changes. In the book Song of Solomon, Solomon says, catch rust the little foxes in our garden. It's to implore us to understand that when we get sideways with each other, then what we're doing is we're inviting the enemy in so that we will think it's me versus you. But in reality, what it is,

this is me and you versus this fox that does not belong in the garden of our relationship. You get that? You see, and there is two great dangers when it comes to spiritual warfare. One is if you don't think it exists, you're done. You're done. I've mentioned this to you over and over and over.

Currently, it is deer season. Some people called hunting a sport. I think it's funny because half the teams don't know you're playing. They always lose. They never win. Sometimes they get away, but they don't ever get you back. You see, that deer thought it was going to get some corn. It didn't know it was going to my freezer.

And if you don't realize that we have an enemy wants to steal, kill, and destroy, you're like the deer. The one not prepared for battle will always lose us to the battle. The other extreme is you blame every single thing on the devil. Like you blame traffic on the devil and you bring your bad hair day on the devil. Listen, man, it's called humidity. Like sometimes stuff just happens, all right? But we have to be aware that our battle is not against flesh and blood,

but against demonic powers. And so you say, all right, well, how do I stand against an enemy? Because I don't feel like, you know, prepared. Well, I've got good news. The Bible's going to tell you how to be. prepared. Verse 13, therefore, since we're in this fight, take up the whole armor of God that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, that God has given you what you need to fight,

that you don't take up your armor, do you take up his armor? Now, a part of what Paul is doing is Paul is reverencing Isaiah when Isaiah talks about a warrior that is going to come on our behalf dressed in the same armor. Also, Paul is in prison and has been in prison many times, and he can just look over and see a Roman soldier dressed in armor ready to go to battle. And he's going to take this picture, and he's going to use it as a metaphor for how we are to prepare for battle. He says, therefore, take up the whole armor of God that you may be able to withstand in the able day and having done all to stand, stand, therefore.

You get this? So just in case you're a little slow on the uptake, Paul is saying, hey, boys, get ready to fight, fight, fight. That's what he says. Step one, having fastened on the belt of truth. That a part of what it means to fight on behalf of those that we love is we have to fight for truth these days. Listen, there are some things that are right

and there are some things that are wrong. And the way that we know what is right and wrong is according to the word of God. All opinions are not equal. All points of view are not equal. And we elevate the opinion of God above all other opinions. I don't care what the Supreme Court says.

How arrogant must you be to call yourself supreme when you're not supreme? Unless it means like, you know, adding guacamole and sour cream to your taco, like what are you talking about? You don't get to define what life is. You don't get to define what marriage is. They weren't your idea to begin with

and you didn't create them. The creator of the universe says this is how we are to do life and we have to fasten the belt of truth. And this is the core central piece. Like for a Roman soldier, everything tucked in and tied in. to the belt. It's where the sword hung. It's where they would take that big robe and they would

tuck it in before they would fight. And if you were to take off your belt, you know, it's hard to fight with no pants on. It's a little awkward. This is the centerpiece of the fight. So let me ask you this, dads, does your family know the truth? What are you going to do about it? I hope you realize this. Almost everything coming through a screen in your home and in your device is lying to you. Almost everything. And let me tell you, here's how the enemy gets you, man. Dads, we sit on our leather couches with our remotes and we watch our favorite cable news station and we just yell at the things that are happening all around the world and we feel righteous because we have right ideas. Right? Because we can solve all the problems just like this, couldn't we?

Meanwhile, TikTok and YouTube are discipling our children via the demonic and we're going to word to say about that. This is the kind of thing I'm talking about. Does your family know the truth? You see, there are some truths that your kids need to know. They need to know that they are not a cosmic accident, but they are fearfully and wonderfully made. I mean, listen, if for a few generations now that we've taught our children or allowed our children to be taught, they're nothing but an accident and they're nothing but elevated animals, then why in the world are we surprised when people act like animals? We taught them that. There's some things that are just true.

Here's something that your kids need to know. You are not the label the world gives you. You're not the label the world gives you. Your desires don't define you. Christ defines you. Your past doesn't define you. Christ defines you. That the primary thing in you is who Jesus says that you are.

Listen, here's something that our kids need to know. You were created on purpose. You were not simply the result of somebody else. his choice. You were God's idea. Sometimes there are accidental parents. No need to amen. There are no accidental children. And every single image bearer of God deserves a right to life. You are not what you consume. You are not what this world says about you. You are not the opinion of others. The stuff of this world will not satisfy. And if we could undo one thing that the prophetess Oprah taught us, Please don't follow your heart

You know what Jesus says about the human heart? It is the source of evil. Yeah, don't follow it. Anybody's heart ever lied to him? Yeah, man. Yeah. No, you need to follow the one, the one who is the king of this universe.

And here's what's beautiful. I mean, Jesus was talking to the Pharisees, and he says this very famous verse that a lot of politicians quote, but they quote it way out of context. He says, you will know the truth and the truth will set you free. He was talking about the word of God there.

And then later on in John chapter 14, verse 6, Jesus says, I am the way, the truth and the life. And no one comes to the Father except through me. The truth is not just a propositional statement that aligns with reality. Truth is a person and his name is Jesus. So ultimately, when I say what you've got to do is on behalf of your family,

you've got to fasten on the belt of truth, is that you've got to do everything you can to make Jesus the centerpiece of your life and your family. This is a part of how we fight. Next, having put on the breastplate of righteousness, this is my favorite one. This is about identity. When the New Testament uses the word righteous,

it doesn't mean right activity, it means right identity. This is what the old theologians would call imputed righteousness. That 2nd Corinthians 521 says this, that God made him who was without sin to be sin for us, that we would be made the righteousness of God. That when Jesus pushes up on his nail, pierce feet, and he says it is finished, for anyone that would believe that somehow counted for me,

then the great exchange happens. And at the cross of Jesus Christ, he takes on all of your sin, past, present, and future. He actually becomes your sin on the cross and receives the full penalty of God on the cross. This is what propitiation means. and we receive the full credit of all that Jesus accomplished, which is a perfect life.

Again, this is double imputation. Our sin was imputed upon Christ and his righteousness was imputed upon us. Listen, Catholics, not impartation. Impartation is, if I do my part, like confess and take communion, then I am a state of grace and God will do his part. That's not what the Bible says. This is imputed. by grace through faith that he gives us what we do not deserve.

That means when God looks at you, though you are imperfect, the picture that he gets is that of his perfect son. This is the illustration, having put on the breastplate of righteousness. Anybody, you ever watch, like, Gladiator, see that movie, Gladiator? Great. My kids make fun of me because all my movie references are like 20 years old, because I don't watch, I ain't got time for that anymore. Okay, so whatever.

here's the thing man you ever seen a chubby breastplate you ever seen custom fit one it's got a little pop belly a little boo over there you know walk up to you walk up to somebody's breastplate that's not like nah man every breastplate looks jacked doesn't it like perfect peck perfect abs but but there's not necessarily that going on underneath the breastplate this is the picture When you get saved, you get a breastplate of righteousness. So when God looks at you, he don't see the wrinkles, he don't see the streaks marks, he don't see the donuts, he don't see the dimples, he don't see to jiggle, he sees a perfectly righteous breastplate, can I get a witness from the 50-up crowd?

Praise God. That's what I'm talking about here. Proverbs 423 says, above all that's guard your heart for everything you do flows from it. A part of the way we fight for the hearts of those that we love most is we speak to the truth of their true identity over them all the time. Because you have to battle against the lives of the world. Parents, let me ask you some questions. Do you celebrate who your kids are or what they've accomplished?

Man, listen, we are not perfect by any stretch of the imagination. Gratians are a lot closer to perfection than I am. But one of the things I've always tried to do with my kids is celebrate who they are way more than what they do. Like at ball games and things like that, not way to go on the interception. but way to hustle and be a good teammate. You understand what I'm saying?

Because this world wants to drown them in a performance trap. If I were to ask you what's most important about your child, I know that you would say, you know, who they are and who they are in Christ, especially if I ask you and you know who I am, oh, Jesus, that's, yeah, for sure. If I looked at your wallet and your calendar in the life of your family, what would it say is most important in the life of our families? This is how we go to war. Listen, here's just a little free hack.

When your kids are little and you're putting them to bed and you're doing bedtime and they try to trick you and stay up late, trick them back and have some real heart conversations. Try to ask them not just activity, like what did you do today, but how that thing made you feel? Because what you're trying to do is the breastplate guarded the heart and you as a mom and you as a dad and as an uncle and as a grandparent and as a guardian and as a teacher and a coach, what you're trying to do is guard their heart for everything they do

flows out of it. Everything. Fellas, when you speak to your wife, are you guarding her heart? Are you trying to speak against the lies of this world about who she is? That she'll never be enough. She'll never love up. Here's what's crazy. Ladies, here's how the enemy is killing y'all right now. No matter what you decide to do with your life,

the enemy's going to whisper you, you didn't do the right thing. If you decided to stay home, then he's going to whisper, you're worthless, you don't do anything. And if you decide to go work, they're like, ha-ha, you don't love your family because you do this. Husbands, you've got to echo the voice of God

in the life of your wife and make sure that she's aligned to just do whatever Jesus has told her to do, and he has given her everything she needs to accomplish everything that he has called her to do. Ladies, your self-talk is terrible. Some of the biggest fights I've ever gotten to with Gretchen is the way she's talking about her.

I'm like, hey lady, nobody talks to my wife that way. She's like, I am your wife. I know. Not even you. Right, right. You better fight for the identity of the people that you love. Verse 15. All right, you're not going to like this one.

I don't like this one. And as shoes for your feet having put on the readiness given by the gospel of peace. Shoes take you somewhere. And what we're supposed to take is the good news, the gospel of peace, men, let me ask you this question. When you walk into the room, do you bring in peace or chaos? When you walk into your house, does peace walk in with you?

When you walk into that meeting, does peace walk in with you? When you walk into your kids' room, does peace walk in with you? Or does everybody pucker up a little bit because they're scared? You see, I dare you, fellas. I dare you to ask your wife this today. I dare you. When you get home, I dare you to say, okay, be honest. What's it like when I walk in the room?

And if she can't answer, there's your answer. If she's nervous about answering, there's your answer. And then when she says something, I know your defense. It's going to go, yeah, but, all right, here's how you reply. When she gives you some critique there that you invited, here's what you're going to say. You're going to say, got it? Did you get it? And then the next thing you're going to do is confess and repent and say, I'm sorry.

You want to be the leader of your home? How about be the lead repenter? How about be the lead confessor? Verse 16. And in all circumstances, take up the shield of faith with which you can extinguish all the flaming darts of the evil one. Yeah, the enemy is trying to steal, kill, and destroy. A flaming dart was like a javelin.

It was like a PVC pipe, and they would fill it with flammable liquid, and then they would light it on fire and they would chuck it so that when it hit it, the fire would go everywhere. And they would take these huge shields that would cover a person and they would saturate them in water. And then the way these things are designed, have you ever seen 300? Again, 25 years old or whatever. And the way these shields were designed is that men would line up and the shields were supposed to link together. And it was both defensive and offensive. They would link these things up together. They would put them above them, they would put them below them. Sometimes they would create a little, whoop, open it up so you could juke somebody in the liver

or something. And the idea is, in the failings, what they would do is they would put family members next to one another. So if I was going to war with my family, that means that, like my dad would be like one of those old men in Braveheart, another 30-year-old movie, whatever, you know, those old tough men, like saw their arm off, they'd just jab you with the other one. That's my dad, son. And then I'd be there, and then my brother and my son.

son, we would all be there together. Why? Because they understood that if somebody that you love, like your brother or your son, if they went down, there's no way you're turning back and running. And what happens is when somebody would go down, you would link your shields together and so that you would provide cover for them when they couldn't stand up and provide cover for them. Dads, men, we are supposed to have the kind of shields of faith that is so big and growing so rapidly than when somebody else is lacking in faith, they could borrow some of our cover for a little while. This is like Mark chapter two, when the four men bring the dude on the mat, tear a hole in the roof, remember Jesus sees the faith of the friends and looks at the guy on the mat and says,

son, your sins are forgiven. This is why it's so important to grow in your relationship with Jesus Christ. Because fellas, it's not just you in your life that depends on it, your family on. We're supposed to bear one another's burdens. Verse 17. And take the helmet of salvation. I think the reason to use his helmet is this. You can't lose your salvation. Just like you can't lose your head. You can't lose your head, but you're dead. Right. Do you know you can get a new heart? Still be you. You can get a new liver. Still be you. If you get a new head, you ain't you anymore. It is essential to you. So let me ask you, does your family understand salvation? Does your family understand the gospel. I mean, we live in a world where there are many, many, many parents

that spend more time, more money, more energy, and more effort on where your child is going to spend the next four years in college, as opposed to where they're going to spend eternity. Or you spend all your time, effort, and energy on a sport, and they've got like a 0.01% of going pro, but they've got a 100% chance of standing and giving an account before Jesus one day. please tell me you can explain salvation to the people in your family that you're responsible. This is how you go to war. And the sword of the spirit, which is the Word of God. This is one of the offense, the primary offensive weapon right here is the sword of the spirit.

Now again, remember, our battle is not against flesh and blood. That the Word of God is not a sledgehammer to beat up Kathy in the cubicle next to you. You know what, Kathy, you do everything wrong. No, no, no, no. it's a surgical strike, not against people, but against principalities. And again, I've told you this before, man. The worst way to read the Bible is like a set of binoculars. Like if every time you read a verse about some evil people and you're like,

I'm going to send this verse to my mother-in-law, you're not doing it right. It is a mirror, man. The judgment of God begins, you know where the judgment of God begins? In the house of God. and what if you were the kind of dad that began to know the word, began to learn the word, began to memorize the word.

And I know what some of you are saying. You're like, well, I ain't good at memorizing. I'm calling bull scubilant on that. You can tell me how many past attempts Tibo had versus Old Miss 20 years ago. We memorize what is important to us. We know what is important to us. Listen, especially if you've got little kids,

I would highly encourage you to pray the word of God over them every single day. Guess what will happen? You'll memorize it. I mean, look, JP's 20 now, but for almost all of his like elementary age school, I would pray over him. Psalm 1 every night. Blessed is he who does not walk in the way of the wicked or standing the way of the center or sit in the macker, but his delight is in the law of the Lord upon his law. I'll meditate day and night.

May I be like a tree planted by streams of running water? May everything you do prosper and the Lord will bless the righteous. Every single night, because that's what I wanted. And listen, man, here's why. I want to drop the anchor of the truth of the Word of God so deep in my children's life that even though they may swerve

and obviously there's some swerving, that's called teenage years, right? Whatever. They'll be anchored to the Word of God. I was praying that he would not surround himself with idiots because I didn't want him to be an idiot. You know what he did this morning? He met with a couple of his brothers,

some dudes, also 20-year-olds, right here from the church and they do Bible study. Maybe there's yesterday morning. There's no doubt in my mind, that's a part of the result of the word of God that I prayed over him

for a decade or more. Reagan Capri, she's 16 years old. We hit the jackpot with her. Listen, when she was born, she was seven pounds exactly. That's the number of perfection in the Bible. Jot that down. And the majority of our life,

when I would tuck her in, we'd pray Psalm 139. Dear God, I praise you, because I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Your works are wonderful. I know that full well. Do you know why? Because she lives in a world that's going to lie to her,

especially the girls, that you think your value is based on the external. This world's going to say, if you're not beautiful, you're not lovable. And the definition of beauty is created by some kind of AI generator. Human beings can't even look like the definition. I hope you realize that. and I want to, if some mean girl or soon to be dead boy came sniffing around with lies at my house,

I wanted her to go, no, that ain't right. That doesn't smell right at all. Because I know that I am fearfully and wonderfully made, that God's works are wonderful, and I'm one of those. Fellas, listen, I think Pastor Britt said this a long time ago. In regards to eternity, maybe the three most important words ever spoken are this. It is finished. In regards to you living every day, the most important words are this,

it is written. I hope you've got some it is writtens in your life, the sword of the spirit, which is the word of God. Verse 18, and praying at all times in the spirit with all prayer and supplication. Prayer is an offensive weapon against the devil. I've told you before, husbands, pray out loud over your wife. Pray out loud over your families. I dare you, take a chance.

Pray out loud at work. be the prayer guy I'm going to cheat here a little bit because I've seen all the devotions that Gretchen's written and one of them that's coming out this week don't miss this here's what Gretchen says about prayer but many of us don't think of prayer

as a war tactic against the enemy we think of prayer more like a stroll in the park with our dad chatting about all the events of the day or we pray to God for things that will make for a more comfortable life more contentment more happy When was the last time you asked someone to pray for you, not for comfort or contentment or happiness, but a prayer that reaches the soul level, when was the last time you prayed so hard, you were left in a puddle on the floor in a war between good and evil battling against sin, fighting the prince of darkness? When we pray, the enemy cowers. When we pray, the enemy loses his grip. When we pray, chains begin to break and lives are restored.

Is this how we're going to war for our people? In just a few minutes, you're going to have an opportunity to pray. You know what? I want the devil of hell to quake in his boots every Thursday and every Sunday because he knows that hundreds, even thousands of people in campuses all over the place and watch it online, that they gather intentionally not to just say a prayer. Now I lay me down to sleep. But we go to war in the heavenlies on behalf of the gospel in our lives.

families and the people that we love. Paul continues to that end. Keep alert with all perseverance. This is not a one-round fight. This is a long fight. Making supplication for all the saints. Suffocation just means pray for. So pray for all the saints.

And then Paul says, and also, would you pray for me that words may be given to me in opening my mouth boldly to proclaim the mystery of the gospel? Please continue to pray for me, pray for your church, okay? For which I am an ambassador in change that I may declare Ebola as I ought to speak. Yeah, a couple things here. I've told you before, man. There's no pain like kid pain because there's no love like kid love.

And I told you how, you know, when we found out we were having a boy, I was just through the roof. Called my daddy, he said, I made a boy. He says, I knew you had it in you, son. That's what he said. And I was real nervous. and I found out we were having a girl, you know, it's just extra, man, just the world we live in.

But like that video showed you, there ain't nothing like being a girl dad. Just unlock some stuff in here. I didn't know we had in us, okay? And J.P. is about three and a half years older than Reagan. And when we brought her home, I mean, he's little, you know, he's however old, just that tall. And I sat him down. Reagan home, just this little burrito of perfection, you know. And I said, look here, buddy.

I mean, he's this big. I was like, look here. Your number one job is to protect Reagan. He's like, okay. And then consistently, consistently, I'd say, what's your number one job to protect Reagan? As they got a little bit older. One time we were at the town center for my annual mall trip. and we were waiting in line for Santa Claus.

Santa Claus had to take a break. And there's a bunch of kids playing, and I hear a kid crying, but it doesn't really register because it wasn't a Martin cry. So, you know, it's not my kid, and so I'm like, all right, whatever. And then JP comes running up. I don't know, he's six years old or something.

And he just got that, like, saucer eye, like, hey, dad. And I'm like, are you the reason that kid's crying? And he's like, he pushed Reagan. I was like, why he's crying? I pushed him off the slide. High five. There you go.

Let's go to Dick's sporting goods, get whatever you want. Okay, why? Because what's your number one job for Tech Reagan? She got to high school when they were both at Providence together. I'm like, look, boy, you're on the same campus. You keep an eye out, you understand? And I'm telling you, if some dude crosses the line, somebody mistreats her. I'm telling you, you handle it.

And here's a football player. Now he trains MMA, okay? So I'm like, snap, nap, or I don't care, tap. It don't matter. Try not to go to prison, but here's what's going to happen. They go kick you out of school, and I'll take you out of school, and I'll take you to Disney World. I don't care because you're number one job.

Protect Reagan. Gentlemen, for every single one of us, your number one job. It's your number one job on this planet. It's provided to protect the people that God has put under your provision and protection. For the glory of God. You get that? And that means we got to go to war. That means we got to fight.

Not against flesh and blood. That's not our fight. but we have an enemy who's trying to kill, trying to steal, and trying to destroy it. And I'm trying to tell you, I'm calling our entire church to the fight, men, it starts with us. C.S. Lewis has got this great quote. When I die, I won't hell to rejoice that I'm out of the fight. That's what I pray. I want to put my finger in the chest of the devil. I want him to be so aggravated with me. I want him to lose so many to the kingdom of God because of the fight I'm in. I don't know if you're knowing the book of Acts, there's this event called the Sons of Skeva,

You know this? Their dad was an itinerant Jewish exorcist. He would cast demons out of people. And these boys are kind of dumb. They're like, we're going to try to do what dad does. And they heard that Paul was cacking out demons. So they find this demon-possessed guy, and they roll up on him. And they say, in the name of Jesus, whom Paul preaches come out.

And you know what the demons? The demons talk back. This ain't a good idea if you're trying to cast out a demon. And the demons starts talking smack. Anybody remember? I'll tell you. You don't remember. Here's what they say.

And the demons replied, Jesus we know. Paul, I've heard of. But who are you? And then they beat the pants off of them. That's what the Bible says, all right? Here's the only reason I tell you that. I want to be in the war for the sake of you, for the sake of my wife, for the sake of my children,

for the sake of the people that God has called us to go the war on their behalf. I want to cause so much havoc against the enemy. that they're like, Jesus, we know. And we've heard of that crazy preacher at 1122. And I want you to join that fight. Listen, here's the point. The Bible says, the Lord is a warrior. The Lord is his name.

Genesis 1.27 says, God created man in his own image. In Ephesians 612 says, for we do not fight or wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness. So to stand up and act like men, we must dress ourselves for battle and go to war to defend and protect our loved ones. And we stand firm because our victory is in Jesus. And listen, I know some of you are like, well, pastor, that's easy for you to say.

I mean, you're the pastor. But if you know what I've done, if you know who I am, I got some really good news. God is in the habit of using some of the least qualified people to do some of the greatest things on the planet. And like my God, Jim Bergen says, listen, in the kingdom of God, we don't need second chances. We need the blood of Jesus and from now. I mean, look in the Bible and throughout history, some of the people that God used.

Are you ready for this? Jacob was a cheater. Peter had a temper. David had an affair. Noah got drunk. Jonah ran from God. Paul was a terrorist. Gideon was insecure.

Thomas was a doubter. Elijah was moody. Jeremiah was depressed. Moses stuttered. Zechias was short. Abraham was old. Lazarus was dead. Samson had long hair and Tebow was a gator.

God can use anybody. So if you were ready to lock arm in arm, men, for the sake of the women and the children, for the sake of an upcoming generation, for the sake of the spread of the gospel, you may not feel equipped, but if God has called you to be a man, then listen, his divine power has given you everything you need

for life and godliness. One of the most famous, events in the Bible is about a boy who really becomes a man before our own eyes. He was ill-equipped. People didn't think very highly of him. For years, he's just sitting out in the fields watching sheep, playing his harp and writing in a journal. You don't look at harp players and journal writers as like, yeah, there's a warrior. Meanwhile, there was a giant named Goliath, and he was cursing the people of God. Day after day after day, and yet this boy walks out on the field, and he did not put his hope

in his own strength, and he did not put his hope in his circumstances. And even though it looked like he was facing impossible odds, he knew that we served the God of the impossible. And when David walks out to face Goliath, one of the things I used to read with J.P. over and over and over was David's declaration against the enemy. Now again, man, I don't want this to be a pep talk. The ultimate understanding of David and Goliath is that Jesus is the greater David and that Goliath ultimately is sin and through Christ he conquered sin and death.

And because he did that, if the tomb is empty, anything is possible. But some of us are facing some giants and the giant that we are facing is the enemy of hell itself. You got it? Amen, if you're ready to fight, if you're ready to fight, if you're ready to fight, not against flesh and blood, not against people, but against principalities of evil, against an enemy that wants to steal, kill, and destroy, then I, right now, I want you,

we did this over the summer, but we're going to do it again. Men, if you're ready to join the fight for the glory of God, for the sake of your family, for the advancement of the kingdom, whether you're young or old, I want you to stand up where you are. And I'm going to give you the opportunity to declare what David declared, And ladies, here's what I need from you. If your guy's standing right now or some guy you know is standing right now, man, I need you to pray for them.

Oh, my gosh. The encouragement on the lips of a woman in our life is like gold in the heart of a man. You get this? You know what encourage means? It means to put courage in. You got it? Because the moment he walks out of here, what's going to happen is the devil's going to start whispering in his ear and be like, who you think you are? Oh, you might be tough, but you ain't righteous.

You don't know verses. If everybody knew, you understand, that is the enemy that we are facing down. And so, fellas, with everything you got, I want you to repeat after me. What David said to Goliath, and the thing I want you to focus on is this, is I want you to see where David says his strength comes from. It's not himself, but it's in the Lord. Are you ready? You sure?

All right, repeat after me. You come against me. That's pretty good. but that'll get your tailkits, all right? If you walk against an enemy with a little bit of timidity, all it's going to do is incite him. You understand what I'm saying? I need you to say this so loud that the demons in hell go,

oh, God, this is serious. You understand? I need we to say this so loud that everybody knows that we're serious about this. You ready? You come against me. Yeah, with sword and fear and javeling. But I come against you. in the name of the Lord Almighty, the God of the armies of Israel, whom you have defied,

this day the Lord will hang you over to me, and I will strike you down and cut off your head. And the whole world will know that there is a God in Israel. And the whole world will know that there is a God in Israel. And the whole world will know that there is a God in my house and all those gathered here will know that it's not by sword or spear that the Lord saves. For the battle is the Lord's and he will give all of you into our hands. Amen, amen, amen. If everybody would please join me and standing and we are going to go to

war. We're going to sing because worship is war and we're going to bring to fuel the advancement of the fight against the enemy in the declaration of the gospel to the ends of the earth and we're going pray. Husbands, maybe you've never prayed out loud over your wife and that would be the very first time or maybe you would gather your family and you would come down here or singles. Maybe you would join up together and you would come and pray that we would be in the fight. for the glory of God, and for the provision and the protection of people that he has given for us to do it. Let me pray for us. Our good and gracious Heavenly, Father God, we love you more than anything because you first loved us.

Jesus, I thank you that you are a warrior and you came to do battle. God, you didn't just come to teach lessons. You didn't just come to be a rabbi. You didn't just come to tell stories to teach a theology class. you came for a fight against sin and death and shame and separation from God and you came on a rescue mission behind enemy lines to put the devil of hell to death so that we would be rescued God and I thank you that the moment we get rescued we become a part of the rescue team God I pray that you would fill us with the spirit of your courage

and that we would fight not against flesh and blood not against other people but that we would fight against the principalities of darkness for the sake of your glory and those whom you love we cannot do it without you we pray this in jesus name amen so church let us sing let us bring let us pray let us respond