The Helmet of Salvation

Greetings, brethren! What a perfect song to introduce the sermon, and thank you all for that beautiful music. Isn't it wonderful and inspiring? Especially for... I love music. I'm the least musical person, and I always think when I hear this music like we had this morning of King David's talent. And I also think about how God gave different people in the Old Testament talents. Some of them were musical, and some of them were to be goldsmiths, and all for a purpose. And what a beautiful purpose, and thank you all for sharing that. I also would like to say thank you for the invitation to be here. I have to admit, not gonna lie. When I got the email, I took a second look and said, was that my name on there? So I appreciate being here, and having spent a little time with you all, and getting to know you, just beautiful. And the love that is here is amazing. Most of us have been here for a couple days now. We no doubt have noticed the theme of the event is the continuation of sorts of the theme of summer and the summer camps which was stand. And now at this winter event, we have the theme stand strong and armor up. And if we were able to attend the sessions, some of the sessions, some of you greetings to everyone online. Hello to everyone back home. If you didn't get to attend the sessions, they were all about the armor of God. And we heard about the armor of God. We heard about our feet shod with the gospel, about wearing the belt of truth, about carrying the word and the shield with us. 

This afternoon, we're gonna keep going and we're gonna talk a bit about salvation and the helmet of salvation. I'd like to harken back to a story most are familiar with about when the Israelites came out of Egypt. And as they left slavery behind, if we remember the story, then we know that God the Almighty brought the Israelites out of the land of Egypt with his own hand. But very soon after, the people found themselves again in peril. Let's pick up the story in Exodus chapter 14. Let's turn together to Exodus chapter 14. And as you turn there, I'll remind you, this was at least two million people. Think of any city you know of that's two million. And they had to pick up all of their belongings, everything they owned, and they started to move. They took, and they were farmers. They had cows and sheep and goats and flocks and everything, their clothing, all of their worldly belongings. And they started to walk and they didn't know where they were going. They really probably had no clue. And the next thing they know, let's pick up the story in Exodus chapter 14 and verse 9. So the Egyptians pursued them. All the horses and chariots of Pharaoh, his horsemen and his army, and overtook them camping by the sea. Pharaoh had had a change of heart, or more real, God had changed Pharaoh's heart. And when Pharaoh drew near, the children of Israel lifted up their eyes, and behold, the Egyptians marched after them. Verse 10. So they were afraid. Verse 11, then they said to Moses, because there are no graves in Egypt, you have taken us away to die in the wilderness. Why have you dealt with us like this, to bring us up out of the land of Egypt? Is this not exactly what we told you when we were in Egypt? Leave us alone, that we may serve the Egyptians. For it would have been better for us to serve the Egyptians than for us to die out here in the wilderness. They were afraid, probably terrified. Seemingly, with good reason, there's an army behind them, and it's seemingly uncrossable sea in front of them. Their stress level must have been through the roof. Who wouldn't be afraid?

I grew up on a farm. My mom and dad were baptized, I believe, in about 1969, and there were six kids in our family. As a church family, we drive two hours south each week on Sabbath to fellowship and attend church with other wonderful brethren like yourselves. It was the highlight of our week, actually. My parents were diligent to teach us the Word of God, His plan. We were a poor family. We didn't have a lot.

With six kids, we did our back-to-school shopping at the thrift store each year, and as I recall, I don't think any of us ever owned a new pair of blue jeans. We got our suits at the store called the Value Village. For the most, would be three dollars, and we were proud of them. We were poor, but we loved our lives. We loved the knowledge of God and His life, His way of life. One summer day when I was 14 years old, my dad and I found ourselves out picking stones in a summer-fallow field.

Some of you will know what that is, and for the rest I'll explain. A summer-fallow field is a field of land. Do most of you know what it looks like when you wrote it till the garden and you till it up, and all it is is nice soft dirt? Think of that for half a mile. Nice, soft, fluffy dirt. And my dad and I wrote in the field picking stones. And to the north of us, there was another field we had, and that was fenced in. And that field was pasture for our cows. And to the south of the summer-fallow field of just plain dirt was another beautiful field of wheat.

Beautiful this year. It was eight or ten inches tall. It was about June, and it was lush, and we thought, yes, we're gonna have a good crop. And that was important, because like you remember, we were poor, and that was our only cash crop. That was our money for the entire year was in that field of wheat, and it was growing nicely. But there was one problem. The pasture was not so good, and the cows had nothing left to eat. And as my dad and I were picking stones, we heard a commotion to the north and a clamoring, and we stopped what we were doing.

We looked, and we saw that the cows, about 200 of them, had broken through the fence, and were coming across the summer-fallow field. Smashed the fence down. My dad acted quickly. He said, you stay here, you hold them back, I'm gonna go home. Thank you. Thank you. I don't even have to explain. I'm gonna run home, and he hopped in the old pickup truck. He said, I'm gonna go get fencing supplies, and when I come back, we'll chase them back into the pasture, and we'll mend the fence.

Just don't let them get in the wheat field. And just like that, he was gone. And there I was, 14 years old, standing in a field of soft dirt with work boots and 200 cows charging south. And I had to stop them, and I ran, and I chased, and I picked up small stones, and I threw them at the cows, but they were in stampede mode.

They could see the wheat, and if they got in that wheat, we would have nothing for the next year. And they were going to go in there and eat that wheat, and trample it down and ruin it. And after a few minutes, I was exhausted. I was panting, I was sweating, and they were still coming, and I couldn't stop them. And I found myself on one side of the field, and I knew I had lost. There was nothing I could do. I dropped to my knees, I broke down, and I cried. As you and I are called, we come out of this world, just as Israel came out of Egypt.

They left slavery behind, and we leave a life of slavery behind as well. We start a new life. Sometimes we don't know where we're headed or why. We face trials and difficulties, and sometimes it seems like we are up against the Red Sea in front of us, and there's an army of chariots behind us.

We were called out of Egypt, but we still live in this physical world. Our calling was a spiritual calling. Christ's words, as recorded by John, were, The world has hated them, for they are not of this world, any more than I am of this world. My prayer is not that you take them out of the world.

Interesting. And we read further in John, Christ said, In the world, you will have tribulation. Many of us have faced trials and difficulties that are immense, and we continue to face them. Some have lost jobs, families, spouses, children, and our younger people. You face stresses that us older generation can barely comprehend with a social pressure.

As we grow closer to the end, we know the world becomes more and more like Sodom and Gomorrah. It spirals out of control with these social pressures on our teens and on us. We know we'll face trials. God tells us we will. In fact, he says, Count it all joy when you face trials. God allows us to be tested. Why? He wants us to be strong. He wants us to fight.

But our battles are not physical battles with guns and bullets and bombs. Our battles are spiritual, for we wrestle not against flesh and blood. When we face these tests and trials, God wants us to turn to Him, to turn to Him for help and strength. We fight the fight. We fight the battle, but sometimes we simply cannot win on our own. All have sinned and come short of the glory of God, and the wages of sin is death.

We all deserve death, all of us. We need saving. We need salvation. We all need the helmet of salvation. Where do we get it? Especially when there's an army behind us and a Red Sea in front of us. Behind us, we're chased by our own sins, which do so easily beset us. Our own carnal minds and bodies, our fleshly lusts and desires of this world, the cares of this world that so easily ensnare us, they chase us.

Envy, the lust, the pride. The wages of sin is death. What causes us to sin? James 1.14 tells us, James 1.14 says, but each is tempted when they are drawn away by their own desires and enticed. But then, when desire is conceived, it gives birth to sin. And sin, when it is full-grown, brings forth death.

And then Satan jumps in. With his lies and deceptions, he steps in and puts temptation right in front of us. He knows us. He knows what's going to tempt us. Paul wrote, Satan is the tempter. Long, long ago, Elohim said, let's make a family. They decided to create children, godly children, and they knew, God knew, that the most important character trait he wanted his children to have was love.

Love for him and love for one another. But you know, first he created the angels. But the angels were created for a different purpose. Not the same as us. The Bible say the angels were created as ministering servants unto the saints, unto the ones who did have an opportunity to have become children of God. That's their purpose. And one of those angels was named Lucifer, and he didn't like that. Or he didn't like God. He didn't like probably a lot of things, and he rebelled and became Satan the devil, that serpent of old. Satan does not want us to succeed.

He does not want us to become children. He's jealous. What did Satan want? If you recall, Satan wanted to be like the Most High. What is our potential? To be children of the Most High. And he wants to kill us. We get that. That's our potential. He knows it. And if he can take just one of us, he feels success. He's angry. He hates God. He hates God's family. We are God's family. Let's turn to Ephesians chapter 6 together, and let's remember that as we turn there, where was Paul when he wrote this?

Paul was in Rome, in prison, chained to a Roman soldier, sitting beside, chained to a Roman soldier, and he wrote about the soldier's armor. Ephesians chapter 6 and verse 10. Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord and the power of his might. Put on the whole armor of God that you might be able to stand against the wiles of the devil.

For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places. Therefore, take up the armor of God that you may be able to withstand the evil day, and having done all, to stand. Stand, therefore, having girded your waist with truth, having put on the breastplate of righteousness, verse 15, and having shod your feet with the preparation of the gospel of peace. Above all, take in the shield of faith with which you will be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked one, Satan.

And take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of God, praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, which brings us back to the theme of summer, which was stand, and the theme of winter family weekend, which is stand strong and armor up. Earlier we read some of Christ's words, or I should say I read them to you. We read, My prayer is not that you take them out of the world, but the entire verse says, My prayer is that you take them not out of the world, but you protect them from the evil one. And in John 1633, we read, I have said these things to you, that in me you may have peace.

In the world you will have tribulation, but take heart. I have overcome the world. You know, it might be interesting for us to note that Paul could have been harkening back to Isaiah here. In Isaiah 59 15, guess what we read? This is the word that became Jesus the Christ. Isaiah 59 15 says, Truth is nowhere to be found.

Whoever shuns evil becomes prey. The Lord looked and was displeased with that there was no justice. He saw that there was no one. He was appalled that there was no one to intervene. So his own arm achieved salvation for him. His own righteousness sustained him. And in verse 17, he put on righteousness as his breastplate and the helmet of salvation upon his head.

He put on the garments of vengeance and wrapped himself in zeal as a cloak. How can we have peace of mind in the midst of trials and tribulations? Because our older brother, and he is our brother, he also fought. He also wore the armor, and he's already won the war. Philippians 4 verse 6 to 7, we probably know fairly well, Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and supplication, we turn to God.

And with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses our understanding, we can't even comprehend it, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. It's no coincidence the helmet is on the head. It guards our minds. We are encouraged to think on that which is true, honest, just, pure, lovely, of good report, virtuous, and worthy of praise. These are our thoughts. What can you think of that has all of those things? The Word of God? We are told to guard our minds.

Let's go back to Exodus chapter 14 for a moment. Let's go back to Exodus chapter 14. And as you turn that, I'll recount what was going on. So the Egyptian pursued them and went, Pharaoh draw near. They were very afraid. Then they said to Moses, Because there were no graves in Egypt, have you taken us away to die in the wilderness? There was contention, commotion, confusion. The people were turning on one another.

They were turning on their leaders. And what was the solution? What was the answer? What did Moses say? Verse 13, And Moses said to the people, Do not be afraid. Stand still. Stand. Stand still and see the salvation of the Lord, which he will accomplish for you today. Verse 14, The Lord will fight for you, and you shall hold your peace, which means be calm. Have peace of mind.

Some translations actually translate, verse 14, As the Lord himself will fight for you, just be calm. However, stand doesn't mean that we do nothing. What did the Israelites have to do immediately after Moses said, Stand still? They had to march forward into a sea with walls of water on each side, which must have been a little bit disconcerting, although I'm sure the army behind them helped their impetus to get moving. It doesn't mean we stand still. They had to march forward in faith. And after this dramatic rescue of the Israelites from Egypt and they crossed the Red Sea, it wasn't long before, guess what? They had to fight the Amalekites in a real war, in a real battle. The Amalekites were a powerful army. Exodus 17, verse 9, says, And Moses said to Joshua, Yahshua, who was Hasuah. Hasuah means he will save. Yahshua means God will save. And Joshua had his name changed to God will save. Choose some of our men and go out to fight the Amalekites. Can you imagine what must have been racing through Joshua's mind at that point in time? The stress, the anxiety? Moses made Joshua the commander of the army of Israel. What army? They were slaves and farmers and shepherds. And they had goats and sheep and they have to go fight a real army. And I love what happens next. Did Joshua complain? Did he fight back? He didn't hesitate. We don't read his exact words, but he didn't debate against Moses. We simply read in verse 10 of Exodus 17, So Joshua fought the Amalekites as Moses had ordered. He was at peace. He was like, okay, let's go do this. Verse 13, we read, So Joshua overcame the Amalekites with a sword. When we face adversity, how do we react? Why did Joshua not fear? Why did he simply move forward? Because Joshua was very aware of the fact that it is God who brings victory. He was aware that God existed. Remember, it says that if you want to please God, you have to first believe that he is and that he is a rewarder of those who diligently seek him. Joshua believed that he is. He was real to Joshua. God was real. Is God real to us? Hebrews 11.3 says, Through faith we understand the worlds were framed by the Word of God. The worlds were framed, built, all of this was built by the Word of God in the beginning of the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.

In all things, all that was created was created by the Word of God. I love this Scripture so that the things which are that we can see and which appear around us were actually made by things that do not appear. So we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen. For the things which are seen are temporary, but the things which are not seen, that's what's permanent. Do we keep that in mind as we go about our week? Knowing this fact, knowing these things, what manner of people ought we to be and what ought we to be doing? There's a proverb that says, Prepare the horse for battle, but trust in God to win the war. We have access to spiritual armor. It cannot be seen. Can we see the breast plate of righteousness as we wear it? Can we see the shield of faith in our hand? But they're real. Proverbs 21, 31, we can prepare the horse for battle, and we can trust in God to win the war. We do have to prepare the horse for battle. How can we do this with peace of mind? Wonderful story about Elisha, right? Elisha could knew that this, what we see, is not what's there. The only thing that's there. And Elisha and his servant were chased to the town of Dothan by the King of Syria, and the King of Syria wanted to kill Elisha. And Elisha's servant walks out in the morning and goes, Oh no, we're surrounded by an army. And Elisha says, Those who are with us are more than those who are with them. I love to read it that way, but I don't, I think Elisha probably didn't say it that way, because Elisha was probably more chill. He knew. He wasn't like having to state a dramatic statement. He probably said, Don't worry, bro. We got this. Check this out. God, can you open his eyes? And he opens his eyes, and there's an army of chariots of fire and angels all around them. And for Elijah, that was like, yeah, let's keep going. No worries. I think he was just chill. Although it's more fun to read it the other way. He wasn't worried. He wasn't stressed because he knew that God was real. We can have that peace if we know that God is real. When I was 14 years old, I was fighting a battle that I could not win. The food for my entire family was on the line, and I was lost. I had lost it. Lost everything. The cows were stampeding straight toward the wheat. I fell to my knees, 14 years old, in tears, crying. And then, as a last-ditch effort, I stood up and I prayed.

And I looked across the field about a quarter of a mile, and there was a big black poplar tree about this big around, and I put my eyes on that tree, and I prayed and I cried. And I said, God, please draw a line between me and that tree, and don't let the cows pass it, because I can't do this. And it's my whole family's food. And the cows came charging from the north, running, and they got to that line, and they almost tumbled over, stopping at that line. And then they went all the way to that poplar tree, and all the way back to me, and they went up and down that line, and they trampled the dirt down on one side. And I kept praying and crying, and eventually they turned back and wandered back into the pasture where there was no food. And my dad pulled up in the pickup truck about 45 minutes later, and he pulled up to me and he said, what happened here? He's like, there's like there's a fence along here. I never said. I never told him. And we went and we repaired the fence.

It took me 30 years before I told that story because I was shy, I was embarrassed, and I thought no one would believe me. But when I did tell it, I was at church and my dad was in the audience, and I kid you not, out loud, he said, you've got to be kidding me. For 30 years I've been wondering what happened in that field. And everybody laughed. And after church on the drive home, he surprised me, and he told me something I didn't know because for 30 years I thought I knew the lesson of that event. He said, what you don't know is that as I raced back home in that old pickup truck, I too was praying all the way. And when I got home and was madly throwing fencing gear in the truck, your mom came out in the yard and said, what's going on? And I told her, I said, gather the kids and go in the house and get on your knees and pray. And then he said, as I drove back to you all the way, I was praying, and your mom and all the other kids were praying. Let's turn to the book of Nehemiah. We will recall that when Israel came out of Babylon, out of exile for 70 years, the first thing they did was build a temple, which was good. But they didn't rebuild the wall. And Nehemiah came along and saw that. And he went out by night, and he saw that the wall was broken down and burned. And so he said, I will rally the people. And he did, and he inspired the people to rebuild the wall. And they got started, and he led the building effort. Let's pick up the story in Nehemiah chapter 3 and verse 1. The wall needed building.

Eliah's ship, the high priest, rose up with his brethren, the priests, and built the sheep gate. They consecrated and hung its doors. They built it as far as the Tower of the Hundred and consecrated it, then as far as the Tower of Hanal. Next to Eliah's ship, the men of Jericho built, and next to them, Zechariah, son of Imre, built. And also the sons of Hasana built the fish gate. They laid his beams and hung his doors with his bolts and bars. And next to them, Marimoth, son of Euryjah. Verse 4. And next to them, Meshulam. And next to them, Zadok. And now I'm going to skip through.

And next to them, the Tekanites. The Tekanites, I think, were Star Trek people. The Tekoites made repairs. And next to them, Melatia. And next to them, Uziel, one of the goldsmiths. The goldsmiths. They weren't wall builders, but they made repairs. And next to him, Hananiah, one of the perfumers, made repairs.

And next to them, Repiah. And next to them, Jigiah, the son of Harumph. Why does it say the son of? It's because it meant the whole family. It meant the family did the work. These were the families. And next to him was Shalom, leader of half the district. I'm in verse 12 of Jerusalem. He and his daughters made repairs. This is my first time at Winter Family Weekend, and I met a family here that's absolutely beautiful, and they have four daughters.

Him and his daughters made repairs. Verse 14, Malchaijah, son of Rekab, repaired the dungate. They built it and hung its doors with bolts and bars. Isn't it interesting that there's the water gate and the fountain gate and all the beautiful gates, but somebody had to build the dungate. And it's recorded. It's just as important. It wasn't one of the pretty gates. It's where they carried the dung out the back.

And next to him Nehemiah, son of Asbuk, next to him the Levites, and next to him Ezra, and next to him Baruch, the son of Zabai, and next to him Marimoth, son of Urijah, son of a cause to repair another section. And beyond the horse gate, the priests made repairs, and between the upper room and the far corner, as far as the sheep gate, the goldsmiths. We had goldsmiths. We have Jew... I met someone here who's a jeweler. And the goldsmiths and the merchants made repairs.

They all did what they could. They all worked together. I love that. They all came together. Nehemiah 4 verse 6 says, So we built the wall, the entire wall was joined together. They closed the gaps, and it was about half high. And the next part is really important. For the people had a mind to work. Now what happened when Sanballat, this is verse 7, Tobiah, the Arabs, the Ammonites, the Aesthetites, heard that the walls of Jerusalem were being restored, and the gaps were beginning to be closed, that they became very angry. Verse 8, And all of them conspired together to come and attack Jerusalem and create confusion.

Nevertheless, we made our prayer to our God, and because of them we set a watch against them day and night. And verse 11, And our adversary said, They will neither know nor see anything till we come into their midst and kill them and cause the work to cease. Verse 13, Therefore I positioned men behind the lower parts of the wall at the openings, and I set the people according to their families with their swords, their spears, their bows.

And I looked and arose and said to the leaders and the rest of the people, Do not be afraid of them. Remember the Lord, great and awesome, and fight for your brothers and sisters, your sons, your daughters, your wives, your houses. Fight for your families. And it happened, verse 15, When our enemies heard that it was known to us that they were going to be attacking, and that God had brought their plot to nothing, that all of us returned to the wall and everyone to their work.

They kept on working. So it was from that time on that half the people worked at the construction while the other half held the spears and their shields and their bows and wore armor. And the leaders were behind the house of Judah. And those who built on the wall and those who carried the burdens loaded themselves. So the one hand they worked at construction, and with the other hand they held weapons.

And every one of the builders had a sword girded about his side as he built, and the one who sounded the trumpet was beside me. And then I said to the leaders and the rest of the people, the work is great and extensive, and we are separated far from one another along the wall. Sometimes we are far apart from another, aren't we? So what did they do? When you hear the sound of the trumpet, rally together!

So whenever there was someone attacking one part of the wall, they would sound the trumpet and they would all rally to that spot, and they would all fight together. But guess what it says? Our God will fight for us. So we labored in the work, and half the men held the spears from daybreak till the stars appeared. Verse 15 of Nehemiah 6. Nehemiah 6 15 says, So the wall was finished in 52 days.

And it happened when all our enemies heard of it, and all the nations around us saw these things. When they were successful, when God's people were successful, and the attackers saw that they were successful, they were very disheartened in their own eyes. Why? Because they thought, wow, these Jews did a great job. No. When other people saw that God's people were successful, what did they say? For they perceived that this work was done by our God. I love reading that passage in those chapters because I love the fact that God decided to give credit to all those who pitched in, and he recorded their names.

Those names are in the Bible, which is forever. He gave them recognition for fighting the fight and working the work. I love that God did that. And when the Ammonite people fought against the Jews, what do you remember they said to themselves? Let's create confusion. Commotion. The Jews could have stopped, but that's not what God's people did. Instead, they rallied together. Any time they were being intact in one spot, everyone else, all the brothers and sisters and families, came to help them and to help the work they were doing. What is one trait of a good family? When the chips are down, they stand together.

We are a congregation. We are a family. Do we stand together? Do we rally together? Do we support and defend one another? I mentioned earlier that in times of difficulty in trial, God wants us to turn to Him, because He is salvation. But in times of difficulty in trial, God also wants us to turn to one another. When there is work to be done, He wants us to do it together, and He wants us to rally together. There is more to this world than we can see with our eyes, thankfully. When we fight our battles, we have spiritual armor we can wear. But we have to put it on. We put the armor on to defend ourselves against our own sin and against Satan, but we put the armor on to defend our brothers and our sisters, our family. We might be asking the next logical question. What can we actually do?

When we go home from here, it's great to say, put on the armor, what can we do? There are five things. You won't have to write them down because you already know them. I see a lot of you that are still awake, taking your pants and going down.

There are five things. Prayer, study, fasting, meditation, and fellowship. Fellowship. Working together. That is how we fight. We remember that God brings the victory, but we fight together. We know we can win. How do we know we can win? Because some have already done it. Let's turn to Hebrews 11. Hebrews 11, verse 32. I'll start reading. You can catch up if you're turning. Hebrews 11, 32. And what more shall I say? For the time would fail me to tell of Gideon, and Barak, and Samson, and Jephthah, and also of David, and Samuel, and the prophets. All of these have done it. Who through faith subdued kingdoms, worked righteousness, obtained promises, stopped the mouths of lions. Verse 34. Quench the violence of fire, escaped the heads of the sword. Out of weakness were made strong, became valiant in battle, turned to flight the armies of the aliens. Women received their dead to life again. Others were tortured, not accepting deliverance, that they might obtain a better resurrection. Still others had trials of mockings and scourgings, and of chains and imprisonment. They were stoned, they were sawn in two, they were tempted, they were slain with the sword, they wandered about in sheepskins and goatskins, being destitute, afflicted, tormented. Of whom this world is not worthy. They wandered in deserts and mountains and dens and caves of the earth. How can you put together in one paragraph all those who turned the armies away and all those who died? And were slain. How do they fit together? Because they all won. They all won the war. Verse 39, and all these, having obtained a good testimony through faith, have not received the promise. They're waiting. They've qualified, but they're waiting. God, having a better idea in His mind that they should not be made perfect, apart from us. They're waiting for us. Hebrews 12.1 says, therefore we also, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight in the sin which does so easily ensnare us, and let us run with endurance the race that sets before us, looking to Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith. He is salvation. Since we are encompassed by so great a cloud of witnesses, who are they? They are our family. And they kept one important thing in mind, just as Abraham did, and we read earlier in that chapter about Abraham. He focused on a city that was not physical. They focused on that which is not seen, because that's what's permanent. The armor of God is not seen. So what must we do? Prepare the horse for battle, but trust in God to win the war. Put on the whole armor. Prayer, study, how? How do we prepare the horse? By putting on the armor. How do we put on the armor? Prayer, study, fasting, meditation, fellowship. What do we need to do? We need to prepare the horse. We may need to go into battle. We may need to fight, even against overwhelming odds. We will fight. We will fight sin. We will fight Satan. But we trust in God to win the war. Brethren, if we think the battle we fight and the enemy we fight now is tough, it is. Not taking anything away from that. But this is a cakewalk compared to what is to come. Wait until we have to run with the horses. For most of us right now, our lives are actually pretty good.

There may come a time in the future when the food for our family is on the line. Peter wrote, don't be surprised when the fiery trial comes. Will we be prepared? Will we have the armor on? Will we be able to stand? Now is the time to prepare.

Now is the time to put oil in our lamps. How? Prayer, study, fasting, meditation. Don't just memorize them. And fellowship. Let's turn to Hebrews chapter 10. Hebrews chapter 10. Hebrews chapter 10, verse 23, says, let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering. Stand strong. Don't waver. For he who promised is faithful. Well, there's how we don't waver, because he's strong. And let us consider one another to stir up love and good works, not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as is the manner of some, but exhorting one another.

That means encouraging to love and good works. And so much the more as you see the day approaching. Why do we fellowship to encourage one another? To stand one another? To stir up love and good works. One of the ways we can do that is don't be shy. Tell the stories of when God saved you. Give God the credit. We're not taken out of this world not yet, and we go about our weeks. Our lives can be stressful and difficult, and when we come to church, we hear a sermon, which is important.

But two weeks later, I tell you what, I don't remember what I preached two weeks ago. It's important. It is. But after the sermon is over, for me at least, it feels like that's when we relax, and that's when the fun part of Sabbath starts. We fellowship. We break bread.

We have a potluck, and we tell one another what we're going through. And you know, we can forget what the sermon was about, but when we sit beside a beautiful widow who says, how was your week? And we say, I kind of sucked. And she says, tell me about it. And you tell her. And she goes, yeah, I went through something like that.

You can do it. The hat sticks with us for years. We each have different gifts according to the grace given to us. If our gift is to serve, then serve, it's teach, then teach. My favorite one is, if it's to encourage, then give encouragement. We hear about the struggles of our friends and family. Then we go home, and what do we do? We pray for them, because we're family. If we pray to God, He will hear us, even if we're 14 years old. And if a family prays together for the good of the family, God will hear them. Just like happened to my family and those cows in that wheat field.

We are family. If we stand together, if we are unified, if we are calm, if we are at peace, no clamoring, no confusion, no division, no fighting amongst one another, supporting one another, then when we pray for a common good cause, God will hear us and He'll answer. How can we do that if we don't fellowship? If we don't know one another, like this, it's beautiful, which is what we're doing right now.

As the end draws near, no matter what battles we encounter, no matter what challenges, trials, tribulations, even the day of tribulation which is coming, we will fight battles. If we're gonna fight battles, then let's go into battle together. Let's draw closer together as a family. Let's stand strong together in prayer, study, fasting, meditation, and fellowship. Let's put on the helmet of salvation. Let's reach out to one another. Let's uplift and encourage one another. Let's rally together. Let's prepare the horse for battle together, and let's together trust in God to win the war, because bigger battles are coming.

The Bible tells us we are a little flock. Of ourselves, we have just a little strength, and in the end, there will be a great witness to be done. Two witnesses? We might not be the witnesses, but our prayers are fasting our meditation, our study, and our fellowship will carry them. Brethren, if we stand together, we will be stand strong, and we will armor up with no clamoring, no division.

Then we can put on the helmet of salvation. Even if there are giants in the land, even if there's great and powerful army to fight, when there's a Red Sea in front of us and an army behind us, it won't matter. It won't matter, because we've got God, and we've got one another.

We're just a little flock. But many years ago, there was another little tiny army of 300 men, and they fought 300. They fought 135,000 trained soldiers. Let's turn to 2 Chronicles chapter 20. 2 Chronicles chapter 20, and verse 15 says, And he said, Listen, all you of Judah, and you inhabitants of Jerusalem, and you, King Jehoshaphat, thus says the Lord to you, Do not be afraid, nor be dismayed, because of this great multitude, 135,000.

For the battle is not yours, but God's.

Tomorrow, verse 16, go down against them. They will surely come up by the ascent of Zeez, and you will find them at the end of the brook before the wilderness of Jerul. You will not need to fight in this battle this time, this time, but position yourselves. Stand still. Stand strong together. Stand still and see the salvation of the Lord who is with you. The helmet of salvation comes from God. See the salvation of the Lord who is with you, O Judah and Jerusalem. Do not fear. Do not be dismayed. Tomorrow, go out against them. And I say to all of us, tomorrow, go out against them. For the Lord is with you.