A Secure Foundation

Rev. Zacharias told about doing a lectureship series several years ago at the Ohio State University.

As he was being driven to the lecture, they passed what was then the new Wexner Art Center. So this is an art center on the campus of Ohio State. The driver commented, this is a new art building for the university. It's a fascinating building designed in the postmodernist view of reality. Zacharias described this fascinating building. He said, the building has no pattern. Staircases go nowhere. Pillars support nothing. And said that the architect designed the building to reflect the postmodernist view of life. It went nowhere and was mindless and senseless. Leave it to an artist, right, to come up with some recreation or some original creation of something that was mindless and senseless. Pillars that support nothing. Staircases that go to nowhere. And you can look this up online and find this art building and you can see some of what's described. But this is the part I want to focus on today. Zacharias said, I turned to the man describing it and asked, did they do the same thing with the foundation? The man laughed and answered, you can't do that with the foundation. You see that contrast in a building designer, right, an architect, somebody trying to be creative and artistic. They're smart enough to know a foundation has to be sure. It has to be secure. You can't play around with the foundation if you're going to create an erect a building, right? But yet, they had other parts that was inside the building that was creative. Staircases that went nowhere, these different things. I find this illustration interesting because it is a interesting take on what we often see in society and at times even in our own lives if we are not careful.

Around us, we see people are living lives, raising families, going to school, progressing in their careers, going on vacation, things that seem to be going well on the outside. But how is their foundation underneath? Do they even have a foundation? Is there a source of strength underneath their outward appearance, underneath their daily lives? And we all can understand and know what a difference a secure foundation makes. Remember that little brick building I described in an illustration in the last sermon I shared here back last month? That town in Pennsylvania that built that little town, red brick building that was the house, their fire department, their police department, and their public service like offices. And how they were really proud. The whole city came out when it was created and when it was opened. But it didn't take very long for them to start noticing cracks in the walls and things were not unsettling. The building was shifting on its foundation. And what they found was that local mining company, pretty far away, the blast from that mining company was slowly undermining that foundation, weakening it, cracking it. And eventually it did so much damage to that building, the foundation of that building, that it had to be demolished. It was not inhabitable because of what was going on miles away and that seemingly nobody could pick up. Nobody realized what was going on.

There's also a similar story and a similar illustration. There's a skyscraper in San Francisco. I shared this illustration at camp with the campers. It's the fourth tallest building in San Francisco. It's the number one tallest concrete building. And it was built a few years ago, I think about 10 years ago. Might be a little bit less than that. I'm trying to recollect because I don't have it in my notes what I'm talking about with it. But it was a huge residential skyscraper. And it cost $350 million to build. But not too long after people started moving in and the building was deemed complete, they started finding cracks underneath the building because that's where they had a parking garage for people who lived in it. You could park below the building. Cracks started to form in the pillars in the parking garage underneath. Chunks of concrete started to fall off the ceiling there underneath in this parking garage. And so, of course, engineers are like, this isn't supposed to happen ever, but especially right after a building's built. So the engineers came out, they looked at it, and realized that the building is shifted. Like it's leaning.

That its foundation was compromised. It was not built on bedrock because being there in San Francisco, it was built on this layer of what they thought was secure enough sand and other clay and other materials that had settled over millions of years. They thought it was firm enough, but now they have this $350 million dollar building, residential building, that nobody wants to live in, right? I'm not signing up to move into a skyscraper that's starting to lean because who knows how far it's going to go or what my my residential value, of course, because they're condos and things. Nobody's going to buy it, so you lose value in that. And so they've been trying to figure out what are we going to do? How do we fix this? So engineers came up with a hundred million dollar plan to re-establish this foundation under this skyscraper in San Francisco. So over a quarter of the cost that it took to build it, they're now pouring in another hundred million to try to shore up this foundation. Guess what? Now it's leaning the other direction. They've still got a problem. They thought they leveled it out. They thought they fixed it, and now it's resettling the opposite direction now, and they don't know where they go from here. There's that last aspect of what they just found out was just a couple months back. I think it was in June an article came out where they are now realizing it's still not settled. It's still not fixed. What a difference a foundation makes from a little brick building to an art museum that needs a sure foundation to a skyscraper in San Francisco. We could go on and on about illustrations and examples about foundations and why we need them and how important they are in our lives. This is one of the messaging that we brought to the campers again this year. A few weeks ago when we were last here with you, I shared that message about going over our camp theme for the year. We got into the first two aspects of that camp theme, which was we talked about on Monday we stand in the strength of the power of his might, not on our own might, when we take a stand for God. We also talked about the second theme, which was entitled Against the Darkness of the Age, recognizing that we battle an enemy who wants nothing more than to destroy us and to just be his own God. This enemy comes after mankind daily. He is the God and the ruler of this world, recognizing that his influence has altered all of humanity's path forward with God, and it's the one that we battle. We take this again. Well, let's turn to Ephesians 6 and verse 10, because this is where our camp theme for this year, Stand Strong, was originated from in Scripture. Ephesians 6, and as a reminder, because I'd like to take the time with you as we've just come back from camp to continue kind of walking you through what we went through with the campers this year as a part two to what I shared with you last month.

And we draw this again from Ephesians 6 and verse 10 here, where Paul says, Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord and the power of his might.

Put on the whole armor of God that you may 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 the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places. And so let's continue to look at this foundation that we need to have underneath us and the strength that God gives us to empower us to take a stand against our enemy and to walk forward with his might. We know that Christians will live life with spiritual battles. It's a given. It's a fact. But yet you and I still went forward taking on the challenges we knew we would face as we committed our life to God. Why was that? Why did you commit yourself to walk with God back when you weighed out baptism, back when you were baptized many years ago for many of us?

I can't speak for you, of course, why you made that decision, what you recognized, but as I thought and pondered this question just myself, I think deep down I realized life is going to be challenging. We live in a world where I recognize that there's an enemy that wants to deceive and wreck us, and I knew that life was going to be hard.

There was going to be physical challenges. There were going to be spiritual battles, and I wanted the help to battle. I wanted extra help. I wanted a better way to go. I recognize that going with God is going to bring its own challenges, but also walking with God in this life brings a peace and a hope that nothing else offers in this world.

And if I'm going to battle the difficulties we face, both physically and spiritually, I wanted to be equipped. I knew that nothing that I was going to be able to finally do, because I tried to fix it myself, right? I tried to figure out my own walk with God, and I tried to fix this life, this brokenness that I have as a human being, figuring that while I know God's Word, I can apply God's Word to this life and fix it, but I never could.

I always kept stubbing my toe against the hard rocks of life and got tired of it to the point where I said, I need help. I can't do this. And God said, no, you can't do it, but I can. And at that point, I recognized I have to be baptized, because I'm trying to do something to try to stand on my own might in a battle that I thought I could battle with the knowledge that He gave me. He goes, you need more help. And that help comes through God's Spirit, as we know, as we give our lives to Him, as we sacrifice this physical life to Him, knowing that we're going to now have to walk a spiritual walk with Him forward and still battle the physical, but walk in this newness of life, this new creation that He wants us to be.

This is a lesson that we work to share with the campers every year, but especially this year, as we pivot away from this theme of these first two days of standing in the power of His might against our adversary, those two themes. We shifted and began focusing on the tools that God gives us so that we can battle the darkness of this age, Satan and Devil, and His tactics. And as we saw previously, one cannot effectively stand against the darkness on one's own might.

We must be equipped spiritually for the battles we'll face. So on Wednesday of camp this year, we considered how we must take up the armor. And of course, this comes right here from Ephesians 6 again, but continuing on in verse 13. Paul says, therefore, take up the whole armor of God that you may be able to stand in the evil days, and having done all to stand, stand therefore, having girded your waist with truth, having put on the breastplate of righteousness, and having shodged your feet with the preparation of the gospel of peace, above all taking the shield of faith with which you will be able to clinch all the fiery darts of the wicked one, and take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.

This faith, salvation, this truth from God, these are aspects that we are being asked to put on like a garment, like an armor, like Goliath wore, right? We talked about Goliath recently in a message as well. He had all this armor, he had all this helmet, he had this mail, everything that he put on to go into battle, and yet what did David put on?

He didn't put on the physical armor, right? Remember, he tried to put on Saul's armor, but it was bigger than he could have wear, and he wasn't tested. He never had tried and proven himself with that armor. He never went out and practiced any type of warfare in that armor. He took it off. He says, this is going to do me more harm than good, but what did he put on? That's what we are going to look at here, because he put on these aspects of the spiritual armor, and he went out and he defeated a champion of the Philistines.

God inspired Paul to tell us to put these things on, because we're to defend and arm ourselves with these items to give us the ability to stand strong in our Lord. So, let's look at these aspects kind of briefly as we consider this topic for today again. This armor, the first aspect, having girded your waist with truth, we know that people at Paul's times, they would have worn kind of more flowy robes, loose-fitting robes that they would have worn around in public in places.

And for any of you ladies in dresses, I've not worn a dress, I don't believe in my life. I don't remember doing that, but you understand what it's like if you had to run through something or run someplace with this flowy dress that can get in the way. You can trip on it. I know a lot of our campers, they like knee or forward length prom dresses, and they always, you see them pulling them up because they trip on them.

This was similar to the robes that people would wear during Paul's time. And so if they needed to go into battle, if they needed to run someplace, they would wrap it up, they would gird themselves up in their this flowy clothing, and then they would wrap it in a sash or a belt that would then keep it where it needed to be. And I've never been a soldier or anything like that, like Paul's describing here, but I have done some construction work at different times.

I do own a tool belt because sometimes still today I'll climb a ladder and I'll be working on something, and then I need a tool and I got to climb back down. And after about the third or fourth time climbing the ladder, I went, I'm going to go get my tool belt because then I can keep everything I need with me. And what an effective use a tool belt is for the construction industry and other trades where they wear that and they keep the tools that they need around them on this belt, and it works effectively for them.

The gospel of Jesus Christ is that truth of God that we need to gird ourselves about, that we need to hem ourselves in with.

And we cannot enter into a spiritual warfare with any hope of success if we're not girded by God's truth. Notice John 14 in verse 6. You can put it in your notes because I'm not going to turn there myself, but John 14 verse 6, Jesus said to him, I am the way, the truth, and the life.

We recognize that every aspect that Christ exhibited in his life and his ministry here on this earth was done in the truth of God. And so he is that truth that he wants us to carry with us.

God's truth acts as a support to our lives, and his truth is multifaceted. Just as a soldier or tradesman needs multiple tools to do their job, God has given us multiple tools with his truth to battle this spiritual warfare that we are in. And so we must be wearing and girding ourselves with this around our waist with this belt of truth. The second illustration that Paul uses here is saying, having put on the breastplate of righteousness. There's a passage that you can also put in your notes from Isaiah 59 and verse 17 that references where Jesus Christ put on himself this breastplate of righteousness. Isaiah 59 verse 17 says, for he put on righteousness as a breastplate, speaking again of Jesus Christ here in the book of Isaiah. And we know that as Christ lived on this life, as he interacted with fellow humans, and as he demonstrated the importance of the message that he came to share with the world, he battled injustice. He battled corruption. He restored peace and order to many of the lives that were around him. And so he went forward and knowing that this righteousness comes from God, and this righteousness is everything that Christ was about.

He lived this life in the fullness of God's righteousness. And God offers this righteousness to everyone who believes in his Son and who's willing to walk according to his teachings.

We see that many times I've referenced as just an easy definition for righteousness, doing the things we know we ought to do before God. That's what righteousness means, and that's what living a righteous life means, doing the things we ought to do before God. Let's turn to Romans 1 in verse 16. In Romans, Paul is again talking to the church here in Rome, and he shares this. Romans 1 verse 16, Paul says, I'm not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, for it is the power of God to salvation for everyone who believes, for the Jews first and also for the Greeks. For in it, the righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith. As it is written, the just, and some translations say, the righteous shall live by faith.

Righteousness is how we interact and how we relate to God and how we relate to one another. This breastplate of the Roman soldier protected the most vital parts outside of their brain, the most vital organs, right? The heart, the lungs, without which they can't go into battle.

We've seen examples of an arrow puncturing a lung in the person and not able to go forward anymore in their battle. And so, it protects the core of the person and God's righteousness, the way that we ought to act before God, protects our heart, protects our core, protects our inner being. And so, we must put on this right relationship with God and with each other.

My brother Troy was also at camp this year. It was our first camp. Him and I have served in the camp program for almost decades, I think, now together at different times. But it's our first camp that we were actually at the same place together. And so, of course, you know, big brother and little brother, we got to jab each other a little bit. We got to tell some stories. The campers heard a few stories from me and a few stories from him on each other. And it's just that fun family dynamic that we have. But he shared in the illustration one evening a story reminded him and I talked about it a little bit. So, as you know, our father was a Cincinnati police officer and he worked there and retired in the 90s from that job. And as a little kid, you see him get dressed up for work and he'd put on his patrolman's hat. He'd put on his white dress shirt. He'd put on his black pants and his shiny shoes that he kept very polished because that was the expectation that they would have this nice polished shoes. And as dad would be getting dressed, one of the things he'd put on an undershirt and then he would put on his vest, his bulletproof vest, because he would be going into work and things. And as a little kid, we'd wear his hat sometimes around the house. We'd put on that bulletproof vest. He'd let us put it on ourselves. And the thing weighed a ton. I don't know if anybody's ever put one on before. But it's kind of like a cloth cotton vest, but in it has little pockets that you can insert what they would be is Kevlar shields.

So pieces of Kevlar, which is bulletproof and very hard and rigid, they could slide those into the pockets and then be like an armor for the policemen and policemen to still wear today.

But as a little kid, it weighs a lot of weight. And so if it's a lot of weight for a little kid, it's quite a bit of weight for an adult as well. And so Troy shared the talk to my dad and shared this illustration about how many policemen have died because they didn't want to wear this bulletproof vest. It was uncomfortable. It didn't sit right when you're driving in a car. If you're patrolling and directing traffic out on a hot summer day, 95 degrees with high humidity, the thing just trapped all that heat and they would just sweat profusely.

Dad even shared with Troy, sometimes he would just pull to the collar of his shirt, unbutton the top one and kind of like air out the clothing underneath. And Dad said you could just feel the heat and humidity just pour out from the collar of your shirt when you would do that to try to just air it out a little bit. And because it's uncomfortable, because it's heavy, because it's not, because it's hot, many police officers have made the decision that they weren't going to wear their bulletproof vest for some days.

And even though they were required to, even though it was the next expectation, they said I'm only directing traffic today. I'm not going to get into any type of altercation or any type of problem, but I don't remember the stat that Troy shared, but many thousands of police officers have lost their life. And as they looked into the primary reason why, and it was because they didn't wear their protection that day, they didn't wear their bulletproof vest when they went in to work, because it was hot, because it was uncomfortable.

And it's amazing illustration that we have here that if we don't put on this righteousness of God, we're not equipped for the battles we're going to face. We risk being exposed to Satan's fiery darts, to the temptations that he throws at us. Galatians 3 verse 27 says, for as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ. We are, as we accepted the sacrifice of Jesus Christ for our sins and were baptized and received God's Spirit, we were instructed to put on His righteousness, to put on the way that He carried Himself, the things He did because He knew that was the way He ought to act as well as the Son of God and in the perfect way that He was.

And so we have to put on His righteousness. We have to put on Christ. A third aspect that we shared from this passage is shotting your feet with the preparation of the Gospel of Peace. We know from historical accounts, Roman soldiers would wear kind of leather shoes or sandals that they would often wear. And for the Roman soldier, they would often put spikes into the bottom of these sandals to give them more footing, right?

It's kind of like today's modern version of today's cleat, like for football, soccer, track, spikes, cleats that would dig into the ground so they could hold the battle, so they could run up the hill easier. And I remember being a kid playing in the front yard and things. Neighbors come and knock on the door during the summer and say, do you want to come out? And I've got bare feet, and we come out just to hang out on the porch for a little bit.

But before we know it, we get into a game of tag or something like that. And I'm running around the yard and concrete walkways and driveways barefoot. And then, have anybody ever stubbed a toe while running, playing outside with no shoes on? I know I did. Or you hit a neighbor's yard that has a gravel driveway, and then you start doing that whole, like, trying to walk gingerly as you're running through a gravel driveway.

And I remember times, like, calling on time out and whatever we were doing, so I could go inside and get socks and shoes on so I could really play. Like, now let's bring it to the next level, because I'm tired of skinning my toes running down the sidewalks. And so what a difference proper footing, proper shoes, and proper sandals, and things like that, make to us going through life.

God wants us to cover our feet with the gospel of the kingdom of God, the good news of the kingdom of God. He wants us to walk forward taking steps with that as our vision, right? I mean, playing hard, right? You've got a goal. You're going forward. There's not very many games you play running backwards looking over your shoulder. You play going forward in an offensive position or posture. God wants us to go forward in this life with our vision on the kingdom. We are to be making steps daily towards that kingdom, that good news of the kingdom that God is bringing to this earth.

It's not a gospel of fighting to take the spoils of battle or other people's money or property or belongings. It's not for the reasons that people fight wars today in the past or today in the present. But how did Jesus handle himself in sharing this gospel? Let's look at Matthew 4 in verse 23.

The good news that Jesus brought to the world was good news, indeed.

A group of people that were lost, right? Christ even referred to them, and his heart went out to them because they were like sheep without a shepherd. His heart—and they didn't have a direction. They didn't know how to go forward. And so he stood in the gap. He stepped in to give them hope about their future, hope about their present as well.

Matthew 4, verse 23, records, and Jesus went about all of Galilee, teaching in their synagogues, preaching the gospel of the kingdom and healing all kinds of sickness and all kinds of disease among the people. This message that Christ brought was a message for peace both for them at that time and for us today and how we live and love one another. It's also the peace that will come when he returns to this earth. Everything that we do today, every last aspect, should be in preparation for the coming kingdom that Christ is going to bring to this earth and the involvement in that kingdom that we will have as his children. This is a time of peace that the world has not experienced since probably the Garden of Eden before sin entered into mankind. This peace that mankind had with God, God's going to again bring to this earth and teach and give us the opportunity to teach and to serve along with him in changing the world. And so we've been invited in right now to live and to practice and develop traits to work on putting on the righteousness of God as we go forward so we can help serve in this kingdom that he says keep taking steps towards. Make sure that this is the direction that we're walking with. That is our final vision. And so the gospel of the kingdom of God protects us as we are active, just like shoes do when we play a sport, when running and fulfilling the responsibilities of our calling today. With the gospel of his peace on our feet, the good news of his kingdom on our feet, we can avoid those skin toes and those banged up feet, but a solid footing that keeps us established. Let's look at the shield of faith next that is described here by Paul. The shield of a Roman soldier was about two feet wide and about four feet tall. It would be made of wood and often covered in leather so that it could be dunked in water in case the enemy is firing darts at you that are arrows that are on fire. It's kind of symbolic, like in an interesting way that our enemy is referred to as shooting fiery darts towards us as well. So they would dunk this shield in water so that when it would quench those arrows that would come in. And on the outside, it had a metal frame so that if they banged into somebody or something, it would withstand impact. And the Romans would take these soldiers or these shields because they were so large, and they would make a wall, and they could move forward as a line with each of them holding their shields in front of them. And the second row behind them would actually come over the top and make like a secondary wall. And so this was a great defense as they went forward and as they pushed forward in their battles.

The shield was a number one way of protecting themselves, and every one of us will face times in our lives when it appears that all we are doing and following God's way, it may not make sense to us right now. Sometimes we get doubt will come into our minds. Sometimes disillusionment. Sometimes even we can become dissatisfied with the direction our lives are going and why is this thing happening or why is God not answering this prayer? Why is his answer not the one that I thought would be best for my life? It makes more sense the way that I think it should go than what God's allowing it to go. And when this doubt comes in, which every one of us will face at different times, we need this shield of faith to be able to withstand that doubt that comes in from Satan, those fiery darts that he shoots and hurls at our direction.

In these moments, it really just only comes down to you and God, me and God. Are we going to be able to let our faith go forward? Can we walk forward towards God's kingdom knowing that God is faithful towards us? Can we continue to go forward? And it comes down to belief and it comes down to faith. So the shield of faith is a Christian's protection against doubt. Whenever we trust that God will provide everything we need, the spiritual forces of evil cannot tempt us with the lie that sin will provide a better life than God's way will. That the difficulty we go through sometimes, maybe it's a health trial, maybe it's a loss of a job, maybe it's something else that doesn't add up, but we have faith that God is with us. We have faith that he's leading us forward. And if we continue in the path that we're supposed to go, God will see us through.

Let's look at the helmet of salvation. In a similar fashion to protecting the vital organs that a breastplate would do, the helmet of a soldier would protect the brain. It would be made of bronze or iron and it would usually have a couple of cheek pieces on either side that would protect against the side of a soldier's face. The Almighty Creator of the universe has given us salvation reserved for you and me as a helmet for us to wear. We put on this helmet of salvation and allow to protect our minds from the doubts and the weights that life brings in. We allow it to protect the promises from God that he has given us, which we believe. Let's look at Peter's writing in 1 Peter 1 and verse 3. 1 Peter 1 1 Peter 1 Verse 3 As we consider this hope that we have in salvation and God, Peter writes this in 1 Peter 1, verse 3, Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to his abundant mercy has begotten us again to a living hope. So much hope that the society places on people or on things or on jobs, on money. It all fails at some point, even our own lives, even our own health. The best athlete who practices and with the Olympics coming up, we're going to see some amazing athletes if you're interested in the Olympics. But their window of being able to perform at that level is short.

Sometimes it's only a few years that they can perform at that height of a level before they have to retire because they're not able to win races, because someone younger, someone with more strength rises up behind them. So even if they invest in all the nutrition, all the activities, all the exercise that they can do, eventually that even fails, right? Our own lives. We recognize there's only so much we can do even to look after this physical body. And so, this placing hope into ourselves, into money, into jobs, it's not going to support us the way that many think. That's why Peter talks about this living hope that we have, this life-giving hope. He says, through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead. That's what God has brought us into, is through this resurrection of Jesus Christ, you and I have a Savior. You and I have a new way to walk. You and I can have the indwelling of God's Spirit to give us that hope, that strength to go forward. Peter goes on in verse 4 to say, to an inheritance incorruptible and undefiled and does not fade away, reserved in heaven for you. It's put away. God has a plan. He's going forward before us to build a house, build a mansion with many rooms, places for you and I to dwell within His kingdom.

And it's reserved in heaven for us. He says in verse 5, who are kept by the power of God through faith for salvation, ready to be revealed at the last time. So Peter reminds us to use this gift to protect our minds from the doubts that life and our adversary brings in. This armor of God is incredible when we use it as God intended, but to many, this armor seems silly and useless by many people around us. That's all you got. That's all you're gonna walk your life with are these the faith, God's truth, His righteousness. Is that all you have? I go back to that example again, though, of David and Goliath, right? Because I think I know that's what David, Goliath was thinking because, I mean, he's human, right? We can all put ourselves in Goliath's shoes, walking out on that battlefield for 40 days, morning and night, hurrowing threats and negative thoughts towards our God. And to see a teenage boy walk towards him with no armor on, no spear in his hand, no shield to fight, and he's got his armor on, he's got everything. He even had an armor barrier who would carry some of his tools for warfare along with them. He thought he had it all figured out himself. And look at this silly teenage boy.

This is not even, this is not even a fair fight.

But what, again, did David have? He had everything he needed, and he put on this armor, spiritual armor, that we've just gone through in order to defeat the champion of the Philistines.

We can never make a mistake that this armor is not powerful or is not worthy or needed for us to put on. We must put it on daily. At this point in our Christian living study through the week, we pivoted to another sub-theme, which gets into the last aspect of this armor that we looked at, which is, in the last sub-theme, was entitled with, or the fourth sub-theme, with the weapons of our warfare. And we reminded the campers to never lose sight that they are in a war. They can never mistake this because they are in one. And there's no way that we could sugarcoat this fact. We can't minimize the truth that they are battling. And we, therefore, must not underestimate or ignore where we are at and what is before us, either. Let's look at 2 Corinthians 10 and verse 3. 2 Corinthians 10 and verse 3.

Again, I appreciate the prayers not only for camp, but I know many of you have been praying for our Christian living, the biblical aspects, the spiritual messaging that we would share with campers this year. I know some of you have prayed all the way back in last November when we started formulating this and asking God to bring forward the message He would want shared. And it's always a joy when we get to camp and actually see it unfold daily with the different speakers and to see how powerfully this messaging can come through. And so, thank you again for your prayers, not only for the physical aspects of camp, but also the spiritual ones. Because, as you know, we are first and foremost a Bible camp, which has a lot of fun activities for the campers to do as well. And so, the spiritual aspect is our primary focus. And walking through this message with them this year, it came through loud and clear. And we got a lot of positive feedback from the campers on that again. But notice what Paul talks about here to the church in Corinth about this battle that we are in, the spiritual battle. 2 Corinthians 10 verse 3, he says, For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war according to the flesh. For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty in God, for pulling down strongholds, casting down arguments in every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God, bringing every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ, and being ready to punish all disobedience when your obedience is fulfilled. So Paul is again reminding us that we battle a spiritual enemy, and that this enemy is trying to create arguments and doubts, not only in our minds, but in society's mind around us.

And he's saying we must use the spiritual tools that we've been given to bring everything into captivity, to walk righteously with our God. And we know that this goes hand in hand with what I've already read in Ephesians 6 and verse 12, when he says, for we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places. Paul is not ignoring the fact that we do live a physical life, and that at times we battle this physical flesh. He's not saying the only battle we face is on the spiritual side, but he's saying that that spiritual battle is the greater battle. That's the one worth fighting for. That's the one that has eternal life associated with it. We know our physical lives are going to fail us.

Anything around us in society, it's going to weaken and crumble. But we're fighting a spiritual battle that will lead to eternal life as we continue to go forward. This is that greater battle that we're in. It doesn't minimize the physical aspects and the physical life that we also battle, but we're battling invisible spirits of wickedness that seek to destroy us. So what is that weapon that we fight with? It's the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God. While other parts of the armor are usually deemed defensive for the Roman soldier, their sword would be their only offensive, normally only offensive weapon described here in this section. We have in our hands a tool unlike any other in the world. It's living and it's powerful. This sword can cut to the most inward part of our mind and body, yet not damage a single cell. It can cause a person to immediately stop in their tracks and go in a different direction. It can fight or battle for us, being a source of strength and truth. We see, well, we see even within ourselves and outside of these walls, people are usually very quick to share their own opinions about this matter or that matter. It's a prevailing action we see around us today in society. Everyone has an opinion and most are quick to share it. And often we do the same. The thoughts or opinions one shares are normally based on a set of knowledge one prescribes to lead their life. But is that always based on truth? It should be for us, right? We go forward basing our lives and our actions and our words on God's truth, but many around us do not.

In the first sermon that I shared with you on this subject, we looked at the account of Christ and the situation where he was being tempted by Satan. Satan was using God's word as a tool to try to tempt Christ to sin, but he was using it out of context. He was using it incorrectly. And in that same passage, we saw how Christ always used God's word effectively and properly. And it was a living and strong weapon that he used to withstand his enemy. But let's say that for Christ or for you for this matter, or you and I for this matter, we were not skilled in using God's word effectively.

Would it have the same effect? Think back to David's mighty men. Think back to Goliath, who was in Scripture noted as a man who, a man who was, I don't have it in my notes, I don't think, but he was trained for war from his youth. Remember, so he didn't, Goliath didn't just wake up one day and know how to use a sword or spear. David's mighty men, they didn't just wake up one day sitting around a campfire and just say, well, now I know our enemy's approaching. Let's get our swords. And I don't know how to use the sword. Christ knew how to use the sword of the truth because he practiced it. He, it was who he was. It was internal from his heart out.

We must practice using God's word if we are to effectively use this sword.

First, we have to use God's word on ourselves, of course, but once we can use it effectively on ourselves, it can be a tool that we can use to help strengthen others. And we must then maintain those skills to effectively continue using the word of God. Paul uses an illustration in 1 Corinthians 9 verse 24 of a race. Let's go over there real quick. 1 Corinthians 9 verse 24. There were, with the Olympics coming up, there were many touch points and illustrations that we could tie in with the campers regarding a race, regarding work, regarding the training that a soldier would put into his training that a spiritual Christian soldier must do now to effectively compete and to win the prize. And Paul talks about that in 1 Corinthians 9 verse 24.

He says, Do you not know that those who run in a race all run but one receives the prize? Run in such a way that you may obtain it. And everyone goes on and says, and everyone who competes for the prize is temperate in all things. Now they do it to obtain a perishable crown, but we for an imperishable crown. Therefore I run thus not with uncertainty, thus I fight not as one who beats the air, not as one who just throws punches and doesn't land them and just wastes all his energy in poor training. He says, But I discipline my body and bring it into subjection, lest when I preach to others, I myself should become disqualified. Paul is saying right here that it's more than just brain knowledge, right? We know that. But I think sometimes we can get caught up that we know a lot about God. We know what we should be doing. We know his plan for humanity.

We know a lot because he's opened our minds to see a lot. But Paul is saying, I know a lot and I can preach this to you and I can teach this to you. But if I don't practice it, I run the risk of myself being disqualified. And that's something even I think about as your pastor. I can share God's word effectively because it's his word and it's his inspiration. But if I'm not living it myself, you may all make it to the kingdom and I may miss out. That's what Paul is saying here. We have to practice. We have to be involved. This is the strength that we have in the powerful word of God to lead and guide our daily lives, to transform our way of thought and the decisions that we make each day, to be that constant source of truth in a society filled with error.

And as we begin to conclude, I'll share the last sub-thing which put a bow on the week.

As you can see, I'm running out of time too, between the last sermon of standing in the might of God and his might and fighting against the spiritual adversary that we have. Paul's left us equipped with the weapons that we need, the defensive and the offensive weapons, the spiritual ones that we need. And as you can see, the messaging I'm sharing with you today is as relevant for you as it is for the teens. And we don't water this down. We don't make it on a teen level when we talk to the teens because they have grown up in our midst. They have heard these messages. They know God's plan. God's working with them. We remind them of Acts chapter 2, where Peter says that they're being called today. God's Spirit is working with them today. This is a promise from God. And so we meet them right where I'm meeting you today in this messaging, in this truth, because we want them to go forward and fight the good fight. That's the theme that we shared with them on Friday. We want them to walk away from camp, not with just a whole bunch of head knowledge that then they put in notebooks and they carry with them, but to go forward in an active way to fight against our enemy. We work each year to leave those at camp with the encouragement that they can take home with them and continue running their race towards the kingdom. So we left the teens this summer with the encouragement to fight the good fight and continue battling evil in all shapes and forms. Notice what Paul says to Timothy about this fight that we're in in 1 Timothy 6 and verse 11.

1 Timothy 6 and verse 11.

Paul, offering this encouragement to Timothy, says, But you, O man of God, flee these things and pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, patience, gentleness. Put on the Spirit of God. Put on these aspects of Christ.

And in verse 12 he says, Fight the good fight of faith, and lay hold. Notice these action words, fight. This is a good fight to be in, Paul says. And he says, Lay hold of eternal life. So there's an action aspect we have, to which you were also called and have confessed the good confession in the presence of many witnesses. I urge you in the sight of God who gives life to all things and before Christ Jesus, who witnessed the good confession before Pontius Pilate, he says, who witnessed the good confession before Pontius Pilate, he says, That you keep this commandment without spot blameless until our Lord Jesus Christ's appearing, which he will manifest in his own time. He who is the blessed and only potentate, the King of kings and Lord of lords, who alone has immortality, dwelling, and unapproachable light, whom no man has seen or can see, to whom be honor and everlasting power. Amen.

Paul references this good fight that we are to enter into like a contest or a struggle that one is to take hold on. And the Bible was full of examples of those who went before us and entered into the same good fight that we ourselves are in. And we'll read that here in just a moment.

But notice 1 Timothy again, continuing on verse 17. 1 Timothy 6 and verse 17.

Paul says, command those who are rich in this present age not to be haughty or trust in uncertain riches, but in the living God who gives us richly all things to enjoy.

People put their hope in their riches. People put their trust in what they're able to accomplish. He's saying, remind them not to do that. He says, verse 18, let them do good that they may be rich in good works, ready to give, willing to share, storing up for themselves a good foundation for the time to come that they may hold on eternal life. Again, back to that reference. It was illustrations of a sure foundation that we needed building a building.

We must be storing up for ourselves a good foundation for that time to come when it will be needed. Verse 20 says, oh, Timothy, guard what was committed to your trust, avoiding the profane and idle babblings and contradictions of what is falsely called knowledge. Couldn't help but remind the campers they're going to hear all this knowledge, all worldly knowledge, worldly truth around them. And the reality is this has been going on for thousands of years. Paul could have said this. I mean, if I if I just made that statement alone myself, you'd say, yep, it fits today. Paul said it thousands of years ago because he saw the same problems around him then. He says, the profane and idle babblings and contradictions of what is falsely called knowledge.

By professing it, some have strayed concerning the faith. And then he concludes by saying, grace be with you. Amen. So again, we gave marching orders to our campers and to the staff that were able to listen to the Christian livings again. This theme that we shared, we obviously again saw it was blessed from God. It's a powerful theme to stand strong. And it's a powerful theme that applies for all of us still today. It's a way of life that we are called to take on. And we'll work through this theme for the rest of our lives, right? We will continue daily to have to stand strong all the way into our life last breath on this planet. We'll never be able to sidestep the fight, the spiritual fight we're in. We'll never be able to, in this life, overcome our adversary because of our own might. But God says, I haven't left you alone. One of our Christian living illustrators used a great, great illustration again saying, it's not like God says, oh, here's this big battle you're going to be in, and here's this difficulty to your face, and this is your adversary. Good luck. And just push us out the door, right? God hasn't done this. Hope you do well. I'll be thinking about you. God has never done that with his people.

He has given us the tools to walk forward in this battle, but he says, you have to stand.

You have to stand strong. So there's a requirement that you and I dig deep.

And we don't make this stand on our own strength, but on God's power. And with God, we can enter into this good fight against Satan and his evil. Remember that opening illustration? The art building has no pattern staircases that go nowhere. Pillars that support nothing.

Sounds a lot like society around us, doesn't it? But the engineers are smart enough to know that that building needed a sure foundation or it wasn't going to last any time at all. You can't play with the foundation. You can play with the outsides. You can play with the windows. You can play with different things. But if that foundation isn't secure, it's just going to fail. Whether it's a skyscraper in San Francisco or a little brick building in a small town in Pennsylvania, the foundations fail if they're not properly established. Let's close in Hebrews chapter 11.

Because you and I are not alone in this fight. We have each other here today that we have battled through. We have some that are no longer with us that have finished their battles in this physical world. We have the accounts of those warriors in faith, both men and women listed here in Hebrews chapter 11. Let's be reminded of the steps that we follow in. The pillars of the church that have been replaced by other pillars over the years, all built on one foundation that is Jesus Christ, being that chief cornerstone. Hebrews 11 and verse 6, notice, but without faith it is impossible to please Him, for He who comes to God must believe that He is, and that He is rewarder of those who diligently seek Him. By faith Noah, being divinely warned of these things not yet seen, moved with God with fear, prepared an ark for the saving of his household, by which he condemned the world and became heir of the righteousness which is according to faith. By faith Abraham obeyed. So notice, Noah moved forward building this ark. He pressed forward in God's direction. Notice Abraham, he obeyed. He followed God. He was active in his faith when he was called to go out to the place which he would receive as an inheritance, and he went out.

He went forward not knowing where he was going. Notice verse 10, for he waited for the city, which has foundations, whose builder and maker is God. Talk about a sure foundation, right?

One that can't fail? That's what we need to continue to look towards, a city which has foundations, whose builder and maker is God. By faith Sarah herself also received strength to conceive seed, and she bore a child when she was past the age because she judged him faithful who had promised. Verse 13, these all died in faith, not having received the promises, not having received eternal life at that moment, but having seen them afar off, were assured of them, embraced them, and confessed that they were strangers and pilgrims on the earth, for those who say such things declare plainly that they seek a homeland. And truly, if they had called to mind that country from which they had come out, they would have had opportunity to return, but now they desire a better, that is, a heavenly country. Therefore, God is not ashamed to be called their God, for he has prepared a city for them. What an amazing promise that you and I have, that our God loves us so much that he is actively working to prepare a place for you and me in his kingdom.

But he says you've got to do your part. You've got to go forward in faith. You've got to go forward with the hope. You've got to keep their vision on the kingdom of God. Don't ever lose this armor like that policeman who decides to take off that bulletproof vest. Don't make that decision. Verse 39, and all these, having obtained a good testimony through faith, did not receive the promise that is at that time they have not received eternal life because it's still in store for them in the future like it is for me and you. And he says God, having provided something better for us, that they should not be made perfect apart from us. And then into chapter 12 in verse 1, he says, therefore we also, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight and the sin which so easily ensnares us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down on the right hand of the throne of God. We have an amazing God who has done so much for us and will continue to do so much for us as we go forward. I thank you for letting me walk through the Christian living that we shared with the campers, but again, as I've done in previous years, I believe it's a powerful message. It doesn't just apply to the campers. And I want you to know, like as you interact with other teens or those who have gone to camp, what we cover, that we don't water this down and have to feel like we have to bring it down to a teen level. We meet them with the Word of God right where we meet the congregations with. Why? Because they're sitting in our congregations. They're with us weekly, and they are equipped for this type of messaging, this bold messaging, the strong messaging. Why? Because they need it for their battles going forward. The camp, for those of you who've never been there, for those of you who have, you know what it's like. We bring 100...well, this year we brought 115 campers from all parts of the United States and even from Canada to a little town in Missouri that God blessed. And these kids, they come out, they want to be in a place that is different from school, from their communities back home. They are so excited to be there. You can't help but be excited with them. And they want to be in this environment. They want to be in the zone. They want to be equipped. They want to be encouraged to go forward in their fight. And they want to recognize and to be reminded, this is a good fight because society is going to throw at them all kinds of other ideas that are better than God's walk, God's way. And they need to be reminded that this is a worthy and a good fight, but you can't do it on your own. None of us can do it on our own. We do it through God and through His strength, and that is the only way that we can stand strong.