Sword of The Spirit

[00:00:01] Speaker A: Thanks for tuning in to the Met Church podcast. Here at the Met, we are all about connecting people to God and one another. If you have any questions or want more information about what's happening here at the church, then head to our [email protected] we would love to stay connected with you throughout the week through social media, so be sure to connect with us on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter now. Enjoy the message. [00:00:25] Speaker B: Well, good morning. Before we get into the message, I didn't know if you noticed or. Or not, but a young lady that was on our worship team this morning. Where's Skylar? Would you bring her out? A.J. is she back there? Skylar, come out here. Skylar, I don't mean to embarrass you, but Skylar has just completed boot camp and she is now a full fledged United States Marine. Welcome home. Isn't that great? Can you see her with an M16? I guarantee you the enemy would go, well, you know, it's not so bad, you know, I mean, we're so proud of you, girl. Absolutely proud of you. Good to see you. Welcome home. Glad to see you. Yeah, we're proud of Schuyler. We love our military. We honor our military as often as we get a chance to want to remember to pray for peace in our world, peace in our country, and always remember to pray for those who are currently serving and those who have served in our armed forces. We appreciate them so much. So proud of Skylar. Her family is a wonderful family and she has a great career ahead of her. And I'm glad she could be home and be a part. She told Billy, I just want to sing. I'd like to be a part of the worship team this weekend. We said, all right. And so here she is. And I know you enjoyed having her up here this weekend. We're going to conclude this series that we've been in where we've been talking about an invisible war and basically what that is. For those of you who may have missed part of the series. We've been talking about spiritual warfare, preparing people who know Jesus to go out and. And to face the reality of conflict, the reality of difficulty in a world that is hostile to the values that the Bible speaks of. And so we want to be prepared. We want to be aware of the things that we're going to be involved in and the things that we're going to be facing in our life. And the Bible in our text, as we'll read in a moment, says that it is the will of God for us to do two things. We. One is to Stand. And the other is to withstand. Now, when you think about being able to stand, it's the idea of being able to endure. It's the idea of being able to handle the things that are coming your way. One of the realities of life is that when you pray and you ask God to deliver you from whatever it is you're facing, whatever burden it is you're carrying, whatever difficulty it is you're struggling with, one of two things will always happen. He will either answer the prayer in the way you prayed that he would, and he will lift that burden, solve that problem, help you navigate through the difficulty that you're going through, or he'll give you the ability to handle it. He'll give you the strength to endure it. He'll give you the power that you need to withstand it. And so when the Bible speaks of having us stand, he's talking about the ability to endure, the ability to handle the things that you and I are going to handle that God will either cause to happen or he will allow to happen in our life. So the first thing that God desires us to do is to stand. And then the second word you'll see in our text that we'll read in just a moment is he wants us to withstand. Now, stand has the idea of enduring. It has the idea of being, of surviving. It has the idea of sustaining. To withstand is an offensive word. It means to take the battle to the enemy. It means to take the fight to the enemy. It needs to go right at the enemy. And that is this idea of. Of withstanding the things that we're going to face, moving forward with confidence in our heart, moving forward knowing victory is already assured. And it's the will of God for us to understand those concepts of standing and withstanding. So if you have a Bible, look with me in our text. And if not, take a look at the screen. We have it for you here. Let's read this narrative in Ephesians, chapter six, five or six verses together. Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord and in the power of his might. And then verse 11, he tells us how by putting on the whole armor of God that you may be able. Here's our word. To stand against the wiles of the devil. And then he reminds us that we don't wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities and powers, against the rulers of this darkness, of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in heavenly places. And then he says, therefore. Remember, you see the word, therefore, look. See what it's there for. Continues the thought Therefore, because that's true, take up the whole armor of God, not just pieces of it, but all of it, that you may be able. Here's the second word. To withstand in the evil day. And having done all, to stand, verse 14. Stand. Therefore, having girded your waist with truth, we talked about that, how that truth is not something that is a moving value, that truth can be known. It's not your truth, my truth, everybody has a truth. It's truth is something that we base on God's word. We can know truth, absolute truth. So gird your waist with truth. And then he goes on to say, having put on the breastplate of righteousness, that is that piece of armor that goes around the upper part, that protects your heart. And having your feet shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace. If you can't stand, it's hard to fight. So you need your feet protected with peace. And above all, taking the shield of faith that you'll be able to quench all the fiery darts or the arrows of the wicked one, there's going to be incoming fire that you're going to face. Take then the helmet of salvation will protect your mind. And then this morning, we're going to close with the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God. And the sword of the spirit represents the one piece of the armor that's the offensive piece of that armor. And we're gonna talk a little bit about the sword of the spirit. But keep in mind, as we look at all of these pieces of the armor and as we try to study them, all of these pieces of the armor will protect a child of God from the things that we're going to face in life. It is a protection that you and I have against the assault of the enemy. And his primary assault is upon our thoughts, it is upon our emotions, it is upon our will. The things that we do, and those are the things that he is assaulting us at. And he's saying, if you put on these pieces of the armor, you can protect your mind, you can protect your will, you can protect your emotions. So the armor is so important. In fact, when you study the soldiers in the first century, they would use their sword and they would use their shield in a very effective way. They trained with them every day. And the Bible here is using a metaphor to describe God's word. And. And he says, the word of God is like a sword. It is that weapon that you and I use to fight the enemy, to hold him off, to not only stand your ground, but to Take ground. And so this weapon is essential if you and I are going to be effective and successful in our Christian life. So I would give you three thoughts when we think about the sword of the Spirit. Are you ready? Number one. We need to know the Word. We need to know the word. Look, once you have, once you have met the Lord of the Word, you need to understand the word of the Lord. Because God's word and his person, God's word and his will are inseparately linked. You cannot separate the Word of the Lord from the Lord of the Word. If you wanna know how God thinks, you look at his word. If you wanna know what God would do, wwjd what would Jesus do? Look and see what he did. It's all found in God's word. Now I'll tell you this, everything you want to know about God you won't find in the Bible. But everything you need to know about God you will find in the Bible. And one of the first things we have to do if we're going to be effective, we have to know the Word. It's just think about the Word as a weapon. If you're buying a gun, if you're buying a weapon for protection, the first thing that they're going to want you to do is know something about that weapon. You need to know something about it. You need to know what to do and what not to do. Someone needs to train you. That's why it's so important that you come and you're a part of a church where you can learn and we can grow together in our faith. Because one of the first elements of being an effective Christ follower and living a successful life is knowing what does God say, what does God think, what does God desire me to do? And all of that is found in his word. Now it was interesting because when you study the sword of those Roman soldiers, which is exactly what, what Paul had in mind, the sword was about 18 inches long and that sword was called a gladius. It was a two edged sword. And when the Bible speaks about the word of God, it will call the word of God a two edged sword, a gladius. And by the way, someone who is skilled in using a gladius is called a gladiator. So believe it or not, if you're an effective Christian and you know the word of God, you're a gladiator. Isn't that exciting? And, and so it just means to be skilled at using the Word. And so the first thing I would challenge you, when we think about the word of God is, we need to know His Word. Knowledge of knowing how to apply His Word and knowledge of knowing when to apply His Word. Like I said a moment ago, this Bible can be used as a defensive weapon to protect us. It can be used as an offensive weapon to go after the enemy. And so it's important that we know what does God's Word to have to say. Now, one of the things I would tell you when we think about this Word, when we think about this sword, is this sword says of itself, in John 10:35, it is connected, meaning that the Bible is like a chain from Genesis 1:1 to Revelation 22:21, all of the thoughts and all of the Scripture is all connected. It is all interconnected. The Bible says scripture cannot be broken in John 10. And that literally means that it's. It is a continuation. It is a continuous thought of God in His Word. Someone said, well, I read the Old Testament, but I didn't see Jesus in the Old Testament. Well, you ought to reread the Old Testament because it is all about Him. He's in types, he's in symbols, he's in stories, he's in illustrations. Everything about the Old Testament is pointing toward the coming of Jesus. Then when you get to the New Testament, particularly the Gospels, it is basically declaring that Jesus that the Old Testament was prophesying about, he's here. And here's what he's like. This is what he's like here. This is who he is. And then when you get to Acts 1, after the Ascension of Jesus back into heaven, then the theme shifts to he's coming back again one day. And until he comes, this is what he expects us to be. We're to be witnesses, and we're to build his church, and we're to grow his church. And so it's all about Jesus is my point. The Bible is all connected. The second thing I'd tell you about the sword is that not only is it connected, but it is completed. It is completed. Revelation 22:18 says, don't add anything to the Word and don't take anything away from the Word. Now, this is important because there are some people in theological circles who believe in what we would call open revelation. It is the idea that the Bible is still being written, that God still speaks to us in the same manner in which he spoke to those who were writing His Word. And you have to be careful in how you use this. And I'm gonna talk about it a little later in the message. And. But sometimes we'll say, you know, God gave me a word. Well, I understand that. But if the word that he's giving you doesn't square with the Word that He has given us, then that might just be heartburn. Or you ate pizza too late last night. You know, that might not be from God because He will not give you a word that goes against His Word. Now, he'll impress something upon your heart that you have discovered in His Word. As we're gonna talk about in a moment as I teach you a little bit about logos and rhema. But the reality of it is His Bible is completed. So you have to be careful using those expressions because you lead people to believe that whatever God has impressed you, to think or say or do, or even to speak into someone's life carries the same weight. Carries the same weight as his written Word, and it simply does not. That's how a lot of cults get started. That's how people will follow after people when what they're teaching goes against God's Word. Because they've convinced them that. That God speaks to them as a prophet today in the same way he spoke to them as the prophets in that day. Or that God speaks to them as a scribe in the same way he spoke to the scribes who wrote the Bible. And the Bible is a completed book. When I understand my theology, it is a closed revelation. In other words, God is not still adding to His Word. There's not another testament of Jesus. There's not a new one that's coming around. And somebody can speak to you and declare something over you that they base upon God's Word. Look, I would receive something that God may have impressed on someone as encouragement to me or as an idea for me. But if it doesn't square with God's Word, I would doubt what I've heard and I'll trust His Word. Does that make sense? So His Word is connected. His Word is completed, nothing now being added, and nothing should be taken from it. And the third thing I say about His Word is that it is clear. It is clear. In fact, the Bible says in 1 Peter 1:20 that there is no Scripture of any private interpretation. Let me explain that there is only one interpretation of every passage. Only one. Now, there may be many applications of that interpretation, but there is only one interpretation. So when you're studying the Bible, particularly when you're getting to know the Word, that's what we're talking about. Know the sword, know the Word, then I need to ask myself maybe three questions. What did it mean then, when the Bible was being Written in that moment in time. What did it mean then? And then the second question I would ask myself is, what does it mean now? What is that word? Because it's living. The Bible is alive. It's quick and powerful, sharper than a two edged sword. It is living. It is a living word. It is rhema. It's what the word indicates. It is living. So what does it mean now? Not that the interpretation has changed, but the understanding and the application will change. And then the third question I'd ask myself is, what does it mean to me? I wanna take it personally. I wanna learn something from what it is God is trying to teach me. So you can't. And here's the importance of that statement. When I say that the word of God is clear, that there's no scripture of any private interpretation. You can't take pieces of the Bible here and there and somewhere else and put it together and create a doctrinal position. You can't take pieces of the Bible here and there and somewhere else and put it together and make the Bible say something it should not and would not say. And so many people, because they don't know the word, they'll quote the Bible, but they quote it out of context. They'll say something like, well, it's a sin to wrestle because then you just read the scripture there it said, wrestle not against flesh and blood. That's not what it means. He's not talking about the sins of wrestling. That's not. But you see what I mean? If you don't know the word, someone can take a piece of it, twist it, bend it and make it say anything they want it to say. That's where false teachers come into play. That's where false churches come into play. That's where the Bible talks about the importance of the priesthood of the believer. Meaning that you and I individually have to think and we have to ask ourselves the hard question. I just heard this taught, does that square with God's Word? If it doesn't square with God's Word, I'm gonna doubt what I just heard and I'm gonna trust God's Word because his Word is clear. There's no scripture of any private interpretation. I can't bend stuff and make it think, you know, hey look, you send me $10 and God will send you 100. You hear that one? And they'll take and bend scripture to make you think of this prosperity theology. And this is how that works. You know, I always think about, why don't you send me 10? And then you can keep the hundred just kind of flip the script on them a little. And what they've done is they take bits and pieces of the scripture where God talks about taking care of his children and so forth and so on, and they bend it to support something that they're trying to teach and something they're going to benefit from. So one of the first things I'm just driving home in your heart and mind is this idea. We need to know God's Word. We need to study His Word and we need to get into His Word so we understand what he meant by what he said. So, number one, know the weapon. Know God's Word. Here's second thought. Stow God's word. Stow God's Word. I mean, commit it to memory. The Bible talks about meditating on God's Word. Stow his word. Listen to the 119th Psalm in the 11th verse. I have hidden your Word. Get the phrasing of that. I have hidden your Word. Where? In my heart. Why? That I might not sin against you. What does that mean, to hide God's Word? It means to store, means to treasure it. It means to memorize it. In other words, one of the ways you and I can keep ourselves on the straight and narrow, one of the ways we can walk the line each and every day of our life is taking this word that we're coming to know and now stowing that word away in our heart. Memorize it. I had a professor in seminary, and he was a missionary and a great missionary at heart. And he would tell us, he said, you students need to memorize the Bible. And then he would say, there aren't any bookstores in the jungle. And what he meant by that is, you aren't gonna have access to resources when you get out into the real world like you might. You need to know what the Bible says, and you need to commit that to memory. You need to understand that and commit it into your heart. Because the way you stay on the straight and narrow, the Bible says, according to the 119th Psalm, again, is to hide his Word in your heart, and it will keep you from sinning against the Lord. Think about this principle. No one has ever gone astray outwardly who did not, first of all, stray inwardly. And so if I have God's Word committed into my heart inwardly, it's going to keep me from straying outwardly. So it's a great. You see how it's protecting you, the Word of God. Knowing the word of God is a defensive weapon. It will help you Stand. And it's a great way of protecting you against the onslaught of the enemy that is coming our way. Remember Galatians 5, 16, walk in the spirit. I taught this a few weeks back. And you will not fulfill the lust of your flesh. Now, put those two thoughts together. One is hide his word in my heart so I understand what he says. I know what he says. I know I shouldn't do this, think this. I know I shouldn't act that way. I know I shouldn't say that I'm hiding it, because if I don't act on, if I don't stow that, then I may make a mistake here, and I'm gonna have to, you know, I'm gonna have to clean this mess up. So I'm trying to keep myself from doing something crazy. And in the meantime, what will help me is not only stowing it in my heart, but is learning to walk in the spirit. Now, what does that mean? That means living every moment aware that you're in the presence of God, living every moment knowing that his presence is within you. The teacher is always in the classroom. They're always listening. Now, when I was in school, we didn't have a lot of the better technological advances that kids have today, but when I was in school, the teachers, if they left the classroom, they had that speaker in the ceiling and they could monitor the room. You remember that? And, man, just knowing that, that's knowing that the vice principal might be listening, who was one of our football coaches, and they didn't play. When I went to school, the vice principal walked the halls of Everman Junior High with a paddle in his hand. Now, I know that's foreign, and you younger kids will have to Google that. That was a real thing. But he walked the halls of the junior high spinning a paddle, and he drilled holes in it so that when he. And how I would know this, I'm not sure, but so would he. So when he hits you, it kind of whistled, you know, bam, you know? And he would apply the. Shall we call it the Board of Education to the seat of knowledge. Can we put it that way? I know it was a different day, but I can tell you, man, it changed the way we acted in the class. Even when this teacher was away physically, we knew the teacher was still listening. That's kind of a crazy illustration, but it gets to my point. If we knew every moment God's presence is with us, the teacher is in the house, it would change the way I treat people. It would change the way I act and react. And hiding His Word in my heart, knowing that his presence is in my life each and every day. That I don't just go and experience his presence as church, I take him with me every moment of the day. And he said, if you live without awareness, Galatians 5, you won't fulfill the lust of the flesh. It'll keep you on the straight and narrow. It is a great set of curbs on the road to keep you in the direction that you should go. So how then does knowing and stowing His Word, how does it change my life? Here's three principles. Let me give you under that Number one, the Bible will not change your life unless you hear it, unless you receive it. Romans 10:17. Faith comes by hearing and hearing by the Word of God. So I have to receive it. I gotta know His Word and stow His Word. So I have to. If I'm gonna be effective at standing and withstanding, I've gotta be taking His Word in. That's why I tell you guys, a lot of times, if all you get from studying God's Word is what you get when you're here, you're not getting enough. I mean, if we could resurrect Charles Spurgeon from the dead and bring him in here to speak to you, he still could not. In those hour long sermons that he would used to bring, he still could not give you enough in that sermon to get you through your week. I don't care how brilliant the scholar is or how well known that pastor or preacher may be, there's not a pastor on the face of God's green earth that can give a congregation in one sermon everything they need to get them through one week. It just doesn't happen. The Bible has to be taken in each and every day. It's like your food. You can have one great meal. I've told you many times, you can leave here and go have a fabulous meal. You can go somewhere you can eat to your heart's desire. And if you've ever done that where you get up from the table and say, I'm so full, man, I won't eat again the rest of the day. And you go, oh, I've just got that. No, it was just great food. And then along about six or seven o' clock tonight, all of a sudden your stomach's gonna be telling your brain, you know what? I think I could eat again. And even though you had a great meal at noon, and even though you ate and ate to your heart's desire, all of a sudden, man, that's going to be processed through your system, and before you know it, brother's gonna be hungry again. What's my point? My point is one meal doesn't get you what you need physically, and one sermon will not get you what you need spiritually. So if you're a Christ follower and you're going to live a life that's pleasing to God, you have to know what he says and then stow what he says in your heart. And the way is you hear it and you receive it. And it has to be a daily discipline. That's why I love that we have hundreds of our people who are reading the Bible. We have hundreds of people who are involved in study. They're just learning more. And many of you're in the discipline of reading your Bible each and every day. It's a great discipline to have. One of the things that I start my day out is I'll read a proverb. There's 31 proverbs, so I'll read a corresponding proverb to whatever the day of the week it is. And then I'll read a psalm, because Psalms gives you the praise and all. And so. And then I have other study elements that I use. But my personal study is that's part of what I do in the morning before I get out of the bed. I try to just pull up my phone and I start in that way. It helps me. It's just get God's Word, know His Word, put it in your heart, and it'll help your day get started in a better way. So it's not rocket science. This isn't hard to do. You've got these devices in your hand that make it so simple to get into His Word. And so he's simply saying, one of the ways whereby this sword will impact your life is when you hear it. Here's the second thing I'd give you under that is not only to hear it, but you have to believe what you've heard. It must be believed. Listen to Hebrews 4:2. The word that was preached to them. Listen to this phrase now. Did not profit them. They heard it, but it did not profit them. Why? Hebrews 4:2. Hebrews 4:2. Because it was not mixed with faith, meaning you can hear the truth, but if you don't receive that truth, that truth will not change your life. They didn't believe what they heard. The word preached, it says, did not profit them because it was not mixed with faith. They just did not. Not only did not receive it, but they didn't even Believe it. So I'm just suggesting to your heart that once you have heard God's word, you have to believe this is the word that I've heard. This is from God, and it will change the way you look at it. So let's put it together. To stow his word. I have to hear it, receive it. I have to believe it. And here's the third thing I'd give you under that I have to apply it. James 1:22. Be doers of the word and not hearers only. James 2:17. Faith without works is dead. So one of the ways whereby this sword impacts my heart and my life is I apply it. I apply it. I find something there that I can use in my daily life. That's why I would tell you, man, when you come to church on Sunday, I would come saying, God, speak to me. Speak to me. And maybe he will through the worship. Maybe there's a song and a line and a song, and all of a sudden you go, wow, that really helped me. That encouraged me. Or sometimes you may hear something and you go, man, that kind of straightened me out on that. That kind of rebuked me. And it's amazing how the Holy Spirit will take God's word and use it on one hand to encourage someone and on the other hand to correct someone. I've told you before, I've been out in the lobby after a service and had somebody come up and say, hey, Bill, thank you for the message. It encouraged me and very sweet, and I'm always so. Thank you so much. You know, it's a blessing to hear that it made a difference in someone's life. And then I've had. In the very next person that came up to me in the lobby, they said, man, did my wife call you and drop a dime on me? I mean, you stepped on. You know, man, you know, what you said about that really kind of rebuked me a little bit this week. I mean, man, you. And I'm going, why? What did I say? How is it that this guy got encouraged and this guy got corrected and it was the same, and I didn't have a motive either way. Well, that's the work of the Holy Spirit, taking God's word to apply it in a way that we need to receive it. Sometimes I need to receive a word that might correct my behavior, might correct my attitude, might correct my speech. And all of a sudden I hear and go, ah, man, that's right. Somebody else could hear the same word and go, ah, such an encouragement. You see how that works. So I'm just saying, once you apply His Word and you take it personally, come to church and say, speak to me, God. I wanna walk out of here receiving something from you that will help me be better in my daily life and be more effective. That's when you're really getting into the heart of stowing His Word. All right, let's put it together as I close. Know His Word, stow His Word. Here's the third one. Show His Word. Show His Word. Let His Word be evidenced in. In our life. You've heard us say before, my life. Your life may be the only Bible somebody ever reads. The only picture of Jesus somebody may ever see is what they see in us. That's why Mahatma Gandhi was once credited with saying something to the effect, I might have become a Christian if I had ever seen one. I told you, the greatest argument for Christianity is a Christian. And the greatest argument against Christianity is a Christian. And man, what you do speak so loud, people don't hear what you say. And my actions validate or discredit my words. So if I am a Christ follower and I am knowing and stowing His Word, then what should be shown in my life are the principles of His Word, the values of His Word. Somehow that ought to be seen in my life. Do you know what happens when you receive Jesus as your savior? God begins a work in that moment. According to Romans 8, 28 and 29, he begins a work in your life and mine. That moment of what he's calling, conforming us into the image of His Son. He is shaping us, molding us and making us so that we look more like Jesus and remember His Word and His person are inseparable. So God is shaping me, molding me and making me into the image of His Son. He's making me look more like him. When you look in Genesis, man, in the original design, the Imago dei, we were made in the image of God. Mankind was made in perfection. And then sin entered the world and we became a wrecked version of the original design. We left here today and went to a wrecking yard and we found a wrecked Rolls Royce. I could say, look at there, man. That's a Rolls Royce, one of the most expensive cars in the world. Well, you haven't seen a Rolls Royce. You've seen a wrecked version of the Rolls Royce. When I look at you and you look at me, nobody's seeing a Rolls Royce here. They're seeing a wrecked version of the original design. But what happens when Jesus comes into your life? He begins to pull the dents out of the fender, and he begins to fix the cracks in the windshield. And day by day, little by little, he's shaping us into the image of his son so that when people look like us, they see what we were originally designed to be. We look like him. That's why the Bible says in Acts, chapter four, they were first called Christians at Antioch. The significance of that verse is simply this, that they were acting like Christians. That wasn't a compliment, by the way. That was derisive. What they were saying is, you remember what we did to Jesus? We crucified him. We'll talk about that, that next week. And they were saying, if you don't quit acting like Jesus, we're gonna kill you like we killed him. So when they said they were called Christians first at Antioch, that was not a compliment. That was a threat. And it was a threat because what they were doing, they were acting like Jesus whom they had crucified. And they were warning them, if you keep this up, same thing's gonna happen to you. But what a badge of honor for someone to look at that group of people back in that day and say, you're acting like a Christian. I see Christ in you. I see a difference in you. You're accepting as he is accepting. You're loving as he is loving. You're forgiving as he is forgiving. You're encouraging as he is encouraging. You have values as he had values. You are valuable as he was valuable and all that. You begin to put that together in your life, and you realize God is working in me so that he can do something through me. And the thing he's trying to do through me is to be a reflection of who he is. That's why we're called witnesses. We're to share what God has done in our life. And being a witness not only means to share what he's done in my life. We're part of the evidence. We're a witness. That's a part of the evidence. We're part of. Here's what Paul said to King agrippa in Acts 26. He said, look, this is what he did for me. And what he did for me, I guarantee you, he can do for you. And that's where you have that famous line. King Agrippa looked at him and said, you've almost persuaded me to become a Christian. Paul's testimony was so powerful. Why? Because Agrippa was seeing Jesus being lived out through his life. Let me touch this and I'll close when you Read the Bible. The Bible, and you study the Bible, you get to know the Bible. It speaks of the Word. When he uses the word in the Greek, as either logos. Logos is the written word or rhema. Rhema is the spoken word. And the rhema which is the spoken word, the living life of God's word will never contradict the Logos, the written word, meaning that. Here's how that works. You're sitting in a service like this, you hear me talk, and all of a sudden something that I use, a scripture that I use, resonates in your mind and heart, and you say, wow, I'm gonna apply that word. Well, that word, suddenly that was written, that was logos. Now, as you've heard it, this is the application, it becomes rhema. Now it's living. Now, that word that's no longer just words on a page, now it's living in life that can change your life. So all of a sudden, I've read the Logos, and it has become rhema, it has become living. It is life giving because it is changing the way I treat my spouse, the way I treat my kids, the way I do business. What's happening is that written book has become life. It has become rhema, and it has changed the way I've lived my life. Well, that's all he's driving at. He's saying, man is a defensive weapon so that you can stand strong against the assault. It's an offensive weapon, so you can move forward and take ground. But it is that weapon that you've got that you have to understand how to use it, or you'll shoot yourself in the foot, you hurt somebody else. If you don't know what you're doing with that weapon, it's a dangerous weapon. There are people, believe me, there are people that have been used and abused because there have been teachers that have misused the weapon. So you have to know it and you have to stow it. And the idea is you begin to show it so people see the difference that God is making in your life. And it is one of the most powerful pieces of the armor is the sword of the spirit, which is the word of God. Let's close. Father, thank you for this day, a beautiful day you've given us to worship you. Thank you for the folks that are here on this Palm Sunday. Father, we're grateful that we can sing songs that edify and glorify your name. Then we can set and open your word, read your word, hear your word, consider how that affects our life and walk from this building different than when we came. I pray for my friends here this morning who, Lord, may be struggling under some sort of a difficulty or burden. I pray for every family. I pray for every business that's here, Father, that you would bless them and you would strengthen them. Thank you, Father, for the work that you're doing in each and every life. And Lord, we don't minimize that because we know every person in this room and every person watching online. We're somewhere on that continuum. We're somewhere on that line where you are at work and you have a purpose and a plan that's being carried out, and we trust you with each person and in each situation and we give you praise. And then finally, Lord, I would lift up anyone in the room, maybe who's never trusted you as their savior, that this might be the moment when they acquiesce to what your word said. When Romans 10, when you said, whosoever calls upon the name of the Lord will be saved. When you said, if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and you then believe in your heart that God has raised him from the dead, you will be saved. I pray for my friends who may never have trusted you, that this might be the moment right where they are, where they humble their heart and just pray a simple prayer and say, lord Jesus, with everything I know about me, I now trust everything I know about you. Come into my heart. Forgive my sin. And Father, I ask this in Jesus name I pray. Amen. [00:36:55] Speaker A: Thank you so much for tuning in today. If you have any questions or prayer requests, please contact us by visiting metchurch.com so that we can follow up with you this week. We look forward to seeing you next week. [00:37:07] Speaker B: Sa.