Spiritual Warfare 2025 Part 6 (The Helmut of Salvation)

0:00 Heavenly Father, how excellent is your name in all of the earth. Thank you for waking us up today, giving us the activities of our limbs and giving us a mind to be in your tabernacle. Thank you for your loving kindness, your tender mercies. And I simply pray, Father, for you to speak to our hearts through your word, bring change in somebody's life, deliverance in somebody's heart and life. I pray for an unsaved, backslidden, unsure, unchurched, discouraged person. Allow your perfect will to be done. Father, I pray that you would anoint us to be your mouthpiece, your conduit to speak life. Bring deliverance and victory into somebody's heart. Not just in this building, but around the world. Whoever's watching this broadcast and hearing this word, change their life.

0:55 In Jesus' name we pray, amen and amen. You can be seated. Today is Spiritual Warfare Part 7. Amen. I'm almost finished. Y'all don't mean that. I know y'all don't.

1:35 In Ephesians chapter 6, so if you have your Bibles, if you could turn to Ephesians 6. I'm going to start at chapter 6, verse 10. I'm going to start at verse 10.

3:08 Look at your neighbor and say, do you have a sword? Or a pocket knife? I ask them which one do they have? Do you have a sword or a pocket knife? Which one is it? We've been going through this Ephesians 6 passage and looking at this armor. The Apostle Paul talks to the church in Ephesus and gives them instructions and lets them know that life consists of a spiritual battle. We're not wrestling against flesh and blood. He tells us right here in chapter 6, we're wrestling against principalities, powers, rulers of darkness, spiritual wickedness in the heavenly places. We are wrestling against spirits, and he takes this time to give us instructions on how to do battle, how to win, and that's what we've been studying. We've been looking at this whole armor that he talks about. We looked at the the belt of truth, the breastplate of righteousness, having your feet shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace.

4:20 We took the shield of faith and the helmet of salvation, and we talked about what each one of those things means and what it looks like and how we engage it and how we wear it. And now for the first time, out of all of these passages, all of these pieces that we put on, all of this armor, we finally come to a place where he gives us an offensive weapon. It's a sword. Back in the days, the Roman soldiers had two types of swords. One was a big old wielding sword and one was a little dagger, somewhat like a little knife. But both of them could either be offensive or defensive. Our deal today is, thank God he's given us something for which we can utilize that will reap havoc and defeat on the enemy that we are fighting. I want you to look at your neighbor and say, if you're going to win the battle, you're going to need some kind of offensive weapon.

5:20 Did y'all tell him? You're going to need some kind. And here is the loan. Here's one of the loans. We're going to look at some others next time. But he talks about this sword. And I want to spend some time today talking about the sword. Somebody tell your neighbor, I need a sword. I need a sword. Tell your neighbor, I need a sword so I can chop off your ear. he tells us what the sword is he said the sword this offensive weapon is the word of God it is the word of God some of you never win in life you never conquer you never defeat the spiritual entities coming against you because you don't know the word you never read the word You haven't studied the word.

6:15 You're trying to win the battle with the wrong kind of weapons. And the way we win against the enemy is you got to know the word. Amen. You got to know the word. You got to read the word, study the word, quote the word, memorize the word, live the word. You got to have the word. This is the thing that helps us to win. Oh, I'm preaching already. I ain't even got started yet. Y'all know a lot of stuff. Y'all know what some other people, I was telling the earlier services, let me tell y'all, I was watching a, my wife and I was watching a program last night about black culture. We were watching a show about black culture and going through the different things from our culture that impacts society. And they went, they spent a whole episode of this show talking about music. And a lot of y'all know a lot of music of the world, but you don't know the scriptures.

7:13 You can quote Beyonce's song from beginning to the end. Okay, I know. Isn't Beyonce one of the top artists? This side don't know. Let me come over here. Isn't she one of the top artists? Don't you know some of her songs from beginning to end? You know everything. Okay, y'all don't know Beyonce. This ain't the crowd that know Beyonce. Who y'all be listening to then? Who's y'all's crowd? Gorilla. Gorilla. Gorilla? Oh, Glorilla. G-L-O. That's somebody's name? And y'all listening to that? That's why your life is going down the drain. That's why you're overcome.

8:11 That's why you're defeated. Glorilla ain't never given deliverance to nobody. Glorilla. I ain't never heard of that person. Is that really a person? Is it a male or a female? A female? Does she look like a gorilla? No, I ain't never heard of it. I should be talking to the young adults. Do y'all know who Glorilla is? Oh, now they acting like they don't know. I know better than that. I know better than that.

8:54 So the bottom line is, what I'm trying to get you to do is to learn the things that helped you to be victorious in life. I'm trying to help you to think differently, act differently. Make decisions that will bring a better outcome to your life. And so Paul writes to the church in Ephesus and he says, here's one of the pieces of armor you need and it's an offensive weapon and he calls it the sword of the spirit. And then he tells us what it is. He says the sword of the spirit, which is the word of God. It's the word. It's the word. It's the word. It's the word. It's the word that changes your life. It's the word that delivers you. delivers you. It's the word that gives you the victory. It's the word that gives you life. Now I'm going to spend, I'm not going to preach long, just till I get finished. I'm going to go till I get done. When you read the word, word, in the Scriptures, in the New Testament, it's going to be one of two Greek words. I want to talk to you about these two different Greek words.

9:56 The first word I want to give you is, the Greek word for word is logos. L-O-G-O-S, logos. Somebody say logos. The logos is the total expression of the message of God. The Logos is the entirety of God speaking and communicating to us his will, his mindset, his heart, his character. And it is reflected and taught to us through scriptures. When you read the scriptures, you're learning about God. When you look in the Bible, when you read the Bible, you're getting God's heart. You're getting God's mind. You're getting God's message to mankind. That's what John 1 and 1 says. Look at John 1 and 1. it's talking about the Logos, it says in John 1 and 1, in the beginning was the word, and in the beginning was the Logos, somebody say the Logos, in the beginning was the word, and the word was with God, and the word was God, let me read it to you again, in the beginning was the Logos, and the Logos was with God, and the Logos was God, it is God's word, it's the word of God, it is the Logos, it is the expression of God's mind, it is the expression of God's character. It is the expression of God's will. It is the expression of God's message. And in verse 14 of chapter one, it says, and the Logos became flesh and dwelt among us. God said the written word and everything contained in the Bible is the heart and the mind of God. And then it says this, and one day, because I wanted to show you what it looked like, I became flesh. I became a human.

11:34 That's John 1.14. And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us. That's Jesus became flesh to come and show us what the heart and mind of God was. Somebody look at your neighbor and say, thank God he came to show us what God looks like. And that's who Jesus is. Jesus is the reason. He is God in human form. He is God. God became man. God came down to the planet and took up flesh and walked among us so that we could see truth, so we could know love. He manifests himself to us and walked among us so we could see what God looks like. That's John 1 and 1. Let me read Hebrews 4, 12, talking about the Logos. Hebrews 4 and 12. For the word of God, verse Hebrews 4 and 12. For the word of God, for the Logos of God is living and powerful and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the division of soul and spirit and of joints and marrows, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.

12:44 That's profound. That's powerful. Y'all missed it. It went over your head. I got to get you to understand that we serve a God who says that word is so powerful, so anointed, so amazing that it has the capacity to look at what's going on in your heart and tell you what your motive is, what your intentions are, what your mindset is. As a matter of fact, it's living, the Bible says. It's powerful. It's sharper than any two-edged physical sword, and it's able to even divide what's going on between your soul and your spirit, between the joint and the marrow. It will go down and make a reflection of what your true intentions are.

13:28 Somebody say that's the logos. That's one definition of the word, word. But it doesn't stop there. I just want to spend that moment and get you to understand about the Logos. Look at your neighbor and say, do you ever read the Logos? Do you study the Logos? Do you know the Logos?

13:52 You done studied and read and understand everything else. Spend some time in the Logos. If you want your life to change, you better get in that Logos. Now, having said that, I'm almost finished. I'm going to be done with y'all in just a few moments. I feel tension in the room. There's a second word for word. It's called the rhema.

14:22 R-H-E-M-A. Rhema. Holler back at me. Say rhema. It's the rhema. I want you to get this. I want you to understand this. It's the rhema. Somebody say, what is rhema? I'm glad you asked the question. The rhema is, listen to this, a specific statement or utterance of God. It is when God takes the logos and speaks to you about a specific dilemma in your life that he will make it rhema for you. Rhema, rhema, rhema. Y'all didn't get it. Went over your head. Let me come back. Let me roll it back and give it to you again. Rhema is when God talks to you about a specific thing in your life, a specific challenge, a specific drama. and God speaks to you using the Logos to tell you an answer to this particular dilemma that you're in in your life. That's a rhema. Some of y'all never had a rhema.

15:22 You don't know what a rhema is, but I'm trying to get you to understand. A rhema is when you're reading the Logos, but all of a sudden you're reading a Logos that you done read a hundred times before, a thousand times before, but all of a sudden, something in that particular Logos works jumps out at the pages at you. You see something that you had not seen before. It applies to your particular drama that you're in right now. And you say, why didn't I see that before? Because it wasn't a rhema to you before. God brought it to you now because he wants to speak to you about the dilemma that you're in and get, oh, y'all ain't hear what I'm saying. He wants to give you direction about what he wants you to do. Somebody high five your neighbor and say, thank God for Rayma. Go ahead. Thank God for Ray. I don't know where y'all are, but Rayma has directed my life. Rayma has given me answers to stuff when I didn't know what to do.

16:24 Rayma is when God has spoken to me and given me victory and direction, told me where to go, what to do, what to say, how to handle it. Rayma is when God did something for me that no human being could have ever done. They couldn't have given me an answer. They could not have given me. And what's great about a rhema is he used the logos in order to speak a rhema. Word to you. I wish I had somebody talking to me. Anybody here know what I'm talking about? Anybody here ever been in that kind of a situation where God used the logos to speak to you? Some of y'all ain't never had a rhema because you ain't in the Logos. You got to be in the Logos in order for God to give you a rhema.

17:12 Y'all are in the other stuff, but it ain't the Logos. Y'all are busy talking about and looking into and listening to the music y'all listen to. I had to let the temptations go. I like the temptation. I love the temptation. That was my group growing up. But I had to let it go. I had to let it go because a lot of what y'all singing, and here's what happened on that show, by the way. I was talking about your show last night, and they was talking about all this music. And the thing is, some of these people on the show that they were interviewing were talking about how they knew the words from beginning to end of certain songs. And the problem is they knew the beginning and the end and every word in between, but none of that ever changed their life. As a matter of fact, if the truth be told, some of what y'all know from beginning to end took you deeper into depression. If y'all all say amen together, nobody will know.

18:09 I'm talking about you. Those words ain't never, Snoop Dogg ain't never delivered nobody in here through his music. Okay, I know he ain't, they say, my kids told me, Dad, he gone, he's history. but when I be asking y'all who y'all listening to, y'all don't tell me. Sexy Red. Sexy Red? Who's Sexy Red?

18:41 Y'all know who that is? Is that somebody? Sexy Red? Sexy red ain't nobody. She's a rapper. She's a rapper. She say Sexier Radio, nobody. She say she's a rapper. That's what she say. Oh, she say. Oh, you got it from back here. Like Glorilla. Y'all see they telling me, first they telling me they don't know who nobody is, but they're constantly telling me who these people are. First of all, I know you young adults know exactly who the people are.

19:22 But y'all perpetrating. Go ahead, look straight ahead, act like y'all don't know what I'm talking about. I don't know who these people are. I don't listen to the music. I don't know that stuff. I don't know any of that. Because that's not what my life is about. I don't listen to that kind of stuff. I almost cussed and said something that I shouldn't have said. I don't listen to that. Because I recognize and I know what I put in here. I had to let the temptations go. Because even some of the music that they were singing was not quite what I needed to be listened to. Yeah, I mean, you can be what you want to be. You ain't got no responsibilities. Thank you. What? And y'all do know Cloud Nine is about drugs. Y'all do know that, right?

20:13 Yeah, that's a song about drugs. Y'all are trips. Oh, that might be a little bit too old. That song go back 30 years. Y'all don't know that song. That's right. Oh, this is a 12 o'clock crowd. That's right. I forgot. I got, let's see, what song might y'all know that I grew up on? Okay, let me just go on. I don't know what to say.

20:45 All I'm trying to tell you today, and I'm finished. I'm coming to a close. I'm almost done. All I'm trying to make you know is what you fill up in your heart, in your mind, is what dictates your life. And at some point, you're going to be hungry for God, and you're going to want God more than you want what the world has to offer.

21:12 Amen. Y'all see how the claps are getting lower and lower and lower. That's okay. I might only be preaching to one or two people that are listening to me today, but it's okay. Whoever I'm preaching to, I'm preaching to you today to get in the Logos so God can give you a rhema. Now, let me give you a situation that I, just give you an example of a rainbow word that God gave me once in my life. I'm going back years ago when we were trying to buy, when our church was trying to buy what is now our ministry center. It used to be owned by a hardware store.

21:53 Heckinger's, yeah. It was a string of hardware stores called Heckinger. That was the name of the family, Heckinger. They owned it, and it was for sale. The ministry center, it was not a ministry, it was for sale, and we made an offer. Wrote a letter of intent to them, sent them a deposit. They took the deposit. They said to us, it's owned by the family, but if you can wait a few months, we think we can give you a better deal on it if you just wait for a few months and we'll let you know once we talk to the family. So we made the deposit, gave them the money, wrote a letter to them, a letter of intent, which is like a contract, and they kept the money and the letter of intent for months. Finally, they came back to us and here's what they said. We got another offer from another church that's more than you offered, and if you want this property, you're going to have to pay at least what they pay, if not more.

22:51 I almost cussed that day. Because they had held our money for all that time, and now they're coming back and saying another church is offered more, and if we wanted it, we were going to have to pay more. And so I got frustrated, I got sad, and we were at our old, old building, 3311 Bright Street Road. we had outgrown that facility and I felt God wanted us to have that property and I didn't know what to do. So I counted it off that we wasn't going, we weren't going to be able to get it. We weren't going to be able to buy it. Another church's came in and made an offer more than we can afford. We cannot match with that other church's offer. And so one day I was reading first Samuel 30 and God spoke to me with a rhema word. Y'all not hearing what I'm saying. And here's what he said. He said to me in 1 Samuel 30, verse 8, as a matter of fact, you don't have to turn there. He said to me, the word became alive to me. He said, pursue.

23:48 Y'all not hearing what I'm saying. He said, pursue, go after it. And I decided to, I received that word. I had driven around trying to find another place, saying maybe we need to go get another place. But God said, no, I want you to pursue. Don't be trying to find another place. That's the place I have for you. I want you to pursue. And so I decided to go and request a meeting myself with Mr. Hankinshirt. That's what I said. Let me go and talk to Mr. Heckinger. Y'all not hear what I'm saying to you today. Sometimes you got to do whatever God tells you to do. And that's what I did. I requested a meeting with Mr. Heckinger. And by the way, I also requested a meeting and went to the other church that made the offer on the property that we were trying to buy. When God tell you to do something, you got to go all the way through the whole deal. And by the way, here's why that's important.

24:42 because if we didn't have the ministry center, we wouldn't be able to be where we are today. We wouldn't be here today. That's why it's important for you to take every step that God tells you to take and walk in the path that God tells you to walk in because your destiny is ultimately dependent upon you taking every step that God takes you to step. You can't skip no steps. You can't jump over no steps. You can't avoid no steps. Whatever God tells you to do, exactly do what God tells you to do. And when he told me to pursue, I pursued. We got the property. The other church backed off. We bought the property. We built out the property. We paid off the property. And it helped us to be where we are right here today in the worship center. Somebody look at your neighbor and say, you better get a rhema from God. I don't know what your drama is.

25:35 I don't care. I don't know what you're facing. I don't know what challenge you have. I don't know what's going on in your life. But this word, matter of fact, this is a word for somebody today that you need to go and do what it is that God has told you to do. Can I get a witness from anybody in the camp? Somebody, just go and high-five somebody and say, do what God tells you to do. Tell them, get a rhema word from God. Get a message from God. Let God speak to you. Let God direct your path. Get in that Logos so God can give you a rhema. Get in the Logos so God can give you a rhema. Y'all ain't hearing. Get in the Logos so God can give you a rhema. Oh, I feel a shout down in my sanctified soul. I feel like running around this building.

26:37 This is a word for somebody in this camp today. It's going to change your life. It's going to alter your future. What you hear me say, if you just apply it to your life, you're going to see God open up the windows of heaven and pour you out blessings that you won't have room enough to receive. You're going to see miracles being dropped in your life. You're going to see breakthroughs coming in your family. You're going to see miracles happening day after day in your life. Why? Because you got a rhema word from God. Hallelujah. I wonder if I got anybody in here that's willing to give God a thank you for the rhema that they haven't even gotten yet.

27:26 Anybody here willing to thank God for what he's going to do for you and what he's going to direct you? Somebody say, I don't have to wait till I get it. I know the God I serve is worthy of me going ahead and giving him the praise even before he does it. Hallelujah let's pause here for a shout let's pause right here for a celebration let's pause right here and give God the praise for what we know he will do