Spiritual Warfare - Part 4: Shoes

1:14 I'm going to read verses 10 through 15. Ephesians 6, verse 10 through 16. Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord and in the power of his might. Put on the whole arm 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. Therefore, take up the whole arm of God that you may be able to withstand in the evil day and having done all to stand. Stand therefore, verse 14, having girded your waist with truth, having put on the breastplate of righteousness, verse 15, and having shod your feet with the preparation of the gospel of peace. I want to talk about shoes today.

2:08 This is spiritual warfare number four, part four. And I want to talk about shoes. Look at your shoes. This here is an armor bearer, Robert Littlejohn. Last Sunday, Robert Littlejohn called my house and said, Pastor, I need to shine your shoes. and this man came to my house and took four or five pair of my shoes and shined them Thank you. Thank you, y'all.

2:58 Got five or six more pair for you to come on by today. I want to talk about shoes. My wife and I, my wife, we've been married for 44 years. This is our 45th year. And my wife has a habit of something that I've been trying to get her to change for 45 years. She does something that is very irritating to me.

3:33 When we come to church, I don't know if you can help me with this, Brooke, or not, but when we come to church, she always brings two pairs of shoes. I learned that one pair is comfortable, but they don't look good. And the other pair look good, but they're not comfortable. I'm fine. I'm fine that she got two pair of shoes. What's irritating to me is that she leaves the house with the comfortable pair on, and then when we get to church, she takes those off and put the good-looking pair of shoes on.

4:32 I'm okay with that. But why does she wait until we pull up into the lot? Why can't you change the shoes while we driving and on our way? Come on, brothers. Don't leave me out here by myself. I don't get it. I don't get it. When you know it's going to take you a minute to change out your shoes, when you get a minute away from pulling up to the building, it looks like to me you ought to go ahead ahead of... Oh, see y'all. Why do you wait till the last minute? Now, if I has the pastor and her husband... pull up into the parking lot and she over there working on her shoes.

5:32 If I hop out the car, say she should have been ready and go on in, now I'm the worst daddy and husband in the world. Now I got to sit there and wait for her to finish putting on the shoes. Come on brothers, have some guts to say amen today. Stop. Are y'all that bad off? Y'all can't say amen, brothers? I'm trying to help y'all out while I'm helping myself out. But I've realized after 44 years, I'm not going to be able to change that about her. The problem I'm having, though, is that not only does she wait until the last minute. Matter of fact, she don't even wait until the last minute. She waits until we get there. I feel a cussing spirit rising up in me. Some of you do the same thing with your spiritual shoes. Wow.

6:28 That is good. Watch it. Woo. And you wait until you need the shoes to try to put them on. And that's what the Apostle Paul is saying to the church in Ephesus, that he's also saying to you and I today, he's talking to them about making sure that you here's what verse 15 says having shod your feet with the preparation of the gospel of peace having shod your feet what does that mean? can I just walk through this? first of all when he talks about feet are y'all with me? here's my first point I want to talk about feet feet is in reference to your lifestyle the journey that you take the way that you walk, the way that you live your life.

7:22 That's when we talked about having your feet shot. Have your lifestyle such. Live your life in such a way that other people, when they see you, they want to know about the God that you serve. When they watch how you handle trials and when they watch how you handle struggles and trouble and situations, do they want to find out from you who is the God that helps you handle the problems that you face?

7:58 How is it that you're able to take a licking and keep on ticking? How is it that you're able to go through all that you go through, but you still have a smile on your face? How is it? What in the world are you doing that you have confidence in the God that you serve that somehow or another you believe in the core of your being? It might not be what I want to go through, but when I get to the end, I know that somehow God's going to work it out. Do I have anybody here that knows that the God that we serve will some way, somehow work? So when he says, have your feet shod, what he said, live a life. Have a lifestyle that other people want to serve the same God that you serve. Have your feet shod. And he uses this word shod. What does the word shod mean?

8:49 I'm glad you asked the question. The word shod means to bind under, bind it tight. Here's what it means. It means to tie the shoes on tight. Put them on and strap them down. Put them on and tie them up so they won't easily come off. See, some of y'all have gospel flip-flops on. the Roman soldiers wore sandals. And so he's referencing the sandals that the Roman soldiers wore. And he is saying, make sure you tie them down tight. Make sure that they won't easily come off. Some of y'all have wear gospel flip-flops so that when it's not convenient for you to be a Christian, you just slip on out of them real quick. Just slip on out of them.

9:41 Y'all cannot handle the truth up in here today. You can just slip out of it. You can be with the club crowd when you're with the club. Oh, that's not this service. That's the 12 o'clock service. I'm sorry I missed up here. Yeah, yeah. He's trying to give them an understanding that live the kind of life, live in such a way that you are always a Christian. Let me go back here. Y'all ain't saying nothing to me. Let me go back here to this section right here because they're going to talk to me. Are y'all talking to me back here? Can I talk to y'all? Because these jokers ain't saying nothing. They ain't saying nothing. Do y'all got your shoes on?

10:29 Are you living a life that when folks see what you're going through, that you respond, that you know that God's got it under control? Lean over to your neighbor and say, he's preaching better than you're saying amen. Just trying to see who got some shoes on here today. I like them shoes, Mike. What size are those?

11:14 Oh, those are too big for me. I can't wear those. He says, have your feet shod. Have your feet with something bound to them. Have your lifestyle such that you have prepared. This is the key word here. Have your feet shot with the preparation of the gospel. You know what that means? That means that you should be prepared to share the gospel. Ooh, y'all don't handle it. Y'all cannot handle it. The problem is some of y'all are not prepared to share the gospel. Sometimes you come across somebody and you have not taken the time to learn how to share the gospel with somebody. And that's tragic. It's problematic. It's sad.

12:07 It's troubling that somebody could come to you and say, I need help in my life. I'm in trouble. I'm jacked up. I'm lonely. I'm hurting. I'm in pain. I'm frustrated. I got habits. I got addictions that I can't break. And you've been around church long enough that by now you ought to know how to share the gospel with somebody. You shouldn't have to say to them, come to my church on Sunday. You should be able to break down the scriptures to them right there and right now and say, here's how you get saved. You know why? Because they might not live to Sunday. They might only be with you that day. Tomorrow is not promised.

12:44 When I used to have a good government job, I went to visit one of my coworkers. because he had cancer. And I went to visit him in the hospital. And on my way to go visit him, the Holy Spirit convicted me. And the Holy Spirit said to me, here you are going to visit a coworker that you work with every day. You work with him eight hours a day. You see him every day. You've been working there for a number of years. But yet you have the gospel, but you have never shared the gospel with him. And here's this man who was in the hospital, had cancer. He had cancer. And I had never talked to him about Jesus. So don't look at me in that tone of face. Some of y'all have done the very same thing. You have worked with people. They don't even have an idea that you are a Christian.

13:25 Let alone you sharing the gospel. They don't even see any evidence that you walk with God and talk with God and have a relationship with God. So you claim you don't have any of that. But Paul is saying to the church in Ephesus, he is saying, make sure that you tie down a lifestyle that you can share the gospel with people who are on their way to hell. He says, have your feet shod with the preparation. And here's what the word preparation means too. Are y'all with me? Have I lost you yet? It means, listen to this, it means you are equipped on the inside. What does that mean? That means you know it by heart. It means you are so acquainted with the gospel that you know how to share the gospel with somebody even without notes. If you wake me up in the building night and you cut me, I'm going to bleed scriptures.

14:25 and that's not because I'm a pastor I love the Lord I'm one of his disciples I'm one of his children and I'm making my business that okay if you wake me up in the middle of the night and you need to be saved I'm gonna say Romans 3 23 Romans 6 23 Romans 5 8 Romans 10 9 and 10 10 13 I know it by the heart. I not only know where it is, I can quote them to you. Come on, holler back at it, brother. Y'all think that's the pastor's job. It's not just the pastor's job, it's everybody's job who claims to be a child of the Most High God. And the tragedy is some of y'all have been a part of this church for a long time and you still haven't learned how to share the gospel. God, I can't get no help up in here. I can't get no support. I can't get no help. Y'all don't understand what I'm saying. I feel like I'm talking to myself.

15:22 I'm challenging you to be in a posture or position to be able to share the gospel with somebody, with your friends, relatives, acquaintances, neighbors, coworkers, enemies, and your strangers without notes. Y'all, listen, y'all are not going to stand before God and God asks you, did you know how to share the gospel? You are not going to be able to say, John Jenkins didn't tell us.

15:54 No, you're not. Because I've been telling y'all for 35 years. When I first became the pastor of this church, here's what the church used to do. When a person came forward during the invitation, the deacons would take them to the back, get their name, address, phone number, bring them back out to the front of the church, and then the church voted on whether they could become members. Ain't that weird? Sinners voting on whether other sinners can join the church.

16:30 That's what we used to do. And when I became the pastor, I changed it. And what I started doing is when people came forward, because I was new to the church and I wanted to train people to share the gospel with people, I would set the people who came forward on the front row. We had pews back then. Y'all know what a pew is? Some of y'all don't even know what a pew is. Y'all ain't never been in church. You don't know that everybody ain't always had individual seats. It used to be pews. Who remember pews? Okay, put your hand up. Who ain't never seen a pew? Let me see the people who ain't never seen a pew. Some of y'all are lying. Some of y'all. Okay. There's one or two or three people right there. And what I did is I set them on the front pew, and then I walked them through Romans Road to salvation in front of the whole church. And that's how I started training the church on how to share the gospel.

17:32 Sunday after Sunday. Every time people came forward, lined them up on the front row, walked them through, and it got to the point, I say, what's the next verse? And the church would call it out because they had watched me do it Sunday after Sunday after Sunday. Now we have time. Now we have services. Now we have Bible classes. Now we have evangelism classes. Now we can teach you how to do it. And you cannot say, if you're a member of the First Baptist Church that we have not made it available to you. If you don't know how to share the gospel, it's because you don't want to know how to share the gospel. You don't want to learn. And so my job, my responsibility is to make sure you know, I want you to be prepared. Look at your neighbor and say, you got to be prepared. And then it says this. He says, and I love this verse right here, verse 15. I'm just talking about verse 15. He says, have your feet sharp with the preparation of the gospel of peace.

18:26 Here's why this is important, because the gospel of peace brings peace. Go ahead, Pastor. You deep, you deep. In other words, y'all know people who are confused, who are frustrated, who are sad, who are depressed, and you have the gospel that has the opportunity to give people hope and answers and solutions and deliverance and victory. You have the answer to help bring peace into people's lives.

18:52 As a matter of fact, there's somebody in here today that's lost, broken, hurt, depressed, down. You happen to stumble your way in church. I got a word for you here today that God can bring you peace. This gospel will bring peace into your life. This gospel will bring breakthrough in your life. This gospel will bring a change into your life. This gospel will bring deliverance into your life. This gospel will change your life. Look at your neighbor and say, I'm here because I've been changed. We used to sing a song. Y'all not going to know this song. I grew up on this song. It's a... I know I've been changed. I know I've been changed. I know I've been changed.

19:53 The angels in heaven come shine How many know you different since you met Jesus? How many of you can testify I'm not the same that I used to be? I used to have bondage. I used to have habits. I used to have struggles. I used to be depressed. I used to be sad. I got great news for you. If you're here today and you're struggling in any of those areas, there is a gospel that will bring peace to you, bring hope to you, bring answers to you, and bring deliverance to you. We serve a God who will give you a breakthrough in your life. And how does he do it? I'm glad you asked the question.

20:41 Here's what it looks like. Here's the gospel. Matter of fact, all of these verses, I'm going to give you one, two, three. I'm going to give you four or five verses. One, two, three, four, five. I'm going to give you six verses. They're all in Romans. So if you just find the book of Romans, you're in good shape. They're all in Romans. Here's the plan of salvation. Romans 3.23 is the first verse. This is the plan of salvation. By the way, Paul says I want you to be prepared I want you to have it bound have this bound in your heart so that you know it like in the middle of the night if somebody wakes you up you'll know it here's Romans 3.23 for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God that's a fact everybody has sinned look at your neighbor and say you look like a sinner you look like a sinner Okay, look on the other side. Say, you all dressed up, but you just, you look like a dressed up sinner.

21:40 We've all sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. We missed the mark. Nobody's perfect. Nobody escapes. We've all sinned. We've all missed the mark. We are all in the same category. We are all sinners. All have sinned and fallen short of the standard that God requires. That's the first verse, Romans 3.23. Get that. Write that down, 3.23. And then you go from verse 3.23 to 6.23. Romans 6.23. What does Romans 6, 23 says? For the wages of sin is death. Stop right there. Stick a pin. The wages of sin is death. The reward for sin is death. The consequences of sin is death. And when he talks about death, he's not talking about physical death. He's talking about spiritual death. He's talking about not having a relationship with God. When you sin, you break off the ability to have a relationship with God.

22:35 The wages of sin, the reward, the payback, the consequences of sinning is to separate yourself from a relationship with God. And we've all sinned and missed the mark. The wages of sin is death. But I like when God sticks his butt in the middle of my circumstance and my situation. He sticks his butt in there. Somebody say, thank God got a big old butt. Tell your neighbor, God got a big old butt. God got, I just taught a song. God got a big old butt. Yeah, dude. God got a big old butt. Yeah, dude. God got a big old butt. but the gift of God is eternal life through Christ Jesus our Lord oh I love that I need to say amen it's a gift you don't earn it you can't buy it you can't work to get it it's a gift it's free look at your neighbor say it's free you don't earn it you don't buy it you don't pay for it you don't get this because you paid your tithes you don't get this because you're singing the choir you don't get this because you an ursher you don't get this because you help people park cars you don't get this because you read the scripture or because you preach it's a free gift that God has made available it's free Somebody tell your neighbor, it's free, it's free.

23:51 Thank God I like free. The gift of God, look at here, is eternal life. Life eternal. You know what kind of life Zoe like? What kind of life is that? That means a relationship with God. He will talk with you and walk with you and order your steps and answer your prayers. You know what I love about my relationship with God? What I love about my walk with God is that I see him sometimes answer prayers even before I pray about it, even before I talk to him about it. Anybody else got that testimony that we serve a God that answers your prayer even before you ask him? He opens up doors even before you ask him. He works it out. He fixes things. He gets rid of people that you don't need to have in your life even before you have to ask him about it. The gift of God is eternal life, and it lasts a lifetime. It lasts for eternity.

24:51 The wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life. The question is, how do I get that gift? How do I make it available? I'm glad you asked the question. We know you're a sinner. We've all sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. We know that you deserve death.

25:12 Some of y'all that sins obey, you should go straight to hell. Don't pass gold. Don't collect 200. But the great news is chapter 5 verse 8. I love chapter 5 verse 8. You know what it says? There's another but. But God. Somebody said God done stuck his but in there again. Anytime you see but somewhere in scripture, it means something's about to shift. Something's about to change. But God demonstrates his own love toward us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. Oh, I feel a shout down there.

26:03 While you were doing what you did, while you was enjoying your sin, while you was messed up and doing the wrong thing, Jesus died for you. I give God the praise to think that while you were in the gutter of your sin, in the bottom of the barrel, God died for you. I don't know who I'm talking to today, but I don't care what you did last night. I don't care who you did it with, how long you did it. I got great news. You might have sinned last night. You might have sinned this morning. You might be making plans to sin. But guess what? We serve a God that will break the stronghold of sin in your life and bring deliverance. But God showed how much he loved us. He showed, he demonstrated. Somebody say, thank God he demonstrated his love toward me. Oh, I feel like saying amen. My time is running out, but I'm so excited I can't lead us. It says that God demonstrates his own love toward us.

26:58 Somebody say toward you. Look at your neighbor and say, he demonstrated it toward you. While you were still a sinner, Christ died for you. He took the punishment that you and I should have gotten. He died on the cross and took the punishment that we should have received. Thank God he took our place. Anybody here thankful other than me that God took my place, took your place? I give God the glory. I give him the praise. He took my place in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. Somebody say, well, how do I get it? I'm glad you asked the question. Chapter 10, verse 9 and 10. Chapter 10, verse 9 and 10. that if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised him from the dead, look here, you know what it says? You will be saved.

27:53 Y'all missed a great spot. If you open your mouth, if you confess the Lord Jesus, that he's Lord of your life, if you confess the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, What that means is I have to believe that he died in order for me to believe that he got raised from the dead. So I believe he died on the cross, took my place. He got buried. And thanks be to God, I believe he got up out of the grave and conquered death. He did what Muhammad didn't do, Buddha didn't do, Confucius didn't do. I can run down the list of all of the so-called religious leaders. And what distinguishes Jesus from all of them is he did something that none of them did. He conquered death. He got up out of the grave. And guess what? He's still alive right today. He still lives. for with verse 10 for with the heart one believes unto righteousness and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation with the heart you believe in your heart if you just believe it'll put you in the right standing with god that's what righteousness means right standing with god for with for with the heart one believes unto righteousness and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation. When you start confessing it, it brings deliverance.

29:15 The word salvation means deliverance in your life. And then verse 13 says this, and I'm finished. This is my last verse. I promise I'm going to be done. It's over. I'm finished. I'm going to shout right here. Verse 13, it says, for whoever calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved. I want you to look at somebody and say, if you just confess with your mouth, if you just call on the name of the Lord, I feel like shouting just to know that anybody who calls on his name, anybody who says his name, anybody who believes on his name, he will save you. Somebody say amen. I'm saved.

30:00 When the opportunity of