Good to see you out tonight. I would ask you to open your Bibles please to Ephesians chapter 6. Ephesians chapter 6. This is our 60th message through the book of Ephesians. I think it's going to take 69 to finish the book. Welcome tonight. I just told a group I was meeting with that in between our first and second service I was chewing on a mint. And as I was chewing on the mint, I thought, man, this thing is, I don't remember a mint being this crunchy. So I just kept crunching on it and chewing it up. And come to find out, I probably ate about half my tooth in a filling in my back tooth. So I got plenty of calcium today and it's throbbing pretty good right now, but it's all good. And, um, Thank the Lord for dentists that I'll go see tomorrow. So just out of love, if you ever eat a mint and it seems more crunchier than normal, you might check and see if it's your dental care. So with that thought, thanks for coming tonight. God bless you, it's been great to be with you. As I told those people, if I get a little loopy here, forgive me. Ephesians six. We're gonna be looking at verse 14, but we'll back up and read verses 10 through 14 in just a moment. We're talking about how we can stand strong in the struggles of life. Let's pray. Father, we love you and thank you that you understand struggles and sorrow and difficulties. Thank you that you understand even just the daily pressure of life, that you have informed us and you have protected us, and you have made us aware of what really is going on around us. God, help us to see tonight and to believe that there is a greater struggle around us than our minds can even grasp. Help us to see that you have already won the victory, and help us to see that you have given us the daily resources we need in our lives and in our families, and as a church family, to walk in your victory. Lord, we love you, and we're so grateful tonight that you've provided the belt of truth. We ask this in Jesus' name, amen. The belt of truth. You know, we all understand belts. Belts, I mean, a fashion accessory, sure. A belt can be a fashion accessory. Typically not for guys, but they can be a fashion accessory. But really, the purpose of a belt is to keep your pants up. That's why we have belts. And belts can be really simple things. One of those all-time classic documentaries that changed American culture forever, The Beverly Hillbillies, You might remember that Jethro or Jed struck oil and he became a millionaire and loaded up the truck and he moved to Beverly, but they were still hillbillies. And you might remember that Jethro, he wore a belt, but his belt was just simply a rope. That's all he wore. But what is the most expensive belt in the world? Look that up you'd have to strike oil like Jed clamp it to buy this belt according to most Luxurious list the most expensive belt in the world is a Gucci. It's got 30 carat diamonds in it and the belt sells for two hundred and forty nine thousand dollars a belt to keep your pants up now $249,000, that cracks me up because did they have like a management meeting and say, you know what, $250,000 sounds too expensive. Let's bump it down to $249,000, it just sounds better. If you had the choice of a $249,000 belt or a rope like Jethro to keep your pants up, what would you choose? We're a rope kind of church, I understand that very well. There is a belt that is more valuable and more precious than a $249,000 diamond studded Gucci belt. This belt has a much greater purpose than keeping our pants up. It's a belt that everyone needs. It's a belt that everyone can wear. It's a belt that will help you and help me survive and thrive in this incredibly hard world that we live in. It's a belt that only God provides. It's part of His armor, and it's called the belt of truth, and it helps us stand strong in life's struggles. The book of Ephesians is the very center, the very core of what it means to be a Christ follower. And these last three chapters, four, five, and six, teach us about the behavior that God expects us to have. When you and I got saved, God gave us a brand new biblical standard of living. and that brand new biblical standard of living, he wants us to follow his ways according to his word. God calls each and every one of us to be ever-growing, fruit-bearing disciples of Jesus who are living under the authority of scripture. We're to be on his gospel mission, our Jesus mission to the world, to point people to Him for His glory. How we live in this fallen world matters. The actions, the desires, the way we interact with people, all that matters. Our behavior really, really matters. So chapter five into chapter six is all about how we live our lives and how we're to walk in wisdom. And then chapter five into chapter six was specifically with how we're to walk in wisdom of all of life's relationships, life's most important relationships. But now at the end of chapter 6, it's about walking in wisdom, because how we live our life really matters. It's walking in wisdom. We've got to know something that we're in a war. We've got to know something that we have the armor of God for that war. Now, I talked about the armor of God verses 10 through 13 the last time we were in the book of Ephesians together on a Sunday night, and I mentioned then, and let me say it again, we looked at the armor of God about two, two and a half years ago on a Sunday morning. We looked at each of the pieces of the armor. As we're going through Ephesians verse by verse, number one, I'm not gonna skip it just because we looked at it two years ago. It has been two years ago, and of course we always have new people in our church, and if you're like me, I need to be reminded of the things that God has taught me and shown me in my life, and I think we're all in that camp. So the bottom line is we're not gonna skip it. We're going to go through it. What we are seeing in Ephesians 6 verses 10 and following, it reminds us that nowhere in the Bible does it say that following Jesus is easy. Our walk of faith, we all know that we face spiritual challenges, and we all know that we face the daily struggles of life. But the Bible is clear, and this kind of can weird people out in our world today, but the Bible is crystal clear. As followers of Jesus, we are in a massive, cosmic, invisible, spiritual war. It is real. It's reality. It takes place all around us and it personally impacts each and every one of us. This is not a war that the Bible is saying God is calling all of his soldiers to join the cosmic supernatural spiritual war. God is calling his troops, get out of the pews, it's time to join the war. God's not calling us to join the war. Folks, you are already in it. if you belong to Jesus. We're already a part of it. Our struggle, the Bible tells us, is not with flesh and blood. It's against Satan and his evil and principalities and darkness that's beyond our mind to understand. Satan is a ruthless and relentless enemy who wants to do everything he can do. He attacks us with temptation and sin. He attacks us with worry. He attacks us with fear. He attacks us with discouragement. He wants us each and every day of our lives through the spiritual struggle in us and around us to just the struggles of living. He takes all those things on this fallen planet and relentlessly, he tries, to get us discouraged about life. He tries to get us to be deceived and become doubters about God's word and God's love. How could God love me and how could God's word be true if all this stuff is going on in my life? He wants us to become deluded and apathetic towards the things of God where we start drifting away from God and his truth and his love and his gospel. It happens every day and he is relentless and he never stops in our lives with it. We are in the fight of our lives for our very lives. But there's great news. Remember what we said, this is not a war that you and I try to win. Through the empty cross and the empty tomb of Jesus, it's a war that he's already won. He's already won the war. But yet you and I, even though he's already won the war, we face daily battles. And as we fight those daily battles, the Bible's not telling us that, again, we're on the offensive and we've got to attack the devil and attack him to defeat him. Jesus has already defeated him. We are to stand and to serve and to share the gospel, and that's how the gospel advances. We fight this battle. through faith from the finished victory of Jesus. We're not fighting for victory as Warren Wiersbe says, we're fighting from the finished victory of Jesus. That makes all the difference in the world. So God has a plan to encourage us and God has a plan to equip us. We have the armor of God that we can put on in our lives so we can live strong so we can stand strong in the daily struggles of life as we are in this great cosmic spiritual war that we can't even comprehend. And what I love about the armor of God is I believe how it came about. Remember, simply because he loved Jesus and simply because of his faith in following Jesus, the Apostle Paul has been arrested. in God's sovereignty and God's plan to further his gospel, Paul ends up in Rome to the point that he's actually going to end up in front of Caesar and in Caesar's palace. Paul, as a Roman prisoner, he would have spent 24 hours a day chained to a Roman soldier for several years. They would have worked in six or four, excuse me, six hour shift. Every six hours a new soldier would have come on and they probably would have chained Paul's wrist to the soldier's wrist and chained Paul's ankle to the soldier's ankle. Year after year, day after day, week after week, Paul is chained to a Roman soldier. I believe after all that time of being chained to a Roman soldier, Paul got to know in great detail the armor of a Roman soldier. He knew what every piece of the armor was about. He knew what every piece of the armor, how it went on. He knew every piece of the armor, how it came off. He knew every piece of armor that a Roman soldier had, its function. I mean, he knew the armor of a Roman soldier in great detail. And God, the Holy Spirit, I believe, laid something on Paul's heart. He says, Paul, the picture that you see in the armor of a Roman soldier and the purpose it serves, it paints a picture of my soldiers. It paints a picture of how my people in this great spiritual war that they're in can know my victory and can walk in strength and power and not be defeated and not be discouraged. And that gives us the armor of God. The armor of God is a victorious declaration that Jesus has won the battle. It is so, so encouraging. So we are to suit up, we are to put on the armor of God in our daily, daily life. And the first piece of armor that we see here is to be girded your waist with truth, the word truth. Now, I realize this morning we talked about from 1 Corinthians 13, verse 6, if you were here this morning, remember that love does not rejoice in iniquity or love does not delight in evil, but it rejoices in what? Truth and now here tonight. We're talking about the belt of truth So truth this morning and truth tonight. Let me just tell you how God works I know six months out what I'm preaching and My sermons are pretty well finished four months out. So I basically finished this sermon about four months ago and I finished the one I preached this morning about four months ago. But on Sunday nights, we have trunk or treat, we have Lord's Supper, we have all different things that we do, you know, a kid's musical, whatever would take place. And the sovereignty of God, he matched up in the morning that I would talk about rejoicing in the truth with the evening message about the belt of truth. I don't know who's in this room tonight, but I wanna tell you, and pastoring for soon to be 27 years, there's someone in this room tonight, and maybe it's me, God really wants us to get this thing about truth. It's not coincidence. I mean, if I went through how these messages lined up, it's just God. So we're to rejoice, love rejoices in truth this morning, but now tonight, it's the belt of truth. God is bringing us back to the issue of truth. Look at Ephesians 6, verses 10 through 14. If you're physically able, I would ask you to stand while we read God's word. If you can't, once again, you stay seated, it's no problem. Ephesians 6, verses 10 through 14 says this, finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord and the power of His might. Remember, it's this massive, cosmic, invisible spiritual war. Stand, be strong in the Lord and the power of His might, not our power, but His power. 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. Ultimately, our struggle is never against people. Our struggle is that in this fallen world, it's sinful man under satanic influence. We do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities and powers, against the rulers of darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in heavenly places. Verse 13, therefore, take up, he says it again, the whole armor of God, that you may be able to withstand in that evil day, and having done all to stand. Verse 14, stand therefore, and here's the first piece of the armor that Paul, knowing the armor of a Roman soldier, he tells us, having girded your waist With truth or wearing the belt of truth. Thank you. You may be seated appreciate that verse 14 says stand Therefore having girded your waist with truth. That's the new king james other translations your translations may say Stand therefore that the belt of truth with the belt of truth buckled around your waist Your translation may say, stand therefore with truth like a belt around your waist. Paul put the belt first of all the armor he could list. I mean, you'd think he'd put a sword or a shield or a helmet or something like that, but Paul put a belt first. The very first thing because the belt is the first importance The belt is the very center of a Roman soldiers armor Let's understand what a belt did on a Roman soldier and then let's apply that to what that means to us as soldiers of the cross See a Roman soldier wore this this leather belt. I The leather belt was made of extremely thick leather, and it was about a foot tall, and it went all the way around their waist. Now, they didn't call it a belt like we would call it a belt. The word they used is a girdle. They called it a girdle. And we know from history that when Rome went to war, that one of the ways that their enemy would antagonize them is they would say, you're wearing a girdle, you're wearing a girdle. And the Roman soldiers would say, no, it's not a girdle, it spanks for men. And I just made all that up, that didn't happen, okay? That didn't, that's not true. But it is true that they called it a girdle. Some of you are like taking notes. The enemy called them to wear a girdle. Sorry, blame my tooth. This belt wrapped all the way around your waist. It had lots of functions. The first thing that the Roman soldier belt did was it protected. One of the weakest areas on the human body is our abdomen, our kidneys, our stomach, that area. So this thick leather belt, it was thick enough to where it could literally stop the slash of an enemy sword. It protected. A second thing it did is it strengthened. It helped support the back in combat. I mean, imagine in hand-to-hand combat, you would want to be a sturdy, You could be it's like today. We're a weightlifter a powerlifter wears a big thick leather weightlifting belt Or maybe you've seen people with backs or their jobs whatever requires them to wear those black kind of velcro Belts around their waist. It's the same thing the belt protected them It strengthened their back and their spinal cord to support them in combat number three the belt held their resources. Think about a carpenter's belt. You know, a carpenter's belt has a pouch for nails and for, you know, your tape measure and your hammer and all those sort of things. That was kind of like the Roman soldier's belt was about. It had hooks on it. And one hook would hold the sword or the like dagger that they wore. And you didn't want that thing moving around. You wanted to know if you were in a combat right where it was going to be every single time. They had another hook on their belt that they would hook a rope up to for needing to climb over something whatever on their belt They also had pouches and then their pouches is where they would keep food if they're on a long March and Rome was known that whenever they would win a battle or conquer a city those pouches that used to carry their food the Roman soldiers would fill it up with gold and jewelry and All sorts of things. And then the fourth thing that the belt would do was security. And this was probably the number one thing about it. The belt tied everything else down. The belt held, it held everything together. The armor, the breastplate and the other armor that the soldier would wear, it had to be attached to the belt to keep it firmly on the body of the soldier. Imagine if the armor was not attached to the belt, it would just be flopping around when the soldier ran or did whatever he would do. The other thing that it would do to kind of hold everything together is what the belt's main purpose was Is that the roman soldiers wore those long tunics? Imagine just a big poncho where you had a hole cut out for your head and for your arms and the tunic was this Law it was large and free-flowing and if you're getting ready to go into battle what a Roman soldier would do They would tighten up that belt. They would pull that tunic in really tight upon their body They would even tuck it inside of the belt so it wouldn't interfere with them running or you know if they fell down and hand-to-hand combat If their armor is wobbly all over the place, if the tunic is loose and flowing on them, of course they're at a great disadvantage. It could hinder them. It could even cause their death. And a fellow enemy soldier could grab a hold of the loose armor, could grab a hold of the loose clothes. So really the belt tied everything down. The belt held everything together. So this thick leather belt, this girdle, protected one of the most weakest areas of their body. It strengthened their back to give them support so they could stand strong. It held the resources that they would need when they were in the battle, and it provided security. It was the very centerpiece of their armor, not the most glamorous piece, but it's the most important piece. It held everything else together. It kept the armor in place. It kept the tunic in place. It did all that sort of stuff. Matter of fact, it was said The number one way that you knew that a Roman soldier was off duty, the number one way to tell if a Roman soldier was on duty or off duty, is they would loosen their belt. You ever heard that idiom before? Loosen your belt? It's where it came from. If their belt was loosened, it means they're relaxed. But if the alarm sounded, and an enemy was attacking, and a battle of life and death was coming, The first thing that Roman soldier would do, he would buckle down that belt tight. Inspired by the armor of a Roman soldier, Paul gives us a spiritual application to the belt. He says what the belt is to a Roman soldier is what truth is to the Christian. Let me say that again. Inspired by the armor of a Roman soldier, Paul gives spiritual application to the belt. He relates it to truth. What a belt is to a Roman soldier, truth is to the Christian. You see, like the belt, how the belt to a Roman soldier was the very center of the soldier's armor, truth is central to all that we are and all that we are about. Like the belt of a Roman soldier held the resources in place for that soldier, all of our spiritual resources hang on the hooks of truth as we go through the battles of life. Like that belt for a Roman soldier's armor where it would strengthen and support them, the belt of truth. Truth gives us strength and stability to our spiritual spine, if you will, that we can have the courage to stand in the heat of all of life's battles and all the struggles and all the difficulties and confusing things that happen to us. As the belt of a Roman soldier would protect the abdomen, the weakest part of their body, the truth of God protects us at our very weakest points where the enemy wants to slash and attack us. The belt on a Roman soldier, as it held everything together, as it tied everything down to keep it from flopping and flowing to give the enemy advantage, truth is what ties everything down. Truth is what holds everything together. Without a belt, a Roman soldier was not ready for battle. And the Bible's teaching us, Christian, without truth, you and I can't face the battles of daily life. Amen? Think about truth. We talked about it this morning again. But the battle for the glory of God and the battle for the souls of men and women and children, again, it's always a battle of what is true and what is false. Satan knows that if truth is not at the centerpiece of our armor, Satan knows that if truth is not what holds everything together as a church, Satan knows that if truth is not the foundation and the practice of a local congregation or the life of a Christian, he knows that just like that Roman soldier's armor's gonna fall apart, he knows it will fall apart. Satan's an accuser and a tempter, and it says in John 8, 44, that he is the father of lies. He attacks us using our own flesh, temptation. He attacks us through the lost world with weapons of lies, deception, and confusion. He again wants us to doubt the existence of God, to doubt the love of God, to discard the Bible as truth and make our own selves truth, that God's word is just an ordinary book, it's just a book. He wants us to deny that Jesus is the only Savior. He wants us to deny the cross and the resurrection. He wants us to believe that we can save ourselves or we don't need to be saved because we're already all right with God. If we go back to the beginning, Back to Genesis chapter three. Genesis one and two, God created everything and it was beautiful and it was perfect. God created man in his own image. And then in Genesis chapter three, here came the serpent. God gave Adam and Eve one command, man, that tree of knowledge, center of the garden there not to have anything to do with it. Satan came to them in Genesis chapter three, verse one, the very first question in created history. The very first question mark that ever was used in all the history of the universe came from a question that Satan asked in Genesis chapter three. The very first question ever was this. Satan said, has God said? Folks, he pulled out his number one plan to deceive Adam and Eve. It wasn't the JV plan. And he has not changed his strategy at all. Satan's strategy to destroy your family, to destroy our faith, to destroy this church, to get us down and discouraged with the struggles of life. He wants us to doubt that book. He wants us to doubt the truth of God. He doesn't want us to wear a belt that's gonna hold everything together, hold us together, give us protection, give us security, give us strength, which is the truth of God. Now the world is under a curse of sin without Jesus separated all because Satan attacked with a lie the truth of God and Adam and Eve took the bait. If you or I If you were to talk to someone who's truly saved, someone who truly is a Christian, and right now, by their own testimony, if that person would tell you that their life is a train wreck, I promise you, if there is someone who truly is a Christian, and right now their life is an absolute train wreck, usually, it all started when they begin to drift from God's truth. when they begin to reject God's truth. Remember what we said this morning about why truth is so important. If you don't mind, some of you weren't here this morning, remember that in our culture today, in this spiritual war we're in, this culture we're in, again, it's relativism. Our culture believes not in the absolute truth of God and his word, it believes in relativism. Relativism, again, is all points of view have equal value. Truth is relative to each individual. There is no absolute truth. Those who say there is no absolute truth is absolutely sure there is no absolute truth. And those who say there's only one wrong belief, and that is that there is such a thing as a wrong belief, The only thing you can ever believe that's wrong is to believe that there are things that are wrong. Relativism says just because it's true to you does not mean it's true to me. As we said this morning, relativism means no one has the right to tell others their activities are morally wrong. Each person decides what is true. Each person decides what is moral. Each person decides what is right or wrong. That truth comes from you and truth comes from me, is from inside of our heads and inside of our hearts, and there is not anything or anyone, including the Bible, that can impose truth or standards upon me or upon other people. That life of relativism is a life with no truth. It's a life with no belt. It's a life where everything comes apart. It's a life that the enemy destroys. And it's what we see in our culture today. Again, as we said this morning, that our truth is either relative truth from man in the world, or it's revealed truth from God in his word. Truth and reality in our world today. I mean, hear this, truth and reality, ultimate, absolute, forever truth is not found in religion. It's not found in education. It's not found in science. It's not found in philosophy. It's not found in humanity. It's not found in society. It's not found in self. Truth is found in the one true Creator God, who alone is the originator of truth and established truth. Truth is now found in His Word, the Bible, that is revealed by Jesus Christ. Again, John 17 17 your word is truth. Psalm 31 5. He's a god of truth John 16 13 He's the Holy Spirit of truth John 14 6 Jesus is the way the truth the life as we said this morning. What is your reality? What is my reality? What is our truth is truth relative just truth depend on you depend on me or as truth absolute settled buckled and belted down as God has revealed in his word the Bible and That word truth in verse 14, again, it means reality. What is real? Truth is not an illusion. Truth is not a mirage. Truth, what is true, is what is real. And truth and reality start with God. There are two choices. Again, is God the creator of all things and therefore God created man, is that truth? Or is chance the creator of all things? It's just by chance man was created and that means that man created god again is god the creator of all things that mean god created us Or chance is the creator of all things And that means it's all by chance and man created god people believe one of those two things You know, they believe that god created us it's chance created us and therefore man made up God to help him feel better about when he dies or something if God is the creator if God is the creator there is truth God is the standard of right and wrong life has purpose in him there is absolute truth as we said this morning if If chance is the creator of all things, then truth is what you and I decide what it is because there is no God. We're all just created by chance. Life is one big accident and you and I set the standards of what's right and what's wrong and what's moral and that's what we see in our culture today. If chance is the creator of all things, if we're all just a big bang accident, that means here's life. We have a pointless existence with no meaning because you and I and our families are just one big cosmic accident. Morals is one big arbitrary game. Truth is what we decided is because we're just created by chance. Eat, drink, be merry, and die. I believe God's the creator of everything, not chance. That means there is truth, there is a standard of right and wrong, and that standard of right and wrong is God. So as we said this morning, is there a God? Yes, the second question, has God spoken to us? And that truth is found in the Bible, it's God's word for us. The Bible is the foundation of our faith and our practice. The Bible is the standard of how all is measured and how life is to be lived. It's all found in the Bible. This book, is it man's word about God or is it God's word about man? That's huge. Is this man's word about God or is it God's word to man? If it's man's word about God, salvation, Jesus, eternity, truth, nothing is settled. It's all up for grabs. This is just like Huck Finn or Tom Sawyer or something. If it's man's best words about God. None of that stuff settled. But if this is God's word to man, if the God who created us has spoken and this Bible is God's word to man, then all is settled. Everything's settled. And it's our responsibility to know and live under the authority of Scripture. If the Bible is not the truth about God, then we will make up God according to our intellectual, emotional, or human tendencies and thought. And the God that man makes up outside of the Bible, anytime someone makes up a God outside of the Bible, it goes from absolutely crazy radical to absolutely ridiculous. Truth is the reality of God. And God's revelation of his truth is in his word. And the belt of a Roman soldier protected, gave strength, held the resources, kept everything held together. And to wear the belt of truth, So we and our families are protected in this world with all of its struggles. To give us strength to stand and have stability in the combat of life. To keep all of our spiritual resources we need to live life for God's glory. To hold everything together in this church and our lives. It's the belt of truth. It's the truth of God's word. To wear the belt of truth means that you and I make a willful decision to saturate our hearts and our minds with the Word of God every day of our lives. that every day we spend time in this word, that we're part of life classes and Bible fellowships and the teaching and preaching of God's word and Bible studies on our own, that we commit ourselves to absolutely saturate our hearts and saturate our minds with God's word. And then through the power of the Holy Spirit, we pray and surrender that God would give us the ability to obey it. Jesus said God's Word is truth. Jesus said that. He said God's Word is truth. There are some people today who say, oh, I believe in Jesus, but I just don't believe the Bible. That makes no sense. Because Jesus said that God's Word is true. If you believe in Jesus, but you don't believe the Bible, I say this in love, the Jesus you believe in is a Jesus you made up in your head. It's not the Jesus that God revealed in His Word. It's the belt of truth that holds it all together. The only way to wear the belt of truth, the only way to come to this truth, this reality of God, you've got to know truth personally because truth is a person. Truth is the person of Jesus. All truth is found in the person of Jesus Christ. Again, the most radical statement of absolute truth ever spoken is when Jesus said, I am the way, the truth, and the life, and no one comes to the Father but by me. To say that someone, there are people who say, I believe in Jesus, but I don't believe in absolute truth. That makes no sense, because the Jesus you believe in made the greatest statement of absolute truth that's ever been spoken. In John 8, 32, again, it says you shall know. It says not know about, not have a head, intellectual, emotional reaction to Jesus. It says you shall know the truth. It means personally. To know him personally, you shall know the truth and the truth shall make you free. Free means that Jesus, through his death and resurrection on the cross, is the only one, the only truth that can set us free from ourselves and set us free from sin and set us free from Satan in this spiritual battle we're in. We're free to know God. He sets us free to know God. He sets us free to love God. He sets us free to bring glory to God. And I pray that you've done that. I pray that you have come to Jesus as your personal Savior. Satan attacks through this world. He attacks our flesh. He confuses us, deceives us, tempts us. It's a war. Life is filled with so many struggles and heartaches and confusing things. Satan wants our heart cold towards God. He wants our mind doubting God. He wants our emotions discouraged. But God says, you put my belt of truth based on my word around your waist, and you cinch it down tight. Because you know truth, you know Jesus. As we said this morning, because you live truth, You can follow the Word of God and grow as a disciple in Christ. We can absolutely, by the Holy Spirit's power, walk in truth. The culture says walk with them, but we say no. We're refusing the comforts of culture. We are willing to be courageous, always loving, always kind, even if it means, again, we're insulted or rejected. We're gonna stand in love, but we will walk in truth, and we're gonna testify to the truth. The most loving thing we can do in this world we live in is live the truth of God's word, and love the truth of God's word, and share the truth of God, which is Jesus Christ. Know truth. Know Jesus as your savior. Saturate your hearts and minds with God's word. If you and I go through this week, and we don't spend time in the word of God, if you and I are hit and miss in our Bible study, in our church attendance. And again, we're not legalistic. We know things come up and we travel and all those sort of deals. If we don't spend time in God's word on a daily basis, if we're not committed to meeting with God's people to study God's word, it's like a Roman soldier walking out to battle without his belt. But the center that held everything together in that soldier's armor was the belt. And God says, saturate, pray, surrender to the Spirit's power, obey the truth, know the truth. We're driving down I-44 going to southwest Missouri to visit either my parents or Donna's parents. You might have noticed on all of our highways, the Missouri Department of Transportation has put out those kind of digital electronic signs that always flashes up stuff. One of the messages that Missouri Department of Transportation put up, it lists the number of people that have died in auto accidents in Missouri. Have you seen those before? It lists the number of people that have been killed in an auto accident. Then it lists how many were not wearing a seatbelt. It's proven that seatbelts saves lives. The CDC, the most recent stuff I could find was 2014, that seatbelts reduce serious crash-related injuries and deaths by half. If you wear your seatbelt, people say, well, I know someone wearing their seatbelt, and of course, there's always those stories, but the bottom line, if you wanna give yourself a 50% greater chance of not having serious injury or death, we just wear our seatbelts. Seatbelts saved. 12,802 lives in 2014. Research shows that the enforcement of seatbelt laws make a big difference in people wearing their seatbelt. We have a national campaign that was going on for a while that says click it or tick it, yeah. Think about our faith. I mean, think about our faith. Jesus risen from the dead, saving faith, living faith, think about our faith. Think about our families. Think about those you love in your life, your families. Think about our church, the ministries and the missions and the fellowship and the relationships and the worship. Think about lost souls in the nations that have never heard the name of Jesus. Think about lost souls right here around us in our own neighborhoods. Think about the gospel. I mean, think about the good news of God's love and the gospel that Jesus, his person and his work, that he died on the cross and he arose from the grave. Think about the glory of God, the very essence and nature of God's character and his actions and who he is, everything that God is and everything that God does. I mean, think about our faith. Think about our families. Think about our church. Think about lost souls. Think about the gospel. Think about the glory of God. Every bit of that is based upon the truth of God's word. It's the belt. Satan will attack with lies and deceptions. And just as seat belts save lives on the highway, when we click it, when we Wear the belt of truth in our lives for God's glory. It means the salvation of souls all around us. Buckle up tight and wear the belt of truth. Let's pray. Father, thank you again that in your sovereignty you wanted to hit us this morning and you wanted to hit us tonight with the topic of truth. Lord Jesus, I thank you that there is truth and you are truth. I thank you that you're the originator of truth. You're the source of truth. That your word is true. God, thank you that we were not created by chance. We're not some big cosmic accident where life has no meaning. We were created by you. Created to know you and love you and bring you glory and honor Thank you that you've spoken to us. Thank you that the Bible is not Something man has said about you, but it's what you have said to each of us what you've said to mankind Thank you God that salvation Sin and the cross and death and eternal life that all those things are settled. You've settled it in your word Thank you that we can pray and surrender and you give us through the power of the Holy Spirit the ability to obey this truth this word God thank you that there are so many struggles in life and so many difficulties and so many temptations to sin and so many strongholds of Satan and so many things that confuse us and hurt us and break us and And God, it sounds almost too simple to stand in the struggles of life. The first thing you say is saturate your life with scripture. Put on your belt, be protected, be secure, have your resources, hold it all together, hold it all in place. Lord, thank you that we can saturate our hearts and our minds with your word. God, we pray that right now, if there's anyone here in this building that has never said yes to you as the way, the truth, and the life, if they have not been set free to love you and obey you and know you and live for your glory because they've never received you as Savior, Lord, not knowing about truth, but knowing you personally as truth, thank you that right now, whoever calls on your name can be saved. Thank you, Lord, for believers who, again, want to walk in your truth, walk in the obedience of your love and your word to become a part of this church or to follow you in baptism. God, thank you that that's the sort of God you are, a God of truth. And thank you that we can stand strong in the struggles of life, the spiritual war going on around us, the struggles we experience inside of us. Thank you, Jesus, that we can stand strong because you are the truth. We ask this in Jesus' name, amen.