Praise the Lord. But Ephesians chapter six and verse 15, I will give these points and I will try to give them nice and loud and nice and clear. If you weren't able to get a bulletin, you can at least write them down or get the notes at the end, either way. But Ephesians chapter six and verse 15, And notice what the Bible says here. It says, and your feet shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace. We're gonna talk about that this evening. Of course, we've been dealing with the armor of God and how that applies to each and every one of our lives and how we can apply that spiritually. And oftentimes when we think of armor, the last thing we think of is our feet. Well, this has to do, of course, with the feet, but then also up the calf and all as well, and up the shin bone. But the reality is this, it's so much more than just a piece of metal that we're talking about tonight. And each and every one of us need to put this into practice in our own lives. Let's go to the Lord in prayer and ask him to be with us here this evening. Dear Heavenly Father, we come before you and we thank you, Lord, for who you are. We thank you for your goodness and your grace. Lord, every one of us, Lord, we deserve a place in hell. I say that, Lord, myself included. But Lord, we're so thankful for the hope of heaven as we talked about earlier. Lord, I thank you for sending your son to die on the cross for us. so that we can know that our sins have been forgiven and have a home in heaven just by trusting you as our personal Savior. Lord, it's something that none of us could have done ourselves. But Lord, we know that you loved us so much that you did it for us. Lord, I pray that you would help us to realize that truth as we study your word and realize that it's so important for us to have our feet shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace. And Lord, that that would just encompass our lives. Lord, be with the ones who cannot be with us tonight. Lord, due to health reasons and things, I pray that they would be blessed by the live stream And Lord, for those of us that are here, I pray if there's anyone that doesn't know you as their Savior, they'd come to know you tonight. And Lord, for those of us that are saved, Lord, I pray that we draw closer to you. Speak to our hearts, Lord, we need you. And we ask all these things in Jesus' name, amen. Well, here in Ephesians chapter six, of course, we've been dealing with the armor of God. And notice there in verse 10, when he says, finally, my brethren. So he's going into this teaching, if you will, of the armor of God. And he says, finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord. But then he says this, and in the power of his might. How can we be strong in the power of His might and be strong in the Lord? Well, he goes into that in that next verse. Put on the whole armor of God. Not just some pieces. Not just the ones that aren't as heavy as others. Not just the ones that we feel like putting on. No, if you want to be strong in the Lord, if you want to be strong in the power of His might, put on the whole armor of God. Why? Because there's a real devil. Because he's coming after us. Because he would like nothing more than to stop what God's trying to do. He'd like nothing more than to take us out of the fight. And it says here that we need to put on the whole armor of God that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. What are they? Well, it's all his attacks. When are they coming? We don't know. What's it going to look like? We have no idea, but we serve a God in heaven who knows, and he told us, put on the armor because an attack is coming. He said that we need to stand against the wiles of the devil, for we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places. Wherefore, take unto you the whole armor, there it is again, whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand. If he didn't say stand enough, he says, stand therefore, having your loins girt about with truth. Understand we talked about the loins girt about with truth and how that is what our life should revolve around. We talked about the loins and our midsection here and how the body revolves around the hips. Our lives as believers should revolve around truth. But every one of us know people And we'll leave the names out to protect the innocent tonight, amen. But we all know people in our lives, their lives do not revolve around truth. You don't know if they're telling the truth. There is a statement that has been said, of course, about some people, well, you know they're lying if their mouth's moving. God forbid if that would be said of any of us as God's children. Our life should revolve around truth. That's part of putting on the armor of God. It's having our loins girt about with truth. Revolving around truth is what our lives should be. And then we went into the breastplate of righteousness. We talked about that. I believe that was last week. And this is speaking of protecting our heart. Everything that this world says from the news and into video games and into Disney shows and movies and all of these things on the TV, all of them will tell you, follow your heart. But the Bible says, don't do that because it's deceitful. And it's desperately wicked, the Bible says. Don't allow yourself to follow your heart. Follow the Lord. And if we have the breastplate of righteousness, understand if we put that on, it is impossible for us. to follow our will and our emotions simply because we have the righteousness of God on, but just because we put it on one day does not mean we put it on automatically the next day. It's a decision we have to make and all throughout the day as well. So we talked about, Loren's good about with truth. Our life should revolve around truth. The breastplate of righteousness, protect your heart. How do you do that? Follow the righteousness of God. Follow God's Word. Follow what He has told us to do and God will help us. But tonight we're going to look at what one would consider the boring part of the armor. When someone walks up to a suit of armor they They may walk up and they see the helmet, and we'll get to the helmet in a later study, but they look at that and they say, wow, look how that's made. They may look at the shield and they say, wow, that's some thick metal that's there. They'll see that sword and they see how sharp it is and how long that sword is. And they may even look at that breastplate and say, I don't know what weapon it would take to get through that. That's some thick metal. But not one person has walked up to a suit of armor and said, wow, that's some nice armor on those feet. No one has said that. It seems like it would be the unnecessary part of the armor in a person's mind. But understand as we're looking at having our feet shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace, I want us to understand this this evening. And with each one of these, I've tried to give us one statement or a couple of statements that kind of shape our mind and shape our thinking around what this piece of armor is. And for the feet being shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace, understand that is speaking of the direction in which our life is traveling. What direction are you traveling? If someone was to take a bird's eye view of your life, and even looking at it spiritually speaking, because if you're saved here tonight, you are to put on the whole armor of God. If you're not saved here tonight, well we can get that taken care of as well. Just trust Christ as your personal Savior, and you can then put on the armor of God. But if you are saved, tonight, understand you are to put on the armor of God. So we're looking at it. Spiritually speaking, you're either moving forward for God or you're moving away from God. It's one or the other. There is no such thing as just standing still. Spiritually speaking, you're growing closer to him or you're growing further and further away from him. So we're speaking of the direction of our life tonight. Remember the the children's song, Oh, be careful, little eyes, what you see. Well remember the next line or however many lines you want to put in there. I think we added all kinds of them to that song on the church bus. But be careful little feet where you go. Why is that important? Because where you go is going to be an influence. The way you walk. It's going to influence your life. Some people just live their life as though they want to go their own direction. It's not going to end up well for them. Our feet represent the direction our life is traveling. Our feet take us to our destination and understand Satan is trying all he can to keep us from getting there. I want us to think about and ponder this truth as it comes to our lives. Notice those first two lines up there. I don't know why Ephesians 6.15 is not in the center of the page, but understand it's bothering me as much as it's bothering you, amen. Look there at those first two lines and understand this. God has a general will, and I'll give you these here in just a moment, but listen to this statement. God has a general will and a specific will. Understand, God's general will is for all believers to go ye into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature. God has given that to every single believer. Well, I don't think it's God's plan for me to preach the gospel. You're wrong. Because it's God's plan for everyone that has called on Him to be their Savior, to preach the gospel to every creature. When the Bible says, go ye into all the world, the Greek word for ye, it has this meaning. It applies to everyone who hears these words. There's no time cut off. When you hear those words, you have a job to do. Go ye into all the world and preach the gospel. Maybe you said, well, I didn't know that's what I was supposed to be doing. Well, you do now, amen? So go ye into all the world and preach the gospel. I don't care how old you are, who you are, how long you've been saved, what short amount you've been saved, you are called as a believer to give out the gospel and understand if we're not doing that faithfully, We are living in disobedience to God's general will. because God's told us to do this. And then God's specific will is being where God wants you to be geographically fulfilling his purpose for your life. Every single one of us, God has a job for us to do. Generally, going into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature. It is not God's plan for me and I'm willing to do whatever God wants me to do, but it's not God's plan for me at this stage of my life to be a missionary in Africa. Now, if I was in Africa right now, it would be my job under God's general will for me to spread the gospel to the ones that I'm around at that point. But that's not God's specific will for my life. God has called me to be the pastor of Grace Baptist Church. I love what He's called me to do. That's His specific will for me. So notice, it can be summed up this way. God's general will is doing what God has called you to do His specific will is doing it where He has called you to do it. You say, where has God called me to do His will? Well, where you're living right now, unless He's told you it's somewhere else. And if God has told you you're supposed to be somewhere else doing something, and you haven't done that, you're in disobedience to God's will. Some people say, well, I just don't know where God wants me to serve. Then serve Him where you're at. Serve faithfully. Serve God where He has you. Doing God's general will for our lives will lead us to God's specific will. God will not call the unfaithful to serve in a greater capacity. Understand, if you're not burdened for souls, if you're not faithfully seeking to win the lost, God will not place you into an area of leadership, whether it be a Sunday school teacher, a ministry leader, a preacher, a pastor, a deacon, whatever it may be, God calls the available. And if we are too busy to serve God now, if we are too busy to give out the gospel now, why would God put us into a position that is only there to tell people about the gospel of Jesus Christ? Understand, God calls every one of us who are available, but we need to be working for him. He's called every believer to serve. If we can't be a soul winner and we can't give out the gospel to someone, understand God will not use us in another area. You may say, well, I just can't go out and walk door to door. That's not all it takes to be a soul winner. Being a soul winner is not going out on Saturdays and knocking on doors. Being a soul winner is every day of your life, when God places somebody in your path, you say, Lord, help me to tell them about you. Lord, help me to share your glorious gospel. You see, as we talk about our feet being shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace, this is a way of life for believers. It shouldn't be something we turn on on a Saturday morning and turn off when we get back to the church that day. Something we should always be doing. You know, God will use anyone who is willing to be used. But how do we show God that we're willing to be used? By doing exactly what he's called us to do where we are. See, God will use everyone from the greatest preacher who ever lived to just a bathroom attendant in a church, someone that's just faithfully serving. just doing what God told them to do, because that is the direction of their life. And if we're not giving our all to the Lord, we're not following his direction. This is what it takes to have our feet shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace. Here in, notice Ephesians chapter five in verse 17, notice it says, wherefore be ye not unwise, but understanding what the will of the Lord is. Just follow His will. That's all you have to do. Just follow that. Notice there are five things that are God's general will for every believer. You may say, well, I don't know what God wants me to do. Well, we're gonna spell it out tonight, and it's very, very simple. All you gotta do is follow the Word of God, and God will teach us exactly what we need to do. First of all, a believer should be soul winning. Notice, being a witness for Jesus. Look at 2 Peter chapter three, if you will. 2 Peter chapter three. 2 Peter chapter 3 and verse 9, the Bible says, How's he going to bring them to repentance? Well, it's not through our good looks or our cunning words, I can guarantee you that. He can bring them to salvation. He can bring them to repentance, but he allows us to have a part in his work. Be a soul winner. That's what God has called every believer to be. Notice number two, what we're called to be is this, separated. We are called to be separated. Look at Romans chapter 12, if you will, Romans 12 in verse one and two. A believer should live a different life than an unbeliever. believers should live a life that that stands out in the crowd a believer should live a life in which when people see that they say there's something different about that person there notice we should be separated Romans chapter 12 in verse 1 and 2 I beseech you therefore brethren by the mercies of God that you present your bodies a living sacrifice notice holy Acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service. And be not conformed to this world, but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God." It's talking about the will of God being shown in the way that we live. You see a pattern going here, don't you? And the direction that we're going with our life. You'll find the will of God if you follow God's direction. You'll find that. We must be soul winners. We must be separated. Notice, also, we must be satisfied. If you wanna follow the will of God, if you wanna follow God's direction for your life, you better be content with where God has you. Better say, Lord, wherever you want me to be, that's where I'm going to be. Look at 1 Thessalonians chapter five. 1 Thessalonians chapter five. Notice verse 18. In everything give thanks, for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you. What's the will of God? That we be satisfied. That we're so thankful for where God has us. Notice we must be a servant. Look at 2 Corinthians chapter 8 and verse 5. 2 Corinthians chapter 8 and verse 5. You need to be a servant. The Bible says, "...and this they did, not as we hoped, but first gave their own selves to the Lord and unto us by the will of God." It was God's will that they gave themselves to Him. Remember that passage we just read. A sacrifice it said unto the Lord. That was the will of God. These people gave themselves. They were willing to serve the Lord. Look at number five on that there. Notice we must be sanctified. Look at 1 Thessalonians chapter four in verse three. This passage is speaking of holiness here. And notice chapter four in verse three of 1 Thessalonians says, for this is the will of God, even your sanctification, that you should abstain from fornication. Notice it talks about sanctification there. Look at Colossians chapter four. Colossians chapter four. Colossians chapter four in verse 12. Notice the Bible says, Epaphras, who is one of you, a servant of Christ, saluted you, always laboring fervently in your prayers that you may stand perfect and complete in all the will of God. We must be sanctified. You see, these things that we just mentioned, they are carried out by simply making a choice. Well, how can I do all of these things? By making a choice. What's that choice? To walk in the way that God wants us to go. To every single day, as believers, have our feet shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace. God, where you want me to go, what you want me to do, how you want me to live, who you want me to tell, that's what I'm going to do. That's who I'm going to tell. It's a way of life. It's a direction, but we need the Lord's help. The choice we have to make is whether or not we're going to follow our flesh or if we're going to follow God's spirit. Romans chapter six in verse 16, the Bible says, know ye not that to whom ye yield yourselves servants to obey, his servants ye are to whom ye obey, whether of sin unto death or of obedience unto righteousness. You say, well, I'm not a servant of sin. If you're not obeying God, the Bible says you are a servant of sin. And if we're obeying God, then we're not a servant of sin. It's right there in the scriptures. His servants ye are to whom ye obey. The path we follow is going to be seen in whom we are obeying. So how do we get the will of God? If we are to follow God's general will, if we are to follow His specific will, if that is a path in which we are to be going down, How do we find that? Well, that brings us to those next few blanks that are there. Notice, first of all, through the word of God. You cannot find God's will in your life if you're not in his word. It's impossible because God speaks to us from his word. Look at Psalm chapter 119, if you will. Psalm 119. I believe the greatest chapter in the word of God on the word of God is Psalm 119. Look at verse 105 of this chapter here. Psalm 119 verse 105. Notice the Bible says this, thy word is a lamp unto my feet and a light unto my path. Where should our feet be going? Well, they should be going in the way of the Lord. We should be walking that path. Well, I don't know which way to go. Follow the light of the word. Follow the way that God is leading you. God will never lead you down a sinful path. So if we're asking ourselves, well, I just don't know which decision to make here. I know that over here I can make more money, and I know God wants me to provide for my family, and God wants me to do this, and God would really like for me to be able to give more money to the church, we would say. Well, I could be a blessing in more areas if I went this path, but I know if I go that path, well, I'm not gonna be able to go to church like I should, I'm not going to be able to serve like I should. And I'm not going to be able to, uh, to, uh, to be a soul winner. Like I should, God's not leading you down that path because God will never lead you to disobey his word. But understand the Bible says here, thy word is a lamp unto my feet. But many times we're not carrying the lamp. We're not studying the word of God. We're standing at what we would consider a crossroads, and we would say, well, I just don't know which way to go. But we left our lamp back at the beginning. Some people trust Christ as their Savior, and they never pick up the Bible after that, and their life ends up in a mess. And how did I get here? Why did I follow this path? It's because you left the lamp behind. Just walking around. It also says, in a light unto my path, God will show us the path. God will light up the way for us. But what I have found many times is this, God doesn't show us what 10 steps down the path is going to be, but He shows us what that next step is. He says, just take it. What's the next step, Lord? Just take it. What's going to happen if I take two more steps? Just take them. What's going to happen if when I get down here to the end of this path, what's going to happen? God says, I'm going to take care of you. What if there's a cliff? I'll show you around it. What if it doesn't make sense when I get there? trust in me." You see this is all talking about following a path. If we are to have our feet shod with the preparation of the Gospel of Peace this is following the path that God has placed in front of us every step of the way. Follow His Word, the Word of God. Notice second of all the Spirit of God. Look at John chapter 16 in verse 13. John chapter 16 in verse 13. We see the Word of God, next we see the Spirit of God, John 16 in verse 13. The Bible says, how be it when he, the Spirit of truth has come, he will guide you into all truth. For he shall not speak of himself, but whatsoever he shall hear, that shall he speak, and he will show you the things to come. Well, Lord, I just don't know what to do. The Bible says that the Spirit of truth has come. He'll show you what to do. He will. He's a lot more reliable than Jiminy Cricket sitting on the shoulder. Amen. This is the Spirit of God. He'll never lead you wrong. Notice we see the Word of God, we see the Spirit of God, and thirdly we see the man of God. Look at Ephesians chapter 4 if you will. Ephesians chapter 4. Ephesians chapter 4 in verses 11 through 15. Ephesians chapter 4. 11-15, the Bible says this, And He gave some apostles, and some prophets, and some evangelists, and some pastors, and teachers, for the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ. Till we all come in the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ, that we henceforth be no more children tossed to and fro, and and carried about with every wind of doctrine by the sleight of men and cunning craftiness whereby they lie in wait to deceive. But speaking the truth in love may grow up into him, speaking of Christ, in all things, which is the head, even Christ. Notice here when we're speaking of the man of God, of course, speaking of the pastor, I praise the Lord for Pastor Moore. I was able to learn much under him, and I still ask him many questions to this day, and I'm so thankful for that. But understand what we see here in this passage. Many times we will go throughout our life, and we will study the word of God, and that's great. We'll try to follow the spirit of God, and that's great. And many times, We will just continue on through life and we'll have questions. And the wrong place to go when you have questions is to the internet. Don't do that. You will find yourself in an absolute mess. Understand that I, as the pastor of Grace Baptist Church, I will admit to you, I do not have all the answers. You know what else I can admit to you? No one else does either except for the Lord. No one does. But what I can guarantee you is this, when and if you come to me with questions, my statement will be, what does the Bible say? What's God's Word say about it? Because it doesn't matter what I say. Well, you're the pastor, you should have the answers to this. I may not, but I know a God who does. Which way should I go? Let's see what the Bible says. Let's follow biblical principles. Let's see what God tells us today. Sometimes it's as simple as this. I'll pray about that with you. And we'll allow the Lord to guide us. You see, Satan doesn't want us to follow the will of God. He knows that if you've trusted Christ as your personal Savior, he knows he cannot take your salvation. He knows that. So what does he want to do? He wants to remove your influence. wants to take it from you. He doesn't want you to be winning souls at the workplace. Brother Nicolai, he doesn't want you to give out tracts on your job. He doesn't want that. Satan doesn't want that, but God does. You see, when we allow our influence to be removed, When we allow our eyes to be taken off the will of God, it is impossible to say that our feet are shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace. Because those being shod that way, they will only take you on the path that God wants you to go. Well, I was wearing the armor of God. I don't know how I got into this mess, because you left at least one piece of the armor at home. That's exactly how, because God will never lead you into sin. We need to have our feet shod with the gospel of peace. This is protection that God has provided for us. Notice quickly, we're gonna look at those Roman numerals there at the bottom. Notice quickly here, what is the gospel of peace? Well, over in 1 Corinthians chapter 15, 1 Corinthians 15, we're gonna look at verses one through four. 1 Corinthians chapter 15 in verse one through four. It's interesting for us to know here, the word gospel is found over a hundred times in the New Testament. Something that's important to the Lord, amen? If it's mentioned once in the Bible, it's important. 100 times. Notice here 1 Corinthians 15 verse 1-4, "'Moreover, brethren, I declare unto you the gospel which I preached unto you, which also ye have received, and wherein ye stand, by which also ye are saved, if ye keep in memory what I preached unto you, unless ye have believed in vain.'" This is a false profession he's talking about here. For I delivered unto you first of all that which I also received, how that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, and that He was buried, and that He rose again on the third day according to the Scriptures." Notice verse 3, how that Christ died for our sins. What's the Gospel of Peace? What the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ did for us. He came and He died on the cross of Calvary. He shed His blood to pay a debt that we could not pay. He didn't know it, we did. He paid it with His blood. That's the gospel of peace. The word gospel, it means good news, or it means a good message. Just speaking of our Lord and Savior, that's the greatest news that anyone could ever hear. It talks about the death and the burial and the resurrection of Jesus Christ. Understand, that's what the gospel of peace is. Notice the word peace, it means this, to join or to set at one again. The dictionary says this about peace, freedom from agitation. Well, there's something we can all learn, amen? Freedom from agitation or disturbance by the passions. Freedom from fear, terror, anger, anxiety, or the like. And then it says this, peace is quietness of mind, tranquility, calmness. What is peace? Well, it's exactly what it is. Now, peace sounds like the complete opposite of what we see in our world today, does it not? Why is that? Because this world is without God. But it shouldn't be that way in the life of believers. We shouldn't live a life that's full of anxiety and anger and all of those things. No, understand when it comes to the armor of God, this isn't for unbelievers. This is for the ones who have trusted Christ as their personal savior. And God forbid, if we as a child of God, if we're walking around with no peace, and listen, I'm not saying that we'll never have a worry, but what I'm saying tonight is this, a bout of anger or anxiety or worry, that we will allow the Lord to smite our heart about that. And we will repent of that sin and say, Lord, I don't want to live this way. I know I don't have to live this way. I don't want to live as an unbeliever lives. Lord, restore my peace. I know it can only be found in you. We don't have to live a life that is anxious all the time. This peace that we're talking about Notice this peace is two ways. First of all, it's peace with God. Look at Romans chapter five in verse one, it talks about the peace with God. Romans 5, one, the Bible says this, therefore being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. That's trusting Christ as your personal Savior. If you've done that, you have peace with the God of heaven. Think about that truth tonight. The God of heaven will never see you or me as the unrighteousness, the unrighteous filth that we are. He'll see us in the righteousness of his son. That's how he sees us, because we have peace with God. This is what comes when a person trusts Christ as their savior. If you're going to defeat the devil and live a victorious Christian life, you have to realize you're a sinner, you're bound for hell. See that Christ paid for your sins and trust him. as your Savior, then and only then can you have peace with God. When we're out telling people about the gospel, or we have somebody telling us about all the turmoil in their life, we should never say, well, I read a good book one time, and you should read that. It'll really help you. No, we should say, let me tell you about the time when I was anxious, or the time that I didn't have any joy, I didn't have any peace, and then tell them about Jesus. Say, this is what the cure was. I was living a life without hope and without peace, but then I trusted Christ. Point them to the Lord. Notice not only peace with God, but the peace of God. There in Philippians chapter four, Philippians chapter four and verse seven, it says, and the peace of God, which passes all understanding shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus. Let's get a hold of this, this truth here tonight. The peace with God happens at salvation, but the peace of God is a result of doing what God has told you to do. That's the peace of God. Philippians chapter 4 and verse 6, notice, be careful for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known unto God. Notice verse 7 here, and the peace of God, which passeth all understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus. That's for believers. The peace of God is for his children. Anyone can trust Christ and have that peace. Church, we all know and we all have people that we've met who claim to be saved, yet their mouths are full of all sorts of nonsense complaints and they're not doing much for the Lord. They're always putting themselves on a pedestal. They don't seem to care about souls or care that people are dying and going to hell and understand I'm not questioning somebody's salvation. That's not my place to do that. That's between them and the Lord. But understand, they may have peace with God, but if we're walking around with a defeated lifestyle, if we're walking around with a complaining mindset, and walking around as though there's nothing to be happy about, and we can't share a smile, even in church, we can't live the joy of the Lord, I can guarantee they do not have the peace with God, or do not have the peace of God Those aren't my words, those are God's words, because it says here that the peace of God is seen through our lives in the way that we live, in the way that we talk, in the way that we go, in the path that we're walking. That's where the peace of God will be found. There are many people who claim to be saved, but yet they don't have the peace of God. They may have peace with God, don't care that people are dying and going to Hell. When our feet are shod with the Gospel of Peace, people will see our direction. But if we can't even share a smile in the house of God, I can guarantee we're not sharing a smile outside the house of God. You may say, well, how do you know that? Well, I'll put it to you in two ways. Either A, you're sharing it with the wrong crowd, because you're happy about what they're doing, and you say, well, that makes me happy, or two, you're just putting on a show. Understand, we are to live a joyful Christian life. I'm happy to be saved. You happy to be saved tonight? Amen. It's a joy to know that no matter what I do, I'll never go to hell. What a joy that is. I have so much to be thankful for. I have no reason to walk around with a frown on my face. And if your feet are shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace and you're walking the path that the Lord has set out before you, you know what you're going to find? You're going to find that you're going to be giving thanks in all things. You're gonna be able to share a smile. Why? Because of the peace of God that passes all understanding. because of the joy of the Lord, because his mercies are new every morning. Does that mean we'll never go through a trial? It doesn't mean that at all. It just means that we don't go through the trial alone. It means that God's right there, that God is there to help us. what the Gospel of Peace is. Notice lastly here we see what the Gospel of Peace represents. So we see the Gospel of Peace of course is the Gospel of Jesus Christ. What it represents first of all is this, salvation. I'm glad to be saved. When I think about the Gospel and I think about my salvation I praise the Lord that my sins are gone, gone, gone, amen. Praise the Lord. The gospel of peace is a picture of salvation. This world needs peace. You know where they're not going to find it? In their textbook. They're not going to find it in college. They won't find it in the school system. They won't find it in religion. They're not going to find peace there. It can only be found in the Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. They won't find it on social media. They won't find it in the news. They won't find it in politics. They won't find it anywhere outside of Christ. But can I ask you a question that the Bible asks? If we know that they can't find it outside of Christ, but how shall they hear without a preacher? But how shall they hear without someone that has their feet shod with the preparation of a gospel of peace, walking the way that God has told them to walk? How are they going to hear if we're not going to tell them? We should be happy about our salvation. Notice not only salvation, but it also represents soul winning. The gospel of peace is a picture of soul winning, and soul winning is something that we take seriously around here, amen, and we should take it seriously in all of our lives. We have been called to do one thing, and that's soul winning. When someone says, well, soul-wanting just preached too much. Well, it's the one thing that I as a believer have been called to do. It's the one thing that I as a believer have been called to follow. Go ye into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature. I could fulfill every other law in this book in the Christian life, but if I don't do that one thing, I'm in disobedience to God's word. But if I do that one thing and don't obey those other ones, I'm also in disobedience to God's word. I'm not saying that you should be a soul winner and then just live the way that you wanna live. No, but being a soul winner will cause you to walk in the way that God wants you to walk. Why? Because that's the closest thing to God's heart. He came unto his own and his own received him not. While we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. We should take it seriously. any other calling or career that we have been a part of, understand it focuses on one thing and go through training and we ensure that we do that one thing well. When I worked at Chick-fil-A, we had training over and over and over. Why? Because they wanted to make sure that we were doing that one thing well. We'd fly down to Atlanta to corporate and they would put thousands upon thousands of dollars into this training that was going on. Why? Because there was one thing. They're a chicken restaurant, they cook chicken, and they wanna make sure they did it well. Praise the Lord they do it well, amen. I don't know what's gonna be served at the marriage supper of the lamb, but it just may be Chick-fil-A, amen. But the reality is this, they wanted it to be done well, so they put in the training. The one thing we as believers have been called to do, and yet when another message is preached on Saul, and we say, well, here comes another one. The one thing we've been called to do, we should be training for it. In reality, you know, as well as I know, this world is lost and it's on its way to hell. We need to be doing all we can to reach them. Look for areas. to leave tracks, look for opportunities to share the good news of the Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. And even if every other church stops soul winning, we here at Grace Baptist Church are gonna continue. Why? Because it's the one thing we've been called to do. People that have built their life on a career, people have asked, how did you get so good at that? And he said, well, it's the one thing that I focused on. It's the only thing I've been good at. Church, we need the Lord's help. We will continue to find more ways and places to get the gospel out. Why? Because our feet are to be shod with the gospel of peace. This is to be a way of life for us. You may say, well, I don't like confrontation. Join the club. None of us do. You may say, well, I just don't know that I can do that. Well, it's a command of God. He'll give you the ability to do that. Well, I just don't feel like it's something that I should be doing. Well, you heard the command, therefore, that's what you should be doing. This is soul winning. I think soul winning is overemphasized. Well, if that's your attitude, you won't be comfortable here, because we're gonna keep doing it, amen? We're gonna keep giving out tracts. Keep giving out the gospel. You cannot have your feet shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace by just attending a soul winning church. You must be a soul winner. Look at Romans chapter 10 and verse 15. Romans chapter 10 and verse 15. It's what I quoted a moment ago. Romans chapter 10, the end of verse 14, it says, and how shall they hear without a preacher? Verse 15, and how shall they preach except they be sent as it is written? How beautiful notice are the, what's that next word? Feet of them that preach the gospel of peace and bring glad tidings of good things. Well, I think I can have my feet shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace without being a soul winner. Not according to Romans chapter 10 you can't. The Bible tells us exactly what we're to be doing. Let's stay busy at that. Notice we are to teach and preach Jesus Christ. So, winning is part of putting on the armor of God. Having our feet shod with the gospel of peace is just as important as putting on the breastplate of righteousness. And think about it for a moment. If we do not have our feet shod, Satan will attack our feet. Then what's going to happen? Spiritually, we'll be crippled, will we not? We'll be able to do what we've been called to do. Why? Because we neglected to put on that armor. If we're not allowing God to guide us, and if we're not following his specific will, if we are not living a life of soul winning, we are crippling ourselves in the Christian faith. The devil is a master manipulator, and he will strive to get you sidetracked with other things. So how do you stay focused? Well, it's simple. Have your loins girt about with truth. Have on the breastplate of righteousness. Have your feet shod with the preparation of the gospel That's going to determine our direction and that direction will cause us to be a soul winner, be soul conscious and try to win them to the Lord. That will protect your feet from being out of the will of God. I can guarantee you that if you're striving to win people to the Lord and you're following the Lord and you're following His will for your life, your feet will be shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace. Why? Because you're following what God's told you to do. Church, each one of us need to realize that every piece of the armor is just as important as another piece. And if we leave one at home, that's where the enemy's going to aim. If you had three military men run onto a battlefield and one didn't have the helmet, somebody's aiming for his head. If they saw that somebody was just out there in a t-shirt and they didn't have their bulletproof plate on, they're aiming for their torso. If they realize they didn't have anything protecting their feet or their legs, they're aiming for their legs. Why? Because it's an area of weakness. Anytime we go about our life without a single piece or the whole suit of armor, Satan sees our area of weakness. and understand he will attack that. Let's have our feet shod with the preparation of the gospel of Jesus.