We're in Ephesians 6. It's our final lesson in Ephesians. It's been an eye-opening, important book. It's one thing to read a book. It's another thing to go through it and to dive into it a verse at a time as we've been doing. I want to read the conclusion. Before we kind of do a review over the book as well, but we'll kind of finish up the end here This is more the salutations, you know, and his departure and it's very Stylistic like Paul he ends with the phrase Grace would be with you all that's his signature. That's his sign to show that it's him it's really from him because In Thessalonians, there had been a forgery that had been given in his name, and so Paul begins making sure he signs it with the same phrase. He kind of says, you'll know my salutation. Sometimes he signs it with his own hand, with mine own hand, I'll even say, because most of the time he has like an amanuensis, someone who copies as he dictates, and then he would sign at the end, we think because he had bad eyesight, you know, so he would write, see what, you know, large letters, you know, he would write and put these things. But he uses this phrase, grace be with you all. It's unique to him. It's one of the clues in the book of Hebrews. A lot of people really argue about who wrote the book of Hebrews. Well, it ends with this conclusion, this same saying here, grace be with you all. And so it's one of the most, I think one of 12 things that I find that I think makes it obvious that it was Paul. But verse 20 is where we start up. It says, Ephesians 6, verse 20. He says, for which I am an ambassador in bonds, because he's just asked us to pray. We covered prayer last week. And he says, pray for him that he can do the mystery of the gospel. And he says, for him as an ambassador in bonds, that therein I may speak boldly as I ought to speak. We talked about that last week. Paul's asking us to prayer for his boldness. Isn't he the most bold Christian that we know of? Yet he's still asking for boldness. Verse 21, he says, but that you may also know my affairs and how I do. Tukikas, I think, as I look to see how you actually pronounce this, Tukikas, a beloved brother and faithful minister in the Lord shall make known to you all things whom I have sent unto you for the same purpose that you might know our affairs and that he might comfort your hearts. Peace be to the brethren and love with faith from God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Grace be with all them that love our Lord Jesus Christ. In sincerity, amen. Written from Rome unto the Ephesians by Toukikas. And so, I want to say Takaiathus, but I went and listened to the guy and the pronouncing things, so I'm trying to say it correctly for once. Not the Hoosier version, but we'll try to make sure we get it right. But here, Paul concludes, and he says he's sending this man who actually penned the letter, it tells us at the very end that he wrote it, to Ephesus. And so, to Kikos, the faithful one. And he writes it from Rome. And so he sends it off to them, so to Kikos. I'm gonna get this down yet. He's no stranger in the Bible. You would think, as hard as I'm saying his name, it'd be like, hey, he's just one of those once named and then gone, but he's not. He's in the Bible quite a bit. He's a trusted companion of Paul. Obviously trusts him, you know, because he gives him this word and he tells him, he has a message for him to send. Paul uses him as a messenger, at least here, he sends this letter to Ephesus via him, and then also to Colossians, he sends a letter via him to there. He says here he's an encourager, that he's gonna go and he's going to comfort them, in verse 22, he's gonna comfort you, he's gonna come and give you news and messages, and I trust him as this messenger. He's mentioned in Acts 20. He's with Paul in the book of Acts as he goes on his ministries, and a lot of these letters come out of that. He's in Ephesus here, or Ephesians. He's in Colossians 4, he's in 2 Timothy 4, and he's in Titus 3, and so he's mentioned quite a bit, and he's always this faithful helper that is there, just kind of in this group. So he's a key player in the early church, yet he's not a household name. There's not too many kids named Toukikas. I think we'd remember him if you had one in your class, right? We have lots of Johns, and Matthews, and Jameses, and Jeremiah's, and Jude's, and Luke's, and Matthew, or I said Matthew Mark, and Peter, and Timothy, and David, and Paul, and Jonah, and Titus, we have all these different names, but no, Tukikas. Might be because it's pretty regional, he's from Asia. But I also think it's kind of representative of most of the church. where the key players are recognized, but the humble, consistent, steady, dependable workers are unknown. They don't take the limelight. They're not up in the pulpit, they're staying on the street corner, but they're there doing the work, the work that needs to be done. I gotta get this message. They need to be encouraged. And the Tukikuses of the church have been there, spreading the gospel, comforting believers. encouraging the church by just the attendance. Do you know what encouragement is when you're here? It's encouragement to one another when you come, like, oh, they're here, they're here, we're here. It's encouraging just in being present alone, let alone if you speak a word of encouragement. And yet, he's not famous, and most aren't. But I think most importantly than famous, he's faithful. And just because they're not famous here doesn't mean they aren't a big deal in heaven. Chances are they might be ranked a little different than we rank here now. I think that's one of the exciting things that we kind of look forward to seeing, right? Like when things are not askew, but things are as they should be, as he sees them, what was important? What was he more impressed with? And he calls us all to different jobs, and we're to do those jobs, and some are to be the mouthpiece. We'll talk about that a little bit more later, but man, this is the vital crowd. So he's not that known yet, but he's mentioned in Scripture several times. Verse 21 says, but you may also know my affairs and how I do, and to keep us a beloved brother and faithful minister in the Lord shall make known to you all things. Faithful minister in the Lord. I had to have Paul say that about you. A faithful minister in the Lord. So I think as a faithful minister that because he says he shall make known some things. I think he's gonna tell him about Paul. He's gonna tell him what's going on, but I think also he's carrying in a letter that we have been studying in depth for about a year. So I think he's a teacher as well. You're not gonna deliver a letter and say, I don't know, he told it to me, I dictated it, I don't know what he's talking about. No, you know he understands it. You know he has thought about it. You know he's gonna be able to then explain it to him and teach it to him as he delivers it to him. So he knows about Paul, sure, but he also knows about this letter. He's physically there to say, Here's how Paul delivered it, and here's what he means, and here's the passion in which Paul set it to be able to do it. He's teaching them the letter as well, so he's a teacher. Teachers are important, whether it's officially here in the building, or in the Sunday school class downstairs, whether it be adults or kids, those are all vital, but it's also when it's just one-on-one, or you in a text, or you calling a friend, encouraging, teaching, and instructing. My relationship with my neighbor keeps growing. He was asking me this week, hey, my son's wanting a Bible, what would you recommend? He's got a King James, he's having trouble with it, so I gave him one over, loaned him one of mine, said borrow this one, see what he thinks about this one, the New American Standard, make him read that. When he finds a Bible and he gets it, I recommended a couple different study ones. I'm like, have me come over, I'll take him through and show him that we better use it. Yeah, great, man, you're a great neighbor. It's like, no, thank you, I get to do what I want to do. I want to teach, I want to instruct, I want to do this. And so, where to do that? It says here in verse 22 that he's going to comfort, you know, that you're going to get a comfort. He's going to comfort your hearts. One of these verses, yeah, 22, that he might comfort your hearts. And I think that's a weapon and one of our strengths that we don't often talk about. That we can have comfort. That we can help one another. That when you've suffered and gone through something, your suffering's not your own, it's also an instrument for you to be able to help out and to reach and to minister to somebody else later. I've been there. I've done that. The Lord was faithful. And to be able to show that in real time, in your life, with tears. to be able to tell about the access to God that we have. I know Takikis is doing that because Ephesians talks about it, about the God who has resurrection power and the strength and the might that we have behind us as individuals, as Christians, that God is for us. Who could be against us? We're to know that, our protection that he's given us, that God has now, through Paul, given us a letter that says, Oh, you're not a Christian just going thrown to the slaughter. You have armor. Another passage is he calls it armor of light that we are given. It's for our protection. He's given us weaponry. You're not disarmed, you don't have any, it's not like you're just defenseless. He's like, no, I've given you weaponry. And we've gone through it and we've studied that. And there's an overarching, more subtle message through Ephesians, but it's very important that it's one of our strengths. It's a comfort to us. And I always like it when it's brought up here at church, and it gets brought up often, more often than not, and usually more in the more casual settings of a Sunday night or a Wednesday night as we're talking, but that's our unity, that we have brothers and sisters in Christ. And we usually hear about, like, hey, we went on vacation, we visited with this church, felt right at home. It was like being around brothers and sisters. Why? Because we worship the same Savior, right? It's like, and we meet someone from another state or another country, and they come in, and they're like, brothers and sisters, or missionaries go there, it's brothers and sisters. It's like, it's family, and you feel like, oh, we have family. When Lily got hurt, right, you're able to call a local church and come over and give her a ride. It's like, I don't know, but they're Christians, right? We can trust them. They're gonna be there. They show up and they help when a mom can't be there. That kind of thing. It's like, man, we have a rich family. We have a strength in that we are not alone. That sometimes when you need it most, a stranger that you don't know, but a Christian that'll come up and have that encouraging word. I can remember being depressed and sitting at a Chicago's Pizza in Bargersville, and a Christian from Cornerstone Bought our meals, they were leaving, they're like, oh, someone already picked it up. The encouragement that we needed, right when we needed it, at that time and that place, to put a little wind in our sails, to have it in that way, and the difference that makes, you know, to know that you're not alone, that we have a subtle army, a subtle army that's out there, that the enemy should fear. It's kind of laced throughout this book. I want to call it out to you. In Ephesians 1, verse 10, it says that in the dispensation of the fullness of time, he might gather together in one all things in Christ, both which are in heaven and which are on earth in him. We are gathered together in one. At a future time, we're not gonna be separated and dispersed all over the earth. There's coming a day when we'll all be gathered together. and we'll be there in one body. And I think as we stand in awe of him, I know we'll be in awe of all that are there. The fellow saints, the smiles that spread across our faces as we see brothers and sisters in Christ. We're here, it's him. But one day he'll gather us all together. In chapter two, verse five, He says, even when we were dead in sins, he quickened us together with Christ. By grace are you saved, that we are all come and bought about in the same way, that we are purchased in the same way, that we are quickened and made alive in the same way. It's through Jesus Christ and so it's our common bond of our Savior that unites us together as brothers and sisters in Christ that gives us that family. Our family, we instilled certain things, because we have, Elaine and I, as parents, that we would put that in our children. We have Jesus Christ as our Savior, and God as our Father, and the Holy Spirit as our Teacher, that makes us similar. Oh, we're Christians, isn't it? And we are quickened together in that. Verse six, and he hath raised us up together and made us to sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus. So he raises us up together, we are going to sit together in heavenly places, that we are gonna be partners, and we're gonna be with them, we're gonna see them, we're gonna have this partnership that Paul just asked us to pray. We asked them to pray. but we're to pray for one another, as we pray to send missionaries out, as we pray, as we each and other go, and as things come across our mind, that we are to lift one or other up in prayer, and when someone's, it's nice to have the band app, or as we send out text messages, like Bill's in trouble, you know, everybody pray, you know, to have that message go forth, and saints are praying, and it's going forth, that we do that, and that one day we'll all be raised up together, one day we'll all be sitting together. Verse 22 of chapter two, It says, in whom also you are built together for an inhabitation of God through the Spirit. That we are built together, we're a wall, we're a mighty fortress as our God, but then we are the church, we make up the church, that we are the bricks, that we are, he is the mortar, that we're side by side, and he builds this thing together. We are built together. With who? With all the saints, from, back from Stephen, up until now, you know, that we are there, then ultimately even the Old Testament saints, but just particularly in the church, that we are built together in one building, that we're, partners with them. Let that sink in a minute. I know we kind of covered this when we went over that, but man, with Paul and the apostles, he says, you're a vital part of that as well. We're like, yeah, we're the lame old weak part of the wall up here. It's like, not in God's eyes. No, you're my wall. You build together, you make the church. You're who I have here and now. Paul's not here now. Timothy's not here now. You're here now. He goes, I'm counting on you. These guys have written, and we have the letters to strengthen us, but we are built together. He's like, don't think any less of yourself. You know, the God's like, I'm counting on you. It's that same, we're important in that way. Verse 21, the verse before it says, in whom all the building fitly framed together groweth unto the holy temple of the Lord. That's us, we are framed together, a building, a church. Verse 19 of chapter two, now therefore you're no more strangers, we're not outside, we're not somebody who wanders around, we're not a foreigner, we are fellow citizens with the saints and the household of God that is us, we are not alone, we are partnered with this great cloud of witnesses, we are saints pulled together, saints across America, saints across the world that are brothers and sisters in Christ, we are not alone. Often we think we are, and that's where the enemy gets a lot of victory. Well, it's only me. I'm only one. What could I do? Who would listen to me? Why should I stand up? Elijah was there, right? He was depressed. Thought he was the only prophet left. He thought the whole nation had turned to Baal. They're all there. He just had this big standoff. You'd think he'd be on a high, but he's just like, no, I think I'm the only one. He was depressed, thought he was alone. What did God tell him? No, you're not. No, you're not. I have 7,000 Tokikises. I got 7,000 that are out there doing the work that you don't know their name. You don't know what's going on. They've not partnered with Baal. They've not bowed the knee. They're standing up like you are, maybe not right against King Ahab and Jezebel right to their face, but in their place, in their town, in their house, in their school, in their community, at their job, wherever it is, they are saying, no, no, we don't stand with Baal. We're not going to do it. We're not gonna do that way. They're just not famous. So he was not alone. So stay strong, Elijah. Stay strong, 7,000. Be faithful. We are not alone, I think that's a message for us. We are not alone. We are not alone. Elijah was the tip of the spear, and that's kind of the office of a prophet. But you're at the front, and you're the one taking the blows. The prophet is the voice that cries out, that lets the... whatever the conflict is, whatever the grievous sin, whatever is wrong, they're the ones that point the finger. Think of John the Baptist. Oh, you're married to your sister, this is not right, that's not your wife, and he goes to jail, and ultimately he's beheaded, right? But you think he was the only one? No, he had disciples, and he had people that were praying, and Jesus was not for that as well. So there was more, but there's some that bring the attention out, and they take a big brunt. Let's not abandon them. If we have someone who's standing up for right and righteousness, Let's make sure we stand behind them and stand with them. When we got together with the Attorney General, Todd Brikita, it was to let them know, as we gathered him, me and several other pastors, you know. You're doing good. He's fighting for right. He gave us the church's bill of rights. We have a document now that tells us what we can do in the pulpit, and not to be afraid, and kowtow to whatever's more popular and going on. It's like, no, here's the law. Here's what you can do. Don't be fearful. Here's the things you can speak on. And to say, keep doing it, even though it seems like the majority's against you, it's not. It's not. You have us, and we had an assembly that were there, and the same thing when we met with the lieutenant governor before. He was encouraging us in that. But the prophet is the voice that cries out. He's kind of a lightning rod. He's the pot stirrer, in a sense. Prophets are often the first one killed, so it's kind of not an envious job. They're persecuted, and you go through the Hall of Faith in Hebrews, it's like they were sawn asunder, they were persecuted, it tells you, all thrown in the lion's den. but someone's gotta speak up and call it out. They are persecuted, but they continue to cry, because God's put a burden on their heart, a special burden as a prophet, as a mouthpiece to go forth, to be like, you keep saying it, you keep saying it. They call out sin, they call out corruption, they demand justice, but there's at least 7,000 behind them that should be rallying that is there, right? So we need to share our voice and not let them feel alone when they are speaking up and support them. Pray and encourage for those who stand up and who resist and call things out. Because man, it is hard. Whenever you start pulling back and exposing the darkness, they attack. Ask Elon Musk, right? Just trying to save us money. Sometime you might be the lone voice or it might feel like it. But no, there's more behind you. Even the politicians say for every phone call they get, they estimate there's at least 1,000 more people who feel that way that haven't called. And so they take every phone call they get on any bill or anything going on and they multiply it times 1,000. And they say when a pastor calls, they multiply it times 7,000, which that kind of backs up the same numbers. That's what, Lieutenant Governor gave me these numbers. He's like, so it's like, because now as a pastor's standing up speaking, he knows that he has a congregation, and there's probably more congregations in that area saying the same. So if one calls, it's kind of like, oh, it makes a deal. That's why I need to call, and that's why you need to call, because we need to let them know when things aren't going the way we don't want them to go, and say, no, that's not us. That's not what we do. That's not here in Indiana, no. So we need to do it because they understand and kind of see that there's more of us more than we do. We're kind of told that you're just a lone voice, be quiet, that's the devil. We need to stand up and speak up. God's on our side, that's the majority, right? If it's biblical, if it's just, if it's righteous, God is moving you to do it, and you can't get rid of it until you say something or call or speak out. He's moving others as well, but maybe you're the prophet in this instance. Maybe that's your passion and your topic that you go after, and God has moved you. And so there is a silent majority that they know about, that if one is speaking, there's a majority behind them that feel the same way. And right now we're letting the loud minority try to take over in a lot of areas, and so we need to quit being silent. We have fellow citizens that are building together a church to stand up for what is right and righteous, fellow soldiers. And he's calling us to wake up, by a prophet sometimes, to rally, and to speak, and to vote, and to give voice, and to call, or to sign, or whatever it might be. And I might need that this week, as we stand before a superintendent, asking them. We might come down to petitions, I don't know. Don't be afraid to put your name on there and say, yeah, we want a great adventure club. We want a Bible club in our local school. We'll try to start and establish and keep it here and go forth from there in our area. So we might be quiet, we might be kind, but no more. I'm not saying we're not gonna be kind, but we're gonna be vocal. I think we've been quiet long enough and we've let things get out of control and they've taken our quietness as complacency. and as a blank check to be able to do what they want to do. Oh, no one complained, no one said nothing. So who are we? Who are you? Are you a soldier? He's called us to be, right? He says, I've called you and I've told you the equipment that you have and we've gone through each and every element, from the belt of truth to prayer, being able to call in to headquarters. And so we're at a couple of critical junctions where we sit and stand right here, right now, in Trafalgar, Indiana. People have a life cycle. That's probably the most common one that we know, because we think about it, you know, when you're born, when you leave, and the dash in between. Corporations have life cycles. You can watch them come and go as well. I heard Tupperware is finishing up. When you make a product that just doesn't go bad, no one needs them anymore, right? So they'll buy them, and I heard that they're going under. Animals have a life cycle. Plants, we see that as we watch the seasons here. Organizations have a life cycle. Nations have a life cycle. In 1750, Alexander Taylor said this, that a nation will go from bondage to spiritual faith. And from spiritual faith, it'll give them great courage. They'll finally get great courage to break the bondage. And from courage, they will get liberty, or they'll have freedom. That's what America's built on, liberty, freedom. From liberty, you go to abundance. From abundance, you go to complacency. And from complacency, it slides into apathy. And from apathy, it slides into dependency. And from dependency, you go back into bondage. That's the life cycle of a nation, written in 1750 by Alexander Tyler. As a nation, we're at the end where we're fighting not to slide back into bondage. We've had the liberty, we've had the abundance, Most of my life's been the complacency. Now the apathy. Dependency raising its head. And our government keeps trying to push us over that last phase. They taunt it out there. We'll just give you a universal income. You don't need to work. We'll give you a set salary. You know what that means when the government pays you and you're there, you're a slave. You're not Jerome, you're back under bondage. At that point now, someone, you need them, that is there. And so, paid slave is bondage. As a nation, we're at that point, but as a church, as a whole, we're kind of there as well. Jesus gives us basically the same outline in Revelation 2 and 3. And he says the last age, the Laodicean age, is the apathetic age, lukewarm age. Neither hot nor cold. They think they're fine because they have money and wealth and have need of nothing. And he says, I find you poor, blind, naked, miserable, wretched, and you don't even know it. They say in the local polls that they've asked kids how we should stop ignorance and indifference, and the answer is I don't know and I don't care. That's irony, isn't it? Church is that way, a lot. Lukewarm, I don't know, I don't care. Somebody else's problem, it's not me. The average nation lasts 200 years. Next year will be our sesquicentennial. Practice that one, I've been practicing that. 250 years, next year. We are limping along on borrowed time, some have said. And I watch way too many shows that talk about collapses near, collapses near, collapses near. Ben Franklin, when leaving the Continental Congress, was asked by a lady as he was leaving, what kind of government did you give us? And Ben Franklin said, a republic, if you can hold it. Did you know we had a republic? Not a democracy? A democracy is dangerous. Democracy is mob rule. Because then, once the people who have a democracy find out that they can vote themselves money, they do. Get out of the nation's largesse. They vote themselves a salary, and then we get under bondage, and we're back there again. It destroys it. So no, we have a republic. We don't say, the Pledge of Allegiance. I pledge allegiance to the democracy. No, what do we say? I pledge allegiance to the republic. a representative republic, something that's to be a checks and balances. We have a balance and a separation of powers, a unique thing that has been tried, and probably why it's lasted as long as it has. But we're in its death throes, and so we have to fight. We have to fight for that standard. We have to fight to make sure it holds. We have to fight to make sure it's there. The church as well, we need to fight, because the church wants to have a form of godliness, but deny the power thereof. They wanna come, we wanna dress up, we wanna have the tax write-off. We have all those things, but we don't wanna, does God really have power? Does God really have strength? Does God really have jurisdiction over this? Isn't that a secular matter? God's the one who talks about marriage. God's the one who talks about male and female. God's the one who talks about right and wrong. He talks about what life is and what life is not. God's the one who sets the tone on us, not the government, not the latest polls, not whatever the vote is. God decides it. It's time for us to stand up and defend and say, this is what God has said. It's a biblical topic, and that's why it's up to us to talk about it. It's not something political to be kept out of the pulpit. It's something that we're to be speaking because it's God's matter, and it's what changes the nation and turns us apathetic. Because all of a sudden there is no hope because you don't know what life is and you just don't know and don't care and it just seems like a battle. We stand up and be passionate about these things. I would say in the age of Laodicea, we can be in this age, and I think we are undoubtedly in that age of Laodicea in the church age, but we can say, not me. because in that Revelation two through three, it not only gives us certain times and ages, and I just put up a new video that kind of goes into a brief description of that, if you'd like to look at it, but it's on the church's sermon audio page. But it goes through different times phases, and the last phase is Laodicea, before he comes back to get us. At that point, he's at this door knocking, saying, hey, will you let me back in? He's talking to the church. Will you let me back in? Because we've done it all ourselves and rooted him out. but it's also individuals. You could be someone who's passionate and working for Jesus but forgets about Jesus, like the Ephesian church. Or you could be like Pergamos, the church that's married to the world and kind of compromised and you can't really tell a difference. Or you could be like the Reformed church, but it has nothing good to say about, like you're fighting for things and just hang on to what you have because there's a lot going on, it's a hot mess, kind of a little bit. Or you could be the Philadelphia church that he has nothing bad to say about that has a, mind that wants to go out and reach his brother, brotherly love, Philadelphia, to go out and try to be the gospel, the missionary-oriented church, that could be you as well. And so as individuals, it applies to you, and so it's God's word, right? And so it's multifaceted, it hits on all different levels. And so you can say, not me, I won't be Laodicea, I wanna be Philadelphia. It's not me. I don't want to be that way. I want to say, not us, not Cornerstone. I don't want to be the apathetic, lukewarm church. I want to be on fire, passionate church. That's why I want to always call us the battleship church. We're not a cruise ship church here for entertainment with a good light show and a rockin' band. We want to be the battleship church where we talk about things that matter. When we get out and we talk about our armor and we speak up and we back it up and we stand as a group and say, no, not here, not now, and we stand for this. This is what's good. This is what's right. This is what's just. Is it uncomfortable? It is. War is uncomfortable. And we were born in a war. And so I want to be that. And I want to say, because I'm accountable. Ultimately, like, what kind of church did you give me here? When the Lord comes and asks and I'm accountable, I want to say, I tried to give it a battleship church. I didn't want to be a lukewarm church. I want to be a Philadelphia church, one where you have nothing bad to say but say, well done, thou good and faithful servant. Enter thou into the joy of the Lord. I want that. and I need you and your help in that. And so we are his and he is the majority and we need to remember that and not think backwardly. We are soldiers. We're to be soldiers. We're to take up arms and we're to practice with him. So start fighting opposing evil. Recognize where evil is. If you're a man and you have children in this room, I would recommend you watch the Sean Ryan podcast where he interviews Tim Tebow. I know I recommended this a few weeks ago, but I really think if you're here and a husband, or if you're a father, especially of girls, I would recommend Tim Tebow talking to Sean Ryan. It's a master class on one, how to share your faith on all topics in a kind and a poignant way, but also just to be aware of the battle that we are in in America. It's not there and someplace else. The wickedness that's right here, just so that we're aware and you're alert to it. And so I'd recommend that to you. Because the problem is we've let it in, and now it's hard, we gotta try to push it out. And so we need to try to remove it and go back to once we had what we did have. And it's harder to get something out that once rooted in, but we're to do that. We're to tear down strongholds. That's what he's called us to do. We're to uproot evil, force it out, and then let the spirit come in and then dwell it. Because where the spirit indwells, it doesn't let evil back in. And so, start with yourself. Examine yourself. Paul says, I examine myself daily to make sure I'm in the faith. Practice the gospel on yourself. Use the sword of the word that we have on yourself. Trim off those things, cut off the ticks or whatever's attached to you that should not be there. Kill pride. Use the sword to kill your pride. Use the sword to kill your laziness. Fall on the sword of the word and say, I'm not gonna be lazy anymore. I'm not gonna be a sluggard that Proverbs talk about. I wanna be an active member of the Lord's army. Kill apathy. Laodiceans, let's not be lukewarm. Let's be on fire for the Lord. Kill my apathy, Lord, give me fire. Set my soul afire. We sing this on, but usually, set my soul afire. No, let's have, set my soul afire, Lord. Let's be that way, right? Awaken to the battle. That's what I'm calling you to, in the current vernacular, be red-pilled. We're awakened to the battle. Stand up, kill sin. If you have it there and it's been dragging it along, kill it. Quit dragging around the dead man. He's buried and gone. Cut him off. Be done with him. Don't keep sustaining him. Become sensitive to matters spiritually. Test all things. Examine all things. Hold fast to that which is good and true. Do that in everything you're taking in, from the news to whatever else. Is that biblical? Is that right? Should I believe that? Should I meditate on that? Are you telling me the truth? That's how we're to be. Christianity is not kick it in low gear and just cruise until eternity. No, you have to be examined and engaged in your surrounding. Then you move from there to your family and what you've dealt with yourself, done with that beam in your eye, now you can deal with the might in somebody else's. You begin to root those things out of your household and say, no, not here. I made a sticker in the 90s or whatever, something like that. It was a translucent sticker for the television, I'll set no wicked thing before my eyes, just to kind of help monitor what we did on television at home, what we allowed in. I tried to set up a guard. Then we can move outside your family, you can move around. We need to go on attack, because we're soldiers, we're not just for defense, we're also for attack. So we need to work on being faithful, being in the word, practice with the sword. As I mentioned, I have these, they're by the sound booth, there's some by the offering box on the way out. This is just a ready help, that you open it all up, and it has all kinds of things to tell you where things are in the Bible. Like, I just don't know where those are, I don't know the address, so start learning them. I always say it's like finding your friend's house. I know where my friends live because I visit their houses. I might not know their addresses, but I know how to get there. Know how to get there. Go find your friends. The verses that you cling to the most that you're going to run to, learn where they are. Go there. Memorize it. You'll find the more you visit, the easier it is to find. You're like, oh, I know where that is. Oh, that's up here. Cheat, write it in the front of your Bible. That's a pastor trick, right? I don't know where I'm gonna, here's the topic, here's what it's gonna be, or have something like this that goes through the different topics, you know, how to live a Christian life, man's questions that God answers, let's see, verses to help Christians, what about the human heart, you know, objections answered, you know, and it goes through everything, I'm too great a sinner, what about hypocrites in church, I'm a church member, all these different things, gives you the Bible first, and so we've got some of those out there on the way out. Or, build your shield of faith. You know, I have these sheets. I have some of them by The Offering Box, too. Who you are in Christ, the shield of faith, the thing that you know that you'll be able to quench the fiery darts of the wicked. That I am God's child. That I am a disciple. That I have been justified by Christ. I am redeemed. I've been purchased. I've been bought with a price. You know, I am His and He is mine. I am in His hands and He is in the Father's hands. Who can pluck me out? Know these truths and build up your shield of faith that you're not tossed about by every wind and throw of doctrine, but you have an anchor for your soul that ties you down to it. Practice with your gospel boots, sharing the gospel, practice amongst yourself, practice with me. I got to practice the other day with my barber. I waited until my haircut was done. And I heard Ray Comfort shares a story about a barber who was and that really convicted that he needed to share his faith more. And so he was all nervous, he determined, the next guy that comes in, I'm gonna share my faith. The guy had come in for a shave, and so he'd got the razor strap out, and he got his razor all shopped, and he goes, no, now's the time I'm gonna witness this. He turned around, he's pale, he's sweating, he says, are you prepared to die? That's probably, with a razor in his hand, that's probably not a good time to do it in that way, but when to do it and how to do it. And so arm up with tracts. If you're like, I don't have the words, tracts, written down for you. Have you read this? Did you get one of these? The best way to hand out a traction is to say that. Did you get one of these? It feels like everybody else got something they didn't get. Well, no, I didn't. So did you get one of these? And hand one of those away. And I use jokes with them a lot to be able to do it. But look at 1 Peter 3. We'll be winding down here. 1 Peter 3. 1 Peter 3, 15, but sanctify the Lord God in your hearts and be ready always to give an answer to every man that asketh you a reason of the hope that is in you with meekness and with fear. Be ready. You're like, I'm just not confident in the gospel. How am I gonna share it? Practice. You know how many times I drove an hour to work for 40 years, well, at least 30, and then we got closer and then I had a half an hour. You know how many times I practiced witnessing to different people at work? Well, if they said this, what would I say? How would I do this? Where would I go? How would I? Sometimes they were good, sometimes they were bad. Sometimes I'm like, where am I on the road? But that's why I need to pay attention. And then make sure you get where you're going. But you practice, and so practice. Ephesians covered a lot. It's a good book to go back to. He covered what it's like to be a Christian. He covered what it's like, how we're supposed to have a walk or a life that's pleasing unto the Father, that we're not to be living in sin, that we're to have a new life and we're to abandon our old ways. Ephesians covered how we are to live, how we are to walk in love. and impurity and to strive for that. John tells us that he who says he's without sin is a liar. We know that, but he's given us the Christian bar of soap, right? He confesses his sin, he's faithful and just to forgive your sin and cleanse you from all unrighteousness. We're to use that bar of soap and keep ourselves clean. We're to walk in the light. We're to walk circumspectly. It means cautiously, warily. We're in a war. We're aware of what's going on. Is this a trap? Is this good? Is this bad? Is this right? Should I be for this, against this? Is it all right? Is it in the middle? Whatever it is. We're to be filled with the Spirit. That's something we do each and every day, making sure that the Spirit has control. At home, he tells us in the book of Ephesians how the duties of a husband, he went through in Ephesians the duties of a wife, how we are to behave in that relationship. He went through the duties of a children, how children are to behave in the home and how they are to act. He went through servants or workers, how we are to be as employees. Ephesians covered that. Now that you're a Christian soldier, how do you act as an employee? He also talked about bosses and management. How do bosses and managers, how are they supposed to behave? Ephesians covered that. He told us how we're supposed to be and what God expects us. Ephesians is our source of strength. He told us about that. He told us that we have resurrection power available to us, the God who resurrects, that we are unto him. He talked about our armor that we have as a defense and a protection. He talked about our foes, which are great and immense and not all seen but unseen, but we have the victory because we have him and we're to oppose them and resist the devil and he will flee and he's given us a shield of faith that will quench the fiery dark of the wicked and we're to oppose them and fight against them and we are a prepared people. We're a prepared church. We can't say we didn't know. We've been through it. Thank you for your faithfulness as we've gone through it. And so now, let's put it into action. That's what I'm looking forward to as we go into the next book. I'm finding the book that will help us to continue on with this momentum. Are you his? Then he's called you to be a soldier. If you're not his, he's calling you to be his. Have you ever seen yourself as a sinner? Because that's what the Bible says, that we are a sinner, we need to agree with God. He gives us the Ten Commandments to show us that. The Ten Commandments aren't something that we keep to make us Christians. The Ten Commandments are there to show us that we are a sinner. And so he asks us, have you ever told a lie? Have you ever disobeyed your parents? Have you ever blasphemed my name, said OMG? taking my name lightly. The Bible says, I will not hold him guiltless who takes my name in vain. Have you ever lusted after someone that's not your wife or husband? If so, that makes you a lying, well, if you've stolen anything, a thieving, blasphemous, adulterate heart, disobedient to parents, all the different things that we have. We are guilty in all 10 counts. That is to show us our sinfulness. James says the law is a mirror to show us our true selves. We see ourselves in that way. Law is enough to show us that we are lost, but grace shows us how to be saved. It's not by works that we have done, it's through Jesus Christ. That's why he died on the cross. He paid the fine so that we could be set free. The court shows us that we are guilty, but the court doesn't care who pays your fine. Someone can come in and say, I love Brian, I want to pay the fine for him, and I'd be a fool not to take that. Jesus Christ has done that. I paid the fine, that's what the cross says. Him paying the fine, my penalty. He takes God's wrath so that I could be set free. That's why I esteem him, so that's why I thank him for what he's done. If not, I would have to go to hell for all eternity for the sins that I've committed, but Jesus Christ said, I will pay for those on Brian's behalf. That's why I'm so grateful. If a fireman pulled me out of a burning building, I would say thank you. I would find his birthday and I would send him gifts and I would make sure I honored him and all that. That's what I do with my savior each and every Sunday. The first day of the week when he resurrected, I gather together in his name. I study his word. I read about him. I want to tell other people about how good he is and what he's done and the salvation that he offers them. You don't have that salvation I offer to you today. If you repent of your sins and trust in him, he says he will forgive you. But you don't understand my sin and how great a sinner I am. You don't understand how great a savior he is. And he says he will do it, he will do it. Confess your sin and he will forgive you. Repent, turn from your sin and turn to Jesus Christ. Quit trying to save yourself, quit trying to be good enough, you can't. Quit trying to earn it, you can't. You can't bribe God, he's a just judge. You can't say, but I went to your church. He's like, no. If we had a judge that you could say like, well I washed your car and I took care of your kids and I gave you some money sometimes, that's corruption. God is not a corrupt judge, he is a just judge. Now if I do that out of thankfulness to Jesus and out of trying to honor him, that is different. I'm not trying to earn it, I'm just trying to say thank you. It's my reasonable sacrifice to dedicate a life unto him for what he's done for me, saved me for all eternity. So if you have not repented and trusted in him, I put that opportunity before you today. Repent and trust in him. And then you can join in this fight as well. Be one of his soldiers. Let's close in prayer.