- Well, good morning to those of you in the warehouse and also up here in our worship center. We love to jump right into God's word, that's our source of truth here at Rockpoint. And I'm gonna ask you to take your Bibles out this morning, and I want you to go to Ephesians Chapter Six, as Pastor Kevin has just stated, and locate verse 10. You can use your chair Bible. You can use the Bible you brought in here, you can use your electronic version. If it is the chair Bible, it's page 979. You'll find Ephesians Chapter Six locate verse 10, and then also grab your notes and a pen, you're gonna want to write some things down this morning as we cover a subject together. As we begin, I'm gonna ask that you go ahead and stand this morning. And we are going to pray together, okay? Some of you are familiar with what is oftentimes referred to as the Lord's Prayer. I've got it up on the screen. So, you don't have to quote it from memory. Let's begin together. Our Father in heaven, hallowed be Your name. Your kingdom come, Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Give us today our daily bread, and forgive us our debts as we also have forgiven our debtors. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one. Please be seated. I want you to notice the first phrase of this prayer. Our Father in heaven, hallowed be Your name. We praise Him, we honor Him. But here's the phrase I want you to look at. Your kingdom come, Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Have you ever asked yourself the question, what does that mean? What does it mean for His kingdom in heaven to be established, His kingdom will in heaven to be established here on Earth? Well, that is going to be the topic we talk about this week and next week as we look at God's kingdom agenda. Now, in many ways, this is pulling together everything that we've talked about in our series on the Unshakable Truth. The disciples were followers of Christ, I think firmly believing that He was going to establish His kingdom. They thought, if you read through the Gospel accounts, you can see it, that He was gonna overthrow Rome, and they were gonna return is the nation, God's nation in the world, but there was a problem because by the time Jesus was hanging on the cross, dying, you can't have a kingdom if the king is dead. And there was incredible discouragement. However, three days later, many of you know this story, what happened? Resurrection, He came back to life. And at that point, I'm sure they were thinking this is the moment, His kingdom is coming. That's why when you get into Acts Chapter One, it says that Jesus spent 40 days talking to them about the kingdom of God. By the time you get into verse six of Acts Chapter One, they're starting to ask, is this the moment? I mean, you're alive, King Is here, you've talked to us 40 days about the kingdom of God, is this the moment you're gonna establish your kingdom? Israel is gonna kick Rome out of the Middle East and everything's coming to pass right now. What does Jesus say to them in response to this? He said, "It's not time yet "for you to know the times and the seasons." But, so He really answers their question, but He doesn't 'em the end. But while we're waiting for that to happen, what does He say? "You go back to Jerusalem, "and the Holy Spirit is going to come upon you, "and you will be filled with power "and you will be my witnesses throughout the earth." So, before He comes to establish His physical reign on earth, He doesn't say it's not happening, but He does say there's this in between period. I am going to establish a kingdom in and through you in your heart, because I came to win you back. And as a result of that, this kingdom is gonna continue to grow because I'm gonna build many subjects to be part of this, leading up to that point which you don't know the day or the hour yet. He will come and establish His Kingdom reign. He promised them the Spirit who would come and teach them all things, teach them the truth that Jesus had spoken to them about, teach them the essentials of the truth that we've been talking about over the past several weeks so that they would have really what is a Christian worldview in a very pagan culture, much like today. And as that would happen, they would begin to understand their place in this world, waiting for Him to come and establishes His physical reign. And why is that the case? Because our world is a battle between two kingdoms. That's why they needed the power of the Holy Spirit. When Adam and Eve were placed in the Garden, they were placed into a perfect world in Genesis Chapter One and Genesis Chapter Two, whereby they could experience a perfect relationship with the holy God. They were designed by God to have subjects to be part of God's kingdom here on earth, He made sense out of the chaotic world at that point in time, and He brought together Adam and Eve, and He created the heavens and the earth, and He placed them there, and He wanted them to enjoy a rich and beautiful relationship with Him. However, but as we saw in our series, something happened, right? We don't even get very far into the story and all of a sudden we enter into Genesis Chapter Three, sin enters into the world and everything is broken. Chaos comes back into wherever they go. And as a result of their choice of disobeying God, rebelling against Him, and doing what they were told not to do, they were deceived, we got that, they made a choice that they shouldn't have made and they decided to take matters into their own hands to be independent, to start following their own path, and not subject themselves to when God said, "Don't eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil," but they did, just a simple choice, they didn't realize it, but they chose at that point a different master than God, and the devil began his reign with sin and death. And all of a sudden, without going into too much detail here, the bottom line is we now have two kingdoms at war with one another, the kingdom of God and the kingdom of Satan, the kingdom of light and the kingdom of darkness, and for a short period of time, God has given Satan permission to reign on this planet, in this world, to make that his kingdom and lead subjects who are not followers of Jesus Christ, who are under the power, and the penalty, and the authority of sin. That's why John says in First John 5:19, "We know that we are from God," those of us who aren't part of that kingdom, "and the whole world lies in the power of the evil one." And the result for us today is Satan has his own kingdom and he imparts it in this world and oversees those who have not trusted Christ as Savior and Lord, and also the demons of hell itself, subjected to the penalty and the power of sin. And anyone who is not a follower of Christ is part of the kingdom of darkness, you have to understand that today. There's a battle that is raging. But before we exit Genesis Chapter Three, what happens? We're given hope, right? Because all of a sudden, we have this marvelous story that God begins to unpack for us, a story of redemption where Jesus Christ would come and He would in many ways parachute behind enemy lines, land on a planet whereby Satan is reigning, and take back what is rightfully His, He's come to establish His kingdom. We even pray may Your kingdom come, Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven. It's why the conversation that Jesus had with Pilot in John Chapter 18 is so fascinating. Pilot was trying to figure out whether or not Jesus was going to overthrow Rome. Pilot wanted to know if Jesus was establishing an earthly kingdom. But that's not the kind of kingdom Jesus came to offer in His first coming. That's why He said in verse 36 of John Chapter 18, "My kingdom is not of this world. "If My kingdom were of this world, "My servants would have been fighting "that I might not be delivered over to the Jews. "But My kingdom is not from this world." In other words, if I was here to establish a political nation and kick you guys out of Israel, we would have been cutting off more than just somebody ear. We would have been doing a whole lot more. Notice the phrase, "My kingdom is not of this world." He didn't say it's not in the world, there's a big difference. Mark that, circle it, if it's your Bible, write it down. He simply said it is not of this world. But He didn't say it's not in the world, it's very much in the world, but what He was saying was this is a universal kingdom that is way beyond your understanding, that is spiritual in its essence, but it has enormous physical implications. Notice He didn't say it's not gonna have physical ramifications once it gets going. He didn't say that there's gonna be an end where all powers, even Rome, have to submit to who He is. But He said that's not where it's starting. I'm not here to overthrow Rome. I'm here to win back the people that I love, and establish a different kind of kingdom that's not of this world, whereby I enter into the hearts of those that I am seeking to win back, so that they can be changed, and transformed, and understand my kingdom rule from the inside out. Now, write down this, 'cause it's really important to our conversation this week and next week. The definition of the kingdom of God is the comprehensive rule of Jesus Christ over all creation. The kingdom of God is the comprehensive rule of Jesus Christ over all creation. Now, how did that begin to happen? Well, He parachuted behind enemy lines into this kingdom of darkness, and He began to perform a work, He went to the cross and He conquered sin and death, we've talked about this a couple weeks ago. Paul says in Colossians 1:13, "He has delivered us from the domain of darkness "and transferred us to the kingdom of His beloved Son." The moment you put your faith and your trust in Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord, there is an incredible transformation that happens, and all of a sudden, you are moved into God's kingdom, and He now has established His rule in your heart. He defeated sin, Satan, death, the devil, and He is now King and He's establishing His kingdom from the inside out. We've been delivered from the penalty and the very power of sin. And that means that our spiritual growth has everything to do with His reigning power in my life from the inside out, and it has enormous ramifications, ramifications, that I get that right? Enormous ramifications on the outside. So, we talk about marriage mentors, as Pastor Kevin had mentioned, we talk about living out your faith at work. We talk about living out your faith at home as a parent, in your neighborhood. We'll come back to this next week, but with 100% accuracy, how do you like that? 100% accuracy, I can boil down everything, absolutely everything to this central issue of whether or not Jesus Christ is reigning in your heart, on your throne, and calling the shots. Marriage problems, conflict problems, work problems, you name it, it comes back to this central issue. We'll unpack it a little bit more next week. But He is beginning to establish His reign in our hearts and in our lives even though Satan has some limited power here, but He defeated him. And so, we are now fighting from victory, not for victory. Even though there's still some battles going on, the war's been won. Now, we're still in a war zone, no doubt about it. But the battle's been won. And that's why I landed in Ephesians Chapter Six, we've talked about this over the past few weeks, we started in Chapter One, where Paul really makes it clear that God chose you to be part of this family, your salvation has nothing to do with you. It has everything to do with the perfect work of Jesus Christ, and He chose you by the redemption of His Son, the moment you put your trust and faith in Him as Savior and Lord, you are now part of his kingdom, and then He says in Chapter One, "And the very Holy Spirit's been placed inside of you." He tells you it's all a gift by grace in Chapter Two, He begins to unpack this wonderful identity that you have in Jesus Christ. And then He switches in Chapter Four, and He begins to tell you how to live out that new identity, or this kinship with Christ reigning in your marriage, your home, your life, your relationships, as you're kind, as you love, in a variety of different settings. But before He leaves this book, or this letter that was written to a church, He says, but I wanna tell you there's a war zone that you're in right now. And you need to understand what is taking place at a spiritual level, not just a physical level, because it has everything to do with your marriage. It has everything to do with your work. It has everything to do with what is going on inside of your life, and whether or not Christ is reigning, and it has everything to do with a spiritual battle out there, so look down at verse 10. He says, finally, in light of you discovering your new identity of Me telling you how to live your life in this world in the meantime, before He comes again, under the power of the Holy Spirit, there's gonna be this battle and so He says, "Finally, be strong in the Lord "and in the strength of His might." He wants us to stand firm and stand strong, He'll repeat that several times. And then He says in verse 11, "Put on the whole armor of God." So, if I put on this armor that He's talking about, He'll unpack it in a minute, "That you may be able "to stand against the schemes of the devil." So, if I do what He's telling me to do, if I put on this armor, then I'll be able to, and He says, "Stand against the schemes of the devil." Now notice, He didn't say go out and fight the devil. He said stand firm. That's our focus. Don't get into a battle with somebody who can outsmart you at every turn. Stand firm in your position under the authority of Jesus Christ. And then He does something which is interesting. He says in verse 12, "For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood." Okay, now He's talking about these kingdoms that are in conflict, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness. Remember, I told you, he's reigning limited, it's under the sovereignty of God. But this is a very, very dark place. The spiritual forces of evil, notice this phrase, in the heavenly places, so there's a war that's going on in the heavenly places, that's where the primary battle is taking place right now. It has implications on this planet. But what is this in the heavenly places? Well, Paul tells you what that is in the book, so let's go back to Chapter One, I'm gonna walk you through a couple passages so you can see it, go to Chapter 1:3. Paul starts out this way, "Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, "who has blessed us in Christ "with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places." So, he says, and that's the same phrase. So there's a spiritual battle that's going on in the heavenly places. But that's also where the spiritual blessings and resources that I've been given to live out this Christian life are. The Father's there. The spiritual resources that I've been given are there, and that's where the battle is, so let's keep building the picture. So, now look at verse 20 of Ephesians Chapter One, "That He worked in Christ when He raised Him from the dead," God the Father raised Him from the dead, "and seated Him at His right hand in the heavenly places," same phrase. So, now I know the Father's in this place called heavenly places, I know Jesus is there, and my spiritual blessings are there. And that's also where the battle is raging. So, what about me? Now go to Chapter Two, and look at verse four. "But God, being rich in mercy because of the great love "with which He loved us", stop just for a second. Remember I told you, Jesus parachuted behind enemy lines because He loved you, and He wanted to make a change. That's exactly what He's talking about here, rich in mercy because of the great love with which He loved us, started this plan of redemption, notice what happens, "Even when we were dead in our trespasses," that's the kingdom of darkness you were part of, "He made us alive together," with who? Christ, where's Christ? In heavenly places. "It's a gift. "By grace you've been saved," as we've stated, "and raised us up with Him, Jesus," and notices this, "And seated us with Him," what's the phrase? In heavenly places. So, if the war is there, and I know that's where the battle is, and that's where my spiritual resources are, and that's where God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ is hanging out, then I gotta go where they're hanging out and access those resources so I know how to live my life here on this planet. You see what He's saying here, because that's where the battle is, that's where the war is at. And the moment you acknowledge that you are a sinner, and you have turned to Jesus Christ, trusting in Him as Savior and Lord, you might say to yourself, "Well, I'm physically here right now," yeah, you're physically here right now, but what you need to understand is the moment that happens, you are transferred into the kingdom of Almighty God, where Jesus Christ reigns, and even though you're physically here on this planet, you are now part of a spiritual world that is just as real, if not more real, than the physical world in which you can see, and touch, and feel. You are now part of a spiritual, beautiful, wonderful, loving relationship with Almighty God. He's created you to be there. And as you enter into this realm with Him, you have a relationship with Him. And what happens in the spiritual world, controls what happens in the physical world, you have to grasp this whole concept, that's I'm spending time to unpack it. The most real part of our existence is in that spiritual world. Now, here's what ends up happening. I won't say that you do it but I do it, okay? So, there you've got an excuse, but you can join me if you wanna agree with me. We oftentimes say, "Well, I'm gonna enter "into the throne room of God. "I'm gonna go to God in prayer," as if I leave this zone and somehow jump into a transporter unit, and go over here, and I meet with God. That is just simply biblically not true. And I want you to grasp this, that's why I wanted to spend time here. The moment I enter into a relationship with Jesus Christ, what does the truth tell me here in this passage? I'm in the heavenly places, I'm seated with Jesus Christ. So, that means right here, right now, I am spiritually in a relationship in the presence of Almighty God, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit has been given to me right here right now, 24/7. I have access to those spiritual blessings. The Father is with me right now. I don't go in and out of this relationship. The reason why this is so important for us to understand is oftentimes we come to church, and we say, "Well, I'm gonna come worship God. "And I'm gonna enter into His presence." The last time I checked, you're in His presence all the time. When was the last time you go in and out of His presence? The reason why I'm drilling into this is because it has everything to do with how we practically live our lives. We walk into this room, we said, "We're gonna worship with God," and then we leave this place as if there's a dividing wall, and then we go off to work, and we live the rest of our life the way we want. Now, please understand this, okay, it's a good song, I just illustrating, okay? It's a great song, "Holy Spirit, You're Welcome Here." Okay, it's blessed a lot of lives. Good stuff, okay, I like it. What we don't mean by that, okay, what we don't mean by that is if somehow you show up in this room, you're sitting by yourself and then we ask the Holy Spirit to come down Kelvin Avenue, enter into Rockpoint church and plop Himself right down next to you. He's already here. Your whole life 24/7 has the very presence of God because you are in the heavenly places, and therefore you need to be living with Jesus Christ, reigning on the throne of your life, accessing those spiritual blessings in this moment. That's what we're after when we talk about the kingdom of God. We don't take a trip into His presence, we show up right here so that He moves from Sunday to Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday, because when I go to a movie, Jesus Christ is sitting right there next to me. When I speak to my wife, Jesus Christ is right there listening to me. And when I'm tempted to get upset over something that happens, right then, in that moment, I'm in the heavenly places with spiritual resources available to me to grab those spiritual resources to put Jesus Christ back on the throne of my life, and treat her in an understanding way. You see the point? This has enormous implications. Now, we must fight the spiritual battle with spiritual weapons to gain victory. Look down at verse 13. "Therefore, take up the whole armor of God, that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, "and having done all stand firm, you will be able to stand firm if you put these on and then He describes them, "Stand therefore having fastened on the belt of truth, "having put on the breastplate of righteousness, "and as shoes for your feet having put on the readiness "given by the gospel of peace, "in all circumstances take up the shield of faith, "with which you can extinguish all the flaming darts "of the evil one, "and take the helmet of salvation "and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God." Now, this won't take long to go through because the principles are really, they're easy to understand once you grasp 'em. All Paul is doing here is taking things that they saw on a Roman soldier and using them to talk about the spiritual blessings and the resources that you have, that you can access, it's right there for you, you're in heavenly places, God's right here, right? So, let's use 'em, because Satan will show up in your life when you least expect it. He'll come in the back door and before you know it, you will be deceived, that's why He's saying stand firm, realize what is going on, live out the truth of what you know of who you are, and where you are, and the resources that you have. Let me illustrate it this way. When my son was in middle school, and then high school, we formed a group of guys, it was called Raising a Modern Day Knight, and we had a group of dads and sons, and we did a ton of stuff together so that we could learn how to transfer our faith to our kids. And one of the things that we enjoy doing, there's enormous spiritual implications to paint ball, okay? And so, we got into this. And we had equipment here at Rockpoint at that point, and back before we sold the land, the old groves back here, we had structures, we had full on paintball course back here, and on one particular occasion, these boys were a little full of themselves, a little on the arrogant side, decided they wanted to take on the dads. So, we had a big paintball war, we geared up, we got all the stuff on, loaded up, went out here into the woods. And they were actually winning at the start of the competition, okay? And there were two of us that were left, they didn't know that, but Austin, my son, was killed. I don't know if I killed him or not, maybe I did just for the fun of it, but he was out, and he gave a word of truth to the rest of the boys, there's quite a few of 'em left. He said, "Look, my dad is still out there." So, they knew at least there was one. So, I decided to go from the west side to the east side, and I was trying to slip in behind 'em, okay? And I was blown away. There was nobody back there. There was nobody their rear flank. And I was loaded. So, I get back there, and there's a structure out there, there's a valley. And we built like a two story or a single story platform. And I was able to climb up on the platform. And I'm looking down in the valley, and all these little boys congregating together in a mass. It was one of the most amazing days of my life. I just couldn't believe the gift of God. It's like dream come true, I couldn't believe it. My finger moved so fast on that trigger, there are more paint balls flying out of that gun you've ever seen in your life, and I just mowed 'em down, I sprayed 'em, I went over 'em, "I'm hit, I'm hit!" you know, just nail 'em, hit 'em again, who cares? You know, come here, man. I killed them all. They didn't listen to the truth. If you're not following the truth, Satan will slip in the back door, and before you know it, you are deceived. That's why He starts with the belt of truth. Now, a belt on a Roman soldier held all the gear together, they would tuck their robe, they would able to run. I think you kinda get the idea, it was central to everything, and His point is this is the objective truth of the Word of God, it has to guide our thinking. This is why Paul says over and over in the New Testament, "You must renew your mind with the Word of God." It has to be there, it is my objective standard for life. It gives me the right lens to see my world. I have to tell you, this one is becoming more and more important in our world as we move on, why? Because truth is now relative to people. Truth is now based on feelings and not facts. And all of a sudden the word tolerance has even changed. It used to mean that I will accept you, we will honor one another, okay. Now, it means agreement. And I'm being forced to agree with you. This is a big deal for us as truth followers. You've got to know the truth, you have to understand how to apply it and live it out in your life, because truth will impact your beliefs, your values, your convictions at work, home, wherever you are. That's why this is such a massive subject that we have to understand. I agree with Tony Evans, I'm gonna give you two books real quick. He wrote a great book called "Kingdom Agenda". He wrote another book called "The Battle Is The Lord's". If you're interested in both of these subjects, I'd highly recommend 'em, very trusted resource. I'm gonna quote him. He says this, "If you're going to be on God's agenda, "you must believe in truth, an absolute governing standard "that is trans cultural, "trans racial, and trans situational." Did you catch all that? Trans cultural, trans racial, and trans situational. It is our grid. Everything in life is filtered through the grid of God's truth. I know it's a lie. How do I know it's a lie? 'Cause God said so. If I don't know what God says, I won't recognize the lie Satan's slipping in the back door, and before you know it, he's got me. See, the war's been won ultimately, but we're still facing a battle, and he can still do some damage. Let me put it this way, you've seen the commercial where the phrase's on there, "When okay is not okay," or something to that effect. You know, you got a woman sitting in a hospital room, the doctor comes in, "Hey, what are you gonna to do?" and he go, "Ah, well, "we'll figure it out when we get in there." Are you kidding me? Would you accept that? That they just kinda open you up and try and figure it out. Pull out the instruction manual while they're operating on you. If there's absolute truth there, then why do we make so many compromises morally? You've gotta know it and defend it. Next piece is the breastplate of righteousness. Now, this was connected to the belt, two things here. He's talking about two things, but He's emphasizing the second. First one is this, we need to be clothed in the very righteousness of Jesus Christ because we've trusted Him as Savior and Lord. So, the point here is claim it, get up in the morning, I am a child of God, I am forgiven of my sin, I am resting in it, there is no condemnation. If I wake up in the morning, like I did today, and I breathe, okay, that means, God's not done with me yet. Okay, He's got a plan and a purpose for me, so He's left me here, I need to claim who I am. But then, here's where the emphasis is, based on who I am that I forgiven, then now I need to cultivate the character of His righteousness in me. So, I claim His righteousness, but then I cultivate the character of Christ in me, His life in me. That's where I come along and Satan throws up a lie, and I say, "Wait a minute, I don't have to do that anymore, "because based on His righteousness, "I'm delivered from the penalty and the power of sin, "and I don't have to go there anymore. "I know have real freedom, "because I can choose to do what is right, "not get stuck in the bondage in guilt sin anymore." You see the difference? And then, when he comes along after I blow it, and Satan says, "Oh, look at you, you did it again." Wait, hold it. I can be forgiven, restored in fellowship, there is no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. And when I start living that way, I also realize I don't have to face the discouragement that Satan throws my way because I'm protected by the righteousness of Christ, knowing that I don't have to experience the deadly consequences of sin that ravage so many marriages and homes today, and families. Now, He also says put on the Gospel of Peace. This is peace that flows from the Gospel. An easy way to understand this is to think of the imagery, a Roman soldier had shoes with cleats on the bottom, much like sports cleats, so he could have a sure foundation regardless of the storms of life. The point He's saying here is that, because you have peace with God, you can now experience the peace of God, regardless of the storm that you face. He is sovereign, He's in control. He loves me, He will walk with me, regardless of the winds that come my way, I can experience a supernatural peace in my life. And then, once that is there, I can step out and trust Him, and that's why He goes right into this shield of faith. Notice He says, "In all circumstances." So, the shield of faith is gonna allow me to get above the circumstances, not live under them, and extinguish the flaming darts of the evil one. Now, the shield that they had was about four and a half feet. It was covered in leather, they would interlock them, basically, and it was like a armored tank going forward, they could really protect themselves. The idea is when Satan starts throwing flaming darts at me, I'll explain it in just a second, then they're extinguished. How does that happen? Well, faith means trust, faith means action, and what He's saying here is based on the truth of God's word, I am now going to step out in faith and trust God. So, when the doubts are thrown at me by the enemy, I can say, that's a lie, that's not true, I'm not gonna go down that road. When I'm tempted to join the crowd, when I'm tempted to not act appropriately and honor God at work or at school, when I'm going to experience even negative consequences because I decided to take a stand on the football team and not go down the road that everybody else is going down, I know I can say, wait a minute, God, I'm going to trust You, Your plan, and Your ways, I'm gonna walk in that truth. I'm gonna step out in faith. And what He says here, when you put that on, God's hover of protection, and guidance, and security is around you. And then He says, "I want you to take up the helmet of salvation." This was a leather helmet, they didn't wear it all the time, only when they went into battle. So, this is the kind of salvation that is is brought up to us. So, what is this one? Well, First Thessalonians 5:8 says that the helmet of salvation is our hope. Paul specifically defines it. What's the hope? The second coming of Christ. You're living in the in between time with the power of the Holy Spirit, remember that? Go back to what I said about Jesus instructing the disciples. But He didn't say He wasn't coming again. Of course He is, they just didn't know when. So now, I'm to live in light that His second coming may be today. It's imminent, any moment, anytime He could show up. And folks, we gotta be ready. So, when the doubts, and the disappointments, and the discouragements come, I've got His peace, but I also remember that He has saved me, there's a hope beyond this life, in the midst of the suffering, in the midst of the persecution, He shows up, He guides my way so that my hope of eternal life is focused on living for Him. In the midst of what I face, I am secure in Him. So, when the doubts come in, the discouragement comes in, I know I'm saved and the war has already been won. And then He closes out with the sword of the Spirit. Now, this was a short sword that a Roman soldier would pull out for hand to hand combat. If you look at what He says, down in the middle of verse 17, "And the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God," the word that's used there is not the written word. That's Logos, it's a Greek word, I'm gonna give you an edumacation this morning, okay? Logos, written word, the word for word here is Rhema, R-H-E-M-A, it means the utterance of God. It's different. So, when I'm in the midst of the battle, I know God's truth. What am I told to do? Speak it into the situation. Speak the truth. This is what I'm supposed to do. This is why I'm memorizing God's word, and knowing it is so critical, because when the temptation comes up, it's like no, I don't have to go there, here's the truth. If Jesus borrowed from the book of Deuteronomy three times when He faced the devil and quoted scripture, then why do I think I can live my life without doing it? That's what He's after, use the word, speak the truth into the situation. And then He closes it with prayer in verse 18, which means I need to be living in His presence, constantly accessing the spiritual resources. So, as we transition into a time of communion and reflection based upon all of that, you know it all began at the cross. Because when you understand the spiritual battle that we face today, when you understand the two kingdoms in conflict, when you begin to contemplate and realize, wait a minute, it was Jesus who parachuted behind enemy lines, He entered into a very dark world where we were serving in humanity another master, evil master, who is bent on destruction, and death, and eternal separation from God, and it was Jesus Christ who went to the cross and He won the battle for us, He paid the price for my sin so that He could deliver me and make me part of His kingdom. But not only that, so that He could establish His Kingdom rule in my heart and in my life, so that it has enormous implications in my life and in the life of others, ultimately, until He finally does come and establishes His physical Kingdom on earth, and it all began at the cross. So, in the next few moments up here, we're gonna pass both the cup and the bread. And I want you to hang on to them. If you are a follower of Jesus Christ, meaning you have acknowledged your sin, and you're turning, and you've totally trusted Jesus Christ as Savior, you're following Him as the Lord of your life, we invite you to take communion with us. And in a few moments, I'll come back up and guide us as we take it together. I'm gonna pray in just a few moments, if you're down in our warehouse, you'll have a chance to come forward and take communion when you are ready. But as we reflect upon what happens, I want you to contemplate the enormous gift of Jesus Christ and what He's done for you and give thanks. Because you are now in the heavenly presence of the Lord Jesus Christ, who saved you and transformed you, who set you free, who has changed your affections, your attitudes, and He wants to change your actions as you establish Him as the King of your life. And then, communion also reminds us that He's coming again, amen. And when He does, every eye will see Him. So, we need to be leaving this place, establishing Jesus Christ as the King of our hearts. We'll come back to that next week. Let's pray. Father, thank You for the power of Your word, the truth that we have. And as we hold these elements in our hands before we take them together, Lord, we give thanks, Jesus you paid the price that we could never pay to set us free, to deliver us, to establish Your kingdom reign in our hearts and lives to set us free. And now we wanna live for You. We want You to be seen in our hearts and lives as we leave this place as well. So, we give You thanks for Your grace. It's in Christ's name we pray, amen.