Shield

would you pray with me Lord right now We Gather in this room Lord hungry for you we came here today Lord with praise to offer to you Lord and we believe that right now in this moment God you can work you can move you can speak into our lives we make ourselves available one more time to you Jesus Take coals from the altar Lord and touch lips of clay today Jesus we sang songs we've prayed we've called on your name and right now Lord we need your word to work within us I plead your blood over this place in the name of Jesus let every distraction be quieted right now Lord I pray let us be in tune with the word and the spirit Jesus we believe God you're in this house for a reason Lord for a reason Lord God a purpose Lord that's ordained by your clock in the name of Jesus fall fresh Upon Us Lord I pray hallelujah hallelujah hallelujah would you to give the Lord Praise everybody come on make it a loud praise I love you Jesus come on make it a loud praise I worship you holy God oh yes Lord You're great God and greatly to be praised you are worthy you are worthy you are worthy Jesus Hallelujah if you're glad to be in church today say amen I welcome all of you I am so glad to our guests that are with us today to those joining us online we welcome you into the presence of the Lord today amen is there anybody hot don't go to Hell whatever you do you're going to hate it I know how many thankful it's not 992 in here see there's always something to be thankful thank you musicians singers thank you workers teachers parking lot folk coffee sitter outers offering taker uppers all the folk that are involved at CAC hey we're working together for the glory of God Amen do pray for our campers that's so important I receive the holy ghost at Camp believe it or not it's been a hundred years or so ago but uh Camp has always been very special my wife yeah my kids were on the mission field well Lauren Steven was yeah see yeah at a Bible quiz how about that we're here today to go to the word of the Lord and I'm I want to thank all you men for your extra prayer today it explains a whole lot it explains a lot thank you are you with me for the next little while are we okay for us clock Watchers somebody that's watching your it's it's 12:48 and I don't mean a whole lot but I just wanted you to be aware that I know what time it is you can be seated if you feel like you need to thank you so much

I begin today with the question I I do this often because I want I want to give you a point point of reference how difficult is it for you to believe in something you can't see that's an honest question what does somebody have to do in order to receive what they are searching for even though it is not visible it's another question how long is long enough to wait on a situation to get better we okay these are just some questions that I want to talk about is there a way that a person can hope and pray that an event will unfold and then see the tide change and never really get what they thought they needed now today I I know that these are questions and and we Face these situations in our lives many times I'm relatively sure that each one of us we have wanted and wanted a certain thing to come about or to happen and it did anybody ever prayed for something and it happened oh come on somebody you may not know how but it happened I mean poof it just showed up and there where it was you know you you may have prayed and prayed and and and looked for God and and and and and there it was as the reverse ever happened see the trial of our time is Lord let me look to what you do do and not what you haven't done yet that's the test that we're we're facing I I stand here today with this simple task to remind all of us that there are moments in life listen to me that we simply must exercise our faith now that word faith it's thrown around all about and and as if we could control faith as if we could really understand it the word faith of course we're all familiar with its rewards but we're also familiar with its frustrations I I mean it's easy for a person listen to me it's easy for a person to look you in the eye in your greatest trial of Life open their mouth in an attempt to help and simply say to you just have faith oh come on we've all done that we've all heard that ju just have faith and you're saying there going how much when is it sufficient because when you say to someone listen to me when you say to somebody have faith are you saying have my faith or have your faith I'm GNA let you in on a little secret of humanity if you say to somebody have faith and they think it's yours and their prayer is not answered guess what they're gonna think about you you didn't have faith CU you tried to give them your faith have faith that's like H have a Coke it's like I have a cheeseburger J you there there you go you know have faith and then it doesn't happen What Happens come on Seth get up there Seth worried about the bugs Faith it's familiar we open our mouths we want to help the fact is to have faith it's a ver it's a transitive verb have have faith and it's a possession or something to obtain and and and the fact is is that when when you're looking at the you know just have faith maybe you could say it this way get Faith how do you get Faith how do you reach out and somehow muster up enough Moxy to Simply believe something's going to happen I I know that that we have often spoke of the felter mountain of a word and and in times past we've looked at the structure of faith and we've tried to wrap our minds around it our hearts around it and we struggle with it because the challenge is to have it and then the challenge continues how much is enough and then the challenge continues and even is Lord At what point can I see the victory for the faith that I have in whatever situation that I'm going through now here's one thing that that we all have to look at is how big is the actual situation in your life a great challenge we have to adjust and we actually wrap our arms around the fact that we're going through something and then we want God to intervene and to help us through it and and it may very well be that God knows what he's doing it might actually be true that God's will is being accomplished but yet we get IM IM impatient with with God how many you know God ain't on your clock and I'm I'm going to let somebody know it's going to make you mad I know but God don't clock in with you and clock out with you he don't show up in your life and say all right I'm here now what you need that ain't how God if that's your God you need to look for another one come on now it's a message for another day cuz I know there's some folk maybe even sitting here listening to me saying Lord I need you Chen you come but Lord I don't I need to get out of this one cuz it's messing up my world come on how you know fa oh Lord don't let me get sidetracked today faith can mess up your world faith will say you know what it don't make sense but I'm gonna keep walking this walk when everybody's mad or everybody's throwing stuff I'm going to still believe this hey you what Lord help me now it's what the old ERS used to say come on you may not like this but I like what God's doing therefore I'm gonna Trust God through all of it see some of us want to arrange God in a way that he works for our good when we're in a place where we don't deserve it and then we get mad at God cuz he don't show up like we think I want somebody know you need faith that God will be God in spite of you and your situation now I I don't mind saying there are times that I have to adjust my expectations come on now here now follow me y'all act like you a I'm the only one on that boat but I know you're there I passed you yesterday some of y'all got faith you'll be a millionaire won't work a day in your life worried to death you ain't going to have enough to pay your bills and wonder oh Lord help me not get on this one and wonder why you're struggling with I come will a man rob God come on you steal from God every time you stop giving to God don't get me on Wednesday night yet brother Dan he trying to give up everything listen God is going to bless you but you got to understand the word of God some some of us trying to get blessed by proxy Lord they they did they they gave Lord I'm going get up next to them come on we see it we see it when the AL Lord I don't know why my notes is just blowing up we see in the altar every Sunday some dear old s come up here and just loving God and we'll see one of them other ones know they ain't worth it they just come up and stand with I if I can just let this hit me God I know that I ain't been doing right I ain't give a diamond y offer or I I know God but somehow some way you can help me and pastors all on this kick of giving I I can tell you why I can tell you why if you're robbing God he ain't got no place for you but if you're giving to the things of God with your time talent and treasure your faith will say God I don't know that I'll have enough to pay my bill but I put you first because I believe that you're right and somehow some way you're surprised I don't know how it happened it just showed up come on we got text this week say I don't know how but a check showed up in the mail I don't know how this stuff happen I can tell you how it happens have faith in God when people can become very agitated and anxious about their situation the moment that they begin to make rash decisions and things happen listen to me they can become bitter and they could resent the fact that God answers prayers for some but not for them and when bitterness settles in that's a root you cannot weed eat a root you can't round up a root you got to get a shovel up under that root pick it up out of the dirt and throw it to the and then Round Up to thing man I got weeds in my go I don't know how in the world that the weeds in the sidewalk explain that one I can't get a nail in that concrete but a weed will grow up through I'm like what that's how bitterness will work bitterness will blind you bitterness will close your eyes off where you can't see the goodness of God because all you're looking at is a negative now Faith in and of itself is a challenging word I realize that and I realize that you have to believe in things that you have yet to see but the fact is simply this what happens when things go your way does your faith increase or does your faith get put on hold hold on to me a minute because the fact remains that every one of your situations and circumstances in your life do have an outcome all right and sometimes times it's easy to believe God sometimes you can wrap your mind around it and I believe that as God answers your prayers your faith grows and then you believe God for more things but when your friend prays and hopes and believes the same thing that you hoped and believed and prayed for and it doesn't happen for them but it happens for you how does that affect your faith because you might Act TR be the friend that didn't get what you were praying for and the one next to you did does it give come on does it give you a feeling maybe you know what God must love them more I cannot tell you how many weeks out of a year that I beat myself up because I don't see an answer to prayer and I say to myself multiple times something I'm doing ain't right something I'm living some way something going on it's not right and all the while the enemy sitting there saying I don't even have to throw doubt at you you're sitting there questioning your walk with God and I ain't said a word word to you come on if I can believe God can move mountains and if I can believe God can heal cancer and if I believe God can heal any kind of disease or sickness then surely the Lord God that I serve can be there in my mountains and in my valleys the fact is right here do I have the faith to believe God in all things Faith's a tricky word to explain it's challenging to be humble listen to me when Faith Works in your favor how many has ever received a blessing from the Lord and you didn't know how to share it with somebody case in point you're you're you're you're honest with your income you're faithful to the things of God you desire to purchase ABC or whatever it is doesn't matter it could be this or this doesn't matter and the Lord opens a door for you to be able to obtain that particular thing and man you're excited anybody ever been excited about buying something new oh come on anybody got a new outfit on today I'll I'll let you stand up and show it huh new pair of socks I mean look at those socks come on George I what I'm talking about no okay then you can go ask George later see us up huh but then there's other I I fa this this past week God's been good to me and now I got to feel bad because of the blessings of the Lord in my life because the one looking at me says well how did you get that and I don't have that now I don't mind saying in my older age I'm finding out how to Buck up against that have faith hell me be mad at me if you want to oh Lord help me stay on track the world is full of people who wanted something to happen they believe for it but did not see the outcome as an answer to their prayers the fact remains they gave up on their walk with God the church gets the blame for it and for their discouragement pastors and Saints are pointed at that they were not there for them in their time of need and want and then church hurt happens because many times that person's faith has let them down but they got nowhere to point a finger and so they begin to point around them and somebody will walk away listen to this preacher today walk away from God and years later years later ask them why'd you backslide why'd you walk away from God you know what they'll say I can't even remember I don't even know why but my life's been a come on there's it's amazing the people that I come across that you come across in life in your job on wherever you are in the middle of a store and you start talking Apostolic Pentecostal say you know what I was that or my grandma was that or my grandpa they start talking what happened to you i' I've been in a jail before doing a church service in a prison before and somebody come come up and say I mean big old dude came and zip up his orange jumpsuit he's just a monster guy and him cry and say what's wrong with you he said my mom my Grandmama prayed me through to all that when I was young I said what are you doing in here on now in the middle of a I'm telling somebody in the middle of a jail cell Faith begins to ignite I wish I believe I could get out of here and I'm going you know what you probably can if you'll do enough time and if you'll pay what you got to pay but I want you to understand something big man let me get on some I look up my ey I say listen to something here you ain't got to be dead in this place you can love Jesus in this house you can have faith that in the midst of this trial God can give you a witness and a testimony come on I'm talking to somebody down there no matter how bad your situation is you can believe in a God that can see you through if you'll have faith to believe it

listen to me can we go to the the Lord anybody okay with the Bible today Mark 11:12 and on the tomorrow when they were come from Bethany he was hungry seeing a fig tree a far off having leaves follow this he came if happily he might find anything there on when he came to it he found nothing but leaves everybody say leaves for the time of figs was not yet Jesus says in verse 14 answered and said unto it unto this fig tree no man eat fruit of thee Hereafter forever and his disciples heard it now I've talked about this story on multiple occasions in times past and I'm astounded at the fact that Jesus would even care enough to see this fig tree knowing it was not the season for the figs says it it's not even time for figs but there's leaves Jesus saw growth but he didn't see fruit he was okay with that and even the point is that as Mark is writing this he says and the disciples heard it so it wasn't as if he just breathed it it wasn't as if in passing no but the disciples are going how is that possible was he expecting to walk up and touch the tree and figs go it sounds funny don't it happens to us all the time lord HD my $10 now I need a 100 by tomorrow I'm not I'm not offending nobody today I'm trying to get you to understand faith faith says I will constantly and continuously trust in the Lord regardless of my situation and when the need arises God will be there Jesus is looking at this bush this fig tree the disciples heard it the religious folk of that day listen they were trying their best they were in Hot Pursuit of him they wanted to see what he was doing and how he was doing doing things and when Jesus in the story go to the context of the story in Mark you will find out that it looked good the season was not there and Jesus simply said from this point nobody's going to pull fruit off of your branches simple phrase but notice how this transpired Mark 11 and 20 in the morning as they passed by they saw the fig tree dried up from the roots Peter 21 says this calling to remembrance saith unto him Master behold the Fig Tree which thou curses is withered away listen what Jesus says Jesus answering saith unto him what anybody care to read look at your neighbor look at someone else now here's my question for today at 106 in the afternoon who understands what he's saying hey the tree you said is dead have faith in God aren't you him theyy with me somebody hold on to me a minute Jesus was reminded when he saw it and then Jesus is or Peter then reminds Jesus about that tree and the very simple phrase that Jesus says to him is have faith in God now what does faith have to do with a withered tree what does faith have to do with with the actions and activities of the master what does faith have to do with what's going on could it possibly have been the lesson for the moment was to trust in the words of Jesus y'all hear the preacher when Jesus says something then the creation itself responds with movement and it even Alters the future of that thing Jesus is simply saying when I open my mouth nature itself listens when I speak a word the root of the Fig Tree was dried up simply because the voice of Jesus said nobody's going to pick fruit from you anymore the Bible declares to you and I that if Jesus can say something Jesus is well able to back what he has said the fact remains is if you can't believe in that though then your faith dies on the ground and what Jesus was saying to Peter that day listen to me Pete if you'll have faith in God every word that comes out of the mouth of the master will follow every Branch it needs to to be completed as he designs it we understand then from the origin of the word faith that basically it means to trust so look at your neighbor say will you trust trust God for the actions of the words to do its job in your life so when Jesus says something listen it means something you've got to trust that God is working according to his word listen he hasn't come up with a new word another word a different word to try to fit your bill but instead he put you in a world where he's already put everything in motion that you'll ever need uh the facts got to remain are you willing to trust and have faith in God faith so many ways it's used are we okay still

listen listen to what Paul PA wrote in a letter this is so cool this is so cool Ephesians chapter 613 we all know this we we talk of this often wherefore take unto you you ready the whole armor of God why you may be able to withstand in the evil day and having done all to stand we know this right stand therefore having your loins GED about with truth having on the breastplate of righteousness you see it your feet Shaw with the preparation of the go gopel of Peace above all though notice what he says above all taking the shield of Faith wherewith you shall be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked take the helmet of salvation the sword of the spirit which is the word of God listen to this verse 18 praying always with all prayer and supplication in the spirit watching there and to with all perseverance and supplication for All Saints and for me that utterance may be given unto me that I may open my mouth boldly to make known the mystery the gospel for the which I am an ambassador in bonds that therein I may speak boldly as I ought to speak faith in this letter Paul is writing to the Ephesians and he simply tells them there there is such a thing in the armor of God as a shield of Faith he calls it a shield why because if you'll have the covering of Faith something will happen in your life as you walk around in life life with your faith with your word with the word of God with your testimony with the gospel and all those things you will be able to maintain order and have victory in life allow me a moment if you will something been chewing me up inside

I did a little research in history now y'all know I like history I am part of it so are you see how that worked years past there have been arm armies that would stand in Victory because of their armor listen to this there have also been armies that have been destroyed because of their lack of protection and armor in fact history teaches us that there was one particular point in a war that raged between the Spartan forces and the Persians during the 8th Century Sparta was known listen to this for their military strength and power the men trained from young boy age they learned how to use swords and knives and Spears the young men learned the value of their weapons listen carefully that they would use they learned how to swing a sword they learned how to throw a spear they learned that the weapons that they were trained with they were to use to protect and to serve to make sure their families and their lives were taken care of but one of the most profound EX exercises of military training in their training as young men growing into adulthood every Spartan man would become a warrior listen to this the young men were trained with how to use their Shield one thing about the Spartans was this and you guys have read and even studied in history this incredible feat that these young men did in order to fight against these thousands and thousands of Persians they would swing a sword they would throw a spear they would use their instruments of warfare but the greatest challenge for every Spartan military Warrior Is to learn how to use their Shield because history reveals to us they would throw a spear they would swing a sword but if they ever dropped it or lost it in battle because it happened if they ever ran out of arrows that they were shooting all of those things would happen on the battlefield but the Spartan commanders understood that if they' lost every weapon they had if they could take the shield that they were holding and connect it with the shield of the man next to them and connected to the shield to the man next to them and connected to the shield to the man next to them that in the midst of the most fierce battle and weaponry coming against them they would somehow survive they would somehow live they were trained and taught the value of the shield more than the value of a sword or a spear why cuz when the enemy comes against you like a flood you're not going to be able to stand on your own but if you can connect up with somebody to your left and you can get connected to somebody to your right that wave might come after you and the enemy's darts may come toward you but if you'll stay connected to the family of God uh and stay connected to the men of God in your life uh and understand the power of a united front listen to this preacher today uh then there's nothing that the enemy can throw at you uh you can be an overcomer because you stand firm uh I know the weapons uh of the enemy are coming after me and I've dropped this uh and I lost that uh but I'm connected uh with my shield uh with somebody next to me uh and listen to me the Persians looked at and said I don't understand stand it we should have already destroyed them uh but they stood behind their Shields knowing uh sooner or later the Tide's going to turn uh and we're going to move forward and With Victory we will destroy the hand of the enemy uh allow me a moment today to describe to you uh where we stand in this hour come on brother Vandy come on brother Dan we need one another we need to believe uh that the shield of faith is strong enough uh to withstand any fight of the enemy you want to know how this works let me explain it somebody gets hurt because their faith isn't enough to get an answer why do you think it is then they stop their faithfulness to the house of God I didn't feel like church today I'm G stay here yall yall with me cuz me and Jesus got our own thing on that' be a good country song wouldn't it I believe it already is a the sword did not save them the shield did that's right I was invited just a few moments ago into my office by some men in this church who said pastor we're going to pray for you today and I was told a brief story of brother Dan Gibson's story in class with the rope and that's why I told these guys y'all don't y'all don't understand where we are this is what God's telling me today there are so many casualties of War because Faith said it's time to ducktail and run faith says oh I know God could provide then and there but right now this one's just too big right now the enem is just coming after me too hard some of you sitting here under the sound of my voice maybe you're online watching you're hurt you're offended and it's all you can do to sit in the church house today because shame and guilt are just racking your mind and your brain because somehow someway somebody hurt you I need you to understand something brother George could you come at me please I need you to understand something when a war is Raging Brother Sam come on shorty I'm on a step come on right here please I I trust these guys I do I I come on over here brother Sam I I believe in these guys I believe that God has put them in my life because I need them I need to know with my confidence as a man of God I need to know that somebody's here and somebody's here they said pastor we're gonna lock our Shields with you what kind of Shield our Shield of Faith what good is that going to do I'll tell you what it's going to do if we as a church will decide faith says devil we're pushing you back we don't know how this going to happen we don't know why and we don't know when one thing we do know is we're not going to drop our Shields of faith our faith is going to say God you haven't yet but you will come on God you you may have yesterday but somebody else is going to need you tomorrow so I'm GNA hold on to it if you ever drop your faith I can no longer trust you I can no longer depend on you because then you're going to expect from my shield to protect you you got to have your own faith to believe that if God said it yesterday it will hold true today this is not simply on the physical line but this is on a spiritual line if for one moment you decide I don't need the church any longer I don't need my brothers in Christ or my sisters in Christ what you have just done is absolutely what the wolf of the world wants to do is isolate you and put you in a corner and he wants you to run listen to me if you'll read the whole armor of God I've said this multiple times you've got a shield you've got a helmet you've got a sword you've got feet but your backside is not covered and if you'll turn and run away and the Wolf is simply going to look at you and say now I don't see any threat coming from you I'll simply I'll just pull you to the ground and I'll devour you in the midst of your doubt and fear why because I don't have any reason to be afraid of you but woe be uh to the enemy that would say uh oh look at them they're bound together their faith says we're having Revival we're having Revival we're having a move of God God will move in this service God will heal in this service God will perform in this service why because our faith our Shields are connected together to say devil we're not afraid of you but we come with faith believing thank you gentlemen listen to me carefully I'm gonna bring this to a close if the Lord will let me 120 we okay reaching past the hurts and the disappointments so often we struggle with simply saying God if you did it then you can now see the interesting thing about human memory is you you can be changed within moments watch this watch how this works y y'all know our good friends here the Johnson's went on a trip they walk for Miles brother Dan say he walked 12200 miles oh he drove it different time zone watch how this happens different time zone it was great right 9 15,000 hours on an airplane yeah nowhere to go no tools to fix something okay s you were there right Sarah yeah your memor right two three weeks follow this follow this you came home how easy was it to remember where things were at home to remember what time what time I got to get up tomorrow I don't even honey I don't huh what what side of the road to drive on listen to me and just a matter of days everything has to be realigned it don't take long to get out of the understanding and the practice of what you know it's normal and right in the Kingdom it's the same you want to know why pastor and her husband are worried about y'all so often sorry baby it's because when we don't see you in the house of the Lord and we don't get to put eyes on your face we don't get to see you for a week or two I'm not afraid you're out there backsliding going from bar to bar and drug addict to drug drug addict I'm simply saying Lord somehow someway their swords getting lower I'm afraid their Shield is is getting heavy I know God the answer is not out there I know the answer is in here how many times as Pastor said the safest place you can be is in the altar why because I can come to an altar and in whatever condition whatever mental state of mind or spiritual state of mind I'm in I can look at an altar and I can say this is a place to lay it down this is the place to lay it down message for another day when I can put it all together is before they go into the Tabernacle they do what they lay everything offensive down because they got to walk in with everything open Withholding Nothing Withholding Nothing I surrender all to you thank you Lord you understand the value of that song it's not a simple row of words but it says Lord if I'm holding back it means that my faith isn't exercised enough to help my brother help my sister I believe that the greatest Revival for the church is there in front of us I believe that I believe that the Mir miraculous is sitting in the womb of many people in this church or watching online it is sitting there and it's germinating and it's getting to a place and there's going to come a time when God's going to say all right all right I'm about to rise up here and I'm going to look at the angel of the with the trumpet and I'm going to say blow the trumpet come be blessed of the Lord to the marriage supper of the Lamb it's all prepared I've gone I've prepared a place and now I come what so that where I am okay that's going to happen one day now here's the problem that we have with that event brother her would you come please here's the problem you and I have with that EV does anybody know when that will be anybody care to just give it a swing okay it's going to be nobody's going to say that why because you understand per the word word of God no man knows the day or hour but we do know what seasons I don't want you to be ignorant the season I'm GNA tell you this is going to happen this is going to happen this will happen and this will happen it ain't GNA happen until it gets into place and then once it gets into place guess what then watch out things are going to happen I'm still believing in the greatest Revival that the world has ever seen and I'm still believing it's not going to be in these three walls y'all thought I'd say four right or one two three four five six seven eight nine walls I am so convinced that the first Testament Church said this can't even hold us in this upper room where are you going we're going out to the road what are you going to do on the street man we just going to do what the spirit says and 3,000 come running that day going what's this happening men and Brethren what we do repent be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus for the remission of sin you shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost and boom 3,000 added to the church that didn't happen in a cathedral in a temple or a tabernacle it happened on the road what we've done then is we've Associated Faith with the building when the fact remains on a Monday you need to know Brothers over there praying and believing God and in the spirit we're connected and in the spirit we're trust in God for great things in the future why I don't have to worry if the one to the left of me or to the right of me is falling down drop their Shield uh now I can say God I pray right now for an anointing a supernatural power that would come Lord that would infiltrate their heart and mind I pray God my brother would be a man of power a man of passion a man of principle and a man of prayer I pray that every day for you men of this church God you wake them up in in the midnight with an anointing God that shakes them from the middle of their heart until the outside to where it's demonstrated uh that a glory of God is emanating from a body in Chattanooga that believes his coming is soon men you need to know I'm praying that for you so if you wake up in the morning you don't know what else to do but pray you thank your pastor for that and there's some y'all with me 27 we're okay right there's some I'm praying God Smack them I didn't say hurt him I'm just saying God y'all want to know I why I pray that way cuz I've been smacked before true I was out of whack out of kilter and didn't know what I thank you Lord may I have another that's a basic training right there sorry boy I went back why CU I understand I'm a hard-headed guy sometimes I know y'all other men aren't you just follow God I know sometimes I get my waywardness going sometimes chesse my gift of Suspicion takes over and then sometime brother Dan I begin to think of things that the enemy is doing to me and all the while the enemy's not at 100 miles of me right it was me but if I could get my faith and I can get you you connected and I can believe and trust in your faith I am convinced 100% that there's a reason that Paul used the armor of God for us to give us a visual to see the foot Shaw with the preparation of the Gospel that means when you walk take him with you the good news of who he is sword of the spirit helmet of salvation come on we get that but that Shield of faith says I will believe it as if it's already happened

stand with me would you please I came today to this Podium to Simply inform somebody that you are not in your battle alone and if the enemy of your soul has been lying to you or if you've been believing what you thought something was I challenge you right now in an altar before almighty God that you would lay that junk down and say Lord I got it all wrong you didn't save me to hurt me you didn't wash me of my sins Lord to destroy me you didn't take away my addictions and my past hurts and issues God to put me here Lord to suffer and to walk around in the mully Groves as the old-timers go no God you didn't do that but you came that I would have life and more Abundant Life you know what the Persians said about the Spartans how can they stand against what we're throwing at them Spartan simply said this is what I was trained to do this is what I was trained to do come on come on come on this is what I was trained to do and they believed in each other that they would be victorious at the end of the battle the Persians threw everything at them and sparts were still standing there some had died yeah some had yeah when one would fall away what would happen brother van they knew the call they knew this one boo he got hit he's down what do we do no that was never the question tighten up tighten up darts are still coming arrows are still flying Spears are still throwing tighten it up poof bring it in look around you today I I see this every Sunday when I walk in this place and I stand in that corner I look across this beautiful congregation and I said Lord I remember when there was 10 of us now we don't know what to do with everybody parking lots full classrooms are hot and y'all are still coming am I the only one sweating today I don't know if it's something be proud of or not but anyway we're still here does anybody expect the miraculous today I want to know is there anybody that's got a shield that you're willing to bring to this front and connect with somebody close to you say I don't know how I don't know why I don't know when but all I know is this my faith says yes anybody got faith enough today to Simply say I'm stepping out here to believe that I will trust the shield of faith I will believe God to the very end I'm not going to doubt I'm not going to drop it I'm going to continue moving forward in faith unto God I'm going to believe him for the healing I'm going to believe him for the victory I'm going to believe him for the miraculous I'm going to believe him to set it free to make it free to do everything that he's can do come on somebody would you bring it to the front today oh God I don't know how it's going to happen but I do believe you for it Lord my faith says it's enough I trust you for it come on somebody if you've got faith to believe him then trust him enough to to see it all the way through come on believe him enough to see it all the way through come on somebody bring what you've got today to the altar that's right that's right come on I'm going to believe you for it God I'm going to believe you for it Lord you wouldn't leave me by myself I've got the church with me I've got my brothers and sisters with me I've got faith believe you Jesus come on somebody I am not alone I stand with Jesus the church family is with me oh come on that's right get up close to somebody right now pray a prayer of faith God I'm believing with them I'm trusting you Lord with them I'm hoping with them God oh Jesus I'm walking with them Lord uh I'm connected to him Lord we shall see the victory we shall see the victory together oh come on somebody believe for it come on the shield of Faith that's right that's right the shield of faith I believe you for it I believe you for it Lord I trust you for it Jesus I trust you for it Jesus I believe you for it God I am connected Lord Jesus Hallelujah I hold on to the armor of God today I hold to the armor of God today come on get a hold of somebody close to you pray with them let them know you're own God for great things with them