Armor of God | Week 2 | Message

this concept last week. We're gonna pick up from where he left off as we continue that conversation. Ephesians chapter six, we're gonna headquarter in verse 18 to 20, but we're gonna just take a look at verse 10 on this morning. I Before I went to to ministry school,

I went to Indiana University. I just became a believer in Christ at the end of my high school year. My summer, I was trying to decide what to do, and I thought I was gonna go corporate law, business and such. So I I went to Indiana University in Bloomington, Indiana

and as soon as I got to campus started praying, started praying because I I knew I needed the Lord to help me stay strong. And this is gonna shock you. I was actually pretty athletic back then and I was actually in really good shape.

If you're 18 years of age or younger or right around there, be very very careful. This can happen to you. It was 50 ago.

My stomach has moved down from my chest. I used to have really be built and I was fairly athletic and I was in a gymnastics club and such. But I school that freshman year, one of the things I did for fun, I worked out a lot with buddies of mine. And it was a Friday night, I believe, because everybody else that was doing it, they were all out doing other stuff.

And, I lived in Wilkie South Tower. There was a Wilkie North Tower. That was the the the ladies lived in that tower. There were other dorms that were co ed and our gym for the quad was in the North Tower Of Wilkie. And so I I went over there.

As I had said, it was a Friday night. I walked in and there at the counter before you walk into the the room where the weights were at was a a very attractive young lady and she was checking people in. And then there was her friend. They were sitting there talking. And so I Guys, you know exactly what I did. I sucked in my gut. I made my chest pop out and flexing my muscles as I'm kinda going in there. And when I walked into the room, there wasn't anybody else in the room. Was all by myself. And so I was I was working out. And sometimes when you're working out, you feel it and you're just feeling like, man I got power. I don't even know what to do with. And I was I was in the mirrors doing the the stuff with the biceps and I was I was I was feeling it. And I jumped onto the bench press. I was doing free weights.

And I started with a kind of a low amount of weight, and I'm in, I'm just going at it. I'm going, man, I feel so strong tonight. And so I decided to do something that is incredibly foolish. I decided that I was gonna go for a max on my bench press.

If you lift weights, you never do a max without spotters. Right? It's the most you've ever lifted. Usually can only do one rep. I felt it. I felt like there was no amount of weight that I couldn't do and so I I put on I'm sure 450, 500 pounds. It was

other humanly what I put on there I'm sure. And I got on that thing and I started doing the pump up thing and started hitting my face and and you know I did the breathing. You know, I was doing that and I took the weight and I I went.

And it went back down. Let me tell you, if you don't make it the first time, there isn't much of a chance you're gonna make it the second time.

But I did it, man.

And it is now resting on the top of my chest. And I realize in that fateful moment I've got two choices. I can call out for help from those two cute girls that are out by the front desk or I can die and I'm gonna die because there ain't no way I'm calling for help.

And and so what I did is I didn't put the couplings on the weights to hold them on and so I I took the weight and I started moving the one side up and all the weight that was on the one side began to slide down the bar.

It fell onto the floor. The bar flipped over the other way with all the other weight, came down to rest. I jumped up. The girls run-in and I go, I don't know what happened but I'm okay. I'm okay. And I survived. I never told them what happened, know, but I just, I tell you what, I learned something.

Don't overestimate your own strength. And as we're getting into this warfare, as we're talking about the battle that we're in, the secret to victorious living is to first of all, don't overestimate your strength and then secondly, don't underestimate the enemy's strength. We're in a war.

And and while I don't wanna over credit Satan, I don't wanna give him too much credit, he is powerful and he's certainly more powerful than I am in my own strength. And but but I love how we looked at this concept. Don't under utilize everything and all the resources that God has given you for this Christian life.

Now Ephesians chapter six verse 10. Here's where he starts. He says, finally be strong in the Lord and his mighty power. I love where he said, your strength is in the Lord. It's his power. Put on the full armor of God so that you can take your stand against the devil's schemes, trickery. Now that word stand

is actually a military term. It could be a wrestling term but it's mostly a military term where you can imagine digging in and getting ready to take somebody on. And he says I want you to take your stand

against the onslaught of the enemy. And he uses that word four times. He'll say it over and over. Stand, stand, stand. And he says, for our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world,

and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms. Therefore, put on the full armor of God so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to take your stand, to stand your ground. And after you have done everything, to stand. Now stand firm then with the belt

of truth buckled around your waist and with the breastplate of righteousness in place and with your feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace and in addition to all of this, take up the shield of faith which with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one.

Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the spirit which is the word of God. Now if you were to stop right there and you were to go to AI on your search, unless AI has already picked up this message online, that's where it would stop.

If you ask about the armor of God, every other article and certainly AI will say there are only six components to the armor of God. But Paul Paul keeps going. In fact Paul begins to move into a different aspect of our armor and it's called prayer.

And notice what he does in verse 18 through 20. He says, and pray in the spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests. With this in mind, be alert and always keep on praying for all the saints. Pray also for me that whenever I open my mouth, words may be given to me so I will fearlessly

make known the mystery of the gospel for which I am an ambassador in chains. Pray that I may declare it fearlessly as I should. Five times. Five times Paul says pray, pray, give prayers, pray, pray for me, pray. In fact, what's interesting is I look at this. When I when I I'm a hunter.

And a number of years ago, I started hunting in very, very cold weather. Frigid temperatures, 25, 30 below zero in Upper Saskatchewan

with a buddy of mine. First time I went, I didn't have a clue what I was doing and I just put on every piece of clothing I could get and I just froze my tail off. It was terrible. I was miserable out there.

And so my buddy looked at me and he said, Phil, I'm gonna teach you the secret of how to survive in the cold. And he said, first of all, I want you to repeat after me. Cotton kills.

Cotton kills. Don't wear cotton. Don't wear cotton socks. Don't wear cotton t shirts. Don't Don't even wear cotton underwear. He said that cotton when you're moving and when you're out there you'll begin to sweat and that cotton will become saturated

and you actually it's like having wetness against your body. Says you're absolutely gonna you're gonna die. You're gonna freeze. You need to make sure you put on a base layer that is something that is the appropriate base layer and then you work out from there. So he he told me about Under Armour.

Now you probably know what Under Armour is. You live where it's a 100 degrees quite regularly and so there's Under Armor for hot weather but there's actually, it's called cold shield. I I brought a pair. This was the very first pair of cold shield pants that I bought. This is Under Armour and I know exactly what you're thinking. How in the world does this go on this guy's body?

Well the wonderful thing about Under Armour is it stretches wonderfully.

In fact what's interesting, the shirt, it looks like it's three sizes too small. When you put it on it just, first of all it's very slimy. I wear that more often than I think about it. But it's interesting that when you wear this, it literally sucks down against your body and it becomes almost a part of your skin

and that base layer becomes the Under Armour on which you put every other layer of protection. Man when I look at this passage I think what Paul is saying is hey if I can teach you anything about the armor of God first put on the Under Armour. Put on the base layer. Now don't even pray in addition.

Put this into your life because this is a spiritual battle. This is against the authorities of this dark world. He says develop this prayer barrier as a base and then all the other agents of the armor of God will fit right on top. So he begins to take us through this journey. Now I'm just gonna tell you,

I am incredibly intimidated to preach on prayer because I realize that in my life that I feel like I am just a rookie. But I also know that when I hear people talk about prayer, I feel like everybody's a little intimidated because most of us feel like rookies.

So let's just give ourselves a pass for a moment. We're all rookies. We're all learning. Jesus is the master of meeting us where we're at and bringing us to where he wants us to be. So don't don't feel guilty today but take the step that God wants you to take. Now notice he gives us kind of five instructions

on this Under Armour of God. And the first thing that he says in this passage is let him take the lead. And when I say him, it's let the Lord take the lead. But when I'm talking about the Lord, I'm really speaking specifically about the ministry of the Holy Spirit. He says, and pray in the spirit.

Now a lot of us when we see that phrase, we get very intimidated or we're like, man, that's very mystical. What do you mean praying by the spirit? He's saying simply this. Don't just have a list of things you pray for. I do that. I everyday when I pray, I I kinda have a way that I go into prayer. I have a way that I ease myself into prayer. I always just spend time thanking the Lord for rescuing me and dealing with stuff in my life that's probably out of place or maybe there's an attitude or whatever it is. And then I I move into praying for my kids and I pray for my wife and I pray for my family and other things. I have a list.

But then the longer I linger in prayer, either for them or for others, I'll begin to sense the prompting that I need to pray a little differently. Now Paul addresses this a little bit. This thing of being led by the spirit. Back when you were looking at chapter five verse 18. In Ephesians chapter five verse 18 he says,

do not be drunk on wine which leads to debauchery. Debauchery means, I call it stupid living. It basically it's living that'll ruin your life. Hearken back to my days at IU, it's the guys who would be under the influence and run around with underwear in their head or whatever. Know,

that's kinda that picture, right? Every time I read that I go, oh, don't run around with underwear in your head. And he says, when you are under the influence of wine, you will live one way. He says, but rather be filled with the spirit. So what is he saying? Don't be under the influence of a drug,

alcohol, or anything else, but rather be under the influence of the Holy Spirit in your life as a believer. When you came to Christ, might have been through a message or through a friend or maybe a place in your life where you felt an emptiness and there was

a speaking to your heart that helped you to understand you need the Lord. That's the Holy Spirit. When you stepped into a relationship with Christ, that's the Holy Spirit

ushering you across the line. Jesus said flesh gives birth to flesh. You can do in your own strength what you can do in your own strength, but only the spirit can give birth to spirit.

And then as you're starting to grow and you're watching yourself mature, that's the holy spirit. Even the fruit of the spirit, love, joy, peace, all those aspects of the fruit, that's the holy spirit. Well Paul says that the holy spirit actually wants to prompt and guide your life and direct you each day.

But you have to spend a little time listening. And that's hard for guys like me. I'm just mildly attention deficit. I have a hard time. I'm thinking of other things right now. I I'm constantly have things. I'm like the dog that has a squirrel run by. Squirrel, I just My brain is constantly

going from place to place. I have six older sisters. Do you know how hard it is to sit with six older sisters at a meal and they're talking and they're here and I'm a guy. Guys think of one thing at a time and they're constantly all over the place and I and my brain is constantly being

Do do you know there was a study done a number of years ago? I read it. I actually just read it in a psychiatry article. It says that the average attention span of a person in North America has declined. In the year 2000, the average attention span, this is gonna shock you, was twelve seconds. By 2015,

it was down to eight seconds. The average goldfish has an attention span of nine seconds. You have less of an attention span than a goldfish.

But through practice and obedience, you learn to wait on the Lord. I like in it, a number of years ago I was passing through Paris. I I arranged a a two day layover so I could visit a couple of sites with a friend of mine. We were on a missions trip

and went to the Eiffel Tower and didn't quite get up the Eiffel Tower. There was a bomb scare but we at least visited and went to Notre Dame Cathedral and then we I went to the Louvre

and I walked into that famous museum and when you go in there, there's kind of an opening, kind of a courtyard area where people gather. It's like going into any big place. Over to the right, there was like a ticket area. There was a there was a

gift shop. You could get, you know, like a portrait of Mona Lisa or something in a print. And then over here was an information. What's really interesting, in that opening area there were no masterpieces. There was artwork but there was nothing that would be looked at as masterpiece.

To get to the masterpiece, you followed the the little map and you would walk down hallways and corridors and you would go into a side room and then you see on the wall this masterpiece, this priceless work of art. And prayer is a little bit like that. It takes a little time. But

as you practice and you're obedient, it's amazing how the Lord will prompt you to pray and to pray for people you never thought about praying for or praying in a way you never thought about. Number two, the second instruction he gives us is don't just

let him take the lead in prayer but then pray all the time. On all occasions he says. So not just the habit of a time of prayer

but be in prayer all the time and I know that's kinda hard sometimes but what it means is I'm always in the attitude that I'm gonna look to the Lord when I need guidance and direction and bring him into the conversation. Bring him into the situation. Lord, I need wisdom for this moment. Prayer going on in my head right now is Lord, where should I take a turn in this message? And maybe you're sitting across from somebody and there's a conflict beginning to build. As you're going into that conflict, it's simply praying, Lord, give me the right words. Help me to say the right thing. Help me not to say the wrong thing. In fact, Lord, help me to

Sorry, but in Jesus name, help me to learn how to shut up and listen more. That's me.

What do I say to my adult son? What do I offer? What do I not offer? And it's amazing in those situations where he says just keep praying and pray all the time. In fact, are there any parents in the room? You got parents here, grandparents?

How many of you are ever a child? Raise your hand just, you know, you see, making sure you're there. For a parent, the greatest gift that we have to learn how to pray is our kids.

Hunter did such a good job last week. I loved hearing the story of how his dad was teaching him how to drive and his dad's bicep was growing because he was holding on. That's me today.

It's still me today. That was me when I was teaching my kids. It's when my wife drives. I'm like, yeah. I'm just It's it's because I'm out of control. It is not that they're terrible, although some of them, but anyway, but it's just that I I'm out of control and I wanna hold onto that rail.

But let me tell you, every aspect of our children's lives, it's

an opportunity to pray. I remember when my kids were in, before they were ever born, I was praying, Lord help them to be okay. Help them to be healthy. Help them to have their fingers and their toes. And I remember when they first came into the world, I remember thinking, Lord please help them take a breath.

My oldest grandchild, I remember getting a text. Dad, pray. We can't get him to breathe. And for the next minute, we're waiting to hear, is he breathing? As our children came out I said, God please help them to look like their mom. Although they did have my hairstyle, they had that so.

Get them on the school bus. Lord they look so little. You have to a little backpack. They go to middle school. Oh God protect them from all these other criminal children.

Learning how to drive and then I remember my daughter driving out of the driveway and it was such a sinking in my stomach as she pulled out of our driveway in her little Honda Accord. And I'm serious. I just said, Lord, please, please bring her home safely.

Or they go to the prom, God forbid. And then they go to college and no, they're no longer local. And and if you have any teenagers and people laugh about it all the time saying, you know, we need to pray for you. Nobody prepared my wife and I for young adulthood. Nobody told us how hard it would be

because I'm no longer at a place where I can even ground them. And your daughter is halfway across the country, a four hour plane ride, and she calls crying and she's in the middle of a crisis and I can't do anything except listen and pray.

He says just keep praying. Because praying is an act of faith by which I'm bringing God into the conversation every single moment. And then he says, and pray really specifically.

Notice in this passage what he says. He says, and pray on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests. Prayers and requests. Prayers is a general word for prayer. It's kinda like general, just general prayer. It's

the stuff we pray every day for people. It's general. But then he says, and requests and requests is a more specific prayer. If you want specific answers, you've gotta pray specifically. And then he even in other passages he says, and not just requests but petitions. Think about that.

I'm petitioning God. It means I'm coming before him over and over on behalf of a specific thing, and I'm asking God to move in that way. Being led by the spirit, by the way, so it's not out of just selfish ambition.

I'm really trying to pray because God's put this on my heart. And then he says in thanksgiving, why? Because he wants us to close the circle and he says listen, if it's big enough to pray for, it ought to be big enough to praise God for when he answers the prayer.

And those prayers of specificity, sometimes I I'm gonna be honest. I don't pray specifically because I don't wanna be disappointed.

And I'm a pastor and I'm supposed to be spiritual and I'm supposed to give God the glory. And so because I'm supposed to give God the glory, I pray really general so that I can generally give God all the credit. But honestly, sometimes my faith lags enough that I don't get real specific

because I don't wanna be disappointed if he doesn't answer.

And not only specific, but multi dimensional prayer. Because we tend to pray very two dimensionally for the here and the now and the physical. I'm a Star Trek fan. Found out pastor Bill's a Star Trek fan. Is anybody a Trekkie? You like Star Trek? Any of you? Oh, you are a very ungodly group.

Man, we ought to stop for prayer right now. Seriously? None of you? Come on, be honest. You don't like Three people. I'm so excited.

Okay. Well this is gonna be lost on you but I wanted to kinda tell this. My I'm an old school Trekkie. I like the original series. I like the new stuff too. I like the new movies. The new new stuff that's on streaming and stuff I just can't keep up with But I love the original movies back in the mid 80s when they came out it was just like wow, blew my mind. It was so cool and it was William

Shatner, he was original. James T. Kirk, guess before the pilot, the pilot was a different guy. But you have James T. Kirk and then you Spock who's Leonard Nimoy. He is Spock. And they were fighting a villain, a genetic engineered prince called Khan, the wrath of Khan. Karto

Monteban was his name. You know he was this incredible villain and they were fighting. One had a ship and the enterprise was coming against him and they were trying to figure out and to somehow, they couldn't outmaneuver this guy. This guy was too good And so they got into this nebula. The nebula was a place where none of their their electronics

worked. None of the screens worked. Was just mano y mano. It was just ship against ship. And they're trying to figure out where the enemy is gonna attack from and how they're supposed to attack. And Spock, who is this intellectual, he looks at Captain Kirk and he says, Captain, he said, he is quite intelligent.

But he's very unpracticed. His strategy tends to be two dimensional.

So Captain Kirk looks at him and instead of taking his ship this direction or this direction or this direction, he takes his ship and simply goes down. And Con shows up and Kurt comes up from behind and blasts him.

We tend to be very two dimensional in our prayer life. Physical, physical healing, financial, provision. That's not wrong but it's very two dimensional. We're fighting in a spiritual war.

Paul says, when I pray for you, Ephesians chapter one, I am praying that you would have the spirit of wisdom and revelation. Think about that. That you may know him better. Imagine that. I'm praying for a divine insight so that you might actually know Christ better. I'm praying that you will understand

the incredible riches that you have in your inheritance. I'm praying. He's praying completely multi dimensional. And if we pray in the physical, right, we see the answers in the natural. But when we're praying in the supernatural, when we're praying on that level, we're gonna see eternal stuff. We're gonna see baptisms

multiplied. We're gonna see lives coming to Christ. And in fact physically things may not happen the way I want it to happen but spiritually things are happening on the eternal. He says I want you to pray specifically and multi dimensionally. And oh by the way, I want you to have permission. Just keep on praying.

Just keep praying and praying and praying. He says he says keep praying for all the saints. Keep praying. Say that with me would you? Keep praying. Say it again one more time. Ready? Keep praying. Look at somebody near you and say keep praying. Ready? Keep praying.

I had a person one time invest a seed in me that really messed me up for years because he said, Phil, he said, when you pray, he said, leave it with God. Don't ask. Don't keep asking because in asking over and over, you're not trusting God. You need to have faith. Just leave it with him. And that sounds incredibly

spiritual, but it's completely unbiblical. Ever have that happen? Somebody said something that sounds incredibly spiritual, but it's completely unbiblical because Jesus himself gave a parable in Luke chapter 18.

And it says at the very beginning of it, Jesus taught this to his disciples so that they would keep praying and not become discouraged. Another translation says, they would keep praying and not give up. And he tells the story of the persist of the widow

who goes before a judge and it says the judge is an ungodly judge. He doesn't fear God. He doesn't fear men. It means he's not scared of anybody and doesn't do anything for anybody. Doesn't care. And she came, the widow who is the weakest in her society, came before the judge and said, I need

you to give me a ruling against my adversary, against my enemy, and the judge gave her no mind. But she kept coming, and she kept coming, and she kept coming, and she kept coming. And it's interesting. The judge says,

I'm gonna give her what she wants because if I don't give her what she wants, even though I don't fear God and I don't care about men, she's gonna wear me out.

And he said, if an unrighteous judge would give you that kind of an answer, how much more will the righteous God give to those who seek? So keep coming and keep coming and keep coming and don't give up. Mom and dad, don't give up. Don't give up on the prodigal. Grandma and grandpa, don't give up on the grandkids.

Godly spouse, don't give up on your spouse. Coworker, don't give up on your coworker. Best friend, don't give up. Don't give up on your friend. When I was at IU, I needed to find a group of believers that would help hold me steady. I knew I needed it

And I found a group, I think it was called Christian Life Fellowship, and one of the leaders of the group, his name was Pete Zoll. Pete was a missionary to the campus. And Pete told the story of how back in the seventies, I went to school in the eighties,

he was the worst of worst. He said, my mom and dad were both believers. My dad passed away when I was young. He said, I was a nightmare. Broke my mom's heart. She prayed for me on and on. He said, I was left over from the hippie movement. He said, I had the hair. I had the attitude.

I had the clothes. I did the drugs. He said, I did every drug you can even imagine. Alcohol was there but it was the least of the problem. He said, I had so many sexual partners. He said, frankly it's embarrassing.

My mom would pray for me. I'd come home. My mom would be praying for me. I'd visit. My mom would be praying for me. He said, my mom passed away. Three years later, God got ahold of me and transformed my life. Then Pete said something that has changed my whole perspective on prayer. He said, God answered my mom's prayer

even after she was gone.

Did you ever think that your prayers don't end with you?

Prayers go up before the eternal God and they don't end until he has either dealt with it or he has faded away or he's forgotten about it and he'll never fade away and he'll never forget about it. And it's interesting, Revelation chapter five verse eight to nine. Check it out.

There's a vision in heaven. There's the lamb of God. There's the 24 elders. There's the four living creatures. They are worshiping the lamb and they are coming before him and it says they are holding the golden bowl of incense which contain the prayers of the saints. Saints are not super spiritual

Christians. Saints are anyone who is in a relationship with Jesus Christ. First Corinthians chapter one.

And it's the image that when I pray my prayers until God deals with them go into this little I mean I have this Imagine and they last as long as God lasts. So even beyond you're gone, even before your even beyond your physical life, God is still answering prayer. Don't give up.

And then the final thing that he tells us to do is to pray for boldness,

confidence, and courage. Notice what he says.

Keep on praying and pray also for me so that whenever I open my mouth words may be given so that I will fearlessly make known the mystery of the gospel. Pray that I may declare it fearlessly. Now I don't know what you think of Paul when you're reading scripture but if I ever think of anybody who is bold and unashamed,

it's Paul. But what Paul is saying is, listen, you may not think that I ever deal with a little fear, but I do.

When I go into hostile areas and I need to boldly proclaim Christ, you don't think that I don't wanna stick my hand in the fan and get hurt again? You think I don't wanna get stoned again? You think I don't wanna be shipwrecked or whipped?

Pray for me. Pray for me that I'm not afraid of people. Not that I'm a jerk. Not that I'm offensive. Just simply that I will say what needs to be said in the moment it needs to be said. By the way he prayed for believers that way. He said I pray

that God through his glorious riches would strengthen you and your inner being. Did you ever think about praying for your family for them to have strength in their inner being? That your kids would have the confidence to stand out in high school? To actually stand against the tide, that you and your workplace,

when God opens up the opportunity, Lord, help me to have courage. Not offensive, but help me to step in boldly to the opportunities you give me to speak to the person that you've put into my life. Pray for me.

How do you pray for pastor Bill? How do you pray for the leadership team? How do you pray for your elders here at Rock Point? Pray that they would have boldness, courage, and fearlessness.

Pray. Let them take the lead. In every occasion, just keep on praying specifically, multi dimensionally.

Keep praying

for courage, boldness.

My tenth wedding anniversary, my wife and I were going to Nashville. We lived in North Central Indiana. We decided to drive down to Nashville, Tennessee for three day getaway. I'll be honest, we didn't have much. We had three kids. I did not make much in a salary. We we were driving a car that was given to us.

It was given to me by a guy in ministry. He came in on a Sunday night and said, the Lord told me to give you our car. Do you know how poor you are when a preacher has to give you a car?

It had a quarter million miles on it. It was actually a pretty nice car. It was a Park Avenue, but it was it was past its prime. We were on our way to Nashville, and about 70 miles from home, we were on Highway 31, and the light, the dreaded light, came on the dashboard.

All power was gone. Couldn't steer it, so I put I put it in neutral, and I I moved the key so that I could at least coast. And I coasted about a quarter mile or so to an off ramp, and on the off ramp I got down some speed and coasted into a church parking lot just outside Mexico, Indiana. My immediate thought was, oh God,

do you even care? We got three days. This is the last, I mean we never get away. Got out the car, walked into the church. Church happened to be open, was cool. Pastor was there, and his secretary, I said, told him what happened. This is our anniversary.

I said, you don't happen to have anybody who can work on cars that you know? And they go, actually, yeah. Leroy. Leroy's got a garage right here in Mexico. He's got a tow truck. Really good guy. Comes to our church. We'll call him.

So they call him. He comes down. And when he's hooking up my car, I said, hi. He says, hi. My name's Leroy. I said, hi. My name's Phil. And he looked at me and I now that I think about it, he gave me a double take. Just kind of a double take like, oh.

Got us into the service station and he said, hey. It's gonna be a little while. He said, why don't you take my car? He says, you know, it's your anniversary. Go down to go to Peru. They said drive into Peru. Peru. Peru, Indiana. There's a Mexico, Indiana. A Peru, Indiana. There's a Brazil, Indiana.

So we went to this little dive and we're having lunch together. Oh God, in my heart I'm thinking, God, I am so frustrated at you. You have no idea where we're at. You know, we've been pouring ourselves out and we've got little kids and this is our one time to get away. Do you even know where I'm at? I just remember the attitude of it. And we waited for two and a half hours and then we went back. And when we got there, he came out and he says, well,

I've got some good news and bad news. The good news is I got it running and he said it should get you home. But he said, honestly I wouldn't take this down to Nashville. He told me what was wrong with it. He said, this is gonna go.

God.

He said, you don't know who I am, do you? Yeah, you're Leroy. He said, three years ago at Promise Keepers in Indianapolis at the RCA Dome, Pastor was giving the message and he said, those of you guys who are ready to give up, you're discouraged in your faith.

If you need somebody to pray for you, would you stand? He said, I stood and you were sitting just over from me and you brought a team of guys over and you laid hands on me and you began to pray over me.

And he said, I'm doing so much better now. I've never forgot that moment when you guys were pouring into me. And he said, I wanted so bad to bless you and to fix your car.

Took the car back. My mom actually met us and we exchanged cars. She lived in the general area where we were at. In the back seat of the car there was a gift bag. They had filled it with all kinds of stuff. Gift cards and cards and wrote cards to us for our anniversary. I just felt so small in that moment because here

I thought God didn't possibly know anything about Phil Whetstone. And God in a state of 7,000,000 people in a crowd of 75,000 men in a town of 1,000 people 70 miles from home, he already had an answer that I would have never been fast enough, smart enough, or creative enough to come up with on my own.

And you're saying what's that got to do with prayer? Just simply this. If you think the arm of the Lord is too short to bring about what you need to be brought about,

you need to discover the God of scripture who has ways of working you never imagined. So keep praying. Keep praying. Keep praying. Would you pray with me? Father, as we come before you this morning, Jesus, I'm reminded

It's the prayer that says that I wanna be your child. I I come to you heavenly father through Jesus Christ your son and his work on the cross and I can't do that unless I've accepted Christ as the one who has died for my sins.

And maybe you saw the the baptisms taking place and those who joyously were making an outward confession of what God was doing in their heart and you said, I want that.

So in this moment Lord I don't know everything that we're talking about. I don't understand everything but I know enough to know that Jesus you really lived and you really died for my sins and you really rose from the dead. You really are able to forgive my sins. And so I'm asking you would you come into my life and awaken

faith within me.

And make me the man of God, the woman of God that you want me to be. I want to be able to come before you in faith. So in faith I accept you as my savior this morning.

And maybe you're here and you've been disappointed and you've stopped reaching out to the Lord because you were just didn't wanna be disappointed anymore. Forgive me Lord when I've had that kind of an attitude today. I wanna reengage

and some of you right now are having people come to your mind that you haven't thought of for a long time, but God's beginning to prompt you not just to reach out to them but to pray for them.

We're in a battle.

And Lord, I'm so grateful that it doesn't tell us to be strong in our own power, but to be strong in your mighty power. So do it only you can. Work as only you will.

Show up as only you can.

We pray that in Jesus' name. Amen. Amen. Hey. Thanks for joining us for service online this weekend. Be sure to follow us on our Rock Point social media to stay connected throughout the week and see what's happening here at Rock Point.