SUNDAY (LIVE) - Jan 18, 2026 | Ephesians 6:14-18 - Shelter

Notice that when Paul talks about the shield of faith, he adds on quite a bit of information in all circumstances. The King James version translates that same Greek word above all. It's easily translate. It's easy like, hey, really focus in on this one. Above all, in all circumstances, take up the shield of faith. Why? Because you need to extinguish the fiery darts of the evil one. Maybe it's most important. Maybe it's not. But I know it's very important. [00:38:50] (41 seconds)  #DontLetDartsDefineYou

But what Paul would know is something that the Romans invented. The use of the shield is called the testudo. And the testudo was a formation that the Roman army actually invented so that you could move forward and your entire crew was protected. And if you watch movies nowadays, they'll actually, when they look at ancient warfare, you'll almost always see somebody doing a testudo because it's that famous. And so here is the old picture, a painting of the Roman army in their testudo. Notice, everything's protected. But what's required to do a testudo? Somebody else. You can't do it by yourself. You need a crew. [00:41:11] (53 seconds)  #ShieldTogether

``So Christianity is personal, but it's never private. And we miss it. Most of the yous in the New Testament are plural. So they could it'd be it'd be like you all. They should almost all be y'all because we're a body of Christ. We're not just an individual of Christ. It's the body of Christ. Personal, but never private. [00:42:03] (26 seconds)  #PersonalButNotPrivate

And you can be as strong as an Elisha or Elijah, I should say. Bold, prophetic, powerful Elijah who marches into wicked king Ahab's palace, confronts him on his sin, and says to him to his face, by my word, it will not rain for three and a half years, and it doesn't. As bold. And then go up on Mount Carmel, one against 450 prophets above all, and he wins. [00:42:29] (34 seconds)  #NoMoreTears

first king 19 comes for you, where Elijah is all by himself. He is in such depression that he wants to die. Stuck in a cave telling God, I'm all by myself. God's divine cure for Elijah? Go get a buddy. Go get Elisha. You can't be by yourself. This is starting to grind you down. It's not good to be by yourself. You need somebody else. You need a test pseudo. That's what you need. [00:43:05] (31 seconds)  #GetYourElisha

It's not by reason. It's not by the tools of this world. The way that you and I are to translate this world, the way that we'd walk it out is by this thing, this sixth sense that God has given to you and me called faith. That is the shield of faith. It's a sixth sense. It's how we make sense of the world that we live in. We keep lifting up this thing called the shield of faith. And why do we need that shield of faith? [00:48:43] (32 seconds)  #FaithIsOurSixthSense

And we just look one page more. The first boy born, Cain, has this crouching beast that starts to take flaming darts of anger and envy and murder and shoots them at Cain, and they find their mark, and he murders his brother. And then page six, the world is cast into mad max. Everyone is wicked at that point. God says, I gotta start over, except for with Noah and his family, [00:49:54] (29 seconds)  #UnexpectedSorrow

I think that there's darts that come at us, flaming darts that come at you and me that Satan loves to use to get us to trip up, to get us to interpret the world incorrectly. I'll just give you some examples. How about unanswered prayers? Is that a flaming dart of the enemy? Anyone ever pray, pray, pray, pray, and there's no answer, so the answer is no then? Ever happened to you? [00:50:52] (27 seconds)  #TappedIntoSuffering

Ever felt that way? You're pleading, falling on your face, very sorrowful, maybe even on death, praying for something and pleading. Maybe it's for your marriage. Maybe it's for your daughter. Maybe it's for your son. Maybe it's for somebody sick. It's unanswered. The answer is no. It happens anyway. They get sick. They die. They're hurt. They disappear. Ever had that happen? Happened to Jesus, God in the flesh. It happened to him. [00:53:17] (37 seconds)  #UnansweredPrayer

But the old testament never predicted the garden of agony. Nowhere in the old testament does it predict what g what happened to Jesus in Matthew 26 verse 38. Nowhere. And Jesus was full of surprises. No. I don't need the bottle. I'll walk. Thank you very much. Washing his disciples feet, hanging out with the wrong people, publicans and and prostitutes and tax collectors. Saying the first shall be last and the last shall he was full of surprises. But the old testament never predicted the shock of Matthew 26 verse 38. God the son, sorrowful unto death, would plead with the father, and the father would say no. Unanswered prayer. [00:54:15] (53 seconds)  #CrossWasNecessary

What would have happened if the father had answered the prayers of the son? If the cross doesn't occur, we're doomed. The chaos monster is not crushed. The kingdom of darkness is undefeated. Evil rules. That's what happens. [00:56:25] (32 seconds)  #BeBoldLikeElijah

How about this flaming dart? Suffering. Can suffering take out people's faith? Burn them up? Oh, yeah. And we live in a world that just seems like it has no end to suffering. Tons and tons of suffering. Spouses cheat on each other. Tons of suffering. Cancer, suffering. Diseases, suffering. Parents losing kids, suffering. Brothers that die too young, suffering. [00:57:34] (30 seconds)  #FlamingDartsOfLife

And we are tapped into suffering today like no other generation has been able to because of the Internet and because of phones. And I've said this, the the human soul was not designed to handle the world's pain. So we're tapped into it. So what do we do? You read the Bible from Genesis three all the way to Revelation 20, it's just suffering. [00:58:11] (23 seconds)  #TrustLikeJoseph

So question number one, is suffering part of God's plan? So God before creation, did God sit up, have a conversation with Trinity? You know what? We need to create a lot of suffering because that's part of our plan. Did he sit up there and say that? Here's my understanding of scripture. There are only four chapters that are God's plan. Genesis one, Genesis two, Revelation 21, Revelation 22. The middle 1,185 chapters. Nope. [00:59:03] (37 seconds)  #GodDoesntNeedSuffering

So does God need suffering? No. God doesn't need anything to accomplish his plans. God is not like, man, I really gotta have No. God is totally self sufficient. He does not need suffering to do his plan. He can go completely without it. Now, can god use suffering that is not cause? Yes, he can, but he does not require it to get something. Always keep that in mind. He doesn't need it. God needs nothing. He is self sufficient. He can accomplish his plans on his own. [00:59:39] (30 seconds)  #BelieversNotPunished

So let me clarify. Some suffering is because people are stupid. Most of that begins with, dude, I got an idea. Here, hold my beer. Just not dial 911 right then. So we're not talking about that. K? That's not what we're questioning here. Right? It's does God punish the believer in Jesus Christ for sin? No. He took the chastisement you and I deserve on the cross for our sins. Read the bible. He took it. So, absolutely not. [01:00:18] (52 seconds)  #AboveAllShieldUp

Paul says, you gotta put this with the shield of faith. These light, temporary affliction afflictions. They're preparing for you and me an exceeding great weight of glory that will last for eternity. That's the shield of faith on suffering. It's just boot camp. We graduate. [01:05:32] (19 seconds)  #KeepLiftingYourShield

We graduate. And every tear is wiped away. That's what God wants for us. Read Revelation twenty one and twenty, how the how the whole thing ends. No death, no disease, no tears. Everything that is suffering in Revelation 21, gone. No more. Because that's God's plan. That's where God wants to take us. Shield the faith. [01:05:50] (23 seconds)  #AfflictionsAreBootcamp

It happened to Joseph, the favorite son of Jacob, pampered him, Gave him a fancy coat, the coat of many colors. So he's wearing Armani when all the brothers are wearing Carhartts. Send a real simple message. You guys work, he doesn't. Just spoiling the kid. And so the 10 brothers, they hate Joseph. Has these visions and these dreams and always talking about how great he is. They were mad at him. So he comes out one time and meets the brothers in Dothan. And they grab him, and they strip him of his coat, and they throw him in a pit. And Joseph cries and prays, god, save me. Send fiery chariots to save me. And no fiery chariots come. [01:08:33] (49 seconds)  #EnvyDestroys

It's we take up the shield of faith in every circumstance where you're weak, where you know there's a vulnerability, in circumstances you realize, this is a stronghold of the enemy, you get your shield of faith up. You interpret the circumstances not with sight, but by faith, by God's word. You cling to the promises of God's word, and you extinguish the fiery darts of the enemy. Maybe the most important one. Shield the faith. [01:14:57] (33 seconds)  #RaiseYourShield