Weapons of Warfare

206 sometimes it feels dark but I am very grateful for the light that comes.

Streaming across the shadowy night. 206. Good to be with you all again tonight. We.

Have a good evening plan so I'm excited about that. First we'll have Daniel Lapp share and then Marlon Stolzfus will have the children's class. We'll take an.

Offering. And then we'll hear from brother Dean. So good evening. I am very excited to be here tonight. I've really been enjoying your talks Dean. And devotionals have been amazing. And the children's lessons also.

Really good. And it's just going together really. Well since it's winter Bible school and I'm a teacher I'm going to follow my normal school format which is about 10 review about 50 content. Sometimes I go a little long with the content and then about 40 application or homework.

So we need to start with review. Since I am. Well the first the first thing I'm going to review is I'm asked questions on the devotionals and then the children's lesson. I'm gonna need children to answer for that.

And then Dean I'll let you review yours like you normally do. So first I'm going to start with the devotionals and anyone can answer it. But Sunday night Sam Stolzfus spoke. And what was the title. Or what did he refer God to in that in his talk.

Can someone shout it out Alpha and Omega. Amen. Yes he's forever. Monday night Ira spoke. And what was that night. The Chief Shepherd. Good. Tuesday night was. Was that the bread of life. Yes. Yes. And now for the children's topics I need someone at least under 20 and I'm very good at cold calling because I'm a teacher I can learn.

I can cool call if I need to. So 20 and under the first night who was it. And what was it about. Actually just tell me what it was about. Yes. Light of the world. He brought up his flashlight and everyone could see him.

The second night do you need a hint. He brought up a gun. That helps anything. Second night anybody. All right. Parents. Was that. No. The second night it was. What was that. Yeah. More. Mm-hmm. It was.

Yes. The Bible was sharper than any two-edged sword. Remember. He brought up a gun. And then the third night was Andy. He came up in a blue coat. One of the children again. Maybe I'll pick one of my students.

Alana. Do you remember. Yeah. And do you remember what it was about. Cheerful obedience. Right. Remember the smiley face that came up and 100 Yes. All right. Thank you. It's a great way to start because it gets everyone involved and everyone is paying attention.

I feel a little bit nervous being up here because I am at least four times to five times younger than some of the people sitting on this bench here. So they have a lot more life experience than me. But I think if anyone can learn anything from anyone if they humble themselves and look let the Holy Spirit lead them.

So I'm going to speak on Revelation 5. Apparently that is Dean's favorite passage. And I'm going to speak about the line of the tribe of Judah. This is a symbol of Jesus. But before I turn to Revelation I'm going to turn to Genesis 49 because this is actually fulfillment of prophecy.

Genesis 49 verse 8 it goes like this. I'll just start by reading it give you some time to turn there. And this is Jacob. He's talking to his sons and giving them blessings. And when he got to Judah he said this.

Judah thou art he whom thy brethren shall praise. Thy hand shall be in the neck of thine enemies. Thy father's children shall bow down before thee. Judah is a lion's whelp or a cub from the prey. My son thou art gone up.

He stooped down he crouched as a lion and as and as an old lion who shall rouse him. Who shall rouse him up. The scepter shall never depart from thee Judah nor a lawgiver from between his feet until Shiloh come and unto him shall the gathering of the people be.

And I want to stop there. So this is a prophecy that the scepter shall never depart from Judah. And the Jews expected this to happen. And then we know that David was from the line of Judah and the kingdom split and Rehoboam and Jeroboam went off and the line followed.

The the two two of the twelve tribes obeyed Rehoboam. I think it is I might get mixed up either way. Two of them obeyed and then they called themselves Judah and the capital was Jerusalem. And then we know that eventually David's line was lost and they were conquered by the Babylonians.

And the Jews awaited the return of a Messiah to come as a lion and a king to sit on the throne. And the Jews still wait for that. And in Revelation 5 it speaks of the time that both the Jews will recognize Jesus as Jesus as the Messiah and we will also again recognize Jesus as a Messiah.

So Revelation 5 you can turn there. And I want to start in verse 1 and I saw at the right hand of him that sat on the throne a book written with within and on the backside sealed with seven seals. And I saw a strong angel proclaiming with a loud voice who is worthy to open the book and to loose the seals thereof.

And no man in heaven nor in earth neither under the earth was able to open the book neither to look thereon. And this is John writing at least that's what we think. And I wept much because no man was found worthy to open and to read the book neither to look thereon.

Now I don't know what your translation says but some translations say that John cried out with a loud wailing. And in some other translations it said he wept and wept. It makes it very clear that he was in strong anguish.

And I picture him falling on the floor and weeping. This is kind of kind of crazy. Probably one of the most dramatic scenes ever in the history of the earth or will be in the history of the earth. No one can open the book.

Is Christianity. A lie is that what John was thinking. No one could open it. And then and then I beheld wait. And one of the elders saith unto me weep not behold the lion of the tribe of Judah the root of David hath prevailed to open the book and to loose the seven seals thereof.

And there was great rejoicing in that moment. And I'm sure John I picture him lying on the ground with his face down weeping. And the elder says the lion of the tribe of Judah. I'm sure John pictured a majestic lion.

And we know the passage before that it talks about a lion with wings. And so it's probably this majestic being that John pictured. And as he was standing up he probably was figuring he would see a lion on the throne.

And let's think about what a lion is and how it compares to Jesus. A lion is bold. Right. Sort of. And majestic. It's the king of all the animals. If you would describe a king with any word or any animal what would it be.

Probably a lion. Right. Everyone fears a lion. And the lion is afraid of nothing. Isaiah 31 for you. Isaiah 31. For I'm taking this out of context. But it's what the Bible says about lions. So it can work in this situation.

For thus the Lord said to me as a lion or a young lion growls over his prey. And when a band of shepherds is called out against him he is not terrified by the shouting or don't or daunted by their noise.

So the lion is not afraid of anything. What a perfect example for Jesus. Right. Jesus is the lion of the tribe of Judah. But John was imagined this as he's coming up from the ground from weeping. He's managing to see this line sitting on the throne.

But what does he see instead. Instead let's read in verse 6. And I beheld and lo in the midst of the throne of the four beasts and in the midst of the elders stood a lamb as it had been slain. The paradox in that is amazing.

Right. A lamb instead of a lion having seven horns and seven eyes which are the seven spirits of God. And he came and took the book out of the right hand of him that sat upon the throne. And when he had taken the book the four beasts and the four and twenty elders fell down before the lamb having every one of them harps and golden veils full of odors which are the prayer of the Saints.

And they sung a new song saying thou are worthy to take the book and to open the seals. Open the seals for thou was slain and has redeemed us to God by the blood out of every kindred and the tongue and every people in every nation.

And now has made us made unto us our gods and kings priests and we shall reign on the earth. So instead of a lion he saw a lamb as it had been slain. Complete opposite in some cases. But it's not I think this moment to hit John harder than ever before but the Messiah.

So I think it just hit John. It's gonna hit all the Jews when they see this too. The Messiah is a majestic lion but he appeared as a lamb on earth. He came as a lamb. Jesus is the long-awaited king of the Jews.

But it isn't his fierceness or force or his power that makes him worthy while that does make him worthy. The reason the lion has triumphed is because he is a lamb. Jesus is worthy because he was perfect and then was slain like a sheep on the altar for the sins of the world.

And all of God's people say amen. Yes that's amazing. That is amazing. So how do I apply this passage to my life. How do I apply this to my life. Well I want you to write these three words down because there's an interesting study that I was reading about in the Forbes magazine so take it or leave it.

But it's a Harvard study and it says this. A person is 70 more likely to complete a goal if he writes it down. So I want you to write these three words down on the paper. 42 more likely to remember if you write down notes for a test instead of using already printed ones given by the teacher.

And this is interesting. 23 more likely to remember if he hand writes notes instead of types it. I have to call out Wayne Allguy last night when Dean put up his scar picture on the projector. I saw Wayne take a picture of it on his phone.

So I guess he was writing it down and remembering it but he was doing himself a disservice by not writing it down. Right. Well I didn't do either. So yeah I didn't really help out much either. But the three words are rejoice remember and return.

So give a little bit of space in between each because I have a little bit of homework for you as I leave. So each one I'm gonna come up with a sentence. Each one I want you to come up with a sentence to of how you can apply it to your life.

So rejoice rejoice and praise the Lord for Jesus is worthy. And Jesus has come as a lamb for our sins. Remember. Remember that Christ is the lion and the lamb return. Get ready. The Lord is going to return as a lion of the tribe of Judah.

And every knee will bow. I want to close with my favorite passage Philippians 2 6 to 11. Who being in the form of God thought it not robbery to be equal with God but him made himself of no reputation.

And took upon him the form of a servant and was made in the likeness of men. And being found in fashion as a man he humbled himself and became obedient unto death even the death of a cross. Wherefore God hath highly exalted him and given him a name which is above every name that at the name of Jesus every knee shall bow of things in heaven and things in earth and things under the earth and that every tongue shall confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father.

Can't wait for that moment and for that day all right. So I have I'm gonna invite the children up. So all the children come up and fill in with these two benches. And as they're coming up you can write your sentences using those three words.

Children come up all. Right. Good evening. Who knows what this is.

Anybody know what this is. This is a fishing line or something similar to a fishing line. This is for ice fishing. So tonight we're gonna go ice fishing if we can get everything hooked up. So funding about ice fishing.

Is you. How do you think we. You drill a hole come on a clip. There we go. You drill a hole in the ice and then you put this hook on and you drop it down into the ice. We're gonna pretend that this is the top of the ice.

Okay so we drop that down just like that and then we set this just like that and then we walk away now. Does anybody see anything wrong with this setup. Can you see my hook. Do you think I'll catch anything without any bait on there.

Nope. I won't catch anything without any bait. So we're gonna put some bait on now. Normally I like to use live minnows but I didn't want to bring live bait in here. So we use this tonight. So we're gonna hook this up and we're gonna go fishing for bass.

Okay so we're gonna hook this up like this and we drop it down the ice and that minnow. Whoops. That minnow is down there swimming around and it looks like a lie swimming around just like this. And the bass comes along and he sees this wounded minnow that can't really get anywhere and he says I'm gonna get an easy meal.

That's not a good idea. So he comes in there and he nibbles on it just oh by the way I'm ice fishing. I'll be I'll be sitting over there because usually you have more of these out so you're waiting for it to bite.

So he'll come over and he says I'm gonna get an easy meal. He takes a little bite can't find a string. Takes a little nibble. Whoops. He's caught now I'm over there. He's not caught yet. Sorry. This lets me know that there is a fish at the other end.

He took that bite and they took another bite. So he's going after the easy meal. Remember this is a children lesson about the Bible. So instead of being instead of he's going after the easiest things in life instead of going out working with hard things.

What are some of the easiest things that you can do. Or some of the hardest things that you need you need to do. Sometimes you like to always make your bed in the morning. No that's a hard thing. But you know yes I thought we have to pause it and when we get home we have to clean up as fast as we can because it's always so exhausting and it's hard because when we're all working together sometimes we get in each other's way trying to pick up the same thing.

So the easy thing would be just go to bed right. But that's what this fish did. He went after the easy thing and he triggered this and let me know. Hey there's a fish on the end so I quick go over and I jerk it and boom I got a fish on the end and I quick bring it in all.

Right. Then I take him off and now I'm gonna put it back in and we're gonna set it up again but this time we're gonna go after a different fish. We're gonna put it down on the bottom right on the mud for a catfish.

And while I'm waiting for that catfish actually I need something out here while I'm waiting for that catfish to come in I'm gonna go after a different fish. I'm gonna drill another hole in the ice and I'm gonna go after a different fish with this sometimes ice fishing gets boring because nothing's happening.

So you decide you know what I'm gonna use this now I'm gonna go after. Does anybody know what this is for what. Actually not this one. Well maybe a little bit but this one is actually this is a flashy thing this one here you drill hole in the ice and you drop it down in there and then you do like this and you make it flash around and I'm fishing for pike with this one.

Because pike like flashy things they don't really necessarily they get upset it when you're seeing rattles in there and it's jiggling around in there and it's flashing they actually just kind of come up and just lash out it because they're upset at it.

They're like that's enough of that need to grab it. And what's when a pike gets hold of that thing. It does this very fast because they grab it and then they take off because they realize a mistake they made.

Whoops. And that's for us that is like going after the flashy things of the world. We're after the latest and greatest we're trying to always do have the best. Instead of focusing on Jesus we're focusing on self all right now.

I got the pike so I get done pulling this one in things are pretty nasty all right now remember that this one here we're trying to go for a catfish. Does anyone know what a catfish does. The catfish they like to live in the mud.

So they're down there in the mud. They're minding their own business. They got their head in the mud. They're swimming around. They get sucking everything up from the bottom and all sudden he comes across this little my minnow and he sticks his mouth.

Hmm that's kind of a good bite at the trigger a little bit too quick. That's about half a good bite. So he bites a little bit harder and all sudden flag goes up. Now I know there's something on there.

So I come over and I quick jerk it. And I got another fish. This time I got a catfish off the bottom who likes to live in the mud. And the mud is for us is like the world we can choose to either follow Jesus or we can choose to live with our live for self with our with our totally consumed covered in mud just going through this world not really caring about the things of God.

So which fish do you want it. Which one of these fish you want to be. You want to be the bass that goes after the easy bite. The easy fish. You want to be the pike that goes after the flashy things. Or do you want to be the catfish that goes after sucking things out of the mud.

None of them all right. So I'm gonna read three verses. So the catfish is like being in the mud. The mud is the world that's the things that the world is trying to give us is coming out of the mud. And Jesus made it very clear in Luke 16 13.

He said no servant can serve two masters. For either he will hate the one and love the other or else he will hold to the one and despise the other. We cannot serve God and mammon. The catfish cannot eat mud and live.

I mean and and the bait all right. And then the bass they like to eat the easy things instead of going. You know they saw that Fisher. He saw a Fisher. It can't go anywhere. So you go up and take it takes a nibble.

He just he just wants to the easy things in life. You don't want to do the any of the hard things. And that's very similar to Moses who knows the story of Moses. Everybody here know the story of Moses.

Did you know that Moses was probably in the line to be the next Pharaoh. And what did he choose instead. Where was he for 40 years in the wilderness for 40 years. And here in Hebrews it says he esteemed assuming the reproach of Christ greater the riches greater riches than the treasures in Egypt.

He decided that following Jesus was worth more than staying in Egypt becoming the next Pharaoh. And then the pike like the flashy things. You know it's kind of fun going after the bright lights and everything that's glistening and flashing.

It's pretty easy even for myself sometimes I like the flashy things. That's why I married my wife. But there's something in James it says pure that pure religion and undefiled. Pure and undefiled religion before God and father exists to visit the orphans and widows in their trouble.

And to keep oneself unspotted from the world. So don't be like the pike and go after the flashy things in life. All right. You may.

Go back to your seats. Well thank you Marlon. Thank you Daniel for sharing this.

Evening. I think we've just learning a lot from the different lessons this week and I appreciate the ones that have been putting their hearts into that. Thank you so much. So welcome again to the fourth evening.

Our guest speaker tonight is Dean Taylor. Before we do that we'd like to live a love offering for him tonight and we're gonna do that just before here so I've asked a couple gentlemen to take them take the offering and while we do that we're gonna have a song and.

Virgil would you lead us in that song. Thank you Church for sharing in that way.

And we hope we can bless you in that way Dean and Tony this week. So thank you for coming. Let's continue to pray one more evening tonight and tomorrow. Tomorrow evening will be the final evening and I'll come back praying and I'm sure God.

Will bless us for it Dean. Come forward and share. Tony did I have the clicker.

There. Yeah well thank you all very much again. I do really enjoy the the all the different children's message and the devotionals and those things and it's a it's a blessing also to fellowship with you all get to reacquainted with everyone and it's been tremendously a blessing to be here today I sort of take a a little more serious look at how we as the people of God tend to get so distracted that we sear our conscience that we end up in more and more sin.

And and I'd like to look at some of the ways the Scriptures talks about that of how we can deal with that sin and have and have righteousness before God. So today I would like to focus on the conscience.

I would like to look at the the weapons of our warfare and in those I would like to look at the helmet of salvation. I would like to look at the conscience and I would ask you to as I go through these passages and I go through these different examples to truly ask the Holy Spirit to speak to your heart.

And then one of the purposes that we come together for these week of meetings like this is to allow the Holy Spirit to do search our hearts and we do inventory of where we are and if there's things that we need to take care of that we don't just go about our our day but this is why we come together to seek the Lord and ask him to speak to us.

So today I would like to get more into those things and looking at the weapons of our warfare and those things. But let's start with the word of prayer. Dear Heavenly Father I thank you for the Word of God.

I thank you for a conscience. I thank you for the Holy Spirit and I thank you for the Word of God. And Lord I pray that you will give me inspiration today. But Lord I pray that according to your promise promise you would send your Holy Spirit.

And then when you send the Holy Spirit you would as you said you would convict us of sin of righteousness and of judgment the God. I asked you to you do that and let me stay out of the way as we bring these words and lift them up in Jesus name we pray amen.

Okay and if I could get a water again that maybe somebody said oh here it is there we go. Thank you very much all right. So as we looked at some of the it's a clicker works there we go as we looked at some of the different themes of warfare yesterday yesterday and this is one of the ones that really stood out to me.

It's an ancient war book if you knew the enemy if you know the enemy and you know yourself you need not fear the results of a hundred battles. Really good old ancient thought on regular warfare even more.

So with our spiritual warfare knowing yourself and knowing exact and not deceiving yourself particularly when it deals with sin is something that's vitally important. So as we looked at today the spiritual warfare I I would like us to really think of those things and not to deceive ourselves and also for us to know the enemy so that we can do proper warfare.

Remember also from the first night one of my favorite images is when Balaam was trying to curse Israel that when he was trying to curse them he had this point of saying he has not observed iniquity in Jacob nor has he seen wickedness in Israel.

And that place of being free. Do you have that tonight. Do you have that experience of being free with the Lord that you are forgiven and you're walking in righteousness. This is what they had through faith that they came and they were able to be free.

And we can have that tonight as well. So through that not only from there they continue to be faithful forgiven. They were faithful they were walking holy sanctified separated unto God victorious experiencing victory and they seemingly untouchable by the enemy.

And so today we're gonna look at those different things that are brought up the breast plate of righteousness particularly the helmet of salvation through the sword of the Spirit. We also did yesterday we talked about as we we look at these inventory of our life that we are to cleanse ourselves having those promises that if we come out from among them and we separate ourselves unto God not in a cloistered way but in holiness and dedication to God.

That we are to cleanse ourselves from all filthiness of the flesh and spirit perfecting holiness in the fear of God. So today we're gonna look at that in a little detail of some things that eat at us and consume us and and chip away at us to try to destroy this holiness and this clearness with God.

So perhaps what the famous passage that deals with the spiritual army and the spiritual fighting that we have in the armor is from Paul's letter to the Ephesians. So if you open your Bible you can open to Ephesians chapter 5 and I'll pick it up at around verse 10.

Ephesians 5. Verse 10 this he says. Finally my brethren be strong in the Lord and in the power of his might. So here Paul is driving this put on the whole armor of God that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil.

But we do not wrestle against flesh and blood but against principalities against powers against the rulers of the darkness of this age against spiritual host of wickedness in the heavenly places. Therefore take up the whole armor of God that you may be able to withstand in the evil day and having done all to stand stand therefore having girded your waist with truth having put on the breastplate of righteousness and having shod your feet with the preparation of the gospel of peace and above all taking the shield of faith with which you will be able to quench the fiery darts of the wicked one and take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit which is the Word of God praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit being watchful to this end with all perseverance and supplication for all the Saints.

It's amazingly packed passage isn't it. But it definitely gives us the idea that that the Apostle Paul did not have an understanding of Christianity that we just go get saved somewhere and then you live this happy-go-lucky life isn't it.

This is the words of a coach to a person wanting to win the Olympics or to a general trying to get people to win the battle even more. So it is a fight and he's letting us know that we are at war. And so when we look at this warning and this charge we get from the Apostle Paul one of the phrases that we get in there is the wiles of the devil.

This wiles of the devil. If you look at what the word what are wiles. It's kind of a archaic word a little bit and it just mean the tricks or manipulations designed to deceive someone. So he's letting us know that Satan is literally trying to trip you up make little snares for you and that he's given us the whole armor of God so that we can prevent ourselves from getting in this sort of a snare.

And he tells us do not be deceived. So in this life of Christianity and we hear so many voices today and again there's so many different understandings of the way we look at the Word of God. I'm challenged by this scripture to do not be deceived.

This is what a born again walking in faith life should look like. Do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God. Do not be deceived. Neither fornicators nor idolaters nor adulterers nor homosexuals nor sodomites nor thieves nor covetous nor drunkards nor revilers nor extortioners will inherit the kingdom of God.

And you. And so were some of you but you were washed but you were sanctified but you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus and by the spirit of God. That amazing passage. And it's really it's it has both the it should bring us to this fear that if this describes us it doesn't matter what creeds or theologies were claiming he's saying don't get deceived.

We need to wake up and and and take a serious look. But what happened when you were washed. It took away these things and you were sanctified which means to be holy. And so now longer we no longer walk like we used to walk when we were in the world.

And Ephesians 2 he says this beautiful passage perhaps one of the most tremendously wonderful passages on earth. And he says in Ephesians chapter 2 verse 1. And you he made alive who were dead in trespasses and sins and which you once walked according to the course of this world according to the prince of the power of the air the spirit who now works in the sons of disobedience among whom we all once conducted ourselves in the lust of the flesh fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind.

And we're by nature children of wrath just as the others. It's a pretty bleak picture of what we are like without Christ isn't it. Then he said you were this way you once conducted yourselves like the world and you were driven by these passions and driven by these things.

But then he goes on. But God who is rich in mercy because of his great love with which he loved us even when we were dead in trespasses made us alive together with Christ. By grace you have been saved and raised us up together and made us set together in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus.

That in the ages to come he might show the exceeding riches of his grace in his kindness towards us in Christ Jesus. And then he repeats himself for by grace you have been saved through faith. And that not of yourselves it is a gift of God not of works lest anyone should boast.

For we are his workmanship created in Christ Jesus for good works which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them. What I love about this passage. You get a couple things. You get very clearly of how we're saved right.

It's not from our ability. It's not from our works. It's not from our trying in different things. He's made it very clear we were dead and he made us alive in Christ Jesus. However in the midst of this he doesn't just save us in some weird theological way some creedal way or some some.

It actually makes a living change in our life and that's beautiful by the grace of God he really changes us and makes us alive in him. And I love that. I love those types of ideas you know I talked about the other weeks this idea that in our in our in our life today it's so easy just to be distracted by all the amusements and now that we have phones and different things that are attracting us even more.

Do you remember the phrase from the ancient Romans to give them enough bread and circuses and they'll never revolt. Give them enough bread and circuses and they'll never revolt. Revolt. I think of this passage that Paul went on and talked about in Ephesians chapter 5.

See that you walk circumspectly. That means like really carefully. This isn't. This is the description of how a Christian should live. See that you walk circumspectly not as fools but as wise redeeming the time because the days are evil.

Therefore do not be unwise but understand what the will of the Lord is and do not be drunk with wine and which is dissipation but be filled with the Spirit. I would look at this whole thing with drunk with wine and and not being just into the and and to walk circumspectly and all these things is basically don't just be empty and and dizzy from all the different attractions and amusements and all the things that can happen to us.

But he wants us to walk carefully circumspectly and not just filled with ideas and and are distracted by by you know different foolish things again the ancient bread and circuses all we're doing is looking for the next meal or the restaurant or the things and and the next entertainment whether that's a game or sports or whatever.

This is not the attitude. Is it of what the Apostle Paul gave us of what a Christian life should look like. He wants us to walk circumspectly and he wants to do that with us. Give them bread and circuses and they'll never revolt.

Is that the way we are living our life again. I'm concerned. I'm concerned that with the kind of age that we're living in with all these distractions and gadgets and things that we have it's going. It's searing our conscience it's entertaining our mind and getting us away from even hearing the voice of the Lord.

I fight this all the time with our the busyness of life and the distractions that surrounds me. Am I allowing the Holy Spirit to speak to me circumspectly. And it's like I have to constantly fight it constantly.

You know the the the passage that I think of you know sometimes with the big question is what is it a sin. Is that a sin or is that a sin. And it's really the wrong question oftentimes this passage here in Hebrews chapter 12 it says.

Therefore we also since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses let us lay aside every weight and the sin which so easily ensnares us and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us looking into Jesus the author and finisher finisher of our faith.

My wife Tanya when she was in basic training that's right watch out for Tanya she was in basic training and when she was learning to throw grenades and shoot a machine gun and everything she tells me a story that one day she was running on the rifle range and they she had these camouflage pants on and she had a canteen stuck in one leg pocket and her big poncho in the other and as she was trying to run the race that they were getting on to her you know private pride and all that that she was running she couldn't.

She was getting tired and she realized oh I'm weighted down and so she took out the canteen and took out the poncho and then she could run. That's the kind of analogy the military analogy that we're being given here that even things that can weigh up down on us are things that the Apostle Paul through the Holy Spirit is warning us we need to get rid of.