Armor of God // Helmet of Salvation // Pastor Josh Evans

It is so good to see you here at church today on this rainy Sunday morning, and I'm so glad that you are here. In fact, if you're excited to be in church, can you say amen today? Even on a rainy day, it's good to be in the house of God with our church family, and I look forward to this every single week, and I am so excited about today.

I'm glad that you are here. I recognize every single week in a room this size, there's people that might have slipped in for the very first time, or the first time in a long time, and I've now had the opportunity to meet you and connect with you, and so I would love to do that, and so I want to echo what Pastor David said. Don't forget that New Here card, and take it to the Welcome Center, or you can bring it right down front to me after the service.

I would love to connect with you and get a chance to meet you, and thank you for coming in the service. Now, when you walked in today, you should have received a puzzle piece. We'll get to that here in a bit. I want to go ahead and ease your mind. There's a few of you who are nervous. Are we going to have to come up and find the partner piece together, and things like that? I had a few comments.

Your anxiety, if you're an introvert, is really raging strong right now in your spirit, and you're not going to have to worry about that. I also had some people say, if we're going to do this, can we just pass out bingo chips on the way in, and play bingo, and whatever? Hopefully, you received a puzzle piece, and we will get to that here in just a little bit. If you have your Bible today, Ephesians chapter number six, Ephesians chapter number six today, as we continue our series on the armor of God. This is our fifth week in the series, and I hope that you've had a chance to tune in every single week, or be here every single week if you haven't. We don't reference this all the time, but I do want to say, you can always go back, listen.

If you missed a week, listen online, because every single week of this, we're looking at a different piece of the armor, and every single piece is very important to you. Here at the end of Ephesians, this letter that the Apostle Paul wrote to a real church, a church just like this one, and he wrote this letter. I want to kind of reiterate a couple things in case you've missed, but in the first three chapters of the book of Ephesians, the Apostle Paul is talking all about the gospel. We know Ephesians chapter two, which is perhaps one of the greatest passages in all of scripture of the gospel's work in a person's life. The first three chapters is all about the gospel, and what Jesus has done for you, and what he's done in you. Then the last three chapters of the book of Ephesians is all about after you have been saved with the gospel, how does that look in your life as a result?

The last three chapters are very practical, and here he's concluding his letter. It's like the final thought, his final words that he wants the church at Ephesus to know, and here's what he leaves them with. He reminds them about the battle that they are in, about the battle. I want to remind you, I hope that this series has in your heart just reminded you that we are in a battle, that we are in a battle. There is warfare going on inside of you, and I know we don't like to talk about the devil a whole lot in church, right? We don't like to talk about the war that is going on inside of us.

I said at the beginning of this, it was C.S. Lewis who said, we either take the enemy, the devil, way too seriously, or we don't take him seriously enough, right? There's some of us who say things, we take them real serious. We think that the prices go up at Food Lion, and we think the devil's out to get us, and we take them way too serious, right, or gas money. It's like you go to the gas station, you look up at the price, and you're like, man, the devil, he's just attacking us on all sides. Sometimes we give him way too much credit, but then there's some of us in here today that we never think of the warfare that's going on inside of us, and we hardly know that he's there. We hardly know that there's a battle going on inside of us, and my point is this, is that we have to find the middle ground and recognize that we are in a war.

We are in a war. We are in a war, and that's what he talks about here in Ephesians chapter 6, and here's why we're in this war, is the devil is after our destruction. That's what he wants. Parents, here's the thing, the devil is after the destruction of your family. That's what he wants, and here's the thing, we've seen enough movies, we've seen enough Hollywood and how they depict the devil and things like that, and I want you to know that that's way different than what the scripture talks about with the devil.

He's not going to be this red-suited guy with a pitchfork and horns and different things. The scripture actually says that he disguises himself as an angel of light, as an angel of light, and here's what that really means, is that the devil, the enemy, your enemy, your family's enemy, your kid's enemy, he is trying to disguise himself into whatever form that he needs to, to get a foothold into your life to hopefully destroy your family. That's the point, and so the apostle Paul here in Ephesians chapter 6, he gives us the strategy to win the war that is in our life. He says this in verse 10, finally, or in conclusion, my brethren, brothers, be strong in the Lord and in the power of his might. I mention this every single week, but I want you to know that the strength that you need to fight with is in him, in the Lord. Notice that it says in the Lord and in the power of his might.

It's his strength working inside of you that actually fights the battle. He goes on, verse number 11, put on the whole armor of God that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places. Wherefore take unto you the whole armor of God that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand.

So he goes on, and these are the ones that we've looked at. He says, stand therefore, having your loins girt about with truth. That's just the belt of truth, and let me just remind you that truth needs to come from the scripture. In fact, for your family, what determines truth should be God's word. What you think about the world, what you think about God, what you think about life, what you think about your neighbors, what you think about everything, you should get the truth from the word of God.

Not Facebook, not Netflix, not the media, not the news, whatever. Those things are all in there, but I'll tell you this, truth needs to be determined by the word of God. So he says, stand therefore, having this belt of truth, and also having on the breastplate of righteousness, and your feet shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace. So he says, the belt of truth, the breastplate of righteousness, and your feet shod with the preparation of the gospel.

Those things, it says, you have. It says, having your loins, having on the breastplate, and our feet with the preparation of the gospel of peace. Then in verse 16, he changes, these are ones you've got to actually take up.

You got to pick up. He says, above all, taking the shield of faith, wherewith ye shall be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked. And then in verse 17, which is our text verse for today, and take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the spirit, which is the word of God. The fourth piece of armor that we're going to look at today is the helmet of salvation.

The helmet of salvation. Let's pray, and we'll kind of dive in today. Father, God, you are so good to us. And I'm reminded today that even as I stand before your people today, Father, that I'm absolutely nothing without the power of the spirit of God and the power that comes from the word of God. And Lord, I pray that today that every single person in here, regardless of what they have in their heart, God, that they can open up their heart to see what you would have for them today. As we look at this helmet of salvation, Father, I pray for anybody in this place that maybe does not know you as their Lord and personal Savior. God, somebody that might have slipped in here today, invited by a friend, or invited by a loved one, and they walk in today and they don't know you as their Lord and personal Savior, God, I pray that today be the day of their salvation. And then for the rest of us, church people and Christians, followers of you, God, I pray that every single day we would put on this helmet of salvation. Give us the courage to do so. Speak today to every single heart this morning, and hide me behind the cross for it's in your name we pray.

Amen. The first thing I want you to see here is that the helmet of salvation protects the mind. The helmet of salvation protects the mind. Now the head, we all know this, the head is a delicate area. You know, the deadliest blows can happen to the head. I think about, you know, football, they wear a helmet. By the way, that's a side plug if your fantasy team is not set, you might want to set that sometime in the next hour.

And that's a joke for any of you who play fantasy football. But listen, you got to put on this helmet or whatever on your head in order to protect you. Nobody's going out and playing tackle football without the helmet protected. And the head is where the brain is at. It controls the mind. You know, soldiers in this day, they would have this helmet that would protect not only their head, but there was pieces of it that would come down on both sides and it would protect a portion of their their face as well. You can continue to fight in a battle at times, if you get hit in the leg, you get hit in the arm or whatever, those things obviously hurt and they can be major blows. But in the middle of a battle, you can sometimes still keep going or still fight if that happens in you. But if you get struck in the head, and in your brain, you're going to lose the war, you're going to lose the war, because the helmet of salvation protects the mind it protects the mind now the mind is super important. That's why the scripture tells us many different times to renew our mind, what you think about certain things and what you believe about certain things will dictate how you behave in life.

You see where where you get your truth from how you view yourself, how you view God, how you view the future, how you view the kids that you have, how you view the things that God has given you all of that, whatever you think about it will dictate how you behave with it. And so he says we need to every single day, take up and put on this helmet of salvation. Now salvation, we know this, it has the idea of being rescued and delivered. It carries on the idea when we talk about the word salvation, it has the idea of being rescued and delivered. And there's one passage in Scripture that we've referenced a couple of times here in this series that is from the book of Isaiah, the prophet Isaiah, he wrote this in Isaiah 59 verse 17.

And this is talking the whole passage and you need to take some time this week and maybe read and study this. But in Isaiah chapter 59, Isaiah the prophet is talking about God coming as the righteous warrior. And he's coming as the warrior that is going to eventually deliver the nation of Israel from all of their enemies.

In that case, practically speaking, it was the Babylonians and Isaiah is prophesying about that. But in the middle of this prophecy, he's talking about not only how God is going to rescue Israel from its enemies, he's going to talk about how God is going to rescue all of us as well from the enemy that we face each and every day. Here's what he says in verse number 17. In the book of Isaiah, he says for he that's talking about God, he put on righteousness as a breastplate. Remember, when we looked at this breastplate of righteousness, the only way the only reason that any of us in this place can put on the breastplate of righteousness is because somebody Jesus Christ came and he put on the breastplate of righteousness himself. That means that Jesus came to earth and he lived a perfect, sinless life. Never without error, without sin in his life, he was fully righteous. And when you trust in him, that gives you the ability to put on his righteousness. That's why when we get saved, the scripture says that the righteousness of his very dear son, Jesus Christ, is placed or the scriptural word imputed into your life. You see, I want you to understand, this is why this is super important for you, is that for you and me, we were born into this world into one family. And I say this all the time, but it's something we got to constantly remember and recharge our minds to recognize what we were saved from. We were all saved into one family. You know what that family was? Sinners. Every single one of us. Myself, the pastor in front of you, the person to your right, the person to your left, every single person that sang in this choir, the praise team, the musicians, every single person who taught a class this morning at 9 o'clock, every single one of us were born into this world the exact same way. We were sinners and we were alienated from the father.

We were alienated from him. And the scripture says that there wasn't enough good in us, there wasn't enough righteousness in us to ever be worthy to have a relationship with the father. Nothing.

There's nothing. And aren't you glad the story did not end there, right? That'd be a pretty depressing story if that's the reason why we're all here. But listen, it does not end there because you could never do anything to reconcile yourself with a holy, righteous, perfect God. God said, you know what? I'm going to send my only begotten righteous son, Jesus Christ, God in the flesh. And I'm going to send him to this earth to dwell with man, to live a righteous life without sin, without error. And he's going to live something that you and me could never do. We can never live that life.

We could never live a life worthy of being reconciled with the father. The only one that could was Jesus. So he sent Jesus to come and Jesus lived a righteous life. And then as we sang about earlier today, he died a death on the cross that all of us deserved, that all of us deserved.

And you know what he did? He forever paid for the penalty that your sin has caused. You see, that is the gospel. And here's what, this is exactly what Isaiah is prophesying about. He says that he, God, he put on righteousness as a breastplate.

That's the life that you can never live. And then he goes on and says, he put a helmet of salvation upon his head and he put on the garments of vengeance for clothing and was clothed or clad with, with zeal. And here's the, here's the point. He put on this salvation. So he put on righteousness, Jesus, and he put on salvation. You see in the book of Isaiah, you'll see that the righteousness of God and the salvation of God are always mentioned and linked together.

And it's super important for you to understand that those things are always linked together. The reason is this, is that he, God came to us as a mighty righteous warrior that is willing to bring deliverance when you, when you trust in him, he brings deliverance to all that belief. He brings salvation to all that belief. You see, trusting in Jesus as your only way to God is the only way that you can be delivered.

It's the only way that you could be rescued. So, so Paul says it's through the salvation that he brings the gospel. When you put on this helmet of salvation, it protects our mind. You know, what would do some of us good today is for you to just reflect, just reflect. We don't do it enough just to maybe even close your eyes at some point and think where you would be if it wasn't for the grace and mercy of God in your life. You know, we get so busy in our life and we get so busy doing all of this stuff and we're going through life and we don't stop to think about the miracle of Jesus at work in your heart. You see, you're nothing without Jesus. You have no hope without Jesus.

You have no future without Jesus. And so when he says put on this helmet of salvation, he's telling us put it on and wear it and have it with you every single day so that you can reflect on the salvation of God that you would never get over the salvation of God in your life. It would always be a helmet of salvation.

It protects your mind. But number two, the helmet of salvation provides hope. The helmet of salvation, it provides hope.

In First Thessalonians chapter number five, verse number eight, it says, but let us who are of the day be sober, putting on the breastplate of faith and love. And then look at what he says about the helmet of salvation. He says, and for a helmet, the hope of salvation.

So here he doubles down, if you would, on the helmet of salvation. He goes a step further and says, it is hope. It's called the hope of salvation. Now, in English, the word hope is mentioned, and we use it all the time.

And I know you and I use it all the time. And it really means wishful thinking. And really, the meaning of the word hope is much different in English than it is in Scripture. In English, we say things like, I hope it does not rain today, right? You're kind of hoping for that you're wishing for something or you might say, I hope it snows a lot this year, right? Or better yet, you might say, I hope that the pastor doesn't speak really long this morning, right? It's just wishful thinking.

There's no guarantee, right? Or you might you might say this that I hope that the Duke Blue Devils win the national championship. Any of you like that? Okay, amen. So there's a few of you said, Amen, you've never spoken church before. And there you are.

Okay. And you see hope in English means wishful thinking. We have no guarantee. We're just hoping for something to happen. But we have no confidence.

We're just kind of wishing for it to happen. In Scripture, the word hope is so much stronger than that. In fact, in Scripture, there's two words for the word hope. In Hebrew, the Old Testament, the word hope means this, it's a Hebrew word called batah. And the word means this, it carries on the idea of confidence, security, or boldness. And then when you come to the New Testament, you see the Greek word for hope. And that word is the Greek word Elpizo.

And there's what that word means. It means a confident expectation or assurance. The word Elpizo, that Greek word is the same word that's mentioned in Hebrews chapter 11, verse one, when it says now faith is the substance of things hoped for. In other words, what you place your faith in in God who never changes, it is not just wishful thinking, it is something that has absolutely no doubt attached to it. So when you see the word hope in Scripture, it's not just wishful, it's actually a word that has such strong meaning that there is absolutely no doubt attached to the word. So when it says that we hope for something in Scripture, it means that you can claim the promise that you're hoping for as if it's already happened today, because you're confident of it, because you're assured of it. You see, hope in Scripture is a settled conviction for the Christian.

It's a settled conviction. So when we say that the hope or the helmet of salvation, it provides hope, it's a reminder to you, it's putting it on every single day that even if life is tough today, you still have the hope in Jesus. Even if you get bad news, even if you get bad news at the doctor's office, right, you still have the hope of Jesus, it's putting that on.

Even if your kids don't do something that they're supposed to do, or they don't turn out the way that you want them to do, you still have the hope of salvation in your life. Something bad happens in your life at work, you still have the hope. It means that we're living as if heaven has already come down on earth.

It means that you're confident of it. It means that even if you come and you lose somebody that you love, you have hope. You see, that's what the helmet of salvation does. It protects your mind so that you think on the things of God, but it also, when you're putting that helmet of salvation on, it provides a layer of hope that no matter what comes in your life, whatever comes into your life, you have hope. You see, our protection from the enemy of our souls and his evil schemes and his darts that he throws at us is grounded not in how you feel.

Aren't you thankful for that? Aren't you thankful that your hope and your salvation, it's not grounded in how you feel? Listen, I feel one way one day and the other way the next day. There's some days I wake up and I feel much differently and then there's other days I feel like I'm ready to, you know, charge hell with a water pistol as the old pastors used to say, right?

You've heard that one our pastor used to say that was like, wow, that's pretty intense. And so, but you know, it's some days I feel that and other days I don't. Listen, the hope that we have in Jesus, it's not based on the feeling that you have.

It's based on what you believe that's in God's word, the word that never changes and is the same yesterday, today and forever. That's what you got to trust in and putting that helmet of salvation. It provides hope. But number three, the helmet of salvation motivates you to share the hope of salvation with the world.

Listen, this is where it gets real. The hope of salvation or the helmet of salvation, when you put that on, it's a reminder. It's protecting your mind. It's a reminder of what Jesus did for you. It's a reminder. And listen, when Jesus changes your life, and when he rescues you from sin, and he delivered you from the enemy, and he gives you a hope that is way better than anything this life and anything this world can offer. What it does for you is it motivates you to want to share that with the world.

It motivates you to want to share it with the world. This past week, I had the opportunity to go with some other pastors to to Guatemala. So I got in just late Friday night.

So I was in Guatemala all week, we flew out on Monday. And it was it was really good for me to, to get away from just here and see what God is doing all over the world. And I want you to know something that some for some of us, we think that salvation and deliverance, we think it's like this American salvation, don't we?

We think it's just for us. And here's the thing, God is at work and bringing salvation to to the whole world. There's things that God is doing all around the world that that I really want you to see.

And I want you to understand what he is is doing in your in your life. I want to tell you three stories, and we're going to be done. Okay, I'm going to tell you three stories from this past week, the trip that I went on.

And I'm going to try to do this without being emotional. Because as a pastor, you know, you go on these trips, and just hearing people's stories about how God is working behind the scenes to change people's lives is just so powerful. And as we tell these stories, I want you to think about your, your life and what he has done in your life.

The first one you guys know, this per I'm going to show their picture up on the screen, but I'm going to weave all of this together, and how God is at work in all of our lives. The first one is this and you know this, this is Miss Reba, she's one of our mission partners. And and she spoke here to the ladies many different times, this Miss Reba Bowman and, and, and she, you know, she's been a friend of our ministry for forever. And, and as long as I've been a part of Union Grove, even when I was youth pastor years ago, Miss Reba was a part of our ministry and, and we've supported her for as long as that I've known and, and, and here's the thing, she's the one who invited me and some other pastors to come on this trip to see what God is doing.

Reba's ministry is to two ladies, like she is passionate about reaching ladies and helping ladies and in different ways. And she's done that here in the States for, for forever, you know, for many, many different years, and God called her to it. And several years ago, she had the opportunity to go on some overseas trips, she went to Nepal, she went to India, she went to the Dominican Republic. And it was in those places, especially the Dominican Republic that she got introduced to what women go through around the globe in some places, and specifically with trafficking, with sex trafficking. And so Reba's in the Dominican Republic, and she's, she's hearing these stories of these women who had just been abused and taken advantage of, and, and, and normally it's because they're in poverty and they have no money.

And so they, they, this is the way that they can get a little bit of money and, and feel and, and the amount of shame that it brings to these women was just unbelievable. Her heart was, as you can imagine, hearing these stories just broken several years ago. So she began praying, God, how can my ministry and what you've called me to in the States, how could it impact what's happening around our world?

How can I help with this? So she began praying about this, and through a series of events, God, who's orchestrating everything, he led her to the country of Guatemala, Guatemala. And that this was a, that ladies are getting traffic con, just like crazy in Guatemala.

And, and it was just dangerous for women to grow up in Guatemala. So she began to pray about how she could minister in, in Guatemala and do that. But her, her ministry that she said yes to was the States.

Could you imagine if you're, you know, you're in a full career and God starts leading you to another place, another part of the world, some of us would put up, you know, the, the, the boundaries real quick, right? Well, she began praying and just seeing what, what she could do. Well, she was in a meeting in Texas one time and in Texas, she was already praying about Guatemala, seeing what God could do in Guatemala and how he could use her ministry to help. And when she was in Texas, she shared that with somebody and somebody in Texas, the States knew somebody in Guatemala. They knew a lady by the name of MJ. You're going to see her picture up on the screen right here. This is MJ.

I had a chance to meet them and, and to be around them all week. And this is MJ. And here's the thing. MJ grew up in Guatemala. MJ, her childhood was growing up in Guatemala. She accepted Christ as a child. She was privileged to grow up in a home where they knew Jesus and, and she grows up and she begins to, to think about how could God use her in the world?

In other words, she began to pray. She told us that, Hey, she needed to be a missionary. Send me wherever from Guatemala, right?

We think that all missionaries come from the States and they go everywhere else. And she's in Guatemala saying, Hey, you know, where, where can I go, Lord? How can I be a part of this? What you've done in my life, I want you to do in somebody else's life. So she began praying about that. And as she got older, she began working at an, at an orphanage. She's working at an orphanage there in Guatemala.

And, and a man who's from Wisconsin came to work there. She ended up marrying this man and they worked together and, and they started, you know, praying about how they could reach Guatemala and how they could, you know, continue the salvation that they've experienced, how they could, you know, reach the Guatemala area where she grew up with the, with the gospel. So they're working on at this orphanage.

Interesting story that just broke your heart. What happens there a lot of times is these women, they get raped by these men and they'll get pregnant. And because of the shame that that brings a lot of these women, what they do is they'll start, you know, hiding their pregnancy so nobody will know it. And then when it's time to deliver the baby, they'll go out somewhere in a field somewhere, deliver the baby, leave the baby and go back.

So nobody ever knows that they were ever pregnant. One day MJ and her husband, Brennan, they're working at the orphanage as somebody, somebody draw, the part of the government shows up with, with a baby that they'd found. And, and their orphanage was full.

There's no, nothing for them to do. And, and so they're like, oh, we're completely full, but we want to help this baby. So her and Brennan, you know, they adopted this baby right there, adopted it, raised it.

The girl's now 14 years old. And here's the thing is they, they just said yes. They said, God, what do you want me to do? And so, so remember Reba, the first picture that I showed you, she's saying yes to God, wherever he wants to use her. She's in Texas, person in Texas says, you know what? I know this lady who has a degree over in, and she's a Christian in Guatemala. Her name is Marie Jose, call her MJ.

And you need to hook up with her. And maybe there's something that, that y'all could partner with together in order to see Guatemala reached with, with the gospel. So Reba and her team fly over to, to Guatemala. They meet with MJ. They hear her story, her testimony, and they ended up hiring MJ to lead her ministry there in, in Guatemala.

And so you have somebody who grew up right here in our city and God is at work through somebody in Texas and now somebody in Guatemala, and they've all kind of woven their pieces that God has given them together to reach parts of, of the world. And so MJ, they begin to brainstorm, Hey, how can we minister to these women in crisis here in Guatemala? How can we reach these women? So they begin to think about it.

And so they begin to think a lot of these women, the reason why they go into this and why they allow men to sometimes to do this to them is for money, poverty. So they begin to think of ways that they could help women learn a trade because less than 2% of them go to school. And so she said, you know, we're going to figure out a way for them to learn a, a trade and through that trade and through the classes that we could offer them, we are going to share the gospel with them and hopefully start to reach all of these, these women. So when they were there, MJ was, she's a, she's got a degree. She's the only woman in the entire Guatemala country who has a degree in, in architectural engineering.

She's the only woman who has a master's degree in that. And so she does a lot of work there on the side. And so MJ was talking with somebody, one of her connections, and she said, you know, the best way we're going to try to get this going is we're going to get some baking classes and some sewing classes and different things going. I just, we were praying that God would send us somebody who knows how to do those things and how to teach those things, who has the same mission that we have of reaching this country with the gospel.

And so they begin to pray. And one day she was in a conversation with a man, I believe his name is Carlos. And, and, uh, and she was in this conversation. She said, man, we're just praying about that God would send us somebody who could teach people, these ladies to bake so that they could go out and, and make money.

And Carlos like, you know what? My wife, she she's a believer and she, she bakes, she bakes and you'll see her picture. This is Terry. And, um, and Terry is a baker and here's what's interesting. I got a chance to sit on the other side, by the way, I'm a picky eater. And so when somebody is going to bake me something in another country, I get a little concerned.

Okay. Go a little nervous, low anxieties, kind of uplifting in my heart. I'm sitting there is very good, but she, she had these, this whole team of ladies there. And, uh, and here's what, what Terry does. Terry, uh, grew up in Guatemala, grew up in Guatemala and, uh, she, um, got saved as a, as a kid. She was one of the privileged ones there who had a mom who, who loved the Lord and, uh, and told her about Jesus. And so Terry, uh, got saved as a kid, but when she was seven years old, um, her dad left them. So her dad left the home and they, they did not keep in contact with him other than they heard that he had a new relationship, got remarried, had a family, whatever. And, and interesting story before I talk about her pieces there in Guatemala is Terry sharing this story with all of us through a translator. And Terry says that when he left, she hated her dad, hated for leaving, just couldn't stand, despised him, could care less if she ever sees him again.

And so we were there this week and, uh, and she said about a month ago, they get a knock at their door at her mom's house. She, Terry's married now and, and, uh, get some knock on her mom's house door, whatever. And her dad came back. And here's the thing the reason why the only reason why he came back is he got kicked out of the family that he was in because he was terminally ill kidney or liver issues actually. And so he shows up and he tells them, he's like, Hey, I have nowhere else to go.

And this is like 30 years ago, nowhere else to go. And, uh, and so she, uh, the mom was like, you know, I mean, never thought she'd see this guy again. And he's ill, he's sick.

He doesn't have long to live. So the mom, she says, you can, you can stay here. She gives up her bed. And because they don't have the money to, to get the treatment that they need because of his disease, it basically brought sickness to the home.

So the mom had to like, just stay on the, like the chair and things like that. She gave up her whole bed for this man who left her when, when the kids were seven years old. So he comes and, uh, and so she's telling this story.

Terry's telling this story and he's about to die and she knows it. And so she hates her dad. And she said to me while she was there, she was like, you know what, what really God told me, he's forgiven me of everything that I've ever done to him.

Why can't I look my dad in the face and forgive him? So Terry said, she asked her mom if she could come by and just sit with her dad for a few minutes. She sat with her dad and she told her, and this is her telling the story. She said, I told my dad, I said, dad, I hate you. I've hated you.

And, and I have just never wanted to see you. And I just can't stand what you did to our family. And she said it broke them that he was with another family and all this. And she said, but because Jesus has forgiven me, I forgive you. And I want to tell you about Jesus and how he can rescue you. She told her dad that on his death bed and her dad accepted Christ as savior, passed away a couple of days later.

He passed away about a week ago and Terry's like crying. Her mom's in this house and they're crying about this, but they renewed that relationship and, and her dad was reached. But here's the thing, I just wanted to share that, but Terry, she grew up and her ambition was to be a baker. She wanted to bake and, and she wanted to do that, but her family had no money.

They had not enough money for a stove or anything like that. So she had to create, they would do these like fires and different things like on the dirt floor sometimes in different ways. She was just very instrumental in creating this thing.

And so Terry began to do this. And as she got older, she began to, to share with people about her vision and how she wanted to open up a bakery and things like that. And, and every door continued to shut. Every door continued to shut so much that she was frustrated and she was so sad. And she told me, she said it was so sad that nobody believed in her. And so she's growing up. She has, it just doesn't know what to do.

They can't go to school and all these different things. And finally, she gets somebody to believe in her and she gets a chance to open up a bakery. And you know what?

And this is so interesting how God works. She opened up this bakery right before COVID hit. She was so excited. She told us, she's like, I'm so excited about this bakery.

And then COVID hit, my bakery got shut down right away. So then she's like, what in the world? And she said, the reason why that happened in her life is because she was not trusting God with the end result of what God was calling her to do. And she was trying to trust in her own ability. So she said at that point, COVID happened, I just threw up my hands and said, God, whatever you want me to do, I'll do it. MJ was talking to Carlos one day and said, we're looking for a baker to help us teach women how to bake, have classes, and we can reach them with the gospel.

Carlos says, you know what? My wife, her bakery just shut down. She might be interested in this. They met with Terry and Terry is their baking instructor there. She knows the Lord. And what she does is she gathers women from all these different villages. She goes to different places. She brings her stuff or ingredients and she does these baking classes. And while she's doing these baking classes, she shares the gospel and the hope and the, the, what Jesus has done for her. She shares that with them. And they've seen so many different people come to faith and Jesus as a result. Here's what I want you to know about all of this. She said, why are you sharing this?

Is this just a mission update or whatever? Here's the most important thing that I learned. Every single one of them, you got a man from Wisconsin, you got a woman from Winston Salem, you got a couple of people from Guatemala, got a person in Texas who's instrumental in this. Every single person that I mentioned, they're all pieces that God is using to bring salvation to the world.

Every single one of them are pieces that God wants to use to bring salvation to the world. Reba never thought her ministry would be in Guatemala if you had asked her four years ago. She'd have never ever thought that that was the future of what God wanted her to do.

She thought it was just here in the States. And so, but when God says, I need you to do this, and this is what you're called to do, we are only responsible, not with the results, we're responsible with walking through the doors that he has given us. And so what I want you to understand is that every single one of you are a piece of the puzzle that God wants to use to bring salvation to the whole world.

I hope you got a puzzle piece. If you could slip that, hold it up in the air for me so I know you're there. All right, hold it up for just a second. Some of you, your arms going to get tired if I could do this long.

Okay, I get it. All right, I just want you to know you can put those down. I just want to make sure you're with me. Hold that. Don't put it down. Hold it.

Okay. My question is, is this, what piece of the puzzle of God wanting to bring salvation to the world, what piece are you? And are you bringing the pieces that he's given you? Are you bringing them to him in full surrender to him?

That's what I want to know. That was the most impactful thing to me. I was like, how in the world, God, could somebody in Texas connect somebody from Winston Salem all the way with somebody in Guatemala who was burdened about Guatemala because she saw something that was happening in the Dominican Republic.

How could all those pieces come together? It's because you had some people who were like, listen, I'm not here for me. I'm not here for my money. I'm not here for all the toys that I can collect in life.

I'm not here for comfort. I'm here with a bunch of broken pieces that God has given me. And all I need to do is I need to come down in front of him and I need to offer the pieces that he's given me. God used me wherever. God sent me wherever.

God helped me do whatever you are calling me to do. And so when you look at this piece, and by the way, like you can see it, there's some of you that might have like the middle of the ocean and you can go there and I don't know on a boat and just tell the fish about Jesus. I don't know. But what your puzzle piece says and this, you know, I want to show you, this is a picture of the world. This is the puzzle that we all have. And if they all got put together and if they all got put together, this is what you would see is a picture of the whole world. And if all of us, if we took the time and we do not have the time because some of us are terrible at puzzles, we're not all gifted like Ms. Pat Wilkins and can do a puzzle in a short amount of time. And here's the thing is like if all of us came forward and we put our puzzles together and we put all these pieces together, this is what we would see.

It's a picture of the world. And here's what I want you to know. God came to us, dwelt among us so that he could bring salvation to the world, not just to Davidson County, not just to North Carolina.

He came so that the world could be reached. But you want to know something? There's a lot of us who take the puzzle pieces of our life and we store them away. Jesus told a parable one time and he said that they put it in like a drawer and they shut the door and they don't even think about it until Jesus comes back. And let me tell you this, that's when it's too late. When Jesus comes back, that's when it's too late. What he wants you to do and what he's called for all of us to do is for us to bring the broken pieces of our life and let him use our pieces to orchestrate his sovereign plan so that he could bring salvation to the whole world.

Let me tell you, this is what for some of you it means. You might not be able to go, but you can give. You can give. Listen, some of you, if you don't give to missions, that's the next step for you. Give. If you don't feel God calling you somewhere, give so that some people will have the money to go. Listen, I get asked all the time, at least multiple times a week, missionaries trying to raise support to get overseas. Listen, if you're not giving to missions above your tithes and offerings, that's your next step.

If you're retired and you think, man, I can't, I'm pretty much at the end of my life. Give. Give so that people can go. That's your peace.

That's your peace for some of you. It's going on a short term mission trip. Listen, we stopped mission trips because of COVID here, and we're so far past COVID, it's time we get back to that.

Here's what I want you to do. Listen, this is straight off the cuff because we don't have a plan for this, and I'm not going to re-respond. If you're in here today, I'm serious, you can pull out your phone right now, and I would love if you're interested in going an adult.

We're not talking just students. They're going to go on a trip next year as well. I already talked to David about it next summer, but I'm talking adults, like us.

We can go. We can go so that we can see what God is doing all across the world. It will change your life. That's the best thing I used to tell students all the time. If I want students to really, their life to be changed more than anything else, it's get them away from here and onto a field somewhere and see what God is doing all across the world.

And here's the thing. If you're interested today, I'm not joking, you can pull out your phone now and I want you to text me and say, pastor, I'm interested in going on a trip. Put your name there and you can text me. I'm serious. If you don't have my number, I'm going to say it right here from the pulpit.

If you're online, I'm going to get a bunch of random bot text messages as a result of this. But listen, here's my number. I'm serious. If you're like, man, I would love to go.

Maybe me, my spouse could go and we could get on the field so that we can see what God is doing all across the world. And by the way, I know what you're probably thinking, man, I'm too busy. Listen, I hate that excuse. You'll do whatever you really want to do. Okay.

Busy is not a good excuse. Find a way for God to change you. You can text me 336. I'm serious. I'm giving my number 336. What's your number pastor? I'm just kidding.

336-596-4074. I hope that after this service, I have a group of people in here that say, Hey, let's do this. Let's go so that God can see it. For some of you, that's your peace. I'm going to lay it down. I might not go on the hundred vacations that I go on. I'm going to actually give a week of my life to see what God is doing across the world.

For some of you, it's a short term trip. For some of you, your peace is full time. Listen, for some of you, we think that God, when Jesus walked on this earth and he walked by these people fishing and stuff like that, we think it was a bunch of 17 year old men. No, these were men in their careers. They were adults and Jesus said, follow me.

They left it all and they went and they followed him. For some of you, that might be your peace. If you're a young person in here, that might be what you need to come do. You need to come and say, God, I don't know what you want me to do with my life, but here's my broken pieces. God used me and send me wherever because at the end of my life, the only thing that's going to matter is the salvation of the world. What's not going to matter is the amount of money that you made or your 401k or your retirement or the toys that you accumulated, your inheritance. None of that is going to matter at all when you die.

The only thing that's going to matter is who knows Jesus. Maybe your piece of the puzzle is for you to come down front and say, God, here it is. I'm laying this down.

Use me. For some of you, it's going across the street. For some of you, you don't even know your neighbor's names. For some of you, you don't know other people. God's placed you somewhere for a reason. For me, I'm at the baseball field all the time locally, not playing with my son. You know what?

For me, it's like, man, I get out there and I'm so focused on baseball that sometimes I forget. You know the real reason why I'm there? That the salvation of the world would come to the world. That's my mission field.

This area is our mission field. Some of you, you need to get your mind out of just the in and now and realize that God's placed you somewhere, his sovereign will, so that you can reach the nations with the gospel. Some of you, it's going across the street. Some of you, it's starting to carry maybe a gospel track with you and sharing it at restaurants or sharing it at gas stations, wherever. But listen, the gospel is the hope of the world.

It's the hope of the world and don't keep it to yourself. Our salvation has already been accomplished by Christ. If you're thankful for that, can you say amen? All that waits for us is the full harvest of that salvation, which boy, I'm excited to see it.

But let me tell you this, we don't have a lot of time left and there's a lot of people, I saw them this week, I saw them in Guatemala. There's a lot of people around the world who are dying and going to hell because they don't know Jesus as their Savior. And here we sit with the answer and some of us, we can't remember the last time we ever shared the gospel with somebody else.

What a shame. And I'm speaking to myself as well. All I want you to do, I want you to surrender your pieces to God, God wherever you want me, God I'm willing to go, God I'm willing to give, God I'm willing to send, God I'm willing to go to whoever needs it because what you did in me, I want you to do in other people. Would you bow your heads with me? Everybody's standing, heads bowed, hearts lifted in prayer. I'm just going to pray for us all, I'm not going to ask you to raise your hand for anything, but I'm going to pray and then the altar is going to be open.

Maybe you need to come down front and say, God I'm not using the pieces that you've given me, the puzzle pieces that you've given, I'm just using them for myself and God I am laying it down so that you can use it however you see fit. God we love you, I'm thankful for the salvation that you've blessed us with. God the salvation and the rescue that you've given us, the deliverance that you've given us, Father. We're so thankful for that, but God we have the answer for the whole world. God don't let us be foolish and keep it to ourselves, let us share it. And today I pray that all across this room and this building, people watching online, God I pray that all of us would take our broken pieces and lay them down for you so that we could be used, so that we could be a part of your plan to bring salvation to the world.

Bless in this invitation, this response time, for it's in your name we pray. If God speaks to you as the instrument plays, listen, I'm not going to prolong this invitation, but there's some of you who need to bring your pieces and you need to surrender them. You need to surrender them. Some of you are so focused, what is it that you've been in? Listen, surrender them. Some of you that are retired in here, that doesn't mean that God is done with you. You might look differently of how God is using you, but listen, some of you, come surrender it. What can you do? Maybe it's giving, maybe it's a short term trip, maybe it's to go with your life.