How To Stay Strong In Faith

 TRANSCRIPT

Well, yeah, we thought we'd do something a little bit different today, rather than just coming up and one of us speaking, we caught up during the week and had some really shared ideas. So we thought, why not grab a coffee and just have a conversation? So just putting it out there that it's a little bit different.

We're not sure how we go, but that's all right.

Give us some grace, but we'll see how we go.

Yeah, it's been a great series, like Risk Taker. I think it's a really challenging topic. I know, especially for me, is it's quite easy to, you know, be complacent, conservative, uh, especially if I've, cause I've grown up in the church, taking risks can kind of be really scary once you've been sitting back for a while.

So it's really challenged me to go, where am I in my faith and how am I taking risks for Jesus? So I've really, really enjoyed the series.

Me too. I have, we've had two weeks so far. Pauline shared with us about a great analogy about who it is that we're trusting. Like when you actually know someone and trust them.

You can trust them, I guess, well, in knowing them, you can trust them, and that allows us to step out in faith. And Kev has touched on already this morning, last week, the courage to confront in love and in relationships. So, both of those messages are on our app, so jump onto Spotify or to our, um, YouTube channel.

Yep.

Check it out.

Yes. So, but now we're in week three. So we're talking about courage means sometimes standing when everybody else is sitting. So, which is a big topic. It

is a big topic. So I'm going to throw you straight under the bus and ask you, um, somewhere in your world. So this is Taylor. For those of you that don't know, Taylor is married to beautiful Portia and you've recently launched your own business.

Um, so thinking about all of those things in your life, how and where have you sort of had to make a stand according to your principles and morals and stuff like that?

Yeah. And I think for myself, I really rely heavily on my values. And I think when I started the idea of being self employed, I wanted to make sure I ran a business that was full of integrity.

And, um, yeah, make a stance in that space. And I think it's really easy as a business owner to put things through, uh, at tax time that may or may not be business expenses. And nobody will really know if I put those receipts in there or parking. Yeah, I did that for a concert, but it's parking, the government won't know.

And, you know, oh, they, they take enough money and, you know, I'm just getting a little bit back and, and no one would know if I did all those things. Spot. I would know, I would know, and I actually had That same scenario, I paid for parking for something, I drove up in the work car, wasn't work related, but as I was putting the expense through, I was like, What do I do here?

Do I put it in? Like, it was like 30 bucks, like it's not a big deal, but I'm like, this is the start of my journey, and I think this was a pivotal moment, and I was like, no, no one would know, no one would question, no one would blink an eye. But I just chose to not put it through because I know that's not what the right thing is to do in my own value system.

Um, and no one else will applaud. No one will check it. No one will do anything. And it wasn't to show off or anything like that. It was just no, where am I running? How am I running my business? And how do I want to kind of set the foundations on that? So,

absolutely. And that affects all of life. I think when you hold, uh, values or a conviction, you know, how long can you hold that stand and thought I'd share a story as well, and it's not as real as yours, but I was watching a Christmas movie on Friday night.

You know in

October

because that's what I do and I will just add that it was recommended by none other than Pastor Kevin Thomas

Who had watched it

last week? So, you know Mr. Grinch over there actually loves Christmas. Um, anyway For those of you that don't know me, I'm Ruth and I love Christmas and all things, Christmas movies.

And to be honest, the tackier and more like predictable they are, the better, you know, so I was watching this very Hallmark Christmas movie and it was the classic Hallmark story about this guy that owns his own toy shop and he believes strongly that it should be. You know, run by, by him for the little people, you know, not owned by the big juggernauts and, and he was holding strong to that conviction.

Anyway, story goes along. What does he do? He sells out. Then there comes the turning point where he gets asked by the love interest. Like he says, actually, now, now that I realize I'm sharing this story, I can't even remember exactly. the conversation that they held. But he basically said, like, we did it, we made it, like, look at this amazing shop that we've built.

And she says to him in this mic drop moment, yeah, but at what cost? And I was like, thank you, Hallmark. Because how true is that in life, when it comes to our convictions, we can have them, but unless we hold them. like, what good are they in terms of um, making the decisions that we live by? And so yeah, not quite as real life as your example, but you know, it fits me.

To

a T.

To a

T. And I'm sure we've all been in similar situations. I know when I've applied for jobs, it's like, well, I don't work Sundays. You know, that's part of it upfront. I don't work Sundays. So if that doesn't work. I don't want to be here. And I'm sure most of you have probably experienced that in, in some way or another as well.

Yeah, definitely. There may have been times where you have stood for something that you believe is right, that have your values, your convictions, and perhaps it has felt like you are the only one standing, that you're standing alone. Yeah. And. The reality is that we do live in a world where there are a lot of external pressures.

There are pressures to fit in, there are pressures to conform. These pressures come from, uh, social media. They come from what culture says is right. They even come from, uh, friends and family and, you know, the expected way that things could progress or move or, yeah.

This is how you should be living your life.

This is, don't, don't try and go against the grain. Just head down. I'm just. Just go with everyone. Follow the, follow the crowd. What do they say? Uh, don't be a black sheep or something. And no one

wants to be a black sheep, do they? No.

Just blend in. It's

easier to blend in. It is. Than it is to stand out. But the challenge is, and I think that you hit it on the head when you said you had to make a choice there, even with that, um, receipt, is that going along with the crowd or going along with the easier option or You know, against your convictions, if you like.

It's going to result in you ending up in a direction that you were never meant to travel in.

Yeah. And you can end up compromising your values and your beliefs and your faith. And sometimes it can happen just little bit by little bit. But then when you look back, it's like, How did I get here? Like I never, if you, if you would at the start of it, this is where I want to end up.

You would never have wanted to be there, but somehow just little decisions can cause you to drift away. So, so far without even realizing. And it's not until you reflect back on it. You're like, wow, what did I do? How did I do that?

Absolutely. So we've shared a couple of examples, but for you guys, like there's, there are so many examples of what, that could look like.

And we sort of were spitballing this week about some of them. And I was talking to someone who had made a, uh, a career decision, um, that did not go in the way that the world would expect it to go in, but made that decision for the sake of her family. So she chose, um, time and the importance of family over what perhaps the world would expect in terms of, um, an expected career progression.

Yep. And it might even be situations in a workspace where, you know, You know, you may not go away on conferences or certain, uh, events because of You know, you don't want to be put in those positions. Like you hear a lot of pastors talk about they don't travel Uh one on one with the opposite gender or anything like that where uh, most people go, that's fine You know, you're strong and you can stand up for that But it's that I don't want to you know, start to question my my values and my morals So it could be a lot of different A lot of different things in those.

Gossip is a big one, I think. I don't know about you, not in this workplace, but in my previous workplace, there were many times where sitting around the lunch table, the conversation takes a certain turn, and quite on it, like, let's be honest, it's, you think you can do the right thing by not entering into the gossip and just staying quiet, but is that even enough?

Or are there times when it's actually going to require you to speak up and say, you know what, actually, I know that person. And that doesn't sound like who they are, like, why, why are you even telling me this almost, you know, like, you can just make decisions and choices to put a stop to things that are not going against the grain of who you are and the decisions that you've chosen to live by.

Yeah. And I think even also in the, the, Remaining sexually pure in, in your relationship, that's a really big one, especially in today's day and age where it's so socially acceptable and maybe all your friends or people wouldn't even know or care, but it's about what what you want to make those decisions.

What value system are you basing that on? Um, when society says, yeah, it's fine. You know, try before you buy or whatever. Um, choosing the right way.

So.

So

there is a lot of times that we need to stand up for what's right. And oftentimes it does mean that we stand alone and it's not really the best feeling in the world when you feel like you're the only one standing.

We talked about doing a little scenario this morning and asking Sam to stand up for like the whole message and just get his sense of what that would feel like at the end of the morning. You know, I mean, you can do it if you, but like, it's not a nice feeling when it feels like you're the only one standing and everyone else around you is not sort of with you.

Yeah. And it's really isolating. And I think you've got to really be prepared for what comes after. Those moments of when you feel like you are standing alone. Yeah. Um, it, cause you, it takes that courage. It takes that 20 seconds of courage to go, Do I or don't I? Yeah. And I think you've just got to go, I'm just going to do it.

I'm just going to stand up for what I believe in. Yeah. And what I believe in. Come as they may. Is that what you said? Is that the saying? Come

what may. Come what may. That's, that's, yep. Courage. And so we thought this morning we'd just ask the question, because sometimes we haven't reflected on it, and like, what is it that has shaped your decision making?

Like, what has shaped your value system that you sort of filter your decisions through? And we talked about the concept of a, Moral compass and you know, everyone has this compass that helps direct them through life. And oftentimes it can be shaped by Our family of origin like the way that we have been raised And it sort of affects the lenses and and the view that we take of life It can be a whole bunch of things that affect it.

Yep. It's just even the the information we consume, it starts to become the filter for how we, we see life and what decisions we make. And it's, where is that true north? Like, what is your true north? And where are you getting that from? Because we all have that set of values in us, but where does it line up?

Where are you getting that true north from and how are you filtering that? all of those decisions. Absolutely. And have you ever thought about it? Have you ever thought about why do I think like this? Why did I make that decision? What caused me to do that? What caused me to stand up? You know, what, what is driving that behind all of your decisions?

And I guess, obviously, like we're sitting in a this morning, but we don't want to assume that everybody in the room has made a decision to follow Christ and also those that are watching with us online. But for those of you that have chosen to follow Jesus, the answer is, is fairly clear. I hope in that our true north is Jesus.

And we set our compass, we recalibrate. our decision making and our value, our set of values and the things that we choose to do based on the truth of Jesus Christ and the person of Jesus Christ. He becomes our true north and is our compass for all of life's decisions.

Yeah. And while we're speaking this morning, we want you to reflect and think about a scenario in your life, whether you're facing something Now or in the past and you're like, how could I have done that a little bit better or maybe not facing anything as a future decision.

But as we're speaking, we want you to think about those scenarios where, why do I need to stand up? Where do I need to have that courage to stand up? And we hope as we go through this morning, we can help equip you to make that decision and to help you have the courage to stand up when it feels like you are standing or going to stand alone.

Yeah. So maybe just take five seconds now just to quickly think about that. So that you can have those practical steps, uh, when we finish here this morning.

Absolutely. So we thought the best place to turn this morning when it comes to making, sort of giving us information on how is it that we can stand, um, is obviously, um, what God has to say on it.

So we wanted to open up a passage of, uh, that is, it's a passage It was actually a book that was written by the Apostle Paul, and he was writing to the church in Ephesus. So there was a bunch of Christians in Ephesus and he wanted to write to them about, you know, things that they could apply, how they could live out their faith, um, even when it was unpopular, even when it was really difficult.

And he was writing this at a time when Christianity, like, it was hot. It was hostile towards that. And we were sort of reflecting this week and saying like, you know, sometimes we find it difficult to stand up for our faith because. You know, someone might not like it, but

Well, they might think something.

They might think something about

us. But we're talking like hostile back then, like, you know, stand up for your beliefs in Jesus and be martyred. Yeah. It was pretty hostile. And so Paul has penned this letter and he's kind of, he's someone that we can listen to because he was actually one of the ones that was Going around and persecuting the Christians, so he's got a fair idea of what they're facing, doesn't he?

Um, and he tells them in this passage of this letter that Fighting the good fight is not about Picking up natural weapons. It's not about fighting in the natural sense, nor is it about just escaping and sitting in a room and singing Kumbaya and hoping that the world just passes you by. Like, but he gives us some really practical tools about what does it look like to be able to stand up for our beliefs and to live out our faith.

So Taylor, do you want to?

Yes, I'll run you through it. I think that last part really impacts me is I think I can sometimes be complacent. So it's easy to think about withdrawing then to, to try and stand. So, uh, that's why I was really excited about this message. Cause I think it speaks to me directly to, you know, take courage, even when it feels like we're standing alone, but we're going to run through what Paul was writing.

So 10 and it says, finally be strong in the Lord. And in his mighty power. That's, that summarises it. Just be strong in the Lord, in his mighty power. Yeah, not,

not my strength.

No, definitely not my strength. His strength. And then he goes on to say, he says, Put on the full armour of God. So that you can take your stand against the devil's schemes.

It doesn't say so you can go out there and attack and charge and attack It's a put on the full armor of God. So that's that protection, that confidence in Christ, you know, so that you can take a stand against the devil's schemes.

I love that as well, because it talks about being prepared. Like in the act of putting on armor says that we're actually doing something and we're preparing for, um, for what's to come, which is cool.

And, and it is a spiritual battle.

Yeah. And when you put on armor, If you're on the battlefield and you've got no armour on, how confident or courageous are you going to be? You're going to be pretty Not very. No, I don't think so. Not in those days when they're running at you with a sword. But I think if you've got the armour on, you're going to feel confident and courageous to withstand whatever the battles are that you're going to be facing.

So I think that is a great image there. Put on the full armour of God to protect yourself.

Absolutely.

And he goes on to say, he says, For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, But against the rulers, again, sorry, rulers against the authorities. It's not a physical battle that he's talking about. And that's what we're saying, we're not, you're not going out there and charging and attacking.

It's the armor is there to help you stand and to defend and to, um, yeah, not run away, not to be scared. We've got God's power to withstand in those times.

And then so he continues in verse 13, he says,

Put on the full armor of God so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand.

Yeah.

I think that summarizes it great. It's to stand. strong.

Yeah. I love that. I love the thought that, um, when the battle comes, like even when you are experiencing the most intense pressure that you could experience in this world, we can stand because, um, we stand in him. Yeah. Yeah. It's incredible.

And then the awesome thing is, he actually goes through and breaks down what the armour of God is.

Because we're like, great, what's the armour of God? He's, it's gonna protect us, it's gonna help us stand, but what does that look like practically? So he breaks it down quite quickly. Easily for us. It's stand firm then with the belt of truth buckled around your waist.

And we were going to get someone to come up and add all the pieces of armor.

Like, you know, like a Sunday school object lesson, but we're not going to do that. 90s. Your imagination. Um, but the belt of truth, like being grounded in the truth of God. And we've already talked about the fact that the world distorts truth, but we actually have access to the truth. And when that becomes the lens that you look through.

That is the thing that holds everything else together. Um, so yeah, living life. Through integrity, no deception. That is the truth belt.

The truth belt. Yeah. And then it says the breastplate of righteousness in place. I love this

one. Yeah. Protecting the heart like, um, representing like the righteousness that God has called us to live by and how we live that out.

And it protects us against temptation and it helps align us with the way that God wants us to go.

Yep. And with your feet. Fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace.

The shoes of peace.

They're called Birkenstocks. Yeah, they are comfortable.

I don't know if the shoes of peace are necessarily comfortable, but because we're on mission, it actually calls us to live beyond ourselves and to take, uh, his truth out to the people that are on our rhythms and our routines, the people that we're doing life with.

So, um, yeah, we're on. Mission, and we're bringing his piece to our world.

Yeah. In addition to all of this, take up the shield of faith with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one.

I think the imagery around that is beautiful, isn't it? Like you can just picture yourself holding up a shield of faith.

faith and the arrows that are being, um, sent in by the devil and even an untruth, they're just hitting that shield and bouncing straight back off because they're being defended by something. So we trust God even when life looks tough and that faith becomes our shield. And so, yeah, trusting God becomes our, our first defense.

Yeah. I always think of the, that scene in the movie 300, I don't know if you haven't seen it, but all the.

Is it about Christmas?

Yes, actually. You should watch it. It's a Christmas movie.

Is it a romance?

Yes, it's a Christmas romance. It's basically a rom com. Psycho! Yeah, yeah. But it's this, I can't really remember, I only remember this scene for some weird reason, but there's a big battle and all these arrows are coming, but they all get together and they make like this dome with their shields, and all these arrows are flying over and just, You know, not hurting them.

Is that even the movie? Like, have I just made that up? Is that how it ends? Maybe it doesn't end, like, that's alright.

Did you just spoil it?

I don't know. Spoiler alert. No. It's like 10, 15 years old, I think, isn't it? I don't know. It's a long time. But I just see that, just the arrows bouncing off. When we've got that shield, it's just that protection.

And that comes from our faith.

Absolutely. That's good.

The next thing is take the helmet of salvation.

The helmet of salvation. I love this. I love that we have imagery around guarding our minds. Phil spoke a great message a few weeks ago about the power of, um, of this. And yeah, it's just that protection for our minds.

It reminds us of our identity. You know, our identity is in Christ. And so that's the assurance that we have of salvation.

Yeah. And the sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of God.

Absolutely. I mean, enough said, right? Brilliant. Absolutely.

And last but not least, and pray in the Spirit on all occasions, with all kinds of prayers and requests, with this in mind.

Be alert, and always be praying for all the Lord's people.

Yeah, I love that imagery around always being, like, always being prayerful. And even though it's not a piece of armor, um, it's really vital, and it actually helps us live all of this out. And so, um, what a challenge, though, to be a person who is continually praying.

Like, that is such a beautiful place to get to across, you know, your whole day, just giving things back to God and inviting the Holy Spirit to help in every scenario.

Yeah. And I think just that last statement is praying for all the Lord's people. Like we're not in this alone. We, we need to be praying for, for one another on a regular basis.

Cause we all face. on a daily basis. And we need to stand as a community. Um, so I think that's really awesome that he didn't just say just pray, it's pray for the Lord's people. I thought that was really awesome.

And so the reminder back before we sort of unpacked the whole armor of God was that final statement in verse 13 about once you've done all of this, you stand and just having the courage to stand.

So yeah, it's a call to perseverance. It's a call to not give up. It's a call to stand firm, even when it feels like you might be the only one standing. And I mean, we could spend an entire message, uh, unpacking all of the parts of the armor, but we wanted to just delve in a little bit deeper today into one part of the armor, which is the belt of truth, belt of truth.

Yes, stand firm then with the belt of truth buckled around your waist. Now, I love that Paul uses Did you wear yours?

I didn't

wear did you wear a belt today? I've got my belt of truth on. Okay, so it's not just about it's not a fashion piece.

No, you can't see it, so no. But it does it is fashion because it keeps my pants up.

So that's fashionable.

Um, it holds everything together and One

person's not. Oh, hang on, that's a yeah, anyway.

Um

Abort, abort.

Abort. So Paul uses the imagery here of a Roman soldier and he, you know, when you think about that in terms of a belt, like not just like your belt, but he, the, the belt back then was like almost the thing that held the whole scenario together.

Like if you didn't have your belt on, you had nowhere to hang your sword. You had nowhere to sort of build the rest of your armor. around. So

it's like that foundational piece of the armor. So without that, it's just incomplete.

Yeah.

Yeah.

And you talked before about, um, going into battle prepared because you are wearing the armor.

And so without this belt of truth, we are not prepared and we can go in and we can be swayed and just like confused and vulnerable. But when we go in with the belt of truth, we are confident, we're courageous, and Not just any truth, though, that's probably the key thing to unpack here, isn't it? It's God's truth.

It is, and I think in today's day and age, it's It's always about this, what's your truth? You know, what's your truth? That's the truth. Whatever you think is the truth, let it be. And it can be really confusing cause we're, we're just overloaded with so much information, so many viewpoints. And again, it can mold your own viewpoint and I remembered this image that I'd seen when we were preparing and I thought it was a great example of what it looks like when we go down that path of, well, what's your truth?

What you think is right? Let's do that. So if we can pop that image up. I just want to quickly explain what that looks like. It's like a, a shadow, uh, image, which will come up very shortly, I'm sure. And I will keep talking until it comes up on the screen. Without it, uh, it, there we go. So as you can see, there's a cylinder in the middle and it's like a light shining and shadows are displayed on each wall.

So if you're looking from it, from one angle, you can see a circle. And if you're looking from the other angle, you can see a square. So to them, if we're looking at it as a truth viewpoint, it seems true. They're like, great, I see a circle, I see a square, but in actual fact, it's, it's neither of those. It's actually a cylinder.

And I think that's what we're talking about with the, the belt of truth is Jesus is the truth. He is the cylinder. There shouldn't be these different interpretations and he is that true, true north on your compass. And I think that's a really, really good image for myself because I'm a very simple person.

And it made a lot of sense of, doesn't matter what I think, what is the actual truth?

Yeah.

Yeah.

The unchanging truth and the truth of God trumps all other truth for all of eternity. And that's why even today I was laughing when Kev was talking about his devotions again, we will mention it literally every week.

Like it is so important to understand that truth for yourself, to, to read it and to apply it and to live it out and. And until you're actually packing that down into the well of your own life, how will you know what is truth and what is the distorted truth that the world is speaking? And what is that

truth?

Well, I mean, super quickly, there's, there's a lot of truth, but one really important truth for me is that, um, God's truth reveals whose we are and who you are in Christ. You are a son and you are a daughter of God. Of God and you are made in his image and you are fearfully and wonderfully made and you are loved and you are known by him.

And when you know, and I'm so passionate about your identity, like knowing your identity in Christ, because that sets you up in a truth that the world cannot shift. It doesn't matter what anybody else tells you when you are secure in knowing who you are in God, in whose you are. It doesn't matter what the world tries to tell you because nothing can shift you from that knowledge of the fact that you are loved and you are made in his image.

And you can stand firm as an overcomer, as a daughter and a son of God because of who you are in Him.

His truth also reveals what's true and what's correct.

Yeah.

Uh, and, and again, that gives us that purpose. Without the purpose of what the truth is, then what's the point of all of this? And so, yeah, God's truth reveals that.

And he shows us, and I love that statement, I don't know where it came from, it's, uh, What does love require? Yeah. And I think that's an amazing filter to, to base all of these decisions through. Yeah. And his truth doesn't change. No. His truth doesn't ebb and flow through trends and different cultures, it's, it is the true truth.

There is a true north and that's from Jesus. And it should be our lens that we make our decisions based off.

Yeah. And the other thing that God's truth gives you in life is purpose. Like when you understand, um, like the fact that you weren't just created by him, but you were created for a purpose. It sets you up for the most adventure filled life that you could ever live.

And, um, we're called to live on mission, to live as disciples who make disciples, you know, as a people who are sharing his love, like displaying the love that we have for him by loving other people. And that's an incredible purpose to live out. So it's a, it's an adventure life. Is great.

Yeah. So then once we, we understand the truth and we learn the truth.

The next part is the hard part, which is to stand, it's to stand on that truth, have the courage to stand when it feels like you might be standing alone.

Yeah. And the reality is that when we take a stand, it's not always going to be a bed of roses and sunshine and unicorns. Like the result of choosing truth in a world that doesn't always like that kind of truth is that it might not go that way.

Great. Yeah.

Like if you take a stand at work and you don't believe in the values of your, the business you work for, you probably want to get promoted. You know, you might get fired if you don't go to the conferences cause you don't want to do whatever that looks like. That's just the reality of sometimes standing firm in your values.

We don't want to. Sell a story when you stand up for what you believe in, it's all going to be awesome. It's, there's a reality on the other side that it takes risk. There will be a risk to stand and have that courage.

But the beautiful part of that, and I know that this is a theme that's come throughout our risk series, is that we're not in any of these, sort of circumstances, talking about taking a risk for, um, you know, getting more here and now, it's actually being willing and able to take, to risk everything that we have here and now for the future.

an eternal perspective and eternal good. So it could be hard. And I was reflecting this morning on that, um, beautiful promise from Jesus that in this world, we will have trouble, but then he doesn't stop there. He says, take heart. I have overcome the world. And I was thinking about like, what an interesting phrase to use, like take heart.

And it means, Take courage, like take courage. I have overcome the world and so When you feel like you don't have the courage to stand up for what you believe in, you know for what God has said Take his courage. It's it's an action. He's offering it Yeah in this world, you will have trouble but take heart take courage partake of that and you know, he has overcome

Yeah, and that's why Paul started his little description with that the power of the Lord.

Yeah

Because he knows we're not going to be able to do it in our own strength. We need to rely on God for that strength.

So we're wrapping it up. We asked you at the beginning to think about an area in your life where perhaps there's a little bit of tension at the moment that you feel like God is, um, or, you know, there is, there's God's way, there's God's truth, and perhaps there's another way, um, and God's word and his strength give us the ability to stand in that scenario.

Not because it's going to make life easier, but because we know that we do it in his strength and that his word anchors us. Uh, in and through that.

Yeah, like imagine if we all decided to stand for the truth in every situation. Imagine what that would look like. Imagine your families. Imagine what that would look like with your immediate family, your extended family, your, your work, your business, your friends, your volunteering or your conversations.

You know, if you all, all of a sudden everyone just stopped gossiping, imagine how much less damage would be done in the world. Like just.

I, I think, I can, I can imagine that, I can imagine, you know, the people of God once again becoming irresistible, like you, you cannot, um, help but be drawn to somebody that is a person of integrity and a person of courage and a person of truth, like those are the things that we get to live out and that point, um, to God, so it's a beautiful picture to imagine that.

I

think it, and I, I know when you, you do stand. There's like this respect from people like, man, I couldn't do that, but I'm proud that you can. Like some people struggle and it is, it's a really inspirational thing when you see people stand knowing that they're standing alone. And I think that can really encourage others to get around you and also take that stance as well.

Absolutely. Point straight to God.

Yeah.

Yeah. So, um, you felt like you wanted to do something, you felt like the guide had maybe prompted you to, to do something this morning for people, yeah?

So, as you've been thinking, what I would like us to do is, if you've thought of a time, or you're in the midst of it now, I want you to take a stand right here.

It's not gonna do anything magical, but it's just that, Act in your, in your own self. Just I'm gonna take a stand for, for what I've been thinking about, whether it's your family work or whatnot. Mm-Hmm. . Um, so yeah, if, if, if that's you, I would like you to take a stand, right.

And you're gonna pray for us. And

we're gonna pray so and

so.

Even if you are watching online and you are able to do that. Like, it's just, it's just a, um, act of faith to stand Yeah. And sort of a representation that you're gonna put on the armor of God. Yeah. You're gonna stand firm with the belt of truth, so you're

gonna take that risk. Yeah.

So we can do that now.

You want to pray for us, Taylor, for those that want to stand in his strength.

Lord, we just thank you. We just thank you for the amazing things that Jesus has done for us. So that we can live this life with his power and his strength. And that no matter what happens in this life, We have eternity promised to us father.

We just pray for the courage To stand even when it feels like we're standing alone And I just want to pray that we can continue once we've stood that we can withstand uh the ongoing Outcomes from that as well, or we just feel strong and we just have your power within us in your mighty name Amen.

Amen