The Breastplate of Righteousness

Your true battle is our current message series. Hello and good morning. Hello and good morning to the balcony. Hello and good morning to all of you on the live stream. Good morning. We are so glad that you're joining us here and our live stream. My name is Mark, one of the pastors here. And speaking of the live stream, last weekend after every service, I got to meet people here in person who are regulars on our live stream. I'm talking about people from Indiana, Tennessee, Minnesota, and East Bay, California. It was really cool and encouraging to be able to do that. So again, wherever you are, we're so glad that you're joining us and also last weekend. Wasn't it cool to have our good friend Herman Hamilton here? Huh? That was so cool. Man, he raised the roof. This place was lit up. That was so fun.

I was particularly grateful for the way that Herman reminded us of the need to check our assumptions, right? Like before we kind of, you know, get all agitated and stuff about something, we would do well to check our assumptions, maybe even ask, "May I check my assumptions with you?" A very practical tool. And to illustrate this, Herman had you all imagined that you had sent me an email on Monday, and here it is the weekend, I have still not answered your email. Man, that guy is blowing me off. But then Herman did me a great favor by suggesting that rather than blowing off your email, I may have been bogged down by some very pressing things that week. And do you remember all this? You were with us. Okay. So to all that, I just want to say, thank you, Herman.

And also, I'm going to ask you to say the word opportunity. Yeah, as an opportunity for Mark to start blowing off his email now. No. I'm just kidding. Kind of. If you're bothered by what I just said, I want to encourage you to email me on Monday at Kyle@TLC.org, and I will get right on that. All right. I think it's time for us to prepare our hearts and our minds for today's message. Would you pray with me? Gracious Heavenly Father, we place ourselves before Your Word right now, and we ask for Your Spirit to apply it to our lives and to transform our hearts. And I pray this in the name of Jesus Christ and all God's people said, "Amen." Amen, indeed.

Tuesday, June 6, 1944, 6.30 a.m., 5,000 ships carrying 160 Allied troops approached the southern beaches of France for the largest invasion in modern history, D-Day. As they neared shore, messages blared out on the PA system of each one of those ships, messages that said things like this, "Fight to get your troops ashore. Fight to save your ships, and if you've got anything left, fight to save yourself. We may die on the sands of France, but we will never turn back." Or another one. "This is it. Pick it up. Put it on." You got a one-way ticket, and this is the end of the line. 2,500 American servicemen died that day, many of them in the span of about 15 minutes. Soldiers had to literally crawl over the bodies of other soldiers to get ashore.

And courageous, courageous moments like this, they humble us, don't they? And I hope they instill us with deep gratitude for all of those who gave their lives in service of freedom. But I share this as well to emphasize this point. The men that approached the beaches at Normandy that day had no delusions about what they were getting themselves into. None of them thought they were going to some exotic beach in France for a vacation. They knew they were plunging headlong into a battle, a battle against an enemy that wanted to do nothing more than to destroy them. And now, as we near the end of Paul's letter to the Ephesians, Paul is going to inform us that we are in a battle as well.

And I have to think living where we do with the ocean on one side and the redwoods on the other side with comfort, security, opportunities, Mediterranean climate, often we can see our world as simply a playground, right? And often it is. That's a blessing. That's God's goodness. But don't be fooled or lulled into complacency because we are also living in a battleground. And so what does that battle look like? And how does God protect us in the midst of it? Well, to teach us, Paul is going to use the, he's going to point to the armor of a Roman soldier and use it as a metaphor to see how God equips us for the battle at hand.

It kind of reminds me today we had the wharf to wharf. Any wharf to wharf runners in our midst? Oh, got a couple. Let's...come on, encourage them. They ran there. They ran eight miles to get here, which is more than I did. But, I mean, think about it. These runners, this doesn't look like a lot of money, what he's wearing right here, but you better believe it is. This is like the highest-tech, lightest, best, shorts and shirts and shoes so that these people prop themselves up for success by being properly equipped, right? I mean, how would it do to try to run this race in like, you know, a penalty and work boots? It's not going to fly, right?

Well, along these lines, Paul says, "Well, if you're in a battle, you've got to be equipped for it." And so, you know, these soldiers were very all too familiar to Paul's audience. And so he says, "Well, it's kind of like this." You know, he starts with what he calls the belt of truth. Herman talked about that last week, and he gave it just a super, super kind of practical talk about what it's like to wrap yourself in the belt of God's truth, not just knowing it, but living it out, and in particular, in very practical ways, he talked about, you know, what that looks like in terms of demonstrating integrity in the midst of our relationships.

Well, today we're going to move to that next piece of armor, which Paul calls the breastplate of righteousness. And before we kind of dive into what that's about, I want to give you some context because this section, first of all, has historically, it's been kind of spun into unhealthy obsessions about the demonic and the occult and some circles. I mean, people's imaginations along with Hollywood and Christian fiction kind of can take this subject to bizarre extremes. And we end up kind of focusing more on the battle than on the Lord. And if not that, this whole armor of God thing, and when you're reading through Ephesians, you get to this, it kind of feels like a disconnect maybe. Like maybe Paul had some extra space left on the page, he felt obliged to fill it, and so he kind of comes up with this part.

But to the contrary of all of that, I want to show you how this section on the armor of God fits right into the context of Ephesians as well into the rest of Scripture. And so I'm going to throw a little extra Scripture at you today, you okay with that? You'd handle it? Yeah, good. All right, we're going to do that. And I'm doing this because I want you to have a real clear and solid foundation when it comes to this subject. And then after we've done that, I want to give you three simple but powerful ways that you can apply what Paul is talking about today. So you're ready? Are you ready? Let's do this.

Okay, Ephesians 6, verse 10 begins like this. Finally. Finally what? Well, finally, in view of what Paul has been saying in chapters 4, 5, and the beginning of 6, because in the first three chapters he lays out all that we have in Christ, our identity, and then he kind of pivots and he says, "So now I urge you to walk or live in a way that's worthy of all of that." And he starts calling us to live out our faith in tangible, real-life ways. And so he tells us, "Be gentle, patient, bear with one another in love, make every effort to maintain your unity." And as we've learned in the last three years, if not before, this is hard to do, isn't it? Like in real life, not just talk about it.

Or to turn away from satisfying kind of our innate, sometimes carnal desires and the way we see all around us in culture, they saw the same thing, to actually do that. Man, that's harder still. Or how about this? How about to sustain marriages and other relationships through genuine mutual submission? Well, that might be hardest of all. But I got to practice mutual submission in my marriage just this past week. I get to practice it every week, but in particular this last week, while I was working on this message, we, that's my wife Laura and I, were also working on a remodel of one of our bathrooms. And by remodel, I don't mean we like changed a couple pictures on the wall. We took it down to the studs and the part behind the shower, we had to take the studs all the way out. So like a hole in our house. That's how this whole project begins. So let me hear you say, "Good times." Good times.

All right. I mean, it was really kind of a mess. And there were kind of two types of things going on at the same time, because I want this sermon to be good. I want it to be, you know, something you enjoy listening to, and it benefits your life. And meanwhile, meanwhile, I'm assuming by kind of the cues I'm getting from Laura, she's thinking something different. She's thinking, "Well, you know, if the sermon's not so great, it's okay, Mark. It won't be the first time." I'm assuming that. I'm also assuming she's saying, "Let's get this thing done. I want to put tile on this wall." And so what happens is that you have competing expectations, competing priorities, frustrations. They're all colliding in the moment. And this is where our living out, our calling gets put to the test, right? Our character is revealed.

And Paul's aware of all this going on in our lives all the time. And so he says, finally, in view of living out this calling that I've been discussing with you, he says, "Be strong in the Lord and in His mighty power." You don't have the power to do this, but he does put on the full armor of God. It's not your armor. It's His armor. He equips you to live out the life that He has called and created you to be so that you can take your stand against the devil's schemes. Let me ask you, do you think one of the devil's schemes is to go after your relationships? You better believe it is, because this is where we live.

But Paul reminds us as he continues, verse 12, "Our struggle is not against flesh and blood." That person is not your enemy. You love that person. You're married to that person. You brought that person into the world, or you work with that person, whatever the case. Your battle, your fight is against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world, and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms. Now, we've got to hit the pause button, because one of the things that jumped out at me this week was this term that Paul uses, "Heavenly realms." I've seen this in Ephesians so many times, but it jumped out to me that Paul uses this term five times in Ephesians. Five times, you might call that a recurring theme. And what is Paul doing? He's affirming the existence of another realm, the spiritual world, which though invisible to us is just as real as our world.

And so, for example, chapter 2, verse 6, Paul says this, "And God raised us up with Christ and seated us with Him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus." What does that mean? It means that through the resurrection of Jesus, we've already been resurrected spiritually, at least when we put our faith in Him and receive the life that He offers us, what He calls everlasting life. And so get this, this means that through God's Spirit, heaven is in us, even before we're in heaven. That's kind of cool, huh? Well, this next one will kind of blow your mind. Chapter 3, verse 10, it says, "His," that's God's intent, "was that now through the church," that's y'all, "the manifold wisdom," what does that mean? Well, we'll get to that. "The manifold wisdom of God should be made known to the rulers and authorities in the heavenly realms." Paul's saying that what God is doing through His church, through you and through me, among other things, serves as an object lesson of God's wisdom to all of creation, including those spiritual beings in heavenly realms. Wow, that's kind of trippy.

In fact, along these lines, because here's the thing, big picture is God has promised to bring about a new beginning to the entire cosmos, and this is not lost in the spiritual realms. And so along these very same lines, Peter says in his first epistle, he says, "Even angels long to look into these things." They're like, "Wow, that's amazing." And it's what God is doing through us. That's crazy. But while the angels marvel at all of this, the demons have a different response, don't they? That brings us to the battle at hand. Paul continues, "Therefore, put on the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes," not if, when it comes, "you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything to stand. Stand firm then, with the belt of truth buckled around your waist, with the breastplate of righteousness in place." You see Paul's emphasis here? Stand. Stand your ground.

Paul's not calling us to imagine ourselves as kind of like, you know, spiritual superheroes, like the Avengers were going to go out and do battle with the devil. No. He says, "Your job is to stand. Stand your ground. Stand firm." As C.S. Lewis once said, "Some people, some Christians in particular, take this battle way too seriously, it becomes just an unhealthy obsession. However, others don't take it seriously enough. We all kind of tend to fall into one bucket or the other." You've seen this before. For some Christians, you know, their car breaks down, they get a flat tire, they get a parking ticket. "Oh, the devil is after me. He's attacking me. Pray for me." On the other hand, others might be overly dismissive and think, "This is like superstition, ignorance that existed 2,000 years ago. We know better now." No.

You know, for the record, you can't read the Gospels if you're paying attention and not notice the conflict between Jesus and the evil powers that rise up against Him to oppose Him. Same is true with Paul. For all his success spreading the gospel, planting churches, Paul knew all too well that evil will strike back. In fact, he wrote these words while chained in a dark and dank prison. Why? Because he had broken laws? No. Because he was being opposed. Spiritual forces influencing human beings to battle against him. And in his second letter to the Corinthians, Paul shares with us quite candidly, in fact, what you might call battle fatigue, when he says, "Now we were under great pressure, far beyond our ability to endure." This is kind of like Paul, the super-Christian saying, "Man, this was beyond me that we despaired for life itself." That's how intense the battle was for Paul.

Now, I want to be clear. Jesus has defeated Satan. He defeated him on the cross and through his resurrection. But what Paul is getting at, it is still possible to give up ground in our lives. It's possible to do that. In fact, I want you to see the example that Paul gives in Ephesians 4, because this is so instructive. It is not some kind of weird, spooky event. It's actually something quite ordinary, something very down to earth. And this is what's far more typical when he says this, chapter 4, verse 26 and 27, "Don't let the sun go down while you are still angry, for anger gives a" what? "Foothold to the devil." Well, ever held a grudge? I have. Ever marinated in your anger, held on to some bitterness, resentment, something like that? Paul is kind of pulling back the curtain and saying, "You know what's really going on when you do that? You're giving the devil a foothold in your life. You're allowing him to land on your beach." So instead, gird yourself with the truth that God provides for us in His Word, live it out, and put on the breastplate of righteousness.

Now, let me ask you. Any one of you have a breastplate of righteousness in your closet? No, not on the balcony either. Me neither. So what is Paul talking about? How do I put on this metaphorical thing that he's suggesting we all need to do, not just suggesting he's saying it quite clearly? Well, I don't really know, so we're going to just close with prayer. René, we'll pick it up next week. No. Think about it. Obviously, the breastplate was designed to protect your torso, both front and back. And Paul talks about this because in Bible times, people saw your heart and your vital organs as the center of your being, your thoughts, emotions, desires, intentions. They all originated in your chest in abdomen the way that that's how they understood it.

And this is because, you know, you feel things viscerally in your gut, right, when you're upset. Or even your heart will race and pound under stress. And so the Bible kind of reflects this all the time in Scripture. I'll give you an example. In Psalm 26, David writes this. He says, "Test me, O Lord, and try me. Examine my heart and mind." Okay, well, it makes sense to us. This is the English translation. In Hebrew, it literally says this, "Test me, O Lord, and try me. Examine my kidneys and my heart." What? What are you talking about? You know, "Examine my kidneys and while you're there, check my spleen." Again, he's reflecting the understanding of his day that emotions, thoughts, kidneys were vulnerable. That was kind of tied to emotions. Your heart was kind of what we would say happens in your brain, okay? That's just how they saw it.

And so the English translation is helping you understand what David actually meant. He's talking about thoughts and emotions. But listen, what the ancients may not have understood about anatomy, we know what happens up here, okay, not, you know, here, so you're there. What they didn't understand about that, they were spot on when it came to the influence of thoughts and emotions on our behaviors. Still with me? Here's the thing. What captures your attention captures your heart. Found this to be true? What captures your attention captures your heart. In fact, the more you fixate on something, the more you will gravitate toward it, the more you will notice it. If you don't believe me, think about the last time you bought a car, right? "Oh man, that got on your heart and your radar." There it is. I see it driving down. You don't notice anybody else's car, but you notice the one you want because it's captured your attention. And Paul's saying, "That's the way it works." And so he's talking about an issue of focus.

And so let's get back to the issue of the breastplate of righteousness. Paul is talking about protecting your inner being, your inner thought life, your feelings, your emotions. So again, how do you put on the breastplate of righteousness? Here's how you guard your heart. You guard your heart. Proverbs 4:23 says, "Above all else guard your heart, for everything you do flows from it." This is how important this is. And so I want to give you three ways that we can do this, three ways to guard your heart, which again is synonymous with putting on this breastplate. That's what he's getting at. Now God provides the breastplate, but we are called to embrace it, to cooperate with what God wants to do in our lives.

And so first of all, first thing is this. Focus on how God sees you. Focus on how He sees you. Now I don't know how you see yourself, but if you've placed your faith in Christ, I know how God sees you because Scripture talks about it a lot. In fact, so does Ephesians in particular. Right at the very beginning, Paul says this, "Even before He made the world, God loved us and chose us in Christ to be holy and without fault in His eyes." Let me just restate this. "Even before He made the world, God loved you and chose you to be holy and without fault in His eyes." Wow, that is a stunning statement. Now if you're like me, you want to say, "Whoa, wait a minute. My life would argue to the contrary. I would not see myself as being holy and without fault." And like me, that may be a practical reality in your life.

But here's the thing. When Jesus went to the cross and died, He took our sins and exchanged in that process. He gave us His righteousness. As it says in 2 Corinthians 5, "God made Him who had no sin." That's Jesus, to be sin for us so that in Him we might become the what? The righteousness of God. And listen, if all you ever do is fixate on your own flaws, your own failures, two things are going to happen. First of all, you're going to be more apt to gravitate towards those things, you know. I'm not going to do that. I'm not going to do that. I'm not going to do that. But all you're doing is thinking about that. Secondly, without even articulating it perhaps, what you will be saying to God is, you know, what Jesus did for me on the cross, it wasn't enough. You know, maybe it was enough for René or, you know, Billy Graham or whomever, but it's not enough for me. And so without even thinking about it, you spend so much time and energy trying to prove that you're worthy of the love that God has freely lavished upon you in His Son Jesus.

And if that's you, my friend today, would you just please hear me? Because your worth has already been clearly established. Jesus purchased you with His blood, with His very life. Could anything be more valuable than the blood and life of Jesus Christ? Not a chance. Think of it this way. Did you see in the news this week that right here in Santa Cruz, somebody found a rare Ferrari in a garage of a house that was about to be remodeled? It's crazy. It happened right here in town. This is the car that they found. This is actually the model of car. This is a 1963 Ferrari 250 GT Lusso, right? Super cool. I love it. So here's the thing. The one that they found in the garage in Santa Cruz, it wasn't in mint condition like this. You know, it had some mileage on it, it had some dents, had some scratches. Nevertheless, it's estimated to be worth over two million dollars. They thought it might be worth more than the house, but then they reminded themselves, "Oh, we're in Santa Cruz." So anyway, we shouldn't be laughing, we should be crying.

But it's just sitting under this tarp for years. And here's the thing. Why in the world is it estimated to be over two million dollars? I'll tell you why, because it's a Ferrari. And it's not only a Ferrari, it's a very rare Ferrari. Only 350 of these were ever made. It says one in 350. And so its value is tied directly to its rarity and its maker. Now follow me. You're one of a kind. And God made you. So how valuable does that make you? Can you see yourself the way God sees you? You are holy and righteous in His eyes. Does that make you feel something? Man, it thrills me because apart from that, I'm a hopeless case. And Paul would say the same thing. At the end of Romans 7, Paul says, "Man, the thing I know to do, I don't do that. I do the thing I'm not supposed to do. Man, I'm just a failure and a flop." And this is like Paul saying this. But then he turns the corner in the beginning of Romans 8. He says these words. He says, "Therefore there is now," what? "No condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, because through Christ Jesus, the law of the Spirit of life set me free from the law of sin and death. So embrace this truth and see yourself as God sees you." Holy and righteous.

And if you feel like a loser or failure, that is not coming from God. That's coming from your enemy, your accuser. See yourself how God sees you as we sung a little bit some moments ago. "I am who you say I am." Do you believe that? We'll live in that. Second way to guard your heart is to focus on the power of the Holy Spirit. The power of the Holy Spirit. This week I was reading from a book by a pastor named J.D. Greer, and he points out an interesting little detail that occurs at the very end of Luke's gospel. Chapter 24, the scene is this. Jesus has been resurrected from the grave. He's about to depart from his disciples, and he's giving them kind of some final instructions, all right? That's the setup. And then in verse 49, he says this, "Stay in the city until you have been clothed with power from on high." In other words, gang, here's your first assignment. Don't do anything. Just sit and wait.

And bear in mind, millions of people are waiting to hear the gospel, and Jesus tells the only ones who know anything about it to sit and wait. Why? Because until the Spirit fills them with His power, they can't do a single thing. Nothing, nada. But when Jesus fills them with His Spirit, these mostly uneducated, anonymous followers begin to change the entire world. In fact, think about it. We're sitting here right now, gathered as a church because of the power of the Holy Spirit demonstrated through those first followers of Christ, the same power that is available to us today. Wow. And along those lines, Paul tells the Ephesians church, "I pray that out of His glorious riches He may strengthen you with power through His Holy Spirit in your inner being." Oh, that's the part we're protecting with the breastplate, right? "So that Christ may dwell in your," what? "Hearts through faith." So as we focus on the power of the Holy Spirit and rely on it and ask Him to empower us, we're right in sync with what Paul is praying right here. We're praying basically the same prayer.

In fact, this is why we bathe every single one of these services and everything we do as a church in prayer, because we want to be empowered by the Spirit. It's why virtually every time someone comes up onto the stage, you ever wonder what's going on in our minds? You know, like when René trots up here or Herman last week or me this week, like, what are they thinking? They're playing that little video as they're walking up. We're doing the greeting. You want to know what we're thinking? We're thinking about what we're going to have for lunch after this. No, we're not. Very different, actually. Most often we are borrowing the words of prayer, an affirmation, if you will, from a great preacher named Charles Spurgeon. Every time Spurgeon would crawl into his pulpit, he would silently say to himself, "I believe in the power of the Holy Spirit. I believe in the power of the Holy Spirit. I believe in the power of the Holy Spirit because apart from the power of the Holy Spirit, everything we say up here will simply fall flat. It will have no power. It will have no impact. And so we depend on the Spirit to make this time meaningful.

And when it comes to guarding your heart, protecting your inner being, we need more than just willpower or discipline or good intentions. We need the power of the Holy Spirit. It's Ephesians 4 starting at verse 21. "Since you have heard about Jesus and have learned the truth that comes from Him, throw off your old sinful nature and your former way of life." In other words, like, okay, that was then. This is now. This is what God is doing in my life, here and going forward, which by the way is corrupted by lust and deception, my old life. "Instead, let the Spirit renew your thoughts and attitudes." Oh, that's stuff behind the breastplate again. "Put on your new nature created to be like God." Truly what? Righteous and holy. Paul just won't let us get away from this. This is who we are in Christ. And you know what? What he's just said here pretty much sums up much of the Christian life right here, right? We turn from the old and we walk in the newness of life in the power of the Holy Spirit.

And so focus on how God sees you, focus on the power of the Holy Spirit, and finally one of the more powerful ways that we can put on this breastplate of righteousness is to focus on the goodness of God. Do you believe God is good today? Well, good, because you know what? So often it's on this issue that the battle turns one way or the other. Augustine said this, he wrote this, "You have made us for yourself, O Lord, and our heart is restless until it rests in you." He's saying, "We will either find our ultimate satisfaction, our rest in God, or we will seek for it in vain elsewhere." Chapter 5, starting at verse 18, Paul says this, "Don't be drunk with wine because that will ruin your life." That's kind of a true statement, huh? "Instead, be filled with the Holy Spirit, singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs among yourselves and making music to the Lord in your heart." You might be going, "Well, I want to kind of lean into this. How do I do that?" Well, he just told us. How do you focus your mind? Well, a lot of times you do it through singing, singing songs to the Lord about the Lord, making music in your heart.

This is the gift of worship at the beginning of our services. Please never allow yourself to think, "Well, that's just kind of like, you know, the filler. You know, that's just the entertainment until we get to the main event." No, no, no, no, no. The gift of our time in worship is that it resets our focus. It calls us to focus on the Lord, on His truth, on His goodness, on what He intends for us. It allows us to do what He's talking about right here. So I hope you just see it and appreciate for what it is. But then He says this, "And," and this will kind of be the result. It'll be the outpouring of that, "and give thanks for everything to God the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ." So I want to ask a couple questions. Well, one in particular that I've been asking myself. Now it's your turn. We can't wiggle off the hook here. What fills you? What fills me?

I was talking to one of our other pastors last night, Steve Craig. He shared a line that he had come across recently. And not to be too heavy here, but the line goes like this. "If it breaks God's heart, why do you think it can fill yours?" "If it breaks God's heart, why in the world would we ever believe that it could fill ours?" Oh, spssp. It's about the truth telling us it won't, right? So protect the heart. Because this is where the fork in the road occurs for so many of us, on the issue of God's goodness. It's the difference between a heart that's at rest and a heart that is ever restless. So are you filled with a sense of God's goodness that God is good no matter what? Or are you tempted to believe that somehow God is holding out on you, that He's holding back something that, well, quite frankly, you think you deserve that you're entitled to? And again, this is, as a pastor, I can tell you, this is just so instrumental in the trajectory of our lives, in our faith.

And also, by the way, when Paul says, "Give thanks for everything," he's not saying, like, we're called to, like, thank God for cancer and car accidents. Okay? In context, he's saying, "Cultivate a grateful heart. Be confident that no matter what your circumstances, the goodness of God can break through and break in and renew you, no matter what's going on in your life. And that will give you hope." I began this message reminding us about what took place on June 6, 1944, on the beaches of Normandy. I'm going to end by telling you the story of one of those soldiers. Meet Andy Andrews here on the left with the glasses. He says in his memoir that it was his Christian faith that helped him and sustained him through the horrors of war.

And he goes into details that I won't share here, but, wow, these men and all that have fought in combat. It's just terrible. But he earned four Purple Hearts, four Bronze Stars, and survived several near misses, including one time when his glasses were literally shot right off his face. He survived. And after returning to the States, he married his sweetheart, Helen, and together they had two children together. And for decades, Andy liked to serve in youth ministry. It was a calling that he felt came upon him when he was fighting in Europe. And he saw the amount of suffering that put upon the children and young people who were just innocent, suffering under decisions that had nothing to do with anything they wanted.

And even so, for decades, he would struggle with the memories and the horror of the violence and just the depravity of war. Well, this kind of came to a head when he visited Normandy on the 50th anniversary of the invasion. Here he is honoring the grave of a fellow American soldier. Another point in this trip, emotionally he was overcome. He fell on the ground at the grave of a German soldier and wept and begged for forgiveness. So how do you believe God is good? How do you survive the crushing weight of that kind of pain and remorse and trauma? You know how he survived it, how he actually thrived in his life? His son said it was because he trusted in God's goodness. In fact, at his memorial service, his son Al stood up and said these words, I'll leave you with these. He said during the last year of his life, when you ask dad how he was doing, he would always say, "Well, I can't hear and I can't see, but God is good." And he told us that in the midst of pain, this guy knows what he's talking about. In the midst of pain and trials to look for God's goodness, it's always there.

Do you believe that church today? Do you want to believe that today? Okay. Well then let's go to our God with confidence that we will be met with His goodness and His grace. Let's pray together. Our good and gracious Father, we thank You that You want to provide for everything that we need, not that we are unmindful of the challenges, the trials, the battles of life, some by our own doing, some by forces around us that we don't even see or understand, and yet they hate what You love. And so Lord, we pray that You would protect our hearts, protect our lives, our relationships, all that we hold dear and call good. And Lord, for the one here or many here who are like, "Lord, I want to lean into this. I believe You're a good God, but help me in my unbelief. Help me with my doubts. Lord, You don't resent that question. You've heard it before."

And so Lord, would You answer those prayers? And Lord, would You heal the wounds that are represented in this room, on the live stream, anyone who hears this within the sound of my voice? Would You encourage them? Would You meet them in this moment so that they could see themselves as You see them and experience Your power and know that You are a good God who loves His children more than we can even begin to imagine? Lord, I pray all these things in the name of our beautiful Savior, Jesus Christ, and all God's people said, "Amen."