We have to die to ourselves to be effective witnesses in the world.  We have to do away with all pride, the fear of men’s faces.  If we’re going to be giving our lives up to preach the gospel, that means we are going to be reaching souls, and if you reach souls, you have to disciple them.  Which means you have a baby on your hands and they are going to take time and they are going to call you on the phone and cry in the middle of the night and you have to get up and rock them.  I mean soothe them, not stone them.  Be there to bring advice and counsel.  We’re giving up our lives for these new converts.  We have people at church that get jealous when there are new converts, “How come they’re getting all this attention?  I’ve been here all of these years and now this new person comes in and they’re getting all this attention and…”  You know what?  The Scriptures says maybe you ought to be teaching others.  Grow up; amen?  It’s time for you to begin to give.

The preparation of the gospel of peace, it’s kind of interesting in this armor that we’re talking about.  One thing made the Romans very successful over their enemies, especially in the early years.  It doesn’t take long to figure it out, but they had in their armor something that virtually nobody else had at this time.  We would think it would be some kind of sophisticated sword or a shield or some method of fighting, a new Kung Fu move or whatever it might be and that’s not what it was.  You know what it was?  They had cleated shoes, so that when they went out and engaged and you had on a regular pair of flat sandals and they had cleats and you’re fighting hand to hand and grappling with one another, guess who is going win that?  Our feet shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace, a sure foundation, a confidence that the power is in the message.  Those cleats are working; it’s the gospel.  That’s what causes us, as we set out against the enemy, to be able to proclaim this clear message and having stood, stand, praise God!  A life of commitment, a decision that is made for a lifetime of abiding in Christ and His words abiding in us; amen?  If you have your feet shod with the gospel, nobody is going to push you around with false doctrine, with experiences.  All these great signs and wonders that are supposedly being done in Jesus’ name, you’re not going to be moved by any of that if your foundation is the Word of God, the gospel of Jesus Christ.

If we adorn ourselves God’s armor, we are not going to be sitting at home like David and get caught up with some Bathsheba.  We will be out winning souls on the front lines, preaching the gospel; amen?  That will help us stand in this last hour.  We don’t need more in-depth teaching, we need admonition.  We don’t need more revelation; we need to stir up the gifts that are in us.  We already know what the Word of God says about these things, what are we doing about it?  Are we admonishing one another?  One of the aspects of this great teaching is that we’re to take up the sword of the Spirit which is the Word of God and what does it tell us to do?  Pray! Amen, pray!  You want to prepare for persecution?  Pray always; amen?  Watch and pray that you enter not into temptation, praying always.