All Things Are Possible

Dr. Bernie Miller: You watch the bottom line. You don't write a check if you don't have the money in the bank. If you watch the bottom line in your bank, why don't you watch the bottom line in your spiritual life? You ought to be ready for Christ's coming. That ought to be just as important to you as the bottom line in your bank.

Narrator: New Covenant Fellowship Church. In-person worship Sunday mornings at 10:30, 1326 North Moore Road in Chattanooga. New Covenant Fellowship Church: a place for every race. Now from New Covenant Fellowship Church, all things are possible.

At New Covenant, we show and grow people in Christ and glorify God. It's what we believe. To say it another way, if you're looking to worship in a place without having to worry about what to wear or a plate being passed for money, come to New Covenant.

Every Sunday morning at 10:30, you'll enjoy great music and solid teaching from the Bible. You'll find us on North Moore Road in Chattanooga with directions right to our door at ncf.church. New Covenant Fellowship Church: a place for every race. And here is Pastor Bernie Miller.

Dr. Bernie Miller: If you let go and let God, then you have to have some backup. That's right. When you let go of your strength and take his. As we lead into this month, two things happened to get me to switch up on you. One, something that I said on the radio about a week ago Sunday, and I got home, my wife said, "I like what you said about that." It was about the armor.

Then Elder Joe, when we were talking on Sunday afternoon as we normally do, I get a heads-up on what happened in the youth room and how everything's going and making sure that the youth are taken care of. He said, "I heard you," and when he said the armor of God, I mention a lot of things about it from time to time, but I hadn't really preached it.

So, I'm going to take a moment just to do that. As I start, I think we're all in the same boat here. Every morning, we all face the same spiritual battle. We all face similar battles, not a spiritual one but a practical one as we stand in front of the closet door waiting for divine revelation about what to wear.

Some mornings, my closet looks like a war zone, an aftermath of spiritual warfare. I can't find that one missing sock that must have backslid somewhere between the dryer and the drawer. But Christian closets are full of grace garments, each one stitched by the Spirit, sized for sanctification, and suited for shining in a dark place.

Romans 13 and Ephesians 6 are what we're going to be looking at today, and they are powerful scriptures that describe a believer's wardrobe. It's going to take us a couple of weeks to knock it out. Romans commanded us to change our wardrobe from rebellion to righteousness and from flesh to faith.

Ephesians commands us to put on the believer warrior's wardrobe. When we do that, when we put on Christ, we not only change our outfit, we change our outlook. I used to think certain ways before Christ because I hung around people who thought that way. Then the more I learned about the Bible, the more I understood that what everybody else says is not lining up with what scripture says.

We talked about the things that people say that God never said in the Bible, and we did that last month or a month and a half ago. So I have a different outlook, and it has helped me with my walk in Christ to have the mind of Christ and to think of those things that are true, honorable, and right. If there is anything worthy of praise, I let my mind dwell on those things.

A lot of times, I got hung up on things that other people were hung up about. I am saying this is not my fight. I don't need to get into this one here because I'll get into something I don't have any business in. Have y'all been there? You hear somebody arguing, and you put your two cents in, then you realize your two cents weren't worth two cents. You just lost a friend because of your eagerness to want to get in and try to straighten something out.

Putting on the armor is a metaphor for putting on Christ. We wear him. The armor has the pieces that equipped us to stand firm in the faith. When we wear our warrior wardrobe, we're able to recognize the real rival in our lives, reach the right resources—they are right under our nose—and rely on the right reinforcements because we are children of God.

Putting on the armor is a metaphor for putting on Christ Jesus. I'm going to look at the first thing, which is our real rival. Ephesians 6:12 says, "For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the powers, against the world forces of this darkness, against the spiritual forces of wickedness in heavenly places."

That is very important because our fight isn't with people like our coworkers, our cousins, or the guy who took your parking spot in Hamilton Place Mall at Christmas and you haven't let it go yet. Our struggle is rather against demonic principalities, not against people. Demons can influence people and demons do that, but once you're born again, a demon cannot influence you unless you succumb to them.

You now have the power of God to resist the temptation and to resist the devil, and he will flee. The devil doesn't show up with a pitchfork. He shows up with a suggestion. Our battle is spiritual, invisible, and relentlessly evil. Struggle and wrestle mean it's hand-to-hand combat like that of a soldier.

The Christian life is not a playground. It's a battlefield. But we act like we're on the playground and want to be friends with everybody on the playground. The Bible says be careful because if you sleep around dogs, you're going to come up with fleas. Many of you already know that. You're still itching now.

Stop shadowboxing your spouse. The devil is the one throwing the punches. He is just using someone who's weak in their faith to do his bidding. Don't get so hot and bothered under the collar because of something that your spouse said. Sometimes we can put our foot in our mouth, and sometimes it ought to stay there, but don't hold it against us.

To stand firm in our Christian life, we must follow the three Ps of spiritual preparedness: perceive, prepare, pursue. We need to prepare for the pressure because it's constant. We need to pursue God's power because it's sufficient. Our adversary, the devil, is like a roaring lion seeking whom he can devour, and he pursues us.

We need to remember that he is like a roaring lion. He is not the Lion of Judah. He is designed to deceive and distract and to destroy our faith. That's why we must reach for the right resources in order to fight the battle. Paul commands us what to and what not to wear in Romans 13.

The night is almost gone and the day is near. Therefore, lay aside the deeds of darkness and put on the armor of light. Let us behave properly in the day, not in carousing and drunkenness, not in sexual promiscuity and sensuality, not in strife and jealousy. A lot of people would have a lot of stuff if they would not be jealous.

When you're jealous of other folks' stuff, God's not going to give it to you. I'm jealous of you not taking time out for me. You have time for this, you have time for that, but you don't have time for me. You don't even have time to pray. You don't even have time to pick up your Bible and get a verse of scripture before you walk out the door.

Cast off means the rags of rebellion. Ephesians 4:22 says, "Put off the old self, which belongs to your former manner of life." Can you imagine showing up at a black-tie event? It's a wedding where everyone is dressed to the nines. They are dressed in their tuxedos and gowns, and you walk in there with sweatpants on. I would throw you out of my place.

That is how we look spiritually without putting on Christ. We look pitiful. Don't mix the funk of the flesh with the freshness of faith. When we do, we're improperly dressed to be in the presence of God. Romans 13 commands believers to change wardrobe from rebellion to righteousness.

Salvation is like an undergarment. Everything else fits over it. If you're not saved, the armor will do you no good because you have to have the undergarment that gives you the power to operate all of the things that are part of the armor of God. As I thought about all this, if you don't have on the garment of Christ, then your life is in a crisis.

To put on Christ means to adopt his attitude, adopt his actions, adopt his affections for people. Some of us don't like certain people, and that's just not biblical. Jesus had issues with people who led others astray. He never had issues with other people. He just had issues with people who led folks astray, and those were religious leaders.

He was always kind to everybody unless they did something that was out of line. Like the moneychangers who were out in front trying to convert the temple money or the money in the streets they were coming in with—that was Caesar's money. So when you came into God's house, your money had to be changed to the temple cash.

They made a killing on it because they would charge interest on top of it. When Jesus came up and they were right outside, it was really interfering with people coming inside the temple. Jesus took issue with that and said, "No, you can't do that." So he turned over the tables of the moneychangers.

Christ is not an accessory. He is the entire outfit. But don't just wear him on Sunday. Wear him all week. "Make no provisions" means do not plan ahead to sin. It's like going on a diet but keeping a stash of your favorite cookies in the pantry just in case.

Spiritually, we do the same thing when we keep sinful habits just in case. Or we keep this phone number of an ex just in case. If you don't want to fall into temptation, don't plan ahead for sin. Romans 13 states the essence of the armor of Christ. Ephesians describes the various elements of that armor. It's the wardrobe of a warrior.

Putting on the Lord Jesus Christ is not a fashion statement. It's a faith statement. Are you dressed for the fight? Ephesians 6:11 says, "Put on the full armor of God so that you'll be able to stand firm against the schemes of the devil." We're not to wear half of the armor. He said put on the full armor.

Now, some of these people when they go to these award shows, they go with half the clothes on to get an award. Have you seen some of the way they dress? I'm thinking, "Why? So what? You got it like that?" Wait another 20 years. You ain't going to have it like that. We are to put on the full armor of God. We can't fight spiritual battles wearing emotional flip-flops.

There was this guy named Timmy Thomas. Timmy was a young private. He was fresh out of boot camp and overly confident like some of us are. He rushed out for battle after the alarm sounded without his camouflage combat uniform and body armor protection. He wore only his helmet and he was in his pajamas.

The sergeant asked him, "Where's your armor?" Timmy said, "I didn't think I needed it today." "Why not?" He said, "Well, they're only shooting blanks." The sergeant shook his head, warning him, "The moment you think that you don't need the armor is the day the enemy wins."

We've all had a private Thompson day. We rush out the door without prayer, without a word of God in our heart. We are not spiritually prepared, and we wonder why we couldn't resist the devil who's been dropping those thought bombs of fear and failure on us all day long.

Without Christ, you're wearing pajamas on the spiritual battlefield. If you don't suit up, you're going to get set up. And the setup is bad. We need to rely on the right reinforcement, and that's in our warrior wardrobe that Ephesians speaks of.

Ephesians 6:13 says, "Therefore, take up the full armor of God so that you will be able to resist the devil in the evil day, and having done everything to stand firm. Stand firm, therefore, having girded your loins with truth and having put on the breastplate of righteousness." Next week, I'm going to break all of this down for you.

I'm just giving you an overview, riding in the helicopter, looking down and showing you the topography. And having shod your feet with the preparation of the gospel of peace. In addition to all, taking up the shield of faith with which you will be able to extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one.

And take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God. Bless you. The Belt of Truth represents honesty, integrity, and living by God's word, not by what people say or what everybody believes. The Breastplate of Righteousness symbolizes a life that is aligned with God's will.

Shoes of the Gospel of Peace means that you are ready to always share the gospel when you see the need. Sometimes we want to share the gospel when it is not ready to be given. Some people are not in the mindset to receive certain things. So you have to walk by the Spirit so you won't be led by the devil.

As soon as you sow the word to someone who really is not ready for it, the devil is going to come and steal the word that's been sown, so you just wasted your time. God has already prepared who he wants you to share the gospel with. You can feel it in your spirit. You can tell it because people are asking you questions that you need to answer.

When they start asking you spiritual things, you know God is in it and you can start sharing some things with them that they probably didn't know. The shoes of Gospel of Peace mean you can't force nobody into being born again and being saved. It ought to be good news. It ought not be a threat.

The shield of faith protects against spiritual attacks of doubt and fear. The helmet of salvation guards the mind with the assurance of our salvation. The sword of the Spirit is the word of God that guides and defends us. Now, some of us fall for the old tricks of the devil.

We start walking around because when we sin we think, "Oh, I'm not saved. I need to get born again." No, you just need to confess your sin. You haven't lost anything. Maybe you've lost your peace because you know you've done wrong. You had it in the pantry, and you knew you were going to go in that pantry and get it.

You had the thought up here all that time, and you've never forgotten what you hid because you didn't hide it from yourself. If you really wanted to hide it, you should have given it to somebody that doesn't live with you. You should have said, "Take these cookies because I don't need to eat them, but they're a weakness to me.

I want you to hold them at your house and hide them. When I come over, if I ask for them, say no. If I'm upstairs saying I want to use the bathroom, I'm lying. I'm really looking in your bedroom trying to find them cookies." Folks, there are some things that we just need to pray for God's strength.

The sword of the Spirit is the word of God that guides and defends us. Prayer gives us strength and perseverance. Do you know what Paul doesn't do? Paul doesn't say advance. He said stand. God didn't tell you stomp on the devil. God says you may fall seven times, and seven times you'll get back up again.

But he never tells you to do anything when you get back up. Some of y'all, when you get back up, you start talking bad about the devil. You're wasting your breath. Talk to God. Why am I going to give my breath in my lungs to talk to the devil? That's wasting my time.

I need to switch that around and start talking to God. If I'm going to talk about anything, I'm going to talk to God. Do I have a Job moment? The devil's been talking to you. Are you trying to show me something about my faith or show something to him about my faith?

God wants us to stand firm in the faith. Victory isn't knocking the devil down and stomping on him because he ain't nowhere near you. He is a spirit in people. That's where spirits go, in unsaved bodies. It is standing in the victory that Jesus battled and won on the cross.

That is what we're supposed to be doing. We are supposed to stand in the victory that Christ gave us on his battlefield. I love what Colossians says: he disarmed principalities. James 4:7 says, "Resist the devil and he will flee." Are you resisting the devil or do you even have the power to do it?

You can't play around with him because he tricked Eve, and Adam fell for it. He'll find somebody close to you that you love and put some thoughts in their minds and get you to do things that God told you not to do. What is the wardrobe of a warrior? It's the armor of God.

Are you wearing the foundation? What is that? Salvation. What are the right resources? Romans deals with the internal battles, the flesh within us. Ephesians deals with the external battles, the spiritual forces around us. Question is, are you trying to fight in your own strength?

Are you partially dressed spiritually? Would you come to church partially dressed? Why would you walk out of the house without the full armor of God? You wear Christ like a garment. That's why the Bible tells us put on Christ, make no provision for the flesh.

When you put on Christ, the Holy Spirit will convict you. "Nope, don't go there. You're looking too long, son. Move on." I was up at the mall, told my wife about this incident. I was minding my own business. I went up to pick something up for my wife at Hamilton Place.

I had to walk by this person who jumped in front of me, wanting me. She had something in her hand and said, "Can you open your hand? Let me put that on." I said, "No, you're in my space. Stop. I don't have time for that." I walked to where I was going, walked around her, trying to be nice about it, but she was real aggressive.

So I came out of the store that I went in for my wife. Just want to make that plain and clear. Minding my own business. I got back home and I told my wife. I see I always tell on myself because some of y'all see me out there and y'all would have probably seen me stop and that woman would have been putting something in my hand.

"Oh, this is really nice cleaning stuff, and it'll really clean your hands and your face." I said, "I got soap at home. I clean up at home. I don't clean up with you." I came out. I mean, she was aggressive. She already had her thing down pat. My wife gave me the secret.

She said, "Honey, not too many people go up on the second level. You have to watch out for them people." She gave me a little tip. Next time I go up on the second level, I'm going to avoid that area because that woman tried to get me to buy some stuff I didn't want.

But she was trying her hardest. And I had the audacity to stop on my way out. I thought it would be just a quick little something. She put some stuff in my hand and said, "Now rub it." I'm thinking, "Really?" I said, "My goodness." So I started this thing. I rubbed it together.

She said, "Put your hands in the basin and let me pour some water over it." She said, "How did these hands get so dirty?" I said, "Because I work." What do you think I do? And I work around some dirty people. Not y'all, but you know.

When you go to the store, like my wife sends me to the store, she says, "Honey, I need you to go to Sam's." Gives me a list. "I need you to go to Walmart's." My mama, bless her heart, she put an S on everything. She called it Walmarts. So I went to Walmarts, and my wife had the list.

So I pick up stuff there and see if this is fresh or not. Then my hands get dirty. This woman, she insulted me. I'm thinking, "You ain't getting nothing. You're saying I'm dirty. You don't even know anything about me. How dare you tell me something like that?"

Anyway, I didn't get persnickety about it because I had New Covenant Fellowship on my coat, on my jacket. I figured if I act ugly, she may not want to come to the New Covenant Fellowship Church. She'd say, "That's that place where that pastor just gave me a what-for."

Ephesians deals with external battles and the spiritual forces all around us. Question is, are you trying to fight in your own strength or are you partially dressed spiritually? Partial armor equals defeat. You can't just wear the helmet and leave your heart exposed.

You can't carry the sword and forget the shield of faith. When you put on Christ, we're not just dressed for church. We're dressed for a battle. The Christian life isn't a fashion show. It's a spiritual fight. Doesn't mean that you need to cuss people out.

Let wholesome words come out of your mouth. Speak the truth in love. I was doing my best to do that up at the mall. Our daily dress code is simple. Christ is our clothing and our covering, our armor and our assurance.

If you don't have on Christ as your undergarment, you don't have on the armor of God. You're walking around in a spiritual battle in your pajamas. The enemy is playing for keeps. This is not a playground. Have you not read the news recently? Have y'all not watched the news?

These people are serious. Folks are dying, people are being bombed. There is a lot going on in our world, and you can't walk around here in your pajamas. You better have on the full armor of God so that you'll be able to stand and resist the devil.

When the devil comes in and throws all these kinds of thought darts at your mind, you've got on a helmet, then use it. Let it bounce off the helmet. Don't let it absorb into your spirit. What I do, and I tell a lot of people this all the time, I learned how to fight the spiritual fight when I was in New York City.

I was thinking about everything I lost—the position, the money. And I was thinking about the wrong things. I should have been thinking about what I had gained. I had gained Jesus Christ, and he was worth more than anything that I could have ever lost.

Because the Apostle Paul said, "I would much rather lose all of this that I may gain Christ." I recognize this about my walk with God. I don't walk ignorantly. When thoughts come into my mind, y'all know my favorite verse, Philippians 4:8.

I cast down those imaginations and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God, and I bring into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ Jesus. The word picture for "bring every thought into captivity" is like you've got the prisoner.

The prisoner is right there in front of you. You have got a spear under one arm and a spear under the other arm because you have overwhelmed this prisoner, this thought that was in your mind. You can now take it anywhere you want to take it.

If you've got something under your armpits and somebody is telling you to move, what are you going to do? You're going to move. That's a real sensitive area. Have y'all noticed that? It's taking every thought captive like it was a prisoner.

What you need to do is when the devil comes and bombards you with thoughts to bring you down, don't listen to him. Resist the devil and he will flee. How do you resist him? Well, God told Cain, I told you this last week, God said, "Look, Cain, sin is crouching at your door. Don't you want this cupcake?"

But he said, "Resist him." God is saying this to us. We have what it takes to resist any enemy spiritually because God has given us the complete armor, not half of it. When you got saved, you got the whole armor. God doesn't save people and send them around naked.

You've got on the complete armor of God. You put on Christ. Well, you didn't put it on, God put it on when you got saved. He dressed you up, and then he put something inside you. He put his Spirit in you. He gave you a heart of flesh, and then he put his love inside you.

I mean, these are all the things that will help you when you are fighting your battle. Know that God loves you from the very beginning, before you even gave your life to him. God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son. Look, God has always loved you.

He will never stop loving you. But what we need to do is we need to realize this is a real spiritual battle. The devil would love for something to come out about me because I'm the pastor of a church that people know.

That's why I have to tread lightly, and I have to zip my lip when I want to say something crazy because I know I'm not just representing me, I'm representing God and I'm representing the church that I am pastor of. Our daily dress code is simple. Christ is our clothing and our covering, our armor and our assurance.

So the question is, do you have that assurance? Do you have the assurance that you can fight spiritual battles with the word of God? Do you even have a scripture that you can use that you've memorized just in case the enemy comes up against you? Because he's coming.

If you don't have a scripture, you're walking into a battle without the right kind of armor. You've got to have the word of God and the shield of faith. The sword is the word of God. How you going to fight without a sword? The enemy's going to throw everything at you.

Do you need an assurance? Then you need salvation. You need Christ. You don't know if you have him or not, then you need to settle that issue today. Don't walk out of here naked spiritually. You need to be clothed with Christ, with the full armor of God, so that you will be able to stand against the schemes of the devil.

Narrator: All things are possible from New Covenant Fellowship Church. Connect with us anytime at ncf.church/connect or on social media @NCFChattanooga. Worship with us every Sunday morning at 10:30 in person at 1326 North Moore Road in Chattanooga or online at ncf.church/messages. New Covenant Fellowship Church: a place for every race.

Dr. Bernie Miller: Hate the sin, but don't let the hatred for the sin carry over to the sinner. They can be forgiven of that sin because that's why Jesus came, and you just need to take care of your own house.

Narrator: New Covenant Fellowship Church. In-person worship Sunday mornings at 10:30, 1326 North Moore Road in Chattanooga. New Covenant Fellowship Church: a place for every race.