Where Our Strength Really Comes From | Phil Kniesel

Many people love Jesus but still feel worn down, stuck, or defeated in their faith. In this message, Pastor Phil explores where real strength actually comes from and why just "trying harder" is not the answer.

Ephesians 6 helps us see how God provides everything we need to stand strong through temptation, failure, and pressure. This message is an invitation to move beyond spiritual frustration and learn how to live with resilience, confidence, and lasting strength found in the Lord.

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Transcript

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- Hey, this is Phil Kal, lead pastor at Hope City Church. Thanks for tuning into our podcast. My prayer is that this helps and encourages you, gives you some practical ways to live out your faith and ultimately fills you with hope. Enjoy the message.- Picture this, you're running late. You got coffee in one hand, keys in the other, and the phone balance somewhere. You absolutely should not be balancing it. You're ready to face your day. And then within about three seconds everything collapses. Coffee everywhere, phone on the ground, keys gone. Your pride and confidence shattered

before 8: 0:55

30 AM Anyone know what I'm talking about? Right? Just this past week, I had a moment like that. I loosened the lid on my coffee thermos purposefully. And I was talking to one of our pastors and forgot that I had did that and went to take a sip. And yeah, you can imagine coffee went everywhere. I smelled like medium roast all day . Now, failures like that are just part of life. Nothing dramatic, just inconvenient and mildly humiliating. We can laugh about them, we clean up the mess and we move on. But over the years as a pastor, I've seen another kind of failure. One that doesn't necessarily spill coffee, but quietly spills faith. And usually it's not one big obvious moment, it's gradual. And I think you also know what I'm talking about. It's the failure to resist temptation. Again, the failure to live out the commands of Jesus consistently. The failure to understand grace deeply enough to walk in freedom. And because of these failures, many sincere Christians end up feeling defeated, weak, stuck, or even useless in their faith. They love Jesus. They believe the right things. Yet they walk around wondering, why does this feel so hard? What am I doing wrong? And if that's ever been you or that is you, I want you to hear this clearly. There is a better way. There is a way so you don't have to live in constant spiritual frustration. There is a way beyond a one step forward and two steps back version of faith that leaves you exhausted and wondering if this is all there is. Now we're in a series entitled The Main Thing where we're examining what Jesus said should be the main thing of our lives, which is to love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. And Jesus said it this way. This is the first and greatest commandment. And notice the two describing words. Jesus uses first and greatest. First, meaning before anything, before your schedule, before your goals, your New Year's resolutions, before anything in your life. This matters. And greatest meaning, nothing should top this. Not success, not comfort, not business, nothing. See, what I want for myself and what I want for you and ultimately for our church at the beginning of this year, is to grow deeper and stronger in our faith and in our love for the Lord that we would know that we would truly know what it means to pursue the main thing. And so in this series, I'm, I'm giving us practical choices that we can make to live this out. Because here's the truth, if you don't choose your priorities, your pressures will. And so last week I gave us the first way to pursue the main thing and that was through praise. And today I want to give you another way. And that is through resilience. Because failures, especially repeated ones, are some of the biggest things that paralyze us from loving God with all our heart, soul, and mind. They take us out, they push us to give up, they derail us. And resilience says otherwise, failures whisper. What's the point, man? You're never gonna change. Resilience says, nope. Failure doesn't get the final word. Resilience is being steadfast, unshakeable, immovable. Doesn't that sound like the kind of faith you want? Not fragile, not exhausted, not held together with duct tape. And Sunday worship only. See, when we are resilient, we don't live life reactively. We don't have emotional whiplash. Our strength doesn't drift with culture. Our mood doesn't change with the seasons. And our circumstances don't dictate our responses. So how do we become resilient? How do we live without constant failure or as stated numerous times in scripture? How do we live a victorious Christian life? I'm gonna take you to something that the apostle Paul wrote to a group of Christians in Ephesus. Now just so you know, Ephesus was a major port in the Roman empire and was spiritual, yet deeply pagan, sorcery and magic were prevalent and demonic opposition was real for the believers. The church wasn't growing in comfort, it was growing intention. And throughout his book, Paul's giving these Christians instructions on how to live as Jesus followers. And near the end, he says this in Ephesians six, verse 10, finally be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power. That's what we all want. We wanna be strong in the Lord. We don't wanna be tossed around or spiritually winded by Tuesday. See, resilience always involves strength. And Paul's setting it up to tell these people, here's how to have some real muscle in following Jesus. And it's not self-generated. It's from the Lord. Meaning be strong in the Lord, not in yourself. So that means this kind of strength is not about willpower. It's not about personality type, emotional toughness or even sheer determination, sheer determination, it's strength in and from the Lord. It's acknowledging, hey, we're frail. We can't do this on our own and we need God's ability when ours runs out. And so then Paul goes on and tells us how to do this, how to be strong in the Lord. This is what he says next, put on the full armor of God so that you can take your stand against the devil's schemes for our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms. Therefore, 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, stand firm, then with the belt of truth buckled round your waist with the breastplate of righteousness in place and with your feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace. In addition to all this, take up the shield of faith with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the spirit, which is the word of God. There's a lot in there. You wanna be resilient. You wanna have spiritual strength put on the full armor of God. Why? Because our struggle is against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms. Friends, when we follow Jesus, we have an enemy and his name is Satan and he's out to kill, steal, and destroy everything about your life. He wants to derail your pursuit of the main thing. Your enemy is in culture. It's not politics, it's not inconvenience, opposition, or even that neighbor that drives you nuts. It's a spiritual reality. The moment you choose to follow Jesus, you have this target on your back and your enemy will try to do what he can to stop you from living out your faith. He wants your failures to be the tipping point of you saying, I can't do the main thing. But Paul is saying, yes you can. And friends, I'm saying yes you can, but you need to. You must put on the armor of God which gives the strength you need. And by the way, this is not something you automatically default into when following Jesus is something you need to actively pursue.'cause here's a fact, 2026 will present you with many scenarios. You are gonna be faced with temptations, you're gonna be faced with pulls and desires that will try to sway you from loving Jesus with all your heart, soul, strength and mind. Your enemy is out there to steal, kill, and destroy. And strength in the Lord keeps you succeeding more than failing. And so Paul tells us how he says, put on the full armor of God. Not just some of it but all of it. He says it twice. I read it twice, put on the full armor. And so he uses this image of a Roman soldier to describe how God equips believers, something his original audience would instantly recognize. And he gives us six things that build resilience and strength in us. And I'm gonna unpack them and explain them for you. And the first one, Paul calls the belt of truth. Now on a Roman soldier, the belt held everything together. It secured the tunic, supported the breastplate and allowed freedom of movement. Without it, a soldier was vulnerable and restricted. Truth is foundational in our walk with Jesus. But it's not just intellectually knowing truth, it's about being grounded in it.'cause here's what truth does, it anchors your identity. Who you are in Christ. Truth is what holds you together. Because truth exposes lies, lies from culture, from the enemy and from the ones we tell ourselves without truth. Compromise creeps in without truth. We have no compass, no direction, nothing to shoot for, or even nothing to counter with when things come our way. When you put on truth, it means you are grounded in what God says and not in what you feel. It's God's facts over your emotions. God's words over your doubts. God's promises over your insecurities. His truth becomes a bedrock when facing decisions, a guide when deciding or debating on what you should do, the next thing we're called to put on is the breastplate of righteousness. A breastplate protected the heart, the lungs and vital organs, areas that have struck meant death. And Paul's calling us to put on righteousness so that we don't fall prey to spiritual death. Now, righteousness is being in right relationship with God. It's not about our performance, it's about what Christ has already done for us. It's positional, which means righteousness is received before it is practice. The Bible's pretty clear that we cannot achieve righteousness on our own. It says it this way. There is no one righteous, not even one. And so because of that, and this is now known as the gospel, God made him who is Jesus, who had no sin to be sin for us. So that in him we might become the righteousness of God. Righteousness is credited and not something we earn. It comes through faith in Christ alone. There's actually a theological term called imputed righteousness, which means God declares the believer righteous because of Jesus. So friend, listen, you are righteous because of what Jesus did. And I know some of you're saying there's no way man, look at my life. You should see what I've done. When we make the decision to follow Jesus, when you declare with your mouth Jesus is Lord, and you believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, scripture says you will be saved, meaning you will be called righteous. But it doesn't stop there because righteousness is both positional and practical. So the positional, you are declared righteous through Christ the practical. You live rightly because of the new identity you have. One is received, the other is actions consistently chosen you discipline yourself to live righteously. And here's what this does, okay? It guards your heart from guilt, from shame and from compromise. It doesn't mean you live in perfection, but putting on the breastplate of righteousness means you choose integrity overall. Proverbs of wisdom book in the Old Testament says it this way, above all else, guard your heart for everything you do flows from it. And listen, I've seen this in my own life when righteousness slips, vulnerability increases not because God leaves, but because integrity weakens. And so, so each day we put on the righteousness that is ours through Christ and we put on the righteousness that is ours through choice. That's how we pursue the main thing. And so firstly, Paul says, we put on truth secondly righteousness. And the third thing to put on is feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace. I think we would all agree that peace is something we need and crave. The gospel of peace refers to both our vertical relationship with God and our horizontal relationship with others. In our vertical relationship with God, peace removes fear. When we are at peace with God, we are settled. There's this, there's this peace that comes from God that just kind of steadies the soul. It keeps you grounded when circumstances shake, Paul calls it the peace that passes understanding. And so no matter what you are facing, you have this assurance, this calmness. God is with you. He is in control. He's gonna lead you through it. And so friend to your circumstance that's causing chaos right now. I speak God's peace to your worry or anxiety that's causing fear right now. I speak God's peace to your tension that's causing stress. I speak God's peace. The peace that's steadies your soul. It's not passive, it's readiness for what lies ahead. Meaning you can move forward without panic because you know where you stand with God and you know how God stands with you. That's the vertical. When our feet are fitted with this peace, it also means we bring it wherever we go. And that reverse refers to our horizontal relationships. We bring God's peace to every interaction we have in our families, in our workplaces and in our neighborhoods. So to be resilient or strong, Paul gives us three things we are to put on truth, righteousness and peace. You can, you can almost imagine putting on a coat with those labels on it. Imagine these being put on daily over your mind, your heart and your life. There's God's truth, God's righteousness and God's peace. You receive this, you put it on and it brings confidence and a settledness. But I don't know if you notice it or not, but Paul then shifts his language from put on to take up. So the first three things are defensive armor. The next three things are offensive armor. Let's go back to what he says. He says this in addition to all this. So in addition to those three things, take up the shield of faith with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. Okay? So uh, we know this as shield guards from attack. It's held in front of you, beside you, behind you, but it always protects. And, and I want you to picture more than just one of those small round shields. I want you to picture those full body ones that cover a person from head to toe. See, faith is not just belief in Jesus. It's laying hold of God's resources, especially God's power toward the evil one's attack. When we take up faith, it means we appropriate the promises of God on our behalf, confident that he can and will protect us. Peter, he's a New Testament author, he said it this way, be alert and of sober mind. Your enemy, the devil prowls around like a roaring line looking for someone to devour. Resist him standing firm in the faith because you know that the family of believers throughout the world is undergoing the same kind of sufferings. Faith is the active trust in God's character and promises. It blocks doubt, it absorbs fear. It deflects lies, temptations and accusations. And notice Paul talks about the arrows that are incoming, meaning you don't know when or how they come, but you do control whether or not you lift up the shield whether or not the arrows hit you. Faith doesn't stop the enemy from firing, but it blocks the lies. And so faith says, I'm gonna trust God's promises more than the attacks. Take up the shield of faith. Friends, no matter what comes at you, whatever lie, whatever temptation, whatever deception, whatever fiery arrow comes, you extinguish it with faith that says, I'm gonna trust God over anything and everything. And so we take up the shield of faith and next we take up the helmet of salvation. See, a helmet protects the head, the command center of the body. And when you take up the helmet of salvation, it signifies your assurance of salvation. Salvation means you were lost. God sought you. You were dead. God made you alive. You were guilty. God declared you righteous. You were distant. God brought you near. You were enslaved in sin. God set you free. You were purposeless. God restored your calling. And it's all because of what Jesus did on the cross. Listen, salvation is not self-improvement. It is divine rescue and complete soul restoration. And when you put on the helmet of salvation, it signifies all that and that it implies because of all that your mind is protected. The way you think now is different. We all know that our lives move in the strongest direction of our thoughts. And that means what you believe about your salvation and God shapes how you live. Salvation says you belong to God. Your future is secure. Your failures don't define you. But so many of our spiritual battles are in our own minds. We say things like, man, I'll never change. God's gotta be done with me. This struggle disqualifies me. I can't move forward. I'm a constant failure. When we take up the helmet of salvation, we combat those thoughts and we tell ourselves a different narrative. And friends, listen to me. This is not positive thinking, but identity rooted in what God says is true about those who are in Christ. Salvation declares, you are a child of God. You are chosen by God. You are adopted into his family. You are God's workmanship. You are loved with an everlasting love. Salvation declares you are forgiven. You are no longer condemned. You are cleansed and made new. You are not defined by your past salvation declares. You are more than a conqueror. You have victory through Jesus. You have authority in Jesus' name. You are held in God's hand. Salvation declares you are not abandoned, you are not forgotten, you are not who you used to be. And the enemy will always try to reframe all of that for you. He'll try to confuse your identity and what God says about you. And so friend, may you live in the confidence of what salvation brings. Take control of your mind. Take control of your thoughts. Paul says it this way. We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God. And we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ. Our spiritual battles are often won or lost in our minds. When salvation is doubted, obedience becomes harder and joy disappears. When salvation is owned and celebrated, you'll find yourself believing and walking into the things God has designed for your life. It brings a confidence in who you belong to and it makes you like Paul say these words. I am convinced that nothing can ever separate us from God's love. Neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither are fierce for today, nor are worries about tomorrow. Not even the powers of hell can separate us from God's love. No power in the sky above or in the earth below. Indeed, nothing in all creation will ever be able to separate us from the love of God that is revealed in Christ Jesus, our Lord. Amen. So you take up faith, you take up salvation. And next Paul says, you take up the sword of the spirit. Now the sword for a Roman soldier was this short, precise weapon designed for close combat. Not these wild swings, not unintentional strikes to Paul. It represents God's word, but not just God's word. Randomly thrown out there to cover anything and everything. Almost like this good luck charm. It's God's word that is applied and trusted, read and owned.'cause here's what scripture does. It confronts lies. It clarifies truth, it strengthens faith. It shapes our thinking, it brings discernment. It gives language to our faith and it helps us hear God. This isn't just about reading the Bible and hear me out, that's super important. But reading alone doesn't get you much. It's about applying it, knowing it well enough to use it when you're under attack. Jesus, he modeled this so well when the devil tempted him in the desert. So after 40 days of fasting and praying he was hungry and thirsty three times, the devil tempted him and tried to get Jesus to doubt God's word. I want you to recognize something right before going into the desert to pray. Jesus was baptized. And at his baptism we read that God spoke and said these words, this is my son whom I love with himm. I am well pleased. If you were to read in Matthew four about the temptation of Jesus, check out what Satan does. The first two times when he comes to him, he says, if you are the son of God, he tried to get Jesus to doubt what God said about him. Your spiritual enemy friends will always try to get you to doubt what God says about you. And if you don't know his word, then you're gonna fall prey to it. Jesus, he was tempted three times and in every single circumstance he responded with the words. It is written. He knew the scriptures. It's not just reading the Bible, it's knowing it well enough to use it. And listen, we live in a time where we have incredible access to the word of God. So we really have no excuse. Let's not become dull in knowing how to stand strong. Knowing scripture trains your soul, it trains your mind. It reshapes desire, it corrects, directs and strengthens obedience. Hope city may you know what is written. And so to pursue the main thing we need resilience. And resilience is having the strength to overcome our failures. And to do this, we put on truth, righteousness, and peace. And we take up faith, salvation and God's word. We live with the full armor of God. But then Paul says something next in Ephesians here that ties this all together. This is what he says. And pray in the spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests with this in mind. Be alert and always keep on praying for all the Lord's people. I want you to notice prayer isn't just another piece. It's what activates and sustains everything. Prayer is how we put on and take up the very things needed to stand strong. It aligns our heart with heaven. It invites God's power into the fight. It's how we keep a relationship with the Lord. I mean that's why we launched this year with a week of prayer as a church. That's why last night we had an engaged worship and prayer night. That's why I consistently and constantly encourage you, friends, pray. And so hope city at the start of this year, my heart for you is that you may love God with all that is within you, with all your soul, with all your strength, with all your mind, with all your heart. And one way you can do this is by being resilient.'cause listen, man, the attacks will come, the temptations won't stop, the desires will surface and the pressures will mount. Don't make it another year of feeling defeated, weak, stuck, or useless in your faith. Stand your ground, put on the full armor of God. It's not a one-time thing, it's a daily thing. And when you consistently put on that armor, you will be unshakeable, you'll be steadfast and you will be resilient. And I know that's the kind of faith you want, and I know that's the kind of faith you need. I'm gonna ask you to stand if you are able to. I'm gonna close in praying over. And for you today, Jesus, I thank you that have equipped us to live this Christian life, not in constant failure, not in constant giving into our weaknesses, but in victory, in strength, in purpose. And so I pray for my friends here today. I ask God that they are men and women who are strong in the Lord, who at the beginning of this year, they understand what it means to put on truth, to put on righteousness, to put on peace. They understand what it means to take up faith, salvation in your word. They understand what it means to live in the full armor of God. And I pray protection over them. I pray strength over them. I pray for your Holy Spirit to continue to guide them and build them up. God, we wanna be men and women who know you deeply, who love you greater, and who put the main thing into practice every single day of our lives. And so today, I pray for that person who might feel weak, who might feel defeated, who might feel like things are too hard. God, today, may they step into, take up, put on the armor of God. May they walk forward in a fullness and in assurance and in the strength that you give. I pray that over their mind, I pray that over their lies they might have bought into, I pray that over their heart today, God, may they walk forward in the strength of God, in the strength of the Lord. And so I pray this over and for my friends today, maybe you're joining us in the house online or at one of our campuses, and you don't know Jesus personally, friend, listen, Jesus went to the cross that died for your sins to make a way for you to have a relationship with God. And following Jesus, I believe is the best decision anyone can make. And so even at the beginning of this year, if you're saying, I wanna surrender my life to Christ, I wanna follow him, I'm gonna pray a prayer that helps you put into words the beginning of that decision. And I would just love it if you would pray along with me. Let's pray. Jesus, today I see my need for you. And I thank you for going to the cross, for dying, for my sins, for rising, for offering me life and hope both now and forever. And so today I put my faith in you. I put my trust in you. I declare that you are Lord. And I believe in my heart that God raised you from the dead and I want to be saved. And so help me to understand what that means. Help me to follow you and help me to know you and God I I pray over every individual, every couple and every family. I pray that as they go into this week, may they just sense an overwhelming presence of God in their life, in their home and in all that they do. I pray that they may walk in the strength of the Lord. I pray that whatever they face is not too difficult, not too daunting, not too stressful, but in you God, they walk with the full armor of God. And I ask God in and through every situation that they will be victorious in the name of Jesus. I pray this over and for them. Amen. If you prayed that prayer of surrendering your life to Jesus this morning, I wanna say way to go. And I'm just gonna ask you to tap the disc in front of you. It's uh, it's got a digital booklet that we'd love to get into your hands that talks a little bit more about knowing and following Jesus. And it's also our way in a big church of trying to connect with you to get to know you. If you want prayer over anything and you're in the house, we're gonna have a prayer team available down at your front, left after the service. They would love to pray over and for you, hope City this week as you go, may you be strong in the Lord. Love you guys. Praying for you. It's connecting point today. Make sure you check that out.