John Gray - Get Dressed
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Love Story Church, it’s a very strange time, and there is no greater moment than right now to become everything God intended for you to be. For the life of a believer, we need to take seriously the moment that we’re in. And y’all know your pastor; I love to wear jeans and a t-shirt, but today for this, I had to put it on, I had to do a little something because critical times call for different outfits. This is not a moment to be casual; this is a moment to step into the supernatural, to take up your rightful place. It’s a love story; it’s time to get dressed. Love Story family, I am so glad that you are here ready for the word.
Now, before we get started, do me a favor: please tell somebody near you, «You look nice today.» Go ahead, tell them! Oh, now you put that on, you know that girl-look at that dress! You better wear that! Tell that man of God, «Boy, you sharp, Doc! You’re doing your thing!» Encourage somebody. Speak life to somebody. I want you to hear words of affirmation coming out of your mouth to speak life to someone else because life is hard. You don’t know how long it’s been since somebody got complimented. We take for granted the idea of getting dressed because most of us have more than one outfit to choose from.
I remember growing up, my mom, being a single mother, worked hard for one salary. My father did not financially support me after my mom and dad divorced, so I was at the mercy of my mom’s income, and she did the very best she could for me. Now, my mama was a bargain hunter; we would go to garage sales, and she would find some jeans and some shirts. I don’t know if she got a raise this one year, but we went to Value City, and I got a pair of Lee jeans. Then, we went down the road, and I got a pair of gray Levi’s and a burgundy and gray Levi’s shirt with a white collar. You couldn’t tell me a thing! You understand me? I wore that outfit Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. I ain’t lying! I loved that outfit! So, Mama, I don’t know why you let me do that, but I’m glad you did because that outfit gave me confidence.
Sometimes what you put on gives you confidence. Now, all the ladies in the house, make some noise! All the Love Story ladies, y’all know when you put it on and you’re killing it, you walk different! You throw your hair different! Even if some of that hair was purchased, you throw that different, baby; hair is popping! You got the little toothbrush to make sure that they’re edged up right. Everything is right when you got the right outfit on-the right shoes, the right outfit; your confidence goes through the roof!
Single ladies, let me tell you something; you know what to wear to get his attention! Stop laughing! What you laughing for? Because you know I’m not lying! Fellas, you know the same thing! If you’re smart, fellas, you put on an outfit that accentuates your positives. Let me tell you something, I’m going to hit you with a suit that shows the shoulders because the Lord blessed me with shoulders! Now, I bless myself with a stomach by my dietary choices, but I’m not going to accentuate the parts of me that I’m not proud of. That’s why you got to choose your outfits wisely. It’s called a muscle shirt. If you don’t have the muscles, don’t purchase the shirt!
Listen, I want you to know that God understands the nature of the human condition. We want to present ourselves in the best possible light. I joke a lot about people having hair extensions and all that, but all jokes aside, there’s a deep place of sensitivity for many women because of hair texture, or because of a bad perm, or something that might be medical. So, I don’t want us to just make light of people when you don’t know why they’re putting certain things on.
I’m getting ready to go somewhere, and as it is in the natural, so it is in the spirit. I don’t want us judging people because we meet them dressed in defensiveness, dressed in fear, dressed in shame, dressed in doubt, because you don’t know why they put those clothes on. But I’m here to tell you today that there is a King who loves us and has adorned us with a robe of righteousness. I’m here to tell you, if you’ve been wearing garments that He already purchased for you through His blood-the shame, the guilt, the sadness, the fear that you’ve been wearing-I need you to go ahead and go to the changing room called grace, forgiveness, and restoration and put on your new outfit. Walk in the confidence of a son of God and a daughter of the Most High!
I need you to tell seven people, «It’s time to get dressed!» And I need a praise break in here! Switch, switch, switch, switch-praise break! Hallelujah! It’s time to get dressed! It’s time for you to put on the thing that Jesus paid for! It’s time for you to walk in the confidence that comes with knowing who you are-the full identity of who you are in Christ Jesus! Glory to God! Yeah, yeah, yeah! I feel the Holy Ghost! You can shout if you want; I' m going to keep preaching, though!
I think about the scripture that we’re going to read, and I want you to join me. Let’s go to Ephesians chapter 6. Ephesians chapter 6, all right? For many people who are believers, Ephesians chapter 6 starting at the 10th verse is very familiar. I want to share it. Here’s what it says: «Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord and in the power of His might.» My strength doesn’t come from my ability; my strength comes from recognizing and acknowledging the power of His might-the might of the Lord Jesus! He’s a mighty God, hallelujah! He’s a mighty God!
«Put on the whole armor of God that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places.» Stop assuming that your enemy is human! Your enemy is not a man or a woman; your enemy is the spirit operating in or behind that individual! Your enemies are spiritual hosts of wickedness, demonic forces, and principalities that have plagued your family line for generations. The power of God is here to declare to you that you do not have to be bound by the fear of an enemy that has already been defeated, as long as you’ve got the right clothes on!
So, let’s keep going. «Therefore, take up the whole armor of God, that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand. Stand therefore, having girded your waist with truth, having put on the breastplate of righteousness, and having shod your feet with the preparation of the gospel of peace. Above all, taking the shield of faith, with which you will be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked one. And take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.»
Love Story, it’s time to get dressed! You know when I read this scripture, and I’ve read it many times over many years, I think about what it means to be a believer and what the responsibility is as a believer for how I carry myself day in and day out-not to present something to people, but to be prepared for real devils in a real world. The problem is most believers are very casual. The truth is, church is sometimes something people check off the box: «I' m going to church.» No, no, no! You go to the building; you brought the church with you because the church was in the car! The church was in your house, in your bed; the church was in the bedroom down the hall where your kids sleep because the church is the temple of the Holy Spirit, and the temple of the Holy Spirit is our lives submitted.
So, I want us to even change our language. You’re going to a corporate worship service, but you and I, we are the church! I want you to put it in the chat feed all over Love Story Global-"We are the church!» Put it in all capital letters. Put about seven exclamation points behind it! Type it! You ain’t even have to get in your car! You didn’t drive like everybody else, so the least you can do is type with your little fingertips in the chat. We are the church! I need a couple of folks real crazy in the sanctuary right now to just stand up and be like, «We are the church!» That’s what I’m talking about! That’s what I’m talking about! We are the church!
I’m tired of people thinking the church is weak, that we’re somehow afraid and that we’re meek and just «I hope people like us. I hope they accept us.» You know we love the Lord! No, no, no, no — we got the power! My King has all power in heaven and in earth and under the earth, and every devil bows down at the name of Jesus, and every human knee will bow, and every tongue shall confess that Jesus is Lord to the glory of God the Father! Everybody- even if you don’t want to bow, you will bow! That is the power of the King. He is the head of the church! There is no other head of the church! Get out of your mind some big bishop and apostle, some special prophet, or some amazing pastor; oratorical excellence does not make you anointed. Just because you wear some long garment and robe and smoke and collar and cassock does not make you anointed. The anointing comes through obedience, suffering, and growth.
Luke 2:52: Jesus grew in wisdom and in stature and in favor with God and man. If Jesus had to grow, who are you not to grow? Who am I not to grow? You got to put this thing on! And here’s the thing: some clothes that you wore as a child you can’t wear as an adult. And as it is in the natural, so it is in the spirit. Where you were immature in your younger years, you put on immature things. But now that you have lived a little, worked a little, and fought a little, now you understand that what you had on in immaturity-selfishness, envy, jealousy, and insecurity-those clothes don’t fit you anymore! You need to put on confidence, and you need to put on some other things!
As a matter of fact, when I was growing up, I always wanted Fruit of the Loom t-shirts and underwear. Don’t ask me why! I just loved the commercials back in the late'70s and early'80s-the Fruit of the Loom commercials with the grape and the pear and the apple and the strawberry- all of that! I wanted that! My mama bought me some. But you also need to put on some fruit; it’s called the fruit of the Spirit! There are nine of them: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. Against such, there is no law!
Some of y’all didn’t know about the fruit of the Spirit, so I’m going to repeat it again. Go ahead and just get ready because I’m going to give them to you again! It’s nine fruits of the Spirit- not fruits with an «S,» but fruit. Take a bite; you might get love. Take another bite; have some joy. Take another bite; get some peace. How about some patience? How about some kindness? How about some goodness? Faithfulness! Take another bite; get some gentleness, and on that last bite, get it all! Get that self-control because that’s the one that gets most of us-self-control! You need to put some self-control on!
Look at your neighbor, but say it gently: «You need to control yourself-your anger, the way you pop off at people! You need to deal with that! How you’re nice to strangers but mean to your family-you need to check that! How you always quoting scripture to everybody else but ain’t got no word for your family-you need to check that!» You need some self-control! You need to stop getting angry and going off every time your emotions puppet you into bad moments! Watch your conversations! Don’t think because someone made you mad that you can cuss them out and it’s cool. You’ve been in church too long! You’ve been walking with Jesus too long! You can’t keep doing that!
Gotta grow up! Put it in the chat feed; it’s time to grow up! One of the hallmarks of growth is that what you wore in one season, you cannot wear in the next. Today, as much as I love to wear casual clothes, I also understand the history of getting dressed for church. When I was a little boy, I had this brown suit with a brown knit tie, a white shirt, and brown shoes. I would wear that, and I’d try to wear it on First Sunday because that was when communion happened. I would watch the deacons put on their gloves, and they would lift the cloth off of these golden trays-one of them had a cross on it. They would take it off, and they would have the glass cups of grape juice and the crackers that they broke up with their hands. Communion was sacred!
Now I understand that churches have grown, and you need to have the all-in-one, you know, truck stop communion where you can just rip off the top and get yourself a premium, high-level quality wafer and then pull the foil back. But when I was growing up, there was a deep reverence for the moment called communion, and you dressed differently because it represented the intimacy and fellowship between us and the death of Jesus Christ. You dressed for it! Is it strange that sometimes when you put on a certain outfit, you carry yourself differently? Your shoulders are a little straighter; your spine is more erect; your chin is up instead of slouched over!
God needs you to put on the whole armor now because you’re in a weird season. This is a wicked season. The church doesn’t know what it wants to be. Do we want to be political? Do we want to be social activists? Or do we want to be completely submitted to the voice of the Holy Spirit to preach the full counsel of God through the personhood of Jesus Christ, who is the first begotten of the dead, the unique Son of God, the only one who could pay fully for the sins of all humanity? He is the propitiation for our sins; the chastisement for our peace was upon Him, and by His stripes, you and I are healed. That requires a level of reverence.
Get dressed! Don’t be casual with the holy things of God. Get dressed when you come into the sanctuary of God; come ready to do business! Get dressed when it’s time for prayer! Don’t get distracted because the enemy will use distraction to… You know what I’m saying? The enemy will cause distraction! I love this cartoon-why am I thinking about a cartoon in the middle of the sermon? Tom and Jerry! You are crazy! Y’all are crazy! I’m sorry; you cannot get distracted! You can’t get distracted because the moment you get distracted, the enemy has just caused you to get out of position, and all he needs you to do is step away from safety so that he can hit you with a sniper shot!
He needs you to be emotionally unavailable to God so that you are emotionally available to the wrong individual. Now you’re caught up in a relationship that doesn’t serve you. Now you’re crying six months later! Now, you’re at the clinic! Now, you’re at the altar asking God to heal you from something because distraction caused you to make a bad decision! That’s why you need to put on the whole armor of God! Whoo! I need a seventh praise break! Come on, just go, go, go, go! Hallelujah! Glory! Thank you, Jesus! Hallelujah, Jesus!
Tell somebody, «Get dressed! Put on the whole armor!» I want you to know something; you need the whole armor from head to toe! But the one part I want to draw in on really quick is the breastplate of righteousness. You cannot be made right by your own self-will; your actions and activities don’t make you right with the Father. Only the blood of Jesus makes us right with the Father! We can only approach God because of the finished work of Jesus Christ! When you have that revelation, you become a dangerous threat to the enemy, so you better have on that breastplate of righteousness!
Mark, bring me something in the natural that shows what I’m talking about. This is a bulletproof vest. My security team got me this vest with my name on it-it’s heavy! This sucker is heavy; it’s designed to stop a bullet! It is not comfortable; it is not convenient! But if somebody’s going to take a shot, you want this on! It’s got my name on it! It’s big enough for me! We’ve got some other security people who have vests, tactical vests, as well, but they’re not this size because they’re not my size! They might be 180 pounds; this would swim on them!
What’s my point? My armor fits my calling! It’s got my name on it, and it’s going to stop the bullets that the enemy wants to come my way! That’s why I can’t get distracted with what God is telling you to do! I can’t be so insecure because your armor looks different than mine, or looks more attractive than mine, or your assignment looks better than mine! Because while I’m sitting over here wishing I could handle your assignment, I’m missing out on the fact that the enemy’s trying to take me out!
I better put my armor on! I better be clear about my calling, my purpose, my destiny! I better make sure that I’ve got on my helmet of salvation, my belt of truth, my feet shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace! I need to make sure I’ve got on the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God! I need to know that I’ve got on my armor! Stop trying on other people’s armor! Their armor doesn’t fit you!
Talk to me, David! «Saul, I appreciate you offering me your armor, but it doesn’t fit! I’m going to go ahead and use this sling and five stones! I’mma kill this fool because he defied the armies of the living God!»
Now, you’ll say, «Why do you have a bulletproof vest?» Well, I’ve actually had death threats. There are people who don’t like me. I don’t know why! Why don’t you like me? I don’t care! Thank you! But here’s what I know: I’m not afraid because if push comes to shove, I know that my Father is with me in the natural and in the spirit!
But I carry myself differently. Thank you, Mark! I carry myself differently because I understand what’s at stake, and I make sure that my armor is on because I’m going to preach this gospel until I die! Until there’s no more breath in this body, I make sure that I’m putting on my armor, my calling, my purpose, my destiny, and that I am properly postured in the spirit, so that when the enemy comes, I’ve got on my breastplate of righteousness! So when he tries to hit me with the fiery darts, aka the bullets, they hit the vest, but my internal organs have not been touched!
I need you to know you’ve got to put on the whole armor so that the things that impacted you in seasons past don’t hurt the same! Oh my God! I know you went through abuse; I know the person who abused you is still alive! I know there were people in your family that spoke against you, and it broke you! But now you’ve got on armor, and I need you to know those same words are not going to hurt the same way because you’ve got your armor on!
Now, the helmet of salvation changes your mindset, changes your perspective, gives you clarity where you didn’t have it before! The sword of the Spirit, where you’re not cutting back with your words, you’re using the word of God! The word of God divides marrow and bone and tendon, and when the word speaks, that thing lasts! And when the word cuts, it cuts for sure! And when the word frees you, you are free indeed! And whom the Son sets free is free indeed!
I just need you to make sure that when you come out of the prison of the pain of your past, that you have on the right armor so that you can head to battle.
As I close, I want to share with you one of my favorite movies, Saving Private Ryan. In its opening scene, the master filmmaker Steven Spielberg, who’s from Cincinnati, by the way-my best friend lived in his old house on Lexington Avenue! Yes, yes, yes! I spent the night in the same house that Spielberg actually lived in!
Saving Private Ryan starts with American soldiers getting onto the shores of a beach in Normandy, France, and they are going to find a young man whose brothers had been killed in other parts of World War II. They had all of these soldiers going behind enemy lines to look for one man, and many of the people-many of the men who were storming that beach-were killed because the enemy was positioned and knew the direction that the enemy was coming from!
But there were some that were bold and said, «I know bullets are flying past my head, but I’ve got an assignment! I’ve got an objective! I’ve got to move! I’ve got a calling! I’ve got an assignment! And I’m not going to let nothing stop me!» I want you to know that some soldiers fell-some on the left, some on the right-but those that were assigned and committed, «He who endures to the end shall be saved!» Some of them made it past the initial fight of the fiery darts of the enemy, and they were able to reach their objective. There was great loss, but they did find Private Ryan and get him home safely!
I want you to know that there was a King who loved you so much that when He heard that you were behind enemy lines in mortal danger, He took off His glory, took off His crown, and He said, «Father, I’ll go!» And He searched for 33 years, fulfilled the law and the prophets, and died the death of a sinner. He went behind enemy lines to save you, to save me! The least I can do is live a life worthy of the sacrifice that purchased my freedom! The least I can do is memorialize His sacrifice by putting on my armor!
I’m a soldier; I’m a soldier in the army of the Lord! I’m a soldier in the army of the Lord! I’m a soldier in the army of the Lord! And in the same way my King came to save me from behind enemy lines- dragged me to safety while taking mortal wounds from wicked soldiers-died my death so I could live His life! So He took my vulnerabilities and gave me His invincibility!
So, when you’re putting on the full armor of God, all you’re doing is putting on the totality of Jesus Christ! So tomorrow morning, when you’re putting on your outfit, I hope you never look at your closet the same way again! When you get dressed, remember not only what Jesus put on-your sins, your shame, your diseases, your sickness-but you also need to think about what He took off! They took off His robe, and now we get a robe of righteousness!
So get dressed and go make sure somebody else’s outfit is right! Don’t judge them; fix them! If you see somebody messing up, hurting, broken, making bad decisions, if you see that a part of them is exposed that doesn’t need to be, don’t mock them! Don’t text and talk about them! Go stand behind them and cover them and whisper in their ear, «You’re uncovered back here! Let’s walk this way until we can get you to safety because you’re exposed! Be careful; you got something on there; it might get on the rest of your clothes! Let’s stop it where it is so we can deal with it.»
That’s love! That’s family! That’s what soldiers do! That’s what love does! So get dressed because we’ve got a charge to keep and a God to glorify! Lord, seal this word! Get the glory! Get the glory! In Jesus' name, amen!