John K. Jenkins Sr - Equipped for Battle (01/24/2026)
Spiritual Warfare Review
I started last Sunday on spiritual warfare, and I’ve been talking about spiritual warfare. Amen. So I talked last week about the four entities that we face in our spiritual battle. Ephesians chapter 6—matter of fact, open your Bibles to Ephesians 6. And I talked last Sunday about the fact that we wrestle not against flesh and blood. Our battle is not against people. That’s right.
So no need of you cussing people out, thinking that things are going to get better—that doesn’t make it any better. We talked about principalities, powers, spiritual hosts of wickedness, and all of those entities that are listed in Ephesians 6. Matter of fact, let me just read—let me start at verse 10 of Ephesians 6.
Ephesians 6:10–14
It says this: «Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord and in the power of His might. Put on the whole armor of God that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil.» We talked last week about the fact that the wiles means the tricks of the devil. Y’all know we are fighting against a devil that has tricks.
«For we do not wrestle"—verse number 12—"against flesh and blood, but against"—here are four entities—"principalities, powers, rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places.» Those are the four entities that we do battle against, and we talked about what each one of those entities are, what they mean, what they represent.
Take Up the Armor and Stand
Verse 13 says, «Therefore take up the whole armor of God.» Look at your neighbor, say, «Take it up. Take it up.» «Put on the whole armor of God"—take it up means to put it on. You got to get dressed—it’s not going to jump on you. You got to put it on every day. You got to get up and decide, «I’m going to put on the whole armor of God.»
«Take up the whole armor of God that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand.» So what I also talked about is standing—withstanding and standing. Standing, withstanding, and standing. Say that: standing, standing, and standing.
And it means that ultimately we take a posture, we take a position, we take a stand, and we don’t allow the enemy to persuade us to change, to give in, to quit. That’s what that means. We want to stand against the devil. We want to do battle against the spiritual entities that we’re dealing with.
The Belt of Truth
And then he says in verse 14, «Stand therefore, having girded your waist with truth.» Let me read that again: «Stand therefore"—there’s that word «stand» again—"having girded your waist with truth.» So today, I want to talk about the belt of truth. It is the first piece of armor that we need to put on: the belt of truth. And that’s what I want to talk about—the belt of truth. Say that: «Of truth.»
Are y’all awake, or am I just feeling that y’all asleep? One of the things I have never quite gotten accustomed to is these young men who don’t wear belts. Do I have any witnesses that are with me on this point? Y’all a little slow here at 12. Yeah, it’s a problem that somebody has convinced these young men that your pants hanging halfway down your butt is attractive. Right?
The Importance of a Belt
I don’t know where that came from; I don’t know who told them it looks nice, but it doesn’t look—I’m sorry, young men, but this is just—I got to get this off of me. Find a young man and tell them it don’t look nice. It is unattractive, sir. It’s nasty; it’s disgusting. Y’all shouldn’t have came to this service—I got to get something off my chest.
But if they just put a belt on, they could hold up their pants. Now, I got dressed this morning to come to church, and over the last year or two, I’ve lost 30 lbs. I wasn’t trying, but just through eating less and walking whenever I can—if I’m not traveling, I try to walk—I lost 30 lbs. And I put on this suit today, and the pants are too big. Two of me could fit in these pants I got on right now.
The Belt in Roman Armor
Two of me could fit in them now. But because I have a belt—come on, somebody—come on, holler at the brother. Hey, y’all can’t even tell these pants are too big, can you? I think I look pretty good in my outfit, huh? So even though these pants are too big, the belt helps to keep the pants up. And it’s a helpful tool—the belt is helping me.
And for Roman soldiers, when they put on their armor, they also had a belt. As a matter of fact, when it says right there in the passage «gird your loins,» girding your loins means put on your belt. And that’s what I want to talk to you about for these 30 minutes that I have. Can I have 30 minutes? How about 35? Can I have 35?
Will you let me take 40? How about 40? Looking for 45. Can I just go till I get finished? Can I just do that? Everybody ain’t clapping, so I don’t know what that means. Don’t be joining now—you’re too late.
I want to talk about this belt. Roman soldiers had a belt, and here’s the thing about the belt: the other weapons, the other armor that they had, would be attached to the belt. So their sword would go in the belt; their breastplate would go on the belt. Many of the other pieces of armor that the Roman soldiers would wear would be attached to the belt.
Living in a Culture of Lies
And so the Scripture says this belt is called truth. Now, this is an important deal because we live in a culture where people don’t know what the truth is. Your truth is generally defined based on which news channel you watch every day. Come on, sir.
Somebody came up to me today after the 8:00 service—oh, before the 8:00 service—they didn’t even know what I was going to be preaching about, but they said they wanted to talk to me because they didn’t believe that Donald Trump got shot. Some of y’all believe that too. It’s a reflection of—somebody got killed. Yeah, a man died. So the bullet grazed Donald Trump’s ear, and some people don’t believe that that was real.
So what you believe is based on what you listen to. If you listen to certain stations, they’ll tell you it’s not true; listen to another station, it’ll tell you it is true. I’m not here to defend or fight about whether he got shot or not. I have to pause here 'cause I want to say something that I probably shouldn’t say. I’m not going to say it. Yeah, I’m going to let it go. Let it go.
Seven Lies of the Enemy
What I want to talk to you about is some lies that the devil has promoted that have affected you and your life, your choices and your decisions, and what you believe. That’s what I want to talk аbout: the belt of truth.
So what I want to do today—for this is part two of spiritual warfare—I want to talk about the belt of truth. I want to spend a moment and talk about seven truths—or seven lies that the enemy has told people, and they believe it, and it impacts your choices, your decisions, and your actions.
Can I tell you these seven points? Can y’all hang with me for seven points? If I give three minutes to each seven points, it’ll be a 21-minute message. Go ahead, Pastor—you can calculate; you can add; you can multiply. 7 times 3 is 21. Gone, Pastor—I’m a bad dude. Go ahead.
I want to talk about these seven truths. These are seven truths that I’ve been preaching for 35 years. I’ve been at First Baptist Church for 35 years, and I’ve been preaching these same seven truths. I have built this church on these seven truths. But the problem is, y’all don’t believe it—I can tell by your choices and decisions and your actions.
My job is to try to keep driving it in, keep getting you to see it. The devil’s gotten you believing lies.
1. Self-Acceptance
Here’s the first—here’s the first truth. It deals with self-acceptance. Here’s number one: self-acceptance. Somebody say, «Self-acceptance.» Self-acceptance—here’s what this means. Here’s truth number one: that God created you; God made you; God formed you in line with what His purposes are for your life.
Everything about you, God made: the way you look, the way you are created. God made you—to who your parents were, what culture you lived in. God made you based on who your siblings are, your intellectual capacity, your height, your color, your eyes—everything about you, God created you.
We are fearfully and wonderfully made. Psalm 139 says we are fearfully and wonderfully made. But the devil—instead of you believing the truth—is telling you a lie. And matter of fact, the culture believes lies. So the devil will tell you that there’s something wrong with you: that you’re ugly, you are too fat, you’re too thin, you’re too dark, you’re too light—this is wrong, that’s wrong.
Accept How God Made You
The devil will tell you you were born a man, but you really should have been a woman. That’s a lie from the pit of hell. God made you the way He wanted you to be. So now we got people wanting to have surgery to get changed from what God made them to what they think they should be or what they want to be—all because the devil has convinced them to accept and believe a lie.
Learn to thank God for the way—y’all shouldn’t have came to this service 'cause I’m going to holler until I get done, until I get it out of me, till I get it done, till I get finished. I’m going to try to drive you to accept the way God has made you. Thank God.
How dare the clay say to the Potter that He made a mistake. Everything about your life, God formed you to make you who you are for the purposes that He created you for. And the devil wants you to think there’s something wrong with you, that there’s a problem with you, or you’re not this or you’re not that.
I’m coming here to bind that lie from the devil and tell you to learn to accept the way God has made you. He made you for His purposes. Can I get an amen right there from anybody? Somebody say, «Self-acceptance. Self-acceptance.»
Yeah—thank the Lord for who your parents are. Thank God for who your siblings are. Thank God for the community that you were raised in. Thank God for the school you went to. Whatever the circumstances of your life are, God allowed you to be in that situation to accomplish His purposes.
Lean over to your neighbor and say, «He preaching better than you’re saying amen.» Do y’all got that point right there? Do you get it? Give God the praise and give Him the glory.
2. Authority
About you—by the way, stop trying to change yourself. Be thankful for how He made you. Yeah, I’m grateful—I ain’t trying to be nobody else. I’m thankful for who I is. I’m grateful, and you should be grateful who you are. Be thankful. Go ahead, tell the person—be thankful for who you are. Be thankful. Thankful who you are.
Here’s number two: authority. Authority—here’s truth number two: God created everyone to be under someone’s authority. That’s why I say under authority. The devil’s lie—here’s the devil’s lie: you don’t have to be under nobody’s authority. You don’t have to be under nobody’s authority.
That’s the lie that the devil tells you—to get you to believe that you don’t have to listen to nobody, you don’t have to be submitted to nobody, you don’t have to obey nobody. But that would be a lie from the pit of hell. Everybody should be under somebody’s authority. Come on, amen.
I know you’re not clapping 'cause y’all taking notes. If you—I know you’re taking notes. Take notes—I don’t want you to stop taking. Don’t clap—you can say amen at least while you’re taking notes. You can just say, «Preach, Pastor,» while I’m preaching. Say something.
If can’t nobody tell you to sit down, you are out of control. If can’t nobody tell you that you’re wrong and you listen to them, you’re out of control. We have a culture that’s out of control. We have people—we’ve got churches, we’ve got companies, we got individuals that can’t nobody tell them anything.
Everybody should be submitted to somebody’s authority. Amen. Amen. The Bible’s crystal clear about this. Somebody say, «Crystal clear.» Crystal clear. Everybody should be under somebody’s authority.
Yeah—somebody should be able to tell you something. And that’s a lie from hell that you don’t have to listen to nobody. You don’t have to do what nobody tell you. You ain’t got to listen to your boss.
Submit to Authority
You can keep on ignoring your boss all you want—you going to be unemployed in a few days. Then when you get fired, you going to be going through talking about, «They don’t like me 'cause I was so smart.» You weren’t smart enough to listen to your boss. Hello? Hello—is this working? Is this working?
You don’t have to listen to your parents. Let me tell y’all something: when I was growing up, if I didn’t listen to my parents, my face would be smothered up against the wall. I grew up in a time and age when you didn’t listen to your parents—you got your butt whipped. You got a whooping. Come on, somebody who grew up in the whooping age.
Yeah—I would dare not talk back to my parents. I wouldn’t have had the nerve to say something to my parents. When my grandmother lived with us—my grandmother lived with us, and she was blind—she told me to do something, and I don’t remember what the deal was, but I didn’t do it or I didn’t obey her.
And she tried to grab me to whip me, but she couldn’t see. And she said, «It’s okay—I’ll just tell your father when he gets home.» Lord, I wish I had stayed right there—let my blind grandma whip me rather than my father deal with me. Amen.
Do I have anybody here who understands that? Yeah—I want the young people in here to understand: you had to listen to somebody, obey somebody, submit to somebody. You ain’t on your own. Tell that joker—this one right here you having problems with him. You want me to take my belt? Oh, I can’t take my belt off right now—that wouldn’t be a pretty scene if I took my belt off right now. Amen.
We’re all under somebody’s authority.
3. Character (Responsibility)
Here’s number three—amen—it’s character. Character—what does that mean? It means—here’s what character means—another word would be responsibility. Responsible—you are responsible for your choices and decisions, how you behave, what you do. It is the fruit of you doing what it is that you are called to do, what you are called to obey God and do.
You are called to recognize that you are responsible for your own choices. You’re responsible for the decisions. You can’t blame it on nobody else. You can’t blame what choices you made on your mama, your daddy, your boss. You are responsible. You have to answer for the choices you make.
Ohoo—I feel something in my spirit right there when I said that, 'cause we got people want to blame everybody else for their actions, decisions, and choices that they make. But the devil wants you to think that it’s everybody else’s fault for what you did—that you’re not accountable, you’re not responsible.
That’s what the devil wants you to think—that you made choices, but you made them based on what somebody else did. God does not—you are responsible for your own choices. You cannot blame it on anybody else. Are y’all with me?
4. Chains (Freedom)
I’m almost finished—no, I’m not. I got one more to go. Yeah, yeah—this is the 12:00 service. I can take my time. I keep forgetting that—I can take my time at this service. I can keep on going and keep talking. I can let it all out. I can let it all out right here at the 12:00 service.
Here’s number four—I call it chains. Chains—what does that mean, Pastor? It means—what chains me? It’s really another word to use in light of that is freedom. Freedom—God gives us the ability to be free. Now, the devil lies to you and thinks that you can’t be free from your habits, your practices, your addictions.
The devil wants you to think you can never be free. But I want you—and I want to tell you something right here, right now—I want to tell everybody here: I don’t care what your issue is, don’t care how long you’ve been doing it, don’t care who you did it with, don’t care how recently you did it.
It doesn’t matter what your journey has been and what you have been in bondage to—we serve a Savior who has the power and the ability to break every chain and give you freedom. As a matter of fact, is there anybody here right now who can look back over your life and remember that there were some things you used to do that you thought you would never get freed from, but God has somehow given you freedom?
Do I have a witness anywhere in the camp? Look around—look at these waving hands that are waving. We got people up in here who God broke the chain; God gave them the freedom.
God Can Break Every Chain
And whoever you are in here today with some kind of addiction, some kind of problem, some kind of issue—I got a word for you today: you can be free. God can free you. You can be free. You don’t have to stay in bondage; you don’t have to stay with that habit. You can be free.
Matter of fact, John 8 says, «You shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.» Yes, sir—God’s truth frees you. That’s why these truths are so important. If you keep listening to a lie—by the way, another thing: what allows the enemy to keep a stronghold in your life is that you have accepted a lie as the truth.
That’s why you got to put the belt on—the belt of truth—and tighten it up and accept the truth of God’s Word. And the truth is: you don’t have to be in bondage; you don’t have to stay in a stronghold. You can be free. You don’t have to be an addict; you don’t have to stay on drugs; you don’t have to be an alcoholic; you don’t have to be stuck on pornography. You can be free.
God can break that chain. That’s why we have a church; that’s why we come here every week and do everything we do—'cause we know God can free you. I don’t care what it is; I don’t care how long it’s been; don’t care how long you’ve been doing it—God can free you.
The blood of Jesus breaks every chain in our lives. God brought you here today 'cause He wanted you to know you can be free; you can be delivered; you can be set free. Can I get an amen right there?
Can’t no chain keep you down; no chain can hold you back. You can be free. What number was that?
5. Ownership
Okay—here’s number five. Talk to yourself for just a moment while I turn this off—like an alarm or something. You know, some of y’all know I’m a diabetic, and I got this thing to tell me about my blood sugar, and it’s no longer communicating with my phone, so it’s beeping to say, «We can’t talk to the thing on your arm no more.» I’m trying to tell it, «I’m fine; I’m okay.» So it keeps beeping and tweaking.
Where did I stop at? Number five—here I am. Number five: ownership. Yes, ownership—and this is an important one too. Ownership—'cause you think you own something, but the principle of ownership says you don’t own anything. Psalm 24 says God owns everything: «The earth is the Lord’s and the fullness thereof; the world and they that dwell therein.»
Everything belongs to God. You don’t own anything. What gets people bent out of shape is when you think you own something and somebody violates or compromises your rights, and it causes you to get upset 'cause they mess with your stuff.
But God wants you to get to a place where you understand you don’t own anything. Tell that person next to you, «You don’t own anything.» You don’t own your clothes; you don’t own your house; you don’t own no car; you don’t own nothing.
Everything you have, God gave it to you. Everything that you have, God made it possible. Somebody say, «Well, I paid for it.» You paid for it with money that God gave you to be able to pay for it. It ain’t your money; it’s not your house; it’s not your car.
Everything Belongs to God
You’ve been out of shape—you don’t own nothing. You think you have a right to something—you don’t have a right to anything. We’re living on God’s planet. This ain’t your planet. Everything in here, God put it in here. God put everything on this planet—God put it here. He owns it.
«The earth is the Lord’s and the fullness thereof; the world and they that dwell therein.» Everything belongs to God. I don’t get bent out of shape—amen—y’all bent out of shape 'cause somebody scratched your car. What you have to recognize: this not my car—this is God’s car. And if God let them scratch it, it’s God’s car—so be it.
That’s why I don’t get bent out of shape about stuff. Some of y’all worship your cars out there—polishing, waxing, and cleaning your car on Sunday when you supposed to be in church. Y’all can’t handle the truth up in here. Can I get an amen from anybody?
Parking your car way on the other end of the lot 'cause you don’t want nobody to scratch your car—you way out there on the other end when it’s God’s car. And by the way, some of y’all pay a whole lot more money for your car than you pay your tithes and offerings to the church. Something—you paying more money for a car that’s going to eventually end up in a junkyard somewhere—paying $700, $800, $900. I feel tension in the room—tension.
6. Suffering
Here’s number five—let me go number six. I’m almost finished. Take your time. Suffering—so somebody say, «Suffering.» Suffering—that’s number six: suffering. This is an important one 'cause everybody’s going to the healing conference and the prosperity conference all right now. Ain’t nobody signed up for the suffering conference.
But before you get to prosperity, you got to go down Suffering Street. Everybody want to bypass suffering and get straight to prosperity. Oh, y’all ain’t hearing me today. I feel a shout down in my spirit 'cause I look back over my life—I recognize I am who I am because of the things I’ve suffered in my life.
Suffering builds character. Suffering helps to make you a better person. When you’ve suffered, you know how to treat people who don’t treat you right. When you’ve gone through some stuff—when you have suffered—we don’t like to go through it, but it’s a part of the journey. Suffering is a part of the journey.
Matter of fact, let me read 1 Peter 5:10—can I read it to you? 1 Peter chapter 5:10 is a powerful passage; it’s amazing. Here’s what it says: «But may the God of all grace, who called us to His eternal glory by Christ Jesus, after you have suffered a while, perfect, establish, strengthen, and settle you.»
Suffering Has a Purpose
We got a lot of people who ain’t been settled; we got a lot of people who haven’t been strengthened; we got some people who haven’t been established, have not been perfected—because they’ve never gone through any suffering. Instead of avoiding suffering, you ought to learn to go ahead through the suffering.
'Cause if God allowed you to go through suffering, there’s a reason behind why He allowed you to go through what you’re going through. There’s a purpose behind it. There’s something in you He needs to shape in you, He needs to create in you—and that’s why you go through the suffering in the first place.
Ooo—I am preaching up in here today. Matter of fact, I’m preaching so good—I’mma go up on the platform and preach. I’m preaching so good—let me go up here, holler and scream.
Somebody say, «I’ve been suffering for a while. I’ve been crying for a while. I’ve been frustrated for a while. I’ve gone through some stuff. I’m going through the suffering right now.» But I got a word for you today: you going to make it through your suffering. You don’t stay there forever—you’re coming out.
Somebody say, «I’m coming out of it. I’ve been crying, but I’m coming out of it. I’ve been frustrated, but I’m coming out of it. I’m going to be delivered out of it.» Thank God for my suffering. Hallelujah!
I feel a shout down in my sanctified soul. I don’t know where y’all are, but I thank God for every tear that I’ve cried and every burden that I’ve carried and every stressful time I’ve had. It has made me the man that I am today 'cause I’ve gone through some stuff.
Who am I preaching to today? Somebody understand what I’m talking about. And you know what? I thank God—suffering don’t last always. How long you got to go through it? Just for a while—that’s all. But it ain’t forever; it don’t last forever. It’s just for a while.
Somebody tell your neighbor, «I’m coming up out of this right now. I’m about to be delivered out of it. God’s about to bring me through. And when I come through, I’m going to be settled. When I come through, I’m going to be established. When I come through what I’m going through, I’ll be better.» Hallelujah!
Praise Him in Suffering
And guess what? I’ve got enough track record with God that I don’t have to wait till I get out to give Him praise. I know how to praise Him while I’m in the suffering. While I’m crying, I know how to thank Him while I’m going through it. I know how to give Him the glory.
Hey—that’s how you know when you mature: when you can thank God when things are not the way you want them to be. That’s how you know you belong—when you can give Him the glory even when things are not like you like them to be.
Somebody say, «I’ll bless His name at all times. His praise shall continually—through hell, through high water—continually be in my mouth.» Oh—hey—hey—hey—hallelujah!
Somebody dab up two or three people, say, «I can give Him the praise. Thank You, Jesus. Hallelujah—I can give Him the glory. I can give Him a shout. Hallelujah!»
I can look back over my life and see where He has brought me from and give Him the glory. All right—hey.
Got a feeling everything going be all right. Got a feel—everything—everything be all right. Be all right—be all right. I got a feel it—everything’s going to be all right. Oh—everything—got—everything be all right—be all right—be all right—be all right.
Do I got any witnesses here that know it’s going to be okay? I don’t stay in suffering forever—I’m coming up out of it. You don’t stay in your trouble forever—you’re coming up out of it. I don’t know what I’m preaching to, but whatever you’re going through, you are coming out of it. You are coming out of it. It will not last forever.
7. Success
All right—I got one more. One more—sit down, please. Sit down 'cause when y’all standing, I feel like I got to preach and holler and scream and shout and dance and run around. And if the truth be told, I still feel like doing it even though y’all sitting down now.
'Cause when I think of the goodness of Jesus, when I think about what He brought me through, when I think about where I’ve come from—I can’t help but give Him a shout. Hey—hey.
All right—okay—okay—sit down—sit down—sit down—sit down—sit down. Okay—let me give y’all this last one. This my last point—one more: success. Hallelujah—hallelujah.
The devil is telling you that you can’t succeed, that you’ll never win. That’s the lie he tells you—based on your history, your background, your past, your family—you can’t win. That’s a lie from hell. Yes, it is.
Let me read Psalm 1 to you for just a minute—can I read it? Here’s Psalms 1, first three verses: «Blessed is the man who walks not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor stands in the path of sinners, nor sits in the seat of the scornful; but his delight is in the law of the Lord, and in His law he meditates day and night.
He shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water that brings forth its fruit in its season, whose leaf also shall not wither; and whatever he does shall prosper.»
Whatever he does, wherever he goes, whatever he puts his hands to shall prosper. Now y’all can shout on that right there for a second. I’m about to prosper—I might not look like it right now, but when it’s all said and done, I’m going to win.
You can win; you can succeed; you can come up; you can be on the winning side. You can do what it is God created you to do. You shall prosper. Sit down, please—and I’m almost finished. Please sit down. Please—hey—hallelujah—hallelujah—hallelujah.
I’m just going down Suffering Boulevard so I could get to Success Street. Now—I’m finished.
Remembering the Seven Principles: SUCCESS
So this is how you can remember these seven principles. I’m going to tell you a quick way—this is how I’ve taught it for 35 years. Some of y’all know this already; some of you don’t. But here’s—I used the word «success.» Yeah—S-U-C-C-E-S-S.
Each one of these letters stand for something to help you remember these principles. The first S: self-acceptance. U: under authority. First C: character. Second C: chains (freedom). E: everything belongs to God (ownership). Then the next S: suffering. And the last S: success.
Go ahead—y’all got it now. That’s how you remember—these are the seven principles that are non-changing. You remember these principles and build your life around them—you’ll win.
Okay—now y’all can stand. Y’all go ahead and stand and give God a shout for success. Stand and give Him thanks that you going to believe the truth—you’re not accepting the lie.
Somebody say, «Gird your loins with truth.» Tighten up the belt of truth. Tighten these truths up around your thinking. Pull this belt of truth tight around your thinking and around your life.
Prayer
Father, thank You for the truth of Your Word. I pray that You rebuke every lie that the devil is trying to tell somebody right now—either in this room or watching online. God, You know who they are. And pray that You speak life. In the name of the Lord Jesus, that You would speak victory, hope, deliverance. In Jesus' name, amen.