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This edition of Ask the Pastor features Pastors Johnathan Hernandez and Garry Schick.

Garry Schick
Well, speaking of summer, Jonathan, it is all those good things, but it's also bug season. It's also sunburn season. And so a funny thing; we think of wintertime as when we put on the layers to kind of protect us from the cold. But there are actually some invisible things that we put on to shield us from the bugs and the sun in terms of bug spray/sun spray. Sometimes it's all in one spray. And the reason I mention that is because you had, I think, a great idea as a topic for today. And that is, "as Christians, what kind of a shield do we have?" So Jonathan, you want to kind of get us rolling on that?

Jonathan Hernandez
Yeah. So I guess, when this thought process of the shield or whatever, God was just leading me as I was in my reading time about a month ago. And as I was reading and I came across the shield, and I remember reading a story of a soldier. A centurion soldier. Like these guys that carry these massive shields, not only the shield, they have: the helmet, the breastplate, the belt, the shoe, the sandals or whatever. They have the whole armor that the analogy, that we see in scripture, right? And one of the soldiers, he said, "when a soldier loses his shield, he's completely removed from not only the battle party or the infantry that he's in, but he's removed from the community." And I thought that was interesting. I was like, "Wow! Why?" And as I was continuing reading in this, they said, when the soldier loses his helmet or his breast plate, they're just like, "okay. Well, whatever." But the shield was not only to protect him, but it's to protect his fellow soldiers with him. And that's why the shield was so important to the Centurion soldiers; is because it wasn't just for their safety, but it was for the safety of all the soldiers around him. And if you look at those at that time in history, they would take the shield and they would line up and they would connect their shields together. And not only in front of them, but they would connect from the top too. So when they were going against archers, they would make this fortified wall basically that protected each and every soldier. But if you're a soldier and you ran to that wall without a shield, who are you protecting? You're not protecting anybody. And so, when I was looking at that, I thought, "oh, that's super interesting." And God has given us a shield. We have the Shield of Faith. And so the shield of faith isn't just for us, but it is for the people around us too. If we can learn how to, as a body of believers, connect our faith together. In that sense, when I'm going through a hard season and my shield's connected to Pastor Garry's Shield here, we're stronger together. And not only am I connected to you, but then I am connected to Pastor Larry, my pastor at the church. I'm connected to all these people, and it doesn't have to be pastors either. It can be fellow believers in Christ. As we connect to each other, we can stand stronger through all kinds of different hard seasons in life. Whether it be a loss of a loved one, it could be just the heaviness of the season that we're in, or whatever it may be. But we're connected together. And so, obviously we take this scripture out of Ephesians 6:16, "in addition to all of this, take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one." And so we take that thought, or that shield and think, "how can we as believers connect to fellow believers and stand strong together in prayer?" That's what I was seeing through this whole thing is, "how can we stand together?" We don't have to stand alone in our battle. We were never meant to stand alone. Throughout all of scripture we see community. It's so enriched throughout the scriptures that we're part of a community. And what community are you a part of? And how are you connecting your shield of faith with that person that's next to you? Maybe you've never talked to that person next to you in the pew at church. There could be that possibility, but why not this week? Connect with that person and lift that person up. Or maybe you need to lift it up. And so, stay connected and talk to people about, "Hey, I'm struggling with this." And allow them to be that shield too that connects to you.

Garry Schick
I love it. Well, and it talks about covering each other in prayer. What is it? That's shielding. As you brought up that topic, it made me think of our conversation, and I don't know if it happened during the recorded broadcast or if it was separate, but when we were talking to Benny a few weeks ago. And right at that time was right when Iran had attacked, and of course, between what Israel had and the US and Britain, nothing got through. And there was talk at that time about Israel's defense system, what do they call it? The Iron Dome? And anyway, listeners, again, I don't remember if this was part of the conversation that made it to the air or not, but Benny talked about how there was kind of a picture circulating around, where instead of an iron dome, it just showed a hand covering Israel. And that would be, of course, the hand of God. And you know what? That is actually biblical, right? In Genesis 15:1 says, this is the Lord speaking. He says, "Do not be afraid Abram. I am your shield, your very great reward." In Psalm 3:3, David declares, "but you, oh Lord, are a shield for me, my glory, and the one who lifts up my head." And in 2 Samuel 22:2-4, David said, "the Lord is my rock, my fortress, and my deliverer. My God is my rock in whom I take refuge, my shield and the horn of my salvation. My high tower, my refuge, my savior, you save me from violence. I will call on the Lord who is worthy to be praised, so shall I be saved from my enemies." And what do we pray in the Lord's prayer? "But deliver us from evil?" Actually, literally, it could be translated either, "deliver us from evil," or it could be translated, "deliver us from the evil one." And I try to think about that when I pray the Lord's prayer because I think, "yep. Please protect me from harm and accident and illness and all that." But also the adversary; who is the adversary of our souls. So that reminds me, so that as I was thinking about this shield concept, so there's two senses. 1. First of all, God, He's our iron dome. He's our shield. We look to Him. But 2. As you are pointing out, God has given us a shield and we read about it in Ephesians. And yeah, I was thinking of that too. The Roman shield, which of course Paul, he describes the armor of God. He is describing exactly what you described there, the common armor that a soldier had at the time. I did not know that piece about, that they would not let a soldier go without a shield, because yeah, you're right. He's not protecting himself. He's not protecting anybody around him. He becomes a terrible liability. And what is the shield God has given to us? It's faith. My faith is a protection to my soul against the attacks of the evil one. But our faith is, as we stand together with other believers, it is a shield around us. And God has given us this spiritual shield. And also in that passage, Paul reminds us, "you know what? Our battle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, the authorities of powers of this dark world. It's spiritual forces in the heavenly realms." Well, just one other thing that comes to my mind when I think of shield, and it kind relates to this. Are you a Marvel Comics type of guy? I mean, I didn't really read comics as a kid, but I have enjoyed several of the movies.

Jonathan Hernandez
Yeah, my kids get me into them.

Garry Schick
So one of the things I picked up, not from the comic books, but because like I say, I probably read two or three as a kid, but from the movies. But in the comics, there is an organization that uses the letters of the word S.H.I.E.L.D. And so just now, as we're getting ready to record, I looked up, "so what does SHIELD stand for in the comics?" And here's what it stands for: Strategic Homeland Intervention Enforcement and Logistics Division. "Shield is an espionage and security organization that defends earth, and its people from groups that pose advanced technological and sometimes supernatural or extraterrestrial threats." And of course, that's where the superheroes come in. They're protecting earth from those outside forces. Well, that's all fiction. It's fun to watch and listen to. But you know what? In the real world, there is an external threat to the planet Earth, and it is the spiritual forces in the heavenly realms, the powers of evil, Satan and his minions. And I'll tell you what. They are a nastier bunch than anything you've seen in a Marvel movie or DC comic or whatever it is. And this is real life. We have this spiritual battle going on. And so God has given us these two layers. First of all, He is our shield, and so we need to look to Him. But also, He has given us, as believers trusting Him, a shield that we ourselves exercise, and that is the shield of faith. So friends, I hope that as you head out into your day and even your weekend, put your armor on. Are you going to put a little sunscreen on, a little bug spray on? Good. That'll protect your skin. It's important, but put your spiritual armor on. It's also an invisible armor, but it is so important. Jonathan?

Jonathan Hernandez
Yeah. So, the shield of faith as we exercise that, think about people that you know that don't know Christ as we take our faith and share that faith, right? It's not us just holding onto our own faith and just going around our day, but it's also, how can we share this faith that Christ has given us, right? That we've grown in.