Sermon Tone Analysis

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Finally, says Paul: It seems fitting that Paul ends the letter this way as he had concerns for the flock and what would become of them after he left.
It is also my concern during the time I am with you.
In Paul’s farewell address in Acts 20 to the elders of the Church at Ephesus, the same church this letter was sent to, he says;
Paul is clear in the passage in Ephesians 6 that there are spiritual powers at work against us and Satan does not want to spare the flock.
Paul shares with us the secret of not allowing this to happen in the passage today.
We are all ultimately and personally responsible to be ready, to stand, to defend and to fight for we do have an enemy and he is opposing us.
We are called to be strong in the Lord.
In all the time I am here I will lay a stress upon the Word of God.
Everything that we understand about God, about salvation, about how to live life is found in the pages of Scripture which points to the One who is the very Word of God in the flesh, our Lord Jesus Christ.
It is He whom we need to know ever increasingly.
Be strong in the Lord.
Often we are commanded to be strong throughout the Bible.
Be bold!
Be strong!
How are we bold?
How are we strong?
Is it not taking God at His word, believing it, trusting it, stepping out in it?
And now, it remains for you all to take God at His word and not be fearful of the future for it is in the hands of the living God with whom nothing is impossible.
You certainly cannot trust yourselves.
There is only One whom you can rely upon and that is God.
Trust Him!
He loves and cares for you more than I or anyone else could.
Be strong!
We trust in the power of His might.
And trust in Him we must for the devil will take every opportunity to undermine our trust in Him.
The wiles of the devil spoken of here means his scheming and craftiness.
We are, whether we like it or not, at war.
We have enemies which, sometimes on the face of it, are human but are, in fact, spiritual.
Maybe we are after a peaceful life but this is just not reality for the person who wants to follow Jesus.
We are in the midst of a battle.
And now we need to protect ourselves as well as to be ready to fight.
Against us are pitted all evil and spiritual powers but on our side we have God Almighty.
But let us not be complacent.
Everyday is a day of battle.
We battle our own urges, we battle with temptations, we battle with opposition.
Sometimes we lose battles especially personal ones but the war has already been won at the cross.
Soon we shall see the reality with our own eyes.
But in the meantime we are called to be strong and to stand.
And not just to stand up but also to keep our feet in the evil day - when is the evil day?
Is it not today?
Did we not read two weeks’ ago that the days are evil?
Yes, everyday is evil.
Everyday we must make our stand and we have been given the tools to do it.
Believers should be rightly clothed for battle
So let’s look at what we have been given:
Believers should put on the full armour of God
The Belt of Truth.
The Roman soldier always wore his belt.
It was an essential piece of kit that not only held things in place but was also protective.
We have the truth of the Gospel.
We have the One who is the Truth.
We are certain of the Scriptures for within it are the words of truth.
The devil on the other hand is a liar:
Truth is not tolerant.
It goes up against lies, especially the lies that it doesn’t matter what you believe.
The devil lies because he wants people to have the same fate as him.
We are to tell the truth and that is; only Jesus saves: A good understanding of God’s truth counters Satan’s deceit.
We are to put on the Breastplate of Righteousness.
This protected all the vital organs especially the heart.
But we need to make sure we put on the right breastplate.
If we put on the wrong one then we will fall.
If we put on the breastplate of our righteousness then we must know that we will always fail.
How do we know this?
The fact is that we cannot come up to God’s standard.
If we came face-to-face with God now we would know immediately how sinful we really are.
If we come dressed in our own righteousness then we will be destroyed.
But come in the righteousness that has been attained for us by Jesus’ death and resurrection then we are proclaimed as pure and righteous in His sight.
The accusations of the devil about how bad we really are can be successfully swotted away for the lamb of God has taken away the sins of the world.
And we can claim that for ourselves for we have been translated out of the kingdom of darkness into the kingdom of light.
Isaiah again says:
What a privilege it is to be a child of God.
The next thing to put on is our marching shoes with the Gospel of Peace.
To always be ready to get moving or to stand and fight.
We are to get some grit on our shoes to help us grip the ground so we are not pushed backwards.
With practice we will keep moving forward and each step becomes easier.
What better way to defeat the devil than to always be willing and ready to share the Gospel?
I’m with Reinhard Bonnke whose catchphrase is: Plunder hell and populate heaven.
What’s a greater kick in the teeth of the devil than to take away his disciples?
All of us have to be ready to share the good news of Jesus:
From some people their only chance of hearing the gospel is because they have met you.
We are at war over souls and I want us taking souls for God.
Be ready to give answers to those who asks but also be ready to share the Gospel.
Our next piece of armour to put on is the Shield of Faith.
The devil hates us and will attack us.
This shield not only protects us from what is in front but also when the devil wants to stab us in the back.
When the onslaught is particularly bad it is in joining together our shields that he is defeated.
Faith is another word for trust.
We saw this at the beginning.
We are to trust in the promises of God no matter what.
He has made many promises about always being with us and not forsaking us, always forgiving, always loving, and, above all, He will finish the work He has started in us.
We are to then put on the Helmet of Salvation.
We are saved not by our own good works but His work finished on the cross.
But this is more than that it is about protecting our minds and what we put in it.
We are to take every thought captive to Christ.
We are not only to give our heart, soul and strength for God but our minds also.
It is in using the mind that we give reasons for our faith just as Paul did:
Faith is not a leap in the dark but into the light - our faith is a reasonable one.
And it is with our minds that God reasons:
This helmet of salvation is about the expectation of future glory and this helps us overcome despair.
The Christian’s spiritual weapons
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