Walk Battle Ready

Pastor Jason

Ephesians - We are the Church • Sermon • Submitted 3 years ago

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Transcript

Introduction

Paul’s letter to the Ephesians is coming to an end-

Be Strong in the Lord

Put on the whole Armor of God

stand firm against the devils attacks

we wrestle against evil

vs 13- THEREFORE ----- because we are in a supernatural battle we need supernatural armor.

Take up the whole armor of God

NEXT SERMON ON ARMOR OF GOD

INTRO:

As I was preparing this sermon- I kept going back to a sermon a did here about a year ago -

setup: 1.give each kid a finger rocket with a word on the side of it.

Have a leader come up and remove his shoe, then have him stand on the rocks.

He needs to over exaggerate how the rocks make him uncomfortable

On the count of 3 have kids shoot the leader with their finger rockets, the leader sways and moves but stands defenseless against the rockets.

QUESTION: What was the leaders problem? He wasn’t prepared, and He had nothing to protect himself from the darts that you flung at him.

That is just like we are when it comes to our lives as Christians

So what does Willie need to protect himself from your darts?

answer- ARMOR

Just like Willie, We also need something besides ourself to stand up against the attacks of Satan. We need Christ’s perfect armor. And the cool thing is God has given us His Complete Perfect armor. So let’s look at what armor God has given us to fight against these attacks.

READ Ephesians 6:10-13

The Bible tells us to STAND FIRM!!!! So How do we do this?

By wearing God’s Armor.!!!

The Belt of Truth. Vs. 14a. TRUTH

‘and Put on the Belt of Truth”

History: Why did the Roman Soldier start with the belt? Because it is what holds all of his clothing and armor together so that he could move quickly and not loose any of his equipment. The Soldiers belt belt his clothes from snagging on things, it held the sheath for his sword, and it protected his gut from getting stabbed. Without a belt the solder would never be able to carry all of the rest of his armor.

Like theRoman soldier,

This is the piece of Spiritual armor that is the foundation for all the other pieces. The truth of God’s Word is our greatest defense and it’s what makes all the other pieces of armor available to us. In order to fight against Satan we have to believe that God’s Word is truth.

We have to believe that God will always do what He says he will do. his truth is Only through Jesus. 4:21.

We must Come to Jesus, Believe in Jesus, and Follow Jesus with our whole hearts. The Only way to have the belt of truth is to be a believer in Jesus . ROMANS ROAD

3:23 / 6:23. / 5:8 /10:9-10. / 8:1

We put on the Belt of Truth when we pray and declare our belief in what God says is true. We put on Gods truth when we accept His son as our savior.

The Breastplate of Righteousness: Vs. 14b

For the Roman Soldier the Breast Plate covered His chest to protect it against the enemies assaults and Arrows. Just like a breastplate on a suit of armor protects the heart, the Breastplate of Righteousness protects our heart for God. Being righteous means “Right Living”. Just like the belt of truth , Paul is now telling us to put on more of the virtues of the Messiah into our lives. We need to live like Christ. When we live a Christ-like life we guard ourselves against the attacks of sin. How do we protect our hearts?

By Prayer- asking God to help us when we feel like disobeying, …..”I Believe , but help my unbelief.” by asking forgiveness when we are wrong, by reading our Bibles, by going to church and by living by Faith in our lives. As God transforms us from within, (Sanctification) His righteousness comes out in our lives as humility, kindness, goodness and honesty. God declares us righteous when we turn to Christ and away from sin. Our Breastplate of Righteousness helps us maintain a pure heart.

Fruit of the Spirit, Gal. 5:22-23 “love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control”

We put on the Breast plate of Righteousness by PRAYFULLY living a lifestyle that fits inline with God’s Word

Sandals of the Gospel of Peace: vs. 15

HISTORY: A soldiers shoes are vital to winning the battle. They protect his feet so that he can advance in battle and stand firm.

Historians tell us that much of the success of Alexander the Great and Julius Ceasers Roman armies was because they had some of the very best shoes of all times.

Their studded half boots enabled them to travel great distances. They covered a a lot of ground in a short about of time, pursuing their enemies into every nook and cranny. They went into hard places to find and defeat the enemy. When we put on our Sandals of the Gospel of Peace we need to be ready and willing to take the gospel to every nook and cranny around the world.

It’s this gospel that gives us the assurance that through Jesus we will have eternal peace with God. WE NEED TO BE READY TO TAKE IT INTO HARD PLACES and willing to Proclaim it every where we go. Satan has blinded the world into believing his lies,

But the cross is an everlasting reminder to the world that they are sinners in need of a Savior. And We must be ready to take the gospel of Peace to them.

Author Tony Merida put it this way, “Satan and his minions are attacking you daily trying to get you to fall. they hate the gospel of Jesus, the cross is an offensive symbol to the world and we as believers need to be battle ready and not weary in our spiritual walk when the tempter wants to attack your heart.”

Paul is basically saying here that believers should Always be ready to share the gospel at any time, be ready to proclaim the good news of Jesus Christ that brings eternal peace to peoples lives.

Isaiah 52:7 how beautiful are the feet of the herald who proclaims peace, who brings the good news, who proclaims salvation.”

We put on the Sandals of the Gospel when we pray and ask for God’s strength to stand our ground against the lies of Satan , and we boldly proclaim His gospel to the people around us.

Shield of Faith vs. 16

HISTORY: Roman soldiers would often create a mass with shields linked and locked together over their heads.

This would shield the troops from the rain of fiery arrows and stones sent by the enemy. ONLY by trusting God COMPLETELY can a believer be spared from the blazing arrows launched by Satan!

The Shield of Faith is what protects us when we begin to doubt God’s promises. Faith is believing God will ALWAYS Do what He says.

What does God say he will do for His followers?

He will always protect us, He will never leave us Hebrews 13:5 He does all things for our good. Rom. 8:23 He will guard our hearts Phil . 4 6-7 He will meet all our needs Phil. 4:19 He will answer our prayers mark 11:24

Satan wants to make you doubt what God says is true in the Bible, He wants to tempt you to disobey.

All Satan has to do is get 1 dart past your shield to cause you to doubt your faith.

We take up the shield of Faith when we Trust in God’s promises and put away our doubts. When We Live a life of Faith, Believing God will Always do what’s best for us.

The Helmet of Salvation. V17b

History: Because this piece of armor was heavy and uncomfortable, it was usually put on last.

The helmet which was 9lbs, was made of heavy bronze or tough Iron and nothing short of a battle ax could penetrate it. Most of us probably don’t have the neck muscles strong enough to wear a roman soldiers helmet.

Just as real helmets protect our heads from injuries, the Helmet of Salvation protects our minds from the enemy’s lies.

To resist the Devil, we must be assured of our salvation through Christ! We need to go to God daily and be reminded of what Christ did for us on the cross. If you are a believer in Christ, when Satan attacks, DONT Listen to his lies… you need to say to him,

“I am alive in Christ, I’m no longer a slave to Sin, Jesus paid my debt, and I have been redeemed, forgiven, and reconciled to God, and have an eternal home with Christ forever.” You need to put your helmet on and do not let the lies of this world get in your head.

We take up the helmet of Salvation When we Go to God daily to renew our minds through prayer and reading His word.

The Sword of the Spirit: v17b

IA STATE CLASS-

It was fun at first, but it wasn’t until I learned how to yield the sword that it became useful. Final Battle- made teams and I was with the instructor

We formed a plan, stayed together, hold our ground, didn’t yield and protected ourselves and each other from all the attacks of the enemies We won, Why because we were prepared and we held our ground!. STAND FIRM!!! The Sword of the Spirit is the one piece of armor that is used for offense instead of defense. This “sword” is the Bible.. We can use the Word of God to cut through the lies that the enemy wants us to believe about the world and ourselves. This sword can stop an attack in its tracks before it ever gets to the rest of our armor.

The Word used in Ephesians 6 is not Logos which means written word but is Rhema, which means spoken word.

We are called to speak the gospel -which is the word of God, in a dark world that is being held captive by Satan. The gospel is what will free PEOPLE from Satans bondage over their lives. We need to speak the truths of God when we see others fall in sin , we need to speak Biblical correction when we see ourselves falling to the enemies attack.

EXAMPLE Christ in the wilderness. Matt. 4:1-11A]

Why is the Word of God so powerful?

It is the Spirit of God that inspires it, and it’s His power that flows through it.

Hebrews 4:12 “the word of God is alive and active. Sharper than any 2 edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing the soul and spirit, joints and marrow. It judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart.”

We can Trust Gods Word, We can rely on its power, We need Gods Word in our lives. If we try to battle the attacks of Satan in our lives without the Sword of the Spirit we will stand defenseless and succumb to his power. Read it, Meditate on it, and PROCLAIM IT!

We put-on the sword of the Spirit when whe we bathe our lives in PRAYER and Ask God to bring His scriptures to heart to use against the spiritual attacks in your life.

Pray Always

So what’s the key ingredient that gives us this kind of Power to stand firm? Vs 6:18 PRAY - Prayer is like our walkie talkie in battle, we can call back to command to know exactly what we need to do in the battle. Soldiers who go into battle and don’t listen too or follow their commanders instructions Always fail!!! The command sees the big picture, He knows the strategy to win the war. The soldiers only see the fight that is right in front of them. We need to stay in constant contact with our commander - We do this through Continual prayer!

CONCLUSION

2 Corinthians 10:3-5 “Though we walk in the flesh, we are not waging war according to the flesh” [in other words, we don’t fight with armor, we don’t fight with politics, we don’t fight with money, we don’t fight with all the humanistic ways]. “For the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh but have divine power to destroy strongholds. We destroy arguments and every lofty opinion raised against the knowledge of God, and take every thought captive to obey Christ.”

Have you ever wondered why all of the armor we have only covers the front and not the back?

It seems like we are defenseless from the back! In Pilgrims Progress Bunyan said “ because Christian had no armor in the back, the best option was to stand his ground and fight. “

EPHESIANS 6: “STAND FIRM”

We need to stand our ground against the attacks of Satan. We need to be battle ready with our FULL armor on, as we advance the Gospel into the world.

When we put on the armor of God we can stand firm when Satan attacks us because we are ready! Truth- God’s Word never lies, it is always true all the time The Gospel - is the foundation of our armor- Jesus Saved you , gave you his armor, and leads you. Faith- Believe that God will always do what He says Salvation- every sin you committed in the past in the presence and future is already forgiven- I have a hope God’s Word. “Read it,Study it , pray it and proclaim it!”

When you feel tempted to sin1 Cor. 10:13 “ He will not allow temptation to be more than you can stand” Because He has given you HIS Armor to overcame ALL the attacks of Satan. 10.“STAND FIRM”