weekly sermon6-6-10 Attention Soldier
Last week we celebrated Memorial Day and honored our fallen soldiers with a message about the honor and respect for those fallen soldiers. This week I want to talk about another soldier, a certain type of soldier. I want you too see if you can tell me where to find the soldier I am talking about.
I want us to talk about a soldier of war, but not about the war that you may be thinking about. I want us to talk about a war of the spiritual kind and of the soldier that is fighting spiritual warfare. There is a war that has been going on since the beginning of time between good and evil, that is spiritual warfare, but i want us to talk about the soldiers of THAT war.
Turn with me if you will to Ephesians 6:10-24, "Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord, and in the power of his might. (11)Put on the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. (12)For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high [places]. (13)Wherefore take unto you the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand. (14)Stand therefore, having your loins girt about with truth, and having on the breastplate of righteousness; (15)And your feet shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace; (16)Above all, taking the shield of faith, wherewith ye shall be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked. (17)And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God: (18)Praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, and watching thereunto with all perseverance and supplication for all saints; (19)And for me, that utterance may be given unto me, that I may open my mouth boldly, to make known the mystery of the gospel, (20)For which I am an ambassador in bonds: that therein I may speak boldly, as I ought to speak. (21)But that ye also may know my affairs, [and] how I do, Tychicus, a beloved brother and faithful minister in the Lord, shall make known to you all things: (22)Whom I have sent unto you for the same purpose, that ye might know our affairs, and [that] he might comfort your hearts. (23)Peace [be] to the brethren, and love with faith, from God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. (24)Grace [be] with all them that love our Lord Jesus Christ in sincerity. Amen."
This is Paul explaining to us how we are to prepare for war. I find it important and like it that the first thing Paul said was for us to be strong in the Lord. Being strong in the Lord is to always be on the path that God wants us on, to always be obeying the laws God has laid down for us and to always be living our lives as the Christian life that has been laid out for us in the Bible. The first part of that verse is easy for us to remember and not that hard to do, the second part of that same verse is really easy to understand but the most difficult I think for some folks to fully grasp. The reason I say this is because most folks do everything they can; to do everything they can by themselves. This tells me that folks wait so long, doing things on their own, that they forget the power of God and His might. Life could be so much easier on all of us if we would just remember the might that God has and the ability that He has to do so many things for us.
The next thing that is said is for us to put on the whole armour of God. Notice first that it says the "whole" armour. Do not put on the helmet or the vest or the boots, put on all of it, that means 100% of the armour should be worn. An actual soldier would never go into the line of fire without all the equipment that was given to him. The military has figured out what the soldier needs to survive any attack and they wear it all because they do not know what attack will come to them. God knows this is the same with us because of what He says next. Put on the whole armour that you may be able to withstand the trickery of the devil. God knows every trick the devil has up his sleeve and has equipped you with all the necessary armour to protect you, but you must wear it all, the whole thing.
When it talks about the armour of God, here, it does not mean actual physical armour. The armour that God describes is not physical because just as it says, we are not fighting against flesh and blood, or physical beings, but against principalities and powers of rulers of the darkness of the world, against spiritual wickedness in high places. God is giving us a description of the devil here. There are things I want us to understand about the description that has been given. The first thing we must understand is that we are not dealing with the physical so it is impossible for us to fight against this in the physical form. We must rely on spiritual help to aide us in fighting against a spiritual being. The next thing I want us to notice is how God said that this spirit was a wicked ruler in high places. First this ruler is wicked, meaning that he is not nice and from him will come nothing good in our lives. Lastly God said that he is a spirit in high places. Anyone that we consider to be in a high place is someone of power. If you do not think that the devil has high power then you are only fooling yourself. The devil has tremendous power. He has the power to persuade folks to do some very terrible things, any time he wants. Folks from every walk of life have fallen to the evils of sin over and over again. This tells me that no matter race, sex, age, or religion, the devil has caused some form of evil to enter into that persons life and caused them to fall short of the glory of God.
How do we fight this type of evil? We put on that whole armour of God, that Paul is talking about here. What is the full armour of God?
Girt your loins with truth. How do you do this? You keep yourself around truth and always tell the truth on your end. Truth must always be about you whether it be you telling the truth, or those around you being truthful.
Wear the breastplate of righteousness. All this means is that you are to be righteous, or morally right and justifiable with God at all times. You are to arm your own self with this quality and when at all possible surround yourself with folks that are of the same character. This does not mean to abandon the folks that are not righteous with God, but turn them into the righteousness of God and weaken the army of the devil every chance you get.
Shod your feet with the preparation of the Gospel of peace. This simply means that you are to make yourself ready and in complete peace to get to meet God and be accepted as a child of God when you do meet Him.
Wear the shield of faith. It says here in this section, "above all". There is a reason that Paul says above all take the shield of faith. Faith is the essence of our whole being. It is by faith that we receive salvation. It is by faith that we find the path that we need to get to Heaven. Jesus said that it is by faith and faith alone that will bring us to the family of Christ.
Wear the helmet of salvation. Of course, without salvation, we have nothing to look forward to but death. The faith that we talked about above, is the only way we can receive the salvation. Salvation is our only way to get to Heaven and be redeemed by the saving grace of Jesus Christ. Salvation is our only way to live and never die. I am talking our spirit never dying, not our physical bodies.
Wear the sword of the spirit. There are two things I want us to notice here. I want us to talk about the sword and the spirit. The sword is the actual word of God. We have so far talked about the many things you must wear to protect yourself from the attacks of the spiritual war. Now we have to talk about the one thing you get to fight with. The word of God is your only weapon. This weapon is used to fight the fight for the good, against the evil. This one weapon, the word of God, will take down the enemy in any battle and also bring the folks that do not know God to Him. The spirit is that one thing inside you that always acts in harmony with the written word of God. It is easy to understand why these two should go hand in hand. The sword, our only weapon and the word of God and the spirit that acts in harmony with that same word.
Now you can see why it is very important that you wear the whole armour of God. It is so important to wear the whole armour so that you are able to quench the firey darts of the devil, stand strong against any of his trickery and live in truth and righteousness.
Lastly, even if you are wearing the whole armour you must pray never stopping and watching and being with the other saints. Always be willing to boldly tell the Gospel because you are an ambassador of the Gospel and of Christ.
Paul goes so far as to even send a man to tell of all of his doings. Why would he do this? Paul sent this man because he wanted to assure the folks of all of his doings, making his life an open book for all to see, that he could prove that he was wearing the whole armour and living the life that he, as an ambassador, was suppose to be living. How many of us would be willing to open our lives up for all to see and allow them to know our every move and every action. Some would be so embarrassed that they could never show there face much less speak the Gospel to them.
Have you ever been given something from a religious organization? I am wanting to give you something of great value today. I want to give you the last suit you will ever need to wear, the whole armour of God. In order to wear this suit you will need to look deep inside your self and find that spirit that is always in harmony with the word of God and seek the saving grace of Jesus Christ. The reason that Paul could open his life for all to see and not be embarrassed is because had found this salvation and his old life was washed away. To accept the salvation of Christ and wash away all your sins, your old life and become the soldier that you were created to be, all you have to do is say a simple prayer with me.
Say this simple prayer with me, Dear Lord, I want you to be the Lord over my life, forgive me of my sins, and give me the gift of everlasting life. Amen.
With Love in Christ,
Pastor Stone
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