Episode Transcript
[00:00:01] Probably a little more slow going this morning. It's been a long five days.
[00:00:06] It's been fun. It's been long. Children three through five, if you want, I have jokes.
[00:00:13] If you don't want, then you can go ahead and start heading back, which I think the majority of you already are.
[00:00:18] You want jokes? Fantastic.
[00:00:21] All right, here we go.
[00:00:24] Why was the medieval musician always calm?
[00:00:31] Because he knew how to compose himself.
[00:00:39] All I get is a slow clap.
[00:00:42] Why was the knight fighting with a sword made of cheddar cheese?
[00:00:48] It was extra sharp.
[00:00:53] And what do you call a medieval knight who's afraid to fight?
[00:01:00] You call them render sur rinder.
[00:01:06] I think it's French.
[00:01:13] So, first and foremost, thank you all so much for being here. Thank you all for your prayers. Thank you all for the 30 plus volunteers that came to help out with the children's program this past week.
[00:01:24] Because of all this, we had 56 kids who came and heard the word of God. And that is awesome.
[00:01:36] We gave out several Bibles to several of the children and I think some of the parents as well.
[00:01:43] And we also had five children this year verbalize that they too have a desire to. To follow King Jesus. And that is amazing. So thank you for your prayers.
[00:01:57] I know it worked during the week, but we're going to see if it works now. Who is king?
[00:02:03] Christ is king. So who is king?
[00:02:07] Christ is king. Who is king? Christ is king. All right, so I want you all to understand something. It's been a really loud five days, and so if I'm up here and I'm talking to you guys and you all just sit there, it's gonna be really long, long service.
[00:02:24] I also haven't actually been teaching at all this week, so I've saved it all up for right now. And I have 28 minutes and 10 pages to go, so I guess we'll get started. All right, so our theme this year was keepers of the kingdom. And the main theme was indeed about the armor of God.
[00:02:43] We talked about on day one, that there is a battle between two different kingdoms. There is either you are either part of the good kingdom or the bad kingdom.
[00:02:53] In day two, we taught that each child of the king needs to fasten on the belt of truth.
[00:03:02] If you want to follow King Jesus, you must know his truth.
[00:03:07] On day three, we talked about the breastplate of righteousness and the shoes of of peace.
[00:03:12] We must be willing to wear the righteousness of Christ. We must be willing and able to know and share the gospel.
[00:03:21] In day four, we talked about the shield of faith in the helmet of salvation, establishing again who King Jesus is to us and know what our Savior has done for us.
[00:03:37] And day five was to take the sword of the Spirit and pray to be ready with weapon in hand, constantly communicating with our King.
[00:03:49] Now, today we're gonna talk about these same things, and there are kind of three areas of focus that we're gonna break this down into. First off, there is. Oh, by the way, how many of you, like, outlines denied.
[00:04:09] Take your own notes if you want though. There are three areas of focus on this one. First off, we're going to talk about the preparation before we talk about the armor, the why of it. Why is it we should be listening to what Paul has to tell us? Coming up next. We have the tools, the what we have the the solution to the why.
[00:04:31] And lastly, the continuation, also known as the now what, the application of what it is we have read and what it is that we're going to do moving forward.
[00:04:42] So let's start in a really good spot by reading Scripture. So turn in your Bibles with me if you will, to Ephesians, chapter six.
[00:04:51] And yes, it was read once already today, but you know what? It is the word of God, and there is no harm in hearing it again.
[00:05:00] Ephesians, chapter six. We're going to read all the way through 10 through 18.
[00:05:07] Actually, I'm going to jump to verse one real quick. Children, obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right.
[00:05:15] All right, now moving on to verse 10.
[00:05:18] I know there's more to that.
[00:05:22] Finally, six chapters later. Finally, be strong in the Lord and in the strength of his might, put on the whole armor of God that you may be able to stand against the schemes of the devil.
[00:05:38] For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places.
[00:05:52] Therefore, take up the whole armor of God, that you may be able to withstand in the evil day. And having done all, stand firm.
[00:06:03] Stand therefore, having fastened on the belt of truth, having put on the breastplate of righteousness and as shoes for your feet, having put on the readiness given by the gospel of peace in all circumstances, take up the shield of faith with which you can extinguish all the flaming darts of the evil one, and take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God, praying at all times in the Spirit, with all prayer and supplication.
[00:06:35] To that end, keep alert with all perseverance, making supplication for all the saints.
[00:06:42] Heavenly Father, we come to you this morning so thankful for your word.
[00:06:47] So thankful for what it is that you have provided us with as lessons for teaching and for understanding of what it is that we are doing here and how to do it better.
[00:06:59] And God, I pray that as we go through this, as I speak on this, Father God, just speak through me.
[00:07:07] Let your words be the ones that are said and are heard.
[00:07:11] That your spirit be in each and every one of us now, helping us understand what it is that you have written for us.
[00:07:20] We ask this in Jesus name.
[00:07:23] Amen.
[00:07:25] The preparation Be strong in the Lord.
[00:07:32] Which means that we all need to get some groups going on. We're gonna call Muscles for Jesus.
[00:07:40] I don't subscribe to that. I prefer cookies for Jesus.
[00:07:43] Ice cream for Jesus.
[00:07:45] Muscles sound like a lot of work.
[00:07:48] Fortunately, that's not what we actually see talking about here.
[00:07:52] Be strong in the Lord. Have a stout heart. I love that saying. Have a stout heart.
[00:07:59] To be brave and resolute.
[00:08:03] Mr. Gerald, what's resolute mean? Resolute, purposeful, unwavering.
[00:08:10] Dauntless.
[00:08:11] Mr. Gerald, what does dauntless mean?
[00:08:14] Incapable of being intimidated or discouraged.
[00:08:21] To be strong in the Lord is to be fearless.
[00:08:26] I like that idea. Fearless.
[00:08:31] But if we do this on our own, we find out rather quickly that we just cannot compare.
[00:08:39] We don't have the ability to actually have enough strength in our own to be of service to the King.
[00:08:46] When it says be strong in the Lord, what it's saying is go to God and. And say, I know your strength is far more than mine ever will be.
[00:08:57] When it continues on and says, in the strength of his might, how strong is his might?
[00:09:05] It's strong.
[00:09:08] I love in Psalms, there's multiple times in chapter four, it says it this way. Who is the king of glory? The Lord, strong and mighty.
[00:09:16] The Lord might mighty in battle.
[00:09:20] We get that picture of the battle going on. In Psalm 50. It says, the mighty one God. The Lord speaks and summons the earth from the rising of the sun to its setting. That is some power that he has. In Psalm 89, O Lord, God of host, who is mighty as you are, O Lord, with your faithfulness all around. You see, the psalmist knew who God was. The psalmist understood the power that he has. And they have the visual aid of knowing what a battle looks like. And, and knowing that if they were going to go into battle, who do they want on their side?
[00:09:51] God.
[00:09:52] Not just some God, because there were plenty of others that followed other gods.
[00:09:58] But none were as mighty as the one true God.
[00:10:04] They spoke of his might because it was real. God had proven Himself to them over and over and over. And the blessing is that he continues to do so for others as well.
[00:10:16] I know my own life and I know in many of yours, there's times that we look at the life that we have lived and we see God was here and God was here and God was here, proving over and over he has been there the whole time and his strength continues to endure. We know that our God is a mighty God, so be strong in the Lord and in the strength of his might.
[00:10:42] We get to verse 11 where it says, put on some of the armor of God.
[00:10:47] Oh, good.
[00:10:50] I was really scared there for a second. It was real quiet. I'm like somebody all whole, total entirety put on the whole armor of God.
[00:11:00] We're the ones that choose to skip pieces.
[00:11:06] What happens if we skip a piece? Peace.
[00:11:10] What happens if we don't have absolute truth in our life as we live? What happens when we don't trust in the righteousness of Christ?
[00:11:21] What happens when we refuse the peace given to us by the gospel? What happens when we don't use our faith to guard us? What happens if we don't have salvation to give us hope and protect us? What happens when we have no weapon and we're standing in the middle of a battle?
[00:11:39] This imagery has so much depth and detail in it. You literally could. And people have done eight week sessions on just this and yet it is simple enough, thank you, Jesus, that we can look at this and go, I've got some work to do, so let's start it right here. Now it says, put on the whole armor of God.
[00:12:05] When we pick and choose, we are bound to lose.
[00:12:10] I know it's corny and it rhymes, but it's the truth.
[00:12:13] It is the entirety that we're looking for. And that's what God calls us to. It's not to some of it, it's to all of it.
[00:12:20] My friend here is good proof. We'll talk to him here in a second.
[00:12:24] The life of a follower of Christ.
[00:12:26] This is important. The life of a follower of Christ. Must understand that life is not a playground, it's a battleground.
[00:12:37] And it's time for the people of God to look at it that way.
[00:12:46] We are to stand against the schemes of the devil.
[00:12:49] That is what we are doing. This is still going towards what the tools are and why we have the armor to stand against the schemes of the devil.
[00:12:58] That sounds hard.
[00:13:01] What do I have that I can do that with. I understand that he's really good at being really bad.
[00:13:08] And he's had a lot of practice in doing it. He's been doing it for a really, really long time.
[00:13:16] And he has one goal and that is to disrupt everyone's relationship with God.
[00:13:26] That looks different for different people. Some that means the fact that they're never going to actually see God.
[00:13:32] Some means that they're actually going to accept God. And for some it means the fact that he's going to make it. Where I'm inadequate to help in any way, shape or form.
[00:13:42] I no longer get to serve my God.
[00:13:46] That is just as bad.
[00:13:53] We move on to verse 12.
[00:13:56] And I admit this has, this deserves more time than I'm able to give it for today.
[00:14:04] But it says do not battle. We do not battle against flesh and blood.
[00:14:10] Wouldn't that be easier when you're doing something and you have a project of some sort of how many of you can just visualize the whole concept in your mind and be like, alright, I'm good.
[00:14:22] What happens if I go through and let's say I get really good at composing music and I have the entire thing in my head?
[00:14:30] Does that do me any good?
[00:14:32] No, not till I see it do. I'm like, okay, I understand what I'm doing here, but this is fortunately by the grace of God, not something that we actually get to see.
[00:14:44] But it's still there. And that's the important aspect. This battle that we are fighting is unlike any that we've ever seen before.
[00:14:52] It's going to be a struggle, it's going to be hard. It's not flesh and blood. It's against the spiritual forces of wickedness, of the evils of this world.
[00:15:03] We don't see it, but let's be honest, we see the results and we know that it's there.
[00:15:13] There are the rulers, they are the authorities and powers. They are the cosmic powers and the world forces of this present, this current darkness that we face.
[00:15:24] But they will not stand forever.
[00:15:28] We know this, this is assured to us. We know how the battle goes, but we're still fighting it right now. And we have to be honest that it's there.
[00:15:38] These forces are alive and well.
[00:15:41] And here's the thing, is that we have the ability. We can deny it.
[00:15:45] We can put our heads in the sand and be ignorant. We can pretend it doesn't affect us.
[00:15:51] I'm telling you now, that is a fool's errand.
[00:15:55] Because it does.
[00:15:57] It affects us far more than we realize sometimes their goal is to deprive us of the heavenly blessings that we get from God.
[00:16:06] We are given so many blessings in overabundance by the graciousness of him, the mercy he gives us. They want to deprive us of that. They want to obstruct our communion that we have with God.
[00:16:19] We have the ability to speak to the Creator of the universe, the Creator of each and every one of us.
[00:16:26] That in itself is an amazing gift that I don't think we give near enough credit to the fact that at any point we can cry out to God and he will listen.
[00:16:37] They want to prevent our sent to heaven. If they can keep us from God, guess who wins?
[00:16:43] They do.
[00:16:46] They do.
[00:16:50] They want to keep us from our King.
[00:16:56] And who is king?
[00:16:59] Christ is king.
[00:17:02] Our goal then is to stand against them. Our goal then is to rally up the troops and get them together. Our goal then.
[00:17:15] Ladies and gentlemen, we're going to war.
[00:17:19] And it is not one that will be short lived.
[00:17:23] It will not be quick, it will not be easy, but we are going to war.
[00:17:34] If it stopped there, just the preparation, it would be a little hard.
[00:17:45] But it doesn't talk about some tools that we get.
[00:17:53] Therefore, one of my favorite words, therefore, because of all these things, because of the reality of the battle that we are going to face each and every day, take on the pieces of the armor, the whole armor of God. It is repeated because it is important.
[00:18:17] If you weren't willing to in the beginning of this, maybe after you learned the why, suddenly it's a little more important, huh?
[00:18:26] So take on the entire armor of God.
[00:18:30] Take it and be ready, knowing full well that we are all going to be challenged in the life that we live. We are all going to be attacked in the life here on earth. We are going to be aggressively assaulted by the enemy each and every day.
[00:18:45] And what are we going to do about it?
[00:18:48] How is it we are able to withstand in that evil day?
[00:18:53] At some point reality should kick in and we look at it and go, I have nothing on my own I can do.
[00:18:59] I can make some cardboard armor up real quick.
[00:19:04] I can get some legit shields, I can put this on, it probably wouldn't fit me. I could try to put this on and go out there. But is this going to do anything for me?
[00:19:16] No.
[00:19:17] I have no plans, no schemes, no armor that is going to suffice in the battle we have before us.
[00:19:25] So what do I have to do?
[00:19:30] Well, in the verse it specifically says, having done all, what have I Done in order for me to receive these tools, what is it that I have actually done?
[00:19:51] I have chosen to submit to the King, not just some of me, not just a part of me, but my entire being, my entire livelihood, my entire life. I say, Jesus, this is yours.
[00:20:10] I submit my life to you and your authority, and I rely on you with all my heart.
[00:20:21] And in turn, in turn, that is, having done my all, I now am able to stand for firm with these tools.
[00:20:31] Now, it's important to note this imagery at the time would have been very obvious to everybody. Paul knew what he was doing. As he's explaining these parts, it would be, oh, I've seen a soldier, I know what this looks like, I know how they seem.
[00:20:54] Every single day I see them.
[00:20:57] So first off, in verse 14, we have the.
[00:21:08] Alright, let's try this again. So we're given our first tool. We have the belt of all right, just putting on some belt doesn't help.
[00:21:17] Understanding what the belt is. The belt of truth. Now, this is first and foremost.
[00:21:24] We don't get anything else. We aren't given the sword first, which if you're in a battle, seems really weird, but we're not, we're not given the shield first to try to defend ourselves. As we're trying frantically to get dressed, we are told, hey, guess what? You're gonna have a belt.
[00:21:42] Now, back then, it's a lot different than what we have now. Back then, this would have been their belt.
[00:21:48] And their belt has what on it?
[00:21:51] It's a little dagger.
[00:21:54] How often do you think they were separated from their belt as a Roman soldier?
[00:22:00] Never.
[00:22:02] These soldiers were soldiers.
[00:22:05] That was their job. That was their entire being. They were never to be seen without their belt because they'd always be ready.
[00:22:15] So Paul uses this imagery and he goes, look, we're gonna talk about the Belt of Truth.
[00:22:21] Whose truth? My truth?
[00:22:24] Your truth?
[00:22:26] The truth?
[00:22:28] Capital T, Truth. The absolute truth. God's truth.
[00:22:33] God's truth shows us important things like the vitalness of having a biblical worldview, because through that lens it is so different than what this world wants to show us.
[00:22:47] But we only are able to have that worldview and that truth from God when we take the time to study and train in His Word.
[00:22:59] That is how we know his truth.
[00:23:02] And we should also be unwilling to part from it.
[00:23:07] We should never be far from knowing and utilizing the truth of God.
[00:23:15] If you go to a different version than esv, it'll say, having girded your loins with truth, I'm not gonna lie. I Had to look that up and went, that sounds weird.
[00:23:28] And I went, oh, you need to hold faith tightly onto this truth. You need to cleave to this truth like a girdle does to your loins.
[00:23:41] How far is the girdle from your loins?
[00:23:45] It's not. It is right there.
[00:23:48] I'm not saying anything inappropriate. Calm down. It's in the Bible. And so we see the fact that the truth of God should be right there with us at all times, never to be separated from it, never to be removed from us. We walk forward in this life with that truth.
[00:24:11] When you do that, you're declaring, I am ready for this battle.
[00:24:18] And then we are given the breastplate of righteousness. Whose righteousness?
[00:24:26] Alright, guys, I know this is big church and I know it's Sunday morning and we're all a little sleepy still.
[00:24:37] And I get it, you know, when we talk about God, when we talk about his word, when we talk about his blessings, his provisions, his gifts, his mercy, his grace, it is okay. And in fact it should be that we are ecstatic with the truth of what God is giving.
[00:24:58] We're gonna try this again.
[00:25:01] The breastplate of righteousness. Whose righteousness? God. God's righteousness. That's right. It is not ours. If it was mine, my breastplate's gonna fail me every time.
[00:25:11] I cannot always be right. I would like to be. I sometimes claim to be, but I'm not always right.
[00:25:18] And I don't always choose the right things. But God's righteousness is a solid protection of something very, very my heart, my life, my being. When I rely on the righteousness that Christ has given me, I am protected because he will always know what's right.
[00:25:48] He discerns so much better than I do.
[00:25:52] Discernment. Not the difference between right and wrong, but right and almost right.
[00:26:02] That is such an important distinction to understand, especially in the world we live in.
[00:26:09] This breastplate would be worn when the soldiers knew that they were going into enemy territory.
[00:26:16] Ladies and gentlemen, let's be honest.
[00:26:19] When are we going into enemy territory?
[00:26:23] Every day.
[00:26:25] I might think I'm just going to go to the store real quick and go shopping. Am I going to enemy territory? Yes, I am. I might just be going over to the in laws for Thanksgiving dinner.
[00:26:39] Am I going to Indian territory?
[00:26:42] Yeah, I am.
[00:26:45] Hi Mary.
[00:26:48] When we go out into this world, we must be prepared.
[00:26:56] In verse 15, we are told we have the shoes of the Gospel of peace as shoes for your feet. The readiness given by by the gospel of peace. This shoes are an important aspect of everyday travel.
[00:27:17] Out of curiosity, how many of you ever walked barefoot outside in the middle of summer?
[00:27:21] How many of you walk on hot asphalt in the middle of summer?
[00:27:24] Yeah, you guys are crazy.
[00:27:28] As a kid, sure, fine. My feet are not that callous anymore. But for the soldiers, this was important for them because they would be climbing through terrain and. And through rocks and through sticks and through branches, and they wanted to have their feet be solid. They wanted their feet to be stable.
[00:27:46] When they did that, they would have extra grip and extra traction, and they'd be ready to stand firm for us.
[00:27:56] We also understand that when we have the readiness that is given by the gospel of peace, we get something else from this.
[00:28:08] This peace is with God.
[00:28:12] This peace is with ourselves when we are obeying God.
[00:28:19] And this peace helps us with those who are around us, because God is merciful.
[00:28:27] These shoes help us go for long distances in travel, just like the gospel needs to be ready to go and travel to where?
[00:28:38] All the world. Everywhere.
[00:28:40] The gospel is not designed to stay right here. The gospel is designed to go everywhere.
[00:28:47] And what happens.
[00:28:49] What happens if I go into enemy territory and I am not ready to give an account for what it is and why it is that I believe that Christ is king?
[00:29:03] What happens when I am not a good representation of the kingdom that I come from, when I can't say I know this king? Let me tell you about him.
[00:29:15] Having the shoes, putting them on like shoes, and having the readiness given by this gospel is what brings us peace.
[00:29:25] In verse 16, we move on to the shield. Now we're getting somewhere. All right.
[00:29:32] Shield of better. We're getting there. We're getting there. All right. And this is to be carried out some of the time.
[00:29:45] Thank you. All the time, in all circumstances, in every situation. We should have our shield of faith. This is the thing that's going to be out in front of us that everyone's going to see.
[00:29:59] I like how you just start throwing out words now.
[00:30:02] My faith is what I'm holding out in front of me for the world to see.
[00:30:09] Does my shield do me any good back here?
[00:30:13] No.
[00:30:15] This shield is designed to extinguish all the darts and all the arrows of the enemy, even the fiery ones.
[00:30:23] Why? Because my belief in God and my belief in what he has done for me is going to be my protection against the one that I'm following him for.
[00:30:36] Because if I'm on God's side, then Satan and all his dominions are my enemy too.
[00:30:44] And I'm gonna stand against Them, and I'm gonna go against them, and I'm gonna say, I follow the one true king, and it's not you.
[00:30:53] So here we go.
[00:30:55] And he's gonna shoot at me these fire arrows and these darts and my faith and. And my God is going to be my shield.
[00:31:06] Now, these shields, like this one over here, be a few layers thick.
[00:31:12] Could be covered in a leather of some sort, which actually makes them naturally fire resistant, though there apparently is some debate on it. You also could get it wet, which means that if fire hit it, it would quench the fire.
[00:31:26] It would be useless against the soldier.
[00:31:30] There's another cool thing about these, is that they would be colored and designed in such a way that you would know whose that is.
[00:31:38] And so if my shield matches that shield, is that my ally or my foe?
[00:31:43] And I can tell by just glancing over, and that's my buddy right there.
[00:31:49] So now what I'm going to do. Now I have my one shield. Is my one shield good enough for me?
[00:31:55] Sure. Is two shields better?
[00:31:58] Yeah, it is. Is three shields better? Yeah, it is. Is four shields better? Yes. Okay, you're getting more excited very, very slowly here. So we're. Is 27 shields better?
[00:32:08] Yes, it is.
[00:32:09] Now, the Romans had a tactic that was known as.
[00:32:13] I was going to call it Tortuga, and that's not right.
[00:32:15] Testudo.
[00:32:17] Thanks, James. Testudo. Tortoise.
[00:32:20] The idea being that this was a formation that they were really good at because the front men would have their shields in front of them, holding them, and everyone behind them would have the shields above them.
[00:32:33] What does this do?
[00:32:36] Now you're covered.
[00:32:38] So now when you move towards the enemy, are you protected?
[00:32:42] Who's helping protect you?
[00:32:45] Everyone else who's there?
[00:32:47] It's almost like, I don't know, a church, family, where. Yeah, my shield is good enough for me. But if the two of us go together, or the three of us or all of us get together and say, all right, we know where the enemy's at. We're going for it.
[00:33:04] And we have our shield of faith, and we walk out into the world like we're going to take it over.
[00:33:10] What's gonna happen?
[00:33:13] Because at the time when you saw the Romans doing that, coming at you, what do you think they felt?
[00:33:19] Think they were like, oh, it's just the Romans. It's fine.
[00:33:22] No, it'd be terrifying. What if Satan was as afraid of our church as they were of the Romans?
[00:33:31] What if he's like, I don't want them to come at me because in the moment they do, they'll actually do some damage.
[00:33:39] These shields help move as a group, protect everyone in the group.
[00:33:45] These shields are what I show the world of what it is I actually am doing.
[00:33:52] But anytime that I'm too weak to hold my shield, I am incredibly vulnerable.
[00:34:01] So when my faith gets weak and I don't do anything to upkeep it, and I'm trying to do it by myself, and I don't have friends and family who are trying to be alongside me and help me out as fellow soldiers, I'm at risk of falling.
[00:34:17] The shield is vital.
[00:34:22] Verse 17. We go to the helmet of salvation.
[00:34:26] Very good. This is a hope that we have due to the salvation that we have that has been provided by the God that we serve.
[00:34:36] Salvation, a very Christian word that we throw around a lot. It's a deliverance from sin and its eternal consequences.
[00:34:47] I have to specify because my biggest fear would be a small child thinking, oh, there's no consequences to sin. Oh, no.
[00:34:55] Oh, no, there are.
[00:34:59] But we have an assurance that. That the God we serve, the blood he shed, is more than powerful enough to cover my sins and allow me to be with him and the Father, but He'll still let me suffer down here as a consequence to my actions, as a lesson, as a tool that he provides for me.
[00:35:22] This helmet allows us to trust in the one that is saving us.
[00:35:29] This is what they would wear where they could see clearly.
[00:35:35] They also could hear clearly. They actually have cutouts on the side. Why would you want to be able to hear things clearly?
[00:35:45] No sneak attack.
[00:35:47] So that you're not getting snuck up on. Why else would you want to be able to hear?
[00:35:52] So you can hear orders.
[00:35:54] Who's our king?
[00:35:56] Christ is king. Is the King gonna call out orders to us?
[00:36:00] Is he gonna tell us what it is that we should be doing? Is he gonna tell us where we should be going? Yes. We have to be able to listen to those things. And we get to rely on the fact that the assurance of our salvation through Christ is going to remove the fears and the doubts of my mind and the discouragement that could render me useless if I gave into it with a helmet. My mind now be protected in the understanding of who I am to Christ. I am a child of the one true King.
[00:36:30] And that gives us a future hope and a current assurance as I go out into this battlefield.
[00:36:39] Lastly, we have the sword of the Spirit, God's spirit, the first and only offensive part of the armor.
[00:36:50] It's also the only part we are told exactly what it is. What is the sword of the Spirit?
[00:36:55] It's the word of God. Hebrews 4:12. For the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and of spirit, of joints and of marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart. Soldiers would use these. Not from a distance, but these were up close and personal, face to face with the enemy.
[00:37:16] They would go about and use them and they were effective with it because the fact that they trained and practiced with this tool, had they not? If I just walked up and I grabbed a sword and I go to sword fight somebody who actually has trained and practice, who's going to win?
[00:37:34] They're going to win.
[00:37:36] Bless you. We must train and practice, which means that we must continue to be in the Word of God that he has provided us with. Practice does not make perfect. Practice makes improvement.
[00:37:52] Perfection is a journey, not a destination.
[00:37:57] We must continue to move forward and to try harder and to aim further and to look at God and say, I want to rely on you more. I want to know you more. I want to understand you more.
[00:38:09] Soldiers were required to take care of their weapons. Their lives depended on it.
[00:38:14] They wouldn't have ever forgotten it somewhere.
[00:38:17] They wouldn't have just haphazardly thrown it onto a shelf somewhere.
[00:38:22] They wouldn't just pile a bunch of other stuff on it somewhere.
[00:38:26] They wouldn't leave it somewhere just getting covered in dust.
[00:38:31] Anyone feeling guilty yet?
[00:38:35] The Word of God is not something that we get to look at and go, it's not that important.
[00:38:43] The Word of God is one of the most important things we have.
[00:38:52] Only second to the salvation we receive from Christ.
[00:38:57] We need His Word.
[00:38:59] We need the that weapon.
[00:39:02] It is not just a physical Bible, but it is the words themselves. I can memorize them and use them as weapons.
[00:39:10] But do I do it when Satan comes to deceive me?
[00:39:17] Am I like Jesus is in the wilderness?
[00:39:22] Or am I closer to Adam and Eve in the garden?
[00:39:27] Do I have scripture to fight with or can I not tell the difference when someone tries to sway me?
[00:39:37] Finally, verse 18, the continuation.
[00:39:42] Praying at all times in the Spirit with all prayer and supplication, supplication to humbly and earnestly ask God. Do you realize, because it took me realized a while to figure this out. Do you realize that you actually need to pray to God to help you rely on God?
[00:40:03] We literally need him to help us serve and follow him better. We must rely on him with everything we are in every circumstance we are told to keep alert with all perseverance.
[00:40:16] But I can't persevere if I'm not staying filled. And the only way that I can stay filled is when I'm communing with God, when I'm spending time with him as the only way that we can continue on.
[00:40:30] And I realize and I have to understand this, and I hope you do too. We aren't alone, guys.
[00:40:38] We're not.
[00:40:39] We are never alone.
[00:40:42] Yes, we have God with us at all times. And brothers and sisters, we have each other.
[00:40:49] And because of that, we pray for one another too.
[00:40:55] So I beseech thee, see what I did there.
[00:41:02] Realize that Roman soldiers would help each other out.
[00:41:05] They'd help take care of armor, point out issues and problems, prepare with one another, train to fight together.
[00:41:14] Understand that the battles that we face in this world are just as fierce as the ones they battled so long ago.
[00:41:21] Just because we can't see it doesn't mean it's less vicious.
[00:41:27] In fact, if anything, I'd say it's quite the opposite.
[00:41:33] It is probably one of the most vicious battles we will never see.
[00:41:40] Do not go into the battle ill prepared.
[00:41:46] Do not fail to realize the blessing God has given us and the tools that we have to fight in this battle.
[00:41:54] I heard it put this, we have an enemy to fight against.
[00:42:00] We have a captain to fight for, and we have a banner to fight under.
[00:42:06] As we wake in the morning and we prepare for each and every day, we need to make sure that we are ready for the battlefield.
[00:42:16] We fight not for ourselves, but we fight for our King.
[00:42:24] And who is our King? Christ is king. Christ is king.
[00:42:28] Let's pray.
[00:42:31] Heavenly Father, you are an amazing, amazing God. And you have blessed us with, with so much.
[00:42:39] God. We thank you for the tools that you have provided us so the fact that we can go out into this world knowing your truths, preparing ourselves to be able to share the gospel out there, to know the salvation, to trust in your righteousness, to rely on you. You've given us so many tools and is so needed in this world today.
[00:43:01] And I pray God that we understand the importance as we go out into this battlefield, that we see it as such in a way of saying, I want this world to know Jesus and I want the enemy to realize they have no power because my God is a mighty God, my God is a powerful God.
[00:43:24] We will not just stand here and let us or the world around us fall to him, but we will fight for our King and God, as we praise you in worship, as we glorify your name, one who's worthy of it.
[00:43:41] Hear our cries, God, and know that we understand. We look at you and help us realize that you are our king.
[00:43:53] Amen.
