“Specialty School” #1 – Romans 12:1-8

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hkg5OHce2ag This video quotes Teddy Roosevelt saying, “Speak softly and carry a big stick.” Now, for these Navy guys, the carrier is the big stick and it is big! It’s amazing to me how these floating cities keep from sinking, much less float and house and support all those aircraft, weapons and men. But did you notice how many people it took to get just one fighter jet into the air? We didn’t even see the mechanics, the welders, the cooks, the commanders and the supply personnel.

Think about it. Somebody at the top has to give the commands but you have to realize that if somebody is not cleaning the deck and emptying the trash, the system breaks down or is at least not near as effective as it could be. When you think about aircraft carriers, you think about the pilots and the commanders but there are literally hundreds of people that have to do their job and do it well for that plane to ever get off the deck.

Now, in our fight against Satan, our battle against the rulers, authorities and powers of this dark world (Eph. 6:12) the church is the big stick. It is what God uses on the front lines as His Holy Spirit carrier, if you will, because the day of evil has come (Eph. 6:13). This carrier is filled with warriors who know how to use the weapons and armor they have been given so that they stay in the fight and are not killed or wounded by enemy fire.

We learned through nine weeks of intensive study in Combat Training how to use and put on the full armor of God to keep us from sin which is the worst thing that can happen to us as God’s warriors. Now, I want you to see a subtle shift in focus from where we were in Boot Camp and in Combat Training where we were focused on ourselves to see that we are now focusing on the team, our brothers and sisters in the church so that the church can carry out its mission which is to do whatever it takes to lead people to have a life-changing relationship with Jesus Christ, which is, as Matthew 28 says, “making disciples of all nations.”

That is the overall goal. Jesus gave us those orders as some of the last words he said when He was here in physical form. That is the Great Commission. That is the Great Order, the Great Command and our goal in life. Romans 6 says that we died with Christ so that we can live a new life and that life is now not focused on ourselves and what we want or what we think is best but is instead focused on God’s will and God’s plan and God’s desire which is that all people be saved and come to the knowledge of the truth. (1 Timothy 2:4)

Don’t worry though. You don’t have to take this part too seriously because if you don’t do your part then I’m sure somebody else will take up the slack and do it for you. We have lots of people on our Christ Fellowship carrier. Don’t worry if our church doesn’t do its job because I’m sure one of the other churches in the fleet of churches in Lake Bridgeport will minister to those around us in need. Right? Uh oh.

Do you see how serious this is? Do you see that Christ Fellowship is a small carrier in a huge ocean full of the poor, the addicted and the incarcerated? It is an ocean full of people that need Jesus and in a very real and literal sense, we may be the only Jesus they ever see. There is no plan B for leading people to Jesus. God chose us and we are in a battle and we are going to see just how important it is that every single one of us do our job and do it well.

I know your Bibles probably just fall open to the book of Ephesians after being there so long but today let’s look at the Book of Romans, chapter 12, verses 1-8. In this letter to the churches in Rome, Paul is like an experienced attorney laying out a case. He starts with the facts and the facts are not good. We are guilty.

Romans 3:23 says we are all sinners and we have all fallen short of God’s glory. Then in Romans 6:23 Paul says that what we deserve for that sin is eternal separation from God in Hell. And here you might think he is not being a very good lawyer. He just admitted we are guilty and deserve death but then he pulls out the Good News that the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord. If Jesus is truly our Lord then our sentencing has been appealed and overthrown because we are saved by grace and through faith.

Then Paul goes on to say in chapter 12 that if we are truly saved then here are some practical ways in which we will live. Verses 1-2 talk about our relationship to God and verses 3-8 talk about our relationships with others. Let’s read it right now. Romans 12:1-8.

Therefore, I urge you, brothers, in view of God's mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God-this is your true and proper worship. 2Do not conform to the pattern of this world but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God's will is-his good, pleasing and perfect will. 3For by the grace given me I say to every one of you: Do not think of yourself more highly than you ought, but rather think of yourself with sober judgment, in accordance with the faith God has distributed to each of you. 4For just as each of us has one body with many members, and these members do not all have the same function, 5so in Christ we, though many, form one body, and each member belongs to all the others. 6We have different gifts, according to the grace given to each of us. If your gift is prophesying, then prophesy in accordance with your faith; 7if it is serving, then serve; if it is teaching, then teach; 8if it is to encourage, then give encouragement; if it is giving, then give generously; if it is to lead, do it diligently; if it is to show mercy, do it cheerfully.

I want to illustrate part of this passage with another part of scripture. Bible scholars have long wondered how old Isaac was when his father Abraham took him up to the mountain top to offer him as a sacrifice. Through careful study of the story as related in the Old Testament, scholars have come to a conclusion based on the following facts: Isaac was old enough to understand the ritual of sacrifice, Isaac was old enough to carry wood for the fire to the top of the mountain, Isaac was old enough to notice that they were not bringing an animal for the sacrifice. Therefore, Isaac's age, at this time, was greater than 8 years old. Scholars also conclude that he was younger than 12 years old as supported by this fact: If Isaac had been older than twelve, he would have been a teenager and it would not have really been a sacrifice.

If you don’t get that joke then you’ve probably never raised teenagers. But to be serious, we learned about sacrifice going through Ephesians 6 because putting on all that armor is a sacrifice. It takes mental, spiritual and even physical effort sometimes to put on the belt of truth, the breastplate of righteousness, the shoes of peace, the shield of faith and it is a sacrifice to put it all on and then just stand when you really want to run away.

But we are now trained warriors and we don’t run. When Satan attacks us by tempting us to sin or by bringing something bad into our lives, we are able to stand without fear because our armor is secure and our great General loves us and is in control. But we all have a job to do. We all know the basics and we all have the same armor but from here we learn that for this carrier to float and be effective as a base for sending out warriors and for bringing in and ministering to disciples then we all have different jobs and every job is important.

Look at verse 3 again please. Here Paul is shifting his focus from our relationship to God to our relationship to other people. He says just because you are a warrior and you are making the sacrifice of daily worship by putting on your armor, don’t think too highly of yourself. Everything you have, every piece of armor, every weapon, all the training, even the desire to use it is a gift given by God’s grace and through faith. Does that sound familiar? It should. That’s how we are saved.  Ephesians 2:8-9 says that’s how we enlisted into this battle was by grace and through faith and that’s how we have and use our various gifts, talents and abilities.

Look at verses 4-5. 4For just as each of us has one body with many members, and these members do not all have the same function, 5so in Christ we, though many, form one body, and each member belongs to all the others. Can you imagine if some part of your body just decided to take the day off? Even if it was a small part it would be a problem. Imagine crawling out of bed some morning and your little toe just decided he needed a break and so he decided not to show up. You would probably fall over before you ever stood all the way up because, while you don’t think much about your little toe, it helps you quite a bit in your balance. If nothing else, you would walk with a limp, I imagine.

Paul says that as members of one body, we belong to each other. We belong to each other. That is scripture, y’all. Church membership is not to be taken lightly. You now have responsibilities that you didn’t before. In the Marines, they call themselves the Marine Corps. Corps is Latin for body. They understand they are a body and we should understand that we are a body. When the little toe hurts, we all hurt and when the little toe takes the day off, we all limp.

Now, here’s a quick word of wisdom, sort of an aside. When you need an illustration for body parts, don’t just Google “body parts” or “body part jokes or pictures” or anything like that. Just take my word for it. Nothing good is going to come out of it and besides, you know what a body looks like so I’m not going to give an illustration here. Let’s just move right along. Shall we? (BTW, nothing explicit, just crude.)

In verses 6-8, Paul starts listing some of the gifts that God gives to members of the church. As a global church, we all have a common mission and that is to make disciples. Our local church, Christ Fellowship, has been called to minister specifically to the poor, the addicted and the incarcerated but still with the mission to lead them to Jesus. But then as individuals, we are all given different gifts. Think of them as different jobs just like every person on that aircraft carrier had different jobs and we do these jobs for the greater purpose of the common goal.

When my dad became the pastor of a church in Ft. Worth years ago, he had a deacon come up to him and tell him that this deacon’s gift had always been to keep the pastor in line. He was serious about it too. That’s what he thought his gift was. Now, I need to know whose job it is to keep me in line because we need to talk. What’s strange is that I don’t read “keeping the pastor in line” in this list of gifts that Paul gives here. He must have missed that one.

Actually, and seriously, there are lots of gifts, talents and abilities that are not in this list and there are other lists as well and none of them are complete or comprehensive lists so don’t worry if you don’t read yours in there. Paul makes other lists of gifts in 1 Corinthians 12 and Ephesians 4 and Peter makes a small list in 1 Peter 4. In all these lists, while they are not comprehensive, they do show a level of sacrifice that we are all to make as we use our unique and individual gifts for the glory of God and the furthering of His Kingdom as we serve the local church.

All of these passages utterly destroy the notion that a Christian can be committed to Christ but inactive in His service, that he can love the Lord but not obey the Lord or that he can be surrendered to the Lord but not minister for the Lord. True worship cannot be divorced from service. (MacArthur, Romans, page 154) Don’t tell me you love Jesus if you don’t love and serve His bride, the church.

Also, unlike that deacon’s so-called gift, every gift is for the edification; the building up of the church body. If you think you have the gift of keeping the pastor in line or the gift of gossip or the gift of complaining, then you just keep that “gift” at home. In fact, you need to put a pillow over that gift and smother the life out of it because it is not from God. Gifts from God will always be used to build up the church and glorify God.

Now, I know some of you are out there thinking you don’t have a gift or you, at least, don’t know what it is. Well we will talk more about them in the coming weeks but for now just think about what you like to do, what you are good at, what interests you or even what you think is fun. Maybe you aren’t the very best at it but you can do it.

You know what? Do you know what is better for a church than someone who has a great singing voice or a great ability to speak with the great orators? I would rather have one person who knew how to pray than ten beautiful singers. I would rather have one son of encouragement than ten sons of thunder. Our church needs one poor person with the gift of giving who will just be obedient rather than a hundred wealthy folks who give and want their names recorded somewhere.

We need people who will say, “I don’t really know what my gift is, but I love to worship and I’m not afraid to sing or say amen.” How many of you would enjoy having someone just come sit next to you and cry with you when you are hurting? That’s a gift!

Paul goes on to say in verses 6-8, “If your gift is prophesying, then prophesy in accordance with your faith; 7if it is serving, then serve; if it is teaching, then teach; 8if it is to encourage, then give encouragement; if it is giving, then give generously; if it is to lead, do it diligently; if it is to show mercy, do it cheerfully.”

Do you know what he is saying? He is not saying, “Here are the gifts. Choose one.” He is saying that whatever your gift, use it and use it to God’s glory and for the building up of the church. Use it generously, diligently and cheerfully.

Just this week I have seen people using their gifts, talents and abilities to support this church. I have seen electric work done, landscaping, computer work, even counting. Did you know that your ability to count could be used to edify the church? We don’t even care if you use your fingers and toes. Some things need to be counted. Some things need to be cleaned. Some things need to be built, painted, loved on, cried with, encouraged or given a ride.

Can you do that? Now here is the really cool part about doing this. When you offer your bodies as living sacrifices and put on the full armor every day, keeping yourself pure and righteous before God and you use your gifts, talents and abilities for His glory and for the edification of the church, then that’s what Jesus called storing up treasure in Heaven.

Dave Ramsey is a Christian financial planner and guru about saving money and getting out of debt. He has a saying about saving money for retirement. He says, “If you will live now like no one else, later you can live like no one else.” What he is saying is if you will sacrifice now, you will have exponentially more later. (I’ll explain “exponentially” to Speedy later.:))

That’s like how our Heavenly blessings work. Sacrifice yourself now in this life that lasts such a short time and then for eternity you will have blessings in Heaven. Just be obedient to what God has already told you. Just love, forgive, show mercy, give God glory in the difficult times and you watch God use that sacrifice, for His glory, for the edification of the church and in the end, you get rewards in Heaven. That’s a pretty good deal!

But whatever sacrifice you make, it is only credited to you as righteousness because of the sacrifice Jesus made on the cross. Only by His sacrifice can we be saved or go to Heaven or have a full and abundant life here and now. Only through that sacrifice can we have lasting peace and even joy in the hard times and all you have to do is believe in Him.

Now, that belief WILL manifest itself in your life as a changed life if Jesus truly is Lord. Your life will be changed. Your sins will be forgiven and all you have to do is ask. What possible reason could you have not to do that today?

“Combat Training” 9 - Eph. 6:10-18

A 4-year-old boy was asked to return thanks before Christmas dinner. The family members bowed their heads in expectation. He began his prayer, thanking God for all his friends, naming them one by one. Then he thanked God for Mommy, Daddy, brother, sister, Grandma, Grandpa, and all his aunts and uncles. Then he began to thank God for the food. He gave thanks for the turkey, the dressing, the fruit salad, the cranberry sauce, the pies, the cakes, even the Cool Whip.  Then he paused, and everyone waited--and waited. After a long silence, the young fellow looked up at his mother and asked, "If I thank God for the broccoli, won't he know that I'm lying?"

That’s a kid after my own heart right there. How many of you have some questions about prayer? I sure do. How many of you still struggle with knowing exactly how to pray; how to find just the right words in just the right way to pray in a way that you know God will answer you in the way you want Him to? I struggle with that too. How many of you, when faced with temptation, know you should pray but you just don’t? I think we all do that sometimes. I believe our passage in Ephesians addresses that today and I believe it will help all of us to understand what Paul is talking about regarding prayer.

How many of you remember what this is? You have seen it before at least a couple of times. We talked about it in Boot Camp. It is the P.R.A.Y.E.R. Gun. Does anybody remember what the letters stand for? It is the Patriot’s Right And Your Every Responsibility Gun. As a soldier at war with Satan, this is your most powerful weapon. You honestly don’t stand a chance if you don’t use this weapon.

Today we are going to look at the big gun in our arsenal in defending ourselves in the spiritual war we are in.  In the passage that we are going to read in just a second in Ephesians 6, Paul warns us to be ready when the day of evil comes.  He doesn’t say if the day of evil comes.  He said it is coming and for most of us we have to fight the devil and his forces every day.  If we have to fight this battle every day we wake up then shouldn’t we be prepared?  Shouldn’t we make full use of every piece of armor and every weapon we have?

We have seen in Ephesians 6 that the armor available to us includes the belt of truth and that everything else hangs on that belt.  If the Word of God is not truth, if what Jesus said and Paul and the others wrote is not truth then every other weapon and piece of armor falls off and is useless.  But since the Bible has proven itself true over and over again, we know we can depend on it and it will not fail us.

We also have the breastplate of righteousness to protect our heart.  It includes the imputed righteousness of Jesus Himself that He gives to us when we believe on Him and accept Him into our lives to be Lord and Savior.  It also includes the imparted righteousness that we live out, with His help, by keeping ourselves pure and holy.

Our feet are fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace and that means that when we are obedient to God that we have horizontal peace with others, vertical peace with God and even internal peace but we have to choose the benefits of obedience or we suffer the consequences of disobedience.

Then we pick up the shield of faith and when we don’t understand why we are going through something, we don’t know why somebody else would treat us this way or we can’t imagine being able to get through this difficult circumstance but because of our faith in God we are able to survive and even thrive.  Because God, like His Word, has been proven faithful over and over again in our lives and in the life of our church, we know that He is in control of this situation and when we resist the devil then God is there to reward us.

We have the helmet of salvation strapped on tight knowing that our salvation from this world has not yet been realized but will soon be here when Jesus comes back riding His white horse with angels singing and trumpets blowing; and He will take us to our ultimate reward in Heaven.  Come, Lord come!

We also have the sword of the Spirit which means we have portions of scripture memorized and handy ready to pull out of the scabbard and fend off the attacks of Satan by telling him, not what we think, but what the Bible says just like Jesus Himself did in the desert.

All of that makes for some pretty formidable armor and weaponry.  That makes you a force to be reckoned with if you choose to wear it; if you choose to put it on every day and every hour because the day of evil is here and Satan is just waiting for you to forget to put on one piece of the armor and then the worst thing in the world happens.  Sin happens and we lose the battle.  We haven’t lost the war but our relationship with the Lord is broken, our witness is shot and our peace and joy lie bloody and dying on the battlefield and we are left to face the consequences of our choices.

I Corinthians 10:13 should be part of our sword, part of the verses we have memorized or handy.  It says, “No temptation has overtaken you but such as is common to man; and God is faithful, who will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able, but with the temptation will provide the way of escape also, so that you will be able to endure it.”

So, let’s (finally) look at our passage for this morning and let’s look again at all the ways we have to escape with a concentration on the last part, the big gun.  You may already be there.  Ephesians 6:10-18.

10Finally, be strong in the LORD and in his mighty power. 11Put on the full armor of God, so that you can take your stand against the devil's schemes. 12For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms. 13Therefore put on the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand. 14Stand firm then, with the belt of truth buckled around your waist, with the breastplate of righteousness in place, 15and with your feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace. 16In addition to all this, take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. 17Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God. 18And pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests. With this in mind, be alert and always keep on praying for all the LORD's people.

Paul, being the good preacher that he was, knew that all good sermons have 3 points so he laid it out with three things for us to look at as we study what he says about prayer.  We are to pray:

·         In the Spirit

·         On all occasions

·         Always

Now I know some of you are tempted to elbow your spouse and say, “Oh no, he’s talking about prayer again.  I’ve heard this.  I could have stayed in bed and now I have to sleep here.”  And that’s fine but while Sam Colt’s revolver was called the “Great Equalizer”, it couldn’t hold a candle to the big gun of prayer, but you have to know how to handle it.  Some of what will be said you may already know.  Some of it you may need a refresher and some of it you may already be doing and didn’t realize it.

But it is vital that we follow Paul’s guidance here and begin with praying in the Spirit.  I have probably a dozen different commentaries that talk about the armor of God in Ephesians and I’m disappointed with every one of them.  About the most I got from any of them about this was that we are to pray with the power of the Spirit.  That’s true and I hope that helps you come Monday morning when the day of evil comes and Satan starts hammering on you.  I hope those pretty words benefit you but for me I want to know more.

This is the most difficult of the 3 points to understand and the one on which I will spend the most time.  It is difficult because some people think Paul is talking about our own spirit or they think that to pray in the Spirit means you have to pray in tongues or that you have to work yourself into a frenzy for God to hear you but since I don’t see anywhere that Jesus did any of that I don’t think that’s true.

On the other end of the spectrum I see people who go long periods of time, sometimes their whole lives, without ever tapping into the power that they have available through the Spirit of God.  They try to live their lives on their own power, go to work, keep a marriage alive, raise kids, worship, even pray without ever connecting with and utilizing the power of the Holy Spirit.  The Spirit should be a normal part of our lives not an extreme part.

The question before us now is, “How do we do that?”  Well, we have the Sword of the Spirit mentioned earlier.  What is that?  The Word of God.  It is called the Sword of the Spirit because as II Timothy 3:16 says, “All Scripture is God-breathed…”  It is the inspired word and inspired by the Holy Spirit of God and just like every passage of the Bible was written by a person who was inspired to write it, so can our prayers be inspired.  Do you believe that our prayers can be inspired by God?

How did the Spirit speak to the authors of the Bible?  With loud words and thunder and smoke and lightning using blood on the walls and clouds to form the words in the sky?  No.  He spoke like He spoke to Elijah; with a still, small voice; a voice so quiet that you have to be very close to Him to hear.  That is how the Spirit speaks to us today.  What we need to do to pray in the Spirit is to go to God and say, “God, your word says to pray for my friends and so I am.  It says to pray for my enemies and so I do that now.  It says to pray for my leaders and to pray without ceasing and to pray fervently and so I do all of that.  But right now, God, what do you want me to pray for?”

Have you ever done that?  Have you ever prayed about what to pray?  Do you think that is a prayer God wants to answer?  When you tell God you want what He wants and you want to pray for what He wants, do you think God will answer that?  When there is no barrier of sin between you and God and you are so close to Him that you can hear His still, small voice and you ask what prayer would please Him, He will answer you.

Especially in the context that Paul is telling us to pray so that we resist temptation, God wants to help you.  He wants to answer that prayer.  “God, I can’t do this.  I’m not strong enough.  I’m not tough enough.  I have to admit that it looks like fun but not my will but Yours.  Tell me what to do and how to do it and then help me do it!  Please God.  Amen.”

That’s praying in the Spirit.  That’s praying like Jesus prayed.  And that is a prayer God is anxious to answer.  Praying in the Spirit does not mean having just the right words.  In fact, it means just the opposite.  It’s not using your own words but the words God gives you, either from scripture or through prayer.  When the day comes that you think you really have this whole “praying in the Spirit” thing down and you know just the right words to say…then you don’t.

Romans 8:26 tells us, “In the same way, the Spirit helps us in our weakness. We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit Himself intercedes for us with groans that words cannot express.”  The opposite of praying in the spirit is telling God what you want Him to do and how you have all this figured out and all He has to do is just answer your prayer and everything will be just fine.

When you really pray in the Spirit, you are falling on God’s grace and mercy and saying, just like Jesus did in the garden, “Not my will but yours, Lord!  Tell me how to pray.  Show me what to do and where to go and what to say and I will do it in your power, God.”  That’s praying in the Spirit.

The next two points are similar but a little bit different in that we are to pray on all occasions and to pray always. I was talking to my Mom a while back about prayer and she told me she sometimes gets embarrassed because she finds herself at the store praying that God would help her find the best deal on something.  If you know my Mom you would believe that – not just that she prays on all occasions but also that she wants a good deal.

She says she prays and then feels like she needs to apologize to God for wasting His time praying about such trivial matters but I tried to assure her that Paul said we are to pray on every occasion.  Then she said she finds herself sometimes praying as she plays Solitaire that God would help her.  I said that’s probably pushing it too far. 😊

But that comes from a woman who is so used to praying about everything that it is just natural and normal to her no matter what she is doing to include the Lord.  That ought to be the way we all are that because God has proven Himself to us over and over again that we know the value of prayer.  We know from where our salvation comes.  We know the truth. We have the peace.  Faith is our shield and while we are not perfect and we are still learning, we know how to wield the sword and wear the armor.  We continue to make that choice.

Mama would also tell you to make the choice to keep on praying as Paul says.  Keep on praying on all occasions.  Keep on praying in the Spirit.  Don’t give up.  She has been known to keep on praying.  I won’t mention names for fear of embarrassing somebody (me) but she has been known to pray for long periods of time for some pretty stiff-necked people.

If you look at what is probably the very next page in your Bible Paul tells the church at Philippi that he thanks God for them every time he thinks of them.  He knew how to pray in the Spirit, on all occasions and how to keep on praying.  James 5:16 says those prayers are powerful and effective.  Isn’t that what you need in a big gun, one that is powerful and effective especially since we live in the days of evil?  Make the choice to put on all the armor every day and when the day of evil comes, then you can stand. 

I pray right now that you are a true believer in Jesus Christ as the Way, the Truth and the Life and that no man comes to the Father except through Him (John 14:6).  There is no other way to Heaven, no other way to peace and joy in this life other than making Jesus Lord of your life.  It won’t be easy.  First you have to repent of your sins – turn away from it – and then ask forgiveness of that sin and then live like it. Then you will be able to put on the full armor of God that He wants you to have so that you can stand – in His power – against the schemes of the devil.  Do that today.

“Combat Training” #8 – Eph. 6:10-18

General Smith was in charge of the Navy, and he was visiting his colleague General Jones, who was in charge of the Army. Smith arrives at the military camp and is greeted by Jones. They both walk around the place, and Smith: "So how are your men?" "Very well trained, General.” "I hope so. You see, my men over at the Navy are so well trained, you could see they're the bravest men all over the country." "Well, my men are very brave, too." "I'd like to see that." So Jones calls private Johnson and says: "Private Johnson! I want you to stop that tank coming here with your body!" "Are you crazy? It'd kill me, you idiot! I'm out of here!" As private Johnson ran away, Jones turned to a bewildered Smith and said: "You see? You have to be pretty brave to talk like that to a general."

How many of you have been in the military?  You have my sincere thanks and admiration for your service.  As a soldier, what is your basic function?  Your most basic function as a soldier is to fight the enemy, correct?  And as a soldier, what is the worst thing that can happen to you?  Injury or death; anything that takes you out of the battle is the worst thing to happen to you.  You are of no use to the team if you can’t fight.

Now, as a Jesus-loving, God-worshiping, Spirit-filled Christian, what is the worst thing that can happen to you?  I think it is important for us to see this morning that the worst thing that could happen to us as Christians is not death. Paul says in 2 Corinthians 5:8 that he would prefer to be away from the body and at home with the Lord.   The worst thing to happen to us is not an injury or physical ailment.  Again, Paul says in Philippians 4:11 that he is content in whatever state he is in. 

No, for a Christian, the worst thing that can happen to us is to be taken out of the battle.  The Bible tells us in several places that we are in a battle.  The passage we have been going through in Ephesians tells us that our battle is not against flesh and blood but that we are definitely in a battle and what is the only way we can be taken out of the battle?  Sin.

For a Christian, sin is the absolute worst thing that can happen to you.  Not death, sickness, disease, poverty, divorce, abuse, or persecution.  We don’t usually see it that way, do we?  Maybe when we see it in the life of somebody else but when we have sin in our life, it’s not that big of a deal.  We know that God will forgive us and besides it’s not like we did something really bad.  We are still better than the other guy, right?  God understands we aren’t perfect so what is a little sin among friends?

If sin is not that big of a deal then tell it to Adam and Eve.  All they did was eat an apple, right?  No, they disobeyed God and paid for it the rest of their lives.  Tell it to Uzzah, who in I Chronicles 13 touched the Ark of the Covenant and paid for it with his life because God had told them not to touch it.  Likewise, Annanias and Sapphira misled the apostles in Acts 5 and failed to take another breath because of it.  This should lead one to believe that God takes this whole sin thing pretty seriously.  It is that big of a deal.  It is, in fact, the worst thing that can happen to a Christian.

As we have talked about before, when there is sin in your life it effectively takes you out of the fight because sin puts a barrier between you and God, ruining your relationship, nullifying your witness and killing your joy and peace.  And for Satan, that’s a mark in the win column.  He gets a big kick out of that at your expense.  Satan laughs at you with great contempt every time you fall for his deception.

Now, what if I told you I had the answer?  What if I told you I know how you can keep Satan from laughing at you; how you can stay in the fight, keeping your relationship intact, your joy complete, your witness strong all the while furthering the Kingdom of God?  The good news is that it actually isn’t something I came up with.  It has been around for a few years and has proven itself to be a reliable form of defense against the schemes of the devil.  As good soldiers would turn to their military handbook, I ask you to turn to Ephesians 6:10-18 where we will continue our study of the armor of God.  Our focus will be on the second part of verse 17 but to keep it all in context and to remind us of the whole armor I want to read verses 10-18.

Finally, be strong in the LORD and in his mighty power. 11Put on the full armor of God, so that you can take your stand against the devil's schemes. 12For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms. 13Therefore put on the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand. 14Stand firm then, with the belt of truth buckled around your waist, with the breastplate of righteousness in place, 15and with your feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace. 16In addition to all this, take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. 17Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God. 18And pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests. With this in mind, be alert and always keep on praying for all the LORD's people.

If we are to protect ourselves from the very worst thing in the world happening to us then we need to do exactly what Paul tells us here.  We have already put on the belt of truth, the breastplate of righteousness, the shoes of peace, shield of faith and last week we put on the helmet of salvation.  We have seen that with all of this armor we are a force to be reckoned with.  We have the ability to fight off most of the lies of Satan, the deception of the evil one who is prowling around like a roaring lion waiting to kill you dead but we need to add one more piece of armor and this one is vital.

No Roman soldier would think about going into battle without his sword.  This was not the big broadsword mentioned in other places that took two hands to swing.  The word used for sword here in the original Greek is talking about a razor sharp, two-edged sword that was smaller (from 12-24 inches) and would be carried at all times in a scabbard, ready to go.  It was the same kind of sword Peter used to cut off the ear of the guard when they came to get Jesus in the garden.  It was small but very deadly and could be used with precision.

I continue to be amazed at how well this analogy works and how well Paul writes about how to defend ourselves from Satan.  I can just see him sitting there writing to the church in Ephesus thinking, “Now how can I illustrate what I want to say?” and then he looks at the Roman guard he was chained to and goes, “That’ll work.”  Every piece of armor the Roman soldier had was just the right analogy for what we should do to protect ourselves from sin, which is basically what Paul is helping us with here.  And this sword analogy is just perfect as well.

It says that the sword of the Spirit is the word of God and we all know what the word of God is, the Bible.  But the word used for “word of God” is not “logos” which means the whole Bible.  The word used is “rhema” which means specific parts of the Bible.  Now I tell you that mainly to impress you with my vast knowledge of the Greek language.  But since most of you know I can’t even speaks English gooder enough there must be another reason to bring it up.  It just goes to show how good the analogy is that instead of saying that when Satan attacks us we are to swing the whole canon of scripture around and hope we hit something when in reality, when Satan attacks us we are to bring up specific scriptures that apply to the specific attack we are enduring.

Don’t swing the big sword when the job calls for the dagger.  In practical terms: we need to have scripture handy or memorized that will pertain specifically to our struggle.  Bill’s joke.  I heard the story recently of the general store owner who was known to always quote scripture every time he rang up a sale.  A little boy came in one day and bought a piece of hard candy.  As the store owner rang up the sale he said, “Honor thy father and mother…”  Another time a man came in and bought a calculator from him so the store owner rang up the sale and said, “Be fruitful and multiply.”  A woman bought a lantern and as he took her money he quoted, “He came as a light unto the world.”  Then one day a fancy truck pulled up outside pulling a horse trailer.  A well-dressed man got out and came in the general store and told the owner he wanted a really nice horse blanket for his horse.  The owner went to the back and got the only horse blanket he had and took it to the counter.  He told the man, “That will be $10.”  The wealthy horseman said, “$10?  I have a thoroughbred racehorse out there.  I want the best quality, most expensive horse blanket you have!”  So, the store owner takes the blanket to the back with him, stands there for a second and then takes the blanket back to the customer.  He said, “Ok, sir, this is the best blanket I have.  That will be $500.”  The wealthy man said, “Good.  That’s better.”  He bought the blanket and walked out as the store owner said, “I saw a stranger and I took him in.”  That’s Bill Lightsey’s joke.

You see, there is an appropriate scripture for whatever situation you are in and the absolute perfect example of this is in Matthew chapter 4 when Satan tempts Jesus.  Jesus had been fasting by Himself in the desert for 40 days.  It is no accident that Satan picks this time to tempt Jesus.  Satan often tempts us when we are physically tired and hungry.  At the end of a long week, Satan often puts it in our heads that we deserve something and when we are tired reality starts to get cloudy and we start to believe that something is ok when other times we might know it is not.

So, Satan must have seen his opportunity and jumped on it.  3 times Satan tries to get Jesus to sin and 3 times Jesus quotes a specific “rhema” or part of scripture.  Note that Jesus does not tell Satan that he doesn’t think that would be right or even that the Bible teaches not to do that but he says, 3 times, “It is written…”  and then quotes scripture.  He draws his sword, which was hanging from his belt of truth and fends off Satan’s attack.

Jesus had on the entire armor of God.  He had His belt of truth.  He knew what truth was and he based everything else on that.  He had on his breastplate of righteousness as He was righteous.  His feet were shod with peace between Himself and God and Himself and men.  His shield of faith brought Him joy and peace and a strong witness.  His helmet of salvation was on tight as He knew when and from where His salvation would come.  And when Satan attacked Him with some flaming arrows of temptation they might as well have been spitballs.

And you have the ability to put on the very same armor and wield the very same sword of the Spirit.  But you have to do it.  I can’t do it for you.  Your mama can’t do it for you.  Just coming to church isn’t going to be enough.  Do you really want to avoid being taken out of the fight?  Do you really want to not hear Satan laughing at you?  Do you want to do your part in furthering the Kingdom of God? 

A good soldier would practice for hours and hours with his sword so that when the time came to use it, it flowed naturally out of the scabbard and felt like an extension of his own arm.  If you are not spending time in God’s word every day I don’t want to hear about how Satan keeps getting the best of you.  Of course he is!  Dig into God’s word and find your passage or passages.  You know what I’m talking about.  Whatever your little pet sin or sins are, find in the Bible where it talks about that.  Memorize a “rhema” or small part and when Satan comes at you next time and says, “Hey, you really need to go into work this Sunday to help pay some bills.”  You can tell him that Deuteronomy 5:12 says to keep the Sabbath day holy.

When he tells you to look at something you shouldn’t on TV or online you come back at him with Psalm 101:3 that says, “I will put no vile thing before my eyes.”  He may come back at you with his favorite line about nobody ever finding out and you just tell him that Proverbs 5:21 says that a man’s ways are in full view of the Lord and He examines all his paths. If you are tempted to gossip find a passage that will help you with that and jab it in Satan’s eye when he tells you it’s really just asking for prayer for someone.

If you are tempted to steal or cheat or do mean things to puppies with a fork, whatever it is, have a scripture ready when Satan comes calling.  I’m going to give you some homework.  There are 31 Proverbs.  One for each day of the month.  Perfect for reading as part of your devotional.  Go through Proverbs with an eye for finding a nugget or two every day that will help you in your struggle against the schemes of Satan.  Start today reading Proverbs 8 since today is the 8th and read it every day.  It’s something you can do the rest of your life, in fact.  Every day just read that day’s Proverb and see if the Spirit helps you find just the right verse for what you are going through.

I will tell you again that Satan hates you and wants only the worst for you.  It is time for us as Christians to realize that the very worst thing that Satan can do to us is lead us into sin.  And sin is that big of a deal.  If sin wasn’t that big of a deal do you think God would have allowed His only Son to die to pay the price for our sin?  It is that big of a deal and so Jesus did His part.  It is time for us to do our part.  Ask Him into your heart to be Lord and Savior and then live like He is.

Scripture says that today is the day of salvation.  Todd says it’s also the day of rededication or the day to join the church. Whatever your prayer need, I would love to pray with you right now as the music plays.

“Combat Training” 7 – Eph. 6:10-18

I have been looking forward to this day for a long time. I love Sundays and Easter Sunday is the best of all. Are you looking forward to anything coming up in your life any time soon? Maybe you are going on vacation or you expect to get a raise or a different job. Maybe the statute of limitations is about to run out on some of the stuff you did.  😊 Tell me what you are looking forward to.

Looking forward to something makes you feel good, doesn’t it? It makes you realize that there is something better, or at least different ahead and it has always been that way. Did you know that even God has looked forward to something? Do you know what it was? He looked forward to creating you. In Genesis chapter one, it says that God created the heavens and the earth. He created time and space and the water and the air and the animals but in verse 26 it says that God said, “Let us make man in our own image.” Then He made man and said this creation was very good. The earth and the critters were “good” but man was “very good”.

It didn’t take long, though, and mankind started wanting something new and different. It’s part of how we are made. We are meant for more and better than this earth can give but Satan came along and deceived Adam and Eve into thinking they could have everything they wanted here in this life and what happened? Sin happened and with it came pain, heartache, disease, reality TV and all the other problems we have in this life. So, it wasn’t long after sin came into the world that mankind started looking forward to something better again. In Isaiah chapter 9, Isaiah prophesies about Jesus, the Messiah, being born. He says in verse six, “For to us a child is born, to us a son is given, and the government will be on his shoulders. And he will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.” Do you know when that was written? It was written about 700 years before it happened. Can you imagine waiting 700 years for what you were looking forward to? You know. Like when the lady at Dos Chiles doesn’t bring the basket of chips for two whole minutes after you get there. It’s excruciating.

But now, we celebrate Christmas every year to honor the baby Jesus being born. Do you know who else was looking forward to baby Jesus being born? Simeon was waiting and when he saw baby Jesus in the temple that day, he said, “Lord, you can take me home now for my eyes have seen your salvation.” (Luke 2:30) Just like when Isaiah said “For unto us a child is born” like it had already happened and yet Jesus wouldn’t be born for 700 years, Simeon claimed he had seen God’s salvation but he was just looking at a little baby who hadn’t really done anything at this point. But both believed on faith.

Both had on their shields of faith as we talked about last week and because they had their shields of faith they could now put on their helmets of salvation. Now, for the last few months we have been talking a lot about preparing for battle. Our enemy is Satan and the worst thing he can do to us is cause us to sin. Sin is the worst thing that can happen to us, right? So, we have gone through spiritual Boot Camp and learned the basics and now we are going through Combat Training in Ephesians 6:10-18 where we are talking about the armor and weapons that we have at our disposal to fight this battle. We have come to the helmet of salvation and I just love this piece of armor. It’s not hard to put on. It’s not complicated. In fact, I think it’s quite enjoyable, and yet so many of us are deceived into not putting it on and we suffer for it and because we suffer, those around us suffer as well. Let’s look at Ephesians 6:10-18.

Finally, be strong in the LORD and in his mighty power. 11Put on the full armor of God, so that you can take your stand against the devil's schemes. 12For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms. 13Therefore put on the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand. 14Stand firm then, with the belt of truth buckled around your waist, with the breastplate of righteousness in place, 15and with your feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace. 16In addition to all this, take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. 17Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God. 18And pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests. With this in mind, be alert and always keep on praying for all the LORD's people.

What does it mean to put on the helmet of salvation? Some people think this is referring to the day we are saved; the day that we accept Jesus into our lives to be Lord and Savior; but that’s not really what Paul is talking about. For us today in our battle against Satan, what does it mean to put on the helmet of salvation?  I think we can get a little better view of what Paul was talking about by reading another of his references to the helmet of salvation in I Thessalonians 5:8 where he says, “But since we belong to the day, let us be sober, putting on faith and love as a breastplate, and the hope of salvation as a helmet.”  You see here he says it is the hope of salvation but he is not talking about hoping that we are saved.  It is what is alluded to in Romans 13:11, when he says, "now is our salvation nearer than when we first believed." It is, says 1 Peter 1:5, "a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time.” Note that this salvation is a hope. Paul says in Romans 8:24-25, "if we see what we hope for, then it is not really hope. For who of us hopes for something we see?" In other words, hope looks to something we do not see or have rather than for something we already see and have. This is not the same kind of hope as hoping that it doesn’t rain or hoping something good will come on TV.  This is a confident, I know that I know-hope.

So, the helmet of salvation is something yet future, something as yet not possessed or not fully entered into. It is referring to a salvation that is to be ours when Christ comes again. Hebrews 9:28, "Christ…shall appear a second time for salvation without reference to sin, to those who eagerly await Him." In short, we can say that the salvation that we hope to receive at Christ’s second coming is, as it is stated in Titus 1:2, "the hope of eternal life, which God, Who cannot lie, promised long ages ago."

Here on this Easter Sunday, we love to read those passages that talk about Jesus rising from the dead. But what happened right after Jesus died? Every single disciple or loved one mentioned was in shock and in agony. They were in deep despair and depression because of the situation they felt they were in. They had heard Jesus predict this was all going to happen and even heard Him say that in three days He would rise again but they saw Him die and now all their hopes and dreams were dead with Him. Except that they weren’t! See, that’s right where Satan wants you to be. He first wants you to believe that this life is all there is. When you learn that Heaven is waiting in the next life, Satan wants to deceive you into thinking that you can have everything you want in this life. When that turns out to not be true, he wants you to be depressed and angry about your situation and your circumstances and that is easy to do. If this life were all we had to look forward to, who wouldn’t be depressed?

But we have hope. We have something else to look forward to and that is what sets us apart from non-believers. We have basically the same problems that everybody else does but because I know this life is a wisp of smoke compared to eternity, I can consider it all pure joy when I face trials of many kinds, as James says. (James 1:2) Because I know that Jesus is coming again and He has my rewards with Him (Rev. 22:12) I have something to look forward to as my body gets older, fatter and uglier. It’s okay that I don’t have everything I want. What does that stuff have to do with eternity?  But Satan wants you to focus on yourself and your situation and your circumstances because when you turn your focus inward, it’s easy to start feeling like everything is wrong but that is why we have to put on our helmets of salvation. The helmet protects our head, our mind and what we think and feel.

Now the option is to rely on what you think or feel which may well be corrupted by the great deceiver, Satan.  How many times have you felt something that turned out to be false?  Sometimes you may have a gut feeling that helps you but oftentimes our feelings get us into trouble.  Have the prophecies of your feelings come true since the beginning of time?  The Bible’s prophecies have.  Have your feelings proved themselves reliable in every way every time?  The Bible has. Satan loves for us to act based on our feelings. We’ve seen that the weapons that he aims at us are intended to attack our minds and our emotions and to try to get us to be discouraged and to doubt. And since our feelings are certainly impacted by the circumstances of life, they change all the time as our circumstances change.

But God’s Word never changes. So if we base our hope on His Word, our hope will be consistent and we won’t be tossed around by our feelings. In fact, one of the reasons God has given us His written Word is so that we can know without a doubt that our salvation is secure. 1 John 5:13 says, “I write these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God so that you may know that you have eternal life.”  John was writing to followers of Jesus so that they could know without any doubt whatsoever that they have eternal life.

If you’re like me, it might help to have some examples of people who have shown us in the past how to put on the helmet of salvation; how we actually do it and what it looks like.  If we are to take the helmet of salvation as Paul says with the expectant hope of our future salvation, I want to see how to do it.  Those are real pretty words but until we can apply them to our lives in action then that is all they are. First stop is Psalm 28.  Most of you know that David is one of my favorite biblical characters.  I love David because while he was king and a man after God’s own heart, he was also very human and had terrible heartbreaks in his life and we can all learn from his example how to survive difficult times.  He was going through one of those difficult times when he wrote Psalm 28.  Read 1-2 and 7-8.

To you, Lord, I call; you are my Rock, do not turn a deaf ear to me.
For if you remain silent, I will be like those who go down to the pit.
2 Hear my cry for mercy as I call to you for help, as I lift up my hands
toward your Most Holy Place.

In these first two verses he calls out to God and says “If you don’t answer and solve this problem, I will die.”  But then in verses 7-8 (before God answers his prayer) he says, 7.The Lord is my strength and my shield; my heart trusts in him, and he helps me.
My heart leaps for joy, and with my song I praise him. 8 The Lord is the strength of his people,
a fortress of salvation for his anointed one.

David had every reason to be depressed and discouraged.  And he doesn’t try to cover over his hurt with fake smiles and plastic platitudes but at the same time he knows that God and God alone is his salvation.  He doesn’t know when it will come.  He knows it may get darker yet, but ultimately he knows, because he has a relationship with the Lord, that he will be saved and that brings him joy and strength.

I have another example of how to put on the helmet of salvation and I think this one is pretty good as well.  It should be pretty good since it is shown to us by the words and actions of Jesus as recalled in Hebrews 12:2. “Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.”  How is that possible?!  How could Jesus, being God but at the same time being all man, endure the outrageous, off the charts physical pain and the emotional distress of taking on all of our sins and endure it with joy?  Because He knew what salvation was like!  He knew what heaven was like.  He knew the rewards and the benefits of being obedient even when your feelings say otherwise.  He could look forward to His own salvation but He also knew that He was our salvation and that through Him we could spend eternity in Heaven.

That should bring joy and praise like it did for David instead of discouragement and doubt that Satan wants to deceive us with and that brings me to my last point.  What the helmet of salvation protects us from is that doubt and discouragement that Satan uses in our lives every day to keep us from having joy and peace; that keeps us from living an abundant life as it says in John 10:10. The thing that makes doubt and discouragement such powerful weapons for Satan is two-fold:  it keeps us out of the fight, sitting in our foxholes feeling sorry for ourselves instead of waging war but it is also similar to a virus in that whatever attitude we have is contagious.  When we feel down and discouraged because we have taken off the helmet of salvation and have relied on the view we have of our circumstances and how we feel about that then the other people around us tend to be dragged down into that as well.

The good news is that when people see us putting on our helmets and looking past our circumstances and feelings and looking forward to the salvation that is to come then they start buckling up their helmets as well and pretty soon we start to look like an army to be reckoned with.  People in the community will see us and see that we are going through difficult times but we don’t cave in.  We don’t start self-medicating.  We don’t start complaining and worrying.  Who wants to be around that?  There is enough of that in this world.  People don’t want to see it in the church.

Some of you may hear this sermon and think I am preaching a feel-good gospel where if we just believe then everything will be ok in this world.  You would be mistaken.  I wish I could preach something like that but I have to tell you that in all probability, as bad as it is in your life right now, things are probably going to get worse.  I promise you this world is not going to get any better.  As long as we live on this nasty, ugly, self-serving, every man for himself planet then things are going to get worse and worse.  There is not much to look forward to as far as the morality and standards of this world go.

But let me encourage you with one last thought from I Thessalonians 4:13-18:  13 Brothers and sisters, we do not want you to be uninformed about those who sleep in death, so that you do not grieve like the rest of mankind, who have no hope. 14 For we believe that Jesus died and rose again, and so we believe that God will bring with Jesus those who have fallen asleep in him. 15 According to the Lord’s word, we tell you that we who are still alive, who are left until the coming of the Lord, will certainly not precede those who have fallen asleep. 16 For the Lord himself will come down from heaven, with a loud command, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet call of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first. 17 After that, we who are still alive and are left will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And so we will be with the Lord forever. 18 Therefore encourage one another with these words.

There is our salvation!  There is our helmet!  Put it on and don’t be deceived! We have all fallen for the lies of Satan before in our lives. Don’t you hate that? Don’t you hate being gullible and believing something that’s not true? Well, today I stand here and I give you truth and hope and a reason to get up in the morning and have joy and peace. We serve a risen Lord who is the King of kings and Lord of lords; the great I AM, the Redeemer, Sustainer, Deliverer and our Friend and He wants to give you eternal life with Him in Heaven as co-heir to all the good things Heaven has to offer if you will just believe, ask Him for forgiveness and to come into your life to change you and make you more like Him. Do that right now as the music plays.

“Combat Training” 6 – Eph 6:10-18

I have some questions for you this morning and I would like for you to answer yes or no please. Would you agree that God is all-powerful? All-knowing? All-loving? Would you agree that Jesus is alive? Is He part of the Trinity? And the Trinity is God, 3 in 1, Father, Spirit, Son? Would you agree that the Bible is completely true? It is the Inspired word of God? Its words are powerful and will not come back void?

If all of that is true, then can you prove it scientifically or mathematically?  Would it be fair to say, then, that you believe all of these things on faith?  Would it be fair to say then that you believe these things because that is what the Bible teaches and you believe the Bible on faith?

When Roman soldiers were training to go into combat (actually all soldiers do this but our passage refers to Roman soldiers) they would prepare for battle by practicing what might happen if they were attacked.  The leader would line them up and say something like, “If your opponent thrusts his sword at you straight on you should step aside and then counter with your sword.  If he swings his sword over his head at you then bring up your shield to defend yourself.”  And they would practice that in slow motion in a safe place all to prepare themselves for the real thing when the enemy would really be trying to kill them.

That is basically what we have been doing this morning.  We are told in the Bible that Satan is prowling around looking to see who he can kill and so all of you have passed the faith training course.  Now you just have to be ready for when he attacks for real.   Just like the enemy of the Roman soldier would not go in slow motion, announcing what he is about to do and allowing the other to be ready, so, too, does Satan not attack in slow motion announcing his intentions.

He doesn’t come to you and say, “Um excuse me but I just wanted you to believe that God is not all-powerful.”  What he does do, though, is to place doubts in your mind when things happen in your life.

When you get a bad report from your doctor, Satan is right there to make you question God’s love.  When you check your bank account and everything has hit at once, Satan is there to say, “Well, you obviously aren’t going to be tithing this week.”  When your favorite sin comes tempting, Satan will say, “Go ahead.  It’s not that big of a deal and besides, nobody will know.”

 Turn to our passage this morning in Ephesians 6:10-18 and we will talk more about how to be ready when Satan attacks. Read.

10Finally, be strong in the LORD and in his mighty power. 11Put on the full armor of God, so that you can take your stand against the devil's schemes. 12For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms. 13Therefore put on the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand. 14Stand firm then, with the belt of truth buckled around your waist, with the breastplate of righteousness in place, 15and with your feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace. 16In addition to all this, take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. 17Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God. 18And pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests. With this in mind, be alert and always keep on praying for all the LORD's people.

We will be concentrating on verse 16 this week.  This is our 6th week to be studying the armor of God and we have seen in previous weeks how we are to put on the belt of truth, the breastplate of righteousness and the importance of having our feet shod with peace.  This week we will be looking at the shield of faith.

I’m sure Paul is writing this at least with the memory of being chained to a Roman soldier.  He may even be looking at one as he writes it, we don’t know.  But Paul has had enough face to face time with soldiers to know well what they wore and how they dressed.  In this verse he talks about the shield.  The shield to which he alludes here is not the small dress shield used in parades but the big shield used in real battle.  It was almost as big as a door but had a handle on the inside the soldier could grab easily.

It wasn’t enough for the soldier to have on the body armor of the day.  For intense battles he needed the protection of the shield.  So also should the Christian not only be wearing truth and righteousness with peace but for the intense Satanic battles, we need to hold up the shield of faith.  But what does that mean?  This is not necessarily the saving faith that is often talked about but the Greek word means the faith that is a deeply held belief or conviction.

Hebrews 11:1 “Now faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see.”

I read the story of the little boy who fell over the side of the cliff and was sitting on a small outcrop of rock.  The firemen came to get him and dropped a rope over the edge and told him to grab the loop and they would pull him up.  He refused until finally his father called down to him and told him he would pull him up by the rope.  The little boy immediately grabbed the rope and was pulled to safety.  The little boy couldn’t see his dad but had faith in him and him alone.

So far, as we have looked at this armor, I have tried to positively motivate us into putting on each piece.  Today I want to look at 3 things that happen if we don’t pick up the shield of faith.  There may be more but for today there are 3 things that suffer from Satan’s flaming arrows that could have been extinguished had we picked up the shield of faith.

The first thing Satan’s arrows attack is your peace and joy.  Next, they attack your witness and lastly they attack your relationship.

I think I told you last week that a few years ago I decided I was going to do a Bible study and figure out the secret to getting and keeping joy and peace.  I dug deep, doing word studies and looking at the original Greek or Hebrew words in a concordance and was surprised by what I found.  I found that peace and joy have nothing to do with circumstances or stuff but are only found through…wait for it…that dreaded “O” word…obedience.

You see it in the Old Testament in the life and writings of David and you see it in the New Testament in the life and writings of Paul as well as others.  Think of Daniel in the lion’s den, Esther before the king, Peter in prison, Jesus Himself as the boat he was in was about to sink.  What do they all have in common?  Peace and joy through obedience. Satan attacks us and our society backs him up by telling us that joy and peace come from doing what you want to do and not having anybody tell you to do anything. Scripture proves otherwise, as do our lives when we decide that no matter what, we are going to obey God and let Him deal with the consequences.

The next time you see a dog sitting in a front yard with no fence, I want you to think about this.  That is the perfect picture of peace through obedience.  If that dog was to run off he would have to stay in the back fence but because he is obedient to stay in the yard he can go anywhere at any time.  So many think obedience is not getting to do all the fun things we want but with God it is freedom!  It means that God wants what is best and because we are obedient we can have the joy and peace of a dog sitting in the sun even when difficult times come.

And that drives Satan crazy to see you with joy and peace and so he does everything he can to ruin that.  So when difficult times come, Satan draws back his bow and sends the flaming arrow of doubt, fear and worry right into your heart and kills your joy and peace.  And the extra benefit to Satan is that rarely does your joy and peace die without taking out someone else’s.  And Satan giggles his ever-loving head off.

A.W. Tozer said, “The Bible recognizes no faith that does not lead to obedience, nor does it recognize any obedience that does not spring from faith. The two are opposite sides of the same coin.”

It says right here that our battle is not against flesh and blood but Satan wants you to think it is.  He wants you to worry all night about your kids and grandkids.  He wants you to feel guilty about what you did to that person 20 years ago.  He wants you to doubt that your spouse is faithful.  He wants you to work those extra hours and stay away from home and family so you can buy that shiny new stuff that won’t make you happy. He wants you to hold a grudge or be racist or critical or worried or overly busy or anything else that will distract you into putting down your shield of faith.

Satan may not be able to kill you because God won’t let him but the next best thing to a dead child of God to Satan is a child who is preoccupied and distracted with his own circumstances because that child…has no witness and that is the next thing Satan’s arrows attack.  They attack your witness.  So, instead of being obedient and picking up our shield of faith that says, “I don’t know why I am having to go through this.  I don’t deserve it.  I don’t want it and it hurts…BUT…I trust God to protect and provide and to not put on me more than He and I can handle.”  Instead of that we suffer with no peace, joy or witness.

I want you to think now about how Satan’s schemes attack our witness.  Satan would have you to think that because your spouse is not as loving as they used to be that it is ok to have an affair.  He wants you to at least consider the idea that getting drunk every now and then is not any big deal and that God understands that you have had a hard week.  He wants you to think that because everybody else at church is gossiping that it must be ok and besides, who is going to get hurt?

I want you to consider your own little pet sin or sins.  Think for just a second about where you struggle and about what is going to happen when the news gets out that you are a gossip or a liar or a drunk or a pervert or whatever it is that you do.  What is going to happen when word gets out that you do those things?  Nobody will ever know, huh?  Do you realize that is exactly what every single person in the news right now was thinking?  Nobody ever thinks they will get caught. 

“Whew, when my wife finds out I’m cheating she’s gonna be mad.” “I know I’ll get caught robbing this bank but I hope they put me in a nice cell.” “When my daddy hears me cussing he’s gonna tan my hide!”

I think about those Secret Service agents who were in Colombia a couple of years ago who were supposed to be there to guard President Obama and were busted with prostitutes after a night of partying.  I guarantee you they thought there is no way anybody is ever going to find out.  I’m 2000 miles away from anybody who even cares and so I will do whatever I want.  Can you imagine being that man who comes home and has to face his young daughter who says, “Daddy, I saw you on the news.  What’s a prostitute and why were you with her?”

Now I don’t know the spiritual condition of any of those men but I know that is right where Satan wants us.  No peace, no joy, no witness and no relationship with God.

The Bible teaches us that once you ask Jesus into your heart you are always a child of God.  Jesus says in John 10 that nobody can snatch you out of His hand (and that is another thing Satan wants you to worry about) but we can lose our close relationship with Him and we do when we sin.  Sin brings a barrier between us and God.

You see it in the very first sin when Adam and Eve listened to Satan and ate the fruit.  What happened?  Instead of walking in the cool garden with God, they ran and hid and were ultimately banished from the garden.  I have an idea that as they walked out of the garden that day they could hear the echo of laughter coming from that snake Satan.

You also see it the Bible when King Saul makes bad choices, when the Israelites disobey, when David goes through Bathsheeba-gate or when Peter denies Jesus before He is crucified.  What do they have in common?  No joy, no peace, no witness and no relationship with God.

How about in your own life?  When Satan attacks you and says there is no way God is going to do what He said He is going to do and you believe him and then you do whatever it is that you do, then what happens?  Your prayers bounce off the ceiling, your wisdom heads south, your security is threatened and you wind up tied up in knots in the back yard whining like a puppy.

The good news is that when that happens I John 1:9 says, “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.”  And our relationship is restored.  Our joy and peace ease back in and our witness…well, sometimes it takes a while for our witness to be restored.  With some people it may never come back.  Just a little added bonus for the evil one; the deceiver, the father of lies.

For me, I don’t want to have to explain myself to y’all.  I don’t want to have to look you in the face and tell you my excuse for not picking up my shield of faith.  I don’t want to hear Satan laughing at me.  I want to hear God laughing with me, saying, “Well done my good and faithful servant.  I know it was difficult.  I know Satan was sneaky but you did so well!  Come in here to my rest, my peace, my joy, my relationship.”

I can’t prove scientifically or mathematically that there is a Heaven or that there is a Hell but Scripture teaches that and scripture has been proven true to me in my life and in the lives of friends and family and because you are my friends and family I want to make sure you are with me in Heaven because there is only one way. Jesus said in John 14:6 that He is the Way, the Truth and the Life and no man gets to the Father but through Him.

Do you believe that? I can’t prove it but you will have to take up that shield of faith and just believe. It’s not a blind faith. I have seen enough to know that even what I can’t see and what I can’t prove can still be believed.