00:00
00:00
00:01
Transcript
1/0
Good morning and welcome to our
Sunday School Hour. I invite you to stand as we sing
hymn number 432, Angels from the Blue. Amen. Please remain standing
for prayer this morning. Brother Marsha, would you pray for us? Yeah, thank you. Maybe see unless
you celebrate her birthday or anniversary. All right, let's sing happy anniversary. Well, it's good to be in the
Lord's house today and be together. From the bulletin, we have still,
if you want to give Christmas missions offering, that's great.
We have ladies Christmas party tomorrow night at our house at
seven o'clock. Encourage you all to come. All
the ladies, I know you'll have a great time. And so plan on
that. We're still planning the music
recital this coming Thursday on the 19th, seven o'clock here
at the church. And looking forward to hearing
playing and singing and all those things that the kids have practiced.
I know it'll be a blessing to you and encourage you to come
for that. Patch program on the 22nd. It'll be in the afternoon
service. I know It will be an exciting
time. That's the best easiest way to
put it an exciting time and I'd encourage you to come and be
here for patch program and Also, next Sunday will be the Gilson's
Christmas offering. Of course, we're already receiving
that. And whether that be Walmart gift cards, cash, if you're going
to write a check, please make it out to Dan Gilson, and we'll
be giving them that next Sunday. Then we'll have a Christmas Eve
service at 5 o'clock. And because of that, we'll not
have a Christmas Day service. And that's just semantics. I
find that we probably have a higher turnout to Christmas Eve service.
And so we'll look forward to that at five o'clock. If you've
never been to a Christmas Eve service, I'd encourage you to
come. I think you'll really enjoy it. Prayer needs, I ask that
you'd remember to pray for all these that are listed here. And
then, as most of you know, my mother-in-law, Charlotte Fuller,
had a stroke. And we were visiting with the
doctors last night. And it was a very severe stroke
in the center part of her brain. And so they say third day's the
worst. And then fourth, fifth, and sixth,
they begin to come around. And so I'll... Yesterday at the
end of the day was the third and so we're hoping to see some
Improvement in her life, and if you would just pray God's
will be done. Whatever that is we appreciate your prayers For
strength we weren't supposed to be here. I'd scheduled brother
Richard to preach. We're supposed to be in Texarkana
today and But God has a plan, right? And we're just submitted
to that and ask that you would join us in praying God's will
would be done there and that he might be glorified through
it. We're ready for some more singing in our Sunday school
time. Lord bless you for being here. We'll stand once again, we'll
sing hymn number 174. My Jesus, I love you. Sing the first of the last
verses. Worthy of the Lord, it does give
thanks. ♪ In mansions of glory ♪ ♪ That
endless delight ♪ ♪ Are ever unfolded ♪ ♪ In heavens so bright
♪ ♪ I'll sing with the Peter ♪ ♪ And on my heart ♪ This time you can be dismissed
to your Sunday school classes. My class will finish up lesson
number five today. We have new handouts for lesson
number six, if you need that. And the POTS has those available
in the back. Raise your hand, we'll get that to you. We were looking at the story
of Hannah. The fact that she was barren
for many years and praying for her son and God blessed her and
gave her Samuel. And we see in this life lesson
of Hannah that she had courage to pray. There are often difficulties
that come up in our life that certainly are out of our control
and we certainly don't always know what the outcome will be,
but God does. And he's asking us and petitioning
us that we might pray to him and ask for wisdom, ask for guidance,
ask for peace and comfort and strength during those journeys
of life. And we see your Hannah face some
very difficult times and, you know, the Those that would mock
her because she was bearing the other wife in the picture and
just how she was able to find her hope and strength in the
Lord and understanding that in our times of trouble our only
hope is in the Lord. And we can draw much encouragement
from this life that we see in Hannah and the courage she had
to pray. So quickly just recapping what we looked at last week,
she had courage and discouragement. And boy, it's in those times
of discouragement when we find ourselves maybe grappled with
fear and we don't understand always what's going on. And it's
at those times where we can allow the devil to get a foothold in
our life if we're not careful and he can cause discontentment. Obviously this discouragement
leads to many things in our lives that could cause us not to be
moving forward for Christ, not to be growing in the Lord as
we should. So we need to be cognizant of those things and make sure
that we are trusting in the Lord and having that courage to pray
in a time of discouragement. And this is what we see in the
life of Hannah. She was discouraged because she
was barren and she was also belittled. But in both of those things that
caused discouragement, again, she found her hope in the Lord
and she found strength in Him. in the midst of discouragement,
she found encouragement in the Lord. He's our source of encouragement
because He is the source of hope. And any difficulty that we go
through, you know, there are There are things that we go through
that we don't understand how we can handle them, how we can
come through them, but God knows. We have someone we can turn to.
The world doesn't have someone they can turn to. They try to
turn to maybe a psychiatrist or self-help books or whatever
it might be, but the only source of true hope, true help is in
the Lord. So she was turning to the right
place and she found encouragement in the Lord. Then she had the
courage then to pray. So she prayed, we see, for her
son and she was asking God that He might answer her prayer. And
in doing so she made this promise. She promised to the Lord if He
would give her a son that she would give him back to the Lord
for His service. And so she remained faithful
to this promise and we saw this in her And her presentation then
of Samuel, just again briefly recapping where we've come from
already in the previous lesson last week. In 1 Samuel 1 and
verse 19 it says, And they rose up in the morning early, and
worshipped before the LORD, and returned, and came to their house
to Ramah. And Elkanah knew Hannah his wife,
and the LORD remembered her. Wherefore it came to pass, when
the time was come about, after Hannah had conceived, that she
bear a son, and call his name Samuel, saying, Because I have
asked him of the Lord." And then it goes on in verse 24 through
28 where it says she remembered her promise. It says, And when
she had weaned him, she took him up with her, with three bullocks,
and one ephah of flour, and a bottle of wine, and brought him unto
the house of the Lord in Shiloh. And the child was young, and
they slew a bullock, and brought the child to Eli. And she said,
O my Lord, as thy soul liveth, my Lord, I am the woman that
stood by thee here praying unto the Lord. For this child I prayed,
and the Lord hath given me my petition, which I asked of him.
Therefore also I have lent him to the Lord. As long as he liveth,
he shall be lent to the Lord." And he worshipped the Lord there.
So, we see the promise has been kept here that they've given
Him back to the Lord, that He might be used of the Lord mightily
and that the Lord would have His will and way in His life.
So, we see the commitment there then to the promise. That brings
us to where we left off, the courage to honor God. Now, this
is something that we need to have settled in our life, that,
you know, we're going to face situations where there are peer
pressures put upon us. And we often speak of that. And
in teenage years, you know, they're going to have peer pressure.
They're going to have to make decisions to do right or to do wrong. And
it's very difficult during those times. But also we face pressures
of life, don't we? We face those peer pressures
where the society around us, maybe even family members or
are doing things contrary to the Word of God or they're asking
us to do things contrary to the Word of God and we need to just
have courage to honor the Lord and do what is right and do what
is pleasing unto Him. So as we see here in 1 Samuel
2 we find here a record of a beautiful prayer of praise that Hannah
voiced in response to all that the Lord had done in her life.
So she's looking back on all that God has done and she's just
rejoicing and full of great joy and comfort of what God has done
in her life. So she's offering this honor back to Him. Now all
too often in our life we passionately ask God to meet our needs. We
have something specific we're praying about. God answers that
need and then we fail to give Him the thanks that we ought.
She took the time here, as we look at Hannah's life, she took
the time to praise the Lord and rejoice in His provision. And
we see incidentally here that Hannah's prayer is parallel very
much to that of Mary in Luke 1 and verse 46-55. So let's notice
how Hannah honored God when He answered her prayer. First we
see that she honored God by praising Him for deliverance. First Hannah
does not start out talking about the fact that she now has a son
or even focusing on herself at all, but rather she focuses on
the Lord and who He is and how good He is and what He has done.
If you'd find your place there in 1 Samuel 2, I'd like to read
for you verses 1-3 as she's praying here to the Lord. It says, And
Hannah prayed and said, My heart rejoiceth in the LORD, my horn
is exalted in the LORD, my mouth is enlarged over mine enemies,
because I rejoice in thy salvation. There is none holy as the LORD,
for there is none beside thee, neither is there any rock like
our God. Talk no more, so exceeding proudly.
Let not arrogancy come out of your mouth, for the LORD is a
God of knowledge, and by Him actions are weighed. So you can
just see evidence here that she is extremely grateful for what
God has done but she's recognizing it was done because of who He
is. She's recognizing the great God that we serve and the great
God of this universe and she's expressing how grateful she is
for the God whom He is. So it's worth noting here that
as Hannah praises God for delivering her from the persecution that
she had faced from her adversary, she directly mentions or makes
reference to God eight times in these verses that we've just
read. Clearly Hannah had no doubt as to the source of her salvation.
And I hope that can be said of you today that you know the source
of your salvation, that Jesus Christ our Lord and we ought
to give Him honor and glory and praise do His name for what He
has done in providing that great way of salvation to us. So as
the psalmist expresses in Psalm 25, verse 20, the believer can
always put his trust in God for deliverance. It says there, O
keep my soul, and deliver me. Let me not be ashamed, for I
put my trust in Thee. Let integrity and uprightness
preserve me. for I wait on Thee." Boy, these
are some truths that we can grab hold of and that we can stand
on knowing that the God that we serve is faithful, and He's
true, and He's just, and He's holy, and He's always right,
and we can trust Him with our soul. He says, oh, keep my soul
and deliver me. Let me not be ashamed. Let me
boldly proclaim of Your goodness, and let me put my trust in Thee.
And then as I do that, then as the world looks upon me, let
integrity and uprightness preserve me. Let the word of God penetrate
my heart that it has an impact and an effect on me that I live
the right way, that I live in a way that is of integrity and
uprightness, that I walk holy and unblameable before you and
before this world." So our praise often focuses more on what God
has done rather than who God is. But what God does for us
is really a result of who He is. It's because of who He is
that He can do what He does for us. So she's offering praise
for deliverance. Also we see here that she's praising
Him for strength. And if you've come through any
difficulty, aren't you thankful for the Lord's strength and His
ability to give that peace, that comfort and that strength that
we need when we so desperately need it. So in addition to praising
God for His deliverance, Hannah praised Him for providing strength
She had found that God was the rock. Now, when life pulls the
carpet out from under us, we're looking for that sure footing.
I'm thankful that we can find it in the Lord. And that's where
she found her rock was in God. She could depend completely on
Him. His omniscience vindicated her over her enemies and provided
refuge in which she could take shelter. Let's continue reading
here in 1 Samuel 2. In verse 2 and 3 it says here,
"...for there is none holy as the Lord, for there is none beside
thee, neither is there any rock like our God. Talk no more, so
exceeding proudly, let not arrogance come out of your mouth, for the
Lord is a God of knowledge, and by Him actions are weighed."
So as God's people we can make this statement that we've always
found Him to be the rock in our times where we need to seek refuge. He is our source of strength.
Psalm 31 verse 2 says, bow down thine ear to me, deliver me speedily,
be thou my strong rock, for in house of defense to save me,
for thou art my rock and my fortress, therefore for thy namesake lead
me and guide me. When we're reaching out in our
desperation, we can find that source of strength in the Lord
Jesus Christ. And He will provide that stability
in our life. When everything around us is
sinking and falling by the wayside, we can turn to God and find Him
our source of strength. Psalm 46, 1, God is our refuge
and strength, a very present help in trouble. What a blessed
promise we have. What a blessed hope that we have
and what a truly tremendous Lord that we serve in knowing that
He offers us strength and He offers us that refuge in our
times of trouble. So Hannah found this strength
in Him but also we see that as a result She offered praise to
Him by continued service. So it wasn't just a one-time-and-done
deal where she was offering this praise to the Lord and her service
to the Lord, but it continued. After experiencing God's deliverance,
protection, and renewal of strength, Hannah didn't stop serving the
Lord. In fact, she remained faithful and going to the tabernacle to
worship every year, just as she had done before Samuel was born.
And in that context, she made it a point to encourage Samuel
in his growth and service and ministry before the Lord by bringing
him a new coat every year. In 1 Samuel 2.19, it says, moreover,
his mother made him a little coat and brought it to him from
year to year when she came up with her husband to offer the
yearly sacrifice. That's just like a good mother,
isn't it? wanting to care for their child and making sure that
they're provided for and making sure they have what they need.
And we see that in any good loving mother, they're wanting to make
sure that their children are taken care of. And here's Hannah's
no different. And she's grateful to the Lord and she's grateful
for a son. And she wants to be a blessing
to him and wants to encourage him that he's walking with the
Lord. And boy, a good godly mother is important to the building
up of children and helping them to understand the importance
of serving the Lord in their life. And that's what she was
trying to instill in Samuel and just encouraging him to be faithful
to the Lord. And not only expressing these
things, but proving these things by the way that she lived herself,
being faithful to the Lord in her life. So now, we can consider
there how Hannah must have looked forward every year, just as anyone
looks forward to seeing their children after they've been away
for a while. And she anticipated these times of being able to
minister to Samuel and to encourage him. And, you know, she's thinking
back during those times, maybe every time she sees Samuel, just
how long she was barren and how thankful she was that God provided
Samuel as a son. And then she saw the opportunity
then to continue serving the Lord and continuing to be faithful
to Him and expressing her gratitude by her service and her faithfulness
to the Lord. So as we know from reading the
remainder of 1 Samuel 1 and 2, the same young lad who served
faithfully in the temple as he was growing up would eventually
become a prophet and judge for the nation of Israel, becoming
one of the most formidable figures in Israel's history. So we understand
the impact that he had and the way that God used him mightily.
But it all began back with a woman. in grief and sorrow and discouragement,
had the courage to pray, had the courage to turn to the Lord
and remain faithful to the Lord, both before and after her prayer
was answered. So what can we learn from Hannah's
testimony? Well, it challenges us then to
be courageous in prayer, including in our own seasons of discouragement. So we can have, as Hannah had
courage in our discouragement, we can have courage then to pray
and then the courage to honor and remain faithful to the Lord.
As we, we know life is gonna have its ups and downs, but we
need to be, steadfast and unmovable, always abounding in the work
of the Lord, no matter what life brings our way, because our Lord
is faithful, our Lord is good, and our Lord is right." So we
must learn, as we've seen here from the life of Hannah, it doesn't
matter what the world says, what they might do to us, the lot
that I have in life, the circumstances that I'm in. Turn to the Lord
and remain faithful to Him. So that brings us to the close
of lesson number five. Let's now turn our attention
here to lesson number six, courage to stand. So up to this point
we've laid some foundation here, some building blocks, and really
what courage is about is this, the willingness then to stand. to stand for the Lord. And boy,
when so many are falling by the wayside and so many are turning
away from the Lord, may we be faithful to stand for Him. I'd like to turn your attention
then to our text for this lesson to Ephesians 6 and verses 10-20,
the courage to stand. Alright, Ephesians 6 and verse
10, you know it very well but it's very important as we consider
this topic of courage that God enables us to have courage. God enables us to be able to
stand for Him. So here in the text let's find
what He has for us. Be strong in the Lord and in
the power of His might. I'm thankful that He puts the
strength and the power upon Him and it's not depending on us,
but it's His strength and it's His power. So now He's given
us some commands here. Be strong in the Lord and in
the power of His might. Now here's what we must do. Put on the whole
armor of God that you may be able to stand against the wiles
of the devil. Any of you face the wiles of
the devil? Well, we all do. If you're honest
with yourself, we're facing the wiles of the devil every day.
We face temptation, we face his tactics of trying to infiltrate
our lives and to cause us to be distracted from serving the
Lord. But God wants us to be able to stand against the wiles
of the devil, so He equips us in such a way. It says, Stand therefore, having your
loins girt about with truth, and having on the breastplate
of righteousness, and your feet shod with the preparation of
the gospel of peace. Above all, taking the shield
of faith, wherewith ye shall be able to quench all the fiery
darts of the wicked, and take the helmet of salvation, and
the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God. Praying always
with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, and watching thereunto,
with all perseverance and supplication for all saints. And for me, that
utterance may be given unto me, that I may open my mouth boldly
to make known the mystery of the gospel, for which I am an
ambassador in bonds, that therein I may speak boldly as I ought
to speak. So we have a great challenge
here from the Word of God and how we are to be equipped and
ready to stand and we're going to dive into those here in just
a moment. I want to share with you a story from the terrorist
attacks that happened on 9-11 and after those attacks on the
United States a special group was put together to investigate
what had happened and why and how future attacks must be prevented. The committee was made up of
political leaders from both parties and members of the intelligence
community. They were given full access to
records and personnel and conducted a thorough investigation here
into exactly what had happened. So it took them almost three
years then to complete this investigation. This National Commission on Terrorist
Attacks upon the United States, better known as the 9-11 Commission,
finished their work and released a final report. And one of the
main findings regarding the cause of the success of the attacks
was this. The most important failure was one of imagination. It was simply a failure to grasp
the possibility of the threat and what could happen. So we
as a nation were not prepared. We didn't understand the threat,
we didn't understand what could possibly happen and therefore
we were not prepared. So as we look to our spiritual
life we must understand there is a spiritual battle. We've
just read about it. The Bible declares that there is a spiritual
battle going on and the Bible warns us that it's happening
around us every day. And it tells us how to fight
and to win that battle. I want to share with you three
foundational truths that will help us to be courageous to stand
in battle. First, we see that we are in
a spiritual battle today, so we must recognize this, we must
know that this is true and that it is happening. So in today's
passage that we've read we are admonished to put on the armor
needed for spiritual battle and we are reminded that Satan has
many wiles, many tricks, many tactics to trip us up, to cause
us to fail. So this word wiles means it's
a method or refers to cunning arts or a deceit, a craft, a
trickery. Satan's methods are deceit, trickery,
these cunning arts, this craftiness, and he doesn't play fair, does
he? He doesn't play fair at all. So like a lion, he seeks to ambush
his prey. Also we see that we are fighting
Satan and his armies. Verse 12 of our text mentions
this and it says, Satan has an organized band of devils, these
principalities, with ranks of authority, powers to use all
over the world. And He needs them to go all over
because Satan himself cannot be everywhere all at once. He's
not omnipresent like our Lord. So there are forces working today
against our family, against authority within our church, against God. These forces are spiritual and
we must fight them with spiritual weapons. 2 Corinthians 10, verses
3 says this, For though we walk in the flesh, We do not war after
the flesh. For the weapons of our warfare
are not carnal, but mighty through God to the pulling down of strongholds,
casting down imaginations, and every high thing that exalteth
itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity
every thought through the obedience of Christ." So we understand
who the enemy is. We understand who we're fighting
against. And then as a result we must put on spiritual armor.
To be prepared for a spiritual battle we need to put on the
protection that God has provided for us, that equips us and enables
us to go into this battle and to come out victorious. So let's
look and turn our attention here to the warrior's protection.
Paul used the different pieces of the armor worn by the Roman
legionaries as a metaphor for our spiritual armor. So let's
look at these pieces of the Roman soldier's armor and see the comparison
then to our spiritual protection. First we see the belt of truth.
The Roman soldier wore a belt around his waist that he tightened
before going into duty or into battle. The belt held his clothing
out of the way so he could fight. In addition to that practical
purpose, the tightened belt could be used to distribute the weight
of the armor or to carry tools or weapons. All the time the
Roman soldier was on duty, his belt would be tight. It would
be there holding those garments in place, also maybe holding
some tools and some things that he needed for battle, some weapons. And we understand the purpose
of a belt. You think of a tool belt as you
go into construction, it holds many things that need to be right
at hand as you're doing work. And this was the same way for
a soldier. He needed things right at hand so he could do battle
and he could be successful. So as you look to this Roman
soldier and you saw his belt was tightened, you understood
that he was on duty or he was prepared for battle. If that
belt was slackened, then he was not ready. He was either off
duty or he wasn't ready for battle. So Paul likened this belt of
the Roman soldier to truth as he admonished, stand, having
your loins girt about with truth. What does that tell us one of
our weapons is? It is the truth of the Word of God. And it needs
to be readily available. What does the Bible tell us about
taking in God's Word? Study to show thyself approved. We must be students of the Word
of God for when we face battle, those truths are quickly available
to us. That we can share those truths because it's the truth
that has the impact. It's the truth that makes the
difference. So as Paul's likening this belt of truth in our spiritual
battle here, he says, stand having your loins girded about with
truth. Truth holds every other piece of our spiritual armor
together. It's what makes it all count,
doesn't it? Truth is the foundation. Truth is what we stand upon.
Truth is what we build our lives upon. Truth is what we then go
to battle with as well. Jesus Himself is the truth. This is a spiritual reality and
it's essential to the Christian life. John 14 says this, Jesus
saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life. No man
cometh unto the Father but by Me." So if our job is to be about
sharing Jesus Christ to a lost and dying world, and we're facing
a spiritual battle that is against that message, then what is the
truth that we must present that Jesus is the way, the truth,
and the life? That's the message that must go forth, and this
is what we go to battle for, is for this truth that Jesus
is the way, that Jesus is the only way of salvation. So as
God has given us His Word as the only source of infallible
and objective truth, then we must gird ourselves about this
belt of truth. John 17, 17 says this, "'Sanctify
them through thy truth, thy word is truth.'" So the opinions,
the ideas, the philosophies of man, they come and go and they're
subject to error. The Bible is perfect and tells
us with complete accuracy everything that we need to live and to be
victorious in our Christian life. So we must be girded about with
this belt of truth. Next we see the breastplate of
righteousness. The Roman breastplate was made
of multiple pieces of armor that tied together to cover the body
from the neck and shoulders down to below the ribs, guarding both
front and back. The Greek historian Philobius
referred to the breastplate as the heart protector. The breastplate
was strong enough to block most of the force of a sword or arrow
attack. So we've been given this positional
righteousness as children of Jesus Christ through God's grace.
Romans 5.2 says, by whom also ye have access by faith into
His grace wherein we stand and rejoice in hope of the glory
of God. 2 Corinthians 5.21, for ye hath
made Him to be sin for us. Aren't you thankful? Who knew
no sin? For that we might be made the
righteousness of God in Him. Because He was sinless, because
He was the perfect Son of God, He became the perfect sacrifice.
And because of His sacrifice, we've been offered then salvation
through Him. And through that salvation, we've
been given the righteousness of God in Him. So we enjoy practical
righteousness and are protected from Satan's attacks when we
live in a way that honors the Lord, Numbers 32, 23. But if
you will not do so, behold, you have sinned against the Lord.
And be sure your sin will find you out. So we have an opportunity
here to serve the Lord and be faithful to Him and live a life
that's honoring and pleasing to Him. And in order to do that
we need to make sure that we are confessing our sins, forsaking
our sins and being faithful to the Lord. So this breastplate
of righteousness is a part of our gear to go into battle. So belt of truth, breastplate
of righteousness, shoes of the gospel. So the sandal worn by
a Roman soldier was made of heavy leather. Straps allowed it to
be adjusted for comfort and a tight fit. The soles usually had hobnails
added for stability on the open ground. So the sound of thousands
of Roman soldiers striking the ground as they were walking and
marching in unison was said to be a terrifying message to those
enemies of Rome. So as Christians we have been
given the gospel and we have been commissioned to take that
gospel to the world. And we need to always be prepared
everywhere to go to share it with others. Isaiah 52.7 tells
us how beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of Him that bringeth
good tidings, that publisheth peace, that bringeth good tidings
of good, that publisheth salvation, that saith unto Zion, Thy God
reigneth. So not being ready to witness
would be like a soldier going into battle barefooted. So we
need to make sure that we are prepared, that we are ready to
share God's good news, God's gospel message of Jesus Christ
to this world. So we need to be prepared and
we need to go into battle having the shoes of the gospel. Then
we see next the shield of faith. The shield of the Roman soldier
was large. It was four-quartered shield,
approximately two and a half feet by four and a half feet.
The shield was one of the most important pieces to a Roman soldier. Due to its size, it would cover
virtually his whole body. If a whole formation of men interlocked
their shields together, they could protect themselves both
above and in front. In fact, one formation could
support the weight of a chariot driving across it." Boy, that's
amazing. So we can see the importance of this shield. In the 1930s
a team of archaeologists working in Syria uncovered the pieces
of a shield carried by a Roman legionnaire. The excavation at
the ruins of the Roman fort at Dura Euripus, which was overrun
in 256 AD, found a number of soldiers' bodies and many weapons. The shield is the only surviving
example of the curved scutum carried into battle by the legions
of Rome. Made of strips of wood laminated
together, carefully decorated, it guarded most of the body of
the soldier while he stood facing the enemy." So what is this shield
likened to? It's likened to our faith. You
can see that it's covering the whole body. So what is our shield
in the spiritual battle? It's our faith. It covers our
whole body. Faith is the highest priority
for the believer. It is the piece of armor that
he is to carry above all. How are we saved? We are saved
through faith. Ephesians 2.8 tells us, for by
the grace are you saved through faith and not of yourselves.
It is the gift of God. So we are protected in the Christian
life by faith, 1 John 5, verse 4, for whatsoever is born of
God overcometh the world. And this is the victory that
overcometh the world, even our faith. But we must go to battle
understanding that we are shielded by faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. Our faith is important. It's of vital importance as we
face these spiritual battles of life. So what does faith do? Faith triumphs over the attacks
of the enemy, quenching the flaming arrows of doubt and fear that
he shoots at us. So these wiles are coming our
way, these temptations, these fears, these doubts. What defends
against them? It's our faith. The fiery darts
mentioned in verse 16 that we just read in our text refers
to missiles, javelins or arrows that were filled with flammable
fluid and then ignited. So one of the devil's main tactics
then that he uses in our life to get us to distrust God or
question His Word or His goodness or His promises is through these
fiery darts that he throws at us, these doubts, these fears
that he casts upon us. Warren Wiersbe says this of Satan,
Satan is the source of unbelief and doubt. We see this as we
go all the way back to the Garden of Eden where he casts doubt
to Eve. He says, "'Yea, hath God said.'"
Casting doubt on the Word of God, on what He has said. "'Yea,
hath God said' is his favorite question. Faith is what overcomes
every foe. As believers use the shield of
faith, the fiery darts of unbelief and doubt are kept away." So
that was Satan's attack from the very beginning just as he
said to Eve there in the garden. So today he works to plant those
thoughts in our life as well of unbelief, of doubt of the
Christian life. The devil wants to attack us
with doubt, cause confusion. But what overcomes those as we've
said before faith will defeat it every time. In 2007, Private
First Class Brendan Schweighart was helping retrieve a tank in
Iraq when he was hit with a force so hard that he later likened
it to the sledgehammer. It was a bullet from an enemy
sniper. The bullet struck the Bible in his pocket. When he
had promised his mother he would carry into battle, and that Bible
acted like a shield, trapping the bullet and saving his life.
So faith in our Christian life works as this shield to protect
us from the attacks of Satan. So did you wake up today and
grab your shield of faith? Well we need to grab all these
attributes here that God's given us, these opportunities then
to take on, these weapons of our warfare. We need to remember
that this battle is taking place every day of our life and sometimes
it comes upon us when we least expect it. Often that's the way
it happens and we're not on guard, we're not prepared as we should
be. But might we be mindful and take these lessons and understand
that the devil doesn't rest. He's always going to be seeking
for that opportunity to cast that doubt, to cause that fear,
to render you useless for the cause of Christ, to keep you
from sharing the gospel, to keep you from serving the Lord. We
just need to be mindful as we go through this lesson and ask
yourself, you know, have I been faithful to put on these things?
Am I in God's word as I should be that I'm equipped with the
truth of the word of God when those attacks come? Do I have
this breastplate of righteousness? Am I truly saved? Hopefully today
all of us can say that we are. And if we're saved today, we
are clothed in his righteousness and we can go to battle having
that righteousness. Are you prepared to share the
gospel? Did you wake up and put your feet on the ground, ready
to share God's word with someone? And then, as we've just mentioned,
the shield of faith. Are you living out your faith
before this world? Are you allowing that faith to
work in your life as God intends for it to? Growing you, strengthening
you, encouraging you to be faithful to the Lord, and then being able
to withstand those fiery darts that the devil is casting our
way. We'll close there today and we'll continue next week.
Heavenly Father, we're thankful for Your goodness to us. And
Father, You are truly gracious and mighty God. And Father, we're
so thankful for the way that You desire to work in our lives
and just as any good father would desire to equip us and to help
us, guide us through this life that we live. Father, You provide
for us the tools necessary to be successful in this Christian
life, to come through victorious and to be faithful and to be
honoring and glorifying to Your name. And I pray that every one
of us would look deep into our heart and to our soul to make
sure that we are equipping ourselves as we should, that we would have
then the The ability to withstand these trials, these temptations
that come our way, that would seek to distract us from our
service to You. Father, that we would be able
to withstand those and then be able to share then the good news
of Jesus Christ with others. That they would see evidence
in our lives that we are living for You and that You've made
a difference and that You've made a change within us. Father,
I pray that You'd help us to have an impact on a world who
so desperately needs to know Jesus Christ as their Savior.
They're lost and without hope. Father, we know the only source
of true hope, that is in Jesus Christ. Now may we be faithful
to share that message with others. I pray now for the service to
follow. Speak again to our hearts and we'll thank you for it in
Jesus' name, amen. Thank you for your attention.
We'll meet right back in here at 10.30.
Courage to Stand
Series Living with Courage
| Sermon ID | 121524161759514 |
| Duration | 47:42 |
| Date | |
| Category | Sunday School |
| Bible Text | Ephesians 6:10-20 |
| Language | English |
Add a Comment
Comments
No Comments
© Copyright
2026 SermonAudio.