Ken Martin - The Whole Armor of God, Don't Leave Home Without It

some time ago there was a credit card credit card company that had an ad that went like this don't leave home without it and and that particular company was mastercard and they said that mastercard was the answer to your physical needs well if we ask ourselves this question in the context of our spiritual calling and we are told don't leave home without it what would that be that we would have that covers our spiritual needs i want you to think about that let's go to second timothy chapter three and verse one you'll see how this all comes together but as we just heard on the bt daily second timothy 3 and verse 1 reminds us where we're at right now second timothy chapter 3 verse 1. this no this is something we're supposed to know not guess at not wonder about this is something we are to know that in the last days that means the last days coming toward the end of the 6 000 year plan of god that deals with man's rule and then the seventh sabbath day rest of the thousand-year reign of jesus christ completes the seven day cycle as it is pictured a day being a year a day with god is like a a thousand years so for six thousand years of human experience which we're drawing to its close it says in this land these last days perilous or as alternate translations say stress filled days we're living definitely in stress-filled times and people are being stressed in this direction that direction in many different directions and it says these stress-filled days these perilous times shall come then it lists what is happening and how human beings are reacting how they're thinking and their thinking is certainly not sound thinking and we've heard an awful lot about that here lately and so we find that individuals are going through all these different elements that are listed here and then in verse 4 talks about traitors heady high-minded lovers of pleasure yes because they love to be involved with things that please them and there is a pleasure in sin that we're warned to stay away from but nevertheless many people love the pleasure they get from sin or not doing what god asked them to do and notice this they love those pleasures more than lovers of god god is not a priority in their life and so he says they have a form of godliness yeah they go to church the church of their choice the only problem is god this church is different it's a church where god calls you to his church as it is written in the book of acts where god called individuals on the day of pentecost and thousands were brought into the church of god in those initial days of the church starting as jesus said i will build my church in the gates of hades will not prevail against it but we're told here in these perilous times having a form of godliness but they're denying the power thereof it takes power to generate man's world and we know what happens when the power goes out we're in trouble and we have to immediately try to do what what's the first priority everybody wants get the power back on why for the refrigerator so i can see what's happening when it's nighttime because when the lights are out where everything's dark we can't see so here we have again they denied the power thereof and you and i are admonished from such turn away people who don't believe that there is a god who reigns supreme who rules and says all this is mine as was mentioned there in isaiah 66 and what did he what did he say the heavens and all this mind the earth is my footstool where's the house you build for me god is the builder of everything and we would not even be here i would not even be talking to you if there were not a god who made us in his image male and female and brought us into this marvelous thing we call life on a human scale but there's life on a marvelous divine scale a spiritual scale that most people have not connected with and because of that each and every day they leave home without it and they don't have what they need what is that let's take a look and go back to the book of ephesians if you will join me in the book of ephesians and we're going to look at something that is mentioned here for our benefit ephesians chapter 6 and we will begin in verse 10. chapter 6 verse 10. what we're talking about and what we're going to discuss in depth is answering this question are you wearing the whole armor of god are you wearing the whole armor of god now if you don't even know what the armor is then obviously you're not wearing it you and i are asked to wear it and don't leave home without it because you are living in a very stress-filled condition that he's going to explain to us and tell us what we're up against and why this is required he begins by saying in verse 10 of ephesians 6 finally my brethren another he's building up to this and then he finally says here something i want you to know he says finally my brethren be strong yeah we've got to be this is not a time to be weak it's a time to be strong but how are we to be strong notice he says in the lord we have to be strong in what god defines for us in terms of being able to deal with what we face on a day-to-day basis and we don't always face these things properly we have to learn everything is romans 15 4 which i've spoken on many times you know everything is written for our learning and so we have to learn just like a soldier going into combat you can't just throw a soldier into combat and expect him to know what to do against a hardened battle force that is called the enemy he has to go through what is called basic training and he has to learn what to and what not to do under stress conditions and the same thing holds true for the christian man and woman we are likened by paul as soldiers and we're in a form of combat each and every day you are i am everyone is and we need to understand god says what it is that we have to do in order to survive this situation a soldier has to be prepared and probably one of the most fearful things a soldier would encounter and it's something that i've thought about many times what it would be like if you were in a combat situation you had everything you had your weapon you were all prepared but what was missing you had no ammunition for your weapon how are you going to be able to deal with the enemy when you don't have any ammunition for your weapon what is our ammunition the spirit of god this is necessary for us to grasp in in the context of what now we're going to read further he said we have to be in the power of god's might his might and then he admonishes us verse 11 put on don't leave it at home he says put on the whole armor of god notice the word whole just partial armor is not enough a soldier goes into combat he cannot just take well i don't think i want to take my backpack today that's too heavy that 10 pound rifle i'm tired of that i got to find a cheaper lighter weapon something i can use no you can't do that there's just certain things a soldier has to learn and adapt to to be a good soldier you and i in order to be good spiritual soldiers of jesus christ must learn to adapt and apply the principles that the scripture is addressing so he tells us put on the whole armor of god why that you may be able to stand not fall but to stand and stand up against what it says that you might stand against the wiles of the devil so an enemy is introduced to us called the devil and in this particular case the word wiles has been translated in some translations as the various schemes you know we talk about a person who well that individual is a scheming individual he's he's kind of furtive and always working angles satan's always working angles and he's scheming how can i overthrow this individual and that individual is you or me or anyone because we are the target of the enemy and we have to understand that we are the target of the enemy and especially those called now who would be the first fruits in the great plan of salvation that god is working with all mankind please remember god's desire is what that not anyone should perish but all come to the knowledge of the truth and then embrace the truth so that they can be saved god is in the saving business satan is in the destroying business you and i are every day living in the enemy's world because he is the god of this world ephesians tells us he's the prince of the power of the air and corinthians tells us he's the god of this world so we know very clearly from the scripture letting that be our manual just like in military combat you get them you get a manual and it gives you guidelines on what to do how to clean your rifle how to do what you do how to take it apart how to put it back together again you just can't go in the middle of a fire fight everything's erupting around you and you don't know what to do you would do what you would panic and in a panic situation you would die why because a determined enemy would take you out he's out to get you and you have got to be in a position to resist his assault this is why this armor of god is so critical to us and he says here's the reason why we need to look closer at this subject he says for we wrestle the closest thing i would like and unto that you know what sports wrestling you've seen wrestling on tv or something and they're throwing each other around and slamming each other down and doing all kind a lot of that's a bunch of hui and you know they practice that that that's all theatrics if you understand but real wrestling is quite different in combat situation if you are wrestling with an enemy up close and personal it would be when we say fixed bayonets and you're up face to face with this enemy and he's trying to take you out and you either take him out or he takes you out that's in a physical situation god is saying this is far more dangerous than what man thinks and it is dangerous what man gets involved with but in this case we wrestle not against flesh and blood we're not in combat with flesh and blood we're in combat against it says principalities against powers against the rulers of the darkness of this world and against spiritual wickedness in high places or like my marginal reference gives the alternate is we are fighting wicked spirits wicked spirits evil elements out there from a spiritual dimension that you and i don't even comprehend because we live in the three-dimensional world we live in but god says you need to be aware of these and in order to deal with them you're going to because you're going to have to wrestle with them in other words you're going to come into close conduct contact with these things and you won't even see it you won't even know it unless you're protected by the whole armor of god now principalities can also be referred to as governments governments isn't it interesting how that human beings have to struggle with government governments and right now we're having to struggle in our government with what let's go at 19 thing and it's going to have an effect upon mankind and especially our nation something to pray about but it says we're fighting against this element so now notice again verse 13 wherefore take unto you the whole are here it is the second time it's mentioned the whole armor of god that you may be able to withstand in the evil day and we are in an evil day evil is is mounting on all sides around the world we see the destruction that's taking place and people are justifying this destruction by looting and stealing and beating up on other people it's a world that's not very friendly it's a world that can get very ugly very quickly and we're told that we are to be able to withstand stand up against this evil day and having done all to stand god wants us when it's all said and done it end up in a standing position he does not want us to be defeated and down he wants us to be up and he goes on and says therefore when all this is done he says stand you therefore verse 14 and then he begins to explain this very thing the various elements this is what we're going to do now we're going to break this down i'll try to put it in terms that hopefully you can grasp and apply and remember this is a spiritual war we're involved in we're not talking about physical combat but it's going to affect your physical life there's no doubt about it because these elements are out there and they're working against our everyday life situation this is why we have struggles this is why we have problems and difficulties because these things are designed to keep us in a state of confusion do you see people in a state of confusion today that they don't know which way they're to go we're seeing the scriptures where lawlessness is now reaching such a degree that it says because of this the love of many now we're just talking physical love there but the love of many people who love their own they just basically see what the love of many waxes cold and another translation a friend of mine told me here recently he believes personally what it's telling us the love of the majority is turning cold that people are drawing into themselves they're not they're not willing to share of themselves to the same degree oh they may when there's an accident or something you know like lake charles when a hurricane came and people come together but then they dissipate very quickly after 9 11. we came together but then we dissipated we forgot in world war ii when we were struggling for our national survival in a very dangerous time what happened everyone was pulling together we've lost that element and god says i don't want you my people to lose your spiritual life because that's what's involved here this is not just the physical life we're going to have upheaval jesus told us he said know this that is through much tribulation we will enter the kingdom of god because we live in a world of tribulation this is not the kingdom of god the people of god are the kingdom of god in embryo we are beginning we're the initial stage of what god is doing to change us to be helpers for those who will need to be understood in the kingdom of god when christ returns the whole armor of god notice verses 11 and 13 as i mentioned the word whole armor of god it's quite obvious then quite obvious that this instruction was given what not once but twice any time there's a double emphasis given in the scripture it's because there is great significance to it and god wants you to remember it not forget it so it gives it an added punch and just like soldiers of that time they would never leave or go into combat whether it's a roman soldier a greek soldier they would never enter combat with only a part of their weaponry or their defenses they went fully prepared and when you're up against a determined enemy you've got to be fully prepared and dear brethren i'm telling you right up front we're not as prepared as we should be that's why we're taken advantage of by the adversary that's why he's able to break through our ranks that's why he gets us in states of where we panic are in a state of upheaval because we forget who's in charge and who's guiding our operation who's our commander-in-chief his name is jesus christ who's the commander-in-chief of the wicked spirits of this world satan the devil they take their orders from him what is his orders to them create as much confusion and chaos in the lives of the men and women that are on this earth so that they are drawn away from god not to him and that's why the scripture gives us examples the straight and narrow way that leads to life the broad way that goes to destruction many go in there at why we're being drawn away from the truth of god it's happening in the lives of people you can see it so here we have double emphasis it's very important that we make sure that all the armor of god is on us it might be a good idea every day we pray in the morning when we start lord god cover me with the whole armor of god to ask specifically for it he says ask and you shall receive he says you have not because you asked not maybe we're not asking enough and we're trying to do things our way rather than listening to what god says because god will fight our battles for us if we do it his way problem is we don't trust him that's another subject and another time i'm going to bring out some things we have to learn to trust god if we were to use the example of a pilot flying dark as we heard on that beyond today program what do you do when it gets dark if you're flying by daylight hours you have v you know visible visible ability vfr flying what happens when it gets dark you have to trust your instruments as he said it becomes necessary you have to go i vr yeah instrument readings i was in a plane one time when that happened we were flying down from since uh south bend indiana back to toledo ohio years ago and i'll never forget that because we were in the clouds at night and all the lights on the plane were just rolling on the clouds and you could just see that the pilot's just looking at this instrument just keeping his eyes on those instruments and flying the plane finally we dropped i thought how is he going to land this thing he can't see a thing all those lights flashing and then finally we just dropped through the clouds and he did it fine but he had to trust his instruments if he said to himself well i don't trust those instruments we might not have landed if we don't trust god in his instrumentation here or how he gives us instrumentation of these things we could get into trouble in a hurry so in the same degree if we do not put on the whole armor of god we could lose in this battle of life you and i don't want to lose we don't want to become a casualty so what we see then is that the enemy he is revealed to us as the constant daily element that you and i deal with but it's easy to forget that isn't it we get so busy living our routine in life we forget there's an invisible enemy out there always watching us putting us in the crosshairs of the scope so to speak and could take us out if we're not careful so the ultimate enemy we know is satan the devil that's mentioned in verses 11 and verse 16. and as we've read in verse 12 there's rulers there's authorities or principalities or governments world rulers the book of daniel talks about that about a wicked prince in the demonic world and what was his job well he was the wicked prince of persia and he came when daniel was crying out to god for understanding about well what about this 70 years when the people are in captivity what's going on here and so gabriel we're told comes the angel of god comes and gives him information but it says but that wicked prince came to resist him there was a force of resistance question have you ever felt at times when you're trying to do something you felt a force of resistance against you something just wasn't right something was just it's like you're pushing up against the wall you can't get this thing to move yeah we've all experienced if you haven't you will because satan resists the things of god finally michael had to come and help gabriel and they pushed that influence back out and then you have the story later on it talks about the prince of persia so the demonic world has these hidden rulers these princes that rule under satan and they influence the nations in which they are dominating or the empire that they control at the time we go on and realize that satan will do anything to keep us away from god he attacks his attacks are strong and they can be devastating so our enemy is not other people really although people think other people are their enemies and other people can become enemies to other individuals because they allow themselves to become the seed of satan influenced by him or as jesus put it this way he says you're of your father the devil and the things he does is what you like to do who's our father what does he like us to do what has he called us to do are we children of our father do we demonstrate that we're told that we're going to be involved in battles the wilds are the schemes of the devil as we mentioned there in verse 11 of ephesians 6 we're dealing with ephesians 6. in verse 16 it says above all these preparations see you've got to take preparations involved and what satan wants he wants us to enter into these situations where we encountered his influence he wants us to enter into it leaving our armor at home thinking we don't need it all that if i pray that'll be enough well that's important but prayer is not enough by itself or if i just read the bible a day each day for a little bit that'll be all right no that's not that maybe part but it's not the whole armor of god now when we go through this what we're beginning to recognize about ourselves that we're all deficient we are all deficient we don't pray enough we don't study enough we don't do these things we know we're not dumb and stupid god has revealed them to us he tells us this is what you should do but we don't do it fully why it's an element of trust and faith in god because you means you have to literally give god unconditional surrender you have to listen to what he says and follow his instructions satan's fiery darts are referred figuratively he's not shooting literal fiery darts at you but he comes after us to try to destroy our everyday life you ever notice that some days your your lives your day is really good in other days your lives are very bad things just don't quite work right when we're close to god things flow when we're not close to god there's disruptions and things that come along and god allows it for what purpose everything is designed by god in his mercy to bring us back to him he wants us to come to him he's always seeking us we're not always seeking him he says if you seek me with your whole heart if you really come after me you want me you'll be found i'll be found of you you'll know where i am you'll understand it'll all all begin to come together all right let's look at verse 14 and 15. in order to stand the very first thing we want to look at it says having your loins gird about with truth you've got to know where truth is defined truth is defined by god himself as the creator john 17 17 you shall know the truth and the truth will set you free when we read about in the beginning god created the heavens and the earth and we read about in john chapter 1 it tells us very specifically it says in the beginning was the word and the word was with god and the word was god the greek word there is logos for word now we don't can't quite identify with the word logos it doesn't quite ring with us i'd like to give you a little bit of a different word to help you understand what it is saying in the beginning was yes the word but let's put it this way in the beginning was the definition the word or the definition of god was with god jesus gives the definition and the instruction on what is the will of god without a definition you can't understand what the word means jesus is the word and he gives us the definition of what he is that he is the son of god who came to this earth to do what brings salvation to mankind this is important to look at because this is the what we're to gird ourselves with now girding when a soldier was in combat in old times what they would do they wrapped themselves around with a special type of material it was like a wrap or a covering it was the very first piece of armor that they put on that was to wrap themselves totally in it so they were protected with that now that girding covered something what was it it covered their nakedness because without the girding they were wide open it was just flesh so they had to cover themselves to make sure their flesh was protected god wants to keep us in his truth close to us he wants us to be make sure that his truth is the first thing we put on what good is all the rest of us we're what we're going to talk about if we don't even believe in the truth of god or the definition of god or what he defines for our welfare if we don't believe that then it means nothing all the rest is just gingerbread this is why in military combat what is the first thing that they drive home after all this training your purpose as a soldier is to do what complete the mission no matter what you go through what you're up against no matter how many ups downs what have you you've got to complete the mission what is the mission that god wants us to do he wants us to stand against the wiles of the devil that's the mission he doesn't want us to fold before satan he doesn't want you fearing satan and the demons that's what satan loves he wants to spook us and scare us he wants to do everything he can to make you fear him more than god and people today have this distorted understanding they think there's this big battle going on here is god on one side and here's the devil on the other side and it seems like the devil's winning because where is god in all of this and people are asking these questions of themselves where is god where he's always been on the throne of his glory watching and monitoring and seeing exactly what is going on at all times intervening where he needs to and standing back and letting human beings do it their way so bang they crash into the wall and then they said where was god in all this and god says where i've always been but you've never sought me you didn't come after me you did it your way you know when a soldier has a commanding officer he's got to do what the commanding officer says now in man's world it's not done perfectly sometimes commanding officers give you a screwed up message and soldiers get killed because of stupid messages given by commanding officers but ideally if the commanding officer is concerned for his men he gives the instruction and what happens the individual soldiers rely on his instruction that be true whether he's a submarine submariner commander that would be a regular soldier an air force pilot who is the head lead man and you're a wingman on his fight you you follow instructions if you don't you're in trouble we don't follow instructions brethren that's why we as human beings are in trouble and god is saying you're going out every day facing this terrible enemy that i'm telling you about and you don't even wear the combat material i tell you to cover yourself with so you can stand you think you're so smart that you can out fox the devil he's been around a lot longer than any of us but god says don't fear him he's the one who's afraid of you why because of what you represent he knows what god is doing with us god is in the building building of something wonderful what is that he's creating sons and daughters unto glory for his kingdom god is going to save mankind from destruction satan is out to destroy mankind and obliterate them now when god is going to save us it's important to understand there will be some that will not be saved why because god is not going to save people who remain in their sins he's going to save all people no matter who they are if they are willing to repent of their sins and therefore he will do what have mercy upon us he will forgive us our sins and our trespasses because he is faithful and just he is a god of love and when you understand that loving god is willing to blot out everything that you have done wrong where you have done contrary to his will but you now acknowledge it and are willing to humble yourself and follow god's instruction as your commander-in-chief and then he tells you what now my son now my daughter in order to survive you've got to put on the whole armor of god and you've been too careless in doing so that's why i mentioned it twice you see our tendency as human beings we have this nature that is a defiled nature i think we recognize that we don't have to go into that but here's the problem that nature wants to hide from god what did adam and eve do after they sent who came looking for who did adam come saying god where are you no what i read in the book says god is walking and he's like he always did and he says uh adam where are you god was seeking adam and eve and they hid themselves they said why because we have no rapping we have no girding we didn't listen to you and our nakedness is exposed you see what happens god wants us to cover our nakedness because it's a symbol of sin today mankind wants to do what strip off your clothes show as much of your nakedness as you can and god says that's what defiles you the flesh the flesh profits nothing it's the spirit the spirit that brings life so here we are first piece of armor wrap around it covers us and we have to go out each day with his truth closest to us so that no lies can enter in you and i are being bombarded with lies i don't know how our president president trump how he has survived without the help of god it's just one man's opinion others may think differently but all i know is i can't see how he could take such badgering day in and day out for his whole term as president no other president has ever been bombarded like he has and they have just attacked him and attacked him and they won't let go it's like every day we can't function unless we attack that word trump and that's what has happened and the hypocrisy and the lies nobody nobody does what nobody repents they just keep lying and telling more lies no wonder jesus says you're of your father the devil he was a liar from the beginning and that's what's happened all right once that is on we have now the girding what is the next part it says that we are to do something we are to take a breastplate of righteousness in verse 14. and verse 15 tells us what is this element here 14 15 16 we'll go through these the breastplate of righteousness we are told it covers the heart that's why you put this over your heart your chest it protects the vital organs this is where an enemy always shoots you know and we shoot for the torso right in here where the vital organs are or they shoot for the head usually it's a combination once in the heart once in the head interesting that god talks about these elements of our body so it covers internal organs the breastplate of righteousness covers our heart it guards our heart from being pierced now that's our mind our thought process god has written his law it says in our hearts and in our minds if we allow our hearts and our remain our mind and our heart to be uncovered let's say we leave the breastplate home say i'm not going to take it today that it's just too heavy and yet see the laws of god are not too heavy but people say oh it's just too it's too much the things that god wants us to do no it's it's not he says take up my oak he says for my my yoke is light god doesn't put heavy burdens on us he only gives us what we can handle and so his law his commands are in our heart and we will not be obedient to the laws of god if we forget or deny the breastplate we don't cover ourselves we're wide open today people are wide open in the group of people who have been called over the years the church of god has been under attack for a long time and a lot of people today believe lies even in the church of god they don't they don't listen carefully to what the scriptures are telling them we're told then to go to the feet the feet to be shot with the preparation of the gospel of peace why is that necessary because jesus came to reveal he said my peace i give to you not as the world gives i give you my peace in the world you shall have tribulation god's purpose is to have us at peace and at peace with others so that wherever we go we are ambassadors for a peaceful way of existence we are not in a state of upheaval and chaos but we represent the kingdom that is a kingdom of what who's our commander-in-chief what's what is what is one of his names he is the prince of what peace if we're to be like jesus christ conformed unto his image we are to reflect a spirit of peace in our life if we're always agitated upset with this person that person we can't compel well we are filled with complaints all the time we get bumble grumble we're not at peace it means the spirit of god is not working in us properly because the spirit of god will bring peace and wherever you go you will spread peace you will not be a person who is an agitator and a comp complainer but that's what we see in this world that's what we see in this world we see people are unhappy they're dissatisfied we're getting ready to celebrate our national holiday of thanksgiving and the enemy has already busy at work saying through principalities and governments and issuing decrees not only in our world but in other countries as well that you can't get together we're going to isolate you we're going to break you apart so that you can't have that togetherness that we all hunger and thirst for and we hunger down that on a physical level and there is a spiritual level in which that is achieved as well well you know your feet have to be shot that way and you got to protect your feet a soldier knows one thing for sure you better take care of your feet because if your feet become immobilized you can't function as a soldier you can't operate anymore you're a drag now because you can't do your part you and i are called to do our part to sep to separate ourselves from a world of chaos and be ambassadors for peace because we represent the prince of peace that's what god is telling us in plain simple language our example and our devotion to god is the way of life we live so when you come into a person's home does it reflect peace come into a person's home does it reflect chaos and upheaval these are things we have to think about then we move to the next verse verse 16. what is verse 16 says above all now here we go now this is critical above all with this armor that you have to take he says above all take to you the shield of faith wherewith you will be able to do what quench the fiery darts of the wicked or the wicked one now we know in hebrews 11 it's called the faith chapter and what does the faith chapter reveal that first we've got to know that god exists we've got to prove that to ourselves and that he's a rewarder of those who just know about him no it doesn't say that it says that we are to do what represent god in our minds that without faith it is impossible to please god we have to know that he is and a rewarder of those who diligently seek him every blessing every gift comes from god and it's a reward god wants you to be blessed that's what his that's why he's a god of love if he was anything different guess what we would not have the wonderful blessings we have in this country because he blessed his people israel to confirm his word we have these blessings not because we're better people than anyone else but he loves us as a special treasure called the people of israel the ephraim the manasseh the children who inherited the birthright while judah the israelis are representative of the scepter the staff where jesus is coming back to rule from jerusalem palestine when he returns all these things become extremely exceedingly important for us to remind ourselves a roman soldier back in his day using paul's example talking at the time of roman rule they would have a rectangular shape shield and it was as tall as they were now i'm about six one maybe i shrunk a little bit over the course of time i keep it people you know i think we shrink as the years go by because we don't quite stay the same but anyway i was six one maybe thereabouts so that shield would have to be at least six feet because if i had the shield and was down here don only covered my midsection down on my my my stomach i'd be wide and exposed to what the fiery arrows that were being fired by the enemy and they used fire arrows back in those days and they were deadly and so they would throw that shield up and they would put a wall of shields up to protect the soldiers from the onslaught of those fiery arrows so the same thing is given for us we're to have the shield of faith because this faith does what doesn't cover a part of us it covers all of us faith in god covers all of our whole being we're placing our whole being in the hand of god to shield us because god is the one that we receive the gift of faith from and faith comes by what what you're doing right now you're hearing some your faith today is being strengthened if you're listening if you're not paying attention if your mind is elsewhere your faith is not being strengthened but no matter what i say because what i say is nothing compared to what god says i am merely a voice like any minister of god is a voice to express what god is saying through his word how does the word of god speak to you through how shall they hear except there be a preacher as paul said in the book of romans so all these things come together shield of faith above all make sure you don't go out of day without the faith of god trusting god the shield of faith protects us from all those fiery darts that satan throws and where does he throw them he tries to assault your mind how many of you and this is all of you really from time to time you get some thoughts thrown into your head they're not good thoughts where they come from the bad thoughts didn't come from god and you didn't sit around and say to yourself well i want to think a bad thought right now no you didn't do that but you had a bad thought this is one reason why when you go to bed at night you pray god don't let anything pass through my brain through the night unless it has your stamp of approval because i don't know what else is out there that might be trying to put thoughts in my mind while i'm asleep and those thoughts can drive a person to a state of panic uncertainty and see god has said he wants to cast out all fears doubts and worries because if you fear that has torment and perfect love casts out fear because of that torment so it is necessary again to have that wonderful gift of the shield of faith in the next verse what are we told the helmet of salvation verse 17. we're told about the helmet of salvation it's to protect the head from any blows that one might receive you notice all the greeks the romans all of them had these helmets on their head why because when the enemy would come he'd try to hit him in the head with whatever kind of weapon he had if he can dislodge you in the head and knock you in the brain cause you to get disoriented he's got you satan will constantly try to disrupt the laws of god in your heart your mind that's why you have to have the shield of the helmet the helmet of salvation you have to know what god is going to do he's bringing many sons and daughters unto glory and how is he going to do that by saving us from what saving us from our sins not in our sins i can't i can't emphasize that enough god says he's not willing any should perish yet you and i know that people are going to perish he even used the example and i think it's in the book of luke in the gospel he says bring those that would not that i the king of kings the prince of peace should reign over them bring them here and slay them before me why because they are in their sins and they will not repent of their sins you know when you read the book of revelation and it's final the final hours of man's day all those plagues that are coming down on mankind in a sinful world it's because god in his love and mercy is saying look please turn to me stop this and what did they do it says they cursed the god of heaven in their defiance of him it says who could stop the hail who could stop all this stuff but he allows these punishments to come on a sinful world because they're going to die in their sins they won't be saved from their sins only those that repent that's why jesus says except you repent you will all likewise perish you and i have chosen to repent to stop fighting god stop wanting to do it our way to follow the instruction he gives so we put that helmet of salvation on and it protects us so that we continue to embrace his laws his plan of salvation what happens if you take that off people will forget about the plan of god they'll go back to their old carnal ways you and i have seen people that we know have eaten with them we've sat down with them at the holy days and guess what they're going back to the world well that happened with the demons who he forsook the apostle paul he says demon has forsaken me and gone back to the world because that's all you can do if you're not going to walk and stand with god you've got to stand with this world and who's in control of this world according to the scripture you're listening to the wrong commander in chief so the sword of the spirit becomes the next that's the word of god the powerful word of god it's designed to do what to guide us and defend us because it cuts deep it cuts deep it discerns thoughts and attitudes it's a defender and so with the shield of faith and trust and the sword of the spirit which is the bible the word of god meaning you've got to know the bible not guess at it see people most people will look at the bible and say well i believe this is the word of god you do how do you know that well there's many enemies out there the first thing they're going to do is attack this book they'll say you can't believe in this book you're silly for believing because people who are intellectually smart and alert they're wise they don't need god and that's the vanity of life that human beings have embraced well god tells us very plainly let's go to proverbs 24 and verse 16. proverbs 24 and verse 16. so 24 and verse 16 we have the following it says for a just man falls seven times yeah we've all had those times where we have hit rock bottom and rises up again but the wicked shall fall into mischief in other words without the help of god people who are trying to do it on their own are going to fall and they're not going to rise because they don't have the power or the capability only god can bring us to the final conclusion and give us the victory james chapter 4 verse 7 james chapter 4 verse 7. submit yourselves therefore unto god and do what resist the devil and he will flee from you the devil will not flee from you unless you resist him but you can't resist them unless you submit to god first that's what the scripture is plainly saying when we break these scriptures down step by step we come up with that conclusion so god is telling us put on the whole armor he says if we don't put on all these pieces of the armor then we could be destroyed by satan satan could break through our ranks and he could overpower god tells us we are to be overcomers who are we overcoming we're overcoming our carnal human nature to resist god we don't want to resist him we're overcoming this world we don't want to buy into the lies that this world has taught us because we all grew up in living a lie and last but not least we do what we overcome the sinful life that we have been living human nature self we overcome the devil we overcome the world and we have to learn to overcome ourselves and it's a tough battle and it's even worse if you go far not with the whole armor of god if you try to live this life without the whole armor of god you'll find the answer to why you're having some of the problems and difficulties you're having that's what the bible is telling us because you're trying to work it out yourself and god says it doesn't work that way well in conclusion i'd like you to realize that god has not called us to be a casualty in this spiritual war he's but he does call us to fight we're not to be a bunch of pacifists when it comes to this we're engaged in a war that is even worse than man's wars and man's wars are pretty terrible they do terrible things in man's wars but in this war ours is a war of overcoming overcoming this adversary overcoming the world he's created and overcoming ourselves who have been influenced and grown up in his wretched world and why we have all had the problems i can't speak for you but all i know is that i i wish i hadn't had all the problems i had growing up in life and things i've had to encounter because i've encountered my share and you've encountered your share everyone will encounter their share how do i know that no flesh will glory in his presence because if you want to be delivered if you want to be saved and when it says when you call upon the name of jesus christ and you believe you and your household shall be saved that's because you believe and have submitted to jesus as the commander in your life and that's where you want to be you don't want what this world has to offer although you've got to live in it and deal as best you can with it so god is telling us number one keep god's truth close to you he tells you to keep your hearts girded from lies make sure we spread the peace wherever we go that we are ambassadors for god's peace keep that shield of faith close at hand be sure you know how to use that sword of the spirit remember when jesus was under assault by the devil in matthew 4 he gave us the outline how to resist the devil and he quoted from the book of deuteronomy in the torah the teaching the law how to resist and he quoted scripture after scripture every time satan throws a doubt in your mind throw a scripture in his face let him deal with the word of god bang he can't stand against that he will back away every time and finally jesus told satan to do what get thee hence satan and satan left him but he came back later on he does he doesn't give up just because you say it once you've got to fight every day so again keep that shield of faith trusting god on a daily principle hold the sword of the spirit then remember pray and pray every day there are many people who are sick and afflicted right now in the church of god who needs healing and they can be healed if intercessory prayer is given on their behalf and there are healings people who are being healed but we tend to hear more of all the problems people are having than the mass healings and the reason why is if you go back in the early start of the church the church was coming online and you had massive healings and things taking place that don't happen in the end why because that was the former rain and we're living in the latter rain the latter rain of healings is that it goes on in the lives of people mentally emotionally physically psychologically or being healed by the spirit of god and that not everybody hears about not everybody sees because you have to have eyes to see and ears to hear that only god can give you that's what we pray about and ask for close contact with our god we petition him to protect us from all evil and we watch and we pray because there's going to be constant attacks in this world that we will have to deal with we'll have to persevere even under trying situations right this past year we've had some trying situations like we've never had in the church and we have to deal with them as best we can with the help of god and we have to persevere because these are trying times and we must never give up especially when we are caught off guard satan will catch us from time to time because we'll lower our shield and what god wants us to do is get right back up and engage in the fight against the evil one you can't give up just because you have a temporary setback and we all have setbacks and have to draw close to god and ask him to forgive us and help us with his power his holy spirit so i ask in the beginning is what i ask you now in the end are you wearing the whole armor of god i hope so you

Channel: UCG Macon-Columbus, GA

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Id: hCQGDjP087o

Length: 63min 49sec (3829 seconds)

Published: Sat Nov 21 2020