Put On The Armor of God
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Put on the Armor of GodSun, Aug 13, 2023 10AM • 49:50SUMMARY KEYWORDS
all right good morning how are you guys doing this morning it's good to be here I am not Pastor Gene my name is Tony I'm just simply a volunteer here Pastor Gene and his family are out this week and he gave me the honor and privilege of speaking here I love to speak it's a great time for me just to get to be here and do this and it's probably not as a great time for you but hey here's the deal if you don't like this week Pastor Gene is back next week please if it's your first time here give him a shot next week if you do like this week good news he's better than I am you'll like it more next week so we got win-win situation here all right so listen today I want to speak about something I was given the opportunity to speak a year ago it's been a year since the first time I took the stage and I laid an Easter egg in that message I said I was gonna speak on the armor of God because my absolute favorite superhero happened in 2008 so up until 2008 I was just a normal Tony living a normal Tony life and then all of a sudden in 2008 for those that don't know Marvel Comics dropped Iron Man the movie and it totally changed Tony's everywhere because then we all became known as Tony Stark and as you can see I'm a nerd I'm a geek I'm wearing a shirt I didn't buy this for this message I own this shirt if you walk in my room uh if you look to the right which is my side of the room you will see three Iron Man pictures across my wall yes my wife is a loving wife and she allows me to have those things and so Iron Man became one of my favorite Comic Book Heroes and I just I loved it and the whole thing about his armor just intrigued me the technology the armor and I it relates so well to what we're going to talk about today it really does because today we're going to talk about the armor of God and in Iron Man Tony Stark uses his armor to fight battles on a regular basis and we as Christians fight battles on a daily basis the Bible makes it very clear that we are in a constant spiritual battle now we're not necessarily in a constant battle against the devil but we have a sin nature that was developed at the when when Adam and Eve chose to sin we have a sin nature and we constantly battle that and Paul gives us a great way to battle that sin nature he really does and so today we are going to talk about the armor of God we're going to talk about how we're going to put that on on a regular basis it's not a physical armor there's nothing I'm going to give you here that's uh mythological that you're going to be able to use physically but it's something you're going to be able to armor your spiritual life with that way you can battle the sin nature that we have inside of us so if you have your Bibles you can turn them to Ephesians chapter 6 Ephesians chapter 6 and we're going to be verse 10 through 20. and again this is Paul writing through the Church of Ephesus and he says a final word says a final word this is like when your kids when you're about to leave the house and you've got one last instruction for your kid you're like hey pick this up all right don't use the stove all right you can do whatever you want but don't do this he's like a final word it's important I want you to grasp this he's like if you didn't get anything else out of this book out of this letter I want you to get this and so he emphasizes a final word be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power put on all of God's armor so that you will be able to stand firm against all the strategy of the devil for we are not fighting against flesh and blood enemies but against evil rulers and authorities of an Unseen World against Mighty powers in this Dark World against the evil spirits in Heavenly paces and places therefore put on every piece of God's armor so you'll be able to resist the enemy in the time of evil then after the battle you'll still be standing firm stand your ground putting on the belt of truth and the body armor of God's righteousness for shoes put on the peace that comes from the good news so that you'll be fully prepared in addition to all these hold up to Shield of Faith to stop the fiery arrows of the devil put on salvation as your helmet and take the sword of the spirit which is the word of God pray in the spirit at all times on every occasion stay alert and be persisted in your prayers for all believers everywhere and pray for me too ask God to give me the right word so I can boldly explain God's mysterious plan that the good news is for Jews and Gentiles alike I am in Chains now still preaching this message as God's Ambassador so pray that I will keep speaking boldly for him as I should so what we're going to talk about here is we're going to look at these spiritual battles that Paul's talking about Paul is probably in the midst of a spiritual battle that we will never understand more than likely he is in jail he's in prison for his beliefs he's in prison for what he believes he's taken a stand he says I'm going to choose Christ and the word of God over every Comfort known to man now jails are a little different I I have some familiarity with the jails for those that are new no I have not been in them um I said that and I thought about they're like oh yeah he spent time um no I actually work for the Collier County Sheriff's Office I'm a deputy so I've seen inside the jail and it's it's it's not terrible it's not what Paul had to deal with they have TVs and things like that Paul probably dealt with a brick or just mud area and had no bathroom whatsoever his bed was probably straw if that it was not a comfortable place to be so Paul is not writing this from a luxurious place he's already riding this from a place where he has taken a stand for God at a level that some of us would not I I questioned myself sometimes do I have the faith and integrity in my Christian belief that I would stand for Christ in the place of them being like Hey we're going to take you away from your family we're going to take you away from your home you're no longer going to have any Comforts you're going to eat whatever it is we give you and back then it probably wasn't very good and you're going to do this because you're going to take a stand for Christ am I at that place in my spiritual walk that I could do that it's a question right that we need to ask ourselves so what do we need to know about these verses well the first two verses 6 through 12 Paul tells us exactly what's going on there is a daily battle and it's a spiritual one there is a daily battle and it's a spiritual one and so here's the deal fights and battles are physically mentally and spiritually exhausting spiritual battles are physically mentally and spiritually exhausting if you've been through a spiritual battle in your life you know that mentally it can get to you physically it can wear you down and mentally or even spiritually you become you look and you're like why is God doing this to me and so spiritually you get worn down as well so what Paul is about to give us is going to help us maintain our endurance it's going to help us fight a better fight in our spiritual battles and so when we look at this the first thing is there is an outward battle so there is a spiritual outward battle now that's very rarely touched on it's not something we're going to talk about a lot today but there is proof of spiritual warfare if you turn to Daniel chapter 10 12-14 it tells us about like this physical spiritual battle that's going on where maybe we don't even know what's going on this is after Daniel Prayed this is the angel that appears to Daniel then he said don't be afraid Daniel since the first day you begin to pray for understanding and to humble yourself before God your request has been heard in heaven and I have come I have come and answered to your prayer but for 21 days the spirit Prince of the King of Persia blocked my way then Michael one of the archangels came to help me and I left him there with the spirit Prince of King of Persia now I'm here to explain to you what will happen to your people in the future for this Vision concerns a time yet to come so this uh passage in Daniel refers to a physical spiritual battle that Daniel doesn't even know what's going on when he's praying he has no idea what's happening now we're not going to focus on that today because we're going to focus on the inward spiritual battle the first thing is you need to know who your enemy is your enemy is the devil right he's he's our enemy in First Peter 5 8 the Bible describes him it says stay alert watch out for your great enemy the devil he prowls around like a roaring lion looking for somebody to devour the Bible Compares them to a lion now if you're like me and you'd like to watch the Discovery Channel and you like to watch these animal shows which I do I don't know why I just love them but you see in the lines behind the grass and he's looking at the herd and you know what the lions are not saying to each other and you see that strong guy over there that's the one I want no there's no pride in a lion right the lion looks down and they're like see that guy that antelope over there he's sick he's slow he's alone he's the one I want easy prey easy prey we can take him down now in our spiritual walk if we're sick if we're ill spiritually if we're alone spiritually we're not plugged in we don't have a good spiritual walk we are easier to pray for our enemy The Devil he's looking to attack us at our weakest point we've got to be careful Paul tells us to walk circumspectly which is like to walk straight but in a circle paying attention to what's going on all around you looking to see where your weak points are I can tell you that when we go on sin nature is the cause of this battle Adam and Eve Adam and Eve sinned we're not going to argue over who did that first that's not a discussion you can have that Pastor Gene you can ask him on Wednesday night at Bible study at five at six o'clock Shameless plug for Bible study but you can ask Pastor Gene who sin first man or woman let's talk about that I'm sure he'll avoid that subject but listen sin first Adam and Eve but then Cain so Cain and Abel were born Abel becomes a shepherd and he brings his first youngling as his offering to Christ we see the video on it a lot of times for offering video Kane brings the first of his flock the best of his flock and he brings it to God as an offering Cain is a farmer nothing wrong with that but when the Bible describes Cain offering Cain's offering it says he brings some of his fruit that he's farmed up he brings some it doesn't talk about it doesn't give it the title of the first and the young lean like it does with Abel and so we see here that God is not happy or pleased with Cain's offering but Cain doesn't understand why God's not happy and so he pouts and so God calls him out Genesis 4 7 says listen you'll be accepted if you do what is right but if you refuse to do what is right then watch out sin is crouching out the door eager to control you but you must subdue it and be its master so not only do we see that God repels his unjust complaint but it shows us that Cain has no greater adversary than the sin in which he inwardly cherished he does no greater adversary than his inner sin it's crouched at the door the reason why this is important is not to inspire fear because the Bible tells us we're not to have a spirit of fear word of fear God the Bible very clearly makes it the only fear we should have is fear God Ecclesiastes 12 13 says for the this is the final word fear God and keep his commandments so other than the fear of God we should not be sitting here on a regular basis afraid of sinning that's not what Paul is telling us to do Paul's not telling us to be afraid Paul is telling us to be prepared we should be prepared to battle against us in nature now we're going to get to why we want to do that but we should be prepared listen we go to James 1 13-15 says and remember when you are being tempted do not say God is tempting me God is never tempted to do wrong and he never tempts anyone else Temptation comes from where our own desires which entice us and drag us away these desires give birth to sinful actions and When sin is allowed to grow it gives birth to death James speaks of temptation as an inward lust to sin it's different from God trying our faith he's sitting here saying hey God will try your faith that's different and inward lust to sin is what we battle on a regular basis it's a daily struggle but there is good news there is good news and Paul's going to get to that why do we need to know these things why do we need to know about this sin nature battle why is this important you ask that's that's a good question why is it important well the first thing is to quote a great line in Rambo I know it's an old movie but if you want to win war you've got to prepare for war you've got to be prepared it seems obvious but if we're constantly looking outward for attack and never focusing on inward battles you will not win the war it used to be a phrase the devil made me do it the devil made me do it devil made me do it this is how I was brought up this is how I was raised now listen you're talking to a guy who has seen some things that I question if we're being real with each other which for the most part we are right we're we're a family-oriented church so I'm going to be real from you with you from the stage in the profession that I'm in I've seen some things where I've been to houses multiple times and the kids know me by my first name they know me because I I try to get to know the kids that are there you know because they're in a terrible situation they've probably seen the worst side of me in dealing with their parents they may have seen the worst side that life has to offer and I've been in some situations where you would be like what is there a chance for this person to grow up normal is there a chance for this person to know what's right it's a question and before I would have told you from the beginning before I do what I do now I told you listen everybody has the opportunity to do what's right everybody has the opportunity to choose the right path I still agree with that I just don't think it's as easy as I thought it was and you know what we're going to find out today are how we handle our inward Battle of sin can affect those around us because listen you succeeding in your inward Battle of sin you succeeding putting on the armor of God could be the only thing that somebody ever sees in their life that's any good it could be you it could be a brief moment that shines a light on somebody's life and it may not even be that moment that they realize it you think about some of the testimonies that you may have heard throughout your life listen when I was little this person was kind to me and it didn't dawn on me until I was an adult what does that person have that I don't in those situations when I walk into those houses or I deal with young people that are going through things that I can't understand I mean when you literally Baker Act an eight-year-old when you got an eight-year-old that tells you that I I don't want to live anymore it's like you're eight bro this should not be a conversation I'm having with you but here's the deal in that moment I may be the only one that can show him the love of God and you know what I have to be winning my inward Battle of sin in order to reflect that love in order to show him Christ I have to be prepared to battle every day listen it's not about your circumstance it's not about how you brought up the inward battle is upon you to be prepared for listen this battle doesn't accept it doesn't start until we accept Christ if you're in here today and you've not accepted Christ listen you may not be going through this battle right now you may not be going through this and we should ask ourselves if we're not battling inward Temptation and sin and we're not putting up that fight and we're just accepting the sin that's going in our life and we're continually in sin we need to ask ourselves we need to do a re-evaluation of our Christian life because the Bible tells us before we accept Christ it's not only that God doesn't know who like God knows who you are right he knows who you are he knows everybody you're not it's not just that you're not a child of God when you're not saved the Bible tells you that you're an enemy you're vicious towards God so when I grew up it was it was like Hey you're not a child of the king no no the Bible takes it a step further the Bible says if you haven't accepted Christ as your savior you are an enemy of God and these battles don't apply to you it doesn't happen saved individuals that accepted Christ today you are in a constant battle against sin but here's how we deal with it because Paul gets to the good news and this is where the armor comes on listen it's a metaphor it's not interpreted as real armor and listen the reason why Paul is writing this is think about where Paul is think about the inspiration God uses here is this is not cool Paul is in a Roman prison do you know what he's looking at every day Roman guards and he's looking at their armor and you know what the Holy Spirit touches Paul and says I want you to write about this and I want you to apply it I want you to take this common thing that everybody sees listen Rome back in this time was huge most people would have known what a Roman soldier looks like people aspired to be Roman soldiers in some instances so they knew this armor that Paul was talking about so Paul took this common thing that everybody would know and he applied it to the Christian Life and he said listen this is what you got to do the first thing he talks about right away when we look at Ephesians 13 6 13-20 the first thing he talks about is the belt of Truth the belt of Truth it's the most important piece of the armor the reason why the belt held the rest of the armor together so when you looked at the roman armor their belt actually tied down their breastplate it was actually tied to their belt that way when you're riding on a horse listen I wear a vest every day and I can tell you it's not tied down to my belt so when you're sitting in your car you're like turtled your vest is up like this and you're like hey what's going on I have no neck you pull up next to me it's like hey what's up or when you're running it's hitting you in the face it's annoying happens get injuries on your chin that's why I have facial hair I'm just kidding but it does it rides up it goes down it's not comfortable it just ruined my mic and so the belt held down the the breastplate it held it down it was tied to it and then the thigh armor and the leg pieces were also tied to the Belt why to keep them from falling down have you ever worn lawn socks that go up to your knees I did because when I was in high school it was a long time ago and that was a cool thing to do I think it's coming back but then in the middle of the game you get sweaty and your socks would start to ride down and it felt weird and it was terrible all right so all of this was held together by the belt the belt held the entire armor together now listen that's why he says it first because here's the deal let me explain to you if you do not believe that this very word is the true word of God and the truth you've already lost the battle this is 100 God's word it's 100 true there is no debate about this if you have a debate about this being the 100 True accurate word of God the rest of this doesn't work notice what today's world is doing today's world is taking truth and kind of erasing it there's no truth your truth is your truth what you believe is true that's that's truth it applies to you and we've taken it we've applied it in every area of of our lives and listen listen I believe it so it's true and then if you try to debate that truth with me well that's a problem because it's my truth let me tell you that's not what the Bible tells us if you're in this room today and you believe that there's another truth other than what's right here the rest of this message doesn't apply because the rest of the armor won't hold together your your breastplate will ride up your your shoes will fall off that you'll you'll never be able to hold it all together because you don't have truth truth is the most viable is the most viable thing listen John 14 6 tells us this when we accept Christ we accept truth Jesus told him I am the way the truth and the life no man can come through the father except through me you can't even come to the father without accepting truth Jesus Christ himself is truth it holds it together John 16 13 says when the spirit of truth comes he will guide you in all truth he will not speak on his own but he'll tell you what he has heard he will tell you about the future so he's talking about the Holy Spirit here listen when Christ went away he sent the Holy Spirit guess what it says about the Holy Spirit the spirit of Truth the spirit of Truth he will guide you into all truth listen before we go any further this is what it's about and I I get it listen time is time for me like I remember when I was young I remember when I was young and time was slow right time was slow you had all the time in the world listen I remember I I remember when I was in high school and I remember thinking man this I'm never going to get to be an adult I'm always going to be following the rules I still follow rules even though I'm adult I didn't know what I was missing back then but time flies there's not enough time in the day there's not enough time in your life listen for the first time ever my son drove him I'd let my son drive himself to school I was in the car which is terrifying um but I sat there it's not terrifying because he's driving it's terrifying because I'm like he's almost done he's a senior he's driving himself to school where has the years gone I know that it's hard to find time for this it's hard to find time for the truth but you can't put the belt of Truth on unless you know it and when we sometimes put this Bible down I remember it's not really physical now but back in the day when I was first starting out in the ministry we used to give the illustration that when you got to Sunday you'd have like all right let's go to church you pick up your Bible and there's a nice like Square where it's been sitting the entire time maybe you dust more and you don't have the square I don't know but you pick up the Bible and there's a square and you're like let's go to church all right we're going to church today it's time to carry my Bible I have yet to open it one time I know it's a little bit easier now because we have an app but if we went into the app usage what would it say we've got to make time to know the truth or the truth is going to be ineffective you will not be able to put on what you don't know so we've got to be able to make time for the truth he goes on to the breastplate of righteousness this is saying we should take on Integrity as well as a devout holy life now here's the deal the breastplate of rice is again it's not a physical breastplate it is righteous living it is righteous living that's what's going to help you battle your inward temptation of sin is righteous living the Bible is very clear about it we're going to turn to Galatians 5 19-24 it says this when you follow the desires of your sinful nature the results are very clear sexual immorality impurity lustful Pleasures idolatry sorcery hostility quarreling jealousy Outburst of anger selfish ambition dissension division Envy drunkenness wild parties and other sins like these that's a long list and and they start out really at the top and you're like oh I don't have a problem with this or this and then it gets into like outbursts of anger that probably happened like for me four hours ago right selfish ambition when we do not put on the breastplate of righteousness when we do not live a righteous life these are the fruits that we will produce but let me tell you again as I've done before that anyone living this sort of life will not inherit the kingdom of God he says but the Holy Spirit produces this kind of fruit in our lives love joy peace patience kindness goodness faithfulness gentleness and self-control there is no law against these things those who belong to Christ have nailed their passions and desires of their sinful nature to this cross and crucified them there you understand what the breastplate of righteousness would cover right so we wear armor in some way shape or form we have rifle plates that go across our chest because it covers all of our vital organs right here the heart is right here I want you to catch something because in the Old Testament this is what's great right when we talk about wearing the breastplate of righteousness living a righteous life it protects your heart the Bible in the Old Testament tells us what the heart is desperately or deceitfully Wicked no man can know it but you get to the New Testament and Jesus says this profound thing he said listen God will give you the desires of your heart and you think I how can my how can God grant me desires from a place that is so desperately and deceitfully wicked well here's the deal as we live a righteous life and we put on this breastplate of righteousness and we have this fruit right here our desires begin to change and they begin to morph and they become more like the desires that Christ would have for us and he's able to Grant those for us because guess what they're exactly what he wants for our life as we put on the breastplate of righteousness as we live a righteous life our heart it protects our heart in that it begins to change it and we become more christ-like and we identify more with Christ and our desires become more of what Christ wants us to desire step in defeating sinful lustful desires because those are beginning to diminish do I believe that you can be 100 sin free no but I believe we can be a lot closer than what we are it's a constant battle in Bible College they call it a big word it's Progressive sanctification which I was like why do we call it that that's ridiculous nobody knows what that means it basically means this as you walk with Christ you get more and more christ-like that makes sense why can't we word it that way why can't we say things like that as we walk with Christ we get more christ-like so the breastplate of righteousness is not a physical breastplate it's a life change it's beginning to study and become more christ-like and guess what the Bible even gives us the litmus test and if you didn't uh hear Pastor Gene he went into great detail about this a two-week message uh Shameless plug grab the app go back and listen to his message because listen it gives us the litmus test it tells us listen if you are not living a Godly life you will produce sexual immorality impurity lustful Pleasures idolatry sorcery hostility quarreling jealousy outbursts of anger selfish ambition dissension division Envy drunkenness wild parties and other sin like these listen it tells you this is what you're going to produce you know why because you're not putting on the breastplate of righteousness and you're giving in to inward sinful desires so what are we what is our life producing are we winning the battle on that inward sin nature are we winning that battle or are we losing it and producing the wrong kind of uh the wrong kind of fruit moving on for shoes are important man I never thought shoes were so important until I wore boots every day of my life I wear boots probably 15 hours a day and so it says this put on the peace that comes from good news so that you'll be fully prepared Now understand this Roman guess what Roman soldiers they had to March everywhere can you imagine that boy I don't even like driving 15 miles can you imagine like hey we've got a three-day hike in full gear in formation to this place and you're thinking yourself what if somebody told us that today be like check please I'm out nah that's okay can I get a car or something ride a horse no they would March so can you imagine how important their shoes were can you imagine how important that was to them and so he says this the gospel is the foundation or footing for everything we do it says put on the shoes of peace that come from the good news shoes were used to protect the Soldier's legs and feet on perilous Journeys and battles for the gospel it should provide us not only with protection but Comfort we should find comfort in the good news of the Gospel if you can't find comfort in anything else in life and you've accepted Christ as your personal savior guess where the Comfort Lies when it's all said and done I am going to heaven and I'm going to be with Christ when somebody passes on that we know accepted Christ as their savior where do we find the comfort that we're going to see him again someday we're going to see them again Paul took it a step further he's like listen I'd rather be dead and with Christ than here but I guess I'm needed here so I'm going to stick around we should find comfort and confidence in the gospel it should say Hey listen it's it's bad I'm going through some things but here's the deal God loves me so much he sent his only son to die on the cross for me and when this physical world is over I have spiritual eternity to look forward to spending with Christ it's comfort it provides us with there's an ending that we know we understand and know the ending which means as we're going through this stuff we should know and understand it's temporary again easier said than done right because in the midst of a spiritual battle in the midst of when you're fighting sin in the midst of when it seemed things are hopeless it's very hard to look and go listen but you know when I pass on it's all going to go away I'm dealing with this right now what am I supposed to do right now and listen it it happens spiritual battles happen it's been a rough week I got to be honest with you I'm not going to tell you why we can talk afterwards uh so but this has been a rough week and so there are times listen there are times when and especially when we're in our cars We're alone for a long period of time and so you have a lot of time with your thoughts you talk to yourself quite often you ever wonder what cops do when they're sitting in their car it's talking to themselves that's what I do because nobody's available to call at 1am in the morning like I'm up from six to six and I can't call my wife because she's got to get up for work the next day and so I'm like all right well I'm just going to talk to myself then because there's nobody else and so you're alone a lot of times with your thoughts and let me tell you when things are going wrong and you're alone with your thoughts and you're not relying on that confidence and hope of salvation it begins to go downward spiral and you begin to take count of all the losses and you begin to tank count of everything that's not going the way you want it to and it drags you down but we have something nobody else has in those situations if you've accepted Christ you have hope and confidence and comfort to walk the journey you have the ability to go that's what the gospel provides us with he then goes to the shield of faith I love the shield of Faith the word in here is interesting because listen the wording here is good uh for this particular version NLT says stop right it says you can pick up the shield of Faith to stop the fiery arrows in the KJV which I kind of like a little better in that one it says extinguish extinguish why let's describe this because in back in Roman times the arrows used to be laced with a poison and so what would happen is you'd be shot with one of these arrows it would penetrate you and then a poison would begin to go throughout your body and you would burn it would burn it would be painful and it would cause all this and so the wording here is interesting because the shield of Faith doesn't help you dodge sin right it doesn't help you duck away from sin it helps you to stop or extinguish sin listen the reason why is because we're not going to avoid it it's going to happen Temptation happens and what this tells you is that if we have faith it will extinguish that fiery burning that is caused by that Arrow that's penetrated it extinguishes it puts it out it heals it it's a solve if you will and if you don't understand that we're all going to be tempted we have to look no further than job if we go to job 1 1-3 it says there is there was a man in the land of us from a great location whose name was job and that man was blameless and upright can you imagine that when you're in history somebody writes about you and the two words they use is blameless and upright I wish but job was blameless and upright and this is not just a historical book this is God's historical book and he says blameless and upright one who feared God and turned away from Evil this is a good man this is a Godly Man there was born to him seven sons three daughters he possessed seven thousand sheep and three thousand camels 500 yoke of oxen and 500 female donkeys and very many servants so that this man was greatest of all people of the East job had everything he was a faithful man and guess what Temptation came the devil came before God if you don't know the story the devil came before God and said hey your man job the reason why he is the way he is because he's got everything he's got everything if you let me if you let me take it I guarantee you he turns his back on you and guess what God says okay and the devil takes everything if you read job and how his sons die that alone would cause some people to turn their back on God you think about the things we go through today where even even and sometimes listen guilty of it where we sit there and be like God I don't understand this job didn't do that job didn't even question his wife told him his wife came to him said hey man you need to curse God and die it's over it's obvious God turns his back on you you need to curse God and die and he refused to do so he didn't get to duck out of Temptation he didn't get to dodge it his faith kept him strong and although he's in the midst of Temptation although everything's being taken away from him at a level that maybe we can never imagine his faith is a sob to do this it's rubbed on the wound and it keeps him strong in his walk with Christ he believes and fears God and his faith helps him maintain through some of the greatest losses he loses it all the seven thousand sheep the three thousand camels the 500 yoke of oxen the 500 female donkeys he loses his seven sons and his three daughters all of it gone his seven sons die right one after another but because he's faithful because he's got the shield of faith he's okay he's strong he believes God is still on his side I question what how big is The Shield we're carrying around right how big is The Shield is it is it big enough Shield or do we have a little tiny Shield that when things just a little bit turn we start to doubt God oh God I thought you had my back on this one have you ever questioned you're like God I'm doing everything you asked me to do and it's not working out I'm doing everything you asked me to do and I don't understand I've been there faith Faith what kind of Faith do we have today how big is The Shield that you're carrying around he moves on to the helmet of salvation here's where the helmet's important it protects your head right it's important the helmet's important you want to protect your Noggin It's got your brain in there but guess what the helmet is essential it's life listen any head injury is traumatic and life-threatening any head injury is traumatic and life-threatening I've been on many scenes where you didn't think it was a big deal and all of a sudden this person's being airlifted to a hospital because we couldn't see in his head we thought oh it's cool he looks fine and then all sudden his head is twice the size as it should be and you're like what is happening your head guess what this is where anxiety and mental pressure comes from this is where we get caught up in what we get caught up in overthinking we get caught up in oh man despair that's why they're called mental illnesses they begin here they begin above the shoulders and if we're not careful and we don't wear the helmet of salvation now we're going to get to it because it's very important here first Thessalonians 5 8 says but let us who live in the light be clear-headed protected by the armor of faith and love and wearing as our helmet the confidence of our salvation notice the good news protected your feet the gospel protected your feet salvation also protects your head why Paul says it's a helmet of confidence it's a helmet of confidence hear Paul connect the helmet to Hope and confidence is our Salvation the helmet protects us from discouragement which normally begins when our thoughts turn to what we don't have what's missing are what we feel like lacks in our life we begin to take a human observation of our life and we say this is what I don't have this is what I want to be this is where I want to go Paul says listen you have a confidence you have a truth you have a Salvation message it should inspire you to overcome these things you should be able to go Hey listen I get it things are not the best they're not where they should be I'm totally lost right now God I don't get it but I believe that you're the one true God you sent your son to die on the cross for my sins and listen I'm not going to get discouraged I'm not going to get discouraged because listen discouragement is going to lead to a lot of things discouragement leads to a lot of things the suicide rate amongst Americans today is outrageous the suicide rate for 13 by the way 13 now it's dropped 13 to 25 is almost twice that of what it was 40 years ago 13 to 25. I can't even imagine at 13 years old what could be so bad that you want to take your own life you haven't even lived yet you have no idea what's going on you have no idea of the blessings that are you're in store for you have no idea of the things that God's going to use you for how can you be thinking about taking your own life let me explain it's because discouragement Creeps in and again if we are walking around discouraged and we claim to be different people are going to look at us and be like you're not any different than I am there's no difference between you and I well there is a difference we have salvation on our side we have God who loves us and provides us with hope isn't that what salvation is it's the ultimate message of Love and Hope isn't what that that's exactly what it is Christ loved us so much he sent his only son to die on the cross for us and he gave us hope and we should be joyful for that we have something that nobody else has we have a true love story not a movie Love Story no Christ loved you so much he died on the cross for your sins and guess what it says for everybody there's no qualifications we should live in that hope and confidence we God loves us and he provided us with hope and even in times of discouragement listen I may not feel like anybody in this world loves me but I know God loves me I know Christ loves me I know it because the truth his very word tells me so that's why and it should protect us mentally from getting discouraged and getting down because things aren't when we think they should be lastly but not least he gives us the weapon that we need right he gives us the weapon the reason why he gives us a weapon is because let me explain we're not to replace sin with something else you ever seen that now listen here's the deal I uh I have taken on the challenge of trying to lose some weight and so I I'm again I'm up all night and so it's easy to snack right you walk into 7-Eleven you're like it's cookies they give us those for free there's you know muffins and you're like oh it's late I'm tired I'm kind of bored so I'm just gonna eat right and so instead of eating what do I do I chew gum to a degree that's insane like I go through gum like I'm like oh it's good it's food I'm chewing maybe my mouth will make my stomach believe that I'm eating I've replaced eating food with chewing gum you can ask my wife my budget had to go up because gum is ridiculously expensive for some reason you know those little things have gone those Mentos that some people keep in their car for like months no no one night that's gone I've chewed all of that gum it's gone you're like how do you even do that I don't know just like three pieces at a time my dad was a smoker for a long time and he would smoke all the time and then he's like to quit smoking what happened he replaced it with coffee he replaced it with something else T right so we often have a time we're like oh I need to do away with this I'm going to replace it with something else the Bible doesn't want us to do that with sin the Bible doesn't want us to replace sin look here what he tells us the sword of the spirit it's the word of God Roman soldiers were like surgeons with their swords had to be they had to know where the enemy armor wasn't where their armor was at the weakest the reason why Roman soldiers dominated battles is because they knew how to use their weapon they knew how to use their sword we must be the same with the word of God we must use it to carve up the sin in our life we must use it to know where our armor is at the weakest we must kill sin gotta use the word of God as a weapon now here's the deal again carry weapon every day you don't carry a weapon unless you know how to use it all right you're not going to carry around a sword can you imagine somebody rocking around with a sword right now you'd be like oh my goodness we would get calls like there's a guy walking down Naples he's walking down 41 Northbound with a sword on I'd be like what send me please I'll go and check this out this guy's got a sword can you imagine somebody walking around the sword right now no he would have no idea how to use it listen we've got to know how to use this and the Bible tells us what it is in Psalms 19 11-16 it says this I have hid in your word in my heart that I might not sin against you so the first thing it tells us is I've taken your word and I've hid it into my heart guess what again righteous living I can't live righteously unless I do this this is the first part of it right I Praise You O Lord teach me your decrees I have recited aloud all the regulations you have given us I have rejoiced in your laws and in much as much enriches I will study your Commandments and reflect on your ways I will Delight your decrees and not forget your word listen he tells us right away he says first of all he gives us some great things I have recited aloud the regulations you have given us you know the reason why most pastors know the Bible is because as we were growing up we were in things like awana's and like we would recite out loud scripture the reason why I know most of the scripture I do is from awana's when I was a kid because you would say it out loud you would say it out loud I have rejoiced in your laws I rejoice in your word even though sometimes it's not convenient I rejoice in this I study your Commandments I study your word and I reflect on it listen if you don't do these things if you don't know this weapon you cannot kill sin and sin will kill you it's very he says it right it leads to death it grows death second Timothy 3 16 says this all scripture is inspired by God and is useful to teach us what is true and to make us what is realized what is wrong in our lives it corrects us when we are wrong and teaches us to do what is right it's our weapon against sin it's our weapon do we know this weapon enough today do we understand this weapon do we read this weapon because here's the thing what I have found is that oftentimes when I am extremely lost I go to God's word and it enlightens me as to where I am when things are at their worst I read God's word and I'm like you're right God forgive me I have once again forgot that you've already given us the answers and if you haven't given us the answers you've told us to have faith that you will come and give us those answers eventually the word of God if you don't get anything else from today a final word right study and know this study and know this there is nothing that will change your life more than knowing the very word of God the reason why we chose to come to this church me and my wife and my sons is because Pastor Gene studies and knows this word the man can quote scripture I envy to be this guy he reads the Bible through in like a month it's ridiculous I don't know how he does it but he does it he's we should all strive to be that way we should not rely on the man up here to give us the knowledge out of this book we have it right we can read right we should handle our own weapon we should know what that weapon says listen why why does all this matter Paul tells us I love the way he ends this right here because this to me is this is what it's all about he says listen ask God to give me the right words that I can boldly explain God's mysterious plan and the good news is for the Jews and Gentiles likes and then he says this I am in Chains now still preaching this message as God's ambassador we get the privilege of being the ambassadors for Christ can you imagine we get the privilege of going before of going in front of the king he's on his way back but we get to go first and we get to tell people listen listen somebody's coming God is coming Christ is coming and he's a great king and he loves you and he wants to provide you with hope and joy we get to deliver that riches Galore maybe not physical but the things that will enrich your spirit and soul and give you a better life more than money can ever buy you we get to go before him and we get to Proclaim his greatness as ambassadors for Christ but we can't do that unless we're putting on the armor of God and we're winning our spiritual battles so I challenge you today a final word put on the whole armor of God put on the horror of God don't leave today with any areas where you're not sure and I'm going to end with what Paul talks about Paul talks about praying endlessly so we're going to end today with prayer please bow your head and close your eyes thank you God for all that you've given us God we are so grateful to be in your house today we're so grateful to get to come together and just to get to worship you get to hear your word and get to learn about you God thank you for this opportunity God I ask today that as your word came out that it it it affects the lives that you would want it to affect and it affects how you want them to affect a god I'd ask today as we leave this place that we put on your full armor as we engage in spiritual warfare and God I I thank you today for sending your son to die on the cross I thank you for the hope and confidence salvation I lift up those that are in this room today and even outside of this room that are going through things where they're they're in despair they're in discouragement God I'd ask today that you would touch their lives that I asked today that they open your word and that they begin to understand that you have provided a hope that is eternal as we leave this place that you give us safety give us a great week God help us to always look towards you help us to do what you would have us to do and nothing less for all these things we ask in your name honor and glory amen