Armor of God: Belt of Truth
Notes
Transcript
What do I believe God wants us to know? The belt of truth is pivotal and keeps us standing, it keeps us on defensive and offensive
Why? We want to stand, be not defeated and free
What do I believe God wants us to? Put on the belt of truth
Why? So we can stand and be free
ME/WE
We are in series, a season, where I believe the Lord is calling us to be STRONGER…wherever you are at in your walk, that we are to get and be STRONGER.
TWO THINGS
DON’T LOOK BACK….THE ENEMY WANTS US TO LOOK BACK AT AND LIVE IN SHAME OF WHERE YOU THINK YOU SHOULD HAVE BEEN….
Brothers, I do not consider that I have made it my own. But one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead,
2. DON’T COMPARE WHERE YOU ARE WITH OTHERS, BECAUSE ONE OF TWO THINGS CAN HAPPEN 1. WHEN WE DO WE DESPAIR. 2. WE BECOME PRIDEFUL AND SAY OH LOOK WHERE I AM
How do we get stronger?
STRONGER IN THE BATTLES WE FACE
HOW DO WE GET VICTORY IN THE BATTLES
WHY DIDN’T I SAY VICTORY IN THE WAR? THE WAR IS OVER
When the perishable puts on the imperishable, and the mortal puts on immortality, then shall come to pass the saying that is written: “Death is swallowed up in victory.”
“O death, where is your victory? O death, where is your sting?”
The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law.
But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.
Therefore, my beloved brothers, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that in the Lord your labor is not in vain.
WE ARE VICTORS
HOW DO WE GET VICTORY? HOW DO WE STAND?
TWO THINGS PAUL SAYS
BE STRONG IN THE LORD…PUT ON GOD’S MUSLCE
PUT ON THE ARMOR OF GOD
Finally, be strong in the Lord and in the strength of his might.
Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the schemes of the devil.
For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places.
Therefore take up the whole armor of God, that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand firm.
NOW OVER THE NEXT SEVERAL WEEKS WE ARE GOING TO UNPACK THE ARMOR
and today we are going to go over the most pivotal pieces of the armor that if we do not have this piece of ARMOR we will have little to no offensive or defensive against the attacks of the enemy.
YOU ARE ALMOST ASSURED TO LOSE IF YOU DO NOT HAVE THIS PIECE OF THE ARMOR, THAT SOMETIMES WE DO NOT THINK OF AS ARMOR.
Anybody want to guess what this piece of armor is?
- The belt of TRUTH
How is a BELT so important in combat? Imagine if you went to battle with pants too loose that they would fall down. How effective would you be at winning??? you would always have one hand on your waist and one hand on your sword or shield….Also, your belt held your sword it is where you put it went you marching.
KING HIPPIO IS US WHEN WE DON’T PUT THE BELT OF TRUTH ON.
WE CANNOT WIN, WE HAVE A HUGE WEAKNESS
WE NEED TRUTH!!!
THE QUESTION REMAINS IS HOW DO WE PUT THE BELT OF TRUTH ON? WHERE DO WE GO TO FOR TRUTH?
1. Some people say I am the ultimate source of TRUTH. I go to myself.
Here’s the problem and deception.
What’s the problem and deception?
I DON’T KNOW EVERYTHING
Have you ever been truthful to yourself? Told yourself the TRUTH? YES
Have you ever told yourself a LIE, not even intentionally? Or how people believed something for years and then you realize you were and wrong and now know the TRUTH
We can be truthful and we can be non-truth tellers to ourselves
SO WE ARE NOT GOOD ULTIMATE TRUTH TELLERS TO OURSELVES
2. If TRUTH is not found not in ME maybe it is found in WE….If we collectivelly agree then that is the TRUE.
BUT WHAT IS THE PROBLEM AND DESCEPTION WITH THAT? SAME PROBLEM…SOMETIMES WE ARE RIGHT AND SOMETIMES WE ARE WRONG…WE DON’T KNOW EVERYTHING
GOING TO WE IS NOT A GOOD PLACE TO GO FOR ULITMATE TRUTH
3. NO TRUTH…HOGWASH
IF WE DON’T GET THE ULTIMATE SOURCE OF TRUTH FROM ME or WE where do we get the ultimate source of truth from?
WHERE DO WE GET OUR TRUTH FROM?
GOD
Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.
He is so truth guess what God never does?
God is not man, that he should lie, or a son of man, that he should change his mind. Has he said, and will he not do it? Or has he spoken, and will he not fulfill it?
LET’S PRACTICALLY BREAK THIS DOWN. HOW DO WE GET THE TRUTH FROM GOD? WHERE DO WE GO?
WORD:
The sum of your word is truth, and every one of your righteous rules endures forever.
ENTIRETY of your WORD
PSALM 119 is all about the WORD OF GOD BEING TRUTH GIVING AND LIFE GIVING
Do you want to know how to get truth? We go to the WORD
IF WE HAVE A QUESTION WE GO TO THE WORD FOR AN ANSWER
What does God have to say about this or that
He is WORD is TRUTH and always leads to life.
But let’s not just be people who come when a questions arises, let’s put our belt of truth on now, let’s be people who put on our belt daily or multiple times a day.
How can a young man keep his way pure? By guarding it according to your word.
With my whole heart I seek you; let me not wander from your commandments!
I have stored up your word in my heart, that I might not sin against you.
Blessed are you, O Lord; teach me your statutes!
With my lips I declare all the rules of your mouth.
In the way of your testimonies I delight as much as in all riches.
I will meditate on your precepts and fix my eyes on your ways.
I will delight in your statutes; I will not forget your word.
My greatest encouragement is you would be people who eat this book.
Have a daily bible reading plan
There are soooo many out there
Pick one see if it works and if it doesn’t move one.
FAMILY OF GOD: BOTH LOCAL AND EXTENDED FAMILY
We are to be truth tells to each other in LOVE and GRACE
And he gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the shepherds and teachers,
to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ,
until we all attain to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to mature manhood, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ,
so that we may no longer be children, tossed to and fro by the waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by human cunning, by craftiness in deceitful schemes.
Rather, speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in every way into him who is the head, into Christ,
from whom the whole body, joined and held together by every joint with which it is equipped, when each part is working properly, makes the body grow so that it builds itself up in love.
TRUTH TELLERS TO EACH OTHER
GET THIS FROM OTHER BROTHERS AND SISTERS
PODCAST AND BOOKS
BIBLE PROJECT
SERMONS
TEST IT BECAUSE THERE ARE WOLVES THAT DISGUISE THEMSELVES AS SHEEP
WORD
FAMILY OF GOD
SPIRIT:
When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all the truth, for he will not speak on his own authority, but whatever he hears he will speak, and he will declare to you the things that are to come.
The Sprit speaks to us, we need to listen
Test it
Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, for many false prophets have gone out into the world.
ACT…FOLLOW as a Disciple
knowledge is power when put into action not resting on the shelf
“Everyone then who hears these words of mine and does them will be like a wise man who built his house on the rock.
And the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house, but it did not fall, because it had been founded on the rock.
And everyone who hears these words of mine and does not do them will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand.
And the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell, and great was the fall of it.”
But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves.
For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man who looks intently at his natural face in a mirror.
For he looks at himself and goes away and at once forgets what he was like.
But the one who looks into the perfect law, the law of liberty, and perseveres, being no hearer who forgets but a doer who acts, he will be blessed in his doing.
WHY THIS IS SO IMPORTANT?
FOR US TO STAND
God says beloved of God put on the belt of TRUTH by
Reading His word
Listening to the Family of God both near and far
Listening to Holy Spirit
Then following His truth
When you do you will stand