Untitled Sermon

Intro

Normal intro

Read the 10-17

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

Now some of you are like me screaming lets go trucks guns explosions and lets get to war

Some are probably thinking this is an antiquated illustration

Some probably think this is war mongering and very militaristic

This illustration is one of my favorites and is one of the most iconic illustrations used within the bible and as many of you know by now i love a good illustration whether its a movie scene a song or whatever ill present it and lift it high just like Raffiki did Simba you know the circle of life!!

Paul comes to this illustration while literally in prison. Well house arrest and is writing this to the Ephesians so what took place is Paul was in a living quarters he rented but he would be chained to a Roman soldier

So facing trial Paul realizes quickly that the people of Rome arent the enemy the Soldiers holding him arent the enemy but that all he had faced his whole ministry was a war that was being fought by unseen forces by demonic forces.

So he writes this to let the Ephesians know they are in the middle of a war that they cannot even see the enemy and friends we are as well today.

I dont say that to scare you because we have nothing to to fear but if we try to fight on our own we will fail and struggle mightily

To fight this war we must

Stand firm in the Power of God so that we can stand against the Devils schemes

10-13

10 Finally, be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power. 11 Put on the full armor of God, so that you can take your stand against the devil’s schemes. 12 For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms. 13 Therefore put on the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand.

Explain that the war we fight the things we see going on in our country are not wars of flesh and blood it is fueled by demonic influence. Not saying everyone who does wrong is demon possessed many are but that they are just ignorant of the truth and fall victim to the enemies schemes

Elab

A pastor once said it this way he was asked which way did he lean to the left or the right

The pastor responded i dont lean i stand, i stand on the word of God, i stand in truth and in the middle of the war we fight today we better be standing on the truth and we better be standing on the Word because if not we will be blindsided by the enemy very quickly

But how do we stand and how do we put on this armor of God

Over the next few weeks we are going to dive in to the pieces of armor and learn what their function is and how it applies to our lives

Today we will look at

the Belt of Truth

14 Stand firm then, with the belt of truth buckled around your waist,

what is truth?

Truth is defined as an unchanging, absolute reality that stands in opposition to falsehood and deception

Sadly we try to find truth in all the wrong places at time.

Truth is not found in our opinions or our feelings

Why? Why because feelings and opinions change

This is the greatest lie humanity has come up with the thought of live your own truth!

Truth is not relative, truth does not change

Truth is constant and is surrounded in reality and facts

truth is also not found in what others say!

In this statement I am saying that truth is not dictated by the masses, what the culture states is true

Truth isn't found in what your peers convince you is true

Many of us will surround ourselves with people who will not tell us the things we need to hear but will agree and go along with what we are wanting.

Just because our buddies claim something true doesn't make it true

Some of us let what the culture says is truth become truth to us

The culture screams sex before marriage is ok you need to test drive before you commit. Some take that as truth but the truth of Christian is that sex is a sacred beautiful union that is intended for husband and wife

Culture can scream that treating one group of people as less is ok and as Christians we must know the truth is that all humans are created in the image of God and has value in God site

Think of the horrific reality of this statement in 1940 Germany where the entire nation. Was told one group of people were detestable, deplorable and less than human the nation took it as truth and over 6 million people lost their lives to the hands of concentration camps

So if we don't find truth in our feelings and opinions and we don't find it in what others say how do we know what truth is.

Truth is found in Jesus

Jesus said in John 14:6 “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.

We see here that Jesus claims to be the truth. Meaning that he is the embodiment of truth and all truth that one will ever need or find

Jesus doubled down on this in John 8:32 Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.”

Many of us has heard this Verse and have used it often and heard it used often. But it has often been used out of context

Most people use it to say once you know the truth of your circumstance or the situation your in it will set you free

This is where my wife and all you teachers will be proud of me for using context clues and paying attention to the structure of the text.

Notice the word then. It indicates you must have something before the truth setting you free something must predicate you being set free

Verse 31 says this “If you hold to my teaching, you are really my disciples.

In these two verses we see exactly that Jesus is the embodiment of truth. We find truth in his teachings, if we hold and adopt those teachings it makes us his disciple or follower, and when we grasp this truth it sets us free from all the lies and deception the enemy stirs up and creates

We come to know Jesus the truth and he sets us free from the search of uncertainty of longing to know what the truth is and what the details of life is and when we latch on to this truth it allows us to

Stand boldly and confidently

The belt’s functions

Keeps the breast plate from shifting

Deuteronomy 5:32

So be careful to do what the Lord your God has commanded you; do not turn aside to the right or to the left.

The belt kept the breastplate in place notice the breastplate is regarded as the breastplate of righteousness

Being girded in truth allows us to keep in step with Christ Righteousness

When we are held in place and grounded In Truth doing what is right simply comes naturally

Holds the sword

The belt held the sword for the soldier the sword is described as the sword of the spirit which is the Word of God

For a soldier to carry a sword he did not do it lightly. He knew the weapon he understood the weapon, he was trained in using the weapon and we will dive into those things a few weeks from now but being wrapped in the truth of Christ it allows us to understand and know the word

Supports and evens out the weight of the load of the armor

c) it protects

The tassels

It helped protect the loin area from rocks that possibly got past the shield

The shield is labeled as the shield of faith and it shields from the firey darts but the rocks sometimes would come under the shield

When girded and grounded in the truth of Christ it steady and protects reproduction when our faith falls short or wavers our foundation grounded on the truth of Christ will proctect and carry us through

d) shows rank