Fathers Day 2026

This morning we wanted to share with you somethings from VBS

We had such a great time and it was fun to watch our students with the puppets, and then with the different dramas and the skit through out the week

The Theme was Your Kingdom Come

As a rule when anyone would say Your Kingdom Come, the response was Your Will be Done and then you had to be quiet

But it was Your Kingdom Come

And the skit through out the week was about Faith and her friends are going on a journey

As they are going on their journey it is a difficult journey and they need somethings to help with their journey

She meets some people who help her along the way and give her somethings that specifically help her in staying on the course of her journey

We also had some trouble makers called the scripture snatchers who would show up and try and convince faith to the take the easier path to the kingdom

They attempted to distract her and get to follow them instead on staying on the course

Along the way Faith was given parts and pieces of armor to help her as she walked along the faith to get to the Kingdom

Those parts and pieces of armor helped her as she took steps of faith along the path that lead to the Kingdom and the King

Of course we know this to be the Armor of God

If last week we talked about taking steps of faith and how sometimes those are difficult

God has given us the Armor of God to help us as we take those steps of faith

Because as you may well know staying focused on walking on the right path with as scripture calls it the narrow path is difficult and hard and at times you can have some distractions

Because of that God didn’t say hey good luck on the narrow pay, I will see you when I get here but rather

He gave us tools like the Armor of God to help us as we take steps of faith

Ephesians 6:10–20 NASB95

10 Finally, be strong in the Lord and in the strength of His might. 11 Put on the full armor of God, so that you will be able to stand firm against the schemes of the devil. 12 For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the powers, against the world forces of this darkness, against the spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenly places. 13 Therefore, take up the full armor of God, so that you will be able to resist in the evil day, and having done everything, to stand firm. 14 Stand firm therefore, having girded your loins with truth, and having put on the breastplate of righteousness, 15 and having shod your feet with the preparation of the gospel of peace; 16 in addition to all, taking up the shield of faith with which you will be able to extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. 17 And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God. 18 With all prayer and petition pray at all times in the Spirit, and with this in view, be on the alert with all perseverance and petition for all the saints, 19 and pray on my behalf, that utterance may be given to me in the opening of my mouth, to make known with boldness the mystery of the gospel, 20 for which I am an ambassador in chains; that in proclaiming it I may speak boldly, as I ought to speak.

As Paul is wrapping up his letter to the Church in Ephesus

He encourages them to be strong

And to put on the full armor of God

When we put the full armor of God it helps us to stand against the schemes of the devil

In the Skit during VBS Faith because she had the armor of God she was able to stand firm against the scripture snatchers

And church I do believe the schemes are the devil are real and if we are not willing to battle against them they will simply sweep us away

And they will make us non effective in our purpose to bring Glory to God and sharing of the Gospel

And heres the thing

We have talked about the Armor of God

We have preached on it plenty of times

We have shared it plenty of times

And yet the thing I believe we miss is right there in vs 11

Ephesians 6:11–13 NASB95

11 Put on the full armor of God, so that you will be able to stand firm against the schemes of the devil. 12 For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the powers, against the world forces of this darkness, against the spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenly places. 13 Therefore, take up the full armor of God, so that you will be able to resist in the evil day, and having done everything, to stand firm.

To put on the full armor of God

Because the armor is heavy and difficult and sometimes it is uncomfortable or it doesn’t go with the fit

I learned that from my girls

They talk about their fits and I said what is that what are you talking about and translated to me fit means outfit or the clothes you are wearing

But church lets be real there are times when you are going about life and you start to think this bulky armor of God doesn’t quite go with my outfit or we start to buy into the lie that it is not appropriate here or there

And then we start to leave different parts of the armor because it is just that

It is armor and as someone who wears armor most days it is not always comfortable

Which is precisely why I think Paul reminds the church at Ephesus to put on the full armor of God because a missed piece and the devil schemes are sure to target that specific area

It like leaving the house half dressed

There is no way you would leave the house for work or school or to the grocery store half dressed

And yet some of us willingly leave the house or even the bed for that matter with only part of the armor of God on

Or maybe you only wear part of the armor that your comfortable with

Either way church you are to wear the entire armor of God

So this morning we are going to put on the armor of God

Because it is the full armor that allows us to withstand the schemes of the devil

I am betting those times in our lives when we were attacked or start to sink in life we did not have the entire armor of God

This is not a if you wear the entire armor of God then you won’t ever be embattled but that when you are in a battle you are rightly protected

I have brought armor to show you what it looks like

We are going to put in on from the bottom up

So we must start at the feet

Ephesians 6:15 NASB95

15 and having shod your feet with the preparation of the gospel of peace;

Feet are important

Without them it is difficult to go places not impossible but more difficult

I have some pain in my feet and that makes it difficult to even want to get up and go anywhere

So you can understand how important feet and shoes are

During VBS we are told and shown how they keep us grounded

They keep us ground as long as we are wearing them

These are the shoes that keep us focused on the right path

We are to be prepared to share the Gospel no matter where we go

This is part of the Armor of God is being prepared to go and share the Gospel

From my commentary

“Historians tell us that the Roman soldiers were issued great footwear. Their studded half boots enabled them to travel great distances. They covered a lot of ground in a short amount of time, pursuing the enemy into every nook and cranny. They went into hard places. We need to go to every nook and cranny also as we take the gospel to faraway places, even hard places.”

I loved that explanation

We are going to go to hard places, some may be around the world, and yet some may very well be across the street to share the Gospel

We need to shoes to ensure we are prepared to share the Gospel

It does require us to put them on

Then we move to the belt of truth

Ephesians 6:14 NASB95

14 Stand firm therefore, having girded your loins with truth, and having put on the breastplate of righteousness,

Church we are to put on the belt of truth

As one commentary puts it

We are to be people of truth in our language, behavior and attitude

We are to wrap ourselves in truth

It is more than just reading a verse but allowing ourselves to marinate in the word

So when we put on the Belt of Truth it is a process we spend time in His Word

We wear it to remind us to act in truth of Gods Word

The truth is Jesus Himself

We are to put the truth of Jesus Himself on us each and every day

There are times when it is difficult and frustrating

The Romans used the belt to hold their tunic or their clothes in place to help them be mobile

It also held there sword

Some were large leather to help add protection around the mid section

We use belts the same way to help hold our pants up

We use our belt of truth to allow us to be mobile

Remember to find out where God is at work and then go there

We join God in that work

We also use the Belt of truth to help us when we are in need

Sometimes we need reminding of verse that encourage us or that convict us

We need to help carry those around with us as we go throughout our day

Then we are also called to put on the breastplate of righteousness

The breastplate of righteousness is meant to protect the vital organs

We as believers have the righteousness of Christ because of His work on the cross and the tomb

The Breastplate of Righteousness is to put on to protect our hearts from the attacks from the satan

Like the belt of truth we are to be people of truth

We are also we to be people of righteousness

We are to put on right living

An act is to left the righteousness of Christ that is in our heart to shine through and protect us

To protect our hearts

Because our hearts are important to walking with Christ

There are times when we don’t want to wear this breastplate of righteousness because it is bulky it s heavy and not always comfortable

So we think we will leave it behind

Then before you know it our heart is under attack

Maybe we start to listen to something different on the radio or start to watch a different show or stuff on the internet and before we know it are hearts are all in and we start to drift down away from walking with God

All because we didn’t want to put on the breastplate of righteousness

Church do we understand how important the armor of God is and the FUll Armor of God is

So we continue to put on the armor of God

Ephesians 6:17 NASB95

17 And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.

Then we put on the helmet of salvation

We are to protect our mind and as we go about our days we are to remind ourselves of the hope we have in Christ

This is putting on the helmet of salvation on

We do this so that our minds are protected against the schemes of the devil

If we don’t have the helmet on what happens is that our minds start to wonder

These are not always comfortable but they are necessary

If you have repented of your sin and trust in Jesus to be the Lord of your life then you are saved

We wake each morning and we remind ourselves that we have placed our hope in Christ

That we are saved as we put on the helmet of the hope of salvation

Thus far everything has been defensive to protect us

Then we are called to take up the Sword of the Spirit which is the Word of God

We are to take up the Word of God

This changes as this is a defensive and an offensive weapon

The Word of God goes out and convicts people

The Word of God goes out and heals and comforts people

This is the Sword of the Spirit it is not something to be thrown around but to use strength and wisdom in how you wield the Sword of the Spirit

My commentary says this

“In the garden the evil one raised doubt and suspicion about God’s word. But do not be deceived. You can trust God’s Word. You need God’s Word. Do not go into battle without a sword. Read it. Meditate on it. Pray it. Proclaim it.”

Of course we need it

We must be reading it, and as we have learned in the Belt of Truth it is not just a verse here or there

But it is time spent with God through His Word

We must be memorizing it to write it on our hearts so that we do not sin against God

Then of course church we are to take the Word of God out and share it with people

We use wisdom and grace and mercy when we wield the Sword of the Spirit

Then Finally we are to take up the Shield of Faith

I know I did it out of order from what the Bible Says but these are heavy lol

Ephesians 6:16 NASB95

16 in addition to all, taking up the shield of faith with which you will be able to extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one.

We are to take up the shield of faith

This is also a protection of us

I also believe that it grows as our faith in Christ grows

This is one of those things that we often leave behind because it is heavy and bulky but it is required so we are not attacked

This is what we are to carry as we go about in our day to day

When we leave it behind its as if we often forget about what God has done for us in the past

We start to put our trust in the things we can control instead of God who is holding us by his righteous right hand

This shield protect the arrows that attempt to take out our faith

This is to practice the faith we have in Christ is to make it grow

To practice the faith is to be obedient to what Christ says

For Peter it was getting out of the physical boat and walking on water

For us it may be giving more, or serving in a new area

It might be sharing our faith at work or with a family member or maybe praying with a perfect stranger at the prompting of the Holy Spirit

Church do you understand how vital the shield of faith is to protecting us as we take those steps of faith

As we stay on the course God has called us

Some of you this morning will hear this and think I can’t do it all so I will pick and choose

That is wrong

You will want to argue but can’t I just pick up the shield of faith and that protects me for the most part

Except to have faith in what, you don’t know because you dont have the the truth

And then you don’t know how to use and practice that faith because you aren’t prepared and again you don’t know truth

Or you will think you can lone ranger Christian things and just put on the belts because that is centrally located

Except your heart is left un attended and you will be swept away thinking you know truth when people have persuaded you to follow them and not truth

This is all or nothing

It is the Full Armor or it is as if you have nothing

Church it is a challenge a call to put on the full armor of God this morning

As we come to a close this morning

Our invitation will be different than most

We will have our youth come up and preform a drama they did for VBS

As you watch maybe you are called to put on the Armor of God

As NIKE says just do it

Would you be obedient in putting on the full armor of God

Maybe there is another decision you need to make

If you would come to the front and speak with someone

Let me pray