Armor Up Pt 3

ARMOR UP PT 3

EPHESIANS 6:10-17 (NKJV) Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord and in the power of His might. Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness 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. Stand therefore, having girded your waist with truth, having put on the breastplate of righteousness, and having shod your feet with the preparation of the gospel of peace; above all, taking the shield of faith with which you will be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked one. And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God;

Satan’s greatest scheme to get to you is

trying to “Get You” to ABANDON YOUR POSITION “In Christ”

SO -- God provided us with some weapons for the Battle -- His Armor -- not our armor -- but -- HIS ARMOR!!!

I’M GOING TO REARRANGE THE “ARMOR’S ORDER” TO SHOW YOU HOW TO APPLY IT …. SO LETS RECAP ….

[1] REFINED MIND – Helmet of Salvation

Mind -- seat of your intellect, will and emotions

“for as a man thinketh, so is he”

2 CORINTHIANS 11:3 (GW)

However, I’m afraid that as the snake deceived Eve by its tricks, so your minds may somehow be lured away from your sincere and pure devotion to Christ.

By Filling YOUR Mind with the Word of God -- Knowing from God’s Word “Who You Are” In Christ Jesus & “Who He Is In You”

Next piece of armor WE to talked about is ….

[2] CONDEMNATION STATION – Breastplate of Righteousness

Satan begins to help YOU fish in the “Sea of Forgetfulness” -- looking for past guilt, past feelings, forgotten sins

Devil uses “Old Things” to condemn you with

ROMANS 8:1 (NIV)

Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus,

2 CORINTHIANS 5:21 (NKJV)

For He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the RIGHTEOUSNESS of God in Him.

THEN WE COME TO THE NEXT PIECE OF SPIRIUAL ARMOR I WANT TO LOOK AT ….

[3] FEAR FACTOR – Girdle of Truth

ROMANS 8:15

For you did not receive a spirit that makes you a slave again to fear, but you received the Spirit of sonship. And by him we cry, “Abba, Father.”

ROMANS 8:14-15 (PHILLIPS NT)

All who follow the leading of God's Spirit are God's own sons. Nor are you meant to relapse into the old slavish attitude of fear - you have been adopted into the very family circle of God and you can say with a full heart, "Father, my Father". The Spirit himself endorses our inward conviction that we really are the children of God. Think what that means. If we are his children we share his treasures, and all that Christ claims as his will belong to all of us as well! Yes, if we share in his suffering we shall certainly share in his glory.

ILLUSTRATION

When I was a kid and would stay at my Grandma Flynn’s house -- the bedrooms were all upstairs and there was an attic area covered by these old curtains and at night they would tell me ghosts would come out of there to get me -- ANYWAYS -- there were also all kinds of old stuff in that attic (broken furniture, old clothes moth eaten & mildewed, cracked baby pictures, old toys, old blankets, old wood planks, old machines, etc) -- it was of no use except to be a good fire hazard -- filled and overstuffed attics make ceilings sag, crack & soon fall in on those who live there. Just couldn’t let go of the stuff up there.

As terrible as it sounds, grandma is not alone -- MOST people hold onto the familiar even when it isn’t working anymore!

Why do we hold onto the OLD PAST things that clutter up our lives -- FEAR!!

FEAR OF WHAT?

Nothing -- most of the time FEAR is a feeling -- nothing in particular, just a sense of uneasiness

FEAR is fertilized by WORDS -- but it is not the words that others say to us -- BUT the Words That We Say To Ourselves that do the MOST damage!

Fear of the “What If’s”

What IF I don’t make it

What IF it doesn’t really work

What IF no one notices me or they overlook me

What IF I am not good enough

What IF I die trusting Jesus to heal me

What If ... if ... if ... if

Fear can & will paralyze you!

FEAR is excess baggage and will only weigh us down -- Airplanes will not fly without checking the weight load -- No ONE FLIES HIGH WITH TOO MUCH EXCESS WEIGHT!

The higher YOU want to fly -- the less dead weight you can carry. That’s why you will never see a 400 lb. pole vaulter in the Olympics!

SOO -- THE FATHER provided us with a piece of Protective Armor called the “Girdle of Truth”

LUKE 12:35 (NKJV)

“Let your waist be girded and your lamps burning;

1 PETER 1:13-15 (NKJV)

Therefore gird up the loins of your mind, be sober, and rest your hope fully upon the grace that is to be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ; as obedient children, not conforming yourselves to the former lusts, as in your ignorance; but as He who called you is holy, you also be holy in all your conduct,

GIRD UP -- stay fresh in the Spirit of Christ

Keep your MIND Fresh in the Spirit of CHRIST

BE SOBER – Live with a Righteous Perspective

Girdle -- keeps everything pulled into proper perspective and shape

GIRDLE OF TRUTH -- keeps everything pulled into perspective -- looking & living truthfully in your life

Word Studies in the New Testament Chapter 6

Truth (ἀληθείᾳ). The state of the heart answering to God’s truth; inward, practical acknowledgment of the truth as it is in Him: the agreement of our convictions with God’s revelation.

The loins encircled by the girdle form the central point of the physical system. Hence, in Scripture, the loins are described as the seat of power. “To smite through the loins” is to strike a fatal blow. “To lay affliction upon the loins” is to afflict heavily. Here was the point of junction for the main pieces of the body-armor, so that the girdle formed the common bond of the whole. Truth gives unity to the different virtues, and determinateness and consistency to character. All the virtues are exercised within the sphere of truth.

2 CORINTHIANS 10:5 (NKJV)

casting down arguments and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God, bringing every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ,

We’ve all heard the phrase “garbage in – garbage out.” What GOD is essentially telling us here is to make sure that we don’t put garbage in our minds. We need to make sure that we are constantly evaluating our thoughts to make sure that we aren’t allowing that which is not true to slip into our minds.

PHILIPPIANS 4:8 (PHILLIPS NT) Here is a last piece of advice. If you believe in goodness and if you value the approval of God, fix your minds on the things which are holy and right and pure and beautiful and good. Model your conduct on what you have learned from me, on what I have told you and shown you, and you will find the God of peace will be with you.

YOU are always “GOOD ENOUGH” in the eyes of God -- YOU are His child -- YOU are His creation -- YOU are already approved by Him!

EPHESIANS 3:10-11 (NKJV)

to the intent that now the MANIFOLD WISDOM OF GOD MIGHT BE MADE KNOWN BY THE CHURCH TO THE PRINCIPALITIES AND POWERS IN THE HEAVENLY PLACES, according to the eternal purpose which He accomplished in Christ Jesus our Lord,

JOHN 17:17 (NKJV)

Sanctify them by Your truth. Your word is truth.

We don’t use the word “SANCTIFY” that much -- It’s a word that means “to be set apart” or “to be made holy”.

LISTEN --

· The very moment that we commit our lives to Jesus as our Lord and Savior, we are sanctified in the eyes of God once and for all because of the blood of Jesus Christ

· But there is also an ongoing process that we enter into at that point in which we are to become more and more like Jesus each day as we mature in our faith.

ROMANS 8:29 (MSG)

God knew what he was doing from the very beginning. He decided from the outset to shape the lives of those who love him along the same lines as the life of his Son. The Son stands first in the line of humanity he restored. We see the original and intended shape of our lives there in him.

ILLUSTRATION

It is a fact of life that we tend to become like those with whom we spend the most of our time. That’s especially true in marriage. I’m constantly amazed that the longer we’re married, LINDA and I become more and more like each other. We consistently come up with the same thoughts at the same time

And if we want to become like the truth -- Jesus -- then we need to be spending time with the truth in order to become more and more like Him.

When we SPEND MORE TIME IN HIS WORD -- In Christ -- THEN ALL of satan’s lies, deceptions & words he tries to use against us are “Pulled Back Into The Righteous Perspective” of our Father!

ILLUSTRATION

Sooner or later everyone reads or hears about Cervantes’ story of Don Quixote. Cervantes is thrown in prison in Seville. Finding himself in the middle of a band of cutthroats he tries to divert them by telling them his story of Don Quixote, the Man of La Mancha. In the story, Quixote pictures himself as a chivalrous knight. He goes forth to right all the wrongs of the world and take it by storm, but the Don is a man who lives in a world of impossible dreams. His armor is shabby and his horse is sagging. He rides for his fair lady whom he calls Dulcinea — “Sweetness.” But Dulcinea is far from a fair lady. She is a prostitute in a country tavern. She assures him that she is “the most casual bride of the murderous scum of the earth.”

Her real name is Aldonza. She resents Quixote’s intrusion in her life and screams at him saying she is no kind of lady. But the Don persists, “And still thou art my lady.” He says that he sees heaven when he sees her, to which she replies that all she can see is a dream covered with rusty tin. Soon Don Quixote’s family tries to make him face reality. They oblige him to see the world as it is by shocking him into reality.

As they begin to succeed, his health and his spirit begin to break, and he is at the point of giving up his impossible dream. But just then Aldonza comes into his room. She looks at him with grateful eyes and says, “You looked at me and called me by another name — Dulcinea.”

Aldonza had become a lady; her life renewed by someone who dared to believe in her and call her by a new name.

There are many times that it seems that God is interfering with our lives in a quixotic manner.

He sees what we are and yet insists on calling us another name.

He dares to dream the impossible dream for our lives

We often talk about believing in God, and forget that HE BELIEVES IN US

EPHESIANS 6:13-17 (The Message)

Be prepared. You’re up against far more than you can handle on your own. Take all the help you can get, every weapon God has issued, so that when it’s all over but the shouting you’ll still be on your feet. Truth, righteousness, peace, faith, and salvation are more than words. LEARN HOW TO APPLY THEM. You’ll need them throughout your life. God’s Word is an indispensable weapon.

GIRDLE OF TRUTH -- keeps EVERYTHING pulled into perspective -- looking & living truthfully in OUR LIVES