How to Stand Against Evil

Today, we are going to talk about soldiers. How many of you have a family member that is a soldier, or have seen a soldier walking around? Most soldiers today wear camouflage clothes and tall boots, but soldiers back in Paul’s day looked very different. In Paul’s lifetime the Roman’s were in charge and their soldiers were given the strongest armor Rome could make. Paul saw these soldiers and used the armor that they wore to teach Christians about how they should live.

Know your enemy.

To understand what Paul is going to teach us we need to know about who he was writing to. Paul was writing a letter to church just like ours. This church was located in a town called Ephesus. Paul had visited the church in Ephesus and lived there with them for about two years. Paul had friends there and he loved the church in Ephesus. But, while Paul was in Ephesus teaching some people started to get angry with him. They got so mad that they started a huge angry mob. People were shouting and very angry; and Paul had to hide or else he could have been hurt. Eventually the crowd left and Paul did not have to hide anymore, but because of the angry group of people Paul decided he would leave.

Now, Paul is writing a letter back to his friends at the church in Ephesus and he says,...

Eph. 6:10-12 “10 Finally, be strong in the Lord and in the strength of his might. 11 Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the schemes of the devil. 12 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.”

What Paul is telling the church is that they need to be strong in Jesus. Being strong in Jesus means that we are learning about Him and praying to Him and trying to show Him that we love Him by obeying what Jesus has said and doing what is right.