Put On The Shoes Of The Gospel Series

We have an awesome God who has given us everything we need for life and godliness! Why is it that many of us Christians are not happy with life and not godly?

One of the major reasons of course is that God has not fully judged evil. For a moment, in God’s schedule, the prince of this world we live in is the devil. But one day soon, Jesus Christ will return to this earth to judge all and all Believers of Christ will be brought to heaven, where there will be no more struggles in life forever!!! Are you looking forward to that day? - You should if you are a Christian!

Open your Bibles to the very end for a moment and read along with me Revelation 22:12-21…………

If you are not a true Believer of Jesus Christ, now is the time to receive Him into your life, for He is coming soon. Jesus, God, Savior, and Judge of all can come today!!

If you are a Christian, take heart! We will see Jesus in the clouds very soon and He has already prepared a place for us in heaven! In the meantime, God has given us everything we need for life and godliness: Christians have the Holy Spirit empowering us! Christians have the church! Christians have the full armor of God! How are we doing?

Let us continue to learn more about the armor of God available to us and commit to putting it on everyday! Open your bibles to Ephesians 6. Let us pray together our commitment to God’s Word………… Eph. 6:13-18…..

As most of you know, the original books and letters in the New Testament were written in Greek. And again, the Greek grammar for putting on the full armor speaks of personal responsibility. Every individual Christian is personally responsible for putting on the armor of God.

There are 7 pieces to this full armor of God – BBSSSHF.

We are focusing on the Shoes of the Gospel this morning.

Most will say that Ephesians 6:15 basically says that Christians are to go wherever the Gospel takes you. This is a good thought but it is only a portion of what the verse is actually saying. We have several English translations of the Bible. We just read from the New International Version of the Bible, and with your feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace.

The New King James Version and the New American Standard both translates Ephesians 6:15, and having shod your feet with the preparation of the gospel of peace.

The New Revised Standard Version states, As shoes for your feet put on whatever will make you ready to proclaim the gospel of peace.

Which ever translation you choose, they all can be claimed as the Word of God and they proclaim the same principles for life! Let’s take a closer look and understand this verse then we can apply it appropriately to our lives. In general what is the verse saying?

Ephesians 6:15 is part of the full armor of God which states to put on something to your feet!

God uses items that people are familiar with in the physical world as teaching tools for the Christian life. Of course, this full armor of God is for the spiritual battle every Christian is confronted with!

And so, in order to understand what these pieces of the armor are good for in the spiritual world, we need to first understand their purposes in the physical world.

Let’s first of all talk about our feet. At first thought, most of us will say that feet are for walking, right?

Let me ask this question, can one walk without feet?

People can walk with stilts and ballerinas can actually dance on their toes; but both takes years of training! You can walk without feet but not very easily. Our feet help us to be able to walk, run, and move freely but what is that old saying? You must learn to stand before you can walk! And so, we have feet so we can first of all be stable and stand then have the ability to move freely.

Think about this for a moment, a soldier will not be able to defend well without the ability to stand and move freely. A good armor for a soldier includes protection for their feet! Similarly, Christians in spiritual warfare will not be able to defend themselves well if they can not spiritually stand and move freely. This is why God’s command for Christians is to put something on their spiritual feet.

Now, do shoes matter for our feet?

How many of you do sports or physical exercise??

Many of you know how important shoes are for physical activities. I love to play basketball, but there was a time I had to stop because my ankles and my shins hurt so bad. You see, I am cheap, and I was wearing cheap shoes! Someone told me to buy better shoes. It was hard for me to spend but I did get better shoes with the right arch support and I am still playing basketball twice a week these days. 2 Saturdays ago, what fun it was to play for 2 hours of basketball with my son’s friends (Men Of God) at the University of Notre Dame. Putting on the right shoes is important!