Gospel Shoes Of Peace Series

TITLE: “Gospel Shoes of Peace"

INTRO: Tell a lot about a person by the shoes he wears

- Your shoes are making a statement about you.

- Cowboy boots - you’re saying you’re macho, mountain man

- Wingtip shoes - Accountant, Engineer

- Tassels - cool & hip

- Sandals - California

- No shoes - from southern California

SERIES: How to Dress for Success (Learning how to dress, spiritually speaking)

TEXT: Ephesians 6:15

(read)

REVIEW: Paul is under house arrest in Rome, chained to a Roman soldier and he is writing

this letter & describing the armor & giving an analogy of our spiritual armor that the

Lord provides us with.

-Romans were experts in warfare; they covered the world (mainly through hand to hand

combat)

-Soldiers knew a slip in close quarters meant certain doom.

-Roman military scientist came up with a helpful idea so their soldiers would not

slip.

-(Shoe like boot with very thick souls, put spikes or nails into souls protruding

downward) acted like cleats in football or baseball, give you better traction.

REMEMBER: Belt of Truth - respond to the Word of God.

Breastplate of Righteousness - Jesus Christ righteousness

Today - Talk about Gospel shoes of Peace

- Anybody that has been in hand to hand knows the importance of having sure footing.

Ex...Professional boxers put resin on the shoes so they don’t slip in the ring.

TS: What is this peace Paul is talking about (this Gospel of Peace) Talk 3 aspects of Peace…

I. Peace with God

A. War with God - before we became Christians the Bible says we were at war with Him. We were enemies of God.

1. Thought Satan at war with God - right, but he led mankind into rebellion against God (Garden of Eden or mankind has been in rebellion ever since).

-Romans 1:18 "The wrath of God is being revealed from Heaven against all the godlessness and wickedness of men who suppress the truth by their wickedness".

B. Words: Godlessness - implies a lack of reverence (respect) for God. Wickedness - implies injustice towards fellow men.

Suppress the truth - whenever truth starts to exert itself it makes them feel

uneasy so they hold it down (suppress it) by argument or denial.

Ex. Counseling people (truth, argument & denial)

-Because they are trying to suppress the truth from within

- The first step to recovery is to admit you have a problem.

C. Good news - Romans 5:10-11 (read)

- Son dying on the cross - (reason why we can have peace with God.)

1. Last week - Doctrine of justification (being right, declared righteous)

This week - Doctrine of reconciliation

Romans 5:1 "Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ".

D. 3 pieces armor GK verb form is in the middle voice meaning we believe and God acts.

- We believe & God belts us up.

- We believe & God puts on the breastplate of righteousness.

- We believe & God puts shoes of peace on us.

E. Benefits of having peace with God

1. He will extend His peace to flood over our lives - our mind & hearts will be bathed in His peace & it won’t matter what circumstances we are in.

- John 14:27 "Peace I leave with you; My peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled & do not be afraid."

II. Peace within ourselves_- God will not only make peace with Himself but also with ourselves.

A. God gives us armor to respond to enemy attack - Gospels Shoes of Peace are a response to the enemies attack of distractions. (floods the communication channel with noise)

-Pointing out flaws, - Church (hypocrites, Pastor, worrying about color of walls, size of bulletins, too many choruses, not enough hymns, etc.)

-Start concerning ourselves with unimportant details, we get off track & start majoring in the minor things.

B. Distractions will cause us to worry, anxiety, tension cause us to miss the peace of God.

-Some here today have allowed the devil to rob you of your peace in Christ. I’d challenge you as Pastor or friend, not to major in the irrelevant things of life (let’s get on with the work God would have for us, winning souls).

C. Lord’s promise - Phil 4:6-7 "Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer & petition, with thanksgiving, present your request to God & the peace of God, which transcends all understanding will guard your hearts & your minds in Christ Jesus".

God basically saying bring your problems to me & in return I’ll give you My peace.

ILLUSTRATION: During dark days of WW II, London was being bombed by Germany. Invasion seemed immanent, hundreds were dying, fires were burning day & night, British people ready to give up & their leader, Winston Churchill, would come on the radio and give the British people encouragement & strength to stand against the enemy.