Prepared With Peace Series

Chico Alliance Church

October 1, 2006

Pastor David Welch

"Spiritually Aware, Alert, Armed and Aggressive" Pt 10

“Prepared with Peace”

I.Be Aware

II. Be Alert

III.Be armed & aggressive

A.Be fully empowered

B.Be fully armed

C.Stand firm – engage the enemy

Every piece of armor relates to a major scheme of the devil against mankind. His schemes center on but are not limited to our mind. This armor both protects us and demolishes the enemy’s strongholds.

1.Stand firm having girded your loins with TRUTH

This part of the armor deals with perception problems. Whenever I fail to view life from God’s perspective, I become susceptible to the enemy’s lies. Truth sets free. Lies imprison. The Bible is the only reliable place to gain God’s perspective about Him, me, other people, life, purpose, and the enemy we face. All Scripture was supernaturally inspired by God and is profitable for the purpose of Doctrine, reproof, correction and instruction in righteous living SO THAT the person of God might become mature fully equipped for every good work which God created us to do. God wants us to pursue truth, expose lies with the truth breaking Satan’s strongholds, speak truth to ourselves and each other and live by the truth in our everyday life. Jesus Himself is truth. When we put on truth, we put on Jesus who enables us to demolish the enemy’s strongholds and withstand the enemy’s attacks.

2.Stand firm armed with RIGHTEOUSNESS

Concept

Righteousness has to do with compliance to a recognized standard. A ball player who plays by the rules would be considered a righteous player. A citizen who complies with the society’s laws and rules is a righteous citizen. Righteousness is the quality of life manifested by one who lives righteously. Righteousness describes the quality of life that emanates from one who lives by God’s standard. Man is made in the image of God.

God made us to live by His standard. God made us to completely, perfectly and continually conform to His standard. He ingrained in us a deep longing to be and do right as God defines right.

Problem!

No one has ever lived by God’s standard and therefore man continually tries to adjust the standard or denies the existence of such a standard or a God who would impose such a standard. In order to connect with a righteous God, we must also be righteous.

This is the theme of Scripture. This is the core of the good news. We must come to realize that we cannot come close to God’s standard. Listen to Paul’s deepest passion.

After expounding a list of accomplishments that would appear to qualify Paul as a righteous person, Paul had this to say.

But whatever things were gain to me, those things I have counted as loss for the sake of Christ. More than that, I count all things to be loss in view of the surpassing value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them but rubbish so that I may gain Christ, and may be found in Him, not having a righteousness of my own derived from the Law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness which comes from God on the basis of faith, that I may know Him and the power of His resurrection and the fellowship of His sufferings, being conformed to His death; in order that I may attain to the resurrection from the dead. Philippians 3:7-11

Notice the source of Paul’s righteousness. The only righteousness that can put us in right standing with a perfect God, is a perfect righteousness. The only source of such righteousness is through Jesus Christ whom God made to be sin for us that we might become the righteousness of God in Him. God inundated Jesus with our sin and inundated us with His righteousness. This is not just Jesus-colored glasses. God actually does something to the core of our being. God puts a quality of life into us that makes us a different person. God transforms the core being, the inner heart of every truly born again person with a new set of passions. He puts within us a new passion to live righteously.

Notice Paul’s lack of confidence in his own righteous deeds. The realization of what God had given by reason of faith in the work of Christ brought a new passion to actually live a resurrected life. The only way to live a righteous life is by the transforming power of God.

The realization of God’s gracious gift of righteousness inspired a passion to pursue and live a righteous life.

Not that I have already obtained it or have already become perfect, but I press on so that I may lay hold of that for which also I was laid hold of by Christ Jesus. Brethren, I do not regard myself as having laid hold of it yet; but one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and reaching forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus. Let us therefore, as many as are perfect, have this attitude; and if in anything you have a different attitude, God will reveal that also to you; however, let us keep living by that same standard to which we have attained. Philippians 3:12-16