Sermon Central
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Choose Your Weapons Wisely
Contributed by Bruce Lee on Jun 2, 2025 (message contributor)
Summary: One day a man was walking down the street, saw a hole, and fell in it. The next day the man walked down the street and saw the hole and fell in again. The third day the man partially changed his course but still fell in the hole.
Choose Your Weapons Wisely
“By the humility and gentleness of Christ, I appeal to you—I, Paul, who am “timid” when face to face with you, but “bold” toward you when away! 2 I beg you that when I come I may not have to be as bold as I expect to be toward some people who think that we live by the standards of this world. 3 For though we live in the world,
we do not wage war as the world does. 4 The weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world. On the contrary, they have divine power to demolish strongholds.”
2 Corinthians 10: 1-4
Intro: One day a man was walking down the street, saw a hole, and fell in it.
The next day the man walked down the street and saw the hole and fell in again.
The third day the man partially changed his course but still fell in the hole.
The fourth day he altered his route a little more but then turned around to look back and fell in the hole.
Finally when the man became tired of his failure,
He took a wheel barrel, some rocks and dirt, and a shovel and filled the hole in the street.
Many of us are just like this man, thinking that we can change just a little and avoid the pitfalls of life.
The truth is we are in a spiritual battle every day.
The devil knows your weakness.
He knows the exact type of bait to use.
Satan is a word twister.
He is a communication blocker.
The bible calls him a deceiver…, destroyer…, a thief…, and a liar.
The Good News is you are not meant to go up against Satan alone and empty handed.
People of God have a track record of defeating Satan.
God also has a box of tools and weapons for the believer to use in the fight against temptation and sin.
The title of today’s sermon is “Choose Your Weapons Wisely.”
The original Greek word used for “weapon”
Original Word: ?p???, ??, t? Transliteration: hoplon Phonetic Spelling: (hop'-lon)
Means: an instrument…, tools…, armour or offensive weapon
The power of God is choosing the right tools or weapons to use for the situation you are in.
One thing I have learned is that many times we choose the wrong weapons to fight the battle we are faced with.
When you are faced with a problem.
Maybe it is something that someone has said about you.
A coworker who is trying to undermine your job at work.
A spouse who has said something that has upset you.
You have to ask yourself if I engage in this battle
If I spend my time and energy trying to straight this out
Defending myself
Arguing with a family member
Trying to prove that I am right
Even if I win this battle what is the prize going to be?
The reason many people miss out on God’s best
is they have used their energy fighting battles that don’t really matter.
Or they have used the wrong tool or weapon and a have made no progress
We are supposed to be in God’s army.
You are supposed to be a warrior.
But a warrior doesn’t just fight any battle and with just any weapon.
I Corinthians 9:26 says, “I do not fight like a boxer beating the air.”
This means that we with God obedience comes with a goal, a purpose, a direction.
Two UK basketball enthusiast had front row tickets at Rupp Arena.
It was one of those Wildcat / Gator matches.
Right before the game started one guy said to other,
The last time Florida beat Kentucky the score was 88-79
The other guy said, no it was 88-66
The two men argued back and forth and both men missed the tip off.
Near the end of the first quarter the referee made what one of the men thought was a questionable call.
He and his buddy exchanged comments back and forth
and missed seeing three point shot that tied the game.
Honestly the second of half of the game was all Kentucky to win 76 -66.
But the two men with front row tickets spent more time arguing
and looking at each other than they did watching the game.
My point is this in the big picture it did not matter.
When we get caught up in the petty battles and miss out on the real important things around us.
When we get caught up in the non-essential fights we may miss the tip-offs,
the tie making three pointers
and the really enjoyable things in life.
In life we are tempted to do the same things.
When we should save our energy,
save our fight for the things that are really important.
