Defending The Faith In Narnia Series

Message: Peter; Defending the faith in Narnia

Scripture: I Kings 2:2 (Message) 2"I’m about to go the way of all the earth, but you--be strong; show what you’re made of!

Eph 6: 11-18

11Put on the full armor of God so that you can take your stand against the devil’s schemes. 12For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms. 13Therefore put on the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand. 14Stand firm then, with the belt of truth buckled around your waist, with the breastplate of righteousness in place, 15and with your feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace. 16In addition to all this, take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. 17Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God. 18And pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests. With this in mind, be alert and always keep on praying for all the saints.

Defending the Faith

I Peter receive an interesting Christmas present: a Sword.

Father Christmas gives each child a gift. “These are tools not toys”

Aslan expected Peter to go and defend the faith against huge odds.

He was scared and felt inadequate, but he went. God sends us but we are not alone.

The White witch is ready for an all out war to hang onto her misguided claim to the kingdom of Narnia. She harnesses all the minions who are at her disposal to fight against the forces of good represented by Aslan. Peter has been outfitted with the sword to lead the army of Aslan against the evil forces of the White witch.

We are given tools not toys as well as described in the scriptures this morning. Look again at Ephesians. 11Put on the full armor of God so that you can take your stand against the devil’s schemes. 12For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms. 13Therefore put on the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand. 14Stand firm then, with the belt of truth buckled around your waist, with the breastplate of righteousness in place, 15and with your feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace. 16In addition to all this, take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. 17Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God. 18And pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests. With this in mind, be alert and always keep on praying for all the saints.

Is there doubt about the task that has been left to us?

II What do we have to defend today?

It is interesting to watch the debate that gets raised each year about what is or isn’t appropriate around Christmas. It get a lot of publicity. Some would like to make it the conservative vs. the liberal, the Christian vs. anyone who isn’t, or just by persons who don’t know any better.

I belive there is an element in our world that is against anything Christian. You have seen it with the attack of the pledge of allegiance, the ten commandments and etc.

Each year cities and schools wrestle with what to do with this time of year, so that we are politically correct for every persuasion…

In John Gibson’s book “The War on Christmas” he share several case studies of places where Christmas is under fire. It talks about a school in Georgia that had a suit declared from the ACLU changing Christmas vacation to Holiday break. In Mustang, OK at Lakehoma elementary in their annual Christmas Pageant where there was a nativity scene, as well as representation of Kwanzaa and Hanukah. This was a one size fits all affair.

Days before the pageant the superintendent issued an order that the nativity scene was to be removed, and there would not be any singing of Silent Night. The Kwanzaa and Hanukah aspects of the program were allowed to remain.

In Plano Texas near Dallas the Thomas Elementary school was getting ready to celebrate its annual winter party, which had replaced the former Christmas party. Goodie bags were shared among the class. Before the bags were distributed pencils with Jesus is the reason for the season and candy canes with the legend of the candy cane were removed as violation the separation of church and state.