Double Duty Equipment Series

Double Duty Equipment

Ephesians 6:10-15, Isaiah 53:7, Romans 10:8-15, 2 Corinthians 5:18-21

March 21, 2004

I. There was an airline pilot who was concerned about his wife’s safety so he went to buy her a dog for protection. When he got to the pet store he told the owner that he wanted a dog to protect his wife while he was gone. The store owner went in the back and came out with a little Pekinese. The pilot said you’ve got to be kidding that scrawny little dog couldn’t hurt a flea. The Store owner said you don’t understand this dog knows Karate, do you see that box over their, the pilot said yes. The store owner looked at the dog and said "Karate Box", and the little dog shredded it. Then he said "Karate Chair" and the dog turned an oak chair into tooth picks. The pilot was impressed, and bought the dog. When he got home he told his wife he had bought a dog to protect her. She said that little dog can’t protect anything. He said but you don’t understand he knows karate, she said" Ha, karate my foot"

A. Feet are important, but some times we take them for granted and, I’m sure they feel walked on all the time.

B. The Scripture that we are going to focus on this morning talks about feet, but the real important thing is what they are to be protected with.

C. Feet are our foundation, and it is important that we protect them. If any of you have gotten up in the middle of the night and stepped on a grass burr stuck in the carpet you know what I mean.

D. Feet have two main purposes, to get us where we are going and to keep us standing where we are.

E. If you think feet aren’t important in life then you might want to talk to Mona about the time that she fell through the ashes in a burned brush pile and stuck her foot into the coals. We notice the importance of feet more when there is a problem with them.

F. Paul has been talking about the armor of a soldier in the verses that we have been reading. When a soldier was in battle if he lost his footing it could mean death.

G. In hand to hand combat if you got knocked off your feet you were in trouble, because it’s hard to defend yourself laying on the ground. The ability to stand was and is vital. That’s why a soldier’s shoes were an important part of his equipment.

H. The shoes that a soldier wore in those days looked a lot like the cleats that athletes wear today. PUT UP SLIDE.

I. They had knobs of some kind on the bottom that allowed them to dig in so they could stand their ground.

J. In battle a soldier had to have sure footing. Slipping could mean the end of his life.

K. It was also important that when a soldier started to advance that he had good traction so he could get moving when he needed to. One of the things that made the Roman army effective was their ability to cover a lot of ground in a little time.

L. Living in Louisiana can help you understand this better. Just about every truck you see has mud grip tires on it. That’s because just about everything that’s not on a paved road is mud. Mud grips have deep groves cut in them and knobs on the sides that allow them to get traction on muddy surfaces. I have seen vehicles that don’t have mud grips on them sit in one place with the tires spinning 30 mph and go no where.

M. And, being stuck can be a frustrating thing. It can also be harmful. One time me and my brother-in-law were riding in the woods behind Donna’s mother’s, and we got in a muddy place and got stuck. I was driving and I would back up and pull forward trying to get enough momentum to get out. My brother in law got frustrated and got in the back of the truck to put a little more weight over the tires for more traction. I told him to hold on, and I took off backward, well he didn’t hold on and he took about three steps toward the front of the truck and lost his balance, so when I quickly put the truck in first gear and started forward again he was running toward the back of the truck, backwards. This time I heard him and looked up in the rear view mirror about the time the tailgate hit him just below the back of the knee. And I watched as his head and feet switched places as he went over the tailgate and into the mud. I got out and ran back to where he was and saw that he was ok, but my not being able to quit laughing didn’t help his frustration any. Needless to say he wasn’t very happy with me.