We have an awesome God who has given us everything we need for life and godliness! Why is it that many of us Christians are not happy with life and not godly?
One of the major reasons of course is that God has not fully judged evil. For a moment, in God’s schedule, the prince of this world we live in is the devil. But one day soon, Jesus Christ will return to this earth to judge all and all Believers of Christ will be brought to heaven, where there will be no more struggles in life forever!!! Are you looking forward to that day? - You should if you are a Christian!
Open your Bibles to the very end for a moment and read along with me Revelation 22:12-21…………
If you are not a true Believer of Jesus Christ, now is the time to receive Him into your life, for He is coming soon. Jesus, God, Savior, and Judge of all can come today!!
If you are a Christian, take heart! We will see Jesus in the clouds very soon and He has already prepared a place for us in heaven! In the meantime, God has given us everything we need for life and godliness: Christians have the Holy Spirit empowering us! Christians have the church! Christians have the full armor of God! How are we doing?
Let us continue to learn more about the armor of God available to us and commit to putting it on everyday! Open your bibles to Ephesians 6. Let us pray together our commitment to God’s Word………… Eph. 6:13-18…..
As most of you know, the original books and letters in the New Testament were written in Greek. And again, the Greek grammar for putting on the full armor speaks of personal responsibility. Every individual Christian is personally responsible for putting on the armor of God.
There are 7 pieces to this full armor of God – BBSSSHF.
We are focusing on the Shoes of the Gospel this morning.
Most will say that Ephesians 6:15 basically says that Christians are to go wherever the Gospel takes you. This is a good thought but it is only a portion of what the verse is actually saying. We have several English translations of the Bible. We just read from the New International Version of the Bible, and with your feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace.
The New King James Version and the New American Standard both translates Ephesians 6:15, and having shod your feet with the preparation of the gospel of peace.
The New Revised Standard Version states, As shoes for your feet put on whatever will make you ready to proclaim the gospel of peace.
Which ever translation you choose, they all can be claimed as the Word of God and they proclaim the same principles for life! Let’s take a closer look and understand this verse then we can apply it appropriately to our lives. In general what is the verse saying?
Ephesians 6:15 is part of the full armor of God which states to put on something to your feet!
God uses items that people are familiar with in the physical world as teaching tools for the Christian life. Of course, this full armor of God is for the spiritual battle every Christian is confronted with!
And so, in order to understand what these pieces of the armor are good for in the spiritual world, we need to first understand their purposes in the physical world.
Let’s first of all talk about our feet. At first thought, most of us will say that feet are for walking, right?
Let me ask this question, can one walk without feet?
People can walk with stilts and ballerinas can actually dance on their toes; but both takes years of training! You can walk without feet but not very easily. Our feet help us to be able to walk, run, and move freely but what is that old saying? You must learn to stand before you can walk! And so, we have feet so we can first of all be stable and stand then have the ability to move freely.
Think about this for a moment, a soldier will not be able to defend well without the ability to stand and move freely. A good armor for a soldier includes protection for their feet! Similarly, Christians in spiritual warfare will not be able to defend themselves well if they can not spiritually stand and move freely. This is why God’s command for Christians is to put something on their spiritual feet.
Now, do shoes matter for our feet?
How many of you do sports or physical exercise??
Many of you know how important shoes are for physical activities. I love to play basketball, but there was a time I had to stop because my ankles and my shins hurt so bad. You see, I am cheap, and I was wearing cheap shoes! Someone told me to buy better shoes. It was hard for me to spend but I did get better shoes with the right arch support and I am still playing basketball twice a week these days. 2 Saturdays ago, what fun it was to play for 2 hours of basketball with my son’s friends (Men Of God) at the University of Notre Dame. Putting on the right shoes is important!
What kind of shoes are Christians to wear as part of the full armor of God? We can note a few things about what we are to put on for our spiritual feet.
First of all, are we just to put on any cheap shoes available to us? Remember my basketball story, cheap shoes will eventually hurt you! I like the translation from the NIV, we are to put on “fitted” shoes!
In other words,
1. the spiritual shoes you and I are to wear are personal, custom made shoes from God!
We have custom fitted, designer shoes from God! We should not wear other people’s spiritual shoes! Growing up in a Christian home doesn’t make you a Christian. Being part of a certain church, doesn’t make you a Christian. Your own personal belief of Jesus Christ makes you a Christian! As a Christian, you have a personal story to tell!
Secondly, our spiritual shoes should make us ready. What are Christians to be ready for? It’s described in the passage isn’t it? Look again at verse 13…………..
The shoes we are to put on are to make us ready to stand. And because shoes are for the feet,
2. the spiritual shoes we are to put on are to make us ready not only to stand but also to move! How ready are your spiritual feet?
And where do we get this readiness to stand and move?
3. The Gospel makes our spiritual shoes ready!
What is the Gospel? Keeping thngs in context, turn to the beginning of this Letter to the Ephesians; Chapter 1, v13…
The Gospel is the Good News of being saved from our sins because of Jesus Christ; God who became man, died on the cross for man’s sin, and the only one who rose from the dead so we can live and live forever!
Have you believed and received Jesus Christ as your Savior and God? If so, you have a personal story to tell of how you believed and received Christ as Savior! When we understood and believed the Gospel of Jesus Christ is when we were given the ability to be ready to stand and move for God! If you’re a Christian, God has given you personal spiritual shoes to always put on!
What will happen if you do not put on these spiritual shoes from God? If we do not put on the spiritual shoes uniquely given to each one of us, the devil will attack our spiritual stability and we will not be able to move for God! And you know what else can happen when Christians don’t put on the spiritual shoes God has given them through the Gospel of Christ, the devil will attack them and they will put on other shoes which may seem stable, but will eventually lead them to spiritual disaster.
Putting on the wrong shoes will take you to wrong places! Putting on the right shoes from God will lead you to the right places! Are you lost right now, not knowing where to go? Put on the Shoes of the Gospel!
If we Christians are not wearing the full armor of God, the devil will hurt us. Always put on the full armor of God: First, Put on the Belt of Truth, buckle Jesus Christ around you and let Him hold everything in your life!
Picture Jesus Christ embracing you everyday!
Put on the Breastplate of Righteousness, confess your sins, claim the forgiveness of sins through the cross of Christ, allow Christ to sit on the throne of your heart, and have the confidence of being right with God!
Constantly, picture Jesus sitting on the throne of your heart!
Put on the Shoes of the Gospel given personally to you!
If someone asks you why you are a Christian, will you be ready to tell them?
If you have never done so before, will you write out your brief testimony this week?
Just answer 3 simple questions:
How was your life before believing in Christ?
When and why did you believe in Christ as Savior?
How does Jesus Christ influence your life today?
Always be ready to share how and why you believe in Jesus Christ!
I found a new hero through an Olympian. Here’s the story: I didn’t really know who I was and what I was doing. Everyone knew me as Kelly Clark—pro snowboarder; Kelly Clark—Olympic gold medalist, and that’s who I was. That’s who I was to other people and that’s who I was to myself. I was thinking: If this is what life is, if I’ve accomplished it all, if this is everything: I don’t want to do it anymore. I went to a snowboarding event and from the outside perspective my life was picture-perfect and together. I was doing well in the contest and I qualified for finals that afternoon. But at the bottom of the pipe this girl had come down and she had fallen both runs and was crying. I was half-paying attention to her conversation and her friend was trying to make her laugh and said, “Hey, it’s all right, God still loves you.” There was just something about that comment that caught my attention that I couldn’t shake. I couldn’t deny that it stirred something up in me. So I ran back to my hotel room and I thought: “There has got to be a Bible in the hotel room…there are always Bibles in hotel rooms, right? As I started looking at the Bible, I realized that I don’t know where to look or where to start. There is something getting stirred up inside of me and I don’t know what to do.
I found out that that girl who made the comment was staying in my hotel. I knocked on her door and said, “Hey, my name’s Kelly and I think you might be a Christian and I think you need to tell me about God.”
My new hero is the girl who decided to wear Shoes of the Gospel when Kelly Clark needed to hear God’s love! How abut you and me, there are many “Kelly Clarks” out there looking for people who are wearing the Shoes of the Gospel. Be a hero for God!
With the Gospel given to you, you can have the confidence to stand and move on with your life for God!
Your spiritual shoes separate you from the world because you are a citizen of heaven! Can you picture those spiritual shoes? Put on those spiritual shoes everyday!
Please take a moment to pray about these things and make a commitment to always put on the full armor of God!
