Stand And Fight: Don't Lose Your Head Series

Stand and Fight: Don’t Lose Your Head

Sunday, August 5th, 2007

Beartown Road Alliance Church

Now that summer is already half over, and softball season is done, I’ve begun to look forward to our basketball league that starts up every fall. We host the league out in our gym and have shown some very good improvement in the last 2 years. We’ve got about 10 guys that consistently show up for each of the games. Every guy is different and brings a different skill set to the games. If I told all of the guys to grab a ball and go out and shoot from the spots that they are most likely to find themselves during a game, they would spread out all over. Dan Nelson would head to about 6 feet behind the three point line and start to hoist up shots from there. Craig Herberger would start taking shots at the foul line because every team that we play seems to want a piece of him and he ends up on that line an awful lot. T.J. would be shooting mid-range jumpers, Adam would be driving in for lay-ups, Woody and Paul would be shooting from the foul line extended. The guys that play the most, all have their place on the floor where they are most comfortable and most effective. If I were to go and shoot from where I am most likely to find myself in a game, it would be a tough shot from the end of the bench! I have taken a very passive approach to our basketball team. I would like to play, I played all through high school and college, but at this point in my career, I feel that the team is better off if I just watch. I go to every game, I cheer enthusiastically, I get in every once in a while, but for the most part, I leave it to the guys who seem to be better suited to have some success out there.

As we continue on in our look at Spiritual Warfare, I think that there are far too many Christians who take this kind of view when it comes to building God’s Kingdom and standing our ground against the enemy. We want to be a part of things, we come to church each week, we support and cheer for the people who are involved in the ministry, but in the end, we decide to let someone else carry the load because we’re convinced that they have more time or are better equipped. Having this attitude in a church league basketball game is one thing, but when it comes to the spiritual battles of everyday life, we have to be willing to be more than a cheerleader. The armor that Paul has laid out is not for pastors or missionaries alone. It’s not for the well-trained, the gifted communicators, and the Bible scholars alone. This armor of God is available to all who believe and it is expected that those who truly understand the reality of the spiritual realm will not just be aware of the armor but will put it on and will get involved in the battle wherever God calls them to be. The arena of Spiritual Warfare and the playing field of advancing God’s Kingdom here on Earth, does not have a bench area. Everyone is expected to join in no matter how unqualified we feel. The command is to stand, not sit and watch, and God has given us and will give us what we need to stand.

Read the Armor

This morning, we move on to the helmet. The helmet of the Roman soldier protected his head from swords, arrows, battle-axes, clubs, and anything else that the opposing army could think of to come at him with. It was made of reinforced iron and was polished with oil to make it slick so that any blows would slide right off of it. No soldier would enter battle with his head exposed. The helmet, like the breastplate and shield, gave him confidence to fight. It protected his most important asset, his brain.

For Christians, we have to understand what this helmet that Paul talks about, protects. It guards and protects our minds, our intellect. Satan will attack our minds. He is going to twist and bend the truth any way that he can to confuse us and to convince us in our minds that God didn’t really say what He said, or mean what he said. You see it in Genesis with Adam and Eve. He plays on the weakness of mind that Adam and Eve show, twisting the words of God into something that was close to accurate but not the truth. Satan is the master of mind games, he wants to gain control of our minds. When he tempted Christ in the desert, he attacked him mentally, trying to bend His mind so that His will would follow. But Jesus answered each lie with the unchanging Truth of God’s Word.