The Armor Of God – Salvation Series

The Armor of God – Salvation – Teaching

(This week is going to be a communion week, so the lesson is shorter. Bring some real bread and grape juice if you can. If you have a baker in your group, ask them if they can make a celebration type loaf of bread and cut it up.)

(Check out my blog MyPrayerNotebook.com if you need it’s-ok-to-yeast information, To Yeast or Not to Yeast. As soon as I lengthen the study, it will be here.)

(We are teachers/preachers, and we need to lead the way. There is a comment about how often communion is done. Start doing it every day!)

Really quickly: Last week we studied the shield of faith. Did anyone try the tactic of speaking out loud when an attack to your mind came? Did anyone remember to do that? …. Did anyone say the converted Navy Seal sayings out loud? …. I don’t want anyone to divulge their personal life, but did anyone notice a difference when making love adjustments? We all should be raising our hand to that! We live in a world that hates God and loves evil. Walking in love is a practice, practice, practice kind of thing.

This week! A very exciting piece, the helmet of salvation, that started this whole study, and then next week hopefully everyone’s favorite the sword, the Word of God. The Sword study will be fun. We’re going to talk about archeology findings to enhance the Word.

The Helmet of Salvation

Ephesians 6:17 NKJV

And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God;

This piece of armor started the study! In the same verse, Paul tells us to take the helmet of salvation, and then the sword of the Spirit. I believe the Holy Spirit put these pieces in the same verse to show us something. A while ago, I asked the Lord how we upgrade our helmet, and if we all have this same helmet. The answer came while praying! It was just like the lights were turned on; you upgrade your helmet of salvation by taking communion. Paul writes that Jesus said of communion, “this cup is in the new covenant in my blood.” What opens up the New Covenant to a person? Salvation! Paul goes on to say that communion is proclaiming the Lord’s death until He comes. That’s another way to say, “proclaim salvation until the coming of Jesus.” Partaking of communion, especially when it’s not imposed, will strengthen your relationship with God and begin to build something special inside of you. Think of it like a married couple renewing marriage vows to strengthen their relationship, or kids reciting the pledge of allegiance to create patriotism. It gives us a modern-day understanding of its deep importance. Paul wrote about communion in 1 Corinthians 11:23-26.

“…that the Lord Jesus on the same night in which He was betrayed took bread; 24and when He had given thanks, He broke it and said, “Take, eat; this is My body which is broken for you; do this in remembrance of Me.” 25In the same manner He also took the cup after supper, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in My blood. This do, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of Me.” 26For as often as you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death till He comes.”

There is the answer! How do you partake of the new covenant in Jesus’ blood? Salvation! What is communion? Communion is rehearsing our Salvation Package. We’ll get to the package in a minute. But this is very exciting to me! We can strengthen our helmet of salvation through performing communion.

Everyone comes from different backgrounds, and communion may not be an exciting event for you. Before we move on, I want to share this amusing story from a minster about communion when she was a teenager. (Tell an amusing story about misunderstanding the point of communion, before it gets tense. My story below is true. I did this monthly as a teenager)

Years ago, as a teenager, I dreaded communion Sunday. Not only would I have to quickly choose a stale wafer that I could be reasonably sure that no one else touched, but I would also have to find a clean, untouched cup that was surrounded by other cups. I sat in the very back of the church, and there were well-known nose pickers in the pews in front of me. But it wasn’t just that. No, there was more! The “Communion Sunday Drama” was about to begin. Being an ill-mannered teenager with ADHD, in my bored head, I did one sided sports-style commentating and post-game interviews of the body-and-blood prayers. One of those post-communion interviews is still in my head to this day.