Winning Communication Series

Winning Communication

Ephesians 6:10-18, Matthew 26:41, Mark 14:38, Luke 22:46, Matthew 26:36-45, James 5:16

April 25, 2004

I. For the last few weeks I have been talking about the armor of God.

A. We have seen where God’s Word says that we are in a battle.

1. There is spiritual warfare going on around us all the time.

2. The battle that we fight as Christians is not against flesh and blood, but it is against principalities and powers.

3. The battle that we fight is against evil.

4. We have also seen that God makes a lot of equipment available to us.

B. God has provided Christians armor that will allow them to be protected from the schemes of Satan while the battle goes on around them.

C. The belt of truth, is the integrity that God makes us capable of having.

1. Our word is the place we carry the Truth of God’s Word.

2. Our integrity allows us a place to carry the most powerful weapon in the universe, that is the Word of God.

3. Without integrity we have no place to carry God’s Word, our actions determine whether or not people will believe what we say about God.

D. The Breastplate of Righteousness is the protection for our vital organs especially our hearts.

1. The condition of our hearts will determine our actions.

2. The rightness of God, that evidence of the God that is in us that becomes ours, in the way we live, will be the protection for our hearts.

3. If our hearts, our wills, our desires, are not protected in God righteousness, they are vulnerable to satan’s attacks, our lives can be destroyed, when we don’t protect our hearts.

4. If our hearts are not wrapped in the righteousness of God they will become hard and calloused, and that is not the life of a Christian.

E. Our feet are to be fitted with the readiness of the Gospel of Peace.

1. The Gospel of peace is our foundation in life, it gives us stability, and allows us to stand our ground.

2. When the foundation of our lives is found in the Gospel we have firm footing, that allows us to stand in that hope we have, with the security of knowing that God is with us.

3. And that same foundation that allows us to stand will also allow us to move forward with the Story of the peace that can be found in a relationship with Jesus.

F. The shield of Faith comes next, it is that piece of armor that provides a covering for all the others.

1. It is something that we can carry out in front of us to stop the fiery arrows that satan hurls at us.

2. Our faith in God, our belief and trust that no matter what God is with us and He is on our side, that trust that allows to rely on God and not us is the things that will allow us to beat fear, and doubt, and discouragement, it is the thing that will allow us to go on joyfully in the face of problems.

G. The helmet of Salvation that protects our minds from the influence of evil is next.

1. If we keep our minds enclosed in the salvation of God, our thoughts will be right and pure, but if we take garbage into our minds then garbage will come out.

2. The things that we put into our minds through T.V., music, things we read and conversations we have, these things can get into our minds and affect the way we think and act.

3. Our minds have to be protected from Satan’s influence, because all sin that is acted out is formed in the mind.

4. That’s why it is so important that our minds become protected from the attempts that Satan makes to lead us in the wrong direction.

H. Next is the Sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of God.

1. God’s word is the most awesome weapon in the universe, nothing can stand against it. and with the Sword of the Spirit in our hands we are more than conquerors.

II. There is no battle that we get into that power of God can’t get us out of.But in spite of all this armor there is one thing missing.

A. The Gulf war was our nation’s first televised war! If you were like I was, you were watching to see what was happening.

B. I spent a lot of time watching to see what was going to happen next.

C. If you watched a lot of what was going on you might know the answer to the question I am going to ask, or you might if you have heard me ask it before, because I have.