I. Don’t Just Do Anything….
A. Text: Ephesians 6:10-17
“Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord, and in the power of his might. Put on the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places. Wherefore take unto you the whole armour of God that ye may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand. Stand therefore, having your loins girt about with truth, and having on the breastplate of righteousness; And your feet shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace; Above all, taking the shield of faith, wherewith ye shall be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked. And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God…”
B. There’s some new sayings that are slowing becoming old – yet fit the message I want to get across today. They are:
a) If you don’t stand for something, you’ll fall for anything.
b) If we don’t stand together, we’ll fall apart!
C. There’s something that can be said about sometimes just doing nothing and standing!
D. When we’ve done all we know to do – many of us will allow the weight of our tribulations and trials to drop us to our knees. We give up. We quit. We lose the fight.
E. But, God is calling you and I to a place that requires determination and fortitude...He’s calling us to do nothing but…stand!
F. To often, when we find ourselves in the place of uncertainty, we fly off the handle or take matters into our own hands.
G. We must get to the place where we’ll not speak, not move, not act – sometimes, we must do nothing but stand our ground!
H. Some do nothing but worry. Worry will get you nowhere in a hurry!
40% of all things that we worry about never come to pass.
30% of all our worries involve past decisions that cannot be changed.
12% focus on criticism from others who spoke because they felt inferior.
10% are related to our health, which gets worse when we worry.
8% of our worries could be described as “legitimate” causes for concern.
By the way, that’s 100% totaled. Of course, they say, 42.7 PERCENT OF ALL STATISTICS ARE MADE UP ON THE SPOT.
II. What to Do? What to Do?
A. Many of God’s people walk out of their house every morning naked! Spiritually naked that is. Without the Armor of God!
B. You must remember the enemy is going to shoot his arrows where he finds the weak spots.
C. So, you must have the ‘whole’ armor on!
D. You see you can’t stand without the whole armor!
E. It would be like you were standing naked in a snowstorm expecting not to get cold! Rather foolish don’t you think?
F. And yet, that’s how some Christians live their lives. And they think they’ve got it all together.
G. They have this attitude – ‘hey I can stand!’ Problem is, they are trying to stand on their own. You can’t stand on your own!
H. It may be your own two feet that you stand on, but it’s by God’s grace and power that you can stand at all!
I. Paul tells us to “Put on the whole armor of God, that ye may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil.”
J. You will not be able to stand without that armor!
K. Paul also writes, in I Corinthians 10:12-13 “…if you think you are standing firm, be careful that you don’t fall! No temptation has seized you except what is common to man. And God is faithful; he will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear. But when you are tempted, he will also provide a way out so that you can stand up under it.”
L. The thing about God’s armor is that ‘one size fits all!’
M. When Saul tried to assist little David in his fight against Goliath, he invited him to wear his armor.
N. But, David could not because it was too big for him. It didn’t fit.
O. Many of God’s people look at the Armor of God and try to leave some articles at home declaring that they don’t fit their lives.
P. Some may say, “Well, I don’t need that shield of faith because I just don’t believe in all that faith stuff.” Then how in the world did you eve get saved in the first place without faith?
Q. Some would say, “Oh, truth doesn’t fit into my life, I don’t need that belt of truth. Telling the truth just hurts too much.” Fact is, truth might hurt a little, but lying will flat out kill you!
R. No, this Armor of God is one-size-fits-all! In fact, if it doesn’t fit your life, guess who needs to change? J
S. Have you ever been given a gift of clothing for your kids that were too big? Then, rather than having to deal with returning them and exchanging them, you just say, “Oh, well, they’ll grow into it!”
T. You are here tonight so that you can learn how to grow into God’s armor.
III. When It’s All Done….Now What?
A. Verse 13 says,”…and having done all…”
B. One translation says it like this, “(after) having conquered every enemy…”
C. To attempt to fight in our own strength would be like attacking a forest fire with a squirt gun. It would be like attempting to slay a lion with a fly swatter. To attempt to defeat the devil in our own strength is like attempting to catch an elephant with a butterfly net.
D. Spiritual warfare needs spiritual weapons.
E. Stand in God’s power – under His Armor – and you will defeat your foes!
F. Having done all…stand!
G. Stand and see God work!
H. “Moses said unto the people, Fear ye not, stand still, and see the salvation of the LORD, which he will show to you to day: for the Egyptians whom ye have seen to day, ye shall see them again no more for ever. The LORD shall fight for you, and ye shall hold your peace.” (Exodus 14:13-14; KJV)
I. You see, when you have the Armor of God on, and you stand firm in your faith, your enemy will not see you, they will see HIM!!!
IV. Jesus – Our Armor
A. Jesus Christ is the Armor of God, think about it.
B. Paul tells us to have on the belt of truth. Didn’t Jesus say He is the truth!? “I am the way, the truth, and the life…” (John 14:6b, KJV)
C. Paul said to put on the breastplate of righteousness. Paul said, “For he (God) hath made him (Christ) to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him. (Christ)” (II Corinthians 5:21, KJV)
D. He tells us to put on the shoes of peace! Again, Paul wrote, in Ephesians 2:13-14a: “But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far away have been brought near through the blood of Christ. For he himself is our peace…” (NIV)
1. Isaiah 9:6 calls Him the “Prince of Peace.”
E. Paul says to take the shield of faith. Is He not our shield of faith? Does He not protect us from the evil one?
F. He says to put on the helmet of salvation. Without Christ, there would be no plan of salvation.
G. And, the Sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of God. John tells us: “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.” (John 1:1, NIV)
H. In essence, what we need to do is ‘put on Christ!’
I. Paul said, “…for all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ.” (Galatians 3:27, NIV)
J. You can’t stand it (this world) without putting on Jesus!
K. But, once you put Him on,just stand!!!!
