Sermon Central
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Part 2 - The Unseen War Series
Contributed by Pastor Bruce A. Shields on Oct 6, 2004 (message contributor)
Summary: Part 2 of the series examines what is going on behind what we see. This sermon looks at examples from scripture to explain the real battle we fight.
SPIRITUAL WARFARE
& THE WHOLE ARMOR OF GOD (SERIES)
2 ¡V The Unseen War
Rev. Bruce A. Shields
First Baptist church of Tawas City Michigan
www.TawasBaptist.org
„« Scripture Reading ¡V 2 Kings 6:8-17 (NIV)
PRAYER
God is with us, among us, all around us and so are His angels in our time of need, though we may not see them.
The King of Syria was frustrated as he discovers that his enemy, the King of Israel, anticipates his every move. He suspects a traitor in his midst, but discovers that it is Elisha that is informing the King of Syria¡¦s military movements.
So the King of Syria sends troops to surround Elisha¡¦s camp and bring him back.
Elisha¡¦s servant fearfully goes to Elisha, and Elisha prays that the servant¡¦s eyes be open to see that in the spiritual realm they were protected by armies greater than those that came against them. (Greater is He that is in us, than he that is in the world.)
Word Processor has type and font settings that are hidden in the document that format the document text.
Although I don¡¦t see this formatting, I do see the result of the formatting in the document text.
There is a button I can click to show the formatting; all these crazy weird characters appear on the screen along with my text that I had typed. This button is called ¡§show formatting¡¨.
This is what Elisha prayed for. So the servant could see the invisible workings of what was going on behind what he saw.
„« What are some of our problems we face in the world today?
Financial, emotional, famine, war, violence, disease, suffering, abduction, murders, etc...
We need to acknowledge that we are currently engaged in warfare. We need to ask ourselves if we are equipped and prepared, or are we just sitting ducks awaiting slaughter.
¡§My people are destroyed from lack of knowledge. Because you have rejected knowledge, I also reject you as my priests; because you have ignored the law of your God, I also will ignore your children.¡¨
We are destroyed in our lives because we fail to recognize and acknowledge were our battle truly lies. We fail to gain knowledge from God¡¦s word, and we fail to educate our children of His word, and we wonder why they fail in life. And we wonder why we fail as Christians.
We accept Christ and become soldiers in God¡¦s army, but don¡¦t put any armor on. We face the worst of adversaries, the devil himself, yet fail to pick up the sword which is the word of God. And wonder why we fail. We wonder why we can¡¦t withstand the attacks of the devil while our armor, protection, only defense sits on the end table collecting dust.
So we are destroyed. And our children are destroyed because we failed to gain knowledge and offer protection to our household.
Men, you are the spiritual heads of your house. Are you having spiritual warfare in your home? Are your children suffering defeat in this world because you have not gained the knowledge that is needed to protect your family and household? Have you sought the council of God and His holy word? Have you put on the armor of God and picked up the sword which is the word of God?
„« God offers us protection! The Armor of God!
In another week or so we will take a closer look at each piece of the armor and see what it represents and how it is used.
„« Isaiah 59:15-17 ¡V Isaiah tells us Christ is going to come in armor
Truth is gone. Anyone who tries to live a godly life is attacked. And the Lord was displeased. So the Lord came to us as Jesus Christ to save us with His power and might. Wearing armor read for battle. The armor is His. The armor in Ephesians is God¡¦s armor, available to us through Christ and the Holy Spirit.
What does the scripture mean, truth is gone? It means there was going to come a time when lies and deception ruled.
„« John 8:42-47 ¡V Satan the father of lies and deception
We live in the age of deceit right now. Our schools sub-ject our children to the myth of evolution ¡V that their entire existence is the result of a cosmic accident thus denying any theological purpose to their lives. Then we wonder why our children feel no sense of destiny, self-esteem or purpose. Why live? What¡¦s life for?
Our scientific establishments continue to promote this falsehood despite the abundance of evidence that these theories no longer fit the known scientific facts.
Our news and media devote their resources to promote personal agendas for ratings rather than inform us of facts and events.
