Helmet of Salvation

When your day goes wrong and the problems of life weigh you down where do you turn? When something is broken deep within and you need that solution others can’t give where do you go? Where does your spiritual battle rage? Often it is within our minds that Satan is most active and sadly most effective. Planting thoughts, inserting temptations and blinding the thought process is what he seeks to do. (2^nd Corinthians 4:4)

A little history: The head is was a prime target in warfare, because an opponent knows, a direct hit would finish the enemy. Therefore, the Roman legions were equipped with helmets to protect the head from enemy swords or arrows. The helmet would protect the cheeks, ears and even the neck not to mention the skull. It was quite effective in keeping a solider taking greater risks. Why? Well because he was equipped with the best and that brought a level of confidence that was unparalleled. In the same way, we are to take up our helmet, the covering of our mind, with the salvation of Christ. Pul in I Thessalonians describes the hope of salvation as our helmet.

“But let us who are of the day be sober, putting on the breastplate of faith and love, and as a helmet the hope of salvation. For God did not appoint us to wrath, but to obtain salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ, (I Thes. 5:8-9)

What a remarkable promise we have in scripture, salvation! We need to learn to trust and rejoice in the hope of our eternity, when we are engaged in warfare. Whatever our circumstances, we have eternal hope, eternal confidence. Our home is not in this world, what is the worst that can happen to us? Death is nothing compared to spending an eternity with Christ in Heaven.

My son, Nathan, understood this more than I realized. Just today as were painting a room on our church facility together he said, “Dad when you die, you die right?” “Right son but that is not the end Nathan”, “Dad when you die you get to see Jesus, right?” “Yes son.”, “Well I am excited to see Jesus, but you and mom are going to die first and see him before I do!” “Thanks allot son, but I suppose your right!”

To him death is a non issue, it’s not even an event, it’s a passage to being with Jesus and he can’t wait cause not only will get to see His LORD, but he also said “I will have many dogs in heaven!”. To him it is like one day you go to sleep and the next day you wake up in heaven!

This understanding calms fears and allows us to live life well here for God’s sake. It gives you the power to live for God. What did Jesus give you through the cross and in salvation? Well….

1. He gave the power to overcome self through brokenness.

(Galatians 2:20) “I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.” This means you come to the place of desperation each day. “A man on his face can never fall from that position” (Larry Stocksill)

The second thing He gave was….

2. He gave the power to overcome your flesh through holiness.

(Galatians 5:24) “Those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the sinful nature with its passions and desires.” How? Crucify your flesh, you kill it!!! You stop playing around with it. You get radical, crazy for Jesus and stop entertaining sin. You don’t give it an inch, you don’t put it on the couch and ask for it’s feelings about the situation, you don’t coddle it, you KILL IT! You give it an inch it will take miles

“Sin will take you farther than you want to go, Cost you more than you want to pay, And keep you longer than you want to stay.”

And finally He gave us…

3. He gave the power to overcome the world through separation.

(2 Corinthians 6:17-18) “Therefore come out from them and be separate, says the Lord. Touch no unclean thing, and I will receive you. I will be a Father to you, and you will be my sons and daughters, says the Lord Almighty.”

On Sunday I was not able to complete my message so these are the following points that come as a result of salvation. Read through them, ponder them and apply them to your life, since you are saved! If you are not, I encourage you to make that decision today and say the prayer I have included.

"Lord Jesus, I am sorry for my sin. I turn from it right now. I thank you for sending Jesus Christ to die on the cross for my sin. Jesus, I invite you to come into my heart, fill me with the Holy Spirit, and take control of my life. Guide and direct me in my daily walk with you through the power of the Holy Spirit. Thank you that my sin is forgiven and that I am going to heaven. In Jesus' name I pray, amen."

Band of Brothers

Faith is a major element to the Christians life, so important that the Bible tells us that without it we can’t even please God. Even Jesus was consistently looking for a person’s faith in how they responded to events in their lives. Today is no different and if you and I want to put a smile on God’s face we need to use our faith. Faith is a shield, which allows us to put an immediate end to many of Satan’s attacks. But it’s not just a defensive weapon, it’s also an offensive weapon. The shield of faith is potent!

A little history:
For the Romans the shield was the same. The Roman shield was actually designed and curved to allow the force of the sword or arrow to be deflected to the sides; that is good defense. Additionally the metal boss in the center, designed to hit the enemy at impact, allowed the legionnaire to follow up with his sword, to subdue the opponent. This proved excellent offense.

Let me tell you that every person operates on faith! Yep, even the atheist uses faith. For example if an atheist was to met you for lunch, he does not know for certain that you will show up until he actually sees you waiting for him. So he uses reason and logic based on experience and history to determine the probability you will show up. Our atheist has reasoned faith.

But as a Christian, faith is not based in reason as much as it is based in God Himself. Sure there is logical and reasoned evidence to have faith in God (He provides excellent references), but your faith in Him is based in who He is. Your faith attaches to the truth of God (Belt of truth) and works in conjunction with the word of God (the sword of the Spirit). In other words, your faith and its strength is directly tied to your knowledge and understanding of God’s Word. If we fail to give God’s Word a place of priority our lives it is only a matter of time before our faith will begin to fail. The presence of or absence of faith is determined by the presence of or absence of God’s Word in our lives.

This is why Paul said in Romans 10:17 that “faith comes by hearing and hearing by the Word of God.” God’s Word and faith are so tied together that where there is no Word, there is no faith. And where there is no faith it is because the Word of God is absent. This gives us power and ability to stand against Satan’s attacks (Paul uses the word duvnamai Dunamai, meaning having power or strength, being capable).

As I mentioned on Sunday the fiery dart was more than silly flash paper, but in Roman times it was an iron tipped arrow, dipped in oil then lit on fire and shot at opposing forces. This flaming arrow was also often filled with pitch that would explode on impact and if it found it’s mark it would burn the solider from inside his armor. The shield of faith protects against such nasty wounds.

How does this work in the real world? Let’s say “Joe Christian” and co-worker “Jane Unbeliever” are at lunch break. Jane says, “Why do you believe in Jesus?” “How can you believe in such a religion that is so fake?” Now Jane might be asking a sincere question, or she could be a flaming arrow shot straight at faith’s heart. If Joe does not know how to use his shield of faith, he might come away asking “Yeah, why do I believe, there are so many hypocrites in Christianity.” Instead Joe has been reading the word of God and his response is to explain his faith from the word of God to Jane. His faith is strengthen and Jane experiences God in real life!

Now God allows us to experience warfare, because through it our faith can grow. And let me tell you satan has literally hundreds of fiery darts he can fire at us, in each case; we should learn how to take his attacks and train to respond. Ask yourself, what fiery darts give you the most problems? And choose to raise your level of faith, by learning scripture and the evidences contained within it. The more we engage in spiritual combat training, the more effective we can be with our spiritual weapons.

Famous Footwear

A firm footing and foundation is vital in life. It is especially important when the path before you is rocky and difficult. With the right shoes for the task ahead a person becomes steadfast and unmovable. That is why the Apostle Paul told us, “Therefore, my beloved brethren, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that your toil is not in vain in the Lord.” (1 Corinthians 15:58)

Our feet are the method in which we move in this physical world; simply put its how you get from “A” to “B”. And often we chose which shoes to wear that day based on form not function. But as a believer in Jesus the ONLY shoes given to you is the Gospel. Paul describes them as “the SANDALS of the GOSPEL OF PEACE…” (vs15).

A little history: The Roman legion represented, the kingdom of Rome, where they walked was Roman territory, or was being conquered for Rome. The Roman boot was designed to stand ground in battle. The Roman boot was fitted with metal studs, like the cleats of football player, to help him maintain ground in battle. These shoes where state of the art for their time. It enabled the armies of Rome to march long distances faster than their enemy and arrive to the battlefield more refreshed than their opponent, ready for battle.

Just like Rome of its day, God’s kingdom advances and is unstoppable. What is the method God uses to advance his kingdom? Is it through the spread of democracy? Is it through higher living standards? Through education? No, it’s through the Gospel, the good news, which changes lives for eternity. Offering the lost person, liberty from satan’s power, is achieved by the spread of the Gospel. The territory we walk on is currently given to our enemy, satan. But regardless of the enormous effort put forth by him, they only way he can stop this advancement is when the saved person is not willing to tell others the Good News, the Gospel. It is here satan wins.

You say “oh I am not an extrovert”, or “I am scared to share my faith, or the dreaded “what if….” You forget there are many ways in which to share the Gospel. It can be offering a prayer, demonstrating the beauty and power of a saved life and of course actually telling people about Jesus. Sometimes we plant the seed of gospel, other times we water what was planted by others and from time to time we will get the privilege of harvesting that seed of the gospel and witness transformation from sinner to saint.

You and I abandon this pursuit because of many excuses, but they are all excuses! None of our reasons for not sharing stand the test to Jesus. Remember that you get to tell people the GOOD NEWS! It’s good for a reason.

“I planted the seed, Apollos watered it, but God made it grow.” (1 Corinthians 3:6)