Scripture Text—1 Samuel 17:38-40
Here we see young David as he prepares to fight Goliath. Saul, the king, had given David his armor to protect David. However, David couldn’t wear Saul’s armor. Why? Well, David was just a child and Saul was a big man. The bible says he stood head and shoulders above all the other Israelites. David was only about 12-14 years old when he fought against Goliath. There was no way Saul’s armor would have fit him. David would never have been able to fight because he would have been too weighted down by the armor.
That kind of like us today. Sometimes when we are in a battle with the devil we try using Mom’s armor, or dad’s armor, well, because they are more skilled in fighting against the devil than we are. They are spiritual warriors, bigger than us and we are just lads; but, just like David we must stop trying to use armor that’s not ours and that’s not our size in order to have victory over the devil. We have to fight the battle on our own. We need armor that fits.
*****Do the pots and pans armor example (gather things from kitchen to use as examples of different sized armor: bowls as helmets, cookie sheets as breastplates/shields, pancake turner as swords, etc.)
You see just like the pots and pans that fit me but not you, we have to have armor that fits good. It has to be the right size in order to protect us effectively. If David had worn Saul’s armor he would have never been able to even walk to the battle field, much less fight. He would have been defeated. He would have died. Thankfully David chose not to wear Saul’s armor and all went well. Today, although we are not fighting a physical war like David did against Goliath, we are fighting a spiritual war. Everyday the devil comes against us with temptations, evil thoughts and trickery to cause us to lose our spiritual life. He is like Goliath; big, bad, and ugly. He makes horrible threats, and there is always someone around like Saul who offers us their armor. Oh do things this way, or that way. Oh, don’t worry those things. They don’t bother me so they won’t hurt you either. However, we are each individual people. Each with our own temptations. Each with our own problems and situations in life. Other people’s armor is not the right size for our situation.
Fortunately God has provided all of us spiritual armor that always fits perfectly no matter what our physical size is and no matter what kind of Goliath we have in our lives.
Ephesians 6:11-18—He gives us everything we need to protect us against the tricks of the devil.
Discuss the different pieces of armor and what they are used for.
*Gird about loins with truth. We need to put on the belt of truth. The devil is always trying to hit us below the belt (the waste). You know in a boxing match it’s an illegal move to hit someone below the waste, but as usual the devil never follows the rules and is always taking swipes at us where it would hurt the most, however, if we protect our most vulnerable parts with truth then we will not be deceived. The bible says that God’s word is truth and that the truth will make us free. We have to have truth!
*Breastplate of righteousness. In a soldier’s uniform the breastplate is the one piece that protects the heart. You see the devil is always trying to accuse us of wrong doing and pin us down with the heartaches and sorrows of our mistakes. However, doing right and living right is our breastplate that protects our heart. The devil can’t accuse someone of doing wrong if they haven’t done anything wrong.
*Shod your feet with the preparation of the Gospel of Peace. Where we go is important. It’s important that we don’t let our feet take us to places that God wouldn’t go or want us to go. It’s the devil’s trick to try to get us to go to bad places where bad people hang out, but that’s not all. Remember, Mark 16:15–says “Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature. The Apostle Paul said follow me as I follow Christ. We need to take the message of Christ to every creature and we cannot do that if we haven’t prepared ourselves with what exactly that gospel is.
That gospel is...Luke 24:46-49—Christ suffered and died so that repentance and remissions of sins might be preached in his name and then the comforter (holy ghost) would come. Sounds kind of like Acts 2:38 don’t it. (Peter preached exactly what Christ said should be preached. That is the whole reason that Christ died, that people everywhere might be saved) This is the gospel that we need to take everywhere we go that everyone we meet might be saved.
What does this have to do with armor and protection? Well, if you don’t know the gospel you can and will be tricked into believing any other gospel besides the one that Jesus said to believe. The apostle Paul said, that if the gospel be hid it is hid to them that are lost and in Galatians 1:8 he said—that if any person or even an angel preach any other gospel to you than the gospel that Jesus and the apostles have preached to you, let them be accursed. He said BEWARE! THERE IS ONLY ONE TRUE GOSPEL AND IT’S IMPORTANT THAT YOU KNOW IT AND TAKE IT WITH YOU EVERYWHERE YOU GO.
*Shield of faith. Everyone knows what a shield is. It is the one thing that you can move back and forth to stop the enemies darts/spears from hitting you. Faith is our shield. We talked before about faith vs. doubt, and that’s exactly what faith is. Believing in something you cannot see. The devil is always going to try to say that there really is no god. How can you believe in God. You’ve never seen him. Your sins haven’t really been forgiven because you didn’t see God forgive them, did you? Those are the darts the devil is throwing. He throws them at us everyday either by using other people (like what we talked about a few weeks ago) or puts these thoughts in our minds (which we will discuss next). That’s where faith comes in. Faith is believing. Believing in what? The bible says there is only one faith, and that is to believe in God. That he is (that he exists), and that his word is truth. The bible also says that God cannot lie and that when we ask he is faithful to forgive us our sins. When we have the faith to believe these things it is our shield against the darts of the devil.
*Helmet of salvation. Here we go. The helmet protects our head (brain, mind). Oh the devil is always trying to play mind games with us. Like I just said he is trying to persuade us that God’s not real. The bible is a lie. Our sins haven’t been forgiven. He doesn’t love us. Who is Jesus, there’s no way God would ever come down from heaven and give himself for your sins. He have to put on the helmet of salvation. To know you are saved because you have followed God’s plan for salvation protects your mind against these thoughts the devil tries to put in there. You can know that you are saved, simply because you followed the plan of salvation (which is the gospel that we spoke of earlier). We will most likely have a lesson on that topic soon.
Finally, the our scripture passage says. Take up the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God. God has not only provided us with protective armor, but he has also provided us with a weapon (the sword of the Spirit) which the bible says is the word of God. The bible says the word of God is quick and powerful, than any two edged sword. God’s word is our weapon against the devil. Remember how I taught that when Jesus was tempted by Satan in the desert that he always used scripture to defeat him. It still works today for us. The devil is always trying to pervert God’s word, but we need to know the scripture so that we can use it against him.
Memory Verse:
Eph. 6:11—Put on the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil.
So there you have it. Everything you need to fight the devil (your Goliath), and it will always fit right. The word of God is the right fit every time. It’s up to you to put it on. Know the word!!!
No comments:
Post a Comment