The Divine Warrior and HIS Warrior Children (Ephesians 6:10-18)
We are to put on the whole armor of God. This armor is not our own. In fact, the Old Testament makes clear that the armor that the Apostle Paul lists in this passage is the Messiah.
Sermons
We are to put on the whole armor of God. This armor is not our own. In fact, the Old Testament makes clear that the armor that the Apostle Paul lists in this passage is the Messiah.
Faith in Christ is no promise of comfort and ease. When difficulties and challenges arise followers of Christ must be resolved to push forward with their eyes fixed on Christ. Additionally, Christ-followers must avoid bitterness to arise from the challenges and be shaped by holy grace.
No good father would allow his child to continue on a path that leads to destruction and not offer correction. Our good Father, God, disciplines and corrects us for our good. The hardship and pain that we feel in this life are good for us as we seek to live lives pleasing to God.
God calls us to run the race of faith with endurance. There is guarantee that race will be easy. In fact, our race is wed to Jesus' race, which climaxed in the cross. Hence, to run the race with endurance, we must fix our eyes upon Jesus.
Faith always triumphs. That triumph may be a visible victory, or it may be an invisible victory through hardship and suffering. It always triumphs because our faith is not in the performance of our faith. It is in something better, Jesus Christ.
Faith is looking beyond what is seen and trusting in what is unseen. In this sermon, we see that the Patriarchs, Moses' parents, and Moses looked beyond their circumstances and to the fulfillment of God's promises in Christ.
Faith looks beyond our present circumstances and looks to Christ and the promises of God, which means that the decisions that we make in the here and now should be guided by our faith in the future grace of God.
In this text, we learn that the reward for our faith is God himself. However, as fallen people, the only way we can please God is through a dependence upon his grace and mercy exercised by faith.
What does it look like to live out the gospel? How does the gospel transform relationships and turn slaves into brothers? In this text, Paul makes clear that the gospel frees us to be made new into right relationships.
Faith is not an end in and of itself. Faith has an object. What is important truly is the object of your faith. The object of your faith dictates how you live in the here and now and will spend eternity.