When God is the Tailor, rest assured that He fits us with His best design! He knitted us together so that we can multiply our own kind! Standing strong "in" Him, we look in the mirror and alas, we look like our holy annointed One, our Lord Jesus! Now to dress for success and bring Him glory, we must choose the strength of His character and put on His mighty power. Our Father additionally assures us that no weapon formed against us will ever boast a win as He will condemn any wrath spoken against us. Our enemies will come from one direction and flee in defeat from us in seven directions! Our loving Father warns us to “take up” armor and be intentionally prepared for action. To obey God and pick up a weapon is not a careless or random act. To take up armor is to do so with the serious intention to fight. To pick up a weapon means you are ready for battle. The Holy Spirit gave the apostle Paul words to describe the necessary armor for our spiritual warfare. Thank God for His Word: “Taking the shield of faith” and “the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit” (Ephesians 6:16–17) Every word of God is inspired and given to us so that we may live victoriously. Followers of Jesus are in imminent danger so the urgency is great that we fight the good fight and win! As soldiers of Christ, He walks and runs with us. To bring Him glory and get the prize, God gives us the heads up and the ADVANTAGE over our #1 enemy by preparing us for battle! God knows that weapons are necessary as we face regular trials and temptations. A shield for a Roman foot solidier was made of wood covered with leather and sometimes with metal. They had two types of shields. One was small and round; held by one arm while in hand-to-hand combat. The other was as large as a door. The shield described in Ephesians 6 is the large door model—it covered most of the soldier’s body. The Roman shields were designed to be drenched with water, which allowed them to withstand the fiery arrows of an enemy. A soldier needed only to kneel low and hold his shield over him, and he would be protected. Our Shield of Faith operates in the same way. When the enemy fires thoughts into our minds, our engaged Shield of Faith quenches those thoughts. Our faith is our most powerful weapon against the schemes the devil uses to trip us. Faith is our first line of defense! Satan sends the thought, 'You gotta have that house, car, person to be an effective witness' The Shield of Faith deflects that arrow with a response, “I trust God to give me what He desires for me to have, and I will trust Him to help me use what He gives me to bring Him glory." DID YOU DRESS THIS MORNING? A sermon delivered by John Thompson in Las Vegas June 26, 2011. "A mother asked her 5 year old son to go to the pantry to get her a can of tomato soup. But he refused and fearfully protested 'it is dark in there.' Mom assured Johnny, 'it's okay, don't be afraid, Jesus is in there.' So Johnny slowly opened the door and seeing that it was dark, shouted 'Jesus, can you hand me a can of soup?' Are not our lives like a race? Once our feet hit the floor we are off and running. We have our minds filled with our agenda for the day, which consumes our thoughts before we leave our house. Oh we may drop to our knees and pray a quick prayer, even take the time to say the Lord's prayer, but is that enough? It is true that God promised to watch over us and protect us ~ but He also encourages us to dress with spiritual armor. He gives us the daily choice of what to wear to live victoriously. "Be self-controlled and alert, your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour. Resist him, standing firm in the faith, because you know that your brothers throughout the world are undergoing the same kind of sufferings." 1 Peter 5:8-9 ~ When God is your Tailor, you are Tailor made to look like Jesus. So as we choose to put on God's armor, we use what He gave us and the victory we experience will be His glory!
HIS WORD, OUR SWORD OF TRUTH: "For the Word of God is alive and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow." Hebrews 4:1 ~ "You, dear children, are from God and have overcome them, because the One who is in you is greater that the one who is in the world." 1 John 4:4 ~ Pick up your shield faith and sword of truth and be prepared for what may come ~ LIVE in VICTORY for His namesake!
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Hi John - just wanted to write and say that your sermon on DRESSING for VICTORY was well put together - loved the little Johnny beginning and your reference to God as our Tailor in the end. His word was carefully laced throughout the encouragement to PRAY and PREPARE for battle before we leave the house. AMEN ~ So much of our own experience and personality are mixed in with what we feel compelled by, from within by...to speak and share. One of my favorite preacher / teachers is Beth Moore. A gaggle of women from Stockton drove to Fresno in April to hear her at a convention center that held 10,000. We rocked for Jesus in song and with tears. Beth too has a blog...and this posted June 29, 2011 ~ and blessed me cause like Beth writers have drawers, piles and files of things that perk our ears...and in them we find treasures ....that become mixed in with His word...for ears to hear.
ReplyDeleteENJOY Beth's blog post of how a preacher finds insipiration: COPY and PASTE
http://blog.lproof.org/2011/06/that-old-desk-keeps-coughing-it-up.html#comments
He is the wind beneath my wings
Barbara
Barbara, Thank you for the e-card, that is very nice. Also thank you for the emails, I haven't had a chance to look at the materials, but I will.
ReplyDeleteThe message that God gave me to deliver on July 3, 2011: How Do You Spell Freedom? Answer-JESUS! "Jesus replied, “Very truly I tell you, everyone who sins is a slave to sin. Now a slave has no permanent place in the family, but a son belongs to it forever. So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed!"(John 8: 34-36) This weekend the people of this nation will celebrate the freedoms we enjoy, living in the United States of America. We, as a nation, enjoy unequaled freedoms, because:
1) When other nations were ruled by tyrants, our Founding Fathers established a free democracy.
2) The Bill of Rights guarantees freedoms not commonly granted in the late 18th century, such as the freedom to worship as one sees fit, the freedom to speak out against the government, the freedom to have a trial by jury of one's leaders, peers or fellow citizens.
3) This nation has defended her freedoms through the course of her history - from Lexington and Concord, to Gettysburg, to Iwo Jima, to the deserts of Afghanistan, men and women have bravely fought - and died - for the freedoms of others.
** We truly enjoy unequaled freedoms, as Americans, but freedom in Christ far exceeds our American freedoms.
**Jesus said that He could provide true freedom, as our feature scripture stated.
**True freedom can come no other way, except through Jesus.
**Any freedom outside of Christ is just an illusion, because it's temporary.
**The freedoms of this nation - as precious as they are - could be taken away from us.
**Yet, the freedom we enjoy in Christ can never be taken away. AMEN
Happy Holiday Weekend!
God Bless You,
John
"Then the word of God spread, and the number of the disciples multiplied greatly in Jerusalem, and a great many of the priests were obedient to the faith." (Acts 6:7).
ReplyDeleteWe cannot help but come to the conclusion that the word of God played an integral role in the establishing and building up of the early Church. As one reads through the Book of Acts, which is the historical record of the birth and growth of the Christian church, they quickly discover that the Church was born through the preaching of the word. Then as we read in our text for today, the word of God spread and because it did, disciples were multiplied. The church of the 21st century does well to remember and return to this pattern. If churches grow and “Christians” are multiplied in any other way apart from the word of God, they will prove to be a false church with false converts. Many are the churches that have impressive architecture and boast great numbers, but the word of God is absent, and in its place there are programs, entertainment, concerts, and a thousand activities keeping the lost laughing and damned.
It is the desire of the Lord to multiply His disciples, but they are not to be multiplied man’s way, but God’s, and that is through the spreading of the word of God. It is worth noting in our passage that not only were disciples multiplied, but a great many priests came to faith through the word of God. In other words, religious people realized they were not saved by their religion, but by faith in Jesus Christ found in the word of God.
Pastor Toby Will