Message 7 - Tailor Made - Promises, Promises

Ephesians 6:15

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SPEAKER_00 0:19

Good morning, family. Okay, I uh this is very, very important. Every Sunday, well, almost every Sunday, when I get home, my wife says to me, not wonderful message if that's what you're thinking. That's not what she everyone, she says to me, you've got to do something about the chair. It keeps squeaking all the time. So somebody needs to make that their mission because I forget, and I don't know if it's possible. I don't know if it needs oil, what the deal is, but so my wife will quit nagging me about the chair, because we already got a big enough list at home. Uh some somebody that uh really, if this really annoys you, then make it your personal goal to do something you're right, then you can make it your goal to fix it. If it was only her, I wouldn't worry as much about it, but uh I hear it from other people too. That chair squeaks all the time. So sorry about that. Now though now, the ones that I didn't notice, you'll notice, and it's gonna really bug you today. But uh anyway, so when I was a boy, uh my favorite uh superhero was Batman. Uh I I started out in comic books. I loved comic books when I was a kid. In fact, here here uh uh moms and dads, this will give you an idea about how much things have changed. My mom used to take me with her to the grocery store, and by the entrance of the grocery store, there was a booth that was set up, and it had a magazine rack, and the magazine rack was full of comic books. And my and moms would bring their kids in, leave them there, let them read comic books while they shopped right by the door. Anyone could grab them and walk out. You wouldn't think about doing that today, but that was a long time ago. And uh they either didn't care as much or they didn't worry as much about it. But anyway, Batman, he was he was my guy, he was my hero. And so I asked my and uh uh later on after it was comic books, it was the TV show. And this is not you old you uh kids that uh you know the movie Batman. No, our Batman was uh bang, ouch, bam. They had to write in words so that we understand what was going on there, and and uh you have to go back and check out the old Batman TV show to know what I'm talking about. But anyway, and just did that pow. So Batman was my guy, and so I asked my mom if she would make me a Batman costume, and she said she would. Uh so we went to the store and bought the fabric. She even found a pattern to to make the the Batman costume for me, and then she told me she would make it. I figured my next birthday came around, I was probably eight years old. I thought I'll probably get it for my birthday. Didn't happen. Uh Christmas came, maybe Christmas didn't happen. This kept going on and on until finally, obviously, whatever she made wasn't gonna fit me anyway, because I was getting into my 20s and I still hadn't gotten my bat. But I would say it every year just to be uh, you know, just as an irritant. I'd say, hey mom, this year, do I give them a bad? And she'd just shake her head, and and so, and then finally I just forgot about it and I quit quit teasing her about it. And I think probably in my 30s, early 30s, one day a package, I can't remember if it was birthday or just it just showed up in the mail, but a package showed up and opened it up, and here was my Batman costume. Uh, I tried to put it on, just and and I got it up to my knees about, and Mary Lou took a picture. Actually, she's been going through photo albums and things this week, and I said, find that picture if you can't. She couldn't find it, but uh, there is a picture out there that we took a picture and sent it to my mom to let her know that I at least tried to put it on. Uh anyway, all that to say, well, you'll you'll get you'll put it together or hopefully in a moment, but that was her promise to me that she was gonna make me a Batman costume, and she and she did and finally do that. Uh now I'm gonna read you a list, and uh uh you're gonna it'll be it'll sound familiar, familiar, I'm sorry, but uh I want you to tell me at the end what what it has in common, what are is in common in this list. Here it goes. I will never leave you or abandon you. Never. No matter what comes into your life, I will use it for your benefit. I will always make sure that you have what you genuinely need. If you accept my the gift, my son's offering, you will spend eternity with me. If you trust me, I will give you a special peace. Even in the midst of difficult circumstances, I will not allow anything nor anyone to ever separate us or stop me from loving you. Someday I'm going to take you to home to be with me forever in a place without tears, sickness, death, or sorrow. So what is that? Yell it out, somebody of you. Promises. God's promises. Uh I Googled this, I didn't count it, but according to Google, there are in just the New Testament, there are over 1,100 promises. Uh, 250 of them are specifically towards Christians. Uh so God's got a whole bunch of promises that He has made and given to us. Uh so why do I bring this list up and these promises up? Well, we're in Ephesians 6. If you aren't already there, we've been working our way down through this thing called uh that Paul called the armor of God. And we're now we're down to verse 16, where we read this. In addition to all this, all these pieces that we've been walking through up to this point, in addition to all this, excuse me, take up the shield of faith, which, by with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. All right, so we're gonna talk today about this shield of faith and uh and what it has to do with the list I just read to you in a moment. But I went over my years of ministry and not just ministry, over my life as a follower of God, uh, I've seen a pattern. And I suspect when I talk about it through it a little bit, you'll say, Yeah, I've seen this pattern as well. In fact, it's it is such a uh common pattern, even Jesus himself uh didn't escape it. Uh let me show you what I mean. I'm gonna go, you don't have to turn, uh, but you can if you want. But I'm gonna go over to Matthew chapter three, and then towards the end of the chapter, and you it'll be a familiar story. This is when Jesus uh it's it's right, he's just ready to start his ministry, which will last for three and a half years. Uh just prior to starting his ministry, he goes to John the Baptist to witness. John is baptizing people and telling them to get ready for the Messiah, the kingdom of God's coming, and so uh, and so Jesus goes to witness John's baptism. And then while he was there, he actually asks John to baptize him, which John says, No, I'm not, I shouldn't do that. I shouldn't even be, I'm not fitting tired shoes. And and uh uh but Jesus does, not because he needs to, but we're told later, just so that there will be no criticism or misunderstanding of his ministry. So he has John baptize him, and then this happens. Uh as soon as Jesus was baptized, he went up out of the water. At that moment, heaven was opened, and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and lightning on him, and a voice from heaven said, This is my son, whom I love, with him I am well pleased. Now you can you imagine? Uh uh, and uh I from what I read in the scripture, Jesus didn't know that was gonna happen. Uh he when he came to earth, he laid he laid aside his attributes for a period of time. Uh he didn't know anything, he relied on the Holy Spirit to direct him just like we have to. So he didn't know that was gonna happen. He just was doing in his heart what he knew was obedient to the Father, and and so, but then that but then he does it, and all of a sudden the heavens open up, and the voice of his father, which had to have been a powerful thing to hear his voice, excuse me, coming out of heaven. Uh and he says, This is my son, and whom I am so pleased, uh, whom I love. That had to be one of those, man, what a rush. And and and just what a tremendous thing, what a tremendous moment. What a way to get ready to start into your your ministry, your three and a half ministry. Just that reminder, right that moment, son. I'm so proud of you for what you are doing for the people, for us. Crazy, crazy moment. And then this verse one of the next chapter. Jesus was led by the Spirit into the desert to be tempted by the devil. It's like, what? Why follow a moment like that up with this? Uh what in earth is going on? I see a pattern in that because it doesn't happen to Jesus. Just Jesus. I see it all through scripture, and I see it in people's lives, just at those moments where it seems like this amazing thing happens. God uses you in an amazing way or directs your life in a special way, or something, and you're and you're on that mountaintop, and then all of a sudden, crash, something hits, someone attacks. Jesus sends those arrows. And I see it over and over and over again. I'm gonna jump over to Matthew chapter 21 for a moment. We we actually looked at this a few weeks ago. It's the Palm Sunday event uh where Jesus is is heading into the city of Jerusalem. This is towards the end of that three and a half ministry, but he's been preaching, he's been teaching, he's been healing people's illnesses and driving out uh demons. All this has been going on, and then and as a result, uh, well, this is the result. A very large crowd spread their cloaks on the road, while others cut branches from the trees and spread them on the road. The crowds that went ahead of him and those who followed shouted, Hosanna to the Son of David, blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord Hosanna in the highest. We talked about this a few weeks ago, and we know there's more going on here than meets the eye. But for that moment, at least from a human perspective, these people are ready to crown him king of Israel. They believe, they followed his life, they've seen what he can do, and they want him on the throne of the Israelite nation. Powerful, powerful moment. But a few hours later, we read the chief priests and the elders of the people assembled in the palace of the high priest, whose name was Caiphast, and they plotted to arrest him, arrest Jesus in some sly way and kill him. From that moment of, you're the king. We want you to lead us, we want you to be on the throne to we've got to kill this guy. And not only that, a few hours after that, we read about one of Jesus' closest friends, Peter. After a little while, those standing there went up to Peter and said, and this is right after Jesus has been arrested, surely you are one of them. In other words, one of Jesus' friends. Then he began to call down curses on himself and swore to them, I don't know the man. And if you remember, all this took place in Jesus' earshot. He heard it happen. He looked at Peter right after this moment. And and and and you remember the story Peter just hours before that said, Man, I will stay by your side. I don't care what happens, I will die with you if I have to. And here are you saying, curse me from heaven, if I know that guy. I don't know anything about him. Such a high moment followed by such little things, and then you know that another one of his disciples betrayed him. Uh can you imagine the disappointment that Jesus might have felt? And then he went to the garden and just in agony and asked for his three closest disciples to pray with him, and they couldn't even stay awake to do it. Often I have seen that uh those high points in our Christian life, those moments where we just sense God working, God blessing God, uh are often followed by some very strong attacks by the enemy. In fact, uh the same crowd that was called yelling, Hosanna, make him the king, you know, they were saying, Let's kill him. Just hours later. Pilate, who said he's innocent, he hasn't done anything wrong, uh, then turns them over to those Jews and they kill him. Uh so this is the pattern I see. Not always. I don't want you to think, oh boy, every time God something's good, uh, here it comes. It doesn't always, but it it's enough in scripture that uh there's the pattern, and I've seen it in life, that I think we need to be to be ready for it. That uh Satan starts shooting arrows often when he sees uh God's blessing in our life. He wants to take us down, discourage us. Uh whatever he can do to make us doubt God, doubt our relationship with God. Like I said, Patterson Scripture, Elijah goes against these 300 prophets of Baal and uh does this miraculous thing, actually calls down fire from heaven to destroy this altar that the that these 300 prophets of Bel were begging their God to do, and he there they couldn't do anything, and and yet Elijah even makes it more difficult, and God delivers fire from heaven, and um just a powerful moment that God saw, or Elijah saw God work through him. And then one woman, powerful woman for sure, but not as powerful as God, not as powerful as what he has just witnessed. But she says, I'm gonna kill you for that, Elijah, and and Elijah runs for his life and lays down out in the desert in despair. Uh David, he's crowned king. And you expect, okay, the prophets come and say, David, you're gonna be the next king. So where's the crown? Where's the robe? No, he gets 10 years of running for his life, hiding in caves, uh, going hungry often, seeing his seeing close friends killed. Uh Paul, the Apostle Paul, we studied a while back some of the missionary journeys of Paul. And one of one of his journeys, he went to the city of Lystra. He felt God put God was directing him to go there. He went there, he preached the gospel. Many, many people came to Christ. It was an exciting time. In fact, Paul himself got got the privilege of uh God using him to heal a man, remember, that had been crippled since birth. You talk about seeing God do one thing after another. And then hours after the healing took place, the same crowd who's been watching this and amazed and and uh not the ones probably certainly that came to Christ, but people that had seen all this happen grab Paul, drag and stone him to death, they believe. They stone him to the point, they think he's dead, they drag him out of the city and lay him out and then try to stone, leave him, stone him to death and leave his body behind. Uh but and that's over and over again. Uh God does these amazing things through his people, and then Satan goes after him. And again, I don't, we shouldn't live in fear. We've already been told that. Paul said that earlier. Don't live in fear. But we need to be ready, and that's what we're talking about here, and that's what this armor is about, is to recognize, again, that we do have an enemy, and Paul has been saying, it's saying deliberately in this passage in Ephesians 6, he attacks, he has these arrows that he will shoot at us, and if we want to be protected from Satan's arrows, we need to take up the shield of faith to protect us, to extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. Uh, you know, it's interesting just along this line. I I we've talked about people in scripture, but uh, but I've learned uh over the years, uh when we have a bat, if you we have a baptism come up and someone says, I like to be baptized, and uh I've learned to, if I is if I remember, I'll say, okay, let me just warn you about something. The week before you're baptized, or a couple weeks before you're baptized, or maybe a week after, just get ready. Because uh that's a really cool thing. When you we're gonna have a baptism here in a couple of months, and and when you choose to be obey God and want to publicly tell people, I am a follower of Jesus Christ. He's my Lord, I want to serve him, I want to obey him, I want him to be at the focus of my life. When you choose to do that publicly, get ready because the enemy is gonna do something. Uh, maybe the week before, he's gonna, you're you're gonna do something, you're gonna, you're gonna sin against God, you know, and it'll be in a way that you haven't, you've been thought you kind of left that behind, and and suddenly you find yourself uh, you know, maybe uh you it was a temporal problem, whatever, but he's gonna do something to the week before to make you say, uh, I can't be baptized. How can someone who just did this be baptized? Or or maybe it'll be the week after, but he'll do something, he'll attack. I see it all the time. Uh I had a privilege of recently talking to a man about the Lord, and uh and he invited Christ to be his savior, and then he called me in the middle of the week after, and he says, Paul, my my life's falling apart. What's going on? What's happening to me? He says, and he starts going through the list of things that were happening. This is right after he'd made that decision, he says, What on earth is happening? And I said, I should have warned you. I forgot to tell you to get ready because Satan doesn't want you. He he wants to convince you that what you decided the other day wasn't legit, and or that God really doesn't love you. Uh and so let's let's walk through through some of his uh promises, and that's what we did. And by the end, he was calm and and back on track. So that's what we're talking about here. That's what the shield of faith is. It is wrapped up in scripture, and it is understanding, and we just went through a little teeny little portion of it, but it is understanding who God is and what he has promised to you and I, so that when when the enemy shoots those flaming arrows and goes after us, we know enough about our God through the word of God that we're able to say, not not today, Satan. Not today. I want to go back to the Matthew 4 again. Uh and in Matthew 4, so so it's this is right after the Jesus again, that moment when uh God has said openly about his son, I am so pleased, I love him so much, I'm so proud of him. Uh, and then he goes into the wilderness and uh the temptation starts. I want you I want you to hear how Jesus handles this time where Satan is after him. Uh, and it's after a really wonderful moment, but Satan goes after him. So, chapter 4, Matthew verse 1. Then Jesus was led by the Spirit into the desert to be tempted by the devil. After fasting 40 days and 40 nights, he's hungry. You know, notice that's we talked about early on. Paul says that Satan has strategies, and then he's always watching you. And he's watching for a moment when you're weak, when I'm weak, or when we're we are are uh we've allowed ourselves to be exposed to him. Uh we aren't being careful about our our life or our walk, or or just simply it it's a hard time. And you know, Jesus hasn't ate or drank for 40 days, so obviously uh he's not exactly the strongest point. And that's when Satan decides to come, and that's that's the way he'll work. Uh that's that's gonna know it happen what's gonna happen. So so he comes. After fasting 40 days and 40 nights, he was hungry. Jesus was hungry, and the temper, tempter came to him and said, If you're the son of God, if, now actually, it could have been translated since, because Satan knew who he was. Since you're the son of God, you say you're the son of God, tell these stones to become bread. Jesus answered, notice his response. He doesn't say, Well, you know, I could, you know, I got power. Uh I'm not, I'm not going to, I'm not going to show off for you, uh, or whatever. Uh or he could have said, Yeah, boy, that's that's your right. I'm hungry. I forgot. I can do that myself. I don't have to wait. Notice how Jesus protects himself from the tempter. Jesus answered, It is written. What's the word of God say? Man doesn't live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God. Uh Jesus goes to the word of God and picks up the shield of faith. I trust God. When I'm supposed to have bread, he'll take care of me and he'll give me bread. So Satan doesn't give up. Then said the devil took him to the holy city. And you've heard this story before, and had him stand on the highest point of the temple. If you are the Son of God, throw yourself down, for it is written, and now Satan says, Okay, you want to quote scripture? Let me quote some back to you. For it is written, He has commanded his angels concerning you, and they will lift you up in their hands so that you will not strike your foot against the stone. Jesus answered once again, It is written, it is also written, do not put the Lord your God to the test. Don't don't test God with foolish things like this. I'm not going to do that, Satan. Uh shield of faith. I'm not giving in to your foolishness. Then once again, again, this devil took him to a very high mountain and showed him all the kingdoms of the world and their splendor. All this I will give to you, he said, if you will bow down and worship me. And it has been said uh that what Satan is all actually offering here, because he is the prince of the power of the air. We are told that. We studied that a while back, that he's actually saying, okay, Jesus, you and I both know what's coming. Uh, you're gonna die for these people, for this, all the and I'll tell you what, just bow down to me and you won't have to die. I'll give it to you. Uh I'll back away, I'll just let them become your followers. And uh, and right now I got the high road or I got the handle on them, but I'll let them, and uh so that may have been what's going on there, that he's just saying he's actually offering him a way out from the cross, which is a lie, but that Satan's not slow about lying. And Jesus responded once again with the shield of faith away from me. Uh getting ahead of myself. Jesus said to him, Away from me, Satan, for it is written, worship the Lord your God and serve him only. So, so Jesus does exactly what we are being told to do. We have an enemy, he is going to attack. He's got these flaming arrows, and and I will, and I shared that pattern with you because I think often his attack will come by what I see in scripture and I see in life, just when we least expect it. Just when everything just seems to be going really great, and and this is exciting, and God, and and then he goes after us, and so be ready for that. But the way to be ready is to know God's promises, know his word, so that you have the shield of faith. And so that when Satan lies, he deceives, that's what he does. You know the truth and you trust God. See, that's what happens. In those moments, we have a decision make. And the decision is always, who do I believe? Do I believe my emotion? Because sometimes it's just our emotions. You know, I'm having a down day, and I I feel abandoned. I feel like God's not there. And in that moment, we we we can start saying, Well, I wonder if he is. God has said he is. Shield of faith is I trust him. My faith is in God and at and his word. And what he says is true. Uh though some sometimes we'll have those moments where we where we fail God. And we know we failed him, and so we wonder in ourselves to ourselves, uh, I failed him. I got I sinned against him. Can he still love me? Well, what's his word say? Yeah, he loves you. Shield of faith. I okay, I'm gonna trust God. I'm not gonna trust what I'm feeling right now. Sometimes it's just gonna be an out and out lie by Satan. Uh, or he'll throw something up in your face that you did. You did, I did it. Uh, and you're gonna and he's gonna say, How can you, how can you possibly say God loves you when you did, and you can fill in the blank. And in that moment, if you're paying attention to him, you might say, Yeah, how can I say that? Well, because of what he has said, that he does love you. And so you hold up the shield of faith and you trust God. Uh I've shared openly that years ago, for um, for a period of time, I walked away from God. I lived started living the life the way that I thought I wanted, the way I thought would bring me happiness and pleasure, and and uh it did not in any shape or form. There were moments, but man, were they short-lived, and man were they costly. Um it all came to a head. One day, uh, excuse me, I got in a fight with my brother, my younger brother. And I was at the time was stronger than him. Uh, I wouldn't want to him to decide to get even right now because he would win. But then I was stronger, and and I beat him up pretty bad. Uh, and I can remember, I still remember the moment, and this has been coming, this has been building up. I I had been walking a walk that was so far from God for a long time, and uh eventually you just knew I I I share with you, I spent a night, one night under a bush hiding from the police officers. Eventually something's gonna come to a head when you're living that well, that lot way. And uh so I beat him up, and I can remember as he's laying there on the ground, honestly, kind of it was almost like an out-of-body experience. I'm looking at this and I'm thinking, how can I do that? What has happened to me? That I can be a person. I think I can do that too. Anyone, let alone my brother. And I ran out of the house, this took place in the house, uh, ran out of the house. We lived in uh Barcelona, uh Mojave Desert at the time, ran out into the desert and uh stayed out there for many hours until after dark, and then finally came back in, but uh just came in and went to my room. And I still remember uh I there after I was laying there for a few minutes, I heard this. I says, Who is it? And I and my dad says, Your dad. Can I come in? He he rented the house so you could uh come in if you wanted to. But he I said, Come on in. And I remember him looking at me and he said this. What's the matter, son? What's going on? I said, Dad, I don't know. I don't know. I I said, I I know what to do, I know what's right, wrong. I I look at you and mom, and I had godly parents. So so I know what's right and I know what's wrong. And I try to to be that person, but I can't. No matter how hard I try, I s I always screw it up. I mess it up. I I just must, I'm just a bad person, uh, you know. I I uh I know God can't love me, the kind of person I am. And and so my dad says, Well, you know, there's a guy in the Bible that felt just like you. And I said, No, I don't think so. I've heard the Bible all my life, but nobody ever felt like I feel. And he took me to Romans 7, uh, and he read uh this to me. He said, Uh, I want to do what uh uh what I do not do. For what I want to do, I do not do it, but in fact, I hate what I do. So if I want to do what I do not do, and if I do want to do want to do what I do do, I agree with God. So what's going on? It is no longer myself doing it, but it's the sin living in me. I know that nothing good lives in me, that isn't my sinful nature. I have the desire to do what is good, but I cannot carry it out. For what I do is not good, and what I don't do, or what I do, is the evil that I do not want to do. And I let he read that and thought, wow, that's me. That's me. Uh and so then I said, Yeah, okay, dad. So what do I do about this? Uh I know that, you know, I tried. I've tried so many things, and my dad said, Well, Paul, do you remember that when you were nine years old? You made a decision. You invited Christ to be your savior. And I said, Yeah, I do. And and I and I meant it. He asked me, did you mean it? Yeah, I meant it. Uh well then Christ is your savior. You've walked a long way from him, but here's great, he's your savior. And I said, Dad, I've done so many things. There's no way that God can still love me. And then he says, Let me read to you the next verse, the first verse of the next chapter, Paul. And here's where we'll start tonight. Therefore, there is now no com no condemnation for those who are on Christ Jesus. And my dad said, Paul, that's you. God loves you. He's not condemning you. Your heart's condemning you. But all you got to do is go back to the Father and tell him you're sorry, and you are forgiven already. He died for your sins. So let's start there tonight, and then let's build on that. But that's the statement of faith. That's the shield of faith I had to grab onto that night. All I had was the fact that God had declared me clean. I had nothing else except that one thing to shield me from Satan. And and it wasn't he even, he didn't even have to use lies. A lot of things he said about me were so true. And then uh as things went on, I got to build on those promises. And so that's what we're talking about here. Uh Satan will attack, he will lie, and he will choose the moment. Sometimes it'll be the moment things are going so well, so wonderful. And he'll say, Oh yeah, let me do this. So we need to be ready and on a daily basis basis, pick up the shield of faith. In other words, we trust God, not the lies, not our feelings, not emotions, not the enemy. We trust next week we're gonna add to this because uh that trust wraps around what we know about the word of God. But we'll stop here for now. Let's pray. Thanks uh for what you've done in my life. To think back to that moment when I was so far away from you. Not not because of you, you you were holding me close. I was the prodigal son for sure. But you still you love me, you were hanging on to me. Um but my I had allowed my heart to get a long ways away from you. And just that one thing that I needed to grab on to to get me started, that one part of the shield of faith, that you did not condemn me. That your son on the cross died even for those couple of years when my was when I was so far away from you. I just needed to grab on to that and trust you on that. Thanks for that reminder. Today I pray for everyone in this room. Some somebody would be walking through a really tough time right now, and it's one of these times where the enemy's on the attack, or not, or it may not even just be the enemy. Yep. Maybe simply their own heart is is is accusing them. Uh or or they just feel like they're so far away from you. Uh, those those are lies. Those are lies of the enemy. Sometimes they're just lies of our own heart. Sometimes they're just lies because we don't know enough about you, and we need to learn more because then if we do, we will know that we can trust you. We can put our faith in you, and it will protect us from these things. So thanks for your word today, and for the reminder that you do love us, and you will never leave us or forsake us. For letting us be your children. We pray these things in your son's name. Amen.

SPEAKER_02 37:06

Well, church, let's stand and sing one last chorus together as we do. Uh, half our prayer team Tom will be standing up here uh and be willing and ready to pray with you, pray over you as we sing this last song. Let's sing this together.