27/11/22 // Belt Of Truth // Peter Williams

Peter continued our series on the Armour of God.

You can view Peter's slides, in PDF format, here.

Truth is not relative

Not shades of grey

World would say it is

Stand therefore, having fastened on the belt of truth, and having put on the breastplate of righteousness,

Ephesians 6:14 ESV

What do belts do?

Hold up our trousers, which reduces the embarrassment of our trousers falling down.

Truth stops us being embarrassed. 

You can't fight a battle with your trousers round your ankles!

Protect our backs by helping take the strain and distribute the load.

Belts hold your sword. Without your sword you cannot do battle.

Stand therefore, having girded your waist with truth, having put on the breastplate of righteousness,

Ephesians 6:14 NKJV

God's feeling about lies.

Cannot stand firm without the truth. 

If we are swayed by every new doctrine, or the lies that society tells us, we will never be able to stand tall for God.

What does this say to us corporately?

Truthful with one another. Honesty

Got each others backs.

God didn't put us in community for no reason!

It's God's truth, not ours

We have the truth, and we mustn't keep it in jars of clay. 

For God, who said, “Let light shine out of darkness,” has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. But we have this treasure in jars of clay, to show that the surpassing power belongs to God and not to us.

2 Corinthians 4:6‭-‬7 ESV

Its importnat to be honesty about mental health.

Pray with honesty

God is big enough to hear you tell it how it is!

Not whitewashing when issues arise

Move on. There's nothing to see here

How do you know what the truth is if you are not immersing yourself in it?

Read word 

Worship

Meet together, we sharpen one another

The devil wants to distract us from the truth, from our mission. 

He will lie to us to achieve that.

How do we stop ourselves being distracted and lied to?

Holding on to the truth together.

Holding one another to account.

This is our job, to hold on to truth together, so at the end of the day we can stand…..

Questions

Which aspect of truth struck you most on Sunday?

What bit of corporate truth do you think we need to work on?

How do you feel about breaking your jar and letting the truth out?