Bro Gyme Sunday Evening 6/26/11

Bro Gyme Sunday Evening 6/26/11

Eph 6:10  Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord, and in the power of his might.

Eph 6:11  Put on the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil.

Eph 6:12  For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places.

Eph 6:13  Wherefore take unto you the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand.

Eph 6:14  Stand therefore, having your loins girt about with truth, and having on the breastplate of righteousness;

Eph 6:15  And your feet shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace;

Eph 6:16  Above all, taking the shield of faith, wherewith ye shall be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked.

Eph 6:17  And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God:

Eph 6:18  Praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, and watching thereunto with all perseverance and supplication for all saints;

Within the last year my wife and I were talking about raising children and I said that raising children is not for the faint of heart.  She told me that Dr Dobson said that in his book.  He said, “Dare to discipline.”  This is a true thought even if it was not my original thought.

We live in a world where if you go by the worlds standard it is a no win situation.  No matter what you do someone will find fault with it.  Only God sees the whole picture. 

When you discipline an action of your child there will be those that say you shouldn’t have.  When you don’t then they will say that you should.  They don’t see the previous circumstances that led up to your action.  Maybe the child was sick all night.  Maybe there was something that happened before that created the situation.  Sometimes people may think that “He was quick to discipline today.”  Or “He wasn’t quick enough.”  We need to continue in the path that is right even if others don’t understand.

Raising children is not for the faint of heart.  The world will tell you that if you spank your child you’re abusing them but on the other side they can’t understand why they can’t have a dinner at a restaurant without their children running up and down the tables.

This led me to the comparison of: serving God is not for the faint of heart.  The important part for us is that we don’t faint.  That we don’t melt away.  We need courage.  As saints we need to take courage.  We need you to pray for us that we will have courage raising our children.  We need you to pray for us that we will have courage serving God.  It takes courage daily.  Not everyone will understand your actions in serving God.  We need to continue in the path that is right even if others don’t understand.

God prepared David so that Solomon could build a house for the Lord.  God had prepared a way.

1Ch 22:10  He shall build an house for my name; and he shall be my son, and I will be his father; and I will establish the throne of his kingdom over Israel for ever.

1Ch 22:11  Now, my son, the LORD be with thee; and prosper thou, and build the house of the LORD thy God, as he hath said of thee.

1Ch 22:12  Only the LORD give thee wisdom and understanding, and give thee charge concerning Israel, that thou mayest keep the law of the LORD thy God.

1Ch 22:13  Then shalt thou prosper, if thou takest heed to fulfil the statutes and judgments which the LORD charged Moses with concerning Israel: be strong, and of good courage; dread not, nor be dismayed.

He gave him a job and all the tools to do it and asked him to obey God and then he would prosper.

The point of the lesson is to be strong and be courageous.  If you will take instruction and obey the judgments and do what the Bible commands then you will prosper.

Courage here means to be alert physically and mentally, to confirm.  If we will take courage then we can know what is right and wrong and we will know what path to be on.  God will confirm our strength and our faith.  We can know that we are on the right path. 

God confirms that we have on the breastplate of righteousness.  We can know that we have on truth and faith if we will take courage and obey.

Courage means that it establishes us.

How many times have we heard something and then God confirms it in the word of God. 

Courage means to fortify, strengthen and to be a man, to lift up ourselves and be strong. 

Gird up the loins of your mind.  We need our mind fortified.  Courage will help us to fortify our mind.  If we will go forward for God courageously then we will be fortified.

Courage means to harden.  Courage will harden us to the voice of the enemy.  We don’t want to give the voice of the enemy any room in our lives.  There are a lot of voices and a lot of opinions.  People will freely share their opinions with us.  It is important that we hear the voice of God.

Courage will enlarge us and increase us. 

1Co 3:6  I have planted, Apollos watered; but God gave the increase.

1Co 3:7  So then neither is he that planteth any thing, neither he that watereth; but God that giveth the increase.

1Co 3:8  Now he that planteth and he that watereth are one: and every man shall receive his own reward according to his own labour.

1Co 3:9  For we are labourers together with God: ye are God's husbandry, ye are God's building.

God will increase us if we will obey and take courage.

Courage will strengthen us.

1Pe 5:8  Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour:

1Pe 5:9  Whom resist stedfast in the faith, knowing that the same afflictions are accomplished in your brethren that are in the world.

1Pe 5:10  But the God of all grace, who hath called us unto his eternal glory by Christ Jesus, after that ye have suffered a while, make you perfect, stablish, strengthen, settle you.

1Pe 5:11  To him be glory and dominion for ever and ever. Amen.

 Strengthen means to confirm in spiritual knowledge and power.

Courage will help us to prevail.  To be able in all ways to attain is what prevail means.  Whatever God wants us to attain we can attain to.

Jer 1:14  Then the LORD said unto me, Out of the north an evil shall break forth upon all the inhabitants of the land.

Jer 1:15  For, lo, I will call all the families of the kingdoms of the north, saith the LORD; and they shall come, and they shall set every one his throne at the entering of the gates of Jerusalem, and against all the walls thereof round about, and against all the cities of Judah.

Jer 1:16  And I will utter my judgments against them touching all their wickedness, who have forsaken me, and have burned incense unto other gods, and worshipped the works of their own hands.

It is really easy for us to worship our own ways.  It is hard at times to discipline your children.  Sometimes it is harder than others.  You hear the thought of “I love my children so much that I cannot spank them.”  Do you love your children enough to spank them?  We like some thoughts so much that we adopt them.  We need to take courage so that God can confirm what is right and wrong.

It is not always easy but if we do the best from a heart that is right we can have peace.  We can go to bed at night knowing that we did our very best.  We cannot make our children do anything.  All we can do is train them the best that we can.  No one will be at the judgment with us when we must give an account of how we raise our children.

In our spiritual walk we cannot give in to the easy way but that we walk according to the word of God, not to our pet, whatever that is.  There are things that I think are right that I do that no doubt that God will come along and tell me that “You are wrong there.”  I know this because I’ve been wrong before. 

I want to stand so that I can say that I did my very best to do what was right.  Have you ever done something difficult that you knew that you should do and were shaking in your boots to do?  After you did it you realized that it wasn’t as bad as you thought and it gives you peace to have done what is right.

Have you ever done something that you shouldn’t and realize that “Oh, I wish I hadn’t done that.” 

The saints balance each other.  Sometimes we get one-sided on something, be careful to not worship your own ways and ideas.  There is a way that seemeth right but the ends thereof are destruction.

Jer 1:17  Thou therefore gird up thy loins, and arise, and speak unto them all that I command thee: be not dismayed at their faces, lest I confound thee before them.

Jer 1:18  For, behold, I have made thee this day a defenced city, and an iron pillar, and brasen walls against the whole land, against the kings of Judah, against the princes thereof, against the priests thereof, and against the people of the land.

Jer 1:19  And they shall fight against thee; but they shall not prevail against thee; for I am with thee, saith the LORD, to deliver thee.

Eph 6:18  Praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, and watching thereunto with all perseverance and supplication for all saints;

Eph 6:19  And for me, that utterance may be given unto me, that I may open my mouth boldly, to make known the mystery of the gospel,

Eph 6:20  For which I am an ambassador in bonds: that therein I may speak boldly, as I ought to speak.