Brother Gary Sunday Evening 10/25/15

Brother Gary Sunday Evening 10/25/15

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

All of us have experienced facing something that we felt was very strong: a mind battle, an accusation, being overcharged with cares, pleasures, or lusts of other things entering in.  That is a part of life and God brings us to the place where we feel the need of His help for us to be strong in the Lord.

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

The church in its early ages still had the need for Paul to write and tell them to put on the whole armor of God that they could stand against the wiles of the devil. 

The devil doesn’t show up and say, “I am here; take note for I am going to try a few tricks on you.”  That is not how he works.  If he did then it wouldn’t be a trick.

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.

We are not battling people.  We need the whole armor of God because we are warring against principalities. 

There is a definite principal that if you are told something long enough then you begin to believe it.  If a seed of a thought is just dropped into your mind, or if an attitude begins to work, as it gathers more and more then soon it becomes a principality.  What started not that big can get really big in our mind. 

Our mind has the ability to affect our whole body.  I was doing something yesterday and Karen asked me a question.  I was thinking of something else and didn’t really hear her.  I had to ask her to run that by me again.  It is the same for us spiritually, our mind can be somewhere else. 

We can have our mind overwhelmed and we can actually have our mind build a case when there is nothing to build it on.

We wrestle not against people but against principalities and powers.  There is a real strong power of darkness.  We have all felt a power of darkness sweep over our soul.  We wondered, “Where is this thing coming from?” 

There are times that when there are people in authority and we ae not on their list of favorites.  We feel the disdain of the world.  When people have been talking to me and Karen shows up and I introduce them to her then they size us up and think, “What is going on with these people?”  As terrible as the world looks, there must be people that like it.

There will be times when, there was this lady that ran up to my wife in Santa Rosa, “If you don’t mind, how do you fix your hair?”  She had broken English.  They were from France.  We live in a world of wonder; people get on an airplane and rent a car.  You see their car and think they are from Texas.  There are those that have an appreciation for modesty. 

When a thought comes to our mind, don’t let it even get started to overwhelm you.  We are too near the end of the journey to worry what people think.  It is what the Word of God says.

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.

Know how to stand.  Don’t try to avoid it.  Know how to stand sweet, in the grace of God, because that is what the Bible teaches.

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

Know the truth and know what the Bible teaches.  Don’t hold the truth in unrighteousness.  Be right with God and right with man.

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

The desire of Christ is that wherever we go, men and women be at peace with God.  That comes through Bible forgiveness and us forgiving those that have trespassed against us.  We can have peace with our past through confessing and repenting and having a new life.

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

We must have the shield of faith.  The enemy targets our faith with issues.  We lift the shield of faith and quench the fiery darts.  You can hear the arrows flying but when they are quenched, we can thank God that they didn’t go any further.

Live in the Spirit and walk in the Spirit and ask God for discernment.  When you hear that certain sound of a fiery dart coming, don’t let it knock you down, but lift up the shield of faith.

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

This covers the vital part of us.  Head injuries are very serious.  Being attacked by the enemy in our mind is very serious.  This protection that God has enabled you and me to have is termed the helmet of salvation.  Salvation in the Old Testament meant several things and health was added by Christ in the New Testament.

Salvation means deliverance.  Thank God for the old life that was canceled by Christ.  However long you have been saved you can thank God for whatever you missed. 

It is not only from what was in the past but it means up to date deliverance.  There are many things that will war on your mind.  The answer is the helmet of salvation.  I am going to take that deliverance.  We have such help with the Word and Spirit of God. 

Php 4:8  Finally, brethren, whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report; if there be any virtue, and if there be any praise, think on these things.

When Karen was working on filling up our cellar, she would get out these canning books.  It was not enough to stuff the stuff in a jar and take it to the cellar.  It was important to know what had worked before.  It is important to her to follow the recipe.  It is the same spiritually.  Put on the helmet of salvation and know what to think about. 

To start our thinking on things that are true, think of God.  He is light.  He is the same yesterday today and forevermore.  The battle will soon be over. 

God has taken care of all of us.  Have we any reason to doubt that He will take care of us clear to the end?  God took care of my mother when she became a widow way too young.  The world would say that she was way too poor.  God did not fail her. 

My mother died February 1979 on a Wednesday night.  I was home sick, and Karen, Kayla, and Kathy came to prayer meeting.  In my sick condition, God told me to get up and go to mom’s.  She asked about Karen and the children and then she said, “Bless the Lord oh my soul; bless His holy name.”  A quiver came over her body and she died.

She had lived in a house that was heated with an oil furnace.  We left the house after my sister and the mortician came.  We came back the next day and the house was cold.  The furnace stopped and never ran again.  You can trust God. 

Think on that which is true.  God has not failed and will not fail.

Think on the things that are honest.  On the things that are just.  The justice that I have received in being forgiven of my sin.  The justice that the nature that we inherited from Adam can be cleansed and purged by the Blood of Christ is beyond description.

Think on the things that are pure, there are still things that are pure to think on.  There is still virtue and valor.

Think on things that are lovely.  It is wonderful that there are still lovely things to think on.  If there be any virtue or valor, if there be any praise...  We have so much to thank God for.  When you feel overwhelmed by stresses, it is amazing what praising can do.

Deliverance, help, safety: think of what God has protected us from.  I think of impostors.  There are men that I have personally known that looked for simple, ignorant people that they can take advantage of.  They have come to me for that is the way that I am.  Never once has God failed me. 

I remember a night that a man came to our house probably to rob us.  Before he got there, God made a way of escape for Karen and me.  God has been wonderful.

Unfortunately but true, the times have led us to where those that we once had contact with, we walked together, we were friends, we went to the house of God together, then the sad occasion of them turning.

Victory.  We can have victory tonight.  Health.  We can have a healthy mind, God can give health in our body.  We can have a healthy outlook.

Take the sword of the Spirit:  Have it sharpened.  Don’t be afraid to take it out.  When the enemy comes with whatever it might be, shred it up.

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

Don’t just go through a form of prayer but pray and the Holy Spirit will come down.

Pray for me.

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.

Paul knew the value of the Body of Christ praying.  Know the value of your brother and sister’s prayers.

I feel as Paul, “Pray for me.”