Sermon Tone Analysis
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Shielded by Faith
Attention-
On April 20th, 2010 the worst oil disaster in history unfolded before the world stage.
The offshore oil drilling rig Deepwater Horizon exploded due to a series of catastrophic failures.
Billions of dollars of damage, thousands of animals killed, and billions of dollars in fishing loss occurred.
Deepwater Horizon exploded because there were 8 main failures that when combined caused the disaster.
The crew was trying to plug the well so the rig could move away and the pumping rig could move in its place.
To do this they had to plug it with cement and the cement they used was shoddy, .
There were 2 valves that were used as backup to keep oil and gas from flowing to the rig these also failed.
Earlier that day the crew performed a pressure test and the results of that were misinterpreted.
There was a massive scissor like valve called a blowout preventer that was to be used in an event like this.
It’s designed to cut the pipe off and shut the well.
This too, failed to close the pipe.
There was a system that could divert oil and mud off the rig, it was not turned on.
There was a system of fans that could divert flammable gas away from the rig.
These did not turn on.
Lastly, the battery backup for the blowout preventer which was designed to close the pipe without manual permissions was dead.
Deepwater Horizon failed because the rig was not prepared to go to battle with the earth.
It didn’t have every source of protection possible to resist the pressure of the earth.
In every job there are important areas that require preparedness and should never be overlooked.
The cost of not preparing for potential disaster can be catastrophic.
Need-
When Paul writes of putting on the armor he was writing to an audience which understood the importance of a prepared soldier.
No soldier would hesitate to put on his armor but the shield in particular was an important tool was not used just for self protection but for the protection of others.
The Roman soldier used their shield in conjunction with his fellow soldiers.
The shield reaching from their chest to their ankles could be used to create walls, barriers, and even a mobile bunker of sorts called The tortoise for protection from spears, and arrows or rocks.
The shield was often soaked before battle so that if fiery arrows or other flaming objects were shot at the Romans they would be extinguished easier and thus protect the army better as a whole.
A soldier without his shield was useless to protect himself or his brother in battle.
Paul plays on this importance in Ephesians Chapter 6 when he applies the concept of faith to the Romans Soldiers shield.
It is on page 1245 in your pew Bibles.
Please stand as we read
.
You can be seated
You can be seated
You can be seated
So how do we carry over this imagery to reality?
To do this we need to define faith, we need be reminded of how Satan works, and then we need to think of ways to apply faith to our daily living.
We must know that faith is confidence in God’s work of salvation
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Has done in our lives
This is worked out in two areas.
Confidence in what He has done in our lives
1 cor
Taking up the shield of faith means remembering and resting in our salvation.
When Paul writes to the church in Corinth he reminds them of the foundation for their faith which is the Gospel.
Let us never forget that Jesus being God died as our sacrifice.
He rose again as the conqueror of sin and death and it is by the grace of God that we don’t have to pay for our sin but instead our guilt was placed on Christ and Christs righteousness was placed on us.
There is nothing in the universe that is greater than God and there is nothing that we should fear because we are forgiven.
We have a faith that is rock solid to defend us because our faith is in Christ alone.
Confidence in what He continues to do in our lives
Ephesians 2
Not only do we know that God has saved use but we carry our shield with hope for the future because we know that in our salvation God will continue to sanctify us.
Earlier in our study of Ephesians we saw that when God saved us it wasn't the end of his work in us.
Rather, God saved us and will continue to make us more righteous.
In other words we have faith because we know that God saved us with the intent of making us new, holy, and righteous in our daily living.
We must know how Satan attacks with doubt
Doubt
A few weeks ago Pastor Jason and Pastor Matt taught us about the work of Satan in the world.
Paul returns to warning of the work of Satan in verse 16.
Paul reminds us that the shield of faith is to be used to protect against the flaming darts of Satan.
It would not be unusal in warfare of the day to use arrows dipped in pitch and lit on fire to divide troops, discourage advance, and kill members of the infantry.
We know that Satan attacks with fiery darts today with the intent to steal kill and destroy and with Christians he often works with the intent of causing doubt.
John Piper of Desiring God wisely points out ways Satan causes doubt.The first would be....
Through Life Circumstances
There is no question I hear asked more often in the midst of difficult life situations than “Why do bad things happen to good people.”
It can be asked and phrased in so many different ways but in the end we often come back to asking God “Why”?
when things are hard.
When people suffer they eventually seek answers.
I pray that today you know that asking questions is not wrong.
However, we can ask questions and seek answers from God and his word or we can seek answers in our own power and knowledge.
When Satan tempted Adam and Eve they could have gone back to God and sought truth from Him but instead they moved forward in their own knowledge and chose to be deceived.
They chose to doubt the Lord.
In your pain I encourage you to seek answers from the Lord
Causing division
Satan also attacks believers by causing division.
Satan can tempt believers to be divided in Bitterness, anger, frustration, and disagreement .
Rather, we are called to be united in united under Christ.
It times of disagreement Christians should raise their shield of faith and agree on the core truths of what united us in the first place.
Christ has saved us from sin and the Holy Spirit unites us as one church with the purpose of glorifying God.
Let us be wary of attitudes and actions that divide rather than unify.
That is the work of Satan and has no place in the fellowship of believers.
Bringing Temptation
Satan also uses his fiery darts by tempting sinners as he did Eve.
Often we are presented with the choice to honor God by faithfully acting in a way that brings Him glory or to question and doubt Gods best for us and to sin against Him.
Speaking Lies
Satan speaks lies.
As Christians we lift our shield of faith to oppose that which we know to be untrue.
This is why Peter encourages believers to be ready to give a defense for the reason we have hope.
It is so easy to hear something and consider it to be true.
If we have any doubt of this we can just look to the rise of fake news.
There are clearly documented accounts of people being told something is news when in reality it is not.
If it is that easy to lie to culture as a whole then Christians must take seriously the lies that have tried to enter the church.
Lastly Satan causes doubt by...
Masquerading as truth and light
Satan will attack with fiery darts disguised as gifts from the enemy.
A trojan horse of sorts.
It can be so tempting to try and justify some sin as doing good.
Beware church of this deception.
Do not fall to the temptation to justify wickedness as holiness.
While we should be aware of Satans battle tactics this passage is really pointing to the need to carry the shield of faith.
So how do we do this?
We must use faith
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