Bulletins - First Baptist Church Laredo

Satan understands our weaknesses, blind spots, and vulnerabilities. He knows which sins we struggle with the most and what often and easily irritates, frustrates, and distracts us. He knows what we desire. And everyday, Satan takes all of this information that he has been gathering for so many years and puts it to work, playing all the angles he can exploit in order to bring us down. He is at work every minute of every day to make sure we fail.
Do you ever think about it that way? The enemy is often more conscious of our weaknesses than we are. And he will do whatever it takes to get us to neglect our faith and forget the grace of God. If he can get us to stumble or use us to get others to stumble, he will not let up until he’s done it. All because he hates Jesus and wants to see Jesus’ glory obscured in the world.
It is for this reason that Paul’s words are so strong on the subject of the spiritual war. This is not something we can afford to be nonchalant about. The apostle Peter warned us: “Be sober-minded, be alert. Your adversary the devil is prowling around like a roaring lion, looking for anyone he can devour” (). Here is how Paul informed our preparation in .
Ephesians 6:10–12 CSB
10 Finally, be strengthened by the Lord and by his vast strength. 11 Put on the full armor of God so that you can stand against the schemes of the devil. 12 For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers of this darkness, against evil, spiritual forces in the heavens.
The first rule of warfare is practical awareness of the enemy.
Be
Be aware of the enemy.
You can’t fight well if 1) you don’t know whom you’re fighting, and 2) you don’t know where they are. Know you enemies capabilities. Know how the enemy may attack you. These are key components to successful warfare. Paul tells us two things that are of utmost importance.
1. Our enemy is the devil, not our fellow man.
This is important because we often mistake people as our battle targets. But Paul said we don’t war against “flesh and blood.” Unbelievers, by definition, are unenlightened to the things of the Spirit, but they are not our enemy in this war.
2. Remember the enemy’s position.
He attacks us from the spiritual realm. Very often, Christians try fighting the devil’s scheme’s in the devil’s ways. We assume, for instance, that keeping rules will solve our sin problems. But the devil is totally fine with all of us "keeping the rules” so long as we don’t actually love Jesus.
Because we are engaged in a spiritual war, we need spiritual weapons to protect ourselves and fight our enemy. This is why we must wear the spiritual armor constantly. You don’t take your armor off in war. You take it off only when there is peace. In other words, don’t wait for the enemy to show himself before you start putting on the armor. You don’t know when the attacks will come, but you know they will.
3. Put on the armor of God
We always wear this spiritual armor not just so we can be protected but also so we can stand with strength. To visualize this, Paul used the image of a Roman soldier in the next section, which the first readers would have been quite familiar with. Roman soldiers were given this armor to stand strong and fight in battle.
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And we have been given spiritual armor for the same reason—so that we can stand with God’s strength as we defend ourselves. Our enemy is great, but our God is greater. We don’t have to hide in fear from our enemy; we can stand before him. But we can’t forget that when we do stand, we need to stand with our full armor on and rely on God’s strength to win the battle. We have to become accustomed to seeing all of our life as the place of great spiritual battle.

Paul gave us the blueprint for holistic protection against attacks. We are to cover ourselves head to foot with God’s armor for protection in the midst of the fierce battles we will face. But remember, this is God’s armor, not ours. You will notice that every piece of armor listed corresponds to something God does and supplies. God gives it; we wield it.
The belt is the knowledge of God’s truth.
A Roman soldier would wear a loose tunic that needed to be secured tightly in combat so an enemy would not be able to grab his tunic and pull him down with it. A belt was used to pull the tunic tightly around him and hold it in place so he would be prepared for battle. That is what God’s truth does for us. Knowing God’s truth prepares us for battle against our foe.
The breastplate is Christ’s righteousness.
When the enemy attacks our hearts, we don’t want our self-righteousness standing guard but the breastplate of actual righteousness—Christ’s righteousness that has been imputed to us and that we seek to live out each day.
Our feet are to be covered with the good news of Christ’s work on the cross and resurrection from the tomb.
We often take shoes for granted today or see them primarily as a fashion accessory, but for a Roman soldier, strong sandals were a must. You would not want to have to stand and fight in combat after marching over rocks and thorns with bare feet or poor footwear. In the same way, the gospel of Jesus enables us to stand firm in battle as we proclaim the gospel of peace in the world.
The shield represents the faith given to us by God, through which we have received His grace and live in it.
A Roman soldier’s shield was large enough to protect most of his body from both ranged attacks and close combat. Faith in God protects us in the same way. Faith will protect us even when the battle seems impossible to win. And faith has a neutralizing effect on the attacks of the devil, if only we will take it up and use it.
The helmet is salvation, God’s gift to us.
A Roman soldier’s helmet was critical to protect him from the blows by an enemy’s sword. When the enemy whispers, or shouts, his accusations into our ears, we don’t want a helmet based on some meme to protect us. We want the helmet to be made of something solid and dependable—something like our salvation. If our minds are ready with the great salvation of the gospel encasing them like force-fields of grace, we are really prepared.
The sword is the Holy Spirit Himself, working through His own breathed-out Scriptures.
This last piece of armor is especially important. We can neither defend ourselves from accusations and condemnations of the evil one without the powerful sword of God’s Word.
The good news is that the result of the war is not up to us. The war has already been won by Christ, so we fight from victory, not for victory. We put on the full armor of God so we can be equipped and ready to join in with God as He advances the gospel of peace into a world of spiritual strife.

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- - Ephesians 6:10–12CSB

Be aware of the enemy.

1. Our enemy is the devil, not our fellow man.

2. Remember the enemy’s position.

3. Put on the armor of God

The belt is the knowledge of God’s truth.

The breastplate is Christ’s righteousness.

Our feet are to be covered with the good news of Christ’s work on the cross and resurrection from the tomb.

The shield represents the faith given to us by God, through which we have received His grace and live in it.

The helmet is salvation, God’s gift to us.

The sword is the Holy Spirit Himself, working through His own breathed-out Scriptures.

Ephesians 6:10–12CSB