Ephesians chapter 6, if you ain't got anything to say, at least come up with a good title.
The daring dedication to defy and deflect demonic darts.
That's our responsibility as believers who put our faith in the Lord, and we need to because we're in a war.
It's not a war overseas, even though all those wars that you watch on television are influenced by this war.
It's not a political war, although we're in the midst of one.
And it sure is the evidence of a larger war.
The war I speak of is an unseen, invisible war, but more real than what we see.
It's a spiritual war that influences and evades all of those wars that you see in life.
It's bigger than what we see.
And I believe we need to recognize it, and I believe that for what it is,
and do what we need to do to stand strong spiritually in the midst of it.
The Apostle Paul tells us how to do that, and he explains the spiritual attributes that we're to have,
and he describes them as an armor of protection provided for us by God.
And the key to that protection is our faith in God.
I want you to listen to how he explains it.
It's in Ephesians 6, verse 16.
It says,
Defying, deflecting, even extinguishing the flaming demonic darts that are headed our way
is the duty of those who put their faith in Christ,
those who've dedicated their life to Christ.
It's only by the power of God, it's only by our trust and our dependence upon God that it works.
And Paul calls that a shield of faith.
Now, the shield that he talks about is not one of those Captain America type shields, okay?
There's a word for that in the Greek, but that's not the one he uses.
Not Captain America, that's not in the Greek.
But the shield type, the small type of shield, no, what he's speaking of here is much larger than that.
It's the size of a small door, usually about two and a half feet wide, about four feet long.
It's like a riot gear shield, if you will.
It's made of wood and iron and often layered with linen and then with leather on top of that.
And often dipped in water before battle.
And you say, why by water?
Because arrows were dipped in tar and set on fire.
Why would they do that?
Well, if you live in a thatch hut and you go under a fiery attack by the darts of those that are arrows that are being shot,
you're in trouble, okay?
Your house will burn down.
So in the same kind of effect, whatever that fire hit could cause all kinds of problems.
And so they often did that.
And soldiers relied upon their shields.
A historian from early days said that there was a soldier that came in one day after battle with 200 previously fiery darts stuck in his shield.
They relied upon them.
When pursuing another army in battle, the soldiers would line up and form a wall.
They called it a phalanx.
And the shields there, they would get together and serve in that capacity.
And those shields, not only could they stoop behind them, but if you'll notice, the second and third roads could use them as rooftops to keep from fiery darts coming.
The shields were hooked together, kind of like chairs in an auditorium you see sometimes.
They could hook them together at times, making for a wall of defense.
And that's the kind of protection that the Apostle Paul says that we need against the fiery darts of the evil one.
Now when we say fiery darts, what do we mean?
Well, I want to spend my time this morning identifying the darts that we are to expect,
and then to learn how to defy and deflect them.
The evil one loves to shoot his fiery darts.
One of them is he loves to shoot the fiery dart of misdirection.
Temptation is simply defined as attempts of the evil one to throw us off our path that God has for us.
Satan wants to redirect us, and one of the clearest ways that he does that is mentioned in 1 John 2, verse 15 through 17.
When John wrote,
Do not love the world or the things in the world.
If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him.
For that is in the world.
For all that is in the world, listen to this,
the desires of the flesh and the desires of the eyes and the pride of life.
And it's not from the Father, but it's from the world.
And the world is passing away along with its desires, but whoever does the will of God abides forever.
Do you know what will throw us off of God's path for our life?
One thing that will throw us off is answering our every yearning.
That is what John calls the desires of the flesh.
Just because we get a craving for something does not mean we have to answer that craving.
God made us with an appetite for food, drink, sensuality,
and the devil loves to lead us to make any and all of those things be our focus.
We can become driven by our yearnings if we're not careful.
They're innate, they're natural, therefore we feel like sometimes they're justified.
However, Satan misdirects us, and we'll follow his lead, and it'll make for a mess.
You eat too much, not only will it ruin your night, but it'll ruin your health,
and it can sabotage your self-esteem as well, quite honestly.
It'll bring you down, and Satan likes doing that kind of thing.
You drink too much, it'll ruin not only your health, it'll ruin your family.
It'll ruin your testimony.
I just advise you to stay away from it completely.
If you become too sexually driven, it'll destroy us from the inside out, the Apostle Paul said.
He said sexual sin is a sin against your own body.
I just want you to think about the heyday that Satan's having today in a world that so celebrates sexual deviance.
Porn is at an all-time high.
Sexual deviance is applauded by society.
And all of it comes back to not surrendering to the base desires that the Lord's given us,
but Satan loves to throw darts in there and mix up the matter and misdirect us.
He loves to throw us off our game.
He wants us to answer our every yearning.
The second way we get in trouble is getting what we want.
I gotta have it.
That's the desire of the eyes that he mentions.
That deep desire to always want more.
We get something new and the luster wears off.
We gotta get something else quicker.
Now we need something more.
We like what we have until we find out somebody else has got something better than us.
And now we gotta go get what they've got.
God wants us to give him reign over our stuff.
And one of the valuable tools of that is when we faithfully tithe to the Lord.
Because we remember when we do that, you should anyway, that God owns everything that I have.
I'm just to be a steward of that.
And he instructs me in how to give back to him.
And quite honestly, most of us, when we faithfully tithe to the Lord,
we have to say no to some things in order to do that.
Tithing helps us prioritize what really matters.
But the devil would love for us to overextend.
The devil would love for us to be drowning in debt.
The devil would love for us to feel incapable of being obedient to God
because of things that we've already committed to.
That's what the desire of the eyes speaks of.
But it also talks about looking better than everybody else.
That's what the pride of life talks about.
He wants us to think that we're the most important things in life.
Period.
And if we are a little better than everybody else,
then, you know, we can feel hateful towards somebody
if they try to succeed and do better than us.
It's the pride of life.
We just want to be a little bit better than somebody else.
And the reality is we make dumb decisions in order for that to happen.
And all of those things are darts of misdirection.
But not only that, the devil also shoots fiery darts of misfortune.
And what I mean by that is it's not what happens to you.
It's what happens to what happens to you.
Life is rough.
We're born into a fallen world.
Our bodies get sick.
We have hurts along the way.
Life is rough.
And then we go on Facebook or Instagram or some other social media
and see that life's not rough for anybody else but us.
Everything's grand on those social media.
I mean, they go to the finest places.
They have the finest things, eat the finest meals.
They're always smiling, you know.
Those family picture days.
They're always just wonderful, you know.
They never show the fight that they had all the way at the house getting ready
about what they were going to wear and whether it was ready or not
or all the way out there.
Ask the photographer.
They'll tell you about how y'all act.
I checked it out.
But anyway, all that makes us feel worse when we see somebody else so glowing
and we realize that everything in life is just not going to glow.
Life's bad enough at times.
But when the devil gets mixed in there, it really makes things confusing.
When somebody gets so down that they don't seem to be able to look up
and then they're concerned about maybe they need to take their own life,
where in the world does that kind of thought come from?
I'll tell you where it comes from.
It comes from the evil one.
He works in people to do that.
He'll tear us down.
When somebody faces a health trial or a relationship trial
and they walk away from their relationship with God
because they feel overwhelmed by their difficulty,
why in the world would you walk away from God when you're going through a trial?
Why in the world would you do that?
Because the devil twists and turns and those things.
He loves to isolate.
And he'll drive you mad when he can.
And why does somebody walk in an establishment and start shooting?
Why in the world would somebody do that?
I'm telling you, it's a spiritual battle.
It's the evil one.
And he loves to jump on us in times of misfortune.
He loves to jump on us when we're down.
He loves to do that.
Be aware that when times are tough, the fiery darts are going to come.
I mean, they are.
He loves to hit on misfortune.
Another time he shoots fiery darts is through mistruths.
He does it through mistruths.
John 8 verse 44 says that Satan is a liar and the father of lies.
He'll tell us that we are worth nothing.
He'll tell us that nobody really loves us.
Listen, I got news for you today.
Jesus died for you.
And if you were in Christ, don't you dare listen to that liar.
You're a king's kid.
You are royal.
You got royal rich blood rolling in your veins.
You're a plutocrat.
Don't you dare listen to the deceiver.
He'll criticize you.
He'll call you a hypocrite.
He'll tell you to give up.
Don't you do it.
You walk with God.
You ask for forgiveness of God.
And by the power of the blood of the Lamb, walk away from the garbage that Satan throws in front of you.
Don't be naive.
And don't be slowed by it.
Don't you do it.
Keep moving forward for the Lord because Satan is a liar.
And he'll tell you that no one will know what you do.
He'll tell you that it'll be okay.
He'll tell you that it won't cost you anything.
He'll tell you that you can't change.
He'll tell you that it will make you change all of its lies, my friend.
He's the father of lies.
And it's just darts of mistruth.
He also shoots darts of mixed motives.
you'll hear whispers
not audible louder than that
why go all the way with God
why go all the way for God
why can't you just go halfway
you don't have to get so sold out on something
why should God prioritize your life
do what you need to do
do what you want to do
you don't have to go to worship
you don't have to get fully invested with those people
life's busy enough
plus there's somebody in that church
you probably got a problem with
the clothes may not be as new as theirs
you don't know where to sit
all of that stuff
he's just messing with us
he's just trying to confuse us
and he'll work us up to make us angry too
he'll make you mad at somebody
if he can
I ask you today
is there somebody you need to forgive
are you refusing to forgive somebody
well I'm going to tell you
if you're a child of God
and you've got a lack of forgiveness in your heart
you've allowed the evil one to influence you in that
you bitter towards somebody
that's the evil one messing with you
it's the devil
your lack of forgiveness
you're taking the fiery darks
your bitter feelings
you're taking the fiery darks
why
does my mind wonder
when I pray
I think man I need to get up and go take care of that
you know I'm praying about this
but I can get up and go take care of that
why is that
because listen
the power is in prayer
the power is not in what we do
the power is in prayer
and doing what God tells us
Satan don't want you praying
and so he'll try his best to mess that up
why does your morning get filled up
and the word get pinched out
I'm telling you it's the evil one
why do fun opportunities always come on Sunday
you ever wondered about that
why does that happen
you know
pinch us out of church
why does that happen
I'm going to tell you something
everything is not
I'm not that guy
okay
I'm not that guy
but I'm just telling you
the devil strategizes
to keep you
out from under the preaching of God's word
the worship of the Lord
and to be with God's people
he wants his best
to distract that
and he'll throw darts along the way
and try his best
to make that happen
so how do you stand against
darts of misdirection
misfortune
mistruths and mixed motives
we do it with the shield of faith
we are protected
from the fiery darts
of the evil one
by our trust
and our hope
in the Lord
Hebrews 11 1
defines faith for us in scripture
says now faith is the assurance
of things hoped for
the conviction of things not seen
simply put
faith is believing
and then applying
what you believe
faith is the truth
so let me explain it
let me tell you what faith is this morning
and I'll close
faith
is trusting
in the character of God
it's trusting in God's character
he knows what he's doing
he knows what we're doing
he knows why we're doing it
and he knows what's best for us
God is on it
he knows the circumstances
and not only that
is he's pursuing you
when your walk
gets strained
before the Lord
who convicts you
it's the Lord
that reaches out to you
he walks with us
he talks with us
listen
Jesus said he had
the hairs
on our heads
numbered
for some of us
that ain't as hard
as it used to be
but either way
that
what he means by that
is he knows
what we need
he knows
when we need it
not only that
but he loves us
so dearly
that he came
to live for us
to die for us
to rise again for us
to sit at the right hand
of the Father
and make intercession for us
while he's preparing for us
an eternal place
faith is trusting
that all of that is true
and that God is
who he says he is
not only that
but he knows all
I mean we get caught up
in the worries of the day
we worry about
what's going to happen
this afternoon
we worried about
what's going to happen
tomorrow
we were worried
yesterday
and we got through it
we made it
because we can't see
what God sees
so we have to trust
his sight
what in the world
are we worried about
for our 20th anniversary
years ago
Dawn and I
went to
New York City
and we went
for the Macy's Day
Thanksgiving Parade
she always wanted to see
the Macy's Thanksgiving Parade
and so we went to the
Macy's Thanksgiving Parade
we went to Central Park
and saw them blow
begin to blow those floats up
the night before
and to get those ready
and then we got on the subway
and nearly lost our lives
and
and then we
we walked out of the hotel
and went down
a few blocks
and stood
about eight people back
in the Macy's Day
Thanksgiving Parade
boy what a red letter day
for me
but anyway
and so we were
we were standing there
watching that
and
and here comes a float
here comes somebody
who's that
they're on a show
ain't they
yeah
I know her
and then she went by
and then he went by
yeah I've seen that dude
he's a star
ain't he
yeah he's somebody
where's Santa
you know
and Santa's always in the back
and we watched float
by float
and there's a bunch of them
that went by
but while we were watching that
there was a helicopter
above us
that was watching
the whole thing
and
every other year
we'd cut that on
on Thanksgiving morning
and
and let that
let that show
and
they'd show that view
that that helicopter shows
and
they'll show you
the whole path
that that parade goes
two and a half miles
we had walked it
the night before
to go see the floats
and
they'll show you
that whole path
there
and
but while we were there
we just saw it afloat
at a time
the reality is
we live life
afloat at a time
a day at a time
a year at a time
we don't know
what's coming next
we know there's an end
in sight
somewhere
but we don't know
when that is
we're just watching it
as it goes by
but God
has a helicopter view
God sees the beginning
God sees the end
he sees everything
in
between
he knows us
better than we know
ourselves
he loves us
more than we could ever imagine
and he is already
in our
tomorrow's
and he has the reputation
to put us
at ease
faith is trusting
in the character
of God
think about when David
walked down in that valley
Goliath was representing
the Philistines down in that valley
and
David refused to wear
Saul's army
scripture says Saul was a head
taller than everybody else
and I think it means that
in a couple of different ways
one I believe
talks about his physical stature
but I also believe
man Saul was something else
you know
and David couldn't wear that armor
it was too big for him
he didn't want to wear that armor anyway
he just went with what God
had trained him
and trusted him with
and that was a slingshot
he had prepared him
and he put his trust in God
and he walked down in that valley
and spoke to that giant
and it says in 1st Samuel chapter 17
verse 45 through 47
some of my favorite scripture
then David said to the Philistine
you come to me
today
excuse me
you come to me
with a sword
and with a spear
and with a javelin
but I come to you
in the name of the Lord of hosts
the God of the armies of Israel
whom you have defiled
this day
the Lord will deliver you
into my hand
and I'll strike you down
and cut off your head
for the battle is the Lord's
and he will give you
into our hand
and that is exactly
what happened
and that's faith
that's the kind of faith
that trusts that God
will be there
you trust the character of God
that's the kind of faith
that will extinguish
the devil's greatest attempts
but let me tell you
what else faith is
faith is also trusting
God's promises
faith is knowing
that God
will not let you down
numbers 23
verse 19 says this
God is not man
that he should lie
nor son of man
that he should change his mind
has he said
and will he not do it
or has he spoken
and will he not
fulfill it
what kind of promises
does God make
that we're talking about
well let me remind you
of just a couple
John 14 verse 18
Jesus promises
I will not leave you alone
I will not leave you comfortless
I will not leave you as offerings
I will come to you
rest in it
that when the devil tries to down you
when he tries to depress you
when he tries to speak bad things about you
when he tries to take your hope away
you are not as alone as you feel
he's there
apostle Paul told us in 1 Corinthians 10 verse 13
that God would provide a way out
when we're tempted
that's a promise
trust him in that
and he'll shield you
when you're tempted
but you gotta trust him
he is present
even when you don't feel like he's present
because his presence
ain't based on your feelings
oh that God would open our eyes
to see his presence
I love the passage about Elisha
he was encroached
he was being encroached
by his enemies
and he would not prophesy
what they wanted to hear
and so they went after him
and he said what the Lord told him to say
and people usually don't want to hear
what the Lord has to say
and so they went after him
and he was in Dothan
not Alabama
but he was in Dothan
and he was resting in his tent
while his assistant
stepped out to see
where the enemy's gang of men were
and he saw them waiting to attack him
it seemed as if he had no hope
and scripture tells us
in 2 Kings chapter 6
verse 15
it says
when the servant of the man of God
rose early in the morning
and went out
and behold
an army with horses and chariots
was all around the city
and the servant said
alas my master
what shall we do
and he said
don't be afraid
for those who are with us
are more than those
who are with them
and then Elisha prayed
and said
oh God
what a prayer
oh Lord
please
open his eyes
that he may
see
so the Lord
opened the eyes
of the young man
and he saw
and behold
the mountain
was full of horses
and chariots of fire
all around
Elisha
Elisha's army
won that battle
that day
the Lord came through
let me tell you something
he always will
may God
open our eyes
to see
what in the world
God's doing
Hebrews 11
verse 6
says
without faith
it is impossible
to please him
without faith
it's impossible
to withstand the devil
it is
but with faith
you are both
pleasing the Lord
and victorious
in Christ
but that's not all
faith is also
trusting God's timing
we don't know
what tomorrow holds
but we know
who holds tomorrow
he didn't bring us
this far
to let us fall
Jeremiah 29 11
says
for I know
the plans
that I have
for you
declares the Lord
plans for welfare
and not for evil
to give you a hope
and a future
he don't want you
to fail
he don't want us
to fail
he wants us
to succeed
and so let's
put our faith
in him
that faith
that we put
in him
will shield us
from the enemy's
attacks
I just want you
to think
for a moment
about the role
that faith
has played
in your life
if you've ever
committed your life
to follow Christ
never surrender
your life to the Lord
you came to Christ
by faith
if you walk
with Christ
trusting him
you walk
with Christ
by faith
you stand
with him
by faith
you stand
for him
by faith
you win
in faith
listen friend
it's not just
a hymn
it's the truth
faith is the victory
that overcomes
the world
and when we
like an army
take our shield
of faith
and we hook
it to other
shields of faith
it's a mighty
army
shielding us
from the enemy's
fire
my friend
that's the strength
of the church
that when we
come together
for one cause
not to just
hold our ground
that's not what
we're supposed
to be doing
we're supposed
to be invading
the enemy's
territory
claiming folks
for Christ
and when we
do that
we're going
to face
fiery darts
don't be surprised
when life
throws some
stuff at you
and properly
identify what
it is
listen
when temptations
burn
you need to
be accountable
to a prayer
partner in church
when circumstances
are adverse
you need to
share it with
your life goof
and have a concert
prayer over that
matter
when doubts
assail
lift up your
voice
with God's
people
sing God's
praises in the
midst of your
storm
when the storms
are threatening
dock yourself
in the house
of God
because listen
the fiery darts
of the evil
one are either
going to burn
you up
they're going
to burn you
out
or they're going
to fire you
up
and we are
in this
together
don't go out
there alone
and get burned
up
don't listen
to the evil
one and get
burned out
go before the
throne of God
with the people
of God
get fired up
for the Lord
this is a battle
that we can
win but we
will only win
it in the
strength of the
Lord and our
faith in him
is our shield
we have to
trust him
we have to
trust him
so what is it
in your life
that you need
to trust the
Lord about
maybe you've
never trusted
to the Lord
you're here
this morning
and there's
never been a
time in your
life when
you've surrendered
your life
to the Lord
Jesus
ask him to
forgive you
and to come
into your
life and
surrender your
life to
follow him
if you've
never done
that I got
news for you
you are
exposed
you have no
armor in the
midst of this
battle
you're exposed
to all the
enemy's weapons
all his
warfare
give your
heart and
life to
Christ today
maybe you've
done that but
you've never
been obedient to
follow that in
baptism you've
never asked the
Lord Jesus to
I mean you've
asked the Lord
Jesus to forgive
you but you've
never you've
never publicly
pronounced that
through baptism
Jesus did that
by example as
well as by
commission he
told us to
do that and
it'll be a
hindrance in
your walk if
you don't follow
that maybe God's
drawing you to
First Baptist
Church God's
doing a wonderful
work in our
midst and I'm
thankful for that
maybe God's
drawing you here
we'd love to
guide you in
that process
process or
maybe I
speak to the
majority of
us you just
got some
battles battles
there's fiery
darts being shot
at you and I
didn't have to
identify them this
morning some of
them you knew
exactly what they
were shield of
faith ain't quite
wet enough it
don't feel quite
big enough we
don't hide behind
it long enough
today maybe we
just need to
recommit our
lives and say
dear Lord I
want to trust
you I want to
trust your
judgment I want
to trust your
word I want to
trust your
presence I want to
live my life
relying upon you
I want to join up
with others around
me and I want to
do what only we
can do by the
power of our
belief in the
Lord Jesus being
who he says he
is doing what he'll
say he'll do being
where he needs to be
when he needs to be
there we got to
trust the Lord we
live in a fiery
dark world it'll hit
you might even
before you get out
of this building
we got to be
ready trusting in
God all the way
Lord Jesus I love
you and I thank
you for your word
thank you for our
time together this
morning God I
pray that you'll
work and you'll
move right now in
the hearts and
lives of every one
of us to just be
obedient to follow
as you lead in
Jesus precious name
amen
and Lord and
God you.
Thank you for the
numbers and
the hearts and
hearts.
Thank you for the
complaints.
Thank you for the
give us about the
help of and
ourselves.
Thank you.
Thank you for the