The cry of God.( Psalm 95 v 7-8 )

 They made a movie about an American called Desmond Doss,he served as a combat medic in the war against Japan.He was a very brave man  for which he recieved the ,'The medal of honour' by President Trumen.During a battle he was in with all the shooting ,and bombs going off, he prayed,'Father I can't hear your cry',and then he heard a wounded soldier cry out.Where is God's cry coming to you from,or from whom is God's cry coming to you from?,are you listening.,are you listening?are you prepared to respond to that cry?.Great movements start by someone responding to the cry of God in the shape of wounded ,dying, lost humanity.George Mullier,Dr  Barnardo, heard the cry of needy children,The founder of 'Stand by Me' a children ministry  working in eight countries,heard the cry of God when his elderly father said to him ,you must do something,and David responded. William Booth heard the cry of God and he responded ,and the Salvation Army came into being.Isaiah the prophet heard the cry of God ringing out,'Whom shall I send? And who will go for us?,and immediately he responded ,by saying ,'Here am I . Send me.!'(Isaiah 6 v 8)In a world full of lost sinners,are we listening to the cry of God,Jesus said the labourers are few,spiritual  darkness covers this world ,and the awfulness dreadful consquences that brings.,the cries can be heard, if one is listening,are you listening?are you willing to respond?

Theocentric. ( Isaiah 40 v 21 -28_)

 I learned a new word today,'Theocentric',it means that God is the central aspect of existence,and having Him as the focal point of our attention ,in our thoughts and feelings. Lets face it most of us leave God out of so much,As regards the unbeliever He is not in their thoughts,from when they get up in the morning,till they go to bed at night. For them He does not exist, they are born,they live their lives,they die and that's it.As  a Christian how do you veiw life?,how do you veiw what is happening to you now?is God brought into it?. When you have difficulties and trials ,what do you see?,just the difficulties and trials,full stop,is God in it all?,or not it all?.I am reading the story of Joseph ,hated by his brothers,sold into slavery,put in prison on false charges. Yes he felt the pain of what happened to him,but it is obivous he never lost sight of God,he never let bitterness destroy him ,or hatred for his brothers,or for the woman who lied and caused him to be put in prison,When Samuel told Eli the high priest that God was going to judge him and his sons,he  brought God into it,and declared ,'He is the Lord; let Him do what is good in His eyes.( 1 Samuel 3 v18) How do you see the worlds situation? chaos,frightering,out of control,and you hear yourself saying where is God in it all?, judge not the Lord by feeble sense.,Yes there is so much in this world ,that declares man rules,and that's it. no it is not so.God continues to be the central aspect of exsistence,and He should be the focal point of our attention, our thoughts,and feelings.

                                                             

Conclusion (2 Timothy 2 v 9 / Hebrews 4 v 12 ) 5

 We come to consider the last of our weapons in this conflict against  our enemy the devil,it is  'The sword of the Spirit' which is the word of God,(Ephesians 6 v 17 ) Stott points out,'Of all the six pieces of armour or weaponry listed, the sword  is the only one which can clearly be used for attack as well as defence'.First of all we must equip ourselves by reading and knowing the word of God.We assume that most Christians will read the word of God,but not all do, so they are putting themselves at a disadvantage.It was Cromwell's  Ironsides who fought with a sword in one hand and a Bible in the other.As one writer says we can never defeat God's enemies or win God's battles without God's word'. Read your Bible,know your Bible,and it is helpful to memorise it   We can also add to the weapons prayer 6 v 18.as John Stott comments ,it can be seen as a unnamed weapon. Because the warfare we are engaged in is continual,so we must pray continually,

                                                    'Restraining prayer,we cease to fight;

                                                     Prayer makes the Christian's armour

                                                      bright;

                                                      And Satan trembles when he sees

                                                      The weakest saint upon his knees.'

                                                                   William Cowper

Assurance of Salvation. ( John 10 v 27 - 30 )4

 Lets consider our next weapon in Ephesians 6 v 17,'The helment of salvation',in Isaiah 59 v 17,it is used as a metaphor to describe salvation.Knowing we are saved and going to heaven sustains and strengthens us to endure whatever comes our way, Paul who endured so much and would die a martyrs death could face it because he was saved , in 2 Timothy 2 v 11- 12, he writes,' If we died with Him, we shall also live with Him. If we endure ,we shall also reign with Him'. All through history Christians have suffered for Christ  ,from being eaten  by wild beasts,burnt at the stake ..I am sure we are all aware of the suffering of God's people in so many countries at tis time. Apart from that suffering  life for all of us means that we will  experience long painfull illness'es and so many other things.Our salvation is a anchor to our souls,Paul declares these encourageing words''I consider that our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us'. ( Romans 8 v18 ) Also we have the assurance that yes we are going to heaven, and the wonders of that,but also we shall not be going to hell .Our Saviour speaking to the church of Smyma, a church that was enduring afflctions and poverty,He tells them ,' Do not be afraid of what you are about to suffer.I tell you,the devil will put some of you in prison to test you,and you will suffer persecution for ten days . Be faithful ,even to the point of death, and I will give you life as your victors crown.( Revelation 2 v 10)

                                                  ' It will be worth it all when we see Jesus'.

We shall overcome. ( Isaiah 12 v 2 )3

Let us continue to look at the weapons we have to aid us in our battle against,the devil and all those under his control,the next one we want to consider is the 'The shield of faith',(Ephesians 6 v16)this is described as a defence against the firey darts of the evil one.   William Barclay describes it as a great oblong shield that protected  the soldiers from darts dipped with tow and dipped in pitch,it was a vital part of their armoury.As Christians our faith is always under attack, by doubt,and multitude of other things,and even from ourselves,yes there is enemy within and the enemy without.In 1 John 5 v4  we read,'For everyone born of God overcomes the world. This is the victory that has overcome the world,even our faith'.Today whatever your circumstance  have faith in God,in His word ,in His promises,and in His faithfulness.

                                                       'Begone unbelief! My Savioiur is near

                                                        And for my relief will surely appear.

                                                        By prayer let me wrestle  and He will perform;

                                                        With Christ in the vessel I smile at the storm.'

                                                                              John Newton.

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Our weapons. (Colossians 1 v 13)2

We saw last time how we are in a unrelenting where there will be no let up . The scripture we have been looking at is Ephesians 6 v 10ff.  2 Corinthians 10 v 4 tells us that in this battle the weapons that we have at our dispoal are not the weapons of the world but they have the divine power to demolish strongholds.  It is in Ephesians 6 v13 -18. we have them set out ,there are 6 of them,the first one is,'the belt of truth'It was Richard Nixion in an interview as regards charismatic politicians,' he said he didn't rate them,he was more concerned what they stood for'  So it is as Christians we must not to be swayed by charismatic preachers,we must always be guided by truth.There must be no ,compromise as regards truth,in this battle truth must prevail.Next we have ,'The breastplate of righteousness,this covers the front and the back , John Stott writing on this declares,'No spiritual. protection is greater than a righteous relationship with God.,' Before we trusted  Christ ,we had no righteousness of our own,Isaiah 64 v 6,reads, 'All our righteous acts are like filthy rags'.But when we trust Christ the Lord becomes our righteousness Jeremiah 23v 6 /1 Corinthians 1 v 30'.This means as JS writes ,'We can stand '.before God not condemned but accepted',the devil has no answer to that. The next weapon is,'Shoes for our feet',Stott uses the word ,'boots', such as a Roman soldier would wear,he calls them gospel boots, indicating a readiness to proclaim the gospel of peace.Let us remember there is no more beautiful thing, than to proclaim the gospel of Christ,it is that Gospel that delivers sinners from Satan's power. (We will continue this next time)

                                                                 Isaiah 52 v 7.

                                      'How beautiful upon the mountains are the feet

                                      of him who brings good news, who proclaims peace,

                                      Who brings good tidings of good things, who proclaim

                                      salvation,Who says to Zion,Your God reigns!

                                                                

None of us are civilians. ( 1 Peter 5 v 8-9 )1

We don't go far on in the Christian life before we are faced with temptations,that is why our Lord taught us to pray ,'Lead us not into temptation',but it does not stop there,for it goes on to say,'But deliver us from the evil one' (Matthew 6 v 13)  The devil does not  give up on those who were once his captives,and so he is ever seeking a way to bring them back into his fold. So we must not let down our guard,Paul when he came to the end of his days,said,'I have fought a good fight',(2 Timothy 4 v7)  He speaks of the Christian life in militrary terms, in Ephesians 6 v 11,we read,'Put on the full armour of God,so that you can take your stand against the devils schemes'. The word schemes has with it the idea of one who is lying in wait for us,and he will use every means he can to bring us down,yes the devil is a schemer. Paul goes on to tell us how we can be overcomers,even against our most powerful enemy the devil. We are not left defenceless as regards our hatfeful enemy.Paul says  that this is a spiritual  battle we are in,and it goes beyond mere flesh and blood enemies.The devil will  use all those who are under his control to destroy us. One person writes the following ,'This is no afternoon athletic contest that we will  walk away from and forget about in a couple of hours. This is for keeps,a life and death fight to the finish against  the devil and his angels.'  To say the least its a bit scarey,but let us quit ourselves like children of God,we shall overcome by God's grace, just as Paul overcame so much.

                                            

                                             'We are in God's army ,and their

                                              must be no surrendering to our

                                              enemy the devil'