The Shield of Faith – Ephesians 6:16

The following are my notes from our pastor’s sermon this morning.

I – Know what faith is.

With the shield of faith you will be able to extinguish all the flaming darts of the evil one. Flaming darts = discouragement, temptation, depression, disunity, etc. Our faith is not our own. It is firmly rooted in the relationship with Christ.

Faith is not positive thinking.

Great examples of faith are found in Hebrew 11.

1 Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.

8 By faith Abraham obeyed when he was called to go out to a place that he was to receive as an inheritance. And he went out, not knowing where he was going.

17 By faith Abraham, when he was tested, offered up Isaac, and he who had received the promises was in the act of offering up his only son,

30 By faith the walls of Jericho fell down after they had been encircled for seven days.

31 By faith Rahab the prostitute did not perish with those who were disobedient, because she had given a friendly welcome to the spies.

II – Live a life of faith

Faith is not just a decision or a choice. It is an action or a trusting. You have faith or trust in the bridge to hold you up and not plunge you into the water below. If you do not cross, is it still faith?
Faith in Christ is not just a belief and then it’s up to you to work it out on your own. Living by faith is taking Christ at his word and trust in him that he lived it for you.
Peter trusted Christ to walk on water in Matthew 14.

III – Grow in faith

As we are faithful in our trust with Christ, our faith in him grows and grows.
Can we trust Christ in our success es and in our failures? Absolutely.

Update: Here is the audio of the sermon.

The following is a video of  the Petra song “The Battle Belongs to the Lord.”