“Buckle Up!” Sunday, 29 May 2022 10:00 a.m.
We are continuing with our series entitled: “The Armour of God” this Sunday by talking about the belt of truth. Ephesians 6: 14 Stand firm then, with the belt of truth buckled around your waist…(NIV)
The belt of Truth holds it all together; it's the first and most important implement of warfare....because all of the defensive weapons and offensive weapons, the sword, dagger, quiver hang from the belt. This belt of the armour of God is weighty, it's strong and cannot be wimpy. It's composed of Truth; truth holds all of the armour together. One of the primary attacks of the enemy is through deception, deceit and lies. The devil deals in lies, pretense, and falsehood. So, you need the belt of Truth secured around you, you need to know what the truth is! You can only decipher what the counterfeit is, if you know the real thing.
There is an interesting story found in 1 Kings 22 about King Ahab; Ahab lived in deception and lies, wickedness and evil; and God has declared that his day is done. So, the Lord consults with angelic hosts; good and bad angels much like he did in the Book of Job. They offer up suggestions as to how to bring about the end of Ahab.
1 Kings 22:21 Then a spirit came forward and stood before the Lord, and said, ‘I will persuade him.’ 22 The Lord said to him, ‘In what way?’ So he said, ‘I will go out and be a lying spirit in the mouth of all his prophets.’ And the Lord said, ‘You shall persuade him, and also prevail. Go out and do so.’
The devil will attempt to persuade you. The word “persuade'' means to be spacious and open. To be spread out; the devil's putting on a spread and he's inviting you to the table. The Lord uses a demonic spirit to deceive and lie to Ahab. This demonic spirit gets into the heads of the false prophets and through their mouths speaks a deceptive message.
We need more than anything else these days to “buckle up”; to have the belt of truth firmly buckled around our waist. It may mean that we are Peculiar, that we stand alone, it may mean Persecution, it will certainly mean Pressure from others; but if we have the belt of Truth, we will be able to discern the powerful demons of Persuasion that are aligned against the Kingdom of God.
Join us in person on Sunday at 10:00 a.m. or via livestream by going to https://www.firstbaptistsudbury.com and clicking on livestream for “Buckle Up!”
Blessings,
Kevin