“Swing Your Sword!” Sunday, 31 July 2022 10:00 a.m.
We are continuing with our series entitled: “The Armour of God”. We have spoken about defending ourselves with the belt of truth, the breastplate of righteousness, the shoes of the gospel of peace; the shield of faith and the “helmet of salvation.” Now we move to a more offensive piece of equipment.
Ephesians 6:17 And take…. the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God;
God's word is described as a spiritual sword. For the soldier in ancient times the sword was the primary offensive weapon…. especially in hand-to-hand combat. Should you forget your sword at home you're just in self defense mode, using your shield; your breastplate and the other pieces of the armour. But when you have your sword, the Word of God, and are wielding it, you can effectively defeat the enemy.
The writer of Hebrews describes the Word like this: Heb 4: 12 For the Word of God is living and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the division of soul and spirit, and of joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.
The Word of God cuts deep. It's alive, it's powerful and it's very sharp; sharper than any dagger that might have an edge on either side of it. The Word of God is active, it moves within me; it examines the thoughts/intents of my mind/heart. There is a part of us that is soulish, our thought life, our emotional life…in our heart we feel the tug of the flesh to be gratified; our soul wants to take us there. But on the other hand, we sense the wooing of the Holy Spirit, and we desire to please God. And so, we need to apply the word of God. We need the Word of God to give us discernment and direction for our lives.
And the Word of God can give us the direction that we need; it convicts, it penetrates…its able to show us the difference between a selfish and soulish motive and a selfless and spiritual action.
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 “Swing Your Sword!”
Blessings,
Kevin