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Okay, so if you look at Ephesians chapter six, verse five, Ephesians chapter six, verse five, the Bible reads, servants be obedient. That's the title for the servant tonight is be obedient. In fact, if you, as that was being read by brother Luke, you probably noticed that the first half of this chapter is about being obedient. We begin there with verse number one about children being obedient, right? So there's obedience there. And then it ends with the armor of God, it ends with us being this spiritual warfare. And you might be wondering why, why are these two things together? Why is this the obedience to authority mentioned there? And why is this wrestling against the spiritual darkness there as well? And I'll tie it in together for you, I'll show you why these things come hand in hand. So let's start off with verse number one, the Ephesians chapter six, verse one, children, children, are you paying attention? Kids, kids, this is for you, this is your verse, right? Children, obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right. Children, you know what's good about being a Christian at a young age, being a child in your father's house, you have one main commandment, just one key thing God wants you to do, that he says that is right, that's obey your parents, you saw that, right? Obey your parents for this is right. That's your primary instruction when it comes to you living out your Christian life. Colossians 3, 20 says it this way, children, obey your parents in all things, for this is well pleasing unto the Lord. You see children, it's not difficult to please the Lord as a child. It's a little bit harder as an adult to please the Lord, but as a child, it's very easy. All you have to do to be well pleasing to the Lord is to obey mum and dad. So whatever rules they have in the house, whatever they say you can do, you can't do, whatever boundaries they set around the house, you need to strive to do what is right, not just for mum and dad, but to please God. God expects every child to be obedient to their parents, that's what's going to make God happy. And I remember as a child, I just wanted to make God happy. I wanted to make sure God was happy with me. And I thought, what's the great will in my life? As a little child, I still obey mum and dad. It's not complicated, right? You obey mum and dad. And here's the thing, are you always going to obey? Probably not. Okay, we're all sinners, you know, even adults, we make mistakes. And kids are going to be times when you disobey mum and dad, now you shouldn't, but you will. And when you disobey, when you do something wrong, what you need to do is go straight to your parents and tell them, mum, I messed up, dad, I broke your commandments, instead of hiding it from them, and waiting for them to figure it out, they will figure it out at some point, you just go straight to them, confess what you've done. And I promise you, there'll be a lot more merciful with you, right? If you go and you just admit what you've done, rather than try to hide it behind their backs. But parents, I just want you to notice, this is what makes God happy. Obedient children, okay? If you want your children to please God, you know what you need to do? You need to put some rules around the house. It's not a free for all, okay? You need to set some boundaries, you need to set some rules. You have to tell them, this is right, and this is wrong, and say, why should I do that? Well, number one, you're gonna have more obedient children, they're gonna know how to please you, but number two, by following the rules that you set out, by following and staying within the boundaries that you lay out, you're going to allow them to please God. Without the rules, without the boundaries, they're not gonna be able to please God. But by knowing the rules around the house, by knowing what mum and dad like, they're going to be able to obey those things and please the Lord. So you can see, parents, you actually play a major part. I'm sure all parents would love to say, I want my children to please God. Well, start by putting some boundaries, start by putting some rules around the house, start by creating some discipline, if they break those rules, that you will discipline them so they know what's right and wrong, and by being, following those things by obeying, they're gonna be pleasing the Lord God. Look at verse number two, children, this is still your instruction. It says, honor thy father and mother, which is the first commandments we've promised. You know what God is saying here? He says, there's a promise, if you honor your father and your mother, there's a promise. Say, what's the promise? Verse number three, that it may be well with thee, and thou mayest live long on the earth. What a promise. He says, look, if you just obey mum and dad, if you just honor them, God promises you a long life on this earth. Okay, you know what that means? If he sees a child just doing the best he can to obey mum and dad, then God will step in at times where you potentially may lose your life, you know, potentially you may get hit by a car, or have some big accident, but because you've been obedient to mum and dad, God will step in and prolong your life. What an amazing promise that God has done, you know, God can step in supernaturally and protect you, and as a child of God, I promise you this, there's been many times you could have been hurt, there probably would have been times you could have lost your life, and you don't even know it, but God stepped in and made sure he preserved your life. You don't even know it, but this is a promise of God. He protects his children, and children, God wants to give you a long life, he wants you to be prosperous in this life, but you need to start off by obeying your parents and honoring your parents. The other way that you can prolong your life here by obedience and honoring your parents is, you know, your parents will give you good instructions in life, right? I mean, I remember my mum was like, you know, son, make sure you don't get addicted to alcohol, you know, make sure you don't drink alcohol, you're gonna mess up your life, and my mum would tell me about her auntie who became an alcoholic and destroyed her life, right? My mum would instruct me, you know what, I grew up not wanting to drink it. Now, I did, unfortunately, I did a couple of times, but you know, I'd never liked it. You say, why? I think probably my mum's instruction, it bothered me, right? When I had that bottle at me, just my mum's instructions even as a little kid there, right? And here's the thing, there's a lot of things your parents ask you to do, maybe don't speak to strangers, right? That can prolong your life as well, because if you're not following what mum and dad says, you might find yourself disobeying your parents and hurting yourself, hurting your life. So there's many ways you can prolong your life. Number one, your parents are just giving you instruction to look after yourself, right? Don't go into the kitchen, don't turn on that stove, don't play with fire, don't go to the kettle and boil water, whatever it is, that can protect you, that can give you a healthy life. Number one, yes, by following mum's instructions, but number two, God can step in supernaturally and protect you from the wrongs of this life. The things that may have hurt you, the things that may have prevented you from living a long life. But one thing I want you to notice here is if you look at verse number one and look at verse number two, there's actually two different instructions. You know, it says, obey your parents, and that's important, you know, if you're still living under the household of your parents, you're still under the authority of your parents in your home, you're commanded to obey your parents in everything, okay? That's just, that's what you're meant to do. And as you're obeying your parents, you are honouring your parents. But you see, honouring is something else. Honouring has to do with esteeming, highly esteeming your parents, respecting your parents. You see, a child can be obedient, but they can be disrespectful to all their parents. You know what I mean? Like, you know, parents say to the kids, hey, go clean up your room or something like that, right? And they'll go and clean up the room, but they have a grumpy face, they have a, you know, a negative demeanor about, oh, I don't want to do that. Hey, that's not honouring your parents, you're being obedient, but you're not honouring your parents, you're not highly esteem them, you're not respecting them. So as a child that lives in a parent's house, you have to do these two things, obey, and when you obey, put a smile on your face, say yes, sir, no, no, yes, dad, yes, mom, whatever it is that they want you to call papa, my kids call me papa, yes, papa, right, instead of walking away with a grumpy face. And so these two things are important. And here's the thing as well that you need to understand is that, you know, God does not expect you to remain obedient to your parents once you grow up. I mean, does God really expect a, you know, a 40 year old man to still be obedient to his 70 year old father? Do you think that's God's expectation? No, of course, you know, there comes a point when you become an owner, there becomes a point when you leave the home, you get married, you start your own family, you know, you're no longer there required to obey your parents. I tell you why, because they're no longer your authority. Now the husband is the authority of that new family unit. And the Bible tells us that husbands are to submit to their wives, and wives are to submit to their husbands. We're meant to submit to one another, we become one flesh as husband and wife. And I've seen many difficulties, many marriages fail, divorce, yes, or just marital problems, because a married couple, the husband or the wife could not let go of their parents. They still felt they had to put their parents instructions, their parents, you know, commandments first instead of their wife, instead of their own new family unit. Listen, when you start a new family, it's a brand new family. The Bible says that a man shall leave his father and mother and cleave unto his wife, right? And they twain shall be one flesh, the Bible says. And so it's important for you to understand, you grow up, you're no longer required by God to obey your parents. But what you are required to continue doing is to honor your parents. That is a lifelong thing, the esteem, the respecting of your parents. And I know a lot of new couples struggle with this. I've seen it many, many times, where, you know, the parents, they almost can't let go of their children once they're married. And you know, the spouses are arguing like, you know, are you putting your your mum first or you put in your wife first? What's going on? Hey, husbands, you put your wife first, wife, you put your husbands first before the in-laws. Okay, you're not required to be continually obedient to them. You have the new family, but you are required to honor them. And so listen, if your in-laws are asking you to do something, and you know, and you don't want to, well, honor them. Just politely say no, all right? Say no, politely say no. You say, what if they get offended? Well, they get offended then, all right? But at some point, you have to say no. At some point, you have to say, hey, this is my family now. Hey, these are my children. You've had your chance. You've had your opportunity. This is now my family. Mom and Dad, I'm going to put my wife first. Mom and Dad, I'm going to put my children first. And I promise if you just put your foot down politely honoring your parents, they're going to let you go at some point. But if you continue attaching yourselves, they're going to stay in your life. They're going to stay there causing conflict, causing problems. They don't intend to. It's not like their intention is to cause problems in your married life, but it will cause problems because you have authority there that is not supposed to be there in a family unit, okay? It's mom and dad, they have the authority in the family, not grandma and grandpa or great-grandpa and great-grandma, no, okay? So I just want to show you that there are two different concepts there, the obedience and there's the honoring. And we should honor our parents all the days of our life, okay? Let's keep going. Verse number four. Verse number four. It says, and by the way, sorry, one more thing with honoring, honoring your parents is that, you know, as your parents get older, you know, as they get older, they're not going to be able to be as mobile. They're not going to be able to do as much, okay? And honoring has to do with, yes, that respect, that honoring. And you then should be, you know, your requirement, they raised you, they looked after you when you were a child, they changed your nappies, right? They fed you, they clothed you, they housed you. Well, as your parents get older and they can't look after themselves, you should continue honoring your parents. You should go and make sure they're taken care of. You should make sure they have the things that they need, okay? But should they interfere with your family life? No. Because something that is required all the days of your life is to honor your mother and your father. Verse number four. Verse number four. And your fathers provoke not your children to wrath, but bring them up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord. Now, we live in an age today, parents, where children are always angry, aren't they? I mean, and I know this is kind of natural when children become teenagers. I'm sure you remember adults when you became a teenager, right? And you have those changes in your body. You have those hormones running through your veins, right? And all of a sudden, you get kind of depressed. You might get angry, right? You don't know what's going on. Things are changing your life and children start to get angry at their parents. But here's where the parents go wrong in today's age. They see the child get angry and they back off. They back off. They don't want to upset little Johnny. They don't want to upset little Susan, right? And say, let's just back off. Let's not, you know, give her instruction. Don't give her direction. That's the worst time for you to back off because they're going through so many changes. You know, they're going from a child to an adult mentally. You know, they're starting to form their opinions and their views. They start thinking more about the Lord, you know, and church. And they start thinking about all these other things. That's where mom and dad are required to lead them, to lead them, to guide them. Otherwise, they can make some foolish decisions in their life in their teenage years. But one thing you'll notice there is that, fathers, you're called to not provoke your children to wrath, okay? Now this is where some Christian parents get it wrong. They think, well, if my child's getting angry at me, I need to let them go. Just let them alone. I won't provoke them to wrath. Wrong. That's not what this isn't teaching us. Will your children get angry from time to time? Yes. All right. Don't you get angry from time to time? Everyone gets angry from time to time, but this is not saying when your child gets angry, let them go. Let them do whatever they want. No. The instructions here says, look, and your father is provoked, not your children to wrath. But, so instead of provoking them to wrath, this is what you're meant to do, right? This is what you're meant to do there. But bring them up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord. That's the instruction, right? Instead of them becoming angry kids, angry kids, no, you're meant to bring them up. You're not meant to pull away. You're not meant to leave them alone. No. You're to raise them. Put them up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord. And notice that it's these two things that are vital to the development of your children. The nurture. What's the nurture? That's teaching your children. That's loving your children. That's teaching them how to be a respectable human being. That's teaching them how to have good character. That's nurturing, looking after that child. That's important, right? Giving them, you know, showing them love, right? Being a positive influence in the life. That's important. The nurture. But not just nurture, the admonition of the Lord as well. What's the admonition? That's when you have to correct your child. That's when you have to say no. That's when you have to discipline your child. That's when you have to take out the rod and smack them, okay, and show them there's a punishment for disobedience. These two things have to come together, okay, together. You can't be a parent that's all nurture and no admonition. You can't be a parent that's all admonition and no nurture. Otherwise, if it's just nurture, and by the way, that's the generation we live in, where all the children today just have, they're just being constantly reinforced, right, like, you know, just, what's the term I'm thinking about? You know, just a constant positive message, right? You know, you can be whatever you want to be, little Johnny, right? You know, don't let anyone tell you what you can't do, you know, aim for the stars and, you know, everyone's a winner, no one's ever a loser, right? And you're always right, and, you know, don't let anybody be critical of you. Hey, there's too much nurture going on, we're babying our generation too much, and they're growing up as adults that don't know what consequences are. They don't know what correction is, and I remember when I would hire, you know, a people that were straight out of school, you know, they were okay at the beginning, but we need to show them where they're wrong, when you had to correct them, they got offended, right? They got offended, how dare you tell me that I'm doing something wrong? Well, you need to know what you're doing wrong so you can do what's right. You can't put up with it, you know, we need the admonition as well, but here's the thing, parent, don't be just the admonition, don't be just constantly correcting your child, you know, don't raise your children up in a military-style home, you know, where your children line up like this, you know, and they're too afraid to disobey, you know what, if you raise them with just admonition and no nurture, your children will be obedient, they will be obedient, they'll do everything they ask of you because they're afraid of you, because they're afraid of you, you know, disciplining them, but here's the thing, there's no love, and what's going to happen is as soon as they have the opportunity to leave the home, as soon as they see some freedom, they're going to, that's it, they're gone, they've gone out of the family, they won't care about church, they won't care about the Lord, they will take the first opportunity to rebel, because all you've done is admonish them, you've never nurtured them in love, you need to have these two things as you raise your children. So when you discipline your children, you discipline them hard, but at the same time, they better know that you love them, you know, and there are times when I'm disciplining my children, and I say to my kids, kids, why am I disciplining you, do you think I really want to do this? And they're like, no. I say, why, why do I do it? It's because you love me, you know, and that's right, you know, you've got to discipline your children, not out of, not out of, you know, hating your children, but out of loving your children. These are things that parents, we need to make sure we do, if we avoid these things, if we forget these things, then we are going to raise up angry children, that we are going to provoke our children to wrath, okay? If we want, we don't want our children to be full of wrath, full of anger, we need to make sure that we bring them up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord. And so, you know, as I said, the title for this sermon is to be obedient, we've seen the importance of children being obedient, and we also see the importance of parents making sure you put those things into place in your home, so your children have the opportunity to be obedient to the authorities that are in their life. And really, that's the only authority that really is in their life as children. The parents. But look at verse number five, we now continue to our next level authority. Now we're talking about the workplace, we're talking about a business, you know, the employer and the employee relationship. And verse number five, it says his servants, these are like employees, you know, if you work for someone, you are a servant, you're a servant to that organization, you're a servant to that employer. So if you work for someone, this verse is for you, servants, be obedient to them that are your masters, according to the flesh. Look at this, we fear and trembling. Is that how you see your boss in the workplace, brethren? Do you think of them and say, man, that's my boss, and you have you fear and you tremble because of their authority? You say no, well, you should have fear and trembling, right? You should respect their position, you should, you know, honor that they have that authority of you. Look at this, we fear and tremble, tremble us in singleness of your heart, as unto Christ, what does singleness mean? You know, single is one, right? A single thing, this with a single cup is one cup, right? Well, it's like a focus, you serve your masters, you serve your employers, fully focused, fully doing the job, you know, with full sincerity, doing the job that they've asked you to do, as unto Christ, brethren, whatever job you've got, just make sure that's Jesus Christ that you're serving. I don't care who's in that office. Just tell yourself, tell your heart that the person in that office, my boss, that's Jesus, right? I'm there to serve Jesus. I'm there to be obedient to my master as much as I would be obedient to Jesus Christ. And here's the truth, brethren, we're all in full time ministry. We're all in full time ministry, no matter what your job is, whoever your master is, whoever it is that you're obedient to, whoever you're serving, just set that person as Jesus Christ and now you find yourself in full time ministry. You can serve the Lord all the days of your life, you know, and, you know, if, you know, someone says to you, you know, are you in full time ministry? You can say, yes, I'm in full time ministry. And they might say to you, what are you the pastor of a church? Are you a missionary? Say, no, I drive the forklift, I drive the forklift, I'm in full time ministry, because I do it as unto the Lord. I do it to serve our Lord God. And listen, brethren, you know, the workplace gets boring, okay? The workplace becomes monotonous, you do the same thing, day after day after day, I don't care if you're doing an entry level job, I don't care if you're the highest manager of some organization, it all becomes, you know, the same after a while, you know, you start doing the same job, no matter what, you'll get bored, you'll get upset, you'll lose satisfaction. And the only way you can turn that around is if you just say, I'm doing this for Jesus Christ, Jesus, you put me in this workplace, I'm serving you the fullest of my capacity, the fullest of my ability in singleness of heart, focused to serve our Lord Jesus Christ. Look at verse number six, not with eye service, as men pleasers. And look, I'd be lying to you if I ever said to you, I've never worked hard to impress a boss. There's been times when I've worked hard to impress other people. But that's not how we should be, right? It says not with eye service as men pleasers. When we go to work, it's not about impressing other people. It's not about impressing other men. It's not just doing the work when people are watching you, right? It says here, but as the servants of Christ, doing the will of God from the heart. What did I call you there? If you're working brethren, the servants of Christ. Now, brother, who can I ask? Maybe Ramzan, what do you do for work? Brother Ramzan looks after contractors, right? That's doing development work and stuff like that. You know what his position is? Servants of Christ. That's his position. You know what your position is? Servants of Christ. Say, hold on, my job title says something else. Yeah, just rub it out. Servants of Christ. Okay, I promise now you're in full time ministry. You're serving the Lord, right? You're serving the Lord. Verse number seven, we've good will doing service as to the Lord and not to men. Boy, I'm sure there's been times you didn't want to work for that boss. He's annoyed you. He's been frustrated. And you're like, man, I'm just, I'm not going to put my best ability forward. You're not working for him. Guess who you're working for, Jesus Christ. Change your mindset, brethren, and you start loving your job again. I promise. Just change everything. Change who you're working for. Just work for Jesus. I'm in full time ministry. I'm here to serve Christ. You enjoy your work. Once again, you put your best foot forward. You work extra hard. And that's when you start getting promoted. That's when you start getting the paychecks because you stand out, not because you're trying to suck up to man. You do it because you're trying to serve our Lord God. What does it say? Verse number eight, knowing that whatsoever good thing any man doeth, the same shall he receive of the Lord, whether he be bond or free. Did you see what verse number eight said? You know why some reasons we don't work hard? Because we think we're not going to be acknowledged. We don't work hard sometimes because we think, what's the point? I'm just working more. I'm working more. These other colleagues of mine are working less. Why should I work harder? You know, what am I going to get out of it? You know what, brethren? You may not get anything out of it. It's possible. You may get nothing out of it from men, but what did it say then verse eight? Knowing that whatsoever good thing any man doeth, no matter how hard you work, brethren, you put your foot forward. You serve the Lord. The same shall he receive of the Lord. You see, the Lord watches you. The Lord sees you working hard. You may work, you know, you may work harder than anybody else in the workplace. You may not even be recognized. Maybe nobody will care, but you know who's watching? Jesus. Jesus watches, and he's going to return the hard work you've done for him. It said it right there, the same shall he receive of the Lord, whether he be bond or free. What a great thing, not only a paycheck, but Jesus will give you his paycheck. Whatever blessings those look like in your life, and I'm sure there are certain blessings that God has rewarded you with, and you don't even know about it, but you have it because you worked hard, because you serve the Lord, and if it's not in this lifetime, it's treasures in heaven. It's serving the Lord, those treasures have been added for you in heaven. So please, brethren, be obedient to your masters. Be obedient to your employers. Serve them as if you would serve Christ. I know it's hard, because they're not Jesus. In fact, they're probably very far from being Jesus Christ, right? And that's why, and here's the thing, because they're so far from being Jesus, you're going to sometimes just rock up to work and not want to really work. You just put Jesus there, and you just do your best. You'll be happy. You go home happy. You'll be satisfied. I've done a good day's job for Jesus Christ, and even if I'm not aware how it's going to be repaid to me, I know Jesus saw my work, and I know Jesus is going to pay me back. Now, you might say, well, what about the employer? You know, I see you're speaking to the employees, how we ought to serve our masters, our employers. What about the employer? Well, verse number nine covers the employer. And ye masters, in case the masters thought, man, I'm getting a good deal. You know, all these church people, you know, they're going to work extra hard for me, right? And you, and you, masters, and ye masters, do the same things unto them. Brethren, if you're a believer, if you're saved, and you're a master, if you have authority over people, if you're an employer, Jesus says, do the same thing to them. The same way they're instructed to work hard for you as unto Christ, well, those employees to you ought to be Christ, as if Christ is the one that's helping you, that's serving you. You do the same unto them, all right? Let's keep going. You're bearing threatening, knowing that your master also is in heaven, neither is there respect of persons with him. So it says to the employer, hey, you know your master's in heaven, you know your master's watching and your master has no respect, is not a respecter of persons. Whether you're the boss, whether you're the employer or you're the employee, God doesn't care, he's not a respecter of that. As long as you're doing what's right. And there, the master is asked to be good to the employees, okay? The employer should be good to the employees. Now here's the thing about biblical leadership, biblical authority. If you have authority in the Bible, you become a servant, okay? Who did Jesus say was going to be the greatest in the kingdom? The one that would make himself the least, the one that would lower himself, the one that would humble himself, the one that would serve his brethren, the one that would serve other people, that one will be great in the kingdom of heaven. You see, God has it the other way around, brethren, all right? If you want to be great in the kingdom of heaven, you need to learn to be a servant, okay? And if you're a Christian and you have employees under you, guess what you are? You're not there to be served, you're there to serve the employees. You're there to make sure they have a job. You have to make sure they have the resources they need. You have to be able to help them along, make them happy employees. And listen, if you make happy employees, satisfied employees, guess what's going to happen to your business? It's going to blossom, it's going to boom when everyone's working together for that purpose of that business. And it's interesting how the Bible tells us these things, right? How employees and employers are to have this relationship one with another. And notice that it said there also in verse number nine, forbearing, threatening, okay? So employers, you're not to threaten your employees. Your employees shouldn't be people that are afraid to lose their job, right? If they make one small mistake, you know, you're going to come down on them, you're going to criticize them, and you're going to fire them. You know, there are some businesses, as soon as they're not happy with an employee, fired, get someone else. But what? I don't like your performance, fired, get someone else. I'm not happy with you, fired, get someone else. And listen, there's a lot of companies like that and people are threatened for their jobs, but that's that's the wrong approach, all right? Now one thing that I learned in business, if I had an underperforming employee, okay, people would say to me, fire them, get rid of them, get someone else. I'm like, no, we've already invested like three, four, five, six months, maybe a year into this person, you know, what's the risk of getting someone else that's not that great? Right? Instead of threatening that person with a loss of job, you know what the right thing to do is? To get behind them and say, hey, look, you're not performing where you need to be. You're not doing what you need to achieve. What's going on? Is there anything I can do to help you? Are you lacking in training? What kind of help do you need? Do you need to sit and watch someone else for a while so you can build up your skills? What is going on? Maybe it's something outside of the workplace. Maybe it's something in the home that they're struggling with and it's having an effect on their mind and they can't perform to the fullest ability. And I promise you this Breveren, you know, I've done this many times when I've gotten behind that person, the underperformer and said, well, let's help you. Let's get you to where you need to be. I'll give you three months to get where you need to be. Month number one, we'll get you here. Month number two, we'll get you there. By month number three, you need to be hitting these topics, these targets, otherwise we might need to let you go. But listen, usually after month one or month two, they're outperforming everybody else. Okay. That's because you've gotten behind those employees. You care for those people. You know, you're serving them the way that God has asked you to serve them. And so we see these instructions that God gives them. You should never have this us versus them mentality in the workplace. We're all their employees working together for the purpose of that business to grow, to have a great profit. And if that business grows, everyone gets profit. Everyone benefits from that, you know, to some extent. So, you know, make sure you have a different perspective in your workplace. Verse number 10 now, verse number 10. It says here, finally, my Breveren, be strong in the Lord and in the power of his might. So now as we go to verse number 10, we're being instructed, be strong in the Lord. Your question might be, well, how do I, how is it, how can I be strong in the Lord? Well, we get the instruction now. And it's about the whole armor of God, the armor of God and brother David preached a series for the armor of God. So I'm just going to hit on some points here. Verse number 11, put on the whole armor of God that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. Now, Breveren, I just want you to notice this. It's not saying put on some of the armor. It's saying put on the whole armor of God. You know, if you want to be strong in the Lord, you wouldn't be able to stand in the power of his might. You need to get all the pieces of the armor of God and put them on. All of them, not just one, not just two, not just a few today, a few tomorrow, all at once. And only by putting on this armor all at once are you going to be able to stand against the devil. It says there against the wiles of the devil. Verse number 12, for we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places. Now notice it says there, we wrestle not against flesh and blood. We're not here to fight mankind. We're not here to fight the unbelievers. Okay, if anything, you know, your first thought when you come across an unbeliever, your first thought is this person's lost. This person's needs Jesus. Okay, your first thought when you come across an unbeliever should not be, I wonder if he's reprobate. No, why? What's wrong with you? We don't wrestle against flesh and blood. You know, have a heart for the lost and your first thought, whoever it is, whoever you sit next to on a plane, you sit next to on the train, you sit next to in your workplace, if this person's not saved, this person's not a Christian, this person's lost, he's on his way to hell and he needs Jesus Christ. Okay, we're not wrestling against flesh and blood, but we are wrestling in our Christian life. What are we wrestling against? It said there against principalities. What's principalities? Well, it's similar to the term, a prince. What's a prince? Someone that has authority, right? Principalities is basically we're wrestling against authorities. Now what are these authorities as we go down this list? They're authorities of the devil, you know, authorities of Satan, the kingdom of the devil as it were, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual weakness in high places. So what's the high places? I mean, when you think about our world, what are the highest places? What are the places with the highest authority in our system? It's the governments. It's the governments of this world. It's in the powerhouse nations like the US where they've got bases all around the world. These are the high places in this world. Guess where Satan is? Right there in those high places. I mean, a lot of these politicians are just puppets doing the will of the devil. Honestly, you know, bringing in ungodly laws, going against the word of God, bringing persecution against Christians, you know, stopping people from preaching the gospel. Have you ever wondered why? Why? Why are the governments of this world against the Lord God? Because the devil is in these high places, the spiritual weakness in those high places, the principalities, the powers. It's not your average politician. It's the power behind them that's doing these wicked things. And why are we going into this now? Because remember, the first part of Ephesians 6 was about being obedient, to obey the authorities in your life, right? That should be your default position. I'm going to obey the authorities in my life. But then he warns us, there are some authorities that are wicked. There are some authorities that we shouldn't obey, actually. There are some authorities that are of the devil, okay? And so we need to have this balance. Yes, obey the authorities, mums and dads, your workplace, these kinds of things, but also be aware that there are authorities that are there to harm believers, that are there to hurt the cause of Christ. This is why it's called spiritual weakness in high places. Okay, verse number 13, verse number 13. But then how do we deal with these authorities? How do we deal with these powers? We're supposed to obey the authorities, right? The godly authorities, the God-ordained authorities in our life, yes. But how then do we deal with the authorities and the powers that are of the darkness of this world? Well, that's why verse number 13 repeats it. Wherefore, take unto you the whole armor of God, that ye may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand. This is the second time, just a few verses before, telling us to put on the whole armor of God. Listen, brethren, when God tells you something twice, you pay attention, okay? Once is enough. Once should be enough for you to pause and say, yes, I'll obey this. When God says it twice, it means you really need to listen. You really need to obey this commandment. What was it? Put on the whole armor, all of it. You know, every day of a Christian life, you need to make the decision every day, Lord, let me put on this armor. I need to put, and of course, it's not a physical, literal armor you put on. Of course, these are spiritual things to think about. And I'm just going to read to you from 1 Corinthians 10, actually, keep your finger there. You can go there. 1 Corinthians 10, 12, please. Go there. Keep your finger there in Ephesians chapter 6, and please go to 1 Corinthians 10, 12 for me. Let's have a look at this. 1 Corinthians chapter 10, verse 12. This is important. We need the whole armor so we can stand. And it says here in 1 Corinthians 10, 12, wherefore, let him that thinketh, he standeth, take heed, lest he fall. You know what it's saying? Do you believe you're a mature Christian today? Do you believe you're serving Christ today? Do you believe you're doing the best you can for the Lord today? Do you believe you're just serving God? Do you believe you're doing well as a Christian? Well, God, I'm glad if that's happening in your life. But then it says here, take heed, lest ye fall. You see, it just takes a moment. It just takes a big mistake for someone who was once standing for Jesus Christ to fall. Okay, let's keep going. Verse number 13. They have no temptation taken you, but such as is common to man. You see, all it takes for you to fall is a temptation, a temptation that you cannot overcome and you need to be overcome that says here, but God is faithful, who will not suffer you or allow you to be tempted above that ye are able, but will with the temptation also make a way to escape that ye may be able to bear it. Brethren, we're all tempted. And we're all going to make mistakes. And we all fall. Okay. And this is the Christian life we fall. But when you fall, you get back up, you serve the Lord again, you confess those sins and ask Him to help you, for Him to give you your power so you can serve the Lord properly all the days of your life. But brethren, I don't want you to be the one that falls and stays fallen. I don't want to be a pastor that disqualifies myself from this office. And I'm ashamed for the rest of my life. And I bring shame to my family. I don't want to fall. So what do we need to do? What was the instruction in Ephesians 6? The whole armour. All of it. We need it all on, brethren. All of it. Now, there might be some pieces of the armour that you have, good. But if you're missing some, you better hurry up and put the rest of it on. Is what I'm saying. Okay. Back to Ephesians 6. Ephesians 6, verse 14, Stand therefore, having your loins girt about with truth, and having on the breastplate of righteousness. So we're to stand how? With a, as Brother David called it, the belt of truth, being girt about by truth, right? We ought to be people that strive to be honest, you know, honest, genuine people. We shouldn't be people that are trying to cheat people, trying to fool people, you know, we should be honest with our dealings, right? We shouldn't be people that intentionally lie. Now, are we going to lie or say something wrong from time? We probably will say things wrong from time to time. But what you should be striving to do is not doing that intentionally. Because when you do it intentionally, you're now lying, you're being a deceiver. That's not being someone girt about with truth. Look, you can have all these other things, but you could be, you know, a liar, well, you don't have the whole armor of God, if you're that way, okay? Not only should we be people that are honest and genuine, we should also be people that seek the truth, right? Where are we going to find the truth? Right? I mean, there's only two things in this world that I can think of that are true. Number one, the one true God, and number two, the word of God, right? Thy word is truth. And this is the only text. This is the only writing that you can just say, I know every word, every jot, every tittle is 100% correct, 100% accurate, 100% truth. This is the only thing in this world that you can say about that. These are my sermon notes. This is probably not 100% true. I hope it is. I do my best I can. But it's also got a bit of Pastor Kevin Sapulova's wisdom in there. Am I, am I, am I perfect? No. You know, there's no other, there's no other book. There's no Book of Mormon or, you know, the Quran or these other religious books. You know, maybe some of these things contain some element of truth, okay? But it's not 100% truth. And if it's not 100% truth, you can't really say it's true, can you? All right. I mean, there are a lot of history books out there, a lot of books in your library, and I'm sure the historians did their best to be as honest and true as possible. But is it 100% true? Not in your life at the time, right? No way. Why don't you get one of your children a dinosaur book? First sentence lie. All right. A hundred million years ago, dinosaurs roamed the earth. Lie. Lie number one, lying to your children. This is the only thing in the beginning God created the heaven. That's true. 100% truth. Okay. But we ought to be people of the truth. What else? Having on the breastplate of righteousness. What is righteousness? Well, righteousness is kind of like this. The reason it goes with the truth there is once you know the truth, you need to walk in accordance to that truth. Okay. There's no point of you knowing so much truth of the Bible, but you don't live it out. There's no point of you saying, I know I need to love the Brethren, but I don't care about the Brethren at church. Well, you're not walking in righteousness and you don't have the breastplate of righteousness on. The breastplate of righteousness is knowing the truth and then living out that truth. Okay. Doing what is right, acknowledging the truth, living in accordance to that truth. It's righteous living, pleasing the Lord with the things that you do. Brethren, do you wake up in the morning saying, today I'm going to please the Lord. Today I'm going to walk in righteousness. Today I'm going to put on that breastplate. Probably not. Okay. But that's something, that's an armor of God that we need to make sure we put on. We want to be righteous people. Verse number 15, and your feet, these are like your shoes, shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace. Now keep your finger there and go to Romans chapter 10, please. Romans chapter 10. Your feet need to be shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace. Romans chapter 10, verse 14. Very familiar passage to many of you. Romans 10, 14. How then shall they call on Him in whom they have not believed? And how shall they believe in Him, speaking believing on Jesus, of whom they have not heard? And how shall they hear without a preacher? And how shall they preach, except they be sent? Look at this, as it is written, how beautiful are the feet of them that preach the gospel of peace. Hey, that was being showed with the gospel of peace. How beautiful are the feet of them that preach the gospel of peace and bring glad tidings of good things. Verse number 16, but they have not all obeyed the gospel for Isaiah saith, Lord, who have believed our report, brethren, how do you obey the gospel? You believe the report, verse number 17. So then faith cometh by hearing and hearing by the word of God. Brethren, part of your armor is to have your feet shod with a preparation of the gospel of peace. You know what that means? You need to be prepared. You need to get ready to be able to show the gospel to somebody, show someone how to be saved. Now listen, you may not cross someone's path that day. You may not have to share the gospel, but are you prepared? That's what it is. It's the preparation of it, right? So if you find yourself with an opportunity, one-on-one with someone, I'm prepared to give the gospel of peace. Go and take it. The Bible says how beautiful are your feet, right? You've gone to that person and God says that was a beautiful feat, right? The fact that they've gone from one place to another to give the gospel. We talk about door-to-door soul winning. That's important, but just soul winning in your life, the people you know, your friends, your family, your colleagues, your coworkers, the people you come across, ask the Lord to open up the doors so you can give them the gospel. You know, I'll just read it because if you look at Romans 10.15, it says, as it is written, how beautiful are the feet. Where is it written? It's Isaiah 52.7. I'll just read it. It says, how beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of him that bringeth good tidings, that publisheth peace, that bringeth good things of good, that publisheth salvation, that saith unto Zion, thy God reigneth. And so the gospel here is called good tidings. It's good news, all right? And you need to be ready at any opportunity to be able to give someone the gospel. Be prepared. You say, I don't know where to turn to. I don't know how to give someone the gospel. If you don't know, you haven't got the whole armor on right now. You need to learn how to do it, brethren. And if it's just pulling out one of our church tracts and just reading it to them and helping them along to understand, hey, at least that's some level of preparation, right? Keep preparing. Keep training yourself so you can be an effective soul winner. Back to Ephesians 6 verse 16, Ephesians 6 verse 16. The Bible says, above all, you know what above all means? This is like the most important, all right? Above all of these things, take in the shield of faith, wherewith ye shall be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked. You know what that means? That means the wicked is shooting fiery darts at you all the time. I mean, that's what the devil does. He's constantly shooting fiery darts at you. He's constantly trying to destroy you. He's constantly trying to hurt you. The only way you're going to overcome that is with a big shield of faith, right? Above all, this is how you're going to fight. Get that shield out, the shield of faith. What is this about? You know, we must be people of faith. Say, well, I'm saved. Great. You got saved by faith, right? Well, by grace through faith. You got saved by believing on the Lord, but I'll just read to you Romans 1 16. It says, for I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, for it is the power of God unto salvation to everyone that believeth, to the Jew first and also to the Greeks. That's the gospel. That's what we've believed. It says here, verse 17, for therein is the righteousness of God revealed from faith to faith, as it is written, the just shall live by faith. Now, look, you've been saved by faith. Praise God for that. Hey, great. You're there. You're saved. But now to put on the whole armor, you need to go from faith to faith. You need to be someone that lives by faith. Okay. So now every day of your life needs to be one of faith. You know, you need to be trusting the Lord. This is why it's so important for you to be talking to the Lord, praying to the Lord, keeping a close fellowship with the Lord. And here we'll help build that faith in your life. We saw that faith comes by hearing and hearing by the word of God. And yes, that's for salvation. But it's also true for your spiritual life. The more you know the word of God, the more your faith will come into fruition, you know, trusting the Lord. And Brethren, can I be honest with you as your pastor? I should probably be someone that has great faith. I find myself not like, you know, I'm like, Lord, increase my faith. Like many times, many times, you know, look, the Lord's come through my life so many times. But for whatever reason, I struggle with faith. You know, when it comes to the armor of God, this is one of my difficult ones for me personally. Maybe for you, it's not a difficult, maybe some other other things here are more difficult for you. But what we're teaching tonight is that we need to have all the armor, we need to have all the pieces together so we don't fall, okay, so we don't get, we're not destroyed by the devil. Back to Ephesians 6 17, Ephesians 6 17, and take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of God, the helmet of salvation. Salvation ought to be something you're sure about. If you're still unsure, if you still have doubts, you're like, I don't know, am I really saved? You know, I messed up. Would I really if I did that, would I you know, what am I really saved? If you have those doubts, Brethren, you haven't got the helmet on. If you're not sure about your salvation, you're missing the helmet. If you have doubts, you don't have the helmet on. So I don't want you to doubt your salvation. If you doubt, you need to talk to me, okay, you need to talk to somebody that you trust that's a good man of God in this church, speak to them, hey, I'm struggling with some doubts, can you help me out? And the only reason you're going to be doubting your salvation is because you might somehow you got the idea that salvation has something to do with you. I'm not doing my part. Am I really saved? Listen, as soon as you settle it, Jesus did it all. Jesus paid it all. He did all the work so I don't have to do anything. It's a free gift. All I have to do is believe on Christ. As soon as you have that settled, you no longer have the doubts, you know, because you've got your 100% trust on Jesus Christ, not 99% trust on Jesus and 1% on you doing some whatever that is. Even if it was 1%, that 1% you bring to the table has to be perfect. No one's perfect, even if it's just 1%. Salvation is by Jesus Christ alone, you know. So please, if you have doubts, don't be embarrassed. Don't be embarrassed. You know, talk to me. I'm your pastor or someone else, you know, a man in this church that you respect and that's godly, please speak to them, you know, and see if you can make sure you get that helmet on. But not just the helmet of salvation, the sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of God. Brethren, this is something, you know, we're spending a whole chapter in this sermon, right? This is the Word of God. I'm preaching the Spirit of God, right? We're using the offensive weapon that God has given us to go against the devil. Don't let this book collect dust, please. You know, before Christina got saved, she was a Roman Catholic. She had a Bible like this on her bedside table. Say, why? Oh, good luck. You know, as long as it's open, you know, the devils will run away, they'll be scared from the Bible. You know, but she didn't read the Bible, right? She was a Roman Catholic and she got saved and now she reads the Bible, right? But you know what? There are many Christians, bedside table. In fact, worse than the Catholic, it's just like that, for weeks and months collecting dust. Hey, they haven't got the whole armor of God on, okay? We need to be people that read our Bibles every day. We meditate on the words of God. Listen, brethren, if you're struggling with sin, go and memorize verses about that sin. And next time you're tempted to do that sin, bring back to remembrance that verse that you learned. There's power in God's Word that's going to help you overcome those sins in your life. Keep your finger there and go to Isaiah 59 now, Isaiah 59, Isaiah 59 verse 16. If you guys want more detail on the armor of God, go back and listen to Brother David's sermon series on the armor of God for a lot more detail. But go to Isaiah 59, please, Isaiah 59 verse 16. Have you ever wondered why is it called the armor of God and not the armor of the Christian? Because it's actually God's armor. God puts this armor on. I'll show you this, right? Isaiah 59 verse 16, Isaiah 59 verse 16. It says here, and this is speaking of Judah. Judah was in a backseat in the States, as many times you read about in the Bible. And it says here, when God looks at Judah, the southern kingdom of Judah, it says, and he saw that there was no man, there was no godly man in the nation, and wondered that there was no intercessor, therefore his arm, that's God's arm, brought salvation unto him, that's unto Judah, and his righteousness, it sustained him. So God sees the backseat in the States of Judah, and God says, there's no one here doing anything. So God steps in, God steps in with his strong arm. Verse number 17, look at this, for he, that's referring to God, put on righteousness as a breastplate, and an helmet of salvation upon his head. Look at this, and he put on the garments of vengeance for clothing, and he was clad with zeal as a cloak. This is God putting on the armor of God. God doesn't ask us to do something that he himself wouldn't do. What a good thing. Even God puts on the armor. Hey, doesn't this encourage you to want to put on the armor as well? God goes in fighting against the enemies of Judah, he puts on the spiritual armor, the helmet of salvation, the breastplate of righteousness right there. But notice there's another piece of the armor of God that's not mentioned in Ephesians 6, but it's mentioned here. It says, he put on the garments of vengeance for clothing, and was clad with zeal as a cloak. What's a cloak? You know, if you see, if you see soldiers going to war, sometimes like the general, like the high in command has a cloak on him to differentiate him. He is the one issuing commands, right? So the cloak that God has on, it says he, it is zeal as a cloak. You know, the final piece of the armor of God is found here in Isaiah 59. It is a cloak of zeal. What does that mean? We ought to be zealous people. We ought to be people full of zeal for the Lord. We need to be excited for church, excited to, for the knowing the Bible, excited to serve the Lord, excited to preach the gospel. When we see people saved, that ought to get you excited, to get you zealous. Have there been times in your life when you're like so thirsty for God? You know, you don't want to miss the church service. You know, you're reading your Bible every day. You just want to get out there and win souls and do something great for God. When that happens to you, brother, you're full of zeal. And then there are times in your life when you're like, well, you know, you're just going through the motions, right? You just turn up to church because you know you should, right? You forget to pick up your Bible. The reason you backslide like that is because you lose the zeal. You know, brethren, you need to put on that cloak of zeal, right? You need to be someone that's excited for God once again. You put, you know, you get zealous, you get, you get motivated. And brethren, this is why, and I mentioned this so many times, singing the hymns, being here for the hymn singing, brethren, I could not preach a sermon without the hymns. The hymns get me excited, you know, hearing about Jesus Christ, hearing about his salvation, singing praises to the Lord, just humbling myself in the sight of God and remembering the great things that God has done for me, that gets me excited. So then I get up to preach, I have some zeal, you know, I have some power in the sermon because the cloak of zeal is there. And brethren, if you find yourself starting to lose interest in things of God, you're losing an important piece of the armor that even God himself wore, okay? And that's being zealous, being excited for the things of God. Back to Ephesians 6, please, Ephesians 6, verse 18, Ephesians 6, 18. Of course, praying always. And praying is hard. I mean, some people have a natural knack of praying. For me, it takes a lot of effort. Like I have to put time aside and say, Lord, I'm going to pray, like I have to force myself to pray, right? So it's here, praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit. What did it say? Praying always, always, every day, every opportunity you get, just pray to the Lord. It doesn't have to be some long-winded prayer, just something small. You know, let's say you go to work, you've got a task to complete, Lord, help me complete this task. That's praying to the Lord. That's praying always, seeking the Lord to help you, bringing your supplications to Him in the Spirit. Praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, verse 18. And watching thereunto, with all perseverance and supplication for all saints. So not just praying for your things, but praying for the needs of other saints. Praying for the brethren. So important. It's going to help you love your brethren, help you serve the brethren, right? Have just desire to serve them when you can start to pray for them. When you pray for other people, you realize that a lot of people are struggling, a lot of people have hardships, a lot of people have trials, and you don't realize that necessarily until you bring those things before the Lord, and you want the Lord to answer those prayers for them. Verse number 19, and for me, so praying for me, that's Paul, he's writing this letter, that utterance may be given unto me. What's utterance? If you say, I'm going to utter something, so I'm going to speak something, right? He's praying, can you pray for utterance that I can speak? What does he want to speak? That I may open my mouth boldly to make known the mystery of the gospel, for which I am an ambassador in bonds, that therein I may speak boldly as I ought to speak. The utterance that God wants in our mouths is to be able to boldly preach the gospel. Brethren, when you go and preach the gospel door to door, don't be timid, and I mentioned it, don't be, hi, I'm just from a local church, can you give me five minutes to give you the gospel? That's not bold, so I'm lacking boldness, then pray for it. Even Paul, who's a great Christian man, tells the Romans here, can you pray for me? Can you pray that I can have the boldness to get out there and preach the gospel of Christ, or make known the mystery of the gospel? Brethren, get some boldness into you, and if you haven't got it, pray for it. Ask others to pray for you, that you can increase in the boldness. Before you go out and preach the gospel, before you get out door to door, make sure you spend a moment in prayer, with your silent partner, or with the group, whoever it is, before you get out there, pray, ask God to give you all boldness. Even the apostle Paul needed it, okay, it takes work, it takes effort to get that boldness into you. Verse number 21, that ye also may know my affairs, and how I do, Titus, a beloved brother, and faithful minister in the Lord, who's Titus? So Paul is, you know, I don't know if you know this, but Paul, he's speaking this, okay, men were moved by the Holy Ghost from how the scriptures were written, and then Titus here, he's actually writing down what is here in Paul's speak, okay, Titus is the writer of this actual epistle, but what it says here, a beloved brother and faithful minister in the Lord shall make known to you all things, whom I have sent unto you for the same purpose. So the way the Romans got this epistle is that Titus was sent by Paul, with his epistle in hand, to go and visit the churches there, okay. It says here that ye may know our affairs, and that he might comfort your hearts. Peace be to the brethren, and love with faith from God the Father, and the Lord Jesus Christ. Grace be with all them that love our Lord Jesus Christ in sincerity, amen. Now what I want to finish on there is the fact that Titus here was being sent by Paul, okay, with the epistle, and it says there, what did it say at the end of verse 22, that he might comfort your hearts, and brethren, you know, we've got Rachel and Annie here from our Queensland church, you know, I enjoy when we have visitors, other brethren visiting our church, you know, I enjoyed the conference, we got to visit another church, you got to mingle with other brethren, you know, Titus here is not someone the Romans are really familiar with, but he's being sent by Paul to comfort your hearts, and brethren, let me encourage you, if you ever have an opportunity to visit a church, to visit our Queensland church, New Life Baptist Church up there, I promise you this, you're going to comfort our hearts. You know, whatever visitors we come, we get coming through this church, it comforts our hearts. You know, you ought to be someone that has a desire to be a blessing to other Christians, a blessing to other churches, you know, and these conferences, as was mentioned before, you know, one of the key takeaways is just the fellowship, just meeting other like-minded believers that go through the same struggles that we do, that have the same love of the gospel as we do, that share many of the same doctrines as we do, and this brings our hearts close one to another, to know that there are brethren across this world or across Australia that love us, you know, and so, brethren, just my encouragement to you, if you're able to get to a conference, you're able to go and visit our church in Queensland, or some other church, another great church that's out here in Sydney to visit, brethren, go for it. You know, go for it. Be a comfort, be a blessing to other Christians, the same way that Titus was a blessing to the Romans. So, brethren, that's the sermon. Be obedient. Be obedient to the authorities, the God-ordained authorities that are in your life, but be careful about certain authorities, because they are the devil, and the only way you're going to be able to stand against those authorities, those powers, those principalities, is by putting on the whole armour of God. Let's pray. Let's pray. Let's pray.