Lord, Increase Our Faith!

Providence Baptist Church

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February 4, 2024

Ephesians 6:16

00:07: Thing that happens there. That is the disciples
00:13: Give a command to Jesus But in Luke 17 5
00:25: There's a perfect there because this is what the disciples say to Jesus increase
00:32: I believe that this is a request and it's encouraging to me because think about it just a moment
00:43: We're going to be a vision sick, but think about it for just a moment that passage there in Ephesians or in Luther The disciples are standing right in front of Jesus They see them face to face and yet even then they ask for more faith you can relate to meeting
01:14: Jesus's response and also the concurrence because Jesus Doesn't say
01:26: Something About the essential nature of faith itself that is powerful
01:43: And so that brings us to Ephesians Chapter 6 we've been Examining this shield of faith in verse 16
01:51: This is our third week considering the shield of faith and and perhaps you think about that shield and you think you remember me saying
01:57: It's that representative of that four foot two foot four foot by two foot Roman shield that Paul is
02:03: Referencing that big shield and you think that that's a big shield that faith is too big I don't know if I have faith that big but if you're thinking that this morning you misunderstand the analogy
02:15: This isn't the shield of big faith Nor is it the shield of small faith.
02:23: It is simply the shield of faith period Because true faith is a tremendous fortress because genuine faith
02:37: Derives its potency from its object Christ Christ I Want to stress that the
02:46: Lord Jesus is our ultimate Shield, and yet if you're like me the desire remains does it not?
02:55: Within all true believers the desire remains to pray like these disciples Lord increase our faith
03:02: It's not that I need a bigger or stronger shield what God has granted is enough But I personally
03:08: I'm too often running to other shields or or or I'm not using this shield
03:13: Well enough in battle or my eyes are focused on my circumstances or I'm thinking boy we've got a low number this week or a high number this week or or I'm worried about the financial situation in the in the
03:25: Economy are I'm concerned about them. We look at our circumstances and we take our eyes off the
03:31: Lord Jesus And so we say this morning it should be our prayer Lord increase our faith. Is this a prayer that You have and is this a prayer that God is willing to answer.
03:41: I believe it is But what we're going to look at this week and next week is the Lord increases our faith not by a formula so some of you know that that Gunnar and I have started doing a little weight lifting you probably could already tell but Gunnar and I have started doing a little weight lifting and But faith is not like that.
04:03: There's no faith muscle that you say Hey guys, let's just exercise that a little bit and we can we can see it grow stronger
04:11: But in his sovereign goodness God has granted to the church various means of grace in order that the church's faith would be fed and nourished and strengthened and increased listen
04:26: Your faith didn't come from you It's a gift of God and your increase of your faith won't come from you it's a gift of God We need
04:35: God to do it But the message this week and next week we want to look at seven ways that the
04:41: Lord does Increase the faith of his people. This is what we want, right? This is what you want
04:47: We're event -driven We want a big moment where God shows up comes down and gives all of us a 43 % increase in our faith
04:57: But this is not not that God can't do that but in his love and wisdom This is not how
05:03: God ordinarily operates. He ordinarily operates through means long drawn out consistent regular means
05:14: Are what he uses to strength effect the strength in the faith of his Saints an analogy came to my mind
05:21: Just like with weight lifting you can say Lord make me physically stronger God may be pleased to answer that prayer
05:29: But most likely he's going to be pleased to answer that prayer through means that is most likely if you say
05:37: Lord Make me physically stronger He's not just going to say okay poof
05:42: You're physically stronger now rather as you eat right and exercise and lift weights
05:48: The Lord may be pleased to answer such a prayer Well similarly not the same but very similarly
05:54: Lord increase our faith God is going to use various means to do that so let's say
06:02: With the disciples this morning Lord increase our faith. Let's stand and read our text so here we are
06:10: Ephesians 6 the armor of God is our context and Paul tells us in Ephesians Chapter 6 verse 16 in all
06:20: Circumstances take up the shield of faith with which you can extinguish all the flaming darts of the evil one
06:28: Father we thank you for your goodness your mercy help us to understand The nature of faith help us to increase our faith
06:36: We pray that you would obviously be the one that would increase our faith and help us to to quench the fiery arrows of doubt
06:44: Temptation and fear and anxiety help us to stand strong against the evil one during these dark days
06:50: And we pray Lord that you would be pleased To give us more faith that we could be a people that shine all the more brightly for the
06:59: Lord Jesus in our community I'm pleading with you this morning for your grace as I preach and help me to preach your word rightly and I pray
07:08: That you would give us ears to hear this message and we pray it in Jesus name. Amen. You may be seated You know
07:14: Friday was groundhogs day. I forget about that Holiday if you will sometimes but apparently the
07:24: Groundhog did not see its shadow I think and so that is means we're gonna have an early spring or whatever it means
07:31: But I did see this meme and it said the pastor has seen his shadow
07:36: There will be six more weeks left of the sermon series. So I thought you know what?
07:41: It's a good time to remind us I don't know if there'll be six more weeks or not But it's a good time to remind us that we're very very close to the end of Ephesians I know maybe it doesn't feel like it
07:52: We're right here in the in the armor of God and you think to yourself are we ever gonna get through this book? Yes, we are. The light is at the end of the tunnel and we've almost made it
08:00: It's been about maybe three and a half years, but we're almost there. And so we prepare ourselves Let's finish well as we think through these remaining verses in this great letter
08:10: Now as we go to our text this morning, I have two questions First is a sermon like this warranted from our text and secondly is a sermon like this needed from our text so first does the
08:25: Bible give us warrant to preach a sermon like this from the text because At our church
08:31: Providence Baptist Church. We have ten distinctives. One of those distinctives is biblical preaching
08:36: So in this distinctive our church says this we believe the mainstay of our preaching is to be
08:43: Expository sermons through books of the Bible. We believe the biblical text itself must drive
08:52: The sermon so my I have a question. Am I being faithful to that this morning does this text?
09:00: Drive the sermon in all Circumstances take up the shield of faith with which you can extinguish all the flaming darts of the evil one
09:09: Well, I believe that it does of course in this regard notice that the text says this
09:15: Paul tells the church to take up the shield of faith faith
09:21: This implies does it not imply? That there are times that we leave this shield unused
09:31: Unwielded lying dormant on the ground not fighting with it Like we should this text encourages us this morning to pick up this shield and to use it in Battle, so why do we not use it more often?
09:47: Why are we so often? Succumbing to temptation or doubts or division
09:52: Why does this happen and that brings me to the second question is a sermon like this needed from our text an answer?
10:00: Of course, I believe is yes Because we're far too often Struck the if we're honest with ourselves these fiery arrows strike us
10:13: More than we like to admit We've mentioned examples of these arrows over the last couple of sermons
10:20: But I have another example that I want to mention here and that's something I struggle with myself and that is fear
10:28: The text says in all circumstances take up the shield of faith with which you can extinguish all the flaming darts of the evil one
10:36: Do you know one of the flaming darts of the evil one that he shoots at the church is?
10:42: Fear because fear Immobilizes us in the
10:48: Bible there are over 100 commands to God's people to fear not or Do not fear or do not be anxious or do not be afraid
11:00: In fact, let's look at one real quick. The first time is Genesis 15 turn in your Bibles to Genesis 15
11:07: The first time we see a command like this Genesis chapter 15
11:20: Genesis 15 verse 1 after these things the word of the Lord came to Abram in a vision fear not
11:27: Abram I am your shield your reward
11:34: Shall be very great. It's interesting to me that there is a connection here in this verse between fear and A shield and the idea for Abram is if God is our shield.
11:48: What is it that we have? to fear if God is our shield
11:53: Shield, this shield is big enough then to assuage all fears
12:00: Seven times in the gospel narratives Jesus tells his disciples do not be anxious
12:08: I'm convinced this morning and I know this from my own life that anxiety and Fear often keep churches from pressing onward in the mission of Christ Whether it's fear of the culture or fear of man or even sometimes even fear of what other
12:24: Christians might say Do you understand that today? We've turned Anxiety in our society not into a sin, but into a condition
12:34: We have sought to treat Anxiety in the world today with medicine and with therapy when the scriptures actually give us the antidote
12:42: And that is when our faith is small. Our fears are big That is we do not need the shield of modern medicine to battle
12:51: Sinful anxiety what we need is the shield of faith Lord increase our faith
12:57: Now what I'm trying to give you is an example here of the fiery arrow that Satan shoots at it's one of the fiery arrow
13:05: So as a sermon like this needed from our text Absolutely, because too often
13:10: I am afraid of man. I should share the gospel with this person I should I should give them a track.
13:17: I should start a conversation I should ask them about their soul and then I back off because I'm nervous about what they might say
13:26: Or I'm concerned about the world's opinion Or we think about other things the economy the state of our country what's going on in,
13:35: Texas, whatever the case may be I too often succumb to sinful fear and the reality is you do too and The way the church is going to battle these arrows of fear or these other things that we've talked about doubt division discontentment
13:55: Temptation the way that we're going to stand strong Against these fiery arrows is not
14:02: Mustering something within ourselves the way we're going to stand strong against these arrows is by the shield of faith
14:12: And so it is warranted beloved to ask the Lord this morning seriously to increase our faith and So I want to consider how it is exactly that he does increase the faith of his churches
14:27: And so I have seven points we're going to cover three this morning and then we'll pick up the last four next week
14:34: Lord increase our faith. How does God do this in his people?
14:40: Some of you you'll be a little disappointed because you're going to hear these things and you're gonna be like well
14:46: I already knew that right like that doesn't really that doesn't that doesn't shock me
14:51: But it's amazing to realize that God uses ordinary things to do extraordinary things
15:00: So let's consider number one. How does God? increase our faith
15:06: Number one the Word of God Now verse 17 is just around the corner. We will get to that It'll be a few weeks now, but verse 17
15:14: Paul says take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit Which is the Word of God?
15:20: The Word of God is a mighty offensive weapon for the church But it's also a defensive weapon to the
15:27: Word of God also is how God increases our faith chapter 14 of the 1689 says it this way our confession by faith
15:36: Christians believed to be true everything revealed in the word Recognizing it as the authority of God himself
15:43: They also perceive that the word is more excellent than every other writing and everything else in the world
15:49: Because it displays the glory of God in his attributes the excellence of Christ in his nature and offices and the power and fullness
15:58: Of the Holy Spirit in his activities and operations So they are enabled to entrust their souls to the truth believe they respond differently according to the content of each particular passage
16:08: Obeying the commands trembling at the threatenings and embracing the promises of God for this life and the one to come
16:17: So here is the disposition of the believer toward the Word of God they see it as excellent they see it as trustworthy they see the scriptures the the believer sees the scriptures as their food as Pointing them to God as pointing them to Christ the the greatness of who he is
16:37: It is from the Word of God that we see who Jesus is that he is truly God and truly man
16:43: It is from the Word of God that we see what he has done that he has Our he is our representative.
16:49: He has fulfilled the law and all righteousness He has become our sin bearer that he has died on the cross and rose again from the dead
16:56: This is the gospel. We see the gospel from the scriptures God uses our time in his word.
17:04: Listen church God uses our time in his word to increase our faith.
17:14: Let's go back to Genesis again Genesis 46 If you read the
17:20: Bible What you learn is? There are no great men in the
17:26: Bible Except one it's Christ You can kind of grow up and kind of think man.
17:33: I you know, I want to I want to I want to be like these other great men, but This is the kind of stuff
17:40: God says to these men Genesis 46 So Israel took his journey with all that he had and came to Beersheba and offered sacrifices to the
17:53: God of his father Isaac and God spoke to Israel that is Jacob in visions of the night and said
18:00: Jacob Jacob And he said here am I? Then he said
18:05: I am God the God of your father Do not be afraid to go down to Egypt for there.
18:12: I will make you into a great nation I myself will go down with you to Egypt and I will bring you up again and Joseph's hand
18:22: Shall close your eyes Now, why did God say this to Jacob? God said this to Jacob because Jacob was a weak man and Jacob needed a reminder of the goodness and promises of God.
18:38: Let me tell you something Saints Unbelief is not is not you can't excuse it Lack of faith.
18:45: You cannot excuse it and I'm not excusing it but what I am saying to us this morning is our
18:50: God is so Compassionate with his people and so what he does to his speak people is he speaks to us
19:00: Repeatedly his promises. I'm going to be with you. I'm not going to leave you
19:06: I'm not gonna forsake you the promised land is better. The glory is better.
19:11: Your sins are forgiven These are the things God continually speaks to his people in the scriptures in his word
19:19: Why so that we'll believe him? So that we'll trust him so that our our faith will be
19:27: Increased friends the Word of God is full of precious promises for the believer that were to take to heart
19:39: That were to believe So that our faith may be strengthened one of the promises that some of you need to hear this morning
19:48: Whether you're an adult whether you've been baptized whether you're a child You need to be reminded of this
19:55: Christ receives Sinful men that's a promise of the Bible You see one of the works of Satan today is that?
20:05: He'll convince sinners That they are too sinful or too far gone or too hypocritical
20:11: For Jesus to take them in this is a lie The Bible says to Daryl and resurrection for sinners is enough to show us that he takes sinners unto himself
20:23: He will save them he will forgive them he will wash them clean
20:29: The question is will you believe this? Will you turn from sin and be healed? Remember the very origin of faith is
20:38: God's grace But he uses the scriptures His own word to bring it faith comes by hearing and hearing by the
20:48: Word of Christ As the gospel is preached according to the scriptures God actually brings about faith
20:54: So the question is this morning for some of you will you believe this good news repent and trust
21:00: Christ for your salvation? and Then for believers what I'm reminding you in this point is if God begins our faith through The preaching of his word how much more do we continually need the word?
21:13: We need the promises of God from the scriptures pressed down deeply into our hearts
21:21: You get you are afraid of the silliest things sometimes and so am
21:27: I Whether it's a whether it's an increase in the in the in inflation whether it's a storm
21:36: Whether it's an animal whether it's a and whatever the case may what it's things that we invent in our mind
21:42: It's because we don't believe the promises of God we need to grow and In order to believe the promises of God we need to continually expose ourselves to the promises of God in his word
21:54: So friends I'm saying in this point One of the ways that God increases the faith of his people is that we would be people of the book
22:01: Let me just give you three ways That should happen one individually
22:07: You need to be in the Bible every day I'm not trying to make that a law.
22:12: I'm not trying to say if you're not in the Bible every day You're not even a Christian. I'm not trying to say that but you tell me
22:19: If on the days you don't spend in the Bible It was because from the very moment you woke up to the very moment you went to bed
22:26: You were doing absolutely nothing but the essentials to keep you and your family alive for the most part
22:35: For the most part that's not true of us in here For the most part as a general rule
22:41: You have time to be in the Bible every day. And if you don't it's because of misprioritization
22:50: You need to make time Individually read the Bible every day.
22:55: We've been memorizing Psalm 1 the blessed man meditates on God's Word day and night
23:02: That is he doesn't just read the Bible every day, but he thinks about it. He thinks about the these promises
23:09: Can I tell you something this morning? The Bible is better for our faith than signs or wonders
23:16: How do I know that? Because God is pleased not to give us signs and wonders today, but his scriptures
23:23: I'm not saying that God can't do miracles. That's great. Amen. Absolutely He can but for the regular increase of the faith of God's people
23:32: He has given us his word that is what is better than God opening up this place right now
23:39: Descending and speaking to you audibly is for your increase in faith is the scriptures
23:44: They say how can that be? I don't know all the ins and outs of that, but I I do know that in Luke 16 when you have the rich man and Lazarus the rich man says to Abraham if you'll send someone back from the dead
23:58: My family will believe my father and my brothers will believe and we might think if God would just send someone back from the dead
24:06: To walk along the streets of Perryville then the whole town would believe but but Abraham says to the rich man
24:14: They ain't gonna believe that's my own translation. They're not gonna believe if they don't believe
24:20: Moses and the prophets They have Moses and the prophets. They have the scriptures.
24:28: This is amazing in 2nd Peter chapter 1 Peter talks about we've seen talking about the transfiguration.
24:36: It's like we've seen the glory of Christ But we have a more sure standing in the prophetic word revealed that is scriptures
24:51: Friends I'm saying to us we need the scriptures daily For the increase of our faith and we have a sufficient and good
25:00: Bible Let me move on from that We need the Bible individually.
25:06: We need the Bible in groups You need to be in God's Word regularly with others with your family and family devotions
25:13: Men need time in the Bible with other men women with women But you need time to discuss and ruminate on particular applications and thoughts that our faith may be strengthened of course, let me say this corporately individually in Groups and corporately and what
25:31: I mean here is you need to be in the Bible with the church You need to sit you need to sit under the preaching and teaching of God's Word the preaching and teaching of God's Word under the authority of the church it actually
25:45: God actually uses that to increase our Faith and in all of these ways the
25:52: Lord strengthens the faith of his people Do you long this morning to be less afraid do you long to be stronger against temptation?
26:02: Do you desire to to fight doubt and discontentment? then submit yourselves to the
26:09: Word of God God is using the word to strengthen our
26:16: Faith and faith the text says is a shield in all circumstances
26:21: Take up the shield of faith. Therefore We want it to be stronger secondly the wonder of God So, how does
26:29: God increase the faith of his people number one the Word of God number two the wonder of God?
26:34: I will skip ahead to verse 18 in the text where Paul encourages the church commands the church.
26:41: I should say stronger than encouragement But there's churches to pray at all times in the spirit with all prayer and supplication
26:51: Now, how does God increase our faith through his word secondly through prayer now
26:56: I'm not trying to be cute here with the wonder of God in the alliteration so much as I want to evoke this idea in your mind prayer is
27:07: Encountering the wonder of God because prayer is not a mere duty. It's not a mere Drudgery, okay.
27:13: It is a duty not to pray now. Listen to me church to not pray is to sin If you are struggling with prayerlessness, you need to understand that that prayerlessness is
27:24: Sinfulness, right? So we understand that we need to fight that we need to kill prayerlessness in our lives
27:31: But I'm trying to encourage that in your life by telling you prayer is not merely a duty. It is also a delight
27:37: So just consider this with me for just a moment What I can't use this illustration anymore
27:44: But just because You know, it's just it's difficult nowadays with politicians and there seems to be very few noteworthy politicians left
27:56: But let's just suppose that you had the cell phone number of a great leader
28:03: You could talk to him anytime you wanted you could text him you could text him a quick Text you could call him on the phone and have a long like anytime you called
28:15: He stopped what he was doing and he would just talk to you You could talk to him for an hour two hours
28:21: There he was ready to talk to you now You would feel kind of privileged by that wouldn't you you know walk around a little bit and you would tell people
28:30: One of the first things that you would tell people When you met them is that you had so -and -so cell phone number and you could call them and talk to them
28:40: Anytime you wanted they're back. Oh, yeah, I'll prove it. Did it and you could do it Now you understand where I'm going with this analogy, right?
28:51: What a high and holy privilege it is for the people of God to pray
28:59: We don't have access to some corruptible Politician we have access to a high and holy
29:09: God the the sovereign king of heaven the very Defender of our faith the one who knows our needs and our sins and our struggles and our worries and our fears and our doubts
29:22: That God bids the church to come to him to ask to seek to Knock what a high and holy privilege it is church to pray
29:34: I'm raising my hand I'm guilty
29:42: I'm not utilizing this privilege as much as I need
29:47: I need to pray Not merely when I have the faith to pray but also when and maybe even especially when
29:57: I don't have the faith to pray Because it's calling out to God talking to him speaking my words to him
30:04: It's through this means that he is pleased in his grace to strengthen my faith in him
30:12: Think about what it says when a professing believer does not pray or when a church does not pray.
30:19: I Don't need God's wisdom. I Don't need God's provision. I don't need
30:24: God's protection. I don't need God's blessings. I don't desire Sweet communion with my dear and blessed
30:32: God Saints may God increase our faith through our wonder of his glory
30:39: Are you prayerless this morning? Are you lackadaisical in your prayer life then repent?
30:46: Generally speaking. We're too rushed We move from event to event to event and when we do have downtime, it's just it's it's mind numbingness so it's like Netflix or video games or I'm just scrolling social media or I'm just disconnected and hunting or hobbies or whatever the case may be and I'm encouraging the church this morning
31:12: I'm asking will you believe this morning that we have a God who not only
31:17: Commands his people to pray but also desires us to be with him and who is a wonder to adore
31:25: There's never a time when you pray that you're bugging God Think about that.
31:31: Hey, I'm gonna be honest. I can be transparent here. There might be times you call me and you bug me
31:37: Right. I'm a man. I'm falling. I'm like, oh man There's a text.
31:43: Here's a call. I'm busy. I'm trying to do this That's just because I'm I'm a fallen person and you are too, but it's never that way with God Right now this please
31:56: I'm not trying to be Sacrilegious here. We'll be very very careful when we use analogies and illustrations like this
32:02: But if you will you're calling God in prayer, he doesn't look at his cell phone. You've done this hat
32:07: Maybe you've done it to me. He doesn't look at his cell phone and hit ignore and put it back in his pocket right
32:14: He always answers. In fact, I would say this when we talk to God in prayer.
32:19: He always Answers the prayers of his children Now sometimes his answer is no
32:26: That's an answer though, isn't it? Sometimes he loves us so much that his answer to our prayer is no,
32:33: I'm not going to give you that But still he doesn't leave them unanswered.
32:38: He just always answers them in his sovereign will and goodness
32:44: Do you struggle this morning with the fiery arrows of the evil one? Temptation doubt failure make prayer a priority and see whether or not the
32:55: Lord would increase and Strengthen your faith by his grace and in and we mentioned this and then we'll move on just like Bible intake should be done
33:03: Personally in groups and corporately this is true of prayer as well. You should pray
33:10: Individually, you should pray with your family. You should pray in groups. You should pray we should pray together
33:17: Corporately and may this church be known as a place of prayer
33:24: So, how does God increase our faith the Word of God the wonder of God and then thirdly this morning? Well, we'll take this one a little bit
33:31: More detail that is the worship of God. We're considering this morning the shield of faith
33:39: We're considering this morning that Paul tells the church to take up the shield of faith
33:44: We're considering this morning that so often we feel inadequate in our faith our faith feels so pathetic so weak
33:52: So what are some ways that God? Increases the faith of his people one of the ways is by his own precious word
33:59: Another of the ways is through prayer and then finally this morning for this morning the worship of God Take up the shield of faith
34:07: Paul says Well, how do I do that? Well, we will be more consistent in taking up this great shield of faith
34:13: As we submit ourselves to his word as we call upon him in prayer and as we commit to worshiping him
34:22: God strengthens the faith of his people as we worship Him this is true personally, right?
34:30: We need times of personal worship to let our hearts dwell on God to meditate upon his
34:40: Greatness this is true in groups. We need regular times of family worship in our homes singing to God Praying to God reading the
34:49: Bible together But this is also true corporate We must worship with the church the essence of Christianity is lived through and in and with and maybe even in some senses for the local church
35:08: The essence of Christianity is about the church and the centerpiece of that life is our regular
35:14: Assemblies, so the highest priority in a believers week Ought to be the church's main gathering on Sunday mornings.
35:23: This ought to be the rest of our what our rest of our week Revolves around I was trying
35:29: I was thinking something else that just came to my mind and that is If Someone once said church ought to be your excuse for missing everything else
35:38: Like we usually flip that around. Well, I can't come to church today because I have this excuse
35:44: Where really the reality is I can't do these other excuses today because I'm gathering with God's people
35:51: It makes sense. It ought to be our program. I'm not minimizing Sunday night, by the way, I'm not minimizing Wednesday night
35:57: Um Every time the church comes together to sing to pray to sit under the preaching and teaching of the
36:04: Word of God God is with us in a special way And he uses these things to strengthen our faith
36:11: But the corporate worship of God with the church Is the reason we miss other things?
36:18: And I need to remind us here that another one of our distinctives is biblical worship.
36:23: Let me just read that This is our church's distinctive. We believe that our trying God Alone determines how he is to be worshiped and has expressly set forth in his word
36:34: How he would have his local churches worship him. We therefore seek to follow the regulative principle of worship
36:40: This means that we believe that only what God has expressly commanded his church to do in worship should be done
36:46: In other words, we believe the Bible regulative We believe the Bible regulates our worship because when the
36:52: Bible regulates our worship, that's God regulating our worship I talked to a pastor friend one time.
36:57: He says that's too restrictive to have the Bible regulate your worship So no, no, that's God regulate.
37:03: You understand that doesn't leave room for the Holy Spirit. Yes, it does The Holy Spirit operates through the way that he has called his church to worship.
37:11: So worship I'm just trying to illustrate here that worship is not anything goes We are to worship
37:17: God as he is instructed and when we worship him he is Pleased to strengthen our faith.
37:25: So so let me ask you let me put it to you this way with the text Paul says in all circumstances take up the shield of faith
37:32: With which you can extinguish all the flaming darts of the evil one. So let me ask you this this morning Do you desire to obey that?
37:40: Do you want that in your life? Do you is this the kind of Christianity you want to live?
37:45: Do you want to live the type of Christianity when the Satan? shoots an arrow at you whether it's fear or doubt or temptation to sin or whether it's it's
37:57: Division within the body when he shoots one of those arrows at you Do you want to be the type of Christian that takes the shield of faith sets it up and boom the arrow hits it and dissolves
38:09: That's the kind of Christian I want to be okay, then if I want to be that kind of Christian then
38:15: I need to understand Ways that God strengthens our faith
38:21: And one of those friends is worship It is a travesty
38:27: Is it not? The things that we will use to get out of gathering with the church
38:34: Have you ever heard of Monday morning miracle cures? That's when someone feels terrible
38:41: Sunday, but then a miraculously a hundred percent better Monday, right? Now listen,
38:47: I understand there are times there are times to miss church. I understand that I get that but I'm just saying at times
38:55: We would never give our employee employers The type of excuses that we give the church and friends it ought not be
39:05: So in America and in our own hometown in our own area of Arkansas It has been the focus of Christianity that has shifted from the corporate to the individual
39:16: You talked to 90 % or more probably a lot higher of Christians in our world today. They can't even define the church
39:22: They don't really even understand the necessity of the church A lot of people will still say things like well, the church is a good idea
39:28: The church can help you the church can help you Are you hearing that?
39:35: that is even the best of definitions about the church have Centered them on who on the individual on you
39:44: You should go to church if you want to because it'll help you as a Christian But we've we this is so far in a way
39:53: From the Bible. I don't know how we've gotten to the point that the church is optional to Christianity Even our text look at the text itself.
40:03: This is it's like it's hidden in plain sight Well, where are you getting this information from even the text itself in all?
40:10: Circumstances take up the shield of faith now You can't tell it in English, but in the Greek there the idea of take up its plural.
40:17: It's not individual It's plural in all circumstances take up the shield of faith with which and if we were going to put it in modern
40:25: Perry County vernacular, we would say y 'all instead of you because it is it's plural the you here is plural
40:32: So in all circumstances take up y 'all take up the shield of faith with which y 'all can extinguish
40:37: All the flaming darts of the evil one now that sounds a little bit hick but it's wonderful theology
40:42: Because it's not for merely the individual but the church together
40:49: Are we're to do this? So the idea is that we would take up the shield of faith not just personally or privately but together
41:01: And one of the ways we do this in our Because our regular assemblies for worship
41:10: What if your faith is weak? What if you succumb to temptation? Because your commitment to the worship of God in the local church is
41:19: Apathetic or lackadaisical Then I also need to address this
41:25: Because I think it's a particular issue for Baptists. So Baptists were very strong on the ordinances
41:34: Not being ways that God regenerates people. Amen This is very right
41:41: The Lord's Supper is not a means by which God brings about the new birth Baptism is not a means by which
41:48: God brings about the new birth nor for justification For either of the order, of course, this is not this baptism doesn't make a person a
41:55: Christian The Lord's Supper doesn't make a person a Christian. Amen. Amen. Amen. I'll stand here with my
42:01: Baptist brethren This is true, but sometimes as Baptists we run to the opposite ditch now listen to me we run to the opposite ditch where we consider the ordinances as Unimportant or optional right as though God is just giving us these things to do if we want to do them
42:19: Like there are some people who say I'm a Christian But I've never been baptized as though God has given that ordinance to you
42:25: Just optional if you want to do it or something or yeah I don't really I don't really not really committed to the
42:31: Lord's Supper as though God has given That ordinance to the churches though. It's optional
42:36: But I'm telling you this morning that God has given these precious ordinances to his churches for our good
42:44: We are in error this morning If we fail to see that God uses the ordinances to strengthen and encourage the faith of his people
42:53: That's why the ordinances by the way are corporate They they are times that the people of God come together and see with their eyes the
43:03: God ordained Dramas of the gospel the Lord's Supper ought to be a
43:09: Priority for God's people the Lord's Supper is a memorial of the gospel, but it's not only a memorial
43:16: Christ strengthens the church as we as we feast together first Corinthians 10 16
43:22: Paul says The cup of blessing that we bless is it not a participation in the blood of Christ the bread that we break?
43:30: Is it not a participation in the body of Christ? So as we break the as we break the bread and and drink the cup together, which are symbols
43:40: They're not actually the body of other symbols of the body and blood but as we do that, there's a spiritual sense that we
43:48: Participate in Christ or you'll appreciate the King James translation which is communion that that is the the word is is
43:59: Koinonia and so the ESV says participate but the King James says
44:04: Translates it communion So that's why we call the Lord's Supper communion because in it spiritually speaking we are communing with Christ and we are communing with one another as a church and through this ordinance
44:21: God is strengthening the faith of his people and he's Reminding us of his grace and he's
44:28: Increasing our faith and he is binding us together in unity and he is growing us friends.
44:35: I Want to be careful. I want to come down too hard. But let me just put it this way.
44:41: We are very unwise To neglect the ordinance of the Lord's Supper To treat it frivolously
44:49: It strengthens our faith and our unity It helps us when we participate in the
44:57: Lord's Supper It helps us obey what Paul is telling us here in Ephesians 16 to take up the shield of faith together
45:06: The same is true of baptism If you are born again, and your faith is in Christ.
45:12: You should be Baptized by immersion if that has happened prior to your conversion, you don't need to be baptized again
45:22: What? You need to be baptized Right, you understand
45:28: We don't believe in re -baptism. We believe that if you were Baptized dunked in the water prior to your conversion that you weren't baptized you understand
45:40: You need to be baptized by immersion After your regeneration after you're coming to Christ after you're trusting him
45:50: And one of the beauties of baptism is that it strengthens the faith of the one
45:56: Baptized because he or she is reminded of God's promises and seeks to obey
46:02: God But it also is this visual for the church. That's why for bad Baptism they're very public.
46:08: We put the baptistry up here at the front We all look at it why because we're not just celebrating the person like we're seeing a picture of the gospel
46:16: When you look at baptism, you're seeing Oh Jesus died was buried rose again
46:22: And in Christ, I died I'm buried and I rise again and we're seeing this picture like boy, that's beautiful Exactly.
46:30: That's exactly what God has given to the church so that we see that and we're encouraged and we're strengthened
46:36: Our faith is strengthened and encouraged Like baptism should be a big deal.
46:41: It should be a big deal to Baptist shouldn't because in our very name No, it doesn't bring about our salvation
46:47: But it points us to the drama of the gospel and the point in all of this is that God is pleased to increase the faith of his people through worship and particularly through Corporate worship we must seek to be committed to this wonderful means of grace
47:06: Not just Bible reading not just prayer. Those things are important But also worship the
47:12: Word of God the wonder of God the worship of God So are you this morning like the disciples?
47:18: Are you like me in desperate need of the Lord to give you more faith to?
47:24: Strengthen your weak faith to increase your little faith Are we in desperate need of obeying this text in all?
47:31: Circumstances take up the shield of faith with which you can extinguish all the flaming darts of the evil one what
47:37: I want to do in this place what pastor Jacob wants to do in this place is we want to have a church of authenticity a church of Transparency a church where things are real and I confess to you this morning as one of your pastors.
47:52: I need this text. I Need to grow in this text.
47:58: I Need to grow in taking up the shield of faith and Extinguishing the fiery darts of the evil one and my question to you this morning is
48:07: Do you need it too? And will you go with me? Well Providence Baptist Church be a church of faith
48:17: Will we believe God's promises will we obey God's commands? Will we see the shield of faith here quench all the fiery darts of the evil one?
48:26: Will we be resolute in the reality that Christ is our ultimate shield
48:31: Christ who atoned for our sins? Christ who fulfilled all righteousness Christ who died
48:38: Christ who is was buried Christ who rose again from the dead Do we put all our hope and all our trust in the finished work of Christ?
48:50: Loved if this is true Let us be a people willing to employ these means of grace that God is showing us
48:56: The Word of God the wonder of God the worship of God we have more to consider next week
49:01: I think that they're important But I think these three are sufficient for us to consider today and to chew on this week
49:08: In all circumstances take up the shield of faith with which you can extinguish all the flaming darts of the evil one friends
49:15: What areas are you in need of repentance in these things
49:21: God's Word? God's wonder God's worship When you're confronted in the
49:26: Holy Spirit brings about conviction and you're like, you know what I need to be him up the word better You know what?
49:31: I need to be more of a person of prayer. You know what? I need to be more committed to the worship of God.
49:37: You have two options You can repent
49:46: You can own it You can submit yourself to the Lord Or you can harden your heart
49:54: You can sit under the preaching of the Word of God and you say, you know what that's right I need to do that man
49:59: I'm gonna do that and you can walk out the door and you can go to lunch and you can get busy about your day And you and if you're like me
50:06: I've done this before in the past and that is God's dealing with something and you say I just get my mind off it go on something else and then you push it to the back burner and That is the very way that you harden your heart
50:21: Beloved Don't harden your heart today If the
50:26: Holy Spirit has exposed an area of sin, you need to repent take it to Christ Oh and Seek to grow in him
50:37: Christ is more ready to forgive you than you are ready to go to him for forgiveness often. Is that not true?
50:43: God grows his people at times by breaking them first So where have you been negligent and if it is in these areas repent and rest again in Christ sufficient work
50:55: He receiveth sinful men. He is so good. He is so patient He is for the sanctification of his people don't refuse him today.
51:04: And then let's go. Let's go right? I'm ready There's a battle today. Let's pick up the shield of faith and let's march forward together as a church.
51:11: Amen Father we thank you for your word. We pray that you'd bless it