Armor of God | Week 1 | Sermon

Because Christianity is not something, it's not just a good addition to your life. You've got to realize that if you were following Jesus, you have an enemy. And this is serious. My big idea today is this. Get in the fight because you have an enemy. Get in the fight because you have an enemy.

We're gonna be in Ephesians chapter six verse 10. If you have your Bibles, I'd love it if you'd open it up. If you have your devices, can go to the Bible app and follow along. Ephesians chapter six verse 10 is where we're gonna be. And like I said Paul is finishing off his letter with a reminder to this church

that guys we are in a spiritual battle. And what we're going to look at this morning, what we're going to see is that you and I, we have an enemy. Whether we've heard this before,

we've been in church a long time, or this idea, this concept is new to us and we're still trying to figure out this whole Jesus thing. I truly believe if you and I lean in over the next thirty minutes, God has something to say to you about your faith and the reminder,

the thing he wants to talk to us about, I truly believe is this. You and I have an enemy and we have to get in the fight. So before we jump in, I'm gonna pray for us. Father God, thank you that we get to come to your word. We get to hear you speak in a real way.

I pray that this morning as we talk about the enemy that you would open our eyes to see what we need to see. I pray that our hearts would be prepared for you to speak, that our ears would be prepared to listen. And God, may we walk out of this room not just accumulating information,

but be transformed because we chose to do something with it. In Jesus' name we pray. Everybody said, amen. Ephesians chapter six verse 10.

Paul starts off and he says, a final word. Be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power. Put on all of God's armor so that you will be able to stand firm against the strategies of the devil. For we are not fighting against flesh and blood enemies,

but against evil rulers and authorities of the unseen world, against mighty powers in this dark world, and against evil spirits in the heavenly places. Therefore, put on every piece of God's armor so that you will be able to resist the enemy in the time of evil. Then after the battle, you will be standing firm.

So this church two thousand years ago in Ephesus is essentially the cultural epicenter of the world at this time. It's the equivalent to New York City or Las Vegas. Everybody's going to and through Ephesus.

So Paul is writing to this church that can walk down their street and they see Satan all over it. I mean if you look at the seven ancient wonders of the world, one of them is the Temple Of Artemis that's found in Ephesus. A temple to a pagan

god that these Greek people would worship. And there were pagan gods all over the place. People had their own household gods that they would pray to and then they would have like city gods and other gods that they would pray to if they wanted other stuff, but all over the place they could see the work of Satan moving throughout their city in an overt,

out there kind of way.

So how does that apply and what does that mean for you and I who live in Queen Creek, Gilbert, San Tan, Chandler, Arizona in 2025? What does that mean for us? I believe that the enemy moves a little differently than he did in Ephesus two thousand years ago in our time, in our culture. Because the enemy was overt.

He was out there. But in our time, in our culture, where we're at, in our piece of the world, I believe the enemy is unbelievably covert. That he is beneath the surface, working his influence to take us out. Because the enemy's got strategies.

And I mean, I don't know if you've experienced it, but I mean you can go to work and you're like, what would possess a person to treat me that way? To be so rude and to be so incompetent towards me? And we go home and our kids are fighting it's like what would possess you to treat your brother like that?

What are you thinking? And we turn on the news and we see what's going on in Florida and all the Florida men over there and they're like throwing a live alligator through a McDonald's window. It's like what would possess a person to do that?

What would possess a person to be so horrible and racist towards another human being? What would possess a person to treat other human beings like objects? What would possess a person to harm an infant or a baby? I mean, and then we just look at world history. What's going on? And like what would possess a person to drop

bombs on men, women, children, civilians?

What would possess a person to starve millions of their own people?

What would possess a person to take millions of God's people and put them in concentration camps and torture and kill them in droves?

Church, we have an enemy.

And he is after our world, our culture, our country, our state, our city, our church, our families, our lives.

We have an enemy. So what does that mean for us? How do we fight the enemy? What we're gonna be talking about and what we're gonna see in this passage is exactly how you and I can get in the fight. So the first thing,

if we're going to get in the fight, if we're going to fight against this enemy, the first thing we need to do is perceive the enemy. Look at verse 12. It says, for we are not fighting against flesh and blood enemies, but against the evil rulers and authorities of the unseen world.

Against mighty powers in this dark world and against evil spirits in the heavenly places. You see our enemy isn't a person with flesh on. Our enemy is a being created by God. A spiritual being. We often call him a fallen angel because Satan, this enemy, he was created to glorify God. And he decided

instead of glorifying you, I want to take the glory. I want to be God of this universe. And he rebelled against God most high. And scripture even tells us many other spiritual beings followed him. We would call them fallen angels as well. Usually, we call these beings demons,

and they're following Satan. They're in league with him and working with him. We have an enemy who has been against humanity from the beginning of existence. Jesus even talks about the enemy. In John chapter 10 verse 10 he's talking about him when he and he calls him the thief. He says, The thief's purpose is to steal,

to kill, and to destroy. But my purpose is to give them a rich and satisfying life. You see this enemy's from the beginning of existence, his goal, his MO is to steal, to kill, and to destroy our lives. Because he wants all the glory he can get,

and he wants to harm as many people as possible. And you know what his number one tactic is? It's to use people to accomplish his purposes. See the enemy likes to influence people to hurt us.

I mean you've seen it. You've been hurt by it. So many of us I think we've gone to a church before and we didn't feel like we were treated well and so we come down to Rock Point and we're like that church is so toxic.

Don't ever go to that church. They don't treat you right. And I hear you and that's real but the truth is that church is not the enemy.

The people you don't like and the people who are rude to you, they're not the enemy.

The people who are on the other side of your political preference, they are not the enemy. The people who are right now meeting at the LDS church across the street, those people are not the enemy.

The people meeting in the mosque across town, they are not the enemy. The people in our government making decisions we don't like, they are not the enemy. People on the other side of the world harming one another, they are not the enemy. Our enemy is not a person. He is not flesh and blood.

Our enemy's MO, his goal is to steal, to kill, and to destroy. And he will do whatever it takes to do that. I think often you and I, we can get hurt by a person or we consistently get hurt by people. And then once it moves from people, we start to get bitter at God. We start thinking, God why are you letting this happen?

Why are you allowing my life to fall apart? And we get frustrated with God and then we come to church and we start thinking like, why does God want to get in my business? Because we're bitter and we're frustrated. God why do you want to get in my wallet?

God why do you want to get in my relationships? God why do you care about my sex life? God why do you care about my calendar?

Why does God wanna get in my business?

And the truth is, God wants to get in your business because the enemy is already there.

The enemy is already there. Jesus says that the enemy has influence. Right now he is the ruler of this world. He has influence in our world,

and he is in our business. The reason We get mad at God because he wants to get in our business, but he knows that freedom only comes when he steps in. That's why God wants to get in our business. We have to perceive when the enemy's working in our life. We have to understand that these things are happening because

of the enemy.

If you are honest, where in your life have you allowed the enemy to influence you right now?

To get in the fight, I must perceive the enemy.

The second thing we must do is plug into God's power. Oftentimes when we come to Jesus and Christianity and church, we think it feels like, oh I just need to try harder. I just need to be better. And the truth is that is not the teachings of Christianity at all. Look at what Paul says in verse 10. He says, a final word.

Be strong in yourself. It's not what he says. Be strong in your self discipline. What does he say? Be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power. You realize what it means to follow Jesus? It means surrendering to him.

Jesus doesn't call us into a life where we just need to be better and do better and try harder. He calls us into a life of surrender and obedience to him, and he's gonna provide everything we need. So if we're gonna get in the fight against an enemy, we have got to have the strength and power of God.

See Paul when he's writing this, he is actually referring to God's armor. An armor that God wears when he's saying to put on the armor of God. He's actually a bible scholar. Paul Paul is writing about the Old Testament, specifically a passage in our old testament in the book of Isaiah.

I'm gonna read it for you because it's awesome. Isaiah chapter 59 verse 15 through 18 says, yes, the truth is gone and anyone who renounces evil is attacked. The Lord looked and was displeased to find there was no justice. Does that sound like the enemy? He was amazed to see that no one intervened to help the oppressed.

So he himself stepped in to save them with his strong-arm and his justice sustained them. Here we go. Ready? He put on righteousness as his body armor and placed the helmet of salvation on his head.

He clothed himself in a robe of vengeance and wrapped himself in the cloak of divine passion. He will repay his enemies for their evil deeds. His fury will fall on his foes and he will pay them back even to the ends of the earth. What Paul is saying when he's saying put on all of the armor of God is he's saying put on the armor that God provides

because it's his power and it's his strength that we've got to tap into. One of the greatest things I've been able to be a part of since I've been on staff at Rock Point Church, up until about six months ago, I was what's called the Rock Point Seminary Director.

And basically we had high school students who come over, from Castile Homeschool online students, and they get to come Monday through Friday and be a part of ninth through twelfth grade. They get to be a part of a Christian bible class. And so do we have any high school teachers in the room?

Okay. A couple of any teachers in general? Okay. Yeah. So you can ask them after service. You know what I'm about to say is true. My full time job as a high school teacher was forty hours of high school drama. And if I had time to get around to it, I could teach. That was my job.

Forty hours of high school drama, and I can't tell you how many times I saw this there would inevitably be a student on a Monday or Tuesday morning who would walk into the class like this.

And because you know I have a very high emotional intelligence and I'm very intuitive, I could tell something was wrong.

And she would be sitting there just and I'd go over to her and I'd say, hey what's going on? Is everything okay? You seem like it seems like you're upset. She would say, my phone didn't charge last night.

What am I supposed to do all day during class? And we laugh because it's kind of extra but the truth is we're the same way. You ever wake up in the morning and your phone's on 3% and you're like, you gotta be kidding me. Now I gotta plug my phone in while I brush my teeth like an idiot. Oh it ruins our day.

But I think the truth and the sad truth about that is that you and I care far more about plugging in our phones than plugging ourselves into God.

He is our power source. And we walk around all week long on 0% spiritual battery because we haven't plugged into God since Sunday.

I mean have you ever been on 0% spiritual battery in the middle of the day when your co worker's being rude and you just can't hold it together? I wish just like an iPhone you could look down at your chest and there was like an icon like plug in dude. It inevitably doesn't go well because you and I we have a tendency

to forget that our strength comes from God. We are trying to live a life that looks like Jesus without the power of Jesus. We are trying to love like Jesus without the strength of Jesus. We are trying to fight the enemy without the power from God, and I'm telling you, it doesn't work. You and I have to plug into God's power.

We have to rely on him. We've got to find ways throughout our week, our day, our hours, our minutes to connect with God. Maybe that means in the morning the first thing you do is is you read a

chunk of scripture and you take some time to pray about your day. Maybe it means on your way to work instead of listening to music you you spend that time connecting and praying with God. Maybe it means before all your meals you make sure to have time where you're connecting with God. Maybe it means right before you go to sleep you take some time delegated

just for you and God. I don't know what that looks like for you, but if we want to live a life that points to Jesus where we're getting in the fight, we have got to figure out how we can plug into God consistently. Where in your life right now could you find time to plug into God's power?

So to get in the fight I must perceive the enemy, plug into God's power and put on the armor. Look at verse 11 it says, put on all of God's armor so that you will be able to stand firm against the strategies of the devil.

Now I know what you're thinking. Hunter, you just told me that God does it all for us. It's like, no I didn't say that. Because all of the strength comes from God, but we still have a part to play in this. We have got to put on the armor. It's kind of like when you go to the doctor,

nobody gets the flu and it's like, oh my doctor's the worst. I shouldn't be getting sick. I have a doctor. It's like no. When you get sick you make the appointment. You have to realize you're sick. You have to show up and you actually have to do what he tells you. You're not responsible for healing yourself

but you're responsible for doing what it says and setting up the appointment. In the same way it is God's strength that we live our life but we've got to realize we got something going on. We've got to plug into our power source. We have to put on the armor And over the next four weeks, we're gonna be breaking down exactly

what each and every piece of this armor of God is. But for today, what I really want to point out is this cool reality. When Paul is writing this, we call this the book of Ephesians a prison letter. The reason is while he's writing to this church, he is under house arrest.

So he's sitting in his house. He cannot leave and every day he is having a Roman soldier show up in his living room making sure he doesn't leave. And as he's writing this letter to the church, he is looking at these Roman soldiers and he's like, following Jesus is like that. Every day these men show up fully prepared

to go into battle. That's exactly what it's like. Like a Roman soldier. We actually have a picture of what Paul would have seen, what he's writing about. This is Roman armor. You've got the the shield, the sword, the breastplate, the the belt, the shoes, all of it. But what you don't see is armor on the back.

And the reason for that is Roman armor didn't have armor on the back. Why is that? Because the Roman army was one of the greatest strategic fighting forces in the ancient world. I mean they were wiping out armies three, four, five times their size, but they didn't have armor in the back. Why?

It's because Roman soldiers would never fight alone. Never. Even if it got whittled down to just two guys, they would dig their heels in next to each other, fight back to back, and they would wipe out dozens

of people on the other side because they chose to fight together because they knew this reality that we are far stronger together than we would ever be alone. And when they had a full army, when they were going in to attack, they would do this formation called testudo. It just means turtle. It's not that cool.

But this is the testudo formation, the turtle formation. We have a picture. This is what they would do. They would lock their shields in together and the people would, hold their shields up so no bows or no arrows could come in and attack them. No spears could stab them. They would just go around, isolate someone, take them out. They would wipe out armies way bigger than them by doing this tactic

because they knew they had to work together to take on the enemy. And honestly guys, the same is true for you and I. Because when Paul is saying put on the armor of God he's not saying just you put on the armor of God. He it's saying church put on the armor

because we have an enemy and when we put on the armor we've got to realize we have to fight together. That's why here at Rock Point you're gonna hear us say, Man we don't believe you grow in rows. We believe you grow in circles.

So my challenge today for you if this if that's you, if you feel like you just keep getting isolated by the enemy, that you're trying to plug into God but you just keep getting wiped out, my challenge is this, find your turtle man.

Find your turtle. Like, find the people that you're gonna fight with. Some of you, when you walk out of this room, you need to go to rockpointchurch.com/groups and sign up for the next Find Your Circle. I think we should call it Find Your Turtle because that's awesome. Seriously,

if you're trying to fight the enemy and you don't have soldiers who are willing to fight beside you, alongside you, against your battles, you're gonna have a lot harder time because the enemy will isolate you and he will take you out.

If we wanna get in the fight, we have to put on the armor and get in community and start fighting together.

Do you have people beside you who fight your battles with you?

If we're gonna get in the fight, we've gotta perceive the enemy, plug into God's power, put on his armor, and lastly, proceed from victory,

not for it. Look at verse 13 it says, therefore put on every piece of God's armor so you will be able to resist the enemy in a time of evil. Then after the battle you will be standing firm. Why are we standing firm? Because we've won.

See two thousand years ago, a man named Jesus allowed himself to be put on a cross, crucified, a nail through each of his wrists, one nail through both of his ankles, and he hung on that cross for six grueling hours bearing the weight of your sin, my sin, and the rest of the world's.

And right before he gave up his spirit, right before he died, he said this, It is finished. What's finished? Jesus is saying the war has been won. Sin, Satan has been defeated. The war is over. If you call yourself a Christ follower, a Christian, if you've surrendered your life to Jesus, you've got to realize you have victory.

And I think we can hear that. And we think, I understand I have victory, but why does it feel like I'm losing?

Why does it feel like sin in my life is winning? I don't feel like I have victory. Why does it feel like the enemy is just attacking me? Why does it feel like over and over and over again I'm losing? I was doing some research into World War II history because for some reason Bill's really into that.

He laughed at that so you guys are good.

And what I found out, what what was fascinating to me is that when Adolf Hitler realized that on both the Eastern Front and the Western Front he was losing the war and that it was about to be over for him, do you know what he did? Because I would have thought that when it came to the the persecution, the oppression,

the holocaust, he would have actually pulled that back, swept it under the rug, claimed it never happened, and tried to apologize. But do you realize that the deadliest phase of the Holocaust was as soon as Hitler realized he was losing? Why?

Because I'm not saying that Hitler is the enemy. Our enemy doesn't have flesh and blood, but I do believe he was influenced by the enemy, and he allowed himself to be. And our enemy has realized he's lost the war, and he wants to make as many people as possible feel like they're losing too. He will steal,

he will kill, and he will destroy because he is not going without taking out a couple other people. A lot of other people. What I want you to know is if you're a Christian, he can't touch your salvation. He cannot touch your salvation. But what he can do

is he can make sure you don't feel any of the love, any of the joy, any of the peace, any of the patience or goodness that comes from being connected and in a relationship with God.

What he can do is make you so interested and enamored with having a comfortable life with a little bit nicer car, little bit bigger house, a little bit better clothes, a little bit nicer sports for my kids to be involved in, that you get so interested in that that your spiritual life and your connection with Jesus just falls by the wayside.

What he can do is make you a Christian that doesn't act like a Christian. What he can do is make you a useless Christian. And that's what he's going to try to do because we have an enemy. If you're not a Christian, man, he wants you to believe this whole thing is a hoax.

He wants you to believe that people who think Christianity is a thing are weak minds and they're ridiculous. And honestly, you're a prisoner of war because he wants to keep you from the freedom that is right in front of you, that is only found in Jesus.

We have victory in the name of Jesus, church. Do you realize that in that addiction that you're struggling with, you realize you have victory over that?

You realize in the shame that you just are covered in and you can't feel like you can't break free from it? You realize you have victory over that?

Do you realize it in the struggles you have each and every day because of the things people have said about you and called you? You realize you have victory over that in the name of Jesus. You are no longer identified by your sin, but you identified by the blood and the sacrifice of Jesus over you. You have victory

because of Jesus.

We have to proceed from victory, not for it. Because so many of us are not willing to fight spiritual battles in our life because we feel like we've already lost. And the truth is that's not the lost. That's the battle. And on the other side of those battles is victory.

What spiritual battles would you take on right now if you truly believed and truly trusted that on the other side in the name of Jesus was victory?

I remember when this concept and this idea became very real for me. Growing up from a young age like eighth grade, I felt like I was called to ministry. I felt like, man, this is what I'm supposed to do. This is what God is calling me into. This is for me, this is obedience to Jesus.

And so I went to Bible college. I had no idea what I was doing, and somehow I landed out here in Arizona at Rock Point Church, and I loved it. I was filled just fulfilled and filled with joy because I knew I was doing exactly what God called me to do.

And then I hit a season last year, about one year ago, February, where all the joy I had felt was just sucked out of my life. All of the fulfillment I'd felt from from doing what God asked me to do was just gone. And I started to get to this point where I was just like, I don't want to do this anymore. Honestly,

the idea of going and getting a job where I can make as much money as possibly can and having a comfortable life that I really enjoy, I can still be a good person, I can still go to church. I just I don't want to do this anymore.

And I was talking about it with my wife and processing with her, and she's like, Hunter, I hear you. I'm not saying that's wrong, but what you're saying and what you're feeling, that's not right. That's not right. And she helped me perceive the enemy. She said, I think what you're feeling is some spiritual battle.

I really think you need to pray about this. I said, okay. So I'm praying about it, and I'm telling God, God, I don't wanna do this anymore. Like, I don't feel the joy. I don't feel the excitement. I I I feel burnt out. I I don't wanna do this anymore.

I felt like the Lord was saying, hey. I think you need to talk to your community about this.

So I was in my community. My life group's been meeting. We were four or five couples that have been meeting for the past four years. I mean, these guys know every part of my life, and I share everything with them. And I was telling them, guys, it's going to sound crazy, but I don't want to do this anymore.

All of the joy, all the excitement, the fulfillment, I don't feel it. I don't want to do this anymore. I want to go do something I want to do and feel comfortable and excited about that. And they said, Hunter, I hear you. I'm not saying that's wrong, but this isn't right.

What you're saying, your motivation, where how you're feeling, that's not right. That's not from God. And they encouraged me. I think this is a spiritual battle. You need to fight against this, man, because that's not right. I said, okay. So I prayed. It was the next day on a Tuesday in February, and I said, God,

if you want me to keep doing this ministry thing, if you want me to keep doing this, you're gonna have to make it clear because I don't wanna do this anymore. I wanna go do what I wanna do.

And not ten minutes later, I get a text message from a mentor I hadn't talked to in over a year. But this is a man who poured into me, saw the calling of God on my life. He's the reason I'm at Rock Point Church, and this is the message he sent out of the blue.

Hey, could you grab an early lunch tomorrow? Was just thinking about you and would love to catch up. I wonder why he was thinking about me. It's almost like God's real.

I said, okay. So we met up for lunch and sat down, and I was like, dude, I'm gonna be honest with you. I don't wanna do this anymore. I appreciate all you've done for me. I appreciate the way you've poured into me, but I just feel like I'm done. And he looked me in the eyes and said, Hunter, don't you dare quit.

Don't you dare. Because God has a call on your life and the enemy is attacking you because he knows God has put victory in front of you if you stay obedient and stay committed to what God has called you to do.

I said okay. I kept fighting. I can tell you one year later after that, man God has put so much victory in my life because I chose to just say, God I'm gonna be obedient. I'm gonna keep fighting. I've been involved in one of the most amazing seasons of ministry I've ever been in to see what God is doing.

And I don't tell you that for any other reason to tell you the same battles I face you do too. Because the enemy wants to steal your joy, kill your calling, and destroy your life. And he knows the best way to do that is to talk you out of doing exactly what God has called and asked you to do. Don't you dare stop fighting.

So what do you need to do to get in the fight? Some of us, we need to figure out how to get and stay connected to God because he is our power source, and we can't get in the fight on 0% spiritual battery. Some of us, we need to find our turtle. We need to get with other people who are willing to fight our spiritual battles

alongside of us and with us. And some of us, we need to realize that victory is on the other side of this battle in the name of Jesus. We need to get dangerous. We need to start fighting against the sin and the shame and the struggle that we feel in our life because on the other side is victory.

Guys, I think this morning there's so many of us that are that 15 year old at the wheel of our life and we're just doing this. We're messing around. We're acting like Christianity is just a good addition to our life. It it makes us feel good but the truth is this is serious. So church, let's armor up. Let's get in the fight.

God, I wanna pray for each and every individual in this room. You know the spiritual battles we're facing. Help us perceive the enemy in our lives. Help us to plug into your power. Help us to put on your armor, and God, let us proceed from victory. Father, help us get in the fight

because what you've called us to is far greater than anything the enemy has to offer. In Jesus name we pray. Amen. Hey, we love you guys. Thank you for being here.

Hey. Thanks for joining us for service online this weekend. Be sure to follow us on our Rock Point social media to stay connected throughout the week and see what's happening here at Rock Point.