There’s a warfare we are walking in and we need the protection and weaponry of the Lord. The filling of the Holy Spirit is what gives us the equipment for the fight. We cannot do this ourselves. God must do it. (Ephesians 6:10-18; Romans 13:11)

Speaker(s): Renaldo Brown, Brent Hillenga
Sermon 12228
7:00 PM on 1/5/2022

P. Brent Hillenga –

Hey, have you noticed that it’s getting a little bit cold? I know it is, isn’t it? I’m really looking forward to this
winter. You know it. Tomorrow, I’m on a flight down to Medellin, Columbia, “The City of Eternal
Spring!” Wow! I’m looking forward to this winter. It’s amazing. It’s really something.
I’m so thankful for the group that is down there already. We actually end up landing tomorrow
morning and then Saturday, right away, we have our first service. It’s really just an incredible
time. I just want to thank a lot of people who have prayed for this. Many of you have supported it
financially. Thank you so much for that. We have out here – bottom line, we need you guys.
Really. Anytime somebody goes out of here, it is a team effort, right? I mean really. It’s
something. We have some cards here. Really would appreciate the prayers, and just come for a
visit. Why not? Come on. Okay. (Prayer).

Hey, there’s a couple of verses in Romans 13. We’re going to look at this to begin with. Tonight
we are going to speak about the armor of God and we know in Ephesians 6 it has kind of the bulwark
of that, right? It has all this, so tonight I’m going to look at a few other places in the Scripture that
talks about the armor of God. Romans 13:11, I don’t know about you but I have like, I feel like I am
in the end times. Things are escalating in my life. I used to be a ball player. Play baseball. Now,
I got to worry about every spot light, every camera, every – everyone is watching me. But they
send me mail too, so that’s not a problem. Can you believe the government wants you to tithe?
That’s horrible. Forty dollars here; forty dollars there.

Look at this. It’s telling us to wake up. vs. 12. You know it’s kind of football season here and I’ve
seen a couple highlights here and there because it’s not really that big of a thing until maybe
playoffs come and then it gets a little more exciting, right? It’s amazing in football when they get to the end of the game and they have something called “the two-minute warning.” It’s a two-
minute warning. What they are saying is there is only two minutes left of the game.

And you know what they do? They do things differently than what they do the whole rest of the
game. The whole rest of the game they are celebrating. They’re taking all kinds of time to get
back to the next play, but when it comes to the two-minute warning, it’s like there’s an urgency.
There’s something going on. People are recognizing listen. We only have a certain amount of
time. What does it say there? It’s high time to wake out of sleep. Our salvation is like so near.
And I really think – could it be we’re in the two-minute warning of life? God is saying there’s no
time to huddle up and have this and that. Come on. Just run the play. We have a vision. We
have a focus. We are going to score. Thanks be to God who has already given us the victory.
This is awesome. Put on the armor of light.

Do you know that in the football game, you will not find one person on that field that doesn’t
have pads, a helmet, cleats. They’re ready. They’re like yoked up, ready for whatever comes
their way. It doesn’t matter. Put on the armor of light. Don’t go into the battle, into the playing
field without the armor of light, and many other things, too.

So how does this actually kind of work? Psalm 36:9 it says for you, Lord, you are the fountain of
life and in your light we see light. That’s called divine perspective. When we come there and
we’re in the light of God and he starts showing us the way things are according to where he is
sitting, right? We see light in that way. So I like that. I’d really like to have a divine perspective, a
view, and I can see things in a different way. But how does that happen?

Well, Psalm 119 really opens up a lot of realities on that. vs. 130 says that the entrance of your
words bring light. We know this light is a lamp unto our path. We need it to go in whichever way
that we go and that means Medellin, Columbia, too. Or that means Bosnia I believe is where
Chad and Rae are going. Other people are going out. It’s incredible to have this kind of light.
Sometimes it’s like gosh, sometimes I’m not feeling at the top of my game. I’m feeling
inadequate. I’m not there. And then it’s so beautiful Isaiah 58:8 says that the glory of the Lord will
be your rear guard. Wow! Isn’t that beautiful? That’s beautiful armor, isn’t it? That the glory of

the Lord will be your rear guard, and what it’s doing is it’s letting you know that we’ve heard the
term, I got your back. Well, it’s one thing for me to say it, but it’s another thing that the Lord on
high says it to you. I’ve got your back. My glory. It will protect you back there.
Sometimes it’s physical, but many times it happens to be spiritual, that there’s certain attacks,
certain things. You know, there can be accusations coming from every side. The emotions,
they’re just running wild. And he says, hey. I’ve got your back. Don’t worry about that. Because
in the next verse it says you can call on me and I’m going to answer you. Yeah. I’m not going to
let it go on my answering machine. I’m gonna pick up. I hear you calling. And the beauty is that
even in that despair if you cry out to me, I’m going to give you the reality and I’m going to say,
here I am. I am with you. Wow! So beautiful.

But sometimes you don’t know the mistakes I’ve made. I feel disqualified. I feel like, you know,
I’m just down in a place where I can’t do a whole lot. And God, he’ll like in Psalm 3:3, oh man,
I’m going to be a shield about you. I’m going to be your glory. Guess what I’m going to do? I’m
going to be the lifter of your head. It’s a two-minute warning. Get going! Lift your head up! This is
what the Lord does for us, right? Really we are in these last days, so it’s a place where yes,
Lord. I want you to be a shield Wow! Just do this Lord. Just everywhere, the glory behind us.
He’s really the armor of light for us. And we see that God, he’s going to lift our head. He’s going
to be everything for us.

Then in Colossians 3:14, before it, it talks about listen. The world system is trying draw you to be in all
that the world has to offer. And God says there’s a much better life. This is awesome over here.
Put on the new man. Walk in it. And then in vs. 14. And above all things, put on love. Oh, man.
You know what I’m going to be doing this winter? Putting on love. Yep. Yep. Hey, if you’re
watching in Medillin, come on! Come on, man. Let’s go! Let’s have a love feast. I mean, really.
Why not? The weather’s great. The people down there are awesome. God has a call. Things
are going forward. Let’s put on love. Even your enemies have a hard time when you put on love.
They’re like man, I don’t even want to be around that guy. I get convicted, you know. But the
reality is, this is what God has done for us. So just remember, put on that love. Just know that
we will be remembering you in Medillin.

We’re so thankful for people that have done a lot of ground work for us. Steve and Paulette, God bless you. Wait until you meet these guys. They’re retired and they’re only retired from business. They’re ready. They’re rolling in the kingdom and it’s awesome. I think we’re going to have a prayer time now, right? Lucy, if you could come up.
Is Chad and Rae here? Okay. As Chad and Rae are walking up here, they have become our
closer friends this past year and a half. Wow! Remember these guys. It’s amazing that they will
be going – here. I’ll actually, I want you to say a little bit.

Chad Brockmeyer –

So, it’s Serbia we’re going to but maybe prophetically he was putting us in
Bosnia. We can believe that! We’re just really looking forward to joining Eva and P. Tomash and
just being part of a team, being part of a Body. That’s what this is about, being part of what God
is doing, his kingdom. (Prayer).

P. Renaldo –

Good evening. Greater Grace! Let’s turn to Ephesians 6. (Prayer). Happy New Year if
you follow that kind of thing. This time of year we usually evaluate our year, and we start
looking at the things we plan to do last year. We didn’t do it last year, so this year we promise to
do the things we didn’t do last year. How many of you did that? A whole bunch of things you
meant to clean up, fix up, remove, and you didn’t, so now it’s on your “Honey Do List” in 2022?
Okay.

Well, tonight’s theme is like a spiritual “Honey Do List.” The Armor of God. For many of us, we
have been hearing this message since Sunday School. And in many of our minds, it kind of sits
in Sunday School. I’ve kind of grown passed that. I know all about it. We all went to Sunday
School dressed up in armor with cardboard swords and a breastplate made of cardboard and
colored paper. How many of you did that? Yeah. Half of you in the room. You went to Vacation
Bible School and dressed up. You could barely move looking like a tin man instead of looking
like a soldier of Christ.

But Paul here in Ephesians 6, he’s kind of ending this letter on a crescendo. He’s kind of making his
emphasis. He’s been talking about walking through most of the letter. He talks about in chapter
2:10 of walking in good works. He talks in Ephesians 3:17 about not walking as Gentiles walk. Ephesians
4:1 he talks about walking worthy. In Ephesians 5:2 he talks about walking in love. Then he gets to
Ephesians 6 and he kind of transitions a little, so to speak. He says you have a walk with God
but in your walk there will be warfare. And when you got saved, nobody warned you about that.
They kind of gave you the milk and honey and the ice cream message. Yes! You’re going to be
saved. Everything is going to be amazing.

You sins are forgiven. The love of God is flowing through you and you’re just going to float through life, and you’re never going to make another mistake. And then three minutes later you realize, oh my goodness! It’s a lie! I made a mistake.
There’s actual warfare in our walk with God. Actually, it takes you a while. How many of you it
took you a while before you recognized there was actually warfare? That ws like a later lesson.
That was a latter lesson. You grow into realizing there is an adversary and there’s kind of
adversity.

He’s talking about that. He says you had a walk and now there’s warfare. He’s saying this: I’ve
shown you how to walk and now I’m going to show you how to walk with enemies in your war.
I’m going to show you how to walk. Paul told Timothy in 1 Timothy 1:18, you might war a good
warfare. We tend to think of warfare as something that comes in our life and it goes from our life
and it comes in our life and it goes in our life. And whenever we sense danger or problems,
okay, it’s warfare. But other than that, we are kind of oblivious to warfare. What’s great about
this church and this pulpit is the men who have led us in this church have always taught us
about warfare. It’s one of the primary subjects in this church. If you are in Greater Grace long
enough, you’re going to hear about warfare. We’ve been prepared for warfare cause it’s real. It’s
very real.

Paul says here in Ephesians 6:10, he gives all this counsel about marriage in chapter 4, about
children and family in chapter 5 and marriage, and he also talks about in chapter 6 about
masters and servants. He gives all this practical information about how to have wisdom in your
walk with God but then he says finally find your strength in God and God alone. That whatever
you face in your marriage, whatever you face in your job, whatever you face in the church, find
your strength in God, in God alone. Because if you look for strength in anything else, it will be
woefully inadequate. You will not be able to walk in strength outside of my own. You won’t find
it.

So he begins to prepare them for what’s coming. He says be prepared. Something is coming.
And he says further in vs. 12, he talks about this preparation. He says find your strength in God
because there is a wrestling match going on. And the word he uses there for wrestle is the only
time in the Bible that it exists. It speaks about a struggle, a physical hand-to-hand combat. And
the way he says it, he says it like it’s constant. #2. He says it like it’s personal. #3. He says it like
I am actively doing it.

In other words, we get this impression of warfare like I’m just walking around minding my
business and I get hijacked by someone. I get jumped. But Paul is saying here the wrestling is
me every moment of my life I’m engaged in a struggle. There is a struggle that is happening and
I am engaged in the struggle. He’s not saying it’s happenstance and by accident. I’m just an
innocent bystander in the plan of God and all of a sudden evil jumps at me! No, I’m complicit in
this. I’m actually wrestling myself. I am wrestling.

Then he makes it very clear who my enemy is. It’ s not people. People are not the enemy.
They’re the distraction but they are not the enemy. And if you get distracted by people, you’re
going to miss the enemy. You complain your entire life complaining about people. They’re just a
distraction. The real enemy that you are wrestling against is not people. This kind of physical
wrestling, the word here talks about hand-to-hand, close contact. It’s not distant. It’s really
personal, really upfront and I’m doing it. And I’m doing it. There’s energy. There’s a lot of tactics
that are involved in the wrestling. I’m doing it. And he’s saying it’s not people. Your problem is not people. The hindrances in your life are not people.

You spend so much emotion angry at people, and they’re not even the problem. It’s never people.
For we wrestle not against flesh and blood. It doesn’t matter whether the person is nice or
they’re not nice to me, whether I’ve offended or they’re offended, it’s never people. But then he
says in the conjunction “but” meaning what I’m saying now is more important than what I said.
You’re not wrestling against people but something more powerful. The struggle spiritually is
against something more powerful. It would be easy if your struggle was people. It would be a
fair fight if your struggle was people. If it’s you against me, I got a 50/50 shot. I catch you on a
bad day. I got a shot. But he’s saying I’m struggling against something I cannot beat without
God. Hollywood convinces you you can fight the devil in a whim. You see teenage women rising
up and they outsmart demons.

That’s fantasy. Ephesians 6:12 says we are fighting in a struggle that
without God we never win which is why he gives the counsel before, find your strength in me.
And here’s why, because your strength is never enough for what you face every day. It’s not
enough. It’s not enough.

Then he uses this word “against.” You’ll see it six times in this portion of Scripture. He keeps
saying “against” And it’s the word to be face to face with something. It’s the same word in John.
1:1 when it says the Word was facing God. It literally means in my warfare, I am face to face
with my problem, with my enemy. Every day, I am wrestling face to face against something
that’s not flesh and blood. Every day. Every day face to face conflict to the end. Face to face.
And then he goes on and he itemizes strategies of the devil, demons. He says there’s an evil
day. There’s an evil one in vs. 11 and he says there’s an evil day in vs. 13. There’s this struggle.
There’s this wrestling match. And then he says further in vs. 13. That’s interesting. We’ve been
hearing that since Sunday School, right? Take on the whole armor of God.

I want you to think about that tonight. Take on the whole armor of God. Why? Purpose clause. That you may be
able. What does that mean? That means without the armor of God, I’m never able. Not one time
which reemphasizes the point from vs. 12. I’m never able. I’m never strong enough. I’m not
enough. And your flesh kind of thinks you are. That’s why we don’t put on the armor. I think I’m
enough. I’m kind of spiritually tough guy. I can do it until days get rough. Then I say, okay, God.
Help! No, I’m never enough. The tough guy and the wimp, they both lose. They both lose. That’s
why I don’t put on the armor cause Philippians 3:4, I have confidence in the flesh. My flesh is enough.
Or you know I’ve been in this church for a long time. I no longer need armor. I’m the armor for
people. Are you kidding me? They put on me. Come on now! I’ve been to Bible school. I do
lunch raps once in a while. I’m that guy. Come on now! I don’t need armor. We all need armor.
The college professor and the new believer need armor.

What’s funny about this is Paul is saying put on armor for security and he’s writing from prison.
He’s writing from a place where he has no security, and he’s telling you to put on security. If
you’re reading this letter and you’re in the church in Ephesus, you’re saying Paul, you couldn’t
even protect yourself. Your armor from God didn’t protect you from prison. Right because the
armor from God does not always protect me from circumstances. Never assume because I have
on the armor of God bad things won’t happen. They do. Test and trials will not happen. They do.
But what does he say there in that verse? Put on, take on the whole armor of God that you may
be able to withstand the evil day. It doesn’t say avoid the evil day. It says withstand it. Survive it.
Get through it. Walk through it. Continue. It doesn’t block it. It sustains me through it.

Take it on. Take it on. And the way he says it, this put on, – he says it in a way where it’s urgent, but look at
the grace of God. It’s urgent but it’s your choice. It’s urgent but it’s your choice. It’s not by force.
But if you do it, he says it’s profitable for you. It’s not by force. Paul is saying as urgent as it is
for you to put on the armor of God, well if you chose not to, it’s okay. But you really need it. You
need it. It’s a call to the Body of Christ. It’s a call to the armor of God. It’s a call to God.
He goes on and he names the armor. For the sake of time I won’t go through that, but he
mentions kind of this tool belt of truth. You know why the truth is right there? Because when the
average person carried things, they didn’t have pockets back then. So everything that they
needed that they wanted to carry with them they hung off the girdle in the middle.

Imagine a guy in a construction site. He’s got a tool belt. He’s walking around and whatever he’s got to reach
for, it’s right here. So we have applicable truth for whatever situation occurs. There’s truth for it.
There’s truth for it. Then he mentions again in vs. 14 the breastplate of righteousness which is security for us. He
mentions shoes, feet with the Gospel which speaks about our direct walk with God, which
speaks about we have a message that directs our feet. Case in point. This church is sending
missionaries out. Evangelism. The shield of faith, the helmet of salvation, the sword of the Spirit,
– all these things are the armor of God. And then in vs. 18, it mentions the unseen weapon,
prayer.

But now you’re fully loaded. Okay, we’re believers now. Let’s ask ourselves this question. When
you read this verse, you hear this “take on the armor of God.” What do you think? What do you
think about the armor of God? You were in Sunday School. What does that mean? That means
I get up and I put on the armor, right? Who put on their armor today? Who put on your armor
today? Let me ask you a question. Why do you do that? Let me ask a different question. Why
wouldn’t you put on your armor? We all love protection, so why wouldn’t you put on your armor?
Why wouldn’t you do that? Maybe it’s not a question about desire. Maybe it’s a question about
design. Think about that for a second. Cause when you say put on the armor, that sounds like a
“me” work. Right? That sounds like a “me” work. You’ve been hearing it since you were eight
and ten years old. Do it, right?

You got this idea, okay. It’s Monday morning. I get up and put on the armor of God. And you
read through this portion of Scripture and you start putting these things on your body, right?
Does it fit? Did I put it on right? Did I forget something? And then when something bad happens
in your life you start asking, did I put on the whole armor? You load it up. You make sure it’s
secure. Yeah, I got the whole armor on. How can you be sure? And you go about your day like
a medieval knight in 2022.

What is the goal of the armor? The goal of the armor in vs. 11-14, is to stand. To stand. It
doesn’t say run. It doesn’t say walk. It says to stand. What is the purpose of the armor?
Protection so that I can stand. When you read this “put on” and that’s the key to the entire
portion of Scripture. Put on. When you hear that, what do you think? There’s something I have
to do. The word for “put on” there speaks about – on the surface it speaks about putting on
clothes like a clothing. It’s the same word used in Luke 15 which talks about the prodigal. When
he came home, his father put on the robe. Get the best robe to put on him. It sounds like
clothing. What you can put on, you can take off. You can take off. On the surface level and
that’s what it really means. On the surface. But when you dig a little deeper in that word for “put
on,” it actually means to sink into.

To immerse yourself. Now that’s not cardboard cutouts and figures you put on your body. It’s something different. It speaks about immersion, to sink into something. Now, the armor is not something I put on from the outside. It’s something I put on from the inside out. Now we got outside of Sunday School. Now it’s something a little bit
different.

It’s from the inside out. It’s not like I wake up and I put it on. I’m kind of sinking into something.
It’s from the inside out. Why? Because in Galatians 5:17, that’s where the war starts. The flesh lusts
against the spirit. Projections in the mind, 2 Corinthians 10:5. That’s where it’s coming at. So when we
say put on, really put on is not my job. To put on the armor of God is not my job. Cause when
have I ever put anything on myself spiritually? That’s God’s job. The Holy Spirit is the one who
applies the armor on me. The Holy Spirit is my armorbearer. The Holy Spirit is the one who
makes sure this gets put on me. There’s no way I can put on the armor of God without the Holy
Spirit. And there’s no way I can be Spirit filled and not be covered by the armor of God. The
Holy Spirit is my armorbearer. He puts it on.

When you read in vs. 10, it says “stay in.” that’s the key right there to the putting on. If I’m “in,”
I’m “on.” If I’m not in, I’m not on. Without vs. 10, vs. 11 doesn’t make sense. The Holy Spirit puts
the armor of God on my life. So when it says “put on,” I want you to reread that this way. Walk in. Not put on. Walk in. Galatians  5:15-16, when I walk in the Spirit, I walk in the armor of God. When
I’m filled with the Spirit, Ephesians 5:18, I’m filled with the armor of God. It’s not my job to self-check
and make sure I got all six pieces of the armor in their right places at the same time. Am I
wearing both shoes? Is the breastplate right? Not my job. If I walk by faith and filled with the
Spirit, I am covered by the armor of God and that includes the armor of light. All of that is mine
in the Spirit. All of that protection.

All of that power. All of that armor is what causes demons to tremble in James 2. It’s not pressure on Renaldo to make sure he puts on the armor. Did I get the helmet right? No. It’s not my job. I’m not called to that. He gives it right there when he says find your strength in God and in God, you will put on the armor of God. That’s not a work of the
flesh. Galatians 6:12, that’s a fair show in the flesh when I try to put something spiritual in my life
without God. When I walk in the Spirit, I am walking in the armor of God because is it not the
Holy Spirit who applies the truth around my loins? Is it not the Holy Spirit that imparts
righteousness over my life? Is it not the Holy Spirit that quickens my feet to the Gospel? Is it not
the Holy Spirit that provides me the strength for the shield of faith? Is it not the Holy Spirit that
reminds me in my mind about my salvation with God?

Is it not the Holy Spirit that guides the sword of the Spirit in my life, and is it not the Holy Spirit that leads me in prayer with the Father? Is it not the Holy Spirit? The most important part of this story is the one that is not mentioned,
the armorbearer, the Holy Spirit. It is the Holy Spirit. If there is anything I want to have for my
life in 2022, I want more fellowship with the armorbearer. I want more connection with the
armorbearer.

We said it on Grace Hour today. I want to be lead in Romans 8:14. What does it mean to be lead?
When I submit my life to God’s plan and let God guide me through his plan. I want to be Spirit
led. The Holy Spirit is my armorbearer. As beautiful of a story it is in Sunday School, I want
something more than that. I don’t want to stand in front of my spiritual mirror and wonder which
piece is missing. When I got the Holy Spirit, I got everything piece in place. Every piece in place.
Then I can have confidence and not worry about if something happened to me because I had
incomplete armor. In the Spirit, there is no such thing as incomplete armor. I either have the
armor on or I have the armor off. I’m either in the Spirit or I’m not in the Spirit. There’s no gray
area. There’s nothing in between.

I want to get passed the mechanical of trying to live out those things in Ephesians 6 and I want to live in those things organically through my relationship with the Holy Spirit. Frankly, the armor of God is the fruit of a relationship being directed and Spirit guided. It’s a result of being Spirit filled. It doesn’t lead me to Spirit filling. It’s a result of being
Spirit filled. Put on means walk in. Walk in the armor of God by walking in the Spirit. When you
do, you will find strength and might and protection that is ours in Christ.

Amen.

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