"Keep Standing"

Ephesians 6:16 "Above all, taking the shield of faith, wherewith ye shall be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked."

Faith is an amazing thing, isn't it? For the Christian, it is faith that either makes or breaks us. When the darts come, make sure your faith is in its proper place, because when the darts are coming at you, they are coming at your faith first.

Keep your faith exercised and make sure you know how to use it, the rest of the armour is dependant upon how strong your shield of faith is.

"Having done all to stand, stand therefore!" Ephesians 6:13b - 14a

"It's a brand new day"

II Corinthians 5:17 "Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away, behold all things are become new."

Can you imagine if we never went to sleep? No, really, stop for a moment and ponder on that question. Can you imagine if we never had to sleep? Some of you are thinking about the number of things you would be able to accomplish through out your day, aren't you? That we definitely could do. But I want you to think about one of the benefits of a good nights rest.

One of the benefits of a good nights rest is the fact that when we wake up (most of the time) it is a brand new day. A brand new day, with its own challenges, its own victories, and its own losses. If we never slept or got any rest, we would miss out on that feeling we have when we wake up in the morning to face a new day. Now, I know there are those mornings when we would love to just crawl back in bed and sleep the day away. I'm not talking about one of those mornings.

The Bible says that, "all things are become new" when we get saved. Just like a new day, we have a new outlook on life. We must start looking at our lives differently. Living them only for Him. We have been given a brand new day, let's make the most of it.

"Spiritual Weapons"

Ephesians 6:12 "For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places."

It is very clear from this verse that a war being waged against the saints of God. As Christians, we are the enemy of the devil and those that follow him. They are encamped all around us. They are watchful and stay on alert. They are aggressive and roused to fury!

Don't be too alarmed though, because we have a mighty weapon of faith and prayer. No matter your status on this earth, you can still move the heavenly forces into action. As you utter your words to our heavenly Father rest assured that hears each uttered breath you make.

As you face the opposing enemy today, remember to make good use your weapons of pray and faith.

"Speaking of..."

Romans 1:8 "First, I thank my God through Jesus Christ for you all, that your faith is spoken of throughout the whole world."

I want you to pay close attention to this verse this morning. I know that it is written to the church at Rome, but I want you to notice something that Paul said to them here.

Look at the last phrase, "that your faith is spoken of throughout the whole world." Now look at the words, "Your faith". I am being very specific this morning, I know. Just stay with me, the point is coming.

When people speak of you, what do they saying? I have always lived my life as someone who doesn't really care what people think of me. I have thought before, "If they don't like me, tough." Does it really matter what people think of us? Ultimately, I know that the only one that matters is God. However, our faith should be known among other people. I have come to a conclusion this morning, that because of "my faith" it does matter what other people think of me.

When people think about or speak of Aaron Smith, I want them to think of a Godly man that did is best to live his best for the cause of Christ. It does matter what people think.

What is it about you that everyone is talking about? Let's hope it is our faith and our relationship with Christ.

"What do you think about God?"

Psalm 19:1 "The heavens declare the glory of God; and the firmament sheweth his handiwork."

I am convinced that there is nothing more important than what we as people think about God. What we think about God shapes our standards. It motivates us in how we look at fortune, fame, power and pleasure. It develops our strength when we are tempted. It determines how we live our lives and view other people. Our thoughts and how we approach God is the foundation upon which everything rests.

Can you see the value of knowing God? Lift up your eyes. Behold His glory, let it be high and lifted up. His kingdom will not fail. That's the God I serve. What about you?

"What's your schedule look like?"

I remember when I first got married, I heard a preacher say something like this, "You young preachers need to learn to live your life by a schedule. If you don't schedule your time so you don't waste it. . . Schedule time with your family and your wife." I thought that sounded great. I bought myself a day-timer calendar book and started scheduling everything. I think I may have even written down shower times. One time I wrote down, "Spend time with Rachel." I thought I was doing a great thing, scheduling time with my wife. Boy was I wrong! When she saw that in my day-timer that I had scheduled time to be her, she told me that I she was my wife not an appointment. And she didn't like being scheduled into a day-timer. She wanted to know that I wanted to spend time with her because I wanted to, not just because It was a scheduled thing that I had to do.

Our relationship with God shouldn't be any different. I am all for scheduling time for prayer and Bible reading. If the only reason we are doing it is because we have scheduled it, we are not going to get the most out of our relationship with God.

Being a Christians needs to be more than just what we do, it needs to become who we are.

Spend time with God today, not because you have to, but because you want too.

"What do you look like?"

Romans 8:29 "...to be conformed to the image of His Son."

A sculptor was going to make a horse out of a huge block of marble, and as he was just beginning his work on it, someone came along and asked, "How are you going to do that?"

The sculptor replied, "It's simple. I just start chipping away, and I chip away anything that doesn't resemble a horse."

And so it ought to be so in the lives of Christians today. God starts out with the big block of our lives. He begins to chip away at them. What is He molding us into to? As He chips, He is trying to rid the rough and ragged edges off our lives and mold us into an image that would resemble His Son.

In order to for God to begin chipping away on our lives we must first surrender our lives to Him. To often we submit our lives and God begins the chipping process. Then it gets uncomfortable so we remove ourselves from the process because we don't like how it feels. Then we go back, then we leave again, then we go back, then we leave again. What a process we go through! Would it not be easier to let God just finish what He began in our lives? Let God continue what He began in you - conforming you "to the image of His Son."