Month: June 2018

Many of the Spiritual Battles we lose in life are often caused by a lack of Spiritual Preparation. In any battle fight or competition preparation is critical. Most of us love to perform but we hate to prepare. I can still hear the words of NBA superstar Allen Iverson, “PRACTICE.” Paul warns the church of its need to be prepared for Spiritual Warfare. Paul calls the church at Ephesus and believers of all ages to be spiritually prepared to fight in the war against the enemies of our faith and practice.

In Ephesians 6:10-13, He starts with A Command – Be Strong in the Lord. Which is a command to have our Dependency Properly Aligned.

A good soldier must know where their strength resides. Our strength is not in ourselves nor our efforts for we are no match for the devil and his demons. Nor is our strength in our gifts and abilities. It is in the Lord.

After telling us what to do Paul then tells us how to do it The Method, “Put on God’s Armor.”

Our Strength for battle is found in our obedience to Paul’s word. This command is in the middle voice, meaning the subject is to do the action and actually benefits from the action he does. This places the responsibility on us.

David knew he could not beat Goliath with Saul’s armor. So he refused it for he had never used it and it was never designed for Him it was designed for Saul.

God has specific armor that is tailor made for His people to do battle with our enemies.

Paul gives us the Command the Method and then the Reason – In order that you might be able to STAND against the schemes of the devil.

We must understand that the devil doesn’t have any new material. He uses the same schemes and strategy to try to defeat us.

He knows he can’t Condemn us so he tries to Corrupt us.

Paul Conclusion – Put on God’s Full Armor in Order to Stand.

Paul restates a previous command, we are to be fully prepared for the attacks of the devil.

The goal is for us to Perform by STANDING and we can only Stand by PREPARING.

May God give us the grace to see the necessity of our need of HIM in the Spiritual Battles we will face. (Phil. 4:13)

II Kings 4:8-9

I Perceive he is a Holy Man of God.

Elder DJ Ward was the very humble Pastor/Teacher of the Main Street Baptist Church in Lexington KY. He was a very Loving, Fiery and Gifted Man of God. (seen in picture above)

His influence and impact upon my life is for another day, but he was the first preacher I heard expound upon this passage. Wow! Great explanation and application of the text. Now I will make a feeble attempt to share with you.

Holiness will never be appreciated from ones lips if it hasn’t become to pursuit of one’s life. Word and Witness are directly connected and are inseparable. There must be a nobility in the Preacher in order for there to be nobility in his preaching.

John 1:1, Jesus is identified as God’s Son the Divine Logos, or Word. By identifying his Son as his Word, God reveals that his message and his person are inseparable. The Word embodies him and He embodies the Word.

Although they are not inspired, Aristotle’s classic rhetorical distinctions can be helpful to a preacher to consider your basic responsibilities. Aristotle contended that every persuasive message is made up of at least three components.

The first is called Logos historically. What does logos mean in Greek? It means “word.” It is the words, it is the verbal content. Logos is the verbal content of the message. It includes not only the words used but also the argument used, its craft, and the logic of the message. What is the verbal message? That is the logos part of the message.

A second major component of any message is Pathos, which is the emotive content. Pathos is the passion, emotion, or feeling with which something is expressed.

The final component of every persuasive message is Ethos. Ethos is the perceived character of the speaker. What is the key adjective there? “Perceived.” It is not the actual character of the speaker. You may say, “Well, I know I am not like that!” Well, how are you being perceived? Ethos is the perceived character of the speaker.

That is one of the reasons logos and pathos are so important.

What is your character perceived to be if you are disorganized? It seems that you do not care.

What is perceived about you if you do not speak with passion? It is perceived that you do not care. You may care very much! But by not giving careful to logos and pathos, ethos is damaged.

What everyone has known throughout the centuries, if you were evaluating the importance of these three—logos, pathos, and ethos —which is the most important for persuading people? Ethos, the perceived character of the speaker.

People listen to character, and the character becomes part of the vehicle for hearing the Word of God. That is why the apostle would say, “We put no stumbling block in anyone’s path, so that we don’t discredit our ministry.”(2 For. 6:3)

It is our character that we recognize as part of the means by which people hear the Word of God. The path of the Gospel is the Word. We would recognize that the Word of God is what convinces. But somehow the listener has to get into contact with the Word because of the Speaker. Therefore, we tell the meaning of the Word—that is logos, the verbal content. But if we have heart feelings, passion that does not show, if our manner contradicts our message, that becomes a barrier to people hearing the content of the Word. And of course, if our character does not reflect the meaning of the Word, then people will say, “What you do speaks so loudly I cannot hear what you say.” Therefore, character becomes part of the point as well.

Fruitful ministry comes when people have the proper perception of you. Elisha was a Mysterious man not an Ordinary man. This woman’s perception of Elisha came from what she saw in his character. His living before God prepared him to be Speak for God. He became known in the street before he was known in the pulpit. I’m not talking about the perfection of a man but the proper projection of the man.

Be careful about Clutter in your life. Clutter can be a hindrance to Productivity.

MAY GOD GRANT US THE GRACE NEEDED FOR OUR PURSUIT OF CHRIST-LIKENESS

A Sound Word

Philippians 3:14