The Shield of Faith
February 5 | DNA Guide
Be Real Together
Take a few minutes to catch up, tell stories, and laugh together. Trust and friendship take time to build. If you’re launching a new DNA, one person should tell their story — what do we need to know about you? Next week, have another person in your DNA share their story.
Read Together: Ephesians 6:10-20 CSB
Grow Together: Observe & Apply
This Sunday, we continued on in our sermon series: “The Armor of God.” This sermon series focuses on some of the offensive and defensive tools God has given us to overcome the challenges we face as we follow Jesus.
This week, Pastor Sean spoke about The Shield of Faith.
So, what is faith? Faith is one of the aspects of Christian life that we have to be constantly working at. This is because faith is active, it is not passive. Faith is not: Some flimsy, ambiguous virtue or blind optimism. Faith is: Complete TRUST and Confidence in something/someone that has proven faithful time and time again. (Read Hebrews 11:1) The shield Paul was talking about was used for full body defense and built to withstand various attacks.
Here is what we know about the Shield of Faith:
Faith is the weapon that stops lies dead in their tracks. We have an enemy whose greatest weapon is lies, often in the form of accusations. We are constantly being bombarded and often we don’t even realize it.
John Stott says:
“The devil’s darts no doubt include his mischievous accusations which inflame our
conscience with what (if we are sheltering in Christ) can only be false guilt. Other darts are unsought thoughts of doubt and disobedience, rebellion, lust, malice or fear. But there is a shield with which we can quench or extinguish all such fire-tipped darts. It is the shield of faith.”
Our faith, when combined with other believers, helps us endure and advance in the battle. You need other believers in your life to strengthen your faith. If you are going to endure and advance the mission, you can’t dodge community. Hebrews 3:12-13 says we need to watch out for each other so that evil won’t creep into our hearts and cause us to turn our backs on God.
12 Watch out, brothers and sisters, so that there won’t be in any of you an evil, unbelieving heart that turns away from the living God. 13 But encourage each other daily, while it is still called today, so that none of you is hardened by sin’s deception. (Hebrews 3:12-13 CSB)
Questions to Discuss:
This week, Pastor Sean spoke about The Shield of Faith.
So, what is faith? Faith is one of the aspects of Christian life that we have to be constantly working at. This is because faith is active, it is not passive. Faith is not: Some flimsy, ambiguous virtue or blind optimism. Faith is: Complete TRUST and Confidence in something/someone that has proven faithful time and time again. (Read Hebrews 11:1) The shield Paul was talking about was used for full body defense and built to withstand various attacks.
Here is what we know about the Shield of Faith:
Faith is the weapon that stops lies dead in their tracks. We have an enemy whose greatest weapon is lies, often in the form of accusations. We are constantly being bombarded and often we don’t even realize it.
John Stott says:
“The devil’s darts no doubt include his mischievous accusations which inflame our
conscience with what (if we are sheltering in Christ) can only be false guilt. Other darts are unsought thoughts of doubt and disobedience, rebellion, lust, malice or fear. But there is a shield with which we can quench or extinguish all such fire-tipped darts. It is the shield of faith.”
Our faith, when combined with other believers, helps us endure and advance in the battle. You need other believers in your life to strengthen your faith. If you are going to endure and advance the mission, you can’t dodge community. Hebrews 3:12-13 says we need to watch out for each other so that evil won’t creep into our hearts and cause us to turn our backs on God.
12 Watch out, brothers and sisters, so that there won’t be in any of you an evil, unbelieving heart that turns away from the living God. 13 But encourage each other daily, while it is still called today, so that none of you is hardened by sin’s deception. (Hebrews 3:12-13 CSB)
Questions to Discuss:
- Search your heart: what lies are you believing today about yourself or others? What would it look like for you to replace those lies with truth?
- Do you have other believers in your life to help you endure and advance in the battle? If yes, how has being in community helped strengthen your faith? If not, what would be helpful for you to start getting connected?
- If you’re honest, where are you putting your faith today? Is it in Jesus or somewhere/someone else?
Pray Together
Dear Heavenly Father,
Please remind our hearts to take up the shield of faith today. Would you give us clarity as to where we may be believing lies about ourselves or others? We thank you for the gift of our church and community! Thank you, Lord, for equipping us for battle. In Jesus’ name, AMEN.
Please remind our hearts to take up the shield of faith today. Would you give us clarity as to where we may be believing lies about ourselves or others? We thank you for the gift of our church and community! Thank you, Lord, for equipping us for battle. In Jesus’ name, AMEN.