Be Strong in the Lord

Whenever any of God's people get serious about having a greater obedience to God's word, whenever they become more zealous for the growth of Christ's kingdom, and whenever they actually begin to reach out to the unsaved people around them, there always comes opposition from the devil and those fallen spirits who are with him. We as a local church must better understand how we can arm ourselves for the spiritual battle that is already upon us, as we are now attempting to follow Christ and preach Christ. This battle for the advancement of Truth can only be engaged in when we have the strength for it. This is what Ephesians 6: 10-20 is speaking of. And so, this afternoon, I would like to speak to you about strength for the spiritual warfare. In this first sermon on verse 10, I will use the outline from William Gurnall's book, “The Christian in Complete Armour”. The material will mostly be my own. In looking at the 10th verse we find 1st – A Familiar Designation – Paul calls the believers at Ephesus – “Brethren”. 2nd – He gives to them, and to us, an Exhortation – “Be Strong”. 3rd – There is a Cautionary Direction annexed to the exhortation. (“Be strong - In the Lord”) And 4th – There is an Encouraging Amplification of the direction when he says be strong – “in the Power of His Might”.