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Scripture: Ephesians 6:10-14 Listen Link: www.lcepc.org then look for “sermons” tab. In recent news: May 31, 2019, in VIRGINIA BEACH, Va. — A Virginia Beach police officer is alive after being shot by the person who walked into the city’s municipal center and killed 11 people Friday. The officer was one of six people hurt in the shooting. “I can tell you that one of the individuals shot by the suspect is a Virginia Beach police officer and he was saved by his vest,” Police Chief Jim Cervera said. Body armor has changed a lot since the days of the Roman soldiers, but it still essentially does the same thing.   It protects your vital organs by providing a hard and nearly impenetrable shell, so that projectiles and sharp objects do no harm, or at least a lot less harm, when you are under attack. But do you wonder why Christians need to be dressed in God’s armor? Are you really under attack? You seem to live a peaceful life. You’re not struggling financially, much. But you trust

Scripture: Ephesians 6:10-14 Listen Link: www.lcepc.org then look for “sermons” tab. Ephesians 6:14, “Stand firm then, with the belt of truth buckled around your waist.” I once had a conversation with an engineer. He was highly intelligent, highly skilled in construction techniques, sort of like our good friend Lee Reibels, except that my friend in Maine was not a Christian. He once shared with me his ideas about faith. He said faith is what you’re using when you look at train tracks and it looks like they come together in the distance. You know what I mean right, when you look at a long straight pair of train tracks, stretching straight out all the way to the horizon, it looks like out there in the distance they get closer together, it even looks like maybe they get closer and closer together until somewhere far out there in the distance, they meet. Then he says to me, “Well, you know seeing is believing, right? So, if you see that, then you are going to believe that they r

Scripture: Ephesians 6: 10-18 Listen Link: www.lcepc.org then look for “sermons” tab. Somehow, whenever I read this passage, I feel a little bit like David, who tried on King Saul’s armor just before he went out to fight Goliath. In that story, David said, “I can’t wear all this stuff. I’m not used to it.” So, he went to battle dressed in his own clothes, as a shepherd boy, with just his slingshot. I suppose I feel this way for the same reason you would. None of us is used to armor. We think of that metal stuff from the Middle Ages. It’s so last century, 5 centuries ago! We’re not even soldiers, just civilians. Oh, some of us are veterans. You guys have a little better understanding about body armor and its value in war. But we’re not even at war. At least, the lives we live don’t look like we’re at war. And yet, as a Christian, having heard this kind of thing before, you would probably agree that there really is a war on. It is a spiritual battle. But it is very real. The diff

Scripture: Revelation 13:10 On the very first Independence Day, during the signing of the Declaration of Independence, each signer knew that he was putting his life on the line. It was like signing your own death warrant. It was Ben Franklin who put it this way, “Gentlemen, we must all hang together, or we will most assuredly hang separately.” We honor these men for their courage and commitment to the cause of freedom that we are celebrating today, having now enjoyed more than 200 years of religious and political liberty. So why, on such an auspicious occasion, would I want to quote the ominous words of Rev 13:10? “If anyone is to go into captivity, into captivity they will go. If anyone is to be killed with the sword, with the sword they will be killed.” This calls for patient endurance and faithfulness on the part of God’s people.” Our text for today of course speaks of the terrible times that will come in the last days. And don’t all believing Christians believe that we are