The Daring Dedication to Defy and Deflect Demonic Darts

Ephesians chapter 6, if you ain't got anything to say, at least come up with a good title.

Ephesians 6 · chapter mention

The daring dedication to defy and deflect demonic darts.

That's our responsibility as believers who put our faith in the Lord, and we need to because we're in a war.

It's not a war overseas, even though all those wars that you watch on television are influenced by this war.

It's not a political war, although we're in the midst of one.

And it sure is the evidence of a larger war.

The war I speak of is an unseen, invisible war, but more real than what we see.

It's a spiritual war that influences and evades all of those wars that you see in life.

It's bigger than what we see.

And I believe we need to recognize it, and I believe that for what it is,

and do what we need to do to stand strong spiritually in the midst of it.

The Apostle Paul tells us how to do that, and he explains the spiritual attributes that we're to have,

and he describes them as an armor of protection provided for us by God.

And the key to that protection is our faith in God.

I want you to listen to how he explains it.

It's in Ephesians 6, verse 16.

Ephesians 6:16

It says,

Defying, deflecting, even extinguishing the flaming demonic darts that are headed our way

is the duty of those who put their faith in Christ,

those who've dedicated their life to Christ.

It's only by the power of God, it's only by our trust and our dependence upon God that it works.

And Paul calls that a shield of faith.

Now, the shield that he talks about is not one of those Captain America type shields, okay?

There's a word for that in the Greek, but that's not the one he uses.

Not Captain America, that's not in the Greek.

But the shield type, the small type of shield, no, what he's speaking of here is much larger than that.

It's the size of a small door, usually about two and a half feet wide, about four feet long.

It's like a riot gear shield, if you will.

It's made of wood and iron and often layered with linen and then with leather on top of that.

And often dipped in water before battle.

And you say, why by water?

Because arrows were dipped in tar and set on fire.

Why would they do that?

Well, if you live in a thatch hut and you go under a fiery attack by the darts of those that are arrows that are being shot,

you're in trouble, okay?

Your house will burn down.

So in the same kind of effect, whatever that fire hit could cause all kinds of problems.

And so they often did that.

And soldiers relied upon their shields.

A historian from early days said that there was a soldier that came in one day after battle with 200 previously fiery darts stuck in his shield.

They relied upon them.

When pursuing another army in battle, the soldiers would line up and form a wall.

They called it a phalanx.

And the shields there, they would get together and serve in that capacity.

And those shields, not only could they stoop behind them, but if you'll notice, the second and third roads could use them as rooftops to keep from fiery darts coming.

The shields were hooked together, kind of like chairs in an auditorium you see sometimes.

They could hook them together at times, making for a wall of defense.

And that's the kind of protection that the Apostle Paul says that we need against the fiery darts of the evil one.

Now when we say fiery darts, what do we mean?

Well, I want to spend my time this morning identifying the darts that we are to expect,

and then to learn how to defy and deflect them.

The evil one loves to shoot his fiery darts.

One of them is he loves to shoot the fiery dart of misdirection.

Temptation is simply defined as attempts of the evil one to throw us off our path that God has for us.

Satan wants to redirect us, and one of the clearest ways that he does that is mentioned in 1 John 2, verse 15 through 17.

1 John 2:15–17

When John wrote,

Do not love the world or the things in the world.

If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him.

For that is in the world.

For all that is in the world, listen to this,

the desires of the flesh and the desires of the eyes and the pride of life.

And it's not from the Father, but it's from the world.

And the world is passing away along with its desires, but whoever does the will of God abides forever.

Do you know what will throw us off of God's path for our life?

One thing that will throw us off is answering our every yearning.

That is what John calls the desires of the flesh.

Just because we get a craving for something does not mean we have to answer that craving.

God made us with an appetite for food, drink, sensuality,

and the devil loves to lead us to make any and all of those things be our focus.

We can become driven by our yearnings if we're not careful.

They're innate, they're natural, therefore we feel like sometimes they're justified.

However, Satan misdirects us, and we'll follow his lead, and it'll make for a mess.

You eat too much, not only will it ruin your night, but it'll ruin your health,

and it can sabotage your self-esteem as well, quite honestly.

It'll bring you down, and Satan likes doing that kind of thing.

You drink too much, it'll ruin not only your health, it'll ruin your family.

It'll ruin your testimony.

I just advise you to stay away from it completely.

If you become too sexually driven, it'll destroy us from the inside out, the Apostle Paul said.

He said sexual sin is a sin against your own body.

I just want you to think about the heyday that Satan's having today in a world that so celebrates sexual deviance.

Porn is at an all-time high.

Sexual deviance is applauded by society.

And all of it comes back to not surrendering to the base desires that the Lord's given us,

but Satan loves to throw darts in there and mix up the matter and misdirect us.

He loves to throw us off our game.

He wants us to answer our every yearning.

The second way we get in trouble is getting what we want.

I gotta have it.

That's the desire of the eyes that he mentions.

That deep desire to always want more.

We get something new and the luster wears off.

We gotta get something else quicker.

Now we need something more.

We like what we have until we find out somebody else has got something better than us.

And now we gotta go get what they've got.

God wants us to give him reign over our stuff.

And one of the valuable tools of that is when we faithfully tithe to the Lord.

Because we remember when we do that, you should anyway, that God owns everything that I have.

I'm just to be a steward of that.

And he instructs me in how to give back to him.

And quite honestly, most of us, when we faithfully tithe to the Lord,

we have to say no to some things in order to do that.

Tithing helps us prioritize what really matters.

But the devil would love for us to overextend.

The devil would love for us to be drowning in debt.

The devil would love for us to feel incapable of being obedient to God

because of things that we've already committed to.

That's what the desire of the eyes speaks of.

But it also talks about looking better than everybody else.

That's what the pride of life talks about.

He wants us to think that we're the most important things in life.

Period.

And if we are a little better than everybody else,

then, you know, we can feel hateful towards somebody

if they try to succeed and do better than us.

It's the pride of life.

We just want to be a little bit better than somebody else.

And the reality is we make dumb decisions in order for that to happen.

And all of those things are darts of misdirection.

But not only that, the devil also shoots fiery darts of misfortune.

And what I mean by that is it's not what happens to you.

It's what happens to what happens to you.

Life is rough.

We're born into a fallen world.

Our bodies get sick.

We have hurts along the way.

Life is rough.

And then we go on Facebook or Instagram or some other social media

and see that life's not rough for anybody else but us.

Everything's grand on those social media.

I mean, they go to the finest places.

They have the finest things, eat the finest meals.

They're always smiling, you know.

Those family picture days.

They're always just wonderful, you know.

They never show the fight that they had all the way at the house getting ready

about what they were going to wear and whether it was ready or not

or all the way out there.

Ask the photographer.

They'll tell you about how y'all act.

I checked it out.

But anyway, all that makes us feel worse when we see somebody else so glowing

and we realize that everything in life is just not going to glow.

Life's bad enough at times.

But when the devil gets mixed in there, it really makes things confusing.

When somebody gets so down that they don't seem to be able to look up

and then they're concerned about maybe they need to take their own life,

where in the world does that kind of thought come from?

I'll tell you where it comes from.

It comes from the evil one.

He works in people to do that.

He'll tear us down.

When somebody faces a health trial or a relationship trial

and they walk away from their relationship with God

because they feel overwhelmed by their difficulty,

why in the world would you walk away from God when you're going through a trial?

Why in the world would you do that?

Because the devil twists and turns and those things.

He loves to isolate.

And he'll drive you mad when he can.

And why does somebody walk in an establishment and start shooting?

Why in the world would somebody do that?

I'm telling you, it's a spiritual battle.

It's the evil one.

And he loves to jump on us in times of misfortune.

He loves to jump on us when we're down.

He loves to do that.

Be aware that when times are tough, the fiery darts are going to come.

I mean, they are.

He loves to hit on misfortune.

Another time he shoots fiery darts is through mistruths.

He does it through mistruths.

John 8 verse 44 says that Satan is a liar and the father of lies.

John 8:44

He'll tell us that we are worth nothing.

He'll tell us that nobody really loves us.

Listen, I got news for you today.

Jesus died for you.

And if you were in Christ, don't you dare listen to that liar.

You're a king's kid.

You are royal.

You got royal rich blood rolling in your veins.

You're a plutocrat.

Don't you dare listen to the deceiver.

He'll criticize you.

He'll call you a hypocrite.

He'll tell you to give up.

Don't you do it.

You walk with God.

You ask for forgiveness of God.

And by the power of the blood of the Lamb, walk away from the garbage that Satan throws in front of you.

Don't be naive.

And don't be slowed by it.

Don't you do it.

Keep moving forward for the Lord because Satan is a liar.

And he'll tell you that no one will know what you do.

He'll tell you that it'll be okay.

He'll tell you that it won't cost you anything.

He'll tell you that you can't change.

He'll tell you that it will make you change all of its lies, my friend.

He's the father of lies.

And it's just darts of mistruth.

He also shoots darts of mixed motives.

you'll hear whispers

not audible louder than that

why go all the way with God

why go all the way for God

why can't you just go halfway

you don't have to get so sold out on something

why should God prioritize your life

do what you need to do

do what you want to do

you don't have to go to worship

you don't have to get fully invested with those people

life's busy enough

plus there's somebody in that church

you probably got a problem with

the clothes may not be as new as theirs

you don't know where to sit

all of that stuff

he's just messing with us

he's just messing with us

he's just trying to confuse us

and he'll work us up to make us angry too

he'll make you mad at somebody

if he can

I ask you today

is there somebody you need to forgive

are you refusing to forgive somebody

well I'm going to tell you

if you're a child of God

and you've got a lack of forgiveness in your heart

you've allowed the evil one to influence you in that

you bitter towards somebody

that's the evil one messing with you

it's the devil

your lack of forgiveness

you're taking the fiery darks

your bitter feelings

you're taking the fiery darks

why

does my mind wonder

when I pray

I think man I need to get up and go take care of that

you know I'm praying about this

but I can get up and go take care of that

why is that

because listen

the power is in prayer

the power is not in what we do

the power is in prayer

and doing what God tells us

Satan don't want you praying

and so he'll try his best to mess that up

why does your morning get filled up

and the word get pinched out

I'm telling you it's the evil one

why do fun opportunities always come on Sunday

you ever wondered about that

why does that happen

you know

pinch us out of church

why does that happen

I'm going to tell you something

everything is not

I'm not that guy

okay

I'm not that guy

but I'm just telling you

the devil strategizes

to keep you

out from under the preaching of God's word

the worship of the Lord

and to be with God's people

he wants his best

to distract that

and he'll throw darts along the way

and try his best

to make that happen

so how do you stand against

darts of misdirection

misfortune

mistruths and mixed motives

we do it with the shield of faith

we are protected

from the fiery darts

of the evil one

by our trust

and our hope

in the Lord

Hebrews 11 1

defines faith for us in scripture

says now faith is the assurance

of things hoped for

the conviction of things not seen

simply put

faith is believing

and then applying

what you believe

faith is the truth

so let me explain it

let me tell you what faith is this morning

and I'll close

faith

is trusting

in the character of God

it's trusting in God's character

he knows what he's doing

he knows what we're doing

he knows why we're doing it

and he knows what's best for us

God is on it

he knows the circumstances

and not only that

is he's pursuing you

when your walk

gets strained

before the Lord

who convicts you

it's the Lord

that reaches out to you

he walks with us

he talks with us

listen

Jesus said he had

the hairs

on our heads

numbered

for some of us

that ain't as hard

as it used to be

but either way

that

what he means by that

is he knows

what we need

he knows

when we need it

not only that

but he loves us

so dearly

that he came

to live for us

to die for us

to rise again for us

to sit at the right hand

of the Father

and make intercession for us

while he's preparing for us

an eternal place

faith is trusting

that all of that is true

and that God is

who he says he is

not only that

but he knows all

I mean we get caught up

in the worries of the day

we worry about

what's going to happen

this afternoon

we worried about

what's going to happen

tomorrow

we were worried

yesterday

and we got through it

we made it

because we can't see

what God sees

so we have to trust

his sight

what in the world

are we worried about

for our 20th anniversary

years ago

Dawn and I

went to

New York City

and we went

for the Macy's Day

Thanksgiving Parade

she always wanted to see

the Macy's Thanksgiving Parade

and so we went to the

Macy's Thanksgiving Parade

we went to Central Park

and saw them blow

begin to blow those floats up

the night before

and to get those ready

and then we got on the subway

and nearly lost our lives

and

and then we

we walked out of the hotel

and went down

a few blocks

and stood

about eight people back

in the Macy's Day

Thanksgiving Parade

boy what a red letter day

for me

but anyway

and so we were

we were standing there

watching that

and

and here comes a float

here comes somebody

who's that

they're on a show

ain't they

yeah

I know her

and then she went by

and then he went by

yeah I've seen that dude

he's a star

ain't he

yeah he's somebody

where's Santa

you know

and Santa's always in the back

and we watched float

by float

by float

and there's a bunch of them

that went by

but while we were watching that

there was a helicopter

above us

that was watching

the whole thing

and

every other year

we'd cut that on

on Thanksgiving morning

and

and

and let that

let that show

and

they'd show that view

that that helicopter shows

and

they'll show you

the whole path

that that parade goes

two and a half miles

we had walked it

the night before

to go see the floats

and

and

they'll show you

that whole path

there

and

but while we were there

we just saw it afloat

at a time

the reality is

we live life

afloat at a time

a day at a time

a year at a time

we don't know

what's coming next

we know there's an end

in sight

somewhere

but we don't know

when that is

we're just watching it

as it goes by

but God

has a helicopter view

God sees the beginning

God sees the end

he sees everything

in

between

he knows us

better than we know

ourselves

he loves us

more than we could ever imagine

and he is already

in our

tomorrow's

and he has the reputation

to put us

at ease

faith is trusting

in the character

of God

think about when David

walked down in that valley

Goliath was representing

the Philistines down in that valley

and

David refused to wear

Saul's army

scripture says Saul was a head

taller than everybody else

and I think it means that

in a couple of different ways

one I believe

talks about his physical stature

but I also believe

man Saul was something else

you know

and David couldn't wear that armor

it was too big for him

he didn't want to wear that armor anyway

he just went with what God

had trained him

and trusted him with

and that was a slingshot

he had prepared him

and he put his trust in God

and he walked down in that valley

and spoke to that giant

and it says in 1st Samuel chapter 17

verse 45 through 47

some of my favorite scripture

then David said to the Philistine

you come to me

today

excuse me

you come to me

with a sword

and with a spear

and with a javelin

but I come to you

in the name of the Lord of hosts

the God of the armies of Israel

whom you have defiled

this day

the Lord will deliver you

into my hand

and I'll strike you down

and cut off your head

for the battle is the Lord's

and he will give you

into our hand

and that is exactly

what happened

and that's faith

that's the kind of faith

that trusts that God

will be there

you trust the character of God

that's the kind of faith

that will extinguish

the devil's greatest attempts

but let me tell you

what else faith is

faith is also trusting

God's promises

faith is knowing

that God

will not let you down

numbers 23

Numbers 23:19

verse 19 says this

God is not man

that he should lie

nor son of man

that he should change his mind

has he said

and will he not do it

or has he spoken

and will he not

fulfill it

what kind of promises

does God make

that we're talking about

well let me remind you

of just a couple

John 14 verse 18

John 14:18

Jesus promises

I will not leave you alone

I will not leave you comfortless

I will not leave you as offerings

I will come to you

rest in it

that when the devil tries to down you

when he tries to depress you

when he tries to speak bad things about you

when he tries to take your hope away

you are not as alone as you feel

he's there

apostle Paul told us in 1 Corinthians 10 verse 13

1 Corinthians 10:13

that God would provide a way out

when we're tempted

that's a promise

trust him in that

and he'll shield you

when you're tempted

but you gotta trust him

he is present

even when you don't feel like he's present

because his presence

ain't based on your feelings

oh that God would open our eyes

to see his presence

I love the passage about Elisha

he was encroached

he was being encroached

by his enemies

and he would not prophesy

what they wanted to hear

and so they went after him

and he said what the Lord told him to say

and people usually don't want to hear

what the Lord has to say

and so they went after him

and he was in Dothan

not Alabama

but he was in Dothan

and he was resting in his tent

while his assistant

stepped out to see

where the enemy's gang of men were

and he saw them waiting to attack him

it seemed as if he had no hope

and scripture tells us

in 2 Kings chapter 6

2 Kings 6:15

verse 15

it says

when the servant of the man of God

rose early in the morning

and went out

and behold

an army with horses and chariots

was all around the city

and the servant said

alas my master

what shall we do

and he said

don't be afraid

for those who are with us

are more than those

who are with them

and then Elisha prayed

and said

oh God

what a prayer

oh Lord

please

open his eyes

that he may

see

so the Lord

opened the eyes

of the young man

and he saw

and behold

the mountain

was full of horses

and chariots of fire

all around

Elisha

Elisha's army

won that battle

that day

the Lord came through

let me tell you something

he always will

may God

open our eyes

to see

what in the world

God's doing

Hebrews 11

Hebrews 11:6

verse 6

says

without faith

it is impossible

to please him

without faith

it's impossible

to withstand the devil

it is

but with faith

you are both

pleasing the Lord

and victorious

in Christ

but that's not all

faith is also

trusting God's timing

we don't know

what tomorrow holds

but we know

who holds tomorrow

he didn't bring us

this far

to let us fall

Jeremiah 29 11

says

for I know

the plans

that I have

for you

declares the Lord

plans for welfare

and not for evil

to give you a hope

and a future

he don't want you

to fail

he don't want us

to fail

he wants us

to succeed

and so let's

put our faith

in him

that faith

that we put

in him

will shield us

from the enemy's

attacks

I just want you

to think

for a moment

about the role

that faith

has played

in your life

if you've ever

committed your life

to follow Christ

never surrender

your life to the Lord

you came to Christ

by faith

if you walk

with Christ

trusting him

you walk

with Christ

by faith

you stand

with him

by faith

you stand

for him

by faith

you win

in faith

listen friend

it's not just

a hymn

it's the truth

faith is the victory

that overcomes

the world

and when we

like an army

take our shield

of faith

and we hook

it to other

shields of faith

it's a mighty

army

shielding us

from the enemy's

fire

my friend

that's the strength

of the church

that when we

come together

for one cause

not to just

hold our ground

that's not what

we're supposed

to be doing

we're supposed

to be invading

the enemy's

territory

claiming folks

for Christ

and when we

do that

we're going

to face

fiery darts

don't be surprised

when life

throws some

stuff at you

and properly

identify what

it is

listen

when temptations

burn

you need to

be accountable

to a prayer

partner in church

when circumstances

are adverse

you need to

share it with

your life goof

and have a concert

prayer over that

matter

when doubts

assail

lift up your

voice

with God's

people

sing God's

praises in the

midst of your

storm

when the storms

are threatening

dock yourself

in the house

of God

because listen

the fiery darts

of the evil

one are either

going to burn

you up

they're going

to burn you

out

or they're going

to fire you

up

and we are

in this

together

don't go out

there alone

and get burned

up

don't listen

to the evil

one and get

burned out

go before the

throne of God

with the people

of God

get fired up

for the Lord

this is a battle

that we can

win but we

will only win

it in the

strength of the

Lord and our

faith in him

is our shield

we have to

trust him

we have to

trust him

so what is it

in your life

that you need

to trust the

Lord about

maybe you've

never trusted

to the Lord

you're here

this morning

and there's

never been a

time in your

life when

you've surrendered

your life

to the Lord

Jesus

ask him to

forgive you

and to come

into your

life and

surrender your

life to

follow him

if you've

never done

that I got

news for you

you are

exposed

you have no

armor in the

midst of this

battle

you're exposed

to all the

enemy's weapons

all his

warfare

give your

heart and

life to

Christ today

maybe you've

done that but

you've never

been obedient to

follow that in

baptism you've

never asked the

Lord Jesus to

I mean you've

asked the Lord

Jesus to forgive

you but you've

never you've

never publicly

pronounced that

through baptism

Jesus did that

by example as

well as by

commission he

told us to

do that and

it'll be a

hindrance in

your walk if

you don't follow

that maybe God's

drawing you to

First Baptist

Church God's

doing a wonderful

work in our

midst and I'm

thankful for that

maybe God's

drawing you here

we'd love to

guide you in

that process

process or

maybe I

speak to the

majority of

us you just

got some

battles battles

there's fiery

darts being shot

at you and I

didn't have to

identify them this

morning some of

them you knew

exactly what they

were shield of

faith ain't quite

wet enough it

don't feel quite

big enough we

don't hide behind

it long enough

today maybe we

just need to

recommit our

lives and say

dear Lord I

want to trust

you I want to

trust your

judgment I want

to trust your

word I want to

trust your

presence I want to

live my life

relying upon you

I want to join up

with others around

me and I want to

do what only we

can do by the

power of our

belief in the

Lord Jesus being

who he says he

is doing what he'll

say he'll do being

where he needs to be

when he needs to be

there we got to

trust the Lord we

live in a fiery

dark world it'll hit

you might even

before you get out

of this building

we got to be

ready trusting in

God all the way

Lord Jesus I love

you and I thank

you for your word

thank you for our

time together this

morning God I

pray that you'll

work and you'll

move right now in

the hearts and

lives of every one

of us to just be

obedient to follow

as you lead in

Jesus precious name

amen

and Lord and

God you.

Thank you for the

numbers and

the hearts and

hearts.

Thank you for the

complaints.

Thank you for the

give us about the

help of and

ourselves.

Thank you.

Thank you for the