Our name | Mission | Vision | Leaders Ministries | Schedule | Directions | Contact Building for the future | Home   Gateway Church gathers for worship Sundays at 10:30 a.m. Location: 349 Jefferson River Road in Athens, Georgia, three blocks off Hwy. 129 (Jefferson Road). For directions, click here. Ministry of the Word: Recent sermons Our quarterly e-magazine Gateway Today For the Gateway family Pastor Jerry's Weekly E-Mail A GATEWAY SERMON SUMMARY AUDIO Faith: An impenetrable shield (fifth in the series, 'Mighty Faith') Jerry Varnado, pastor Gateway Church, Athens GA August 28, 2005 Main Scripture text: Ephesians 6:14-16. The Greek word translated "shield" in Ephesians 6:16 is thureos -- a large, rectangular shield made of wood and curved so it would stand up by itself. This kind of shield was mostly used in the siege of a city. The soldiers would crouch behind the thureos to protect themselves from arrows or other missiles coming from the wall of the city. The shield was the first line of defense and without it the siege would have been much more costly in terms of human loss. Since faith is that element of God's grace by which all other elements of His grace are preserved and rendered active, it is metaphorically represented here as the type of shield by which the whole body is covered and protected. The world and the devil hurl all sorts of fiery arrows at us all the time and the "shield of faith" is our first line of defense. In a previous sermon, I mentioned three things that were foundational to our faith: 1) The authority of Scripture. 2) A biblical view of God's character and nature. 3) The truth that God loves us and desires good for us. Today I want to go a little deeper with those elements, and give you a five-statement "pledge of mighty faith" that'll will protect you heart and mind from all the fiery arrows of the devil. To give credit where credit is due, I have adapted these five statements from Beth Moore's book and Bible study, Believing God. This is Our Statement of Mighty Faith. 1) God is who He says He is. He is the Lion of the tribe of Judah and we cannot tame Him. He is the creator and sustainer of the universe: almighty, all knowing, and present everywhere at the same time. He spoke light into existence and hung the stars on strings of nothing. If we accept the biblical revelation of who God is we have effectively removed the word impossible from the vocabulary we use to talk about God. 2) Because God is who He says he is God can do what God says He can do. He can change the human heart and transform sinners into saints. He can heal the sick and give life to the dead. He can manipulate the material universe to do His bidding. The church needs to fall on her face and pray Habakkuk 3:2 daily: "LORD, I have heard of your fame; I stand in awe of your deeds, O LORD. Renew them in our day; in our time make them known." 3) I am who God says I am. This may be biggest faith challenge some of us face. We must reject what the devil may whisper in our ear and how we often think and feel about ourselves. If you have submitted your life to Christ, God says that He has adopted you into his family. You are a member of the aristocracy of heaven and a co-heir with Jesus to the Kingdom of God. God says that you are a "saint" and "more than a conqueror." 4) I can do all things through Christ. Matthew 17:20 could not be plainer. Jesus said: "I tell you the truth, if you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mountain, 'Move from here to there' and it will move. Nothing will be impossible for you." 5) God's Word is alive and active in me. In addition to being a statement of faith, this last point speaks of something we must do. For the Word to be alive and active in us we have to engage it. We have to read it, study it and meditate on it. When we do it guide us, protects us, and adds power to our lives. If we can fix our minds and hearts on believing and living out these five things, our faith will become "mighty faith." It will be an impenetrable shield that will quench all the fiery darts of the evil one. Supporting texts: Isaiah 40:26-28 | Isaiah 42:5 | John 1:1-13 | Colossians 1:15-17 | Hebrews 1:13 | Isaiah 45:5-17 | Matthew 19:26 | Habakkuk 3:2 | John 1:12 | Romans 8:17 | Ephesians 2:10 | 1 John 3:1-3 | Colossians 3:12 | 1 Peter 2:9 | Matthew 17:20 | Acts 1:8 | Romans 8:35-37 | Philippians 4:13 | 1 John 4:4 | Philippians 1:6 | Hebrews 4:12 A mp3 audio file of this sermon is here (34:00). (Download to a PC by right clicking on the link and choosing "Save Target As." Mac users: click, hold, and choose "Download Link to Disk." Depending on your connection speed, the file may take several minutes to download.) An audio tape of the sermon summarized above is available free of charge (U.S. requests only). Request a tape by calling or writing the Gateway Church office. Please specify tape number 050828a: Faith: An Impenetrable Shield. © 2005 Gerald R. Varnado To the Gateway Church home page How to contact us