SEMINAR FOR YOUTH SERVICE

Date: 16th Jan, 2022

Topic: Stand firm

Objectives: There is a spiritual war happening and we are all part of it. When life
gets uncertain, our faith can become shaky. But God wants us to stand firm in Him
and His strength, so He has given us his authority to help us in this battle. So He
has given us His armor to help us in this battle. When we fully rely on God’s
power, fully dressed in His amour we are able to stand and fight.

Text: Ephesians 6:10-18

Many Christians are defeated in their Christians life because they are not
seriously engage in warfare to which are called. Christians came to God with
knowledge of being told that “Jesus will solve their problem, give them peace and
joy, happy family life, blessing and promise of abundant life”. So they signed off
for what they thought would be a wonderful life of peace and happiness.

All of those claims are true, but they are only half of the picture.

Jesus promised;

-Abundant life (Jn 10:10) but He also said He was sending us out as sheep in the
midst of wolves (Matt 10:16). This very picture might not fit your idea of abundant
life.

-Peace, but in the same breath, He said that in this world we would have tribulation
(Jn 16:33).

-His love, but He went on to say breath, He said that in this world would hate and
persecute us (Jn 15:12-13, 18-21)
 No wonder Paul in (1 Corinth 16:9) said “For a great and effective door of service
has opened to me and there many adversaries”. He never said “but many
adversaries” rather he said “and there are many adversaries”. This means that
adversaries go along with the open doors.

Our text says;

“You must be strong in the Lord and put on His full armor, so that you may stand
firm against the enemy.

Because you are in the Lord’s Army;

A. You must be strong in the Lord;

This means on our own self we are not strong but our strength comes from the
Lord.

This is illustrated in the life of David; when the Amalekite invaded them and
people had in mind of stoning David but David was strengthen of the Lord, 1Sam
30:6 that same strength is available to every Christians.

How to strengthen oneself in the Lord

 You must be in the Lord salvation Eph 2:8-9. You can’t be strong in the
Lord through saving faith in Jesus Christ.
 You know your weakness: we cannot trust completely in Christ to save us
until we come to the awareness that we are hopelessly, lost and unable to
save ourselves by our good works.

But then we must go on to grow to know our weakness so that we can take refuge
in the Lord’s strength. Jesus taught this using the analogy of branches’ abiding in
the vine (John 15:5b).
 Peter struggle with this boasting of staying with Christ, but Christ allow him to
pass through his terrible denials so that he might not trust in himself but in Christ
alone.

 You must know the Lord’s strength;

The enemy we are fighting- was created whereas the one that owns the army we
join (God) is the Eternal Almighty Creator of the Universe if the Lord so willed,
He could annihilate Satan in an instant. He has already defeated Satan at the cross
and resurrection of Jesus (Col 2:5).

Gen 18:14, Jer 32:17, 27, Rom 4:21

Across the bible are God’s magnificent power and strength displayed.

B. You must put on God’s full armor so that you may stand firm against the enemy;
Standing firm against the enemy is as a result of putting on God’s full armor

Stand firm means the courage to hold your ground.

We rely on God’s strength and use his armor but we must take the initiative to put
on the armor and stand firm in battle because we love Jesus.

2 Sam 23:11-12-an example of standing firm in the battle.

The Armors: is putting on Jesus Christ and make no provision for the flesh in
regards to its lusts, in other words Christ is our armor Rom 13:14.
Jesus as our armor

-Belt of truth-Jn 14:16

-Breastplate of righteousness-2 Cor 5:21

-Gospel of peace to stand on-Eph 2:13-14, 17

-Shield of faith-Heb 12:2

-Helmet of salvation-Titus 3:6

-The sword, the word of God-Jn 1:1

Jesus is our full armor capable of protecting us from every onslaught of the devil.

Conclusion

We must stand firm in the course of our battle in life through series of waiting on
the Lord, retreats, communing with God. This is a call up to the youth of our
generation, we should stand firm in God despite the tussle, peer pressure and the
likes. There are generations tie to you, to be birthed. Our youth arise