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The Armor of God Preached by Vic Pentz, Pastor Emeritus, Peachtree Presbyterian Church Feb

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The Armor of God Preached by Vic Pentz, Pastor Emeritus, Peachtree Presbyterian Church Feb The Armor of God Preached by Vic Pentz, Pastor Emeritus, Peachtree Presbyterian Church Feb. 2, 2020 Bryan Dunagan – Well, this is such a great treat and I'm so thrilled to welcome my good friend and former boss and beloved mentor, Vic Pence, back to Highland Park Pres. I have learned so much from this man. In fact, when I first became a Christian, Vic was my first pastor. And I'll never forget how when he preached, he would bring together humor and just this depth and how he opened up the scriptures and would connect it to everyday life. He's been such a great mentor and the fact that he didn't fire me like multiple times when I worked for him, it's just a Testament to his grace. Vic, remember that time when I borrowed your suburban and almost got arrested for doing donuts on that field at the church summer camp? I mean, I would have fired me. Vic has pastored churches in California, Washington, Texas, and most recently he retired as the senior pastor of Peach Street Church in Atlanta, the largest Presbyterian church in the country. But Vic is a Texan at heart. In fact, he bought me my first pair of cowboy boots when I moved back to Dallas. I'm wearing them right now. Thank you, Vic. He and his wife, Becky, live in Atlanta and he spends as much time as he can with his kids and grandkids. Vic continues to teach and preach all over the country and we are so blessed to have him here at Highland Park this morning. So would you give a warm and enthusiastic welcome to Vic Pence? Vic Pentz – I did buy Bryan that manly footwear that he was wearing there, that good old Lucchese, you can't get any better than that. So, well, when Bryan asked me to speak, I thought, wow, on Super Bowl Sunday I am going to be in the football Capitol of the world, the state of Texas and Big D. My second thought was, dare I speak on the one new testament text that really does seem to connect the Christian life to the game of football? My third thought was rather somber and that is with the tragic death of Kobe Bryant and those others in that terrible accident. It reminds us that behind all the glitter and all the fun of sports lie the issues of death and life, and purpose and meaning. And so I thought, yes, I am going to go for it. I'm going to make sports a metaphor for the Christian life in the message today, because after all in the same way that later on today those football players are going to shield their bodies with protective equipment to ward off physical harm, so must we Christians, says the Apostle Paul in Ephesians 6, cloth ourselves in the full armor of God if we’re not to face devastating consequences. And just as we can make a list of the protective equipment a football player wears, so the Apostle Paul lists the equipment worn by a typical Roman soldier as his metaphor for the Christian life. And guess what? There is one item that appears on both of those lists. There is only one item that appears on the list of a football player’s uniform and that of a Roman soldier. Here is what it is. It is the helmet. Can you imagine playing football without one of these? in the Superbowl? It would certainly lower your IQ, wouldn’t it? I remember back in my old football playing days—back just after the earth’s crust cooled, I played for the mighty Pomona College Sagehens. Imagine trying to give your all on the field when in the stands the favorite cheer was, “Repel them, repel them, make them relinquish the ball.” And the fight song was, “When Cecil Sagehen Chirps.” I’m not making this up. We played the Whittier Poets. One game I remember a friend of mine, Pat Riggs, got his bell rung and knocked out on the field. The trainer ran out and popped an ammonia capsule under his nose and helped him over to the bench next to me. For the next several minutes Pat Riggs had no idea who or where he was. Sitting there he said, "My name is…Pat Riggs… yeah, yeah…Pat Riggs; my father's name is Ralph. I have two sisters. My phone number is 626-5544.” Fortunately within a few minutes he was back to normal again with no concussion. The Apostle Paul says you and I as Christians have moments when spiritually we get our bell rung. When we feel – dazed and confused and disoriented and uncertain and discouraged. And it’s all because the Christian life also takes place on a field of combat. Only we face an opponent far more lethal than any opposing football team. We face a supernatural being who is seeking to utterly destroy us spiritually, emotionally, and ultimately eternally. And that is why, on this day when later this afternoon those players are going to suit up for their big game, this morning I’d like for us to suit up for life…that each one of us would put on what the Apostle Paul calls, “the full armor of God” which we find in Ephesians chapter 6: verses 10—18. 10 Finally, be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power. 11 Put on the full armor of God, so that you can take your stand against the devil’s schemes. 12 For our struggle is not 2 against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms. 13 Therefore put on the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand firm. 14 Stand firm then, with the belt of truth buckled around your waist, with the breastplate of righteousness in place, 15 and with your feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace. 16 In addition to all this, take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. 17 Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God. 18 And pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests. With this in mind, be alert and always keep on praying for all the Lord’s people. Imagine what we have just heard. There is a force out there in the world that would love for you not to have come to church this morning. There's a force out there in the world that would love for you to not follow Jesus Christ. There's a force out there in the world that would love for your marriage to break up, for you to get so wrapped up in yourself and caught up and busy that you don't have time to share the love and the grace of Jesus Christ with the people around you, and that is a force that never rests. Now, I can read some of your minds. Some of you are thinking, Oh my goodness, he's going to talk about Satan. Seriously? I mean, this is Highland Park. This is the year 2020. This is a Presbyterian church. Well don’t take it from me. Take it from Martin—who in his great hymn wrote: “For still our ancient foe doth seek to work us woe; his craft and power are great, and armed with cruel hate, on earth is not his equal.” Satan loves nothing more than when we turn him into a cheezy, easy-to-dismiss stereotype – a cartoon in red tights with a pitchfork. But for Jesus, evil was a supernatural being. In Luke he says, “I saw Satan falling from heaven.” (Luke 10:18) If you’re a Christian, I’m afraid, you’re pretty much stuck with Satan, and for these unseen battles with an unseen enemy you and I must put on unseen armor. Why? Because every time you are presented with the opportunity to entertain a hateful thought, you have just stepped onto a spiritual battlefield. Every time you have the chance to say something nasty and vindictive behind someone’s back, you’ve stepped onto a spiritual battlefield. Every time you walk coldly by a person who is in dire need, that is stepping on to a spiritual battlefield. 3 Now, the last thing Satan wants is for us to see life as a battlefield. He wants us to feel like we’re romping on a playground where nothing we do really matters much at all and life is just pretty much shades of gray. So why bother to put on that clunky old armor? You say, “Vic, wait a minute, I never signed up for any spiritual warfare.” Well, the moment that doctor spanked your bottom you got drafted – from that moment on. Welcome to how life is. As Bob Dylan sang back in the ‘70s, You Gotta Serve Somebody. He sang, “It may be the devil or it may be the Lord, but you gotta serve somebody.” You say, “Vic, my life is going pretty well right now. Why do I need armor?” Well, look carefully again at verse 13: “…put on the full armor of God, so that (what?)… when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground.” You put on armor before the battle, not during the battle.
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