mt olive ev lutheran church Sunday October 25 2026 9 15 AM CDT: The second reading will also serve as the sermon text this morning from Ephesians chapter six. Finally, be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power. Put on the full armor of God so that you can stand against the schemes of the devil. For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the world rulers of this darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places. For this reason, take up the full armor of God. So that you will be able to take a stand on the evil day, and after you have done everything, to stand. Stand then, with the belt of truth buckled around your waist, with the breastplate of righteousness fastened in place, and with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace, tied to your feet like sandals. At all times, hold up the shield of faith, with which you will be able to extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. Also take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of God. The word of the Lord. Thanks be to God. Who are the greatest warriors in the Bible? Maybe you think back to some of the Old Testament kings. King Saul actually was a great warrior for a long time. Or King David, he defeated Goliath. Maybe you think of Samson with the long hair and the big muscles, could defeat a lion with his bare hands and push two pillars to crush God's enemies in a building. Or maybe you think of Joshua, who succeeded Moses, who actually brought God's people into the promised land. We sing about him. Joshua fought the battle of Jericho and the walls came tumbling down. Wow! He defeated this amazing city and that king. But shortly after that battle against Jericho, Joshua actually had a much more difficult battle to fight. People saw that the Israelites were becoming a threat, and so five kings, count them five, flesh and blood kings, decided to work together, set aside their differences, and work together to attack God's people. How was Joshua going to defeat them? Among the great warriors in the Bible, you have to count the Apostle Paul. He didn't fight with physical swords, but he fought a lot of physical battles against the government that was out to get him, against rulers that were out to stop the spread of the gospel. At a certain point, Paul even says, I was rescued from the mouth of a lion. So how did Paul fight his spiritual or fight his battles and win? And then what about you? Not many of us are fighting in physical battles, though we have a couple of soldiers overseas right now, but all of us have them. We have conflicts in our everyday lives. We have difficulties, not just in our own lives, but often with other people and with whatever's going on in the world. So how do we win those battles like the great warriors in the Bible? Well, Paul tells us today in Ephesians chapter six that it actually all starts not with fighting those battles at all. It starts with fighting the right battle. And you see what that is, starting at verse 10 of chapter 6. Finally, be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power, put on the full armor of God so that you can stand against the schemes of the devil. For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the world rulers of this darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places. For this reason, take up the full armor of God so that you will be able to stand on the evil day, and after you have done everything, to stand. Did you catch who the real enemy is there? Paul said, He wants you to stand against the schemes of the devil. For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, he says, but against the spiritual forces of evil. A couple of weeks ago we celebrated God's gift of angels, these heavenly spiritual beings that God sends into our lives to protect us. But today we get to remember that there are also fallen angels and their leader, the devil. Angels who rebelled against God and came into this world and are fighting against God's people. And so what Paul says here, with all the struggles that you're facing in life, with all the struggles that Joshua faced, that Paul faced. There's one person and there's a certain set of forces behind it all. The devil and the spiritual forces of evil. Who instigated those five kings to unite against Joshua? The devil. Who stirred up all that opposition to Paul and to the gospel? The devil. And who is stirring up trouble in your life when you face an evil day of trial and temptation? It's the devil. I tried to get away with things as a kid by using the age-old excuse. Maybe you've tried that too. You know what I said? The devil made me do it. The devil made me do it. And the response was, no, he tempted you and you went along with it. It's still your fault. And that is true. But when you are facing difficulties in your life, you can use this phrase in reverse. You can say, the devil's behind this. And if you recognize that the devil's behind this, then You're on your way to fighting the right battle. So you can think of some examples in life. Think of kids, students. You probably have some conflicts with siblings, with classmates, even with your teacher. And you might think, I gotta win this against him, against her, against my teacher. You're fighting the wrong battle. Who's your fight actually against? Not your brother or sister or this other students or the teacher. Your battle is against the devil. Parents, when it's tough to raise children and they are testing your patience, who's your battle against? Not your child, against the devil, who's tempting you to lose your patience and fail to show the love of Christ. Spouses, when marriage is difficult, and it is, do you know that your husband's not your enemy? Your wife's not your enemy? The devil's tempting you to make you think that to say, yeah, if you just beat that person in the argument, then you win. There's an election coming up. What do you think? Who's your enemy? Christians should be involved in politics. Use your God-given values. Use the word of God. And yes, use your reason to make a vote that you think will be best for your neighbor and help the gospel spread in peace. Do that. But if another Christian does the same thing and votes differently, is that Christian your enemy now? Is the other political party your enemy? Are the people who are elected, if they weren't the ones you chose, are they your enemy? The devil wants you to think so. Not true. The devil's your enemy, tempting you to value people more on their vote as opposed to what God says their value is, tempting you to have your confidence rise and fall on earthly rulers instead of the heavenly ruler. Who's your real enemy? There can be a lot of fights in the church too. In a congregation with Christians, sinners, getting on each other's nerves. Are they your enemy? Within the church on earth, where people come to different conclusions about the word of God, and the devil says, Aha, they're your enemy. Turns you away from him, the father of lies who is creating those false teachings. Are you fighting the right battle? That's what Paul points us towards. He says, In this evil day, in the evil day when you have trials and temptations and struggles and conflicts, he says, How are you going to stand? It's not by beating that person, it's by putting on the full armor of God and taking your stand against the devil and the spiritual forces of evil. That's the right battle to fight. And there's some bad news there. If you were just fighting a classmate or a teacher or another human being, sure you might win. You're just fighting flesh and blood. It depends who's stronger. But when you're fighting the devil, spiritual forces of evil, we're not strong enough. And you can look back on that in your lives. And in your lives today, you think, yeah, I can think of all these battles that I have lost. When I've lost my temper and I failed to show love and I failed to live like a Christian. But the good news is. When we figure out what the right battle is, the spiritual battle against the devil and the spiritual forces of evil, well then we can recognise that this battle this battle is a battle that's already been won. That's why Paul wants us to recognize that. All of this armor in Ephesians 6 is found in other places in the Bible. And in other places of the Bible, it's a prophecy. It's saying someone is going to do this, someone is going to take up this spiritual armor and fight this battle and win. And it's not talking about you, it's talking about Jesus. And you see that in what he did when he walked around on earth. Remember the apostle Peter? When Jesus said, Hey Peter, this is God's battle plan. I'm gonna go suffer and die on the cross. Remember what Peter said? No, Lord! Terrible battle plan! And what did Jesus say? He turns around and he looks at Peter, but he says this: get behind me, Satan. Is he just trying to insult Peter? No, he's telling Peter, this is the real battle I'm fighting, not you, but Satan. He was the guy behind that idea. And you see that as Jesus goes to the cross. Did he fight Pontius Pilate? You're abusing your authority. No. Did he fight the religious leaders? No. He was silent as they carried him away. Did he even fight his disciples who were abandoning him? No, because Jesus knew what battle he was fighting. He wasn't fighting against them. He was fighting against sin and death and the devil. A spiritual battle. And for that, he needed spiritual weapons. And they're the ones that Paul talks about here, beginning at verse 14. Stand then with the belt of truth around your waist. With the breastplate of righteousness fastened in place, and with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace tied to your feet like sandals, at all times hold up the shield of faith with which you will be able to extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. Also take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of God. People mocked Jesus, but it was lies, and Jesus knew it. He had the belt of truth fastened around his waist. He wasn't worried. People told Jesus that he was a criminal, but he wasn't. He had the breastplate of righteousness fastened in place. He had only ever done what was right. And so they could not condemn him, and the devil couldn't either. People told Jesus to run from the cross. But Jesus ran to the cross because his feet were fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace. Tied to his feet like sandals. He ran to the cross so he could share the good news that he would defeat sin, death, and the devil. And he ran from the tomb to say the same thing. Jesus went to that battle knowing that he had already won. He put on the helmet of salvation. He said, Let's go, devil, you can't defeat me. And finally, how did Jesus win this battle? He took up the sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of God. Fulfilling prophecy after prophecy, especially that very first one in the Garden of Eden that said, Someday Someone is gonna come, the greatest warrior of all time, and crush your head, Satan. And Jesus did it. This is the armor Jesus wore to win this battle for us. Which is why the Apostle Paul says: when you are fighting your battles in life, you don't have to attack. You don't have to charge. You don't have to win the victory. What does Paul say? He says, stand firm. Just stand firm. As the devil retreats and tries to take you with him, our only job is to stand firm. And how do we do that? In the very same armor, with the very same weapon that Jesus used to defeat the devil. When you're fighting the right battle, then these are the right weapon. So, kids, students, when you think your classmate is your enemy, aha, you put on the belt of truth and say, no, no, no, no, no. That's not true, Satan, that's a lie. This person's a beloved child of God, and I don't care if he or she's getting on my nerves. I will treat them with love. Parents. When it seems like your children are the enemy. No. You put on that belt of truth and say, No, it's the devil who's tempting me to react in a sinful way. I see through your lies. Spouses. When you think you need to repay evil with evil, when you're in a fight with your husband or with your wife, no way. You put on the breastplate of righteousness that says, I am a dearly loved child of God, and so is he, and so is she, and I will treat him that way. I will treat her that way. When the devil says, Repay evil for evil, you put on that blessed breastplate of righteousness. That says, No, I will love my wife as Christ loved the church. I will respect my husband as Christ respected the Father. This is what God gives you. Political battles coming up. Put on the right shoes. The sandals of the gospel of peace. So, yes, when you go and you vote the way you want to vote and it goes the way you don't want it to go, you're not shaking, you're not slipping, because your confidence isn't in earthly governments. Your confidence is in the gospel of peace, in the kingdom of God. Think of Christmas. What world did Jesus come into? A dark world oppressed by the Roman government and the angels still showed up and said, Peace on earth, good will toward men. And that's the peace that you have in the kingdom of God. Because Jesus rules your heart and he rules earthly kingdoms too. When the devil wants to make you doubt, when you think we can't win these battles, especially in the church, I can't get along with that, Christian. We can't figure out what the truth is. There's so many different opinions. You take up that shield of faith and you say, If our confidence was in ourselves, then yes, we should doubt, we should despair. But my confidence is in Jesus, and he's the greatest warrior of all time. He can strike down false teaching and unite the church through his power. This is the right equipment for the battle. And finally, the last two pieces, can't forget them, the most important. Put on the helmet of salvation. The helmet of salvation. What's the helmet of salvation? It is your hope and confidence that the battle is already won. That Jesus has already won the victory. And so you don't go into things going, I don't know how this is gonna turn out. No, you going, you go into things knowing exactly how it's going to turn out, with Jesus victorious at the end and you standing with him. And how does that happen? Through the sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of God. You wanna be ready for the battles you have in life? Do what you're doing right now. Listen to the Word of God, take it to heart, wield it every day. Because that sword is able to fight the right battle and win. So greatest warriors of the Bible, what made them so great? We saw an example in the gospel reading. Important man, a certain royal official, lots of power, but powerless against death, and his son was dying. What does he do? He's one of the greatest warriors in the Bible. What does he do? He runs to Jesus and he begs for help. And that made him strong. And that gave him victory over death. Because he was relying on Jesus' strength who healed his son. He promised he would. What made Joshua so strong? It's great. When he's about to face these five kings, far too strong for him, the Lord comes to him first and says this to Joshua: Do not be afraid of them, because I have already given them into your hand. What made Joshua strong is that before the battle he trusted the Lord's promise that he had already won. And he ran into battle, and what the Lord did was hurl hailstones from heaven. That killed more enemies than Joshua was able to kill with his sword. And here's the crazy thing in Joshua chapter 10 that happens at that battle. As the enemy is on the run, Joshua prays and he says, Lord, make the sun stand still. Give me a little more time to fight. Because with your strength, we are winning. And the Lord listens and the Lord froze the entire galaxy to give Joshua an extra day to fight this battle. Ooh, here's a crazy thing. When we stand firm in the Lord and in his mighty power, we might pray that prayer too. You have so many battles, you always will, until Jesus decides to take you to the church triumphant. Do you want those battles to end yet? Maybe if it was against flesh and blood, if it was against the people around you, well then maybe you'd want that to end. But that's not the battle you're fighting. You're fighting the battle against the spiritual forces of evil, and you're winning, and that's fun. So maybe that's your prayer too. Jesus, I know you're gonna come back and reveal your glorious victory very soon, but can you wait a little bit? 'Cause this sword of the spirit is kinda fun. It's better than a lightsaber. Nom nyom wielding the word of God and fighting these battles with your power. I like that. So give me a little more time. You can pray that prayer because you're fighting the right battle, you're fighting with the right weapons, and finally, you're in the right army. You're in the army of warriors made great through faith in Jesus. So, with that confidence, church, arise and put your armor on. Hear the call of Christ your captain, fight those who Battles and look forward to the victory parade in heaven. Amen.