On Sunday, March 8th, Pastor Jim and I taught on the Shield of Faith, mentioned in Ephesians 6:16, which says, "in addition to all, taking up the shield of faith with which you will be able to extinguish all the flaming missiles of the evil one."  In the physical sense, a shield is absolutely essential to survival and victory in warfare; so to is our faith-shield in the spiritual sense. 
 
Pastor Ken and I taught on the Breastplate of Righteousness on Sunday, March 1st, specifically that righteousness is "the believer's response to God's holiness," and could be defined as being "love implemented."  We are not alone in trying to live out this life, rather, the Holy Spirit empowers our righteousness.  We talked about the need for practicing holiness, that is, to allow our conduct to be shaped by the standard of God's holiness.  We have been made righteous through Jesus Christ and therefore, we now choose this "right living" daily and take responsiblity for our own choices.  In accepting personal responsibility, we must: 
 

• Acknowledge that we are solely responsible for the choices in our lives
• Recognize that, if we are believers,  we have been given righteousness and thereby have the ability, by the power of the Holy Spirit, to live righteous
• Be honest with ourselves
• Be aware of our weaknesses, struggles, addictions, and avoid situations that make resisting temptation more difficult
• Reject critical thoughts and conversations with and about other people; this only fuels our resistance in taking personal responsibility. 
• Accept the love of God and love ourselves as He loves us

Have a great week and know that you are dearly loved by our Father.  We'll see you on Sunday.
      
Blessings,
 
 
Chris

Played: 13 | Download | Duration: 00:45:43