Category: God’s Word (Page 1 of 2)

“Failing to prepare is preparing to fail.” John Wooden’s famous quote was backed up by decades of success coaching the UCLA basketball team. From 1948 to 1975 coach Wooden prepared his team for whatever difficulties came their way. That is one reason he was able to lead the team to ten national championships over a twelve year period. His team was able to set a NCAA record for most consecutive wins with a total of 88 games played without a loss. 

Reading coach Wooden’s quote about preparation makes me think of the need for Christians to prepare for spiritual battles. The enemy would love to attack unprepared soldiers. He would love to see unprepared believers overwhelmed by temptation and trials. As Christians, we need to make sure we are preparing to stand firm against the schemes of the enemy. If we are prepared we will be able to resist him and he will flee (James 4:7). 

The apostle Paul understood the need for Christians to be prepared. That is one reason he wrote about the armor of God in Ephesians 6:11-20. Several weeks ago I wrote about the importance of putting on the belt of truth, the breastplate of righteousness, shoes of the gospel, and the shield of faith. This week I want to write about the last two pieces of the armor, the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit. 

One reason I separated the last two parts of the armor is because the apostle Paul sets them apart grammatically in the original passage. He does this by using a different verb when he wrote, “take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.” The verb “take” in the original Greek has the idea of taking up something quickly, “to grasp.” Harold Hoehner believes this verb was used because there was a sense of urgency with the helmet and the sword. These were the final pieces of the armor that the soldier would need as the enemy approached. 

The helmet was not a comfortable part of the uniform. It was made of a leather cap interior and a metal covering, which was sometimes made of iron with a bronze exterior. The helmet was most likely hot and heavy to wear. Some scholars believe this type of helmet would have included a large neck guard and chin guards that were tightened around the face. This would have helped protect the soldier from near and distant threats. 

The sword that is described is a makaira, which was the famous Roman short sword that was used for hand-to-hand combat. Thousands of these swords are still in existence today. They often had a two-inch thick blade, which was sharpened on both sides. The blade was about two feet long, with a hilt that was made to use with one hand. This was a defensive sword, which was only used when the enemy was close enough to attack from behind the shield. It was a deadly weapon when used in close proximity. 

Paul saved these two pieces of the soldier’s uniform to the end for a reason. I believe he did so because he wanted to emphasize the importance of the helmet and the sword during the heat of a spiritual battle. The helmet of salvation plays a vital role because the enemy often tries to make Christian’s doubt their salvation. If he can tempt a believer to doubt their relationship with God, then he has already started winning the spiritual battle. But, if the Christian remembers verses such as John 10:29 then he will have confidence in the outcome of his salvation. John 10:29 is a quote from Jesus Christ, “My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all, and no one is able to snatch them out of the Father’s hand.”

The sword of the Spirit is easy to understand because the apostle Paul explained it “is the word of God.” The word of God refers to the sixty-six books of the Bible. 2 Timothy 3:16 describes God’s word as “breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work.” God’s word is especially useful for resisting the temptations and attacks of the Devil. James 4:7 says, “Resist the Devil, and he will flee from you.”

When Jesus Christ was being tempted by Satan in the desert he used the word of God like a defensive sword. When the Devil commanded Jesus to turn a rock into bread so he could eat after fasting for forty days and nights. Jesus pulled quoted Scripture, “It is written, Man shall not live by bread alone.” (Deuteronomy 8:3) Then Satan promised to give Jesus authority over kingdoms of the earth. Jesus quoted an answer from Deuteronomy 6:13, “It is written, ’You shall worship the Lord your God, and him only shall you serve.’” The Devil’s final temptation involved tempting Jesus to start his earthly reign before the appointed time. Jesus replied, “It is said, ‘You shall not put the Lord your God to the test.’” (Deuteronomy 6:16). 

I love meditating on Jesus’ response to that temptation. He made it seem easy because he was using the word of God as his weapon. Satan did not argue with Jesus. He accepted his response and then tried a different temptation. Once Jesus responded correctly, the temptation came to an end. I believe that is what is possible for believers dealing with temptation as well. If a Christian is tempted to worry or be anxious he should draw the sword of God’s word and quote Matthew 6:34, “Therefore do not be anxious about tomorrow, for tomorrow will be anxious for itself. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble.” If a Christian is dealing with inappropriate thoughts or temptations he can quote from 2 Timothy 2:22, “So flee youthful passions and pursue righteousness, faith, love, and peace, along with those who call on the Lord from a pure heart.”

In order to defend against the enemy, believers must be prepared. They can be prepared by putting on the full armor of God, which includes armor and a sword, which is the word of God. Armed with the armor of God, the Christian will be able to obey the command of Ephesians 6:11, “Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the schemes of the devil.” 

That was the title of the message pastor Ken Rollans gave to a group of pastors and wives who attended the Central Valley Fellowship (CVF) Pastor Dinner last Friday night in Porterville. Pastor Ken’s speech was the highlight of an evening that included a delicious meal, worship, and an update for next year’s events. 

Pastor Ken’s sermon was an important reminder for the pastors to ask themselves about their motives in ministry. Ken mentioned some poignant passages from Paul’s letters to the Corinthians. He quoted from 1 Corinthians 1:11 where Paul wrote, “Be imitators of me, just as I also am of Christ.” He also mentioned 2 Corinthians 3:5, which says, “Not that we are adequate in ourselves so as to consider anything as having come from ourselves, but our adequacy is from God.” 

Personally, I appreciated pastor Ken’s honesty because it is easy for spiritual leaders to be distracted by all the concerns of life. We must constantly ask ourselves “Who are you following?” We need to remember that our love for the Lord must come from the source of truth, which is God’s word. We must constantly set our gaze on Christ, as it says in Hebrews 12:2, “Looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God.” (English Standard Version)

This year’s dinner was hosted at Living Word Fellowship in Porterville. It was the third time, in so many years, that the church has gone out of its way to encourage pastors and wives with this special event. The couples in attendance came from many different churches in the valley. The following cities were represented at the meeting: Porterville, Visalia, Kingsburg, Dinuba, Hanford and Lemoore. Next year’s dinner will be hosted in Kingsburg and the group anticipates having more pastors from the Fresno area in attendance. 

Central Valley Fellowship is affiliated with The Master’s Fellowship, which is “an association of pastors and missionaries bound together by love for the Living Word, the Master, our Lord Jesus, the church for which He died, and the bold proclamation of the exposited written word. The Fellowship’s purpose is to support the mission and leadership of the local church by connecting and networking like-minded pastors and missionaries who share core biblical convictions of doctrine and praxis.” CVF organizes several local events throughout the year, culminating in the pastors dinner in October or November. 

This next year, CVF will be hosting two all valley meetings in Visalia, along with several local events in Hanford, Visalia, and Porterville. There will be two conferences that the CVF Leadership team is encouraging people to attend. The first is the For the Valley conference, which will take place at Grace Church of the Valley on April 19-20th. The second is the Iron Sharpens Iron men’s conference, which will take place at Hickman Community Church on May 3-4th. Tickets are already available for purchase for the For the Valley conference (www.ftvbc.com)

As Christians, we are called by God to resist temptation (2 Tim. 2:22). One Biblical strategy for doing so is first to use God’s word to recognize sin and then to use God’s word to resist it.

The Bible does not shy away from the existence of sin and temptation. In fact, God’s word lists some of the most heinous sins known to man, idolatry, robbery, adultery, murder, lust, greed, and hatred to name a few (Ex. 20:2-22). The Bible never sugarcoats sin. It never describes sin in a gratuitous way. Instead, the Bible compares the holiness of God to the thoughts and actions of man, which reveals we all fall woefully short of His standards, “for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.” (Rom. 3:23 ESV) 

Once a sinner has repented of his sin and trusted in the saving work of Jesus Christ on the cross, he is to commit his or her life to Christ and live as a saint, a person who has been “set apart” from the world (2 Tim. 2:21, Rom. 10:9-10). This does not mean temptation will end, in fact, living for Christ means there is a constant battle to think and act in a way that is pleasing to God. 

This is why every believer needs to know God’s expectation for resisting temptation. 2 Timothy 2:22 says, “So flee youthful passions and pursue righteousness, faith, love, and peace, along with those who call on the Lord from a pure heart.” God’s strategy for living a holy life is straight forward. First you have to recognize what youthful passions are. These are not desires that can only be experienced in your youth. The desires of lust and licentiousness may be more prominent at younger ages, but they can be very real temptations at later stages of life as well. 

Once sin has been recognized it must be rejected. The apostle Paul uses the Greek word “Feúgo,” in 2 Tim. 2:22, which means “to avoid, shun or flee from something.” A great illustration of this is when Joseph fled from Potiphar’s wife in order to resist her temptation (Genesis 39). 

The next step in holy living is to pursue “righteousness, faith, love and peace.” This can be most clearly done by reading God’s word. This is the storehouse of all that is good and right. Jesus was referring to the word of God when he prayed, “Sanctify them in the truth; your word is truth.” (John 17:17) Christians can grow in godliness by meditating on God’s word throughout the day. This will transform the way they think because their thoughts will line up with the way God wants them to think. 

The last step in resisting temptation is to “pursue…those who call on the Lord from a pure heart.” This step is often overlooked because our lives are so busy and we think we can handle sin on our own. We must realize that this is a command from the Lord. We are to surround ourselves with believers who are also wholeheartedly pursuing God. Proverbs 4:12 says, “And though a man might prevail against one who is alone, two will withstand him—a threefold cord is not quickly broken.” This is true spiritually. Two or three brothers in Christ will be able to resist the temptations of the world more strongly than if they each try to live for God on their own. 

One of the reasons why Jesus’ temptation in the wilderness was so difficult was because he had to face it alone. And yet even though he was alone, he was able to resist each of the temptations by using God’s word with a surgeon’s razor-sharp precision (Luke 4:1-12). Next week I’ll take a closer look at how Jesus used God’s word to flee from evil. 

Our society runs at a frantic pace. We like to fill our days with endless activities like work, play, exercise, hobbies, church, sports, food, and travel. All of these things may be good in the right quantity, but  many Christians struggle to know how to use the time they have been given. The Christian needs to remember that we are not on the same schedule as the rest of the world. We do not need to live out the American dream. Instead, we are to seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness (Mt. 6:33).

One of the struggles of living in the modern world as Christians is that we often try to please the traditions of the world and God at the same time. It’s important to realize that God’s expectations are completely different from those of the world. Our society says “another day, another dollar.” God says, “Trust in the LORD with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make straight your paths.” (Proverbs 3:5-6) The world says, “If it feels good, do it.” God’s word says “Flee youthful passions and pursue righteousness, faith, love, and peace, along with those who call on the Lord from a pure heart.” (2 Tim. 2:22) 

Our society says “Work like crazy so you can retire early.” The Bible wants us to be careful with our time and money. Jesus said, “Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal, but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal.” (Matt. 6:19) 

The Bible expects time to be used for God’s purposes first and foremost. If a Christians is saving money for retirement it is not primarily to spend it on themselves. It is to use the funds for the kingdom of God. Proverbs 13:22 says, “A good man leaves an inheritance to his children’s children.” Of course a Christian retiree is going to spend some money on himself, but he is always thinking about God and others. He will think about how to use his retirement for the kingdom of God. He will think about his family. He will think about those in need. 

There is one passage in particular that is very helpful for understanding God’s perspective on work and rest. It is Psalm 127:2 and it says, “It is in vain that you rise up early and go latetorest, eating the bread of anxious toil; for he gives to his beloved sleep.” Whenever I read this I think about our society because we are so busy. We wake up early and go to bed late. What does it mean to eat the “bread of anxious toil?” This is an ancient description of what we would call “being in the rat race.” You are on a treadmill that never stops. There is always more money to make. There are always more things to buy and more places to visit. It never ends. That is what the Psalmist described as “eating the bread of anxious toil.” As Christians we need to ask ourselves if we have fallen into that trap. We may fill our lives with really good things, but the question is are we prioritizing the things God wants us to prioritize? 

The last phrase in Psalm 127:2 is a beautiful description of God’s natural plan for how believers should live. It says, “For he gives to his beloved sleep.” This means that all Christians need to prioritize rest and sleep. This is a wonderful gift from God. If our activities are cutting into getting a good night’s rest then we need to pull back from something. Are we staying up late reading or watching things? We are taking away from the blessing of sleep that God wants to give us. Are we in such a stressful work situation that it is difficult to let our minds relax and sleep through the night? Then that is a warning sign that we need to reconsider our workload. 

Jesus said, “What does it profit a man to gain the whole world and forfeit his soul?” (Mark 8:36)  That is a great question to ask as a Christian living in a society that tells us “The world is your oyster, you can do it all.” God’s word should make us question that mindset. The world is God’s creation. He is our Lord and we are his servants. Jesus said, “But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.” (Mt. 6:33) Seeking first the kingdom of God means to prioritize God, family, the church family, and making disciples. If those things are prioritized then it becomes much easier to say no to the incessant clamoring of the world. 

I am not saying that it is easy to live according to God’s expectations. We can not do it on our own. We need the guidance of God’s word, the help of the Holy Spirit and the fellowship of believers to live the way God wants us to. My prayer is that this short article will help believers consider their lives and seek to constantly align themselves with the kingdom of heaven.