Word Outreach Podcast - Encouragement in Christianity with Rudy Vaughan

Protecting our respect for the Truth of God’s Word is the first line of defense against the attack from our spiritual enemy. The battle is real. The enemy is serious. But our God is much more powerful! Living with His armor is the key to living in victory. Don’t go through life without wearing the armor. Today, learn how to live with the Belt of Truth on. In today’s episode: 2 Important facts you should know about our spiritual enemy The Devil’s background, strategy, limitation and future 4 steps for living with God’s protection: the Belt of Truth Interview about short-term missions with Wayne and Nancy Reigel 1st Fact about our enemy: He is serious about doing damage

We know our enemy is serious about doing damage because:

He takes the time to come up with schemes; he is tricky and crafty. Genesis 3:1 – Satan questioned God’s Word. 2 Corinthians 11:14 – Appears as an angel of light We know our enemy is serious about doing damage because:

We see the results of his very effective system that plays on our weakness. Ephesians 6: 12 – He has a large, well-organized group of fallen angels that work for him. This organization has brought him a lot of success.

Examples: Satan has had success with ...

those who were dedicated to God from birth (Samson’s story in Judges 13-16) those who had a parent involved in ministry (the priest Eli and his sons, 1 Samuel 2-3) even the wisest man who ever lived! (Solomon, 1 Kings 11) Even his heart was turned away from God. No one is immune to being targeted by the enemy.

2nd Fact about our enemy: He is not in total control

Ephesians 6:13 With God it is possible to stand firm!

Reminders for us that Satan is not in total control:

He was cast out of heaven by God (Ezekiel 28:12-13, Isaiah 14:12-15, Luke 10:18) He has to submit to God’s limitations on how far he can go in hurting people (Job 1) We see Jesus casting out demons, and others who cast them out in Jesus’s name (New Testament) One day, God will put Satan away forever! (Revelation 20:10) The first area of attack is against our respect for the truth of God’s Word, so the armor we need is the Belt of Truth (Ephesians 6:14)

Steps for living with the Belt of Truth:

Example from King Josiah

Allow it to command our attention (2 Kings 22:10) Allow it to move us emotionally (2 Kings 22: 11-19) Seek God (2 Kings 22: 13) Find out how this truth applies to our life and circumstances. Allow God’s truth to move us to action (2 Kings 23:1-25)

King Josiah dedicated himself to following God and then led his people to do the same. He made major changes in the land. Because Josiah decided that the truth of God’s Word would command his highest respect, he was able to have good judgment to make the right choices. And that is what the Belt of Truth can do for us in life!

Temptation and discouragement do not have to stop us in our tracks. Our shield of faith can protect against any spiritual arrow the enemy wants to shoot at us. Paul knew that the Roman soldiers were equipped for success in battle. The fact that he used their armor as an illustration says a great deal about what he believed our chances for victory are in spiritual battle. Today, we are looking at the fourth kind of spiritual armor from Ephesians 6. In Today's episode:

• What does a spiritual arrow from the enemy look like?
• How can we 'Take up the Shield of Faith' like Paul says to do?
• Why would the enemy want to target us?
• How our response to his attacks can be the preparation we need to go forward and do great things for God in the future.
• Hear missionaries talk about their strategic plans to take the Gospel to another land.

Ephesians 6:16 In all circumstances take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming darts of the evil one.

Illustration of the Roman soldier used by Paul in chapter 6

Paul spent lots of time around the Roman soldiers of his day. One time he had as many as 470 with him while he was being moved from one location to another (Acts 23:23)

Roman soldiers were very successful agains their enemies...

3 Reasons for Success

Equipment Physical Training Mindset Equipment ~ Shield

-size of a small door (2 ft by 4ft)

-thin strips of wood glued together and covered in canvas and leather

-in middle, a round knob made of iron; used to knock down the enemy

-shield weighed almost 22 pounds

Physical Training

-Endurance exercises including marching—have to travel about 20 miles in 5 hours, with all equipment on!

-Fighting exercises including practicing strategic ways to use shields/different formation

1 More item necessary for survival...

Mindset!

Soldiers on the battlefield, closing in on the enemy, approaching enemy fortress...

Critical moment that reveals whether the soldier has an attitude of trust in his leader.

Their leader decides what formation to use Soldier could just try to protect himself...OR obey his leader and move into formation If there is going to be success, soldiers have to completely trust their leader Not only must he trust the ability of the leader to make good decisions, but also the leader’s character!

-Trust that the leader was there to help, not secretly planning to hurt

-Trust that the leader has best intentions and planning for the army’s success.

Having this mindset of trusting the leader would have been critical, because if you really trusted him, you would naturally obey. You would take your shield, and move into the correct formation that the leader has decided to use.

Recognizing the Spiritual Arrows

There are spiritual attacks by our enemy, meant to target us in a particular way...keeping us from standing strong in the Lord.

Understanding about these arrows will help us know how to use the shield of faith.

4 Main Parts of an Arrow Analogy

The Nock: Reminds me of the timing of the shot. Enemy waits for just the right timing.

The Fletching: Reminds me of the topic or subject area Satan will use to keep arrow on target.

The Shaft: Reminds me of the actual deception; the goal of the enemy getting us to believe a lie about God.

The Arrowhead: There are different types of arrowheads for different situations. The arrowhead is what this weapon is all about. The other 3 parts work together to accomplish 1 goal: getting the arrowhead on target.

The arrowhead reminds me about:

the kind of wound Satan wants us to have.

And the best way to explain it is to show you what it looks like in action.

First, we have to take a close look at the day Satan shot his first arrow at humans, in Genesis 3

Satan waits for the perfect timing (the nock). Eve seems to be near the tree with the forbidden fruit and it appears that God is not talking with them right now, like in the past. Satan waits for just the right time. The topic Satan uses to keep the deception on track (the fletching) is about whether or not the fruit will really hurt them. The lie (the shaft) —Satan told them that they would be like God. Eve begins too believe that God is not telling the truth The wound (the arrowhead) - ‘Satan wants her to believe that she cannot trust God”. He wants her to think that God is not protecting her from something bad, but instead, God is keeping her from something good!” Satan wants to wound her trust in God. God knew the effects and nature of evil. This infection of evil was what God wanted to protect Adam and Eve from.

What Satan told Eve was partially true—she would know evil. But she would not know evil the way God did, without the contamination of evil.

She would know evil by e...

There are two very different paths that Christians can walk down in life. We can either be on, what I'll call, "The Path of Christian Fulfillment" (it's a path we can see in Romans 12). Or we can be on, what I call, "The Path of Regret". This is a path we get on when we choose to ignore our Christian character. Today, I'll be talking about both of these paths. And I'm particularly excited about sharing with you about the habit God has used to change my life. In today's episode:

• What the path of fulfillment looks like
• How to get off the path of regret
• Staying on the path of fulfillment: the habit God has used to change my life
• Short-term missions: interview with Wayne and Nancy Reigel

What if God's Character was the greatest influence on our life? It would mean protection for our mind, will and emotions. In Today's Episode we learn about the second piece of spiritual armor from Ephesians 6.

• How to wear the Breastplate of Righteousness
• The areas of protection
• The story of the changed life of Moses
• Interview from Singapore about missions

What is the greatest influence on your life? What influences your thoughts, desires, and emotions? 3 Areas targeted by our spiritual enemy

1. the way we think
2. our desires,
3. our emotions

The Breastplate of Righteousness, from Ephesians 6;14, can protect us in each of these areas. The physical breastplate of the Roman soldier in Paul's day was constructed of bronze or iron, and held together by leather cords or buckles. It protected the soldier’s vital organs. Two of those were the heart and stomach.

The heart is linked to 2 areas in Scripture:

• the way we think about life
• our desires

The stomach and intestines area is linked with our emotions in Scripture.

Verses about our heart and thinking:

Matthew 9:4 “But Jesus, knowing their evil thoughts, said, “Why do you think evil in your hearts?”

Psalm 119:11 “I have stored up your word in my heart . . .”

Proverbs 16:16 “The plans of the heart belong to man...”

Hebrews 4:12 “For the word of God is . . . discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart.”

Verses about our heart and desires:

Psalm 37:4 “Delight yourself in the Lord, and he will give you the desires of your heart.”

Psalm 20:4 "May he grant you your heart's desire."

Besides the heart, the breastplate also protected the stomach and intestines areas.

Verses about our emotions:

Have you ever felt excited or nervous about something, and felt it in your stomach a bit?

In the original language the New Testament was written in (Greek), the word used for the intestines in Acts 1:18, referring to the intestines of Judas gushing out of him after he fell to the ground when he was hung, (Strong's Number G4698) is the same word used for "heart" in Colossians 3:12 where the heart of compassion is mentioned.

Colossians 3:12 “. . . put on a heart of compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience.”

A form of this same Greek word is also used in Matthew 20:34 when it says, "Moved with compassion."

Matthew 20:34 “Moved with compassion, Jesus touched their eyes; and immediately they regained their sight and followed him.”

This reference to the stomach / intestines and bowels area was mentioned in connection with emotions in the culture of the day.

Back in Ephesians, the Breastplate of Righteousness physically covers 2 areas of a person (the heart and stomach/intestines area) that which are also linked in Scripture with 3 areas in a person’s life: the thinking, the desires, and the emotions. God offers protection for these parts that are targeted by the enemy.

The word “righteousness”

Synonyms of righteousness are: integrity, virtue, purity of life, rightness, correctness of thinking, feeling and acting

Question “whose righteousness protects us ?” God's righteousness.

Philippians 3:9 “...and may be found in Him, not having a righteousness of my own derived from the Law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness which comes from God on the basis of faith...”

2 Ways that God's righteousness protects us:

1. In one way, God’s own righteousness already protects the Christian: from future judgment (Hebrews 9:27)
2. In another way, His righteousness is available to protect us in this life, if we choose to wear it.

Have you ever heard anyone talk to you about hanging out with the right kind of people? It’s important to have our closest friends be people of high character. These 2 verses in Proverbs provide wisdom about the powerful influence people can have on one another.

Proverbs 27:17 “Iron sharpens iron, and one man sharpens another.”

Proverbs 13:20 “Whoever walks with the wise becomes wise, but the companion of fools will suffer harm.”

What if we were to walk with God?

What if we, as believers, made the conscious decision to make sure that His righteous character was the greatest influence on our lives? It would have a big effect on the way we think, what we desire, and what our emotions look like!

Furthermore, what if we even started embracing those righteous character qualities with our actions; what would that look like? If God had the greatest influence on our lives, the influence of this world’s philosophy would not be able to change our way of thinking, shape our desires, or control our emotions.

What would this look li...

We've all lived with regret over making decisions that were not honoring to God - but living with regret does not have to be the norm. Today, I want to tell you about 4 people who can look back over certain parts of their lives and not have a since of regret. These people made good choices, even when it was difficult, and as a result they enjoyed God's blessing on their lives and enjoyed the good feeling that comes from living without regret. But there is something more - something unexpected that can come from having strong Christian character. There is another reason you and I can live without regret. In today's episode:

• 2 Great benefits that can come from strong Christian character
• Protecting our ministry effectiveness: the 2 areas of our character that we should not ignore
• 4 Steps for strengthening our Christian Character
• Part 2 of the missionary interview from the Paris, France area
• Christmas greetings from Bolivia, South America

2 Great Benefits that can come from strong Christian Character

1. We learned from the stories about Daniel, Esther and Joseph that God sometimes opens new opportunities for ministry when we make God honoring character a priority in our lives.
2. We saw that right after Paul talks about ministry in Romans 12, he gives examples of having Christian character. There is a good reason for that: If we focus on ministry and ignore our Christian character, then we cannot expect to be effective in ministry.

Protecting our ministry effectiveness: the 2 areas of our character that we should not ignore

Pay attention to the way you treat other people Pay attention to the way you treat your personal walk with God

4 Steps for strengthening our Christian character

1. Decide that your Christian character matters to you
2. Evaluate your life compared to Romans 12:9-21 (your strengths and weaknesses?)
3. Ask God to help you make changes and expect Him to provide opportunities for change
4. Find your fulfilment in serving God