If you’re a sports fan, you’ve likely heard the phrase, “the best offense is a good defense.” The meaning of that phrase is, of course, that, if you’re really good at defense, you’ll have a chance to win every game by outlasting your opponents. Perhaps, that’s what Paul was intimating when he urged the Ephesian church to put on the full armor of God (Eph. 6:11-17). Notice the way most of the pieces of armor that Paul describes are defensive in nature—belt, breastplate, shield, helmet, etc. Now, it’s clear that Paul isn’t talking about preparing for a physical battle here. He’s instructing the Ephesians on the way to wage the spiritual battle that every one of us must wage throughout our entire lives.
The spiritual battle is that of contending for our faith in Jesus Christ. As Paul writes in verse 13,
“Therefore take up the whole armor of God, that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand firm.”
The end objective is to “stand firm” in your faith. Paul knew that his readers would be facing tremendous and intense challenges to their faith. He knew that Satan would use every means at his disposal to dissuade and discourage these believers in Jesus. Therefore, his urging them to take up the whole armor of God was for their good and for their joy in persevering through all challenges so that they would stand firm until the end, and he knew that, perhaps, the most critical piece of armor for them (and us!) was the “belt of truth.” If we know the truth of God, the truth of the gospel, we can withstand all challenges because we are standing on the truth. Ours is a faith founded on fact. Our faith in Christ Jesus is not based on a myth or fairy tale as many in our culture would say. It is based on historical fact.
This is one of the aspects I love about Bethlehem College & Seminary’s unwavering commitment to knowing the Word of God deeply and well. It is the anchor for our faith. It remains true no matter what the skeptics, antagonists, and persecutors say.
With this in mind, I want to invite you to attend a special showing of the film, Patterns of Evidence: Exodus, on Thursday evening, March 3rd, at 7:00 p.m. at the downtown campus of Bethlehem Baptist Church. This event is sponsored by Bethlehem College & Seminary as a means of strengthening your faith in the truth and historicity of the Bible. Following the film showing, we will be hosting a Q & A with our Old Testament professor John Beckman as well Steve Law, a Bethlehem member who wrote the film and also appears in it. Please join us for this special, faith-strengthening event.
Tim Tomlinson PresidentBethlehem College & Seminary
Luis Mendez’s Message at Chapel,
February 18, 2016: “The Gospel In Community”
Join us for our weekly Chapel Service on Thursday, March 3rd, 12:45-1:45pm, featuring Michel Galeano speaking on Miami Vision.
Prayer Requests:
1. Please pray for the Patterns of Evidence: Exodus event. We want everyone to be there who is interested in knowing more about the historical evidence for the Exodus.
2. Please pray for the Board of Trustees meeting occurring today. Please pray for wisdom for our board as it continues to provide critical leadership for our school in these challenging times.
3. Please continue to pray for a positive answer from the Department of Homeland Security regarding our application to be able to accept international students into our degree programs. We were expecting an answer by October!
4. Please be in prayer for the admissions committee as it meets this week to make seminary admissions decisions for the coming year. Pray that the Lord would give them great wisdom and discernment through this process.
5. As always, please keep praying for the Lord to continue to pour out his blessings on the school financially.
