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18b Module 2

Spiritual Armor: The Belt of Truth Transcript: Annotated

GENERAL OUTLINE

1. Introduction 2. Review 3. Background 4. Belt of Truth

a. Roman soldier’s belt b. God’s belt

5. Conclusion

INTRODUCTION

Do you believe there are spiritual battles going on all around you, all the time? Let me assure you, the Bible says spiritual battles ARE occurring all around you, all the time.

These battles remind me of our battles against debt, advertising, commercialism, and the war we fight to gain control over our personal finances.

What can you as a Christian do to arm yourself against these spiritual attacks? How can you fight off theses spiritual attacks? I’m telling you that, according to the Bible, God has provided a way. What is the way that God provides? His spiritual armor.

That’s why as you work through this spiritual armor part of the Seminar you will begin to

• Understand how the devil works,

• Understand what God’s spiritual armor is all about, and you’re going to

• Develop a Bible-based strategy to effectively use God’s spiritual armor, in all the areas of your life including your financial life.

Last time was your Introduction to God’s Spiritual Armor. This time you’re going to get your first look at the first piece of God’s armor which is His Belt of Truth.

• First, you’ll review a bit of what we covered in our first spiritual armor time together.

• Then, your are going to dig a little deeper into some new Background information all so that

• So you will be ready to consider the first piece of God’s armor which is the Belt of Truth, o You’ll see the Belt of Truth first from the Roman soldier’s point of view, then from God’s point of view.

o You will see how the Roman soldier correctly used his belt back then, and, you will learn how to correctly use God’s Belt of Truth today, beginning this very day.

• Then finally, finally, we’ll summarize all that the Lord gives us then close out our time together in a very special way. This is going to be a fantastically rewarding time.

REVIEW

So, make sure you have your Power Point handouts and something to write with, and let’s get started. As we do, let’s review a bit from last time.

• First, do you remember the couple from LA that died of malnutrition with thousands of dollars stashed away in their closet? And I’m sure you remember millionaire Hetty Green whose son lost his leg because mom took so long to find a free clinic to treat that leg?

o You see, the circumstances of life for the LA couple and Hetty Green were real and they proved devastating because they didn’t choose to use the tools, to use the resources, the provisions they had available to them.

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o My friend, your spiritual and financial circumstances are real as well, but you are going to recognize the cause of your circumstances, you are going to learn to use the spiritual tools God gives you so your spiritual and financial circumstances won’t prove devastating.

• Now, the second review point to remember is that the devil and spiritual warfare are real. o However, remember also, that Jesus Christ, by His life, death and resurrection forever defeated

the devil—God won the war with the devil through His Son Jesus Christ. o None-the-less, the devil still searches the battlefield to attack stragglers--individuals who choose

to give themselves over to the control of their defeated enemy. o How does he attack? He attacks on the battlefield of your mind

� First through your ignorance of his methods. � He attacks through your direct and intentional disobedience to God. � And he attacks through tolerations, negligence and laziness on your part—when you get

into that mode of life where you just don’t listen to the Holy Spirit’s warnings to deal with some area of your life before it gets out of control

• Finally, the third review point, you need to remember that God gives you His armor and He tells you how to use it to fight and win. You see, God has not left you to “stand” naked before the enemy.

o Recall that fleshly or worldly weapons simply don’t work when you fight spiritual battles. You need spiritual weapons to fight spiritual battles.

o But you also need to know how and when to use His spiritual weapons, His spiritual armor.

BACKGROUND

More background That’s a quick look back. Now, let’s look a little deeper into the book of Ephesians, which is, of course, where you find Paul’s discussion on spiritual armor.

• First, note that Paul writes and commands the Christians as part of the church at Ephesus to put on the full armor of God. Just what did Paul mean by such a command?

• To understand the meaning of Paul’s command, you need to see the background of the command. o History shows that Paul was writing this letter about AD 60. o And Paul addresses his letter to the saints at Ephesus and the faithful in Jesus Christ. In other

words, the book of Ephesians is written to and for Christians, for those who have already asked Jesus Christ into their hearts as Lord and Savior. The book of Ephesians doesn’t tell you how to become a Christian; it’s a book that tells you as a Christian how to live as a Christian.

o Now, if you recall, from the book of Acts, Paul spent three years preaching in the city of Ephesus. His preaching was so powerful that lots of folks came to Christ, so they stopped buying all the silver idols of Artemis, also called Diana, which caused the silversmiths to lose their profits so they threatened Paul’s life. At that point Paul left the city, eventually returned to Jerusalem where he was arrested and sent to Rome. In Rome, Paul was imprisoned, most likely under house arrest, for two years before his execution. While Paul was in prison, Paul wrote to the church of Ephesus, giving them instructions on how to be successful in their calling.

“Finally”--An Important Message to Remember So, it’s in the sixth chapter of Ephesians, that the apostle Paul writes his great text about spiritual warfare and spiritual weapons. But before Paul goes into a detailed explanation of God’s spiritual armor, he first passionately beseeches you, Finally, my brothers, be strong in the Lord….

• The word “finally” is one of the most important and interesting words in all of this text. It is taken from the Greek phrase “toe u-low ip o u” tou loipou and would be better translated for the rest of the matter; in conclusion; or in summation.

• The phrase “toe u-low ip o u” tou loipou is used in other Greek manuscripts of that same period to point out something that’s so extremely important that it is placed at the very end of the letter. This way the reader will be more likely to remember this last, most important point over anything else he just read.

• With this in mind, the word “finally” in Ephesians 6:10 carries this idea: “In conclusion, I have saved the most important issue of this epistle until the end of the letter, so if you remember nothing else I have said, you will remember this. I want this to stand out in your mind!”

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• This is a remarkable statement! Why so? Well because the book of Ephesians contains some of the deepest and most important theological teaching in all of the New Testament. Here are just a few of these theological points. Paul writes about:

o The election of the saints (Ephesians 1:4) o The predestination work of God (Ephesians 1:5) o The adoption of the sons of God (Ephesians 1:5) o The dispensation of the fullness of times (Ephesians 1:10) o The sealing of the Holy Spirit (Ephesians 1:13)…but that’s not all o Paul writes about the power of God that is available to every believer (Ephesians 1:19) o The grace of God (Ephesians 2:1-10) o The eternal plan of God (Ephesians 3:10-11) o The fivefold ministry gifts (Ephesians 4:11-13) o The infilling with the Spirit (Ephesians 5:18-19) o And really, the list goes on and on

• But in addition to these important theological points, the book of Ephesians also includes some of the most practical instructions in all of the New Testament concerning issues such as

o The relationship between believers (Ephesians 4:25-5:2) o The relationship between believers and the world (Ephesians 5:3-16) o The relationship between husbands and wives (Ephesians 5:22-33) o Parents and children (Ephesians 6:1-4) and o The relationship between employers and employees (Ephesians 6:5-9)

• Yet when you come to the end of this epistle that is so jam-packed with theological and practical truths, Paul says, “Finally…” and then he begins to speak to you about spiritual warfare!

o Why is this? Why does Paul consider spiritual warfare and God’s spiritual armor the most important part of his letter? Because like so many in the Church world today, Ephesian believers had gathered together a vast accumulation of spiritual knowledge, information, and facts; nevertheless, all this information alone wasn’t leading to transformation and was not enough to keep the devil under their feet where he belonged!

o Now, you have to realize that the church at Ephesus was no ordinary church. � It was the largest church in existence at that time; it was the mega-church of the first

century. � Timothy was the senior pastor. � And the congregation was highly educated and contained some pretty prominent folks:

Paul and Mary, the mother of Jesus, were members. � Peter, Apollos, Aquila, and Pricilla had all ministered there at some point. � We also know from history that Ephesus later became a stronghold of Christianity; � The Apostle John is buried in the city. � Jesus in His book of the Revelation commends the city for their adherence to doctrine, and

their willingness to test those who claim to be disciples. o You see, believers back then, just like believers today, just like you and me, believers back then

spent great amounts of time developing doctrine and educating their minds with great and necessary spiritual truths. They had lots of spiritual knowledge, information, and facts. This was as it should be. I mean, what a great learning environment. Think about it; how would you like to sit in a Sunday School class along with Peter and Mary, Apollos, Aquila, and Pricilla and have Paul as your Sunday school teacher…pretty awesome! Yet, there were many in the church who were spiritually defeated in their personal lives. As they were growing in their intellectual understanding of the Word, they needed to simultaneously grow in their understanding of spiritual armor and spiritual conflict in order to live in the World.

o I mean, there were some problems in that church. That’s why Paul had to instruct these believers to stop lying, to stop stealing, to stop using corrupt speech, to stop grieving the Holy Spirit, and to get rid of all bitterness, rage, and anger and all brawling and slander. Does this sound like a church full of victorious people to you? The Ephesian believers were members of the largest church of that day, yet they were not fully experiencing the overcoming, abundant life that Jesus Christ had come to offer them. They had yet to grasp how to move from information into transformation.

• Consider your own life for just a second. Are you experiencing victory in most areas of your life, or are you suffering defeat in some of the key areas of your life? Have you ignored the fact that spiritual warfare is real? Have you gathered lots of spiritual information, knowledge, and facts, yet forgotten to put on the

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whole armor of God? Just as Paul told the folks in Ephesus back then, he’s telling you right now that you need to continue to grow in your understanding of all the church doctrines, you bet, don’t stop growing, keep involved in the spiritual disciplines of hearing, reading, memorizing, meditating and studying the Word of God. Keep it up. But Paul is also saying to you, that of all he gives you in his letter to the Ephesians, he wants you to remember that for you, right now, the most important thing is for you to learn about, pick up, put on and learn how to use God’s spiritual armor so you can keep the devil under your feet which is his rightful position.

BELT OF TRUTH

So, in verse 10, Paul starts out with Finally. Then he moves on to a ton of extremely exciting information before he reaches verse 14 where he starts talking about each piece of God’s spiritual armor.…but we’re going to save all that he tells you between verse 10 and verse 14 until a later day during the workshop. For right now, we’re going to pick up with verse 14 where Paul tells you to Stand firm then with the Belt of Truth buckled around your waist. What’s Paul talking about here? What is the Belt of Truth, or the “loin belt” of truth depending on your translation? Well, try to paint this picture in your mind…

• Every morning while he was a prisoner the apostle Paul watched his Roman guard as a soldier dress himself in his armor. Then this soldier would chain himself to Paul to make sure Paul didn’t go anywhere. Now, as Paul watched the Roman soldier put on his armor, Paul had to have been inspired because Paul assigned a spiritual meaning to each piece of the equipment. By the way, one of the things I discovered in my research is the order that Paul presents God’s spiritual armor is the exact order in which a soldier put them on.

• One of the oddest pieces of the soldier's dress was not really armor at all, it was an undergarment called a "belt" or "girdle" - Paul calls it spiritually the Belt of Truth. Here’s a picture of a reproduction of the soldier’s belt; it was simple yet very functional. Here’s a picture of the real thing, an original Roman soldier belt, part of it any way.

• Now, this belt, or cinculum militaire, was not just something he wore. This was a very important piece to the Roman Soldier's armor. The belt went around his waist and, as you can see here, it also went over his shoulder. It was designed to hold a lot of equipment. For example, there were loops for the different swords, a clip for his shield, and a loop for his spear. Several loops helped tie down the breastplate to keep it from flapping up and down when the soldier charged into battle. There was a clip to carry his helmet on long marches. You can’t see it here but other loops held ropes and a rations sack. When the legions conquered a city, the soldiers would empty out the ration sack to make room for gold, jewelry, and other loot they picked up. The belt was tied in several places to stay in place, so that no matter how the soldier moved about, fell down, climbed hills, or whatever, the belt was always in place with weapons at the ready. If the belt were not on straight, then everything would be out of place for the soldier which just might cost him his life in a battle.

• A fully loaded soldier on the march, carried more than amour, weapons and a shield. Each man had a heavy pack held over the shoulder, which included a tool kit and a dish and pan all of which was anchored to his belt.

• All of this weighed about 90 pounds or more, and often had to be carried 20 miles or more a day! Legionnaires on the move looked more like pack animals than the world’s fiercest fighters.

• Even though the belt showed his rank, it was the least attractive and the least noticeable of all his armor,

• One other thing I discovered--when preparing for battle, a soldier would put on his belt first, because as you just saw, the belt was designed to keep other pieces of the soldier's armor in place. But, the soldier had a long tunic or cloak, which he worn over his short kilt or skirt. This tunic was big and bulky and often served as a blanket, a raincoat and even sometimes as a makeshift tent for shelter. Now, prior to engaging in combat, the soldier would tuck his tunic under his belt, so that he would have absolute freedom to move around and fight.

• So, that’s what the belt was to the Roman soldier—an indispensable piece of his armor that would basically help keep everything together—it was his travel suitcase as it were.

Now, what is God’s Belt of Truth to you? What are the biblical implications of the Belt of Truth?

• First, from a purely practical perspective. The first thing you see is that the Belt of Truth, well, it’s a belt. Now, as a guy, belts are important. I almost always wear a belt mostly to keep my pants up and my shirt tucked in. My belt keeps me neat and gives me freedom to move around.

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• But then you see that it is a Belt of Truth. Now truth is important, isn’t it? I mean, the Bible tells you to live truthfully and speak truthfully, right? Paul told the Ephesians a little earlier in his letter that they should put away falsehood and speak truthfully to his neighbors, so evidently the lack of truth or lying was an issue with the Ephesians. Truth is important

• But what’s more interesting is that the Belt of Truth is tangible, that’s to say the Belt of Truth is the only weapon that you can actually see and hold in your hand.

• The word Paul uses for this weapon is the Greek word logos.

• What does the word logos describe? Truth, yes, but more importantly the Word of Truth, the written Word of God, the Bible, your copy of the Basic Instructions Before Leaving Earth.

• By the way, there are actually two kinds of “words” from God: Logos and Rhema o Logos, the word used here, is the indispensable written Word of God. o But then there is also the Rhema word. This word describes a fresh, specially quickened and

revealed word from God. Now, interestingly enough, both words are tied to God’s armor. The logos as you see here is the Belt of Truth. The Rhema we’ll talk about a little later.

• What’s Paul’s message to you regarding God’s Belt of Truth? Well, he’s telling you that If you want to walk through the material areas of your life clothed in your spiritual armor,

o You must start by taking up the Logos, the Word of truth, the written Word of God and permanently affixing it to your life. And remember, the devil fights with lies, and sometimes his lies sound like truth, right? But you, my friend, you as a believer have the power of truth from the Logos, the written word of God. And God’s truth always, always defeats the devil’s lies.

o The word logos implies that the Bible, the Word of Truth, listen, the Bible must be the governor, the law, the ruler, and the “final say-so” in all the areas of your material life—it holds everything together. That’s why one of the first things we are doing during our times together is to set into place financial principles based on the Logos, the written Word of God.

o And Paul is telling you that without the Belt of Truth, you are in deep trouble. You see, winning or losing in all the material areas of your life is your choice.

• If you choose not to walk daily in the power of truth from God’s Word, neither will you walk in your God-given suit of spiritual armor.

• Without the Word of God up and operating in your life, including the material areas of your life, your battle is over before it ever begins.

• If you are going to go into spiritual combat, my friend, you had better not go without your Belt of Truth. If you do, it will only take one hit from the enemy, and all your armor is going to tumble off.

• Why start with the Word of God? Because the Word of God is alive, active, and powerful. It divides the marrow from the bone. It divides truth from error. The devil fears it. Every demon in hell trembles when you quote it. You don’t need to defend it. You don’t need to argue about it with the atheist or agnostic. Just use it. And when the devil comes and starts to try to manipulate your life, to destroy our health, to destroy your finances, to rob you of your peace, don’t pick up the Word of God and try to explain it. Quote it to him.

• And by the way, do you realize that it’s not your pastor’s job to dress you in your Belt of Truth and your other spiritual armor each Sunday? Did you know that? You pastors teaching of the Word from the pulpit should only confirm what you have already heard God say personally to you through His Word during the week. It is your pastor’s job to pull your loin belt a little tighter, yes. But he doesn’t dress you in it.

When you put on the Belt of Truth which is the Word of God, and determine to make it a priority in your life you are well on the way to winning the battles that come against your

• Body

• Mind

• Family

• Friends

• Ministry, and your

• Money As an interesting and important side point here--the soldier’s belt historically protected his reproductive abilities. This means that you can rightly take this to show you that your ability to produce or reproduce for God is directly tied to your relationship with the Word of God. If you get out of the Word of God, you are reduced to a state of spiritual bareness. Consider this: First Peter 1:23 tells you For you have been born again, not of perishable seed, but of imperishable, through the living and enduring word of God. God’s Word is the imperishable

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seed required for reproduction. Listen, everything, everything God produces, He produces through the instrumentation of His Word. OK? Alright. This is the soldier’s first piece of armor and it’s the first piece of God’s spiritual armor as described by Paul. But you say, “That’s just fine Bob, but I’m suffering right now. This series on God’s spiritual armor is going to take a rather long time to complete as I move through both the seminar and the workshop. But I have some issues right now. What can I do right now to work out my problem while I wait for you to tell me more about a war that I didn’t even know I was in?” Well, I heard Dr. Tony Evans answer that question once and I’ll try to pass it along to you…here’s enough to get you started. According to Acts 26:18 when you prayed to ask Jesus into your heart, God set you free from the devil. But you say, “If I’ve been set free why does it seem like I’m still in jail?” Because you’ve been in jail so long you don’t know how to walk out when the door flies opens. You’re used to being in bondage. You’re used to being dependent on yourself. You’re smart enough to know not to be dependent on the devil but depending on yourself and not God is exactly the same as depending on the devil. Think about this: when a government goes to war, the government trains and equips soldiers, not civilians. Guess what happens when civilians try to fight a war—they suffer because they don’t have all the right tools and don’t know how to fight. Well, it seems that today we have too many Christian civilians and not enough Christian soldiers. My guess is that you tend to want to live as a civilian and only put on your uniform when you run into trouble, right? Well, that’s not how God intends you to live. God calls you to pick up, put on, and live in your uniform each day. That way you’ll be ready for whatever comes. So, from now to next time, when those battles come up, simply pray something like, “Lord, I’m facing the devil in these areas of my life…” and name them—personal, family, church and society, finances. “Lord, you know I can’t beat him. He is too much for me. Lord, in book of Jude, even Michael, Your number one angel, even Michael couldn’t fight the devil because the devil is too strong. I can’t fight the devil in my own power, Lord.” So when you come up against the devil this week, and you likely will, instead of telling the devil how strong you are tell God how weak you are. Instead of arguing that you can, confess to God you can’t. Instead of saying that you know you have the ability, tell God that you know that you do not have the ability. You say, “God, because I know You, because I trust You, because You can do what I can’t do, my faith is in You to do to the devil what I could never to do him on my own.” When you pray something like that then, then you’ll begin to see the Lords strength. The Lord’s power. The Lord’s ability. And the Lord’s tenacity in dealing with the financial issues of your life. Then, then pray something like, “Lord, please help me pick up and put on the uniform of a Christian soldier, please give me, and teach me how to use, your spiritual armor to fight and win.” Try it, you’ll like what happens.

CONCLUSION Wow, excellent, excellent, excellent; right? We’ve covered a lot of ground during this time together, so let’s back up and review for just a second.

• First, you took a look back o at Hetty Green and that couple from LA and saw that folks tend to get into trouble when they

either don’t know about the tools they have or don’t know how to use the tools they have. o You reaffirmed the fact that the devil and spiritual warfare are absolute facts of life. o And the tools God gives you to fight and win are also facts of life.

• Then you saw that spiritual warfare and God’s spiritual armor were absolutely the most important teachings in the entire book of Ephesians.

• Then, finally, you had a chance to dig deep into the first piece of God’s spiritual armor which is the Belt of Truth, the logos, the written Word of God. The Belt of Truth is your Bible. And, you saw that the belt was the most critical part of the Roman soldier’s armor and how the Belt of Truth is the most critical part of God’s spiritual armor.

All-in all, it’s been an exciting time together. The next time we meet our Roman soldier friend here, we’ll talk about the next piece of armor God wants you to pick up, put on and use, which is the Breastplate of Righteousness. Boy, are you in for a surprise or two. That’s the next time.

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For this time, well, it’s time to close in prayer…but listen up a second. After I pray, don’t go away, I have something special for you. Right now, let me pray for us. Lord, please help us, each of us, not to get so brain-heavy with facts, knowledge, and information that we forget we must have more than brain power. Lord, I’m asking You on behalf of each of us, I am asking You to help us focus on the spiritual side of our lives and to stay equipped with the spiritual weapons You have provided for us, because we know that knowledge alone is not enough to keep the devil under our feet where he belongs. Today Lord, we choose to begin to pick up those weapons and to walk in the whole armor of God! I pray this in Jesus’ name! Amen Now, now don’t go away. After you turn off this video, please take a look at the very end of today’s transcript; take a look at the affirmation there. I suggest you read it, consider it, and then prayerfully speak it out loud to the Lord. Then, then after you’ve considered the affirmation, remember to do your blog assignment and then I’ll see you next time. My friend, thank you so very much for being here AFFIRMATION: I confess that I have spiritual weapons to defeat the enemy! I walk in those weapons and use them every time the devil tries to attack my life or the lives of those I love. Because I have the whole armor of God, I am fit and equipped to shove back every assault the devil may try to bring against me. God has more than adequately outfitted me with every weapon I need to maintain the victory Jesus obtained for me. I declare this by faith in Jesus’ name!

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Blog Question

1. Why is the loin belt the central piece of spiritual armor that holds every other aspect of my spiritual walk together? Because God says that His Word is the foundation of His will. God’s Will: Knowing and doing God’s will is knowing and acting on God’s Word. What must I do to prepare myself to receive a specific word from the Lord for a given situation? Make sure my loin belt is secure—have the Word in my heart and put into action in my life. It’s that simple but it’s not that easy… (Paul, not working for salvation but working out salvation…)

http://www.christianarsenal.com/Christian_Arsenal/Full_Armor_of_God.html

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http://www.armsofvalour.com/miva/merchant.mv?Screen=PROD&Store_Code=AOVL&Product_Code=9910&Category_Code=R http://www.armorvenue.com/royal-roman-brass-belt-decorative-with-apron.html

Pic#2 http://www.romancoins.info/MilitaryEquipment-cingulum.html

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