The Coolidge examiner., 1936-11-06

Improved N STJNDAY
Uniform oC-O~~
= -:-LESSON =
BY REV. HAROLD L. LUNDQUIST,
Dean of the Moody Bible Institute
of Chicago.
g Western Newspaper Union.
Lesson for November 8
THE CHRISTIAN WAR; ARE

LESSON TEXT-Acts 1912, 1920:
Ephesians 6:13-20
GOLDEN TEXT-Be strong in the
Lord. and in the power of his might.
Eph. 6:10.
PRIMARY TOPIC - When Paul
Preached in Schoolhouse.
JUNIOR TOPIC-In a Schoolhouse in
Ephesus.
INTERMEDIATE AND EMO R
TOPIC-Weapons of the Christian Sol
dier.
YOUNG PEOPLE AND A D U L T
TOPIC-The Gospel Facing the Forces
of Evil.
War, war! The whole world is
war-conScious in our day. Nations
are watching one anothei with sus
picion, and in the meantime arming
themselves for conflict. Hatred and
suspicion are rife, and as long as
sin rules the hearts of men we long
in vain for peace, which cannot
come until that day when the Prince
of Peace himself shall reign.
Yet every Christian hopes and
works for the peaceful solution of
the nations problems. Rig h t
thinking men do not want war be-
tween the peoples Of the earth. But
there is one warfare that we do
seek to foster and promote. We
encourage it, and as Christians
make a holy resolve to battle to
the end. That is the warfare against
Satan and his hosts. AS Ions as he
rules in the hearts of men, and sin
and wickedness are here, we say.
Fight on, my SOUL.
Christian life and service are pre-
sented in Scripture as fight, and
we do well to learn the methods
and the weapons of this great spirit.
ual conflict, not stressing a belliger-
ent note of strife against one an
other, and particularly not between
the divisions of Gods army in the
earth, but standing shoulder to
shoulder in the battle against the
Evil One.
1. The Lords Warrior (Acts 49,
8-12).
Paul, who is now on his third
missionary journey, comes again to
Ephesus, the leading city of Asia
Minor, and the center of the worship
of the heather goddess of Diana.
He tarries there for about three
years.
Like a good tactician he began
his campaign at a strategic point,
the synagogue. He brought forward
his God-given weapons. reasoning
and persuadins." Some he won.
others disbelieved the sad fact
which even this greatest of all
preachers had to meet.
God attested his work by mira
cles. The soldier of the Lord does
not go into battle alone. Nor does
he fight in his own power. God
gave him
II. A Mighty Conquest (vv. 49,
2O).
When a mans profession of faith
in Christ carries with it an open
forSaking of his confessed misdeeds
"a true change of life as well as
a declaration of belief-there has
been real dealing with God.
Notice, that they burned the bad
books found in their homes, even
though they were valued at thou
sands of dollars. Christian, how
many books or magazines are there
in your home now that minister
only to the lowest in your nature?
Oh, yes, they may be literature" d"
they may be in beautiful bindings;
you may even read them lin the
original" and regard the reading
as cultural. But if they are bad
books, are you ready to follow the
Ephesians in destroying them?
Finally we have from Paufs let
ter to the Ephesians the glorious
presentation of the Christians
III. God-Given Weapons (E h.
6:13-20).
This is a familiar, but none the
less rich and instructive, passage.
We have space to note only that
there are Cd five weapons of de-
fense; namely, the girdle of truth,
the breastplate of righteousness, the
shoes of peace, the shield of faith,
and the helmet of salvation, and
CD one mighty weapon of offense,
the sword of the Spirit-the Word
of God. A glorious and i'm
penetrable armor and equipment for
battle!
But it will do us not tho slightest
good unless we obey Pauls ad-
monition and put it on.
Christian, are you wearing and
using 1.-The whole arnor of God?