Radio Broadcast Monday 05/12/2025

Classic Christianity – Bob George – Standing Strong in the Lord Part 1 (05-12-25)

Standing Strong in the Lord Part 1

~ Finally be strong in the Lord and His Mighty Power.
~ So how are we to be strong in the Lord? By putting the whole armor of God on. Stop depending on your flesh to guard you, for the flesh can do nothing to protect you from the schemes of the devil. Many don’t understand and simply give lip service to the schemes of the devil. They think, “the devil can’t fool me, I’m too smart for that.” And the devil has a person caught right there. For we were all deceived since birth. And if you don’t believe that, remember what you have been taught through religion, and ALL the lies that you have believed from childhood. We were All taught the scheming lies of Satan, and we passed those same lies onto our children. And some today, still have not grown up in the Lord, even though they may be years of age, for they are still depending on their flesh to guard them, still thinking that satan could never deceive them. You would think we would learn, especially if we were set free from the lies of religion ourselves, but no, we go with the flow. We are told with a whispering in our ears, “not to cause ripples.” Satan doesn’t want you sharing Truth with anyone, and he will go out of his way to make it seem as difficult as possible to share the Truth of the Word of God with others. Oh, he doesn’t mind if you share religion, because religion will still keep a person under bondage. But if you want to share Truth, the devil will send up all types of roadblocks to stop you from sharing Truth. He will cause interruptions, and try to get you to get your focus onto something else. He will make it as uncomfortable as possible in your flesh, and if you are indeed depending on your flesh to share Truth, you likely won’t do it.

So, only when we place the whole armor of God on are we given the tools to share Truth with boldness, because then we are NOT thinking about our flesh, and we are allowing the Holy Spirit to direct our paths always. So focus on Him, and His righteousness, and forget about what you think others are thinking about you. Remember, we who are in Christ have Jesus living, guiding us, moment by moment to do His will in and through us. We are His representatives, and once you stop focusing on your own flesh, then He can use you as He wants to, movement by moment of the day.

Ephesians 6:10-20
Finally, be strong in the Lord and in His mighty power. Put on the full armor of God, so that you can make your stand against the devil’s schemes. For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this world’s darkness, and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms.

Therefore take up the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you will be able to stand your ground, and having done everything, to stand. Stand firm then, with the belt of truth buckled around your waist, with the breastplate of righteousness arrayed, and with your feet fitted with the readiness of the gospel of peace. In addition to all this, take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. And take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.

Pray in the Spirit at all times, with every kind of prayer and petition. To this end, stay alert with all perseverance in your prayers for all the saints. Pray also for me, that whenever I open my mouth, words may be given me so that I will boldly make known the mystery of the gospel, for which I am an ambassador in chains. Pray that I may proclaim it fearlessly, as I should.”

…..

And a certain ruler asked Him, saying, “Good Teacher, having done what, will I inherit eternal life?”
And Jesus said to him, “Why do you call Me good? No one is good, except God alone.

~ “Whoever has the Son has life; whoever does not have the Son of God does not have life.” 1 John 5:12

~ Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life; the one believing in Me, even if he should die, he will live. And everyone living and believing in Me shall never die, to the age. Do you believe this?” John 11:25,26
—

Pray to God:

Do you really want to know the WHOLE Truth of what is going on today?

“Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and the door will be opened to you.” Matthew 7:7

Lord Jesus, teach me the truth of the world today and give me the wisdom to know the truth and identify the lies of the devil. Thank you God.”

~ “Let’s turn back to the last chapter of the book of Ephesians. Let’s just read through this together. It says, Finally, be strong in the Lord and in His mighty power, put on the full armor of God so that you can take your stand against the devil’s schemes. For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, and against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms. Therefore, put on the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you will be able to stand your ground. And after you’ve done everything to stand stand firm then with the belt of truth buckled round your waist, with the breastplate of righteousness in place, and with your feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace. In addition to all this, take up the shield of faith, which you can extinguish, with which you can extinguish all the flaming errors of the evil one. Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God, and pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests. And with this in mind, be alert and always keep on praying for all of the saints. Pray also for me, that whenever I open my mouth, words may be given me so that I will fearlessly make known the mystery of the gospel for which I am ambassador in chains. Pray that I may declare it fearlessly as I should now he goes ahead to say, Tychicus, the dear brother and faithful servant in the Lord, will tell you everything so that you may also may know how I am and what I’m doing. I’m sending him to you for this very purpose, that you may know how we are, and that he may encourage you peace to the brothers and love with faith from God, the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ, grace to all who love our Lord Jesus Christ with an undying love.” ~ Bob George

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Announcer 0:13
Welcome to Classic Christianity Radio with Bob George Bob’s clear, timeless teachings on the complete forgiveness and unconditional love of Jesus Christ will transform your life as you learn about God’s amazing grace. Let’s join Bob as he teaches us from God’s Word.

Bob George 0:29
Let’s turn back to the last chapter of the book of Ephesians. Let’s just read through this together. It says, Finally, be strong in the Lord and in His mighty power, put on the full armor of God so that you can take your stand against the devil’s schemes. For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, and against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms. Therefore, put on the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you will be able to stand your ground. And after you’ve done everything to stand stand firm then with the belt of truth buckled round your waist, with the breastplate of righteousness in place, and with your feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace. In addition to all this, take up the shield of faith, which you can extinguish, with which you can extinguish all the flaming errors of the evil one. Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God, and pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests. And with this in mind, be alert and always keep on praying for all of the saints. Pray also for me, that whenever I open my mouth, words may be given me so that I will fearlessly make known the mystery of the gospel for which I am ambassador in chains. Pray that I may declare it fearlessly as I should now he goes ahead to say, Tychicus, the dear brother and faithful servant in the Lord, will tell you everything so that you may also may know how I am and what I’m doing. I’m sending him to you for this very purpose, that you may know how we are, and that he may encourage you peace to the brothers and love with faith from God, the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ, grace to all who love our Lord Jesus Christ with an undying love.

Now, guys, what you what you hear, is words coming out of the heart of the apostle Paul, as we had talked about before, as we were as we’re closing out this book, that the city of Ephesus was a huge, important city in the Roman Empire. It was the fourth largest city of its kind in the entire Roman Empire. It was a city that, because of its ports, had people that came into that place from every part of the world in the heathenistic world in which Paul lived at that time, and we’ve talked about that so many times that we have become very sophisticated in the world, and we don’t realize the heathenistic background of the Gentile world back in those days, when you’re talking about heathen worship, you’re talking about idol worship. You’re talking about total unadulterated heathenism. You’re not talking about nice, appearing nice, smelling nice, people going to church on Sunday like in America, you’re talking about total heathenism. And so in this city of Ephesus, which was the most popular city in the world, was the home of of the goddess Artemis, many times referred to as Diana. Now that temple is one of the seven wonders of the world, so you can imagine the size of it and how spectacular that temple was to the world, coming into that part of the country and seeing that temple that was dedicated and the house and Temple of Artemis, the goddess of sex, the goddess of prostitution that was being openly participated in, never condemned. It was the thing to do. It was a religious right. All of that type of thing was in Ephesus, the fourth largest city in the Roman Empire and probably the most popular city. In the Roman Empire. And so in a setting such as this, you have every kind of magic that was taking place, sorcery that was taking place, everything under the sun. And so with a city such as this, with that kind of sorcery, with that type of imagery, with the celebration of a goddess, Artemis, why business around that flowed and prospered. And so you have to realize the setting that Paul was writing to, so that when we look at these things and see how he was saying to put on the full armor of God. It wasn’t like us sitting here thinking, Well, I got some problems. You know, I got a little thing in there. Man, he said you need armor on. You are in a setting that is totally contrary, in every way, shape or form, to the true God. And so the contrast, guys, is very difficult for us. The contrast was as obvious as the nose on your face. You, in that day and age, had total heathenism, and then you had the presentation of Jesus Christ. That ultimately started with the presentation the one true God by the HEBREW, and then when Jesus came, the proclamation of the Christian faith. So do we understand the contrast there? Unless we get a historical background of what these scriptures are, we lose it. We lose what its meaning is. And so it’s vitally important for us to know the historical context of this.

Now Paul, when he made his third missionary journey, he went back to Ephesus, where he had established the church. And he stayed in Ephesus, and we’re going to study that for just a moment out of the book of Acts, but he went back to Ephesus again to meet with the converts that were there, following about two and a half years in Ephesus, where he stayed there and he spread the gospel, not only in that city, but in the surrounding areas. He then went back to Jerusalem. Now there the HEBREW leaders had him arrested. Now once again, why? Well, because the polarization between true Christianity and HEBREWISM, and when I say HEBREWISM, then to go to coming to Christ. But as an example, in Jerusalem, where the church of James was the Lord’s brother was the was also, was also killed by Hebrew leaders, was where that they had to begin this blending of taking people from HEBREWISM into what Jesus came and that was to give us a relationship with Christ, And so the contention between the HEBREW rulers and the Christians who were HEBREWS, was, was a terrific contention. They hated what Paul was teaching. They hated the fact that Paul went to the Gentiles because to those Orthodox HEBREWS the leadership, there’s no way that these heathenistic Gentiles can ever say that they worship the same God that we do. Don’t tell us that kind of stuff. We are God’s chosen people. So don’t tell us Gentiles can be involved with God’s chosen people. The contention was unbelievable. So when Paul returned to Jerusalem, he was arrested by the HEBREW leaders, and in as much as the Sanhedrin was unable to put a death sentence on people, and that’s the reason, incidentally, the Sanhedrin took Jesus to the Romans, is because they could execute death, but the Sanhedrin could not. All they could do just motivate people to do it, but in as much as they could not do it, according with their law, they had him under house arrest in Caesarea, which is a coastal town not too far from Jerusalem, so he was under house arrest there for about two years, and then made his appeal. You remember to Caesar as a Roman citizen, and then went to Rome. And while he was in Rome, imprisoned in Rome, is where he wrote these books.

Now this book was written somewhere around 62 AD in 64 AD was when Nero began the persecution of the Christians, saying that they were responsible for the burning of Rome and that type of thing. And so Paul in. 64 ad, that was the last anyone ever heard of Paul. And so the assumption is that he was killed in about 64 AD. It is also thought that Peter also made a trip, which is the only then that, again, is not in the Scripture, but it is tradition and knowledge by historians that Peter, also in his later life, had only made one trip to Rome. It was about unfortunately the same time he too fell into that same persecution of Nero, and he too was killed. So both Paul and Peter were killed in Rome. Are we together now? So in this jail in Rome is where Paul wrote this epistle. Now, isn’t that something? If we were in jail, I don’t think that’d be the kind of letter that we’d be writing. I think we’d be saying, why are they doing this to me, Lord, where are you? But Paul was not like us, and I wish that we were more like Him, to have that, that habitual trust relationship with the living Christ, that no matter what came our way, that nothing, nothing could separate us from the love of God. So with this background in regard to this book of Ephesians, and seeing what Paul had been through, you can see why he was saying, put on the armor of God, because our fight, our fight is not against flash and blood.

You know, we are so critical of each other, are we not and I think the reason that we are so critical of each other is we fail to realize that our fight is not against inflation blood and we have an enemy. Every person sitting in this room has an enemy of your soul who will do everything in his power to try to destroy you. Now look what Paul went through. You say, what’d Paul do? Well, got a better question. What’d Jesus do? I mean, was he ever guilty of anything he was charged of? The only thing he is ever guilty of, anything he charged him up, was with loving people. But was he guilty of the things that they brought him behind the scenes and crucified Him for? Was he guilty of that? No, he wasn’t guilty of that. Well, where did that come from? Well, it came from what he’s saying about the devil’s schemes. It came from not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers and against the authorities, and against the power of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms. Folks, we have an enemy. Do we realize that we have an enemy? We also have a friend, and thank God for the friend, because it wasn’t for the friend. We were no match for the enemy. And that’s another thing we have to understand, that we are no match for the schemes of the devil, that he is absolutely perfect in the way he orchestrates things, in his scheming way. He’s the orchestrator of it.

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Bob George 14:09
The Apostle Paul. What did the Apostle Paul ever do to anyone? He proclaimed Jesus. That’s what he did. Did he hurt anybody? Not not after he was saved. He sure did a number on a bunch of people before he was saved, but not after. So what happened to Paul? Why was he in all of these deals? Why were they accusing him here? Why were they accusing him there? Because of the devil schemes. We’re not fighting against flesh and blood, but against the rulers and the authorities and the powers of this dark world. And folks, it doesn’t make any difference whether you’re talking about the Apostle Paul or whether you’re talking about a person today, anyone who is in the business of proclamation of Jesus is being attacked by. The Devil schemes constantly, that there is a plot constantly. It’s always there, and we had better realize it. And that is the reason for the warning that he gives us. He’s telling us, if you’re involved, I don’t care whether it’s in school, I don’t care whether it’s in college. I don’t care if it’s at home. I don’t care if it’s a ministry, if your heart is I want to teach people about not religion. Satan could care less about your teaching religion. In fact, he’ll help you. And if he was a Texan, he’d help you, but he is going to help you any way that he can, to get you involved in religion.

I was telling Amy today, what is the attraction to this type of thing? Here’s the attraction. It starts with a real simple premise. If I can get you in this to believe what I’m about to say. I got you just one little premise. That’s all I got you. You know what the premise is? God is cruel. God is harsh. God is out to get you if you don’t do what I tell you, that’s all. Just believe that one. That’s all you need to do. Just believe that right there. And I got you, because if I have you believe in that, I’m going to come along and tell you how to keep out of trouble. And if you join my church, and if you do what I want you to do, and you do all the ceremonies, and you go through all of the all of the things I tell you to do, you’re going to keep out of trouble with this mean vindictive God who doesn’t like you, but he will tolerate you. If you do what I tell you to do, and I got you. All you have to do is believe that’s what God’s like, and religion has you. Now do you think Satan likes that people in that boat? Why? Of course, he doesn’t like people down on Skid Row. He likes them in churches. He likes them acting nice and practicing religion. And so Paul comes along, and folks, you’re going to see a total split between HEBREWISM and Christianity on the day that Stephen was stoned. And on the day that Stephen was stoned, and he stood up and he said, This is not of God. Jesus is God. And Paul went out and began teaching the proclamation of the grace of God that is ours through Christ, Jesus and the anger between the religionist fired by who? The rulers and the authorities and the powers that are in this in this world today. And he fires that, and they stir up the anger against someone who’s trying to set people what? Free. That was true then, and that is equally true today. Nothing is new under the sun. And so what you’re seeing here is that Paul is warning the Ephesians.

Now turn back with me to the book of Acts, and we’ll go up starting in the 18th Chapter, beginning in verse 23 so if you all turn with me there to the book of Acts, chapter 18, verse 23 we all together? After spending some time in Antioch, Paul set out from there and traveled from place to place throughout the region of Galatians by Faria, strengthening all of His disciples. Meantime, a HEBREW named Apollos, a native of Alexandria. Now, where’s that? Where’s Alexandria? In Egypt. Came to Ephesus. He was a learned man with a thorough knowledge of the Scriptures. He had been instructed in the way of the Lord, and he spoke with great fervor. He was some orator and taught about Jesus accurately, though. Now catch this and underline this folks. He knew only the baptism of John. That’s all he knew. So beyond the beyond the baptism of John, he knew nothing. Knew nothing about the resurrection, knew nothing about any of those things. He just knew the baptism of John, he began to speak boldly in the synagogue. When Priscilla and Aquila heard him, they invited him to their home and explained to him the way of God, more adequately, nice way of putting it. They sat him down and told him the completeness of the gospel. Now, when Apollos wanted to go to Achaeah. Yeah, the brothers encouraged him and wrote to the disciples there to welcome him. On arriving, he was a great help to those who, by grace, had believed, for he vigorously refuted the JUDEAENS in public debate, proving them from the Scriptures that Jesus was the Christ. Now, while Apollos was at Corinth, Paul took the road through the interior and arrived at Ephesus. Now this is that third missionary journey that we’re talking about. And remember that from this point on, Paul’s life was only a few years away before it was gone. There he found some disciples and asked them. Now here’s the question. He asked them, Did you receive the Holy Spirit when you believed? Now these believers were believers in what? Because they had been instructed by who? Well, yeah, John the Baptist, and they were the same as Apollo’s. They knew nothing except the baptism of John. And so they asked the question, did you received the Holy Spirit when you believed? Now, guys in our day and age, that would be like saying to someone, did you come to Christ to get your sins forgiven, or did you come to Christ for life? Be no different. Is all you did. All you ever hear about was Jesus death for you? Did you know that he was raised from the dead? No, I didn’t know that. Heard he had been crucified on a cross by everything about that resurrection. Well, let me tell you about it. I’ll sit down and and I will explain a little bit to you the way of God a little bit more adequately. And you explain that salvation not only included the cross, but that salvation centrality is the resurrection, and without the resurrection, we are to be pitied of all people and are still in our sins. So if the only thing you’ve heard about is the cross, you’ve missed the dynamic of salvation. If the only thing that you’ve heard about is a baptism for repentance of sin, dunked in water, you’ve missed salvation, because there’s something greater than that that is coming.

And so that’s where they ask the question. And again, you don’t have to turn to if you if you don’t want to, but in Mark, when John the Baptist identified this, it says, After me in the first chapter, will come one more powerful than I, who the throngs of whose sandals I am not worthy to stoop down and untie, I baptize you in water, But He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit. Jesus never baptized anybody. The Holy Spirit is a spiritual baptism. John dunked you in water. Jesus is going to do something far greater than that. I’m going to place you in the body of Christ, which is what it means to be baptized into the body of Christ. So he had only heard of one baptism, and that was a baptism of John, a baptism of repentance, not of salvation. For what? The forgiveness of sins is, that salvation? No, that’s a baptism of repentance for your sins. Now this is the reason that this question was asked. I would ask the same thing to someone who said, Are you saved? Oh, yes, I was baptized. Well, did you receive the Holy Spirit? I’m not talking about getting your sins washed away. I’m talking about, did you understand Jesus is alive? Are you saved? Oh, yes, I go to church. I’m not talking about where you go on Sunday. I’m asking you, do you know Jesus? I don’t care where you go. I don’t care how many times you’ve been dipped. What I’m asking you is, do you know Jesus, the living Jesus, who was raised from the dead, there is the question.

And so he stopped there, and he said, Did you receive the Holy Spirit when you believed? They answered, No. We haven’t even heard there is a Holy Spirit. Now. How much clear can it get guys, they were baptized, but they weren’t saved. Do you understand that? Believing that Jesus is coming does not save you. So he said, well, then what baptism Did you receive? Well, he said, John’s baptism. Now that’s the same baptism that only Apollos knew about. Paul said John’s baptism was a baptism of repentance, just what we got through saying, I baptize you with water, but one coming after me, whose sandals are not worthy of tying will baptize you with the Holy Spirit. So that was a baptism of repentance. He told the people to believe in the one coming after him. That is in Jesus, who on hearing this, they were baptized into the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. Now it’s going to tell you how that occurred and what happened when Paul placed his hands on them, the Holy Spirit came upon them, and they spoke in languages and prophesied. And there are about 12 men in all.

Now, do you see how and again, let’s turn back to first, Corinthians in verse in chapter 14, beginning in verse 20. Brothers, stop thinking like children. In regard to evil, be infants, but in your thinking, be adults. It’s written in the law through men of strange tongues and through lips of foreigners. I will speak to these people, but even then, they will not listen to me, says the Lord, tongues, then are a sign, not for believers, but for unbelievers. Tongues is a sign to the unbelieving HEBREW, and that’s why he’s telling people quit being babies and acting like a bunch of kids, doing something with a gift that God never intended you to do with it. Now, when this occurred in Acts, was that a sign? This is Paul. He went into an area. He said, Are you a believer? Paul didn’t know where they’re believers, where they weren’t a believer. Said, All we know is baptism of John. Said, Do you want to hear about Jesus? They told him about Jesus. Now they say we believe. They said, well, not sure whether you do or not. They placed their hands on them, and the Holy Spirit came upon them, and they spoke in tongues. What was that? That was a sign to Paul that these people are in Christ, and they prophesied. And there were 12 men in all. Now we’re all together on what took place there. That’s the last time you ever hear about tongues being associated with coming to Christ. That’s the last time the scripture you hear that.

Announcer 27:11
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