Faith Baptist Bible College and Theological Seminary

Dr. Dennis Wilkening teaches that endurance in ministry requires both personal and corporate responsibility, with encouragement serving as a key element in keeping hearts tender toward God.

Scripture Text
Hebrews 3:12-13

Main Points or Ideas

• The Need for Daily Encouragement - Since sin is deceitful and hardens hearts, believers must exhort one another daily to prevent spiritual decline and maintain tenderness toward God
• Encouragement Through Words - Using Ephesians 4:29, the importance of speaking words that edify and build up others rather than corrupt communication that tears down
• Encouragement Through Actions - Sometimes words alone are insufficient; we must take concrete actions to help others, following the example of Christ who both spoke and acted with compassion
• Encouragement Through Attitude - The way we handle circumstances can either encourage or discourage others, remembering that all things work together for good to conform us to Christ's image

Conclusion
Believers should be lifters rather than leaners, actively encouraging others through words, actions, and attitudes, recognizing that encouragement is oxygen for the soul and essential for spiritual endurance.

Doug Brown addresses the crisis in Christianity today, noting the decline of churches and attendance across America. He emphasizes the urgent need for a new generation of godly leaders to rise up and provide leadership to the Church of God, challenging students to consider what God might be doing to prepare them to become "a few godly men."

Scripture Text

1 Timothy 6:11-16

Main Points or Ideas

1. The Man of God Develops Godly Character (verse 11)

• Two commands: flee these things (characteristics of false teachers, especially love of money) and pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, patience, gentleness
• Christian life requires both forsaking sin and actively pursuing God's righteousness
• Every day believers must choose which direction their feet will face - toward sin or toward God's character

2. The Man of God Displays Courage for Ministry (verse 12)

• Two more commands: fight the good fight of faith and lay hold of eternal life
• Ministry involves battles against self, struggles with other believers, and contending for the truth of Scripture
• The way to endure ministry difficulties is by seizing our eternal hope and future salvation as a present reality

3. The Man of God Demonstrates Commitment to Finish (verses 13-14)

• Paul urgently charges Timothy to keep his commandment (assignment at Ephesus) without spot and blameless until Christ's return
• Ministry is temporary by nature, like running a leg of a race - the question is whether we will be faithful to finish the work we started
• It's a sacred duty to be committed to and fulfilled

4. The Man of God Has Divine, Godly Compulsion (verses 15-16)

• The doxology reveals God's sovereign rulership and his dwelling in unapproachable light
• Ministry is not just a job but serving our great God through knowing, loving, serving, and obeying Him
• The compulsion to fulfill ministry comes from our relationship with God himself

Conclusion

Dr. Brown challenges students to consider these four qualities of godly leadership - character, courage, commitment, and divine compulsion - emphasizing that the Church desperately needs men and women of God who will answer the call to ministry and be faithful to fulfill what God has called them to do.

Dr. Les Ollila addresses students returning for a new semester who may be facing anxiety about various challenges. Drawing from his recent travel experiences during a blizzard, he emphasizes the importance of turning to God with our anxieties and finding peace through prayer and thanksgiving.

Scripture Text

Philippians 4:4-9

Main Points or Ideas

• Rejoice in the Lord Always - Paul wrote about rejoicing from prison, encouraging believers to maintain a spirit of rejoicing even in dark circumstances and to let their graciousness be known to all men, remembering that "the Lord is at hand"
• Be Anxious for Nothing - Common sources of anxiety for students include fears about the future, financial needs, calling to ministry, and failures during break time. God knows all our sin was future when Christ died on the cross, and sin is gone for believers - we should not carry guilt into the new semester
• Prayer and Supplication with Thanksgiving - General prayer involves our regular prayer lists for others, while supplication is particular petitioning for specific personal needs. We should approach God with thanksgiving even in difficult circumstances, remembering His perfect love for us
• The Peace of God - When we come to God with our burdens and requests, whether confession or petition for direction, the peace that comes is sourced in God himself. This peace passes all understanding and transcends human thinking, providing an inner settlement that God is in control
• Guard Your Heart and Mind - God's peace will garrison (guard) our hearts and minds, and we should focus our thinking on things that are true, lovely, and just, knowing that the God of peace will be with us

Conclusion

Students should begin the semester thinking on God and His attributes, not carrying burdens of guilt or questioning God's goodness, but trusting completely in His care and protection through prayer and thanksgiving.

John Leonard, a missionary to Brazil, encourages students to be missionaries wherever they are because when you're on a mission, that is where the real action is - where life and death, sin and grace happen.

Scripture Text

1 Corinthians 15:58

Main Points or Ideas

Leonard shares his personal mission story through images of his life and ministry, including:

• Growing up on the mission field in Brazil where his parents started churches
• Meeting his wife at Faith Baptist Bible College and returning to Brazil as church planters
• Starting a church in a dangerous Brazilian favela (slum) where he was shot six times by a drug lord
• Returning to Brazil after recovery to continue church planting work
• Ministry to native Guarani Indians who had never heard God's Word
• Current work with handicapped ministry and police chaplaincy

The main theme centers on being steadfast, unmovable, and always abounding in the work of the Lord, illustrated through the Greek relay race metaphor of passing the lit torch from generation to generation.

Conclusion

We must be steadfast and unmovable, grabbing onto the cross and reaching out to those around us, carrying our lit torch for others to see as we fulfill our mission for God.

Using Mark 8:34-38, Dr. Marty Herron challenges students to move beyond having information in their heads to activating their will to make decisions for God, emphasizing that sometimes we must give up our expectations to gain what God has planned.

Scripture Text

Mark 8:34-38

Main Points or Ideas

The message is built around Jesus's principle of total abandonment, involving three imperatives:

• Deny yourself - rejection of self and personal expectations
• Take up your cross - submission to God's will (the cross brought horrific images to Jewish minds)
• Follow me - ongoing discipleship in the dust of the Rabbi

Dr. Herron provides four motivations from the text:

• You lose your life to gain it (verse 35)
• Exchange your life to keep it (verses 36-37)
• Don't be ashamed of Jesus because there will come a day when you don't want Him to be ashamed of you (verse 38)

He illustrates with the story of Margaret Seidler, a single missionary who went to dangerous South Pacific islands inhabited by headhunters, saying "I have to go, but I don't have to come back."

Conclusion

God is calling students to total abandonment - to give up their plans and expectations to gain something far better than they ever dreamed, trusting that God has something miraculous in store for those willing to step out in faith.

Dr. Dan Brown challenges students to "go lower," explaining that humility is a difficult virtue and that educational institutions like colleges and seminaries are perfect greenhouses where pride likes to thrive.

Scripture Text

1 Peter 5:1-6

Main Points or Ideas

The Principle of Humility (verses 1-6)

• Context shows elders/pastors must minister in humility, serving as examples rather than lords
• Verse 6 contains the command: "Humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God"
• This is both an attitude and an action that addresses our will - something we can actively pursue

The Relationship Between Humility and Exaltation

• God's pattern throughout Scripture: humiliation followed by exaltation
• Examples include Peter (denial followed by Pentecost preaching), Moses (40 years in desert followed by leadership), and Christ (cross followed by exaltation)
• "How low can you go?" - opposite of the world's approach to advancement

The Process of Humility (practical steps)

• Submit to God's authority and challenge all your assumptions
• Be satisfied with what God is doing in your life
• Be thankful in everything, even difficulties
• Trust in God's plan and timing for exaltation
• Be a servant, especially when returning home to your church

Conclusion

The challenge is to humble ourselves under God's mighty hand, trusting that He will exalt us in due time, recognizing that pride is part of our sin nature that we must constantly fight against.

Dr. Jim addresses why we should be thankful to God, noting that while we are often thankful for others during Thanksgiving, sometimes the person who gets missed is God Himself.

Scripture Text

Psalm 100

Main Points or Ideas

Why Be Thankful to God? (Based on Psalm 100:4-5)

God is Good

• Good in creation - from harvest moons to star-studded skies, Northern Lights to babbling streams
• Good to those who love Him - He has been personally good to each student in various ways throughout the year
• Even good to those who don't love Him

His Mercy is Everlasting

• God is merciful in salvation and in the ongoing sin of Christians
• His mercy is limitless - like Saskatchewan wheat fields or the ocean, as far as you can see there's always more
• We haven't run out of His mercy no matter our age or failures

His Truth Endures to All Generations

• You can trust God completely
• Time will always prove God was right
• You'll never find out that something God said wasn't true
• Generation after generation continues to prove His truth endures

Conclusion

We should enter God's gates with thanksgiving and His courts with praise, being thankful to Him and blessing His name, recognizing that we have someone in our lives we can completely trust - our God.

Dr. Herron speaks to students about the importance of being a person of God rather than just focusing on vocation. He shares the story of two young boys who answered "I want to be a man of God" when asked what they wanted to be when they grew up, and follows their journey through their military service as Navy SEALs while maintaining their Christian testimony.

Scripture Text

2 Timothy 3:14-17

Main Points or Ideas

Dr. Herron emphasizes the distinction between vocation (what you do) and avocation (who you are), stressing that being a person of God should be the primary identity. Using Paul's instruction to Timothy, he outlines four key elements for becoming a person of God:

1. The Classroom - A place designed to make it easy to do right and hard to do wrong, where students can learn who God is through proper biblical instruction and atmosphere.
2. The Teachers - Like Timothy had Eunice and Lois (his grandmother and mother), students need godly influences who will raise them up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord.
3. The Textbook - The Holy Scriptures, which are God-breathed and profitable for doctrine, reproof, correction, and instruction in righteousness. These scriptures provide the biblical worldview and foundation needed for life.
4. The Student - The goal is to become a complete person of God, thoroughly furnished for every good work, fully loaded for life's journey through God's Word.

Conclusion

God's will for every believer is clear - to be a person of God. Through the classroom, teachers, textbook, and commitment as students, believers can become complete and thoroughly equipped for whatever vocation God calls them to pursue.

Introduction

Dr. Jim addresses the serious consequences of premarital sex and delves deeply into the distinction between true love and infatuation. He also provides practical guidance on navigating relationship decisions, including breaking up, engagement, and respectfully declining a date, all within a biblical framework.

Scripture Texts

Proverbs 23:7; Matthew 5:28; 1 Thessalonians 4:1-7; Hebrews 13:4; 1 Peter 3:7; 1 Corinthians 7:1; Ephesians 6:2-3; 1 Corinthians 10:31; Daniel 1:8; Romans 13:14; Proverbs 19:14; Matthew 7:12

Main Points or Ideas

• Moral Purity & Consequences: Premarital sex carries tragic, long-term consequences, including loss of purity and testimony, risk of pregnancy and STDs, guilt, shame, and hindering future healthy relationships. All physical intimacy, including holding hands, hugging, and kissing, naturally progresses and is intended by God to be fully expressed within the bounds of marriage to avoid "defrauding."
• Love vs. Infatuation: True love is defined as unselfish, self-sacrificial giving (agape), characterized by patience, kindness, humility, good manners, and forgiveness. Infatuation, conversely, is short-lived, selfish, superficial, overlooks character flaws, and drives hasty, often physical, decisions.
• Relationship Evaluation: As relationships progress (friendship, casual, special, steady), it's crucial to ask serious, honest questions about a partner's past struggles (e.g., pornography), character (e.g., honesty, temper, diligence), and alignment on life goals/ministry. Incompatibility signs include frequent arguing, recurring breakups, or one person's intent to change the other or their life direction.
• Breaking Up & Engagement: If a relationship is not right, break up quickly, face-to-face, firmly but kindly, and definitively, learning from the experience. Engagement should only occur without doubts, with adequate financial provision, and a clear understanding of God's marriage plan; keeping the engagement period short (6 months-1 year) helps guard purity. The biggest problem in marriage is selfishness.
• Gracious Rejection: When declining a date, be kind and appreciative, but firm, understanding that it's okay to say no. For those receiving rejection, it's not personal and shouldn't deter future attempts at building friendships and seeking relationships.

Conclusion

Dr. Jim highlights the tragic consequences of premarital sex and contrasts self-sacrificial love with selfish infatuation. He provides practical guidance on ending unhealthy relationships, preparing for engagement, and handling date requests biblically, affirming that God's standards lead to blessed relationships.

Introduction

In part 2 of his series on dating, Dr. Jim focuses on further practical questions for evaluating a potential spouse and delving into the critical topic of moral purity in relationships. He emphasizes seeking God's wisdom and honoring Him in all relational choices, recognizing the profound impact these decisions have on one's life.

Scripture Texts

1 Timothy 5:8; Hebrews 13:17; 2 Timothy 2:22; 2 Corinthians 6:14-18; Romans 13:14; Proverbs 23:7; 1 Thessalonians 4:1-7; Hebrews 13:4; and 1 Corinthians 7:1.

Main Points or Ideas

People should evaluate potential partners by seeing if they are diligent, show respect, honor authority, treat parents well, cause constant apologies, or compromise moral standards. Dating only born-again believers is crucial, avoiding the "unequally yoked" pitfall.

Moral purity is paramount, with a "physical progression chart" illustrating how intimacy naturally escalates, reserved for marriage.

Dr. Jim warns against "defrauding" (exciting passion that cannot be righteously fulfilled) and emphasizes avoiding isolated, private places.

Self-acceptance from God, not a partner, is foundational, alongside improving controllable traits like hygiene. Key dating standards include parental approval, clear personal boundaries, and adhering to curfews.

Conclusion

Dr. Jim comprehensively outlines spiritual and practical standards for healthy dating relationships, emphasizing the importance of character, purity, and God's design for marriage. He strongly warns against premarital sexual sin and unhealthy relationship patterns, instead urging students to set clear biblical standards, seek counsel, and pursue purity until marriage.

God's way leads to the most fulfilling relationships and encourages students to apply these principles for a blessed life and marriage.