The Author's page

Shalom Shabbath: Enjoy the peace of the atonement!

2012-03-04T09:06:00.000-05:00

Exodus 20:⁸Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy.

⁹Six days shalt thou labour, and do all thy work:

¹⁰But the seventh day is the sabbath of the LORD thy God: in it thou shalt not do any work, thou, nor thy son, nor thy daughter, thy manservant, nor thy maidservant, nor thy cattle, nor thy stranger that is within thy gates:

¹¹For in six days the LORD made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them is, and rested the seventh day: wherefore the LORD blessed the sabbath day, and hallowed it.

In continuing our lessons on the commandments, the fourth commandment seems simple: "Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy". But what does that mean, especially to the Christian?

Do we have to keep the Sabbath? If so, what how do we do it? Can we work on the Sabbath day? There is much we need to learn about this commandment. After all, we cannot obey a commandment until we understand it.

The word Sabbath comes from the Hebrew word Shabbath and means:

"1) Sabbath

a) sabbath

b) day of atonement

c) sabbath year

d) week

e) produce (in sabbath year)

When we celebrate the Sabbath, we celebrate our atonement!

There has been much debate over these eight words. Some say they no longer apply, but Jesus said,

"¹⁷Think not that I am come to destroy the law, or the prophets: I am not come to destroy, but to fulfil.

¹⁸For verily I say unto you, Till heaven and earth pass, one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the law, till all be fulfilled.

¹⁹Whosoever therefore shall break one of these least commandments, and shall teach men so, he shall be called the least in the kingdom of heaven: but whosoever shall do and teach them, the same shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven. (Matthew 5:17-19)

Obviously, the earth is still here and the kingdom of heaven has not yet been set up here on earth. We must, therefore, conclude that the law is still in force, to some degree. Of course some things, such as the sin sacrifices and the ceremonial aspects to the law are FULFILLED through Jesus' death on Calvary. Is the Sabbath one of them?

The Lord's moral laws are still in force. "Looking at the ten commandments", it is obvious that these are part of God's moral laws. So, yes, we have to "keep the Sabbath day". But, how do we do this?

Some folks insist that Saturday (the Sabbath day- the seventh day) is the day we should meet and worship the Lord. They say that it was the Catholic church that changed the day of worship from Saturday to Sunday- in order to secretly worship "the sun God- Mithra". Is there any evidence in the scriptures to suggest the early church got together on the first day of the week (Sunday) to worship?

A few facts: 1) Jesus rose from the dead on the first day of the week. (Mark 16:) 2) Jesus appeared to the disciples on the first day of the week. (John 20:19) 3) Acts 20:7 suggests that the apostles did meet on the first day of the week. 4) 1 Corinthians 16:2 suggests that the early church met and took up offerings on the first day of the week. 5)Romans 14:5-6 says that, in essence, whatever day you wish to set apart for the Lord- do so, but don't judge your brother because they chose a different day.

So, it would seem, that even back then, there was controversy concerning the Sabbath. Yet, there is evidence that the church did, in fact, meet on the first day of the week. It even became known as "the Lord's day" because Jesus rose on the first day of the week. Jesus appeared to John on "the Lord's day" while he was imprisoned on the isle of Patmos and showed him the book of Revelations.

For these reasons, I chose to take Paul's position in Romans 14. Whatever day you wish to make holy- do so! Just don't judge your brother who does differently than you do.

If your group chooses to gather together on Saturday, great! There are some Apostolics who do worship on Saturday, rather than Sunday. This is the original Sabbath day. You cannot be wrong in gathering together that day to worship. Most Apostolics gather on Sunday, the Lord's day. Great! The early church seems to have done this as well. I have known some that gathered on BOTH Saturday and Sunday. Awesome! We need to "forsake not the gathering together" of the saints. I say go for it!

So, we've settled the day issue. Is this all there is to keeping the commandment? Or is there more?

What does it mean to "remember" the Sabbath day? Are we to simply say, in passing, "Ah, it's the Sabbath. I remember that now", as if we're remembering a recipe or some other lost bit of knowledge? The word "remember here comes from the Hebrew word, zakar, and means:

1) to remember, recall, call to mind

a) (Qal) to remember, recall

b) (Niphal) to be brought to remembrance, be remembered, be thought of, be brought to mind

c) (Hiphil)

1) to cause to remember, remind

2) to cause to be remembered, keep in remembrance

3) to mention

4) to record

5) to make a memorial, make remembrance

Notice definition 5, "to make a memorial".

Now this opens up a whole other can of worms to fish with! When we make a memorial, in our society, we set up a special place. We put time, money, and effort into that place. And we go there to visit that place to remember.

Jesus died for US ALL! He then defeated death, hell, and the grave, for US ALL! We gather together in this place we've set aside and put our time, money, and effort into in order to REMEMBER and CELEBRATE what our Lord has done or us! The creator of all, loved us so much that he died and rose again for us. If we can get excited about anything, we can get excited about this!

This is far better than the new car, the new job, the new house, the new clothes, etc. This tells me that God loves me so much he died for me! As unworthy as I feel, he died to make me worthy! He arose to lift me up into heavenly places and experience his love and glory and to see his awesome power at work!

Do we get to that place, simply by showing up? Is it enough to gather together in this place to take part in all what God wants for us? He said he has plans for our good for our lives. How do we take part in those plans?

In Acts 10, Cornelius is told "thy prayers and thy alms are come up as a memorial" unto God.

Let's give to the work of the Lord, both in and out of church. God always honors giving. If we see our brother in need, and we have it to give, let's reach out and help him!

Let's pray! Let's keep getting together to seek God. Let's keep setting aside specific times, both in private and as a body, to pray and seek the Lord- not just for what he can do, but also (and more importantly), for who he is!

We want power with God. He wants relationship. If we have the relationship with him, the power will begin to manifest itself. Apostolic power and ministry is not based on our doctrine (though doctrine is important). Rather, it is based on developing a strong relationship with Jesus!

A memorial is also a place to get away and rest.

Sometimes, we just need a break from our lives. That time of prayer and study. That time spent talking things over with God! He says "Come unto me, all ye who are weary, and I will give you rest."

Isaiah put it this way: "¹¹For with stammering lips and another tongue will he speak to this people.

¹²To whom he said, This is the rest wherewith ye may cause the weary to rest; and this is the refreshing: yet they would not hear." (Isaiah 28:11-12)

The Lord of all that is has made the whole world and offer we should not refuse. We spend most of our lives fighting with the world, with our flesh, with family and friends (sometimes). We sometimes, in spite of Paul's instructions, DO grow weary in well doing. How do we not when we sometimes feel as if we are fighting the hordes of hell every day?

Every boxing match has a break between rounds. Jesus, in the days of his flesh, got away every day to recharge his batteries and get instructions. The reason the Lord gave us the baptism of the Holy Ghost goes WAY beyond it being part of becoming a child of God. Yes, he gives us the power to become what he wants us to be. But, he also gives us a place of rest. An unhindered access to connect with him.

Sometimes a child just needs to feel loved. Sometimes a child just needs to feel the strong arms of their daddy around them, holding them, keeping them safe. Sometimes when we fall down or get knocked down, we just need to hear daddy whisper in our ear, "Hush child. Daddy's here. It's gonna be alright. I'll see you through. I'll help you do this."

Having the Holy Ghost gives us access to:

1) the love of God being shed abroad in our hearts (Romans 5:5)

2) the ability to speak truth and a witness to our conscience when we're right (Romans 9:1)

3) righteousness, peace, and joy in the Holy Ghost (Romans 14:17)

4) a hope that is born in our hearts and brought on by God giving us hope to believe (Romans 15:13) in spite of the circumstances we face!

5) Our offerings, be they money, time, giving to others, helping others in our labor, giving a friendly and understanding ear, bringing sinners in to the house of God, etc, are useless in our flesh, but are made acceptable by the power of the Holy Ghost. (Romans 15:16)

6) the understanding of the word of God, as well as help to teach it's precepts (1 Corinthians 2:13)

7) the understanding that we are NOT our own. That we are bought with a price and have no right to live however we wish to live. (1 Corinthians 6:19)

8)1 Corinthians 12:3 says we can't even call Jesus LORD (Supreme controller) except by the power of the Holy Ghost in our lives!

9)We can commune with God only through his spirit (the Holy Ghost) being in us (2 Corinthians 13:14)

10) The ability to walk uprightly as an example to others, and the power to minister to others comes only from the Holy Ghost living within us and working through us. (1 Thessalonians 1:5)

11) joy in the struggle (1 Thessalonians 1:6)

12) The ability to stay right with God and complete his will for our lives comes only through the Holy Ghost (2 Timothy 1:14)

13) Our salvation comes through the Holy Ghost (Titus 3:5)

14) When God chooses to, miracles and signs and wonders can be done through the power of The Holy Ghost. (Hebrews 2:4)

15) Guidance comes through the Holy Ghost (Hebrews 3:7)

16) The Holy Ghost is how God writes his laws on our hearts! (Hebrews 10: 14-16)

17) The Holy Ghost allows us to prophecy. (2 Peter 1:21)

18) We can build up our most holy faith by PRAYING in the Holy Ghost! (Jude 1:20)

What is the Christian Sabbath? It is the Holy Ghost! It is God dwelling in us.

How do we access that needed rest? How do we grow in grace and in the knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ? Through praying in the Holy Ghost!

For the christian EVERY day can be a Sabbath of rest! For, in essence, the Holy Ghost IS our relationship with God almighty! The Holy Ghost IS the power and love of God in our lives.

What am I saying? If you need rest, healing, help, etc, the answer is found in a relationship with our Lord and Savior. When we Obeyed acts 2:38, we were born again. But, we need to actively work at our relationship with him to stay right. And we do this through the power he places in us out our new birth- the Holy Ghost.

The Holy Ghost is NOT a person. It is the power, the connection with God that enables us to be used by him. This power is accessed through prayer. It is the phone line through which God almighty speaks with us and teaches us. It IS the Christian Sabbath!

Shalom, Shabbath, dear friend! May the peace of the Sabbath (the joy of the Holy Ghost) be in you!

The worlds junk, is God's treasure!

2012-02-26T13:53:00.000-05:00

1 Corinthians 1:⁹Know ye not that the unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom of God? Be not deceived: neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor abusers of themselves with mankind,

¹⁰Nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners, shall inherit the kingdom of God.

¹¹And such were some of you: but ye are washed, but ye are sanctified, but ye are justified in the name of the Lord Jesus, and by the Spirit of our God.

Romans 5:8
But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.

1 Timothy 2:5-6

King James Version (KJV)

⁵For there is one God, and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus;

⁶Who gave himself a ransom for all, to be testified in due time.

The world likes NEW things. Their way of doing things is "Out with the old and in with the new." Old things are looked on with disdain. Everything's got to be new. We've got to have the newest fashions, newest cars, and new homes. People get bored with the old TV shows and press for new shows. News shows focus on the latest and most current events. Magazines and newspapers focus on the newest happenings with the hottest music and film stars. And the mantra goes on: New, new, new, new, new...!

Yet, some folks in this world can see the hidden treasures in the old things. Old people, rather than being a burden to them, are a treasure trove of wisdom, love, and understanding. Old homes are things that can be fixed up to make them look better than the new stuff. After all, they were built better than the new stuff!

New houses use inferior material when compared to the old. New cars wear out quicker and are less able to handle a crash or two than their older counterparts.

These folks can go to a garage sale and find and fix up things that would amaze the average person. Old instruments can be repaired. Old cars and motorcycles can be renewed and last longer than the new ones- if a person knows what they're doing.

God looked down on a desperately evil and corrupt world. He could've decided to destroy it all and start over with a new creation. Out with the old and in with the new, right? Not so, with God!

God looked down and said, "I love them! They are idolaters, adulterers, murderers, proud, deceitful, they love themselves and pleasure more than they love me and others. I could start over, BUT.... I'm gonna make a way to make them new!"

So the murderer Paul becomes a great Apostle! The proud and boastful Peter becomes a humble and mighty evangelist. Millions of peoples lives have been transformed from the trash heap to become a shining example of the love, mercy, and Grace of God!

So who'll be next? You? Will you head the master's call and respond? Will you follow his death, burial, and resurrection by Repentance, Baptism in Jesus name, and allowing him to fill you with the Holy Ghost? Will you let him pull you from worlds trash piles?

The world has told you that you're garbage! God says you're invaluable! The world says you're worthless. God says you're worth Calvary! Every stripe, every nail, every strip of flesh that hung off his body, every thorn in his brow- he says was meant to buy you back!

It doesn't matter where you've been or what you've done, the invitation is open for whosoever will. The world will us you up and leave you to die. God will pick you up and set your feet on high.

Come on! What are you waiting for? Today is the day of salvation! Won't you answer his call?

Saying "I do" to God: HIS way and staying true! The third commandment.

2012-02-25T21:44:00.001-05:00

^{Exodus 20: 7}Thou shalt not take the name of the LORD thy God in vain; for the LORD will not hold him guiltless that taketh his name in vain.

Genesis 2: ²⁴Therefore shall a man leave his father and his mother, and shall cleave unto his wife: and they shall be one flesh.

Revelation 21:9
And there came unto me one of the seven angels which had the seven vials full of the seven last plagues, and talked with me, saying, Come hither, I will shew thee the bride, the Lamb's wife.

We've covered two very important commandments so far. Today we do the third. Yet, as you will see, even though the third commandment is very well known- it is not very well understood. This verse is about FAR MORE than not using the name of God as a curse word!

From the beginning of time, God has been all about relationships. When God created the first humans, he created marriage. Some foot notes here. In the Old Testament, from the first marriage on, there have always been several necessary ingredients to create a marriage: a) one man, b) one woman c) A Patriarchal (or father's) blessing.

In the case of Adam and Eve, this blessing was given by God almighty. In the case of Isaac, this blessing was given by Abraham through his servant. With David's first wife, the blessing was given by King Saul. Every marriage is not given in detail, besides the fact that the couple married, but there's enough evidence in the scriptures to show these elements as being the norm.

In the New Testament, Jesus' first miracle was done at a wedding ceremony. A legally binding ceremony that included the rabbi (or priest) in conducting it. There was also a whole range of ceremonies and requirements that are alluded to in the parable of the 10 virgins. However, there is enough evidence in scripture to support that there must be a) a bridegroom (husband-male) b) a bride (wife-female), and c) a legally binding ceremony officiated by a man of God.

Now, even in Bible times, the wife took on her husbands name. She became, for instance, Mary, the wife of Joseph. Her name would've been something like Mary Eeshah Joseph, Eeshah meaning wife. Taking his name gave her all the legal rights and responsibilities that a wife could have under the law of the land. She HAD to take his name or there was NO marriage.

Our society, for centuries, followed this same plan. When the man and woman married, she took on his last name. If she refused, there was no marriage. Only in recent times (the last 20-30 years) has the law changed to allow her to marry her husband and NOT take her husbands name. Personally, I contend that this should not be allowed. I refuse to knowingly do ANY wedding ceremony, where the bride is not going to take the grooms name.

Taking his name means submission to him. Taking his name means dedication and love for him. Taking his name means carrying herself and representing her husband in a way that befits her station as his wife. Taking his name means she accepts all the rights and responsibilities that come with being his wife. She forsakes ALL other suitors and clings to him and him alone.

Think I am being ridiculous? Look at how God sees it! "Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain!" The word "vain" comes from the Hebrew word, "shav". It means: 1) emptiness, vanity, falsehood

a) emptiness, nothingness, vanity

b) emptiness of speech, lying

c) worthlessness (of conduct)

God declares that HIS bride: those of us in the church, do not take his name and then not hold to our vows to him! If we take his name as an empty promise on our part, and then refuse to carry ourselves in speech and conduct in a way that lifts up our husband and shows our dedication to our husband, then God doesn't take it lightly! In fact, he says "for the LORD will not hold him guiltless that taketh his name in vain."

WOW! God's not playing here! The word for Lord here is JHWH (Jehovah to some. Jahweh to others) and it means the self existing one. The word for God here is Elohim and in this case means "the true God". (Note to trinitarians: What since would it make for God to say he is the self existing ONE and then try to say he is more than one? It doesn't! Elohim is a plurality of attributes, NOT of persons.)

So, the self existing one, our true God, tells us not to take his name and not mean it. If we do, then he will NOT hold us guiltless!

How does the "bride of Christ" take the name of our husband?

"There is only one name, given among men, whereby we must be saved" (Acts 4:12). Paul said we are "buried WITH HIM in baptism" (Romans 6:4). Peter said for us to be "baptized in the name of Jesus Christ FOR THE remission of sins" (Acts 2:38). Jesus said we "must be born of water..." (John 3:5).

When we are baptized in water in Jesus name we have "put on Christ" (Galatians 3:27). He has become our husband. We have TAKEN HIS NAME! This is why the biblical prerequisite to water baptism is repentance. Baptism in Jesus name washes away our past sins. Therefore, repentance is required before hand for God to hold us GUILTLESS. If we do not repent (die to self and our old life of sin. Submit our all to him- to live for him, love him, be dedicated to him, represent him in all we do and say) before we are baptized, then our baptism is no Good. God will NOT allow his blood to wash us, because our commitment to be married to him isn't there.

How many folks have we seen get baptized in Jesus name and there was no change? God didn't fill them with the baptism of the Holy Ghost. They kept on doing the same things, talking the same way, dressing the same ways. No evidence of God touching their lives at all. Why? Because there was no repentance before hand. No real love and dedication for their husband, so their groom never showed up at the altar!

God became a man (Jesus) and died to create a bride (the church). He will not accept anything less than our all. False confessions, going through the motions, and checking the blocks are not accepted by him. Only our all will he accept. Then, he will show up at the altar and give us his saving name.

One more thing to drive this home. What does it mean to TAKE the name of the Lord? What does the word TAKE mean? Check out this list! Then, read each definition of "take" in place of "take" in the sentence, "Thou shalt not (take) the name of the Lord thy God in vain." I pray it will open your minds to just how serious this commandment truly is to God!

Take:
1) to lift, bear up, carry, take

a) (Qal)

1) to lift, lift up

2) to bear, carry, support, sustain, endure

3) to take, take away, carry off, forgive

b) (Niphal)

1) to be lifted up, be exalted

2) to lift oneself up, rise up

3) to be borne, be carried

4) to be taken away, be carried off, be swept away

c) (Piel)

1) to lift up, exalt, support, aid, assist

2) to desire, long (fig.)

3) to carry, bear continuously

4) to take, take away

d) (Hithpael) to lift oneself up, exalt oneself

e) (Hiphil)

1) to cause one to bear (iniquity)

2) to cause to bring, have brought

AV — (bare, lift, etc...) up 219, bear 115, take 58, bare 34, carry 30, (take, carry)..away 22, borne 22, armourbearer 18, forgive 16, accept 12, exalt 8,regard 5, obtained 4, respect 3, misc 74

Look through this list! Here's one chosen at random, as an example: "Thou shalt not (bear) the name of the Lord thy God in vain." That one will make you think some, huh? Remember that the next time the enemy tempts you to watch something, read something, or go somewhere you know God wouldn't approve. If you do, then you have just taken his name in vain!

This verse includes cussing. However, it's so much more than that. It's a LIFESTYLE that honors our husband in all we do and say.

A look at the commandments, Part 2: the second commandment.

2012-02-19T09:00:00.000-05:00

Exodus 20

¹And God spake all these words, saying,

.......

⁴Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image, or any likeness of any thing that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth.

⁵Thou shalt not bow down thyself to them, nor serve them: for I the LORD thy God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate me;

⁶And shewing mercy unto thousands of them that love me, and keep my commandments.

Lets look a little at this passage.

Verse 4 tells us the command. Verses 5 and 6 explain why.

Some folks have actually read verse 4, stopped right there, and came to some dangerous conclusions. I do not mean deadly. They just start a string of events that the command was never intended to start.

⁴Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image, or any likeness of any thing that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth.

If you read it and stop there, then there are a whole host of things that are a part of our everyday lives that we would have to Jettison out of our lives. We cannot have, if you take just this verse alone, any carved (graven) image of anything. No stars and planets. No decorative figurines of animals, fish, birds, people, waterfalls, etc.

Some folks have taken this verse so far out of context that they are against pictures and drawings, as well. Yet, are there any clues here to help us to better understand what he means?

The word for graven is the Hebrew word, "peh-sel". It means: "idol, image". So is this command referring to all images, only carved images, or what? Read the next verse for clarification.

⁵Thou shalt not bow down thyself to them, nor serve them:

OK. So according to verse 5, together with verse 4, we can safely assume that this commandment is referring only to idols.

There used to be a street vendor here in PA that could carve amazing things using ....... a chainsaw. I'm not joking. I saw him in the process of carving (out of a huge log) 2 Bear cubs climbing a small tree. The detail was extraordinary! Whoever wound up with the piece, truly gained a work of art.

Some folks say that this is a sin. Yet, no one was near it praying, bowing, etc. It was a wonderful piece of art, but it was NOT an idol. So relax. You can unpack those dolphin figures from your bathroom. If anyone were to buy a figurine, take it home, and begin to bow and pray and sing to it, then it becomes an idol.

That having been settled, let us look at idols a bit. There are the obvious ones: The statues of Buddha, Vishnu, Mary (whom they call "the mother of God" and "the queen of heaven"), Rosary beads, statues of "the saints", the Totem poles, the idols used in Voodoo, and such. Anyone who bows down and worships these things, prays to these things, makes sacrifices to these things, etc, are definitely guilty of breaking the second commandment.

But, we civilized peoples say, we don't have idols! Really? Anything can become an idol, under the right circumstances. Look at Gideon's fleece in the book of Judges. Gideon and God used it as a tool to illustrate to Gideon that God really was calling him to go to battle and defeat Israels enemies. That's all it was- an object lesson.

Yet, after the defeat of the enemy, Gideon and his sons set it up for all to see. Ostensibly, it was done to remind Israel of God's answer to prayer and their new freedom. However, scripture states that it became a stumbling block to the people, for it became an idol!

How tricky the enemy of our souls is. We must guard our hearts carefully with prayer and the word of God. If we aren't careful, the very things that God used as tools to free us, can be used to become idols in our lives- pulling us away from God and ensnaring us worse than we were before. This is how we get a phenomenon that we call "preacher worship".

It's not new. Paul refers to it in 1 Corinthians 1. It manifests itself in statements like "I go to Brother or pastor/bishop/apostle so-and-so's church". "I was baptized by...". "Look how God used brother (x)! He's a mighty man of God."

On the surface, these are true statements and can be alright to say. However, there's a PRIDE that enters in the attitude of the person saying these things. They'll have that sly smile and glint in their eye, as if to say: "I'm associated with THIS!"

There's also a subtle hierarchy involved. They seem to deem themselves, and especially the "man of God" in question, as somehow better than others.
Folks will even argue- heatedly- over who the greatest preacher is, how this man's anointing and preaching is so much stronger than all others. Watch out! This is idolatry!

If God spoke through a donkey, we would do well to remember that just because he speaks through a man doesn't lift him higher than others. He just has a different calling on his life!

One of the biggest idols in the land right now is "women's hair". It has it's roots in preacher worship, but has taken on a life of it's own recently. Br Lee Stoneking- a man whom God has used greatly over the years- is human. He preached a message about the power of women's hair recently that, to be perfectly blunt, was just dead wrong.

DEADLY WRONG.

He, like many before him, took this scripture WAY out of context and ran WAY away from the word of God: 1 Corinthians 11: ¹⁰For this cause ought the woman to have power on her head because of the angels.

The theory here is that there is something magical about a godly woman's hair. He went on to speak of instances of a woman praying over her sick husband, etc, and pulling her long tresses over the man's diseased body and- get this- "God healed him because of the power in her hair". He even went so far as to quote witches about the power in a woman's long hair!

This is blatant idolatry!

Verse 3 clearly says that "her head" is her husband. The "power on her head" that a woman has is a RIGHT RELATIONSHIP with her husband and her God. This is symbolized by her long hair, which shows her submission to her husband and God, but the long hair itself is not the source of her power.

When God answers a woman's prayer, it's NOT because of her long hair, it's because she is his daughter and is in submission to him and her husband. Because she is submitted to him, then her desires are lined up with God's desires, so she prays in accordance with God's will and God says YES! It's that simple.

Samson's strength wasn't in his long hair, it was in his obedience. When he became disobedient, he lost his strength and became a captive of the enemy. How many Apostolic men and women today are losing their strength with God because they are worshiping her long hair as an idol!

REPENT APOSTOLICS!

Be careful. Anything or anyone can become an idol to you. An entertainer, a writer, a politician, a computer, a game, a TV set, food, a house, a car, a sports team, a church building, etc. This is why we are warned to "set your affections on things above...". We need to carefully guard our hearts, bathing ourselves in prayer and the word of God.

Now, lets look at three other things here:

⁵Thou shalt not bow down thyself to them, nor serve them: for I the LORD thy God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate me;

Ever hear the term "generational curse"? This is where it comes from and what it means. God says, if a person hates me, I will visit their sins on subsequent generations after them.

The devil lies and tells us that our sin doesn't harm our loved ones. It does! Your secret sin may never be brought into the light of day for the world to see, but watch your kids.

Abraham was called the friend of God and father of faith. Yet, he lied- twice. His son Isaac after him lied for the same reasons his Father lied- to protect his own hide. Jacob became a liar AND a thief. See the sin passing down and getting worse?

Abraham also took a concubine and committed adultery with her- with Sarah's permission (that's truly mind blowing to me!) all in an attempt to bring God's promise of a son to pass. Jacob took 2 wives and was married to both of them at the same time (polygamy)! Follow the family tree and you'll find David taking several wives and Solomon taking hundreds of wives and concubines! See the sin passing down and getting worse?

Did these men hate God? Yes- in the areas of their lives that they did not give over to God and allow him to cleanse them. Totally hate God? No. Yet, God allows their sins to be passed down and grow worse! The sins of their people grew worse and worse. Yet, along the way, there were curse breakers!

Josiah became king at 8 years old. He brought mighty revival and cleaned up the nation beginning when he was 26. He threw down their idols and commanded the people to walk with God in HIS ways. He was a curse breaker!

Preachers! Teachers! Parents! We need to take personal stock! We need to pray "Lord, examine my heart. If there be any wicked thing in me, show me that I may repent!" Then, we need to boldly step up and begin to throw down the sins of our homes and churches! Cast down the idols! Get rid of the snares the enemy has your people trapped in. CAST OUT THE UNCLEAN THINGS! Then, we can break the curses!

God is jealous over us. He loves us and will not share our affections with others. He will not permit idols. Would you allow your spouse to begin sharing themselves with others and only give you a small amount of their affections? Of course not. You'd get angry. Why? Because if you truly love your spouse, you will be jealous over them! We are the bride of Christ- God is jealous over us and will not share us.

Finally, look at this amazing verse:

⁶And shewing mercy unto thousands of them that love me, and keep my commandments.

God is a merciful God and will forgive our sins, but we have to love him! He will cleanse us, but we must submit to him and his ways. How does he know we love him? We keep his commandments. In other words: He says jump and we say "how high". Our job is to trust and obey him.

Oh, we can ask questions. He does say "come let us reason together". Yet, sometimes, he doesn't give us an answer to every question we ask that we can see. He says "wait". We may not see or understand the "why" of it until we see him on the other side. But, we still must obey him.

Now, this commandment was given to Moses for Israel. Israel was millions of people strong! Yet, the Lord says he shows mercy unto "thousands of them that love me". Thousands? As opposed to millions? WOW! That's a small percentage. Why?

Is it because God picks and chooses and plays favorites? No. He says whosoever will let him come.

Is it because God doesn't love those that he doesn't show mercy to? No. The scriptures declare that he loves the whole world!

Is it because those that he shows mercy to are so much better than the ones he doesn't? No. ALL have sinned and have fallen short.

It's a question of trust and obedience. If we submit to him, he will show mercy to us and allow us into right relationship with him. If we do not submit to him, we are doomed. It's that simple.

I urge you today. If you haven't been born again of the water and the spirit, obey Acts 2:38 "³⁷Now when they heard this, they were pricked in their heart, and said unto Peter and to the rest of the apostles, Men and brethren, what shall we do?

³⁸Then Peter said unto them, Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost.

³⁹For the promise is unto you, and to your children, and to all that are afar off, even as many as the LORD our God shall call.

⁴⁰And with many other words did he testify and exhort, saying, Save yourselves from this untoward generation.

⁴¹Then they that gladly received his word were baptized: and the same day there were added unto them about three thousand souls.

If you have been born again, let us let him search our hearts and show us the idols in our lives. Then, let us repent and cast them out of our lives, allowing God to cleanse us of all unrighteousness.

God will have a people: will we be a part of that number?

God will have revival: will we be a part of it?

Psalm 51

¹Have mercy upon me, O God, according to thy lovingkindness: according unto the multitude of thy tender mercies blot out my transgressions.

²Wash me throughly from mine iniquity, and cleanse me from my sin.

³For I acknowledge my transgressions: and my sin is ever before me.

⁴Against thee, thee only, have I sinned, and done this evil in thy sight: that thou mightest be justified when thou speakest, and be clear when thou judgest.

⁵Behold, I was shapen in iniquity; and in sin did my mother conceive me.

⁶Behold, thou desirest truth in the inward parts: and in the hidden part thou shalt make me to know wisdom.

⁷Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean: wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow.

⁸Make me to hear joy and gladness; that the bones which thou hast broken may rejoice.

⁹Hide thy face from my sins, and blot out all mine iniquities.

¹⁰Create in me a clean heart, O God; and renew a right spirit within me.

¹¹Cast me not away from thy presence; and take not thy holy spirit from me.

¹²Restore unto me the joy of thy salvation; and uphold me with thy free spirit.

¹³Then will I teach transgressors thy ways; and sinners shall be converted unto thee.

¹⁴Deliver me from bloodguiltiness, O God, thou God of my salvation: and my tongue shall sing aloud of thy righteousness.

¹⁵O Lord, open thou my lips; and my mouth shall shew forth thy praise.

¹⁶For thou desirest not sacrifice; else would I give it: thou delightest not in burnt offering.

¹⁷The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit: a broken and a contrite heart, O God, thou wilt not despise.

¹⁸Do good in thy good pleasure unto Zion: build thou the walls of Jerusalem.

¹⁹Then shalt thou be pleased with the sacrifices of righteousness, with burnt offering and whole burnt offering: then shall they offer bullocks upon thine altar.

A look at the commandments: Part 1

2012-02-05T09:46:00.000-05:00

Exodus 20

¹And God spake all these words, saying,

²I am the LORD thy God, which have brought thee out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage.

³Thou shalt have no other gods before me.

⁴Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image, or any likeness of any thing that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth.

⁶And shewing mercy unto thousands of them that love me, and keep my commandments.

Many of us have seen the "10 Commandments" movie, or seen them posted on a wall somewhere. Many of us have at least heard them at some point of our lives, or even read them a time or two. But, have we ever truly studied them? Perhaps we should take a closer look and see what nuggets of truth are there for us to dig up and treasure!

First of all, GOD spoke the 10 Commandments. These were not man made rules. God said for us to follow these COMMANDS! I was a soldier once on man's Army. The commands from my superiors were called ORDERS. We had to obey the orders of our superiors whether we liked them or not. How much higher a superior can there possibly be than God? When HE issues orders (commands), we need to follow them to the letter.

He next says for us to remember what he's done for us- and especially WHO DID IT for us. If you have been biblically born again (Acts 2:38), then you are no longer in bondage! You have been brought out of the sin you were once in and have been allowed to walk in freedom in his marvelous light! Why? Because you (or I) were so great and awesome? NO!

Psalm 23

¹The LORD is my shepherd; I shall not want.

²He maketh me to lie down in green pastures: he leadeth me beside the still waters.

³He restoreth my soul: he leadeth me in the paths of righteousness for his name's sake.

He did it because he loves us and to show forth the Glory of HIS name! He is the awesome and great one! We don't deserve even the smallest of his blessings. He reached down and drew us (not made us to- we had a choice) out of our hog pens, cleaned us up, and set our feet upon the rock that we might be able to stand to show forth HIS glory!

Because of what he's done for us, he has a few rules he'd like to lay down for us to follow. These are not suggestions. We belong to him. We were bought with his precious blood and belong to him. He has a right to command these things from us.

The first one seems simple enough:

³Thou shalt have no other gods before me.

So what does it really mean? Does he mean that it's OK to have other gods, as long as he is number one on our list? Sounds ludicrous doesn't it? How many folks actually live that way, though? We give God a portion of our lives- maybe even the best parts- but do we give him our all? We sin on Saturday and serve him on Sunday. We check the blocks of Christianity:

A) Prayer: check (we said prayers with our meals and at bedtime)

B) Bible study (We read a verse or two this week)

C) Helping others (We bought a soda for our coworker)

D) Witnessing (we agreed with someone that God is real)

E) Gathering together with other saints (We went to church Sunday AM)

F) Modesty (we don't dress too much like the world)

G) Godly conversation (we didn't cuss this week)

H) Godly living (we don't smoke and drink. The shows we watch and the things we read aren't too bad- are they?)

But, is that all God expects from us? Jesus said the greatest commandment is:

Mark 12:30
And thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, andwith all thy mind, and with all thy strength: this is the first commandment.

What does he mean?

The heart is our emotions. We are to love God by submitting our emotions to him! God is an emotional God. He gets happy and sad. He loves and he hates. He is judgement and mercy. God expects us to love him by submitting our emotions to him. Emotions are wonderful things- if used within the guidelines of scripture. But, they are terribly destructive things if they are left uncontrolled! Be angry and SIN NOT, we are told. LOVE, but don't love the wrong person in the wrong way. HATE sin, but love the sinner. WITH MALICE, we are to throw away our sins as something we abhor- but don't have malice for your brother or sister. Let God have control of our emotions and they work wonderfully. If we retain control- it can be deadly.

The soul is who we are. Many believe that man is: spirit+body+soul=man. This is not what scripture teaches. We don't have time to break it all down today, but suffice it to say that the real computation is: body+spirit=soul (man). The soul is the sum totality of who we are. And we are to love God with ALL of who we are! ALL of us- not some of us- belongs to him. He demands our all. He deserves our all. He bought our all. There is no room for any other god or any small piece set aside just for us. It's ALL or nothing with God.

The mind is our thoughts. You mean he even wants our deep thoughts and desires? YES! Why? Our emotions are primarily guided by our thoughts. If our thoughts are under control, our emotions will be. Our actions follow our emotions. So is we have Godly thoughts, our emotions will stay under Godly control. Then, our actions will be Godly. If our thought life is NOT submitted to God, then our emotions get out of control. Then, our actions can go haywire! This is why scripture warns us:

Philippians 4:8
Finally, brethren, whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report; if there be any virtue, and if there be any praise,think on these things.

Finally, what is our strength. These are the things that we are good at. The gifts that God has given us to benefit our families, society, and his kingdom. But, like anything else, our gifts can become a curse if they are not submitted to God and used in Godly ways. How many pop singers were "discovered" singing in a church? Yet, they were pulled out and began singing ungodly songs. They made millions! But, their lives are in shambles. And how many of their fans were led astray by following them?

It's easy for us to trust and submit to God in the things we are not good at. We pray, "God help me". But, when it's something we are confident at because we are good at it, we tell God: "Stand back, Lord. I can do this." It may go good for a while, but it will fall apart and cause damage at some point if we don't give our strengths-and their uses- to Jesus!

³Thou shalt have no other gods before me.

So what does this mean? Look at the words BEFORE ME. In the Hebrew in means IN HIS PRESENCE. So where is his presence?

Psalms 139

⁷Whither shall I go from thy spirit? or whither shall I flee from thy presence?

⁸If I ascend up into heaven, thou art there: if I make my bed in hell, behold, thou art there.

⁹If I take the wings of the morning, and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea;

¹⁰Even there shall thy hand lead me, and thy right hand shall hold me.

¹¹If I say, Surely the darkness shall cover me; even the night shall be light about me.

¹²Yea, the darkness hideth not from thee; but the night shineth as the day: the darkness and the light are both alike to thee.

God is omnipresent! He is everywhere. There is NO PLACE where God is not!So what do we do with this commandment?

This is not simply placing God at the top of the list and we can do what we want with the rest. This is making God our end all be all. It's about giving him complete control. It's about handing HIM the pen and paper of our lives and saying: "I trust you Lord. I am yours. YOU make the list. YOU do what you feel is best for my life.

There is NO room for all the little gods our society says are so important. God needs to be our focus- our all in all.

So, whatever little gods we may have been hanging on to- we need to throw them away, repent, and give our ALL to the one who died for us- Jesus! He is the whole list! He is the first and last, beginning and the end. He is the single most important being in the universe! He is all powerful, all knowing, and everywhere. Why would we hesitate to give him control of our lives? He loves us. He died for us. He shed his own blood for us. He gave his all! Why would we not give our all to him!

Who knows better what's best for us: God or us?

2012-01-29T15:27:00.000-05:00

Psalm 47

¹O clap your hands, all ye people; shout unto God with the voice of triumph.

²For the LORD most high is terrible; he is a great King over all the earth.

³He shall subdue the people under us, and the nations under our feet.

⁴He shall choose our inheritance for us, the excellency of Jacob whom he loved. Selah.

The question has arisen anew for me in recent days. I have things I see that I would like to happen. Yet, as good for me as these things appear to be, every time I have reached out for them, something happens to stop them. Why? Does God not see how beneficial these things will be for me? Does he not see how bad things are where I am at and I need to get out of here? Does he take some perverse pleasure in watching me struggle? OR, does he have me exactly where he wants me and HIS way is better than my way?

This is an age old problem for us humans. Our arguments rise as our flesh rages: God gave me a good mind and he expects me to use it. I don't have to ask him about every little decision in my life.

So, we look. We reach. We try to grasp hold of the things we want. We pray and ask God for them. We may even fast to try and force God's hand to let us have them. Then, we get angry when he doesn't allow us to have what we think we need.

We seemingly never stop to ask some important questions. A) Does God want us to have the things we want to have? B) Why doesn't he want us to have them?

Psalms 47 teaches us that HE will choose our inheritance for us. Notice that it doesn't say that he will give us what we think we need or want. Yes, the scriptures declare that he will give us the desires of our hearts. But, this is only as we delight ourselves in HIM. OUR will must be submitted wholly and completely to HIS will. When this happens, OUR desires come in line with HIS desires. THEN and only then will he give us the desires of our hearts.

We see the same pattern here in Psalms 47. We worship and praise him with all we are and have. We elevate him to LORD (supreme controller) and KING (ruler) of our lives- then HE decides what is best for us to have. The scriptures truly ring true. We have not because a) we ask not (I don't have to ask God about every little thing- or do I?) or b) because we ask amiss (We don't ask according to HIS will, but ours).

If we will truly humble ourselves and submit to HIS Lordship over us, the scriptures teach that he will withhold NO GOOD THING from us. BUT, we must allow HIM to decide was is good for us, rather than insisting that our way is better.

He knows all things. We do not. He sees the ends from the beginning. We do not. Don't bite into that fruit just because it looks good to you. Next time, listen to God. We don't want to repeat what our ancient parents did in the garden now do we?

I had a dream last night.

2012-01-22T11:54:00.001-05:00

1 Kings 3:5
In Gibeon the LORD appeared to Solomon in a dream by night: and God said, Ask what I shall give thee.

Isaiah 58:12
And they that shall be of thee shall build the old waste places: thou shalt raise up the foundations of many generations; and thou shalt be called, The repairer of the breach, The restorer of paths to dwell in.
Isaiah 61:4 And they shall build the old wastes, they shall raise up the former desolations, and they shall repair the waste cities, the desolations of many generations.

This is a little different post for me, so please bear with me.

You see, I've been bothered of late. It seems that many of the Apostolic "old guard", so to speak, are dying off. Those great men of God that have blazed the trail ahead of us have begun to be called home in, it seems to me, record numbers. In the last few weeks, many men of God have been called to their rewards. It has caused me to begin to look around and ask, "What now"?

Who among us that are left behind will begin to stand and take their place? Who will the God of heaven tap on the shoulder and begin to work through in these last and evil days?

Our world, indeed our country, is heading down a disastrous and slippery sinful slope! Entertainment is growing more and more ungodly. Homosexuality/lesbianism, lying, cheating, cohabiting (as opposed to marriage), crime, etc are becoming the new norm. People are leaving the God of their fathers behind in record numbers in favor of sinful lifestyles that were not permitted openly just a generation or two ago.

Worse, the church in America seems to be at a total loss of how to deal with it. What are we to do? How do we stand against the rising tide of evil in our nation and world? One things for sure: business as usual isn't cutting it! We've got to make some changes in order to begin to reach this lost and undone generation we live in!

I had a dream last night that I cannot shake and don't totally understand. What I write now will be the dream and any thoughts that God gives me along the way as I write:

I was in a church (not the one I currently attend). It was a huge building. The colors were dazzling. The furnishings ornate. The choir loft was larger than many church buildings I've seen. The chairs on the large platform bore soft, velvety cushions and fancy decorative carvings. Especially the center chair that was reserved for "the pastor".

The reason I was there was two-fold. 1) My family and I had recently begun attending there at the request of the old pastor. 2) The pastor had recently died and the church body were gathering for his funeral.

I was struck by the lack of people there in the massive facility. A building that had a capacity to hold thousands, held just a mere handful of people. The thought in the dream was that this was a normal crowd. The days where this place was near capacity were long forgotten "glory days". The world that numbers billions had slowly began to ignore the old church with her "old fashioned ways".

I remember passing a note to someone there. An Usher? A church board member? I'm not sure. I never saw anyone's face or noticed how they were dressed. In the note, I simply said, "We'll be glad to help anyway we are needed." When I passed the note, I was sitting in the pews with the few mourners.

The dream skips some time. Now I am "the pastor" of this huge, but largely empty facility. (Again, this is the dream, not my desire) I am way up in the side balcony looking down on the platform area. I am praying as I pace back and forth- pouring my heart out to God and asking what needs to change. Asking him how we can get the attention of the population at large that ignores this building.

He seems to draw my attention to the "pastor's chair" and says "you need to begin there and make changes to the structure. Go back to my word and reorganize according to what I will show you there."

At this point, I awakened.

Now, here are my thoughts on this so far. Any thoughts you have and wish to share, please do.

1) We, as a movement, have turned our focus away from "the people business" we are called to be in. In it's place, we have placed our focus on prosperity. The prosperity of the people, the ministry, and "the church". This prosperity is not measured by the spirituality of the people, but is measured by the money and wealth of the people involved and the size of our church roles and buildings. We have turned away from Peter's words and have begun to "suppos(e) that gain is godliness".

We build bigger and fancier edifices "to the glory of God". We have the best choirs, wearing the best robes, using the best instruments, and best equipment. We buy church vans, ostensibly to pick up "the lost", but really because we want to BE SEEN as caring for the lost. We build all the trappings to "look the part", yet when a family with a real need shows up, all we tend to do is give them some stale food and tell them, "We'll pray for you- God will make a way".

2) Our organization needs to change. Rather than the "single pastor" system we have become accustomed to, the early church seemed to lead congregations by "Elderships"- a team of elders. It's not a one man show. It's Godly men working and praying together to accomplish the will of God.

3) We need to focus on meeting the needs of sinner and saint alike. Everyone needs a real helping hand sometimes. How many folks could we win to the Lord, if we'd open up our pockets and hearts to their needs? How many folks could we keep if we focused on the needs of people rather than on the monetary needs of the facilities we populate?

4) The early church went from house to house breaking bread, the Lord adding daily such as would be saved. We need organized home study groups that will take the word of the Lord to the peoples homes, not just expect them to show up at church.

5) We do NOT need to compromise our beliefs or our holiness in order to win the lost. We do NOT become socially relevant again by giving in to the sinful ways of our culture at large. We become relevant again by standing firm in Jesus and holding out his love and life to the world.

It is God's plan to raise up a people who will shine forth his light. He desires us to live in a way that will draw folks to him, without compromising his truth.

Preach and teach the plan of salvation (Acts 2:38). Preach holiness AND forgiveness. Preach judgement AND mercy. Hold fast to ALL the principles of scripture. LIVE them to a lost and dying world. Only in this way will we see the prophesied end time harvest come to pass!

To quote and old song called "Mirror in me" (by John Chisum)- let this song be the prayer of the church of the living God:

"Mirror in me your love. Mirror in me your glory.

Reflecting in my every day, your gentleness and mercy.

Mirror in me your grace. Mirror in me compassion.

Conforming me to your image, Lord, as I gaze on you.

So fill my hand with your hands. Fill my feet with your feet.

Speak the words that I should say. Live your life through me.

Fill my mind with your mind. Fill my soul with your soul.

Show me all you really are- till I overflow."

Dating versus Courting: A Godly perspective

2012-01-17T13:58:00.000-05:00

Before I get started too deeply in this, I wish it to be known that my wife and I dated. We, like you, were raised in a culture that taught dating. We never gave it a second thought. As I've gotten older and now have two grown daughters of my own, I have begun to re-examine some things.

First of all, in the history of the western world, dating is a reletively new concept. In fact, it really only appeared as a strong cultural movement in the early 1900's- not truly becoming a cultural mainstay until the "roaring 20's". Even then, it was mainly in the big cities that tend to be more liberal than the more rural areas. By the 50's it had taken over in even those areas.

Before this, Courting had been the cultural norm. Courting allowed a perspective "couple" to get to know each other, within limits. It allowed them to not only say, "Hey, you're cute. I want to know you better". But, it also allowed a safe way for them to get to know the person behind the looks and see if the person could possible be the person God intended for them to marry.

Why do I say safe? Let me explain: In courting, there are "fences" involved to help keep the couple pure before God. Not so in dating. In courting, the couple can be alone: on the phone, online, on the front porch, at a restaurant, at church- but with none of the "chances" taken in dating. A courting couple can sit on the front porch, or in the back yard, or in the living room. However, they are never completely alone. Always, a parent, or an elder, or another responsible person is nearby. Not near enough to overhear the couples conversations, mind you. But, near enough to cause a hindrance to the raging hormones that so often take over in a "dating" relationship. There is always someone else there to help keep you accountable.

Dating, tends to be more casual. They go out to "have a good time". They like to "have someone", but still have their "freedom". It is not unsusual at all for people to date many different people at the same time, just for fun. No commitment involved. Or, commitment as long as the other person does what they want. There is WAY too much "freedom" (or so the world calls it. God calls it bondage) involved in dating. The only thing holding back a dating couple from sin, is their own tenuous hold on themselves. Most of the time, in the heat of the moment, they lose their grip on that hold.

Courting says, "Lord, they're cute. If you'll help us and give your OK, I'd like to see if this is the one for me." This isn't trying each other out. And it doesn't include sex. Sex comes AFTER marriage, not before. Living under the same roof as a couple comes AFTER marriage, not before. The conversations in courting should include how you think, how you act, how you believe. Things in common. Things different. Are these differences complimentary? Or are they deal breakers? How do you feel about children, marriage structure, money, homes, where you'd like to live, etc. Each others personal histories (good and bad).

Dating is "rolling the dice and hoping everything works out for the best".

Courting is planned, deliberate, PRAYERFUL, and thoughtful.

Irregardless of our "grown up rights", Courting is BY FAR the better way.

What about Romans 10:9?

2012-01-08T12:02:00.001-05:00

This question was asked on a Facebook page I'm part of. It's also the one of the first questions asked whenever Acts 2:38 is brought up. Br Charles Albert Johnson III gave the following answer. There's nothing I could add to this. It's the best exegesis on this subject I've seen thus far. Thanks, bro Charles, for allowing me to use this!

Before examining the ninth verse of the Chapter, let us get context by examining the first verse of the Chapter.

Romans 10:1 - Brethren, my heart's desire and prayer to God for Israel is, that they might be saved.

So Paul is addressing the Church (Brethren), folk who are already saved. Paul is addressing the Church concerning "Israel's" salvation, for they were the ones in the context in need of salvation. Therefore, we understand that Romans 10:9 is NOT addressing the Church about how they get saved, nor is it intended to communicate a generic plan of Salvation for sinners in general. Keep the Scripture in context and you won't err.

Now to the meat of the text. Paul is addressing folk who are already saved, therefore it doesn't make sense for him to be telling them how to get saved. He is, however, speaking concerning the salvation of Israel. Paul quotes the law in Deuteronomy 30 to proclaim that the "word" in that place in the law was the "word of faith" which "we preach." He is talking about the Gospel, to the Jew first (Romans 1:16).

In verse nine, Paul addresses the two main hindrances to Israel's salvation, namely confessing with the mouth the Lord Jesus and believing in His Resurrection. These two hindrances to Israel's salvation are clearly seen comparing the Scriptures.

Romans 10:9 - That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved.

Israel's "CONFESSION" DILEMMA:

John 9:22 - These words spake his parents, because they feared the Jews: for the Jews had agreed already, that if any man did confess that he was Christ, he should be put out of the synagogue.

John 12:42 - Nevertheless among the chief rulers also many believed on him; but because of the Pharisees they did not confess him, lest they should be put out of the synagogue:

Israel's "UNBELIEF IN THE RESURRECTION" DILEMMA:

Matthew 28

11 Now when they were going, behold, some of the watch came into the city, and shewed unto the chief priests all the things that were done.

12 And when they were assembled with the elders, and had taken counsel, they gave large money unto the soldiers,

13 Saying, Say ye, His disciples came by night, and stole him away while we slept.

14 And if this come to the governor's ears, we will persuade him, and secure you.

15 So they took the money, and did as they were taught: and this saying is commonly reported among the Jews until this day.

Notice also it says "thou SHALT be saved," not "thou ART saved." More beyond simple confession and belief is necessary, for example, REPENTANCE is clearly necessary for salvation.

Luke 13:3 - I tell you, Nay: but, except ye repent, ye shall all likewise perish.

Luke 13:5 - I tell you, Nay: but, except ye repent, ye shall all likewise perish.

If we assume that generic salvation is simple confession and belief, as per Romans 10:9, then we'd be forced to conclude that repentance is unnecessary for salvation, though Jesus said otherwise. So you see salvation in the generic sense is absolutely not what Romans 10:9 is dealing with, rather, Romans 10:9 is dealing with the salvation of unbelieving Israel, who culturally and traditionally had issues with confessing Christ (and getting excommunicated from Jewish life ie. put out of the synagogue) as Lord and believing in the Resurrection (the Jewish leadership paid off the Roman soldiers to lie and that lie was commonly reported). To interpret otherwise is error.

Paul goes on to quote Moses and Isaiah (law and the prophets) in that God would use the unbelief of the Jews to bring about the salvation of all the nations (fulfilling His promise to Abraham...father of MANY NATIONS), and for to provoke Israel in unbelief to jealousy, that some of them may be saved.

Romans 10:19 - But I say, Did not Israel know? First Moses saith, I will provoke you to jealousy by them that are no people, and by a foolish nation I will anger you.

Romans 11:11 - I say then, Have they stumbled that they should fall? God forbid: but rather through their fall salvation is come unto the Gentiles, for to provoke them to jealousy.

Romans 11:14 - If by any means I may provoke to emulation them which are my flesh, and might save some of them.

I pray here that I have given you accurate exegesis of the Romans 10 text, and that you have been edified to be able to provide an answer to every man concerning the faith that is in you. Let all God's people be strengthened and sharpened in Jesus' Name.

The time for renewal is now!

2012-01-08T11:27:00.000-05:00

Based on 2 Chronicles 29-32

Hezekiah became king at 25 years old. To place that age in perspective, according to "the law", you had to be at least 30 in order to be a priest in the temple. Yet, here was this "young man" who wasn't old enough for the priesthood, being tapped to become the king over God's people.

Wow! What a responsibility! He wasn't just required to see to their spiritual well being, but also their economic, legal, and physical well being.

Hezekiah was raised as a prince over Israel. He had all the luxuries that come with that title. He wore the choicest clothes, ate the best foods, was attended to by manifold servants.

But Hezekiah wasn't always raised as royalty. He was 9 years old when his father, Ahaz, became king. He watched as his father did "not that which was right in the sight of the LORD, like David his father:" For 16 years, he watched his father, the king, destroy the work of God in Israel and raise up the works of Baal.

Yet, in his mind, he remembered his Grandpa, King Jotham, who did what was right in the eyes of the Lord. He had 16 years to watch and compare the reigns of his Grandpa, Jotham and his father, Ahaz.

So where does a young king start? Did he start with the economy? No. Did he start with the legal system? No. Did he start with the military protection of his people? No. Does he start with the land laws of the people and any disputes there may be? No.

Of all the things he looked and saw in his new kingdom, the thing that he felt needed to be addressed before anything else, was the work of the Lord in his kingdom!

So he calls a massive overhaul of the temple. Did he make up a "new way"? No. I'm sure that, to those who had grown accustomed to Ahaz's rules, Hezekiah's ways did seem new. But, in the eyes of God, it was a return to God's ways.

He calls the priests and levites to consecrate themselves. He calls for a cleansing of the temple. He calls for a cleansing of the altar. He calls for a cleansing of the people. He calls for the tearing down the altars and groves of Baal and Ashteroth.

A massive "revival" is the result. The house of God is set in order. The people's homes are put in order. In the process, even the poor were taken care of. They sent invitations to the surrounding areas and some folks from Israel and other "Israeli" areas were brought back to God's fold.

What were the results as far as their relations to other countries? They were attacked by Sennicharab and the Assyrians come calling to attack. They blasphemed God almighty and threatened and intimidated the people of God.

Hezekiah calls a solemn assembly and asks for the Lord's help. He made ready for a strong defense, but he didn't send out the chariots to battle. He simply seeks the Lord. What happens, the Lord rewarded all of their faithfulness by fighting the battle FOR them and destroying the Assyrians- sending them fleeing without Israel having to lift a finger to fight.

The results of that were that Israel became well known and honored by the other nations- even fearing them to the point of not attacking or threatening them. Israel, over all, enjoyed relative peace (with a few "bumps in the road") for the rest of Hezekiah's 29 year reign.

What's the point of all this, br Winskie? Simply this:

Our nation has fallen into a state of deep sin. Our churches have fallen into a free spirit state of mind. Anything goes. Let's not talk about doctrine, you might offend someone. Let's not worry about God's ways of doing things, people will run away from your church. Let's just get together, "put our praise on", and enjoy the "blessings of God".

But what god is sending the blessings? Is it the one true God (Jesus)? Or is it Baal of old? People forget 1 Timothy 6: ¹Let as many servants as are under the yoke count their own masters worthy of all honour, that the name of God and his doctrine be not blasphemed.

²And they that have believing masters, let them not despise them, because they are brethren; but rather do them service, because they are faithful and beloved, partakers of the benefit. These things teach and exhort.

³If any man teach otherwise, and consent not to wholesome words, even the words of our Lord Jesus Christ, and to the doctrine which is according to godliness;

⁴He is proud, knowing nothing, but doting about questions and strifes of words, whereof cometh envy, strife, railings, evil surmisings,

⁵Perverse disputings of men of corrupt minds, and destitute of the truth, supposing that gain is godliness: from such withdraw thyself.

Just because God heals, doesn't mean he approves of their religion, but Baal (Satan) does. Just because all your financial needs are cared for, doesn't mean that God is the one meeting those needs- but Baal sometimes is.

It's time for us, as preachers of "the Gospel of Jesus Christ", and as "children of God", to call a "solemn assembly"! It's time for us to spend time in prayer, fasting, and consecration to God. It's time for us, like Hezekiah of old, to get into the word of God. We need to compare the ways folks are doing things now, with the ways God's word says to do them- and make changes accordingly!

What will be the results? a) Right standing with God! What better result could we hope and pray for? b) Right standing with our "brothers and sisters in the Lord" (at least the ones who have returned to God, as well). c) Protection from our enemies. Not that we won't have trials and battles, but as long as we're in right relationship with God, we'll be victorious! Those battles we've been fighting for years- like Assyria attacking Israel of old- will be over! Victory will be ours!

Hezekiah took over after his father died. Look around, church. How many men of God has the Lord been calling home, lately? They've ran their races and fought their fight. Nothing against them, but I believe that God is making room for our generation to stand up and do a work WITH the Lord (not FOR the Lord). The prophesied end time revival is here and it's OUR generations time to lead the way!

Will we continue to allow the things to go on that our forefathers have allowed to creep in? Or will we, like Hezekiah, stand for righteousness and remove the evil from our midst? Will we enjoy the temporary "blessings" of Baal? Or we will enjoy the permanent blessings of Jesus? Hezekiah's epitaph was "he did what was right in the eyes of the Lord". Wake up, church! What does our generation want our epitaph to be?

Is our part of the "bride of Christ" pregnant?

2011-12-21T12:40:00.001-05:00

I'm a strange man ("peculiar", according to the scriptures). I think strange thoughts. I say strange things. I do strange things. In fact, I believe that my daughters are "normal" and respectable young ladies because they rebelled against their "strange" dad- LOL.

I had a very strange thought when I awakened this morning. I really don't know where it came from. Did I dream something and don't remember it? I'm a 46 year old Grandpa. My wife and I are not thinking about any more children- besides Grandchildren. Our daughters, who are single and live with us, are definitely not pregnant. Our oldest son has given us a wonderful Granddaughter and, we are told, will soon be providing us with a Grandson. But, I haven't thought of this in days. Still, I awakened with strange thoughts today, and thought I might share them with you. Remember: Strange thoughts.

But, here goes my rather unusual thought progression. A) When women are pregnant, it is a well known fact that they crave foods that they usually don't eat that way, and that most folks call them strange for eating that way. B) When women are pregnant, they usually become nauseated by one or more of the foods they would normally eat. C) The Church is the "bride of Christ" and is supposed to be about converting others to becoming a part of the bride of Christ themselves.

Brother Winskie, what in the world are you talking about? Let's take this one thing at a time.

The church is the "bride of Christ". Our goal is to grow the family of God. So, my questions begin here. Are we pregnant? How would we know if we, as his bride, are pregnant? Are there some signs and symptoms that we should look for as indicators? If we compare spiritual pregnancy with physical pregnancy, perhaps there are.

When a woman is pregnant, her body begins to change in preparation for the carrying of her child.

The first indicator is usually "morning sickness". Certain smells and foods seem to cause her an extreme amount of nausea. As such, she begins to avoid these things in order to avoid the nausea.

If we, as Christians, are truly preparing for the births of spiritual babies, shouldn't there begin to be an aversion to some of the things in this world that most think are "normal". Shouldn't we start to feel some convictions in our lives? Shouldn't we start being careful of the environment we allow ourselves to be involved in? Do sinful environments cause us to draw back from them because of the spiritual nausea we feel? Are there places we used to hang out at, that we wouldn't hang out there anymore? Have our reading materials and entertainment choices changed? If not, perhaps we aren't who we think we are.

As a pregnant woman progresses in her pregnancy, her clothing changes to fit her expanding body. To refuse to do this could be hazardous to both mother and baby. It can cause lack of proper feeding and circulation to the child. This can cause retardation, deformation, and even death (for both mother and child). Shouldn't the way that we dress change to fit our new situation as his bride? If we are pregnant, shouldn't our clothing change, as well? Some folks say no. Yet, if you look at their spiritual "offspring", you will see retardation and deformity, rather than a normal and healthy child of God.

Another indicator of a healthy pregnancy is cravings. The woman begins to crave things that she needs in order to care for both herself and her child. Many times these cravings seem crazy to others. Pickles and Ice cream? Are you nuts? No. Her body is letting her know that she needs the nutrients contained in those foods. It may not taste very good to her, but she eats it out of love for her child.

As a healthy pregnant bride of Christ, shouldn't we be craving things the world thinks are strange? Where is the travailing in prayer for hours for both ourselves and the lost souls we encounter? Where is the hunger for the word of God? Where is the time spent in intimacy with our husband (prayer, praise, worship, personal study), so that we can become spiritually pregnant? After all, There can be NO pregnancy without intimacy.

Do we worry about how long the service will last, or just enjoy the move of God and the seed (word) he's placing in us? Are we concerned with how we look to the world? Or do we change our appearance to please our husband and protect the coming child? Do we still hang out "at the club", or have we changed our hangouts to fit our new station as part of "the bride of Christ"? In short, Who do we really love? Our husband and the coming new born children of God? Or, ourselves and the world?

God has prophesied a wonderful end time harvest for his bride. Multitudes of new births to come. If we want to be a part of this enormous promise, perhaps we should begin to make changes to fit our new station in life. If we don't, are we really a part of his bride? Just some "strange thoughts" for us to ponder.

Sunday School

2011-12-18T19:13:00.000-05:00

Titus 2

²That the aged men be sober, grave, temperate, sound in faith, in charity, in patience.

³The aged women likewise, that they be in behaviour as becometh holiness, not false accusers, not given to much wine, teachers of good things;

⁴That they may teach the young women to be sober, to love their husbands, to love their children,

⁵To be discreet, chaste, keepers at home, good, obedient to their own husbands, that the word of God be not blasphemed.

⁶Young men likewise exhort to be sober minded.

⁷In all things shewing thyself a pattern of good works: in doctrine shewing uncorruptness, gravity, sincerity,

⁸Sound speech, that cannot be condemned; that he that is of the contrary part may be ashamed, having no evil thing to say of you.

OK, brother Winskie. How do you get Sunday School out of that?

I realize that the early church, at least from what we can glean in the scriptures, did not have "Sunday School". I'm not saying they were wrong. All I can say is that (and I hate to say this, as it sounds like a cop out, but it really is the truth in this case) "times have changed".

In the early church, they, it seems from reading the scriptures had house to house fellowship (not in one massive building) DAILY. They even had services so long, time wise, that one young man fell asleep. From what we can glean from the scriptures, their services lasted many, many hours- not the short services we have nowadays (by comparison). The mothers didn't work outside the homes. The children didn't have 40 hours a week of forced indoctrination called "public schools", but were generally taught most things at home, until the males got to a certain age, when they began to learn a trade- either through their Father's, or through an apprenticeship, or- if the family had money and could do it- through a Rabbinical school, or some such. (Sorry for the run on sentence) The Fathers tended to work either at home (farms, etc) or very near home in the markets, etc., and tended to be around their families much more than we are now. There also weren't near as many distractions in the form of entertainment, as there is now.

The average child and adult, if they attend a church every time the doors are opened, generally has about 3 to 4 hours on Sunday, and about 2 hours during the week of biblical instruction. Some of this is taken up in praise and worship (not a bad thing, at all, but it does take up part of the church time). So, you can probably take about 2 to 3 hours away from the time involved, which leaves 3 to 4 hours a week of instruction at church.

Compare this to the 40 hours a week at school- 40-60 hours a week at work for most parents. Then, there's computer time- especially with the rise and popularity of "social media" like this site, Facebook, My space, etc. Many homes have TV's where they watch News, Sports, ungodly shows (sorry, couldn't resist the dig at the crazy programming on most channels), etc. There tends to be VERY little personal Bible Study at home, much less Family study and prayer. Of course, we all believe that this needs to change, and rightfully so. But, this is still the reality of our society.

Therefore, brethren, I truly believe that the biggest lack in the church of God today is plain, old fashioned, biblical teaching! Preaching WILL save the lost, but teaching and instruction WILL KEEP THEM SAVED! Unfortunately, in most of our churches, there are MANY subjects that are never taught at all! Acts 2:38 IS the plan of salvation. There IS only ONE GOD. And Holiness IS still necessary, though opinions vary on how to work this out. But, there is more to living for God and being a Christian than these 3 core beliefs!

Sunday school is NOT only for children. Adults need teaching too. Most "adult Sunday school" now are not a school at all. Rather, it has become another occasion for the preacher to preach his 4 or 5 pet doctrines. Most of the scriptures are ignored. There is almost no class room environment where the "students" can ask questions, make comments, or even (gasp)- respectfully disagree. All of these things are implicit in the way Jesus did things. He didn't cram his teaching down the disciples throat. He taught them and allowed them to have questions.

Children's Sunday school is NOT for teachers to be "glorified baby sitters". These teachers are to be called by God, have a burden for the pupils, and pray about what to teach and how to teach it. Presently, we have Sunday school that is geared only for kids. These classes are not set up to truly teach, but to keep them occupied while the parents are in the service! Many of these classes are now bringing videos into the class room to entertain their students, rather than to do what they should and teach them. They also now have "children's church". Not really a time to teach, but rather a time to entertain.

Church of Jesus- it's time for a change!

It is because of this that I believe and have a burden for Sunday School. What I am about to write is by NO means an all inclusive list of topics that need to be taught, but it is a sample list. Feel free to add to it. I do believe that a Godly church starts in a Godly home. But, given the realities of our world, they need to be taught how to achieve this and see that Christianity is NOT simply a religion, but is, in fact, a lifestyle built on relationship with Jesus!

Now, THIS would be my suggestion on how to organize the Sunday School. Keeping in mind the biblical passage we read above (the older men teaching the younger ones, and the older women teaching the younger ones), here is a small sample:

Nursery (ages 0-3, unless with parents) staffed on a rotational basis by praying older women.

Classes

Ages 4-6

Ages 7-9

(after this age, I believe they should be segregated by gender, depending on the class because there are many subjects that can only be taught in non-mixed audiences- and because the scriptures above suggest it.)

Ages 10-15

Ages 16-19

Adult classes

1) Young Ministers class (men only)

2) Homemaker/Housewife (women only, but probably needs a more palatable name)

3) Man of the Home class (men only)

4) Young married

5) New Convert class

6) Finances according to scripture (with emphasis on how to follow this in todays world.)

7) End Time Prophecy

8) Bible Study training (for those who feel led to teach the lost)

9) Life Issues (catch all. This would be "the main" class for those not interested in the other classes)

10) Outreach class (teaching different methods of outreach)

11) Vintage group (seniors)

12) Divorce recovery (needed in our world!)

13) A.C.T.S. class (Alcohol and Chemical Treatment System. This class is required in many states for those involved in Jail ministry. Also a great way for the church to act as a sort of "half way house" to help people get their lives straight in a legal sense and could lead many of them to Jesus. Some judges will actually order the parolees to attend the class at your church.)

14) Sewing (women only)

15) Cooking (women only)

16) A study of false doctrines, with emphasis on WHY they are false

17) Music (If a teacher(s) is(are) available in the church that is(are) willing to help the folks who'd like to learn.)

18) College/career (I'm iffy on this one, but some might want it.)

19) Biblical Courtship (needed to combat the whole "dating" scene!)

20) "Walk thru the Bible". (An excellent course [done by a trinitarian ministry, but we can get the literature and teach it ourselves.] It gives a GREAT general overview of the order of the books in the bible, while hitting a few highlights in the scriptures of events to fill out what's being learned. Even now, 21 years after I took the course, I fall back on some of the things I memorized back then in that ONE DAY COURSE to help me keep the order of the books straight in my head. Would be great for New Converts!)

21) Wilderness living (Some of you may balk at this one, depending on your end time beliefs. I believe that these skills- that include Archery Hunting, Fishing, Plant knowledge, Hiding and evasion, Cover in cold and hot weather, "Coats of skins", Safe fires, Natural dangers, Physical exercise, Rock and tree climbing, to name only a few- will be very useful to us in the coming days before the Lord returns.

22) Any other classes that you can think of.

I realize that some of these courses are not necessarily biblical, but they do relate. Also, I realize that teachers would have to rotate to keep from burning out and for them to learn other things as well. For some of these classes, we would need larger facilities and more people than most of us have at present. But, I truly believe that this is a good structure! The particulars can be done according to what we have available, as the Lord opens doors.

Also, I really believe that a structure like this would alleviate "the boredom" that some people feel in churches today and build an excitement into their walk with God. What will they learn today when they go to church? They can be free to take part in the subject of their own interest- teachers and students alike.

In short, brethren, I BELIEVE in Sunday School! In todays world it is a NEED! Given the massive amounts of subjects IN THE BIBLE that are NEVER even touched on in 99% of todays churches, I believe that it is very necessary.

God bless you. I look forward to your thoughts.

A Chronological Christmas

2011-12-11T10:35:00.001-05:00

Before I begin this post, let it be known to one and all that:

a) I do realize that Jesus was NOT born on Dec 25th.

b) I understand that Christmas was originally a pagan holiday that was "Christianized" by the Catholic church.

That having been said, it is not the purpose of this post to argue about any of that. Rather, it is the Chronology of "the Christmas story", that I wish to address.

It is currently presented via "the nativity scene" and most church plays, etc, that everything about the Christmas story took place during a few day period. Indeed, many believe all on the same night. Yet, scripturally speaking, this is simply not true. In fact, we know- at the risk of getting ahead of myself- that the wise men came to see Jesus some 2 years AFTER his birth. Why else would Herod order the destruction of all the Bethlehem children 2 years old and younger when the wise men left without seeing him (as he had ordered them to)?

So, with that in mind, let us re-examine this story as the scriptures truly tell it.

First of all, why does the world celebrate this holiday at all? The world celebrates it as a time of joy and sharing with friends and family. It's a time of giving and showing love to your loved ones. Nothing wrong with that, in principle.

But, what is the real reason behind the season for the Christian? It is all of the above AND it is a time of celebrating the birth of Jesus. Why celebrate his birth at all? Because of Calvary! He came to die. He came to show us that there is a real and lasting hope of eternal life THROUGH HIM. For me, just because the early church didn't celebrate his birthday (at least as far as we know from scripture) is no reason not to celebrate it. I'm glad he came! If he hadn't we'd have no hope at all. And, if I can celebrate the birth of my wife and children, how much more can I celebrate the birth of my Savior?

Indeed, let us look at why he came:

Matthew 1:21
And she shall bring forth a son, and thou shalt call his name JESUS: for he shall save his people from their sins.

The scriptures scream that God came to save us from our sins. Who is this Jesus?

1 Timothy 3:16
And without controversy great is the mystery of godliness: God was manifest in the flesh, justified in the Spirit, seen of angels, preached unto the Gentiles, believed on in the world, received up into glory.

Isaiah 9:6

King James Version (KJV)

⁶For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given: and the government shall be upon his shoulder: and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace.

The one and only creator- the God of the whole universe- made himself a man (became a son) and went to Calvary in order that we could truly be free. That's love! That's a loving Father!

That, to me, is the real reason for the season. The fact that God almighty robed himself in human flesh in order to make a way for me- That is reason to celebrate! That's what the whole world needs to know!

So, without further waiting, here is the "Christmas story", in Chronological order, so we all get it right. After all, don't we want to tell the story correctly?

Luke 1:⁵THERE was in the days of Herod, the king of Judaea, a certain priest named Zacharias, of the course of Abia: and his wife was of the daughters of Aaron, and her name was Elisabeth.

⁶And they were both righteous before God, walking in all the commandments and ordinances of the Lord blameless.

⁷And they had no child, because that Elisabeth was barren, and they both were now well stricken in years.

⁸And it came to pass, that while he executed the priest's office before God in the order of his course,

⁹According to the custom of the priest's office, his lot was to burn incense when he went into the temple of the Lord.

¹⁰And the whole multitude of the people were praying without at the time of incense.

¹¹And there appeared unto him an angel of the Lord standing on the right side of the altar of incense.

¹²And when Zacharias saw him, he was troubled, and fear fell upon him.

¹³But the angel said unto him, Fear not, Zacharias: for thy prayer is heard; and thy wife Elisabeth shall bear thee a son, and thou shalt call his name John.

¹⁴And thou shalt have joy and gladness; and many shall rejoice at his birth.

¹⁵For he shall be great in the sight of the Lord, and shall drink neither wine nor strong drink; and he shall be filled with the Holy Ghost, even from his mother's womb.

¹⁶And many of the children of Israel shall he turn to the Lord their God.

¹⁷And he shall go before him in the spirit and power of Elias, to turn the hearts of the fathers to the children, and the disobedient to the wisdom of the just; to make ready a people prepared for the Lord.

¹⁸And Zacharias said unto the angel, Whereby shall I know this? for I am an old man, and my wife well stricken in years.

¹⁹And the angel answering said unto him, I am Gabriel, that stand in the presence of God; and am sent to speak unto thee, and to shew thee these glad tidings.

²⁰And, behold, thou shalt be dumb, and not able to speak, until the day that these things shall be performed, because thou believest not my words, which shall be fulfilled in their season.

²¹And the people waited for Zacharias, and marvelled that he tarried so long in the temple.

²²And when he came out, he could not speak unto them: and they perceived that he had seen a vision in the temple: for he beckoned unto them, and remained speechless.

²³And it came to pass, that, as soon as the days of his ministration were accomplished, he departed to his own house.

²⁴And after those days his wife Elisabeth conceived, and hid herself five months, saying,

²⁵Thus hath the Lord dealt with me in the days wherein he looked on me, to take away my reproach among men.

²⁶And in the sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent from God unto a city of Galilee, named Nazareth,

²⁷To a virgin espoused to a man whose name was Joseph, of the house of David; and the virgin's name was Mary.

²⁸And the angel came in unto her, and said, Hail, thou that art highly favoured, the Lord is with thee: blessed art thou among women.

²⁹And when she saw him, she was troubled at his saying, and cast in her mind what manner of salutation this should be.

³⁰And the angel said unto her, Fear not, Mary: for thou hast found favour with God.

³¹And, behold, thou shalt conceive in thy womb, and bring forth a son, and shalt call his name JESUS.

³²He shall be great, and shall be called the Son of the Highest: and the Lord God shall give unto him the throne of his father David:

³³And he shall reign over the house of Jacob for ever; and of his kingdom there shall be no end.

³⁴Then said Mary unto the angel, How shall this be, seeing I know not a man?

³⁵And the angel answered and said unto her, The Holy Ghost shall come upon thee, and the power of the Highest shall overshadow thee: therefore also that holy thing which shall be born of thee shall be called the Son of God.

³⁶And, behold, thy cousin Elisabeth, she hath also conceived a son in her old age: and this is the sixth month with her, who was called barren.

³⁷For with God nothing shall be impossible.

³⁸And Mary said, Behold the handmaid of the Lord; be it unto me according to thy word. And the angel departed from her.

³⁹And Mary arose in those days, and went into the hill country with haste, into a city of Juda;

⁴⁰And entered into the house of Zacharias, and saluted Elisabeth.

⁴¹And it came to pass, that, when Elisabeth heard the salutation of Mary, the babe leaped in her womb; and Elisabeth was filled with the Holy Ghost:

⁴²And she spake out with a loud voice, and said, Blessed art thou among women, and blessed is the fruit of thy womb.

⁴³And whence is this to me, that the mother of my Lord should come to me?

⁴⁴For, lo, as soon as the voice of thy salutation sounded in mine ears, the babe leaped in my womb for joy.

⁴⁵And blessed is she that believed: for there shall be a performance of those things which were told her from the Lord.

⁴⁶And Mary said, My soul doth magnify the Lord,

⁴⁷And my spirit hath rejoiced in God my Saviour.

⁴⁸For he hath regarded the low estate of his handmaiden: for, behold, from henceforth all generations shall call me blessed.

⁴⁹For he that is mighty hath done to me great things; and holy is his name.

⁵⁰And his mercy is on them that fear him from generation to generation.

⁵¹He hath shewed strength with his arm; he hath scattered the proud in the imagination of their hearts.

⁵²He hath put down the mighty from their seats, and exalted them of low degree.

⁵³He hath filled the hungry with good things; and the rich he hath sent empty away.

⁵⁴He hath helped his servant Israel, in remembrance of his mercy;

⁵⁵As he spake to our fathers, to Abraham, and to his seed for ever.

⁵⁶And Mary abode with her about three months, and returned to her own house.

⁵⁷Now Elisabeth's full time came that she should be delivered; and she brought forth a son.

⁵⁸And her neighbours and her cousins heard how the Lord had shewed great mercy upon her; and they rejoiced with her.

⁵⁹And it came to pass, that on the eighth day they came to circumcise the child; and they called him Zacharias, after the name of his father.

⁶⁰And his mother answered and said, Not so; but he shall be called John.

⁶¹And they said unto her, There is none of thy kindred that is called by this name.

⁶²And they made signs to his father, how he would have him called.

⁶³And he asked for a writing table, and wrote, saying, His name is John. And they marvelled all.

⁶⁴And his mouth was opened immediately, and his tongue loosed, and he spake, and praised God.

⁶⁵And fear came on all that dwelt round about them: and all these sayings were noised abroad throughout all the hill country of Judaea.

⁶⁶And all they that heard them laid them up in their hearts, saying, What manner of child shall this be! And the hand of the Lord was with him.

⁶⁷And his father Zacharias was filled with the Holy Ghost, and prophesied, saying,

⁶⁸Blessed be the Lord God of Israel; for he hath visited and redeemed his people,

⁶⁹And hath raised up an horn of salvation for us in the house of his servant David;

⁷⁰As he spake by the mouth of his holy prophets, which have been since the world began:

⁷¹That we should be saved from our enemies, and from the hand of all that hate us;

⁷²To perform the mercy promised to our fathers, and to remember his holy covenant;

⁷³The oath which he sware to our father Abraham,

⁷⁴That he would grant unto us, that we being delivered out of the hand of our enemies might serve him without fear,

⁷⁵In holiness and righteousness before him, all the days of our life.

⁷⁶And thou, child, shalt be called the prophet of the Highest: for thou shalt go before the face of the Lord to prepare his ways;

⁷⁷To give knowledge of salvation unto his people by the remission of their sins,

⁷⁸Through the tender mercy of our God; whereby the dayspring from on high hath visited us,

⁷⁹To give light to them that sit in darkness and in the shadow of death, to guide our feet into the way of peace.

⁸⁰And the child grew, and waxed strong in spirit, and was in the deserts till the day of his shewing unto Israel.

Matthew 1: ¹⁸Now the birth of Jesus Christ was on this wise: When as his mother Mary was espoused to Joseph, before they came together, she was found with child of the Holy Ghost.

¹⁹Then Joseph her husband, being a just man, and not willing to make her a public example, was minded to put her away privily.

²⁰But while he thought on these things, behold, the angel of the LORD appeared unto him in a dream, saying, Joseph, thou son of David, fear not to take unto thee Mary thy wife: for that which is conceived in her is of the Holy Ghost.

²¹And she shall bring forth a son, and thou shalt call his name JESUS: for he shall save his people from their sins.

²²Now all this was done, that it might be fulfilled which was spoken of the Lord by the prophet, saying,

²³Behold, a virgin shall be with child, and shall bring forth a son, and they shall call his name Emmanuel, which being interpreted is, God with us.

²⁴Then Joseph being raised from sleep did as the angel of the Lord had bidden him, and took unto him his wife:

²⁵And knew her not till she had brought forth her firstborn son: and he called his name JESUS.

Luke 2

¹And it came to pass in those days, that there went out a decree from Caesar Augustus that all the world should be taxed.
²(And this taxing was first made when Cyrenius was governor of Syria.)
³And all went to be taxed, every one into his own city.
⁴And Joseph also went up from Galilee, out of the city of Nazareth, into Judaea, unto the city of David, which is called Bethlehem; (because he was of the house and lineage of David:)
⁵To be taxed with Mary his espoused wife, being great with child.
⁶And so it was, that, while they were there, the days were accomplished that she should be delivered.
⁷And she brought forth her firstborn son, and wrapped him in swaddling clothes, and laid him in a manger; because there was no room for them in the inn.
⁸And there were in the same country shepherds abiding in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night.
⁹And, lo, the angel of the Lord came upon them, and the glory of the Lord shone round about them: and they were sore afraid.
¹⁰And the angel said unto them, Fear not: for, behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people.
¹¹For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord.
¹²And this shall be a sign unto you; Ye shall find the babe wrapped in swaddling clothes, lying in a manger.
¹³And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God, and saying,
¹⁴Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men.
¹⁵And it came to pass, as the angels were gone away from them into heaven, the shepherds said one to another, Let us now go even unto Bethlehem, and see this thing which is come to pass, which the Lord hath made known unto us.
¹⁶And they came with haste, and found Mary, and Joseph, and the babe lying in a manger.
¹⁷And when they had seen it, they made known abroad the saying which was told them concerning this child.
¹⁸And all they that heard it wondered at those things which were told them by the shepherds.
¹⁹But Mary kept all these things, and pondered them in her heart.
²⁰And the shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all the things that they had heard and seen, as it was told unto them.
²¹And when eight days were accomplished for the circumcising of the child, his name was called JESUS, which was so named of the angel before he was conceived in the womb.
²²And when the days of her purification according to the law of Moses were accomplished, they brought him to Jerusalem, to present him to the Lord;
²³(As it is written in the law of the LORD, Every male that openeth the womb shall be called holy to the Lord;)
²⁴And to offer a sacrifice according to that which is said in the law of the Lord, A pair of turtledoves, or two young pigeons.
²⁵And, behold, there was a man in Jerusalem, whose name was Simeon; and the same man was just and devout, waiting for the consolation of Israel: and the Holy Ghost was upon him.
²⁶And it was revealed unto him by the Holy Ghost, that he should not see death, before he had seen the Lord's Christ.
²⁷And he came by the Spirit into the temple: and when the parents brought in the child Jesus, to do for him after the custom of the law,
²⁸Then took he him up in his arms, and blessed God, and said,
²⁹Lord, now lettest thou thy servant depart in peace, according to thy word:
³⁰For mine eyes have seen thy salvation,
³¹Which thou hast prepared before the face of all people;
³²A light to lighten the Gentiles, and the glory of thy people Israel.
³³And Joseph and his mother marvelled at those things which were spoken of him.
³⁴And Simeon blessed them, and said unto Mary his mother, Behold, this child is set for the fall and rising again of many in Israel; and for a sign which shall be spoken against;
³⁵(Yea, a sword shall pierce through thy own soul also,) that the thoughts of many hearts may be revealed.
³⁶And there was one Anna, a prophetess, the daughter of Phanuel, of the tribe of Aser: she was of a great age, and had lived with an husband seven years from her virginity;
³⁷And she was a widow of about fourscore and four years, which departed not from the temple, but served God with fastings and prayers night and day.
³⁸And she coming in that instant gave thanks likewise unto the Lord, and spake of him to all them that looked for redemption in Jerusalem.
³⁹And when they had performed all things according to the law of the Lord, they returned into Galilee, to their own city Nazareth.
⁴⁰And the child grew, and waxed strong in spirit, filled with wisdom: and the grace of God was upon him.

Matthew 2:

¹Now when Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judaea in the days of Herod the king, behold, there came wise men from the east to Jerusalem,
²Saying, Where is he that is born King of the Jews? for we have seen his star in the east, and are come to worship him.
³When Herod the king had heard these things, he was troubled, and all Jerusalem with him.
⁴And when he had gathered all the chief priests and scribes of the people together, he demanded of them where Christ should be born.
⁵And they said unto him, In Bethlehem of Judaea: for thus it is written by the prophet,
⁶And thou Bethlehem, in the land of Juda, art not the least among the princes of Juda: for out of thee shall come a Governor, that shall rule my people Israel.
⁷Then Herod, when he had privily called the wise men, enquired of them diligently what time the star appeared.
⁸And he sent them to Bethlehem, and said, Go and search diligently for the young child; and when ye have found him, bring me word again, that I may come and worship him also.
⁹When they had heard the king, they departed; and, lo, the star, which they saw in the east, went before them, till it came and stood over where the young child was.
¹⁰When they saw the star, they rejoiced with exceeding great joy.
¹¹And when they were come into the house, they saw the young child with Mary his mother, and fell down, and worshipped him: and when they had opened their treasures, they presented unto him gifts; gold, and frankincense and myrrh.
¹²And being warned of God in a dream that they should not return to Herod, they departed into their own country another way.
¹³And when they were departed, behold, the angel of the Lord appeareth to Joseph in a dream, saying, Arise, and take the young child and his mother, and flee into Egypt, and be thou there until I bring thee word: for Herod will seek the young child to destroy him.
¹⁴When he arose, he took the young child and his mother by night, and departed into Egypt:
¹⁵And was there until the death of Herod: that it might be fulfilled which was spoken of the Lord by the prophet, saying, Out of Egypt have I called my son.
¹⁶Then Herod, when he saw that he was mocked of the wise men, was exceeding wroth, and sent forth, and slew all the children that were in Bethlehem, and in all the coasts thereof, from two years old and under, according to the time which he had diligently inquired of the wise men. Then was fulfilled that which was spoken by Jeremiah the prophet, saying,
¹⁸In Rama was there a voice heard, lamentation, and weeping, and great mourning, Rachel weeping for her children, and would not be comforted, because they are not.
¹⁹But when Herod was dead, behold, an angel of the Lord appeareth in a dream to Joseph in Egypt,
²⁰Saying, Arise, and take the young child and his mother, and go into the land of Israel: for they are dead which sought the young child's life.
²¹And he arose, and took the young child and his mother, and came into the land of Israel.
²²But when he heard that Archelaus did reign in Judaea in the room of his father Herod, he was afraid to go thither: notwithstanding, being warned of God in a dream, he turned aside into the parts of Galilee:
²³And he came and dwelt in a city called Nazareth: that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the prophets, He shall be called a Nazarene.

Notice that the shepherds saw Jesus in the manger the night he was born. The wise men saw him in a house about 2 years later. The shepherds saw Jesus as a baby. The wise men saw him as a young child.

The Christmas story was about a 2+ year story, not a one night event. Just as our own walk with God requires a life time relationship, not a one time prayer. God bless you all and Merry Christmas!

So what's wrong with growing old?

2011-12-04T15:31:00.001-05:00

Leviticus 19:32
Thou shalt rise up before the hoary head, and honour the face of the old man, and fear thy God: I am the LORD.

Proverbs 16:31
The hoary head is a crown of glory, if it be found in the way of righteousness.

1 Corinthians 3:19

For the wisdom of this world is foolishness with God. For it is written, He taketh the wise in their own craftiness.

The term hoary, here, means: "1) age, gray hair, hoary head, old age

a) gray hair, hoary head

b) old age"

We live in a society that puts a premium on being "young". The entertainment stars- and even politicians- of our day spend much money on surgeries, nails, hair salons, etc to try and stay looking young. Movies, magazines, newspapers, billboards, and even sporting events all put a high value on "the young".

Everywhere we look, in other words, we are told that a) young is good, and b) to get old is bad. Many are the men and women who have bought into this lifestyle. They look in the mirror and, instead of being grateful for the time they've had, lessons learned, and thankful for the victories and wisdom God has given them- all they see is a person who's (gasp) "getting old"! We wear makeup to cover our age. We imitate the ungodly fashions of the day because we want to be "cool" and accepted by society.

Many even brag about staying "young". They throw out the music styles and lessons of their youth. They take on the modern music and lifestyles all to try and appear "young". They fight this battle every day.

One day, inevitably, it hits them. In spite of all of the money they've spent and effort they've applied, they are...dare I say? ....GETTING OLD! This is terrible! What can they do? Instead of being glad for the blessings they do have, they pine for the youth they've lost. They think back to high school or college and wish they could be that age again.

Then, the enemy of their souls- having reeled them in to this point- baits the trap that he has so painstakingly prepared all this time. He sends them a young person that seems to be, or even is, attracted to THEM. Being around this young one makes them feel "alive" (a euphemism for "young"). The more they hang out with this person, the more they begin to look at their own spouses lack of youth.

The results? First it's adultery of the heart. They spend lots of time speaking with this person. They go out of their way to be with this person. They begin to try and woo this person the way they wooed their own spouse in their youth. Finally, comes the inevitable: physical adultery.

Suddenly, all the faithful years their spouse has spent with them doesn't matter anymore. All the laughs and smiles, tears and trials of their lives together are thrown away for something they believe to be "better". Whether by their doing it, or their spouse doing it, the marriage ends in divorce. A family is destroyed.

Soon, they learn that their greener grass, isn't so green. Their "new and improved" partner lacks both the true love of their original spouse and the experience and care that comes only from years together in the trenches. They've thrown away what they had for an illusion, only to find that what they now have is less than what they gave up.

MANY times, after the divorce, their new partner winds up leaving them all alone. All they really wanted was the thrill of taking this married person away from their spouse. The person has built up their ego on the pain of a destroyed home- leaving the newly divorced one, helpless, despondent, and all alone. All because of the fear of getting old.

God's word paints a different picture all together. It's GOOD to grow old with God and your spouse. It's GOOD to learn together, laugh together, struggle together, and grow together. Let the world point a finger at you. Let them call you old. It's a JOY to grow old together.

More than that, it's a joy to be able to help younger folks who are trying to learn and grow together. Your stand for God can be a living testimony for the young folks around you who are trying to live out their own marriages and walk with God. Your testimonies can give strength to them, as they struggle with some of the very things that God brought you through.

Don't give in to the "stay young" lie. Don't give in to that young thing who's trying to flirt with you. Stand for God. Hold onto your spouse ("cleave unto"- as the scriptures say) with ALL your heart and mind. Live your life together as a testimony of what God can do- even in this day of high divorce rates.

Growing old is a blessing, not a curse. Let God carry you both through so that your life and experiences will be an example for later generations to follow until the Lord comes back. Instead of settling for the enemies "hall of shame", hold on to Jesus and enter God's "hall of fame".

God bless you all.

What to do when the promises come through.

2011-11-16T15:28:00.001-05:00

Deuteronomy 12

¹These are the statutes and judgments, which ye shall observe to do in the land, which the LORD God of thy fathers giveth thee to possess it, all the days that ye live upon the earth.

²Ye shall utterly destroy all the places, wherein the nations which ye shall possess served their gods, upon the high mountains, and upon the hills, and under every green tree:

³And ye shall overthrow their altars, and break their pillars, and burn their groves with fire; and ye shall hew down the graven images of their gods, and destroy the names of them out of that place.

⁴Ye shall not do so unto the LORD your God.

Israel had been in bondage for 400 years. They spent their days in bondage, longing for their deliverer to come and take them to their promised land. Day after day of hard labor. Night after night of tending wounds from the taskmaster's whip. They longed for, prayed for, and looked for the realization of the promise given to them by God:

Exodus 3:16-18

King James Version (KJV)

¹⁶Go, and gather the elders of Israel together, and say unto them, The LORD God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, of Isaac, and of Jacob, appeared unto me, saying, I have surely visited you, and seen that which is done to you in Egypt:

¹⁷And I have said, I will bring you up out of the affliction of Egypt unto the land of the Canaanites, and the Hittites, and the Amorites, and the Perizzites, and the Hivites, and the Jebusites, unto a land flowing with milk and honey.

This promise gave them hope! It kept them alive and willing to endure the troubles they faced every day. God sends Moses, he delivers them, and they begin the march to the promised land. They go through battles, famine, lack of water, lack of faith, daily drudgery. Finally, as they begin to prepare to enter into the "land flowing with milk and honey", God gives them a stern warning.

I'm about to do what I said I would do, BUT when I give you your promised lands, there are some things I expect from you.

1)Realize that your promised land is not without difficulty. There will be enemies who will try and destroy you. You will have to fight to keep what you've been given.

2) Do not intermingle with their culture and especially their religions. In fact, you are to go in and clean house. You are to take MY culture to this new land. You are to destroy the sacrificial places that they have set up to their false gods. Do NOT believe the lie that all religions lead to the same place. I am your God and you are NOT to bow to and worship their gods. Burn down the groves where they have performed rituals to the fertility goddess. Tear down the high places where they sacrificed to the sun. Take over the land and follow me, changing the land for my glory.

How many of us have lived in misery for years, barely hanging on to the promises that God has spoken to us. We endure the trials and hardships, all the while aching for the day of deliverance to come. We are tempted to give up and walk away, but we know we can't- that way leads to death.

Finally, God tells us, "I'm about to deliver you." We shout for joy and begin to pack, but do we hear the rest of what he is saying? Listen, dear friend. For if we stop with the message of deliverance, then we will not be prepared for what we face when he does.

Yes, we all have a place of service. We are called to serve God and each other in whatever capacity he chooses and wherever he tells us to go. It may be across the street, across the state, or across the world, but he has a plan for what he wishes to accomplish in our lives.

When that day comes, it would behoove us to listen to the rest of the story.

1) Know that our place of service, our promised land, is fraught with danger. Our enemies will be there trying to destroy us. We are to go in, take charge, and defeat them in the name of Jesus.

2) Know that we cannot accept the lie that all roads lead to heaven. We cannot worship with them in their false religions. We are NOT to bow to their ways of doing things. We are to go in the power of his might, and through HIS word, tear down the false religious systems and let God be God! We are to take over our promised land and follow HIM- allowing him to change things there for HIS glory.

Whatever little things that have been hindering our walk with God that are in our lives, need to be dealt with. We cannot hold to the world and to God and expect to win the battles ahead. We must allow God to show us our hearts and to deal with the wrong things we are shown there. If we do, God will do great things for us and through us. If we do not, we will fall.

Israel did not follow God's instructions. Even though they received their promise, they could not keep it, because they compromised and fell.

When God gives us our promised land, we will do the same thing they did? Or, will we pray, fast, stand, and fight the way God tells us to? It's up to us. He has given us clear instructions, will we obey?

What about the Epistles? Are they for everyone?

2011-11-13T10:41:00.001-05:00

Romans 1

"¹Paul, a servant of Jesus Christ, called to be an apostle, separated unto the gospel of God,

²(Which he had promised afore by his prophets in the holy scriptures,)

³Concerning his Son Jesus Christ our Lord, which was made of the seed of David according to the flesh;

⁴And declared to be the Son of God with power, according to the spirit of holiness, by the resurrection from the dead:

⁵By whom we have received grace and apostleship, for obedience to the faith among all nations, for his name:

⁶Among whom are ye also the called of Jesus Christ:"

1 Corinthians 1

^1"Paul called to be an apostle of Jesus Christ through the will of God, and Sosthenes our brother,

²Unto the church of God which is at Corinth, to them that are sanctified in Christ Jesus, called to be saints, with all that in every place call upon the name of Jesus Christ our Lord, both their's and our's:"

2 Corinthians 1

^1"Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ by the will of God, and Timothy our brother, unto the church of God which is at Corinth, with all the saints which are in all Achaia:"

Galatians 1

^1"Paul, an apostle, (not of men, neither by man, but by Jesus Christ, and God the Father, who raised him from the dead;)

²And all the brethren which are with me, unto the churches of Galatia:"

Ephesians 1

^1"Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ by the will of God, to the saints which are at Ephesus, and to the faithful in Christ Jesus:"

Philippians 1

¹Paul and Timotheus, the servants of Jesus Christ, to all the saints in Christ Jesus which are at Philippi, with the bishops and deacons:

Colossians 1

¹Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ by the will of God, and Timotheus our brother,

²To the saints and faithful brethren in Christ which are at Colosse: Grace be unto you, and peace, from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

1 Thessalonians 1

¹Paul, and Silvanus, and Timotheus, unto the church of the Thessalonians which is in God the Father and in the Lord Jesus Christ: Grace be unto you, and peace, from God our Father, and the Lord Jesus Christ.

2 Thessalonians 1

¹Paul, and Silvanus, and Timotheus, unto the church of the Thessalonians in God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ:

1 Timothy 1

¹Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ by the commandment of God our Saviour, and Lord Jesus Christ, which is our hope;

²Unto Timothy, my own son in the faith: Grace, mercy, and peace, from God our Father and Jesus Christ our Lord.

2 Timothy 1

¹Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ by the will of God, according to the promise of life which is in Christ Jesus,

²To Timothy, my dearly beloved son: Grace, mercy, and peace, from God the Father and Christ Jesus our Lord.

Titus 1

¹Paul, a servant of God, and an apostle of Jesus Christ, according to the faith of God's elect, and the acknowledging of the truth which is after godliness;

²In hope of eternal life, which God, that cannot lie, promised before the world began;

³But hath in due times manifested his word through preaching, which is committed unto me according to the commandment of God our Saviour;

⁴To Titus, mine own son after the common faith: Grace, mercy, and peace, from God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ our Saviour.

Philemon 1:1
Paul, a prisoner of Jesus Christ, and Timothy our brother, unto Philemon our dearly beloved, and fellowlabourer,

Hebrews 2

¹Therefore we ought to give the more earnest heed to the things which we have heard, lest at any time we should let them slip.

²For if the word spoken by angels was stedfast, and every transgression and disobedience received a just recompence of reward;

³How shall we escape, if we neglect so great salvation; which at the first began to be spoken by the Lord, and was confirmed unto us by them that heard him;

⁴God also bearing them witness, both with signs and wonders, and with divers miracles, and gifts of the Holy Ghost, according to his own will?

James 1

¹James, a servant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ, to the twelve tribes which are scattered abroad, greeting.

1 Peter 1

¹Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ, to the strangers scattered throughout Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia,

²Elect according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, through sanctification of the Spirit, unto obedience and sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ: Grace unto you, and peace, be multiplied.

2 Peter 1

¹Simon Peter, a servant and an apostle of Jesus Christ, to them that have obtained like precious faith with us through the righteousness of God and our Saviour Jesus Christ:

1 John 2

¹My little children, these things write I unto you, that ye sin not. And if any man sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous:

2 John 1

¹The elder unto the elect lady and her children, whom I love in the truth; and not I only, but also all they that have known the truth;

3 John 1

¹The elder unto the wellbeloved Gaius, whom I love in the truth.

²Beloved, I wish above all things that thou mayest prosper and be in health, even as thy soul prospereth.

³For I rejoiced greatly, when the brethren came and testified of the truth that is in thee, even as thou walkest in the truth.

⁴I have no greater joy than to hear that my children walk in truth.

Jude 1:1
Jude, the servant of Jesus Christ, and brother of James, to them that are sanctified by God the Father, and preserved in Jesus Christ, and called:

2 Timothy 2:15

King James Version (KJV)

¹⁵Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth

I realize that this is a whole lot of scripture- much more scripture than I usually use in a typical post. To some this will seem like overkill. However, sometimes, in order to understand a truth of the word of God, this is necessary.

There are many groups out there that espouse many different doctrines. They all point to scripture and on the surface, from a certain point of view, they all seem to make some logical sense. Yet, they cannot all be correct. Scripture commands us to study the word of God and to RIGHTLY DIVIDE (correctly understand) it.

There are many different beliefs on how to be "saved", or "born again". Everyone points to a pet scripture to try and prove their belief. One of the more popular ones is to use these verses:

Romans 10:9-10

King James Version (KJV)

⁹That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved.

¹⁰For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.

Ephesians 2: ⁸For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God:

⁹Not of works, lest any man should boast.

1 John 1: ⁹If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

They say, from this- and adding John 3:16 to it- that we are saved by simple belief in the finished work of Jesus on the cross and all we have to do to access this is to believe and repent.

Sounds good on the surface! Yet, in order to correctly understand a scripture, we must first understand the context of the verse. What is the conversation about? Who is the verse written to? This second question is the sincere point of this blog post.

Who was Romans 10 written to? Sinners? Or saints? Unregenerate people who have never known the saving Grace of God? Or people who have already become God's children?

Answer:Romans 1: ⁵By whom we have received grace and apostleship, for obedience to the faith among all nations, for his name:

⁶Among whom are ye also the called of Jesus Christ:"

So Romans 10 was written to people who have already been saved! The same can be said about 1 John 1:9. Who was this Epistle written to?

1 John 2: "¹My little children..." What does John mean by this? His fleshly children or spiritual children?

John 1

¹The elder unto the elect lady and her children, whom I love in the truth; and not I only, but also all they that have known the truth;

3 John 1

¹The elder unto the wellbeloved Gaius, whom I love in the truth.

²Beloved, I wish above all things that thou mayest prosper and be in health, even as thy soul prospereth.

³For I rejoiced greatly, when the brethren came and testified of the truth that is in thee, even as thou walkest in the truth.

⁴I have no greater joy than to hear that my children walk in truth.

It is evident from these scriptures that John called his spiritual converts his "children". He's not alone in this. Paul did the same thing in 1 and 2 Timothy 1 and Titus 1, calling Timothy and Titus his sons in the Gospel.

What about Ephesians? Who was this Epistle written to?

Ephesians 1

^1"Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ by the will of God, to the saints which are at Ephesus, and to the faithful in Christ Jesus:"

So, again, this letter is written to people who are already saved. Indeed, all the letters (Epistles), from Romans through Jude are written to already saved people.

So does it follow that the doctrine of the majority of today's "Christian churches" is true? No.

Does the Bible give any examples of teaching salvation to unsaved people? Yes. What does it say there that we must do to be saved?

^{John 3:1}There was a man of the Pharisees, named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews:

²The same came to Jesus by night, and said unto him, Rabbi, we know that thou art a teacher come from God: for no man can do these miracles that thou doest, except God be with him.

³Jesus answered and said unto him, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.

⁴Nicodemus saith unto him, How can a man be born when he is old? can he enter the second time into his mother's womb, and be born?

⁵Jesus answered, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God.

⁶That which is born of the flesh is flesh; and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit.

⁷Marvel not that I said unto thee, Ye must be born again.

⁸The wind bloweth where it listeth, and thou hearest the sound thereof, but canst not tell whence it cometh, and whither it goeth: so is every one that is born of the Spirit.

⁹Nicodemus answered and said unto him, How can these things be?

¹⁰Jesus answered and said unto him, Art thou a master of Israel, and knowest not these things?

¹¹Verily, verily, I say unto thee, We speak that we do know, and testify that we have seen; and ye receive not our witness.

¹²If I have told you earthly things, and ye believe not, how shall ye believe, if I tell you of heavenly things?

¹³And no man hath ascended up to heaven, but he that came down from heaven, even the Son of man which is in heaven.

¹⁴And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of man be lifted up:

¹⁵That whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have eternal life.

¹⁶For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.

¹⁷For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved.

¹⁸He that believeth on him is not condemned: but he that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God.

¹⁹And this is the condemnation, that light is come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil.

Here Jesus explains that we must a) believe (verse 16), b) be born of water and of spirit" (verse 5).

Most groups whole heartedly accept verse 16, but either ignore or try and explain away verses 3-5. Rather than try and argue here, lets look at how this teaching translated into what the Apostles taught to unsaved folks.

Acts 2: ³⁷Now when they heard this, they were pricked in their heart, and said unto Peter and to the rest of the apostles, Men and brethren, what shall we do?

The day of Pentecost comes and the "church" is born (Acts 2:1-4). People gather and Peter preaches the first sermon of the church's history. The power and truth of his words is so convicting that his hearers become convicted of their own sins. They immediately ask, in essence, "How do I rid myself of this sin".

It's a valid question. It's not very hard, if a soul is honest, to admit that we are sinners in the eyes of God. So what do we do with that knowledge? Peter gives us the answer.

Acts 2: ³⁸Then Peter said unto them, Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost.

This answer agrees with everything Jesus taught in John 3. Jesus said we must believe. A person will not repent of their sins unless they first believe God exists and that they are indeed a sinner in need of a savior.

Jesus said we must be "born of water". Peter said we must be "baptized in Jesus name for the remission of sins". Paul says in Romans 6:4 that we are "buried with him (Jesus) in baptism". Peter says in his Epistles that we are saved by water in baptism, just as Noah and his family were saved by the waters in the flood.

Jesus said we must be "born of the spirit". Peter said we would "receive the gift of the Holy Ghost". Paul said in Romans that if we don't have the spirit then we are "none of his".

Read Acts 19:1-7 and Acts 8 and 10. The same plan of salvation is taught here as Peter taught on the day of Pentecost in Acts 2.

The Epistles are great scripture, but they are all, as you can see by the scripture references above, written to already saved people- explaining how to stay saved, not how to get saved.

To get saved, do what Jesus, Peter, and Paul all taught:

Acts 2: ³⁸Then Peter said unto them, Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost.

THE CONSEQUENCES OF REBELLION!

2011-11-06T10:05:00.001-05:00

1 Samuel 15:22-24

King James Version (KJV)

^22"And Samuel said, Hath the LORD as great delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices, as in obeying the voice of the LORD? Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice, and to hearken than the fat of rams.

²³For rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft, and stubbornness is as iniquity and idolatry. Because thou hast rejected the word of the LORD, he hath also rejected thee from being king.

²⁴And Saul said unto Samuel, I have sinned: for I have transgressed the commandment of the LORD, and thy words: because I feared the people, and obeyed their voice."

Exodus 22:18
Thou shalt not suffer a witch to live.

We've just come through another Halloween season. Whether you take part or not is not what we are here to discuss today. What is an irrefutable fact, however, is that- all in all- it is a very demonic and evil holiday. It is represented by monsters and ghouls, vampires and werewolves, and witches.

Most of us today- those who call ourselves Christians- wouldn't even think of getting involved in witchcraft. We understand that it is evil, demonic, and an abomination in the eyes of God.

There are many forms of witchcraft. From Satanism to Wicca there are terrible false religions based upon it. There's astrology (Chinese or otherwise, it doesn't matter), Ouija boards (presented as a game), tarot cards, TV shows, Movies (Harry Potter is a great example of the glorification of witchcraft), etc.

We are told that there is both good and bad witchcraft. This is a lie. God is very clear on his opinion of witchcraft in all forms. "Thou shalt not suffer a witch to live." Witchcraft, in the eyes of God, is a sin worthy of the death penalty- period! No such thing as a good witch!

I know. I can hear you saying, "But we live under Grace now. God doesn't enforce that any longer." My response to you is "Yes and No."

Yes, we live under Grace. We are all given ample time to get things right between us and God before we have to meet him on judgement day.

No, your wrong about God not enforcing the penalty. While it is true that we are not to kill witches any longer, it doesn't change God's view of it. It also doesn't mean God has forgotten his own penalty. The price will be paid. It's a delayed penalty. Delayed, in case the wrong doer should decide to be born again and have this and other sins washed under his blood. But, for those who insist on continuing, hell will be very hot.

However, there is another form of witchcraft today that is alive and well. It is more dangerous than open witchcraft because it is so smooth that most don't notice it. Though most people don't go around casting spells, there are many that fall into this sin because it seems so natural to us.

We live in the "land of the free". We have been taught that we can do anything we doggone well please. We scoff at constrictive laws that limit what we can do. We are free to chose how we will live and what we will do. Unfortunately, our freedom- as blessed as we are- has given birth to a much more dangerous sin than divination or necromancy. It's called REBELLION.

Rebellion, in the eyes of God is a very serious thing, indeed. So much so that he tells us that there is no difference between witchcraft and rebellion. A witch, in the law, is to be stoned. But what about a rebel?

Being from the south, the term rebel is a term of endearment to us. We revel in our rebellion. We're proud of it. Yet, how does God see rebellion against him?

The first sin was actually not in the Garden of Eden. The first sin was done by an Archangel named Lucifer.

Isaiah 14:^12"How art thou fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning! how art thou cut down to the ground, which didst weaken the nations!

¹³For thou hast said in thine heart, I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God: I will sit also upon the mount of the congregation, in the sides of the north:

¹⁴I will ascend above the heights of the clouds; I will be like the most High".

The first sin was rebellion! What was the result?

Ezekiel 28:^13"Thou hast been in Eden the garden of God; every precious stone was thy covering, the sardius, topaz, and the diamond, the beryl, the onyx, and the jasper, the sapphire, the emerald, and the carbuncle, and gold: the workmanship of thy tabrets and of thy pipes was prepared in thee in the day that thou wast created.

¹⁴Thou art the anointed cherub that covereth; and I have set thee so: thou wast upon the holy mountain of God; thou hast walked up and down in the midst of the stones of fire (the stars).

¹⁵Thou wast perfect in thy ways from the day that thou wast created, till iniquity was found in thee.

¹⁶By the multitude of thy merchandise they have filled the midst of thee with violence, and thou hast sinned: therefore I will cast thee as profane out of the mountain of God: and I will destroy thee, O covering cherub, from the midst of the stones of fire.

¹⁷Thine heart was lifted up because of thy beauty, thou hast corrupted thy wisdom by reason of thy brightness: I will cast thee to the ground, I will lay thee before kings, that they may behold thee.

¹⁸Thou hast defiled thy sanctuaries by the multitude of thine iniquities, by the iniquity of thy traffick; therefore will I bring forth a fire from the midst of thee, it shall devour thee, and I will bring thee to ashes upon the earth in the sight of all them that behold thee".

He lost out with God and lost his position. HE became the center of the universe in his own mind. HE looked at his own talents, beauty, and abilities and decided that he had the right to do what he wanted. Who cares what God thinks? He's an old fuddy-duddy anyway! He just doesn't want me to have fun! I deserve to be exalted- not him! These others should lift ME up and worship me!

One thought at a time. One little bit of pride on top of another led to conceit. This conceit led to rebellion. His rebellion led to he and 1/3rd of the Angels that followed him ending up cast out on their ears. They also have a future date with a lake of fire that will torment them forever. All because of rebellion!

In humans, rebellion brings sin, as well as is sin. It leads to drug addiction, sexual sin, alcoholism, divorces, illegitimate children, self-centeredness, murder, abortion, and stealing. It destroys relationships, breaks up homes, and brings chaos in society. Worse, our attitude towards others ("Who do they think they are? They can't tell me what to do!") translates into our attitude towards God ("Who does he think he is? He can't tell me what to do!")

In our honest moments, we realize that we truly can't make it on our own. When we're truthful, we realize that the best we can do is make a mess of things. When we reach that point of honesty, we are left with two choices.

1) We can dive off into entertainment, drugs, alcohol, and illicit sex. This begins a seemingly endless cycle. We do what makes us temporarily feel good. Then, when we come down off that "high", the sin makes us feel even worse about ourselves. We see ourselves for the wretch that we are. Then, we dive off into more of the same (or worse), in a vain effort to try and make ourselves feel better about ourselves.

We truly will do anything to try and cover our own sins. But, in the end, it doesn't work. If a person stays on this road, they will wind up dead. All they will have to leave behind as a legacy is a wasted life and a trail of tears- with no good eternal future to look forward to.

2) We can turn to God in honest repentance! We can go where the masses refuse to go. We can put down our pride. Stop our rebellion. And throw ourselves on the mercy of the judge! When we do, we will find something amazing happens!

MERCY! A new lease on life! A new chance! We can obediently follow Acts 2:38 and be born again! ALL of our past sins washed in his blood! All of our weaknesses given to him. Our future will then be in the hands of the master, the creator, the author and finisher of our faith!

He will take away the addictions. He will transform our lives into something beautiful. He will make us into a useful member of the kingdom of God.

But, the choice is ours. What do we do with it? Do we submit to him and stay submitted to him, and be on our way to eternity with him? Or, do we refuse him and keep on destroying our lives? Does the rebellion end in Grace? Or does the rebellion end in hell? One way or the other the rebellion will end. Which way will yours?

Waiting time is not wasted time!

2011-10-30T11:12:00.000-04:00

"O Lord my God, in thee do I put my trust: save me from all them that persecute me, and deliver me:" -Psalms 7:1

"But they that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as Eagles; they shall run and not be weary; and they shall walk and not faint." -Isaiah 40:31

Living for God is sometimes painted as being glorious. We hear the testimonies of others and think, "If I can just get there, I'll be alright!" We thrill with the stories of deliverance, shout and dance at the stories of triumph, and rejoice at the stories of the awesome power of God. We read the scriptures (and we hear the testimonies) of what we like to call "triumphant faith"!

Sometimes, however, when the shouts have died away and we are alone and apart from the glorying masses, there is a whisper. A small voice inside of us that keeps asking things like, "When is my turn?", "When does my deliverance come?", and "How long am I to be shackled in this situation before God will set me free and let my life be a testimony to others?"

This blog is for you, the nameless face in the middle of the masses that longs to be set free. It's to the one who thrills to hear the testimonies, but desires to be one yourself. It's to the hurting soul on the verge of giving up and giving in to the voices that scream at you that your beliefs and your God is a lie. Let us examine some things today and take a close and hard biblical look at some real questions and their real answers.

First, lets explode a myth:

"The joy of the Lord is my strength", the scripture says. It is NOT the scripture that is mythical, but rather our modern understanding of it. We hear it said, almost constantly, that God's people have got to hang on to their joy. We have to guard our thoughts and hearts so we don't "lose our joy". We are warned not to let Satan "steal your joy".

The problem with all this is that we are subtly being told that OUR joy is one and the same as GOD'S joy. We are led to believe that if we don't FEEL joyful all the time that somehow we aren't right with God. We are told we are strength-less because we have allowed OUR joy to subside.

Look at Job, my friend. It's a hard book to read, and it's a much ignored book. Why? Because it paints a picture of God and his relationship with us that we don't like. What do you mean God ALLOWED Satan to attack Job? God is LOVE. He won't allow his children to suffer, the "faith preachers" scream at us. We are told that when we are suffering that the problem is US- all we need do is repent of our bad attitude. Further, if we will just give enough money, make the right sacrifice, or hold to our faith, then God will magically make it all go away- quickly.

Now take a hard look at Job. He lost his children, his livelihood, the respect of his peers, his standing in the community,his health, and even the respect of his wife. Why? Because God made a wager with Satan! OK, Satan. You think you're so tough. Attack Job, but only as far as I allow. Job won't turn. He'll remain faithful to me through it all. Do you really think that Job FELT Joy at all of his troubles? It all was terrible for him, but it happened- and God allowed it. Why? Because God knows the hearts of his people. He knows our strengths and weaknesses. He knows how far we can be pushed without completely falling apart and leaving him. God allowed this because he knew just how strong Job was!

Now, look at the story again. Are there any scriptures that say that Job said, "Thank you Lord for taking all this from me?" No. Are there any that say, "And Job gave (x) amount of money to the priests and God caused it all to go away?" No. Are there any that say,"And Job shouted a sacrifice of praise and danced before the Lord after his wife left him?" No. Job does say, "The Lord giveth and the Lord taketh away- blessed be the name of the Lord." But, he says it with gritted teeth. Desperately, he holds onto his integrity (his faith in God).

Look at it again. Does Job go through all this without complaint? No. He spends chapter after chapter being attacked by his "friends". Does this sound familiar to anyone? How many times have trials come our way and we find our "friends"- our "brothers and sisters in the Lord" attacking us, rather than praying for and supporting us through them? If you're so righteous, "Why are you poor?", "Why are you sick", "Why is God allowing all this in your life, if he's not trying to get you to repent?"

He spends chapter after chapter defending himself from the "fruit inspector" friends he has. "I haven't walked away from God." "I do make the sacrifices he requires." "I do pray and fast." "I do read his word and reflect on the lessons found there." "I have given to the needy." "I have given to the work of God." He finally says, "If I knew where God was, physically, I'd go there and ask him myself why this stuff is going on in my life, but I've prayed and looked and it's not because of my own actions!" Yes, that's Mike's paraphrase, but that's the essence of what he says.

Yet, in every new test and trial, the scriptures say that God tells Satan "You tried and LOOK at my servant Job!" Can you hear the JOY in God's voice as he jabs his enemy with Job's continued stand for God? Can you feel the elation of a Father who's SO VERY PROUD of his son for a job well done?

Our modern society loves the quick fix approach to life. We want everything, yesterday, and the faster the better. Lord, I'll suffer for a few minutes, but then I want my cake and eat it, too! We, as parents try to show our kids we love them by the THINGS we can give them. We, as God's children, mistakenly equate God's love toward us with the same attitude. What has God given me lately to prove that he loves me? We are SOOOOO wrong!

God is in this for the long haul! His gifts are meant to be eternal gifts. His care for us LONG TERM!

If I, as a parent, don't give my child a new car, does that mean I don't love them? No. But, if I don't give them hugs and words of endearment, it does. If I don't give them those new clothes they want, do I not love them anymore? No, I still love them. But, if I don't teach them godly life lessons that will empower their faith in God and future walk with God, then I don't love them like I say I do.

God gives us precious promises. But, it's in the waiting for those things to happen in our lives that he teaches us the godly lessons we need to know. God says I will not leave you, nor forsake you. But, he allows attacks that makes us FEEL like he has in order for our faith to be built when we discover that he was carrying us through those hard times. He allows hard times, so that in the future hard times, we will remember how proud and joyful our Father was of us when we made it through the last time and be that much more determined to stand for him THIS time.

Consider some facts that may help us:

1) Yes, Job suffered. But, God restored twice what he lost when he held on to God in spite of his circumstances. Do you believe that Job would say that his ending was worth the hard times? Yes.

2) Noah heard from God to build an Ark. He told people why and faithfully built it for 100 years- never hearing another word from God during the building of it. How many times did he doubt? How much ridicule from his peers and families heap upon him? How many times did even his wife and sons question him? How many problems did he have to overcome in building the boat? Nothing like this boat had ever been built before- and wouldn't even be close to it until the 1900's (some 5000 plus years later- talk about being ahead of your time).

He had to make blueprints, find and acquire the needed supplies, find and make or acquire the tools needed to accomplish it, dig for the pitch, cut down and drag trees, etc. He had to learn about how to care for the animals- all the known animals of the world (and how many others showed up that he'd never seen before?). Yet, he only heard from God once and all this he did from that one conversation. YET, he stood strong and for his reward, he was able to see his family and all the animals in the world saved from God's wrath. Do you think Noah would tell you it was worth the difficulties? Yes.

3) Abraham is told by God that he will have a son in his old age, if he will just go and do what God tells him to do. He's 75 when he receives the promise. In between, 2 kings try to take his wife, his nephew tries to hinder his family business, and he has to fight several wars. He and Sarah even give into the culture of the day and try to force God's hand in giving them an heir- a decision we are all still dealing with the negative effects of even today. Yet, through it all, and in spite of it all, God is faithful to him and gives him a son- 25 years later!

Why so long? Couldn't God have told him and brought it about a year later? Yes. But, Abraham had to learn some things. He had to go through the battles to learn that God is his strength. He had to make the mistakes to learn that God would forgive and work in spite of our sinful efforts to manipulate the circumstances. He had to father Ishmael to learn that God could use him to father Isaac in his even older age. He had to accept the lesser pastures, to know that God would give him the greater. He had to almost lose his wife- twice, to know that God will protect his marriage and do what he said.

These experiences built the faith in God that was needed in order for him to be able to pass the ultimate sacrifice- the God ordered execution of Isaac- his promised offspring and the ultimate goal of Abraham's life. If he had not been through all that he went through, he could not have submitted to God at the end. And God his Father would not have felt the JOY he had when his son passed the test!

The JOY of our Father comes through the trials we endure and don't walk away. The JOY of the Lord comes through the lessons we've learned that allow us to stand through and pass the tests.

It's in the waiting that the lessons are learned. It's in the waiting that our strength is built. It's in the waiting where our character is built to be able to withstand the future. It's in the waiting that our faith and relationship with God grows and our Father is given JOY.

So, let us take heart and endure the testing of our faith. Let us WITH PATIENCE run the race that is set before us. Knowing that one day, the TESTING of our faith will bring forth GOOD fruit and bring forth the true fulfillment of "The Joy of the Lord is my strength!" One day, dear em-battered saint of God, your trials will be told as a testimony to encourage others- who feel exactly the way you do right now.

Local Church government: How does scripture tell us to organize it?

2011-10-23T11:37:00.001-04:00

This blog is going to be a little different for me. First, it is a huge step out of the norm for me. I was raised in, and later born again in, a church system that had a certain structure to it. You had Sunday School teachers, a Sunday School superintendent, a Choir/music director, a Deacon board (that in many cases, unbiblically, controlled the church), maybe an outreach director and team, a youth leader/pastor, and other departments with other appointed leaders over them, etc. Sitting on top of all of this structure was "THE pastor", who sometimes had an assistant pastor.

Does God work in all of this? Yes! I, and many like me, were born again within this structure- not because the structure was necessary, or even necessarily correct, but because the doctrine was right and God honors his word and responds to the prayers and praise of his people. Can God continue to work in this structure? Yes, he can.

Some say that this single pastor system is the biblical structure and that anything else is wrong. Others say that our present system is the "doctrine of the Nicolaitanes" spoken of by Jesus in Rev. 2:6 as being a doctrine that he hates. Is this so? I'm not sure on either point.

The word, Nicolaitanes, comes from the Greek word, "Nikolaites", and means, "adherent of Nicolaus", or someone or group that followed his teachings. What did he teach? I'm not sure, as he is not mentioned again in scripture. The word itself comes from another Greek word, "Nikolaos", which means, "victorious over the people". This word comes from two other words:

1) Nikos, which means, "conquest or victory".

2) Laos, which means, "a people". Interestingly, this word is not referring to a persons OWN people, but people in general.

The proponents of the "single pastor system is the doctrine of the Nicolaitanes" theory say that these definitions (which seem to be our only Biblical clue) mean that the one pastor "in charge" of the local assembly is what Jesus was referring to in Revelations. Is this true? Possibly. I'm not convinced as of yet.

What I'm about to say, from here, may need a little background.

I was raised trinitarian. I was raised to believe that all we need to do to be saved is to believe in our hearts, repent, and confess with our mouths that Jesus was Lord. This was done, for the most part in repentant prayer. Don't get me wrong, repentance toward God is a wonderful thing wherever a person may be.

Yet, through much searching and much prayer later in life, I discovered that some of the theology of how I was raised was wrong.

There is no such thing as a trinity taught anywhere in God's word. There is, in fact only one God, who made a son (the man Christ Jesus,) indwelt that son from in the womb, lived among us, taught us, performed miracles, died for us, resurrected himself, and sent the indwelt and now glorified body to the throne where he now sits as king of kings and Lord of lords! I could take a very Long time explaining this concept, but that's not the purpose of this blog post. If interested, 1 Timothy 3:16 is a great place to start.

I found out that John 3: 16 is NOT the plan of salvation- and even if it were, it says SHOULD be saved, not SHALL be saved. That's a HUGE difference! Shall is a guarantee. It's a done deal- end of story. SHOULD is NOT a done deal. There's more to the story yet- and there is. Our journey to God begins with faith and belief, but there's more yet to the story.

2 Thessalonians 1: 8 says that when Jesus returns, he will take vengeance on those who have "OBEY(ED) NOT the Gospel". I once thought that all we had to do was believe the Gospel. When I asked those leaders I grew up under what the gospel is they all said, "the good news". In their defense, that IS what the word Gospel means in the Greek. But that does not tell me, and millions like me what that Good news is, specifically. What does the Bible mean when the word "gospel" is written there on the page? What is the good news?

According to 1 Corinthians 15:1-4 the Gospel is the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus. This is specific. This is real information that a person can sink their teeth into. But, it begs the question, in light of 1 Thessalonians, How do we obey the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus? Are we to do, as I've heard of some in South America do, and have ourselves literally crucified?

NO. The next step after belief is repentance. In repentance, we turn from our sins and turn to God. It is spiritually a DYING to ourselves and our old ways of life.

How are we buried then? We are "BURIED WITH HIM", Romans 6:3-4 boldly declares, when we are baptized in water in Jesus name. After all, how can we be buried with HIM if HIS name is not used when we are lowered into that water? Also, this is the only way the Apostles EVER baptized in scripture. Check it out for yourselves. Read Acts- Revelations. There's not one baptism performed or referred to that was NOT done in Jesus name. Acts 4:12 says that his is the only name given among men, WHEREBY we must be saved. Must be pretty important, you think?

The biblical plan of salvation is simply this: "Repent, and be baptized EVERY one of you in the NAME of Jesus Christ FOR (in order to, not because of) the remission of sins, and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost." (Acts 2:38) It really is that simple and straight forward.

Having been raised in a religious doctrine that some of which (not all of which) turned out to be false has a unique effect on a person. I'm no longer willing to simply accept what a preacher says is the word of God. I question almost everything. I don't question who God is. I don't question the plan of salvation. I've got a good handle on those things, now. But, if I were taught those things wrongly, what else was I taught wrong?

Without getting into a lot of detail here, again not the reason for this particular post, but:

Do we run our homes the right way? Read Titus 2.

Is FORCED or legislated tithing (as apposed to freewill offerings) really God's plan in the NT church? Read Hebrews 7 and Matthew 23:23

The more immediate one for me recently is this one, "How exactly is the five fold ministry, specifically the pastoral side of the house, played out in the scriptures?"

Before I get into this too deeply, I want my brethren in the five fold ministry to know and understand that this is not a personal attack. This is also not a man trying to tear down the church. I am doing this as one who feels a pastoral calling on his life and, as such, am trying to truly understand, biblically, what it is I am really called into. Part of this is understanding the biblical structure of the office itself. I do not now, nor will I ever, claim to know everything. Any comments, advice, help, etc that any of you wish to give will be welcomed and prayed about and studied.

I need to know this! I pastored once for 6 months and feel that I failed miserably! I always felt handicapped by not having the help of another preacher. This also has led, I admit, into this study. Before I ever "pastor" again, I wish to truly understand how the Apostles did it in scripture. If they did things a certain way, and had great success (which they did), then I believe it behooves us to follow their example. Hence, this study.

I'm still praying and studying on this one. I don't claim to know it all, but here are a few things I've found interesting along the way, so far. I do not have a "fully developed theology" on this one. These are simply a collection of facts. Anyone who cares to chime in, please do! I have much to learn.

1) The word pastor only appears ONCE in the entire New Testament. It means, in the Greek, "a shepherd". Yet, in the verse itself, Ephesians 4:11, it is plural ("pastors"). Is this because the verses here are speaking of the local structures themselves, or because the reference is to the body of Christ as a whole, which would require many more than one. Or could it be, BOTH? I don't know yet.

1a) One other thought: Why do we put so much emphasis on a word/title that is only mentioned once in the whole of the N.T.? It is used 8 times in the O.T. All of them in Jeremiah (2:8, 3:15, 10:21, 12:10, 22:22, 23:1-2). The OT word for pastor is "ra'ah" and it means, "to tend a flock, i.e. pasture it, intransitive to graze, (literally or figuratively), generally, to rule, by extension to associate with (as a friend)." So, by the word meaning itself, it means that the pastor's job is to TEND the flock of God's people (care for them- mend their wounds, protect them from predators, provide them with food and water, lead them, punish them for their own good when necessary, provide them safe pasture and safe housing to protect them from the elements, etc). We are also to give them a place to feed and graze.

Further, while positionally we are over them, we are also to be their FRIEND. This is not the traditional teaching. Many preachers are taught that they are never to become too friendly with the flock- that the flock will lose respect for them if they do. This is not biblical! We are to teach and practice the biblical pastoral authority. Yet, it is also biblical for us to be their friends. It's all about relationship! Jesus calls us HIS friend. Look at how he pastored the disciples. He got into the nitty gritty of their daily lives with them. He didn't stand aloof from a distance. They fell in love with him because of his love for them, not because of who he is! They followed him both because of who he is AND because of their relationship with him. We are to follow Jesus for the same reasons and we are to pastor in the same way he did.

In 7 of the 8 OT references the pastors are doing wrong. All of us should take the Lord's stern warning to heart:
" Woe be unto the pastors that destroy (to lose oneself, to wander away, to perish) and scatter [can we say divide and conquer] the sheep of my pasture! saith the Lord." - Jeremiah 23:1

And all of us should long to be a part of God's work:
"And I will give you pastors (again plural) according to mine heart, which shall feed you with knowledge and understanding." - Jeremiah 3:15

2) Jesus sent workers out in the Gospels. The disciples are given instructions for when they would go out to preach in Matthew 10. They are told to go into the cities they are sent to, preaching the kingdom of heaven is at hand, perform whatever miracles God uses them to perform, and not to worry about money, clothes, etc, because the "workman is worthy of his meat". In other words, God will take care of our needs through his people (doesn't say how here, though freewill giving is implied).

Question: I've heard of pastors who will not go pastor in an area because the income for their needs isn't there at the time. Is this right? I understand that we have families to care for, but is our modern system the way Jesus told us to go about doing these things? Also, note that Jesus was preparing the disciples to be sent out, but the scripture doesn't say that he actually did so at this time.

In Luke 10:1, Jesus sent out "the seventy" into the countryside ahead of him: two by two, he gives them the same instructions he gave the Apostles in Matthew 10. In Luke 10: 17, when the seventy return to him, they are exuberant at all the results God has given them in their ministries. Jesus doesn't downplay their excitement, but tells them to keep their focus on the prize: "their names written in the lamb's book of life."

2 Questions: 1) Did Jesus send them out by two's because these weren't the disciples, or because he was beginning to establish the order he would later use in "the church"? 2) How many preachers get glorified by the masses because of the miracles, when it is not to be the true focus of our ministries? Some, not all, have even gotten a little haughty because of "their anointing". We are to rejoice in our relationship with God, not the wonderful ministry he gives us. Our ministries should come as an outgrowth of our relationship with Jesus, who is our true focus.

3)At the healing of the lame man in Acts 3, there were two Apostles there, not just one. Meaning? Not sure at this point.

4)It was Peter AND John that were captured and dragged before the counsel in Acts 4. Were they the core of leadership in the early church in Jerusalem? Were they grabbed because they were a pastoral team? Not sure yet.

5)In Acts 5, ALL the Apostles were captured, released by God, and recaptured, dragged before the counsel, beaten and set free. Why? their ministry was making great headway in the local population and the counsel were afraid of the people. Many were healed, delivered, and saved under their ministry, yet they rejoiced in their being counted worthy to suffer for Jesus, rather than the miracles. No mention of a specific leader here.

6)In chapter 6, the church had grown so large that it was no longer feasable for the Apostles (who at this point seem to all be joint pastors?) to oversee and perform all the benevolence ministries of the church, so 7 deacons were chosen to oversee these ministries.

Note: There is no record in the scriptures of deacon boards running a church, with the pastor as a sort of hired hand working for the board. The deacons oversaw the church benevolence and worked under the authority of the church leadership. In fact, this is, as far as I can find, the only office in the church that is open to election by the people. Just some thoughts.

7)Philip (now an evangelist?) (chapter 8:4-13) went and preached in Samaria, but didn't establish a "church" there. He had great results and God performed great miracles, yet, the people were not completely born again. Then, when news of this got back to the Apostles, they sent Peter and John to go and finish the job that Phillip had begun. Why 2? Why not just one of them? Why not just Peter, the man who "had the keys". Are we beginning to see a pattern here? Verse 25 even said, THEY (John and Peter)... preached the Gospel in many villages of the Samaritans." Again, plural.

8) Philip is sent by God to the Ethiopian Eunuch, alone. Is it because his visit was Evangelistic, more so than Pastoral? Are Evangelists allowed to go it alone, but Elder's are not? I don't know? Still trying to gather facts.

9)Chapter 9- Paul's heavenly conversion. Ananias (an Elder? a congregate? an Evangelist? We don't know, we're not told) is sent alone to pray for him and baptize him. Why? Could be that the Apostles were afraid and didn't believe that God was telling them to do this. After all, if they followed the wrong voice on this, they could die.

10) Paul spent time with the disciples (verse 9:19), the meaning of which here is NOT the Apostles, but must be the believers in that area, after his conversion. Then he begins to preach in Damascus and blows peoples minds! Here Paul seems to be, like every new preacher, spreading his preaching wings and learning under the church leadership's authority.

11)In verse 9: 27, Barnabas takes Paul under his wings and leads him to the Apostles, where he tells of what Paul has done since his conversion. They then sent him home to Tarsus. Why? Don't know.

12) 9:32 Peter is going through Lydda and Sharon ?(verse 35), alone, and the Lord used him to heal a man with palsy. Is this a planned ministry? Doesn't seem to be. It seems to have been something he stumbled upon while traveling.

13) 9:36-43 Again, Peter is traveling alone, happens upon a dead woman who has been used mightily by God in meeting peoples needs. God raises her from the dead. Since he is out traveling, away from Jerusalem, runs into believers at this (and the previous place). Is this a trip planned for Peter to go and check on established works? If so, do these works have established Elders that lead them for Peter to check with? We're not told.

14) Chapter 10 Peter is sent for by Cornelius in answer to Cornelius' prayers and Angelic visitation. We know the story. But Peter definitely went by himself (as far as church leadership representation. He did have others with him, but-as far as we can tell- they were not preachers), at the behest of God. Question, did Peter establish a church? Or was Peter, like Philip, acting in the role of an Evangelist?

15) 11: 1-18 Peter is raked over the coals for daring to take the Gospel to the Gentiles. The leadership in Jerusalem call him on the carpet. Does this mean that the Apostles operated from a standpoint that there was not a single, or even a duo set of leaders that hold authority over the others?

16) 11:19-30 Stephen evangelizes alone to the Jews only in several cities. An unspecified number of men (more than 1) from Cyprus and Cyrene started a church among the Grecians in Antioch. Word gets back to Jerusalem and they send Barnabas to check things out, He arrives, checks on things, leaves to go get Paul, and brings him back to Antioch with him, where they lead the church for a year. Here the disciples (apparently a generic name for believers before this time) are first called Christians. What happened to to the men from Cyprus and Cyrene? Still 2 men led the local assembly (Paul and Barnabus), not 1.

17) 13: 1-3 Paul and Barnabas are sent out by God as a ministry team. 13: 4-52 They work as an evangelism team.

18) 14:1-7 THEY start a group of believers in Iconium, but are forced to leave under threat of their lives. Still working together (apparently, neither one above the other), they go to Lystra, and other cities of the region.

19) 14: 8-20 They preach TOGETHER, are mistaken as false gods, rebuke this and Paul is stoned to death. Yet, God raises him up and they go to Antioch again.

20) 14: 21-28 They go back to areas where they have had converts, confirm they are still in the faith (and, I assume help to build up that faith), they then ORDAIN ELDERS in EVERY CHURCH. Does this mean they leave only one Elder/pastor in each group? Or does it mean that they leave ELDERS (plural) in each church? It could be taken either way. They then return to Antioch, testify of God's revivals, and stay there with that group of believers for a long time. It doesn't say that they take over the local assembly. Apparantly, the Elders they had left here were doing just fine. No need for Paul and Barnabas to take over.

21) 15:1-2 Huge dissension breaks out in the Antioch church, as Jewish Christians try to tell the Gentiles they must follow the law to be saved (see also verses 5&24 for the rest of the argument being made by the Jewish Christians). This uproar is so great, Paul and Barnabus leave for Jerusalem to get an answer from the Apostles.

22) 15: 3-12 They arrive in Jerusalem. Both sides make their case before the assembled Apostles and Elders. Again, this is a gathering of all of the Apostles and Elders. This is not a "local assembly".

23) 15: 13-32 James, the brother of Jesus (who wrote the book of James), seems to take charge of the meeting. There is no record of a brief recess for the counsel to deliberate or pray. He just seems to stand under the unction of the Holy Ghost and begins to speak. There still seems to be no real "pecking order", other than some are Apostles and some are Elders. Yet, even in this, all opinions seem to carry equal weight. Though the Apostles are definitely the "church leadership", they don't seem to "throw their weight" around unless it is necessary to keep the peace among the people.

24) 15: 36-41 Paul and Barnabas split in a disagreement over whether to take John Mark with them on their next missionary Journey. They each chose another partner (Barnabus takes John Mark. Paul takes Silas.) and leave to different parts to further the kingdom. Again, they go out in twos. This is becoming a clear and definite pattern, I think?

25) 16: 4-5 They carried the decree of Jerusalem about not having to follow the laws of Moses as Christians with them. Was this because Jerusalem was the "headquarters of the church" and had that much authority over the rest of the church? Was it because of the spiritual weight carried with the Apostles words? If so, why designate that the decree was "ordained of the apostles AND elders"? It seems to me that the decree carried so much weight because it came from GOD. The Apostles and elders being his mouth pieces. But, Paul, Silas, and Timothy used this as part of the foundation to begin more churches.

26) 16: 6-40 The new ministry team (Paul, Silas, Timothy) establish a church in Phillippi through much turmoil. Does this somehow tie back to the words of Jesus Matthew 18:20
"For where two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them"?

27)17: 1-3 Paul preaches alone in the local Jewish synagogue that Jesus IS the Christ (Note: "Christ" is NOT-as some would say- Jesus' last name. It is a title that applies to Jesus that means "Messiah".). Now, did Paul actually go in alone and preach- as an evangelist would? did Silas and Timothy go in with him, as well? After all, Silas is mentioned as helping establish the converts in verse 4. Verse 2 states that Paul went in. So, I assume that he went in alone, leaving the rest of the team behind.

28) 17:4 Yet, when it came time to establish and shepherd these new converts, Silas enters back into the picture. Again, two Elders seem to co-pastor a new work.

29) 17: 10-12 Paul AND Silas establish another church in Berea. Again, together. Note: Though Paul seems to have become the principal speaker by now, yet, when it comes time for the converts to be pastored, Paul seems to work with and accept Silas as an equal, not a subordinate.

30) 17: 14 Paul, whose life was in danger, was sent away, but Silas and Timothy were left behind- apparently to guide the newly founded church in Berea.

31) 17: 15 Paul sends for Silas and Timothy to join him. Did they leave behind elders to continue the work, or did they leave "the brethren" to fend for themselves? We're not told here. One would assume that they would not have left if God had not raised up capable men within the fellowship who could continue the work of the Lord there.

32) 17: 16-34 Paul's famous dispute at Mars Hill. Interesting to me that he speaks about "the prince of peace" on a hill named after the Greek god of war! He was stirred in his spirit because of the surrounding ungodly culture. He went to proclaiming Jesus because of this. Several people became born again, as a result. They, apparently left Athens with Paul. No church was established there. Paul evidently acted as an evangelist here.

33) 18:1-4 Paul begins to evangelize in Corinth.

34) 18: 5 Silas and Timothy catch up with him. It is then that he feels PRESSED in the spirit to really get to the nitty gritty of Jesus to those Jews that he's been trying to evangelize. This is when the outcry truly happens. He's been teaching and preaching for weeks without incident. Yet, his ministry partners arrive and all of a sudden, there's chaos. What changed? Could it be that the anointing and unction of the Holy Ghost increases exponentially when "two or three are gathered" in ministry? Is this another sign that a local church would be much better served by an "Eldership team", as opposed to the modern single pastor system?

35) 18: 7-11 Paul (it doesn't say that any went with him) left dealing with the Jews, and apparently in the same city, took up in Justus' house and began to teach and preach to all who would listen. He had many converts, including Crispus, the "chief ruler" of the synagogue that butted up against Justus' house. He winds up staying there for another year and a half. Is this the first recorded incidence in scripture of a "single pastor" church? Possibly. We're not

told that he sent the new converts to Silas and Timothy's work to be pastored. In fact, it says that HE taught the word of God among them for a year and a half (verse 11).

Is this the evolving, so to speak, of the church into another system? Or, is it an exception to the rule? Don't know. All we can do is keep going on and see what the rest of scripture says.

36) 18:18-21 Paul, after tarrying there even longer, leaves Greece and sails to Syria- taking Priscilla and Aquilla with him. Were he and Aquilla going to be another team? Apparently not. He leaves them behind and goes to Ephesus- alone. He preaches, but he doesn't stay. His heart (spirit?) seemed to be guiding him back to Jerusalem.

We know from later scripture that God was guiding him back to Jerusalem and, eventually, to Rome. He would be beaten, imprisoned, set free, and later, beheaded for the Gospel. Was this the reason he began to work more as an evangelist and less as a Elder- having no preacher/partner in the Gospel for most of the rest of his ministry? Was the apparent "single pastorship" we just found, simply the beginning of God calling him out and preparing him for the rest of what he had to suffer for the Gospel?

18: 23 Paul, on his way back to Jerusalem, begins to make stops in areas where churches have already been established, preaching to them and strengthening them in the Lord. He seems to be becoming more and more evangelistic and less and less pastoral.

19: 1-20 He establishes, again, the plan of salvation (verses 1-7). He preaches to the Jews in the synagogue for 3 months. Then, he stays at a local Jewish school and debates about Jesus for the next 2 years. All of this seems to be more evangelistic and less pastoral.

19: 21-22 Paul sends two of his helpers to Macedonia for ministry. Again, two.

20:17-32 Paul, in Ephesus, calls for the Elders (church leaders- plural). Is this due to many churches in the area, and/or because there are more than one elder/pastor per church? We're not told.

20:33 -35 Just a note off subject.Paul makes clear here that he deliberately worked to care for his own monetary and physical needs so that he wouldn't feel obligated to his listeners for his livelihood and possibly not say some needed things to them. He says the same thing in Corinthians. Though it is biblical for we "in the ministry" to live off the proceeds of the Gospel, Paul was careful to guard against his human nature and cared for his own needs. If we, as preachers, have a strong drawing towards money and this worlds goods, then perhaps we would be better servants of God and our hearers if we cared for our own needs. This way, we don't feel beholden to our hearers and leave out some of what the Lord wants them to hear.

21: 18 Paul returns to Jerusalem. Hear, he goes into a meeting of James AND the Elders. Is this distinction because James is now the unadulterated head of the church? Possibly. Does this mean that the church, by then, was more organized and had a more established order of leadership? Could be. Does this mean that we should organize ourselves in denominations with established hierarchies Maybe. Can't really say from this small sampling. It is, however, evident from other scriptures that the "headquarters" had very little to do with the day to day operations of the local church bodies.

The rest of Acts is about Paul's trials before king's and rulers. During those times he wrote "the prison Epistles" that we so love and cherish today. But, no more seems to be hinted at in Acts about the organization of church leadership on either the Local or headquarters level. Based on what we've seen here (and, again, feel free to correct me or shed more light on this subject), I believe the following statements to be true and biblical.

1) Pastor is another word for what the New Testament calls an Elder.

2) In the vast majority of cases, churches should be overseen and led by at least two (and in some cases, three) Elders, whenever possible.

3) The modern single pastor system doesn't seem to have stemmed from scripture, but rather from some other source- many say Catholicism, but I've never studied that out.

4) Organizations are fine, but the actual running of the local church should be done by the local Elders, not by the organizational hierarchy.

5) Though God can, and does, reach people in the "single pastor" system, it seems evident in the scriptures that God's preferred choice of local church government is joint Eldership.

Thank you all for your patience in reading this rather long treatise. Thank all of you for your prayers and- ahead of time- for any corrections and refinements you may feel led to offer here. May God bless you all in Jesus name!

Be careful to stay between the lines!

2011-08-21T12:26:00.000-04:00

Deuteronomy 12:32
What thing soever I command you, observe to do it: thou shalt not add thereto, nor diminish from it.

Revelations 22: 18-19

¹⁸For I testify unto every man that heareth the words of the prophecy of this book, If any man shall add unto these things, God shall add unto him the plagues that are written in this book:
¹⁹And if any man shall take away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God shall take away his part out of the book of life, and out of the holy city, and from the things which are written in this book.

Matthew 4:4
But he answered and said, It is written, Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God.

Being a Christian and studying the word of God is exciting. Maybe I'm weird (of course, as we learned last week, God says we are Peculiar, so being weird in the eyes of this world is how we should be), but I enjoy digging into the word of God and learning new things, deeper things, than I ever did before. However, we must be careful.

Just as on natural roadways, the spiritual road we are to follow- the highway of holiness (Isaiah 35:8)- has lines we are to stay within. These lines (or boundaries, if you prefer) are spelled out in the word of God. As such, it is absolutely necessary that we study God's word to discover these lines. There are a few rules we all need to adhere to when we are doing this.

1) The word of God is MORE SURE than the voice of God.

In 2 Peter 1:16-21 tells us an amazing truth. Peter says that, even though they heard the voice of God on the mount of transfiguration (and through the lips of Jesus), the disciples ultimate trust in God was built not on what they heard, but on the WRITTEN word of God itself. In fact, he tells us that the written word of God is MORE sure than the voice that they heard. Why is this true?

2 Corinthians 11

¹³For such are false apostles, deceitful workers, transforming themselves into the apostles of Christ.
¹⁴And no marvel; for Satan himself is transformed into an angel of light.
¹⁵Therefore it is no great thing if his ministers also be transformed as the ministers of righteousness; whose end shall be according to their works.

There are many voices in this world. The vast majority are not of God. Not every preacher who gets behind the pulpit and preaches is actually preaching the true word of God. Not every teacher is a teacher of truth. Not every voice you hear in prayer is the voice of God. Always check everything you here, irregardless of it's source, against the written word of God (the KJV Bible). If what you heard is right, then say Praise the Lord and take it to heart. If what you heard is wrong, then don't accept that teaching into your lives.

Yes, go to church gatherings and services, but take notes. The scriptures tell us to "test the spirits to see whether they be of God". Pray as you go in, that the Lord will illuminate your heart and mind to catch ANY false teaching that may come across the pulpit or across the table. Then, when service is over, on your own time (even if nothing triggered as being false), go over your notes using these fundamental rules of study and make sure what you have heard is indeed true. As one person said, "Eternity is too long to be wrong."

2) Look for second and third scripture confirmation.

2 Corinthians 13¹This is the third time I am coming to you. In the mouth of two or three witnesses shall every word be established.

Look for other scriptures that agree with your understanding of the verses in question. If you cannot find verses that agree (and they must be taken IN CONTEXT, not twisted out of context), then your understanding of a passage (or the preacher/teacher's understanding) is wrong. Be very wary of any "doctrine" that cannot be confirmed with more scripture.

3) God and his word NEVER change.

Malachi 3
⁶For I am the LORD, I change not; therefore ye sons of Jacob are not consumed.

Whenever we are looking at scripture, the surface understanding of the scripture is the main meaning of the text. There can be, and often times are, deeper understandings of the scriptures in question, but these understandings will NEVER contradict the surface teaching of the verse.

For instance, "The joy of the Lord is our strength" the scriptures say. This is absolutely true! However, it can be asked is it the joy WE feel, or the joy GOD feels, that this scripture is referring to? Many a Christian has been tripped up because they don't FEEL joyful in the midst of their trials. Are we supposed to? Job didn't. Yet, God obviously took Fatherly pride and JOY in the fact that, no matter what was thrown at him, Job still kept his testimony and faith in God intact. Job didn't understand his situation, but he held on to what he KNEW about God from the written word. Therefore, GOD was joyful in his child's life. It is STILL the joy of the Lord that is our strength, for we can endure ANYTHING as long as we know God is getting glory and joy from our lives.

Deuteronomy 6:4 (and other places) Clearly states that there is only ONE God. ANY teaching that tries to change this truth to being two, yet one, or three, yet one God, is simply NOT true.

There is such a thing as progressive (or ongoing) revelation, BUT this process will never contradict the original. If we hear something that does, we need to ditch that teaching, in favor of the original.

4) Remember the breakdown of the divisions in the word of God.

2 Timothy 2:15

King James Version (KJV)

¹⁵Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.

If we keep in mind the proper divisions in the word of God, then we are not as apt to misinterpret or misuse scripture. For instance, in the law it is commanded to give physical sacrifices for sins and trespasses. If, we do not keep that in mind, then we can find ourselves trying to follow the laws that Jesus sacrifice fulfilled!

The law was the school master to lead us to Christ. It shows us what is sin and what is not. But the sacrifices are paid through Calvary.

Matthew through John, are the Gospels. These books are the basis of the church doctrine. We find here the life, acts, and teachings of Jesus while he walked this earth.

Acts. This is the only New Testament book that contains the direct teaching of the Apostles TO THE LOST, telling them how to be saved. It is where the Apostles walked out what Jesus taught them in the Gospels. We MUST go through the Gospels and Acts to GET saved.

Romans through Jude. These are the Epistles. They are LETTERS written TO the church telling us how to STAY saved, not how to get saved.

Revelations. Book of prophecy, that explains in symbolic language, end time events to come.

5) We need to pray, study, and work out (work AT KEEPING) our own salvation with fear and trembling.

1 Thessalonians 5:17

King James Version (KJV)

¹⁷Pray without ceasing.

2 Timothy 2:15
Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.

Philippians 2:12
Wherefore, my beloved, as ye have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling.

6) We DO need to fear God, not just respect him.

Luke 12:4-5

King James Version (KJV)

⁴And I say unto you my friends, Be not afraid of them that kill the body, and after that have no more that they can do.
⁵But I will forewarn you whom ye shall fear: Fear him, which after he hath killed hath power to cast into hell; yea, I say unto you, Fear him.

Proverbs 9:10
The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom: and the knowledge of the holy is understanding.

We study the word of God because we love him and want to learn his ways and obey. But, we all have weak moments. We ALL have times when we don't FEEL like it. So, if we have legitimate fear of God in our lives, this fear will cause us to do what we are supposed to do when not doing it would be the easier way.

Because we fear God, we will be diligent in our studies to try our best and ensure that we are NOT mishandling the word of God or misinterpreting the word of God. It really is that simple.

Yes, over time our fear of God changes into a deep love for and longing for God. But, the fear is still the basis we must stand on.

In closing, my friends, we MUST "study to shew ourselves approved, a workman that needeth NOT to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth". Get in there. Compare what you hear to the Bible. Let God teach you through his word. Stay between the lines on God's highway of holiness and you won't find yourselves running into a tree for going off the road.

The real church needs to stand up and be counted.

2011-08-14T10:40:00.000-04:00

2 Corinthians 6:¹⁵And what concord hath Christ with Belial? or what part hath he that believeth with an infidel?

¹⁶And what agreement hath the temple of God with idols? for ye are the temple of the living God; as God hath said, I will dwell in them, and walk in them; and I will be their God, and they shall be my people.

¹⁷Wherefore come out from among them, and be ye separate, saith the Lord, and touch not the unclean thing; and I will receive you.

¹⁸And will be a Father unto you, and ye shall be my sons and daughters, saith the Lord Almighty.

1 Peter 1:¹³Wherefore gird up the loins of your mind, be sober, and hope to the end for the grace that is to be brought unto you at the revelation of Jesus Christ; ¹⁴As obedient children, not fashioning yourselves according to the former lusts in your ignorance:

¹⁵But as he which hath called you is holy, so be ye holy in all manner of conversation;

¹⁶Because it is written, Be ye holy; for I am holy.

For years we've heard that we are to "come out from among them (the world) and be ye separate", and that we are to be "Holy" because HE is "Holy". Without getting into all the in's and out's of this (we will in another blog post), I need to respond to a current false teaching that is out there.

According to these false teachers, we've all misunderstood and taken out of context, these verses above. Somehow they seem to believe that God has "let down his guard" on this. That, even though these same concepts are repeated in both testaments of scripture, it doesn't really mean that we have to live, act, think, dress, etc differently than the rest of the world. Yes, they acknowledge that God DID mean that in the Old Testament, but in the New Testament, we are under "Grace" and need not worry about trying to "live right", for it was all taken care of on Calvary.

They even use 1 Corinthians 8 in an effort to try and say that those of us who DO hold to biblical standards are somehow the weak minded and weak faith ones. I have recently heard this teaching in a church with my own ears. I was shocked. Here was this pastor of a supposedly Apostolic church trying very hard to explain away the biblical requirements to live godly by twisting scriptures to try and make them say what they do not say.

My friends, re-read the above scriptures and there can be no doubt as to what we are called to do- COME OUT FROM AMONG THEM AND BE (LIVE A LIFESTYLE) SEPARATE from the way the world lives. There are MANY more scriptures that you can point to that teach this same concept in the NEW Testament.

^{1 Peter 2:9}But ye are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, an holy nation, a peculiar people; that ye should shew forth the praises of him who hath called you out of darkness into his marvelous light;

¹⁰Which in time past were not a people, but are now the people of God: which had not obtained mercy, but now have obtained mercy.

Read the whole rest of the chapter. The verses before talk of what God has done for us and culminate with these verses. The rest of the chapter gets into how we should NOT live.

^{Philippians2:12}Wherefore, my beloved, as ye have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling.
¹³For it is God which worketh in you both to will and to do of his good pleasure.
¹⁴Do all things without murmurings and disputings:
¹⁵That ye may be blameless and harmless, the sons of God, without rebuke, in the midst of a crooked and perverse nation, among whom ye shine as lights in the world;

Here is the nitty gritty. YES, it is GOD (if we have been biblically born again through Acts 2:38) that works IN us and gives us the will power and the strength to do what he wants us to do. We cannot live for God in the flesh, without his power to accomplish it, and think that our own works will be enough to get us through the pearly gates.

However, we are ordered in this scripture and in many ways in other scriptures, to work out (live out) our salvation with fear and trembling. Contrary to popular opinion, we ARE supposed to fear God and obey his commandments. We were grafted into God's vine and if we do not give it our all, then sin can creep in and we can become unfruitful and barren. At that point, we ARE in danger of losing out with God. So, with FEAR and trembling, we live out our relationship with God daily.

Grace is NOT "unmerited favor", that's Mercy. Grace is a salvational relationship WITH God, where we work WITH God to allow him to shape us and mold us into HIS image. This, by definition, requires us to live, act, think, dress, etc completely different from the world.

I'm not saying we should become Amish. However, over time, if we have been born again, our lifestyles and dress should begin to change and begin to differentiate us from the way the world does things. If we, after a time of walking with God, are not changing- pulling further away from the world and closer to God, then we need to enter into deep prayer and fasting and "check our Holy Ghost".

We ARE to live IN this world and NOT BE OF this world. We need to avoid and shun the ungodly and profane in our world. Not all styles of clothing are ungodly, but some are. Not all amusements in this world are ungodly, but some are. Not all occupations out there are ungodly, but some are.

God gives us guidelines in his word that we are to live by. Unfortunately, many are throwing these guidelines out the door in an effort to "win the lost". If we compromise biblical ways of life in an effort to win them to God, what are we winning them to? If our lifestyles are the same as theirs, they have no need to change anything when they come to Jesus. Further, what are they repenting of that's different from us if our lives are the same? They do things for what feels good and seems right to them. Can we do the same things that they do-only in the name of Jesus- and actually think to win them to him?

Separation and Holiness are STILL required in order to remain a Christian. Anyone who teaches differently, is a false prophet. That's the bottom line.