A sincere apology and plea

It has come to my attention that some of my blogs have come across to some people that I think I know more than they do. 

I don't.

The purpose of this blog is to spread God's word with whosoever will read it. I'm not a Bible School grad. I don't have a TH.D. Many of you who read this have much more education than I. Lot's of you have accomplished many more things than I ever have. 

I only share what the Lord illuminates to me- as he gives it to me. Many times, I'm learning as I'm writing it down for you. It's similar to a preacher preaching a sermon. The Lord gives him a passage of scripture and illuminates it to the preacher while he's preaching. You can hear him saying, "I've never seen this that way before," as he's preaching. 

That's all I'm doing as I'm writing this blog. 

I'm not trying to prove how smart I am. 

I'm not saying I have it all together. 

I'm not looking down on anyone. 

I don't think that my readers need to "come up to my level."

In fact, I believe many of you can teach me a thing or two. 

I DO believe that we all need to come up to the levels that GOD wants us to be at. 

So, if I've offended any of you, I'm truly sorry. If I've come across to anyone that I think I've "arrived" at some high place in God and I think I'm above anyone, I'm very sorry. 

Please forgive me. 

The only thing I can do is pray, and humbly seek God for the words he wants me to write. 

If I hurt anyone, I'm sorry. 

But, do me a favor. Pray for me. I need the Lord's guidance in all that I do or say (or write). 

And if you think I've missed the mark, let me know. As long as you're not rude or ungodly in what you say, I'll listen. And I'll take it to prayer. 

Thanks for your prayer and for reading the few words the Lord gives me. 

God bless you all.   

What about Romans 10:9?

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.

All kids argue.

"Train up a child in the way he should go, and when he is old, he will not depart from it." - Proverbs 22:6

"He that is weak in the faith, receive ye, but not to doubtful disputations" -Romans 14:1

"Let nothing be done through strife or vainglory; but in lowliness of mind let each esteem other better than themselves." - Philippians 2:3

"By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples, if ye have love one to another." -John 13:35

I love facebook. I love the interaction between friends and colleagues. I love meeting new people who are part of the body of Christ. I enjoy the conversation, the testimonies, and (surprise to those who know me- wink, wink) the debates. If I have a life verse, as they call it, outside of ACTS 2:38, it would probably be the Proverb that says "As Iron sharpens Iron, so a man sharpeneth the countenance of his friend." In short, put another way, I'll have to begrudgingly admit that- long pause as I gather courage to say it- I enjoy a good argument.

I don't look at it as being hard headed or thinking that I'm always right. My mother, however, used to say that there is a right way, a wrong way, and Mike's way. I guess that means I'm a bit peculiar. I am, in short, opinionated.

I don't mean to come across as a "know it all", at all. I can be a little sure of my opinions, however. To some, this has come across like I think I know it all. Let me be clear- I do NOT know everything. I don't claim to know everything. I will never know everything in this lifetime.

That said, I love to study the word of God and share what God illuminates to me there. Sometimes this sharing has rankled a few feathers of my fellow preachers. Let me say to you all, I'm sorry for upsetting you.

You have your walk with God and I have mine. Some of you and I can agree and get along well. Others of you and I tend to agree to disagree a lot. That's ok, too. We are all at differing levels of understanding of God's word in differing areas of that word. Some of us may know more in one area than others. Others know more in other areas than still others. All of this is ok. We are all God's children and God's kids will argue and disagree from time to time.

The problem comes where we, and I do say WE (me included 4 fingers pointing back at me), get so upset over the others arguments that we go too far. We push so hard to prove a point that we make the other one tend to feel like we think we're better than them, or that they're stupid, or some other such nonsense.

Scripture tells us to esteem each other as being higher than ourselves. I can heartily agree with Paul when he said he was the "least" of the Apostles. We may all be preachers, but many of you have done far more for the kingdom than I've ever dreamed of doing. Truly, I am the least of my brethren.

Scripture also says that we will one day come to a unity of faith. I'm not talking about the basic Bible doctrines like the oneness of God and the plan of salvation. Indeed, we should all have these down pat. It's the other stuff: definitions of holiness, what a Christian can and can't do, who were the sons of God, etc, where we get a little hung up on.

I believe the day of unity in these things will be the day he calls us home and explains it all to us.

I, and all of us, will probably be surprised, both at what we had right and what we had wrong. If we'll just hold on to Jesus- together-, pray with and for each other, show love TO each other, we'll make it. It's the love of God that will show the world that we are God's people, not our scripture quotations or our knowledge.

So, I said all of that to say this: To all those that I have offended in trying to prove a point, to all that I have hurt by the tone of what I said- or the inference of the words- PLEASE FORGIVE ME! It is not my intention to prove to you how great I am! I am nothing! Jesus is everything! For those who are higher up than I on God's food chain, pray for this hard headed preacher to learn to show a little more love!