Month: May 2015

Speak to the Hungry People!

Thursday, May 21, 2015

“…He that hath my word, let him speak my word faithfully…” (Jeremiah 23:28b KJV).

Do you have God’s Word? Then speak that Word faithfully, that you may feed the starving souls!

In ministry, I meet many cantankerous people. They are not interested in being Bible believers. They only want to argue and change the Bible text when they disagree with it. What is sad is if they have actually trusted Jesus Christ as their personal Saviour! Then again, I find some people (saved and lost alike) who make ministry so worthwhile. They want to believe God’s Word, and cannot hear enough of it. They want to hear more, more, and more! (It is our pleasure to stick around talking with them as long as possible.)

One Christian sister explained to me that she was teaching dispensational Bible study to another Christian. He was so intrigued by the verses she was sharing. The poor man was “starving” spiritually. Church services were just not feeding his soul. He had religion, but not edification. He wanted to hear more from God’s Word!

A Christian brother who has since gone to meet the Lord, was known for his sincere searching for the truth. That man was so open to being taught the Holy Bible rightly divided. He refused to hear any more denominational teaching—he had heard enough of that for many years before. He wanted the pure Word of God. For hours at a time, he eagerly received Bible lessons! His earthly life was cut short due to illness, but we were so glad to serve him for the brief time we did.

One of my closest friends in the ministry attended weekly services with her husband for some 10 years in a denominational church. Once these Christians came to understand God’s grace and the King James Bible rightly divided, she summarized their decade of denominationalism: “In those 10 years there, we learned nothing!”

Saints, Father God has not yet closed our Dispensation of Grace. We have His preserved Word (the King James Bible), so let us faithfully speak it to as many people as we can before time runs out! 🙂

The Hope of Creation

Wednesday, May 20, 2015

“For we know that the whole creation groaneth and travaileth in pain together until now” (Romans 8:22 KJV).

Having recently taken our family pet dog to the veterinarian, I was reminded again that the curse of sin affects all creatures, not just us.

In the waiting room, an enormous Great Pyrenees dog limped with “flopping” hind legs. Puzzled, I asked the nurse what was wrong with it. She said “old age.” The dog was 12 years old—roughly 60 in human years—and suffered from severe arthritis. The aging dog could not stand for long. My mind immediately recalled today’s Scripture—“the whole creation….”

If we were to go to heaven and ask Adam, “Given the chance to do it all again, would you eat that forbidden fruit?,” I wonder what he would reply. That sin was certainly enjoyable but it had such awful consequences. Adam foreknew death for himself and Eve, but not the long-term and extensive damage. He had no idea that his one act of unbelief and disobedience would impact over 10 billion people and innumerable animals and plants. They would all suffer the repercussions—disabilities, disease, and death—for something he did. He had no idea that his sin would require the Creator’s very life!

Everywhere we turn, we see problems, problems, and more problems! It is such a comfort to know that our Creator God has abounding grace and pity toward us. It was not His will that such difficult human, animal, and plant conditions would exist. He has not left us hopeless and helpless. All hope for creation rests solely upon the Lord Jesus Christ. No pope, priest, “prophet,” president, preacher, pundit, professor, or person has any power to undo what Adam did. Scientific analyses, political agendas, social movements, economic theories, religious participation—all the works and thoughts of weak and faulty men such as ourselves. Oh, how Jesus Christ is so desperately needed here. He is the answer to all our problems.

Rather than looking within ourselves, or looking to others like ourselves, let us look in the Holy Bible to learn that Jesus Christ is the only Hope for heaven and earth and all their hosts. He will set it all right in His time! 🙂

Our special edition 150th Bible Q&A: “Who wrote the book of Hebrews?”

A Higher Education: It Is Up to You

Tuesday, May 19, 2015

“Let no man despise thy youth; but be thou an example of the believers, in word, in conversation, in charity, in spirit, in faith, in purity” (1 Timothy 4:12 KJV).

Nine years ago today, I graduated high school. Consequently, we dedicate this devotional to high school students who are nearing graduation.

Are you about to graduate high school? What would God have you do afterward? Go to college? Trade school? Something else? What career should you pursue? If you do plan on education after high school, where should you attend school? These are tough questions, and while God’s Word does not answer them, you can make decisions that conform to sound Bible doctrine—that is God’s will.

In today’s Scripture, Paul encourages downcast Timothy. Timothy was considerably younger than the Apostle Paul. Older people who are teaching false doctrine are intimidating young Timothy: “Tim, you are too young to teach God’s Word. Let us handle it.” Young Timothy conceded, became silent, and allowed the (“older and wiser”) false teachers to continue teaching their damnable heresies (cf. 1 Timothy 1:3-7; 2 Timothy 1:5-8). Paul replied, “Timothy, Speak up! Let no man despise thy youth!”

Christian youth can be just as effectual in their station in life as Christian adults. The lost world is watching us Christians, and we need to be sure that our actions are in accordance with the sound Bible doctrine we claim to believe (lest we be guilty of confusing the already-puzzled unbelievers). Whether “young or old,” our speech, our lifestyle, our acts of love, our determination, our belief in sound Bible doctrine, and our separation from that which God hates, is the way we communicate to the lost world God’s Word and its preeminence in our lives and hearts (today’s Scripture).

Above all, dear graduates, whatever you do post-graduation, “do all in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, giving thanks to God and the Father by him” (Colossians 3:17). After all, it really is not your life—it is Christ’s life in you (Galatians 2:20; Colossians 3:4), so He alone deserves the glory!

*Based on a Bible study by the same name, which can be read here. Also, see the study “The Spirit-Filled Student.”

Truth Be Told

Monday, May 18, 2015

“But we have renounced the hidden things of dishonesty, not walking in craftiness, nor handling the word of God deceitfully; but by manifestation of the truth commending ourselves to every man’s conscience in the sight of God” (2 Corinthians 4:2 KJV).

If we have not done so already, may we abandon “handling the word of God deceitfully!”

A “faith healer” preacher, after sharing “healing testimonies” and offering to send prayer cloths and anointing oil by mail, read 2 Corinthians 4:16 on television: “For which cause we faint not; but though our outward man perish, yet the inward man is renewed day by day.” He actually admitted that our physical bodies are aging and decaying. Jokingly, he referenced his balding head and he and his wife’s wrinkling skin! (“Physician, heal thyself with thy ‘miracle-healing tools!’”) No wonder people laugh at us Christians. Just look at the foolishness “Christian” television networks air!

Recently, someone told me she had “paid for some Masses” for a certain deceased loved one to be freed from purgatory’s flames. Those prayers said on her behalf were not cheap, but they were certainly not enough to merit God’s heaven. (If Jesus’ blood did not bring someone to heaven, can silver and gold?)

Dear friends, the above is not Christianity but charlatanry. Remember, if someone is not making sense, ‘someone’ is making money! There are many sincere but vulnerable people, particularly in religion. These precious souls need to learn the difference between Christianity and charlatanry. Just because someone is reading a Bible, talking about “Jesus” and “God,” or claiming to be led by the “Holy Ghost,” that does not automatically make that individual a spokesperson for God (a common myth). Ministers are oftentimes the sneakiest people. Jesus condemned the religious leaders of His day for them draining people of their income and trust. There are billions around the world today equally deceived and abused.

Beloved, let us take our King James Bible, and let us be grounded in Paul’s epistles, Romans through Philemon, that we not be “tossed to and fro, and carried about with every wind of doctrine” (Ephesians 4:14). As we learn to tell the truth, those who want to know it, will learn as well. 🙂

Out of Season

Sunday, May 17, 2015

“And in that day shall the deaf hear the words of the book, and the eyes of the blind shall see out of obscurity, and out of darkness” (Isaiah 29:18 KJV).

What does today’s Scripture have to do with the current spiritual affairs of “Christian” United States of America?

According to a recent poll, in 2014, about 71 percent of Americans claimed to be “Christian.” In 2007, it was 78 percent. Some 23 percent of Americans polled in 2014 claimed to be “atheist, agnostic, or of no specific faith.” Back in 2007, that percentage was 16. In other words, it seems that Christianity is losing its majority. Why do I say “seems?”

One of the greatest misconceptions is the widely held belief that every person who claims to be “Christian” is a Christian. If we were to re-poll the above persons, and ask them to define what a Christian is or believes, many would be unable to tell us. The actual percentage of Christians is far lower. There may be 224 million church members in our beloved nation, but certainly not 224 million members of the Body of Christ! From Genesis through Revelation, the God of the Bible has never had a majority. I doubt there are 224 million true Christians in the whole world!

What is happening in our nation is we are reverting to pre-Christian times. When Christianity spread through pagan lands in New Testament times, there was increasing light and truth. Now, the opposite is occurring. That light and truth are becoming scarcer—not just here, but in all places history once knew as “centers of Bible believers.” This world is heading for the seven-year Tribulation, and rightly so. Two thousand more years of unbelief have been credited to mankind.

The spiritual ignorance that so gripped Israel millennia ago is suffocating the whole world spiritually. Thankfully, today’s Scripture says that God’s Word will still be preserved beyond our present-day, to convert Israel in the future. If that Word will exist then, it must exist today. Despite all the false religions, false teachers, and false Bibles, our King James Bible is a beacon ever so bright and true. ‘Tis the preserved Word of God that shall see us through! 🙂

A Renewed Opportunity

Saturday, May 16, 2015

“To wit, that God was in Christ, reconciling the world unto himself, not imputing their trespasses unto them; and hath committed unto us the word of reconciliation” (2 Corinthians 5:19 KJV).

If only more lost people knew the first half of today’s Scripture. If only more Christian people knew the second!

Recently, I learned that a family member attempted suicide. Thankfully, the police intervened and hospitalized him before he carried out his plan. A dear religious man, a war veteran plagued by post-traumatic stress disorder, haunted by his violent past, has gotten the psychiatric help he so desperately needed. Sometime ago, he told me that he could still see in his mind his friends’ faces from all those years ago, people who never came home from the war alive. Like so many veterans, he feels guilty for not dying with the others on the battlefield. I do hope to visit him soon and share Jesus Christ with him (again).

It is estimated that there are between 10 and 20 million failed suicide attempts worldwide every year. Every year, over 800,000 people are successful in taking their lives. What is saddest of all is that the vast majority of these precious souls go to hell (not because they committed suicide, but because they died without Jesus Christ). They did not have go to hell.

When Father God sent Jesus Christ to Calvary, He sent Him to change the status of the nations of the world (today’s Scripture). Once, while He dealt with Israel, the nations were cut off from Him (Ephesians 2:11,12). Today, God has concluded “all in unbelief, that He might have mercy upon all,” Jew and Gentile (Romans 11:32). Verse 15 talks about how God has temporarily cast away Israel in order to reconcile the world. He is not pouring out His wrath on them. People of all nations can come to Him by simple faith in Jesus Christ’s bloodshed, death, burial, and resurrection (1 Corinthians 15:3,4). This is the Gospel of the Grace of God, “the word of reconciliation,” and may we Christians be faithful in getting it out to the masses before it is eternally too late. There is hope in Jesus Christ! 🙂

Our latest Bible Q&A: “Could you explain Acts 19:1-7?”

Up From the Grave He Arose #4

Friday, May 15, 2015

“And having spoiled principalities and powers, he made a shew of them openly, triumphing over them in it” (Colossians 2:15 KJV).

The chorus of Robert Lowry’s classic 1874 hymn “Up From the Grave He Arose” highlights today’s Scripture.

“Up from the grave He arose;
With a mighty triumph o’er His foes;
He arose a victor from the dark domain,
And He lives forever, with His saints to reign.
He arose! He arose! Hallelujah! Christ arose!”

On the cross of Calvary, Jesus Christ appeared weak and defeated. “He [had been] crucified through weakness” (2 Corinthians 13:4). On that Resurrection Sunday morning 20 centuries ago, there were many shocked individuals. The most surprised was the old Devil himself. All his efforts to keep the Lord Jesus Christ dead and gone had failed!

Now that the mystery has been revealed through Paul, we read in the context of today’s Scripture: “[13] And you, being dead in your sins and the uncircumcision of your flesh, hath he [God the Father] quickened together with him [Jesus Christ], having forgiven you all trespasses; [14] Blotting out the handwriting of ordinances that was against us, which was contrary to us, and took it out of the way, nailing it to his cross; [15] And having spoiled principalities and powers, he made a shew of them openly, triumphing over them in it.”

On Christ’s cross, we were crucified. The means whereby Satan killed Jesus Christ, God used it to make us dead to sin! That awful sin debt that we had accrued with the Mosaic Law was nailed to Christ’s cross. That whole Law system was thus done away, and the Dispensation of Grace came in! At Calvary’s cross, Jesus Christ put the entire Satanic policy of evil and all of its associates, to complete and utter shame.

Now, Jesus Christ is “alive for evermore” (Revelation 1:18). We too are alive for evermore with Him, dead to sin and alive unto God’s glory (cf. Romans 6:1-23). So, we wait for Him to come and take us away to the heavenly places, where we will reign forever with Him. Praise the Lord! Up from the grave (we arose because) Jesus Christ arose! 🙂

Up From the Grave He Arose #3

Thursday, May 14, 2015

“Whom God hath raised up, having loosed the pains of death: because it was not possible that he should be holden of it” (Acts 2:24 KJV).

The third verse of Robert Lowry’s classic 1874 hymn “Up From the Grave He Arose” highlights today’s Scripture.

“Death cannot keep its prey,
Jesus my Savior;
He tore the bars away,
Jesus my Lord!”

A special religious day was coming in just three hours, so Israel wanted the legs of Jesus and the two criminals broken (John 19:31-37). Once the legs were broken, crucified individuals could no longer push themselves up with their feet. Hence, they would suffocate (and die) quicker. Israel did not want those bodies to remain crucified on “God’s” holiday. The soldiers came and broke the legs of both criminals who had been crucified on either side of Jesus. When they came to the Lord Jesus’ body, they knew He was gone. They did not break Jesus’ legs (fulfilling Exodus 12:46 and Numbers 9:12). Instead, a soldier pierced Jesus’ side with a spear, and blood and water poured out. Yes, the King of glory was gone.

The Prophet Isaiah, some 700 years B.C., wrote of Messiah Jesus: “…for he was cut off out of the land of the living” (53:8). Daniel the Prophet added a century later, “…Messiah shall be cut off” (9:26). Jesus’ death was not a swooning (fainting spell) or some form of trickery. He was, as we would say, “stone cold dead.” He had given up His spirit to the Father (Luke 23:46) and His soul was now down in the heart of the earth (Matthew 12:39,40).

In those three days and nights between His death and resurrection, there was immense satanic opposition to keep Jesus Christ dead. All the powers of hell, Satan, and death were against Him (Hebrews 2:14,15)! But, God the Father had the final say in the matter, and today’s Scripture says He raised up Jesus Christ from the dead. Hence, Jesus Christ said, “I have the keys of death and hell” (Revelation 1:18). What had belonged to Satan, was now Christ’s! Because He had fully paid our sin debt, death could not bind Him. The Lord Jesus Christ had to—and did—resurrect! 🙂

Up From the Grave He Arose #2

Wednesday, May 13, 2015

“Pilate said unto them, Ye have a watch: go your way, make it as sure as ye can. So they went, and made the sepulchre sure, sealing the stone, and setting a watch” (Matthew 27:65,66 KJV).

The second verse of Robert Lowry’s classic 1874 hymn “Up From the Grave He Arose” highlights today’s Scripture.

“Vainly they watch His bed,
Jesus my Savior,
Vainly they seal the dead,
Jesus my Lord!”

When Joseph of Arimathaea buried Jesus in the tomb that he had purchased for himself, Mary Magdalene and Mary the mother of Joses watched (Mark 15:47; cf. Matthew 27:61). Luke comments: “And the women also, which came with him from Galilee, followed after, and beheld the sepulchre, and how his body was laid” (23:55).

The tomb of Joseph of Arimathaea was not far from Mount Calvary, so it was here that the Jewish believers interred Jesus’ lifeless body. They watched as He was placed inside. It was surely a very emotional time for them. As they rolled that massive stone over the tomb’s entrance, they knew they were burying with Him all their hopes and dreams of a coming Davidic kingdom. Even after the resurrection occurred, “they knew not the scripture, that he must rise again from the dead” (John 20:9; cf. Luke 18:31-34).

On the day following Jesus’ burial, the chief priests and the Pharisees came to Pontius Pilate, Roman governor of Judaea (Matthew 27:62-66). They said to Pilate, “Sir, we remember that that deceiver said, while he was yet alive, After three days I will rise again. Command therefore that the sepulchre be made sure until the third day, lest his disciples come by night, and steal him away, and say unto the people, He is risen from the dead: so the last error shall be worse than the first.” Today’s Scripture says Pilate authorized guards to be stationed at Jesus’ tomb. Those soldiers secured the tomb and posted a notice that it was Roman law that the tomb be left alone. Praise God—all that “securing” was done in vain! Jesus Christ still resurrected and escaped! 🙂

Our latest Bible Q&A: “Should I raise my hands in ‘worship?’”

Up From the Grave He Arose #1

Tuesday, May 12, 2015

“And he [Joseph of Arimathaea] bought fine linen, and took him [Jesus] down, and wrapped him in the linen, and laid him in a sepulchre which was hewn out of a rock, and rolled a stone unto the door of the sepulchre” (Mark 15:46 KJV).

The first verse of Robert Lowry’s classic 1874 hymn “Up From the Grave He Arose” highlights today’s Scripture.

“Low in the grave He lay,
Jesus my Savior,
waiting the coming day,
Jesus my Lord!”

The Prophet Isaiah wrote the following Messianic prophecy some 700 years B.C.: “And he made his grave with the wicked, and with the rich in his death; because he had done no violence, neither was any deceit in his mouth” (Isaiah 53:9). As a carpenter, Jesus was a poor man. His family was so destitute that they could not purchase a tomb for Him! We read about a “rich man,” “Joseph of Arimathaea,” a disciple of Jesus, who begged Governor Pilate for Jesus’ corpse. Joseph took the body and wrapped it in a clean linen cloth, “and laid it in his own new tomb, which he had hewn out in the rock” (Matthew 27:57-60; cf. today’s Scripture).

Psalm 16:9,10 are two more Messianic verses, written by King David over 1,000 years before Jesus Christ spoke them to the Father concerning His death: “[9] Therefore my heart is glad, and my glory rejoiceth: my flesh also shall rest in hope. [10] For thou wilt not leave my soul in hell; neither wilt thou suffer thine Holy One to see corruption.” Knowing these Scriptures, Jesus Christ was fully expectant that Father God would raise Him again on the third day.

Jesus’ physical body lay dead, perfectly still, deep in that rock tomb for three days and three nights. Strangely, the Bible says there was not the slightest evidence of decomposition (“corruption”) on that body. After four days in a similar rock tomb, or cave, Lazarus’ carcass began to stink (John 11:39). Only dead for three days, Jesus’ body never emitted a foul odor. Once those three days and three nights expired (cf. Matthew 12:39,40), the Lord Jesus Christ burst forth, alive and well!