Category: religious bondage

Give Yourself to the Lord

Tuesday, June 16, 2015

“Praying us with much intreaty that we would receive the gift, and take upon us the fellowship of the ministering to the saints. And this they did, not as we hoped, but first gave their own selves to the Lord, and unto us by the will of God” (2 Corinthians 8:4,5 KJV).

Today’s Scripture is the key to giving under grace.

Giving to churches is justifiably a very sensitive matter. Especially when preachers demand $65-million personal jets! There is much abuse when it comes to religion and money. Ironically, when Jesus condemned “thieves,” He did not castigate publicans (tax collectors who amassed exorbitant amounts from the Jews to give the Roman government). Rather, Jesus entered the Temple—Israel’s religious center—and declared thieves had overrun His house. He drove these religious people from God’s house (Matthew 21:12,13; Luke 19:45,46; John 2:13-17). Paul confessed that, before salvation, he, a Pharisee, “profited in the Jews’ religion above many [his] equals in [his] own nation” (Galatians 1:14).

We read today’s Scripture in context: “[1] Moreover, brethren, we do you to wit of the grace of God bestowed on the churches of Macedonia; [2] How that in a great trial of affliction the abundance of their joy and their deep poverty abounded unto the riches of their liberality. [3] For to their power, I bear record, yea, and beyond their power they were willing of themselves; [4] Praying us with much intreaty that we would receive the gift, and take upon us the fellowship of the ministering to the saints. [5] And this they did, not as we hoped, but first gave their own selves to the Lord, and unto us by the will of God.”

When Paul collected from his converts various goods to assist the poor believing Jews in Jerusalem, the Macedonian Christians, though poor, wanted to give more and more (beyond their means). The believers in Macedonia (Thessalonica and Berea) were motivated by God’s grace. We first give ourselves to the Lord. Then, we give to sound grace Bible ministries—NOT out of fear of God’s curse (tithing), but out of thanksgiving for God’s blessings (giving under grace). Let us give “cheerfully” (2 Corinthians 9:6,7)! 🙂

Bring Forth and Bud!

Monday, June 15, 2015

“For as the rain cometh down and the snow from heaven, and returneth not thither, but watereth the earth, and maketh it bring forth and bud, that it may give seed to the sower, and bread to the eater: So shall my word be that goeth forth out of my mouth: it shall not return unto me void, but it shall accomplish that which I please, and it shall prosper in the thing whereto I sent it” (Isaiah 55:10,11 KJV).

How can today’s Scripture be an encouragement when we witness to others?

Dear Christian friend, you have probably wanted to rush someone into salvation or spiritual maturity. You desired them to trust Jesus Christ as their personal Saviour, right there on the spot. You wanted to see them immediately understand the Bible dispensationally. But, you fail to remember that there are many barriers to overcome. They have been so deceived, so confused, or so turned off to religion that much (or all) of the verses you shared with them seem to “go right over their heads.” You have tried to be as simple as possible and they just do not get it. The key is to remember the analogy in today’s Scripture.

In the physical world, we plant seeds underground, water them, and let the sunlight shine on them, but we cannot force them to grow. It takes time, something beyond our control. Likewise, we must remember that God’s Word does not show immediate results. It can take days, weeks, months, years, or even decades. Nevertheless, we are to faithfully preach and teach the Holy Bible rightly divided, that it be there to work in their lives. Once present, that “quick [living and life-giving] and powerful” Word will take care of itself (Hebrews 4:12).

Just as the little seeds cannot be seen sprouting underground, we cannot see God’s Word working in those precious people. Until they believe those verses, and bring them into their hearts (Romans 10:10), they will remain in their minds. Regardless of whether they believe or reject, God’s Word will still convict, show them where they are wrong, and it will glorify Him. One Christian “plants,” another believer “waters,” but “God giveth the increase” (1 Corinthians 3:6,7; cf. today’s Scripture)! 🙂

If Thou Be #10

Saturday, June 13, 2015

“As ye have therefore received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk ye in him: Rooted and built up in him, and stablished in the faith, as ye have been taught, abounding therein with thanksgiving” (Colossians 2:6,7 KJV).

Today’s Scripture is the key to finding your identity in Christ!

“For ye know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that, though he was rich, yet for your sakes he became poor, that ye through his poverty might be rich” (2 Corinthians 8:9). Once we realize the spiritual wealth we have in Christ, we can rejoice. We can be so thankful that we have the riches of God’s grace!!! Ephesians 1:7 says: “In whom [Christ] we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of his grace.” Friends, we need to quit living and thinking like spiritual beggars, behaving like we are poor, ever asking God for things when He has given us “all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ” (Ephesians 1:3). We lack nothing in Christ (Colossians 2:10). Now we need to believe these Bible truths and ignore what religion says to the contrary!

There can be no thanksgiving in a worrisome life—Did I do enough to please God?, Confess enough?, Give enough?, Keep holydays enough?, Get water baptized enough?, Love God enough?, Love my neighbor enough?, Attend church enough?, Pray enough?, Stop sin enough? There is no peace in a troublesome life—Am I God’s child?, Will I make into heaven?, Does God really love me?, What is His will for me?, Has He really forgiven me? Rather than being “tossed to and fro” by the wiles (schemes) of the Devil in religion (Ephesians 4:14), wondering about contingencies and conundrums, we can be “rooted, built up, and stablished” (stabilized) in Christ, in our identity in Him (today’s Scripture). The doubt, frustration, and perplexity thus cease.

Beloved, the Body of Christ is ever so weak today because it has largely forgotten its identity in Christ! May we take an intelligent understanding of Romans through Philemon, God’s Word to us, and rest our faith in that. We can then cease from our works, and let Father God start doing His by means of the indwelling Holy Spirit! 🙂

Our latest Bible Q&A: “Where was Jesus during the three days between His death and resurrection?”

If Thou Be #9

Friday, June 12, 2015

“As ye have therefore received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk ye in him: Rooted and built up in him, and stablished in the faith, as ye have been taught, abounding therein with thanksgiving” (Colossians 2:6,7 KJV).

Today’s Scripture is the key to finding your identity in Christ!

A dear brother in Christ often says, “Your Christian life will not operate on the basis of ignorance.” Why does the average Christian life not function properly? Ignorance concerning what God is doing today! The average Christian is not taught God’s Word rightly divided. They are not taught their identity as members of the Church the Body of Christ. Instead, they are taught from the Old Testament, the Four Gospels, early Acts, and Hebrews through Revelation—all of which describe Israel’s identity in Christ. No wonder Christians claim and follow Israel’s verses. They believe they are Israel. No wonder Christians claim to be Israel. They claim and follow Israel’s verses. In other words, the Bible has been so misconstrued that it is just one gigantic mess, and their identity is so screwed up in their minds!

Thankfully, in heaven, such confusion will be absent. There will be no denominations, and no hijacking Israel’s verses. God will clear that all up with one verse—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.” It is in Paul’s epistles alone that we find our identity, doctrine, duty, walk, and destiny as members of the Church the Body of Christ.

We received Jesus Christ by faith in His finished crosswork (Colossians 2:5), and everything in our lives is dependent on that crosswork (today’s Scripture). As we were saved unto eternal life, so we walk in Him—by grace through faith, apart from works, rites, rituals, ceremonies, and so on! We are to be taught that, stabilized in these grace doctrines, remembering we are alive with His life, built up in Him to be in full cooperation with Him as He accomplishes what He wants done in and through us! That is how we remember our identity in the Lord Jesus Christ!

Now, we can conclude this devotionals arc….

If Thou Be #8

Thursday, June 11, 2015

“But I fear, lest by any means, as the serpent beguiled Eve through his subtilty, so your minds should be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ. For if he that cometh preacheth another Jesus, whom we have not preached, or if ye receive another spirit, which ye have not received, or another gospel, which ye have not accepted, ye might well bear with him” (2 Corinthians 11:3,4 KJV).

Can Satan use the Bible to confuse God’s people concerning their identity? Yes, today’s Scripture says he most certainly can (and does)!

If you want to be a Christian, it is commonly said that you need to be water baptized, give tithes, confess your daily sins, pray the “Lord’s Prayer,” observe holy feast days, faithfully attend church and “worship” on the Sabbath, keep the Mosaic Law, follow Christ’s earthly ministry, obey the “Great Commission,” seek the “manifestation of the Spirit” of tongues and miracles, et cetera. Beloved, while these activities are Scriptural, they do not belong in our dispensation. So, they are advantageous to Satan’s policy of evil in confusing us about our identity.

By the way, if you do not do these activities, traditional “Christianity” does not consider you a Christian. In agreeing with the Bible rightly divided, you disagree with traditional Bible thinking. Since religious tradition is the standard rather than the rightly divided Word of God, those who disagree with religion are labeled “non-Christians.” In that warped world, “Christians” follow tradition instead of Scripture! Behold the insanity, irony, and heresy!

Religion demands we give, confess, repent, attend, observe, seek, do, to get from God and keep it. Our one baptism by the Holy Spirit into the Body of Christ is seen as deficient. The written, completed Bible is seen as wanting. We are urged to pursue experiences and emotions to hear more from God. Our once-for-all forgiveness is seen as flawed. The Adversary causes Christians to revert back to Israel’s system of short sin-accounts (confession). In short, our sufficiency in Christ is seen as insufficient. Talk about identity crisis! What identity theft! Satan stole their identity, and then they stole Israel’s! The Devil’s damnable statement reverberates throughout the ages, right up to our present-day—“If thou be the [children] of God….”

Our latest Bible Q&A: “How are we ‘able ministers of the new testament?’”

If Thou Be #7

Wednesday, June 10, 2015

“But I fear, lest by any means, as the serpent beguiled Eve through his subtilty, so your minds should be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ. For if he that cometh preacheth another Jesus, whom we have not preached, or if ye receive another spirit, which ye have not received, or another gospel, which ye have not accepted, ye might well bear with him” (2 Corinthians 11:3,4 KJV).

Can Satan use the Bible to confuse God’s people concerning their identity? Yes, today’s Scripture says he most certainly can (and does)!

The Bible student must be Scriptural and dispensational. To use the Bible but not rightly divide the Bible is the most dangerous type of Bible quoting and teaching. During Jesus Christ’s temptations, Satan used the Bible but he ignored its dispensational boundaries. Like most in Christendom today, he just haphazardly grabbed any Bible verse that appealed to him, any passage that advanced his agenda (theological system), and unashamedly used God’s Word against God’s Son… on two occasions (Matthew 4:5-6 and Luke 4:9-11)!

Even today, organized religion uses God’s precious Words to “beat up” God’s people. When someone abandons traditional (denominational) thinking, and simply believes the Bible dispensationally, that Bible-believing Christian—not the denominational leadership—is the party accused of “heresy.” When that person calls out those who pervert and disbelieve the words of God in the denomination, that Bible-believing Christian is again condemned as a “heretic.” The Pauline dispensationalist is viewed as the “troublemaker.” Meanwhile, lest the denomination recant and collapse, the denominational leaders—the real troublemakers—cite additional non-rightly divided Scripture.

Thus, Bible believers are often unwelcome in denominational churches. However, those who believe the church’s doctrinal statement and traditions are applauded as “true Christians.” Those outside the denomination—those who use God’s Word, God’s way—are again the “apostates” and the “mischief-makers.” What a complete flip-flop! “Woe unto them that call evil good, and good evil; that put darkness for light, and light for darkness; that put bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter!” (Isaiah 5:20).

Yes, just as Satan corrupted the Corinthian Christians with non-rightly divided Scripture (today’s Scripture), Christendom finds itself in equally dire straits….

If Thou Be #4

Sunday, June 7, 2015

“But I fear, lest by any means, as the serpent beguiled Eve through his subtilty, so your minds should be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ” (2 Corinthians 11:3 KJV).

Beware, Satan’s main goal is to draw God’s servants away from God’s Word!

Part of the first dispensation, or set of divine instructions given to man to believe and obey, was Genesis 2:16,17. In this very simple dispensation, there was no sin to complicate life and no suffering to spoil it. Adam and Eve lived peaceably together with their Creator God. They had an entire garden of paradise and provision—and daily Bible study with Jesus Christ Himself! Adam, the federal head, deliberately threw away all that abundance for temporary pleasure and long-lasting inferiority. They lost their Creator, their spiritual lives, their home, their perfect marriage, their two sons, and eventually their earthly lives. Such is the destiny of all who spurn God’s Word and trample His grace under foot!

When the Lord Jesus Christ took upon Himself human nature, He never forgot His original (divine) identity. He continually had His mind set on God’s Word to Him. Satan defeated Adam, for Adam willingly succumbed to sin. However, he would not, could not, and did not defeat Jesus. The Lord Jesus never gave in to sin. He always operated in absolute tandem with Father God. Therein was Jesus Christ’s complete and final victory of over sin and Satan!

Considering Adam and Eve’s misery in departing from their identity, recognizing Jesus Christ’s victory in remembering His identity, now we understand the enormous division within the Church the Body of Christ. Genuine Christians are often too focused on someone else’s (that is, Israel’s) identity that they forget their identity in Christ found in Paul’s epistles. We need not wonder why many are confused, weak, discouraged, ignorant, deceived, defeated, and miserable concerning the Bible and Christian living. They are following Adam instead of Jesus Christ! Satan has “corrupted their minds from the simplicity that is in Christ” (today’s Scripture)! They have disregarded their provisions in Christ to embrace inferiority—ceremonies, rites, rituals, scholarship, creeds, philosophy, denominational dogmas, et cetera. Sound Bible doctrine is how they need to recover themselves out of Satan’s snare (2 Timothy 2:24-26)!

Our latest Bible Q&A: “How do God’s foreknowledge and our free will work together?”

If Thou Be #2

Friday, June 5, 2015

“But I fear, lest by any means, as the serpent beguiled Eve through his subtilty, so your minds should be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ” (2 Corinthians 11:3 KJV).

As Satan attempted to cause Jesus Christ to doubt who He was, he misled Eve about who she was. Likewise, Satan enjoys casting doubt on our identity in Christ.

Keeping short sin accounts (daily confession) causes us to wonder if we are truly forgiven. Being water baptized causes us to believe that we cannot have fruitful Christian service without a ceremony. Tithing causes us to believe that we cannot be blessed of God unless we give to Him. Scholarship causes us to believe that, unless we adopt human wisdom, we cannot understand the Bible. Satan attacks our identity in Christ “by any means.” We are already forgiven in Christ forever (Colossians 2:13). We only need one baptism—when the Holy Spirit put us into the Body of Christ the moment we trusted Jesus Christ as our personal Saviour (1 Corinthians 12:13; Ephesians 4:5).

When someone suggests that we have to do something in our flesh to enhance our Christian life, or behave a certain way in order to get something from God, they are drawing us away from our identity in Christ (Galatians 3:1-3). We are “complete in [Christ]” (Colossians 2:10). We are “blessed with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ” (Ephesians 1:3). God has freely given us all things with His Son (Romans 8:32). We do not need to ask God for anything. Everything He could possibly give us, He gave it when He gave us His Son. Jesus Christ is our wisdom, righteousness, sanctification, and redemption (1 Corinthians 1:30). In Christ, all of our need is met (Philippians 4:19).

God revealed to the Apostle Paul the information that we need to understand what He is doing today. That set of doctrines is called “the Dispensation of the Grace of God” (Ephesians 3:1-11). Jesus Christ disclosed that information to Paul, and when we read those Pauline epistles, Romans through Philemon, the Holy Spirit enlightens us. What God has planned for us believers, we need to search the writings of the Apostle of the Gentiles, and not stray from those grace doctrines!

I Have Not Sent Them!

Wednesday, June 3, 2015

“For thus saith the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel; Let not your prophets and your diviners, that be in the midst of you, deceive you, neither hearken to your dreams which ye cause to be dreamed. For they prophesy falsely unto you in my name: I have not sent them, saith the LORD” (Jeremiah 29:8,9 KJV).

Satan is a master counterfeiter, dear friend. He is still deceiving the masses today!

A pastor friend noticed a certain lady attending his church. After Sunday services, she said she had learned a great deal. She understood the Bible dispensationally, Paul as her apostle, “the preaching of Jesus Christ, according to the revelation of the mystery,” and the Body of Christ. The next Sunday, however, she was thoroughly confused. He taught her again, and she was straightened out doctrinally. Next Sunday, she was all confused about the Scriptures yet again! Finally, he asked her why she continuously vacillated between good Bible teaching and bad Bible teaching. She replied, “I watch various television preachers all week long!” “…Tossed to and fro, and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the sleight of men, and cunning craftiness, whereby they lie in wait to deceive” (Ephesians 4:14).

Satellite television is both a blessing and a curse to Christianity. Good, solid, sound Bible teaching can be found. Unfortunately, it has to be greatly sought. A worthwhile Bible program can be found after searching dozens of channels and programs. “For we are not as many, which corrupt the word of God: but as of sincerity, but as of God, in the sight of God speak we in Christ” (2 Corinthians 2:17). If many people were corrupting the Bible 20 centuries ago, it is no surprise to find few faithful ministers and few sound Bible programs on television today.

Having recently “Christian-channel surfed,” I can say that much of what is masquerading as “Christianity” today is quite laughable. Schemes, scams, shallowness, and shams are most of what you find parading as “Jesus ministries.” Likewise, in today’s Scripture, many were deceiving Israel using the LORD’S name, too! Let us take Paul’s epistles, Romans through Philemon, in the King James Bible, and avoid anyone and everyone who does not conform thereto!

333 Turns Four!

Monday, June 1, 2015

“And now, brethren, I commend you to God, and to the word of his grace, which is able to build you up, and to give you an inheritance among all them which are sanctified” (Acts 20:32 KJV).

Greetings to all our grace brethren around the world! Rejoice in Christ with us as “333 Words of Grace” celebrates its fourth birthday today!

Dear friends, we have come a long way—1,462 daily Bible studies to be exact! Some of you have been with us for just a few. Others of you have been with us for every one. Thank you for your continued prayer and support. How we are so grateful to our Lord Jesus Christ to have been able to serve you these last four years. We look forward to thousands of new studies and many more years (Lord willing, of course). While we have covered much ground in the Scriptures, there is still much we have not yet discussed. God’s Word can never be exhausted. In fact, we have all of eternity to learn it and profit from it, but we might as well start here now.

When Paul gave advice to the Ephesian elders about surviving the damnable teachings of the “wolves in sheep’s clothing,” he offered, in part, today’s Scripture. He knew that “the word of [God’s] grace” (the Bible rightly divided) would edify these Christians in the midst of all the doctrinal error. We would do well if we kept that in mind as Christendom becomes more confused and further apostate.

We hope to have been a help and a blessing to you these last four years. It has been our daily prayer that you grow in the knowledge of the grace of God that is offered us in Jesus Christ. We hope that we have shown you the key to unlocking the Holy Scriptures and how to extract the profit that God put into them. Father God is doing something extraordinary in this vast universe and He invites us to join Him in doing it. He wants us to delight in it to the extent He does, and unless we know what He is doing, we cannot enjoy it.

* And now, beloved, we close Year 4 of this ministry project! Onward by God’s grace into Year 5! 🙂