Category: encouragement

The Word of God, Right Here and Out There

Friday, July 5, 2013

“Thy word is a lamp unto my feet, and a light unto my path” (Psalm 119:105 KJV).

Whether near or far, let God’s Word illuminate your life….

The Bible says, “But if our gospel be hid, it is hid to them that are lost: in whom the god of this world hath blinded the minds of them which believe not, lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine unto them” (2 Corinthians 4:3,4).

Satan is “the god of this world,” and the darkness with which he is associated is spiritual ignorance. While he knows exactly what God is doing, he wants to hide that information from us! Chiefly, he hides the Gospel of the Grace of God (Paul’s Gospel) from people: “Christ died for our sins, He was buried, and He was raised again the third day” (1 Corinthians 15:3,4). Satan uses works-religion to deceive people into thinking that their “good” works will merit favor before God.

If someone does get saved by trusting the Lord Jesus Christ alone as his or her personal Saviour, Satan will attempt to hide God’s Word from that person using works-religion again! “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 [legalism, Law-keeping; Romans 8:15], which ye have not received, or another gospel, which ye have not accepted, ye might well bear with him” (2 Corinthians 11:3,4).

In today’s Scripture, when the Bible says, “[God’s] word is a lamp unto my feet,” it is referring to daily Bible study for daily Christian living (practical sanctification). Moreover, the phrase “[God’s word is] a light unto my path” concerns an entire lifetime as well as eternity (soul salvation).

Let us trust Paul’s Gospel for salvation, the lamp in spiritual darkness, and let us walk by faith in the Apostle Paul’s epistles, Romans through Philemon, the light in spiritual darkness.

Fruit to Behold in the Ages to Come

Wednesday, July 3, 2013

“For what is our hope, or joy, or crown of rejoicing? Are not even ye in the presence of our Lord Jesus Christ at his coming? For ye are our glory and joy” (1 Thessalonians 2:19,20 KJV).

Remember, we will not comprehend the full impact of God’s ministry through us until eternity future….

Invariably, any King James Bible, Pauline dispensationalist has had the thought cross his or her mind, “Is this worth it?” A doubt such as this is prompted by the usual replies, “Who believes that? How could so many people be so wrong? I have been in my [denominational] church for years, and I never heard what you are teaching before! I feel comfortable in my church tradition, so do not bother me anymore with your ‘heresy!’”

In spite of all the opposition you face, you meet someone who is tired of formalism, participating in mindless rites, ceremonies, and rituals just for the sake of “doing religion.” This one soul seeks liberty from works-religion, and you have the message whereby they can be set free from the shackles of sin—the message of God’s grace to us in Jesus Christ!

Despite all the opposition you face, you meet someone who is sick of existentialism, committing the sins of the flesh just to have a “good time in this one life.” This one soul seeks freedom from selfishness, and you have the message whereby they can be set free from the shackles of sin—the message of God’s grace to us in Jesus Christ!

Amidst all the opposition you face, you meet someone who is tired of fanaticism, seeking experiences, emotions, and encounters just for the sake of “doing religion.” This one soul seeks liberty from emotionalism, and you have the message whereby they can be set free from the shackles of sin—the message of God’s grace to us in Jesus Christ!

These precious, few souls who want to hear God’s truth make Christian service and ministry worthwhile, and for their sakes, let us continue so the remaining souls who are interested, can also become “our hope, our joy, our crown of rejoicing!” 🙂

Wave Not the White Flag

Saturday, June 15, 2013

“Save that the Holy Ghost witnesseth in every city, saying that bonds and afflictions abide me. But none of these things move me, neither count I my life dear unto myself, so that I might finish my course with joy, and the ministry, which I have received of the Lord Jesus, to testify the gospel of the grace of God” (Acts 20:23,24 KJV).

In today’s Scripture, our Apostle Paul was certainly not hopeless….

Today, the average Christian looks at the world, throws up his or her hands in despair, and sighs, “I give up! This world is hopeless!” Beloved, indeed, it is so much easier to just sit back, close the Good Book, and “go with the flow.” After all, “everybody else is doing it!”

The Christian soldier is never called to surrender. Yea, it is senseless to capitulate when “God be for us” (Romans 8:31). As someone who has trusted in the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus Christ as the sufficient payment for your sins, it really makes no difference who your enemy is!! In fact, your enemy is the devil himself, and yet, even he will eventually be subdued and bound in an everlasting lake of fire (Revelation 20:10).

A spiritually mature Bible-believing Christian—that is, one who is firmly grounded in the dispensational layout and study of Scripture—understands that God is not restoring earth today unto Himself (He will do that with His earthly people, Israel, as Exodus 19:3-6 declares, once our dispensation closes). We are not called to change the whole world system. As members of the Body of Christ, we are simply here to “Preach the word; be instant in season, out of season; reprove, rebuke, exhort with all longsuffering and doctrine” (2 Timothy 4:2). We share scriptural truths with those who want to hear them; we waste not our time with those who do not want to hear.

Regardless of the situations Paul faced, and did he suffer for the Gospel’s sake (2 Corinthians 11:23-27), it did not “move” (trouble, disturb) him. He ran the Christian race and undertook the Christian ministry, ending them with joy, undistracted by the evil world system. Let us follow our Apostle in that regard. 🙂

Unfathomable Distances, Unsearchable Speeds #5

Saturday, June 8, 2013

“For our conversation is in heaven; from whence also we look for the Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ: who shall change our vile body, that it may be fashioned like unto his glorious body, according to the working whereby he is able even to subdue all things unto himself” (Philippians 3:20,21 KJV).

The vastness of space is mindboggling; today’s Scripture is equally mind-blowing….

Having received their glorified bodies, and left planet earth, Jesus Christ is now escorting His Christians across the heavens with speed unsearchable. He brings us outside of the universe.

After we each stand before “the Judgment Seat of Christ” (Romans 14:10-12; 2 Corinthians 5:9,10) where the Lord Jesus Christ evaluates the quality of the doctrine we believed and the quality of our Christian service (1 Corinthians 3:9-15; 1 Corinthians 4:4,5; Colossians 3:23-25), including suffering for His name’s sake (2 Timothy 2:12), He presents us to God the Father in the third heaven. This is where 1 Thessalonians 3:13 picks up: “To the end he may stablish your hearts unblameable in holiness before God, even our Father, at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ with all his saints.” Jesus Christ is with His saints, bringing us before God, His and our Father!

Based on the results of the Judgment Seat of Christ (that is, dependent on the capacity of our inner man to function in the government of the heavenly places), we will receive a reward, an office of heaven’s government (again, these various ranks/offices will be filled up by Christians based on their spiritual maturity levels)—see, whether you believe sound Pauline Bible doctrine or vain religious tradition is of utmost importance!!!!

Once we are individually installed in the offices of government in the heavens, they will be “subdued” under Jesus Christ’s authority (today’s Scripture). Eternity will be busy, especially using those glorified bodies! We will be able to travel those astronomical distances in only a short period of time, carrying out the will of God the Father to the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ, reigning in the heavenly places, forever, and ever, and ever, and ever! 🙂

Unfathomable Distances, Unsearchable Speeds #4

Friday, June 7, 2013

“For our conversation is in heaven; from whence also we look for the Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ: who shall change our vile body, that it may be fashioned like unto his glorious body, according to the working whereby he is able even to subdue all things unto himself” (Philippians 3:20,21 KJV).

The vastness of space is mindboggling; today’s Scripture is equally mind-blowing….

When no one else wants to trust the Lord Jesus Christ alone as his or her personal Saviour, He will return to conclude the Dispensation of Grace. The “rapture” (“catching away”) is the event whereby the Church the Body of Christ is removed from Earth, thereby allowing Israel’s program to resume where it is currently paused. Unless we understand the Bible dispensationally—that the nation Israel and her prophetic program are separate and distinct from us the Church the Body of Christ and our mystery program—we will never understand the rapture (this is why many professing “Christians” either confuse the rapture with the Second Coming, or deny it entirely).

Scripture mentions “the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, and… our gathering together unto him” in 2 Thessalonians 2:1. In 1 Thessalonians 4:16,17, we learn, “For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first: then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up [in Latin, ‘raptured’] together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord.” The rapture is best illustrated by a magnet (the Lord Jesus Christ) attracting iron shavings (the Christians)—it is a forceful plucking or yanking.

In 1 Corinthians 15:51,52, Paul tells us about this secret resurrection (never revealed prior to him): “Behold, I shew you a mystery; we shall not all sleep [die physically], but we shall be changed, in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye…” (cf. today’s Scripture). We Christians will receive our glorified bodies instantaneously, soaring through Earth’s atmosphere, and zooming into the heavenly places with Jesus Christ….

Unfathomable Distances, Unsearchable Speeds #3

Thursday, June 6, 2013

“For our conversation is in heaven; from whence also we look for the Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ: who shall change our vile body, that it may be fashioned like unto his glorious body, according to the working whereby he is able even to subdue all things unto himself” (Philippians 3:20,21 KJV).

The vastness of space is mindboggling; today’s Scripture is equally mind-blowing….

After spending 40 days with His disciples post-resurrection, teaching them and being seen of them, the Lord Jesus can ascend into heaven to sit down at His Father’s right hand, thereby fulfilling Psalm 110:1. Notice Acts 1:9,10: “And when he had spoken these things, while they beheld, he was taken up; and a cloud received him out of their sight. And while they looked stedfastly toward heaven as he went up, behold, two men stood by them in white apparel;” Luke 24:51 affirms: “And it came to pass, while he blessed them, he was parted from them, and carried up into heaven.”

Jesus Christ utters His final statements to His disciples, and then something thrilling happens. As they are watching Him, His feet suddenly begin to float away from the earth’s surface! He soars upward, as a rocket or space shuttle would depart from its launch pad! His disciples stand there amazed as He travels up, up, up!

An angelic escort carries Him off, literally, physically, visibly… and then, He vanishes completely, en route to the third heaven. The distance and speed the angels and our Lord Jesus Christ are now traveling are incomprehensible, but they are bringing Him across the universe and out of it. They arrive in the third heaven, and Jesus Christ then sits at His Father’s right hand, where He sits even today in the Dispensation of Grace (Colossians 3:1).

When no one else wants to trust Jesus Christ as their personal Saviour, Father God will send Him back to planet earth, to take home His people, the Church the Body of Christ. As the Dispensation of Grace winds down, Jesus Christ will cross the universe again. While standing in earth’s atmosphere, He will call up the Christians, who will also reach mindboggling speeds….

Unfathomable Distances, Unsearchable Speeds #2

Wednesday, June 5, 2013

“For our conversation is in heaven; from whence also we look for the Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ: who shall change our vile body, that it may be fashioned like unto his glorious body, according to the working whereby he is able even to subdue all things unto himself” (Philippians 3:20,21 KJV).

The vastness of space is mindboggling; today’s Scripture is equally mind-blowing….

God will use us, the Body of Christ (who have trusted Jesus Christ alone as our personal Saviour), in eternity future to rule the heavens, just as He will use Israel to rule the earth. In order to function in the heavens, we need glorified bodies like Jesus Christ’s (today’s Scripture).

On resurrection Sunday around sunrise, Mary Magdalene goes to Jesus’ empty tomb. After seeing two angels, Jesus Himself appears. “Jesus saith unto her, Touch me not; for I am not yet ascended to my Father: but go to my brethren, and say unto them, I ascend unto my Father, and your Father; and to my God, and your God” (John 20:17). Jesus must travel to the third heaven to present Himself to the Father, so sinful human hands must not taint Him.

“Then the same day at evening” He reappears, showing Himself to His other disciples (Thomas absent): “after eight days,” He again appears to His disciples, and when Thomas doubts, Jesus instructs Thomas to touch Him (verses 18-29). So, in as little as 12 hours (but no more than eight days), Jesus left earth, crossed a vast portion of the universe and exited it, went to His Father in the third heaven, re-entered and traveled across the universe, and landed right back on earth! We can fathom neither the distance nor the speed Jesus Christ’s resurrected body traveled.

The Apostle Paul described our heavenly glorification in today’s Scripture. At the rapture, we Christians will receive glorified bodies like Jesus Christ’s. We cannot enter heaven with these current, sinful bodies: “for this corruption [deceased Christians’ bodies] must put on incorruption, and this mortal [Christians whose bodies are not yet dead] must put on immorality” (1 Corinthians 15:49-55).

Those new bodies will enable us to travel through outer space….

Unfathomable Distances, Unsearchable Speeds #1

Tuesday, June 4, 2013

“For our conversation is in heaven; from whence also we look for the Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ: who shall change our vile body, that it may be fashioned like unto his glorious body, according to the working whereby he is able even to subdue all things unto himself” (Philippians 3:20,21 KJV).

The vastness of space is mindboggling; today’s Scripture is equally mind-blowing….

We who have trusted the Lord Jesus Christ alone as our personal Saviour, are members of the Church the Body of Christ. Paul’s epistles are very clear that, in eternity future, God will use us in the heavenly places just as He will use the nation Israel on the earth.

“And having made peace through the blood of his cross, by him [Jesus Christ] to reconcile all things unto himself; by him, I say, whether they be things in earth, or things in heaven” (Colossians 1:20). Verses 16 and 17 already identified these “things:” “For by him [Jesus Christ] were all things created, that are in heaven, and that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers: all things were created by him, and for him: and he is before all things, and by him all things consist.” The “things” are offices of government!

Through the blood of Jesus Christ shed at Calvary’s cross, the governments of heaven and earth (currently occupied by Satan and his minions) will one day be restored, and their new occupants—redeemed Israel on earth and us the Church the Body of Christ in the heavenly places—will bring glory to the Lord Jesus Christ (after all, they were “created by him and for him”).

Distances in outer space are so enormous that scientists often utilize the astronomical unit (Earth’s distance from the sun, roughly 93 million miles / 150 million kilometers) and the light-year (the distance light travels in one year, about 6 trillion miles / 9.6 trillion kilometers). Actually, some objects in the universe are hundreds of light-years apart! In order to function in the vastness of outer space, we will need glorified bodies capable of doing amazing feats….

In the World, But Not Entangled With It

Sunday, June 2, 2013

“Thou therefore endure hardness, as a good soldier of Jesus Christ. No man that warreth entangleth himself with the affairs of this life; that he may please him who hath chosen him to be a soldier” (2 Timothy 2:3,4 KJV).

Rather than hiding ourselves in underground bunkers, or hiding our heads in our hands, let us hide this sound Bible doctrine in our hearts.

I recently spoke with a dear Christian brother and ministry coworker. He was so discouraged after having watched depressing newscasts on television for the last three hours. Life’s daily struggles, morose news stories, and false teaching in religion had the poor man so irritated and disheartened. Today’s Scripture is the solution to such negative thinking.

In Ephesians 6:12, the Apostle Paul admonished: “For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places.” There is an invisible battle occurring today—it is the battle of good and evil, the God of creation and Satan are fighting against one another.

The phrase “entangleth himself” (today’s Scripture) carries the idea of being braided with the goings-on of this life. That is, one being so “wrapped up” in the here and now, one so involved with the culture about us, the individual is consumed. The Christian soldier in such a predicament is distracted—he becomes so focused on the world’s problems that he loses sight of the hope, peace, and joy God the Father has given him in His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ! His mind is distracted, to Satan’s delight, and the Christian forgets the battle in which he is engaged!

Read 2 Corinthians 10:3-5: “For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war after the flesh: (for the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty through God to the pulling down of strong holds;) casting down imaginations, and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ;”

Remember, dear fellow-soldiers… think on good things, sound doctrine from God’s Word rightly divided (Philippians 4:8)!

Our Second Anniversary – Perfected Saints

Saturday, June 1, 2013

“[Christ] Whom we preach, warning every man, and teaching every man in all wisdom; that we may present every man perfect in Christ Jesus: whereunto I also labour, striving according to his working, which worketh in me mightily” (Colossians 1:28,29 KJV).

Only by God’s grace, “333 Words of Grace” celebrates its second anniversary today!

Proper Bible study—yea, Bible study at all—is rare. Hence, spiritual ignorance has vexed the Church the Body of Christ for nearly 20 centuries. But, it does not have to be that way. God has given us the written, completed revelation of Him and from Him!

Today’s Scripture summarizes our goal these last two years. To teach the Bible truths that religion denied us for many years. The Holy Bible can be understood and enjoyed—and you do not need a decade of Bible cemetery… I mean, seminary! Simply find a King James Bible, study it dispensationally, and believe what it says where it says it.

For years and years, denominationalism never taught us: (1) that all of the Bible is for us, but not all of the Bible is to us or about us; (2) that the ascended and glorified Lord Jesus Christ committed to the Apostle Paul a special ministry and message; (3) that Israel’s prophetic program for the earth and our mystery program for the heavenly places are separate. We were never taught the Word of God “rightly divided” as 2 Timothy 2:15 declares. Every Bible verse was thoroughly mixed with every other. The Bible became confusing and burdensome, just another weapon Satan used to discourage and defeat us.

Oh, but now Bible study is thrilling! The fetters of religious tradition and spiritual blindness are broken in twain. We now appreciate the Holy Bible like never before! We are maturing spiritually: now we know what God the Father is doing, and we can join Him by faith, declaring to Him in the words of our Lord Jesus Christ: “I delight to do thy will, O my God” (Psalm 40:8a; cf. Hebrews 10:5-9).

Onward, dear readers and saints, in spiritual maturity, for we have several hundred more studies of sound Bible truths to consider and in which to rejoice! 🙂

Note: Please feel free to view our “Original 7” devotionals by clicking here.