Category: local church assembly

Understand and Enjoy the Bible! #13

Sunday, January, 17, 2016

“And account that the longsuffering of our Lord is salvation; even as our beloved brother Paul also according to the wisdom given unto him hath written unto you; As also in all his epistles, speaking in them of these things; in which are some things hard to be understood, which they that are unlearned and unstable wrest, as they do also the other scriptures, unto their own destruction” (2 Peter 3:15,16 KJV).

Although there is so much confusion about it, can we really understand and enjoy the Bible?

Let us consider the seventh point from today’s Scripture: “unto their own destruction.” Returning to 2 Timothy 2:15-18: “[15] Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth. [16] But shun profane and vain babblings: for they will increase unto more ungodliness. [17] And their word will eat as doth a canker: of whom is Hymenaeus and Philetus; [18] Who concerning the truth have erred, saying that the resurrection is past already; and overthrow the faith of some.”

The “overthrow [of] the faith of some” is the “[spiritual] destruction” of today’s Scripture. By confusing God’s will for a believer in this the Dispensation of Grace, with God’s will for a believer in Israel’s program of Law, believers’ lives are hindered and damaged in their respective program. You soften the Law for Israel; you water down Grace for us Gentiles. You force on us their water baptism, their miraculous demonstrations, and their prayer promises. In doing so, you ignore God’s baptism for us, God’s invisible intervention on our behalf, and God’s model prayers for us.

Friend, you cannot force God to do something He is not doing. If you are not doing what God is doing, then you are outside of God’s will, and your spiritual life is sure to be in ruins. Grabbing Israel’s verses and making them fit us, or taking our verses and making them fit Israel, is to fail to “rightly divide the word of truth.” It is to go the way of “profane and vain babblings,” “ungodliness,” worthless teaching. It is to follow Christendom—“the blind leaders of the blind” (Matthew 15:14)!

Now, dearly beloved, we summarize!

Understand and Enjoy the Bible! #6

Sunday, January 10, 2016

“And account that the longsuffering of our Lord is salvation; even as our beloved brother Paul also according to the wisdom given unto him hath written unto you; As also in all his epistles, speaking in them of these things; in which are some things hard to be understood, which they that are unlearned and unstable wrest, as they do also the other scriptures, unto their own destruction” (2 Peter 3:15,16 KJV).

Although there is so much confusion about it, can we really understand and enjoy the Bible? (Yes, yes, yes, yes, and yes!)

How did such overwhelming confusion originate? (Lost people fabricating false Bibles and not using the true Bible God’s way!) Where, O where, is God’s answer to the extensive misunderstandings about His Word? (In His Word, plain and simple!) How could He have allowed His Word to become so muddled up? (Blame sinful man, not God!) What can we do to save ourselves from such Biblical ignorance? (In His Word, plain and simple!)

Today’s Scripture contains seven related, and yet separate, lines of thought. We will take a week to look at them. Then, we will summarize both verses and all seven points. For now, note in today’s Scripture: (1) The “longsuffering of our Lord is salvation,” (2) “Our beloved brother Paul” had “wisdom given unto him” and he wrote it down, (3) Peter admitted that “some things” Paul spoke were “hard to be understood,” (4) People who were “unlearned and unstable” were “wresting”—twisting, mixing up—Paul’s epistles, (5) Paul’s epistles were “Scripture,” (6) The non-Pauline Bible books were also “Scripture,” and (7) Those failing to use the Bible properly—especially Paul’s books—were inflicting spiritual “destruction” upon themselves and their audiences.

The Berean Bible student will carefully consider these two verses from the Apostle Peter’s farewell epistle. Friends and brethren, those words show us where the Church the Body of Christ went terribly wrong 2,000 years ago. People using Scripture to further Satan’s agenda is nothing new. People corrupting God’s Word is nothing new. People perverting the Bible to corrupt souls is nothing new. People confusing others about the Scriptures is nothing new. People confused about the Holy Bible is nothing new. Praise God for His simple answers to this colossal mess!

Our latest Bible Q&A: “Do John 5:31 and John 8:14 contradict each other?”

Understand and Enjoy the Bible! #5

Saturday, January 9, 2016

“And account that the longsuffering of our Lord is salvation; even as our beloved brother Paul also according to the wisdom given unto him hath written unto you; As also in all his epistles, speaking in them of these things; in which are some things hard to be understood, which they that are unlearned and unstable wrest, as they do also the other scriptures, unto their own destruction” (2 Peter 3:15,16 KJV).

Although there is so much confusion about it, can we really understand and enjoy the Bible?

There are three primary reasons why there is such extensive argument about what the Bible actually says. Thirdly, people who do not use God’s Word God’s way cannot understand and teach the Bible correctly. Notice 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.”

Keep reading the passage, friend! “[16] But shun profane and vain babblings: for they will increase unto more ungodliness. [17] And their word will eat as doth a canker: of whom is Hymenaeus and Philetus; [18] Who concerning the truth have erred, saying that the resurrection is past already; and overthrow the faith of some.” Hymenaeus and Philetus were teaching “the resurrection is past already.” This involves a timeline—past, present, and future. These two men were not denying the doctrine of resurrection; they were merely saying “the resurrection” had already happened. Also, the context is not Jesus Christ’s resurrection. It is the false teaching that Christians have already been resurrected.

By Hymenaeus and Philetus telling Christians that Christians had already been resurrected, Christians who had not experienced that resurrection thus doubted their salvation (“overthrow the faith of some”). Innumerable precious believers have been duped in the centuries since Hymenaeus and Philetus. Christendom abounds with smooth-talking church leaders who “teach” the Bible but who do not teach it “rightly divided.” They are not “dividing” things that God has divided; they have thoroughly mixed the Bible verses. No wonder the professing church is so mixed-up and impotent today! May all the lost people hush, may all the false Bible users shush, and may all the non-dispensationalists hush, so confusion can subside and spiritual light can enter!

Understand and Enjoy the Bible! #4

Friday, January 8, 2016

“And account that the longsuffering of our Lord is salvation; even as our beloved brother Paul also according to the wisdom given unto him hath written unto you; As also in all his epistles, speaking in them of these things; in which are some things hard to be understood, which they that are unlearned and unstable wrest, as they do also the other scriptures, unto their own destruction” (2 Peter 3:15,16 KJV).

Although there is so much confusion about it, can we really understand and enjoy the Bible?

There are three primary reasons why there is such extensive argument about what the Bible actually says. Secondly, people who do not have God’s Word cannot understand and teach the Bible correctly. Notice 2 Corinthians 2:17: “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.”

People have corrupted Scripture, whether the first century or the twenty-first. Read 2 Thessalonians 2:2: “That ye be not soon shaken in mind, or be troubled, neither by spirit, nor by word, nor by letter as from us, as that the day of Christ is at hand.” Someone wrote a letter, forged Paul’s name on it, and then sent it to Thessalonica to pass it off as “God’s Word.” Satan’s ministers also did that centuries prior to Paul: “Behold, I am against them that prophesy false dreams, saith the LORD, and do tell them, and cause my people to err by their lies, and by their lightness; yet I sent them not, nor commanded them: therefore they shall not profit this people at all, saith the LORD” (Jeremiah 23:32).

Between the first century A.D. and our present-day, many manuscripts and versions have been passed off as “God’s Word.” Friends, we would be fools to think they are all authentic. Beware of the modern-version forgeries! And yet, unbelieving “scholarship”—or saved people misled by unbelieving “scholarship”—values them and uses their “scholarly” (ha!) readings to correct God’s infallible Word. If someone is not using the proper Bible text (in English, the King James Bible), they have no business whatsoever in speaking or writing anything related to the Book they do not have.

Understand and Enjoy the Bible! #3

Thursday, January 7, 2016

“And account that the longsuffering of our Lord is salvation; even as our beloved brother Paul also according to the wisdom given unto him hath written unto you; As also in all his epistles, speaking in them of these things; in which are some things hard to be understood, which they that are unlearned and unstable wrest, as they do also the other scriptures, unto their own destruction” (2 Peter 3:15,16 KJV).

Although there is so much confusion about it, can we really understand and enjoy the Bible?

There are three primary reasons why there is extensive argument about what the Bible actually says. Firstly, people who do not have God’s Spirit cannot understand and teach His Word correctly. Notice 1 Corinthians chapter 2: “[13] Which things also we speak, not in the words which man’s wisdom teacheth, but which the Holy Ghost teacheth; comparing spiritual things with spiritual. [14] But the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned.”

Ephesians chapter 1 says that we receive the Holy Spirit by believing on Jesus Christ’s finished crosswork as sufficient payment for our sins: “[13] In whom [Christ] ye also trusted, after that ye heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation: in whom also after that ye believed, ye were sealed with that holy Spirit of promise, [14] Which is the earnest of our inheritance….”

If someone has not believed the Gospel of Grace alone for salvation, he or she does not have the Holy Spirit, and thus is incapable of accurately commenting on Scripture. Innumerable pastors, deacons, priests, seminary professors, Bible translators, and teachers have no business whatsoever in speaking or writing anything about the Book whose Author they lack. And yet, these are the very people writing the vast majority of “Christian” literature, teaching in most “Christian” institutions, and preaching on most “Christian” radio and television stations. They do not have God the Holy Spirit as their Teacher, so they are unqualified to be our teachers in God’s Word. They are doing nothing but using human intellect to guess what the Bible teaches. May they hush so confusion can subside!

Redeem the Year!

Friday, January 1, 2016

“See then that ye walk circumspectly, not as fools, but as wise, redeeming the time, because the days are evil. Wherefore be ye not unwise, but understanding what the will of the Lord is” (Ephesians 5:15-17 KJV).

What great advice for 2016!

Despite 2,000 years of Bible schools and seminaries, 2,000 years of a completed Bible canon, 2,000 years of Bible reading in churches, several decades of “Christian” television and radio, and just over a decade of widespread use of “Christian” websites, how sad that Bible ignorance is still quite extensive (it is as if God never gave His Word to start with!).

Frankly, the Church the Body of Christ needs to wake up! The verse previous to today’s Scripture says, “Awake thou that sleepest, and arise from the dead, and Christ shall give thee light” (verse 14). Paul, loosely quoting Isaiah 60:1, reminded us that the spiritual ignorance that gripped Israel in Isaiah’s day seized Christians in his day—and it still grips Christians 20 centuries later. Feel-good sermons, enjoyable “worship” services, and rites, rituals, and ceremonies will NOT solve this problem—they exacerbate it!

“[God] will have all men to be saved…” (1 Timothy 2:4a). Do you want this New Year to count for God’s glory? First, you need to get saved from sins and hell! You need to become a Christian by trusting in and relying on Jesus Christ’s death, burial, and resurrection as sufficient payment for your sins (1 Corinthians 15:3,4). That is only part of God’s will for you, for 1 Timothy 2:4b continues, “[God] will have all men… to come unto the knowledge of the truth.” Now, God’s will for your Christian life is daily, personal Bible study to renew your mind, so your faith in those verses can cause God to work in your life—it will be His life, thus making you “perfect [spiritually mature], throughly furnished unto all good works” (2 Timothy 3:16,17).

Today’s Scripture urges us to buy back the time Satan has robbed from God (time created for God’s glory). By faith, we need to make that time glorify the Lord Jesus Christ by applying His Word, particularly Paul’s epistles of Romans through Philemon, to our lives. Have a good year in Christ! 🙂

You can download our free “One-Year Bible Reading Schedule.”

See our archived Bible Q&A: “What Scriptural advice can you give me for the New Year?”

Attendance to Apprehending

Saturday, November 28, 2015

“Till I come, give attendance to reading, to exhortation, to doctrine” (1 Timothy 4:13 KJV).

Grace Bible conferences are always a joyful and edifying time!

We meet new people and old friends, most of who are believers in the Lord Jesus Christ. They are really seeking God’s truth rather than those who would come to be merely religious or simply entertained. We desire Jesus Christ to live His life in and through us, and it will only come about by God’s Word renewing our minds on a daily basis. Conferences are not simply about Bible study, but Bible understanding so that it can become Bible application to life. While plenty of people read the Bible, very few study it; and of the few who study it, even fewer understand it; and of the few who understand it, even fewer apply it to life by faith. Our goal is to be in that last class listed, that very small remnant.

Father God is doing something wonderful today in creation and He wants us to participate. A grace Bible conference is to grasp the Bible on a large-scale, to the intent that we may see a fuller picture of the Bible rather than just a glimpse of it (as in a regular sermon or teaching session), that we may find where we are in Scripture (Paul’s epistles, Romans through Philemon), that we may then discover how Jesus Christ can give us His life and how He can fill us with it (grace living)!

It is an extremely high plane of living that very few Christians grasp, since organized religion opposes it and hides it from the masses (2 Corinthians 4:1-4), but oh, how we have cast off religious works and our vain performance (Philippians 3:1-21), how we have begun to search the Scriptures for ourselves (Acts 17:10,11), how we have a better understanding of such a wonderful Saviour who not only died that we might live but that we died with Him so that He might live in us! We assemble locally to study the Scriptures rightly divided to learn how Christ Jesus is living His life in each of ours, and we rejoice that it is not us, but Him (Galatians 2:20; Philippians 1:21; Colossians 3:4)!

NOTE: The 2015 Slidell (Louisiana) Grace Bible Conference is underway! Videos of the messages to be uploaded to YouTube in due time, so stay tuned for updates.

Satan and Dispensationalism #10

Wednesday, October 14, 2015

“Now concerning spiritual gifts, brethren, I would not have you ignorant” (1 Corinthians 12:1 KJV).

Today’s Scripture is one of the six key areas that Satan has found to be advantageous regarding confusing God’s people in this Dispensation of Grace, the Church the Body of Christ!

Satan wants ignorant Christians. After all, he can only rule over people who are unaware of what really matters. As one dear brother often says, “Ignorant brethren are the world’s largest denomination!” To add insult to injury, the exact six instances where Paul says not to be ignorant of some doctrine, they are the very doctrines of which Christendom is totally ignorant today! Awful! Shameful! Awful!

The fourth exhortation not to be ignorant is in today’s Scripture. It is part of Paul’s answers to the Corinthians’ list of questions (cf. 1 Corinthians 7:1; 1 Corinthians 8:1). Chapters 12-14 are his instructions concerning spiritual gifts operating during the Acts transitional period. The Corinthians were so carnal (fleshly, worldly) (1 Corinthians 3:1-3), using their spiritual gifts without charity (chapter 13) and glorifying their flesh with “flashiness” in the assembly. “Look at my gift—I speak gibberish, I heal the sick, I blah…blah…blah…!” (Sound familiar?) Paul had to sternly rebuke them. They were not led by God’s Spirit. Furthermore, they were so unhealthily fixated on those spiritual gifts, their Christian lives would finish falling apart in the coming years when those gifts would finish falling away.

There is still a satanic agenda today to deceive Christians concerning spiritual gifts. So many Christians believe God is currently operating the gifts of tongues, healing, prophesy, knowledge, et cetera. Friends, let us ever be mindful of it. Spiritual gifts were for a sign to unbelieving Israel (1 Corinthians 1:22; 1 Corinthians 14:21,22) and only temporarily (1 Corinthians 13:8-13). Christendom proudly refuses to acknowledge those sign gifts fell away when the written Word of God was completed. Like the Corinthians, they are still stuck on selfishness and immaturity—using spiritual gifts to gratify the flesh and glorying in limited Bible understanding. Like Israel in Hebrews 5:11-14, when they should be able to teach God’s Word to others, they themselves must first be taught it. Paul’s epistles, Romans through Philemon, are largely ignored… thus, Christendom is largely ignorant!

Our latest Bible Q&A: “Does God give us faith?”

Satan and Dispensationalism #6

Saturday, October 10, 2015

“And a certain Jew named Apollos, born at Alexandria, an eloquent man, and mighty in the scriptures, came to Ephesus. This man was instructed in the way of the Lord; and being fervent in the spirit, he spake and taught diligently the things of the Lord, knowing only the baptism of John. And he began to speak boldly in the synagogue: whom when Aquila and Priscilla had heard, they took him unto them, and expounded unto him the way of God more perfectly” (Acts 18:24-26 KJV).

Dispensational Bible study is the key to believing a clear Gospel message and understanding the Bible canon, so Satan seeks to hide or corrupt it, that he may keep the masses in his snare!

We commonly hear, “Pastor/Doctor/Father/Brother/Sister disagrees with dispensational Bible study, so I dislike it too. After all, how could someone so educated be wrong?” Well, quite easily, actually. Consider “mighty-in-the-Scriptures” Apollos of today’s Scripture. He was very passionate in preaching… John’s water baptism, an Old Testament message, a message God Himself had replaced 20 years earlier!

Educated Apollos—probably (mis)trained at the heretical seminary (Bible cemetery) in Alexandria, Egypt—was unaware of the advancement of God’s revelation. He had no idea about Jesus Christ’s earthly ministry, the 12 apostles, Calvary’s crosswork, Christ’s ascension into heaven, the coming of the Holy Ghost in Acts chapter 2, the delay in Israel’s prophetic program, or Paul’s conversion and ministry and the start of the mystery program. Apollos did not know of the Holy Ghost, indicating Apollos was still lost. He was not even saved in relationship to Israel’s program.

Jewish husband and wife Aquila and Priscilla had spent extended time with Paul in Acts 18:1-3. Paul converted lost Aquila and Priscilla, bringing them up-to-date with his ministry and message. Later in the chapter, Aquila and Priscilla taught that info to lost Apollos. That was “the way of God more perfectly,” the better way to preach God’s Word (rightly divided). Now Apollos knew what current gospel and doctrine to preach.

So many today say, “Oh, we preach Jesus!” Yes, according to His earthly ministry they preach Him. There has been a further revelation. Jesus Christ has a heavenly ministry—Paul’s ministry, Romans through Philemon. Wake up, ye Apolloses!

Satan and Dispensationalism #4

Thursday, October 8, 2015

“For when for the time ye ought to be teachers, ye have need that one teach you again which be the first principles of the oracles of God; and are become such as have need of milk, and not of strong meat” (Hebrews 5:12 KJV).

Dispensational Bible study is the key to believing a clear Gospel message and understanding the Bible canon, so Satan seeks to hide or corrupt it, that he may keep the masses in his snare!

Recently, a dear Christian lady told me about her denominational church, “We read the Bible there, we just do not study it as in-depth as you do.” In other words, like most churches today, it is shallow. Just enough verses to keep people interested in supporting the church, but not enough verses to impact their lives sufficiently for God’s glory. Just enough verses to bolster the denomination, but not enough verses to strengthen souls.

It is common in dispensational Bible study circles to hear people who are so disappointed to have learned those simple Bible truths so very late in their lives. They trusted Christ as their personal Saviour 30, 40, or 50 or more years ago, but they spent all those years in shallow understanding and utter Bible confusion. A poor lady once told a Christian brother, “I am over 90 years old. I have learned more from my Bible in six months with dispensational Bible study, than I have learned in 90 years in ‘church!’”

From Moses to Christ, about 1500 years, the Jews should have learned enough Bible to teach the nations. Alas, the writer of the book of Hebrews chided his nation for being spiritually immature and ignorant (today’s Scripture). Verses 13 and 14 continue, “For every one that useth milk is unskilful in the word of righteousness: for he is a babe. But strong meat belongeth to them that are of full age, even those who by reason of use have their senses exercised to discern both good and evil.”

If we want to avoid Israel’s mistake, and Christendom’s mistake, may we become skilled in the Word of God rightly divided, that we may teach others—lost and saved alike.