Category: ministry

The More Excellent Ministry #2

Tuesday, August 26, 2014

“For the love of Christ constraineth us… God, who hath reconciled us to himself by Jesus Christ, and hath given to us the ministry of reconciliation” (2 Corinthians 5:14a,18bc KJV).

Our flesh is ever so weak, but Christ’s love—the unconditional love He has for us—drives us to push ourselves aside and think of others instead.

Notice the middle letter of the words “sin,” “pride,” and Lucifer.” Sin, at its heart, is serving self and living for self. However, the Christian life is not designed to be one of sin (selfishness): the most basic elements of the Gospel of the Grace of God, are us dying and resurrecting with Christ. The Christian life is really Jesus Christ’s life—the life that Father God gave us the moment we trusted Jesus Christ’s crosswork as sufficient payment for our sins. What was most characteristic of the life Jesus Christ lived on the earth?

Jesus prayed, “O my Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me: nevertheless not as I will, but as thou wilt…. O my Father, if this cup may not pass away from me, except I drink it, thy will be done” (Matthew 26:39,42). “Though he were a Son, yet learned he obedience by the things which he suffered” (Hebrews 5:8).

Philippians 2:3-8 summarizes the greatest life ever lived in human flesh: “[3] Let nothing be done through strife or vainglory; but in lowliness of mind let each esteem other better than themselves. [4] Look not every man on his own things, but every man also on the things of others. [5] Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus: [6] Who, being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God: [7] But made himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men: [8] And being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross.”

Just as Jesus Christ’s earthly ministry was to fulfill His Heavenly Father’s will for Him, so our earthly ministry is to fulfill our Heavenly Father’s will for us….

arC Ministries Turns 7!

Thursday, July 31, 2014

“Now then we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God did beseech you by us: we pray you in Christ’s stead, be ye reconciled to God” (2 Corinthians 5:20 KJV).

Rejoice with us in Christ Jesus as arC Ministries celebrates its seventh anniversary today!

On July 31, 2007, I started a Facebook group titled, “ambassadors for the risen Christ.” It was one of the first Bible study groups on Facebook, designed to serve as a platform where I would write and post Bible studies for college students to read and discuss (it still exists today). These last seven years have certainly flown by. To dream that that small group would lead to where our ministry is today was totally unexpected!

For the last three years, we have dedicated much of our time to this devotionals blog, and for the last two years, we have focused on developing and drafting a grace study Bible (entering its third year tomorrow). Other ministry projects include a 22-week newspaper ministry column (this devotionals blog’s predecessor), a YouTube channel with home Bible study videos, a Twitter feed, a full-length Bible studies blog, a college campus ministry, a nursing-home ministry, and late last year, we introduced our Bible-question-and-answer blog.

We have heard from people from five continents and from many walks of life—atheists, pastors, priests, seminarians, common church members, and Bible teachers. It has been quite a joy to see countless people come to understand and rejoice in Bible truth, whether they were saved unto eternal life or rescued from vain religious tradition unto spiritual maturity.

Our very name says it all: we serve the risen Lord Jesus Christ, not some “dead Jew” and not ourselves. Dear saints, for those of you who have been with us these last seven years, we thank you for your prayer support. This is your fruit, and in eternity, you will partake of the benefits. How we are ever grateful to our Lord Jesus Christ, who committed unto all of us the ministry of reconciliation, that we may tell others God has paid the price of their sins in full at Calvary, and teach them from the rightly divided Bible what it all means in light of eternity.

Here is to another seven years to the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ! Onward in Him we go! 🙂

Beyond Our Comfort Zone

Wednesday, July 23, 2014

“Yea, and all that will live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution” (2 Timothy 3:12 KJV).

Our Christian lives are really not our own, so may we remove ourselves from our “comfort zone!”

The “comfort zone” is “a situation where one feels safe or at ease.” How many professing Christians, yea how many true Christians, are “too comfortable” to be “bothered” with witnessing and Gospel-tract distribution? Beloved, let us not be selfish! “For none of us liveth to himself, and no man dieth to himself. For whether we live, we live unto the Lord; and whether we die, we die unto the Lord: whether we live therefore, or die, we are the Lord’s” (Romans 14:7,8; cf. 1 Corinthians 6:19,20).

From the time He began His ministry near age 30, to when He laid down His life at Calvary three short years later, Jesus Christ accomplished every single work that His Heavenly Father required of Him (John 17:4,8; John 19:30). However, His fellow man hated Him beyond words. Most all of Israel’s apostles are assumed to have died martyrs’ deaths. Right up until his execution, the Apostle Paul labored fervently for the sake of the Gospel of Grace (2 Timothy 4:6-8). As a dear friend in the ministry quips, Paul first inspected the jail whenever he entered a city because he knew he would probably be “checking-in” there that night! The Lord Jesus and His saints stepped out of their comfort zone, risking and losing their lives for Father God’s will. Intense opposition and persecution did not deter them.

Rather than just sitting around condemning the lost world for behaving like the sinners they are, Christianity needs to study their Bibles rightly divided and learn God’s truth so they can tell it to others. We have Jesus Christ, the only key to mankind’s sin problem. As people who have trusted the Lord Jesus Christ alone as our personal Saviour, it is our privilege and responsibility to share Him with others. Absolutely, this means jeopardizing our social status, friendships, acceptance in the family, and yes, our lives. Sure, they will dismiss as crazy, shun us, perhaps imprison or kill us, but at least we cared enough about them that we told them the truth! 🙂

When the Church Confers

Friday, July 18, 2014

“…[G]ive attendance to reading, to exhortation, to doctrine” (1 Timothy 4:13).

Having attended a grace Bible conference via the internet these last six days, I devote today’s devotional to reflecting upon it.

Anytime we meet with like-minded believers in Jesus Christ, it should be the most enjoyable experience this side of heaven. Moreover, when two-dozen Holy-Spirit-filled, knowledgeable yet humble, preachers of God’s grace to us in Jesus Christ, teach from the King James Bible rightly divided, the lost will hear the Gospel of Grace many times over, and the saints will be greatly edified many times over.

The conference was a very refreshing time for people who were confused about soul salvation unto justification and eternal life, and an equally encouraging time for Christians who needed either establishment or stabilization in sound Bible doctrine. No one went home without hearing the Gospel of God’s Grace (Jesus Christ’s finished crosswork as sufficient payment for our sins), no one went home without hearing about proper Bible study (Paul’s apostleship to us), and no one went home without having heard about the infallibility and reliability of the King James Bible. What they do with that information is their decision, not ours.

In accordance with today’s Scripture, attendance was indeed given to reading, exhortation, and doctrine. Attendance to “study[ing]… rightly dividing the word of truth” was certainly given (2 Timothy 2:15); attendance to believing those verses, however, that is the hearer’s prerogative. Those who did trust the Gospel presented, they passed from death to life; those who believed the sound Bible doctrine presented, they were liberated from denominational yokes and prisons, and Bible perversions. Yea, some heard more sound Bible doctrine in six days, than they heard in all their lives in “church!”

Such a conference of sound Bible doctrine redounds to the Lord Jesus Christ’s glory alone, it resounds throughout the heavenly places, and it abounds in the hearts of us who believe. O, the manifold grace of God to all mankind! O, the manifold grace of God that enables us in Christ to tell all of lost mankind about that manifold grace of God to them! 🙂

NOTE: I highly recommend the 2014 Grace School of the Bible Summer Family Bible Conference to you. You may access its archived videos and MP3’s here.

333’s 1100th – An Edifice Under Construction

Wednesday, June 4, 2014

“For the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ” (Ephesians 4:12 KJV).

Only by Jesus Christ’s grace, we mark another ministry milestone!

Recently, an individual expressed to me her disdain for “religion” in general. Her main objection was that there were many contradictory denominations of “Christianity.” I proceeded to politely explain to her that she, like many, was unaware of the distinction between pure Christianity and vain Christendom. She needed to understand that Paul’s epistles, Romans through Philemon, alone describe Christianity, God’s current directions and program; everything else in the Bible is Israel’s program.

Beloved, when religionists combine the two programs in Scripture—that is, pick and choose doctrines from “prophecy” and “mystery”—they create Christendom, a spiritual monster, a monstrosity of misquoted Scripture, pagan nonsense, and a host of other errors. Christendom is a system that will devour (and has overwhelmed) Christian and non-Christian souls alike. Any appeal to Scripture seems utterly hopeless, for every denomination is quoting a Bible verse to support its system!

During these last 1100 days, we hope to have been a help and an encouragement to you. The Apostle Peter, in his second and final epistle, wrote about “unlearned and unstable” souls “wresting” (twisting, distorting, perverting) the Scriptures—particularly, Paul’s epistles—and “beguiling [tricking, deceiving] unstable souls” (2 Peter 2:14; 2 Peter 3:16). Basically, unstable souls making other people’s souls unsteady also; the result is a group of vacillating individuals, “tossed to and fro, and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the sleight [fraud!] of men, and cunning craftiness, whereby they lie in wait to deceive” (Ephesians 4:14, the context of today’s Scripture).

God wants “perfected” saints (today’s Scripture), saints who are spiritually mature, “throughly furnished unto all good works” (2 Timothy 3:17), saints who can do “the work of the ministry,” who can “edify” (build up, mature) the Church the Body of Christ. In doing so, God’s people will be guarded against doctrinal error, Satan’s policy of evil. Thus, by God’s grace, we will continue in our daily Bible studies, that you may save yourself and others from false teaching (1 Timothy 4:16).

Onward we go in God’s grace! 🙂

Religion, Riches, and Robbery

Friday, April 4, 2014

“And through covetousness shall they with feigned words make merchandise of you: whose judgment now of a long time lingereth not, and their damnation slumbereth not” (2 Peter 2:3 KJV).

Do not let religion “take you for a ride,” for you will end up paying for the trip!

In recent years, news stories involving “filthy rich” bishops, priests, and ministers seem to have become more prevalent. Only after they are caught, they “apologize” for their multimillion-dollar mansions, exotic trips and vehicles, and other lavish expenditures using “church money.” The “peon-parishioners” are forced to contribute to “God’s work” by giving, and, in return, they are reassured that their “merit” will reap “eternal benefits.” Religion is the world’s most profitable business indeed!

Dearly beloved, we must, must, MUST exercise great caution when giving to any ministry or local church. Remember, Jesus sternly rebuked the “thieves” who defiled His Father’s house, the Temple (Matthew 21:12,13; Mark 11:15-18; Luke 19:45-48; John 2:13-17). Our Lord Jesus said these religious leaders “devoured widows’ houses” (Matthew 23:14; Mark 12:40; Luke 20:47). They did not think twice about taking everything they possibly could from the common Jews! Before the Apostle Paul was saved, as one of these religious leaders, he (as Saul of Tarsus) confessed that he “profited in the Jews’ religion above many [his] equals in [his] own nation” (Galatians 1:14). We read about false religious leaders swindling the Corinthians (2 Corinthians 11:13-20).

In the context of today’s Scripture, the Apostle Peter reminds his Jewish audience that just as the Holy Spirit operated through holy prophets, Satan operated through false prophets (2 Peter 1:19–2:3). These teachers of “damnable heresies” fell into the trap of materialism (1 Timothy 6:6-10) and coveted their converts’ possessions—they preached “feigned” (worthless/fake, but nice-sounding) words. The Prophet Micah, writing circa 750 B.C., reported, “The heads thereof judge for reward, and the priests thereof teach for hire, and the prophets thereof divine for money” (3:11).

God’s grace is not against giving (2 Corinthians chapters 8-10); God’s grace is against tithing (forceful giving). We give “cheerfully” (happily; 2 Corinthians 9:6,7) to sound grace Bible churches and ministries, but, most importantly, we give carefully!

333’s 1000th – God’s Glorious Grace

Monday, February 24, 2014

“And the things that thou hast heard of me among many witnesses, the same commit thou to faithful men, who shall be able to teach others also” (2 Timothy 2:2 KJV).

Only by God’s glorious grace, “333 Words of Grace” marks its 1000th devotional today!

Dear readers and saints around the world, it is difficult to imagine that we have come this far by God’s grace. For the last 1,000 days, we have allowed God’s Word to daily minister to our hearts and souls—what an edifying time it has been! However, we have not even scratched the surface of the abounding riches of God’s grace to us in Christ. We still have so much more to learn about God’s purpose and plan for heaven and earth, and we still have so much more to learn about our role in it. Still, I thank our Lord Jesus Christ to have had opportunity to share with you what “little” we have discussed.

From day 1, my constant prayer and desire has been to follow today’s Scripture. At one time, even as a saved individual (having assurance of soul salvation unto eternal life), religious tradition had robbed and deceived me concerning daily Christian living. My desire—yea, the Lord Jesus Christ’s desire—is that you be taught the truth that the Apostle Paul preached. My goal has always been to teach you God’s Word “rightly divided” (2 Timothy 2:15), to the intent that you teach others that same grace-oriented doctrine (today’s Scripture).

Lost people need to know the right Gospel for salvation today (Paul’s Gospel, the Gospel of the Grace of God; 1 Corinthians 15:1-4), and Christians need to know the right apostle to follow today (Paul, as he reveals Jesus Christ in his epistles, Romans through Philemon). The average church teaches its parishioners neither; hence, lost people remain lost and saved people remain confused.

Thousands more devotionals are slowly taking form, so onward we go for the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ. Thank you for your continued prayer, for it has not been in vain. Lord willing, and only by His grace, we hope to serve you for at least another 1,000 days! 🙂

For What Saith the Scriptures?

Sunday, December 15, 2013

“For what saith the scripture? Abraham believed God, and it was counted unto him for righteousness” (Romans 4:3 KJV).

Today, arC Ministries is launching a new Bible Q&A website, and you are invited to participate!

A question rarely asked in Christian circles, “What saith the scripture?” is found twice in the Bible—today’s Scripture, and Galatians 4:30, “Nevertheless what saith the scripture? Cast out the bondwoman and her son: for the son of the bondwoman shall not be heir with the son of the freewoman.”

God’s will for our lives is summed up in 1 Timothy 2:4, “[God our Saviour] Who will have all men to be saved, and to come unto the knowledge of the truth.” There are two issues here—soul salvation from sins and everlasting hellfire, and soul salvation from false teaching unto sound Bible doctrine. Firstly, God wants everyone to become Christians by trusting in and relying exclusively on His Son Jesus Christ and His finished crosswork at Calvary as sufficient payment for their sins. Secondly, God wants Christians to trust in and rely on the grace doctrines found in Paul’s epistles, Romans through Philemon.

Amazingly, both occurrences of “What saith the scripture?” have a special application to us—each instance correlates to one of the issues in 1 Timothy 2:4! The question “What saith the scripture?” in today’s Scripture uses the Bible to answer the question of soul salvation from sins and everlasting hellfire (faith instead of works, “all men to be saved;” 1 Timothy 2:4). The question “What saith the scripture?” in Galatians 4:30 uses the Bible to answer the question of soul salvation from false teaching unto sound Bible doctrine (grace instead of legalism, “come unto the knowledge of the truth;” 1 Timothy 2:4).

The above summarizes our new ministry website, “For What Saith the Scriptures?” We desire you to have a clear understanding of how to have forgiveness of sins and justification unto eternal life, and for you to have a clear understanding of what God’s Word has to say about issues in your Christian life. We are honored to serve you in this additional capacity. Please visit that new site (http://forwhatsaiththescriptures.wordpress.com) and submit Bible questions, and pray for this new ministry endeavor.

Rest, But Not Permanently!

Thursday, December 12, 2013

“And he said unto them, Come ye yourselves apart into a desert place, and rest a while: for there were many coming and going, and they had no leisure so much as to eat” (Mark 6:31 KJV).

Jesus and His apostles are exhausted, but their work was well worth the time and energy….

Earlier in the chapter, Jesus had commissioned His 12 apostles to go out two by two, healing the sick, casting out devils, and preaching the Gospel of the Kingdom (verses 7-11). “And they went out, and preached that men should repent. And they cast out many devils, and anointed with oil many that were sick, and healed them” (verses 12,13). Verse 30 says, “And the apostles gathered themselves together unto Jesus, and told him all things, both what they had done, and what they had taught.”

Today’s Scripture says that the 12 apostles have been very busy, so hardworking, that they have not even had time to eat! Our Lord Jesus Christ knew they needed rest and sustenance, so He we pressed them to accompany Him to a lonely place away from the crowds… although the Bible says the crowds beat them to the lonely place (this is where Jesus miraculously fed the hungry 5,000)!

In Scripture, we read about how, sometime earlier, the Lord Jesus grew so weary from journeying in Samaria (central Israel), and He had to sit down on a water well to rest (John 4:6).

Jesus Christ and His believers have always upheld and proclaimed the precious truths of the Scriptures, and they did not mind using all of their time and energy to get that message out to the masses! As Paul wrote, “And I will very gladly spend and be spent for you: though the more abundantly I love you, the less I be loved” (2 Corinthians 12:15).

Certainly, amidst all the activity of the Christian ambassadorship, we should take moments of rest, but may we never take a permanent break! “And let us not be weary in welldoing: for in due season we shall reap, if we faint not” (Galatians 6:9). 🙂

Tips to Timid Timothy to Tolerate Troubling Times #7

Saturday, December 7, 2013

“For God hath not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind” (2 Timothy 1:7 KJV).

We have often heard the expression “timid Timothy,” but have you ever wondered why he was timid?

The word “spirit” in today’s Scripture should be understood in the sense of “attitude or state of mind; mentality.” For clarity’s sake, we must remember to attach the term “spirit” to the three items listed: “For God hath not given us the spirit [mentality] of fear; but [the spirit] of power, and [the spirit] of love, and [the spirit] of a sound mind.”

Remember the “spirit of fear” has gripped Timothy. He is becoming craven; he is beginning to lose the boldness that is required in the Christian ministry. Satan does not like competition, and when he opposes the Christian’s service by using persecution and/or other suffering (in hopes of forcing the saint to quit entirely), the Christian must be mindful to have the mentality that God would want him or her to have during those troubles (that spiritual destruction, apostasy, et cetera, not result).

How would a mature Christian handle troubles? Firstly, spiritual maturity only comes by personal Bible study. We study God’s Word, believe it, and let it transform our minds. “And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind” (Romans 12:2ab). “Be renewed in the spirit of your mind” (Ephesians 4:23)—the same “spirit” found in today’s Scripture. “And have put on the new man, which is renewed in knowledge after the image of him that created him” (Colossians 3:10).

Satan cannot take us out of Jesus Christ; however, he can deceive us into thinking we are outside of Jesus Christ (thus causing us to lose sight of our provisions in Christ). Consider the troubles of life described in Romans 8:35-39, which Satan utilized to discourage Timothy (he will do the same with us if we are not mindful of sound Pauline doctrine!). We, like Timothy, need to remember who God the Father has made us in Christ, and use the “arsenal” God has given us to protect our minds in dire circumstances….