Category: spiritual growth and maturity

Wolves in Sheep’s Clothing

Sunday, October 28, 2012

“For I know this, that after my departing shall grievous wolves enter in among you, not sparing the flock” (Acts 20:29 KJV).

Saints, let us be mindful that today’s Scripture is truer today than ever before.

In the context of today’s Scripture, the Apostle Paul is bidding the Ephesian church leaders farewell. He is determined to return to Jerusalem, unsure if the Jews will kill him there (verses 22,23). Paul warns these church leaders to “take heed therefore unto [themselves], and to all the flock, over the which the Holy Ghost hath made [them] overseers, to feed the church of God, which he hath purchased with his own blood” (verse 28).

They need to be on guard, for in the next verse—today’s Scripture—he cautions them that false teachers will come in and spiritually devour these Christian leaders and their local assemblies. Satan’s ministers, denominationalists/religionists/legalists, will devastate the spiritual health of God’s people. They will come in from the outside world, and infiltrate the church with heresy so Christians become ineffective.

But, the subsequent verse says, “Also of your own selves shall men arise, speaking perverse things, to draw away disciples after them” (verse 30). Not only will people outside the local church come in and deceive, there will be false teachers within the church (already doing the damage subtly and hypocritically). They claim “Jesus is Lord,” they talk about God’s love and grace, and some will even go so far as to agree with us by teaching the special ministry and gospel committed to the Apostle Paul’s trust. But, when you read the King James Bible for yourself, and compare their teaching to it, you realize that their ministry confirms today’s Scripture.

“With tears,” Paul warned the Ephesians for three years about false teaching (Acts 20:31). By the end of Paul’s ministry, several years after that warning in Acts chapter 20, Ephesus and the rest of Asia (Turkey) went into apostasy (2 Timothy 1:15). Dear saints, how we would STRONGLY URGE you to be very careful about what preacher, ministry, and/or church you follow. “Many corrupt the word of God” (2 Corinthians 2:17).

333’s 500th: Grace Publishers

Friday, October 12, 2012

“The Lord gave the word: great was the company of those that published it” (Psalm 68:11 KJV).

Saints, by God’s grace, 333 Words of Grace reaches yet another milestone!

For the past 500 days, I truly have been honored to teach God’s perfectly preserved Word (the King James Bible) rightly divided, to you all. Our goal from the very beginning was to provide free, quality, sound, brief devotionals to anyone who had an open heart, so that he or she could be edified, encouraged, and enlightened by God’s Word rightly divided.

How we desired to “have all men saved, and to come unto the knowledge of the truth” (1 Timothy 2:3,4). How we shared God’s desire “to make all men see the fellowship of the mystery” (Ephesians 3:9), to proclaim the precious and clear Bible truths that, sadly, religious tradition has deliberately muddled and hidden. Our goal was to demonstrate that the King James Bible is interesting and practical, intricately designed and divinely preserved, trustworthy and majesty. How we praise the Lord that He accomplished His will!

God is doing something so fantastic in this the Dispensation of His Grace, and as members of the Body of Christ, we are privileged to teach and preach His wonderful grace to us in Jesus Christ as found in His preserved Word, and preserved words, the King James Bible. With humble and thankful hearts, as the Lord gives us strength, we will continue to minister to you here in this venue.

Saints, by God’s grace and faithfulness, and with your prayerful support, we now aim for 1000. We will continue to hope, pray, study, and write, with the intention of further “publishing” God’s Word in a clear, sound manner—dispensationally studied, believed, and taught. My, how we have come such a long, long way, but we have much more from God’s Word to “publish.” Only by God’s grace, our next 500 devotionals will be even better, covering an even greater variety of topics. We do ask for your prayers, as we now have 800 new devotionals planned and begun.

Thank you, and please remember that all of our posts are archived here at https://333wordsofgrace.wordpress.com. 🙂

Walking in the Spirit #7

Wednesday, October 10, 2012

“And they that are Christ’s have crucified the flesh with the affections and lusts. If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit” (Galatians 5:24,25 KJV).

Now that we have trusted Jesus Christ alone as our personal Saviour, we have a new identity, and this identity should impact our lifestyles for God’s glory.

“For in that he [Christ] died, he died unto sin once: but in that he liveth, he liveth unto God. Likewise reckon ye also yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin, but alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord. Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body, that ye should obey it in the lusts thereof. Neither yield ye your members [body parts] as instruments of unrighteousness unto sin: but yield yourselves unto God, as those that are alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness unto God” (Romans 6:10-13).

We Christians “yield [ourselves] unto God,” not by keeping a list of church rules and regulations (which we can never obey perfectly anyway), but by simply “walking in the Spirit,” walking by faith in our resurrection life in Christ (described in this sound Pauline doctrine). We let the Holy Ghost take His written Word that we study and believe rightly divided, to transform and renew our minds, and produce in us Christ’s life.

“That ye put off concerning the former conversation [lifestyle] the old man [old nature], which is corrupt according to the deceitful lusts; and be renewed in the spirit of your mind; and that ye put on the new man [new nature], which after God is created in righteousness and true holiness” (Ephesians 4:22-24). “Lie not one to another, seeing that ye have put off the old man with his deeds; and have put on the new man, which is renewed in knowledge after the image of him that created him” (Colossians 3:9,10).

Beloved, the indwelling Holy Spirit desires to transform our lives to match our new nature in Christ. Will we allow Him?

Saints, let us “quench [hinder] not the Spirit” (1 Thessalonians 5:19), but let us “walk in the Spirit” (today’s Scripture).

The Remaining Two-Thirds

Saturday, September 29, 2012

“Jesus saith unto them, My meat is to do the will of him that sent me, and to finish his work” (John 4:34 KJV).

On average, you will spend one-third of your life sleeping. Of what will the remaining two-thirds of your earthly life consist?

In the context of today’s Scripture, it is noontime, and Jesus is tired from traveling, so He rests in Samaria by sitting on Jacob’s well (verses 5,6). His disciples have gone into nearby Sychar to buy food, and while He waits for their return, He speaks with a Samaritan woman who comes to draw water from the well (verses 7-26). (The Samaritans are not full-blooded Jews, so they and Israel usually do not associate with each other; see verse 9.)

As their conversation proceeds, the Samaritan woman learns that Jesus is Israel’s Messiah (verses 25,26). She quickly goes to the city to tell them of Jesus, and she comes back to Jesus with additional Samaritans (verses 28-30). Before they come to Jesus, His disciples finally return, and urge Him to eat (verse 31). The Lord replies, “I have meat to eat that ye know not of” (verse 32). His disciples then ask in verse 33: “Hath any man brought him aught to eat?”

Today’s Scripture is our Lord’s answer. The very thing for which He lives is not physical food: “My meat is to do the will of him [God the Father] that sent me, and to finish His work.” Our Lord has in mind the salvation of these Samaritans: “Lift up your eyes, and look on the fields; for they are white already to harvest” (verse 35). Essentially, He is saying, “Look at the harvest of those souls!” (cf. Matthew 9:36,37). Later, many Samaritans believe on Christ, and He dwells with them two days (verses 39-43).

Saints, our Lord was consumed with fulfilling the work to which His heavenly Father had appointed Him. Can we say that about the remaining two-thirds of our lives? Are we walking by faith in Paul’s epistles, Romans through Philemon, allowing God to fulfill His will in us? Or, are we spiritually sleeping, doing nothing (Ephesians 5:14)?

Not in Vain

Saturday, September 8, 2012

“For yourselves, brethren, know our entrance in unto you, that it was not in vain” (1 Thessalonians 2:1 KJV).

The believers in Thessalonica demonstrate that ministry work for the Lord is not done in vain.

Paul and Silas, on Paul’s second apostolic journey, arrive in Thessalonica in Acts 17:1. Here, there are Judaistic Jews and Greeks (verse 1), people who have some comprehension of the Old Testament and the one true God. However, there are also pagan Gentiles, individuals who later “turned to God from idols to serve the living and true God” (1 Thessalonians 1:9).

The Lord through Paul and Silas preached the Gospel of God’s Grace to us in Christ (dispensational Bible study). By placing their faith in that message, the Thessalonians either progressed to further understand God’s Word (that is, how God was now revealing advanced information—the mystery program—not found in the Old Testament), and/or learned that the one true God, unlike the pagan gods they had worshipped as heathens, had come in the form a Man to die for their sins. After the Thessalonians trusted Christ, today’s Scripture and its context (1:3–2:1) describe how God used them to evangelize their neighbors!

Ever wonder, “Are our preaching the message of God’s grace and teaching the King James Bible rightly divided, really worth it?” After all, many—even professing Christians (!)—hate it. Too prideful and too attached to their religious tradition to admit that God’s message to us Gentiles is Paul’s epistles (Romans through Philemon), denominational Christians vehemently oppose and attempt to suppress dispensational Bible study… THAT is vain. For, though we are few in number, we Pauline dispensationalists “serve the living and true God,” and nothing God does is ever “in vain” (worthless, futile). “Therefore, my beloved brethren, be ye stedfast, unmoveable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, forasmuch as ye know that your labour is not in vain in the Lord” (1 Corinthians 15:58).

Again, “Are our preaching God’s grace and our teaching the King James Bible rightly divided, really worth it?” Today’s Scripture is a resounding, “Yes, it is worth it! It is ‘not in vain!’” 🙂

The Propensity to Acquire Our Currency

Friday, August 31, 2012

“For ye suffer fools gladly, seeing ye yourselves are wise. For ye suffer, if a man bring you into bondage, if a man devour you, if a man take of you, if a man exalt himself, if a man smite you on the face” (2 Corinthians 11:19,20 KJV).

Sinful mankind naturally seeks dishonest material gain, and today’s Scripture explains that clerics are no exception.

Since Hurricane/Tropical Storm Isaac has passed through my area, police and other state officials are cautioning residents to be wary of phony contractors who are going door-to-door and “offering” their (fraudulent) services of rebuilding and demolition. These persons, like false religious teachers, prey on the weak and desperate, and we need to guard ourselves against them.

The Corinthians, although Christians, had precious little understanding of God’s Word rightly divided. Hence, they were vulnerable to doctrinal error (heresies), which abounded in their assembly (the Apostle Paul wrote 1 Corinthians to reprove them): “For there must be also heresies among you, that they which are approved may be manifest among you” (1 Corinthians 11:19). Now, sometime later, Paul wrote today’s Scripture, and evidently the Corinthians are still “approving” these false teachers.

Notice Paul’s sarcasm in today’s Scripture: “Ye suffer [allow/permit] fools gladly, seeing ye yourselves are wise.” Essentially, “You Corinthians are so ‘wise’ that you gladly listen to a bunch of fools!” (Unfortunately, Paul would write this to Christendom today!) These false teachers discouraged the Corinthians from heeding and obeying the Lord’s Word through the Apostle Paul, and the Corinthians gladly allowed themselves to be deceived (cf. Galatians 3:1-4; Galatians 4:15-21). Today’s Scripture shows these false teachers acquired both the Corinthians’ trust and their income!

Saints, let us be “perfect” (spiritually mature) and “edified” (spiritually built up, strengthened) in God’s Word rightly divided, “that we henceforth be no more children, tossed to and fro, and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the sleight [trickery] of men, and cunning craftiness [scams], whereby they lie in wait [secretly] to deceive;…” (Ephesians 4:12,14).

Let us be wary of false teachers, who have “the propensity to acquire our currency.”

Myriads of Itching Ears #3

Thursday, August 23, 2012

“For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but after their own lusts shall they heap to themselves teachers, having itching ears; and they shall turn away their ears from the truth, and shall be turned unto fables” (2 Timothy 4:3,4 KJV).

Beware of the megachurches, for they teach mega error!

Today’s Scripture teaches how, as time would pass, people with “itching ears”—an eagerness to hear an entertaining, soothing message void of God’s truth—would “heap to themselves teachers.” Literally, they accumulate (“heap”) more and more of these false teachers to themselves. Religious (false) teaching is like a drug. Not only is it addictive, it also inhibits common reasoning, it promotes incontinence and hysteria, and worst of all, it prevents Bible understanding.

There were perhaps 250 million people on Earth during the New Testament times. Today, almost 2,000 years later, Earth’s human population has increased nearly 30-fold. False teaching has also exponentially increased, especially due to megachurches.

What are we Bible-believing Christians to do? Throw up our hands in defeat, and just “go along with the crowd” in their doctrinal error? This would be quite easy to do, but it would not honor the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ. The context of today’s Scripture explains that our surrendering to the devil’s policy of evil is not the answer!

In his final instructions to Timothy, the context of today’s Scripture, the Apostle Paul “charged” (commanded) him “before God, and the Lord Jesus Christ, who shall judge the quick and the dead at his appearing and his kingdom; preach the word; be instant in season, out of season; reprove, rebuke, exhort with all longsuffering and doctrine” (verses 1,2). Paul urged Timothy to continue in sound Pauline Bible doctrine: “Preach the Word, Timothy. Prepare yourself for the false teaching that will grow progressively worse and widespread [as described in today’s Scripture].”

Paul’s directions to Timothy are God’s instructions to us. As more professing Christians abandon sound Bible doctrine, we continue in faith in God’s Word (the King James Bible) rightly divided, and we refuse to join the “myriads of itching ears.” 🙂

Be Not Pierced By the Sword of the Spirit #5

Wednesday, August 15, 2012

“And take… the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God:” (Ephesians 6:17 KJV).

Saints, we are engaged in spiritual warfare, so let us take heed. A giant sword, not a butter knife, is what we need!

In the context of today’s Scripture (verses 10-18), Paul describes the spiritual warfare, the battle between God and Satan. As God’s people—we who have trusted Jesus Christ alone as our personal Saviour—we are Satan’s enemies and he seeks to deceive us! Thankfully, the Lord has given us “the armour of God” to “stand against the wiles [deceitful schemes] of the devil” (verses 11ff.). Additionally, we have God’s Word, the Holy Bible, which defends us and saves us from Satan’s corrupt doctrine (1 Timothy 4:13,15,16).

However, Satan perverts God’s Word, so that instead of it being a weapon for Christians, it becomes a weapon used against Christians. Corrupt “bibles” troubled the Thessalonian Christians’ minds (2 Thessalonians 2:2), and this perversion of the Holy Scriptures is ongoing. Instead of today’s Christian soldiers wielding “the sword of the Spirit,” many have been duped by false bibles, which are actually butter knifes when it comes to fighting Satan. (Instead, they are only sharp when Satan uses them against God’s people… in God’s name too!)

Almost from the beginning of man, Satan has sought to corrupt our mind (Genesis 3:1-5). The devil sidetracks man using false doctrine, so that he can neither understand nor appreciate God’s will for him. By deceiving man, Satan hinders God’s will for man (and Satan thereby furthers his own purpose and plan of robbing God of His glory!). Throughout Israel’s history, evil men cooperated with God’s adversary (Satan) to accomplish Israel’s spiritual ruin; the same is happening today to us, the Church the Body of Christ, as counterfeit “bibles” poison Christian souls and hinder God’s will (their spiritual maturity).

Comrade, the battle is waging…. Fellow saint, I exhort you to abandon the butter knives, and “take the sword of the Spirit,” the King James Bible, study and believe it rightly divided, and watch it defend you against “the wiles of the devil.” 🙂

Be Not Pierced By the Sword of the Spirit #4

Tuesday, August 14, 2012

“And take… the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God:” (Ephesians 6:17 KJV).

Again, take heed—it does matter what Bible version you read!

Utilizing Greek philosophy, Satan distracted the Corinthians from the sound doctrine Paul preached to them. Hence, the Apostle cautioned them regarding this worthless human wisdom (pagan philosophy).

As Christians, “we are labourers together with God” (1 Corinthians 3:9a). In Paul’s epistles, Romans through Philemon, God has furnished us with building materials, sound doctrine. When we “study” Pauline doctrine, we understand what God is doing today in the Dispensation of Grace, and by faith, we become “workmen” (2 Timothy 2:15) who cooperate with God and do what He is doing (teaching lost mankind about salvation, educating Christians about God’s will for them, et cetera).

Paul laid the foundation, Jesus Christ according to the revelation of the mystery (1 Corinthians 3:10,11). We can build on that foundation by applying sound Pauline Bible doctrine by faith, symbolized by “gold, silver, precious stones,” or we can use worthless building materials such as philosophy and religious tradition—“wood, hay, stubble” (verses 11,12).

“Every man’s work shall be made manifest: for the day shall declare it, because it shall be revealed by fire; and the fire shall try every man’s work of what sort it is. If any man’s work abide which he hath built thereupon, he shall receive a reward. If any man’s work shall be burned, he shall suffer loss: but he himself shall be saved; yet so as by fire” (verses 13-15).

After the rapture, at the Judgment Seat of Christ, Jesus Christ will determine the quality of the doctrine we Christians believed and applied to life. That which is worthless—religious tradition, human wisdom, and so on—will burn up. Only sound Pauline Bible doctrine will withstand that fiery test, and only that will remain!

Most, if not all, modern English “bibles” are unsound. Their denominational translators obscure Pauline dispensationalism by omitting, adding, and changing words. Friend, take heed!! Using these perverted books will hinder your spiritual growth and cause you to lose—not salvation—but reward!

Be Not Pierced By the Sword of the Spirit #3

Monday, August 13, 2012

“And take… the sword of the Spirit, which the word of God:” (Ephesians 6:17 KJV).

Take heed—it does matter what Bible version you read!

The Apostle Paul’s least spiritual Christian assembly was at Corinth. These saints were “carnal,” spiritual “babes,” people who had little understanding of God’s Word (1 Corinthians 3:1-3), whose ungodly lifestyles resembled their heathen (pagan/lost/hell-bound) neighbors! Paul had spent 18 months in Corinth teaching them God’s Word (Acts 18:11), but they had since abandoned the Lord’s grace doctrines, preferring to follow the “wisdom” of the pagan Greek philosophers.

Therefore, Paul warned these Corinthians: “For we are labourers together with God: ye are God’s husbandry, ye are God’s building. According to the grace of God which is given unto me, as a wise masterbuilder, I have laid the foundation, and another buildeth thereon. But let every man take heed how he buildeth thereupon. For other foundation can no may lay than that is laid, which is Jesus Christ” (1 Corinthians 3:9-11).

In our Dispensation of Grace, God is constructing a house for Himself—we, the saints, are that house (Ephesians 2:21,22)! This house is constructed upon a foundation, “the preaching of Jesus Christ, according to the revelation of the mystery” (Romans 16:25); that is, Jesus Christ according to the special ministry He gave only to the Apostle Paul. Paul warns us to be careful how we “build thereupon;” that is, the doctrine we use/learn/believe must be God’s Word rightly divided (Pauline-dispensationally believed).

He continues in 1 Corinthians 3:12,13: “Now if any man build upon this foundation gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, stubble; every man’s work shall be made manifest: for the day shall declare it, because it shall be revealed by fire; and the fire shall try every man’s work of what sort it is.” This describes “the Judgment Seat of Christ” (2 Corinthians 5:10), when we Christians stand before Jesus Christ, and He will examine the doctrine we learned and believed.

Friend, it matters what Bible version you use, for if it is corrupted by man’s philosophy, the doctrine you believe will be unacceptable to God!