Sermons

 Has a sense of purpose ever dominated your mind. Most have no sense of purpose in their lives. Other than get up, go to work, come home, watch tv, go to bed, and then do the same thing the next day, until they retire so they can collect seashells by the seashore. They don’t know why they are here and what they are supposed to be doing. No sense of divine purpose, calling, destiny, or anything. They just wander through life like a pinball in a machine. They rack up a few points, set off some bells and lights, and always eventually end up in the hole. Then it’s over. You’re dead. I used to cheat the pinball machines in my town by putting the legs on top of my feet. I could put one coin in and play the rest of the night. But in the end, I would walk out the door and that machine would be dead. That’s where everyone ends up. Dead and in the hole.

Mohammed Ali won the world heavyweight championship in boxing more times than anyone else. He kept boxing until he got his brains beat out. When asked why he kept boxing he said, “Cause I want people to remember my name!” That was it. But in a few years, nobody will remember his name except those who play Trivial Pursuit. There are no boxers’ names in the history books.

Though people are not just animals, they live a lot like animals. They do what it takes to stay alive, with what little temporary pleasure they can get out of it from time to time. They spend most of their waking hours at a job they hate, but… ya gotta eat! They eat to stay alive so they can eat and stay alive a little longer.

The Book of Ecclesiastes in the Bible describes life for many people. Their whole being exists on solely a horizontal plane. It’s boring and meaningless. The phrase the inspired Solomon uses to describe this is “Vanity of vanity, all is vanity.” This is the richest man who ever lived, the most productive man who ever lived, with the biggest family ever in the history of the world, and yet the theme of his book was it’s all vanity.

Life lived with only a horizontal perspective is in the end – useless. It’s all vain. There is no vertical perspective, no divine perspective at all. They may believe in God but they have no sense of purpose that He has given them. No divine purpose, which means no eternal perspective. In the end, it’s just… the end. On the way to the end the scenery is boring. They purchase adult toys to help, but they break down, just like their lives eventually do. They have no sense of eternal significance. They may have some temporary purpose: “My purpose is to paint. My purpose is to lay bricks.” Or whatever. But in the end, it does not satisfy the heart that longs for eternal significance. We need God’s purpose for our lives. He alone gives the purpose that will not die when you die.

Answer this question: Why did the Son of God come into the world? Why did Jesus come? You might think of several answers, but do you know what He said about why He came. He told Pilate, the judge at His trial, why He came into the world, in John 18: 37, “For this cause I was born and for this cause I have come into the world, that I should bear witness to the truth.” He came for a witness to the truth of God. And He did.

Jesus is on trial for His life and He’s not defending Himself. Pilate marveled at His lack of defense. No lawyer or appeals. He simply stands there. But then He decides to say something vitally important. Pilate wanted to know if He considered Himself a king and Jesus told him this powerful statement of eternal significance.

The word for witness is the Greek word which could be transliterated martyr, someone who says what he says with his life on the line about it. A martyr is someone who sacrifices his life for a cause. That’s a witness. It’s not simply something that comes out of your mouth; it’s something you stake your life on.

The same reason Jesus came into the world is the same reason we were born into the world. How did God bear witness of Himself? By His Word. Back to John 1:1. “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was God, and the Word was God.” Jesus was the Word witness. So are we to be. We were born for this, to bear witness to what we have experienced, seen, heard and learned of God. You can’t witness if you don’t open your mouth and use words. People want to think they witness by their lives. “I live a good life and so that’s my witness.” No it’s not! Billions of people in the world live a good life and millions of them worship over 300 million gods (Hindus). You live a good life without giving a verbal witness of Jesus and they will only think you are a good person. No glory will go to God. That’s not a witness for God.

Which wing on an airplane is the most important? The left or the right? They both are necessary. Which is more important, the verbal witness or a good moral life? You won’t have much of a witness if you lie, steal and cheat, and can’t get along with people. We witness with our works and our words. Jesus did this and so must we. We have to have a godly lifestyle and the word of God coming out of our mouth.

John 1:6-7 says John the Baptist came to be a witness. Same reason Jesus came. Jesus saved John and He saved you so you could be a witness. You may be a factory worker or a schoolteacher or whatever, but if that’s all you do, you’re simply making enough money to live till you die. You are a factory worker or teacher to witness for Christ. If you don’t witness, you serve no eternal purpose. This verse also tells us why we witness, “That all might believe.” That’s why we are to witness. We want people to be saved. We care about the immortal souls of perishing people, and we want them to go to heaven instead of hell. John came to “bear witness to the Light.” (v.8)  We are the lights of the world, the moons of the world, who shine so people in the dark can know there is a sun. The Philippian jailer asked Paul, “What must I do to be saved?” Paul answered, “Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and you will be saved.” (Acts 16:310 We witness so others will believe and be saved. That’s how important our witness is. They won’t be saved without our witness. We want everybody to believe and they’re not going to believe unless we do what? Witness!

John 1:15 has the word witness again. This is an important word in the Bible and in this passage. Then in v.19 there is the word testimony, which is the same word that is translated witness elsewhere. “This is the testimony of John.” Verse 20, “And he confessed…” with his mouth. Verse 23 tells us how he gave his witness, The voice of one shouting …” Verse 29, “John saw…” A witness is someone who has seen something. Unlike John we have not seen Christ in the flesh, but having been born again we have “seen the kingdom of God.” (Jn.3:3) We’ve heard some things. “Jesus said, “My sheep hear My voice.” (Jn.10:27). We are His sheep and so we have heard that still small voice in our hearts that told us the truth about Jesus. We witness to what we have seen and heard.

I am a martyr. I’d stake my life on what I have seen and heard about Jesus. He is the Son of God who died for my sins and rose from the dead. I know these things are true, so I’d die bearing witness to them. John 1:29 says that John saw and said. That’s a witness. What you see, you say. What you hear, you tell. Verse 32, “John bore witness, saying, I saw the Spirit descending…” In verse 34 John said, “I have seen and testify that this is the Son of God.” How many times has this word witness (martyr) been used in this chapter alone? Many times! That shows the importance of this word. It is given to us plenty of times in this first chapter of John. It’s our purpose for living. We lead the world in giving a witness for Christ. We are leaders. “John, don’t you have a thesaurus? Can’t you use some synonyms for the word witness?” John says, “No! That’s the word.” He hammers the word because he wants that word to get across to us. Witness!

To see how important this is, turn to John chapter five. God needs nothing, but He saved us to bear witness of Christ. He uses us in the purpose for which He created and saved us. In Jn.5 Jesus gives us seven witnesses! Seven! Look at them. There’s Jesus Himself (v.31). John (v.32-33). Jesus’ works (v.36). The Father (speaking audibly) v.37 The Scriptures (v.39). The writings of Moses (v,46). Scriptures include history and prophecy and poetry and wisdom literature. Moses wrote the law. All of this speaks volumes of the importance of witnessing. Read these verses in John five and underline the word witness. It’s amazing!

If you’re going to have any sense of divine purpose, you must fit into God’s purpose. He’s too important to fit into your earthbound temporal purpose. He’s not interested in blessing what you do. Find out what God does and get in on that. He’s got more important things to consider. Go to God, “I’m interested in what You’re interested in.” You must align your purpose with God’s, or your life will be vanity of vanity. All will be vanity. Do that now. Don’t spend another day, another minute, wasting your life on your own life. Get in on God’s life and purpose. Become a witness for God. 

“He has on His robe and on His thigh a name written: KING OF KINGS AND LORD OF LORDS.”

(Revelation 19:16)

1. Jesus is The King

The Bible calls Jesus the king of kings. If He is the king of kings, who are the kings He is the king of? The answer might shock you. Christians are the kings He is the king of. He makes us into a “royal priesthood.” For the time being, forget about the priesthood, that’s a whole other real of truth about us and the grace of God in our lives. Royal means kingly.

We emphasize the worship of the King and rightly so. We cannot make too much of the King of the kingdom of heaven. The Lamb is the one on the throne who is worshiped by all of creation (Rev.5). All glory, honor and praise to the one whose name is above every other name! When Cornelius bowed to worship the apostle, “Peter lifted him up, saying, ‘Stand up; I myself am also a man.” (Acts 10:26) 

II. We are Kings He is the King of

But we also need to learn about the kings our King is the King of. Who are these people and what are their responsibilities and privileges of being kings? The song says, “Who am I that a king would bleed and die for?” I must be something special; He went to the cross to redeem me so He could rule and reign on the throne of the universe forever. What is our part in His kingdom? What are we? Who are we? We are kings! Kings in His kingdom. We need to learn what our responsibilities are. What are our privileges? What do we reign over? 

III. We are Kings Over What We Conquer.

Here is where we are headed: “To him who overcomes I will grant to sit with Me on My throne, as I also overcame and sat down with My Father on His throne.” (Rev.3:21)  Everything we learn to overcome in this life on this earth is further preparing us to reign as kings with Christ. When you learn how to overcome fear and overcome it, there’s another diamond in your crown! You overcame lust. Bam! Another ruby in your crown. You overcame sin. Another gem to shine forever on your head. You have to learn how to overcome. Faith is the victory that overcomes the world (1Jn.5:4). But we must learn what faith is and how it works. Let’s learn.

IV. We Reign by Faith

So many people don’t even know what faith is, how to get it, how it works, or how to work it. Do you know what God says you can obtain by faith? What it accomplishes? Did you know that faith works by certain laws? And we have to learn those laws? Romans 3:27 refers to “the law of faith.” The kingdom works by faith so it is imperative that we learn the laws of faith and how faith works. And this is just one system in the kingdom we have to learn. There is much to learn. Are you willing to do what it takes to learn them?

What other spiritual laws does faith work by? We must learn them if we are to walk by faith and please God. Laws are principles. Remember in the last chapter I discussed the difference between knowing the Person of Jesus and the Principles of Jesus? We meet the Person, but we must learn the Principles.

It’s one thing to be delivered from things like fear, depression, oppression, disease and death by someone else laying their hands on you, but it’s another for you to learn how to be delivered by Christ on your own. Someone who does this for you can teach you how to do it. This is the training of leadership. You are a born-again leader, but you will become a trained leader. Trained leaders help others to overcome so they too can reign with Christ.

V. We are Kings NOW!

How about this? Speaking of Jesus, those in heaven proclaim, “And You have redeemed us to God by Your blood out of every tribe and tongue and people and nation, and have made us kings and priests to our God; and we shall reign on the earth.” (Rev.5:9-10) It is the redeemed who will reign. Some translations have, “and we are reigning.” Even in this life we reign in and with Christ.

A. What do we reign over now? Over sin, over sickness, over storms, over depression, over devils. Whatever Jesus reigned over we can now reign over because the purpose of redemption is to make us like Jesus (Rm.8:29). The kingdom has come and His will is being done in our lives. The kingdom is here and it is in us. Jesus the king is in us. Through prayer and the sharing the good news of Jesus with others we bring the kingdom of God to earth in a greater, more extensive way.

We need to confess what God says about us. “I am a king!” It says in Romans 8:16-17 says, “The Spirit Himself bears witness with our spirit that we ARE children of God, and if children, then heirs – heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ.” This is true now! We are currently children of God and thus heirs of God. He is the King of Kings and we are the kings over which He is the King.

We need to begin to even now exercise our kingship over the domain of this earth. By the redemption of Christ we have been returned to our original purpose: “Let us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness; let them have dominion… over the earth.” (Gen.1:26) If you want to know what this looks like, look at Jesus in the gospels. He exercised dominion over storms, death, demons, sicknesses, you name it. And He has given His kings that dominion. We are kings! We are to rule on the earth! Let’s do it. How do we do it? We have to learn to do it, and we will in the coming chapters.

B. We Reign by Decree.  Kings rule by decrees. They speak things that are to be. The King of kings did this in the beginning: He spoke and things happened (Gen.1). As kings, can we decree anything we want? Mark 11:23 makes it sound like it: “Whoever says to this mountain, ‘Be removed,’ he shall have whatever he says.” But that must be qualified. We cannot decree just whatever we want because we have a King over us. And we are not kings without a constitution. The Bible is our constitution because it is the word of God. We can only decree what God says. As kings over which He is king, we can only say what He says. If He has said it, we can say it. If we say what He says, we can have whatever we say. We simply declare what the Bible says. I like the words declare and speak more than decree because the word decree can be so easily misused and misinterpreted. “Must I not take heed to speak what the Lord has put in my mouth?” (Num.23:12)  The Lord said to Jeremiah, “Behold, I  have put My words in your mouth.” (1:9-10) We speak what God puts in our mouths. We simply declare what the Bible says. Who can argue with that? We are the mouthpiece of God.

As kings, can we sin because we are kings? NO! We have a King over us who hates sin! Can we speak the word of healing? Yes! How do we know that? It’s in the Bible. “Jesus cast out the spirits with a word and healed all who were sick.” (Mt.8:16) And “He went about healing all who were oppressed by the devil.” (Acts 10:38) Can we speak deliverance from demons and all oppression and addictions? Yes, because that is the will of God. How about speaking salvation? Well, His name is Savior. As kings we need to speak the word of our King. This is our responsibility and privilege. To speak and pray with faith the will of God on the earth. As kings we have a King and we have a constitution, so we just can’t go about decreeing whatever comes to our fancy. We decree, declare and speak the will and word of God, and if we do, things will happen.

Lastly and very importantly, according to Matthew 24:14, “And this gospel of the kingdom will be preached in all the world as a witness to all the nations, and then the end will come.” Jesus is waiting to come back. What’s He waiting on? He’s waiting on us to preach the kingdom to everyone who needs to hear it and be given an opportunity to repent. Who knows, the next person you share the gospel with may be the last thing that needs to happen to bring Jesus back. And when you do it, Jesus comes in the clouds and catches us up to be with Him and so shall we ever be with the Lord.

God has made us leaders in this greatest endeavor of all time and eternity. Who knows, Billy Graham said he believed we will reign over solar systems and galaxies in the heavens. We do know this, we shall reign on the earth, cause that’s exactly what it says in the Bible. What we have to do is become trained leaders. That’s what discipleship is all about – learning to become better, more effective leaders; becoming kings, over which Jesus is king. That is what church is all about, pastors equipping every member for the work of ministry, teaching us to share the gospel and do the works of Christ. We have much to learn. There’s a whole big Bible full of God’s teachings on how to obey the many spiritual laws in the Bible.

In his classic book Destined for the Throne by Paul Billheimer he writes: “The primary purpose of the universe from all eternity is the production and preparation of an Eternal Companion for the Son, called the Bride, the Lamb’s Wife. Since she is to share the throne of the universe with her Divine Lover and Lord, privileged to judge the world with Him, she must be trained, educated, and prepared to rule.”

That is our calling right now: to prepare to rule by beginning to rule. Think Big – Start small. Then grow in our dominion over the whole earth, to have “Your kingdom come, Your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.” 

The time is fulfilled, the kingdom of God is at hand. Repent and believe in the gospel (good news).

(Mark 1:14-15)

Repent is a good word from God. He is offering us hope, the possibility of change for the better, the opportunity to become like Christ. Thank God for His command to repent. Jonah preached repentance to the wicked city of Nineveh and when they repented God saved the entire city. Repentance is a great word offering hope and change and salvation.

Whatever you are, you were meant to be. If you were born a male, that’s what you are. There’s no mystery to that. Stand naked in front of a full length mirror and you will know if you are a male or a female.

A Christian is a born leader. We are born-again leaders. You need to become a trained leader, but you were born a leader. The beginning of our leadership training is the call of God to repent. That’s why John the Baptist and the Lord Jesus preached at the very beginning of the New Covenant ministry, “Repent and believe the gospel, for the kingdom of heaven has come.” Like any baby you have an immediate influence on those you know. The maniac Jesus delivered was told the same day to go back to his family and friends and tell them what great things God had done for him. Paul describes the Thessalonians: “How you turned to God from idols to serve the living and true God.” (1Thes.1:9) Repentance is a turning to God, an about face, and serving Him above all else.

This is the major error in modern evangelism. Repentance that requires no commitment is preached today. One can become an uncommitted Christian, a believer who is never committed to the cause of Christ.

Repentance is making a commitment to the kingdom of heaven. Technically, the King of heaven. It is so turning to God that you inevitably turn your back on sin and other gods in your life. Some imagine that repentance is simply halting the harmful habits in their lives. “I no longer smoke, chew, drink, cuss, steal and look at porn. Now I spend my time fishing, hunting, playing softball, and watching TV.” And they think that is repentance. It is not. You can reform your life by quitting nasty habits, but that is not repentance. Repentance is turning to God and serving Him.

Jesus preached, “The time is fulfilled and the kingdom of God is at hand. Repent, and believe in the gospel.” (Mk.1:14-15) The kingdom has come, so it’s time to do two things, which are actually two sides of the same coin of salvation. And there are only two sides: Repent and Believe. Most don’t have a problem with believing; their biggest problem is with repenting which takes commitment to Christ and His kingdom.

There’s no such thing as an uncommitted Christian. That’s like saying, “I’m a baseball player but I am not on any baseball team.” I’m a “non-practicing Catholic” (like the majority of Catholics claim) but I’m a Catholic.” If you’re a non-practicing Catholic, you’re not a Catholic. It’s like calling a man an unmarried husband. Marriage requires a commitment. All contracts (borrow money, get a job) require commitment. Commitment is the essence of becoming a Christian.

“Follow Me” requires a commitment to put Christ first. “Then He said to another, ‘Follow Me.’ But he said, ‘Lord, let me first go and bury my father.’ Jesus said to him, ‘Let the dead bury their own dead, but you go and preach the kingdom of God.’ (That’s putting the kingdom of God first.) Another also said, ‘Lord, I will follow You, but let me first go and bid them farewell who are at my house.’ But Jesus said to him, ‘No one, having put his hand to the plow, and looking back is fit for the kingdom of God.’” (Luke 9:59-62).  Commitment to Jesus being first and Lord is the very meaning of repentance. There’s no such thing as a Christian who has not repented and made Jesus the Lord of his life. Jesus said, “Repent or perish.” (Lk.13:3) There is no salvation without repentance. And repentance means commitment.

Our text is the first message Jesus ever preached. Repentance requires a commitment to Christ. The call of Christ is “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is here.” You have been your own lord; you must surrender to Christ’s lordship or you cannot be saved. The Bible says, “Confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and you will be saved.” And “Whoever calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved.” (Rm.10:9-10,13) It is always, “Lord, save me!” It’s never, “Savior, Lord me.” If I asked you to save a $100 bill for me and you agreed, but I would not give you the money, you would tell me, “If you don’t give it to me I can’t save it for you,” and you’d be right. If I don’t commit the money to you, you can’t save it for me. Likewise, if you don’t commit yourself to the Lord He can’t save you.

I. Think of Repentance as a Military term.  

The military requires a commitment, a swearing in. It’s a vow which God takes seriously, according to Ecclesiastes chapter five. Repentance is an “About face!” You had been going in one direction, following and doing what you wanted, what the world says to do. You must turn around, do an about face, and begin to do what Christ wants you to do. When you go into the military, you have a totally different lifestyle. I remember the first command they gave me in Basic Training, “All you Beatles get in line here.” You get a new haircut, different clothes, and you begin to understand a different language. It isn’t your momma talking to you anymore. Sergeants don’t sound like your mother. In the military everything changes. In Christ, everything about how you have lived changes. You have a different boss, a different lord.

2. Think of Repentance as a Citizenship. Citizenship requires commitment to a country, a swearing in, to obey it’s laws and support the constitution (Bible). You are now a citizen of a different country called the kingdom of heaven. Everything about this kingdom is different from what you are used to.

Nothing can prepare you for when you first step off the plane in Kathmandu: different language, food, clothes, smells, an entirely different culture and customs. Anyone can open a drugstore! If they speak English it’s hard to understand because they learned it wrong. It took a 20 minute conversation to understand what my friend meant by the word “Veckle.” He meant vehicle. I went to college to learn the language: the writing and ways of pronouncing words are all different. I had to learn all this. That’s why we have such a big Bible, it contains all the laws and customs of the Kingdom of Heaven. It takes a lifetime to learn it all. In Nepal they told me, “Kill a man and with a good lawyer you might get away with it; kill a cow and you’re dead!” We are born again into a different kingdom, a change of citizenship.

Some are in the kingdom of God but have never learned the laws of this kingdom. Jesus spent three years teaching His disciples the laws of His kingdom and they still didn’t learn it all, even with the coming of the Spirit (Acts 10:24). The Kingdom of Heaven is governed by spiritual laws which we must learn.

There is a difference between the Person of Jesus and the Principles of Jesus. Knowing the person of Jesus prepares you for heaven; knowing the principles (laws) of Jesus prepares you to live on this earth as a believer. “Our citizenship is in heaven,” but we continue to live on this earth. We can bring the kingdom of God to bear on this earth, but we have to learn the principles by which that heavenly kingdom operates. Jesus taught us to pray, “Your kingdom come, Your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.” We are to bring the kingdom of heaven to earth. All of those spiritual laws of Christ’s kingdom require repentance and commitment. You must enroll in His school to become His disciple.

The Israelites came out of Egypt by the blood of the lamb and the mighty hand of God working miracles. But they were not ready for the Promised Land. To prepare them to live there required a year-long holdover at Mt. Sinai where they received the laws of God, all 619 of them. They had nothing else to do but spend day and night learning the laws by which their nation was to live when they went into the Promised Land. Even then, after they had conquered the land, they met annually to recite and study it again.  Then they had priests and prophets who did nothing else but teach and remind the citizens of the laws of the kingdom. And you thought there were just ten laws, ten commandments? They could no longer live like they did in Egypt, so a one year stop to receive and learn God’s laws was necessary.

For example, there are multiple laws concerning tithing. I know, you have only heard one of them and that’s 10% is to be given to God’s house to take care of those who serve there. Two very large books in the Bible are nothing but laws of the kingdom. Repentance, which requires commitment, means giving up a lot. Jesus addressed this in Mark 10:28-30, “Then Peter said to Him, ‘See, we have left all and followed You.’ So Jesus answered and said, ‘Assuredly, I say to you, there is no one who has left house or brothers or sisters or father or mother or wife or children or lands, for My sake and the gospel’s, who shall not receive a hundredfold now in this time – houses and brothers and sisters and mothers and children and lands, with persecution – and in the age to come, eternal life.”

God rewards those who commit themselves to Him – richly. And in the end they have eternal life.  When the multitudes left Jesus the disciples didn’t because, “You alone have the words of eternal life.” (Jn.6:68) Do you want eternal life? Repent or perish. Do you want a hundredfold reward in your life, here on this earth and in heaven forever? Then repent and make your commitment to Christ today. 

God has determined greatness for you

The definition of destiny is “the future.” For the Christian destiny is the future God has designed for you. Your future is not only good, it is great and glorious because you will be like Christ and that is great.

We get a snapshot of what our destiny is by looking at an expression in 1 Pet.5:10 where it says, “May the God of all grace, who called you to share in His eternal glory…” (NLT) This is a reminder that our eternal destiny of greatness is by the grace of God. No one can brag that they became great and did great things by themselves. We are who we are and do what we do by the grace of God, just like Paul (2Cor.5:10). We are called by God to “share His eternal glory.” We shall be like Christ (1Jn.3:2) and that is great!

In John 1:35-51 Jesus picks up five disciples who are going to become apostles. Let’s look at the collection of Jesus’ first followers whom He will make His disciples and ultimately apostles. Remember, Jesus’ method of winning the world is to train leaders through whom He will do that. He will minister to the multitudes but train the few. We are all leaders, but some are trained leaders. Big difference as we shall see. Christ thinks big but starts small. He came to reconcile the world unto Himself and as the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world. But His method of reaching the world was to train a few disciples and turn them into apostles. That’s His method. We’d be wise to adopt His method. Think big – start small. Does He ever start small!

I. The Greatness of Their Destiny  

The greatness of the destiny of the apostles cannot be overstated. They will be the ones He leaves to be in charge of the building of His church which will become the New Jerusalem (Rev.21:12,9-11,14). “The wall of the city had twelve foundations and on them were the names of the twelve apostles of the Lamb.” After He rose from the dead, “He was seen by Cephas, then by the twelve.” (1Cor.15:4-5)  An  apostle is the first in the list of the gifts given to the church by Jesus (Eph.4:11). They are the foundation of the house of God (Eph.2:19-22). Christian doctrine was set by them and called “the apostles’ doctrine.” (Acts 2:42). Nothing was validated in the early church without the approval of the apostles (Acts 8:14). Peter was given the “Keys to the Kingdom” to open the door of salvation to both the Jews and the Gentiles (Mt.16:18; Acts 2 & 10). They were the collectors of the funds of the church (Acts 4:35-37). Nobody has a greater destiny than these apostles.

Here’s the lesson for us. Every believer is destined for greatness. Every believer! That includes you. God has determined greatness for all believers in Christ. We are fellow stones in the temple of God now and forever (1Pet.2:5). All Christian leaders have a great destiny. (What is a leader? Someone who has influence and everyone has influence. Who is a leader? Every believer.) You may not be an apostle, but whatever God has for you will be great. Every member of the body of Christ is part of the most glorious body on earth and in heaven. The goal is the same for us all – to be and do something great for God. We are already something great and we are being trained to do something great. That’s God’s will and call for every Christian.

Get a load of Revelation 3:21, “To him who overcomes I will grant to sit with me on My throne as I overcame and have sat down with My Father on His throne.” Faith is the victory that overcomes the world (1Jn.5:4-5) We are going to rule and reign with Christ, now and forever! We are even now joint-heirs with Christ and have been blessed with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places (Eph.1:3). “Do you not know that we will judge the world? Do you not know that we shall judge angels?” (1Cor.6:2-3)  We have authority to heal the sick and cast out demons (Mk.16:17-18). Now that’s greatness! We have the nature and power of God. We are bone of His bone and flesh of His flesh (Eph.5:30). God has destined every Christian for greatness.

If I were not a follower of Jesus, I would become one. I’d say like Forrest Gump: “I’m not a start man, but I’m deciding to follow Jesus. And that’s all I’m going to say about that.” Why would anyone choose hell over joining the glories of Christ? Those are the only options. Choose Christ and the greatness of your destiny.

II. The Smallness of Their Beginnings       

The giant oak tree began as an acorn. These apostles weren’t Pharisees or Sadducees or Scribes, not governors or kings. They were fishermen and tax collectors. They were called by religious leaders “uneducated and untrained” (unlearned and ignorant) men (Acts 4:13). “God has displayed us, the apostles, last, as men condemned to death; for we have been made a spectacle of the word, both to angels and to men, fools, weak, dishonored… To the present hour we both hunger and thirst, are poorly clothed, and beaten, and homeless, being reviled, persecuted, defamed, as filth of the world, the offscouring of all things.” (1Cor.4:9-13)  From the bottom to the top they rose. And so shall we.

Our beginnings have been meager. “For see your calling, brethren, that not many wise according to the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble, are called. But God has chosen the foolish things of the world to put to shame the wise, and God has chosen the weak things of the world to put to shame the things which are mighty; and the base things of world and the things which are despised God has chosen, and the things which are not, to bring to nothing the things that are, that no flesh should glory in His presence. He who glories, let him glory in the Lord.” (1Cor.1:26-31) We should be encouraged no matter who we are. God delights in taking nobodies and turning them into somebodies with a great present and future.

Consider what God did with Moses. A murderer and complete failure to do what he knew God had called him to do. Someone has said, “It took 40 years for Moses to make something of himself. It took 40 years for him to make nobody of himself. And for the next 40 years God showed what He could do with a nobody.” God can take anyone, even unworthy failures, and make something great out of them. Though we are called from among fellow sinners who deserve judgment, we are chosen to be great for God. Even now we are sons of God with power to do the mighty works of Jesus (Jn.14:12)

III. Between the Smallness and the Greatness is a lot of LEARNING.

A lot of learning. God has to do a lot of work on us to turn us into something great, into great leaders who do great things. God will put into you and train you for everything you need to do what He has called you to do. All we have to do is what the apostles did.

We have to be disciples. The root meaning of the word disciple is learner. Disciples are, before anything else, learners. And we have the greatest of all teachers. They didn’t call Jesus rabbi for nothing. Rabbi means teacher.

Jesus gave us the basic calls of God on our lives in Matthew 11:28-30 when Jesus said, “Come unto Me…” We are to come to Jesus who, when we do, forgives our sins and gives us eternal life. Once we come to Jesus there is only one thing left for us to do: ‘Learn from Me,” He said. We are to spend the rest of our lives learning from Jesus, Nobody ever learns all the infinite wisdom of our Lord and Savior. This learning is not hard, because Jesus calls it His yoke and states that it is easy. It’s easy to learn from Jesus, if you are willing and will make it the necessary priority.

Our only job is to do something people don’t really like to do – learn. The bumper sticker says, “Quick! Hire a teenager, while he still knows everything!” The word given to students in school, whether high school or college, is sophomore. Do you know what that word means? It is taken from two Greek words that mean – wise moron. We call them sophomores because they have been through their freshman year and now they think they’ve learned everything there is to learn. Christians can be like this – think they know everything they need to know and so they stop learning. Nothing is further from the truth and nothing could be more harmful to their Christian life.

Church members tend to be like the television character in the old Dobie Gillis show, Maynard G. Krebs. (He said the G stood for Walter; his mother didn’t know how to spell.) He was a beatnik, allergic to work. When he heard the word he’d recoil in horror. People do that with the word learn. Or they can be like the Fonz on the sitcom Happy Days. He could never admit he was wrong about anything. He’d say the word like this: “I was wwwrrrrooooonnnggg.” Or people are like Jethro Bodine on the sitcom Beverly Hillbillies. He was proud of the fact that he had a sixth grade education. He had no idea how little that education taught him. Back in the hills of Tennessee he had “gradgeated the sixth grade”, but in Beverly Hills he was a hick. People tend to be like Jethro, they think they are highly educated in the teachings of Jesus but they have no idea how much they don’t know.

If you are not a disciple of Christ and you want what He can by grace give you (forgiveness, eternal life, greatness forever) then you need to repent of your sins and receive Christ as your Lord and Savior. “Come to Jesus.” Make up your mind once and for all to follow Jesus. Believe that He died for your sins and rose from the dead to save your soul. “Whoever calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.” (Rm.10:13)

If you are a disciple, commit yourself to God as an insatiable learner of His truth. Get hungry for the knowledge of God. Become a learner. Make up your mind that you will devote the rest of your Christian life to “Learn from Jesus…” 

You therefore, my son, be strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus.  (2Timothy 2:1-15)

Our current culture has done its best to rid us of real men. We see a stripping away of manhood. Men and fathers have always been the leaders in this world and in the home. No wife will follow a wimp who only cares about having his own needs met and gets offended when things don’t go his way. Commercials picture the man of the house as incompetent, stupid, and inept. Masculinity is bad. Men are no longer necessary in the home, the military or in business. They are weak, without the ability to cope with anything, to stop looking at porn, keep a job, keep their pants zipped, or remain faithful. They can’t make a commitment and keep it. The modern American man has little discipline in holy things and is not a leader. Some men are strong physically, they visit the gym regularly, but are not by grace spiritually strong like the following Bible men.

I.  Strong Men of the Bible   In contrast to all of this we have the strong virile men of the Bible. Real men. Leaders. Men who are the heads of their homes, leaders in battle, warriors, protectors and providers.

 Noah lived as the only holy man in a whole wicked world and with his three sons built a gigantic Ark that saved the human race. Abraham is the typical man of the Bible. God said of him, “I know him that he will command his children and his household that they keep the way of the Lord, to do righteousness and justice.” (Gen.18:18-19) When 85 years old he armed 380 men of his household and pursued four kings and their armies who had invaded and captured five kingdoms, including Abraham’s nephew. He led them in chase and fought the enemy armies in hand to hand combat, defeated them and brought back all the captives. “So he brought back all the goods as well as the women and the people.” (Gen.14:1-16) To top it all off, he was willing to obey God even to the point of sacrificing his only son.

How about Moses? This man of God, between the ages of 80 and 120, broke the back of the most powerful nation in the world using only a stick in his hand, made seven trips up and down Mt. Sinai, defeated every military nation that Israel encountered on their way to the Promised Land. Joshua led a nation of former slaves to conquer seven nations rooted in their homelands. Time would fail to tell of Samson who ripped a lion apart with his bare hands and Samuel who chopped the head off of the king of the Amalekites, and David who faced off against Goliath, killed him and removed his head from his shoulders, and “killed his ten thousands.”

Quickly move to the New Testament and see men like John the Baptist who emptied cities that came out to hear him preach repentance in the wilderness, calling the religious leaders of his day, “Hypocrites!” He ended up in prison because he called out the sins of King Herod, a weak man who, though he feared John, had him decapitated and his head served on a silver platter. Then there is Paul who suffered trouble as an evildoer, simply because he wouldn’t stop preaching the gospel. He said, “Therefore I endure all this for the sake of the elect (2Tim.2:8-10).

Jesus tops them all. He cleared out the Temple with a whip, overturned the tables of the moneychangers, and endured the sufferings of a mock trial, brutal beating and the cross. Salvation is making us like Jesus!

II. Strong Men of this Text Take note that it is the grace of God that makes us strong. It is not that we are strong in ourselves or just in our physical bodies. Samson was not strong because of his muscles but because of the Spirit of God who came upon him. God makes strong men and fathers. Put Him first and He will make you strong. Look at the types of men in this passage who example strength. The word for strong here is power.

1. Soldier, 2Tim.2:3-4 Soldiers must “endure hardships.” Soldiers endure many hardships, especially the Marines and Special Forces. They fight wars across the oceans. Today they deploy only for a year, but our forefathers went for the duration of the war, some of them fought for four years and more! The soldier leaves home and everything that is familiar to him and all for one reason: “No one engaged in warfare entangles himself with the affairs of this life that he may please him who enlisted him as a soldier.” They sacrifice much to serve and protect. And they do it all to please their Commander in Chief Jesus Christ.

2. Athlete, v.5   Maddie Cabana has set the example for us. Picture Rocky in training, chasing chickens!

3. Farmer, v.6   Up early! First the chores, then the work. They work in the heat and cold. No vacations!

 4. Worker, v.15 Does God deserve any less work than our employer? Notice the “servant” in v.24.

In these last days God is raising up a new breed of men and dads like the ones in the Bible, and our church will not just witness this, we will be involved in it. Fathers, time to step up. Be the man of your own house and the house of God. Equip yourselves like men. Be strong. Fight for your family and the cause of Christ.

“Then all the tax collectors and the sinners drew near to Him to hear Him. And the Pharisees and scribes murmured, saying, ‘This man receives sinners and eats with them.’” (Luke 15:1-2)

There’s the sword of the Spirit which we know to be the word of God. The sword is words that come from God but they are spoken by humans. Jesus wields this sword when He comes back and it comes out of His mouth (Rev.19). There is also the sword of Satan which are also words. This sword kills. A sword is not for spanking, it is for killing. It is seeking a victim. Satan’s sword are words of criticism, murmurs, fault-finding, complaining, griping, gossip, and backbiting. This sword’s victim is your joy! Satan hates your joy because the joy of the Lord is your strength, and he wants you weak. Your joy in the Lord opens the door for the gospel you share.

Unless you are a really warped psycho, if you are at odds with others, you are not a joyful person.  People who can’t get along with others (God or people) are not happy people. And “misery loves company,” which means misery is like a deadly virus, it will infect those it comes into contact with. So, don’t be critical and don’t hang around with people who murmur and complain. They will kill your joy, even the joy of the Lord, and sap your spiritual strength before you know it. Critical people hurt others and they will hurt you because if anyone will criticize you behind someone else’s back, they will criticize you behind your back. And their critical spirit will jump on you like a duck on a June Bug and stick to you like a cocklebur on a Collie. The next thing you know you will be critical of others and begin to murmur about them.

There is a spirit of criticism. Chronic critics can’t help themselves. If you get near them that spirit will jump on you and kill your joy. Critical people are not happy people, and if you listen to them you won’t be happy either.

These killjoys live to find the flaws in others. Joyless people come to church to find fault with people. They are like buzzards flying over the beautiful Arizona desert when all the cacti are in bloom and the sun is setting. (If you’ve ever lived in Arizona you’ll understand the phrase about the Arizona sunsets). So many beautiful things to see, but all the buzzard sees is some dead animal waiting for him to pounce on and devour.

Critical means, “inclined to find fault or to judge with severity, often too readily.” A critic is someone who is quick on the flaw. Jesus said that we would be judged by the same strictness or standard we use to judge others (Mt.7:1-5). Critical people condemn those who don’t agree with them, or do or say things differently than themselves. But the point of their criticism is not the problem. Their problem is their spirit; they are bent on finding fault and spreading their findings to others. Don’t let them do that to you. Stay away from these drama queens, and kings!

Differences don’t cause divisions; the flesh causes divisions (Gal.5:19-21). It is noteworthy that these types of people are religious – very religious! These are descendants of the ancient Pharisees and scribes who went about finding fault – with Jesus no less! If they found fault with Him they can find fault with anyone. Jesus called them hypocrites, which means hyper-critical. They can easily see splinters in other people’s eyes but not the log in their own. They love their ideas of religion, according to their traditions, but can’t get along with others who differ. They conveniently forget that love is the fulfillment of everything God requires of us. Love God and Love Others sums it all up. They’re not that interested in love, just in their own scruples. The world criticizes Christians and churches. We expect that, but not from our own.

Relate this to your marriage. If your home is filled with criticism, your home is not a happy home. These Pharisees could have seen many good things about Jesus: sinners coming to God, being healed, etc. But they ignored all these things in order to find fault. Instead of finding fault with your spouse, try looking for things that are good. You can find them; after all you married him or her. List the good things and recall them regularly. Same with your children. Instead of always getting on to them, speak words of goodness and encouragement. Your home will be filled with joy.

Look for the good in your church. Major on those things. Think on the good things. Stay positive. Love others. Stop being so critical. Cast the spirit of criticism out of your heart and live a joyful life.

This can be seen throughout the New Testament, especially here in Luke 15:1-2, 25-32 (especially v.28-29); and in places like Mt.5:23-24; 23:23,31-35; 1Cor.3:2-3

Luke 15: 1 Then all the tax collectors and the sinners drew near to Him to hear Him. 2 And the Pharisees and scribes complained, saying, “This Man receives sinners and eats with them.”

25 “Now his older son was in the field. And as he came and drew near to the house, he heard music and dancing. 26 So he called one of the servants and asked what these things meant. 27 And he said to him, ‘Your brother has come and because he has received him safe and sound, your father has killed the fatted calf.’ 28 “But he was angry and would not go in. Therefore his father came out and pleaded with him. 29 So he answered and said to his father, ‘Lo, these many years I have been serving you; I never transgressed your commandment at any time; and yet you never gave me a young goat, that I might make merry with my friends. 30 But as soon as this son of yours came, who has devoured your livelihood with harlots, you killed the fatted calf for him.’31 “And he said to him, ‘Son, you are always with me, and all that I have is yours. 32 It was right that we should make merry and be glad, for your brother was dead and is alive again, and was lost and is found.’”

Mt.5: 23 Therefore if you bring your gift to the altar and remember that your brother has something against you there, 24 leave your gift there before the altar and go your way. First be reconciled to your brother and then come and offer your gift.”

Mt.23: 23 “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you pay tithe of mint and anise and cummin, and have neglected the weightier matters of the law: justice and mercy and faith. These you ought to have done, without leaving the others undone.”

1Cor.3: 2 I fed you with milk and not with solid food; for until now you were not able to receive it, and even now you are still not able; 3 for you are still carnal. For where there are envy, strife, and divisions among you, are you not carnal and behaving like mere men?”  Carnal is fleshly; the chief characteristic is divisions!

(John 1:19-27)

We’ve thoroughly covered the Importance of Our Witness for Christ. It is why we were left on this earth after we are saved. But to know this is not enough. We must be doers of the word and not hearers only. Only doers of the word will be blessed. “Be doers of the word and not hearers only. A doer of the word, this one will be blessed in what he does.” (Jas.1:22,25) You may be very familiar with that phrase in v.22, “Be doers of the word and not hearers only.” Many people hear the word every week in our churches, but the question is, “How many do what they hear?”

Do you know what the rest of v.22 says? It says, “deceiving yourselves.” In other words, you are deceiving yourself if all you do is hear. That can’t be good. How will you deceive yourself if you hear the word and don’t do what you have heard? You think you are blessed by simply hearing the word. “Oh! I love to hear the word preached!” Fact is, we are held accountable by God for everything we hear. “To him who knows to do good but does it not, to him it is sin.” (Jas.4:17) It will go badly for you with God if you hear and do nothing about what you hear – at the judgment.

And do you know what Jas.1:25 says right after v.22? It says, “a doer of the work, this one will be blessed in what he does.” The blessing of God does not come with hearing the word, it comes by doing what you hear. The one who builds his house on the rock that is not destroyed by the storms of life is the one who hears the sayings of Jesus and does them (Mt.7:24-27). That whole passage begins with, “Whoever hears these sayings of Mine and does them…”

How to witness is what this chapter is all about.

I. You must be bold.  John the Baptist was “a voice shouting…”

We must never be timid if we want our witness to be effective. Paul wrote, “I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ for it is the power of God unto salvation.” (Rm.1:16) Since I was saved I had not been to where I grew up and lived a very sinful life. Without my encouragement and to the ignorance of all my friends, they threw a huge party for me at my best friend’s house. When I pulled up, the yard and the street were full of people… drinking. I could hear the rock and roll music broadcasting from inside the house. I decided before I got out of the car that I was going in full speed ahead. I grabbed my big black Scofield Bible, held it to my chest and as I walked up the sidewalk it was like Moses walking through the Red Sea. I walked in, sat down, put my Bible on the coffee table and the first words out of my mouth were, “I want to tell y’all what the Lord has done for me.” It ruined the party, but my closest friends heard for the next two hours what the Lord Jesus Christ had done for me. If I had started out timid and tried to ease into a witness, I don’t think I would have given a witness at all, much less a good witness.

And witness with a smile. Your attitude revealed in your smile will open the door for the gospel to enter people’s hearts. Act like you enjoy talking to them about Jesus… because you do. Have fun! Not sure John the Baptist had fun, but I think he liked what he was doing. God usually or at least eventually puts in people’s hearts the joy of doing His will.

II. Tell them about Yourself.  That’s what I did and it’s what John did.

Many say they do not witness because they do not know what to say. That’s not true. If you are saved you know what to say. You already know what to tell others. Tell them what Christ has done for you. In Mark 5:18-20 Jesus told a crazy man who had been saved and delivered from thousands of demons, when he asked that same day if he could go with Jesus, “Go home to your friends and tell them what great things the Lord has done for you and how He has had compassion on you.”  That is a witness.

You are a witness. You have a testimony. All you have to do is tell people what Christ has done for you. Give them a version of your “before and after” Christ and what He did to get you from the before to the after. Or you can tell them what the Lord has done for you lately. He has done something for you lately, hasn’t He? Just get busy telling others how He’s had compassion on you. You can say something like, “Hey, would you mind if I take a minute to tell you what the Lord has done for me?”

III. Know the ones you are talking to. 

John knew his audience. He even refused to baptize some because he saw no fruits of repentance in their lives. He knew how to talk to the wealthy, the tax collectors and the soldiers (Lk.3:10-14). This point is bigger than you might think. If you show an interest in them, they will reciprocate; they will show an interest in you and listen to what you have to say.

I use an acrostic to help lead me into a witnessing situation. When I visit someone in their home, whether they have visited our church or I’m witnessing from house to house. Here’s the acrostic: F.I.R.E.

 FAMILY:  The person someone cares about more than anybody else is themselves and their family. Look at the pictures on their walls or in their wallets. Anyone will gladly show you pictures of the ones they love the most. Especially grandparents. When I walk into a house I go around the room looking at the pictures on their walls and ask questions about who’s in them. Warm up to people and they will warm up to you. All of this does not take a long time. You don’t have to spend over a minute or two with each one of these.

INTERESTS: Walking up to their house I will notice toys in their yard, a boat, snowmobile, whatever. I ask them if they go to the lake a lot, fish some, swim. Something in the yard or house will give an indication of what interests them. They will easily talk about those things. Look at the books on their bookshelves or on their coffee table. Show an interest in their interests. Show an interest in them and what they have to say and they will show an interest in you and what you have to say. And do it sincerely because you are sincere. You’re going somewhere with the conversation and they will soon find out, but in the meantime, show an interest in them.

RELIGION: Most people have some sort of church background; either them or someone in their family, like parents or grandparents. They have probably been to church and may even be members somewhere, even though they haven’t been there in years. It also helps to be familiar with what other denominations and religions teach. If you are not familiar with their religion, that’s ok. Ask them to give you a snapshot about their religion. Now, you are ready to introduce the gospel to them.

EVANGELISM QUESTIONS: To diagnose someone’s spiritual condition you only need two simple questions. One is, “Do you know for sure if you died tonight you’d go to heaven?” The key word there is “know.” Most everybody does not “know” and they will tell you so. Many will not even think a person can know. When they tell you they are not sure, tell them you have some good news for them. Then share with them First John 5:13 which says, “These things I have written to you that you might know that you have eternal life.” Tell them, “See there, you can know!”

The second question is, “If you were to die tonight, what makes you think God would let you into His heaven?” (Or you could just ask, “If you were to stand before God, what makes you think He would let you into His heaven?”) Their answer will tell you most everything you need to know about whether they are saved or not. Most will say something that they have done or are doing that recommends them to God and they are really depending on that. Like, “I am a church member. I am a pretty good person. I help my neighbor.” They might say any number of things. These all reveal their lost condition. A person who is truly saved will say something like, “Jesus paid for my sins and rose from the dead. I’ve repented of my sins and I’m trusting Him to be my Savior and the reason God let’s me into His heaven.” If they answer this way, congratulate them and you might ask, if they have not already told you, where they go to church; and invite them to your church.

If they reveal they do not know Christ by answering the second question wrongly, then you share the gospel with them. You tell them what Jesus does to save people. This is the subject of the next chapter in this study. John the Baptist tells us exactly what we are to say to others about Jesus.

Again, to be a witness you must have a holy boldness that is unintimidated. You are “not ashamed of the gospel of Christ because it is the power of God unto salvation to everyone who believes.” (Rm.1:16)  Share the gospel with confidence, relying on the Holy Spirit to fill you and use you in this greatest of enterprises on the earth. He will.

Now for what to tell them about Jesus. It’s very simple.  

And Mary said, My soul magnifies the Lord and my spirit has rejoiced in God my Savior. (Luke 1:46-47)

         The NLT says, “Oh, how my soul praises the Lord. How my spirit rejoices in God my Savior!” The TPL says, “My soul is ecstatic, overflowing with praises to God! My spirit bursts with joy over my life-giving God!”  

The Message Translation says, “I’m bursting with God-news; I’m dancing the song of my Savior God.”

The word for rejoiced here means to jump for joy. It means to exult and to be exceedingly joyful. David danced when he was bringing the Ark of the Covenant into Jerusalem (2Sam.6:14). He was leaping and twirling about. What in the world was Mary so joyful about? She was far from what her name means – bitterness. She was deliriously happy, exceedingly happy, jumping for joy happy. She was “Price is Right” happy.

Why is this young virgin, unmarried Hebrew lady so happy? She’s pregnant! “Unmarried – pregnant – happy?” Those words don’t normally go together. “Virgin – pregnant – happy” in those days can only mean one thing. She has been made pregnant by God and her child is the divine and human Son of God! Mary is the Eve of a “new creation.” (2Cor.5:17) From her and her child will come a new race of people. Human race – for sure, but also a divine race! Her descendants through her son Jesus will be partakers of the divine nature and they shall all be called sons of God. “That you may be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust.” (2Pet.1:4) We have escaped the corruption of this present world means we don’t have the nature of sinners anymore. We do have unredeemed bodies for sure and that is the cause of our sin problem. It’s what the Bible calls, “the flesh” which is literally our body that is still aligned with this corrupt world. Everything wrong we were in Adam was crucified with Christ (Rm.6:6). That’s why Jesus is called the “last Adam.” (1Cor.15:45). As the first born of the new creation, Jesus is the “second Man.” (1Cor.15:47)

We now have God’s nature, which is holy. Therefore we are called saints. First John 3:1 says, “Now we are children of God.” We are not the “only begotten” as Jesus is, but we have been “born of God.”

Back to Mary. This is her song of praise to God because she has become a mother! Here’s what we can learn from this.  This song is all about mothers and their relationship with God.

1. She credits God for this great thing that has happened to her, this becoming pregnant. Pregnant women are mothers! That child in her was a live person. What does that tell you about abortion? God is the author of all life, the life of the children of every mother. For that she and all of us should be praising God.

Linda was not taking the news of her fourth pregnancy very well. We had hoped to stop at three. We went to a Pastor’s Conference led by Jimmy Draper and heard him say, “Every child is ordained by God, no matter the circumstance of the conception. God created this life in you with a divine purpose.” That did it for Linda; she was fine with her fourth child for the rest of her life. She was deliriously happy. So it is right that we should be in the house of God today celebrating mothers on Mother’s Day. Praise God!

2. She regards herself as needing a Savior, needing to be saved. She is no “co-redeemer.” She will be redeemed by the very child she is carrying within her. Jesus is her Savior and He needs to be the Savior of every mother. Moms have a great reason to jump for joy that they can call God their Savior.

3. Mary regards herself as a slave of God. Blessed yes, but that is especially so because she is a lowly maidservant of God. Moms – the most important thing you can do for your children is to be a servant of God. Do you realize the first thing Mary did after Jesus was born? She took Him to church (Luke 2:22-40). The next thing the Holy Bible says about Jesus is He was in the house of God (Lk.2:41-49). Look at the preposition “in” followed by the simple “Father.” Where He was when He said this tells us what He means and almost every translation says it. “Did you not know I must be in my Father’s house?” Jesus always referred to the Temple as His Father’s house. If you don’t raise your children in church you are doing a great disservice to your children.

And this should not be done just for your child. In the first four verses of Mary’s Magnificat she refers to herself no less than six times. This praise and rejoicing in God is personal for her. This mother is praising God! Children should see their moms and dads praising God and rejoicing in Him in church and at home. If you sing songs of praise to God at church and not at home, you’re a hypocrite, and your children will know it and it will turn them off toward God.

Mothers should be the happiest people on earth! God has done a great thing for you and you can call on God and He will become your Savior. Your souls should magnify the Lord and your spirits should rejoice in God your Savior. Happy Day! Happy Mothers! Happy Mother’s Day. 

   “Look to God’s instructions and teachings! People who contradict His word are completely in the dark.” (Isaiah 8:20 NLT)

Everything comes with instructions. You’ll find them on laxative bottles, hair shampoo, and virtually everything. You buy a new car and you get this huge book full of how to best operate your new car. It’s called the owner’s manual and it can be so helpful with instructions on how to operate everything in your new car.

Ever notice how the “Walk” and “Wait” signs on street corners are weird? The Walk sign is up for about 10 seconds. That’s crazy, but I understand why they do that. Recently I discovered it personally. It was sprinkling rain and my car was a half a block away. I got to the corner just as the Walk sign changed to Wait. I thought, “I’ve got time.” I stepped out into the street and this speeding car missed me by about two inches! I jumped back and forgot about reaching my car. I was just feeling blessed to be alive. That rather limiting sign was there for my good. It is there for everybody’s safety.

Instructions give you the way to do things. Follow your coaches instructions and you will play ball better. Follow God’s instructions and you will live life better. You can’t win at any sport if you don’t play by the rules.

A most beautiful acrostic is – the Bible spells: Basic Instructions Before Leaving Earth. The instructions you follow determine your future. Jesus taught this. After giving many instructions in His famous Sermon on the Mount, He ends it with these words from Matthew 7:21-27:

21 “Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father in heaven. 22 Many will say to Me in that day, ‘Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in Your name, cast out demons in Your name, and done many wonders in Your name?’ 23 And then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness! 24 “Therefore whoever hears these sayings of Mine, and does them, I will liken him to a wise man who built his house on the rock: 25 and the rain descended, the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house; and it did not fall, for it was founded on the rock. 26 “But everyone who hears these sayings of Mine, and does not do them, will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand: 27 and the rain descended, the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house; and it fell. And great was its fall.”

Those who enter the kingdom of God are those who do the will of the Heavenly Father. Where is His will found? In the Bible, where God gives us His instructions for life. God’s will is found in His laws. It’s easy to call Jesus, “Lord, Lord,” but the question is are you obeying His laws. He tells those who do not obey His laws to, “Depart from Me…” forever.

Into every life some rain must fall. Storms happen… to everyone. Whether the house of your life endures those storms depends on whether you listen to the word of God and do what He says. If you do, you will be blessed. If you do not, your house will come crashing down. “And great will be its fall.” The instructions you follow will determine your future.

In the Bible, God’s instructions are called laws. On the highway it is good to have laws. Without laws we are not protected from accidents. Laws give us freedom to live. When I was young I emphasized freedom. When I grew older I saw the importance of order. I have concluded that freedom is the product of order. Instructions and laws bring order to our lives. God always gives good instructions to protect us and give us liberty.

These instructions are from the infinitely wise who has an infinite love for you and therefore wants the best for you. He would never tell you to do something that would be bad for you. His instructions are like train tracks. They seem so limiting, like God is giving His instructions to keep you from having fun and enjoying life. Nothing could be further from the truth. God’s instructions limit our being hurt, like traffic signs on a highway. They are there to keep you safe. Obey them and be safe; disobey them and you put yourself in danger.

Put a train in a pasture and it goes nowhere. It was made to run on tracks. Those tracks don’t limit the train, they allow it to run the way it was created and designed to run. God’s instructions are the tracks that give us the freedom to be who we were made to be and accomplish what we were made by God to accomplish.

We will proceed by giving the test questions before the test, so that by the end of this study you will know the very important answers to these very important questions.

1. Where is the Law of God found? 

Where do these laws come from? The heart of God. His laws come from His nature and character, thus they are “holy, just and good,” because God is those things. “Therefore the law is holy, and the commandment is holy and just and good.”  (Rm.7:12).

The laws of God are based on His good and truthful nature. For example, He is the only God so we must not worship other gods. He does not steal so we must not. He is the truth, so we must not lie. And so forth.

The Law of God is found in the Word of God, the Holy Bible. God’s word is true and therefore His laws are found in His word.

2. What is the Law of God?

It is the commandments of God (plural). The Law of God are His instructions giving us the will of God. If you’re looking for the will of God for your life, consult His laws. You can’t be in the will of God and live contrary to His laws. They are what God requires of us if we are to live a life pleasing to Him, our final judge.

3. How many laws of God are there?

There are 613 found in the Torah, the first five books of the Bible. The Laws of Moses are the Laws of God.

4. What are the summaries of those 613 laws?

A. The Ten Commandments – given to Moses (and all mankind) by the very handwriting of God (Deut.9:10). The Ten Commandments are found in Exodus chapter 20 and Deuteronomy chapter five.

Please know and never forget that God is serious about us obeying His laws. According to Deut.28 He gives wonderful blessings to those who “observe carefully all His commandments.” (v.1-14) You might take the time to read some of these blessings. And God says horrible curses will come upon those who disobey His laws (Dt.28:15-68). Take some time to browse through these, but I warn you, they are not easy reading.

The TEN COMMANDMENTS:

1. You shall have no other gods but Me.

2. You shall not make anything to represent God, and bow down and worship it.

3. You shall not take the name of the Lord lightly upon your lips.

4. Remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy. Work six days and keep the seventh as a day of rest and meeting with the family of God. “You have six days each week for your ordinary work, but the seventh day is a Sabbath day of complete rest, an official day for holy assembly. It is the Lord’s Sabbath day and it must be observed wherever you live.” (Leviticus 23:3) In other words, go to church at least once a week.

5. Honor your father and mother. Then you will live a long, full life.

6. You must not murder.

7. You must not commit adultery.

8. You must not steal.

9. You must not speak falsely against your neighbor.

10. You must not covet (desire) anything that belongs to someone else.

 B. The Law of Love – given by Jesus. He actually agreed with a man who stated this and gave it as His answer to, “What shall I do to inherit eternal life?” Read it in Luke 10:25-28. We are told to “love God with all your heart, soul, strength and mind.” Then he adds “and your neighbor as yourself.” Paul wrote in the word of God, “The whole law is summed up in this saying, “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” (Rm.13:9-10; be sure to read this.) 

What this means is – loving God covers the first four of the Ten Commandments. If you have other gods before the true God, if you worship things made by man or created by God, if you take His holy name in vain, and if you don’t remember to keep one day a week wholly reserved for Him (quality time with God and His family), then you don’t love God they way you should.

Loving your neighbor covers the last six of the Ten Commandments. If you don’t honor and obey your parents you are not loving your neighbor, your closest neighbor; and if you steal from someone you are not loving him. Same with telling a lie or murdering someone. Love does no harm to another person. If you do anyone harm then you are not loving your neighbor.

5. What is sin?

 It is a serious thing to sin against God, and all sin is against God. Sin is a transgression of God’s laws (1Jn.3:4). All have sinned and the wages of sin (the result of sin) is death (Rm.3:23; 6:23). Salvation is believing that Christ died for our sins. That’s how serious it is to break one of God’s laws. Even the breaking of one law brings the judgment of death. “For whoever shall keep the whole law, and yet stumble in one point, he is guilty of all.” (Jas.2:10)

6. What are the two kinds of sins?

Sins of Commission and Sins of Omission. We can transgress God’s laws by doing something He told us not to do or by not doing something He told us to do (Mt.25:41-46). God tells us not to bear false witness and we do; that’s a sin. God tells us to forgive and we won’t do it; that’s a sin. The sins of commission and the sins of omission weigh the same in the sight of God. If God says, “Don’t,” and you do, then you sin. If God says, “Do,” and you don’t, then you sin. Sin is a serious thing with God and it should be with us. It brings death.

7. What is the basis of God’s judgment on our lives?

Everyone will stand before God and be judged by Him. We will be punished or rewarded according to our obedience or disobedience to God’s laws. Please read Revelation 20:12-13.

8. Are Saved People still supposed to obey God’s laws?

Some believe that Jesus did away with God’s requirement to obey God’s laws. That is a lie! Jesus said, “Do not think that I came to destroy the Law, but I came to fulfill it.” (Mt.5:17)

What does fulfill mean? It means to fill full. Here’s what Jesus followed up that fulfill statement with. He proceeds to make the law of God even more demanding, to fill it up, by telling us that obedience to God’s law is not only outward acts but also inward thought, desires and attitudes. For example, we don’t have to actually kill someone to be guilty of murder, we are not even supposed to be angry with them (Mt.5:21-22). That’s making the law full. God’s law is not just a matter of things we do and don’t do, it’s a matter of the heart. Adultery can be done in your mind, by looking with lust, as well as with your body (Mt.5:27-28). Jesus actually is expounding the Tenth Commandment. “You shall not covet” internalizes the other nine. You can break God’s law by wanting to steal, wanting to bear false witness, lusting in your heart, making idols in your heart by thinking wrong thoughts about God. The essence of idolatry is wrong thoughts about God. Far from doing away with the law, Jesus fills up its meaning. He fulfills it. He fills it up.

9. What is the problem with people as God sees us, which is the truth about what’s wrong with us?

It doesn’t take a genius to figure out that something is wrong with people. We hurt one another. We are ignorant about the one Person we should not be ignorant about. The whole world is under the wrath of God (Rm.1:18). Why? Because we are all lawbreakers. All have sinned and our sin has separated us from the holy and good God. Isaiah 59:2 says, “Your iniquities have separated you from your God; and your sins have hidden His face from you, so that He will not hear.” He will not answer your prayers.

Here’s the problem – nobody has kept the law (Rm.3:23) and the wages of sin is death (Rm.6:23). We are separated from God because of our breaking of His laws. We are criminals before a just God.

All it takes is one sin to put us under God’s judgment, to make us guilty of breaking God’s law. How many holes in a tire to make a flat tire? One. How many cracks in a mirror make a cracked mirror? One. And everybody is guilty of many sins. And we cannot do anything to remove the judgment of God. Criminals must pay for their crimes. God is just and we are all already under the condemnation of sin. We are guilty before the holy and just God.

Because God is good, He cannot do away with justice. To let criminals go free without any punishment for their crimes is not a good thing. God does not do that. He can forgive our sins, but only on the basis that someone else has taken the punishment for our sins.

10. What has God done to solve our problem of breaking God’s law?

The Good News is, “God demonstrated His love toward us in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for our sins.” (Rm.5:8) Christ died for our sins! That’s it. Jesus took our punishment for breaking God’s laws. Therefore we can be forgiven and declared right with God.

I had four daughters in four years. When the eldest was about 14 years old they all got into trouble together. I found out about it and brought them into the living room and sat them down on the couch. I took my belt off. I asked them what they thought I should do and they said they deserved a whipping. I surprised them. I bent over that couch and told each of them to take five hard swings at me. I told them if they didn’t hit me as hard as they could I’d hit them as hard as I could. They started out giggling. It was funny – at first. They saw that they were hurting me. They began to cry. By the time my youngest was finished we were all in tears. I asked them to sit down and if they knew what I had done for them. “You took the punishment we deserved.” I told them that this is what Jesus did for us. He took the punishment we deserved for our disobedience.

11. On what basis can God forgive our lawbreaking?

On the basis of our faith in Him. When we repent and believe in Jesus God forgives us of our sins. “Therefore we conclude that a man is justified by faith apart from the deeds of the law.” (Rm.3:28) To be justified means to be declared right with God.

Even after we become Christians, if we do sin, “If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us of all unrighteousness.” (1Jn.1:9) When we give God our hearts and lives we become His children and He forgives all our trespasses against Him, because our heavenly Father loves us and Christ took the punishment for our sins. This doesn’t make us want to sin, it makes us not want to sin!

12. Does God remove the requirement of obeying God’s laws when we become His child?

Absolutely not. In fact, salvation secures our obedience to God’s laws by having them written on our hearts. He makes it possible, even desirable, to obey our heavenly Father. We know His laws are good and for our own good. He would never tell us to do something that would hurt ourselves or anyone else.

I tell people what if everybody was like me there would be no need for locks on anything: houses, cars, whatever. Why? Because I have no interest in stealing anything from anybody. Never have. Never will. It’s not in my heart to steal stuff. Recently I unknowingly came out of a self-checkout Walmart with a jar of pickles. When I got to the car and discovered what I’d done, I took the jar of pickles back and paid for them. It’s not in my heart to steal pickles or anything else.

Now, when you get saved God writes His laws in your heart so that you want to and love to obey and trust Him. “Oh, how I love Your law! It is my meditation all the day.” (Ps.119:97) “I delight in Your law.” (Ps.119:70) “I will put My laws in their mind and write them on their hearts; and I will be their God and they shall be My people. For I will be merciful to their unrighteousness, and their sins and their lawless deeds I will remember no more.”  (Heb.8:10-12) “I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you. I will put My Spirit within you and cause you to walk in My statutes, and you will keep My judgments and do them. Then you shall be My people and I will be your God.” (Eze.36:26-28)

13. Do you desire with all your heart to do God’s will as found in the law of God?

If you do, you will find a way to obey God and you will find God’s power to live a life of obedience to God’s laws. The power to obey comes from the new heart God gives you in salvation and in His Spirit who now lives in you and will come upon you if you ask Him.

If you desire to live for God, please read Romans chapter six; this will help you more than you can imagine. 

Through Christ’s death and resurrection and the power of the Holy Spirit you can live a life free from the bondage of sin, with the freedom to obey God’s instructions.

So, believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and you will be saved. Then receive the fullness of the Holy Spirit to give you the power to live a life fully loving God and others.

14. What is the most wonderful life on earth you can possibly live?

It is the life of fully trusting and obeying God’s instructions. Do what He says and you will be blessed. See Deuteronomy 28.

If you have a testimony of being blessed by obeying God, share with as many others as you can so they can enjoy this wonderful life.

Now, learn the answers to these fourteen questions.

Learn them by heart. Know them because they are important.

Don’t just learn the answers, live the answers.

After your view of God, the most important thing about you is your view of you. To get the true view of you, the word of God must be consulted. Only God knows the true you, the real you. Don’t consult your heart for you can deceive yourself. “The heart is deceitful above all things and desperately wicked; who can know it?” (Jer.17:9)  But God cannot be deceived and He will always tell you the truth about you. God knows you better than you know yourself. He knows your thoughts, remembers all your actions from the time you were born, knows the motives behind all your words and deeds. “What does God say about you?” That’s what matters.

A good place to get a grasp of the important “Doctrine of Man” is the story of the Prodigal Son (Lk.15). There Jesus explains to us in story form who we are. If you have repented, there are actually two of you. There are two yous that you will see in the Luke 15 passage.

I. You are LOST.

If you have never repented, made up your mind once and for all to forsake your sins and follow Jesus, then you are what the Bible calls lost, lost to God, as that prodigal son was lost to his father. “The Son of Man has come to seek and save those who are lost.” (Lk.19:10) The father in Jesus’s story said, “My son was lost…” (Lk.15:24) You are yet in your sins and the result of sin is death; you are dead to God (Rm.6:23). Like the Prodigal Son, you are dead to your Father.

Ephesians 2:1-3 explains what it means to be lost and dead to God.

 “And you He made alive, who were dead in trespasses and sins, in which you once walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit who now works in the sons of disobedience, among whom also we all once conducted ourselves in the lust of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of our flesh and of the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, just as the others.”

While you are lost, you are a child of wrath, which means you are under the just condemnation of God. You are perishing.

Now don’t think for a moment that while you are in this condition God doesn’t love you. Ephesians 2:4-5 says, “But God who is rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in trespasses, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved)…” And “God demonstrated His love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.” (Rm.5:8) 

The altars were full one Sunday morning and an older lady was trying to console a young “hooker” looking lady by saying to her, “Honey, can’t be all that bad.”  I got between them and asked the young lady, “Why are you crying so much?” She confessed that she was a horrible person. She was on drugs, had two kids out of wedlock, and the man she was living with was not her husband. I told her that God loved sinners just like her and Christ died for people just like her. She repented that morning, was found and made alive. Right after that I married her and Kevin. She continued to follow Christ and does to this day.

You must confess what you are, like the Prodigal Son did, a sinner and away from God. Confess these things to be true. Admit what the Prodigal Son said to himself when he was in the hog pen and to his father when he went home. “Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you, and I am not worthy to be called your son.” (Lk.15:18-19)  You can stay in the hog pen of your sin or come to yourself and admit the truth about you. Why would you stay in the hog pen of your sins?

II. You are FOUND.

Once dead – now alive; once lost – now found. Some think this Prodigal was only backslidden, but what the father said about him does not allow that. This boy was lost. You must see yourself as lost.

But now that you have repented, you must learn to see yourself as God sees you. Compare Lk.15:18-19 with 21-22. The father interrupts the son in the middle of his prepared confession, as if to say, “Hush! I don’t want to hear it! You are my son and that’s all in the past.” The past is gone forever.

Your past is forgiven. Your slate of sins has been erased. Your bad data is deleted. You are no longer considered guilty before God. You are no longer dead to God, but very much alive. And found. All of this because Jesus (pictured by the fatted calf) has been slain and punished for your sins.

You must learn to say about you what God says about you. You are righteous, as much as Jesus is because you have been given His righteousness. You have been put into Christ so that when God looks at you, He sees the righteousness of Jesus. He actually sees Jesus because you are in Him.

I have a $20 bill. I crumble it, I tear it a bit, I mark on it. All blemishes are clearly seen. Then I put that $20 bill into this beautiful, perfect, Holy Bible. Can you now see the bill? All you see is the perfect Bible. Why? Because the bill is inside the Bible. God looks at the believer in Christ and all He sees is His holy Son. You need to see you like God sees you – in His holy Son, in Christ. You need to say about you what God says about you: “I am holy and special. I see no flaw nor condemnation in me.”

A convenience store was robbed. The witnesses told the cops that they recognized the robber; it was George Washington. “The first president, whose pic is on the $1 bill?” Yes! “That’s impossible! He died over 200 years ago!” The cop was right. “Who shall bring a charge against God’s elect? It is God who justifies.”  (Rm.8:33-34) Nobody! And neither should you! When you get saved, found, made alive, the Holy Spirit puts you into Christ so that what happened to Him 2000 years ago happened to you. That’s the way God sees you: dead to sin! “Shall we continue in sin? Certainly not! How shall we who died to sin live any longer in it?” (Rm.6:1-2) 

We cannot live in sin. And if we do commit a sin, we have 1Jn.1:9, “If we confess our sins, God is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” You may sin from time to time, but that doesn’t make you a sinner! I can throw a baseball, but that doesn’t make me a pitcher. I can’t throw a curveball, knuckle ball, sinker or fast ball; but I can throw a baseball. I can throw a football, but that doesn’t make me a quarterback. I can add two plus two, but that doesn’t make me an accountant. I know some Spanish words, but I can’t speak Spanish. I’m not a Spanish speaking person. I'm ashamed to admit it but I took eight semester hours of Spanish in college and I have difficulty ordering lunch at Taco Bell. The point is, I may sin, but that doesn’t make me a sinner. I have died to sin and therefore will never be found guilty of it, as far as God is concerned (Rm.8:1; 6:1-3)

Why would I want to sin? Why would any child of God want to sin? That would be like the Prodigal Son saying, “Dad, all this feasting and celebrating is wonderful, but I want to go back to the hog pen and starve some more.” Nobody would do that!

Say the same thing about yourself that God says about you. You are His child. You are a saint, no longer a sinner but a saint. Say about you what God says about you. “I am holy. I am chosen by God and He has made me His own special treasure.

“For you are a holy people (person) to the Lord your God, and the Lord has chosen you to be a people for Himself, a special treasure above all the peoples who are on the face of the earth.” (Deut.14:2) That is the way God always wanted His people Israel to see themselves. This view of themselves would have kept them from idolatry and sin.

The same is said of us in the New Testament, “You are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, His own special people (person), that you may proclaim the praises of Him who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light, who once were not a people but now are the people of God, who had not obtained mercy but now have obtained mercy.” (1Pet.2:9-10) 

See that about yourself and say that about yourself. That is God’s view of you and should be your view of you. This is the very thing that you need to see and say. And say it often.

If right now you see yourself as lost, you don’t have to stay lost. Get up and go to your heavenly Father and admit it. What will God do to you? A SS teacher asked her young class, “And what do you suppose the father did when he met his son?” A little boy jumped up and said, “He bashed him in the mouth!” But he didn’t. He did what God will do for you. He will cover your face with kisses, make you His child and welcome you into His house.

Ever wonder why the shepherd sought out the lost sheep and the woman searched for her lost coin, but the father never went after his son? Because sheep and coins don’t need to repent; people do. This parable teaches that humans who are lost need to repent, leave their sins and come home. So, do that now and rejoice. 

“Happy are the people whose God is the Lord.” (Psalm 144:15)

Your view of God is the most important thing about you. You are living out your view of God. You are being molded into the image of the God you think exists. What you think, what you say and what you do are all determined by your view of God.

If you are living the life of a “practical atheist” there’s a reason. This is someone who says he believes in God but acts as though He is irrelevant and unimportant to his everyday life, the decisions he makes, what he thinks about and does. He doesn’t pray or consult Him in any major or even minor decisions in his life. He thinks God is distant, undetached from people and unconcerned about having a relationship with anyone. He’s too uncaring to be intimately concerned with anybody. And so he lives his life as though He does not exist. But the Bible’s view of God is just the opposite. He notices every sparrow that falls from the sky and has the hairs on every head numbered. He cares deeply about how we think and what we do. He loves us as a husband loves his bride and a mother loves her children.

A.W. Tozer said, “The essence of idolatry is wrong thoughts about God.” You can sin without conviction because you don’t really think God cares that much about people sinning. Yet God says, “As He who called you is holy, you also be holy in all your conduct, because it is written, ‘Be holy, for I am holy.” (1Pet.1:15-16) One man who was living with his girlfriend said to me, “God knows I have needs.” I said, “Yes, and He fully expects you to meet those needs by getting married.”

I recently heard a pastor say from the pulpit, “Some people actually think God wants everybody to be happy and healthy and have plenty of everything they need. Isn’t that stupid? You’d think they’d never read the Bible.” Well, I believe those things precisely because I have read the Bible! The reason people think that about God is because they believe God is in control of everything and since some people are not happy and not healthy, it is ridiculous to think that’s what God wants for people. “It must not be God’s will for everyone to be happy because… everybody is not happy!” As though, if people are miserable and sick, it must be God’s will.

They suppose that whatever happens is God’s will. Now that is ridiculous! Things happen all the time that are not God’s will. Sin is not God’s will. Do people sin? Of course they do. It is not God’s will for the lost to die in their sins, but does that ever happen? All the time. “Our Savior desires all men to be saved…” (1Tim.2:3-4)  “I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but that the wicked turn from his way and live.” (Eze.33:11) 

Don’t get your view of God from other people. Gandhi said, “If it weren’t for Christians, I’d be a Christian. I like your Christ, but not your Christianity.” This man after living in Western Christianity influenced over a billion people for Hinduism.

To find the correct view of God we must look into God’s word where He tells us everything we need to know about God so we can bear the image of God and live the best life possible on this earth. We see everything we need to know about God in Jesus Christ; by His works and words He gives us the perfect picture of God.

I’ve already stated that Jesus was the happiest man on earth when He was here (Heb.1:9). Religious people are basically not happy. Look at their faces in church and you will see many unhappy people. A man got into the choir one week and never again. When I asked him about it, he said he couldn’t stand looking at so many unhappy faces in church! Religion will make you sour because it gives you the wrong view of God.

Religious people are happy at other places. Put that same sad church face at a ballgame and he’s excited, shouting and having a good time. He’s high-fiving people! With the religious world, even among church members, God is like the Pharisees imagined Him to be – too righteous to have anything to do with sinners. They picture Him as cold, legalistic and unmerciful toward those who make wrong choices and mess up their lives. They become like the God they imagine and look down on sinners as being unworthy to eat with.

In contrast to that we see Jesus hanging around sinners all the time. He went to sinners. Invited Himself into their homes to eat and fellowship. We see this in Luke 15 where Jesus has accepted an invitation to Matthew’s home for a party. There you will see the Pharisees critical about what Jesus is doing. They are all in one house among all kinds of notorious sinners. Jesus hears their murmuring and knows their problem is they have a wrong view of God. So He sets about correcting their view of God by telling a parable with three stories. It’s one parable with three stories. This is for emphasis; as if to say, I want you to really get this message about the correct view of God.

Look through Luke 15 and you will see that ten times in these stories Jesus uses the word for joy (v.5,6,7,10,23,24,29,32). And to kick in an emphasis He pictures “music and dancing” in the Father’s house (v.26). Christians should be joyful at all times (Phil.4:4) but especially in the Father’s house, and really especially when sinners are repenting, when people are getting right with God (v.7,10,21-23). Why such joy at that time? Because the day of judgment is coming when the holy God of justice will judge, and He will condemn all those who haven’t repented to hell (Rev.20:11-15). Right now we’re living in the day of grace, which is a time God has given the world to repent. There is no judgment now. Judgment comes later (Acts 17:30-31).

The “fatted calf” represents the justice of God now. That poor innocent calf died so that there may be fellowship between the repentant sinners and the holy God. It represents the “Lamb of God” who was sacrificed for us, who took our sins so we could receive God’s forgiveness. Jesus took the justice of God for all who repent. That’s why there is no wrath now – because the Lamb was slain for all those who repent. When sinners are saved from the wrath to come, that is the occasion for excessive joy.

Jesus is teaching us that God is not mad at sinners. He loves sinners. He is merciful toward those who have wasted their lives with sinful living.  Christ died for sinners, even the chief of sinners. Scarcely would anyone die for a righteous man, but “God demonstrated His love for us in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.” (Rm.5:8)  That father in Jesus’ story represents the Father who receives sinners who repent. And He does so with joy. He is not mad at you. You can come home.

Imagine lost people coming to church and seeing the happiest people in the world (the only true “happy hour” in town), all loving each other and loving Jesus Christ. What a powerful witness to win the world, our family members and friends, to Christ.

So, what is your view of God? If it is different from the one Jesus gives in this chapter, you need to repent. 

“In the beginning was the Word and the Word was God…. And the Word became flesh.”  (John 1:1,14)

What happens when God becomes a man? It reveals everything. It changes everything.

I. He actually did that? 

“And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us.” Writing under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, John shows that he is familiar with Greek philosophy and the Old Testament. He states that in the beginning the Word created the heavens and the earth. This is right out of Genesis. Now John introduces the next page of revelation. He moves from creator to redeemer, from creation to redemption, from Genesis to Exodus. I say that because the word he used for dwelt is the word that means tabernacled, which takes us to the book of Exodus where God redeems His chosen people and right after that gives them the Law and the Tabernacle. That elaborate ornate tent was the place where God dwelt with them. God not only delivered His people; He actually came down to live among them in that wilderness. Jesus did that for all His people. He dwelt among us. Read Exodus 40:33-38 and notice the glory in it.

 33 And he raised up the court all around the tabernacle and the altar, and hung up the screen of the court gate. So Moses finished the work. 34 Then the cloud covered the tabernacle of meeting, and the glory of the Lord filled the tabernacle. 35 And Moses was not able to enter the tabernacle of meeting, because the cloud rested above it, and the glory of the Lord filled the tabernacle. 36 Whenever the cloud was taken up from above the tabernacle, the children of Israel would go onward in all their journeys. 37 But if the cloud was not taken up, then they did not journey till the day that it was taken up. 38 For the cloud of the Lord was above the tabernacle by day, and fire was over it by night, in the sight of all the house of Israel, throughout all their journeys.

In the New Testament God did not come to live in a tent, He lived in a man, the Word, and His name was Jesus Christ. He was God in the flesh: fully God and fully human. Think of how astounding this is. Paul states it like this, “Great is the mystery of godliness, God was manifest in the flesh.” (2Tim.3:16)

II. Why Would He Do That?

 A. To Show Us What the Invisible Spirit-God is Like. “No one has seen God at any time. The only begotten Son, who is in the bosom of the Father, He has declared Him.” (v.18) The word for declared means to expound or exegete. To exegete means to explain and interpret a Biblical text carefully and fully. Jesus fully revealed and explained who God is and what He is like.

God originally made man in His likeness to bear His image so that when creation saw and heard man, they would know what God is like. As we know, Adam and Eve blew it. They sinned and marred the image of God. Man is now but a majestic ruin of his former self. Majestic yes, but ruined. But Christ came as the Second Man (1Cor.15:47), the “express image of the invisible God.” (Col.1:15; Heb.1:3)

B. To Show Us, not only What Man is supposed to be, but actually Can Be Now and will be in his complete redemption at the coming of Jesus back to earth and our resurrection: “Beloved now are we the children of God; and it has not yet been revealed what we shall be, but we know that when He is revealed, we shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is.” (1Jn.3:2; 1Cor.15:50-53) In salvation, God has predestined us to be like Jesus and is right now using all things to conform us to His image (Rm.8:28-29). What He started at our new birth and continues during our lifetime on earth, He will complete at our resurrection.

C. To Give Us the Fullness of Grace and Truth. “Of His fullness we have received, and grace for grace… grace and truth came by Jesus Christ.” Man had always only partially known grace and truth. The Word did not come as a stranger to planet earth. He had tabernacled here before, remember. He had revealed Himself (His grace and truth) in tents, types and pictures. But the fullness of the Sun has now come and the fullness of the God now dwelt in a human body. “In Him dwells all the fullness of the Godhead bodily,” or in a human body. Jesus was full of grace and truth, and He gives all of that freely to us.

III. What Was He Like?

The glory of God is His manifest presence. “We beheld His glory,” sums it up. He was and is glorious. “The glory as of the only begotten of the Father.” He revealed the glory of God, just like Adam was supposed to do in the beginning. God is starting over, revealing Himself through a man. Revealing His glory. The glory of God is at least two things.

A. Brilliant, Shining Brightness. Jesus revealed this on the Mount of Transfiguration when He began to shine like the sun. “He was transfigured before them (Peter, James and John). His face shone like the sun, and His clothes became as white as light.” (Mt.17:2)  We too can have a glow and aura of light on us. I’ve seen this on others and others have told me they have seen it on me while I was preaching and teaching. This is a very powerful thing. It confirms the presence of God.

B. Goodness, Grace and Compassion.  Jesus revealed these to the max, constantly. He showed us that God is good and only good. Jesus came that we might have abundant life (Jn.10:10). He didn’t come to condemn or to execute judgment, He took our condemnation and judgment on the cross. “God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and power, and He went about doing good, healing all who were oppressed of the devil, because God was with Him.” (Acts 10:38) 

In Exodus 33:18-23 we see both of these characteristics of the glory of God when Moses prayed, “Show me Your glory.” God’s answer was to do just that.

18 And Moses said, “Please, show me Your glory.” 19 Then God said, “I will make all My goodness pass before you, and I will proclaim the name of the Lord before you. I will be gracious to whom I will be gracious, and I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion.” 20 But He said, “You cannot see My face; for no man shall see Me, and live.” 21 And the Lord said, “Here is a place by Me, and you shall stand on the rock. 22 So it shall be, while My glory passes by, that I will put you in the cleft of the rock, and will cover you with My hand while I pass by. 23 Then I will take away My hand, and you shall see My back; but My face shall not be seen.”

Do you see the two types of glory: His goodness and the shining? “I will proclaim the name of the Lord.” God’s name is Jehovah and the compound Jehovah names – which are all good: I Am Healer, Peace, etc. That is God’s name because it is His nature. Jesus revealed that. He went about doing good. He healed, delivered and loved.

We have an interesting and informative episode in Moses’ life in Exodus 34:29-35 where Moses’ face shined with the glory of God.

Which of the two is more prominent in Jesus when He was here, and thus more important? His goodness. When people saw His goodness in action, they saw the glory of God. And they ascribed glory to God. When people see our goodness and compassion displayed in our gifts of the Spirit and love of God, they will give God the glory. They will glorify God. “Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works and glorify your Father in heaven.” (Mt.5:16)       

We are made in the image of Christ and therefore our main purpose in life is to glorify God by being compassionate, gracious and good to others. Our prayer should be the prayer of Moses, “Lord, please show us Your glory.” 

 Romans 3: 21 But now the righteousness of God apart from the law is revealed, being witnessed by the Law and the Prophets, 22 even the righteousness of God, through faith in Jesus Christ, to all [a]and on all who believe. For there is no difference; 23 for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, 24 being justified [b]freely by His grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, 25 whom God set forth as a [c]propitiation by His blood, through faith, to demonstrate His righteousness, because in His forbearance God had passed over the sins that were previously committed, 26 to demonstrate at the present time His righteousness, that He might be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus.

As it relates to God, righteousness means to be right with God, to be approved by Him. It is the same Greek word for justification which means to be declared right with God. God justifies, declares righteous, those who have faith in Jesus. Righteousness is the gift of God to those who believe the gospel. Believers have peace with God (Rm.5:1) because the offense of sin has been removed by the sufferings of Jesus.

God’s gift of righteousness involves two things: our sins are imputed to Jesus who died for them on the cross and Christ’s righteousness is imputed to us. Both of these are huge. God takes our sins away and in the place of our sins He gives us all the righteousness of Christ. Every good thing Jesus ever thought, said and did is credited to our account. We are as righteous as Jesus in the eyes of God. Justification cannot be improved upon. You are as justified when you first believe as you are after decades of right living. It cannot be improved upon and can never be lost. When you are given Christ’s righteousness you are justified before God.

I. There is a Difference.  There are two types of righteousness spoken of in the Bible.

A. Positional Righteousness.  

The believer is given a perfectly righteous position in Christ. This is based on relationship. When we become a child of God we are declared righteous. This is imputed righteousness, freely given to the ungodly when they believe in Jesus (Rm.4:5). In this position, we are never again seen as sinners. In fact, we cannot sin because we are born of God (1Jn.3:9). A lost person can do nothing right before God because “all our righteousness are as filthy rags” and they are nothing but a “self-righteousness” that will not save. As it is written in Romans 3:

10.“There is none righteous, no, not one;
11 There is none who understands;
There is none who seeks after God.
12 They have all turned aside;
They have together become unprofitable;
There is none who does good, no, not one.”

Even so, the saint cannot sin before God, “Whoever has been born of God does not sin, for His seed remains in him; and he cannot sin, because he has been born of God.” We need to learn to see ourselves the way God sees us – perfectly righteous.

Nothing you do or do not do can change your relationship status with God. I once asked a bunch of college students what they could possibly do to no longer be the child of their parents: sin, change your hair color, skin pigment, or fingerprints? One girl’s response broke the whole room into roaring laughter. She said, “Get another tattoo.” But even that wouldn’t do it.

B. Practical Righteousness.  

This determines, not relationship but, fellowship. You can be in a permanent relationship with your parents and lose your fellowship. How? By disobeying them. Same with God. If we sin, repentance will be necessary to restore the fellowship.

Both of these types of righteousness are seen in 1Jn.3:7, “Let no one deceive you. He who practices righteousness is righteous, just as He is righteous.” Do you see the two? First John was written that we might know that we have eternal life (5:13) and this is one way we can know we are righteous – we practice righteousness. We live right, obeying the laws and will of God.  Practical righteousness is where 1Jn.1:9 comes in, “If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive our sins.” That whole first chapter is about fellowship with God. Notice the difference between 1Jn.1:9 and 3:9. With our positional righteousness we cannot sin, but in our practical righteousness we can sin.

A great example of this is the story of the Prodigal Son. Living a wasteful life with no fellowship with his father, when he went home his father said of him, “For this my son was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found.” (Lk.15:24)  Notice, the father still called him his son. He had not lost the relationship with his son, even though he had lost his fellowship. All the while the wayward son was away from home, Jesus had them continually referring to each other as father and son. The relationship was there but not the fellowship.

The Prodigal Son lost the fellowship with his father but he did not lose the relationship. He saw himself as a sinner, and he was, and he admitted and confessed it. That was good, according to 1Jn.1:9. But the father didn’t see his son that way. He still called him, “My son!” In fact, the father interrupted his son in the middle of his prepared speech and said, “Bring out the best robe and put it on him, and put a ring on his hand and sandals on his feet. And bring the fatted calf here and kill it, and let us eat and be merry; for this my son was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found.” The father stopped him from saying he was merely a sinner and called him His son. That boy had to learn to say about himself what the father said about him. I did, because the next scene has both of them in the father’s house feasting and dancing together.

We need to get beyond the confession of how sinful we are and start seeing ourselves the way our Heavenly Father sees us. We can’t drive our car forward by looking in the rear view window, even if it’s a camera. I have one of those cars that can virtually drive itself. When I start veering off the least little bit, it starts beeping and it will pull my steering wheel so that I am back safely in the lane. Take your eyes off the road and you will begin to veer off the road. The road you look at is how your Father sees you. See and say that.

II. There is a Danger.

One danger is in thinking you are positionally righteous when you have no practical righteousness. “Little children, let no one deceive you. He who practices righteousness is righteous, just as He is righteous.” (1Jn.3:7) Many are deceived about this and we are thoroughly warned not to be deceived on this important point.

But there is another danger and that is thinking you can maintain your practical righteousness by focusing on your practical righteousness. The danger is living your life with a sin-consciousness, always thinking of yourself as a sinner who always sins. To avoid this very serious danger, keep your eye on your positional righteousness. Keep your focus on the standard, the fact that you are a righteous saint. You will go toward what you are looking at.

“For to be carnally minded is death, but to be spiritually minded is life and peace.” (Rm.8:6)  It is possible to have such a victory over sin in your life that you never even think of or practice sin; you’re not always battling it. This is not possible if you are constantly sin-conscious.

This is the fallacy of saying things like, “Well, you know I’m just a sinner saved by grace, and we all sin all the time.”  You don’t have to sin all the time – because you are a saint, you are born again and God has given you His perfect righteousness. Think and live in light of that and you will live a practically righteous life with great fellowship with the Father. 

Many people have the wrong idea of Jesus Christ. They picture Him as some sort of sad sack who never laughed, never went to a party or had any fun. Nothing could be further from the truth, as we will see from the Bible, our only authoritative information on Jesus, the only infallible, inerrant, inspired book that tells us everything we need to know about Jesus.

In the coming lessons we will look at Jesus in the Gospels and the rest of the Bible and we will see that He was the happiest man on earth. And remember, in salvation God is making us to be like Jesus. We all want to be like Jesus; at least we want all others to be like Jesus! There was joy at His birth, joy in His ministry, joy at His resurrection, and there will be great joy in His return.

The only time He was not joyful was when He was “the man of sorrows, acquainted with grief” and that had to do exclusively with His suffering for our redemption. He was full of sorrow in Gethsemane and on the cross when He was taking our sorrow so that we wouldn’t have to take it. He was saving us from our sin and the sorrow it brings. Even then it says in Hebrews 12:2, “Jesus, who for the joy set before Him, endured the cross and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.” Looking at the end, He endured His suffering with joy. We can do that too.

There is a statement about Jesus that is the defining word on the kind of person Jesus was and is. It’s Hebrews 1:9, “You love justice and hate evil. Therefore, your God has anointed you, pouring out the oil of joy on you more than on anyone else.” The anointing with oil in the Bible was not some little oil on a finger and dabbing it on someone’s forehead. They poured the oil over them. The anointing oil poured over Aaron’s beard. When Samuel anointed little David, he poured it over his head.

My mother would anoint me with Vick’s Salve when I was sick. She’d smear it all over my chest, stuff it up my nose with her loaded finger, put it between my mouth and nose, get a finger full of it, put it in my mouth and say, “Swallow this.” She anointed my head and chest with that salve. Jesus was anointed with the oil of gladness – more than anyone had ever been anointed. He was therefore the happiest man there was.

Jesus was the happiest person on the planet. He had done what Paul commanded, “Rejoice in the Lord, always! Again I will say, rejoice!” (Phil.4:4) Note the repetition there for emphasis. They didn’t underline or highlight with florescent colors to emphasize something. They repeated it. This may or may not have to do with our circumstances. We are to rejoice in the Lord, and He never changes. Joy should be the notable thing in the life of every Christian and the chief characteristic of our church services. Sunday morning worship service should be the only true “Happy Hour” in town.

It would be good to get a dictionary definition of joy. “The emotion of delight, elation, keen pleasure, festive gaiety, exultation, festivity, hilarity, jubilation, merry, merriment, rapture, ravishment.” The Bible describes Jesus in this way.

To illustrate this let’s look at the wedding at Cana in John 2:1-11.

The point of this story is not that it’s ok to drink wine. That’s there, but the point is – Jesus is all in favor of us living a joyful life, our being happy makes Him happy.

The traditional Hebrew wedding celebration lasted seven days, a whole week, when neighbors, friends and family gathered for one big blowout, complete with a feast of food, music, dancing, and drink. It was one big party. The fact that Jesus was invited to this party and showed up is notable in itself. Nobody wants a killjoy throwing water on the festivities at their wedding. Everyone there would have known Him; Cana was only a short distance from Nazareth. And they wanted Him to be at their party. Turns out He was the life of the party, the one who rescued the party and the reputation of the bride and groom by supplying the wine after they had run out.

Apparently they were three days into the week of festivities when the unthinkable happened – they ran out of wine. Let it be known that this was not grape juice, as some would have us believe. The Greek word for wine means fermented grape juice. It was alcohol, at least some degree of alcohol. Enough to make a person feel happier than normal. The Bible uses this word to describe this very thing. Wine was the standard drink in the Bible, one of God’s special blessings to bring joy to His people’s hearts. “Wine makes the heart of man glad.” (Ps.104:15) And, “A feast is made for laughter and wine makes merry.” (Eccl.10:19) Throughout the Old Testament, partaking of wine was associated with happiness and celebration (Jud.9:13; Is.24:11; Zech.10:7). But, both food and wine can be overdone. Gluttony and drunkenness are dangerous and have ruined many lives.

For the Christian, there is plenty of cause for merriment without the wine. God loves me unconditionally, my sins are forgiven, God is for me, He has a purpose for my life, I have eternal significance, He is working in my life, I have eternal life, and a home in heaven with Him forever. That in itself is enough to make me, “Rejoice in the Lord always.” I don’t just have a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year; I have a merry everyday and a happy all year every year. Every day is a holiday, every meal is a banquet, and every church service is a family reunion.

This was a disaster for this hosting family. The party would have to cease, and everyone would go home. How embarrassing! Therefore, Jesus’ mother brought the sad news to Him. His response was surprising, “Leave Me alone, Mom!” He believed it was not time for Him to display who He was as the Christ. But even more surprisingly Jesus took the provocation from His mother and performed the miracle. He apparently weighed the lack of wine against the time for His revelation as the Christ and went for the wine!

The water pots would have held about 120 gallons of water which would be needed to wash up for the weeklong festivities for so many people. They had apparently also run out of water in the stone pots. So, Jesus had them privately fill the pots with water. Imagine the magnitude of this miracle! It set aside the time to grow grapes and harvest them, crush them and allow time for the juice to ferment. Jesus did it in a moment. They took the wine to the emcee and he made a big deal about how timely and great this wine was. The hosts had served the best wine last! Remember, the party had been going on for three days. By this time the guests would not notice how bad the inferior wine would have been. This was the custom: best wine first, before they were inebriated; worst wine last, when they wouldn’t care or even notice.  

There must have been thunderous applause from the guests! Jesus had saved the day and the party. In this manner He first began to display His glory. “This beginning of signs Jesus did and manifested His glory; and His disciples believed in Him.” Isn’t it interesting and informative that Jesus did His first miracle and one of His most spectacular ones at a wedding? That says a lot. Ever been to a sad wedding? Hopefully not. The wedding is the happiest celebration on earth. Jesus made sure they were happy by showing up and insured they stayed happy by producing the wine to keep the party going.

The new wine promised to God’s people in the kingdom is a great picture of the Christian life. Water is necessary and great, but who wants to spend their whole lives drinking tasteless water? Restaurants make a fortune selling sodas and drinks with their dinners. Wine has zest and the pop to drown out the mundane everyday life of plain water on this planet. Wine is contrasted and thus linked to the fullness of the Spirit in Ephesians 5:18. The disciples on the Day of Pentecost were accused of being drunk with wine (Acts 2:13).

Furthermore, Jesus reserves the best wine for the last of life. When the emcee at the wedding tasted the transformed wine he declared they had saved the best wine for the last of the celebration. Jesus is like that. We normally think of the beginning of a relationship like marriage (honeymoon) and salvation to be the high point and best part of the relationship. But Jesus intends for our relationships to grow better and better, so that with the passing of time, they get better and better.

I can attest to this. When I began my relationship with Christ it was, “Glory! Glory! Glory!” What a happy time to find out God loved me, has forgiven me of all my sins, and I am assured of a home in heaven. Wow! It couldn’t get any better than that! But that’s not so. I have found what the old song says to be true, “Everyday with Jesus is sweeter than the day before.” I know so much more now. I know God so much better. I am more rooted in His precious promises than I was in the beginning. God has reserved the best wine for the last.

Revelation 2:4-5 tells us that if we have lost our first love to remember what it was like and “repent and do the first works.” Do for your spouse what you did when you were dating: love notes, flowers, dates, etc. Emotion follows motion. Same with the Lord. Do what you did when you first met, which was probably a severe and sincere commitment of time together; and do what you do with your whole heart. Throw your heart into what you do and the emotions will follow and you will find that the last will be better than your first. “Where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.” (Mt.6:21) Make your spouse and the Lord your treasure and your heart will follow. 

The Local Church (Acts 2:40-47)

God is the God who creates paradises. He began man’s life on earth by putting him in a paradise called the Garden of Eden. Everything Adam and Eve needed was there. It was perfect: plenty of food, health, prosperity (there was gold in Eden), and basically it was heaven on earth.

 God will end time by creating a new earth and it will be a paradise called the New Jerusalem. You’d probably be surprised how similar Eden and the New Jerusalem are. Read Genesis 1-2 and Revelation 21-22 and you will see they are described in very similar ways. God is the God of paradise. He wants His people to live in paradise, the paradise He Himself gladly provides.

Wouldn’t it be just like God to provide a paradise on earth between the time of Eden and the New Jerusalem? It would. His heart desires that and Jesus taught us to pray it with these words: “Your kingdom come, Your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.” That is the will of God.

The paradise God has for us on earth between the two paradises is what we call the local church. Remember, we walk by faith, not by sight. We can only see and experience this paradise by faith. And we can see and experience it. It is the will of God. That paradise is found in Acts 2:40-47, where we find Jesus is the Second Man, the Head over a body of people. This paradise is full of saved, Spirit-filled believers; there is no poverty, no sickness, abounding love and joy unspeakable. This paradise is described for us in Acts.

The local church at Jerusalem was the ideal church, the thing we must all by the grace of God be continually striving for. The problem with this present paradise, the difference between the two at the bookends of time, is that it is placed in the middle of a “perverse generation.” And it has people who sometimes act in the flesh. But it is nevertheless God’s ideal given to us at the beginning of the church age. Between the ascension of Jesus and the descension of Jesus we have this ideal geographical location called the local church.

Until Jesus comes back, the church is the cure for all the ills that plague mankind. It is the hope of the world. Have you noticed the world has lots of problems? And have you noticed they are not getting solved? In fact, our problems are getting worse. No human government can cure what ails man. The United Nations cannot cure us. Only what God has created, saved, anointed and filled with His Spirit can solve the problems of humanity, and each one’s personal problems. Before the return of Jesus, the church is the world’s only hope.

 Make no mistake about it, the only church in the Bible is the local church. There was the local church in Jerusalem and Antioch. Then Paul traveled the Roman world planting local churches at places like Ephesus, Galatia, Philippi, Thessalonica and so forth. He would write letters to those churches and those letters would make up the bulk of the New Testament Word of God. The last book of the Bible, the Revelation, was not written to “all Christians everywhere.” It was written to seven local churches. Please read Rev.2-3.

This church in Jerusalem is the ideal for all times, where Jesus is Lord and Head, and His family lives the life, speaks His word and does His works. There was no place like in on the earth and there never will be. I want us to look at this ideal so we may see where God wants to take us. He wants His people to live in this paradise. I wouldn’t want to get on a plane if I didn’t know where it was going. By faith, board this plane, but before you do, look at where we are going, what we are moving toward, and what we are becoming.

To make sure everyone reads this, I want to print the text. Please read it carefully.

·       And with many other words he (Peter) testified and exhorted them, saying, ‘Be saved from this perverse generation.’

·       Then those who gladly received his word were baptized; and that day about three thousand souls were added to the church.

·       And they continued steadfastly in the apostles’ doctrine and fellowship, in the breaking of bread, and in prayers. Then (godly) fear came upon every soul, and many wonders and signs were done through the apostles.

·       Now all who believed were together and had all things in common, and sold their possessions and goods, and divided them among all, as anyone had need.

So continuing daily with one accord in the temple and breaking bread from house to house, they ate their food with gladness and simplicity of heart, praising God and having favor with all the people. And the Lord added to the church daily those who were being saved.”

See if you qualify to be a part of God’s paradise. Are you saved from this present perverse generation? Have you and do you gladly receive His word to have your life changed into Christ’s likeness? Have you been baptized in water? Have you been added to the roles of a local church? Do you continue steadfastly in the teaching of the apostles, which is basically the New Testament, and in fellowship, in the breaking of bread and prayers in the church?

How are you doing so far? Good I hope. Are you involved in signs and wonders being done? According to Mark 16:17-18 these signs were done by believers and not just apostles. Besides some who were not apostles worked signs and miracles, guys like Stephen and Phillip. And Barnabas did those signs and he was an apostle but not one of the original twelve (Acts 14:14).

What was going on in Jerusalem should be going on in every local church around the world. It should be going on in your local church. This is God’s ideal, God’s paradise, where there was no poverty or sickness, and people were being saved on a daily basis as the gospel was being preached to everyone.

Notice the “continuing daily.” These people met every day, either in the large gatherings (temple) or in small groups (house to house) and broke bread and prayed and taught one another. Daily? How would this fit into your weekly schedule? Probably not right now, but this would be a good time to be moving toward it. This would mean a severe change in the schedules of most church families, would it not?

The number one issue with involvement in the church at this type of level, or being involved in any way these days, is people are too busy. Busyness is the biggest blight on the modern church. People are busy with business (their jobs), “buying and selling” and with ballgames for their kids. These things consume people’s time and they just see themselves as too busy to get that involved in the church.

Jesus told a story about the kingdom of God that speaks to this being too busy in Luke 14:15-24. This pictures the paradise on earth that I’m talking about.

“One who sat at the table eating with Jesus said, ‘Blessed is he who shall eat dinner in the kingdom of God.’” Then He told him this story about a man who planned an enormous banquet and then prepared it. When the time for the dinner arrived he sent his servants to tell those who had been invited, “Come, for all things are now ready.” The kingdom of God is ready, now! Come without delay. “But they all with one accord began to make excuses.” Excuses to keep from coming. They wouldn’t come. Not because they were robbing banks, killing people and committing adultery. They were busy doing honorable things, but these honorable things kept them from coming to the elaborate dinner that had been prepared. I call this the story about the two fools and the hen-pecked husband. One said he had bought some land and had to go see it. Only a fool would buy a piece of land without even laying an eye on it. Another had bought an expensive tractor and had to check it out. Another fool. The only excuse the third man gave was, “I have married a wife and therefore I cannot come.”

But notice the reaction of the man throwing the banquet. He was angry. He ordered the servants to go out quickly into the streets and bring in the poor, the maimed, the lame and the blind. Why did these people come? They were not busy! They were poor and lame and blind. They were happy to come to the banquet. Well, the banquet hall had room for more so the man told his servants to, “Go out into the highways and hedges and compel them to come in, that my house may be filled.”

God wants His house filled with filled people. He will go to all lengths to get that done. What happened to those who refused to come because they were too busy? “None of those men who were invited shall taste of my supper.” God often has to bring in the sinners to save them and fill His house. Remember the story of the prodigal son and the elder brother. The wayward son is last seen inside the father’s house, eating and dancing, while the older brother is outside the house boasting of his busyness and righteousness.

The invitation of Jesus is to a party. The kingdom of God is a party. If you don’t believe that, read Jesus’ parables about the kingdom. Look at where and with whom Jesus spends most of His time when He was here. On every page of the gospels He is at a dinner of some sorts. This is the kingdom. This is the paradise He is building on the earth. And He invites you to come and dine, and feast at the Master’s table anytime. Live in paradise. Live in the local church. And create more paradises around the world but starting more churches.

Invite people into this paradise, and go out and start more local paradises. This is the call of God on our lives. Bring people into our Eden and take Eden out to the world. 

“In the beginning was the Word… This man came for a witness.”  (John 1:1-9)

One benefit of an intense study of the books of the Bible is to keep us balanced in the truth, and nothing is more important. It is the pastor’s job to keep the believers in his church balanced. Let me explain. People get revelations of truth that are powerful and life changing. But any revelation is partial and the temptation is to make too much of that revelation so that you ignore what the rest of the Bible teaches on that subject. For example, in 1881 Charles Russell got a revelation on the manhood of Jesus. That truth is important, but he ignored what the rest of the Bible had to say about Jesus, that He is God in the flesh: 100% man and 100% God. Thus a very heretical movement began that has deceived multitudes.

Or people can get a revelation on some aspect of prayer and begin to neglect what the rest of the Bible teaches on prayer that would balance what was revealed to them. “Whatever you desire, when you pray, believe that you receive it and you will have it (Mk.11:24). It becomes a pretext for using God to get whatever they want. They neglect other passages such as John 15:7 and 1 John 5:14-15. We need to know what the whole Bible teaches on any subject or we can go seriously wrong about very important things.

Also, people have very powerful experiences in the Lord. They begin to live off of an experience, that spiritual high, and begin to seek more and more of them. They can ignore doctrine taught in the Bible that grounds them in their walk with the Lord. Then when experiences become rare they fall away, or think they cannot live without another powerful experience. They are shallow and will follow whoever ministers experiences. This can be very dangerous.

Paul wrote to Pastor Timothy, “Take heed to yourself and to the doctrine. Continue in them, for in doing this you will save both yourself and those who hear you.” (1Tim.4:16)

This is the first in a continuing verse by verse study through the Gospel According to John. The book begins with a witness to the Word. A Biblical principle that runs throughout the Bible is, “By the mouth of two or more witnesses, every word shall be established.” (2Cor.13:1) Our judicial system operates this way. One witness is not enough. It’s not enough that we receive the witness of the Spirit found in this gospel, we must share this witness, and be a witness to others. People can’t be saved without our witness to the Word. That’s why the church began with these words from Jesus, “You shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you and you will be My witnesses…” (Acts 1:8)  God leaves saved  people on the earth for this very reason – to be a witness for the Word.

I. The Word, v.1-5

We are not immediately told who or what the Word is; that comes later. This word was a Greek philosophical expression with the idea of wisdom or purpose. Since John here associates it with creation, it is similar to the Hebrew word wisdom. “The Lord by wisdom founded the earth; by understanding He established the heavens.” (Prov.3:19) Everything was created by infinite wisdom and purpose; it is the visible witness to the invisible God, man being its ultimate witness, being made expressly in the likeness and image of God.

Whoever this Word is, He is God. The first verse in John takes us back to the first verse in the Bible: “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.” The Word was not only God, He was with God! But God is one; there is only one God. True! So this is a mystery, something we would not know unless God revealed it to us. This plurality of God is actually revealed in Genesis 1:1 where it uses the plural word for God – Elohim. The verse has a plural subject and a singular verb. The subject and verb in a sentence must agree, except when it comes to God. We go by revelation, not by reason.

Some teach that God created the Word and then the Word created everything else. Not so! John goes out of his way to show that is not true: “All things were made by Him (the Word) and without Him nothing was made that was made.” The words all things and nothing tell us the Word created everything that was created. Nobody can create Himself. The Word was God and was with God; and He was the creator of all things.

Within this Word was life and light. “This life was the light of men.” In man’s present sinful lost condition he hates the life of God and the light of God. He hates the person of God and the knowledge of God. He will not receive either. “The natural man does not receive the things of the Spirit of God; nor can he know them for they are spiritually discerned.” (1 Cor. 2:14) This is where grace comes in. Grace changes a natural man into a spiritual man.

Nevertheless, though the natural man rebels against the life and light of God, He is still light and life to all. The sun shines even though blind people cannot see it. “The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not comprehend it.” Other translations say, “And the darkness did not overcome it.” Light always overcomes darkness. Switch the light on and darkness disappears. “But even if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled to those who are perishing, whose minds the god of this age has blinded, who do not believe, lest the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine on them.” (2Cor.4:3-4) Only God can open blind eyes and raise the dead. “For you were once darkness, but now you are light in the Lord.” (Eph.5:8)

II. The Witness, 1:6-9

There’s a reason this is mentioned at the beginning of John’s gospel; the witness is the key to this gospel, our life and purpose. Don’t let that statement pass by carelessly. Witness is the key to the whole purpose of creation and the revelation of God to His creation. It is the key to our lives, the very purpose of our lives. John the Baptist was sent by God to be a witness to the Word, and so are we. We are here to bear witness to the Word. We are made in the image of God for that very reason. The sooner we learn this, the sooner we will have eternal purpose in our lives and we can align ourselves with God’s purpose. John was not the light, but a moon bearing witness to the sun. So are we.

I have always thought maybe I’d like this on my tombstone, “There was a man sent from God whose name was Terry Simpson.” What greater epitaph could there be?

To show the importance of a witness, examine John 5:31-47, where Jesus says there are five witnesses to the Word:

·       Jesus Himself, John 5:31.  Not true means not valid. There must be more.

·       John the Baptist,  v.32-35

·       Jesus’ works, v.36

·       the Father,  v.37  There were times He spoke audibly from heaven about Jesus.

·       and the Bible,  v.39  Moses and the prophets wrote about Christ.

 Without a witness, we cannot believe, and neither can others. That’s why God sent John and it’s why He leaves us on this earth, to be His witness. We speak the witness of the Scriptures and the Holy Spirit speaks to the ones we are witnessing to and the message is confirmed to their hearts and they believe and are saved.

Lost people are at a severe disadvantage: they are blind and bound by the devil. The gospel spoken by us in the power of the Spirit enlightens and emancipates. 

So, live your purpose. Like John, be a witness to the Word. 

Honor Your Parents

Suppose you were a kid and I told you that upon infallible assurance from God if you would do one simple thing you would live a long life and prosper, would you do it? If you had a gnat’s amount of wisdom you would say yes. Unquestionably! This is it. Honor your parents by obeying them with the right attitude, because it is just the right thing to do because you owe them your very life and because of the promise of God.

Nobody in this world has or will ever love you more than your parents. You might be tempted to think,
“Well, my boyfriend loves me more.” You might not think that in six months. Marry him and you may find after a couple of years that he hates your guts! Nobody in this world has done and will do more for you than your parents. For that they deserve your honor and appreciation.

Right below God are your parents! “Children, obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right. ‘Honor your father and mother,’ is the first commandment with a promise: that it may be well with you and you may love long on the earth.” (Eph.6:1-3) God put your parents in your life to bless you with provision and care. Therefore, they are to be honored for the place God gave them in your life. The first commandment with a promise means that of all the commandments of God in the Bible this is the very first one that God attached a promise to. All God’s promises are good. There are blessings for obeying God, especially when He directly attaches a promise to it, which He does here. And what is that promise? “That it may be well with you and that you may live long on the earth.” Do you want things to go well with you on this earth? Of course you do. Then honor your parents and do it with a good attitude.

Imagine what would happen if you started doing everything your parents said, without hesitation or griping about having to do it? They would move heaven and earth to do good things for you. Do you want the keys to the car, or your own car? You want privileges? You want freedom? Then honor your parents. There is nothing parents wouldn’t do for a kid who honors them in this way.

If you don’t honor your parents you probably won’t honor any of the other important people God places in your life. By honoring your parents you are learning to honor your teachers when you go to school. What a blessing to have access to a teacher who would bend over backwards to help a student who honored them by doing all their lessons, making good grades and cooperating in every way.

When I was a high school teacher I discovered one of my 10th graders, Abbie, had never made anything but A’s her whole life. One hundred percent across the board. Never even a 99% grade in anything for ten years. So, I never required her to ask me to do anything, including getting out of her seat or leaving the room or doing something else. Other students would complain when she took liberties in our class. I’d say, “When you are the kind of student Abbie is, you can do what Abbie does.”  Blessed are those who honor their parents and teachers. They will have many freedoms, live long and prosper.

And if you don’t learn to honor your parents, how are you going to honor your country or the police whose sole job is to protect and serve you. Anyone who straps on a gun to go to work to protect you deserves to be honored. Salute the flag. Untold thousands of brave soldiers have died to give you the privilege of living in a free country.

III. Honor the Elderly

These are older people. In the Bible and in most other cultures, the elders are the leaders of the families and are honored for having lived and endured a long life. They have been through a lot and deserve to be treated with respect. In the Native American culture these are the older men who sit in a teepee, smoking peyote, discussing tribal matters, and making decisions for the entire tribe.

When I was a kid, I got up from wherever I was sitting when my dad entered the room, because I was offering him my place to sit. He’d just say, “Be seated where you were,” and that was that. He owned that house and paid for everything in it; he deserved to be honored for all he had done and did for his family. He should sit wherever he pleased.

I lived a year in the Asian country of Nepal. What a culture shock when it came to honoring the elderly. I have rarely seen anything like it here in America. Yes they do fold their hands and bow when they greet someone; it’s an expression of honor. I was in my 60’s and when someone came into a house or church where I was they would look me up, bow and ask my permission to enter. They’d do the same thing when they left. They’d say something like, “I am leaving now.” Their way of asking my permission. Sumo wrestlers bow to each other before they fight. Karate fighters bow before they come to blows.

Many of our elderly have fought wars for us and have done things we can’t even imagine to make our lives better. When you go into a McDonald’s don’t just be there like a dog in a library. Look around to see if there’s an elderly person you can honor and bless. Maybe even buy them a meal. Ask him or her to tell you their story. You’d be amazed at the honor they deserve.

I used to watch an elderly gentleman eat breakfast regularly in McDonald’s. I’d see multitudes of kids come and go on their way to school, and walk right past that guy. One day I walked over to him, asked his permission to sit down and talk. I found out this man as a teenager had landed on five islands in the Pacific during WWII and won medals. He was a war hero! He owned hundreds of acres of land with hundreds of cattle. He owned and operated a factory. Once I spent the day with him and he took me to that factory. I couldn’t believe my eyes and ears! This man gave me access to him and blessed my life in countless ways. When he died, the family asked me to preach his funeral.

I told his story in a college class and the students gave me a standing ovation. The professor said in the over 20 years he’d been doing this in his class, this was the most interesting person he had ever heard of. And to think, I personally witnessed hundreds of kids walk right past this man without ever saying a word to him. Their loss. We could learn so much from the elders we meet, if we would just care enough to meet them.

Elders are our parents and grandparents and deserve a seat at the head of the table. Honor to whom honor is due and they are worthy of our honor.

“Repent and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out, so that times of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord, and that He may send Jesus Christ, who was preached to you before, whom heaven must receive until the times of restoration of all things.”  (Acts 3:19-21)

By Periods I mean Time Periods, those periods of time characterized by certain events or cultural, political, economic and religious things. History is broken up into different periods of time known by what characterized them: Dark Ages (500-1500), Reformation (1517-1648), Revolution (1775-1848), etc.

The Bible talks about the sons of Issachar (one of the tribes of Israel) “who had understanding of the times, to know what Israel ought to do.” (1Chron.12:32) This is talking about the period of time when Israel had chosen a king and Saul ruled, but God had chosen a different king named David. When Saul was killed in battle, the tribe of Issachar read the signs of the time and they went to join forces with David and make him their new king. They saw the time, the period, they were living in and they adjusted their lives to that. They brought their weapons and wealth to David and made him their new king.

These believers in Acts were living in the times of refreshing from the presence of the Spirit, and they knew it. We are living in the same Time Period. Please know that and see the importance of this period of time so you can act accordingly by the power of God and do what God has called us to do in this period. This is the period when we should experience the presence of God and do the works of God like believers couldn’t do in any other period.

Revelation 19:10 says, “The testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy,” which means the essence of Bible prophecy is primarily a testimony or witness to Jesus. Prophecy is about Jesus. There are two primary things about Christ and it is His coming. Christ’s comings is Bible prophecy. It was very confusing to those who lived during Bible times because they didn’t see clearly that Christ would be coming to the earth TWICE: once to suffer and the other to reign, once to redeem people and another to restore the earth to its original position in Eden for those redeemed people to live and reign with Christ.

Even the twelve did not recognize the distinction until the Spirit came on the Day of Pentecost. We know that because Jesus for 40 days taught them all about the kingdom of God on earth and then they asked Him if He were going to now reign on the earth by restoring the kingdom to Israel (Acts 1:1-8). It wasn’t time because there is a period of time between His first and second coming that would last at least 2,000 years. We call it the Church Age. That is the Time Period we now live in between the comings of the Lord. Wise and happy are those who can discern this Time Period. This is the time that the Son of David sits on His throne and I am going to join Him in His kingdom and mission. I want to be in His kingdom!

See the importance of reading the time or knowing which Time Period we live in. This period is the time we should experience and do certain things differently than at other times. We are living in a certain Time Period marked by a time of refreshment. To refresh means to revive, to reinvigorate, and enjoy.

We need to know the character of the time in which we live. The Period of Refreshing is well known to the world, primarily because during this time the Lord is not judging people’s sins. I explained that in the last study entitled “The Prince” and in other studies in these chapters on the Book of Acts. Lost people are now doing what the Bible calls, “treasuring (storing) up for yourself wrath in the day of wrath and revelation of the righteous judgment of God,” (Rm.2:5) We are not currently living in the day of wrath – yet! 

For example, it might surprise you that when Jesus described the period of time before His second coming, He said it would be like the times of Noah and Lot (Lk.17:26-30). He said, “They ate, drank, they married wives, they were given in marriage, they bought, they sold, they planted, they built.” That is the time of refreshing for sure, but it is not “from the presence of the Lord,” as the church experiences refreshing.

We have let the world experience the fun and favor of the Lord, while the church conducts boring and dead worship services, and puts its members under the law which brings condemnation. They look like a winning locker room while the church looks like the losing locker room. They are having parties while we are conducting funeral services and call them worship services. The world is eating, drinking, marrying, attending concerts and tailgating, basically living life and having fun. The TV program shot entirely in a bar was entitled, “CHEERS.” Have you been to a football game lately and witnessed the crazy celebration of the fanatics, called fans?  Meanwhile church is boring. The number one reason the world gives for not going to church is that it is the most boring place they have ever been. Number two is the members are unfriendly. The church should be the only real “Happy Hour” in town. We should be continually celebrating the resurrection of Christ and the salvation He has freely given us.

Read Acts 3:18-21. Notice Christ came to suffer and redeem, and He’s coming back to restore all things. When Jesus comes back to restore He will reign from Jerusalem over the earth, bringing peace and prosperity.

Between the first and second coming we are in what is called “times of refreshing from the presence of the Lord.” God intends for His people during this period to be living with fullness of joy. And not just the way the lost world does. They are not being refreshed by the Holy Spirit but by the spirits of Jack Daniels and Budweiser. You probably have been hurt and disappointed by the church, but there comes a time you need to do what Christ has done with you, forgive them and get back into the party; you know, the party that is in the Father’s house (Lk.15).

This is the Time Period that is better than when Jesus walked the earth (Jn.16:7) because if He didn’t go the Holy Spirit couldn’t come and people everywhere couldn’t be refreshed by His presence. Imagine what it was like to live with Jesus for three years: turning water into wine, feeding multitudes with a boy’s lunch, making businessmen rich (Lk.5:5-10), healing the sick, ruining funerals by raising the dead, having fun at Matthew’s house with all the sinners listening to His stories, where there was fulness of love and freedom. The presence of the Holy Spirit in our lives produces the same thing today (Gal.5:22-23). And He gives us power to do the works of Jesus (Jn.14:12).

APPLICATION: Psalm 100:4 says, “Enter His gates with praise and His courts with thanksgiving.” You might say, “I can’t do that because things are not going well with me right now.” Don’t fake it till you make it, but you can “faith it till you make it.” Here’s how. Put all those things aside and focus on the Lord and count your many eternal blessings: forgiveness, eternal life, sonship with God… People go to movies, fishing, hunting, ball games, and such to be refreshed, but when that’s over they are not changed and neither are their circumstances. But when you assemble with the saints with thanksgiving and praise, love, joy and peace, you are refreshed and the presence of the Lord changes you. You come out a changed person. And if you pray together God answers your prayers of faith and you leave church and find God has turned things around in your circumstances! You are changed and your circumstances have changed. That’s what God can do!

CONCLUSION: When Jesus inaugurated His ministry, He introduced Himself and the times in which we are now living in (Lk.4:18-19). But He didn’t quote all of Isaiah’s prophecy from 61:1-2. After saying He came to bring the time of favor from the Lord, He stopped. He didn’t read the next phrase from Isaiah and that’s because that time hadn’t come, and still hasn’t come. The next sentence says, “And the day of vengeance of our God.” [Then Isaiah continues to describe more of the times of refreshing (61:3-17). Notice Isaiah paints this time period as a wedding feast and celebration, “I will greatly rejoice in the Lord, my soul shall be joyful in my God; for He has clothed me with the garments of salvation, He has covered me with the robe of righteousness. As the bridegroom decks himself with ornaments, and as a bride adorns herself with her jewels, v.10.]

The first miracle Jesus performed to reveal His glory was at the wedding feast in Cana where Jesus provided the miraculous refreshments. After that He was always at parties telling people stories and parables about the kingdom of God being like a feast. Here is a brief selection of some of these: Jn.2:1-11; Matthew’s party and parable in Mt.9:9-15; Lk.7:36-50; Mt.14:13-21 & 15:32-39; Lk.10:38-42; 14:7-24; 15:1-32; 19:1-10; Jn.12:1-3; Mt.25:1-13; 26:6-13; Lk.24:13-35; Jn.21:1-25. All that is not counting that, according to John, Jesus never missed a national feast day in Jerusalem three times a year.

But between the time of refreshing and time of restoration another time happens, called the Tribulation Period or the Wrath of the Lamb (Rev.6-19). All prophecy is divided into three periods: Future Glory, Present Sinfulness, and Intermediate Judgment. If you want to miss the coming wrath, come to the party now going on, “Repent and be forgiven and enjoy the refreshing from the presence of the Lord.”

Strangely, Jesus didn’t teach it will be sin that will keep people out of the kingdom, it would be “too busy,” even with things that are not sinful (Lk.14:15-24). They don’t have time to come to the King’s house and be refreshed, they have their own priorities. Don’t miss this point or you may not experience the refreshing, but instead experience the wrath of God after the rapture of the church. 

“Rightly Dividing the Word of Truth”  (2 Timothy 2:15)

         We’ve come to a place in our study of the book of Acts that statements such as these are common: “Many wonders and signs were done through the apostles.” (2:43) “By stretching out Your hand to heal and that signs and wonders may be done through the name of Jesus.” (4:30) “Stephen, full of faith and power, did great wonders and signs among the people.” (6:8) “Multitudes with one accord heeded the things spoken by Philip, hearing and seeing the miracles which he did. For unclean spirits came out of many who were possessed and many who were paralyzed and lame were healed. And there was great joy in that city.” (6:8) All this happened as a result of the disciples being filled with the Spirit. “Aeneas, Jesus Christ heals you. Arise and make your bed. Then he arose immediately. So all who dwelt at Lydda and Sharon saw him and turned to the Lord.” (9:34-35) Tabitha died and then Peter raised her from the dead. “Turning to the body he said, ‘Tabitha, arise.’ And she opened her eyes and sat up. It became known throughout all Joppa and many believed on the Lord.”  (9:36-42). “Therefore they stayed there a long time, speaking boldly in the Lord, who was bearing witness to the word of His grace, granting signs and wonders to be done by their hands.” (14:3; 8-10)  “Then all the multitudes kept silent and listened to Barnabas and Paul declaring how many miracles and wonders God had worked through them among the Gentiles.” (15:12)  “Now God worked  unusual miracles by the hands of Paul, so that even handkerchiefs or aprons were brought from his body to the sick, and the diseases left them and the evil spirits went out of them.” (19:11-12)  Then last but not least we see Paul in the last chapter of Acts healing everyone on the island of Malta. “The father of Publius lay sick of a fever and dysentery. Paul went to him and prayed, and he laid his hands on him and healed him. So when this was done, the rest of those on the island who had diseases also came and were healed.”

So why all these miracles of healing and deliverances throughout Acts and all four of the gospels? How can we read so many of these things constantly happening and think they are not important to us today? They’re in the Bible. They are what Jesus and His followers did. In the Great Commission Jesus said, “These signs will follow those who believe: in My name they will cast out demons; they will lay hands on the sick and they will recover.” (Mk.16:17-18) 

It all began with the coming of Jesus the Messiah. His inaugural address was given in His hometown, using Isaiah as His text where it says, “The Spirit of the Lord is upon Me, because He has anointed Me to preach the gospel, heal the brokenhearted, proclaim liberty and recovery of sight to the blind, to set at liberty those who are oppressed…” Then He says this, “the time of the Lord’s favor has come.” (Luke 4:18-19, NLT)     

The time of the New Covenant, prophesied by Jeremiah and Ezekiel, had come and it continues with us today.

Let me explain. 2Timothy 2:15 talks about “rightly dividing the word of truth.” What does that mean? It is very important. The word of truth is the Bible. All Scripture is inspired by God, but apparently we must divide it to fully understand it. Dividing the word is what I’m calling in the title of this study “The Parts,” meaning the dividing of the word of God. The Bible is divided into parts.

You can get really messed up if you don’t correctly divide the word of truth. You can think God still deals with people like we were under the old covenant and say horrendous things like, “God gave me this cancer.” God doesn’t give people cancer. He doesn’t have it to give. Or you might hear something that suggests, “God is behind every evil thing Satan does in the earth from tornadoes, child abuse or mass murders, or accidents that maim and kill people.”

The most natural division of the word of truth would be what? The Old Testament and the New Testament. Testament means “a covenant between God and men.” A covenant is “an agreement or promise to do or not do something.” Covenants are made valid by the shedding of blood (Heb.9:16-22). While there are several covenants in the Bible (Noah, Abraham, David) there are only two main ones, these cover all the Bible and deal with all mankind.

God reprimanded the Israelites for not know “the ways of God.” (Heb.3:7-11) Many people do not know the ways of the Lord. God has His ways, just like each individual, family and nation has its ways. One way is God does different things with different people at different times. He never deals unjustly or unfairly with anyone, but He does have different ways with different people. There are two main ways God works with people: works and grace = Old and New Testament.

God made an old covenant with Israel which was a conditional covenant based on works. “If you will do such and such, God will do such and such.” That is the essence of the Old Testament. Before that there is what is called the Adamic Covenant which simply says, “If you sin you will die.” That’s what God told Adam in Eden. That’s why Romans 5:12-14 says what it does. Then Romans one, the darkest passage in the Bible, talks not about the Law but about idolatry and the sinful and evil effects upon those who do not worship and serve the Creator but worship what is created. Idolatry is still very much alive in this modern world.

The old covenant was ratified in Exodus 19:5-8, culminating in v.8 where all of Israel said, “All that the Lord has spoken we will do.” God said, “If you will, I will,” and they didn’t! They never kept the law, so judgment came upon them time and time again. Read Deut.28:15-68 and Heb.8:6-10. “He is the mediator of a better covenant which was established on better promises. For if that first covenant had been faultless, then no place would have been sought for a second. Because finding fault with them…” The them is the people who never kept the law. (Heb.8:6-10)

So God came up with a new covenant (Heb.9:15) where God himself in the person of Jesus, the Son of Man, would take the punishment for His people and there would be nothing left but the favor of God. We call that grace. Moses was the mediator of the old covenant, Jesus of the new (Jn.1:17).

Here’s the amazing deal. The New Testament in Christ doesn’t eliminate the law. No need to eliminate it because there’s nothing wrong with it. He writes the law on our hearts and gives us grace and power to obey it. He says, “I will, and you will, and I will.” And all the judgment for our breaking the law He takes upon Himself. That’s why it says, “There is no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.” (Rm.8:1) Christ took the curse of the law and by so doing ushered in “the time of God’s favor.”  Galatians 3:13-14 says, “Christ has redeemed us from the curse of the law, having become a curse for us (for it is written, ‘Cursed is everyone who hangs on a tree’) that the blessing of Abraham might come upon the Gentiles in Christ, that we might receive the promise of the Spirit through faith.”

The NC is a covenant of grace. Jesus fulfilled all the requirements of the law on behalf of all who repent and obey the gospel (Rm.8:1-4). Jesus obeyed for you and gives His righteousness as a gift to be received by faith. God is not mad at you! He never will be. There’s nothing you can do to make God not love you and bless you. God is not angry with you. Never will be. God will never condemn you. Now is the time of God’s favor, the new covenant.

Jesus took our sins and the consequences for our sins on the cross, including sicknesses. “They brought to Him many who were demon-possessed. And He cast out the spirits with a word and healed all who were sick, that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by Isaiah the prophet, saying: ‘He Himself took our infirmities and bore our sicknesses.’” (Mt.8:16-17) 

This is why Jesus is our complete theology! Everything we need to know about God is seen in Jesus. True, God is a God of justice and He showed it in the OT and He will again after the time of favor is over and He returns to dealing with the Jews during the Great Tribulation. That’s when He pours out His wrath on the earth. The Father poured out His wrath (judgment) against us at the cross, thus satisfying the justice of God on our behalf.

Now God is dealing with us by grace. Jesus never condemned anyone; He saved sinners. He never made anyone sick; He healed people. He put leprosy on Miriam (Num.12:10) but in this day He heals lepers. He sent down fire to destroy people in the OT, but not in the NT. Jesus never made anyone poor; He fed the multitudes, paid Peter’s taxes and made the fisherman wealthy with boatloads of fish.

I marvel that people will pray for their loved ones and say, “If it be Thy will.” Why would anyone who has read the story of Jesus and the early church not know the will of God concerning healing? “He healed them all,” it says repeatedly in the gospels. I have already referred to the many verses in Acts that says things like, “the rest of those on the island who had diseases also came and were healed.” I never have to say heal someone if it is Your will. The Bible tells us what the will of God is. Jesus Christ is the will of God, and He taught us to pray, “Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven.”

If we are not careful we can let our experiences and failures make us not believe the Bible. You pray for someone to be healed and he dies. It’s easy to conclude that God doesn’t want everybody to be healed. No! Compare your failures to the Bible. What does the Bible say? “He healed them all.” Jesus never told anyone, “Well, My Father gave you this sickness to teach you something.” The Bible and the Holy Spirit are our teachers, not sickness and accidents. You may learn something from an affliction, but how much better to learn it from God’s book of instruction and wisdom?

If you speak to sicknesses and demons and they don’t leave, don’t be discouraged or think it was not God’s will. Even Babe Ruth stuck out at times, even many times. Nobody bats 1,000! Keep on swinging! Keep speaking to your mountain and if it doesn’t move, don’t ever blame God for your failure. Many times Jesus blamed failure on unbelief. But since we are not Jesus, we must never condemn anyone for not having enough faith to be healed or be wealthy. Don’t be one of Job’s friends, if you do God will not like that.

God is not the author of poverty, Satan is. There was no poverty in Eden and the streets of the New Jerusalem are paved with gold. Sickness and poverty are part of the curse Jesus delivered us from. They come as a result of sin, not necessarily anyone’s personal sin, but there was no curse on humans before sin and there will be none in heaven after sin is removed. The NT teaches us that we don’t have to wait till we get to heaven to experience salvation from the curse of the OC. Jesus dispenses healings, forgiveness and all the good things freely to us because He loves us and this is the day of His favor. 

Romans 8:32 says, “He who did not spare His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all, how shall He not with Him also freely give us all things.” And “All things are yours.” (1Cor.3:21-22) We are joint heirs with Christ NOW! “We are children of God and joint heirs with Christ.” (Rm.8:17)

This is the time of God’s favor. Jesus is our complete theology. The O.T. was about the coming Messiah; the N.T. is the interpretation and explanation of what Christ did and said. The heart of God’s revelation is Jesus Christ. Did He ever not have what He needed? No! Did He ever fail to heal everyone who believed? No! Whatever Jesus did is the will of God. Believe it and live it and speak like it. And never doubt that you are living in the time of God’s favor. We should thank God that we live in such a time as this. 

Repent, and let everyone of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ

for the remission of sins, and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. (Acts 2:38-39)

Peter answers the question of v.37 by telling them what they must do and what they will get when they do. They will get the two greatest essentials: Forgiveness and the Presence of God in their lives. We call this salvation, where God delivers us from the penalty of our sins and gives us His presence to be with us forever. What would anybody not do to get these two blessings? I’d swim to Hawaii, but I don’t have to. Peter tells us what we must do to have these blessings in our lives.

Pardon is for those who have felt the pain of their guilt before God. Peter is speaking to those who were “cut to the heart.” And because they were cut to the heart they asked, “What shall we do?” That is, to be saved. Think of the pain it cost God to pardon you (He gave His only begotten Son.) and the pain of the cross. Our pain of guilt must in some measure come from and move us to that cross. Our sins crucified Christ.

Pardon is seen in the Prodigal Son: please read Lk.15:18-19. The proper response to the pleasure of forgiveness is shown to us by the sinful woman’s actions: read Lk.7:44-47.

Some denominations base almost their entire belief about salvation on this solitary verse. They teach what is called “baptismal regeneration.”  That is, when one is baptized in water he receives the indwelling Spirit and is consequently baptized into Christ.  Also, baptism is for the removal of a person’s sins.  That’s what they teach.       

But that is not what this verse teaches. Peter is talking about water baptism, but that is where the similarity between what this verse teaches and what certain denominations teach ends!

Eternal salvation is at stake when it comes to understanding this verse. We need to get it right.  The requirement to “Repent” is common to all teachings about salvation. Jesus not only said John 3:16, He also said, “Unless you repent you will also likewise perish.” (Luke 13:5)

Repentance is the other side of the coin of faith. Repentance is a complete change of mind, a paradigm shift in the way a person thinks, that produces the fruit of a changed behavior (Lk.3:8,10-14). The root of a repentant mind produces the fruit of a changed life. When you repent Jesus becomes Lord of your life.

This was illustrated on this Day of Pentecost. The people who repented on this day began to do what it says in Acts 2:40-47. They are in the same chapter in the Bible: “Repent” and “they continued.” Ask yourself if you have repented of your sins and Jesus has become the Lord of your life. Repentance begins at conversation but continues throughout your life. To repent is to make up your mind once and for all to follow Jesus. “Well, I repented once and then stopped following Jesus.” Then you didn’t repent; you just reformed for a while. Remorse and reform are not the same thing as repentance. Get this down or the rest of the verse is meaningless.

“And be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ.” Some churches teach that you must be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ or your baptism is no good.  But what of Jesus’ clear command to baptize in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit in Mt.28:19?  Which is it?  To further confuse people, they emphasize the fact that every baptism in the book of Acts was “in the name of Jesus.”  They say that Jesus IS the name of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit.  That is not true. Jesus is the Son and the Son is not the Father, and the Father is not the Holy Spirit. Within the essence of the one God there are three distinct persons: Father, Son and Holy Spirit. The Son’s name is Jesus; that is not the Father’s name and certainly not the Spirit’s name. This was all proven at Jesus’ baptism where you have the Son baptized, the Father speaking from heaven, and the Spirit descending upon the Son. The text of Mt.28:19 is not consistent with what they say about the name of Jesus.

The people in Acts didn’t have a problem believing in the Father and the Holy Spirit; they go all the way back to Genesis 1:1. But they did have a problem believing that Jesus was God. So that’s the name they emphasized in baptism. God is the Savior and the Savior’s name is Jesus. We can still baptize in the name of Jesus and recognize the Trinity as Jesus commanded. What’s wrong with, “Upon your profession of faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, I baptize you in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit?”

The controversy deals with the words to be spoken by the baptizer. The problem arises from people erroneously thinking that certain words spoken over the one being baptized validate or invalidate that person’s baptism; thus his forgiveness, being put into Christ and receiving the Holy Spirit. All of that is a matter of which words are verbalized? Baptism is not made effectual or non-effectual according to the particular words spoken by whoever’s doing the baptizing. What if the baptizer is not able to speak? Baptism is validated by the repentance of the one being baptized.  Imagine putting the salvation of a man’s immortal soul into the hands of a man! Then imagine putting the salvation of people’s immortal souls into the mouth of a man, depending entirely upon certain words that come out that man’s mouth at his baptism! 

The words spoken are not given to validate the baptism, but for the ones who witness it. The words simply state the authority by which the baptism is done. It would be just as valid with no words spoken!  A man pays you to dig a ditch in his front yard. You don’t have to say, every time you put the shovel into the ground, “I dig this ditch in the name of Bob Jones.” No, you simply dig.  Now if his wife, Susie, comes out of the house and wants to know what right you have to dig this ditch in her front yard, you say, “By the authority of Bob, your husband.”  That settles the matter for Susie.  Words are for those who witness the baptism.

“For the remission of sins” doesn’t mean that water baptism removes your sin and you are forgiven. You must identify the antecedent of this phrase; that is, to what part of the sentence is this prepositional phrase attached?  Does it go with “be baptized” or rather with “repent” as Jesus teaches in Luke 24:46-47 where He says, “that repentance and remission of sins should be preached in His name”? What Jesus said is HUGE because He clears this up and the same Luke who wrote the gospel of Luke also wrote Acts.

Don’t miss this - Jesus links remission of sins with REPENTANCE and NOT with water baptism.  This is consistent with all the rest of the Bible.  How could Christ, His death and blood be given to remit sins and yet water baptism does it?  Water baptism is in view of the remission of sins, not something to secure it.  The word translated “for” comes from the Greek word “eis” which means “in view of.”  In view of your repentance, your sins are removed.  Not in view of your water baptism.

What about Acts 22:16, where Saul was told by Ananias to, “Arise and be baptized and wash away your sins, calling on the name of the Lord?” To which phrase is washing away your sins attached? What is the antecedent to wash away your sins? It is “calling on the name of the Lord,” not to water baptism. This is consistent with the Biblical view of salvation from beginning to the end; even with what Peter had just previously preached when he quoted Joel in Acts 2:21, “Whoever calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved.” (Joel 2:32)

Abraham was saved, declared right with God, by his faith, apart from any works (Rm.4:2-4). He was not saved by circumcision or by baptism. If salvation for Abraham is not the same way as it was after that first Pentecost, then why bring Abraham up at all in Paul’s discussion of justification before God. Abraham was declared right with God before he was circumcised and before the Law was given. That is, he was justified before any ritual or rule was ever given by God. That is Paul’s argument in Romans and Galatians.

If salvation comes differently to people after Pentecost (by water baptism) then why does Paul bring up Abraham and David when discussing salvation? They would be totally irrelevant to his argument about how a person is declared right with God. But no, salvation has always been the same, whether Old or New Testament. Paul put it like this, “By grace are you saved through faith and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God. Not of works, lest any man should boast.” (Ephesians 2:8-9) And then we also have Jesus’ famous statement in John 3:16. Did Peter add something to salvation against what Jesus said? Of course not!

“You shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.” If you repent you will be forgiven and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. Water baptism follows repentance but it does not add to the requirement of what to do to be forgiven of your sins and to receive the Holy Spirit. The entire house of Cornelious received the Spirit BEFORE they were water baptized (Acts 10).

Peter speaking by the Holy Spirit says this is the promise of God, not only to those hearing him preach, but “to your children and to all who are far off” in time and location. The promise is generational, “to your children,” geographical and chronological, “to all who are far off.” It’s all-inclusive. He is calling you and your children. To receive the gifts of forgiveness and the Holy Spirit (they are actually one and the same) is the greatest thing that could ever happen to you. These are given by Jesus based on the promise God made. Repent and you will receive God Himself. The Spirit will live inside of you and then come upon you.

That Peter calls this the gift shows it does not come through the work of baptism. And the fact that is based on the promise of God means something. Faith is believing the promises of God. To walk by faith means to live believing the promises of God, which are all good and in Christ they are all yes and amen. (2Cor.1:20) 

We can’t improve on what Paul said in Acts 16:31when he was asked, “What must I do to be saved.” He said, “Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and you will be saved.”

Is baptism important? It is. What’s the difference between a girlfriend and a wife? Commitment! Jesus has no girlfriends. He has a wife who is called His bride. This bride is made up of those who have made a commitment to make Him Lord and Savior. I have conducted hundreds of marriage ceremonies and in every one of them there have been vows voiced. “I promise to love and honor you, to forsake all others and love you unconditionally till one of us dies.” Vows are always followed by a ring ceremony. I say something like, “As a token of these vows you will now exchange wedding rings. And then we have the ring ceremony.

Baptism is like the wedding. Can you be married and not have your wedding ring on? Of course. Can you not be married and have your wedding ring on? Yes! After Linda passed away I wore my wedding ring for many months. The question is, why would you not want to wear a ring? It is a reminder to everyone else that you are married. I wear my present ring to remind me and others that I am taken by one woman and I love her. Baptism is something you do to tell all others that you are married to Christ and have made vows to Him.

Baptism can also be a point of contact for your faith. People have had powerful experiences during their baptism. Some have been filled with the Spirit. Some have been delivered from addictions. Some have felt a release of a guilty conscience. Baptism is not necessary to receive these things, but based on a person’s faith he may experience them and other things. It is the answer for a good conscience and a sign of deliverance from the world, much the same way when Israel was baptized in the Red Sea. “Baptism now saves, the answer of a good conscience toward God through the resurrection of Jesus Christ.” (1 Peter 3:21)

Jesus said, “He who believes and is baptized will be saved.” He said that. What He didn’t say is he who believes and is baptized will be born again, or go to heaven, or be forgiven. Salvation is a lot bigger than we think. The Greek word sozo covers many things, including salvation from a guilty conscience. And it delivers us from the world according to 1Pet.3:20. As the Union army marched through her southern town, a little granny waded into the troops swinging her broom. Her kids carried her off saying, “Mom! You can’t whip the whole Union Army with a broom!” She said, “No, but I can let them know whose side I’m on!” By being baptized you are letting everyone know whose side you are on and that delivers you from the fear of the world finding out you are married to Christ.

Baptism is important! Note the order: it’s always repent and be baptized or believe and be baptized. If you were baptized before you repented and believed, you need to be really baptized. Baptism is for repenters and believers.

What an amazing two blessings await those who repent and are baptized in water! Pardon from all your sins and the presence of God in your life. His presence in you is eternal life! 

(The Limitless Boundaries of Your Heart)

Before we go into Acts chapter three where the historical accounts of miracles and healings begin to multiply I thought it good that we establish the perimeter of what can happen in a Christian and a church. Perimeter means a border or outer boundary or the outermost limits. The perimeter for us is what is what God has put in our hearts. I’ll explain, but first…

I always say that nobody ever learns everything they need to know from God’s word. Jesus said His disciples are to do two things: “Come to Me and Learn from Me.” (Mt.11:28-29) Believers in Christ are disciples of Christ. The meaning of the Greek word for disciples is learners. After becoming Christians, before anything else, we are learners for the rest of our lives. Stop learning and stop growing! That’s because we grow in the grace and knowledge of God and in this life we won’t ever learn everything there is to know about God.

I tell people constantly that after seven years of formal theological studies in the Bible, complete with the Hebrew and Greek languages, and over 50 years of pastoring and feeding the flock, I learn things from the Bible all the time. Just this week, I heard a man say, “The Hebrew word for issues in Proverbs 4:23 is borders or boundaries.” I sat up and said, “No way! I’ve never heard or seen that before in my life.” I looked it up in the Hebrew and discovered he was right! I sat back and said to myself, “How did I ever miss that?” I learned something this week and that is not unusual for me or anybody else who studies the Bible regularly.

So, I read Proverbs 4:23, “Keep and guard your heart with all vigilance and above all that your guard, for out of it flow the springs of life.” (AMPC version) Heart here means the inner part of you, the cockpit that determines the flight of your life, the banks that guide the flow of the living water within you.

Guard your heart against everything that is not the word of God. Keep everything out of your heart except the revelation of Jesus Christ made known in the Bible. Don’t add to it, don’t subtract from it. Whatever we hear or read by others must be the pure unadulterated word of God. There are teachers of the word, but they are just that – teachers of the word. But some will make commentary of the word that is not the word. Guard against that.

None of that means you can’t have your family and others in your heart, but it does mean even they must not limit your heart from receiving God’s word and following it. Jesus said something about hating your father and mother.” (Lk.14:26) That’s pretty strong but it shows how important guarding your heart is.

The parameter of your heart will determine how much you experience God and in what ways He can use you. It will also determine how much God will answer your prayers because you must pray in faith, and faith is a matter of the heart.

Your heart knows no boundaries because it is where God lives in the Christian. Except when it has boundaries placed on it from the outside: the opinions and traditions of men, human wisdom and reasoning, logic and the five physical senses. Your spirit is boundless. It knows everything. “You know all things.” (1Jn.2:20)  It contains the mind of Christ. Your boundaries are limitless! You can do anything God says you can do and you can have anything God says you can have!

But your mind doesn’t know what your spirit knows. Your head can overrule your heart with carnal things and in this way limit the perimeters of your heart. Close your mind to seeing and hearing and learning by the spirit and your borders will be limited and could even be shut down. You could remain a baby for the rest of your life or have what the Bible calls a “hard heart.” (Mt.13:15) Above all do not get a hard heart, one that will refuse to expand to new teachings from Christ. Tie this with Mt.9:17, “Nor do they put new wine into old wineskins, or else the wineskins break, the wine is spilled, and the wineskins are ruined. But they put new wine into new wineskins, and both are preserved.” A hard heart will not expand to receive new revelation from the Bible. You stop learning.

An example is given in Numbers chapter 11. The Israelites complained that they were tired of eating nothing but bread and water. Manna in the morning, manna at the noontime, manna at supper time. They wanted some steak, some chicken. One trip to Chic fa Lay would sure help. And so Moses got angry with God about all this. The Lord got angry back and told him He was going to not only give them meat, He was going to give it to them, not for one meal, or day, or week, but for a whole month! The food would pile up three feet deep as far as anyone could walk in a day in any direction.

Well, after all Moses had seen God do, plague Egypt, kill the first born, open the Red Sea, he had reached his perimeter. God cannot give three million people that much meat in the middle of a desert. Now God did override Moses’ perimeter, but He was very angry with Moses and the people. He would give them enough meat to make them puke! By the time God got through with them, they would be sick of meat. We do not ever want God to get angry with us and one way to do that is to not believe Him, to limit the boundaries of our hearts. So, God sent quail from the sea to fulfill what He had said. Quail is a delicacy! And quail don’t come from the sea! But God brought them out of the sea. When you’re talking about God, there are no perimeters.  

We set restrictive boundaries on what God can do in our lives by not guarding our hearts against things that don’t line up with the word of God. The STANDARD of what we believe should be only what Jesus said and did. He is God made known to us. “He who has seen Me has seen the Father.” (Jn.14:9)

Jesus Christ is everything we need to know about God. He is our total theology. “But we have an Old Testament.” Jesus said, “You search the Scriptures and these testify of Me.” (Jn.5:39) What about Moses? Jesus said, “Moses wrote about Me.” (Jn.5:46) The whole Bible is about Jesus. But in the O.T. God judged people and put sickness on them. But in the N.T. Jesus took our sin and sicknesses and He healed everyone! That’s exactly what it says in Matthew 8:16-17. What about Elijah? He called fire down from heaven and God sent it and destroyed people. But when Jesus came He said that’s not something He came to do, quite the opposite. He didn’t come to condemn; He came to save. (2Kings 1:12; Luke 9:54-56)  

If we go by our past experiences and the experiences of others, or the beliefs of others, or our own human reasoning and sympathies, we put self-imposed limits on our heart and so limit what God can do in our lives. We do what the Bible calls limiting God (Ps.78:41). They looked at their adverse circumstance of giants and walled cities and refused to listen to God. So they spent their lives within the boundaries of a wilderness.

If anyone speaks to you or you read something contrary to what Jesus said and did in the Bible, it will set up boundaries of unbelief in your heart, limiting the boundaries of your knowledge of and experience with God. “He did not do many mighty works there because of their unbelief.” (Mt.13:58) The hometown folks reasoned themselves into unbelief and missed the power of God working in their midst.

If you will guard your heart against letting anyone take any part of the Bible from you, your heart will know only God’s voice and His boundaries are limitless. He is able to do far more than you can think or ask.” And He can enable you to “do far more than you can think or ask, according to His power that works in you.” (Eph.3:20)  Never limit yourself by what you think of your ethnicity, your economic status, your talents, education, or anything else. God can take a murderer and use him to write the first five books of the Bible. God can take a womanizer and make him a great judge and deliverer for God’s people. God can take a blasphemer and murderer and make him a great apostle who will write most of the letters in the New Testament.

Don’t think you can’t do anything Jesus has said you can do. It is He who works in you to do what pleases Him (Phil.2:13). You can do the impossible if God calls you to do it and He has done just that. He calls you to speak His words and do His works. He put that in the Bible and in your heart. Guard it with all diligence.

I close with this. Faith is a matter of the heart. “With the heart, man believes.” (Rm.10:10) And “All things are possible to those who believe.” (Mk.9:23) “All things” is the perimeter of what God can do in and through you. So, lift your eyes! Lift your horizons!

And once you see it in your heart, speak it. Jesus said, “Those things which proceed out of the mouth come from the heart.” (Mt.15:18) “I believed and therefore I spoke.” (2Cor.4:13) “The righteousness of faith speaks, the word of faith which we preach…” (Rm.10:6-10) And the clincher, “Have faith in God. For assuredly, I say to you, whoever says to this mountain, ‘Be removed and be cast into the sea’ and does not doubt in his heart but believes that those things he says will be done, he will have whatever he says.” (Mk.11:22-23)

The perimeter of your heart is as boundless as God is. He works through the faith in our hearts. The wider and broader the perimeter, the more He can do in us and through us. That is why we see all the miracles and healings and such in the book of Acts. And it is why we could see them today if our hearts are not hardened by unbelief. Therefore, guard your heart and watch God work things through the gifts of the Spirit and prayers. “Therefore I say to you, whatever things you ask when you pray, believe that you receive them and you will have them.” (Mk.11:24) 

“When they heard this, they were cut to the heart and said, “What shall we do?” (Acts 2:37)

A heart cut is much deeper than a flesh wound and the cure needs to be much deeper and more potent. God’s cure for wounds to the heart caused by the gospel is immediate: “Repent and receive forgiveness.” However to get to the cure we must have the cut. Why does anyone need a god anyway? Read Isaiah 44:15-17.

One of the major problems in the modern church is faulty evangelism. We have made salvation a mere raising of the hand, walking an aisle, repeating a certain prescribed prayer, and even signing a card. Dudley Hall was doing door to door witnessing, sharing the gospel with a lady on her porch. While he was leading her in the canned prayer and she was repeating it, the Lord spoke to his heart, “Look down.” He saw a rock at his feet. The Lord said, “When this lady gets through repeating this prayer she will be no more saved than that rock.”

I’m not saying that a person can’t be saved when he is doing these things; I’m saying he is not saved because he did these things. He is saved by repenting of his sins and believing the gospel.

A.W. Tozer wrote in his famous book The Pursuit of God, “The whole transaction of religious conversion has been made mechanical and spiritless. Faith may now be exercised without a jar to the moral life and without embarrassment to the Adamic ego. Christ may be “received” without creating any special love for Him in the spirit of the receiver. The man is “saved” but he is not hungry or thirsty after God. In fact, he is specifically taught to be satisfied and encouraged to be content with little.”

In short, there is no cutting in the heart of the person being “led to Christ” and many times repentance is not even mentioned or explained as a requirement of salvation. If we’re going to do evangelism right we must do it the Bible way! In Acts 2 we have the right way to evangelize.

What has produced this spirit of “religion without the Bible” in so many of our churches, this tradition without the word of God? There may be many ingredients in this recipe for failure but there is one main one – faulty evangelism. We have led our young people at youth camps and vacation Bible schools and children’s churches to believe that because they repeated a prayer they are saved. Fact is that the witness does not know if he is saved or not! Who can know the heart of another person? We could tell someone, “If you repented of your sins and believed in Jesus, you are saved.” But the truth is, we don’t know if they have done that.

There’s a whole book in the Bible that was written by God to give us true assurance of our salvation, and nowhere in that book does it say anything about a “quality decision” or walking an aisle or repeating a prayer. First John 5:13 says, “These things I have written to you who believe in the name of the Son of God that you might know that you have eternal life.” The Gospel of John was written that we might “believe in Jesus and have (eternal) life in His name.” (Jn.20:30-31) Then John wrote his first epistle that those who did believe after reading what he wrote about Jesus might know that they truly have eternal life. Read the book of First John and you will see that there are basically three tests, all focusing on our being conformed into the likeness of Christ, which is light, righteousness and love. Read it and see. This is how you know you have eternal life. Jesus said, “If you continue in My word, then are you truly Me disciples.” (Jn.8:31)

I took a group of my youth to summer camp where a friend of mine was the pastor that week. He preached that first sermon and he had kids streaming to the front. Same the second night. After the second service I asked him, “Jackie, you’ve got all these kids being ‘saved,’ when are you going to preach the gospel?” He was shocked as he looked at me and said, “You mean the death and resurrection of Jesus?” Yes! He repented and continued the rest of the week preaching Jesus Christ and Him crucified. The Spirit moved.

The power of repentance is in the gospel. No gospel – no repentance. No repentance – no salvation.

Many illustrations could show what I mean. During a revival meeting a lady fell to the floor about ten feet from me during the “invitation.” I didn’t go to her or say anything to her. She wept loudly and profusely. After church people told me she was a kind-of notorious sinner in the community. For the next morning’s Bible study she was in the auditorium early, sat down at a pew and was still crying. I asked her if she was ok and she looked up at me with tears all over her face and said, “It’s almost too good to be true! I am such a terrible sinner and Jesus loved me enough to die for my sins.” That lady repented and is now decades later serving Christ.

Not everyone has to go behind the same barn and get kicked by the same mule! Nobody has identical experiences. But at some time there needs to be this cutting of the heart that produces a desire to know what to do to be saved. 

“Take heed and beware the teaching of the Pharisees.” (Matthew 16:6,12)

Imagine a flashing CAUTION sign on the highway. Take heed literally means to stare at or to attend to. Beware means to devote thought and effort to. The Bible doesn’t employ things we do to emphasize things. We underline or highlight. To give prominence to something written the Bible authors use repetition, especially repetition using synonyms. Jesus does this here: take heed and beware. This is a great emphasis in Jesus’ teaching. He said it several times. What are we to take heed to and beware of? Whatever it is, it is important.

What the Pharisees teach is important. It says Jesus came in the fullness of time and part of that fullness of time was when the Pharisees were around. There never was a time in the history of Israel when Jesus could have pointed at one group of people and said, “If you want to know what God is NOT like, look at the Pharisees! God is not like them.” And their behavior came from their beliefs, what they did came from what they taught. Jesus said, “Beware the teaching of the Pharisees.”

This message seems to be out of place in this series on the book of Acts. We don’t encounter the Pharisees until Acts 4 where it talks about the Sadducees, scribes and priests. These people were all part of a huge religious system that taught the same thing about God and “the traditions of the elders.” But I’m bringing them up here because by this time in our study of Acts we are sure to have some who disagree with what I say in these early chapters of Acts.

Disagreements are normal. Christians sometimes disagree. People will disagree. That’s not all bad. It’s like the old saying, “If everyone is thinking alike, somebody is not necessary.” The Bible says, “Iron sharpens iron.” We can learn from each other, unless you think you already know it all, then you can’t learn anything.

We must never let differences divide us. Differences don’t actually divide people. According to Galatians 5:19-21 the flesh divides people. “The works of the flesh are hatred, contentions, jealousies, outbursts of wrath, selfish ambitions…” The fruit of the Spirit is love and that covers a multitude of differences. Agreeing to disagree is vital to any relationship: marriage, parenting, living in church.

This is why churches need a “Statement of Faith” that gives the essentials of what they believe. It should be printed in every bulletin along with this: “In Essentials we have Unity, in Non-essentials we have Liberty, in Everything we have Love.” It’s not that this will stop divisions. Some will have their own scruples and beliefs that cannot keep from dividing because they are intolerant of differences.

Religion has always been opposed to Christianity. It was to Jesus and it was to His followers in Acts. It is death to any relationship, death to any church. It is the tradition without the Bible. It is the leaven of the Pharisees. This leaven spreads – inevitably if it is not rooted out by the truth. There is this “spirit of religion” that is deadly to anything alive for God. It is negative, critical, condemning. And it is alive and well on planet earth and especially in the modern church.

In Mark 7:1-13 Jesus slams the Pharisees. They criticize His disciples for eating without ceremonially washing their hands according to the way the Pharisees teach to do it. “Why do Your disciples not walk according to the tradition of the elders?” Jesus doesn’t just say, “Beware…” He doesn’t cast out the spirit of religion. He gets in the middle of their stuff. He tells His disciples (us) what to beware of. He accuses them of being hypocrites, saying, “You have learned the lingo of the Bible, but your heart is far from Me, teaching as doctrines the commandments of men. For you lay aside the commandment of God to hold the tradition of men. All too well you reject the commandment of God that you may keep your tradition, making the word of God of no effect through your tradition which you have handed down.” After giving them an example of how they set aside the clear word of God to keep their tradition, He said, “And many such things you do.”

Here are some things they teach. One, they choose their traditions passed down to them over the word of God. Give a carnal person the choice between things they have heard and do that’s not in the Bible and the word of God and he will choose the tradition every time.

Two, they are intolerant of any deviation from their views. Totally intolerant. If you violate even one of their traditions they will want to and will eventually eliminate you from their lives or church. They will either crucify you for being different from them, like they did Jesus, or they will walk away from you. Religion always leads to murder. Just ask Jesus. Religious people cannot allow liberty because they have no love for those who differ. They have all these meticulous rules concerning behavior and belief, which cannot, must not ever be violated. Christians, Christlike people are very tolerant people because they are loving. It’s not that we don’t have essentials we believe and practice, it’s that we believe in mercy and forgiveness. Religious people are unmerciful (Mt.12:1-7). Religion majors on minors. They strain at a gnat and swallow a camel. Remember the Elder Brother. Religion without Christ is meticulous and merciless.

Thirdly, religious people are negative, fault finding, judgmental and condemning. It is ingrained into their minds. It doesn’t matter if a man born blind is healed by Jesus; the only thing that matters is that He did it on the wrong day! Notice what it says about them in our passage, “They do not eat.” And consequently they do not want anyone else to eat. And “Why do Your disciples not walk according to the tradition of the elders.” They are nitpicky. They come to church and the only thing they take away is something that is said or done that they disagree with. One lady found fault with our singing, “What a friend we have in Jesus.” I kid you not.

You may be thinking that when I say some people are religious, I am saying, “If you disagree with me, you are wrong!” I would never say a thing like that. Never! What I’m saying is if you disagree with the Bible you are wrong. It’s not your opinion versus mine. What does the Bible say?  Here’s an example. Many believe that the miraculous works of Jesus died out with the apostles. But here’s what Jesus said, “Most assuredly I say to you, he who believes in Me, the works that I do he will do also.” (Jn.14:12) If “he who believes” is not for us, maybe John 3:16 is not for us! The same Jesus spoke both of these verses. But some will not believe the words of Jesus because of their traditions they have received from some study Bibles or some churches.

Look closely at Mark 2:23-3:6. It’s similar to our present passage but different. Here’s the question, “Why do they do what is not lawful on the Sabbath?” Jesus answers them with very familiar words, “Have you never read?” Then He gives a Biblical precedent for what they were doing. David ate something unlawful to eat. Mark that “Have you never read” because that is the essence of the problem with religious people. They do not go by the Bible. They cannot even do the simple thing Jesus said in Mt.18:15. They have let their feelings and others teach them contrary to what they read in the Bible. This stuff is everywhere, believe me.

In Matthew 12:5 Jesus gives a second “Have you never read” along with a second illustration from the Bible that gives justification for what the disciples were doing. It’s interesting that this passage is preceded by a word from Jesus about those weighed down by many unbiblical negative rules. “Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden and I will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart and you will find rest for your souls. For My yoke is easy and My burden is light.” Jesus’ yoke is mercy and love, forgiveness and compassion. You don’t have to spend your time and energy pulling around your heavy throne judging others. Just love others. His is a throne of grace!

Mark 3:1-6 tells all. When Jesus entered enemy territory, the synagogue, (remember these are religious people and they do go to church) He sees a poor man with a withered hand. He sees the Pharisees watching Him whether “He would heal him on the Sabbath, so that they might accuse Him.” Observing all this, He boldly calls the man up front to stand beside Him. Now everybody can see them. Jesus asked piercing questions, “Is it lawful on the Sabbath to do good or to do evil, to save life or to kill?” They were frozen. They couldn’t answer such a simple clear question. We all know the answer to that question. “When He looked around at them with anger, He said to the man, ‘Stretch out your hand.’” When he did, his hand was healed. “Then the Pharisees went out and immediately plotted with others against Him, how they might destroy Him.”

The fourth characteristic of religion without Christ is they talk about things behind other people’s backs. They plot in the dark, hide and make plans to respond with division and anger. Ever know anyone who plots against others with whom they disagree? They don’t want others to know what they are saying so they hide and scheme. That is the flesh if ever there was flesh. And they call others to join them in the dark. They always call others. As wicked as Judas was, he at least never tried to get any of the others to join him in leaving the group.

Loving people have nothing to hide. Spirit-filled people don’t plot in the dark because they are not out to hurt or destroy anyone; they live to bless and help others. Bearing the image of God means to love.

So, take heed and beware the yeast of the Pharisees. When you start believing and practicing the Bible, these guys will be out to get you. This takes place throughout the rest of the book of Acts. Paul was hounded all his life by those who mistreated him continually. They stoned and beat him and treated him like the scum of the earth. That’s what religious people do. Beware you do not become one of them. Someone reminded me once, “You can go from being a Prodigal Son to an Elder Brother in one day if you’re not careful.” So, beware!

Religion always seeks to kill a move of the Spirit.

Watch for that in the book of Acts. Watch for that in your church.

“Earnestly desire spiritual gifts.”   (1Corinthians 14:1)

This is a series examining the book of Acts. We believe in the last days that God has and will pour out His Spirit in mighty waves of power that will make disciples of all nations and bring a harvest of souls unlike anything in all of history. God has given us a blueprint of what the Spirit-filled church should be like. The Bible is a book of precedents and Acts is the precedent for the church in the last days. This is especially relevant and critical for such a time as this, such a time as we are living in right now.

We find that what we need is even a small group of praying believers who are dedicated to the task of “winning the world to Jesus” and waiting on the enduement of power from on high to accomplish the Great Commission. What they needed then is the same thing we need today – a baptism with the Spirit to give us power to be effective witnesses (Acts 1:8). What we need is for the church to be filled with the Spirit. According to the Bible, this produces a display of the gifts of the Spirit, led by speaking in unlearned languages.

Two things result from being filled with the Spirit: fruit and gifts. Fruit is love, joy, peace and the other things that speak of being Christ-like in character. But this is not enough to win the world. Jesus had this for the first thirty years of His life and we have no record of any preaching or miracles done by Him. So, before He entered His ministry of works and sacrificial death and resurrection, He needed to be filled. Only after this experience did Jesus do anything to prove His was the Savior and Lord. If Jesus needed this fullness to speak the words and do the works of God, how much more do we? The early church knew this and so they waited for the power, which came in Acts chapter two.

The other product of fullness is the gifts of the Spirit. This is the power of God that changes people and things. It is the wagons from Egypt that Jacob saw that convinced him Joseph was alive and on the throne in another kingdom. Spiritual gifts are manifestations of the unseen Holy Spirit. God manifests Himself in visible and audible ways that prove the gospel preached by us is from God (Heb.2:4).

God doesn’t just want us to be nice people. Hindus are nice people. He wants us to prove to the world that Jesus is the Savior of the world, who died for our sins, rose from the dead and is now Lord of heaven and earth, and judge of all mankind. For that we need more than being nice. Only after Jesus was anointed by the Spirit did He go about healing all who were oppressed by the devil, proving that God was with Him (Acts 10:38). The same will be true of us.

According to Biblical precedent, we would not have Acts 3-28 or even a church at all if what happened in Acts 2 had not happened. Every generation needs a fresh baptism of the presence and power of the Spirit. With this we need the precious gifts of the Spirit. Many churches and Christians are not seeing the gifts of the Spirit in operation.

Here are the three reasons a church today does not experience these gifts. One is ignorance. Amazingly, some people don’t even know this is possible. They have never read or seen such things. There is appalling ignorance in many circles concerning the gifts of the Spirit. This is in direct contradiction to what the Bible says in 1Cor.12:1, “Concerning spiritual gifts, I do not want you to be ignorant.”

Secondly, wrong teaching. These “Cessationists” erroneously believe that the gifts went away with the death of the apostles and the completion of the Bible. I have answered these gross errors in previous studies. Everything in the New Testament is still with us. It’s our Bible. Don’t ever let anyone take the Bible away from your belief system. Jesus said that there was only one thing that could do that – the traditions of the elders. “All too well you reject the commandment of God that you may keep your tradition.” (Mk.7:5-9).  You don’t believe in the fullness of the Spirit and the gifts of the Spirit because you’ve heard things against them. I have a word of advice for you – read the Bible!

As powerful as these two things are, the third is even more deadly. Like Esau of old, the gifts of the Spirit are profaned as our birthright (Heb.12:16). Many people just don’t desire spiritual gifts. This is in direct contradiction to what God commands us to do in our text, “Earnestly desire spiritual gifts.” As important as love is the word for pursue in the previous phrase “Pursue love” is actually a much weaker word than the word desire in this one. Translators add the word earnestly, but that doesn’t fully reveal the meaning of the word desire.

Strong’s Dictionary defines it as “to burn with zeal, to be heated or to boil with desire, to be zealous in the pursuit of something, to pursue after good (spiritual gifts are good), to strive after, to exert oneself, to be busy about, to zealously seek after, excitement of mind.” Do you earnestly desire spiritual gifts in this way?

Rachel expresses this earnest desire by telling her husband Jacob, “Give me children or else I will die!”

Why wouldn’t you desire spiritual gifts? They are God making Himself known visibly and audibly. It’s God showing up in our lives and in our church! God manifesting the goodness of His glory and power for the benefit of everyone (1Cor.12:7).

This word desire can be seen in Hannah in the first chapter of 1Samuel. This barren woman desired a son. Read how she desired it. Barrenness was a serious affliction in those days. It is an even more serious affliction in today’s church. The ungodly culture is overtaking us and we are powerless to do anything about it. Every year the family would travel to the house of God to worship. They would celebrate with feasting before the Lord. All but Hannah.  She refused to eat and would weep uncontrollably. Her husband would rebuke her and remind her that he loved her far more than anyone else and gave her double portions of everything. She was miserable. Her husband reminded her that he was better to her than ten sons! One day Hannah got up from the table and went to church. The preacher saw her: “She was in bitterness of soul, and prayed to the Lord and wept in anguish.” She even made a vow that if God gave her a son she would give him back to Him. The preacher thought she was drunk, carrying on like she was. He rebuked her and told her to throw her bottle away. She denied that she was drunk and told him what was going on. She was desiring a son and couldn’t get pregnant. The preacher prophesied that the Lord had heard her prayer. She believed God and they all left for home where she became pregnant with a son. And they named him Samuel.

The point is, Hannah showed us what it’s like to earnestly desire something. There are only a few things we really desire like this in life. Hunters desire game. They will spend a fortune buying what they need to hunt and go to unbelievable places to bag the buck! Fishermen desire to fish. They buy expensive boats, depth finders, trolls, bait and tackle. And they also go to a lot of trouble to find the fish. Few Christians desire spiritual gifts like this, even though they are infinitely more valuable than rabbits and crappies. If we desired gifts like we should, like these people do, with the same zeal, the church would be the most powerful force on earth and in any community.

Let’s not be like Esau. Let’s be like Hannah.

This is not only for pastors and missionaries. The letter we are reading was not sent to John Brown or Mary Smith at Corinth. It was written to the church of God which is at Corinth. The gifts of the Spirit are for all flesh. If you are flesh, then that includes you. 

“I have come that you might have life and have it more abundantly,” Jesus.  (John 10:10)

There are two planes or levels of living the godly life. In a plane you ascend to another level.  God has bought every Christian a First-Class Ticket to heaven, paid for by Jesus’ blood. Most chose to travel in Coach.

In John 10:10 Jesus is telling us why He came from heaven to earth. He didn’t say He came to judge the wicked, although He could have come to do that. He didn’t say He came to condemn, although He could have. He didn’t come just to teach or perform miracles. He came for two reasons. There are two things here: life and abundant life. He came that we might live and that we might have fullness of life. You can live without having fulness of life. As the song says, “I’m trading my sorrow for the joy of the Lord.” Sorrow is one level but joy is another level.

I. Two Levels INTRODUCED

In looking at all the major Bible characters chronologically, something grabbed my attention, and I thought it was worth pointing out to you. It has always amazed me how long and often we can read the Bible and still have things jump off the page and grab you. Even things we have passed by repeatedly can suddenly make an impact and leave us wondering why we have never stopped here and visited.

This is why we are to never stop learning. Never think that you know it all. It’s all there in the completed inspired Bible, but illumination takes a lifetime. There’s nothing new in the Bible, we just don’t see everything all at once. “Now we know in part…” Paul said. We come to Jesus once but we learn from Him the rest of our lives (Mt.11:28-29)

If I had gone to an art museum without ever taking Art Appreciation in college I would have been like a dog in a library. My professor took her class and as we walked through the museum she pointed out things I would have never notice. The Holy Spirit is needed to point things out in the Bible that are obvious but unseen unless He stops us and shows us something. And you can be sure that something will be about Christ. In this case it is what John the Baptist called “the One who baptizes with the Holy Spirit.”

While browsing through the Judges and the kings in First Samuel, I noticed this recurring statement that just happens to be the key to their amazing lives and usefulness. It says that the Holy Spirit came upon each one of them. “The Spirit of the Lord came upon Othniel and he judged Israel.” (Judges 3:9-10) It says this about virtually everyone who made the Book. There is no doing much of anything for God apart from this experience. The baptism of the Holy Spirit as an enduement with power is how the Lord equips people to serve Him effectively and make an impact upon their generation. Let’s focus on this in this study and be benefited by it.

Some people have life and some people are FULL of life. This is true in the physical realm. I was taken to the home of a girl who had “sleeping sickness,” which had withered her 14-year-old body down to skin and bones. I have also seen Olympic athletes who could run 25 miles a day. Two entirely different levels of living.

This is also true with attitudes. Some people are always negative and pessimistic about everything. Erma Bombeck’s book entitled: If Life Is a Bowl of Cherries, Why Am I Always in the Pits? (She also wrote, Why is the Grass Always Greener over the Septic Tank?) Some people don’t wake up in the morning saying, “Good morning, Lord!” These wake up saying, “Good Lord, morning.” Some are high on life. They see the rainbow in every cloud. One man fell off a 25-story building and was heard saying as he passed the 15th floor, “So far, so good!” When life hands them a lemon, they make lemonade. Two men looked through prison bars: one saw mud, the other saw stars. 

The same is true with families. Some are legally married and that’s about it. Two ladies were sitting on the Riviera. One noticed a huge diamond on the finger of the other and said, “That’s the biggest rock I’ve ever seen!” To which the other replied, “Yep, it’s the Davis Diamond. It comes with a curse.”  “What’s the curse?”  “Mister Davis!”  My wife and I married for better or for worse; I couldn’t do any better and she couldn’t do any worse. Some are in love – for years, while others argue and fight all the time. Two levels of living.

This is true financially. There are not three economic classes (upper, middle and lower), there are only two (the haves and the have nots).  Some people have it and some do not. Some have everything they need and want, but some always do without. They seem to never have enough.

This is also true in the spiritual realm, in our relationship with God.

II.  Two Levels EXPLAINED

Jesus distinguishes between life and abundant life in John 10:10. Some people are born again, but they remain babies and thus perpetually weak and unable to do anything. Some have life but not what they would call abundant life. Some are strong in the Lord and others don’t have enough of the power of God to blow the fuzz off a peanut. Their relationship with the Lord is like a puzzle; they have all the pieces but can’t put them in place. They have the keys of the kingdom but can’t find which key opens which lock.

Which level are you on? How’s your prayer life? Do you worship God with all your heart and soul and strength? Do you witness with boldness? Do you have no power in your witness? Better to be a small bullet fired than a cannon ball rolled across the ground at the attacking enemy. You can be an eagle, soaring over the forests and diving into the lakes to catch fish. Or you can be a chicken, scratching in the dirt to get a worm or bug.  Both are birds, but they live on two levels.

A boy was climbing a mountain near his house and discovered a nest with an egg in it. It was an eagle’s nest. He took the egg home and put it under one of the chickens in the coop. It hatched and the little eagle thought it was a chicken. He lived like a chicken. Ever see a chicken fly? Bout two feet off the ground for about a yard across the yard. One day the hens sounded the alarm and they all ran to the protection of the coop. The eaglet was told they had to hide because an eagle was soaring over them and eagles eat chickens. He peeked. His beak because for the first time in his life – he looked up!  After the eagle had left they all went back to the barnyard and the eagle thought he’d imitate what he had seen. To his amazement he began to lift off the ground and in a moment he was soaring into the heavens. What a difference! He never knew he could do that because he thought he was a chicken. And he never went back to the life of a chicken, ground-bound and scratching the ground for a bug to eat. He would soar and dive into the water and come up with a brilliant catch.

Many Christians live like chickens when they are actually eagles. “They shall mount up with wings like eagles,” Isaiah 40:31 says. The difference is they are not filled with the Spirit. Spirit is the Biblical word for wind. Some Christians have wind but they are not full of the wind. They do not fly because they have not caught the wind of the Spirit. They live on the low level when they could be living on the high level of Christian experience. A sail will get you much further faster than an oar. Two levels of travel, and living. The illustrations are endless. Hand tools versus power tools. Walking everywhere or automobiles. Different levels of living.

You can be born of the Spirit and not be full of the Spirit. You can be alive but not be full of life. There are various reasons for this, like ignorance or wrong teaching. One preacher I was talking to about this said he didn’t believe any Christian needed to be filled with the Spirit because we all get that when we are born of the Spirit, when we are saved. And besides, he noted, that all took place before the New Testament epistles were written. (Yes, there are people who actually believe this.) I asked him what he did with Ephesians 5:18. He didn’t know what that said, so I had him read it. Even the Bible can’t change some people’s minds. Even some preachers’ minds!  It says, “Be filled with the Spirit.” Paul is commanding Christians in this epistle to be filled with the Spirit. Still, even though this is throughout the Bible, this man and many others are still not filled with the power of God, the very thing that equips us for service to God and others in His name.

The devil is wreaking havoc with our churches, homes, kids, country and world. The church today seems to be sick, anemic and powerless to do anything about it. Do you want to have abundant life? Then you must be filled with the Holy Spirit. The abundant life is the Spirit-filled, Spirit-empowered life.

II. Two Levels EXAMPLED

A. Abraham and Lot:  both believers but each living on two different levels. Abraham was on the high level of Canaan and Lot in the lowlands of Sodom. Both saved but both living entirely different lives. Lot lived a life of grief while Abraham lived on the highlands of the promises of God.

B.  Wilderness and Canaan (the Promise Land): Both occupied by redeemed people, but each speaks of a different level of living. They were alive in the wilderness but barely alive, living literally on bread and water. But then they moved into the Promised Land where the milk and honey flowed. There they lived off the promises of God. Two different levels of existence for believers. Choose this day where you will live.

C. Samson:  Once strong, able to deliver Israel from its enemies; then a weak captive. Every one of us is a Samson, living on one or the other level. When he was full of the Spirit he could do wonderful and powerful things, but when the Spirit departed from him, he was weak as water and became a slave to Israel’s enemies. They tortured, blinded and bound him. Which Samson are you?

Read and reread these Scriptures until you, like they were, are filled with the Spirit:

·       “The Spirit of the Lord came upon him, and he judged Israel.” (Judges 3:9-10)

·       “But the Spirit of the Lord came upon Gideon; then he blew the trumpet.” (Judges 6:34)

·       “Then the Spirit of the Lord came mightily upon Samson.” (Judges 14:19; 15:14-15)

·       “Then the Spirit of the Lord came upon Saul and he prophesied among them.” (1 Samuel 10:9-11)

·       “Then Samuel took the horn of oil and anointed him in the midst of his brothers; and the Spirit of the Lord came upon David from that day forward.” (1Sam.16:13-14)  This sort of thing continues on through the rest of the prophets and kings until you come to Jesus. Every character in the Christmas story was filled with the Holy Spirit (Luke 1-2) 

·       Then there was Jesus. “And the Holy Spirit descended in bodily form like a dove upon Him. Then Jesus, being filled with the Holy Spirit. Then Jesus returned in the power of the Spirit to Galilee, and news of Him went out through all the surrounding region.” (Luke 3:22; 4:1,17-18) Keep in mind, Jesus was just as much the Son of God before His baptism as He was after. The difference was that now He was entering His public ministry and He was equipped with power to do that, just as we will be, by His own personal baptism with the Spirit. He went from a normal human life (nothing wrong with that) to a powerful life of works and ministry.

·       “How God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and with power, who went about doing good and healing all who were oppressed by the devil…” (Acts 10:38) 

·       Before Jesus left earth He commissioned His disciples to do His work of taking the gospel to the ends of the earth. “Behold I send the Promise of My Father upon you; but tarry in the city of Jerusalem until you are endued with power from on high.” (Luke 24:49)

D. Apostles:  Once weak, stumbling, never able to do anything right, running and hiding in fear; but then full of power and boldness, full of the Holy Spirit and winning their enemies to Christ.

Check out these Scriptures; read and say them out loud until you are filled with the Spirit:

 “You shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you and you shall be My witnesses.” (Acts 1:8)

 “And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak with languages as the Spirit gave them utterances.”  (Acts 2:4)  I used the word languages instead of the loaded term “tongues.” See there, it doesn’t sound so intimidating does it. Tongues is the Greek word for languages.

 “And when they had prayed, the place where they were assembled together was shaken; and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and they spoke the word of God with boldness.” (Acts 4:31)

 “And they chose Stephen, a man full of faith and the Holy Spirit.” (6:5-8)

 “Now when the apostles who were at Jerusalem heard that Samaria had received the word of God, they sent Peter and John to them, who prayed for them that they might receive the Holy Spirit. Then they laid hands on them and they received the Holy Spirit.” (Acts 8:14-17) These born again believers needed the fullness. They needed the next level.

 “Brother Saul, the Lord Jesus, who appeared to you on the road as you came, has sent me to you so that you may receive your sight and be filled with the Holy Spirit.” (Acts 9:17) Note Saul was saved but needed to be filled with the Spirit. That’s because he came into the kingdom with an assignment. Jesus had work for him to do, just like He has for us, and we too need the fullness of the Spirit to do it. (Acts 9:17)

 “While Peter was still speaking these words, the Holy Spirit fell upon all those who heard the word.” (Acts 10:44-47) “When they heard this, they were baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus.

And when Paul had laid hands on them the Holy Spirit came upon them and they spoke with tongues and prophesied.” (Acts 19:5-6)  Imagine yourself reading all these Scriptures for the first time. What stirrings in your heart would be taking place, like they did in me the first time I read of this and the Spirit filled me.

E. Peter:  Constantly making mistakes, sinking in the sea, denying the Lord; then preaching to multitudes, full of power, converting 3000 people in one sermon! The difference was not maturity; it was the fullness of the Spirit. In one experience of being filled with the Spirit he was totally transformed. He went from life to abundant life suddenly in one experience.

Are you tired of living on the lower level? Swimming in the water, barely keeping your head above water, when you could be walking on the water. You can do so many things with or without power (mow a lawn, milk cows, clean floors).  How do you get an abundant life?  Be filled with the Spirit. (Eph.5:18).

The Bible is so full of this you wonder why so many miss it. It’s because this is the number one thing Satan does not want a believer to experience; he fears our abundant powerful life like nothing else. He doesn’t mind Christians living without the power of the Spirit to win the world. He is terrified of those who are filled with all the fullness of God.

How do we get this abundant and fullness of life? If anyone can tell us it is Jesus, who is the One who baptizes us with the Holy Spirit.  Here’s what He said in John 7:37-39, “If anyone thirsts (You must really want this.), let him come to Me.” Jesus is the one who fills us. This teaching does not take away from Jesus because we have to go to Him to get the fulness of the Holy Spirit. “He who believes in Me.” This is not just for apostles or someone living in Bible days. It’s for anyone who believes in Jesus. “And drink.”  That’s it. Jesus said to drink.

Nobody has to be taught how to drink. There are no instructions over any water fountain I have ever seen. Newborn babies know how to drink. Take Him in. Drink in the outpouring of the Spirit. You know how to do this. Go to Jesus and ask Him to fill you, and He will say to you, “Ask and it will be given to you. If you, then being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask Him.”  (Luke 11:9-13) 

Christ continues with this, “He who believes in Me, as the Scripture has said, out of his heart will flow rivers of living water.”  Not a creek. Not even a river. Rivers! Out of your heart will flow rivers of living water. A well is for a bucket, for individuals. A river runs. It flows through different counties and cities and states and countries, watering everything in its path.

Then the inspired apostle adds this: “This He spoke concerning the Spirit, whom those believing in Him would receive; for the Holy Spirit was not yet given, because Jesus was not yet glorified.”  Christ is now glorified and the Spirit is freely given to those who are thirsty, to those who ask, seek and knock for Him. Jesus is not in hiding. He stands at the right hand of the Father as our great High Priest, ready to pour water on him who is thirsty and floods upon our dry ground.

If you are thirsty, go to Jesus and drink. He has come that you may have life and have it more abundantly. Why live your life on the lower level when you can move up to higher ground? You can be filled with the Holy Spirit right now. You have life, now experience the fulness of life. 

Peter, standing up with the eleven, raised his voice and said to them, ‘Men of Judah, and all who dwell in Jerusalem, let this be known to you and heed my words.’  (Acts 2:14-36)

Prophesying in the New Testament is for everyone. If Jesus is in you then you have all the gifts of the Spirit in you and one of them is the gift of prophecy, the Spirit-given ability to prophesy. Not everybody is a prophet, but every Christian has the privilege and responsibility of proclaiming and speaking the word of God.

In Numbers 11 we have God putting the Spirit who was on Moses on 70 other elders. Only when that happened, two were not at the meeting where it happened. But they still prophesied “in the camp” away from the Tabernacle of Meeting. Joshua came and tattled on them and Moses said something very profound and prophetical. “Oh that all the Lord’s people were prophets and that the Lord would put His Spirit upon them.” (v.29)  That actually happened on the Day of Pentecost. All who were in that meeting were prophesying because God had put His Spirit upon them all.  These are the last days and God said, “Your sons and your daughters will prophesy.” In 1Cor.14:31 Paul writes, “For you may all prophesy one by one, that all may learn and all may be encouraged.”

As was covered previously, preaching is important, even vital in the program of God’s redemption. All the works of God are voice-activated and He uses redeemed people as His voice. “Thus says the Lord” is literally used 100’s of times throughout the Bible. The only one speaking for God who didn’t say that was Jesus and that’s because He was speaking as God. “I say unto you…” The Trinity gave man dominion over the earth and he exercises that dominion through the spoken word. When we prophesy or preach we are speaking the word of God. Nothing gets done without our speaking the word. Jesus proved that.

I. The Context of Preaching, v. 14

Preaching is done mainly within the congregation. “Peter standing up with the eleven.” Preaching the truth to the church is God’s greatest gift to any congregation. We need others to receive the truth and encourage those who preach. I assure you they will need it.

This is not to neglect those outside the church. If you don’t fancy yourself a person who could prophesy, there is a way you can still prophesy. You can listen to your pastor preach and take what he says to others outside the church who were not there when he said what he did from the word of God. You are giving out the word. You will be used by God, God will be glorified, and people will be blessed.

When the church begins to pray and be filled with the Spirit and powerful things begin to happen, it will draw people to see what’s going on, like it did in Acts 2. The gifts of the Spirit are not something you have; they are something you do; something God does through you, to be more exact. Some will not like what they see and hear. They just came to see the powerful things that are happening. They will mock and find fault: “These people are drunk” or crazy! But some will have a divine desire to understand what’s going on in people’s lives. That’s where the preacher and all who prophesy come in.

II. The Content of Prophesying, v.15-36

A. The Content of Any Prophetic Utterance Should be the Scriptures, v.17-24. To explain what God is doing in the church Peter quotes the Bible: “This is what was spoken by the prophet Joel…” Preachers should preach the Bible! It’s informative and helpful that Peter ends the quote with a verse that says how people can be saved. More on this later. After quoting the Bible Peter applies it to the audience: “Men of Israel, hear these words…” After preaching the gospel Peter again turns to the Scriptures: “For David says concerning Him, “I foresaw the Lord always before my face…”

The former quote simply explains what’s happening to make the word relevant. Preaching should always be relevant and meaningful to the audience. It helps to know your audience. It is necessary, in fact.

B. The Content Should be Jesus Christ, v.25-28. Now Peter focuses on the portion of Scripture that speaks solely of Christ. Paul wrote, “We preach Christ.” (1Cor.1:23; 2Cor.4:5) It has amazed me down through the years how many “preachers” don’t preach Christ. Peter mentions that Christ was to die and then applies that gospel to the current situation and audience (v.29-36). Spurgeon said if you go to a church and the preacher does not preach Christ don’t bother going back. We are not preaching morals here or how to have a better life; we are preaching Christ Jesus and Him crucified.

This type of preaching in the N.T. is so preeminent I will take a whole chapter on this. 

So they were all amazed and perplexed, saying to one another, “Whatever could this mean?” 

(Acts 2:12)

Before we get into the perplexity of what happened in Acts 2:1-4, let me say a word about our current study in the book of Acts. Be nice to come to church or read a book that has cute little sermons or devotions on how to stay strong and happy from one day or service to another, something to help you cruise through the next few days without losing it, something to help you get through the struggles of doing dishes, disciplining your kids, finding something on TV worth watching, insomnia, or your basic selfish lifestyle.

These lessons from Acts are not what this study is all about. These are to equip you to turn your world upside down and give you the power to win others to Christ and save them from the current corrupt “perverse and crooked” culture. This is the calling of the church and every Christian.

I do teach and we should all listen to lessons that help us live a spiritually healthy life. And you can get devotional books that help with this. Our Daily Bread is a great one; I have read them for years. This is great if all you want is to get along in this world with sane kids and a good job with enough money to buy you a house and car. But if you want your kids, county, and country to be saved and delivered from sin and eternal torment, this study in Acts is for you. This is the pattern for every church in every location and generation. You’ve been rescued from sin, now help rescue others. This Christian life is not all about you!

Helping you make it through life is important. But this is more important! Acts teaches us how to win the world to salvation. Isn’t that what you want? It’s time to learn how God wants to use you to rescue others. Well, that’s what they did in Acts and that’s why we’re studying it. God used ordinary people to save others and increase God’s eternal family. We wouldn’t be saved today if they hadn’t done what they did in Acts. Our goal is to learn from them.  D.L. Moody did.

Mr. Moody was the Billy Graham of his day. He also pastored the largest church in Chicago. On his way to London to preach a crusade “the Holy Spirit baptized me with divine power.” This was decades before the modern Pentecostal movement began. He said that from that point on, instead of tens and dozens being converted by his sermons, now there were hundreds upon hundreds. Same sermons, same man preaching, but the results were so different and tremendous that he said, “I wouldn’t go back to before the baptism with the Spirit for all the money in the world.” This man was only concerned about winning the lost and the baptism with the Spirit gave him God’s power to do it. If we are concerned with winning the lost, we should be concerned with the baptism with the Spirit.

We are going to learn what they did so ours and future generations can be saved. This is done by Spirit-filled believers operating with the gifts of the Spirit, preaching the gospel of Christ with the power of the Spirit to other people. God didn’t say, “Y’all come to church once a week and I will give you a bite of food to help you make it through the next three days.” No, He wants you to come to His house to load your truck with food to feed you and your family and all your neighbors.

When God moves in a person’s life or a church people get perplexed, confused, bewildered. God doesn’t author the confusion, our ignorance does. What happened in Acts 2:1-4 was all new to everyone in Jerusalem that day, that Day of Pentecost. What was going on had never happened before. The people filled and speaking in unlearned languages were part of this new thing that was happening. They were in the spirit and they were enjoying what was happening. Believers enjoy the moves and gifts of the Spirit. Nobody ever said, “I was in the Spirit and God was pinching me hard. Ouch!” Or “I was in the Spirit and God was bashing me in the mouth!’ No! When God is moving those in whom He is moving enjoy the movement. They enjoy learning and experiencing new things. When God is moving in and through you it’s like the kingdom of heaven has come.

But the onlookers were not participating in the new thing that was happening and so they looked on with perplexity. Note the question, “What can this be?” This was no mere, “Sup…?” Or “Que pasa, bro?” This was a calf looking at the new gate. This was a “What in the world?!” Like seeing a UFO – Unidentified Flying Object! It’s like Pilate marveling that Jesus wouldn’t answer any of His accusers (Mk.15:5). That was perplexing to him.

I love new things! Don’t you love that new car smell? I love new Bibles too; I have plenty of them. I love new clothes, new friends, moving into a new home, everything new. And I love learning new things. I am an information addict. I love new experiences, as long as they are good and all experiences with God are good. “Every good and perfect gift comes down from the Father.” (Jas.1:17) I love these things simply because they are new.

If you don’t like to learn new things, school would be like a prison to you. It is for many. If you don’t like to learn, you need to consider the words of Jesus, “Come to Me and learn from Me.” (Mt.11:28-29)

Some don’t want to hear, see or experience new things. They are not comfortable with new things. When it comes to the things of the Spirit it is not good to be so comfortable that you won’t receive anything new. If you’re never perplexed about anything, it means you’re not learning. God is a whole lot bigger than what you now know of Him. There is much to learn. The Bible is a big book.

Everything is perplexing at first, simply because it’s new. Ever watch a baby discover his tongue or hand? There is a reason for the saying, ‘like a calf looking at a new gate.’ “What is that? Never saw that before.” Well, it was put there to keep you from getting killed on the highway! It has that perplexing look because she’s never seen it before.

If you’re never confused about what God is doing, it means He is not doing anything in your life or church. You have become so comfortable. If you’ve been in the Bible or in the church for a while, you might struggle with a fresh move of God either teaching you or showing you something. If you never hear or see anything that perplexes you, perhaps your heart is calloused, or like a swamp where there is no living and moving water. You are stagnant. Dead in the water. This is not a good place to be. You cannot grow if you are not struggling with new things which at first seem perplexing, like algebra. You’re not learning anything about God or the ways of God.

In the movie “The Chosen,” when Jesus invites Matthew to join them, Peter complains that he is different from the rest of them. Jesus said, “Get used to different.” When you follow Jesus, get used to different. If all you can take is the ‘same old – same old’ you will live in a rut until it turns into a grave. Jesus is a river, not a swamp. He’s always on the move.

One group of people encountering new things, especially in church, are the indifferent. These see and hear new things and say, “Hmmmm….” and go on their merry way. They are not perplexed at all.

Perplexity comes in two forms. One is inquisitive. You just don’t know. The response comes in the form of a question: “What does this mean?” Ignorance asks for information. “Please explain this to me.” And that’s exactly what Peter does in his sermon in Acts 2. He answers this question.

The second response is indignance. Some, without waiting for an explanation, are just unreceptive, even opposed to any new thing they hear or see. These are the Pharisees who continually criticized anything Jesus or the early disciples said or did. Every time Jesus healed a man in a synagogue or the temple, there were these nay-sayers who complained about it. “You shouldn’t have done that on the Sabbath! You told him to take up his bed and go home?” When Jesus healed people in public places the common people marveled and glorified God. But those with the Pharisee spirit knot up, look angry and complain. Not everybody is that demonstrative about it, but this is what is going on in their hearts. Many have their minds already made up, “I don’t want anything new! I don’t like change! (If you don’t like change, you won’t like God and you can’t follow Jesus!)  I am satisfied and comfortable with what I know and have experienced.”

They are the opposite of the Bereans. Paul had been preaching new things and performing miracles in many cities throughout the Roman Empire; in each place there was a revival and a riot. People stoned him, beat him and cast him out of their city. But then he came to Berea and this happened, “These were more fair-minded, in that they received the word with all readiness and searched the Scriptures daily to find out whether these things were so.” (Acts 17:11)

Some don’t understand or want an explanation because they are critical. They are typical Pharisees, “Don’t confuse me with the facts, my mind is made up. If it’s new it can’t be from God and if it’s from God it can’t be new.” But that is not true. The new we’re talking about is found in the Bible, it’s just new to them. Not everybody knows everything that is in the Bible, only these types of people. These will oppose and make fun of the things of the Spirit. They sit there with a sour look and their Bible big enough to choke a hippopotamus.  

The last words of a dying church are, “We never did it like that before.” Or “Never heard or saw that before.” How we are supposed to respond to new things we see and hear may be the most important thing we can learn. 

“They were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak with other tongues.” (Acts 2:4)

This is the second chapter in a row on speaking in unlearned languages. Tongues are so controversial, why preach on tongues at all? Because it’s in the Bible, and that’s all the justification needed. Second Timothy 3:16 says, “All Scripture is inspired by God and is profitable…” Tongues are in the Scripture and therefore they are inspired by God and therefore profitable. Why would we neglect part of Scripture when all of Scripture is inspired and is profitable? What the Bible says about tongues is inspired by God. Why would you want to not learn about something God gave us that He Himself declares profitable for us? God only gives good gifts and He gives them for our own good.

If the gifts of the Spirit passed away then whole sections of the New Testament cannot possibly be profitable. Might as well tear them out of your Bible! What would be profitable for us to study the rest of the book of Acts and 1Cor.12-14 if those passages are no longer profitable?

Besides all that, in 1 Cor.12:1 God tells us that He does not want us to be ignorant of spiritual gifts. If there is a major flaw in the modern American church it is its ignorance of the gifts of the Spirit. If you ask the typical 100 people what their spiritual gift is, 99 of them would tell you they have no clue. That in spite of the fact that God has told us He doesn’t want us ignorant of spiritual gifts! Then 1Cor.14:1 says, “Desire spiritual gifts.” We are supposed to want to have and use the gifts God has given to us. Desire is a very expressive Greek word. Some translate it, “Earnestly desire spiritual gifts.” Go after them! You will never desire something you think will not profit you. You will never have something you do not honor. “He who honors Me, I will honor.”

The last reason is, every Christian and every church needs to know what the God-given pattern for the local church is, which is given us in the book of Acts. This is the church in its prime purity. This is what every church should aspire to, the model for every church to pursue. And how would you know what that church is like if you don’t study it. We should examine our own church by this one. I am teaching on tongues because the believers in the Bible church spoke in unlearned languages. Then so should we!

“A portal is a door, gate, or entrance.” It leads to something, or into something. Tongues is the portal to the rest of the gifts of the Holy Spirit given to the church by Jesus after he ascended to the right hand of the throne of God. They are the key to operating in the gifts of the Spirit. It can be proven both biblically and historically.

First Biblically. To give some perspective to this let’s look at Ezekiel 26:2, “The city of Tyre has rejoiced over the fall of Jerusalem, saying, ‘Ha! She who was the gateway to the rich trade routes to the east has been broken and I am the heir.’” Jerusalem still is but much more so in ancient days the travel tunnel of everything to the north and east and everything south into Egypt and Africa. Through Jerusalem’s gates ran all the trade routes. It was the portal, the door, the entrance to all the riches of the world.

Then in Ezekiel 27:2-3 it says, “Tyre, that mighty gateway to the sea, the trading center of the world.” There were fabulously wealthy cities and nations along the coasts of the Mediterranean Sea. The city of Tyre was situated in the middle of those trade routes that existed in the northern and southern coasts of that Sea. Ships came from all over the seas to trade with and exchange valuables. It was a very rich seaport city. It was a portal, the entrance to all the trade of the civilizations around Middle Earth.

All the traffic going north and south had to go through these two gateways, these two portals. Each was the portal for all the traffic of the ancient world, one for ground traffic and the other for sea traffic. These portals were the doorways to all the treasures of the north and south.

In much the same way, the gift of tongues is the portal, the entrance way to all the gifts of the Spirit. Before the fulness of the Spirit upon all flesh there were no gifts of the Spirit. That’s why Paul writes, “When Jesus ascended to the heights, He gave gifts to His people. Now these are the gifts Christ gave to the church…” (Eph.4:8,11)

There were ministries of healings and deliverances given to prophets and apostles, but these were not the gifts of the Spirit because the Spirit had not yet been given in this manner until after the gospel for the world had been accomplished through Jesus’ death, resurrection, and ascension. “And God confirmed the message by giving signs and wonders and various miracles and gifts of the Holy Spirit.” (Heb.2:4)

Now notice the first gift given was the ability to speak with unlearned tongues. Take note of the fact that it doesn’t say, “They were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to do miracles, or lay hands on the sick, or cast out demons,” or any number of other things. No, they were filled with the Spirit and began to speak with other tongues. It doesn’t even say, “They were filled with the Spirit and began to prophesy.” Prophecy is mentioned in Acts 2:17, but it is not mentioned in v.2. Verse 17 comes after v.2. And there’s a reason for that. It’s because tongues is a portal gift. It opens the gate to all the other gifts. It is after 2:4 that we have all the rest of the wonders and miracles in the book of Acts. There were no healings (Acts 3) until after tongues. There was no casting out of demons until after tongues. There were no miracles until after tongues. There were no signs and wonders until after tongues.

To back all this up we have church history. Between the writings of Augustine (about 400 AD) who presented the first theological justification in history for the cessation of the gifts and the awakening of Azusa Street (1906 AD) there were no gifts to speak of in the church. The Reformers had a Bible in one hand and the writings of Augustine in the other. They read the Bible through the theological lens of Augustine and so they believed the gifts passed away with the death of the apostles.

It's not that some in the church didn’t have powerful phenomena and preaching. Many believed in the outpouring of the Spirit and preaching under the unction of the Spirit. The First Great Awakening had amazingly powerful displays of the conviction of the Spirit. They turned nations upside down with these demonstrations of the Spirit and power of God. But there were rarely any gifts of the Spirit in operation.

Then Azusa Street happened. Believers began to speak in tongues. And low and behold along with tongues came multitudes of healings and miracles. These things are well documented as a part of church history. Diary and newspaper accounts of these things. They left Azusa and turned the world upside down. Today there are 100’s of millions of Pentecostals, Charismatics and Third Wavers who use all the gifts. Tongues have proven to be, both in the Bible and in church history, the portal of the gifts of the Spirit. And it will be for you too.

Jesus gave the Great Commission in Acts 1:8. He said they would be witnesses of Christ in Jerusalem, Judah, Samaria and to the world. If you look through the book of Acts you will see this happen, and in every place Jesus mentioned they spoke in tongues.

The church was literally birthed speaking in tongues. Every teacher and student of the Bible knows Pentecost was the birth of the church. And when the church was born it came out speaking in unlearned languages. This should not surprise us because every child comes into this world speaking in unknown languages. When little children come up to me and begin talking to me, I listen and then I do what? I look at the parent. All parents have been given the gift of interpretation of tongues. The parent is the only one who knows what that child is saying.

We see the church witnessing through tongues in Jerusalem and Judah in Acts chapter two; then again in Samaria in Acts 8:17-18. Then again with the Gentiles in Acts 10:44-48. And finally to the Gentile world in Acts 19:1-7.

So not pass over these things lightly. With all this information you should at least consider the Biblical teaching on speaking in unlearned languages. Most of the places Paul went threw him out of their synagogues and towns. But when he preached in the city of Berea they didn’t. What they did is told to us in Acts 17:10-11, “When they arrived in Berea they went into the synagogue of the Jews. These were more fair-minded than those in Thessalonica, in that they received the word with all readiness and searched the Scriptures daily to find out whether these things were so.” That’s the least any person of integrity who believes the Bible is the word of God should do. Don’t you agree? After all:

“All Scripture is inspired by God and is profitable.”

“Then, having fasted and prayed, and laid hands on them, they sent them away.

So, being sent out by the Holy Spirit…”  (Acts 13:1-4)

First, every Christian should be a member of a local church. “And the Lord added to the church (in Jerusalem) daily those who were being saved.” (Acts 2:47)  In these modern days some think being part of a local church is optional, but a Christian not being in church is unheard of in the Bible. And I’m not talking about being a member of some so-called universal church. There is a universal church, but it is made up of local churches. In the Bible there are local churches: Jerusalem, Antioch, Corinth, Galatia, Ephesians, the seven local churches in Revelation 2-3, and the list goes on. Every Christian should be a part of a local church. You should be a member of the church you attend. And only born again, baptized believers in Christ are real members. Membership is important; it speaks of commitment and commitment speaks of usefulness. How can you be useful in Christ’s church and mission if you are not a committed member? No one can give a good reason why everyone should not be a member where they attend.

You should never leave THE church. This is Jesus’ commitment to the church: “I will never leave you nor forsake you.” The worst church in the Bible has Jesus standing at the door knocking to get in (Revelation 3:14-20). You think the church is so bad that you can’t be a part of it, but Jesus is knocking to get into the worst church in the Bible, the one that makes Him sick. He is not forsaking it. He’s trying to get in and stay in! He wants to come in and dine with them. Don’t ever think that the church is so bad that you can’t be a part of it. That would be living under the law and not grace. The Corinthian Church had multitudes of problems (prolonged immaturity, divisions, sexual immorality, members suing each other, getting drunk at Communion, abuse of the gifts, and false doctrine) but in his letter to that church Paul never told anyone to leave. Not one verse in the 16 chapters that he wrote to that church did he ever even hint that anyone should leave that church. Instead, that’s where you find his greatest message on love in the Bible: “love suffers long and is kind, is not arrogant, does not seek its own, is not provoked, thinks no evil, bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things and endures all things.” We are to love one another like this. And we are to love one another as Christ loved the church. Jesus said, “As I have loved you, you also love one another.” (Jn.13:34)

Where is there love in leaving a church mad or because you don’t agree with everything? Because the witness of the church (which is the witness of Christ in a community) is so damaged nowadays because of church hopping, this thing of leaving churches needs to stop. If you have a problem and leave, you will take that problem with you. And others will know it, and be affected by it.

If you leave the church for any reason other than death or being called out by God, you are simply proving you were never a part of it, no matter how committed you seemed to have been. First John 2:19 says, “They went out from us, but they were not of us; for if they had been of us, they would have continued with us; but they went out that they might be made manifest, that none of them were of us.” They left church because they were not really a part of the church. Judas was one of the twelve, but he was never really one of them. He had lived with Jesus and the disciples for three years, but he was a covetous thief from the beginning and in the end it was made manifest; it was revealed that he was never one of them. Never leave THE church!

But this message isn’t about that. This is about leaving a church. Is there ever a reason to leave a church and if there is, how should you leave? Can you imagine anybody ever leaving a church like the one described in Acts 2:40-47? Neither can I. “They continued steadfastly in the apostles’ doctrine and fellowship, in the breaking of bread and in prayers, praising God and having favor with all the people.”  But the church didn’t stay like that and there are not many, if any, churches like this today. Later, even in the glorious days of the book of Acts, divisions and false doctrine arose. Wolves came in and did not spare the flock; and false prophets arose among the people and deceived many. And they were scattered hither and yon throughout the empire and among all nations.

This is NOT what was happening here in Acts 13; folks here are leaving the church with the church’s blessings. You should always leave a church with that church’s blessings. Be sent on your way like any family member should be, with grace, honor and love. Be sent out by the Holy Spirit.

When can you leave a church and how should you do that?  I mean people can leave a church for the right reason and in the right way. What is that right reason and when does that happen, and more importantly, how do you leave a church you are a part of? Some leave by dying; that’s a no-brainer (Acts 5:5-6). Ananias and Saphira fell dead in church one day and they carried them out feet first and buried them. If you die we can take your name off the church roster and have a nice funeral for you. Stephen was stoned to death and thus left the church on earth to join his risen Lord and the saints waiting for him in heaven (Acts 7:59-60). Also, sometimes people must leave because of persecution (Acts 8:1). If you leave in the rapture, you will not leave the church; you will leave with the church!

Other than that, there are only two reasons to leave a church with the blessings of that church and that is when you are sent out by that church on a mission or because you have moved away.

If your church has been proven to teach heresy and after talking with and praying for the elders for some time, and the church will not abandon their false doctrine or sinful practices, then you are free to leave. But make sure they are into heresy and not just a different opinion about non-essentials. When you go to the leadership, have specific quotes from the pastor that you can prove from the Scriptures are false and unbiblical teachings. After repeated appeals from you and they will still not repent, then you are free to walk away and find another church. “In essentials we have unity; in non-essentials we have freedom; in everything we show love.”

You either leave a church honorably or dishonorably. “I didn’t leave either way. I walked out of the door one day and didn’t go back.” Then you’re AWOL (Absent With Out Leave). If you were involved with responsibilities, then you’re a Deserter. Imagine doing that in the army. Or with your family. What would you think of a man or woman doing that to their family? The church is your family: God is your father, and the others are your brothers and sisters.

There is no reason to leave a church without being sent out by that church with the blessings of that church. If you do, you are in error and you are out of the will of God. You need to repent. One lady left our church, until I told her I wouldn’t send her church letter to another church without her being reconciled with her sisters with whom she had a falling-out. She did, and then she never left.

The Corinthian Church was full of problems and there is not one verse in that letter about leaving. They were told how to deal with the problems. They even had people who did not believe in the resurrection of Jesus or the dead. And in that book we have the greatest chapter in the Bible on love. They were to love one another. What a contrast to leaving! Loving them instead of leaving them! Read chapter 13 and you will see how to deal with a church problem.

If you’re feeling like God might be leading you to leave, ask people to pray for you. You want the prayers of the people to help you determine the will of God in this important matter. At least go to the leaders of the church and talk to them and have them be praying for you. This is setting the direction of your future; do not ignore this step; it is crucial if you want to leave a church in the will of God.

Leave in love, never in anger.  If you leave a church when you are mad, you will enter the next church the same way you left the previous one. Your being upset does not go away simply because you change locations. Below the surface of many members are residual hurts and grudges that will surface again if given the right opportunity. Problems do not go away simply because you change churches.

Holli and I went to her annual Charis Bible College Directors Conference and the first man we talked to had had his school closed for not having enough students. I asked why he was there and he said that Andrew Womack, the founder and leader of those enormous ministries, called him and asked him to come, along with another director whose school had been closed. Neither of them knew why they were there. But then at one of the services we found out why. Each of them was called to the stage at different times and honored by the entire conference as beloved brothers who had served faithfully and had lost their jobs. They praised this man and woman like they were the best people in the world, gave them an expensive plaque and a standing ovation. Andrew flew these people in from states far away, put them and their families up in a five-star hotel, provided transportation to and from the conference center for a week, paid all their expenses - all to honor their service in schools he had just closed! I sat there and thought, “What a class act this is!”  Wow! Andrew has an “exit strategy” for the workers who leave his ministry for whatever reason, for no fault of their own.  

You should have an exit strategy as well and that strategy should include much prolonged prayer, meetings with the leaders, prayer and discussing things with them.

Sometimes a family gets moved by an employer. I pastored a man whose company moved him from Arkansas to Arizona. So he came to me asking for a letter to the pastor wherever he would land, telling him about he and his family. I gladly did. I began the letter with these words: “You have no idea what a blessing is standing in front of you, but you will soon know. He is a faithful and devoted church member with a fine family. You will have no better or more loyal church member who fully supports his pastor and the church.” I went on to tell about him. He carried that letter to Arizona and ended up in a certain church. I later had the opportunity to visit him and his new church, and that Sunday morning he introduced me to his pastor. The pastor told me I would never fully appreciate what I had done in sending that recommendation letter, and that this family was all I said his family would be, and that he was able to put him immediately to work in the church. That is how people should leave a church.

Leave with grace and honor and with the blessings of the church you once loved, and because you know the Lord is leading you. If you leave because of an unresolved problem or because you are upset at someone, you are not leaving in the will of God and you will suffer for it, and so will the church to which you are going. You should leave with hugs and tears because the people hate to see you go and you hate to leave. Leave with dignity and honor.  Jesus, the Head of the Church deserves that.

Don’t leave out the back door; leave out the front door with honor and with the people of God embracing you with their love and prayers, knowing you are leaving with the love and blessings of Christ and His church. Be sent out with the call of God on your life: “so, being sent out by the Holy Spirit.” Don’t be sent out with anger and unforgiveness or unresolved differences. Leave if God calls you to leave but leave honorably. This is the “Exit Strategy” you need to adopt now and maintain it. Anything less that this and you will be leaving out of the will of God.

What do you do if you’ve already left a church in the wrong way? Well, it’s hard to unscramble an egg, but with God nothing is impossible. If you have not found another church where you are serving, you should consider returning to the church you left.

What do you do when you feel like God is leading you to another church; maybe you visit that church for whatever reason and you just felt like God was leading you there?  Remember, feelings can be temporary and misleading. You could become a tumbleweed, moving everywhere the wind of emotion takes you. Here’s what you should do. The day you feel God is leading you to change churches, go as soon as you can to your church and ask the church or at least the elders to begin to pray for you. You will need to consider your commitments to your church, like maybe you are a teacher, on the praise team, lead in some ministry, drive a church bus, or whatever.

Accountability is the key to everything and that certainly includes your church life.  One family with six kids in our church felt like God was leading them to be missionaries to China and they brought this to our elders. We listened to them and looked at each other and said, “We do not think this is the will of God for you at this time.”  They looked at each other and then looked back at us and said, “Well, alright then. We won’t go.”  Keep in mind they had already been there as missionaries a few years before and were coming to us with the desire to return to China. They accepted our counsel and asked if we would let them know if we changed our minds. About a year later the elders discussed them and decided it was time. They met back with us and we told them. Then they proceeded to tell us all the reasons they now saw that the year before was not the best time but they believed God was in our decision and now was the time. That family left with our full support and blessings. That is accountability. That is the way you leave your church.

Leaving a church is important and should be done the right and loving way. Do that or don’t do it at all. 

“And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit

and began to speak with other tongues as the Spirit gave them the ability.” (Acts 2:4)

The problem in the church is called tongues. It’s not a problem with God, just with people. Many make too much of tongues while many don’t even believe they exist because the phenomena has passed away altogether.  I explained this in a previous study. Check it out; it’s called The Passing.

There is much confusion over this issue and it has divided the church for over a century now. I say a century because between the writings of Saint Augustine (354 - 430 AD) and the Azusa Street Awakening (1906) the church as a whole did not even deal with it. They believed the practice passed away with the apostles. Today some Pentecostals and Charismatics make it too important. The UPC for example teaches that you cannot go to heaven unless you first speak in tongues because tongues is the proof you have the Holy Spirit. Others believe that tongues are either a psychological thing or a demonic manifestation, nothing of God about it at all. In this chapter we will deal with this important subject.

First I want to tell you to RELAX. You may be a Christian and never be filled with the Spirit or speak in tongues and still be forgiven and go to heaven when you die. You will never be pressured to do anything you are not comfortable with or believe anything you don’t want to believe or do anything you don’t want to do. No pressure! That’s God’s way. We are told, “As many as received Him…” You may ask someone to lay hands on you for the fullness of the Spirit and the manifestation of tongues, but you still need to receive from God.

But at least consider that you might be missing a lot: a lot of gifts from God that He has for you. Don’t be afraid. We’re not going to try to force you to do anything. We are not going to manipulate you in any way or try to teach you how to speak in tongues. Nobody in the Bible ever taught others how to speak in tongues. We’re going to preach the word and lay hands on those who want that, but you don’t have to participate in anything you don’t want to. You don’t have to be afraid of tongues/languages because they were invented and given to men from God (Genesis 11). Here in Acts 2 He gives them again, only this time not to confuse people but to help them understand the gospel and “hear the wonderful works of God.” Tongues show the universality of the gospel and add a powerful supernatural element to the preaching of it.

You won’t be considered some sort of 2nd class citizen in the kingdom or in our church. Remember,

In Essentials we have Unity, in Non-Essential we have Liberty, in All Things we have Love.

The baptism of the Spirit is not essential to be saved from sin or go to heaven or be a good member of this or any church. But it does equip you with power to be an effective witness for Christ on this earth (Acts 1:8). And remember, what I am teaching from the Bible has never been considered false doctrine. Some might disagree but hundreds of millions of born-again Christians have in history and do presently have this experience. And some of them in our church, including the pastor.

Now for the teaching. The word tongues throw a lot of people into a frenzy because they have been taught against it or perhaps, they have been to a church, witnessed it and were a bit scared by all the emotions that sometimes may, but not necessarily, accompany speaking in tongues.

Let’s just call it what it is and hopefully this will take the sting out of it. The Greek word for tongues, glossolalia, simply means languages. “They spoke with other languages.” Unlearned languages because they did not go through the normal process of learning another language; it’s a supernatural manifestation of the Holy Spirit. Speaking in tongues is speaking in languages. It will be unknown to the one speaking and possibly unknown to the ones hearing it. These Jews in Acts 2 knew the languages spoken by the believers who were filled with the Spirit. So, just say, “Speaking in languages.” Now, that’s not scary at all, is it?

This should not be a problem for us. We hear people speaking in different languages all the time. Have you been to a Wal Mart lately, or a Mexican or Asian restaurant, or to an airport? You might feel uneasy because it is supernatural. But remember this, the whole Bible is supernatural: from creation to the Red Sea, from the virgin birth of Jesus to His and the disciples’ many miracles. And we are anxiously awaiting the greatest miracle of all – the resurrection of all the dead!

Languages are used in two ways: private prayer and public proclamation.

These are covered in 1 Cor. 14:2,4,5,14 and 26-28.

In reading through this, always remember, tongues and interpretation of tongues are equivalent to prophecy. 1 Cor. 14:2 in essence says, “He who speaks in a tongue speaks to God; in the spirit he speaks mysteries.” This short-circuits our mind. The tongue comes from our spirit (the place where we communicate directly with God) to our mouth. Tongues bypass the mind. But the mind is not left out; all we have to do is ask for and receive the interpretation. “Then why are tongues necessary?” Like I said, it speaks of the universality of salvation. And it adds a supernatural dimension to our life. And that is awesome! Our minds sometimes get in the way of our praying because “we do not always know how to pray or what to pray for” or we have such a limited vocabulary. With tongues we speak the mysteries of God. And God hears us. He knows all languages. He invented them. He knows all languages of men and angels.

Tongues are to be used in public proclamation. This is quite literally the gift of tongues spoken of several times in 1Cor.12-14. The first use is a prayer language, mostly private or in the context of a small group of people who understand speaking in tongues. This second use is for the public gathering where there may be some who are “uninformed or unbelievers.”

The gift of tongues in the church has guidelines placed on it by the Holy Spirit and this inspired apostle. The reasons for the guidelines are two: the newness of it may cause some to think you are “out of your mind,” and in order to have order in the church service.

“But why should I limit my speaking in tongues to the guidelines of v.26-28, by “two or at the most three, each in turn and let one interpret”? Because these guidelines were given to us by God to guard against confusion in the gathering and so that “all things can be done decently and in order.” (14:40) Disorder confuses people and turns them off and away. We don’t want to do that because we love them and want them to stay and hear from God. Love trumps liberty. See v.23-25. We don’t want people to think we are crazy! While most Pentecostal churches have everybody speaking in tongues at once, it may not be good for everyone there.

The conclusion of this whole matter is found in 1Cor.14:39, “Desire earnestly to prophesy, and do not forbid to speak with tongues.”  Do not forbid to speak with tongues?!  That’s what the Bible says.

In the end it doesn’t really matter what yours or my opinion is, nor what we like or dislike; all that matters is what does the Bible say. This will go a long way to prove if you believe the Bible is God’s word or not, or whether you want things your way no matter what the Bible says. This problem for you will be solved when you agree to agree with the Bible. 

Did the baptism with the Spirit accompanied by supernatural power, signs and gifts pass away with the death of the apostles or the completion of the Bible? This lesson will seek to answer this question.

Actually the two events go together. Some assume the inspired New Testament Scriptures were written by members of the 12 apostles, so it would stand to reason that when the apostles all died the Bible would be complete. But the truth is, the man who wrote more of the N.T. than anyone else was not even an apostle. Luke was a Gentile! And nobody knows who wrote the long book of Hebrews. James was not written by an apostle. It was written by the half-brother of Jesus who was not converted until after Jesus’ resurrection.

When did the apostles die? Nobody knows for sure. So when was the N.T. complete? Again, nobody knows for sure. The best guess is around 1500 A.D. when a reformer named Erasmus went around the Mediterranean world collecting the various manuscripts from the different churches. Even then Martin Luther, the main reformer, didn’t even believe James was inspired and didn’t want it included in the canon.

So, the question is mute because nobody knows when the Bible was canonized or when the apostles died, plus they certainly didn’t write all the N.T.

People surmise that the gifts died out when all the apostles died and the reason behind this belief is “the apostles did all the signs, healings, and miracles.” Several verses seem to teach this. Nobody would go blatantly against the Bible; they just pick certain verses to believe and teach to the neglect of other verses. Acts 2:43 says, “The apostles performed many miraculous signs and wonders.” Of course, no one would deny the apostles did miraculous things. Who would expect anything different?

But other Scriptures say that believers did and will do these things. John 14:12 says, “He who believes in Me, the works that I do he will do also; and greater works than these he will do because I go to the Father.” Jesus did signs and miracles and healings galore, and He said believers would do the same things. Jesus said in the Great Commission, “These signs will follow those who believe: In My name they will cast out demons; they will speak with new tongues; they will lay hands on the sick and they will recover.”  (Mark 16:17-18)

Stephen was not an apostle, but “And Stephen, full of faith and power, did wonders and signs among the people.” (Acts 6:8) Then again, in Acts 8:4-8 we have another non-apostle named Philip. “Philip went down to Samaria and preached to them. And multitudes heeded the things spoken by Philip, hearing and seeing the miracles which he did. For unclean spirits came out of many and many who were paralyzed, and lame were healed.” Philip was not an apostle; he was only a believer.

Where do these preachers come up with the idea of the gifts passing away? From a misinterpretation of 1 Corinthians 13:8-12. They think the perfect is the Bible and so they reason that when the Bible was completed then the gifts of the Spirit were no longer necessary and therefore have passed away. But it does not say that the perfect is the Bible! The Bible is perfect, but that’s not what this passage is talking about. If that were true, knowledge would have passed away with unknown languages (tongues). Who would reason that when the knowledge of the Bible was complete, then knowledge would no longer exist? That’s crazy!

That which is perfect is the Christ who is coming! This passage teaches that when Christ comes believers will be resurrected and glorified, and the church will no longer need the gifts of the Spirit. Some argue that the word for perfect in this passage is neuter gender and that means it is not male or female. But that argument is invalid because in Matthew 1:20 the angel uses the word perfect to definitely refer to Jesus.

There are always dangers that come with false teaching and there certainly is with this one. Think of how unreasonable this false idea is. The moment the Bible is complete, it automatically makes null, void and useless whole sections of the Bible that was just completed. What good is Acts 2 and all that comes after that except for mere historical facts. Gone are the examples set for us by the early believers and the hope that what they could do we can do by the power of the same spirit. 1Cor.12-14 are not necessary because they are chapters instructing us on how to use the gifts of the Spirit.

“The supernatural gifts have passed away,” they say. But all the gifts are supernatural. That’s the very nature of a Spiritual gift. This would take the work of the church away from the whole body of believers, but the gifts were given to all. “The manifestation of the Spirit is given to each one for the profit of all.” (1Cor.12:7)

Wouldn’t it be just like the devil? He knows the power of the Spirit is the only way we can win the world to Christ, and he would convince us these gifts are no longer available. 

“On the Day of Pentecost all the believers were meeting together in one place. Suddenly there was a sound from heaven like the roaring of a mighty windstorm, and it filled the house where they were sitting. Then what looked like flames or tongues of fire appeared and settled on each of them. And everyone present was filled with the Holy Spirit and began speaking in other languages as the Holy Spirit gave them this ability.”

Acts 2:1-4

Pentecost is the peak of redemptive history, the apex of the mountain range. Everything goes up to it or comes down from it. That’s how important this event is. We experience the power of the Spirit today because of what happened in these four verses.

What happened in this passage was the climax of all of redemption history, from the call of Abraham, the father of all who believe, through the coming of Jesus with His death and resurrection for the salvation of all who believe, up till this – all has happened to bring the world to this point. Most churches don’t emphasize Pentecost much in their church calendar, but we should.

All that has happened after this has flowed from what happened on the Day of Pentecost in Acts 2:1-4 about 2,000 years ago. What you see in the rest of Acts would not have happened without what happened on this historic Day of Pentecost. Everything comes after this. Every historic revival has flowed from this fountain of life given on this day. Every born again spirit can trace its beginnings back to this event. Every church that is a church came about because of the birth of the church as we know it in this Pentecostal experience.

The Bible is a book of precedents. The judicial system determines what it does largely on the basis of precedents. A ruling was made earlier (in history) by which a ruling can be based today. If you don’t understand that the Bible is a book of precedents, it becomes irrelevant to you, just a book of history and laws, not the word of God for you today. You must believe what God did then He can do now, what He did with them He can and will do with us, what He did there He can do here. This is what gives us hope for God to intervene now in our lives. We believe God hasn’t changed (Heb.13:8) and “What He’s done for others, He’ll do for you.”

This powerful event was the proof that Jesus Christ, after being crucified, has indeed risen from the dead, ascended to heaven, and has taken the throne of God as Lord and Savior.

Jacob’s beloved son Joseph had been taken away from him. He mourned for years thinking Joseph was dead. But as the story goes, the brothers went to Egypt during a famine to get food. Joseph was very much alive and ruled Egypt from the right hand of Pharaoh. The brothers were welcomed to Egypt and Joseph told them to bring their father to him. They went to dad and told him the good news. But he couldn’t believe them…  until.

“Joseph provided them with wagons with supplies: new clothes, 300 pieces of silver, 10 male donkeys loaded with the finest products of Egypt, ten female donkeys loaded with grain and bread and other supplies. The brothers returned to their father and shouted, “Joseph is still alive! And he is governor of all the land of Egypt!” Joseph was stunned at the news – he couldn’t believe it. But when they told him what Joseph said and when he saw the wagons Joseph had sent… their father’s spirit revived. Then Jacob exclaimed, “I must be true! My son Joseph is alive! I must go and see him.” (Gen.45:19-28)

The coming of the Holy Spirit with His manifestations were the wagons from another land that convinced the people on that day to believe. The same is true today. The power of the Holy Spirit with His manifestations is the proof that Jesus is alive and exalted. And all who believe in Him will join Him there.

People still need to see the wagons. They still need to see the proofs that Jesus is in heaven and is Lord and Savior. They can hear the message we preach but they will think it is just something that we think or got from an antiquated book that is full of myths.

“My speech and preaching were not with persuasive words of human wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and power of God.” (1Cor.2:4-5) And the writer of Hebrews is very plain-spoken, “God confirmed the message by giving signs and wonders and various miracles and gifts of the Holy Spirit.” (2:4) 

Now let’s look at the text. After thousands of years of redemptive history we have the “And suddenly…” The power of the Spirit came when the people were united together in prayer and purpose in one place. The dove of the Spirit never lights on troubled waters. Together is used many times in this story. Chapter two of Acts begins with unity and ends with it (2:1, 44-47). The Spirit came upon them while they were praying (1:14). Wouldn’t you like to see another suddenly? I would. It will happen in the context of unity and prayer in the church. Set aside all divisions, stop the conflict, and begin to pray. The Spirit will move among us.

This was something that could be seen and heard by everybody. A sound like a roaring mighty windstorm. Like a tornado or hurricane as it comes from the sky. The sound filled the house. Then there appeared (they could see and hear) tongues of fire. Wouldn’t you like the fire of God fall on the sacrifice of your praise? Of course you would. Lord, let the fire fall. Set the church on fire. Set me on fire. Let the fire fall, let the wind blow, let the glory come down!

The keynote was “they were all filled with the Holy Spirit.” How would you like to be “filled with all the fullness of God?” (Eph.3:19) What God gave then may be received now, and here.

Finally, this filling is subsequent to being born again. The filling by the Spirit is after the birth by the Spirit. These disciples on the Day of Pentecost had been born again. They had been following Jesus for over three years. They knew Jesus. They were already saved. They were committed to Him and His mission. But they needed the power to carry out that commission.

Pentecost comes after Passover. John the Baptist preached that Jesus was both the Lamb of God and the Baptizer with the Holy Spirit (Jn.1:29, 33). Just like the disciples in Acts 2, all Christians know Him as the Lamb (that’s how you get saved), but not all know Him as the Baptizer. Pentecost came 50 days after Passover. Jesus died on Passover. He was the Lamb who was slain that we might be forgiven. Pentecost was a celebration of the harvest. Passover saved those who apply the blood of the Lamb to their doorpost of their own hearts. Pentecost was a celebration for the whole community, much like our Thanksgiving. The whole community celebrated the harvest. It came after Passover.

This is true for every Christian. First we are saved by the blood of the Lamb, then we are baptized with the Spirit to clothe us with power to be His witnesses. Without this power, we are powerless. We cannot do our job. Everything depends on this. Everything in the mission of Christ depends on this. So, commit yourself to the mission of Christ and then receive the power to carry out that mission. If you are saved, you need to be empowered. If you are born of the Spirit, you need to be baptized with the Spirit. Jesus was already the Son of God when He was baptized with the Spirit. The baptism of Jesus of Nazareth, the Son of Man, at the Jordan River didn’t make Him a child of God; His birth did that. But His baptism with the Spirit equipped Him with power to do the works of His Father. We do those same works by the same Spirit.

“Preacher, don’t you know that Jesus did all those mighty works to prove that He was the Christ?” Yes, and we do them IN HIS NAME to prove He is the Messiah. These mighty works are the wagons from heaven that prove our Jesus Joseph is alive in Egypt and ruler there.

When Paul encountered a few saved disciples in Acts 19 the first thing he wanted to know was, “Have you received the Holy Spirit since you believed?” We know that you can’t be saved without being born of the Spirit, so Paul wasn’t talking about the Spirit indwelling. All saved believers have the Spirit within; but not all have the Spirit upon. The Spirit inside makes us Christians; the Spirit upon makes us powerful witnesses for Christ. The Spirit upon gives us the wagons that prove Jesus is living and Lord.

What prevents you from receiving the Holy Spirit right now? Nothing but your unbelief. Let unbelief go and receive. “To as many as received Him, to them gave He the power to become the children of God.” (Jn.1:12)  And as many as receive the Spirit to them He will give the power to be filled with the fullness of God. 

“These all with one mind were continually devoting themselves to prayer. It is necessary that of the men who have accompanied us all the time that the Lord Jesus went in and out among us – beginning with the baptism of John, until the day that He was taken up from us – one of these should become a witness with us of His resurrection.”  (Acts 2:14, 21-22)

In over 50 years of pastoring, I have never heard a sermon from this passage of Scripture (Acts 1:12-26), except one and I preached it. This is the second sermon. And yet, this is a very important passage for it sets the stage for Acts chapter two, the first outpouring of the Spirit upon all flesh. It’s like, without what is in these verses we wouldn’t have what follows. This is the introduction to the whole book of Acts and the rest of church history.

Churches have programs. They develop programs to reach and minister to different groups of people: youth programs, music programs, senior programs, outreach programs, Sunday school programs, etc. There is nothing wrong with having programs. In fact, the early church had more than one program.

People say, “We must never change the message, but we must always be changing our methods.” When I first heard that I said to myself, “Where is that in the Bible?” Who said our methods must change from generation to generation? God never said that! I will admit, we must use different things like modern technology to reach more people. But things like that are not changing our methods, just changing the way we implement Scriptural methods. There is a method for everything that gets done. You score a run in baseball by hitting the ball and running around the bases. That’s the method for scoring runs, but there are many ways to score runs. When it comes to methods, if you don’t pursue it you won’t do it.

There are goals and there are methods used to reach a goal.  The early church had a goal.  What was it? To make disciples of all nations, baptizing and teaching them to obey Christ’s commandments. To reach the world with the gospel. The message is the gospel of Christ which includes the death and resurrection of Christ. The programs for getting that gospel to the world is identified for us in our text. They were two.

I. Prayer – The first church was in the business of prayer. God’s house is the house of prayer, so we must pray. After Jesus left they spent ten days in prayer. A church that doesn’t use the program of prayer will be useless to God, who does nothing on earth except in answer to prayer. In order to have, we must ask. Prayer was the context of the first outpouring of the Spirit upon all flesh. The power of the spirit was and is birthed in prayer. The Spirit came upon people who were praying. Still does.

The question begs itself. What were they praying about during this ten days of waiting? Surely they were worshiping and praising God, both are prayers. It doesn’t say what they were praying about, but I can speculate and here’s what I think they were doing. They were thanking God for choosing them to be a part of the greatest, most successful, movement in history, indeed – all of eternity.

They must have been beside themselves at what God had done and what He was planning to do for them. Peter had been a fisherman, and not a very successful one I might add, and then along came Jesus who called him and promised to make him a fisher of men. Here he was sitting with the keys of the kingdom in his hand and waiting for “the Promise of the Father.” Matthew was a hated tax collector, and then Jesus came by and called him to join Him to do an eternal work to glorify God. According to The Chosen, Bartholomew was a failed architect, but then Jesus came by and he found himself waiting on the power to build the greatest, most glorious temple in history; he would be used to build the house of God. Remember, they all heard Jesus say, “I will build My church.”

I don’t know about you but I am so excited to be living in this day of the beginning of a great awakening. God has saved ME and has equipped me to be a co-laborer with Christ in the building of His church. Jesus promised to pour out His Spirit in the last days and I am living in those last days, and so are you. And I’m not going to just see it, I’m going to be a part of it. I’m going to be involved in the ingathering of a host of souls to the glory of the Savior.

Maybe the Holy Spirit reminded them of what Jesus said in Luke 11:23, “Whoever is not with Me is against Me, and he who does not gather with Me scatters.” You don’t want to be found working against Jesus, but you will be unless you are gathering. Gathering what? Souls for salvation to add to His church. We are either gathering or scattering. There is no middle ground, not neutral here, no DMZ. You are either for Him or against Him; you are either gathering or scattering. Those who are clothed with power from on high will gather because “you will be witnesses for Me when the Spirit has come upon you.”

Prayer precedes power. This is seen throughout the Bible.  It was true of the Lord Jesus. It is when Jesus was praying that the Spirit came upon Him: “while He was praying, heaven opened and the Holy Spirit descended upon Him.” (Lk.3:21-22)  “And when they had prayed, the place where they had gathered together was shaken and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak the word of God with boldness.” (Acts 4:31) This could be part of the waiting Jesus spoke of. Pray without ceasing is consistently looking for and expecting the Spirit to anoint you for service (1Thes.5:17).  Settle on it – without the spirit of prayer there will be no Spirit of power.

II. Witnessing – The early church was conducting a “business meeting” between the ascension of Jesus and the descent of the Spirit! What was the topic of their business? Must have been vitally important. What are business matters on the agenda for most church business meetings? Which color for the carpet? Which committee will put together the coming church yard sale? You know how those business meetings go.

Most would never guess the business the first church needed to take care of before the Spirit came. In a nutshell it was to ordain a witness for Christ. Not just any witness would do at this point in the gospel story. For them, it had to be a certain kind of witness: one who had been with Jesus from the beginning of His ministry until His resurrection. This speaks clearly of the importance of a witness to the early church and the Great Commission. Nothing is more important than for a church to have a witness of the resurrection of Jesus. Course, we do not have a literal physical witness today, but we must have a witness taught and convinced by the Spirit that Jesus died and was resurrected. Someone who hasn’t physically seen it, but who has “seen” it in the Spirit.

You can have a church without a pastor. I was baptized and called to preach in a very successful church that had no pastor at the time. But you can’t have a church without a witness of the resurrection of Christ. You can have a church without a building; the church had no buildings for its first 300 plus years. You can have a church without a music program. Find the music leaders in the church of Acts. You can have a church without deacons. But you cannot have a church without a witness. Witnessing is the business, the program of the church.

The business of the church is praying and witnessing. Period. Those are the programs that will win the world to Jesus. They are the twin rails upon which the train of success in the church runs. The apostles later nailed it in Acts chapter six. The church was trying to solve a problem of dispensing food to the hungry, a notable work, but it must not trump what they were called to do. The apostles said, “We must give ourselves continually to prayer and the ministry of the word.” (6:4) Whatever else the church may do, we must never neglect this. And neither must any Christian neglect this.

Several things make what happened here questionable. I pose them in three questions: When? They conducted this business before the Spirit came. Shouldn’t they have waited? Way? Their choice of this witness, while it may be Scriptural (v.26; Prov.16:33), is somewhat less convincing than the word of the Lord given by the Spirit. Who? Maybe the Lord had another choice that would only be made known later, like in Acts chapter nine. Jesus made a special visit to choose this man; so Paul did see Jesus (1Cor.15:8). And who says the chapter one saints were right about their requirements for a witness? What better witness of the resurrected Christ than Paul, who was constantly proving that he was one of the twelve (Gal.1:1; 1Cor.1:1; 2Cor.12:12)? He was found by Ananias in the house of JUDAS! (9:11) There were other apostles who were not among the twelve, Barnabas for example (Acts 14:14).

So, whose name will be on that foundation stone in the New Jerusalem?  (Rev.21:14) 

You shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you and you shall be My witnesses in Jerusalem, and all Judea, and Samaria, and even to the remotest part of the earth.” (Acts 1:8)

I previously gave this word of prophetic hope and I hope you have been putting it into practice. What you expect, you will experience; unless of course you are doing something that frustrates the grace of God, like knowingly sinning against your own conscience and/or the law of God. The grace of God always brings good because there is nothing bad in grace, and “grace came by Jesus Christ.” (Jn.1:14)

Expectation bringing manifestation is shown throughout the Bible. Check out Hebrews 11. Abraham expected he and Isaac would come back from the mountain of sacrifice and they did. The woman with the issue of blood expected that when she touched the hem of Jesus’ garment she would be healed and she was. The centurion expected his servant to be healed when Jesus spoke the word and that servant was healed. What you expect you will experience. What are you expecting from the Lord? Expectation is the same thing as faith. “This is the confidence we have in Him: if we ask anything according to His will we know that He hears us. And if we know that He hears us we know that we have the petitions we have asked of Him.” (1Jn.5:14-15) 

Jesus knew this and so He spent the 40 days before His ascension telling the disciples what to expect. This was the last thing that Jesus said before ascending into heaven. This word was ringing in their ears as they watched Him rise to the sky:  “You will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you.” And they were expecting it to happen on the Day of Pentecost. How do I know that? Because the first miracle in Acts is found in 2:1, “And when the day of Pentecost had come (literally – was being fulfilled), they were all together in one place.” They had been waiting for 10 days after being with Jesus for 40 days. Pentecost was the annual celebration of “The Feast of the Harvest” and “the Day of the Firstfruits.” (Ex.23:16; 34:22) You know that any good Jew would be expecting the coming of the Spirit in the latter days to begin on this historic day. Their expectation was fulfilled when they experienced the outpouring of the Spirit. Compare walking to driving a car to flying in a plane. Difference? Power.

Paramount in the preparation of the disciples’ expectation was POWER. Jesus had told them to expect power when the Holy Spirit came upon them. Let’s look at the power they were led by Jesus to expect, which they would experience at Pentecost and afterward. The Greek word for power here is dunamis from which we get our English word dynamite. Explosive power! The Holy Spirit would give them noticeable power. Power for what? One thing was to be a verbal witness. The absolute sure result of being clothed with power from on high is prophesying. “I will pour forth My Spirit upon all mankind; and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy.” (Acts 2:17) When the power comes upon you, you start witnessing with power. That’s what happened in Acts 2 and every other place in Acts. In Acts 2:4 they were filled with the Spirit and spoke in tongues and prophesied. Tongues with interpretation equals prophecy (1Cor.14).

Before the Spirit came the disciples ran from Jesus; Peter even denied knowing Jesus in front of a girl at a campfire. But once the Spirit came, wow! They were bold as lions. Peter and all the disciples stood before those who had less than two months before crucified Jesus and accused them of doing that and telling them that God had raised Jesus from the dead and therefore they needed to repent. And 3,000 of them did. That’s power!

Don’t let your natural fear of speaking for Jesus make you doubt the power of God when He comes upon you. You will receive power and you will be His witnesses. Effective witnesses. You will witness with power to bring the life of Jesus into the hearts of those who hear you.

But power to speak is not the only power. The disciples would know the experience of Jesus when He was baptized with the Holy Spirit at His water baptism. Follow the story in Luke chapters 3 and 4. The Baptist had prophesied that Christ was at hand and He would baptize us with the Holy Spirit. He who would baptize us was Himself as a man baptized with the Spirit. This we see in Luke 3:21-22, “And the Holy Spirit descended upon Him in bodily form like a dove…” Upon is the language used with the baptism of power. The new birth brings the Spirit within; the baptism brings the Spirit upon. The Spirit within brings life; the Spirit upon infuses power into that life. Remember, Jesus came that we might have two things: life and abundant life.

Next the word says, “And Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit returned from the Jordan and was led by the Spirit into the wilderness.” (Lk.4:1) The power of the Spirit helped Him bind the strong man so He could loose his prisoners. Right after that the word says, “And Jesus returned to Galilee in the power of the Spirit…” (Lk.4:14). That’s when He began teaching in their synagogues. He went to Nazareth and was invited to preach, whereupon He opened the Scriptures and read, “The Spirit of the Lord is upon Me to preach, to release the captives, recover sight to the blind, and set free those who are downtrodden.”

After Jesus’ baptism with power He went about performing miracles and healing all who were oppressed by the devil. (Acts 10:38) The same thing happened with the early disciples as we are certainly shown in the book of Acts. “Multitudes gave attention to what Phillip said, as they heard and saw the signs which he was performing.” (Acts 8:4-8; 14-17) “God bearing witness, both with signs and wonders and various miracles and by the gifts of the Holy Spirit according to His own will.” (Heb.2:4) 

Look how the disciples of Jesus turned the world upside down. In Romans 15:18-19 it says, “I will boast about what Christ has done through my message. The Gentiles were convinced by the power (dunamis) of miraculous signs and wonders and by the power (dunamis) of God’s Spirit. In this way I have fully presented the Good News of Christ.”

“My message and my preaching were not with clever and persuasive speeches. I relied only on the power of the Holy Spirit. I did this so you would trust not in human wisdom but in the power of God.” (1Cor.2:4-5) “For when we brought you the Good News it was not only with words but also with power.” (1Thes.1:5)

The baptism with the Spirit is a baptism with power to speak the words of God and do the works of God. Jesus did none of these things before He was baptized with the Holy Spirit. Neither did the disciples.

Let me show you the key to getting the baptism with the Spirit, or anything else from God for that matter. “I say, you can pray for anything and if you believe that you have received it, it will be yours.” (Mk.11:22-24) The NKJV says, “Whatever things you ask when you pray, believe that you receive them and you will have them.”  Can’t get any plainer than that. Ask in prayer and when you ask, believe that God has given you what you asked for, and it will be given to you. That last part is future tense. The time limit is up to us. According to our faith it will be to you. After you ask, be thanking God for what you have asked for. Believe that you have received what you have asked for and begin thanking Him for it.

“Father, I ask You to baptize me with the power of Your Spirit.” Do you believe that God has answered that prayer? Do you believe you have the Spirit? If so, begin to thank God, “Father, I thank you for giving me the power of Your Spirit. I am using this power to speak Your words and do Your works.”

Pray that without ceasing and you will eventually have it. Sooner or later you will have it. The sooner the better. You never know, you may have it the moment you open your mouth. “For assuredly, I say to you, whoever says to this mountain, ‘Be removed and be cast into the sea,’ and does not doubt in his heart, but believes that those things he says will be done, he will have whatever he says.”  (NKJV)

Behold I am sending forth The Promise of My Father upon you; but you are to stay in the city until you are clothed with power from on high.” (Luke 24:44-53)

Because the modern church has somehow lost the necessity of our participation in the mission of Christ, I thought it good to return to the days of yesteryear where the church took the call to service as an integral part of their call to salvation, when the “Follow Me” of Jesus included the “and I will make you fishers of men.” (Mt.4:19) We have over six billion people on the planet who are lost and on their way to hell, who have never known the wonders of the forgiveness of sins and being remade into the likeness of Christ. What better place to start to recover the purpose of the Christian and the church than going back to the beginning of the church.

Luke wrote two books in the New Testament; both are history books. He wrote more of the N.T. than any other writer. He wrote the gospel of Luke and the book of Acts. The second book follows the first in chronological order. So, to introduce the beginning of Acts we must look at the end of Luke.

The theme of this passage is The Promise. The gospel was complete: Jesus had fulfilled all the Scriptures concerning His death and resurrection (v.44-48). The only thing left was the goal of this gospel which is called by Jesus here “The Promise.”

The Bible is full of promises. Number five of the Big Ten is the first commandment with a promise. God in Isaiah 26:3 promises peace to those whose mind is fixed on Him. But there is a promise that is not “a” promise. Jesus called it “the” promise. The Promise of the Father spoken of here is the promise that takes in all other promises. It is what Jesus called in Acts 1:5 the baptism with the Holy Spirit. (We will discuss the terminology Jesus used here later.)  It is described here as a clothing with power from on high, an enduement with power from the very throne of Jesus in heaven (Jn.7:37-39). The promise is what Paul called being “filled with all the fullness of God.” (Eph.3:19)  That experience surely means to be filled with power, peace, joy, and love. Don’t leave earth without this; you won’t need it in heaven. This is Christ’s throne gift for believers on earth. This is to equip us for doing the work of Christ’s kingdom. Don’t live another day on earth without this!

When you experience The Promise you have all the promises of God in the Bible. I said experience. Experience is everything. You can know all about love, and then you meet this girl! You can know the doctrine of forgiveness without experiencing it. All doctrines must be experienced or they just stay in your dead head. Jesus taught virtually the same thing about prayer in two different gospels. In Matthew 7:11 He says if you ask the Father will give you good gifts. Then in Luke 11:13 He says if you ask He will give you the Holy Spirit. Every good gift from God you could name is wrapped up in the gift of the Holy Spirit. All good gifts that God gives come in the package of this one gift.

In the history of Biblical salvation, beginning with Abraham and ending in the book of Revelation, this promise is the climax of it all. Everything before this leads up to it and everything after it happens because of it and flows from it. Climax is defined as “the highest or most intense point in the development of something” and “a turning point of a plot.” This is certainly true when it comes to The Promise, as we shall see as we go through the book of Acts.

This is true of the plot of Bible history. As important and as necessary as the cross and resurrection of Christ are, they are simply necessary to reach this climax of the baptism with the Spirit. The goal of God in the whole plan of salvation is to have many children: “Behold, I and the children whom God has given Me.” (Heb.2:10-13) Children born of and baptized with the Spirit, even as Jesus Himself was, as many as the stars of the sky, as was promised to our Father Abraham. This Promise is the fulfillment of that goal. The birthday of the church is the birthday of the new creation and the new covenant. Christ died, rose, and ascended into heaven that we might have the gift of the Holy Spirit, that God could be with us and in us, and cloth us with His power. That we might be children of God joining Him in the family business of saving souls.

This is not only true of the Biblical plan of salvation, but also of our personal salvation. Repentance for the forgiveness of sins is necessary for us to experience The Promise. In other words, you must repent and be forgiven and to be filled with the Spirit. Repentance is what Jesus described in Luke 24:45, “Then He opened their minds to understand the Scriptures.” It is a change of mind toward God and sin that results in the forgiveness of sins and a complete change of life. Until you experience repentance and forgiveness you can forget about being clothed with power from on high. Repentance and remission are the French Doors that lead into the house where the fullness of God lives.

The good news is, both repentance and forgiveness are gifts of God. Acts 11:18 says, “God has granted to the Gentiles repentance to life.” Now couple that with Luke 24:45. Ask Him now for the gifts of repentance and forgiveness and He will gladly give them to you. Once you have these, you can ask Him for The Promise, the baptism with the Holy Spirit. Ask Him now! These disciples were told to wait because of Jewish historical reasons, but now that that has been fulfilled, now that it has initially happened, there is no need to wait, according to Acts 8:14-17; 9:17; 10:44; 19:6.

All the promises of God are appropriated by faith. Appropriate means “to take for oneself, to take without permission or consent, to seize.” God has already given His permission to take The Promise. People say, “There is no need for a Pentecostal experience because that was an historical event never to be repeated.” True, but it can be appropriated by faith by us today, even as it was in the rest of the book of Acts and throughout church history. Every revival is an appropriation of The Promise of the Father which has clothed the church with divine power to carry out His work.

The precedent for this appropriation by faith is forgiveness. Jesus paid for our forgiveness on the cross. When a person is forgiven, Christ doesn’t need to come back to earth and die again! We simply appropriate by faith what Jesus accomplished 2,000 years ago. We receive the benefits of that historical event by faith. It’s the same with The Promise of the Spirit. With the clothing of power we simply appropriate by faith what happened 2,000 years ago minus 50 days. The power of Pentecost must be appropriated by each individual Christian.

Why don’t you do that right now? Appropriate! You have received Christ, now receive the Spirit in all His fullness. Ask Him for this gift and the good Father in heaven will give it to you. He promised. And He cannot lie.

If a wealthy man of the highest integrity promised to give you a million dollars, would you expect him to give it? And when he did give it, would you accept it? The One who cannot lie has promised that if you believe, He will give you the greatest gift possible, the gift of the Holy Spirit. He has not given you this gift. Will you accept it? Will you appropriate it and change your life forever, and possibly the life of many others.

I close with a word about the priority of this Promise. I challenge you to find in the Bible the place where it says any of the apostles were saved. We know they were saved, but nowhere does it state that at a certain place and time they were. But, on the other hand, I can show you (book, chapter, and verse) where every one of them were filled with the Spirit. This is a definite experience that every Christian should have. It is the one thing necessary to fulfill the Great Commission and turn the world upside down for Christ. 

“Be sure to carry out the ministry the Lord gave you.”  (Colossians 4:7-18) 

The Kingdom of God is the theme of all of Jesus’ parables and thus His teachings. How often did He say, “To what shall I liken the kingdom of God?” It is also the theme of the entire Bible, at least since the call of Abraham in Genesis 12. God’s kingdom is His reign over creation to bring about the revelation of His glory through man. His reign doesn’t mean His control. No king controls things or people. Jesus is the king of the kingdom but there are enemies and rebels in His kingdom. Satan, demons and people are some of those enemies who seek to keep the kingdom of God from coming to earth as it is in heaven where there are no enemies. The rulers in His kingdom are saved people who have believed in Jesus and repented of their sins. These are the very ones who join Him in the work of His kingdom. They are workers building the kingdom. 

“We are God’s fellow workers” (1Cor.3:9) helping Him build His church. 

Sadly, the modern church has lost this mission. Virtually no one who professes Christ even knows about the call of God on all saved people to work with Him seeking to save the lost and build His kingdom. This is our only mission on earth; the reason God left us on earth after we are saved. How we have missed this is a mystery, for it is surely in the Bible. Jesus’ basic call to salvation goes something like this, “Follow Me and I will make you fishers of men.” 

It’s incredible to think that people who claim to follow Jesus don’t know what it means to do that. “Fishers of men” is what it means. People are as Paul prophesied, “In the last days, people will have a form of godliness, but deny the power to make them godly.” It’s not about going to church once a week (most can’t even do that) and getting whatever you need from the Lord to help you make it through the week. It’s about coming to church all you can so you can get what you need to turn the world upside down, to make disciples by sharing the gospel and then teaching others to “obey all things I have commanded you.” Following Jesus starts with learning the words of Jesus. “Come to Me and learn from Me.” The first thing Peter did in the work of the kingdom in Acts 2 was quote Joel. Then 3,000 souls were saved that day. 

You can’t live the word if you don’t know it. You can’t know it if you don’t learn it. You can’t learn it if you don’t know where to find it. The word is our only weapon. The sword of the Spirit comes out of our mouth. Each time the devil came against Jesus He said to him, “It is written…” The word is used on our behalf when Satan attacks us with temptations to sin, discouragement, or sickness. And we use it on behalf of others when they are attacked. We are in a great spiritual war and if you don’t have your weapon, you’re toast, you’re already dead, and so are your friends and family. 

Especially do we see this laboring together with Christ for the kingdom in this passage. Paul mentions several of those fellow workers here. And he tells us something about their work. 

First, working for the kingdom is not boring. In fact, it saves us from a meaningless existence on this futile planet. Working for the kingdom is exciting. Challenging yes, but fun. And who doesn’t like a challenge anyway? That’s part of the excitement. Going to church once a week and then going home just to live a life “under the sun” and going to work just to earn a salary – now, that’s boring. Where’s the eternal purpose in all that? Ecclesiastes 3:11 says that God set eternity in the hearts of the redeemed. Ecclesiastes teaches us the meaninglessness of life under the sun. 

Secondly, God wants His kingdom to be great and every church to be a mega-church. There are over 7,000,000,000 (that’s billion) people in the world and most of them are lost and on their way to hell. We can have a small church in a large church, the best of both worlds: small groups, Sunday School classes, ministry groups, etc. 

Thirdly, God wants every Christian involved in this work. Every Christian can do the Lord’s work and receive eternal rewards. Every believer working together in this grandest of all endeavors. 

Fourthly, His kingdom work is building the church. Jesus gave His purpose of coming when He said, “I will build My church.” (Mt.16:18)  It’s the greatest building project in history and eternity. Right after Jesus said what He did about His church He said something else. We are all familiar with these words: “If anyone wishes to come after Me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow Me.” (Mt.16:24) But the next verse is just as important: “For whoever wishes to save his life shall lose it; but whoever loses his life for My sake shall find it.” (v.25) Queen Esther laid her life on the line and saved herself and many others. Will you? 

“Live wisely among those who are not believers and make the most out of every opportunity. Let your conversation be gracious and attractive so that you will have the right response for everyone.”

(Colossians 4:5-6, NLT)

There are at least three types of churchgoers. One, those who think they know everything they need to know. They obviously don’t listen because they don’t think they need to learn anything. They are plateaued and stagnant. They don’t grow in the grace and knowledge of God. They are satisfied where they are. These are the vast numbers who wouldn’t know if the pastor was preaching heresy, because they don’t listen to what he says anyway. They come merely as a matter of habit and convenience. They are not wise.

Secondly, those who think they know everything. Their main occupation at church is to critique. If they don’t agree, whey will argue and leave. These cant’ grow either. They are not wise at all.

Thirdly, there are the ones who never know enough. They come hungry, eat, and come back the next time hungry again. They are not stuck where they are; they are growing, becoming stronger and more like Jesus. They take advantage of all the services and the notes that are passed out. These ask questions. To them, “Getting wisdom is the wisest thing you can do.” (Prov.4:7, NLT)

Nothing is more important than wisdom. That needs to be repeated: NOTHING IS MORE IMPORTANT THAN WISDOM. As has been wisely said, “You don’t have a relationship problem, you have a wisdom problem; you don’t have a financial problem, you have a wisdom problem; and on and on it ges.

Wisdom is paramount. Wisdom from God that is. The world has its wisdom but it cannot compare to God’s wisdom. “God in His wisdom saw to it that the world would never know Him through human wisdom.” (1Cor.1:19-21) The world can give you many axioms to live by. My dad taught me, “You may be out of a job but you never have to be out of work.” You probably have many wise old sayings that are good. But the wisdom of God is seen in the cross, which is foolishness to human wisdom, but to us who believe it is the wisdom and power of God; “Christ is the power of God and the wisdom of God.’” (1Cor.1:24)  More on this later.

To walk means to live. Walking in this world means living in this world. How we live among unbelievers and the wisdom of God we share with them is important to our witness, which is why God left us on this earth after He saved us. If we live wisely, responding to the faults and insults of, and our interactions with others, with wisdom, our witness will be powerful and our churches will be full. So, let us make the most out of every opportunity to give a gracious and “delicious” response to those we would hope to win to Christ. People love attractive people.  That’s what attracts them.  Delicious food is what attracts people to the dining table.   We are to be attractive and delicious to others by the wisdom we live and share.

We live in what is called The Information Age which means we have a lot of information at our fingertips and at the sound of our voice. Siri, Alexa, and A.I. have given us access to an almost unlimited amount of information. This was prophesied by the prophet Daniel in 12:4, referring to the time of the end when many shall run to and fro, and knowledge shall increase. It has increased exponentially in recent years. We can gather all the information we can and still be as dumb as a rock; it’s not the same thing as acquiring wisdom.

I said that nothing is more important than wisdom. The Bible states this many times. Wisdom is the principal thing. (Prov.4:7) Or as the NLT says, “Getting wisdom is the wisest thing you can do.” This lesson is not to give you all wisdom, only to tell you that getting it is the wisest thing you can ever do. We will learn what it is, the value of it, and how to live it, but it is up to everyone to seek it out, learn it and live it.

Look at what wisdom is from Proverbs 1:1-9. This is one reason I often use the NLT. When I read other translations I often think, we don’t talk like that anymore. The NLT is how people talk today and it is a bonafide translation. Read the verses and know exactly what wisdom is. If you don’t have wisdom, take the w off the word and you “is dom.” 

Notice the words that go with wisdom: understanding, insights, discipline, discernment, guidance, and correction. Correction is important. Many times the writer of Proverbs urges his children to take correction from his parents. We are living in a day when information is prized but not so much wisdom. One way you can tell this is the way kids treat their parents and elders. The book of Proverbs makes a distinction between the wise person and the fool. This runs throughout the book. The main way to tell the difference is how they respond to correction. “My child, listen when your father corrects you. Don’t neglect your mother’s instructions.” The fool runs toward failure and death; the wise son gathers success, prosperity, and long life.

Now look at the value of wisdom in Proverbs 2:1-11. “Search for them (the words of wisdom) as you would for silver; seek them like hidden treasures. And Wisdom is more profitable than silver and her wages are better than gold.” Words of God are words of wisdom and they are “more to be desired than gold, yea, than much fine gold; sweeter also than honey and the honeycomb.” (Ps.19:10) “Wise words are more valuable than much gold and many rubies.” (Prov.20:15)     

Now for how to obtain wisdom. Notice the phrases in Prov.2:6,10, “The Lord grants (gives) wisdom!” and “wisdom will enter your heart and knowledge will fill you with joy.” Every Christian already has all the wisdom of God living inside of them! How is that? Because you have Christ living inside of you and Christ is our wisdom. Remember that? The Lord puts wisdom in your heart when Christ comes into your heart.

Here’s the key, “Though good advice (counsel) lies deep within the heart, a person with understanding will draw it out.” (Prov.20:5) Good advice is in your, deep within your heart because Christ is in you, deep within your heart, in your spirit. But that must get from your spirit to your mind and then out to your body to be expressed to those around you. Within you is a deep well of wisdom, but it needs to be drawn out. My family had a well of water at our house, but it did nobody any good until it was drawn out. A bucket was needed to get the water from the well to the mouth. It had to be drawn out. Wisdom, which is already in your heart, must be drawn out. You must get it from your spirit to your mind. A person of understanding will draw it out. Wisdom must be understood to do you any good.

This is what it means to walk wisely, to live by the wisdom of your spirit. The Spirit in your spirit coupled with the Scripture both play a role in your obtaining of wisdom.

When your mind reads or hears the words of wisdom from the Bible, your spirit will agree and you will be wise. The light will go on. Revelation! Then speak and live it. 

Read Acts 17:22-31 and you will see that everybody is religious and have wrong views about the true and living God. Athens was full of idols; even an empty altar with this inscription: TO AN UNKNOWN GOD. In Paul’s sermon there he also tells them (and us) many things about God.

The point is, everybody has an opinion about God, what they think He is like. They assume their opinion is correct, at least they hope it is, because they base their whole lives on what they think God is like. What you think about God is the most important thing about you. Everyone lives out their own view of God. To get a heavenly perspective for earthly living, paramount in getting the right perspective on life is your view of God.

You might be thinking, “Why do I need to know what God thinks about Himself? What difference does that make to me? What does that have to do with me?” Well, what you believe about God will determine how you behave on this earth, whether good or evil. How you behave is what God will judge you on at the judgment. The worst thing you could do in your life is have an incorrect opinion or view of God. The Pharisees had an incorrect opinion of God and Jesus told three stories to correct their erroneous view (Lk.15). Only God can give you the correct view of Himself.

How does one know if his view of God is correct or incorrect, if it has been given by God, or some demon? I mean, there are many different opinions about who God is and what He is like. Muslims have one view, Buddhists have another, Islam has another, and on and on it goes.  Who’s to say who’s correct? Isn’t one about as good as another? Doesn’t everyone have the right to think what they want to think about God? God alone has the correct opinion of Himself.

You don’t want others to think wrong things about you, now do you? Of course not. Someone spreading lies about you can be arrested on the charge of slander or libel. If your neighbor tells everyone things that are not true about you, you will want to correct them. They say you are a liar, or a thief, of a child molester. You don’t want others to think things about you that are not right. God is the same way. He actually wants us to know the truth about who He is and what He thinks, likes, and does. It’s actually for our own good.    

He has revealed Himself in this world. But how do we know which person knows the truth about God and which has told lies? There is a devil and he is a liar. It sounds simple to say this, but the Holy Bible tells the truth about God. It is the perfect written record of the revelation of God in history. God has made Himself known and He has provided an accurate record of that revelation in the Bible. Not just any bible, the one written by Moses, the prophets of Jehovah, and the apostles of Jesus Christ. The Bible is the infallible inerrant record of the revelation of God, every word of the whole Bible is inspired by God. “All Scripture is given by inspiration of God,” which literally means it is God-breathed (2Tim.3:16). Peter says it like this, “Holy men of God spoke as they were moved by the Holy Spirit.” (2Pet.1:21)

It is true that others who are not Christians have had revelations that they said were from God, and they wrote their books and have influenced many. Only the Holy Spirit can convince you of the truth, who’s telling revelations not from God and who’s giving them from God. There are several things to help us choose which is which.

1. Prophecy. Only the God of the Bible can tell what’s going to happen before it happens. There are literally thousands of such prophecies that were perfectly fulfilled. I don’t have the time nor space to go into this. You can find them in any good study Bible or commentary on the subject. God challenged the idol worshipers to have their gods tell what was going to happen in the future. Only God can do that. The devil is not eternal or omnipresent; he doesn’t know everything, and he certainly does not know the future. “Present your case. Let them bring forth and declare to us what is going to take place or announce to us what is coming. Declare the things that are going to come afterward, that we may know that you are gods.” (Is.41:21-23) Prophecy is one of the sure proofs that the God of the Bible is prophecy.

God named Cyrus as the Persian king who would decree the Jews’ return to Jerusalem over 100 years before it happened (Is.45:1). Isaiah 45 declares that there is no other God besides Him; “Besides Me there is no God.” And hundreds of prophecies were written about Jesus, hundreds and thousands of years before He fulfilled them when He came.

2. The Bible is consistent in its message. The whole Bible is about Jesus Christ. All its history and science is correct, but that is secondary to the fact that from Genesis to Revelation the whole book is about Jesus.

3. God is pictured as the God who is perfectly holy and just, while yet being merciful and gracious. The Bible tells us God is love. You won’t find that in any other “holy book.” The Bible says that God is the Savior. People need a Savior more than they need anything else; before laws, or whatever else you can think of. Jesus Christ is the Savior of all those who call upon Him.

This God of grace pays the just penalty for sinners! “The wages of sin is death and Christ died for our sins.” That’s the God I want to know, the One who loves sinners and pays all their debts, who has every right to condemn me to death and hell, but because of His great love He doesn’t do that.

4. Personally, I have studied the Bible for over 54 years. I graduated from a four-year Bible college and a three-year seminary. I studied the Bible in its original languages (Hebrew and Greek). After having studied for hours every day, I have preached an average of over three times a week from every book, verse by verse, of the Bible.

I can tell you; I have never found an error in this book. I am continually amazed at the perfection and depth of this holy book. When people tell you the Bible is full of errors, hand them one and tell them to show you one. I’ve done this scores of times and I have yet to find a critic who could show me one error.

The Bible tells the truth about God. What does it tell us about God? It tells us what God has to say about Himself. That’s the point of this lesson. The Bible gives God’s opinion of Himself. We need the correct view of God.

The primary reason the Bible was written was to give us all the information we need about God. What you learn about God is the most important thing you can learn in every verse and passage of the Bible.

When you read the Bible, ask yourself, “What does this passage tell me about God?” If you want to know how important this is, read John 17:3, “This is eternal life, that they may know You, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom You have sent.” We can know about God and still not know God, but we cannot know God without knowing some things about God, or we could be deceived. There are many false gods in the universe; the Bible tells us all about the true God. Without this knowledge we can easily be led astray and think we know God when we do not.

The best place to start is the beginning – Genesis 1:1. The first verse in the Bible is loaded with truths about God. He is eternal for He was there In the beginning. We have no way to understand eternity. That’s why when you begin to learn the truth about God you will come to this conclusion: “Oh, the depths of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are His judgments and His ways past finding out.” Every attribute of God is unfathomable. But though we can’t know everything, we can know some things. We can know that He had no beginning in time. He created time. And He will never end.

The Hebrew word for God is Elohim, which is plural.  This sentence has a plural subject and a singular verb. Grammatically it is incorrect, but not theologically. We come to know that within the essence of the one God there are three Persons:  Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Mind boggling, isn’t it? God is a whole lot bigger and more complex than our human minds can logically figure out. We must go by revelation from the Bible, not reason from the mind. Whatever God says about Himself is true.  

God created the heavens and the earth. Everything you can see, hear, feel, and know by your five senses was created by God. And that includes everything in the spirit world. God is spirit. And He created you when He created Adam and Eve, because you were in Adam the day He breathed into him the breath of life.

The invisible Spirit-God can only be known to His creation by the things He has said and done. That’s why the Son of God had to become human flesh. John 1:14,18 says, “And the Word became flesh and lived among us. No man has seen God at any time. The only begotten Son, who is in the bosom of the Father, He has declared Him.” Made Him known, in other words. All we need to know about God is seen in His Son, Jesus. Within the person of Jesus Christ there are two natures: divine and human. Since Bethlehem throughout eternity Jesus will always be a man. God for sure, but 100% man as well. Behold! Great is the mystery of God!

First, in the book of Revelation, we see the wrath of the Lamb, the holy and just wrath of the Lamb as He pours out judgment on the nations and the lost at the White Throne Judgment. He is nobody to mess with. Every knee will bow before this Man. If you do it now, there will be grace, mercy, and peace for you.  If not, you will bow, but there will be no grace, only justice as you face His awesome fiery judgment on that last day.

Lastly, in the Gospels we see the same Lamb, but a different aspect of Him. We behold the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. We see God in all His glory: His shining glory and the fullness of His goodness, grace, and power to bless people. If you want to know what God is like – look at Jesus. He is healer, savior, provider, forgiver of sinners. He is good.

Want to know what God thinks of Himself? There are several Jehovah compound names given in the Old Testament that reveal God’s character. Jehovah is the covenant name for God. He is Jehovah-Rohi which means “I Am your shepherd.” Jehovah-Jireh is The Lord is my Provider. Jehovah-Rapha is the Lord is my Healer. Jehovah-Shalom is the Lord my Peace.” And so forth.

Then in John’s gospel Jesus used that name to apply to Himself many times: I Am the Bread of Life, I Am the Light of the world, I Am the Door, I Am the Good Shepherd, the Resurrection and the Life, the Way, the Truth, the Life, and I Am the True Vine.  All these names tells us wonderful things about God, our covenant God who is good, gracious and loving.

Which aspect of God you experience will be your choice. If you repent and surrender your life to Christ, you will be forgiven and know the God of all grace and comfort. And you will live forever with Him in heaven. If you do not surrender your life to Him now, in this life, you will experience Him as the righteous Judge, and you will be justly condemned to everlasting punishment in the lake of fire. 

Two boys were swimming in the ole swimmin’ hole. Sam began to drown but Joe jumped in and saved his life.  They became the best of friends. In time, Sam went the way of the world and went into crime; Joe went to law school and eventually became a judge. Joe ended up killing someone, was arrested, awaiting trial. He heard that Joe was going to be his judge. He was elated. His former best friend would determine his fate. But at the trial, the jury found Sam guilty of murder in the first degree.

At the sentencing Judge Joseph said his old friend Joe would have to suffer the death penalty. Sam jumped to his feet! He shouted out, “But Joe! I was your best friend. You saved me from drowning that day and now this?!” The judge stood up, motioned to the courtroom for silence, and said to Sam, “In that day I was your savior, but this is a different day. Today I am your judge. You are guilty and the law says you must die for your crime.”

Today, the Lord Jesus Christ can be your Savior. Turn to Him and He will save you from all your crimes. But in the coming day, He will be your Judge. He will not be your Savior in that day. You have waited too long. It will be too late then. After death, there is no hope for those who don’t know Jesus as their Savior. 

“And Mary said, ‘His mercy is on those who fear Him from generation to generation.”  (Luke 1:50)

Look what the greatest mother of all time said under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, which makes this the Word of God. Part b of her statement means to pass this on to our children. We all need mercy, which means we all need to fear God, for His mercy is on those who fear Him. This is what the most blessed by God woman who ever lived said. She was expressing her own life and heart as our example. Be like Mary.

The word for fear used in the Bible is phobia, but the actual definition is quite different from the phobias we talk about today. The fear of God is the utmost respect for God, not something that makes people run from God but makes them run to God. After they sinned, Adam and Eve ran from God because of their guilt feelings; they knew they had disobeyed God. But overwhelmingly to fear God means to honor Him as someone who deserves an abounding respect for who He is and what He does. To fear God means to be in awe of Him and the glory of His presence, power, and compassion. As one would honor a governor or president who comes into the room, or some highly accomplished athlete or celebrity, one should honor God even more.

We should fear God and everything associated with Him. We should fear His Son, His Spirit, His word, His house, His day, His presence, His power, and His love. We stand in awe of His person and performances. We do not ignore or disrespect Him in any way.

I have said many times in recent years that the death sentence of the American church is Passivity. This is huge because as the church goes, so goes the nation. Passive church members have produced citizens who are passive toward the things of God: His day, His Son, His word, His everything. This is deadly for any culture. It’s not that all church members are passive and have let the devil run rampant over our homes and land; there is a remnant who are on fire for God and serve Him with zeal, they are very active in their service for God.

There is a root cause of all this passivity. It is this: there is little fear of God among people who call themselves Christians. There is little fear of God in our land because there is little fear of God in the church. This can be seen in two ways. I am not alone in seeing this, many pastors see the same things.

1. Lack of God is seen in Little Attendance to the local church. Preachers know that if they want to have everyone in church hear an important sermon they would have to preach it four Sundays in a row. Surveys show that about 60% of American church members never attend church. The reason – no fear of God.

2. And in Little Attention while people are in church. The worship service is a holy moment; we have entered the Holy of Holies in the house of God, a sacred place and time to give our attention to the Spirit and Word of the Savior. But during this most holy time many are talking to each other, on their phones, walking out to get a drink or go to the bathroom. This is dishonoring to God and distracting to others who are not profaning the worship of God. We should be in awe of God during this time because people are being saved when the word is being preached (Rm.10:13-14). This is not the time to be playing games on your phone.

Some mistakenly believe God has mercy on everyone, especially them personally, because after all, they are pretty good people. Well, God does not have mercy on good people. Mercy means we don’t get what we deserve, and we all deserve judgment and hell for our sins. It includes forgiveness of sins and therefore mercy is for sinners. Some think God shows mercy to those who simply ask for it. No! On whom does God have mercy? Those who fear Him. God doesn’t give it to those who ask for it, He gives it to those who fear Him.

Here is the keynote in the symphony of a good mom. She fears God and teaches her children and grandchildren to fear God. She respects God, and the man of God I might add. She honors God with her life and by her words and actions. She is involved with her church, disciples her children for Christ and sees that as her main goal in life – not to get them to all the ballgames, activities, and parties in the county.

Every mom (and every person for that matter) should decide to honor God and the things of God. When Moses met God in the burning bush, he was told by God to take off his shoes for he was standing “on holy ground.” The godly mother walks on holy ground, she always honors and respects and reverences God. And she passes this on to generations and generations.

Perhaps the greatest statement on the fear of God is what Jesus said in Mt.10:28, “Do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. But rather fear Him who can destroy both soul and body in hell.” Jesus told us this to warn us to make sure we fear God, and for this obvious reason, verses 32-33 tell us this.

“And let the peace of God rule in your hearts, to which also you were called in one body; and be thankful.” (Colossians 3:15)

I. The Emphasis of Peace in the world is everywhere. Most people long for peace in the world. At least that’s what all the Miss Americas say: “World Peace.” Give peace a chance. Buddhism’s main teaching is how to have peace within you. Hinduism teaches Nirvana as finally being at peace with the universe: no more reincarnation. Every home longs for peace between the parents and among the children. Peace is very important, is it not?

First, we need to recognize there is a difference between peace with God and the peace of God. Peace with God comes when anyone gets saved. You were once an enemy of God, but now peace has been made by the blood of His cross (Col.1:20).  And “Therefore, having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.” (Rm.5:1) We are declared right with God when we believe on Jesus and because of that righteousness we have peace with God. The war is over. We are at peace. We have made an unconditional surrender of our lives to God and there is no more war between us. We are friends.

The peace of God is that sense of utter well-being in our hearts, the shalom the Hebrews speak of. “It is well with my soul.” Our hearts are at rest. No matter what it’s like around us, there is peace inside of us. Paul was in jail awaiting the trial of his life by a tyrant who hated Christians, and he spoke peace over these Christians in Colossae (1:20). Those who have peace can minister peace. Jesus said, just before His arrest, trial, beating and crucifixion, “Peace I leave with you, My peace I give to you; not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid.” (Jn.14:27) Peace means the absence of a troubled or fearful heart. This is Jesus’ last legacy.

II. The Example of Peace is none other than the Lord Jesus Christ. In fact, it is the peace of Christ spoken of here. Most translations have the word Christ instead of the word God in this verse. “And let the peace that comes from Christ rule in your hearts.” (NLT) “Let the peace that Christ gives control your thinking.” (NCV)  “Let your heart be always guided by the peace of the Anointed One.” (TPT) “Let the inner peace of Christ [the inner calm of one who walks daily with Him] be the controlling factor in your hearts [deciding and settling questions that arise].” (AMP)  This clothes the whole thing in flesh and blood. It is embodied in a person, the one we know and recognize as being one of us. Jesus as a man had this peace; He models it and gives it to us.

He not only gives that peace that passes understanding, He shows it to us. See Him in the bottom of the boat asleep when the disciples are frantically throwing out water to keep them all from drowning. He is taking a nap! He is in a state of peace in the midst of this frightening and dangerous storm. And during His arrest, trials, and the whole crucifixion scene He is in perfect peace. The high priest is yelling and tearing his robe, Pilate is running around trying his best to release Him while the crowd is shouting for His death, the women are crying, but He stands there like a bull in the blizzard, unmoved. Even on the cross He is the Prince of Peace.

III. The Enthronement of Peace brings the rule of peace into our hearts. Peace is a product of salvation; it’s an inside job, and as such, every Christian has peace in the heart. Inside because peace is a fruit of the Spirit which every Christian has inside. Peace is already in you because Christ is in you and the Spirit is in you. He has already given you a peaceful spirit. “Well, I don’t sense that peace much of the time.” Read the text. It says, “Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts.” Peace must not only reside in your heart, it must also preside in it.

This is a unique word for rule in the Greek language and it occurs in our Bible only here. It means to umpire. There is a fight over whether a man is safe or out at the plate. Who settles the issue? The umpire. End of argument, or you can be kicked out of the game. Let the peace of Christ act as an umpire in your heart and in your church. Pursue peace.

IV. The Enlargement of Peace is in the church. “As members of one body you are called to live in peace.” Peace in church is a great thing. Imagine a man who is slamming his hand with a hammer. Nobody does that. We are one body in Christ. Personal peace comes from having your mind fixed on the Lord. “You will keep in perfect peace all whose thoughts are fixed on You.” (Is.26:3) Now, read Philippians 4:6-9, do it and see.

V. The Enjoyment of Peace comes when you can be thankful in everything (1Thes.5:18). Paul could do this and so can you. His liberty was curtailed by the length of his chain, but he was thankful for so many things.

VI. The Enemies of Peace war against your soul and your church (Prov.6:16,19 & Tit.3:2). Outward disturbances can destroy your inner peace. Make peace a priority in your church. The Lord hates “one who sows discord among brethren.” Those who spread rumors and stir up strife are an abomination to God.  

“Therefore put to death your members which are on the earth.”  (Colossians 3:5-11)

The Christian has three enemies to his spiritual life. Enemies to our faith are the most important and dangerous enemies we have. To destroy or even damage our faith is to interrupt our relationship with God and nothing is more important than that (Heb.11:6). First is the world; second is Satan; third is our flesh. The world, the flesh, and the devil. These are real and have caused many a shipwreck for the Christian pilgrim.

The inspired apostle addressed two of our enemies so far in Colossians: Satan and the world. Both have been dealt with and defeated at the cross of Christ. We were crucified to the world and the world to us when Jesus died on that cross, because we were in Him when He died. Satan was utterly defeated and had his authority stripped away at the cross. Bout the only thing he has left is lies, but that’s not to say he is someone we must not deal with. All he had with Eve was a lie and he knew how to use that effectively. He still does. Using the world as his bait, he maneuvers us to fall to temptations and loss.

Paul was a great theologian and his writings are deep. Even the Apostle Peter thought so (2Pet.3:16). We’re not talking snorkeling here; we’re talking scuba diving. Paul does not throw his doctrinal pearls along the shore; neither does he cast nuggets in creek beds. If you want the pearls you have to dive deep and to find the motherlode of gold you must dig deep into the rock of the earth. Paul goes down deep and stays down long in Colossians. He feeds the hungry soul with meat and the believer must chew to get any nourishment out of what he writes.

Without background we’re not going to understand much of this important passage in Colossians. All this putting off and putting to death the flesh makes little sense without what is taught in the context of these verses and in Romans chapter six.

Either the sinful nature of the lost person animates his flesh (members of his body) or the regenerated new nature of the Christian that God creates in him (and every Christian) at the new birth does. Unless he is acting like a zombie! “Do not present your members (of your body) as instruments of unrighteousness to (serve) sin, but present (give) yourselves completely to God as being alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness to God. The NLT says, “Do not let any part of your body become an instrument of evil to serve sin. Instead, give yourselves completely to God, for you were dead, but now you have new life. So use your whole body as an instrument to do what is right for the glory of God.” (Rm.6:13)

Ezekiel spells out the New Covenant for us: “I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you;” that is, after the believer’s sin nature has been crucified. Many have the idea that the Christian has two natures inside of him: the flesh which is evil and the spirit which is godly. They teach that the two natures are in constant conflict and the one that wins is the “one we feed.” All of this is not true. Our old sinful nature was crucified with Christ. Romans 6:6 says, “Knowing this, that our old man was crucified with Him, that the body of sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves to sin.” That old man who died with Christ (because it was in Christ) is our sin nature.

This is what makes it possible to put the members of our bodies out of commission; Paul says, “Done away with.” To kill a zombie you must explode him, destroy his very being. A bullet or other weapons won’t do; their brains and bodies must be obliterated. God does not do that. He renders the members of our bodies out of commission as far as sin goes. The only problem is, the carnal Christian does not know this, and so he does not enjoy victory over the zombie actions of his body. Because he sins, he thinks he must still have a sinful nature. Not so! But what he does have is a natural unredeemed body attached to this world that is at enmity with God. This body is what the Bible calls the flesh.

Because of our natural attachment to this world, through our unredeemed brain and body, even after our sin nature has been crucified, we still do the things we have been attached (addicted) to in this world, even things unsaved people do naturally, which is sin (1Cor.3:3). “I don’t feel as though I don’t have a sin nature; I very much feel as though I do.” That’s because you don’t understand the gospel for the Christian explained in Romans six and the Colossians passage we are now studying.

What is left for us to do is called for in Colossians 3:5-11. “Therefore put to death your members which are on the earth: fornication, etc.” Your sinful nature has been put to death, now put to death the members of your body that you use to sin. The body is neutral, except it is addicted to the things of this world. That’s why it needs to be put to death. Not literally! Another metaphor used to describe what we should do is found in v.8, “put off”. Put off all these: anger, filthy language, etc. Put them off like you would put off your pajamas before you get dressed for the day.

What gives us the reason and ability to do that is the fact that, “since you have put off the old man (sinful nature) with his deeds” and “for you died.” (3:3) In other words, put to death the members of your body because your sinful nature has been put to death by the cross. “Our old man was crucified with Christ that the body of sin might be done away with.” (Rm.6:6) Our old man is our sinful selves. Done away with means rendered ineffective, sidelined, crippled. Our body of sin has been crippled because our “sinful selves were crucified.” The old man is your sin nature.

Saved people who have not done this are like zombies. These are strange mythological creatures called the living dead. Their souls are dead but their bodies still walk around doing bad things. Our souls are dead to sin but our bodies are not. Our sinful nature (our old man) has been crucified. Our bodies will not be redeemed until the resurrection when Christ returns (Rm.8:23). But even now they can be alive to God because Christ has risen from the dead and we were raised with Him. He now lives in our bodies (Rm.8:11-13). When a Christian sins he is like a zombie, even though his inner man is alive to God his body is still dead and walking around.

What we must do is bring the power of the death of Christ to our bodies, which we do by faith in Christ’s death. This is how we keep our mortal bodies from sinning. Then we present our bodies alive to God for His service (Rm.12:1). This is living the Christian life.

Look at what Christian zombies do. “Fornication” and all the evil desires that go along with that, like moral “uncleanness, passion (lust), evil desire and covetousness, which is the same as idolatry.” Fornication means sexual sins. Let’s be clear, sex outside of marriage, even in your mind, is a sin against God. “Marriage is honorable among all and the bed undefiled; but fornicators and adulterers God will judge.” (Heb.13:6)

Why is it important to not be doing these sins? “Because of these things the wrath of God is coming upon the sons of disobedience.” (v.6) Those who disobey in these areas are destined for the wrath of God. “For if you live according to the flesh you will die; but if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live.” (Rm.8:13)  The Spirit uses the gospel to put to death the zombie deeds of the body. Zombies can only be put to death by exploding their brains and bodies. God uses the gospel.

Simply put, STOP IT! Stop sinning. Your parents probably said this to you many times, “Stop it!” That’s what God is saying to us in this passage. Stop it. Stop the fornication, the evil desires. Stop using vulgar language. Just stop it.

For God to say stop it is not legalism. Remember, first the doctrine, then the duty. God doesn’t begin by telling us not to do certain things. That’s what the law does. But under grace, God puts our sinful nature to death in the death of Christ and then makes the heart of the believer alive through the resurrection of Christ. It is this newly resurrected heart that is told to stop doing the things the flesh wants to do. “Stop it!” therefore is no raw law given for us to obey. First God changes our hearts and puts Christ in our hearts, so that we want to stop it. And through the gospel we have the power to stop the things that hurt and destroy us. And we have the power to do the things that please God. That is brought out in the next Colossians passage (3:12-17).

We suffer greatly by thinking we have a sin nature. This becomes an excuse for sin. The story goes that during the chaos of the French Revolution a 12-year-old prince was captured and was being taken to the guillotine. Someone said, “If we execute him now, he will go to heaven. Let’s let him go to live in poverty on the streets of Paris. When he begins to sin like the street people then we will kill him and he will go to hell.” Well, when the lad was hungry his fellows told him to steal. But he said, “I will not sin because I am a prince, the heir of the king. I will not stoop to do what everyone else was doing. I am different from you.” He would not steal or lie or kill because he had royal blood in his veins. He was born of a royal family. So are we.

We must look at ourselves like that lad looked at himself. We are not sinners; we are new creations in Christ. We are holy and we are saints. The New Testament never calls a saved person a sinner. There is a name for the Christian and it is saint. Every believer is a saint. Therefore, we should live like it. “Put to death your members which are on the earth, fornication…Put off all these; anger, filthy language and lying.” You are not a lost person. You are not like everyone else. You are a saint. Therefore, live like it.

Finished what? According to this passage, three important things: Sin, Satan, Shadows. Read the passage and notice those three things. The cross has freed us from sin, Satan, and the shadows of rules and rituals. We have been set free. “If the Son sets you free, you are free indeed. And you shall know the truth and the truth will make you free. This freedom is the greatest thing in the world. The shackles of sin have been broken and we are free from its power. Satan has been so defeated that Christ paraded him before His Father and the heavenly hosts and his defeat celebrated as a Roman general entered Rome is a victory parade with a captured king walking and/or running behind his chariot and the multitudes who lined the street cheering our great Savior’s victory. We are free! Hallelujah! Paul told the governor of his day that he wished everyone in the court that day was as free as he was, “except for these chains.” Physical shackles did not take away from his liberty in Jesus. 

Christ has finally and forever, by means of His death on the cross, put our sins out of His sight and mind (I will remember their sins no more.), destroyed the work of the devil in the lives of believers, and delivered us from the rituals and rules of the law: God’s and man’s laws. Indeed, “It is finished!” They are finished. We need to know this, but Satan and his worldly system doesn’t want us to know it. 

1. Sin,  “He forgave all your sins, He canceled the record of the charges against  us and took it away by nailing it to the cross.” (v.13-14)  When Christ died He took the entire punishment for all our sins. God will never bring them up again. He will remember them no more. The Christian is never punished for his sins. Christ took his punishment. We may be disciplined to correct us, because He loves us, but He will never punish a believer. 

2. Satan,  “In this way (the cross), He disarmed the spiritual rulers and authorities.  He shamed them publicly by His victory over them on the cross.” (v.15) Disarmed means to take away all their weapons. Having done that, Christ “made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them, stripped spiritual rulers of their authority, won the victory and showed the world that they were powerless, made a bold display and public example of them…” so some translations say. The public display was in the spirit world, to be manifested in the world by believers. First John 3:8 says, “For this purpose the Son of God was manifested, to destroy the works of the devil.” 

3. Shadows,  “For these rules are only shadows of the reality  yet to come. And Christ Himself is that reality.  Don’t let anyone condemn you… in these things. All the rituals and ceremonies in the Old Testament were mere shadows of Christ. The Light of the World has come and the shadows have gone. There is no more a reason for holy days (sabbaths) and hundreds of laws given by God to foreshadow the coming of the reality of Christ. 

They were all pictures of Christ. When I was in Vietnam Linda snail-mailed me many pictures of herself. Some of them not for public viewing, if you know what I mean. I treasured them, until I came home. In the presence of Linda, I put the pictures away. Imagine me going to bed with the pics and ignoring Linda right there in the bed with me! So, Christ has done away with the need for all these O.T. pictures and laws. 

There are two kinds of laws: God’s laws and human laws. God’s laws are good if used for their correct purpose. Human laws are used by Satan to take us away from Christ and make us self-righteous. Nobody can keep either God’s or human laws. We are all sinners. Adam and Eve were perfect, in a perfect environment, walking with God, and had one law to keep, and they couldn’t keep it. The law brings condemnation and death. 

I got into a conversation with a telephone lineman who was working up a pole about 15 feet off the ground. I was telling him about Christ and he stopped what he was doing, looked down at me and said, “Now preacher, you’re wasting your time with me and I’ll tell you why. I was very interested in God, reading the Bible and everything. So I went to every church denomination in this city and asked the pastors, “What do I have to do to be a good Christian church member? And all of them gave me a list of things that made me think, ‘I could never do all of that!’ So, I just never went back to any of them.” 

I told him that I was going to give him such good news and looked forward to seeing him in church next Sunday. I said, “All you have to do to be a good church member here is to love God and love your neighbor.” The Bible teaches that he who loves has fulfilled the whole law and done everything God requires. Love is the fulfillment of the law. Love is the most liberating force in the universe. And God gives us the love we need! It’s free, because God is love and He gives it to us liberally when we ask Him for it. I never saw that man again! 

The big question is: if Christ has finished the work of sin, Satan, and Shadows in our lives, why do I still sin, and why is the devil always attacking me, and why do I fall prey to rites and rules people try to lay on me? Because we must enforce the victory of Christ. That’s our job. Passivity keeps us from doing this, of course. When the North won the Civil War, the victory still had to be enforced throughout the South. One third of our government exists to enforce the laws the rest of our government decrees. There are lawless people and criminals who break those laws and endanger many lives every day. We need law enforcement. Our job is to enforce God’s victory in our lives and in the lives of our loved ones. 

THIS IS WHY WE HAVE A BIBLE! It tells us more than how to get to heaven. Over 95% of it is instructions and examples, teachings and history and parables. In the Great Commission, Jesus said to make disciples, “teaching them to obey all My commandments.” 

Here’s how we enforce the victory of the cross. Sin – use Romans 6 where we are told to “Know, Reckon (Consider) and Present (Give) our bodies to God for His service. Satan tempts us to sin, but we sin. Romans 6 deals with our flesh that causes us to sin. Satan – Ephesians 6:10-18 teaches us to put on the armor of God, talking up the sword of the Spirit, the very thing Jesus used to defeat the devil’s attack. Then we have James 4:7, “resist the devil and he will flee from you.” Shadows – For this we have Romans 7. We are dead to the law through the body of Christ who died and we died with Him because we were in Him when He died. He who has died is free from sin, Satan and shadows. 

We have instructions like the ones given in our passage. “So don’t let anyone condemn you for what you eat or drink, or for not celebrating certain holy days or new moon ceremonies or Sabbaths. Don’t let anyone condemn you by insisting on pious self-denial or the worship of angels, saying they have had visions about these things. So why do you keep on following the rules of the world, such as, ‘Don’t handle! Don’t taste! Don’t touch!’?  Christ finished these rules by giving us Himself. 

1. The PERSON of Christ, John 1:1-3,14; 1Timothy 3:16   

Jesus is unique in the world: He is both God and man in the same person. The Word became flesh and lived among us. Jesus Christ really lived: He was born of Mary, lived life on this earth as a man, died on a Roman cross, was buried and rose from the dead as His own glorified person. He was and is a historical person. History tells of Him. Contemporary historians mentioned Him, as well as many Bible writers of history. He ate, slept, got hungry, got angry, had a mother and brothers and sisters. He was a real historical character.

2. The PRINCIPLES/PRECEPTS of Christ, Matthew 5-7 (Sermon on the Mount)

Principles mean teachings. When He was here they called Him Rabbi, which means Teacher. The greatest teacher in the world. He taught things like this: “Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.” It’s called the Golden Rule. He taught us that God loves us (Jn.3:16), that there is a devil who hates us. He taught us about the Kingdom of Heaven. “Give and it shall be given to you.” His teachings were profound. So profound that you could follow them and have a wonderful life on this earth and know how to get to heaven when you die. The main things He taught were about Himself. Many times He referred to Himself as the great “I Am.” I am the resurrection and the Life, I am the Bread of Life, the Water of Life, the Good Shepherd who lays down His life for the sheep.” You can’t honestly take His teachings about kindness and not His teachings on who He was. 

3. The PASSION of Christ, Romans 5:8    

“God demonstrated His own love for us in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.”

First Peter 3:18 says, “For Christ also suffered for our sins, the just for the unjust.” The passion of Jesus was His suffering for sinners that He might take the punishment for our sins that we deserved. He who knew no sin, took our sins upon Himself on the cross that He might justify sinners and still be just. Behold God’s love!

4. The POWER of Christ             

A. Christ’s power was seen continually in His healing of the sick. “Jesus of Nazareth was anointed with the Holy Spirit and power and went about doing good, healing all who were oppressed by the devil.” What a power there is in Christ to heal the sick and cast out demons. Now He has power to forgive sins. “That you may know that the Son of Man has power on earth to forgive sins…” and then He healed a paralyzed man. Jesus Christ still has power to heal the sick and forgive sinners. He still does this today by people who believe in His name. “In My name believers will heal the sick and cast out demons.” 

 B. But His main display of power came when He rose from the dead. “No one takes My life from Me. I have the power to lay it down and the power to take it back up again.” Jesus rose literally and physically from the dead. One moment He was in the cold tomb, lying there still, lifeless; the next moment His eyes opened, He sat up. An angel tossed the stone away and Jesus walked out alive forevermore, never to die again. 

This is no myth, no fairy tale. This actually happened. He was seen by over 500 people, most of whom were tortured and martyred simply because they said they saw Him alive from the dead. (1Cor.15) 

Acts 1:1-3 tells us that Luke had written a previous book in the Bible: “The former account I made of all that Jesus began both to do and teach.” Luke actually wrote more of the New Testament than any other man. Paul wrote more books but Luke wrote more than Paul or John. His former account was the Gospel According to Luke. Put these two very long books together and you have a Gentile believer writing the full record of all that Jesus began both to do and teach and continued to do through the Holy Spirit in the early church. What a historian he was and without a doubt inspired by God. 

Jesus spent 40 days between His resurrection and ascension giving the disciples many infallible proofs of His resurrection.  He presented Himself alive after His suffering (passion, death). He proved to them that after He died He rose from the dead, by being seen by them and speaking to them about the kingdom of God. 

In order for us to join Christ and the Holy Spirit in doing His will we need to have it proven to us and we need to be fully convinced that the Christ we actually live for is the One who died and rose from the dead. Only the Holy Spirit can do this and do this He must for everyone who hopes to serve Christ. The first order of business in the early church was to ordain a witness (1:21-22) of the life, death, and resurrection of Christ. The importance of the resurrection of Christ cannot be overstated. It is seen by the proofs of it provided by Christ for 40 days and the preaching of the disciples that followed. 

  CHRIST’S RESURRECTION APPEARANCES:  Complete and In Order

Finding the stone rolled away, the women entered the tomb, but found it empty (Lk.24:3). While still in the tomb, two angels appeared (Mk.16:5; Lk.24:4). One angel spoke, reminding them of Jesus’ promises (Mk.16:6-8) and sending them to report this to Peter and the other disciples (Mt.28:7-8; Mk.16:7-8). They did as they were told (Lk.24:9-11), but the disciples at first didn’t believe them (v.11). John and Peter ran to the tomb; John got there first but Peter entered first (Jn.20:4-6). They saw the linen burial clothes intact but empty, proving that He had risen (Lk.24:12; Jn.20:6-8). They left immediately (Lk.24:12; Jn.20:10). Mary Magdalene returned to the tomb and was standing outside weeping when Christ suddenly appeared to her (Jn.20:11-18). 

The post-resurrection infallible proofs of are many:

1.  Jesus appeared to Mary Magdalene at the tomb (Mk.16:9; John 20:11-18)

2.  to the women on the road (Mt.28:9-10)

3.  to the disciples on the road to Emmaus (Lk.24:13-22)

4.  to Peter (Lk.24:34)

5.  to 10 of the 11 disciples, Thomas being absent.  (Mk.16:14; Lk.24:36-43; Jn.2019-25)

6.  Eight days later to the 11 disciples, Thomas being present (Jn.20:26-31)

7.  breakfast with 7 disciples at the shore of Galilee  (Jn.21:1-25)

8.  to more than 500 disciples, probably on a mountain in Galilee (Mt.28:16; 1Cor.15:6)

9.  to James, His half-brother (1Cor.15:7)

10. to the apostles as He ascended into heaven (Acts 1:3-11)

11. After His ascension, He appeared to Saul of Tarsus (1Cor.15:8)

The importance of the resurrection of Christ is not only seen in the many infallible proofs when He came to the disciples, but also in their preaching, as seen in the following passages: Acts 2:29-33; 3:14-15; 4:8-10,33; and by Paul in Acts 13:24-31,34-39; 17:30-32; 26:23. One quote will suffice to show the importance: “And with great power the apostles gave witness to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus. And great grace was upon them all.” (Acts 4:33)  

All of us need to be teachable. None of us knows it all. But some things are non-negotiable. Some things our minds are made up about. The Bible is the word of God. Jesus is the Son of God. Without the shedding of blood there is no remission of sins. Jesus died for our sins and rose from the dead according to the Scriptures. The Holy Spirit has convinced us that these things are true. Paramount among these is the resurrection of Christ. If we are to live for Him we must believe that He lives. We must get this down. Jesus made sure the disciples were convinced of it. Let us pray that He does this with us. Our lives depend on it. Lost people’s lives do too. 

What should you anticipate as you read what follows in the book of Acts? You should be thirsty to know what Christ did and thus still does in the life of His church. I want to know everything I can about the greatest thing God has ever done and continues to do at this very moment. You shouldn’t want to miss a single thing. What should be your response to what you learn in Acts? You should become a part of what God is doing.

You are complete through your union with Christ.”  (Colossians 2:10-13)

What God does to save us from sin and make us one with Him has already been done. “It is finished.” According to Romans 8:30, “Whom He foreknew and predestined (to be conformed to the image of His Son), these He also called; whom He called, these He also justified; and whom He justified, these He also glorified.” (NKJV) Notice all these wonderful things are in the past tense. For the believer they are already completed.

This is what we find in our present passage. Notice, because of “your union with Christ, you were circumcised, you were buried, you were raised, God made you alive with Christ.” All past tense: something that has happened. Ephesians 2:4,6,7 tells us that God has already seated us with Him in the heavenlies.”

In Colossians, by the time we get to our present passage Paul has mentioned that God has put Christ into the believer. “Christ lives in you.” (1:27, 29) This is profound because if “in Christ lives all the fulness of God in a human body” and “Christ lives in you,” then God lives inside every believer. This happens at the new birth. It is “Christ’s mighty power that works in me,” giving me all the power I need to live a life pleasing to God. The God of infinite love lives in me! The God of all wisdom lives in me! Now! Wow! There is nothing I cannot do through Christ who strengthens me. He is my wisdom and strength. Think on this.

Now, Paul begins to tell us that we are “in Christ,” a phrase he repeatedly uses in all his letters. What God has done in our lives begins in 1Cor.12:13. Here’s how we got into Christ, “We have all been baptized into one body by one Spirit and we all share the same Spirit.” Baptism is a transliteration of the Greek word baptize which means immerse. There is no water in this verse. This is something God has done, not man. “God has united you with Christ; He has made us pure and holy and He freed us from sin.” (1Cor.1:30) The Spirit immerses us into the body of Christ and therefore we have been put “in Christ.”

Christ in you is your power in this world; You in Christ is your position before God. “In Christ” determines who you are; “Christ in” determines what you can do.

Here’s what being in Christ means. Whatever happened to Christ happened to you. Why? Because you were in Him when it happened to Him. As you were in Adam when he sinned and what happened to him happened to you, so you were in Christ when He did what He did and so the same things happened to you.

Let’s say you put a $20 bill into a Bible and ship that Bible to China. What happens to the $20 bill? It ends up in China. Why? Because it is in the Bible. Suppose your granddad died when he was ten years old. Where would you be today? You wouldn’t be at all. Why? Because you would have died with him. Why? Because you were in him. God put us into Adam; what happened to him happened to us. He died. God put believers into Christ; what happened to Him happened to everyone in Him. We are as saved as Jesus is.  

The thing is, we are responsible for making all of those things a reality in our experience as Christians. How do we get what we are positionally into our experience practically? Romans 6:1-13 can help us. There are three things we are told to do: Know, Consider, Give. Know that because we were crucified with Christ we are dead to sin and because Christ was raised to life we are now alive to God. Consider these things to be true: put them down into your spiritual bank account and never doubt them. Lastly, give yourselves, every member of your body, completely to God.

After explaining all this Paul emphasizes the last one in Rm.12:1-2: “Give your bodies to God because of all He has done for you. Let them be a living and holy sacrifice. You will be transformed as you change the way you think. Be renewed in your mind by the word of God. Begin to think and act like Jesus.”   

“If God has already done all these things for me, why do I need to do anything?” This is crucial. The dying and rising with Christ is an accomplished fact which will be, but must be, lived out. When you were first born again, the Father carried you and this new life became yours. It’s called conversion which is based on faith and repentance. You have become “a new person. The old life is gone and a new life has begun!” (2Cor.5:17)

But after a while your heavenly Father will no longer carry you everywhere and spoon feed you. You are no longer a baby. You must learn to eat and walk (one of Paul’s favorite terms for living the Christian life) on your own. That requires instruction, which is what we have in Romans. Know, Consider, and Give your body to God to do what is right.

You’re reading this because you are being held responsible to live the Christian life. You can do this knowing Christ is in you and you are in Christ. Consider it so because it is so. We don’t make our identification with Christ so by doing these things; we do these things because it is so; we are complete on Christ.

“Don’t let anyone capture you with empty philosophies and high-sounding nonsense that come from human thinking and from the spiritual powers of this world, rather than from Christ.” (Colossians 2:8-10) 

The warning here is against being captured by human or demonic thinking. We are to get all our thoughts and beliefs about God from Christ alone. In spite of all you have learned about Christ and what He’s done for you (Col.1:15-20), you can get to where all of that is not the ruling force in your life and let the world lead you away from Christ and rob you of your relationship with Him. This is a serious warning. The preeminent sign of the last days is deception according to Jesus (Mt.24:3-4). The last days began with the coming of Christ and will continue till He comes again. But as His coming draws near the deception will become more prolific and intense, as a woman in labor before the baby is born.

An example of this is the Latter Day Saints, who preach a different gospel and Christ, based on doctrines of demons Joseph Smith learned from the spirit world, all of which have no basis in historical or geographical facts, or Biblical truth. Like many others, they use the same vocabulary as the Bible but a different dictionary.

There are two sources of deception: human thinking and spiritual powers. (Be aware, deception is not easily detected. No deceived person believes he is deceived.) They mesh because the spiritual forces are said to be of this world. Satan is behind both; we know this because Jesus called him “the ruler of this world.” (Jn.16:33) The world is his bait. Satan has no new tactics and those who study the Bible are not ignorant of his devices. What he used in the beginning with Adam and Eve he still uses today. He deceives us by our physical senses and which leads to human reasoning and logic (Gen.3:4).

If there ever was a day to put and keep on the armor of God, to heed the warnings from God and know Satan’s methods, today is that day.

I. The World “Do not love this world nor the things it offers, for when you love the world, you do not have the love of the Father in you. The world offers only a craving for physical pleasure, a craving for everything we see, and pride in our achievements. These are not from the Father but from the world.” (1Jn.2:15-16)

A. People are part of the world. You can become too attached to or influenced by people who can bring you down spiritually, a bad influence. That’s why we are told to not become “unequally yoked” with unbelievers. Jesus taught us to hate any family member or friend who keeps us from following Him (Lk.14:26).

B. Science…denies the reality of the spirit world. It can be human logic and philosophy. “God in His wisdom saw to it that the world would never know Him through human wisdom.” (1Cor.1:21-23) Human logic says there are no mysteries. The Bible is not logical to the human mind: not the Trinity, Satan, eternal life, the gospel. Human logic denies what God has revealed about Himself in and through Christ.

Multitudes are atheists and agnostic because they rely solely on science for what they believe. Science is an incomplete source of knowledge and if used alone will never admit the gospel of Christ dying for our sins and rising from the dead, much less humans having a spirit and the realities of heaven and hell.

C. Traditions  The world includes the traditions of men. Give a carnal religious man the choice between the traditions of men and what the Bible teaches and he will choose tradition over revelation every time. See Mark 7:5-9,13, “Their worship is a mockery to God for they teach man-made ideas as commands of God. You ignore God’s law and substitute your own tradition. So you cancel the word of God in order to hand down your own traditions.”

II. Spiritual Powers “Now the Holy Spirit tells us clearly that in the last times some will turn away from the true faith; they will follow deceptive spirits and teachings that come from demons.” (1Tim.4:1) The chief characteristic of traditions and doctrines of demons is they are negative. See Col.2:20-23.

CONCLUSION: That is the warning; this is the teaching (Col.1:28); everything we need to know is found in Christ. “In Him lie hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge,” (Col.2:3) especially everything we need to know about God. “In Christ lives all the fullness of God in a human body.” (2:9)

Where do we find out about Christ? Same source of knowledge Satan attacked in the beginning: “Did God really say…? He was lying; you won’t die.” (Gen.3:1-4) He convinces people that God’s word is not true. He lies by telling us that God lied to us. You can’t trust what God said. He takes the Bible out of our hands and hearts. And we are lost. We believe the lie that we are our own gods and we don’t need a Christ or a Savior. Multitudes are captive to human thinking and the teachings of demons. 

“You will overflow with thanksgiving.”  (Colossians 2:1-7) 

The word of God tells us, “It is the will of God for us to give thanks in all circumstances.” (1Thes.5:18) Or, in everything give thanks. Christians always want to know what the will of God for their lives is. There is a whole Book full of the will of God; it’s called the Holy Bible. Would you do the will of God if you knew what it was? Doesn’t do you any good to know it if you don’t do it. Here’s an aspect of the will of God that can put continual joy in your life and it’s fun to do. There’s a reason we say, “Happy Thanksgiving!”

Don’t be thankful for problems. Fix the problem, but whether you do or not, be thankful.

It doesn’t say to give thanks for all circumstances; it says give thanks in all circumstances. There are a lot of things you shouldn’t be thankful for: sickness, poverty, conflict, ignorance. But no matter what’s going on, no matter what anyone has done to you, no matter your adverse circumstance, be thankful. Be thankful in that situation, in every situation. Not FOR but IN.

Don’t be thankful for what the devil does. Instead, rebuke (Jas.4:7)  It’s easy to tell what the devil does; it’s bad. God – good, devil – bad. Check out Deuteronomy 28. Look at what Jesus did: “He went about doing good, healing all who were oppressed by the devil.” (Acts 10:38)

We can be thankful FOR many things: health, provision, family, church, etc. But this is not talking about being thankful for things; it’s talking about being thankful in all circumstances.

Our text is even better; it says, “You will overflow with thanksgiving.” It means to superabound with thanksgiving, to excessively abound with thanksgiving, to overflow with excess. David put it like this, “My cup is running over (or, overflowing with blessings).” (Ps.23:5)

How is it possible to live a life overflowing with thanksgiving? The context tells us. We need to find some things that are true and hang onto them no matter what our circumstances. We can always be thankful, if we think on these things.

I. The People of God in your church.  Have some other believers in your life that are knit together with strong ties of love.” (v.2) This is more than occasionally being in the same room together. This kind of thing is two or more who are in a covenant relationship of love, much like David and Jonathan (1Sam.20:17). The love of God (the strongest power in the universe) has knit you together and you are inseparable. They love you like God: they will never leave you nor forsake you. People have told me they love me, but then they can’t even worship God in the same room with me. They leave the church and on the way out the door say, “I love you.” Then I look at all those who do really love with the love of God, they never leave. Imagine doing that with your kids, “Son, I love you but I never want to be in the same house with you. I’m leaving.”

I have had such people in my life in every church who have stood by me when others turned against me. How I thank God that I know such people. If you don’t, find some and you will be thankful for them every day you live, and you can be thankful in all circumstances.

II. The Plan of God, v.2-3   I am part of the eternal plan of God! He has written me into the script of His eternal story. And He put “Christ in me,” as Paul puts it (2:3). How thankful I am that I am in Him and He is in Me. He is inside me (body, soul, and spirit) teaching me how to think, helping me to forgive others, giving me His peace and power.

III. The Power of God Within Me, 1:29 This is the same power that created the universe and raised Jesus from the dead. That power lives in me! Thank You, Jesus! The same power that changed my life when He came in at salvation, continues to live in me and continues to change me. To what end? To make me like Jesus. He has predestined me to be conformed into the image of Jesus, to make me like Him (Rm.8:29). The more I cooperate with Him the smoother and faster that goes. This is God’s predestined purpose for my life and it will happen no matter what. In fact, He will use everything that happens to me to make this happen (Rm.8:28). This power not only gives me the ability to receive Christ, it gives me the ability to follow Him (Col.2:6).

Conclusion: Paul’s agricultural and architectural terms can help us with this: Built up and Rooted in Christ.

A. Built on Christ. The house of my life is built on the rock. It will not fall or collapse no matter how adverse and difficult my circumstances are, no matter what happens to me. Matthew 7:24-25 tells me that if I’m building my life on Christ’s teachings (and I am) torrential rains and floods, and hurricane and tornado force winds, will not ruin my life. “It won’t collapse because it is built on bedrock.” Christ and His teachings are the bedrock of my life. Thank God for that. I’m overflowing with thanksgiving. I’m not thankful for tornadoes, but who knows – I may end up in Oz wearing ruby slippers.

B. Rooted in Christ. Psalm 1:2-3 says because my delight is in the law of the Lord (which it is) my life is like a tree planted by a river, whose roots grow down to an unceasing supply of water and nourishment. I will bear fruit in every season: fall and winter. My leaf will never wither. And therefore, “I will prosper in all I do.” Because I am building my life on the teachings of Christ and I am rooted in His word, I can be thankful in every circumstance, even drought and famine.

I am thankful for the Promises of God concerning me. According to Ps.91 the Lord is my refuge, my place of safety; His promises are my protection. Therefore, I do not live in fear of anything; I don’t dread darkness or disease. No evil will overtake me. He gives His angels charge over me to protect me wherever I go. When I call on Him, He answers me. He has rewarded me with a long and strong life. Thank you, God.

You might say, “Well, that’s you and not me!” But none of these things I am thankful for are for me alone. God shows no favorites (Acts 10:34) They are for every Christian. I’m nothing special. God has no favorites. He loves you as much as He loves me. You should be overflowing with thanksgiving every day of your life for Jesus died for your sins and rose again to give you abundant and eternal life. Thank you, Jesus!

When floods come and destructive winds blow I think on the Trinity.

GOD IS MY FATHER! And He loves me unconditionally. The One who created the universe and rules it is my heavenly Father. He chose me and He is on my side. “If God be for me, who can be against me.” With Him it is not possible to be impossible. He can do all things and He is in fact working all things out for my good (Rm.8:28-29).

And JESUS IS MY SAVIOR! The King of kings has loved me and rescued me from the domain of darkness and put me into His glorious kingdom, by the great sacrifice of His blood. And the devil or the world can never change that. Not ever. Jesus loves me, this I know. Jesus knows me, this I love.

The HOLY SPIRIT LIVES IN ME! God Himself lives in me and greater is He who is in me than he who is in the world. I have the wisdom of God living in me, and the power of God in me! I can’t lose! I am a winner, no matter what’s happening in my life. 

“Then your faith will grow strong in the truth…”  (Colossians 2:7) 

Your relationship with God depends on your faith, which is the word of God revealed to you that produces a corresponding action of obedience and trust. Don’t think you ever need more faith. When you are saved you have all the faith you will ever need. Jesus said, “If you have faith the size of a mustard seed you will move giant trees into the sea.” (Lk.17:5-6)  Galatians 2:20 says we live by the faith of the Son of God who loved us and gave Himself for us. But it is a matter of having stronger faith. Faith is like a muscle which must be exercised to grow stronger.

Hebrews 11:6 says, “It is impossible to please God without faith. Anyone who wants to come to Him must believe that God exists and that He rewards those who sincerely seek Him.” It’s not a matter of how much faith you have but of how strong your faith is. The stronger your faith, the better your relationship with God, the more Christlike you’ll be and the more you get from God (He rewards). Who doesn’t want that?

Stronger faith comes through hearing and knowing the truth, not an intellectual grasp of facts, even Bible facts, but revelation truth. Let me explain it this way. Theologians have historically laid it out like this:

Ø  Revelation – God has revealed Himself in history by works and words. He has acted and He has spoken in propositional statements and promises.

Ø  Inspiration – the Spirit of God moved on people to write down that revelation. The Bible is the inerrant record of the revelation of God in history. So far we only have the menu. No food yet!

Ø Illumination – the Spirit enlightens your heart to something already written. It’s there and you’ve read it maybe many times, but then you see it. Every Christian knows what I’m talking about. After the cross the first thing the Spirit revealed to me was exactly who it was who died on that cross. I had read the Bible some before I was saved, but then after I was saved, one day I saw John 1:1-3, 14, “The Word became flesh.”

These days Illumination is called Revelation. They use the word Revelation but what they mean is Illumination. Some don’t use the word Revelation because they fear some might mistake it to mean adding to the Bible. Revelation and Inspiration are closed: all that is revealed to us must agree with the Revelation and Inspiration. Today’s term is Revelation. See Col.1:26-27 says, “This message (mystery) was kept secret, but now it has been revealed to God’s people.” The things in the Bible need to be revealed to people. “No eye has seen, no ear has heard, and no mind has imagined what God has prepared for those who love Him. But it was to us God revealed these things by His Spirit, so we can know the wonderful things God has freely given to us.” (1Cor.2:9-12)

Think of it – the same Holy Spirit who wrote the Bible lives in every Christian to teach us what He wrote. Jesus said this in John 14:26, “The Holy Spirit will teach you everything and will remind you of everything I have told you.”

Once something is revealed then you know. Once you know then you can ask with faith and confidence. “And we are confident that He hears us whenever we ask for anything that pleases Him. And since we know He hears us when we make our requests, we also know that He will give us what we ask for.” (1Jn.5:14-15) Revelation knowledge (truth) comes to people as the word is being preached in the Spirit. “Young man, preach in the Holy Ghost,” the old pastor told me and he was right. “Faith comes…” (Rm.10:17). Rhema (utterance) brings faith. Faith is a matter of the heart and this is how God gets faith into us. God does everything in our lives through our faith and the stronger our faith the more He does. Do you want God to do more in your life? Then seek revelation knowledge. And seek Him (Heb.11:6).

Abide in the vine and Revelation will come. “If you remain/abide in Me and My words remain in you, you may ask for anything you want and it will be granted.” (Jn.15:1-7) Revelation (rhema) will come: God will speak and you will have it. You don’t have to strive, just abide. Abide is home, as opposed to a motel.  

This will take focus to put this into practice. And we must put it into practice. “Don’t just listen to God’s word. You must do what it says. Otherwise, you are only fooling yourselves.” (Jas.1:22) Focus on the living truth. Our faith grows strong in the truth! After we come to Jesus the only thing left is to learn from Him (Mt.11:28-30). As we learn, our faith grows stronger. 

I am glad when I suffer for you in my body, for I am participating in the sufferings of Christ that continue for His body, the church. God has given me the responsibility of serving His church by proclaiming His entire message to you.” (Colossians 1:24-29)

INTRODUCTION: One thing leads to another: day follows night, sowing produces an eventual reaping, love is followed by giving. In this passage one thing leads to another. Salvation leads to Serving the Lord, which means Speaking for Him and Speaking for Him leads to Suffering for Him. All this is in the context of the church but it happens as we serve the Lord by speaking for Him outside the church. When we share the gospel with lost people, they often rise up against us. It just goes with the territory. 

I. SERVING the Lord

“God has given you (us) the responsibility of serving His church…” Serving His church is the same as serving the Lord. Every true Christian loves to serve the Lord because he has found out who Christ is (see v.15-19) and what He has done for him (see v.20-22). Serving Jesus is our purpose in life. We no longer live for ourselves, but for Him who died and was raised for us (2Cor.5:15). The Christian life is a life of loving and joyful service to the One who deserves it. At Paul’s conversion to Christ he asked two questions: Who are you, Lord? and What would You have me do? (Acts 9:5-6)  Both are part of the Christian experience. 

II. SPEAKING for the Lord

We serve the Lord by speaking for Him “serving His church by proclaiming His entire message to you.” We serve be proclaiming the message of Christ Jesus and Him crucified to others inside the church, and outside. 

If all you do are good things for people, they will just think you are a good person. But you haven’t served the Lord in those things until you tell others about Christ (v.28).  And you have only temporarily benefited others. To have eternal life they must receive the message about Christ. We must speak it to them. 

Good deeds are necessary for our testimony about Jesus. I ask people, “Which wing on an airplane is the most important?” The answer, of course, is both. Can’t get even off the ground without both wings. It’s the same with serving the Lord, we can’t have the desired results without works to back up our words. What are the desired results? “We want to present them to God, perfect (mature) in their relationship to Christ.” 

What is it to serve Christ? Telling others about Christ (v.28). So we tell others about Christ. “And since we have the same spirit of faith, according to what is written, ‘I believed and therefore I spoke,’ we also believe and therefore speak.” (2Cor.4:13) Speaking for Christ, sharing the gospel, is where your life gets exciting. I would have never known how exciting the Christian life can be if I had not started telling others about Jesus.

III. SUFFERING for the Lord

“I am glad when I suffer for you in my body, for I am participating in the sufferings of Christ that continue for His body, the church.” (v.24)  The Bible says, “If anyone will live godly in Christ, he will suffer persecution.” If Paul or any of the early believers kept their mouths shut, they would have saved themselves a lot of suffering, but nobody would have been saved and Christianity would have perished from the earth, and we’d be on our way to hell. 

But they couldn’t keep quiet, and so they suffered.  “Think back on those early days when you first learned about Christ. Remember how you remained faithful even though it meant terrible suffering. Sometimes you were exposed to public ridicule and were beaten, and sometimes you helped others who were suffering the same things. You suffered along with those who were thrown in jail and when all you owned was taken from you, you accepted it with joy. You knew there were better things waiting for you that will last forever.” (Heb.10:32-34)

CONCLUSION: Notice Paul wrote, “I am glad when I suffer for you in my body…” What would make a man happy to suffer for others? He needs a lot of strength of spirit to do that. That comes from what is inside the Christian: Christ lives in you.

“That’s why I work and struggle so hard, depending on Christ’s mighty power that works within me.” (v.29)  To be strong in the Lord we must put on the armor of God and be filled with the Holy Spirit. With Christ inside of us, we can do all things – and enjoy doing them. Even suffering. Because we know we are doing it for the good of people and the glory of God. “Christ’s mighty power works within me.” 

“Christ is the visible image of the invisible God. He existed before anything was created and is supreme over all creation, for through him God created everything in the heavenly realms and on earth. He made the things we can see and the things we can’t see – such as thrones, kingdoms, rulers and authorities in the unseen world.” (Col.1:15-16)

After telling us what God has done for us through Christ in 1:13-14 Paul begins to tell us about who this Christ is. The Father “rescued us from the kingdom of darkness and transferred us into the Kingdom of His dear Son, who purchased our freedom and forgave our sins.” We were born in the flesh into the kingdom of darkness, headed by the prince of darkness, Satan himself, who leads a multitude of demonic powers who control the world.  “We know that we are children of God and that the world around us is under the control of the evil one.” (1Jn.5:19) When we are saved God transfers us from the kingdom of darkness into the Kingdom of God’s dear Son, Jesus Christ. 

Beginning in 1:15 Paul goes into an incredible declaration of who Jesus Christ is. We will see three things in the two verses we are looking at:

I. Similarity, v.15 “Christ is the visible image of the invisible God.” God is Spirit and as such cannot be seen by the natural world He created. Way back in the beginning God created Adam last so the rest of creation could look at what he did and said and know what God is like. “The God said, ‘Let Us make human beings in Our image, to be like us.” (Gen.1:26) Of course, the first man failed shortly thereafter and by sin marred that image. It has been marred ever since. No person is the exact visual image of the invisible God. Until Jesus came…

In the flesh the Second Man gives us the precise image of God. This is important because ever since man sinned he has been making up ideas of what God is like. Other Biblical characters give a pretty good image of God, but they are all incomplete and flawed. But not Jesus. If you want to know what God is like, just look at Jesus in the gospels. He explains, exegetes and expounds God perfectly. Read the gospels and see that Jesus was full of grace and truth. He loved like God loves, He forgave sinners, healed all the sick and cast out demons. Jesus was and is thoroughly and completely good. This is why the word gospel means Good News!

II. Supreme, v.15    “He existed before anything was created and is supreme over all creation.” This is an interesting word used to describe Christ. He is supreme over all creation, “things we can see and the things we cannot see – such as thrones, kingdoms, rulers and authorities in the unseen world.” (v.15-16) Notice there are thrones, kingdoms, rulers and authorities that are obviously below the supreme Lord in rank.

This means other powers (seen and unseen, human and demonic) may rule but in the end Christ will overrule. He will judge all spirit beings (man, and angels) and they will give an account of what they did with their rule, whether good or bad. Jesus has the last word – in everything.

There is a huge debate going on right now on the definition of sovereignty. Some say it means God is in control – of everything; others say He is supreme over everything. One can be supreme over everything without being in control of everything. For decades I believed the modern definition of sovereignty.

When considering this, I decided to do a word study on the word sovereignty or the sovereignty of God. I got out my huge Young’s Analytical Concordance of the Bible. This gives every word in the Bible both in Hebrew and Greek and each time it is used. To my shock, the word sovereign is never used in the Bible! I couldn’t find it anywhere. It’s not there! I bout fell out of my seat! The NIV uses it many times, but that translation is simply one of the names of God (Adonai) that does not mean sovereign as many define it today. People have given their own definition of sovereignty that has no basis in the Bible. “The word trinity is not in the Bible.” True, but it is explained in the Bible (Mt.28:19; 2Cor.13:14). Adonai means boss. Does everyone in a corporation obey the boss? No! That’s why some are fired or demoted.

I looked up the word sovereign in the dictionary. Second shock! The dictionary never defines the word sovereign as “in control.” It uses words like “monarch, king, ruler, royal, supreme rank, preeminent, utmost, and dominion.” As anyone knows, rulers and monarchs do not control their people because every one of them have been rebelled against and overthrown. George III was king but the American colonies rebelled against him.

Read Jesus parables and see that in the kingdom of God there are enemies who do things like plant tares in the owner’s fields, kings have people who will not obey him, and on and on we could go. Just read the parables of Jesus and you will see.

The point of the parables is, when Jesus returns He will judge those who went against His will and did things they were not supposed to do. If there is a judgment, then Jesus does not control them. He judges them. If He controlled them, He couldn’t judge them.

III. Spiritual Warfare, v.16    “God created everything in the heavenly realms and on earth. He made the things we can see and the things we can’t see – such as thrones, kingdoms, rulers, and authorities in the unseen world.”

Many have asked me if God created the devil and all his demons. No! He created Lucifer and angels. But Lucifer and many angels rebelled against God, became evil and wicked. But they maintained their ranks. They still have thrones, kingdoms, rulers, and authorities. “We (humans) are not fighting against flesh-and-blood enemies, but against evil rulers and authorities in the unseen world, against mighty powers in the dark world and against evil spirits in the heavenly places.” (Eph.6:11-12) Other translations use the words principalities and rulers of the darkness of this age. They may rule but, in the end Christ will have the last word.

Christ created Lucifer and angels with dominions and made them rulers. They rebelled but maintained their dominions. Christ came and stripped them of their power (except for deception) against us by His death for our sins. Jesus then gave Christians authority over the devils as predicted in Mt.16:16-18; and fulfilled in Eph.1:22. Satan doesn’t go to God for permission to attack any more. He comes to us!  “Nobody in their right mind would give him this permission!”  Not knowingly. He gets our permission by deceiving us and through our PASSIVITY. See Mt.13:24-28, “While men slept, an enemy did this.”  

Here’s the dilemma we find ourselves in. I have talked to what seems like multitudes through my fifty plus years of pastoring who have no clue how to wage spiritual warfare and yet the Bible teaches we are at war with the unseen world of wickedness in the heavenly places. They don’t know how to put on the armor of God which we must do to be strong in the Lord so we can fight in this war. They don’t have any idea how to “resist the devil” so he will flee from them. They don’t know how to bind the devil, cast him out or intercede for their loved ones who are under the demonic control of drugs and all sorts of sin. They do not know what the sword of the Spirit is. They think it’s the Bible, but it’s the Bible coming out of our mouths! These people are passive. Consequently, the devil and his host of rulers wreak havoc with them. And the world is going to hell. Our loved ones are lost and we sit by passively letting Satan do all these things. It’s time we wake up and go to war. Satan is a defeated foe but we must enforce the victory, much like God gave Israel the Promised Land but they had to take it by fighting.

Here’s the summary of all this. Something I hope all can agree with. God is the absolute supreme person in the universe He created, but He gave man and angels the freedom to choose what they want to do - against God’s will (Gen.2:16-17; 3:6). They can sin. All men sinned and some angels did. But God did not give them the freedom from the consequences of their wrong choices.

God will intervene in man’s affairs – if they call upon Him. He does answer prayers.

He did not give them the freedom to stop His overall purpose for creation and salvation. For example, He may give Haman the liberty to hate Jews and cause the king to issue a decree to annihilate them in one day. But He will not allow him to accomplish his evil design. He will raise up a Queen Esther to stop him. He may give Herod the freedom to hate the coming of the Messiah and kill all the children in Bethlehem under two years old. But God will bring wise men from afar to supply Jesus’ family with enough gold to finance their trip to Egypt where they will live till Herod dies.

He may give Hitler the freedom to hate Jews and seek to exterminate them in the Holocaust. But He will raise up a USA to enter the war and stop him and liberate the Jews from the concentration camps and eventually give them their own homeland. God may give the Romans and Pharisees the freedom to crucify Christ, but God will raise Him from the dead. His purpose will never be defeated. He may give Anti-Christ, son of the devil, the freedom to rule the world, but he won’t stop Christ from coming back, defeating the Anti-Christ and establishing His kingdom of peace on the earth, as promised to Abraham and David.

God gives others the freedom to sin and rebel, but He has the last word. There is a final judgment when people and demons must answer for their sin and rebellion against Him. They will be punished.

Make no mistake about it – God hates sin and He will judge sinners. But to save us from that judgment He sent His Son to take the judgment for those who believe in Christ and are saved. 

“We ask God to give you complete knowledge of His will. We also pray that you will be strengthened with all His glorious power…”  Colossians 1:9-14

We should be praying these inspired prayers of Paul for ourselves and other Christians. Note Paul writes, “We always pray for you. So we have not stopped praying for you since we first heard about you. We also pray that you will be strengthened…” We will never be busier than Paul, doing more important things, and he found the time to pray for others.

After we Come to Jesus to be saved, the only thing left is to Learn from Him, which we do by studying His word (Mt.11:28-29). Everything we need to know about God and His will for our lives is found in the Bible. In it we have everything we need to have the complete knowledge of His will, to always honor and please the Lord, to produce every kind of good fruit, and to learn to know God better.

1. We grow as we learn (v.10). Stop learning – stop growing. It’s as simple as that. To learn we must admit we don’t know everything and indeed, we have much to learn. To learn we must hear something we’ve never heard before, or consider something we’ve never considered before, something maybe that’s contrary to what we’ve already learned. The first thing I do when I hear or read something I’ve never come across before is ask myself, “What can I learn from this?” Then, like the Bereans, I search the Scriptures to see if there’s any truth in it. If there is, I’ve learned something; if not then I discard it. And if it’s a nonessential, I don’t reject the ministry of that person who spoke or wrote it.

One of our elders said publicly, “In my forty plus years in church I’ve never heard a pastor I disagree with more than Brother Terry. But I’ve never heard a pastor I have learned more from.” That’s the way to do it. It’s easier to write legibly on a clean dry erase board than on one that already has stuff written all over it. To grow a field of cotton you must uproot the grass and weeds before you plant. Jesus said in Mt.13:7, “Seeds fell among thorns that choked the tender plants.”

2. The goal of all learning is to “know God better and better.” (v.10) Since in salvation we are being conformed into the image of Christ and to be like God (Gen.1:26; Rm.8:29), we need to know what God is like. We must learn what Christ is like. We need to learn all we can learn about Christ. God wrote a book that we might know Him. God sent His Son that we might know what He is like. God sent His Spirit to teach us everything we need to know about Jesus. The goal of all growth is to know God better and better. The Bible is the book about God. It is THE book of theology.

3. To know and do His will we need His strength (v.11). It takes a lot of work to learn and work takes strength. The Holy Spirit gives us the strength we need to know and serve God (Acts 1:8; Eph.5:18). We become strong in the Lord as we put on the armor of God (Eph.6:10-12).

4. We need to learn with joy and thanksgiving. While kids are getting an education, they do not realize how important it is to get an education, to learn. Especially in America.

The students in Nepal back in 2010 broke the back of the communist takeover of their country by marching back to school. If you don’t enjoy learning, school is like a prison, except for the sports and friends. So is church, if the pastor is teaching anything. Everything in nature and the Bible tells us something about God. All truth is God’s truth. We should all make studying and meditating on God’s word our hobby (Ps.1).

5. Every Christian has an inheritance because every Christian is a child of God (v.12). What is our inheritance? We are heirs to everything God has. And that’s a lot. We are “joint-heirs” with Christ (Rm.8:17).  We are “rich” (Eph.3:6). Part of our inheritance is to rule with Christ (Rev.3:21).

6. We have this inheritance because of what God has done for us through Christ (v.13-14). He has “transferred us from the kingdom of darkness (Satan’s kingdom) into the Kingdom of His dear Son.”  Being born in the flesh from Adam, we are in the kingdom of darkness. 

1Jn.5:19 says, “We know that we are children of God and that the world around us is under the control of the evil one.” Satan controls people; God does not. Satan rapes people. That’s why we must be rescued. God woos us so that we willingly and freely offer our bodies to Him.

Jesus, by His death and resurrection has broken that control, rescued, ransomed and freed us from his evil domain. Then He transferred us into His own benevolent kingdom. He did this through forgiving our sins. He freed us by forgiving us of all our sins. 

 The Book of Hebrews is actually an excellent way to introduce the Book of Colossians. In Hebrews Jesus is described as the greatest HEBREW ever which leads us to Colossians where He is declared to be the greatest HUMAN ever. These things are true and as such demand a response from every other human. How are we to live because Jesus is the greatest Hebrew and Human ever? How should we worship and how should we serve God? Because Jesus is Lord of heaven and earth, and Lord of my saved life, how should I then live?

I. The Greatest Hebrew Ever (the book of Hebrews)

Let’s begin by looking at Hebrews 1:1 and following. The writer will be making a comparison between Jesus and other Hebrews. First he says that Jesus is greater than all other prophets (v.1-2). God spoke “to our ancestors” many times in many different ways, but now “in these final days, He has spoken to us through His Son.” Jesus was a prophet and He was the greatest prophet of all because He was the Son of God. Think of all the great prophets in the Old Testament: Moses wrote the first five books of the Bible and delivered the Hebrews out of the house of bondage and gave them the Law of God; Abraham was a prophet and he was the father of our faith. Think of Samuel, David, Elijah, Isaiah, John the Baptist and all the many others. Jesus is greater. To Him God promised everything as an inheritance. He is the heir of all things. “The Son radiates God’s own glory and expresses the very character of God and He sustains everything by the mighty power of His command.” These things are never said about any prophet. Moses’ face radiated the glory of God, but next to Christ the glory on Moses’ face faded. Check out the Mount of Transfiguration.

Next he begins to compare Christ to the angels (1:4-2:18). “God never said to any angel what He said to Jesus, ‘You are My Son.” When He brought His supreme Son into the world, God said, “Let all of God’s angels worship Him.” This is what happened immediately before the angels appeared to the shepherds on the hillside outside of Bethlehem: “Go and worship that baby lying in a manger.” He is the Son of God. Then the writer of Hebrews writes, “to the Son He says, ‘Your throne, O God, endures forever and ever. You rule…’” God calls Jesus God!  “God never said to any of the angels, ‘Sit in the place of honor at My right hand…’ Therefore, angels are only servants – spirits sent to care for people who will inherit salvation.” Angels are servants who worship and serve; Jesus is the One they worship and serve. Think of all the mighty angels made known to the Hebrews. One angel killed 186,000 Assyrian troops one night without firing a single shot. Jesus is greater.

Next he compares Jesus to Moses (Heb.3:1-19). Surely nobody was considered greater than Moses. God said He spoke to prophets in visions and dreams, but to Moses He spoke face to face. “But Jesus deserves far more glory than Moses…” He says, “Think carefully about this Jesus whom we declare to be God’s messenger and High Priest.”

Then Jesus is compared to Joshua (4:1-13). Moses was great but he failed to take the Israelites into the Promised Land. Joshua did not fail. He is the OT picture of Jesus. His name is in fact the same.

Finally, he compares Jesus to Aaron the first High Priest and father of all the high priests of Israel. Moses died and so did Aaron, but the Hebrews always had a high priest. He was the one who went into the Most Holy Place and offered the atonement upon the Mercy Seat, which covered the people’s sins for another year. When they arrested Jesus they brought Him to the high priest who had to pronounce judgment upon Jesus. Hebrews says that Jesus is the greatest of all the high priests. That is a big deal.

The writer had a dilemma because Jesus was not of the tribe of Levi and only a Levite could be a high priest. So, the writer explains that Jesus was a high priest of a different and greater order, that of Melchizedek. His greatness is seen in the fact his genealogy and ending of him was said to have no beginning or end. There is no record of His birth or death. Even so Jesus is the eternal priest after the order of Melchizedek, who was so great that Abraham paid tithes to him.

Not only that but each priest offered the blood of bulls and goats to cover the sins of the people, but Jesus offered His own blood as a sacrifice of our sins. His precious blood removed our sins forever, not on a yearly basis. His blood was greater than the blood of animals, because He was the perfect human sacrifice.

So what has all this got to do with us today? Hebrews tells us. The pinnacle of the OT was the giving of the Covenant (the Law) on Mt. Sinai. Heb.2:1-4 says that if they were punished for every infraction of the law delivered to Moses by angels, how much more should we listen to and obey Jesus. “What makes us think we can escape if we ignore this great salvation,” if we do not “listen carefully to the truth that was spoken by Jesus and later by those who heard him?” Those who passed on the message of Jesus were not just those who were apostles. It surprises many folks to learn that two of the gospels in our Bible were not written by apostles (Mark and Luke). Luke wrote more in the Bible than any other writer and he was a Gentile who joined the Christian movement in the middle of the book of Acts! James and Jude were not of those who heard Jesus preach, not with faith, for they were not converted until after His resurrection. Then we have Phillip and Stephen who did mighty signs, wonders and miracles while preaching about Jesus. Even Paul never heard Jesus preach, not with faith, for he was converted after Jesus had gone to heaven.

I say these things because some teach that only the apostles wrote and spoke with authority because only they “confirmed the message by giving signs and wonders and various miracles and gifts of  the Holy Spirit.” We must listen to the entire New Testament and not just Matthew, John and Peter. We need to be very alert to listen carefully to what we hear preached from all the books of the NT and not ignore anything, lest we drift away from it. They are speaking for Jesus, giving us His word, and no Hebrew is greater than Jesus. He deserves our attention and obedience, even more than the people in the OT should have listened to the law.

II. The Greatest Human Ever, Colossians (1:15-20)

The Spirit of God has come to make Jesus known by glorifying Him, and He does so in this letter written by Paul and inspired by the Spirit. While all of the book shows how Jesus’ lordship should affect every area of our lives (religious/church, domestic and civil) the first chapter sets the stage for the rest of the book by declaring the headship of Jesus over everything, particularly 1:15-20, which is actually a song with two stanzas: v.15- 17 about Jesus being Lord over the Old Creation and v.18-20 pictures Him as head of the new creation.

Christ was and is everything God made Adam to be: “the visible image of the invisible God, supreme over all creation.”  There are really only two humans in the universe: Adam and Christ, and everyone in Adam and in Christ. Adam failed to keep his dominion (Gen.1:26) but Jesus did not fail. He not only kept His dominion, He exercised it by stilling storms, walking on water, healing diseases, casting out demons and many other things. He did all these things as a human (Acts 10:38) but He was the God-Man. Within the being of Christ there were two natures: divine and human. As God He was the third member of the Trinity and as Man Jesus was (and still is) the head of a new creation. He is the Son of Man and the Son of God.

He existed before anything was created and He is supreme over all creation. That is the Scriptural definition of sovereignty. He made everything in the heavenly and earthly realms: such as thrones, kingdoms, rulers and authorities in the unseen world. Did God create Satan? No! He did however create Lucifer which means light-bearer. And He created all the thrones, kingdoms, rulers and authorities in the unseen world. And when Lucifer and a third of the angels rebelled against God, they kept their kingdoms and their ranks. Jesus is supreme over all those spirits and also all human rulers.

Christ is also the head of the church, God’s new creation. The church is His body and as the head He is supreme over all who rise from the dead, spiritually and physically. As a human, “God in all His fullness was pleased to live in Christ.” What a statement! Jesus said, “He who has seen Me has seen the Father.”

Besides who He is we are told what He has done: “through Him God reconciled everything to Himself and He made peace with everything in heaven and on earth. We know He did that as a man because “He made peace by means of Christ’s blood on the cross.” Christ is head of all creation and head of the church. In all things He has the preeminence.

Now what should be our response to this greatest human who ever was and is? First we should know that He can protect us. He is supreme overall. Secondly he can provide for us. He can create food and make water come out of a rock. He can give us all the power we need to do His will: “I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.” He is peace to those who put their lives in His hands. He can certainly heal you and help you.

In response to His greatness, we should surrender to His lordship. We should worship and serve Christ. He is the boss of the universe and we should do what He says. Anyone who does not is in rebellion against the high throne of heaven. Adam found that out and so will we when we stand before Jesus Christ at the final judgment. Everyone living in disobedience will suffer the curse of the law; the law that Christ gave.

But oh the blessings of bowing the knee to the king of the universe. We become heirs of God and joint-heirs with Christ. He becomes our Savior and Lord, our provider and protector. And we will reign with Him forever on His throne (Rev.3:21). 

If this year is to be the year of God’s blessing for us, we need to know what those blessings are, then how to obtain each blessing and then what the hindrances to those blessings, and finally how to meet those hindrance. Teaching us these things is what this series on the Blessings of Abraham are all about.

The blessings of Abraham are plenary in nature. Within the fullness of this blessing are six blessings. We have studied the first two: justification by faith and the Holy Spirit. This takes care of our eternal life. 

There are some who would have us believe the 1st two blessings are all there are to the Christian life. They are wrong. The 1st two are the foundation upon which the other four are built. These two are what qualifies us to inherit the other four. If all we had is the 1st two, I’d be a Christian anyway. The fact that through faith God has declared me righteous with Him and I am born again by the Holy Spirit are the two greatest blessings from God there are. They are the coin of the realm. God doesn’t give you the first two blessings of justification and the new birth and they say, “OK, you’re saved, get on with your miserable life. Do the best you can. Lots of luck. See ya…! I’ll be waiting for you in heaven.”

But they are not all there are! There’s a buffet! Food is my favorite dish and buffet is my favorite meal. The other four blessings are like the dessert on the meal. You can live off of the meat and potatoes, but the dessert is nice, tops the whole meal off. I want the dessert. I want everything God has provided on His wonderful buffet. 

The goal for every Christian and church is getting as many to the 1st two blessings as possible – saved in other words. But there is nothing better than Christians living in the other four blessings to get that done, to see that God blesses those who believe His word. 

The rest of the blessings have to do with blessings you inherit before you get to heaven. And make no mistake about it, these are important. These next four are so important that you spend most of your time on this earth pursuing these blessings on your own. This consumes your time, talent and interest. You get educated and learn skills to get these things. This is your life on this planet. So, it is important that you learn how to obtain and appropriate the blessings of Abraham come simply by faith. 

III. Wealth    

Throughout the entire Bible wealth is spoken of as a blessing from God. Check out Deuteronomy 28 where riches are said to be blessings and poverty is a curse. Who wants their family to be poor? Nobody, that’s who! We want all we need and we want enough to be a blessing to others who have needs. That’s the blessing of Abraham. God said to him, “I will bless you and make you a blessing.” It’s good to have more than you need, as long as you don’t hoard it for yourself. We can give to get as long as we give to get to give. 

Let’s look at what the Bible says about this blessing of Abraham. He was rich. He was very rich. The father of our faith was wealthy beyond what we can imagine. “Abraham was very rich in livestock, silver and gold.” (Gen.13:2) How’d he get so rich? He had just come from Egypt and it says, “Pharaoh gave Abraham many gifts because of her (Sarai) – sheep, goats, cattle, male and female donkeys, male and female servant, and camels.” He did not work for it! It’s not that he didn’t work, it’s just that in addition to him working, “God blessed him” by putting it on Pharaoh’s heart to give wealth to him. 

If you’re looking for confirmation check this out: “The blessing of the Lord makes one rich, and He adds no sorrow to it.” (Prov.10:22)  And if you’d like something in the New Testament, how about 3John2, where the inspired apostle writes, “I desire and pray above all things that you will prosper in all things and be in health, even as your soul  prospers.” 

Abraham was always concerned about who would inherit his blessings and one day he said to God, “Eleazer will inherit all my wealth.” (15:2)  King Abimelech, “took some of his sheep and goats, cattle and male and female servants and he presented them to Abraham.” Then he gave him 1,000 pieces of silver. (20:14-16) God was truly to Abraham Jehovah-Jireh, his provider. “Abraham was now a very old man and the Lord had blessed him in every way.” (24:1) We are told what one of those blessings was in that same chapter when the servant went to get a wife for Isaac. He told Rebekah, “The Lord has greatly blessed my master (Abraham); he has become a wealthy man. The Lord has given him flocks of sheep and goats, herds of cattle, a fortune in silver and gold, and many male and female servants and camels and donkeys.” (Gen.24:34-35) 

Since this blessing was for all the family of Abraham (which includes every Christian – Gal.3:29), it was of course passed on to Isaac. “Abraham gave everything he owned to his son Isaac. God blessed his son Isaac.” (25:5,11) In Gen.26:23-24, God told Isaac, “I am with you and will bless you. Your descendants will become a great nation because that’s what I promised Abraham.”

Jacob was no different. In Genesis 28:1-4 God said He would bless him and multiply his descendants and they would become many nations because I will pass on to you the blessings I promised Abraham.” Jacob told Laban, “I have become wealthy for the Lord has blessed me. You had little before I came, but your wealth has increased enormously. The Lord has blessed you through everything I’ve done. Jacob became very wealthy, with large flocks of sheep and goats, female and male servants, and many camels and donkeys.” (30:27-30,43) In Gen.32:13-15 Jacob selected from his possessions and gave to Esau “200 female goats, 20 male goats, 200 ewes, 20 rams, 30 female camels with their young, 40 cows, 10 bulls, 20 female donkeys and 10 male donkeys.” This was a very rich man because this was part of the blessing of Abraham. 

Joseph completes the story of our patriarchs, the fathers of our faith. Before he was done, he owned all the land, grain and livestock in Egypt. He was a very wealthy man. Gen.39:2-4 says, “The Lord was with Joseph, so he succeeded in everything he did.” Potiphar “put him in charge of his household and property, the Lord began to bless Potiphar’s household because for Joseph’s sake; and his crops and livestock flourished.” 

Finally, even after 430 years as slaves in Egypt, the nation of Israel came out of that bondage rich. The most expensive structure in the world at that time was built out in a wilderness by former slaves! How were they able to do that? The Lord gave it to them. “The Lord caused the Egyptians to look favorably on the Israelites and they gave the Israelites whatever they asked for. So they stripped the Egyptians of their wealth.” (Exodus 12:32,35-36) This wealth they used to build the Lord’s tabernacle in the wilderness, one of the costliest things ever constructed. The whole thing had furniture that was all made of the purest gold. Tons of it! And silver and costly gemstones! If God can get it through you, He can get it to you. 

Jesus was wealthy, very wealthy. But you say, the Bible says He became poor. Right, but it says He became poor that we might become rich. Besides He was only poor on the cross. He could feed 5,000 men plus women and children with five fish and a couple of biscuits and have leftovers, in the wilderness where there were no stores or crops in the fields. And to prove this was no fluke, He did the same thing again with 4,000 men. Anyone who can tell some poor fishermen who had been fishing all night and caught nothing to cast his net down again and they pulled up enough fish to sink two ships, was not poor. Jesus told Peter to catch a fish, open its mouth and find enough gold to pay His and Peter’s taxes for a year was not poor. 

People argue, “Well, this is the Old Testament. The New Testament is all about spiritual things like love, joy and peace.” Spiritual things are much more valuable than material things, for sure. But Hebrews 7:22 & 8:6 says that we have a better covenant. Should not the better covenant include material things? Besides that, Romans 8:32 says, “Since God did not spare even His own son but gave Him up for us all, won’t He also give us everything else?” And 1Tim.6:17says, “Our trust should be in God who richly gives us all we need for our enjoyment.” He richly gives us all we need. Richly. That means more than we need. 

IV. Health 

We should not think it strange that the blessing of Abraham includes health when you realize that Jesus went about healing all who were oppressed of the devil (Act 10:38). Here’s what it says about Abraham, “He lived 175 years and he died at a ripe old age, having lived a long and satisfied life. He breathed his last and joined his ancestors in death.” (Gen.25:7) There is no record of him ever being sick. In fact, he was used by God to heal others. “Then Abraham prayed to God and God healed King Abimelech, his wife and his female servants, so they could have children.” (Gen.20:17) 

         Jesus, the true Seed of Abraham, lived a healthy life and healed all who would believe. The only people He did not heal were a few folks in Nazareth and that was “because of their unbelief.”

V. Victory in Battle 

Abraham never lost a battle. The only one recorded in detail is found in Gen.14:1-16. Five kings and their armies invaded the valley where Lot lived, captured all the wealth and the inhabitants, and took them away, fully intending to make slaves of them. Abraham heard about it and gathered 318 of servants in his household and went after them. With a great war strategy he defeated the enemies and brought the stolen wealth, his nephew and family back home. Victory is part of the blessing of God and of Abraham. 

Christ did not die on the cross, rise from the dead and pour out His mighty Spirit in order for us to live in defeat. We should never be defeated by sin or any demonic attack, in our relationships, homes or anywhere else. there is no defeat in Christ. He has made us “more than conquerors” because He has loved us. Defeat is not a word He understands; He has never been defeated. He was not defeated at His birth, during His life, on the cross and certainly not in the tomb or in Hades. 

He has not told us “resist the devil and he will flee from us” for nothing (Jas.4:7). He has not given us mighty weapons of warfare by which we are made strong in the Lord for nothing (Eph.6:10-18). We have the same sword Jesus used against His enemies, both the devil and the legalists. This sword comes out of His mouth and out of ours. With these weapons and the armor of God we have no excuse to ever be defeated. And we have the truth which makes people free (Jn.8:32) and the Spirit who gives us liberty in all areas of our lives (2Cor.3:17).

You see a defeated Christian and you see one who is not enjoying the blessing of Abraham. In the next lesson I will deal with how we appropriate these blessings and the challenges or hindrances we must face to obtain them. 

Morality Matters. We will be judged by our behavior and behavior is the outworking of our morals. Morals mean what is right and wrong. There are only two views of morals: there are either absolute morals or there are no morals that are absolute; it’s just whatever one thinks is right and wrong for him or her, or for the people they live with, the culture. 

Imagine a football game with no rules, no flags being thrown for penalties, no boundaries on the field. No rules of conduct or anything? It would be a free-for-all. Nobody would enjoy such a game and everybody on the field would get creamed – continually. God knows we must have rules for what is right and wrong in the game of life, or it would be absolute chaos. 

Once I subbed in high school for a gym class. I sat in the stands with a student watching the gym class, which happened to be made up of football players right after their season ended, trying to play basketball. These guys and the rest of the gym class did not know the rules of basketball. It was a madhouse on the floor. They carried the ball, continually fouled each other and many other bad things. I asked the girl sitting by me what she was doing not on the floor and she told me she was on the basketball team waiting on the coach to bring the rest of the class to the gym. I watched as the bb coach took the girls through their drills and worked diligently with them. They ran plays and looked really good. And I thought, if this gym class played this girls team, the team would slaughter them. They were smaller but they knew the rules of the game. 

God wants us to win in the game of life and He knows we have to play by the rules He has set up. He tells us what is right and what is wrong. He tells us the penalties and the things we must do to win. We need to read what He tells us and do what He says. He is good and He is right. 

We live in the great day of moral relativism. Everybody believes what is wrong with someone may not be wrong for others and what is right for some is not necessarily right for others. Moral relativism is very dangerous. For example, I was sharing the gospel in an apartment complex in Scottsdale, Arizona, near Arizona State University. It was summertime and the place was full of college students that formed a U around the complex swimming pool. It was a Saturday afternoon and they were everywhere. I went into a room with an open door and windows and began sharing the Good News of Jesus with them. When you’re doing that you always get around to talking about sin, disobedience to the moral law of God. You must do that because Christ died for our sins and you must believe that to be saved from your sins. 

One began to come against me with the idea of moral relativism. He said loudly and boldly that there is no such thing as absolute sin or morals. He was unbending, so I turned to leave. On the way out the door I picked up the boombox playing music near the door. That same young man spoke up, “Hey! Where do you think you are going with that thing? That’s mine. Are you trying to steal my stuff?” I said, “You believe there is such a thing as stealing, and that it’s wrong to steal; but I don’t believe that. I don’t believe it’s wrong to steal this boombox and who are you to tell me what is right and wrong for me?” The other students got involved and agreed with me! He said, “Ok. Ok. I see your point. It is wrong to steal what belongs to others.” 

I am going to talk about the morality that is going on in our world today, important moral matters.

I. Who Says What is Right and Wrong?  Where do you get what you believe that will determine your morals which will determine your behavior? There are limited sources of information on this. One source has been around for thousands of years, ever since man has been alive and the others have come along and changed from time to time according to the whims of each generation. The source of absolute morals is the Holy Bible. They never change because they are absolute and they come to us from God who never changes. They are in fact based on the unchanging character of God. It is wrong to steal because God does not steal. It is wrong to lie because God is the truth; He never lies. God tells us what is right and wrong. His word is final and it has served us well for thousands of years. Thousands of times the Bible says, “Thus says the Lord…”

The other source of morals is science. You might not know that but science changes continually. Just during about 10 years of my short life on earth, science has told us three different ways to brush your teeth. Up and down, side to side, and circular. And that’s just the tip of the iceberg. They just discovered bacteria and how to deal with that in the last 100 years. Science once told us the earth was flat! That letting blood out cures diseases. Something so fickle should not determine for us what is right and wrong. 

Something even more fickle than science is popular opinion. This changes with the wind. People determine what is right and wrong based on what their friends think or feel. Feelings change and trends change. No one should base what they believe or how they behave on what is popular. 

The Bible is the Word of God and it tells us what is right and what is wrong. It determines morals. And if we go astray from the Bible we will bring bad things on us, as we shall see.

II. Abortion Did you know that abortion in our country has only been legal for about 50 years? Then last year they changed it again, they did away with “Roe v. Wade” which had legalized abortion. Basically the federal government leaves it up to each state to deal with this moral issue and each state changes its opinion according to those who vote. And in each state, each person believes what they want to believe about abortion. 

But the Bible is very clear about this moral absolute. It is wrong to murder anyone, especially a person in the womb of its mother. Even Pharaoh didn’t have the Hebrew women abort their babies; neither did King Herod when Jesus was born and he had all the children two years and under killed. Notice each proabortion person was not aborted.

Each person is “fearfully and wonderfully made” by God in their mother’s womb. “You formed my inward parts; You covered me in my mother’s womb. My frame was not hidden from You when I was made in secret and skillfully wrought in the lowest parts of the earth. Your eyes saw my substance, being yet unformed. How precious are Your thoughts to me, O God!” (Ps.139:13-17) God said, “Before I formed you in the womb I knew you; before you were born I sanctified you and ordained you a prophet to the nations.” (Jere.1:5)

God created us in our mother’s womb. He made us alive there. When we were conceived, we were who we will always be. Aren’t you glad your mom didn’t abort you? Therefore, abortion is sin. It is a sin against God. It is murder. Notice, everyone who believes abortion is okay was not aborted by their other. However, it is not an unpardonable sin. Those who have had abortions may be forgiven if they confess their sins to God.