Repent

Living and loving through the New Covenant; eating and drinking the body and blood of Jesus our Messiah (reading and doing all of His Word). “Behold, the days are coming, declares the LORD, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and the house of Judah, not like the covenant that I made with their fathers on the day when I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt, my covenant that they broke, though I was their husband, declares the LORD. For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, declares the LORD: I will put my law within them, and I will write it on their hearts. And I will be their God, and they shall be my people. And no longer shall each one teach his neighbor and each his brother, saying, ‘Know the LORD,’ for they shall all know me, from the least of them to the greatest, declares the LORD. For I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more.” (Jeremiah 31:31–34, ESV. See also Exodus 20:6; Deuteronomy 5:10; Ezekiel 11:19-21)

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Posted in Manna Reading Schedule

Manna 4-22-13

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Manna (whole Bible group reading for Bible meetings) for this week is Leviticus 21-24:23; Ezekiel 44:15-31; and Luke 18-20. Extra readings are Matthew 5:38-42 and Galatians 3:26-29.

If you are using the Manna booklet to stay on track with reading the Bible in a year (3 chapters a day, 5 on Saturday), this week is Ecclesiastes 10 through Isaiah 13.

Whatever reading schedule you choose, just read it and do it.

Whole Bible definitions: Atheism – much ado about nothing.

Quote from Bruce in ‘Whole Bible Christianity’ – “I’d rather be a dog in heaven than a lion in hell.”

Posted in Daily Living • Repentance • Whole Bible Christianity • Whole Bible Christianity book

Repentance

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From ‘Whole Bible Christianity’ chapter 2 on Repentance

Repentance and love for God go hand in hand. We can’t have one without the other. If we repent, we stop going our own way and start going His (1 Kings 8:47; 2 Chronicles 6:37; Job 42:6; Jeremiah 8:4-13; Ezekiel 14:6; Matthew 11:20, 21). The first recorded word out of the mouths of John the Baptist (Matthew 3:2) and Jesus (Matthew 4:17) for their public ministries was ‘repent.’ If we are going the wrong way on a road, we would change directions once we realized our error.

‘Feeling sorry’ for what we have done or are doing, yet continuing to go the wrong way, is not repentance. It is certainly not love. Joel says “rend your hearts, not your garments” (Joel 2:13). A lot of times, ‘sorry’ feelings are very strong, to the point of weeping or other expressions of anguish. Herod was “exceedingly sorry” to behead John the Baptist, and did it anyway (Mark 6:26). Sorry feelings are not true repentance if they don’t produce a change in behavior (Jonah 3:8, 9; 2 Corinthians 7:9-10). True repentance is when we change what we are doing (Matthew 3:8; Luke 3:8). We go from ignoring His Law to following it.

Posted in Promise The • Whole Bible Christianity • Whole Bible Christianity book

Quick Summary of the Promise

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Summarized from ‘Whole Bible Christianity’ chapter 4 The Promise

The Word is bound together with the Promise of a Savior. Sometimes called a covenant. God’s side of a covenant is always a promise, because no one can make Him deliver.

Genesis 3:15 The promise is made
Genesis 6:18, 9:9, 9:25-27 the promise is given to Noah
Genesis 12:1-3 Abraham inherits the promise, details of a land and descendants added
Genesis 13, 15, 17, 22, 24, 26, and 28 The promise inherited by Isaac and Jacob
Exodus 2:24, 6:8, 12:25 Israel rescued from Egypt because of the promise
Deuteronomy 6:1-4 the Law as part of the covenant or promise
Joshua 1:3 promise given to Moses
2 Sam. 7:11-16 Promise given to David, with more details of a son and a kingdom forever
1 Chronicles 16:14-18 David summarizes the promise or covenant
Acts 2:38-39 Peter says repent to receive the promise which is for all who are called
Acts 13:23-24 Jesus, son of David, brought to Israel as a Savior as promised
Romans 1:1-4 the gospel of God promised beforehand through the prophets concerning His Son
Romans 4:16 the promise guaranteed to all by faith through grace
Galatians 3:29 if we belong to Christ we are Abraham’s descendants, heirs according to promise
Ephesians 2:12 we were separate from Christ, strangers to the covenants of promise
2 Peter 3:9 the Lord is not slow about His promise, wishing all to come to repentance
1 John 2:25 Eternal life is the promise

There are more verses scattered throughout the Word. Try the words ‘covenant’ and ‘promise’ in a good Bible software search and see what you can come up with. Good books on the subject are The Promise-Plan of God by Walter C. Kaiser Jr. and The Prophets and the Promise by Willis Judson Beecher.

Posted in Law • New Testament

The Second Sermon on the Mount

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From ‘Whole Bible Christianity’ chapter 7 The Second Sermon on the Mount

Matthew in chapters five, six and seven of his gospel account records for us the second Sermon on the Mount. Yeah, I said second because the first was at Mt. Sinai with Moses, who relayed it to Israel. The second is similar to the first; even identical. Since Jesus actually gave both sermons, we would expect they would sound alike, which they do. In fact, what we really have here is Jesus cutting through man’s false teachings about what He set down at Sinai. He repeats His message over and over and over and over in the Bible. Man’s interpretations or applications of the Law to that point were lacking, so Jesus corrected them.

In 5:17 He says He did not come to abolish the Law and the Prophets, but to fulfill. The word ‘abolish’ is clear – it means eliminate (or destroy, or change). As in ‘I did not come to eliminate the Law.’ It wouldn’t make very much sense for Jesus to say, “I did not come to abolish the Law, but to abolish it.” The word ‘fulfill,’ used as the opposite of ‘abolish,’ means to interpret correctly so that words are given their proper meaning. It’s clear in this context Jesus is saying He would not destroy the Law through wrong interpretation. So we can read this statement as, ‘I did not come to remove or destroy or change the Law, but to correctly interpret it so it would be put back on a firm foundation.’

The word ‘fulfill’ by itself also means to ‘fill up full,’ as in filling up the foundation forms of a house with cement. Jesus cements His intention by telling us that even the tiniest part of God’s Law will not change until heaven and earth pass away. Some try to make the phrase “until all is accomplished” to mean Jesus changed the Law through the resurrection. But heaven and earth certainly did not pass away at that time. Therefore the Law still stands, placed on firm foundation by the Giver and Interpreter. It is still absolutely applicable to everyone.

Whole Bible Christianity book draft

Posted in Bible • Comfort

Read the Bible

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Did you read your Bible today? Do you read it everyday? If not, why not? How many hours did you put into watching TV instead? Did you think about His Word? Did you face a choice to follow His Word or ignore it? Did you even know there was a choice?

The Bible is the book of life. “Living oracles” as Stephen says. His word can impart life. It is the most important book in history. TV, radio, Facebook, Twitter, Harry Potter books, movies about vampires do not impart life. They distract us from the path of Life. A little amusement is fine, but did you read your Bible today?

Jesus was flogged with whips that had tips of bone and other sharp objects tied on them, and He was made to carry His own execution stake to a hill where He was nailed to it alive. He spent torturous hour after hour hanging there, trying to breath by pushing up against the nail in his feet and pulling up against the nails in His hands. His flayed back (likely cut to the bone) scraped against the rough wood with every breath. And He didn’t do one thing to deserve it. All He asks of us is in return is to abide in His Word of life.

So tell me, did you read your Bible today?

Posted in Salvation • Whole Bible Christianity book

Feelings, Nothing more than Feelings

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Feelings are a key factor in “decisions for Christ.” Most public appeals for these decisions rest on emotion and don’t generally last. Ray Comfort says he found an 80% to 90% failure rate for decisions in one study. He cited a major denomination which in the early 90’s racked up 294,000 “decisions” but later could find only 14,000 in fellowship (95% failure).

Besides, have you ever tried to teach someone how to feel? Specifically, to “feel” like doing something? It can’t be done. Many things we have to do in spite of our feelings. We don’t pass on the Word of God to the next generation by getting them to ‘feel’ it. We pass it on by living it. When we back up the truth with our lives, then the kids get it.

Posted in Dogma • Whole Bible Christianity book

Feeling for Truth

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From ‘Whole Bible Christianity’ chapter 1 section on Feel for Truth

Dogma in Greek means “that which one thinks is true” and comes from the root word dokeo meaning “to seem good” or “to think.” But at some point we stop thinking and switch to what “seems good” but is not sustained by the Word.

One way that people enable a part-Bible church is that we substitute feelings for truth. According to the survey ‘Americans Are Most Likely to Base Truth on Feelings’ from Barna Research (February 2002; The Barna Group of Ventura CA; barna.org) many prefer to do whatever “feels right or comfortable,” or would “produce the most beneficial results.” Sadly, what is captivating many Christians these days is a form of godliness lacking in power and appealing to “various impulses.”

1But realize this, that in the last days difficult times will come. 2For men will be lovers of self, lovers of money, boastful, arrogant, revilers, disobedient to parents, ungrateful, unholy, 3unloving, irreconcilable, malicious gossips, without self-control, brutal, haters of good, 4treacherous, reckless, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, 5holding to a form of godliness, although they have denied its power; Avoid such men as these. 6For among them are those who enter into households and captivate weak women weighed down with sins, led on by various impulses, 7always learning and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth. (2 Timothy 3:1-7 NASB95)

Posted in Humility • Law • Righteousness

Summaries of the Law

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A number of times in the Word the Law is summarized. Some of them equate the Law to the fear of the Lord through the treatment of the widow and orphan and the proliferation of sorcery (probably connected with the use of drugs), adultery, oppression of the hired worker by stealing his wages (like our government) and those who swear falsely (such as politicians who take the oath of office to defend the Constitution and do not).

“Then I will draw near to you for judgment. I will be a swift witness against the sorcerers, against the adulterers, against those who swear falsely, against those who oppress the hired worker in his wages, the widow and the fatherless, against those who thrust aside the sojourner, and do not fear me, says the LORD of hosts. (Malachi 3:5, ESV)

Some equate justice and righteousness to the treatment of the widow and orphan or the shedding of innocent blood (think of Benghazi, abortion or the Gosnell murders).

Thus says the LORD: Do justice and righteousness, and deliver from the hand of the oppressor him who has been robbed. And do no wrong or violence to the resident alien, the fatherless, and the widow, nor shed innocent blood in this place. (Jeremiah 22:3, ESV)

And some are more comprehensive, covering what is “just and right” whether it is ceremonial, civil or moral.

“If a man is righteous and does what is just and right— if he does not eat upon the mountains or lift up his eyes to the idols of the house of Israel, does not defile his neighbor’s wife or approach a woman in her time of menstrual impurity, does not oppress anyone, but restores to the debtor his pledge, commits no robbery, gives his bread to the hungry and covers the naked with a garment, does not lend at interest or take any profit, withholds his hand from injustice, executes true justice between man and man, walks in my statutes, and keeps my rules by acting faithfully—he is righteous; he shall surely live, declares the Lord GOD. (Ezekiel 18:5–9, ESV)

But His statutes and rules by any measure are the definition of justice and righteousness.

For truly, I say to you, until heaven and earth pass away, not an iota, not a dot, will pass from the Law until all is accomplished. Therefore whoever relaxes one of the least of these commandments and teaches others to do the same will be called least in the kingdom of heaven, but whoever does them and teaches them will be called great in the kingdom of heaven. (Matthew 5:18–19, ESV)

Posted in Authority • Bible • Hermeneutics • Whole Bible Christianity book

The Bible is Clear

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From ‘Whole Bible Christianity’ chapter 4 section on It Is Clear

At the time of the Reformation, the average person did not read the Scriptures (sound like today?). But back then it was because they were in languages no one used and translations into common languages were forbidden so the church could hold onto its power. The synod of Toulouse in 1229 for instance specifically forbade people to have the Bible in their own language. It wasn’t until 1962-64 at Vatican II that Catholics were encouraged to read their Bibles (after people were already doing it). Reading and interpreting for many even today is the special province of the clergy, and they insist that priests (pastors, rabbis) are the only people qualified to determine meaning and application. They allege the Bible is too difficult for the average person to understand. Of course, they used to think the earth was flat, too.

But God made sure the Word was well within the ability of anyone to understand it. Some of the people during the Reformation called this ‘perspicuity.’ They were saying we don’t have to be scholars to grasp most of the Word. We need to be reminded of this today because there are those who want to complicate the Word and keep it out of our hands.

It seems clear to me that the main issue that causes Scripture to be unclear is a refusal to do what is read (Jeremiah 7:28; Hosea 6:6). We have a nature, inherited from Adam, which tends to walk away from God. Many times, it wants to sprint. We hide from Him because of His perfection, holiness and power. Just like Adam and Eve in the Garden.

Obedience to the smallest word helps to clear up the meaning of more of the Word – more abiding means more understanding (Deuteronomy 4:6). Sometimes we don’t understand, and sometimes we just don’t know, but the bottom line is abiding. Obedience requires humility. Humility allows the light of the Spirit unhindered access to the darkest corners of our hearts. Disobedience comes from pride, and pride causes confusion. Pride hardens the heart and actively resists the Spirit.

Scripture itself tells us that many of the things that are written are for our understanding. Luke 1:4 says “so that you may know the exact truth about the things you have been taught.” Paul says something similar.

I am writing these things to you, hoping to come to you before long; but in case I am delayed, I write so that you will know how one ought to conduct himself in the household of God, which is the church of the living God, the pillar and support of the truth. (1 Timothy 3:14-15 NASB95)

The truth of the Word is plainly evident to everyone. But prepared hearts (looking for truth) who “study to show (themselves) approved” will get more out of it as reading and doing progress. A hard hearted person understands, it’s just that they profess ignorance or confusion because they don’t want to follow under any circumstances (Acts 7:51-53; Ephesians 4:17-19).