Tag: Bible

I Don’t Like Reading the Bible

As a pastor of a Baptist church, you might be thinking that I should not be writing this blog for the world to see. My job could be at risk.

However, I would like to explain. My wife Linda reads through the Bible every year. Every Year! She has a reading plan that she enjoys and puts it to use every year.

Only once in my life, was I successful in reading through the Bible. From Genesis through Revelation.

I just don’t like reading through the Bible. I cannot get comfortable with simply “reading” the text.

However, and this is a big however, I love studying the Bible. I love to dig into the passages and find the gems right below the surface. I enjoy “working” through a passage so that I can “rightly divide the Word of God.”

I have a habit of studying the Bible about three to four hours each day. For a thirty minute sermon, it takes me about four solid hours of study, writing, editing, putting together a PowerPoint, and refreshing my memory thirty minutes before I preach a sermon. I live for studying the Bible.

There you have it. I do not like “reading” the Bible. But I thouroughly enjoy studying the Word of God. The apostle Paul’s words to his protege Timothy keep me grounded and on target.

2 Timothy 2:14 (KJV) Of these things put them in remembrance, charging them before the Lord that they strive not about words to no profit, but to the subverting of the hearers.
15 Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.

How about you? Do you enjoy reading the Bible? Do you enjoy studying the Bible? Let me know.

For those of you that have reading plans that you have really enjoyed, put them in the comments.

“…even now there are many antichrists”

Continuing my studies in 1st John 2:18,

Little children, it is the last time: and as ye have heard that antichrist shall come, even now are there many antichrists; whereby we know that it is the last time.

“antichrist” is the Greek word “antichristos” which means “against the Messiah.”

John’s reference to “antichrists”, meant that they were evident in the church in his lifetime. It is not a 20th or 21st century arrival.

John further defines antichrists as anyone who denies that 1) Jesus is the Christ, the Messiah of the Old Testament, and 2) deny that Jesus is the only means of salvation.

Look at this following list:

  • During the time of Jesus, he preached that there were “tares among the wheat.”
  • In the churches in Galatia, there were false teachers.
  • In the church at Philippi, there were enemies of God
  • In the church at Colossi, there were teachers of heresies.

No antichrists are nothing new, but they are very active today. We should all be on our guard. Study your Bible folks. It will keep you out of heresies and false teaching.

A “Christ Like” Walk

In light of I John 2.6, the Apostle John is describing what a “Christ Like Walk” would resemble.

1 John 2:3 And hereby we do know that we know him, if we keep his commandments. 4 He that saith, I know him, and keepeth not his commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him.
5 But whoso keepeth his word, in him verily is the love of God perfected: hereby know we that we are in him.
6 He that saith he abideth in him ought himself also so to walk, even as he walked.

In this passage,John also includes why a new Christian cannot attain a “Christ like” walk.
A Christ like walk is attained, based on the maturity level of the believer. Therefore, it cannot be achieved the moment one is born again, as a babe in Christ. Until the heart is fully prepared to act on and follow the commandments of God, through instruction in the Bible, led by the Holy Spirit, it is impossible to be “Christ Like.” Knowing God can only come by an intimate communion with Him, marked by obedience to the Lord’s commands. The disciple abides in Him when he fully experiences a knowledge of His love and grace. And that takes time to learn to keep His commandments, abiding in the Lord and fully resting or trust in Jesus Christ.

Can Jesus be found in Every Book of the Bible?

Jesus was crucified and buried in a borrowed tomb. Three days later, He was resurrected and showed Himself to His disciples and many others. The Gospel of Luke lets us in on a conversation of two of Jesus’ disciples and Himself. Jesus took some time with two men on the road to Emmaus that were discouraged and forlorn. In their minds, their great teacher and rabbi had been killed and lost to them. And like sheep that are lost without their shepherd, they needed to be tended. Jesus took the opportunity to teach them that Christ could be found in all the scriptures.

Luke 24:27 And beginning at Moses and all the prophets, he expounded unto them in all the scriptures the things concerning himself.

The scriptures that Luke refers to are the Law and the Prophets. The following list can be found on many websites (I don’t know the original author) but I have taken the liberty to edit and add to the original list. It is a very interesting look in finding Jesus in every book of the Bible.

Enjoy

Old Testament

Genesis – Creator, Seed of Woman, and Promised Redeemer

Exodus – the Passover Lamb; the Smitten Rock

Leviticus – High Priest, the Altar and the Lamb of Sacrifice

Numbers – The pillar of Cloud by day and the pillar of Fire at night and water in the desert; The Brazen Serpent

Deuteronomy – A Prophet like unto Moses, He becomes the curse for us

Joshua – Commander of the Lord’s host, the Captain of our Salvation

Judges – The Judge and Lawgiver, He delivers us from injustice

Ruth – our Kinsman-Redeemer

1 & 2 Samuel –Prophesied Son of David; Prophet/Priest/King, King of grace & love

1 Kings – The Reigning King and a Ruler greater than Solomon

2 Kings – the powerful prophet

1 Chronicles – Son of David that is coming to rule

2 Chronicles – the King who reigns eternally

Ezra – Priest proclaiming freedom and the Faithful Scribe; He is One with the good hand

Nehemiah – the One who restores what is broken down

Esther – Advocate, Protector of his people; the Unseen Hand

Job – The Ever Living Redeemer, Dayspring from on High, Mediator between God and man

Psalms – The Shepherd and our Song in the morning and in the night; the Coming Messiah

Proverbs – The Wisdom of God

Ecclesiastes – He is the Hope of our resurrection, and our meaning for life; He is the Truth above the Sun

Song of Solomon – Author of faithful love, Lover and Bridegroom; the Rose of Sharon

Isaiah – Suffering Servant; Wonderful, Counselor, the Mighty God, the Everlasting Father

Jeremiah – the weeping Prophet, Messiah; He is the Lord our Righteousness

Lamentations – He assumes God’s wrath for us; our Weeping Prophet

Ezekiel – Son of Man; the One with the Right to Rule; He is the Prince who enters the Eastern Gate

Daniel – He is in the fire with us, The Son of Man coming in the clouds; the Ancient of Days

Hosea – Faithful Husband, the Bridegroom

Joel – He is the Baptizer with the Holy Spirit; He is the One roaring out of Zion

Amos – Restorer of Justice, the Burden Bearer; He is the One standing upon the Altar

Obadiah – Judge of those who do evil, the Mighty to Save

Jonah – the Great Missionary, God of Forgiveness

Micah – He casts our sin into the sea of forgetfulness, the Messenger with beautiful feet; the Ruler of Israel

Nahum – Stronghold in the day of trouble, the Avenger of God’s Elect

Habakkuk – The Lord in His Holy Temple; The Great Evangelist, He crushes injustice

Zephaniah – the Warrior who saves, the Restorer of the Remnant; He is the Lord in the midst

Haggai – He is the desire of all nations; Restorer of worship, He has the Signet Ring, He is the Cleansing Fountain

Zechariah – the Humble Messiah pierced for us riding on a colt

Malachi – He is the Sun of Righteousness who brings healing

New Testament

Matthew – the Messiah who is King, Immanuel, God with us; King of the Jews

Mark – the Messiah who is a Servant, the Miracle Worker

Luke – the Son of Man, Messiah who is a Deliverer

John – the Son of God, Messiah who is a God in the flesh, the Bread of Life

Acts – the Ascended Lord, the Builder of the Church; the Spirit who dwells in His people

Romans – the Righteousness of God

1 Corinthians – the Last Adam, power and love of God, the Resurrection; the First-fruits from among the dead.

2 Corinthians – He is the down payment of what’s to come, He is the God of all comfort; He is the Unspeakable Gift

Galatians – He is the Seed of Abraham; He is our very life, the One Who sets us free

Ephesians – the Christ of Riches and Head of the church

Philippians – the Joy of our life, the One who meets our every need

Colossians – The fullness of the Godhead, He holds the supreme position in all things; He is the preeminent One

1 Thessalonians – our Comfort in the last days, our Hope

2 Thessalonians – our soon coming King

1 Timothy – the Mediator between God and man, Savior of the worst sinners, Faith; He is God manifest in the flesh

2 Timothy – Leader of the leaders, Stability in life

Titus – the Blessed Hope, the Foundation of truth

Philemon – Savior of Slaves; our Mediator, the Friend that sticks closer than a brother, our Benefactor

Hebrews – our High Priest He is Superior in all ways

James – He matures our faith, the Great Physician; He is the Judge standing before the door

1 Peter – our Chief Shepherd, the hope in times of suffering and our Example

2 Peter – He is the Day Star; the One who guards us from false teaching

1 John – He is our Advocate; the source of all fellowship, our Life

2 John – God in the flesh; the Confession of One Who is True

3 John – source of all truth

Jude – protects us from stumbling, the God our Savior

Revelation – Soon coming King, King of Kings and Lord of Lords, The Alpha and the Omega, The Beginning and the End, Who was and is and is to come; He makes all things new.

 

A Red Letter Bible and My Dad

KJV Bible

But where do I begin?  I found that the red letters began in the third chapter in the Gospel of Matthew.  Jesus met with John the Baptist and wanted John to baptize him.  That is exactly what my teacher told me.  “Bobby, after you profess Jesus as your savior, you should follow Jesus’ example by being baptized.”  I continued reading the fourth chapter and
found that Jesus was tempted of Satan three times in a wilderness.  And each time Jesus was victorious over the
Tempter.

This was so exciting.  All the stories that I had heard in Sunday School and from my parents were right there in my own Bible.  In rapid succession I read about Jesus calling his first followers by saying, “Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men.”  Peter, James, John and Andrew left their work and followed Jesus as his disciple.  Oh this was so thrilling until I turned the page and found that the next few pages in my Bible were all written with words in red ink.  I thought that maybe there was a mistake and took my Bible to my dad.   I said, “Dad, there must be something wrong with my Bible”.  “Why do you say that?” he responded.  “Well I have found that there are just a few words written in red on some of the pages, but all of a sudden there are page after page full of red letters.”  I remember my dad was pleased with my question.   He took the time and said, “This is one of Jesus famous teachings.  It is called the Sermon on the Mount.”  Then my dad painted the most amazing and beautiful image about the scene of Jesus teaching on the mountain side that I will never forget.

Father’s Day is June 19th.  My dad has been with the Lord since 1984 but I still fondly remember that first Bible study with my dad.  Each year when Father’s Day rolls around I journey back in my mind and joyfully remember the study of the “words written in red” with my dad.

Atheism, Polytheism, Materialism, Evolution and Creation. Which concept is correct for the Christian?

Mountains of Creation
Image via Wikipedia

For the follower of Jehovah or Jesus Christ, the theological message of the first book of the Bible is, there is a God and God is responsible for all creation.  Beginning from the first verse of the Genesis we find the evidence of a supreme being that is the creator of all things; including the much debated creation of man.  Genesis 1:1 clearly encapsulates the whole of scripture; “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.”  In this very simplistic but all-inclusive verse, we are presented with the evidence of one God for all to see.  God exists.  There is an implied absolute beginning and the God of the Bible brought all creation into existence.  “In the beginning God…”  The clarity of God being “in the beginning” sets the foundational stone that God was at the beginning.  Therefore God was before the beginning for He was the Creator. It is a stated fact

The Bible introduces us to God in Genesis chapter one.  The Hebrew word ‘God’ as used in verse one and thirty-one times in the first chapter of Genesis is Elohim.  Elohim is used over 2,500 times in the Old Testament.  Elohim emphasizes one supreme God stressing His power and quite often used when in the context of the Supreme Being in the act of creation.

Chapter one of Genesis is one of the most hotly debated chapters in the Bible.  Satan’s attack on the infallibility, inspired Word of God begins at the first verse.  Those against special creation, in six twenty-four hour days, form the battle lines between the forces of evil and of God.  If Satan can focus man’s attention away from creation, then he can also cause doubt on every other doctrine in scripture; atheism, polytheism, evolution, materialism and sin.  Is there a God?  Were the worlds created?  If Satan can cause uncertainty at this very fundamental point, Satan can cause doubt for every other fundamental doctrine in scripture.

Throughout the whole of scripture there is a consistent declaration of the creation and that God was the Creator.  (Exodus 20:11, Nehemiah 9:6, Psalm 90:2, 96:5, 148:5, Isaiah 45:18, John 1:3, Hebrews 11:3)

It is my intent to discuss the various theologies that are located in chapter one of Genesis.

The first will be the idea of atheism.  Atheism, according to its definition and etymology, declares a denial of the being of God.  Atheism, affirms the nonexistence of God.  An atheist is someone who rejects belief in any form of deity, not just the traditional Judeo/Christian God.  It is also interesting that there seems to be no consensus on the definition of atheism.  The atheistic theology is denounced in the very first verse of Genesis.  “In the beginning, God.”  There is no room for debate or even discussion in the Bible concerning whether there is a God or not.  The statement carries with it the most profound and yet simple statement ever made there is a God. So therefore atheism is opposed.  In Psalm14:1, the psalmist David declares, “The fool hath said in his heart, there is no God…”

In every aspect of our life, there is a Cause and an Effect.  The one argument the atheist cannot answer is where the first ‘cause’, creation, came from.  The ‘effect’ is the solar system, animals, plants and man.  Who was the first Cause?  Genesis tells us it was God who started all creation when He spoke and said;

“Let there be light”

“Let there be a firmament”

“Let the earth bring forth grass, the herb yielding seed, and the fruit tree yielding fruit after his kind”

“Let there be lights in the firmament of the heaven to divide the day from the night;”

“Let the waters bring forth abundantly the moving creature that hath life, and fowl that may fly above the earth in the open firmament of heaven”

“Let the earth bring forth the living creature after his kind, cattle, and creeping thing, and beast of the earth after his kind: Let us make man in our image, after our likeness: and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth”

Atheism does not present a viable solution in lieu of creation; therefore it is not a viable theology as God created the heavens and earth.

Another theology to explore is polytheism.  Polytheism by its very entomology means – poly – many and theism – god.  It is the belief of numerous personal deities, called gods or goddesses.  These gods are finite as they had a beginning as the result of sexual union or created from natural forces.  Each deity has its own belief system and rituals.  Their rule is normally over a particular domain such as the earth, sky, sea, love, etc.   Polytheists do not always worship all the gods equally, but can center their belief and worship of one particular deity.  Other polytheists can worship different deities at different times according to their need.

Polytheism then is in direct contradiction to the scriptures, particularly in Genesis chapter one.  Over and over again we see that Elohim was the creator and the only God.

The next point to discuss is materialism.  Materialism is a human philosophical invention.  Materialism is the belief system that matter is the only reality.  The main tenet of the materialist is that matter, left to itself, produced all things.  The universe was randomly formed by the organizing of materials already in the cosmos.  Life was eventually formed by purely natural means.  Materialism continues that since matter produced all things that includes man and his brain.  Over time this brain then imagined the idea of things supernatural, which includes the idea of the spiritual realm, of God, gods, of eternal life, and so forth.

Materialism is unavoidably atheistic.  The theory of materialism is its own enemy and is fatalistically flawed because it denies any purpose; everything is reduced in importance to mere chance.  The only source for understanding materialism is human thought.  Therefore materialism is only defined by the brain which was formed by random materials.

The final point of discussion is evolution.  Evolution is defined from the Latin term evolution meaning “unfolding”.  Evolution first appeared about 900 BC so it is a late theory.  There are many different fields of evolution, but in considering evolution in light of Genesis, this discussion is centered on biological evolution.  From the evolutionist point of view life came from the non-living (materialism).  Life was not there then suddenly all materials came together and life appeared.  That is called spontaneous generation.  The evolutionist will not define where the materials originally came from, just that it did and it became an accepted fact.  This is the point of beginning for the evolutionist.  Life just started and then began evolving.  In order to have an evolving species life must have begun.  There is no stake in the sand, just the idea that life happened by natural means not through a supreme being.

Evolution and Genesis are in direct opposition to each other.  On the one hand the evolutionist believes life came from non-life materials that were already in the cosmos.  The creation account in Genesis chapter one defines that God created everything ex nihilo, out of nothing.  No materials floating around for God to use.  God spoke the worlds into space and time.  God spoke and plants, animals and man were created, ex nihilo.  Creation says there is a supreme being that created.  Evolution says there was no creator, just material.

Conclusion

In the first verse of the first Book of the Bible we have the confirmation of God.  “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.”  This first verse rebuts atheism because it explains the existence of God.  It rebuts polytheism as it explains that there is one God.  It rebuts materialism, for it shows that God created the materials in creation.  And finally it rebuts evolution as God created the animals and man.  God did not leave it to chance.