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October brings with it many changes. Along with the delightful weather, I look forward to Mike Gendron’s quarterly publication called ‘Proclaiming the Gospel’. This newsletter’s main article is on repentance. which has been addressed on a previous post. May you be blessed by his article: The Role of Repentance in the Salvation of Sinners.
I recently found an excellent resource for Bible study. Precept Austin is a web ministry that has a plethora of information! From commentaries to charts and hymns to maps, this site has anything you could possibly need to aid you in your study. Here’s the link: http://preceptaustin.org/
This past January I started studying the book of Daniel. I used Dr. John Walvoord’s commentary as my guide. It took me over eight months to finish, however, it was a thorough study. One of the aspects of Dr. Walvoord’s teaching that I truly appreciate is the fact that he includes interpretations from others that differ from his, while offering reasons why he disagrees with biblical support for his view. Very insightful. Here’s the link to that series: http://www.walvoord.com/series.php?series_id=24
Lastly, may I suggest you spend some quality time reading the latest from the Berean Call. Dave Hunt and T.A. MacMahon consistently point us to the truth of Scripture. Here’s their latest offering: http://www.thebereancall.org/node/8076
Have a blessed weekend!
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“For all the promises of God in him are yea, and in him Amen, unto the glory of God by us.”
(2 Corinthians 1:20)
The word “amen” is a most remarkable word. It is transliterated directly from the Hebrew into the Greek of the New Testament, then into Latin and into English and many other languages so that it is practically a universal word. It has been called the best-known word in human speech.
The word is directly related–in fact, almost identical–to the Hebrew word for “believe” (aman), or “faithful.” Thus, it came to mean “sure” or “truly,” an expression of absolute trust and confidence. When one believes God, he indicates his faith by an “amen.” When God makes a promise, the believer’s response is “amen”–”so it will be!” In the New Testament it is often translated “verily” or “truly.” When we pray according to His Word and His will, we know God will answer, so we close with an “amen,” and so also do we conclude a great hymn or anthem of praise and faith.
The word is even a title of Christ Himself. The last of His letters to the seven churches begins with a remarkable salutation by the glorified Lord: “These things saith the Amen, the faithful and true witness, the beginning of the creation of God” (Revelation 3:4). We can be preeminently certain that His Word is always faithful and true because He is none other than the Creator of all things, and thus He is our eternal “Amen.”
As our text reminds us, every promise of God in Christ is “yea and amen,” as strong and affirmation of truth as can be expressed in the Greek language.
It is, therefore, profoundly meaningful that the entire Bible closes with an “amen.” “The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you all. Amen” (Revelation 22:21), assuring everyone who reads these words that the whole Book is absolutely true and trustworthy. Amen!
Henry M. Morris, Ph.D
Days of Praise, Tuesday, June 16
From Good Morning, LORD!
QUESTION FOR THE DAY:
Dear Compass,I am being told that Jesus and God are the same. I believe that Jesus is God’s son, but not God. My son and I are two separate people/identities, yet we work together for the same cause. I just don’t see how Jesus is God. Why would He pray to himself? It seems that too many people say Jesus is God and they don’t mean it literally. Can you explain?
ANSWER:
Whenever you seek to understand doctrinal issues, it is important to use only the Bible for reference. If God is who He says He is, then He gave us an uncorrupted Bible to study (2Pet 1:21) just as if He were personally speaking to us (Heb 4:12).The Bible makes it clear that there is only one God: Isa. 45:5, “I am the Lord, and there is no other; Besides Me there is no God…” 1Cor 8:6 “…there is but one God…” Gal 3:20, “…God is only one.” 1 Tim 1:17 “…the only God,…” James 2:19 “You believe that God is one. You do well;”
Yet the Bible also presents God as the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. The Father- John 6:27, 1 Pet 1:2; The Son Jesus Christ- Matt 9:44, Col 1:17, John 5:27; The Holy Spirit- Acts 5:3-4, 1 Cor 2:10, John 3:5,6,8. In Matthew 28:19, all three persons are in one verse, “Go therefor and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit.” Notice the word “name” in the phrase “in the name of.” “Name” is singular, instead of “names,” which is plural, even though it is referring to three.
There are several direct and specific references to Jesus being God:
John 14:9 “…He who has seen Me has seen the Father;”
John 10:30 “I and the Father are one.”
John 8:58 “Jesus answered, ‘before Abraham was born, I am!’”
John 5:21 “Just as the Father raises the dead and gives them life, even so the Son gives life to whom He is pleased to give it.”
No doubt, the trinity is a difficult to grasp doctrine, and the Bible says so:
Phil 2:6 “although He (Jesus) existed in the form of God, did not regard equality with God a thing to be grasped,”
So, pray to God that He would give you a peace regarding basing your beliefs solely on scripture, the doctrine of the Trinity, and specifically, that Jesus is God.
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An excellent, quick Bible study from Good Morning, LORD! on hell…
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VERSE OF THE DAY: Matthew 25:30
. . . cast out the worthless slave into the outer darkness; in that place there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth.
THOUGHT FOR THE DAY:
Never let anyone tell you that God won’t send anyone to hell.
MINI BIBLE STUDY FOR THE DAY:
A cover of a past U.S. News and World Report boldly proclaimed that hell was “out of fashion” and that “modern thinking” says there is no longer a place of torment. Really? Can you believe a national magazine would actually print an article that says hell is not politically correct?! Even worse, clergyman after clergyman agreed. But we’ll leave that for another day.The Bible says that God is the same yesterday, today and forever (Heb. 13:8, Exod. 3:14). He never changes. Nor do His words. Jesus described hell as a place whose inhabitants are alive, in the dark, and in tremendous pain.
“. . . the fiery hell” Matt: 5:22; “soul and body in hell” (Matt. 10:28); “the unquenchable fire” (Matt. 9:43); “. . . outer darkness . . . weeping and gnashing of teeth” (Matt. 22:13)
Always remember, you are saved, by God’s mercy, FROM hell.
Matt. 23:33 “. . . how shall you escape the sentence of hell?”
Rom. 5:21 “. . . sin reigned in death, even so grace might reign through righteousness to eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.” PTL!
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From: Good Morning, Lord!
Verse of the day: 2 Peter 1: 20-21
. . . no prophecy of Scripture is a matter of one’s own interpretation, for no prophecy was ever made by an act of human will, but men moved by the Holy Spirit spoke from God
Thought for the day:
The Holy Spirit is the person of the Trinity who gave us the Bible.
Mini Bible study for the day:
The work of each of the three persons is of critical importance to believers. Jesus died to save us (John 3:16), the Father draws us to Himself and loves us (John 6:44; II Cor. 13:14), and the Holy Spirit interacts with us (I Pet. 1:2, Eph. 4:30).The Holy Spirit is a person, just as Jesus and the Father are (Luke 12:10; Acts 13:2, 15:28, 16:6,7). His most impacting work in believer’s lives is His permanent sealing of our salvation when He comes to live in our hearts (Rom. 8:11):
Eph. 1:13 “. . . having also believed, you were sealed in Him with the Holy Spirit of promise.”
Eph. 4:30 “. . . the Holy Spirit, by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption.”
And with the Holy Spirit comes “power” to do God’s will and “full conviction” when we don’t (I Thes. 1:5; Rom. 8:14).
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VERSE OF THE DAY: Matthew 16:18
(Jesus said) . . . you are Peter, and upon this rock I will build My church . . .
THOUGHT FOR THE DAY:
The church foundation is Jesus, not Peter.
MINI BIBLE STUDY FOR THE DAY:
Many in the Catholic church have been taught that this verse means Christ appointed Peter as the first Pope, and all subsequent Popes followed Peter’s charge. But a close look supports another translation.In the Greek, the word Peter is “Petros,” a person, masculine. But the word “rock,” “petra,” is feminine and doesn’t refer to a person but rather to Peter’s declaration one verse earlier that Jesus was the “Christ.” Jesus was saying that the truth Peter had confessed was the foundation upon which Christ would build His church.
Jesus simply made two different statements. “you are Peter’ and, “Upon this rock (change of gender, indicating a change of subject) I will build My church.” To accept the Catholic Church’s translation, you would have to translate this to basically say, “And I say to you, that you are Mr. Rock, and upon this, the Miss Rock, I will build My church. Clearly it was upon the deity of Christ, and not sinful Peter, that the church would be founded.
I Cor. 3:11 ~”For no man can lay a foundation other than the one which is laid, which is Jesus Christ.“~
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FROM: Good Morning, Lord!
Compass International www.compass.org
When I was a child I used to watch the clouds and try to see if their shapes resembled anything real like a horse or a dog. My children do the same thing. On a recent car ride, my son noticed a fluffy cloud and exclaimed that it looked like a dinosaur. I suspect most people have had similar experiences.
Clouds are in Scripture, too. Yesterday, during my Bible study of Daniel, I read in chapter 7 about one of Daniel’s visions.
“I was watching in the night visions,
And behold, One like the Son of Man,
Coming with the clouds of heaven!…”
(Daniel 7:13)
The study that I am using (Dr. John Walvoord’s) mentions that “The expression that He is attended by “clouds of heaven,” implies deity,” and references 1 Thessalonians 4:17. I am familiar with that particular Scripture as being where Paul speaks of the rapture, so I flipped over the it.
“Then we who are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And thus we shall always be with the Lord.”
(1 Thessalonians 4:17)
Fascinating! I had never made that connection before!
Later that same morning during our family devotions, the children and I were studying in the book of Numbers where we found another reference to a cloud!
“Now on the day that the tabernacle was raised up, the cloud covered the tabernacle, the tent of the Testimony; from evening until morning it was above the tabernacle like the appearance of fire.
So it was always: the cloud covered it by day, and the appearance of fire by night.”
(Numbers 9:15-16)
Cool beans! At this point I was beginning to get the picture!
So we did a little more searching. My reference for the word ‘cloud’ in this passage was for Exodus 40:34.
“Then the cloud covered the tabernacle of meeting, and the glory of the LORD filled the tabernacle.”
(Exodus 40:34)
The subtitle for this portion in my Bible is, ‘Shekinah glory fills tabernacle.’ Now I have heard the word ’shekinah’ before and knew that this was a Hebrew word meaning the radiance of God’s presence; His glory that would shine when He filled the tabernacle or temple. What I did not know was that it also represented the deity of Christ.
Continuing in Scripture, the children and I jumped over to Acts chapter 1 where Jesus ascends into heaven.
“Now when He had spoken these things, while they watched, He was taken up, and a cloud received Him out of their sight. And while they looked steadfastly toward heaven as He went up, behold, two men stood by them in white apparel, who also said, “Men of Galilee, why do you stand gazing up into heaven? This same Jesus, who was taken up from you into heaven, will so come in like manner as you saw Him go into heaven.”
(Acts 1:9-11)
And then we went to Revelation:
“Behold, He is coming with clouds, and every eye will see Him, even they who pierced Him…
(Revelations 1:7)
Clouds, in Scripture, point to God’s shekinah glory; Christ’s deity is represented in them, too.
I will never look at clouds the same way again…
“When I was a child, I spoke as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child; but when I became a man, I put away childish things.”
(1 Corinthians 13:11)
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Judy, over on The Simple Front Porch, has two lovely posts that I think will edify you today. You can read part 1 here and part 2 here.
May the LORD bless you today with these wonderful words of wisdom.
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During this season we have been studying the Gospel of Luke, focusing especially on chapters 1 and 2. Recently, we read about the angelic announcement of Jesus’ birth to the shepherds.
“Now there were in the same country shepherds living out in the fields, keeping watch over their flock by night. And behold, an angel of the Lord stood before them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were greatly afraid. Then the angel said to them, “Do not be afraid, for behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy which will be to all people…” (ch. 2 v. 8-10)
After the angels left them, the shepherds decided to ”go to Bethlehem and see this thing that has come to pass, which the Lord has made known to us.” (ch. 2 v. 15) The shepherds found Mary, Joseph and the Babe just as the angels had told them.
As the children and I kept reading, the next verse stood out to me.
“Now when they had seen Him, they made widely known the saying which was told them concerning this Child.”
(v. 17)
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I had an ‘Ah Ha’ moment! Shepherd Evangelists!
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These shepherds left Mary, Joseph and baby Jesus and told people what they had heard and seen! They spread the “good tidings of great joy!”
What an excellent example of what we, as Christians, should be doing everyday.
We can take a lesson from these shepherds:
Scripture does not say they waited until they developed a relationship with that person.
Scripture does not say they did a Bible study on the best evangelistic methods.
Scripture does not say they stood on a street corner with a bull horn.
Scripture does not mention any special training or questioning techniques.
These shepherds “made widely known.”
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Simple. Tell what the Lord has revealed: Christ Jesus, Emmanuel–God with us, our Savior, has come.
…just like the shepherd evangelists did.
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“They are of the world. Therefore they speak as of the world, and the world hears them.
We are of God. He who knows God hears us; he who is not of God does not hear us. By this we know the spirit of truth and the spirit of error.”
The Apostle John, in his first epistle, is writing to his ‘little children…so that [they]may not sin.” (ch.2 v.1) A significant portion of this letter is in the form of a warning. Warnings about enemies, apostates, Satan, and false teachers are all included.
In chapter four, he exhorts us: “Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits, whether they are of God; because many false prophets have gone out into the world.” (v.1)
Then John gives us a comparison in verses four and five. He first tells us that the false prophets are ‘in the world,‘ and ‘the world hears them.’ As opposed to those of us who ‘are of God…’ and ‘…know the spirit of truth and the spirit of error.’
So those who are in the world listen to the false teachers and accept their teachings. These people cannot/choose not to discern the error that they ‘hear.’ They do not compare the teachings to Scripture. (Acts 17:11) They just go along having their ears tickled.
Whereas those who are of God hear the teachings of Scripture and recognize the the difference between the truth and error. A key word in verse five is ‘know.’
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Word study from Vine’s Complete Expository Dictionary:
Know- from the Greek verb meaning “to be taking in knowledge, to come to know, recognize, understand,” or “to understand completely.”
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Christians should ‘know’ the difference between the world and its spirit of error and God and His spirit of truth.
“And we know that the Son of God has come and has given us an understanding, that we may know Him who is true; and we are in Him who is true, in His son Jesus Christ. This is the true God and eternal life.
Little children, keep yourselves from idols. Amen.“
(1 John 5:20-21)
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