Believe (Faith) - Part 2

John 4:39-42

From that city many of the Samaritans believed in Him because of the word of the woman who testified, "He told me all the things that I have done." So when the Samaritans came to Jesus, they were asking Him to stay with them; and He stayed there two days. Many more believed because of His word; and they were saying to the woman, "It is no longer because of what you said that we believe, for we have heard for ourselves and know that this One is indeed the Savior of the world." 

This is about the Samaritan woman who meets with Jesus at the well and He reveals things to her that no man would know except for God because He can see into a persons heart. Because of this, she perceives Jesus to be a prophet if not the Christ Himself. She goes into Samaria and shares with the Samaritans there that this man just told her things that no others person would know. Could this be the Christ that we have been waiting for? Because of this, the Samaritans come to Jesus and talk with Him. They stayed two days with Him and believed in His word (logos = Jesus' image).

Their response to the woman after they had spent some personal time with Jesus is, We now believe, not because of what you said but because of Jesus' word.

To believe in Jesus means to spend time with Him. Reading in His word and getting familiar with what He looks like. That is what Joe and I are talking over is the beginning image of Jesus. Spend time praying in the Name of Jesus and putting His word to practice.

Can we believe in Jesus if we don't get to know Him? Or do we just say we believe in Him because a woman at the well told us about Him? No, we have to BELIEVE in Him because we spent time with Him.

It will be better to say " I Believe in You Jesus because of Your word that I read and live by doing it and by talking with You and listening to Your Voice", then to say, "I believe in You Jesus because someone told me about you once."

Faith Study Part 1

I'm going to start by saying Faith is such a huge topic I am not going to put everything in one post as it would be too long and most people might not want to read a novel length posting. So this will be part one in the study of Faith.

Faith is a huge topic in the Christian community today and it very well should be. The word Faith comes from the Greek word peitho, it is used upwards of and if not more than 300 times in the New Testament alone; needless to say faith is very important.

Now that we have established its importance, what does it mean?

I used to believe that faith was just knowing in your heart that whatever you had faith in was true and certain. Websters gives a similar definition: "a firm belief in something in which there is no proof". This I believe is what a lot of people may view as faith, a firm belief. While that is not wrong the Bible shows that there is so much more involved in faith than just knowing in your heart of hearts that something is true.

Throughout the Bible faith (peitho) is translated into various English words: persuaded, believed, obey, agree, trusted, having made a friend, assured, have confidence, committed, and faith. The Anglo Saxon word for faith is actually translated "by life" So faith is more than just knowing, it is living what you know. There is a funny fictional story that gives a great example of what true faith is:

There was a tightrope walker, who did incredible aerial feats.  All over Paris, he would do tightrope acts at tremendously scary heights. Then he had succeeding acts; he would do it blindfolded, then he would go across the tightrope, blindfolded, pushing a wheelbarrow.

An American promoter read about this in the papers and wrote a letter to the tightrope walker, saying, "Tightrope, I don't believe you can do it, I would like to challenge you to do your act over Niagara Falls."

Now, Tightrope wrote back, "Sir, I'd love to come."

Tightrope was to start on the Canadian side and come to the American side. He comes across the rope which is suspended over the treacherous part of the falls -- blindfolded!! And he makes it across easily.

The crowds go wild, and he comes to the promoter and says, "Well, Mr. Promoter, now do you believe I can do it?"

"Well of course I do. I mean, I just saw you do it."

"No," said Tightrope, "do you really believe I can do it?"

"Well of course I do, you just did it."

"No, no, no," said Tightrope, "do you believe I can do it?"

"Yes," said Mr. Promoter, "I believe you can do it."

"Good," said Tightrope, "then you get in the wheel barrow."

Now I know this is just fictional but it shows true faith is doing more than just saying "I believe", it's about you being living proof of the faith you have within yourself.

Hebrews 11 is what some might call the "Faith Chapter" and rightly so, it has at least 26 uses of faith within that single chapter. I want to encourage you to read the entire chapter yourself because there are a lot of neat things listed in here and if you have time go back and read some of the stories about these faithful servants that are throughout the Old Testament.

Hebrews 11 starts of by explaining what faith is: "Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not yet seen." in verse 6 it says that "without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is and He is a rewarder of those who seek Him"

Faith: the assurance (confidence, steadfastness of mind) of things hoped for, and the conviction (proof) of things not yet seen.

• The hope is actually speaking about salvation; the return of Christ, that is what our hope should be in. [We can cover that at another time].
•  And we need to have a conviction of things we can not yet see.
• We were not here on the earth to witness Jesus Christ personally but in Acts 17:31 it says that God has furnished proof to all men by raising Jesus from the dead.
• Where does this proof come from?
• In short it is from the Holy Spirit. If Jesus didn't go to the Father (wasn't resurrected) then the Holy Spirit would not be here for mankind to be able to obtain (John 14 talks about this). So although Jesus isn't here in His flesh walking on the earth we are still able to have that conviction or proof in Him through the Holy Spirit.

Faith is a must have; without it we are not even able to please God. We have to believe that He is and that He is a rewarder of those who seek Him.

Next time we will go into some examples of faith to see what true faith looks like and go into some of the stories that are listed in Hebrews 11. If you want to look into some of those ahead of time and share what the Lord shows you we would love to hear it.

Repentance Study - What is it?

What is Repentance or what does it mean to Repent?

In the Greek the word Repentance is Metanous. It is actually two words together.
Meta = change
Nous = mind

Repentance = to change your mind

Hebrews 6:1 tells us to change our mind away from dead works.

I was talking to my brother Joe about this and one of his favorite scriptures on this is in Isaiah. It paints a pretty full picture of what God means about repentance.

Isaiah 55:6-9
(6) Seek the LORD while He may be found; Call upon Him while He is near. (7) Let the wicked forsake his way And the unrighteous man his thoughts; And let him return to the LORD, And He will have compassion on him, And to our God, For He will abundantly pardon. (8) "For My thoughts are not your thoughts, Nor are your ways My ways," declares the LORD. (9) "For as the heavens are higher than the earth, So are My ways higher than your ways And My thoughts than your thoughts.

1. First thing to DO is SEEK the LORD while He may be found. (this implies that there will be  a time when He will not be found-the door will be shut)

2. Call upon Him while He is near. (what do you know about calling on the name of the Lord?)

3. Let the wicked forsake his way and the unrighteous man his thoughts and let him return to the LORD (this is REPENTANCE! A man that forsakes his own way and turns back to God's way.)
    Note: To return to the LORD means that we would have been with Him at one time.

4. Gods ways and thoughts are higher then ours. He tells us this. What is the best way to know what Gods thoughts are?

    Start asking Him questions (praying) and seeking after Him (reading) and you will come to a door... start knocking.

Why do we build a foundation?

This may seem like a silly question but why do we build a foundation? Growing up in Sunday school I use to sing that song "a wise man built his house on the rock..." but what does that mean and how can we do that? 

Matthew 7:24-27

(24) "Therefore everyone who hears these words of Mine and acts on them, may be compared to a wise man who built his house on the rock. (25) "And the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and slammed against that house; and yet it did not fall, for it had been founded on the rock. (26) "Everyone who hears these words of Mine and does not act on them, will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand. (27) "The rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and slammed against that house; and it fell—and great was its fall."

You have two people here that hear the word (logos - image of Jesus). Person one Jesus compares as a wise man because he built his house on the rock. His house was founded on the rock. How did he do this? He heard the WORD and ACTED on it. If you read the Bible and do not do what Jesus says, Jesus calls them foolish. 

So what are we to ACT on? What is the WORD? - God will not leave you hanging...

Hebrews 6:1-2

(1) Therefore leaving the elementary teaching about the Christ, let us press on to maturity, not laying again a foundation of repentance from dead works and of faith toward God, (2) of instruction about baptisms and laying on of hands, and the resurrection of the dead and eternal judgment.

In the Greek the word teaching is the word LOGOS, the same word in Matthew 7:24 "word". And its interesting that this word is elementary which is the word arche in the Greek, meaning chief, beginning, corner, first. Its like school, you start with elementary school before high school. Jesus tells us to ACT on these elementary principles.

1. Repentance away from dead works

2. Faith on God

3-5. Doctrine of baptism(s)

6. Laying on of hands

7. Resurrection of the dead

8. Eternal Judgment

These are the foundations we are to build our house on. If we fail to do this, our house (life) will perish. But praise God that He made this easy. First thing we must DO is just change our mind and start seeking the LORD!

Sheep or a Goat

Matthew 25:31-46

"But when the Son of Man comes in His glory, and all the angels with Him, then He will sit on His glorious throne. "All the nations will be gathered before Him; and He will separate them from one another, as the shepherd separates the sheep from the goats; and He will put the sheep on His right, and the goats on the left. "Then the King will say to those on His right, 'Come, you who are blessed of My Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. 'For I was hungry, and you gave Me something to eat; I was thirsty, and you gave Me something to drink; I was a stranger, and you invited Me in; naked, and you clothed Me; I was sick, and you visited Me; I was in prison, and you came to Me.' "Then the righteous will answer Him, 'Lord, when did we see You hungry, and feed You, or thirsty, and give You something to drink? 'And when did we see You a stranger, and invite You in, or naked, and clothe You? 'When did we see You sick, or in prison, and come to You?' "The King will answer and say to them, 'Truly I say to you, to the extent that you did it to one of these brothers of Mine, even the least of them, you did it to Me.' "Then He will also say to those on His left, 'Depart from Me, accursed ones, into the eternal fire which has been prepared for the devil and his angels; for I was hungry, and you gave Me nothing to eat; I was thirsty, and you gave Me nothing to drink; I was a stranger, and you did not invite Me in; naked, and you did not clothe Me; sick, and in prison, and you did not visit Me.' "Then they themselves also will answer, 'Lord, when did we see You hungry, or thirsty, or a stranger, or naked, or sick, or in prison, and did not take care of You?' "Then He will answer them, 'Truly I say to you, to the extent that you did not do it to one of the least of these, you did not do it to Me.' "These will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life."

 In the previous post we talked about how ALL mankind is going to stand before Jesus and be judged by Jesus according to their deeds. In Revelation 20:11-14 it talks about the books that Jesus is going to judge out of according to their deeds. In this context of Scripture, all men are broken into two groups. 

First Group = Sheep

Second Group = Goats

The Sheep go on the right and they are blessed of God the Father and will inherit the kingdom. Why is this? Lets see:

Jesus says to those on the right:

1. For I was hungry, and you gave Me something to eat;

2. I was thirsty, and you gave Me something to drink;

3. I was a stranger, and you invited Me in; 

4. Naked, and you clothed Me;

5. I was sick, and you visited Me;

6. I was in prison, and you came to Me.

The Righteous will answer:

Lord, when did we do all these things... Notice its the righteous...

Jesus says to those on His left:

Depart from me accursed ones in the eternal fire. Why...because they did not do these things...These will go into eternal punishment but the RIGHTEOUS into eternal life.

Sum up:

Those on the Right = Sheep

Sheep = those that are  righteous and they do the 6 things above that Jesus says we are to do.

Righteous Sheep enter into eternal life (Gods Kingdom) 

So where does ONLY having FAITH fit into this? Those accursed ones call Jesus Lord. Yet, they were considered goats. If ALL we had to do was to believe in Jesus as our Lord and do nothing else, our faith is DEAD! 

James 2:26 (14-26)

For just as the body without the spirit is dead, so also faith without works is dead. 

Remember what our commanded task given by Jesus was to do - Go out into all the world and make disciples, baptizing them in My Name! Search it out.

• WE CAN NOT ENTER INTO GODS KINGDOM (ETERNAL LIFE) BY FAITH ONLY! 

• THIS IS DEAD DOCTRINE AND IS COMMONLY FED AS TRUTH. 

• IF THIS WAS THE CASE, THE BIBLE WOULD BE MUCH SMALLER THEN IT IS. TO MOST IT IS SMALL BECAUSE THEY DO NOT READ IT.

Matthew 7:13-14

"Enter through the narrow gate; for the way is broad that leads to destruction, and there are many who enter through it. "For the gate is small and the way is narrow that leads to life, and there are few who find it.

Jesus Himself says that there are few that find the way to life. Many people today think they have found this, yet most don't read what Jesus says. They only listen to their pastor or priest that may be saying things that don't exist in the Scriptures.

The only way to prove out what your teacher is saying to you is to look into it yourself. Seek ye out of the book of the Lord and read! Prove what your pastor is saying is either truth or his own ways. That is what a true disciple is. 

Are you a sheep? 

Or are you a goat?

Will we be Judged by our Works?

In the previous post we talked about what followers of Jesus are to DO. Jesus gave instruction to His disciples when He was on earth. Then Jesus gave them more instructions right before He was taken up to heaven.

It says that we will all stand before God and give an account of our deeds and our words.

Matthew 12:36 - "But I tell you that every careless word that people speak, they shall give an accounting for it in the day of judgment.

Romans 14:12 - So then each one of us will give an account of himself to God. 

1 Peter 4:5 - but they will give account to Him who is ready to judge the living and the dead.

So each of us is going to give an account before Jesus who is going to judge the living and the dead on the day of judgment. A lot of people use this to scare people. And it could be scary unless you have your name written down in the Book of Life.

Revelation 20:11-15

Then I saw a great white throne and Him who sat upon it, from whose presence earth and heaven fled away, and no place was found for them. And I saw the dead, the great and the small, standing before the throne, and books were opened; and another book was opened, which is the book of life; and the dead were judged from the things which were written in the books, according to their deeds. And the sea gave up the dead which were in it, and death and Hades gave up the dead which were in them; and they were judged, every one of them according to their deeds. Then death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire. This is the second death, the lake of fire. And if anyone's name was not found written in the book of life, he was thrown into the lake of fire. 

So ALL are going to be before Jesus, even the dead. And there are going to be books and the dead will be judged from them, according to their DEEDS. It then says death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire = second death. AND IF ANYONES NAME WAS NOT FOUND WRITTEN IN THE BOOK OF LIFE, HE WAS THROWN INTO THE LAKE OF FIRE.

God wants no man to perish but all to come to repentance. Repentance or changing your mind away from dead works. The deeds that are going to lead to the lake of fire. God is looking for man to do deeds that lead to life. We will go into these next.

Something to chew on: Did you know that there are going to be TWO Resurrections? And those who are of the first resurrection will not be effected by the second death = lake of fire.
Read it for yourselves: Revelation 20:4-6

Instructions to Jesus Disciples

What is a job of a Christian? Or lets rephrase that and just talk about what job or instruction Jesus gave His disciples while He was on earth. Remember a disciple is someone that is learning or is a student.

Matthew 10:1 - Jesus summoned His twelve disciples and gave them authority over unclean spirits, to cast them out, and to heal every kind of disease and every kind of sickness.

Jesus gives authority! This word authority is the word exousia - power, authority, right, liberty, jurisdiction, strength. Jesus gave His disciples the power or right over unclean spirits and to cast them out, and to heal people of diseases and sickness. Interesting that Jesus gives this to someone, not a man, not a certificate or anything like that. Its Jesus that gives someone this right. Lets keep reading.

Matthew 10:5-15 - These twelve Jesus sent out after instructing them: "Do not go in the way of the Gentiles, and do not enter any city of the Samaritans; but rather go to the lost sheep of the house of Israel. "And as you go, preach, saying, 'The kingdom of heaven is at hand.' "Heal the sick, raise the dead, cleanse the lepers, cast out demons. Freely you received, freely give. "Do not acquire gold, or silver, or copper for your money belts, or a bag for your journey, or even two coats, or sandals, or a staff; for the worker is worthy of his support. "And whatever city or village you enter, inquire who is worthy in it, and stay at his house until you leave that city. "As you enter the house, give it your greeting. "If the house is worthy, give it your blessing of peace. But if it is not worthy, take back your blessing of peace. "Whoever does not receive you, nor heed your words, as you go out of that house or that city, shake the dust off your feet. "Truly I say to you, it will be more tolerable for the land of Sodom and Gomorrah in the day of judgment than for that city.

So Jesus gives His disciples power to DO things. He also gives them specific instructions:
1. Do not go to the Gentiles but to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.
2. Preach that the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand.
3. Heal the sick,
4. Raise the dead.
5. Cleanse the lepers.
6. Cast out demons.

These are instructions that Jesus' disciples were told to DO. Interesting that Jesus told them to preach the Kingdom of Heaven. We have been seeing this phrase repeated a lot at the beginning of the gospels. But notice too that Jesus never says anything about going out to tell people to ask Jesus as their personal Lord and Savior, He tells them to talk about God's Kingdom where Jesus is Lord! Jesus gives them SPECIFIC instructions.

Matthew 3:2 - Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand. - John the Baptist, man sent from God

Matthew 4:17 - From that time Jesus began to preach and say, Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand. - First thing Jesus starts talking about in HIs public ministry is repenting or in other words, telling people that they are going to have to change their minds from their own dead ways. FIRST THINGS FIRST.

Matthew 10:7 - And as you go, preach, saying, 'The kingdom of heaven is at hand. - First thing Jesus tells His disciples to go out and tell people about. Are you seeing a pattern yet?

Here are other mate Scriptures that go along with how Jesus sent out His disciples.

Mark 6:6b-13
Luke 9:1-6
Luke 10:1-20

Something I have heard too was that this was just referring to those disciples. This isn't something you or I need to do today. Thats why God made pastors and preachers right? To do that for us? Lets look at the LAST thing Jesus says before He is taken back into heaven to be seated at the right hand of God the Father. 

Matthew 28:16-20 - But the eleven disciples proceeded to Galilee, to the mountain which Jesus had designated. When they saw Him, they worshiped Him; but some were doubtful. And Jesus came up and spoke to them, saying, "All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth. "Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age."

• Jesus has been given ALL AUTHORITY (same word that Jesus used to give His disciples - exousia) has been give to Him in heaven and on earth.  

• We are told to: "Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I commanded you;

Mark 16:15-18 - And He said to them, "Go into all the world and preach the gospel to all creation. "He who has believed and has been baptized shall be saved; but he who has disbelieved shall be condemned. "These signs will accompany those who have believed: in My name they will cast out demons, they will speak with new tongues; they will pick up serpents, and if they drink any deadly poison, it will not hurt them; they will lay hands on the sick, and they will recover."

Again, specific instructions:

1. Go into all the world and preach the gospel (this gospel is the kingdom of heaven!)

2. Believe in Jesus

3. Be baptized (in Jesus' name)

(note: that JESUS SAYS these two things combined equal salvation)

And even similar signs accompany those that go out in His name just as His disciples did earlier. 

So what is a duty of a disciple or Christian? Study these out and see what the Lord shows you. Ask yourself if where you are going to learn about Jesus is talking about these things. These are still active and Jesus' disciples should be DOING these things. 

Next we'll look at why these things are so imperative to take part in. 

Remember to be diligent to present yourself approved to God as a workman who does not need to be ashamed, accurately handling the word of truth.

What is a Christians Job?

Yesterday afternoon I jumped in my car and the radio was on from that morning. I started listening to the guy on the other side talk about statistics of Christians. There were five general catagories . It went something like this:


8/10 Christians - told others that they were Christians
7/10 Christians - did not believe in all of the Bible but only parts of it
2/10 Christians - were considered "born again" or saved
1/10 Christians - actually went out and told others who they thought were not saved about Jesus and to accept Him as their Savior


The man speaking was very surprised at these stats. I mean he couldn't believe how many didn't believe that all of Gods word (Bible) was true and that they liked to pick parts out that pleased them. But out of all of this, how many actually went and told others about Jesus.


So this got me thinking...do Christians know that they have a job? Or do we think that our job is church on Sunday and maybe a Bible study in the middle of the week (if we have time)? 


What this also got me thinking about is how many people go to church on Sundays and actually want to DO something. They want to go out and share the message but they just don't know what to share. I mean where do you go or what do you talk about once you told someone to ask Jesus in their heart? What do you build on after that? Maybe what actually is happening is the pastor or minister is not empowering the church to DO. But guess what, Jesus will! Its actually commanded, did you know that? 


All mankind will be judged on whether we did the LORD Jesus' work! This is a good thing if you are doing it. We are going to take a look at what Jesus requires of His true disciples!

Bearing Fruit Part Two

Matthew 3:2 (1-12) - Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.
 (v.8) Therefore bear fruit in keeping with repentance. 


John the Baptizer is telling us that we need to bear fruit for the kingdom of God.


Matthew 21:43 (33-43) - Therefore I say to you, the kingdom of God will be taken away from you and given to a people, producing the fruit of it.


Vineyard = The kingdom of God
Vine Growers = Chief Priests and Pharisees
Slaves = Prophets proclaiming repentance
Son = Gods only begotten Son, Jesus


The kingdom of heaven is only for those producing the fruit of it. This fruit comes by the way of repentance first.


Changing our mind and what we think is the right way to what Gods way is. This is the only way to start bearing good fruit. And that starts by seeking God by reading His word. 


The context of Matthew 21:33 starts off "Listen to another parable." Did you know that all the time Jesus talked about the kingdom of heaven or the kingdom of God, it was spoken in parables to the crowds? Not ONCE does Jesus reveal what the Kingdom of Heaven/God is in the gospels. It is talked about over 80 times yet, not explained what it is. But it is the first reason John the Baptist says we have to repent for. Jesus says the same thing. 


Do you hear about the kingdom of God in church today? If so, what do you think it is?
 

The True Teacher of the Bible = Holy Spirit

Joe mentioned some interesting things about commentary and how many books are about the Bible but the Bible itself, people have laid aside. 

But something interesting that Joe mentioned was that Moses was a man of God and he would listen to God and say exactly what God would command him. Do you know who God deemed the most humble man that walked on the face of the earth to be?...
Moses (Numbers 12:3)

Very interesting...Something God gave Moses to help him out in leading Israel was the Holy Spirit or Gods Spirit. Lets look at this:

Numbers 11:17 (16-30) I encourage you to read this whole context on your own. I am going to highlight the verses that I found to be interesting...

(v.17) "Then I will come down and speak with you there, and I will take of the Spirit who is upon you, and will put Him upon them; and they shall bear the burden of the people with you, so that you will not bear it all alone.

Basically Israel wanted more then just manna, they wanted meat. They complained against Moses and in turn complained against the LORD. The LORD is going to give Moses some help by giving him 70 elders from among the tribes of Israel. The LORD notes that He is going to take of the Spirit that is upon Moses and place it upon these 70 elders to help carry the burden. So the Spirit will help carry burdens.

(v.25) Then the LORD came down in the cloud and spoke to him; and He took of the Spirit who was upon him and placed Him upon the seventy elders. And when the Spirit rested upon them, they prophesied. But they did not do it again. 

Here is something else that is interesting, not only will the Spirit help carry burdens but when the Spirit is upon someone, it says they can prophesy!

(v. 29) But Moses said to him, "Are you jealous for my sake? Would that all the LORD'S Spirit people were prophets, that the LORD would put His upon them!" 

Moses' response was that he wishes the LORD would put His Spirit on all the people. Interesting statement if you ask me. Remember this is the most humble man that walked on the face of the earth. It says that Moses would talk face to face with God. Yet he wished that all men would have the Spirit and prophecy.

One thing I always saw in church was the same man up at the front. It was 98% of the time the same guy up there. The other 2% were other qualified members of the church that could speak in the front of the church. Let me ask you, do they have the same heart that Moses had? Do they want all men to have the Spirit of God? The Body of Christ is not a "one man show". It says that Jesus is the head and that there are "MANY MEMBERS". If you see the same man up at the front all the time, ask yourself, who is truly the head of the church? You may be looking at him.

There was a connection from the LORD to Moses and to the sons of Israel.

Moses was given a Helper to help him lead the sons of Israel to follow the LORD GOD.

John 14:15-21

"If you love Me, you will keep My commandments. "I will ask the Father, and He will give you another Helper, that He may be with you forever; that is the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it does not see Him or know Him, but you know Him because He abides with you and will be in you. "I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you. "After a little while the world will no longer see Me, but you will see Me; because I live, you will live also. "In that day you will know that I am in My Father, and you in Me, and I in you. "He who has My commandments and keeps them is the one who loves Me; and he who loves Me will be loved by My Father, and I will love him and will disclose Myself to him."

• Jesus is going to give us a Helper, those of us who keep His commandment. This shows that we love Jesus. He is not interested in "lip service".

• The Helper = The Spirit of Truth

• If we do these things, Jesus will love us and we will be loved by God and Jesus will disclose himself to those that keep His commandments. He will make Himself known to them. (Keep this in mind, its going to come up shortly.)

John 14:25-30

"These things I have spoken to you while abiding with you. "But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in My name, He will teach you all things, and bring to your remembrance all that I said to you. "Peace I leave with you; My peace I give to you; not as the world gives do I give to you. Do not let your heart be troubled, nor let it be fearful. "You heard that I said to you, 'I go away, and I will come to you.' If you loved Me, you would have rejoiced because I go to the Father, for the Father is greater than I. "Now I have told you before it happens, so that when it happens, you may believe. "I will not speak much more with you, for the ruler of the world is coming, and he has nothing in Me; but so that the world may know that I love the Father, I do exactly as the Father commanded Me. Get up, let us go from here.

(v.26) - "But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in My name, He will teach you all things, and bring to your remembrance all that I said to you.

This is where it starts getting interesting...

• The Helper = the Holy Spirit, will be sent in the name of Jesus Christ. 

• He will teach you ALL things and help you remember ALL that Jesus says.

If the Holy Spirit is going to be sent in Jesus name, that means that man does not have the Holy Spirit to begin with. Think about that...

John 16:12-15 (context 1-15)
"I have many more things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now. "But when He, the Spirit of truth, comes, He will guide you into all the truth; for He will not speak on His own initiative, but whatever He hears, He will speak; and He will disclose to you what is to come. "He will glorify Me, for He will take of Mine and will disclose it to you. "All things that the Father has are Mine; therefore I said that He takes of Mine and will disclose it to you.

• The Spirit of truth will guide you into all truth.

Psalm 119:160 - The sum of thy word is truth and all of your righteous ordinaces are everlasting. 
The Holy Spirit is going to guide us through all of Gods word not leaving any out. If we take anything away from Gods word, its not truth. If we add anything to Gods word, it is not truth.
• The Spirit is going to take of what is Jesus' and disclose it to you. The Holy Spirit is going to share what Jesus' thoughts are to those that have His Spirit.

1 Corinthians 2:6-16
Yet we do speak wisdom among those who are mature; a wisdom, however, not of this age nor of the rulers of this age, who are passing away; but we speak God's wisdom in a mystery, the hidden wisdom which God predestined before the ages to our glory; the wisdom which none of the rulers of this age has understood; for if they had understood it they would not have crucified the Lord of glory; but just as it is written, "THINGS WHICH EYE HAS NOT SEEN AND EAR HAS NOT HEARD, AND which HAVE NOT ENTERED THE HEART OF MAN, ALL THAT GOD HAS PREPARED FOR THOSE WHO LOVE HIM." For to us God revealed them through the Spirit; for the Spirit searches all things, even the depths of God. For who among men knows the thoughts of a man except the spirit of the man which is in him? Even so the thoughts of God no one knows except the Spirit of God. Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, so that we may know the things freely given to us by God, which things we also speak, not in words taught by human wisdom, but in those taught by the Spirit, combining spiritual thoughts with spiritual. But he who is spiritual appraises all things, yet he himself is appraised by no one. For WHO HAS KNOWN THE MIND OF THE LORD, THAT HE WILL INSTRUCT HIM? But we have the mind of Christ.

• We speak wisdom that is from God, not man (which is passing away)

•This wisdom that is of God has been hidden but He has prepared if for those who love Him (keeping His commandments)

• GOD HAS REVEALED THEM THROUGH THE SPIRIT, FOR THE SPIRIT SEARCHES ALL THINGS, EVEN THE DEPTHS OF GOD!

• Even the thoughts of God no one knows except the Spirit! These things are freely given to us to know if we obey Gods commandments. If not, then you will not know what is hidden in God. Why do you think that there are so many books written about the mysteries of God? Why dont these authors of all these books encourage people to read the Bible? Its all in here, not out there. Maybe there are so many books and views about it because they are all taught by different men? You think if the Spirit had taught them, they would all come from the same point.

• THE THINGS WE SPEAK ARE NOT TAUGHT BY HUMAN WISDOM. WE DID NOT LEARN THEM FROM MAN OR MANS WISDOM BUT TAUGHT BY THE SPIRIT.

Remember, Jesus said that He was going to give us a Helper, the Holy Spirit, who is going to lead us into ALL truth and teach us ALL things and bring to rememberance ALL that Jesus says. The Spirit is ONLY given in Jesus' name. 

Did Jesus or any of His disciples go to school to learn? 

Acts 4:13 - Now as they observed the confidence of Peter and John and understood that they were uneducated and untrained men, they were amazed, and began to recognize them as having been with Jesus. 

Peter and John spent a lot of time at Jesus' feet listening. These men were uneducated and untrained. They did not go to seminary school and were not taught by men but by Jesus and these men had the Holy Spirit and were still learning even after Jesus left the earth. 

Acts 5:32 (12-42) -  "And we are witnesses of these things; and so is the Holy Spirit, whom God has given to those who obey Him." 

The Holy Spirit, who is going to teach us all things, is ONLY given to those who obey Jesus. 

If the Holy Spirit is given only to those who OBEY Jesus commandments. And is only sent in Jesus' Name. Then what is this commandment that we must obey that is invloved with Jesus Name?

Commentary and Bibles?

Have you ever found yourself at a Christian Book store, searching through the isles trying to find that perfect Bible in which you can just delve into and learn and build an intimate relationship with God? You walk through the doors and you are bombarded with big flashy signs of best selling Christian authors’ with books about how to get that relationship you always wanted, how to become a millionaire God’s way, or the Idiots guide through the Bible. You have to walk past all these books till you make your journey towards the back of the store to where you find that ever so dwindling section of Bibles. Now that you found the Bibles you are just sitting there searching through each one curious as which one is better than the other; wondering why there are so many different translations; what translation is the best; and then you start thinking you are in over your head; maybe I need one of those idiot guides to the Bible first before I get into the Word… Oh wait here I found the perfect Bible; it’s a study Bible and it has commentary that explains everything for me. It is like an idiots guide to the Bible in the Bible itself; PERFECT!

Now I am not trying to make fun of anyone, nor am I putting anyone down that has a Study Bible; it is one of the first Bibles I started out with and there are some that have handy geographical references in them. The problem I have found with Commentary Bibles is a lot of mans thoughts get brought into God’s word and I have even seen some that completely contradict the Bible.
I don’t know if people are familiar with what a page out of a commentary bible looks like but here is an example:

This is what the average page looks like half of it is scripture and then the other half is a man’s interpretation of what the scripture is saying. The definition of commentary is “The expression of opinions or explanations about an event or situation.”

So is commentary good or bad? We can look at scripture to see.

Deut 4:1-6 – God gave Israel statutes and judgments to perform so that they may take possession of the land in which God had given them. In vs. 2 He tells them “ You shall not add to the word which I am commanding you, nor take away from it, that you may keep the commandments of the LORD your God which I command you”,  those who held fast to the LORD God also staid alive.  Verse 6 is neat too because it shows that by keeping the statutes and judgments (just as the Lord spoke them; not adding or removing anything) it was their wisdom and understanding.

Deut 12:32 “Whatever I command you, you shall be careful to do; you shall not add to nor take away from it”

If you ever read about Moses it is really neat because the Lord would speak to him and then Moses would go and speak to the people word for word what God told him too. None of Moses’ thoughts were intertwined with what God wanted him to speak to the people.

Proverb 30:6 “Do not add to His words or He will reprove you, and you will be proved a liar”

Ecclesiastes 3:14 “I know that everything God does will remain forever; there is nothing to add to it and there is nothing to take from it, for God has so worked that men should fear Him”

In Matthew 24:35 Christ says “Heaven and earth will pass away, but My words will not pass away” so Christ’s word will never pass away, it will remain forever, we are not to add to it nor take away from it, but are to fear God.

Revelation 22:18-19 “I testify to everyone who hears the words of the prophecy of this book: if anyone adds to them, God will add to him the plagues which are written in this book; (19) and if anyone takes away from the words of this prophecy, God will take away his part from the tree of life and from the holy city, which are written in this book”

So is commentary adding to the Bible? I believe people need to make that judgment call on their own. I also believe people need to give themselves more credit than they do about their ability to understand the Bible. It is a mystery however; the neat thing about it if you are truly seeking after the Lord He will open your heart to act on the scripture. We can see an example of this in Acts 16:14 with Lydia. She was a worshipper of God and was listening and the Lord opened her heart to respond to things spoken by Paul. So God knows those that are truly seeking after Him and He will not disappoint. The Bible is written at the reading level of a 12 year old, it’s not a hard book to read; however, to really understand it you need to go to the Author of the Book. Just like any book out there to get what the author really meant its best to get the answers from the source.

2 Tim 3:16 “All Scripture is inspired by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness.

2 Peter 1:20 “But know this first of all, that no prophecy of Scripture is a matter of one’s own interpretation, (21) for no prophecy was ever made by an act of human will, but men moved by the Holy Spirit spoke from God.”

So I will end on this.

When you pick up your Bible next time to read; I encourage everyone to earnestly pray to God that His Holy Spirit would guide you into all truth and reveal His word to you. Start going to God for the answers and you will see the Bible like you have never seen it before. And remember this verse:

1 Peter 2:2 “Like newborn babies long for the pure (unadulterated) milk of the word, so that by it you may grow unto salvation”

Bearing Fruit - Part One

We are going to take a look in the Bible at what it means to bear fruit. First off, what is fruit? In the Greek it is the word - karpos - meaning fruit. It comes from a root word of harpazō which means to seize, carry off by force, to snatch out or away. Just like when you pluck an orange from an orange tree; you pick one out and pluck it off the branch.

We are going to look at a few places this word fruit is used and see what God has to say about it. First Scripture is in:

Matthew 3:1-12
Now in those days John the Baptist came, preaching in the wilderness of Judea, saying, "Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand." For this is the one referred to by Isaiah the prophet when he said, "THE VOICE OF ONE CRYING IN THE WILDERNESS, 'MAKE READY THE WAY OF THE LORD, MAKE HIS PATHS STRAIGHT!'" Now John himself had a garment of camel's hair and a leather belt around his waist; and his food was locusts and wild honey. Then Jerusalem was going out to him, and all Judea and all the district around the Jordan; and they were being baptized by him in the Jordan River, as they confessed their sins. But when he saw many of the Pharisees and Sadducees coming for baptism, he said to them, "You brood of vipers, who warned you to flee from the wrath to come? "Therefore bear fruit in keeping with repentance; and do not suppose that you can say to yourselves, 'We have Abraham for our father'; for I say to you that from these stones God is able to raise up children to Abraham. "The axe is already laid at the root of the trees; therefore every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. "As for me, I baptize you with water for repentance, but He who is coming after me is mightier than I, and I am not fit to remove His sandals; He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire. "His winnowing fork is in His hand, and He will thoroughly clear His threshing floor; and He will gather His wheat into the barn, but He will burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire."

So lets lay out some groundwork before we dive right into this. Who is this John the Baptist?

• He came preaching in the wilderness of Judea saying, "Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand." 

Wait just a minute! Why wasn't John in a church saying these things? How come he was out in the wilderness of Judea and why were people coming out to him?...

He was telling people the first thing that they needed to DO! REPENT! We talked about what this word is. In the Greek its the word Metanous meaning to change your mind. Why was John telling people to change their mind? Because the kingdom of heaven is at hand. What ever this kingdom of heaven is, man is going to have to change their mind to know about it. 

Here is a question: What are we suppose to change our mind from anyway? Lets turn to Hebrews 6:1 - Therefore leaving the elementary teaching about the Christ, let us press on to maturity, not laying again a foundation of repentance from dead works and of faith on God,...

We are actually suppose to repent (change our mind) away from dead works. An easy way for me to think about this is, Am I doing works or deeds that are going to lead to my death. And death is actually separation from God. Am I doing things that are keeping me away from God? We can go into this in more depth later. Lets get back to this fruit.


• John came to make ready the way of Jesus our Lord and to make His paths straight. So just think, everything John came doing, Jesus was going to follow in his footsteps. 


When John was out baptizing those that were coming to him, he noticed the Pharisees and Sadducees (the religious leaders of that day) coming for baptism. John tells them: "You brood of vipers, who warned you to flee from the wrath to come? "Therefore bear fruit in keeping with repentance;

Was John telling these religious figures that they needed to change their minds? In fact, he says that you should bear fruit in keeping with repentance. 

If we change our mind (from anything that keeps us from coming to God and remaining in God = dead works) we will bear fruit. These religious figures in Johns day and Jesus' day needed to repent and not rely on being sons of Abraham. 

In verse 10 it gets interesting...

"The axe is already laid at the root of the trees; therefore every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire.

Do you think that he is talking about tree trees? Or do you think that he is using trees as examples for people, like an analogy? 

Here is a Scripture in the Old Testament comparing trees as people. You tell me which one produced good fruit and why!


Jeremiah 17:5-9
Thus says the LORD, "Cursed is the man who trusts in mankind And makes flesh his strength, And whose heart turns away from the LORD. "For he will be like a bush in the desert And will not see when prosperity comes, But will live in stony wastes in the wilderness, A land of salt without inhabitant. 

MAN # 1 - CURSED
• He trusts in mankind
• His strength is in himself (his own flesh)
• His heart is far from God


This man is like a bush (tumbleweed - always driven by the wind) in the desert and will not see prosperity. He lives on stony wastes in the wilderness - hard ground. A land of salt and and all alone. - He might want to start changing his mind...

 

MAN # 2 - BLESSED

• He trusts in the LORD

• And whose trust is the LORD

• Tree planted by water (living water)

• Roots go down to the water (living water)

• Will not fear

• Leaves are always green

• And will not be anxious during a year of drought

• NOR CEASE TO YIELD FRUIT!

Which of these "men" bears good fruit and why?

We'll take a look at what Jesus says it takes to bear fruit next! 

Laying Groundwork

I am a disciple of Jesus. Meaning I am a student or I am learning about Jesus and His teachings. The word disciple in the Greek language is mathētēs - a learner, pupil, disciple. It comes from the root word manthanō - to learn, be apprised. I am learning about Jesus. 

I use to not be a disciple, meaning I did not read the Bible yet I called myself a Christian. So a Christian is a follower of Jesus Christ. This word Christian is used ONLY three times in the Bible. Today this word is made common. Many different religions call themselves Christians or followers of Jesus.  Some do not read the Bible at all and the other side; some thought that God didn't do a good enough job with the Bible that they had to add other books to make it better. So let me ask you a question, how important is it to read the Bible? I am going to share some groundwork Scriptures. Scriptures that I found while reading that were important to write on my heart. 

1.) Hebrews 11:6 (context 3-12) 

And without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is and that He is a rewarder of those who seek Him. 

• It takes FAITH to please God. Believing in something that you can not see.

• To come to God you have to BELIEVE that He is and will reward those who seek Him.

2.) 2 Timothy 3:16-17 (1-17) 

All Scripture is inspired by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness; so that the man of God may be adequate, equipped for every good work. 

• The whole Bible is inspired by God. This word inspired in the Greek is theopneustos. It comes from two root words: theos = God and pneo = Breathed. The Bible is actually hot off of Gods lips. And its purpose is for our training in becoming righteous and mature in God.

Here is another Scripture that goes along with this:

3.) 2 Peter 1:20-21 (12-21)

But know this first of all, that no prophecy of Scripture is 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. 

• NO Scripture is by one's own interpretation and no prophecy in the Bible was made by man's own will but men that were actually moved by the Holy Spirit spoke from God. Meaning God spoke, and the Holy Spirit would come upon a man and he would prophecy. And one proven FACT is that the Scriptures will not CONTRADICT each other. There are 66 books in the Bible and around 40 authors over a period of 1400 or so years. Most had never met each other. How can this be? Seek out of the book of the Lord and read and prove it out for yourself!
 

4.) Psalm 119:160 

The sum of Your word is truth, And every one of Your righteous ordinances is everlasting.

• Going back to elementary school - what does sum mean? The total amount resulting from the addition of two or more numbers, amounts or items. If you take 1+2+3+4 you get what?...10! Easy right? Well think of the Bible like this. The entire Bible as a whole is TRUTH and its all everlasting! So what would happen if we took a verse out of the Bible because that didn't fit our belief? What would you have? TRUTH? NO! God makes it very clear that His word is forever and that it shall not be taken apart. I encourage you to look this up! Here are some Scriptures on this:

Deuteronomy 4:2

Deuteronomy 12:32

Proverbs 30:6

Ecclesiastes 3:14

Galatians 3:15 

Revelation 22:18-19 -  I testify to everyone who hears the words of the prophecy of this book: if anyone adds to them, God will add to him the plagues which are written in this book; and if anyone takes away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God will take away his part from the tree of life and from the holy city, which are written in this book.

• Jesus states it very plainly that if we do not practice the TRUTH (the sum of Gods word) we will never come to the Light, which is Jesus. This is stated in John 3:21. This is in the same context of the most read and memorized verse in the Bible, John 3:16. Yet very few look beyond what they are fed at church. Church will not bring you to Jesus! Practicing the sum of God's word will bring you to Jesus. Less then 2% of church goers read the Bible and prove out what their "pastor" is feeding them. Did you know that the true Shepherd is Jesus! He is the one that is going to lead us to springs of living water! 

Ezekiel 34:11-16

For thus says the Lord GOD, "Behold, I Myself will search for My sheep and seek them out. "As a shepherd cares for his herd in the day when he is among his scattered sheep, so I will care for My sheep and will deliver them from all the places to which they were scattered on a cloudy and gloomy day. "I will bring them out from the peoples and gather them from the countries and bring them to their own land; and I will feed them on the mountains of Israel, by the streams, and in all the inhabited places of the land. "I will feed them in a good pasture, and their grazing ground will be on the mountain heights of Israel. There they will lie down on good grazing ground and feed in rich pasture on the mountains of Israel. "I will feed My flock and I will lead them to rest," declares the Lord GOD. "I will seek the lost, bring back the scattered, bind up the broken and strengthen the sick; but the fat and the strong I will destroy. I will feed them with judgment.

WHO DO YOU THINK THIS IS TALKING ABOUT?...

John 10 (entire chapter) will show you! This is a perfect example that the Scriptures are living! This will bring me to the next Scripture.

5.) Hebrews 4:12

For the word of God is living and active and sharper than any two-edged sword, and piercing as far as the division of soul and spirit, of both joints and marrow, and able to judge the thoughts and intentions of the heart. 

• Gods Word is living. It is the only book written by God and in it is life to those who read it and PRACTICE it.

6.) Isaiah 55:6-10

Seek the LORD while He may be found; Call upon Him while He is near. Let the wicked forsake his way And the unrighteous man his thoughts; And let him return to the LORD, And He will have compassion on him, And to our God, For He will abundantly pardon. "For My thoughts are not your thoughts, Nor are your ways My ways," declares the LORD. "For as the heavens are higher than the earth, So are My ways higher than your ways And My thoughts than your thoughts. 

• God tells us to seek Him while He may be found - there will be a day when He may not be found. The world does not have forever to seek after God. The Lord says as well that if we forsake our ways and return to God, He will have compassion and abundantly pardon or forgive us of sin! But the KEY is to turn from our ways and return to the Lord and His ways.

• Gods thoughts and our thoughts are not the same. He makes this perfectly clear in this verse. His thoughts are heavenly and ours are earthly. A word that we are going to look at is the word REPENTANCE. In the Old Testament they talked about returning to the Lord. When John the Baptizer came preaching, he used the word REPENT or REPENTANCE. It again is a two part Greek word - metanous. Meta = change and Nous = mind. We have to change our mind from our ways and thoughts and start looking at how God thinks.

If you have any other Scriptures that are your favorites and why they are your favorites, share them! We would love to hear them.

I encourage you to be as the Bereans in the book of Acts (17:10-15) that when Paul would share the word of God, they received it with eagerness and went back and examined them diligently each day to see whether these things were so. This is what a true disciple does!