Author: believersarmedanddangerous

Ever wonder how the pastor comes up with all those gems you hear on Sunday mornings?  Of course, besides God leading him, he’s been trained to study the Bible in ways most Christians weren’t.  I thought it would be good to lay out some ways to study your Bible so you can discover some of these gems yourself and learn more about the God we serve.

I’ll start with the simpler methods and progress over the next few weeks to some more detailed but and more rewording methods.

Bible study is a lot like mining for gold.  You can walk around the claim looking at the ground and maybe pick up a nugget or two here and there, but you don’t really glean the major rewards until you start digging.

Always start your devotions and studies with prayer.  That’s rule number one!  If you don’t you miss out on the author Himself explaining what you’re reading. (2 Pet. 1:21)

Your daily devotions can produce some nuggets just reading Scripture.  Let me suggest this to start with: if you are reading a portion of Scripture that speaks to you, go back to it after your devotions and paraphrase that passage.  It might be a single verse or an entire chapter, but put it in your own words.  This will make you look more closely at the passage which will naturally cause you to gain more information from it.

My favorite passage of Scripture is Jude 1:24-25.  It reads,

Jude 1:24-25 (NKJV)
²⁴  Now to Him who is able to keep you from stumbling, And to present you faultless Before the presence of His glory with exceeding joy,
²⁵  To God our Savior, Who alone is wise, Be glory and majesty, Dominion and power, Both now and forever. Amen.

If I were to paraphrase it, it might read something like this:

“Jesus can keep me from stumbling and will be thrilled to introduce me to the Father.  Jesus is God our savior, and I wish glory, majesty, dominion, and power to Him forever.”

So, pick a favorite verse or short passage and try this method today.  See if it doesn’t bring Scripture more to life, more to your heart.  Next week, we’ll grab a pick and shovel to dig a little deeper still.

 

“Do I have to go to church to be a Christian?”  Well, no.  The old saying still stands: “Going to church doesn’t make you a Christian anymore than going to McDonald’s makes you a hamburger.”  The church doesn’t make us Christians, but being a Christian should make us want to attend church.  We all have something to learn and something to offer in our Christian life (Heb. 10:24-25).  Church is where much of that takes place.  And if you’re not there, the church is lacking (1 Cor.12:21-26)

In The Truth Project , a wonderful  video series produced by Focus on the Family, Del Thacket points out that even God, the most self-sufficient being in existence, has community: the Trinity.  God is a God of community starting with marriage, family, friendship, even our day-to-day acquaintances, and for the Christian, the church.  We aren’t alone in this world nor are we alone in our faith.

When I speak of the church, I’m talking about the body of Christ, the total of believers (1 Cor. 1:2).  Your local Bible-believing church is a part of that body, but not all of it.  If your church isn’t a Bible teaching church, you should be looking elsewhere.

Jesus Himself speaks of the church as a natural expectation of His ministry (Matt. 16:18).  So, if Jesus expects the church to exist and be produced by His teachings, shouldn’t we take advantage of the body He has set up for us?

Jesus also acknowledges it as the place where Christians are held accountable (Matt. 18:17).  Paul tells us quite a bit about church life.  Here are just three points:

• We are to stir up one another with love and good works (Heb. 10:24-25)
• We are not to neglect gathering together with other believers (Heb. 10:24-25)
• How this is all supposed to work (Col. 3:16).

Just a couple of observations to close: our witness to the world is effected by how we act.  Someone who claims to be a Christian and doesn’t regularly attend church is seen as something of a hypocrite by the world.  Their witness fails.  James says our faith is seen by others through our acts, not our words (James 1:14-18).  While you don’t need to be at church every week, we all have things that come up – work, etc.  As Christians, though, we should seek out the fellowship and blessings we get from other believers.  If not, we and our church are losing out.

As usual, this post also appears as a page in the menu and includes the passages cited in full.

The Body of Christ

A lot of years ago now, I wrote a poem describing  the entire assembly of Christians past, present, and future.  The Bible calls that group the “body of Christ.”  The prayer mentioned was a simple childhood request for God to show Himself to me.  Please excuse the lack of proper structure and meter.  Here’s part of that poem:

As I look around the church today

I see dear friends of mine

Who show me through their lives and loves

God’s qualities divine.

 

In some I see the joy of God

His patience and His kindness.

While others share His love in Truth

To cure the world’s blindness.

 

With some it’s His authority

That comes bursting through

With others, His sense of humor

In the funny things they do.

 

If you’ve prayed a prayer like mine

On some dark and lonely night,

Just look around.  He’s wall to wall.

Behold the body of Christ.

The Body of Christ is not just a group of people with a common cause.  We are representatives of Christ to the world, whether individually or collectively.  We are His hands, His voice, His heart.

Just a few weeks ago I was challenged to prove the missionary organizations Christians support are actually doing what they claim.  I needed only to show him a copy of our church bulletin.  In it were announcements about people I knew headed to Brazil, the food bank we have for those who need a hand, the ministry to seniors, Operation Christmas Child, the Bible studies and prayer groups who meet to glorify God.  Our mission statement was there as well: to Win, Equip, and to Serve others.  In short, I showed Him the Body of Christ functioning as it should.

Billy Graham was once asked what it must be like to be at the head of the line to heaven.  He responded by saying there will be millions ahead of him we’ve never heard of who are praying earnestly, helping selflessly, and working silently day by day to further God’s kingdom.  We’re all different in our ministries (Rom. 12:4-8).  If you’re doing something you think is minor in God’s plan, remember, nothing goes unseen.  God doesn’t  grade on a curve but on obedience.  If you’re greeting, ushering, parking cars, sewing clothes for others in need, privately praying for the sick and homeless, sharing Christ with someone on an elevator, publically evangelizing, teaching a Sunday School class, or preaching from the pulpit, you are worshipping God.  You are showing the world the physical representation of His hand.  You are an important part of the body of Christ.  If you ever feel weak and alone in this, remember He has given us the greatest Helper and Comforter of all, God the Holy Spirit (John 14:16-17).

As usual, an expanded version of this blog along with the Scriptures cited is available as a separate page in the menu.

We’ve all experienced conversations where we’re talking about one thing with someone and they think we’re talking about something totally different.

A couple of months ago, I was going to help someone at our church move.  We agreed to meet at the Name Brand Storage in town at 10:00.  I was at the storage place on time, but no one else was there.  I waited for some time then decided to check.  There were two Name Brand Storages in town.  I was at the wrong one.  Had I listened more closely to where we were going to meet and heard the correct address, I would not have ended up late and red faced.

Sometimes talking with someone about the Lord is the like that.  We think we both understand what the other is saying, but the truth is we don’t.  When you ask a cultist, “Do you know Jesus?” you’ll often hear, “My church teaches that we have to know Jesus to have eternal life,” or something similar.  That sounds very mainstream, but the truth is they define Who Jesus is as Someone very different than the Bible does.  There is another Jesus, a another Spirit, and another gospel.  Paul warns us of this in 2 Cor. 11:3-4.  If you have the wrong Jesus, you’re wrong enough to lose your soul.

To Jehovah’s Witnesses, Jesus is the Archangel Michael who is God’s first and greatest creation.  To Mormons, He’s one God among many gods.  To the United Pentecostal Church, He’s just one Hat that the one Person called God wears.  So, be careful how you define your terms.  A simple, “Who is Jesus to you?” will often reveal the difference, but not always.

When I talk with someone like I’ve described and they tell me they worship a different Jesus, I’ll ask them a series of short questions:

• If a man were to worship a tree, would you call him a Christian?
• If a man cut down the tree and carved it into the shape of an idol and worshipped it, would you call Him a Christian?
• If the man brought the idol into his house and worshipped it, would you call him a Christian?
• If he renamed the tree, “Jesus,” would he be a Christian?

Of course, the answer to each of these is, “no,” but it helps focus on the problem.  Just because you worship someone or something called, “Jesus,” doesn’t mean the Jesus you worship is the Jesus of the Bible, The Almighty God, second Person of the Trinity.

So, it’s good to check out what you’re talking about.  Define terms early in your discussion, and you are much less likely to walk away red faced.

 

 

How do we know the books of the Bible we have are the right ones?  Maybe you’ve heard this question or even asked it yourself.  After all, there are the “Lost Books of the Bible” or similar volumes published?  There have even been TV shows dedicated to the books which were not included in the Bible, the New Testament in particular.  I’ll focus on those of the New Testament for this post.

Some of these “lost” books are completely bogus.  Remember many if not all of the heresies we see today began back in the first three centuries of the Christian Church.  During that time a lot of books were written by false teachers to support those heresies.

There are others which have claimed to be part of the Bible throughout history.  So, you might ask, “How did we end up with the books we have today?”   Here’s how:

The early church used some wise tests and quality control to examine the books up for inclusion into the canon (set of inspired books) of Scripture:

• Did they have apostolic authority (were they written and/or supervised by apostles?)? Two of the gospels were written by apostles: Matthew and John.  Two were written by traveling companions of apostles: Mark, who traveled with Peter, and Luke who was Paul’s traveling companion.

Peter and John gave apostolic authority to their epistles.  Lastly, we have James and      Jude who were half-brothers of Jesus Himself.  Acts was written by Luke, and                Revelation was written by John.  So, we have apostolic authority throughout the          New Testament.

This test in particular eliminated some of the very earliest writings that were being    considered.  The Shepherd of Hermas, for instance was considered for inclusion in      the Bible but had no apostolic authority.

• Was the book in question accepted by the first and second century church as God’s Word. There may have been writings by the apostles which were not Scripture.  For instance, some scholars believe there was a third epistle by Paul to the Corinthian church which is not included in the Bible because it was not accepted as Scripture by the church even though it had apostolic authority.

 

• Any book being considered needed to relate exactly the teachings of Jesus and the apostles. The books in today’s Bibles were used by the early church for teaching.

There are partial lists of acceptable books supplied by a number of writers beginning in the second century with Irenaeus.  In his Easter letter of 367, though, Athanasius, the bishop of Alexandria, included a complete list of the very books we have in our New Testament today.

You might ask why it took so long to decide which books to include.  The church saw the task as more of a discovery than a decision, and a very few books were yet to be agreed upon.  James and Revelation were two of the last to be included in the official Church Canon.

Don’t get the idea that the very early church was not united behind the vast majority of the books we have today.  The gospels, Acts, Paul’s epistles, and others were accepted at the time of their writing or shortly after.  Peter points to Paul’s epistles as Scripture in his second epistle (2 Peter 3:15-16).  Paul was still alive at the time.

Could there be more books coming?  Probably not.  The book of Jude says the faith has been delivered once and for all to the saints (Jude 3).  Revelation tells us not to add or subtract from “this book” which many believe to be referring to the canon itself.   Because of this, we believe the canon of Scripture is closed.

Rest assured, the Bible you hold in your hand today has been stringently examined and tested to make sure all the books are divinely inspired and all the divinely inspired books are in the Bible.

 

As usual, an expanded version of this blog with the Scriptures cited can be found in the menu under Apologetics.

Before we get to that questions, many cultists believe the Holy Spirit isn’t even a Person let alone Almighty God.  The Holy Spirit, like Jesus (Phil 2:5-8) and the Father likewise (John 14:9), has humility as one of His attributes.  Since He also wrote the Bible (1 Pet. 2:21) it is difficult to see the traits of a person in the Scriptures.  Difficult, but not impossible; note the following:

• The Holy Spirit teaches: John 14:26
• He speaks: Acts 13:2
• He makes decisions: Acts 15:28
• He can be lied to: Acts 5:3-4
• He forbids: Acts 16:6-7
• He searches the things of God: 1 Cor 2:10-11
• He apportions spiritual gifts: 1 Cor 12:11
• He intercedes for us and has a mind: Rom 8:26-27
• He glorifies Christ: John 16:13-14
• He can be blasphemed: Mark 3:29
• He is eternal: Heb. 9:14
• He is omnipresent: Ps 139:7-10
• He is omniscient: 1 Cor 2:10-11
• He is omnipotent: Luke 1:35

 

So, the Holy Spirit shows the attributes of God.  Is he ever called God?  He is called God directly by Peter in Acts 5:3-4.

Has He ever acted as God?  He, along with the Father and Son, raised Jesus: Rom 8:11, Gal 1:1, John 2:18-22.

From what you see here, you should be able to share with anyone that the Holy Spirit is not only a Person but God Almighty, third Person of the Trinity.

 

As usual, an expanded version of this post is available on the menu — this will be under “Basic Doctrines” with all Scriptures cited included on the page.

A few years ago, a member of the Church of Christ came to my door and asked if I would like to join a Bible study they were starting.  As we talked, I saw she was from a particular sect of the Church of Christ which believes you needed to be baptized to be saved.  I thought I’d share why that just isn’t so.

The two obvious examples in Scripture are the thief on the cross and Cornelius.  The thief was promised salvation by Jesus (Luke 23:39-43).  When the soldiers came to kill Jesus and the two thiefs, they didn’t need to break Jesus’ legs because He was already dead, He had already died for the thief’s sins.  So, the thief was saved under the New Testament and without being baptized.

Cornelius and his family received the Holy Spirit, a sign of salvation, before they were baptized (Acts 10:44-48).

In 1 Cor. 1:14-17 Paul says he was glad he did not baptize many in the church at Corinth and that baptism is not a part of the gospel.  These passages are all evidence that baptism is not necessary for salvation.

Now we come to 1 Peter 3:21 which seems to say that water baptism saves you.  And, there is a very important point to make here.  When we come across a passage or two which seem to contradict the teaching of the rest of Scripture, we can be sure we are misinterpreting that passage(s).  In the Bible, baptism is always preceded by faith.  Baptism is also used to described a number of things in Scripture besides water baptism.  We are baptized into Christ Jesus and into His death (Rom. 6:3), for instance.  1 Cor. 10:1-5 speaks of the Israelites being baptized into Moses.  So, baptism is often used as a description of aligning with a person rather than an act.  1 Peter 3:21, no doubt tells us that accepting Jesus, faith in Him, saves us.  Water cannot do what the blood of Christ has done.

Then there is Mark 16:16 which says that those who believe and are baptized will be saved.  A couple of points to make here.  First, this passage of Scripture (Mark 16:9-19) is not in some of the earliest manuscripts, but it is in a few.  Some scholars believe it to be an addition or “note to self” by a very early copyist who was making a copy for himself.  When he lent it to a friend, the friend copied it into the text as if it were supposed to be there, and this was passed on through later copies.  So, these scholars don’t believe Mark 16:16 is actually Scripture.

I’d rather stand on the conservative side, though, and accept this as fully inspired until proven otherwise.  So, if we see that baptism is preceded by faith in Scripture, we should offer the same explanation here.  You are not saved if you don’t believe.  And if you believe, you should be baptized.

If baptism doesn’t save you, should you be baptized then?  Well, it’s a command of Jesus Himself (Matt 28:16-20).  And, throughout the book of Acts, we see the same pattern repeated: belief then baptism.  If you have yet to be baptized as a believer, it is something you should certainly consider as a public declaration of your new life in Christ.

 

As usual, the text of this post along with the full text of the passages cited are on the page by the same name, “Baptism”.  You can find that page in the menu.

One of the greatest fears in witnessing is that we might be asked a question we don’t have an answer to.  I’ve spent the last 40 years trying to find answers to the tough questions and still get stumped at times.  I have three observations that may help you when this happens:

1. If I’m asked a question I can’t answer, I will say, “Let me write that down and get back to you.”  This way the conversation can continue on another point, and you won’t be stuck on something you don’t know.  And, since you’ll be getting back to them, you’ll have an opportunity to discuss the Lord with them again.  It will also show them you’re not dodging the question so long as you do get back to them.  You can check with someone who might have the answer, contact this blog if you like, and give them a quick but thorough response.  If you won’t see them again for a while or ever, you can ask for their email address and contact them that way.  Get back to them as quickly as possible, though.  Slow responses imply uncertainty about the Truth.
2. John 14:26 says that the Holy Spirit will teach us and bring what we’ve learned to remembrance at times like these. So, if you’ve done your homework, don’t worry about it.  God wants to draw the lost to Him even more than you do.  There will still be times you are unable to answer, but there will be fewer and fewer of these as you study and share more and more.
3. Devine intervention. I have had this happen a few times in my witnessing.  I am caught flatfooted on a point that means a lot to the person I’m talking with.  God suddenly speaks to me and gives me the answer clearly and directly.  The last time this happened, I was talking to my Jehovah’s Witness friend, John.  JWs don’t believe Jesus was raised from death in His physical body but as a spirit and manifested bodies so the disciples could see Him and believe.  I was chipping away at this using Luke 24:38-39 when my JW friend said, “See.  He had to be a spirit since physical bodies can’t disappear and reappear at will.”  No matter what I said, John stuck to his guns.  Then God said to me, “What about Philip?” (Acts 8:34-40)  I was shocked at the clarity of the answer, so, I said to John just what God said to me: “What about Philip?”  John was visibly stunned by my question and conceded the point.

 

Like I said, this happens rarely, and it’s not a good idea to depend on it.  But, it’s sure exciting when it happens.

 

So, understand these techniques in your witnessing, and don’t worry that you’ll be asked a question you can’t answer.  God will supply just what you need to know.  If not, you can write it down and get back to them.

 

I drive my wife nuts at times when we stand in a line, like at the bank, and I strike up a conversation with the stranger standing next to us.  By the time we reach the window, I often know where the person grew up, how many kids and grandkids they have, plus a whole lot of other infomation, and they know the same about me.

How do I get so much information?  I ask questions and listen to the answers while looking as non-threatening as possible.  It almost always works, but there are times the person doesn’t want to share or doesn’t trust the strange man asking all the questions.

I follow the same process when I witness.  Let me give you an example.  I like to talk with Jehovah’s Witnesses, and when I meet them on the street or at my door, I’ll usually ask them something like, “I understand you believe Jesus was raised from the dead as a spirit creature.  Is that right?”  When I do this, they are more than happy to tell me all about how they believe Jesus was the angel Michael, how He became a good man, and how after His death became the Archangel Michael.

Let me tell you what I’ve done with my question.  First, I’ve directed the conversation to a topic they have very little support for and I have studied extensively.  Secondly, they don’t know what I believe yet, so they don’t usually feel threatened.  And thirdly, I’ve made them think.  This is key when talking with cultists in particular or with talking to most people, for that matter.

As the conversation with my JW friend progresses, I continue to ask questions about what they’ve just said to make them think about it and point out passages in the Bible which contradict their view.  “What do you do with John 2:18-22, then, where Jesus predicted He would raise His own body from the dead?”  Or I might point to Luke 24:38-39 and ask, “Was Jesus deceiving His disciples, then, in Luke where He said specifically that He was not a spirit and showed them His body with wounds in His hands and feet, and asked the disciples to touch Him, feel Him?”  Don’t be a jerk, though.  This is supposed to be done in love and with respect (1 Peter 3:15).

By this time, the typical JW will be on to me but the discussion has started.  She still has to struggle with the biblical text that refutes what the Watchtower organization has taught them.  I neve expect so see them drop to their knees, repent, and ask Jesus into their lives.  Our job is to plant and water.  It’s God Who brings forth the increase.

I first learned this method from the late Dr. Walter Martin, and Greg Koukl at Stand to Reason has since perfected it.  He calls it the “Colombo Method.”

This works with just about anyone, though, not just cultists.  “Why do you believe that?” is often a good opening question if someone says they support some atheistic or odd religious view.

So, next time you feel God is prompting you in a conversation, ask a question or two and see where He leads you.  You might just end up sharing the Gospel with someone who needs to hear it.

As usual, a copy of this blog post with footnotes provided is posted in the menu.

The Oldest manuscripts of the Old Testament that we have date from the second century BC.  The oldest complete book is the book of Isaiah in the Dead Sea Scrolls dates about 150 BC.  Prior to the discovery of the Dead Sea Scrolls in 1947, the oldest complete manuscripts of the Old Testament were found in Greek manuscripts of the complete Bible, Old and New Testaments, and those date to the fourth century AD.  So, you can see the discovery of the Dead Sea Scrolls pushed back the oldest discovered manuscript of the Old Testament by about 500 years.

The Oldest complete or nearly complete New Testament manuscripts are dated from the fourth century AD.  But, we have much earlier portions of the New Testament.  Up until recently, the earliest manuscript of any of the New Testament was the John Rylands Fragment which contained parts of five verses of John’s Gospel and is dated around 120 AD, about twenty to thirty years after the book of John is supposed to have been written.

Within the last few years a papyrus has been found with a portion of the Gospel of Mark.  This was found in an Egyptian mummy mask.  While the Pharoahs had masks of gold covering their faces, the nobles with less money had to use layers of papyrus sheets to create their masks.  Papyrus was extremely expensive, so sheets of used papyrus were used.  Some archaeologists have taken some of these masks and separated the layers with a process which enables them to read what was originally on the separate sheets.  One of the sheets contains a portion of the Gospel of Mark and is tentatively dated prior to 90 AD.  http://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/papyrus-found-mummy-mask-may-be-oldest-known-copy-gospel-180953962/

The Gospel of Mark is believed to have been written around 70 AD.  So, we have a portion of that gospel dated within 20 years of the original.  This lends to the reliability of the other later manuscripts which match the new find.  It also is dated within the “eyewitness period” where there are still people alive when this Egyptian manuscript was written who saw the risen Jesus, who could testify to it’s validity, and who were circulating it as far as Egypt.

Think of it this way.  The assassination of John Kennedy happened in 1963, 54 years ago.  There are still people alive today who were in Dallas when he was killed and could testify to any corrupt description of the events.  This manuscript of Mark is within 57 years of Jesus rising from the dead.  If it were not true, there were eyewitnesses alive at that time who could have refuted it.  That is the value of this portion of Mark, and that is what adds validity to Easter mornings when we say, “He is risen!  He is risen indeed.”