THE ONE YEAR BIBLE CLUB

     WAS the Apostle Paul a Calvinist?  While we can debate all day long; as to whether Paul was a Calvinist in theory, more importantly is how he lived. And when we look at how he lived it appears more than anything, that he believed in Arminianism. Jacobus Arminius was a Dutch Pastor and Theologian who rejected his teacher's theology (John Calvin) that it is God who unconditionally elects some for salvation. Instead Arminius proposed that the election of God was of believers, thereby making it  conditional on faith . The scriptures that John Calvin used to prove his theory of "predestination" mostly, if not all, came from the Apostle Paul's writings.  No doubt many of Paul's writings do refer to the "elect in Christ" and those "whom God predestined and chose", but yet while Paul might have seemed Calvinist in theory, look at how he lived his life! For a guy who taught allot about "the elect" & predestined" he lived h...

   Paul, in his writing to the Corinthians opens up about this stigma, that he has had to live with. As hard as he has worked and as faithful as he has been, Paul is still not considered an "Apostle" within many circles. He is not regarded as being in the same class and group as Peter, James & John. They are the "Apostles".  Paul is like the black sheep of the Apostles, at best. Paul writes himself, "even if I am not considered an Apostle to others, I am to you!". In other words, "don't you start treating me like that too, enough is enough!". We think that to be able to flourish in our Church, to be able to flourish in the Kingdom of God, we have to be that Christian that everybody loves, everybody accepts and everybody thinks the best of. "It's easy for them, everybody thinks they're so great, let them try living with the stigma that I have to live under". Paul teaches us that we can flourish as a Christian, despite wha...

     DON'T be so free to exercise your freedoms lest you cause others to stumble, Paul warns us, what a lost concept this is. Actually it's not just a concept, it's a command. Paul goes on to write, "when you sin against your brothers by doing this and wounded their weak conscience, you sin against Christ."  It's almost as if God makes sure it is phrased like this, "you sin against Christ" because otherwise we would not change our behavior. If all the scripture said is that we sin against our brother, most would say, "oh well, to bad, he/she just needs to suck it up, grow up and mature. I believe God really knows human nature very well, doesn't he!       I have been a Christian for 20 years and have yet to meet a Christian that practices this.  Have you?  I have met the opposite. Christians who refuse to stop drinking, because it is their right to drink and nowhere in the bible does ...

     This is now the 2nd to 3rd time the Jews face opposition in the rebuilding project. Now it's coming through different individuals, this time it's the SanBallat & Tobiah team. It comes through mocking, gesturing and intimidation. Opposition is a formidable enemy. In the middle of all this opposition the people come to Nehemiah and say, "we can't do this". You'll notice they come to Nehemiah right after they agree to pray together and believe God. How many times have I prayed with people and agreed with them to believe God and then, the next week, "Pastor we/I can't do this". You'll notice when they come to Nehemiah and say "we can't do this" they mention nothing about the opposition, they mention nothing about Sanballat or the intimidation. They come up with another reason, "the people are tired and there is just too much rubble".  In other words, "this is too big a mess".  But it was always too big a...

   THE four steps and in this order always seem to be: 1. Prayer and Fast  2. Then Opportunity - Doors open  3. Opposition arrives on the scene.  4. To quit It takes enough energy to fast and pray, then we must conjure up more energy to press through with the opportunity, but at least we are where we wanted to be. It has taken a lot of mental, physical and emotional energy and steadfastness, but we are there, or so we think! NOW  the least expected (although I don't know why) hits us, OPPOSITION and that is more than most can handle. After all I've been through to get here, now there are people (we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities and wicked spirits in high places...) here that want to oppose me, why? "I'm tired of this, this is to difficult".  This third step is the nail in the coffin (so to speak). It is more than most can bare, but it is reality. You can count on it!  Always remember the sequence of...

    "..for this matter cannot be settled in a day, for we have sinned greatly".  I read that and thought, "aint that the truth". And the other revelation we can learn from these men is that the longer you persist in your disobedience and rebellion, the deeper the hole you dig and the longer it takes to dig your way out. This story is a tragic mess with no happy ending. There is going to be crying and broken hearts. These men are going to be sending away their pagan wives along with their children. I will give them credit though, often, Christians want to say "I'm sorry" but they don't want to make any changes or undue anything they've done, they just want to exercise that greasy Grace, not change a thing, take that wonderful forgiveness and move on. However these men, realize it's one thing to ask forgiveness, but if we don't act or do anything, is it really genuine? When folks were coming to John the Baptist for forgiveness, John actua...

    Ezra is on his face, weeping and the people join him. Weeping is good....I guess, as long as once you get up, wipe your face and do something about it. The problem with tears is, they dry up and we go on with our lives with absolutely nothing changed. The revelation that we learn from this story today is that "radical disobedience requires radical obedience", to get back on track.  I am nauseous just reading about the decision these men make to divorce their pagan wives and send them away "with their children". Make no mistake, this was not an easy decision for these men to make. I don't know too many parents that don't love their children, this hurt and it hurt bad, at least for most of these men. This is amazing to see. Have you ever seen such a radical departure from disobedience?  Have you ever seen such a radical repentance? Have you ever seen such radical follow through, after the tears?  I have not! I see tears, I hear people sobbing in front of ...

   There's always the exception to the rule, but I believe most of us struggle with wanting to be the respected and dignified Christian, as opposed to what Paul describes as "spectacle to the entire world-to people and angels alike. Our dedication makes us look like fools, but you are so wise (and well respected)".  I think Paul breaks it down "our dedication" makes us look like fools. When we are dedicated, sold out for Christ, we will look like fools. Street preaching is not dignified, passing out tracts and flyers at Walmart does not boost your social status, preaching at a public event doesn't make the Community you live in respect you. "Our dedication makes us fools....BUT, you are wise!" I wonder how many Christians reading this have never Street Preached, passed out flyers and evangelized in an open square? Just the thought of it makes them nausea and raises the hairs on the back of their necks.  Have you become the wise and respectable Chri...

     Many Churches in America have given up "reaching the lost". Their Church has just become one exclusive club, "not taking any new members". I always love calling a Doctor's office when I'm sick and being told, "I'm sorry, Dr. Smith is not taking any new patients at this time".  Okay, I'm sorry too, I guess I'll just roll over and die. We may not have a high pitched, squeaky secretary telling people "we are not accepting new patients/sinners" but we can still have the same mindset and posture. Paul, in our text reminds us, indirectly, of our purpose and function in this Christian life. We are involved in a project, it's called "Advancing the Kingdom of God Upon the Earth", it involves work, sowing seed, watering seed (follow up) and causing it (The Kingdom of God/The Church) to grow. "Not taking patients anymore" is an unacceptable answer! "They are unreachable" is an excuse, if not short o...

   Why do people oppose good? All the Israelites want to do is rebuild the Temple. This rebuilding of the Temple seems to irritate some, to the point where they make it their mission, to bring it to a halt. God's people figure they'll just ignore them, they're no threat, they'll go away. Well.....read the rest of the story....they don't go away, they write letters to the king, fabricate lies, slander them.....and of course this won't work against God's people...WAIT IT DOES WORK, and the King writes back and issues orders to have the work immediately stopped. If you're just going to be a religious church, playing religious games you will never have to face demonic opposition, you don't' have to worry about this blog today. However, if you are part of a Church that is pressing in against the Kingdom of Darkness, to advance The Kingdom of God, you'd better believe the enemy is not going to sit idly by and allow you to build anything without a f...

   Why do people oppose good? All the Israelites want to do is rebuild the Temple. This rebuilding of the Temple seems to irritate some, to the point where they make it their mission, to bring it to a halt. God's people figure they'll just ignore them, they're no threat, they'll go away. Well.....read the rest of the story....they don't go away, they writes letters to the king, fabricate lies, slander them.....and of course this won't work against God's people...WAIT IT DOES WORK, and the King writes back and issues orders to have the work immediately stopped. If you're just going to a religious church, playing religious games you will never have to face demonic opposition, you don't' have to worry about this blog today. However, if you are part of a Church that is pressing in against the Kingdom of Darkness, to advance The Kingdom of God, you'd better believe the enemy is not going to sit idly by and allow you to build anything without a fig...

NOTHING worse than waiting on somebody else.  Especially when you know (or at least think you know) where you are going. I'd rather take a side route, that my wife will be faithful to tell me, "took me longer" than sit in traffic and WAIT.  I'd rather give up something than have to WAIT.  Keep me waiting to long in a store to purchase my goods and you will lose that sale.  What is this wait thing anyway?  I will never forget my months of training in the Marine Corps.  It was madness. They would rush us to the point of an anxiety attack and then when we arrived at the place they were rushing us off to with such urgency, then we sat and at times, waited for an hour before the event began.  Why am I waiting in line for so long when there are other cash registers sitting empty?  Why am I waiting for service at Walmart when I have gone there out of my time, I have gone there to spend my money on their goods, but yet I have been kept waiting in aisles f...

   I am reading about this religious revival, a religious "awakening" something ....apparently every church yearns for, or so we say.  But you know what I noticed as I'm reading through Chronicles, especially today, I'm noticing it's allot of work and it's costly. And there are few that want to work and there are fewer that want to give. For all the people celebrating and having a great time in this "religious revival" there is also a group of people that are very tired, over worked and quite frankly, not really enjoying themselves or this wonderful idea of Josiah's.. It's allot of work, in verse 14 we read, "the priests had been busy from morning till night offering the burnt offerings..."  Now I have been in the Church and in Ministry long enough to know, that the priests were not rejoicing over this. If they are human like the people in our churches they were venting, saying things like, "next time Pastor, I mean...Josiah ge...

         Josiah was king for 8 years before he decided to seek God.  Did you catch that!  What in the world was Josiah doing for 8 years??? The answer: same thing you've been doing for the past few years...and that is....COASTING.  Coasting on our own abilities, making do with what comes naturally to us and probably finding the path of least resistance. Taking what life simply throws at you and never contending for anything more from God.  The delusion for coasters is that "I am doing alright".  You are deluded and God forbid you should die in that state if you would even make Heaven your home and if you did make Heaven your home (as Paul describes as "one barely escaping through the fires") then you would probably find out all that you did not accomplish, that you could have, had you sought God and not coasted. It is safe to say, isn't it, that Josiah accomplished much more for God once he began to see...

  The story in our bible today is so old it's hard to even imagine, over 2,500 years ago, at least. There were no secular, arrogant Americans at the time, only Israelites and the pagan nationalities that surrounded them. It was a time with no T.V.'s, no Hollywood and of course everyone wanted to serve The Lord, or maybe not! We think that man has degraded, we talk about the secularization of America and the rest of the World; and there is truth to that, but we can push it to far and make it sound like there was a time when every human being just wanted to surrender their selfish, rebellious will to God. Well, if that time didn't exist even 2,500 years ago, then when did it exist and why pretend like it ever did exist? In our text Hezekiah, a good King, is trying to stir religious revival. He sends out his runners, to declare "we are going to have a great celebration!". The people ask, "oh yeah, what kind of great celebration?" The answer they get, "...

    Hezekiah and his people are faced with an onslaught of verbal and mental assaults. What Hezekiah faces and what we must face, almost on a daily basis, is a constant barrage of assaults in our minds, that target our God and our faith in him to take care of us.  The problem is, that the enemy does not present nonsensical arguments. The enemy provides arguments that are both very reasonable and very persuasive.  As we have heard before, the best lies are those that are mixed with truth.  Rat poison is 99% actual rat food. This is what makes it so irresistible for the rats to consume. We see also in our text that our enemy speaks our language, he knows our culture and how best to affect us.  Verse 18 "Then they called out in Hebrew to the people of Jerusalem who were  on the wall, to terrify them and make them afraid".  It's all about fear and intimidation. Every terrorist, worth his salt and ...

  The Church is a very interesting institution or organism, if I can use that term. Especially if you are part of an Evangelical Church that reaches out into the community to win and bring in the lost. All the effort that goes in to outreaching, all the money, time & resources, to win the lost and bring them in to the Church. A lot of planning and strategy goes into evangelism, but do we ever think, "what will we do with them once they are in the church, will we be able to keep them?" We have a plan to "reach out" but do we have a plan to "reach in".  Paul in our text is admonishing us to "accept those who are weak in faith, and don't argue with them...".  I know people who are weak in faith bother you, I know people who seem to struggle a lot, bother you, I know.....people in general, that are in the church bother you.  I know this person bothers this person, and that person bothers that person. Paul is writing to the Romans to instruct ...

    You ever notice how some people have so much DRAMA in their life?! Do you feel bad for them? Do you feel like maybe there's something you could do? Do you ever wonder where God is in the midst of their drama? I do...or I have until today.  In our O.T. reading today we see such a dramatic change in atmosphere once Jehoiada dies.  Our reading goes from peaceful, happy times to more of a reading that's more like a Godfather Saga. There is murder, treason, chaos and revenge; this stuff makes the mob seem like kids play.  We see our story turn from peace to chaos, from no drama to nothing but Drama.  And the one difference is....Jehoiada has died.      You will find that where there is plenty of drama, there is often an absence of God.  We can easily be sucked in to people's drama and begin to have sympathy for them and perhaps get an attitude with God, but often, the attraction of drama in one...