SUNDAY SERMON 7-8-18 [Video made 7-1-18]
Jesus said unto her, I am the resurrection, and the life: he that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live:
Sunday sermon videos [7-1-18]
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1-F03Ao47sQHfCRM91_cKMrA44eOyIzy6/view?usp=sharing
ON VIDEO [Links to all my sites at the bottom of this post]
.The text from Fred!
.Lap Top shop
.Be busy about the Kingdom
.Stay focused on the mission
.Addicted to what is right
.The ‘Local Churches’ of the New Testament https://ccoutreach87.com/further-talks-on-church-and-ministry/
.The grace of giving- to the poor
.Logos- Kenosis [Phil. 2]
.Communication = giving [King James]
.The lesson from the collection of the Manna [2nd Cor. 8]
.For profit health ‘industry’ in the U.S.
.Languages spoken in 1st century Palestine
.Mark’s Gospel only one that uses the Aramaic [in this account of the healing] and gives the translation
.Ended with a bible study my daughter is teaching- 1st Samuel 25
.I mentioned the Apocrypha- Here’s a link https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deuterocanonical_books
I also added my past teachings where I used the word Apocrypha in my ‘past posts’ section below-
NEW- [Other videos below]
Today I talked from the verses used in the Sunday Mass- and my daughter mentioned a few verses that the guest pastor at Church Unlimited spoke on-[ I’ll also try and post the video I make today [7-8-18] to Youtube and Facebook later on ]
I’ll add my past teaching below on those sections.
From the Mass we read
2Corinthians 8:7 Therefore, as ye abound in every thing, in faith, and utterance, and knowledge, and in all diligence, and in your love to us, see that ye abound in this grace also.
2Corinthians 8:8 I speak not by commandment, but by occasion of the forwardness of others, and to prove the sincerity of your love.
2Corinthians 8:9 For ye know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that, though he was rich, yet for your sakes he became poor, that ye through his poverty might be rich.
2Corinthians 8:10 And herein I give my advice: for this is expedient for you, who have begun before, not only to do, but also to be forward a year ago.
2Corinthians 8:11 Now therefore perform the doing of it; that as there was a readiness to will, so there may be a performance also out of that which ye have.
2Corinthians 8:12 For if there be first a willing mind, it is accepted according to that a man hath, and not according to that he hath not.
2Corinthians 8:13 For I mean not that other men be eased, and ye burdened:
2Corinthians 8:14 But by an equality, that now at this time your abundance may be a supply for their want, that their abundance also may be a supply for your want: that there may be equality:
2Corinthians 8:15 As it is written, He that had gathered much had nothing over; and he that had gathered little had no lack.
Paul talks about the importance of not only having a willing mind- but carrying thru with the purpose itself.
In context he is talking about taking up an offering for the poor- but the principle can be applied to every area of our life.
Jesus himself said the spirit is willing- but the flesh is weak-
Watch and pray, that ye enter not into temptation: the spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak.
Part of your purpose in life- is of course finding out what that purpose is- having a clear vision in your mind [willing mind].
But as the journey proceeds- there will indeed be many obstacles to throw you off course.
If your doing it for the fame- than that is a shaky foundation that is sure to fail.
If your doing it because it seems like a good idea- than that too will fail.
But if you have a sincere desire to do the will of God- to sacrifice for that vision- and to understand the purpose itself is your calling- then you must carry thru with it in the long run- because you realize that is your mission in life.
The other reading from the mass is the healing [raising] of the ruler of the synagogues daughter [I’ll paste the verses below].
We find the story in Mark 5- verses 21-43.
The one point I will make here is as Jesus was on his way to heal the young girl- he is touched by a woman who had a sickness- for 12 years.
When she touched the garment of the Lord- she was healed.
Jesus was actually on his way to heal a young girl- and another woman by faith also accessed the healing anointing.
As Jesus continued to go to the home where the sick girl lay- messengers came from the home to tell the young girls father that his daughter had already died.
Jesus continues to the home- and raises the girl from the dead- she was 12 years old.
The same amount of years that the other woman was sick.
In a way- the woman had 12 years ‘of death’ cured on this day- the exact day that Jesus had the anointing to raise a girl of the age of 12-
I always found that aspect interesting- the raising of the young girl from the dead happened on the same day that Jesus reversed 12 years of ‘death’ on the sick woman.
The ‘double anointing’ if you will.
Ok- that's just a short preview of the video-
Like I said- I’ll add my past teachings below for those who want to study the passages a little more in depth-
John
OTHER VIDEOS [These are the videos I upload nightly to my various sites- PAST POSTS below]
7-4-18 https://youtu.be/HPzw1egqRbo
https://www.facebook.com/john.chiarello.5/videos/10204532061499742/
Shepherd of Hermas https://youtu.be/JohNcsCvX8o
https://www.facebook.com/john.chiarello.5/videos/10204533039204184/
7-3-18 Supreme court- Abortion- slavery- and the present questions of who will replace Anthony Kennedy https://youtu.be/oBFnaNfg_3U
https://www.facebook.com/john.chiarello.5/videos/10204528305845853/
6-30- 18 Homeless friends https://youtu.be/WfRiMsyxv8I
Corpus Christi- me teaching https://youtu.be/LH6JZPV8CY8
Sunday sermon https://youtu.be/csksJEa8PUU
James the shrimper https://drive.google.com/file/d/1szHlfFVu6dzlJz18iA9z9WI_KZEjrzFT/view?usp=sharing
Friends- Teaching https://flic.kr/p/27jbRKr
Teaching at coffee waves https://youtu.be/Ek78zV90XB0
Local Church https://youtu.be/L8Ttn3egCSk
Plane landing- Houston https://1drv.ms/v/s!Aocp2PkNEAGMgWU0ghr_N_KwcxmY
Homeless friends https://flic.kr/p/28DEomY
Called off going away message https://youtu.be/LXgjlURpsN0
God of the living https://youtu.be/1BKdMrnj7ek
Pops going to the chapel https://drive.google.com/file/d/1ftvdlbN-ShCiX5xE1M3dB1eXo6gNhQzL/view?usp=sharing
Teaching- French- Vimeo too https://flic.kr/p/LCjbP9
Teaching https://youtu.be/Ql08sgd0EKk
Teaching at the Alamodome- San Antonio https://youtu.be/66V_OV5brgw
Plane landing Corpus Christi https://1drv.ms/v/s!Aocp2PkNEAGMgWZQSJmrfOwe9_hq
Sunday sermon https://flic.kr/p/K91fCx
Teaching https://youtu.be/axwUsSoKnuU
Kings 18 https://youtu.be/LYe1I6z2-E0
Paintings- Mike- Update https://flic.kr/p/27rTede
North Bergen- N.J.- Danny https://youtu.be/U_RQFC9NBrA
Sunday sermon- it is finished https://youtu.be/jt-ITOczaoQ
Acts 2 https://drive.google.com/file/d/1Y58uypM8oo03mdFI8ZcJ982D0NIsWEOz/view?usp=sharing
Kerygma- Furman https://flic.kr/p/28MfuqS
7-6-18 I talked about corruption in Social Security on Port st.- Corpus Christi Texas.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SdSfSq6PV0Q
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xapf0ckDdUo
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sBkrdDFd_bk
7-7-18 Real Time news update https://youtu.be/WR6dUYdloAE
Billy- North Bergen https://youtu.be/hlfVJC459i8
Matt. 23 https://youtu.be/9DZYbRvY_TM
Sunday Sermon https://flic.kr/p/27PGzFY
Update https://1drv.ms/v/s!Aocp2PkNEAGMgWdzYtAZ39s5JIhf
Friends https://1drv.ms/v/s!Aocp2PkNEAGMgWg0jKGldNW77hYP
PAST POSTS [These are links and parts of my past teachings that relate in some way to today’s post- Verses below]
https://ccoutreach87.com/1st-2nd-corinthians/
https://ccoutreach87.com/1st-2nd-samuel-links-updated-3-17/
https://ccoutreach87.com/ephesians-links/
https://ccoutreach87.com/galatians-links/
https://ccoutreach87.com/christian-recovery-from-addiction-long-version/
https://ccoutreach87.com/mark-links/
https://ccoutreach87.com/protestant-reformation-luther/
Mark 5
POSTED BY CCOUTREACH87 ⋅ MARCH 27, 2017 ⋅ LEAVE A COMMENT
MARK 5-
21
And he said unto them, Is a candle brought to be put under a bushel, or under a bed? and not to be set on a candlestick?
22
For there is nothing hid, which shall not be manifested; neither was any thing kept secret, but that it should come abroad.
23
If any man have ears to hear, let him hear.
[Note
right before I post- This ‘post’ was being worked on before the last 2 days of posts- I had this verse in the ‘hopper’ ready to go- Yes- God’s word is very prophetic]
Jesus
Christ
https://youtu.be/X-YGVitz194 Mark
5
https://ccoutreach87.files.wordpress.com/2017/03/3-19-17-mark-5.zip
ON VIDEO-
.Mudfest
.Cost
of discipleship
.Pigs
drown
.Go
home
.Jairus’
request
.Why
Jesus did no miracles until the Baptism by John
.Woman
bleeds
.Who
touched me?
.The
attributes of God
.Why
then did Jesus not know who touched him?
.Trump-
FISA- Russians [see note below]
.Media
.Does
the U.S. ‘fake’ intelligence?
.Are
believers given a ‘pass’- if their job description calls for them to lie?
NOTE-
I commented a bit more on Trump and whether or not the government collected info on him. I made the video 3-19-17- sure enough since I made it things have changed.
NEW
[Past links- verses below]
Jesus
and his men arrive by boat to new spot-
Mark
5:1 And they came over unto the other side of the sea, into the country of the Gadarenes.
A
man meets them- he is demon possessed and the bible says he was in the graveyards day and night- cutting himself- and no man could chain him [stop him]-
Mark
5:2 And when he was come out of the ship, immediately there met him out of the tombs a man with an unclean spirit,
Mark
5:3 Who had his dwelling among the tombs; and no man could bind him, no, not with chains:
When
the man meets Jesus- the demons in him recognize that he is the Son of God-
Mark
5:6 But when he saw Jesus afar off, he ran and worshipped him,
Mark
5:7 And cried with a loud voice, and said, What have I to do with thee, Jesus, thou Son of the most high God? I adjure thee by God, that thou torment me not.
Jesus
asks the man his name- the man [or demons in him] respond ‘my name is Legion- for we are many’.
The
demoniac implores Jesus not to send them out of this area-
Mark
5:10 And he besought him much that he would not send them away out of the country.
Jesus
permits them to go into a herd of pigs feeding- the pigs run into the water and are drowned-
Mark
5:11 Now there was there nigh unto the mountains a great herd of swine feeding.
Mark
5:12 And all the devils besought him, saying, Send us into the swine, that we may enter into them.
Mark
5:13 And forthwith Jesus gave them leave. And the unclean spirits went out, and entered into the swine: and the herd ran violently down a steep place into the sea, (they were about two thousand;)
and were choked in the sea.
The
people of the region see the man- now healed- and in his right mind.
It
scares them- and they want Jesus to leave-
Mark
5:14 And they that fed the swine fled, and told it in the city, and in the country. And they went out to see what it was that was done.
Mark
5:15 And they come to Jesus, and see him that was possessed with the devil, and had the legion, sitting, and clothed, and in his right mind: and they were afraid.
Mark
5:16 And they that saw it told them how it befell to him that was possessed with the devil, and also concerning the swine.
Mark
5:17 And they began to pray him to depart out of their coasts.
The
man who Jesus delivered wants to join the group- and go with Jesus-
Mark
5:18 And when he was come into the ship, he that had been possessed with the devil prayed him that he might be with him.
But
Jesus tells him to go back home- and tell the people what ‘great things the Lord has done for you’-
Mark
5:19 Howbeit Jesus suffered him not, but saith unto him, Go home to thy friends, and tell them how great things the Lord hath done for thee, and hath had compassion on thee.
Now-
as Jesus walks along with his men- a ruler of the synagogue- Jairus- comes and tells Jesus that he has a daughter who is very sick-
Mark
5:22 And, behold, there cometh one of the rulers of the synagogue, Jairus by name; and when he saw him, he fell at his feet,
Mark
5:23 And besought him greatly, saying, My little daughter lieth at the point of death
‘Jesus-
come and lay your hands on her- so she can be healed’-
:
I pray thee, come and lay thy hands on her, that she may be healed; and she shall live.
So
they go to the man’s house- the crowd is rubbing up against Jesus-
Then-
all of a sudden- Jesus says ‘who touched me’?
His
men say ‘look how many people are touching you- how can you ask a question like that’ [my paraphrase]-
Mark
5:31 And his disciples said unto him, Thou seest the multitude thronging thee, and sayest thou, Who touched me?
But
Jesus sensed that the power to heal was actually accessed- that someone touched him in faith- and received something-
Mark
5:30 And Jesus, immediately knowing in himself that virtue had gone out of him, turned him about in the press, and said, Who touched my clothes?
Sure
enough there was a woman who had a sickness for 12 years- she thought ‘if I get close enough- and even maybe just touch his clothes- I will get healed’-
Mark
5:28 For she said, If I may touch but his clothes, I shall be whole.
Yes-
she was the one Jesus was talking about.
She
admits it was her-
Mark
5:33 But the woman fearing and trembling, knowing what was done in her, came and fell down before him, and told him all the truth.
Mark
5:34 And he said unto her, Daughter, thy faith hath made thee whole; go in peace, and be whole of thy plague.
That’s
ok- her faith made her whole- and she sought the Lord.
Now-
they are still on the way to Jairus’s house- some messengers come and tell Jairus ‘don’t bother coming- your daughter has died’-
Mark
5:35 While he yet spake, there came from the ruler of the synagogue’s house certain which said, Thy daughter is dead: why troublest thou the Master any further?
Jesus
looks at Jairus ‘just believe’-
Mark
5:36 As soon as Jesus heard the word that was spoken, he saith unto the ruler of the synagogue, Be not afraid, only believe.
They
arrive at the house- The people are in disarray- I mean a little child just passed away-
Mark
5:38 And he cometh to the house of the ruler of the synagogue, and seeth the tumult, and them that wept and wailed greatly.
Jesus
says ‘she’s just sleeping’-
Mark
5:39 And when he was come in, he saith unto them, Why make ye this ado, and weep? the damsel is not dead, but sleepeth.
They
laughed him to scorn-
Mark
5:40 And they laughed him to scorn.
But
he goes into the room- and raises the girl from the dead-
Mark
5:41 And he took the damsel by the hand, and said unto her, Talitha cumi; which is, being interpreted, Damsel, I say unto thee, arise.
Mark
5:42 And straightway the damsel arose, and walked; for she was of the age of twelve years. And they were astonished with a great astonishment.
She
was 12 years old.
You
see- this day Jesus was empowered [anointed] in a special way-
For
a special mission.
He
was on the way to undo 12 years of death.
He
was on a mission.
And
as this anointing was upon him- sure enough another person- who also had 12 years of death working in her body.
She
‘made a withdrawal’ from this healing anointing-
Mark
5:25 And a certain woman, which had an issue of blood twelve years,
Mark
5:26 And had suffered many things of many physicians, and had spent all that she had, and was nothing bettered, but rather grew worse,
It
was O.k. with Jesus- don’t get me wrong.
But
he was on the way to raise that 12 year old girl from the dead.
And
he did indeed raise her.
In
this chapter we see the ongoing ministry of Jesus- and how the miracles he was doing were testifying to he was.
The
Son of God- the Messiah-
30
And many other signs truly did Jesus in the presence of his disciples, which are not written in this book:
31
But these are written, that ye might believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God; and that believing ye might have life through his name.
John
20
But
he also did them for another reason.
These
people were hurting- tormented- and dying.
And
the Son of man came to destroy the works of the devil-
1
John 3:8
He
that committeth sin is of the devil; for the devil sinneth from the beginning. For this purpose the Son of God was manifested, that he might destroy the works of the devil.
In
Context | Full Chapter | Other Translations
And Jesus was on a mission.
It
will culminate at the Cross- and the empty grave.
But
he loved the people so much- that he also destroyed the works of the devil every chance he could.
Just
ask the man they called ‘Legion’.
PAST
LINKS- POSTS- [My past teaching that relates to today’s post ‘Mark 5’.
MARK-
https://ccoutreach87.com/2017/02/28/jersey-city-ride-mark-1/
https://ccoutreach87.com/2017/03/02/mark-2-north-bergen/
https://ccoutreach87.com/2017/03/04/mark-3-isaiah-61/
https://ccoutreach87.com/2017/03/14/mark-4/
I
quoted from these bible books on Today’s video- MARK 5- below are my complete studies on those books-
https://ccoutreach87.com/james-2015/
https://ccoutreach87.com/john-complete-links-added/
https://ccoutreach87.com/hebrews-updated-2015/
Below are parts of my past teaching that relate-
(871)ROMANS
15:1-7 ‘we then that are strong [more mature] ought to bear the infirmities of the weak and not please ourselves’. In Philippians we have the ‘KENOSIS’ the act of Jesus, who being in the form of
God, thought it not something to be used for his own advantage. He did not see his purpose in the kingdom as one of ‘let’s find out our rights in the covenant and posses what’s rightfully ours’.
A few years back it was common to hear ‘God told me his people don’t have a problem with giving [oh really?] but they need to learn how to receive’. While there might be a ‘speck’ of truth in
this, the overall ethos of the kingdom [according to Jesus and Paul] is ‘we are not here to please ourselves, but give up our rights and blessings for the purpose of pleasing others’ [building
them up, edifying them]. Paul makes this statement right after the chapter on Christian convictions. He shows us that even if we are right on a particular issue, it is ‘more right’ to not offend
or put a stumbling block in our brother’s path. It is possible to ‘be right’ in a particular doctrine or truth, and yet ‘be wrong’ in that we might have used it in a way that destroyed the
purpose of God in building others up. Many in the church [at large!] have unwittingly ‘tore down’ the poor and oppressed by seeking ‘their own pleasure’. Many overseas countries have been hurt by
the amount of pleasure seeking doctrines that went into their countries. Many 3rd world Pastors gave sacrificially out of their extreme poverty to rich American ‘pleasure seekers’ and their poor
people suffered greatly when they did not get a literal 100 fold return as was promised. Paul said ‘we that are strong ought to help the weak, and not please ourselves’.
[parts]
CHRISTIAN-
MUSLIM DIALOGUE
Exodus
20:3 Thou shalt have no other gods before me.
Exodus
20:4 Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image, or any likeness of any thing that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the
earth.
https://youtu.be/-x4Bz60irJo Christian-
Muslim dialogue
https://ccoutreach87.files.wordpress.com/2017/01/1-15-17-christian-muslim-dialogue.zip
https://youtu.be/0i-V7qr7Kbg Corpus
Christi- Questions [I posted the video yesterday- but wanted to tag it to a post- Because I talked about current world issues as well, things that I feel are relevant right
now]
ON
VIDEO
.Muslim
encounter at Kingsville Fire Dept.
.What
makes Christianity unique?
.Muslims
shared some of the same concerns as many Protestants
.Iconoclast
controversy
.Expressions
of the Trinity
.The
development of the office of Bishop- 5 main cities
.The
‘pre’ renaissance that took place within Islam
.Aquinas
responds to Islamic apologists [13the century]
.Ad
Fontes
.Florence
Italy- the Medici’s
.Gnosticism
.I
bought him a Persian bible
.Erasmus-
Luther
.Protestant
Reformation
.My
Muslim friend [at Timons]
.Who
gave Bobby a ride?
.Wycliffe-
Huss- Coverdale
.Guttenberg
came just in time
.Catholic
church warned ‘you will have too many splits’.
.They
indeed were correct
.I
quote from the Quran at the end
PAST
TEACHING [Past teaching I did that relates to today’s video- verses below]
https://ccoutreach87.com/islam/
https://ccoutreach87.com/protestant-reformation-luther/
JOHN
6
John
6:63 It is the spirit that quickeneth; the flesh profiteth nothing: the words that I speak unto you, they are spirit, and they are life.
https://youtu.be/–3fJK_dqiU John
6
https://ccoutreach87.files.wordpress.com/2016/07/7-3-16-john-6.zip
GALATIANS
[Links]
https://ccoutreach87.com/2016/12/26/galatians-1/
https://ccoutreach87.com/2016/12/30/2nd-samuel-3-homeless-friends/
https://ccoutreach87.com/2017/01/02/galatians-2/
https://ccoutreach87.com/2017/01/10/galatians-3/
https://ccoutreach87.com/2017/01/12/the-seed/
https://ccoutreach87.com/2017/01/16/galatians-4/
ON VIDEO-
.See
the quads
.it
was a test
.
‘We don’t have enough money for the ministry Jesus’?
.What
did Jesus do- multiply the money- or the bread?
.Don’t
leave the crumbs behind
.Nungesser’s
bowling alley
.The
acid trip
.Manna
a sign
.A
little Greek stuff
.Zwingli
.Lake
Geneva
.Renaissance
.Florence-
Italy
.Medici
family
.Aquinas
Aristotle
.Greek
lexicon
.Proof
texting a no no
.Hocus
Pocus?
.Fundamentalism
.Aldous
Huxley
MY
LINKS [verses below]
https://ccoutreach87.wordpress.com/protestant-reformation-luther/
https://ccoutreach87.wordpress.com/further-talks-on-church-and-ministry/
https://ccoutreach87.wordpress.com/house-of-prayer-or-den-of-thieves/
https://ccoutreach87.wordpress.com/overview-of-philosophy/
MY
LINKS ON JOHN
https://ccoutreach87.wordpress.com/2016/06/14/amos-5/
https://ccoutreach87.wordpress.com/2016/06/15/jesus-christ/
https://ccoutreach87.wordpress.com/2016/06/17/father-abraham/
https://ccoutreach87.wordpress.com/2016/06/21/the-flood/ John
3
https://ccoutreach87.wordpress.com/2016/06/25/the-well-john-4/
https://ccoutreach87.wordpress.com/2016/06/30/john-5/
[parts]
The
renaissance was the 13-14th century revival of culture and learning that was lost for centuries- It began in Florence Italy.
The
catch phrase for it was ‘Ad Fontes’ meaning ‘back to the sources’- both in philosophy- as well as in Christian learning.
This
began a revival of studying the Greek New testament again from its original language.
The
Catholic Humanist- Desiderius Erasmus [15-16th century] – re introduced the New Testament in the Greek version [He was referred to as a Dutch renaissance Humanist- as well as a Catholic Priest
and scholar]
Now-
Erasmus was a critic of the Church- like Luther- but chose a ‘middle road’- he did not join the breakaway Protestant Reformers- but chose to stay within the fold of Rome- while speaking out
against the abuses he saw.
But
his first Greek translation of the New Testament did indeed set a spark- because it allowed the Priests to see the bible in its original language.
And
Luther was actually teaching this book of Romans to his students in Germany when the Reformation began.
Today
the Catholic Church [as you can see in the official Catechism that I have been posting] does indeed teach the bible as God’s Word.
The
divisions between Protestants and Catholics are many- but they did agree that the bible was the Word of God.
Some
Protestants do not know this- they think the church holds Tradition higher than the bible.
No-
the church does believe that God speaks both thru tradition- and scripture.
They
see the tradition of the church as simply another means by which God uses the church [Magisterium] to explain scripture- but the Catholic Church does not elevate tradition over the
bible.
And
indeed- it was a catholic scholar- Erasmus- who introduced the first Geek version of the New Testament.
NOTE-
Erasmus disagreed with Luther on the doctrine of Predestination- which I covered in the last video. Luther was for it- Erasmus was what we would call ‘Free Will’.
In
his writings- which were very influential- he wrote in Greek and Latin- the language of the elites.
He
did this on purpose- for his target was the influential leaders of the Church.
He
rejected offers of money- because he did not want to align himself with any particular movement- so he could be an independent writer with no strings attached.
He
had many criticisms of the Catholic Church- and was very influential for the later reforms- those we see at the Council of Trent [Though the church criticized him- they said he ‘Laid the egg that
hatched the Reformation’].
He
taught that the church/priests/popes should be the servants of the people-
He
rejected the idea that the Priests/leaders made up the ‘whole of the church’- but he believed all believers made up the true church.
Erasmus
was a firebrand in his own way- rejecting the language that Luther and some of the reformers used [they were vulgar at times]-
Luther
respected the works of Erasmus- he thanked Erasmus for debating with him on the nature of Justification by Faith-
He
disagreed in the end- but said this debate was at the heart of the gospel- and was glad that Erasmus was willing to engage.
RENAISSANCE ARTISTS-
The
famous renaissance artists- DaVinci- Michelangelo- Raphael- used their artwork as a form of knowledge- the images taught things- they were not just paintings.
DaVinci’s
most famous work was his painting on the ceiling of the Sistine chapel in the Vatican.
It
took him 4 years to complete.
The
renaissance period- from about the 13/14th century to the 17th- [though there was a sort of Renaissance that took place- yes- in the Islamic world before the European Renaissance] was marked by
what we term Humanism.
Today
we associate this term with ‘secular Humanism’ which often has a bad connotation- especially among Christians.
But
it meant something different back then.
It
was a new focus on breaking the limits off of man- and for man to excel in knowledge and skill- and to see man as having value.
There
was somewhat of a break away from the church in a sense- in that the church and its teachings were not the only source of wisdom for man.
But-
Jesus himself taught that ‘the Sabbath was made for man- not man for the Sabbath’- so- the Humanist spirit- elevating the value of man- does have a Christian basis in my view.
Leonardo
daVinci [15/16th century] was what we refer to as a true Renaissance man- meaning his knowledge was in many fields- not just art.
He
actually considered himself a sculptor first- then an artist- though he is most famous for his Fresco mentioned above.
Here’s
my study on The Reformation-
https://ccoutreach87.com/protestant-reformation-luther/
And
my past teaching on the Western intellectual tradition-
https://ccoutreach87.com/western-intellectual-tradition/
VERSES-
Isaiah
42:19
Who
is blind, but my servant? or deaf, as my messenger that I sent? who is blind as he that is perfect, and blindas the LORD’s servant?
Hebrews
11:3 Through faith we understand that the worlds were framed by the word of God, so that things which are seen were not made of things which do appear.
2
Corinthians 5:7 [Full Chapter]
(For
we walk by faith, not by sight:)
13
Then cometh Jesus from Galilee to Jordan unto John, to be baptized of him.
14
But John forbad him, saying, I have need to be baptized of thee, and comest thou to me?
[parts]
(1335)
GALATIANS 5- Paul’s main theme is if we possess the Spirit as believers [being indwelt by God’s Spirit] then let us also walk in/by the Spirit, as opposed to trying to please God by the law and
being circumcised. Paul will use the somewhat controversial term ‘ye are fallen from grace’ which simply means that these Gentile believers started by faith and went back to the old Jewish
system, much like the themes in the book of Hebrews. Paul says when you go back to the law you have left grace. Christ has ‘become of no effect to you, you who are justified by the law’. This is
a good example of how words and certain phrases can develop over the centuries of church history and develop a different meaning over time. In essence the bible does teach that a person can ‘fall
from grace’ but this does not describe what the modern reader might think. The first church father who attempted to formulate the Christian doctrine of the Trinity was a man named Tertullian, he
lived in the second century and was what theologians refer to as one of the Latin fathers [as opposed to the Greek ones- Origen, etc.] Tertullian was famous for the sayings ‘what does Jerusalem
have to do with Athens’ and ‘I believe because it is absurd’ he was resisting the influence of Greek philosophy on the church, he felt that Greek wisdom was influencing the church too much. He
was trained in law before becoming a theologian [like Luther and Calvin of 16th century Reformation fame] and he used the words ‘God is one substance/essence and also three persons’ later church
councils would agree with this language. But the word ‘person’ at Tertullian’s time was the Latin word ‘personi’ which was taken from the theater and meant a person/actor who would put on
different masks during the play; the word had a little different meaning then what we think of today as ‘person’. Later centuries would come to condemn certain Christian groups who seem to have
formulated language on the Trinity that expresses the same thing as what the original developer of the doctrine meant to say, but because words and their meanings change over time we get
ourselves into disputes that might be getting us off track. Paul also tells the Galatians that if they become circumcised that they are obligating themselves to keep all the law. Of course the
medical procedure that many have done in our day is not what he is speaking about, but in Paul’s day getting circumcised was the religious rite that placed you into the religion of Judaism, and
this is what Paul is refuting among the Galatians, he tells them not to go down that road. This chapter has lots of good ‘memory verses’, the famous lists of the works of the flesh versus the
fruit of the Spirit are found here, and it seems pretty clear to me that Paul identified circumcision with the moral law of the 10 commandments, that is he saw being circumcised as an act that
obligated you to ‘keep all the law’ some theologians are discussing whether or not Paul meant the law of Moses when speaking about going ‘back under the law’ some think Paul was speaking only of
the ceremonial law and the system of animal sacrifices when he was telling the gentiles that they should not go under the law, I believe if you read Paul in context both in this letter and the
book of Romans, that he is speaking of the moral law too, not just the ceremonial law. All in all Paul exhorts these believers to fight for their right to be free from the past restraints of
religion and bondage, he tells them to not desire to go back under a system of bondage, that Christ has made us free from that legalistic way of life and he has liberated us by giving us the Holy
Spirit- if we ‘walk in the Spirit we will not fulfill the lusts of the flesh, for the flesh lusts against the Spirit and the Spirit against the flesh, and these two are contrary one to the other,
so that you cannot do the things that you would’ amen to that.
[parts]
GALATIANS
3
17
For the law was given by Moses, but grace and truth came by Jesus Christ.
John
1
https://youtu.be/hhA-O_mb3Y8 Galatians
3
https://ccoutreach87.files.wordpress.com/2017/01/1-3-17-galatians-3.zip
ON
VIDEO
.Abrahamic
covenant
.Fulfilled
thru Christ
.Law
[covenant] came later
.1st
promise stands
.Law
revealed sin
.Faith
in Christ justifies
.Began
in Spirit [faith] don’t go back to law [works]
.Christ
took the curse of the law on the Cross [tree]
.Law
was tutor- to bring us to truth
.Jesus
is the Truth
.No
more need for the tutor
.Father
of many nations
.Legal
and actual justification
.Luther-
Trent [16th century]
.Legal
fiction?
.Mercy
seat
[parts]
[parts]
VERSES-
Mark
5:1 And they came over unto the other side of the sea, into the country of the Gadarenes.
Mark
5:2 And when he was come out of the ship, immediately there met him out of the tombs a man with an unclean spirit,
Mark
5:3 Who had his dwelling among the tombs; and no man could bind him, no, not with chains:
Mark
5:4 Because that he had been often bound with fetters and chains, and the chains had been plucked asunder by him, and the fetters broken in pieces: neither could any man tame
him.
Mark
5:5 And always, night and day, he was in the mountains, and in the tombs, crying, and cutting himself with stones.
Mark
5:6 But when he saw Jesus afar off, he ran and worshipped him,
Mark
5:7 And cried with a loud voice, and said, What have I to do with thee, Jesus, thou Son of the most high God? I adjure thee by God, that thou torment me not.
Mark
5:8 For he said unto him, Come out of the man, thou unclean spirit.
Mark
5:9 And he asked him, What is thy name? And he answered, saying, My name is Legion: for we are many.
Mark
5:10 And he besought him much that he would not send them away out of the country.
Mark
5:11 Now there was there nigh unto the mountains a great herd of swine feeding.
Mark
5:12 And all the devils besought him, saying, Send us into the swine, that we may enter into them.
Mark
5:13 And forthwith Jesus gave them leave. And the unclean spirits went out, and entered into the swine: and the herd ran violently down a steep place into the sea, (they were about two thousand;)
and were choked in the sea.
Mark
5:14 And they that fed the swine fled, and told it in the city, and in the country. And they went out to see what it was that was done.
Mark
5:15 And they come to Jesus, and see him that was possessed with the devil, and had the legion, sitting, and clothed, and in his right mind: and they were afraid.
Mark
5:16 And they that saw it told them how it befell to him that was possessed with the devil, and also concerning the swine.
Mark
5:17 And they began to pray him to depart out of their coasts.
Mark
5:18 And when he was come into the ship, he that had been possessed with the devil prayed him that he might be with him.
Mark
5:19 Howbeit Jesus suffered him not, but saith unto him, Go home to thy friends, and tell them how great things the Lord hath done for thee, and hath had compassion on thee.
Mark
5:20 And he departed, and began to publish in Decapolis how great things Jesus had done for him: and all men did marvel.
Mark
5:21 And when Jesus was passed over again by ship unto the other side, much people gathered unto him: and he was nigh unto the sea.
Mark
5:22 And, behold, there cometh one of the rulers of the synagogue, Jairus by name; and when he saw him, he fell at his feet,
Mark
5:23 And besought him greatly, saying, My little daughter lieth at the point of death: I pray thee, come and lay thy hands on her, that she may be healed; and she shall live.
Mark
5:24 And Jesus went with him; and much people followed him, and thronged him.
Mark
5:25 And a certain woman, which had an issue of blood twelve years,
Mark
5:26 And had suffered many things of many physicians, and had spent all that she had, and was nothing bettered, but rather grew worse,
Mark
5:27 When she had heard of Jesus, came in the press behind, and touched his garment.
Mark
5:28 For she said, If I may touch but his clothes, I shall be whole.
Mark
5:29 And straightway the fountain of her blood was dried up; and she felt in her body that she was healed of that plague.
Mark
5:30 And Jesus, immediately knowing in himself that virtue had gone out of him, turned him about in the press, and said, Who touched my clothes?
Mark
5:31 And his disciples said unto him, Thou seest the multitude thronging thee, and sayest thou, Who touched me?
Mark
5:32 And he looked round about to see her that had done this thing.
Mark
5:33 But the woman fearing and trembling, knowing what was done in her, came and fell down before him, and told him all the truth.
Mark
5:34 And he said unto her, Daughter, thy faith hath made thee whole; go in peace, and be whole of thy plague.
Mark
5:35 While he yet spake, there came from the ruler of the synagogue’s house certain which said, Thy daughter is dead: why troublest thou the Master any further?
Mark
5:36 As soon as Jesus heard the word that was spoken, he saith unto the ruler of the synagogue, Be not afraid, only believe.
Mark
5:37 And he suffered no man to follow him, save Peter, and James, and John the brother of James.
Mark
5:38 And he cometh to the house of the ruler of the synagogue, and seeth the tumult, and them that wept and wailed greatly.
Mark
5:39 And when he was come in, he saith unto them, Why make ye this ado, and weep? the damsel is not dead, but sleepeth.
Mark
5:40 And they laughed him to scorn. But when he had put them all out, he taketh the father and the mother of the damsel, and them that were with him, and entereth in where the damsel was
lying.
Mark
5:41 And he took the damsel by the hand, and said unto her, Talitha cumi; which is, being interpreted, Damsel, I say unto thee, arise.
Mark
5:42 And straightway the damsel arose, and walked; for she was of the age of twelve years. And they were astonished with a great astonishment.
Mark
5:43 And he charged them straitly that no man should know it; and commanded that something should be given her to eat.
Matthew
4:19 And he saith unto them, Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men.
Matthew
4:20 And they straightway left their nets, and followed him.
Matthew
4:21 And going on from thence, he saw other two brethren, James the son of Zebedee, and John his brother, in a ship with Zebedee their father, mending their nets; and he called
them.
Matthew
4:22 And they immediately left the ship and their father, and followed him.
James
2:19
Thou
believest that there is one God; thou doest well: the devils also believe, and tremble.
In
Context | Full Chapter | Other Translations
Mark
16:17
And
these signs shall follow them that believe; In my name shall they cast out devils; they shall speak with new tongues;
In
Context | Full Chapter | Other Translations
Mark
16:20
And
they went forth, and preached every where, the Lord working with them, and confirming the word with signs following. Amen.
In
Context | Full Chapter | Other Translations
Mark
13:32
But
of that day and that hour knoweth no man, no, not the angels which are in heaven, neither the Son, but the Father.
In
Context | Full Chapter | Other Translations
John
1:1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.
John
1:2 The same was in the beginning with God.
John
1:3 All things were made by him; and without him was not any thing made that was made.
5
Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus:
6
Who, being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God:
7
But made himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men:
8
And being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross.
9
Wherefore God also hath highly exalted him, and given him a name which is above every name:
10
That at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things in heaven, and things in earth, and things under the earth;
11
And that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.
Phil.
Psalm
8:5
For
thou hast made him a little lower than theangels, and hast crowned him with glory and honour.
In
Context | Full Chapter | Other Translations
Hebrews
2:7
Thou
madest him a little lower than the angels; thou crownedst him with glory and honour, and didst set him over the works of thy hands:
In
Context | Full Chapter | Other Translations
Hebrews
2:9
But
we see Jesus, who was made a little lower thanthe angels for the suffering of death, crowned with glory and honour; that he by the grace of God should taste death for every
man.
1
Thessalonians 5 [Full Chapter]
But
of the times and the seasons, brethren, ye have no need that I write unto you. For yourselves know perfectly that the day of the Lord so cometh as a thief in the night. For when they shall say,
Peace and safety; then sudden destruction cometh upon them, as travail upon a woman with child; and they shall not escape. …
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)1ST CORINTHIANS 10:1-4 it’s actually Christmas morning, 2008, as I write. Paul says ‘all of our forefathers were under the cloud, they were all baptized unto Moses in the cloud and sea’. Note- 2 baptisms ‘Cloud’ [Spirit] ‘Sea’ [water]. Let’s do a little thinking here. How can Paul refer to the Jewish fathers as the Corinthians forefathers? Is he expecting a large Jewish group to read this letter? [Like Romans- both Jews and Gentiles were in mind]. Is he addressing them like the author of Hebrews, who is speaking directly to a nation in transition? While it’s possible for a few Jewish believers to have read/heard the reading of this letter. Yet I think Paul is simply being consistent with his letters to the Galatians and Romans, where he taught that all who would believe were the ‘children of Abraham by faith’ Abraham is ‘the father of many nations’. Now, I like the way Paul ‘spiritualizes’ here. Moses was the prophet who typified Jesus. The people were baptized [joined] to him both thru the good times and the bad. There was quite a rough history between Moses and the rebels! Times where they wanted to change leadership. Times where God even said ‘I have had it with this bunch, let’s just wipe them out and start over’. They had history. Also Paul says ‘they all ate of the same spiritual meat and drank from the same spiritual rock. Christ’. Again, Paul seems to teach the symbolic, as opposed to literal, view of ‘eating/drinking Christ’. Israel did have some physical ordinances in the wilderness. The Passover and the bread from heaven [Manna] already happened. But Jesus himself [John 6] would say ‘Moses didn’t give you the real bread, I am the real bread!’. So Paul’s use of the ‘Rock’ is purely symbolic. The story relates to the time where God gave the children of Israel water from an actual rock in the wilderness. Moses spoke to/struck the rock and water came out. Paul sees this as a symbolic picture. He is saying ‘this foreshadowed Christ, the true rock who would be the ‘Rock of ages’ who would be struck on the Cross and water would flow from his side’. Once again, this leaves us some context to interpret the Lords supper in a symbolic way. Was Paul teaching the Corinthians to go out in the fields and actually drink real water from a rock? No. He was simply saying these physical symbols would be fulfilled at a future time, and that time was now! All who believe in Christ are partaking [spiritually] of the water of life, the Holy Spirit. Tomorrow we will get into the examples that were left to us from these stories. I just want to mention that the Apostle Paul freely uses the Old Testament [his only bible at the time!] and applies these stories to both Gentile believers and 1st century Israel. The writer of Hebrews [who I think was Paul] says ‘just like the forefathers missed out on the promise by unbelief- entering the promised land- so too there is a danger that you, 1st century Israel, might miss out on eternal life by not receiving the Messiah by faith’. In this context, Israel of the Old Testament represents Israel in the first century. But when addressing a gentile church [Corinth] it is also okay for Paul to say ‘just like Israel faced physical death by being disobedient, so you too have had premature physical deaths in your community by rebelling against God’. In this comparison Israel [Old Testament] is simply being used as an example of God judging his covenant people for their disobedience. I feel these distinctions are important, they help us to keep the New Testament in context.
(973)1ST CORINTHIANS 10:5-13 Paul warns the Corinthians not to fall for the same temptations that Israel committed in the wilderness. ‘Don’t sin sexually, don’t complain about stuff [ouch!] don’t be idolaters [lovers of your cash flow!]’ basic sins that effect us all. He also says something interesting ‘you are now those upon whom the end of the world [age] has come’. Not the ‘end of existence’ but the time period where Gods fullness has come [Galatians 4]. I find this interesting. The first century Apostles saw the breaking in of the Kingdom of God, thru Christ, as the event and ‘moment’ that all human history hinged upon. There was a real sense of ‘this is the special kairos season that all men have been waiting for’. The New Testament teaches that even the angels were waiting to see this day. One of the errors of dispensationalism was the idea that the important, main event was still some future happening [the second coming]. While it is true that this event will happen, and it will be glorious. Yet there was a sense in scripture that said the time of Christ’s death, burial and resurrection was the act of reconciliation that turned the destiny of man. Paul in essence was saying to the Corinthians ‘you don’t understand the full import of all that the Father has called you to. You are part of the most important movement in human history, all humanity has been waiting for this season, the ‘ends of the ages’ have come to this point. Don’t blow it for heavens sake’! Got it? Let’s grasp the fact that we too are part of this ‘time period’ [the new covenant kingdom age] and realize that our forefathers are watching from the stands [Hebrews]. Let’s not blow it [I was going to say ‘like the Cowboys’ but this gets too many locals mad].
(974)1ST CORINTHIANS 10: 5 ‘But with many of them God was not well pleased, for their bodies were scattered in the wilderness’. As I just sat down and was debating on how much to cover, I felt the Lord wanted me to stop with this one verse. Let’s review a little. Does this experience of being ‘scattered in the wilderness’ define past experiences for you? [Or present!] Historically the church has always had to deal with wilderness times. St. John of the Cross called this ‘the dark night of the soul’. After Mother Theresa’s death we found out that she struggled with doubt many times thru out her life. The historic church has been ‘scattered in the wilderness’ over truly insignificant stuff. I find it ridiculous that one of the main reasons the western [Catholic] and eastern [Orthodox] churches split in 1054 a.d. was over the silly distinction of whether the Holy Spirit proceeded from the Father [the historic creed] or the ‘father and the Son’. This is considered the official cause of the split, though there were many other factors as well. In a day or so we will cover a verse that says ‘God is the head of Christ’. I had a friend that used to point out the fact that many Baptists would refer to ‘God and Jesus and the Spirit’ he would think this was in error because they would leave out ‘the Father’. To be honest he was consistent with Trinitarian thinking [I am one by the way!] If the ‘sole’ definition of God in the New testament were ‘3 separate persons who equally posses the Divine attributes’. Then the phrase ‘God is the head of Jesus’ would not make sense. It would be like saying ‘God [Father, Jesus and Holy spirit] are all the head of Jesus’. What am I saying here? Basically the historic church came to certain ways of framing the argument that were limited in their application. Does the New testament teach the Trinity? Yes. Does the word ‘God’ primarily refer to ‘the father’ in its language? To be honest, it does. Though the reality of the Trinity is there, yet the normative language of ‘God’ is referring to ‘the Father’. So my Baptist buddy was right in seeing a contradiction when Baptists said ‘God, Jesus and the Spirit’. If they were true to all the historic language, then they should have said ‘the father’ not ‘God’. Because ‘God’ would be the all encompassing language of ‘3 distinct persons who all posses the divine attributes’. But in fact, my friend was wrong. Why? Because the language of scripture mostly means ‘God the Father’ when simply saying ‘God’. Now why go into all this? Because the historic church has been divided over the language used. Arian, the Catholic Bishop/Priest, said that Jesus is ‘not God’. That ‘God the Father is God’. He was rightfully condemned, and the Trinitarian language would prevail. The problem is some of the language of the creeds and councils that would follow were not totally accurate. Some of the Creeds would say ‘Jesus was eternally begotten [always begotten]’ this statement was for the purpose of refuting those who said ‘Jesus had a beginning’ [Arianism]. Now, did Jesus ‘have a beginning’? John’s gospel says Jesus was with the father from the beginning, and that ‘the Word was with God, and was God’. Jesus had no beginning! But, does this mean he was ‘eternally begotten’? No. He was begotten by Mary 2 thousand years ago. Begotten refers to the incarnation, not the preexisting Son who was with the father from all eternity. So the well intended phrase ‘eternally begotten’ was wrong. Why even discuss this? Because most of Christian Orthodoxy would still condemn certain aspects of the Syrian and Ethiopian churches over this. We at times are ‘scattered in the wilderness’ and our ‘bodies’ [denominations, divisions in Christendom] are a sad representation to the world. [NOTE- I want to restate what I have said in the past. I believe in the Trinity. But I also want you to see how other Christian perspectives have viewed these things in the past. There are large groups of ‘historic churches’ [not Gnostics and stuff like that, the so called ‘lost Christianities’] who lean towards Arianism. Most of the invading barbarians who sacked the Western Roman empire were converted to this ‘brand’ of Christianity. So while I hold to the historic orthodox view, I wanted you to see that we too have been inconsistent at times].
(977)1ST CORINTHIANS 10:15-17 ‘The cup that we bless, is it not the communion of the Blood of Christ? The bread which we break, is it not the communion of Christ’s Body? We are all one bread, we all partake equally of Christ’s Body and Blood. We exist as a community because of him’ [my paraphrase]. Here in my study I have various volumes on church history. I own catholic volumes, protestant ones, and even some from ‘the out of the institutional church’ perspective. Over the years I have learned that most believers tell their story from their perspective. This is not a wrong thing, nor is it a purposeful act to distort history. It’s just natural to see ‘your world’ thru your lens of past experiences. Around the 17th century the Jesuit priests were some of the first Christians to write systematic church histories. Though you had many scholars who were informed on the subject, the Jesuits were the first to try and bring all the previous centuries together and present them in an orderly way that could be understood and read by the average student. There is some debate on how accurate some of these first ‘tellings’ of history were. For instance, some classic church histories [both catholic and protestant] show an early 2nd century development of belief in the Eucharist as being the literal Body and Blood of Jesus. Also most volumes focus on church figures such as Iraneus , Tertullian, Augustine [4th– 5th centuries] and many other good men [I know I spelled these names wrong!]. There seems to have been a basic belief that this history is the only ‘history’ of the first few centuries. The problem with this approach is we now have archealogical evidence from the first few centuries that would support the idea that the early church might not have been as ‘institutional’ as previously thought. For instance, most histories say the development of the monarchial episcopacy [single bishop over ‘a church/region’] was early. But the evidence discovered shows that as late as the 2nd, possibly early 3rd centuries you had bishops who were simply elders/overseers in the early church. Burial places were uncovered that showed multiple ‘bishops’ all buried in one spot. The evidence seems to indicate that these were all men who served at the same time. Not one bishop dieing off while others took his place. This would mean that some practicing Christians never fully accepted the institutional idea of the single bishop. But you really couldn’t find this out from a wide reading of all the different church histories. Why? Were the Jesuits who put together the first cohesive history trying to deceive people? Of course not! They were seeing church history thru ‘their lens’. Now, what in the world does this have to do with the verse on communion? The word for communion here is a translation from the Greek word ‘koinonia’, which simply means ‘fellowship’. The church at Corinth practiced ‘communion’ as a love feast. The early believers had their ‘communion service’ as a type of buffet type fellowship where they all shared and came together in real friendship. Now in the next chapter we will deal with some of the problems that arose out of this practice, but the point today is I want you to see that when Paul says ‘we are all one bread who are partaking from one loaf’ he is simply saying ‘just like when we all get together and share in the communal meal, this is the same way we all spiritually live off of the Body and Blood of Christ. We are ‘one bread’ [people/communion] because we all derive our life from Jesus, the true bread that came down from heaven’ [John 6]. I simply want to give you the flavor of what Paul is saying. It’s easy to read these verse’s from the sacramental perspective. To see the focus being on the actual bread and wine of the meal. I think it’s better understood from the broader communal idea that I just espoused. Our entire New Testament is the most verifiable collection of first century documents ever to be found. Though we as believers take them as Gods word, they also show us the most accurate historical picture of what the early church believed and practiced. I think the reformers of the 16th century were right in stating that the final authority should be the word of God. They did not reject church tradition, but they said the final arbiter in controversial issues was Gods word. Even the great Catholic humanist, Erasmus, was known for his desire to ‘get back to the original sources’. He was helpful in urging the Catholic Church towards reform by going back to the Greek New Testament [most scholars were using the vulgate version, which was the Latin translation. The Latin did not do justice to the Greek!] Well today’s point is our New Testaments are accurate first century documents on early church belief and practice. I think Erasmus cry to ‘get back to the sources’ would do us all some good.
(978)1ST CORINTHIANS 10: 18-33 Paul ‘re-uses’ a previous analogy of the priests partaking of the meat from the altar. Here he uses it to describe the reality of fellowship and being joined to that which you worship. Now he deals with the idea of the meat from the idol worship that was sold ‘in the shambles’ [market place]. He already said this meat was fine. But here he says ‘the things the gentiles offer are being offered to demons, so I don’t want you joining in with this type of demonic worship’. It’s not a matter of the meat, or the idol! It’s a matter of being unequally ‘yoked together with unbelievers’. This is a theme that Paul discusses in this letter. It not only applies to marriage, but also to any type of intimate fellowship with an unbeliever. Here’s where a distinction should be made. Yesterday one of my homeless buddies stopped by. His name is Tim [carpenter Tim]. I mentioned him before. Tim’s a great friend who I have known for many years. He just stopped by to say hi, he told me he caught my radio show on Sunday and really enjoyed it. They get a kick out of being real friends with some so called ‘radio preacher’. I think it’s hard at times to connect the ‘radio guy’ with the simple brother who takes them out to eat and stuff. Tim is a believer who works regularly [thus the name carpenter Tim!] He does not take the free handouts and stuff that are offered to the local homeless population. But I have helped Tim as a friend and brother in the Lord for many years. I asked if he has heard anything about Bill ‘painter Bill’. I have known Bill just as long as Tim. These are the original homeless guys I met in the early 1990’s. Bill is in his 70’s, Tim is around my age [I am 46 years old as I write]. Bill was a bitter homeless person. Just too many years of going thru stuff. Over the years we had become real good friends. I think he sees me as one of his best friends. A few weeks back I heard he was on a respirator and they though he wasn’t going to make it. It sounded pretty bad. As of right now I don’t know if he’s alive or not. A few months back I was giving Bill a ride home. He had a temporary place to live at the time. He did ask if I had a few dollars to spare. I don’t remember if I did or not to be honest. But I told Bill I don’t make the same amount of money since I retired. Just to let him know that’s why we haven’t gone to eat recently. He also asked me if I wanted to get the free eye checkup from the mission. They had some locals donate their time and they would get the guys free glasses. I told him that’s all right, I don’t want to take stuff that’s meant for the homeless [I also don’t eat the free meals]. They get upset that I don’t use the system. So as we arrive at Bills trailer he asks if I could come in for a minute. I told him sure. He handed me the free glasses he recently got, he asks me to try them on. I did. He then offers them to me. I told him no thanks, though I appreciated the offer. Bill was willing to give me his glasses. When Paul the apostle deals with having fellowship with unbelievers, he is not telling us to have no contact with the lost world. He is showing the Corinthians that they were not to be partakers of evil things along with the world. We are here to reach out to the world, not to have fellowship with evil things, but to be like Jesus. He was accused of being ‘a friend of sinners’. Do you have any ‘sinner friends’?
CORINTHIANS 16:1-4 ‘When you come together on the first day of the week, let every one of you put some money aside as God has provided for you. So when I come we won’t have to waste any time taking offerings. And we will use this money for the purpose of meeting the needs of the poor saints at Jerusalem. Whoever you approve to take the money to Jerusalem can do it, I might also go with them if the Lord permits. I gave this same order to all the churches in the Galatian province’ [my own paraphrase]. These verses are usually used to justify the Sunday morning offering. They are also used to teach ‘Sunday as the Lords special day’. Let’s talk a little. Paul gave these instructions to at least this church and all the churches of Galatia. We have no idea if all the first century churches actually did this. But let’s say they did. What exactly are they doing? They are taking a Sunday offering and using it 100 percent for charitable purposes. Remember how I have taught in the past that the main teaching from Jesus on giving dealt with the poor? So if we want to use this text to command believers to give on Sunday, then we need to use ALL THE MONEY for helping poor people. Paul also says ‘do it before I arrive, I don’t want to have to spend time messing around with collections’. I find it interesting that it is common today to spend a good portion of the Sunday service [any church U.S.A.] to kind of do a celebratory offering thing. Lots of time to stop and emphasize the importance of worshiping God with our money. The point I would make is Paul did none of this. He actually said he did not want to have to set aside time for the collecting of money when he arrived, and for this very reason he said take up the offering on Sunday! One more thing; it is obvious that the early believers began a tradition of meeting on Sunday. Jesus appeared to the disciples after his resurrection on 2 consecutive Sundays. Acts 20 has believers meeting on Sunday. Jesus of course rose from the dead on Sunday. But there is no indication from scripture that believers are under some type of New Testament Sabbath law. Sort of like Sunday is now the ‘special day’ just like Saturday for Judaism. Various groups argue over this issue, I have taught on it before. In the New Covenant we have tremendous freedom to meet or not meet on Sunday. Or to meet or not meet on Saturday for that matter! But doctrinally we are free from the law and all of its observances. I appreciate the work that has been done by various scholars [Especially some catholic ones] on showing how Sunday became the special day of observance for believers. But we need to be careful when we read what the believers did in the New Testament and then proclaim it as law. I believe its fine to meet on Sunday, to take offerings and to do all of these types of things. But when we grasp hold of limited ideas, and then exalt them to a place of law, we err. Paul was simply telling this church to collect some money on the first day of the week for the sole purpose of charity. If modern day believers want to apply these scriptures literally, then we should use all of the Sunday offering for charity. If we apply them literally, then there is absolutely no sense of a tithe system to pay for salaries, building upkeep, insurance, on and on. For modern day believers to engage in such things is fine. If these expenses seem needed for the overall purpose of Gods work, then fine. But to use these verses and actually tell believers they are robbing God if they don’t tithe on Sunday is absolutely not true. I have written a lot about these things over the years [you can find stuff on my ‘statement of faith’ section and ‘what in the world is the church’ section] I do not condemn all the churches who practice these things, it’s just we need to be careful when we take examples from scripture, lift them out of context, add a few verses from Malachi and then teach some air tight system that if not obeyed brings the curse of God on someone. Do all things in grace, remember THE POOR, and you will do well.
(1020)CORINTHIANS CONCLUSION- Paul concludes this long letter with a bunch of personal notes. He tells them that the Lord has opened up a great effective door for him at Ephesus and there are many adversaries. He wanted Apollos to make a visit but he did not want to at this time. He told them to go easy on Timothy because he was a fellow worker in the Lord. Overall Paul’s message to this church was one of true grace. I want to emphasize again [like we did when studying Romans and the other epistles so far] that one of the main themes of the first century apostles was belief in the gospel. Paul told these believers that it was believing in the message of the Cross that saves them. He defined the gospel as Jesus death, burial and resurrection. He encouraged them to live free as Gods community and to help each other out. Paul did not lay on them some type of guilt trip to become some high powered institution in order to ‘change their world’. He believed that the simple lifestyle of love and purity would be able to do the job. I see a contrast from the first century church and its simple gospel and today’s idea of church. Also notice how Paul was ‘planting’ these churches. He visited them, spent time with them, LEFT THEM, and continued corresponding with them thru letters and friends. In essence, first century church planting was simply establishing groups of people on the foundation of Christ. They were not organizing under some type of 501c3 model [I do realize they didn’t have this back then!] they didn’t see ‘church’ as some type of social group that you joined [Elks lodge type thing]. They actually were the church! I want to stress this theme as we continue teaching thru out the New Testament. Many times believers hold on to and embrace ideas that seem to be biblical [you can find a verse here and there type thing- proof texting] but when you see the whole story you get a better picture of what’s going on. Well I hope you guys got something out of this brief study, try and keep in mind the things that challenged you as we read thru this book. Did you see some things differently than before? Did some stuff get you mad? Did we challenge your belief system in some way? My goal is to encourage reformation in the church, not disorder! Take the new things you might have seen and implement them in Gods time. Those of your starting from scratch [first time church planters] can start with a clean slate and implement many of these ideas from day one, others who are already in ministry will have to take a more measured approach. Do all things as God leads and in his time. To all you ‘church members’ don’t take the stuff that you learned and use it to come against your ‘church’. Let God lead you on your journey and reform as God directs. It’s easy for some young rebels [or old!] to take the stuff on tithing and use it against your current church, that’s not our goal. Be patient with your pastors and leaders and allow God to use you as a force for change, not destruction. Well that’s it for now; I am not sure what study we will jump into next. Recently got some good emails and phone calls from some of our friends laboring in other towns, people I did not even know of, but who follow the ministry. Those of you out there who are following along, send me an email every now and then so I can see what type of growth we are having, the different regions we are impacting. Those of you who have launched home groups, let me know how things are going. God bless till next time, John.
(1192) ARE WE SUPPOSED TO BE DUMMIES? Still in Luke 18, the disciples forbid the young children from coming to Jesus; Jesus rebukes the disciples and tells them that the Kingdom of God is made up of little children. There is a theme in the New Testament that goes like this ‘become childlike in your faith and trust in me, but be mature in your thinking and understanding’. Often times these two things are confused. Why? In the letter to the Corinthians Paul will rebuke the wisdom of the world, he states that when he was among them he did not use men’s wisdom to convince them of the message of the Cross. Paul also encourages believers to be ‘child like’ as well. Many confuse Paul’s teaching with an idea that says Christians should not be engaged in the development of the mind. Paul was not rebuking all wisdom and forms of knowledge, but a specific kind of wisdom. In Acts 17 we read of Paul at Athens, the Greek intellectual city of his day [Alexandria was the philosophical center in Egypt]. As Paul disputes with the philosophers of his day he actually quotes their own poets/philosophers in his sermon, he does not quote from the Old Testament, but uses the sources that they are familiar with. Right after Athens Paul goes to Corinth, the cites are very close geographically. There was a form of philosophy at Corinth that was very popular, you had the Sophists and the professional speakers [Rhetoric] operating out of Corinth. The Sophists were the philosophers that came right before Socrates in the Greek cultural world, around 6 centuries or so before Christ. Their form of philosophy was what you would describe as the first Relativists [or post modern thinkers who appeal to subjective knowledge as opposed to objective] they taught that philosophy and arguing were simply things you do ‘just for the heck of it’. Sort of like a hobby of simply disputing things while never being able to arrive at truth, something Paul will rebuke in the New Testament by saying some people were ‘always learning and never being able to come to the knowledge of the truth’ Paul himself tells the Corinthians ‘where is the disputer of this world’. So the Sophists were famous for this type of thing. Now the great philosopher Socrates disagreed with the Sophists, Socrates taught that thru the practice of thorough debate and the art of constantly asking questions, that you could arrive at truth [seek and ye shall find type of a system]. He believed real knowledge could be found thru seeking after it. Socrates stirred the waters too much, he was put to death by being made to drink the famous hemlock, the city where this happened was Athens. So Paul more than likely is disputing the system of thought that said you could not arrive at objective truth. It’s no secret that his letter to the Corinthians has one of the strongest statements of factual [objective] belief found in the New Testament. The great chapter 15 reads like an early creed to the church ‘Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures…’ It’s very probable that this chapter was used as a sort of creed in the early Pauline churches. So, what exactly was Paul saying [and Jesus] when they taught us to be like children, to reject the wisdom of the world for the wisdom of Christ? Simply that our approach to God and the things of God should be done in a humble manner, being childlike and open to God all throughout our lives. Paul was not teaching us that the following ages of great Christian thinkers was wrong; men like Anselm, Aquinas, C.S. Lewis and G.K. Chesterton. It is perfectly acceptable for the believer to become well versed in the field of philosophy, to argue the Christian worldview from a biblical perspective. While it is true that no church was founded by Paul after his Athens visit, and some feel he abandoned his use of ‘worldly wisdom’ at Corinth because of this failure, but I think Paul continued to appeal to the intellectual world thru his great wisdom [God given] thru out his life [read Galatians and Romans!]. Ultimately it is the wisdom of the Cross that saves people, a wisdom that Paul said he communicated not in the words of mans intellect, but in the direct ability of the Spirit to speak. Sometimes that ability came thru a sermon that quoted the philosophers of old [Athens] sometimes thru the simple sharing of the message of Christ. Jesus grew in wisdom and stature with God and man, he knew the ideas of his day, so did Paul. Do you?
2ND CORINTHIANS 8- Paul talks about giving in these next 2 chapters. It’s important to see the context in which he is speaking. Many fine men [pastors] and believers will use a verse or two out of these chapters and apply them in a wrong, or out of context way. We find verses like ‘he that sows [plants] sparingly will reap sparingly’ or ‘God shall supply all your needs according to his riches and glory’. These verses [as well as a few others] are to be seen in the context of giving in a charitable way, doing it by ‘choice’ and not by force, and giving freely to help the poor saints that were living at Jerusalem. But too often these verses are used to tell believers if they do not tithe 10 percent of their income into a Sunday morning offering, they will be cursed. Or appeals are made by the TV preachers that say ‘sow into this ministry and reap a harvest’ in many of these scenarios there is tremendous force and manipulation used to get the saints to give money for all types of projects, or to fund the rich lifestyles of charismatic figures. These things ‘ought not to be done’. In this chapter Paul says he that gathered little had ‘no lack’ how often have we taught believers to ‘get a full harvest’ and said it in a way that says unless you ‘gather much’ you will be in lack? Here Paul says those who gathered ‘just enough’ those who were satisfied with the basics ‘had no lack’. Or ‘give according to what you have, not according to what you don’t have’ how many appeals are made all the time telling believers ‘if you don’t have it, make a vow anyway’? We tell people to give according to what they don’t have all the time. And the churches of Macedonia did give ‘out of their poverty and great affliction’ you do not measure the success or spirituality of believers by the amount of financial wealth they have, these giving churches had ‘poverty’. All in all we need to rethink much of what the contemporary church/ministry does when it comes to money. In these chapters Paul teaches voluntary giving along the lines of helping the poor, we often use all these verses and simply apply them to our ‘churches’ ministries or personal callings. We err. In the next chapter Paul will quote Psalms ‘he hath dispersed abroad, HE HATH GIVEN TO THE POOR, his righteousness remains forever’ again, the whole context is giving to the poor. I know we mean well as believers, but we need to get back to really reading what the text is saying and applying it in that way. To give to churches, or ministries is fine. To give 10 % of your income is fine. To meet the needs of laboring elders/pastors is fine, but we should not use these types of scriptures in a condemning way when exhorting the saints to give, doing that is ‘not fine’.
Ephesians 3
POSTED BY CCOUTREACH87 ⋅ JANUARY 9, 2018 ⋅ LEAVE A COMMENT
EPHESIANS 3
Ephesians
3:7 Whereof I was made a minister, according to the gift of the grace of God given unto me by the effectual working of his power.Ephesians 3:8 Unto me, who am less than the least of all saints,
is this grace given, that I should preach among the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ;
Ephesians
3-
[testing new links here- not sure if they work]
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1xHmh-qUKpTJgxvSu0-mGQOj1H0n4Lkjy/view?usp=sharing
https://www.dropbox.com/s/qoiuds4q1sok5vm/1-2-18%20Ephesians%203.mp4?dl=0
ON VIDEOS-
.One
star only
.Paul
the prisoner
.What
mystery?
.Abraham
and the stars
.Did
the prophets know [fully] what they were saying?
.What
does all this mean for our day?
.Not
an ethnic gospel
.Apostles
and Prophets
.The
gift of prophecy
.Silence-
the movie
.Nagasaki
.Syncretism
.Church
history
.Franciscans
and Dominicans
.The
Logos
.Redemption
history
.Higher
critics got it wrong
.Mysteries
still revealed thru the body of Christ- Incarnation principle
.God
has done this
.The
Divine romance
OTHER VIDEOS-
Matt
23- 2nd Sam. 13-14 https://youtu.be/R2EldYeZljo
John
5 https://vimeo.com/249456959
Ephesians
3 http://dai.ly/x6cnglf
Christian/Muslim
dialogue https://drive.google.com/file/d/1CUJMwGkRQqJEVRIIEMc2se6yeIjaUuL3/view?usp=sharing
Acts
13 http://www.ustream.tv/channel/23498909
The
Cross https://flic.kr/p/23caQYP
Galatians
6 https://youtu.be/sBr1XDStkOo
John
6 https://vimeo.com/249880215
http://www.ustream.tv/recorded/111691298 Mark
10
Plato
n Church history https://drive.google.com/file/d/1waTxuKkP8guXVAdrpTfn332h1XX5KDUL/view?usp=sharing
Moses https://www.flickr.com/photos/ccoutreach87/39566848581/in/dateposted-public/
Acts
4 https://youtu.be/JoqX5RLJmpI
Samuel
5-6 https://vimeo.com/250202146
News and Politics-
Live
update- https://youtu.be/8sJ9c6xFEck
Update
2- https://youtu.be/eebkOwZ-j4Y
Update
3- https://youtu.be/FmHdd2q5EYA
Yes- I gave in to the temptation and talked about the American Media- AKA FAKE NEWS. It’s a tough temptation to resist for sure. So- instead of wasting precious blog space- I figured I would tag them here- for those not interested you can skip these videos- sorry- John
http://www.climatedepot.com/2018/01/04/al-gore-bitter-cold-is-exactly-what-we-should-expect-from-the-climate-crisis/ I did mention this on one of my many ‘roll out’ videos- honestly I did not read this article before I talked about it- but just came across it now as I write [1-6-18]
NEW-
Paul
speaks about the gift of grace given to him- how God revealed the ‘mystery’ to him about both Jews and Gentiles being part of one Body [community] in Christ-
Ephesians
3:2 If ye have heard of the dispensation of the grace of God which is given me to you-ward:
Ephesians
3:3 How that by revelation he made known unto me the mystery; (as I wrote afore in few words,
Ephesians
3:4 Whereby, when ye read, ye may understand my knowledge in the mystery of Christ)
How how it is thru this body- the church- that God’s wisdom is being revealed- even to the angels and powers in the heavens-
Ephesians 3:10 To the intent that now unto the principalities and powers in heavenly places might be known by the church the manifold wisdom of God,
The principle is the incarnation- how we as living members of the Church are continuing to walk on the earth- as redeemed humans- and because the Spirit of revelation- the Spirit of God chose to reside in us- then we are the instrument where God’s wisdom and truth are being revealed.
Even the prophets of old see in into this church- they are indeed ‘living’ with God right now- they await the day when we will all be physically raised from the dead-
But
as of now- they too look into the wisdom of God being revealed thru the church-
Ephesians 3:5 Which in other ages was not made known unto the sons of men, as it is now revealed unto his holy apostles and prophets by the Spirit; [note- on the video I explained how here Paul
is talking about New testament Apostles and Prophets- but I also spoke on how even the Old Testament prophets have now seen the unfolding of the mystery- thru the church]
The
great mystery of both Jew and Gentile being brought together in Christ might not seem as ‘big of a deal’ to us living in the 21st century-
But
to the first century mind- it was a big deal.
For us today- we see how in order for God to truly reveal himself to others- it requires a community of people joined together in Christ- who have broken down the racial and ethnic barriers that we see in the world.
The fact that God joined groups who were opposed to one another [Jew and Gentile] and thru this reconciling of man he than revealed his wisdom to others- was an offence to the natural
mind.
Remember-
the mysteries Paul is speaking about were indeed contained in the writings of the prophets.
Yet the religious mind of the 1st century simply could not see them.
The truths contained in scripture are only revealed thru a unified community of people.
Paul
himself was a trained teacher of the law- yet it took a Divine intervention to reveal the mystery of Christ to him [Acts 9].
And as he embarked on his great purpose- to reveal the love of God to those who felt rejected- he too began to experience the same rejection from his former community.
Yet
it was the calling of God upon him- God’s grace that was doing it thru him-
Ephesians 3:7 Whereof I was made a minister, according to the gift of the grace of God given unto me by the effectual working of his power.
He learned how to embrace the calling- and all that went along with it.
Though
an educated man- he would come to see that the love of Christ went beyond an intellectual pursuit of truth-
Ephesians
3:19 And to know the love of Christ, which passeth knowledge, that ye might be filled with all the fulness of God.
It is in the Divine romance of Christ and the bride that enables the unfolding of the mysteries of God.
The
wisdom of God is a product of God being with man- God living and communing inside of this people- the church.
We live in a day where many well meaning teachers- who have the skills to communicate truth- often do not see the need for the truth of God to come from a Body of people who display what reconciliation actually is.
The 1st century church consisted of people who were once divided- people who held strong religious convictions.
Their
beliefs came from the sincere study of the Old Testament scriptures-
It was from their dedication to these Scriptures that they felt it their duty to oppress the ‘other’-
Paul’s
own experience shows us this.
But
after his experience with Jesus himself on the road to Damascus- he began to see how it was thru these Old Testament Scriptures that God had already spoken about the redemption of all
people-
Paul himself began to see that what he thought was right [the persecuting of the church] was actually opposed to the pre planned purpose of God from the start.
And this indeed was a great mystery- something hidden from the beginning of time-
1 Corinthians 2:7
But
we speak the wisdom of God in a mystery, even the hidden wisdom, which God ordained before the world unto our glory:
In
Context | Full Chapter | Other Translations
We as the people of God- who come from all different backgrounds and ethnicities, we reveal the manifold wisdom of God to others- because we show how people who were separated from one another have not come together to form a unified community.
The walls have not only been broken down between us and God- but between us and our fellow man.
Yes-
Christ has redeemed us from the curse of the law- he took away the barrier that separated man from his brother-
Ephesians
2:14
For
he is our peace, who hath made both one, and hath broken down the middle wall of partition between us;
In
Context | Full Chapter | Other Translations
And he brought peace on earth- good will to men-
13 And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God, and saying,
14 Glory
to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men.
Yes-
the powers in the heavens- the angels themselves began seeing it at the time of the incarnation-
And it is in this Divine romance between unified men- and God himself- that the angels still desire to learn from-
New International Version
It
was revealed to them that they were not serving themselves but you, when they spoke of the things that have now been told you by those who have preached the gospel to you by the Holy Spirit sent
from heaven. Even angels long to look into these things. Peter 1:12
PAST POSTS- In the past posts section- there are also verses from my past teaching. At the end- bottom- of each post I add the verses from the recent video- Ephesians 3.
EPHESIANS- LINKS
https://ccoutreach87.com/2017/11/30/ephesians-1/
https://ccoutreach87.com/2017/12/13/ephesians-2/
More-
https://ccoutreach87.com/romans-updated-2015/
https://ccoutreach87.com/galatians-links/
https://ccoutreach87.com/acts-links/
https://ccoutreach87.com/galatians-johns-gospel/
https://ccoutreach87.com/1st-2nd-corinthians/
[Accidentally posted more here- but the section I wanted is right below]
·1ST,
2ND CORINTHIANS
·1ST-
2ND SAMUEL
·1ST-
2ND SAMUEL [LINKS- UPDATED 3-17]
·1ST-2ND
KINGS
·ABOUT
·ACTS
·ACTS
[LINKS]
·ATHEISM-
APOLOGETICS [LINKS ADDED]
·CHRISTIAN
RECOVERY FROM ADDICTION [LONG VERSION]
·CLASSICS
OF WESTERN LITERATURE
·DEUTERONOMY,
JOSHUA
·EPHESIANS
[HIGHLIGHTS]
·FURTHER
TALKS ON CHURCH AND MINISTRY
·GALATIANS
[LINKS]
·GALATIANS-
JOHN’S GOSPEL
·GENESIS
·HAGGAI
·HEBREWS-
UPDATED 2015
·HISTORICAL
FIGURES FROM CHURCH HISTORY
·HOUSE
OF PRAYER OR DEN OF THIEVES
·HURRICANE
HARVEY
·INSIGHTS
FROM A REVOLUTION
·ISLAM
·JAMES-
2015
·JOHN
[COMPLETE- LINKS ADDED]
·JONAH
[LINKS]
·JUDGES-
RUTH [VIDEO LINKS INCLUDED]
·JUSTIFICATION
BY FAITH
·LINK
TO PAST POSTS- UP TO 12-2017
·LINKS
TO STUDIES
·MARK
[LINKS]
·MY
BIBLE COMMENTARIES [OTHER LINKS]
·MY
OTHER SITES
·N.J./NYC-
2017
·NEHEMIAH,
ISAIAH
·NYC-NEW
JERSEY TRIP- 2015
·ONE
LINK
·OVERVIEW
OF PHILOSOPHY
·OVERVIEW
OF THE BIBLE
·PROTESTANT
REFORMATION- LUTHER
·QM
·RADIO
CATALOG
·RAPTURE-
2ND COMING- 2 EVENTS?
·ROMANS-UPDATED
2015
·RUSSIA-
U.S.- WORLD EVENTS
·THE
GREAT BUILDING OF GOD
·WESTERN
INTELLECTUAL TRADITION
//
galatians-
john’s gospel
[STUDY]
GALATIANS/JOHNS GOSPEL
(1327)
GALATIANS; INTRO- Okay, finally made it, been wanting to teach this letter for a while. Let me overview some church history that I feel would be helpful in understanding the book. During the
16th century Reformation you had an explosion take place within Christianity, though the official ‘schism’ dates back to the year 1054 between the western [Catholic] and eastern [Orthodox]
expressions of the church, yet in reality it was the 16th century upheaval that really split the church. A few centuries before [14-15th century] you had rumblings within the church that had
well taught Catholic men challenging many of the institutional concepts of the church; men like John Huss, Wycliffe and others. These men were extremely influential and had an effect on the
church. Then in the 16th century you had Catholic writers who remained within the Catholic Church, but they too challenged the status quoi. Men like Erasmus of Rotterdam, these intellectuals
would call for the idea of going back to the original sources of study [Greek New Testament and also other renaissance ideas] and this too would lead to the historic Reformation. But without a
doubt Martin Luther [the Catholic monk out of Wittenberg, Germany] would be the firebrand of the movement. Martin was a well trained Augustinian monk who struggled with the guilt of sin for many
years. Not normal guilt, but extreme. A fellow Catholic leader would encourage Luther to trust in the grace of God for his forgiveness. While reading the book of Romans [whose themes relate
strongly to Galatians] he would come along the famous passage ‘the just shall live by faith’ and in Luther’s mind this was a total release from the bondage of trying to appease God thru all the
religious works that he was going thru. In essence Luther discovered the historic gospel of grace thru the reading of Romans and was set free. Now Luther had no intention of leaving the Catholic
Church, but as a very influential teacher/scholar out of the university city in Germany, he had lots of influence. The Catholic church at the time was worldwide and you had differing views of the
church in various states. Many saw the state of the church in Rome as having given in to materialism and become too worldly. Rome was at the time trying to raise money for the restoring of the
religious buildings at Rome and one of the priests going around selling indulgences was named Tetzel. The abuse of selling these ‘get out of purgatory early’ things was offensive to many
Catholics, and Luther had ‘no small stir’ when Tetzel reached his area. These things would lead to the famous nailing of the 95 questions on the door of Catholic academia and would be the
beginnings of the historic split. While it would take way too much time to go into all the theological differences between the Protestants and the Catholics, one of the main issues deals with how
we as Christians view ‘being saved’. The historic Protestant position is called ‘justification by faith alone’ [Sola Fide] the Catholics counter with ‘the only time ‘faith alone’ is mentioned is
in the book of James, where it says a man is not saved/justified by ‘faith alone’. Ouch! The main point I want to make is this letter deals with the early church’s belief that man is accepted
with God based on the sacrifice of Jesus on the Cross. Paul will challenge the ‘Judaisers’ [those who believed you needed to keep the law in order to be saved] and will argue that the law itself
[Old Testament books] teaches that men are justified/accepted with God based on believing in the free gift of God thru Christ. Make no mistake about it, the New Testament clearly teaches this
doctrine. Catholic and Protestant theologians BOTH agree that man is freely saved by the grace of God in Christ. But at the time of Luther’s day these glorious truths were lost in the morass of
religious tradition and works. As we read thru this letter in the next few days, I want all of our readers to see the argument Paul is making from this basic theological view point. Is man saved
by works [keeping Gods law] or grace? The bible teaches grace. Now I don’t have the time to also introduce the modern controversy between the ‘new view’ of Paul between Protestants [called new
perspective]. There is an ongoing debate over whether or not the historic Reformation view of Paul is correct [men like N.T. Wright and John Piper are hashing it out] and I do think there are
some merits to this discussion, but before we can delve into that aspect, we first need to see the historic question of works versus faith, and this letter is one of the best to deal with the
issue.
(1328)
GALATIANS 1- Mark Twain said ‘the classics are books that everyone loves to praise, but nobody wants to read’. As we begin this study I can’t emphasize enough the need for Christians to read the
bible! Many of the current problems in Christianity would be solved if we simply got back to reading the bible in context. Okay, in chapter one Paul defends his authority as being one who was
sent by God, not man. He explains how after his conversion he spent years receiving direct revelation from God; he was not taught the gospel of grace by consulting with man. Paul was in a unique
situation compared to the other apostles, Paul was the first apostle to have had a strong intellectual background in both Judaism and philosophy; he knew his stuff. This ‘allowed’ God to reveal
things to Paul FROM THE SCRIPTURES that revealed Gods grace and the reality of how men are justified by faith and not thru the law. In essence Paul wasn’t out in left field receiving Divine
revelations about things that nobody ever heard about. They were new things in the sense that they were hidden in God until the time that God chose to reveal them [Ephesians 3]. Paul rebukes them
for forsaking the true gospel and being drawn to another gospel ‘which is not another’. Okay, what’s the true gospel Paul is speaking about? It’s not only the definition given by Paul in
1st Corinthians 15 [the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus] but it includes being justified by faith and not by the law. The Judaisers did believe in Jesus, but they were rejecting
justification by faith alone. The false gospel that Paul is refuting is the gospel that said the Gentiles must ‘keep the law in order to be saved’ [see Acts 13 and 15]. In no uncertain terms Paul
condemns this message; there was no compromising the reality of Gods free grace given to the elect. The actual faith itself that is deposited in the elect is a divine act of God [Ephesians 2] the
unbeliever is dead in sins with no ability to ‘resurrect himself’ and the new birth is Gods sovereign act of raising a person from the dead [spiritually] and giving them faith. This is the gospel
of grace. Paul was adamant about rejecting false gospels! In our day there are so many ‘gospels’ going around it’s not funny. I caught a few minutes of a TV evangelist the other day quoting
verses from all over the bible in order to entice people to vow money to him; yes he used these words in no uncertain terms. He told the people they must quickly pick up the phone and dedicate
the money to him, because it was this act of faith that would release the harvest. Now I don’t know how much longer God is going to allow stuff like this to go on, how much longer networks will
continue to air this stuff, but we as believers/preachers need to condemn these false gospels in no uncertain terms. Paul will use strong language when defending the gospel; we need to get back
to defending it too.
(1329)
GALATIANS 2- Paul recounts his meeting with the apostles at Jerusalem; some feel he is talking about his first visit [Acts 11- before AD 50] others think he is discussing his Acts 15 meeting
[right at around AD 50] I’m in the latter camp. Paul is basically telling the churches of Galatia that he already went thru this whole discussion with the main apostles at Jerusalem [Peter, James
and John] and that they had already agreed that the Gentile believers did not need to get circumcised and come under the law in order to be saved. I do find it interesting that out of the 4
decrees that were made [read Acts 15] that the only one Paul recounts here is ‘to remember the poor’. The only decree worthy enough for Paul to recount is the one on charitable giving; those of
you who have followed this blog for a while know how much I emphasize this point. If the early church was teaching tithing to the Gentile churches, surely it would have come up at the Jerusalem
meeting, but it didn’t. This chapter has some important verses that all believers should commit to memory ‘if righteousness come by the law, then Christ died in vain’ ‘the life that I now live I
live by the faith of the Son of God who loved me and gave himself for me’ etc. I really want all my Catholic/Protestant readers to pay attention to the verse’s that I just quoted; the bible
clearly teaches that if men could ‘be saved’ by keeping Gods law, then Christ died in vain. Paul will go on to teach [chapter 3] that if there had been a law given that could have given men
eternal life, then ‘being saved’ would come that way; but he then goes on to say that there never was a law given that men could keep in order to be saved. Paul always gives the caveat ‘does this
mean we go out and break the 10 commandments’? And his answer is always a big NO! The point of this chapter is we as believers are saved because Jesus died to pay the penalty for our sin; the
proof that the penalty was completely paid is in the fact that Jesus rose again [Romans 5]. All who believe in this reality are now the children of God, indeed ‘we are all the children of God by
faith in Jesus Christ’.
(1330)
GALATIANS 3- The main point of this chapter is God made a promise to Abraham that he would ‘bless’ all nations thru one of his kids someday [Genesis 12). This promise was given to Abraham 430
years before God gave the 10 commandments to Moses. Therefore the promise that men would be justified/saved by faith cannot be ‘undone’ by a later act of giving the law to Moses. The point being
that Paul is arguing with the Galatians that their new view that they need to keep the law in order to ‘be saved’ [the blessing of Abraham IN CONTEXT!] is false because God already told Abraham
it would be by faith in the coming Messiah. Paul then asks ‘is the law then against Gods promise’? No, it was given to man [Israel] until the time came for the promised child to be born
[1st century], but now that the promised child is here we are no longer under the ‘schoolmaster’. The schoolmaster term can be confusing; the word in Greek means the person who walked the
kids to school [truth] and then dropped them off AND LEFT. Paul is saying the law period served its purpose; it revealed mans sinful nature to him and then ‘dropped him off at the Cross’. Paul is
saying the law fulfilled its purpose and we are now under grace. As new creatures in Christ we walk in love and fulfill the righteousness of the law by our new nature, it’s not a legalistic
thing. There is some confusion today on this chapter; some were taught that ‘the blessing of Abraham’ was speaking of the promises in Deuteronomy on financial blessings. And that the curse is
speaking about the curse of ‘poverty’. Though it is true that the bible does speak about this in the Old Testament, in context Paul is not saying this here. Paul explains what he means about the
‘curse of the law’. He says it’s the curse of never being able to do enough to appease God, the man that is under the law puts himself under this mindset of perfectionism and lives under this
constant feeling of never being able to do enough. This was Paul’s previous experience as a Pharisee. When Paul teaches that we are delivered from ‘the curse’ so the ‘blessing of Abraham might
come on the gentiles, that we might receive THE PROMISE OF THE SPIRIT BY FAITH’ he is not saying Jesus died to make us financially rich, he is saying Jesus delivered us from the old law mindset
of legalism and we now have forgiveness and acceptance as a free gift- ‘being now justified by faith we have peace with God thru our Lord Jesus Christ’ [Romans 5].
This
post deals with the faulty understanding expounded by many Evangelical/Protestant ministers [end times scenarios, Tim Lahaye type books] that exalt ethnic/racial elements into the gospel, and
contribute to the many present tensions between Muslims/Jews/Christians.
(1331)
GALATIANS 4- Paul says there was a time period before the promise would be fulfilled thru Christ; that time has come to an end [the law] and we are now in ‘the fullness of times’. When we were
under the law we were no different than servants, but now in grace we are mature sons, people able to inherit the promise. Paul says why do you desire to go back under the ‘restraint’ phase, the
time of discipline and legalism, we are now in a fullness stage thru the New Covenant and we don’t need the old mentality anymore. Once again Paul really ‘spiritualizes’ the Old Testament in his
teaching, he says that the law [Old Testament] taught this difference between law and grace. He uses the story of Abraham having 2 sons [Ishmael, Isaac] and he says ‘cant you hear what the law is
saying’? One son was born by promise [Isaac] the other thru the works of the flesh [law]. And just like it was back then, the one born after the flesh persecuted the one born after the Spirit, so
today [1st century] those after the flesh/law are persecuting those born after the Spirit. It’s important to see that Paul DOES NOT use this analogy to describe Jewish/Muslim [Arab]
relations; he actually refers to natural Israel as ‘Ishmael’! He says the Judaisers [Jews zealous of the law] were fulfilling the type/symbol by persecuting Gentile believers. We need to keep
these distinctions in our minds, because when we don’t rightfully discern the truth we do damage to the non ethnic testimony of the gospel. Paul says the law relates to natural Israel/Jerusalem
who is under bondage with her children, but the ‘New Jerusalem’ which is above is the mother of us all, and this Jerusalem relates to the church. The New Jerusalem is not referring to a physical
city that will ‘hover over the earth during the millennium rule’ [EEK!] But it refers to the new community people of God, the church. I have written on this before and these references in the New
Testament [Revelation, Hebrews- us being the new Zion, etc.] are speaking of the church, the people of God. Paul once again speaks of ‘natural Jerusalem’ in a negative light, in the sense that he
teaches those who are under the law are not walking in the fullness of the promises of God as come in the Messiah. The New Testament spends no time engaging in the glorying of any ethnic group
[whether it be Israel, Gentile, etc.] It’s not that the apostles were being anti Semitic, it’s just the emphasis is on the new kingdom of God and the new people of God [the church made up of both
Jew and Gentile]. Its striking to compare the writings of the first Jewish believers to the current trends amongst many evangelical preachers, the two don’t mesh well.
ROMANS
4-7
https://ccoutreach87.files.wordpress.com/2015/02/2-11-15-romans-4-7.zip
Video
https://ccoutreach87.files.wordpress.com/2014/08/700-galatians.wav?_=1 This
is an old radio show I made years ago- thought it fit well with what I’m teaching now- you’ll need to use Internet Explorer browser to hear it.
The apostle Paul quotes a lot of Old Testament scriptures in this letter- I hope to cover some of them on the video- but as you read these chapters- it would be helpful to read Genesis 12- 13-
15-and 17- these are the main chapters Paul uses in the life of Abraham to show Abrahams faith- and how he was justified by faith- before he was circumcised [Gen 15].
He
will describe the faith of Abraham by using the story of Abraham and Sarah having a son in their old age [Gen. 17] – and talk about how the heirs of the promise- that Abraham would be ‘heir of
the world’ was made to ALL THE SEED- meaning not just to his Jewish brothers who would believe- but also to the Gentiles- who were never granted the ‘right of the covenant’
[circumcision].
Paul
explains that Abraham was justified BEFORE he was circumcised- so- he is the father of all the kids- even the Gentile believers who were never circumcised- but had the faith of
Abraham.
Now-
there’s’ a lot I am trying to cover in this Romans study- for those who watch the videos- you will see that I’m also covering the divisions within Christianity- primarily those that arose out of
the 16th century Protestant Reformation. I quote the book of James- and show how James says ‘was not Abraham our father JUSTIFIED BY WORKS when he offered up Isaac his son on the altar’. It’s
important to see- that these words JUSTIFIED BY WORKS- are indeed used in our New Testament- in the videos I’m explaining this- but the point I’m making is James uses the account of Abraham- in
Genesis 22- and shows us that the progressive work of ‘Justification’ can- and is- applied to the act of Abrahams obedience- and when God saw Abraham DO A JUST THING [a work] James says ‘he was
then justified’- the same word used in the initial act of our Justification- seen in Genesis 15- ok- this might be a bit much to take in now- but over time when we get a better grasp on this- I
believe it will help to foster unity in the Body of Christ.
James 2:21 Was not Abraham our father justified by works, when he had offered Isaac his son upon the altar?
James
2:22 Seest thou how faith wrought with his works, and by works was faith made perfect?
James
2:23 And the scripture was fulfilled which saith, Abraham believed God, and it was imputed unto him for righteousness: and he was called the Friend of God.
James
2:24 Ye see then how that by works a man is justified, and not by faith only.
NOTE-
As I do this study- I’m copying/pasting an old commentary I wrote years ago- I guess I should read the commentary first- after I penned the above- I read it- I basically covered the same thing-
at least I’m consistent!
ROMANS 4: 1-12 Now, Paul will use one of his most frequent arguments to prove that all men, both Jews and Gentiles, need to be justified by faith and not ‘by works’. The most famous singular figure that natural Israel looked to as the ‘identifier’ of them being a special people was ‘Father Abraham’. Paul does a masterful job at showing how Abraham was indeed justified by faith and not by works. The ‘work’ of circumcision came before the law. It would later become synonymous with law keeping [Ten Commandments] and Paul can certainly use it here as implying ‘the whole law’. But to be accurate this work of circumcision was a national identifying factor that Israel looked to as saying ‘we are better than you [Gentiles]’. Paul is showing Israel that God in fact ‘made Abraham righteous’ before he circumcised him! [Gen. 15] And the sign of this righteousness was circumcision. This meaning that Abrahams faith in Gods promise [a purely ‘passive’ act! This is very important to see. Later on as we deal with the famous ‘conversion texts’ we need to keep this in mind] justified him without respect to the law. God simply took Abraham outside and said ‘look at the stars, your children will be this abundant’ and Abraham simply believed this promise to be true. Much like the passive belief of Cornelius house at their conversion [Acts 10]. The simple belief in the promise of Jesus justifies the sinner! Now this fact of Abraham believing and being made righteous, before being circumcised, is proof [according to Paul] that Abraham is the father of ‘many nations’ not just natural Israel. All ethnic groups who HAVE THE SAME FAITH AS ABRAHAM are qualified to be ‘sons of Abraham/ heirs of God’. The fact that Abraham carried this justification along with him as he became circumcised, shows that all Jewish people as well can partake of this ‘righteousness by faith’ if they have the same faith as Abraham had. Jesus did say ‘Abraham rejoiced to see my day’[ John’s gospel]. In Gods promise to Abraham of a future dynasty of children, this included the promised Messiah. So indirectly Abraham’s belief in the promise of being the father of ‘many nations’ included belief in the coming Messiah. So according to Paul, all ethnic groups who have faith in Jesus are justified/made righteous. The very example Israel used to justify ‘ethnic/national pride’ [Father Abraham] was taught in a way that showed the truth of the gospel and how God is no respecter of persons.
(820)ROMANS 4:13-14 ‘Now the promise that Abraham would become the inheritor of the world was not going to be fulfilled thru the law [natural Israel] but thru faith [all who believe, both Jew and Gentile]’. I have spoken on this before [see note at bottom] and will hit on it a little now. The historic church can be defined for the most part as ‘a-millennial’, that is they interpreted the parables on the Kingdom of God and the promise of ‘inheriting the world [which includes the Promised Land]’ as being fulfilled thru the church. That Jesus established Gods kingdom and the church basically fulfills these promises by expanding Christ’s ‘rule’ thru the earth. Some historians saw the 4th century ‘marriage’ of Rome and Christianity as a fulfillment of this. During the 19th and 20th century you had the rise of Dispensationalism, a ‘new/different’ way of interpreting these land promises. Many good men showed the reality of Christ’s literal coming and pointed to a future time where Jesus literally sits on a throne in Jerusalem and rules all nations. These brothers are called ‘Pre-millennial’, they believe that Jesus comes back first [pre] and then establishes his ‘millennial rule’ on earth. The Premillennialists would see the Amillennialists as ‘replacement theologians’. They said that these brothers were taking the actual promises that God made to Israel and ‘replacing’ Israel with the church. In essence they accused the Amillennialists of spiritualizing the promises to Israel and saying the church would be the recipients of the promises. Now, both sides have truth to them, I personally believe the Amillennialists have a lot more truth! But I do see some of the good points that the Premillenialists made. I want you to simply read these verses [Romans 4:13-14, Galatians 3:18] and see for yourself how Paul does teach the reality that the promises to Abraham are to be fulfilled thru the church [spiritual Israel]. This does not mean that there is no future physical return of Jesus. But the body of scripture leans heavily on the Amillinnialists side. [see entry 703] NOTE- To be fair, some historic thinkers held to the Premillennial position. The majority were Amillennial.
(821)ROMANS 4:15-25 ‘For the law worketh wrath, for where there is no law there is no transgression’. I simply want to touch on the concept of ‘wrath’ being a very real part of judgment. One of the ways the gospel ‘saves us’ is by promising a future [and present!] deliverance from wrath. While death ‘reigned’ before the law was given, it wasn’t until the law where you had a clear picture of transgression and atonement. We will deal with this later in Romans. Now Paul once again hits on the theme of Abraham being the ‘spiritual father’ of many nations [all who believe] and how the promises of God to Abraham were to be fulfilled thru this ‘new race of people’ [the church]. Paul is careful to not demean Israel; he couches his terms in a way that says ‘God will fulfill these things thru the circumcision who believes [Jews] and the un-circumcision who believe’ [Gentiles]. I want to stress the very plain language Paul uses to show us that we should not be seeing Gods ‘covenant promises’ thru a natural lens. Christians need to be careful when they support [exalt!] natural Israel in a way that the New Testament doesn’t do. ‘To the end that the promise might be sure to all the seed; not to that only which is of the law, but to that also which is the faith of Abraham’. Now Paul tells us