God's Holy Spirit

Our recent course of study in doctrine in my Journey 24/7 group has brought us to the ministry of the Holy Spirit.

READ John 14:16-17
And I will pray the Father, and He will give you another Helper, that He may abide with you forever—the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees Him nor knows Him; but you know Him, for He dwells with you and will be in you.

Here’s something to think about.

Agree or Disagree: By its definition as a “spirit,” the Holy Spirit has the spiritual attributes (characteristics) of God but not the personal ones.

We had an interesting discussion around that question the other night. It led me to think about some defining terms regarding the Holy Spirit of God. First, there are many terms describing the Holy Spirit. First and foremost is the term Holy Ghost.


One young man was puzzled by the term ghost used in reference to God. His concept of ghost was either evil or cartoonish (Casper).


And yet when you look at the definitions of the words, one can understand the use of Ghost when referring to the Spirit of God the Father and God the Son (more on that in a bit).

We listed on a board as many of the terms we could think of that refer in Scripture to the Holy Spirit: Comforter, Helper, the Third Person of the Trinity; Teacher, Giver of Gifts. The list went on…

When I looked up the two terms (holy and spirit), independently, I found the following definitions:

Hagios, in the Greek means “most holy thing.” The idea behind holy or holiness is a quality of perfection (a sinlessness and inability to sin that is possessed by God alone). That’s simple enough. But the word spirit was a bit more complicated.

Pnuema, in the Greek means a movement of air (literally “a gentle blast”), wind, or breath of nostrils or mouth. So based on this simple combination of the two words the Holy Spirit is the most holy breath of (in this case) God! That fits when you consider that the Holy Spirit is responsible for guiding (especially the apostles and prophets) into all truth.

READ 2 Peter 1:21
For prophecy never came by the will of man, but holy men of God spoke as they were moved by the Holy Spirit.

But there’s more to the definition. Spirit can also mean the vital principal by which the human body is animated. Obviously, this is a human application that doesn’t necessarily apply to God. But when a human soul has left the body, it is referred to as a spirit. This explains the idea of “ghost” when referring to the Holy Spirit. When Christ died on the cross, it is said He gave up the Spirit. His Spirit (that which animated His physical body), left His material, human body. In the language of the King James Version, based on the original Greek texts, Holy Ghost worked to describe this concept of God and Christ’s Spirit.

Then continuing with the many levels of the definition, there’s the concept of a spirit higher than man but lower than God. This gives us an idea about angels.

The definition begins to get specific for our terms as it deals with the divine nature of Christ, higher than the highest angels and equal to God. Here’s where we get to a definition that deals with God’s power and activity distinguished from His essence and manifest by His influence upon we who make up His body (the church). This is God the Holy Spirit, the third person of the trinity, the giver of all spiritual gifts and fruit, and the source of any power, affection, emotion we employ as believers.

There’s plenty more to consider about the ministry of the Holy Spirit, but that’s for another day. For now, let me leave you with the following challenge:

Have you ever been aware of the Holy Spirit working in your life?

As an evangelical fundamentalist, I do not apply a Charismatic application to that question. However, many in my camp have gone as far as almost eliminating the manifestation of the Holy Spirit in our lives for fear of being labeled “Charismatic.” Speaking in tongues or being slain in the Spirit are not the only manifestations of the Holy Spirit’s power in the lives of a believer. When was the last time you were aware that the Holy Spirit of God was guiding and directing you into truth through your study in God’s Word? The Spirit is responsible for give believers the power to do the work of His ministry. We as believers need to recognize the work of the Holy Spirit in our lives and give God abundant praise. God’s Holy Spirit independently equips His church, perfecting and maturing all His saints. In performing His ministry He neither glorifies Himself nor the gifts He bestows, but glorifies Christ by putting into action His work of redeeming the lost and building up their faith.

GRACE 2 U ALL!

Best Friends

While teaching my Journey 24/7 group the other night, I challenged some of them to describe their best friend. You may want to do this too. However, I wanted a very precise description. These are the questions to be answered:

What is your best friend’s exact height?
What color are your best friend’s eyes (natural color, not contacts)?
How much does your best friend weigh (touchy question for the ladies, but when I asked this of two guys, they were way off)?
What’s your best friend’s least favorite vegetable?
What is the color of your best friend’s hair (again this would be natural color)?
When was the last time your best friend’s hair was cut?
What does your best friend aspire to be someday?
How old was your best friend when they learned to ride a bike?
What’s the best thing about your best friend?

Now all of this is fairly mundane, it’s certainly not profound, but I did it to underscore how much we don’t know about those we count as our best friends. I discovered last year, remarkably, that a man I had counted as my best friend for years, a man I knew to be a devout, committed believer and man of God, had never shared his testimony with me. Here I was, supposedly as close as a brother with the man, and we’d never sat down and shared with each other how we’d come to trust Jesus Christ as our Savior! Maybe it was just that we felt so familiar with one another, that we assumed we instinctively “knew” certain things about each other. I fear it’s that way sometimes with Christ. As we count Jesus as our Savior, I contended many times most Christians know considerably less about Him than they think they do. We assume we know Jesus. That’s all fine, but shouldn’t we be striving for a higher level of intimacy with the One Who loved us enough to sacrifice His life on the cross?

As Paul wrote the Colossian church, they were being threatened by a heresy (false doctrines or teachings that deny a foundational belief of the church). In this case the heresy denied Christ was deity (God). If that’s not a foundational belief for me and my church, I don’t know what is. Paul begins with some very key points about Who Jesus Christ is.

Read Colossians 1:15
He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation.

Paul says Christ is “the image or the invisible God.” The heresy of the time proposed that Christ was like an angel. If accepted, we would have to understand that since angels are created beings (Psalm 148:2-5) they are not equal in any way to God. They are, however, superior to human beings, have power and strength unmatched in mankind and superior intellect. But they are not all-powerful (omnipotent), all-present (omnipresent), nor all-knowing (omniscient). So what does Paul mean by calling Jesus the image of God? How can he be God’s image if He was a created being like all the angels? By image Paul means that Jesus is a copy or likeness of God. However, he further qualifies God by saying that He is unseen or can’t be seen. To know God, who is invisible, unseen to our temporal and material eyes, we must know Christ (which is basically what Jesus said in John 14:6). To know Jesus Christ is to know He is the perfect, exact likeness or image of God the Father. Jesus is fully God in every way (and he was fully man as He walked the earth).

But what does Paul mean by calling Him the “firstborn”? Doesn’t that indicate that Jesus was indeed created like the angels? Firstborn can mean born first in order, the first to be born of all creation, a created being. But that would be an inaccurate reading to the word. Firstborn can also mean top in rank or position. Jesus Christ’s position in God’s kingdom is over creation (firstborn over all creation); He existed before creation and is exalted over any created thing.

The spectacular thing about knowing Jesus is that he was fully God, but also fully man, otherwise we do not have a high priest who can sympathize with our weaknesses (Hebrews 4:15). Jesus was human! He was born, like we are (Luke 2:6-7). What an incredible experience for the prince of glory to be born into human flesh, unable to care for His slightest needs! He grew (Luke 2:52), not just in stature, but in wisdom and favor with men. What must it have been like fro Jesus to deal with the pains of human growth, the insecurities our frail flesh imposes upon us? He got tired (John 4:6)! Jesus, the agent of creation, got weary! He became fatigued from toil. He suffered from thirst (John 19:28). When His body was being deprived of the very blood that pumped through His veins, he experienced the parched torture of unquenched thirst. He Who had never experienced such need when He resided with His Father. Finally, as part of the Godhead, the Trinity, He experienced death (Matthew 15:37), perhaps the ultimate human experience.

You can probably recognize your best friend from across the street. They are almost immediately recognizable to you. Yet there are many things you don’t know about them. Would you recognize Jesus if you saw Him?


















If you read a description of your best friend, would you be able to identify who was being written about? Do you really understand what you read about Christ to get a clear picture of Who He really is?









The older I get, the more I realize there is so much more I need to know about Jesus before I can truly say I know Him. By His grace, I will be given that time. We’ve just scratched the surface here. Go get your Bible and dig in. Get about the work of knowing Jesus, better than your best friend!

Grace 2 U All!

Paul's Last Charge

Recently, I was blessed to speak at a youth camp for a local church. The setting was at Malibu Creek State Park, a beautiful place. I’ve ministered with this camp over the last five-six years. The kids are great; the sponsors are devoted men and women, seeking to see these young people trust Christ.

For the camp, I did a series of messages on the mentoring relationship between Paul and Timothy, as revealed in the book of II Timothy. As I went through the study, I was blessed to think about the various men and women God has placed in my life as mentors (I couldn’t resist the digressions, but can female mentors be called “women-tors”?). Men like Curt Correll made Christ and His teaching real to me, challenged me to live up to God’s standards, and allowed me to discover one of the gifts God gave me to use for His glory: teaching!

Knowledge of God’s Word is necessary if one is going to present It to the world. However, often Christians allow only a passing acquaintance with the Word to suffice for knowledge. Consider it: Who would you want operating on you? Someone who read a medical book 25 years ago, but had been working as a plumber for the past 20 years, or someone who studied medicine for over ten years and has been practicing the procedure about to be performed on you over a thousand times? The same thing is true when you consider the task of sharing Jesus Christ with someone. Who’s likely to do that effectively? Someone who rarely memorizes scriptures and only reads their Bible as if it’s some kind of drudgery or someone who studies and reads God’s word everyday with passion and enthusiasm and knows God personally and intimately?

Paul pulls no punches in the last chapter of II Timothy, as he gives his protégé some last words of encouragement and inspiration.

Read II Timothy 4:1-4
I charge you therefore before God and the Lord Jesus Christ, who will judge the living and the dead at His appearing and His kingdom: Preach the word! Be ready in season and out of season. Convince, rebuke, exhort, with all longsuffering and teaching. For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine, but according to their own desires, because they have itching ears, they will heap up for themselves teachers; and they will turn their ears away from the truth, and be turned aside to fables.

When Paul says “I charge you…” he’s giving Timothy a serious command, something he expects to be followed and carried out. The word is actually a military term. And look Who he gives the charge before: God and the Lord Jesus Christ! That adds to the weighty nature of the command. The charge is to “Preach the Word…” We think we know what it means to preach, but I wonder. What passes today for preaching is little more than rote formula for some. Paul is decidedly addressing a pastor, a shepherd, someone tasked with the responsibility of feeding the flock of God. However the charge has broader implications for the rest of us. I would not recommend everyone “preach.” In fact, I’d discourage many. But another meaning of the word is to proclaim God’s Word. To proclaim, to make known, to state publicly the Word of God, we must first know the Word of God; fully and intimately. This is not only preaching the Word, but leading and demonstrating obedience to it.

When I come before a group of young people or adults, for the purpose of exercising my God-give gift of teaching, I am placing myself open and exposed to my audience. It’s as if I am inviting them to look at my life as an example of what I am teaching. That’s why I’m as open as I can be about my shortcomings. I have not arrived! I am not a perfected saint. By God’s grace, I’ll be one when I stand before His throne, but until then, there are certainly some rough edges that need smoothing out. Nonetheless, my charge is to proclaim God’s truth in both word and deed.

Paul further challenges Timothy and me and you to be ready to proclaim the truth of God. These words, “be ready,” carry with them a force and urgency to be fully prepared; like a soldier about to go into battle, constantly alert for any surprise attack. We who have been given this command to proclaim God’s Word need to be vigilantly looking for the opportunity to share God’s truth at a moment’s notice, ”…in season and out…” The timing for proclaiming God’s Word is not governed by what is convenient. It is governed by God’s sovereign plan. We’re only the messenger, not the message.

You see, Paul foresaw a time when people would no longer tolerate the teaching of Truth. Instead, many who claim to believe will follow their own lusts and wants. This goes on today as people seek churches that offer God’s blessings without having to deal with sin, Christ free gift of salvation, or repentance.

Read II Timothy 4:5
But you be watchful in all things, endure afflictions, do the work of an evangelist, fulfill your ministry.

To be watchful means to be sober, calm in spirit, self-controlled, unruffled, and prudent in all things. Mature believers are not emotional spectacles, but reflections of the Solid Rock we’ve trusted. We are to endure affliction. Know that if we accept the call to be a genuine believer, we will suffer trials. I wish I could tell you different, but I can’t. I can tell you that our job is to withstand those trials; to bear down and get through them, by the strength and provision of our Lord. Not everyone can do the work of an evangelist, because not everyone is gifted by God to be an evangelist. But we are all called to share our faith and lead others to trust Jesus Christ and that we can and should do.

Read 2 Timothy 4:6-8
For I am already being poured out as a drink offering, and the time of my departure is at hand. I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith. Finally, there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will give to me on that Day, and not to me only but also to all who have loved His appearing.

As I grow older, I am reminded every time I speak (in church, at a camp, to my Monday night Journey 24/7 group) that I’m not guaranteed another audience with these folks. I could be gone from this earth tomorrow. It’s all in God’s timing. Paul sensed his own mortal existence as he wrote these verses to Timothy. Remember, he was sitting in a stinking pit of a cell in the bowels deep within the Mamertine Prison.

When he says he’s being “poured out as a drink offering,” Paul is using an illustration from the OT sacrificial system. There were burnt offerings and grain offerings that were totally consumed. The drink offering was the final sacrifice offered, poured out, not a drop withheld.

Paul’s use of sport metaphors always intrigues me. Thousands of years ago, the diversion of sport was as universal as it is today. Paul says he fought the good fight. Paul never fought for his own rights, reputation, or honor, but for God’s glory. Paul sensed his fight was nearing an end. He finished the race. We each have a specific course God’s laid out for us. For some, it won’t be too hard. For others, God has chosen a steep mountain to climb, but will provide all the strength needed, every step of the way. Paul kept the faith. He guarded it from error and attack. He paid close attention to it, in order to teach and demonstrate it to Timothy.

What is God preparing you to do for His glory? Whatever it is, you can be certain Satan is waiting for you to slip up, to give in to temptation, or to give up. But God has chosen you to minister in His name, in your homes, your neighborhoods, your schools, your jobs. Consider praying to God and asking Him to do a work in your heart that will cause you to desire to live a life that draws people to Him. Ask Him to give you a desire to see others trust Christ. Ask Him to make you a blessing to someone (anyone of us can be a perfect pain to someone with very little help from anyone, but to be a blessing, that may take some divine intervention). God is ready to use you as His tool in leading and teaching others about the Gospel if you’ll but yield to His command.

Meeting A Mentor

In today’s world, mentors are very big. You have to have a mentor to succeed in business. Youth programs are built around providing young men & women with a suitable mentoring figure. The word mentor actually comes from Greek mythology and means a trusted counselor, guide, tutor, or coach.

As a young man, I adopted a friend as a mentor. His name was Curt, and he provided me with an excellent role model to follow as I charted my course as a new believer.

Read Acts 16:1–3
Then he came to Derbe and Lystra. And behold, a certain disciple was there, named Timothy, the son of a certain Jewish woman who believed, but his father was Greek. He was well spoken of by the brethren who were at Lystra and Iconium. Paul wanted to have him go on with him. And he took him and circumcised him because of the Jews who were in that region, for they all knew that his father was Greek.

The Apostle Paul met Timothy during his second missionary journey. His father was Greek and his mother a Jewish-Christian, and Timothy was already a believer when he met Paul, through the testimony of his mother and grandmother. He likely replaced John Mark as Paul’s most trusted assistant and traveling companion.

As a young man, Timothy was not that different from young people today, especially not the ones I come in contact with through ministry. They are looking for role models. The world will only too happily oblige in providing their brand of mentors --- individuals who do not uphold the values we have if we’ve trusted Christ. This is an area that I think we in the Christian community haven’t pursued all that aggressively, providing mentors to young believers. That started me on a study in II Timothy, a book I find filled with the wisdom of a strong mentor.

Read II Timothy 1:3-7
I thank God, whom I serve with a pure conscience, as my forefathers did, as without ceasing I remember you in my prayers night and day, greatly desiring to see you, being mindful of your tears, that I may be filled with joy, when I call to remembrance the genuine faith that is in you, which dwelt first in your grandmother Lois and your mother Eunice, and I am persuaded is in you also. Therefore I remind you to stir up the gift of God which is in you through the laying on of my hands. For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind.

Paul is praying for his young “mentee” (that’s not a word, but in keeping with the theme of mentoring, I’m using it instead of disciple, for after all, we are talking about discipleship here). He prays with a valuable asset; a pure conscience. Your conscience helps you tell between what is morally good and morally bad. It prompts you to do what is good and avoid what is bad. Pure carries the meaning of being sincere, genuine, and free from sin and guilt. So here Paul prays for Timothy with the sinless, genuine confidence that he’s doing what God wants him to do. Do you have someone who prays for you? Is there someone in your life who is older, at least older in the faith, who carries your name before the throne of grace regularly? What an uplift that must have been for the young pastor (Timothy was the pastor of a church in Ephesus when Paul wrote to him)! What a source of strength and comfort when the cares of the day (and the cares and pressures of leadership, in the case of Timothy) come crashing down around us, to have someone we know and respect praying for us.

As I mentioned before, Timothy’s mother and grandmother led him to trust Christ. Paul reminds Timothy of the legacy his mother and grandmother have bestowed upon him: his faith. They were concerned enough for Timothy’s future to take intentional effort to share Christ with him as a child. They were role models of believers in Timothy’s day-to-day life. Paul is acknowledging the faith of Timothy’s relatives as well as the fruit of their faith, as manifest in Timothy. As believers we should be concern over and, if possible, lead our loved ones to trust Jesus Christ. That’s not the easiest thing to do. I tried with both my parents, with no apparent success, but still I was called to try. Who in your life do you pray will trust Christ? Maybe it’s a parent, a child, a brother, sister or even a spouse. God calls us to share the gift that is within us. We’re not responsible for the harvest per se, but we are called to plant the seeds. This farming metaphor comes back up later in Paul's letter.

Why do teachers give quizzes on things you’ve already learned? To remind you of what you know. Paul reminds Timothy to stir up a gift God has given him. This stirring up means to keep something, like a fire, alive, preventing it from growing cold from disuse. Some believe Paul was referencing Timothy’s gift for preaching, teaching, and evangelizing which he may have allowed to get rusty. God is a gracious and generous giver of many gifts He wants us to use in furthering His kingdom. What has God equipped you to do that you’re letting lie cold and unused? Are you ignoring a special ability God has placed in you because you’re fearful?

Paul reinforces for Timothy what God has not given us: a spirit of fear. By that, Paul is describing a shameful, cowardly, weak and selfish character. Roman persecution, resentment, and false teachers were no doubt overwhelming Timothy. As a young pastor, he probably didn’t have a lot of confidence in his skills when it came to confronting persecution or refuting error. Often that’s how we act when confronted with attacks on Christians or Christianity. We lack the skill of the adversary, and rather than say or do something that will only get us into trouble, we remain silent, leaving attacks unanswered. But God did not design us to fear such things. We are each called to do great things for God and His glory! What is it you fear? What causes you to remain silent when God would have you speak forcefully?

I have often seen young men, coming out of seminary, ready to take on their life’s calling to pastor a flock and then get sent reeling when persecution or confrontation comes their way, from within their own flock. They are faced with the cold hard reality that God’s people are sometimes the pastor’s enemies. Paul wisely knew this, and as any good mentor will do, he is reminding Timothy of the provision, the education, that God has provided him that will help him resolve such issue, to God’s glory. What God did give us was a three-fold, not so secret weapon: Power, Love and a Sound Mind. Power is simply the spiritual energy to endure: “And let us not grow weary while doing good, for in due season we shall reap if we do not lose heart.” (Galatians 6:9). Love focuses on pleasing God and seeking the welfare of others’ before our own: “Let each of you look out not only for his own interests, but also for the interests of others.” (Philippians 2:4). A sound mind is one that is disciplined and possessed of a self-controlled thought-life that orders things according to God’s Will and Word “Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus…” (Philippians 2:5).

Read II Timothy 1:8
Therefore do not be ashamed of the testimony of our Lord, nor of me His prisoner, but share with me in the sufferings for the gospel according to the power of God…

As a mentor, one is not perfect or without flaw. Paul certainly wasn’t and neither was my mentor. I am not a perfect example for anyone I disciple. Paul was in jail when he wrote this letter (though through no fault of his own). There were many stories told about why he was there. Timothy’s enemies were only too ready to malign Timothy’s character to gain an advantage over him. If he was such good friends with Paul, and Paul obviously did something wrong to land him self in prison, then what must we think of his young protégé? Whenever a believer is perceived to fall, the world immediately tends to think the worst. Often, we in the church tend to get caught up in that wave as well. Paul didn’t want Timothy to be ashamed of being associated with him or Jesus Christ. Are you ever ashamed of being a Christian? Does that shame put you in a kind of spiritual paralysis? That’s the strategy of the enemy; dilute and weaken the impact of Christ in the life of a believer and half the battle is won. For a marvelously entertaining and enlightening account of this tactic read C. S. Lewis’s “The Screwtape Letters.”

Being ashamed is the same as having a spirit of fear. We are not made for shame but to give God glory and to lead others to trust Jesus Christ as Savior. We as Christians need to find more mentors for our young believers. In many cases, we need to step up, regardless of our age, and be a mentor to someone Christ has brought into our lives. Who would He have you mentor for His glory?

That Dusty Book In The Corner

The name of this blog is “In My Father’s House.” Now lest you think otherwise, the title refers to my “heavenly” Father’s house and not my earthly father. Although he was a good man, and provided for me and my mother, he was not a believer, so the subjects I speak of here would have been foreign to him in his life here on earth. Things like salvation, the existence of God, reading the Bible, would have all been lost on him. I’m hoping they are not lost on you.

In my earthly father’s house there was a family Bible. It must have been a gift from someone, because I really can’t say my parents were the type to buy a Bible like that. I don’t know who gave it to us, or when it actually appeared in our house. But there it sat, nonetheless, a big, ornate volume, as I recall, with gold leaf lettering on the cover: “Holy Bible.”


However I never recall seeing my father or mother open it up. It was just that dusty book in the corner, sitting there on the coffee table among the milk glass and bric-a-brac. I was never encouraged to read the Bible as I grew up, but curiosity drew me to it. It had pictures, at least a few, and that appealed to me.

It was a King James Version of the Bible, so for the first few years that I knew of its existence, that’s the only Bible I knew. What translation of the Bible do you read? Have you ever thought about why you read that particular version? As a matter of fact, is there only one true version of God’s Word? Some think so. It’s King James only! Others are a bit broader in their acceptance of what is Scripture.

And do you consider the Bible as infallible, without error? Is it really all that important? For me, it’s a resounding “YES!!!” To say that any part of the Bible is inaccurate calls God’s message and His plan of salvation for you and me through Jesus Christ’s death on the cross into question.

Read 2 Peter 1:20-21
...knowing this first, that no prophecy of Scripture is of any private interpretation, for prophecy never came by the will of man, but holy men of God spoke as they were moved by the Holy Spirit.

What is Scripture, but the written Word of God? In reading Wayne Grudem’s book on Systematic Theology, he points out that the earliest for of God’s written Word is found in Exodus 31:18, where God gives Moses the Ten Commandments, written in His own hand on two tablets of stone! Think of it. The God of this universe, Sovereign of all creation, wrote in His own hand, the first component of the canon of Scripture.

That’s a term that’s always sounded funny to me, “the ‘canon’ of Scripture.” Anyone who’s ever sat through one of my lessons knows I’m a fanatic about words and their meanings. And this one has to be illuminated! Simply stated, “canon” comes from both Hebrew and Greek words for a measuring rod. Thus, canon is the measurement or standard by which we evaluate all documents that claim to be Holy Scripture.

So how is that we came to even have a Bible? A simplistic, jet tour through the origins of our Bible would follow (but remember, I’m not doing an in depth analysis here, just touching some highlights). History informs us that Moses wrote the first books (Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy) of what we consider today as the Old Testament. By about 450 BC, Ezra began collecting and arranging the Hebrew writings attributed to the Jewish faith into what became accepted as the Hebrew Old Testament (pretty much as they appear in our Bibles today). In 250 BC, in Alexandria, Egypt, a group of seventy scholars began working on a Greek translation of the Hebrew Scriptures that became known as the Septuagint. The name Septuagint refers to the number seventy and is often referred to in writing as the Roman Numeral LXX. The Septuagint was arranged into three subject areas: historical writings, poetry, and prophecy. It also included seven Apocryphal writings. The term Apocrypha meant something that was hidden or secret and included works like First and Second Maccabees; a historical account during the 400 year period between the last books on the Hebrew Old Testament canon (Ezra, Nehemiah, and Esther) and the ministry of John the Baptist. These texts were later removed as non-canonical or non-authentic works from what we know today as the Protestant Bible. They do however appear in the Catholic translations of the Old Testament.

Somewhere between 45–100 AD, Matthew, Mark, Luke, John, Paul, James, Peter and Jude wrote the various Gospels, Acts, letters, and the Revelation of Jesus Christ. The writers of the New Testament quote from all but eight Old Testament books, but nothing from the Apocryphal writings. By 150 AD, the Gospel accounts, the history of the church, the letters, and the book of Revelation had circulated enough among the churches of the day to be referred to as the “New Covenant” writings. By 397 AD, the Council of Carthage confirmed as authentic the twenty-seven books we now have in our New Testament, affirming over 300 years of use in and by the church.

Then come the translations. The Bible was written originally in Hebrew, Aramaic, and Greek. A Latin translation was completed around 425 AD, known as the Vulgate. The Rheims-Douai Bible (published in 1609) took the Vulgate and translated it into English and became the standard Bible translation used by Catholic Church today.

In 1611, King James I of England commissioned a version of the Bible translated from two earlier English translations and the available Hebrew and Greek texts of the time. Over the years, translations like the New International Version and paraphrases like the Living Bible have come into fashion. Regardless of the versions out there, one question comes to mind: What is the ultimate goal of Scripture? My answer is to equip us, as believers, to do the work of God here and to help lead others to a knowledge of the Truth.

How does the Bible impact your life? Does it have any impact at all? For many in our world, sadly, it does not. Yet it is the one, most powerful and important volumes ever written. Even non-believers often have copies of it lying around their homes, gathering dust. I can’t really say that about the Koran or the Book of Mormon or the writings of Confucius.

If you’re a professing Christian, how does your life reflect your commitment to God’s Word? If we say we believe what’s written on its pages, shouldn’t that belief be carried out in our day-to-day lives? No wonder the world has a jaded view of us as a faith if we’re so cavalier about our God’s personal communication to us. Have you ever used the Bible to make a decision? What does it have to say about where a young man or woman should go to school? Does it have anything to say about your next purchase? Does it have any impact on whether you buy a new car or boat? I’m not being flippant here. If we believe that the Bible contains God’s wisdom for us, then shouldn’t it be consulted as we make decisions in our lives?

Finally, is reading, studying, and meditating upon God’s Word a priority in your life as a believer? Some of us squeeze out some time in our busy lives to read a passage or two from the Bible. We may even look forward to such an interlude. But what about studying it – personal study? One-on-one time with God’s Word and your intellect. What truths would God reveal to you if you honestly took the time to sit down and study it for yourself? But maybe you do that. Maybe you read all the good commentaries for yourself. That’s not the challenge. The idea is to read the Bible for yourself.

And how about meditating on what the Bible has to say? Would you reflect, concentrate and focus your thoughts upon it? Would you consider what it says to you, about your life, about how you treat others, and about how you treat God? This challenge is not for the weak or those who lack the resolve. To truly respond to this challenge means you’ll willing to embark on a life-changing journey of growth, maturity and wonder. That’s why I love the Bible and find my greatest satisfaction in studying and meditating upon its great truths and then applying those truths to my life!

Grace 2 U All!

Why Study Doctrine?

It’s early on Sunday evening and I’m putting the finishing touches on a lesson I’ll be teaching to my Journey 24/7 group tomorrow night. The lesson will be a very brief introduction into our study in basic Biblical doctrines. When I think of the study of doctrine, I think of my son-in-law, Jason, who graduated from seminary last year. According to the Merriam Webster Online Dictionary, a seminary is an institution for the training of candidates for the priesthood, ministry, or rabbinate. In my son-in-law’s case, it was training for the ministry.

A good portion of his education over the last few years has centered on doctrine, those core beliefs about God, the Bible, humankind, Christ, the church, and other concepts that my faith (Christianity) considers authoritative and accepted by all adherents. Simply put, doctrine helps us answer the question, “What does a person need to know to be a Christian?” In my mind, this question goes beyond the “steps” one takes to appropriate salvation. One might answer the question with the declaration that one must know that Jesus Christ died for our sins (yours and mine too, I might add). But to that, I’d ask, “How does one ‘learn’ that?” How does one come to understand that Jesus Christ indeed did just that? How does one grasp the significant impact that has on their life going forward? Again, all this presupposes the individual has trusted Jesus Christ as Savior. For me, the study of Christian doctrine guides us through the collected teaching about Christ’s sacrificial death and a good deal more we need to know as born-again believers in the Lord Jesus Christ.

Read 1 Timothy 4:13-16

Till I come, give attention to reading, to exhortation, to doctrine. Do not neglect the gift that is in you, which was given to you by prophecy with the laying on of the hands of the eldership. Meditate on these things; give yourself entirely to them, that your progress may be evident to all. Take heed to yourself and to the doctrine. Continue in them, for in doing this you will save both yourself and those who hear you.

The Apostle Paul is planning to return to rejoin his young protégé, but until such time, what three things does he direct Timothy to pay particular attention to in verse 13? Reading, exhortation and doctrine.

If you accept, as I do, that what is written in the Bible is addressed to us as well as the stated recipients, then to what are we to give attention to reading? Scripture; We and Timothy are to practice the public reading and exposition of Scripture. This, in one form, is preaching, plain and simple. But it also encompasses the entire scope of public proclamation of the truths of Holy Scripture. Whenever I give testimony, in a public forum, to the affirmation of what Scripture teaches I am fulfilling Paul’s charge.

Next Paul encourages us to be attentive to exhortation. He’s calling us to challenge those who hear God’s Word to apply it in their daily lives. The world has many Christians who are content to live out their Christianity quietly and without challenging those brothers and sisters in their sphere of influence to live lives aligned with the teaching and example of Jesus Christ. Exhortation could include rebuking or warning a fellow believer when they are engaging in activities that Scripture clearly forbids or directs us to avoid. Exhortation may also be encouraging or comforting a believer who is discouraged or hurting. Note that both reading and exhortation are linked by a verbal component. Both require speaking to one another. Paul repeats his call to give our attention to doctrine in verse 16, where he urges us to learn and teach the personal applications of doctrine.

But why? Why study doctrine at all? Couldn’t I just as easily tell the young men and women in my Bible study to simply read the Bible? Well, in a very profound way, that’s exactly what I’m doing when I’m asking them to spend some time examining the basic doctrines of our faith. I am challenging them to read and understand the Bible in a way many of them have never considered before.

Read Matthew 28:18-20

And Jesus came and spoke to them, saying, “All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth. Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.” Amen.

This passage is familiar to every student of the Bible as “the Great Commission.” Here Matthew records Christ’s commissioning of His disciples, and each of us who have trusted Christ, to go out and evangelize. It is quite an eloquent call to action. By the authority given to Christ by His Heavenly Father, we are commanded to take positive, intentional action in going (leaving our comfort zones) and reproducing followers not of ourselves, but of Jesus Christ. However the only way they can know how to follow Jesus Christ is by examining our actions as we reflect Christ to them. That’s a very sobering prospect, when I think that if I am deficient in reflecting Jesus Christ; if I distort His holy image in any way, I am not reproducing followers of Jesus Christ, but of some perversion of Christ.

But the commission goes further by calling us to lead these new followers of Jesus to identify with Him through obedience in baptism. Furthermore, we’re to teach them in all the things Jesus commanded us to do. Here the Great Commission is fully rounded out, going from the call to be faithful and obedient in heeding His call to action that results in followers of Him and then to continue in our call to discipleship, by teaching them everything He taught.

Teaching in Biblical times was an oral exercise. So to teach all that Jesus commands includes all that He orally taught while here on earth. To do this I have to look no further than the Gospels, as they reveal Jesus Christ’s “lesson plans”, if you will. But if I stop there, I’ve not fulfilled the commission. To teach all that Jesus commands must include the interpretation of His teachings and examples and their application in the early assembly of His church, as recorded in the book of Acts. However, I’ve not faithfully discharged all that the commission requires unless I also teach what Paul and the authors of the Epistles wrote under the supervision of the Holy Spirit as they reflected the commands of our Lord. In effect, all that Jesus commands is what is recorded in the entire New Testament. But it goes further than that, as the New Testament repeatedly records that Jesus demonstrated an absolute confidence in the authority and accuracy of the Old Testament Scriptures as God’s Word, faithful and true. So all that Jesus commands must include the Old Testament too. Taken in this context, the Great Commission not only calls us to evangelize and preach the good news of Jesus Christ to the lost but to teach all the doctrines found in our Bible.

Why study doctrine? To fulfill the Great Commission, that’s why!

Grace 2 U All!

Pray At Your Own Risk

Reviewing the news this morning I ran across a story about a Jewish man being escorted off of an Air Canada Jazz flight for praying. It occurred to me that prayer is one of the most powerful and dangerous things we as believers can do!

Consider the Old Testament character of Daniel (Daniel 6). The political cronies of King Darius are threatened by Daniel’s influence over the king. They set about to craft a piece of legislation that will prohibit Daniel’s public practice of personal prayer. The king signs a decree that temporarily outlaws the practice of prayer to any other being but Darius himself.

Politics is a curious thing. We give it such credence, sometimes even over the sovereign God we serve. The authorities of the time were threatened by an “outsider,” someone who seemed to operate by a different set of convictions and motivations then their own. Daniel just seemed “too good” when they observed his behavior, and prayer was just one of the manifestations they witnessed. They saw the king bestowing more and more authority on Daniel and this alarmed them. Self preservation is one of the primary drives of any successful politician (just ask Joe Lieberman).

Daniel knew and fully understood the law was in effect, but was undeterred by the politics of the day. He went home, went into his prayer room (an upper room that was visible and apparently known to the outside world), and with his windows wide open, he prayed, not just once, but three times a day. The Book of Daniel goes forward to detail consequences for Daniel’s behavior and God’s gracious protection because of his obedience: ultimately God is honored by Darius and before all men.

As for the plight of our aforementioned passenger this morning, the man was identified as a Hasidic Jew whose style of dress alone would call attention him. Though his prayer was not characterized as audible, the rocking back and forth in his seat drew attention from some “nervous” passengers. Whether or not the airline may have over reacted is not as much of a concern to me as the fact that the man was praying, as was his custom, no doubt, and people felt threatened. To be totally honest, his situation convicted me. When was the last time I prayed in such away publicly that what I was doing was so unmistakable?

These are extraordinary times, at least when compared to what I’ve experienced in my lifetime. But just as in Daniel’s era, prayer is an incredibly powerful and sometimes dangerous thing to do today. Prayer in public schools and even at public events has become an undesirable element, politically speaking. Federal cases in the early 1960s effectively outlawed prayer in public schools led by a teacher or school staff. In the late 1990s, prayer in the huddle of a football team before a game was ruled unconstitutional. Now don’t get me wrong, the separation of church and state is a good thing. I’m not interested in a state sanctioned religion (my experience with government leads me to conclude anything they get involved in such as this is usually rendered ineffective immediately upon implementation).

But for the average citizen, public prayer is still a legal option. It may be discouraged, but we’re still free to employ it if we are so moved. What about you? If you are a believer, do you pray? How often? Are you a closet practitioner of prayer? Do you pray publicly, perhaps before a meal? As believers, in my lifetime, we have in many respects abdicated the God given mandate to employ public personal prayer. Aside from what it does for us, our souls and fellowship with our Lord, it makes an undeniable statement to those around us. However, be careful with what you commit to doing. Prayer is rapidly becoming a mark of “radical fundamentalism” and all the negative connotations associated with that label. You are making a powerful statement when you bow your head publicly and pray to God. You are identifying with His power and authority over you. You are recognizing your dependence on God before a watching, and increasingly intolerant, world. To be sure Christ withdrew from the crowds to pray (Matthew 14:23, Mark 6:46, Luke 6:12, 9:28), but when He was commanded by the Pharisees to rebuke His disciples for proclaiming public praise to Him, Jesus declared such a command would cause creation itself to cry out (Luke 19:38-40).

The time to be silent has passed. These are the days when courageous men and women of God need to demonstrate their faith in very public ways, not to drawing attention to themselves, but to our glorious and sovereign Lord.

Consider this: whenever you read this little article, commit to praying publicly at least once over the next seven days. It doesn’t have to be audible prayer, but bow your head and have a little heart-to-heart with the God of all creation. Be a Daniel. Adopt a habit of public prayer. If you’re a father, you will be setting an example for your family and children. If you are child, you will be demonstrating your faith to those in your classes, teams, and neighborhoods. Prayer doesn’t take a theological degree; just a will to be obedient to God our Father. You may get asked some questions. You may even be asked to cease, but you’ll be participating in one of the most powerful and God-honoring acts you can