Monday, November 30, 2015

THE WORK OF THE HOLY SPIRIT - By Robert E. Hanna



The Holy Spirit of God has influenced lives in every dispensation, but not always in the same way. A great number of students of Scripture consider the Holy Spirit's appearance at Pentecost and His effect on those present on that occasion to be the beginning of a continuous influence, even to this present day. Such, however, is not the case.

At Pentecost the Holy Spirit appeared in fulfillment of prophecy - a promise made by Jesus Christ to His apostles. When He was preparing to ascend to heaven, He told them, "Ye shall receive power, after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you and ye shall be witnesses unto me both in Jerusalem and in Judaea, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth" (Acts 1:8). He had already said to them, Ye shall be baptized with the Holy Ghost not many days hence" (Acts 1:5). Thus there was to be a twofold action: empowerment, and baptism. The promise of His coming as made by the Lord when the apostles were assembled at passover: "I will pray to the Father and He shall give you another Comforter, that He may abide with you for ever" (John 14:16).

These conditions were exclusively related to Israel. "When the day of Pentecost was fully come, they were all with one accord in one place. And suddenly there came a sound from heaven as of a rushing mighty wind ... and there appeared unto them cloven tongues like as of fire, and it sat upon each of them" (Acts 2:1-3). They were filled with the Holy Ghost, they spoke in other (unknown) tongues.

In this present dispensation our relationship to the Holy Spirit is entirely different. The apostle Paul explains, "That we should be to the praise of His glory, who first trusted in Christ. In whom ye also trusted, after that ye heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation: in whom also after that ye believed (or, upon believing), ye were sealed with that Holy Spirit of promise (Ephesians 1: 12,13). "Know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you" (I Corinthians 6:19)? "For by one Spirit are we all baptized into one body, whether we be Jews or Gentiles, whether we be bond or free" (I Corinthians 12:13).


Grace Bible Church  (Click Here)


How God Saves Men
Believing Christ DIED, that’s HISTORY.
Believing Christ DIED for YOU SINS and Rose again that’s SALVATION.
Read Romans 1:16, Romans 10:9-10 and 1. Corinthians 15:1-4


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Sunday, November 29, 2015

JUDGMENT IN THE KINGDOM CHURCH - By the late Pastor Bob Hanna


 Scripture Reading: Acts 5: I-II

 We who are saved and are living in the age of the dispensation of the grace of God---we who are sons and heirs of God, secure and heaven-bound---can hardly conceive the magnitude of our liberty and blessings. As members of the Church which is the Body of Christ we will never experience those things identified with the kingdom church. But we are shown a foretaste of the form of judgment to be rendered in the Messianic kingdom---swift and sure, irreversible and final.

 Ananias and Sapphira desired the best of two worlds, to "have their cake and eat it." Peter's declaration that, "Thou conceived this thing in thine heart" leaves no doubt that the offense was a deliberately planned plot to become respected and admired for their philanthropy while partaking of the apparently idyllic way of life enjoyed by the communal church.

 The temptation of material gain is the undoing of many a mortal soul. But in the case of these two deceivers it brought on a dramatic demonstration of kingdom judgment, which deals neither with hesitation or indecision. Ananias and Sapphira were guilty of sin and were therefore immediately punished for commission of that sin.

 You and I, as members of the Church which is the Body of Christ, are not under this economy of kingdom judgment but under grace. Kingdom judgment is according to prophecy: "And He shall rule them with a rod of iron ..." (Revelation 19:15.) But our church "was kept secret since the world began" (Rom. 16:25).

-------------------

 Not until we have become humble and teachable, standing in awe of God's holiness and sovereignty....acknowledging our own littleness, distrusting our own thoughts, and willing to have our minds turned upside  down, can divine wisdom become ours.


How God Saves Men
Believing Christ DIED, that’s HISTORY.
Believing Christ DIED for YOU SINS and Rose again that’s SALVATION.
Read Romans 1:16, Romans 10:9-10 and 1. Corinthians 15:1-4


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Our Only Boast - by Pastor Cornelius R. Stam





 Our Only Boast 
  by Pastor Cornelius R. Stam


“God forbid that I should glory, save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ…” (Gal. 6:14).

St. Paul was once a proud Pharisee, smug in his self-righteousness. In Philippians 3:5,6, he lists some of the things in which he took great pride:

“Circumcised the eighth day, of the stock of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, an Hebrew of the Hebrews; as touching the law, a Pharisee; concerning zeal, persecuting the church; touching the righteousness which is in the law, blameless.”

But everything was changed since that day when the Lord appeared to him on the road to Damascus. Suddenly he had seen himself a lost, condemned sinner in the sight of a holy God and had tasted the matchless grace that could reach down from heaven and save even him. He knew now that he could not stand before God in himself, or “on his own two feet,” as we say. His only safety before the bar of God was to take refuge in Christ, as he says in Verse 9:

“And be found in Him, not having mine own righteousness, which is of the law, but that which is through the faith of Christ, the righteousness which is of God by faith.”

Now he knew, as we all should know, that he really had nothing to boast of as far as his own standing before God was concerned. For the rest of his life, however, he did constantly boast of one thing: the cross, where the Christ he had so bitterly persecuted had died for his sins that he (Paul) might be justified before God. All else of which Paul boasted was embraced in the cross of Christ. This too is really the only thing we have to boast of and the most godly saint will enthusiastically join Paul in saying:

“BUT GOD FORBID THAT I SHOULD GLORY, SAVE IN THE CROSS OF OUR LORD JESUS CHRIST, BY WHOM THE WORLD IS CRUCIFIED UNTO ME, AND I UNTO 





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How God Saves Men
Believing Christ DIED, that’s HISTORY.
Believing Christ DIED for YOU SINS and Rose again that’s SALVATION.
Read Romans 1:16, Romans 10:9-10 and 1. Corinthians 15:1-4


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Saturday, November 28, 2015

God No Respecter Of Persons - by Pastor Cornelius R. Stam




God No Respecter Of Persons
by Pastor Cornelius R. Stam


In Romans 2:11 we read that “there is no respect of persons with God,” and these very words, with slight variations, are found many times in the Bible. How wonderful! No “big wheels” with Him! Rather, all stand on the same footing before His bar of justice.

Do you know why the kings in Israel’s history were — and were meant to be — so rich? This was so that they might rule with true justice, beholden only to God. The rich could not bribe the king, nor could the powerful intimidate him, for he was far richer and more powerful than they. There was only one person over the king, spiritually: the prophet, who kept reminding him of the Word and the claims of God.


Well, God is infinitely richer than all the wealthy rulers, barons and money magnates of this world put together, thus there is “no respect of persons with Him.” Also, justice is one of His divine attributes, hence it is unthinkable that He should show favoritism.


But now a question: If God is no respecter of persons, why did He favor one nation, Israel, above all the rest and, for many centuries, bless them above all others? The answer: God made a difference to show that “there is no difference” (Romans 3:22,23). He made an artificial difference, a dispensational difference, to show that there was no essential difference, no moral difference. He erected a “middle wall of partition” between us to show that that wall must be broken down (Ephesians 2:14-16).


And thus it is that the same God who once said to Israel:


“Ye are the children of the prophets, and of the covenant … Unto you first…” (Acts 3:25,26)— this same God now says:


“There is no difference between the Jew and the Greek [Gentile], for the same Lord over all is rich unto all that call upon Him.


“For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved” (Romans 10:12,13).





How God Saves Men
Believing Christ DIED, that’s HISTORY.
Believing Christ DIED for YOU SINS and Rose again that’s SALVATION.
Read Romans 1:16, Romans 10:9-10 and 1. Corinthians 15:1-4


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FOCUS ON YOUR NEW IDENTITY - By Bob Bobber



Romans 6:11 - We need to be focusing on our new identity. Where do you reckon? In your mind. Take an inventory of the facts, to count it up and consider all of the facts and then to come to an appropriate conclusion based upon those facts. Paul is going to great lengths here in Romans Chapter 6 to make his case, that people who fail to conduct themselves properly, fail to understand properly.

That is Paul’s point here in Verse 11, he places the emphasis when it comes to grace behavior on helping us to perceive ourselves in the new identity that is our right now, being IN Jesus Christ. Paul wants us to see ourselves as God already sees us. We need to be focusing on our new identity.

You have to know something, to count up the facts before you can come to an appropriate conclusion based upon what you know to be true. That is why knowledge is absolutely essential. If you have drawn an improper conclusion, Paul would say it is because you have failed to properly consider all of the facts.

Anyone who teaches that God accepts you or blesses you on the basis of how well you dress up the old man up in Christian clothing, or on how well you make the old man perform, that person fails to properly understand that the old man no longer exists in the eyes of God. They spend all of their time trying to perfect the old man.

Reckon ourselves to be now and forevermore alive unto God, we cannot lose it. Behavior did not put us there, behavior cannot take us out of there. Christ will never again have to die for our sins and likewise, we can count on the fact that we will never die for our sins. When Paul tells us to put on the new man, he is not asking us to dress up the old man, he is simply asking us to recognize that the old man no longer exists in the eyes of God. See yourselves as God sees you.


How God Saves Men
Believing Christ DIED, that’s HISTORY.
Believing Christ DIED for YOU SINS and Rose again that’s SALVATION.
Read Romans 1:16, Romans 10:9-10 and 1. Corinthians 15:1-4


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Friday, November 27, 2015

The Old Nature In The Believer - by Pastor Cornelius R. Stam


The  Old Nature In The Believer

  Pastor Cornelius R. Stam


The believer who would be truly spiritual must recognize the presence of the old nature within. It would be dangerous not to recognize a foe so near.

The old nature in the believer is that which is “begotten of the flesh.” It is called, “the flesh,” “the old man,” “the natural man,” “the carnal mind.”

Just as “they that are in the flesh cannot please God” (Rom. 8:8) so that which is of the flesh, in the believer, cannot please God. “The flesh,” as we have already seen, is totally depraved. God calls it “sinful flesh” (Rom. 8:3), warns that it seeks “occasion” to do wrong (Gal. 5:13), and declares that “the works of the flesh” are all bad (Gal. 5: 19-21).

Nor is the old nature in the believer one which improves by its contact with the new. It is with respect to “the flesh” in the believer, even in himself that the Apostle declares that in it “dwelleth no good thing” (Rom. 7:18), that it is “carnal, sold under sin” (Rom. 7:14), that it is “corrupt according to the deceitful lusts” (Eph. 4:22), that it is at “enmity against God,” and is “not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be” (Rom. 8:7).

“The flesh,” even as it remains in the believer after salvation, is that which was generated by a fallen begetter. It is the old Adamic nature. It is sinful in itself. It cannot be improved. It cannot be changed. “That which is born [begotten] of the flesh is flesh,” said our Lord (John 3:6), and it is as impossible to improve the “old man” in the believer as it was to make him acceptable to God in the first place.

The “old man” was condemned and dealt with judicially at the Cross. Never once is the believer instructed to try to do anything with him or to make anything of him, but always to “reckon” him “dead indeed” (Rom. 6:11), and to “put him off” (Col. 3:8-10).

Ho God Saves Men
Believing Christ DIED, that’s HISTORY.
Believing Christ DIED for YOU SINS and Rose again that’s SALVATION.
ead Acts 16L31 Romans 1:16, and 1. Corinthians 15:1-4


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Tuesday, November 24, 2015

What Was Accomplished At Calvary? - by Pastor Cornelius R. Stam



by Pastor Cornelius R. Stam

If the Bible makes anything clear, it is the fact that the secret of all God’s good news to men is centered in Calvary. It was because Christ was to die for sin that God could proclaim good news to sinners down through the ages.
It was not until some time after the crucifixion, however, that “the preaching of the cross” was widely proclaimed as a message by Paul in “the gospel [good news] of the grace of God” ( I Corinthians1:18; Acts 20:24).
The proclamation of “the gospel of the grace of God” was the natural accompaniment to the revelation of the cross as the secret of God’s good news to man. In this proclamation of His over-abounding grace to sinners, everything centers in the cross. 
According to Paul’s epistles “we have redemption through His [Christ’s] blood” (Ephesians 1:7), we are “justified by His blood” (Romans 5:9), “reconciled to God by the death of His Son” (Romans 5:10), “made nigh by the blood of Christ” (Epesians 2:13), and “made the righteousness of God in Him” because “God hath made Him to be sin for us” (II Corinthians 5:21).
The “covenant” of the Law was abolished by the cross (Colossians .2:14), the curse of the Law was removed by the cross (Galatians 3:13), the “middle wall of partition” was broken down by the cross (Ephesians2:14,15), and believers in Christ are “reconciled to God in one body by the cross” (Ephesians. 2:16). Little wonder Paul calls this message “the preaching of the cross”!



The simplicity of the Gospel
Les Feldick





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Monday, November 23, 2015

Paul And The New Birth - Pastor C. R. Stam


Paul And The New Birth

by Pastor Cornelius R. Stam
The Pauline revelation leads us into glorious truths respecting both our position and experience as believers. Indeed, the new birth itself, as it takes place in the believer today, is directly related to the divine baptism by which Christ and the believer are made one.

How was Christ made one with mankind? He was baptized into the human race. He did not merely come to dwell with men. He became man. How? By being born into the race. Was this by natural birth? No, by supernatural birth. He was begotten of the Holy Spirit. But His baptism into the human race did not end with His birth and life on earth. So fully did He become one with man, that He even died man’s death on the accursed tree. He was baptized into death (Luke 12:50) and, as we now know, into our death.

And it is there, at the Cross, that we become one with Him. The moment one looks in faith to Calvary, acknowledging: “He is no sinner; I am the sinner. Christ is dying my death”; that moment he becomes one with Christ; baptized into the crucified, risen Lord Himself (Rom. 6:3; Gal. 3:26,27) not only positionally, in the reckonings of God, but exponentially, by the Spirit. And thus a new life is begotten.

By natural birth? No, by supernatural birth. Some hold that the Epistles of Paul do not teach the new birth, but this is an error. His familiar word teknon, generally translated simply “child” in our English Bibles, means literally, “born one.” And he uses this word with regard to our spiritual relationship to God.

Furthermore, the Apostle teaches the very truth of the new birth in Tit. 3:5, where he says:
“Not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to His mercy He saved us, by the washing of regeneration, and the renewing of the Holy Ghost.”



THE DEITY OF CHRIST!  - By C. O. Griggs (Click Here)



How God Saves Men
Believing Christ DIED, that’s HISTORY.
Believing Christ DIED for YOU SINS and Rose again that’s SALVATION.
Read Romans 1:16, Romans 10:9-10 and 1. Corinthians 15:1-4


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Sunday, November 22, 2015

The Holy Spirit At Pentecost - by Pastor Cornelius R. Stam


The Holy Spirit At Pentecost

by Pastor Cornelius R. Stam


The believers at Pentecost “were all filled with the Holy Spirit” (Acts 2:4), but the Apostle Paul never anywhere says that all the members of the Body of Christ are filled with the Holy Spirit. It is surely clear from the record that the Corinthians and the Galatians, for example, were not filled with the Spirit, for Paul’s letters to these churches contain much of rebuke and correction. And it is also evident that believers today are not — even the best of them — wholly filled with the Spirit. The filling with the Spirit is now a goal, an attainment, which the Apostle, by inspiration, sets before us. We are not all filled with the Spirit as a matter of fact, as were the Pentecostal believers. While the Spirit does indeed dwell within us by God’s grace, we must daily appropriate His help by faith.

Hence the Apostle now exhorts believers: “Be filled with the Spirit” (Ephesians 5:18) just as he exhorts them and prays for them, that they may be “filled with the fruits of righteousness” (Philippians 1:11); “filled with the knowledge of His will” (Colossians 1:9); “filled with all the fulness of God” (Ephesians 3:19), yet none of us have been filled with any of these.

The reason why we are not automatically filled with the Spirit is another matter, but let the reader not fail to first recognize the fact that while the believers gathered in the upper room at Pentecost were all filled with the Spirit, the believers under Paul, and since that time, have not all been filled with the Spirit. Moreover, while it is distinctly stated, again and again, that the Pentecostal believers were, or were to be, baptized with the Spirit, not once does Paul in his epistles teach that members of the Body of Christ are baptized with or in the Spirit. Instead he exhorts them to appropriate God’s grace by faith so that they may be filled with the Spirit.




 How God Saves Men
Believing Christ DIED, that’s HISTORY.
Believing Christ DIED for YOU SINS and Rose again that’s SALVATION.
Read Romans 1:16, Romans 10:9-10 and 1. Corinthians 15:1-4


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Should Believersealled Be "Christians"? - by Pastor Paul M. Sadler



Should Believersealled  Be "Christians"? 
  by Pastor Paul M. Sadler

“‘And the disciples were called Christians first in Antioch’ (Acts 11:26). The Apostle Paul addresses believers as saints, brethren, and the faithful in Christ Jesus, but never Christians. Should not believers today be more properly called ‘grace believers’ instead of Christians as so many denominations do?”
The term “Christian” is a title that was originally given to us by the world. Notice, the believers were “called Christians first in Antioch.” These believers spoke so frequently and affectionately of Christ that the world coined the term Christians. Of course, they meant it in a derogatory sense. The citizens of Antioch were famous for their witty quips; they were the punsters of their day. Since this expression has a Latin origin, it was probably the Romans among them who first assigned this name to believers.
Be that as it may, we have no major objection to believers being called Christians, based on Acts 11:26; 26:28, and I Peter 4:16. Today, however, the word is so sweeping that it includes both believers and religious unbelievers. While a true believer is a Christian, one who calls himself a Christian may not necessarily be saved. With that said, we prefer the terminology “believer,” “saved,” “brethren,” “saints,” or “faithful in Christ Jesus.” We would also include the designation “grace believers,” the sense of which is drawn from Paul’s letters, but it should be remembered that not all believers are “grace” as we understand the usage.



 Transformed By Grace  -
Kevin Sadler


Transformed By Grace #1 - Unity in Christ
Transformed By Grace #2 - One Body in Christ
Transformed By Grace #3 - The Apostle of Grace
Transformed By Grace #4 - The Gifts of Christ


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Thursday, November 19, 2015

A TIME FOR EVERY PURPOSE - By Zac Poonen




“God can make the very worst things that ever happened in your life to work for your very best, if you have faith.”– Zac Poonen


A TIME FOR EVERY PURPOSE

Solomon once beautifully wrote that “for everything there is a season, and a time for every matter under heaven” (Ecclesiastes 3:1). Therefore, we know that God has a purpose for every single thing that has ever happened, is happening, and is yet to happen. Solomon adds that “there is a time and a way for everything, although man’s trouble lies heavy on him” (Ecclesiastes 8:6). I can remember a pastor who was invited to speak at a huge conference. On the night before the event, he broke his leg walking down the steps on the stage. The pastor asked, “God, why now? Why this?” The hospital said it was so bad, he’d need to have surgery. After surgery he met a woman in rehab who had never heard the Gospel. While they were both exercising, this woman trusted in Christ that very same day! For this woman, now a child of God, it was a huge break (so to speak). Timing was everything, and the “troubles” lying “heavy” on the pastor brought the best of possible things.


THE FAITH FACTOR

There are times when God allows some of the worst things in our lives to happen. It is times like this when we are going through a “dark night of the soul” that God might be revealing to us the strength of our faith or trust in Him. God never tempts us to cause us to stumble; neither does He test us to learn how strong our faith is. God is omniscient (all knowing), and He never needs to learn anything. What He might do is test us to let us know how strong our faith is. He may even put us in positions where we have no choice but to trust God. So when your back’s against the wall, remember that nothing is impossible with God (Matthew 19:26).


GOOD FROM BAD

There is no way that Joseph or his brothers could have foreseen that selling him into slavery would bring about much good, but that’s exactly what happened. God used the evil of Joseph’s brothers for the good of the brothers and for most of the region’s population at that time, as he said, “As for you, you meant evil against me, but God meant it for good, to bring it about that many people should be kept alive, as they are today” (Genesis 50:20). By Joseph being able to interpret Pharaoh’s dream, there were sufficient grain reserves to prevent the starvation of millions of people during the seven-year drought. Joseph doesn’t overlook the fact that his brothers did evil, but neither does he overlook the fact that God can use evil for His purposes. Look at the cross to see how the very worst thing that has ever happened brought about our very best (John 3:16).


PRISON TO PRINT

There were probably a lot of people in Paul’s day who criticized him because he was constantly being thrown into prison. There were even a few riots where he tried to preach the Gospel. Paul’s reputation certainly preceded him everywhere he went. Paul ran into so much trouble because he traveled so far in his life planting churches and bringing the message of salvation to the Gentiles, so the last thing Paul needed was to be thrown into prison. In prison he’d be unable to preach the Gospel and plant and visit the churches. But think about this: If Paul had not been thrown in prison, would we have much of the New Testament today? When Paul was imprisoned, he took advantage of the time to write letters to the churches, called epistles, and these later became part of the New Testament. If not for Paul’s imprisonment, he might not have had to time to write the “prison epistles,” which are Ephesians, Philippians, Colossians, and Philemon.


CONCLUSION

We can easily find Scriptures that prove God makes even the very worst things work for our very best (Romans 8:28). We can trust that God’s timing is always perfect; that He always knows what He’s doing when He tests our faith so that we’ll know how strong it is; that God always uses everything for His purpose, evil included; and that sometimes we benefit in ways we don’t always understand when we are in severe trials, like when Paul was able to write the prison epistles.


How God Saves Men
Believing Christ DIED, that’s HISTORY.

Believing Christ DIED for YOU SINS and Rose again that’s SALVATION.

Read Romans 1:16, Romans 10:9-10 and 1. Corinthians 15:1-4


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