BibleVersity

"If you walk in My statutes and keep My commandments so as to carry them out..I shall also grant peace in the land...But if you do not obey Me and do not carry out all these commandments, if, instead, you reject My statutes, and if your soul abhors My ordinances so as not to carry out all My commandments, and so break My covenant, I, in turn, will do this to you: I will appoint over you a sudden terror..." - (Lev. 28, NASB)     To be fair to the biblical context, there is no way to include the entire chapter in this post without turning the post into a book, but the above serves as a glimpse of Leviticus chapter 28. The chapter is split neatly into two parts as God speaks to His people. He is informing them of the consequences of their future actions. If they choose to obey, then blessing follows them. If they choose to disobey, then rough times lay ahead. It is a simple principle that the people of God would test time and again, and find it to be true. Later, Paul ech...

   Holiness and legalism are two terms that are often thrown around, at least in the Christian circles that I find myself. So, sometime back I asked my Facebook friends about their insights pertaining to legalism, and liberty, and the Mosaic Law. My purpose was to gain some feedback in comparing the two. Several thoughts came shining through, one of which being that there is no consensus among bible-believering Christians on how God addresses these. One thing I learned, along with some biblical insight, is that there is a fine line that separates legalism and holiness. That line is a  crucial one.       Paul is clear that justification, the state of "being right" before God, is a result of the work of Christ and NOT human effort. He wrote,  "nevertheless knowing that a man is not justified by the works of the Law but through faith in Christ Jesus, even we have believed in Christ Jesus, so that we may be justified by faith in Christ and not ...

"Now the deeds of the flesh are evident, which are: immorality, impurity, sensuality, idolatry, sorcery, enmities, strife, jealousy, outbursts of anger, disputes, dissensions, factions, envying, drunkenness, carousing, and things like these..." (Gal. 5:19-21, NASB)    Watching the news can be depressing, especially lately. It seems as though each new day brings a fresh tragedy in which someone's life is permanently  destroyed or completely taken from them. Every day we are affected by evil: that which comes directly into our lives, that which affects our friends and loved ones, and evil that simply rears its head all around the world and causes our hearts to break, our minds to fog, and our security to be shaken. Evil truly is all around us. So, the pressing question for many is why does evil exist or why does God allow evil?  The term "theodicy" in theological studies, is the attempt at understanding why evil exists. Personally, I maintain a biblical ...

  "So then faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the  word of God." - Rom. 10:17 (NKJV)   Some time back we would occasionally sing a song that went like this:  "Faith, faith, faith, just a little bit of faith. Faith, faith, faith, just a little bit of faith. You don't need a whole lot, Just use what you've got. Faith, faith, faith, just a little bit of faith." The song was a hit among many including myself, but the theology of the song is a little weak. It is true that we only need faith the size of a mustard seed to move mountains (see Matt. 17:20 ), but Scripture is clear that we are to grow in our faith.    The Romans verse mentioned above is in relation to faith. As a matter of fact, the whole chapter deals with faith in God, through Jesus Christ, that comes as revelation of the Word of God: i.e., the Bible. Now, focus for a moment on what Paul says in verse 17, "faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the Word of God." ...

"But the fruit of the Spirit is . . . patience . . ." - Galatians 5:22-23 (NASB)      "Don't pray for patience." I have heard that expression many times throughout the years. "If you pray for patience, God will give you something to develop patience within you." So, many believers through the years have forgone asking God for patience, thinking that will somehow bring His wrath on their lives like Job encountered. Can we dismiss this argument? All of us need patience.      Patience is fourth in the list, and is the first that appears to be directed outwardly toward those around us. The Greek word paints an interesting picture for us, " A person who has power to avenge himself, yet restrains from the exercise of this power."** We have all "lost our patience" when working on some task. However, patience is not related to task, jobs, or things; self-control might be more appropriately used. Patience is related to people. (Now yo...

"But the fruit of the Spirit is . . . peace . . ." - Galatians 5:22-23 (NASB)      "No God, No peace. Know God, Know peace!" Perhaps you have seen that phrase on a t-shirt, billboard, or bumper sticker. Personally, it is one of my favorites. The word "peace" is defined in a number of ways: a s tate of tranquility or quiet, f reedom from  disquieting or oppressive thoughts or emotions, h armony in personal relations, or a s tate or period of mutual concord between governments. These are all modern dictionary definitions. However, in Galatians though, the context is something different than a modern dictionary can (or will) address, for Biblical peace addresses our spiritual status between ourselves and the LORD.  The word “peace” in the Bible (NT), from the Greek word (eireinei), refers to a mental attitude of tranquility based on a relationship with God in the Christian way of life.”**  Peace is the third in the Galatians list, and the fi...

"But the fruit of the Spirit is . . . joy . . ." - Galatians 5:22-23 (NASB)       Happiness and joy are not the same. I realize that any good thesaurus will list these as synonyms for each other, but they are different. According to one Biblical language resource, joy (Greek chara)  means "exultation, exuberant joy, good cheer, mirth, gladness of heart," and is "related to grace, as if joy is a direct result of God’s grace.”*  Happiness is an emotion. And, like other emotions, it can come and go in a whim. Joy, however,  is a spiritual state of being within the heart and spirit of believers. A believer can have joy even in the midst of great hardship, because the joy is a result of God's presence. If joy is a "fruit" or a byproduct of God's presence within is, then it stands to reason that as long as He is present in our lives, then joy is present also. Happiness is dependent upon circumstances, but joy is dependent upon the LORD. The LORD...

"But the fruit of the Spirit is love . . ." - Galatians 5:22-23 (NASB)    It is no coincidence that Paul begins this list we know as "the fruit of the Spirit" with love (agape). Love is the beginning, the middle, and the ending of this thing called faith. Our God is not merely a loving God, but love is His very essence, His nature (1 Jn. 4:7-8).   Love is the very reason God looked down on fallen humanity and provided a way for forgiveness, restoration, and salvation (Jn. 3:16) . Furthermore, among the endearing religious qualities of faith, hope, and love, it is love which is the greatest (1 Cor. 13:13). In addition, it is this quality if agape love which proves to the world that we are believers and disciples of Jesus (Jn. 13:34-35) . Finally, the greatest task that we can attempt, in honor of what Jesus did for us, is to emulate His life by laying down our lives for others (1 Jn. 3:16) .    Scholars have told us that the term agape does not...

"But the fruit of the Spirit is...." - Galatians 5:22-23 (NASB)    I began a new series yesterday morning with the above mentioned title. For the next few weeks we will be looking at Spiritual fruitfulness according to Paul's listing in Galatians. However, we did not look at any among the itemized list yesterday. We began by looking establishing a simple fact of Scripture: God wants His people to be fruitful, or productive, in our life of faith. One major point that we drove home yesterday is the fact that bearing fruit is conditional. By conditional, I mean that we are going to bear fruit, either of the Spirit or of the flesh. The kind of fruit we bear is conditional upon the environment we establish for our lives. If we choose to make the things of God (Scripture, prayer, worship, communion with other believers) a priority, then we will bear Spiritual fruit. If we neglect those things then we will ultimately bear carnal fruit.    The reason I am informing you of...

"If we live by the Spirit, let us also walk by the Spirit." - Gal. 5:25 (NASB)    In recent weeks I have not posted as regular as has been my custom. As many of you know, much of the postings that I share come straight out of my time alone with God. In many cases, the insights I share are still turning over in my own heart and mind even as I post them. For the last few weeks, the LORD has been speaking to me concerning the area of Spirit living, but has not released me to share those things here. In the future, I believe I will be sharing much more in regard to this necessary area of our Christian walk. However, today I want to share a simple and yet profound truth.    In the verse above, Paul is concluding some thoughts on living by the Spirit as opposed to living "under the law" or living as natural/carnal men. It is as this point that he makes powerful statement, "If we live by the Spirit, let us also walk by the Spirit." The "if" is for ...