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Bible Study- Lutz, Florida
Rightly
Dividing the Word of Truth
(2
Timothy 2:15)
This is good and
acceptable in the sight of God our Savior, who
desires all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth. 1Timothy 2:3-4
The Communication of the Remnant (Part 5)
A
few years back, I decided to establish a Home Bible Study.
I
did this for one reason first and foremost.
Based on my own personnel experiences it became rather obvious that the
churches I was attending (I was a member and actively serving in a few of these
churches) were not all that interested in teaching or preaching Biblical
Truths. I believe one of the problems for this is that these
churches are too big.
Big
= too busy. They had to keep up with the
administrative details of running the business end of the church, the gathering
of money is always a big concern, there were all the sub-departments of the church
that required daily attention and problem solving, etc. These churches forgot about or just mismanaged
their primary mission which is teaching God’s Word – accurately.
As
I said, I served in these churches. I
taught Sunday schools, I coordinated an entire weekend church program for one
mega church. While teaching or leading
these programs, I came across inaccurate Bible teaching time and time again in
the purchased materials.
I brought this to the attention of the Children’s Ministry Director each time I saw something out of line and showed her what the Bible said. I was told she would have to check with the pastor who oversaw the Children’s Program before she could make a decision. She always came back with the response, “The pastor agrees with you. Go ahead and change it.”
I brought this to the attention of the Children’s Ministry Director each time I saw something out of line and showed her what the Bible said. I was told she would have to check with the pastor who oversaw the Children’s Program before she could make a decision. She always came back with the response, “The pastor agrees with you. Go ahead and change it.”
The
church was spending the people’s money on this product that I would re-write or
alter to make it Truthful. Then I would
have to print up multiple copies or email them to my co-workers prior to Sunday
morning. It was a lot of work. This happened over and over again. I suggested that the church STOP spending
money on this teaching material because of its inaccuracy. I was overruled. I came to the place where I chose not to use their purchased Bible lessons any longer. I began to research and write my own Bible lessons.
Some
of these churches held beliefs that were blatantly contrary to Scripture.
I
talked to the pastors of these churches about their “opinions” and compared
them to what the book actually said on these subjects. But these men would not/could not see. After some time, I left these churches.
We
could not see eye to eye, I could not believe what they were preaching.
That’s
not what the book says! So I just
decided to move on. I dismissed these
incidents as trivial until I continued to run up against the same “condition”
no matter where I decided to park myself on a Sunday morning; and until I
learned how destructive this “condition” is to Christ’s Church.
I
spoke to a man I admire greatly. I’d
been a Bible student of his for many years.
I
talked to him at great length about these things and we shared similar experiences.
That’s
how common this problem this. One just
needs to open their eyes to it.
He
suggested I start a Home Bible Study…
After
prayer, and some careful deliberation, I took his advice.
Here
we study what the Bible says and in some cases what it does not say.
Here
we aim to study Bible Truths – not myths.
If
we come up against something in Scripture that is unclear, we leave it right
where we found it and move on. Scripture
says, “The secret things belong to God.”
Deuteronomy
29:29
Thanks
for taking the time to be with us today.
God
loves you.
*****
Following
right up where we left off in the last lesson, let’s go right to the book.
The
Apostle Paul writes concerning those who would misrepresent God’s Word,
2 Corinthians 11
12: But what I am
doing (preaching
Jesus Christ crucified) I will continue
to do, so that I may cut off opportunity from those who desire an opportunity
to be regarded just as we are in the matter about which they are boasting.
13: For such men
are
(what) false apostles, deceitful workers,
disguising themselves as apostles of Christ (to distort the Word of Truth)
14: No wonder, for
even Satan disguises himself as an angel of light.
15: Therefore it is
not surprising if his (Satan’s) servants
of righteousness, whose ends will be according to their deeds.
Scripture
warns us to be “on the alert” for false
prophets and deceitful workers in the church who use the Bible (or a
portion of it) not to support the cause of Christ here on earth but for their
own personnel gain.
1 Peter 5
8: Be of sober spirit, be on the alert. Your adversary, the devil, prowls around
like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour.
Therefore,
we should not be surprised when we hear of people misrepresenting the Word of
Truth or when we discover them ourselves.
We should expect them.
The
expression “be on the alert” was
probably adopted from the military.
The
only military in Paul’s day worth mentioning is the Roman army.
Roman
soldiers were garrisoned in almost every city and town of importance.
This
could be where Paul picked up this command. But in any case when a sentry is posted to a
guard station and ordered to “be on the alert” by their superior officer, this
is done because command knows the enemy is near and an attack is imminent.
Scripture
commands us to be ‘on the alert”
for these false teachers and deceitful workers in the
church community because the enemy is near and an attack is not only
probable, it is imminent.
John
MacArthur wrote:
“The outside forces
that come against us demand us to be alert; vigilant. The enemy, by the way, is very subtle. According to 2 Corinthians chapter 11, he
disguises himself as an angel of light and his ministers as angels of
light. He very rarely shows himself for
who he is. He almost always masks
himself as a religious personality, almost always endeavoring somehow in some
way to be able to approach you subtly so that you can't recognize who he
is. He is the devil.
He is the
slanderer. He is the accuser. He is the destroyer.
And he is prowling
about like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour.
He's always active
and he's always looking for an opportunity to overwhelm us.
His aim is to sow
discord, to break fellowship, to accuse God to men, to accuse men to God, to
accuse men to each other, to undermine confidence, to silence confession, to
get us to stop serving God. He's always
after us.
He is called in
John's gospel three times the prince of this world. He commands the human system.
So as he is moving
around seeking whom he may devour, it is not that you have to come into contact
with him individually to fall prey because he orchestrates a whole realm of
demon beings and he orchestrates and controls the whole world's system. And so from his seat as prince of the world
he orchestrates an environment which in and of itself can devour us.
So, Satan is going
after his prey. He's going out to
consume.
He's going out to
chew someone up. That's his goal.”
When
the Bible says, “be on the alert,”
this is not a suggestion.
This
is a command from the Lord Jesus Christ!
This
is a command from the Commander!
FYI:
there are far more “commands” in Scripture than just the Ten Commandments.
Here’s
another example.
1 John 4
1: Beloved, do
not (what’s
the next word) believe every
spirit (pastor, minister, priest, prophet, worker, layperson, etc.), but test the spirits to see whether they
are from God, because many false prophets have gone out into the world.
Far
too many preachers, pastors, and Bible teachers behind the podium would rather
“tickle” the ears of those in attendance then teach sound Bible doctrine. Why?
They
find a receptive audience for one. It’s
also quite profitable.
People
want to hear that God wants them to have “stuff.”
This
is why the prosperity gospel is so popular today. It feeds this mentality.
Joel
Osteen, Joyce Meyer, and Creflo Dollar are just three examples of prosperity
pastors who are spreading their message that God does bless people with
finances, health and all-around success.
Sound
good to you too?
What’s
wrong with this message?
In
the prosperity gospel, the Believers are told to USE God.
The
Bible states just the opposite. God uses
the Believer.
The
prosperity (a.k.a Word of Faith) teaching sees the Holy Spirit as a power to be
put to USE by the Believer for whatever they desire (covet).
The
Bible teaches that the Holy Spirit is a Person of the Trinity who ENABLES the
Believer to do God’s will here on earth.
The
prosperity gospel clearly contradicts Scripture.
Instead
of stressing the importance of wealth, the Bible warns against pursuing it.
1 Timothy 6
10: For the love of
money is a root of all kinds of evils.
It is through this craving that some have wandered away from the faith
and pierced themselves with many pangs.
Some
of you may remember the “Prayer of Jabez” craze that occurred several years
ago.
An
author by the name of Bruce Wilkinson
took a little prayer that a Jewish man prayed in 1 Chronicles 4:9-10,
wrote a book about it, and convinced many that this little prayer was the
magical key to getting everything that you desire from God.
This
author convinced people he had uncovered an untapped “gold mine” hidden deep
within a relatively obscure book in the Old Testament. When the masses heard of this “wonder” they
flocked to the bookstores to buy his book; much like the 49’ers who made a dash
to California during the gold rush era.
Seemingly,
if you prayed this prayer, not only would God give you the “desires” of your
heart, this prayer was backed by His promise.
Mr.
Wilkinson’s little book (which sold millions) is not only a prime example of wrongly dividing God's Word; it is one
more example of misrepresenting God’s Word.
This
is the prosperity message and people fill the churches to get their weekly dose
of it.
But
the Creator God is not your personnel ATM machine or your bellboy.
But
some preachers out there have convinced millions God exists to serve them.
Our
life here on earth is not to be centered on acquiring wealth or “stuff” to fill
up our garages and attics.
Jesus
said,
Matthew 6
24: “You cannot serve both God and money.”
It’s
not a sin to want money or to be wealthy.
God knows you need money to purchase your needs and to take care of your
loved ones.
But
God knows the “love of money is a root
of all sorts of evil… (1 Timothy 6:10).
Money
in and of itself is not evil.
The
Apostle Paul is saying that to pursue “money” and ignore “contentment” is a
recipe for disaster. Paul is also saying
putting your “trust” in money is “unreliable.”
That
ought to go without saying. Should a
Believe trust money or their Savior?
Here’s
another fact about the pursuit of wealth.
It corrupts the pursuer.
Once
you have a pile of cash, it never seems big enough. You must have more.
Jesus
knew what He was talking about. The love
of money gets in your way.
The
“Way” to salvation is a “narrow” path and “few” find it!
The
way is broad that leads to destruction, and there are “many” who enter through
it.
©
Copyright 2011
GJ
Heitzman’s Ministry
All
Rights Reserved
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