Tag: Stephen Kuntzman

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Uzziah’s Epitaph

Inscription:
“Hither were brought
The bones of Uzziah
King of Judah.
Do not open!”

Uzziah, also called Azariah, became king of Judah at the tender age of sixteen (2 Chronicles 26:1) and ruled for 52 years (2 Kings 15:2).

During his reign he made significant contributions to the realm and was successful in many endeavors, but his life ends with a mark upon him that history has not been able to erase – he died a leper.

If we take a look at Uzziah’s leadership style we will discover early influences that molded him into the leader he was, his positive and negative characteristics as a ruler, and the affect his leadership had on his son and grandson.

It would be impossible to reflect on the direction Uzziah took as a leader without first looking to his upbringing. The adage is still as true today as it was when originally penned, “Train up a child in the way he should go: and when he is old, he will not depart from it” (Pr. 22:6).

The closest and most influential people in anyone’s life will usually be their parents. Amaziah was Uzziah’s father and a great influence on his life. The Bible speaks of Amaziah as a man who “did that which was right in the sight of the LORD, yet not like David his father” (2 Kings 14:3).

Another passage records, “he did that which was right in the sight of the LORD, but not with a perfect heart” (2 Chronicles 25). The reason this is written is due to the fact that towards the end of his reign he turned to the idols of the people of Seir and because he decided to “turn away from following the LORD” the LORD decided to destroy him. It was this failure to recognize who was truly responsible for Judah’s victory over the Edomites that caused Amaziah’s downfall. He rejected the prophet of God and did as he wanted by worshipping other gods and hiring soldiers from Israel. His was a sin of pride, disobedience, and a divided heart.

As Uzziah enters the pages of the Scriptures we see him as a king to be admired. In fact, one writer informs us that, according to 2 Chronicles chapter 26, Azariah ruled “with God’s help (verse 7) he became very successful as a builder (verse 9), farmer (verse 10) and a military leader (verse 11). So much so, that his fame spread far and wide.

The Bible issues a statement that gives us an idea of why Uzziah began to fall when it states, “he was marvellously helped, till he was strong. But when he was strong, his heart was lifted up to his destruction: for he transgressed against the LORD his God, and went into the temple of the LORD to burn incense upon the altar of incense” (2 Chronicles 26:15-16).



John L. Kachelman, Jr. offers us an accounting of Uzziah’s characteristics and accomplishments before his downfall:

1. His respect for God’s messenger (2 Chron. 26:5). A key to Uzziah’s success is his desire to seek God. It seems that the influence for this is attributable to a prophet or priest named “Zachariah.” This unknown prophet was able to know, understand, and explain God’s will so the King (and others) would understand and obey. As long as Uzziah was influenced by these forces to follow God’s will, he knew success and happiness. It was a good time for Judah! 2. His role as STATESMAN (2 Chron. 26:6-15). No politician could dream of a better tenure as a chief executive of a nation. Prosperity was enjoyed in all areas of life.a. POLITICALLY Uzziah’s leadership resulted in amazing successes. His armies were victorious (v. 6-8). His projects and programs were successful (v. 9-10).b. MILITARILY Uzziah’s leadership was superb (v. 11-15). He was an amazing military mind – organized, prepared, and inventive. Everyone studied his maneuvers and learned brilliant strategies of warfare.c. PERSONALLY Uzziah’s fame spread throughout then entire known world. He was famous and recognized. His “strength” was envied by other Kings (v. 8b, 15b).

In the midst of all this success we find that Uzziah rebelled against his God when he failed to acknowledge the source of his strength, and in so doing he attempted to presumptuously and proudly take God’s glory by offering incense in the Temple instead of allowing the priests to do their duty. We would do well to steer clear of the sin of presumption and pride becasue the Bible clearly states “that no flesh should glory in His (God’s) presence” (1 Corinthians 1:29).

Uzziah failed to realize that you don’t own God’s glory or favor because it is a gift from Him to you.

Why this change in Uzziah? The qualities that he learned from his father manifested themselves when Uzziah took his eyes off of the LORD and allowed pride to rule him.

Kachelman writes that Uzziah’s rebellion appears when we read the word “until”. Many times it appears that people are doing well and serving God faithfully “until” they forget who the source of their strength is. The irony is that Uzziah’s very name – “my strength is Jehovah” – was not enough to remind him of God’s hand on his life because pride will always take your eyes off of God and onto self.

God cursed Uzziah with leprosy because of his pride. It is significant that we never read of Uzziah repenting for his sin and it is possible to become so wrapped up in self and in our own arrogancy that we, like Uzziah, find that we cannot turn from sin.

One writer, Wilbur Wright, says that “the antidote for pride is humility. Humility is the measure of a leader whom God can use and it should be an ever-growing quality in their life and ministry. God places a very high premium on humility and its close companion of meekness (Matthew 5:5) and lowliness (Matthew 11:29).”

All Uzziah had to do was obey a simple principle, but he did not and consequently he was not healed of his leprosy. “Humble yourselves therefore under the mighty hand of God, that he may exalt you in due time” (1 Peter 5:6).

It is interesting that Jotham, as king of Judah following his father Uzziah, never went to the Temple. He was a mighty man and “he did that which was right in the sight of the LORD, according to all that his father Uzziah did: howbeit he entered not into the temple of the LORD” (2 Chronicles 27:1-2). Perhaps this was due to a fear that he deveolped as a result of what happened to his father. Sometimes people see the Church as a place of wrath and fail to realize that sin is what brings judgment because God loves those who he chastens. In actuality, Uzziah’s judgment was an opportunity for mercy, but he failed to take advantage and passed onto his son a mistrust of God.

Jotham was a man who prepared, set-up, erected, established, and set forth his ways before God, but he allowed the people of Judah to continue in their corruption (idol worship and backsliding). Because of his father’s rebellion and judgment he did not see the house of God as a place of worship, but of wrath and attributed that to God instead of to his father’s self-glory.
As we follow the path of Uzziah’s faithlessness we come to his grandson Ahaz. The Bible informs us that Ahaz was a wicked an unjust king who “did not that which was right in the sight of the LORD” (2 Chronicles 28:1).

Ahaz not only sinned against God at every opportunity but he also sacrificed his children to other gods and “gathered together the vessels of the house of God, and cut in pieces the vessels of the house of God, and shut up the doors of the house of the LORD, and he made him altars in every corner of Jerusalem. And in every several city of Judah he made high places to burn incense unto other gods, and provoked to anger the LORD God of his fathers” (2 Chronicles 28:3, 24-25).

This then is the final end of all those who lift themselves up in pride against the LORD – destruction of self and others.

It mattered not how great Uzziah was or even how many accomplishments are attributed to him because his pride was a catalyst that spawned a family and a nation of rebellious backsliders. All he had to do to remove this possibility was repent, but he did not.

“But when he was strong, his heart was lifted up to his destruction: for he transgressed against the LORD his God, and went into the temple of the LORD to burn incense upon the altar of incense” (2 Chronicles 26:16).

Who do you attribute your strength to today?

Originally posted on 20 February 2007 on http://thepillarandgroundoftruth.blogspot.com/2007/02/uzziahs-epitaph.html

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Bible Teaching

The Recovery of Purity

Romans 5:12-21
12  Wherefore, as by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned:
13 (For until the law sin was in the world: but sin is not imputed when there is no law.
14 Nevertheless death reigned from Adam to Moses, even over them that had not sinned after the similitude of Adam’s transgression, who is the figure of him that was to come.
15 But not as the offence, so also is the free gift. For if through the offence of one many be dead, much more the grace of God, and the gift by grace, which is by one man, Jesus Christ, hath abounded unto many.
16 And not as it was by one that sinned, so is the gift: for the judgment was by one to condemnation, but the free gift is of many offences unto justification.
17 For if by one man’s offence death reigned by one; much more they which receive abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness shall reign in life by one, Jesus Christ.)
18 Therefore as by the offence of one judgment came upon all men to condemnation; even so by the righteousness of one the free gift came upon all men unto justification of life.
19 For as by one man’s disobedience many were made sinners, so by the obedience of one shall many be made righteous.
20 Moreover the law entered, that the offence might abound. But where sin abounded, grace did much more abound:
21 That as sin hath reigned unto death, even so might grace reign through righteousness unto eternal life by Jesus Christ our Lord.

In the beginning God made Man perfect and complete in His image and after His likeness (Gen. 1:26).

Man (Adam & Eve) was absolute in his spirit, soul, & body.

ABSOLUTE = “Perfect in quality or nature; complete. Not mixed; pure. Something regarded as the ultimate basis of all thought and being.” [1]

Synonyms include “unadulterated, undiluted, uncontaminated, total, unconditional, unquestionable finality, unequivocal, definite, sure.”[2]

There are absolutes of truth, which are held by all true orthodox Christians (Christians who follow the teachings of Jesus, first century Apostles, and the prophets), and these truths include:

  1. The eternality of the Word of God: “For Ever, O LORD, thy word is settled in heaven” (Ps. 119:89).
  2. One God
  3. The Bible standard of salvation: “…Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost” (Acts 2:38).
  4. The necessity of the “born again” experience: “Jesus answered…Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God” (Jn. 3:3).

With the existence of these (and other) absolutes, there is also another truth. The devil wishes to pervert the beauty of Man’s original design and separate him completely from his Maker.

The spirit of perversion is at work today and began with Lucifer and his rebellion against God, moved to the Garden of Eden and the serpent’s tactic of questioning and corrupting the relationship between Man and God.

PERVERSION in 1388 was defined as “action of turning aside from truth, corruption, distortion (originally of religious beliefs).”[3]

This is the devil’s tactic; to subvert, corrupt, bend, misshape, and distort what God calls “good” into something perverse. Perversion is not, of necessity sexual in connotation, but it is the turning of something pure into a wrong use.

The Fall of Man resulted in the perversion of our original state into a nature – – the Adamic nature. Because Man has fallen so far from his original state we find examples in the bible of many types of perverseness (one such illustration is the Jezebel spirit found in 1 Kings 16:31-21:25; 2 Kings 9:7-37; & Rev. 2:20-23). Trinitarianism, cessationism, & the Jezebel spirit are all perversions, but Jesus has given the Church the power and authority to help bring those stuck in error back to completeness in God and in truth.

Sin is the state of perversion from the original design and purpose of Man. The account of the Good Samaritan can be viewed as Jesus’ attempt to warn the Apostles and Church of the dangers of perversion.

Jesus came to return what was once perverted back to its original state, by His love: “For when we were yet without strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly. For scarcely for a righteous man will one die: yet peradventure for a good man some would even dare to die. But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us” (Ro. 5:6-8).

Because of Jesus Christ we now have the opportunity to walk in right relationship with Him. You’ve never met a man like Jesus. He never withdrew Himself from the lost sinners of the world (as many in the church do once they are “saves”). Instead, He went to the perverted (in spirit, soul, and body) who were looking for a change and a return to purity. He did not condemn the world, but He saved it through the work of redemption and reconciliation. He did not revile the perverse, but He removed the crookedness in them and returned them to a state of completeness. He, as the Potter, took the misshapen clay and created vessels of honor. Jesus heals, delivers, sets the captive free, restores broken homes, and places His love into right relationships.

Although tempted in all things, Jesus is our perfect example of a sinless life, and His obedience is what has reconciled Man to God. This ministry of reconciliation is the recovery of purity in our relationship with God.

“Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new. And all things are of God, who hath reconciled us to himself by Jesus Christ, and hath given to us the ministry of reconciliation; To wit, that God was in Christ, reconciling the world unto himself, not imputing their trespasses unto them; and hath committed unto us the word of reconciliation. Now then we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God did beseech you by us: we pray you in Christ’s stead, be ye reconciled to God. For he hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him” (2 Cor. 5:17-21).

[Originally Posted on 27 October 2007. http://thepillarandgroundoftruth.blogspot.com/2007/10/recovery-of-purity.html]
____________
SOURCES:
[1] Absolute. (n.d.). The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition. Retrieved October 26, 2007, from Dictionary.com website: http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/absolute
[2] Absolute. (n.d.). Dictionary.com Unabridged (v 1.1). Retrieved October 26, 2007, from Dictionary.com website: http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/absolute
[3] Perversion. (n.d.). Online Etymology Dictionary. Retrieved October 26, 2007, from Dictionary.com website: http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/perversion

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Bible Teaching

Why Does God Try the Righteous?

The psalmist David wrote, “The LORD trieth the righteous: but the wicked and him that loveth violence his soul hateth.”[1]

In this passage, when we read that God “trieth” it simply means that this is God’s way of “examining, scrutinizing, proving, and testing” the hearts of those who are His people, and these tests are for the purpose of preparing us for greater responsibility and spiritual growth.[2]

The apostle Paul makes it quite clear that the process of being approved by God follows a particular process: “Therefore being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ: By whom also we have access by faith into this grace wherein we stand, and rejoice in hope of the glory of God. And not only so, but we glory in tribulations also: knowing that tribulation worketh patience; And patience, experience; and experience, hope: And hope maketh not ashamed; because the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost which is given unto us.”[3]

As this process takes place we witness the varying degrees of preparation God places us in as they accomplish, work out, and achieve God’s purpose for our lives. Therefore, in the end, what we think of as pressures, stressors, or trials are tools God uses as a means to bring about a patient, enduring, sustaining, perseverant, and steadfast quality to our Christian character. When this quality is part of our spiritual nature we have become God-proven because our character has been tried and He can then trust us for greater measures of responsibility and authority.

This experience results in the establishment of hope in our lives, which is the “joyful and confident expectation of eternal salvation” and the understanding that because I came through previous trials intact then I’ll make it through this one as well because God is with me.[4]

____________

Sources:
[1] Psalm 11:5

[2] Brown, Driver, Briggs and Gesenius. “Hebrew Lexicon entry for Bachan”. “The KJV Old Testament Hebrew Lexicon”. http://www.biblestudytools.net/Lexicons/Hebrew/heb.cgi?number=974&version=kjv.

[3] Romans 5:1-5

[4] Thayer and Smith. “Greek Lexicon entry for Elpis”. “The KJV New Testament Greek Lexicon”. http://www.biblestudytools.net/Lexicons/Greek/grk.cgi?number=1680&version=kjv.

[Originally posted as God “Tries” the Righteous on 20 August 2007 at http://thepillarandgroundoftruth.blogspot.com/2007/08/god-tries-righteous_20.html]

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Bible Teaching

Why Is Obed Called Naomi’s Son?

Why is Obed called Naomi’s son, and what did Boaz mean by this statement?

“Moreover Ruth the Moabitess, the wife of Mahlon, have I purchased to be my wife, to raise up the name of the dead upon his inheritance, that the name of the dead be not cut off from among his brethren, and from the gate of his place: ye are witnesses this day” (Ruth 4:10).  

He was actually stating here that part of his intention for marrying Ruth is to restore the family lineage of Mahlon who was the deceased son of Naomi.  Thus, when the child is born the people and elders of the city remember that they had made themselves witnesses to the intention of Boaz (Ruth 4:11). Acting as witnesses, the women neighbors name the child Obed, which means “a servant, to thee, to nourish, and comfort, and assist thee; which duty children owe to their progenitors.”[1]

            These same neighborly women also state, “There is a son born to Naomi” (Ruth 4:17). By this we deduce that these women knew of Naomi’s loss.  She had lost two sons and a husband and had nobody who would take their place as caretaker for her in her old age, continue her husband’s name, or receive her son’s inheritance.  Obed served in all three capacities and became a great joy to Naomi and one who would carry on the family name.  Thus, he became her son (grandson) by restoring Naomi’s family and their part in the lineage of King David and the Messiah.

According to the opinion of Mary Sisseck, “Naomi has now been given a child (a child is born) a grandchild from one of her dead sons! The law determined that Obed was Naomi’s child! Genealogy, under the law, determined that Obed was also her grandchild!”[2] The question then serves to teach us that Boaz, acting as the kinsman-redeemer, provided a miracle for Naomi, which is comparable to the miracle of salvation that Jesus Christ, our Kinsman-Redeemer, has given to us. Through Jesus Christ we have been given a new life through the miracle of restoration and He, like Obed was to Naomi, has become our nourishment, comfort, and assistance.

[1] Wesley, John. “Commentary on Ruth 4”. “John Wesley’s Explanatory Notes on the Whole Bible.” https://www.biblestudytools.com/commentaries/wesleys-explanatory-notes/ruth/ruth-4.html.

[2] Sisseck, Mary. Ruth: the Hidden Pictures. Accessed: 9-23-2004

. .

NOTE: I wrote this as part of a homework assignment on September 23, 2004, for a Women of the Bible class taught at Parkersburg Bible College by Sis. Nelson.

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Stephen’s Defense (video)

Apostolic Life Cathedral | 8/14/2022, 10:00 AM
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Bible Teaching

The Potter’s Work of Grace

Apostolic Life Cathedral | 7/19/2022, 7:00 PM

Text: Isaiah 64:8, “But now, O LORD, thou art our father; we are the clay, and thou our potter; and we all are the work of thy hand.”

The Potter’s Work of Grace

Jeremiah 18:1-6

(1)  The word which came to Jeremiah from the LORD, saying,

(2)  Arise, and go down to the potter’s house, and there I will cause thee to hear my words.

(3)  Then I went down to the potter’s house, and, behold, he wrought a work on the wheels.

(4)  And the vessel that he made of clay was marred in the hand of the potter: so he made it again another vessel, as seemed good to the potter to make it.

(5)  Then the word of the LORD came to me, saying,

(6)  O house of Israel, cannot I do with you as this potter? saith the LORD. Behold, as the clay is in the potter’s hand, so are ye in mine hand, O house of Israel.

GRACE is more than just a prayer we say before we eating a meal.

The Grace of God has been understood simply as “unmerited favour,” but such a definition robs the grace of God of its true meaning, purpose, and intent.

Some say that since we live in this “age of grace,” or the “church age,” and that God is not going to judge a believer as strictly as He did in other periods of time, but this flies in the face of many passages in the New Testament that defy such a wrongheaded view.

In our time, Grace, and the “age of grace,” has been relegated to some kind of “get out of jail free” card where the individual can act, do, live and be whatever they’re able get by with as long as they say, “I’m sorry,” somewhere along the way between their birth and their death.

This is not the case.

The notion that God’s grace never comes with judgment is incorrect.

Grace is a teacher, and as all students know, sometimes the best lessons learned came from encounters with discipline, and grace is the discipline God uses to instruct His people.

How many remember the “rod of correction,” the “board of education,” or the dreaded words “go to the principal’s office?”

These, sometimes drastic measures came about, usually, because a student/child would not listen, follow instructions, or behave properly.

So, in order to find a quicker way to get a student to be more, shall we say, “cooperative with the learning process,” various forms of discipline were applied.

Some might say that I am forgetting that God loves us and would not punish us, but that in itself is erroneous.

Let’s take a look at the Word of God:

  • 156 times in the New Testament the word GRACE (charis) is used, it means “the divine influence upon the heart, and its reflection in the life; including gratitude.”[1]
    • When a child of God is properly educated by grace, the heart of the student has been changed and molded by the Holy Ghost (our counselor, guide, and help) inside of us, and the proof of that divine influence is reflected in how we live our lives. We live a life of grace.
    • When we say that we live a life of grace we are saying, “We live disciplined lives,” because grace is discipline.
    • And just to be sure: DISCIPLINE can also be called “chastisement, reproof, a warning, restraint, correction, doctrine, instruction, or rebuke.”
    • The person that has allowed grace to teach them, influence their heart, and manifest itself their life is going to naturally be filled with gratitude.
  • Titus 2:11-14, “(11)  For the grace of God that bringeth salvation hath appeared to all men,  (12)  Teaching us that, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly, in this present world;  (13)  Looking for that blessed hope, and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ;  (14)  Who gave himself for us, that he might redeem us from all iniquity, and purify unto himself a peculiar people, zealous of good works.”
    • I want you to catch that tonight. God’s primary method of instruction for the believer in the New Testament is Grace.
    • Grace is the great teacher of self-denial, and as we submit ourselves to God’s influence we learn how to deny “ungodliness [wickedness] and worldly lusts [desire],” and how to “live soberly” (moderately [balanced] with a sound mind), “righteously, and godly, in this present world.”
    • Why? Because Jesus is coming for us.
  • Lift your arm and with your opposite hand pinch that pink stuff we call skin. If your neighbor won’t give them a gentle pinch tonight and tell them, “You’re fleshy.” Now, tell someone else, “You’re carnal.”
  • There’s nothing wrong with admitting that. In fact, Paul wrote to the church in Rome and said, “I am carnal, sold under sin” (Ro. 7:14).
  • So, being human, we are predisposed to rebellion and sin because of this flesh, even the believer, even the saint of God, sometimes has to be instructed by God through grace in some way other than a pleasant reminder to BE GOOD.
  • In some way other than just a feel good, goosebump, run the aisle, dance all over the church.
  • Your praise
  • There are some who revel in a cheap sort of grace that reveals their selfish desire to receive the benefits of serving God without changing their lifestyle of sin.
  • Then there are others who are simply ignorant of the disciplines that come from grace. So, God, in His love, disciplines the erring member to bring about a positive change in their life.
  • Hebrews 12:5-11, “(5)  And ye have forgotten the exhortation which speaketh unto you as unto children, My son, despise not thou the chastening of the Lord, nor faint when thou art rebuked of him:  (6)  For whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth, and scourgeth every son whom he receiveth.  (7)  If ye endure chastening, God dealeth with you as with sons; for what son is he whom the father chasteneth not?  (8)  But if ye be without chastisement, whereof all are partakers, then are ye bastards, and not sons.  (9)  Furthermore we have had fathers of our flesh which corrected us, and we gave them reverence: shall we not much rather be in subjection unto the Father of spirits, and live?  (10)  For they verily for a few days chastened us after their own pleasure; but he for our profit, that we might be partakers of his holiness.  (11)  Now no chastening for the present seemeth to be joyous, but grievous: nevertheless afterward it yieldeth the peaceable fruit of righteousness unto them which are exercised thereby.”
    • If you have felt the chastisement of God, you should rejoice. He loves you. He wants you to live holy, and be ready for His coming.
    • Grace is the discipline of love God uses to teach you.

The Sign of Being Born Again

The Evidence of Being Born Again

Taking on the Divine Nature – the Grace of God: 2 Peter 1:1-11

(1)  Simon Peter, a servant and an apostle of Jesus Christ, to them that have obtained like precious faith with us through the righteousness of God and our Saviour Jesus Christ:

(2)  Grace and peace be multiplied unto you through the knowledge of God, and of Jesus our Lord,

(3)  According as his divine power hath given unto us all things that pertain unto life and godliness, through the knowledge of him that hath called us to glory and virtue:

(4)  Whereby are given unto us exceeding great and precious promises: that by these ye might be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust.

(5)  And beside this, giving all diligence, add to your faith virtue; and to virtue knowledge;

(6)  And to knowledge temperance; and to temperance patience; and to patience godliness;

(7)  And to godliness brotherly kindness; and to brotherly kindness charity.

(8)  For if these things be in you, and abound, they make you that ye shall neither be barren nor unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.

(9)  But he that lacketh these things is blind, and cannot see afar off, and hath forgotten that he was purged from his old sins.

(10)  Wherefore the rather, brethren, give diligence to make your calling and election sure: for if ye do these things, ye shall never fall:

(11)  For so an entrance shall be ministered unto you abundantly into the everlasting kingdom of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ.

No wonder the definition includes the idea of GRATITUDE.

GRACE (charis) is “the divine influence upon the heart, and its reflection in the life; including gratitude.”[2]

[1] Strong’s Exhaustive Concordance. G5485

[2] Ibid.

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Bible Teaching

The Ultimate Expression of Redemption

Exodus 6:1-9

1 Then the LORD said unto Moses, Now shalt thou see what I will do to Pharaoh: for with a strong hand shall he let them go, and with a strong hand shall he drive them out of his land.

2 And God spake unto Moses, and said unto him, I am the LORD:

3 And I appeared unto Abraham, unto Isaac, and unto Jacob, by the name of God Almighty, but by my name JEHOVAH was I not known to them.

4 And I have also established my covenant with them, to give them the land of Canaan, the land of their pilgrimage, wherein they were strangers.

5 And I have also heard the groaning of the children of Israel, whom the Egyptians keep in bondage; and I have remembered my covenant.

6 Wherefore say unto the children of Israel, I am the LORD, and I will bring you out from under the burdens of the Egyptians, and I will rid you out of their bondage, and I will redeem you with a stretched out arm, and with great judgments:

7 And I will take you to me for a people, and I will be to you a God: and ye shall know that I am the LORD your God, which bringeth you out from under the burdens of the Egyptians.

8 And I will bring you in unto the land, concerning the which I did swear to give it to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob; and I will give it you for an heritage: I am the LORD.

John 1:1-14

“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.  The same was in the beginning with God.  All things were made by him; and without him was not any thing made that was made.  In him was life; and the life was the light of men.  And the light shineth in darkness; and the darkness comprehended it not.  There was a man sent from God, whose name was John.  The same came for a witness, to bear witness of the Light, that all men through him might believe.  He was not that Light, but was sent to bear witness of that Light.  That was the true Light, which lighteth every man that cometh into the world.  He was in the world, and the world was made by him, and the world knew him not.  He came unto his own, and his own received him not.  But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name: Which were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God.  And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth.”

The national sin of slavery existed within the boundaries of the present USA for over 200 years. 

It has been nearly 157 years since the slaves were set free in our nation in 1865.

It is nearly impossible for men and women who were born in this modern era in these United States to know what it really means to be a slave.

To Be A Slave

To be a slave…

  • There must be a slave master
  • An individual is forced, against their will, to serve another/others.
  • Force will be used, fear, and punishment
  • Deception will be incorporated to gain slaves
  • A price will be agreed upon to possess a slave
  • Lies told to cloud the reality of the horror of slavery
  • A slave master will use the way of the whip (to drive the enslaved), the threat of the auction block (to place more fear of loss), and murder (life isn’t precious only the commodity)
  • The slave’s mind is brainwashed to destroy his ability to think for himself… 
  • The loss of the sense of self
  • Slaves in the USA had no family names of their own, but they were known by their master’s name.[1]

To Be A Slave

They called it a “slave coffle.”  This was a line of slaves chained together and then marched by the slave trader to some town where these enslaved humans would be auctioned off to the highest bidder.

Treated as merchandise – – as a thing, a unit of economic power – – men and women suffered at the hands of other humans because their skin color, their helplessness and their place of birth.

The children of Israel were enslaved by Pharaoh in Egypt.  The Egyptians kept these children of promise in bondage, and their cry, groans, & sorrows were heard by the Lord.

God sees your state. 

He’s aware of what it is that enslaves you.

He knows where you are right now.

He has heard your cries, seen your tears and is touched by your condition

Job said, “…He knoweth the way that I take…” (Job 23:10).

Hebrews 4:14-16

(14)  Seeing then that we have a great high priest, that is passed into the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold fast our profession.

(15)  For we have not an high priest which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities; but was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin.

(16)  Let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need.

He knows what it’s like to be tempted by the false allure of sin.

Many in this room have face a harsh taskmaster…

They have felt the whip of the driver…

But…those same people are here today as witnesses to the freedom that Jesus gives. 

People who were once enslaved by:

JealousyEnvyHatred
DrugsAlcoholGambling
PornographyIllicit RelationshipsCigarettes
GossipingBack-bitingStrife
Digging up the pastTale-bearingLying
Playing the busybodyArrogancePride
LustSelf-righteousnessLooking down on others
Spiritual superiorityBad attitudesAnger
BitternessSicknessDisease

There are saints here right now who know what Jesus meant when He said, “If the Son therefore shall make you free, ye shall be free indeed” (John 8:36).

Are you free? 

Do you really want to be freed from sin?

What do you want to be free from?  Hell?

Lust? Pride? Arrogance? Ditch Digging?

These chains of unrighteousness are indicators that you still need to be set free from sin’s enslavement.

Signs that while you may be free in some areas, you are still in need of deliverance in others.

Gal. 5:1, “Stand fast therefore in the liberty wherewith Christ hath made us free, and be not entangled again with the yoke of bondage.”

Do you groan out to God for freedom from the slavery of sin and satan? 

Do you want the bonds of sin to be broken from your life?

Do you cry out in your bed of oppression at night?

Does the oppression and overwhelming habit of sinful activities, habits, and behavior leave your mind with no peace?

The psalmist wrote (Ps. 6:6-7), “I am weary with my groaning; all the night make I my bed to swim; I water my couch with my tears. Mine eye is consumed because of grief; it waxeth old because of all mine enemies.”

The beautiful hope we have tonight is that Jesus has redeemed us out of the slave market of sin.

He has bought us, freed us, and declared us His people, not His slaves, but His adopted children.

And because we are His children we have access to the benefits of redemption.

When the Lord brought the Hebrews out of Egyptian slaver He declared Four Expressions of Redemption (Ex. 6:6-7):

  1. I will bring you out from under the burdens of the Egyptians
    • Jehovah brought the Israelites out of Egypt and took the burden of slavery from off their shoulders.
    •  Jesus will bring you out of the world of sin and lift the burden of guilt that sin has set on your shoulders.
    • You no longer need to suffer when Jesus frees you from sin.
  2. I will rid you out of their bondage
    • The LORD delivered the Israelites from the chains of slavery.
    • Jesus will deliver you from those addictions and behaviors that seem to hang on you like chains.
    • Romans 8:2, “For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death.”
  3. I will redeem you with a stretched out arm, and with great judgments
    • God showed Himself strong for the Israelites, revealed Himself to them by His redeeming name (Jehovah/LORD), and brought judgment on Pharaoh in Egypt and at the Red Sea.
    • Jesus wants to show you His love and compassion by freeing you from the penalty of sin, by revealing His true nature to you, and by bringing judgment on those things that have enslaved you for so long.
    • Isaiah 53:1-5, “Who hath believed our report? And to whom is the arm of the LORD revealed? For he shall grow up before him as a tender plant, and as a root out of a dry ground: he hath no form nor comeliness; and when we shall see him, there is no beauty that we should desire him. He is despised and rejected of men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief: and we hid as it were our faces from him; he was despised, and we esteemed him not.  Surely he hath borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows: yet we did esteem him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted. But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed.”
  4. I will take you to me for a people, and I will be to you a God: and ye shall know that I am the LORD your God, which bringeth you out from under the burdens of the Egyptians
    • The children of Israel are known as God’s people – – the children of promise.
    • Because of Jesus, we are “a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, an holy nation, a peculiar people; that ye should shew forth the praises of him who hath called you out of darkness into his marvelous light: Which in time past were not a people, but are now the people of God: which had not obtained mercy, but now have obtained mercy” (1 Peter 2:9-10).

When Jesus redeemed you, He paid the purchase price for your release.  Your freedom was purchased by another and it includes:

  • Healing (Physical, Spiritual, & Emotional)
  • Victory over sin
  • Salvation
  • Eternal Life
  • Deliverance

Jesus frees completely and wholly, not partially or half-way.

Jesus wants you to be free in your spirit, soul and body: “And the very God of peace sanctify you wholly; and I pray God your whole spirit and soul and body be preserved blameless unto the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ” (1 Thessalonians 5:23).

There’s no use trying to sidestep the issue. You’re either free, or you’re not – holy, or not – right, or not.

If you need, want, desire, long for freedom, Jesus is here to free you.

If you’re free then you need to remind yourself of who you are:

  • You are the head and not the tail (Deut. 28:13)
  • You are above only, and not beneath (Deut. 28:13)
  • You are more than a conqueror (Ro. 8:37)
  • You are a peculiar treasure (Ex. 19:5)
  • You are a citizen of a holy nation (Ex. 19:6)

Lionel B. Fletcher wrote, “The thoughts that are welcomed in our minds…are a reflection of our true selves as we appear in the sight of God.”[2]

Sometimes, the slave trader, that old enemy the devil, comes to kidnap a free born citizen of the kingdom of God.

Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour” (1 Peter 5:8).

Once you find freedom, don’t forget where God has brought you from.

Jesus met with some Jews one day and found that they’d forgotten their origin and who it was that delivered them from slavery. 

Jesus ignored their obvious mistake and went to the heart of the matter – – their slavery to sin.

John 8:30-36,“Then said Jesus to those Jews which believed on him, If ye continue in my word, then are ye my disciples indeed; And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free. They answered him, We be Abraham’s seed, and were never in bondage to any man: how sayest thou, Ye shall be made free? Jesus answered them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Whosoever committeth sin is the servant of sin. And the servant abideth not in the house for ever: but the Son abideth ever. If the Son therefore shall make you free, ye shall be free indeed.”

Jesus properly identified satan when he said, “The thief cometh not, but for to steal, and to kill, and to destroy: I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly” (John 10:10). 

The devil is a slave master who wants to take from you all your strength, vitality, purpose, and destiny; but Jesus is The Ultimate Expression of Redemption for you today:

  • He alone is the spoken Word made flesh. 
  • He alone is the Savior and Redeemer
  • Isaiah 49:26, “All flesh shall know that I the LORD am thy Saviour and thy Redeemer, the mighty One of Jacob.”
  • Isaiah 43:11, “I, even I, am the LORD; and beside me there is no saviour.”
  • The word “LORD,” refers to Jehovah.  This is the redeeming name of God in the Old Testament. 
  • When the angel told Mary that the child in her was to be called Immanuel he was signaling that He who was to be born was “God with us.”  This simply means that Jehovah of the Old Testament is Jesus Christ of the New Testament.
  • He alone is the “express image” of God (Heb. 11:1-3).
  • “There is one God, and one Mediator between God and men, the Man Christ Jesus, who gave himself a ransom for all, to be testified in due time” (1 Tim. 2:5-6).
  • 1 Tim 3:16, “…God was manifest in the flesh, justified in the Spirit, seen of angels, preached unto the Gentiles, believed on in the world, received up into glory.”
  • “Neither is there salvation in any other: for there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved” (Acts 4:12)

Listen to me.

You are not a slave. 

You are a child of God. 

Your current condition is slavery. 

You were created and destined to have dominion over all the earth.

In the book To Be A Slave, Julius Lester shares this true story:

Eliza was a pretty girl.  Her master was her father and her mother was a slave.  When the girls in the big house had suitors come to visit them, they’d ask, “Who is that pretty gal?”  So they decided to get rid of her right away.  The day they sold her, at the auction block, they stripped her to be bid off and looked at.  The man that bought Eliza was from New York.  The slaves in the community had enough money together to buy her freedom, but they wouldn’t let that happen.  There was a big Swedish man there who bid for Eliza that day as well.  He always bid for the pretty slave girls and bought them for his own use.  He asked the man from New York, “What you gonna do with her when you get her?”  The man from New York said, “None of your business, but you ain’t got money enough to buy her.”  After the man from New York paid for her, he turned, looked at Eliza and said, “Eliza, you are free from now on.”[3]

Jesus is in the freeing business (John 8:36):

  • “So if the Son sets you free, you will indeed be free.” (NLT)
  • “So if the Son frees you, you will really be free!” (The Complete Jewish Bible)
  • “So if the Son of Man sets you free, you will really be free.” (New International Reader’s Version)

Jesus came to Nazareth one day and opened the scroll of Isaiah and read:

“The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he hath anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor; he hath sent me to heal the brokenhearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised, To preach the acceptable year of the Lord. And he closed the book, and he gave it again to the minister, and sat down. And the eyes of all them that were in the synagogue were fastened on him. And he began to say unto them, This day is this scripture fulfilled in your ears” (Luke 4:18-21).

The Ultimate Expression of Redemption is Jesus for He came “to give his life a ransom for many” (Matt. 20:28).

[1] Lester, Julius. (1968). To Be A Slave. Dell Publishing Co. Inc.: New York, NY.

[2] Fletcher, Lionel B. (1933). The Pathway to the Stars. Hunt, Barnard & Co., Ltd: London, England. p.25.

[3] Lester, Julius. (1968). To Be A Slave. Dell Publishing Co. Inc.: New York, NY.

Categories
Bible Preaching

Freedom’s Hope

Apostolic Life Cathedral | 7/3/2022, 10:00 AM

Text: John 8:31-38

(31)  Then said Jesus to those Jews which believed on him, If ye continue in my word, then are ye my disciples indeed;

(32)  And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.

(33)  They answered him, We be Abraham’s seed, and were never in bondage to any man: how sayest thou, Ye shall be made free?

(34)  Jesus answered them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Whosoever committeth sin is the servant of sin.

(35)  And the servant abideth not in the house for ever: but the Son abideth ever.

(36)  If the Son therefore shall make you free, ye shall be free indeed.

(37)  I know that ye are Abraham’s seed; but ye seek to kill me, because my word hath no place in you.

(38)  I speak that which I have seen with my Father: and ye do that which ye have seen with your father.

Freedom’s Hope

She is the Statue of Freedom and she is bolted to the top of our nation’s Capitol Dome.

FREEDOM: Achieved[1]

[A]ll persons held to service or labor within the District of Columbia

by reason of African descent are hereby discharged and freed.”

— D.C. Emancipation Act, April 16, 1862

T he Statue of Freedom was cast from Crawford’s plaster model at Clark Mills’ foundry in the District of Columbia. In 1859 an Italian craftsman demanded more money for the job. Mills then turned to one of his enslaved men, Philip Reid, to separate the five sections of the plaster model. Reid then worked on casting the sections in bronze. Once the casting was completed in 1862, workmen erected the statue section by section atop the Capitol Dome. The final section was bolted in place on December 2, 1863 with thirty-five guns firing a salute to Freedom. If Philip Reid was present on that day, he was there as a free man. The D.C. Compensation Emancipation Act had ended slavery in the District of Columbia on April 16, 1862.

FREEDOM: Phillip Reid and the Statue of Freedom[2]

“I have endeavored to represent Freedom triumphant.”

— Thomas Crawford, 1855

The nineteen-foot six-inch bronze statue of Freedom crowns the cast-iron Dome of the Capitol. Sculptor Thomas Crawford’s second design represented Freedom as a female figure clad in classical robes, bearing a sheathed sword and shield, and wearing a liberty cap.

Secretary of War Jefferson Davis, a slaveowner from Mississippi who would later become president of the Confederacy, objected to the liberty cap “as the badge of a freed slave” and suggested that Crawford change the statue’s headgear to a helmet. The sculptor followed Davis’s instructions, and Freedom wears a helmet composed of an eagle’s head and feathers. Neither Davis nor Crawford could know that an enslaved African American would play a critical role in casting the statue.

The statue of Freedom was cast from Crawford’s plaster model at Clark Mills’s foundry in the District of Columbia.  After an Italian craftsman in 1859 demanded more money for the job, Mills turned to one of his slaves, Philip Reid, to separate the five sections of the plaster model.  Reid then worked on casting the sections in bronze.

Once the casting was completed in 1862, workmen erected the statue section by section atop the Capitol Dome. The final section was bolted in place on December 2 with thirty-five guns firing a salute to Freedom. If Philip Reid was present on that day, he was there as a free man. The D.C. Emancipation Act had ended slavery in the District of Columbia on April 16, 1862.

What a juxtaposition, a contrast, an irony…

The sculptor, Thomas Crawford, designed her, and Jefferson Davis had him make changes to her because of the symbolism of freedom her first design represented to the slaves.

The Italian who cast her mold was greedy and demanded more money. So, Clark Mills, the owner of Mill’s Foundry, turned to his slave, and in between 1859 and 1862 this slave worked on Freedom.

Philip Reed, a slave, was responsible for separating the molds and then casting the five sections in bronze.

Those sections were then bolted, one section at a time, to the top of the capitol dome.

On December 2, 1863, the last section was bolted and Freedom stood “triumphant in war and peace.”

By the time the last bolt was tightened Philip Reed, and all the slaves in the District of Columbia were freemen and freewomen.

The U.S. Congress freed them on April 16, 1862.

Could the Hope of Freedom been the force behind Philip Reed’s careful and expert work of the Statue of Freedom.

Perhaps, Freedom as an ideal moved him along his given path.

He was enslaved bodily, but his mind and heart and soul were free.

I’m not free, yet, but one day…

Then that one day came and was free.

What does it mean “to be free?”

Thayer’s Greek Definitions:

  1. freeborn
    1. in a civil sense, one who is not a slave
    1. of one who ceases to be a slave, freed, manumitted
  2. free, exempt, unrestrained, not bound by an obligation
  3. in an ethical sense: free from the yoke of the Mosaic Law

Strong’s Hebrew and Greek Dictionaries: “unrestrained (to go at pleasure), that is, (as a citizen) not a slave (whether freeborn or manumitted), or (generally) exempt (from obligation or liability): – free (man, woman), at liberty.”

https://www.dictionary.com/browse/free:

  1. enjoying personal rights or liberty, as a person who is not in slavery: a land of free people.
  2. pertaining to or reserved for those who enjoy personal liberty: they were thankful to be living on free soil.

Freedom is Liberty

There is a freedom beyond chains and physical bondage.

It comes only from Jesus Christ.

The Lord has planned our release, and it is foreshadowed in the Old Testament in the way:

“At the end of every seven years thou shalt make a release. And this is the manner of the release: Every creditor that lendeth ought unto his neighbour shall release it; he shall not exact it of his neighbour, or of his brother; because it is called the LORD’S release….And thou shalt remember that thou wast a bondman in the land of Egypt, and the LORD thy God redeemed thee: therefore I command thee this thing to day” (Deuteronomy 15:1-2, 15).

But, Israel didn’t keep the Law of Release, the Law of Freedom, and they were judged for it:

Jermiah 34:17, “Therefore thus saith the LORD; Ye have not hearkened unto me, in proclaiming liberty, every one to his brother, and every man to his neighbour: behold, I proclaim a liberty for you, saith the LORD, to the sword, to the pestilence, and to the famine; and I will make you to be removed into all the kingdoms of the earth.”

Isaiah 58:6, “Is not this the fast that I have chosen? to loose the bands of wickedness, to undo the heavy burdens, and to let the oppressed go free, and that ye break every yoke?”

True Freedom has happened when:

  1. We are released from all the chains of wickedness, wrong, iniquity
  2. The heavy weights of sin and the burdens of the past are removed
  3. We free the broken, bruised, crushed, discouraged, oppressed, and the struggling.
  4. We break every oppressive bond of enslavement.

Freedom is here for you today: Luke 4:16-21

(16)  And he came to Nazareth, where he had been brought up: and, as his custom was, he went into the synagogue on the sabbath day, and stood up for to read.

(17)  And there was delivered unto him the book of the prophet Esaias. And when he had opened the book, he found the place where it was written,

(18)  The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he hath anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor; he hath sent me to heal the brokenhearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised,

(19)  To preach the acceptable year of the Lord.

(20)  And he closed the book, and he gave it again to the minister, and sat down. And the eyes of all them that were in the synagogue were fastened on him.

(21)  And he began to say unto them, This day is this scripture fulfilled in your ears.

Today is your Day of Hope, your Day of Freedom – Freedom’s Hope

After his freedom, Philip Reid signified his new found freedom by changing the spelling of his last name to “Reed.”

Today, you can also have a name change as you receive your freedom.

John 8:36, “If the Son therefore shall make you free, ye shall be free indeed.”

[1] SOURCE: https://uschs.org/explore/from-freedoms-shadow-freedom/. Accessed: 7/3/2022.

[2] Ibid.

Categories
Bible Teaching

The Promise

Text: John 14:15-26, “(15) If ye love me, keep my commandments.  (16)  And I will pray the Father, and he shall give you another Comforter, that he may abide with you for ever;  (17)  Even the Spirit of truth; whom the world cannot receive, because it seeth him not, neither knoweth him: but ye know him; for he dwelleth with you, and shall be in you.  (18)  I will not leave you comfortless: I will come to you.  (19)  Yet a little while, and the world seeth me no more; but ye see me: because I live, ye shall live also.  (20)  At that day ye shall know that I am in my Father, and ye in me, and I in you.  (21)  He that hath my commandments, and keepeth them, he it is that loveth me: and he that loveth me shall be loved of my Father, and I will love him, and will manifest myself to him.  (22)  Judas saith unto him, not Iscariot, Lord, how is it that thou wilt manifest thyself unto us, and not unto the world?  (23)  Jesus answered and said unto him, If a man love me, he will keep my words: and my Father will love him, and we will come unto him, and make our abode with him.  (24)  He that loveth me not keepeth not my sayings: and the word which ye hear is not mine, but the Father’s which sent me.  (25)  These things have I spoken unto you, being yet present with you.  (26)  But the Comforter, which is the Holy Ghost, whom the Father will send in my name, he shall teach you all things, and bring all things to your remembrance, whatsoever I have said unto you.”

Isaiah 55:10-11, “For as the rain cometh down, and the snow from heaven, and returneth not thither, but watereth the earth, and maketh it bring forth and bud, that it may give seed to the sower, and bread to the eater: So shall my word be that goeth forth out of my mouth: it shall not return unto me void, but it shall accomplish that which I please, and it shall prosper in the thing whereto I sent it.”

            God’s Word is forever settled in Heaven and will accomplish its goal.  God generally offers two types of promise in the Bible:

  1. Unconditional – The promises to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob did not depend on any future action on their part because they were unconditional and would come to pass regardless of anything that these men did or didn’t do:
    • Joel 2:28-29, “And it shall come to pass afterward, that I will pour out my spirit upon all flesh; and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, your old men shall dream dreams, your young men shall see visions: And also upon the servants and upon the handmaids in those days will I pour out my spirit.”
    • Isaiah 28:11-12, “For with stammering lips and another tongue will he speak to this people.  To whom he said, This is the rest wherewith ye may cause the weary to rest; and this is the refreshing: yet they would not hear.”
  2. Conditional – The Bible contains “if…then” statements.  These are requirements that you must meet to receive the promise.  They represent future acts that must be obeyed to receive the full promise:
    • 2 Chronicles 7:14, “If my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land.
    • Acts 2:37-39, “Now when they heard this, they were pricked in their heart, and said unto Peter and to the rest of the apostles, Men and brethren, what shall we do? Then Peter said unto them, Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost. For the promise is unto you, and to your children, and to all that are afar off, even as many as the Lord our God shall call.”

Often the question is asked, “Why Tongues?”[1]

  1. God is not accountable to us for what He chooses to so.  He is Sovereign, Creator, Sustainer, Redeemer, Savior…
  2. Tongues is an initial external sign that must be followed by the fruit of the Spirit.
    1. Gal. 5:22-23, “…the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, Meekness, temperance…”
    1. John 3:8, “The wind bloweth where it listeth, and thou hearest the sound thereof, but canst not tell whence it cometh, and whither it goeth: so is every one that is born of the Spirit.”
  3. It is the consistent pattern of evidence established by God as essential in the New Birth:
    1. 1 Corinthians 12:13, “For by one Spirit are we all baptized into one body, whether we be Jews or Gentiles, whether we be bond or free; and have been all made to drink into one Spirit.”
  4. The tongue is the most unruly member of the body and when you receive the Holy Ghost speaking in tongues you are allowing God to control the most expressive part of your personality.  Man’s expression of emotion, intelligence, and communication is articulated through the tongue.

It’s just for the Apostles and Early Church:

            Irenaeus (died 202) ~ “In like manner we do also hear many brethren in the Church, who possess prophetic gifts, and who through the Spirit speak all kinds of languages, and bring to light for the general benefit the hidden things of men, and declare the mysteries of God.”[2]

            Hildegard of Bingen (1098-1179) ~ “sang in unknown words with such facility and winsomeness that her utterances were known as ‘concerts in the Spirit’.”[3]

            The Waldenses (c. 1217) ~ these followers of Peter Waldo believed in visions and prophecies.[4] Both healing and speaking in tongues were manifested among these heavily persecuted Christians.[5]

            Early Quakers ~ “We received often the pouring down of the Spirit upon us, and our hearts were made glad and our tongues loosed and our mouths opened, and we spake with new tongues as the Lord gave utterance, and as His Spirit led us.”[6]

            John Wesley ~ People in Wesley’s meetings would be filled with the Holy Ghost while he preached.[7]

                    Thomas Walsh (one of Wesley’s foremost preachers) made this entry in his diary; “This morning the Lord gave me a language that I knew not of, raising my soul to Him in a wonderful manner.”[8]

                    In England (1830) there was a revival under Edward Irving where gifts of the Spirit were manifested. One member of the congregations writes: “The moment I am visited with the Spirit, and carried out to God in a tongue which I know not… I am more conscious than ever of the presence of God. He and He alone is in my soul. I am filled with some form of the mind of God, be it joy or grief, desire, love, pity, compassion, or indignation; and I am made to utter it in words which are full of power over my spirit, but not being accessible to my understanding, my devotion is not interrupted by association of suggestions from the visible or intellectual world: I feel myself, as it were, shut in with God in His pavilion, and hidden close from the invasions of the world, the devil, and the flesh.”[9]

                    Charles G. Finney ~  “I received a mighty baptism in the Holy Ghost…No words can express the wonderful love that was shed abroad in my heart. I wept aloud with joy and love; and I do not know but I should say, I literally bellowed out the unutterable gushings of my heart.”[10]

                    D. L. Moody ~ “One the following Sunday night, when I got to the rooms of the Y.M.C.A. I found the meetings on fire. The young men were speaking in tongues and prophesying. What on earth did it all mean? Only that Moody had been addressing them that afternoon.”[11] At a meeting in Los Angeles, Dr. R.A. Torrey told of a service in London where Moody took the pulpit to preach and instead broke into another language. He tried again, with similar results. The third time, after prayer and praise, he was able to preach his message.[12]

                    Charles H. Spurgeon ~ a British preacher told how Spurgeon once asked his audience to forgive him that when he got especially happy in the Lord, “I break forth into a kind of gibberish which I do not myself understand.”[13]

How Do I Receive this Phenomenon of the Holy Ghost?[14]

  1. Prepare your heart by obeying Acts 2:38 (Repent).
  2. Understand that God wants you to receive His gift as much as you want it…just ask Him for the Holy Ghost: “If ye then, being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children: how much more shall your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to them that ask him?” (Luke 11:13)
  3. You must be hungry to receive His Spirit.
    1. Matthew 5:6, “Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness: for they shall be filled.”
    1. James 4:8, “Draw nigh to God, and he will draw nigh to you. Cleanse your hands, ye sinners; and purify your hearts, ye double minded.”
  4. Expect to receive: “And when Paul had laid his hands upon them, the Holy Ghost came on them; and they spake with tongues, and prophesied” (Acts 19:6).
  5. Believe to receive: John 7:38-39, “He that believeth on me, as the scripture hath said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water.  (But this spake he of the Spirit, which they that believe on him should receive: for the Holy Ghost was not yet given; because that Jesus was not yet glorified.)”
  6. Relax!!

Promise of Christ’s Return:

            1 Corinthians 15:51-56, “51 Behold, I shew you a mystery; We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed, 52 In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump: for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed. 53 For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality. 54 So when this corruptible shall have put on incorruption, and this mortal shall have put on immortality, then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written, Death is swallowed up in victory. 55 O death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory? 56 The sting of death is sin; and the strength of sin is the law. 57 But thanks be to God, which giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.”

[1] “Speaking In Tongues.” Various Authors. Retrieved 5-15-2005 from http://altupc.com/articles/tongues1.htm.

[2] Against Heresies, V,6,1, Ibid., vol 1, p. 531

[3] George H. Williams and Edith Waldvogel, “A History of Speaking in Tongues and Related Gifts,” in The Charismatic Movement, ed. by Michael P. Hamilton, p. 70

[4] R. Kissack, “Waldenses,” The New International Dictionary of the Christian Church, ed. by J.D. Douglas, revised edition, p. 1026

[5] Gordon F. Atter, The Third Force, p. 13

[6] Bresson, Studies in Ecstacy, pp. 48-52

[7] http://www.holyspiritinfo.net/ch_hist.htm

[8] Entry of March 8, 1750, quoted by Frodsham, With Signs following, p. 232

[9] A.L. Drummond, Edward Irving and His Circle, pp. 161-162

[10] Charles G. Finney, Autobiography, p. 20

[11] Boyd, Robert, The Lives and Labours of Moody and Sankey, p. 47

[12] Lennard Darbee, Tongues: The Dynamite of God, p. 24.

[13] Ibid. p.24

[14] Principles of Doctrine: Lesson 11. “Holy Spirit Baptism.” Parkersburg Bible College.

The Promise | 15 May 2005

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Paul’s Revelation of God’s Love

It seems to me that Paul caught a glimpse of God’s love in the moment that he is first introduced to us in Acts 7 because here we are told that he watched the coats of the men who stoned Stephen and the implication is that he had to have heard that man of faith as “he kneeled down, and cried with a loud voice, Lord, lay not this sin to their charge.” Much like Jesus before him, Stephen took a moment of horror and turned it into an eternal memorial of love and testimony. Stephen was so full of the Holy Ghost (Spirit of Christ) that he could only offer love in the face of hatred and violence. Perhaps this was the goad that Jesus referred to when He met Saul on the Road to Damascus. It’s possible that Saul was constantly reminded of that manifestation of God’s love and had to battle with his conscience over his part in that just man’s death.

​Paul’s first experience with God’s love was that a man could, under terrible circumstances, love everyone – even his tormentors.  This is only possible when one possesses that agape that Paul wrote of in 1 Corinthians 13.  Agape is defined as “brotherly love, affection, good will, love, benevolence, and charity.”  It is the ability to hold affection for others regardless of how they treat you and it is certainly modeled best by Christ and those who possess His Spirit.

​Having been involved in the persecution of the early Church and then being forgiven and placed in a position of leadership and caretaking of those he formally threatened and slaughtered must have been a humbling and awesome experience in the life of Paul.  It is no wonder that he could write, “Who shall separate us from the love [agape] of Christ? shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword?  As it is written, For thy sake we are killed all the day long; we are accounted as sheep for the slaughter.  Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him that loved us.  For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come,  Nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love [agape]of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.”  Paul had experienced the unconditional love of God and he was never the same.

​I’m sure that Paul went through the gamut of emotions and questions, like, “how could He love me,” or “why does He love me so much,” or “what is so different about this man Stephen?”  Yet, God took this mass of boiling humanity and turned him into the Apostle to the Gentiles and along the way he not only experienced the love of God, but he practiced it as well.

Paul’s revelation of God’s love was that it could only be received by the Holy Ghost. It is no wonder that he exhorted the Ephesians to “walk in love” because he knew the awesome power of love. Stephen was full of God’s love because he was a man full of the Holy Ghost and it was that fullness that Paul encouraged when he admonished the Ephesians to be “filled with the Spirit.” This was Paul’s revelation and it remains true – especially in our day. We need more “Stephens”, who have a fullness of the Holy Ghost, and more “Pauls,” who recognize that fullness as the love of God.

*First written on May 28, 2004*