read in context (part4)

Matthew, Mark, Luke and John - the life of Jesus, told to different audiences. Scripture has one interpretation but several applications. Often times these get confused.  There is no way I could choose a favorite story and since the message of salvation and restoration , judgement and hope began in Genesis , no sense changing that now.

The Messiah has come. Not as a military leader, as they thought, but a Savior.
He has fulfilled the law, so that is complete so don't allow some church to shackle you down by making you obey them.

Like tithing. And be mindful of kingdom rules applied to your life.
Knowing the difference between works & deeds helps here.

And keep in mind, that one who robs, steals and kills, is not the devil.

Ya know, we can sin pretty good on our own. Having the Flip Wilson theology no longer works. (the devil made me do it)

By examining the religious leaders of that day, we should be able to spot where it was that caused them to miss Jesus as the Messiah and in doing so, we might see some uneasy similarities to our present day.

How was it that the wise men knew but the religious leaders didn't . My guess is, the wise men studied and read what scripture they had . The religious leaders wanted a leader to rise up, today we want the church to rise up, all in the name of changing the world.

Mt 7 has something we  call the "golden rule."

There's no better way to explain how.. We've missed it

and by missing it, we read this Book wrong.

The answer is in, what we call it.

A "rule."

If anyone (who reads there Bible correctly) challenges that, the un believers will look at you funny and perplexed, but that's mild, compared to how other believers will treat you.

It's the same thing as when Jesus told us what the summary of the "law" was.

Love God & love others.

All these are good, golden rule, love God, love others.

But (an wait for it)

Those do not save anyone.

And there it is, in a nutshell.

Getting that across to a selfie generation is next to, impossible.

The only thing that saves is when we repent before a Holy God and acknowledge Jesus as Savior.

He died & arose, as foretold, according to the scriptures.

These four books will have us saying "Lord, I believe, help my unbelief"

Acts-  here the mystery is about to be revealed. Much of the talk in the New testement is still pointing to the time Jesus will rule on this earth and we need to keep this in mind as we read.

Churches don't preach like Peter did anymore. Good preaching has the hearer asking "what should I do" and a good answer is ,repent and be baptized.

These days its, repent and now do this and this and this (law)

Pentecost, the first martyr, and the spreading of the gospel are recorded here.. Don't anyone tell the church growth movement that it was persecution that grew the church. Not strobe lights and coffee houses.

 If I had to pick one negative consequence of misapplying Old Testament scripture , it would have to be in the Church not seeing its proper role as a bride.

Jesus said He'd be right back. I guess the amount of time He was gone caused the church to declare all He said prior, to be done and that bride thing meant something else.

Even the disciples couldn't wait ten days before they thought they had to do something. Choosing a replacement for Judas didn't harm anything but it just shows how we have this unending desire , to "do" things, while waiting for Jesus to return.

Romans - some say that this is a defense to what Paul was charged with in Rome.
Patterns for every day Christian living can be found in here. Some call some select verses in this book the "Roman road" because these verses cleary define how one becomes a child of God.

The first several chapters should wet your appetite for more study.
Now if you've been reading yourself into scripture too this point, you'll be disappointed.

Many consider chap 8 to be their favorite. Check and see why.

Something to look for here is what the relationship is between Law and the good news of the Gospel. This will take some time. It will also require some comparisons between what we read in scripture to what we hear coming from the visible church. Not understanding why the law was given will create a massive amount of confusion for the believer.

Not understanding the proper use of Gods Law and Gospel is, in my opinion, the number one reason people leave the church.

1,2 Corinthians - christian living. What is it? How can we do it? What does it look like? For those who read their Bible's, starting from Genesis, asking this, probing the Old Testament looking for those answers, by the time they get to where the real answers are, such as this book, these things might not make sense. That's why it's good to read Bible straight thru with salvation, Jesus and His kingdom in mind rather than ourselves.

And don't miss what we call the love chapter. But keep in mind, if all God did, was to love us, no one would be saved. We are not saved by His love, we are saved through His death and resurrection.

The next book of the Bible will verify that!

Galatians - this is a favorite book of Luther's. And rightfully so. It is a good defense for the true Gospel and a warning for those who want to change it .

So much grace all over this book . I hesitate in giving one book of this Bible even the slightest precedence over another when it comes to grace and mercy.  

This book will thrill the reader. Also comfort. People say a believer can't have assurance. These next few books will challenge that.

Ephesians - here's a good book that reminds us how important it is , to get whatever we are reading, to get to whom its written correct.

The Bible makes so much more sense when we do. The church is being addressed here in many ways. The uniqueness of it, the shock of it.

Sometimes I wonder if its because of our sinful hearts and how we think, that the reason we would lump everyone together , in this regards is because our sinful hearts would have us to think that if there were to be one group , to fulfill this mystery that we would think it to be more special than any other group, so to avoid that, we just apply it to everyone. This might be a factor in how we read this Bible. Don't know about that, just a thought.

Also,so many times we hear from church about blessings and we think of them for now, and there is no doubt we are blessed but the blessings most times referred to are spiritual.

We also talk aour church unity but that also ,is in Christ.

Something else we hear is leadership. We need leaders. Leaders with a vision and so on.

First thing, sheep follow. If a sheep needs to be led, that's one stubborn sheep.

Second, these leaders? what are they told to do? They are to equip the saints! To do what? the work of the ministry.

Something is not right here. When we discover whose truly leading, we will clearly see that "something" (that's wrong)

Philippines - this book has so much joy in it. The Gospel was getting out there. Many consider verse 6 of chapter 1 to be their favorite verse, and when I was picking favorite verses, it was mine.

Paul new what being content meant. He also new what church unity meant, and It wasn't even close to what we think of it as, today.

Unity involves serving one another.

Think about that as we move closer and closer to a one world religion, disguised as church unification.

Colossians - this book has so much wisdom in it, they all do. Cautioning of false teachers. That is a tough concept these days because anything and everything can slap a Christian label on it presto, its Christian.

Most folks prefer to just let it be rather than to be called names , many times by other believers.

Researching the things we enjoy in this modern world is risky business. Many times, if there are things we read in the Bible that we take for granted

and truthfully , we just do not know what we are reading

and we have lived that way for a long time, there comes a point in life where you just might be better off not knowing.

Being in the dark so long and becoming accustomed to it tends to have us avoiding researching things, and even when they do, they don't believe what they found out.

If reading the Bible in context doesn't stir us to examine what we read, watch or listen to, that, to me, that is heart breaking .

1,2 Thess. - by now , we can see that these letters written to these churches were meant to strengthen and encourage the believers.

We all need that from time to time. Being encouraged in modern day is a funny thing also. These letters in the Bible are encouragement concerning what the believer has already done. (trusted in Jesus's death & resurrection)

Many times today, believers are encouraged, concerning things they are to do or keep doing, and that's no encouragement at all.

It's as if, after doing the "getting saved" thing, it's now time to get busy.

What they fail to see is, that the "getting saved" thing, which I like to call, the Gospel, it never ceases to work in the believers life.

But the Emergent church has reserved the gospel for the sinner alone while offering a believer a set of Laws that no one can keep. Laws that can't save and laws that were fulfilled, In Christ.

Many reasons this happens but reading our Bibles wrong tops the list.