So how do we fix this?

This page is not as clear as I'd like it due to a lack of writing skills but I will leave it as is and hope this video clip can smooth it out. This video is two years after I wrote these thoughts  

We don't, but God can.
Fix what??
Tough question to answer. It helps to understand what happened, how it happened & when it happened.
Do yourself a favor.
Google a few things.
1) the Emergent church (business model comes to the church)
2) Peter Drucker
3) servant leadership (note how those do not co-exist)
4)Church growth (non repentant unbelievers are asked "what would THEY want to see in any church and the" church "gets built around their answers)
5)seeker friendly. (confusion of basic words. Simply put, whose doing the" seeking." God or us?
6)twisted scripture (to accommodate seeker friendly)
Twisted scripture leads to twisted thinking.
And it can show up anywhere, even in the songs we sing.

For example : a popular song has the line in it...

... "and when you (meaning Jesus)  stand before me..."

Folks, it's not Jesus to stand before us.
It's us standing before Jesus.

We're quick to say "I know that" but do we?
Evidence reveals, we don't.

It's like when we say "I call Jesus friend."

No!  He calls us friend. And if you think there's no difference, think again. Its all in ones perspective.

That's just a few things. Each one of those has things in them you'll wanna Google.

At some point in history, we separated the teaching of " preaching the gospel"  &  "making disciples"  two distinct things. But they belong together. Not separate (in our thinking)

You see, it's how that gets read that create perspective.
It's "preach the gospel (and when you do) disciples will be made."

It's not :
1)preach the gospel &
2) make disciples

This sounds like a moot point, but what comes from it is not a small thing. This thinking  allows us to have everything from discipleship classes to revival meetings.
Reading it that way turns "making disciples" some abstract thing open to subjective thinking. As long as we keep Biblical principles abstract when they are discussed, we can make them anything at all and we never even notice we have no clue what these things REALY mean.

Separating things that belong together creates an odd way to think.  That's not the way it operates.
In the example I am using (preaching gospel and making disciples) the second thing is a result from the first.
But if we separate them , this must mean they could be another way to make disciples. Try finding that in any Bible.

The confusion brought forth from all this is immeasurable and it is subtle and occurs over decades of time, so I'll ask again ;
How do we fix this?



By getting  God's Word back in context.

 That takes time & a commitment.
Over time I'll add to this but approaching God's Word correctly requires losing long time honored thinking. That's not an easy thing to do cause it challenges much of what we like and or grew up with. Best I can do is tell what God used to open my eyes.

Some folks would call that my "experience" but they'd be wrong. Saying things like that is a popular deflection tactic that keeps people at odds.
Also , talking about ones experiences is a Christians way of not committing to anything. Chances are, my experience wont be your experience and since, these days, we guage things off the results rather than what brought us there, or the sum (of an equation) rather than the problem, we have odd sounding language .

(besides, our experiences shouldn't be the same  or that's kinda creepy)

All that matters is what God said plainly in His Word.

That's why, when the time is right, look for a good verse by verse commentary through the entire Bible. I say, when the time is right because unless one is in it for the long haul, just forget it. In this day & age reading God's love Word thru is a commitment. It wasn't this way multi generations ago because back then words had meanings and people read motivated by love, for God. All that's gone now and needs to be reclaimed.

Now there are many many good ways to do verse by verse and each way is time consuming. There are many pastors that still honor God's Word by rightly handling it, actually these men have been around a long time but I just didn't know it. Thx to the Web we can now all benefit.

There is a verse by verse format out there that fits every personality. The way that's best for me is audio.

The reason i hesitate mentioning any of my favorites is because many Christians think in labels rather than content.

Another reason I hesitate is because, all this stuff I'm passionate about began so innocently. But it's turned into I hadn't foreseen.
After seeing what God's Word said and comparing it to how it's presented all my life, to that point, all I did was ask questions, because I truly cared.

And that's the kicker,  I really, deep down in places I didn't know existed, cared.
Unbeknownst to me, that's a pretty good path to seeing God's truth.

It's almost as if God's saying, you wanna know, I'll tell u, but slowly, cause that's all I can handle. Currently it's been 8 years asking questions and stumbling (yes, stumbling) upon good Godly men who are gifted with Biblical context.

Sometimes I think,

"I didn't ask for any of this"
that's because I didn't know what I was in for.

I tell my wife sometimes, I was better off being ignorant.
That's not true.
But keeping all I'm given, by God's Word (in my life)  in a context  and or  a perspective of gratitude, humbleness and prayer (so as too not become puffed up) is a daily venture.

I don't deserve at all, all I'm receiving and all I've been given.
I can't explain it, it just is, and the peace an joy as well as its rewards, I also can't explain.

In time I'll share links of  those who helped me but unless a person cares, it  won't provide much.
They need to  start at the beginning (which that in itself is a commitment)

Not knowing God's Word in its context won't condemn anyone to hell, but it will keep the train of confusion chugging along nicely.


My first time thru the Bible via a 5 year study (but thx to the Internet I did that in one year) i was so amazed.
I  knew having one perspective was not a good thing so since then I've gone through the Bible with several good pastors to compare differences.

Please keep in mind, as you look for good vrs by vrs teaching. There are men I love, men I trust but these men are human.
Something that astounds me to this day is, as much as I love these men and as good and careful as they are,  even THEY can't resist a time or two to confuse law & Gospel.

From time to time, I'll hear one of the men I trust, recount a story, let's say, from the persecuted Era of church history, but then they will pause and make some comparison of that account, to the lives of those sitting in the congregation.

When that happens, red flags appear in my brain.

There is at no time, in your life or mine, that we ( in this 21rst century America)  can "relate"  to the persecuted church era.
I've heard Christians say (concerning the Old Testament ) "oh, I know how Job feels"  to which I reply - NO, you don't!

I get the application aspect to teaching, but preachers have gone wild with this concept, and when it's preached over and over like this , as the church hop scotches all over the Bible, the message comes out very odd sounding.

This makes me cringe (men I love, mis applying scripture)  but at least i am now able to recognize it .
When I hear those I trust preach this way , I am at least thankful they read and teach the Bible in context.
At least when a preacher is reading the Bible verse by verse every Sunday , one can hold them more accountable.
Again, the key is to get to a point where a believer can recognize when "liberties" are taken when reading a passage.

God help those who can't recognize it.

There is no place you'll find perfection as you study God's Word with any one man.
The point to all this, this blog, verse by verse, law/gospel distinction, is to better recognize when an improper handling of God's Word is taking place.

When that can be done, then full blown heresy comes into full view.
That's when staying or leaving any congregation, decision takes place.

So much of what I am saying in this blog is not truly needed that first time  a person decides they want to read the Bible through. All that is needed is a desire for truth. When someone gets fed up with all the world offers, (in the Christian world and non Christian world) that's a good time to read the Bible in context. Too bad we wait that long.
Commentaries are good but all that matters is that the one doing the commentary finds Jesus on every page of Scripture. That is a major key!

If anyone actually reads this crazy blog thing and is serious in wanting to know their Bible's but not quite sure how, I'd be more than happy to share all God's revealed these past 8 yrs as well as why they are solid ways to grow.
I'm constantly amazed as to how many Christians of 20 and 30 plus years haven't read the thing and boy, will they be surprised when they do.


As we go through vrs by vrs It helps to have  a meaning & understanding of some big sounding words, but they really aren't.

http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eisegesis


http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Exegesis

Now those two words might not look like much but when one favors one over another another in the church we attend it could mean the difference between aimlessly wandering through life to real spiritual growth.

Men can call what they are doing "Exegesis"  when it truly isn't. Knowing the difference is so vital these days.

If any man in any Pulpit regularly declares that whatever verse or text they are reading "is about you", this might be a good time to pay close attention to the differences between eisegesis & Exegesis.

What to look for is, if a text is indeed about you and it's in a negative context, make sure the gospel is on its heels.
If it isn't, then guilt is knocking at your door.
Sadly, that's an objective of many church's.

If the text that's used is in a positive context, be careful. Pride is now knocking on your door.
Failure is also knocking because if you fail at verses content, u fail.
It's best to view positive scripture, concerning "you" as application rather than interpretation.
Knowing the difference helps.

Again, it sounds difficult but it isn't.
Simply put, every verse in Scripture will have Jesus as its interpretation.
That's not hard because there's only ONE interpretation.

What should raise a red flag, in ur mind is, whenever any preacher says a verse is about "you. "





Two more good starting place links towards a discerning mindset.

http://thecripplegate.com/what-is-the-lawgospel-distinction/


http://thecripplegate.com/3-reasons-the-lawgospel-distinction-is-unlawful/

That's both sides of the issue to encourage anyone for themselves what to decide.
The point to all this is, if someone is attending a church that favors an  eisegesis as an approach to the Bible , be careful.
Also, if someone is not familiar with the law /Gospel distinction concerning God's Word , I'd challenge that one to consider and examine and research this.
This will help anyone who  has been for some time sensing something not quite right in the church they attend.

[ update ]
I have recently put on this blog, in the fav vrs by vrs area, my favorite vrs by vrs teachers. Almost 9 yrs ago, this all started with Vernon McGee but since then has grown.
Please pray before committing to any verse by verse teaching. Its not easy but its worth it.
That I know !