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MATTHIAS THE APOSTLE?

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Was Matthias a legitimate Apostle?

casting-lots “Wherefore of these men which have companied with us all the time that the Lord Jesus went in and out among us, Beginning from the baptism of John, unto that same day that he was taken up from us, must one be ordained to be a witness with us of his resurrection.  And they appointed two, Joseph called Barsabas, who was surnamed Justus, and Matthias.  And they prayed, and said, Thou, Lord, which knowest the hearts of all men, shew whether of these two thou hast chosen,  That he may take part of this ministry and apostleship, from which Judas by transgression fell, that he might go to his own place.  And they gave forth their lots; and the lot fell upon Matthias; and he was numbered with the eleven apostles.” Acts 1:21-26.

It has been claimed by some that the Eleven were in a hurry in the choosing of Matthias, and therefore he was not Gods choice. In other words, the Eleven should have waited until Paul was converted and he should have been numbered with the Eleven.

[perfectpullquote align=”right” cite=”” link=”” color=”” class=”” size=””]The Lord never rebuked them for their choice…[/perfectpullquote]

We believe this argument is absurd and based on nothing but guesswork in order to delegalize the unique apostleship of Paul. The text is clear. The apostles prayed about the matter of a replacement for Judas. It was required that the replacement should have ministered from the beginning of the ministry of the Lord and witnessed His resurrection. Furthermore, to specifically ask for God to lead in the choice. Casting lots were not uncommon in settling the unknown. The lot fell to Matthias and he was numbered with the Twelve. The Lord never rebuked them for their choice, but contrarywise blessed their ministry mightily.

The casting of lots was not only Scriptural, it was also a common practice. The first record in Scripture is in Leviticus 16:8. “And Aaron shall cast lots upon the two goats; one lot for the LORD, and the other lot for the scapegoat.” There are many accounts of casting lots in Scripture. The Psalmist said, “The lot is cast into the lap; but the whole disposing thereof is of the LORD.” Proverbs 16:33. It was firmly believed that the providence of God ruled in the casting of lots to the degree it was never questioned.

Paul was never intended to be one of the Twelve or to have a part in their ministry. He was divinely selected to be the apostle to the Gentiles. “For I speak to you Gentiles, inasmuch as I am the apostle of the Gentiles, I magnify mine office:” Romans 11:13. He was also chosen to write all the church epistles. Just as many of the Jewish Christians could not reconcile Paul’s ministry, so it is today among many Gentile Christians.

INTRODUCTION TO THE BOOK OF EPHESIANS

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A Study in Ephesians
A Study in Ephesians

Introduction:

  This epistle shows the oneness of God’s people in union with Christ:

In It…

1). The church is called a body, with Christ as the head;

2). It is like a building, with Christ as the cornerstone;

3). It is like a wife, with Christ as the husband.

The Author:

The Apostle Paul (1:1).

The City of Ephesus:

(See map).

Its Location:

Ephesus was a great commercial center of Asia Minor. It was located at the mouth of the Cayster River and on the shore of the Aegean Sea. (An arm of the Mediterranean Sea off southeast Europe between Greece and Turkey.). It was about 50 miles south of Smyrna.  Ephesus was noted for the great temple of Diana, which was one of the seven wonders of the ancient world (Acts 19:27).  The site of the city is now covered with ruins.

Its Religion:

The inhabitants of Ephesus worshiped the Goddess Diana. She was called Diana, by the Romans and Artemis by the Greeks. She was the “great virgin goddess” of hunting and childbirth and was traditionally associated with the moon. She was worshipped among heathen nations under various names. (See Hislop, The Two Babylons). She was worshipped as the goddess of fertility. Her most noted temple was that at Ephesus which was built outside the city walls. It was in building about 220 years. It was built of shining marble; was 342 feet long by 164 feet broad and was supported by a forest of columns, each 56 feet high. At the center, hidden by curtains, within a gorgeous shrine, stood the very ancient image of the many breasted goddess. It was made of the ebony tree which was supposed to have fallen from the sky. Behind the shrine was a treasury, where, as in the safest bank in Asia, nations and kings stored their most precious things. The women of Ephesus sold their jewels to help raise funds for the temple. Kings presented columns and gifts of gold from many nations. When it was completed in 323 B. C., it was the most magnificent building ever constructed in the Greek world and was acclaimed one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World. The temple, as Paul saw it, stood till A.D. 262, when it was ruined by the Goths. (A member of a Germanic people who invaded the Roman Empire in the early centuries of the Christian era.) (Acts 19:23-41). No doubt the devotion to this temple by the Gentiles was what led Paul to speak of the glorious temple of Christ that is made of living stones and groweth continually.

Paul’s Visits:

(1) His first visit is recorded in.. (Acts 18:18-21).

(2) His second visit, when the Holy Spirit is given to believers, is in (Acts 19:2-7).

(3) His third visit is when he addresses the Ephesians elders (Acts 20:17-35).

The Date: The most probable date for the writing of Ephesians is A.D.  64.

The Place Written:  Written from Rome while Paul was in prison.

(See Eph. 3:1; Acts 21:15; Acts 27-28)

The Purpose of the Book:

To show that all believers are seated in heaven in Christ and are to walk worthy of Christ. Romans, the first doctrinal letter, sets forth the true relationship of the believer to Christ in death, burial and resurrection. Ephesians, the second doctrinal letter, pictures the believer as sitting together with Christ in heavenly places. It contains the highest of church truth, but not church order.

The Key Words:

(1) Together: 1:10; 2:5; 2:6, 21, 22; 4 16.

(2) One: 1:10; 2:14,15,16,18; 4:2,4,5,6,7,25,32; 5:21,31,33.

(3) In Christ: (Eph. 1:1, 3, 6, 12, 15, 20; 2:10, 13; 3:11; 4:21).

(4) In Heavenly Places: (Eph 1:3, 20; 2:6; 3:10).

(5) Riches: of Grace: (Eph 1:7; 2:7); of Glory (Eph 1:18; 3:16); of Christ (Eph 3:8).

The Key Verses:

Eph 1:10, Eph 2:6, Eph 2:14-22, Eph 4:3-16, (especially Eph 4:13)

The following outline will give an overview of our analyses of this epistle.

OUTLINE:

  1. 1-3; THE BELIEVERS PERFECT STANDING
  2. The  Salutation To Believers
  3. The  Standing Of  Believers
  4. The  Sagacity Of God Toward Believers
  5. The  Sealing Of  Believers
  6. The  Supplication For Believers
  7. The  Spiritual Death Of  Unbelievers
  8. The  Spiritual Resurrection Of  Believers
  9. The  Strangers Who Became Fellow-Believers
  10. The  Slaying Of The Enmity Against Believers
  11. The  Special Revelation For Believers

 

 

 

“ISLAMIC FASCISM”

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HOW ISLAM AND FASCISM COMPARE

ISLAM

 

“Islamic Fascism is really a modern phenomenon. [1] It is basically a 20th-century totalitarian movement – like fascism and communism.

Islamic Fascism is designed – like fascism and communism – to appeal to idealistic young people with a Utopian future where the world will be “cleansed”. Other names for it are “Islamofascism” and “Islamism” and “Islamic fundamentalism”.

 

ISLAM

I think “Islamic Fascism” is the clearest, most descriptive name, [2] showing that this is simply the same kind of thing that the democracies spent the 20th century fighting. Islamic Fascism is genuinely fascist. It has contempt for democracy, free speech and human rights. It is full of hatred for Jews, atheists, homosexuals, and liberated women. It is linked to racist hatred of blacks in Sudan, slave trading of black Africans, and racist hatred of other ethnic minorities in the Islamic world. And, like fascism and communism, the only solution is the destruction of this philosophy. This will take a long Cold War, lasting for perhaps this entire century.”

http://markhumphrys.com/islamic.fascism.html#fascism

God and Goal Setting

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pastor-blue5
Dr. Ken Blue

YouTube AUDIO SERMON: God and Goal Setting

If a Christian is going to have new excitement continually coming, he is going to have to set some goals. These goals must be God honoring goals that require some work and digging into the Bible.  Unfortunately, the average Christian is too lazy to dig for new information.  They would rather have their spiritual diet handed to them on a silver platter.

Paul speaks about elders who labored in doctrine (1 Tim. 5:17).  These were those who dug deep into learning about God, so much so that they were considered to be laboring at it. When they did so, the Bible remained exciting and alive to them.  To do this, they did some goal setting.  This allowed them to stay on track.

All too often Christians find themselves haphazardly studying God’s word.  They have a desire to learn, but they are just feeding off of crumbs that they find here and there.  They don’t really get a full meal.  They don’t get satisfied.  In fact, they get frustrated and give up.  What they have failed to do is to set some goals.  (You can’t accomplish anything if you don’t have anything to accomplish).

Every Christian should use some form of goal setting for their approach at studying God’s word.  In this AUDIO SERMON, Dr. Blue speaks about the importance and methods of goal setting.  If you have a desire to keep the Bible fresh and exciting, if you desire to stop eating milk and start eating some meat, you can learn how to use goal setting to create a plan tailored just for you.

THE SERMON OF THE MOUNT # 19

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 TO JUDGE OR NOT TO JUDGE

judgeBy Ken Blue

“Judge not, that ye be not judged. 2 For with what judgment ye judge, ye shall be judged: and with what measure ye mete, it shall be measured to you again. 3 And why beholdest thou the mote that is in thy brother’s eye, but considerest not the beam that is in thine own eye? 4 Or how wilt thou say to thy brother, Let me pull out the mote out of thine eye; and, behold, a beam is in thine own eye? 5 Thou hypocrite, first cast out the beam out of thine own eye; and then shalt thou see clearly to cast out the mote out of thy brother’s eye. 6 Give not that which is holy unto the dogs, neither cast ye your pearls before swine, lest they trample them under their feet, and turn again and rend you.” Matthew 7:1-6.

All judgment must be based on a right division of Scripture. Scripture teaches, that in every dispensation, judgment is to be checked by God’s Word for that administration. Paul tells us, “But he that is spiritual judgeth all things, yet he himself is judged of no man.” 1 Corinthians 2:15. No one is to turn off their responsibility or ability to judge all things by Scripture. However, it does not say, he that judgeth all things, is spiritual. 

Most of the judgment today is based on tradition, preferences, or Scripture taken out of context. These are usually defended under the banner of “standards.” Their judgment is about the length of one’s hair, clothing, music, friends, and the order of church services. This is wrong and wicked. Again, judgment must be based on a right division of Scripture. All other judgment will return upon the head of the guilty. If one begins with himself, and judges his on sins and behavior, he will have little time to judge others.

[perfectpullquote align=”right” cite=”” link=”” color=”” class=”” size=””]One must also have enough spiritual discernment to know who the “dogs” and “swine” are[/perfectpullquote]

One must also have enough spiritual discernment to know who the “dogs” and “swine” are. No doubt this speaks of the most profane. The best example is seen in the rebuke of the religious leaders in Jerusalem.  “But woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye shut up the kingdom of heaven against men: for ye neither go in yourselves, neither suffer ye them that are entering to go in. 14  Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye devour widows’ houses, and for a pretence make long prayer: therefore ye shall receive the greater damnation. 15 Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye compass sea and land to make one proselyte, and when he is made, ye make him twofold more the child of hell than yourselves. 16 Woe unto you, ye blind guides, which say, Whosoever shall swear by the temple, it is nothing; but whosoever shall swear by the gold of the temple, he is a debtor! 17 Ye fools and blind: for whether is greater, the gold, or the temple that sanctifieth the gold? 18 And, Whosoever shall swear by the altar, it is nothing; but whosoever sweareth by the gift that is upon it, he is guilty. 19 Ye fools and blind: for whether is greater, the gift, or the altar that sanctifieth the gift? 20 Whoso therefore shall swear by the altar, sweareth by it, and by all things thereon. 21 And whoso shall swear by the temple, sweareth by it, and by him that dwelleth therein. 22 And he that shall swear by heaven, sweareth by the throne of God, and by him that sitteth thereon. 23 Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye pay tithe of mint and anise and cummin, and have omitted the weightier matters of the law, judgment, mercy, and faith: these ought ye to have done, and not to leave the other undone. 24 Ye blind guides, which strain at a gnat, and swallow a camel. 25 Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye make clean the outside of the cup and of the platter, but within they are full of extortion and excess. 26 Thou blind Pharisee, cleanse first that which is within the cup and platter, that the outside of them may be clean also. 27 Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye are like unto whited sepulchres, which indeed appear beautiful outward, but are within full of dead men’s bones, and of all uncleanness. 28 Even so ye also outwardly appear righteous unto men, but within ye are full of hypocrisy and iniquity. 29  Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! because ye build the tombs of the prophets, and garnish the sepulchres of the righteous, 30  And say, If we had been in the days of our fathers, we would not have been partakers with them in the blood of the prophets. 31  Wherefore ye be witnesses unto yourselves, that ye are the children of them which killed the prophets. 32  Fill ye up then the measure of your fathers. 33  Ye serpents, ye generation of vipers, how can ye escape the damnation of hell?” Matthew 23:13-33.

The above lengthy passage describes the dogs and swine to whom holy things should not be offered or entrusted. It was these very people who crucified Jesus. The point in the sermon is, to exercise righteous judgment and discernment in the judgment of others, and the awareness of their attitude toward those holy things before offering holy things, such as the gospel.