New Testament  Survey by Dr. J. Michael Nace

Introduction:

     Welcome to the New Testament course and we would like to welcome you to a coverage of the New Covenant we have in Christ as written down and recorded in the 27 books of the New Testament.

     We might start off by saying the word Testament also means covenant or agreement. And in this particular case the agreement is between God and the believer in Christ. And the basis of that agreement of course is the shed blood of Jesus Christ; the only propitiation for our sins.

     Now the New Covenant or commonly called the New Testament in our Bible consist of 27 books. They were many other books that made an attempt to get into our New Testament but did not make it for various reasons.

     The basic test for a book to get into the New Testament was this, it had to have been written or verified by an Apostle; it had to have a very clear mark of inspiration and it had to be accepted by the Spiritual Church as a whole.

Now the New Covenant that we have of the New Testament; the 27 books was not completed in its final form until 387 AD, which is roughly is 300 years after the last Apostle died. You may ask what the reason of that was; and I would suggest was most likely was this. For the first 300 years of the church there were 2 major events going on. One of them was a tremendous series of persecution, these persecutions existed under 10 different emperors of the New Testament era and the persecutions did not quit until Constantine came into power in 325 AD. When the Council of Noachian met and finally stopped the persecution of the church.

Now the second thing going on runs a direct parallel to this; and that is this, there was a lot of infiltration into the early church by Satan and liberals working together to corrupt the Bible and the purity of the early New Testament Church. You must remember that when the last Apostle died, the Apostle John, many warnings had gone out by the Holy Spirit through Paul the Apostle to his son in the faith, Timothy as well as the Apostle John in the book of 3 John as well as Revelation and other places in the New Testament that a spirit of iniquity would enter the church and attempt to dilute the church. Perhaps Jesus was even hinting of this when he told Peter in the Gospel, “I will build my church and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.” We even see glimpses of this as the Lord gave the parables in Matthew 13 and he talked about a woman, Mt 13:33 who would use 3 measures of leaven and as Dr. Scofield and others have rightly identified leaven is always a symbol of spiritual evil in God’s Word, because God considered unleavened bread holy. And when we read this in Matthew 13 as well as other places in the New Testament, we find warning after warning that the church would come under spiritual attack Paul called it the Spirit of Iniquity in 2 Thess 2:7.

So between the external persecution of the unsaved world through the Roman Empire and the infiltration of the church by so called professing yet in most cases phony and false Christian believers; the early church in the first 300 years had tremendous battles on their hands. And that is why our New Testament of 27 books did not come into final form until 400 AD, 300 years after John the final Apostle’s death. He died sometime after completing the book of Revelation.

So you and I have an anointed document called the New Testament in the 27 books and we’re going give a survey in this course of the truths in this New Covenant.

Now let me start by saying this set of 27 books should be seen as a compilation of one covenant, broken down into many little pieces, contributions by many different authors under different circumstances yet the same Holy Spirit blending it together into one message and the message is this, Jesus Christ is LORD, he died in our place for our sins, he was buried and resurrected again the 3^rd day for our justification and he is coming back one day for the church and to judge the wicked in the world, followed that will be the new heavens and the new earth after his great Millennial Reign of 1000 years on earth. All of this is talked about in the New Covenant.

So keep in mind, it is one message. Jesus Christ being the focus of the New Covenant. Underneath that one message we see themes in the New Covenant or New Testament. Let me list a few themes that you will see constantly appearing in the NT as you become familiar with its message.

The theme of faith; that is the faith in God, faith without works, faith with corresponding works. We see faith in God, faith from God and faith toward God.

We see other themes such as reconciliation to God, forgiveness of sins, baptism by water, we see themes such as the name of Jesus, the new birth, the infilling and baptism of the Holy Spirit. We see themes such as separation from the world and evil and sin and faithfulness toward God. We see themes as the blood atonement through the blood of Jesus Christ, heaven, hell, the after life, the world to come, the end time message of the true church being raptured and the apostate church going into the wilderness to be finally judged of God. And we see other end time themes in the book of Revelation, such as the beast, the mark, name and number of the beast, the false prophet, the second coming of Jesus Christ in power and great glory. We see end time themes such as leaven leavening the church world worldwide such as Matthew 13:33. We see others such as the true church becoming more and more persecuted as the end nears and the false professing church becoming more and more wealthy and loved by the world and in love with the world.

There are many themes in the New Testament Scriptures; but the main theme is that of salvation through faith in our Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ’s shed blood on the cross. We see themes such as repentance from sin and some great theological themes under the Apostle Paul’s ministry; such as propitiation, reconciliation, justification, sanctification, glorification, as well as salvation.

So as we embark on our study of the New Testament or Covenant agreement of God with the believer in Christ. May I emphasize this is a covenant with born again believers; this is not a covenant with the world. The world can only enter into covenant with God through repentance toward God and faith in our Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ. God only holds covenants with his people not with the pagan or unsaved of the world; they are under God’s judgment curse.

As we begin to look at the 27 books of the New Testament I’m going to go through them one by one in this course. And then we are going to return and go through by chapters. I want you to enjoy this course as being informative and educational to ground you deeper and stronger in the Lord Jesus Christ and who you are in Christ because that’s the purpose of the New Testament writings.

It goes without saying but we may need to say it for the sake of those who may not know this. The New Testament was not written in chapters and verses. Paul’s writings for instance, called the Epistles were letters to individuals or churches and it wasn’t until hundreds of years later and our Bible became public and useful for the public that chapters and verses were added to quickly identify where one was reading. So, as we look at the New Testament or covenant we need to see it as a flowing document of information of God’s Word to us; to get over to us the mind of God on these serious subjects that are dealt with in the New Testament Survey that we are embarking on in this course. Now let’s start off with the book of Matthew and we are going through the 27 books of the New Testament and comment on each one before we break it down chapter by chapter.

The Book of Matthew:

Let’s start with the book of Matthew and tell you that Matthew was an Apostle also called Levi. He was a tax-collector. His name means, “Gift of the LORD”. But those that were known to be tax-collectors were very unpopular in their day; more so than today; because often they were known to keep some of the taxes for their own use.

So Matthew was a very unpopular person and yet it is interesting that the Lord Jesus called him to be a disciple. He wrote his book around AD 50 or roughly 20 years after the Lord went back to heaven.

The theme of Matthew’s gospel is portraying Jesus and King of the Jews. Matthew being Jewish himself wrote a gospel (meaning good news) about Jesus Christ to the Jewish population. Of course it’s good for Jew or Gentile today. But the message was steered toward the Jewish mindset.

  There’s a Jewish genealogy opening up Matthew and there is the theme of Jesus being the King of the Jews in the book of Matthew. Now, it is also a fact that in Matthew’s gospel Christ is portrayed as the son of David and Abraham. So, you can see there is quite a strong Jewish flavor in Matthew’s gospel.

The Book of Mark:

Mark’s gospel is a gospel of power and action. You can see the words immediately very, very often in Mark’s gospel.

It is a gospel of miracles and the power ministry of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Mark was a native of Jerusalem and his mother’s name was Mary although his father is not known.

It’s the briefest gospel having only 16 short chapters but it is powerful and it is full of direct words like straightway and immediately.

Mark wrote his gospel around AD 68 and he emphasizes the works of Christ being an action gospel. And he wrote his gospel to the Roman gentile world.

The Book of Luke:

     Luke being a doctor, a physician according to Colossians 4:14, was very precise and detailed in his recording of the ministry of our Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ.

     Luke also wrote part two to his record called the Acts of the Apostles. He was of course a companion of Paul the Apostle in Paul’s ministry. We know that Luke wrote for the Greek intellectual world. He was full of compassion that the physicians of old were known to be. There is a lot of detail in Luke’s gospel and it is the longest gospel or all 4 of our gospel accounts of our Lord’s ministry.

     We only find in Luke’s gospel such compassionate accounts of the lost sheep, the lost coin, and the lost son.

     Very little is known about Luke and he is the only writer that qualifies as possibly a non-Jewish author of one of the books of the New Testament.

The Book of John:

          The Beloved disciple, his book was written in 85 or 90 AD its purpose is found in John chapter 20:31

          Only in John’s gospel do we see tremendous pointed references to our Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ being God as well as man. 

          Throughout chapter 8 of John as well as in chapter 6 and other places such as Thomas’ confession in John chapter 20 when he calls the Lord Jesus, my Lord and my God show Jesus as God. There are so many references in John to the deity or Godhood of Jesus Christ.

          John’s gospel is also a gospel of signs and wonders and miracles. It’s only in the gospel of John where we see the emphasis of the new birth so strongly proclaimed.

          We also know that John the Apostle wrote 1^st , 2^nd  and 3^rd John and the book of Revelation. Most think that the gospel of John was written to the Greek audience; that is people of intellectual ascent. {His gospel was directed to believers and presents Jesus as God.}

          It is John’s opening words that Jesus was the logos in the Greek, which to the Greeks was a thought or concept. But to the Hebrew mindset the word logos meant “God himself”.

          So, John was writing to both but the Greeks could understand what he meant when he said, “In the beginning was the Word and the Word was God.”

          John the Apostle, the beloved disciple, the one disciple Apostle who lived the longest and we believe was the one who leaned on Jesus’ breast at the last supper.

The Book of Acts:

          Acts is part two of Luke’s record of the early years of the Christians’ beginning. We know the book of Acts was written around the year AD 60. It’s also called the Acts of the Holy Spirit for certainly it records the tremendous action of the Spirit of God in the early church.

          The book of Acts is the only inspired account that we have today of reliable early Christian Church History,

          It is a document that records the miraculous supernatural presence and move of the Lord in the early church.

          The book of Acts should be a challenge to all of us in ministry today, to set our face to seek the Lord for all he has to do in our lives our churches and our ministries.

          The book of Acts is full of prayer, full of persecution, full of the power of the Holy Spirit, and full of the proclamation of the good news that Jesus alone saves. Ac 4:12

The Book of Romans:

          Now we will turn to the book of Romans which is Paul’s magnum opus, his tremendous treatment of Christian Doctrine.

          Luther called it the “Little Gospel”. It in its 16 chapters explains the entire Christian message theologically, practically, and in a way that all can understand. It talks about the old man and the new man; it talks about life before Christ and after Christ; it was written in AD 57 or 58 to the Church of Rome long before the Roman Catholic institution begin in the fourth century.

          It being only 16 chapters long is a power house of theological information. All the great theological hall of fame phrases are here. Redemption, sanctification, propitiation, reconciliation, glorification, salvation, you name and Paul lays it out in the book of Romans.

          It’s the greatest in depth theological treatment ever seen by man, by anyone when it comes to the laying out the truths of the New Covenant and New Testament.

1^st & 2^nd Corinthians:

      These were Paul the Apostle’s letters to the church at Corinth , which was a church surrounded and submerged in pagan gentile immorality. Thank God this church was confronted by this Apostle’s ministry to separate from the pagan culture of its day. To be Corithianized as the phrase says it was to be in those days involved in immoral life styles surrounding this little church’s existence.

     As we read 1^st and 2^nd Corinthians we see tremendous practical as well as spiritual doctrine from the pen of Apostle Paul under the inspiration of God’s Spirit.

     Corinth had a church that was fraught with carnality, confusion and conflict. And yet Paul did not give up on this little church. Thank the Lord he did not because it is preserved for us in the pages of 1^st and 2^nd Corinthians.

     Written somewhere around AD 56-57; Paul deals with such things as difficult issues and difficult people, difficult doctrines and difficult circumstances. Paul in 2^nd Corinthians affirms his Authoritative Apostolic Ministry even giving warnings to the church to cease from immorality. Paul in 2^nd Corinthians outlines the sufferings of the Apostles’ lives as all ministers of God.

     These two letters are tremendous handbooks for any Christians Ministry .

The Book of Galatians:

     Written in 55 or 56 AD is again a letter from Paul to a group of churches in Galatia , the modern day Asia Minor . This again, was one of Luther’s favorite books called the Magna Charter of the Reformation. It takes on the thorny subject of legalism and Judaism mixing with Christianity. Paul deals with subjects such as the depth and breath of the impact of the New Covenant in the Christian life. He deals with the grace of God, the issues of separation from sin, and issues of other matters. It was the battle cry of the reformation, the book of Galatians, the charter of freedom for every Christian even today in the world in which we are living. As we are coming into deeper end times, God grant us churches that are built squarely on Paul’s letter to the Galatian Churches. 

     In it he talks about revelation from God being taught in Arabia the things of God and he warns against false gospels and false preachers.

The Book of Ephesians:

     Written by Paul the Apostle from prison, a monumental tribute to the church and what the church is as a new man. He deals with the church in the years past still in the mind of God; he deals with the church as a present reality and its spiritual position and Paul deals with the church’s future glorification. In this great monumental epistle Paul addresses such issues as the family and marriage as a type of the church, he deals with the spirit filled life as well as separation from carnality. If there is any letter wrote in the New Testament describing who you are as church member of Christ’s body, Ephesians is the letter.

The Book of Philippians:

     The Philippians received a letter from the Apostle Paul around the year of AD 61 very similar to the time Paul wrote to the Ephesians, perhaps because it was also written from prison. The Philippian letter deals with the joy, walk, and the rejoicing we have in the Lord. In this letter Paul mentions “I have learned” key word is learned, that in all things to be content. He wrote that from prison; if our prisoners could learn that today, whether they are in prison physically or prison circumstantially we need to affirm that we are free in Christ. Chapter 3 of Philippians is an in depth discussion of our position with and in Christ. There are great themes in the Philippian letter such as life after death, no soul sleep but an immediate presence with the Lord upon death, themes such as the name of Jesus in chapter 2; as well as having the mind of Christ. Paul talks in such unusual phrases for us today as having a supply of the Spirit of Jesus Christ. We need to embrace the doctrines of Paul the Apostle as doctrines coming from God, himself. This is why we have the New Testament to read, believe, preach and practice.

The Book of Colossians:

      As we move to Colossians also written in around AD 61 we see the deity of Christ presented in an awesome and tremendous way. Cp 1:19; cp 2:9; there is no doubt that all of God was in Christ. Paul deals with issues as there being no need to go through a ladder of intermediaries to reach God, but that we are complete in Christ. Paul deals also with the 2^nd coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, in the book of Colossians as well as mentioning his friend, Luke, the dearly beloved physician in chapter 4;14.

     Colossians is a book that our dear Catholic friends and others would be so blessed to read as they see that in Christ alone we are complete without any other necessity of intercessor or mediator.

1^st and 2^nd Thessalonians:

     Written in AD 51 is considered the first and earliest letters of the Apostle Paul. They are tremendous spiritual documents doctrinally as well as informational. We see in 1^st and 2^nd Thessalonians such tremendous themes as the coming of the Lord, holiness and how we treat fellow believers as well as those of the opposite sex. There is a revelation of the rapture and the man of sin appearing in the Temple of God as Paul describes it in 2^nd Thessalonians cp 2. Paul actually ends his letters to the Thessalonians with a strong charge, that if any do not obey the words of this epistle that we should have no fellowship with them. Strong words and those first two letters to the Thessalonian Church contained tremendous revelation truth from the mind of God to the church and I for one strongly encourage every Christian to know 1^st and 2^nd Thessalonians thoroughly.

1^st and 2^nd Timothy:

     Written in AD 64 and 67 respectfully, Paul is writing his young son, not biological son, but son in the faith, Timothy.  1^st and 2^nd Timothy epistles of Paul, deals with church order as well as church doctrine; the roll of men and women in the church and the priorities of the preacher. He deals with such things as end time apostasy and false preachers arising at the end of time. In the second letter of Paul to Timothy, Paul openly declares he’s getting ready to be offered as an offering to the Lord or to be martyred. And he said, I’ve run the race and I’ve completed my course. Tremendous words coming from the Apostle before he gives his life in final service to the Lord.

     1^st and 2^nd Timothy should be read and known and cherished by every person in the ministry, especially pastors.

The Book of Titus:

     Titus again was a young servant of the Lord and Paul writes Titus in AD 64 and gives him solid advice about setting the church in order, ordaining elders, the role of deacons and elders, and talks even about the coming of the Lord, called the blessed hope in chapter 3. Titus is a practical book, a hand book of church government and church doctrine.

The Book of Philemon:

     One chapter long, yet in AD 60 to 61 Paul is writing from prison and he cites an example of leading a young slave by the name of Onesimus to the Lord Jesus Christ and Paul says, “I birthed him while still in my chains”, meaning he gave him the gospel and saw this young slave born again by the power of God’s Holy Spirit.

     Philemon being only one chapter long holds tremendous spiritual messages for every church and every believer in Christ today.

The Book of Hebrews:

     Possible and probably in my thinking very likely written by the Apostle Paul; although this book does not claim to have an author although, for the first 400 years of church history Paul was considered the writer of the book of Hebrews. The important thing is the Holy Spirit wrote it and it was written in AD 70 shortly probably before the fall of Jerusalem by the invasion of Titus’ armies. This book is a deep book dealing with the new covenant  as what we have in it being a better covenant as it is called in Hebrews 8:. It deals with such subjects as staying faithful in times of persecution as it was written to the Jewish converts to Christ who were undergoing tremendous persecution under the iron boot heel of Rome and its power of the emperors in the early years of the first century. There are closing remarks in the book of Hebrews after the doctrinal content is covered reminding the reader, the listeners to obey those of spiritual authority that God has placed among you; to have compassion on the prisoners, to keep the marriage bed pure and undefiled. The doctrine of separation and holiness are very pronounced in the book of Hebrews.

The Book of James:

     This book was written around AD 48 to 62 by the Lord’s brother, James; it is a very practical book on faith and corresponding works or actions following faith. A very famous verse, “Faith without works is dead”. Also, we find the book of James addresses the issues of trials, perseverance, and end time conditions in chapter 5 concerning the rich of this world oppressing the poor. It is a very timely book for believers who want to put legs on their Christianity and make a difference by not what they say but what they do. Cp 3 A tremendous book of 5 chapters dealing with practical applicable spiritual godly Christian living.

1^st and 2^nd Peter:

     This book was written by the great Apostle Peter himself in the AD 60s. Both books deal with the issue of practical godly righteousness and Christian living. And then in 2^nd Peter we find Peter deals with end time prophetic subjects; the new heavens and the new earth; he deals with the fiery destruction of the heavenlies; he deals with judgment on wickedness and he talks of other great end time themes particularly 2^nd Peter chapters 2 & 3.

     In 1^st Peter he deals with subjects such as being watchful, vigilant, because your advisory is opposing your work in the Lord. Peter deals with real Christian living writing in AD 60s dealing with respecting the elders and how to pastor the flock of God in a humble spiritual manner. We have to remember as we read through these new books in the New Testament they were all written in a time span between 30 AD when the Lord ascended back into heaven and 95 or 96 AD. We’re looking at a time span of 60 to 63 years when these 27 New Testament books recorded the earthly birth, life, ministry, death and resurrection of our lord Jesus Christ as well as the history of the early church in the first 20 to 30 years of the early church following Pentecost right up to the destruction of Jerusalem as prophesied in prophetic scripture and ending up in the later years of the Apostle John’s life on the isle of Patmos as an exile in the Alcatraz of his day. He was a banished prisoner receiving visions from the Lord in glory; perhaps a fulfillment of Jesus’ own words at the end of John’s gospel in which the Lord shows the Apostle John the second coming and the end time events that will unfold on the planet earth.

The Books of 1^st, 2^nd and 3^rd John:

     These books were written in AD 90 by the aged Apostle John who at this point was an elder in a church outlining the priority of love for the other, outlining the centrality of the name of Jesus in 1^st John and in 3^rd John. Outlining the importance of holding fast and keeping the teaching of our Lord Jesus Christ in 2^nd John verses 9&10; A great important teaching for all Christians in every age by the Apostle John. And we need to remember these doctrines they preached and embraced them as eternal truths and teachings.

The Book of Jude:

     Jude was written around AD 65 to AD 80 and again the brother of our Lord Jesus Christ fighting and contending for the faith, verse 3, Overcoming false teachers, teaching on holiness, teaching on the security of the believer, teaching on the great deity of our God and Saviour. Over and over in some 20 short verses Jude hammers home apostolic doctrinal truth of the Christian life necessary to combat apostasy.

The Book of Revelation:

     22 glorious chapters of truth filled revelation from John the Apostle, the last living Apostle writing around 96 AD talking about things that are and things that will be coming outlining the end time events of world history as well as the church’s future. We will go through chapter by chapter the book of Revelation later in this course and you will see student and child of God the tremendous revelation that our Lord and God and Saviour gave John the last living Apostle teachings and truths that we need to hold dear.

     Now before we get into chapter by chapter study I want to by way of review say a few things. We are not looking at an ordinary document as we read through the New Testament. We are looking at the only inspired written document on planet earth other than the Old Testament as well that exists for us to be edified strengthened in courage by Almighty God and his Spirit. We need to remember that men died for these truths, they lived for these truths and they preached and taught these truths. We need to remember this is no ordinary book that just calls us to follow its teachings; no, it is much, much more than that. This is a book that calls us to life transformation through faith in our Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ. This is a set of 27 books called the New Testament that took some 300 years to compile amidst persecution, the assault of false doctrine, infiltration, and oppression by the world against those attempting to compile it. We need to remember this New Testament calls men and women and children everywhere to a life of transformation through repentance and faith in God through our Lord Jesus Christ; to a life of separation and a holy living; to a life of proclamation and preaching of these truths. There’s no Christianity that is happy simply to settle on immolating the life of our Lord Jesus Christ. The Lord himself struck down that doctrine when he said, “ye must be born again”. The New Testament is for new born believers who as Peter said, need the sincere milk of the word of God” being newly born again believers in Christ. No, the New Testament is more than a book and series of writings; it is a message that calls us out of this world into God’s Kingdom. Therefore as we comment on these chapters in the New Testament I want you to be listening for God’s voice to you; God’s themes for your life and I want you to wrap yourself around this book as your soul’s source of instruction and teaching for your life and ministry. I want you to base your ministry and future on the truths that are given to us in these 27 New Testament books because that is the example that has been given to us by those that have preceded us. Detrick Bonhoffer the great martyr of World War II that was part of the confessing church world moving and died just days by execution before the allies liberated the concentration camps in WWII in Hitler’s regime, said these words, “When Christ calls a man, he calls him to come and die”. I want you to meditate on those words because Paul said the same thing in a different way; he said that we must put to death self and we must be resurrected anew in a new life in Jesus Christ. Martin Luther once had someone knock on his door and asked the question, “Is Martin Luther home?” and the answer came back, “Nope, Martin Luther died but Jesus Christ lives here now”. Well halleluiah! I think you get the picture child of God; the New Testament calls us to new life and that new life is in Christ and him only.

The Book of Matthew:

     I’d like to take you now to the book of Matthew, the gospel or good news, which is what the word gospel means; of Matthew the publican, the tax collector called to be a disciple and an Apostle of Jesus Christ.

Chapter one; is the Jewish genealogy or family background of our Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ.      I’d like to focus your attention on verse 21, the angels’ announcement; “And she shall bring forth a son, and thou shalt call his name JESUS: for he shall save his people from their sins.” Now friends, that is the gospel in a sentence that God would send a son, born of a virgin and his name would be called Jesus and he would save his people from their sins. That’s of course all the information from other gospels as well referring to the birth of Jesus. But in verse 21 it was made very clear that Mary would bring forth a son and call his name Jesus; and the rest of the announcement is that He will save his people from their sins, referring of course to the Jewish people first and foremost and later came to include the gentiles as well.

Chapter two; reiterates the birth of our Lord Jesus Christ and verse 16 refers to a very unusual event of King Herod’s slaughter of innocents trying to reach the baby or by this time the 2 year old son, Jesus Christ. This is an example of how much Satan hates the Messiah, our Lord Jesus, to have all those children merciless exterminated trying to find the Saviour and stop him from coming into the world.

Chapter three; here repentance is first introduced in John the Baptist’s ministry and the tremendous verse 11-12; 11  I indeed baptize you with water unto repentance: but he that cometh after me is mightier than I, whose shoes I am not worthy to bear: he shall baptize you with the Holy Ghost, and with fire: 12  Whose fan is in his hand, and he will throughly purge his floor, and gather his wheat into the garner; but he will burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire. Here the fan or winnowing fork is in the hand of Jesus and he will thoroughly purge his floor, meaning the world and will gather his wheat into the garner referring to the rapture of the church in the gathering of the wheat there, perhaps. And he will burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire, the chaff in the gospels of course are the false believers that will come under divine judgment as mentioned in chapter 13 of Matthew.

Chapter four; this chapter talks about the very well known temptation of Jesus in the wilderness by the arch enemy of God himself Satan, and interestingly all the temptation centers on the authority of the Word of God; don’t miss that student. The answer Jesus gave in every case was the rightful use and the rightful application of the Word of God. If you will look closely in chapter 4 the temptation of Satan were for wrongful uses of the Word of God and our Lord and Saviour gave a rightful use of the Word of God in every case.

Chapters five; six & seven; these refer to what is call the Beatitudes or the many teachings of the attitudes and behaviors in life and with what is accepted and what is not accepted of God. It is worth reading.

     Chapter 5:1-12 you can read on your own time and see who are the ones truly blessed of God and Jesus Christ tells us.

Chapter six; introduces the Lord’s Prayer a tremendous teaching on, “thy will be done in earth as in heaven” a God centered prayer asking God’s will, not our will to be accomplished in our lives.

Chapter seven; has the continued Sermon on the Mount with that teaching of judge not, lest ye be judged. This chapter also teaches on the great subject of prayer and faith beginning at verse 7 through 11. The two ways of righteousness and destruction are referred to in verses 13, 14 in chapter seven as well. There are some amazing truths from our Lord is this chapter.

Chapter eight; deals with the healing ministry of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Chapter nine; has the awesome talk from our Saviour, when he says in verse 38, to pray to the Lord of harvest that he would send forth laborers, soul winners, into the harvest. Are you praying that prayer, Child of God? I am. Everyday I think of it, I am praying, “Lord, send laborers into the harvest.” And that is what this school is all about, raising up laborers for one purpose only and that is to win the lost to the Lord Jesus Christ.

Chapter ten; here the twelve are instructed and sent forth chosen as apostles by our Lord Jesus Christ. Verse 20, the Lord reminds that the Holy Spirit will speak in us and then outlines various persecutions coming, even from our own families. In verse 36, he says a man’s foes shall be of his own household.

Chapter eleven; John the Baptist shows his human side and questions if Jesus is really the Messiah. You see student, every one of us must come to that conviction on our own in some point of our life. It is not enough to preach what someone else preached to us; we must preach what God has revealed to us from his Word and shown us in our life to be the truth. Remember Jesus asked Peter. “Who do ye say that I am?” Mt 16:15-17, Peter had to answer that and when he did, he answered with the answer that God gave him. And the Lord commended him and said, “Blessed are you, Simon Barjona, for flesh and blood has not reveal this unto you, but my father which is in heaven.” Let us be found as Peter, preaching what our Father in Heaven has shown to us, especially in the pulpits of our churches. It is very, very important.

Chapter twelve; here Jesus declares himself to be the Lord of the Sabbath and he talks about the unpardonable sin as well as the 3 days and 3 nights in the heart of the earth as a symbol of what Jonah experienced in the whale.

Chapter thirteen; this entire chapter is an explanation of the mystery of the Kingdom of heaven and the Kingdom of God . It is several parables talking about the treasure in the field, the pearl of good price, good seed and bad seed, the children of the kingdom and the kingdom of the devil. Verse 33, “Another parable spake he unto them; The kingdom of heaven is like unto leaven, which a woman took, and hid in three measures of meal, till the whole was leavened.” Leaven = evil symbolically in Scripture, a woman is either chaste and pure in Scripture or she is a symbol of evil religion; in this case the woman took leaven, which would be an evil religious system and took leaven, which would be false doctrine and hid it in three measures of meal, which is good food by the way, till the whole was leavened. That tells us that the apostate church will leaven the entire Christian community before the end comes with false teaching. That means Child of God, we need to be preaching and teaching the truth of the Word of God and not the traditions of men.

Chapter fourteen; in this chapter Jesus walks on the water and Peter’s faith comes through as he walks on the water.

Chapter fifteen; in it Jesus is speaking of the difference of traditions of men and the truths of the Word of God.

Chapter sixteen; it contains Peter’s great confession that we spoke of earlier when he confessed in verse 16, “Thy art the Christ, the Son of the living God.” And Jesus said in verse 17 “And Jesus answered and said unto him, Blessed art thou, Simon Barjona: for flesh and blood hath not revealed it unto thee, but my Father which is in heaven.” A tremendous revelation from God the Father to Peter, the Apostle. We need to be preaching what God gives us to say and not what some man only passes on to us even as important it can be.

Chapter seventeen; gives us the account of the transfiguration on the mountain and the kingdom of God manifested here on earth. Verse 20 is the great faith verse where it ends with, “nothing shall be impossible to you”.

Chapter eighteen; verse 3, Jesus talks about conversion and a new birth; And said, Verily I say unto you, Except ye be converted, and become as little children, ye shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven.” That means what it says and says what it means! For us to enter into heaven we must be converted or have a heart changed in our life, spiritually speaking.

Chapter nineteen; verse 14, Jesus speaks these words, ”But Jesus said, Suffer little children, and forbid them not, to come unto me: for of such is the kingdom of heaven. 15  And he laid his hands on them, and departed thence.” The story of the rich young ruler being confronted with discipleship demands is also in chapter 19. Again faith is spoken in verse 26 where Jesus said, “But Jesus beheld them, and said unto them, With men this is impossible; but with God all things are possible.”

     You see these themes we talked about at the beginning of faith and new birth and conversion and the Holy Spirit and the new covenant, the New Testament life that Christ brings us into are starting to become more and more visible even as we go through the book of Matthew and you are going to see that these themes go through the entire New Testament right to the very last chapter.

Chapter twenty; Jesus is speaking in verse 22, “But Jesus answered and said, Ye know not what ye ask. Are ye able to drink of the cup that I shall drink of, and to be baptized with the baptism that I am baptized with? They say unto him, We are able.” Here Jesus is talking of suffering and baptism means immersion to be completely engulfed in something and they would be sorrowful after the crucifixion but they would return to joy once the resurrection took place.

Chapter twenty one; we see in verse 13, “And said unto them, It is written, My house shall be called the house of prayer; but ye have made it a den of thieves.” Every church preacher should be a house of prayer, where people can seek God at the altar; they can lift their hands in prayer and call on his name as the church service is gathered to prayer. Pastor, every one of your churches should be a place where prayer is the key to victory in your services, in your church ministries, in every department, in every outreach; in every effort may there be prayer under girding your church ministries. I cannot emphasize this enough. For the Lord said, “My house (which is the church) shall be called the house of prayer”. Let’s keep always at the top of the list. Prayer in the church, the house of God! Also in chapter 21 verse 21 faith comes up again where the Lord is saying, “Jesus answered and said unto them, Verily I say unto you, If ye have faith, and doubt not, ye shall not only do this which is done to the fig tree, but also if ye shall say unto this mountain, Be thou removed, and be thou cast into the sea; it shall be done.” Doubt is sometimes our biggest challenge, but if we are full of God, God can put us over to the victory side to believe and have no doubt and then we will go forward in God’s plan by his grace.

Chapter twenty two; Jesus answers the Sadducees; I heard a funny definition of Sadducees years ago that I never forgot that helped me understand what they are all about. The Sadducees were a Jewish sect or religious group that did not believe in the resurrection of the dead or angels or other spiritual matters and the person I mentioned in this said that is why they are so sad u cee. I hope you got that. A Sadducee was someone who did not believe in spiritual truths and realities and that’s why they were so sad you see. The Pharisees were the other group that Jesus confronted and they were the legalists of his day or the ones were not willing to let the Holy Spirit teach them, instead they thought they taught themselves pretty well. So they needed to learn a big lesson and that is let God’s Spirit be the ultimate teacher of the Scripture. And He is that for us Christians if we listen. In verse 29, “Jesus answered and said unto them, Ye do err, not knowing the scriptures, nor the power of God.” He said this to the Sadducees; why? Not knowing the scriptures nor the power of God. Now there are two things here; most of us know the scriptures, but do we know the power of God? This should be our prayer, “Lord not only let me know your scripture but let me know your power in my life, in my prayer life, in my pulpit life, in my counseling chamber, in my words, in my behaviour; Lord let me know and experience your power in my daily activities.” This is Biblical and Scriptural.

Chapter twenty three; this is the scathing denouncing of the Pharisees who were the legalists of Jesus’ day. And I don’t think you will find stronger words from Jesus anywhere other than Revelation chapter 3.

Chapter twenty four; here is the tremendous Olivet discourse on the Mount of Olives where the disciples questioned his answer, “what will happen before the end shall come?’ In verse 1, “And Jesus went out, and departed from the temple: and his disciples came to him for to shew him the buildings of the temple.” This is the Jewish Temple of Herod; 46 years in building; this was symbolic as well as a  physical act. When Jesus walked out of that temple he was saying in essence, “I am going to the cross and I’m going to cut the new covenant; I’m going to initiate a new beginning for humanity, I’m going to be the sacrifice lamb and begin a new dispensation in the plan of God.” And as I tell my congregation, when Jesus did that God moved from the Old to the New Covenant and he is at a new address today and his address is. “The Lord Jesus Christ”. “Jer 33:3 Call unto me, and I will answer thee, and shew thee great and mighty things, which thou knowest not.” Call upon friend, ask him what you need, trust him today; you’re in the New Covenant if you are born again. Appropriate and place those realities in your life by the Word of God and by the grace and help of God and you’ll see a difference take place. So, this chapter talks about the end coming and all of the details we need to know about it.

Chapter twenty five;  is the great parable of the ten virgins and their waiting for the bridegroom which is a type of the second coming of the Lord Jesus and this chapter ends with the detailed discussion helping the helpless; the hungry, the thirsty, the emigrate, the sick, those in prison, those that have no clothes; we are to always remember that our Christian faith needs to have action behind it; to go out into the highways and hedges and proclaim the good news and where possible take care of the need. Friend that will build a church so fast and it is not for that reason we do it, that’s just the bonus attached to obeying the great commission. The reason we do it is because we love to do it and we love the Lord who called us to do it.

Chapter twenty six; here begins the Passion Week and Jesus’ final days before going to the cross.

Chapter twenty seven; deals with the crucifixion death and burial of our Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ.

Chapter twenty eight; gives the glorious account of the resurrection of our Lord Jesus and his announcement to the people.

We are going to move on to the power gospel now. The book of Mark where we read those words immediately and straightaway. Sixteen short power packed chapters.

The Book of Mark;

Chapter one; the ministry of John the Baptist, verse 3: “The voice of one crying in the wilderness, Prepare ye the way of the Lord, make his paths straight.” And the baptism and temptation of Jesus all is in chapter one.

Chapter two; we find the call of Matthew, who wrote the previous gospel and verses 21-22 talks about the new birth. When you look at that closely when it talks about a piece of new cloth on old garment and needing to put this new life into new wineskins; he’s talking there about the new birth.

Chapter three; the unpardonable sin again referred to in chapter four; the parable of the sower.

Chapter five; we read about the demon possessed individual who was delivered by the power of God through our Lord Jesus Christ.

Chapter six; Jesus feeds the five thousand and he walks on the sea.

Chapter seven; we see Jesus ministering in verse 26 to the Syrophenician woman, the Greek gentile woman who had great faith and wouldn’t give up and this was before Jesus was ministering to the non-Jews. It shows me and you that with faith and persistence and calling on Jesus virtually everything is possible.

Chapter eight; deals with Peter’s confession of faith again that Jesus is Messiah and

Chapter nine; is the great transfiguration on the mountain.

Chapter ten; Jesus addresses the law of divorce and the details that involves that subject. And He warns against riches beginning at verse 23. It is quite different from some of the preaching around today that emphasizes riches; Jesus warned of the danger of riches. There is nothing wrong with riches if they are surrendered and submitted unto God. But there is a lot wrong with riches if they become our god.

Chapter eleven; the prayer of faith as Jesus says in verse 22, “have faith in God” that’s where our faith comes from and is directed toward. And we see the phenomenal teaching where the Lord talks in 23 and following of the power of the spoken word when it is filled with God’s heaven sent divine faith things will happen if we speak what God asks us to speak.

Chapter twelve; we read in verse 29 the first and greatest of all commandments coming from the lips of our Lord and Saviour, “Hear, O Israel; The Lord our God is one Lord:” the great Jewish confession of the Sha-ma, which is in Deu 6:4 the irrefutable truth that God is One and indivisible and Jesus calls that the greatest commandment of all. We need to remember that in this day and age of many gods; there is only one true eternal infinite God and that’s the God of our Lord and Saviour, who came to us in Jesus Christ.

Chapter thirteen; is again the discourse on the Mount of Olives and dealing with the end times.

Chapter fourteen; starts the Passion narrative again and Jesus is anointed by Mary of Bethany, verse three where she pours out the expensive precious ointment on his head preparing him for his death and burial and in verse nine Jesus said that where so ever this gospel shall be preached through out the whole world this also that she has done shall be spoken of for a memorial of her and we want to honor that today as we honor what she did to and for our Lord preparing him in this beautiful touching way.

Chapter fifteen; deals with Jesus before Pilot and the crucifixion.

Chapter sixteen; again the great resurrection narrative followed by some of the most stunning and tremendous powerful verses that have ever been penned. Beginning in verse 15: And he said unto them, “Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature. 16  He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved; but he that believeth not shall be damned. 17  And these signs shall follow them that believe;” not just preachers, every Christian has this promise as they go into all the world and preach the gospel. “In my name shall they cast out devils; they shall speak with new tongues; 18  They shall take up serpents; and if they drink any deadly thing, it shall not hurt them; they shall lay hands on the sick, and they shall recover.” I tell my congregation when they say, “What is the will of God?” I tell the will of God is found in the Bible. Are you going into all the world and preaching the gospel? Your world where ever you live? Are you going and praying for the sick, preaching to the lonely and outcasts are you going and doing what Jesus said to do in the gospel. If you are you are in the will of God. If you are not; you have yet to get there.

          Friend I want you to be encouraged today, as you put God’s Word into practice as found in the gospels you will find that verse 20 will be yours. “20  And they went forth, and preached every where, the Lord working with them, and confirming the word with signs following. Amen.”

The Book of Luke;

          Luke the beloved physician; Col 4:14 tells us and we are going to start with chapter one and keep in mind, Luke possibly was a gentile the only non-Jew that possibly could have written one of the New Testament and that is a tradition by the way; we don’t know for sure with certainty. We do know that Luke wrote with a lot greater detail being a physician and covered a lot of information not in other gospels as well as being the longest gospel of the four. Let’s look at chapter one and following as we go to do a survey of Luke.

Chapter one; of course is again starting with the beginning giving the birth of John the Baptist and moving up to the announcement of a virgin conceiving a child and in verse 35  And the angel answered and said unto her, The Holy Ghost shall come upon thee, and the power of the Highest shall overshadow thee: therefore also that holy thing which shall be born of thee shall be called the Son of God.  This is the first theology on the Son of God, our Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ being born of a virgin. And this of course is in chapter one of the book of Luke. Also which goes a long 80 verses is other information as well as Mary’s explanation beginning in verse 46  And Mary said, My soul doth magnify the Lord, 47  And my spirit hath rejoiced in God my Saviour. There we are seeing Mary the mother of God calling him her Saviour. And of course we know that he is the only Saviour.

Chapter two; the birth of Jesus, the very familiar nativity story where the shepherds see the event which took place as they were watching their flocks by night; The circumcision of Jesus and then we move into chapter three.

Chapter three; the baptism of our Lord Jesus is in this chapter, also including the ancestry of Mary’s side of the family.

Chapter four; here is the temptation of Christ and an insight here that is not in the other gospels and that is where Satan told Jesus verse 6  And the devil said unto him, All this power will I give thee, and the glory of them: for that is delivered unto me; and to whomsoever I will I give it. 7  If thou therefore wilt worship me, all shall be thine. That is why the New Testament gives so many warnings about falling in love or pursuing riches that is of this world is not to be compared with the riches that God has prepared for us in the next world in obedience to his will. But here it says that Satan controls the riches of this world and gives it to whom-so-ever he will. At least that is what he told Jesus and Jesus did not contest that with scripture or spoken response. That is lot to think about in our day and age even in the church world the emphasis is on the riches of this world is very, very strong. We need to keep a scriptural balance between God’s will and what this world is trying to get us to do. Chapter 4 continues on and in verse 18 the Lord quotes the prophet Isaiah 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. He rightly divides the word of truth as you can note by checking with Isaiah; he does not mention the day of event ions of our God, that has not yet taken place, the day of the LORD. That has not happened that is yet to take place.

Chapter five; the miraculous catch of fishes as the Lord tells the fishermen the disciples where to throw the net; a miracle takes place; also, the call of Matthew the disciple the writer of the gospel of Matthew is found in verse 27 and following.

Chapter six; carries on and we read the beatitudes starting with verse 20 as well as how to respond to those that oppose us for being Christians. The parable of how to build the house upon the rock finishes chapter six.

Chapter seven;  And the healing at a distance of the centurion servant, simply because the Lord spoke the word. Jesus exposes the shallowness of his generation and I might say and the generations to follow in come cases as well, where he talks in verses 30-35 about nothing will satisfy them no matter what the Lord seems to provide.

Chapter eight; we see the parable of the sower once more.

Chapter nine; the twelve are chosen to be sent forth to preach; the transfiguration is also found in cp nine as well as verse 62  And Jesus said unto him, No man, having put his hand to the plough, and looking back, is fit for the kingdom of God.

Chapter ten; the seventy are sent forth to minister,

Chapter eleven; we see the great prayer; the Lord’s model prayer; a great faith lesson is taught through verses 5-10 when Jesus gives the parable of the man going to his friend at midnight being bold to have your needs met. He is referring of course to prayer and having faith in God, not being reluctant nor in anyway afraid to approach God boldly as Hebrew chapter four tells us as well. Also, in this chapter is the sign of Jonah the prophet as fulfilled in Jesus Christ being 3 days and 3 nights in the heart of the earth.

Chapter twelve; Jesus gives the one and only account in the gospels where he talks about the man that had saved up material possessions and had forgotten about his soul. Verse 20  But God said unto him, Thou fool, this night thy soul shall be required of thee: then whose shall those things be, which thou hast provided? 21  So is he that layeth up treasure for himself, and is not rich toward God.  A tremendous lesson on the right value system and the right view toward earthly riches.

Chapter thirteen; here is a story of the tower that had fallen on the Galileans and the disciples were talking to Jesus about in their view wrongfully put to death and the Lord put forth an insight and said that repentance is required of everyone. The real issue he said is repentance toward God not what we think of natural disasters. The parable of the barren fig tree is also in this chapter as is Jesus weeping over Jerusalem .

Chapter fourteen; talks about the parable of the great supper and those called to the kingdom of God . Verse 21  So that servant came, and shewed his lord these things. Then the master of the house being angry said to his servant, Go out quickly into the streets and lanes of the city, and bring in hither the poor, and the maimed, and the halt, and the blind. How many of those people do we have in our churches Pastors? We need to be going out and winning the lost regardless of where they are or what state they are in for Jesus died for them as well. 22  And the servant said, Lord, it is done as thou hast commanded, and yet there is room. 23  And the lord said unto the servant, Go out into the highways and hedges, and compel them to come in, that my house may be filled. We should be pressing people to come to Him. It stirs me with tremendous gratitude every time I see a gospel ministry go out to the dispossessed of this world, the outcast of this world seeing Jesus died for them as well and he actually tells us to make them a priority. We should be pressing people to come into the kingdom of God . It stirs me with gratitude and thrill every time I see a gospel ministry go out to the dispossessed of this world.

Chapter fifteen; here are the parables of the lost coin, the lost son and the lost sheep, a great parable having to do with God’s love and concern for those that man forgot.

Chapter sixteen; the rich man and Lazarus is talked about and life after death, the point is made that the scriptures hold all the truth we need to get saved and go to heaven. That’s found at the very end of the chapter verse 31  And he said unto him, If they hear not Moses and the prophets, neither will they be persuaded, though one rose from the dead. Moses and the prophets in that day were the Bible. Therefore pastor, preacher, student the bible holds all we need to know to get souls saved and keep them working and walking on the right path for the purposes of God.

Chapter seventeen; here Jesus gives some information about his 2^nd coming and in verse 25 makes a startling statement that we are seeing fulfilled as years go by he said about himself; But first must he suffer many things, and be rejected of this generation. One of the signs of the end and the approaching 2^nd coming is the rejection of the Biblical Jesus. The Jewish Jesus, the suffering Messiah, the one who was despised and rejected of men had no beauty that men should desire him. This Biblical Jesus that died in our place for our sins will be unwanted as the end approaches and the world embraces a false Messiah religion church and government anti-christ system. Stay in the Bible child of God, it’s all here.

Chapter eighteen; here is information about the rich young ruler and also a great faith exhortation in the first few verses about the widow woman going to the unjust judge. And the Lord ends it with another end time exhortation saying, “will he find faith on this earth?” this is why we stress faith so much in these lessons. Jesus is looking for faith; God is a God of faith for without faith we cannot please him. He 11:6

Chapter nineteen; records the triumphful entry, or the palms Sunday entry it is called a week before the crucifixion and resurrection of Jesus Christ; found in verse 28 and following.

Chapter twenty; here is the exchange about Caesar and who should give money to government and who should give money to God verse 24  Shew me a penny. Whose image and superscription hath it? They answered and said, Caesar’s. 25  And he said unto them, Render therefore unto Caesar the things which be Caesar’s, and unto God the things which be God’s.

Chapter twenty one; here is the widow’s mite and the Olivet discourse; the widow’s mite talking about the attitude and the sacrifice of giving that is accepted with God; not the amount of giving. Of course the Olivet discourse again deals with as in Matthew 24 and Mark 13 with the end time events with the coming of the Lord.

Chapter twenty two – twenty four; deal the betrayal, the trial, the crucifixion, death, burial and resurrection of Jesus Christ and in chapter 24 we are reminded again in verse 47  And that repentance and remission of sins should be preached in his name among all nations, beginning at Jerusalem. 48  And ye are witnesses of these things. This is to be preached in his name, in Jesus’ name among all nations; it makes no difference what religion or faith that nation holds, they need to hear the name of Jesus. They need that and that is what we are called to do and is calling you by virtue of these courses to carry the name into all the world.

The Book of John;

          Of course John wrote a very supernatural spiritual gospel dealing with many subjects not included in the other what is called the synoptic gospels. The gospel of John stands apart and yet is one of the good news accounts by virtue of being a gospel account.

Chapter one; A very famous verse; v-1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. There we see a revelation and teaching prophecy of the Messiah coming as God in the flesh, the Lord Jesus Christ, who is and was and always will be God’s Word incarnate or in human flesh. Verse 14  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.

Chapter two; we look at the marriage at Cana and the first miracle in the ministry of Jesus turning the water into wine.

Chapter three; here is the great discourse on the new birth with Nicodemus; verse 7 Marvel not that I said unto thee, Ye must be born again. In the Greek language Jesus was speaking in the plural there ye all must be reborn to enter the kingdom of God . Of course the world’s most famous gospel verse 16 that most all know by memory.

Chapter four; here Jesus is speaking to the woman at the well and tells her in verse 13, “Jesus answered and said unto her, Whosoever drinketh of this water shall thirst again:” speaking of natural water, “But whosoever drinketh of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst; but the water that I shall give him shall be in him a well of water springing up into everlasting life.” And I tell people in my ministry all the time, “You drink that water that Jesus gives friends, you won’t be going around to other religions and other isms and other groups and faiths looking for more for you will have more than enough.” You get filled with that Holy Water from Jesus, that Holy Ghost that Jesus gives, that Word that Jesus gives, that eternal life, that life of God, that fulness of joy that Jesus gives and you won’t be thirsty as he gives you the truth, believe me. In verse 24 Jesus says to the woman that God is a spirit and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and truth. That is the way we worship God spiritually, not intellectually. There is nothing wrong in using our minds but we have to let go and let God; we’ve got to be willing to lift up our hearts and lives before the Lord and worship him and praise him and magnify him and let his Holy Spirit speak to us and minister to us as we minister to him.

Chapter five; speaks of the resurrection of life and the resurrection of damnation. Verse 29, a tremendous truth there; the resurrection of life and the resurrection of damnation.

Chapter six; talks about the subject of what we call the Lord’s Supper and moving on to verse 63, “It is the spirit that quickeneth; the flesh profiteth nothing: the words that I speak unto you, they are spirit, and they are life.” No man can come unto me verse 65, And he said, Therefore said I unto you, that no man can come unto me, except it were given unto him of my Father.” This tells me that this gospel message has the power presence and purpose of God behind it, with it and through it calling sinners to Christ. God backs up this gospel friend. It’s not our work, it’s God’s work and we’re just simply entering into it.

Chapter seven; in here is the great prophecy of the coming of the Holy Ghost; verses 37-39, In the last day, that great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried, saying, If any man thirst, let him come unto me, and drink. 38  He that believeth on me, as the scripture hath said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water. 39  (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.) Note, according to what the scripture has said. What a promise; the promise of Pentecost, the promise of individual spirit infilling by the ministry of the Holy Spirit.

Chapter eight; this is the great I Am chapter, Jesus uses the phrase “I Am” coming from Ex 3:14 the name of God that God gave to Moses the prophet. This is applied several times in chapter eight. Particularly verse 24, I said therefore unto you, that ye shall die in your sins: for if ye believe not that I am he, ye shall die in your sins. That proves the deity of Christ, it proves he is God, it proves he is the only Saviour and the only way to be delivered and set free from your sins. Verse 58, is a similar verse,  “Jesus said unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Before Abraham was, I am.”  And this is through all through the gospel of John.

Chapter nine; Jesus heals a blind man.

Chapter ten; here is the discourse on the Good Shepherd and the sheep and verses 26-27, But ye believe not, because ye are not of my sheep, as I said unto you. 27  My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me:”  that is a promise, if we are Jesus’ sheep we will hear his voice.

Chapter eleven; here the resurrection of Lazarus who had been dead 4 days is recorded. And in Jewish tradition and custom after the fourth day it was impossible for someone to come back from the dead because the spirit had gone on to be with God. This was an amazing awesome miracle to the Jewish people because Lazarus had been dead so long and raised to life again. Jesus said why in verse 25, “Jesus said unto her, I am the resurrection, and the life: he that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live: 26  And whosoever liveth and believeth in me shall never die. Believest thou this?” Friends Jesus is life, he is eternal life; let’s put our trust in him and he will take care of the rest.

Chapter twelve; Jesus says in verse 8, “For the poor always ye have with you; but me ye have not always.” And he reminds us that we can always do something to help the poor. Verse 28, “Father, glorify thy name. Then came there a voice from heaven, saying, I have both glorified it, and will glorify it again.” There is that voice from heaven speaking, the Father God himself glorifying his son, Jesus. Verse 44. “Jesus cried and said, He that believeth on me, believeth not on me, but on him that sent me.” You can’t divide the God head up. God is one. You can’t divide Jesus from God, you take the Spirit away from the Godhead, it is impossible. The Father, Son and Spirit are one. God indivisible.

Chapter thirteen; this in the only place in the gospels where foot washing is talked about and is exalted and sometimes in our churches we’re missing something if we don’t at least once do this with our folk.

Chapter fourteen; a very famous verse where Jesus said, “In my Father’s house are many mansions: if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you.” And also the very well known six, “Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.” The coming of the Holy Spirit is also promised in chapter 14 as well as in chapters 15 and 16.

Chapter fifteen;, Jesus said in cp 15:18, “If the world hate you, ye know that it hated me before it hated you.”

Chapter sixteen; 16:2, “They shall put you out of the synagogues: yea, the time cometh, that whosoever killeth you will think that he doeth God service.” One day, imagine that; words of truth, Child of God.

Chapter seventeen; here is the prayer of Jesus directly to his Heavenly Father. Verse 6, “I have manifested thy name unto the men which thou gavest me out of the world: thine they were, and thou gavest them me; and they have kept thy word.” You see how God is in control of this gospel program and ministry.

Chapter eighteen; verse 5, Jesus refers to himself again as the Great I Am and as God. Verse six,  “As soon then as he had said unto them, I am he, they went backward, and fell to the ground.” The power of God.

Chapter nineteen; Jesus says in verse 11 to Pontius Pilate, “Jesus answered, Thou couldest have no power at all against me, except it were given thee from above: therefore he that delivered me unto thee hath the greater sin.”

Chapter twenty; the resurrection of our Lord and Saviour, Thomas’ great confession verse 28 calling Jesus, “My Lord and my God.” Verse 31 the purpose of the gospel of John, “But these are written, that ye might believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God; and that believing ye might have life through his name.” don’t forget that name Jesus, it is all through the New Testament.

Chapter twenty one; verse 6, another miracle,  “And he said unto them, Cast the net on the right side of the ship, and ye shall find. They cast therefore, and now they were not able to draw it for the multitude of fishes.” Verse 22, “Jesus saith unto him, If I will that he tarry till I come, what is that to thee? follow thou me.” Jesus was speaking that actually to Peter but referring to John the disciple who would see the second coming in vision on the book of Revelation as will read further in the course.

And this brings us through the 4 gospels; we neglected to mention that the crucifixion was talked about in John 19. All the gospels of course carry this important information. Now at this time we are going to turn to the book of the Acts of the Apostles, which is commonly called the Acts of the Holy Spirit and we are going through that chapter by chapter.

The Book of Acts;

Chapter one; we can read where the angel declares the way Jesus left he will also come again the same way he was taken up in the clouds.

Chapter two; here is recorded the great outpouring of the Spirit on the early church as well as the gospel in a nutshell in verse 38, “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.”

Chapter three; the Apostles ministry starts with the healing of a lame man and Peter preaching his second sermon.

Chapter four; it is not long till persecution breaks out on the early church; verse 12 we see the famous declaration by Peter; “Neither is there salvation in any other: for there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved.” That tells there is one name and one Saviour and that’s our Lord Jesus Christ.

Chapter five;  here is the very somber and sober account of the judgment on Ananias and Sapphira; the husband and wife that tried to deceive the early church and the judgment of God fell on them both in the same day.

Chapter six; the choosing of the first deacons; this chapter should be read and studied by every pastor teaching and preaching the Word of God.

Chapter seven; the first martyr of the early church, Stephen, the deacon and he gives his testimony at the very end of the chapter after giving a great discourse and dissertation on Jewish and Bible History having to do with God’s doings and God’s faithfulness to His people. Verse 59 they stone Stephen calling upon God, “And they stoned Stephen, calling upon God, and saying, Lord Jesus, receive my spirit. 60  And he kneeled down, and cried with a loud voice, Lord, lay not this sin to their charge. And when he had said this, he fell asleep.” Which is Bible language that means he died and gave up the spirit. Men and women if we could just have an attitude like that in our final hours before we go home to be with the Lord if it is at the hands of our enemies.

Chapter eight; which I call the great missionary chapter which is filled with information about the dispersing of the early church as well as Phillip the Evangelist preaching and as we see Philip’s ministry in verse 12, “But when they believed Philip preaching the things concerning the kingdom of God, and the name of Jesus Christ, they were baptized, both men and women.” How many sermons have you heard on the name of Jesus Christ and the kingdom of God ? Well I have to say I have not heard as many as I would have liked to have heard. But that is what Philip preached to unbelievers, the kingdom of God meaning the new birth and the name of Jesus Christ meaning the Saviour. This was Philip’s message and note their response; They got themselves baptized, the first step after conversion is the water baptism. Chapter 8 continues talking about Philip and the Eunuch in the desert another great missionary account.

Chapter nine; Paul the Apostle finds the Lord after being a persecutor of the church and Jesus says to him or about him in verse 16, “For I will shew him how great things he must suffer for my name’s sake.” And Jesus is telling that to Ananias, the disciple that ministered to Saul before he became Paul the great Apostle.  

Chapter ten; is the account of Cornelius and his household, the story of a religious man yet unsaved; he prayed to God regular, gave offerings and served a religious cause yet was unsaved but hungry for God and as we read cp 10 we can see where an angel came and said Peter the Apostle has some good news to tell you about what you need to hear and here we can see where Cornelius got saved after hearing and obeying the gospel as Peter preached it beginning with verse 34.

Chapter eleven; reminds us in verse 14, it was by words whereby thou and all thy house shall be saved referring to Cornelius’ experience in chapter 10; were saved by hearing words because hearing words create faith and faith always acts in obedience toward God and obedience toward God in the New Testament always means repentance from our sins and trusting and accepting Jesus’ payment for our sins. That’s the words that bring good news of salvation.

Chapter twelve; Peter is in jail as well for preaching the gospel and verse 5 says, “Peter therefore was kept in prison: but prayer was made without ceasing of the church unto God for him.” And a miracle happened and Peter was delivered by the angel.

Chapter thirteen; we see in verse two where the early church fasted, prayed and ministered to the Lord and then the Holy Ghost gave them direction.

Chapter fourteen; we see the early church missionary work going on; the first missionary journey.

Chapter fifteen; the great Jerusalem Council, where the issues of the gentiles and what they should obey by personal discipline is discussed. Dr. Scofield says in his notes that the most pivotal and dispensation verse in the entire New Testament is found in chapter 15:16, “After this I will return, and will build again the tabernacle of David, which is fallen down; and I will build again the ruins thereof, and I will set it up:” Talking about God’s end time move to call out a people unto himself and build the church.

Chapter sixteen; here we find the first convert in Europe, a woman named Lydia in verse 14 she was of Thyatira and she found the Lord under Paul the Apostle’s ministry;

Chapter seventeen; the founding of the church at Thessalonica. As well as Paul’s tremendous discourse to many religious people at Mars Hill when he made the statement about the altar to the unknown god and he said I will declare that God unto you now and he declared God as Creator which is where it needs to start and for someone who doesn’t know the scriptures we’ve got to start somewhere people can understand that God is the Creator and then lead them to a knowledge of that God in Jesus Christ.

Chapter eighteen; Paul is at Corinth and later we are going to read his letters to the Corinthian Church . Jesus appears unto him in a vision in verses 18-19 and assures him; I am with thee and no man will set on thee to hurt thee for I have much people in this city. And Pastor when you or I or anyone serving God in a city with many people belonging to Jesus we are in a safe place. But when we go into areas where there is little of the true gospel we are in a place of spiritual darkness that needs a lot of prayer and grace.

Chapter nineteen; records the re-baptism of some of the disciples of presumably John the Baptist here and they had very little of Christian teaching but Paul baptized them in the name of the Lord Jesus in verse 5 and laid hands on them and they were filled with the Spirit and they came on board with the New Testament program of being saved, baptized and surrendering to the infilling of the Holy Spirit.

Chapter twenty; here Paul addresses the Ephesian Elders and from verses 26 and following he reminds the Elders he has held nothing back that was profitable and he exhorts them in verse 28; “Take heed therefore unto yourselves, and to all the flock, over the which the Holy Ghost hath made you overseers, to feed the church of God, which he hath purchased with his own blood.”

Chapter twenty one; Paul continues on his mission and is found at Jerusalem ; he is seized in the Temple by the Jewish people and bound with chains and he has to defend himself.

Chapter twenty two; here he gives his testimony; which is always a good thing when we are up against the wall. God always blesses a testimony when it is a testimony to his goodness and faithfulness. God always convicts hearts as they hear a Godly testimony.

Chapter twenty three; here Paul is before the Sanhedrin and appeals to the Pharisees and the Lord speaks again to Paul in verse eleven “And the night following the Lord stood by him, and said, Be of good cheer, Paul: for as thou hast testified of me in Jerusalem, so must thou bear witness also at Rome.” Paul the Apostle is getting famous in the Roman Empire as God through persecutions and what would appear to be misfortune and would be appearing bad luck; it turns out to further the gospel as Paul found out.

Chapter twenty four; here Paul is before Felix the governor, he makes his defense beginning at verse 10 and in verse 25 Felix is trembling at the power of Paul’s testimony and says, “when I have a convenient season I will call for thee”. And it states simply that Paul stayed in prison.

Chapter twenty five; here Paul is brought before Festus and then he finally appeals unto the top; in verse 10 and following Paul appeals to Cæsar himself. Paul the prisoner is getting around preaching the gospel through what appears to be misfortune and yet the hand of God is at work. That should give you encouragement minister of God that God as he worked in Paul’s life will work in yours.

Chapter twenty six; Paul defends himself before Agrippa and gives testimony about the Lord told him is verses 16-18.

Chapter twenty seven; Paul is in the storm and becomes a prison chaplain as he ministers to many dozens of prisoners and gets the Word of God to give them encouragement and hope and his words comes true and comes to pass.

Chapter twenty eight; the book of Acts finishes up; we find Paul still preaching the Kingdom of God and teaching those things which concern the Lord Jesus Christ in verse 31,” Preaching the kingdom of God, and teaching those things which concern the Lord Jesus Christ, with all confidence, no man forbidding him.”

Well praise God, what a testimony to the ministry of the early church!

We are ready to start the Epistle of the Apostle Paul to the Romans.

The Book of Romans; of course this was written to the infant church in Rome Italy long before the fourth century when the entire picture changed.

Chapter one; it starts off with, “Paul, a servant of Jesus Christ, called to be an apostle, separated unto the gospel of God,” notice now, {separated unto the gospel of God}, notice it’s God’s gospel and Paul is separated to that gospel. Verse two, “(Which he had promised afore by his prophets in the holy scriptures,)” “3  Concerning his Son Jesus Christ our Lord, which was made of the seed of David according to the flesh; 4  And declared to be the Son of God with power, according to the spirit of holiness, by the resurrection from the dead:” You see the resurrection gives us as believers in Jesus Christ the new birth; that’s the basis of the new birth, the resurrection. Peter tells us that in 1 Peter 1: and we’ll look at that a little further in the course.

          So Jesus is declared to be the Son of God by the resurrection from the dead, God raised him up and claimed him, praise God, as his son through that event as well as declaring him his son by his earthly ministry.

          Verse 5, “By whom we have received grace and apostleship, for obedience to the faith among all nations, for his name:” this new covenant or testament faith takes obedience. What is that obedience? Believe and be baptized. It goes on to says, “among all nations” and get this, “for his name” there is that name again. Look at verse 9, “For God is my witness, whom I serve with my spirit in the gospel of his Son,” now when we serve God with the spirit he is not talking about serving God with the mind; we love God with our mind, Jesus said in Mark 12 we must do that; but we serve God with our spirit first; we worship him in spirit and in truth. We serve Him with our spirit, meaning our inner spiritual man. And this is what Paul said he was doing before he was trying to serve God before he was saved with his mind and look where it got him you see. When we are born again we serve God with our Spirit and we honor him with our intelligence and our education, but we don’t serve Him with that primarily; that is simply a support in our service to Him.

Chapter two; goes on and talks about those born again in verse 26 and those that are Jewish, “26  Therefore if the uncircumcision keep the righteousness of the law, shall not his uncircumcision be counted for circumcision? 27  And shall not uncircumcision which is by nature, if it fulfil the law, judge thee, who by the letter and circumcision dost transgress the law? 28  For he is not a Jew, which is one outwardly; neither is that circumcision, which is outward in the flesh: 29  But he is a Jew, which is one inwardly; and circumcision is that of the heart, in the spirit, and not in the letter; whose praise is not of men, but of God.” That inner-man, praise God; circumcision in the spirit, meaning entering into a covenant; a transformation from a previous life to the God life. This is what Paul is using; he is using an analogy of the Old Testament Jewish Law and he’s making a point in the Christian Covenant here; that just as they had a circumcision we have a new birth.

Chapter three; a very famous passage, “For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God;”

Chapter four; goes on and talks about the blessed faith of Abraham and it talks of how God imputed righteousness unto Abraham simply by him trusting in God. And that’s the lesson for us as well.

Chapter five; the great chapter and verse of Martin Luther’s reformation message, verse one, “Therefore being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ:” We’re justified by faith not works.

Chapter six; talks about the folly of serving the flesh and letting the body rule over us instead of God’s Holy Spirit; one of the verses I most appreciate and the first verse I preached from, verse 13, “Neither yield ye your members as instruments of unrighteousness unto sin: but yield yourselves unto God, as those that are alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness unto God.”

Chapter seven; records the struggle of the flesh and the spirit and Paul talks about his own testimony there.

Chapter eight; the deliverance from the bondage of serving flesh into the liberty of serving the Holy Spirit; this chapter also talks about one of the most famous verses there which talks about, “14  For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God.”

Chapters 9,10 & 11 outline God’s Covenant relationship with Israel and we as Gentiles were grafted in by grace through faith into the family of God and how God one day chapter 11 verse 25 tells us fill up the last gentile in the Church and then He will turn again his program with the nation of Israel. We mentioned at the beginning of study of Romans that we make some mention of some things at the end about the Church at Rome . We will and one of the things we are going to mention is the fallacy of what is called the placement theology now replacement theology according to Dr. Scofield and others is replacing Israel with the Church. The Church is not the new Israel ; the Church is the Bride of Christ called out of the world. That’s what the word Church means, a called out people or Assembly of God. One day this glorious Christian Church will be raptured or snatched out, translated out however you want to call it from the Greek word harpotso; snatched out in a twinkling of an eye from this world to be forever with the Lord. But God’s program for Israel will carry on; that’s how and why the Church could not conceivably begin to replace Israel ; For God has a Covenant to complete with the Church and Israel that has distinctive plans and purposes.

Chapter twelve; it records practical advice for living and serving the Lord in the Christian life. It starts off with, “I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service. 2  And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.” If we are going to prove what is that good, acceptable and perfect will of God we first have to be not conformed to this world and we have to be transformed by the renewing of our mind.

Chapter thirteen; it talks about the earthly governing powers; “1 ¶ Let every soul be subject unto the higher powers. For there is no power but of God: the powers that be are ordained of God.” It talks about government workers being ministers of God in chapter 13.

Chapter fourteen; here talks about Christian grace and Christian qualities of accepting those who do not agree with us even in the Christian faith in the Church; we need to give liberty and we need to give grace toward those that may not agree with us as long as they do not violate the Scripture. I love this chapter because it is a love chapter towards the local Church and the believers’ walk with God. Verse 11 says, “For it is written, As I live, saith the Lord, every knee shall bow to me, and every tongue shall confess to God.” Quoting Isaiah 45:23

          He says in verse 17, “For the kingdom of God is not meat and drink; but righteousness, and peace, and joy in the Holy Ghost.”

Chapters 15 & 16; finish up the great book of Romans, which is a towering spire of theological truth and doctrine dealing with the Christian life. Chapter 15 Paul reminds us as readers that he fully preached the Kingdom of God and the Gospel of God as he went out to the Gentiles and then in chapter 16 he lists a list of people including a home Church. The early Church met in homes you may recall and listed them and greeted them by name and then in verse 22 Tertius who apparently was a Scribe for the Apostle Paul said he wrote this Epistle and he sends his greetings in the Lord to the receivers of this letter at Rome . Verse 24, “The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you all. Amen.”

Now we have purposely not gotten into great theological detail of the book of Romans because that needs to wait for a course on the book of Romans itself. Reason being Romans is so deep and profound; I knew a Pastor once who spent an entire year teaching an adult Sunday School Class simply out of Romans chapter eight. And in that one year he did not complete the chapter. Now that may seem a little bit far fetched for you and perhaps it is for some of us. But it makes the point that every chapter of Romans should be dealt with on a verse by verse basis because Romans is so profoundly full of doctrinal and theological content that it behooves every single one of us as children of God and preachers of God’s Good News to make it our personal objective to read the book of Romans verse by verse and meditate upon what it says. We have touched the highlights but I encourage you and really exhort you to know the book of Romans well.

The book of 1^st Corinthians;

Chapter one; and here we see in verse two part b Paul talks with the Church of Corinth which is in modern day Greece . This church you may recall had moral problems as well as personality and spiritual gifts problems. As we start to go through 1^st and 2^nd Corinthians let’s briefly look at some of the themes touched upon by the various chapters.

          In cp 1:2 ” Unto the church of God which is at Corinth, to them that are sanctified in Christ Jesus, called to be saints, with all that in every place call upon the name of Jesus Christ our Lord, both theirs and ours:” there’s the name again.

Chapter two; 2:14, “But the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned.” This is talking about those that have the new birth and those who do not.

Chapter three; 3:11, “For other foundation can no man lay than that is laid, which is Jesus Christ.” Cp 3: 19 “For the wisdom of this world is foolishness with God….” And how true that is.

Chapter four; here he starts off with us being the stewards or caretakers of the mysteries of God  

Chapter five; he talks about the human spirit again as we referred to it in the book of Romans and it will come up again in the book of Thessalonians but here in cp 5:b, “…that the spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord Jesus.” That the spirit, that inner-man that is born again by the Spirit of God.

Chapter six; he reminds the Corinthian Church to grow up and mature and says in verse 2, “Do ye not know that the saints shall judge the world?...” then 3 very important verses in chapter 6 beginning with verse 9, “Know ye not that the unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom of God ? Be not deceived: neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor abusers of themselves with mankind, 10  Nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners, shall inherit the kingdom of God . 11  And such were some of you: but ye are washed, but ye are sanctified, but ye are justified in the name of the Lord Jesus, and by the Spirit of our God.” That sounds a lot like water baptism and repentance and the name of Jesus being called over them during that event of baptism and repentance and then the glorious Holy Spirit coming into their life. Paul says it in verse 11.

Chapter seven; 7:2 “Nevertheless, to avoid fornication, let every man have his own wife, and let every woman have her own husband.” Paul deals with marriage and the family and the marriage relationship, physical relationship in this chapter and he reminds us that if we burn with passion as I tell some of the men in my ministry, if you’re burning with passion follow Paul’s advice it’s better to get married than burn with passion. The Lord will provide you a wife. Verse 40, “…and I think also that I have the Spirit of God.” I like Paul’s statement here.

Chapter eight; 8:6 an affirmation of the God we believe in. “But to us there is but one God, the Father, of whom are all things, and we in him; and one Lord Jesus Christ, by whom are all things, and we by him. 7  Howbeit there is not in every man that knowledge:…” Meaning we’ve got to preach the gospel about the one true God to those who have not yet heard.

Chapter nine; 9:27 Paul reminds the hearers, he says, “But I keep under my body, and bring it into subjection: lest that by any means, when I have preached to others, I myself should be a castaway.” He is saying that he has self control over his body so he does not cause any controversy or scandal in the ministry.

Chapter ten; Paul introduces a long section and talks how that in the Old Testament or Old Covenant they followed the Lord and believed in the Lord and he uses the word in verses 2, “And were all baptized unto Moses in the cloud and in the sea; 3  And did all eat the same spiritual meat; 4  And did all drink the same spiritual drink: for they drank of that spiritual Rock that followed them: and that Rock was Christ.” Just like we are all baptized into Jesus in the New Testament. Paul goes on to say that some of them though they were believers did not take it seriously and walked their own way and walked away from God and were judged because of it. Verse 11 he says, “Now all these things happened unto them for ensamples:…” verse 13, “There hath no temptation taken you but such as is common to man: but God is faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted above that ye are able; but will with the temptation also make a way to escape, that ye may be able to bear it.”

Chapter eleven; talks about the headship in the home and in the order of God where the head of every man is Christ and the head of the woman is the man and the head of Christ is God. He talks about hair issues, coverings, Church customs and issues of propriety and proper conduct in the Church of God spiritually speaking.

Chapter twelve; is a great chapter dealing with spiritual gifts and

Chapter thirteen; is the love chapter and

Chapter fourteen; is the chapter dealing with the rightful use of tongues and prophecy and church content and church order in the local church.

Chapter fifteen; deals with the great theme of the resurrection from the dead and Paul grounds it in verses 3 & 4 in the Scriptures again. As we move on in chapter 15 we have a reference to the rapture in verses 51 & 52, “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.” Then verse 58, “Therefore, my beloved brethren, be ye stedfast, unmoveable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, forasmuch as ye know that your labour is not in vain in the Lord.” A great verse of encouragement to any servant serving the Lord! And finally

Chapter sixteen; Paul gives some final comments of a practical nature to the church at Corinth when it comes to giving, taking up offerings and treating one another in a Christian way.

The book of 2^nd Corinthians;

Chapter one; 1:22, Paul reminds us that God has sealed us and given us the earnest (or the down payment) of the Holy Spirit in our hearts and that word earnest is also in the Greek language a word referring to an engagement ring. Isn’t that interesting? So when Paul writes to the Christian and says that God gives you the Holy Spirit he is giving you an engagement ring for the wedding of the Bride to come. Praise God, isn’t that a wonderful way to look at that?

Chapter two; beginning at verse 15, “For we are unto God a sweet savour of Christ, in them that are saved, and in them that perish: 16  To the one we are the savour of death unto death; and to the other the savour of life unto life. And who is sufficient for these things? 17  For we are not as many, which corrupt the word of God: but as of sincerity, but as of God, in the sight of God speak we in Christ.” Apparently there were people back in Paul’s day and we’ll see when he addresses the Thessalonians in chapter 2:7 that the spirit of iniquity had already started to work. As we started this course we mentioned that one of those subjects would deal with corrupting or trying to corrupt the Word of God. We know that to be the case and in verse 17 we see Paul referring to that.

Chapter three; verse 2, “Ye are our epistle written in our hearts, known and read of all men: 3  Forasmuch as ye are manifestly declared to be the epistle of Christ ministered by us, written not with ink, but with the Spirit of the living God; not in tables of stone, but in fleshy tables of the heart.”

             Verse 6, “Who also hath made us able ministers of the new testament; not of the letter, but of the spirit: for the letter killeth, but the spirit giveth life.”  Friend we don’t preach a legalistic message, we don’t preach a message of rules and regulations and all kind of guidelines. We preach a person, the Lord Jesus Christ, the Saviour of the world. We preach new life through faith in him; we preach that He sends his Holy Spirit into the hearts of the repentant and faithful that has trusted in Him as Saviour. We preach that he gives an abundant life of victory and overcoming the world by faith; we preach a good news gospel. I tell the people that if the church you are going to is not preaching good news it’s not the gospel. You know what I mean by that? Here’s what I mean, the gospel means good news. If your church is not giving you good news in the pulpit I would question how much gospel is in it; now that may be a little upsetting but think about what I said. If we are preaching the gospel we have to preaching good news if we are hearing the gospel we have to be hearing good news. There are times of correction and exhortation and times of repentance, yes those are very important but underneath it all it is still good news. Well, where the Spirit of the Lord is there is liberty. Verse 17 of 2 Cor 3.

Chapter four; verse 2, “But have renounced the hidden things of dishonesty, not walking in craftiness, nor handling the word of God deceitfully; but by manifestation of the truth commending ourselves to every man’s conscience in the sight of God.” Here it is again, the right handling of the Word of God. You see how important it is to Paul that it not be handled deceitfully or wrong; he mentioned in a earlier chapter when he said we do not corrupt the Word of God and now he says we do not handle the Word of God deceitfully and later he wrote Timothy and said we rightly divide the Word of God. Friend we’ve got to be preachers of the Word as God gives it to us. Verses 8-10, ” We are troubled on every side, yet not distressed; we are perplexed, but not in despair; 9  Persecuted, but not forsaken; cast down, but not destroyed; 10  Always bearing about in the body the dying of the Lord Jesus, that the life also of Jesus might be made manifest in our body.” We’ve got to be a light; we’ve got to be a testimony where ever we are serving to the goodness of the Lord Jesus in our life.

Chapter five; verse 10, “For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ; that every one may receive the things done in his body, according to that he hath done, whether it be good or bad.” And the famous new birth verse 17, “Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new.”

Chapter six; this chapter talks about the trials and difficulties and the marks of a true Christian Minister. Also it talks about separation from that which is ungodly. Verse 17, “Wherefore come out from among them, and be ye separate, saith the Lord, and touch not the unclean thing; and I will receive you,” The great separation doctrine. Friends I learned this from the Baptist years ago. I wasn’t raised a Baptist; I was raised in a godly home and I’m thankful for it; I was raised in a God fearing church and I’m grateful for that but I tried desperately to change the church denomination I was in to line up more with the Bible as I read the literal Scripture and tried to apply it to my life. But I found the more I tried the more opposition I ran into and it wasn’t until some time later that I read in a Baptist book that we are not to change those that don’t see it the Bible way but we are to separate from those and join up with those who do believe the Bible way. That may mean separation from family, friends and love ones but we can still love them, but we must love the Lord more and this is the great separation doctrine of the New Testament gospel.

Chapter seven; verse 1b, “…let us cleanse ourselves from all filthiness of the flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God.” There is that separation again. Verse 10, “For godly sorrow worketh repentance to salvation not to be repented of: but the sorrow of the world worketh death.”

Chapter eight; the story of the Macedonian churches and how in their great poverty they were willing to give to the point of sacrifice. Kind of like the Widow’s mite in the book of Luke.  Verse 7, “Therefore, as ye abound in every thing, in faith, and utterance, and knowledge, and in all diligence, and in your love to us, see that ye abound in this grace also.” What’s Paul talking about? He is talking about giving to the true work of God and I would encourage you Child of God, give your best to where God’s work is getting recognized and obeyed in the ministry that is taking place!

Chapter nine; verse 6, Speaking of giving again. “But this I say, He which soweth sparingly shall reap also sparingly; and he which soweth bountifully shall reap also bountifully. 7  Every man according as he purposeth in his heart, so let him give; not grudgingly, or of necessity: for God loveth a cheerful giver.” That Greek word cheerful there, means a hilarious giver; someone who gives so willingly and joyfully that they just almost laugh for joy when they do it for they know they are blessing the Lord in his work. Verse 8, “And God is able to make all grace abound toward you; that ye, always having all sufficiency in all things, may abound to every good work:” If we’ll do our part God will do his part.

Chapter ten; verse 5, spiritual warfare, casting down imaginations and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ. Paul is saying here put away every thought or intention other than knowing God and obeying Christ Jesus. 5, “Casting down imaginations, and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ;”

Chapter eleven; here he talks about the simplicity of the gospel and being on our toes to not be led astray. Verse 3-4, “But I fear, lest by any means, as the serpent beguiled Eve through his subtlety, so your minds should be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ. 4  For if he that cometh preacheth another Jesus, whom we have not preached, or if ye receive another spirit, which ye have not received, or another gospel, which ye have not accepted, ye might well bear with him.” This is what I appreciate so much about our Seminary; we preach the simple basic literal truths of the Bible, the Word of God. You cannot be led astray if you stay with the Book. But philosophy and ideas of men have led many astray as they’ve gone to school and studied things that cause more doubt and questioning than it caused faith to rise in their hearts. This is what Paul is warning about for he says in verse 4, “For if he that cometh preacheth another Jesus, whom we have not preached, or if ye receive another spirit, which ye have not received, or another gospel, which ye have not accepted, ye might well bear with him.” Oh there are other Jesus out there and other gospels out there which are not true, but Paul says, “Stay with the message of the New Testament.” Christ is the Son of God, he is the Messiah, and he was crucified dead and buried and raised for our justification. He is the one on whom we call to be saved and when we do we have the promise, he will answer. Paul also talks about false apostles, deceitful workers transforming themselves into the apostles of Christ and says in verse 14b, “…for Satan himself is transformed into an angel of light. 15  Therefore it is no great thing if his ministers also be transformed as the ministers of righteousness; whose end shall be according to their works.” (Righteousness meaning in good standing with God) meaning Satan’s ministers are out there telling if one wants to be right with God do this or that. Well friend, God’s Ministers tell us that we are already righteous through God’s sacrifice on Calvary and we need simply to repent of our sins and accept that sacrifice. We cannot earn our way to God, only Jesus could do that and it has already been done; we need simply to accept that fact by faith.

Chapter twelve;  here Paul talks about his thorn in the flesh; coming into more revelations of the Lord and he talks about how through his weakness Christ’s power is made perfect. A good lesson for us in our personal ministries when things look bleak; we need to be encouraged that in our times of weakness God’s power and strength is made perfect.

Chapter thirteen; verse 5, “Examine yourselves, whether ye be in the faith; prove your own selves. Know ye not your own selves, how that Jesus Christ is in you, except ye be reprobates?”

The book of Galatians:

Well we are all the way up to Galatians and Paul wrote Galatians as a group of churches in Asia Minor and in it he gives a little bit of biographical information of how God revealed himself to us; he spent 14 years as an Apostle in Arabia and he also gives warnings about keeping away from legalism and adding to the simple gospel of Jesus Christ and says in;

Chapter one; 8-9, “But though we, or an angel from heaven, preach any other gospel unto you than that which we have preached unto you, let him be accursed.” We know Paul’s gospel was repentance toward God and faith in Jesus Christ; it tells us that in the book of Acts.  “9  As we said before, so say I now again, If any man preach any other gospel unto you than that ye have received, let him be accursed.” That’s pretty plain language; it’s this gospel or its false; Paul’s gospel or its false. It’s the Bible gospel or it’s false. Think about that.

Chapter two; verse 16, “Knowing that a man is not justified by the works of the law, but by the faith of Jesus Christ, even we have believed in Jesus Christ, that we might be justified by the faith of Christ, and not by the works of the law: for by the works of the law shall no flesh be justified.” That’s the message of Paul, that Jesus paid it all. Verse 20, “I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me.” Paul lived from faith to faith.

Chapter three; here he talks of the Abrahamic Covenant and how it was fulfilled in Christ and Paul shows in verse 14, how the blessing of Abraham would come on the non-Jews meaning the Gentiles through Jesus Christ. And Paul shows how he took the Bible literally, Jesus did, this is another subject we’ll talk about at the end of this course. Something that was challenged in the first few centuries of the church that we need to get back to, taking the Bible literally. Look how Paul divides the Word of truth in verse 16, “Now to Abraham and his seed were the promises made. He saith not, And to seeds, as of many; but as of one, And to thy seed, which is Christ.” Friend, Paul divided the Word of Truth where he wouldn’t even let a letter be added to word, seed. He took the literally as seed meaning Christ Jesus would be the fulfillment of Abraham’s seed. Now what does that mean to us in the New Covenant? It means that the Abrahamic Covenant has been fulfilled in Christ; in verse 20 it says, “Now a mediator is not a mediator of one, but God is one.” There we have it again, God cannot be divided. Before leaving Galatians I want to make one more comment noting verse 26, “For ye are all the children of God by faith in Christ Jesus. 27  For as many of you as have been baptized into Christ have put on Christ. 28  There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither bond nor free, there is neither male nor female: for ye are all one in Christ Jesus. 29  And if ye be Christ’s, then are ye Abraham’s seed, and heirs according to the promise.” The closing comment is this, that in Christ all distinctions disappear in terms of spiritual position; we are all born again Christians regardless of our background or gender, but at the same time in other places as in Corinthians we have and serve in different roles in places of service in the church and the two are not to be confused.

The book of Ephesians: this is one of Paul’s prison epistles. And Ephesians is the tremendous theological and spiritual tribute to the church of Jesus Christ .

Chapter one; verse 3, “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ: 4  According as he hath chosen us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before him in love: 5  Having predestinated us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to himself, according to the good pleasure of his will,” So Paul starts off right away on the deep waters of election, predestination and God’s eternal plan for the Child of God and the Body of Christ, the Church. Verse 13 says how we are saved; “In whom ye also trusted, after that ye heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation: in whom also after that ye believed, ye were sealed with that holy Spirit of promise, 14  Which is the earnest of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession, unto the praise of his glory.”

Chapter two; verse 5, “Even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened us together with Christ, (by grace ye are saved;) 6  And hath raised us up together, and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus:” Verse 8, “For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God:” Talking about that One Body in Christ; Verse 12, “That at that time ye were without Christ, being aliens from the commonwealth of Israel, and strangers from the covenants of promise, having no hope, and without God in the world: 13  But now in Christ Jesus ye who sometimes were far off are made nigh by the blood of Christ.” Verse 18, “For through him we both have access by one Spirit unto the Father.”

Chapter three; verse 3, “How that by revelation he made known unto me the mystery; (as I wrote afore in few words, 4  Whereby, when ye read, ye may understand my knowledge in the mystery of Christ) 5  Which in other ages was not made known unto the sons of men, as it is now revealed unto his holy apostles and prophets by the Spirit; 6  That the Gentiles should be fellowheirs, and of the same body, and partakers of his promise in Christ by the gospel:”  God would make a New Body you see in Christ; the Church.

Chapter four;  verse 5, “One Lord, one faith, one baptism,” then in verses 11-12 he lists the ministries that he would put in the church.

Chapter five; here he talks about the marriage relationship as a type of Christ and the Church and he also says in verse 18, “And be not drunk with wine, wherein is excess; but be filled with the Spirit;” verse 25 he reminds us, husbands love your wives as Christ loved the Church.

Chapter six; verse 1, “Children, obey your parents in the Lord: for this is right.” And finishing chapter six and describing the Church, the Body of Christ and the right relationships in that body and in verse 10, “Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord, and in the power of his might. 11  Put on the whole armour of God,….” And he goes on and describes our warfare is not with people but with satanic opposition, powers and principalities in this world that wants to stop the gospel from going out. Verse 18, “Praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, and watching thereunto with all perseverance and supplication for all saints;”

The book of Philippians: another Prison Epistle and this is to the Church at Philippi , which was a Roman Colony. The Church of Ephesians was a Church in modern day Turkey . But the Church of the Philippians was in a Roman Colony or town, Philippi .

Chapter one; Paul reminds the church in verse 6, “Being confident of this very thing, that he which hath begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ:” Paul is writing from prison and mentions in verse 19, “  For I know that this shall turn to my salvation through your prayer, and the supply of the Spirit of Jesus Christ,” I’m going to be a little bold here; Child of God we have to stay with the Bible. We can’t go with traditions alone; we must stay with the Bible. If Paul talks about the supply of the Spirit of Christ and talks about Jesus having the Spirit without measure; I believe we have a Biblical right to say there are different measures and anointing and levels of anointing of the Holy Spirit on different ministries. We need to pray that God would give us an abundance of the anointing of the Holy Spirit to get the job accomplished. Verse 21, “For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain.” Here Paul refutes the doctrine of soul sleep and declares in this passage and in the passages around it, that to die is gain and be absent from the body is to be immediately in the presence of the Lord. Verse 23, “For I am in a strait betwixt two, having a desire to depart, and to be with Christ; which is far better:”

Chapter two: verse nine we are reminded that God gave Jesus a name that is above every name and verse 10, “That at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things in heaven, and things in earth, and things under the earth;”

Chapter three; this is a deep chapter referring to Paul’s and all Christians’ consecration to the Lord 100% to be a yielded vessel to the Lord. Verse 14, “I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus.”

Chapter four; this is the rejoicing chapter verse 4, “Rejoice in the Lord alway: and again I say, Rejoice.” And then in verse 8 he reminds us to keep focusing and thinking on things that are right. “Finally, brethren, whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report; if there be any virtue, and if there be any praise, think on these things.” And Paul continues with this statement in verse 13, “I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me.” And again in verse 19, “But my God shall supply all your need according to his riches in glory by Christ Jesus.”

The book of Colossians: here is another of the Prison Epistles Paul wrote. This church was also located in Turkey . And this particular letter or Epistle exalted the deity of Jesus Christ; he being God and the fulness of God in human flesh and Paul was concerned about the issue of people trusting in other intermediaries between them and God other simply the man, Christ Jesus.

Chapter one; he says in verse 8, “Who also declared unto us your love in the Spirit.” Talking about ministering in the Spirit. He is referring about Epaphras in verse 7, “As ye also learned of Epaphras our dear fellow servant, who is for you a faithful minister of Christ; 8  Who also declared unto us your love in the Spirit.” Now verse 19 we read where Paul Jesus the fulness of God in human form, let’s see how he says it. “And he is the head of the body, the church: who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead; that in all things he might have the preeminence. For it pleased the Father that in him should all fulness dwell;”  In other words the fulness of God was in Christ. Verse 27, “To whom God would make known what is the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles; which is Christ in you, the hope of glory:”

Chapter two; again in verse nine repeats God’s fulness in Christ, “For in him dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead bodily.”

Chapter three; Paul exhorts us to have our minds and affections at the right place. Verse 1, “If ye then be risen with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ sitteth on the right hand of God. 2  Set your affection on things above, not on things on the earth. 3  For ye are dead, and your life is hid with Christ in God. 4  When Christ, who is our life, shall appear, then shall ye also appear with him in glory.” This is an exhortation to be thinking on the right things. Verse 10 says we have put on the new man which is renewed in knowledge after the image of him that created him. And here again we have a similar revelation that Paul gave the Galatian Church verse 11, “Where there is neither Greek nor Jew, circumcision nor uncircumcision, Barbarian, Scythian, bond nor free: but Christ is all, and in all.” Now verse 17, “And whatsoever ye do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God and the Father by him.”

Chapter four; verse 3, “Withal praying also for us, that God would open unto us a door of utterance,…” Here this great Apostle is asking the church to pray the Lord would open a door for him to speak. To speak the mystery of Christ. Now how is Christ a mystery? The incarnation is a mystery; how God became man, that’s a mystery that is not totally explained but rather proclaimed in the New Testament.

1^st and 2^nd Thessalonians; These are the reported oldest and earliest letters of Paul the Apostle. I love 1^st and 2^nd Thessalonians because they deal with the coming of the Lord for the church as well as to judge the world.

Thessalonica, the town the church was in was in the area called Macedonia and you remember from our introduction; these Epistles were written very, very early in the first century. Let’s look at some of the chapters of 1^st and 2^nd Thessalonians.

The book of 1^st Thessalonians:

Chapter one; verse 9  For they themselves shew of us what manner of entering in we had unto you, and how ye turned to God from idols to serve the living and true God;) They were idolaters that turned to God, the living God as opposed to idols and true God as opposed to false gods. Men and women, child of God, preacher of the gospel we cannot emphasize this enough, there are idols in our day that must be gotten rid of; we still have idolatry in some segments of professed Christianity today. Paul said to the Thessalonian Church , a true sign of conversion is; A) turning to God and B) turning away from idols and C) serving the true God.

Chapter two; Cp 2:7 But we were gentle among you, even as a nurse cherisheth her children:) no preacher or pastor should be hard on his people. I know at times we may get a little bit emotional, sometimes frustrated and even angry, let’s face it; but we need to be careful and keep it spiritual. So Paul says we were gentle among you even as a nurse cherishes her children. And then in 2:13 … when ye received the word of God which ye heard of us, ye received it not as the word of men, but as it is in truth, the word of God, which effectually worketh also in you that believe.)

Chapter three;   1 Thess 3: 8  For now we live, if ye stand fast in the Lord. 3:10 Night and day praying exceedingly that we might see your face, and might perfect that which is lacking in your faith?) Paul had a heart to minister to the saints.

Chapter four; 4 he exhorts us treat with respect those of the opposite sex, particularly those that were married to fellow believers. He says this is the will of God that we should treat our vessel with sanctification and honor. 1 Thess 4: 4  That every one of you should know how to possess his vessel in sanctification and honour;) and then down at the end of chapter four; we have the very well known rapture of the Church beginning at verse 4:14 For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so them also which sleep in Jesus will God bring with him. 15  For this we say unto you by the word of the Lord, that we which are alive and remain unto the coming of the Lord shall not prevent them which are asleep. 16  For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first: 17  Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord. 18  Wherefore comfort one another with these words. A very famous passage it is.

Chapter five; – in the end of the chapter Paul is giving some real Godly advise;      

             1 Thess 5: 16 ¶ Rejoice evermore. 17  Pray without ceasing. 18  In every thing give thanks: for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you. 19  Quench not the Spirit. 20  Despise not prophesyings. 21  Prove all things; hold fast that which is good. 22  Abstain from all appearance of evil. 23 ¶ 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. 24  Faithful is he that calleth you, who also will do it. 25  Brethren, pray for us.

The Book of 2^nd Thessalonians: this is a power house book on the coming of the Lord.

Chapter one; describes the coming of the Lord in great judgment verses 7 and following and verse 12 says that the name of our Lord Jesus Christ may be glorified in you.

Chapter two; Paul plunges into divine counsel of the revelation of the man of sin and the mystery of iniquity; We will dive deeper into this at the end of this course when we give our final closing comments on this course.

Chapter three; Paul says in verse 3  But the Lord is faithful, who shall stablish you, and keep you from evil. And in verse 6 he talks about separation again in the last half of the verse, (…that ye withdraw yourselves from every brother that walketh disorderly, and not after the tradition which he received of us.)

Now at this point we are going to enter into what is called the Pastoral Epistles meaning Paul’s Apostolic advise to young men in the ministry. We are going through 1^st and 2^nd Timothy and Titus which are the three Pastoral Epistles.

The Book of 1^st Timothy:

Chapter one; 1:12 here he describes his ministry; 12 ¶ And I thank Christ Jesus our Lord, who hath enabled me, for that he counted me faithful, putting me into the ministry;) it has to be Christ that puts in the ministry if we are going to be really effective and successful in reaching others. Paul says in verse 13 Who was before a blasphemer, and a persecutor, and injurious: but I obtained mercy, because I did it ignorantly in unbelief. Thank God for the mercy of God on our ignorance and unbelief before we were saved.

Chapter two; here Paul exhorts us to pray for those in authority and tells us in verse 4 that God would have all men to be saved and come to a knowledge of truth and again in verse 5 reminds us there is but one God.

Chapter three; Paul outlines the qualifications for a Pastor as well as Deacons and winds it up in verse 16 with the profound proclamation of the great mystery of godliness; God becoming flesh; of course in Jesus Christ. He calls this the faith.

Chapter four; he says the Holy Spirit revealed to him expressly that in the latter times some would depart from the faith and give heed to seducing spirits and doctrines of devils or false teachings. We will deal with that again as we conclude the course and deal with the subject, the Spirit of Iniquity.

Chapter five; Paul reminds us to have family responsibility in verse 8 But if any provide not for his own, and specially for those of his own house, he hath denied the faith, and is worse than an infidel.

Chapter six; verse 6 But godliness with contentment is great gain. 7  For we brought nothing into this world, and it is certain we can carry nothing out. 8  And having food and raiment let us be therewith content. And verse 10 a warning against Love of Money; not money but he love of it. 10  For the love of money is the root of all evil:…

The Book of 2^nd Timothy: Paul continues on as this is his last Epistle to our knowledge before he was martyred for the faith.

Chapter one; verse 9 speaking of God, (Who hath saved us, and called us with an holy calling, not according to our works, but according to his own purpose and grace, which was given us in Christ Jesus before the world began,)

      Verse 12 For the which cause I also suffer these things: nevertheless I am not ashamed: for I know whom I have believed, and am persuaded that he is able to keep that which I have committed unto him against that day.

Chapter two; he exhorts young Timothy in verse 3 Thou therefore endure hardness, as a good soldier of Jesus Christ. I remember years ago when I moved to New York State and living in a motel all alone because my dear wife was still in Canada waiting for immigration papers to come to the Unite States to join with me and we had a six month wait which may not seem long to some but when you are in love with someone that’s a long time believe me. And I use to go into the ministry early in the morning driving to work through snow storms and come back; it was about a 40 minute drive each way from that motel and I use to come home exhausted and throw myself on my knees in that motel room and open the Bible and say, “Lord I need a word just to give me comfort without my dear wife here, far from home in another country, all of the issues that were involved, I was lonely and exhausted”. And God gave me this scripture and said, “Son fight the good fight and be a good soldier because it tells you in 2^nd Timothy you have to fight the good warfare”. And He took me through 2^nd Timothy and reminded me that I needed to be a good soldier of Jesus Christ. I’ll never forget those moments in the presence of the Lord when he comforted me and assured me that he was not only with me but how to proceed ahead in the ministry.

Chapter three; Paul again warns of the end time, false ministries and society’s degeneration of behavior one towards the other. Verse 5  Having a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof: from such turn away. There’s that separation doctrine again. Verse 12 Yea, and all that will live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution. 13  But evil men and seducers shall wax worse and worse, deceiving, and being deceived. This is a sign of society and even religious climate at the end of days before the Lord’s return.

Chapter four; in verse 2 Paul with his last few words exhorts Timothy 2  Preach the word; be instant in season, out of season; reprove, rebuke, exhort with all longsuffering and doctrine. 3  For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but after their own lusts shall they heap to themselves teachers, having itching ears; 4  And they shall turn away their ears from the truth, and shall be turned unto fables. 5  But watch thou in all things, endure afflictions, do the work of an evangelist, make full proof of thy ministry. 6  For I am now ready to be offered, and the time of my departure is at hand. 7  I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith: Paul the Apostle is writing. What a tremendous tribute to a man who was a blasphemer, injurious and a persecutor of the Church of God turned around on the road to Damascus, called into the ministry ever conscious of his short comings, ever filled with the Holy Spirit, ever full of compassion, ever willing to reach out to help others, ever and often willing to put himself in danger to help others in the Christian life find Christ or serve Christ in the ministry. What an example, Paul the Apostle!

Let’s look at the last of Paul’s Pastoral Epistles the short book of Titus.

The Book of Titus:

Chapter one; God is called our Saviour in the last part of verse 3. Verse 5 For this cause left I thee in Crete, that thou shouldest set in order the things that are wanting, and ordain elders in every city, as I had appointed thee: (Crete is an island off the coast of Greece) If you are in a ministry of church building and apostolic ministry where you are spearheading new works for the Lord; you need to be called of God and you need to ordain elders in those churches and teach them and lay hands on them and ask God to fill them with the Holy Spirit and wisdom and teach them the Word of God before you move on and let that church continue under the Lordship of Christ Jesus and the eldership.

Chapter two; here Paul talks about the proper behaviour of the aged women and the younger women.

Chapter three; Paul continues and in verse 9 But avoid foolish questions, and genealogies, and contentions, and strivings about the law; for they are unprofitable and vain. In other words Paul is saying let’s not micromanage the ministry and let’s major on the major and not on the minors. Let’s get the gospel out at all cost.

The Book of Philemon: Paul writes this one chapter epistle to a brother in the Lord and this is another prison epistle as well.

     He writes a brother in the Lord whose slave; Onesimus had escaped and fallen under the privilege of being converted under Paul’s ministry in prison. Paul calls himself, the aged Apostle in verse 9 and in verse 10 he talks of how he ministered the new birth into the kingdom of God to this run a way slave before he sends him back to his owner. He reminds Philemon to receive him back as a brother, as a fellow Christian. What a beautiful message of no distinction in the body of Christ.

Now as we go into the rather lengthy 13 chapters of the Epistle of Paul the Apostle to the Hebrews. I would like to give a little background and say this epistle was written to Jewish Christians who were undergoing fierce persecution for their faith and some of them were thinking of falling away from the faith they had in the Lord, perhaps returning to Judaism. This epistle was written very probably before 70AD for we know that was the year that Jerusalem was taken over by Titus and his invading armies. There is no mention of that in this book, rather they mention the Temple and Jewish sacrifices; therefore we are led to believe that the fall of Jerusalem including the destruction of the Jewish Temple had not yet taken place, so let’s begin together with chapter one and we will comment on each chapter.

The Book of Hebrews:

Chapter one; God, who at sundry times and in divers manners spake in time past unto the fathers by the prophets, 2  Hath in these last days spoken unto us by his Son, whom he hath appointed heir of all things, by whom also he made the worlds; Now this is the introduction of Paul’s epistle unto the Hebrews.

Chapter two; verse 1  Therefore we ought to give the more earnest heed to the things which we have heard, lest at any time we should let them slip. And  Verse 3 How shall we escape, if we neglect so great salvation; which at the first began to be spoken by the Lord, and was confirmed unto us by them that heard him; This a very serious exhortation to the people that were considering to fall away from the faith.

Chapter three; verse 4 For every house is builded by some man; but he that built all things is God 3:7 ¶  Wherefore (as the Holy Ghost saith, To day if ye will hear his voice,8  Harden not your hearts, as in the provocation, in the day of temptation in the wilderness:9  When your fathers tempted me, proved me, and saw my works forty years. Now notice the change of first person to second person and yet it is God speaking all the time. In verse 7 “The Holy Ghost saith” and then in verse 9 it says “me”. Isn’t that interesting? God referring to himself in two different respects of person.

Chapter four; tells us in verse 14 Seeing then that we have a great high priest, that is passed into the heavens, Jesus the Son of God,…  verse 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. This is exactly what we were referring too in Luke 18 in the parable of the unjust judge; we should come boldly into the presence of the Lord at the time of need.

Chapter five; referring to the human side of Jesus in verse 7  Who in the days of his flesh, when he had offered up prayers and supplications with strong crying and tears unto him that was able to save him from death, and was heard in that he feared;, verse 9 And being made perfect, he became the author of eternal salvation unto all them that obey him; {No easy believe-ism there}. We need to obey the Lord Jesus Christ.

Chapter six; a very serious warning about falling away once we have entered into the deeper things of the truths of God. Verse 6  If they shall fall away, to renew them again unto repentance; seeing they crucify to themselves the Son of God afresh, and put him to an open shame. A very stern warning about not turning back on the Lord.

Chapter seven; is the ministry of Melchisedec.

Chapter eight; the new covenant is called a better covenant in verse 6 But now hath he obtained a more excellent ministry, by how much also he is the mediator of a better covenant, which was established upon better promises. Preacher there is a sermon for you right there. The Better Covenant with Better Promises; no we’re talking a message there. And then verse 8For finding fault with them, he saith, Behold, the days come, saith the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah :

Chapter nine; verse 12 Neither by the blood of goats and calves, but by his own blood he entered in once into the holy place, having obtained eternal redemption for us. By His own blood he entered once. It’s a done situation! Verse 22 And almost all things are by the law purged with blood; and without shedding of blood is no remission. Speaking of sins there. Verse 27  And as it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment:

Chapter ten; exhortation verse 17 And their sins and iniquities will I remember no more. Verse 25 Not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as the manner of some is; but exhorting one another: and so much the more, as ye see the day approaching. Speaking about church attendance; there was already a falling away in Paul’s day under persecution and Paul is exhorting them not to fall away from church services.

Chapter eleven; the great faith chapter. The Hall of fame of the faith giants of the Old Testament. Verse 1 Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. Faith is a reality friend, it’s a substance, it’s as real as real can be and when it gets into you and you pray in faith, preach in faith, speak in faith you will know what I’m talking about. Verse 6 But without faith it is impossible to please him: for he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him. Every preacher of the gospel should know what Hebrews 11 says about faith. This is what we need to preach and build into our people so they can touch God for themselves and see answers to prayer.

Chapter twelve; a very rich chapter talking about how we ought to look unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith; talking about the true church which is registered in heaven of which we are part of on this side of heaven. And verse 23  To the general assembly and church of the firstborn, which are written in heaven, and to God the Judge of all, and to the spirits of just men made perfect, (that is the true born again by the blood of Jesus regenerated born again church of God).

Chapter thirteen; talks about letting brotherly love continue; talks about not forgetting strangers and helping those who need help as we read in Matthew 25. It talks about the marriage being honorable and the bed undefiled and not forgetting the prisoners and remembering those that have the spiritual authority in your life and giving them respect, honor and obedience in the Lord.

The Book of James: Now the book of James was written by the Lord’s brother and is a difference sort of book in the sense of approach and the way it speaks to us that seems a little more on the general than the specific and yet it has some tremendous lessons in here as well.

Chapter one; talks about enduring trials and having patience and watching our faith come into fruition. Verse 8 A double minded man is unstable in all his ways. Meaning let’s set our minds and keep the course on the direction that God has shown us. In new birth is talked about in verse 18 Of his own will begat he us with the word of truth, that we should be a kind of firstfruits of his creatures. It says in verse 23 For if any be a hearer of the word, and not a doer, he is like unto a man beholding his natural face in a glass: Then in verse 27 tells us what true religion is all about. Pure religion and undefiled before God and the Father is this, To visit the fatherless and widows in their affliction, and to keep himself unspotted from the world.

Chapter two; this chapter reminds us again that God is one and that theme comes up over and over again in the New Testament as we said before. And it talks also about living faith and faith that is not really faith. This is a great book to read along with Hebrews 11.

Chapter three; talks about the power of the tongue to set the course of your life for better or for worse and a tremendous chapter to study on self discipline.

Chapter four; talks about where wars and fightings come among you; they come of your lusts that war even in your members. In other words, desiring things outside of the will of God will get us into trouble.

Chapter five;, a very interesting scenario of the end times and the coming of the Lord. A great exhortation talking about the money of this world and those that control the wealth of this world and how they take advantage of the poor and those that work for them where they fraud them of their proper wages and judgment is coming saith the Lord. And in this chapter on the basis of indecency and all of the injustice that has been done to the workers of the world by those that have held back their wages. Also in this chapter it talks about praying for the sick in our churches and I believe we ought to follow the Bible on this and before our saints go to the doctor they ought to call for the pastor and the elders of the church and say, “Brethren I want you to anoint me with oil and pray for me as James chapter 5 says”. “And the prayer of faith shall save the sick, and the Lord shall raise him up; and if he have committed sins, they shall be forgiven him.”

The Book of 1^st Peter:  both books of Peter deal with a practical Christian nature.

Chapter one; verse 4 To an inheritance incorruptible, and undefiled, and that fadeth not away, reserved in heaven for you, Yes sir friend, heaven is a real place; Jesus talked about it, Peter talked about it, Paul talked about it and John talked about it and I tell you we should be talking about it. It is a great subject to preach about. And verse 5 Who are kept by the power of God through faith unto salvation ready to be revealed in the last time. Verse 23 talks about the new birth again, Being born again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible, by the word of God, which liveth and abideth for ever. Way back in Galatians 6:15 Paul the Apostle talked about the new birth, Jesus talked about the new birth, James talked about the new birth and Peter is talking about the new birth. I’m telling you friend, this new birth being born into the New Covenant is the greatest blessing any man, woman or child could ask for.

Chapter two; 2  As newborn babes, desire the sincere milk of the word, that ye may grow thereby: Again the new birth.

Chapter three; verse 12 For the eyes of the Lord are over the righteous, and his ears are open unto their prayers: but the face of the Lord is against them that do evil. It also tells us something about water baptism in chapter three.

Chapter four; continues and tells us about suffering as a Christian and how we should turn to it and view it as a privilege in Christ to suffer for His namesake because it is going to glorify God and testify to the reality of God in our life.

Chapter five; verse 7 Casting all your care upon him; for he careth for you. And warns us in 8 & 9 we should be very vigilant and watchful for the devil is still working in this world against the purposes of God.

The Book of 2^nd Peter:

Chapter one; verse 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. Tells us we enter in to the very nature of God through his divine promises. What a tremendous statement! To enter into the nature of God; Peter calls it being a partaker of the divine nature through the promises of God. And the promises of God are in your Holy Scripture.

Chapter two; verse one sets the theme for the entire chapter warning of false prophets coming among God’s people. It outlines as immoral and who are running after money.

Chapter three; verse 9 The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness; but is longsuffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance. Then Peter winds up his second epistle and says in verses 12  Looking for and hasting unto the coming of the day of God, wherein the heavens being on fire shall be dissolved, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat? 13  Nevertheless we, according to his promise, look for new heavens and a new earth, wherein dwelleth righteousness. A tremendous doctrine from Peter, a great Apostle.

Now we’re going to look at 1^st, 2^nd & 3^rd John and these are basically the love chapters in 1^st John and discernment chapters and then doctrinal exhortation in 2^nd John & 3^rd John..

The Book of I John:

Chapter one;  verse 7 But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin. A tremendous doctrine there on the cleansing of the blood of Christ.

Chapter two; tells us in verse 27 that we have an anointing Christian, But the anointing which ye have received of him abideth in you, and ye need not that any man teach you: but as the same anointing teacheth you of all things, and is truth, and is no lie, and even as it hath taught you, ye shall abide in him. You see the anointing of the Lord is upon every Christian. When John says we need not any man to teach you, he is not referring to the teachers in the church; but he’s referring to the fact there is no one over us in a clergy system that has secrets and has information that they can with hold from us; it’s all freely given to the child of God by the Holy Spirit through the Holy Scriptures.

Chapter three;  9 Whosoever is born of God doth not commit sin; for his seed remaineth in him: and he cannot sin, because he is born of God. The idea there behind the Greek language is this; that whosoever is born of God no longer leads a sinful life style of persistent sin against the will of God, because there has been a nature change friend from being unrightous to being godly and righteous in Christ. And it says, “his seed remaineth in him, meaning the Word of God” and Jesus Christ being the seed of Abraham remains in the Christian to keep them from sin if they will surrender to the Lord.

Chapter four; the discernment of spirits verse 1Beloved, believe not every spirit, but try the spirits whether they are of God: because many false prophets are gone out into the world. A prophet is someone that speaks for God; a false prophet is someone who claims to speak for God, but is indeed not of God, therefore false. And we know that there is much of that in the world today.

Chapter five; verse 4  For whatsoever is born of God overcometh the world: and this is the victory that overcometh the world, even our faith. There’s that faith theme again.

The Book of II John: this is a small 13 verse epistle.

          Verse 9  Whosoever transgresseth, and abideth not in the doctrine of Christ, hath not God. (Think about that; to have God we must have Christ’s doctrine) He that abideth in the doctrine of Christ, he hath both the Father and the Son. And of course we know that the Father was in the Son reconciling the world unto himself. 10 If there come any unto you, and bring not this doctrine, receive him not into your house, neither bid him God speed: So doctrine is very important.

The Book of III John: here is another short 14 verse epistle.

          John is concerned about the beginning of this spirit of iniquity rising up in the church. John is now only an elder in the church in 3^rd John and he writes in verse 7 about Christian ministers and their mission. 7 Because that for his name’s sake they went forth, taking nothing of the Gentiles. In other words early preachers went forth to preach the name of Jesus and took nothing financially from non-believers; this avoided scandal and certainly should be practiced today by Christian Ministries . Let’s be supported by Christians and not ask the world for support for it will cause confusion. And later in 3^rd John he talks about a man named Diotrephes and he loved to have the preeminence and actually opposed the ministry of John the Apostle. Friend, that’s boldness to oppose an Apostle himself. That was the spirit of iniquity starting to rise and to control the members of the church and to lord it over others and this is talked about in other places in the Bible, particularly 2^nd Thessalonians 2 and Revelation when it talks about the Nicolaitans .

The Book of Jude: the one page letter.

          Jude was a brother of Jesus Christ and his theme is warning against false prophets and false teachers and promoting the one true pure Apostolic faith.

          Verse 3 Beloved, when I gave all diligence to write unto you of the common salvation, it was needful for me to write unto you, and exhort you that ye should earnestly contend for the faith which was once delivered unto the saints. Friends, that’s why I fight the fight of faith on these tapes and courses. We must get the Bible message out to our people, bringing them back to the Bible, bringing them back to the Word of God and what God’s Word says about every topic and subject. Jude goes on and says, 4  For there are certain men crept in unawares, who were before of old ordained to this condemnation, ungodly men, turning the grace of our God into lasciviousness and denying the only Lord God, and our Lord Jesus Christ. Jude ends this epistle with a note of hope for the Christian 24  Now unto him that is able to keep you from falling, and to present you faultless before the presence of his glory with exceeding joy, 25  To the only wise God, our Saviour, be glory and majesty, dominion and power, both now and ever. Amen. So you see Child of God, God is in control, but we need to do our part and heed what the Lord is asking us.

The Book of Revelation:  the final book of the Bible and of the New Testament. The Apocalypse or unveiling written around 95AD from the Alcatraz of the Roman Empire, the Island of Patmos, a prison colony where John the aged Apostle close to 100 years of age received his final mission in life giving the book of Revelation.

Chapter one; verse 9 I John, who also am your brother, and companion in tribulation, and in the kingdom and patience of Jesus Christ, was in the isle that is called Patmos, for the word of God, and for the testimony of Jesus Christ. Notice the humility here, John walked some 3 ½ years with Jesus, but simply calls himself a brother. Patmos is still there today off the west coast of Turkey . John did not write in chapters for it was one long epistle to the seven churches.

Chapter two; he writes to the church of Ephesus (means desirable) this was the church Paul referred to in Acts 20 and this was considered the early Apostolic Church and he writes to Ephesus not to forsake their first love. Then he writes Smyrna (means bitterness) often portrayed as the persecuted church. He writes Smyrna and commends them for their faithfulness. And then he writes Pergamos (means twice married) (married to the world and married to the Lord) this was a lukewarm church that the Lord had a few things to say to this church including the subject of the Nicolaitans doctrine in verse 15 So hast thou also them that hold the doctrine of the Nicolaitans, which thing I hate. which gave clergy a rule over people. Then he writes Thyatira (means continual sacrifice) which is a logical step. This is the church with the false prophetess, the church that represents the apostate woman in the wilderness as seen in these next few verses;  22  Behold, I will cast her into a bed, and them that commit adultery with her into great tribulation, except they repent of their deeds. 23  And I will kill her children with death; and all the churches shall know that I am he which searcheth the reins and hearts: and I will give unto every one of you according to your works.

Chapter three; he writes to Sardis (means those escaping ) the reformation church meaning they were escaping the snare of the Babylonian church of the middle ages. Jesus addresses the church at Sardis . Of course all these were local churches, all of them real churches, but some conservative Bible Commentators, such as H. A. Ironside, A. C. Gabline as well as Doctor Scofield I’m sure as well as others see a secondary application here where Jesus Christ is speaking to the history of the Christian Church,

          Verse 7, the church at Philadelphia (means brotherly love), the church of brotherly love, the rapture church. Verse 10 being kept from the hour of temptation because of their faithfulness to the name of Jesus and the Word of God as seen in the first few verse between 7 – 13. and finally the lukewarm church, the church of the Laodiceans (means the will or rights of the people). Friends we’ve lived in a time that I’m aware of where the rights of people are more prominent than they are today. It’s so easy for a Pastor to offend someone today; it’s so easy to offend anyone today; just by saying something or not saying something of looking a certain way or acting a certain way. We’re living in a touchy world today. The lukewarm church, the Church of Laodicea was such a place and could refer to the end time apostate church, the lukewarm church before the end of the age. The strongest words of Jesus Christ in the entire New Testament along with Matthew 23 when he rebuked the Pharisees is found in Revelation chapter 3 when he says in verses 15  I know thy works, that thou art neither cold nor hot: I would thou wert cold or hot. 16  So then because thou art lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will spue thee out of my mouth. Imagine that, Jesus vomiting; that’s how much the Lord wants us to take a stand for what’s right.

Chapter four; the door was opened in heaven and John the Apostle saw the things in heaven.

Chapter five; verse 4 And I wept much, because no man was found worthy to open and to read the book, neither to look thereon.

Chapter six; the Lamb opens the seals.

Chapter seven; the sealing of the 144 thousand is recorded.

Chapter eight; verse 2 the seven angels were given seven trumpets.

Chapter nine; the smoke and the locusts came out to ravage the earth.

Chapter ten; the days of the voice of the seventh angel and the mystery of God should be finished is revealed to us and the mystery of God is the church where the Jews and the Gentiles will become one in the body of Christ.

Chapter eleven; the two witnesses and the seventh angel sounded with the seventh trumpet.

Chapter twelve; we see the rapture of the man-child; this chapter has had many interpretations and everyone has a right to exist but let me say this, “if we take it literally for what it says it fits perfectly into the end time plan of God”. Remember chapter is future because John said he was shown things to come. Some believe the great woman is the church before she turned apostate and will be driven into the wilderness giving birth to the over comers. Others believe the woman is Israel giving birth to Jesus Christ, the Messiah. There are many interpretations to the woman and the man child; but just be sure you stay within the Word of God. We see in verse 14 the woman was driven into the wilderness and the only woman we see in the wilderness in the entire book of Revelation is the Harlot Church of chapter 17 where she is identified as the woman in the wilderness in verse 3. Think about that child of God as you separate yourself from the false religious systems of the day and cling completely to the Word of God. We need a new reformation today; but more than that we need a new separation today where we boldly proclaim thus saith the Lord because the Word says so and we with Martin Luther will say, “We are bound by conscious to the Word of God”.

Chapter thirteen; the antichrist beast system as well as the false religious prophet rises and the mark of the beast comes upon planet earth.

Chapter fourteen; Babylon is fallen in verse 8 and those taking the mark are judged in verse 9 & 10 it says they will drink of the wrath of God.

Chapter fifteen; John sees as it were a sea of glass mingled with fire and them that had gotten victory over the beast, over his image and over his mark and over the number of his name. Praise the LORD! He sees them stand on the sea of glass having the harps of God and they sing the song of Moses, the servant of God. That is a song of deliverance by the way.

Chapter sixteen; the seven angels go their way and pour out the vials of the wrath of God upon the earth.

Chapter seventeen; the harlot Babylon , the great mother of harlots and abominations of the earth is portrayed as the great whore that persecutes believers in Jesus. A lot could be said about this, but she started in the New Testament with the spirit of iniquity in chapter two of 2^nd Thessalonians and Paul the Apostle had that great revelation from God and pleaded and begged the early church to stay faithful to the Scriptures and separate from error and we need to take that to heart more than ever.

Chapter eighteen; records the judgment of commercial or financial Babylon , which may be connected with religious Babylon .

Chapter nineteen; 6  And I heard as it were the voice of a great multitude, and as the voice of many waters, and as the voice of mighty thunderings, saying, Alleluia: for the Lord God omnipotent reigneth. The marriage supper of the Lamb arrives and John sees heaven open; he sees Jesus come back Faithful and True on a white horse, his eyes were as a flame of fire verse 12; he was clothed with a vesture dipped in blood verse 13; the armies which were in heaven followed him verse 14 and out of his mouth a sharp sword verse 15 and his name is upon his thigh verse 16, King of Kings and Lord of Lords. Hallelujah!

Chapter twenty; verse 4 John sees those beheaded by the harlot world system for their testimony to Jesus. And I saw thrones, and they sat upon them, and judgment was given unto them: and I saw the souls of them that were beheaded for the witness of Jesus, and for the word of God, and which had not worshipped the beast, neither his image, neither had received his mark upon their foreheads, or in their hands; and they lived and reigned with Christ a thousand years. Verse 6 Blessed and holy is he that hath part in the first resurrection: on such the second death hath no power, but they shall be priests of God and of Christ, and shall reign with him a thousand years. Verse 11 John saw the Great White Throne and the second resurrection Jesus talked about back in the gospels, the resurrection of the wicked.

Chapter twenty one; And I saw a new heaven and a new earth: for the first heaven and the first earth were passed away; and there was no more sea. This is what Peter talked about in 2^nd Peter 3. He sees a lake of fire where the fearful unbelieving and abominable and murderers and whoremongers sorcerers, and idolaters, and all liars, shall have their part in the lake which burneth with fire and brimstone: which is the second death. And then he sees the great city of God, he sees heaven in verse 27 and those written in the Lamb’s Book of Life.

Chapter twenty two; And he shewed me a pure river of water of life, clear as crystal, proceeding out of the throne of God and of the Lamb. Verse 14 Blessed are they that do his commandments, that they may have right to the tree of life, and may enter in through the gates into the city. In verse 17 a final invitation And the Spirit and the bride say, Come. And let him that heareth say, Come. And let him that is athirst come. And whosoever will, let him take the water of life freely. Verse 20 He which testifieth these things saith, Surely I come quickly. Amen. Even so, come, Lord Jesus.

Now as we end this course as promised I want to mention a few closing comments of what the early church for the first 300 years of its existence went through in terms of challenges to its spirituality. We’re touched on these off and on during this course and we started the lesson off a couple of tapes ago with some of these subjects but I want to just wrap it up in a very tight manner as we finish this final tape.

In the first 300 years of the Christian Church they were assaulted from without and within.

1) I’m going to deal with the assaults from within because that’s what 2^nd Thessalonians 2 is referring to; if you remember Paul warned the Thessalonian Church in one of his earliest epistles to beware of the spirit of iniquity that was trying to get into the church. Later on we see this evidenced in 3^rd John when Diotrephes was trying to usurp the authority of John the Apostle. John was an elder in that point in time.

2) We also see in the letters of Paul where he warns of not corrupting the Word of God and rightly dividing the Word of God and not handling the Word of God deceitfully. So, this spirit of iniquity would try and get into the church and pollute the Word of God. This is where a lot of our modern translations have their ultimate root. In the first 3 or 4 hundred years of church history the Word of God was corrected by several church historians and those corrected copies ultimately became copies in the hands of Constantine in the 4^th century many believe leading to what is ultimately known as the critical Bible manuscripts of the 4^th century. These manuscripts are full of errors and corruptions and not reliable; therefore stay with the King James Version based upon the Textus Receptus for the received text, the pure manuscript of the early church used today even by the Greek Church, the Greek Orthodox Church. This spirit of iniquity not only affected Bible Manuscripts but also affected the actual structure of the church. In 2^nd Thessalonians chapter 2 it says a man of sin would sit in the Temple of God ; now there are 2 opinions as to the Temple of God ; one is the end time Jewish Temple, which if that interpretation is true is yet to be built. When Paul who wrote those words referred to the Temple of God was always referring to one or two things, the human body in which the Spirit of God dwells or the Church with is the Temple of God as enumerated in 1^st Corinthians 3 and 2^nd Corinthians 6. therefore if a man set himself up in the Temple of God and exalted himself above God it would certainly fit the time of Constantine and his usurping authority and becoming the head of the church and ultimately leading to Revelation 13 and the following part of 2^nd Thessalonians 2 the false prophet that demonstrates supernatural signs and wonders.

3) Also, in the first 300 years of the early church there was a movement to not take the Bible literally instead to take it metaphorically or symbolically. We must warn against this as well.

For the first 3 hundred years of the church Godly men, such as Tertullian and others believed in the literal 1000 year reign of Jesus Christ. The New Testament teaches that in Revelation 20; it is not symbolic it is not allegorical it is not metaphorical it is literal.

The early Christians took the Bible literal as seen in the life of Jesus when he applied the Old Testament Scriptures to Himself and in the ministry of Paul in Galatians 3 when he divided the Word of Truth literally right down to the letter. We need to take the Bible literally.

There were also other changes in the infant church in the first 300 years, which gave rise to a clergy cast system in which ministers against clear teaching of 1^st Peter 5 rose up over the flock and began to rule the flock and not shepherd the flock. Christ as LORD over man, woman and child was replaced by human authorities human ecclesiastical Bishops and others. This was another move away from the literal interpretation of the Bible.

4) There was a move away from godly Christ centered theology to Greek Philosophy; this was part of the spirit of iniquity as well. Philosophizing the gospel and confusing it to the masses creating a cast system of intellectuals that tried to rule over the church through their theological pronouncements.

5) Holy Ghost power was finally neglected and faith was put more into creeds and doctrinal statements. We need to beware of these even today. It tells us in Acts that they fasted and prayed and the Holy Ghost led them. We need to stay in touch with the Holy Ghost in our local churches and the Scriptures. The Holy Ghost wrote the Scriptures through godly holy men. We need to stay in contact with the scriptures and the Holy Ghost through prayer. Creeds as good as they are meant to be can never replace the scripture.

6) There was a move away from trusting the Lord personally through faith into trusting theology. This was a serious move away in the first 300 years in the church by the spirit of iniquity moving in taking away the first love; Revelation 2, the church of Ephesus , the first love being God and replacing it with theological doctrine. We must trust the Lord first and foremost and He will take from there.

7) Replacement theology that taught the church replaced the nation of Israel and the plan of God. This is false because Romans 9, 10 & 11 clearly tells us that God has a plan for the nation of Israel . We need to put all this together with Matthew 13:33 and the woman who represents the apostate church leavening Christendom with 3 measures of leaven. We can look at church history and see the struggle that the early church had against the Roman Empire from without, and then the struggles in keeping out the false teachers and false prophets that Paul and Peter the Apostles and Jude and our Lord Jesus Christ and in the book of Revelation warned us of this coming.

Friend and child of God I plead with you by means of this course stay with the scripture. Your church, preacher will only be strong as it is built on the Word of God. Your ministry Evangelist will only be as successful as you preach the Word of God. Teacher your ministry will only be as rich and influential as you teach the Word of God. Remember the Holy Spirit through the Apostles warned us of an infiltration and a falling away. This falling away began in the early centuries and has been going on to a greater or lesser measure ever since. It will reach its climax at the end in the last days preceding the nearness of the Lord’s coming.

We close this course by reminding you that these things are prophesied in scripture. After Constantine stopped the great Roman persecution against the church, the church moved to a Roman system and that system has been in many ways a large opposition to the Bible believer through history.

We love all people, we love the Lord, we love His Word and we love his message and because we do we close this course with these few words of urgency that the days are short, night is coming and we need to proclaim the gospel, the good news of Jesus Christ in its full form with every chance we get. May God bless you preacher, teacher, evangelist, deacon, servant of God, who ever you are; remember Jesus is Lord and God is on the Throne and prayer is still the answer as you seek God’s face in the Word of God and in your closet of prayer.

Thank you for taking this course and I trust it has been an inspiration and edification in your service to the KING of Kings.