The Gospel Of Repentance

The writer posed the question because we need to answer the question of who’s in charge in the Church, Men or Women? In I Timothy 2:11-13 it reads, “ Let a woman learn in silence with all submission, and I do not permit a woman to teach or exercise authority over a man , but to be in silence. For Adam was created first, then Eve.” The scripture continues in I Timothy 3:1-7, “ If a man desires the office of bishop (or overseer), he desires a good work. A bishop then must be blameless, the husband of one wife, temperate, sober minded, of good behavior, hospitable, able to teach; not given to wine, not violent, not greedy for money, but gentle, not quarrelsome, not covetous. One who rules his house well (if a man does not know how to rule his own house, how can he take care of the church of God?); not a novice, lest being puffed up with pride he fall into the snare and condemnation of the devil. Moreover he must have a good testimony among those who are outside, lest he f

The name Malachi means “my messenger” or “ messenger of God” Chapter 1 -  The prophet starts off by declaring his love for Israel and his contempt for the nation of Edom (i.e. descendants of Jacob’s brother Esau). Apparently the Hebrews were questioning God’s affection from them hence the opening response by the prophet, vs. 2 God is displeased because of the lack of reverence in their worship toward him. The priests are vowing to God the best of their possessions, but actually offering the worst; showing contempt for God and their office. God said that he will not accept their sacrifices , vs. 6-10. God said, “when you offer the lame and sick is it not evil?” God said your governor wouldn’t accept such a profane offering. The prophet told the people God would rather shut the doors of the temple than for them to offer unholy, worthless sacrifices on his altar – don’t offer anything at all. The prophet closes  by saying in the end times, his name will be honored by al

Chapter 8 – God promises complete restoration of the nation. He will once again be their God and they his people. All nations will seek the Lord in the last days. Israel will be so godly that ten pagan men will cling to a one Hebrew, because they’ll know that God is with them and will follow them resulting in mass salvation, vs 23. Chapter 9 – The first eight verses deal with the defeat of Israel’s by God’s servant Alexander The Great. Verse 9 deals with Messiah’s first advent fulfilled in Matthew 21:1-5 and John 12:12-16 – the triumphal entry on a donkey. The remainder of the chapter deals with the future salvation of his people, and future prosperity that is everlasting, vs 16-17. Chapter 10 – The prophet predicts the restoration of the entire nation of Israel – the northern and southern kingdoms. God made a covenant with Abraham which is an everlasting covenant. The Lord will mightily prosper his people by giving them rain in abundance, vs. 1. God will punish those wh

                                        Zechariah began prophesying in Oct/Nov 520 B.C., two months after the prophet Haggai (Haggai 1:1). Zechariah along with Haggai were part of the refugees who returned to Jerusalem from captivity in Persia to rebuild the Lord’s house and help to re-establish the nation that was destroyed by Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon in 586 B.C. Chapter 1 -   First and Second Visions - The prophet is calling the people to national repentance, vs 2. He commands them, “don’t be like your fathers who didn’t listen to the prophets in their day”, vs 4-6. Zechariah on the 24 th day of the eleventh month, which would have been around February 14 th 519 B.C. in his day, receives the first of eight visions:   First vision - He sees a man on a red horse, another on red horse, one on a brown horse, another on a white who were patrolling the earth and found it at rest. The horseman are an angelic police of some sort, vs 7-9 Another part of the chapt

It’s important to remember that we’re dealing with two separate issues; our sins judicially and our sins in real time. Jesus Christ is our advocate, our defense attorney, our mediator. His blood sacrifice on the cross satisfied the Father’s holy wrath regarding our sins past, present, and future. Jesus’ suffering and death was a plea to the Father for our vindication and forgiveness. Jesus went to trial on our behalf before the Father and declared us “not guilty ”. The Lord accepted the Son’s sacrifice on our behalf. The devil who’s our accuser and prosecutor head was bruised (Genesis 3:15). This the bible says was done before the foundation of the world, (Ephesians 1:7). This is how our sins were dealt with judicially. This was pre-salvation. Once we believed in what Jesus did, we were saved. We’ll never be punished eternally for those sins and go to hell since the Father already punished Christ for them (Isaiah 53:1-5). But, because of the wickedness that still remains in

My sheep hear My voice and I know them and they follow Me. And I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; neither shall any pluck them out of My hand. My Father who has given them to me is greater than all; and no one is able to snatch them out of My Father’s hand. I and My Father are one  - John 10:27-30 There are many in Christendom that believe that eternal salvation can be lost due to a pattern of unbroken, habitual sin in one’s life. It should raise the question if that person is actually saved in the first place; My answer is no. This type of thinking smashes against one’s liberty and confidence in God and his word. It also causes anxiety and promotes a joyless experience in Christ.  This type of theology also promotes a spirit of fear which does not come from God (II Timothy 1:7). One can never be sure if at some point God will pull the plug on their salvation and revoke it – nonsense!! It’s an entirely different matter and heresy to believe that one c

“You did not choose Me , but I chose you and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit, and that your fruit should remain”                                                                                                                                                                                                                                – John 15:16. There is a very clear line between how God and man make choices.  Man makes common choices everyday of his life; such as what to eat, what to wear, where to live, where to attend school, who to marry, what career path to choose, his belief system, what car to drive, how to raise their children, etc. These are normal choices that God obviously knows about, but he does not pre-determine them; these choices aren’t critical to his eternal plan, and were not made for man before the foundation of the world. These human choices are always made in real time . God allows us to make these choices whether they’re good or evil, u