AVBibleBeliever

Shortly after leaving Egypt Abraham returned back to the land God brought him to a land filled with people of the world and its influences. And what did he do? Well lets look.

Gen 12: 7, 8 And the LORD appeared unto Abram, and said, Unto thy seed will I give this land: and there builded he an altar unto the LORD, who appeared unto him. And he removed from thence unto a mountain on the east of Bethel, and pitched his tent, having Bethel on the west, and Hai on the east: and there he builded an altar unto the LORD, and called upon the name of the LORD.

Now everyone knows what a camp is, Right? it is a temporary dwelling place where one sets up a tent or temporary dwelling.

When God has made himself known to a man and that man comes to that place where he trust in the finished work of the Cross of Christ and hears of the promises God will give him. He is no longer a native to the world but a sojourner with no place of his own. His life is set between the places the Abode/House of God (Bethel) and the world (Hai). His life will be by faith in his God, receiving the promise of God of a new body and a life with Christ forever, and like Abraham his life may pass without ever seeing the promises.

The thing that is going to give you strength to live in between heaven and this world is by building up the altar. If your body is the Temple of the Holy Ghost then your heart is the Altar by which you offer up not just spiritual sacrifices of thanksgiving. But also prayers, requests, petitions and supplication with those thanksgivings. And we do so through the sacrifice and name of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. It is the meeting place you have with God while in this world.

Heb 11:8-10 By faith Abraham, when he was called to go out into a place which he should after receive for an inheritance, OBeyed; and he went out, not knowing whither he went. By faith he sojourned in the land of promise, as in a strange country, dwelling in tabernacles with Isaac and JacOB, the heirs with him of the same promise: For he looked for a city which hath foundations, whose builder and maker is God.

That is a life of Faith. We are to be living a life of faith just like Abraham, A life that trust in God and not in ourselves, our teachers, our environment or any government. A life lived in the world but not of the world. This is the very life a Christian takes upon himself once he places his trust upon the finished work of Christ on the cross for his sins.

Christians should be drawing closer to God at the altar of ones heart and not closer to the world. But unfortunately many are following the ways of the world especially following worldliness disguised as Christianity. i.e. the dancing, prancing, man glorifying, without faith. Pretty much practicing that which is found in 2 Tim 3:1-7 This know also, that in the last days perilous times shall come. For men shall be lovers of their own selves, covetous, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disOBedient to parents, unthankful, unholy, Without natural affection, trucebreakers, false accusers, incontinent, fierce, despisers of those that are good, Traitors, heady, highminded, lovers of pleasures more than lovers of God; Having a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof: from such turn away. For of this sort are they which creep into houses, and lead captive silly women laden with sins, led away with divers lusts, Ever learning, and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth. Many of these traits are found in those who make up our churches and because we are not taught the word of God we are left to our own ways and thoughts and not God’s.

There are two things that will happen in a Christians life when they are between two places, he will either practice works of the flesh or he will produce the fruit of the spirit.
Gal 5:19-21 Now the works of the flesh are manifest, which are these; Adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lasciviousness, Idolatry, witchcraft, hatred, variance, emulations, wrath, strife, seditions, heresies, Envyings, murders, drunkenness, revellings, and such like: of the which I tell you before, as I have also told you in time past, that they which do such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God. These are the everyday works of any body any where in the world it is called sin. It is odd for us to think that works of the flesh are sinful but they are.

But Christians should be progressing in fruit bearing.
Galatians 5:22-25 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, Meekness, temperance: against such there is no law. And they that are Christ's have crucified the flesh with the affections and lusts. If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit. These are supposed to be the everyday fruit of those who are saved. When you have and practiced these fruits, the former things no longer run your life. These two things are against each other they do not blend.

Now what we just looked at is the two natures that reside in every born of the Spirit believer. It is the middle ground between both these natures, between Bethel and Ai where we are camped.

The works of the flesh are the effects of having worldly friends, worldly possessions and worldly practices, and these cause us to become hardened to the practice of sin and creates in us hard hearts to God’s word. While God’s word is clear we are to separate ourselves from the world and encourage each other in our faith. We must learn, grow and teach others the sound doctrines that we have learned from the Holy Bible. We are to fellowship with those who practice and believe as we do. While we have a tendency to go between Bethel and Ai in our lives there is no reason for us to do so. So we need to check ourselves are we performing the works of the flesh in what we do or are we producing fruit of the spirit in what we do?

We must remember we are not of this world and this world is going to come to an end. We need to stop acting like the world and be living in this world as if we are not waiting for Christ’s return. We are to be wise and good stewards of what God has given us. Taking care of our children and families and poor in our church. Not praising worldliness and glorifying in it to the exclusion of all else and call it life in Christ.

The first step in walking as a true believer of God’s word is to trust Jesus for your salvation. If you are saved then just get right before him and turn your eyes upon Bethel you home in heaven.

Second build up the altar where you can go to seek God, while you are living between Bethel and Ai. A place where you can go to and communication with God our father and our Lord Jesus Christ. You do this by reading your Bible more than just once a day, study it memorize it and believe it.

We are camped between our home in heaven and the world, we are not of this world but we are in it. And as such we need to build an altar to go too while we are living between heaven and earth

A sure key to successful Christian life lay here in these 7 verses. I had a man once tell me, “Those books are for Pastors” I think over the years as many try to systematically teach doctrine they have inadvertently caused a separation of Church leadership and layperson, something the Bible was truly never meant to do. In every instance of Christ's teaching he tried to show the leaders were no better than the followers, as a matter of fact Paul taught that they were of a higher accountability because they were teaching the word.

So I am going to give you a little hint here. These books are written to INDIVIDUALS and each person of the body of Christ is an individual and yet we are all one in Christ. These books are books for individuals and as such we should pay closer attention to them. Not just for leadership but personal spiritual growth. Remember that each person in Christ teaches with their words, actions and life style. The first step we see here in these verses is we are to be strong in the Grace.

1) You Must Be strong in the Grace
Vv 1 ¶ Thou therefore, my son, be strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus.
A major prOBlem in the church today is a misconception of what grace is. Grace is not freedom to sin without any repercussions. That was a prOBlem in the early church as well when Paul wrote, Romans 6:1, 2 What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin, that grace may abound? God forbid. How shall we, that are dead to sin, live any longer therein? While Paul taught by his very life style how to live in this grace, many Christians today have not been taught by the example of others or their leaders how to be strong in the Grace. And like all of our life it is by faith.

So many have taken on a “oh Well I am a sinner saved by grace” instead of “I am strong in the Grace that is in Christ Jesus.” While that first statement is true it is of our past condition but in our present condition we are no longer alive to sin but alive to righteousness. This is where the true understanding of Grace lay.
Grace is the Power no longer to sin. Before I was saved I could do nothing but sin and even my good deeds were sinful. But once I was saved by grace through faith I was empowered by the Holy Ghost no longer to sin.

2) You Must Commit This Grace to Others
Vs 2 And the things that thou hast heard of me among many witnesses, the same commit thou to faithful men, who shall be able to teach others also.
This is not about teaching doctrines or denominational creeds this is about committing the teachings of a Life Style to others that they may do the same. This is where the weakness in the church lay as the wrong idea of grace is taught and no one living it out for others to see and learn from as living ensamples.

3) You Must Endure Hardness by Grace
Vs 3 Thou therefore endure hardness, as a good soldier of Jesus Christ. No man that warreth entangleth himself with the affairs of this life; that he may please him who hath chosen him to be a soldier.
A Christian must learn to endure hardness. I know it is real easy for me to go to the Greek and try and change the English word to another to make it understandable. But if I can’t understand this word in English how will I ever know it in the dead language of Koine Greek? While hardness could imply hardship it would have broader meaning when we learn it as hardness.

Hardness is a unique word used only 7 times in the Bible and this reference being the 7th. To establish the meaning we must look at all the verse especially the first one and in all the other 6 uses it has to do with mans heart and I see no reason for that meaning to change here.

In the past soldiers were the local police. There is one thing I have OBserved in police and that is that the people they are employed to protect often are very hard toward their actions and duties. When the police or military are called forth to take action during a disaster, the police and soldiers have to put up with a lot of opposition and hardness from the people.
Understanding that men hearts are hard against those in leadership over them or in authority it is in like manner today many men of God when trying to minister the gospel of Grace find themselves in a world that in opposition or hardness of heart to the message of the Gospel. This we, both the layperson and the leader, must endure this hardness toward the gospel and the teaching of Grace, keep at our walk and the message until we have finished our own course and calling in Christ. We must learn to endure this hardness just as soldier/police has been trained to endure hardness.

4) Vs You Must have singleness of Heart of Grace
Vs 4 No man that warreth entangleth himself with the affairs of this life; that he may please him who hath chosen him to be a soldier.
Another truth we see in these verse is if you are serving Christ with a double minded heart you can’t fully serve him. I have a friend who has been saying for years he wants to serve the Lord in the mission field but yet he always has one more thing he must do before he can go. And as of yet he still is not in the mission field. No, if God calls you to go, you go. If he calls you to do a work, you do that work, but don’t serve God with a double minded heart, serve him with singleness so you can please him who called you.

5) You Must Strive to Master Yourself in the Grace
Vs 5And if a man also strive for masteries, yet is he not crowned, except he strive lawfully.
Sin comes easy in our life and if we truly want to live in the grace of God we must reckon ourselves dead to sin and alive to righteousness. You must strive or work hard at your sanctification. That is to separate yourself from the sin that so easily besets us. As you do this you are working out your own salvation just as Paul encouraged us in Php 2:12 ¶ Wherefore, my beloved, as ye have always OBeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling. When striving correctly with The holy Ghost and the word of God as our guide we will be working out our salvation.

6) You Must be First Partaker of the Fruits of Grace.
2Ti 2:6 The husbandman that laboureth must be first partaker of the fruits.
A Husbandman is what we call a farmer or one that grows plants. Whether flowering or fruiting plants grow in a certain way and must be cared for in order to bring forth abundant fruit. But if a husband has no fruit to partake of then he also has no fruit to share with others.

Your Christian walk/life is like a plant and you are to care for your walk as you would a plant in order to bring forth fruit. Now you can let it grow wild and un-manicured and the result will be less fruit. But if you manicure or prune it properly then you will cause it to produce more fruit. Jesus taught this in John 15:1-8 ¶ I am the true vine, and my Father is the husbandman. Every branch in me that beareth not fruit he taketh away: and every branch that beareth fruit, he purgeth it, that it may bring forth more fruit. Now ye are clean through the word which I have spoken unto you. Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, except it abide in the vine; no more can ye, except ye abide in me. I am the vine, ye are the branches: He that abideth in me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit: for without me ye can do nothing. If a man abide not in me, he is cast forth as a branch, and is withered; and men gather them, and cast them into the fire, and they are burned. If ye abide in me, and my words abide in you, ye shall ask what ye will, and it shall be done unto you. Herein is my Father glorified, that ye bear much fruit; so shall ye be my disciples. Through the strength of the Grace that is in Christ Jesus we should all be bearing more and more fruit.
So if you are a branch and you have had fruit in your life, God will allow you to be purged meaning he will remove parts of the branch in order that more fruit will come. We call this pruning. Notice that the branch first brought forth fruit to begin with. A branch first has to show it is capable of bearing fruit. Once it does then it is pruned so the branch will thicken and this will allow it to be able to handle the weight of more fruit. Example that pulls all these points together.

7) You Must understand It is the Grace of God
Vs 7 Consider what I say; and the Lord give thee understanding in all things.
This Grace is of God and he first gives it in Salvation which only comes through faith in the finished work of Jesus Christ on the cross. Then you must continue to grow in that grace through faith as well. Col 2:6 As ye have therefore received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk ye in him: Peter also teaches 2Peter 3:18 But grow in grace, and in the knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. To him be glory both now and for ever. Amen.

A sure key to successful Christian life lay here in these 7 verses. I had a man once tell me, “Those books are for Pastors” I think over the years as many try to systematically teach doctrine they have inadvertently caused a separation of Church leadership and layperson, something the Bible was truly never meant to do. In every instance of Christ's teaching he tried to show the leaders were no better than the followers, as a matter of fact Paul taught that they were of a higher accountability because they were teaching the word.

So I am going to give you a little hint here. These books are written to INDIVIDUALS and each person of the body of Christ is an individual and yet we are all one in Christ. These books are books for individuals and as such we should pay closer attention to them. Not just for leadership but personal spiritual growth. Remember that each person in Christ teaches with their words, actions and life style. The first step we see here in these verses is we are to be strong in the Grace.

1) You Must Be strong in the Grace
Vv 1 ¶ Thou therefore, my son, be strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus.
A major prOBlem in the church today is a misconception of what grace is. Grace is not freedom to sin without any repercussions. That was a prOBlem in the early church as well when Paul wrote, Romans 6:1, 2 What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin, that grace may abound? God forbid. How shall we, that are dead to sin, live any longer therein? While Paul taught by his very life style how to live in this grace, many Christians today have not been taught by the example of others or their leaders how to be strong in the Grace. And like all of our life it is by faith.

So many have taken on a “oh Well I am a sinner saved by grace” instead of “I am strong in the Grace that is in Christ Jesus.” While that first statement is true it is of our past condition but in our present condition we are no longer alive to sin but alive to righteousness. This is where the true understanding of Grace lay.
Grace is the Power no longer to sin. Before I was saved I could do nothing but sin and even my good deeds were sinful. But once I was saved by grace through faith I was empowered by the Holy Ghost no longer to sin.

2) You Must Commit This Grace to Others
Vs 2 And the things that thou hast heard of me among many witnesses, the same commit thou to faithful men, who shall be able to teach others also.
This is not about teaching doctrines or denominational creeds this is about committing the teachings of a Life Style to others that they may do the same. This is where the weakness in the church lay as the wrong idea of grace is taught and no one living it out for others to see and learn from as living ensamples.

3) You Must Endure Hardness by Grace
Vs 3 Thou therefore endure hardness, as a good soldier of Jesus Christ. No man that warreth entangleth himself with the affairs of this life; that he may please him who hath chosen him to be a soldier.
A Christian must learn to endure hardness. I know it is real easy for me to go to the Greek and try and change the English word to another to make it understandable. But if I can’t understand this word in English how will I ever know it in the dead language of Koine Greek? While hardness could imply hardship it would have broader meaning when we learn it as hardness.

Hardness is a unique word used only 7 times in the Bible and this reference being the 7th. To establish the meaning we must look at all the verse especially the first one and in all the other 6 uses it has to do with mans heart and I see no reason for that meaning to change here.

In the past soldiers were the local police. There is one thing I have OBserved in police and that is that the people they are employed to protect often are very hard toward their actions and duties. When the police or military are called forth to take action during a disaster, the police and soldiers have to put up with a lot of opposition and hardness from the people.
Understanding that men hearts are hard against those in leadership over them or in authority it is in like manner today many men of God when trying to minister the gospel of Grace find themselves in a world that in opposition or hardness of heart to the message of the Gospel. This we, both the layperson and the leader, must endure this hardness toward the gospel and the teaching of Grace, keep at our walk and the message until we have finished our own course and calling in Christ. We must learn to endure this hardness just as soldier/police has been trained to endure hardness.

4) Vs You Must have singleness of Heart of Grace
Vs 4 No man that warreth entangleth himself with the affairs of this life; that he may please him who hath chosen him to be a soldier.
Another truth we see in these verse is if you are serving Christ with a double minded heart you can’t fully serve him. I have a friend who has been saying for years he wants to serve the Lord in the mission field but yet he always has one more thing he must do before he can go. And as of yet he still is not in the mission field. No, if God calls you to go, you go. If he calls you to do a work, you do that work, but don’t serve God with a double minded heart, serve him with singleness so you can please him who called you.

5) You Must Strive to Master Yourself in the Grace
Vs 5And if a man also strive for masteries, yet is he not crowned, except he strive lawfully.
Sin comes easy in our life and if we truly want to live in the grace of God we must reckon ourselves dead to sin and alive to righteousness. You must strive or work hard at your sanctification. That is to separate yourself from the sin that so easily besets us. As you do this you are working out your own salvation just as Paul encouraged us in Php 2:12 ¶ Wherefore, my beloved, as ye have always OBeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling. When striving correctly with The holy Ghost and the word of God as our guide we will be working out our salvation.

6) You Must be First Partaker of the Fruits of Grace.
2Ti 2:6 The husbandman that laboureth must be first partaker of the fruits.
A Husbandman is what we call a farmer or one that grows plants. Whether flowering or fruiting plants grow in a certain way and must be cared for in order to bring forth abundant fruit. But if a husband has no fruit to partake of then he also has no fruit to share with others.

Your Christian walk/life is like a plant and you are to care for your walk as you would a plant in order to bring forth fruit. Now you can let it grow wild and un-manicured and the result will be less fruit. But if you manicure or prune it properly then you will cause it to produce more fruit. Jesus taught this in John 15:1-8 ¶ I am the true vine, and my Father is the husbandman. Every branch in me that beareth not fruit he taketh away: and every branch that beareth fruit, he purgeth it, that it may bring forth more fruit. Now ye are clean through the word which I have spoken unto you. Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, except it abide in the vine; no more can ye, except ye abide in me. I am the vine, ye are the branches: He that abideth in me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit: for without me ye can do nothing. If a man abide not in me, he is cast forth as a branch, and is withered; and men gather them, and cast them into the fire, and they are burned. If ye abide in me, and my words abide in you, ye shall ask what ye will, and it shall be done unto you. Herein is my Father glorified, that ye bear much fruit; so shall ye be my disciples. Through the strength of the Grace that is in Christ Jesus we should all be bearing more and more fruit.
So if you are a branch and you have had fruit in your life, God will allow you to be purged meaning he will remove parts of the branch in order that more fruit will come. We call this pruning. Notice that the branch first brought forth fruit to begin with. A branch first has to show it is capable of bearing fruit. Once it does then it is pruned so the branch will thicken and this will allow it to be able to handle the weight of more fruit. Example that pulls all these points together.

7) You Must understand It is the Grace of God
Vs 7 Consider what I say; and the Lord give thee understanding in all things.
This Grace is of God and he first gives it in Salvation which only comes through faith in the finished work of Jesus Christ on the cross. Then you must continue to grow in that grace through faith as well. Col 2:6 As ye have therefore received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk ye in him: Peter also teaches 2Peter 3:18 But grow in grace, and in the knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. To him be glory both now and for ever. Amen.

There is a doctrine being circulated today amongst Christians that Melchizedek of Genesis chapter 14 was actually a Christophany.  That is, a pre-incarnate appearance of Jesus Christ.

Many base this doctrine on a passage in Hebrews that states

Hebrews 7:2-3 To whom also Abraham gave a tenth part of all; first being by interpretation King of righteousness, and after that also King of Salem, which is, King of peace; Without father, without mother, without descent, having neither beginning of days, nor end of life; but made like unto the Son of God; abideth a priest continually.

They say because Melchizedek was said to have had no beginning of days, nor end of life and without descent, he must be Jesus Christ.

However, a proper study of Scripture reveals that Jesus and Melchizedek were not the same person. 

1.  Melchizedek was said in the passage above to have been “without mother, without father.”  Yet the Bible tells us Jesus had both a mother and a Father.  God was His Father, Mary was His mother.  This alone should refute the notion that Melchizedek was Jesus.  Sadly, with many it does not.

The statement that Melchizedek had no mother, nor father is simply stating that there is no record of his birth parents.  The Bible clearly gives man the record of Jesus’ birth, His parents names, His life, His death, and His subsequent ascension to His throne.

2.  The Bible says of Melchizedek that he was “without descent.”  The Greek for “without descent” is the word “agenealogētos” and is defined as “one whose descent there is no record of, without genealogy”.  The inspired author of the book of Hebrews wrote that there is no record of Melchizedek’s descent.  But we have the genealogy of Jesus Christ in Matthew chapter 1 and Luke chapter 3.  Clearly, the two are not the same person.

3.  The Bible says of Melchizedek that he had “neither beginning of days, nor end of life.”  Now, if this statement were the only thing that the Bible told us concerning Melchizedek, the argument that he was Jesus might hold to be true.  But because of the facts mentioned in point #1 above, we must come to no other conclusion than that Jesus and Melchizedek could not have been the same person.  Therefore, the statement that Melchizedek had neither beginning of days, nor end of life more than likely refers to what was previously said before… that there is no genealogical record of his being born or of his death.  This is not to say he never was born.  It simply means we have no record of his birth.  Since Hebrews 7:4 identifies Melchizedek as a man, it is OBvious that Melchizedek had to have been born of a woman.  This means he had a beginning.  This forfeits any possibility of him being Jesus Christ in Genesis 14.

4.  The Bible says of Melchizedek that he was “made like unto the Son of God.”  “Like unto” does not mean “is.”  If “like unto” means “is” we have a serious prOBlem.  Jesus said the kingdom of Heaven is like unto grain of mustard seed.  To say “like unto” means “is,” would mean that the kingdom of Heaven is not “like” a mustard seed, but that it is a grain of mustard seed. 

Just as Jesus was comparing the Kingdom of Heaven to a mustard seed, the author of Hebrews was comparing Melchizedek to Jesus Christ.

And his comparison of the two shows that the two clearly are not the same person.