Jim_Alaska

Neither Romans 9, nor any other passage in the Bible speaks of God drawing or choosing individuals for salvation. Not only that, but the terms "election" and "predestination" are always used with plural pronouns (for instance, the word "You" is a plural pronoun in the King James) God chose that His people would be "elect" and he chose that His people would be "predestinated" to be conformed to the image of Christ. Jesus said:  And I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will "draw" ALL men unto me." John 12:32. And He says that He is not willing that any should perish but that ALL should come to repentence. Again, God's will is to draw all men and to bring them all to repentence: He does not choose individuals for salvation.

Passover was to be eaten by the whole nation at the same time but with one lamb per household. Each household was to have its own lamb with the exception of very small homes where they could join with their neighbour. They were to eat it in hast and without leaven, with the blood applied to the door post for that household. (Exodus 12)
The lord's supper is modeled after that with the exception that Christ is the lamb of our supper.
1 Corinthians 5:7-8 Purge out therefore the old leaven, that ye may be a new lump, as ye are unleavened. For even Christ our passover is sacrificed for us: 8 therefore let us keep the feast, not with old leaven, neither with the leaven of malice and wickedness; but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth.

How can we purge out the old leaven if we are having the memorial with strangers not subject to our household? 

1 Corinthians 5:11-13 But now I have written unto you not to keep company, if any man that is called a brother be a fornicator, or covetous, or an idolater, or a railer, or a drunkard, or an extortioner; with such an one no not to eat. 12 For what have I to do to judge them also that are without? do not ye judge them that are within? 13 But them that are without God judgeth. Therefore put away from among yourselves that wicked person.

Thanks for your attempt Bro. Jerry. In an attempt to resolve this, as well as defend my position and lesson; I would suggest that you once again go over what I wrote in that lesson in regard to its restrictions. I would point you specifically to the restriction indicated by who sat at the first Lord's Supper. It was only the twelve. There were many other disciples, possibly thousands. But only those that comprised the first church (The Apostles) ate.
To me, this is instruction by example, and instituted by none other than The Lord Jesus Christ Himself.

Yes, individuals need to examine themselves. But there is also a church responsibility to make sure that those that partake of the Lord's table are worthy to do so. This is what Paul taught.
1 Corinthians 5:11 (KJV) But now I have written unto you not to keep company, if any man that is called a brother be a fornicator, or covetous, or an idolater, or a railer, or a drunkard, or an extortioner; with such an one no not to eat.
As a church, we cannot make that determination of another churches members. The Lord's Supper is a church ordinance. If you believe in Universal Church, then you might partake, as Catholics do. But if you believe in local visible church and you are not a member, what right do you have to partake of another churches ordinance?

Yes, individuals need to examine themselves. But there is also a church responsibility to make sure that those that partake of the Lord's table are worthy to do so. This is what Paul taught.
1 Corinthians 5:11 (KJV) But now I have written unto you not to keep company, if any man that is called a brother be a fornicator, or covetous, or an idolater, or a railer, or a drunkard, or an extortioner; with such an one no not to eat.
As a church, we cannot make that determination of another churches members. The Lord's Supper is a church ordinance. If you believe in Universal Church, then you might partake, as Catholics do. But if you believe in local visible church and you are not a member, what right do you have to partake of another churches ordinance?

In December 2017 I made this video, in English, on Taiwan, on Genesis 37:5-11. I do hope that it is a blessing and an encouragement to your life.
 
"Umbrella Rock." On the East Coast of Taiwan.
Photo by Alan
 

Bro. Jim,
Yes, this is me. I guess now everyone will know what I look like. I normally have not, since this time, put any videos of myself up on Online Baptist due to a couple of reasons. Due to the seriousness of some of the doctrinal problems within independent Baptist churches I decided to put up this sermon of myself instead of a written sermon.
This in one of the English prophecy messages that I did at our church, Victory Baptist Church, in Hua Lien, Taiwan awhile back. We have an American English teacher visiting our Chinese work on Taiwan that was being influenced by Pastor Steven Anderson and he wanted to honestly know what is going on as he was confused. So, I did a series of Prophecy studies, in English, on the side. The series of messages helped my friend here on Taiwan as he studied the verses that I mentioned.
Hope it is a blessing. If there are any questions on what I said, why I said it, or if you agree, I am open for questions or discussions.
Alan

Bro. Alan, is this sermon yours or by someone else? I ask simply because I do not know what you look like and therefore do not know who the speaker is.

An excellent devotion Bro. Alan. All that you brought out regarding fruit in the life of Joseph rings true. I have heard and taught on the life of Joseph and especially on Joseph as a type of Christ, but had never considered the fruits he bore as such.
Thank you for a wonderful blessing in posting this devotion.

Thank you Jim. I appreciate your thoughts. It was a blessing in my heart already in preparing the devotion.
In this particular passage, as Joseph thought about the toils and afflictions that he went through, he naturally believed that it was God who brought about the fruit in his life. Joseph, as was Christ, among the other fruits of the Spirit previous mentioned, had inward peace, longsuffering, and temperance in their lives. 
Now, God, through prosperity, and then through adversity, is going to mightily use Joseph in the lives of not only the nation of Egypt, but in the lives of his own household. The fruits of Joseph, as the fruits of Christ, will be far-reaching in every aspect of the word.

An excellent devotion Bro. Alan. All that you brought out regarding fruit in the life of Joseph rings true. I have heard and taught on the life of Joseph and especially on Joseph as a type of Christ, but had never considered the fruits he bore as such.
Thank you for a wonderful blessing in posting this devotion.

It is my hope that the Lord is using the series devotions on the life of Joseph in Egypt to encourage and strengthen your walk with the Lord.
Ocean Waves on the East Coast of Taiwan north of the city of Tai Tung.

Photo by Alan
Edited by Linux GIMP 2.8 Video Photo Editor

A wonderful devotion and commentary of Joseph Bro. Alan. I have always loved the story of Joseph, not just for the story, but also for the inspiration his life is in so many ways. It is not limited to simply old testament history, but gives us today the inspiration to overcome under even the most adverse of life's situations.
While Joseph is certainly a type of Christ, when viewed in this capacity he exhibits the power and determination to use his life situations for God's glory as well as the saving of his people. He used the adversity for good even while experiencing the heart wrenching things he went through.
Like Christ, he was forsaken of his own brethren and yet was able to use his affliction for the salvation of his own, as well as the countries surrounding Egypt. Although God had, in Pharaoh's dream, pronounced judgement upon the nation Egypt, He also made a way of escape in the person of Joseph. We find this parallel in the very person of Jesus Christ, which Joseph is a type of. Jesus has been forsaken of his own, sold out and abandoned and yet has been appointed by God as the savior of not only his own, but also of all who will come to him for council in faith. 

A wonderful devotion and commentary of Joseph Bro. Alan. I have always loved the story of Joseph, not just for the story, but also for the inspiration his life is in so many ways. It is not limited to simply old testament history, but gives us today the inspiration to overcome under even the most adverse of life's situations.
While Joseph is certainly a type of Christ, when viewed in this capacity he exhibits the power and determination to use his life situations for God's glory as well as the saving of his people. He used the adversity for good even while experiencing the heart wrenching things he went through.
Like Christ, he was forsaken of his own brethren and yet was able to use his affliction for the salvation of his own, as well as the countries surrounding Egypt. Although God had, in Pharaoh's dream, pronounced judgement upon the nation Egypt, He also made a way of escape in the person of Joseph. We find this parallel in the very person of Jesus Christ, which Joseph is a type of. Jesus has been forsaken of his own, sold out and abandoned and yet has been appointed by God as the savior of not only his own, but also of all who will come to him for council in faith. 

Jim,
I am glad to hear that the devotion was a blessing to you. As with many other saints, the life, the character, and the moving incidents in the life of Joseph, are an inspiration. 
Throughout the life of Joseph, we can see God moving His hand in the life of Joseph to use him for the deliverance of the Jewish race, the deliverance of the Egyptians, and we can see the character of Christ.
Truly, Romans 8:28 is evident in Joseph's life, "And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose."  As Joseph loved God, so should we.
Alan

Well done Bro. Alan. The life and testimony of Joseph should and can be an inspiration and source of Godly instruction for all true believers, even us these many centuries later. 

Me too, what Alan said.

I think every saved person has lost friends after getting saved.  I didn't when I was saved when I was 22. But I was viewed as weird after salvation and couldn't answer questions about Christianity like I could now. After beginning my current IFB, when I started getting serious with my Savior, my Bible learning and my commitment to church however I did lose friends  because I didn't believe in any of the new age beliefs (I never did but I was very vocal about it now). My family gives me the most grief, they're saved but liberal churches. 

I have experienced this first hand. I used to be one of the ones who ridiculed and shunned Christians. But then, once I actually turned to Christ for Salvation I found that those who had been friends before now shunned me.

And didn't God replace that old crowd with some true friends! God is good . . . all the time!

"So, after all that has been said we come to the inescapable conclusion that while salvation is free to me, there is a cost. There is great value placed on man’s soul and that price was so great that God had to pay for it himself. John. 3:16"
Thank for the message on 'The Cost of a Soul." The message was a blessing to me

“Every word of God is pure: he is a shield unto them that put their trust in him. Add thou not unto his words, lest he reprove thee, and thou be found a liar” (Proverbs 30:5-6 KJV).
The Word of God is eternally true and above man’s comprehension without the indwelling Holy Spirit sent to us to be our Teacher in all things spiritual and holy. How is it that mere man dares to sit as it’s judge and critic? The Word of God is God’s Word on paper. It is sealed with His promise to preserve His Word unto all generations, and He tells us that His Word is even above His name.
I find it utterly amazing that most of the “higher critics” of the Bible are themselves unredeemed men that denied many of the essential doctrines of the Bible. How is it possible that men, devoid of the Holy Spirit, should assume the responsibility to correct and manipulate the Bible to fit into their theological system—when the primary requirement for even understanding John 3:16 is that very same Spirit Whom they know not of?
Man has been playing a dangerous game with God for centuries, but it really become manifest in the 1800’s with the onset of German rationalism and the discovery of Egyptian copies of the Word in St. Catherine’s monastery by Count Tischendorf. Since that time, man has been the final authority over the Final Authority and has threatened man with many woes as a result.
“For I testify unto every man that heareth the words of the prophecy of this book, If any man shall add unto these things, God shall add unto him the plagues that are written in this book: And if any man shall take away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God shall take away his part out of the book of life, and out of the holy city, and from the things which are written in this book” (Revelation 22:18-19 KJV).
In order to ignore these dire warnings from God, the ‘critics’, have deemed the Book of Revelation to be nothing more than parabolic allegory and completely figurative. “There,” they assume, “God can’t touch me now!”
But what about the very next verse in our passage today? Is Proverbs also figurative?
“Add thou not unto his words, lest he reprove thee, and thou be found a liar” (vs. 6).
But, as it is necessary to have two or three witness to a matter, shall we see that Moses had something to say on the issue as well?
“Ye shall not add unto the word which I command you, neither shall ye diminish ought from it, that ye may keep the commandments of the LORD your God which I command you” (Deuteronomy 4:2 KJV).
I know the view that the Word of God is perfect and that it is preserved unto all generations is not a popular position, but somehow, I believe that standing with God in this is the better option.
“And if it seem evil unto you to serve the LORD, choose you this day whom ye will serve . . . but as for me and my house, we will serve the LORD” (Joshua 24:15 KJV).
Father, You have asked us to believe some pretty incredible things in our Christian experience. Why should it seem any more difficult to simply take you at Your word about Your Word? Can we understand it? No more than we can understand all that happened the instant we accepted You as our personal Saviour. But, Lord, all I really have to prove I’m saved is my Bible. If that Book is riddled with error and allegory, as man say, then I have nothing. But I know in whom I have believed, and I am persuaded! Guide as we stand on the truth of Your Word. Amen.

"That thy trust may be in the LORD, I have made known to thee this day, even to thee. Have not I written to thee excellent things in counsels and knowledge, That I might make thee know the certainty of the words of truth; that thou mightest answer the words of truth to them that send unto thee?" (Proverbs 22:19-21 KJV)
In the New Testament we are told that the purpose of the Scriptures are to equip the saints for the work of the ministry, all Christians are ministers. All saints have been given the ministry of reconciliation (II Corinthians 5:18-20).
In Acts 8, an Ethiopian Eunuch did not understand what he read, though it was from the salvation chapter of Isaiah 53. He needed that a man be sent to him that could explain it all to him. That man was Philip.
In Acts 10, Cornelius had a vision of an angel that instructed him to send for Peter to show him the answer of what he sought--he was seeking for God but needed a man to guide him. Notice that the angel could not explain salvation to a man for the angels of God do not know how (I Peter 1:12).
"But sanctify the Lord God in your hearts: and be ready always to give an answer to every man that asketh you a reason of the hope that is in you with meekness and fear" (I Peter 3:15 KJV).
So, we learn from our passage in Proverbs today that the words of the book were given to equip the saints for the work of the ministry, sort of an Old Testament version of "And he gave some, apostles; and some, prophets; and some, evangelists; and some, pastors and teachers; For the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ: Till we all come in the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ" (Ephesians 4:11-13 KJV).
Father, equip us so that we also may be able to explain why and how we were saved to whomsoever will may ask us, that we might have children, and even grand-children, in heaven. Amen.

"The just man walketh in his integrity: his children are blessed after him" (Proverbs 20:7 KJV).
Nowhere is this more vividly illustrated than in the lives of Jonathan Edwards and Max Jukes.
This anecdote is taken from "America is Too Young to Die by Leonard Ravenhill, Minneapolis, Minnesota: Bethany Fellowship, 1979, p. 112)
Max Jukes, [an] atheist, lived a godless life. He married an ungodly [woman], and from this union there were 310 who died as paupers, 150 were criminals, 7 were murderers, 100 were drunkards, and more than half of the women were prostitutes. His 540 descendants cost the State one and a quarter million dollars [before inflation].
Then there is a record of a great man of God, Jonathan Edwards. He lived at the same time as Max Jukes, but he married a godly [woman]. An investigation was made of 1,394 known descendants of Jonathan Edwards, of which 13 became college presidents, 65 college professors, 3 United States Senators, 30 judges, 100 lawyers, 60 physicians, 75 army and navy officers, 100 preachers and missionaries, 60 authors of prominence, one Vice-President of the United States, 80 public officials in other capacities, 295 college graduates, among whom were governors of states and ministers to foreign countries. Jonathan Edwards' descendants did not cost the state a penny.
Today, in the name of tolerance and multiculturalism, we are told that God must be kept out of public view. It is even wrong to say, "God bless America" or "Merry Christmas," according to these "politically correct" demagogues. Instead of the blessings that came to Jonathan Edwards' progeny, we see a growing multitude like the descendants of Max Jukes! "Righteousness exalteth a nation: but sin is a reproach to any people" (Proverbs 14:34).
Lord, let us live our lives not for today, but for the generations that shall follow us, should You tarry Your return. Perhaps, by Your grace, it might be said a couple of hundred years from now that the reason a family is godly and serving Jesus is because of the life of their great, great grandfather. Give us, O Lord, a godly heritage and progeny! Amen!

"A false witness shall not be unpunished, and he that speaketh lies shall not escape" (Proverbs 19:5 KJV).
"A false witness shall not be unpunished, and he that speaketh lies shall perish" (Proverbs 19:9 KJV).
Often, in Scripture, when the word "witness" is used it is speaking of a spiritual, or godly, testimony. Of course, that includes lying to others, or bearing a false witness. In this instance I believe it is pointing to the false shepherd assuming to speak for the Lord, giving directions to the people, when he was not sent by God. And I doubt there is anything more loathsome to the Lord than a lying shepherd . . .
"My people hath been lost sheep: their shepherds have caused them to go astray, they have turned them away on the mountains: they have gone from mountain to hill, they have forgotten their restingplace" (Jeremiah 50:6 KJV).
Someone presuming to speak for the Lord and telling lies to the people is forewarned that not only will he not escape [God's righteous judgment] but he shall perish [spend an eternity in hell]. I do not unjustly judge, for if a man preaches another gospel other than the one that Paul delivered of the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus Christ, a salvation of grace and not works - that man is accursed - and cannot possibly be saved himself for that would mean that he knew the true gospel and would teach it.
Lord, help us to always carefully handle Your Word so that we do not allow error to creep in. We know we are saved, but in some areas of the Word we are prone to wonder into error. Help us, dear Lord, to rightly divide the Word of truth which has been delivered to us and preserved unto all generations. Amen.

Pentecost was the empowering of the already existing church. The disciples were instructed to wait for this empowering. The church was already in existence at pentecost.
The following are some scriptural evidences that the Church did not begin in the days of Abraham, or on the day of Pentecost, but rather during Christ's earthly ministry. The Church clearly existed before the day of Pentecost.

1. Jesus Christ said, "I will build my church" (Matt. 16:18) which He did during His earthly ministry.

2. The authority of disciples was placed in the church during Christ's earthly ministry (Matt. 18:15-19).

3. Jesus sang the praises of God "in the midst of the church" (Heb. 2:12; Matt. 26:30).

4. They had a commission to preach the Gospel before Pentecost (Matt. 10:5-7).

5. They had "the keys of the kingdom of heaven", and these were given to His church (Matt. 16:18-19).

6. They were baptized believers before Pentecost (Matt. 3:5-6; Jn. 4:1).

7. They had authority to baptize before Pentecost (Jn. 4:1; Matt. 28:18-20).

8. There was an ordination service before Pentecost (Mk. 3:13-14).

9. There were apostles before Pentecost; and the office of apostle was a church office (Eph. 4:11; I Cor. 12:28; Lk. 6:12-13).

10. They had a church roll of 120 members before Pentecost (Acts 1:15).

11. They had the Great Commission before Pentecost (Matt. 28:18-20).

12. About 3000 were added unto His church roll on the day of Pentecost; You cannot add to something that does not already exist Acts 2:41).

13. They had a business meeting before Pentecost (Acts 1:23-26).

14. They had a church treasurer before Pentecost (Jn. 13:29).

15. The ordinance of the Lord's Supper was instituted and observed before Pentecost (Matt. 26:26-30).

 

"... that he went into a mountain to pray and continued all night in prayer to God. And when it was day he called unto him his disciples and of them he chose twelve whom he named apostles. --- Luke 6:12-13.

"And God hath set some in the church, first apostles. --- I Corinthians 12:28.