You Don't Know What You Don't Know

The Bible says a lot about learning. The most famous passage is Deuteronomy 6:1-9.  I consider it "educational philosophy" of the Bible.  In theological terms, it would be the "discipleship paradigm".  In addition to this, Jesus talked about the importance of teaching/learning as part of His great commission (Matthew 28:19-20) when He said "Teaching them" to obey all that I've commanded.  Discipleship is the mission of the church.  In the Great Commission, you may not know that the only imperative or command is "make disciples", not "go".

When I was in U.S. Army Chaplain School, the commander was fond of saying:  "You don't know what you don't know".  That was a clever way of describing the destructive nature of ignorance.  I experienced that this morning, while surfing the web, I found a youtube video that showed how to make screenshots on my computer, really easily.  In addition, I learned many other amazing functions.  So what?  I've had this computer for 18 mos.  I didn't know I could do any of that.  I was ignorant of its features.

That's permissible, I guess when it comes to technology, but not the word of God.  The Bible gives us the answer to all of humanities' problems in the Person of Christ. Romans 10:16 says that faith comes by hearing.  As I reflect on this, I think of the Scripture that says:  "Taste and See that the Lord is good".

Here's an example of something I learned today about making a screenshot. (quickly)  This is what Bethel's new Facebook page looks like:

And by the way, here's the reference to "taste and see that the Lord is good" Psalm 34:8.

Psalm 25:4 says "Teach Me" May this be our prayer as we come to the word of God.

A New Facebook Page for Bethel

Facebook is a great way to create a presence and connect with friends.

Bethel's Facebook Page

Here is what it will look like when you get to it.

Just like all technology, it's like fire, it can be used for good or evil. Take sound for example.  There is no shortage of churches or preachers who have associated problems in the sound booth with "the devil".  People work really hard to make it all work, those that work with sound and technology are worthy of double honor.

We tried to show a video the past two weeks.  The audio wasn't working. I'm thankful for the "few laborers" who faithfully try to make it happen in church each Sunday. Some days, it just doesn't work.  Here is the video.

We have a new Facebook presence @ Bethel.  We're trying to use technology to help let people know about our great church.  It's certainly not an end in itself.  I wonder what Luther, Arminius, Wesley, or the early Pentecostals might have done with technology.  I know they would share the good news with whoever would listen.  Maybe that's why the power of technology is so useful to the church.

https://www.facebook.com/betheltemple

Check us out, give us a "like".  If you're ever in Ft. Worth on a Sunday, come give us a visit.

A Prayer of Response

Today, at the close of a sermon on 1 Peter 2:1-10, entitled "Growing Up in Christ", after inviting those who did not know Christ to stop struggling and come to Him. (there were no raised hands btw...more later on this)  I asked the congregation to stand and pray this prayer of response.  The minute I put it up I realized I'd not made the font large enough to see, and the font was too narrow to read at a distance.  Nevertheless, the Saints of Bethel read on! After church, a couple of friendly church members teased me about the "readability"....point well taken.  In the spirit of this great church's determination, I offer this prayer slide, with the hope that our hearts will be drawn to the God who has given us so much.

Vice Lists in the New Testament

I was preparing for my sermon this week on 1 Peter 2:1-10. I was reading passage background in the Expositor's Bible Commentary and found this quote that interested me.

Vice lists such as this were common in the ancient world and also in the NT (cf. Mark 7:21–22; Rom 1:29–31; 13:13; 1 Cor 5:10; Gal 5:19–20; 2 Peter 2:10–14; and the appendix to Eric H. Wahlstrom’s New Life in Christ [Philadelphia: Muhlenberg, 1950], pp. 281–87).

Vice Lists.  I had never thought of the Bible as having Vice lists.  Vices are something believers are supposed to avoid, and of course, that's exactly the point that the biblical writers are trying to make.  There are behaviors that don't fit a Christian.  

In Logos, I learned today that you can highlight any passage in any book that contains Bible verses and it will put those verses into a passage list.  I've done that and wanted to present it here for you to enjoy in your study of vices. (with a view of course of "putting them away"  (1 Peter 2:1)

Vice Lists in NT

1 Peter 2:1	So put away all malice and all deceit and hypocrisy and envy and all slander.
1 Peter 1:21	who through him are believers in God, who raised him from the dead and gave him glory, so that your faith and hope are in God.
Mark 7:21–22	21 For from within, out of the heart of man, come evil thoughts, sexual immorality, theft, murder, adultery, 22 coveting, wickedness, deceit, sensuality, envy, slander, pride, foolishness.
Romans 1:29–31	29 They were filled with all manner of unrighteousness, evil, covetousness, malice. They are full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, maliciousness. They are gossips, 30 slanderers, haters of God, insolent, haughty, boastful, inventors of evil, disobedient to parents, 31 foolish, faithless, heartless, ruthless.
Romans 13:13	Let us walk properly as in the daytime, not in orgies and drunkenness, not in sexual immorality and sensuality, not in quarreling and jealousy.
1 Corinthians 5:10	not at all meaning the sexually immoral of this world, or the greedy and swindlers, or idolaters, since then you would need to go out of the world.
Galatians 5:19–20	19 Now the works of the flesh are evident: sexual immorality, impurity, sensuality, 20 idolatry, sorcery, enmity, strife, jealousy, fits of anger, rivalries, dissensions, divisions,
2 Peter 2:10–14	10 and especially those who indulge in the lust of defiling passion and despise authority. Bold and willful, they do not tremble as they blaspheme the glorious ones, 11 whereas angels, though greater in might and power, do not pronounce a blasphemous judgment against them before the Lord. 12 But these, like irrational animals, creatures of instinct, born to be caught and destroyed, blaspheming about matters of which they are ignorant, will also be destroyed in their destruction, 13 suffering wrong as the wage for their wrongdoing. They count it pleasure to revel in the daytime. They are blots and blemishes, reveling in their deceptions, while they feast with you. 14 They have eyes full of adultery, insatiable for sin. They entice unsteady souls. They have hearts trained in greed. Accursed children!
1 Peter 2:2	Like newborn infants, long for the pure spiritual milk, that by it you may grow up into salvation—
1 Peter 1:5	who by God’s power are being guarded through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time.
1 Peter 1:9	obtaining the outcome of your faith, the salvation of your souls.
1 Corinthians 3:1–4	1 But I, brothers, could not address you as spiritual people, but as people of the flesh, as infants in Christ. 2 I fed you with milk, not solid food, for you were not ready for it. And even now you are not yet ready, 3 for you are still of the flesh. For while there is jealousy and strife among you, are you not of the flesh and behaving only in a human way? 4 For when one says, “I follow Paul,” and another, “I follow Apollos,” are you not being merely human?
Hebrews 5:11–14	11 About this we have much to say, and it is hard to explain, since you have become dull of hearing. 12 For though by this time you ought to be teachers, you need someone to teach you again the basic principles of the oracles of God. You need milk, not solid food, 13 for everyone who lives on milk is unskilled in the word of righteousness, since he is a child. 14 But solid food is for the mature, for those who have their powers of discernment trained by constant practice to distinguish good from evil. Here are some references in the list that aren't vices, but cross-references to the truths mentioned in Peter.
1 Peter 2:3	if indeed you have tasted that the Lord is good.
Psalm 34:8	Oh, taste and see that the Lord is good! Blessed is the man who takes refuge in him!

Showers of Blessing

Ezekiel is a hard book to read.  There is the wheel within the wheel, there is the object lesson of laying on his side for a year and making a clay model of Jerusalem and prophesying against it.  Like many of the prophetic books, one must understand where they were in the timeline of Israel to appreciate what was going on in their lives.  I like to tell my Old Testament Literature students that you have to ask:  Was the prophet ministering before during or after the exile?  That changes everything.  I even try to get them to look at this sign in the back of the room:

This way it reminds them of the 2 most important events in the Old Testament.


1.  Exodus
2.  Exile

Did the events in the Old Testament happen before, during or after the Exodus?  Or did they happen before, during or after the Exile?

Context changes everything.


Ezekiel was before and during the exile.


The time period in which he lived was full of frustration and social upheaval.  The Northern Kingdom of Israel fell in 722, The Southern Kingdom of Judah fell in 586 and the Babylonian Kingdom led by Nebucahadnezzar deported the people of God to Babylon.

Ezekiel was among the deportees.  The Expositor's Bible Commentary puts it this way:

It was in this period of international turmoil and unrest, combined with the immorality and apostasy of Judah, that Ezekiel ministered. Having grown up during the reform of Josiah, and having been taken captive in the deportation of Jehoiachin in 597 b.c., Ezekiel, both a priest and a prophet, proclaimed to the exiled Jews in Babylonia the Lord’s judgment and ultimate blessing.^[1] Frank E. Gaebelein, Geoffrey W. Grogan, Charles L. Feinberg et al., The Expositor's Bible Commentary, Volume 6: Isaiah, Jeremiah, Lamentations, Ezekiel (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan Publishing House, 1986), 739.

In chapter 34, Ezekiel is on a roll talking about the future of Israel, when God's promises will finally be fulfilled.

That's what caught my attention.  Here's the passage:

Ezekiel 34:25–31 (ESV)

25 “I will make with them a covenant of peace and banish wild beasts from the land, so that they may dwell securely in the wilderness and sleep in the woods. 26 And I will make them and the places all around my hill a blessing, and I will send down the showers in their season; they shall be showers of blessing. 27 And the trees of the field shall yield their fruit, and the earth shall yield its increase, and they shall be secure in their land. And they shall know that I am the Lord, when I break the bars of their yoke, and deliver them from the hand of those who enslaved them. 28 They shall no more be a prey to the nations, nor shall the beasts of the land devour them. They shall dwell securely, and none shall make them afraid. 29 And I will provide for them renowned plantations so that they shall no more be consumed with hunger in the land, and no longer suffer the reproach of the nations. 30 And they shall know that I am the Lord their God with them, and that they, the house of Israel, are my people, declares the Lord God. 31 And you are my sheep, human sheep of my pasture, and I am your God, declares the Lord God.”

Paul the apostle understood this great truth when he declared in Romans 

Romans 8:12–30 (ESV)

12 So then, brothers, we are debtors, not to the flesh, to live according to the flesh. 13 For if you live according to the flesh you will die, but if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live. 14 For all who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God. 15 For you did not receive the spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you have received the Spirit of adoption as sons, by whom we cry, “Abba! Father!” 16 The Spirit himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God, 17 and if children, then heirs—heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, provided we suffer with him in order that we may also be glorified with him.

18 For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed to us. 19 For the creation waits with eager longing for the revealing of the sons of God. 20 For the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of him who subjected it, in hope 21 that the creation itself will be set free from its bondage to corruption and obtain the freedom of the glory of the children of God. 22 For we know that the whole creation has been groaning together in the pains of childbirth until now. 23 And not only the creation, but we ourselves, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies. 24 For in this hope we were saved. Now hope that is seen is not hope. For who hopes for what he sees? 25 But if we hope for what we do not see, we wait for it with patience. 

26 Likewise the Spirit helps us in our weakness. For we do not know what to pray for as we ought, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words. 27 And he who searches hearts knows what is the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for the saints according to the will of God. 28 And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose. 29 For those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, in order that he might be the firstborn among many brothers. 30 And those whom he predestined he also called, and those whom he called he also justified, and those whom he justified he also glorified.

I'm concerned that today's believers are living way below their high status in Christ.  Consider this:

God sent His Son in Christ to redeem us from all sin.

Jesus rose from the dead, conquering death, hell and the grave

The disciples, following Jesus command, waited for the promise of the Holy Spirit.

Jesus instructed His disciples on the necessity of Spirit baptism in John 7:37-39

The Angel told the disciples on the Mt. of Olives that Jesus would return in the same manner that He wen into heaven.  Acts 1:9-11

Jesus declared to John 60 years later from the throne of God that He would return (Revelation 22:6-7)

We have the blessing of Salvation, the presence and power of the Holy Spirit, and the hope of His Soon Return.

Showers of Blessings!

129 Years ago, Major Daniel Whittle, and  James McGranahan collaborated on this song that has landed in almost every hymnal since.  It echoes the cry of the Church and the believer for blessings from God.  This hymn first appeared in Gospel Hymns No. 4, 1883.

“There shall be showers of blessing”—this is the promise of love; there shall be seasons refreshing, sent from the Savior above.

“There shall be showers of blessing”—precious reviving again; over the hills and the valleys sound of abundance of rain.

“There shall be showers of blessing”—send them upon us, O Lord; grant to us now a refreshing; come and now honor Thy Word.

“There shall be showers of blessing”—O that today they might fall, now as to God we’re confessing, now as on Jesus we call!

Chorus: Showers of blessing, showers of blessing we need; mercy drops round us are falling, but for the showers we plead.^[1] Kenneth W. Osbeck, Amazing Grace : 366 Inspiring Hymn Stories for Daily Devotions (Grand Rapids, Mich.: Kregel Publications, 1990), 94.

 Thankfully, He not only fulfilled His promise in Christ and the Power of the Spirit, but we have today the joy of His presence and the hope of eternal life.  It's time to look up and thank God for His mercy on all who believe, now and forevermore.  Showers of Blessing!

Rumors of Wars

This morning, NBC had a troubling piece of news that Iran, even the Ayatolla himself were planning to attack the U.S. homeland.  No one wants war with Iran, but I find it interesting how quick the media throws down stories just to keep the hype going.  My reaction to this news was to remember a t-shirt that I saw when I had the privilege of visiting Israel back in 1998.  Here it is:

I know that the mighty F-16 is built in Ft. Worth.  This t-shirt reminds me that there is always more info to rumors of wars.  Here's what Jesus said about war rumors:

Matthew 24:5–14 (ESV)

5 For many will come in my name, saying, ‘I am the Christ,’ and they will lead many astray. 6 And you will hear of wars and rumors of wars. See that you are not alarmed, for this must take place, but the end is not yet. 7 For nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom, and there will be famines and earthquakes in various places. 8 All these are but the beginning of the birth pains. 

9 “Then they will deliver you up to tribulation and put you to death, and you will be hated by all nations for my name’s sake. 10 And then many will fall away and betray one another and hate one another. 11 And many false prophets will arise and lead many astray. 12 And because lawlessness will be increased, the love of many will grow cold. 13 But the one who endures to the end will be saved. 14 And this gospel of the kingdom will be proclaimed throughout the whole world as a testimony to all nations, and then the end will come.

The future of the world is dependent on one thing.  The mercy of God.  Peter clearly made this point in his epistles to the whole church scattered all over the ancient world at the close of the first century.

2 Peter 3:8–13 (ESV)

8 But do not overlook this one fact, beloved, that with the Lord one day is as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day. 9 The Lord is not slow to fulfill his promise as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance. 10 But the day of the Lord will come like a thief, and then the heavens will pass away with a roar, and the heavenly bodies will be burned up and dissolved, and the earth and the works that are done on it will be exposed. 

The return of Jesus is a certainty.  He is coming back in power! Oh Hail the Blessed Hour!  I notice that verses 11-12 tell believers what to do:

11 Since all these things are thus to be dissolved, what sort of people ought you to be in lives of holiness and godliness, 12 waiting for and hastening the coming of the day of God, because of which the heavens will be set on fire and dissolved, and the heavenly bodies will melt as they burn! 

The viewpoint of the Church is summed up in verse 13.  May the Lord bless you as you reflect on the real and living hope of Christ's imminent return.

13 But according to his promise we are waiting for new heavens and a new earth in which righteousness dwells.