Two Minutes With The Bible

[Ambassador4Christ]

Two Minutes With The Bible - Jul 30  


Jul 30

SEATED IN HEAVEN

God sees every believer in Christ as already in heaven.
See what the Bible says about this:

"BUT GOD, WHO IS RICH IN MERCY, FOR HIS GREAT LOVE
WHEREWITH HE LOVED US,

"EVEN WHEN WE WERE DEAD IN SINS, HATH QUICKENED US
TOGETHER WITH CHRIST (BY GRACE YE ARE SAVED),

"AND HATH RAISED US UP TOGETHER AND MADE US SIT
TOGETHER IN HEAVENLY PLACES IN CHRIST JESUS:

"THAT IN THE AGES TO COME HE MIGHT SHOW THE EXCEED-
ING RICHES OF HIS GRACE IN HIS KINDNESS TOWARD US
THROUGH CHRIST JESUS" (Eph. 2:4-7).

Most sincere believers, poorly taught in the Word, are
concerned about getting to heaven, but as far as God is
concerned they are already there. They have been "made
accepted in the Beloved" (Eph. 1:6). God has given them a
position "in Christ."

We are well aware that most of God's people know little
about this experientially, but God says that as far as He is
concerned, they are already in heaven, and this is what
matters. As Christ took our place on Calvary's cross, God
now sees us in Christ, at His own right hand, the place of
favor and honor. This is why the Apostle Paul says to
believers in Christ:

"IF YE THEN BE RISEN WITH CHRIST, SEEK THOSE THINGS
WHICH ARE ABOVE, WHERE CHRIST SITTETH ON THE RIGHT HAND
OF GOD.

"SET YOUR AFFECTION ON THINGS ABOVE, NOT ON THINGS
ON THE EARTH.

"FOR YE ARE DEAD, AND YOUR LIFE IS HID WITH CHRIST IN
GOD" (Col. 3:1-3).

And all this by the free grace 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" (II Tim. 1:9).

Our hearts go out to those of our readers who have not
yet received this "gift of the grace of God." "Believe on the
Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shall be saved" (Acts 16:31).

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[Brother Love]

I LOVE Two Minutes With The Bible, C.R. Stam is my FAVORITE Teacher. Good Idea A4C, keep posting them.

Brother Love

 

[Ambassador4Christ]

Two Minutes With The Bible


Jul 31

CHRISTIAN LIBERTY

Christian liberty is a priceless possession. It can be
abused, of course, but legitimately used it is an overflowing
source of spiritual joy and power.

God's purpose with regard to the liberty of the believer in
Christ is aptly summed up for us in one short verse in the
Galatian letter:

"For, brethren, ye have been called unto liberty; only use not liberty
for an occasion to the flesh, but by love serve one another" (Gal.
5:13).

As the cause of spiritual decline in Israel was always
their departure from God's Word to them through Moses, so
the cause of spiritual decline among believers today is al-
ways their departure from God's Word to us through Paul,
and if anything is made unmistakably clear in the Epistles
of Paul, it is the fact that believers in this present dispen-
sation of grace have been delivered from the Law and, as
God's full-grown sons in Christ, have been "called unto
liberty." The failure of God's people to appropriate and
enjoy this liberty today results in spiritual decline as surely
as did the failure of the people of Israel to observe the law
of Moses in their day.

Could anything be plainer than those passages in this
same Galatian epistle, where the Apostle says by the Spirit:

"CHRIST HATH REDEEMED US FROM THE CURSE OF THE
LAW, being made a curse for us: for it is written, Cursed is every one
that hangeth on a tree" (Gal. 3:13).

"But when the fulness of the time was come, GOD SENT FORTH
HIS SON, made of a woman, made under the law,

"TO REDEEM THEM THAT WERE UNDER THE LAW, THAT WE
MIGHT RECEIVE THE ADOPTION OF SONS" (Gal. 4:4,5).

Thus, to reject our blood-bought liberty and go back to
the servitude of the Law is to repudiate not only the Word
of God, but the Word of God to us, and this must necessarily
result in spiritual decline.

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[Ambassador4Christ]

Two Minutes With The Bible

August 1

GODLINESS IN AN UNGODLY DAY

It is an interesting fact that the words "godly" and "godli-
ness" are not found in Paul’s writings until we come to the
Pastoral Epistles, the very epistles that have so much to
say about evil days and evil surroundings.

In the epistles to Timothy we read about the "perilous
times" with which this present dispensation of grace will
be brought to a close, while in the letter to Titus we read of
"unruly and vain talkers and deceivers," of "liars... evil
beasts... lazy gluttons," whom Satan would use to neutral-
ize the work and witness of God’s servants.

To Timothy and Titus, these young men of God, the Apos-
tle had much to say about godliness, and we must not forget
that Paul’s words to them are also God’s Word to us, be-
lievers in Christ, who indeed appear to be living in the
closing days of the dispensation of grace, surrounded by a
steadily-rising tide of evil and an ever-growing number of
wicked, godless men.

We do not mean to imply that the Apostle does not deal
with the various phases of the Christian life in his other
epistles, but rather that here in the Pastoral Epistles he
wages a sort of campaign for individual godly living in the
midst of increasing apostasy and godlessness.

May God help us, in our character and conduct, to exhibit
"the power of godliness," the spiritual power that comes
from putting Christ first in all things.

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Literature:
The Two Minutes With The Bible daily devotional articles are also available in book form, along with many other Bible study materials, in the Literature Corner section of our website at https://www.bereanbiblesociety.org/literature.

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[Ambassador4Christ]

Two Minutes With The Bible

August 2

DON'T PAY ATTENTION TO STORIES

"Neither give heed to fables..." (1 Tim. 1:4)

As the present-day English reader comes upon the word
"fables" in the Authorized Version, he is apt to think of
Aesop's Fables, but these were illustrations, while the orig-
inal word muthois means simply stories, including stories of
imagined incidents or events.

There are two types of stories that have exerted an amaz-
ing influence upon twentieth century Christendom.  One is
the novel, the other the promotional story.

In considering the above passage, this writer examined
the contents of the popular Christian periodicals coming to
his desk and was astonished to find how many of them were
largely filled with fiction and with stories written to pro-
mote projects or viewpoints.  The Apostle says about such
stories that they raise questions but do not answer them,
for stories really prove nothing.  This is also true of many
Christian films.

Many Christian novels have indeed exerted a savory
influence upon their readers -- when they have been
founded upon Scriptural truths and principles.  Obviously,
however, an author can make his novel "prove" exactly
what he wishes to prove, for the novel involves us in a
world of make-believe.  Thus a novel can be dangerous to
Christian faith and practice.

The promotional story holds, perhaps, an even more
prominent place in our popular Christian magazines.  No
one can object to factual reports of what God has wrought,
but too many of these stories are nothing more than pro-
motional efforts.  Many of these "success stories" are so
successful that thoughtful readers question their validity
and are apt to lay them aside without even finishing them.  
Less discerning readers, however, are often deeply moved
by them.

We are well aware that our objections are not popular,
but we are not trying to be popular;  we are trying to help
sincere Christians find their way back, step by step, to
renewed spiritual power.  This power has been too long
frittered away by substituting the will of man for the Word
of God.

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Literature:
The Two Minutes With The Bible daily devotional articles are also available in book form, along with many other Bible study materials, in the Literature Corner section of our website at https://www.bereanbiblesociety.org/literature.

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[Ambassador4Christ]

Two Minutes With The Bible

Aug 3

TEACH NO OTHER DOCTRINE

In strong language the Apostle bids Timothy to "charge
some that they teach no other doctrine";  no other doctrine,
obviously, than that which he had taught them.  In 1 Tim.
6:3-5 he closes his epistle by saying:

"If any man teach otherwise, and consent not to wholesome words,
even the words of our Lord Jesus Christ... from such withdraw thyself."

In these passages the Apostle emphasizes the importance
of fidelity to that heaven-sent message committed to him by
revelation; that message which he says in Tit. 1:2,3 was
"promised before the ages began" but made known "in due
time... through preaching which is committed unto
me..."

Ever since Paul's day religious leaders have substituted
other messages for that committed by the glorified Lord to
Paul.  The law of Moses, the Sermon on the Mount, the
"great commission," and Pentecost have all been confused
with God's message and program for the dispensation of
grace.  This is what has bewildered and divided the Church
and ripened it for the apostasy.

With all the confused thinking about the Ten Command-
ments and the Sermon on the Mount fifty years ago it was
little wonder that modernism swept so many off their feet
with its teachings about Jesus of Nazareth, the Man of
Galilee, following his footsteps, social betterment, political
reform, etc.  Multitudes were so taken up with the social
gospel, so eager to help make the world a better place to
live in, that they did not even notice or believe that the
modernists denied the very  fundamentals of the Christian
faith.

But the new evangelicalism of our day is still more dan-
gerous.  It is big.  It is well financed.  It is popular.  It is
subtle.  Perhaps its greatest danger lies in the fact that
while claiming to be "conservative," it minimizes the impor-
tance of the fundamentals and the danger of apostatizing
from them.

Thus the inspired words of the Apostle Paul: "Charge
some that they teach no other doctrine," are more urgently
needed in our day than they were in his.

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[Ambassador4Christ]

Two Minutes With The Bible

Aug 4

DON'T DOTE ON PERSONALITIES

When Paul instructs Timothy to charge his followers not
to "give heed" to "endless genealogies" (I Tim. 1:4), he
refers to the status symbol of the personality of his day.

Recently this writer was informed by a correspondent
from an eastern state that it appeared that he might be
related to a Revolutionary general named Stam -- and, did
we wish him to investigater further!  We replied that we
were far too excited about where we were going to care
much about where we had come from!

While there are some in our day who are very proud of
their ancestry and have coats of arms displayed in their
homes, the average Christian probably, has never had his
family tree traced back very far.  But in Paul's day geneal-
ogies were very important, even among believers.  One's
family relationships meant a great deal.  If you were a sec-
ond cousin to Christ or even a third cousin to Peter you
"had it made."  You might be crude, or stupid, or even
wicked, but all this was overlooked:  you were closely re-
lated to Christ Himself or to the Apostle Peter and all were
ready to give you audience.

Actually, the personality cult is still with us in the
Church today though it manifests itself in different ways.  
We live in a day of mass communications, when the faces
of prominent men and women are seen again and again in
newspapers and magazines and even their personalities
come through to us over radio and television.  Thus it is the
prominent "Christian" politician, athlete, actor, beauty
queen, or even former gangster who commands the atten-
tion today.  Those who arrange evangelistic campaigns
often seek to engage such personalities to attract crowds.  
Such prominent figures, though perhaps actually saved,
may be very much "of the world," dishonoring their Chris-
tian calling every day, but their presence draws crowds and
their shallow testimonies are used to justify their public
participation in the work of the Lord.

The new evangelicalism has borrowed many prominent
personalities from the world to help swell its audiences,
while the old prayer that the witness may be hid behind
the cross is to all intents and purposes considered passe.

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Literature:
The Two Minutes With The Bible daily devotional articles are also available in book form, along with many other Bible study materials, in the Literature Corner section of our website at https://www.bereanbiblesociety.org/literature.

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[Ambassador4Christ]

Two Minutes With The Bible

Aug 5

A JEALOUS GOD

We heartily thank God for every politician, athlete, actor
or even criminal who comes to know Christ as Savior.  But
conversion alone does not qualify one for a place of prom-
inence in Christian service.  This, especially in Paul's epis-
tles, is reserved for mature believers, wholly separated to
God and established in the truth (See especially II Tim.
2:21).

When hearts beat faster  because of the presence of some
glamorous personality on the Christian platform; when
such personalities receive adulation which belongs rather
to the Christ who died for them, God is dishonored and
displeased.

True, the motive in procuring such "crowd-getters" may
have been to reach greater numbers for Christ, just as some
of our spiritual leaders become yoked together with apos-
tate unbelievers in evangelistic endeavors in order to reach
souls for Christ, but the end does not justify the means.  It
is never right to do wrong to accomplish some good end.

Have we forgotten that God's Word says: "I the Lord thy
God am a jealous God" (Ex 20:5) and "I will not give My  
glory unto another" (Isa 48:11)?  True we quote here from
the Ten Commandments, but remember, Paul in his epis-
tles quotes all the Ten Commandments except one (re the
sabbath).  The covenant of the Law has been done away but
not the moral law itself, and God is the only Being who has
legitimate and urgent reason to be jealous of His glory.  
Christian leaders are playing a dangerous game when they
give glory due to God alone to prominent personalities so as
to swell their audiences.

It is time for the Church to realize that salvation is the
work of God and that true and lasting results will follow
only when we conduct His work in His way.

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Literature:
The Two Minutes With The Bible daily devotional articles are also available in book form, along with many other Bible study materials, in the Literature Corner section of our website at https://www.bereanbiblesociety.org/literature.

Subscribe:
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[Wreck N Sow]

Two Minutes With The Bible

Nah,
I had written somethin else.
You almost brought me over to your side for a second there a4c. Not gonna bite. Have a good one.

[nChrist]

Oklahoma Howdy to Ambassador4Christ,

Thanks Brother for posting these and supplying the links. I really enjoy these and plan to subscribe.

In Christ.

[Ambassador4Christ]

Two Minutes With The Bible

Aug 6

RETARDED GROWTH

What joy and fellowship there is in gatherings where the
newly-saved are present!    In the spiritual realm, as well as
in the physical, everyone loves a baby!  But the joy that fills
the hearts of loving parents is turned to bitter sorrow and
disappointment if their babe fails to grow.  The latter con-
dition is as unspeakably sad and embarrassing as the
former is joyous.  Just so it is in the realm of the spirit.

The "carnal" Christian has failed to grow.  He continues
in a state of protracted infancy.  He must be kept exclu-
sively on a milk diet because, though saved for years, he is
still unable to "bear," or digest, solid food, still "unskillful
in the Word" and needing to be taught the elementary
things.

Retarded spiritual growth is evidenced in many ways, all
of which come under the heading of carnality or fleshliness.  
The Corinthians, so sternly rebuked for their carnality by
the Apostle Paul, are said to have been careless about
morals (I Cor. 5:1), puffed up (I Cor. 4:18; 5:2), inconsid-
erate of each other (I Cor. 6:1-7; 8:1,9,12), stingy (II Cor.
8:6-11; 11:7-9).  While possessing the Spirit, they walked
after the flesh.

One of the most marked indications of retarded spiritual
growth is self-interest and party strife, as seen in the case
of the Corinthian believers.  They were spiritually small
and petty, so that the Apostle had to write to them:

"For ye are yet carnal: for whereas there is among you envying, and strife, and divisions, are ye not carnal, and walk as men?

"For while one saith, I am of Paul; and another, I am of Apollos; are ye not carnal?" (I Cor. 3:3,4)

Thus Peter's exhortation to "newborn babes" to "desire
the pure milk of the Word" that they may "grow thereby,"
is prefaced by the words: "Wherefore laying aside all malice,
and all guile, and hypocrisies, and envies, and all evil speak-
ings" (I Pet 2:1).  The carnal nature is not appropriate soil
for spiritual growth.

[Ambassador4Christ]

Two Minutes With The Bible


Aug 7

THE CAUSE OF RETARDED GROWTH

In the physical realm retarded growth may be due to
some mishap or may be simply one of the results of the
curse, having no direct bearing on the behavior of the par-
ents, and certainly not of the child itself.  In the spiritual
realm this is not so.  God has made abundant provision for
every child of God to grow to spiritual manhood, and Paul
rebukes the Corinthian believers for not having grown.

The trouble with the Corinthians was that they did not
have much appetite for the Word; they did not have a pas-
sion to know and obey the truth, for the babe in Christ who
"desires" the pure milk of the Word will surely "grow there-
by."  This was the trouble with the Hebrew believers too,
for when the Apostle would have gone further into the
great subject of Christ as "an High Priest forever after the
order of Melchisedec," he was forced to write:

"Of whom we have many things to say, and hard to be uttered, seeing ye are dull [Gr., nothros, slothful] of hearing" (Heb. 5:11).

This is precisely the cause of the carnality among be-
lievers today.  During World War II there were several
occasions when parents came to the writer with letters from
their sons in the armed forces, explaining that a code had
been arranged by which "Johnny" could let them know to
which theatre of war he had been sent, but that now it was
difficult to understand his letter.  Together we would sit
down and study the letter in detail in an effort to make out
exactly what it was that "Johnny" was trying to make his
parents understand.

Such interest and concern over a letter from "Johnny"!  
And appropriately so, but do the majority of believers show
such interest in the Word of God to them?  They do not.  
They are satisfied with "the simple things," with knowing
only a few passages which "warm their hearts."  This is the
root cause of the spiritual immaturity in the Church today.

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Literature:
The Two Minutes With The Bible daily devotional articles are also available in book form, along with many other Bible study materials, in the Literature Corner section of our website at https://www.bereanbiblesociety.org/literature.

Subscribe:
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[Brother Love]

Two Minutes With The Bible

Nah,
I had written somethin else.
You almost brought me over to your side for a second there a4c. Not gonna bite. Have a good one.

Wreck N Sow, you sure need Two Minutes With The Bible.

Brother Love

[Brother Love]

Oklahoma Howdy to Ambassador4Christ,

Thanks Brother for posting these and supplying the links. I really enjoy these and plan to subscribe.

In Christ.

You will LOVE it Brother

Brother Love

[nChrist]

Oklahoma Howdy to Brother Love,

I am already subscribed and getting "Two Minutes With The Bible." It is a very nice compliment with the two daily devotions I use. I find the Berean material to be very sound so far and would highly recommend it to all.

In Christ,

Tom