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Our Loved Ones in Heaven
by Pastor Ricky Kurth


    “Do our loved ones in Heaven remember us?”

Yes, they do. To begin with, when Samuel was called up from Paradise by the witch of Endor, Samuel remembered David and Saul and his sons (1 Sam. 28:15-19).

Also, we know that there will be recognition in Heaven because our resurrection bodies will be fashioned like the Lord’s (Phil. 3:21), and His resurrection body was recognizable by His loved ones (John 20:16; 21:7). Well, if people in Heaven don’t remember people on earth, what happens when their loved ones on earth die and go to Heaven? If the people in Heaven have no memory of their loved ones on earth prior to that, do they suddenly recognize and remember their loved ones when they arrive in Heaven? This doesn’t seem likely.

In addition, Revelation 6:10 describes martyred Tribulation saints in Heaven who cry out to the Lord for vengeance. This means that these people remember how they died, and at whose hand. It would be difficult to believe that God allows people in Heaven to remember people like this, people who murdered them, and not the people that they love.

Finally, it would also be difficult to believe that God would allow people in Heaven to feel an emotion like vengeance, and not allow them to feel an emotion like love. So it is safe to extrapolate that people in heaven not only remember us, they still love us.

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Let It Get You Down
by Pastor Cornelius R. Stam


    “For this cause I bow my knees unto the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ” (Eph. 3: 14).

When adversity strikes, the world keeps telling us: “Don’t let it get you down,” but believers in the Lord Jesus Christ have learned that it is good to let troubles and difficulties get them down — down on their knees.

A native evangelist in Africa sat outside his hut discouraged and unhappy. Trouble and disappointment had brought “great coldness” into his heart and he seemed ready to give up. The Lord, he felt, had utterly forsaken him. As he sat there, though, his little girl kept nudging him and saying: “Daddy, go inside and pray .” Finally it worked! The evangelist went inside, poured his heart out to God and arose feeling sure that the Lord would see him through.

It is good for us to get down on our knees before God. There is no attitude more appropriate to the redeemed sinner. And as we pray, often falteringly….

    “The Spirit also helpeth our infirmities; for we know not what we should pray for as we ought: but the Spirit Himself maketh intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered.

    “And He that searcheth the hearts knoweth what is the mind of the Spirit, because He maketh intercession for the saints according to the will of God.

    “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”
    (Rom. 8:26-28.).

    “Be careful [anxious] for nothing; but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God.

    “And the peace of God, which passeth all understanding. shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus” (Phil. 4:6,7).

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Hands Up!
by Pastor Ricky Kurth


    “I will therefore that men pray every where, lifting up holy hands, without wrath and doubting” (I Timothy 2:8.).

I’m often asked if Paul meant we should literally lift our hands when we pray. Since this is how David prayed (Ps. 141:2), we know there’s nothing wrong with doing so, as long as you understand what Paul meant when he stipulated that the hands you lift in prayer must be “holy.”

I say that because some think that Paul is referencing the Law, where God vowed He wouldn’t hear His people if the hands they lifted in prayer weren’t holy:

    “…when ye spread forth your hands, I will hide Mine eyes from you: yea, when ye make many prayers, I will not hear: your hands are full of blood” (Isa. 1:15 cf. Ps. 66:18.).

But this cannot be what Paul had in mind here, for “we are not under the law, but under grace” (Rom. 6:15). Sin does not hinder your prayers in the dispensation of grace, but all who love the Lord will be careful not to presume upon God’s grace by continuing in sin that grace may abound (Rom. 6:1,2).

But this means there must be some other reason the apostle speaks of lifting up holy hands, and there is. You see, in the context, Paul has just finished instructing us to pray “for kings, and for all that are in authority” (I Tim. 2:1,2). So Paul is actually saying that the hands you lift in prayer to pray for our leaders in government must not be involved in any unholy subversive activities against the leaders in government for whom you are praying, leaders to whom God says we should be subject (Titus 3:1) without resisting (Rom. 13:1-7).

This is also why Paul says men should pray “without wrath and doubting” (I Tim. 2:8.). Some would connect his words here to the kingdom program, where the Lord told the Jews to whom He ministered, 1 “when ye stand praying, forgive, if ye have ought against any” (Mark 11:25). There was certainly no room for wrath in an instruction like that! They were also told,

    “Whosoever shall say unto this mountain, Be thou removed, and be thou cast into the sea; and shall not doubt in his heart… he shall have whatsoever he saith… what things soever ye desire, when ye pray, believe that ye receive them, and ye shall have them” (Mark 11:23,24).

But every believer who has ever prayed without doubting, only to not receive whatsoever he prayed for, knows that we are not under God’s kingdom program for Israel any more than we are under the Law that He gave them. So these references to wrath and doubting under the kingdom program cannot be what Paul had in mind when he said to pray “without wrath and doubting.”

Rather, in the context, Paul is directing us to pray for our leaders in government without the wrath toward them that was probably so common among God’s people in Paul’s day that the apostle had to address it. Even today, believers are continuously angry with our leaders, and always doubting their ability to lead us. So Paul’s instruction that we should pray for them “without wrath and doubting” is as needful today as it was the day those words left his pen. So instead of railing on our leaders, beloved, let’s pray for them.

Notes:

1    See Matthew 15:24 and Romans 15:8.

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Confidence In Death
by Pastor Cornelius R. Stam


In the forty years of my ministry I have seen many people approach death and have seen some die.

Some, who knew Christ as their Savior, were ready, even eager, to go to be with Him. Some passed from this scene with songs or words of praise on their lips. Others, who had failed to prepare, died in mortal fear, not merely of death, but of what lies beyond.

These things do not always run true to form, however, for I have also seen the most hardened unbelievers go out of this life joking and seemingly unafraid, while, on the other hand, I have seen sincere Christians cringe with fear at the approach of death. These human reactions did not change the fact that the unbelievers had reason to be afraid, while the believers need not have feared.

The Word of God tells us that “it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment” (Heb. 9:27,28.). It is the “after this” that makes men so afraid to die. They fear the truth of Rom. 14:12, that “every one of us shall give account of Himself to God.”

But wait: we did not quote all of Heb. 9:27,28. The full passage reads as follows:

    “And as it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment; so Christ was once offered to bear the sins of many; and unto them that look for Him shall He appear the second time apart from sin, unto salvation.”

This can mean only one thing: that Christ died for us and bore the judgment for our sins, the “second death.” This is why Heb. 2:9-15 declares that “by the grace of God” Christ “tasted death for every man… that through [His] death He might… deliver them who through fear of death were all their lifetime subject to bondage.”

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The Promise God Made To Himself
by Pastor Cornelius R. Stam


    “In hope of eternal life, which God, who cannot lie, promised before the world [or, “ages”] began” (Tit. 1:2).

“The Cretians are always liars” (Ver. 12). “God… cannot lie” (Ver. 2). What a contrast! And how reassuring to know that our salvation depends upon the Word of God, who cannot lie!

Our opening passage, above, however, states that God made this promise “before the world [or, “ages”] began. How can this be? There is no indication that He made this promise to the angels, and there was no one else to whom He could have made it — except Himself, and this is exactly the truth of the matter. Have we not all made earnest promises to ourselves?

Before God ever made one promise to any man, He promised Himself that He would provide salvation and all the riches of His grace for sinners through Calvary’s finished work, and the promises later made to men were but progressive revelations of a firm purpose He had already made in His own heart of love. Paul, the apostle of “the mystery,” refers to this blessed fact again and again in his epistles:

    “But we speak the wisdom of God in a mystery… the hidden… WHICH GOD HATH ORDAINED BEFORE THE WORLD UNTO OUR GLORY” (I Cor. 2:7).

    “According as HE HATH CHOSEN US IN HIM [CHRIST] BEFORE THE FOUNDATION OF THE WORLD…” (Eph. 1:4).

    “In whom also we have obtained an inheritance, BEING PREDESTINATED ACCORDING TO THE PURPOSE OF HIM WHO WORKETH ALL THINGS AFTER THE COUNSEL OF HIS OWN WILL” (Eph. 1:11).

“Who hath saved us, and called us with an holy calling, not according to our works, but according to HIS OWN PURPOSE AND [HIS OWN] GRACE, WHICH WAS GIVEN US IN CHRIST JESUS BEFORE THE WORLD BEGAN” (II Tim. 1:9).

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A Virtuous Woman
by Pastor John Fredericksen


Proverbs 31:10 asks the question: “Who can find a virtuous woman…?” Webster’s dictionary defines the word virtuous as general moral excellence, goodness of character, or chaste. The end of verse ten goes on to say if you can find such a woman, “her price [or value] is far above rubies.” The standard here is not an unrealistic perfection in all areas of life. Instead, it is an inward beauty of character and morals that can make any woman who seeks to cultivate these qualities a highly valued woman to all who know her.

We actually have biblical examples of virtuous women. Ruth was told that all the city knew she was a “virtuous woman” (Ruth 3:11) for her devotion to Jehovah, loving care for her elder mother-in-law, work ethic, and humility to listen to instruction. The virtue of Sarah is described in 1 Peter 3:4-6 for her submission to her husband with a “meek and quiet spirit, which is in the sight of God of great price.”

Proverbs 31 emphasizes several qualities of a virtuous woman. She is worthy of her husband’s trust (verse 11), will always do her husband good and not evil (verse 12), diligently and consistently “worketh willingly” to advance family finances (verse 13-24), she conducts herself with “strength and honor” (verse 25), “opens her mouth with wisdom [or discretion, and]…kindness” (verse 26), and “looketh well to the ways of her household” without engaging in “idleness” (verse 27). Verse 30 seems to also imply that while she may possess or desire outward beauty, she realizes this is “vain,” or empty, and fleeting. Therefore, she places a higher value on the inner beauty of the virtues studied above, and she does so because she has godliness or is “a woman that feareth the Lord.”

If you are a man who has found a virtuous woman, you are greatly blessed. Proverbs tells us “a prudent wife is from the Lord” (19:14), and she is “a crown to her husband” (12:4). Tell your virtuous woman today that you greatly appreciate her godliness, which makes her a true “trophy wife.” If you’re not yet married, this is the kind of woman you should be looking for. If you are a woman who is not satisfied that these qualities are developed fully enough in you, don’t be discouraged. Instead, take one of these qualities, ask the Lord to help you grow in this virtue, and prayerfully work on it today.

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Are You a Man After God's Own Heart?
by Pastor Ricky Kurth


Did you ever wonder how God could call David “a man after His own heart” (I Sam. 13:14)? True, He called him that before his horrific infractions of adultery and murder. But even after his death, God said of him that he did “keep My statutes and My commandments” (I Kings 3:14). How can this be?

Well, to begin with, compare how Balaam was able to say of God that “He hath not beheld iniquity in Jacob, neither hath He seen perverseness in Israel” (Num. 23:21). This, of course, was because the Jews could say that “as far as the east is from the west, so far hath He removed our transgressions from us” (Psa. 103:12), and Isaiah could pray with confidence, “Thou hast cast all my sins behind Thy back” (Isa. 38:17). Similarly, God was able to turn a blind eye to David’s sins, knowing that Christ would one day pay for them.

But there has to be more to it for God to be able to call David a man after His own heart, and I believe there is. You see, when God said of David that his heart was “perfect with the Lord his God,” He said that in contrast to Solomon, whose wives “turned away his heart after other gods” (I Kings 11:4). Despite his great sins, David never fell into idolatry. He always had a heart for the Lord, and a burning desire to serve Him.

As a pastor, Christians often ask me how I can think so highly of them when, in many cases, I have counseled them through their times of sin and failure, and so I know their deepest shame. I always explain that it is their heart for the Lord that God looks at, and so I always try to do the same. I don’t mean to say that those who strive to serve the Lord can do no wrong in my eyes, but this is very close to being so.

So it is that while we should always strive to live our lives as perfectly as God sees us in Christ (Phil. 3:10-14), if you are beating yourself up about your past sins and failures, stop it. Remember that “man looketh on the outward appearance, but the Lord looketh on the heart” (I Sam. 16:7), and if God doesn’t behold your iniquity, neither should you.

Finally, if you are a judgmental Christian, why not learn to look upon others the way God looks at you, and “receive ye one another, as Christ also received us to the glory of God” (Rom. 15:7).

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Repetition Of Prayers
by Pastor Cornelius R. Stam


One of the most unscriptural and unspiritual misuses of prayer is the repeating of prayers composed by others. Many members of both Protestant and Catholic churches, indeed, many sincere believers, repeat over and over again prayers that have been prepared for them to recite. Undoubtedly the greatest number of all make it a practice to repeat the so-called “Lord’s Prayer,” taken from the Gospel records.

Evidently all these millions of professing Christians have overlooked the fact that it was when the disciples asked our Lord to teach them how to pray (Luke 11:1) that He said: “After this manner therefore pray ye” (Matt. 6:9).

Moreover, He prefaced these words with the specific injunction:

    “But when ye pray, use not vain repetitions, as the heathen do: for they think that they shall be heard for their much speaking. Be not ye therefore like unto them…” (Matt. 6:7,8.).

Both Protestants and Catholics make much of repeating the “Lord’s Prayer.” They repeat it singly and in unison, in trouble and sorrow, in sickness and death, in storm and drought, in war and disaster, with little or no regard for its contents.

Imagine praying, “Give us this day our daily bread” at a funeral service! Imagine praying, “Thy kingdom come” at a sick bed or in a storm at sea! Yet this is solemnly done again and again throughout Christendom. Whole audiences continue to repeat the prayer in unison — and this in the face of the fact that it was in connection with this very prayer that our Lord pronounced the mere repetition of prayers “vain” and enjoined His disciples not to follow the heathen in this practice.

What a difference there is between praying and saying prayers! No truly spiritual believer will do the latter.

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Do Faith Healers Help People?
by Pastor Ricky Kurth


    “If God has withdrawn the gift of healing, how come some people seem to improve after going to see a healer?”

When I was in high school, I took an introductory course in psychology. In that class, the teacher claimed that 75 percent of all illnesses are psychosomatic. That is, they are real physical illnesses that are brought on by an entirely mental process. While there is no way to know if the percentage she cited is accurate, it is hard to argue with her assessment. We know that stress is an entirely mental reaction to the challenges of life, but it can cause a very real, physical, heart attack. So it shouldn’t be surprising that other illnesses are psychosomatic as well.

But if a real, valid, physical illness can be brought on by a purely mental process, then it stands to reason that it can likewise be remedied by a purely mental process, such as believing in a healer’s power to heal. We see evidence of this in what doctors call “the placebo effect.” When testing a drug, researchers give some of the people in the test group the drug being tested, but they give others a placebo, a sugar pill. They do this because they know that people sometimes feel better because they believe they are taking a drug that will help them.

It is easy to then transfer this thinking to what happens when someone with a real illness goes to see a healer. If a person really believes that a healer can help with real, physical illnesses, often he can!

We see the same kind of thing when Solomon declared that “a merry heart doeth good like a medicine” (Prov. 17:22). Doctors have known for years that a positive mental attitude aids in healing. Similarly, the positive mental attitude brought on by believing in a healer’s powers often enable people suffering from physical afflictions to know some short-term relief. But frequently those who are “healed” in this way must return again and again to the healer for more healing, while this is never said to be so of the people who were miraculously healed by men with the gift of healing in the Bible.

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The Christian Home
by Pastor Cornelius R. Stam


    “As for me and my house, we will serve the Lord” (Josh. 24:15).

There is no place in all this world so wholesome and refreshing as a Christian home, a home where Christ is truly loved and honored.

This writer was brought up in such a home. There were ten of us: dad, mother and eight children. There was lots going on all the time, but a truly happy home it was, for dad and mother never let us get so busy with temporal things that we brushed eternal values aside.

On the basis that “man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word of God” (Luke 4:4), we read some small portion of the Bible before every meal, and had family devotions before retiring at night.

Result: all eight children have blessed the dear dad and mother who led them aright, morally and spiritually, and best of all, taught them the importance of trusting in the Savior who died for all our sins. More: five of the children and many of the grandchildren have given themselves for full time Christian service, and have become pastors, college deans, Christian writers and missionaries in various parts of the world.

This is not because we are one whit better than others, but because we have experienced the help and grace of God in our lives. And it all began as, one day, a young American, like Joshua of old, came to a decision and declared:

    “As for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.”

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Four Kinds Of Men
by Pastor Cornelius R. Stam


According to St. Paul’s inspired epistles, the human race is divided into four categories:

1    The natural man, i.e., the fallen son of Adam, as he is, without God. Of him the Apostle says: “The natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned” (I Cor. 2:14).

2    The babe in Christ.  When a person sees himself as a sinner and trusts Christ as his Saviour, he is “born again” and becomes a “babe in Christ”. But babes can and should grow, so these are exhorted: “As newborn babes, desire the sincere [pure] milk of the Word, that ye may grow thereby” (I Pet. 2:2).

3    The carnal Christian is one who, though perhaps a Christian for years, has not grown, due to indifference and neglect of the Word of God. He still has to be treated as a babe in Christ. The Corinthian believers were examples of this. Paul had to write them: “I…could not speak unto you as unto spiritual, but as unto carnal, even as unto babes in Christ. I have fed you with milk, and not with meat: for hitherto ye were not able to bear [digest] it, neither yet now are ye able” (I Cor. 3:1,2). Everybody loves a baby, but the joy that fills the hearts of loving parents turns to bitterest sorrow if their baby fails to grow.

4    The spiritual Christian is one who, through prayerful study of the Word of God, has grown to spiritual maturity. He is no longer merely a child of God; he is a “man of God”. We should all “desire the sincere [pure] milk of the Word that ye may grow thereby” (I Pet. 2:2) — “THAT WE HENCEFORTH BE NO MORE CHILDREN, TOSSED TO AND FRO, AND CARRIED ABOUT WITH EVERY WIND OF DOCTRINE” (Eph. 4:14). Let us then heed St. Peter’s inspired exhortation: “BUT GROW IN GRACE, AND IN THE KNOWLEDGE OF OUR LORD AND SAVIOUR, JESUS CHRIST” (II Pet. 3:18.).

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The Plumbline
by Pastor Ricky Kurth


    “And, behold, the Lord stood upon a wall made by a plumbline, with a plumbline in His hand….Then said the Lord, Behold, I will set a plumbline in the midst of My people Israel: I will not again pass by them any more” (Amos 7:7,8.).

As we compare the two verses of this vision, God identifies the “wall” as “My people Israel.” But what did “the plumbline” represent?

A plumbline is a tool that is used even today by masons who wish to erect walls that are perfectly straight. A simple weight at the end of a string is suspended alongside the wall as it is being constructed, to ensure that it is being built straight, and at a perfect right angle to the gravitational pull of the earth. Construction workers know that bowed or leaning walls are easily toppled (Psa. 62:3).

Since our text tells us that this “wall” that represents Israel was “made by a plumbline,” we believe the plumbline to be the Law of Moses. It was the Law that defined Israel as a nation, and its perfect code of righteousness ensured that Israel was built in accord with the perfectly upright standard of the very righteousness of God. Here in Amos 7, God is re-applying the plumbline standard of the Law to Israel to show Amos how far his nation had shifted away from the perfect standard with which she had been constructed, and why He could no longer “pass by them any more” in mercy, but must rather bring the judgment that their sin demanded.

Today in the dispensation of Grace, of course, God is not dealing with Israel or any other nation, but rather with individual members of the Body of Christ. In the epistles of Paul we read of how in Christ we too have been formed in accord with the perfect standard of the Law (II Cor. 5:21), and that the righteousness of the Law is given to us as a free gift of God’s grace through faith (Rom. 3:21-26; 10:4; I Cor. 1:30). Thus when believers today wish to apply a standard to our lives to check to see if we have drifted from who God made us in Christ, we look not to the Law, but to the epistles of the Apostle Paul.

We close with a very practical admonition. Every builder knows that when a wall falls, it always falls in the direction in which it is leaning. If the reader has ever wondered about the harm in an occasional drink of an alcoholic beverage, or the danger of seemingly “harmless” flirtations with immorality, it should be remembered that Christians are like walls—they too always fall in the direction in which they are leaning! Let us thank God for the plumbline of His grace, and may we determine as never before to walk worthy of Him.

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True Blessedness
by Pastor Cornelius R. Stam


It has been said that the word “blessed,” in our English Bible, simply means happy. Thus the “blessed man” of Psalm 1 is a happy man and the “blessed God” of I Tim. 1:11 is a happy God. (We refer to the Hebrew and Greek words most often rendered blessed).

To say the least, this is a superficial understanding — or misunderstanding — of one of the most wonderful words of Scripture. A fool can be happy, a drunkard can be happy, a wicked man can be happy, but none of these are truly blessed, for one who is blessed has a deeply valid reason to rejoice.

Thus Psa. 1:1,2 says that the man who shuns “the counsel of the ungodly ,” “the way of sinners” and “the seat of the scornful” and meditates and delights in the law of God, is “blessed.” He is well off and has great reason to rejoice.

Few, of course, would dare to claim that they have fully lived up to this passage in the Psalms, but God’s Word has good news even for such. In Romans 4:6-8, St. Paul declares:

    “David also describeth the blessedness of the man unto whom God imputeth righteousness without works, saying, Blessed are they whose iniquities are forgiven, and whose sins are covered. Blessed is the man to whom the Lord will not impute sin.”

This blessedness is not a mere feeling of happiness. It is rather the state of being well off; with a deep and abiding reason to rejoice.

Thus Psalm 40:4 says: “Blessed is that man who maketh the Lord his trust,” and when the Galatians stopped trusting completely in the Lord and began leaning on their own works, the Apostle asked them: “Where is then the blessedness ye spake of?” (Gal. 4:15).

Thus to be truly blessed is to be well off; with the greatest possible reason to rejoice. This is why the believer in Christ, saved and eternally safe in Him, is, like God Himself, “blessed for evermore.”

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Be Strong
by Pastor John Fredericksen


There was once a young man who stood in the shadow of a great leader. When that leader passed away, it fell to his young apprentice to pick up the reins of leadership. As he did so, he faced his circumstances with a certain amount of understandable doubts and fears. Then someone encouraged him, telling him to be strong and exhibit courage, because God would enable him. The leader was Moses, his apprentice was Joshua, and the encourager was the Lord Himself (Josh. 1:1-9).

God likewise challenges believers in the dispensation of grace to be strong. Paul told grace believers to “…quit you [or act manly] like men, be strong” (1 Cor. 16:13) and to “…be strong in the Lord, and in the power of His might” (Eph. 6:10). We must not cower in fear nor surrender to Satan who is waging spiritual warfare against us. We must be strong!

We can do so by remembering God’s power is available to us. Paul prayed the saints would comprehend “…the exceeding greatness of His power [is available] to us-ward who believe” (Eph. 1:19). The Lord offers us His power, and wants us to have it. Believe it! God’s power is accessed “by His Spirit in the inner man” (Eph. 3:16). We can never triumph over Satan in our own strength, but we can when we allow God’s power to flow in our lives in our inner man. Nourish your inner “new man” in Christ!

Our inner man is empowered by equipping ourselves with “the whole armour of God” (Eph. 6:11). This can be summarized by choosing to have a consistent daily walk in truthfulness and righteous behavior as our standard (v. 14), being always prepared to give the gospel (v. 15), protecting our minds through faith in God’s Word (v. 16), living in the confidence of our eternal victory (v. 17a), using the Scriptures to slice through Satan’s lies (v. 17b), and being constant in prayer (v. 18.). Be vigilant in clothing yourself with apparel that enables you to have victory in your daily life!

Paul’s admonition is “…and having done all to stand, stand therefore…” (Eph. 6:13-14). Have you done all you need to do to stand victorious today? Are you remembering God’s power is available to you? Have you been spiritually strengthening your inner man? Will you consistently equip your soul with the whole armour of God? Be strong believer! God will enable you if you look to Him for His power to overcome whatever you face today.

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House Rules
by Pastor Kevin Sadler


    “If ye have heard of the dispensation of the grace of God which is given me to you-ward” (Eph. 3:2).

God’s Word must be understood in the way God revealed His will to mankind. Therefore, it needs to be understood dispensationally. There is the broad division in Scripture between God’s two programs, Prophecy and Mystery, but then there are dispensations which must be broken down within it as well.

The term “dispensation” is the Greek word, oikonomia, which means “house law” or “house management.” At different times and stages in God’s Word, God dispensed to mankind a different and distinct rule of life.

Within each of our homes we have a certain set of rules that we expect our children to abide by. These are the house rules, the law of the household. Our house law may be different than your house law. For example, one time one of my kids came to me and said, “My friend’s family does it this way in their home, can’t we do this?” My response was “That’s their rules. We don’t do it that way in our house.” That’s the case in the dispensations of God. They each have their own set of house rules. We shouldn’t try to live by the house law belonging to another time and dispensation.

Within each dispensation of God, God dispensed a new set of “house laws or rules” that needed to be followed, and was the responsibility of those who lived under them to carry out and obey. God has given different commands to different people at different times throughout the Scripture.

It is also similar to presidential administrations. With the administration of our newly-elected president, there will be changes in how they govern and operate from the previous administration. It’s the same with the dispensations of God. God, according to His will, at different points of time in history, revealed a new administration in which there were changes in how man was to live and what was required to be saved.

Today we are under “the dispensation of the grace of God.” This current administration is an administration of grace. The house is managed by grace. Grace dominates everything about this dispensation under which we live. Our salvation is by grace, our walk is a grace walk, we are blessed by grace, our speech is with grace, and we sing with grace in our hearts, etc. There are countless principles to be applied throughout God’s Word, but the letters of Paul provide us with our “house rules” that we are to directly live by in this dispensation of Grace.