Confession of Sin

While you do not lose your salvation each time
you sin, your personal growth and effectiveness
are stifled as long as there is a rift in your
fellowship with God. This rift is healed when
you personally confess to God the sin which
caused the breach.

Doctrine of Confession of Sin:  https://goo.gl/78qLvT

http://www.gracenotes.info 

Warren Doud
wdoud@gracenotes.info

On Being a Busybody

Plutarch, On Being a Busybody: “Just as a cook prays for a good crop of young animals, and fishermen for a good haul of fish, in the same way a busybody prays for a good crop of calamities or a good haul of difficulties that he, like a cook or fisherman, may always have something to fish out and butcher.”

A busybody is a person who inserts himself uninvited into some else’s life, who meddles or pries into the affairs of others. The Bible is very clear that this is wrong, totally inappropriate behavior, especially in a local church congregation.

Synonyms for “busybody”: meddler; interloper; quidnunc; kibitzer; buttinsky. (You probably have more synonyms of your own.)

Full doctrinal study:  https://goo.gl/9kAswC 

Grace Notes Library:  http://www.gracenotes.info 

Spirituality vs Christianity

Understanding the difference between spirituality and carnality, and learning how to live as a spiritual Christian, is the most important aspect of Christian living!

Doctrinal study by Bob Bolender, Austin Bible Church, Austin, Texas.

https://goo.gl/Xkkazs

Shi'ite and Sunni Belief and Practice

.. a comparison of Islamic Shi’ite and Sunni belief and practice.  Very much of current interest.

https://goo.gl/BX9S0L

The Hazards of Negative Volition

The apostle Paul issued a stern warning to mature Christian believers living at Ephesus when he told them to beware of falling into a state of indifference to, or antagonism to, the word of God. He stated that if they were to become to become negative to the Lord's teachings, their lives would very quickly become indistinguishable from those of unbelievers in terms of fruitfulness and Christian character.

Ephesians 4:17-19
"This I say, therefore, and testify in the Lord, that ye henceforth walk not as other Gentiles walk, in the vanity of their minds,
having the understanding darkened, being alienated from the life of God through the ignorance that is in them, because of the blindness of their heart:
who being past feeling have given themselves over unto lasciviousness, to work all uncleanness with greediness."

Link to article: https://goo.gl/zokim9

Warren Doud

www.gracenotes.info 

Logistical Grace

(adapted from taped messages of R. B. Thieme, Jr., late pastor of Berachah Church, Houston, TX)

From the military background of supply and logistics comes a Bible doctrine based on analogy.

Logistics plays an important and dramatic part in warfare, but logistics plays an even greater part in your life as a Christian believer. Every believer is alive today because of logistical grace.

Logistical grace includes three factors of divine provision.

1. Life support is provided for every Church Age believer. This explains how and why we are alive every moment. The only reason we are alive is because of God the Father’s grace provision, logistical grace. [This provision is called a “grace” provision because] we do not earn or deserve it; there's no work we can accomplish to keep ourselves alive.
2. Blessing is provided for every Church Age believer, both winners and losers. This dramatizes the justice of God; the justice of God sends life support and blessing to the indwelling righteousness of God in both winners and losers. This emphasizes grace. You are alive only because of the grace of God, not because of anything you do. Winners utilize logistical grace, losers coast on it, but never utilize it.
3. Divine provision for every Church Age believer to execute the plan of God. All doctrine comes from the prepared pastor-teacher. If you have persistent positive volition, you will find doctrine and your right pastor-teacher.

Link to full article: https://goo.gl/eouPrh 

Hardness of the Heart (Scar Tissue of the Soul)

The apostle Paul issued a stern warning to mature Christian believers living at Ephesus (Ephesians 4:17 ff) when he told them to beware of falling into a state of indifference to, or antagonism to, the word of God. He stated that if they were to become negative to the Lord's teachings, their lives would very quickly become indistinguishable from those of unbelievers in terms of fruitfulness and Christian character.

Prolonged negative volition, a continued neglect of the Word of God or the commands of Scripture, a refusal to walk in faith and be occupied with Christ, lead a Christian into a spiritual condition known as hardness of the heart.

Complete Bible study here:  https://goo.gl/bWm5Nv 

Warren Doud
Grace Notes
Topics Library: http://www2.gracenotes.info/topics/

Bible Exegesis and Exposition

Clarity is Essential to Presentation  (from a journal article by Pastor Chester McCalley)

Clarity is achieved by collecting the results of the scholarly exegesis then reducing that material to the simple declarations that communicate the truth. The purpose of teaching is not to confuse or impress.

The task is to communicate! It is difficult to present the pure exegesis as clear and accurate exposition. Spend time on “translating” the esoteric doctrines into the “language” of the people.

Should one preach grammatical terms? They can be meaningless, even for many people who know them. What is a Hebrew casus pendens, or a Greek aorist passive?

Must every sheep be told every point of grammar or technical syntax? “This is a casus pendens”? How edifying! Who needs to know that!

Take the names of the cases, for example, genitive. What does genitive mean to most people? Shouldn’t we translate a technical genitive construction into something people understand?

All those good Latin terms, such as accusative of general reference or dative of advantage are just not part of the sheep’s vocabulary.

While a good exegete needs to know these things, as an expositor he must focus on making clear what he has exegetically determined from the text.

Continue reading the whole article here:  https://goo.gl/mmO8JK 

The Doctrine of Obedience

What does the soldier do once he has his armor on and is ready to move out?

He waits for orders! He listens to those orders; then he obeys them!

The doctrine of obedience contains the marching orders for the child of God.

God loves you; His love is expressed in His plan for you. Obedience is one of the key means of fulfilling the plan of God.

The purpose of this doctrinal study is to show you what the Bible says about obeying God and living in the Plan of God. God knows our problems, and He knows His plans for us; He has provided in advance for both the problems and the prosperity!

Link to Obedience study: https://goo.gl/HfVHz9 

Warren Doud
wdoud@gracenotes.info