Theophilus Ministries

“LORD, how they have increased who trouble me! Many are they who rise up against me. Many are they who say of me, “There is no help for him in God.” Selah But You, O LORD, are a shield for me, My glory and the One who lifts up my head.” (Psa 3:1-3)

Who is strong in my time of trouble?  Only the Lord!  So often I fail to remember the power and might that my God brings to my aid.  I remember Elisha’s servant’s response when seeing the armies of the Syrian raiders surrounding the city they were in.

“And when the servant of the man of God arose early and went out, there was an army, surrounding the city with horses and chariots. And his servant said to him, “Alas, my master! What shall we do?” So he answered, “Do not fear, for those who are with us are more than those who are with them.” And Elisha prayed, and said, “LORD, I pray, open his eyes that he may see.” Then the LORD opened the eyes of the young man, and he saw. And behold, the mountain was full of horses and chariots of fire all around Elisha.” (2Ki 6:15-17)

We do not need to fear or worry, God’s plan is perfect.  Whatever we are going through, if we are faithfully seeking Him, we have the confidence to know that he is working out something WONDERFUL in our lives.  “And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose.” (Rom 8:28)  I am called according His purpose, I love and serve my God willingly; and I know “that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us.” (Rom 8:18)

So as things in my daily life get difficult and stressful and as my emotions sink I remember the cry of David “Why are you cast down, O my soul? And why are you disquieted within me? Hope in God, for I shall yet praise Him For the help of His countenance.” (Psa 42:5)

Devotional Ramblings christian living, christianity, Jesus Christ, obedience, Psalms, trials

PSALM 2

Why do the nations rage, And the people plot a vain thing?
The kings of the earth set themselves, And the rulers take counsel together, Against the LORD and against His Anointed, saying,
“Let us break Their bonds in pieces And cast away Their cords from us.”
He who sits in the heavens shall laugh; The LORD shall hold them in derision.
Then He shall speak to them in His wrath, And distress them in His deep displeasure:
“Yet I have set My King On My holy hill of Zion.”
“I will declare the decree: The LORD has said to Me, ‘You are My Son, Today I have begotten You.
Ask of Me, and I will give You The nations for Your inheritance, And the ends of the earth for Your possession.
You shall break them with a rod of iron; You shall dash them to pieces like a potter’s vessel.’ ”
Now therefore, be wise, O kings; Be instructed, you judges of the earth.
Serve the LORD with fear, And rejoice with trembling.
Kiss the Son, lest He be angry, And you perish in the way, When His wrath is kindled but a little. Blessed are all those who put their trust in Him.

What a marvelous thing that God has given us in His scriptures!  The very nature of the book of the Bible itself is worth looking into.  As a student of literature I have read countless books, and I can attest to the fact that there is no other book that is like the Bible.  God’s Word is dynamic and living as the author of Hebrews says “For the word of God is living and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the division of soul and spirit, and of joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.” (Heb 4:12)  And yet the Bible has been the target of much criticism over the years, with people questioning its historical accuracy to its inerrancy.  Let’s take a look at a couple of proofs that the Bible is truly God’s Word.

1.  Jesus held that the Scriptures were of God (Jn 10:35, Mt 5:18, and many others) and in fact told the disciples that the Holy Spirit would help them to document all of these teachings accurately (Jn 14:26, Jn 16:12-14).

2.  The Bible declares itself to be the Word of God (2 Ti 3:16, Heb 4:12)

3.  The unity of the Bible is supernatural.  66 books written over the course of 1500 years by 40 different authors that came from completely different backgrounds could NEVER have created a document as completely singular in purpose as the Christian Bible.  The consistency in imagery and prophecy from the beginning of Genesis to the end of Revelation is one of the strongest proofs that exist for the Bible’s inspired nature.

4.  The Bible is historically accurate.  While the Bible has been criticized many times in history for historical inaccuracy, every accusation has eventually fallen flat as archeology has caught up with the knowledge held in its pages.  From Pontius Pilate to King David to the existence of nations like the Hittites archeology has proved out time and time again that the Bible is a true and accurate record of history.

5.  Prophesy.  There is no greater proof of the Bible than the prophetic words that it holds within itself.  Peter said “And so we have the prophetic word confirmed, which you do well to heed as a light that shines in a dark place, until the day dawns and the morning star rises in your hearts; knowing this first, that no prophecy of Scripture is of any private interpretation, for prophecy never came by the will of man, but holy men of God spoke as they were moved by the Holy Spirit.” (2Pe 1:19-21)  Peter, who had seen and touched the Lord in flesh didn’t point people to his personal experience with Jesus but rather to the proofs held within the prophesies of Scripture.

In Psalm 2 we see some of that prophesy as David declared the coming of the Lord over a thousand years before it happened.  And just as prophetic is the response from the world, they continue to rage and rail against God and His Anointed.  I encourage anyone reading this to take a few hours this week to appreciate the document of the Bible; such a wonderful gift that we have been given by our awesome God.

Devotional Ramblings Bible, christianity, discernment, Jesus Christ, prophesy, Psalms, scripture

“Blessed is the man Who walks not in the counsel of the ungodly, Nor stands in the path of sinners, Nor sits in the seat of the scornful; But his delight is in the law of the LORD, And in His law he meditates day and night.” (Psa 1:1-2)

The contrast between the ungodly and godly man is well known by most but it is worth repeating.   Specifically, as Christians we should be aware of the “slippery slope” that compromise introduces into our lives.  The clear progression of backsliding we see in these verses show the transition from casual interaction with the world to full blown apostasy. 

We see the first step off of God’s path is walking in the counsel of the ungodly.  We are called to minister to a lost world but not be a part of that world.  Walking in the counsel of the ungodly is a reflection of the introduction of compromise into the life of the believer.  It is very dangerous to change the full council of God to make the message more palatable for non-believers.  I have seen many brothers in the Lord begin to fall away by trying to relate to unsaved people on their terms.  Peppering in a little crude language or inappropriate joking, avoiding tough concepts like the blood of Christ or repentance when the subjects arise, these things give the enemy a foothold into our lives and are the gateway to a more significant fall. 

In the second phrase, we see the man no longer walking but now standing in the path of sinners.  This is an indication that their walk with God has come to a complete halt.  Now instead of just casual conversation, the actions are more overt.  I once knew a brother who every Friday would have what he referred to as his “secular night”.  On his secular night he would go out and have a few drinks and shoot pool with his non-Christian buddies.  This is standing in the path of sinners; we are never to actively engage in worldly fellowship with those that are lost - the results of doing this are catastrophic to our walks.  That brother I mentioned ended up falling completely away from the Lord.  It is important to mention that this is the same man who led me to the Lord.

The last and final step in this progression is sitting in the seat of the scornful.  No longer is the man just stopped in his walk with God but now he is moving in the opposite direction.  The things of God that were so wonderful to him in the past now seem foolish and ridiculous.  Instead of standing up for the tenants of the faith, he tears them down while criticizing believers for being Bible “thumpers” and not being open minded enough.  He begins to question God and eventually falls completely away.  This is a hard concept to understand because we know that God is faithful to complete the work that he started in us “being confident of this very thing, that He who has begun a good work in you will complete it until the day of Jesus Christ“(Php 1:6)  So is God failing these people?  Not so!  Listen to what John says about these types of believers “They went out from us, but they were not of us; for if they had been of us, they would have continued with us; but they went out that they might be made manifest, that none of them were of us.” (1Jn 2:19)  God is faithful to draw these imposters out and make manifest that they are not His children.

Paul calls us to “work out your own salvation with fear and trembling” (Php 2:12b)  We are not to have any confidence in ourselves when it comes to salvation and where we stand.  Our brains are weak! Remember that your brain can be convinced that something incorrect is the truth OR that something correct is not.  Our faith and confidence needs to be in something more sure than our own mental capacity.  So how do we know our position in Christ?  Look at the very next verse in Philippians “for it is God who works in you both to will and to do for His good pleasure.” (Php 2:13) We have assurance because of the promises of God and we know the promises of God from His Word.  If we want to know if we are in the perfect will of God we need to look at ourselves in the perfect light of His Word.  Remember verse two from the Psalm?  “But his delight is in the law of the LORD, And in His law he meditates day and night” If we are bearing the correct fruit we have confidence BUT if we are not we need to fix the situation.

If any of us have strayed and our actions don’t measure up with what the Word says, I pray today that we will humble ourselves, repent and He WILL restore us.  That is His will, that is His promise and He NEVER lies.

“If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” (1Jn 1:9)

Devotional Ramblings christian living, christianity, correction, discernment, holiness, Jesus Christ, obedience, practical living, Psalms, repentance, salvation, sin

“Then one in the council stood up, a Pharisee named Gamaliel, a teacher of the law held in respect by all the people, and commanded them to put the apostles outside for a little while. And he said to them: “Men of Israel, take heed to yourselves what you intend to do regarding these men. For some time ago Theudas rose up, claiming to be somebody. A number of men, about four hundred, joined him. He was slain, and all who obeyed him were scattered and came to nothing. After this man, Judas of Galilee rose up in the days of the census, and drew away many people after him. He also perished, and all who obeyed him were dispersed. And now I say to you, keep away from these men and let them alone; for if this plan or this work is of men, it will come to nothing; but if it is of God, you cannot overthrow it—lest you even be found to fight against God.”  (Act 5:34-39)

Gamaliel was a very respected and erudite Jewish Rabbi but he was not committed believer.  Though at first glance his counsel seems wise it is not at all; his counsel is, in fact, very worldly.  Gamaliel encouraged the Jews like the previous rebellions.  And if it was successful, by some small chance, and a work of God they believed that they would be covered because they wouldn’t have fought against God’s plans actively.  But what they didn’t realize is that by actively rejecting Jesus, despite their actions against the Apostles, they were already doomed.  Jesus said “”He who believes in Him is not condemned; but he who does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God.” (Joh 3:18) Although he was well educated in the Scriptures, Gamaliel never encouraged them to check to see if what the Apostles were saying was scriptural.  And if his assessment is right than anything that seems “successful” by worldly standards could be attributed to God’s hand.  Take note that this could include the Mormons, Jehovah’s Witnesses and many other cults and ungodly philosophies.
Gamaliel’s advice on the situation is, in reality, a dangerous stance.  For God has not called us to stand on the sidelines, waiting to see the outcome of Christian beliefs.  We are called to make an informed choice either for or against Him.  Let’s contrast Gamaliel’s poor advice by taking a look at the group that handled the same message in a much different way. 

“Then the brethren immediately sent Paul and Silas away by night to Berea. When they arrived, they went into the synagogue of the Jews. These were more fair-minded than those in Thessalonica, in that they received the word with all readiness, and searched the Scriptures daily to find out whether these things were so. Therefore many of them believed and also not a few of the Greeks, prominent women as well as men.” (Act 17:10-12)

The Bereans received the same message as Gamaliel and yet they handled it in a much different way.  They searched the scriptures “daily” to validate what they were being told and therefore many of them believed.  They knew that they had a choice to make and used God’s Word as the “scales” to weigh whether the message that Paula and Silas gave them was true or false.  God has not called the human race to sit on the sidelines with respect to the issue of salvation.  Each and every person is called to make a decision: Either Jesus is the Son of God who came to save us and is the ONLY way by which a person can be saved; or He isn’t and He was an evil liar or completely insane.  We cannot choose the parts of the story that we like and reject the parts that we don’t.  Either He is God or He isn’t; Either He is the Truth, the Way and the Life or He isn’t.  We all need to choose. 

And for those of us that are born again, we need to remember that there are many strange doctrines floating around in the world today.  We need to follow the example of the Bereans, searching the scriptures to see if the things we encounter are the truth.  As it is written:

“Test all things; hold fast what is good.”  (1Th 5:21) 

“Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits, whether they are of God; because many false prophets have gone out into the world.” (1Jn 4:1)

Devotional Ramblings Acts, christian living, christianity, discernment, Jesus Christ, judgement, practical living, salvation

“Therefore, brethren, seek out from among you seven men of good reputation, full of the Holy Spirit and wisdom, whom we may appoint over this business” (Acts 6:3)

It is a very good thing to want to serve the Lord.  In fact it is a natural and necessary evolution in our Christian walk.  So for those of us that are seeking to engage in any formal ministry we should understand the biblical requirements.  First, it is necessary to have a good reputation.  Look at what Paul says to Timothy about appointing people into the ministry:  “ This is a faithful saying: If a man desires the position of a bishop, he desires a good work. A bishop then must be blameless, the husband of one wife, temperate, sober-minded, of good behavior, hospitable, able to teach; not given to wine, not violent, not greedy for money, but gentle, not quarrelsome, not covetous; one who rules his own house well, having his children in submission with all reverence (for if a man does not know how to rule his own house, how will he take care of the church of God?); not a novice, lest being puffed up with pride he fall into the same condemnation as the devil. Moreover he must have a good testimony among those who are outside, lest he fall into reproach and the snare of the devil.”  (1 Timothy 3:1-7)  We must be committed to walking in the Spirit and not in the Flesh; and we need to do this both INSIDE and OUTSIDE of our houses.  Let me ask a couple of questions:

• Inside the House
  Do you read your Bible with your family every day?
  Do you pray with your family every day?
  Do you allow compromise and worldliness into your house?
  Are your children out of control?
• Outside the House
  Do you act like someone different when you are at work?
  Are you light and salt, illuminating and preserving this world from darkness and evil through your witness?
  Are you bold for the Lord when someone needs to hear the Gospel?  Or are you too shy to tell people that you love Jesus?

If any of these are areas that we lack in we should seek to fix them right away.

Second, it is necessary to be full of the Holy Spirit.  We have no power to serve the Lord outside of the power he gives us through the Holy Spirit.  If we are strong in the Spirit of God we can accomplish anything; but how can we know that we are full of the Holy Spirit?  Imagine that you walk up to a fruit tree of some sort.  You don’t know what kind of tree it is.  How are you going to find out?  Obviously by looking at what fruit it bears.  An orange tree doesn’t produce apples, and an apple tree doesn’t produce oranges.  We are known by the spiritual fruit we bear.  So what is the fruit of the Spirit that we should see in the believer’s life? “the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control. Against such there is no law.” (Galatians 5:22-23)  And so how do we become strong and full of the Holy Spirit?  By abiding in Christ.  “I am the vine, you are the branches. He who abides in Me, and I in him, bears much fruit; for without Me you can do nothing.”(John 15:5)

The third and last requirement for us is to have wisdom.  So what is wisdom and where does it come from?  It is not intelligence and it is not being well-educated; so what is it?  The Bible tells us exactly what Wisdom is. ”For the LORD gives wisdom; From His mouth come knowledge and understanding” (Proverbs 2:6)   We can see from the proverb that wisdom comes from the Lord and from His Word; and we need to be strong in God’s Word for many reasons.  Listen to what Paul says to Timothy regarding being well versed in the Scriptures:
Be diligent to present yourself approved to God, a worker who does not need to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.  (2 Timothy 2:15) When we build our foundation on the Word of God we are able to use His wisdom in out daily lives.  This is necessary so that we can:  encourage other believers effectively; share the Gospel with non-believers effectively; and distinguish between the Truth and lies (concerning doctrinal issues).  This last point is extremely important because THERE IS NO DOUBT that we are going to enounter false and strange doctrines in our Christian walks.  We need to have a very strong foundation in the Scriptures to differentiate between sound teaching and those that are not.  We see this point over and over in the Word.  “Test all things; hold fast what is good.” (1Th 5:21) “Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits, whether they are of God; because many false prophets have gone out into the world.” (1Jn 4:1)

God intends for us to serve Him.  As with anything we need to ensure that we are starting from a good position.  Go out and heed the call He has put on your life and you will be blessed more than you could ever imagine.

Devotional Ramblings Acts, christian living, christianity, holiness, Jesus Christ, obedience, practical living, serving