Feed Random Archive Mobile Ask

Journey into Laos

February 27, 2012 by edelliott

.

I will be leaving on May 14th to start a seven week mission trip into Laos, Cambodia and if time permits Vietnam. I plan to blog about my travels in that part of the world when I am able and also post a few videos of my travels. Your prayers are greatly appreciated!

In 2009, I purchased a motorcycle and traveled into Laos to make contact with the underground church, for the purpose of training leaders and to do underground evangelism. It is illegal to preach the gospel in Laos and as you read my journal detailing my travels in that nation, you will notice that I wrote them as if I were a businessman on a business trip. They were written this way in case they were intercepted by the secret police.  

The code is easy to understand: “CEO” refers to God, “managers” are church leaders and “customers” are people who respond to the gospel. I posted these reports on my personal Facebook page so all those praying for me would know what was happening, and the challenges I was facing. In over twenty-five years of being involved in missions, I have never felt or seen such incredibly quick answers to prayers and divine protection. I know this was a result of the Facebook family of believers who supported me with prayers constantly, while on this mission trip.

You will read about how I was run off a mountain road at night by a trucker, causing me to tumble down a deep ditch filled with rocks. Miraculously, no harm came to the bike or to me. You will also read about how I had to dodge police road blocks, how God helped me escape a trap setup to catch me. How we came across very large tiger tracks while walking through the jungle, going from one village to the next preaching the gospel, and how God used a small kitten to assist me in escaping a possible prison sentence, when I was arrested leaving Laos.

If you like to know more about our ministry and travels around the world you can visit our website for more information.

http://wordoflife.rbm.tv/http://wordoflife.rbm.tv/

Journey Into Laos

Part 1

http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.140806886386.111615.646576386&l=c1cd140564

Part 2

http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.142213291386.112021.646576386&l=39f14464f4

Part 3

http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.144682011386.112946.646576386&l=3c56eb15ca

Part 4

http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.146094341386.113287.646576386&l=1193f97322

Part 5

http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.149068271386.113962.646576386&l=a92984bd67

Part 6

http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.152069796386.114802.646576386&l=d1ef9ef7ee

Part 7

http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.154074376386.115628.646576386&l=bd85edc36d

Part 8

http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.157831661386.116689.646576386&l=104baed055

Part 9

http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.161364886386.117841.646576386&l=eeff4e9a15

Part 10

http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.166125381386.119335.646576386&l=7c48f83540

If you like to know more about our ministry and travels around the world you can visit out website for more information.

http://wordoflife.rbm.tv/http://wordoflife.rbm.tv/

God’s Radical Forgivness

June 25, 2011 by edelliott

The Jesus who forgave the women caught in adultery, the thief on the cross, Peter for denying Him and those who beat Him and drove nails through His hands and feet, is still the same Jesus today. Heb 13:8

We as the body of Christ should represent the same compassion and mercy to those caught in similar situations.  Forgiveness isn’t condoning sin it opens a door for the heart to receive mercy.  God uses mercy to purge the heart of sin. Proverbs 16:6

One’s ability to forgive comes from knowing and believing how God has forgiven them. You cannot give to others what you do not possess yourself and cannot lead others where you not gone.

“I Belong to a Church that throws Parties for Prostitutes” by Ed Elliott

May 25, 2011 by edelliott


When God’s love gets established in your heart as a believer, it will affect how you see and treat people. A prostitute came into a room full of Pharisees and washed the feet of Jesus, the religious leaders saw a sinful woman, possibly even beyond redemption in their eyes but Jesus saw a woman in need of forgiveness and acceptance. The apostle Paul understood it was God’s goodness that leads a person to repentance, Romans 2:4

God’s love will always show you how a person needs to be seen and treated.

This true incident happened to Tony Campolo a few years ago. Tony, who grew up in inner city Philadelphia, is a professor of sociology at Eastern College in St. David’s, PA.
A few years ago Tony flew to Hawaii to speak at a conference. The way he tells it, he checks into his hotel and tries to get some sleep. Unfortunately, his internal clock wakes him at 3:00 a.m. The night is dark, the streets are silent, the world is asleep, but Tony is wide awake and his stomach is growling.
He gets up and prowls the streets looking for a place to get some bacon and eggs for an early breakfast. Everything is closed except for a grungy dive in an alley. He goes in and sits down at the counter. The fat guy behind the counter comes over and asks, “What d’ya want?”

Well, Tony isn’t so hungry anymore so eying some donuts under a plastic cover he says, “I’ll have a donut and black coffee.”

As he sits there munching on his donut and sipping his coffee at 3:30, in walk eight or nine provocative, loud prostitutes just finished with their night’s work. They plop down at the counter and Tony finds himself uncomfortably surrounded by this group of smoking, swearing hookers. He gulps his coffee, planning to make a quick getaway. Then the woman next to him says to her friend, “You know what? Tomorrow’s my birthday. I’m gonna be 39.” To which her friend nastily replies, “So what d’ya want from me? A birthday party? Huh? You want me to get a cake, and sing happy birthday to you?”
The first woman says, “Aw, come on, why do you have to be so mean? Why do you have to put me down? I’m just sayin’ it’s my birthday. I don’t want anything from you. I mean, why should I have a birthday party? I’ve never had a birthday party in my whole life. Why should I have one now?”

Well, when Tony Campolo heard that, he said he made a decision. He sat and waited until the women left, and then he asked the fat guy at the counter, “Do they come in here every night?”

“Yeah,” he answered.

“The one right next to me,” he asked, “she comes in every night?”

“Yeah,” he said, “that’s Agnes. Yeah, she’s here every night. She’s been comin’ here for years. Why do you want to know?”

“Because she just said that tomorrow is her birthday. What do you think? Do you think we could maybe throw a little birthday party for her right here in the diner?”

A cute kind of smile crept over the fat man’s chubby cheeks. “That’s great,” he says, “yeah, that’s great. I like it.” He turns to the kitchen and shouts to his wife, “Hey, come on out here. This guy’s got a great idea. Tomorrow is Agnes’ birthday and he wants to throw a party for her right here.”
His wife comes out. “That’s terrific,” she says. “You know, Agnes is really nice. She’s always trying to help other people and nobody does anything nice for her.”

So they make their plans. Tony says he’ll be back at 2:30 the next morning with some decorations and the man, whose name turns out to be Harry, says he’ll make a cake.

At 2:30 the next morning, Tony is back. He has crepe paper and other decorations and a sign made of big pieces of cardboard that says, “Happy Birthday, Agnes!” They decorate the place from one end to the other and get it looking great. Harry had gotten the word out on the streets about the party and by 3:15 it seemed that every prostitute in Honolulu was in the place. There were hookers wall to wall.
At 3:30 on the dot, the door swings open and in walks Agnes and her friend. Tony has everybody ready. They all shout and scream “Happy Birthday, Agnes!” Agnes is absolutely flabbergasted. She’s stunned, her mouth falls open, her knees started to buckle, and she almost falls over.

And when the birthday cake with all the candles is carried out, that’s when she totally loses it. Now she’s sobbing and crying. Harry, who’s not used to seeing a prostitute cry, gruffly mumbles, “Blow out the candles, Agnes. Cut the cake.”

So she pulls herself together and blows them out. Everyone cheers and yells, “Cut the cake, Agnes, cut the cake!” But Agnes looks down at the cake and, without taking her eyes off it, slowly and softly says, “Look, Harry, is it all right with you if…I mean, if I don’t…I mean, what I want to ask, is it OK if I keep the cake a little while? Is it all right if we don’t eat it right away?” Harry doesn’t know what to say so he shrugs and says, “Sure, if that’s what you want to do. Keep the cake. Take it home if you want.”
“Oh, could I?” she asks. Looking at Tony she says, “I live just down the street a couple of doors; I want to take the cake home, is that okay? I’ll be right back, honest.”

She gets off her stool, picks up the cake, and carries it high in front of her like it was the Holy Grail. Everybody watches in stunned silence and when the door closes behind her, nobody seems to know what to do. They look at each other. They look at Tony.

So Tony gets up on a chair and says, “What do you say that we pray together?”
And there they are in a hole-in-the-wall greasy spoon, half the prostitutes in Honolulu, at 3:30 a.m. listening to Tony Campolo as he prays for Agnes, for her life, her health, and her salvation. Tony recalls, “I prayed that her life would be changed, and that God would be good to her.”

When he’s finished, Harry leans over, and with a trace of hostility in his voice, he says, “Hey, you never told me you was a preacher. What kind of church do you belong to anyway?”

In one of those moments when just the right words came, Tony answers him quietly, “I belong to a church that throws birthday parties for prostitutes at 3:30 in the morning.”

Harry thinks for a moment, and in a mocking way says, “No you don’t. There ain’t no church like that. If there was, I’d join it. Yep, I’d join a church like that.”

What kind of church do you belong to anyway?

I did not write this story it was sent to me by a friend and has been in my files for many years. It touches me deeply every time I read it.

In Love with God?

February 11, 2011 by edelliott

You are not just loved by God, as a believer you are actually “IN love”. The Bible teaches that God is love. Jesus is not just loving, he is “LOVE” and as a believer you are IN Him! It feels so good to be “IN Love,” doesn’t it?

Forgiveness a Matter of Life and Death

February 9, 2011 by edelliott

The Jesus who forgave the women caught in adultery, the thief on the cross, Peter for denying Him and those who beat Him and drove nails through His hands and feet, is still the same Jesus today. Heb 13:8

We as the body of Christ should represent the same compassion and mercy to those caught in similar situations.  Forgiveness isn’t condoning sin it opens a door for the heart to receive mercy.  God uses mercy to purge the heart of sin. Proverbs 16:6

BEING STONED OR BEING LOVED

November 26, 2010 by edelliott

A candle flickered dimly as it sat on the small, wooden table. Across the room two lovers were locked in a passionate embrace, when the sound of the door being violently forced open, startled the couple.  It was the local high priest!  Storming into the room with a disapproving glare and arm outstretched with a long, boney finger pointing at the half dressed couple, he shouted, “SINNERS! This man is not your husband!” He grabbed the frightened woman by her arm and jerked her so forcefully that she felt as if her arm would come off.  

 

He dragged her out of the dimly lit room into the bright, blinding sunshine of the street.  At the top of his voice he announced her sin to all her neighbors while towing her, stumbling across the cobblestone street. With her free hand, she was busy trying to wrap herself in the sheet she pulled from the bed she was forced to leave.  She was terrified and shook from fear.  She glanced back to see what had happened to her lover, but he was nowhere to be seen.

 

As the priest continued to shout out her sins, she saw many friends and family members looking at her in disgust.  She was too ashamed to make eye contact and hung her head down, trying to cover her face with the sheet, as she wept.  A few minutes later she glanced up and saw they were headed to the temple.  A crowd was gathering, and now she was hearing abusive taunts from strangers and children, as they followed her, holding rocks in their waving hands.  She knew too well what her punishment would be, and she knew she deserved it.  In a moment of weakness, she had given in to the kind stranger and that sin would now cost her more than she could bear.  It would ultimately end with her losing her life.

 

The priest shoved her through the grand, wooden doors of the temple.  As they entered, she could hear someone speaking.  Moving closer to the crowd, she heard his voice… it was soothing and calming, but with authority.  The priest held her tightly; those with him forced their way through the crowd.  His thunderous voice interrupted the speaker: “Master, this vile, wicked sinner has been caught sleeping with a man who isn’t her husband!  She is an adulteress and Moses taught us to kill such a person by stoning them, but we are curious as to how you would handle such a situation.”  The priest turned his head slightly, looked at his supporters and winked.  He knew the trap was set and it was just a matter of time before their prey would be snared.

 

The man they had interrupted kneeled down, and with his finger, began writing something in the sand. The Priest again pressed for an answer and became irritated because he felt he was being ignored.  The woman trembled… her tears made small puddles on the ground as they rolled off her cheeks.  She collapsed to the ground about the time Jesus stood up and looked across the crowd.  He studied the accusers for a moment and then said, “If there is anyone here who has never sinned, be my guest and come and throw the first stone.” 

 

The congregation grew nervous.  The accusers and others started looking around… who would go first?   When the impact of what Jesus had said struck them, there was no one among them who could carry out the sentence.  Jesus wouldn’t allow the guilty to condemn the guilty; no one came forward because no one was qualified.

 

A shimmer of sunlight peeked in as the large temple doors were quietly opened for those who were quickly exiting.  The old guys were the first to realize they were not qualified to throw a stone, because they knew they deserved receiving one.  Those, who minutes earlier were so eager to get to the temple, were now twice as eager to leave it.  In no time at all, the entire place was totally empty… except for two people:  The frightened figure on the ground and the one who had caused her accusers to flee. 

 

She felt a gentle but firm touch as Jesus lifted her up to a standing position. With compassion she had never known, he looked deep into her eyes and said to her, “So where are those who called you a sinner, now?” She lifted up her head as she wiped the remaining tears from her eyes.  She slowly scanned the room from side to side and then, with a bewildered look, she said to Jesus, “I don’t see them; they are nowhere.”

Jesus smiled and said,  “You have nothing to be afraid of… I am not going to stone you.”  At that moment she knew he was the only one in the room who could have thrown the first stone, but he didn’t.

 

Jesus recognized the powerful impact mercy was having on this woman.  He also perceived that even though she had a lover, she wasn’t loved.  Knowing this, he said to her,  “Go home and leave the sin that almost killed you.” A rush of joy and hope suddenly flooded her heart and new tears filled her eyes… but for a different reason.  She almost danced out of the temple!  She was so thrilled to be alive!  She started running home and the joy on her face shone brighter than the noonday sun!  

 

Across the street stood some of her former accusers.  They were angered by her newfound happiness and freedom, but they, too, could have known and experienced the same mercy, if they had stayed.

 

Inside the temple Jesus thought, “It’s been a good day.”

 

My expanded take on John 8:1-9

A true Brave heart

November 3, 2010 by edelliott

I woke up this morning and then quickly fell back asleep. I had a dream and I saw the scene from Mel Gibson’s movie “Brave Heart,” where he speaks to his men before going to battle. In my dream, the William Wallace speech he gave was altered and put into a Christian context. I wrote it down to share with everyone. Enjoy………

P.S. If you can read it with a Scottish accent, it may have a bigger impact. ;)

A true Brave heart


BH = Brave Heart

BH: Sons of God, I am a follower of Jesus Christ….and today I see an army of my fellow believers gathered here in defiance of legalism and religion! You have come to fight as free men and women and free you are! What will you do without freedom? For Christ has set us free and as His followers, we will stand firm in the liberty He bought and paid for with His precious blood and life.

BH: Will you fight?


From the crowd someone speaks,…

Spiritual Coward: The religious and denominations easily out number us, we are few and they are many. No we will not fight! It is better to believe what they tell us so they will not trouble and harass us. It is easier to give up control of our lives to their laws and rules then to live in love with God.

BH: “Yes!” “Fight, and you will be persecuted; men will speak evil of you and some will cut you off from their company. Run from the truth and you will not be persecuted, slandered or spoken evil of but know this, you will never know freedom, peace or true love nor will you walk in God’s courage equipped with His armor fulfilling His divine purpose on the earth. And one day while you lay dying in your bed many years from now, would you be willing to trade all the days from this day to that, for one chance, just one chance, to come back here as a young person and to tell those enemies of the cross who fought against God’s grace that gave us liberty, love and peace that they may take our lives but they will never take our freedom in Christ!


Fight the good fight of faith, lay hold on eternal life, whereunto thou art also called, and hast professed a good profession before many witnesses.
1 Timothy 6:12
For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms.
Ephesians 6:12 

Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword? As it is written: “For your sake we face death all day long; we are considered as sheep to be slaughtered.” No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Romans 8: 35-39

The absence of condemnation from God

October 19, 2010 by edelliott

by Ed Elliott

“Nether will I condemn you,” said Jesus to the woman caught in adultery in John 8. Jesus tells us in John 5:19 that He only does what He sees His Father doing. Jesus first let this woman know that He would not condemn her, nor would he allow anyone else to, either. It wasn’t until then that He told her to, “go and sin no more.” The absence of condemnation from God is what empowers us to repent and motivates us to turn from our sins.

Repentance does not bring grace; grace is the catalyst that brings repentance. The idea that if we repent, God won’t condemn us is totally backwards to what the Bible teaches. The prodigal was embraced, loved and accepted before he made it home, or even acknowledged he had sinned.

The truth is God does not condemn us. Jesus said He wasn’t sent to condemn the world (John 12:47), and Paul said that there is no fear of judgment for the believer (Romans 8:1).

It is this powerful and life-changing truth that enables one to turn from sin. We have access 24/7 to a throne of mercy and grace today -not a throne of judgment. (Hebrews 4:16)

Unto you first God, having raised up His Son Jesus, sent Him to bless you, in turning away every one of you from his iniquities. Acts 3:26

The Jesus Scandal

October 16, 2010 by edelliott

There is a story of a scandal in the Bible that gets little-to-no attention today. It is a story often told children in Sunday school classes, but with little understanding of the true nature of the implications that took place. This is unfortunate because the impact of what happened at that time and place is staggering. It scandalized and shocked the people of that society.

Had the media of today been around, it certainly would have been the lead story on every newscast and the headline of every newspaper across the land. It would have been discussed, analyzed, examined and debated endlessly on every TV program and radio talk show for weeks.

This was so incredibly scandalous, that it not only stunned the religious leaders of the day, but the average person on the street was shaken to their very core. The implications this shocking event would have on society would ultimately change it forever.

Some viewed this as a tragedy; a few secretly rejoiced because it gave them a glimmer of hope, but they dared not say why. Yet others saw their faith shaken to such a point that they didn’t know if they could recover from such a traumatic incident.

Before I explain what this outrageous and ghastly event was, I need to lay a little groundwork so you can see and understand why this episode was so disgraceful in the eyes of that society.  

Reading the New Testament, you will notice a number of times where Jesus was seen in the company of “sinners and tax collectors.” I always found the distinction made between the two, a little odd. We already know everyone is a sinner, so why say “sinners” and “tax collectors”? Surely tax collectors are sinners, no more or no less than anyone else. Why the distinction, and why are they singled out as if they were even more sinful than a sinner?

This had always puzzled me. It seemed redundant and unnecessary. It wasn’t until I did some study on who these tax collectors were, how they operated, and how they got their job that I began to understand why they were singled out for special notoriety.  It wasn’t because they were any more sinful than anyone else, but because of how the public of that day viewed them.

Amongst the Jewish population in Jesus’ day, the most stigmatized and hated man in the community was one of their own –the tax collector. Tax collectors were seen as the most devious and wicked thieves of that day. The Roman government backed them with power and authority, enabling them to legally steal or seize any asset or property they chose, and there was nothing anyone could do to stop them. Becoming a tax collector made you a traitor to your own people.

Tax collectors were generally described as being greedy because they took more money than they were entitled to take. They got their job by guaranteeing they could extract more taxes out of their community than anyone else. The job of tax collector always went to the highest bidder. In light of this, it’s easy to see why the Bible makes a special distinction of them –because even sinners rejected and hated tax collectors.

Luke 19:1-10 has a fascinating scandal in the making. A tax collector named Zacchaeus heard that Jesus was coming to town. He was curious and wanted to get a glimpse of the man he had heard so much about, but he was too short to see over the crowd. To be able to see Jesus, Zacchaeus ran down the road where Jesus was walking, and climbed a sycamore tree. Sycamore trees were considered “unclean” because they bore a fruit that was fed to pigs. In the culture of that day, it was humiliating for Zacchaeus to climb that tree.

Nothing was out of the ordinary that day -just another day where people were curious about Jesus and crowds were flocking to observe Him.  Jesus saw Zacchaeus peering down at Him from up in the tree and said, “Zacchaeus come down here; today I am going to stay at your house.”

That is how this shocking scandal all started.

Everyone that heard Jesus say he was going to stay at Zacchaeus the tax collector’s house was flabbergasted! Jesus was a man of God! How could He dare enter the home of such a wicked and evil sinner! This was outrageous because to invite or to be invited into someone’s home to eat a meal was considered an act of the highest form of friendship in Jewish society. Here was Jesus, offering His friendship, love and acceptance, to a man who was looked down on by everyone.

Zacchaeus wasn’t even allowed in the Temple. His old friends and family had rejected him because of the position he held. He was arguably the most hated and rejected man in all of society. It was to this socially ostracized little man that Jesus extended an offer of friendship.

Nothing created more anger and resentment toward Jesus than this act. Allowing a prostitute to wash His feet, healing lepers and blind people, who religious leaders had assumed were being punished and cursed by God, didn’t rile and upset them as much as this. The most outrageous thing Jesus had done was choosing to enter into a friendship with the worst sinner anyone knew.

This acceptance of friendship had a powerful impact on Zacchaeus’ life -one that touched and changed him deeply, forever. Entering into a relationship with Jesus so transformed Zacchaeus’s heart, that he publicly declared he would make right all his wrongs and he would return four-fold what he had stolen. What started out as a scandal, turned into a story of redemption and divine transformation. The local community went from being outraged to being mystified at the moral turn-around of this tax collector.

One of the reasons why I think very little has been said about this passage, is because so few actually understand how the power of acceptance and love can impact and change someone’s life. Jesus obviously understood because he employed this way of life, and consistently saw the same results.

The Apostle Paul also understood that people who received unconditional love would start to love unconditionally. In Romans 2:4, he wrote that it is the goodness of God that brings a person to repentance. It isn’t our repentance that gets God to be good to us; we repent because He is good. Jesus certainly proved that by how He treated and accepted Zacchaeus.   

Finally, Jesus tells Zacchaeus that salvation has come to his house. Why? The reason was because Jesus had come to seek and save that which was lost. Even though Zacchaeus was a child of Abraham, his own people had rejected him and he probably assumed God had also rejected him. Jesus said that when you see Him, you see the Father. It was Jesus’ actions that showed Zacchaeus that God hadn’t rejected him. It didn’t matter to God how bad a sinner he was; God’s desire was to bring him home.

It is sad that many in the church world would have ministered to Zacchaeus in away that Jesus never would have. They would have demanded he repent of his sins first. However, Jesus understood how the heart of man works and how it can be touched by mercy and compassion, to bring about a godly change.  

I pray God opens our eyes to His amazing life-changing love. We see people everyday that have been rejected and shamed because of past negative interactions with Christians. These people may believe, like Zacchaeus did, that God rejects them, too. If Jesus wasn’t afraid to be a friend of sinners, then we as believers in Him shouldn’t be afraid, as well.

The simple act of friendship can impact history.

According to Clement of Alexandria, in his book, STROMATA, Zacchaeus was surnamed “Matthias” by the apostles, and took the place of Judas Iscariot after Jesus’ ascension. The later Apostolic Constitutions identify “Zacchaeus the Publican” as the first bishop of Caesarea. Medieval legend identified Zacchaeus with Saint Amadour, and held him to be the founder of the French sanctuary, Rocamadour.

Grace for Disgrace

October 12, 2010 by edelliott

“Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.” 2 Timothy 2:15 

I had heard for many years how I needed to study and acquire as much biblical knowledge as I could, so I could earn God’s approval. This would enable me to preach and teach His word and not feel ashamed, because I just might misquote or take it out of context. This approach or belief I had, led me to do what Paul was warning Timothy not to do: I ended up “wrongly” dividing God’s word.

Paul told Timothy to study to “show himself approved of God,” not to seek or get God’s approval, but for Timothy to see that because of the finished work of the cross, he already had God’s approval and acceptance. A person that feels ashamed will never preach or teach the word of God with boldness and confidence, because they will feel unworthy or disqualified by their past sins and failures. Paul knew that Timothy needed to understand and be convinced in his heart that his past, present and future sins were forgiven, and his position in Christ was secure and unshakable. With this knowledge, Timothy could declare, as Paul did,

“For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ: for it is the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth; to the Jew first, and also to the Greek.” Romans 1:16 

Paul wrote two thirds of the New Testament; Moses and David wrote much of the Old Testament. All three were “murderers,” yet it was God who qualified them and their past didn’t and couldn’t disqualify them.

We are qualified by believing the gospel. Nothing we do or have done, can disqualify us from doing what God says we can do.

When a person understands and believes that it is the work of Jesus that causes them to be acceptable to God, then with great confidence and boldness they will proclaim the gospel.

Jesus exchanged His grace for our disgrace. When this truth is believed, Paul says we will “rightly divide the word of truth.”

People who are still seeking God’s approval, struggle with a lack of confidence or shame because of sin and past failures. Whether these failures happened before or after they came to faith in Christ, they still haven’t understood or grasped the awesomeness of the power of the gospel and its eternal change and transformation because of our relationship with God. Paul understood this. He knew that when we see we are approved and acceptable to God, not because of our works, but because of Christ’s work alone, then we have confidence and boldness to proclaim a truth the world needs to hear. It is also the correct foundation we need established in our heart to correctly divide or interpret the word of God. 

If, like the Pharisees, a person is working or performing to earn God’s acceptance and approval, they will live under constant shame and they will “wrongly divide” the word of God -because if THEY have to “WORK” for it, then so do YOU!

The Bible says that Jesus ministered with boldness and authority and not as the scribes and Pharisees did. Why?  Jesus knew He was loved and accepted by His Heavenly Father.  Jesus prayed that we would know this truth as He knew it.

“I in them, and thou in me, that they may be made perfect in one; and that the world may know that thou hast sent me, And HAST LOVED THEM, AS THOU HAST LOVED ME”. John 17:23