We Need Vision (#1077)

As taught by Bruce Mahone, 20231112.  All rights reserved.

Verse Listing and Notes

II Kings 6:8-23       Chariots of fire – Raise your vision for your life

Psalms 60:11-12   Through God we shall do valiantly: for he shall tread down our enemies

Psalms  71:1-15     Thou art my hope (vs. 5), I will hope continually (vs. 14)

Psalms 91              1,000, 10,000 shall fall, but it shall not come nigh thee (vs. 7)

Psalms  146:5        Happy is he that hath the God of Jacob for his help, whose hope is in the LORD his God

Psalms 147:11       The LORD taketh pleasure in them that fear him, in those that hope in his mercy

Proverbs 16:3        Commit (roll) your works unto the Lord, and your thoughts shall be established

Proverbs 28:1        The wicked flee when no man pursueth, but the righteous are bold as a lion

Proverbs 29:18      Where there is no vision (divine communication), the people perish (wander): but he that keepeth the law, happy is he

Ecclesiastes 9:4      For to him that is joined to all the living there is hope

Jeremiah 17:7         Blessed is the man that trusteth in the LORD, and whose hope the LORD is

Jeremiah 29:11-13 An expected end [NRS – a future with hope – tiqvah – hope, expectation, grounds for hope] (vs. 11)

Daniel 11:32           The people that do know their God shall be strong (stand firm) and do exploits (take action)

Romans 8:31-39    Nothing shall separate us from the love of God!

II Corinthians 4:(1-)18 Look not at those things which are seen

Philippians 3:3      Worship God in the spirit, rejoice in CJ, have no confidence in the flesh

Colossians 3:1-3   Seek those things which are above, where Christ sitteth (vs. 1)

Teaching

We Need Vision (#1077)

The Challenge of Biblical Research

Good morning!   Here we are in our class on the challenge of Biblical Research.  I started calling this the grace of God, which I’ve been working on and teaching on for a few years now, working toward a book, which God tells me I can start actually writing after the first of the year.  But I’ve been doing the prep work.  And the reason I’ve called it “The Challenge of Biblical Research” is, is it a challenge to get to the place where you truly believe you are saved by grace.  Because, in spite of all the verses that say you are saved by grace, there are also verses that say if you misbehave in certain ways, you don’t get eternal life, you don’t get any inheritance from God, you might go in the lake of fire.  And so, we can put those together in a way without guessing, but letting the Word speak for itself, is a challenge, which is why this is called The Challenge of Biblical Research….

As taught by Bruce Mahone 20230903-4.  All rights reserved.

Class Syllabus:  The Challenge of Biblical Research Syllabus

Audio Files:

The Challenge of Biblical Research, Session 1

The Challenge of Biblical Research, Session 2

The Challenge of Biblical Research, Session 3

The Challenge of Biblical Research, Session 4

The Challenge of Biblical Research, Session 5

The Challenge of Biblical Research, Session 6

Video Files:

To be posted soon..

Peace of God Class (202210)

Bruce Mahone’s teaching of the “Stayed Mind and Peace of God” class live in October 2022.  Here entitled: “Peace of God”

As taught by Bruce Mahone, 20221008-09.

Syllabus

Peace of God Class – VA 2022

Teachings

Peace of God Class, Session 1

Peace of God Class, Session 2

Peace of God Class, Session 3

Peace of God Class, Session 4

Let Grace Abound, A Biblical Studies Class, Part 3

This is the third and final portion of the class.

As taught by Bruce Mahone, 20220212-20220213.  All rights reserved.

Class Notes and Verse Listing

Let Grace Abound Class, Part 3

Teachings

Audio

Let Grace Abound Part 3, Session 1

Let Grace Abound Part 3, Session 2

Let Grace Abound Part 3, Session 3

Let Grace Abound Part 3, Session 4

Let Grace Abound Part 3, Session 5

Let Grace Abound Part 3, Session 6

Let Grace Abound Part 3, Session 7

Video

Coming Soon…

Grace and Believing (#1036)

Introduction to be added…

As taught by Bruce Mahone 20220130.  All rights reserved.

Verse Listing and Notes

Mark 9:14-27. If you can believe.

Children:
Matthew 15:22-28. Canaanite woman believed for daughter.

Demented persons:
Luke 4:33-36. Man with unclean spirit in synagogue.

Dead people:
Acts 9:36-42. Peter prayed, Dorcas raised.

Two types of believing:
Matthew 9:22. Woman with issue of blood healed.
Job 3:25. Fear brought disaster. Later, believing restored all.

Synchronized life:
Mark 11:23-24. Do not doubt in heart.
Matthew 12:34. Out of the abundance of the heart.
Romans 8:35-39. Persuaded – confession (practical   key).
Hebrews 4:2. Mixed with believing.
II Corinthians 10:3-5. Every thought to the obedience of Christ – Synchronized with God’s Word.

What we confess with our mouths will eventually make it into our hearts.  What we believe in our hearts determines what we receive in our daily living.  We need to synchronize our words, our actions, and our thoughts with God’s Word in order to walk in the deliverance to which God has called us.

Teaching

Grace and Believing (#1036)

Grace and Living Life (#1035)

Introduction to be added….

As taught by Bruce Mahone 20220116.  All rights reserved.

Verse Listing and Notes

Deuteronomy 32:44-47   It is not a vain thing for you; because it is your life

Psalm 27:1-4                     The LORD is the strength of my life; of whom shall I be afraid?

John 5:24                           He that believes His Word has life

John 10:10                         A life which is more than abundant is available THROUGH THE LORD JESUS CHRIST, in spite of what the thief may attempt to do

Acts 13:46                          God’s Word brings eternal life

Rom 5:1-18                        By the righteousness of one, justification of life (vs. 18)

Romans 8:1-3                    For the law of the spirit of life made us free

Philippians 2:16                The Word of Life

I Thessalonians 4:9-12     You are taught of God to love one another (vs. 11 – aspire to lead a quiet life, aspire to live quietly, let it be a point of honor with you to keep calm)

I Timothy 2:1-4                  Quiet and peacable life in all godliness

I Peter 5:6-9                       Casting all your care (mental distraction) upon him, for he careth for you

I John 1:1-4                         The Word of Life

I John 4:4                             Greater is he that is in you than he that is in the world

Teaching

Grace and Living Life (#1035)

Let Grace Abound, A Biblical Studies Class, Part 2

Good morning! Welcome back to Part 2 of Let Grace Abound. This is a topic we’ve been covering in some detail for about a year in our Fellowship now. We had a review of several month’s worth of weekly teaching in June, and this is a largely a review of what we’ve covered in our weekly teachings between June and October.

And as I’ve mentioned to some of you, I have many wonderful Christian friends as you all do, some of them hear I’m studying the grace of God, and they’re delighted, some of them get very nervous that I’m going to tell people to go out and do all sorts of nasty things because we’re under the grace of God. So, I’m going to try to stay away from both extremes and just read what the word says. And by the way, when people tell me that, I take that under serious consideration, but I don’t change what I’m teaching because of what somebody says; I change it if I can see it the word. So I listen to people, I look at the word; and that is part of the reason I didn’t want to rush into this class and go right a book right-away. I wanted to teach it, I wanted to reteach it, I wanted to get your input, I wanted to think about it, and I still think that we’ve gone beyond scratching the surface, but I think there is more to learn. I think we’ve got a good thing.

So, what is probably going to happen is there will be a volume one of the book come out, and then some people are going to say it is the greatest thing in the world, and some people are going to say, you’re a terrible sinner for even had said that. And that’s OK, they can say what they want. I’ll listen, I’ll look at the word, and if I see it in the word, I’ll adapt. If I don’t see it in the word, I’ll say, I’m sorry, I understand your concern, and I love you as a brother or sister in Christ, but I’m going to say with what I think the world says. So, at any rate, that is just a brief introduction. I’m delighted to be working it all with you and we’ll have plenty of time to chat between sessions. So let’s start in the Notes with Grace and Circumcision…

As taught by Bruce Mahone, 20211008 to 20211010.  All rights reserved.

Class Notes and Verse Listing

Let Grace Abound Class, Part 2

Teachings

Audio

Let Grace Abound, Part 2, Session 1

Let Grace Abound, Part 2, Session 2

Let Grace Abound, Part 2, Session 3

Let Grace Abound, Part 2, Session 4

Let Grace Abound, Part 2, Session 5

Let Grace Abound, Part 2, Session 6

Video

Coming soon…

Let Grace Abound, A Biblical Studies Class

Good morning!  Welcome to this class on “Let Grace Abound.”  From my point of view having studied much of the Bible and much of the history of the Christian Church.  Whether we are under the law, whether it be the law of the Old Testament, the rules in the Gospels, or laws and rules made up by people, whether we are under that law or whether were under the grace of God has been one of the great debates of Christianity. 

Recently I have been reading a lot about the Middle Ages and Crusades, and it’s interesting.  Two things about the Middle Ages are clear, there were a lot of monasteries and there were a lot of crusades, where the knights from Europe went to reclaim the holy land from the “infidels” as they called them.  And, in both cases the reason the nobility of Europe spent all that money on monasteries and on the crusades was they felt it would earn their salvation.  They talked about Jesus Christ being their savior, yet they were convinced they had to earn their salvation.  And this was particularly true with the knights.  Because knights, being warriors went around killing a lot of people, and in the medieval theology, killing anybody, even of a good cause was a sin you had to repent from or due penance.  So, the typical lord of the manner would fund a monastery in his district, with the idea that there would be a lot of monks in there would pray for his soul.  And then the Popes gave what they called a “plenary indulgence:” you go take a pilgrimage to the holy land, reclaim Jerusalem, get back the holy, true cross from the Persians who stole it and took it to Persia and all your sins will be repaid and you’ll go to heaven. 

And so that is where much of that medieval history came from.  And there is much more detail, obviously if you read it, but much of the medieval history we know about is based on that one idea that you had to earn your salvation.  Whereas, what you will see in this class is Jesus Christ paid for your salvation.  So, whether joining a monastery was a good thing because it gave people a place to live and pray, that is another story.  Whether it was good to fight for the holy land and get the land back for the Christians who use to own it, that is another story.  But it had nothing to do with the salvation or the eternal life of those knights.  Because, if they were born again – they simply accepted Jesus as lord and believe God raised him from the dead – they already had it. 

So, here we go, let us start on the Introduction here…

As taught over a weekend, 20210619-20 by Bruce Mahone.  All rights reserved.

Class Handout

Let Grace Abound Class Handout

Teaching in five sessions

Audio

Let Grace Abound, Session 1

Let Grace Abound, Session 2

Let Grace Abound, Session 3

Let Grace Abound, Session 4

Let Grace Abound, Session 5

Video

Let Grace Abound Session 1

Let Grace Abound Session 2

Let Grace Abound Session 3

Let Grace Abound Session 4

Let Grace Abound Session 5

Joshua 23 and 24 (#1006)
Good morning.  We’re going to continue our series with the book of Joshua.  Several sessions ago we read Joshua one and two, where there were instructions for entering the promised land and the spies who went into seek out the land met Rehab who they made an agreement with that she would protect them and they would protect her.  Then in Joshua three and four the children of Israel crossed the Jordan River on dry land and set up stones of memorial to remind themselves in future generations of what God had done.  Then in Joshua five and six all those who been born in the wilderness were circumcised and they ate the fruit of the land and an angel appeared to Joshua and said take off your shoes because you’re standing on holy ground.  Then the children of Israel circled Jericho for seven days and the walls came tumbling down and they take the city. 
Then in Joshua seven and eight we learn about how as they were a group, if one person in the group sinned it could affect the whole group.  The one fella took some stuff that was dedicated to the Lord and buried it in his tent and the Israelites were defeated at the city of AI.  Then they asked God what was going on, and they got that straightened out, and they went back and had a great victory at AI. 
And throughout the rest of the book of Joshua, because we’re going to skip to the last two chapters, through the intervening chapters they going in a fight with many groups to reclaim the land. And their two reasons they had to fight with them: one, this was land God had given to Abraham and his descendants many generations before they were simply taking back what was theirs, and the other reason was God said that if they left those other nations they would be thorns in their sides and pricks in their eyes because they would tempt them to go off after other gods.  So, God’s solution at that time was just get rid of all the people that could possibly drag you off after other gods.
Because we know from the history of the Israelites, they had a bad habit of getting excited about other gods being worshiped in forsaking the true God.  And just look at the golden calf in the wilderness what was when Moses was up on the mountain for what a few weeks?  Maybe 30 or 40 days, at the most; just a few weeks and they turned away from the true God and had a golden calf, and they worshipped a golden calf.  Even though God taken them out of Egypt, safely protected them from the Egyptian army in so many ways, with parting the Red Sea, and hiding the cloud, and doing everything to take care of them including finding them food in the wilderness, water in the wilderness.  Still the minute they had a chance they just turned away from the true God, so that was unfortunately the bad behavior of the children of Israel.
So, because of that God wanted them to get rid of the other nations and claim the land of Canaan for their own without the other nations there. Of course, they didn’t get rid of all of them but they got rid of many of them, so that the children of Israel lived alone more of themselves.  And the Old Testament law talks about staying away from people that are the believers in the true God of Israel.
And you see this in the first century church where the first group of Christians were all Judeans and they wanted to stay there in Judea and they basically wanted to follow a lot of the Old Testament law because is that’s all they knew.  Today, we would call him perhaps Jews for Jesus or messianic Jews; groups that consider themselves Christians but want to continue to follow the Old Testament law.
And that continued until God sent Peter to the household of Cornelius, a Gentile, to speak God’s word and Peter did want to go.  He said “I’ve never eaten anything that’s foul and unclean, and I don’t want to go do that.”  But God said “what I have basically cleansed don’t call you unclean,” and so Peter went and as he was speaking the word of God the Holy Spirit came upon the whole crowd and they all spoke in tongues.  And that was the first step towards the Gentiles being included, in other words where they were stepping out — and this is so different than the Old Testament records were God told him to get rid of the unbelievers, now all the sudden the people that it been considered unbelievers are becoming believers.  And Peter didn’t quite have the vision to be able reach out to all the Gentiles, so God called Paul.
And Paul, unlike Peter, had grown up in a Gentile city, a city called Tarsus in what’s now southern Turkey.  So, he spoke the language of the Gentiles which was Greek, because the Judeans spoke Aramaic and read the Scriptures and Hebrew. But Paul could do that: he can speak Aramaic, he could read the Scriptures in Hebrew, and he also could speak Greek.  And he understood the culture of the Gentiles.  He lived around them, and God gave him the job of reaching out to the Gentiles all around the Mediterranean.
So, you see how different this is. In the Old Testament records here in Joshua, God said chase out the unbelievers because they’ll be a thorn in your side and drag you out after other gods.  Then you get to the book of acts in the church epistles, and God says go out among the Gentiles.  Go to them.  So, Paul went to Ephesus where they worshiped, and to the Ephesians, and he went to Athens where they had many, many gods.  And he went to Corinth, and then he went to Philippi which is where Alexander the great was from.  He went all over the Mediterranean, especially the eastern Mediterranean, speaking God’s word. 
So, in the book of Joshua, the word of the lord was: ‘stay away from those unbelievers.’ In the book of Acts, the word of the Lord is: ‘get right in the middle of the unbelievers and tell them about Jesus Christ.’ 
So, the reason I point this out is just that administrations are so different and if we take what’s in the Old Testament and try to apply it to ourselves today, we’ll be like some of those groups of want to go hide in the mountains in a cave because their scared of the unbelievers.  We don’t want to let the unbelievers influence us to turn away from the true God, but neither do we want to be scared of them.  As it says in the epistles: ‘become all things to all men.’  Whatever group we’re talking to, we can act, dress, eat drink, just like they did.  But the point is to bring them the gospel, not to have them drag us away from the gospel. 
So, that’s the things that happened and there are other chapters in the middle the book of Joshua where they going to great detail about which tribe gets which parcel of land, and which leader will lead each group and each tribe, and when they go to battle, which tribe is can I go first.  So, it’s on and on, but then you get to the end of the book of Joshua and there some summary here, which is what I do want to read to you.  Go to Joshua chapter 23…
As taught by Bruce Mahone 20201101.  All rights reserved.
Verse Listing and Notes
Joshua 23 – Summary of God’s deliverance in the promised land
Joshua 24 – Reminder to put away false gods and serve the true God
Teaching
Joshua 23 and 24 (#1006)

One Lord; Access to God (#979) [From a Northern IL Weekend in the Word Event]
We’re going to talk about one Lord. And as we all know much about the Lord Jesus Christ and one could spend days, weeks, and months talking about all the great things that he, as our Lord, has done. The aspect that I’m going to focus on today is that Jesus Christ is our means of access to God. One of the many, many, many fine things his ministry accomplished is that he gave us access to God. As you know if you go back to the Old Testament, there are verses like “God made His ways known unto to Moses, but His acts unto the children of Israel. Moses is the only one that really got what was going on, which is why when he went up to the mountain to talk to God and came down, they’d made a golden calf. That they were worshiping. Because most of them really didn’t get it, but Moses did. He was the only one with the spirit of God. An it took his Father-in-Law, Jethro, the priest of Midian to tell him: ‘hey, you need some help’. And so he went to God and ordained about 70 other guys and the spirit of God got on them, and then there were about 70 people who could have the spirit of God. But it was still very rare.
Remember that time when Jehoshaphat was out there and they were attacked by three armies and they prayed and didn’t know what to do? God put the spirit of God on one fellow in the audience, in the crowd, in the congregation and he’s the one God talked because he had the spirit of God and he told them what to do. And of course they went out the next day and they didn’t even have to fight in the battle because all the enemy soldiers had killed each other. But it is different today, we all have access to God. Its not just Moses. Which is why it wonderful, as Charlie was saying that as you guys are set up here as an organization, that everybody has input. There is safety in a multitude of counselors. Now a lot of Christian groups, and we’ve been involved in some of them, not all of them, set themselves up like they have an Old Testament prophet, who is the only guy with the spirit of God. So the only thing that matters is what that one guy or woman says. But, that is not the case today. We all have the spirit of God. Now it is true that there are ministries in the body and God may put somebody in charge and that person may have a little bit of a stronger voice. But to say one person, and there is only one person who can talk to God, is just not true. And the reason is, we all have access to God. Because we have one Lord Jesus Christ, who because of him, we received the spirit of God and through him we have access to God. So as Brian was saying earlier today, no one of us has more spirit than the others. And in the same way, no one of us has more access to God than somebody else.
And you got to realize I worked in downtown D.C. for 30 years and access is what is all about. That is much of the fights going on in D.C. today that we don’t need to get into, argue over access to people with power and what ways to obtain that access are legal and ethical and what ways are not legal and ethical. And that is the basis of the fights you hear in the news today. I’m not going to get into what side of the argument you want to be on, but the point is access is very important. If you can call somebody up and have them help you do something that helps whatever cause your doing and you can do it legally, you get stuff down in Washington. If you haven’t done your homework and you don’t know who to call and you don’t know how to legally approach them, nothing will happen. And that is just in Washington. The same is true; I was sitting on the airplane coming here yesterday and talking to a guy who sells IT systems. Well, if he can’t get his customers to answer the phone and buy stuff, he’s going to have a bad month in sales. It is true in any field, you have to know how to get access to the people you want to deal with. And that is important, and in certain parts of government, in business, and in personal relationships having access to people is hugely important.
How much greater having access to the one true God? And knowing that He’ll listen when you call, He’ll pick up the phone. There are many verses in the Old Testament that say: ‘If you seek the Lord, you will find him.’ He’s not hiding. And that was even before Jesus Christ gave us access to God. So, God’s always been available, He’s just a lot more available to a lot more people now that the Lord Jesus Christ has provided that access. So let’s read about it, John 16…
As taught by Bruce Mahone, 20191019 at a N. IL Weekend Event.  All Rights Reserved.
Verse Listing and Note
John 16:23-24           In that day ye shall ask me nothing…Whatsoever ye shall ask the Father in my name, he will give it you.
Romans 5:1,2            Peace with God, justified by believing (cf. Rom. 14:20-25). Righteousness – being right with God, so that you can stand before him with no consciousness of shortcoming. Justification – freedom from guilt, “just as if…”
I Corinthians 8:6        One God…and One Lord Jesus Christ
Ephesians 2:18-19     Through Jesus Christ, we have access to God
Ephesians 3:12           In whom we have boldness and access with confidence (confident access) by the faith of him. Or: we may approach God with freedom and confidence (NIV).
Colossians 3                Do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God and (even)* the Father by him (vs. 17)
Hebrews 4:16              Come boldly to the throne of grace (cf. vss. 14-15)
Hebrews 7:24-25        He is able to save them to the uttermost that come unto God by him – vs. 25
I Peter 3:18                  That he (JC) might bring us to God
I Timothy 2:5               For there is one God, and one mediator between God and men
Teaching
One Lord; Access to God (#979)