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Tag: alexander

Returning to seven servants in the Spirit
Acts of the Apostles 21:

7 We continued our voyage from Tyre and landed at Ptolemais, where we greeted the brothers and sisters and stayed with them for a day.

8 Leaving the next day, we reached Caesarea and stayed at the house of Philip the evangelist, one of the Seven.

Returning to the Church in order to serve

Paul had first embarked on three missions TEN YEARS AGO from Antioch, with Jerusalem being little more than a stop on his way back to Syria along the roads of a distant mission skirting Galatia once more and bypassing Asia Minor to sail the Aegean to Macedonian and Greek cities.

~ AD 57

His FIVE YEAR THIRD MISSION now complete, the Apostle to the Gentiles now returns to Jerusalem.

Although the Lord Jesus Himself had taught in Tyre and Sidon (and also presumably the great Maccabean port of Ptolemais between them) Paul now lands in Caesarea, Herod’s great Hasmonaean port named for the Emperors they served.

1st c. Roman Cities

ROME ruled with a westward wave that had included all of the Aegean by the time its dual citizen, Saul of Tarsus, had preached the Gospel of Jesus Christ to much of Syria and Hellenist cities of a former Macedonian Empire.

~ A.D. 40 – a Judean history Before Christ
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NOTE: Earlier in ACTS of the APOSTLES 12 I may have slighted the historical significance of this coastal area in our transition between ACTS of the Apostle Peter and the ACTS and missions of the Apostle Paul.
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Now that Paul is returning home in the year of our Lord 57, let’s take a brief look at another map in the minds of Paul and historical context of Judeans born about the time of Christ Jesus.

~ AD 37

Saul had encountered the risen Christ along a road to Damascus. At the same time the Apostle Peter had taken the Gospel to Samaria and even to the gentiles.

And Saul [Paul], who had been received the the Apostles, then fled to Tarsus from Caesarea. – Acts 9:26-30

Paul is returning to brothers and sisters in Christ in Caesarea all these years later.
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Dr. Luke, who knew a gentile history of his Aegean homeland, must have been taking Paul's account of these days as they sailed toward Judea and Jerusalem.

Here is even more history familiar to the Judeans.
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a Strategic Coastline even Before Christ

The Romans eventually affirmed an alliance with the Maccabean leaders and encouraged other nations in the region to do the same.

The map shown here displays this complex political world of the Near East around 90 B.C., shortly before the Romans absorbed the Seleucid Empire and the Maccabean Kingdom in 63 B.C.
Source: Bible Mapper Atlas

~ 90 B.C.
- After Alexander the Great died in 323 B.C., his empire was divided among his generals, including Ptolemy and Seleucus.
  - Seleucid Empire led Antiochus IV Epiphanes
- open rebellion by faithful Jews under the leadership of Mattathias Maccabeus and his sons in 167 B.C.
- The Romans eventually affirmed an alliance with the Maccabean leaders and encouraged other nations in the region to do the same. The map shown [above] displays this complex political world of the Near East ~90 B.C.,
- the Romans absorbed the Seleucid Empire and the Maccabean Kingdom in 63 B.C.
  - source
Antiochus IV Epiphanes sought to unify his diverse domain by forcing Greek religious and political practices upon all his subjects (1 Maccabees 1; 2 Maccabees 6-7) – source

Division

Before Christ, the GREAT Hellenist ALEXANDER had died in the BABYLON he conquered in a world to the EAST from where Judeans had earlier returned home to Jerusalem under Nehemiah.

Alexander’s thrice-divided Kingdom would eventually leave Jerusalem divided between Maccabean and Hellenist. The ruthless and GREAT builder King Herod also left legacy of a thrice-divided Kingdom to sons upon his death [~4 BC].

The JUDEA (and Jerusalem) prominent in the times of JESUS and Paul does NOT include a separate Samaria (home of the Maccabean revolt) OR Galilee.

Herod had not only named his great harbor and fortress CAESAREA (a clear concession to a Hellenist Rome) but had built a town and fortress to the north also named for the Hellenist father of Alexander, CAESAREA PHILLIPI.

SAUL (Paulos) in Caesarea
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Arriving before Saul - Philip
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- Jerusalem:
Now in those days, while the disciples were multiplying in number, there was grumbling from the Hellenists against the Hebrews, because their widows were being overlooked in the daily serving of food.
Acts of the Apostles 6:1 LSB

.. and they chose Stephen, a man full of faith and of the Holy Spirit, and Philip, Prochorus, Nicanor, Timon, Parmenas, and Nicolas, a proselyte from Antioch.

Philip went down to the city of Samaria
and began proclaiming the [Messiah] Christ to them.
ACTS of the Apostles 8:5 NASB20
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This had been at about the same time Saul was persecuting the church.
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What hinders me from being baptized?
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Philip the Evangelist and deacon from Jerusalem had travelled to Gaza, then was miraculously taken up to take the Gospel north to Caesarea where he would reside.
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But Philip found himself at Azotus, and as he passed through he kept preaching the gospel to all the cities, until he came to Caesarea.
Acts 8:40 NASB

PAUL Returning 20 years later to Philip in Caesarea

we reached Caesarea and stayed at the house of Philip the evangelist, one of the Seven.

9 He had four unmarried daughters who prophesied.

¹⁰After we had been there a number of days, a prophet named Agabus came down from Judea.

ACTS of the Apostles 21 – Paul’s return from his third missionary journey – To be continued…

Comment on Scripture + Share the Gospel
April 19, 2024
Asia – Let’s Not Go There – Acts 16
The importance of this juncture in Paul’s journey, now with Silas and Timothy, cannot be overemphasized as these apostles are sent out beyond Asia into all the world of Euro-Asia.
Asia – the BIG picture
Go into all the world GEOGRAPHY (remedial)
Asia Minor, Roman Remnant of a former Empire
The Empires Before Christ
356 BC – Macedonia
Alexander the Great
323 BC – 30BC – a Greek-ish Eurasia
AD 50 – Eurasia
Acts of the Apostles 16:
Asia – the BIG picture

Growing up geographically-challenged (as my 5th grade teacher surely would have confirmed) in a small village far distant from Paul’s missionary journeys I was CLUELESS when I read Luke’s lists of places in Acts.

Where were these cities? (Or were they states? Perhaps a province of some kind?)

And ASIA? (That’s confusing.)

Continents as I remembered (5? or 7?):
- North America (That’s US.)
- South America (Go toward Texas & keep going.)
- Europe (Cross the Atlantic like Europeans did & founded 13 colonies in America)
- Africa (everything south of the Mediterranean Sea, Egypt and all those jungle places south where Europeans brought slaves to America.)
- Antarctica (it’s all ice and nobody lives there.. Is it the one on the South Pole or north?)
- Asia (Russia, from where Europe ends west to the Pacific & India, China, Japan along the Pacific
- Australia (How can an English island below Asia be called a continent?)
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C -
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Go into all the world GEOGRAPHY (remedial)

ASIA ~30% of land area of earth, part of Eurasia, ~17 million sq. miles
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Join me as I refresh some of my quite limited knowledge of geography - especially of Asia.
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Asia facts from WorldGeography.com
- Asia is the largest and most populated continent
- It shares land borders with Europe, which is not defined and hence share a landmass called Eurasia.
- Afro-Eurasia is the name given to the landmass between Asia, Europe, and Africa.
- Asia shares a lot of its extreme points with Europe, especially Russia.
Cape Dezhnev, 66°4′45″N 169°39′7″W, located on the Chukchi Peninsular, between the Chukchi Sea and the Bering Strait [W. of Alaska] , is the easternmost point of mainland Asia.

Pamana Island, 11°00′36″S 122°52′37″E, is the southernmost point of Asia, located in the Lesser Sunda Islands, East Nusa Tenggara province of Indonesia.

The northernmost point on the Asian mainland is Cape Chelyuskin, 77°44′0″N 104°15′0″E. At 1370km from the North Pole, ..located at the Taymyr Peninsula,

Westernmost Point In Asia
- Cape Baba, 39°28′47″N 26°03′50″E, located on the Anatolian part of Turkey, is the westernmost part of Asia. Located in Babakale village also known as Father’s Castle in historical Troad. Apostles Luke’s journey around the cape, and Apostle Paul’s journey on land are recorded in the biblical book Acts of the Apostles.
Troas on Cape Baba in Babakale, Turkey [Turkiye] is the westernmost point in Asia.

Asia Minor, Roman Remnant of a former Empire

Zoom in with Roman military eyes toward a vast empire to the east situated on the westernmost shores of Asia, fixing your eyes on adjacent Aegean shores of 21st c. Turkiye.
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This geographical-historical view of the Asia minor region is provided only for its context of culture as it intersects with Paul's missionary journeys 'into all the world' of Eurasia.
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Asia Minor

Follow the southern coastline from nearest to Rome toward the east and riches of former empires.

Rome’s region of ASIA MINOR
- conquered via the vast Mediterranean and inland to the Taurus mountains includes [W. to E.]:
- Pisidia [N. of Perga],
- Pamphylia [along a coast N. of Cypress],
- Cilicia [with its port city of Tarsus] and finally
- Syria (at times including Judea).
- Further Roman conquests inland to the north included:
a large Roman province of GALATIA
- N from Iconium and on its Western edge Antioch Pisidia, all of the central plain to the borders of
- a more remote Cappadocia in the mountains to the north of Cilicia and Tarsus and Antioch Syria,
- N to Bithynia and Pontus on the Black Sea and again toward
- Phrygia along the mountainous borders with Asia Minor toward Mysia and the strategically situated Sea of Marmara between the narrow isthmus connecting the Black and Aegean Seas.
In Roman times, however, when Paul journeyed there, the country was divided into two parts, one of which was known as Galatian Phrygia, and

the other as Asian Phrygia, because it was a part of the Roman province of Asia, but the line between them was never sharply drawn.
Source: BibleAtlas.org

And they went through the region of Phrygia and Galatia, having been forbidden by the Holy Spirit to speak the word in Asia.
– ACTS 16:6

The Empires Before Christ

6th century Before Christ

6th-5th centuries B,C. the Persian Empire (to the East) adds the Babylonian Empire to its captive provinces

Paul, Silas and Timothy will know these events well from Scripture, but those are no longer the Empires of concern to either the Jews or Rome. In a more recent history of Judea and Eurasia one vast Empire rivals all others.

356 BC – Macedonia
Alexander the Great

Tutored by Aristotle

trained for battle by his father, Philip II

source: History.com

Roman bust, 2nd century AD / Creative Commons license
[Alexander’s] undermanned defeat of the Persian King Darius III at the Battle of Gaugamela is seen as one of the decisive turning points of human history, unseating the Persians as the greatest power in the ancient world and spreading Hellenistic culture across a vast new empire.
https://www.history.com/news/alexander-the-great-defeat-persian-empire

332 BC – Tyre: a siege of Hellenism close to home

The siege of Tyre was orchestrated by Alexander the Great in 332 BC during his campaigns against the Persians.
source: Wikipedia

The reign of Alexander the Great was short-lived. After subduing all of the Persian Empire, his army marched east and got as far as India before turning back home to Macedon. But he never made it home.

At just 32 years old, Alexander died in Persia in the palace of Nebuchadnezzar II in Babylon.

323 BC – 30BC – a Greek-ish Eurasia
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Click the link below to see a map of the Hellenized 'Greek-ish' world after Alexander the Great where the Apostle Paul now witnesses Christ. READ a detailed lecture on 
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https://brewminate.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/04/Alexander53-768×452.gif

There were no more city-states. Monarchies prevailed, modeling themselves after Alexander’s empire. He had achieved a divine status in his lifetime, and his successors wanted to as well. They established “ruler cults” in which they were obeyed as kings and worshipped as gods.

A sense of cosmopolis developed in the Hellenistic Age (“polis” plus “cosmos”). Worldly, experienced, and highly-cultured people used to live in small city-states and not worry about the world beyond, but now they had seen and even ruled this world and began to say they were no longer citizens of Athens, Corinth, and so on, but instead citizens of the cosmic polis (cosmopolis), the world.
Highly Recommended Source – From a lecture by Dr. Frank Holt, Professor of Ancient History, University of Houston (10.15.2013)

Paul and the Apostles sent out into all the world live in the crossroads between a culture of Alexander established just a few centuries earlier AND ambitious Roman Caesars reconquering lands and cultures to be absorbed into a new Pax Romana — IF you will surrender your land and its people into one international Empire of their Roman peace.

AD 50 – Eurasia

The year in the middle of Paul’s 2nd Missionary Journey.

Rome had conquered the Ptolemaic Kingdom of Egypt near Judea some time ago, but the Empire’s military defense of the Eastern front in Syria kept close eye on the Parthian Empire and frequently engaged in battle losing and retaking various land.

A Greek-ish in culture of the Eurasian world remained reticent of Roman Legions suppressing unwilling rulers in uncooperative localities.

Politically astute men like a Herod or Saul of Tarsus understood this ever-shifting landscape of living as part of the political leadership and military power of the Roman Empire.

Paul would have been attuned to recent changes in both Asia and Europe as the Apostle now travels toward a new destination with Silas and Timothy. They seem to be travelling intentionally and slowly (which we might easily miss in these few brief verses of Acts.

AD 43 – During those years after Paul had witnessed Jesus on the road to Damascus, just four years prior to his first missionary journey here and to Cypress, Rome had invaded Britannia in the West. Legions had also conquered Lycia on the SW coast near Asia Minor where previously they had sailed to and from Perga.

Lycia Source: Wikipedia

AD 46 – Just a year prior to Paul’s first missionary journey

After the death of the Thracian king Rhoemetalces III in 46 AD and an unsuccessful anti-Roman revolt, the kingdom was annexed as the Roman province of Thracia. The new province encompassed .. the north-eastern portion of the province of Macedonia as well as the islands of Thasos, Samothrace and Imbros in the Aegean Sea.

Source: Wikipedia

Acts of the Apostles 16:
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Previously:
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Circumcision < Saul's Extreme Cultural Cut of Timothy

⁴As they went on their way through the cities, they delivered to them for observance the decisions that had been reached by the apostles and elders who were in Jerusalem. ⁵So the churches were strengthened in the faith, and they increased in numbers daily.

6 And they went through the region of Phrygia and Galatia, having been forbidden by the Holy Spirit to speak the word in Asia.

These apostles sent out from Antioch Syria have traveled about half-way on this 2800 mile [4500 km] journey into a Greek-ish Roman-ruled world. Their remaining journey in Euro-Asia will include many more important cities where they will preach the Gospel of Jesus Christ in the upcoming year.

⁷And when they had come up to Mysia, they attempted to go into Bithynia, but the Spirit of Jesus did not allow them. ⁸So, passing by Mysia, they went down to Troas.

Paul’s 2nd Missionary Journey – first half through Asia

Acts for a 21st c. Church

To be continued…
February 23, 2023
Covenant and Truth – 5

I prefer the company of a confessed sinner to that of an unconfessed christian hypocrite.

No witness is more damaging to the church than the loud christian proclamation of a hypocrite. The world hates true followers of Christ and the church, but unbelievers use these self-appointed self-righteous spokesmen for the faith as excuse to continue their attacks against Christ.

Consider that since God has humbled Himself to come to us as a Son of Man in Christ Jesus, man must worship God in all humility. A hypocrite lifts him self or her self up for the witness of others, rather than bowing down to God and bowing down to the will of Christ Jesus as their Lord.

The word ‘Lord‘ is used 7,836 times in the KJV of the Bible. It must be key to our humility to bow down and submit to someone else: God our Father, Jesus Christ, Pastor of our church, a wife to her husband, a worker to his boss. A hypocrite fails in these, pridefully claiming to follow while following none but their own passions and ways.

In fact, Jesus hated the damage hypocrites do to the honor and reputation of God. Jesus spoke the truth of judgment against the hypocrites. To the crowds and multitudes who followed Him to hear His preaching, but did not show the fruit of repentance Jesus exhorted:

“Why do you call me ‘Lord, Lord,’ and not do what I tell you? – Luke 6:46

It is Master to slave or servant relationship.

Followers of Jesus are slaves committed to do what Christ commands.

Do you realize that Jesus said: ” whoever would be first among you must be slave of all,” beloved Christian servant (doulos)?

A hypocrite does not live to serve, but seeks to be served, even by God!

This was the position of those Jesus called hypocrites. He challenged their authority and motives; not by His own authority, but by the uncovering of the nakedness of the many sins of their constant hypocrisy.

Matthew 23

New King James Version (NKJV)

Then Jesus spoke to the multitudes and to His disciples, 2 saying: “The scribes and the Pharisees sit in Moses’ seat. 3 Therefore whatever they tell you to observe, that observe and do, but do not do according to their works; for they say, and do not do.

The distinguishing mark of a hypocrite: “…for they say, and do not do.”

In fact, the hypocrite will say it for you, but will not do what they tell you.

13 “But woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites!

For you shut up the kingdom of heaven against men; for you neither go in yourselves, nor do you allow those who are entering to go in.

14 Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites!

For you devour widows’ houses, and for a pretense make long prayers. Therefore you will receive greater condemnation.

15 “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites!

For you travel land and sea to win one proselyte, and when he is won, you make him twice as much a son of hell as yourselves.

16 “Woe to you, blind guides, who say, ‘Whoever swears by the temple, it is nothing; but whoever swears by the gold of the temple, he is obliged to perform it.’ 17 Fools and blind! For which is greater, the gold or the temple that sanctifies the gold?

18 And, ‘Whoever swears by the altar, it is nothing; but whoever swears by the gift that is on it, he is obliged to perform it.’

19 Fools and blind! For which is greater, the gift or the altar that sanctifies the gift?

Jesus is asking about the truth of purpose of the sacrifice to God. The altar is nothing, says the Lord; but the sacrifice to God is everything. And note Jesus’ instruction that we MUST PERFORM it. We must bear the fruit of our sacrifice in humility before God.

Just because we swear by the place of God (or call ourself ‘christian’) does not mean that God will accept our sacrifice. (Remember the sacrifice of Cain?)

20 Therefore he who swears by the altar, swears by it and by all things on it. 21 He who swears by the temple, swears by it and by Him who dwells in it. 22 And he who swears by heaven, swears by the throne of God and by Him who sits on it.

23 “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites!

For you pay tithe of mint and anise and cummin, and have neglected the weightier matters of the law: justice and mercy and faith. These you ought to have done, without leaving the others undone.24 Blind guides, who strain out a gnat and swallow a camel!

25 “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites!

For you cleanse the outside of the cup and dish, but inside they are full of extortion and self-indulgence. 26 Blind Pharisee, first cleanse the inside of the cup and dish, that the outside of them may be clean also.

27 “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites!

For you are like whitewashed tombs which indeed appear beautiful outwardly, but inside are full of dead men’s bones and all uncleanness. 28 Even so you also outwardly appear righteous to men, but inside you are full of hypocrisy and lawlessness.

29 “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites!

Because you build the tombs of the prophets and adorn the monuments of the righteous, 30 and say, ‘If we had lived in the days of our fathers, we would not have been partakers with them in the blood of the prophets.’

31 “Therefore you are witnesses against yourselves that you are sons of those who murdered the prophets. 32 Fill up, then, the measure of your fathers’ guilt. 33 Serpents, brood of vipers!

How can you escape the condemnation of hell?

So you claim to be a christian, but will not do?

Then you will not obey Jesus Christ, as your Lord.

Are YOU a christian Pharisee? It is not a new problem for the church.

Acts 6:8 And Stephen, full of grace and power, was doing great wonders and signs among the people… 11 Then they secretly instigated men who said, “We have heard him speak blasphemous words against Moses and God.”

Acts 7:51 “You stiff-necked people, uncircumcised in heart and ears, you always resist the Holy Spirit. As your fathers did, so do you.52 Which of the prophets did your fathers not persecute? And they killed those who announced beforehand the coming of the Righteous One, whom you have now betrayed and murdered, 53 you who received the law as delivered by angels and did not keep it.”

Paul writes to Timothy warnings to be aware of those who will come into the church with false messages – a gospel of hypocrisy.

Look around you at 21st century ‘christians’ and see truth in these cautions:

2 Timothy 3

English Standard Version (ESV)

Godlessness in the Last Days

But understand this, that in the last days there will come times of difficulty. 2 For people will be lovers of self, lovers of money, proud, arrogant, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, 3 heartless, unappeasable, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, not loving good, 4 treacherous, reckless, swollen with conceit, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God,

5 having the appearance of godliness, but denying its power.

Does your ‘witness’ to the world ‘have the appearance of godliness?’

Do you ‘praise the lord’ in the holy place and kneel down only in church, while you bow only your head and fail to bow down your heart to the Lord?

Hypocrite!

And what are the instructions to the church for those who come among us CLAIMING worship, but false christians refusing to do what Jesus commands as our Lord? Paul’s letter to Timothy and the church continues:

Avoid such people.

6 For among them are those who creep into households and capture weak women, burdened with sins and led astray by various passions, 7 always learning and never able to arrive at a knowledge of the truth.

8 Just as Jannes and Jambres opposed Moses, so these men also oppose the truth, men corrupted in mind and disqualified regarding the faith. 9 But they will not get very far, for their folly will be plain to all, as was that of those two men.

Later in his letter to Timothy Paul warns of another hypocrite who has turned from the true following of Christ:

2 Timothy 4

English Standard Version (ESV)

Preach the Word

I charge you in the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, who is to judge the living and the dead, and by his appearing and his kingdom: 2 preach the word; be ready in season and out of season; reprove, rebuke, and exhort, with complete patience and teaching.

The faith of a humble servant of Christ Jesus is an active faith.

3 For the time is coming when people will not endure sound teaching, but having itching ears they will accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own passions, 4 and will turn away from listening to the truth and wander off into myths. 5 As for you, always be sober-minded, endure suffering, do the work of an evangelist, fulfill your ministry…

14 Alexander the coppersmith did me great harm; the Lord will repay him according to his deeds. 15 Beware of him yourself, for he strongly opposed our message. 16 At my first defense no one came to stand by me, but all deserted me. May it not be charged against them!

Are you aware of the hypocrites who claim to be christians who are part of Christ’s church? Are you, perhaps in some way, one of them?

Examine your own heart (for Jesus cautions that our righteousness must exceed that of the Pharisees). Reprove, rebuke, and exhort your brother in Christ (or your sister in Christ, beloved sister in the Lord), with complete patience and teaching.

Let us make certain: in our marriages, in our families, in our workplaces and in the marketplaces of the city that we are not among those who witness against our Lord.

Matthew 7

15 “Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing but inwardly are ravenous wolves. 16 You will recognize them by their fruits…

21 “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. 22 On that day many will say to me, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and cast out demons in your name, and do many mighty works in your name?’ 23 And then will I declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from me, you workers of lawlessness.’

Truth! Required by the Lord of His servants, His church. Beware, dear brothers and sisters in the Lord, of hypocrites among us.

A hypocrite fails to yield the fruit of truth.

Next: A light of truth on the covenant of Christian marriage.

March 14, 2014