Scripture References, Word & Phrase descriptions: the “Logos Reftagger” scripture links are hover pop-up active, meaning the scripture reference will just pop-up if you hover your cursor over it (don’t click on the link, just hover your cursor over it), when finished reading, hover your cursor off the scripture reference link. If the Reftagger pop-up doesn’t show all the verses, left click on the “More” button in the Reftagger pop-up window and it will take you to the online bible. If RefTagger pop-ups don’t work on your computer, that’s OK, try right clicking the link then open in new tab or window; or if that doesn’t work, you can always use your Bible to look up the verses. Word or Phrase definition links may not have a website that opens.
Preparing yourself for the study of God’s Word
Before we begin, only if you are a believer in the Lord Jesus Christ (that is; you have believed [trusted] in Him for His promised gift of eternal life) John 3:16, John 6:47 as a few examples; it is very important to prepare yourself to learn God's Word so the Holy Spirit can teach you as to what your reading or hearing is true or false. To be taught by the Holy Spirit you must be filled with the Holy Spirit which means abiding in Christ. To place yourself in fellowship with God the Holy Spirit [also called abiding in the Christ], take a moment to simply name, cite or acknowledge [confess] your known unconfessed sins privately to God (i.e.; with your thoughts directed only to God the Father). Why? Because you cannot grow spiritually if you’re not abiding in Christ [in fellowship with Him] when you take in bible truth.
1 John 1:9, says: “If we confess [meaning to simply name, cite or acknowledge to God the Father] our sins [known unconfessed sins], He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins [known sins] and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness [all unknown and forgotten sins];” NKJV [New King James Version]; we call this REBOUND; read the full doctrine as to “why” we need to use 1 John 1:9 to grow spiritually. Left click the following link to learn more and fully understand the doctrine of Rebound; which answers the question, why do I need to keep confessing my sins all the time? REBOUND
If you have never personally believed in the Lord Jesus Christ, that He is the Son of God, the promised Messiah, as your Savior (that is, believed in Him for eternal life), the issue for you is not to name your sins; the issue for you is to simply exercise faith alone in Jesus Christ alone eternal life; when you do, you will instantly receive Eternal Life: John 3:16, 5:24, 6:47, 20:30, 31.
John 6:47 says: "Most assuredly, I say to you, he who believes in Me [Jesus Christ] has everlasting life." NKJV
Notice again what Jesus said in John 6:47: "…he who believes in Me (Jesus Christ) has everlasting life." It doesn't say, "will have"; it says, "has." Therefore, the very moment you believe in Jesus Christ for His promise of everlasting life, you have it (it's really just that simple; nothing more and nothing less), and it can never be taken away from you (John 10:28-29). Furthermore, the gift (Ephesians 2:8c) of everlasting life (also called eternal life in scripture) is available to every human being; there are absolutely no exceptions.
John 3:14-15, 16, 17, 18, says: "14 And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up, 15 that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life. 16 For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. 17 For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved. 18 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." NKJV
Let us now bow our hearts and take a moment to prepare for worship and learning God's Word. If there is any known sin in your life, this is the time to just cite it privately to God the Father with your thoughts directed towards Him. With your head bowed and your eyes closed, you have total privacy in your mind and soul:
Study to show yourself approved to God!
Grace Bible Church
Robert McLaughlin Bible Ministries
The Tree of Life is a weekly teaching summary:
God’s Word is taught Wednesday, Friday, and Sunday
STUDY TITLE:
Weekly Bible Study, April 17, 2023; Fear will torment you and punish you. Part 4.
This past week we noted that the greatest battles in history are those that take place in your soul.
This is why the Lord Jesus Christ, the apostles Paul and Peter, said be on the alert! Our Lord made this crystal clear in Mat 7:24-27, when He said, “Therefore everyone who hears these words of Mine, and acts upon them, may be compared to a wise man, who built his house upon the rock. And the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and burst against that house; and {yet} it did not fall, for it had been founded upon the rock. And everyone who hears these words of Mine, and does not act upon them, will be like a foolish man, who built his house upon the sand. And the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and burst against that house; and it fell, and great was its fall.”
You can strive to build all the dreams in the world that you desire. But without God at the very center of every area of your life, you will live a life of defeat.
Psa 127:1-2, (A Song of Ascents, of Solomon.) Unless the Lord builds the house, They labor in vain who build it; Unless the Lord guards the city, The watchman keeps awake in vain. It is vain for you to rise up early, To retire late, To eat the bread of painful labors; For He gives to His beloved {even in his} sleep.
Satan and the kingdom of darkness with their many philosophies and lies will keep on throwing them in your direction until they finally see one hit. You will be faced with projections from the kingdom of darkness designed to distract you and keep you down here living the spiritual abundant life. Our Lord said to the religious Jews in Jn 8:23, “You are from below, I am from above; you are of this world, I am not of this world.”
If you live the life that the Lord has called you to live, you will live of life that is from above and free from fears. If not, you will end up being attacked by Satan and the kingdom of darkness surrounding your soul and trying to construct large strongholds against you. Satan and the kingdom of darkness uses fears and thoughts and projections to do so. That’s why we are told in Eph 6:16, in addition to all, taking up the shield of faith with which you will be able to extinguish all the flaming missiles of the evil one.
Those flaming missiles are the philosophies of life! Those flaming missiles are the weapons of the king surrounding the small city of your soul. Satan has invisible missiles that attack the soul and cause fears and human viewpoint on the part of believers which neutralizes them and draws them away from the PPOG [predesigned plan of God for your life]. From the day in which you believed in Jesus Christ, from that very day you were placed under the fear panic ploy. You are going to have times when you are faced with fears stress and other problems as well. Due to the fact that these are Satanic strategies, as a part of spiritual growth, you are to have testing along the way. In fact, we are tested at every stage.
Just as you are tested in school and before you advance to the next grade, you have to past certain tests, so you have to pass certain divine tests along the way. Every day you are going to have the charge of the mosquito, things that disturb you, things that bother you, things that make you jealous, bitter or vindictive. All of these things have to be dealt with by the word of God.
Peter said in 1Pe 5:9, But resist him [Satan] by being firm in your doctrine. The kingdom of darkness throws thoughts and ideas at us through the media, friends, family members, believers, unbelievers, enemies, and sometimes even from our own presumptuous ideas. Then if that doesn’t work, there is a direct attack made upon you which is much closer. One of the ultimate goals of Satan and the kingdom of darkness is to attack your soul with fears and do whatever they can to take you away from the PPOG and the teaching of Bible doctrine.
Mark 4:15, “And these are the ones who are beside the road where the word is sown; and when they hear, immediately Satan comes and takes away the word which has been sown in them.”
The king led by Satan and the kingdom of darkness says I’ll give you a plan that works! Listen to me. Give up all that other stuff that you hear in doctrine class. You know that biblical stuff won’t work in this day and age. I’ll even give you a plan where you can rationalize around wrong says the king. You can bend it so that you won’t even have a guilty conscience!
Jer 49:23-24, Concerning Damascus. Hamath and Arpad are put to shame, For they have heard bad news; They are disheartened. There is anxiety by the sea, It cannot be calmed. Damascus has become helpless; She has turned away to flee, And panic has gripped her; Distress and pangs have taken hold of her Like a woman in childbirth.
One of the biggest areas of the deception of fears is Fear of Failure. It is hard to fail, but it is worse never to have tried to succeed. In fact, there are times that you can fail your way to success. Our doubts are traitors, and cause us to lose the good we might have won, by fearing to attempt. Then if that doesn’t work, there is a direct attack made upon you that is much closer! The ultimate goal of Satan and the kingdom of darkness who attacks your soul is to do whatever he can to take you away from the PPOG and the teaching of Bible doctrine. Satan knows that if he can influence the believer with his flaming missiles and large siegeworks and get his garbage in the believer’s soul that he can cause tremendous problems and stress for born again believers.
What kind of problems? Problems that relate all the way from personality dysfunction to mental disorders of one kind or another. This is why the major target for Satan’s missiles is the soul and the thought pattern of the believer.
Three principles:
1. Some of his missiles are targeted to distract the believer from the perception of doctrine. Too busy for doctrine. Too tired!
2. Some of his missiles are targeted to distract the believer from the metabolization of doctrine. They hear the doctrine but they are not filled with the Spirit or they listen but do not concentrate. Concentration on doctrine is the highest form of worship in the universe!
3. Some of his missiles are targeted to distract the believer from the application of doctrine, once that doctrine it is located in the soul.
4. And the most successful attack that Satan makes with his flaming missiles at this point is to get the believer involved with the arrogant complex of sins or the emotional complex of sins.
The ultimate goal is to take the believer out of the historical phase of the angelic conflict. Get the believer off the playing field and on the permanent disabled list or the injured list. So, Satan’s flaming missiles are designed to destroy the spiritual life of the believer.
2Co 10:3-5, For though we walk in the flesh [we live in the world] we do not war according to the flesh. For the equipment and weapons of our warfare or conflict are not of the flesh [human attributes] but divine power
[Bible doctrine] for the destruction of fortresses [Satan’s flaming missiles and siegeworks from the cosmic system etc.] Destroying or assaulting speculations [these are Satan’s flaming missiles]
The Greek word for speculations here is the accusative masculine plural from the noun logismos which means thoughts and reasons. Such as thoughts and reasons on why you don’t have to continue with doctrine and the PPOG.
2Co 10:5-6, Destroying or assaulting speculations [Satan’s flaming missiles] and every obstacle of pride, which raises up or attacks the knowledge or doctrine of God, and taking every thought [human viewpoint system of thought] captive to the authority of Christ, And we are ready [the Christian soldier] or on the alert to punish all disobedience [deviation from obedience], whenever your obedience is complete [spiritual maturity].
I would like to give you some principles concerning fears and warfare that will give you some idea as to what we will face in the devil’s world.
1. All warfare is based on deception.
2. Therefore when capable, fake incapacity.
3. When possible make it appear that you are far away, when far away, that you are near.
4. Offer the enemy bait to lure him; fake weakness and disorder then strike him.
5. When he concentrates, prepare against him; when he is strong, avoid him.
6. Anger his general and confuse him.
7. Pretend inferiority and encourage his arrogance (90% to 10%).
8. Keep him under pressures and fears and wear him down.
9. When he is united divide him.
10. Attack where he is unprepared and he does not expect you.
These are the strategist’s keys to victory.”
We are told in the Bible that we have an enemy. That enemy is said to have a tremendous power to deceive us.
1Jo 5:19, We know that we are of God, and the whole world lies‘ in the power of the evil one.
Let me illustrate this while they were all at the Last Supper in John 13, Peter could have been very fearful because Jesus had just told him how badly he was going to fail and betray him. Fear of failure is one of the most powerful fears the kingdom of darkness uses to try to get believers to lose sight of their faith in Jesus Christ.
Jn 13:36-41:1, Simon Peter said to Him, “Lord, where are You going?” Jesus answered, “Where I go, you cannot follow Me now; but you shall follow later.” Peter said to Him, “Lord, why can I not follow You right now? I will lay down my life for You.” Jesus answered, “Will you lay down your life for Me? Truly, truly, I say to you, a cock shall not crow, until you deny Me three times. Let not your heart be troubled; believe in God, believe also in Me.”
So, what was one of the very first things the Lord said to Peter after telling Peter how totally Peter was going to fail?
He says, “Do not let your heart be troubled!” There is no chapter break in the original language – sometimes people quote “Don’t let your heart be troubled,” but they don’t realize Jesus is saying this right after telling Peter how badly Peter is going to betray Him 3 times! No matter how bad you’re going to fail – you don’t need to fear the future, the unknown, or your own inevitable failures. So, Jesus always wanted Peter to remember – no matter how badly you fail, or how hopeless the situation appears – don’t let your heart be troubled or fearful! No matter how hard you fall or what the future holds.
Cowards are constantly fearing the worst. Worry is a form of fear, and all forms of fear produce fatigue. Where fear is present, wisdom cannot be. The oldest and strongest emotion of mankind is fear, and the oldest and strongest kind of fear is fear of the unknown.
Gen 3: 8-14, And they heard the sound of the Lord God walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and the man and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the Lord God among the trees of the garden. Then the Lord God called to the man, and said to him, “Where are you?” And he said, “I heard the sound of Thee in the garden, and I was afraid because I was naked; so I hid myself.” And He said, “Who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten from the tree of which I commanded you not to eat?” And the man said, “The woman whom Thou gavest to be with me, she gave me from the tree, and I ate.” Then the Lord God said to the woman, “What is this you have done?” And the woman said, “The serpent deceived me, and I ate.” And the Lord God said to the serpent, “Because you have done this, Cursed are you more than all cattle, And more than every beast of the field; On your belly shall you go, And dust shall you eat All the days of your life;”
The following link is to a good news message describing how one can receive eternal life: Ticket to Heaven, it was written for anyone not absolutely certain about their eternal future.
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