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Bible Studies

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  1. Test Yourself by Jon von Ernst  
    There are certain requirements to gain entrance into the kingdom of heaven. One of these requirements is that we do the will of His Father. Another is that Jesus knows us. It is also clear that doing all manner of great works for the Lord will not be sufficient to qualify us to gain entrance into the kingdom of heaven.

    What does it mean to do the will of His Father? Each of us has a choice. We can do what we want, or we can do what someone else wants. If someone of greater authority than ourselves asks us to do something, we can choose to do what they ask, that is obedience; or we can refuse to do what they ask and do what we want, that is rebellion. To do the will of His Father, then, is simply to obey Him.
    You might have been raised as a Christian. You might be a member of a church. You might even be in fulltime Christian ministry. However, Scripture makes it very clear, it does not matter what you have done for the Lord, if His Spirit is not in you, you are not in the faith and you fail the test, you are not a genuine Christian.
    I urge you not to rely on any assurance that any other person has ever given to you that you are a Christian. No one can know your heart, not your parents, not your pastor, not your Sunday-school teacher, or any evangelist. No other person can know for sure if you are saved. Only you and God can know for sure. And remember, God wants you to know. He has provided several ways for you to know for sure. He has even provided a simple test to see if you are indeed in the faith.
    I urge you not to rely on any assurance that any other person has ever given to you that you are a Christian. No one can know your heart, not your parents, not your pastor, not your Sunday-school teacher, or any evangelist. No other person can know for sure if you are saved. Only you and God can know for sure. And remember, God wants you to know. He has provided several ways for you to know for sure. He has even provided a simple test to see if you are indeed in the faith.

  2. The Great White Throne Judgment by Jon von Ernst  
    We can never please God in our own strength, working according to our own understanding and our own wisdom. Only Jesus Christ, by the power of His Spirit that indwells every true believer, can please God. He does this by strengthening us and enabling us to live lives of obedience to the leading of the Holy Spirit. If we have the Spirit of Christ, we must allow that Spirit to lead us and empower us to live a life of total submission to Jesus Christ as Lord. Only a life of loving God and loving others as ourselves will please Him. Only these works, done by the equipping and empowering of the indwelling Spirit of Christ, will stand and receive a reward.

    How is it with you? Do you have confidence to stand in that inevitable day of the coming judgment at the great white throne?

  3. The Lake of Fire by Jon von Ernst  
    As we have already seen, there are three different Greek words that are translated as ?hell? in the King James Version of the New Testament. The first of these Greek words is ?Hades.?

    Hades is a very real place where the souls of the dead are held awaiting final judgment. Hades is a temporary place of torment for the unrighteous, and a temporary place of comfort for the righteous. At the judgment seat, Hades is emptied out and then it is thrown into the lake of fire. Its usefulness has been completed.
    The next word translated as ?hell? is ?Gehenna.? In Mathew 10:28 Jesus used the term Gehenna to refer to the place where God is able to destroy both the body and soul.
    Notice that here Jesus does not talk about the soul being in torment as in Hades. Here Jesus talks about the soul being destroyed, along with the body. In Hades the soul of the unrighteous is tormented after the natural physical body has died. In Gehenna, the soul and the resurrected spiritual body are destroyed.


  4. Life After Death by Jon von Ernst  
    Our goal in this study is to determine, from the divinely-inspired words of Scripture, what God has revealed concerning life after death, concerning any judgment that may await us, and concerning how to prepare for that coming judgment. Knowledge is power. An understanding of what, if anything, awaits us after we die will help to equip us to be prepared for it.

    With this knowledge, this understanding of what awaits us after death, we will be given the opportunity to be prepared for the coming judgment and to confront it with boldness and confidence. This coming judgment need not be a time of fear and dread. In this study, we shall see that if we are properly prepared, this coming judgment will be a time of rejoicing!

  5. Come Out of Her My People by Jon von Ernst  
    We need to be encouraged by this, knowing that God wants us to understand the mystery. In fact, to be obedient to Him, we must understand this mystery.

    In verses 8-18, the angel explains the meaning of each of these things. The seven heads are seven mountains. These mountains represent seven kings. The beast was one of these seven, and is not, and will be the eighth, and will go into destruction. The ten horns are ten kings that will receive power for one hour with the beast. These ten kings will hate the woman and attack her and destroy her because God will put it in their heart to do it. Then the ten kings will give their authority to the beast until the words of God should be fulfilled. The woman is that great city or community that rules over the kings of the earth.
    This is a community that has ruled over the kings of the earth throughout the ages. Yet, in the last days this community will be destroyed by the ten kings, who will give their authority over to the beast. Identifying this community is essential, because if we cannot identify it, we cannot come out of it, as God has commanded us to do.

    In solving a mystery, the trick is to discern between the clues that lead to a proper conclusion based on the facts, and those that simply distract our focus from our objective. Remember, our objective is to determine the identity of the woman who has been referred to as ?Babylon the Great? and the community that she represents.

  6. The Antichrists by Jon von Ernst  
    Certain persons had crept in unnoticed into the fellowship of the believers, denying the Lordship of our Master and Lord, Jesus Christ, setting themselves up above and apart from the other believers, in the place reserved for Christ alone. Jude charges the believers to withstand them openly. The brothers were urged to do battle with them publicly and not to sit idly by and allow these persons to steal away the faith once delivered to the saints.

    In verse 11 Jude refers to these people as having ?gone the way of Cain, and for pay they have rushed headlong into the error of Balaam, and perished in the rebellion of Korah.? The ?way of Cain? refers to Genesis chapter 4 where Cain attempts to worship God in his own way, disregarding the way that God had set forth. These false teachers set up their own form of worship, focused on the leadership of man, rather than the Lordship of Christ.
    These are the ones that despise God?s authority, Jesus Christ, the head of the body. They are willing to divide the body of Christ, so they might have their own little kingdom to rule over. Their desire for power is so great that they care more for that, than for the oneness of the body for which Christ died.

    These false teachers, that Jude urges the brothers to contend with, are those that have crept into the church unnoticed. They have turned the grace of God into an opportunity to fulfill the lusts of the flesh, lusting after position, honor, money, and power. They speak arrogantly, flattering people, in order to gain an advantage over them. They are willing to do anything in order to have a little kingdom of their own, even to the destruction of the body of Christ.

  7. Counterfeit Churches by Jon von Ernst  
    Throughout His time on earth, Jesus continually taught His disciples. One of the lessons He stressed to them repeatedly was that of His unique place as head of the assembly, the church. He stressed that no one should exalt themselves over any other person in the church.
    This is why these Christians, assembling together as the true church, tolerate no person usurping the headship that is reserved only for the Lord, Jesus the Christ. Jesus said in Matthew 18:20: ?Where two or three are gathered together in my name, I am there among them.? Christ leads during the assembly, and the believers follow. This body, thus, is living and vibrant, every member ministering one to another, freely giving and freely receiving from one another, as their Lord, Jesus, has freely given to them.

    By this ministering of every member, this prophesying, this speaking the truth to one another in love, the body is built up, edified, made strong in the strength of the Lord by that which every joint supplies (1 Corinthians 14:26-33). Ephesians 4:15-16 says, ?Speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in all aspects into Him who is the head, even Christ, from whom the whole body, being fitted and held together by what every joint supplies, according to the proper working of each individual part, causes the growth of the body for the building up of itself in love.? This is the church as seen in the Bible.

    Some organizations that call themselves churches are really just a part of the world system. They are a part of the world's religious system of ceremonial worship. If they claim Christ as head, but in reality their head is man himself, they are counterfeit churches. If they are devoid of the Spirit of God, but are full of the spirit of this world, they are counterfeit churches. If they only give lip service to the Scriptures, but embrace the philosophy and doctrines of men, they are counterfeit churches.

  8. Trusting the Holy Spirit by Jon von Ernst  
    The Holy Spirit which indwells every truly born-again believer will lead us to glorify God and to build up the body of Christ. In short, the Holy Spirit will lead us to love God and to love the brothers.
    God has given us His Holy Spirit to equip us and to empower us to live holy lives in obedience to Him. His desire is that we would be holy as He is holy. His expectation is for every believer to walk as Jesus walked, in full and complete obedience to the will of the Father (I John 2:6). Peter tells us that God has given us everything necessary for life and godliness (2 Peter 1:3).

    1 Thessalonians 4:3-8 exhorts us to walk in a way that is pleasing to God. He commands each believer to possess their own vessel in sanctification and honor, and not in lustful passions like those that do not know God. This is God?s will for us, our sanctification, that we would be holy as He is holy. The salvation process that God is working out in the believer?s life is being accomplished through sanctification by the Holy Spirit (2 Thessalonians 2:13).

    In every aspect of our lives, God expects us to be holy, set apart for Him, for His glory. God is glorified when we walk in humble obedience to Him whether we are at home, at school, or at work. When we are led by the Holy Spirit, we are holy.

  9. The Unity of the Spirit by Jon von Ernst  
    As believers, we do not need to try to become one body. We do not need to try to create a unity or oneness within the body of Christ. If we have been born of the Spirit, and the Spirit of Christ dwells in us, then we already have been given this unity. We only need to be concerned about keeping it, not about creating it. It is the Spirit that has made us one in Christ.
    It becomes apparent that the way to keep the unity of the Spirit is to be led by the Spirit. All of the things that make for peace with God and with others are provided to us richly in the Spirit. All of these things, love, peace, forbearance, gentleness, humility, patience, produce an environment that enables us to be at peace. When we are walking by the Spirit, we will be making every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit. In fact, we can only keep the unity of the Spirit by walking in the Spirit.

    It is the flesh that seeks to destroy this unity. Whenever we cease to be led by the Spirit, and begin to walk according to the flesh, this unity is damaged. Galatians 5:19-21 states: ?Now the deeds of the flesh are obvious, which are: adultery, sexual immorality, uncleanness, lustfulness, idolatry, sorcery, hatred, strife, jealousies, outbursts of anger, rivalries, divisions, heresies, envy, murders, drunkenness, orgies, and things like these; of which I forewarn you, even as I also forewarned you, that those who practice such things will not inherit God?s Kingdom.?

    The works of the flesh produce the very picture of the lack of peace: hatred, strife, jealousies, outbursts of anger, rivalries, divisions, heresies, envy, murders, drunkenness, and orgies. This is what is produced in our lives when we are not being led by the Spirit. Galatians 5:16-18 promises: ?walk by the Spirit, and you won?t fulfill the lust of the flesh. For the flesh lusts against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh; and these are contrary to one another, that you may not do the things that you desire. But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law? (WEB).

    The flesh and the Spirit are contrary to each other. You cannot be led by the Spirit and gratify the desires of the flesh at the same time. You will either be walking by the Spirit and manifest the fruit of the Spirit, or you will be walking by the flesh and manifest the works of the flesh in your life. The flesh and the Spirit are mutually exclusive.
    If you believe that you are walking by the Spirit, all you need to do is to take account of what is being produced in your life. Sit down and honestly take account of your actions, your words, and your thoughts. Consider what fruit is being produced in your life. Is it adultery, sexual immorality, uncleanness, lustfulness, idolatry, sorcery, hatred, strife, jealousies, outbursts of anger, rivalries, divisions, heresies, envy, murders, drunkenness, and orgies, or is it love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control?

  10. God's Eternal Purpose in Christ by Jon von Ernst  
    This is something that every believer, Jew and Gentile alike, needs to be keenly aware of. Jesus accomplished God?s eternal purpose on the cross by making the two groups into one new man in Himself. God?s eternal purpose is to have one body, prepared as a bride, without spot or wrinkle. It is for this bride that Christ is returning. God?s eternal purpose is that of a loving father longing to have a spotless bride to present to His son. This is the ultimate expression of God?s love.
    In Christ, we are all one. It is in this oneness that we are both reconciled to God. We are reconciled to God in one body through the cross. It is through the cross that this hostility has been put to death. When we died with Christ, the hostility between believers according to our flesh died also. It is by the death of this hostility that we are made one in Christ, resulting in peace.

    When we see the necessity of this oneness between the Jewish believers and the Gentile believers for the accomplishment of God?s eternal purpose, it is very troubling to hear so-called believers teach that there is a difference between the Jews and the Gentiles. Some teach that there are different rewards, different manifestations of the kingdom. Some teach that some Scriptures apply only to the Jews and that some Scriptures apply only to the Gentiles. Some have even divided the body based on whether the believer is by natural birth a Jew or a Gentile.

    Perhaps they teach these destructive, divisive things because, being devoid of the Spirit, they can only see things according to the flesh. Having no understanding of spiritual things, they cannot understand the mysteries hidden for ages of God?s eternal purpose in Christ. They see things according to physical descent and not according to faith.

  11. Love and Forgiveness by Jon von Ernst  
    There are some, who claim to be Christians, who believe you must forgive anyone for anything they do to you, whether or not they repent. However, we must not cheapen forgiveness. That would be the same as saying that because Jesus died for the sins of the world, everyone?s sins are forgiven. We know from the Scriptures above that this is not true. Only those that have repented and believed in Jesus have forgiveness of sins.

    Paul demonstrates the importance of not forgiving someone that has not seen the error of their way and has not repented. In 1 Corinthians 5:9-11, Paul instructs the believers concerning an unrepentant sinful brother.

    The idea of not even associating with a so-called believer that is living in sin is intended to bring about in that person a godly sorrow that leads to repentance. The sinning brother will thereby be encouraged to examine his behavior anew, and then, seeing the error of his way, he will be brought to godly sorrow and repentance.

    The desire is that through this difficult and unpleasant way of dealing with a sinful brother, two things will be accomplished. One is that the brother will be restored to the Lord and to fellowship with all believers as soon as he repents.

    The second and even more important purpose is to preserve the purity of the assembly. Paul says in 1 Corinthians 5:6, ?Do you not know that a little leaven leavens the whole lump of dough?? And in verse thirteen he says, ?Put away the wicked man from among yourselves? (WEB).

    By failing to understand the basic principles of forgiveness, we jeopardize the eventual well-being of the sinning brother, and we compromise the purity of the assembly and the testimony of the Lord. Also, when we choose to do things according to our own understanding and not according to God?s way and God?s word, we are in rebellion and are jeopardizing our own relationship with the Lord and with His people.

  12. The Mindset of the Spirit by Jon von Ernst  
    When we have the mind-set of the flesh, we are unable to please God, because we see things according to the ability of the flesh and not according to the ability of God in the Spirit. Without faith, it is impossible to please God. When we have the mind-set of the flesh, we do not think in terms of faith and the Spirit, but rather in terms of the flesh.

    Also, there are many times when the mind-set of the flesh causes us to see the spiritual life of the believer in a very convoluted way. It may cause us to think that we are spiritual only when we are doing or saying ?spiritual? things. Perhaps it will cause us to think, that in order to be spiritual, we must be reading the Scriptures, preaching the gospel, or working full-time as a pastor or an evangelist. You can do all of these things and still not have the mind-set of the Spirit.

    On the other hand, we can be doing the most mundane activities of life, and have the mind-set of the Spirit. We can be cleaning the house, baking bread, disciplining our children, mowing the grass, or just working at our job, whatever it may be, and do so with the mind-set of the Spirit.

    The Lord does not empower us by the indwelling Spirit just to do ?spiritual? things. He empowers us by the indwelling of the Spirit to enable us to live the ordinary life in this flesh in a holy manner. He enables us to be over-comers as we endure all of the struggles and trials of everyday life.

    He empowers us by the indwelling Spirit to love the brothers, to provide for our family, to work to produce excess so we can provide for the needs of others, to provide hospitality, to visit the sick, to give food to the hungry and to give clothing to the naked. God is glorified when we live our routine daily lives in the glory of His presence. To do this, we need to know Him, and the tremendous blessings He has freely given us by His Spirit indwelling our spirit.

  13. A God of Order by Jon von Ernst  
    The Scriptures make it very clear that we will all be held accountable for the things we do. We will all have to give an account of ourselves to God (Romans 14:12). It is important that each of us understands this fact. If we do understand it, that understanding will have a tremendous impact on how we live our lives, both in relation to the world around us, and in relation to God and His church.

    It is also essential that we understand that the God who will judge each of us is a God of order. God has established a very clear system of authority for all of creation. This order, especially as it pertains to the Christian believer, is clearly set forth in 1 Corinthians 11:3. Here Paul writes: ?But I want you to know that Christ is the head of every man, and the man is the head of the woman, and God is the head of Christ? (HCSB).
    Children are to submit to their parents. Employees are to submit to their employers. Everyone is to submit to the governing authorities. Wives are to submit to their own husbands. Men are to submit to Christ. God is a God of order. He has established a specific structure of authority for everyone. There is not a person in this world that is not required to submit respectfully to the authority that God has established over him. There are no exceptions.

  14. Everything You Need by Jon von Ernst  
    At the coming judgment, many will try to give excuses for why we did not submit to the Lordship of Jesus Christ and live in obedience to Him. What excuse will you use?
    God requires that we love one another. This is God?s one basic requirement for every believer. There are no exceptions.
    If you are not fulfilling this basic requirement, it does not matter what else you might do for God, it is all meaningless and of no value. It is only when we have fulfilled God?s command to love one another, that we will have boldness to stand before Him, and will not have to make any excuses.
    So the real test is, how do I treat this person that God has placed right here next to me? How do I treat my spouse? I say I love God, but do I love this brother or sister that God has placed right here next to me? If not, then I cannot love God.

  15. VERSES THAT CRUSH LEGALISTIC PERSPECTIVES by linzy bruno  
    "To the pure all things are pure, but to those who are defiled and unbelieving nothing is pure; but even their mind and conscience are defiled." (Titus 1:15)

  16. Assurance of Salvation by Jon von Ernst  
    Anyone who preaches ?another gospel? or that assures another of their salvation is an enemy of the gospel. If a requirement of salvation is that we believe in our heart, how can we assure anyone of what is in their heart?
    Only God knows a person?s heart, and only God can give anyone an assurance of salvation. He does this by the witness of His Holy Spirit that He causes to dwell within the believer.
    This Spirit dwelling in the believer teaches him about Christ and spreads the love of God abroad in the believer?s heart. It is also by this love, the love that God gives the believer for the Christian brothers, that the person can be assured that they are saved.
    God wants believers to have an assurance that they are born again, that they are truly His children. However, God insists on being the only one His children look to for that assurance.

    Scripture sets forth only one gospel that we are to preach, the same gospel the apostles preached, the gospel of the kingdom. This gospel presents Jesus as having been given all authority by virtue of His having been raised from the dead by the power of God, and the necessity of our submitting wholeheartedly to that authority in all obedience.
    Anyone that preaches ?another gospel? or assures another that they are saved is an enemy of the gospel. Are you an enemy of the gospel? If you are, or have been, I urge you to repent and return to the gospel of the kingdom, the gospel found in the Bible. Return to proclaiming salvation through faith in Jesus and His resurrection from the dead and submission to His authority, confessing Him as Lord. In doing this, you will become a fellow laborer with the apostles, building up the kingdom of God.


  17. Full Salvation by Jon von Ernst  
    If God quickened us, made us alive, by placing the Spirit of Christ within our spirit, then we have been saved. This is the salvation of our spirit.
    We find that Christ, by the power of His life within us, has also set us free from the control and dominance of sin in our lives.
    We no longer need to obey sin and be held in bondage to it. Christ has given us full salvation from sin by the power of His Holy Spirit indwelling our human spirit.
    We understand that our spirit was made alive when we were saved, by being born again. But now, much more than that, we shall be saved, by the power of His life working within us to transform our soul, to conform us to His very image. This is yet another aspect of salvation, the salvation of our soul.
    We begin to experience, more and more, that the love, joy, and peace in the Spirit is now gradually spreading out from our spirit into our very soul by the power of His indestructible life working within us. As we walk by the Spirit, in joyful submission to Jesus as our Lord, we continue to experience the gradual process of our soul being transformed into the image of Christ, as our mind is being renewed day by day. This is the salvation of our soul.
    As believers, we were saved when we were born again, when the Spirit of Christ made our spirit alive. We are being saved day by day as the life of Christ within us transforms our soul into His image. We will be saved when our body is transfigured at the last trumpet sound, when in a twinkling of an eye we are changed. We see yet another aspect of salvation. This refers to the salvation of our bodies.
    Our spirit has been saved, our soul is being saved, and our body will be saved. This is truly a full salvation.

  18. Receiving the Promises by Jon von Ernst  
    When God begins to reveal to us who Jesus is, He commands us to believe on Him, to allow ourselves to be persuaded by the evidence of who Jesus is. As we yield ourselves to His speaking, and begin to believe in Jesus, we find ourselves starting to think differently about Jesus and about how we have been living. We begin to repent.

    As we repent, we begin to confess what we have come to realize in our heart about Jesus, that He truly is Lord of all. As we repent, and believe, and confess Jesus as Lord, we begin to realize something amazing is happening. It is like we are being born all over again, only this time we are not being born into a physical material world, but into a spiritual one. We begin the incredible experience of realizing that we have been transferred from death into life, from darkness into light. We begin to experience all the fear that we have lived with for our entire lives vanishing away, being washed away by floods of love, and joy, and peace, peace that surpasses all understanding.

    We begin to realize how much Christ suffered, how much He endured so that we would be able to be restored to fellowship with Him and with His Father in heaven. We just begin to scratch the surface of the depths of the love that God has for us in Christ Jesus our Lord. Simply obeying His command to believe resulted in the indescribable blessing of being born again and receiving the Holy Spirit into our spirit, making our spirit alive and restoring us to fellowship with God who is spirit. How much more does He have in store for us if we would continue to listen to His speaking and continue to obey Him?

  19. Obedience to the Gospel by Jon von Ernst  
    When the people asked what they must do, Peter did not tell them, ?Everything has been done. Jesus did it all. There is nothing left for you to do.? No, rather, Peter said: ?Repent, and be baptized, each of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins, and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.?

    Yes, Jesus did it all. He paid the full price required by God. He completed the work of atonement and redemption. During His life, and in His death on the cross, Jesus fulfilled every righteous requirement of God for our justification. However, Peter, realizing that even though Jesus had finished His work, there remained something that those who heard the gospel message still had to do to be saved.

    Peter gave them specific instructions as to what was expected of them, of what they had to do to be saved. Those that obeyed were added to the church that day. Those that accepted his message did works of obedience that, added to their faith, resulted in justification and the promise of eternal life.

  20. The Gospel of the Kingdom by Jon von Ernst  
    This is the good news, the gospel, of the kingdom! By His Love for us, God has opened the way for anyone, no matter who you are or what you have done, to turn back to God and to be reconciled to Him, by trusting in and submitting to Jesus as your Lord and King. Only by complete submission to God?s King can anyone enter the Kingdom of God.
    This is the gospel of the kingdom as presented in the Bible. When we share the gospel of the kingdom, our message must focus on the person of Jesus, raised from the dead and made by God to be both Lord and Christ. We are to preach Jesus, and the kingdom of God just as the apostles did in the book of Acts.
    When we preach this gospel, declaring that Jesus is Lord and that all authority has been given unto Him, those that hear this message will be challenged. If they believe our message, they will be compelled to obey by submitting to the authority of Jesus as Lord. If they do not obey the gospel, they are condemned already and the wrath of God abides on them.
    Having now heard this gospel of the kingdom, they have the opportunity to decide whether they will believe it and receive Jesus as your Lord and Master, or whether they will reject this gospel, reject the Lordship of Jesus in your life, and continue to serve Satan.

  21. Inheriting the Promises by Jon von Ernst  
    Believers now have the full promises of God restored to them. They now have the opportunity, through faithful obedience, to receive all of God?s promises, including eternal life. The believer is back to a situation very similar to that of Adam in the garden of Eden. Adam had two sources of life that he could choose to live by. Adam could choose to live by the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, or he could choose to live by the fruit of the tree of life.
    One, the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, where God is disrespected and disobeyed, where man is enabled to live in whatever way seems right to him, the end of which is death. The other, the tree of life, where God is believed and trusted as one that is good and wants the best for man, the end of which is eternal life.
    The born-again believer has now a similar situation. He has two natures, two different sources according to which he can choose to live. He can choose to live according to the flesh, or he can choose to live according to the Spirit.
    He is no longer a slave to sin, under sin?s control and domination. He can however choose to disrespect God and disobey God and live according to the lustful desires of the flesh, which leads to death. Or he can choose to believe God, trusting and honoring God as one that is good and desires and promises to provide only the best for man. The believer does this by living a life in humble obedience to the indwelling Holy Spirit, resulting in sanctification, the end of which is eternal life (Romans 6:22) .


  22. The Kindness and Severity of God by Jon von Ernst  
    Many Christians have the idea that once you are born again, your destiny is assured, and when you die or when the Lord returns, you will go to heaven and spend eternity in the Lord?s presence in the kingdom of God. Many seem to think that what they do between being born again and when they go to meet the Lord is not really that important. But what do the Scriptures say?

    In Romans 11, Paul writes to the believers in Rome warning them not to be conceited, or arrogant. He reminds them of how some of the natural olive branches, the children of Israel, were broken off from the natural olive tree because of their unbelief. These natural branches were broken off that we, the Gentiles, the wild olive branches, might be grafted in.

    He warned that we need to fear that if God broke off the natural branches because of their unbelief, He will break us off if we fail to continue steadfast in the faith. To those that continue to stand firm in their faith, God reveals His kindness. To those that fall into unbelief and disobedience, God reveals His severity. If God did not spare the natural branches, you can be sure He will not spare us if we are disobedient and unfaithful.

  23. Called and Chosen and Faithful by Jon von Ernst  
    As Christians, we must understand that we will be judged by how we live this life, whether walking according to the Spirit, or walking according to the lusts of the flesh. Are we abiding in Christ, walking as He walked (1John 2:6)? Are we holy as He is holy (1 Peter 1:16)? The Spirit is given to born-again believers to enable them to live holy lives and to walk as Jesus walked, in full obedience to the Father.
    Our eternal destiny will depend on whether we walk in faithful obedience to the Lord and endure all hardship for His sake and for His glory. If we continue steadfast in the faith, we will receive that crown of righteousness. If we endure trials joyfully as an opportunity to learn obedience and to grow unto maturity in Christ, remaining faithful unto the end, we will receive that crown of righteousness.
    However, if we are unfaithful, we will suffer great loss. If we allow persecution and affliction to discourage us from walking in obedience to the Lord, we will be considered wicked, lazy and unfaithful servants. If we allow the cares of this life and the deceitfulness of wealth to choke off the word that has been entrusted to us, we will be considered wicked, lazy and unfaithful servants. We will be as the unfruitful slave that was cast into outer darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.


  24. The Elect by Jon von Ernst  
    Jesus told His disciples that the days of the great tribulation would be cut short for the sake of the elect. Matthew 24:20-22 says, ?Pray that your flight will not be in the winter, or on a Sabbath. For then there will be a great tribulation, such as has not occurred since the beginning of the world until now, nor ever will. Unless those days had been cut short, no life would have been saved; but for the sake of the elect those days will be cut short.?

    Who are these ?elect,? and why would the Lord give them special consideration so as to even cut short the days of the great tribulation?

  25. Suffering for Christ by Jon von Ernst  
    Paul is encouraging us about the importance of suffering with Christ. We suffer with Him that we may be glorified with Him. He also reminds us that the sufferings in this life are so small and insignificant that they are not worthy to be compared with the unspeakably incredible glory that is to be revealed to us at Christ?s return; if we are faithful to suffer with Him.
    Philippians 1:29 tells us that God?s love for us and His desire for us to grow to maturity in Christ is such that He not only granted it to us to believe, but also to suffer for His sake. God allows us to go through times of hardship, affliction, and persecution because He loves us and He knows that these times are necessary for us to learn obedience, to learn to depend on Him and to bring us on to maturity, to complete sanctification in Christ.
    It is a blessing to suffer for Christ that we might be counted worthy of the kingdom. As our sufferings for Christ are abundant, so also is His grace toward us.
    Paul reminds us that Christ comforts us through our afflictions. He comforts us so that we may comfort others by the same comfort that we received in Christ.

  26. The Day of the Lord by Jon von Ernst  


    To those that have believed and taught a pretribulation rapture, I would only ask, ?What if you are wrong?? What impact will it have on your faith and the faith of those you have taught if you should wake up and find that the great tribulation is taking place and all of us Christians are still here?

    I fear that most believers have been taught that Christians will not have to go through such a time of suffering, and therefore, are not prepared for it. We need to be those that encourage believers to be prepared to suffer for the Lord that they may be brought to maturity in Christ.

    We must not let fear keep us from trusting that God will give us grace sufficient to endure whatever trial we may encounter. He uses suffering in the life of His people to bring them to maturity, to perfect them.

    May we consider it a great joy whenever we experience various trials, knowing that the testing of our faith produces endurance, knowing that God is working it for our good (James 1:2).



  27. Spiritual Gifts by Jon von Ernst  
    The natural conclusion of the teaching that the gifts of the Spirit have ceased and that which is perfect is the completion of the Scriptures, is that people serving as pastors, teachers, evangelists are not the result of the Spirit?s gifting, but of the training received in Bible colleges and seminaries. The teaching that results is that there are no apostles or prophets today. They were only needed for the establishment and foundation of the church, but now that we have the completed Scriptures, they are no longer needed.
    However, if we examine the context of this passage of Ephesians, we will notice that it tells us clearly how long these gifts of apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors, and teachers will continue.
    It is clear that the gifts of the Spirit have not ceased. They are desperately needed today for the building up of the church. These false teachings have produced a heart of unbelief in some churches, especially as regards the operation of the gifts of the Spirit. Instead of trusting the Holy Spirit?s gifting of the members of the body of Christ for the building up of the church, we have come to trust the teachings of man and the training of man by the institutions of man.

  28. Being Built Up Together by Jon von Ernst  
    We need to be able to gather together with brothers of widely different backgrounds and discuss our beliefs and go to the Scriptures and examine rationally the basis for each perspective. We need to be able to do this, not to prove that we are right, but together, to reach a deeper, more scriptural understanding of God and of His ways. We each need to be humble enough to be taught by the Spirit and to be willing to give up any teaching of man that we may have adopted when we find it to be contrary to Scripture.
    We need to trust God that His Spirit within us is able, by the love of God that has been poured abroad in our hearts, to empower us to love brothers with whom we do not agree on every issue. We need to be willing to fellowship together, disagreeing at times on various issues, and yet embracing each other as brothers in Christ, as members of the one body, being built up together as a spiritual habitation of God in the Spirit.


  29. Building the Church by Jon von Ernst  
    To many people, the idea of building a church means to build up and strengthen the organization in which their church exists. This organization is composed of bylaws, a constitution, a governing board, and the staff they direct and the facilities and programs that they operate and maintain. So, it is only natural that they are concerned with all of the items mentioned above that are often the focus of their discussions on how to build their church.
    However, in this brief study, I am not going to focus on how to build up a modern church organization, but rather on how to build up the church as set forth in the Scriptures. This church in the New Testament is not an organization. It is an organism, a living body. It is the body of the resurrected Christ.


  30. The Head of the Church by Jon von Ernst  
    Throughout His time on earth, Jesus continually taught His disciples. One lesson He stressed to them repeatedly was that of His unique place as head of the assembly, the church. He stressed that no one should exalt themselves over any other person in the church.
    Not only did Jesus stress this matter repeatedly to His disciples, He also confronted the religious leaders of His day concerning their arrogant ungodly behavior.
    This is why these Christians, assembling together as the true church, tolerate no person usurping the headship that is reserved only for the Lord, Jesus the Christ.

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