Monthly Archives: October 2018

“I Am Ready”

The apostle Paul, heading for Jerusalem, was warned often that bonds and afflictions awaited him there (Acts 20:23). While he was in Caesarea, the Holy Spirit guided the prophet Agabas to once again graphically warn Paul that he would be bound and delivered into the hands of the Gentiles (Acts 21:11). Because of this, all of Paul’s companions urged him not to go (Acts 21:12). But Paul firmly responded, “I am ready not to be bound only, but also to die at Jerusalem for the name of the Lord Jesus” (Acts 21:13). Paul said he was ready. Are we?

Paul said he was ready to die for the name of the Lord. During his second and final Roman imprisonment, he knew his time was short and he had prepared himself mentally and emotionally for that eventuality (Acts 21:13). He said, “I am now ready to be offered and the time of my departure is at hand. I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith” (II Tim. 4:6,7). Though we, in this age, in this country, may never face the opposition Paul did, we must have the same attitude (i. e., I John 3:16; Rev. 2:10).

In saying he was ready to die for the name of the Lord, he also indicated he was ready to preach the gospel. Paul wrote the letter to the Rome church of Christ saying he was ready to preach the gospel to them there (Rom. 1:15). Being prepared to preach requires effort. Paul told Timothy, a young gospel preacher, “study to show thyself approved unto God” (II Tim. 2:15). Even though the apostle Paul was inspired, he still wanted to study (II Tim. 4:13). If Paul and Timothy needed to study, then we most certinly will need to, as well.

Studying will also help us be prepared to give an answer for the reasons for the hope that is in us (I Pet. 3:15). When Paul stood before Felix, he reasoned of righteousness, temperance and judgement to come. Upon hearing this, Felix trembled (Acts 24:25). Many on the day of Pentecost were pricked in their hearts when they heard the gospel for the first time (Acts 2:37). The apostle Paul spent weeks teaching and defending the gospel with the Thessalonians Jews and some of them believed (Acts 17:2-4). We, likewise, must be able to defend what we believe.

We must also be ready to hear. The scriptures implore us to keep our feet when we go into the house of God and “be more ready to hear, than to give the sacrifice of fools” (Eccl. 5:1). James told us to be swift to hear, slow to speak (James 1:19). How many times did the Lord condemn those whose ears were dull of hearing (cf. Matt. 13:14)? Most people are willing to talk, but really few are ready to hear.

In order to be the kind of Christians we need to be, that God wants us to be, we must be ready to every good work (Tit. 3:1). We must be steadfast, unmoveable, always abounding in the work of the Lord (I Cor. 15:58). Jesus warned His disciples to be ready and “watch” (Mark 13:37). We need to be filled with the fruits of righteousness (Phil. 1:11) and the fruits of the spirit (Gal. 5:22,23).

We must also be ready to avoid temptation (Mark 14:38). In being prepared, we must put on the whole armor of God so that we can stand (Eph. 6:13). The devil is not going to sit idly by; he is active. He will go about as a roaring lion on one hand, seeking to devour and as an angel of light on the other seeking to deceive (I Pet. 5:7; II Cor. 11:14). We have to be prepared so that we can recognize his attacks as they are being set up and meet them.

Finally, we must be ready for the Lord’s return (Matt. 24:44). We know neither the hour or the day when the Son of man will return (Matt. 25:13) but we do know He will return because He was raised from the dead (Acts 17:30,31). Therefore, the Lord could return at any moment and it will be a most unfortunate day if we are not prepared when He does. If we are not prepared, we will be like the five foolish virgins who did not prepare and were locked out. They cried, “Lord, Lord open to us” (Matt. 25:11). But the Lord responded, “I know you not.”

Are you ready?

Eric L. Padgett

Great Statements From The Book Of Romans

1:16 – I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ: for it is the power of God unto salvation

2:16 – In the day when God shall judge the secrets of men by Jesus Christ according to my gospel.

3:23 – For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God;

4:8 – Blessed is the man to whom the Lord will not impute sin.

5:8 – But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.

6:4 – Therefore we are buried with him by baptism into death: that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life.

7:4 – Wherefore, my brethren, ye also are become dead to the law by the body of Christ; that ye should be married to another, even to him who is raised from the dead, that we should bring forth fruit unto God.

8:31 – What shall we then say to these things? If God be for us, who can be against us?

9:33 – As it is written, Behold, I lay in Sion a stumblingstone and rock of offence: and whosoever believeth on him shall not be ashamed.

10:17 – So then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.

11:26 – And so all Israel shall be saved: as it is written, There shall come out of Sion the Deliverer, and shall turn away ungodliness from Jacob:

12:1 – I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service.

13:14 – But put ye on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make not provision for the flesh, to fulfil the lusts thereof.

14:12 – So then every one of us shall give account of himself to God.

15:4 – For whatsoever things were written aforetime were written for our learning, that we through patience and comfort of the scriptures might have hope.

16:17 – Now I beseech you, brethren, mark them which cause divisions and offences contrary to the doctrine which ye have learned; and avoid them.

The apostle Paul via Eric L. Padgett

It’s WAR!

Jesus said “Think not that I am come to send peace on earth: I came not to send peace, but a sword” (Matthew 10:34). It is true that Jesus is the Prince of Peace (Is. 9:6). And it is true that He is our peace (Eph. 2:14-15). He came so that we might have peace with God through Himself (Rom. 5:1). Yet there is never really a true peace until there is first a complete and total victory over the enemy (cf. Matt. 12:29). As Alexander Campbell observed, “Hence the Prince of Peace never sheathed the sword of the Spirit while he lived. He drew it on the banks of the Jordan and threw the scabbard away” (“Religious Controversy,” Millennial Harbinger, 1830).

The apostle Paul said we are engaged in a war but it is not a war after the flesh, that is, not a physical war with material weapons (II Cor. 10:3). But it is a war, nevertheless. It is a spiritual war. Since the beginning of time, satan has attempted to lead a rebellion against the God of heaven. Down through the ages, beginning with Adam and Eve, he has enlisted men in this battle, most of whom unwittingly joined his ranks. The god of this world has beguiled people into being a friend of this world, which makes them the enemy of God (James 4:4).

Paul described his work as an apostle as pulling down strong holds, casting down imaginations, and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ (II Cor. 10:4,5). These things are much harder than taking up a sword and trying to remove an enemy from a geographical territory. We are trying to remove sinful, rebellious thoughts from people’s minds and replace them with obedient, righteous thoughts (I Peter 4:1; Phil. 2:5; etc.).

As Christians, we also fight the good fight of faith (I Tim. 6:12; II Tim. 4:7). In order to fight this fight to win, we must array ourselves with the appropriate armor. When David went out to fight Goliath, he could not wear Saul’s armor, for he had not proved them (I Sam. 17:39). In order to win this battle, we must put on proven armor, the whole armor of God (Eph. 6:13). That is, our loins girt about with truth, having on the breastplate of righteousness; our feet shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace; taking the shield of faith, and taking the helmet of salvation and, last but not least, the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God (Ephesians 6:14-17). These are the weapons that win this war.

Paul said this spiritual war involved casting down imaginations. In Noah’s day, man’s ability to imagine got him into serious trouble. “And GOD saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually” (Genesis 6:5). Man has, down through the centuries, devised every kind of sin imaginable. Paul said of the ancient world, that “when they knew God, they glorified him not as God, neither were thankful; but became vain in their imaginations, and their foolish heart was darkened. Professing themselves to be wise, they became fools” (Romans 1:21,22). Romans chapter one lists many of the horrendous sins that man has devised (Rom. 1:19-32). We fight to cast down these imaginations in ourselves and in others.

When God called Jeremiah to be a prophet to the nations (Jer. 1:5), He put His words in his mouth and said that he set him over the nations and kingdoms to “root out, and to pull down, and to destroy, and to throw down, to build, and to plant” (Jer. 1:10). This “pulling down” was accomplished by means of his words, inspired words, the word of God. Just as the Lord defeated the devil in the temptation with the word of God (Matt. 4:1-11), so we defeat the devil by the sword of the spirit, the word of God.

Not only did the Lord defeat satan with His words, He triumphed over and spoiled principalities and powers, and made a shew of them openly, through His cross (Col. 2:14,15). It had been prophesied even in the garden that the woman’s seed, Jesus (Gal. 4:4), would bruise the serpent’s head, that is, give it mortal wound (Gen. 3:15). Jesus came into this world for this purpose–to destroy the works of the devil (I John 3:8; cf. John 12:31; 16:11; Heb. 2:14,15).

One of the great scenes in all the Bible is found in the book of Revelation. In chapter twelve we have a scene of a great battle and though satan attacks the Lord’s church, he is defeated, unable to prevail, cast out and cast down (Rev. 12:1-10). In chapter twenty, the devil, though he persecuted the camp of the saints, the church, is cast into the lake which burns with fire and brimstone (Rev. 20:19-21). The good news is, we know who wins this one. All we need to decide now is for which side do we fight.

Eric L. Padgett