Thursday, June 21, 2012

Heavenly Credit

Have you checked your Heavenly Account lately?
Click audio Bible studies to the right of the blog for a list of lessons including "Heavenly Credit".

Monday, June 18, 2012

Bro. Raymond has been Promoted to Glory

We share with the family the grief of the passing from this life on earth of Brother Raymond ! We remember that PS 116:15 tells us that " precious in the sight of the lord is the death of his saints" . Paul tells us that absent from the body is present with the Lord . Bro. Raymond has been Promoted to Glory and rests in the love and peace of the Lord !! IN HIS LOVE , The White Family

Wednesday, June 13, 2012

The touch of love

Dottie with Raymond at hospice in Jacksonville.
This is what true brotherly love looks like.

Naomi with Raymond in Shands ICU in Jacksonville

Meaghan and Tiffany with their uncle Ray at hospice in Jacksonville

Wednesday, May 9, 2012

An excerpt from C.H. Spurgeon's book "Come Ye Children"




Courtesy www.jeanmillet.org
This teaching is a real blessing. Click here.


Mat 19:13  Then were there brought unto him little children, that he should put his hands on them, and pray: and the disciples rebuked them.
Mat 19:14  But Jesus said, Suffer little children, and forbid them not, to come unto me: for of such is the kingdom of heaven.





More thoughts on "Asking"

Many times in Scripture the sinner is told to come. In the last invitation in the Bible it says;

Rev 22:17  And the Spirit and the bride say, Come. And let him that heareth say, Come. And let him that is athirst come. And whosoever will, let him take the water of life freely.
Photo courtesy of Flikr by Hoyasmeg
This is the proper order. We are told to come to Him, not Him come to us. I love the simplicity here. "come" and "take". Salvation is already freely offered. We must but in faith believe it is a valid offer and take it to ourselves. When someone gives us a birthday present do we need then to ask for it? To ask for that which in love is freely offered is to not understand the nature of the gift.

Sunday, May 6, 2012

From Stacy Huerta

Hey Frank! I tried to comment last night on your blog, but It would not post.

This issue of asking Jesus into your heart, has been a concern of mine for a long time. So many people go through life thinking they are saved because they "said" a prayer. It especially concerns me for children. I was guilty of this when Jakob was small. I led him through a prayer thinking I was doing right,the Lord showed us later that was not biblical salvation which is now a part of Jakobs testimony:) Anyways, I have witnessed through Vacation Bible Schools and Upward Basketball, hundreds of children being asked to pray this "prayer" and if they really meant it, they are saved. Yes, of course the Lord can save someone at that time, but MOST of those children are being deceived. I believe this is one of satans tactics in deceiving people into having a head knowledge, but not truly being born again. We saw this video I attached @ a Paul Washer conference recently. It was chilling and disturbing. Although the boy was converting to Islam, it shows a comparison to American Christianity leading people through prayers the same way any other religious organization does. Love you guys!!!


Because of His mercy,

Love, Stacy

Friday, May 4, 2012

Misapplied and misunderstood verses

The idea that a person could pray as the direct means to enter into salvation is based on a few misapplied verses. The primary one is Rom.10:13 where the word "call" occurs. It is by many thought to mean pray or ask. But it does not say pray or ask. The word is call. In the greek it is epikaleomai. It is defined; to invoke, to appeal to, to summon, to call as a witness. Just as you would appeal unto an attorney or judge or call someone to witness to a fact. The same word is used in Acts when Paul appealed unto Caesar. Acts 25:11. So to call in the sense that is in Romans 10:13 is to refer to the work of the Lord as our claim to salvation. When you appeal unto a doctor or lawyer to take your case it is an act of trust or faith you place in them. It is an act of committment. All hope is upon Him to whom we have committed our soul.

2Ti_1:12For the which cause I also suffer these things: nevertheless I am not ashamed: for I know whom I have believed, and am persuaded that he is able to keep that which I have committed unto him against that day.

I do not mean to say that all those who have prayed a "sinner's prayer" are not saved. I am saying that they were saved because they believed the Gospel and committed the keeping of their soul to God through the work of Christ on the cross and by faith in His blood. The prayer was incidental and not the means by which they were saved.  It is the normal thing for a baby to cry out with his first breath as he enters into life. So also the sinner who believes will cry out in a prayer of thanksgiving crying "Abba. Father"after he is saved. A person who has truely believed and trusted in the Work of Christ is saved, whether he prays the sinners prayer and asks Jesus into his heart or not. When we truely believe, the Spirit of Christ enters into us even if we don't ask. Let me give an example. Let's say a father gives his son a car for his sixteenth birthday.  The son did not ask for a car. It was a surprise gift. He goes for a drive and gets stopped by a policeman. The policeman asks " do you own this car?" The boy says yes. The policeman asks for documentation. The boy says well it's mine because my father gave it to me. The officer asks for documentation again. This time the boy opens the glove compartment and takes out the title and proves it is his by the written document. He has appealed unto the document and those who signed it. That is secure and will hold up in a court of law. He has a car he did not ask for but simply accepted and now he owns it and can prove it. The written Word of God is the documentation of  our salvation and our relationship to our Father.
If I think that my salvation came to me through my prayer then I leave myself open for an attack upon the sincerity of that prayer. That is shaky ground. A ship has an anchor to keep it from being tossed by the waves and driven by the winds. The anchor must be stuck to something solid like the solid Rock of our Lord Jesus Christ. A ship who sticks it's anchor into the bottom of the ship will have no security. If we trust our emotions or our works we are not trusting the anchor to the solid rock but to ourselves.
If someone feels compelled to tell the sinner to pray then guide him to a prayer of thanksgiving after he has believed.  Note that in Rom.10:14 that the call comes after the person believes, not before.



Rom 10:14How then shall they call on him in whom they have not believed? and how shall they believe in him of whom they have not heard? and how shall they hear without a preacher? Let's remember that saving faith comes by hearing the Gospel preached through the Word.In the first instance of  Gentiles being saved, Cornelius and his house heard the word of the Gospel from Peter and the Holy Ghost fell on them that heard the Word. Acts 10. There is no mention of praying in that account except when Cornelius prayed for information on how to be saved and God sent him a preacher to tell him to believe the Gospel.

Also in the case of the Philippian jailer.




Act 16:30 And brought them out, and said, Sirs, what must I do to be saved?
Act 16:31 And they said, Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved, and thy house.

Notice again that no instruction to pray is there. Every word of truth is holy. We have no right to change or modify the presentation of the Gospel to cater to current trends. We will be judged for how accurately and faithfully we preach and teach the precious Good News of salvation.







Wednesday, May 2, 2012

Asking Jesus into your heart is not Biblical

Click here for written article


Click here for short video.


Praying to receive Christ or asking Jesus into your heart as a way to be saved is a relatively recent development in the history of the Apostacy (great falling away 2Thess. 2:3). It arose with the rise of Revivalism around the turn of the 20th century. Emotionally based preaching began to move away from the presentation of faith in the historic act of the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus Christ as the basis of the assurance of salvation to other "evidences" such as crying out in prayer until a feeling of peace would come upon the seeker. We knew an old man in Kentucky who went to a revival after years of living without claiming faith in Christ. After the preaching he went forward during the "altar call" and began to try to "pray through" After a long while of agonizing at this with others around him also praying he got up and went home without a peace of knowing he was accepted in Christ. We visited him later to show from the Scriptures that his feelings were not the basis of his acceptance but his faith in the finished work of Jesus on the cross and in His resurrection. God said it, I believe it, that settles it. Other forms of this approach  made it a lot easier by having the seeker simply pray a model prayer asking Jesus to come into his heart. Many tracts of this type make no mention of the true Gospel of the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus. It truely has become a false gospel based on works. Praying, like giving is a work. This formula also puts Jesus Christ in the role of having to be the one to respond rather than the sinner having to respond in faith believing the Gospel. People can be led into a false assurance that could keep them from true salvation. People say something like,"I know I'm saved because on a certain date I asked Jesus to come into my heart." The emphasis being on what the person did and not on what Jesus did historically.

Monday, March 19, 2012

Home Bible studies illegal ?

click this link for a recent California case..











This may be the wave of the future. Let's continue to pray for Godly leaders who recognize the God given right to religious freedom.

Monday, February 27, 2012

The Ministry of the Holy Spirit

A sick looking lamb alone on a hillside.
photo courtesy flikr B1ubb
This is how healthy sheep look.









Psa 23:1  A Psalm of David. The LORD is my shepherd; I shall not want.
Psa 23:2  He maketh me to lie down in green pastures: he leadeth me beside the still waters.
Psa 23:3  He restoreth my soul: he leadeth me in the paths of righteousness for his name's sake.
Psa 23:4  Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil: for thou art with me; thy rod and thy staff they comfort me.
Psa 23:5  Thou preparest a table before me in the presence of mine enemies: thou anointest my head with oil; my cup runneth over.
Psa 23:6  Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life: and I will dwell in the house of the LORD for ever.

Perhaps that lone lamb has wandered off away from the protection of the shepherd and the flock. Maybe something curious caught his eye and he went to see it. For whatever reason many sheep are wandering alone in the wilderness.  But this we know, that the Good Shepherd is seeking them to bring them back.


Mat 18:12  How think ye? if a man have an hundred sheep, and one of them be gone astray, doth he not leave the ninety and nine, and goeth into the mountains, and seeketh that which is gone astray?
Mat 18:13  And if so be that he find it, verily I say unto you, he rejoiceth more of that sheep, than of the ninety and nine which went not astray.
Mat 18:14  Even so it is not the will of your Father which is in heaven, that one of these little ones should perish.



Thursday, February 23, 2012

Our blessed Hope





From Wally White


Our precious resurrected Lord , in his glorified body , showed himself ALIVE after his passionate
and agonizing death on the cross .
For forty days he proved himself ALIVE and well , speaking of the things pertaining to the
kingdom of God . He told those assembled with him to go to Jerusalem and wait for the promise
of the father which you have heard from me. For John ( the baptist ) truly baptized
with water , but you shall be baptized with the Holy Spirit not many days from now . After that the
Lord told them they would be witness's for him unto the uttermost part of the earth.He was taken
up and a cloud received him out of their sight . The scriptures state that as they stood looking
steadily toward heaven , two men in white apparel ( angels ) stood at their side asking them why
they were gazing into heaven ? They stated that this SAME JESUS whom is taken up from you
into heaven , shall so return in the same manner as you have seen him go into heaven . That
SAME JESUS !! Oh such encouraging words in a day that other jesus's and other gospels are so
preached and promoted in these latter apostate days in which we live ! As Christ followers
watched him ascend from the mount of olives , we can expect his literal return in like manner
any day ! The LORD HIMSELF will descend from heaven and we that are alive will
meet him in the clouds to meet the LORD in the air and will forever be with him . I thess 4:14-18 .
Paul tells us in I cor. 15:51-55 that in the twinkling of an eye we will be changed to an
incorruptible and immortal body to spend eternity with our blessed Lord who is OUR
BLESSED HOPE ! Titus 2:13-45

Saturday, February 18, 2012

Why we should give thanks over meals

The "world' in which we live and serve is set against God and any expression of Godliness. We as Christians face daily challenges and opportunities to express that faith. One opportunity is the giving of thanks over our meals, privately, with our families and in public. The reasons we should give expression of our thanks are many.

 1. Jesus did it. Matt. 15:36 Matt. 26:27 Mark 8:6 Mark 14:23 Luke 22:17-19 John 6:11,23

 2. Paul did it. Acts 27:35

 3. Giving of thanks gives Glory to God. 1 Cor.10:30

 4. We eat what God has provided and for his purpose. Rom. 14:6

 5. It is sanctified by prayer. 1 Tim.4:3-5

 The family is under attack as never before and that attack is evident in the forsaking of family meals around a common table. What better time for a family to bond than around Mom's home cooked meal? What better time for a family to share their day's blessings and trials than around the table? In a restaurant setting it is appropriate to pray over the food as it is an opportunity to express our belief that our sustenance or "daily bread" comes from God. We can and should take a few moments to acknowledge that this food did not come from MacDonalds or from our labors alone. Who gives us power to work to earn our bread? I think we should want to have our meals sanctified by God. Who knows what is in our store bought food these days? We should exercise this freedom while we may as the days may be approaching when it will be made illegal. Who would have thought that it would become illegal for any Jew or Gentile to pray on the Temple Mount in Jerusalem? There even the moving of one's lips in that which may appear to be prayer will get a person arrested. Let's humbly hold on to this freedom.

Friday, February 17, 2012

The Gospel of the Kingdom

Gospel of the Kingdom vs the Gospel of the Grace of God

From Brother Wally White;

 I recently attended a mens bible study and matthew 6 was the topic for our discussion . after we read the chapter we discussed the aspect of giving per the Lords teaching. One of the brothers brought up the fact that Jesus was at this point in time teaching the gospel of the kingdom , Not the gospel of grace as per pauls epistles . It was pointed out that at this time Jesus said he was sent only to the lost sheep of the house of israel ( Mt 15:24 ) The church was not even mentioned until Mt. 16:18 and it was a future event . We now know the church was not officially established until the day of pentecost in acts 2;1-5 . It was brought to the attention that apostle paul was the first to teach the gospel of grace ( which he called "my gospel " ) and that that the epistles are the only place that NEW TESTAMENT CHURCH doctines are taught. In our meeting about one half of the men in attendance were offended by this ! I would like to submit this to the blog for discussion . Can we teach new testament church doctrine from kingdom of heaven doctine ? Would love to hear others opinion on this !

Saturday, February 11, 2012

Being a soldier for Jesus Christ


2Ti_2:3  Thou therefore endure hardness, as a good soldier of Jesus Christ. 
2Ti_2:4  No man that warreth entangleth himself with the affairs of this life; that he may please him who hath chosen him to be a soldier. 


 Being a warrior in the spiritual battles that have engulfed the world takes an understanding of our relationship with our Captain as well as a working knowledge of the real issues, our weapons and of our enemy's devices. We, as Christians do not resort to carnal weapons but to spiritual ones.

 2Co_10:4  (For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty through God to the pulling down of strong holds;) 

Our sword is the Word of God. To call non violent Christians "passivists" is wrong. No, we are not passive or at least we should not be. We should be active in the battles through prayer, witnessing, worship, and boldly standing for Christ in our daily life. The following excerpt was sent to me by sister Stacy Huerta

"I will be soldierly at all times. The chief requirement of the soldier is the surrender of his will. Other things are irrelevant. The disposition of his time, his duties, and his responsibilities is entirely in the hands of his commander, and they are not his business. If Christ has my will, He will also have my body, my mind, my strength, my ambitions, my inclinations, my attitudes, in short, my all. The will is the key. When I am tempted it is in the will that the victory will be won or lost. Temptation gives me alternatives; I can submit and lose or resist and win. There is ample power for either. Christ gives me power to resist; my old nature gives me power to submit. But the key is the will. If I will to resist, Christ will empower me as He has promised; if I will to submit, I only need to let the old nature take over. Whoever has my will is my master. I therefore must decide daily, hourly: shall Christ have my will, or shall it be some other master: The decision is instantaneous; the results are eternal."

Monday, January 16, 2012

Feeding sheep or amusing goats



photo by Lee Kindness


Frank Gouchnour's comments;
There is an idea that is gaining more and more acceptance among Churches, even among old line fundamental denominations. That is the concept  that we should compete with the vast entertainment industry dominated by evil influences and worldliness for the attention of the lost we are trying to reach. In other words do the song and dance and and peanuts and popcorn and lure the reluctant sinners into the church building in order to slip the Gospel in. I think this dishonors God and casts dispersions on the power of the ungarnished Word to do the job. That same idea is what is destroying our educational system. Teachers seldom teach anymore. They just put on videos and let the kids absorb education by proxy through the computer games. This method fails to build discipline or good study habits. I believe that one result is that the attention span of the average kid is getting shorter and is contributing to ADD. Many of the churches are following suit by expanding the "worship" service using  rock bands and by lessening the doctrinal content and length of the teaching.  We may get more people in but are they the fruit of the Gospel or are they just enjoying the free food and entertainment?
In the parable of the sower Jesus taught about the seed that fell in among the thorns and the word was choked by the weeds. One of the weeds that was doing the choking in this parable was "pleasures of this life"

Luk_8:14  And that which fell among thorns are they, which, when they have heard, go forth, and are choked with cares and riches and pleasures of this life, and bring no fruit to perfection.

 So the message we are sending when we use worldly methods to try to gain spiritual results is that  the sinner doesn't have to become a "disciple" or disciplined believer or even do without his addiction to entertainment not even for an hour. 

Tuesday, January 10, 2012

Why the Apocrypha Isn't in the Bible.

Click on the following link for a good explanation of why we do not include the Apocrypha as part of Scripture.
http://www.jesus-is-lord.com/apocryph.htm

Monday, January 9, 2012

A new little lamb


Bentley Wade Brush arrived last week! Mom, Dad and baby are fine. Thank you Lord!