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Definition: 1. strange; odd.  2. uncommon; unusual:  3. distinctive in nature or character from others.  4. belonging characteristically (peculiar group of people).  5. belonging exclusively to some person, group, or thing.

The redheaded Grace Hester Gilbert was born on February 2nd in 1876 on a small farm near Nettle Lake, Ohio. She was the youngest of four children and the only one in the family to be born covered in a layer of silken hair. By the time she was 18 she was being exhibited full-time as a bearded lady.

 She signed her first contract with Ringling Bros. Circus in 1901. At the time her beard measured more than 18 inches in length, which was several inches longer than her closest rival and longer than the known record. Before long, Barnum and Baily stole Grace Gilbert away from Ringling Bros to replace the deceased Annie Jones and the arrangement proved to be lucrative.

http://www.thehumanmarvels.com

I would say that Grace Hester Gilbert was peculiar!

In this study, we will continue to explore God’s people as being “peculiar” in this sinful world.  What does it mean to you to be peculiar?  We will look at standing out as a people of God and how it relates to evangelism.

Deuteronomy 14:2; “For thou art an holy people unto the LORD thy God, and the LORD hath chosen thee to be a peculiar people unto himself, above all the nations that are upon the earth.”

Titus 2:14; “Who gave himself for us, that he might redeem us from all iniquity, and purify unto himself a peculiar people, zealous of good works.”

1 Peter 2:9; “But ye are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, an holy nation, a peculiar people; that ye should shew forth the praises of him who hath called you out of darkness into his marvellous light.”

God identifies His own people as a “peculiar people”, but what does this mean? In both the Old and New Testaments of the Bible they mean, “that which is one’s own, belonging to one’s possessions; a people selected by God from the other nations for His own possession”.

It is a struggle to comprehend this.  “A holy people.”  “Above all nations.”  “Zealous of good works.” “A royal priesthood.”

We live in a world which thinks that the Bible changes with the times. God expects less of us in the New Testament and is much kinder.  God says in Malachi 3:6, “For I am the LORD, I change not …”.

God is the same today as at any other time.  His intent has not changed and His purpose for His people has not changed. It is up to us to make sure we truly understand exactly what our Lord is saying in any given part of His Word. I do need to make clear that if you are not a child of God, you cannot understand His Word since it is foolishness to you, but the Holy Spirit does reveal His Word to those who are truly His children.

1 Corinthians 1:18; “For the preaching of the cross is to them that perish foolishness; but unto us which are saved it is the power of God.”

1 Corinthians 2:10; “But God hath revealed them unto us by his Spirit: for the Spirit searcheth all things, yea, the deep things of God.”

Proverbs1:2-7; “To know wisdom and instruction; to perceive the words of understanding;  To receive the instruction of wisdom, justice, and judgment, and equity;  To give subtilty to the simple, to the young man knowledge and discretion.  A wise man will hear, and will increase learning; and a man of understanding shall attain unto wise counsels:  To understand a proverb, and the interpretation; the words of the wise, and their dark sayings.  The fear of the LORD is the beginning of knowledge: but fools despise wisdom and instruction.

Therefore we still as Christians must study God’s word before the Holy Spirit can reveal what He wants us to know and do.

2 Timothy 2:15; “Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.”

The idea was that the people of God would be a peculiar people, a royal priesthood.  Imagine a nation of priests going into all the other nations teaching and spreading the gospel.  That is a powerful picture.

Being Peculiar, means standing out as different.

Being different will mean persecution.  It is no wonder that many of us from time to time are far from peculiar and fit right in with the world.

Titus 2

“But speak thou the things which become sound doctrine:  That the aged men be sober, grave, temperate, sound in faith, in charity, in patience.  The aged women likewise, that they be in behaviour as becometh holiness, not false accusers, not given to much wine, teachers of good things;  That they may teach the young women to be sober, to love their husbands, to love their children,  To be discreet, chaste, keepers at home, good, obedient to their own husbands, that the word of God be not blasphemed.”

6 “Young men likewise exhort to be sober minded.  In all things shewing thyself a pattern of good works: in doctrine shewing uncorruptness, gravity, sincerity,  Sound speech, that cannot be condemned; that he that is of the contrary part may be ashamed, having no evil thing to say of you.  Exhort servants to be obedient unto their own masters, and to please them well in all things; not answering again;  Not purloining, but shewing all good fidelity; that they may adorn the doctrine of God our Saviour in all things.”

11 “For the grace of God that bringeth salvation hath appeared to all men,  Teaching us that, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly, in this present world;  Looking for that blessed hope, and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ;  Who gave himself for us, that he might redeem us from all iniquity, and purify unto himself a peculiar people, zealous of good works.”

To the world, some of these things seems strange and not politically correct.

John 15:14, “Ye are my friends, if ye do whatsoever I command you.”

There is a selfish element that must die to be called the children of God.

What other things can you think of that sounds crazy to the non-Christian?

Matthew 5:39-45; “39 But I say unto you, That ye resist not evil: but whosoever shall smite thee on thy right cheek, turn to him the other also.  And if any man will sue thee at the law, and take away thy coat, let him have thy cloke also.  And whosoever shall compel thee to go a mile, go with him twain.  Give to him that asketh thee, and from him that would borrow of thee turn not thou away.

43 Ye have heard that it hath been said, Thou shalt love thy neighbour, and hate thine enemy.  But I say unto you, Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you;  That ye may be the children of your Father which is in heaven: for he maketh his sun to rise on the evil and on the good, and sendeth rain on the just and on the unjust.

Turn the other cheek?  Give my cloak also?  These are hard things to hear and understand.  The Bible says to love your enemies.  Is this possible?  It is not only possible, but it is a requirement.  “..pray for them that despitefully use you; that ye may be the children of your Father which is in heaven.”  In other words, for you to be a child of God, you are required to love your enemies, turn the other cheek and give your cloak also.

What else does the Bible command of God’s people that would make them peculiar?

What about Exodus 20:8-11; “8 Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy.  Six days shalt thou labour, and do all thy work:  But the seventh day is the Sabbath of the LORD thy God: in it thou shalt not do any work, thou, nor thy son, nor thy daughter, thy manservant, nor thy maidservant, nor thy cattle, nor thy stranger that is within thy gates:  For in six days the LORD made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them is, and rested the seventh day: wherefore the LORD blessed the Sabbath day, and hallowed it.  (Also read Hebrews 4:1-14)

Or even Exodus 20:16-17; “16 Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbor.

17 Thou shalt not covet thy neighbor’s house, thou shalt not covet thy neighbor’s wife, nor his manservant, nor his maidservant, nor his ox, nor his ass, nor any thing that is thy neighbor’s.

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Consider the story of Jonah.  This is an interesting story of a servant of God, a prophet who was sent on a mission.  God’s only requirement was obedience.  God never changes.  Moses, Elijah, the disciples, you and me.  God wants a peculiar people that obey Him and put Him first.

In our day to day lives, do we ask what Gods wants us to do today?  Do we daily study His word? Do we ask God to allow us to be a blessing to someone today?  Do we ask that His Holy Spirit would guide us in all things so that we stand out as His!  Obedient!  Obedience is foolishness to the world but precious in His sight.  John 14:15, “If you love me, keep my commandments.”  Or, If you love me, be obedient to what ever I command you.

1 Corinthians 7:22-23; “For he that is called in the Lord, being a servant, is the Lord’s freeman: likewise also he that is called, being free, is Christ’s servant.  Ye are bought with a price; be not ye the servants of men.

Matthew 6:31-33; “Therefore take no thought, saying, What shall we eat? or, What shall we drink? or, Wherewithal shall we be clothed?  (For after all these things do the Gentiles seek:) for your heavenly Father knoweth that ye have need of all these things.  But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you.

How can this be lived practically?  Even Elijah took matters into his own hands and fled, hiding in a cave after God demonstrated His mighty work before him at Mount Carmel.  The temptation is there to rely on our own understanding.   How can we practically seek the kingdom of Heaven and TRUST that everything else will be supplied?  What does it even mean?  Peculiar is one thing, but is this just plain dangerous!  Also, how could this faith and dependence on God, and this obedience to His will impact those around you day to day?  What encouragement might this give them?

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Jesus wants an obedient people.  John 14:15, “if you love me, keep my commandments.”

John 15:10, “If ye keep my commandments, ye shall abide in my love; even as I have kept my Father’s commandments, and abide in his love.”

John 14:21, “He that hath my commandments, and keepeth them, he it is that loveth me: and he that loveth me shall be loved of my Father, and I will love him, and will manifest myself to him.”

Hebrews 4:9-11, “So then, there remains a Sabbath rest for the people of God, for whoever has entered God’s rest has also rested from his works as God did from his. Let us therefore strive to enter that rest, so that no one may fall by the same sort of disobedience.”

1 John 2:3-5, “And hereby we do know that we know him, if we keep his commandments.  He that saith, I know him, and keepeth not his commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him.  But whoso keepeth his word, in him verily is the love of God perfected: hereby know we that we are in him.”

Let us strive to know God.  To really know God is to love Him.  and if we love Him, we must do whatever He commands us to do.  This includes teaching others about Him, sharing His word with those around you, for instruction, or reproof, or comfort or encouragement.   This may not be popular.  It may make you a minority of religious people.  It will make you peculiar and bring upon you persecution.  He has done it all for us; we just have to be obedient to His will.

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The post Evangelism – In But Not Of appeared first on The Balanced Life: Bible Study and Christian Bible Discussion.

Reaching Out

Matthew 4:19: “And he saith unto them, Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men.”

This was Jesus as He walked by the sea of Galilee, seeing two brethren, Simon called Peter, and Andrew his brother, casting a net into the sea: for they were fishermen.

Once Jesus had taught His disciples for three and a half years, after His death and His resurrection, He gave the great commission.

Matthew 28:18-20, “And Jesus came and spake unto them, saying, All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth.  Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost:  Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and, lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world. Amen.

(See also Mark 16:15 – 18 and Luke 24:47)

This 3 part series on personal evangelism will explore what it is, why we do it and ideas on how we do it.  Tonight we will explore the great commission itself and what it means for us today.

When we think of evangelism, often we think of going door to door dropping information or camp meetings, or smartly dressed people, usually in twos approaching others in the mall or on the street.

Evangelism is the preaching of the gospel or the practice of giving information about a particular doctrine or set of beliefs to others with the intention of converting others to the Christian faith. – Wikipedia

Websters Dictionary: Evangelism – the winning or revival of personal commitments to Christ.

In general, the Gospel or ‘good news’ is a message revealing why God created mankind back in the Garden of Eden. Man’s destiny, if he is willing to accept it, is to live forever and have a relationship with God as a member of his family, with the same perfect, sinless character as He possesses. The means of accomplishing this awesome goal is through the life, ministry, death and resurrection of Jesus, who is mankind’s one and only Savior and the ONLY means by which humans can have a close relationship with the Father.

The Gospel contains not only information ABOUT Jesus but also concerns the great and wonderful message he brought regarding the coming Kingdom of God on earth. It includes a call to repent of sin, to accept Christ’s sacrifice for the forgiveness of those sins, to go under the waters of baptism and receive God’s Spirit, and to live a life of obedience to God’s laws, ways and will. – biblestudy.org

The time comes for everyone when they realize that life on this earth is not forever.  The life we observe around us is full of dangers that can take you out in a moment.  But if you are fortunate not to die from accident, disease, or violence, you will definitely die of old age.  This is what we observe every day, whether of people we know or things we see and read on the news.  As they say, “there are two certainties in life, death and taxes.”  Notice they don’t say “happiness.”

Every day as far as you can remember you interacted with those around you in darkness.  Some grew up in the church but weren’t fully aware, and others came to a knowledge of the truth later in their teens, or even later.  But once we come to a knowledge of God, things change.

1 Corinthians 6:9-11, “Know ye not that the unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom of God? Be not deceived: neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor abusers of themselves with mankind, Nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners, shall inherit the kingdom of God.  And such were some of you: but ye are washed, but ye are sanctified, but ye are justified in the name of the Lord Jesus, and by the Spirit of our God.”

There was a time when we were all walking in darkness, some unaware and some aware.  But when we come to Him, we are washed, sanctified, justified in Jesus though the Spirit.

We are talking evangelism, reaching out to a sin-darkened world.

1 Peter 2:9-10, “But ye are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, an holy nation, a peculiar people; that ye should shew forth the praises of him who hath called you out of darkness into his marvellous light:  Which in time past were not a people, but are now the people of God: which had not obtained mercy, but now have obtained mercy.”

When we were called out of darkness, the Bible says that we are to declare praises of God.  A priesthood, a nation of evangelists spreading the Gospel to those that do not yet have it.

But how do we do this?

When I was younger, I believed that evangelists were people you would see standing in front of hundreds if not thousands, preaching and teaching the Kingdom of Heaven and the love of Jesus.  And yes, some are preachers.

Ephesians 4:11-12, “And He gave some, apostles; and some, prophets; and some, evangelists; and some, pastors and teachers;  For the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ.”

Now that is clear.  We all have a work to do, and all work together for the edifying of the body of Christ.

To bring it down into simple terms, teaching is as simple as allowing your life to be a testimony to others of God’s will being lived out in you.  Living according to God’s will is going to make you a peculiar person.

Teaching can be as simple as declaring God’s goodness in your life, His mercies, protection, His answers to your prayers, His life changing power!

Here is a funny example.  Someone you know approaches you at church and asks how your week was and you reply, “What a wonderful week, God has blessed me in so many ways.  I am so thankful.”  Yet that same person a few days later at work has a friend ask the same question, “Hey, how was your week?”  And the reply is “What an awesome week, thank you for asking!”  Declaring God and His goodness to the believers and omitting God in conversation with non-believers does no one any good.

If you are taking part in this short series on evangelism, it may mean that you recognize that every person you know, drive by, buy from or sell to, stand behind or sit next to and every person in your family, is part of this great war or struggle for the hearts and loyalty of man.  This is sobering.  When you interact with people, how can you not want to share what you know?  How can you, walking in light, passively watch while friends and family are consumed by darkness of this world?

Ecclesiastes 12:13, “Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter: Fear God, and keep his commandments: for this is the whole duty of man.”

John 14:15, “If you love me, keep my commandments.”  1 John 5:2-3, “By this we know that we love the children of God, when we love God, and keep his commandments.  For this is the love of God, that we keep his commandments: and his commandments are not grievous.”

John 13:34-35 “A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.”

Because we love God, because we are led by the Spirit of God, because we are obedient to the will of God we live our lives demonstrating the love of God to our friends, family and neighbors.  If God’s will is that no-one perish but have everlasting life, then it should be demonstrated in our lives.  Imagine all your friends, family and neighbors having a saving relationship with God through Jesus.

Romans 10:13-15, “For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. How 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?  And how shall they preach, except they be sent? as it is written, How beautiful are the feet of them that preach the gospel of peace, and bring glad tidings of good things!”

Let our lives and our witness be the proof of the love of God and His power to transform sinners bringing us out of darkness into His marvelous light.

Ivan S.

The post Evangelism – Reaching Out appeared first on The Balanced Life: Bible Study and Christian Bible Discussion.