How can I overcome being nervous about talking about the Bible?

How can I overcome being nervous about witnessing?

Unfortunately, many face nervousness when seeking to witness for the Lord. Feelings of inadequacy, a lack of Bible knowledge, and the fear of man can hinder some from sharing the gospel in a calm and collected manner.

Keeping three things in mind helps overcome this difficulty: 1. All without Christ are lost and in danger of perishing eternally; therefore view people with compassion as did the Lord, seeing them as sheep having no shepherd (Matthew 9:36); 2." TARGET="_blank">Matthew 9:36); 2. Interest individuals in God's Word and make the Bible the basis of your beliefs and discussion (1 Peter 3:15); 3." TARGET="_blank">1 Peter 3:15); 3. Rely on the Holy Spirit to work through you as you share the greatest message in the world (Acts 1:8)." TARGET="_blank">Acts 1:8).

The Scriptures illustrate many interesting ways to initiate conversations about spiritual things. The Lord spoke about the new birth after Nicodemus opened the door by mentioning miracles (John 3)." TARGET="_blank">John 3). In the next chapter with the woman at the well, the Lord used the subject of water to lead into a conversation about true satisfaction.

Be constantly alert for openings to speak for Christ and do it in His strength (Philippians 4:13)." TARGET="_blank">Philippians 4:13).

B. Funston

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What is demon possession?

Demon possession is the act of a demon, a fallen angel, an agent of Satan, moving into the body and mind of a human being.
Christ spoke of this type of possession in Matthew 12:44" TARGET="_blank">Matthew 12:44 and Luke 11:25" TARGET="_blank">Luke 11:25…

Matthew 12:43-45" TARGET="_blank">Matthew 12:43-45 When the unclean spirit is gone out of a man, he walketh through dry places, seeking rest, and findeth none. (44) Then he saith, I will return into my house from whence I came out; and when he is come, he findeth it empty, swept, and garnished. (45) Then goeth he, and taketh with himself seven other spirits more wicked than himself, and they enter in and dwell there: and the last state of that man is worse than the first. Even so shall it be also unto this wicked generation.

Christ was correcting a problem with empty religion of the Pharisees. A person who is under the control of Satan is described in Ephesians 2:1-2" TARGET="_blank">Ephesians 2:1-2 as someone following the course of this world - unbridled sinful living, ungodly thinking, lust-filled passions, no limits, sensual, greedy, animal-like, selfish passion.

Ephesians 2:1-2" TARGET="_blank">Ephesians 2:1-2 And you were dead in the trespasses and sins in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience--

Eventually, a person in this state may grow weary of this type of life and seek reformation and religion. But a man who is reformed, but not reborn (as in born again) is not truly a Christian. The key phrase in this passage is verse 44 "unoccupied". The Holy Spirit is not a resident in his heart. He is therefore eventually going to return to his Satanic-driven lifestyle and be even more enslaved to his habits.

Other Examples

There are a number of examples of people who were possessed by a demon, but none of them were believers. The demoniacs of Gadara (Matthew 8:28;" TARGET="_blank">Matthew 8:28; Mark 5:2)" TARGET="_blank">Mark 5:2) are them most startling examples of demon possession. These show us the extreme change that came upon them once Christ had driven the demons from them. These were not mere problems such as "demons of depression" or "demons of mental illness" or "demons of alcoholism", but true possession of a demonic spirit.

Demons may enter the body of an unbeliever and take control of his thoughts and emotions but the Christian is protected from Satan and his angels because he is indwelled by the Holy Spirit (1 John 4:4;" TARGET="_blank">1 John 4:4; Ephesians 1:13-14;" TARGET="_blank">Ephesians 1:13-14; Colossians 1:13-14)." TARGET="_blank">Colossians 1:13-14).

Shad David Sluiter

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How can I balance time for service and for communion?

How can I balance time for service and for communion?

In a busy world and with the multiplicity of needs among believers and unbelievers, time for communion so often suffers. The initial question of Saul, a new convert, was "What shall I do, Lord?" (Acts 22:10)." TARGET="_blank">Acts 22:10). Servants look to their master for direction in their service (Psalm 123:2)." TARGET="_blank">Psalm 123:2). Their duty is defined by his word (Luke 17:7-10)." TARGET="_blank">Luke 17:7-10). So, while service for the Lord may beckon us to respond to a thousand needs, the only service of value is what the Master directs us to do. If we are too busy to commune with Him, we must be doing service He has not directed us to do. As Saul did directly to the Lord, so we must determine our service through prayer. We may see needs that others are not meeting, but that may not be the service the Lord has for us. We ought to pray about that need. Perhaps the Lord will show us that another believer is uniquely suited to meet that need. We can seek the Lord’s help to know how best to encourage that believer to do the work. Perhaps the Lord will do that Himself, use your word of encouragement, or even use you to do that work temporarily with that other believer who will then continue the work on his own. If serving the Lord leads to anxiety, frustration, worry, or spiritual decline, He did not impose that heavy burden, for he said, "My yoke is easy, and My burden is light" (Matthew 11:30)." TARGET="_blank">Matthew 11:30).

What the Lord gives us to do is our priority (John 21:21" TARGET="_blank">John 21:21 with vv 15-22). He desires us to commune with Him as Mary did and to serve as Martha did - but without being anxious and troubled. (Luke 10:38-42)." TARGET="_blank">Luke 10:38-42). Maintaining that order, communion and then service, is the key.

D. Oliver
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Was the deity of the Lord Jesus somehow limited in His humanity?

Was the deity of the Lord Jesus somehow limited in His humanity?

By definition, God is spirit (John 4:24," TARGET="_blank">John 4:24, ESV), infinite in His duration (Isa 57:15)," TARGET="_blank">Isa 57:15), ability (Luk 1:37)," TARGET="_blank">Luk 1:37), and attributes (1Jo 1:5)." TARGET="_blank">1Jo 1:5). Limited deity is an oxymoron. Being in one place and "becoming flesh" (Joh 1:14)" TARGET="_blank">Joh 1:14) did not limit His omniscience, omnipotence, or omnipresence; He was without beginning (Joh 1:1)" TARGET="_blank">Joh 1:1) or end (Heb 1:12)" TARGET="_blank">Heb 1:12) and He was holy (Luk 1:35)." TARGET="_blank">Luk 1:35). The Pharisees balked at His forgiving the paralyzed man (Mar 2:5)," TARGET="_blank">Mar 2:5), since only God has this power (v 7; Psa 130:4). The Lord Jesus had and has that power that belongs solely to God (Mar 2:10)." TARGET="_blank">Mar 2:10).

Nonetheless, His Father told Him what to say (Joh 12:49" TARGET="_blank">Joh 12:49b) and the very words He should speak (v 49c). The Father showed Him each act He did (5:19). These truths do not indicate that He was limited, but that He was subject to His Father. This affirms that the Father and Son have different roles in the Godhead. The Father directs and the Son carries out the direction, while the Spirit enables.

D. Oliver
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A Christian friend is "claiming her boys for Christ," even if the rapture occurs. Is this sound?

A Christian friend is "claiming her boys for Christ," even if the rapture occurs. Is this sound?

What Christian mother would not have a burden for her unbelieving sons, especially if they are young men? Saying anything to discourage this mother would be unkind. Pointing out a couple of problems in this sister’s thinking might help others, however.

The first is a matter that has appeared in these columns previously. Those who, during the tribulation, have "received not the love of the truth, that they might be saved" will be damned (2 Thessalonians 2:10," TARGET="_blank">2 Thessalonians 2:10, 12a). They did not believe the truth, but had pleasure in unrighteousness (v 12). By the middle of the seven year period, these will have had sufficient truth that they could have been saved, but they chose not to believe that truth. The result is a judgement assigned by God that, although they are still living, they will be deceived and subsequently damned. They will see the fulfillment of God’s Word in "the abomination of desolation" (Matthew 24:15)" TARGET="_blank">Matthew 24:15) and their doom will be sealed.

If during this period God will so severely judge these who have had 42 months of privilege, what makes us think that He will treat those with greater privilege (and have seen His Word fulfilled in the Rapture) differently? Those who know the gospel clearly in this age will have had clearer light, personal testimony urging them to accept salvation, and closer dealings of the Spirit with their conscience. Knowing the enmity of the human heart (Rom 8:7)" TARGET="_blank">Rom 8:7) and the wilfulness of those who resist the gospel (John 3:36" TARGET="_blank">John 3:36b), we should expect that God will deal as severely with the privileged who enter that seven year period as He will with the less privileged 42 months later. In light of this, I judge it to be a cruel unkindness to give anyone who knows the gospel message any hope that he can be saved after the Rapture.

The second concern is equally sensitive. "Claiming our children for Christ" because we have prayed for them could be sound. This could be a statement of confidence in God, knowing that He is kind (Luke 6:35)," TARGET="_blank">Luke 6:35), shares our concerns (1 Peter 5:7)," TARGET="_blank">1 Peter 5:7), and loves to answer prayer (Psalm 65:2)." TARGET="_blank">Psalm 65:2). This is proper and grows out of a vibrant relationship with our Father. Such a statement of trust does not, however, obligate our Father to do what we have asked; it is a matter of trusting Him.

On the other hand, if the statement amounts to a bargain with God, it is seriously misguided. If something a believer does places God under obligation or makes his children more "savable," will that child be saved by grace or by his parents’ works?

Praying fervently (James 5:16)" TARGET="_blank">James 5:16) and urgently for his children’s salvation is becoming for a Christian parent. Anything less would seem uninformed. At the same time, humble confidence in God is always sound.

David Oliver
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Can a person be put away for "domestic railing"?

Can a person be put away for "domestic railing"?

It seems highly unlikely that railing against a child would require excommunication. Spousal railing that requires excommunication would be an extreme, but possible case. If all else fails, it may be necessary, but "the more excellent way" would be to deal with the problem at its roots. As frustrating as godly teachers and guides may find it, their spiritual intervention is a first responsibility. The grace that brought salvation to all men taught Cretans to live above their native culture (Titus 2:11, 12)." TARGET="_blank">Titus 2:11, 12). Hours of opening the Scriptures in the home, applying the lessons of grace, and being physically present will have a preventative affect on patterns of verbal and physical abuse. Better than that, as this promotes a believer’s ever-so-gradual growth in grace, the transforming power of the indwelling Spirit changes hearts and homes. The behavior patterns that come from being abused or from abusive models and years of captivity to sin don’t all vanish at conversion or in the first year after. The Lord has brought the "half-dead" to the assembly to receive care (Luke 10:34, 35;" TARGET="_blank">Luke 10:34, 35; 1 Tim. 3:5)." TARGET="_blank">1 Tim. 3:5). How much better when healthful words (Titus 2:1)" TARGET="_blank">Titus 2:1) nurse them to abundant life within the assembly, rather than having to carry their sick bed back out to the side of the road where they (and we) once were!

D. Oliver
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How could Jephthah give his daughter as an offering?

Please explain Judges 11:31" TARGET="_blank">Judges 11:31: “Shall surely be the Lord’s, and I will offer it up for a burnt offering.”

We know the story of Jephthah’s vow. It has been the subject of much heart searching and enquiry. Certainly there is something mysterious about it as it stands. Was Jephthah’s daughter really offered up as a burnt offering? This has been taken for granted and the story has been quoted to show the low morality of the times and the general need of humanity for the blessings of further “evolution” in their religious beliefs and practices! That the daughter was ever offered up as a burnt offering, however, can be proved neither by the story nor the morality of the times, but only that she bewailed her virginity. That is, she is supposed to have been thinking of this,when she might well have been thinking of losing her life. It would be like a convict about to lose his head, bewailing that they had cut his hair too close. I think the morality of Jephthah and his fellow-Israelites would probably compare very favourably with that of London or any other great modern city, and would certainly be better than that of some of the evolutionary, modernistic teachers, who while accepting a salary to preach what at the most solemn moment of their lives, they declared they unfeignedly believed, are now using their influence to undermine—the foundation truths of Creation, the Fall, Atonement, the true Deity of Christ, etc. All that we learn is that Jephthah is said to have met his daughter, and to have exclaimed: “I have been brought very low.” This was because she was his only child and therefore the only one by whom his name could be preserved. No doubt he was deeply moved: “I have opened my mouth unto the Lord and I cannot go back,” and the daughter, a true woman of faith, accepts the situation, and only asks that she may be allowed two months that she may go up and down and bewail—her life? No, again, her virginity. She returns at the end of the time, and “her father did with her according to his vow which he had vowed,” with what result? that she had died bravely and was buried? No, again we say, but that she never entered the married state. One would think this an unnecessary piece of information, if, in fact, she had been burnt alive, as some would have us believe. I will give one or two further reasons for believing that this is not the true meaning. (i) Human sacrifices were abhorrent to God’s mind. As for passing children through the fire in his honour, it was absolutely foreign to His intention. Jehovah’s words of this very thing are, “I commanded them not, neither came into My mind that they should do this abomination, to cause Judah to sin” (see Jeremiah 32:35," TARGET="_blank">Jeremiah 32:35, also Ezekiel 16:20, 21;" TARGET="_blank">Ezekiel 16:20, 21; Ezekiel 20:26," TARGET="_blank">Ezekiel 20:26, 3:). Can we suppose this man of God to do “such a thing”? (2) For Jephthah was, we see, a man of God, by verse i i, and also by the character of his remonstrance to the king of Animon. His name, too, occurs among the heroes of faith of Heb. ii. () It is distinctly said that “the Spirit of God came upon him” before this incident. Can we then suppose he would have been permitted to sacrifice his daughter in the way supposed, entirely out of harmony with the will of God? (ii.) I think the true solution is found in the margin of our Bibles, “Shall surely be the Lord’s, OR I will offer it up for a burnt offering.” Had it been his dog or other unclean animal, how could he have offered it up as a burnt offering? No, but he might have sold it and given the price to the Lord. This marginal reading is borne out by the disjunctive use of Waw (“and”) in Hebrew, which also has the force of “OR,” as in Exodus 21:6" TARGET="_blank">Exodus 21:6 (“selleth him, OR if he be found in his hand”), Ex. 21." TARGET="_blank">Ex. 21. 17 (“father OR mother”), Deuteronomy 24" TARGET="_blank">Deuteronomy 24: 7 (“maketh merchandise of him, OR selleth him”); and of “WHETHER R,” as in Ex. 21." TARGET="_blank">Ex. 21. 31 (“WHETHER he have gored a son, OR have gored a daughter”). In all these passages, “and” would be out of place. It would seem clear that in Jephthah’s intention, to be “the Lord’s”, entailed a life of celibacy. There may have been some such custom current, to judge from this passage, though we know not of any command to confirm it. It is interesting to note the marginal reading of “lament” in the last verse of the chapter—”talk with”—the same verb, ”tinneh” which is translated “rehearse” in Judges 5:11" TARGET="_blank">Judges 5:11

W.H.

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In what ways can elders help develop others

In what ways can elders help develop others’ gift in preaching the gospel?

God intends an assembly to be the garden where gift develops. Elders are responsible for this (1 Timothy 4:14)." TARGET="_blank">1 Timothy 4:14). Sunday night gospel meetings are not the place to begin developing gospel gift. A healthy assembly will have a variety of scriptural gospel activities involving younger believers (1 Thessalonians 1:8)." TARGET="_blank">1 Thessalonians 1:8).

One of the most important helps in preaching is personal witnessing. This teaches a person what truth to present and how to present it effectively. Helping in a Sunday School class or in children’s meetings by teaching children verses or telling a brief Bible story with a simple application is good training. Holding the attention of children during a lesson develops gift. Accompanying a trusted, experienced brother as he presents the gospel in a home visit is valuable. To reach into neighboring communities with the gospel, elders can encourage younger believers to help older workers (Acts 20:4)" TARGET="_blank">Acts 20:4) or to initiate children’s meetings or gospel meetings in rented buildings.

D. Oliver
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Did God die on the cross?

DID GOD DIE?

Is it wrong to assert that God died on the cross? If so, we must revise some of our hymns, e.g.,

“Save in the cross of Christ, my God,” and “When Christ, the Mighty Maker, dies.”

It is quite possible that some of our hymns (though not perhaps above) need revising; at best they are human compositions, but let it be done by those capable for such work. Not every amateur possesses the poetic gift. Better leave out a hymn, than maul it. Certainly it is quite unscriptural to say that “God died on the cross,” for “God only hath immortality,” and as such of course cannot die, but this does not imply that the One who hung upon the cross was not God, for He was, and Thomas was perfectly right when he exclaimed later, “My Lord and my God.”

Perhaps an illustration will make the matter plainer. We read twice in Psalm 121" TARGET="_blank">Psalm 121 that “Jehovah slumbers not nor sleeps.” Are we then to assert when we read in Mark 4" TARGET="_blank">Mark 4: 38 of our Lord that “He was asleep on a pillow,” that God was asleep, or that He who was asleep was not God? Neither the one nor the other, for both assertions would be false. Hebrews 2:14" TARGET="_blank">Hebrews 2:14 teaches that He who in chapter 1 is spoken of as the Son, the Heir of all things, the Creator and Sustainer of all things, and Who as such possessed Immortality, and was therefore immune from death, did Himself in order to purge our sins “take part of flesh and blood, that through death, etc.” He did not cease to be what He was before; but He became flesh, and so far capable of death, though never subject to death, as we are.

W.H.

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Must sisters cover their heads at weddings and funerals?

Must sisters cover their heads at weddings and funerals?

No. The Scriptures teach that "cultural head coverings" are part of the testimony when the assembly comes together. Weddings and funerals are not assembly meetings. If a sister chooses to wear a hat, it is unbecoming for any believers to belittle her for her ostensible failure to grasp that this occasion is not an assembly gathering. Nor is the sister who wears this covering indicating that, because of this, she is more spiritual than those who choose not to wear a head covering.

A case can be made that it is advisable for sisters to wear head coverings because the reading of and speaking from the Word of God at these social occasions is related to the assembly’s testimony. Also, a sister may see the value of letting others who do not attend the assembly gatherings know that the assembly still carries out the Bible’s teaching about head coverings, although many other congregations have discontinued that practice. On the other hand, some make the case that sisters with their head coverings unnecessarily alienate unbelievers by making them feel uncomfortable. In either case, the choice is personal. A sister may make either choice with the purpose of honoring the Lord. Romans 14:6" TARGET="_blank">Romans 14:6 is relevant to this issue.

D. Oliver
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