E-pistle for May 2, 2008
Posted by: info <info@...>
E-pistle
Dr. Dan Hite, President FreeWay Foundation May 2, 2008
An Anointing From The Holy One
(I John 2:1-29)
Dr. Curt Scarborough
I. Concentration: on persons who received God's "anointing"
1. In the Old Testament, priests were anointed (Aaron, Exodus 40:13).
2. In the Old Testament, kings were anointed (Saul, I Samuel 15:1).
3. In the Old Testament, prophets were anointed (Elisha, I Kings 19:16).
4. In the New Testament, Jesus bore the title of the "Anointed One" . . .
Messiah . . . the Christ. (See Luke 4:18; Matthew 16:16). He fulfilled
the Old Testament types by becoming our Prophet, Priest, and King!
II. Meditation: on what the "anointing" represented
"You have an anointing from the Holy One, and you know all things."
1. The anointing (oil) symbolized the pouring out of the Holy Spirit upon a person
who was chosen by God's sovereign will.
2. The anointing symbolized the setting aside of a particular person for a specific
ministry or office.
3. The anointing symbolized the endowment of supernatural power for effective,
God-honoring service.
4. The anointing symbolized the working of the Holy Spirit within a believer, guiding,
convicting, comforting, and teaching, John 16:13.
III. Revelation: on a believer's "anointing"
"The anointing which you have received from Him abides in you, and you do
not need that anyone teach you; but as the same anointing teaches you
concerning all things, and is true, and not a lie, and just as it has taught you,
you will abide in Him," v. 27.
1. The anointing is the gift of the Holy Spirit received from God the Father.
2. The anointing is the Master Teacher, Who is the revealer of all spiritual things.
3. The anointing gives us spiritual perception, so that we are able to distinguish
between truth and lies.
4. The anointing not only teaches believers, but He (the Holy Spirit) also indwells
all Christians . . . Jesus Christ, the Son of God "abides" within us, John 15:4-10.
IV. Applications: as a Christian, I need to . . .
1. Rejoice that I am a chosen person, according to God's plan and purpose.
2. Realize that the Holy Spirit brings me divine power for effective service.
3. Recognize that the Holy Spirit is available as my "private tutor," if I allow Him
to teach me God's word and ways.
4. Receive the "Anointed One" into my personal, devotional life . . . allowing Him to
"abide" in me, as I "abide" in Him.
False Prophets and False Teachers
(II Peter 2:1-22)
Dr. Curt Scarborough
I. Concentration: on false prophets and teachers
1. They are part of the local church congregation, v. 1.
2. They secretly bring in destructive heresies, v. 1.
3. They deny the Lord and blaspheme the truth, vv. 1-2.
4. Out of covetousness, they exploit the believers, v. 3.
II. Meditation: on the future of these false prophets and teachers
1. They will be cast down into hell with the fallen angels, v. 4.
2. They will be delivered into chains of darkness, reserved for judgment, v. 4.
3. They will be punished as the people who were drowned in the flood of
Noah's day, v. 5.
4. They will be punished as the people who were burned with fire from
heaven in Lot's day (Sodom and Gomorrah), vv. 6-8.
III. Revelatlion: on God's view of false prophets and teachers
1. God sees them as unclean, rebellious, presumptuous, self-willed, arrogant
fools, vv. 9-10.
2. God sees them as brute animals who will be caught and destroyed, v. 12.
3. God sees them as persons whose evil work will pay them the wages of sin . . .
death, v. 13.
4. God sees them as totally ignorant of spiritual things, on their way toward utterly
perishing in their own corruption, v. 12.
5. God sees them as pleasure-mad carousers, full of adulteries and covetousness . . .
"accursed children," vv. 13-14.
6. God sees them as Balaam, a prophet who prophesied for money, vv. 15-16.
7. God sees them as wells without water, as clouds without rain . . . promising life
and refreshing, but giving neither, v. 17.
8. God sees them as speakers of emptiness (wind-bags) . . . promising spiritual
liberty but producing slavery to corruption, vv. 18-19.
9. God sees them as back-sliders whose end condition is worse than their original
sinful state, vv. 20-21.
10. God sees them as dogs returning to their own vomit (consuming again what made
them sick); as pigs wallowing in the mud after getting a bath, v. 22.
IV. Applications: as a Christian, I need to . . .
1. Be alert and on guard against false teachers/teachings in my church.
2. Courageously affirm that "Jesus is Lord!" . . . that He IS the truth and that He
SPEAKS the truth.
3. Get God's perspective on persons who are hypocrites and who teach false doctrines
. . . that they are doomed, and that they need to come to Christ in repentance and
faith to receive salvation.
4. Make sure my personal motivations and spiritual fruits are worthy . . . that all I am
(and all I do) will bring honor and glory to the Lord.
The Courage To Speak UP
by: Harvey Mackay
A.G. Lafley, chairman and CEO of Procter & Gamble, says that his mother told him to exhibit
the courage of his convictions, encouraging him to have the confidence to be himself. Her advice
stayed with Lafley when he almost left P&G in his sixth year there, according to an article in Fortune
Magazine.
Lafley says that he accepted another job because he flet the bureaucracy of the company
was smothering him, and he didn't think the company would change quickly enough to keep him
satisfied. He submitted his resignation to his supervisor, Steve Donovan, who immediately tore it up.
Donovan told Lafley to leave and call him at home later in the evening. When the two talked,
Donovan told Lafley not to go to the office the following week but to come to see him each night at
his home. They'd discuss what Lafley had been going through. Donovan kept probing until he hit
the crux of the problem: that Lafley couldn't stand all the bureaucracy.
Donovan was direct. "You're running away," he said. "You don't have the guts to stay and
change it. You'll run from the next job, too."
Lafley said these words made him angry, so in order to prove that he was not running away,
he stayed. That inspired him to speak up whenever something didn't work. He says it was the
beginning of his realization that you have to make up your mind to speak up if you really want to
change things.
Mackay's Moral: If you don't speak up, prepare to put up!
-- To unsubscribe, send ANY message to: epistle2equip-unsubscribe@welovegod.org