“The Whole Counsel of God” - Author and Writer Ronald Nelson

BIBLE MEDITATION:

“For I have not shunned to declare to you the whole counsel of God. Acts 20:27; 

ENCOURAGING WORD:

In the Bible verse that I read above, the Apostle Paul is saying that He has studied and taught all the scriptures of God’s Word.  He is basically saying good bye to the disciples because He knows His time is at hand where He will be martyred for His faithfulness to Jesus Christ and he won't see the disciples anymore. He goes on to tell the disciples the following: We read where Jesus commissioned His disciples to go out into the world and preach the message of salivation; “  Mark 16:15; “ And He said to them, “Go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature. 

This is a message to all who believe in what the Bible teaches. We are all called to the great commission; however, how can you teach the Word of God when you haven’t even read the Bible for yourself. Listening to a pastor or a priest isn’t sharing the message of the gospel, it is listening to someone else’s interpretation of what they believe and that is a big gamble since your salvation is at stake here. If you follow Jesus, then you are basically a disciple and it is your responsibility to share the truth with all who will listen.      

Paul also went on the say to the disciples in; Acts 20:28; “Therefore take heed to yourselves and to all the flock, among which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers, to shepherd the church of God which He purchased with His own blood.”

Paul is leaving them with the message to teach through the scriptures from beginning to end. The great commission that Jesus also left with His disciples as we just read above.

Then He warned them about what would happen after his departure. Acts 20:29-30; “For I know this, that after my departure, savage wolves will come in among you, not sparing the flock. Also from among yourselves men will rise up, speaking perverse things, to draw away the disciples after themselves.”  

Since that day or shortly after, what Paul warned them about came to fruition quickly and is in full swing today. The Bible prophesied that in the end days savage wolves (False Teachers) would fall away from true doctrine and replace it with programs, fables and lying wonders. They are out there in masses and most of them are standing right in front of you at the pulpits of America today. But once again, you wouldn’t know if they are telling you the truth because you don’t know what the Bible teaches. How can you really know the truth if you haven’t read it for yourself. There is no excuse for that as you will find out when you stand before Jesus at the white throne judgment. If you neglect to read the Bible, then I would have to say, that you really are not a believer, if you were, you would want to know the absolute truth, but instead you are believing all the lies that are coming from the pulpits of America. 

I started this message this way so will understand the rest of this teaching. Let me continue by asking you this questions; How many churches do you know of that actually teach through the Bible. I can answer that question with extreme accuracy. I would be willing to say about 5% of Christian churches teach through the Bible chapter by chapter and verse by verse. So, right off the bat, they are misrepresenting the Word of God by not giving you the whole counsel of God. Every denomination teaches topical studies where they may pull a few verses out of the Bible, And then, in most cases they are taking those verses out of context as to what they truly mean.

Now jumping into the future where we now live, there are hundreds of denominational churches that all teach something different. There are arguments constantly defending their own doctrine, which in most cases is wrong on both sides. The main reason for this is because very few, if any, teach through the whole counsel of God. I even hear some people declare that the Bible is only 80% true, and then they even call themselves Christian. If you hold to that heresy you will be totally lost right from the beginning. If you believe that only 80% of the Bible is true, what 80% do you believe to be true. This is why there are so many different sects of Christianity, because every denomination picked what they wanted to believe to be true and ran with it and disregarded the rest. Then in the case of Catholicism and Lutheranism, they have added to Gods Word things that are not in the Bible. In other words, manmade doctrine.

Here what God says in the ending verses of Revelation that should make us wake up and take notice; Revelation 22:18-19; “For I testify to everyone who hears the words of the prophecy of this book: If anyone adds to these things, God will add to him the plagues that are written in this book; and if anyone takes away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God shall take away his part from the Book of Life, from the holy city, and from the things which are written in this book.”

I can guarantee that if you attend a denominational church, then you are guilty of the verses that I just read. The consequences are catastrophic of adding and taking away from scripture as far as your eternal destiny is concerned.

We read in; 2 Timothy 2:15 where it emphasizes the need for diligent study to rightly divide the word of truth. There are many verses throughout the scriptures that highlight the benefits of studying the whole Bible, such as gaining hope and comfort; Romans 15:4; and becoming wiser and more successful Joshua 1:8. 

Here are a few Verses on diligent study;

2 Timothy 2:15; “Be diligent to present yourself approved to God, a worker who does not need to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.”

The distinction in the prior verse presented here is very important.

2 Timothy 2:14; “Remind them of these things, charging them before the Lord not to strive about words to no profit, to the ruin of the hearers”.

Paul condemned pointless bickering. Here, he commends deeper study. Putting these two ideas together gives us an accurate picture of what Christian discernment is meant to look like. We need to study diligently, not only to defend the faith, but to know the difference between something worth battling over, and something which is just a distracting argument. By reading and studying the whole Bible with the Holy Spirit as your guide, there would be no arguments as to what is being taught.

(Side Note; if you are not born again into the Holy Spirit, then there is no way for you to discern the truth of the Scriptures) (The Holy Spirit inspired every Word in the Bible and only He can interpret it to you.) 

If you study the Bible without the Holy Spirit present in your heart, you will never understand the depth of what is truly being taught. You will end up interpreting it with your own understanding. And that is exactly what has happened to our churches today.

Here is a good time to quote the following Bible verse.

Proverbs 3:5-6;  which says, "Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding; In all your ways acknowledge Him, and He shall direct your paths" phrase "lean not on your own understanding.” 

It means to rely on God's wisdom rather than your own, as human understanding is limited and can lead you astray. If the message isn’t clear, and you try to interpret it, you will be wrong.

Here we read in the Psalms 119:9 explaining the only way to understanding Gods Word.  "How can a young man cleanse his way? By taking heed according to Your Word".

Psalm 119:9–16; This passage emphasizes how knowledge of Scripture helps a person maintain a pure, moral life. The psalmist commits himself to applying God's Word to life. This requires memorizing and careful study. These ideas parallel in the following verses;

1 Timothy 4:13–16;  ^“Till I come, give attention to reading, to exhortation, to doctrine.  Do not neglect the gift that is in you, which was given to you by prophecy with the laying on of the hands of the eldership.  Meditate on these things; give yourself entirely to them, that your progress may be evident to all. Take heed to yourself and to the doctrine. Continue in them, for in doing this you will save both yourself and those who hear you.” 

Joshua 1:7–8; “Only be strong and very courageous, that you may observe to do according to all the law which Moses My servant commanded you; do not turn from it to the right hand or to the left, that you may prosper wherever you go. This Book of the Law shall not depart from your mouth, but you shall meditate in it day and night, that you may observe to do according to all that is written in it. For then you will make your way prosperous, and then you will have good success.” 

Proverbs 1:4–5; “To give prudence to the simple, To the young man knowledge and discretion— A wise man will hear and increase learning, And a man of understanding will attain wise counsel,

The verses above emphasize the importance of understanding Gods Word. If you don’t read and understand Gods handbook, how can you call yourself a Christian. Could you call yourself a mathematician if you never studied math? Of course you couldn’t, in the same way, you can’t call yourself a Christian if you don’t know the Bible.

(Side note; you are not learning the truth in any man-made religion that has been concocted over the last few thousand centuries.) (Trusting in someone to teach you what they believe the Bible teaches is pure ignorance.)

If you are following any denominational church, then you are putting your salvation in the hands of man, not the Bible. It’s like playing Russian Roulette. You better hope that your pastor or priest is telling you absolute truth. Well, with that being said, I can tell you that they are not teaching you the true Word of God. But, you won’t know that unless you read the Bible for yourself. Here is thought for you to ponder. If you were told that you had one week to live and you had to read the Bible from now till then to e saved, I’ll bet most of you would do exactly that. Well, let me tell you this, you may have less than one week to live so you better act as if you would pass on tomorrow. Let me calrify thsi one thing, reading the Bible will not save you, There are millions of people that read the Bible and are not saved, because they did not submit their soul to Jesus Christ and become born again into the Holy Spirit. You need to put the horse before the carriage. Millions of people have died unexpectedly. They never knew what hit them, but I can guarantee, that most of them wish they would have prepared for their death, but now it is too late. I’m sure that those that ended up in Hades, would love to come back and warn their loved ones about what lies ahead if you are no saved. Do you want to be one of those that are in hades wishing they could reach the living, or do you want to be in heaven enjoying the rewards of serving Jesus.

On your own time, please read;  Luke 16:19-31. This story is a true encounter of such a situation. You have the choice.   

Proverbs 4:20-22; "My son, give attention to my words; Incline your ear to my sayings. Do not let them depart from your eyes; Keep them in the midst of your heart; For they are life to those who find them, And health to all their flesh". 

This passage is a father's instruction to his son to carefully listen to and internalize his words, because they provide life and health. Knowing the absolute truth makes living much easier when you know what truth is, otherwise, you wonder around aimlessly saying, “I don’t know, I don’t know”. When you stand before Jesus and you tell Him that you never knew the truth, that will not hold up in His court. Ignorance of the law will not hold up in Gods court any more that it will in our courts today.

Let me give you another example of what I am trying to get across. What if you had cancer, but your doctor didn’t want to tell you because he didn’t want to upset you. So, you trusted him with his diagnosis, and you died in a few weeks because of it. Well, I’m the doctor and I’m telling you that you have a terminal disease, it’s called S.I.N positive. There is a cure, but you have to receive it to be saved. Without this cure you will die and perish into everlasting torment in the “Lake of Burning Fire.” If you accept this cure, you will be forever in paradise with Jesus Christ. Here is the cure;

1 Corinthians 15:3-8; “For what I received I passed on to you as of first importance: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures,  and that he appeared to Cephas, and then to the Twelve. After that, he appeared to more than five hundred of the brothers and sisters at the same time, most of whom are still living, though some have fallen asleep. Then he appeared to James, then to all the apostles, and last of all he appeared to me (Paul) also, as to one abnormally born.”

If you truly believe this in your heart, and receive the Holy Spirit in your heart, then you are cured of S.I.N.  If you make this confession and truly mean it, your life should show it by how you live. But know this, good works will not save you, but when you make this confession of faith and mean it, good works will follow. So, make that choice today, tomorrow could be too late.

Verses on understanding the whole picture;

1 Corinthians 15:3-4: "For I delivered to you first of all that which I also received: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, and that He was buried, and that He rose again the third day according to the Scriptures".

Once again, When you understand the scriptures of the Bible, these two verses above will come alive in your heart and you will feel the joy that comes to those that love Jesus Christ and understand what He did for us. But this can only come by reading it for yourself. If you choose not to read the Bible, then you are forfeiting all that the Bible has to offer, what a shame. Jesus went through the worst possible death imaginable to save us from eternal dreath and if you reject what He did, you will regret it for all eternity. Jesus did this so you would not have to spend eternity in everlasting torment. He knows how bad hell is and He did what He had to do to keep us from going there. There is only one way and that is through the life, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ, but we have to believe it to be saved.

Romans 15:4; For whatever things were written before were written for our learning, that we through the patience and comfort of the Scriptures might have hope.”

This verse is clearly telling us that all things were written for our learning. You can choose to go through life blind and unaware of what lies ahead, or you can follow Gods plan for you by reading and following Gods plan of redemption. A lot of people ask, why did God put us here on earth. When He placed Adam and Eve in the garden of Eden, man was created in a perfect environment to serve God. If Man had not brought sin into our world, we would never have had to ask this question, because we would have all lived in Paradise and we would all know why we were created. Once sin entered into our world, all hell broke loose on earth and because of the fall of mankind, man has wondered why we are here. Now that sin has entered in, we all have one reason for being here on earth. That is to reconcile ourselves back to God through the life, death and resurrection of His Son, Jesus Christ. Outside of that, there is no hope and all who reject this truth will be placed in the Lake of Burning Fire for all eternity because God cannot, and will not allow sinful man to enter His kingdom. The sin that man brought into our world had to be dealt with before anybody could avoid the harsh truth of being separated from God for all eternity. Separation from God means all that is left is pure evil and that is where you will go if you reject God’s gift of grace. You can enjoy a perfect paradise in heaven or eternal damnation outside the presence of God forever. It will be more evil than anything that you ever see here on earth.

It is interesting that a much higher percentage of people believe in the existence of heaven than believe in the existence of hell. According to the Bible, hell is just as real as heaven. The Bible explicitly teaches that hell is a real place to which the wicked/unbelieving are sent after death. Jesus actually spoke more about hell than He did heaven. He does not want anybody to go there, so He gave us the choice. Believe and be saved or reject and be condemned. We have all sinned against God as we read in;

Romans 3:23; “ for all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God,

The just punishment for sin is death; Romans 6:23; “For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.”

Since all our sin is ultimately against God; Psalm 51:4; “Against You, You only, have I sinned, And done this evil in Your sight, That You may be found just when You speak,And blameless when You judge.

And since God is infinitely glorious, the punishment for sin must also be infinite. Eternal hell—the second death—is the punishment we have earned because of our sin. But those of us that have received Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior have been pardoned.  

Verses on the benefits of Bible study

Joshua 1:8; “This Book of the Law shall not depart from your mouth, but you shall meditate in it day and night, that you may observe to do according to all that is written in it. For then you will make your way prosperous, and then you will have good success.”

Psalm 119:99; "I have more understanding than all my teachers, For Your testimonies are my meditation". 

That verse highlights how the psalmist gained a deeper understanding through meditating on God's testimonies, leading to more wisdom than what his teachers could provide. 

James 1:25; “But he who looks into the perfect law of liberty and continues in it, and is not a forgetful hearer but a doer of the work, this one will be blessed in what he does.”

Here, James explains how believers ought to handle their study of the Word of God. Christians should look intently into the perfect law, the law that gives freedom. When they routinely do that and obey what they see there, they will be blessed in what they do. When James uses the word "law," he is not likely talking about the Law of Moses. James was one of the leaders of the church in Jerusalem and was likely writing to a very Jewish audience who knew all about that Law. More importantly, though, he was writing to Christians about what it means to live out our faith in Christ. James is not calling believers to see legalistic rule-following as the path to being blessed. He is writing to people who believe that Jesus fulfilled the Law of Moses by obeying it perfectly Himself. In Christ, the Word has been planted in us;

James 1:21; “Therefore lay aside all filthiness and overflow of wickedness, and receive with meekness the implanted word, which is able to save your souls.”

That's the Word we hear and obey because we trust our Father. That Word is the perfect law, the law of the love of Christ, which brings freedom.

With this bit of wisdom, I pray that it opens your eyes to see the wonders of the Holy Bible and encourages you to read the Word of God. I believe it is more prevalent these days because based on all the prophesies of old being fulfilled as we speak, I believe the time of Jesus’s return is soon. You can gamble with this truth and ignore it or who can take wise counsel and here from the Holy Spirit what you need to know. Its all there waiting for you, all you have to do is start reading the Bible. My suggestion is that you start in the New Testament, Matthew, Mark, Luke and John. The reason that I say this is because the Old Testament was written to the Jews, the New Testament is written to the church. There are Jews, Gentiles and the Church. God has a different plan for each group. If you are not a Jew, then you are a gentile outside the family of God. If you are a true born again believer, (The Church) then you will spend eternity with Jesus. The Jews have a different path, one that I won’t expand on today.

We don’t have much time, so choose wisely who you will serve, as for me and my family, we will serve the Lord.+

"For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.

The grass withers, the flower fades, but the word of our God will stand forever! Amen