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Thursday, June 30, 2011

Covenant Studies!

A Practical Study of 8 Biblical Covenants.
   By Faith & Terry Keiner

This study will be published in two spiral bound volumes. The first volume will cover the Adamic, Edenic, Noahic, and Abrahamic Covenants.

The second volume will continue with the Mosaic, Palestinian, Davidic, and finish with the New Covenant. The studies are designed to be studied either in sequence, or as 'stand alone' studies.

The publication of A Practical Study of 8 Biblcal Covenants Vol. 1 & Vol. 2 is scheduled for the late summer of 2011.

 A downloadable version in eight separate PDF books, one for each Covenant, are available now on Amazon for $3.95 USD each.

Sunday, June 26, 2011

Finally!

Well, I finally did it!  I've been told for quite a while [literally] to do it.  I always talked myself out of it, using the justification that just because I did it as a hobby didn't mean that I was any good at it.  About a month ago other people began to get involved, in a big way.  Things have been building up quite a head of steam, and yesterday I finally went for it!  I published two books on the Amazon Kindle (KDP Amazon) site.  Now it may not seem like such a big deal to put out two Ebooks, but to me it is, and the main reason is because I feel it's what GOD wants me to do.  To tell the truth, if HE wasn't involved I doubt that I would've ever went through with it.  For many years I've been writing everything from poetry to Biblical non-fiction articles, and it was a very enjoyable way to spend time with just myself.  Combine that with the fact that I've spent considerable amounts of time by myself and that'll give you some idea about how much I've written. Even with family and friends over the years encouraging me to get something published, this is the first time I've felt that the LORD was saying, "Okay, this is the time." 

So now Amazon EBooks has two new choices.  Just go to 'www.amazon.com'  and in the search window at the top of the page, enter in 'Topical Articles Vol. 1' or 'Topical Articles Vol. 2' and that'll get you to what I've published. 

It's kind of weird though, I have no doubts about people's response.  The main reason I feel good about all of this is that I know that GOD doesn't waste anyone's time, including HIS own.  So there you have it, everyone got off luck today, I've not been as long winded as I usually am! 

GOD Bless you!

Terry a.k.a. k2montana

Remember to check out our WebPage at 'www.fellowshipinthescriptures.com'

Wednesday, June 22, 2011

Is The Cross Convenient?

So what about it? Is the cross, and all that accompanies it, convenient for you? Remember that we're not just talking about any cross, we're talking about The Cross. I recently met a woman who said she needed much more that to just be a 'go to church on Sunday and Wednesday' Christian. To me, she was making a decision that even if The Cross wasn't always convenient, she was ready to step up. I'll tell you just how inconvenient The Cross has become for not only individuals, but to entire congregations. I was blessed by the LORD almost three years ago to be called into the position of Ordained Elder in the prayer ministry International Prayer Response (www.internationalprayerresponse.org). We just had our annual banquet, although it was really a potluck, here in Absarokee MT, and were blessed to have the man and his wife who were called by GOD almost six years ago to begin this ministry here with us from Bakersfield CA. Jim Fox, the founder of International Prayer Response, who I've known for 30 plus years now, and his wife Maria spent a couple of days with us, which is always a real treat. While they were here, Jim and I spent some time, like we always do, talking about our burden to get HIS Word to more people. My position on this issue, and I've yet to meet a Spirit-filled Christian who doesn't agree, is that until every single person I have any contact with in any way whatsoever, has come to the Throne of Grace and accepted the shed blood of the SON as atonement for sin, my work for the LORD isn't complete. A theme verse for me is from the Epistle of Paul to Timothy.



'But you be watchful in all things, endure afflictions, do the work of an evangelist, fulfill your ministry.' (II Timothy 4:5 NKJV)



Now that I've given some background on where my thoughts are, let's get back to the subject of whether or not The Cross is convenient. In some of our talks over the last couple of days, and in many previous talks, Jim Fox and I find it disheartening that many churches don't have Sunday or Wednesday evening services. Another sad turn of events is that during the services that are still held, very few include an altar call. I'm now the least bit bashful, and I've been known to ask the reason for no altar call. When the answer was that having an altar call might offend or upset people by being confronted in a 'right in your face' way about their standing before GOD, I was really confused. But, my confusion aside, I understood that it simply isn't convenient for a lot of people, either individually or in a congregational setting, to be confronted by the message of The Cross. Then I realized something else, and that is that if we're in right standing before the LORD, then The Cross and all that goes with it, should not be confrontational or inconvenient. If the mere thought of CHRIST on The Cross makes a person uncomfortable in any way at all, then they are in dire need of some time at the altar! Where does this leave the church (the one built with hands) and the responsibility before GOD to be good shepherds of the flock placed in their safekeeping?



Okay, picture this. CHRIST, already beaten and bleeding to the point of being unable to carry HIS death tree, going up the hill escorted by the Roman soldiers and Joseph, who was carrying the cross. I really don't believe that JESUS was looking forward to what HE knew was in store, despite HIS commitment to carry out the FATHER's Will. So what would have happened if HE gave voice to HIS thoughts, maybe with something like,



"Uh excuse me guys, but it's like this is really not a good time for ME to do this. Do you think we could all get together another time, like in a couple of days? I do hate to sound like a wimp or something, but this is not a convenient time for me."



But, HE didn't say any of these things, HE followed through with a commitment HE'd made to the FATHER.



People don't want to spend their Sunday and Wednesday evenings in church because it isn't convenient. People don't want to be confronted with their own position before GOD by having an altar call as part of the service because it isn't convenient. Pastors and Elders and church leaders don't want to go against the will of their congregations by holding services and altar calls, because it isn't convenient for them to have people a little upset with them.



One thing I noticed early on in my life as a Christian, and that was that most of the teachings of CHRIST were done by example. First HE healed, then told HIS disciples to heal. First HE raised people from the dead, then sent HIS disciples to do the same. HIS final lesson was about obedience, and HE taught it well, again by example, even though it was probably just about the most inconvenient thing HE'd done



How about it, is The Cross convenient for you?



We're available for questions, advice, counseling, or just for talking. Email me at terrykeiner@yahoo.com or leave us a comment here, or visit us at www.fellowshipinthescriptures.com or www.internationalprayerresponse.org .



I know that I haven't mentioned it in awhile, but Yeah, I'm a Believer! Have a Blessed day!


Tuesday, June 21, 2011

Is Your Outlook In Focus?

The things held dear vary amongst different people, in different places, for different reasons. A negative for some may well be a positive for another. What are accepted as good social manners by some cultures may possibly be insulting to people across the country, or just down the road, or even right across the street. Is there an absolute right or an unassailable wrong position, if so, who and what determines that? People can’t even agree on what are the most important issues to agree on! So how can we expect to be able to agree on what to disagree on? But, there is an answer, and we don’t have to be listed on anyone’s short list of the most profound thinkers to understand it. If truth be told, it’s probably better if we’re not an intellectual overachiever (eat your heart out Socrates!).

I remember many years ago watching a fellow plow with an old long eared mule. Now this stubborn old mule didn’t like being told what to do, does that ring a bell with anyone? The bottom line was that the man couldn’t plow a straight furrow because the mule was always looking for any excuse to act the fool. The old man was given a set of blinders for the mule with the idea being to keep the animal’s focus on only one thing, the far end of the field. Using the blinders did improve things quite a bit. For one thing, the farmer was able to watch the mule’s head and tell when he was going to act up because the animal couldn’t see things off to the side any more without turning his head before he went into stupid mode. So when the mule was looking for just anything to act up over, he had to really turn his head to one side or the other to be able to see clearly what he was going to fuss about, and this gave the old farmer plenty of time to get him on a straight line again without too much damage.

Now some people may not see how my little story about a stubborn mule wearing blinders has anything to do with anything, much less with outlook. But if we’ll slow down for just a minute, maybe we’ll be able to see how our outlook on what really counts is easily pulled out of focus. Maybe we need to put on, along with the rest of the ‘armor of GOD’ some Spiritual Blinders, just to keep our focus, and by that our outlook, just where it should be. Are we so far off course that we don’t even know where we should be headed?

Change your outlook about things that really don’t matter to the only thing that does, the LORD GOD. If we can just do this one thing, everything else will fall into place, and that’s not a promise from me, it’s from HIM!

(This posting has also been submitted to a Writer's Challenge on www.faithwriters.com. WebSite.)




Sunday, June 19, 2011

The FATHER's Day!

The ministry that we're a part of, I'm an Ordained Elder in the prayer ministry International Prayer Response (www.internationalprayerresponse.org), had a neat piece on Father's Day.  I'm not going to quote directly from that piece for two reasons.  One, the LORD gave the writer of that piece the inspiration to write what he did.  Two, HE has laid something on my heart to write here.  Our FATHER in Heaven isn't a complicated GOD, although HE is complex.  It may seem as if I've contradicted myself here, but have no fear, I will explain my reasoning.  What GOD wants from and for each of us is really simple, as in uncomplicated.  HE wants us to choose HIM to be the focus of our lives.  HE wants us to give our worries and needs over to HIM with complete trust.  HE wants us to not only praise HIM when things are good, but to instinctively turn to HIM when things aren't so good.  HE wants to be able to bless us in every part of our lives, and that our every thought, word, and action should bless HIM.  HE wants to be consulted about decisions we make, whether we feel HE would be interested or not.  HE wants us to accept that HE sent One Son into the world to die, so that HIS other sons and daughters could live.  Yes, the LORD has a lot of 'wants', and these are just the tip of the iceberg.  But, nothing we've seen is complicated, it's all pretty straightforward.  Now let's get to the complex part of HIM.  What is complex is why HE wants what HE wants, this is where we can get in over our heads if we aren't careful.  I've said often to people when in a group setting or when just talking with a friend that we will never truly understand GOD until we can see ourselves through HIS eyes.  If you'll look back at the short list of 'wants' HE has, and factor in your life today and how you've lived it in the past, HIS 'wants' from and for us make even less sense.  I don't know the number of people who've told me when asked if they were ready to accept CHRIST as their SAVIOR that they were 'working on it.'  When asked what it was they meant by that, they're response would be something like, "There is just a lot of bad things about me and my life that I have to get worked out before I will be comfortable accepting CHRIST."  A lot of people get it in their minds that they don't deserve what GOD offers, and guess what?  They're absolutely right!  Remember the Scripture where JESUS tells the Pharisees that HE hadn't came for the benefit of the healthy or the righteous? 

'When JESUS heard that, HE said to them, "Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick.  But go and learn what this means:  I desire mercy and not sacrifice.  For I did not come to call the righteous, but sinners, to repentance."'    (Matthew 9:12-13    NKJV)

I feel that the reason why people use the reason that they 'have to fix themselves first' is twofold.  First, this reduces the magnificence of what GOD has given them with HIS gift of Grace, because then they would've done the hard part by fixing what was broken.  Second, this is their escape when confronted with their own position as a lost sinner, and they have to avoid making a committment to HIM because they just know that they'll fail as a Christian.  See how things can get real complex real fast when we try to reason out the 'why's' of GOD?  So here is some advice, don't.  Easy to say, not so easy to do.  But this is where faith comes in, to believe what doesn't make any sense to us. 

The last thing I have to share (right at this moment anyway!) is that if we'll take a hard look at the short list of HIS 'wants', and then compare it to what your father wanted for and from you, and what you may want for and from your sons and daughters, you will probably find some common ground.  When we become parents, one of the first things most of us realize is that we want to be better parents than our parents were, even if we thought our parents did an excellent job.  Then we want to always be able to protect our children from any sort of harm.  Then we want.....  Do you get my drift here?  If you'll just put all of this together, it'll be easy to realize that every day should be the FATHER's Day.   Happy Father's Day, and God Bless!

Monday, June 13, 2011

Convenience of The Cross

So what about it?  Is the Cross, and all that accompanies it, convenient for you?  Remember that we're not just talking about any cross, we're talking about The Cross.  I recently met a woman who said she needed much more that to just be a 'go to church on Sunday and Wednesday' Christian.  To me, she was making a decision that even if The Cross wasn't always convenient, she was ready to step up.  I'll tell you just how inconvenient The Cross has become for not only individuals, but to entire congregations.  I was blessed by the LORD almost three years ago to be called into the position of Ordained Elder in the prayer ministry International Prayer Response (www.internationalprayerresponse.org).  We just had our annual banquet, although it was really a potluck, here in Absarokee MT, and were blessed to have the man and his wife who were called by GOD almost six years ago to begin this ministry here with us from Bakersfield CA.  Jim Fox, the founder of International Prayer Response, who I've known for 30 plus years now, and his wife Maria spent a couple of days with us, which was a real blessing.  While they were here, Jim and I spent some time, like we always do, talking about our burden to get HIS Word to more people.  My position on this issue, and I've yet to meet a Spirit-filled Christian who doesn't agree, is that until every single person I have any contact with in any way whatsoever, has come to the Throne of Grace and accepted the shed blood of the SON for atonement of sin, my work for the LORD isn't complete.  A theme verse for me is from the Epistle of Paul to Timothy.

'But you be watchful in all things, endure afflictions, do the work of an e

Sunday, June 12, 2011

Sovereignty and Faith

On our WebPage we post a Weekly Scripture for folks to read, for meditation, for discussion, or just about any Scripture based use.  This weeks Scripture is Exodus 9:16,

'But indeed for this purpose I have raised you up, that I may show MY power in you, and that MY name may be declared in all the earth.'    (Exodus 9:16   NKJV)

Now this was a message that GOD had given Moses to take to the Pharaoh.  In the verse preceding, HE had pointed out that HE could have just as easily ended it all for the Egyptian leader and his family, but hadn't.  This verse we just looked at explains why.  It also explains why the LORD allows a lot of bad things to happen.  Most Christians understand and can accept the bad things that happen to the world, and those who are 'of this world' but have trouble when things go wrong for the New Testament Believer.  The apostle Paul, in his epistle to the [early] church there in Rome, made reference to the words GOD spoke to Moses way back there in Egypt.  Paul used the words to Pharaoh to explain GOD's sovereign will.  What we have here is two sinners, Moses and Pharaoh, and both had committed murder.  One was a powerful ruler while the other was a slave.  GOD used the one to demonstrate HIS power and judgment and the other to show HIS mercy and grace.  Does the  fact that one was a Jew and the other a Gentile have anything to do with who was used for what?  What was it about the Hebrews that had caused HIM to choose that particular nation of people to call HIS own?  What we're talking about here is the sovereign will of GOD.  The sovereignty of the LORD is perhaps the most avoided and least understood aspect of HIM, and that is because we think to much about some things.  In earlier posts to this blog and other writings I've encouraged everyone to study the Word, and to think about what they're told.  I'm a very strong advocate of testing everything by the Scriptures, and I'm not taking a different position here.  We're to believer every single thing we're told in HIS Good News.  More often than not, the Bible explains why we're to believe what we're told to believe.  But there are times, like in Paul's letter to the church in Rome, when we're not to question HIM beyond what HE has decided to make known to us.  Now we have two things at play here, HIS sovereign will and our faith.  After Paul quotes the words of Moses, he goes farther and explains man's status before the LORD, in regards to HIS sovereign will and our faith.

'Therefore HE has mercy on whom HE wills, and whom HE wills  HE hardens.  You will say to me then, "Why does HE still find fault?  For who has resisted HIS will?"  But indeed, O man, who are you to reply against GOD?  Will the thing formed say to HIM who formed it, "Why have you made me like this?"'    (Romans 9:18-20  NKJV)

The bottom line is this, some things we're supposed to know, and some things we're supposed to accept.  If we had the [GOD given] right to know every single thing about HIM and HIS ways, where does that leave faith?  The author of the book of Hebrews, in the eleventh chapter, created what is often referred to as the 'Faith Chapter.'  Let's look at the 'introduction' to the Faith Chapter.

'Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.  For by it the elders obtained a good testimony.  By faith we understand that the worlds were framed by the word of GOD, so that the things which are seen were not made of things which are visible.'    (Hebrews 11:1-3    NKJV)

The point to be made here is that GOD, as a Sovereign LORD over all, doesn't have to explain HIMSELF to us.  We have to accept HIS Will, for us and every single part of our lives, by faith.  We can't separate GOD's Grace, which brings us the gift of life, from HIS Sovereignty, which through HIS Authority, brings us the life of grace. 

In HIS Holy name, by HIS Sovereign grace, through HIS Sons' shed blood, we are saved.  If that's not good enough, all by itself, then what would be?

We continually pray HIS tender mercies and lovingkindness for you and yours.

Come see us on the Web at:  www.fellowshipinthescriptures.com
Email us at:  terrykeiner@yahoo.com or ipr59001@yahoo.com 

Saturday, June 11, 2011

Why We Do What We Do!

Here's the story;  A young couple had just been married and returned home from their honeymoon.  She was fixing their first meal together in their new home while he was sitting at the breakfast bar looking through the  paper.  Knowing that roast was her new husbands favorite meal, she had went over the directions to cook the 'perfect' roast with her mother.  From time to time, he would look away from his paper just to watch her as she was preparing the roast to go in the roasting pan, and he just happened to glance up in time to watch as she cut a small piece of the roast off, wrapped in up and put it into the fridge.  Although he went back to his paper, the young husband kept going back to how his wife had cut some of the meat off before putting the roast into the oven.  Finally, he had to ask why she had done that.  They talked about it for a minute, with the end result being that she really didn't know why, but her mother had always cut off a small portion and used it for something else later, so that's why she had done it.  The next morning, after spending a good part of the night thinking about it, the young wife told her husband that now she wanted to know why her mother had always cut some of the roast off before cooking the rest of it.  So the newly weds went to her parents and explained the whole thing.  The thing was, her mom didn't know the answer, she did it because her mom had always done it that way.  Now everyone was really curious, so they all called grandma.  After explaining how the whole thing had started, they asked grandma why she had always fixed her roasts like this.  Grandma said she didn't have any idea why her daughter and granddaughter would cut off a piece of the roast, she did it because when she first married her only roasting pan was small and the roasts from the butcher were too big to go into the pan.  So, grandma had to cut off a bit so the meat would go into her small roaster.

The point to all of this is that a lot of us who profess to be Christians do a lot of things, and we don't know why we do them.  To make it worse, a lot of what we do as a part of our relationship with GOD isn't even Scriptural.  Habit, routine, tradition, peer pressure, lay the blame wherever you want, it won't change the facts.  GOD doesn't tell us in a single place in HIS Word to follow any person or routine or tradition blindly.  HE tells us to study HIS Word ourselves, and that alone, knowing HIS Word, will prepare us for anything HE calls us to, and yes, we are called to worship, and to pray, and to witness, and to many more things!  But HE wants us to know why we do those things.  Do you know why you do the things you do?  Every part of our relationship with the FATHER should pass the tests of the Scriptures, if it doesn't, then we're doing something wrong. 

May the LORD FATHER Bless you and yours, and may HIS Spirit bring discernment and guidance for HIS Will in your lives.  AMEN

www.fellowshipinthescriptures.com     or  'k2montana' on Twitter

Saturday, June 4, 2011

The Kingdom of GOD

The Kingdom of GOD is far reaching.  It encompasses and surpasses anything we could ever imagine.  Do you know what it's not?  It's not something in the distant future.  It's not something we have to wait for.  It's not something that will never happen.  It's now for all who Believe.  Now a lot of folks will disagree with a good part of what we've already covered here.  A good many people who profess CHRIST insist that the Kingdom of GOD talked about in the Bible is the Heaven that we'll all spend eternity in.  All I will say in response to this position is, 'Read your Bibles!' Oh, by the way, 'Yeah, I'm a Believer!'  There is a single verse that will put all different sides of the Kingdom of GOD issue to rest.  CHRIST HIMSELF spoke the words in response to the same question at the root of this issue in Luke 17:20-21.  I'm not asking you to take my word for it, read it yourself, and then you decide if I'm reading the Scripture properly.     GOD Bless you!                       Terry a.k.a. k2montana

www.fellowshipinthescriptures.com

Thursday, June 2, 2011

I'm A What? (continued)

People often don't know why they do what they do, and people often don't know why they are not what they are not or even why they are what they are.  Wow! Now that was a hatfull of 'why's' and 'they's' and 'what's'!  This goes along with our talk yesterday about being 'Evangelical' so hold on to your seats.  I did briefly mention how some people react when being asked if they were 'Spirit filled' in yesterdays piece, now we'll take it to the next level.  As I said in my earlier blog posting, my thoughts on being 'Spirit filled' is that it is a very basic and essential part of being a New Testament Born Again Believer.  Scripture makes it very clear that our worship of GOD is done of or through the Spirit, and our worship of HIM is what defines our relationship with HIM.  'GOD is Spirit, and those who worship HIM must worship must worship in Spirit and truth.'  (John 4:24  NKJV)  So now I'll ask a question, 'Can a person be a Christian and NOT be Spirit filled?'  Before we go any further, 'Yeah, I'm a Believer!'  Just as being 'Evangelical' in NOT a denominational thing, neither is being or not being 'Spirit filled.'  At least they shouldn't be.  A lot of folks, through simply not knowing the Biblical facts have either made these two positions into denominational issues, or blindly accept that they are.  If you get right down to Biblical facts, being identified as any thing other than as a 'Christian' isn't based on Scripture either.  Just to give a little background on the disciples being called 'Christians' for the first time, we need to start with shortly after the conversion of Saul of Tarsus.  Remember that Saul, who later was called Paul, was one of the worst enemies of the Early Church.  (Note:  While the facts about JESUS handpicking each of HIS original disciples are supported by Scripture, the apostle Paul never met CHRIST 'in the flesh' so to speak.  His conversion was at least 4 years after the crucification of CHRIST, so in essence Paul was the first Christian to be 'called by the Spirit') Barnabas  went to find Saul (Paul) at Tarsus.  After finding him, they went to Antioch, where they spent a year with the church there, 'teaching a great many people'  during that time.  It was during the time Paul and Barnabas spent in Antioch that anybody, specifically the disciples, were first called 'Christians' by anybody else.  (Acts 11:25-26 NKJV)  Understand that before the Early Church began, those of the Jewish culture all had one thing in common, they were all called 'Jews', there weren't different names for different people who lived in different areas, which was often the case due to the dispersion(s).   Okay, the mini lesson on Paul and 'Christian' is over, let's get back to the issue of being or not being 'Spirit filled'.  We know that we worship GOD 'in Spirit and in truth.'  Is this telling us that we have to be 'in the Spirit' in order to worship the FATHER?  Can we worship HIM if we're not 'in the Spirit'?  Remember just one of the major differences in man's worship of GOD between the Old Testament and the New Testament.  In the Old Testament, man worshipped through ritual and ceremony for the most part, all very 'physical' and visual.  With the coming of the New and Better Covenant though, man's worship changed, and we've read that now we worship 'in Spirit...'  So you answer the question, 'Can we be a Christian and NOT be Spirit filled?'  In closing this thing up for today, I would caution you to NOT have your actions or position before GOD be decided by bad information, or tradition, or by anything other than the Word of GOD.  Over the many hundreds of years since the beginnings of Christianity with the formation of the Early Church, there has been literally hundreds of different groups form their own belief systems for just about every reason under the sun.  Every time this happened, some Biblical truths have been changed and/or distorted to be what the people wanted them to be, or to be more convenient.  What we accept as Gospel today is often not even close to being Biblical, so please, 'Read your Bibles!'

Have a Blessed day, Terry

www.fellowshipinthescriptures.com  or ipr59001@yahoo.com

Wednesday, June 1, 2011

I'm A What?

I did a sample writing submission yesterday for a Christian OnLine/InPrint publication. After choosing a topic from a random selection and putting together a 256 word piece on 'Evangelical' I got to thinking.  Now according to my wife, Faith, me thinking usually leads to some kind of unusual things happening.  Oh yeah, before I forget to mention this little detail, 'Yeah, I'm a Believer!'  Another thing I should mention, and that is that my wife says that I don't play well with others.  Go figure!  Well, onward with wherever I was headed, if I can just remember where that was.  Anyways, I was led (by the Spirit of course!) to take the topic of my choice in the direction of what I've experienced people's reactions are sometimes in regards to not only 'Evangelical' but quite a few Biblical positions that Born Again Believers should hold.  Let's face it, most folks automatically get a mental image of people rolling around on the floor with snakes wrapped around them when you mention the word 'Evangelical.'  Back in the late seventies I was stationed at 32nd Street Naval Station in San Diego CA, and the pentacostal movement was running rampant.  Some of the more extreme practices they declared to be true signs of being filled with the Holy Spirit contributed in large to them being referred to as 'holy rollers.'  Here's the deal, a good many people don't even know what an 'Evangelical' actually, from a Biblical perspective, is and should be.  Going further with that line of thought, more than several times in my life, for a specific purpose, I've asked people I knew were professed Christians if they were 'spirit filled.'  The response was almost always twofold.  First, a look of anything from confusion to revulsion, followed by the assertion that they were 'not that kind of Christian.'  My response to their response, which for the most part I was able to keep to myself, (see wife, I can play well with others, sometimes), was something along the lines of, 'What other kind of Christian is there?'  Now before we go any farther, I really think that we all need to have the same understanding of two very important words that are misused most of the time.  The word 'stupidity' to me means either not desiring to have knowledge of any given subject or choosing not to use that knowledge correctly or both of the above.  Let's follow that one with the word 'ignorant'.   I've always been comfortable with  'ignorant' having the meaning of 'not having knowledge of' any given subject.  Both of these conditions interfere with Spiritual growth, and just about any other kind except maybe physical growth.  One of these conditions is a lot easier to correct than the other, but the easy one to fix sometimes leads to the other one.  I'm okay with someone being ignorant, because to me, being ignorant isn't any kind of character flaw, or mental deficiency.  It's just someone who hasn't had either the opportunity or the need to gain knowledge about something.  Being stupid though, that's a whole different animal!  Most people are stupid by choice. (Oops! Maybe my wife is right about my not playing well with others after all!)  The point of all of this word meaning trivia is that a good many people automatically assume what something means.  These assumptions are generally based on everything from the rumor mill to handed down tradition to bad information to just being ignorant of the issue.  What will take someone from being ignorant to being stupid is when they have the chance to correct their understanding of something, and then choose not to.  I think of this as 'basking in their ignorance' which quickly locks that person into a cycle of stupidity.  Now let's get back to what we started with, the word 'Evangelical' and what that really means and how it applies, or should apply, to any and all Born Again Believers.  If you go to your dictionary, I use the Oxford American Edition, and look up the word 'Evangelical' you might be surprised with what you find.  I'm not going to do the direct quotation thing here, but here's the gist of it.  An 'Evangelical' is one who believes that  salvation is by faith for the atonement CHRIST made for sin with the shedding of HIS blood.  It follows that an 'Evangelist' is one who 'Evangelises'.  The apostle Paul instructed Timothy to '...do the work of an Evangelist...'   (II Timothy 4:5 NKJV) Being an 'Evangelical' is NOT a denominational thing, but then according to Scripture, being recognized as being anything except  Christian is NOT a denominational thing either.  What it all boils down to is this one thing, read your Bibles.  I have a piece I put together that I titled Tests of the Scriptures for our group meetings here in Montana.  The reason I did was to make sure that every person who is involved in our studies and meetings are able to test every single thing I've put together for study with the Scriptures themselves.  I tell everyone not to take anything I or anybody else says as truth if it doesn't stand up to being tested by the Scriptures, because we have a promise from GOD that the Scriptures are perfect.  Don't be offended, are even more important, caught unawares, if we ever meet face to face and I ask, 'Are you an Evangelical?'  Again, read your Bibles!  (If you want a copy of Tests of the Scriptures, contact me using one of the links below and I'll either Email it to you or send you a hard copy)

GOD Bless you for putting up with me today!                           Terry a.k.a. k2montana

Contact me through www.fellowshipinthescriptures.com or fits59001@gmail.com or ipr59001@yahoo.com .