Elders' Conference 2018 - Two Greek Negatives

News and updates from the Elder's Conference and a lesson in Greek Grammar

Fred R. Coulter—May 3, 2018

 - PDF | Audio | [Up]

Our editor Phil Neal has been working on a book for teenagers. He currently has it in 7 x 10, I think I need to put in the next smaller version so it's easier for them to handle. It is Proverbs for Life. We have the Proverbs series that we have online: the audio and the video.

The reason that we went into the Proverbs was because Guilebaldo told me when we first met that his father would get the whole family together and read one chapter of Proverbs everyday in the morning. They would go through the whole book in a month, because there are 31 chapters, and when there were fewer days in the month they would combine some of the smaller chapters. This kept the whole family intact and faithful to God.

Right here we have three brothers, so that's a testimony to it. This is one of the reasons we've undertaken this Proverbs for Life.

There are two books for teenagers, even though it's put out by a Protestant, and there's nothing you can do about his little prayer to be saved, it's in there and that's the way that the Protestants work. He's dealt with a lot of teenagers, drugs and things like this. So, he has two books:

• The Stairway to Hell by Richard Jones
• How to be a Successful Teenager: 18 Secrets Every Teen Must Know to Succeed by Rick Jones

I'm sure it's not limited to teens.

What would happen when you read Proverbs, you will come to the end and go back and start again.  Let's see how much this is needed for today. I just got a news release that in Canada they closed down a church because they were preaching Bible verses.

You need to understand the very seriousness of what's going on in Washington, DLC (District of Liars and Corruption and deception). The 'deep state' is trying to institute the program that Hillary Clinton was to bring. There are some people who believe that it started with the strange death of Antonin Scalia so that a liberal justice could be on the Supreme Court before she got there, so they could eviscerate the first and second Amendments to the Constitution.

There is a struggle going on, and I believe that since there's much more time than we expected, and the only place in the world that the Gospel can really be preached is out of America. Is going to be preached in China? Russia? Brazil? Saudi Arabia? India? UK? The UK is two-thirds of the way to Sharia Law right now! Where is going to be preached from? It has to be here in America!

Prov. 1 tells what you're going to have forthcoming in the rest of the book. This is what every teenager needs to know and every Millennial today needs to know, because their brains have been filled with the wrong things. They're empty-headed emotional reactionaries to the cause dictated to them to do.

Proverbs 1:1: "The proverbs of Solomon the son of David, king of Israel: to know wisdom… [that's why they can't be employed; they're not smart] …and instruction… [to learn] …to perceive the words of understanding; to receive the instruction of wisdom, righteousness, and judgment, and equity; to give prudence to the simple… [the one who is not educated] …knowledge and discretion to the young man" (vs 1-4).

Here's the key, and this is for us, v 5: "A wise man will hear and will increase learning, and a man of understanding shall attain unto wise counsel."

Are we still learning? Yes! I am! I'm learning almost every day! Then he gives the warning:

If you don't follow the common sense that keeps people together, and you go out and join gangs, you steal, lie and do things with your life, with your body, that you shouldn't do, then when you're in pain you're going to cry out and wisdom says, 'I'm not going to hear!'

Proverbs 2:1 "My son, if you will receive my words and treasure up my commandments within you, so that you incline your ear to wisdom and apply your heart to understanding; yea, if you cry after knowledge and lift up your voice for understanding; if you seek her as silver and search for her as for hidden treasures, then…" (vs 1-6).

That's what they need to learn; they've had everything given to them and they're absolutely spoiled brats with empty-headed reasonings that amount to nothing.

We have some tough days ahead! You can be guaranteed that! We hope that all of these things going on that our current President will triumph in them. For your information, he just signed a couple of instructions to the states on how to use Federal funds on Medicare and Medicaid. He has forbidden that any money be used for abortion.

So, even if these lying, stinking, rotten leftist and progressives think that he's an 'easy target,' I don't know, God has given him some strength that you and I couldn't handle. What is it doing? It's exposing to the whole nation and the world the utter, utter corruption and failure of progressivism, which is all satanic and contrary to God!

This is what they need; they need a re-education. Someone who has just graduated from university and walks in to apply for a job:

• they don't know how to think
• they don't know how to speak
• they don't know how to write
• they clobber the English language into barbarianism

This is the fight we're up against!

What we have is teenagers who come in contact with the Church, and with parents encourage them to go through the program as the Elizondos did, and we have Proverbs for Life. It's not quite ready, yet. I think he can go a little more deeply into the problems that they have; we'll discuss that and get that taken care of. Then we will publish this. This will go along with the Proverbs material that we have.

Verse 5—this is what is needed, "Then you shall understand the fear of the LORD and find the knowledge of God. For the LORD gives wisdom; out of His mouth comes knowledge and understanding. He lays up sound wisdom for the righteous… [stops sinning] …He is a shield to those who walk uprightly. He keeps the paths of right judgment and preserves the way of His saints. Then…" (vs 5-9).

Notice the progression of wording. Same way with us. Do you understand more in the Church now than when you firs came in? Yes! So, with us we have the same thing. If you study, if you pray, if you apply yourself, if you live the right way, then…

"…you shall understand righteousness and judgment and equity, every good path. Wisdom shall enter into your heart, and knowledge will be pleasing to your soul; discretion shall preserve you and, understanding shall keep you, to deliver you from the way of the evil man…" (vs 9-12).

Think about everything coming against these young minds; there's a lot! Give them a smart phone at 5-years-old and look at all the satanic things that's coming. Who is at the heart and core of all of this? What one company, and secondarily another company, is responsible for this, for the teens in our education? Walt Disney and Universal Studios!

• Did you know that Walt Disney owns ABC?
• Did you know that Walt Disney makes all of the things for the History Channel?

I recently wrote that the three most dangerous corporations in the world are Google, Amazon and Facebook. What should happen to them is every nation in the world should tax them from 50-70 percent, because they put too many people out of work and this will help take care of them because of bringing out all of these things to do away with jobs. How else are you going to do it? Look at it how it corrupts everybody's mind. Sitting in the airport:

• Was anybody talking with anybody else?
• What were they doing?
• Are they addicted?
• Are they hooked?

Think about what this does to the mind of a child! Think what this does to a teenager! Think about all the garbage and everything that comes along. So, we're going to be dealing with some difficult problems.

I just wanted to mention what we're doing;  now a little bit of news:

Christian Biblical Church in South Africa—from Helmet Berger:

Pray for all of them, because all of the white people are having their land taken away from them just like in Zimbabwe. He tells us that there are 60 on the mailing list, and that it's very difficult for the brethren. CBCG is very much a Church at Home. There are several baptisms coming up, and God willing an entire Indian family who have join in the last year.

The political situation is terrible. We have had to resort to this answer to almost everyone from Africa who writes in. There are great needs, but the problem is that they have never been taught and that leaves a lot of difficulties, indeed!

Sidebar: this applies to nations in Africa as well: In India they have a program going on where state workers go out into the villages and countryside to teach people to stop defecating at the border of the villages and leaving it exposed.
So, when Donald Trump said something about nations, that's what he was talking about, because he's been there. Think about what that is like when it's hot and the wind is blowing, and the dust is coming. Think about what it's like when the monsoons come, everything floating around in the water.

Look at what we have here in America, and we need not assume that that's the way it is in the rest of the world. It's not! We've had to tell those in Africa, because we used to send them some money if they needed it… Example: We sent them over a whole carton of A Harmony of the Gospels and The Christian Passover book several years ago, and someone e-mailed me and said, 'Who did you send these to?' I sent the to So and So. 'Did you know that they're for sale in the market?' They write in and say that we have so many people…

Most of them are lying crooks; so what we have to do—and Helmet verifies it in this report—is tell them that if you're sincere we've got the websites. We have everything you need on the website. That has pretty well solved the problem.

Helmet Berger has found the same thing, too. I think in two years we lost $18,000, because you want to help. They know how to write. 'We have a nice little Christian group here and we'll impressed with the Sabbath and Holy Days, and all the material you have, could you please help us out?' Once you start helping out, it's give me, give me more!

New Zealand—elder from Lyall Johnston:

It's been a good year for the brethren in spite of all the problems we've endured, are really faithful above all else. What we have here is a group of brethren poor in physical possessions of the world, but indeed rich in the Spirit.

Had a great Feast of Unleavened Bread and everyone is looking forward the Feast of Tabernacles this year.

There are some who left another Church of God group and have joined them and may see more and more of that.

There is a Fiji man who lives in New Zealand, but is currently on assignment to Fiji. On his return to New Zealand, we understand that he will join us. Have had contact with another lady who lives in Fiji who remembers me when she was a young girl. This lady meets with her mother and another lady and now listen to Fred on the Sabbath.

After hearing everybody give their reports the other day, we're really reaching out around the world. Not many, but we're doing it.

Then Lyall is going to be recording more for Church at Home.

The think we always need to remember is that:

• Christ is the Head of the Church
• He does everything that the Father wants Him to do
• He is the One Who—through His Spirit—teaches us the things we need to know

Currently, because it's called a steep demographic cliff.' Demographic means the makeup of a people in a given area!

How many here are in their 80s? 70s? 60s? 50s? 40s? Nobody in their 40s! We've had some reports of people in their 90s dying. Don't lament! Rejoice! They've made it! We have to be faithful to the end!

If there's one thing the Irish may have right is the wake when someone dies. They finished the course! We have to finish! Yes, we'll miss them, but we're going to see them again, all new! So, don't get down and out when someone comes along and say that the Church is dying out. NO! There are those in the Church who are dying, because God is harvesting. Look what Jesus told them:

John 4:34: "Jesus said to them, 'My meat… [the very substance of My life] …is to do the will of Him Who sent Me, and to finish His work.'"

There are various aspects of finishing the work of God. The first part to finish is finish preaching the Gospel, teaching the disciples. That's why Jesus said in John 17, 'I've finished the work that You've given Me to do.' Then He had a one-day work that He also had to finish which was the Passover. What did He say just before He died? It's finished!

He was put in the grave and resurrected three days later, appeared to the disciples, and now the continuation of the work continues spiritually, and that continues all the way down through the Millennium, the Great White Throne Judgment until you get to Rev. 21 where it is proclaimed, 'It is done!' Just look at all of this as part of God's plan being carried out!

Now, for us because we love people and are close to them—mostly attached—it's difficult when they die. Very difficult! But you need to look beyond. There is the resurrection. And whoever has died and finished in the faith, after we get done with a sufficient period of mourning and understanding the greatness of God's plan, that the resurrection is going to occur. Do you want to see them again? Make sure that you finish!

Verse 35: "Do not say that there are yet four months, and then the harvest comes. I say to you, look around. Lift up your eyes and see the fields, for they are already white to harvest."

This is the great harvest for the firstfruits. This would be sometime after Passover but before Pentecost. Here's a lesson for us to add on to 'we have nothing that we didn't receive':

Verse 36: "And the one who reaps receives a reward, and gathers fruit unto eternal life; so that the one who is sowing and the one who is reaping may both rejoice together. For in this the saying is true, that one sows and another reaps. I sent you to reap that in which you have not labored; others have labored, and you have entered into their labor.'" (vs 36-38).

Think about that! Look at all the labor that went into writing and preserving the Bible so that it could come down to us today. Think about what people do to tear it all apart. "…others have labored, and you have entered into their labor."

That ties in with 'you have nothing you didn't receive!'

Now, I had no idea of translating the New Testament, let alone doing the whole Bible. When we left in 1983, we had to leave because those we were with hated Herbert Armstrong so badly that you couldn't be around them. They wanted to reconstitute what had been destroyed or what was on the way to destruction. There we were left alone, just our little fellowship group.

So, when you have a small fellowship group, what do you do? You study the Bible! So, we figured the best thing we can do is keep our noses in the Bible. I started and all during this time was I was studying the Greek. That's the one thing that kept on doing, study the Greek every night!

We went through the complete Gospel of John. There were 52 tapes, 26 for the main body, 26 for the Grace of God, the Love of God and things like that.

{note that Gospel of John, Grace of God and Love of God are available on CD with Transcript Books}

We got done with that and we were still a group of 7-9. Now what do we do? I asked the brethren what we should do and they wanted to study the Bible verse-by-verse. Since Dr. Dorothy was still living at that time, and he kept tell me to translate the Bible. I finally called him and told him that I was going to translate the Bible. I suggested to the brethren that we do this.

We started in the book of James because it's short. I said, 'How about if I do a study translation of James with a wide margin on both sides of the paper and then we go through verse-by-verse. So we did. Then we went to 1st and 2nd Peter,, 1st, 2nd, 3rd John and then Jude. Then it was necessary to redo A Harmony of the Gospels

I started translating Matthew and somewhere along that line when I was doing Mark, Luke someone sent me the Inclusive New Testament. That was the first unisex Bible to get rid of all the masculine pronouns and nouns possible. The thing that really got to me real deeply—I was standing right in front of my bookcase—I was reading this and they were explaining how they were going about getting rid of all of the masculine nouns and pronouns they could. Then they said that the name of the Father was a simile. How could that be a simile? So, they translated that father/mother and the reader use his or her imagination.

Is that not destroying the Word of God? Right there I prayed right at that point said, 'If we let that stand with no answer, God is going to judge us!'

• we're to stand for the Truth
• we're to guard the Truth
• we're to love the Truth
• we're to promote the Truth

That's when I resolved to do the New Testament!

Then we got that done and Michael Heiss—who knows all about Hebrew—took care of the Hebrew in the Old Testament. I told him, 'You take care of the Hebrew and I'll take care of the English and you look over my English and see if it is right with your Hebrew.'

That's how we got the whole Bible! There are a couple of dissidents who are really mad at me for having Bob Ellsworth sell the Bibles. He sold them to the general public. We got the money back from that. What do we do with the money? I didn't buy a Rolls Royce!

We had updates to do on the Bible, some editing to do on the Bible. Remember, it took the King James eleven editions to get all the corrections in there. So, we did all of that and put it back into more Bibles. We still have good number of Bibles. Who knows if we have a depression, where's the money going to come from? If we have inflation, it's going to cost us too much? So, we've got the Bibles.

This brings me to this handout on The Greek Interlinear. My thought was to just copy George Ricker Berry's Interlinear Greek-English New Testament and put the Faithful Version in the margin. So, I had the spine cut off one of these and went through and looked at each page; some pages were light, some were dark, some had crunched letters, some you couldn't read.

Ron Cary searched online, and get a first edition—late 1890s or early 1900s—and the pages were good enough to produce the book. Guess what I discovered, all the light and dark pages came from the first edition.

So, we couldn't use it. What a predicament! Well, everything turns out for the best. Look where the English is under the Greek, that's all George Ricker Berry's reset type in the Greek and the English in a form that can go on computers. That works out good because very few websites carry the Received Text.

There's one other one that's a little bit better than the Received Text, and that is the Byzantine Text Form by Robinson and Pierpont. When we were translating the New Testament and Gary Stazak was helping me at that time, he was in direct contact with both Pierpont, before he died, and Robinson. We checked some of the things that we were translating to make sure that they were translated correctly.

So, the Greek that we are producing is going to be within less than one percent difference with the Byzantine Text Form. The Byzantine Text Form was developed and refined on the basis of over 5500 manuscripts and lectionaries that were from the area where the New Testament was. I won't get into the other versions, because that gets real technical.

I want to give you a simple lesson in Greek from Matt. 5. We are resetting the Greek and the English in the Interlinear by Berry, in type that can be used online. What we did with the Greek is make it 50% bold.

(go to the next track)

This will turn out to be very helpful and unique, and will work good for the brethren as well.

I want to show you two Greek words; it's the first word that every child learns, which is no! So, as you can see, the columns on the outer part of the page is the Faithful Version.

In doing the translating, the thing that was important was, as I told you what they were doing with the Bible, the most important thing to do is hold to the Truth. God can preserve, when there's no one else around, the Truth!

• What's the witness in the Bible that that is so? Baalim!
• Was he against God?
• Did he want to curse?
• What did God make him do? Bless!
• What else did He also do? Gave a prophecy of the coming Messiah!

Think of that!

Down through history, God has preserved His Truth. Men have tried to destroy it; they've tried to change it. But isn't it ironic that today the greatest selling book since the printing press is the Bible.

I've mentioned to you about the group Faith Comes by Hearing. What they do is they bring the natives from the countries where they do not have the written word; they do not have an alphabet. They just speak, and what this organization is doing is translating in those languages so they can listen to the audio. The audio is put into a special player that has a plug-in solar panel to provide the 'juice' so that it can be played anywhere in the world for those who have never heard the Gospel.

Matthew 24:13: "But the one who endures to the end, that one shall be saved." So, don't get upset about those who are dying in the Church. God wants them to die if they've been faithful to the end. Did Christ die? Yes!

Verse 14: "And this Gospel of the Kingdom shall be proclaimed in all the world…" Remember that in Acts 1 it says, 'You begin at Jerusalem, Judea and Samaria, and unto the ends of the earth!" The apostles never got there, but their writings are going there today! Many countries have gone there in the past.

We have a man in the Church who lives in Canada: John Guenther. He is a descendant of the Waldensians. His family tree goes from where they were in the Alps to Lithuania and then coming on over to America and Canada. He's doing research on that. In the 11th century they were saying that the 'return of the Lord is near.' The Crusades were going in the 11th century; ships going to the Middle East, lawyers coming down through the passes of the Alps, plagues, Muslims, Mongols, the end is near!

Didn't some of the preachers of the Church of God Seventh Day say when WWI came that it's near the end? Then WWII? Even Herbert Armstrong said that we're near the end. But then he understood that when Rommel was defeated at El Alamein, that there's more time.

Why? Verse 14: "And this Gospel of the Kingdom shall be proclaimed in all the world for a witness to all nations…" That is being done!

Now, you've heard me mention SpaceX several times. They are putting up Wi-Fi satellites around the whole world. What for? Because of all the people that have Bibles and all the people that need to see what's going on with the two witnesses in Jerusalem when they come on the scene!

Think about a witness to all nations. God's fulfillment of that is to the max, max, max! If you have a digital version of the Bible on your phone, you've got the whole Gospel in your hand! So, what are you going to do about it? That's an amazing story. Think about all of the technology, and there's a lot of evil going along with it. But just think of our little group and how many places we reach in the world.

I got a letter from an island that's in the middle of the Indian Ocean on the south side, Mauritius. I sent them a nice big care package and haven't heard from them since. It got to the end of the earth and dropped off!

We always have to be progressive in the sense of moving forward, not progressive in the political sense Hillary Clinton.

Jesus said, 'Blessed is the servant that the Lord shall find doing when He returns!' This is why we continue with it. One of the goals I've mentioned is that we want to have every booklet and book read and on CD to put in the book and send it out. To read the whole Bible took three years. The most fun we had was reading the genealogies.

Referring to Handout:

I want to introduce you to just two Greek words that are very important. Greek is structured differently than English.

Greek 'M'—mu—is identical to English; lower case looks like a backward 'y' but pronounced the same. This is 'ea'

This word is not and the way the Greek has it structured is that they put the negation at the front of the sentence. You remove the negation and the statement is positive. But the negation at the front of the sentence tells you no, not, nada.

This means do not think. This has to do with thinking of things. The other word is even more important: 'ook' and there are three spellings for it:

• ook
• oo
• ooks

This is the negation of the reality of the event; that it will not happen. This is absolute.

Whenever you see it, it means absolutely no, never. The word in 1-John 4:12: "No one has seen God at any time…." That is 'oudies' meaning absolutely no one has seen God at any time! That is the Father!

We have a man in our area Frank Bolin who is a Serbian, so he has a Serbian Bible and Croatian Bible, and he says that in those Bible it reflects the Greek, that it means absolutely not, never—double negative—'oo me'—not not. In English that makes it a positive.

How do they do that? But in Greek it means absolutely, completely never will happen; never, never, never!

Matthew 5:17—what is the first word you see in the Greek? 'me' That means that the statement is a negation. 'me' is the thought.

Matthew 5:17 (Int): "Think not… [do not think] …that I came to abolish the law or the prophets; I came not…"—'ouk' that reality will never happen!

I'm going through this to show the insanity of the Protestants who say that the Law is done away. They rely on the Bible to try and prove it. Well, the words of Jesus Christ contradict that, because He says 'ouk.'

"…I came not to abolish, but to fulfill" (v 17)—Greek: 'pleroo' meaning to fulfill something full, to complete. That's why we have the footnote in the Bible that that word means that He did not come to abolish or do away, He came to complete; to bring the Laws of God to a higher spiritual level.

• Where were the laws of God first written for Israel? On the tables of stone!
• Which is greater, the tables of stone, or in your heart and mind?
• In your heart and mind!

Verse 18 (Int): "For verily I say to you, until shall pass away the heaven and the earth, iota one or one tittle in no wise… ['oo me'—the absolute impossibility of the thought or the reality that it would occur] …shall pass away from the law… [one jot or one tittle, the smallest part] …until all come to pass."

That's quite amazing! That shows you the absolute reality of the Word of God. What Jesus say concerning His words? Heaven and earth will pass away, but My words will never (not) pass away!

Verse 48: "Therefore, you shall be perfect… ['teleioi'—meaning spiritual perfection] …even as your Father Who is in heaven is perfect."

Right at the beginning of the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus gave the beginning of it—the Law will never pass away—and the ending of it, being perfected under Christ to God the Father!

There are two words for complete or perfect:

•  'teleioi'—ye perfect—plural you

Look at the perfection that it will be.

• 'teleios'—singular nominative; spiritual character

If you look at the two different words there, look at how the last two letters are different (from the handout). That's part of the structure of the grammar of the English.

Think about this, and let's dwell on this for just a little bit. We need to grasp more, because I don't think we will fully understand it completely until the resurrection: the fantastic blessing of the calling of God! What does He want to do with us? Jesus said right here:

Verse 48: "Therefore, you shall be perfect…" Become, in the future; all of the changing, growing and overcoming and all the rest of the New Testament.

As you read and study the Bible, realize how that some things encompass vast areas of the Bible, but unspoken of in this particular place. Think about what God wants. This ties right back to Gen. 1 and what was said there: Let Me make man in My image! NO! It's the Father and the Son, make man and woman in OUR image, after OUR likeness! And the rest of the Bible tells us after the God-kind!

If you're going to perfect like the Father is perfect, you have to be a spirit son or daughter of God! Now you know why in the flesh we can only be perfected to a certain point.

•  'artios'—which is perfect in character, which requires our input!

To be perfect as God is perfect requires God's input, His Spirit. We will see that 'artios' in the different verbs. When you look at the Greek and the verbs, the same word will be spelled slightly different in different places, because of the tense. Let me give you a hint:

• noun—'anthropos'—masculine singular

That is spelled one way with the 'os' like at the end of 'teleios.' There are three genders:

• masculine
• feminine
• neuter

All spelled differently. The ending of the word is a little different.

There are four cases:

• nominative
• genitive
• dative
• accusative

Three times four is twelve, and that's for the singular. Twelve different spellings of the same word, singular.

Then we have plural: masculine, feminine and neuter and nominative, genitive, dative and accusative—another 12 plural.

Think of that! That's why it becomes so precise! With these two simple words, and understanding what it says in Matt. 5, that becomes absolutely precise, and the Protestants are absolutely wrong in saying that the Law has been done away.

Matthew 7:21: "Not…"—'oo'—the absolute negation of the reality

"…everyone…"—'pas'—everyone, anyone or all

"…who…"—'o' with a little accent mark at the top—the definite noun in the masculine gender, nominative case: he or who because:

"…says…"—'legon'

There's a lot of grammar in Greek. When you see the definite article 'ho' and the verb ending in 'w' that's 'omega.' The last letter is 'mu,' which is 'm'

So whenever you have 'ho legon' that is a participle. See how complicated Greek gets in a really fast time. Participle means that not everyone who is saying to Me. Participle means on a continuous basis. Think about that the next time you watch TBN.

"…to Me 'Lord, Lord'… ['Kurios, Kurios'] …shall enter into the Kingdom of Heaven; but the one…" (v 21). Notice 'o' with the accent mark

"…who is doing…"—'poieo'—practicing.

"…the will of My Father, Who is in heaven" (v 21)

Verse 22: "Many will say to Me in that day, 'Lord, Lord, did we not… ['oo'] …prophesy through Your name? And did we not cast out demons through Your name? And did we not perform many works of power through Your name?' And then I will confess to them, 'I never—[notice the first two letters are 'oo'—denying the reality] …knew you. Depart from Me, you who work lawlessness'" (vs 22-23). That's why the Greek is so particular!

Eph. 4 gets into why the Church, why the ministry, and the way that the Church gave ranks to all the various ministers was completely incorrect. What it's talking about is here:

Ephesians 4:11: "And He gave some asapostles…" Those were the first; this is the order in which He placed them in the Church, not the order of a rank of a hierarchy.

"…and some prophets, and some evangelists; and some pastors and teachers… [as it grew different functions were necessary] …for the perfecting of the saints…" (vs 11-12)—Greek: 'artios'—for the character building that we are to have.

Is not almost all of our preaching and teaching for our part character building? God is not going to give us eternal life unless we do our part.  That's why He's given us His Spirit, and His Spirit motivates us to do our part, but we have to do it.

Example: we have to pray; no one is going to pray for us. We have to study; no one is going to study for you. You have learn yourself, as you apply yourself.

"…for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the Body of Christ; until we all come into the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a perfect man…" (vs 12-13)—'telios'—Berry translates it as full grown. Grown in grace and knowledge. That does come from 'telios' and 'telion.' All of this is leading up to the resurrection!

"…unto the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ; so that we no longer be children, tossed and carried about with every wind of doctrine by the sleight of men in cunning craftiness…" (vs 13-14).

Let me tell you, Satan the devil has been busy all the time ever since the resurrection of Christ to try and destroy the faith. He's busy with it today. We're going to face some tough times. Unless we have the absolute resolve that comes from the Word of God and Truth, then it's going to be very difficult.

I don't know what some of these are going to do in some of these other Churches of God. I don't know what's going to happen, but it's going to come! Did the trial on Worldwide come when they least expected it? When it reached it's great height? Yes, indeed!

"…with a view to the systematizing of the error… [they've already done that; that's called tradition and catechism] …but holding the Truth in love…" (vs 14-15)—the whole motivating factor of our relationship with God.
What do you do when evil thoughts come into your mind? You repent! That's part of overcoming! Do you ever thing that in the flesh, since we have 'the law of sin and death' still in us… The King James says that we have been set free from 'the law of sin and death.' That's a wrong translation! It should be delivered. How are we delivered from 'the law of sin and death'? Given the Holy Spirit to overcome, that's how!

We haven't overcome the law of death, yet, because we haven't been resurrected. That comes from Christ. We are to use the Spirit of God to bring down every imagination and thought that raises its ugly head within our brain against the knowledge of Christ. We are to take those thoughts and we are to—through prayer and study and yieldedness to God—get rid of them and let our mind be re-conformed with the Spirit of God.

Today, sometimes it's a daily practice. On some days, nearly all day! Why? Because unlike generations in the past, we have the world coming into our homes via screens! Sight, sound and noise! And you've got iPads, cell phones, etc. All of these things can be used for good with the Word of God, or be used to bring people down to the depths of the pit of hell!

Only "…Truth in love, may in all things grow up…" (v 15). Remember 'telios': full grown!

• What did Christ say about the harvest? Look out on the harvest and it's white already!
• What is that when it's white? Full grown!

"…into Him Who is the Head, even Christ from Whom all the body, fitly framed and compacted together by that which every joint supplies…" (vs 15-16). We all have a part; we are all in this together though we're independent and separate persons, we are in unity with Christ!

Verse 21: "If indeed you have heard Him and have been taught in Him, according to the Truth in Jesus… [do a word search for Truth, true, etc.] …That concerning your former conduct, you put off the old man…" (vs 21-22)—our part of perfection; you put out. As long as we're in the flesh the old man and the old woman is still there!

"…which is corrupt according to deceitful lusts; and that you be renewed in the spirit of your mind" (vs 22-23). This is a daily thing!

Remember the study they have done with plants. They plant certain plants in one place and they play rock music and swear and curse that them. The plants shrivel! You put plants in another place and you water them and play nice music and tell it 'I love you.' They flourish! So, if you have a garden, give it some tender loving care, maybe you'll get ten potatoes instead of two. "…be renewed in the spirit of your mind." This is daily! It's an amazing thing!

Verse 24: "And that you put on the new man… [this is our work; the character we are building] …which according to God is created in righteousness and Holiness of the Truth. Therefore, let each one put away lies… [now we're down to the facts of what human nature is, and it still is] …and speak the truth… [How do you get rid of deceitfulness? With truth!] …speak the truth with his neighbor because we are members of one another. When you become angry… [it's not wrong to get angry, but]: …do not sin.…" (vs 24-26).

Didn't Jesus get angry when He healed the man who had the withered arm? All in the synagogue were looking at Him with gnashed teeth. He looked about angrily and said, 'Put forth your arm' and it was made whole. Then the 'loving' Pharisees ran up and embraced Him and kissed Him and said, 'Oh what a wonderful man You are.' NO! They ran out and took council on how to kill Him.

"…Do not let the sun go down on your anger" (v 26). Don't go to bed mad! How many times have you been emotionally involved in something that was really not good, and you went to bed fuming and steaming? How long did it take you to go to sleep, if you went to sleep? Go pray, get it off your mind and put it in God's hands! Have Him take care of it for you!

Here's why, because when people go around with unresolved problems and they're emotionally involved in them, and all they can do is think about the problem and the things that happened, then who comes along with some more thoughts to add to it? Who is 'the prince of the power of the air'?

Verse 27: "Neither give place to the devil…. [Paul is speaking to church members]: …Let the one who stole, steal no more; rather, let him labor with his hands, working at what is good, so that he may impart something to the one who has need. Do not let any corrupt communication come out of your mouth… [that's a challenge] …but that which is good and needful for edification that it may give grace to those who hear. And do not vex the Holy Spirit of God by which you have been sealed for the day of redemption. Let all bitterness, and indignation, and wrath, and clamor, and evil speaking be removed from you, together with all malice; and be kind and tenderhearted toward one another, forgiving one another… [you'd be surprised what forgiveness does] …even as God has also in Christ forgiven you" (vs 27-32).

Ephesians 5:1: "Therefore, be imitators of God…"—that's our model! Our part is the 'artios': developing the character with the Spirit of God in us! God's part is with His Spirit to perfect us unto the perfect man or woman prepared for the resurrection!

I don't know about you, but in some ways I feel like I'm just beginning to learn and understand. The Word of God is absolutely amazing! God has called us to an unbelievable calling and has given us the great privilege of being able to really learn His Word so that we can teach those whom He calls! That's a wonderful thing to understand.

All Scriptures from The Holy Bible in Its Original Order, A Faithful Version (except where noted)

Scriptural References:

• Proverbs 1:1-5
• Proverbs 2:1-12
• John 4:34-38
• Matthew 24:13-14
• 1 John 4:12
• Matthew 5:17-18, 48
• Matthew 7:21-23
• Ephesians 4:11-16, 21-32
• Ephesians 5:1

Scriptures referenced, not quoted:

• John 17
• Revelation 21
• Acts 1
• Genesis 1

Also referenced:

Books from CBCG:

• Proverbs for Life by Philip Neal (coming soon)
• A Harmony of the Gospels by Fred R. Coulter
• The Christian Passover by Fred R. Coulter

Books:

• The Stairway to Hell by Richard Jones
• How to be a Successful Teenager: 18 Secrets Every Teen Must Know to Succeed by Rick Jones
• Inclusive New Testament
• Interlinear Greek-English New Testament by George Ricker Berry

CD with Transcript Books:

• Gospel of John
• Grace of God
• Love of God

FRC:bo      Transcribed: 10/15/18

Copyright 2018—All rights reserved. Except for brief excerpts for review purposes, no part of this publication may be reproduced or used in any form or by any means without the written permission of the copyright owner. This includes electronic and mechanical photocopying or recording, as well as the use of information storage and retrieval systems.