One of blackest verses in all of Bible

"If you want to see one of the blackest verses in all of the Word of God, it’s in the first verse of II Chronicles 18: [1] Now Jehoshaphat had riches and honour in abundance, and joined affinity with Ahab.

“You know what he did? He went over to the side of a Baal-worshipping king who didn’t care anything about God’s Word or people and was married to Jezebel, the priestess of Baal," explains Richard Jordan.

“From that point on, Jehoshaphat went in the tank. The lesson is you don’t want to compromise what God’s Word says; you'll wind up in a mess.

"Just in the previous chapter (II Chronicles 17), Jehoshaphat King of Judah was commended for his zeal in suppressing idolatrous worship: [6] And his heart was lifted up in the ways of the LORD: moreover he took away the high places and groves out of Judah.

[7] Also in the third year of his reign he sent to his princes, even to Ben-hail, and to Obadiah, and to Zechariah, and to Nethaneel, and to Michaiah, to teach in the cities of Judah.
[9] And they taught in Judah, and had the book of the law of the LORD with them, and went about throughout all the cities of Judah, and taught the people.

“They had their Bibles and once they got through Bible school, they went out and started teaching. So you see what we do isn't strange at all.

"The Book was the key. You go on down in that passage and you see there was tremendous victory for them. Nobody made any war. Everybody sent them presents, peace and prosperity.

“As verses 10-11 say, [10] And the fear of the LORD fell upon all the kingdoms of the lands that were round about Judah, so that they made no war against Jehoshaphat.
[11] Also some of the Philistines brought Jehoshaphat presents, and tribute silver; and the Arabians brought him flocks, seven thousand and seven hundred rams, and seven thousand and seven hundred he goats.

*****

"Paul writes in I Corinthians 3 [1] And I, brethren, could not speak unto you as unto spiritual, but as unto carnal, even as unto babes in Christ.

[2] I have fed you with milk, and not with meat: for hitherto ye were not able to bear it, neither yet now are ye able.

“Carnality is minding the things of the flesh; human viewpoint. It’s having this mindset where you’re not functioning on the basis of the sound doctrine, the grace doctrine, the truths Paul’s given you in his epistles.

“Spirituality is a growing process that is a product of a relationship. It’s not the process of the application of a formula, where you jump from one level to another. 

“When you cease the going on and upward in the growth structure—that constant, never-ending growth—when you stop that, that’s when you’re in Ephesians 4:17: [17] This I say therefore, and testify in the Lord, that ye henceforth walk not as other Gentiles walk, in the vanity of their mind. You’ve stopped the growing process.

*****

“There was a young man in the original class of Grace School of the Bible who, for the sermon preparation delivery course, would bring a stack of books under his arm for every class.

"He had a real thick homiletics book that was, in fact, a famous book and one I had a copy of. He was dissecting everything in that book, parsing every sentence, getting all that stuff down and he’d have the hardest time of anybody in the class trying to learn to put a message together.

“He came to me one day and said, ‘I’m just not getting this,’ and I said, ‘I know.’ He asked what he should do and I told him, ‘Throw all those books in the garbage.’

“What I did was I took them and put them on my shelf and said, ‘I’m going to put a bag on top of them and when this class is over with, I’ll give them back to you, but until then you can’t have them anymore.’

“We were having practice preaching at that time and I would assign the class a passage, giving them two weeks to come up with a message. It had to be homiletically developed and all that business.

“I said, ‘You take that passage and study it, and when that passage burns in your soul . . .  there’s a truth in that passage and when the light from that passage burns in your heart, you’ll be ready.’

“Do you know, that young guy turned into quite a preacher. When you’ve got that thing burning in your heart like Jeremiah, you try and shut your mouth and, folks, steam comes out your ears because you can’t help it. In your ministry, that’s the issue.

*****

“When you get to the judgment seat of Christ, you know what’s going to be the issue? THAT'S going to be the issue. What SORT it is. And when your work abides it’s because God is working for Himself THROUGH you, and it’s what God is doing for Himself through you as you ‘access by faith the grace wherein you stand.’

“It’s His life, living in you out through you, as you walk by faith in the doctrine, taking your stand in the truth and making that the reality in your life, even when everything else looks like it’s different . . . when that’s what’s going on in your life and it’s God working, Paul says in I Corinthians 3:14, ‘[14] If any man's work abide which he hath built thereupon, he shall receive a reward.

“That’s why we jump up and down, scream and holler and run all over the world talking about 'rightly dividing the word.' It's that important. Why? Because without it you’ll never understand who God’s made you in Christ; who you are as a member of the Body of Christ. You’re always going to think you’re somebody you’re not.

“The religious system, the satanic policy of evil, is designed against the Body of Christ to deceive you into thinking you’re somebody you’re not; that you’re Israel or whoever. What right division says is, ‘Here’s who you are and here’s what God's doing.’ ”

(new article tomorrow)