Msg#1614 In Remnants Not Mega-Majorities

What The Bible Says

Good Samaritan's Penny Pulpit by Pastor Ed Rice

Gideon was likely concerned about facing off against the Midianites with only 32,000 soldiers; they would be outnumbered by more than three-to-one. Sometimes one wonders if the LORD God really knows what we are up against down here. The hosts of the Midianites filled the whole valley by the hill Moreh, “and the LORD said unto Gideon, The people that are with thee are too many” (Jud 7:2a). Like Israel, Christians might tend to “vaunt themselves against (God), saying, Mine own hand hath saved me” (7:2b). The LORD God does his best work when we are at our whit's end. God whittled Gideon's army down to only 300 nobodies before delivering his miraculous victory over the Midianites. He uses the same tactic today. God is in the remnant, not the mega or the majority. Be leery of church growth that comes from a charismatic leader, or entertainment program. God does not work through a majority vote. That vote might “trump” a queen Athalia who wants in power but either way we get an egotistical incompetent, and this rebellious nation, sinking into moral depravity, deserves no less. Then there is the Islamic invasion launched from Obama's endorsed Arab Spring. America is overwhelmed in evil and one can learn a lot from God's dealings with Gideon and his three-hundred. God does his most miraculous work when it is certain that we won't be taking any of his glory. A nobody telling everybody about somebody who can save anybody, is not for glory seekers. True believers are outnumbered and outgunned in this world. Whether it be church politics, world politics or a doctor's waiting room, God shines the brightest when the odds are against us. “O LORD of hosts, blessed is the man that trusteth in thee” (Psalm 84:12).

An Essay for week #14 Apr 3, 16

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Question on Msg#1613's 3 Days and 3 Nights

On 3/30/2016 [email protected] wrote:

Thank you Pastor Rice for today's Penny Pulpit on 3 days and 3 nights. I agree with you, but I am unsure how best to respond to the assertion that "any part of a day is considered a day according to Jewish tradition" argument. I am not sure where they get that teaching from or started that thought — just like the folded napkin story. Could you give me a suggestion?

Dear Pastor

Thanks for writing. Remember what I said about traditions; they will often twist your Bible understandings.

I had not heard of any partial day considerations in Jewish traditions. I do know that they take their Genesis account very literally and when God said the evening and the morning were the first day, they have been counting their days that way ever since; whereas we traditionally use a mid-night starting of our day. Both traditions are insignificant when considering Christ's crucifixion and resurrection.

From my studies Christ was crucified on:

1) Passover, he was the passover lamb that taketh away the sin of the world (1Cor 5:7),

2) the preparation for the feast of unleavened bread, (Mark 15:42, Luke 23:54, John 19:14)

3) the 14th day of the month of Abib (Exod 12:6, 13:4, 23:15, 34:18, Deu 16:1) (the name was revised to "Nisan" after Babylonians messed with it),

4) the exact time they killed the passover lambs (1Cor5:7),

5) six days after the feast at Bethany (John 12:1), which feast was not on a Sabbath Day, ergo it was on a Friday,

6) three days before the Sunday which found the disciples on the Emaus road (Luke 24:13, 18), and

7) a Thursday because it falls six days after Friday (#5 above) and three days before a Sunday (#6 above).

Also noted previous, Palm Sunday falling on Sunday and on the 10th of Abib (Exod 12:3) causes the 14th to be on a Thursday, AND the Bible dictation of all that happened after his triumphal entry and before his crucifixion accounts for a Monday, a Tuesday and a Wednesday, three full days, resulting in a Thursday crucifixion.

All this Bible evidence necessitates a day count which includes Thursday day (he died in the 9th hour of the day, i.e. 3pm, no matter when Joseph and Nick got his body into the tomb his soul was in the heart of the earth on that Thursday), Thursday night, Friday day, Friday night, Saturday day, Saturday night. That is three days and three nights as specifically called out in Matthew 12:40.

All this settles it for me; that Wednesday night was his last supper with the disciples, and Thursday was the day of his crucifixion. I enjoy debate with Baptists who hold to a Wednesday crucifixion, they insist on three twenty-four hour days spent in the tomb. I'll not debate with someone who holds to a Roman Good Friday, they do not have a leg to stand on.

Thanks for asking. God bless your studies.

Pastor Rice

Msg#1612 Palm Sunday and the Tenth of Abib

What The Bible Says

Good Samaritan's Penny Pulpit by Pastor Ed Rice

The relationship between Palm Sunday and the Tenth of Abib was shrouded in Baptist ignorance during my childhood. Indeed it was not uncovered in my enrollment in three Bible Colleges and two Bible Institutes. Baptists are ofttimes paranoid about “religious holidays” because they drip with the vile heresy that spews from the apostate Roman Church. Mardi Gras, Lent, Ash Wednesday, Maundy Thursday, Good Friday, and Easter Bunnies are all swollen with the leaven of that apostasy. It is only on God's calendar that one finds the importance and connection between the Tenth of Abib, the Fourteenth of Abib, and the First Day of the Week. Exodus twelve requires that the Hebrew's passover lamb be separated from the flock on the tenth day of the month Abib. It was kept separate and examined for four days; there was to be no spot or blemish in the passover lamb. On the fourteenth day of the month the holy passover lamb was to be slain; the next day, the fifteenth was a Sabbath Day, a High Sabbath Day, as it came to be called. Even if the fifteenth was on a Friday, it was called a Sabbath Day. The Roman religionists and the concurring Protestant clergy, are balefully ignorant of the Old Testament. On Palm Sunday on the streets of Jerusalem the crowds cried out “Hosanna, Blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord.” They didn't know, but on the tenth day of Abib they separated The Passover Lamb from the rest of the flock, and on the fourteenth day hey crucified the Lamb of God that taketh away the sin of the world. God's calendar was fulfilled very meticulously: Christ, chosen and slain as our Passover Lamb. The Bible student dare not remain ignorant of these things.

An Essay for week #12 Mar 20, 16

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Msg#1613 After Three Days and Three Nights

What The Bible Says

Good Samaritan's Penny Pulpit by Pastor Ed Rice

Easter was converted to Christianity. It used to be connected to the Roman worship of solar equinox (December 25 to the Roman worship of the solar solstice). Easter is now connected with the Hebrew calendar, always being the first Sunday after the Jewish Passover. It was on the Passover, 1,987 years ago, that Romans crucified our Lord Jesus Christ. The Bible student knows that Christ's crucifixion was on the preparation day and that the day following was a High Sabbath Day, beginning the Feast of Unleavened Bread (John 19:31). It is unfortunate that unstudied Romans called that Friday “good”, and unwitting Protestants called that Thursday “Maundy.” The Romans still mislead millions about the events of the week and the three days and three nights Christ spent in the heart of the earth (Matt 12:40). Two Sabbath Days, back to back, is not uncommon in a Hebrew calendar. On this fateful occasion they kept the women from attending to the body of Jesus for the three day and three night promise of God. In God's providence they came to the tomb after the third day, on the first day of the week, and there they found that Christ was resurrected, just as he said. We celebrate the miraculous fulfillment of the Messiah's promise, that after three days and three nights in the tomb Christ would raise victorious over death. The Jews started the rumor that disciples stole the body away; Romans rumored that Jesus only spent a day and a half in the tomb. The truth can set you free; free from religion, free from false teachings, and free to believe every word of God's Holy Bible. If ever the Bible student should defy the traditions of man and rely completely on God's Word, it should be for His resurrection.

An Essay for week #13 Mar 27, 16

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Msg#1611 The Bible Brings the Day Star

What The Bible Says

Good Samaritan's Penny Pulpit by Pastor Ed Rice

Peter the fisherman was seasoned by the Christ to where his last words have an everlasting impact on the eternal Word of God. In the apostles dying breath he asserts, “For we have not followed cunningly devised fables, when we made known unto you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but were eyewitnesses of his majesty… and (we now) have a more sure word of prophecy… knowing this… (that) holy men of God spake (the Holy Scriptures) as they were moved by the Holy Ghost” (2Peter 1:16-21). This powerful assertion for the verbal plenary inspiration of the Word of God, the Holy Bible, is the crescendo of the twelve Apostles of the Lamb. It needs no Roman Catholic Synods or endorsement of “Church Fathers.” The apostles themselves and the apostles alone sanctify every inerrant, infallible word; Praise His Holy Name. Of the Holy Bible Peter says, “Ye do well that ye take heed:” it is a light shining in a dark place, as a day dawning and the day star rising in hearts (1:19). It is curious that this alludes to both Christ's coming into the world, and his coming into hearts. He is, of course, “the light of the world” (John 8:12, 9:5), and he is the “day star.” Astronomy buffs know that Venus, the second planet from the sun, often appears just before sunrise, earning it the name “morning star” (cf. Rev 2:28, 22:16). It is also often the first star you see at night. The sun itself is the “day star” referenced in 2Peter 1:19. Be careful here, the Mason's Eastern Star and the “son of the morning” called “Lucifer” (Isaiah 14:12) is a different critter altogether. Peter says it is God's Word that causes the day star to arise in a heart. Awesome.

An Essay for week #11 Mar 13, 16

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Msg#1610 Be A Well Studied Soldier

What The Bible Says

Good Samaritan's Penny Pulpit by Pastor Ed Rice

These essays flow out of what I preach on Sundays; this week my favorite Missionary preached and then his son preached in our pm service. Therein my grandson preached our need to study, sacrifice, serve and soldier. As a school teacher I loved the Apostle Paul's demeanor when he said, “Study to be quiet and to do your own business, and to work with your own hands” (1Thes 4:11). The classroom aside, Paul calls our business the commandments, our walk, and our “lack of nothing” (vr.12). Studying to be quiet and to do our own business implies a diligence in keeping the main thing the main thing. If ever that was important it is in this ugly election year. God trumps politics, people need the Lord. Paul describes our sacrifice as only a reasonable service (Rom 12:1-2). Keeping it so ensures one “not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think” (vr. 3). Writing to the churches of Galatia Paul asserts, “For do I now persuade men, or God? Or do I seek to please men? for if I yet pleased men, I should not be the servant of Christ” (Gal 1:10). There is little uglier than fighting and gloating in the servant's quarters; yet Christians do it. Even the disciples fought about who would be greatest. Selflessness, not greatness, is to be a servants aspiration. Study, sacrifice, and servant-hood, culminate in the character of a soldier. “Thou therefore endure hardness, as a good soldier of Jesus Christ. No man that warreth entangleth himself with the affairs of this life; that he may please him who hath chosen him to be a soldier” (2Tim 2:3-4). Not every fifteen year old can ascribe this outline, but every Christian is to ascribe to it as a way of life.

An Essay for week #10 Mar 6, 16

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Msg#1609 The World is Judged

What The Bible Says

Good Samaritan's Penny Pulpit by Pastor Ed Rice

Israel, the man was redeemed from all evil (Gen 48:16); Israel, the nation was redeemed out of Egypt (Exod 6:6, 15:13); born-again-saved believers are redeemed out of the world (Rev 5:9); Egypt, in Scripture, is representative of the world and all of its evil. In their youth some of Israel, the nation wanted to go back into Egypt for “the cucumbers, and the melons, and the leeks, and the onions, and the garlick” (Num 11:5). Sometimes young believers want to go back into the world. The picture of Egypt representing the world is certain. God sent his only begotten Son into this world, but called him out of this world. “When Israel was a child, then I loved him, and called my son out of Egypt” (Hosea 11:1). God fled Joseph and Mary into Egypt just so he could reinforce this symbolism and say, “that it might be fulfilled which was spoken of the Lord by the prophet, saying, Out of Egypt have I called my son” (Matt 2:15). In Ezekiel chapter thirty, thirty-one and thirty-two God gives a very clear judgment against Egypt, a condemnation of Pharaoh, and a lamentation for the king of Egypt. “Even the day of the LORD is near, a cloudy day, it shall be the time of the heathen” (Ezek30:3). In verse five all the bordering nations, ideas and attitudes of Egypt are included in this end time judgment. What is a believer to do in these last days? “Son of man, prophecy and say, thus saith the Lord GOD; Howl ye, Woe worth the day!” (Ezek30:2). And be a watchman. “When I bring the sword upon a land,… take a man of their coasts, and set him for their watchman” (Ezek33:2). And always side with Israel (1King 8:16). God will when America won't.

An Essay for week #9 Feb 28, 16

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Msg#1608 Not to Faint

What The Bible Says

Good Samaritan's Penny Pulpit by Pastor Ed Rice

A soldier standing at attention in parade must flex his knees and toes to keep blood circulating else he faint. When blood gets occupied elsewhere and does not keep the brain supplied one faints. Women are constructed for child bearing and may faint from shock or sudden stress because their blood circulation is purposely occupied elsewhere. When the brain does not get adequate blood, lowering it below the heart can relieve the ailment. Fainting gets the head down in a hurry, but not really safely. A poor heart, poor lungs, or being anemic will also cause fainting, as will clogged arteries. When a person faints they do not function, they injure themselves in the fall, and they incapacitate the people who are caring for them. Fainting is contagious; on parade once that first soldier faints they start keeling over left and right. Jesus taught us that men ought always to pray and not to faint (Luke 18:1). On a spiritual plane prayer keeps our circulation good and circumvents the causes of fainting. Prayer then prevents all these disabling results of fainting. It cures spiritual anemia, resolves breathing ailments, and heals heart problems. Pray that you don't faint, but also know that praying prevents fainting just like exercise and flexing the muscles prevents fainting. We can get so busy doing other things, even good things, that like the soldier on parade, focused on other tasks, we keel over, we injure ourselves, we occupy others and we induce others to fall. Flex your knees. How long does it take for you to have a “Sweet Hour of Prayer?” Some take twenty days at three minutes per day. Men ought always to pray, and not to faint.

An Essay for week #8 Feb 21, 16

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Msg#1607 Valentines Day At Last

What The Bible Says

Good Samaritan's Penny Pulpit by Pastor Ed Rice

God intended that love and marriage be a taste of paradise here on earth. There is no more intimate relationship than marriage. It is holy because it portrays the intimacy that God wants with us, but if a marriage does not follow God's blueprint it will taste like something, alright, but it won't be paradise. The roles of the husband and wife in marriage are clearly outlined in God's Word. They are overtly contradicted in today's Godless society. For wives God uses words like submit, chaste, and keepers at home, for husbands, love, sanctify and leadership. It takes more than a King James Bible and a good dictionary (or Lexicon) to find these words in one's marriage; it takes the Lord Jesus Christ living in the redeemed soul of each participant. We marry to fulfill love, significance, and security in our lives. Humans made in the image of God are designed to love, and to be loved. Imagine the life of one who is significant to no one, and considers none significant. Imagine the life of one who has no security in a significant loved one: unsure if they will even care about or be cared about tomorrow. Each of these essential needs has three dimensions, with physical, emotional, and spiritual sides. Although these 3D needs overlap they are the essential needs that can find complete fulfillment in only two places in this world: they can be fulfilled in marriage, and they can be fulfilled in Christ. When you are properly in BOTH of these relationships you can have that taste of paradise. Valentines Day is strategically placed just before the raging hormones of spring arrive, just so one will pause, and take stock in their love, their significance, and their security. Happy Valentines Day; take inventory of your stocks.

An Essay for week #7 Feb 14, 16

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