I Am Not What I Will Be

By Dr. Ronnie W. Wolfe

It is a fact that I am not what I will be. There is no doubt that I will be older if I continue to live. I may be weaker, and  I may be ill or in a nursing home; but it is certain I am not what I will be. But I am not talking about these things. I will explain as we go along.

In thinking of this subject, let us consider that I am not what I used to be. When the Lord saved my soul at the age of 13, I was changed both in my mind and my soul. I repented of my sins and trusted Jesus Christ as Savior. I am now a new creature in Christ, because . . .if a man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all thing are become new, (2 Cor. 5:17).

Neither am I what I could be. I could be involved in all kinds of terrible sin. I could be a murderer. I could be a gambler or many more evil things, but I am not, due to God's grace.

But then I am what I am, as Paul says, . . . by the grace of God I am what I am . . . (1 Cor. 15:10).

But, then I am not what I will be. I will one day be perfect. I will be changed in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye (1 Cor. 15:32). I will be with Jesus (John 14:3). I will be in eternity that was promised to me by Christ (Heb. 9:15). I will have a new body like the Lord's (Phil. 3:21). Are you saved by God's grace? If not, you may be right now what you will always be.

You are what you are, but are you what you are by the grace of God? Only God's grace can change your heart and give you a new life so you will be a new creature. Trust him today for salvation.

From First Baptist Church Bulletin, Feb. 16, 2014

Great Grace

By Dr. Ronnie Wolfe

The phrase “great grace” is used only once in the Bible:  Acts 4:33 And with great power gave the apostles witness of the resurrection of the Lord Jesus: and great grace was upon them all.  The Bible speaks often of grace, but we notice here that for great grace to be used is a very special thing.  The word grace is used 122 times in the New Testament and 37 times in the Old Testament, so that wonderful word is used a total of 159 times in the Bible. That is an average of 2 1/2 times for each book of the Bible.

Grace is a wonderful word, because it expresses a work that God does for us that we cannot do for ourselves. To express great grace in our language, we use words such as amazing and wonderful. Some very precious songs have been written with grace in mind:  Amazing Grace, Wonderful Grace of Jesus, and Grace Greater Than All Our Sin, et al.

How to express this great grace is actually impossible for humans to accomplish. Grace is a mystery, and we are the recipients of it by God’s own will. How wonderful it is that God would extend his grace to us! We are undeserving of any grace from God, but he saved us by his grace. Ephesians 2:8 For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: I would call this Great Grace.

Closing The Doors

Malachi 1:10
By Dr. Ronnie W. Wolfe

Malachi 1:10 Who is there even among you that would shut the doors for nought? neither do ye kindle fire on mine altar for nought. I have no pleasure in you, saith the LORD of hosts, neither will I accept an offering at your hand.

In our lesson today we are going to concentrate on the word "shut the doors for nought." The word "for nought" are taken from the Hebrew word CHINNAM, and it has shades of meaning, mainly the meaning of free of charge and the meaning of for no purpose, vain.

If we take the first meaning, we see that Malachi is asking if there were any who would simply shut the doors of the temple at the proper times without charge, or without being paid to do the work. This idea is shared by Hawker thus:  "though none of you will so much as open the doors of my house without a reward . . ." Henry relates it this way:  "The priests would offer the sacrifices that were brought to the altar, because they had their share of them; but as for any other service of the temple, that had not a particular fee belonging to it, they would not stir a step, nor lend a hand, to it; and this was the general temper of them."

Some, I suppose, today in our churches do a good work for the Lord, but it is only for pay; and, although a pastor is to live of the gospel, he is not to allow that to be his passion but rather the preaching and teaching of the word of God.

Jamison, Fauset, and Brown render the meaning thus:  "Better no sacrifices than vain ones (Isaiah 1:11-15)."

Also, John Gill thus:  "would there were any among you?" any good man that would shut the doors of the temple, that so a man might not bring an abominable offering; intimating, that the priests or Levites however, who were porters, ought to shut the doors against such persons;"

The text, I believe,  bears out that the shutting of the doors here refers to the vanity of the offerings that were given to God by the priests; therefore, the doors should never be opened to them, since the offerings have no real value.  The text states that the offerings have been profaned; that is, of no value for worship. Actually, this is a participle (according to some) and indicates a continuing offering of profanity to God (see verse 12).  Also, verse 13 explains further the vanity of the offerings given to God: they are a weariness, they are snuffed at; they are torn, lame, sick. This denotes that the offerings given in practice (not in heart) to God were actually vain.

With these vain and profaned offerings, perhaps there needs to be a shutting of doors among some "Christian" churches that offer up these vain sacrifices to God.Matthew 15:9 But in vain they do worship me, teaching [for] doctrines the commandments of men.

But there will be a day, according to verse 11, that the name of the Lord will be great among the Gentiles, and there will be a pure offering given to God from among the heathen. This, no doubt, reaches far into time when Jesus will set up his Millennial Reign upon the earth, and both Jews and Gentiles shall offer a pure offering to him from the heart and not simply from practice.

We remember the words in Matthew 15:9 But in vain they do worship me, teaching for doctrines the commandments of men. I pray we do not worship the Lord in vain. May he be glorified in our worship and our sacrifice of praise to his name.

May the door ever remain open in our churches because of our pure offering unto the Lord.

The Other Side of Time

by Dr. Ronnie W. Wolfe – March 20, 2014
For the Funeral of Connie Garrod

Time sometimes is a logical curse
Restraining our lives and our hearts
To this mortal coil of life bad or worse
To Satan and his evil darts.

With human restraints and moral decline
We stand in a temporal place.
Running still upward to a place so sublime,
So weary of running the race.

But somewhere beyond this portal of years
Taught neither by rhythm nor rhyme
A place so sublime with no shedding tears
A place not on this side of time.

To go there demands a sore, broken heart
Submissive to God’s inward call,
To give up the heart with each calling part
And to the Chief Shepherd give all.

The other side of time will recall
The desire to leave all behind,
And go to that place by the Savior’s strong call
Where our glorious possessions we find.

My heart’s desire and prayer to God
Is that souls be saved by God’s grace,
Live a pure life as we walk on this sod,
Then go to this wonderful place.

This is a place of wonderful scenes
Where the Savior, Jesus, we’ll find
And this is the place where our faith surely leans,
On the other side of time.

Snow

By Ronnie W. Wolfe – 3-2-2014

Snow, snow, gentle snow
Coming to the waiting ground,
What wonders do you have for us,
What surprises all around?

Will you come in calmly quiet,
Or will you come with fear?
Will you spread your beauty on
The rose that bloomed last year?

Will you come to stay a while,
Or will you go away,
Quickly parting from the scene,
Or have you come to stay?

Harder and faster the flakes fall by;
The beauty is deceiving;
But just to hear reports today,
It’s hard for those believing.

The clouds are full with anticipation
To give us their supply
Of ice and rain and snow and such
While winter’s passing by.

Do not despair of this, my friend,
For all can know one thing.
After this, the cold, cold snow,
Comes the beauty of welcome spring.

Today: 1-7-2013

Each day is a special gift from God. There are the same amount of hours in every day around the world. Each person has the same amount of time to do what he or she desires to do in each day.

Would it not be a wonderful dedication if each one of us who are believers would determine that we will use every day of this new year to do as much as we can to exhort Christ and to encourage and build up the Kingdom of God? There are and will be hindrances because of illnesses and other things that are not under our immediate control, but we should still have ample time to do something for Jesus Christ each day of the year.

A good idea would be to make a list of things that each of us could do to be more effective in the work of Christ. As ideas come to us, we should write them down on a list; and if one thing is not easy enough to do, then we can choose another one of the list.

The main thing, however, is just to get started. Someone said several years ago that, "I car is not worth anything if you cannot get it started." I wish I knew who started that, but I do not.

There are a few things that every believer should do every day if at all possible:

1.  Pray
2.  Read Scripture
3.  Do everything with the expectation that you will soon be in the Lord's house with other believers.
4.  Love
5.  Forgive
6.  Give as the opportunities come

There are many more we could list, but these are a few that will get us started.

Remember that the Lord said in "Luke 2:49 A  ". . .  wist ye not that I must be about my Father’s business?"

Hearing The Gospel

______________________QUESTION

Hi Ronnie: question for you and no super need of urgency in your response: In your opinion, can a lost person become saved through any means other than by HEARING the SPOKEN word of God? (caps because cant italicize on a smart phone). If that statement is true, it would mean a lost person is unable to be reached for salvation by reading a post on the Internet, listening to a song, reading a Christian book, or even by reading the Bible. Could get saved listening to a sermon on YouTube, however. If untrue, back up your reply with proof from scripture. thx.

______________________ ANSWER 


Ronnie Wolfe

Well, that has always been a difficult thing to debate or discuss. I have very close friends who believe that the Gospel must be heard with the ears.

But I have a small problem with that, since a mission to get the word to the deaf would be useless. Then, if you say that sign language is a kind of hearing, you have admitted that hearing does not mean hearing only with the ears.

I am persuaded, then, that a person's hearing the Gospel has to do with hearing it in the mind and heart, not with the ears. Of course, I have no scriptures for that (therein is the rub).

However, I do see that God heard the voice of Cain's blood from the ground, which was not literally hearing a sound.

Also, in Luke 16:31 we read of "hearing Moses," which could mean literal hearing, but it cannot literally mean "hearing Moses."

Jesus said in John 10:27, "My sheep hear my voice." They do not literally hear Jesus' voice, although you might argue that they heard "about" Jesus, which is not the same, thus it cannot be completely literal.

Jesus also says in John 18:37, "Every one that is of the truth heareth my voice." They are not literally hearing Jesus' voice.

Again, see Revelation 3:20.

The only other thing I can give as an argument for "my case" is Galatians 3:2, 5 concerning the "hearing of faith." I know that an argument can be made that this is "hearing about faith," but it seems to me that Paul is speaking of the "perception" of faith, although he does use the word hearing.

I believe that I have witnessed personally the receiving of faith in Christ by those who cannot hear with the ear; therefore, I must believe that they can be saved without literally "hearing" the Gospel but must hear the Gospel in their hearts.

I do, however, believe that it is necessary for the Gospel to be preached (whether by voice or by sign language, or some other way I cannot comprehend) in order for a person to be saved.

Thanks for stimulating my little brain today. God bless.