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NEW
HISTORY AND GEOGRAPHY
BIBLE QUIZZES AVAILABLE
In the March 20, 2007 edition of this newsletter, we announced the availability on our Website of our new Bible quizzes. When we made that announcement, we pointed out that among those quizzes were three quizzes that dealt specifically with Bible history and geography. Today we are pleased to announce that we have now added three more history and geography quizzes to the Bible Quiz section of our Website ( www.thegospelofchrist.com/quiz ). We invite you to test your Bible knowledge by taking all three of these new quizzes.
A NOTE TO OUR READERS
ABOUT TGOC'S
HOLIDAY SCHEDULE
Normally, we send out our bi-weekly newsletter on Tuesday of every other week. However, if we were to stick to that schedule during December, the next newsletter would be arriving in your e-mail in-box on December 25. To avoid that, we have decided to delay that newsletter by two days. We will be sending it out on Thursday, December 27th. Also, please make a note on your calendar that TGOC's offices will be closed December 3-12.
TGOC EXPERIENCES
"OCTOBER MEDIA MANIA!"
We thought that readers of our newsletter might be interested in some "unusual events" that took place at our offices during October 2007. First, we sent free media (DVDs and CDs) to 24 different states within the United States. And, we sent media to 16 different countries around the world (Argentina, Chile, Columbia, Cuba, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, Indonesia, Kenya, Mexico, Nigeria, Pakistan, Philippines, Peru, South Africa, Venezuela, and Zimbabwe).
But that's not all. In October alone (a single month!), over 100 gigabytes of data were downloaded from TGOC's Website! During the entire year of 2005, 60 gigabytes were downloaded. And during the twelve months of 2006, 407 gigabytes were downloaded. Yet, in a single month in 2007 (October), over 100 gigabytes were downloaded (as of October 31, 2007, 576 gigabytes had been downloaded from the Website, and we still had two months to go).
We are serious about our goal of "taking the whole Gospel to the whole world." Thank you for helping us try to obtain that goal. Please recommend TGOC to others, won't you? [In fact, why not forward this newsletter to friends, family members, or coworkers?]
TGOC ANNOUNCES
LESSONS ELEVEN AND TWELVE
IN ITS MOTIVATIONAL SERIES
In the April 4, April 17, May 1, May 15, and November 13 editions of our newsletter, we announced the availability of the first ten lessons in our Motivational Series. In this newsletter, we are pleased to announce the availability of lessons eleven and twelve in that series ("You Are the Salt of the Earth" and "The Non-conversion of Felix). In future newsletters, we will be announcing lessons thirteen through sixteen.
In his lesson, "You Are the Salt of the Earth," James Gravelle begins his lesson with a statement made by Christ in His Sermon on the Mount, "You are the salt of the earth; but if the salt loses its flavor, how shall it be seasoned? It is then good for nothing but to be thrown out and trampled underfoot by men" (Mt. 5:13). James then asks, "Have you ever wondered why Jesus would refer to His disciples as 'salt'?" The answer to that question forms the basis of the remainder of James' remarks as he observes that within Jesus' comments we find "a description that we should appreciate, a danger that we should avoid, and a destiny that we should abhor." As part of the "description that we should appreciate," James points out the various positive traits of salt. It works at its own expense, speaks for itself, preserves, purifies, penetrates, and even heals. Christians should do likewise.
However, as part of the "danger that we should avoid," James returns to Jesus' statement about salt: "But if the salt loses its flavor, how shall it be seasoned?" We learn from numerous passages within the New Testament that a Christian can apostatize, fall from grace, and be lost. As Jesus Himself pointed out, a branch may become fruitless (Jn. 15:1-7), a sheep may stray (Lk. 15:1-7), and a son may depart (Lk. 15:11-32). These are things that we need to avoid at all cost, lest they cost us our immortal souls.
Last, we find in Matthew 5:13 "a destiny to abhor." In speaking of salt, Jesus went on to say, "It is then good for nothing but to be thrown out and trampled underfoot by men." As James observes, "We certainly do not want to follow that example as we live the Christian life. We do not want Jesus to throw us out. Instead, we want to do all we can to live for Him in this world." We, like salt, need to be a positive influence.
In his lesson on "The Non-conversion of Felix," James opens with Acts 24:25—"Now as he [Paul] reasoned about righteousness, self-control, and the judgment to come, Felix was afraid and answered, 'Go away for now; when I have a convenient time I will call for you.' " James then says, "We often speak about conversions in the Book of Acts where someone hears the Gospel, has the proper reaction to the Gospel plan of salvation, and obeys the Gospel. But do we ever talk about conversion failures?"
One of the most famous of those "conversion failures," of course, is the case of Felix. The apostle Paul had just completed his third missionary journey and was now back in Jerusalem. Acts 21:28 tells us that Jews from Asia had stirred up the people in the temple. In Acts 21:30, we see Paul being seized by the Jews so that they could beat and kill him. Paul, however, was saved by the Romans (vss. 31-32). Suddenly, Paul found himself in a tug-of-war between the two forces. Eventually, Paul was sent to the Roman governor, Felix, in Caesarea, where he was charged with four different things. In Acts 24:5, Paul is said to be: (1) a plague; (2) a creator of dissension among the Jews; and (3) a ringleader of the sect of the Nazarenes. In verse 6, he is accused of being (4) a profaner of the temple.
In Acts 24:10-21 we find Paul's self-defense as offered before Felix. Felix had been sent to Caesarea by Claudius Caesar to serve as governor of Judea. Felix's wife Drusilla was the daughter of Herod Agrippa I (who, according to Acts 12, had murdered James). She was the great-niece of Herod Antipas (who, according to Mark 6, had beheaded John the Immerser). She was the great-granddaughter of Herod the Great (who, according to Matthew 2, had the infants in Bethlehem murdered). At an early age she had been given in marriage to King Azizus of Emesa. But Felix wanted her as his wife. So he induced her to leave her husband and come live with him. If anyone ever needed to hear the Gospel message, Felix and Drusilla definitely did!
It may seem odd to us that Felix actually was delighted at the prospect of having Paul stand before him, but he was. From Acts 24:24 we learn that Felix desired to hear Paul "concerning the faith in Christ.” But he also had another less-pure motive, as verse 26 makes clear when it notes that Felix "hoped that money would be given him by Paul, that he might release him." Felix, however, got more than he had bargained for. Acts 24:25 states that Paul "reasoned about righteousness, self-control, and the judgment to come."
Interestingly, Acts 24:25 also records that, upon hearing Paul's discourse, "Felix was afraid" (New King James Version). The King James Version of 1611 says that Felix "trembled." The American Standard Version of 1901 says that he was "terrified." He was terrified because he knew that he would have to give account of himself to God—something that made Felix tremble at Paul's statements regarding a coming judgment.
And how did Felix respond? Felix said to Paul, "Go away for now; when I have a convenient time I will call for you." There is no evidence—sacred or secular—that Felix's "convenient season" ever arrived. He thus serves as an example to all who would delay their obedience to the Gospel. Only foolishness can be seen in such actions, for three reasons. First, death may occur at any moment, as James pointed out in James 4:14, when he observed, "What is your life? It is even a vapor that appears for a little time and then vanishes away." Second, a person's heart may become so hardened by sin that the Word of God has no chance to take root. In Hebrews 3:13, for example, the writer said, "Exhort one another daily, while it is called ‘Today,’ lest any of you be hardened through the deceitfulness of sin." Third, the Lord could return at any time. Peter said in 2 Peter 3:10 that "the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night."
Felix had a grand opportunity to hear the Gospel preached by an apostle of Jesus Christ. And, to his credit, he took it. He even had the proper initial reaction to what he heard, because he was fearful as he was convicted of his sins. That fearfulness should have led Felix to repent and obey the Gospel. But, instead he decided to wait for "a more convenient season," which, so far as we know, never came. It has been said that "no man's life is a total waste; at least he can serve as a bad example." Felix is the poster boy for procrastination in this regard—procrastination at hearing and obeying the Lord's will. There is no glory in someone's life being either a total waste or a bad example. There is, however, glory in being a child of God. How sad that Felix never experienced that glory.
Both of these lessons are now available on our Website, where you will find them in video, audio, and written transcript formats. We invite you to examine them for yourself, and to share them with others.
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