Bruce Tyson's popular book on the four personalities of Third John is now avaialble in Kindle format.

First published in 1991, Strangers in the House? by Bruce Tyson has been a popular staple for Christians looking for a simple, but thoughtful analysis of the Book of Third John.

Summary

In the book, Bruce examines the four personalities found in the Book of Third John in the Bible: John, Gaius, Demetrius and Diotrephes. The first three are commendable, yet are often strangers in the House of God. Diotrephes, an example of all that can possibly go wrong with the local church, is far too common inside the church setting.

This exciting book examines these four men and challenges readers to avoid the bad example of Diotrephes so he – rather than the others become strangers in the house.

More Information

Strangers in the House? is available in Kindle format for Kindle book readers and Kindle software. It’s current list price is $2.99. Buy Strangers in the House? today.

"We shall see what will become of his dreams" - Joseph's brothers

Come now therefore, and let us slay him, and cast him into some pit, and we will say, Some evil beast hath devoured him: and we shall see what will become of his dreams. Gen 37:20

The Bible never says anything bad about Joseph, but from the perspective of the flesh we could say something bad about him: He should have zipped his lip. His brothers wouldn’t have hated him had he not gone spouting off to them about his phenomenal dreams. (What I just said sounds like part of Ron Paul’s foreign policy.)

Guilt serves no purpose

A few moments of thought will help us understand about the relationship between Joseph and his brethren.

Understanding the brethren

If someone at the office continually bragged to others about knowing for certain that one day he or she would be their boss, how do you think they’d react? Most people don’t like other people who brag. Most people don’t like other people who brag about their superiority. Most people don’t like people who brag about their superiority and say that God told them about it. Such a coworker would probably be branded as the coworker from Hell in most workplaces. Joseph’s brethren were clearly not nice to him, but we can at least understand why the brethren threw Joseph into the ditch.

Just be yourself

While lying in the ditch awaiting his fate, Joseph may have (he probably didn’t, but he may have) second-guessed the wisdom of sharing his visions with his brethren. “If I had just kept quiet, I’d be in good shape at my father’s house,” he might have thought.

An ordinary person could easily be filled with guilt, knowing that his or her own behavior resulted in a dire predicament. Onlookers could easily judge a person for running their mouth and then suffering the consequences for it. The message here is that people should accept who they are. Guilt serves no purpose and worry is a waste of time.

Despite the fact that Joseph caused his own problem, God still used him. Joseph later would be put in jail. Still, God used him to deliver the Hebrew nation from severe famine.

What could have been?

Maybe if Joseph didn’t share his dreams with his brethren, God would have done something else to get Joseph into Egypt. Maybe. Maybe not. There’s no sense wondering what could have been. People should accept things as they are right now. That’s all that matters.

We shall see …

If you have big dreams, don’t be surprised when you draw the ire of those around you. Friends, loved ones, coworkers and acquaintances will work overtime to see you fail. They will gloat when they see you lying in a ditch by the side of life’s road. They will mock you as they see your life become a shambles. They will do everything possible to keep you from becoming what you know you are destined to be.

Don’t give up.

And when Joseph came home, they brought him the present which was in their hand into the house, and bowed themselves to him to the earth. Gen 43:26

The brethren actually did see what would become of Joseph’s dreams. He kept believing in God, in himself and in his dreams and they ultimately came true. When they came true, even his enemies shared in the blessing.

Whether you’re life is in the ditch or you’re in jail, don’t give up on your dreams. God can still make them come true.

What is Christianity?

Christianity as defined by the AP and Pew appears to mean any religion that is not Jewish, Muslim, Buddhist or atheist. In secular terms, Christian often means Roman Catholic and could include Protestants and Baptists. Truth in the Word believes Christians are those who have received the New Birth through faith in Jesus Christ. After all, how else can anyone be Christ-like?

The terms used in the Pew study seem to include almost everyone who is neither Jewish nor Muslim in the group under the Christian label. Because of its broad definition of Christianity, the new report shows a demographic shift that is both cultural and religious. For many, the report signals a disturbing trend.

European Decline

Religious shifts reflect the cultural, moral and political decline of Europe. Where the continent once hosted one-third of all Christians, it now hosts just one-quarter. Two times as many Christians live in Brazil as live in Italy, and Nigeria has double the number of Christians as Germany has.

Strong in the Americas

About 37 percent of the world’s Christian population lives in North and South America, but South America has seen the largest expansion of the faith. Meanwhile, the U.S. Christian population continues to erode as the nation embraces Islam and other alternatives.

Conflicting trends

Just because Christianity is spreading doesn’t mean adherents hold consistent beliefs throughout the world. In the U.S. and Europe, many mainstream denominations including the Church of Rome have diluted their beliefs to accommodate secular trends such as gay clergy, sodomite marriage, non-literal interpretations of the Bible and lax enforcement of Christian doctrine.

In Africa, South America and Asia,  Christianity is distinctly more conservative, causing problems among Denominational leaders who want to strengthen international ties.

Often in the Minority

According to the study, 90 percent of all Christians live in countries that have a Christian majority. This leaves much of the world, including the Middle East and North Africa hosting minority Christian groups that are often targets of violence. Since turmoil in Egypt overthrew the pro-western government there, Egyptian Christians have become systematically attacked by that nation’s Islamic majority.

According to 1 Timothy chapter 1, the law is good, but only when properly applied.

Believers in Christ Jesus are not under Hebrew law. That law is a schoolmaster that teaches us about God, but it has no effect on us. Because of this, some people might disparage the law, saying that it has no value. Such a conclusion is incorrect.

The Law is Good

Now we know that the law is good, if one uses it lawfully … (1 Timothy 1:

We learn from the Bible that the law has uses that are both good and bad. Therefore, we must rightly divide the Word so that we apply it properly as a teacher, and not as a dictator. Still realize that the law is not for born again believers.

… the law is not laid down for the just … (1 Timothy 1:9)

Who the law is for

• the lawless and disobedient
• for the ungodly and sinners
• for the unholy and profane
• for those who strike their fathers and mothers
• for murderers
• the sexually immoral
• men who practice homosexuality
• enslavers (That is, those who take someone captive to sell him into slavery)
• liars
• perjurers
• whatever else is contrary to sound doctrine

The fear of the people ultimately became their reality. Focus on faith, not fear; and enjoy the promises of God.

(audio 14:26)

Deuteronomy  1:28 Whither shall we go up? our brethren have discouraged our heart, saying, The people is greater and taller than we; the cities are great and walled up to heaven; and moreover we have seen the sons of the Anakims there.

After experiencing a miraculous deliverance from Egypt, Israel ended their trek through the wilderness at Kadesh Barnea. It was an 11-day journey that took them from Horeb to Kadesh Barnea. There they were to cross over Jordan and claim the land that God promised them. The people had longed for this very moment when their journey would come to an end, and they would take their place among the nations. Somehow this moment didn’t seem to work out as planned.

Rather than celebration, there is weeping. Rather than joy, there is sadness. Rather than excitement, there is rebellion. Rather than comfort, there is pain.

Why people don’t receive good things from God

Despite the fact the Israelites faced many trials along the way, the journey through the wilderness was relatively fast. God had promised the people a great land flowing with milk and honey. Rather than claim it, the people rejected it. Why?

Even today, God delivers people from the bondage of sin, and leads them to the place where they can have unprecedented joy, peace and victory in their life. But they never claim it.

The majority report

The people decided to send 12 spies to scope out the Promised Land. When they came back, 10 said the Israelites couldn’t occupy the land; Joshua and Caleb were the only 2 who said they could. The Israelites chose to listen to the majority report. They believed 10 spies rather than God, Moses, Joshua and Caleb. They followed fear, not faith. They all wandered in the wilderness until they all died.

Failure to enter Canaan cost every one of the people their lives. What is listening to the majority costing you? How is fear paying off in your life right now?

Don’t feed fear

Throughout the entire journey through the wilderness, the people were afraid this verse is one of many examples of this:

Exodus 14:11 And they said unto Moses, Because there were no graves in Egypt, hast thou taken us away to die in the wilderness? wherefore hast thou dealt thus with us, to carry us forth out of Egypt?

The did not believe God. They focused on the unknown. They continued in fear. What ultimately happened to them? They died in the wilderness. Their fears guided them. Their fears became reality.

Numbers 14:29-30 Your carcases shall fall in this wilderness; and all that were numbered of you, according to your whole number, from twenty years old and upward, which have murmured against me, doubtless ye shall not come into the land, concerning which I sware to make you dwell therein, save Caleb the son of Jephunneh, and Joshua the son of Nun.

If you continue living a life of fear, you too may soon experience your fears as reality.

Job 3:25 For the thing which I greatly feared is come upon me, and that which I was afraid of is come unto me.

The curse of holding others back

The 10 evil spies quickly learned there is a special curse for people who use their influence to keep others out of God’s will.

Numbers 14:36-37 And the men, which Moses sent to search the land, who returned, and made all the congregation to murmur against him, by bringing up a slander upon the land, even those men that did bring up the evil report upon the land, died by the plague before the LORD.

Those spies have New Testament counterparts who continue turning people away from the inheritance of God:

Mat 23:13 But woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye shut up the kingdom of heaven against men: for ye neither go in yourselves, neither suffer ye them that are entering to go in.

Every believer should be careful not to prevent anyone from receiving the promises and blessings of God. The fear of 10 people helped destroy an entire generation. Be careful of what you and say to others. If you want to die in the wilderness, that’s fine; don’t make others die too, OK? If you discourage the brethren, you too will pay.

It’s our responsibility to claim the promises of God

In the end, every Israelite who believed men rather than God died in the wilderness. At the end of the Book of Numbers, the people were counted. They verified that everyone who refused to go in had died.

Numbers 26:65 … there was not left a man of them, save Caleb the son of Jephunneh, and Joshua the son of Nun.

Don’t fall into the trap of fear. Don’t let other people keep you out of a life of victory and prosperity. Believe God and let your faith – not your fear – determine your outcome.

  (audio 14:26)

The first installment of a series of broadcasts featuring Psalm 10 and the signs and characteristics of the wicked. Those who are born again need to be able to discern the wicked, while those who are wicked need to be enlightened by God’s Word so that they might repent. We should examine our own selves and ask God to search our hearts to see what wickedness is in our own lives so that we can repent and have our fellowship with God restored.

Ye are our epistle written in our hearts, known and read of all men: Forasmuch as ye are manifestly declared to be the epistle of Christ ministered by us, written not with ink, but with the Spirit of the living God; not in tables of stone, but in fleshy tables of the heart. (2 Corinthians 3:2-3)

John: That You May Believe (Preaching the Word)

A Divine Act

In these King James scriptures, the Apostle Paul tells us that every Christian has the Word of God inscribed into their conscience just as God wrote the two tables of the law with His own finger.

A big responsibility?

Supposed Christians have a tremendous role in the world. As they go about their lives, people can read them and understand them, just as easily as if the 10 commandments were walking around. That sounds like a big responsibility, but is it really?

Better than stone

The new Gospel, the one inscribed in the believer’s heart is superior to that which was engraved in stone. The Word made flesh is more accessible, more appealing and more understanding and interactive than the stones Moses placed in the Ark.

Better than ink

A study in the Bible reveals that the Apostles wrote Epistles on paper with ink and sent them as letters. At that time, scribes wrote the Old Testament scriptures with pen on paper.

The Bible is still diligently copied. However, it is not through the bound volume of King James scriptures: God writes His Word on the heart of everyone who believes by the Holy Spirit of God.

YOU: The inspired, inerrant, infallible Word of God

Some people might balk at the notion that a believer literally is God’s Word. However, believers must promulgate the Gospel of Jesus Christ; it is their mission. Just as the words of the prophets were God-breathed, so are the words written on the believer’s heart.

For the prophecy came not in old time by the will of man: but holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost. (2 Peter 1:21)

…ye are manifestly declared to be the epistle of Christ…, written not with ink, but with the Spirit of the living God (2 Corinthians 3:2-3)

When a person receives the New Birth, God Himself writes His Word on them. What God writes is:

• Easy to read
• Easy to understand
• Perfect

What do people read from your life?

When people see you, do they see the indelible Word of God written in your life? This is a personal matter about which everyone should test themselves. The sad truth is that many people who say that they believe have no legible message from God written in their lives.

Just as the Epistles were clearly written on paper and the commandments clearly carved in stone, people can easily read the epistle written on the believer’s heart. God’s Word is always clear. When people study the Bible, do they find it written in on your life?

Received or. D E C E I V E D: Examine Yourselves. 2 Corinthians 13:5

Examine yourselves

Let this study of the Bible reflect on your life. If people do not read Divine messages from your life, the pen of the Holy Spirit probably never wrote anything on it.

Examine yourselves, whether ye be in the faith; prove your own selves. Know ye not your own selves, how that Jesus Christ is in you, except ye be reprobates? (2 Corinthians 13:5)

Turn to God today. He will change your life and use you to promulgate His Bible scriptures.

And the vessel that he made of clay was marred in the hand of the potter: so he made it again another vessel, as seemed good to the potter to make it. (Jeremiah 18:4)

Our truth in the Word from the Bible scriptures paints a picture of Israel that we can apply to God’s New Testament people. The last thing we saw marred was a

girdle in Jeremiah 13

. This time we see clay get marred as the potter forms it on the wheels.

A Commentary on Jeremiah: Exile and Homecoming

The corruption

As Jeremiah watches the potter making a vessel, something bad happens. The clay is marred. It is corrupted somehow. It can no longer take its intended form. The potter cannot finish it. This happened to God’s people: God was making a nation according to His plan. A study in the Bible reveals how that nation had a purpose, but the people went after their own gods and their own way, corrupting God’s work.

The blame

The clay was on the wheel used to form it. The wheel was not at fault. The Potter has the skills to make whatever vessel He desires, so the problem in these Bible verses is not with Him. Although the problem is in the clay, more specifically, the problem is with corruption within the clay.

Potter’s House

The hope of the Potter’s house

When God tries to make us into the vessel He wants for His use, we – like Israel – often develop sin problems that corrupt us and we become marred even while the Potter is working on us. The original vessel will never exist now, but thanks to the skill and the will of the Potter, He re-makes us into another vessel for His use.

The pain of the clay

God remade Israel in our study of the Bible, but first there was a painful process as the clay was transformed from a partially finished vessel into a lump of clay like it was when the Potter first put His hands on it.

Similarly, we feel the pain when God’s hands break down our form and our usefulness to return us to a lump not unlike the one we were when we first received the New Birth. Although uncomfortable and even frustrating, we soon forget the pain of returning to the lump as we feel God’s hands return to mold our lives afresh and anew.

The girdle vs. the clay

When God used Jeremiah to give the sign of the girdle, the girdle was permanently marred. In some ways, God’s people who turn away from Him will never be the same. However, the clay shows no sign of being marred after the Potter returns it to a lump and reforms it. The finished work renders no evidence of the failure, disappointment and loss that occurred earlier on the wheel.

Thank God, the Potter does not throw the clay away.

Jeremiah 13 opens with a real-life illustration. In these Bible verses, God told the prophet to put on a girdle. During an unspecified time, he was to wears it without allowing it to get wet. Later, God told Jeremiah to take the girdle off and them place it under a rock in the Euphrates River.

The meaning of the girdle

We should study the Bible rather than speculate on the meaning of this role-play. We look to the King James scriptures for the truth in the Word:

Thus saith the LORD, After this manner will I mar the pride of Judah, and the great pride of Jerusalem. This evil people, which refuse to hear my words, which walk in the imagination of their heart, and walk after other gods, to serve them, and to worship them, shall even be as this girdle, which is good for nothing. (Jeremiah 13:10-11)

Growing disgust

A study in the Bible does not say how long Jeremiah wore the girdle. However, he probably wore it long enough for it to get nasty from never being washed. Jeremiah likely grew increasingly uncomfortable with the girdle and was likely glad when God took it off. This picture shows how God grew increasingly weary with His people until finally, He cast them away. As shown in this study of the Bible, they would go into captivity (as signified by the hole and the rock) where their pride would be marred and where they would hopefully learn to rely on God for their value.

The Church Confident: Christianity Can Repent but It Must Not Whimper

A sign of hope

Hath God cast away his people? (Romans 11:1)

Although the girdle was useless, it still was retrieved. God did not abandon His people forever. They one day would be reclaimed and – though marred – would once again abide with Him in their own land.

Application

If you remain close to God and nothing has happened to mar you, thank God and then keep yourself clean. As shown in these Bible verses, Israel would not cleanse itself. Recognize your need to constantly receive cleansing from God so that He never removes you and sends you to have your pride removed.

That he might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water by the word… (Ephesians 5:26)

Having therefore these promises, dearly beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from all filthiness of the flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God. (2 Corinthians 7:1)

God does not like pride and He does not like sin. When His people weary Him, the time comes when He removes them from His presence. If your sin and stubbornness caused God to remove you, learn your lesson: repent. If you do, the time will come when He takes you to Himself again. Even when you look and feel useless, God has a plan for you.