Getting Worked up on the Wrong Thing?

     So, if you have seen the news, you have likely seen a picture of the president that was shared on Truth Social recently. This image has stirred a lot of conversation and debate before it was removed over backlash. Now, while I may agree that it was something that should not have been shared or should have been posted I do have a problem with the fact that this is the thing people seem to be getting worked up about. 

    Here is the thing people seem to get confused on. Trump by his own admission is an unsaved man. So, that leaves the question why are we shocked and enraged that an unsaved man is acting like an unsaved man? You can find images of numerous world leaders or presidents in the same light as the one Trump shared. That does NOT make it right, but it should not surprise us. 

    My bigger issue is not that Trump did what you expect from someone like him. The thing that bothers me is the reaction from people who are claiming to be Christians and are mad about it yet if you watched them and their social media posts you would never know they believed Jesus or the Bible. Now there is a position to call it out and say it is wrong and we should. But you have people absolutely losing their minds over this and completely losing it! Now if this was a man that had a salvation testimony my take would be a lot different. However, Trump has made clear he is not saved and that he needs the Lord! 

    So, what should we be doing? Well, let's starts with being upset and speaking out against things we have a larger impact on. Things like abortion, crime, drug use, family issues, and our schools. Let us use the same energy we take at getting mad about a picture and put that energy into things that actually impact our families and our children. If you can be as active over a picture you better be as active in areas that have direct impact on our families and homes. 

Danger of Removing Without Replacing

     I came across a post today from someone I follow about video games and more or less ripping the console out of the room or home and just getting rid of it. I am not going t get into the argument of video games themselves but the idea behind the persons posts and removing something without emphasizing that you need to replace whatever you are removing! 

    There is something to be said that we need to be aware and smart about what kids are allowed to have and how they are allowed to consume things. Kids today have phones and TVs and all sorts of devices that parents have no idea what is going on or what their kids are doing. However, there is a danger when you simply remove something and do not replace it with something good. This is a concept used when it comes to smoking and food so why would you ignore it here? Ripping something out and not being active in what replaces it is going to cause more damage than it is good. There are a few reasons why it will do that as well. 

    First, it's going to breed resentment in your kids. This is just common sense thinking that if you are taking something they enjoy and can use as an escape and you don't provide an alternative then they ARE going to resent you and it's going to put a major strain on your relationship with your kids. Second, they will find other and sometimes more damaging ways to entertain themselves then before and it may push them directly into what you tried to avoid. Remember there was no active threat that it was being used wrong just a flat get rid of it and don't look back. You remove that your kids are going to find different ways to find entertainment now and very possibly not tell you if they get into things they shouldn't because the resentment you already have festered in them. 

    The problem is not video games, the internet, consoles, or anything like that (though they can be a problem when misused). The problem is we have parents today that are not parents if we want to get down to the root of the problem. Parents have passed off raising kids to the school system and things like video games and social media. If parents actually acted like parents and raised their kids properly this would be a non-issue. However, here we are. Then we act like its the console or game that is the issue ignoring the real and proper problem. No wonder our kids are turning out the way they are! We have a generation being raised by completely absent parents even in our Christian homes! 

    Lastly let's bring it back to the main point. No matter what itis in our lives or the lives of our kids if we remove something bad, we have to replace it with something good.  Family devotions, family sports, work, church activities anything like that works. At the same time use some common sense. Keep the system in your living room if need be and have designated times they can be on it if they enjoy it and you aren't going to find times or ways to spend it with them. However, to just be like I'm ripping this thing you enjoy and can make friends with on and find a little escape in this crazy world I am not helping you through is just asking for more problems than you will EVER fix. So, stop and think. If you decide its best to remove, then you better replace it as well. Just a warning to the wise that you can take or leave. 

2025 Is Done!

 2025 in Review

Here are in 2026. It is a new year. People are trying to set goals and make resolutions all around us. Changes and improvements people want to make and have for the new ear.

However, there is something to be said about looking back on the previous year. Not only to learn what you want to change or improve but areas that the Lord blessed and worked in your year. So, in the comments feel free to respond with any improvements for the new year or blessings or things from the previous year.

Blessings

August was one of the biggest and most evident times I think I can recall of seeing God move in my life. I ended up in the hospital with a kidney that was bleeding and failing. They had to cauterize parts of it and had me doing Hemo while in the hospital and they had told me I was going to have to start hemo then. That weekend fervent prayer was made. By Monday the doctor that took over said we did not need hemo. That was only by the hand of God! He moved in a similar way a few weeks ago in delaying me having to switch from the PD I'm doing to hemo. Health has been a struggle since March, but Gods hand has been very evident in working in my health and life!

Mixed

Some things that happen in our lives are mixed things. They are hard to deal with, yet they are a blessing at the same time. That moment for me was in April. I had to leave the church we were at and had been a part of many many years. While it was painful having to leave and break that connection it opened the door to going to a church that has more solid preaching and more outreach resources that I can be a part of. This is a mixed event. While painful it leads to growth and joy!

Goals

This year our church has a program that if followed will read the Bible through twice in the year. This is one of my goals. Another is being involved in the outreach our church is doing. I want to be more involved in my website and on the Facebook page here. This is a wonderful tool, and I want to better use it since it is something I can do despite my health issues.

Conclusion

Take some time to think about the last year. What ways has God moved in your life? What ways has He blessed you? What things would you want to improve and fix in your life this year? Take some time to think about these things. If you have some you would like to share, feel free to do so. If not, I urge you still to think about it.

Colossians 1:10

That ye might walk worthy of the Lord unto all pleasing, being fruitful in every good work, and increasing in the knowledge of God.

A weak Christianity

     A recent interaction I watched on Facebook made me stop and think about this topic and while I made a post about it, I wanted to take the time to do a more extensive break down about the issue and get into it more.  The issue that came up was that people got upset from someone simply sharing verses from the Bible. The post had no added comments or dialogue. It was simply a set of verses. The number of people that became offended was astounding and shocking! People became upset and started making excuses for why they should not have posted those verses or be quoting the Bible. I was honestly shocked that these people who claimed to believe the Bible had become so offended by verses from the Bible. After some thoughts on it I came to some conclusions that I will share here. 

    1 Timothy 4:1 

"Now the Spirit speaketh expressly, that in the latter times some shall depart from the faith, giving heed to seducing spirits, and doctrines of devils:"

    2 Timothy 4:3-4

"For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but after their own lusts shall they heap to themselves teachers, having itching ears; And they shall turn away their ears from the truth, and shall be turned unto fables."

    Both of these verses I think show and explain the issues we are seeing in much of Christianity today. Paul warned Timothy that a time would come when they would not accept or support sound doctrine and the truths of the Bible. We are seeing that in today's society and our churches today. If you went out and started preaching the Bible on the streets most people are going to get upset or ignore you because they don't want to hear the truth. We are seeing this in many of our churches as well. Look at how churches are getting more and more in line with the world and yet we see a drop in church attendance across the board. We are foolish to believe that God is going to bless churches that drop standards to try to draw a crowd. How many preachers could you talk to that are nervous to preach on certain Bible topics because they are afraid that their members will get upset and leave? The issue is a growing one that things like social media are simply making more evident every day. 

    So, that brings us to a question, doesn't it? What is the believer to do? Well, the answer like all things lies in the word of God as well. 

2 Timothy 4:2 

    "Preach the word; be instant in season, out of season; reprove, rebuke, exhort with all longsuffering and doctrine."

2 Timothy 4:5

    "But watch thou in all things, endure afflictions, do the work of an evangelist, make full proof of thy ministry." 

Titus 2:15

    "These things speak, and exhort, and rebuke with all authority. Let no man despise thee."

    Besides these verses I would recommend looking at 1 Corinthians 1-2. The Bible encourages us to hold fast! Do not let those that refuse to stand on doctrine and truth discourage you from following and sharing the Bible. As long as the Lord waits His return, there are people that will listen and be saved because of those who refuse to stop sharing the Gospel. When we see those people we should be willing and able to stand with them and support them as well so that we can all uplift and encourage each other to share the gospel. We must not let those that refuse to follow or accept sound doctrine stop us from doing what is right. What we need to do is understand that the closer we get to the Lords return the more these types of people will appear and show up. Let us end this thought with the following verse to encourage us. 

    1 Corinthians 15:58

"Therefore, my beloved brethren, be ye stedfast, unmoveable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, forasmuch as ye know that your labour is not in vain in the Lord." 

Hebrews Study Part 1

 

As requested by a member of the Facebook page this study will be a long form study on the and through the book of Hebrews. We will refrain from going through it by chapters and approach more verse by verse or sets of verses structure to the study. While Our focus is on and looking at Hebrews we will be looking at other passages that will deal with and address issues we may see in Hebrews or that make the verses more clear or add needed context.

 

          First, I have a little background on myself first as this study can be shared or sent to others as well and I have no issue with others using it. My name is Logan Gropp and was born and live in Lincoln, Nebraska. I am an Indepandnt Fundamental Baptist. I was born again on August 14, 2004 at Fellowship Baptist Church. I believe the KJV to be the perfect word of God. A short list of beliefs would be the following

·       Once Saved Always Saved

·       Virgin Birth

·       Christs Deity

·       Baptism After Salvation By Immersion

·       King James Bible

·       Pre-Tribulation Rapture Of The Saints

 

    Now, with that being said I hope I did not lose anyone or immediately shut any of you off. There are many other things we could get into but many of those would have little to do with the point of this study and what we are going to be looking at here. I do want to clearly say I do not have any formal seminary type of education other than my own study and years and years of being in church and hearing some great men of God. I do not claim to have all the answers or understand everything that the Bible has to say. However, I will try to always back up what I say in this study with Bible. I will make mention now of some of the tools that I will use as well as we get ready to start.

·       Common Man Study Bible

·       Logos Software with the library that is present

·       Old Scofield Study Bible

·       Ruckman Study Bible

·       Dake Study Bible

·       Life Bible Application and included commentaries

·       Thompson Chain Reference Bible

Hebrews Introduction

 

         Hebrews is an interesting book. One of the things that make it interesting is the fact the author is not named or mentioned. There is much support for it being Paul as the assumed author and in many ways it would make sense. Paul, a well-known member of the Pharisees before his conversion makes mention in the book of Galatians how he was a Jew above others in his sect (see Galatians 1:10-24). Paul made clear his past and how that God had saved him but also spends much time in the books of Romans and Galatians in particular dealing with similar topics as he does in Hebrews. That being that Christ is better than the old law and that the old law and customs of the Jews are done away with under the New Testament that came with Christ!

         Hebrews has a very simple theme and focus. That is, better things! It has a focus on how Christ is better than the law, the New Covenant is better then the old, and Christ is better than all things. This is easy to understand when we consider it is written to Hebrews in a time when they were questioning their faith and considering going back to the law. Paul steps in to show them how Christ is greater than what was before.

         It is important to point out something here though I believe. When looking at two of my study Bibles they make what I consider a mistake and that is trying to almost downplay the importance of the teachings in Hebrews to the Christian today. They point out that it was written to the Hebrews as the main audience. While true let us consider that God knew few Jewish believers would be here today and the book of Hebrews has plenty for the believer today to learn from. For those who try to down play the importance of it I would remind them of 2 Timothy 3:16 and that “ALL scripture” is useful for the believer today.

Chapter 1:1-4

               As we start to look at the book we will focus first on going through verses 1-4 as grammatically they all form a single point of thought. So as we go through this study, our goal is to keep verses together that are suppose to be together.

          Hebrews 1:1 “God, who at sundry times and in divers manners spake in times past unto the fathers by the prophets,”

          Hebrews cuts right to the chase when it starts. It begins with God! More importantly though it begins with showing us how God worked in the past. It tells us how God worked and what He did. When it says “sundry times and diverse manners” in verse 1 it is simply referring to in many ways and portions. Consider this, in the OT long periods of time could pass between God speaking. When God spoke then it often was not the whole picture. Something I don’t think personally we appreciate enough today is we have the entire message from God in one book unlike those in the OT and early NT. The Bible always builds upon itself to make a whole. Isaiah 28:10 says “For precept must be upon precept, precept upon precept; line upon line, line upon line; here a little, and there a little:”. The Bible we have now builds upon itself as we read it. In times past they had to wait for a new message from God. They did not have the entire Bible in one book like we do. It was built upon itself in many ways and over a very long period of time. Despite many people being involved and many years being involved the Bible gives a coherent message that Jesus Christ is the savior of the world!

          The next important part of verse 1 is who spoke to who. The prophets spoke to the fathers. Well, fathers of who? That would be the fathers of the Jews this book was written to. Save a few examples, the prophets all spoke and came to the people of God in the OT which were the Jews. Consider the time that spans Moses till the end of the OT prophets before the 400 years of silence. In that period God used many prophets in many ways that He spoke to. Some would be directly, some in visions, some in dreams, but no matter how God spoke to them, they received the holy words of God to tell the people they were sent to! This sets a stage for showing us that this former use of prophets and diverse means of communication ended with Christ! Revelation 19:10 says “And I fell at his feet to worship him. And he said unto me, See thou do it not: I am thy fellow servant, and of thy brethren that have the testimony of Jesus: worship God: for the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy.” Jumping a little ahead of myself here but we see that Jesus Christ finishes prophecy. As the Bible was completed so was prophecy that was to come! 4

          So, let us sum of verse one before we start into verse two. We see, God is the one who spoke. He spoke in many ways over a long period of time. The message builds upon itself but the theme is and always has been Jesus Christ. He had people He used in the past to spread His message to the ones He intended to hear it and record it. Christ put an end to the need for any new prophecy or direct audible message from God as we have the entire and complete word of God.

Unity

 

Unity A Dirty Word

 

 

Introduction

A recent Facebook interaction had me stop and consider something that I think deserves a look and a discussion, especially among Independent Baptists. It is something that we find in the Bible yet seems to be an issue that is overlooked or sometimes outright ignored by the majority of believers. So, buckle up and lets get to work looking at the place unity has in the believers life and what the Bible has to say about unity.

Unity: the state of being united or joined as a whole. the state of forming a complete and pleasing whole, especially in an artistic context: a thing forming a complex whole.

So, starting off with that definition lets now delve into what the Bible has to say about it and the truth it holds. Let’s start in Ephesians 4:3 “Endeavoring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.” So, with this verse alone we see we are to be united and strive to keep that! It also gives us a scary truth as well. We can NOT be in unity with the Spirit! It is something we must work to not only have but to keep. The Spirit should draw us together to be and walk in unity together. If one has the Spirit, we should be able to walk together. That doesn’t mean we all agree on everything 100% but when it comes to Bible doctrine, we should be able to walk together in the Spirit.

Let us look at another verse. Psalm 133:1 “Behold, how good and how pleasant it is for brethren to dwell together in unity!” So, we see here the joy and blessing that comes from walking together in unity with our brethren. It is not only good for us, but it is pleasant as well and will help our spirit and walk. Again, though there is a danger. Like the last verse we see that it is possible for brethren to NOT be walking in unity. Unity as we see from these two verses already is a great thing and something we are to work and strive for but there is a danger in not having unity and a spirit of peace which we will get to a little later.  A point to make here that we will see though this is that unity is to be had with the brethren. We will not have or be able to have unity with those that are not believers. Our fellow believers though we should always be striving to walk in unity with.

Part 1: Our Example Jesus Christ

          So, at the very start let us look at our ultimate example and what He has to say and show us about unity. There can be no greater example for us to follow then what is shown to us by the example of Jesus Christ.  John 17:21 “That they all may be as one: as though, Father, art in me and I in thee, that they also may be one in us: that the world may believe that thou hast sent me.” Wow! So, we see Jesus saying we need to have the same unity Christ had with the Father! I think it is safe to say this is greatly lacking in our Christian lives and in our churches today! Notice also we are to be an example and witness to the world through our unity. If we can’t have unity with other believers, we cannot be a proper witness to the world according to the words of Christ himself. I think we need to take a minute and let that thought and truth really sink in. I sadly think many of us are far from this example and could be why we do not see souls getting saved and coming to Christ.

John 17:22 “And the glory which thou gavest me I have given them; That they may be one, even as we are one:” Here again we see Christ and the Father are our example in unity. We are to be on the same level of unity as they are! We are to have this unity with all believers! Yet to often we have believers in the same church that cant get along or believers in the same town who cant have unity either. My fellow born again believers we are going to spend ETERNITY together! We should be getting along down here in preparation for getting along and having unity in heaven. Now that doesn’t mean we will always agree with what one says or one does maybe, but it does mean we should be able to get along and at the very least be cordial with each other. I could probably find something I disagree with with any other believer but that is not the focus we are to have. Unless they are going directly against the Bible we should get along. Those that do go against the Bible we will look at towards the end of the study.

Let us look at one more truth the Lord spoke himself before we move onto our next example. Matthew 12:25 “And Jesus knew their thoughts, and said unto them, every kingdom divided against itself is brought to desolation; and every city or house divided against itself shall not stand:” Here once again we see if there is division there will be failure and destruction. Could it be this is why we see so many churches and believers falling to the wayside? Jesus himself spoke it so we know it is true. It leaves one to wonder what price we are, and the world is paying for our own lack of unity with each other. A sobering thought.

“And John answered and said, Master, we saw one casting out devils in thy name; and we forbade him, because he followeth not with us. And Jesus said unto him, Forbid him not: for he that is not against us is for us.” Luke 9:49-50. So, I was trying to decide if I wanted to add this set of verses here or not. Well, I decided they need to be added to give us a reminder of something.  Here we see one of the Apostles come to Jesus saying they saw a man doing work in Jesus’ name and they made him stop because the man was not following them at the time. Notice how Jesus replies. He does not praise John, nor does he condemn the man who had been doing the good work. No! In fact, John gets taught a little bit of a lesson here that I think most Christians and churches today need to be reminded of. Jesus tells John to let the man keep working! He tells him that just because someone isn’t doing it the exact same way or with the exact same group of people that if they are truly doing the work of God and spreading the Gospel they are to be praised and seen as a fellow soldier and laborer. Mind blowing when we take the words that Jesus spoke and compare them to many Christians today. Just because someone doesn’t do something the exact same way as us does not mean they are wrong or should be hounded and forced to stop. We are to be united in doing the work of Christ and spreading the Gospel of salvation! To often we cause division by being its our way or highway and instead of working together or realizing there might be more than one way to do something (heresy to say I know) that is the attitude that Jesus promoted. Jesus shows us that if someone is truly doing the work that God calls them to do they are to be encouraged to do so even if they may not be a part of our church. Jesus promoted unity between believers. Do not let your own pride or arrogance ruin not only your testimony but the ability to get the Gospel to those around us. We need all the help getting the Gospel out that we can get.

Part 2: The Early Church

          Not only does the Lord himself give us a good example of the importance of unity in the lives of believers, let us also look to the early church as well. Here we will simply focus on the first few chapters of Acts as Paul’s letters will have enough to deserve their own section in this. Here in Acts it is a time of great growth but also great hardship for the church and believers. Think about it, they had seen Christ crucified then rise from the grave in victory, then finally they seem him ascend into heaven. Now they are given the task of reaching the world! A task I will add that we are still to be working on today. Here we see a great sense of unity of the believers here.

Acts 2:1 “And when the day of Pentecost was fully come, they were all with one accord in one place.” The key phrase here for this study is “one accord”. Not only were they all together, they also were united. The Holy Ghost would not have been able to move on them had they not been united in one accord. Acts 2:44 is similar “And all that believed were together, and had all things common:”

Acts 2:42 “And they continued stedfastly in the apostles’ doctrine and fellowship, and in breaking of bread, and in prayers.” Here again they were united in cause and belief. You cannot have fellowship and communion if you are not united with each other! The strength of the early church was not just the doctrine they had and believed in but the fact that they were united behind that doctrine and beliefs.

Acts 4:24 “And when they had heard that, they lifted up their voices to God with one accord, and said, Lord, thou art God, which hast made heaven, and earth, and the sea, and al that in them is:” You can not be praying in one accord if you do not have a spirit of unity together! It is also worth noting that if we are not praying in a spirit of unity, it can hinder our very prayers!

One thing is clear from the very early church, they had UNITY! They had a spirit that was knitted together and sought to please the Lord and reach lost souls with the Gospel. The church would not have survived had it not had unity. You can also see if you investigate it that they had prominent men call out those that tried to cause division and trouble in the early church. Some of this we will get into when we look at how to deal with those who seek to cause confusion and contention among believers.

 

 

Part 3: What does Paul have to say

          Ephesians 4:3 “endeavouring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.” Paul is going to be one of the biggest ones that we will look at with what he has to say about unity in the church and among believers. It helps that he wrote the majority of the New Testament. So, we start here Paul gets and is pretty clear that unity is something that we have to work for, it is not something that just naturally happens.

“Now I beseech you, brethren, by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, That ye all speak the same thing, and that there be no divisions among you: but that ye be perfectly joined together in the same mind and in the same judgment.” 1 Corinthians 1:10. Here Paul tells us to be speaking the same thing, that being the gospel, and that there is not to be any type of division among us. You would be hard pressed to find even a Bible preaching church today that didn’t have divisions come up in. Too often people want their own way or get offended and then let bitterness creep in. These things ought not to be so!

“One Lord, one faith, one baptism.” Ephesians 4:5. Here is one that sums it all so well. God is united and there is no division in the trinity. Christ is our example so how can we claim to be followers of Christ if we are letting division creep into our lives and our churches? We already saw and talked about what Christ had to say on unity, so we won’t get into that again here. But if we are to be of one faith, how can we do that if we do not have unity? Answer, we can’t!

“Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus” Philippians 2:5 This verse connects back to the words that Jesus himself spoke. We are to be of and have the same mind as Christ. Christ had a mind of and for unity.

Another important passage to hit on is 2 Corinthians 6:14-18. This passage deals with how the believer should not be trying to be united with unbelievers. We are to be separated from them. The only ones we should be having unity with are those who are born again. We are to be separated from the world as Paul makes very clear in this passage.

The last part I will touch on here would be 1 Corinthians 12:11-31. Here when Paul is talking about gifts, he compares the church to a body. Do you know something a body has? Unity. For the body to work well and to function properly there must be unity. We many times can see visible evidence when someone’s body is not operating in unity. They are not able to do the things a normal person can. The church is compared to this as well. If there is no unity in the church, it will not be able to function properly and unless corrected the church will die.  

Paul also goes to great lengths telling us how we are to treat our brethren and walk in love and longsuffering towards other believers. All these are deserving of their own separate studies, but they apply to us walking in unity as well. Needless to say, having and walking in unity can be found all through the Bible and is a cornerstone for a believer to be built upon.

Conclusion

          So, we have taken a small look at what is considered by many to be a “dirty” word. Mostly from the fact that for one reason or another

          So, we have taken a small look at what is considered by many to be a “dirty” word. Mostly from the fact that for one reason or another most people don’t want to walk in unity with others. These reasons can stem from things like bitterness and pride to having the attitude of “well if they don’t do things the way I think they should I am not going to have anything to do with them.” Unless you have solid BIBLE doctrine for something wrong someone is doing you are supposed to, let me correct that, commanded to have and strive for unity. Some closing verses to consider.

“Finally, be ye all of one mind, having compassion one of another, love as brethren, be pitiful, be courteous:” 1 Peter 3:8

“Fulfill ye my joy, that ye be like minded, having the same love, being of one accord, of one mind.” Philippians2:2

“Can two walked together, except they be agreed?” Amos 3:3

How are you doing fellow Christian? Are you walking as Christ walked? Or are you letting something keep you from walking in unity? Remember, before you can walk in unity with fellow believers you must be walking in unity with your Lord and Savior.