My Bible Study Book is Complete!

Some of you who follow this blog may or may not know that the reason for the Blog came about because I was in the process of publishing a book.  I would like to share with you this journey and invite you to take a look at this book I wrote.  I still have trouble taking credit for the book (ask my publisher how many times I wanted my name to be less conspicuous on the cover!).  I feel like I was strongly led by the Holy Spirit, and followed His lead, He gets all the credit I was simply taken on quite a journey.

Several years ago I was studying the Bible and going through a study on the Covenants of the Bible.  Something did not sit well with my soul as I was learning about the New Covenant and that it was the covenant we were living under in today's church.  I studied and studied and about ran my teacher (Laurie) crazy with questions.  Something was forming in my mind that this was not right, but I had no idea why.  After talking with my parents and discussing with the group it was laid on my heart that the answer was in the Book of Acts.

In another study that I lead I made the choice that our group would study the Book of Acts next.  I really didn't have any idea where we would go or what we would learn, but I made the pages in the appendix of my book for that study and off we went.  Let me tell you, it was eye opening as we dug into this book and understood it in the context of the rest of the Bible.  Some themes emerged:  The Holy Spirit, Gentiles vs. Jews, Paul vs. Peter, and a mission mindset.  Many in the group remember this as a great time of learning for all of us.  Then we did a dispensational study, God's Clock of the Ages written by Charles Baker that brought the Bible into sharp focus for me.

My teacher Laurie could see that I had found something and asked if I would teach her what I had been learning.  I agreed and fine tuned my study into a chapter by chapter look at the Book of Acts.  We used the same appendix notes and started marking key words.  We had a great time of fellowship and it was a joy to open the Scripture to her in a meaningful way.  When we were done she shared that our study on Acts changed her life and the way she would look at Scripture in the future.  She looked and looked for a study she could use to share what she learned with others.  However, she never found a study, she found books and speakers, but no study.  She challenged me to write down the things we studied so that she could take this message forward.  I, of course laughed, refused and made excuses.  Then an interesting thing began to happen, God used other people who had no idea what was going on in my life to encourage me to write.  I am sure they don't even remember, but I do, because God was speaking to me constantly through them.  I went to a concert and had such a burning in my soul to take on this project that when we were leaving I mentioned it to my husband (thinking for sure he would think me crazy).  To my surprised he totally supported this cooky idea.  In my quiet time the next day I could not get away from it and by the end agreed to take on this writing project.  I have to admit, once I agreed to do this I was so excited.

I woke up at 5:00am every day for the next three months and the study basically wrote itself.  The Holy Spirit was my constant companion and guided every step.  Laurie proof read it as I wrote and it was done.  I challenged Laurie to teach it to a group and I would sit in and see how it went.  We got a group of ladies together who have a passion for the Word of God and they took on the job of pilot studying my book.  Much was learned and the feedback was good.  Now what.

I started to look for a publisher, pretty casually and before long I was signing a contract with Tate Publishing.  They have done a great job and caught the vision of my project.  If you have a burden to understand Scripture more clearly or teach others what you know.  I encourage you to take a look at my book.  If you see me regularly, I will have copies you can buy.  The purpose behind this book is to help everyone to understand the Bible clearly.  

For those who know the Bible speaker Les Feldick, he read my manuscript and said, “Just finished going through your study.  All I can say is, fabulous!”  If you read this blog and already understand these truths please consider leading a study using this book so that others can see the Bible clearly.   

http://www.tatepublishing.com/bookstore/book.php?w=9781620247662

How should the Body Behave?

This is maybe the most critical point of discussion.  I often think the church is not judged by what it believes, but how it behaves.  Unfortunately, many people in the church have the reputation of hypocritical behavior.  That is saying we believe one thing, but do another.  Saying we believe in unity and then branching off into so many denominations because we just can’t agree.  Saying we believe in love, but passing so much judgment and gossip towards a person that they think this place is not for me, I don’t need to put up with this abuse.  Saying we believe in being kind, but when a person comes to our church we don’t talk to them because we have more important friends that need our attention. 

If you have not experienced any of these scenarios I am glad.  Unfortunately, they are pretty common in many churches that cross denomination, location, and size.  You may think how can you know what all churches are doing?  I can’t, but I have spent time in many churches around this country and don’t feel I have overstepped any bound by putting out a few of these generalizations.   

Let’s get to the Bible to find out the things that the church should be doing.  I just had a thought that the most awesome testimony we could give the world is if we lived out these four truths.  The Bible is full of stuff and sometimes we skim the surface of lots of things, but never really focus on anything.  I want to focus on four ways we should act if we are part of the Body of Christ.  Next time, you go to your local place of worship why not try to apply these four Scriptures and see if you could make a difference. 

Let’s try to put down our jealousy, I Corinthians 12:12-15, 18-19, “The body is a unit, though it is made up of many parts; and though all its parts are many, they form one body.  So it is with Christ.  For we were all baptized by one Spirit into one body – whether Jews or Greeks, slave or free – and we were all given the one Spirit to drink.  Now the body is not made up of one part but of many.  If the foot should say, ‘Because I am not a hand, I do not belong to the body,’ it would not for that reason cease to be part of the body…But in fact God has arranged the parts in the body every one of them, just as He wanted them to be.  If they were all one part, where would the body be?”  How often do I hear people say that, “if only I could sing, or teach, or lead…but I only have the gift of hospitality…that doesn’t really matter.”  Our church is struggling because so many people wish they were doing something else and no one is doing anything.  Get out there and use your gift of hospitality to the best of your ability, throw a party, host a progressive dinner as a church mixer, start inviting new people to your house for dinner, host a potluck at church, plan a special event at your church for Christmas.  The Body of Christ needs your gift and if you begin doing what you are good at, you might be surprised where God will take you.

Let’s try to love those in our church, Ephesians 4:16, “From Him the whole body, joined and held together by every supporting ligament, grows and builds itself up in love, as each part does its work.”  What if instead of criticizing the next new event, idea, sermon, teacher at church, we tried to build that person up in love.  Do you want to be that stubborn old goat who is always seeing the glass half empty or do you want to be someone people can look to for love and support.  Now, I can already hear some of you out there saying, “You don’t understand, I have the gift of discernment and if I think something is wrong, it is my duty to speak it.”  Ok, but how are you speaking and with whom are you speaking?  Are you speaking to any friend who has the unfortunate pleasure to cross your path on a Sunday morning?  Are you bringing your concern up as a prayer request at the Wednesday night prayer meeting (where if we were honest there is not much praying going on)?  Are you snapping at the Pastor with your best one-line zinger, so he can’t help to take notice of your objection?  Maybe you could focus on using your gift of discernment with a huge dose of love.  Why not state your concern once, to the right leader with a pinch of humility and a dose of love and then leave it in their capable hands to make a decision.

Let’s try to speak truth, Ephesians 4:23-25, “…to be made new in the attitude of your minds; and to put on the new self, created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness.  Therefore each of you must put off falsehood and speak truthfully to high neighbor, for we are all members of one body.”  I would encourage you to look at this entire section of Scripture going back to verse 17.  The truth it is referring to is contrasted to worldly lust and futility of thinking.  I have been in enough churches to know that worldly lust and futility of thinking has crept into many churches that have a cross on their steeple and pray to Jesus.  I have heard, “baptism is your ticket to heaven,”  “we were created to be homosexual and there is nothing wrong with that,” “the Bible’s teaching on premarital sex does not reflect the time in which we live.”  The truth of the Bible has been misinterpreted, watered down, and completely ignored.  Until the thing we go to on Sunday mornings is no longer a reflection of God.  Find a church that holds firm to truth, be a student of the Word so that when your church makes a compromise on truth you will recognize it and can challenge it.  However, in all this remember to be made new in the attitude of your mind.  Put on the attitude of Christ this was humility; so that while you are speaking the truth you are filled with love for those with whom you are speaking.

Let’s try to be kind, Ephesians 4:32, “Be ye kind one to another, tender hearted, forgiving one another, just as God in Christ has forgiven you.”  I believe this verse says it all!

This is by no means a comprehensive list on how the Body of Christ should act, but I think if we would focus on implementing these three things in our local congregation we could revolutionize our local as well as global Body of Christ.      

Reaching the Church with the Message of Grace

I was recently asked how can you share the message of Paul's gospel and rightly dividing Scripture with others who are Bible-studying Christians who don't know this truth.  I could go to a church who believes as I do, however, I choose to be amongst those who don't fully understand the truth of the mystery so that eventually I will have an opportunity to share it with them.  The following is part of my journey I am sharing so that I can encourage some of you who are in a similar position.

My story is a bit of a crooked path.  I heard the gospel from a young age (my parents were saved when I was five).  I gave my life to Christ when I was 13, to be my Lord and Savior.  I was raised going to a Grace Church, however, you would be surprised how poorely I understood this message.  Things like, "Who is written to, who is it written for," were thrown around without me understanding what that meant.   I remember this church as being dogmatic right fighters, exclusive and legalistic.  (As I understood more of the grace message this confused me even more.)  I remember that I didn't doubt my salvation, but I doubted how I saw it being lived out.  I moved around the country and went to more churches than I can even remember.  I was solid in my faith so this was a frustrating time as things just didn't sit right with me. 

I started studying the Bible more and more and got more and more conflicting information.  I knew God was a God who wanted to be known, however, why didn't more people know what the Bible was saying?  I knew the Bible held the answers, so I began to study inductively.  It was during a study on covenants that a lot of conflicting ideas began to surface.  I started to piece a lot of the puzzling Scriptures together and with the help of my parents, I began to finally understand the instruction of my youth and it's impact.  God convicted me that this revolutionary message about God's mysterious grace was meant to be shared.  So I "bloomed where I was planted" and remained in my study groups and teaching positions.  However, I knew that I didn't want to turn this awesome message of grace into legalism, right fighting or exclusivity.  I studied unity in the Bible and found that the attitude I was to have was to be one of humility and selflessness (Philippians 2:1-8).  So I remained and began slowly (as discussion allowed) to ask questions (mainly showing the discrepancy in Scripture).  I let these questions marinade, never forcing the issue.  I allowed myself to let a topic go unanswered or allowed people to leave without coming to my conclusions.  Slowly, a few faithful studiers of the word started to see and understand, but not fully.  These would come to me individually to ask questions.  Eventually I had the opportunity to do a few dispensational studies focusing on the Book of Acts with interested individuals after I built up a lot of trust.  These studies were well received to the point that they wanted the information I had so they could share it with others.  So, I wrote a book and a blog to give people a format to share the grace message. 

As far as your question about sharing this dispensation truth about the mystery of the age of grace with pastors, don't start there.  I have not yet had any success with pastors.  I try to respect their calling and not to use the church they lead as a format to teach ideas they would not fully be in agreement with.  If they have trusted me to teach something in the church, I follow the curriculum with humility and try to skip over things I am not fully in agreement.  Yes, there are times that a sermon is difficult, but I try to use those to challenge myself to defend my position and see if there is any application I can pull out.  There are other's in our church who understand and get frustrated, but I try to emphasize a spirit of unity and humility within the church. 

I hope this helps you!  I tried to be as concise as possible.  Thank you for your willing heart to take this message to a dry and thirsty land.  It is a high calling, but with the right attitude can be a very fruitful journey!  Please continue your journey, and let me know how it goes.
Natalie Smith