Godly Leadership & Power

Godly Leadership & Power

David Bergsland

Copyright 2010 David Bergsland Smashwords Edition

Discover other titles by David Bergsland at Smashwords

This book is available in print at Amazon and Lulu

This is a work of biblical opinion sharing the experiences of over thirty-five years of serving Jesus of Nazareth, teaching the scriptures, and walking in the spirit. All opinions should be examined and prayerfully considered before they are blindly acted upon.

Smashwords Edition License Notes

This ebook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This ebook may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each person you share it with. If you're reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then you should return to Smashwords.com and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the author's work.

Translations & lexicons used: See Appendix C

This book is dedicated to my wife and our Lord Jesus, the Messiah of God. Our covenant sustains me. Her love maintains my sanity. His presence makes our lives worth living.

Chapter 1: Why a verse by verse bible study?

This is the third book in the Easily Understanding Scripture series. If you’ve read either of the first two, you have seen that this is not how the Bible is commonly taught in the world today. This is not a sermon or a directed teaching. This is a simple explanation of the scripture, verse by verse. I have tried to add objective advice based on my thirty-seven years of experience in teaching and living within the Kingdom of God.

The purpose of this book

My desire is that you come to feel free to study and analyze scripture to make it more useful for you as you grow in the Lord. The goal is to teach you how to use multiple translations, the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, and the brain God gave you to be enabled to more easily use scriptures as food for your spiritual growth. Bible study should be exciting as you come to realize the truth of the Gospel

To help you, the book is designed to be readable. Modern study bibles are marvelous gatherings of commentary—but often the Bible itself is lost in the clutter. Easily Understanding Scriptures is the result of a simple goal: presenting the bible richly in an easy to comprehend format to people who have a real desire to understand what was written and why it is important to us today.

Doctrinal position

I believe that the Bible is true, inspired by the Holy Spirit, and that we can rely upon it for training, correction, and learning about God: Father, Son & Holy Spirit. [2 Timothy 3:16–17]

I am convinced that the church is deeply within the great delusion talked about in II Thessalonians 2:11 and largely becoming apostate.

I know that walking and talking with God in a personal relationship is the purpose of creation with the goal of our sanctification and fruitfulness..

Obviously, it is foolishness to think that I could possibly do this without the anointing of the Holy Spirit. On your part, it is equal foolishness to not pray for His guidance every time you pick up this book and your Bible. We cannot understand scripture without the guidance and inspiration of the Holy Spirit—how much more do you need to be careful with a book written by an ordinary man. Ask the Holy Spirit to give you the grace to see the truth and to be able to apply it to your life

Who am I?

My credentials: As far as the world is concerned—very little. What I have is experience—both the experience of reading many versions of scripture cover to cover many times and the experience of teaching and leading Bible studies since late 1974. I was also a full-time college-level instructor of digital publishing for over fifteen years and the author of several textbooks on those subjects. In addition I was the teaching pastor and liturgist for eleven years in a small Foursquare church in Albuquerque that went non-denominational as Crown of Thorns early in the millennium.

For the past five years, the Lord has had my wife and me on a crash wilderness course of spiritual growth. I have matured in ways I didn’t know existed. My idea is to share some of these revelations with you by the grace of God. My hope is that the Lord can use this to help you.

Scripture versions & usage

There is no best version

My experience has conclusively proven to me that no one version has the best translation. You need to read a variety. My suggestion is that as soon as your bible is filled with so many notes that you are no longer making notes—it is time to get a new bible and a new version of the bible. There are no spirit-filled translations that I know of—though Jack Hayford led a group for the Spirit-filled Life study bible.

I began with the RSV. My father (who mentored me) was convinced that this was the best, most literal translation of the day. But we had many versions (and even more today). Pat was fond of the Jerusalem Bible—an excellent Roman translation from the French with strongly slanted denominational footnotes. I have become a firm believer in using many translations and a few paraphrases to build a consensus of accuracy. My usual choices are (in no particular order): New American Standard Bible; [NASB], Revised & New Revised Standard; [RSV & NRSV], English Standard; [ESV], New King James; [NKJV], New International; [NIV], Phillips, New Living Translation; [NLT], Amplified; [Amp], Jerusalem; [JB], and many more. For study purposes, I normally use biblegateway.com—which I highly recommend.

Modern Viking Paraphrase

In this book, I will be teaching from my personal understanding of what is right and true. I will put in relevant version copies, as necessary. This not only allows me to keep the copyright police calm, but I can also combine appropriate versions into a composite reading that my experience suggests will be more meaningful to you. I will give you references so you can look it up in your personal favorite—follow the book in your Bible.

I will be using my own paraphrase by default. If there is no notation of translation, it is my paraphrase. If I am using a specific version I will flag it as such. You’ll want to follow in your favorite versions to make sure that you can see why I slant my paraphrase toward the core meanings I see in the text. You don’t have to agree. You do need to pray for wisdom.

Your responsibility: Read this with your mind and Bible open.

I am convinced that your active participation in the study and analysis of these verses is the only way the Holy Spirit will be able to actually change your life for the better through these teachings. Pray that the Holy Spirit will guide you and teach you. This is his primary job given by Jesus as found in John 14:17, 26; 15:26; 16:13–15 plus 1 John 2:27.

This is my prayer: That you will be brought closer to the Lord, that you will end up knowing Him better, and that the power available to all believers is more active in your life.

Becoming a believer

If at any time throughout this short book you come to realize that you might not truly be a believer or a citizen of the Kingdom of God—there is a simple solution. All you need to do is renounce the world, the flesh, and the devil. You then repent of your selfish, sinful ways and turn to Jesus for forgiveness. Then you ask Jesus to come live within you, and fill you with His Holy Spirit. Acknowledge Him as the Lord and King of your life. That’s all there is to it. You can do this at any time. If you are in doubt, please do it now.

Are you a citizen of the Kingdom of God?

Only if you have specifically asked to be a part of it. You cannot get in because your parents are, or were, believers. You must ask for yourself. Have you done that?

Timothy

I and II Timothy are copies of pastoral letters Paul wrote to Timothy. This young man had become his best help and a spiritual son to him. We meet Timothy in the first verses of Acts 16: 1–4

Paul went first to Derbe and then to Lystra, where there was a young disciple named Timothy. His mother was a Jewish believer, but his father was a Greek. Timothy was well thought of by the believers in Lystra and Iconium, so Paul wanted him to join them on their journey. In deference to the Jews of the area, he arranged for Timothy to be circumcised before they left, for everyone knew that his father was a Greek.; [NLT]

Dealing with Mark

It probably helps us understand if we remember that this was the second trip of Paul’s apostleship. It began with an argument between him and Barnabus. Paul refused to take Mark along because he had bailed on the first trip, leaving mid-trip to head back to Jerusalem. So Barnabus left with Mark and Paul took his friend Silas. [Acts 15: 36–40]

Lystra was where Paul was stoned (left for dead) on his first missionary journey—when the churches in the area were founded. Jewish troublemakers from Antioch and Iconium had shown up. [Acts 14: 19–20] A strong church had sprung up there and Timothy was respected by those churches.

It is interesting that at this point, Paul had Timothy circumcised. I just finished the Learning to Walk in Freedom book on the letter to the Galatians where we spent a lot of time dealing with the heresy of the circumcision requirement for Gentile believers. Apparently, this early in his ministry, Paul still thought it necessary to have Timothy circumcised probably to enable Timothy to help him in the synagogues when they first arrived in a new city.

Indispensable helper

My guess is that a couple of things were going on here. First, Paul really wanted a helper who understood the Gospel as he taught it. Second, Paul may well have needed a regular helper due to his physical condition. We have no idea what his physical problem was other than the few hints Paul gives in his letters [2 Corinthians 12: 7–10 and some comments near the end of Acts 24: 23; 27: 3].

In Philippians 2:20–22 Paul writes:

I have no one else like Timothy, who genuinely cares about your welfare. All the others care only for themselves and not for what matters to Jesus Christ. But you know how Timothy has proved himself. Like a son with his father, he has served with me in preaching the Good News.; [NLT]