Delving into the Treasures in the First Epistle of John (1 John)

Play

Introducing and Reporting:

Roy & Melania Olsen of Apa Vie MinistriesRoy & Melania Olsen

It’s my great privilege and delight to share with you an interview I did with Rev. Roy Olsen of Apa Vie Ministries in Pestere, Caras-Severin, Romania. I spent over half a month with Roy and his godly and sweet Romanian wife, Melania, last October. Apa Vie (“Living Water” in Romanian) and the work the Olsens are doing deserve to be better known. And this gives me a chance to report back to you who prayed and gave and made that ministry trip possible and so successful. Consider this an audio “thank you!”

Concise Overview of My Ministry Time in Romania:

  • Led a day-long pastor’s conference  at the Ape Vie retreat center in Pestere on the subject of mentoring.
  • Taught on two successive Friday mornings at the Baptist Bible Institute in Timisoara.
  • Preached and taught at churches in Maciova Colonie, Carasebes, Alba Iulia, Resita, and Bocso.
  • Spent numerous hours with pastors in their homes and apartments, listening to their challenges, asking them questions, answering their questions, and growing rich in our fellowship together.
  • Such was the blessing of God on the teaching, preaching, and personal interaction that [click to continue…]
DeliciousStumbleUponTwitterFacebookRedditLinkedInEmail

{ 0 comments }

Play

Show Notes by Jim Kerwin for Kernels of Wheat Podcast Episode 024 – Antichrist: In the Pew Next to You?

picture of young people in a pewIn the pew next to you?

Review of Last Episode

  • Evolution of teaching about antichrist, from the Apostle John and Polycarp up through modern dispensationalism
  • A brief overview of some of the more famous people “conclusively proven” to be antichrist
  • Hints and highlights from passages of 1 John so far
  • A look at the page from Strong’s Concordance which shows that all five references to antichrist appear only in three verses in 1 John and one verse in 2 John — never in a prophetic passage.
  • According to Greek scholars, the preposition and prefix anti- never has the meaning of against in New Testament writings; it always means in the place of, instead of.

Going Through the Relevant Details about Antichrist in [click to continue…]

DeliciousStumbleUponTwitterFacebookRedditLinkedInEmail

{ 0 comments }

Play

Show Notes by Jim Kerwin for Kernels of Wheat Podcast Episode 023 – Will the Real Antichrist(s) Please Stand Up?

A Short History of Antichrist

A closeup of the entry for the word 'antichrist' in Strong's ConcordanceThe entry for antichrist in Strong’s Concordance. These five entries–four verses–are the only places where the word ever occurs in the entire Bible. Note the plural in 1 John 2:18. Click on the image for a larger view.

Intro: In the old TV game show, To Tell the Truth, several panelists asked questions of three mystery guests.  One guest had a unique story or occupation or claim to fame; but the other guests were decoys, whose presence and answers were meant to deceive the panelists.  The panelists were allowed to ask questions of all three guests, and in the end had to guess which one had told the truth.  After they had guessed, the moderator would say, “Will the real [mystery guest] please stand up?” and the truth would be revealed.  Seeing the truth “stand up” in 1 John is our goal, with the help of the Holy Spirit.  In this episode, we will be looking for history and the Scriptures “To Tell the Truth” about what has — and should be — taught about the subject of antichrists.  “Will the real antichrists please stand up?”

Review of 1 John 2:18-29

  • Anointing
  • Abiding
  • Antichrist (this episode and next)

Speculation Started with the Early Church Fathers (a sampling)

  1. Polycarp (A.D. 69-155); bishop of Smyrna; knew the Apostle John and Irenæus.
    1. …being zealous as touching that which is good, abstaining from offenses and from the false brethren and from them that bear the name of the Lord in hypocrisy, who lead foolish men astray. For every one who shall not confess that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh, is [click to continue…]
DeliciousStumbleUponTwitterFacebookRedditLinkedInEmail

{ 1 comment }

Play

Show Notes by Jim Kerwin for Kernels of Wheat Podcast
Episode 022 – We Lend a Hand with LendAHand in Costa Rica, Including an Interview with Bobby Hoyle

Costa Rica pastorsPastors and LendAHand team members gathered at the Monte Getsemaní retreat center in Costa Rica.  The three people at the extreme right of the group are (left to right) Kathryn Hoyle, Bobby Hoyle, and Pastor Jorge Fernández.

 

Late on Friday, August 3, I returned from another teaching trip, this time to Costa Rica. In this podcast, I share for about fifteen minutes on my small part in teaching a group of pastors associated with Iglesia Centro Misionero in Los Guido, San José, Costa Rica. I cover some of the highlights of the trip, but I encourage you to read these three related blog posts also:

What you may find even more interesting is this episode’s interview with [click to continue…]

DeliciousStumbleUponTwitterFacebookRedditLinkedInEmail

{ 4 comments }

Play

Show Notes by Jim Kerwin for Kernels of Wheat Podcast
Episode 021 — Does God Hate Socks?

Picture of discarded socks and shoesNo, God doesn’t hate socks,
but He has been blessing our socks off lately!

Because it’s been so long since our last podcast in our continuing study through 1 John, I thought it would be appropriate to give our listeners a rundown (all-too-brief and incomplete) of my missions trip to Guatemala and my ministry trip to Iowa.  I’ve been busy — flying 3,800 miles round trip to Guatemala, driving 4,000 miles (Florida and Iowa) — and this week’s trip to Costa Rica (another 4,300 miles) hasn’t even begun (although all the teaching materials are ready and delivered).

The last few months have become a kaleidoscope of memories:

DeliciousStumbleUponTwitterFacebookRedditLinkedInEmail

{ 4 comments }

Play

Show Notes by Jim Kerwin for Kernels of Wheat Podcast
Episode 020 - Do You Have Indoor Plumbing?

Water Pump and Bucket

Is this your experience of the Christian life, or do you have indoor plumbing?

Review of last week’s episode, What We Don’t Know About the ‘Anointing, the second installment in our study of 1 John 2:18-29.

Abiding

  • What is the significance of what we learned about ‘the anointing’ last week?
  • Do you have indoor plumbing?
  • Most Christians don’t have indoor plumbing, and find it hard to believe or even conceive that other people do!
  • Living water (John 4:1-42)
    • What does “living” mean?
    • The water becomes a “well springing up to eternal life” (v. 14)
    • An insignificant fact?
    • Left her waterpot (v. 28) — why is this small fact important?
    • (Side note: Another example of [click to continue…]
    DeliciousStumbleUponTwitterFacebookRedditLinkedInEmail

    { 0 comments }

    Play

    Show Notes by Jim Kerwin for Kernels of Wheat Podcast
    Episode 019 - What We Don’t Know about “The Anointing”

    Strong's Concordance entry

    Part of a 'Strong's Concordance' entry on the word 'anointed'

    Review of last week’s episode, An Unhappy Heresy, the first installment in our study of 1 John 2:18-29.

    Study on the words anoint and anointing

    • No one in the New Testament ever prayed for “the anointing,” so why are so many Christians praying this way?
    • If orthodoxy is right belief, what the early Christians taught and believed, then..
    • Orthopraxy is right practice, that is, how the early Christians lived out what they believed.
    • In all the prayers we read in the Book of Acts, in Paul’s epistles, etc.—in other words, in any passage that would give us insight into New Testament orthopraxy—nobody ever “prayed for the anointing.” What was it that New Testament Christians understood that we don’t? [click to continue…]
    DeliciousStumbleUponTwitterFacebookRedditLinkedInEmail

    { 2 comments }

    Play

    Show Notes by Jim Kerwin for Kernels of Wheat Podcast
    Episode 018 – An Unhappy Heresy

    Review of Last Week — Loving the World = Spiritual Adultery

    Street-Corner Heretic

    If only all the heretics were this easy to spot!

    Historical setting of 1 John and 1 John 2:18-29

    • Response to heresy? What is heresy?
    • A belief or teaching that denies an accepted fundamental truth of the Christian faith, usually falling into certain categories:
    • Beliefs about God, e.g.,
    • The Holy Spirit is not a person, but an “it” or an “influence”;
    • The Persons of the Godhead are not co-equal and co-eternal;
    • There are many gods;
    • Human beings can become god.
  • Beliefs about salvation – basically that something else (works, for example) must be added to the work of Christ to gain heaven.
  • Beliefs about Christ – usually the major category.
  • Can’t study early church history without studying theology, and vice versa.
  • DeliciousStumbleUponTwitterFacebookRedditLinkedInEmail

    { 1 comment }

    Play

    Show Notes by Jim Kerwin for Kernels of Wheat Podcast
    Episode 017 – Why the Impossible Is Impossible

    Sign that reads "impossible" Not a “sign from God” (but just as obvious)

    Review of Last Week’s “Worldly” Word Study

    The Command in 1 John 2:15-17 and the Reason for It:

    • Don’t love the world-order or its things
    • If you love the world-order and its things, the love of God isn’t in you.

    All that is in the world-order” – what’s included in “all”?

    • The word for lust – Greek = epithumeia (noun) and epithumeo(verb)
    DeliciousStumbleUponTwitterFacebookRedditLinkedInEmail

    { 0 comments }

    Play

    Jim Kerwin’s Show Notes for Kernels of Wheat Podcast
    Episode 016 – If ‘God So Loved the World,’ Why Am I Not Allowed To?

    Picture of a confused man with questions.

    "Come again?"

    Review and Tie-Up of Last Week: 1 John 2:12-14

    A “Worldly” Word Study—A First Look at 1 John 2:15-17

    Different Uses of the Word World in the New Testament

    • κοσμέω (kos MEH oh, kosmeo –> cosmetics)
    • Pre-New Testament Greek:
    • setting troops in order
    • women “putting themselves in order”— clothing, make-up, etc.; adorn
    • regulating
  • New Testament Usage:
    • Put in order
    • (in the sense of trim): Matthew 25:7—Then all those virgins rose and trimmed their lamps.
    • Matthew 12:44—Then [the unclean spirit]  [click to continue…]
    DeliciousStumbleUponTwitterFacebookRedditLinkedInEmail

    { 2 comments }

    015 Kernels of Wheat – Walking into Maturity

    January 19, 2012

    Podcast: Play in new window | Download Jim Kerwin’s Show Notes for Kernels of Wheat Podcast Episode 015 – Walking into Maturity Review and Tie-Up of Last Week: 1 John 2:8-11 Three Levels of Maturity: 1 John 2:12-14 Little children (vv. 12,13) “Because your sins are forgiven you for His name’s sake” “Because you have known the [...]

    Read the full article →

    014 Kernels of Wheat – A New Gift from Jesus

    January 10, 2012

    Podcast: Play in new window | Download Jim Kerwin’s Show Notes for Kernels of Wheat Podcast Episode 014 – A New Gift from Jesus Reminder: Read through the First Epistle of John once a week Remember to substitute the phrase “the Anointed One” for Christ or Messiah for the next few weeks, to get in practice. [...]

    Read the full article →

    013 Kernels of Wheat – The Love Meter

    January 3, 2012

    Podcast: Play in new window | Download Show Notes by Jim Kerwin for Kernels of Wheat Podcast Episode 013—The Love Meter Review God’s desire: “That you also may have fellowship with us” (1 John 1:3) — intimate communion with the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit The reason the Holy Spirit comes within — to draw [...]

    Read the full article →

    012 Kernels of Wheat – Are You Fulfilling Bible Prophecy?

    December 26, 2011

    Podcast: Play in new window | Download Jim Kerwin’s Show Notes for Kernels of Wheat Podcast Episode 012—Are You Fulfilling Bible Prophecy? Prophecies You Don’t Want to Fulfill! Some Christians will fall away from the faith, drawn away by deceitful spirits, teaching of demons, and conscience-less liars — 1 Timothy 4:1-3 The time will come [has come!] [...]

    Read the full article →