841 - Les Feldick Bible Study - Lesson 1 Part 1 Book 71 - Alas, the day of the Lord is at hand - 1

https://lesfeldickbiblestudy.com Through the Bible with Les Feldick LESSON 1 * PART 1 * BOOK 71 ALAS, THE DAY OF THE LORD IS AT HAND - 1 Joel 1:1-15 It’s so good to see everybody in this afternoon. For those of you out in television, again we just like to welcome you to our informal Bible study. I’ve said so often, but I’ll say it again, we don’t try to pick away at other people; we don’t try to attack anyone. I’m just going to teach what the Book says. You know, I’m just reminded. I had a gentleman in one of my classes here in Oklahoma. He’s been part of the class for a long, long time. As a young man, he was a football player for one of the major universities in America. He told me one time, “When you’re in that situation, there’s nothing that you can’t do.” But he said, “You know, Les, over all the years that I’ve been coming to your classes, I’ve never heard you rant and rave against the drinking, against this or against that. And yet thanks to your teaching, that’s all left my lifestyle.” So, what’s the point? Hey, you don’t have to rant and rave at these people that you can’t do this and get to heaven. All you have to do is just teach the Book and the Word of God will take care of it. So, that’s my approach to these things. If you haven’t heard me get all up tight about one thing or another, well, that’s my attitude. If I can keep people in the Book, the Book will take care of it. I don’t have to. So again, those of you out in television, just remember, that all we’re going to do is search the Scriptures--compare Scripture with Scripture--and let you decide what the Book really says. Today we’re going to start a study in the Minor Prophets, where we started some time ago in Hosea. But before we go back to Joel, which we’re going to study today, I’d like to have you turn with me to Romans chapter 15 verse 4. And this is the encouragement to study all of Scripture. Now you know I’m so Pauline in our doctrines for today, of course. Paul is the Apostle of the Gentiles. But see, our Apostle of the Gentiles admonishes us to study all of the Scripture, not just Romans through Philemon. That’s the approach we have to take. The Apostle of the Gentiles writes: Romans 15:4 a “For whatsoever things were written aforetime (In other words, before he came on the scene, probably even before Christ’s earthly ministry.) were written for our (What’s the word?) learning,…” Now, what’s the difference between learning and doctrine? Well, all the difference in the world. Learning is background. Learning is to get an understanding of how did all this come about? How did it happen that Christ was crucified? How did it happen that He ascended back to Glory? How did it happen that He sent the Apostle Paul to the Gentiles? This is all background. But doctrine, what does that tell you? It tells us how to be saved, how to live the Christian life, what to look for at the end, so far as we are concerned. That’s in Paul’s epistles. But all of Scripture is for our learning. Always remember that. All right, so finish the verse. Romans 15:4b “…that we (as Grace Age believers) through patience and comfort of the scriptures might have hope.” See, and the world despairs. The world is in perplexity today. They don’t know which way to turn. My, I was reading an editorial again just this morning which was almost a carbon copy of one I referred to in our last taping. The dilemma that the Western world finds itself in. We either have to go in and stop Iran and their nuclear enterprise, or we have to put up with them and then let them blackmail us. So, which is worse? Well, one is as bad as the other. There is no real solution as far as men can understand it. What did the Lord tell us? In the last days, the world would be filled with perplexity. And that’s the word—perplexity. All right, we can go back into the Old Testament now, and we’re going to see how that through the prophetic writings we can look at the situation today and say, “Hey, it’s all in God’s design. He knows what’s going on. He’s not caught by surprise. This is exactly what prophecy has told us would come.” All right, so we’re going to go back, and we’re going to start our study in the next little Minor Prophet. We used Hosea our last time together, and now today we’re going to take the next one. But, like I told the folks here in the studio, don’t walk away from the TV set and say, “Oh, well, he’s in the Old Testament. That doesn’t mean anything to me.” We’re not going to stay in the Old Testament very long today. We’re going to be jumping right up into other portions of Scripture. #LesFeldick #BibleStudy #Bible