Geoffrey's Notebook

Baptism is not marriage, it is wearing the wedding ring.  1 Peter 3:21

Question: Stephen Kaung said that Jesus will come back for the rapture when the overcomers of the church will be ready. I do not understand too much. When I see the church today I only see its depravity, its lack of love for Him and only love for themselves. Even if it's true that some believers (like me) are better, still in general, the church is far off the focus of Jesus.  Then too, the church in Laodicea is the last church, not the church in Philadelphia. However, this church in Philadelphia is better. But Jesus will come back later. I don't understand why Jesus is waiting until his wife is ready. Can you show it to me in the Scripture, please? *This question was emailed from a brother in France. Geoffrey's Notes:  You had asked about how Jesus is waiting for the bride to be made ready. Here are a couple of Scriptures to quickly see this: 1. Revelation 12:1-11 - The manchild is raptured suddenly once born. This is the portion of the bride — the overcomers,...

Then a harmful spirit from the Lord came upon Saul, as he sat in his house with his spear in his hand. And David was playing the lyre (1 Samuel 19:9 ESV). What? A harmful spirit....from the Lord? Yes ... well ... It just doesn't seem right, eh? In this setting, the harmful spirit was allowed by the Lord. When it says "from the Lord," it does not mean that the Lord purposely created something harmful to get Saul to be evil. These things are often happening or trying to. When it reaches into the life of someone who "love[s] God and [is] called according to [His] purpose," God will permit it if it will accomplish His purpose of conforming that one into the image of His beloved Son (Romans 8:28). David was hunted by Saul as this jealousy continued on, but in his exile, he trained up mighty men from the outcasts of Israel. He learned to be the humble servant-king that he was anointed to be. This harmful spirit was "from the Lord," allowed by the L...

A good question from the bible.com app. Jesus gave a warning parable for disciples and ended with: For many are called ones, but few chosen ones (Matthew 22:14). The calling to the disciples was to follow Jesus. And many are called. Then the Lord chose the Twelve for a specific purpose. He did know that one of the Twelve was going to betray Him, so that is a different case than the others. With the other eleven, He chose them with a hint of foreknowledge (Romans 8:29) knowing that they would also choose Him. Though He had some counsel with the Father and knew who to choose, it was still a delight to Him when the actual choice was made. As all are turning away and the response of these disciples was to instead choose Him back, His heart was refreshed: "Did I not choose you?" Who is doing the choosing here? It is the disciples. But who already did the choosing? The Lord. He chose them having some foreknown sense of their future choice. Foreknowledge does not mean that th...

I was reading through a bible plan with a group and this question came up: And Balaam said to the Angel of Jehovah, I have sinned; for I knew not that thou stoodest in the way against me; and now, if it be evil in thine eyes, I will get me back again (Numbers 22:34). At first, he asked God what to do and God told him not to go and he obeyed. Then they came again asking him to go ... he said not for all the silver and gold. Then God told him to go? He was just obeying right? I was thinking it may have to do with the bigger picture, that God wanted him to go and bless the people instead of cursing, but Jude calls Balaam a fool (but that could be for something that happened later too it seems?). Is it because he had asked God to curse them in the first place? It seems like he was just inquiring of the Lord about it ... but it talks about it in Joshua as though Balaam was asking God to do it (Joshua 24:9-10) ... any thoughts? Geoffrey's notes: It does seem like Balaam is just a h...

  Do we really understand what environment is? Oftentimes we blame the environment and claim that it makes a person what he is; yet let us see that only a weakling is made by his environment—whereas a strong person controls or makes use of his environment. Joseph had been taken out of the environment of his father’s love and put into another environment which was so mean, so base, and so low. He had become a slave in another person’s house—a very difficult environment, indeed. Whereas a weakling would have been crushed by such a circumstance, Joseph, instead of being crushed, rose above his environment and ruled over it. —Stephen Kaung  Geoffrey's note: I probably need to explain something about this quote in case it sounds odd or off. When I first heard this, it caught my attention because of the word "weakling," which was a little shocking to hear though good use of it. The teaching of this man-of-God is the same as Paul the apostle "when I am weak, then I am s...

Question:  What does it mean in Proverbs when it talks about winning souls? How were souls won in that day?  *sent via email  Geoffrey's Notes: We use this term soul-winning now to talk about evangelism, and we've borrowed it from Proverbs 11:30: The fruit of the righteous is a tree of life; and the wise winneth souls. For example, C.H. Spurgeon has an excellent book called The Soul Winner  ( free on Kindle ), which grabs the title from this Scripture. Though it's a borrowed phrase, it is a good use of it. In our time, when we say soul-winning, we mean to help someone believe on the Lord Jesus and be saved. They are won  or gained for the kingdom or at least for eternity. Those souls,  people, are saved. In the time before the cross, what did this mean? "... the wise winneth souls" or "he that is wise wins souls." Today someone may be won for eternity with full assurance of heaven. But at that time, if you helped someone through the wisd...

I've been saving questions received for the last 10+ years from various conferences, bible studies, emails, chats, youth times and one on one fellowship. I've often used a physical question box for Q & A sessions and most of the time I've kept the little scraps of paper with the questions on them. Some were answered in the past, others missed due to time. Some are unique, others seem to be on most people's hearts. Look for more questions to be posted soon as I begin to go  through these old notes again and feel free to add new ones to this "question box", and I'll seek the Lord for something to share. I hope these notes are helpful in finding the Lord as the real answer to our deepest question.

I don't believe I've ever read Psalm 38 until just 10 minutes ago. It is for the depressed, "to bring to remembrance," as the inscription says. It is meant to be read through tears. Though I may have searched through this text one hundred times, it was just now that I finally could "sing" this psalm. I am depressed; I am bowed down beyond measure; I go mourning all the day (v.6) And as it goes on, the depressed heart is free in the light. The reality of what is happening in the soul is expressed. Words are given for the thoughts and sorrows on the mind, and the feelings of the soul. For my loins are full of burning, and there is no soundness in my flesh. I am faint and broken beyond measure; I roar by reason of the agitation of my heart. Do you have a reason for your depression? I had the old question on my mind as I opened my Bible tonight, "Why so downcast, O my soul?" (Psalm 42:11) I know that verse, but this time it was a real question f...