By Bill Vigue

“In the first year of his reign (Darius) I Daniel understood by books the number of the years, whereof the word of the LORD came to Jeremiah the prophet, that he would accomplish seventy years in the desolations of Jerusalem. And I set my face unto the Lord God, to seek by prayer and supplications, with fasting, and sackcloth, and ashes: And I prayed unto the LORD my God, and made my confession,…” (Dan 9:2-4)

As in the case of Daniel, if we seek God’s Word spoken to His prophets we can understand His Will.  This includes understanding unfulfilled prophecies in the season they are to happen.  Daniel was an aged prophet at the time of his discovery regarding Israel’s first return to Jerusalem.

God’s Word came to the prophet Jeremiah when Daniel was a child.  Being a faithful Jew Daniel had certainly read Jeremiah’s prophecies but not yet close enough to understand until this specific year.

It is important to recognize that it was a vision that prompted Daniel to re-search Jeremiah’s prophecy.  As a prophet Daniel had received a series of visions throughout his life.  Along with those visions God also gave him the interpretations.  But while he had such visions with their interpretations he still didn’t always understand.  (Daniel 8:27)

“And I heard, but I understood not: then said I, O my Lord, what shall be the end of these things?  And he said, Go thy way, Daniel: for the words are closed up and sealed till the time of the end.” (Dan 12:8-9)

Jeremiah had the same experience.  God revealed things to him about Israel, the NT Covenant, the second coming of the Messiah, the world tribulation etc…  But Jeremiah didn’t understand them perfectly.  God spoke something very important to Jeremiah.

“The anger of the LORD shall not return, until he has executed (all that He said) and not until He has performed the thoughts of his heart: in the latter days ye shall consider (understand) it perfectly (fully & clearly).” (Jer 23:20 see also 30:24)

Faithful believers who are alive and seeking God’s Word at the appointed times of a promised event (like Daniel 70 years after Jeremiah’s prophecy) will understand the signs, the times and what will happen.  Remember at the time of the Lord’s birth there were two particular servants of God (Simeon & Anna) who were faithfully watching and were thus in the know because their hearts were prepared? (Luke 2:21-38)

In Generations past most Christians hardly looked into the unfulfilled prophecies of the OT prophets let alone the NT Book of The Revelation of Jesus Christ.   This is because their generation could not understand them, they were not living in the time for those things to come to pass.

When some tried to “interpret” them they created confusion.  For instance, the great Reformer Martin Luther introduced a doctrine known best today as Replacement Theology.  Because no nation of Israel existed in his day Luther taught that all the unfulfilled prophecies referencing Israel must allude to the NT Church.  To this day many are influenced by that theology and therefore disregard the importance of modern day Israel.

Regardless of this “misplacement”, God has regathered Israel in these last days as God proclaimed to the prophets.  Since 1948 to this day God’s hand is still regathering Jews in their “promise land” to deal with them “face to face” exactly as He proclaimed through the prophets. (i.e. Ezekiel 20:33-38) Israel is already presently the boiling pot of all nations.  Things for them will escalate toward the ignition of their Great Tribulation which will have profound effect on the whole world.  We need to “watch and pray” to be prepared as God unfolds His just decrees.

Daniel, while he could not understand everything God revealed to him, did have an open heart.  He sought for answers and in the right place – the Word of God.  I want to stress this point.  Too many Christians seek for answers separate from the Word of God.

Daniel always sought God prayerfully looking into the scriptures.  He had supernatural experiences that drove him but he didn’t seek those experiences.  They were manifested to him as God willed.  Neither did Daniel seek signs and wonders; they were also given to him as God willed.  It is unwise to look for the spectacular because you’ll miss the gentle supernatural workings of God.  If you are not searching the scriptures you’re vulnerable prey for “lying sign and wonder”.

“For the mystery of iniquity does already work: only he who now hinders it will hinder it, until he is taken out of the way.  And then shall that Wicked be revealed, (the spirit of antichrist) whom the Lord shall consume with the spirit of his mouth, and shall destroy with the brightness of his coming: Even him, whose coming is after the working of Satan with all power and signs and lying wonders.” (2Th 2:7-9)

We need the Word of God to distinguish what is from God and what are lies from Satan.  The Knowledge of the Word of God is the only source man has to prove what is truthfully from the Spirit of God.  Don’t misunderstand; the Holy Spirit is the paramount feature of the NT Covenant.  I can’t stress that enough.  But if you neglect to examine the scriptures as Jesus charged. (John 5:39) Man always falls into error and bound powerless for not knowing the scriptures.

“Jesus answered and said unto them, Ye do err, not knowing the scriptures, nor the power of God.” (Mat 22:29)

Jesus pointed His listeners and adversaries to the scriptures.  He used “thus it is written” to resist Satan’s temptations.  Dedicate to search out and trust the details of scriptures.

Any questions concerning the teaching please contact us at

MeatoftheWord@gmail.com

Or Pastor Bill Vigue at

BillyVigs@sbcglobal.net

Also we would appreciate getting to know you better

Please feel free to share your testimonies of how our ministry is

Effecting your lives

By Bill Vigue

“And now these three remain: faith, hope and love… ”. (1 Cor 13:13)

Let us not be of the opinion that every Christian has a sufficient understanding of faith.  Few in the present-day Church are doing the things the believers did in the Book of Acts.  Therefore the argument that the issue of faith is overemphasized is erroneous.

Apostle Paul cited three great virtues that keeps Christians going; faith, hope and love.  He held them up as the most fundamental components for doing God’s Will.  These are necessary virtues if we are going to flow with the manifestations of the Holy Spirit.

Think of faith, hope and love as three log in a fire.  Think of them as the fuel for God’s fire.  A good fire requires items bundled to together so they can feed off each other.  In the mind and Will of God, faith, hope and love feed off each other to make us burn brighter and reproduce God’s manifested power.

For instance, the scripture says:  “faith is the substance of things hoped for.” Without hope faith does not come alive in us.  Then too, the scripture says that “faith works by love”.  Without love, godly faith, faith that is in line with God’s perfect Will, does not work.  All too often we see people using their faith for their selfish desires and that is contrary to God’s love.

It is important to understand how a good fire needs the other logs to heat and kindle each other.  In that sense, without hope, faith has no premise.  Without love, faith will go off course, lusting greedily to obtain things contrary to the perfect Will of God.

It is best to understand how faith, hope and love work together in producing the Will of God in our lives.  Possibly, the failure to understand that they work together is why there is so much confusion about faith teaching.

“For therein is the righteousness of God revealed from faith to faith: as it is written, “The just shall live by faith.””  (Rom 1:17)

Four times in scripture it is stated that “the just (or justified) shall live by faith”.  Three times the New Testament tells us; “The just shall live by faith“.  Faith is important!  Faith is our access to God and all His promises.

To understand this declaration from God we need to know what it means to live by faith.  Living by faith does not mean we are to accept whatever circumstances are dished out in life.  Many think that.  I like to say it this way; “the just shall rise to the occasion“.

The examples God gave us of people who lived by faith are illustrated in the eleventh chapter of the Book of Hebrews.  It shows us a people who did not accept what happened to them in their lives.  God honored those people because they honored Him through their display of believing what God said.  Their examples of faith pleased God (Heb 11:6) by their actions.  Those justified by faith don’t let the circumstances dictate their lives, they use God’s Word to change things.  (Those who are justified by faith don’t let the circumstances dictate their lives, they use God’s Word to change things.?)  All of those listed as examples to us of living by faith pressed past the obstacles.

Any questions concerning the teaching please contact us at

MeatoftheWord@gmail.com

Or Pastor Bill Vigue at

BillyVigs@sbcglobal.net

Also we would appreciate getting to know you better

Please feel free to share your testimonies of how our ministry is

Effecting your lives.

By Bill Vigue

“Beloved, when I gave all diligence to write unto you of the common salvation, it was needful for me to write unto you, and exhort you that you should earnestly contend for the faith which was once delivered unto the saints.” (Jude 1:3)

Gordon Lindsey, a prolific Christian writer once wrote a series of booklets titled “Men who changed the World”. In it he wrote these words; “Part of the makeup of men of God, was that they would not sit idly by and do nothing when opposed or when a door seemed to close”. A productive Christian life is not one spent in passive existence where you let the devil, or a person moved by the devil, or circumstances of life rule your life on earth.

Faith is a spiritual reality inspired by God and directed toward God. I believe strongly in what the Bible has to say about faith. I believe the teachings of Jesus Christ.

In the past decade what is often called the “Faith Message” has faced real scrutiny. Some of the criticisms are valid. Many points of concern of misrepresenting faith is justified. Some preachers have left the impression that faith is a force separate from a true understanding of God. It is not!

On the other hand, some of the criticism against the “Faith Message” is unjust. Some critic’s have terribly watered down what the Bible and particularly what Jesus said about faith toward God. Many are fault-finders, having failed to respect what the Word of God says about faith. How can they possibly articulate on what faith is?

Generally, their error is the result of spending their time studying the traditions of men at the expense of the Holy Scriptures “which are able to make you wise unto salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus”. (2 Tim 3:15) God’s Word is truth, not church traditions.

Many of God’s people are defeated in life because of wrong teaching as well as weak teaching about faith. Many Christians are bewildered; others overcome by doubts because they are presented with a dim view of Biblical faith. So please remember this point, when you read the word “faith” in these next articles I will present, know that I mean faith in God “as the Scriptures say”.

Now consider the struggle for contending for the faith which was originally handed down to our church fathers. In the text I opened with it says we are to contend for the faith. Paul wrote, exhorting us to “fight the good fight of faith” (1 Tim 6:12)

Today, many teach that faith is having a tolerant acceptance of whatever happens – implying God is in manipulating all things; even the devil’s deeds. That is nonsense. That message has been sown into the church causing many to become “salt that has lost its savor”. It is a message that does not encourage us to contend as the salt of the earth. Demons, appearing as “angels of light”, (2 Cor 11:14) have spread this lie into the souls of men. It is darkness working in “men that loved darkness”. (John 3:19)

Teachers who say we are to accept whatever happens as God’s Will are naïve at best and greatly deceived. The extreme conclusion of their assumption is that sin and evil is God’s Will. This is the Fatalist belief; a secular philosophy that has dangerously crept into the church as a truth. It is a lie, a contradiction of Jesus and His exhortations to have faith in God and “speak to the” mountains. (Mark 11:23) We are exhorted by Jesus to “overcome even as I overcame” and He overcame all opposition to fulfill the Will of God.

Every truth in the Bible is important. We should not think anything in scripture is deemed unimportant. As we examine scripture, there should be no compromise and no apology for what the Bible says. Christians should pursue a course to see what Jesus said about faith.

Once again, the book of Jude says we; “should earnestly contend for the faith which was once handed down to the saints”. These next series of articles on faith are meant to inspire your holy contention for the faith which Jesus explained.

Any questions concerning the teaching please contact us at

MeatoftheWord@gmail.com

Or Pastor Bill Vigue at

BillyVigs@sbcglobal.net

Also we would appreciate getting to know you better

Please feel free to share your testimonies of how our ministry is

Effecting your lives

By Bill Vigue

“And the brethren immediately sent away Paul and Silas by night unto Berea: who coming thither went into the synagogue of the Jews. These were more noble than those in Thessalonica, in that they received the word with all readiness of mind, and searched the scriptures daily, whether those things were so. Therefore many of them believed; also of honorable women which were Greeks, and of men, not a few.” (Act 17:10-12)

Paul’s visit to Berea was during his second missionary. I’m sure He, by the leading of the Holy Spirit suggested to Barnabas they “visit our brethren in every city we preached”. (Acts 15:36) The purpose was to see how the new converts were doing. This vision for “strengthening the brethren” (Acts 18:23) in follow up ministry is one of the more overlooked tasks of the Great Commission. It is also one of he most hated of the devil.

Immediately we see how Satan came to attack this plan by creating strife. Paul and Barnabas had a serious falling out over whom to take with them and thus what God had joined together in ministry the devil was able to divide. Even our best leaders can fall out of God’s plan because of Satan’s prodding and their yielding to their human nature.

Follow up ministry is important. For those like the Bereans who personally search the scriptures to see for them selves if what they are hearing about God is true; it is much easier to grow in Christ and not be taken advantage of. If you search the scriptures you will quickly see that follow up ministry toward the saints was a passion of the Apostle Paul. All of his epistles reflect his tremendous “care of all the churches” (2 Cor 11:23-28) along with his exhortations, instructions and directives of how necessary it is for all who believe to “watch and pray for all the saints”. (Eph 6:18)

Jesus frequently followed up on His ministry to His disciples like a shepherd does his flock. Even after His resurrection Jesus checked up on the doubting believers. He walked down the mountains of Jerusalem all the way to Emmaus (7 ½ miles) to investigate the faith of two disciples. He pointed out to them that they were “slow of heart to believe all that the prophets” had said concerning His death and resurrection. Then He “expounded unto them all the scriptures” and “their (spiritual) eyes were opened”. (Luke 24:25-31)

Later that day Jesus suddenly walked through a wall to appear before the gathered apostles and believers who were struggling with doubts about the reports of His resurrection. He returned to show Himself alive to them and to “open their understanding of the scriptures”. (Luke 24:36-45)

Even after that Jesus had to revisit and reinvestigate Peter and the others. They had returned to the Sea of Tiberias (Galilee) and their former livelihood, intent on feeding themselves and their families rather than caring for the brethern. There Jesus gently confronted them, Peter particularly since he was the greatest influencer. Three times Jesus reasoned with them asking who they loved more, Him of their own wants and needs. To love Him meant they would follow His instructions to “feed my sheep” and “feed my lambs”. (John 21:1-17) They got the message, returned to Jerusalem and became unmovable in caring for the brethren. (Acts 2:42-47; 4:1-34; 8:1)

On his second missionary journey Paul first returned to the villages of Derbe & Lystra where one young man stood out as having quickly developed in Christ. (Act 16:1-5) Paul took him on his mission to strengthen the brethren. Why had Timothy grown so fast? From a child he had been nurtured in the scriptures by his mother and grandmother. (2 Tim 1:1-5 & 3:15)

When Paul came to this new city Berea it was under great pressure. He had revisited many of the cities he originally established a church in but this time he was sent to Berea by the believers for his protection.

In Macedonia he and his team of labors had come under serious persecutions. Not only had they been slandered, both he and Silas had been whipped, beaten and put in prison. But they prayed and sang their way out of that crisis as God delivered supernatural help (Act 16:25-26) and a new church started right there in that prison. Then they returned to Thyatira, Lydia’s home church for the express purpose of encouraging “the brethren and comforted them”. (Acts 16:40)

When they finally came to Thessalonica where as his custom was, Paul “reasoned with them by the scriptures” some believed. But those who did not believe used “lewed fellows of the baser sort” to “set the city in an uproar and to assault the house of Jason” where Paul was staying. (Acts 17:1-5) Paul escaped to Berea and found a group of people who were not tossed to and fro by what others say but did their own research and passionately studied the scriptures. This was called an act of nobility.

The Bible explains that we who believe on Jesus have been made kings. The proverb says “it is the honor (splendor and glory) of kings to search out a matter.” (Pro 25:2) The Contemporary English Version translates this proverb, “rulers are praised for explaining mysteries”. The Concordant Literal Version states this proverb this way. It is “the glory of kings to investigate a matter.”

The result of the studious investigators in Berea was that many believed and a strong church was established. Not only did the poor folks hear the gospel and believe. Even the well to do came to the saving knowledge of Christ. “In Berea many believed, including honorable Greek women and men.” (Act 17:12)

I am convinced that if I can stir up your pure minds to labor and search the scriptures with a passion, and you in turn influence others to do the same, meaningful revival will break out where you “live and move and have your being”.

Any questions concerning the teaching please contact us at

MeatoftheWord@gmail.com

Or Pastor Bill Vigue at

BillyVigs@sbcglobal.net

Also we would appreciate getting to know you better

Please feel free to share your testimonies of how our ministry is

Effecting your lives

By Bill Vigue

The other day I was asked a question about the New Testament order for authority and submission. It’s an important question. Here were some of my thoughts as I see this issue explained by the foundational leaders, Jesus and His chief Apostles.

The first rule for me is that we understand Matt 20:25-28.
“But Jesus called them unto him, and said, Ye know that the princes of
the Gentiles exercise dominion over them, and they that are great exercise authority upon them. But it shall not be so among you: but whosoever will be great among you, let him be your minister;” (Mat 20:25-26)
Jesus makes it clear that we are not to think of exercising authority over others as the military does. Yet, most churches and virtually every denomination have ignored what Jesus commanded here. The greatest leaders among us are those who are the greater servants, not controllers.

There is only one Lord and that is Jesus. So, the most important thing is that we teach others first and foremost that the flock we attend or guide is not ours to control. Second, we should teach each other that the NT Covenant promises us a personal relationship with the head of the Church, who is Jesus Christ. Each member of the Body of Christ is to come under the personal authority of Jesus. This includes coming under the influence of the Word of God for the living Jesus is the Word of God. He is the head of His Body and should be held out to every member of the church as the ultimate authority. We don’t have enough teaching on that fact IMO.

Eph 4:11-14 tells us it is the Lord that “gave some” apostles; and prophets; and some evangelists and some pastors and teachers”. The are what we often call the ministry gifts or the church. Paul referred to them as the “joints” of the Body of Christ that supply an effectual working of God to His church. (see Eph 4:16)

One example of God’s sovereign authority of His called and sent out ministers is when Paul and Barnabas were sent out by the Holy Ghost. (Acts 13:1-3) The church in that case did not appoint them as apostles, God did through the Holy Spirit.

One of the reasons men like Paul and Barnabas were appointed by God as ministers is because God knew what is in their heart where mortal men don’t and thus judge things as they see things and not as God sees things. They were not perfect men! They had not totally mastered their flesh as proved by Paul’s life. (Acts 15:36-39; 23:3) But they were submissive men; first to God but also (like Moses) they were meek men, teachable, submissive to others.

There submission to serve with, along and at times under others is proved by scripture too. For we see that in many things the church elders, such as in Antioch did direct certain missions and appointed leaders like Paul and Barnabas to accomplish church directed tasks. (Acts 11:27-30 & Acts 15:1-3)

One of the big problems people have with authority is that they do not understanding the meaning of submission. People tend to think of it as control. “Wives, submit to your husbands in all things” does not mean husbands become the god over the wife. An excellent example of my point is where the Apostle Paul wanted another minister to do something and it was not in that mans heart to do it. He was allowed to follow His own leading.

“As touching our brother Apollos, I greatly desired him to come unto
you with the brethren: but his will was not at all to come at this time;
but he will come when he shall have convenient time.” (1 Cor 16:12)

Paul did not dictate to another man of God what he must do, even though he had the strongest desire. Paul was a spiritual giant on leading and guiding others into God’s Will, but he also knows each member in Christ has to follow their own convictions from the Lord.

We need to mature in this area of understanding the spiritual reasoning of submission and authority. The idea is to learn to be sensitive to what God might say to and through each other as opposed to controlling and being manipulated by others.

Manipulation is a form of witchcraft. It is rampant in many churches, especially through the means of pressuring people to become members and make pledges. I’ve been in far to many leadership meetings where the group of leaders are devising strategies to get people to “commit” to something and openly admitting their motive is to get more control. Should not Church leaders seek strategies of how they might lead people into a deeper walk and experience with the Lord Jesus and let the Lord be in control?

That said, there is no doubt no churches and groups of believers are to be lead by only one witness or leader. There should be a plurality of leaders or elders. We are to band together as best we can under the tender leadership of the Lord. No on is to Lord it over others.

A true leader is first and foremost submitted to the Lord and His Word. They are ever teachable, reachable, reflective and purposeful in searching out the Lord’s Will and not waning to follow the ambitions of others or their own, unless those ambitions line up with God’s Will. The Lord’s Will always needs to be searched for when conflict’s among leaders arise. The story in Acts chapter 11:1-8 was given to us by the Holy Spirit to help us see how to do it.

It is never God’s intent that one member control other members, but they are to strive to inspire, edify, strengthen, heal, help etc… each other. Grace does not mean a license to sin, but it does mean we can recover from all, any and every sin.

We are clearly told by the Spirit that the leaders (elders) are to “feed the flock of God”. (the flock is not ours) Too many of the Lord’s sheep are starving for some spiritual food! By feeding the sheep we are “taking the oversight” and should do that “willingly” and not with selfish ambitions. The other point Peter made clear is that by taking the oversight we are not to do it in as Lords. Peter wrote; “neither as being Lord’s over God’s heritage”. (1 Pet 5:1-3)

Anyone who does not adhere to the New Covenant rule that the sheep are the Lord’s gives me pause. Elder of the Lord’s appointment I think would know this rule. Those who claim to be spiritual or a prophet but withholds from you the knowledge or right to hear for God for yourself is not tuned in regarding the things of God.

“What? came the word of God out from you? or came it unto you
only? If any man think himself to be a prophet, or spiritual, let him
acknowledge that the things that I write unto you are the
commandments of the Lord. But if any man be ignorant, let him
be ignorant.” (1Co 14:36-38)

Any questions concerning the teaching please contact us at

MeatoftheWord@gmail.com

Or Pastor Bill Vigue at

BillyVigs@sbcglobal.net

Also we would appreciate getting to know you better

Please feel free to share your testimonies of how our ministry is

Effecting your lives

By Bill Vigue

“LORD, how are they increased that trouble me? Many are they that rise up against me. Many there be which say of my soul, there is no help for him in God. Selah. But thou, O LORD, art a shield for me; my glory, and the lifter up of mine head.” (Ps 3:1-3)

Many expositors entitled this Psalm “The Morning Hymn”.  This is because David wrote it in musical lyric and on the morning after he fled from his own palace in the dead of the night with a few faithful followers.  He fled to hide from the fury of a national rebellion led by his own son Absalom.  David’s situation seemed hopeless.  All but a few were against him and no one, not even his band of followers who were ready to die with him (2 Sam 15:21) were certain of their fate.  The haste in which the story describes David’s fleeing shows how easy the conscience can explode with fear when we’re out of fellowship with God and man. (Heb 10:25-27)

David had experienced life’s ups and downs and learned by meditating on God through those experiences.  He revered and knew the Lord’s mercies are new every morning. (Lam 3:23) David wrote in another psalm; “weeping may endure for a night but joy cometh in the morning”. (Ps 30:5) So waking to the new day, David was stirred with a prophetic psalm that reminded him that God was always for him.  Suddenly, his soul soared with a song of confidence, supernaturally knowing a victorious outcome awaited him.

The soul of a person is their mind, will and emotions.  We know we are walking after the Spirit when our soul has peace with God.  Those who are not walking in the Spirit; their soul is not still.  They are overwhelmed with anxiety, torments and frustration.  The release of the conscience, including every memory, sentiment and sympathy of sin is nothing less than a supernatural miracle of God.

Recently, I sat down with a family distraught over a loved one’s drug addiction.  They were professing the statistic’s that say recovery from such an addiction was “slim to none” and becoming more hopeless with their every word.  Suddenly, a still small voice rose up within me and I said;

“Yes that is true statistically, but much of those statistics are escalating because addicts are constantly told there is little help for them.  They come to believe the worst just like you do now.  Telling anyone, especially an addict, that there is no hope for them is like shooting their soul up with dope.  “Death and life are in the power of the tongue” (Proverbs 18:21) and our tongue keeps injecting death into their consciousness.  They need to hear the remarkable truth that with God all things are possible.” (Matt 9:26)

Instead of letting repentant sinners linger on their past, God’s wisdom is to release their soul and remove it from their conscience.  This is a reality to only those who eat of His flesh and drink from the cup of His blood.  Jesus is the Word of God made flesh (John 1:14) He is not separate from the Word.  The blood of Christ not only removes sin it also reverses the curse of sin.  Symbolically this refers to hearing and doing His Word.

The Lord told Peter, “What God has cleansed do not call common”. (Acts 10:15)  Only those liberated from the consciousness of sins they commit as well as those committed against them can become servants of value.  This is why Jesus said we must not say of our brother “raca”, meaning “empty and worthless fellow”. (Matt 5:22)

This liberty of the conscience is not just a change of attitude.  Again, it is a miracle of God that approves the believer and disqualifies the wicked.  The wicked have no rest. (Is 57:21)  They are like the troubled sea that rages, stirring up dirt that God had settled.  Serve God and let things be settled in your mind.  Be a peacemaker and enjoy peace with God to serve him.

Any questions concerning the teaching please contact us at

MeatoftheWord@gmail.com

Or Pastor Bill Vigue at

BillyVigs@sbcglobal.net

Also we would appreciate getting to know you better

Please feel free to share your testimonies of how our ministry is

Effecting your lives

By Bill Vigue

“For this is the covenant that I will make…I will put my Laws in their inward parts, and in their hearts will I put them.  And I will be to them a God and they will be to me people.” (Heb 8:10)

This NT epistle was written to the early Hebrew Christians.  The writer quotes from the prophet Jeremiah’s revelation of the coming New Testament and the promises contained in it.  There was to be granted to Israel a New Covenant which would be handed down and granted to the Gentiles too.  The New Covenant to come has come in adherence with a New Birth where the Laws of God are now written in the hearts of men who call upon the Lord for salvation.

Under the Old Testament God’s people mostly related to Him through the written Law.   Written Law is not bad.  Paul not only advocated that the written Laws were “holy, just and good” (Rom 7:12) he reasoned that the written laws were a faithful guide to children who will become the “heirs of God through Christ” (Gal 4:1-7) and he himself wrote many precepts into the instruction of the NT.

However, the very scriptures themselves (the Old and the New ones Paul himself wrote down) explain how the written law is terribly ineffective.  Left to the interpretations and judgments of carnal man, they do not produce life.  Thus Paul, the NT’s major interpreter, explained how God promised to speak to His children today in a superior fashion and that each believer is an epistle.

“Forasmuch as ye are manifestly declared to be the epistle of Christ ministered by us, written not with ink, but with the Spirit of the living God; not in tables of stone, but in fleshy tables of the heart.” (2Co 3:3)

Paul also explained how we cannot trust in the keeping the Law.  He explained how trusting in the “works of the law” leaves us “under the curse: for it is written, Cursed is every one that continues not in all things which are written in the book of the law to do them.” (Gal 3:10)  Since God knows no one has continued in keeping the written Law, Paul explained why God “blotted out” the written Law since it only works against us.

“And you, being dead in your sins and the uncircumcision of your flesh, He has quickened (given life) together with him, having forgiven you all trespasses;  Blotting out the handwriting of ordinances that was against us, which was contrary to us, and took it out of the way, nailing it to his cross; (Col 2:13-14)

In my previous article I quoted this from G. Campbell Morgan. “It is well to remember that the written commandments – and I refer resolutely to the commandments contained in the Holy Scripture, whether in the old or the New Testaments now – the written commandment is always incomplete, and constantly obscure. With that in mind consider what Morgan expounded upon further from today’s text of Heb 10:8.“In the history of human interpretation, at best the human interpreter has been fallible and at worst he has been false and that abides true until this hour.  The New covenant is a covenant in its final experience, in which the human soul shall be rendered independent of the external law and independent of the human interpreter; the law within, written on the heart.

Morgan was a promoter of the scripture and he was certainly not against writing and giving instructions through his own writings.  But his wisdom here was in accordance with the NT promise that God will deal with us personally, intimately and more effectively through heartfelt communion within our spirit, where God has written His Laws.  Morgan continued to explain these Laws are;

“… received by the direct revelation of the Will of God within the spirit, independent of all writings and all human interpretation, is to be the rule of life.  This is the exact description of the covenant under which Christian people live.  Yet we still hanker after laws and rules and regulations.  How perpetually we give ourselves to modern legalism, signing our pledges, conforming our habits to the opinions of other men, and looking outside for direction instead of expecting direction within. “All written laws fail, not because man is less than the law, but because the law is less than man and because within human personality there is something infinitely greater than ever can be conditioned within any law uttered at a single moment.

Morgan understood this in the same way Paul did.  Setting up himself as an example, Paul described how he appreciated the written Law, but he knew he must refuse coming under its power.  He said it this way;

“All things are lawful unto me, but all things are not expedient: (helpful) all things are lawful for me, but I will not be brought under the power of any.” (1 Co 6:12)

Paul was not advocating breaking any laws here.  But he was saying that because salvation is by grace and not by the works of the Law, if he did violate any Law of God or man, he would not let that violation overwhelm his pursuit of continuing on with God through faith.  He would continue because faith demands that he must continue!

In the next article we will look at the context of Paul’s point regarding his argument to resist being “brought under the power of any” law.  But in closing this session, I think it is important to point out how Paul recognized the need to live in the Law of Liberty.  It is not a liberty to continue on in sin, but a liberty from continuing in the violation and practice of the sin.

Living under the condemnation of sin (Satan’s strategy against us) stimulates sin.  This is because it tenders to hopelessness.  Hopelessness leads to despair and despair leads to more carnal inclinations.  But living by God’s Law written on the heart gives life and hope that frees us up so we can serve the living God.

Any questions concerning the teaching please contact us at

MeatoftheWord@gmail.com

Or Pastor Bill Vigue at

BillyVigs@sbcglobal.net

Also we would appreciate getting to know you better

Please feel free to share your testimonies of how our ministry is

Effecting your lives

By Bill Vigue

“And the LORD said unto Samuel, How long wilt thou mourn for Saul, seeing I have rejected him from reigning over Israel? Fill your horn with oil, and go,… (1Sa 16:1)

God needs us to move on with His plan.  Here we have an example of a man of God who needed to be verbally kicked in the pants to get him going on with God’s fresh directions.  Samuel, a prophet of God was slowed by sentimentality.  Samuel was holding back because of memories and emotions.  Remorse for sin is a sign of repentance and mourning for others has its place but mourning too long can become a dead work that holds people back from serving God.

Without the oil there is no anointing.  God wanted Samuel to fill his horn barrel with oil and go anoint David as King.  Israel needed a new and better leader but David first needed to be anointed.  Christians of the new and better Covenant need to fill our earthen vessel with the oil of the Holy Spirit and go do what God has assigned us to do under His anointing.  The Parable of the Five Foolish Virgins refers to Christians that did not maintain the anointing of the Holy Spirit’s.  They let emotions, sentiments and their own ideals rule their lives.

“How much more shall the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without spot to God, purge your conscience from dead works to serve the living God?” (Heb 9:14)

Many don’t understand God’s wisdom in this miracle of purging our conscience from dead works.  They don’t realize how important it is to get up and go.  Many in the church are slowed by the will of others who prefer to keep people in continual remembrance of their past failures.  They are not merely holding people back from moving on with God, they are hindering the work and will in the process..  If you allow people to exacerbate your past rather than “forgetting those things that are behind” (Phil 3:13) you will live without the anointing of God.

Truthfully, keeping yourself or people weighted down by the memories of their past is a sin.  It is demonic and yet somehow it is a doctrine that has crept into the church leaving it weak and feeble in expressing the Great Commission and so Great a Salvation.  God wants us freed from the weight of our sins.  We have to appreciate God’s wisdom to “lay them aside”. (Heb 12:1)  No one can serve God if their conscience is filled with the shame and condemnation of their sins.  If you are always appeasing the will of people who insist you comply with their shallow rules and regulations, you are not walking in the light of this reality.

“And you, being dead in your sins and the uncircumcision of your flesh, hath he quickened together with him, having forgiven you all trespasses; Blotting out the handwriting of ordinances that was against us, which was contrary to us, and took it out of the way, nailing it to his cross;” (Col 2:13-14)

People who came to Jesus repenting did not remain under the weight of their sins.  Jesus came to help the worst sinners get up on their feet and running their own race.  The repentant sinners didn’t cry for ever.  Jesus never left repentant sinners under condemnation.  Daily and eternally, all who come, calling on Jesus, He repeatedly forgives and sanctifies.  Then too He justifies them from every sin and all iniquity that the Law of Moses could not relieve them of. (Acts 13:39)  It is an ever flowing, supernatural, miracle to have your memories of the past purged from your conscience.  It is such a great work of love that some “despise” it (Acts 13:41) and “judge” themselves and you and I “unworthy” of it. (Acts 13:46)

Mary Magdalene reportedly had seven unclean spirits cast out of her and not one of them was mentioned against her.  There is no indication that Jesus taught His disciples to keep a watch over her (or anyone for that matter) in fear that any of the seven unclean spirits might come back on her.  Fear of such a thing, as any and all fear should not dictate our lives.  That kind of fear is not from the Spirit of God.

It is not our Christian duty to keep people in their place by continually reminding them of their past.  We are to “provoke one another to love and good works” (Heb 10:24) when we gather together.  We are to remind each other what Christ had done for us not what the devil might do.  We are to build each other up not tear each other apart.

So in Christ, and walking in the Spirit, not only is every sin cleansed but the very consciousness of sin is too.  Satan has invaded our light with darkness.  He is a spoiler through traditions and doctrines of men who have forsaken God’s word and replaced it with philosophies. (Col 2:8)

The key to victory over every addiction first starts with truth.  The truth makes you free. (John 8:32)  Truth brings with it an anointing that breaks the yoke. (Is 10:27)

Yes, the unclean spirit will seek to come back and if he finds you empty, merely broom swept and only a decorated believer they will regain some access.  However, keeping ourselves filled with the oil of the Holy Spirit leaves no room for the unclean things.  If you love God you will keep refilling your vessel with the oil of the Holy Spirit and He will thoroughly clean you time after time with the anointing.  You will not just appear like a Christian, you will be one, think like one, live like one and you will be taught to overcome human sentiments.  You will walk with the Lord in spiritual realities.

Any questions concerning the teaching please contact us at

MeatoftheWord@gmail.com

Or Pastor Bill Vigue at

BillyVigs@sbcglobal.net

Also we would appreciate getting to know you better

Please feel free to share your testimonies of how our ministry is

Effecting your lives

By Bill Vigue

“Upon this I awaked, and beheld; and my sleep was sweet unto me.  Behold, the days come, saith the LORD,… (Jer 31:26-27)

In the same way David woke up to a new hope following one of the most stressful evenings of his life, here we see the “weeping Prophet” Jeremiah wake up to a new vision and consciousness of a good outcome.

The Prophet Jeremiah lived one of the saddest lives of any man of God.  His mission from Birth was revealed to him by the Spirit.  A Prophet of Israel, few realize that God said he was placed over all the nations to “root out, pull down, destroy and throw down” so the Lord could rebuild and replant all the nations in righteousness.

God’s mind set is “first the Jew and then the Gentile”. (Rom 2:9-10)  Jeremiah’s revelation was for Israel, but it was given to them so they might understand that God loved all people not just the Israelites.  The Apostle Paul greatly suffered trying to get that truth across.

Jeremiah had few friends.  He was forbidden to marry. (Jer 16:1-16)  He had internal conflicts within himself. (Jer 20:7-18) The kings and rulers hated his messages from the Lord.  They wanted him to prophecy what they wanted to hear, and instead he told them what the Lord said.  That frustrated even Kings to anger.  Often Jeremiah was slapped around. (i.e. Jer 20:2, Jer 37:15)  Possibly he was beaten so often it relates to the reference to his “incurable wounds” (Jer 15:18) along with “perpetual suffering”.  He was repeatedly imprisoned, (Jer 20:1-6), accused of defection (Jer 37:1-16) and his motives were misunderstood. (Jer 37:12-14)  Yet, he held together to finish the mission God gave him.

Jeremiah said, “I awaked, and beheld”. The word “beheld” implies Jeremiah saw something in the Spirit as he awoke.  It was a vision of something that turned his mourning into gladness.  His focus changed from his miseries into a sweet sleep.  What God did was give him a vision of the future, the coming of a New Covenant.

“Behold, the days come,… that I will make a new covenant…Not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers in the day that I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt; (The Mosaic Covenant) which covenant THEY BRAKE,…

To introduce the coming of a New Testament God emphasized that Israel, not Him, had “broken” their original Covenant.  It enhanced the sweetness Jeremiah felt when knowing that regardless of Israel’s violations of the Law, God had not cut them off completely.  Knowing that nothing can separate God’s love from His people was a comfort to Jeremiah and meant to be a comfort to those who believed his prophecy.

But this shall be the covenant…I will put my law in their inward parts, and write it in their hearts; and will be their God, and they shall be my people.  And they shall teach no more every man his neighbor, and every man his brother, saying, Know the LORD: for they shall all know me, from the least of them unto the greatest of them, saith the LORD: for I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more.” (Jer 31:31-34)

G. Campbell Morgan was called “The Prince of Bible Expositors”.  He wrote this commentary on Jeremiah’s prophecy about this New Covenant promise.

“The declaration is that there shall come within, written upon the heart; when the Law of God shall be communicated to the individual directly, clearly, and constantly; so that it shall be ever new, so that every hour there shall be no need to look back to the thing spoken yesterday, because of the consciousness within the life of the divine thought and will and purpose in that particular moment… It is well to remember that the written commandments – and I refer resolutely to the commandments contained in the Holy Scripture, whether in the old or the New Testaments now – the written commandment is always incomplete, and constantly obscure… When I speak of obscurity I mean the difficulty of the application of the commandment to every new phase of life… how it met certain individual needs who should tell?… The simple means that the written word, even the NT, is obscure.  Life is complex, so varied, so perpetually changing its manifestation and its need, that enough has not been written to cover all the necessities of the case(s)”.

When I first read this commentary I thought the writer was speaking against the Bible.  He was not!  I’ve read enough of his teachings to know how highly he esteemed the scriptures.  He understood how important they are to us.  Without them we can discern the many evil spirits that speak contrary to the Lord our God.  Morgan was an advocate that we must looking earnestly and rightly divided the scriptures.

But Morgan conveys here a depth of understanding that many Christians do not yet embrace.  He speaks of the vastness of man and God.  Both are so complex that full comprehension by mortal man is impossible.  Morgan speaks of the depths of God. (Rom 8:33-39) We can not fully grasp how God loves us.  But our (the Born Again believers) inward man experiences perpetual relief by the inward Spirit of the living God and it is known to us by a peace that passes all understanding.

Any questions concerning the teaching please contact us at

MeatoftheWord@gmail.com

Or Pastor Bill Vigue at

BillyVigs@sbcglobal.net

Also we would appreciate getting to know you better

Please feel free to share your testimonies of how our ministry is

Effecting your lives