“These also who erred in spirit will come to understanding, and those who complained will learn doctrine” (Isaiah 29:24).

2 Chronicles 7:14-16: “if My people who are called by My name will humble themselves, and pray and seek My face, and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin and heal their land.”

If my people will pray is a promise to Israel, not to the Church. Only Israel was a theocracy, the church is not a nation in a specific land. My People was a common phrase for Israel in the Old Testament. There is a principle that we are to pray to receive, however this is not a promise to the Church like it was to Israel. In their conditional covenant God said that if they do this, I will do that. Israel was the only nation ruled by God (a theocracy). They were under a different covenant than the unconditional for the church. If they would obey, God would do what He promised. We are under an unconditional covenant, under grace, so this cannot be a promise that will make everything right in America, in Britain, or any country. To lift this out of its context changes its meaning.

If one is going to take promises to Israel and specifically apply them to us then one might as well apply what was said to Abraham, that I would have uncountable offspring, make me a great nation and be rich. The principle is still there, that we are to pray to receive but again it is not a promise.

Context always makes a difference in having a correct interpretation. 2 Chronicles 7 goes on to state “Now My eyes will be open and My ears attentive to prayer made in this place. “For now I have chosen and sanctified this house, that My name may be there forever; and My eyes and My heart will be there perpetually." He is speaking about Israel.

Matthew 9:16-17: “No one puts a piece of unshrunk cloth on an old garment; for the patch pulls away from the garment, and the tear is made worse. “Nor do they put new wine into old wineskins, or else the wineskins break, the wine is spilled, and the wineskins are ruined. But they put new wine into new wineskins, and both are preserved.”

 “you can’t pour new wine into old wineskins.” This is one of those bad interpretations to justify the “new thing.” First we need to see this is a parable not a prophecy (Luke 5:36-37). What Jesus spoke already took place and is not to be repeated. What Jesus meant is that He did not come to strengthen the law (the old covenant) or perpetuate it but to bring people into a “new covenant” of grace (the old covenant was wearing out Hebrews 8:7-13). The context bears this out by his example of both the wine and the sewing of the garment: “No one puts a piece from a new garment on an old one; otherwise the new makes a tear, and also the piece that was taken out of the new does not match the old.” What Jesus spoke on the new wineskins already took place and is not to a repetitive act throughout history. It was accomplished almost two thousand years ago. We don’t have a new, new covenant to practice as some are teaching.

This is made even clearer in Luke 5:36-39: “Then He spoke a parable to them: “No one puts a piece from a new garment on an old one; otherwise the new makes a tear, and also the piece that was taken out of the new does not match the old. “And no one puts new wine into old wineskins; or else the new wine will burst the wineskins and be spilled, and the wineskins will be ruined. “But new wine must be put into new wineskins, and both are preserved. “And no one, having drunk old wine, immediately desires new; for he says, 'The old is better.”’

The people did not want to change, the religious leaders were concerned about Jesus and the law being changed or removed. This is why Jesus responded, to clarify his mission “Do not think that I came to destroy the Law or the Prophets. I did not come to destroy but to fulfill it” (Matt 5:17). He brought the laws requirements to completion.

* 2 Corinthians 3:6 (The letter killeth, but the spirit giveth life) is allegorized in its interpretation to mean that Scripture is a dead letter and only the Spirit is what is important. So we need to heed new and fresh words from the Spirit. But this is not what the Apostle Paul is saying. Again if we read it in context (before and after the portion that is lifted out to mean something other than the author wrote) we find the true meaning.

2 Corinthians 3:6-8 “who also made us sufficient as ministers of the new covenant, not of the letter but of the Spirit; for the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life. But if the ministry of death, written and engraved on stones, was glorious, so that the children of Israel could not look steadily at the face of Moses because of the glory of his countenance, which glory was passing away, how will the ministry of the Spirit not be more glorious?"

Paul is making a distinction between the Old Covenant written on stone and the New Covenant that is presented inside us by the Spirit. The old (the law) brought death, because no one could keep its directives, whereas the new brings life through the life-giving Spirit. The letter (the law) killed because no one was able to keep it. It made us guilty, while the New Covenant sets us free from the condemnation of the law. The law was fulfilled in the only person who could have fulfilled it, the God/man Jesus Christ. Now we have the spirit of God inside us all because of this new covenant that is superior to the old covenant.

*Give, and it will be given to you

This is not about money or goods. Read in context it makes the meaning apparent.  Luke 6:35-38: “But love your enemies, do good, and lend, hoping for nothing in return; and your reward will be great, and you will be sons of the Most High. For He is kind to the unthankful and evil. “Therefore be merciful, just as your Father also is merciful. “Judge not, and you shall not be judged. Condemn not, and you shall not be condemned. Forgive, and you will be forgiven. “Give, and it will be given to you: good measure, pressed down, shaken together, and running over will be put into your bosom. For with the same measure that you use, it will be measured back to you.” 

This has nothing to do with giving money to be more blessed. It has to do with mercy and grace. It is given to your bosom, the inner man to make you filled. If you give another mercy or grace it will be given to you. If you are a gracious forgiving person in your life when it is necessary, then God will bless you with the same.

* Jesus told us not to Judge. “Judge not, that ye be not judged,” No he did not. Read in its context, vs.2-5 goes on to refer to hypocritical judgment. A brother who has a beam in his own eye should not be judging the brother who may have a mote in his eye. In other words, you cannot judge another for his sin if you are guilty of the same sin. However if you take care of that sin you can help your brother.

The fact that His (Jesus') whole ministry was a judgment against the Pharisees who wanted him to agree with their way of practicing Judaism. To the Pharisees he said to their face, “O generation of vipers, how can ye, being evil, speak good things? For out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh” (Matt. 12:34). He stood up to them to their face and called them “hypocrites,” “blind,” “blind guides,” “whited sepulchres,” “serpents,” and a “generation of vipers.” (read Matthew 23 to find out who the real Jesus is, not the tolerant scrawny mild manner milksop that some portray).  John 3:19-21 “And this is the condemnation, that the light has come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil.” That’s judgment is it not?

Jesus in John 7:24 said to the people: “Do not judge according to appearance, but judge righteous judgment.” so he is telling us to judge, and he is not contradicting himself elsewhere. Jesus said, “Beware of false prophets!” (Matthew 7:15) How could we obey and “beware” of “false prophets” unless we test them- that’s judging.

The apostles teachings are from Jesus and they spoke far more on testing and judging than even Jesus did, they named names (8 of them in the New Testament, as the prophets did in the Old Testament) and were correcting the church in their letters. 

*Jesus was rich, He had the best clothes, had houses and everyone was attracted to him. Numerous Scriptures are used to validate a prosperous Jesus one who had the best of everything. The bible says this “For he shall grow up before him as a tender plant, and as a root out of a dry ground: he hath no form nor comeliness; and when we shall see him, there is no beauty that we should desire him. He is despised and rejected of men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief: and we hid as it were our faces from him…” Isaiah 53:2-3 the scriptures present Jesus as average in appearance and prominence. Not only did He not attract from his outward appearance but he also lowly in His dress and demeanor. Isaiah describes as a man we wouldn’t recognize as important if we saw Him on the street. The fact that Judas had to identify him for the arresting party shows us that he looked similar to the other regular Jewish men of his time

There was no outward attraction by appearance or status that they should desire Him, he did not dress in the finest clothes. None of his disciples followed Him because of any promise of earthly prosperity as he was asking them to leave all. He did not tell them to do something that He Himself did not do.

*Sow your seed so that you can reap a harvest. 30, 60, 100 seed is used to justify their reaping of blessings of money from sowing money. But it was riches that caused some of the people not to receive THE WORD. “Now he who received seed among the thorns is he who hears the word, and the cares of this world and the deceitfulness of riches choke the word, and he becomes unfruitful” (Matthew 13:22-23).

Matthew 13:18-23 Jesus explains the seed is the Word and how the people need ears to hear, so they can understand the spiritual meanings of the word and be fruitful. Four examples of soil are given, only one has the seed grow correctly and eventually bear fruit, the other three do not. Jesus explains of the seed being sown in Mark 4:20: “But these are the ones sown on good ground, those who hear the word, accept it, and bear fruit: some thirty fold, some sixty, and some a hundred.” The Word of God brings salvation, the fruit of the Spirit in ones life in various degrees when understood correctly. When misapplied it can bring ruin. Despite what many have been told, Jesus said the seed is the WORD, not money and certainly not numbers.