30. March 2008 by Bernice Davis.

Good morning,

Thank you for joining me daily as I share with you the topics that I am studying for my own personal journey through the scriptures.  This is my personal study and my source is the “word of God” as recorded in the bible.   There are many teachings out today and many of them use a lot of “new age” philosophies, relativism, spiritualists/mysticism teachers, etc.  Many of these books, I have read for “educational” purposes and to be knowledgeable of their position.  While many of these worldviews may have some truth and may even be useful in some areas,  I do not embrace their theology/philosophies nor will I use them in my daily devotionals because I have found them to be inconsistent with the “word of God.” 

As in the words of the famous reformer, Martin Luther, ” Unless I am convinced by sacred scripture or by evident reason, I cannot recant, for my conscious is held captive by the word of God and to act against conscious is neither right nor safe.  Here I stand, I can do no other, GOD HELP ME!”  This simply means for me that I am committed to truth as it is revealed in the holy scriptures and if I am holding a position that is proved inconsistent with scripture, then as soon as I become aware, I will submit to the truth of God’s word.

Over the years, I will admit that many of the positions that I have held in earlier years, I’ve had to abandon.  When I embarked on my journey of a consistent study life using proper hermeneutics (the science of interpretation- a method used to get to the original meaning of a text),  I found that I had been holding on to many childhood and church traditions that had not been founded on the correct interpretation of scripture.   I am aware that this study will not be appealing to everyone, my goal is simply to allow you to come “into my world” and share my personal study time with God.  This is not a forum for debate yet it is designed to help us all strengthen our walk with God. 

 Now, that my biblical position has been introduced to you, I would like to say welcome to my website.   Each day you will be able to log in and read a new study for the day.  My goal is to have the studies posted early a.m. so that you can read them first thing in the morning should you desire.   Currently, I am studying the book of Matthew. 

For those of you that are in the Atlanta area and have requested to know where I teach,  I can be found every Sunday morning at 7:30a.m. teaching the early morning service at Gospel Tabernacle, 277 Clifton Street, SE Atlanta, Georgia 30317 and on Monday nights from 7:00-8:30p.m teaching Preparation and Delivery of Sermons.   Currently, I am teaching from the book of Matthew in the 7:30a.m. service.   For those of you that are out of town, and would like more details on this Matthew series than we will be discussing, the CD’s from the church services  are posted weekly on the website and can be ordered for immediate shipping.  

Okay, now let’s begin our study for the day.   The book of Matthew is one of my favorite gospels.  It was written to a Jewish audience, which means that in order to properly understand it, we will be studying a lot of the Jewish customs in order to put the scripture in its proper context.  When we talk about context, we simply mean the setting in which something was created.  In order to properly understand scripture, it must be interpreted in the context in which it was written.  

Matthew opens up with a genealogy that traces Jesus through the line of David, covers the birth of Jesus, his escape into Egypt(when King Herod was trying to kill all male children 2 and under according to the wise men’s report), his for-runner John the Baptist, his baptism by John, his 40 day temptation in the wilderness and then it begins coverage of  his early ministry. 

The text says that when Jesus heard that John the Baptist was in prison, he began his earthly ministry with his message being “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.”  The word repent in its original language means basically to “change your mind.”  Jesus was teaching a new way that had not been previously taught by the spiritual leaders of his day.  Jesus was informing his audience that in order to embrace this “new way’ there had to be a change in the way one thinks, a shift in your mental consciousness.   

In order to embrace change, we must all be willing to lay aside our own way of thinking which is often shaped by our past, environmental/societal conditioning, parents, peer pressure, friends, relatives, relationships, circumstances, etc.  While all these influences may not necessarily be harmful, many of them can be opposite the teachings that scripture requires  embracing to experience an “abundant” life on earth.  

Jesus came with a message of reform, a message that would prove to be controversial to the “powers that be” but it was and still is a message of power and transforming to  all that did and will embrace it. 

His message was  “change your mind” for the kingdom of heaven is at hand”  Simply put, change the way you think and embrace God’s way of doing things.  Jesus was about to not only teach God’s rules and orders but would also model these principles before the world.  The religious leaders of the day (Pharisees, Sadducees, Scribes) often failed to teach the correct meaning of scripture and Jesus constantly labeled them as hypocrites. 

You may be wondering about now, where does my heading of “true happiness” come in.   You’ll see shortly in the upcoming days, that  Jesus is about to teach the meaning of happiness and how to experience and live in joy.   Before, we get in the message of Jesus and the heart of his sermon, it is important to understand the issues that Jesus faced. 

There were four major groups during Jesus’s day and each had their own philosophy of true happiness.  These four groups were the Pharisees, Sadducees, Zealots, and Essenses.  For the Pharisees, true happiness was being faithful to the “letter of the law” and the traditions of the elders, for the Sadducees, which was the more liberal group, true happiness was found in going along with the popular “politics” of  the day and redefining truth as it was convenient for their belief system and politics.  For the Essenses, true happiness was found in isolation from the world system which in their mind would help them stay faithful to upholding their belief system without influence from worldly distractions.  For the Zealots, true happiness was getting the nation of Israel back into the hands of the Jewish people, for it was currently under Roman control during the time of Jesus.  

Happiness was being defined at all different levels.  This is similar to the age that we live in now.  Everybody is claiming that they have found the “road to true happiness” and many spiritualists are teaching that true happiness is defined by “what is right in each person’s own eyes.”  Those of you that are familiar with scripture know that this is a familar saying written during the time of judges when people had turned so far from God that they began to embrace teachings which were opposite the ways of God and everyone judged their actions based on what one believed was right in their own eyes. 

During this season, people were coming up with their own theologies and ideologies which were in contrast to “the word of God.”  The problem with this type of thinking is that while it provides comfortable justification for lifestyles and mindsets, it does not require accountability to God but only to oneself. This is a dangerous position where one depends on their own intellect, knowledge, or state of consciousness outside of God to determine truth.  There must be a universal  objective standard for truth and that standard is the “word of God.”   

Okay, now back to our text.  In our remote context( the same story in another source) which is found in Luke’s account, it teaches that Jesus had been in prayer all night with God and after he gets out of prayer, he goes upon a mountain and he begins to teach.  That is so fascinating to me, just to know that he had been in prayer all night and when he comes out, he teaches the plan for true happiness.  

Join me tomorrow, as we begin discussing what Jesus taught after he had been in prayer all night with God.  What would he say? What would his prayer time reveal? What would he tell us that would be different than anything heard before?  What would be his message?  What would start so much controversy?  What would he reveal that would prove contrary to our own philosophies of happiness?     What mindsets will we have to change or give up to get on this journey of “true happiness”.   OH!!!!!!!!!!  what would the heart of God reveal through him?    Remember, he had been in prayer all night.  Tomorrow, we will continue our  journey.  Think about what you define ”true happiness” to be.  Write it down.  Be honest with yourself, don’t just write some “spiritual comment” that really didn’t come from your heart.  What do you feel you need in life to make you really happy and live in joy.  As we go through this journey, we’ll see if it is consistent with scripture.   Make it a great day and don’t forget to pray and study God’s word daily. 

 P.S.  In the future, they will not be this long, I simply wanted to introduce my biblical position and answer the many questions that I’ve received as to where do I teach and how people can get CD’s.   

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18. March 2008 by Bernice Davis.

Thousands of you have asked me if I would be willing to share with you some of the teachings that I send Tyler on a daily basis.  Due to the overwhelming response, starting Monday, March 31, 2008, you will be able to log onto my website each day and view daily teachings.   I look forward to you studying with us.  DON’T FORGET TO GO SEE “MEET THE BROWNS” THIS WEEKEND!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 

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13. March 2008 by Bernice Davis.

Many of you are emailing me because you were directed to my site by Tyler.   Let me first say, that I am truely humbled that Tyler put my name out there and that thousands of you have listened already to the class on “how to study the bible” and a couple of my sermons  and have sent so many wonderful comments on how they have blessed you.   So many of you have sent me biblical questions, asked for prayer, asked for a way to get daily inspirational teachings, etc.   I’m still opening emails.  Please don’t be upset, if you don’t hear from me for a minute, but I do intend to answer your questions, as many as I can, and I will include the requests for prayer in my daily 5:00a.m. prayer time.  Again,  Thank you so much for letting me come into your lives via the web.    Some of you in the Atlanta area, have asked where do I preach.  I can be found every Sunday morning for the 7:30a.m. service At Gospel Tabernacle Cathedral located at 277 Clifton Street SE,  Atlanta Georgia, 30317.  For directions, you can call the church phone number at 404-370-3800 or mapquest. 

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