Receive a sermon each week by Snail Mail or E-mail !ED'S EMAIL ADDRESS: ed @gijapa.org

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February 2005

Address all Mail : Ed Bousman, P.O. Box 511, Lynchburg, Ohio 45142-0511

Issue 2

Three LecoixS from the Resurrection of Lazarus

God Is Just A Prayer Away TE-MAIL: ebact238 ?gitana .orq

4

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LESSON NUMBER ONE : BothMartha and Mary said the same thing t oJesus, "Lord, if thou halt been there, mybrother had not died ." IF, IF, IF. Someonehas tried to unravel the IF's of history .What would have happened IF AbrahamLincoln had not been assassinated? Whatwould have happened if Stonewal lJackson had not been accidentally kille dby friendly fire? Robert E. Lee said thathe could have won the battle a tGettysburg IF Jackson had been there an dgone on to win the Civil War. The Unite dStates would have been split into tw onations .

The big IF is what would have hap-pened IF Christ had not died on the crossfor our sins and been raised up from thedead? There would be no Church, no sal-vation, and no Heaven . We can be gla dthere is no IF in history . Jesus did comeinto the world . He did die on the cross .He did arise from the dead . He did ascen dinto Heaven . He did establish the Church .He is coming again .

One of the big IF's is when somepeople live as IF Jesus had never comeinto this world, as IF he had never died o nthe corss for their sins, as IF there is n ofuture life after death, as IF there is noJudgment day, as IF there is no hell andno heaven . However for the unbelieverthere is one big IF they need to consider :What IF the Bible is true? What IF thereis a resurrection of all the dead? What IFthere is a Judgment Day? Ladies and

Gentlemen . THAT IS THE BIGGEST IFOF ALL .

LESSON NUMBER TWO : Rol laway the stone from the door of the tomb .Martha said, "Lord he hath been deadfour days and stinketh ." There is no smellmore offensive to a human being than th esmell of a rotting human corpse . Thatreminds us of the spiritual rot of th eunforgiven sinner. Paul tells us i nEphesians that Jesus made us alive whe nwe were dead in trespasses and sins .Before we become Christians we werespiritually dead . I am not overdrawing th epicture when I say as unforgiven sinnersthat the spiritual rot of sinners in that con-dition is offensive to God . You may be th ebest dressed person in town, you may hewearing the most expensive perfume, youmay be the last word in sophistication ,but outside of Christ you exude a foulodor in the nostrils of God . I am too polit eto say it and I won't say it, but I will letMartha say it for me. She said in regardsof her brother after he had been dead fourdays, he stinks . If you are still dead i ntrespasses and sins, You stink !

We have often noted that the Lordwill not do for us what we can do for our-selves . In John two . He told the servant sto fill the water pots with water before Heturned the water into wine . Here He tell sthem to roll away the stone before Heraised the dead . Then when they did al lthey could do in both cases He stepped i nand worked the miracle . In time of sick-

ness we need to do all we can do first,Take the shots, swallow the pills, drin kthe goop, get the CT scan, get the opera-tion, do all you can do first, then the Lor dwill do the rest as it pleases Him .

What a blessing this is . The Lorduses us to do His work . That man proba-bly bragged about this for the rest of hi slife . Every time he was around Christian she no doubt reminded them of how hewas the one who rolled away the ston ewhen Jesus raised Lazarus from the dead.I did it! I did it! I did it! What a thrill i tmust have been to he used by the Lord forso great a miracle . We are not far behind.He uses us today to work the miracle ofsalvation . We must do our part . What canI do to bring on the miracle of salvatio nand help Him save the world? I can builda building . I can sing a song. I can preacha sermon . I can teach a class . I can give adollar. I can knock on a door. I can mak ea phone call, and I can pray a prayer. I cando a lot of things to help Jesus save th eworld . If I can do it, by the grace of God .I will do it.

LESSON NUMBER THREE : Jesuscried with a loud voice "LAZARUS ,COME FORTH," What a voice Jesu smust have had . John in Revelatio ndescribes it as the voice of a trumpet : aloud voice . No need for amplification . Noneed for a transmitter. His voice was notonly heard by those who were close to th etomb, but heard in the spirit world ."Lazarus, come forth!" It had bee n

pointed out that if He had merely saidcome forth, all the dead would have com eout of the graves . It's a good thought bu tnot necessarily so . There were many mennamed Lazarus and only one came back .The Lazarus in Luke sixteen did notreturn not did any of the others . Jesus di dnot even say Lazarus of Bethany, just ,"Lazarus, come forth ." Lazarus knew hewas the one Jesus was talking to and noone else, and he came forth .

Paul tells us when the Lord return sHe will descend from heaven with a shou tand with the trump of God and the deadin Christ shall rise first, then they whoremain alive will with them be caught u pto meet the Lord in the air and so shall weever be with the Lord . Think of tha tshout! He shouted with a loud voice whenHe raised Lazarus and He will shout witha loud voice when He raises theChristian . He shouted the name ofLazarus with a loud voice . Will it be trueas well for us? As a Christian it will beyour name that He will shout when H earrives at the Second Coming . When Hedescends with a shout accompanied withthe blast of the celestial trumpet I wil lhear it loud and clear : "ED, COMEFORTH! "

Lazarus was glad to come back, no tbecause of this life style, not because h ewas popular in this world, as revealed b ythe size of those who came to his funeral ;but because he would be in the presenc eof the Lord . To be absent from Paradis efor him was to be present with the Lord .For us it is true the other way around . Tobe absent from the body is to be presen twith the Lord . Better for him to com eback. Better for us to go . To depart and bewith Christ is very far better.

I know not the form ofmy mansion sofair I know 1101 the crown that I there thenshall wear. But l know that mv Saviourwill welcome me there And that will be

,glory for me.

* * * * *

EYL LLYZE LT'ZEEi.

In Mark chapter eight a blind manwas brought to Jesus with the request totouch him. Jesus took him by the handand led him out of the city, He spit on hiseyes and said, "Seest thou ought?" Th eman said, "I see men as trees walking . "Jesus touched him again and he saw al lthings plain . This man at first saw men astrees walking . In other words at first hehad a distorted vision . There are millionsof people today whose vision is distortedand they are never able to see things as

they really are. Here are some of th eareas where people have distorted vision .The Devil has deluded millions into look-ing at men not as trees walking, but caus-es some to see men as animals walking ,he causes some to see men as gods walk-ing, and he causes some to see Jesu swalking with no tree involved at all .

MEN AS ANIMALS WALKINGThis is the distorted view of men as

taught by evolution. Man is an animal-ananimal that walks upright on two legs .This view of men is the reason for muchof the moral view of the human race .When a great racehorse reaches the ag ewhen he can no longer run in the bigraces they turn him out to stud . They ma yeven erect a statue to him and namestreets after him . He may be bred to manymares . However no one would think o fcalling him an adulterer. Why could nothe be satisfied to be bred to one mare an done mare only until death did them part ?We do not expect a great racehorse to bebred to only one mare because he is a nanimal . A Christian does not look upon ahorse and say he ought to observe thesame matrimonial status as a human .

The reason is because he is an ani-mal . This is no doubt the reason for ourview of sex today. It is perfectly all rightand many would not think of themselve sas being immoral who live together with-out marriage . People don't see anythin gwrong with this because they regar dthemselves as animals . There is nothin gwrong with this when you consider thatin their view they are animals .

The news carried the story of onepopular movie star's husband who hadbeen killed . At the funeral several othe rformer husbands showed up to expres stheir sorrow. I pointed this out to anothe rpreacher, and he made the remark, "Whythey live like a bunch of dogs ." This wasnatural because they see themselves as ahunch of dogs. '['hey see men as animalswalking . They have a distorted view ofthe nature of mankind . The reason with-out a shadow of a doubt is because of theteaching of evolution . These peoplebelieve they are animals so they act likeanimals and dress like animals . A casua lobserver can take note that many like ani -mals reveal more of their body parts thandecent people need to see . There is noneed to critique these animals; they wil lonly respond by saying what's wrongwith that everybody is doing it, whichindicates they are a part of the problem .We see them as animals walking . Thenagain there are some that have such a dis-torted view that they see men, not only a sanimals walking but also as gods walking .

MEN AS GODS WALKINGThis is the way that the Devil want s

us to sec ourselves . This is what the Devi ltold Eve in the Garden of Eden at tha tdebacle at the foot of the tree of theknowledge of good and evil . For Goddoth know that in the day ye eat thereofyour eyes shall be opened, and ye shall beas gods, knowing good and evil . AgainPaul addressed the same subject when hetold the Romans in chapter one . Theyexchanged the truth of God for a lie .

Humanism began in the Garden ofEden and has surfaced again in these lastdays when men think that they can mak eup their own rules . Take a look at God' sview of man as found in Romans the thirdchapter. Listen to God's description of th ehuman rascal . There is none that under-standeth: there is none that seeketh afterGod. They are ail gone out of the way,they are together become unprofitable ;there is none that doeth good, no, not one .Their throat is an open sepulchre ; withtheir tongue they have used deceit . Thepoison of asp is under their lips . Whosemouth is full of cursing and bitterness :Their feet are swift to shed blood ;Destruction and misery are in their ways ;And the ways of peace they have notknown . There is no fear of God beforetheir eyes . This is the way God describesthe human rascal . The icing on God' sdamnation cake is when He says a fewverses later; "All have sinned and fal lshort of the glory of God," Either God orman has a distorted view of the huma nrace. The humanistic view sees thehuman as god walking and God sees hi mas a lost and damned to hell sinner to beheld responsible for his actions . And no wanther distorted view that some may hav eis the distorted view of the Lord JesusChrist .

THEY SEE JESUS WALKINGSome people look up and see Jesus

walking as a good man, they see himwalking as a perfect man, they see himwalking as a philosopher, but they don' tsee any tree . The tree Peter talked abou twhen he said, „Him also ye hanging Himon a tree .” This is a very distorted fata lview of Jesus . This was the distorte dview of the Apostles when they firs theard about the cross . Then Peter too khim, and began to rebuke him, saying ,"Be it far from thee, Lord: this shall no tbe unto thee ." The Devil did not wan tJesus to go to the cross and he knew theLord would not listen to him, so he said ,"Peter you tell Him ." This would not bethe last time the Devil would speak topeople through the lips of a preacher. Thegreatest lies that are told today on this

planet are the ones that are told bypreachers .

The thought of Jesus carrying a treewas unthinkable to Peter ; this could haveno part in the program of Jesus coming int othe world . The other Apostle felt the sam eway. When Jesus said, "And they shall kil lHim, and the third day He shall be raisedagain ." They were exceedingly sorry .

Later on Peter saw all things clearly .He told the council in Jerusalem, "Himalso ye slew hanging Him on a tree ." Inhis first epistle he tells us, "Ye wereredeemed, not with corruptible things ,with silver or gold, from your vain man-ner of life handed down from yourfathers ; but with precious blood, as of aLamb without blemish and without spot ,even the blood of Christ . . . ." Hear himagain as he declares . "Whom his own sel fbares our sins in his own body on the tree ,that we, being dead to sins, should liv eunto righteousness : by whose stripes y ewhere healed ." At first he could not se eJesus on the tree and now he cannot se eHim anywhere, but on the tree .

The preaching of the first gospel ser-mon on the clay of Pentecost was a mes-sage on the death burial and resurrectionof Jesus Christ . Peter's vision had clearedup since that day at Caesarea Philippiwhen he said, "Be it far from thee Lordthis shall never be unto thee . "

Saul of Tarsus who led in the slayingof Stephen did so because Stephe npreached the crucifixion of Jesus . He tol dthem the righteous one had been betrayedand murdered by them, and when helooked up and saw Jesus standing at theright hand of God, that did it . They stone dhim. Paul's vision cleared up later and hesaw the man Christ Jesus clearly when hesaid, "God forbid that I should glory savein the cross of my Lord Jesus Christ . "

Here is a good example of a ma nwith a distorted vision . I have one ofthose popular study Bibles . The brillian tscholar who commented on Acts 2 :3 8said that it should be written like this ,"And Peter said unto them, Repent for theremission of sins and ye shall receive thegift of the Holy Spirit ." It is sufficien trebuttal to say that if Peter had meant i tthat way he would have said it that way .It is an interesting thing to note that all ofthe major translations both Protestant an dCatholic translate Acts 2 :38 the sameway ; repentance and baptism for theremission of sins or unto the remission o fsin . Hundreds of world class scholars ,from all denominations laid aside thei rpersonal beliefs and translated it the sam eway. Read it again in your version andhopefully your vision will improve an dyou will see the Man on the Tree clearly .

Be Ye ReconciledTo God

The Apostle Paul said, "We areambassadors therefore on behalf o fChrist, as though God were entreating b yus : we beseech you on behalf of Christ ,be ye reconciled to God . As a Christia nyou are an Ambassador for Christ . AnAmbassador from the country of Heaven .As an Ambassador you have gone to thestrange land of this world . A strange landto represent your government . While w elive in that strange land we are to remem-ber that our citizenship is in Heaven .

An Ambassador of the United State shas an embassy. The American flag flie sover that embassy in whatever foreignland he is sent . The AmericanAmbassador observes the holidays of hi scountry, and not the holidays of the for-eign country were he lives . As Christianswe observe the holiday of IIeaven ; theLord's Day. That is why we follow th escriptural example ; Upon the first day o fthe week we were gathered together t obreak bread . As a Christian I am notobligated to observe the holidays of theworld . such as Lent, or that great paganfeast they call Super Bowl Sunday . Th eAmerican Embassy in that foreign coun-try is a little colony of America .

The Church is the Embassy o fHeaven in this foreign land of the world .Many of the Lord's Ambassadors I havemet have become denationalized . Theyhave been influenced by the morals, an dlanguage of the world and sound and ac tmore like citizens of the world than citi-zens of Heaven .

Not only is the Church an Embass yof Heaven, the thought can be extende dto the Christian Home. Your home as aChristian is an Embassy of Heaven .Would a visitor coming into your homerealize that? Would the visitor looking atyour television programs, reading you rmagazines, hearing your conversations .drinking your booze, inhaling your ciga-rette smoke, go away thinking : I havebeen in the Embassy of Heaven, or wouldhe say I have been in the Embassy ofHell?

In the national Embassy the lines ofcommunications are always open to theHead of his government . The same is truein the Christian Embassy . We can alway sget on the hot line of prayer and commu-nicate with the authority of Heaven .Actually we could say it this way, "GodIs Just a Prayer Away. "

Of course the time comes after no ttoo many years that the Ambassador is

recalled and another takes his place . Asan Ambassador you are not to be here for -ever. It is only a short while for all of theKing's Ambassadors when they are calle dhome. But until that day of our recall ourmain task in this world is to represent ournative country-Heaven . Paul tells us t oset our affections on things that are abov eand not on the things of the earth . Onegospel song tells it like it is . This world i snot my home, I'm just a passing through .My treasures are laid up somewherebeyond the blue . We are ambassadors onbehalf of Christ, as though God wer eentreating by us : We beseech you onbehalf of Christ, be ye reconciled to God.

I am a stranger here, within a foreig nland: My hone is far away,

Upon a golden strand; Ambassadorto be of realms beyond the sea ,

I'm here on business for my Kin g .My home is brighter far tha n

Sharon's rosy plain ,Eternal life and joy through out tha t

vast domain ;My Sovereign bids me tell how mor-

tals there may dwell, and that's m ybusiness for my King .

This is the message that I bring, Amessage angels fain would sing : Oh, b eye reconciled, Thus saith my Lord an dKing, Oh, be ye reconciled to God.

LETTERSFROMLISTENERSDear Ed Bousman ,

Do you remember me? It's me Igo rB . I write this letter to you because I fin dit to be necessary to let you know that Ihave received your gift . I have receive dthe Holy Bible, Facts Concerning theNew Testament Church, Studies in theBible Lessons 1-5, and also newsletter.Now I have newsletters of September-December .

If I have time, I shall answer all ques-tions of your lessons . I know that thereare 30 lessons in studies in the bible . Ihave got the first five . I wish I could hav etime to do that, but I shall study them .However I shall always listen to the "Go dIs Just A Prayer Away" radio broadcas tbecause it is heard with a very good andstrong signal and power in my town ofIvacevichy. Now I know exactly whenand where your radio is heard, because Ihave got your short-wave radio schedule .It is very wonderful to give people oppor-tunity to learn the word of God from the

radio and from the paper too . Must I go toany Church, if I believe in God, or must Ionly read the Bible is that enough? If it ispossible please continue to send me yournewsletters and do continue your goodwork on the radio . I also want to knowwhat baptism really means and what to donot to get into the hell . I don't want to bepunished by God . I want to thank you fo ryour help and support . Don't forget me . Ifind your gift to be very important an dnecessary . Thank you again my dearfriend .

Always your friendIgor from Byelorussi a

Dear Mr. Bousman ,Thank you for the large print Bibl e

you recently sent me and the Bibl eStudies. I appreciate them both verymuch . I've enclosed the first e lessors t obe graded as I wait for the next 5 .Respectfully Patricia from HillsboroughCorrectional Inst . in Riverview, Florida(We send large print Bibles to all of ourprisoners because the light in their cell sis so dim, so we are told . We have hun-dreds studying with us all over theworld. )

Greetings :I am ashamed to say that I have been

listening to you off and on for probably20 years . I hear you over WLW and thereception is really iffy, but I was able thi sSunday AM at 6 :30 to actually hear theentire programe. Your topic "Five out ofSeven" was a witty yet scriptural presen-tation . I was raised in N. Kentucky an dfirst heard of Jesus Christ while attendin gservices in a "one room school house ." I

have noticed down through the ages agradual falling away from preaching theWHOLE COUNCIL OF GOD! Thescripture that says, "The blind leading theblind and they both fall into the ditch" isso very true. We have blind preachersbehind the pulpits, and rows of blind lis-teners (tares) filling the pews . A very sadand frightful condition . My heart is bur-dened for the lost sheep . BrotherBousman, may almighty God keep Hi shand of anointing upon you until Hecomes--also keep you and yours in thehollow of His hand !

In Christ Jesus ,John from Port Richey, Florida

Dear Pastor,I am a Liberian from the Budubwam

Refugee Settlement in Ghana, WestAfrica . Since ! arrived here in Norway i nSeptember of 2004, I have been a consis-tent listener to your programe . And I' minterested in your Bible lessons and cor-respondence course . I am looking for-ward to a good study in the word withyou as I listen to the preaching and teach-ing on the radio . God richly bless you .

Sincerely Alic efrom Nordfjordcid, Norwa y

Dear Brother,First thank for God by his salvation I

am a student of high school male 18 age .I have students I teach in spiritual . And Iam prayer group with some brothers .Brothers I have shortage of materials tostudy the Bible . Like Bible study materi-als, Holy Bible, and Bible Dictionary . Soplease help me by these materials an dhelp by pray to gate break through we

pray for revival hardy. By all your helpthank you and God bless you .

Your brother Michal from Eritrea ,East Africa

Dear Ed Bousman , Go and tell my brothers there the y

will see me. Mat 27 :10. Greetings to yo uin the glorious name of Jesus Christ. Lasttime I received two periodicals of Sept .and Oct . 2004 . As Jesus says go and tellmy brothers you are receiving us with dif-ferent ways through lessons, periodicals ,the "God Is Just A Prayer Away" radio.pray and so on . And you are showing ou rLord Jesus Christ . Thanks to God andmay God richly bless your life and min-istries in the name of Jesus Christ . Unti lwe meet in the next letter God he with us .

Yours in Christ .-- Solomon. Z . from -F,tl:iop4 a

Dear Ed & Naomi ,My husband and I are cur rent mem-

bers at a Christian Church i nPennsylv ania . We wanted to drop you anote along with this gift to let you kno whow much we appreciate all that you d ofor the Lord . You are strong examples i nthe brotherhood and we love you for it.Unfortunately there are many problem swe face in the Church today that are mak-ing even the strongest of us feel defeated .Through it all you both have stayedstrong and sound of doctrine which give sus hope for the future . We pray yourChristmas was merry and that 2005brings happiness and good health to youand even greater success to your ministry.

Steve and Judyfrom Pennsylv ani a

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