Four Epistles and How to Teach the Bible

By David Bergsland

Save 50% on this four book bundle!

The first three books are
Finding the Power to Believe
Learning to Walk in Freedom
Godly Leadership and Power

This bundle begins with four verse-by-verse Bible studies of Philippians, Galatians, I Timothy, and II Timothy. They are the type of Bible study which has become so rare in the past few decades.

They are studies about learning how to apply scripture to your daily living using the insights provided by Paul in his letters. These are hard-hitting, powerful studies designed to open you to the miraculous power of God to transform your life.

Then you'll read the popular How to Teach the Bible

This bundled book shows you how to teach scripture with power. It is fulled with practical tips on getting your students deeply involved in the truth of God's Word—showing you ways to allow and encourage God to transform people's lives.

This short book will show you what's needed to provide anointed teaching in your ministry, from a man who's been teaching scripture since 1974.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Radiqx Press
• Release date: Apr 17, 2015
• ISBN: 9781513036212

David Bergsland

For me, my early life culminated with the great rebellion of the sixties. Ending up as a fine artist and heavy user of pot and acid, I needed help. I met Jesus in 1974, and my life began, for real. The Lord gave me an amazing Godly woman for my wife in 1976. I became a graphic designer, font designer, and desktop publisher. In 1991, I began teaching printing and digital publishing. That resulted in writing dozens of books and booklets about the practical processes, using InDesign, Photoshop, and Illustrator. In 2009, I began the transformation into an author of fiction. By the end of 2022, I had 17 novels in five series, as I have developed my craft. This book is #20, and is the third book of the sixth series. I’m using Christian contemporary speculative fiction with some Biblical romance to share stories about the reality of how Jesus touches our day-to-day lives, while being strongly focused upon Biblical truth. I put the stereotypical Bible quoters in the same category as robo-callers. I attempt to reveal Jesus within a realistic world sharing my experiences. The goal is to reveal Jesus as a loving Creator building people into what they are designed to be. I currently assume time is running short, and the final harvest is here.

Book preview

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Four Epistles and How to Teach the Bible

By David Bergsland

This four-book set was mildly edited and assembled by David Bergsland © 2015 • Designed & formatted by Radiqx Press • All rights reserved • Copyright notices for the Bible versions and lexicons are found at the end of the book.

Radiqx Press • 314 Van Brunt Street, Mankato, MN 56001 • http://radiqx.com

This is a work of biblical opinion: sharing the experiences of nearly forty years of serving Jesus of Nazareth, teaching the scriptures, and walking in the spirit. All opinions should be examined and prayerfully considered before they are blindly acted upon.

This book is dedicated to my wife and our Lord Jesus, the Messiah of God. Our covenant sustains me. Her love maintains my sanity. His presence makes our lives worth living.

As we begin

These are not likely to be the type of bible studies with which you are familiar—if you’ve done bible studies at all. First of all, I am not assuming that you are a Christian—though I do assume that you are a seeker of Truth and quite possibly attend a church. This will be a simple sharing of what the Lord gives me as I pray for you while writing this book.

My credentials

As far as the world is concerned—I don’t have any. All I have is experience—both the experience of reading many versions of scripture cover to cover and the experience of teaching and leading Bible studies since late 1974.

When the Lord called me, you really couldn’t say I was a hippie, because I dropped out before that term was coined. Though I considered myself a fine artist, I had no real talent except for the necessary ego.

I was born again out of a life of fine art, drugs, and occult practices on January 15, 1974. I was so stoned, it took several days before I even noticed anything. But the transformation by the summer of 1974 was truly astounding. I am not the same man I was—thank God!

Like Saul (though certainly not on his level in any way) I was an enemy of the church. I was even brought in as a guest teacher for church youth groups to preach the glories of LSD and spiritual seeking—though at that time my seeking was all in the occult and Zen.

For the first couple years after giving my life (such as it was) to Jesus, I was trained in the Lord by my father, who was one of the first charismatic Episcopalians—being filled with the Spirit in the late 1950s under Agnes Sanford while he was studying for ordination as a perpetual deacon.

Throughout 1974 (and much of 1975), I went with him every evening as we were deeply involved in seven bible studies a week, a couple led by my father and several led by others—including most of the charismatic meetings in the Twin Cities area. At that point I was Episcopalian (though I actually accepted the Lord at a Roman Catholic group). I was taught through immersion into the spirit-filled life with a well-trained, very experienced mentor to guide me.

I spent many years teaching end times prophecy until my pastor-wife convinced me that this was a waste of time in her church. Her conviction, which I have come to share, is that prophecy teaching normally becomes endlessly fascinating fleshly speculation without ever meeting the real needs of the people—namely are they ready to meet Jesus when He comes? I submitted to her wisdom.

Dealing with the occult

I had spent many years dabbling in the occult and heresy. Before my rebirth I had seriously explored Gurdjieff, Jung, Taoism, astrology, Tarot cards, numerology, symbology, Zen Buddhism, I Ching, and more. I lived with an astrologer and hung out with people deeply involved in the occult.

My normal practice was to get completely involved in the latest area of interest and run my life by the precepts and practices of the belief system that currently had my attention. For example, when following the I Ching, I would check the oracle about every decision large or small, many times a day.

In all of these areas, it was eventually told to me that the next step was to get a personal spirit guide. I was never willing to do that. I had no reason to avoid this. In hindsight, it has become apparent that I was protected in all of this by my father’s prayers as I wandered in spiritual danger rebelling from the church of my youth.

In fact, the Holy Spirit used the occultic practices to lead me to Himself. In the early 70s I read the Bible from cover to cover (out of boredom originally) while I was working in a psychological boot camp for children in the mountains of northeast California (Pulga, to be precise). In my arrogance, I came to the conclusion that the book was true but not necessary. It was just one of many ways to the Godhead.

Finding Jesus

Several years earlier, my father and I had been in countless debates about all of this. I could see that he had something that worked for him. I was happy for him, but I didn’t see Jesus as a viable alternative for me. As the debates became more like arguments, my dad wisely pulled back after making me promise to never quit seeking for the truth until I was convinced that I had found absolute Truth.

After reading the Bible, I started getting messages in 1972 from the I Ching that I was going to be led through a radical life-changing experience. Toward the end of 1973 I moved into a cold-water storefront next to a rough bar in the Indian ghetto (primarily Sioux) in south Minneapolis just outside the hippie area of the West Bank by the U of Minn.

The spiritual darkness in that gallery became oppressive (though I had no real discernment spiritually). I knew my Dad was an exorcist, so I asked him to come over and clean the place out in October or November. Needless to say, he was tickled to do that!

For the next couple of months, my life got worse and worse. I was living on one large buckwheat pancake a day, dry, filled with sunflower seeds and raisins. I couldn’t afford more than that. I could barely pay the $45 a month rent. Needless to say, my art wasn’t selling well down in that area.

I was smoking pot every two hours as I had for the past seven years. I was dropping acid (LSD) once or twice a week. I had hundreds of acid trips by this time. Somehow, in my drugged stupor, I called my dad (on his birthday—January 15, 1974), and said, I need to get filled with the spirit. I had no idea what that meant and as far as I know I had never heard that term before (though it just dawned on me that I had surely read it when I was going through the Bible in that psychological boot camp in the Northern Californian Sierras).

Needless to say, my father came over and bundled me in the car and took me to his bible study of the night. They all laid hands on me. I renounced the world, the flesh and the devil. They prayed that I would be filled with the Holy Spirit in power.

I felt nothing. I was too stoned. I kept doing my drugs. As with all my spiritual adventures, I got into it fully (as much as I could in my intellectual arrogance). I gave Jesus six months to prove himself. I accepted the Bible as truth. The first indication that something had changed was the note on my wall calendar/journal a couple days later that I feel strangely peaceful.

Learning about Jesus

I joined my dad every night at the bible studies with which he was involved. I started reading the Bible starting with John, then the epistles, then the gospels, then the prophets, then the epistles again, and so on.

The following month I actually started working again—day jobs. By March I had gotten hired as a cook downtown. Walking home from work (as I did every day) I was praying and singing like I always did. My songs changed to an unknown language and my songs became worship. I had received tongues. I never did have an emotional experience of conversion. As far as I can tell, all the drugs ruined me for emotional responses of any kind (to this day).

I devoured Dad’s library of Watchman Nee, Andrew Murray, Smith Wigglesworth, Oswald Chambers, Hudson Taylor, Rees Howells, Derek Prince, and many more including all the fashionable charismatic books of the day. By early 1975 I had read several hundred Christian books. I would often read two or three a day plus the Bible. I couldn’t get enough. I just poured the data into my drug-ravaged brain.

In that first six months I read the bible cover to cover several times, still doing drugs (pot and acid). My few friends all kicked me out because of Jesus. I had one friend left—a gay man named Gene Kunz. We talked and talked and talked on long acid trips at his apartment and wandering the streets of Minneapolis from evening ’til dawn.

However, the acid trips had really changed. I could now see part of spiritual reality and I spent entire trips in spiritual warfare fighting off the demons of which I was now aware. There was no fear or danger, as far as I was concerned, with Jesus’ power in me—but it had become hard work as I went insane from the drug and fought my way back to reality. (This was our method of character development—strange as it might seem to you). We were the results of the Timothy Leary school of personal development, followed by Baba Ram Das (though I had left that stuff far behind).

I remember that Gene gave me several hits of wonderful acid for my birthday in June of that year [1974]. But it had become too much. The Lord had changed me too much. I finally flushed them down the toilet and accepted my death (as talked about in Romans 6). I had come to realize that death was all my flesh deserved and that Jesus had covered that on the cross. I surrendered completely to my Lord.

What a ride it’s been since then! My dad and I ministered in the gifts daily. I met my wife at one of the groups.

The Bible and Jesus

My dad convinced me that what I needed to study was the Bible. That and Jesus were all that mattered. He taught me to avoid commentaries and books about the Bible, Jesus, or the church. He was convinced that most of them promoted views that were slanted by personal theology. He filled me with books of testimony and anointed teachings and I read the Bible. I’ve found that to be good advice.

My wife, Pastor Pat

In 1976 I married the woman who would transform my life, Patricia Harper—though she had the name of a former husband tacked on to the end of it. Here was a woman with a very clear call to ministry—both in gifts and in a desire to serve. Her wisdom and common sense approach to following Jesus has enabled me to open up more to the Lord and begin to become what He designed me to be. Virtually all emotional healing I’ve received has been the result of her love.

Scripture versions & usage

I am a firm believer in using many translations and a few paraphrases to build a consensus of accuracy. My usual choices are (in no particular order): New American Standard Bible [NASB], Revised Standard [RSV], English Standard [ESV], New King James [NKJV], New International [NIV], Phillips, New Living Translation [NLT], Modern English Version [MEV], and many more. For study purposes, I normally use biblegateway.com—which I highly recommend.

I will be teaching from the Modern Viking Paraphrase [MVP], which is my personal understanding of what is right and true. I will use relevant versions, as necessary. This not only allows me to keep the copyright police calm, but I can also combine appropriate versions into a composite reading that my experience suggests will be more meaningful to you. I will give you references so you can look them up in your personal favorite.

The MVP: are you offended?

I will be using my own paraphrase by default. If I am using a specific version I will flag it as such. You’ll want to follow in your favorite versions to make sure that you can see why I slant my paraphrase toward the core meanings I see in the text. You don’t have to agree. You do need to pray for wisdom.

Your responsibility

Read this with your mind and Bible open: I am convinced that your active participation in the study and analysis of these verses is the only way the Holy Spirit will be able to actually change your life for the better through these teachings. Pray that the Holy Spirit will guide you and teach you. This is His primary job given by Jesus.

This is my prayer: That you will be brought closer to the Lord, that you will end up knowing Him better, and that the power available to all believers is more active in your life.

The Word of God

The Word of God is a person: Jesus of Nazareth. We are told this in Revelation 19.13. Here the rider of the white horse (who is clearly the Messiah) is described as the one with the robe dipped in blood whose name is the Word of God.

Many people call the Bible the Word. I don’t us that name for the Bible because people are too easily confused as it is. Jesus is the logos, the living Word of God. The Bible is the inspired writings of men and women of God as directed by the Holy Spirit. The purpose of scripture is to show us how God thinks, what kinds of things He does in the world, how we are to live, and so much more. You can’t understand scripture without the Holy Spirit to guide you into the truth. You need to pray before you start reading—every time.

Bible worship?

One of my concerns is Bible worship—people who follow the Bible instead of serving the Lord. I am not led by the bible, but by the Lord through His Holy Spirit. I [we] are taught by the Spirit. Yes, He uses the scriptures a lot. Yes, the scriptures will lead us to the Lord­—if we let Him and we are true seekers of Truth. Do you see this as a real problem?

The world, the flesh, and the devil

For those of you new to belief or those still pursuing truth, you need to understand some terminology that I will be assuming throughout this book. I believe that there is a real, literal Satan who hates Christians and is out to destroy each of us individually. He is the devil referred to in the subhead above.

The flesh is the conscious side of us as human beings. This includes our senses, genetics, emotions, thoughts, and will power. It is my belief that our flesh is always self-serving and focused on selfish needs. We can look outside ourselves, but it is always an effort of our will. Though our will might be strong, it is of no use in earning us favor with God Almighty.

The world in the New Testament is described by the Greek word, kosmos. This is the global system of things that are controlled by Satan and used as his primary weapon to attract and distract our flesh to keep us from serving the Lord. It is a spiritual organization that cannot be seen by the flesh. It is very legalistic and evil. It offers excitement instead of joy, fashion instead of beauty, politics instead of leadership, and temptation instead of satisfaction.

What is the spirit?

It is that part of us that enables us to have contact with the spiritual realm. Normally, our spirits are blocked from communication with God until we come to believe. The human spirit can be built up into strength through the occult, but that is very dangerous because it puts us in touch with spirits who are evil—though they may appear to be good. Only God’s Holy Spirit can be trusted to guide our spirits into truth.

Becoming a believer

If at any time throughout any of these Bible studies you come to realize that you might not truly be a believer in the Lord Jesus or a citizen of the Kingdom of God—there is a simple solution. All you need to do is renounce the world, the flesh, and the devil. You then repent of your selfish, sinful ways and turn to Jesus for forgiveness. Then you ask Jesus to come live within you, and fill you with His Holy Spirit. Acknowledge Him as the Lord and King of your life. That’s all there is to it. You can do this at any time. If you are in doubt, please do it now.

Are you a citizen of the Kingdom of God?

Only if you have specifically asked to be a part of it. You cannot get in because your parents are, or were, believers. You must ask for yourself. Have you done that?

Study tools

Books

A good reading bible: minimal study aids, just simple easy reading. Yes, they are very hard to find. I recommend you get rid of Jesus’ words in red as that makes His words easier to see initially, but much more difficult to read because of the lessened contrast.

Several good study Bibles

What is a good study bible?

There are several attributes to consider when you buy a study bible. The main thing is to get a book that is comfortable at your normal studying location and comfortable to read. A lot of this is personal. For example, I find that single-column Bibles are much easier to use and especially easy to teach from:

Leather-bound: nothing else will last long enough

Many cross references

Good maps

Word definitions either in the footnotes or built into the cross references

Wide margins for taking notes

A translation you trust: You’ll need to pick up many translations and paraphrases, but unless you are certain you will use them for serious study, they can be paperbacks or hard-bound covers

No denominational slant in the footnotes and commentary: you want clear explanations of the scriptures. You do not want doctrinal slants

Vine’s Expository Dictionary

Strong’s Concordance

Manners & Customs of the Bible

Bible Dictionaries

Dictionary & Thesaurus

Websites

Bible versions: biblegateway.com

Strong’s and lexicons: http://www.eliyah.com/lexicon.html

Strong’s and lexicons: http://www.searchgodsword.org/lex/grk/view.cgi?number=1097 (for ginosko)

Vine’s Expository Dictionary: http://www.antioch.com.sg/cgi-bin/bible/vines/greek.pl

Maps and much more: http://www.ebibleteacher.com/imagehtml/ntmaps.html

Roman history: http://www.unrv.com/

If any of these links are bad, (and that is likely as these resources move around a lot) simply Google for replacements. You will find yourself using them a lot.

My favorite study bibles

The International Inductive Study Bible [NASB]

Single-column, wide margins, easy to read, easy to add notes with its wide margins. No space wasted on footnotes, but very good cross-references.

They have a new one in ESV that looks very good. The English Standard version is the new pew Bible for man. It’s a good translation in many regards and I don’t hesitate to recommend it.

Spirit Filled Life Bible [NKJV]

Some of the best footnotes and commentary for spirit-filled readers. Edited by Jack Hayford. Very busy layout, Excellent reference. Hard to read and difficult to study from.

We have a couple dozen more in our library. My wife loves the Thompson Chain Reference [NKJV]. We both tend to avoid the NIV as there are too many places where we believe the translation is poor. Increasingly, I am enjoying the New Living Translation. It might be my next study bible, but I don’t really trust it.

The best of the new versions might well be the Modern English Version. It’s very new—developed for military chaplains looking for an easier to read update of the Authorized KJV. They did a good job. It’s highly recommended by people like Jack Hayford, Steve Strang, and many more. But, it reads very well and seems very accurate. The main problem is that it’s so new (released in 2014) that neither good study bibles nor excellent reader versions are available yet. Jesus talks in a light red also, which is very hard to read.

Finding the Power to Believe

A verse by verse study of Philippians

The church at Philippi

Paul’s ministry to Philippi started spectacularly. You can read about it in Acts 16. He was on his second trip and had picked up Timothy. He was prevented, in the Spirit, from continuing in Turkey. The Lord gave him a vision of a man from Macedonia, so he headed over there with Timothy. As usual, he went to the Jews first. But there were less than ten Jewish men so there were not enough of them for a synagogue. That minimum is normal Jewish custom.

In the Spirit?

This is a bit of Christian lingo that is used to express a more direct contact with God through communication between our spirit and the Holy spirit.. This can take many forms.

He went to the place of prayer, which was led by a woman named Lydia (a dealer of purple). She was convicted by the Spirit, converted through Paul’s teaching, and baptized with her household. Then she prevailed on Paul to come stay at her house. Evidently she was a strong woman leader.

Women in ministry?

Because my wife has a very clear call on her life, I have researched this thoroughly. I remember reading an article by Jack Hayford, one of the most respected Christian teachers of the 20th century, about women pastors and how he had come to