Through the Bible with Les Feldick
LESSON 1 * PART 1 * BOOK 42
Les & Iris’ Story – Salvation – Time-Line
I Thessalonians 1:1 – 2:14
Now this half hour is going to be a little different than what you’re use to. This is primarily for so many of you out in television that have so many questions about us and our ministry.
I’ll never forget: I hadn’t been on one of our Minnesota stations but a week or two, and a lady called and said, “Who in the world are you anyway?” Well that was just the first one, and we get that question time and time again, “Who are you? Where did you come from? Do you pastor a Church?” So the powers that be that help me in the ministry thought that maybe it would be a good idea to just put together a 30 minute situation that will be a little different from the routine. So we’re going to show you a segment of time when they came down to the ranch, and some friends came in to do some testimonies.
The tape isn’t very long, and as soon as we finish that, we’ll probably have about 15 minutes left and we’re going to devote that strictly to the plan of salvation. Again, we get so many questions about salvation. “How can I know that I’m saved? How can I know that I’ll go to heaven when I die?” So we’re going to cover that in the last part of this half hour by just simply using the Scriptures. For now though we’ll just roll the tape that was made down at the ranch, when Jeff and Gary, and some of our class friends came down, and we’ll just let the tape speak for itself.
Transcriber: As the tape begins it shows Les on his tractor carrying a large 1000 pound bale of hay out to where his cattle are. We see him use his tractor to unroll the bale of hay, and the cattle begin to feed on the hay. We also see him as he walks through his beautiful black herd, and pets them with the love that only a rancher can have for his cattle. The tape also reveals Les & Iris’ beautiful old ranch home, and the old kitchen table that Les is always talking about. It also shows Iris serving a delicious “Okie stew” she had fixed for her guests that day.
Narrator: “Grass roots. Down to earth. Real. Pure. These are words that are synonymous with one man in particular, Les Feldick. In this day of high speed communication, global community, cell phones and instant coffee, you can always count on one man to keep it simple. Les Feldick has been teaching the Word of God for years, making the Bible come to life in an understandable, deep and pure way. Les Feldick is where family and faith is part and parcel of who he is, an Oklahoma rancher and farmer. Les brings insight to the Word of God without pride and ego. They say you can tell a man’s character by looking at his family, friends, and his life. Les, along with his wife Iris, have a long legacy of integrity, wrapped up in love and affection. That’s not only evident in his family life , but also in his ministry. What you see is what you get – Les Feldick.”
Les: “We had both heard of each other, but we’d never met. So one afternoon, it was a beautiful winter and spring in Hot Springs Arkansas, and I came in from golfing and I stopped for a cup of coffee, and a lady who knew Iris real well, in fact she was you’re Sunday school teacher wasn’t she? (Iris answers “yes.”) (Les continues on) I had met this lady one time, and she said, “You’ve got to get a date with Iris!” I said, “Why?” She said, “You’ve got to meet Iris, just call her!” I said, “Just make a blind date?” She said, “Make it a blind date.” So I did. Iris lived up on the third floor of the nurse’s quarters, and I had to wait down in the lobby, and when she stepped out of that elevator, I’ll tell you what –
Transcriber: “As Les and Iris are speaking of their courtship, and marriage, the tape shows beautiful still pictures, and a glimpse of what Les saw the first time he saw Iris. It also shows some of their wedding pictures.”
Iris: “It was love at first sight.“
Les: “She was the prettiest thing I had ever seen. So that was the beginning of a whirlwind courtship, and a gorgeous spring.”
Iris: “Four months later we were married, June 21st 1953.”
Les: “So after we got out of the service, we went up to Iowa, and started farming, and began to have our family. We raised our kids up there, and then in 1975 we moved down here to Oklahoma.”
Iris: “We weren’t here four weeks, and we were Church hunting you know, looking around for a home Church. There was a home missionary guy that got the idea, probably from Sunday school that Les could teach a class, and Les agreed to teach the class every Monday morning.”
Les: “So it wasn’t long until the missionary’s relatives who lived over the mountain, as we say here in Oklahoma, also wanted a Bible study. After a couple of months then the women wanted to know why they couldn’t also have a class after the men went to work, so we simply had a cup of coffee, and taught the women’s class after that. Then one thing led to another, and a lady that was in the women’s class, who was the head of what they called adult education at the college in Wilburton, wanted to know if I wanted to teach a “religion” class?” So we took that opportunity, and went into Eastern State college at Wilburton, and taught there, with a paid enrollment, with never less than 45 people, and we taught there for 13 years. And as a result of that the college, we started an extension class over at McAlester, which was also tuition paid, and my goodness – the first class we had at McAlester, we had 100 tuition paid people.”
“Then we started a class in Tahlequah in 1990, and out of that Tahlequah class, a young man came and approached Gary at channel 47 here in Tulsa with a tape of one of our classes. Gary picked up on it, and thought it was something that could fly, but he thought it would take about $24,000 to get us through the first year. Not having any money, we put the proposition in front of the two classes at Wilburton and McAlester, and just asked them to put on a little slip of paper what they thought they could give above their Church tithe. We didn’t want to take anything away from their local Churches, and when Iris and I got home on Thursday night after the two classes, we took all of the pieces of paper and added them up, and it was $100 less than $24,000. So that was our fleece and Gary knows the rest of the story, we got started taping up here in the fall of 1990, and we’ve been going ever since.”
Narrator: “Over the years, Through the Bible with Les Feldick has touched the lives of thousands all across the country. Insight and understanding the Word of God has been a major focus of Les’ teachings, with an emphasis on practical application.”
Pat Burger: “Over the years, we’ve become personal friends of Les and Iris. They’ve visited in our home, and we’ve visited in theirs. They are a wonderful down-home people, and they live what they teach. Les has such a talent, such a gift, a God-given gift, for making the Bible easy to understand.”
Andy Martin: “He doesn’t have his own agenda, he’s not trying to convince you of anything, as he wants you to study and learn. You’re free to read and understand, and if you question him or feel he’s wrong, he’ll visit with you about it, he’s not a bit shy. He’ll go into the Scripture and show you what’s in the Scripture.”
Lee Ann Rainwater: “My granny Vi, was one of Les’ first viewers when he first came out on TV, and to hear Les tell it, she was one of the first people to have ever written him a letter. To granny, Les meant it all, he was the first Bible teacher that ever got granny interested in the Word, not just a Bible story, but really into who Jesus was, and what He means to us as believers.”
Gloria Gibson: “I’m very thankful to Les and the ministry. I know that with his teaching ability, his dedication, the hard work that he puts in and the effort of driving to all of the locations of the classes, but I also know it’s the work of the Holy Spirit through each one of us and through him where our knowledge grows. We learn and there’s understanding and I’m really thankful for him and the ministry and just the knowledge that I’ve gained through it. I wouldn’t trade it. And for the viewers that are watching, if you can get the program on their TV stations, then they should tune in.”
Jerry Pool: “That very first night that Lorna and I were at Les’ class, we started in Genesis and I guess the good Lord had someone ask the question about salvation. During the weekly classes, Les will just stop right where he’s at and say, “We’ll just run those things down.” Well, it might take an hour or two. So someone asked a question about salvation and Les shared with the class, I Corinthians 15:1-4 – Paul’s gospel – and I looked at that and said, “I can’t believe it!” And so it just opened up a new world to me.”
Sharon Martin: “His teaching has just opened our eyes, it really has. I was saved as a young person, I was only eight years old. I had been in church all my life. But the change that Les has made for me is to take me beyond those favorite Bible passages – the ones that we all know – and take me beyond the Bible stories that were taught – and take me really into the Word. One of his phrases is “What does the Bible say, and what does it not say?” And that’s what has really helped me to listen and learn as I read, and to listen to other people as they teach.”
Leyce Burger: “Les can teach you how to study the Bible and to think and compare one verse with the next. And that’s the only way I’ve ever got anything out of the Bible.”
Jessie Craig: “The whole thing excites me and I want to share it with everybody. I think that’s the biggest thing. We do get the tapes and books and when it’s possible, we share with our co-workers and just whoever will listen.”
Les: “What I feel good about is that they aren’t looking to Les Feldick. It’s just that Les has been able to get them into the Word and see it for themselves. Because I wouldn’t want people to just go and say, “Well this is what Les said.” That won’t cut it anymore than when they say, “This is what my church says.” We have to get people to understand what the Word of God says and what it doesn’t say, which is just as important. And so that’s what thrills us when we get all these letters which say, “For the first time in my life I’m understanding my Bible and am enjoying my Bible and I’m searching the Scriptures.” This is what we want.
Narrator: “Les Feldick Ministries is an outreach where Les, Iris and the entire family do everything from sending out tapes and accounting, to opening mail, answering the phone, and reading letters.”
Les: “Our oldest son was the first of the three kids to come back home. He had gotten his degree and worked for a company and he just decided that he’d had enough of it and wanted to know if he could come back and work in the ranching with me. So that was in 1990 and it was that very Fall that we began the television ministry, which we could not have done had Greg not been here to hold things in order while we’re gone. And then just when we needed somebody to take care of the computers and answer the phone, Todd and Kim came back. He’s our youngest, and his wife. They left a good job out of Washington State University and came back and worked in with us. Kim just jumped in and has been so much help for the ministry. Then we had to have somebody do the accounting and the bookkeeping and my daughter, Laura, came in and became adept with the QuickBooks bookkeeping system on the computer. So now all the kids are back home and they’re all involved in the ministry. They all help when we need help with the ranching and so it’s just a family effort.”
Narrator: “Proceeds from the show go directly into teaching the Word of God and getting the message out. God has instructed the Body of Christ to be good stewards of His gifts and Les Feldick Ministries takes that instruction to heart.”
Les: “Some of the people that were interviewed for this have been contributing every month ever since we first started. And others have come in and have become just as faithful. I know we have one couple, in particular, that has given a fair amount every month and she says, so typically, “Now that we understand the Scriptures and have learned how to study them, we can share it with others and it’s such fun.” And she always underlines the word, “Fun”. And it is. When you get adept at the Scriptures, it is just so thrilling to share them with other people. And so these are the rewarding things that have happened.”
Narrator: “You can be assured that your financial gifts are used with the utmost integrity and ethics and that Les and Iris truly care about the well-being of their partners. Les Feldick Ministries. Enriched understanding of the Word of God.”
“SALVATION”
Now I will finish this half hour segment by stressing some salvation verses, so to those of you here in the studio I’m going to have you turn with me to II Peter, chapter 3. Now you say, “Here you’re such a proponent of Paul’s writings and Paul’s Gospel, but yet you’re going to start this salvation mini-lesson with Peter?” Well I’m doing this purposely. I laid awake most of the night last night trying to figure out the best way to do this. See, most of the Christian world hangs on Peter’s message and Christ’s earthly ministry, and they almost completely ignore Paul’s message. I’ve said it so often that they almost treat Paul like an ugly step-child. So with that in mind, I’m going to show you what Peter says about Paul and Paul’s message. Then after that, we’ll naturally go back to the writings of Paul to pick up our plan of salvation. You must remember that Peter writes this about the same time that Paul writes his prison epistles. I think they are both martyred within a year of one another in probably 66-67 AD. So this is not Peter writing from Pentecost, but rather this is Peter writing some 30 years later. Now look what he says.
II Peter 3:15
“And account (or understand) that the long suffering of our Lord is salvation; (see that’s the number one reason for this whole Book, is to bring lost humanity to a knowledge of salvation) even as our beloved brother Paul also according to the wisdom given unto him hath written unto you;” Now remember by the time Peter writes this, most of Paul’s epistles have been written and are circulating among the primitive Churches.
II Peter 3:16a
“As also in all his epistles, speaking in them of these things; (what things? Salvation! How to be saved, and how to know you’re saved. So Peter says, ‘That Paul is speaking of these things’) in which are some things hard to be understood,…” Even at this late date, I don’t think Peter could comprehend that the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob was now turning to the Gentile world. Not through him and the other eleven apostles, but through this one man, the apostle Paul.
II Peter 3:16b
“…in which are some things hard to be understood, which they that are unlearned and unstable wrest, (twist) as they do also the other scriptures, unto their own destruction.”
Turn back to Romans chapter 3. I am reminded of a paper that a lady in one of my classes the other night gave to me. She said, “Les, look at this because as far as I’m concerned it does nothing but confuse everything.” Well I was reading it yesterday, and I read portions of it to Iris, and she said, “Do you know what that reminds me of? Your story about the blender.” Most of you remember that story. I had a young man come up one day and said, “Les, this is the first time the Bible makes sense. Up till now everything that I’ve ever heard is just like throwing it into a blender, turning it up on high, and they ladle it out to me, and then wonder why I get sick to my stomach.”
Well that’s exactly what this particular article was doing. It had every thing all mixed up. It had enough of what we call Biblical Truth that would take the unsuspecting and they would think the author knew what he was talking about. Then he totally mixed it all up with Old Testament Scriptures and the four gospels. He used one or two verses from Paul, and then ridiculed the whole idea that the Lord is coming back one day soon. Well you see, that’s exactly what Peter is talking about. They may be the head of some denomination and have a big title, but he had totally twisted the Scriptures, and as Peter says, “Probably to his own destruction.”
So what we have to do (and you don’t have to have be a theologian), is just simply search out. “what” does Paul say about salvation. Not what Jesus said, because everything Jesus said was to the Jew under the Law, and that can’t be appropriate for us today. Peter and the eleven still preached everything to Israel that was still under the Law. But this apostle, which has been designated as the apostle of the Gentiles in Romans 11:13, and other areas where he declares that he is the authority for the Church.
Now that doesn’t mean that you throw away the rest of your Bible, as everything builds. Just like our secular education, for example. Do you think an electrical engineer that’s up into the higher echelons in Silicon Valley and the computer world would have made it, if he hadn’t had his 4th and 5th grade arithmetic? I don’t think so. I think that everything rests on these things that are elementary and they just come right on up. Well it’s the same way with the Scriptures – you don’t throw away everything besides Paul, but rather you hone in on what Paul says. Now the first step of faith for salvation is to believe this verse.
Romans 3:23
“For all (every human being) have sinned, and come short of the glory of God;”
Why? Because, we’re sons of Adam. Every human being was in the federal head of the human race, Adam, and when Adam sinned the curse fell on every human being that would ever be born. So we’re born sinners. You know I’ve put on the board so many times, ” We’re not sinners because we sin, but rather we sin because we’re born sinners.” So this is what this verse is saying, and our first step for salvation, is to believe what God has said concerning our Adamic background. We are lost, we are without hope, we have come short of the glory of God! Now when you realize and believe that, then that’s the first step of faith.” God said it, I didn’t! You don’t have to wait for some preacher to tell you that. You just simply know that God says, “YOU ARE LOST!” You have been separated from Him by virtue of Adam. Now I’m going to back up a page or so to chapter 1 in the Book of Romans. You’ll notice as we go through these verses on how to obtain salvation, that these verses are now where Peter said to go, we’re in Paul’s epistles. Every word I’m going to use in these next few moments will come from Paul.
Romans 1:16
“For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ: for it (the Gospel) is the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth;…”
Notice there’s not a word in here about baptism, or any other works, but only to every one that believeth. Believing, and faith, and trusting all mean the same thing. So this Gospel has to be appropriated by believing it.
Romans 1:16b
“…to the Jew first, and also to the Greek.”
Now turn all the way to Ephesians 1:13. This is where we have almost the same kind of thinking from the pen of the apostle Paul. These are all so clear. People have told me they can’t understand the King James version, but even a child can understand this, and look what it says.
Ephesians 1:13a
“In whom (Christ of verse 12) ye also trusted, (placed your faith,) after that ye heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation:…” See how plain that is? So what do we have to do first? Realize that we’re lost, realize in ourselves we are undone, we’re children of Adam. Then we have to hear the Word of Truth, which is the Gospel of your salvation.
Ephesians 1:13b
“…in whom also after that ye believed, (that Gospel of Truth, then God immediately seals you.) ye were sealed, with that Holy Spirit of promise,”
Now I think we’re ready to look at Paul’s Gospel that saves us, and we find that in I Corinthians 15:1-4. I maintain that this is the clearest presentation of the Gospel that we need for salvation of any portion of Scripture. This says it all! John 3:16 doesn’t say it all, unless you take Paul’s Gospel and feed it in. But again like Peter says, “They twist the Scriptures.” Well what does that mean? Again I was thinking last night, years ago in a cold Iowa winter, families would put together jigsaw puzzles. And you know how kids are? They think they’ve got a piece that fits, and if it doesn’t, what do they try to do? They try to work it on down, and force it in. But does that make it right? No. So it’s the same way with the Word of God. How many people are twisting it, and then they try to push it in and make it fit their particular creed or beliefs. But you see you can’t do that, it has to fit perfectly. Now here’s that beautiful Gospel that you’ll find only in Paul’s writings.
I Corinthians 15:1-2
“Moreover, brethren, I declare unto you the gospel which I preached unto you, which also ye have received, and wherein ye stand; 2. By which also ye are saved, (See, the whole idea of God’s purposes is salvation, to be saved.) if ye keep in memory what I preached unto you….”
We have to know what to believe. Now verse 3 and 4.
I Corinthians 15:3a
“For I delivered unto you first of all that which I also received, (only Paul received this Gospel) how that Christ died for our sins…” Sins that we each inherited from Adam.
I Corinthians 15:4a
“And that he was buried, and that he rose again the third day according to the scriptures:”
Now folks that’s the Gospel of Salvation! Do you see how simple that is? And once we’ve realized our lostness, and believe that Gospel then God has promised that when we believe in our heart that Jesus died for our sins, was buried, and rose again, then He will move in and grant us salvation. It’s all of Grace, there’s no works involved, nor can be. Let me show you in Ephesians chapter 2.
Ephesians 2:8
“For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God.“