Victory in the Hand of Israel In a bible lesson that I recently heard, the instructor quoted Joshua 10, verse 8, which says; “And the LORD said to Joshua; Do not fear them, for I have given them into your hands. Not a man of them shall stand before you.” Those are some pretty comforting words aren’t they? Don’t be afraid.. “I have given them…
Episkopos and Presbuteros In the New Testament scriptures, the words Bishop and Overseer, mean the same thing. They’re synonyms. The original Greek word that they come from, is the word “Episkopos”. That’s where the word “Episcopal” comes from, as in the “Episcopal church”. And the basic meaning of the word “episkopos” is.. “a superintendent, or an overseer”. Someone who has been put in charge of…
How We Got the Bible I’d like to show you an article from a website called “Bible Archeology Report”. And this article is focused on the earliest known fragments of the written scriptures. And I’m just going to go ahead and copy and paste the article here, so that you can read it for yourself. The Earliest New Testament Manuscripts All of the books of…
Abram, Blessed by God Let’s talk about the man named Abram, who is known as “the father of the faithful”. Do you remember when Abram went out and rescued his nephew Lot, after he was captured by a band of four kings and their men, who made war with five other kings, and went through the whole country side, looting their cities, and taking the…
The Bible, The Word of God We believe the words of the bible, to be the inspired words of God Himself. But of course man hasn’t always had the “written” word of God. There was obviously a time when man had only the spoken word of God. But whether that word was spoken by God himself, as it was at various times, or if it…
Question: How do You Live IN the World, But Not be OF the World ? Today’s lesson is based on John 18:36, where Jesus said; “My kingdom is not of this world..” And then He said; “My kingdom is not of this realm.” How many of you think that living faithfully to God, is an easy thing to do? No problem at all. Is it easy to…
How Did We Get the Bible? – Part 3; The Foundation of the Word of God In our previous lesson, titled “How Did We Get The Bible – Part 2”, we left off with this verse, from Ephesians 2:19 & 20. And here’s what it says; “Now therefore, you are no more strangers and foreigners, but fellow citizens with the saints, and of the household…
Who do YOU say that Jesus is ? I’d like to read to you from the bible, the account of when Jesus asked his apostles, “Who do the people say that I am?” Some versions say, “Who do the crowds say that I am?” And of course that refers the Jews, who had seen Jesus, and heard Him speak, and who saw the miracles (or…
How Did We Get The Bible ? Last week I began talking about how we got the bible. And I’m specifically referring to the new testament. And I talked a lot about Catholic beliefs; How they think that THEY gave the bible to the world. But today I want to just stick to what the bible itself says, and what we can conclude from what it says….
I’d like to try to answer the question; How Did We Get The Bible? A lot of people don’t believe that the bible is even FROM God. And so they believe that men simply wrote it, trying to control others. But that’s not the aspect of the question that I’d like to deal with. What I’d like to deal with, is the fact, and the problem, that…
Jesus Hung on a Tree In a previous lesson titled “Four Trees Of God”, I talked about the cross that Jesus was crucified on, and how that cross was referred to by bible writers, as a “tree”. The word is used figuratively in the new testament, but the meaning goes back centuries. Let me remind you of a few of those verses that speak…
God Tells us about Four Specific Trees This morning I’d like to talk about four different trees. Three of them were physical trees, and one is a spiritual tree. The first tree was in a physical paradise, and it was there to give physical life. The next tree was also in the same physical paradise, and although it no doubt looked just as beautiful as the…
God Needs You, in the Body of Christ For those who want to follow along in their bibles, go ahead and open them to Romans chapter 12. And follow along as I read verses 1 thru 3. Romans 12, 1 thru 3.. “Therefore I exhort you, brothers, through the compassions of God, (some versions say “by the mercies of God”) to present your bodies as…
“..I come not to abolish, but to fulfill” (Mathew 5:17) In our previous lesson, I talked about how Jesus “fulfilled” the law and the prophets. And as I said previously, to “fulfill” the law and the prophets means.. “to bring them to completion”. Jesus didn’t come to simply abolish the old law, but rather, to bring it to it’s natural end. “Do not think that I came…
How did Jesus Fulfill the Law and the Prophets ? Jesus said to His listeners, in Mathew 5, verse 17; “Do not think that I came to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I did not come to abolish, but to fulfill.” There is so much misunderstanding concerning that verse, that I thought I’d say something about not only that specific verse, but also about…
The Age (the ages) of the Patriarchs Today’s lesson is meant to be kind of a “fun” lesson, with several interesting facts to think about. And to begin with, I want to read a verse that’s a bit hard to comprehend. But it kind of gets our minds going, and gets us thinking. It’s 2 Peter 3, verse 8, and here’s what it says; “But, beloved, do…
The Providence of God is Manifested – Continued.. (Please see the previous lesson, called “The Cross And God’s Providence” outlining the first three points on how the providence of God has been manifested) #4. By giving His Son to die on the cross, God provided man with an essential message, No sinner can be saved apart from the grace of God—through the blood of Jesus Christ….
Christ Removes the Veil I’d like to read from 2 Corinthians, chapters 2 & 3 today. And I’d like to begin with chapter 2, verse 14. Open your bibles and follow along if you wish, or just listen as I read. 2 Corinthians 2, verse 14 and following.. “But thanks be to God, who always leads us triumphantly, as captives in Christ, and through us, spreads…
THE PROVIDENCE OF GOD AND THE CROSS OF CHRIST By no amount of good works — no matter how great — could any human being earn (or obtain) the forgiveness of even one sin which he has committed. If man could have been saved by meritorious works, there would have been no need for the grace of God (the unmerited favor of God). God’s gift of His…
Repentance, and the 5 “R’s” Even though the word Repentance, only has one “R” in it, there are really 5 R’s, to true Repentance. And those 5 “R’s” would be.. Recognition of sin; Remorse for sin; Resolve over sin; Reformation from sin; and Restitution for sin . And we’ll touch on each one of those 5 “R’s” in a little while. There’s more to understand about…