God Communicates the Good News to Man The last book of our old testament bible is Malachi. But we don’t know for sure if Malachi was the last prophet of Israel that God spoke to or not. I’ve read that the Jewish Talmud claims that the last three prophets that god spoke to, were Haggai, Zechariah, and Malachi. But we don’t know which one…
Should We be Afraid of God? You’re probably aware, that the old testament has a lot to say about fearing God. As a matter of fact, phrases like “the fear of God” or “the fear of the Lord” appear over 80 times in the old testament. The new testament doesn’t say that nearly as often, but it does say it at least another 10 times. And…
The Fathers and The Prophets Hebrews chapter 11 begins with these words; “Long ago, in many portions and in many ways, God spoke to the fathers, in the prophets.” For a long period of time, that’s how God communicated with man; He choose men from among the Israelites, and made them “prophets of God” to reveal God’s will, and God’s message, to the people. In Amos…
Teach Us To Pray Bible Reading: Mathew 6, verses 5 thru 15 “And when you pray, you are not to be as the hypocrites. For they love to stand and pray in the synagogues and on the street corners, in order to be seen by men. Truly I say to you, they have their reward in full. But when you pray, go into your inner room,…
Does God Speak To Us? The first time ever recorded, that God communicated with man, was in Genesis 2, verse 16. It says there; “And the Lord God commanded the man saying; From any tree of the garden you may eat freely..” And the next verse says; “But from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, you shall not eat. For in the day that…
Why Does God Allow Bad Things To Happen? We’ve all heard questions like that. And we’ve heard about how suffering can help to make us more like Christ, and how it can bring us closer to God. And there’s truth in those things. In a lot of instances of suffering, there’s no one else to turn to but God! But how would you answer that question? Why does…
The Schoolmaster That Led To Christ. Last week’s lesson ended with Galatians 3:24, which says; “Wherefore the law was our schoolmaster to bring us unto Christ, that we might be justified by faith.” The word “schoolmaster”, as it’s used here in this verse, doesn’t specifically mean a teacher, but rather, it refers to one who is in charge of the total oversight of someone, or of a…
Do You Need God Every Hour? There’s a hymn that begins with these words; “I need Thee every hour, O gracious Lord. No tender voice like Thine, can peace afford.” What does it mean when the song says; “No tender voice like Thine, can peace afford”? I can’t be 100% sure what the writer of this song meant, but the opinion of a few others, is that…
Scripture Reading; John 15:1 thru 11 Our newspaper article this week is going to be about that parable of the vine and the branches. And so I thought we all should review that lesson from Jesus. Jesus began His lesson with these words; “I am the Vine, the True..” In other words, “I am the true vine..” In this little analogy, it’s the vine, that gives life…
The Covenant of the Law of Moses In our previous lesson, we learned that three of the laws which were a part of the law of Moses, and which governed Israel, were all given separately, prior to the ten commandments, and prior to the rest of the old covenant law. But yet, they’re all a part of the old covenant law of Moses. Here’s the three laws that…
Scripture Reading; 1 Peter 2:4 thru 8 “For it is contained in scripture”, verse 6 says; Behold, I lay in Zion, a choice stone, a precious corner stone. And he who believes in Him shall not be disappointed.” (the old testament scripture where that’s found, is Isaiah 28:16) “This preciousness then, (or, this precious value) is for you who believe. However, for those who disbelieve, the stone…
God’s Covenants With Man Last week we focused on God’s covenant with Abram, which was a two-fold promise. First there was the physical promise which was specified in Genesis 15:18; “On that day the Lord made a covenant with Abram, saying; To your descendants I have given this land, from the river of Egypt, as far as the great river, the river Euphrates..” Then there was the…
Scripture Reading; 1 John 4:7 thru 21 (Please read) I’m going to read the words of the chorus from that song that’s called, “angry Words”. And I want to ask you to repeat the words to your self, as I read them. They have to do with exactly what that scripture reading was all about. Here we go; “Love one another.. thus saith…
Man Has Always Lived Under A Covenant With God Here’s just a little review of last week’s lesson; God made a covenant with Adam, in the garden. And the covenant also applied to Eve. And that covenant would have lasted throughout Adam and Eve’s entire physical life, if they hadn’t broken the covenant. But they did break the covenant, and thus God removed them from the garden,…
God Has Made Several Covenants With Man Last week I talked about the old covenant and the new covenant. And today I want to talk more about all of God’s covenants with man. There’s a lot of words that are synonymous with the word covenant. Here’s several of them; A covenant is the same as an agreement, or a treaty, or an alliance, or a pact. …
Where He Leads Me I Will Follow 272 years after the great flood, in around 2100 BC, a man named Abram was born. His father’s name was Terah, and they lived in a country called Mesopotamia, in the district of Chaldea, in the city of Ur. And it says in Genesis 11, verse 31; “And Terah took Abram his son, and Lot, his grandson, the son of…
Was Jesus Jewish or Christian or Both? I had someone ask me last week; “Was Jesus a Christian? And I said; No, Jesus wasn’t a Christian. How could he have been? He was a Jew who lived under the old covenant law. A Christian lives under the new covenant law. So Christ wasn’t a Christian. The fella I was talking to couldn’t understand that. He said; How could…
The Words that We Use Make a Difference If you’ve been listening to the news at all lately, you’ve probably heard this said many times; “Words matter!” That’s been said regarding truth and lies. In other words; It matters whether the words that you are saying, are true words, or if they are lying words. And so I think we all have to agree, words do matter….
Was Mary a Virgin When Jesus Was Born? There are a lot of people who doubt whether Mary, the mother of Jesus, was a virgin when she gave birth to Jesus. When you read the word “virgin” in the new testament, it can simply mean a girl, or a maiden, or young woman, or it can refer to a woman who has never had sexual relations with a…
Eternal Darkness is Eternal Separation from God The idea of a loving God, sending people to hell, to suffer eternally, has always been a problem for people. A lot of people refuse to accept that as the truth, and thus reject the bible. Others don’t fully reject the bible, but they reject the idea of hell. But the bible does speak about hell. It describes hell as…