The BIG Picture (Study)

Ryan Stevenson - The Gospel (Official Lyric Video) I heard this song for the first time today, —very appropriately since I'm busy with a series on 'the Gospels". It stirred my heart and gave me 'goose bumps'.  Thank you Ryan for an wonderful and inspiring song! View on YouTube From the new album 'NO MATTER WHAT' .  Download or stream at https://rs.lnk.to/nmw   The gospel for our salvation today is, 1️⃣ Hear the message of  why Jesus Christ had to save us: Because of Adam's sin, we are all born with the nature of sin in us and this separates us from God. Jesus Christ (God incarnate), born 'without' the sin nature, and who lived a perfect life required by God's standards, freely gave up His life for us by dying on the cross as a sacrifice for our sins. The Bible says that the wages of sin is death, so, Jesus, by dying on our behalf, and in our place, paid the sin penalty for us. Because of His death, we are i...

Was Jesus Christ a Dispensationalist During His Earthly Ministry? Article by Shawn Brasseaux Opening Statement Dispensational Bible study has its critics—and that is no secret. Allegedly, we who “rightly divide the word of truth” (2 Timothy 2:15) are “Bible choppers,” “church splitters,” “troublemakers,” among other names. Additionally, we are told, “I do not follow some man such as the Apostle Paul, I follow Jesus!” Immediately after stating thus, our opponents flee to Matthew through John, the Lord Jesus Christ’s earthly ministry (which they assume is Christianity for today), and proceed to denounce us as “heretics” for “taking away” from Jesus’ words. They have made some serious accusations against us, so do we have Biblically-based answers for them? In this, our special-edition 900th Bible Q&A article, we examine this matter in light of God’s Word. “For what saith the Scriptures?” See the full article on Shawn's site here , including the opening statement, the conclusion, a...

The Simplicity of our Salvation It is my opinion that one of the 'easiest to understand' topics in scripture is our salvation through the grace gospel today. But on the other hand, it is also the topic that has largely been complicated, distorted and pulled out of context because of mixing up scriptures based on the gospels that belong to other dispensations and people groups. In this short discourse, I'd like to address what the Bible says about our salvation, keeping it in the right context, and proving its simplicity, which is the singular act of placing our faith in the work of Christ on our behalf. Unlike the gospels of other dispensations which depend on works, and laws, and observances, and conditions, our grace gospel is plain and simple. Our gospel, and the salvation it brings, is already complete, and simply needs to be received. There is nothing else that is tied to it that needs to be done or observed or earned. The simplici...

How the Gospels Transitioned through ACTS (Part 3 --- The Gospel of the Kingdom) Where do we find the Kingdom Gospel? The gospel of the Kingdom of God (or the Kingdom of Heaven, which can be understood as the gospel of the Kingdom which is from heaven ), is proclaimed by different individuals throughout the New Testament books of Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. The message proclaimed in this Kingdom gospel is unique to these four books and to the period of time from John the Baptist to the cross of Christ.  The four gospel books provide different accounts of Jesus life and ministry from the perspective of prophecy and the manifestations of God's character traits ( Ezek.1:10 ). Matthew presents the kingship of Christ in the face of the lion . This is why only Matthew mentions, "the Kingdom of Heaven" in his writings, portraying the gospel as the good news that the King, which is from heaven, has come to set up His Kingdom. Matthew 4...

How the Gospels Transitioned through ACTS (Part 2 --- Clearing up the gospel confusion ) Browse around on the internet and you will find that everyone has a different view on the gospel. It is so sad to say, but there is such confusion regarding the gospel today. The gospel is the message that has the power to save us, but if everyone has their own views and interpretations, WHO IS RIGHT? Some argue if there is one gospel or many. Others cannot agree on what the gospel message is. Still others battle to understand how Paul fits into the picture and if his gospel is different, since he claims it to be, "my gospel" in  Romans 2:16, Romans 16:25 , and 2 Timothy 2:8 . So, how do we get to the truth?  ——which we ALL KNOW is in the Bible; being God's infallible truth and the only valid reference we have!!!   This million dollar question is not difficult to answer! Think of it! There is only one answer! The confusion comes because everyone has their own opinions and th...

How the Gospels Transitioned through ACTS (Part 1 ---  Introduction ) The transition period of Acts is a very intricate period, and one that can be expounded on in many different ways. One of the ways, to gain deeper insights into the transition period of Acts, is by studying the content of the gospels, and matching their differences up to the audiences who heard and responded to them. This study is going to delve into these topics to hopefully bring some meaningful insights to the transition period of Acts, and provide greater clarity regarding the different gospel messages and the people who were affected by them. Before we get into the details of four gospels, lets focus on what we know about the way of life before, and after, the gospel transition period. This will help us better understand the impact and conditions of the gospels and how they would affect the lives of those who lived during, and after this transition, which also includes you and ...

Understanding and Interpreting the Bible (Part 5B ---  Dividing the PROGRAMS ) In our last post, Part 5A , we took a high level look at the two programs, simply discussing what they are and how they are different. I'd like to wrap up this series of lessons on "Understanding and Interpreting the Bible", by confirming the scriptural proof of the divisions n the programs of Israel and the Body of Christ. As a reminder, the below picture illustrates that we have two main parts to God's overarching redemption plan. The realms of earth and heaven, physical and spiritual. Within each of these realms, we have a people group (or agency). Earth will be inherited to Israel, and heaven will be filled with the Body of Christ. We covered these details in depth in previous posts. To clarify the 'program' portions of the image below, I can describe it as follows. The programs are the actionable components of the two divided parts. They portray the 'modus operandi...