Childlike closeness is central to the believer’s sonship with Father God. This is the heart of the Gospel. By faith in the cross-work of Christ, we are adopted by God as His children. At salvation, God restores the believer and we are called “privileged to God,” our “Abba” (Romans 8:15; Galatians 4:6). Christ had the unique position and power to…
God is sovereign over the universe and human affairs. Divine sovereignty and human freedom co-exist. I really like the statement in Daniel 4:35: “All the inhabitants of the earth are counted as nothing, and He does what He wants with the army of heaven and the inhabitants of the earth. There is no one who can hold back His hand…
The Bible (God’s inspired Word) is the true narrative that answers the greatest questions of life. God has provided His truths of reality (His and ours) and His divine solutions. The Bible brings true reality into proper perspective. We cannot hear God as plainly if we’re not reading/studying His Word. Believers must be devoted followers of Christ, living what the…
To truly know and even begin to understand God, our Creator, you must allow God to tell you what He is like. God is so far above us that we can best know Him by studying His own revelations of Himself. The revelations in nature, in life, and in the Bible help us to visualize invisible God, help us to…
The “I want nothing to do with organized religion” argument is based on the rules and corruption of human-created religion. This argument is valid. God Himself stands apart from organized religion. Religion is many things, and they all involve humans making life difficult for other humans by imposing man-made, empty ritual and excessive rules to infringe upon the free-will of…
THE BREATH OF GOD The Word of God was literally “breathed” into the writers of scripture by God the Holy Spirit. This breath is the same breath that God breathes into every human being at physical birth. His breath gives life to all creation, including His living Word – the Bible (The original Greek translated as living is literally alive)…
Someone once wisely said: “I left the rituals of religion for a personal relationship with Jesus Christ.” Authentic Christianity is not a religion – religion is ritual without reality. Christianity is a personal relationship with the only living God, through faith in Christ Jesus (John 14:6; Acts 4:12). Read Christ’s harsh words of condemnation regarding religion and religious people for…
To begin our lesson, we will address one important question: How is it that we are ‘born sinful?’ Well, we are born as a duplicate of Adam as he was, spiritually, after the fall. We share his original sin and his sinful nature by genetic transmission, thus we share his spiritual death. Adam’s sin becomes our sin, his sin nature…
Except the book of John, chapter 1 specifically, and the book of Hebrews chapters 1-3, nowhere in all of Scripture is the uniqueness of the Glory and Divinity of the person of Christ so compactly presented. Open your Study Bible to the first chapter of Hebrews. Notice the first word in Hebrews chapter one is “God.” The writer chose to…
“I Am that I Am” Jehovah Elohim (Lord God) emphatically declared His Deity and authority when he proclaimed “I am that I am” (Exodus 3:14). Then Messiah (Jesus the Christ, the Son of God), in the Gospel of John and in Revelation, declared the same essence of Deity. “I AM the Bread of Life” (John 6:35). “I AM the Light…
Five ministries of the Holy Spirit, which occur immediately at the point of salvation*: The Baptism of the Spirit places the believer into UNION with Christ, making each Church Age believer a member of the Body of Christ, the Church, the royal family of God (1 Corinthians 12:13; 1 Peter 2:9). The Indwelling of the Spirit transforms the believer’s body into…
The LORD demonstrates His power in the winds, the whirlwinds and the storms. At the LORD’S command the rivers rise and the rivers dry up. The lush green forests wilt, and the pastures wither. The mountains tremble, and the hills melt. The earth quakes, nations rise and fall. The earth turns, life endures. Thank you LORD for your “absolute veracity…
To begin our short study, we’ll cover a few basic points. There are two Laws of Thermodynamics: The First Law of Thermodynamics is that of energy conservation. This law states that although energy can change forms, it cannot be created nor destroyed and therefore the sum total remains constant. Thus no energy is now being created or destroyed anywhere in…
Okay, let’s begin another journey toward God, together: A CLOSER LOOK AT GOD’S LOVE The Bible tells us that God is Love, but that does not imply that He is sentimental. God does not bless or reward our human-good works or our sincerity in wanting to please Him (Isaiah 53:6; 64:6). As fallen humanity we do not and cannot…
GOOD, GREAT, CHIEF SHEPHERD The following footnote on John, chapter 10, verse 11 is from the Lindsell Study Bible, Concordance, Published by Tyndale, Page 164: “Christ is called the Good Shepherd in John 10:11, the Great Shepherd in Hebrews 13:20, and the Head or Chief Shepherd in 1 Peter 5:4. The Good Shepherd died for His sheep, the Great Shepherd…
WE LOVE BECAUSE GOD FIRST LOVED US (1 John 4:7-21) God in His Word declares “I AM, that I AM.” “God IS” (Exodus 3:14). The Bible declares that “God is Love” – this simple yet significant statement reveals that love is what God IS as well as what God does. No one can fully understand God, or God’s love. What is…
The modern world of secularism has done deep damage, deep treason to eternal Truths, and it is up to Christians to stand fast on Truth, to pray to the Father for guidance, to study God’s Word daily, and to spread the Gospel. We are to plant seeds of God’s Truths wherever the Holy Spirit leads us, in all details of…
In our Bible study entitled Grace Awakening, Defining Truth, we learned that God had appointed (ordained) all the occurrences of history (time) before He created anything. In theology (the study of God) His ordained history is called the doctrine of “Divine Decrees.” We also learned that God has a plan for each of us, specifically designed for our personal walk…
As that timeless hymn tells us, “Grace, grace, God’s grace! Greater than all the world to me.” There is perhaps no greater word brought over from the Greek language that can more adequately describe our undefinable God, than grace. Grace may be defined as: “All that God is free to do for man based on the Cross sacrifice of His…
This study was originally compiled by Lewis Sperry Chafer and consisted of “Thirty-Six Things God Provides for Every Believer at Salvation.” Lewis Sperry Chafer founded Dallas Theological Seminary. It has been revised to Forty Gifts by RBT Bible Ministries and is presented here on WOTM for the perfecting of the saints (all believers are saints); for the work of the…