The Blog Index
September 19, 2018 | 
Author - “Born Of Woman” vs. “Born Of God” November27,2013 Posted in: The Blog
- CCEL via Adobe November22,2013 Posted in: The Blog
- Church Growth March1,2008 Posted in: Church, Grace, Faith & Life, New Covenant, The Blog
- Church Muddle February25,2008 Posted in: Church, No Menu, The Blog
- Dispensation – Scofield from Bible Discovery by copy November21,2013 Posted in: The Blog
- Do you believe? January4,2014 Posted in: Christian Life, Living Faith, New Covenant, The Blog, Truth
- Fallen? January15,2014 Posted in: The Blog
- From Olive Tree Commentary November20,2013 Posted in: The Blog
- GFL Study Forum • View topic – Chuch Growth March10,2013 Posted in: Church, The Blog
- GFL Study Forum • View topic – Church Muddle March10,2013 Posted in: Church, The Blog
- GFL Study Forum • View topic – New Life Plan March10,2013 Posted in: Christian Living, The Blog
- GFL Study Forum • View topic – What is Growing in Grace? March10,2013 Posted in: Christian Living, The Blog
- GFL Study Forum • View topic – What is sanctification? March10,2013 Posted in: Christian Life, The Blog
- GFL Study Forum • View topic – What is the Gospel? March10,2013 Posted in: The Blog, Theology
- How do We Increase in Faith? March6,2008 Posted in: Grace, Faith & Life, New Covenant, Salvation, The Blog
- How Do We Increase in Faith? March10,2013 Posted in: New Covenant, Spiritual Maturity, The Blog
- It is about the life. June25,2012 Posted in: The Blog, Uncategorized
- Jeremiah 31:31-33 NASB December3,2013 Posted in: The Blog
- Jesus & New January10,2013 Posted in: New Covenant, The Blog
- Keil & Delitzsch Commentary November19,2013 Posted in: The Blog
- Law and Grace March2,2008 Posted in: Grace, Faith & Life, Law & Grace, New Covenant, The Blog
- Law and Grace March10,2013 Posted in: Practical Theology, The Blog, The Gospel
- Let Scripture Tell You The Plan January15,2010 Posted in: No Menu, Salvation, Saving Faith, The Blog
- Lord – Scofield from Bible Discovery November26,2013 Posted in: The Blog
- Lordship Salvation – What is Saving Faith? March10,2013 Posted in: Life Study Series, New Covenant, Salvation, The Blog
- Love February27,2011 Posted in: Christianity, Living Faith, The Blog
- Many Christians are taught and December1,2013 Posted in: The Blog
- Many Christians are taught and motivated to have a personal relationship with their local church rather than with Jesus. November20,2013 Posted in: The Blog
- My Note from Bible Gateway November20,2013 Posted in: The Blog
- New Covenant explained February14,2014 Posted in: New Covenant, Sound Bytes, The Blog
- New Perspectives on Christiian Life January28,2016 Posted in: New Covenant, The Blog
- New-Life Plan March3,2008 Posted in: Christian Life, Grace, Faith & Life, New Covenant, Salvation, The Blog, The Gospel
- Our Conscience February26,2008 Posted in: Attitude, Christian Life, Conscience, Emotions, No Menu, The Blog
- Posted from Tecarta, Android bible app January15,2014 Posted in: The Blog
- Rare Jewel November18,2013 Posted in: The Blog
- Sanctification March4,2008 Posted in: Grace, Faith & Life, New Covenant, Spiritual Maturity, The Blog
- Spiritual Truth February2,2014 Posted in: Sound Bytes, The Blog, Truth
- Stages of Spiritual Maturity February24,2008 Posted in: No Menu, Spiritual Maturity, The Blog
- Tell me how August6,2008 Posted in: Church, No Menu, Practical Theology, The Blog
- Text February1,2014 Posted in: The Blog
- The Gospel March8,2008 Posted in: Grace, Faith & Life, New Covenant, Salvation, The Blog, The Gospel
- The Human Conscience March10,2013 Posted in: Spiritual Maturity, The Blog
- The Lexham Bible Dictionary November17,2013 Posted in: The Blog
- The Pronunciation of the name יהוה (YHWH) – YouTube February23,2014 Posted in: Hebrew, The Blog
- This is promise or foretelling of the… December6,2013 Posted in: The Blog
- To Law or Not To Law February20,2014 Posted in: Nonseries, The Blog
- Truth Is “That which is reality whether we believe it or not.” February22,2008 Posted in: No Menu, The Blog, Truth
- What Does “In God” Mean To Me? January28,2010 Posted in: Living Faith, New Covenant, Nonseries, The Blog
- What is Growing in Grace? March5,2008 Posted in: Christian Life, Grace, Faith & Life, New Covenant, Salvation, The Blog
- What is Saving Faith? March7,2008 Posted in: Grace, Faith & Life, Life Study Series, New Covenant, Salvation, Saving Faith, The Blog
- Why do Christians have so many attitudes? February27,2008 Posted in: Attitude, No Menu, The Blog
- Why Me? January27,2013 Posted in: The Blog
- Wrong Prayer for the Week February23,2014 Posted in: Spiritual Immaturity, The Blog
Posted in 
Opening Thoughts – Google Docs
Source: Opening Thoughts – Google Docs
Church and the New Covenant believer:
Churches are community, serving, and motivational. Salvation is personal and spiritual. Most Christian theology and church programs tend to tie Christian living to the church.
Some of the early “big” churches did not turn out very well. They had different problems which I think, for five of them, was because they had lost this “personal” identity with the Holy Spirit and bestowed their efforts on the church.
Seven churches in Revelation 2:1-29
Ephesus – the church that had forsaken its first love (2:4).
Smyrna – the church that would suffer persecution (2:10).
Pergamum – the church that needed to repent (2:16).
Thyatira – the church that had a false prophetess (2:20).
Sardis – the church that had fallen asleep (3:2).
Philadelphia – the church that had endured patiently (3:10).
Laodicea – the church that was lukewarm and insipid (to God) (3:16).
New Perspectives on Christiian Life
1. The New Covenant is a new way of living with God based on Jeremiah 31:33 NIV
“This is the covenant I will make with the people of Israel after that time,” declares the Lord. “I will put my law in their minds and write it on their hearts. I will be their God, and they will be my people”. (Christians are grafted into Israel.)
Philippians 3:9 NIV
and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ—the righteousness that comes from God on the basis of faith.
2 Corinthians 3:6 NIV
He has made us competent as ministers of a new covenant—not of the letter but of the Spirit; for the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life.
2. The New Covenant law is love,
Mark 12:28-31 NIV
One of the teachers of the law came and heard them debating. Noticing that Jesus had given them a good answer, he asked him, “Of all the commandments, which is the most important?” [29] “The most important one,” answered Jesus, “is this: ‘Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. [30] Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.’ [31] The second is this: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no commandment greater than these.”
Romans 13:9 NIV
The commandments, “You shall not commit adultery,” “You shall not murder,” “You shall not steal,” “You shall not covet,” and whatever other command there may be, are summed up in this one command: “Love your neighbor as yourself.”
Galatians 6:2 NIV
Carry each other’s burdens, and in this way you will fulfill the law of Christ.
3. The NC is not about working to clean up our flesh and being righteous this is legalism. NC is about what we do in love.
4. We can’t learn how to love by reading scripture. We can learn about love, but not how to love, that should be in our heart becasue of number one above.
We are Holy because God’s Spirit is in us. Holiness is the fruit of truth. We no longer live according to commandments. We live according to the love which God will put into our heart. We cannot love as a duty.
Christianity is not about making me a better person by obedience to laws, it is about helping somrone else have a better life because God and you love them.
This is what is written on our heart and should be taught as the result of our belief in God which brought the Holy Spirit into our heart and became our new way of living with God. We cannot read Scripture and learn to love.
Romans 8:2 NIV
because through Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit who gives life has set you free from the law of sin and death.
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Title: The Faith of Jesus By Jim Richards
Document: null (p.3)
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The message of the cross is the message of the New Covenant. Yet when we preach the cross we very seldom talk about what actually happened on the cross, in the grave, through the resurrection, and when He was seated at the right hand of God to receive an inheritance. It’s amazing to me that the most central part of the gospel is virtually never preached in Christian churches around the world. There may be some vague reference to Jesus dying on the cross, and some vague reference to Jesus being raised from the dead, but none of that means anything if we don’t know and believe what Jesus did by His faith through the entire process.
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Numbers 6:27
They shall put my name upon the children of Israel. The “name of God is uniformly treated in Scripture as something very different from a mere arrangement of letters or an arbitrary vocal sound. All nations have bad names for the Supreme Being, but there was nothing sacred about them, except from association. The name of God was not of man, nor from man, but of his own direct revelation (Exodus 6:3), and was therefore of an unspeakable sanctity (Exodus 20:7; Exodus 33:19). Like the “word” of God, it cannot be dissociated from God himself. It is in some sense an extension outwards, into the sphere of the created and sensible, of the ineffable virtues of the Godhead itself. It stands in a real, though un-assignable, relation to infinite goodness and power, and therefore it comes fraught with untold blessing (or perchance cursing) to those on whom it lights. Hence, to put the name of God – the covenant name – upon the people had a real meaning. No one could do it except by his express direction; and when it was so done there was an invisible reality answering to the audible form; with the name pronounced in blessing came the blessing itself, came the special providence and presence of God, to abide upon such at least as were worthy of it. It is a fact, the significance of which cannot be denied, that the name which was commanded to be put upon the people was lost, and irrecoverably lost, by the later Jews. Out of an exaggerated dread of possible profanation, they first disobeyed the command by substituting Adonai for that name outside the sanctuary; and finally, after the death of Simeon the Just, the priests ceased to pronounce that name at all, and therefore lost the tradition by which the pronunciation was fixed. Our method of spelling and pronouncing the name as Jehovah is merely conventional, and almost certainly incorrect. It would seem to be the more devout opinion that the name itself, as revealed by God and uttered by many generations of priests, was forfeited (like Paradise), was withdrawn, and ought not to be inquired after. And I will bless them. Here is the precise truth of all effectual benediction: they shall put my name;… I will bless. The outward form was ministered by the priests, the inward reality was of God and from God alone. It is observable that the form of blessing is expressed in the singular; either
(1) because all Israel was regarded as one, even as the first-born son of God (Exodus 4:22, 23; Hosea 11:1), or
(2) because all real blessing must in truth be individual – a nation can only be blessed in its several members.
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The Lexham Bible Dictionary is unavailable, but you can change that! The LBD offers the facts on thousands of topics. It holds over 2,700 articles and more than 1.5 million words from some of the world’s top Christian scholars, and new articles are constantly being written. . Bliss, Frederick J. /A Mound of Many Cities, or, Tell el Hesy Excavated.” London: Palestine Exploration Fund, 1894. Budge, E. A. Wallis. By Nile and Tigris: A Narrative of Journeys in Egypt and Mesopotamia on Behalf of the British Museum between the Years 1886 and 1913. Vol. 1. London: John Murray, 1920. ————. A History of Egypt from the End of the Neolithic Period to the Death of Cleopatra VII. BC 30, Vol. IV.: Egypt and Her Asiatic Empire. Books on Egypt and Chaldaea. New York: Henry…
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Title: “There is perhaps no…
Document: Pagan Christianity? (p.31)
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“There is perhaps nothing worse than reaching the top of the ladder and discovering that you’re on the wrong wall.”
—Joseph Campbell, twentieth-century American writer
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The meaning of “Grace” (χαρις) in the Bible
There is no word in Hebrew that can represent all the meanings of charis, and in the Septuagint charis itself is used, practically, only as a translation of the Hebrew chen (חֵן), “favor,” this restriction of meaning being due to the desire to represent the same Hebrew word by the same Greek word as far as possible. And chen, in turn, is used chiefly only in the phrase “find favor” (Genesis 6:8, etc.), whether the reference is to God or men, and without theological importance. Much nearer Paul’s use of charis is ratson (רָצוֹן), “acceptance,” in such passages as Isaiah 60:10, “In my favor have I had mercy on thee”; Psalms 44:3, “not … by their own sword … but … because thou wast favorable unto them.” Perhaps still closer parallels can be detected in the use of chesed (חֶסֶד), “kindness,” “mercy,” as in Exodus 20:6, etc. But, of course, a limitation of the sources for the doctrine to passages containing only certain words would be altogether unjust. The main lines seem to be these: (1) Technically, salvation by grace in the New Testament is opposed to an Old Testament doctrine of salvation by works (Romans 4:4; 11:6), or, what is the same thing, by law (Romans 6:14; John 1:17); i.e. men and God are thought of as parties to a contract, to be fulfilled by each independently. Most of the legislation seems to presuppose some idea of man as a quantity quite outside of God, while Deuteronomy 30:11-14 states explicitly that the law is not too hard nor too far off for man. (2) Yet even this legalism is not without important modifications. The keeping of the law is man’s work, but that man has the law to keep is something for which God only is to be thanked. Psalms 119 is the essence of legalism, but the writer feels overwhelmed throughout by the greatness of the mercy that disclosed such statutes to men. After all, the initial (and vital!) act is God’s not man’s. This is stated most sharply in Ezekiel 23:1-4—Oholibah and her sister became God’s, not because of any virtue in them, but in spite of most revolting conduct. Compare Deuteronomy 7:7, etc. (3) But even in the most legalistic passages, an absolute literal keeping of the law is never (not even in such a passage as Numbers 15:30-31) made a condition of salvation. The thought of transgression is at all times tempered with the thought of God’s pardon. The whole sacrificial system, in so far as it is expiatory, rests on God’s gracious acceptance of something in place of legal obedience, while the passages that offer God’s mercy without demanding even a sacrifice (Isaiah 1:18; Micah 7:18-20, etc.) are countless. Indeed, in Ezekiel 16; 20; 23, mercy is promised to a nation that is spoken of as hardly even desiring it, a most extreme instance. (4) But a mere negative granting of pardon is a most deficient definition of the Old Testament idea of God’s mercy, which delights in conferring positive benefits. The gift to Abraham of the land of Canaan, liberation from Egypt, food in the wilderness, salvation from enemies, deliverance from exile—all of Israel’s history can be felt to be the record of what God did for His people through no duty or compulsion, grateful thanksgiving for such unmerited blessings filling, for instance, much of the Psalter. The hearts of men are in God’s keeping, to receive from Him the impulse toward what is right (1 Chronicles 29:18, etc.). And the promise is made that the God who has manifested Himself as a forgiving Father will in due time take hold of His children to work in them actual righteousness (Isaiah 1:26; 4:3-4; 32:1-8; 33:24; Jeremiah 31:33-34; Ezekiel 36:25-26; Zechariah 8; Daniel 9:24; Psalms 51:10-12). With this promise—for the Old Testament always a matter of the future—the Old Testament teaching passes into that of the New Testament.
Wrong Prayer for the Week
This prayer, which was posted on a website and shared on Facebook, makes my point, many who consider themselves as born-again, still think of God as “out there” or needing to be sent to us. Understanding what born-again means in a New Covenant way, should change the attitude of the Heart to know that God the Holy Spirit lives in us. Should this understanding not change the way we pray and think?
“O Lord,
You have taught us that without love whatever we do is worth nothing:
Send your Holy Spirit and pour into our hearts your greatest gift, which is love, the true bond of peace and of all virtue, without which whoever lives is accounted dead before you.
Grant this for the sake of your only Son Jesus Christ, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever.
Amen.”
To Law or Not To Law
The Christian faith and practice of every believer is based on certain Scriptures and passages having dominance or more importance in their beliefs and in the application of the Christian message to their life. (Although some believer’s faith and practice is not really based on their personal study of scripture, but on a denominational teaching to which they have subjected themselves.)
Many Christians can express what they believe, but are not necessarily able to explain why they believe it. It may have simply been a catchy phrase in a sermon which they adopted into their belief system. Christian cliches may be relevant to mature Christians, but they may be offensive to non Christians and they should not be the basis for teaching new Christians.
I think 2 Tim 3:16 “All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness”, may be the most misunderstood and therefore misapplied and taught Christian Scripture.
The typical teaching/application of this passage is that all Scripture is intended to be applied to the Christian life in the same way that it was intended for the Jewish people and/or Gentiles to whom it was first given. See: The Jew and the Gentile Background of the Jew in the Old Testament | Bible.org. For instance, even though it is in the New Testament, Jesus, the Jew was preaching the Sermon on the Mount to his people. There were no New Covenant believers at that time to which it was directed.
Of course, If Christians know anything they know that they are not under the Law. The distinction between the Law and Grace is a prevalent sermon in all of Christendom. So teachers will say it is not a law for Christians, but it is an “example for us to live by” and since we now have the power of the Holy Spirit we can do it. Thus many denominations are taught a form of “legalism” that says we should live by the law as an example.
The trouble is, I don’t see any people understanding how to live the Law by the power of the Holy Spirit. Once you look at the Sermon on the Mount and many other passages as being an example to live by, you have just made the whole Bible a rule book for Christians. That is an attitude which is not good for the New Covenant believer, who is trying to learn how to live by the Spirit and love. John 13:34,35 We need to understand that the Law (obedience, duty, expectations) always speaks to the Flesh.
So we don’t need to think that all scripture is intended as a rule book for Christians. Read the Scriptures given to the Jews and about the Jews as God preparing the way for His New Covenant. This will give a new understanding of scripture to you. Scripture is all relevant and instructive to understand God’s plan of redemption, but we should not try to do what God was telling the Jews to do. Because God says, in His plan, things are going to change.
Ezekiel 36:26 “And I will give you a new heart, and a new spirit I will put within you. And I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh.”
In the New Covenant, the Christian learns to live by love of God and love of others, not by obedience.
Romans 13:8
“Owe no one anything, except to love each other, for the one who loves another has fulfilled the law. 9 For the commandments, “You shall not commit adultery, You shall not murder, You shall not steal, You shall not covet,” and any other commandment, are summed up in this word: “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” 10 Love does no wrong to a neighbor; therefore love is the fulfilling of the law.”
Romans 8:4-6
4 so that the requirement of the Law might be fulfilled in us, who do not walk according to the flesh but according to the Spirit. 5 For those who are according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who are according to the Spirit, the things of the Spirit. 6 For the mind set on the flesh is death, but the mind set on the Spirit is life and peace,
2 Corinthians 3:3-6
3 being manifested that you are a letter of Christ, cared for by us, written not with ink but with the Spirit of the living God, not on tablets of stone but on tablets of human hearts. 4 Such confidence we have through Christ toward God. 5 Not that we are adequate in ourselves to consider anything as coming from ourselves, but our adequacy is from God, 6 who also made us adequate as servants of a new covenant, not of the letter but of the Spirit; for the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life.
What we learn should not be what we are taught. “We learn something when we figure it out for our-self”. (Richard Feynman)
Copyright © 2014 Daniel R. Boliek www.gflstudy.org
Conation – Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Conation is a term that stems from the Latin conatus, meaning any natural tendency, impulse, striving, or directed effort.[1] It is one of three parts of the mind, along with the affective and cognitive. In short, the cognitive part of the brain measures intelligence, the affective deals with emotions and the conative drives how one acts on those thoughts and feelings.
via Conation – Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
This seems to be synonymous with mind, emotion and will.
co·na·tion (kō-nā′shən)
n. Psychology
The aspect of mental processes or behavior directed toward action or change and including impulse, desire, volition, and striving.
via conative – definition of conative by the Free Online Dictionary, Thesaurus and Encyclopedia..
Three Myths about the Book of Revelation
I begin this series on David’s book with three myths about Revelation:But first a question: What “myths” do you think need to be announced about reading the Book of Revelation?#1: Revelation is about us.The first principle for Bible reading is that it was first for them, the original audience. Begin there. John wrote this book to seven real churches in the 1st Century.#2: What Revelation reveals is our future.It opens with the word “prophecies” Rev 1:3. Prophecy as prediction leads to three approaches: historicist, futurist, and preterist all 1st Century stuff. If prophecies are not predictions so much as word-of-God to those churches, this whole approach is shelved. They are oracles to those seven churches. They were designed to evoke response to God, not reveal secrets about the future.#3: Revelation is written in mysterious code.But John says the book is a “revelation” or an “unveiling” or an “apocalypse,” which means now the truth can be known not, now I’ll muddle things up with clever symbols. David’s right; this book was meant to be understood and it was — by author and audience. The book lifts the veil on what’s happening then … that is, it opens up the curtain for all to see what’s really going on on Rome’s stage.
Dr. Peter Kreeft
Peter Kreeft, Ph.D., is a professor of philosophy at Boston College and at the King’s College (Empire State Building), in New York City. He is a regular contributor to several Christian publications, is in wide demand as a speaker at conferences, and is the author of over 67 books including:
Peter Kreeft – Squares of Three Sides
And if marriage is as natural as geometry, then those who voted for a “Defense of Squares” act would not necessarily be motivated by a personal fear or hate of triangles, but by a love of geometry.
D.A. Carson (Author of Exegetical Fallacies)
“People do not drift toward Holiness. Apart from grace-driven effort, people do not gravitate toward godliness, prayer, obedience to Scripture, faith, and delight in the Lord. We drift toward compromise and call it tolerance; we drift toward disobedience and call it freedom; we drift toward superstition and call it faith. We cherish the indiscipline of lost self-control and call it relaxation; we slouch toward prayerlessness and delude ourselves into thinking we have escaped legalism; we slide toward godlessness and convince ourselves we have been liberated.”
― D.A. Carson
New Covenant explained
It is not enough to understand the New Covenant as a distinction between Law and Grace. Rom 6:14
The real distinction is between Law and Life.
God’s Grace has always been active, even in the Old Testament. Grace is simply the activity of God’s love. God is always active in His creation, especially in the Life given by the New Covenant.
The New Covenant Life is an altogether new way of living with God. Gal 2:20,21; 3:21 Rom 7:6
It is personal and Spiritual. 1 Cor 2:11-13; Tit 2:11-13; John 6:63; Rom 8:16
The New Covenant is actually unique because of Life not Grace. Heb 9:15 2 Cor 3:6 Rom 5:9-11
New life is by the Grace of God. Tit 3:7 Eph 2: 5 8
Ephesians 2:5 – Amplified Bible ClassicEven when we were dead (slain) by [our own] shortcomings and trespasses, He made us alive together in fellowship and in union with Christ; [He gave us the very life of Christ Himself, the same new life with which He quickened Him, for] it is by grace (His favor and mercy which you did not deserve) that you are saved ( delivered from judgment and made partakers of Christ’s salvation).
Romans 8:2 – Amplified Bible ClassicFor the law of the Spirit of life [which is] in Christ Jesus [the law of our new being] has freed me from the law of sin and of death.
Originally posted June 25, 2012
Copyright © 2012 Daniel R. Boliek www.gflstudy.org
Spiritual Truth
Biblical Truth, to believers, is what God reveals which sets us free from:
– our fears (emotions) Romans 8:1
– our old nature (pride) John 8:31-33 1 John 2:16-17
– and religious bondage. Matthew 23:26 Gal 3:23 5:18
Truth is revealed to us, by God’s Spirit to our spirit. 1 Corinthians 2:12-13
To receive Spiritual truth, we must be born again by believing Jesus Christ is who He says He is. John 3:6-8
We must have a teachable spirit. The attitude of our Heart should be that everything good comes from the teaching of God. 1 John 2:20 27; 2 Cor 4:6-12
To have a teachable spirit, we must be abiding in the Spirit of Christ and not in what the Bible calls the desires of our Flesh. Ephesians 4:17-24
Truth is understanding the fullness of the Grace of God in such a way that we want to pass it on to others. Rom 5:8-10 Eph 1:19-23 ; John 13:35 Rom 12:10
Learning this relationship allows us to live by Grace and the New Covenant, rather than the laws and motivations of religion. Gal 2:20 2 Cor 3:4 3:5-6 John 6:63 Rom 5:5 7:6 1 John 4:16
If we do not learn how God “speaks” to us and teaches us to walk in the Spirit which is an attitude of our Heart, we will be doing works by walking in the flesh, which is usually motivated by other people.
Copyright © 2014 Daniel R. Boliek www.gflstudy.org
Text
Obadiah 1:1 NIV
The vision of Obadiah. This is what the Sovereign Lord says about Edom—We have heard a message from the Lord: An envoy was sent to the nations to say, “Rise, let us go against her for battle”—
Palestine source and history.
Obadiah 1:6 NIV
But how Esau will be ransacked, his hidden treasures pillaged!
Why Do It?
I have always liked to read and study topically, mostly nonfiction, about theology, apologetics, Christian life, church issues, church history, counseling, science and cultural issues.
When I read, I think and therefore, I am using this venue to record my thoughts.
In his book, The True Believer, Eric Hoffer quotes Montaigne, “All I say is by way of discourse, and nothing by way of advice. I should not speak so boldly if it were my due to be believed.”. That would also apply to what I have written here.
I consider myself a person of simple and pragmatic faith as opposed to any traditional religious superstitions, cliche’s or systematic theology. I like to think that I am like the Bereans when I hear or read something I compare it to how it seems to work in my life and I search the scripture to see if I think it is true. Not just to question authority, but to always verify authority. I hope young people will learn to always look for or ask for the “basis” for what people say and why they say what they say.
I like to share and discuss my understanding of the difference between law and grace. In my opinion most churches are quite legalistic and preach, teach and motivate the “flesh“; rather than teach how to have a proper spiritual connection with Christ. Many churches focus on the believer “being a sinner saved by grace” and seem to focus on a current sin nature, rather than on the joy of “being a child of God” and letting that new nature work out their faith and belief. When I hear preaching, I always consider whether it is “good news”, the gospel, which speaks to my spirit or “bad news”, the law, which speaks to my flesh. As a believer, why would I want to hear the “bad news” sermons, isn’t that walking in the flesh? I know, it takes a certain amount of study and spiritual musing to begin to understand the difference between our spirit and our flesh. This is why knowing the attitude of your “heart“ is so important.
As most will be able to discern, I have not been to a seminary or a bible school. I have a small library of hard-cover books on many biblical topics. My wife and I frequently discuss our faith from a New Covenant perspective. We try to be ready to explain our New Covenant hope to anyone who asks.
I pray for a church and believer paradigm shift away from the Gospel based on fear, guilt, shame and legalism, to one based on the New Covenant life lived with Jesus Christ where believers live their life with a desire in their heart to love life as a “child” of God without condemnation and no legal expectation. That should be the “faith” which brought them to Christ in the first place, not one based on fear of going to Hell. Gal 5:6 22
I believe the Apostle Paul may have been the first Apostle to really understand the Gospel of the New Covenant. (Read that again.) That may be the most important theology for believers to understand when they read, study and hear sermons. The “so-called” church fathers developed the Roman Catholic Church doctrines and rules for the church over many centuries. One man, Martin Luther, after fifteen centuries, taught a new way to look at the gospel which started a whole new orthodoxy outside of the Catholic Church. Although scripture explaining the New Covenant has always been in the Bible. It has not been a primary emphasis of the seminaries. So, it is not without precedent for a new interpretation or way of understanding scripture to have a profound effect on interpretation of Scripture. The “Gospel” of the New Covenant is that it is personal and it is Spiritual life in us. 1John 2:27 Heb 9:15
Another way Luther critiqued church doctrine was based on legalism. In the first century, legalism was a big dialogue between the Judaizers who wanted to keep much of the Jewish law and Paul who was explaining the New Covenant in his writings about “freedom from the Law”, life and grace. (There are several passages about this in scripture.) Luther also wanted to keep the book of James out of the Bible because of his reference to works. Now we come to the second most important understanding of scripture for believers, preachers and teachers, That is, The New Testament and the New Covenant are not the same thing. The four Gospels in the New Testament are about Christ’s ministry to the Jews. Where He is explaining to the Jews that the Law did not change the heart, but He was also teaching, by way of forthtelling, His Apostles about the coming “spiritual life based on love” in the New Covenant. (See New Covenant Life)
I study Scripture to maintain a personal statement of faith and practice which is defined by God’s written Word, by my life in Christ and by the promise of the Holy Spirit. This site is that statement.
Acts 17:10-11 10 ¶ And the brethren immediately sent away Paul and Silas by night unto Berea: who coming thither went into the synagogue of the Jews. 11 These were more noble than those in Thessalonica, in that they received the word with all readiness of mind, and searched the scriptures daily, whether those things were so.
1 John 4:1 [ On Denying the Incarnation ] Dear friends, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, because many false prophets have gone out into the world. 2 Peter 3:13-18 ESV But according to his promise we are waiting for new heavens and a new earth in which righteousness dwells. [14] Therefore, beloved, since you are waiting for these, be diligent to be found by him without spot or blemish, and at peace. [15] And count the patience of our Lord as salvation, just as our beloved brother Paul also wrote to you according to the wisdom given him, [16] as he does in all his letters when he speaks in them of these matters. There are some things in them that are hard to understand, which the ignorant and unstable twist to their own destruction, as they do the other Scriptures. [17] You therefore, beloved, knowing this beforehand, take care that you are not carried away with the error of lawless people and lose your own stability. [18] But grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. To him be the glory both now and to the day of eternity. Amen.
Galatians 5:1 ESV For freedom Christ has set us free; stand firm therefore, and do not submit again to a yoke of slavery.
Philippians 2:12-13 ESV
Therefore, my beloved, as you have always obeyed, so now, not only as in my presence but much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling, [13] for it is God who works in you, both to will and to work for his good pleasure.
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