Posted in Bible, Bible Basics, Books of the Bible, Old Testament, tagged Bible, Bible Basics, Bible Study, Books of the Bible, Old Testament on June 29, 2010|
If you were brave enough to take the Bible Basics – Quiz 1 yesterday, here is the key:
1. Old Testament & New Testament
2. Law, History, Wisdom & Poetry, Major Prophets, & Minor Prophets
3. Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, & Deuteronomy
4. 66
5. 39
6. It has one coherent message of God’s plan for salvation.
7. Hebrew
8. 2/3
9. Numbers
10. Proverbs
Posted in Bible Basics, Bible Study, Books of the Bible, New Testament, Paul's Epistles, tagged Bible, Bible Basics, Bible Study, New Testament, Paul's Epistles on June 17, 2010|
In the last post, we began the discussion of Paul’s Epistles. There were too many to do all in one post, so here’s the rest of the group with a brief description of the highlights of each:
1 Thessalonians (Written during Paul’s second missionary journey to the church in Thessalonica. One of the main themes is an exhortation to holiness for believers in light of the LORD’s imminent return.)
2 Thessalonians (Also written during Paul’s second missionary journey and to the church in Thessalonica. Christ’s return is a theme as is encouragement of believers.)
1 Timothy (The first of the “pastoral” epistles, those letter written by Paul to individuals who were pastors of churches. This letter is written to Timothy during Paul’s first imprisonment. It is a guide to leadership of a church and it addresses the issues of false teachers, public prayer, the role of women, and the qualifications for elders and deacons.)
2 Timothy (The second of the “pastoral” epistles, this is also written to Timothy, but it is written during Paul’s second imprisonment, near the time of his death. Its purpose is to encourage Timothy in his ministry to be faithful even through adversity and hardships.)
Titus (This is the third of the “pastoral epistles”, and it was written to Titus while Paul was in prison in Rome. It gives the qualifications for elders and gives Titus instructions for dealing with different groups in the church.)
Philemon (This is a letter from Paul to Philemon, a believer, regarding his runaway slave, Onesimus. Paul asks Philemon to forgive Onesimus and receive him for Paul’s sake.)
Posted in Bible Basics, Bible Study, Books of the Bible, New Testament, Paul's Epistles, tagged Bible, Bible Basics, Bible Study, New Testament, Paul's Epistles on June 15, 2010|
The Bible, as discussed previously is divided into two main sections, the Old and New Testaments. The New Testament is divided into 5 sections: the Gospels, Early Church history, Paul’s Epistles, General Epistles and the Revelation of Jesus Christ.
Paul’s Epistles and a brief description of their content are as follows:
Romans (Written to the Roman Christians. The main topics discussed are the law and God’s plan for salvation through faith. It also contains many important exhortations for believers including chapter 8, verse 28.)
1 Corinthians (Written to the church in Corinth to address issues that were going on in the church that involved division in the body and immorality. An important discussion of love is found in chapter 13).
2 Corinthians (Written to the church in Corinth. In this book Paul defends his call as an apostle, and he addresses deceivers.)
Galatians (Written to the churches in Galatia. A major theme is grace and liberty in Christ and a rejection of the legalism that was affecting the churches in Galatia. A well-known list of the fruits of the spirit is found in 5:22-23)
Ephesians (Written to the church in Ephesus. Important discussion of what God had done for the believer in chapter 1 and where the believer was before being saved by faith in Christ in chapter 2. Chapter 6 is the well-known discussion of the armor of God and the importance of prayer.)
Philippians (Written to the Church in Philippi while Paul was in prison in Rome. One of Paul’s “prison” epistles. Focuses on Paul’s love for the Philippians. There are no corrections or rebukes in this book. He exhorts them to godly living.)
Colossians (Written to the Church in Colosse while Paul was imprisoned in Rome. Major emphasis is on the preeminence of Christ in all things. Paul was responding to false teachers that were deceiving believers.)
to be continued . . .
Posted in Bible, Bible Basics, Bible Study, Books of the Bible, tagged Bible, Bible Study, Books of the Bible on May 13, 2010|
The Bible is neatly (but not evenly) divided into to “Testaments”, the Old Testament and the New Testament. As you might know, a “testament” , means a covenant or set of promises from God to man. To simplify, the Bible is a 2-part set of promises from God to mankind. The first covenant or testament is the Old Testament. The second covenant or testament is the New Testament.
The two testaments are further divided into books, and the total number of books in the Bible is 66. The total number of authors is believed to be 40. The authorship of some books is not entirely clear from the historical and other evidence. The books in the Old Testament are further divided into 5 groupings:
The purpose and subject matter of each group of books is different from that of the other groups. Within a group, each book may be different either in its focus, audience and/or purpose. Together; however, the books comprise one coherent message. That is the beauty of it. Learning about any particular book of the Bible is great, but learning how that book then fits into the bigger message and points to the way of salvation can be even more exciting and can bring deeper understanding of God and a greater closeness to Him.
Posted in Bible, Forgiveness, God, tagged Bible, Forgive, God, What does Biblical forgiveness look like? Forgiveness on January 1, 2010|
God’s forgiveness of my sin (and your sin) is definitely a clear example of what biblical forgiveness looks like. God does not forgive my sins because He has to or needs to but because He wants to. God has provided a way (Jesus), so He can forgive my sins and redeem me from the curse (death) of them. His forgiveness of my sins is not something that I have earned or that I deserve, and so it will be with those whom I forgive. They will not have to do anything to earn it, they will likely not deserve it, but I must forgive them as God has forgiven me.
God forgives sin because it is part of His nature to be merciful. He forgives the sins of those who have repented of their sins, applied the adequate sacrifice (the blood of Jesus) to their sin and submitted to the Lordship of Jesus. I forgive because I am a bond servant of Christ, and His spirit dwells within me and compels me to be like Him, to show mercy as He shows mercy. And so I must forgive those who trespass against me, against my loved ones.
Rooted and Grounded 