The BIG Picture (Q&A)

No . This verse depicts the Kingdom gospel and not the Grace gospel. The gospel is absent in this verse and therefore one cannot use this verse as a basis to present the gospel to someone. Why not? This verse lacks the information that one needs to know regarding the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus Christ and what that purpose is for us. John 3:16 is essentially the Kingdom gospel and had to do with the  identity  of Jesus Christ, and Jews [ at the time of John's writing ] had to acknowledge Jesus as their Messiah, (see John 20:31, Luke 12:8, Matthew 16:16, John 11:27 ). The Grace gospel today is not about the identity of Christ, but rather with the cross work of Jesus; not who He is, but  what He has done . For examples of the grace gospel, see 1 Corinthians 15:1-4; Romans 4:25; 1 Thessalonians 4:14; Romans 14:9; 2 Corinthians 5:15.   (Note, these scriptures above reference the cross work of Jesus, ...

Read the shaded verses below slowly and carefully and then compare the first two verses to the last three. There is a HUGE difference in how Paul describes the believers at Corinth. 1 Cor 1:2 Unto the church of God which is at Corinth, to them that are sanctified in Christ Jesus, called saints, with all that in every place call upon the name of Jesus Christ our Lord, 1 Cor 1:30 But of Him you are in Christ Jesus, who became for us wisdom from God —and righteousness and sanctification and redemption — 1 Cor 3:3 ... for you are still carnal . For where there are envy, strife, and divisions among you, are you not carnal and behaving like mere men? 1 Cor 5:1 It is actually reported that there is fornication among you , and such sexual immorality as is not even named among the Gentiles—that a man has his father's wife! 1 Cor 5:2 And you are puffed up, and have not rather mourned,...

There are two things that contribute to making the gospel effective. Please review the below as a brief overview and understanding of the grace gospel, which Paul declares, Rom.1:16 For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ: for it is the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth; 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 imputed (freely given) His righteousness. In other words, because He freely took our sin upon Himself and died in our place, we are freely given His life which is pleasi...

A dispensation is not a period of time. It's a way of life.   In the scripture below, Paul clearly writes of the start of a new dispensation; how that the mystery (that he writes about) will cause a new way of life for those who come in under its new guidelines. Note that it's the guidelines that defines the dispensation. It has nothing to do with an age, or a period or a duration of time. Eph.3:1-7 For this reason I, Paul, the prisoner of Christ Jesus for you Gentiles— 2 if indeed you have heard of the dispensation of the grace of God which was given to me for you, 3 how that by revelation He made known to me the mystery [a new pattern of living] ..., 5 which in other ages was not made known to the sons of men, as it has now been revealed by the Spirit to His holy apostles and prophets: 6 that the Gentiles should be fellow heirs, of the same body, and partakers of His promise in Christ through the gospel, 7 of which I became a minister according to the gift of the grace ...

Paul taught of only ONE baptism. What baptism is that? A waterless baptism of the Holy Spirit that places you into the Body of Christ at the moment you are saved. This is unique to the Body of Christ who receive salvation through the grace gospel. For the 12-apostles in the book of Acts, it was always TWO baptisms. The 12-apostles could never separate baptism (water and Spirit) from their gospel. Consider the instructions and order of the Kingdom gospel,  Acts 2:38 Then Peter said unto them, Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost. Notice that after a Jew repented, they had to be baptized in water. Water baptism was a requirement in the Kingdom gospel as it was for the cleansing for priesthood (Exo.19:6), something that ALL Jews had to do,  Acts 8:14 Now when the apostles which were at Jerusalem heard that Samaria ha...

Information about our heavenly inheritance cannot be found in the Old Testament or in the Gospels. It is revealed only by revelation through the apostle Paul. Our inheritance is the part of our salvation that happens in the future, either when we die or are raptured up.  Eph.1:13-14 In whom ye also trusted, after that ye heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation: in whom also after that ye believed, ye were sealed with that holy Spirit of promise, 14 Which is the earnest [guarantee] of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession, unto the praise of his glory.  Col.3:23-24 And whatsoever ye do, do it heartily, as to the Lord, and not unto men; 24 Knowing that of the Lord ye shall receive the reward of the inheritance: for ye serve the Lord Christ.  Now this is important, don't confuse your inheritance as a child of God today in heaven with Israel's inheritance on earth when they enter into the Millennial Kingdom. They are not the same. We w...

There's a lot of people today that do a lot of good things, but these things are according to the Kingdom program which is NOT how God is working today and neither is it rewarding you today. For example, you might think that baptizing someone in water today is good and spiritual because it was done in Acts, but water baptism is meaningless in the grace dispensation. It's your faithfulness to the mysteries that will be accounted as a worthy walk and as good fruit [works] as you walk in the Spirit. Rom.2:16 In the day when God shall judge the secrets of men by Jesus Christ according to my gospel .  Rom 16:25 Now to him that is of power to stablish you according to my gospel , and the preaching of Jesus Christ, according to the revelation of the mystery , which was kept secret since the world began, Notice the above verses! It says, "according to my gospel, AND the preaching of Jesus Christ, according to the revelation of the mystery, ....

As a child I recited a simple bedtime prayer that included asking for daily forgiveness. In the innocence of child's prayer, this was beautiful, but as we are exposed to, and grow in the truths of God's Word, we would learn that there are two primary periods where forgiveness is dealt with differently. It is imperative to learn the difference and apply the right mindset and faith to our current relationship with God regarding forgiveness.  During the Law dispensation, forgiveness of God was conditional. One had to merit forgiveness from God by obeying specific instructions (works) to receive forgiveness from Him. At the time that the temple was built, around 1000 BC, God said the following to Israel in the book of Chronicles,  2 Chronicles 7:14, "If my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land." So we see t...