The BIG Picture (Q&A)

Paul mentions a thorn in the flesh in the verse below, 2 Cor.12:7 And lest I should be exalted above measure through the abundance of the revelations, there was given to me a thorn in the flesh, the messenger of Satan to buffet me, lest I should be exalted above measure. The thorn was given to Paul to keep him humble, to prevent him from becoming too exalted in the flesh and in the calling that the Lord had given him. In this context, what was the thorn that kept Paul humbled? Who were the messengers of Satan that buffeted him and kept his flesh from being exalted through the revelations he received?  The thorn in Paul's flesh was not (as many believe) his poor eyesight as mentioned in Gal.4:15, but rather, the thorn were the Jewish messengers of Satan, who were constantly buffeting him. These messengers were the religious Jews who incessantly undermined his work in the grace gospel. These men spread lies and deceit causing new believers in Pau...

The fast, and straight up answer to this question is that  Jesus and Paul never disagreed!  All that Paul wrote and taught in his epistles is in perfect agreement to the will and purpose of God for the grace program. Paul writes the following, 1 Cor.3:5  Who then is Paul, and who is Apollos, but ministers by whom ye believed,  even as the Lord gave to every man?  6 I have planted, Apollos watered; but God gave the increase. 7 So then neither is he that planteth any thing, neither he that watereth;  but God that giveth the increase.  … 10 According to the grace of God which is given unto me, as a wise masterbuilder, I have laid the foundation, and another buildeth thereon. But let every man take heed how he buildeth thereupon. 11  For other foundation can no man lay than that is laid, which is Jesus Christ. Paul’s writings were inspired by the Holy Spirit. The foundation that Paul laid was Jesus Christ, so there can be no disagreements in the ...

WOW! What a question! It deserves a significant answer! In Gen.12, God's covenant promise to Abraham (Israel) was that in (or through) Israel all the nations of earth would be blessed. Through Israel, salvation would come to the world (Acts 1:8, Zachariah 8:23). However, about 5 years after Jesus ascended into heaven, the Jews stoned Stephan, and this triggered the downfall of the Jewish nation. Paul writes about the fall (or blinding) of the Jews in Romans 9-11. So, does this not cause a dilemma? How would the Gentiles be blessed if the source of blessing (Israel) has fallen? *The answer is: Paul! God keeps His word and saves Paul, a Jew (a descendant of Abraham), and equips him with a new gospel and a mystery message and sends him to the Gentiles. Acts 9:15 But the Lord said to him (Ananias), Go! For this one is a chosen vessel to Me, to bear My name before Gentiles and kings and the sons of Israel. (See also Galatians 1:1) Transliteration of ‘chosen’ : eklogḗ; Definition (Stron...

QUESTION: My grandson told me, "Go ye therefore and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost" Is that true? ANSWER: The above refers to the 'great' commission that Jesus gave to his disciples before His ascension. Please note that this is a commission that will be fulfilled by Jews during the Millennial Kingdom that Jesus establishes at His second advent. During this time the Jews will be preeminent in the kingdom; they will be the royal priesthood and holy nation as promised in Exodus 19:6. It is then that they will have received the new covenant blessings  which includes the indwelling Spirit of God, and they will be able to take the word of the Lord out to the nations. So, this commission, being for the Jews, is not for us today in the grace dispensation. We have a separate commission that was given to us by the risen Christ, who inspired Paul to write, 2 Cor.5:18 ...

Someone's comment given from this post   The scriptures do not say accept the Lord Jesus as your Savior and ye shall be saved but it does say in Acts 2:38,39 and other places in Acts to repent and be baptized in the name of Jesus for the remission of sins and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost. Notice you have to first repent. The requirements for salvation you refer to in Acts 2 are the requirements of the Kingdom gospel which is relevant for the Jews during that dispensation. Today, in the grace dispensation, the requirement for salvation is to hear and chose to believe in the grace gospel of the cross work of Jesus Christ. In the grace gospel, salvation is not tied up in confessing Jesus Christ as the Messiah and Son of God. It is also not in the requirement of water baptism which is an ordinance necessary in the Jewish program. It is believing that the death of Jesus Christ is for the forgiveness of sins and that His resurrection is...

Pentecost (in Acts 2) was a precursor to the fulfillment of the New Covenant which will happen at Jesus second advent to fulfil the verses below, Joel 2:28 And it shall come to pass afterward, that I will pour out my spirit upon all flesh; and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, your old men shall dream dreams, your young men shall see visions: 29 And also upon the servants and upon the handmaids in those days will I pour out my spirit. Acts 2:15 For these are not drunken, as ye suppose, seeing it is but the third hour of the day. 16 But this is that which was spoken by the prophet Joel; 17 And it shall come to pass in the last days, saith God, I will pour out of my Spirit upon all flesh: and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, and your young men shall see visions, and your old men shall dream dreams: 18 And on my servants and on my handmaidens I will pour out in those days of my Spirit; and they shall prophesy: What is the New Covenant for Israel? The pouring out o...

Asking for forgiveness... There is nothing wrong in asking for forgiveness if you know you have fallen into sin or had a moment of weakness. It is completely natural to want to apologize for your wrongdoings, but, realize that this does NOT ever affect your positional stance with God. Through a faith response to the grace gospel of Jesus Christ, and His cross work, you are once and forever cleansed from sin. As grace believers, our sins have been nailed to the cross of Christ, and we have, by the grace of God, received in its place, the imputed righteousness of Christ. Nothing can change our position in Christ and before the Father, so asking forgiveness, or not asking forgiveness, does not change or affect our standing before God. The grace believer's salvation is forever secure and they are "sealed with the Spirit." (Rom. 5:1-2, 8:29-39, 6-8; Eph. 1:13-14, 4:30; Phili. 1:6; 2Tim. 1:12). "In whom ye also trusted, after that ye heard the word of truth, the gospel of ...

In order to answer if Jesus Himself was infallible in His earthly ministry, we simply have to look at what the Word says of itself. Why? Well, the Word repeatedly speaks of its own inspiration and authority, and if the Word itself is infallible, then we can prove that Jesus, who is the Word, is infallible too.  In John chapter 1 the Word says, John 1:1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. ... 14  And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth. So, this confirms that Jesus is the Word. Now, what does the Word say of itself? The Lord Jesus said in Matthew 5:17-18, “Not a letter or a part of a letter will pass away until all of it is fulfilled.” He said in John 10:35, “The Scriptures cannot be broken.” He said in John 17:17 in His high-priestly prayer to His Father, “Your Word is truth.” And then you move to the apostle P...

The following statement is a reply written by someone who was commenting on a post in which I described the framework of scripture; the dividing of the redemption plan of God into the dispensations. This comment argues that Gentiles are Europeans and do not constitute all people who are not Jews. In the rest of the post, I provide my understanding of who Gentiles are based on a rightly divided view of scripture. Comment made: Gentiles are not all nations outside of Israel. Gentiles are the sons of Japheth: Genesis 10:1–5. Trace Japheth's sons as they overspread the earth and you will find that they are merely Europeans, or what the world knows as white people. Remember Ham was also a son of Noah, but not Gentiles. Shem is the lineage which the nation of Israel comes through.  In Romans 11, Paul, being the apostle of the Gentiles, was speaking to Rome, who are Gentiles warning them not to try to take the church from Israel. Rome, even unto this day says that they are the mother ...

The content below discusses what happens AFTER salvation. One must first experience salvation before the rest of this post becomes applicable. In order to understand salvation and what it entails, please read the following,  About Salvation . Now, back to the question: What really happens when you accepted Jesus Christ? What happens AFTER the salvation experience? There are a few things that happen IMMEDIATELY after salvation. I cannot confirm any specific order to these happenings, but I'll arrange them in an order I perceive as logical. At salvation, one is instantaneously sealed into the family of God The word  sealed  in the New Testament comes from a Greek word that means  "to stamp with a private mark"  in the interest of keeping something secret or protecting or preserving the sealed object. Being sealed is a permanent mark of verification of ownership. Ephesians below says, " When you believed , you were marked in Him with a seal, the promised Hol...

Requested Answer: Acts 20:17, 25 (KJV) And from Miletus he sent to Ephesus, and called the elders of the church. And now, behold, I know that ye all, among whom I have gone preaching the kingdom of God, shall see my face no more.  Does this mean that Paul was indeed preaching the kingdom gospel? As the audience here are the elders of the church of Ephesus?  There's a short answer and a long answer here. The short is this: God's kingdom spans the 3rd heaven and ALL of creation, the created heavens and the earth. All of it is God's kingdom . So, the word 'kingdom' is not only associated with the kingdom gospel and that which was preached and promoted by Jesus and the 12-apostles. The word kingdom is typically associated with this time and the gospel they preached was known as the 'kingdom' gospel, which promoted the earthly kingdom that Jesus would reign over in the Millennial kingdom. However, the heavens, our inheritance, as the body of Christ, is al...

Physical death occurs when the spiritual body (soul and spirit) separates from the body of flesh and blood.  Genesis 35:18 describes this as such:  "And it came to pass, as her soul was in departing, (for she died) that she called his name Ben-oni: but his father called him Benjamin."  Physical death does not result in becoming nonexistent; it is a separation of the human spirit and soul from the physical body. Again, death is separation . The other is spiritual death , when the spirit of man (as an individual) is unable to commune with the Spirit of God. Here again is a type of separation: man is spiritually separated from his Creator. There is no unity or fellowship between the two. You may read 1 Corinthians 2:9-16 to learn how sin has made the spirit of man incompatible with the Spirit of God. There is also positional death. As people who have trusted Jesus Christ's death, burial, and resurrection as sufficient payment for our sins (1 Corinthians 15:3-4); we have be...

Why did God send us the Holy Spirit in the first place? I answer this question by posting an article written by Arthur Licursi which perfectly lays out the role of the Holy Spirit in this age of grace, as compared to the role of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost in the Kingdom program. Also, Arthur clarifies how we interact with the Holy Spirit today and what it means to be ‘filled with the Spirit’. I encourage you to take the time to carefully read through this well-written and highly informative article: The Holy Spirit Today Paul exhorts the grace believers of this age to  “be filled with the Spirit.”  This is because today the  filling with the Spirit  is now a  goal , an  attainment ,  as Paul here, by inspiration, sets before the church. “Be filled with the Spirit”  (Eph. 5:18);  “be filled  with the fruits of righteousness” (Phil. 1:11); “ be filled  with the knowledge of His will” (Col. 1:9); “ be filled  with all ...