The BIG Picture (Q&A)

How can God mean more to me? Assuming that you have responded in faith to the grace gospel, the only way (and means) to learn more about God is to gain knowledge of His Word. The whole reason why we have the Word of God is to know Him, and the more we know Him, the more He will mean to you. How do we study the Word? Paul gives us the way: Rom 16:25-26 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, (26) But now is made manifest, and by the scriptures of the prophets, … according to the commandment of the everlasting God, made known to all nations for the obedience of faith: First, we hear and respond to the gospel so we can be quickened in spirit, and we can start to perceive the heart of God, 1Co 2:11-16. Second, we study the preaching of Jesus Christ, but NOT his earthly ministry in the four gospels, but his teachings revealed in Paul’s 13-...

That portion of the passage reads as follows, Joh 15:5-6 I am the vine, ye are the branches: He that abideth in me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit: for without me ye can do nothing. (6) If a man abide not in me, he is cast forth as a branch, and is withered; and men gather them, and cast them into the fire, and they are burned. We must remember that Jesus only taught Jews during His earthly ministry, Mat 15:24, so, this passage does not apply to believers saved by the grace gospel. The general context of John chapters 13–16 is that Jesus is in the upper room the evening before His arrest and trial. After the Last Supper, Jesus speaks these words to the disciples, the believing remnant of Israel. So, keeping this context in mind, let's take a closer look at verse 6. Verse 6 is a warning to the people to whom the Apostles will minister, not to the Israelite believers. The Apostles must warn the Jews who are still unsaved about the dangers of not abiding in Christ. T...

STATEMENT: If we are saved by grace alone excluding works, I can sit here like a dummy for the rest of my life, and when I die, I'm in the hands of God our Creator. How absurd! What Bible are you reading? ANSWER: Your comment suggests childish thinking and ignorance of the knowledge of the written Word. God’s will for you after you get saved is to come to a knowledge of the truth, 1Ti 2:4 Who will have all men to be saved, and to come unto the knowledge of the truth. In addition, the scripture below tells us that it is our reasonable service to present ourselves to God for His purpose and through the written Word, to become increasingly transformed by the renewing of our mind, to know God’s good, acceptable, and perfect will. Rom 12:1-2 I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service. (2) And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of y...

What does the "spirit of your mind" mean in Ephesians 4:23? All humans are made up of spirit, soul, and body, 1Th 5:23. The 3 circles represent the default template of the 3 parts of a human being. Spirit is the breath of God that fills a person with life, Gen 2:7. Soul is the essence of the person, their persona (mind, will and emotions), and the body is the outer shell of flesh. Though you might be familiar with these 3 circles, these are NOT the parts that Paul is referring to when he speaks of the ‘inner man’ (or new man) and the ‘outer man’ (or old man) in Eph.4:17–24. If you look at the image below, the grey hexagonal is the ‘outer man’ (or old man) and the blue hexagonal is the ‘inner man’ (or new man). These are the two parts that Paul refers to in most of his writings. The grey outer man connects the soul (or persona) of a person to the flesh. In other words, the thick red oval is the part of a human that functions in the world, ie: the carnal man with his 5-...

ORIGINAL STATEMENT: Here is a question: If a Jew comes to your church will you tell him what Peter commanded in Acts 2:38,39 or tell him something else. Remember you said Peter’ doctrine was only for the Jews. Another thing if a non-Jew comes into you church do you tell him what Peter commands the gentiles in Acts 10:48 or would you tell him something else? CORRECTION: If a Jew comes to your church, will you tell him what Peter commanded in Acts 2:38,39 or tell him something else? No. I’d tell him Paul’s gospel. Why? Because Peter’s gospel in Acts, although 100% valid and accurate, was for the Kingdom program, under prophecy. God suspended this program (Rom 11:25) when He called Paul. Thus, the Kingdom program hangs in limbo until God reactivates it again when the 7-year Tribulation begins (after the rapture of the Body of Christ). Only the Grace program is active today and both Jews and Gentiles are saved by grace according to the gospel of Paul (1Cor 15:1–4). Peter NEVER preached th...

ORIGINAL STATEMENTS: Salvation: ask forgiveness, sin no more, and the other, I don’t agree. His name is not (JC); his name is Yahawashi (Paleo Hebrew). We don’t call our savior (JC); for we know the Catholic Church give the earth an imposter. He (Yah) died for the sins of his people (Isaiah 46:13, and 49:6). Just believing is not enough. We must have faith with works (James 2:26). “Man cannot live by the word alone;” he must walk in the spirit; otherwise, he will be mystified. These two scriptures are important for those who walk in the spirit (1 Corinthians 13:9; 2 Timothy 3:16). CORRECTION: It is strange that you quote from Paul’s texts, but you appear to completely ignore what he teaches concerning salvation by grace. Concerning grace salvation: It is clear from Paul’s epistles that by placing faith in Christ alone, without works, God justifies you and saves you. Believing is not only enough, it is the ONLY thing you can do and the only thing God needs. Anything beyond believing is ...

Paul's epistles should be understood spiritually. Thus, 'vanity of mind' is not natural futility but rather spiritual futility. So, to provide life examples is not to list useless things men do in their mortality, or man’s inept activities or knowledge in his natural state, but to perceive it in view of his eternal existence. For an example of Paul's spiritual context, notice his attitude towards natural things and their futility, compared to the worth and significance of knowing Christ, here: Php 3:7-11  But what things were gain to me, those I counted loss for Christ.  (8)  Yea doubtless, and I count all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord: for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and do count them but dung, that I may win Christ,  (9)  And be found in him, not having mine own righteousness, which is of the law, but that which is through the faith of Christ, the righteousness which is of God by faith:  (10)...

STATEMENT (by someone aiming to disprove eternal security): Eternal Security (or once saved always saved) is falsified by the Holy Spirit in 1 Timothy 4:1 as “some will depart from the faith”. “Now the Spirit expressly says that in later times some will depart from the faith by devoting themselves to deceitful spirits and teachings of demons” - 1 Tim 4:1 ESV MY REPLY: You are adding your own presumptions and reasoning to that verse. The verse says there will be a departure from the faith due to deception. Nowhere does it say that these people will lose their salvation. One can easily prove from scripture that eternal security is false outside of the grace dispensation, (Lk 9:62; Matt 16:24-25; Matt 6:15; Rev 3:16, etc), but there is no scripture that directly proves this within Paul’s grace doctrine. On the contrary, there is evidence that undoubtedly supports eternal security. Ex.1: The scripture below refers to a man in Corinth committing gross fornication. Paul writes that...

Well, according to Col 1:14-19, and other similar scriptures, there is no way that Jesus got cancelled. Since the referenced scripture tells us that, “by him all things consist” , we can logically deduce that if Jesus got cancelled, then we all won’t exist. However, I can extend this reasoning to the fact that a specific part of His ministry did get suspended. Let me explain. In Jesus’ first advent, He came to prepare Israel for the reception of His kingdom. Jesus preached to the Jews saying, “Repent, for the Kingdom of God is at hand”. According to prophetic scripture, if Israel received Jesus and believed in Him, they would rise to pre-eminence, and inherit the earthly kingdom, reigning as kings and priests in the world, and would be the light and salvation of the Gentile nations. Since the Jews did not receive Him as their Messiah and did not believe in His message, God blinded Israel and suspended the Kingdom program, Rom 11:25. With this suspension, Paul’s ministry got activated, ...

CLAIMS: What you are calling the mystery program is the new covenant and is supposed to be understood spiritually with a spiritual mind. It is definitely prophesied about all the way through the Bible. The term mystery program is not biblical, and this division is not a division at all but what the spiritual truth of the new covenant should be and what all Christians should learn. CORRECTION: For most of my Christian life I supported your views, but after learning and applying right dividing, the scriptures became much less confusing and contradictory. The Bible was just a book for 40 years of my life; now it is a treasure trove of truth and a blueprint of God’s wisdom and redemption. Right division has opened up the scriptures in ways which it NEVER did when I held my previous views. I’m not writing this to change your views. I’m simply clarifying what I believe based on a few of the comments in your reply. I do not see the mystery program as the New Covenant. The reason is be...