Bringing Scripture to Life

I was really blessed last week, as I was invited by Got Questions Ministries   to be a staff writer for them. This is a tremendous opportunity to reach a huge audience with the gospel, and to answer a wide variety of questions regarding all aspects of Theology, the Bible, and the issues of life, as they have over  8 million page views a month.  Got Questions Ministries  is a volunteer ministry that  seeks to glorify the Lord Jesus Christ by providing biblical, applicable, and timely answers to spiritually related questions, through their internet presence. They do this by  assisting others in their understanding of God, Scripture, salvation, and other spiritual topics. It is a great resource for you to have, when searching out difficult questions from the Bible.  LINK TO GOT QUESTIONS ARTICLES

Sanctification is a Greek word that means to be “holy” or “separate”. Everyone who responds to God by placing their faith in Jesus Christ begins an immediate sanctification process. This process has three aspects to it. 1. Positional Sanctification This is the position of those who are saved. Positional Sanctification is just as complete for the weakest and youngest believer as it is for the strongest and oldest believer. It depends only upon one’s union with and position “in Christ.” 2. Progressive Sanctification This sanctification is called “progressive” or “experiential” sanctification, and is the work of the Holy Spirit in a believer’s life that brings him closer to the likeness of Jesus Christ through obedience to the Word of God. 3. Permanent Sanctification Permanent Sanctification   takes place in the life to come. As believers we will be permanently sanctified by God in the life to come when we receive ou...

What does the Bible say about GOD?  The Bible tells us that He is the only true God (John 17:3), who eternally exists and has expressed Himself in three distinct and co-equal persons: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit (Matthew 28:18-20). All three persons are fully God and together make up the one true Godhead (Colossians 2:9). He is the Omnipotent (John 10:29), Omniscient (Romans 11:33-34), and Omnipresent (Psalms 139:7), Creator of all things in heaven, and on earth (Genesis 1:1; John 1:1-3).  God has created us to be in a relationship with Him (Genesis 1:26-17), and it is only by trusting in Jesus Christ, that we can experience that relationship (1 Timothy 2:5), and become His children (Galatians 3:26).  It is in Him that we live and move and have our being (Acts 17:28). RELATED TOPICS The Trinity

What does the Bible say about itself?   The Entire Bible is inspired by God without error and is the authority on which we should base our faith, conduct and doctrine (2 Timothy 3:16-17). The Bible is the complete revelation of God's will for the salvation of men and supplies each person with the insight and wisdom to live a life that is pleasing to God (2 Peter 1:3). The Bible is not open for any private interpretation (2 Peter 1:20-21), and should be studied diligently by God’s people (2 Timothy 2:15), so that we can know and understand what the will of the Lord is for our lives (Colossians 1:9-10; Romans 12:2).

As Christians the Bible exhorts each of us to, "Be diligent to present yourself approved to God, a worker who does not need to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth" (2 Timothy 2:15). We are called to be like the Berean's whom the Bible says, "... were more fair-minded than those in Thessalonica, in that they received the word with all readiness, and searched the Scriptures daily to find out whether these things (that the Apostle Paul was saying) were true" (Acts 17:11). As Christians we are called to know and correctly understand God’s Word (2 Timothy 2:15), because God’s word answers the question of how to have peace with God (Romans 5:1) and find purpose in life (Ephesians 1:4; 2:10). It is God’s word alone that is the authoritative source of truth for the Christian belief (John 17:17), practice (John 14:21, 23), and helps us navigate through all areas of life (2 Peter 1:3).  It is God’s word alone that is able to effectively work in the ...

I had a friend recently ask me how she could dialogue with her Catholic friend who wholeheartedly believes and passionately argues with her that a person can only be saved through doing good works (to my understanding, not all Catholics would agree with him on this). He referred to James 2:24 as his proof text. My response to her question is not my effort to bring offense to any of my Catholic friends or readers, but instead to merely shed light on what the Bible has to say about this subject. James 2:24 says,  “You see then that a man is justified by works, and not by faith only." When reading this verse by itself, it certainly would appear that our salvation is based on more than our faith in Jesus alone.  However, in this verse James is not referring to the steps to salvation, but rather the EFFECTS of salvation. This entire chapter in context is arguing how our faith can only be justified before “other people” by the good works that we do. James is not ref...

The other day as I was sitting down enjoying my time with our 4 1/2 month old son Jeremiah, I was given an unpleasant reminder of how messy life can be at times. As I was holding my baby boy, our father/son bonding moment was interrupted by a vibrating noise that sounded somewhat like the beginning of a thunder storm (aka "thunder from down under"). I remember being amazed at my son's talent for making such incredibly powerful sounds at such a young age. But my amazement quickly turned to apprehension as I began to get the sensation of a strange and unfamiliar type of "baby warmth" that began steaming over my lap, the area where he was sitting. At first I thought it would be okay, but then I began to clue into the fact that this was not his normal thunder from down under. This one had much more noise and oomph behind it. Plus, I had never had this type of "baby warmth" come over me before. As I began pondering how messy parenting can be at tim...

SUPPORT FROM THE NATURAL: What do apples, eggs, ice-cubes, and shamrocks all have in common? Each of them is but only a few of the many illustrations that have been used to help describe the Triune God of the Bible.  My personal favorite by the way, is the candle-flame illustration. The candle-flame illustration goes something like this; you take three candles and light only one of them with fire. The fire from the lit candle now has its own individual flame. Next, you take the other two unlit candles, and use the flame from the lit candle to light the other two wicks. Once you have lit the last two candles with the fire from the first lit candle, you will come away with three separate candle-flames, all from the same fire – hence, three flames, one fire.   Norman Geisler does a wonderful job using a mathematical illustration in attempting to explain this phenomenal mystery of our Triune God by saying; “Does not 1 + 1 + 1 = 3? It certainly does if you add the...