Bite-Sized Bible Studies: In the Spirit

"For to be carnally minded is death, but to be spiritually minded is life and peace. Because the carnal mind is enmity against God; for it is not subject to the law of God, nor indeed can be. So then, those who are in the flesh cannot please God. But you are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God dwells in you. Now if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he is not His." (Romans 8:6-9)

Humanity is far from perfect. The God of all creation is perfect. How can sinful humanity be reconciled to a perfectly right God?

Jesus answered and said to him, "Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God." (John 3:3)

By repenting of our sin and believing in Jesus Christ, we are born of the Spirit of God; God's Spirit and our spirit become one. We were all born with bodies of flesh, but we must be born of God's Spirit. The Holy Spirit of God indwells the believer through faith in Christ.

How else could we be made right with God except by the grace of God? That's exactly what the Bible alone teaches. We are saved by God's grace through faith in Jesus alone!

If we are sincere in our repentance of sin and truly believe that Christ died for our sins, than we are "in the Spirit", safe and secure in Christ eternally.

"For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life." (John 3:16)

Bite-Sized Bible Studies: Our All In All

If we are looking for happiness, pleasure, satisfaction, fulfillment, righteousness or approval in anything or anyone other than Jesus Christ, then we will continually be disappointed, let down and even devastated. Jesus never lets us down! Everything we need is in Him (not from Him but in Him) alone, and only He satisfies and loves us unconditionally, especially His own.

"...which is His body, the fullness of Him who fills all in all." (Ephesians 1:23)

Give Him all- and let Him be your all in all. What will it be today: fullness of joy or disappointment?

Bite-Sized Bible Studies: Only to the Faithful

“In that hour Jesus rejoiced in the Spirit and said, ‘I thank You, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that You have hidden these things from the wise and prudent and revealed them to babes. Even so, Father, for so it seemed good in Your sight (Luke 10:21).’”

The discoveries and wisdom of humanity is limited to the material things of this universe. The wisdom of God comes from God alone to any heart open and willing to receive from Him, through faith in Jesus Christ.

“For there is one God and one Mediator between God and men, the Man Christ Jesus (1 Timothy 2:5).”

“For it is written: ‘I will destroy the wisdom of the wise, And bring to nothing the understanding of the prudent (1 Corinthians 1:19).’”

For the atheist, materialist and evolutionist, this statement in First Corinthians alarmingly confirms their own belief: that they will be destroyed and brought to nothing, according to their belief that the universe will someday die and all life will cease. Even they can agree that the wisdom of the wise will be destroyed and the understanding of the prudent will be brought to nothing! But, what they do not know is that what they believe is only partially correct and that God has hidden the full truth from them and revealed it to “babes”. There is an eternal hell for the faithless and there will be a New Heavens and a New Earth for the faithful (Isaiah 65:17, 66:22, 2 Peter 3:13, Revelation 21:1)!

It seems good to God to reveal His truth only to those who love Him and seek Him sincerely and honestly. Don’t we do the same? Don’t we protect ourselves from those we know are not really true, but reveal more to those we know and trust?

“Jesus said, ‘Let the little children come to Me, and do not forbid them; for of such is the kingdom of heaven (Matthew 19:14).’”

“Of such”. The wisdom and truths of God are for those that come to Him with child-like trust, sincerity and faith. We must seek the truth in all sincerity and be willing to go wherever that leads us.

Jesus said, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me (John 14:6).”


“... in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge (Colossians 2:3).”

Bite-Sized Bible Studies: I Am With You

“For behold, I have made you this day A fortified city and an iron pillar, And bronze walls against the whole land--Against the kings of Judah, Against its princes, Against its priests, And against the people of the land. They will fight against you, But they shall not prevail against you. For I am with you," says the LORD, "to deliver you."
Jeremiah 1:18-19

If God is for us, who can be against us? And yet in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us.
Romans 8:31, 37

The end of the age is upon us. And like Jeremiah, we must share an unwelcome message of a coming calamity unfolding before our eyes. Share Christ today no matter the cost. We are safe in Him. He is with us and will deliver us. He will be with His people, He will be glorified and He will deliver us, “by life or by death (Phil. 1:20),” all the way up to the rapture of the church; then we will be with Him and will return with Him to establish His Kingdom on a New Earth. Bless and empower your church, and come quickly, Lord Jesus.

Bite-Sized Bible Studies: United with the Risen Lord

...you are united with the One who was raised from the dead. Now we can really serve God, not in the old way by obeying the letter of the law, but in the new way, by the Spirit (from Romans 7:4,6).

There is nothing in this world, nothing, that can even come close to the eternal satisfaction found only in our intimate unity to Jesus Christ and our new life walking with Him, in Him, each step of our life. This new spiritual/miraculous life is lived out not by our own strength, but by this unity to God's Spirit, by the Spirit living in and through us. Being a Christian is spiritual, not of the natural order, so we must allow the Holy Spirit to live through us. Paul said, "it is no longer I who lives but Christ who lives in me."

At Easter, when we are praising our Risen Lord, remember this: by grace through faith in Jesus Christ you are united to our Risen Lord, a co-heir of God's glory right now and for all eternity. As we live in full dependency on His Spirit alone, we live and walk in the Kingdom of God today.

Bite-Sized Bible Studies: Heirs of God through Christ

Galatians 4:6-8
 

"And because you are sons, God has sent forth the Spirit of His Son into your hearts, crying out, "Abba, Father!"

Therefore you are no longer a slave but a son, and if a son, then an heir of God through Christ.

But then, indeed, when you did not know God, you served those which by nature are not gods."

In Christ, we are free, like the eldest son in ancient Israeli culture who is not a servant but inherits all his father leaves behind. Christians, men and women in Christ by faith, like these eldest sons, are free from serving sin but can now worship God freely, and, through Christ, shall inherit all of the wonderful things our Heavenly Father has for us for eternity!

Finding Real Life in Christ

"He who finds his life will lose it, and he who loses his life for My sake will find it (Matthew 10:39)."

In the allegorical sense, to lose your life means to give up all self-interest and to live for Jesus' interest. If you will die to self for Christ, then and only then will you find real life. Our life’s true meaning and purpose, the soul’s true longing and satisfaction is found in our Lord Jesus Christ alone. Everything we do in this life for self will be lost. Everything. Through faith in Christ, we have died to sin and death, we’ve died to the old life here in this fallen world and in this fallen body. Just like Christ, we are alive to God now. In and through Christ, we are now seated with God in the eternal realm. Our old nature is dead to this life (crucified, Rom. 6-8) and our spirit is alive to God’s Eternal Kingdom. Everything I do in this short time left here on earth is either for His sake or mine. The body has literally been sentenced to death. The phrase “dead man walkin’” applies to each of us. So, I can either work for a dead man and ultimately receive the wages of a dead man, or I can work for the Eternal King and have treasures stored up in Heaven! What a waste my life has been! O, what I have wasted, Lord. Everything done outside of Christ’s will is self will and amounts to nothing. It will burn; it’s useless, meaningless. Paul said as much:

I have discarded everything else, counting it all as garbage, so that I may have Christ and be found in Him...  that I may know Him and the power of His resurrection, and the fellowship of His sufferings, being conformed to His death (see Philippians. 3:7-11).

I am dead to this life because I am united with Christ in His death. I am alive to God because I am united to Christ in His life to God (Rom. 6). Christian, do you know that in Christ you are dead to this world, to sin and to death? Do you know that all we do for ourselves we will lose? All that we do in the flesh, in accordance to the old nature that seeks for self-interest and self-ambition, is literally going to burn and count for nothing. Anything we do outside of our New Life in Christ works against what He is going to accomplish in our lives one way or another, now or later, thanks to His unfathomable grace and never ending mercy showered on us through Jesus!

Live for self and lose it all and die over and over and over, and end up with no eternal treasure or reward. Or, live for Christ’s will, purpose and pleasure alone, and find your life hidden in His, and truly live for the first time and forever in the glory of God. I would rather die to self once and for all, Lord, than spend one more second drowning in my own selfish interest again and again!

For no other foundation can anyone lay than that which is laid, which is Jesus Christ. Now if anyone builds on this foundation with gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, straw, each one’s work will become clear; for the Day will declare it, because it will be revealed by fire; and the fire will test each one’s work, of what sort it is. If anyone’s work which he has built on it endures, he will receive a reward. If anyone’s work is burned, he will suffer loss; but he himself will be saved, yet so as through fire (1 Cor. 3:11-15). -Paul

But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night, in which the heavens will pass away with a great noise, and the elements will melt with fervent heat; both the earth and the works that are in it will be burned up... Nevertheless we, according to His promise, look for new heavens and a new earth in which righteousness dwells (2 Pet. 3). -Peter