--- Understand your Bible! ---
Please take 12 minutes and consider these 12 scriptures. Your effort will reward you with an understanding of the whole of the Bible. You will also recognize which small portion of the Bible you need to become very familiar with, and why.
These few scriptures explain "the method by which we receive God's spirit."
I'm Murray Cummings and welcome to JustBibleTruth.com. To understand the Bible, you must recognize the singular story it conveys. That story is a little over 6000 years long, counting from the creation of Adam to our day in time.
➠ • View Illustration. • It will help if you consider the Bible's history in three parts, with each part covering about 2000 years. Very important events, the first two being promises by God about a coming savior, and the third being the birth of that savior, mark those divisions in the Bible's record. These days of the second coming of Christ, this time as King over all, [1 Cor 15:20-28] represent the end of the third 2000 year section of Bible history.
What a wondrous time to be alive!
➠ Scriptural preview. ♢
According to Bible record, then, soon after Adam and Eve were created, they sinned and brought the promised death for disobedience on themselves [Gen 2:15-17] as well as all their future children. [Rom 5:12-17] We are all born under their sentence of death. ➠ After mankind began to die, because they had separated themselves from God's spirit of life, in • Genesis 3:15 • God made a promise you should be thankful for. How can you give thanks for it, though, if you don't know. This is the promise God made to Adam and Eve, and to all of us born after their sin. God promised He would raise up a seed of the woman who would crush the head of the spirit creature who instigated the rebellion of our first parents. [1 John 3:8] Immediately after Adam and Eve sinned, we find the first of two promises by God about a coming Messiah. That Messiah is the only hope for any of us. The hope it offered the children of Adam marks the beginning of the three Bible periods of 2000 years each.
➠ So then, about 2000 years after Adam's creation, God made a second promise to a faithful man named Abraham. In ✶ Genesis 22:18, God said to Abraham: "And by means of your seed, all nations of the earth will certainly bless themselves." [Gal 3:14] With that second promise, mankind knew to look for the promised "seed of the woman" to appear as someone born among the descendants of Abraham. ➠ That ✶ second promise marks the beginning of the second period of Bible history.
You should be familiar with those two Bible promises because they set the theme for the entire Bible. They promise a savior who would come as one born first from Eve, and then through the line of Eve's descendant Abraham. ➠ And remember always... As we are told in ✶ 1 John 3:7-8, the promised savior was coming to destroy the devil and all his works.
Another 2000 years after Abraham, Jesus Christ was born among Abraham's Jewish descendants. Jesus announced he was the promised Messiah and he performed untold miracles to prove he was indeed the savior promised by God.
➠ These Bible teachings make Jesus the focus of God's promises to help mankind. What then, did the foretold Messiah of God, the one mankind had been anticipating [Luke 2:25-38] for 4000 years, have to say when he arrived? He said in • Mark 3:31-35 we are doing God's will when we listen to the words of Jesus. • [John 12:44-50; John 6:40; John 6:28-40]
➠ Do you now perceive the theme of the Bible? Paul explained in ✶ Galatians 3:23-25 his people's Jewish Law Code and history, mankind's history going all the way back to the promise made to Eve really, it all served as a tutor leading mankind to Christ.
➠ These scriptures should make you note and want to heed the only command God has given mankind since Jesus started preaching. In ✶ Mat 17:5 God spoke from a cloud as He said of Jesus: "This is my son, the beloved, listen to him." We are doing the will of God and we will find joy, in listening to Jesus. [John 15:11-15]
Now that we understand the Bible says of itself that its purpose is to teach us to listen to the son of God, what does listening to Jesus really mean or amount to. ➠ What will listening to Jesus do for us? What will it do for you? First ask yourself, is it safe to rely on other people to tell you what Jesus taught? Jesus said in [Mark 13:21-23] you can not. Just always remember God commanded us to listen to his son and no one else. Jesus said we begin with building faith what he told us is true, and that power from God would come from having such faith. In ✶ Mark 4:35-41, Jesus told some of his followers they were limiting themselves by their lack of faith. ➠ He went on to say in ✶ Mark 11:22-23 they could accomplish anything they wanted by means of their faith. Real faith means, of course, we must believe what Jesus said without question! You can only believe Jesus by first listening to him.
➠ Christ went on to tell us in • Luke 11:9-13 we would receive power by taking in God's spirit. Let's read those verses. •
➠ Let's also consider Jesus words in • John 6:63 where he said God's spirit lives in the the words he spoke. • We take in God's spirit by listening to Jesus. Please just think for a moment about what that actually means: You can take in the spirit of life from God by opening one of the Gospels and reading Jesus's words. Some people will say that is just too simplistic [2 Kings 5:2-14] to believe; but that is what we you are reading from the Bible.
Religious people, especially the leaders of the different sects, want to concoct a much more difficult solution. ➠ If you recognize God's simple solution, you also realize you don't need any religious leaders telling you what to believe; because God sent Jesus Christ himself to do exactly that!
As Jesus makes clear in ✶ John 6:63, then, we gain eternal life through God's spirit. And... We receive the spirit of life by following God's command to read the words of his son. Some parts of Jesus's life is mentioned in only one of the Gospels. Many are mentioned in two and a few are mentioned in three. Our need to listen to Jesus because he is God's son is the only thing I know mentined in all four Gospels. [Mat 17:5; Mark 9:7; Luke 9:35; John 1:26-34; Mat 3:17]
These few scriptures provide the theme of the Bible. Realizing Christ to be the personification (or manifestation) of that theme, it becomes obvious the section of the Bible we should be intimately familiar with: It is the Gospel Books by Matthew, Mark, Luke and John. Each Gospel recounts the life and teachings of Jesus as understood by one of the four men who wrote them; under inspiration from God. [2 Tim 3:16-17]
➠ Please consider Jesus's words in • Mat 24:21-22, where he said there would come a great tribulation that would kill everyone if his Father didn't cut those days short. • We have been living in that tribulation for many years. Whole nations have been decimated by political upheaval and war. Millions have been killed or displaced. The Coronavirus pandemic is the current plague (April, 2020). While the masses have largely ignored those millions killed or harmed previously, the whole world is taking notice of this epidemic; because everyone is in danger. Wealth or power and prominence can't protect anyone. [Num 21:4-9] God will "cut these days short," however, by protecting those individuals who have faith in the words of Christ. [Mat 9:27-30] Not protecting religious mobs (sects), mind you, but individual Christians. Do not be among those deceived to believe church membership, or receiving the blessings of religious elders or priests, can help. [Mat 7:15-20]
The only thing that can help is your personal faith in your personal knowledge of what Jesus Christ is teaching out of the Gospels. ➠ If you do know Christ, [John 17:3] the tribulation is nothing to fear. Jesus in fact said, in ✶ Luke 21:5-28, if we have faith in his words we should lift ourselves erect and hold our heads high when we see the tribulation; because our deliverance is near.
Now that you realize the Bible exists as a tutor leading to the Christ, it becomes an easy thing to understand the entire Bible. When you read about the lives of faithful men and women like David or Abraham or Rahab or Ruth, or any of the other Bible characters, you can know they were playing out their part in God's 6000 year work of producing the Messiah. (Paul, and the other men of the Christian Greek Scriptures, wrote to encourage our faith in Christ.) When Christ appeared, God specifically told us to listen to his son. [Mat 17:5] So... Read the Gospels and learn what Jesus was sent to teach. [John 7:28-29; John8:25-32; John 15:11-15]
➠ The destruction being wrought by this tribulation, and the preservation of the righteous by means of their faith in the words of Christ, is what I believe we see happening. ✶ [Mat 24:36-42] The Bible verses we have considered, along with many others, say it is so. There are lots of very religious people, however, who say I am foolish or wicked for my beliefs. Several church leaders have talked to their followers about the danger of listening to me. One sect publicly announced I am an enemy of God. Another group said I am "plagued with a demon of confusion." They do those things because they don't want "their sheep" to hear me refusing to allow any of them to tell me what is true and right. [2 Pet 3:3-7; 2 Cor 11:5-6; 2 Cor 12:9-11] Religionists don't like sincere Bible students. ➠ Who is right among all this world's religious Babel is what you must now decide. Make no mistake, either, you are making that choice. Realize Jesus as the only one right! How you respond to the words of Christ, including if you make the choice to ignore his words, is your judgment of yourself. ✶ [John 12:48] While all religious people will encourage you to follow them and their sectarian writings, [Mat 15:9] please take special note that what I am saying is very different. Consider as you choose who you will listen to: I'm not telling you to trust and believe in or follow me. My only encouragement is to trust and believe in Jesus Christ, and in the God who specifically told you to listen to his son. Being my friend, or having me like or approve you, has no merit. ➠ Even those religious leaders who know what I say is true, will not admit that to you. They want you to believe they are special and that you need them to direct you or pray for you, so you will keep sending your money and remain subservient. They know the truth sets you free of their influence and control over you. ✶ [John 8:31-32] Please think about and try to hear what these words really mean: You must take in God's spirit by listening to and trusting only in the words of Jesus Christ! [Deu 11:26-28]
➠ If you would like to review these scriptures, along with other supporting Bible verses, they are linked for easy consideration in the transcript of the video. That script can be read by going to➠ JustBibleTruth.com ✶ Select➠ Videos Select➠ Read video script for: Have Peace... 12 minutes for 12 scriptures. The direct address to the transcript is: www.JustBibleTruth.com/Videos/HavePeace_12Min12Scrip.html
➠ Most religious people are blindly following some man [or woman, or a group of men and/or women], even if that man directs them to meet in large groups during a viral pandemic [knowing such meetings only spread the current Coronavirus plague]. By harming themselves with their choice to depend on the groups they follow, such people seem to have failed to discern the body and blood of Christ. [1 Cor 11:27-32] Mostly, though, religious leaders just tell their "sheep" to keep sending more money; assuring them that will buy God's blessings. Of those religious people who do make some effort to study the Bible, they seem preoccupied in reading the dramas from the Old Testament; such as about Jacob and Rachel and Leah, [Genesis 27 thru 31] or about Noah and his preservation of life among the human race. Some of them like to read the New Testament letters to the early congregations by Paul and Jesus's other followers. Learning principles from God's word is always a good thing, of course, but Religionists seem to be missing the bigger picture: That the whole of the Bible, outside the Gospels, serves primarily as a tutor leading to Christ. [Gal 3:23-25] Don't be deceived to follow those who fail to appreciate the words of Christ! Once you have faith in Christ, follow God's command to listen to his son, by reading from the Gospels. ✶ [Mark 9:7] Group religions have had their day. [Rev 18:1-3] ➠ We are in days similar to those of Noah, and the son of man is being revealed. ✶ [Luke 17:22-30] Personal Christian independence from slavery to the doctrines of men [John 8:31-47] is the only thing that can save you. That's what these scriptures have told you. Don't be too proud to follow God's simple command to wash your robes white in the blood of the lamb. [2 Kings 5; Rev 7:11-17] Comprehend that simply means you need to listen to the words of God's son. Understand the Bible as a tutor is directing you to take in the spirit of life from God by sitting at the feet of Jesus Christ; by reading his words.
➠ Make time to read your Gospels! Build faith for life. Let us close considering • Heb 10:35-39, where Paul encourages you to have faith in the words of Christ. •
For additional information about the Bible's historical timeline
visit JustBibleTruth.com and select "Scroll of time." (Highlighted in orange.)
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