Wednesday, February 29, 2012

Questions for March 1, 2012

Hebrews 9:16-17

In the case of a will, why is it necessary to prove the death of the one who made it?

Does a will ever go into effect while the person who made it is still living?

What is the purpose of a will?

In light of this verse, what is the significance of Christ’s death on the cross?

Where is the dividing line in history from the world’s perspective? From God’s perspective?

Hebrews 9: 18-22

How did Moses ratify the Old Covenant?

Why did he sprinkle blood on everything?

What is necessary for forgiveness to occur?

Who shed His blood on the cross for our forgiveness?

According to Hebrews 9:27-28, will He shed His blood again?



Jeremiah 31:31-34

What did the Lord say He would do someday in the future for the nation of Israel?

Would the new covenant be anything like the old?

What four things did God say He would do for the people once this New Covenant was ratified?

As we learned in Hebrews 9:22 what had to occur in order for this New Covenant to be established?


Luke 22:20

According to Jesus, what did the cup represent?

At this point in time, had the new covenant gone into effect?

In what way does the phrase “in my blood” show how the new covenant was to be ratified?

Was there any way to usher in the new covenant other than through the death of Jesus?


Galatians 4:4-5

According to Galatians 4:5-6 was Jesus born under law or under grace? For what purpose?

When Jesus lived on earth, did He live under the New covenant or the Old Covenant? Why?

If Christ had not died on the cross to redeem us, what covenant would we be living under today?

If your salvation was dependent on your ability to live up to the old covenant, would you have any hope of being saved?

John 19:30

After Jesus declared that His work was finished, what happened?

In Matthew 5:17 Jesus said that He did not come to abolish the law, but to fulfill it. Do you believe that Jesus’ work on the cross fulfilled the terms and conditions of the old covenant?

What did Jesus’ death signify was and is now in effect?

Because of Christ’s death, what covenant do we live under as Children of God?


Be convinced of what a believer believes :)

Thursday, February 16, 2012

New Covenant

Wow, tonight's Bible study was meaty to say the least! After watching The New Covenant Video, G's passion was renewed. This was made obvious as he shared scripture after scripture with us, explaining the entrance of the New Covenant, the purpose of the New Covenant, and the purpose of the Old Covenant. Most of the scriptures were found in Hebrews, with a few in the Johns and Corinthians. Make a decision: Are we forgiven or not? Is Jesus' life eternal or not? Have we been made as holy as Jesus, through Jesus or not? God either did it all, or He did nothing at all. Which is it?
We have the Old Covenant; the Law, that kills or the New Covenant; Jesus, that gives life. Which would you want?

Sunday, February 12, 2012

Courageous

Okay, I forgot to do the blog. Hopefully, this will catch us up. This past Wednesday was movie night. We all gathered to watch the movie Courageous. With popcorn in place, we all settled down to watch the movie. It was a family movie, to be sure, and I dare say that anyone who has ever had to bury a child, knows full well the grief this family faced. Not having gone through that particular heartache, I can only cry and pray on behalf of my friends who have gone through that heartache. With the love that circled the families in the movie, it showed that God can be in the middle of any trial we face. See you next Wednesday!

Friday, February 3, 2012

February 2, 2012




Two generations of men studying God's word.

Okay, so it's been a while since I've posted. Work and life...you know how it is. However, I find myself in need of a review. The last couple of weeks, G has been asking, "Who can tell us what we talked about last week" sadly, none of us could recall. Talk about embarrassing!

Don't get me wrong, we all love the study. We can tell you some of the non-BIble discussion we had; we could tell you who was absent and why; but for the life of us, we could not state the main idea, or topic of the study.

So, after a couple of weeks of the question being met with blank stares, it was obvious an omen that the blog needed to be resurrected. You'll find no promises from me, promising to post every week. I'd like to way I would, but too many blogs in the past have proven that life and myself just won't allow a consistency in blogging.

So enough of that. Here's some of what we discussed this past week: Let's start with scripture first:

What does love look like? 
1corinthians 13:4-7
Romans 11:6 how will love come? Grace or works?
II Corinthians 9:6-7. Cheerful giver; don't expect anything in return
Ephesians 4:1-3 walk in unity.
Ephesians 4:31-32. Forgive as God forgave.
I John 3:18 show me you love me.
I Corinthians 13:13 greatest is love



I would wager to bet, this is the part of the New Covenant that the Law+Grace people never get to. I've heard the argument too many times, and I'm betting you have, too.

You see, a lot of folks feel that if we don't have the law, sinning would be running rampage. What's not realized, though, is exactly what's going on at the point of salvation. It's not just a feel good fuzzy feeling, but an actual rebirth. The Holy Spirit comes to take up residence, not simply to visit from time to time, but to actually live in the hearts of his people.  So, once He's moved in? Exactly what is He doing? The Holy Spirit isn't going to lead us to the nasty nine or dirty dozen, as this attitude was so coined; but rather, lead us in a life of love, and dependency onto God the Father.

The calloused Christian has just shrugged their shoulders, and replied, "What's the difference? Tomato, Tomahto--both are the same thing" But really? It's not. The view on Grace allows us to put our focus onto Christ Himself, allowing us to bask in his love and patience. The Legalism has us always focusing on ourselves, making sure we did enough 'good stuff' that we might actually get in; the outward motions might be the same, (not killing, stealing, honoring our parents, loving God, etc) but the motivation on the inside are different. One is done in love, and thinking of others, the other is done in fear of retribution, or in hopes of more 'stars in our crown'.

It's really an important point, to realize the difference in motivation.  The "Law of Love" goes further than the Ten Commandments ever could. Love compels us of all the 'don'ts', but also compels us in all the 'do's'. Don't just "thou shalt not covet thy neighbor's stuff", but we're compelled to take it a step farther and perhaps help the neighbor with his 'stuff', whether repairing, cleaning, or simply enjoying.
Law simply says, "Don't--or else!"

Andrew Farley, a pastor out of Lubbock, Texas, had this to say about the Ten Commandments: Fashioning a safety net of 9 commandments, and what Jesus is saying is, “Walk the tightrope of Grace with me,” You don’t need a safety net. You’re going to find your balance in Jesus Christ, and in Him alone. When we fashion a safety net, it’s essentially an insult to Jesus, “I’ll take you for salvation, I’ll take you for heaven, but in the meantime I am nervous about immorality, and so I need these commandments...” (Click here for the interview with Andrew Farley)


It was good to see our Bible study get this far. Too many times has our New Covenant gotten stuck in the quicksand of debate, when people fear we are giving people a license to sin, intend of a license to trust in His finished work on the cross.