Understand the Bible? Pastor Melissa Scott, Ph.D.

There is a battle for your soul, and it is dangerous to fail to understand the enemy is always there. A target is on your back when you open your mouth and make a commitment. When our committedness or our attitude towards our commitment changes, we open up the door for the devil to pick us off. We must treat Christ as our fort, our place of resistance, and recognize that putting on the full armor...

Like a skilled hunter, satan observes and considers us to make his most powerful attacks, to hinder us, to tempt us, and to take us as prey. But God has His hand on us. There is no reason why we should be under this kind of attack unless we have a part in God's kingdom. There is a battle for us, and we need to take spiritual inventory so we can see where the battle is. We cannot fight the devil in...

A host of fighting forces greater than the devil's are available to those who remain in Christ: the Exousia, the Arche and the Pantokrator. VF-1969 Ephesians 6:12 Watch, Listen and Learn 24x7 at PastorMelissaScott.com Pastor Melissa Scott teaches from Faith Center in Glendale. Call 1-800-338-3030 24x7 to leave a message for Pastor Scott. You may make reservations to attend a live service, leave a...

Through doubt, fear and discouragement the devil attacks God's children, but He has equipped us to fight the methods of the devil with His armor. VF-1968 Ephesians 6:10-17 Watch, Listen and Learn 24x7 at PastorMelissaScott.com Pastor Melissa Scott teaches from Faith Center in Glendale. Call 1-800-338-3030 24x7 to leave a message for Pastor Scott. You may make reservations to attend a live service,...

Understanding who/what angels were in their first estate will help us to understand what we're dealing with: a fallen creation, satan and his band. It will also give us the equipping to better combat these forces. VF-1967 Ephesians 6:10-17 Watch, Listen and Learn 24x7 at PastorMelissaScott.com Pastor Melissa Scott teaches from Faith Center in Glendale. Call 1-800-338-3030 24x7 to leave a message f...

The world, the flesh and the devil are highlighted to wake up Christians to the reality of the battle for the soul.   With this in mind, instruction on the whole armor of God is given to show how to fight.   In order to be victorious, one must expect the battle and be equipped with what God has provided. Watch, Listen and Learn 24x7 at PastorMelissaScott.com Pastor Melissa Scott teaches from Faith...

As Christians, we face spiritual warfare.   We must put on the whole armor of God and be strong in the Lord, because our own strength is not enough to fight the devil.   We are not immune from temptation, and we all struggle with problems we cannot seem to put behind us.   We must yield ourselves to God and recognize He is the Master of our soul.   He wants us to face the battle, and He equips us...

The prophecies of Zechariah are directed at the heart of the people.   He called them to repentance and urged them to commit their heart to God.   Throughout the book, we find revelations of the Messiah in both His first and second advent, with very specific details that unfold in the New Testament.   There are so many things that we can glean from this book: not just that Christ is coming again,...

The book of Haggai speaks to those who returned from captivity to rebuild the temple, but they stopped and went to rebuild their own houses.   They were told to put God first, tend to His house, and stop being self-serving.   This book speaks to us today as well.   God will enable us to take care of His house, and He will not abandon us if we put Him first in all things. VF-2554 Watch, Listen and...

Just before God brought the judgment of exile upon Judah, the people were profaning and desecrating His temple by worshiping unclean animals, Tammuz the Assyrian fertility god, and the sun inside of it.   This was the last straw for God.   This message is an overview of the book of Ezekiel.   The whole book is needed to understand why God punished His people. Ezekiel VF-2553 Watch, Listen and Lear...

The book of Daniel is necessary to understand the events in the book of Revelation.   Daniel prophesied about historical events that came to pass hundreds of years later, as well as events yet to come in the last days.   His prophecies about successive kingdoms in history have been so accurate that we ought to take his end-time prophecies seriously. Daniel VF-2552 Watch, Listen and Learn 24x7 at P...

God used the prophet Jeremiah to deliver a message to the southern kingdom of Judah that no one wanted to hear: "The agreement I made with their fathers is broken and cancelled." History shows that God kept His word. He brought Judah into Babylonian captivity for 70 years. This contradicts everything that's being proclaimed about modern-day Israel and the people that live there today. While there...

God was longsuffering with the children of Israel, but eventually, He had enough.   They defaulted on the land He had promised them, they did not keep the covenant, and they would not turn back to Him.   Just as God judged Nineveh when they would not heed His warnings, He had to punish His own people when they rejected Him.   Our own country needs to turn back to God today.   We might wonder how l...

Micah was a true prophet of God amongst many false prophets. He preached the unpopular message that there is judgment and punishment for sin, and for abandoning your God. The false prophets were deliberately blind to rampant sin. They ingratiated themselves to the rich and affluent, and only spoke good and positive words for financial profit. They saw no connection between their behavior and the i...

Part of understanding the holiness of God is being aware that He has placed a deposit of His peace in our hearts, which gives us the capacity to pursue peace with all. This awareness allows us to get real with God and keeps us from falling away from the faith. VF-2208 Hebrews 12:12-17 Watch, Listen and Learn 24x7 at PastorMelissaScott.com Pastor Melissa Scott teaches from Faith Center in Glendale....

God chastens us as a loving parent trains and teaches a child, sometimes for correction and sometimes for prevention. It is not punishment; it is something He has to do for our benefit to conform us to the image and likeness of Christ so that we may be partakers of His holiness in eternity. There is no pleasure in chastisement, but He does it out of love, and we will come through it transformed an...

Writing to the Thessalonians, Paul prayed that the God of peace may wholly sanctify us upon Christ's return, and until then that He would watch over us and preserve us. We are not sinless; the flesh is at war with the Spirit, and there is the possibility we will succumb to temptation, but when we take a step back to God, He is quick to meet us. The finishing process will not be completed in our li...

Not only has God saved us through the shed blood of His son Jesus Christ, He is actively in the process of changing us into His image and likeness. The process He uses is not meant to change us on the outside, but rather a lifelong catheterizing process where He gets straight to the heart. As long as we remain yielded open vessels, He will do the work that's needed for us to be able to see Him. VF...

We don't find God; He chose us from among those He didn't choose before the world was formed. The purpose of the choice is that we could be holy and without blame when we finally come before Him in love. Becoming holy and blameless before Him is not a change we make in ourselves. He makes that change in us for our faith. VF-2204 Ephesians 1:4 Watch, Listen and Learn 24x7 at PastorMelissaScott.com...

Sanctification is not an emotional response or an outward imitation of what we think holiness is; it is an operation of the Holy Spirit transforming us from the inside, which then out rays His nature.   When Christlikeness shines forth on the outside, it is because it is radiating out from the changes God has made on the inside.   As we yield ourselves to Him in dedication, He renews our minds and...

Moving into the New Testament, we learn that we cannot apply a singular definition to holiness and sanctification. In Jesus' high priestly prayer, we see that sanctification is not something we endeavor to do, but rather a passive act on our part; something that is initiated by God to conform us to the image and likeness of Christ as we are faithing in Him.   VF-2202   John 17 Watch, Listen and Le...

When you are doing something for God, the way you do it is more important than getting the job done. You do it His way because the instruction of the Lord is holy. When David first tried to bring the Ark of the Covenant to Jerusalem, it was not according to God's instruction and resulted in the death of Uzza for touching the Ark. When David put God first and followed His instructions and preparati...

In the midst of laying out God's instructions to His people, there is the story of an incident God used to make an example. The son of an Israelitish woman was condemned to death for cursing the name of God. God made it clear that He would not tolerate blasphemy; He demands respect. Failing to recognize that God is who He says He is, especially when we have His presence with us, is like a knife pi...

God reveals His names in the Bible through His actions and by declaring His name. When He spoke to Moses, God names Himself the LORD that sanctifies. God deigns to bend down and speak to earthy people and to save them. As we go in faith, our relationship with God changes, and He reveals Himself in our needs; when God sets you apart, He begins a work in you, and He will finish it.   VF-2199 Watch,...

In the two events of God providing water from the rock, Moses obeyed God's instructions the first time, but disobeyed the second time and wrested God's word with severe consequences.   This obedience and disobedience illustrates a dimension of understanding holiness and sanctification.   God doesn't want us to treat His words casually; His word is holy.   Looking at holiness and sanctification, ou...