Pastor's Bible Study

Isaac, Jacob, and Joseph each had faith even unto the end of their days. But the thing the author of Hebrews zeros in on that they utilized their faith to extend a blessing to their children. Every parent has a God-given responsibility to bless their children. From the word “blessing” we get our word eulogy—“to speak well of.” There three lessons we can learn from these men of faith about blessing...

Abraham's faith was tested and tested and tested. Some tests he passed. Some tests he failed. But what we do see over time is a growing and strengthening and purifying of his faith. It is as if Abraham were enrolled in a school of faith. One of things that all students in any school have in common is tests. All students are tested to see where they are academically. Our walk with God by faith is a...

Sarah's faith began in unbelief but it ended with her experiencing what was humanly impossible, i.e. God's possible, when after 25 years of waiting she gave birth to the promised son, Isaac. There are many lessons we can learn from Sarah about faith. One of the most important is that faith must be personal. Abraham had great faith, but Sarah needed her own faith. This principle is true for us. We...

Abraham was a man of great faith. God called Abraham to follow Him and come to a land that God would give to Abraham. . Abraham didn’t know where exactly God was calling him to, but he had faith to follow. And since he didn’t know where he was going, you could say he had faith to wander with God.  In our text we see five principles for those who live by faith: 1) We are invited to live by faith. 2...

Enoch teaches us that by faith we can walk with God in such a way that we please God. By faith we can walk so closely with God and sense His presence and power that we look for our blessed hope, the return of Christ and the rapture that will occur.

Noah was a man whose fear (trust) in God motivated him to build an ark. He was moved by faith to prepare an ark in which he saved his house (family), condemned the world, and became an inheritor of righteousness.   What is your faith moving you to do? Real faith moves believers to action. Do you have real faith?  

Abel responded to God in faith by bringing an appropriate offering in sacrifice. Because he obeyed by faith, he won God's approval. God testified to Abel's faith. And to this day, Abel's faith is still speaking to us; pointing us to the way of faith, i.e. responding in obedience to what God has revealed to us in His Word.

 True biblical faith is confident obedience to God’s Word in spite of circumstances and consequences. It is not simply an intellectual belief. It is revealed in us volitionally as we act on what we believe. The writer of Hebrews makes it clear that faith is very practical. Faith enables us to understand what God does. Faith enables us to see what others cannot see. As a result, faith enables us to...

Glorification is the ultimate and absolute physical, mental, and spiritual perfection and transformation of each believer into the image of Christ. It is in essence the completion of our salvation. 

 The gospel brings us a salvation that is eternally secure. God preserves us. Eternal security is God’s assurance of our salvation. God is absolutely certain of the security of our salvation because He is the one who is securing it. God saves, seals, and secures. Assurance is our confidence in God saving us and securing us. The ultimate secret to assurance of salvation is to base your present assu...

The gospel is good news because we are preserved and secured by God the Son and the Holy Spirit. We secured by Jesus through His promises, his prayers, His substitutionary death, His resurrection, His heavenly work as our advocate and intercessor. We are preserved and secured by the Spirit through His work of regeneration, His work of placing us in union with Christ, His work of indwelling us perm...

The gospel is good news because our salvation is secured by our Heavenly Father. He preserves us because He is sovereign, omnipotent, His nature is love, and He chastens us instead of casting us away. Praise God that our salvation does not rest on us but in God's grace alone.

In part 1 of Prayers Without Power Are A Problem we see two things: 1) Our prayers can lack power because of warring 2) Our prayers can lack power because of wickedness

Our walk of faith is an all or nothing thing. Our faith is to be lived out in every area of our lives, including our speech. An untamed tongue is going to cause us trouble in our faith soon and/or eventually. 1. The Importance Of The Tongue (vv. 1-2) - The truth of who we really are is revealed by the words we speak. 2. The Influence Of The Tongue (vv. 3-5) - Our speech has the ability to influenc...

Is our faith working or worthless? 1. A profitless profession (vv. 14-17) The profession of our faith (our words) is no good unless we have works to back up our statement of faith. 2. A barren belief (vv. 18-19) How do we know a person's belief is true? It produces fruitful works. 3. A fatal faith (vv. 20-22) Faith without works is dead. We are justified by faith unto salvation without any works (...

There is a definite possibility of temptation. It is sure. Temptation is not a matter of if but when. And when it comes, it is singularly crafted for each individual. There is a divine impossibility of temptation. It is impossible for God to be tempted or to tempt any man. There is a direct responsibility of temptation. We're tempted when we are drawn away by our own lust and desires, therefore we...

Intercession is the work of pleading on the behalf of someone else. This what Jesus does for us; He pleads and prays for us and on our behalf. Intercession is the act of Christ whereby He appeals for believers as our “defense attorney” or ADVOCATE, defending us against Satan’s accusations of our sinfulness, thus guaranteeing the SECURITY of our salvation and giving us the right to approach God in...

Adoption is the act of God whereby He gives the believing sinner his position, standing, legal rights, inheritance as a joint-heir with Christ, and all the full privileges of an adult son/(daughter) of God.  Adoption is contrasted with regeneration. Regeneration is the new birth that changes us and imparts unto us the holy nature of our Father and makes us a child of God. Adoption does not change...

Regeneration is the act of God, whereby the Holy Spirit gives a spiritual new birth to the believing sinner imparting to him a new nature and new spirit and giving the spiritually dead new life. Regeneration can be described as a spiritual resurrection, becoming a new creation, and being born again.

Sanctification is the act of God whereby the believing sinner is set apart FROM sin (its penalty at salvation, its power in our lives, and its presence in eternity) and TO God, Christ, and righteousness.  This lesson focuses primarily on the practical aspect of sanctification, i.e. being set apart from the power of sin in our lives. Paul teaches us in Romans 6 four things that can lead us to livin...

Job asks the all important question in Job 25:4, "How can a man be justified with God?" Paul answers the question in Romans 5:1 stating that we are justified by faith. Justification is the judicial act of God whereby He legally declares the believing sinner to be innocent of all sin and as perfectly righteous as Christ. This act of justifying believing sinners comes only through faith and by the g...

The gospel is God’s plan to deal with man’s greatest need - the need of salvation. Our need is to be forgiven, to have our sins cleansed. The gospel is good news because it tells us that our sins can be forgiven through the finished work of Jesus on the cross.

Reconciliation (theologically) is the act of God whereby He replaces the state of enmity between God and man with a relationship of friendship through peace purchased by the death of Christ on the cross, which now places the believing sinner in a favorable position with God through the covering of the guilt of sin with Jesus' blood.  Before we are saved, whether we like it or not, we are the enemi...

What is it that drives God's plan of salvation and allows for all of its blessings and accomplishments to be bestowed upon believing sinners? Grace! God's amazing grace is what brings salvation to us. Paul wrote to the Ephesians, "For by grace are you saved through faith..." Salvation is by grace through faith. We cannot earn salvation. We cannot merit salvation. We are not worthy of salvation. Gr...

The gospel is good news to me because God grants (imputes) righteousness to me. God imputes the righteousness of Christ to sinners who place their faith in Christ, and He imputes the guilt of sinners to Christ. Through Jesus' death, he pays for the guilt of sin. As Paul teaches, the One who knew no sin became sin (a sin offering by taking our guilt upon Himself) so that we could be made righteous...