Messages with tag - Creation

Doomsday scenarios can strike terror in hearts in the middle of the night. Stock market crashes. Attacks on our country. Personal problems. Proverbs teaches us that when we focus on the Word of God we can sleep without fear. Just as God used His infinite wisdom to create the world, He offers wisdom to those who make learning and applying His Word a priority. He promises protection and the security that our steps are ordered by Him. Listen to this lesson to learn how creation is the foundation to everything else in the Bible. See how we are to treat those who ask for help with generosity and why we shouldn't envy the wicked when they prosper.

Paul and Barnabas Bear Witness to God’s Grace

Fleeing Iconium one step ahead of a murderous plot against them, Paul and Barnabas arrive in Lystra. There they heal a crippled man. The pagan crowds see this and go wild, wanting to worship them as gods with parades and sacrifices. Paul seizes the opportunity to tell them the gospel. Since the people have no Jewish background, Paul must start at ground zero with their innate understanding of God through creation. This lesson answers many questions relevant to our lives today. What does Paul mean when he says this man was crippled from his mother's womb? Is he implying that life begins at conception? Why isn't everyone healed? How should the gospel be presented to those who have no background in reference to the true God? How can creation be used as a tool when we are talking about God to multi-cultural, multi-religious people like the ones we encounter in our daily lives?

As human beings under condemnation, we really do not want to think about reality, but God's Word forces us to. We have all been tainted by sin and exhibit hostility toward God. True peace was broken when Adam sinned, and his fall had both spiritual and physical consequences. Full reconciliation is necessary. As we continue our study in Colossians 1:20-21, we look at the correlation to what Paul is teaching in Ephesians 2:11-17. With reconciliation, we see how God transformed hostility to peace, making it possible to have fellowship with a Righteous God by the legal, forensic action accomplished once and for all by Jesus Christ on the cross. What was the distinction between how salvation was taught in the Old Testament compared to the New Testament? Where do atonement and reconciliation fit in?

And how does reconciliation relate to illegal immigrants? The difference between how the Jews had the Messianic hope, but the Gentiles were aliens to the commonwealth of Israel had to be addressed. This lesson reveals how Christ removed the barrier of hostility between Jews and Gentiles that had existed since the Mosaic Law.

God brings three increasingly harsh judgments on idolatrous cultures. The second and third relate to sex role confusion: same sex perversion and gender role confusion and distortion. This fits within the pattern of sin and judgment since the Fall. This lesson explores the causes and circumstances.