Messages with tag - Salvation

This class is taught on the eve of Yom Kippur. In recognition of that, Dr. Dean began class with a short video of Aveinu Shebashabaim, a Hebrew prayer for the State of Israel, sung by the Chief Cantor of the Israeli Defense Forces.

As Christians we recognize the importance of supporting Israel and the Jewish people in light of Genesis 12:1-3 and we appreciate how God’s love for Israel lives forever in His covenants and promises. Understand the real threats Israel and the Christian world face today and the Christian’s role in support of Israel.

The conversion of Saul of Tarsus is an example of another witness for the faith shown throughout Acts. Was Saul, in his thorough knowledge of the scriptures, an Old Testament believer or was he covered in layers that suppressed the Truth in unrighteousness? How long after the crucifixion did this event take place? Did Saul’s commission include more than just the Gentiles? Get the sequence and significance of events that began on the road to Damascus and led to Paul’s baptism and the beginning of his ministry.

Before we study Acts 9, a biographical sketch of Paul is essential. His road to Damascus experience is so important that the Holy Spirit has chosen to refer to it several times in Scripture. Here we see the miraculous nature of Saul’s conversion and the power of God in transforming a life. Get to know Saul through events surrounding him as he was growing up, his family, his education, his extreme persecution of Christians, his Jewishness and his leadership involvement as he spread the Christian message to the Gentiles. God’s role through intervention in history and His determination of ultimate reality are so counter to our cultural beliefs that reaction to these events has been extreme and dismissive. Learn about political correctness and its function in the suicide of Western Civilization.

All believers are engaged in a cosmic spiritual battle. The conflict may not be within the obvious spheres of personal or physical enemies. Satan is our arch-enemy and inculcates his false system of thinking on the human race in various guises. At the core of Satan-promoted thinking is an assault on God’s authority. However, Satan is the master counterfeiter and disguises his false religions and philosophies with the robes of righteousness and light. This makes these systems attractive to our sin nature. Learn in this lesson the commonalities and dangers of Satan’s worldly thought systems that sabotage our reliance on the all-sufficiency of Christ and our spiritual growth.