Knowing your bible Part IV “What the Bible Reveals to Us”, Bible Study 03/24/10

Knowing your bible Part IV
What the Bible Reveals to Us
Synopsis of bible study 03/24/10
Delivered by Bishop Walker III

When you look at the word of God, there are lessons and foundational principles that every student of the bible needs to be clear about. The bible reveals these principles clearly to us.
I. The purpose of Redemption
2 Timothy 3:15: 15And that from a child thou hast known the holy scriptures, which are able to make thee wise unto salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus.- The more we learn about the scriptures, the more our faith is increased and as a result, we are able to become saved.
1. Demonstrates the wickedness of the sinner. We can only understand redemption is by sin our sin nature as it is explained in the bible. Romans 3:10 says 10As it is written, There is none righteous, no, not one:; 23 Romans 3:23 says 23For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God;- Verse 10 explains that none of us are righteousness. Verse 23 explains that we all have come short of the glory of God. We all naturally have a sin nature. We have to realize that a sin nature dwelt in us and we needed a savior.
2. We see the wrath of his sovereignty. Galatians 3:22 says 22But the scripture hath concluded all under sin, that the promise by faith of Jesus Christ might be given to them that believe.- God has this answer to our sin problem and he has the sovereignty to give it to us. In other words, sin according to Pentateuch (first 5 books of the bible), must be punished by death. Because God is sovereign, he can interrupt the consequences. Romans 6:23 says 23For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord. – We know what the wages of sin is (death), but God’s gift affords us eternal life. God says he overrides our punishment with his grace and his love.
3. We have faith to believe. John 3:18 says 18He that believeth on him is not condemned: but he that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God.-Redemption has a lot to do with having the faith to believe. Why would God hold back our consequences? It is because God knows the value of our soul.2 Peter 3:9 says 9The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness; but is longsuffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance.-We are sinners, but God says he loves us. The devil says to God,”If you love them, why do let them act the way they do.” God says that it is because he knows the value of our lives. His desire is that we come to repentance. This means in order for you to end up going to hell, you have to be trying to go to hell! God is so long suffering, we can’t understand why he puts up with us.
4. The scripture shows us the way of salvation. John 3:16: 16For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.-We see our self as sinners and we see interrupting the consequences (explaining he doesn’t take us out because he is longsuffering). This is not a license to do what we want. We should appreciate redemption. What if this was your last chance for us to get things right and Jesus came back in the midst of our sin and you woke up in judgment and had to explain to God what you were doing. God saved us, even though devil had the right to have us because we sinned. Based on the law we should have paid the ultimate price, but Jesus shed his blood and redeemed (or purchased) us from the devil. He bought us back. Psalm 107:2 says 2Let the redeemed of the LORD say so, whom he hath redeemed from the hand of the enemy; – We shout on our car or house, but some of us can shout simply on the fact that he saved us.
II. The purpose of reinforcement
1. The bible reinforces that God loves us and cares for us. The scriptures reinforce what God did. God is constantly telling us that he loved us and paid the price for us. The word of God builds our standards.
a. Builds us up through their standards.
2. It is a Paradigm or model. We look at the scripture as our model or standard. John 14:15 says 15If ye love me, keep my commandments.- If we love him we obey his word. 1 John 2:3 says 3And hereby we do know that we know him, if we keep his commandments.-We say it is not easy to keep God’s word. 1 John 5:3 says 3For this is the love of God, that we keep his commandments: and his commandments are not grievous. – The word grievous in this scripture means harsh. His commandments are not too difficult for us to accomplish.
3. What do you think is the most difficult principle of God’s to keep? Most people will say its fornication.
a. Fornication. – Don’t spend time worrying about the do’s and the don’ts in the bible. Spend time on the do’s and you won’t have time for the don’ts. – What keeps us is throughout the scripture, it says we are redeemed. Imagine if before you lit your weed you would think back at how Jesus redeemed you and shed his blood and this is the way you are choosing to thank him (you can apply this to any of your strongholds). The bible teaches us if you really understand that it cost something, then you start saying it is not worth disrespecting what it cost.
4. Builds us up through the symbols.
a. A mirror- James 1:23-25 says 23For if any be a hearer of the word, and not a doer, he is like unto a man beholding his natural face in a glass: 24For he beholdeth himself, and goeth his way, and straightway forgetteth what manner of man he was. 25But whoso looketh into the perfect law of liberty, and continueth therein, he being not a forgetful hearer, but a doer of the work, this man shall be blessed in his deed. – As a mirror, the word of God reflects the mind of God.
b. A seed -1 Peter 1:23 says 23Being born again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible, by the word of God, which liveth and abideth for ever. – When you plant a seed, you don’t always get a harvest right away. Ex- Some of you may have gotten angry, because you invited someone to church and they said they liked it, yet they never came again. Don’t worry about it. The seed has been planted. One plants, another waters, and God gives the increase. If you would think back, many of you have gotten a 5 yrs ago that is just now blossoming in you. It takes a while to receive the harvest.
c. Water-Ephesians 5:25-27says 25Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ also loved the church, and gave himself for it; 26That he might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water by the word, 27That he might present it to himself a glorious church, not having spot, or wrinkle, or any such thing; but that it should be holy and without blemish. , Ezekiel 47 associates water with the anointing. Remember when they pierced Jesus in the side, water and blood came out. Remember the scripture that talks about out of your belly will flow rivers of water. It is all about the idea of water representing the anointing.
d. A lamp -Psalm 119:105 says 105Thy word is a lamp unto my feet, and a light unto my path. – The word of God guides us into our future to keep us from falling.
e. A sword – Hebrews 4:12 says 12For the word of God is quick, and powerful, and sharper than any twoedged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.- The word cuts you. It goes deep. Ex- You come to church and you are determined that you are going to be mad, but after you receive the word, you can’t help but to leave with a smile on your face. The word cut you like a sword. It brought about conviction.
f. Precious metals- Psalm 19:10 says 10More to be desired are they than gold, yea, than much fine gold: sweeter also than honey and the honeycomb. Psalm 119:127 says127Therefore I love thy commandments above gold; yea, above fine gold- the bible is referred to as precious metal like gold and silver, because of its desirability and preciousness and its value.
g. Food- Job 23:12 says 12Neither have I gone back from the commandment of his lips; I have esteemed the words of his mouth more than my necessary food. – Everyone wants to be fed, like it is food. Job said he likes word better than food. You eat food that you might grow, so in like manner we feed on the word to grow spiritually
i. Milk 1 Peter 2:2: 2As newborn babes, desire the sincere milk of the word, that ye may grow thereby: – You don’t give steak to a baby. You have to give baby what they can digest. We have to treat baby Christians the same way. They may have to have some milk first, before they get to the meat. This is why you shouldn’t get upset if a milk based sermon is delivered every now and then.
ii. Meat- Hebrews 5:12-14: 12For when for the time ye ought to be teachers, ye have need that one teach you again which be the first principles of the oracles of God; and are become such as have need of milk, and not of strong meat. 13For every one that useth milk is unskilful in the word of righteousness: for he is a babe. 14But strong meat belongeth to them that are of full age, even those who by reason of use have their senses exercised to discern both good and evil. – Meat nourishes the body. Meat represents us wanting to get to the next level. Meat is challenges us. This is the position that we have about the word where we think, “Warm my heart, but challenge my head.” Meat-lovers is that next level to the next level. This is when we really want to challenge our head. Ex-We have a generation of preachers that put too much gravy on our meat (this is the whooping type sermon). Know that good meat makes its own gravy. You don’t need the popsicle/cupcake sermons ( which means we go right to the dessert), we need a balanced diet (Some meat, some potatoes, and then maybe dessert).
iii. Bread – John 6:51: 51I am the living bread which came down from heaven: if any man eat of this bread, he shall live for ever: and the bread that I will give is my flesh, which I will give for the life of the world- Bread can nourish anybody.
iv. Honey Psalm 19:10: 10More to be desired are they than gold, yea, than much fine gold: sweeter also than honey and the honeycomb. – Honey is filled with glucose and it will give you that extra boost of energy. We find ourselves showing up, because we need an extra boost. God’s word will give you and the extra energy you need to move on.
h. Hammer-Jeremiah 23:29: 29Is not my word like as a fire? saith the LORD; and like a hammer that breaketh the rock in pieces?
i. Fire-Jeremiah 20:9: 9Then I said, I will not make mention of him, nor speak any more in his name. But his word was in mine heart as a burning fire shut up in my bones, and I was weary with forbearing, and I could not stay.
III. The purpose of revelation
1. God reveals himself so we can see his power – God shows us his power, when he gets Mary pregnant when she is a virgin. He shows his power also when he raises Lazarus for the dead (These are just 2 examples)
2. They reveal Gods promises-God has kept all 3000 promises that you find in the bible. 2 Corinthians 1:20 says 20For all the promises of God in him are yea, and in him Amen, unto the glory of God by us.- The glory of God comes, because he always does what he says he will do.
3. They reveal Gods’ plan-The bible is so revealing, it gives some people more pieces of the puzzle every Sunday. God reveals his plan through his word. Jeremiah 29:11: 11For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, saith the LORD, thoughts of peace, and not of evil, to give you an expected end.
4. They reveal God’s person. Who is God? How do you explain God to people who do not know who God is? The scriptures give us amazing revelations of who God is. It is important for you to remember that the bible you read today is a translation, so in your bible words for God appear as Lord, God, Him, He, and etc…
a. The bible is written in 3 languages which are Greek, Hebrew, and Aramaic. If we understand that the bible is written in these 3 languages, then if we can understand how God’s name is used throughout scripture, it reveals something to us that we probably never knew. God used in one verse may mean something different in another verse. It depends on how the language is using it. Remember the names of God are adjectives, descriptive of God’s nature. If you understand the names of God and you are shown some instances of how the names were used, it opens up a wide possibility to discover that we may have been using the scripture wrong.
b. Names of God
EL: – “mighty, strong, prominent”. It is over 250 times in the Old Testament. See Gen. 7:1, 28:3, 35:11;- It is equivalent to use of Muslim term Allāh , but the attributes of Allah in Islam is entirely different from those of Hebrew EL. Elah and Alah in Hebrew linguistically are similar to Allah, but these two Hebrew words do not refer to God, so when Muslims say we worship the same God, know that we don’t.
ELOHIM: – The family name of God such as creator. It is used over 2500 times in the Old Testament.
EL SHADDAI: – God Almighty or “God All Sufficient.” – Used 48 times in the Old Testament (31 times alone in book of job). Ex- When Job is talking to God, he is calling him the supply. He had lost everything.
ADONAI: -”Master” or “Lord” (which means the Lord controls our lives) 300 times in the Old Testament. First used in Gen 15.2.
JEHOVAH: “the self existent one”. This is where we get the word Yahweh. In Hebrew spelled Yhwh. Found in Ex 3 in the story of the burning bush.- He is saying he is who he is. He will be who he will be. No one created him.
JEHOVAH-JIREH: – “The Lord will Provide.” – God not only has what we need, but he is what we need. – He doesn’t just give joy, he is joy.
JEHOVAH-ROPHE: “The Lord Who Heals” found in Exodus 15:22-26, 15:22-26-Health in the bible is always total. It is spirit, soul and body. It is never just physical.
JEHOVAH-NISSI: – “The Lord Our Banner- When we go to battle, we lift his name.
JEHOVAH-M’KADDESH: “The Lord Who Sanctifies – Found in Leviticus 20:7-8.
JEHOVAH-SHALOM: “The Lord Our Peace” Judges 6:24. ” –This idea of peace means I have a right standing with myself, God, and man.
JEHOVAH-TSIDKENU: “The Lord Our Righteousness” – It means we weigh ourselves by his righteousness. We are the righteousness of God. Jer. 23:5 – 6.
JEHOVAH-ROHI: “The Lord Our Shepherd” Psa. 23, JEHOVAH-SHAMMAH: “The Lord is There” (Ezek. 48:35).
JEHOVAH-SABAOTH: “The Lord of Hosts” – Sabaoth is the commander of the angelic hosts in the army of God. We don’t have authority to call down the angels of God, but God does. God sends his angels. Psalms 46:7
EL ELYON: ‘Most High” (from “to go up”) Deut. 26:19, – Whatever is over our head is still under his feat.

Knowing your bible Part III, “How the bible equips us” Bible Study 03/17/10

Knowing your bible Part III
“How the bible equips us”
Synopsis of Bible Study 3/17/10
Today we want to talk about what the bible produces in us. It should push us to be better. 2 Timothy 2:15 says 15Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.- Study to show yourself approved, because a servant needs not to be ashamed, because they can rightly divide the word of truth. The word equips us to perform ministry. The way we live out God’s will every day, the word of God helps equip us to do that.
2 Timothy 3:14-15 says 14But continue thou in the things which thou hast learned and hast been assured of, knowing of whom thou hast learned them; 15And that from a child thou hast known the holy scriptures, which are able to make thee wise unto salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus.-You come to know Christ, the wisdom of the word of God.
2 Timothy 3:16-17 says 16All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness: 17That the man of God may be perfect, thoroughly furnished unto all good works.-Perfect means mature. Thoroughly furnished means complete and equipped. It is important to know the importance of this. There are many people who do not find value in being complete in God’s word. It is like being on airplane and listening to the pilot on the intercom say that there is a crisis, but they will have to get back with you later when he figures out how to handle it. This would unnerve us, because you would think he would come over the public address system and say that he has everything under control, because they are completely equipped. After all, why would you put people at this high an altitude, put people’s lives in danger, and not be equipped to handle the crisis? Like this, God wants us to be completely equipped in this word so that we can handle our crisis. We have to know this word for ourselves
I. Equips us by building our faith
a. Different Areas of faith
1. Saving faith -2 Timothy 3:15 says 15And that from a child thou hast known the holy scriptures, which are able to make thee wise unto salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus.- The bible shows us our condition, our condemnation, and it shows us how to obtain conversation. It shows that Jesus died for us regardless of our sin nature. It is based on our ability to come to God so that we might be saved. There are those that feel they don’t qualify to be with God. Know that there is nothing you can do where the grace of God can’t find you. Most of us have been at this same place where we think that we don’t qualify to be with God, but a word came into our life, we believed in that the word, and as a result we got saved. This is why the enemy doesn’t want us to know the word.
2. Serving faith-2 Timothy 2:15 says 15Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.-study means to be diligent or labor. It suggests that when spend time in God’s word, we are able to rightly divide his word. Rightly dividing his word is like a surgeon being able to make a straight cut. As we study, we are motivated to study his word more and not relying on our Pastor as our only means of bible study. We want to go deeper, so we can rightly divide the word of God which means we want to be precise in our interpretation. If we rightly divide or study God’s word, then we are not ashamed when the enemy tries to confront us based on the word. Ex- How many people had a moment where they had someone who knew the bible, but was absolutely wrong on an issue? You knew they were wrong, though they were so convincing about it, yet you were so unlearned, you didn’t have the scriptures to come back and tell them how they were wrong. In that moment you were ashamed, because you could not rightly divide the word. Just knowing is not enough. You have to be able to rightly divide the word and be able to go through the word for yourself. If you don’t know that, all you have is a feeling. Ex- It has be more than saying something touched me from the crown of my head to the sole of my feet. This feeling could also be indigestion. Being able to rightly divide the word means I don’t have to run from people. I can stand flat footed and tell people why I believe what I believe.
i. Do you know it is possible to be in church for 20yrs and not know the bible? Ex- Some people came from churches where the preacher said turn to a scripture and by the time you got there, they were done preaching. The others that come to church and literally rely on what the preacher is going to preach on as their total bible study experience. As a result, they never know the word of God.
b. The word of God equip us for the fight
1. Ephesians 6:17 says 17And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God: – The Sword of the spirit is word of God. The sword of the spirit comes from the Greek word rhema-It is a short roman sword, almost like a dagger. Roman soldiers would have it on their side as a tool to cut things up or to use as a dagger in a time of hand to hand combat. The word “logos” refers to “The whole word of God”. John 1:1 says 1In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. – The word here means logos. Rhema refers to a specific word. Ex- Imagine the logos as an idea of armory or a big building filled with weapons. During war, the soldier walks into the armory to choose a weapon. The weapon he chooses is the rhema. It is a specific weapon for a specific battle. Logos is the armory, but we look for a specific rhema word or weapon for a specific battle. The whole logos is good, but we have to know what we need, when we need when we need it. When Jesus was being tempted in Matthew 4:1-11, he went to book of Deuteronomy to grab a rhema word. He kept saying, “It is written ““…” Jesus knew specifically what he needed. The truth is we really don’t come to church to get a word, because we are supposed to get a word at home. We come to church to get a rhema word. We need a specific word for what we are going through. Ex- If you lost your house, the scripture that says “…how beautiful and pleasant it is for us to join together in unity… “won’t be the word for you at that time. When the devil comes and tries to mess up your mind, you need to go into that armory (logos) and get you a rhema word so you can say, “Devil, I got a rhema now! “ We might need to grab the situation that says “He’ll keep me in perfect peace if I keep my mind stayed on him”. When the Devil messes with your money, you might need to grab a rhema word that says, “My God shall supply all of my needs…” When he messes with your health, you might need to grab a rhema word that says, “He was wounded for my transgressions and bruised for my iniquities and by his stripes, I am already healed.” Tell the Devil you know he is trying to convince you that you ain’t going to be nothing, but we got a rhema word that says we are wonderfully and fearfully made. We are the head and not the tail. We are a royal priesthood.” We have to know what to fight with. This is how you know that you are in the right church. Anyone can inspire you. Dr. Phil can inspire you, but when you come into House of God, there has to be such a connection to the anointing that every time the man or woman of God comes with the word, it should drop right into your situation. It has to be a word that makes you want to run on and see what the end is going to be. You are assured that you will get the victory, because you have a rhema word.
2. There is another term called logos-centric- It is the word that God’s word is the center of all we do. Ex- In the Mt Zion mission statement, there is s a line that says we are a word centered ministry.
II. It performs an enabling ministry
a. The word of God enables us to grow spiritually. 2 Timothy 3:15 says 15And that from a child thou hast known the holy scriptures, which are able to make thee wise unto salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus.- We are told that the word of God makes us wise to teach us to have understanding. How many of you have done stuff in the past that you can’t believe now that you did? Growing in the word makes you make wise decisions. It has been said that reading the word of God for 30mins a day for 10yrs is equivalent to having a Doctor of Philosophy Degree. The word of God is a seed, God waters that seed, and it produces fruit and grows.
1. We are furnished in God’s word. 2 Timothy 3:17 says 17That the man of God may be perfect, thoroughly furnished unto all good works.-We grow to go. God builds us up to enable us to operate in our area of ministry. When our children grow up and turn 18, we want them out the house as soon as possible. The reason is, when you’re grownup, its time to do something.
2. The word gives us the tools.
1. We understand God’s works- (In other words, what is God doing around us).
2. We understand God’s will (What he wants from us).
3. We understand God’s ways (How he accomplishes his will). We don’t get upset, because God is working on his will in our lives. Sometimes we might not understand. His ways might be contrary to what we thing. Isaiah 55 reminds us that his ways are not are ways and his thoughts are not our thoughts. Sometimes God is accomplishing his will by conflicting our ways.
1. They enable us to go spiritually
III. It performs an enlightening ministry
a. We are enlightened through their coaching ministry. Everything we know about God came from the word of God, like our doctrine for example. As a result when we found our self slipping, God’s word coaches us. It makes us do stuff we don’t want to do. A great cloud of witnesses encourages us is in there to encourage us.
b. We are enlightened through their chastising ministry. There ought to be something in us that convicts us. It should literally make us say ouch. Nobody likes to be put to the test. It shows us where we should be in relation to where we are. It reminds us of how short we are from the glory of God. James 1:23-25 says 23For if any be a hearer of the word, and not a doer, he is like unto a man beholding his natural face in a glass: 24For he beholdeth himself, and goeth his way, and straightway forgetteth what manner of man he was. 25But whoso looketh into the perfect law of liberty, and continueth therein, he being not a forgetful hearer, but a doer of the work, this man shall be blessed in his deed.-Whoever pays attention to the word of God continues it. You have to look at the word of God like a mirror. It reflects where you should be and where you are and as a result, it convicts you. We often think the word we receive is for someone else, but it is for us. The word of God is a convicting word. The word of God reproves. It comes from the word, evidence. Hebrews 11:1 says 1Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. In both cases, it is like convincing evidence or a smoking gun. God will give a scripture and it will be like a smoking gun right where we are hurting. It is like medicine. It is amazing how one pill knows I have a headache and not a foot ache. The receptors are sending signals where the pain is. This lets the medicine know where to go. That is how God’s word is. It goes where your pain is. Don’t get mad at the preacher. He is just giving you the pill. It goes where the pain or your struggle is.
c. We are enlightened through their correcting ministry. It doesn’t just tell us what’s wrong; it teaches us how to fix what is wrong. Ex- Bishop Walker trains Pastors across the country. He tells the Pastor’s that they don’t have to tell people that they are wrong. They know they are wrong. It does no good to tell them they are going to hell. They know this. Bishop tells them that they need to tell them how not to go to hell. The word of God doesn’t just beat us down. It builds us up. Jesus came to reconcile. Jesus knew where we were spiritually and he came to build us up. Ex- We know cursing is wrong. What we need to know is how not to curse. The word of God restores us.
1. The whole idea of correction in the body of Christ is hard because we have a generation of repeat offenders. You know how some people seem to join the church every Sunday? What is their issue? Why do you want to get baptized every six months? Ex-A part of the health care profession benefits from your sickness. If they made pills to heal you, they would put themselves out of business. If they cure you, they won’t eat. What they do instead is make a pill with thousands of side effects. Ex- They give you a pill to stop your coughing, but it may cause you to have a rash, or high blood pressure, or some other ailment. It is like you have to keep paying the piper.
2. In the beginning was the word (logos). Logos was with God, logos was God, and then the scripture goes on to say … and the logos became flesh and dwelt among us. When the logos became flesh and it became rhema. Jesus was our rhema word. He was the word for every specific situation. That’s why everyone that came to Jesus looking of a healing got it. Nowhere in the bible do you see them coming back to be healed again. When they got healed, they were whole. You don’t see blind the man coming back because one of his eyes was getting faulty again. You don’t see the people with leprosy coming back saying they were itching again. When Jesus healed them the first time, it was done. In like manner, we get a word delivered by our Pastor, we get convicted, we get principle, we come out of church saying we going to be better, and 2 mins later we right back in the same mess. We have to understand the exchange of rhema. Jesus was the word made flesh, so that we could become flesh made the word. Everywhere we go, we are the word. We should be seeping the word. We should have so much word in us, it leaks out. It ought to be hard to backslide, because we are so full of the word. When you open up your mind and spirit to receive the word, you are good. Ex- This is what messes us up. When we grew up in some churches, we saw people in church for 20yrs and they were doing some crazy stuff. They would be outside smoking, cursing in church meetings, and raising their hands in worship in church, refusing to speak outside. Just because you are in church, it doesn’t mean you are in the word. The Devil goes to church too. You got to get in his God’s word.
d. We are enlightened through their commanding ministry. The more we read it, the more we believe it, and then we become more like him. We are not here to impress or be emotional. We are trying to get a rhema word. We want a word that teaches us not only to be good, but how to be good a husband or a good wife. At the end of the day, we want to leave church saying we have a command from God
e. We are enlightened by the conquering ministry-You can’t walk around with all this word with your lip stuck out and looking like that. Because of who we are and who we know, we are conquerors in everything we are.
f. Romans 8:35-36 says 35Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? 36As it is written, For thy sake we are killed all the day long; we are accounted as sheep for the slaughter.-All of these things mentioned in verse 35 are inevitable. They will come. Their objective is to separate us from Christ. Why is that important? It is because the only way to separate you from Christ is to separate you from his word. The word and the son are the same. Verse 36 says for Christ’ sake, we are killed all day long, because we are Christians. Know that as Christians, we are targets. People are not going to like us. We should expect people to be intimidated by us, because of whom we are and who we represent. All that going on in your life should be confirmation alone that God has his hand on you. Somebody is always going to be after us.
g. We are over comers. Romans 8:37-38: 37Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him that loved us.38For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come,-It doesn’t matter what happens in our life . Though there is demonic activity and negative stuff that comes your way, know there is still more is on the way, but we are sending a message to our future. Bring it on!
h. No matter how high God takes us, we are still going to be faithful. Romans 8:39: 39Nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.- We are going to be faithful no matter what. Whether we lose our house or our job, we are still going to be here giving God the glory. If anyone comes into our life, we are not going to let them separate us from a Christ. We need God’s word too much! We are not going to let anyone separate us from the love of God. The devil is trying to make us separate ourselves from the word. Ex- How many times have you heard this question? “Where you been? I’ve just been going through.” This sounds like a person in need of a rhema word. God’s word comes to equip us. We thank God that no matter what comes in our life. Never let go of God’s word. Ex- Bishop Explains in 2005 he remembers standing in Baptist Hospital, contemplating on leaving God’s word. He remembers God’s word coming back to him such a powerful way. God said to him, “This word is the only thing that can keep you alive. It has sustained you in good days and it will sustain you in bad days!” The enemy was trying to separate him from the word of God. You got to believe God’s word. We will let nothing separate us from his word. Every time we go to that armory and find ourselves in battle, God always gives us a rhema word and we will come out better than when we went in!

Know your bible Part II, Bible Study 03/10/10

Know your bible Part II
Synopsis 3/10/10 Bible Study
Delivered by Bishop Walker III
Study in biblical inspiration
1. The bible was written over a period 1500 yrs.
2. The bible was written by 40 authors. Among them were kings, military leaders, peasants, and etc.
3. The bible was written in many different places at many different times and places. – When Jesus was crucified in Rome, know that this was not the only thing going on that time. Many things happen in parallel to what’s going on in the text you are reading.
4. The bible was written on 3 continents: Asia, Africa, and Europe
5. The bible was written in 3 different languages: Hebrew, Greek, and Aramaic
6. The bible is written in many different literary styles: Prose, Poetry, Historical Narrative, Romance, Law, biography, parable, allegory, and prophecy.
Some examples:
a. Prose & Poetry are the Psalms & Proverbs.
b. Historical- 1&2 Chronicles, 1&2 Kings, Acts,
c. Romance- Songs of Solomon
d. Law- Leviticus, Deuteronomy
e. Biography- Ruth
f. Parable- Jesus spoke many parables. Found in the gospel books.
g. Allegory- Revelations, Songs of Solomon
h. Prophesy-Old Testament
7. The bible addresses hundreds of difficult issues without contradiction.
8. The main character of the bible is God himself, made known through the person of his son, the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.
I. The process of biblical inspiration
1. How did the bible get into the hearts of man?
a. Through Revelation-the process whereby a man hears from the Lord just what the Lord wants written down. – God spoke revelation in various places and at various times.
2. Ways God spoke revelation:
a. He spoke through angels. Genesis 18 & 19, Luke 1-2, Matthew 28
b. He spoke in audible voice. Genesis 3:9-19, Genesis 6:13-21, Exodus 12:1-3, Exodus 20:1-17, Joshua 1:1-9, 1 Kings 17:2-4.
c. He spoke in a still small voice-1 Kings 19:11-12 – An example of this is when the light turned green, something said wait and then you saw someone run a red light. That was God speaking in a still small voice.
d. He spoke through nature. -Psalms 19
e. He spoke through animals- Numbers 22:28
f. He spoke through dreams – Genesis 28:12, Matthew 1-2, Matthew 2:19-22
g. He spoke through visions.- Isaiah 6:1-6- Daniel 7, Daniel 8, Daniel 10 Acts 16 & 18
h. God spoke through Christophanies. This is the appearance of Jesus in a human form which happened in the Old Testament.- Lots of people debate about whether there really were Christophanies, because they were called other things. They were other manifestations of God.
Some of these manifestations are as follows.
i. God spoke through Theophanies. This is the appearance of God.
ii. God spoke Angelophanies. This is the appearance of angels.
Christophany is the appearance of Jesus in human form, which happens in the Old Testament. Ex: When Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego were thrown in the fiery furnace and the king said he saw a 4th person in the fiery furnace that looked like the son of God.
Post Resurrection Christophanies are appearances of Jesus after his resurrection. Ex- One example is when Jesus appeared to the disciples and they wanted to see the nail prints in his hand. Ex2-The Apostle Paul had to defend his Apostleship; because being an Apostle means that you both walked with and saw Jesus Christ. Remember the Disciples became Apostles, because Jesus trained them and they walked with Jesus. Paul calls himself an Apostle, be he wasn’t there when Jesus walked the earth. Paul defends his Apostleship in Acts 9, by saying he was on Damascus Road and a light came from heaven, then the voice of Jesus asks him why he was persecuting him. This was the voice of Jesus though this was after Jesus crucifixion, so to Paul, he had seen Jesus. This was a Christophany. Acts 9:3-6 (KJV) 3And as he journeyed, he came near Damascus: and suddenly there shined round about him a light from heaven:4And he fell to the earth, and heard a voice saying unto him, Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou me? 5And he said, Who art thou, Lord? And the Lord said, I am Jesus whom thou persecutest: it is hard for thee to kick against the pricks. 6And he trembling and astonished said, Lord, what wilt thou have me to do? And the Lord said unto him, Arise, and go into the city, and it shall be told thee what thou must do. Ex3-Many people have claimed to have had Angelophanies, because there has been a person that bought them a message and never saw them again. The bible says be aware of entertaining strangers, because many have entertained angels unaware.
II. Inspiration
1. Inspiration- man writing on paper what God has told him to say. -This is how God breathed on the word all through bible. 2 Timothy 3:17 17That the man of God may be perfect, thoroughly furnished unto all good works.
2 Peter 1:20-21 20Knowing this first, that no prophecy of the scripture is of any private interpretation. 21For the prophecy came not in old time by the will of man: but holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost.
Areas of false teachings
a. Natural Inspiration -This is the theory that there was nothing supernatural involved in writing the bible. They believed that men were inspired in the same fashion as Shakespeare, Milton, Dante, and etc…
b. Spiritual Illumination – The belief that the bible and its words were inspired, but also having the belief that any Christian can be inspired to write more scriptures. – Can you imagine what the scripture would look like if we wrote it? We would write in around the things that we are not willing to let go of.
c. Partial Inspiration -This view says that only the elements in the bible related to faith are inspired. They feel that there may be scientific or historical error found, but God has preserved the message of salvation – In other words this view believes science proves that some of the stuff in the bible is not true. The bible can stand up against scientific test. Ex- There are miracles that the bible records that if they happened today, they would be simply be viewed as medical procedures such as: A person used to wear glasses, had laser surgery, and now they can see better than they ever did with the glasses. Know that historical scientific data can be in error, but it doesn’t mean it is wrong. Ex2- The way the Red Sea was made geographically, the floor of the Red Sea was significantly lower than the land the children of Israel were standing on. This means that in order for them to cross the Red Sea, they not only would have to cross a muddy sea bottom, they would have to go downhill through a valley and back up again (like a sine wave shape). There is a theory among scientist where they believe that it was possible that the children of Israel crossed in another area called the Sea of Reeds (also called the Reed Sea). This is a marsh like body of water. Scientist try to say that this is more and likely where they crossed, trying to minimize the miracle of the Red Sea crossing. The truth of the matter is, it really doesn’t minimize the miracle. If God could drown Pharaoh and his whole army in that small a body of water, then that miracle is more spectacular than the one that is recorded.
d. Conceptual Inspiration – The concepts of scripture and not words are inspired. This is the idea says that God just gave a man an idea and man wrote what he thought about that particular topic.
e. Divine Dictation – This is the belief of automations in the hand of God. This is the belief that God came upon man and overrode them. This is the total belief that God moved the pen and merely used man’s body as a vehicle to write his own words. – In a sense it is the belief that man was like a robot being controlled by God. This is not true, because God would never take away a person’s personality, because we see the personality of the biblical writings coming through their writings.
f. Verbal Plenary Inspiration – Verbal Plenary is the belief that all the bible was inspired (every last word). Plenary means all. Verbal means words. We believe that all of the words of the bible were inspired, untainted by man’s opinion.
g. Illumination – The process by which God uses the inspired written record of his revelation to speak to the hearts of individual people –This is an example of how Bishop or your Pastor can preach the same text many times and every time, you will hear something different. The thing is that we will receive it where we are, based on our individual situation. Ex- When God say through your Pastor, “God is about to bring you out”, for one person they may feel God is saying their financial situation is about to turn around. For another person, they may feel God is saying that the person that they have been trying to get out of their house is about to leave.
i. There is a theory in seminary school about the apologetics. It is like a defense. You have to be able to have a defense. Can the bible stand up against certain tests? The enemy is going to come in and try you. We should be able to defend the bible, because it can stand up to test.
III. The bible can stand sociological and historical test
1. People laughed at the bible for a long time. They the bible was just an allegory and thought some of the places in it never existed. They even thought the bible never existed, until archeology and history caught up with it.
2. Here are some examples (Biblical proofs of inspiration):
a. For years they thought Ur of the Caribbean’s never existed and then proof was discovered to show that it really did.
b. History recorded Josephs reign in Egypt. Some doubted if Joseph really was as powerful as is recorded. Not many years ago, in Yemen, there was found an inscription in a wealthy woman’s house a transaction of bread being brought in Egypt and that bread was brought from Joseph. A tablet that archeologist found dated back in the time where Joseph lived. Imagine that.
c. Archeologist actually found the makeup saucers of Jezebel.
d. Even in Egypt now, archeologist have found brick that was made without straw. Remember the bible tells us that there was a period of time where Pharaoh made them make brick without straw as a punishment.
e. The death of Jesus is a historical fact. Records show that Jesus was really here on earth and punished under Roman execution. His tomb is still here and you can go and see it.
3. The bible passes the scientific test.
a. The bible says the earth was sphere. Isaiah 40:22 says 22It is he that sitteth upon the circle of the earth, and the inhabitants thereof are as grasshoppers; that stretcheth out the heavens as a curtain, and spreadeth them out as a tent to dwell in:
b. The bible says the Earth was suspended in space.-Job 26:7 says 7He stretcheth out the north over the empty place, and hangeth the earth upon nothing.
c. The bible says the stars were innumerable. Genesis 15:5 says 5And he brought him forth abroad, and said, Look now toward heaven, and tell the stars, if thou be able to number them: and he said unto him, So shall thy seed be.
d. Embalming is found in the bible. Isaiah 40:22 says 22It is he that sitteth upon the circle of the earth, and the inhabitants thereof are as grasshoppers; that stretcheth out the heavens as a curtain, and spreadeth them out as a tent to dwell in:
4. The bible passes the prophecy test
a. The bible will stand the test of prophecy. The test of prophecy says what was prophesied in the Old Testament, absolutely came to pass.

b. Here is a test of filled with stuff we may have read, but not paid attention to.
Let’s see how you do on this test (answers below)
1. Who is this scripture referring to? Micah 5:2 says 2But thou, Bethlehem Ephratah, though thou be little among the thousands of Judah, yet out of thee shall he come forth unto me that is to be ruler in Israel; whose goings forth have been from of old, from everlasting.
2. Who is this scripture referring to? Isaiah 40:3 says 3 Listen! It’s the voice of someone shouting, “Clear the way through the wilderness for the Lord! Make a straight highway through the wasteland for our God!
3. Who is this scripture referring to? Zechariah 9:9 says 9Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion; shout, O daughter of Jerusalem: behold, thy King cometh unto thee: he is just, and having salvation; lowly, and riding upon an ass, and upon a colt the foal of an ass.
4. Who is this scripture referring to? Psalm 41:9 says 9Yea, mine own familiar friend, in whom I trusted, which did eat of my bread, hath lifted up his heel against me.
5. Who is this scripture referring to? Zechariah 11:12 says 12And I said unto them, If ye think good, give me my price; and if not, forbear. So they weighed for my price thirty pieces of silver.
6. Who is this scripture referring to? Psalm 34:20 says 20He keepeth all his bones: not one of them is broken.
7. Who is this scripture referring to? Amos 8:9 says 9And it shall come to pass in that day, saith the Lord GOD, that I will cause the sun to go down at noon, and I will darken the earth in the clear day:
8. Answers:
9. Answer 1: This is referring to Jesus. Micah prophesied of Jesus thousands of years before he was born. He would be born in Bethlehem.
10. Answer 2: John the Baptist
11. Answer 3: Jesus when he came in on Palm Sunday.
12. Answer 4: Judas. He would be betrayed by a friend.
13. Answer 5: Judas. He would be betrayed for 30 pieces of silver.
14. Answer 6: Referring to Jesus. It was customary for them to break the bones of those being crucified, but not a bone in Jesus’ body would be broken.
15. Answer 7: At noon the sun refused to shine. Darkness covered the earth. Amos prophesied the exact time this would happen years in advance.
5. Imagine what the people did when these prophesies were made. Know that God’s word will come to pass. If all this has come to pass, there is still some that hadn’t come to pass yet. Ex- The same way you saw him leave, he is coming back for example. Earthquakes and floods you see them happening in different places. Children rising up against their parents. We are so causal in our lives, that we will miss the most powerful things that God will do in this age.
6. What are the odds of all of these prophesies coming to pass having been made thousands of years ahead of time?
7. Astrologers were looking for the star when Jesus was born, because it was prophesied of the star. Just like this, the last time we saw Jesus as a people, he was going up into heaven. We need to be looking up expecting at any moment Jesus is going to break through the clouds to come back.
8. We have allowed the world to interpret our reality. God gave the word for us to interpret from a spiritual perspective. If you interpret like the world, then what is the point of being a Christian? The world looks at what’s happening in Hatti, in Chile, in Turkey, and the potential of it happening in Tennessee (because of the fault line) as stuff that just happens. Spiritually, you have to say God show me what you are trying to show through all this happening? We know that there has to be something that God is trying to show us through all of this. You have to wonder why now.
Three things to remember about this bible
1. This bible is infallible. Every promise God made, will never fail. If he promised it, believe it will come to pass. If God says there is a real hell, believe that there is. After death comes judgment. There is no purgatory.
2. The bible is inerrant. it is not subject to error. It is implicitly true. The interpretation of man might error, but his word is not in error. His word is true.
3. The bible is complete. When John finished writing revelation, he put his pen down after writing amen, and the bible was complete.
We learn this term called Sola scriptura. It means the scripture alone is all we need. Out of all the books you shall read, remember that there isn’t any book more powerful or full of life as God’s word. There is no adding to it or taking away. His word is the same. The point is, we shout on God promised us a job and we believe it is coming, we shout on the fact that God promised us a house or a promotion and we believe by faith it is going to happen, but we need to believe that one day in the twinkling of an eye, the trumpet is going to sound and the dead in Christ shall rise and those of us who remain will be caught up to meet the Lord in the air. There we will reign with him and we can’t crown him Lord of lords until will all get there. Every knee will bow and every tongue will have to confess the he is Lord of lords and King of kings. This is no play thing. The bible is real and blessed is he that handles it correctly and whoa to him who handles it lightly.

Knowing your bible, Bible Study 03/05/10

Knowing your Bible
Synopsis of Bible Study 03/05/10
Delivered by Bishop Walker III
What is the Bible
The bible is a collection of books accepted by Christians as sacred, inspired by God, providing our bases of belief about spiritual matters, and providing guidelines for moral living. Without the bible we are unable to have a moral compass. As a result, the bible becomes a frame of reference by which we develop our ethic to develop our way of existing in the world. We must understand that the bile is a collection of inspired books. Many of us have had debates with people who refuted the bible on the grounds that the bible is mans’ book. They say it was written by man and it is man’s opinion. There argument is since it is man’s opinion, you can’t believe the bible. We must understand that though the bible was written by men, it was not written by men with agendas. The bible was written by men that were moved by the Holy Spirit. When you look at 2 Timothy 3:16 it says 16All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness:- Scripture comes to us, because it was inspired by God. 2 Peter 1:21-23 says 21For the prophecy came not in old time by the will of man: but holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost.-No prophesy is for private interpretation. What we have in the scripture is not an intellectual property tainted by the agendas of people who just one day thought that something sounded good and thought they would write it down and call it God’s word. This is not the case at all. We have a collection of books that come to us, because God inspired men to write them. They were inspired by the Holy Ghost. This is important to know, because when you start looking at things like if these were records that were written down, then you wonder how did the people know that God said, “Let there be light.” Who was there interviewing God afterwards saying, “What you going to do next”? Who was there to actually see the snake go up and beguile Eve? It was the Holy Ghost that inspired men to write these records. Because of this, we know these were not fables. These were real events.
Old Testament
1. The Old Testament is the more complicated of the two Testaments to understand. The Old Testament is made up of 39 books. It is part of the 2 sections of the Christian Bible. It contains the sacred writings of the Jews. It was written from the time period of 1000 BC to 100 BC. For 900 yrs the Old Testament is being written. The Old Testament contains stuff that occurred centuries earlier. It was passed downed through the Hebrew people, by the process of oral tradition. This means they kept telling the stories from one generation to the next. One of their greatest stories was how God delivered the children of Israel from Egypt and brought them into the Promised Land. They kept telling these stories over and over until they gained credibility. The more the stories were told, the more they gained credibility and as a result were canonized (means they made the bible). We have no original manuscripts of the Old Testament. We only have copies.
2. Jesus Christ is the central figure of Christianity. Jesus Christ was a Jew, not a Christian. Jesus practiced Judaism in the first part of his ministry. That is why he went to the temple as he did.
3. Christianity began as a sect. It was a small group of Judaism and it became great when many gentiles or non-Jews were converted and began believing in Jesus Christ. This is when Christianity really came to fruition. The only bible (the concept of scriptures) that Jesus and his culture knew were that of the Hebrew bible otherwise called the Old Testament. This is why Jesus kept saying “… you have heard it said … “They quoted the scripture of the law the Pharisees lived by. This was the Old Testament.
4. The Old Testament is made up of 2 languages. It is made up of Hebrew and Aramaic.
New Testament
1. There are 27 books in the New Testament. It’s just a coincidence, not some kind of system. A good way to remember it is by remembering 3 x 9 is 27. That’s how many books you have in the New Testament. The New Testament contains sacred books that are unique to Christianity.
2. All the New Testament books were written in Greek originally. Remember the backdrop of the New Testament was Rome. Most of the New Testament derived out of the New Testament experience.
3. The New Testament was written from the time period of 50 – 120 A.D.
Bible Translations
1. The bible had to be interpreted by generations. The Hebrew Bible, which was the Old Testament, was written in Hebrew and Aramaic and the New Testament was written in Greek and.
2. The very first translation happened because of an historical reality. In the first century, the language of Rome changed from Greek to Latin. The very first translation of the Bible was in 405A.D. It was a Latin translation of the bible called Vulgate. This bible was the bible for centuries.
3. In 1384, we got the first English Translation. The bible was first translated in English by the John Wycliffe Translation. John Wycliffe changed the Latin Vulgate to English.
4. In 1611, King James commissioned that John Wycliffe’s Translation be written in the King’s dialect. This was the England dialect or in other words, the way in which King James talked. This is how we got the King James Version. King James commissioned that it be written and this is why it was called the King James Version (KJV). So in recapping, the first translation was the Vulgate (Latin Translation), then the John Wycliffe Translation, and then the King James Translation.
5. What makes Translations interesting is we must understand that translations embodied the culture of that particular day and time. This is why we have different translations today such as the RSV, NIV, English Translation, and etc … We are trying to translate from the original, the Greek or Hebrew. You don’t have to know Greek or Hebrew. You don’ have to know Aramaic, but it may be helpful to have a Pastor or teacher who does, because you want to make certain that you understand the word usage found in the scripture. In translation, it is important to understand that a word in English may not have the same meaning in the Greek.
6. A lot of our doctrinal beliefs have been based on error-ed translations. This is because we have people that are literalist. A literalist is a person who takes the scripture right off the page as it is written in the King James English. They think you really don’t have a bible, unless it is the King James Version. Ex- Jesus never would have said, ”Verily verily I say unto thee.” Jesus didn’t talk like this. He never would have said, “Wheresoever’s though goest…” This is why it seems amazing when people pray like this. Ex- “Father, where forever thou seest me?” We have been indoctrinated to believe this is God’s language. This is not God’s language. This is King James’ language. Literalist will take a scripture off the page without reference, without knowledge of context and culture, and without knowledge of the language and as a result they cause an inadequate translation. This causes people to be able to justify slavery, the oppression of woman, and all kind of stuff. This is all a result of taking a word straight off the page. One might ask shouldn’t we believe the bible as it is? Yes, the truth is the same, but what we are trying to do is get at the truth by going deeper. Many of us grew up thinking women shouldn’t preach. We grew up thinking they shouldn’t wear pants either. This was all a result of someone taking every word literally. Really this should mean that we need to cut off our left hand, because we know it offended us this week. Also we should pluck out our right eye or maybe we should grab up a few snakes and play with them, because anything that bites you will not kill you. Why don’t we take this stuff literally too? The answer is, we take what we want to take literally in order to push our agenda. The point is we have to get to the truth of what the scripture really means. In all fairness, generations of old didn’t have access of academies and seminaries as many of us do today. With our access to computers and Google search engines; there is no excuse why we can’t go get this stuff our self.
7. In our spiritual journey, the most amazing point you can come to is when you can acknowledge that perhaps what we have been taught all our life, was wrong. When you can get to that point, you are teachable. If you can never get to that point, you are a person that simply thinks the position that you have is right. Ex- Bishop explains he was just like that. There were things he was very conservative on, until God had to show him that Bishop’s understanding was not what he meant when the scripture was inspired. When Bishop got an understanding of the language and the words of the bible, Bishop said he realized that this word could be dangerous in the hands of people that really didn’t understand what the scripture really means. He many people reading this are teachable? Translations are important. Words mean different things in different languages. In Hebrew and Greek, words play on things.
The Old Testament Books
1. The Pentateuch was the first 5 books of the bible. They were the law of the Torah (the book of Moses). They include Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy.
2. The first 11 books of Genesis talk about God. This was during a Pagan culture. This meant they served idol gods. The Hebrew people, the Israelites, believed in one God. This brings us to another revelation of what was going on in that culture. There were two converging theologies. One was called, polytheism. Poly means many and theism means god. Put it together and it means many gods. Next there was monotheism. Mono means one, which means worshipping one god. The Hebrew people were monotheistic which meant they only worshipped one God. Remember the 3 Hebrew boys? They were Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. Actually these were their Babylonian names. The Babylons gave them these names (found in Daniel 1-2). When the king made a decree that he was going to make an image unto himself and everyone was going to have to bow down, the 3 Hebrew boys said they would go to the fiery furnace, because they were not going to bow down to the idol god. They were monotheistic. They were willing to die for what they believed in. Never turning away from their God was so dear to the Hebrew people.
3. In the book of Genesis, we also have the stores of creations, the great flood, the tower of Babel, and we see God continued to love and sustain his people. We also can trace the patriarchs of the children of Israel (the head of the house, the head of the families). In Israel, we know the main patriarchs were Abraham, who had a son named Isaac, who had a son named Jacob. This is why throughout Israel’s history, they referred to the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob when praying
3 religions came out of Abraham.
1. They were Christianity, Islam, and Judaism. Abraham is the father of all of that. All the conflicts that exist now between Israel and the Palestinians can be traced back to the bible. It is traced back to when Abraham went in too early with Hagar the Egyptian hand maid and had a child named Ishmael, because he couldn’t wait on God’s promise. As a result, because God promised his seed would be blessed, even though Ishmael was not the Isaac, God told Hagar that he was going to bless her. This was during the time Sarah had put Hagar and Ishmael out in the dessert. They left, but they left with the blessing that God was going to bless them.
2. Isaac is born and he becomes the blessing, the promised child. As a result, the lineage of the Christian faith is traced through Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. It does not go through is Ishmael. Now Ishmael is always going to be at odds with Isaac, b because Isaac is with Israel and Ishmael is with the Palestinians. The war that we are fighting in Afghanistan today is made up of a bunch of angry Islam people that got put out of their land. They are saying we can’t get with Israel, because Israel won’t give us our due land. It goes way back to bible days when Hagar and Ishmael got put out of the land. Everything you see today can be traced back to biblical days.
Exodus and Numbers
1. Here we find the story of Moses who led the people out of captivity in 1300 BC. They wondered in the wilderness for 40yrs before coming to the Promised Land. God gave the 10 commandments to Moses during that time.
Leviticus and Deuteronomy
1. The entire legal system today can be traced back to what you find in Deuteronomy and Leviticus. Every law that regulated Hebrew life came out of what is in Leviticus and Deuteronomy. Their purity laws and how they took care of themselves came from here too.
 
Historical Books
Joshua, Judges, Ruth, 1 & 2 Samuel, 1 & 2 Kings, 1 & 2 Chronicles Ezra, Nehemiah, and Esther make up the historical books.
1. They tell us about the history of Israel. The history of Israel is told through out the historical books. 40yrs they wondered in the dessert before coming to the Promised Land. After coming to the Promised Land, listen to their future. They were a great people, ruled by Judges. This is how their legal system was set up. All matters were brought before Judges to be settled. One of the most amazing Judges that we can all remember out of the 13 -15 believed Judges was Deborah. For centuries, Israel was ruled by Judges. One day they rose up and said they wanted a king. God is like, I didn’t say you could have kings, but they insisted that was what they wanted. God allowed them to do what they wanted to do, because obviously they didn’t want to wait on him. God allowed them to choose their own king. They ended up with Saul. Saul ended up being a pretty bad person. He had ego problems and everything. Saul had a protégé named David. Saul killed 1000 people and David killed 10000 people. Saul got jealous because they quit singing Saul’s song and started sing David’s song. David became one of the greatest kings of Israel. David had a son named Solomon, who reigned after him. They started out being ruled by judges and then they started being ruled by kings. What is most important is, in the year 586Bc, captivity came. The Babylons came in and put the children of Israel into captivity after they had a streak of losing wars. Eventually, Israel was split as well as being taken captive. It was a dark time they called the exile period. They were taken from their homeland and their children were killed. Their babies were thrown against the wall in order to kill them. Babylon was trying to destroy them and torture them and make a mockery of their god. They made a statement about it
a. The Israelites were at the riverside of Babylon and they were giving lamentations about what had happened and they said … and we hung up our harps… in Psalm 137: 1-2 where it says 1By the rivers of Babylon, there we sat down, yea, we wept, when we remembered Zion.2We hanged our harps upon the willows in the midst thereof. -They were inspired by David. They understood music, because it was a part of who they were. They hung up their harps on the willow trees as a sign of surrender.
b. …and they that carried us away (verse 3)… Psalm 137:3 says 3For there they that carried us away captive required of us a song; and they that wasted us required of us mirth, saying, Sing us one of the songs of Zion.
c. The Babylonians said why don’t ya’ll sing us a song now and entertain us. The children of Israel wanted to know how they could sing a song in a strange land. They begin to have the personal remembrance of Israel. They said if I forget you Jerusalem, let my right hand loose her cunning and if I forget thee, let the tongue cleave to the roof of my mouth (Verses 5 – 6). Psalm 137:5-6 says 5If I forget thee, O Jerusalem, let my right hand forget her cunning.6If I do not remember thee, let my tongue cleave to the roof of my mouth; if I prefer not Jerusalem above my chief joy.
d. Eventually they turned their prayers to God. They reminded God that they were his children and he made them a promise, so they were angry. Then they turned to their captors you will be destroyed. What you did to us, somebody going to come and do to you is what they were saying. Psalm 137:8-9: daughter of Babylon, who art to be destroyed; happy shall he be, that rewardeth thee as thou hast served us. 9Happy shall he be, that taketh and dasheth thy little ones against the stones.
2. Do you know what modern day Babylon is on your map today geographically? It is Iraq.
Wisdom Books
Job, Psalms, Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, Songs of Solomon,
1. These books contain practical wisdom on living life successfully and holy. It deals with the weight of the matters of life, the existence of evil, and our relationship with god while helping us understand what God wants for our lives. Read these books and you can make it through whatever you are going through.
Books of Prophesy.
1. They are divided into Major and Minor prophets. Note: Major Prophets have longer books. Minor Prophets have smaller books.
2. There are 5 Major Prophets. Isaiah, Jeremiah, Lamentations, Ezekiel, Daniel. Know that Lamentations is written by Jeremiah. So Jeremiah wrote both Jeremiah and Lamentations.
3. The Minor Prophets are: Hosea, Joel, Amos, Obadiah, Jonah, Micah, Nahum, Habakkuk, Zephaniah, Haggai, Zechariah, and Malachi
4. Prophets speak for God. They warn us of things to come. They give us instruction. They give us predictions. They give us messages from God.
New Testament
1. The New Testament Deals with the gospels. They are Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John.
2. The 4 gospels tell of Jesus’ life, his ministry, his teachings, his death, and his resurrection. The first gospel comes in 870AD. It is the gospel of Mark. Your bible is not in chronological order. For example, Job is much older than many books in the bible. Mark is the first gospel written in 870. Ex-Bishop Walker explains that he and the First Lady and I had an opportunity to go to Italy and see the actual tomb and the casket of Mark. He explained that they stood 4 feet from it. He told how they explained that during the war, people were trying to steal Mark’s body, to try the refute the idea of Christianity and it is recorded that his skeletal hand comes out of the casket as if prophetically trying to let them know who he was. He had a cross in his hand. This how they knew it was mark. Mark is the first gospel. Mark walked with Jesus. The other gospels draw from the Mark’s gospel.
3. Matthew and Luke were written in 80 and 90 AD. And John comes in 95AD. Matthew, Mark, and Luke are called the synoptic gospels. “Syn” means synthesis or together. “Optic” means seeing as in they see together. This means their writings see together. They have commonalties within them. John is not a synoptic gospel. It stands alone. Let’s prove it. Matthew, Mark, and Luke say Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea. John starts out by saying in the beginning was the word, the word was with God, and the word was God. There are stories in John that don’t exist in the synoptic gospels. For example, when it says “Lazarus come forth …” or “… I will leave you a comforter…”
4. The 1st gospel was writing 40 yrs after Jesus’ crucifixion (Mark).
5. The 2nd gospel was Matthew, then Luke, and then john.
Acts or Apostles
1. This is also called the Actions of the apostles. It is a sequel to the gospel of Luke. Luke writes Acts and Luke. Luke is an amazing writer. Luke is a physician. When he talks about Jesus’ birth, he tells about the visit of Elizabeth and he includes the detail about the baby leaping inside the womb. He even tells how far along the mothers were in their pregnancies, because he was a doctor.
2. Luke writes Acts. Acts deals with the first 30yr history of the Christian church. How the church began and started can be found in Acts. It mostly started with Peter and Paul.
3. A couple of things to know:
4. The word Pentecost is found the book of Acts 2. The Pentecost happened 50 days after Jesus’ resurrection. Jesus made a promise. He said he would not leave us comfortless. He said the Holy Ghost would come upon us. Jesus is crucified and he gets up from the grave, 50 days later in Acts 2:1, we see the experience of the Pentecost. Pentecost means 50.- Acts 2:1-4: 1And when the day of Pentecost was fully come, they were all with one accord in one place. 2And suddenly there came a sound from heaven as of a rushing mighty wind, and it filled all the house where they were sitting. 3And there appeared unto them cloven tongues like as of fire, and it sat upon each of them. 4And they were all filled with the Holy Ghost, and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance.
5. Also, they were first called Christians in the book of Acts. They weren’t called Christians anywhere in the gospels. They were first called Christians in Antioch. Acts 11:26 says 26And when he had found him, he brought him unto Antioch. And it came to pass, that a whole year they assembled themselves with the church, and taught much people. And the disciples were called Christians first in Antioch.
6. You must read this he book of Acts as a historical book, not a theological book. It is a historical book. You don’t extract theological principles from it. This book is so you can learn what happened during the early church. Because people have viewed this as a theological book, people still sit around and wait or tarry for the Holy Ghost. Jesus told them to wait on the Holy Ghost, because the Holy Ghost had not yet come, so they tarried and waited on the Pentecost. After the Holy Ghost came, he dwelt in us at the point of salvation. At the point of salvation, you already have the Holy Ghost. You don’t have to wait for someone you already have. You might not have the fullness of the Holy Spirit, because you got to get “you” out of the way, but you do have the Holy Spirit at the point of salvation.
The letters of Paul
1. Romans, 1&2 Corinthians, Galatians, Ephesians, Philippians, and Colossians, 1 & 2 Thessalonians, 1&2 Timothy, Titus, Philemon, and Hebrews.
2. In these letters, Paul is basically giving instruction to the churches about codes behavior and what to do. He gives mentorship to Timothy about being a good soldier, desiring office of Bishop, and etc…
Catholic letters
1. Catholic here means they are universal. Universal meaning they are circulating among Christian communities. They were read at every meeting. This includes James, 1&2 Peter, 1, 2, & 3 John, Jude, Revelation.
2. These letters deal with love respect and kindness and putting your faith into action.
Revelations
Apocalyptic Book
1. It barely made the bible. Apocalyptic, deals with the end of time. Because of how it is written, people are afraid of it. Ex-Bishop explains that he is working on a series dealing with the apocalyptic or the end of days. There is no way in good faith; we could not deal with this in this season in light of all the stuff that is going on. There are too many earthquakes. Too much is going on for us not to know that something is up. You don’t even have to be spiritual to be a little unnerved about what is going on. They are saying this earthquake in Chile shifted the earth of its axis. The actual days could actually get shorter. Jesus says you are going to know when something is getting ready to happen. He said there would be wars, rumors of wars, and earthquakes in certain places. There will be floods and children that rise up against their parents. Men will be lovers of themselves. Something is up and we have to deal with this. We are really the generation that will see the coming of the Lord. Some people don’t want to be here for this, but if you are not raptured, it is very possible that you could be.
Historical Facts
1. The most comforting chapter in the bible Psalms 23, John 14
2. Love Chapter-1 Cor 13
3. Faith Chapter-Hebrews 11
4. New Testament Formation-Acts 2
5. Two Scripture identically alike- 2 Kings 19, Isaiah 37
6. Longest verse-Esther 8:9
7. Shortest-John 11:35(Jesus wept)
8. Most precious verse – John 3:16
9. Saddest Verse- Mark 15 :34
10. Grandest verse – Romans 8:11
11. How many authors wrote the bible -40
Words that appear only once in the bible
1. Reverend- It can be found in Psalm 111:9 where it says9He sent redemption unto his people: he hath commanded his covenant for ever: holy and reverend is his name. There is a lot of controversy over this being used as a title for a Pastor. Throughout scripture, Elder, Bishops, Pastors were used almost interchangeably, but you only see reverend used in this scripture. The scripture says he sent redemption to his people and he hath commanded his covenant forever. If who you call Reverend redeemed his people and has a covenant forever, then you can call him “Reverend”. This title almost borders blasphemy if you think about it, but it is culturally acceptable.
2. Eternity- Isaiah 57:15
3. Grandmother- 2 Timothy 1:5
Some interesting facts
God is used 4370 times.
Jehovah is used 6855 times.
Lord is used is used 7736.
The Longest word in the bible is “Mahershalalhashbaz”. Isaiah 8:1
The Greatest word in the bible-Jesus