Bible Studies
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Repentance
The Bible says that all have sinned (Romans 3:23) and to be forgiven we need to repent. What does it mean to repent?
Conviction
Sin has separated us from God (Isaiah 59:2). The answer is to repent, but the problem is, for a person to repent they must be convicted in their hearts that they need to repent. One person learns that they are lost and a sinner but does nothing about it and another person learns the exact same thing and is moved to do something about it. What is the difference in the two people?
Baptism
Just why should a person be baptized? To answer this question we must understand the fundamentals of the gospel that Jesus Christ brought to this Earth (Luke 3:3). The message is – The baptism of repentance FOR the remission of sins. Baptism represents something very dramatic and sobering and at the same time something very wonderful. It represents the abhorrence of the sinful, self-life and at the same time the ability to change our lives by the power of the Holy Spirit, which is given to us at baptism.
Receiving the Holy Spirit
In order to enter into the Kingdom of God, one must possess God’s Holy Spirit. Man is mortal, subject to death. We are not born possessing eternal life, there is a process we must go through to receive God’s Holy Spirit. We must repent of our sins, be convicted of our need for salvation and be baptized.
The Process of Conversion
Once we have repented and received God’s Spirit, divine life has been begotten in our minds. One’s basic attitude must be changed or converted. This transformation is a tremendous undertaking. It requires a miracle! The receiving and indwelling of God’s Holy Spirit is the power needed to help renew one’s mind.
Passover
The first Passover was observed by the ancient Israelites just before their exodus from Egypt. They had been slaves in Egypt for nearly a century before God freed them through a series of plagues He caused to punish their Egyptian captors for refusing to let them go. The 10th and last plague was death for every firstborn in Egypt. But none of the Israelites were harmed.
Days of Unleavened Bread
Leaven is also a symbol for sin (I Corinthians 5:8). God commanded the ancient Israelites to put all leaven out of their homes and off their property and eat unleavened bread during this seven-day festival. And so the Feast of Unleavened Bread is to remind God’s people today that they are to strive to put SIN completely out of their lives!
Pentecost
The day of Pentecost is the day the Holy Spirit became available to all of mankind. To all who would repent of their sin (sin is the breaking of God’s law – 1 John 3:4) and would accept Jesus Christ as their personal savior.
Feast of Trumpets
For nearly 6,000 years, ever since the sin of Adam, God has allowed us humans to reap the consequences of going our own ways. Man now stands poised to destroy all life on this planet. And unless Jesus Christ returns to earth to restore the government of God and put an end to warfare, not a single human being would be left alive!
Atonement
The fifth annual Sabbath, the Day of Atonement, pictures the fifth step in God’s Master Plan–deposing Satan from his position as world ruler, and his removal to a place completely away from mankind. Satan will be “bound” for 1,000 years, no longer able to deceive the nations or influence mankind to sin (Revelation 20:1-3).
Feast of Tabernacles
GOD is not in competition with Satan! He is not trying to save the whole world now! Long ago Jesus Christ announced that His message, the good news of the Kingdom of God, would be preached in this age merely as a witness to all nations–not to convert them (Matthew 24:14). When God sets His hand to save the world, He will save it!
Last Great Day
Why have countless millions died without ever having had an opportunity to understand the purpose of life and to be saved? Even today the vast majority of people have not heard Christ’s true Gospel of the coming Kingdom of God.
Beyond the Ten Commandments
Beyond the foundational Ten Commandments, God gave us other commandments that help us become more like Christ. By carefully reading and studying the Word of God, one can quite easily find these instructions for living the Way, the Truth, and the Life (John 14:6).
The Sabbath
When we look into the reason for the Sabbath, we find that it was in God’s original plan to have a day of rest (Genesis 2:2-3). God walked and talked with Adam and Eve in the garden giving them instructions on how to keep the seventh day holy. He instructed them in the way to keep eternal life.
The Law
By identifying sin, the law informs the sinner that he is lost and leads him to the redemption offered by Christ. Redemption gives the recipient freedom from the death sentence of the law and also the gift of faith to obey the law in his life. To live a spiritual life in Christ is the main purpose of God’s Law, to teach us what things are righteous and to identify those things that are wrong so we can do those things which are right.