Why does it matter how historians determine what is true? (QUICK NOTE: this is a lesson that is especially good to look at the PowerPoint video of it, here is the link: https://youtu.be/gvTRyfFtujU The Bible805 site https://www.Bible805.com, has links to all the videos of the podcasts) In the previous lesson, we talked about the importance of truth and how truth is that which corresponds to reality. We then talked about how history is a useful way to determine what corresponds to reality and how this is foundational to determining if a religion is true. But how do historians go about figuring ..read more

Before we begin, this lesson is part of a 4-part foundational series: How Truth & History confirm that we can trust the Christian Bible Though each lesson is useful on its own, all four lessons in this series go together for a complete understanding of the topic The 4 lessons in this series are: •       #1 What is Truth?. . . and how historical truth relates to religious truth •       #2 How do historians determine Truth?. . . why geography, archeology, artifacts, and documents matter •       #3 How i ..read more

As you have read through the Bible from first to last, it’s all been about Jesus. He created a perfect world for humanity to enjoy and to walk with Him. When they disobeyed, He promised a Redeemer. The entire Old Testament talks about this future Redeemer, the importance of salvation by faith, and how the sacrificial system was a picture of what was coming. The prophets continually reminded the people that the Redeemer, the Messiah was coming. And the New Testament records the life, death, and resurrection of the Messiah, Jesus and the creation of the church He left to represent Him. Jesus ..read more

Our study of the New Testament is about so much more than an overview of books, or a historical tour. It is the culmination of God’s rescue plan for the people He created. The development of God’s changed, redeemed people is what we’ve been learning about. All else will fade (churches, buildings, denominations); God’s people will not. And it is those people (you) who will reach the world with God’s message of salvation. How we become that, the spiritual formation of God’s people is what these “Pastoral Epistles” are about. Earlier New Testament writings clarified the theology of salvation--tha ..read more

How do we act when bad things happen to us? We always have a choice—we can retaliate; we can throw a pity party; we can blame others.  Or we can trust God no matter what and try to respond in a way He wants us to. In what are called the “Prison Epistles” Ephesians, Philippians, Colossians, and Philemon we’ll look at how the Apostle Paul responded in a very difficult situation. This lesson about them is much more than a history lesson about Paul because what we do, how we respond to challenging situations is the clearest evidence possible of what we truly believe and WHO we truly believe i ..read more

The content here may seem an overly intense way to encourage you to read through the Bible in Chronological Order, which Bible805 (https://wp.me/pazrJD-OO) has a variety of ways for you to do, but we are living in a time when truth seems to have lost its connection with objective reality in the minds of many and a simple encouragement to read through your Bible in the coming year didn't seem like enough. Times are tragic when now truth for many is defined by whatever social media we follow or whatever we tell ourselves is true. Jesus succinctly summed up our situation when he said, "You are in ..read more

Romans is one of the most significant books in the Bible because it is a complete and systematic explanation of the Christian faith.  It is different than the other letters of the New Testament that were written to address specific problems in specific churches. The focus of this book was to clarify the Christian faith and our salvation—to show from start to finish that it is by grace alone through faith alone, not adherence to Jewish laws, or human effort, that salvation is possible. At the same time, it also clarifies God’s continuing expectations for those who have accepted His gift of ..read more

A struggle for most of us who follow Jesus is that we know we should be better than we are. We know God called us to live lives that reflect our Savior, but far too often our lives reflect our world instead. As we learn in reading Paul's letters to the Corinthians, this struggle is nothing new. We can grow and become all God wants us to be, and these books and this lesson about them will help us do that. Paul begins by reminding the Corinthians of their high calling as believers and then challenges the church with specific examples where they are not living according to that calling. He doesn ..read more

As we learned in our previous lesson on Acts and Hebrews, when Paul first began preaching this new message of salvation in Jesus, he began by showing how Jesus was the fulfillment of Old Testament prophecy. As he moves further away from Jerusalem and begins to preach to people who aren’t as familiar with the Bible, he runs into both new questions and new challenges. Many of these are specific to the particular location he writes to and these letters to the Thessalonians are a good example of this as he confronts a new source of persecution that is political, not simply a religious disagreement ..read more

Hebrews has a reputation for being a difficult book to understand and it is if you simply pull it out of context and without at least some knowledge of the Old Testament that it is based on, try to figure out what it is talking about. This is sad because Hebrews was intended to be a book of explanation—of how Jesus fulfilled all that was pictured in the Old Testament, how His life was the reality of what was promised before. But if you don’t know what the Old Testament promised and pictured about the coming Messiah, you’ll have a hard time understanding Hebrews. This lesson will help you under ..read more