Why Christmas is so important.
Why Christmas is so important.
by Ric and Mary Joyner
The new baby lay in the manger. Mary knew and Joseph knew that the King of the Universe, Maker of heaven and earth, and yes, Creator God was lying helpless as a baby, like all people born into the world. They named Him Y'Shua, aka Joshua. God is with us...Come to save us.
As the night grew colder in the Israel *winter, the hay grew warmer. The rumble of many feet hurrying toward Joseph and Mary caused some concern to the new mother and father. Just then shepherds burst into the stable and shouted and pointed all at once: "Just as the angel said there would be a baby, "This will be a sign for you: you will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger." Their conversation shouts all blended into one loud joyful noise. As the shepherds marveled at the "sign" given by God, Mary also remembered her "sign." She reverently recalled what the angel told her, "The angel answered and said to her, "The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you, and for that reason, the holy Child shall be called the Son of God."
As the shepherds continued to share what they saw to the new parents, Joseph thought back to discovering Mary being pregnant and the angel said to him, "She will bear a Son; and you shall call His name Jesus, for He will save His people from their sins."
The shepherds exploded into praise to God, singing psalms as they saw the presence of God in a baby. Mary and Joseph looked at each other with grateful worship toward God. God orchestrated confirmation of their angelic signs, which so many months before, led them to this stable, and their Messiah being born.
The Anointed one from God IS HERE. HE WAS FORETOLD, and now HE IS WITH US!
No one in the stable could fathom the future or the questions to ask. But in 2019, since we know the story ending, let's ask some questions. Why did the King of the Universe come in such a poor state? Answer: To show that we need nothing from this world expect dependence on God, and He will give us all we need if we seek His Kingdom rulership in our lives. Our home is not this world but with Him. Matthew 6:33
Lord, why did you make Mary and Joseph travel to Bethlehem? Answer: To fulfill prophecy. And to involve the whole world in His birth even though the world did not know. But today, the world does know. Our God is in control of everything. Micah 5:2
He was born in Bethlehem. Hebrew for "House of Bread." He is our bread from heaven. Just as Joseph saved the world with bread by God's power, Christ came to save us with Himself the true bread from heaven. John 6:35
He came to save us by conquering our real enemy, sin. Sin separates us from God. Isaiah 59:2 The wages of sin is physical and eternal death. Romans 3:23
As He approached the cross, carrying our sins, the Lord Jesus Christ must have thought of each one of us. Our sins are piling up each day by what we say and do. Christ came to save us from this "sin debt." Our sin debt is why we need a savior. Let us take our sin and put it on the Savior and thank Him. Because He forgave us, so now let us generously forgive others. Now we can go and sin no more based on His power in us. How? He is the word of God come in the flesh for us. Let's study His word starting today as a grateful gift to Him with a thankful heart.
As Christmas Day dawns, remember the Angel visitations and the Glory of God singing into the night for the whole earth. Let us celebrate with the heavenly host our Savior's birth. God has come to save.
**We don't know exactly when Christ was born. It could have been fall or early spring or winter. Either way, it was when sheep could be in a field without crops and that includes the winter.
See full post & commentsWhen it hurts the most...
When it hurts the most...
When the tough things of life impact us what is our reaction? Do we get angry at other people? Do we agonize over the decision that created this mess? Do we blame God if a loved one is ill or we are? What if we are hurt in a church, family or work setting where we trusted people and a breach happened. These are deep wounds. As Mary and I studied the bible together to find God's agenda for our lives we saw some patterns develop. Let's take a look.
What can we learn in the Exodus? Complaining against God and others is not an appropriate response. Why? Because it actually says to God: "You are NOT caring for me the way I want You to and thus You Who created the Universe don't know what You are doing". [We cringe writing this as we are skirting using the Lord's name in vain by writing our thoughts about His character which are untrue, but this is for a teaching moment for us so please bear with us.] He is none of those negative traits and we actually can think He doesn't see my problem or care! Which is far from the truth. So what should be our response? Worship and thanksgiving. "WHAT!!! ARE YOU KIDDING ME Bible Study Company!? I am in such pain right now you have no idea and so much bitterness". No, we are not kidding. We have been through some SCARRY SITUATIONS and are still going through some long term heart-wrenchers. As we studied God's Word to find out His agenda for our lives we saw the response of God's people in the desert to Him. Meaning that whenever a hard spot was encountered, they blamed God or Moses or both and said that He was taking them out in the desert to kill them! This is very hurtful and disrespectful to God and Moses since He just got done rescuing them and fed and watered them in the desert and actually created a climate-controlled environment. All of this the nations could see and marvel. So how can it enter our minds that He would be so cruel after showing so much love? In Heb 3:10 God shows how angry He was at being mistreated, and disrespected. They got their reward. By being buried in the desert of "man's" opinions versus being allowed into the promised land. See the irony? We are those people too. King David was a great example of someone who decided to trust God in very trying times. Imagine being made a king when the kingdom already had a king!? Yep, God fired King Saul and anointed David the lowly shepherd and King Saul focused his energy, not on repenting for failing to obey God, but on someone who was to replace him! Saul was hunting David down to kill him. David instead was hunting God's heart. But God was with David. Yep, the book of Psalms was written out of those trials. So grab your psalms and read them back to God in your own words when in a trial. Dig deep in the well of worship. Here is an example in Psalm 23: "The Lord is my Shepherd. (Stop) and now say: Lord you are my shepherd, I trust in you with xyz trial or person or situation. You will lead me to green pastures. Why? I know I can trust in Your great love for me. Change me so that I walk in Your ways, the ways You desire and not my own...". See now we are offering the sacrifice of praise. Heb 13:15. Christ did this too in all of His sufferings. The disciples couldn't see the benefit of Christ whom they loved tortured. But through His sacrifice, we can now put our sin on Him by faith and we are raised to newness of life. So if Christ could go through the brutality of suffering for us, let us offer the sacrifice of praise to Him! We have a saying at BSC "When it hurts the most worship the most".
How do we approach the Bible?
How do we approach the Bible?
A dear friend is staying with us. A person who has been a Christian for many years but struggled with reading the bible. We know her "pain". She read it as a devotional because she did not know how to approach the Bible. This book is 66 mini books with 37 authors! They tell a SPIRITUAL story (derived from the Spirit of God through men about God's agenda for us). When Mary and I began to study the bible together and alone we changed our approach because of Dr. Baruch Korman's point: "We are to live a praiseworthy life to God". This meant we should approach the bible to find out how to please God. When we started our study of Exodus several years ago we had no idea that this story of the Hebrews leaving Egypt was a picture of our Christian life. "What did you just say, Ric?" Take a look at some of the themes in Exodus and overlay them in the gospels and you will see the themes there! (Example: wilderness, bondage, and sin, redemption with the Passover lamb, Matthew 5 and Exodus 20 are parallels) So today, sit down with your bible and ask the Lord: "Lord will you train me to study so I can please You regardless of what it costs me? Oh and regarding the cost, will you change me so I will obey you when I can't? And have Your Kingdome come on me please". Those are prayers that are praiseworthy to God because they line up with His Will. BTW our friend? She joined us for our study of Exodus this morning and she had never seen this change of approach and she was heartfelt glad and visibly touched. Join us in our pursuit of God's agenda for our lives. The promise of His opening scripture to us is contained in Proverbs 1.
For Search Engines: There are many bible verses about love, and there are many bible verse of the day programs. The holy bible provides these remarkable bible commentary. Bible Study and online bible study are available at biblestudycompany.com. Bible verses of faith are of interest as well. Even bible verses about hope are helpful. Bible verses about women are encouraging. Read the Bible online with biblestudycompany.com. We will all do better when love is patient love is kind. I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me in times of trouble. With daily bible devotions, I grow. The gifts of the holy spirit are for every day. Online bible study is so helpful. biblestudycompany is a free online bible. With so many books of the bible, I can grow. We love inspirational bible verses in daily Bible reading.
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Our First Annual User Conference for Bible Study Company is on Youtube!
Hello Everyone,
Do you want God's revelation in your life? We have completed adding our conference videos to a playlist on our youtube channel called: First Annual User Conference
We would love for you to go through the videos to get a flavor of the WHO, WHAT, WHY, and HOW of biblestudycompany.com. Dr. Baruch teaches us how to study and why. Ric Joyner shows the ins and outs of using biblestudycompany.com. We are studying Scripture to obey God and then to live a praiseworthy life to Him. Studying scripture with the purpose of obedience to God creates faith in us (Gen 12), and the Lord will create MORE REVELATION in our life when we learn to study to obey. (Proverbs 1) Dr. Baruch Korman of Lovesisrael.org was the featured speaker. Please go to his website and participate in his ministry.
Study with us! Join our community!
We are planning a second conference. Let us know what you think. AND PLEASE LIKE AND SUBSCRIBE BY CLICKING ON THE BELL.
How much do we know about Spiritual Warfare? And does it go back to the garden of Eden?
In lieu of our podcast/video this week we are recommending a great sermon by Dr. Gerry Breshears on SPIRITUAL WARFARE. Mary and I highly recommend this talk as it "snapped" into place many pieces of a puzzle that we saw about spiritual warfare in our studies. For example, why was the earth in a state of chaos (Gen 1:2) if everything God made was "good"? Are we approaching prayer of binding and loosing or tearing down strongholds correct? Was placing Adam in the garden an act of war? Against whom and what? These are all great questions and ones that "snapped" into place. It will make Christ's comments about loving our enemies make sense and why the cross was so important. Adam was as a gardener and so was Christ. When you click the link there is a download for notes. Grab those.
What is Revival?
Revival comes when people in the Church decide sin is not more attractive than obedience to God’s word. (Repentance) Here is the problem in the church; many people that say they love God are going through the motions and not reading the bible to obey it. This then gives an opportunity to the enemy of our souls. Porn in the church is a horrible sin. Revivals that start don’t last if they are based on emotions, and “signs and wonders” seeking. Getting serious about sin and God's rule in our life is where our hearts and minds must focus. Not feeling it? Then ask for help. Honesty with God and face down in repentance will start a revival in our hearts. This then will encourage others to search for this “new heart” of revival. These are the revivals that last. Biblestudycompany.com
See full post & commentsThe Birth of Christ. The death of Christ. The cause? Unrepentant sin.
We all know the story. In fact, the whole world knows this story. As those who are genuinely heart-set on being a disciple of His and are sincerely sorry for our sin, we know the REAL meaning of Christmas. Christ had one mission, and that was to take God’s wrath for our sin. Not a pretty sight to think about at this time of year, is it? But once we do grasp this truth, we can be grateful in watching His life as He grew up and in being observant we can see what He did and how Christ used the word of God to combat and point out unrepentant sin.
Before you wake up to Santa coming, and then open your gifts, look at One that doesn’t look like a present, but is the PRESENCE of God Almighty come to earth as a child to die for us. Seriously, we had no hope of eternal life without Jesus Christ’s brutal criminal’s death and payment of our sins.
Mary and I were studying the Bible in Exodus where the tabernacle building instructions were given to Moses. We were reading about the making of the bronze altar. To us, this seemed brutal to kill an innocent animal for our sin and was offensive to us. I had a thought interrupt my thoughts: “I am offended at you.” Whoa, that set me back on my heels! I sensed the context though was in love. The offense was our sin. The solution was Him. Then another thought crossed: “If the lamb was to be without blemish why was Christ brutally beaten?” This thought so perplexed me that I sat in wonderment of the question. I said: “Yes, that is true. How then can Jesus Christ be our “Passover lamb”? Answer: “He was sinless and thus without blemish.” “Ah…then ok. But then Lord, why was He brutally beaten like a criminal?” Answer: “Because people are criminals before God because of our sin.” And this type of punishment was used during Roman times when slaves started to rebel. As the rebellion of the servant continued the discipline ramped up to the viciousness, we saw meted out to Jesus…our babe in the manger. No one but God could take the wrath of God, someone said. Feel free to let that sink in. (As an aside; we were created for Him to serve Him and by default are His servants…but many of us don’t act like we are. We are rebellious toward God’s Word and Will and deserve these punishments.)
What caused the need for His death and the wrath of God poured out on Him? Unrepentant sin. What causes evil in the world? Unrepentant sin. We have a theory: Were religions and legalism created by men to cover unrepentant sin?
Christ’s first words at the start of His ministry were: Matthew 4:16-17… “16the people living in darkness have seen a great light; on those living in the land of the shadow of death, a light has dawned.” 17From that time on Jesus began to preach, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is near.”
We have seen a great light, and so did the wise men. They were wise because they followed the starlight to the King of the Universe and gave Him gifts. Their wisdom came in obedience to God. We must act in accordance. As we celebrate Jesus Christ birth, let us examine our hearts with the light of the Holy Spirit for unrepentant sin in our lives to be pleasing servants. Then ask Him to empower us to keep His Word which He gladly does! Our gift back to Him so to speak. Immanuel comes in a manger and God is indeed with us!
Forever grateful for His Coming,
Ric and Mary Joyner
Biblestudycompany.com
For Search Engines: There are many bible verses about love, and there are many bible verse of the day programs. The holy bible provides this remarkable bible commentary. Bible Study and online bible study are available at biblestudycompany.com. Bible verses of faith are of interest as well. Even bible verses about hope are helpful. Bible verses about women are encouraging. Read the Bible online with biblestudycompany.com. We will all do better when love is patient love is kind. I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me in times of trouble. With daily bible devotions, I grow. The gifts of the holy spirit are for every day. Online bible study is so helpful. biblestudycompany is a free online bible. With so many books of the bible, I can grow. We love inspirational bible verses in daily Bible reading.
See full post & commentsBroken Bits of Life Pottery
By Ric and Mary Joyner
My mom used to say: "I am literally flabbergasted". I am too, and my heart says WOW! Why? First, when we compare ourselves to Christ, we cannot come close to anything He did or WHO He is…The God of the Universe in Human form. As I peer into the gospels, I look in wonder at His mission (to die) and how His people rejected Him. The bible is written to people who believed in God. Remember that fact… we are them. They are us. We must see Him as the Jewish people saw Him in their culture. In His miracles which He did to restore people. In their religious services. In their Holy Book. How can I compare? What if I ask Christ into my life and repent of my sins how then can I change to match the God of the Universe in the flesh? Am I without hope? Don’t people say: “I am not going to church because it is full of hypocrites”? They are right. And they are hypocrites too! We are all broken bits and pieces of life pottery. But then I see this verse, and I marvel that while in this body (it needs to be thinner) which we will discard shortly, I have no power in myself, to stop sinning. No amount of good works at judgment will save me from the ten commandments. We have all lied, we have all lusted after someone, we all have stolen, and we have all used God’s precious name in vain (ever ask yourself why God’s name is a swear-word in any language?). Flatly, we are under judgment from God. We need saving. Christ said He came not to judge but to save. In other words, we are already judged and under God’s wrath unless someone helps us, poor humans. Romans 2:5-6 But because of your stubbornness and unrepentant heart you are storing up wrath for yourself in the day of wrath and revelation of the righteous judgment of God, 6 who WILL RENDER TO EACH PERSON ACCORDING TO HIS DEEDS…(read the verses around these).
But it is up to us to respond to His calling and put trust in His death and resurrection. Each person’s SIN penalty is paid when Christ voluntarily took it to the cross. A true gift from God just like the air we breathe, the family we enjoy and the good food we eat.
But how do I walk out my life to honor His sacrifice because I am going to sin again? I am going to fail again. (you know…the broken life pottery thing?)
I am in astonishment of this fact: Galatians 3: 27 For all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ. (Read the verses in context around it because they are so encouraging). By faith, we can “put on Christ’s righteousness” because we don’t have any! How? We identify with His death BY FAITH. Thus, when He was raised from the dead we are raised too…now and in the future! We have eternal life. WOW! 2 Cor 17 Therefore if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creature; the old things passed away; behold, new things have come. 18 Now all these things are from God, who reconciled us to Himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation... See that? We now can share the good news with people that they too can be reconciled to God and not remain in our sinful states. Wonderment!
The broken life pottery pieces come together now! We are a new pot with new hope and new life. We clothe ourselves with Christ, and by doing so, we are “clothed” with His righteousness. Not mine because I don’t have any, but HIS!. Now doesn’t that make you joyful? My heart soars when contemplating walking in His clothes! Doesn’t that make you want to live your life asking Christ to change you to obey Him through His Spirit! WOW! Take the first step by asking for that reconciliation. Romans 10:13… for "WHOEVER WILL CALL ON THE NAME OF THE LORD WILL BE SAVED."
Call on Christ and see your broken life come together. If you did this after reading, please let us know.
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