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.
False Gospel?
Have you been subjected to these endless and unscriptural memes? Did you know that this is actually a lie? There is nowhere in scripture that God said any such thing. So, this is coming from man to inspire your sinful nature. Listen, folks, we at Biblestudycompany.com are dedicated to recognizing we are hopelessly lost sinners that are offending God by our actions, attitudes, and thoughts---unless we repent and ask for Jesus Christ to save us. If you prayed a sinner’s prayer and continue in a lifestyle that is unbiblical…no memes will help you at the judgment. Without Jesus Christ’s intervention into human history, to die a criminal’s horrible death we have no salvation. Shall we then live as we lived formerly? He is our Creator. This is His world and YOU ARE A GUEST. He made us a for a purpose and that was to serve Him and obey His word. But, we can’t in and of ourselves. We must turn to Him for help and change. Do that today. Your next breath is a gift from God. There may not be another. Please share this to spread the gospel. Let us know if you decided to join us in living a praiseworthy life to God.
See full post & commentsThoughts on losses of family and friends
The most weighty thing has me contemplating with the events recently of loss of family and friends. Mortality. We are finite. We all know it. But I am concerned that I don't act like I am. Meaning that as Mary and I continue studying Scripture together through these tumultuous times, sadness and fondness of remembering those we lost, we can begin to see the power and majesty of the God Who Created us. This is His world and His agenda. We are His creation and have a purpose. But He gave us a free choice to live our lives either for Him or not. Consequences arise from the perspective Mary and I choose because we will give an account to Him one day. Romans 14:10-12 “For we will all stand before the judgment seat of God. 11 For it is written, "AS I LIVE, SAYS THE LORD, EVERY KNEE SHALL BOW TO ME, AND EVERY TONGUE SHALL GIVE PRAISE TO GOD." 12
Are you ready to give an account of yourself to God? You can be but how?
So Mary and I want to get this life right according to what God says on how we should live. This has been our discussion and growing passion. We will shed this body at some point... that is the weight. I am mortal. The next weight is standing before Him to give an account. That is the weightious of all. As we go through another loss (of a brother-in-law mother, friend with cancer and friend’s wife) I am reminded of this weight.
And then Christ said it too! Matthew 28: “Do not fear those who kill the body but are unable to kill the soul, but rather fear Him who is able to destroy both soul and body in hell. 29“Are not two sparrows sold for a cent? And yet not one of them will fall to the ground apart from your Father. 30“But the very hairs of your head are all numbered. 31“So do not fear; you are more valuable than many sparrows. 32“Therefore everyone who confesses Me before men, I will also confess him before My Father who is in heaven.”
Watching my dear friend Owen Pach with cancer at 65 and sitting by his bedside was heart-wrenching. But then asking him about his relationship with God, that we often talked about, and he confessed that Jesus Christ was the Son of God and that He forgave his sins AND THEN a few days later he was gone and this has made this pressing for the two of us. I KNOW I will see him again! 
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Thus, this is the clearest picture I can see of God whose world this is and how much He loves us because every hair is numbered! My friend’s hairs were numbered. The few that remained. 
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The final weight is this: These losses are spurring me (us) to faith in Jesus Christ who gives assurance of eternity (John 3) and to ask in faith for His help to obey His Word. For encouragement or comfort.
Musings for the day
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