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Faith is what you believe. (In the Bible, faith is the noun form and believe is the verb form of the same word.) Faith (a belief) is always a decision, based on some evidence, resulting in some action. Faith in God is a choice to believe what God says is true. It is accepting God’s Word as evidence worthy of acting upon. Faith in God and His Word operates on the same principles as faith in anything else. There are no special rules. It is all a matter of what you believe. All humans operate on a belief system. As we go through life we are constantly being presented with information which is evidence that we must evaluate and judge. Whenever we choose to accept the evidence presented to us as sufficient to accept as truth, then that belief is added to our belief system. Unless and until we are presented with new evidence that causes us to decide to believe differently about a subject, we keep the same belief. Then as we go through life, we always act (often sub- consciously) on th...

DEUTERONOMY 8:18 ICB 8 But remember the Lord your God! It is he who gives you the power to become rich. He keeps the agreement he promised to your ancestors. So it is today. I don’t want to be critical, but so many preach, using this verse, that God wants to prosper people for one sole purpose: to give the money to God so He can afford to proclaim the Gospel to all the world. But I just don’t buy it. I do believe God desires His people to be givers. And clearly we should proclaim the Gospel to everyone. Being selfish is the worst thing you can do. And usually the biggest enjoyment you can get from something is to give it away to someone who is thrilled with it. But surely God is not waiting around till we get enough money to finance Him. And surely God is not worse than normal earthly parents. What earthly parent would give their children toys on Christmas, then tell them the ONLY reason they were given those gifts is so they could give them away to the neighbor kids? I already sai...

EPHESIANS 3:15 AMPLIFIED 15 For Whom every family in heaven and on earth is named – [that Father] from whom all fatherhood takes its title and derives its name. I have included these different translations, with the notes from the margin, to show that the Bible says that all fatherhood derives from God. In other words, God is the original Father. Everything good that fathers are, was in God first. All earthly fatherhood is but a replica of what was first in God. EPHESIANS 3:14-15 NIV 14 For this reason I kneel before the Father, 15 from whom his whole family in heaven and on earth derives its name. NIV NOTE: Or whom all fatherhood EPHESIANS 3:14-15 NRSV 14 For this reason I bow my knees before the Father, 15 from whom every family in heaven and on earth takes its name. NRSV Note: Gk fatherhood One mission of Jesus on earth was to show us what God was like, to reveal Him to us. Jesus introduced the concept of God as Father. The Jews did not know God as Father because the Old Testa...

1 THESSALONIANS 5:27 HCSB 27 I charge you by the Lord that this letter be read to all the brothers. The Bible contains both the Old Testament and the New Testament. The New Testament contains the four Gospels (Matthew through John), the book of Acts, the Letters to the Church (Romans through Jude) and the book of Revelation. All the Bible is the inspired Word of God, and as such is an important message to us today. However, not until the resurrection of Jesus Christ did the New Covenant start, which changed everything. God never changes, but His covenants (and thus His way of dealing with people) did change. There was an Old Covenant God had with the people of Israel. Now there is a New Covenant. And the New is not just a continuation or amplification of the Old, but is radically different. The New Covenant did not begin until after the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. So everything said and done before the resurrection of Jesus was before the New Covenant started. (Even the...

Faith is what you believe. (In the Bible, faith is the noun form and believe is the verb form of the same word.) Faith (a belief) is always a decision, based on some evidence, resulting in some action. Faith in God is a choice to believe what God says is true. It is accepting God’s Word as evidence worthy of acting upon. Faith in God and His Word operates on the same principles as faith in anything else. There are no special rules. It is all a matter of what you believe. All humans operate on a belief system. As we go through life we are constantly being presented with information which is evidence that we must evaluate and judge. Whenever we choose to accept the evidence presented to us as sufficient to accept as truth, then that belief is added to our belief system. Unless and until we are presented with new evidence that causes us to decide to believe differently about a subject, we keep the same belief. Then as we go through life, we always act (often sub- consciously) on th...

DEUTERONOMY 8:18 ICB 8 But remember the Lord your God! It is he who gives you the power to become rich. He keeps the agreement he promised to your ancestors. So it is today. I don’t want to be critical, but so many preach, using this verse, that God wants to prosper people for one sole purpose: to give the money to God so He can afford to proclaim the Gospel to all the world. But I just don’t buy it. I do believe God desires His people to be givers. And clearly we should proclaim the Gospel to everyone. Being selfish is the worst thing you can do. And usually the biggest enjoyment you can get from something is to give it away to someone who is thrilled with it. But surely God is not waiting around till we get enough money to finance Him. And surely God is not worse than normal earthly parents. What earthly parent would give their children toys on Christmas, then tell them the ONLY reason they were given those gifts is so they could give them away to the neighbor kids? I already sai...

EPHESIANS 3:15 AMPLIFIED 15 For Whom every family in heaven and on earth is named – [that Father] from whom all fatherhood takes its title and derives its name. I have included these different translations, with the notes from the margin, to show that the Bible says that all fatherhood derives from God. In other words, God is the original Father. Everything good that fathers are, was in God first. All earthly fatherhood is but a replica of what was first in God. EPHESIANS 3:14-15 NIV 14 For this reason I kneel before the Father, 15 from whom his whole family in heaven and on earth derives its name. NIV NOTE: Or whom all fatherhood EPHESIANS 3:14-15 NRSV 14 For this reason I bow my knees before the Father, 15 from whom every family in heaven and on earth takes its name. NRSV Note: Gk fatherhood One mission of Jesus on earth was to show us what God was like, to reveal Him to us. Jesus introduced the concept of God as Father. The Jews did not know God as Father because the Old Testa...