GENESIS – An Expositional Overview of the Beginning of God’s Revelation: Introduction and Chapter One

Contributing commentaries by Sonny Islas and James Fire

Chapter One – by James Fire

INTRODUCTION:

Genesis means “beginnings” and in the case of this first book of the Bible, it means the beginning of creation, the beginning of mankind, and most importantly, the beginning of the revelation of God and His truth.

Genesis is the first of five books written by Moses, along with Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy, together known by the Jewish people as the Torah and the Torah itself as the beginning of the TaNaKh (or as we call it, the Old Testament) – T = Torah (Teaching); N = Nev’im (Prophets); K = Ketuvim (Writings).

The first ten chapters of Genesis form the foundation of all the major doctrines of the Bible: theology – the study of God*; anthropology – the study of mankind; hamartiology – the study of sin; soteriology** – the study of salvation; angelology – the study of angels (holy and fallen); ecclesiology – the study of the church, represented in type by the first husband and wife, Adam and Eve symbolizing Christ and His bride, the church; eschatology – the study of last times or last things: these things are foreshadowed and foretold even in these ten chapters of this first book of the Scriptures!

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TTUF STUDY on The REVELATION of JESUS CHRIST – AN INTRODUCTION

~ By James Fire

This is an extremely exciting opportunity for me because this is the first time ever, I will be embarking on a verse by verse, expositional study on the Book of Revelation. I’ve taught chapters, and portions of Scripture from this book over the years, but never in its entirety – until now!

Of all the books of the Bible, this seems to be the one most often neglected by the church. Many pastors claim that it’s too mysterious, hard to understand, etc. Others think a study of this book will ‘scare Christians’. 

I find it ironic however, that even the very word ‘revelation’ means “a disclosure” that is, to reveal something – not to make obscure or mysterious (and thus, “hard to understand”). Yet there is a reason why this book is hard for some to understand – and we’ll get into that briefly in just a moment. 

As for being ‘scary’, this is the revelation of Jesus Christ, and while there are truly terrifying events that will take place during this seven-year period, for the child of God, this should hold no fear. While this testimony declares the coming of the wicked one, the anti-Christ and his rule under the power of Satan over all the world, ultimately this book is about the coming of our LORD and Savior – our Blessed Hope!

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The WAR on The WORD

 ~ By Gregory Reid (with supplemental commentary by James Fire)

Originally published on Monday, September 24, 2018

(This article was written in response to an article published by the “Hello Christian” web site this morning. It is pretty rough, just fair warning. G.R.)

(This article is kept intact as Greg wrote it, but supplemented by comments made by myself, James Fire. Where you see the names Greg, John and James appear, followed by a colon (:), those remarks may be attributed to the specified speaker. Where you see no name, these are statements made by Greg Reid himself. J.F.). Now for the article:
  
It was of course inevitable that the Emergent Church would begin to have babies that were far more unbiblical than itself. Andy Stanley is one of those spiritual offspring of a departure from Biblical faith and adoption by experiential religious deception. He recently told a group of pastors at the Southern Baptist Convention that they needed to get the spotlight off the Bible. (August 2016 “Onward” conference.) Now his little spiritual children are following suit.

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WALKING WITHOUT STUMBLING Part 4 of 4: – The WISDOM and WALK of The SAVIOR, JESUS CHRIST

~ By James Fire

In the ancient schools of Greek culture, teachers would often instruct their classes on any particular subject by first explaining what it is not, before explaining what it is.

In this four-part series, we have examined the lives of Samson and the kings of Israel, Saul and Solomon. Much of what we have examined in the lives of these men relates to what we should not do in our walks with the LORD to ensure we don’t stumble and fall from our steadfastness in Christ (2 PET 3:17).

We may learn much by negative examples, learning from the mistakes of others and establish parameters and guard against committing such things ourselves. In addition to our spiritual education, we also learn by the positive examples as outlined in Scripture: we can look at the lives of Joseph and Daniel, Samuel and Elijah, as well as Peter and John, Paul and Timothy. However, we will focus on the quintessential and supreme example that’s set for us, the LORD Jesus Christ, the Savior!

HEBREWS 12:2
2 Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith; who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God.

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The CHURCH HAS BEEN PSYCHED! - The Invasion of Humanism and Psychology

~ By James Fire

For two thousand years the church of the LORD Jesus Christ has had the blessed opportunity for a rich, fulfilling life that is not of ourselves but of Christ Himself. We partake of this life through the Holy Spirit that indwells us by means of the atonement of the Lamb of God, Jesus of Nazareth when He offered up Himself as the sacrifice for our sins, and then rose from the dead, conquering over sin, death and hell on our behalf.

Additionally, we also partake of this blessed life through the Word of God, the Holy Scriptures that equips and directs us into a life of godliness:

2 TIMOTHY 3:16-17
16 All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness: 17 That the man of God may be perfect [complete], thoroughly furnished [equipped] unto all good works.

2 PETER 1:2-4
2 Grace and peace be multiplied unto you through the knowledge of God, and of Jesus our Lord, 3 According as his divine power hath given unto us all things that pertain unto life and godliness, through the knowledge of him that hath called us to glory and virtue: 4 Whereby are given unto us exceeding great and precious promises: that by these ye might be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust.

By the Spirit of God, and the Word of God we saints have everything we could possibly need for a Christian life in this fallen world. The Omniscient (all-knowing) and Omni-present (existing in all places and all times) God has reviewed the world in all its history, from Day 1 to Day nth and considered every situation, challenge, issue, problem and circumstance that we as human beings could encounter and provided answers for us in the Scriptures according to the wisdom of God.

Yet in the past couple of centuries, and specifically in our day, an infiltration into the church by vain philosophies of mankind, according to earthly wisdom (1 COR 2:4-7,13-14), has occurred. Two of these that I want to address in this article are: Secular Humanism and Psychology.

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A short exhortation by pastor Sonny Islas - Like a Baby in the Womb

1 JOHN 2:6 says, 
He who says he abides in Him ought himself also to walk just as He walked.

Those who are truly in Christ are like a baby in the mother’s womb. How so? you ask. 

The baby (fetus), while in the mother’s belly is connected to her via the umbilical cord. While inside (like us “In Him.”), through the umbilical cord, the mother provides life’s essentials such as blood, oxygen and nutrients in order to sustain the growing and thriving child. 

In a spiritual sense, when we connect to Christ through faith (the spiritual umbilical cord) we too get His blood: to redeem us and wash away all our sin. We get His oxygen: the Holy Spirit (the breath of eternal life) to seal us, sustain us and empower us to do all that we’ve been born again to do. 

We also get His nutrients: His life changing Word which gives us practical wisdom, purpose, direction, strength and the knowledge of God Himself. 

These are some of the graces we get when we are “in Him” [The phrase "in Christ" appears 12 times in the epistle by the apostle Paul to the Ephesians]. As long as we stay closely connected to Jesus through unshakable faith, passionate prayer, and total surrender or steady obedience to His Word with the much-needed help of His Spirit; it is then that we can and will live out His life in a more fruitful and effective way. 

Keep this in mind: most spiritual growth happens when you are alone with God. In times when no one is looking like that of a baby in the secret place (the womb). 

Lastly, in JOHN 15:5, Jesus said, I am the Vine, you are the branches, He who abides in Me, and I in him, bears much fruit; for without Me you can do nothing.

Here to serve,

Pastor Sonny Read more!