Bible Insights with Wayne Conrad

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Revelation 14:6-7 - "Then I saw another angel flying directly overhead, with an eternal gospel to proclaim to those who dwell on earth, to every nation and tribe and language and people. And he said with a loud voice, “Fear God and give him glory, because the hour of his judgment has come, and worship him who made heaven and earth, the sea and the springs of water.”

There is a sect that seeks to say there is a gospel in the first century but they have another gospel for the current generation. They build their view of how they read into and interpert the so called "Three Angels Messages."

However, we must remain very vigilant against any other so called gospel!

The Apostle Paul says in Galatians 1:6-8, "I am astonished that you are so quickly deserting him who called you in the grace of Christ and are turning to a different gospel— not that there is another one, but there are some who trouble you and want to distort the gospel of Christ. But even if we or an angel from heaven should preach to you a gospel contrary to the one we preached to you, let him be accursed."

The first angel's message is a call to worship the true and living Creator God. It's wording is like Nehemiah 9:5-7, “Stand up and bless Yahweh your God from everlasting to everlasting! Blessed be your glorious name, which is exalted above all blessing and praise!  You are Yahweh, even you alone. You have made heaven, the heaven of heavens, with all their army, the earth and all things that are on it, the seas and all that is in them, and you preserve them all. The army of heaven worships you.  You are Yahweh, the God who chose Abram, brought him out of Ur of the Chaldees, gave him the name of Abraham."

The one eternal gospel is the message of Jesus -  his person and saving acts in his death, burial and resurrection of Jesus for us sinners.  Mark 16: 15 says, "And he said to them, “Go into all the world and proclaim the gospel to the whole creation.

In Luke 24:44-49 we read, "Then he said to them, “These are my words that I spoke to you while I was still with you, that everything written about me in the Law of Moses and the Prophets and the Psalms must be fulfilled.” Then he opened their minds to understand the Scriptures, and said to them, “Thus it is written, that the Christ should suffer and on the third day rise from the dead,  and that repentance for the forgiveness of sins should be proclaimed in his name to all nations, beginning from Jerusalem. You are witnesses of these things. And behold, I am sending the promise of my Father upon you. But stay in the city until you are clothed with power from on high.”

The one eternal gospel is declared in 1 Corinthians 15:1-11

Now I would remind you, brothers, of the gospel I preached to you, which you received, in which you stand, and by which you are being saved, if you hold fast to the word I preached to you—unless you believed in vain.

For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received: that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures, and that he appeared to Cephas, then to the twelve. Then he appeared to more than five hundred brothers at one time, most of whom are still alive, though some have fallen asleep. Then he appeared to James, then to all the apostles. Last of all, as to one untimely born, he appeared also to me.  For I am the least of the apostles, unworthy to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God.  But by the grace of God I am what I am, and his grace toward me was not in vain. On the contrary, I worked harder than any of them, though it was not I, but the grace of God that is with me. Whether then it was I or they, so we preach and so you believed.

Bible Insights with  Wayne Conrad
Contact: 8441 Hunnicut Rd Dallas, Texas 75228
email: Att. Bible Insights Wayne Conrad
[email protected] (Good Shepherd Church)
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Psalms 119:105 Your word is a lamp for my feet, a light on my path.

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Book beginnings are often very important in understanding what follows in the book. I think this is especially true of the writings, the books, in the Bible. We began a several week reading study of the book of Acts. The opening paragraph of Acts connects to the gospel of Luke. By careful reading of the opening paragraphs we learn the method, the structure and the purpose of Luke's writing his two volume work on the life and ministry of Jesus of Nazareth in order to establish a believer name Theophilus in the certainty of the teaching he had received as a believer. A challenge is for us to read carefully in a few settings all of Luke-Acts. Let the Word impact you and study the Scriptures. This is a way of loving God with your mind.   

Bible Insights with  Wayne Conrad
Contact: 8441 Hunnicut Rd Dallas, Texas 75228
email: Att. Bible Insights Wayne Conrad
[email protected] (Good Shepherd Church)
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Psalms 119:105 Your word is a lamp for my feet, a light on my path.

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How do you usually pray? Is there a particular position that your body takes? Some believe and it is often announced especially in church meetings to bow your head and close your eyes. What does the Bible say about the positions of our body when we pray? You may be surprised but one of the best positions is to "pray with your eyes open"!  Explore with me the various positions of biblical prayer. 

Bible Insights with  Wayne Conrad
Contact: 8441 Hunnicut Rd Dallas, Texas 75228
email: Att. Bible Insights Wayne Conrad
[email protected] (Good Shepherd Church)
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Spirit, Truth and Grace Ministries
Phone # 214-324-9915 leave message with number for call back
Psalms 119:105 Your word is a lamp for my feet, a light on my path.

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Jesus taught his disciples to pray, Our Father, your kingdom come.
Two words are key to understand this petition. Kingdom. What is this kingdom of God? In what way is it to come?
Jesus who teaches his disciples this prayer is the king of God's kingdom. Where the King is there is his kingdom. The prayer is not focused on geography but on relationship  with God in the person of Jesus. So we are asking God to bring in a greater realization of the kingdom in and through our lives culminating in the personal arrival of the king in power and glory at the end of the age. We want God to actively bring in his reign in the midst of the rival kingdom of Satan ultimately totally destroying that kingdom and filling the earth with the eternal kingdom. The kingdom of God has a present and a not yet aspect.
The present reality of the kingdom and its future aspect are present in this petition as demonstrated in the gospel narratives and Acts and Paul's descriptions of the kingdom in his letters. Revelation shows its ultimate fulfillment at the return of Jesus to this earth in power and glory. 

Bible Insights with  Wayne Conrad
Contact: 8441 Hunnicut Rd Dallas, Texas 75228
email: Att. Bible Insights Wayne Conrad
[email protected] (Good Shepherd Church)
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Spirit, Truth and Grace Ministries
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Psalms 119:105 Your word is a lamp for my feet, a light on my path.

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One day when Jesus was engaged in prayer to his Heavenly Father one of his disciples asked him to teach them to pray. Luke 11:1-4 record this conversation. On another occasion when Jesus was instructing his disciples on the mountain side he gave them this prayer model, Matthew 6:9-13. This podcast gives an overview of the prayer by noting its two sections. The first section deals with the concerns of God, his honor and kingdom. The second section deals with our needs as his dependent children.  God’s glory and his will must always be our chief priorities, but our material and spiritual needs are also important to him. Let this prayer be a model and guide to you as you come before the Father in praise and petition.

Bible Insights with  Wayne Conrad
Contact: 8441 Hunnicut Rd Dallas, Texas 75228
email: Att. Bible Insights Wayne Conrad
[email protected] (Good Shepherd Church)
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Spirit, Truth and Grace Ministries
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Psalms 119:105 Your word is a lamp for my feet, a light on my path.

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How should we pray? According to Jesus we must address our prayers to "Our Father".  (Matthew 6:9ff; Luke 11:1-4)This episode explores the meaning of this expression both as to what conveys concerning our family relationship to God and fellow believers. But it also looks at a theological question on Jesus as the "only begotten Son" or "the one and only Son" and our being called sons of God. Devotion plus theology is embedded in this broadcast. Exposition leading to worship.

Bible Insights with  Wayne Conrad
Contact: 8441 Hunnicut Rd Dallas, Texas 75228
email: Att. Bible Insights Wayne Conrad
[email protected] (Good Shepherd Church)
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Spirit, Truth and Grace Ministries
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Psalms 119:105 Your word is a lamp for my feet, a light on my path.

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Jesus gives instruction on praying by his own prayer practice and through instruction on the personal level in Luke 11 and in a more formal public instruction to the multitudes who followed in what we term the Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 6). From these two accounts with different contexts we can learn principles for praying. 

Bible Insights with  Wayne Conrad
Contact: 8441 Hunnicut Rd Dallas, Texas 75228
email: Att. Bible Insights Wayne Conrad
[email protected] (Good Shepherd Church)
Donation   https://gsccdallas.org
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Spirit, Truth and Grace Ministries
Phone # 214-324-9915 leave message with number for call back
Psalms 119:105 Your word is a lamp for my feet, a light on my path.

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We often say to one another, "Pray for me." And we are urged, we are pushed to pray for one another. But what should we pray? Praying for the ups and downs and decisions in life certainly are matters for which we should turn to God for help and supply. God has concern for all his children's needs.
 
The Bible through the examples of Paul would elevate our prayers to deeper concern. His prayers are rooted in the revelation of God in Jesus Christ and in the deep reality of conversion as a result of spiritual regeneration. One of these prayers is in Ephesians 3:14-19, "For this reason I bow my knees before the Father,  from whom every family in heaven and on earth is named,  that according to the riches of his glory he may grant you to be strengthened with power through his Spirit in your inner being,  so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith—that you, being rooted and grounded in love, may have strength to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth, and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled with all the fullness of God."  (Christian Standard Version)

Paul adds many layers in his writing from all the fullness of God's saving work in Jesus Christ. These truths and spiritual realities are connected and often one thing leads to another. In this podcast my goal is to summarize two primary petitions Paul prayed for his fellow Christians and also for us as part of the group, "all the saints".  Considering these petitions as ones made for me, I in turn now pray them for you.

"I pray that you will be strengthened by the Holy Spirit in your inner being."

"I pray that you will be mentally and spiritually strengthened to comprehend, to have a personal knowing of the intensity and depth of Jesus the Messiah's love for you."

Bible Insights with  Wayne Conrad
Contact: 8441 Hunnicut Rd Dallas, Texas 75228
email: Att. Bible Insights Wayne Conrad
[email protected] (Good Shepherd Church)
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Spirit, Truth and Grace Ministries
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Psalms 119:105 Your word is a lamp for my feet, a light on my path.

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Christians remember and celebrate the birth of Jesus, son of Mary. Traditionally this has been done throughout many centuries either on January 6 or December 25. The date of his birth is never revealed, but the fact of his birth is essential for the salvation of people. The death of the Messiah Jesus by crucifixion was decreed by God from all eternity. He is the Lamb of God slain before the foundation of the world (Revelation 13:8, 1 Peter 1:19-20, Acts 2:23).
   
In order for him to make the one real and sufficient sacrifice for sin it was necessary for the Word, the Son, to assume humanity in a mortal body. Although death had no claim on him he was born the sinless holy son of Mary in order that he might as a man in the prime of his life lay down his life in death on behalf of humans. All people die because they are born sinful in Adam.  Because of the virgin birth through the power by the Holy Spirit Jesus was not born in Adam 
(Romans 5:16-19). Thus he could offer his sinless body as the sacrifice for the sins of his people (Hebrews 2: 10-15, Hebrews 10: 3-10, John 10:17-18, Isaiah 53).

 The hymnist Charles Wesley expressed it thusly:

Christ, by highest Heaven adored;
Christ the everlasting Lord;
Late in time, behold Him come,
Offspring of a virgin's womb.
Veiled in flesh the Godhead see;
Hail th' Incarnate Deity,
Pleased as man with men to dwell,
Jesus our Emmanuel. 

Hail the heaven born Prince of Peace!
Hail the Sun of Righteousness!
Light and life to all He brings,
Risen with healing in His wings.
Mild He lays His glory by,
Born that man no more may die.
Born to raise the sons of earth,
Born to give them second birth.

Bible Insights with  Wayne Conrad
Contact: 8441 Hunnicut Rd Dallas, Texas 75228
email: Att. Bible Insights Wayne Conrad
[email protected] (Good Shepherd Church)
Donation   https://gsccdallas.org
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Spirit, Truth and Grace Ministries
Phone # 214-324-9915 leave message with number for call back
Psalms 119:105 Your word is a lamp for my feet, a light on my path.

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How does anyone bless God? It is strange sounding yet the Bible exhorts us to bless God and gives examples of people blessing him.
Of David. Bless the Lord, O my soul, and all that is within me, bless his holy name! Psalm 103:1
LORD is Yahweh, the personal covenant name of God.
Psalm 104:1 Bless Yahweh, my soul.
    Yahweh, my God, you are very great.
    You are clothed with honor and majesty.

The meaning of words is directly connected to the context in which they used. When we speak of blessing such as "be blessed" to another person we are wanting that person to receive something they need or be enabled to accomplish something. But God has no needs! He is the all-sufficent all-mighty self-sustaining eternal holy sovereign one!
Behold, to the Lord your God belong heaven and the heaven of heavens, the earth with all that is in it. Deuteronomy 10:14

So to bless God is to speak of God as he has revealed himself to be to God in praise or thanksgiving. We also can bless God by lifting him high above all to others in words that declare his works especially in the salvation of sinners such as ourselves.

Two great examples of blessing God are given around the birth of the forerunner of the Messiah John the Baptizer. Mary the mother of the Lord Jesus, the incarnate Word offers her praise in Luke 1:46ff “My soul magnifies the Lord, and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior, for he has looked on the humble estate of his servant.
 For behold, from now on all generations will call me blessed; for he who is mighty has done great things for me, and holy is his name. And his mercy is for those who fear him from generation to generation.

On the 8th day of John's life on the occasion of his circumcision and naming Zechariah, his aged father's tongue is loosed from his muteness. And his father Zechariah was filled with the Holy Spirit and prophesied, saying,
 “Blessed be the Lord God of Israel,
 for he has visited and redeemed his people and has raised up a horn of salvation for us in the house of his servant David, as he spoke by the mouth of his holy prophets from of old, that we should be saved from our enemies
and from the hand of all who hate us;to show the mercy promised to our fathers
and to remember his holy covenant, the oath that he swore to our father Abraham, to grant us  that we, being delivered from the hand of our enemies, might serve him without fear,  in holiness and righteousness before him all our days. Luke 1:67ff

Bible Insights with  Wayne Conrad
Contact: 8441 Hunnicut Rd Dallas, Texas 75228
email: Att. Bible Insights Wayne Conrad
[email protected] (Good Shepherd Church)
Donation   https://gsccdallas.org
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCJTZX6qasIrPmC1wQpben9g
https://www.facebook.com/waconrad or gscc
https://www.sermonaudio.com/gscc
Spirit, Truth and Grace Ministries
Phone # 214-324-9915 leave message with number for call back
Psalms 119:105 Your word is a lamp for my feet, a light on my path.