The world is a sea of deception, and Satan is steering the currents. As the "god of this world" (2 Corinthians 4:4), he floods culture with false doctrine, fables, and information designed to keep people spiritually adrift -- tossed to and fro like a small vessel in a storm (Ephesians 4:14).

But there is an anchor. Romans 16:25 tells us that God is able to establish us -- rooted, grounded, and settled -- through Paul's gospel and the preaching of Christ according to the revelation of the mystery. That foundation is not optional. It is the difference between shipwreck and stability.

The local church, grounded in sound doctrine, stands as "the pillar and ground of the truth" (1 Timothy 3:15). Are you established, or are you still drifting? Come grow with us in the word of God.

What if the most liberating truth in all of Scripture is one that most of us have never fully grasped? This message cuts straight to the heart of what it means to be in Christ, and the answer is far more radical and complete than we might expect. Drawing from Ephesians 1:3, we are reminded that every spiritual blessing has already been given to us, not as something we are striving toward, but as a present reality we already possess. The message walks us through a stunning array of positional truths: we are justified, washed, sanctified, sealed, accepted, and declared righteous the very moment we place faith in the gospel. These are not future hopes contingent on our performance. They are settled facts. The distinction between being in Adam and being in Christ, drawn from 1 Corinthians 15:22, frames the entire message around the most consequential question any person can face. Understanding which side of that line we stand on, and what it means to stand in Christ, changes everything about how we see ourselves, how we relate to God, and how we face the inevitable storms of life.

Covenant and testament are not interchangeable—both come from the Greek word diatheke, but they function as two distinct legal instruments with different parties, different activation requirements, and different beneficiaries. This study traces both timelines side by side: the covenant as a contract requiring mutual agreement, and the testament as a last will requiring the death of the testator, revealing why Paul identifies himself as a minister of the new testament—not the new covenant—and what that distinction means for the Body of Christ.

Peter told the crowd at Pentecost to repent and be baptized for the remission of sins, yet a dying thief entered paradise having never been baptized at all. This teaching works through Acts 2:38, Mark 16:16, Acts 22:16, and 1 Peter 3:18-21 to explain exactly what role water baptism played in the kingdom program preached to Israel, and why it was required without being the actual means of washing away sin.

Rightly dividing these passages shows that under the kingdom program, water baptism was the outward expression of a faith that God counted for righteousness, not a ritual that cleansed the inner filth of sin. Peter's own words in 1 Peter 3:21 make the distinction explicit: baptism saves "not the putting away of the filth of the flesh, but the answer of a good conscience toward God." What actually washes away sin, according to Revelation 1:5, is the blood of Christ.

When and how did Satan discover the mystery of the Body of Christ? This Bible Q&A traces Paul's epistles in chronological order to identify the earliest and latest points Satan could have learned it.

Key points:

Ephesians 3:9-10 indicates the principalities and powers learn of the mystery by observing the church. Colossians 2:13-15 frames this as a public humiliation Satan hid from his subordinates. Acts 19:13-15 and 26:12-18 show Satan took special notice of Paul after Damascus, though Acts 9:7 and 22:9 confirm that revelation was for Paul alone. 1 Thessalonians 2:18 and 2 Corinthians 12:7-9 show Satan actively opposing Paul once he grasped the stakes. Working backward from 1 Corinthians 2:7-8 through 2 Thessalonians 2:7, Romans 16:25, and Galatians 3:27-28, the evidence points to Paul already preaching the mystery in Acts 16, likely receiving it at Sinai in Acts 9 (Galatians 1:15-17, Colossians 1:25-27). Acts 13-14, Paul's first missionary journey, shows the mystery of Romans 11:25 already unfolding.

Conclusion: Satan learned the mystery by observing Paul's ministry, at the latest by the first missionary journey, but hid it from the other fallen angels since it was his own humiliation.

Slides: https://storage1.snappages.site/75QP7C/assets/files/Book-of-Enoch-Scripture-or-Not.pdf

Video links:

https://www.ccel.org/c/charles/otpseudepig/enoch/ENOCH_1.HTM

https://www.academia.edu/80069451/Analysis_of_the_Archaic_Mark_Codex_A_Collaborative_Study_in_Authentication