Overcoming, Mankind's Participation in

Bill Onisick, reminding us that we are embarking upon another time of self-examination before Passover, claims that the principal cause of goal failure is lack of self-control, the ninth fruit of God's Holy Spirit. Developing self-control or self-disciplin. . .

Those whom God has called understand the importance of overcoming, but how do we overcome? In Revelation 12:10-11, God describes those who will overcome.

Christ warns that we must do everything possible to annihilate sin - surgically going right to the heart or mind: the level of thought and imagination.

God is keenly interested in whether His people overcome Satan, including this world, which the Devil has shaped, and our own human nature, which he has corrupted and continues to influence. ...

We all know the titanic struggle Paul describes in Romans 7, where he talks about wanting to do what is right yet doing what is wrong instead. He cries out, "O wretched man that I am! . . ."

Most of our Christian lives will be spent going on to perfection. But what is it? How do we do it? This Bible Study will help explain this broad, yet vital subject.

Even with Christ's sacrifice, God does not owe us salvation. We are called to walk, actively putting to death our carnal natures, resisting the complacency.

The spiritual strength required to overcome is a result of eating the Bread of Life continually, and that Bread is available only to those whom He has delivered from spiritual Egypt. But to approach overcoming without that is to imply that we can overcome . . .

The Feast of Unleavened Bread immediately follows the Passover. In it we see how hard it is to overcome and rid our lives of sin.

David Grabbe reminds us that the Days of Unleavened Bread signify far more than the avoidance of leavened bread or putting out leaven, a symbol of malice or hypocrisy, and that our focus needs to be on God's management of the process. Israel did not come o. . .

Sanctification is an incremental process in which we systematically destroy the sin within us as our forebears were asked to destroy the inhabitants of Canaan.

We know the holy days typify the steps in God's plan. What happens between Pentecost and Trumpets, the long summer months? John Ritenbaugh expounds on the subject of sanctification.

Protestantism unthinkingly presents grace as "free." However, Scripture shows that God expects a great deal of effort from us once we receive it—it is costly.

David Maas, focusing on Philippians 2:12, where Paul urges us to work out our own salvation with fear and trembling, takes issue with misguided theologians who have tried to create a false dichotomy between grace and works or grace and law. One of their co. . .

It is a given that works cannot earn us salvation. However, they play many vital roles in our Christian walk toward the Kingdom of God. In this concluding article, John Ritenbaugh gives specific reasons for doing good works, showing their close relationshi. . .

John Ritenbaugh warns that Satan, through subtle doctrinal changes, has attempted to obliterate one major step in the conversion process, namely the sanctification step. Sanctification is the only step which shows (witnesses) on the outside; its effects ca. . .

In Galatians 6, verse 16, the apostle Paul refers to the church as "the Israel of God." Why? Why not "the Judah of God," or "the Ephraim of God" or "the Galilee of God?" Why did God not inspire Paul to call the church by Israel's original name, Jacob&mdash. . .

The most formidable foe in our multi-fronted spiritual battle is the flesh. We are required to mortify, slay, and crucify the flesh, enduring suffering as our Elder Brother has exemplified for us. The further we go on our spiritual journey, the tougher and. . .

John Ritenbaugh declares that the holy days are reliable, effective, multifaceted teaching tools, emphasizing spaced repetition to reinforce our faulty memories and drive the lesson deep into our thinking. The most effective learning involves drills or exe. . .

Despite the many blessings God bestows upon His saints, real Christianity more resembles a running battle against persistent, hostile forces than a leisurely stroll down the path of life. John Ritenbaugh uses the example of ancient Israel in the wilderness. . .

Those who emphasize one trait of God, or one doctrine, at the expense of the others run the risk of distorting the truth, creating a grotesque caricature.

Even though sin offers fleeting pleasure, we must learn to intensely hate sin, regarding this product of Satan as a destroyer of everything God loves.