While the Jerusalem Council did rule that Gentiles were not obligated to be physically circumcised, the ruling did not extend to Israelites.

The peace that passes all understanding comes from yielding to God's will, asking Him for a soft, pliable heart to replace the hard heart of stubbornness.

Circumcision was the sign God gave Abraham indicating that his descendants would ascend to greatness, acquiring physical and spiritual blessings.

Because the heart represents what and who we are and how we conduct our lives, the condition of our spiritual heart is of the utmost importance to us.

The New Covenant was designed by God to circumcise the heart, making it possible for God's laws to be written in our hearts and reflected in our behavior.

The yoke grievous to bear (Acts 15:10) was not God's law, but an entire package of Pharisaic regulations that had been elevated to the level of God's law.

Why must we put leaven out, yet we do not have to circumcise our baby boys? Is deleavening 'Old Covenant'?

Things written in the Old Testament were written for us. The differences in the covenants focus on justification and access to God, not doing away with the law.

Circumcision is a token, sign, or seal that one was the heir of Abraham. No physical sign has the power to transfer righteousness to the doer.

The effectiveness of a law is found in its purpose and intent rather than the letter. Love and mercy constitute the spiritual fulfillment of the Law.

Things pertaining to the New Covenant can only be understood by those who have been circumcised in the heart, which equates to having been born again.

God made the New Covenant because Jacob's offspring did not have what it took to fulfill the terms of the Old Covenant. The carnal mind is hostile to God's law.

The spiritual new man is one who is reconciled to God and has chosen to collaborate with Him in creating a totally new mind—one just like Christ's!

We need to learn to judge in a godly manner, putting merciful restraints on our tendency to condemn or jump to conclusions. One size does not fit all.

The sanctification process is slow and methodical with no dazzling pyrotechnics. Each of us are given a basic set of gifts to serve our spiritual siblings.

The fault of the Old Covenant was with the hearts of the people. Christ took it upon Himself to amend the fault enabling us to keep the commandments.

Everything about the Priesthood of Christ is superior to the Levitical system, which only served as a type of the access to God that Jesus would fulfill.

Nominal Christendom cannot see God's law even though it is in plain sight. In Colossians, Paul reiterates or alludes to all but one of the Ten Commandments.

It is not the physical nation, but the spiritual remnant with whom God is working, circumcising their hearts and writing His laws in their minds.

After the change from the Aaronic to the Melchizedek priesthood, it was also necessary to change the Covenant. The flaw was not the law, but the heart.

Christ emphasizes that the internal, weightier matters, which change the heart, take precedence over external ceremonial concerns that don't change the heart.

Paul encourages Titus to seek out teachers who have an ardent love of the truth, and warns him about false teachers who deceive the congregation.

Gratitude must be cultivated with expressions of thanksgiving in marriage, avoiding the pitfalls of materialism, entitlement, victimhood, and narcissism.