All the answers are in His Word, check it out.
1. How can I tell if a new church’s teachings are aligned with having a true personal relationship with Jesus, beyond just denominational practices?
Look to who’s books they sell in their bookstore (if they have one). Talk to the pastor after a service and ask his doctrinal stance. But also look at the whole body and their culture.
A biblical culture will be welcoming, warm, worshipful, and also practical. I currently attend a church where the pastor originates from a group that I would not typically align with. But the pastor has been leading this one church for 30 years and is very biblical. Christ is the center of his messages, and he preaches from both the old and new testament – expositionally. The church is very integrated socially, ethnically, and generationally (unusual for that area), the worship is dynamic but grounded in truth. The church has a food outreach to their members and their community – they have a huge garden from which they provide the equivalent of a small grocery store’s worth of fruit and vegetables each week to the congregation. During the winter they provide free store vouchers to anyone who asks.
In the past (and a different city), we went to a church where the pastor came from a very conservative fundamental background, but the congregation were from a variety of backgrounds, including Pentecostal, charismatic, Presbyterian and Lutheran. The services were biblical, the worship was lively and scriptural, the fellowship was very warm and welcoming. The pastor was one of the most patient, generous, kind and inviting men I’ve ever known – and he was a strong literal expository preacher.
For my part, I’ve learned that the secret to finding the “right church” is asking the Lord, who is the Head of the Church, to guide me. I’ve always been amazed by how He answers that prayer.
2. What are some key themes in the Psalms that are believed to point to Jesus Christ, and how are these interpreted?
Psalm 22, 23, and 24 seem to be considered the Messianic Psalms by the majority of Christian scholars through the centuries. But, i’m of the opinion that every Psalm speaks of Christ in some way. For instance, the longest – Psalm 119 is about loving the Word (or Law or Instructions) of the Lord. Each verse gives light and revelation to the reader who will receive it.
If Jesus is the Logos (word) of God become flesh (as John 1:1–14 says He is) then you can see how a Psalm about the Word of God is going to reveal truths about Christ.
You can extrapolate from there.
3. How do references to Jesus in the Old Testament, like those in Daniel and Psalms, connect to descriptions in the New Testament?
In the book of Hebrews (10:7), it quotes Psalm 46:6–8 and applies that to Jesus. (I challenge you to read those three verses and see if it can refer to anyone else). the focus of it is “In the scroll of the book it is written of me.”
So, here we have the gist of what Jesus meant when He said in John 5:39 “ You search the Scriptures for in them you think you have eternal life; and these are they which testify of Me.”
So, what many scholars do, is look at all of the idioms, prophecies, and narratives to see how those refer to the Messiah of Israel – and what we find is that all of it speaks of either His first or second coming in some way.
So your job then is to do the same. Search the scriptures daily and see if this is true. Paul the Apostle commended the Berean Christians for doing just that. Because He knew that if they would check his messages against the scriptures, they would find he was right.
4. Has God the father always been God the father?
Yes. And Christ has always been the Word (Logos) and the Holy Spirit has always been the Holy Spirit.
What changed is when God entered time by becoming the mortal human person known as Jesus of Nazareth. However, God and His eternal nature did not change. He simply entered time-space by adding the human nature to His Logos personhood.
I say “simply”, because no one can know what that took but God Himself.
But, at no time did God cease being God.
5. What are the implications for someone believing that the Trinity is a false doctrine, especially in regard to their relationship with other Christian denominations?
Despite how many people want to believe they can be saved without believing in the trinity, Paul says only the one who believes and is submitted is known to be saved.
Paul says in both Acts 15:11 and Acts 16:31 that a person must believe in the Lord Jesus Christ to be saved. Well, right there – that is a triune statement. Lord in Hebrew is Adonai. Adonai means generically “lord” but in Hebrew-Biblical thinking no one is Lord but God alone. Indeed in the Christian era the Christians held that “Lord” was a claim of Jesus’ deity.
So, Lord = Father, God.
Jesus = the human, then Nazarene man, the son. and…
Christ = the anointing of the Holy Spirit.
So to make the claim “Lord Jesus Christ” is to declare Jesus has the fullness of the Godhead dwelling in Him, bodily (Colossians 2:9). It is in it’s plainest sense – a declaration of the Trinity. So, all these “oneness Pentecostals” who demand being baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, are in fact being baptized in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit – even though they deny it. Quite amusing, really.
Believers and seekers Questions – Part 2
1. How can I tell if a new church’s teachings are aligned with having a true personal relationship with Jesus, beyond just denominational practices?
Look to who’s books they sell in their bookstore (if they have one). Talk to the pastor after a service and ask his doctrinal stance. But also look at the whole body and their culture.
A biblical culture will be welcoming, warm, worshipful, and also practical. I currently attend a church where the pastor originates from a group that I would not typically align with. But the pastor has been leading this one church for 30 years and is very biblical. Christ is the center of his messages, and he preaches from both the old and new testament – expositionally. The church is very integrated socially, ethnically, and generationally (unusual for that area), the worship is dynamic but grounded in truth. The church has a food outreach to their members and their community – they have a huge garden from which they provide the equivalent of a small grocery store’s worth of fruit and vegetables each week to the congregation. During the winter they provide free store vouchers to anyone who asks.
In the past (and a different city), we went to a church where the pastor came from a very conservative fundamental background, but the congregation were from a variety of backgrounds, including Pentecostal, charismatic, Presbyterian and Lutheran. The services were biblical, the worship was lively and scriptural, the fellowship was very warm and welcoming. The pastor was one of the most patient, generous, kind and inviting men I’ve ever known – and he was a strong literal expository preacher.
For my part, I’ve learned that the secret to finding the “right church” is asking the Lord, who is the Head of the Church, to guide me. I’ve always been amazed by how He answers that prayer.
2. What are some key themes in the Psalms that are believed to point to Jesus Christ, and how are these interpreted?
Psalm 22, 23, and 24 seem to be considered the Messianic Psalms by the majority of Christian scholars through the centuries. But, i’m of the opinion that every Psalm speaks of Christ in some way. For instance, the longest – Psalm 119 is about loving the Word (or Law or Instructions) of the Lord. Each verse gives light and revelation to the reader who will receive it.
If Jesus is the Logos (word) of God become flesh (as John 1:1–14 says He is) then you can see how a Psalm about the Word of God is going to reveal truths about Christ.
You can extrapolate from there.
3. How do references to Jesus in the Old Testament, like those in Daniel and Psalms, connect to descriptions in the New Testament?
In the book of Hebrews (10:7), it quotes Psalm 46:6–8 and applies that to Jesus. (I challenge you to read those three verses and see if it can refer to anyone else). the focus of it is “In the scroll of the book it is written of me.”
So, here we have the gist of what Jesus meant when He said in John 5:39 “ You search the Scriptures for in them you think you have eternal life; and these are they which testify of Me.”
So, what many scholars do, is look at all of the idioms, prophecies, and narratives to see how those refer to the Messiah of Israel – and what we find is that all of it speaks of either His first or second coming in some way.
So your job then is to do the same. Search the scriptures daily and see if this is true. Paul the Apostle commended the Berean Christians for doing just that. Because He knew that if they would check his messages against the scriptures, they would find he was right.
4. Has God the father always been God the father?
Yes. And Christ has always been the Word (Logos) and the Holy Spirit has always been the Holy Spirit.
What changed is when God entered time by becoming the mortal human person known as Jesus of Nazareth. However, God and His eternal nature did not change. He simply entered time-space by adding the human nature to His Logos personhood.
I say “simply”, because no one can know what that took but God Himself.
But, at no time did God cease being God.
5. What are the implications for someone believing that the Trinity is a false doctrine, especially in regard to their relationship with other Christian denominations?
Despite how many people want to believe they can be saved without believing in the trinity, Paul says only the one who believes and is submitted is known to be saved.
Paul says in both Acts 15:11 and Acts 16:31 that a person must believe in the Lord Jesus Christ to be saved. Well, right there – that is a triune statement. Lord in Hebrew is Adonai. Adonai means generically “lord” but in Hebrew-Biblical thinking no one is Lord but God alone. Indeed in the Christian era the Christians held that “Lord” was a claim of Jesus’ deity.
So, Lord = Father, God.
Jesus = the human, then Nazarene man, the son. and…
Christ = the anointing of the Holy Spirit.
So to make the claim “Lord Jesus Christ” is to declare Jesus has the fullness of the Godhead dwelling in Him, bodily (Colossians 2:9). It is in it’s plainest sense – a declaration of the Trinity. So, all these “oneness Pentecostals” who demand being baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, are in fact being baptized in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit – even though they deny it. Quite amusing, really.
Published in Commentary, Practical Living, Prepared Warriors and Teaching