Opened Scriptures Bible Studies

The gospel has been faithfully transmitted to each generation.  1 Corinthians 15:1-2  Moreover, brethren, I declare unto you the gospel which I preached unto you, which also ye have received, and wherein ye stand;  2)  By which also ye are saved, if ye keep in memory what I preached unto you, unless ye have believed in vain.  The Holy Spirit guided Paul to declare the gospel of Christ and its essential truths to the Corinthians. Some evidently drifted away from the truth of the gospel and some had twisted the gospel to make it teach something other than what God clearly said. The gospel is truth that must be received and believed in order to be regenerated by the Spirit of God.  Without one hearing and heeding the gospel of Christ, new birth, new life in Christ and a new walk with the Lord is not possible. Faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the Word of God.  Those who have responded by faith to the gospel rejoice in all the wonderful gifts of salvation.  We receive a new heart that

Below are links to the livestreams and audio only sermons of Pastor Alvis.  Pastor Mike is a faithful pastor and my friend and I know his expository preaching will bless those who are able to view them. Bob      

I would like to introduce this chapter by using a quote from the Puritan preacher, Matthew Henry.  This is one of the finest purpose statements regarding chapter fifteen. "It is the apostle's business in this chapter to assert and establish the doctrine of the resurrection of the dead, which some of the Corinthians flatly denied (See1 Corinthians 15:12).  Whether they turned this doctrine into allegory, as did Hymeneus and Philetus, by saying it was already past (See 2 Timothy 2:17-18), and several of the ancient heretics, by making it mean no more than a changing of their course of life; or whether they rejected it as absurd, upon principles of reason and science, it seems they denied it in the proper sense.  And they disowned a future state of recompences by denying the resurrection of the dead.  Now that heathens and infidels should deny this truth does not seem so strange, but that Christians, who had their religion by revelation, should deny a truth so plainly essential

   I am reposting lessons about the factual truth of Thanksgiving in America because this has been ignored and obscured by our culture. The truths contained in these lessons are applicable for Christians around the world. Bob My prayers and greetings to you all... We have allowed the Pilgrims to speak to us through their own words, by those who lived through it.  They were credible and accurate eyewitnesses and we learned a lot about self sacrifice, about choosing to live for the glory of God and seeing how they trusted God to help them. Our culture ignores Thanksgiving altogether and jumps from Halloween to Christmas.  Americans are quick to honor the devil with Halloween celebrations.  We allow ourselves to be dragged into an highly commercialized Christmas that is all about consumerism.   This is very wrong and I want to explore  Thanksgiving from a Biblical perspective.  Thanksgiving is not a season that we stop briefly for one day to observe.  Rather, for a believer in Jesus Chris

  I am reposting lessons about the factual truth of Thanksgiving in America because this has been ignored and obscured by our culture. The truths contained in these lessons are applicable for Christians around the world. Bob The Pilgrims stepped out on the ground at Plymouth Rock on December 11, 1620. One third of the original colonists or Pilgrims were made up of members of the Puritan sect of the English Separatist Church.  As we noted, their first winter was devastating. At the beginning of the following fall, they had lost almost half of the original 102 who sailed on the Mayflower.  But the harvest of 1621 was a bountiful one and the remaining colonists decided to celebrate with a feast and they invited 91 Indians including their leader, Massasoit. His tribe was used of God to help the Pilgrims survive their first year. It is certain that the Pilgrims would not have made it through the year without the help of the natives.  The feast was more of a traditional English harvest festi

     I am reposting lessons about the factual truth of Thanksgiving in America because this has been ignored and obscured by our culture. The truths contained in these lessons are applicable for Christians around the world. Bob This account was just published in the Weirton Daily Times, in Steubenville, Ohio. It is a reprint from Historian Richard Johnson, Director of Christian Formation Ministries. It is from his Thanksgiving sermon that highlighted the life of Squanto.  Photo of Bronze statue of Massasoit, Squanto's friend.  Life of Squanto "Squanto was a Native American who learned the English language while working as a guide. He was later captured by Spanish slavers. He was freed by monks who bought him out of slavery. “Estas libre (es-TAS LEE-bray)! You are free.” Squanto looked into the clear eyes of this man of God. Though he knew no Spanish, he understood."  "Over the next few weeks he pieced it together. Their love for Jesus had prompted these Christian bro

    I am reposting lessons about the factual truth of Thanksgiving in America because this has been ignored and obscured by our culture. The truths contained in these lessons are applicable for Christians around the world. Bob In our last post, we saw that after a safe arrival, the Pilgrims gave thanks to God for His blessings and care of them. They also crafted the Mayflower Compact as a binding form of government to guide them and establish some semblance of law and order. Photo of Plymouth Colony It took many trips in small boats to transfer all of their provisions and supplies to land because they did not have enough small boats to ferry things over from the Mayflower. William Bradford preserved details of this aspect of the Pilgrims history. A Godly man chosen as first governor. "After this [the signing of the Mayflower Compact] they chose, or rather confirmed, Mr. John Carver (a man godly and well approved amongst them) their Governor for that year." You may recall that