Peter-John Courson

I’m trying something new for a couple weeks…

Facebook…

C’mon over and be my friend.

I’ll keep posting here as well, from time to time.

I just wanna test things out, one medium at a time…

Else I become a “YouTwitFace”, as they say.

It Was Good Enough For Jesus

Can you trust your Bible?

To be more than a series of morals, allegories, and legends?

Jesus did.

Interesting that He chose the most criticized text from the Scriptures.

He referred to them. He expanded on them. And He was directed by them.

Jonah. Lot’s Wife. The Wilderness Serpent. Adam.

He quoted seemingly obscure passages, Ps 82:6, to validate His claim as Christ.

And He used Scripture to fulfill His mission on the Cross.

Hosea. Asaph. Ps 69:21.

Showing us not only that all God says what Scripture says.

But that Scripture says what God says.

And if it was good enough for Jesus, well then…

Anybody?

Today is the bless-ed “study day” in my office.

So…

Just wonderin’ if anybody wants to discuss Romans 9?

You know, just because…

The Predestination Explanation

Tonight. Romans 9. I am pretty stoked.

Jacob. Moses. Pharoah. And Gentiles (us).

All going to show that:

We believe because we have been chosen….

Not we were chosen because we would believe!

And it’s the single greatest comfort to the Christian heart ever given!

Here a few points on Predestination that I’ll get to tonight at some point:

1) The Doctrine of Divine Election includes everyone…who will come!
2) The Doctrine of Divine Election opens doors…and never shuts them.
3) The Doctrine of Divine Election is your story…don’t worry about everyone else!
4) The Doctrine of Divine Election should never be something that divides believers.
5) It is God’s will that none should perish, the Father’s will all come to the Son.
6) Never forget that!
7) The Doctrine of Divine Election boggles Paul’s mind! (Romans 11:33-36)
…how much more should it yours and mine!

See you tonight!

Question #4

My question really is wrapped around the Canonization of the Bible and the Books that were left out. My curiosity grows when I see the Gospel of Thomas or the Gospels of Peter not included when they both were Apostle’s of Jesus. Or the Gospels of Mary who although was not an Apostle in title, certainly was tightly woven into the fabric of Jesus and his Apostles. My question is simply this, if Jesus himself chose these people to be among the closest to him in his teachings therefore teachers of his word, how can a group of men decide what to include and not include in the Bible itself?

Kenny,

I could refer you to several articles and books on this subject. But let me tell you this…

To me, it all comes down to Jesus.

What does He say about the Books of the Bible? How does He relate to the Books of the Bible?

So it goes like this:

Jesus, as a Middle Eastern Jew, very much observed and honored the Torah and the Prophets. He quoted them extensively. And not only that, He (I believe purposefully) quoted the most controversial and extraordinary passages: Adam, Eden, Daniel, Isaiah, Moses, Abraham, Lot’s wife, Jonah and the fish, David, ect…

In other words, Jesus’ stamp of approval is upon the Old Testament.

How about the New Testament?

The synoptic Gospels were written less than 40 years after Christ’s life. Paul wrote in 1 Corinthians 15 that hundreds of eyewitnesses were still alive. Luke’s Gospel names specific people in far more detailed accounts than any ancient work of literature. Peter, who probably authored Mark’s Gospel (John Mark his transcriber), said Paul’s words are Scripture (2 Peter 3:16).

So you put it all together and you see all of the NT was written by those Christ trained…or close, close associates of those Christ trained (namely, Paul).

We then see the earliest transcripts of Scripture used by the Patristics in the first and second century. The so called letters of Thomas and Mary, for example, were not used in the Early Church.

Wraps up rather neatly, then, when I make it all about Jesus Christ. Is He the Messiah, the Son of God, and rise from the dead to verify it? That is the true question.

I hope that helps, and I find this subject fascinating…

Question #3

My question has to do with the verse on foreknowledge at the end of Romans 8. It says He foreknew us, predestined us and called us, etc. Pete, what is your understanding of that verse? Did He know before we were born who would choose to accept Jesus? Or did He choose who would accept Him? I have never understood why some people are able to have faith and others reject it.

Come on out to Bible Study on Thursday nights. We are just beginning the most specific and controversial and impactful texts in the New Testament on this subject, Romans 9, 10, and 11.

In short, God cannot learn. So there was never a time He “learned” one would respond to his love and be reconciled back to Him. If He ever knew something, He always knew that same thing. Therefore, yes, God predestines according to foreknowledge just as you implied. The mind bender is this: Even my response, my faith, was a gift from Him that I could not manufacture on my own. So He predestined me, elected me, chose me, all strictly by His grace alone.

Question #2

Thank You Pastor Peter-John for your series on how to read the Bible; We have listened to your father for years on kwve in the Los Angeles area and can’t believe we are down here now seeing “little Peter-John” preach! Our two teenagers came for the first time last Sunday as well, praise God; My question is what do you think about the “One Year Bible”? I have found it helpful in that it gives some scripture from the Old and New Testament, Psalms and Proverbs for each days date; may help those who don’t know where to start; and the congregation are all on the “same page” so to speak; also what version do you preach from so we can follow along? Thank You and God Bless You!!!!!

Awesome!… We’ve got a high school ministry headed by Rod Mayer here that is ignited, to say the least. As Rod said earlier today, “We are not a Youth Group but a Youth Ministry. That’s what I’m talking about!”

The One Year Bible is a great tool. I also appreciate those works that give Scipture in chronological order in Jesus’ life.

Finally, I use the NIV in Bible Teaching. I read KJV and NIV and NLT at home…different translations but they each have something great to offer. The key text, in my opinion, to which translations are best is found in Romans 9:5, “Christ, Who is God over all, forever praised, Amen”. If the translation refuses to say, “Who is God over all”, it’s not necessarily worth my time.

Blessings!

Keep the Questions Comin’! Question #1

Our Q and A session on Sunday morning precipitated someone asking if we could blog our questions about the Bible. So if you have any questions about the Bible, I’d love to field those questions and talk through them with you here on the blog.

One by one, I’ll tackle them (including those from the previous thread). Have a question, go ahead and ask it here.

Here’s the first one:

Peter a question if you will ?
I have a hard time wrapping my mind around the Father and Son being one and the same. In Acts:2:36 Gives me the impression that God crowned Christ at his death to be both Lord and Christ. Now in Acts: 3:13 Peter refers to Jesus as His servant, he does this again Acts:3:26 To you first God , having raised up His Servant Jesus… Now If Christ is God how can he be a servant to himself?

 

OK… The text to answer this question on Jesus and God the Father is found in Philippians 2:5-11.

“Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus. Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped, but made Himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant and being made in human likeness”.

Did you catch that?

Jesus was and is eqaul to God the Father. But CHOSE to make Himself nothing. The opposite of Lucifer who WAS NOT equal to God yet chose to view himself as though he was.

The phrase used in Philippians, “made Himself nothing” is huge in theology. The Greek word used there is “kenosis” which literally means an emptying. Jesus emptied Himself. Which means He operated on the power of God and not on His own, therefore He was the Servant of God (as Isaiah referred prophetically to the Messiah as “God’s Servant” over and over).

You see, Jesus was God. But didn’t lean into His divinity. He was man. But didn’t lean into His humanity. He leaned into the Holy Spirit completely. Awesome!

Therefore,  the Son of God served God the Father by the power of the Holy Spirit…though all Three are equally God.

Here’s a mind bender, though. When did the Son of God become the Son? Was He always the Son? Or did at some point in time and eternity He become the Son?

Anybody want a crack at trying to answer that one!

Anyway, hope that helps…Keep the questions comin’.

Whew!…and Wow!

Looking through the previous thread on Q and A…

What a bunch of…

Folks after my own heart!

Awesome questions, wonderful conversation, let’s do more to promote this…

Well, I haven’t got to those questions or this blog, for that matter, until just now…

Today, Monday, is my “day off”…

So today I: went for a morning run, went to the hardware store, fixed the twins’ toychest, cleaned up the backyard (including feeding the tortoise), took daughter Bailey out to lunch, picked up the girls from school, took the twins to the park, had dinner with the family, washed and cleaned the mini-van, helped the girls with their homework, and am now planning to sit down with my wife to enjoy “quality” time together… In between all that, I somehow found time to read Isaiah 6 and meditate on that wonderful and powerful passage of Scripture.

So that is a typical day off for me…

So I’ll get to your questions on the Trinity, the Bible, and predestination tomorrow as I am able!

Thanks for your patience and God bless your souls…

And I promise to do better at promptness in answering questions on Q and A in the future…

Because I really do love this forum of conversation called a blog.

Pete

Q and A

The last few weeks we’ve opened the last portion to service, after the message, to questions from the audience about the Bible…

It’s risky but it has been definitely worth the risk.

It moves the hour beyond just a lecture and into a time of interaction and fellowship…

So any preachers out there reading this…

Opening the service to Q and A is a fun and worthwhile thing to do…

If you dare.