The Basics of Christianity: Something to Think About: 30 Bible Study Lessons for the Serious Minded Christian

By Robert Kelsey

About the Book
And now for the rest of the story. The Basics of Christianity remedies the fact that most Sunday morning sermons fall far short of telling the whole story for the simple fact that most of the tellers don’t know the whole story. If one has a desire to be a Serious Minded Christian, it is important to hear the whole story, and how one is to apply this information to one’s life.

About the Author
Robert Kelsey is a retired pipeline, oilfield welder and inspector. He has always had an interest in reading the Bible but couldn’t make much sense of it until he was given a modern English language Bible where he found out that it is basically a copy of a contract, covenant, or testament between God and man. Paul Harvey told Robert one day that if he would spend fifteen minutes a day studying any given subject, he would be an expert in that area in two years. Robert increased the time and set out to spend at least two hours studying the Bible every day and had done so for more than ten years to date. The two most important revelations he has received are the fact that God poured out His Spirit on men, to make His words know to us (Proverbs 1:23), and it is to our advantage to have the Spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Him working in our lives (Proverbs 1:17–20). Jesus has given to us the keys to the kingdom of heaven, and it is what we choose to do with those keys that opens our understanding to what the Bible is saying to us.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Dorrance Publishing Company
• Release date: Jul 25, 2023
• ISBN: 9798888129333

Book preview

Reference books used in writing this book

KJV The King James Translation

NKJV The New King James Translation

AMPC The Amplified Bible, Classic Edition

NIV New International Version

NASB New American Standard Version

The Pure Word

The Message Bible

MEV Modern English Version

TPT The Passion Translation

W. E. Vines, An Expository Dictionary of Biblical Words

Vine’s Expository Dictionary of Old and New Testament Words

Strong’s Expanded Dictionary of Bible Words

Abingdon’s Strong’s Exhaustive Concordance of the Bible

The New Webster’s Dictionary of the English Language

Sparkling Gems from the Greek, I and II

The Layman’s Bible Encyclopedia

Bible Soft, Discipleship Series

All verses used in this book are from the New King James version of the Bible unless otherwise noted.

Book Foreword

Understand, this book is only for those who desire to be serious-minded Christians, because as a serious-minded Christian you will be lied about, laughed at, scorned, and persecuted. The devil will literally do everything he can to distract you and get you to turn your back on God’s Word and go the world’s way.

And believe it or not, these things will often come from well-meaning friends, relatives, and even church officials. When they see that you are on fire to know and serve God, they will often attempt to throw religious buckets of water on you trying to put that fire out.

From experience I can assure you that if you will always believe that God’s Word is true, or is the truth, and anything or anyone who contradicts what it says is a lie, it will help you tremendously in combatting the lies coming from the devil.

And most importantly, don’t ever listen to, read, or comment on what others are saying to or about you. To do so empowers them, and distracts you from your commitment to God.

Another thing you must understand is, your fight is not with those people that are doing these things, but it’s the devil and his cohorts that are controlling those people that are doing those things. Just as you have submitted your life to the Lord Jesus, for the most part they have not as yet done so and are allowing the devil to be their lord, allowing him to control their lives to the point where they are unconsciously doing his bidding.

As a Christian you have been blessed with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ, and it is now your responsibility to receive the Spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Jesus, who is the Word made flesh, which will enable you to know God’s truth, His Word, and how to receive it by faith and apply it to your life, and one of those truths is all about God’s Anointing abiding in you.

But you have an anointing from the Holy One, and you know all things (I John 2:20).

But the anointing you have received from Him abides in you, and you do not need that anyone teach you; but as the same anointing teaches you concerning all things, and is true, and is not a lie, and just as it has taught you, you will abide in Him (I John 2:27).

One of the things I learned early on was that doubt and unbelief are blessing blockers, and if you don’t believe what God is saying to and about you in His Word, you will never achieve the potential He has made available to you.

Introduction

1. Where did I come from?

2. Why am I here?

3. Where am I going?

4. What is God’s way of doing and being right?

Not knowing the answers to these questions is why the Body of Christ is in such a turmoil today? Do you want to know why the devil has been able to make a public display of our weaknesses? Do you want to know why instead of being unified and strong, the church is often torn apart by division and criticisms that most often come not from without but within?

It’s because, as the Lord said in Hebrews 5:12, the people of God have need of milk and not of strong meat. They’re babies, and the people of God for the most part don’t know His ways. They have never been taught the basics of Christianity.

There’s a Church full of spiritual babies out there and there are more being born again every day with nowhere to go and get fed properly, and for the most part, it is because our church leaders don’t know what’s in the Bible. They don’t know that it’s the responsibility of the Holy Spirit to bring them into all truth, and show them that there is more to come, and they don’t understand that without faith it is impossible to please God, for he who comes to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him.

They don’t understand that seeking first the kingdom of God and His righteousness (His way of doing and being right) is one of the basic principles that needs to be taught in the church today.

I understand that the majority of those born-again Christians you see in church on Sunday morning really don’t know much of anything about God or the Bible, and sadly, many of them only make contact with God on Sunday morning simply because they know nothing about what they have inherited when they made Jesus their Lord and Savior.

In fact, I would go so far as to say that most of them only know Jesus as their savior and not as their Lord. Yes, they will go to heaven and spend eternity with God, but in the meantime they will struggle throughout their lives and miss out on all the blessings and benefits that God has in store for them simply because they don’t know anything about what happened on the cross at Calvary, nor do they understand anything about the covenant they have with God.

You will keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on You… (Isaiah 26:3).

Your peace of mind is dependent on your ability to keep your mind in one place—stayed on Him, because the absence of peace is the product of a wandering mind.

Philippians 2:5 tells you that it is your responsibility to Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus, and Philippians 4:8 directs all Christians to only think about things that are true, noble, just, pure, lovely, and of good report, which are the attributes of God’s Word. For as he thinks in his heart, so is he (Proverbs 23:7). Understand, what you believe will eventually become your reality!

Now read Matthew 13:3–23, and Mark 4:3–20 with the understanding that Jesus was speaking allegorically so that those who didn’t care to understand couldn’t understand. Yet He knew that the hungry ones would seek out the hidden meaning of the parables and understand the secrets of God’s kingdom realm.

The mysteries and secrets of God’s kingdom realm are spiritual insights into the nature of the ways of God. Jesus Christ can only be fully understood by the Spirit, not merely by the intellect of man (I Corinthians 2:9–14), thus the importance in having the Spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Jesus working in your life (Ephesians 1:17–20).

Jesus taught His disciples using the cryptic language of parables to move them beyond their intellectual abilities, the place where they could engage the Spirit of God. If you have a hunger to learn with an open, teachable heart, it is Jesus’ words that will bring life and understanding to you. But for that to happen, you must always be one of those who pushes aside your opinions and traditions to glean the deepest meaning from all that Jesus did and taught. Again, the importance in having the Spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Him working in your life (Ephesians 1:17–20).

In Matthew 13:3–23, and Mark 4:3–20, the four kinds of soil speak of four kinds of hearts: hard hearts, hollow hearts, half hearts, and whole hearts. With the first soil we see the activity of Satan, the second, that of the flesh, the third that of the world, and the forth that of a heart that is sold out to God. The heart of a serious-minded Christian!

Bearing fruit is never a problem with what is sown, but the type of soil it falls upon and the attention it is given musts be a priority.

As you start studying these lessons, one of four things is going to happen.

1. You will hear the Word of the kingdom of God, and if you don’t understand it, the wicked one, Satan, knowing you are easily distracted, will come and snatch away from you what was sown in your heart because you have no root, or desire to understand it (verses 4, 19).

2. If you are stony ground you will immediately receive it with gladness, but where the Word doesn’t have any depth of earth where it can sink its roots down, the Word will be scorched and wither away by the hot sun, or with distractions of all sorts (Verses 5–6, 21).

3. If you allow your seed to be sown among the thorns, those thorns will spring up, and you will find yourself allowing the cares of this world, the deceitfulness of riches, and the desire for other things to choke the Word out, and you will become unfruitful (Verses 17, 22).

4. But if you are good ground, one who hears the Word over and over to the point you understand it, because you have the Spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Him working in your life, you will indeed bear fruit and produce: some a hundredfold, some sixty, and some a thirtyfold. The amount you produce will be determined by you, by how much time and effort you put into keeping your seed fed and watered.

So always remember, you have the mind of Christ (I Corinthians 2:9–16), and God has blessed, or empowered, you with all you need to understand His Word and bear good fruit (Ephesians 1:3).

But you have an anointing from the Holy One, and you know all things (I John 2:20).

But the anointing you have received from Him abides in you, and you do not need that anyone teach you (his opinions or deceptions); but as the same anointing teaches you concerning all things, and is true, and is not a lie, and just as it has taught you, you will abide in Him (I John 2:27).

One of the things I learned early on was that doubt, unbelief, and distractions are blessing blockers, and if you don’t believe what God is saying to and about you in His Word, you will never achieve the potential He has made available to you.

Matthew 14:30 gives us an excellent example of what I am telling you. Jesus instructed Peter to come, and when he stepped out of the boat, he took several steps and then he took his eyes off of Jesus, off the Word, whereas he saw the wind boisterous, which caused him to become distracted, which allowed him to doubt that he could do what Jesus directed him to do, and down he went.

How to Pray for Yourself

You will also declare a thing, and it will be established for you (Job 22:28).

Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed me with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ, just as He chose me in Him before the foundation of the world, that I should be holy and without blame before Him in love, having predestined me to adoption as a son by Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the good pleasure of His will, to the praise of the glory of His grace, by which He made me acceptable in the Beloved.

In Him I have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of my sins, according to the riches of His grace which He made to abound toward me in all wisdom and prudence, having made known to me the mystery of His will according to His good pleasure which He purposed in Himself, that in the dispensation of the fullness of the times He might gather together in one all things in Christ, both which are in heaven and which are on earth—in Him.

In Him also I have obtained an inheritance, being predestined according to the purpose of Him who works all things according to the counsel of His will that I who first trusted in Christ should be to the praise of His glory.

In Him I also trusted, after I heard the word of truth, the gospel of my salvation; in whom also, having believed, I was sealed with the Holy Spirit of promises, who is the guarantee of my inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession, to the praise of His glory (Ephesians 1:2–14).

Father, according to Ephesians 1:16–21, you have given me the Spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Jesus Christ. I thank You that the eyes of my understanding are being enlightened to know the hope of Your calling and the riches of the glory of Your inheritance in the saints. For You are reveling to me the exceeding greatness of Your power, according to the working of Your mighty power, which raised Christ from the dead and set Him at Your right hand in the heavenly places, far above all principality and power and might and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this age but also in that which is to come.

And according to Ephesians 3:14–20, I thank You, Lord, for granting to me according to the riches of Your glory the ability to be strengthened with might by Your Spirit in my inner man. That Christ may dwell in my heart through faith; that I being rooted and grounded in love may be able to comprehend with all saints what is the breadth and length and depth and height—to know the love of Christ which passes knowledge, that I might be filled with all the fullness of God.

And according to Colossians 1:9–11, I thank You for filling me with the knowledge of Your will in all wisdom and spiritual understanding; that I might walk worthy of You, Lord, fully pleasing You, being fruitful in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of You; strengthened with all might, according to Your glorious power, for all patience and longsuffering with joy; giving thanks to the Father who has qualified me to be a partaker of the inheritance of the saints in the light.

I thank You, Father, because You have not only qualified me to be a partaker of the inheritance of the saints in the light, but You are able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that I ask or think, according to the power that works in me (Ephesians 3:20). Now unto You, Lord, be glory in the church by Christ Jesus throughout all the ages, world without end. Amen." Thank You, Jesus!

Now I believe I receive the Spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Him, and I take it by faith, in Jesus name (I Thessalonians 5:16–18).

What you have just read is God’s will for you. Notice I have personalized these scriptures to help you receive the revelation of what God has in store for you, the serious-minded Christian.

I encourage you to read this prayer every day as you start your Bible study lesson, and if you do, I can assure you that the Bible will become a different book to you because it is then that you will be allowing your revelation to fuel your dedication.

Supporting scriptures.

If people can’t see what God is doing, they stumble all over themselves; but when they attend to what He reveals, they are most blessed (Proverbs 29:18 The Message Bible).

Where there is no prophetic vision, people quickly wander astray. But when you follow the revelation of the Word, heaven’s bliss fills your soul (Proverbs 29:18 TPT)

You will also declare a thing, and it will be established for you (Job 22:28).

…and does not doubt in his heart, but believes that those things he says will be done, he will have whatever he says (Mark 11:23).

If you abide in Me, and My words abide in you, you will ask what you desire, and it shall be done for you (John 14:7).

And whatever you ask in My name, that I will do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son (John 14:13).

If you ask anything in My name, I will do it (John 14:14).

Most assuredly, I say to you, whatever you ask the Father in My name He will give you (John 16:23).

Now this is the confidence we have in Him, that if we ask anything according to His will, He hears us. And if we know that He hears us, whatever we ask, we know that we have the petitions that we have asked of Him (I John 5:14–15).

Therefore I say to you, whatever things you ask when you pray, believe that you receive them, and you will have them (Mark 11:24).

Remember, God’s Word is God’s will, and you only have to ask God for something once and then you must believe you receive it when you pray! After that, you only have to keep thanking Him for it.

1

How Should I Look at the Bible?

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through Him, and without Him nothing was made that was made. In Him was life, and the life was the light of men. And the light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not comprehend it (John 1:1–5).

In the beginning [before all-time] was the Word (Christ), and the Word was with God, and the Word was God Himself. He was present originally with God. All things were made and came into existence through Him; and without Him was not even one thing made that has come into being. In Him was life, and the Life was the Light of men. And the Light shines on in the darkness, for the darkness has never overpowered it [put it out or absorbed it or appropriated it, and is unreceptive to it] (John 1:1–5, The Amplified Bible).

I find it hard to believe that so many born-again, spirit-filled believers have no idea as to what these five verses are actually telling us, and I have been sitting here for about an hour trying to figure out how to explain it to you. So let’s start in the beginning.

In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth (Genesis 1:1). Although it was the beginning of what we call His Creation, it was obviously not the beginning of God simply because He is outside the realm of time and space, because He dwells in eternity. Before He created the heavens and the earth, there was only the spiritual world—the parent world to the natural physical world where we exist. When God said Let there be light (Genesis 1:3), He wasn’t referring to the light we use to see by, but the manifest presence of God Himself. Those words originated from the inner image that was inside God, and those faith-filled words slung this universe into existence at the speed of light. Those words of creation were filled with the substance of God’s faith. And as such, He and His Word are one and the same. (Hebrews 11:3)

The link between the two worlds—the world of the spirit and the world of the natural—is words. God created man like Himself (Genesis 1:26–27), to be a living, speaking spirit, with the ability to create with words. When Adam bowed his knee to a spiritual outlaw, Satan (Genesis 3:6), he broke the earth-heaven connection, and the eyes of both of them were opened (Genesis 3:7), whereas there was no longer a man on the earth with words that could connect him back to heaven. The link was broken. Adam broke or violated the Word that linked heaven and earth. The communication link between the Father and His son (Adam), the parent and child, heaven and earth, God and man, was severed. God didn’t abandon the man, but He put into motion His plan of redemption (Genesis 3:15), which had been in the mind of God from the foundation of the world. He began by reaching out to fallen man to restore the link. Using His power tool of creation—His Word—He connected with a man named Abram and cut a covenant of words, or promises, with him. He declared to His covenant partner, by speaking of things that be not as though they were (Romans 4:17), that there was a Seed coming (Galatians 3:16)—the Word made flesh (John 1:14)—who would bless all the nations of the earth (Genesis 22:18). And forty-two generations later God’s words came to pass. His Word, a part of Himself, took upon itself flesh, and Jesus (From the Hebrew: He will save, (Matthew 1:21) was born as a baby in the town of Bethlehem (From the Hebrew: House of bread, John 6:51).

In Him, in Jesus, the Christ, the Anointed One, The Word made flesh, is life, spiritual life, eternal life, and life in every form, the divine source of everything, and His Zoe life, which is eternal life, or God’s life is the light of men. His words are life, and light (John 6:63; 8:12). He is light, and in Him is no darkness at all (I John 1:5), because Jesus Christ brings the light of eternal life and the full revelation of God (Hebrews 1:2–3) to every man who desires to walk in it.

To help understand what this is telling us, let’s first look at the words Life and Light to get a better understanding to what we are studying here. That word life from the Greek is Zoe which means eternal life or God’s life. It is God’s nature. It is referring to life as God has it—that which the Father has in Himself—and that which the Incarnate Son has in Himself. Whereas Light is referring to the manifest presence of God, or something that is dominating or subjugating, as such, one with the ability to bring things under one’s control.

Jesus said, I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me (John 14:6).

No one, means no one! There is no other means or way to approach the Father except through Jesus (John 3:16).

He who believes in the Son has eternal life (John 3:36).

When a person believes and receives the truth of God’s Word, the light contained in those words brings forth the Light Himself who illuminates the mind and heart of the receiver. The everlasting life and light contained in those words instantly changes the inner man of the person who receives them, and his or her spirit is reborn (John 14:23). The Zoe, or eternal life of God Himself, contained in His words, brings it to pass, and at that moment the link is reconnected between heaven and earth allowing the life force of Almighty God to flow into the person through the power residing in His words, and it fills him or her with God’s own Spirit and life (I Corinthians 3:16, 6:19). At that moment that person’s spirit is reborn in the image and likeness of God Himself, and he or she becomes a new creation in Christ Jesus (II Corinthians 5:17), thus the importance in confessing with your mouth the Lord Jesus (Romans 10:9–10) over and over until you believe in your heart that Jesus is your Lord and Savior.

Jesus, speaking of the eternal power of His words, said, If you abide in Me, and My words abide in you, you will ask what you desire, and it shall be done for you (John 15:7). Why? It is because the heaven and earth connection is restored through hearing and speaking His words, whereas the born-again person becomes like Him, joined by His words to the very life force of God (John 6:63). If you can understand this, you should now be able to understand 1 Corinthians 2:8 where it says …which none of the rulers of this age (the devil and his demons) knew; for had they known, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory.

This reestablishment of The Word connection between heaven and earth was a mystery, hidden in God. That mystery, now revealed, is the Zoe life of the living Word in you—as He had been in Adam—He is now restored in you. Colossians 1:27 says, To them God willed to make known what are the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles: which is Christ in you, the hope of glory. The glory of God is referring to all that He is, all that He has, and all that He can do, and "as He is, so are we, the born-again Christian, in this world (I John 4:17).

God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit set a trap for Satan and all his demons, a plan which had been planned from the foundation of the world (I Peter 1:19–20; Revelation 13:8), and it was