When studying the Bible there are many principles that help us to effectively study the Bible and understand it literally. In this episode we discuss the relationship between speaker and audience when establishing context within scripture.

We also briefly touch on the danger of allegorizing things that are not intended to be allegory and misinterpreting allegory as though it’s literal. We see how soteriology and eschatology are affected negatively by not taking clear Bible distinctions seriously.

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Troy Stogsdill, lead pastor of First Baptist Church in New Philadelphia, OH joins us to announce the Living Faith Fellowship Certainty Conference (Oct. 2-5). We hear Troy's testimony of salvation, how he became a pastor and a few reasons on why believers should tune in for the Certainty Conference this year. The key speaker will be Pastor Kenny Morgan, discipleship pastor at Midtown Baptist Temple in Kansas City, MO and chair of the Foundations program at the Living Faith Bible Institute. Guest speakers for the morning sessions will include Pastor Alan Shelby of Harvest Baptist Church in Blue Springs, MO and dean of the Living Faith Bible Institute as well as Pastor Steve Charette of First Bible Baptist Church of Gardner, MA.

Visit https://www.lffellowship.com/

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Living Faith Bible Institute Student John Scott shares his testimony of salvation, sanctification and how he became the children's minister at a new church plant in Columbus, Ohio, Northside Baptist Church.

Pastor Jay Schug of Community Fellowship Baptist Church in Huntsville, Alabama walks us through a biblical template for teaching the seven stages of spiritual growth in the disciple of Christ within the context of a local church. We begin with Jay's testimony of salvation and first steps of faith. He then shares how God called him to the pastorate and gave him a vision for biblical discipleship.

The seven stages of spiritual growth for the disciple of Christ covered in this episode are:

1. Repentance,

2. Enlightenment/Illumination,

3. Ministry Training,

4. Leadership Development,

5. Reevaluation and Separation,

6. Leadership Participation,

7. Consecration and World Vision

Randy Foster of Heartland Baptist Fellowship in Harrisonville, MO shares his story of coming to faith after reading a booklet regarding the rapture. Randy then shares how he was discipled, caught a heart for missions in Belarus and quickly found himself leading in the mission. He tells us how God prepared him to preach through ministries such as Backyard Astronomy club.

After a long season of missions work in Zambia, Africa Randy was invited by Brian Hedges of Heartland Baptist Fellowship in Harrisonville, MO to help start a Bible school. Randy is now also trusting God to get the Word of God to the nations through Word First Publishing at Heartland which seeks to print and ship Bibles of various languages to peoples around the world.

Pastor Lee Ridings of Greater Hope Baptist Church in Dallas, GA shares his story of discovering God’s will for his life as well as his heart on the importance of relaying biblical discipleship to the next generation. Lee shares what coming to faith in Christ looked like for him, how he began to grow in the faith and how meeting a pastoral mentor brought his attention to a need for biblical exegesis.

Pastor Mark Trotter helped Lee to grow into the husband, father, discipler and expository preacher he is today. It is Lee's heart to prayerfully and successfully relay a genuine walk with Christ to the next generation together with his local church.

Vishal Mangalwadi is a world-renowned Christian philosopher and author of over 20 books, including “This Book Changed Everything: The Bible’s Amazing Impact on Our World.” In this episode, Vishal shares his testimony of coming to faith in Jesus after an earnest search for absolute truth in both religion and philosophy.

In this search for truth, Vishal came to the realization that modern philosophical skepticism in the West had only reached what Siddhārtha Gautama (The Buddha) had taught more than 2,000 years earlier.

In this episode, Vishal traces the history of skeptical thought from east to west from influential individuals like Buddha, David Hume, and even Kurt Cobain. Vishal demonstrates how genuine hope, purpose, and progress can only come to a person or nation that remains rooted in truth.

Vishal shows us where fatalist and relativistic thought lead to and why the West will never see lasting fruit outside of the absolute truth that mankind was created in God's image, lost that image by sin, and can only regain it through a real relationship with the Creator, Jesus Christ.

Can we know truth? Can we trust the Bible? These are questions we find answers to in this episode of The Postscript.

Living Faith Bible Institute student Scott Sandy of Valley Bible Baptist Church in Cobleskill, NY shares his testimony of salvation. He then tells us a little about his ministry, Northeast Baptist Seedline which partners with Bearing Precious Seed in Milford, OH to produce and distribute the books of John and Romans to various people around the world and locally. Scott also reflects on the mentors and ministries God used to disciple him.

We sit down with pastor Beau Green of Maple City Baptist Church in Monmouth, Illinois to discuss his book titled Under Construction: How to Build a Children’s Ministry.Beau shares from the Word of God and experience how to grow a healthy children’s ministry, effectively relaying a genuine relationship with Jesus Christ through His Word to next generations. He also shares his heart on the value of working with kids and what it looks like to give them the best of resources God has entrusted to us. Finally, we take some time to discuss hurdles to working with youth and biblical solutions to overcome those issues.

Purchase Under Construction: How to Build a Children’s Ministry at https://www.lfbi.org/books

Living Faith Bible Institute Student Jessica Makona shares her testimony of coming to faith in Jesus after encountering truth during a church service. She tells us how relationships she made during her college years impacted her decision to be saved, baptized, biblically discipled. Join us as Jessica shares her international story of finding a home at a little disciple-making church, being equipped through LFBI and now being set out on a church-planting team.

Pastor Dan Reneau, professor at Living Faith Bible Institute, recounts the process of Living Faith Lee’s Summit growing from a Bible study to a local church plant sent out from Midtown Baptist Temple. He shares what it has been like to trust the Lord to implement biblical discipleship in a new location with new people as well as what he has learned over these initial years. Dan offers some firsthand advice to church-planters and those who are considering being part of a sent team.

We hear Living Faith Bible Institute student Chris Nunan's testimony. He shares how he came to faith at the age of seven. Going to a new city for college he found himself at a new church with a familiar friend, Mark Trotter. Chris tells us how God prepared him to play a critical role on the discipleship team of a new work led by Pastor Matt Braucher in Columbus, Ohio at Northside Baptist Church.

We continue our series with Jonathan Kindler, LFBI professor of Biblical Counseling, to discuss the topic of marriage. We briefly address underlying thoughts, behaviors and patterns that manifest in common presenting issues. We discuss what it looks like to counsel couples according to God’s purpose and plan, beginning with the gospel. Lastly, we touch on how a biblically sound relationship functions and what intimacy looks like for the married couple who’s main goal is to glorify Christ.

In this episode, Dean of LFBI Dr. Alan Shelby sits down to discuss the problems with the writings of Dr. Bart. D. Ehrman, biblical scholar and atheist. We share Ehrman’s faith story and how he came to recant his Christianity. We then address his approach to textual and form criticism and how he presses assumptions on the scriptural text. We analyze Ehrman’s book “Jesus: Apocalyptic Prophet,” and Alan shares with us a biblical model for finding truth.

Student of Living Faith Bible Institute Brooke Sidebottom shares her story of how God took her from Kansas City to being part of a church-planting team in Boston, MA. She shares how God helped her grow into the mission-minded believer that she is today. She also updates us on what God is doing now at Living Faith Boston just a couple of years after the initial launch.

We continue our church history series with Pastor Greg Axe of Crest Bible Church. We discuss the man often recognized as the key player of the Reformation, Martin Luther. We begin with his upbringing and salvation experience, and then discuss his unrest with the Roman Catholic Church, the 95 theses, as well as the ensuing debate and persecution. We also discuss Luther's influence after his escape to Germany and the translation of the Bible into German.