Disciples are students who closely follow and learn from their master to become like him. Every Christian is a disciple of Jesus. We devotedly love and closely follow Jesus our Lord and Savior, learning from our Master to become more like Him (Romans 8:29; 2 Corinthians 3:18; 1 John 3:2). Jesus’ final words to his …
Author Archives: Jonathan Kobayashi
31053 The Good News
For four hundred years, the people of Israel were slaves in Egypt. Can you remember your family history over four hundred years? Their parents, grandparents, great-grandparents—as long as they could remember, they were slaves. The people of Israel knew no other life than the life of slavery. But the truth is that they were God’s …
71001 Intro to Spiritual Beings
In the first pages of the Bible, we’re introduced to God and humans as the main characters. But there’s also a whole cast of spiritual beings who play an important role throughout the Bible, though they’re often in the background. In this video, we begin to explore these beings and how they fit into the …
71002 Elohim
Did you know that the biblical word for God, Elohim, is actually a title and not a name? And did you know that “Elohim” can refer to other spiritual beings as well as to the creator God? In this video, we explore the biblical terminology for spiritual beings and how this helps us understand what …
71003 Divine Council
What on earth is the divine council? Well, for starters, it’s not on earth! This biblical phrase describes the concept of spiritual powers that God created to have authority alongside humans… until everyone rebels and creates huge problems that only Jesus can resolve. We dig into all of this and more in episode three of …
71004 Angels and Cherubim
Did you know that angels in the Bible don’t have wings? Or that cherubim are not cute, chubby babies? In this video, we explore the biblical portrayals of angels and cherubim to understand just who they are and what role they play in the story of the Bible. Spiritual Being Study Notes
71005 Angel of the Lord
The Angel of the Lord is one of the most fascinating spiritual beings in the Hebrew Scriptures. Every time this figure appears, he’s depicted as if he is God, but also an angel sent by God. In this video, we explore this paradoxical character and discover how he prepares us for the grand claims that …
71006 The Satan and Demons
The storyline of the Bible presents a populated spiritual world, full of creatures who are in rebellion against their Creator, just like humans. For lots of fascinating reasons, our modern conceptions of the Satan and demons are based on serious misunderstandings of the Bible. So let’s go back to the book of Genesis and start …
71007 The New Humanity
In the opening pages of the Bible, God appoints humans to rule the world on his behalf. But when they rebel, the biblical story leads us on a search for a new humanity that will be God’s faithful partners, forever. This is the plot conflict of the biblical story that leads to Jesus, and we …
22220.062 Dr. Larry W. Poland
Larry Poland is the author of this devotional series, “Wisdom from the Trenches” which was originally published as a book by the same title (ISBN 978-1-0980-8113-3). Dr. Poland is a native of Ohio and a graduate of Wheaton College in Illinois with a Bachelor’s degree in sociology. He also earned a Master’s degree and Ph.D. …