The Christian Benefit Package

By Linda Faye Anderson

Do you know all the benefits you have in Christ? If you want to be a more powerful Christian, read this book! This book will open your understanding to who you are in Christ by highlighting your Christian benefits.

In part 1, we will learn about the covenants God made with us in the Bible and the benefits and consequences we received from those covenants: Adamic covenant, Noahic covenant, Abrahamic covenant, Mosaic covenant, Davidic covenant, and our new covenant.

In part 2, we will talk about the gifts Jesus gave to the church for us to grow. We will discuss the benefits of those gifts (apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors, and teachers). This section will show that these gifts are functioning in the church today via testimonials and statements from church leaders who have been anointed with those noted gifts.

In part 3, we will talk about the many specific benefits you and I have in Christ (which are numerous). I guarantee you that reading this book will make you powerful! Knowing who you are and all the benefits that you have will cause the rest of your journey here on earth to be victorious! Knowledge is power! Read this book and learn all about your Christian benefits.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Christian Faith Publishing, Inc.
• Release date: Nov 29, 2022
• ISBN: 9798886858785

Book preview

cover.jpg

The Christian Benefit Package

Linda Faye Anderson

ISBN 979-8-88685-877-8 (paperback)

ISBN 979-8-88685-878-5 (digital)

Copyright © 2022 by Linda Faye Anderson

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, including photocopying, recording, or other electronic or mechanical methods without the prior written permission of the publisher. For permission requests, solicit the publisher via the address below.

Christian Faith Publishing

832 Park Avenue

Meadville, PA 16335

www.christianfaithpublishing.com

Bible versions used:

King James Version (KJV)

The New King James Version (NKJV)

The New International Version (NIV)

The New Living Translation (NLT)

Printed in the United States of America

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments

Introduction

Abbreviated Genealogy Highlighting Major Ancestors of Jesus

The Complete Genealogy of Jesus Christ

Prologue

The Bible Is One of Our Greatest Benefits

The Benefits of Being in Covenant with God

The Adamic Covenant

The Noahic Covenant

The Abrahamic Covenant

The Mosaic Covenant

The Davidic Covenant

The New Covenant

The Benefits and Provisions Jesus Made for His Church to Grow

The Benefit of the Gift of the Apostle

The Benefit of the Gift of the Prophet

The Benefit of the Gift of the Evangelist

The Benefit of the Gift of the Pastor

The Benefit of the Gift of the Teacher

Specific Benefits and Promises God Provided Just for You

The Benefit of the Blood of Jesus (Our Provision for Sin)

The Benefit of a New Life

The Benefit of Our Faith

The Benefit of Fulfilled Promises (And It Came to Pass)

The Benefit of a Complete Work

The Benefit of God's Presence

The Benefit of Godly Characteristics

The Benefit of God's Grace

The Benefit of God's Protection and Help

The Benefit of Knowing You Are Victorious (You Have the Armor of God)

The Benefit of Seeing Daybreak

The Benefit of Tests and Trials

The Benefit of Never Being Destroyed

The Benefit of Being in God's Care

The Benefit of Producing Fruit

The Benefit of Your Gifts

The Benefit of God's Authority and Power

The Benefit of Receiving a Crown

The Benefit of a New Mercy Every Morning

Did You Say the Christian Benefit Package?

Wake Up! Time Is Winding Up

About the Author

To Christians everywhere, to give them a compact reminder of the promises and benefits God has provided for us in the scriptures. This book is all about you!

Acknowledgments

I acknowledge God, who is my Lord and Savior. He compelled me to do my part to encourage fellow Christians on their journey. I am thankful for this awesome assignment and humbled that God chose to use me to encourage His people.

I would also like to thank my husband, David Anderson, for editing and proofreading this book. I want to thank my son, David Anderson II, for his valuable input.

I want to thank my daughter, Phylicia Hills, and her husband, Byron Hills, for all their support and prayers.

I want to thank the following church leaders who provided a statement or testimony in part 2 of this book: Drs. Jerry and Sherill Piscopo, Elder David Anderson, Evangelist Faye Bacon, Pastor Denise Johnson, Apostle Kevin D. Binion, and Dr. Linnie and Pastor Zonita Swanigan. Your input will give people present-day examples of the fivefold ministry gifts to the Church.

Finally, a special thanks and shout-out to Grandma Gwen for her words of encouragement. God used you to stir up the gift in me!

Introduction

Someone said the Bible is our written instructions before leaving earth. I do agree the Bible gives us instructions about how we should live. However, it is so much more than just an instructional book. The Bible is the written contract (or covenant) that we have with God. Our covenant has been signed and sealed with the blood of Jesus.

As Christians, we have benefits via all the promises we are given in the Bible. God is not a man that He should lie (Numbers 23:19). He will fulfill every promise spoken about us in the Bible. Sadly many of us do not avail ourselves to learn all the benefits and provisions made for us in this contract called the Bible. Our failure to read the Bible and learn about all the precious promises and gifts God has given to us puts us at a disadvantage. If we do not know who we are, we can fall for the lies of our enemy (the devil), who wants to keep us from fulfilling our destiny.

Not reading the Bible is like having an extremely rich relative who left you everything they had as your inheritance, but somehow you never found out about it. We have numerous promises recorded for us in God's Word. If you want to live a more victorious life, start reading your contract (the Bible) and become familiar with all the great things God has provided for you.

Do not let the devil rob you of your inheritance by not realizing that every promise written in the Bible belongs to you. Yes, God chose the Jews to be His special people so that He could express Himself through that race of people. The Jewish nation was used to demonstrate God to all the world. Keep in mind, God loves all the world (For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten son so that whosoever believed in Him should not perish but have everlasting life [John 3:16]). God used the Jews to reveal Himself to the rest of the world.

God had the whole world in mind from the very beginning (including Gentiles—everyone in the world who are not Jews). We were not an afterthought. Remember, God knows everything, and He is not limited by time. He knew Adam and Eve would fall, and He already had a plan to send Jesus to redeem the world. Let us read how we fit into the picture in Galatians 3:26–29 (NLT):

For you are all children of God through faith in Christ Jesus. And all who have been united with Christ in baptism have put on Christ, like putting on new clothes. There is no longer Jew or Gentile, slave or free, male and female. For you are all one in Christ Jesus. And now that you belong to Christ, you are the true children of Abraham. You are his heirs, and God's promise to Abraham belongs to you. (Italics added)

As we see in the above noted passage, when we said yes to Jesus and accepted Him into our hearts, we became not only God's sons and daughters, but we also became children of Abraham. When you said yes to Jesus, you put on Christ, like putting on new clothes.

I love verse 28 because it dispels many false ideas and puts us all on the same footing in Christ. We are all one. God does not make a difference or distinction between Jews (His originally chosen people) and Gentiles (we who were engrafted in later). Slavery was a negative part of our history, yet God says He does not honor the free person over the slave. (We will not tackle the subject of slavery at this time, but a lot needs to be said about this subject.)

There are so many people who still have a problem with God using women to teach and preach His Word. If the Bible says God does not make a difference between males and females in Christ, why should we? God can and does use and speak through women just as He uses and speaks through men. God is looking for yielded vessels He can use to express His glory. Those vessels can be male or female. (Much more can be said about that subject as well, but not at this time.)

However, the verse I want to focus on is verse 29, where it tells us, And now that you belong to Christ, you are the true children of Abraham. You are his heirs, and God's promise to Abraham belongs to you. When you said yes to Jesus, that placed you into the family of God as the true children of Abraham. We are heirs of Abraham. Therefore, all the promises God made to Abraham and the children of Israel (Jews) belong to us as well. Now that is good news! So when you read the Bible, know that all those promises belong to you. You are one of the heirs to the covenant God made with Abraham.

This book will begin with Part 1: The Benefits of Being in Covenant with God. In this section, we will discuss six main covenants (promises) God made with mankind: Adamic Covenant, Noahic Covenant, Abrahamic Covenant, Mosaic Covenant, Davidic Covenant, and the New Covenant. We will talk about the benefits and provisions of these covenants. In Part 2: The Benefits and Provisions Jesus Made for His Church to Grow, we will discuss the gifts Jesus gave to the Church and the benefits we receive from those gifts. In Part 3: Specific Benefits and Promises God Provided Just for You, we will talk about some specific promises and benefits we should be applying to our lives daily. Let us get started reading about our benefit package!

Abbreviated Genealogy Highlighting Major Ancestors of Jesus

(Full Genealogy Is on the Following Page)

God

I

Adam

I

Abraham

I

Isaac

I

Jacob

I

Judah

I

David

I

Jesus

The Complete Genealogy of Jesus Christ

Starting with God to Adam, going down and then back up to the top name after ending each line.

Luke 3:23–38

Prologue

The Bible Is One of Our Greatest Benefits

Before we begin learning about all the benefits we have as Christians, we must talk about one of our most important benefits which is the foundation for all the information contained in this book. That benefit and foundation is the Bible. For some of you Bible scholars, this might be an unnecessary review. But for those who, for whatever reason, rarely read the Bible, this will be helpful to you.

The following information was gathered from a number of sources, including The Dead Sea Scrolls by Michael Wise, Martin Abegg Jr., and Edward Cook; The Bible Made Plain and Simple by Mark Water; The Foundations of Christian Doctrine by Kevin J. Conner; and an article titled Where Did the Bible Come From, written by Wayne A. Grudem, PhD (research professor for Zondervan Academic).

What Does the Bible Consist Of?

The Bible consists of a total of sixty-six books written by more than forty divinely inspired authors. Simply put, they were writing for God. God made sure they wrote only what He wanted to be in His Holy Word, the Bible.

Kevin J. Conner said it this way on page 23 of his book:

The Bible is the Divine Library, consisting of sixty-six separate yet related books. It is The book of all books, priceless and incomparable. Its two divisions are the Old Testament, having thirty-nine books and the New Testament containing twenty-seven books. Although a compilation of sixty-six books it is really one unified book. The Bible is the only authoritative written revelation of God.

Conner describes the word testament as simply meaning covenant. He stated that the Old Testament is the old covenant, which was under the law, and the New Testament is the new covenant we have with Jesus under grace.

Let us keep in mind that Jesus said He did not come to do away with the law but to fulfill it (Matthew 5:17). Also remember, God promised that the law would now be written in our hearts (Jeremiah 31:33). What this means is that since we have the Holy Spirit living in us, He will enable us to live holy lives. I did not say we would live perfect lives, but the Holy Spirit has been given to us to keep us in check. He leads us into all truth, showing us the difference between right and wrong. The law no longer becomes a bunch of rules that we must follow legally; the law of God and His commands have become our lifestyle. His love controls us (2 Corinthians 5:14) and keeps us from grieving the Holy Spirit by breaking God's laws.

According to Conner, in The Foundations of Christian Doctrine, the sixty-six books of the Bible were written over approximately a 1,600-year period by forty different authors, from all different cultures and countries, including Egypt, Rome, and Babylon. These men included kings, poets, musicians, philosophers, statesmen (political leaders), prophets, peasants (poor farmers), a tax collector, a physician, fishermen, herdsmen, priests, tradesmen, and prisoners.

As we can see, each writer's contribution was necessary to make the Bible the complete book that we love and read today.

The Old Testament

The thirty-nine books of the Old Testament are as follows:

The word Pentateuch above simply means five books. These were also called the books of the law written by Moses. Also note that minor prophets does not mean they are less important; it only means their books are smaller but are just as important.

The Old Testament gives us the history of God's dealings with His chosen people, the Jews (or Hebrews). The Old Testament scriptures and all the prophets were also speaking of and pointing to the coming Messiah (Jesus).

Then Jesus took them through the writings of Moses and all the prophets, explaining from all the Scriptures the things concerning himself. (Luke 24:27 NLT)

When you study the Old Testament, you will find numerous scriptures that were written about Jesus many years before He was born. Most of those prophecies about Jesus were fulfilled in the New Testament, and some are yet to be fulfilled.

God's chosen people (the Jews) continually disobeyed Him until finally, in 722 BC (BC means before Christ came), God allowed His people in the Northern Kingdom to be taken captive by the Assyrians. Then in 586 BC, due to their continued disobedience, God allowed the rest of His people (Southern Kingdom) to be taken captive by the Babylonians.

The Silent Years

There were four hundred years between the Old Testament, which ended with the book of Malachi, and the New Testament, which started with the book of Matthew. Those four hundred years are known as the silent years because it is believed that God was not speaking to His people during that time. God was silent.

The New Testament

The New Testament opens with God's people under Roman control and praying and hoping desperately for the Messiah to come and deliver them from the Roman rule.

There are twenty-seven books of the New Testament as follows:

The word epistles above mean letters. All of Paul's books were letters to churches or to individuals. The general epistles were letters written by other anointed men of God. The word apocalyptic above means the complete destruction of the world or simply put, the end of the world as we know it.

Who Wrote the New Testament?

The New Testament was written by the apostles and those closely associated with the apostles. The early Church automatically accepted the written teachings of the apostles. The books that were not written by apostles in the New Testament were Mark, Luke, Acts, Jude, Hebrews(?). There is a question mark by Hebrews because it is believed that Paul wrote that book also, but the scholars are not 100 percent sure. Although there is no absolute proof that Paul wrote the book of Hebrews, all the scholars agreed that Hebrews is an inspired book that belongs in the Bible.

The book of Mark was accepted for inclusion into the Bible due to Mark's close association with the Apostle Peter (eyewitness of Jesus). The books of Luke and Acts (both written by Luke the physician) were accepted in the Bible because of his close relationship with the Apostle Paul. The book of Jude was included in the Bible because of Jude's relationship with the Apostle James (his brother). (The information in this paragraph is according to Professor Wayne Grudem) James and Jude were both half-brothers of Jesus.

The way they decided which books would be included in the New Testament (for there were other books written at that time as well) was explained plainly by Professor Grudem as follows:

Each book had to be endorsed by the apostles (remember, they walked with Jesus).

Each book had to be consistent with the rest of the scriptures (in other words, the book could not endorse things the rest of the Bible spoke against).

Each book had to be deemed inspired by God by most believers (My sheep hear my voice [John 10:27]).

Why Should We Believe the Bible?

Many of you have heard of the Dead Sea Scrolls. For those who have not heard of these scrolls, let me give a brief explanation. The Dead Sea Scrolls have been called a priceless link to the Bible's past. The scrolls are writings on leather (animal skins) with the first being found in 1947 in Qumran, which is a village near Jerusalem, not too far from the Dead Sea (hence the name Dead Sea Scrolls).

The scrolls were discovered by a shepherd boy who had lost one of his animals and went looking for it. While searching for his animal, he stumbled on a cave, threw a rock into the cave, and heard something crack. The crack he heard was a ceramic pot containing leather and papyrus scrolls that were over 1,800 years old. (A scroll is a rolled-up document that can be unrolled from both sides.)

About ten years after this first discovery, eleven additional caves were discovered in the same area which contained tens of thousands of scroll fragments dating all the way back before Jesus was born.

Description of the Scrolls

The scrolls were written in Hebrew, Aramaic, and Greek, and they included manuscripts or fragments of every book in the Old Testament, except the book of Esther. There were also other writings found including some commentaries on the Bible.

(The above information regarding the Dead Sea Scrolls was gathered from Got Questions on the Internet.)

The Dead Sea Scrolls are important because it shows just how accurate the Bible is, proving it to be a reliable source of God's Word and dealings with mankind (The Bible Made Plain and Simple, 9).

New Testament Scrolls

As for the New Testament, when you compare it to other books that we deem to be accurate, you will find that the New Testament was originally written about AD 50–100 and copied from its original sources in less than one hundred years,