Showing results by author "Dr. Bill Creasy" in All Categories

Study through the entire Bible, Genesis through Revelation, in one year! This "flagship" Logos course grew out of Dr. Creasy's year-long UCLA program, "The English Bible as Literature." One of the most highly rated courses on campus, "The English Bible as Literature" placed Dr. Creasy among the top 2% of UCLA teaching faculty for over 20 years!

The Imitation of Christ is one of the great spiritual classics of Christianity. Dr. Creasy's new reading of Thomas A Kempis' 1441 Latin Autograph Manuscript has become "the standard translation of this spiritual classic." The printed trade edition has been a best seller and was chosen as a Book of the Month Club selection. It remains an essential spiritual work for contemporary readers. This audio version read by Don Ranson captures the intimacy and depth of this superb translation.

Acts follows the Church from its birth in Jerusalem through its exponential growth and inevitable persecution, led by Saul of Tarsus. Incredibly, Saul later confronts the risen and glorified Christ on the road to Damascus, where he becomes a believer. And not just any old believer! Saul becomes Paul, the great Apostle to the Gentiles. From Chapter 9 onward, Acts follows Paul on his three missionary journeys as he takes the Gospel into Asia Minor and Europe.

Join Logos Bible Study as we continue the story of redemption. As told by Dr. Bill Creasy, Israel falls into the cruel bondage of slavery in Egypt. And it is no accident: God had said to Abraham 500 years earlier that his descendants would be “enslaved and mistreated four hundred years”.

Jonah is one of the great stories in the Bible. Join Logos Bible Study’s Dr. Bill Creasy as he tells this story as no one else can! When God commands Jonah to go to Nineveh, the capital of the Assyrian empire, and preach against it, Jonah heads in the exact opposite direction—to Tarshish, in Spain! Follow the adventure as a huge storm tosses Jonah’s ship, the sailors hurl Jonah overboard and a huge fish swallows him!

The Psalms have been the prayer book of Israel for the past 3,000 years and the prayer book of the church for the past 2,000 years. The Psalms explore every possible response we can have to God, from the highest awe to the deepest love, from the darkest despair to icy anger. In the Psalms, we join David as we plumb the very depths of our hearts in our relationship with God. Join Logos Bible Study as Dr. Bill Creasy explores the Psalms, a journey through the poetry of experience.

Prophets are emphatically not seers who gaze into the future and predict far-off events; they are God’s spokesmen who always speak into their own historical context. Sometimes what they say may foreshadow messianic or “end time” events, but they always have an immediate historical reference. Understanding a prophet’s historical context is essential to understanding his message. Join Logos Bible Study’s Dr. Bill Creasy in this dazzling exposition of Isaiah, the first of the major prophets.

Joel may be the earliest of the writing prophets; if he is, then he introduces the term “the Day of the Lord” as a reference to a set of final, catastrophic events that will befall Israel—and indeed all humanity in the “end times.” Illustrating his message with reference to a dreadful locust plague that occurred in the past, we shudder as God makes clear that if Israel does not repent something much greater than a locust plague will occur.

Traditionally ascribed to Jude, a brother of both James and the Lord, mentioned in Matthew 13:58, Jude had wanted to write a rather thorough theological treatise, but present circumstances in the church compel him to address a different topic: what believers can do in days of apostasy. Written sometime in the late 80s or early 90s, this epistle offers very practical advice for those living in what appear to be the "end times".

In Genesis the curtain rises on our story. Genesis introduces most of the major themes in the Bible. Listen closely as Logos Bible Study’s Dr. Bill Creasy takes you through the story of creation, the fall of man, grace, atonement, faith, justification, redemption and much more in this extraordinary story of beginnings.

Although Romans is not the earliest of Paul’s writings, like Isaiah and Matthew, Romans sits at the head of the epistles and letters. Written as a formal argument and structured as a scholastic diatribe, Romans presents Paul’s great thesis that we are saved by grace through faith, not by works of Law. This is revolutionary! Romans, perhaps more than any other book ever written, has fundamentally changed Western civilization, and it is foundational to understanding all of Paul’s other epistles and letters.

Dr. Creasy has noted on many occasions that the Bible—in its final, finished form—is a unified literary work that is linear in structure; its main character is God; its conflict is sin; and its theme is redemption. Viewing the Bible from this perspective, the curtain rises on our story in Genesis 1, and it falls in Revelation 22. From a literary perspective, Revelation is the final chapter in a sprawling 2,000 page, 66-chapter story.

Both Isaiah and Hosea are writing at the same time, during the reigns of kings Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz and Hezekiah, 740-686 B.C. In Isaiah 1-35, Isaiah hauls Israel into court, charging her with unfaithfulness, calling out witnesses and finding her guilty. The theme of these chapters is judgment. In Hosea, God says: “You know what I think; now I want you to know how I feel.”

The Book of Micah is a complex mixture of judgment and hope. God is a god of justice, as well as a god of love, and genuine peace cannot come until justice prevails on earth. Micah’s message of judgment culminates in the redemption of Israel and of all humanity, but a fearful judgment must come first. Join Logos Bible Study’s Dr. Bill Creasy as he explains how judgment and hope are intimately intertwined in the plan of salvation.

Saul of Tarsus was one of the most brilliant young men of his generation. Growing up in a wealthy family, receiving a world-class education, and being groomed for leadership at the highest level of Judaism, Saul became the great persecutor of the emerging Church shortly after Jesus' death, burial, and resurrection. On the road to Damascus to round up Christians and have them brought back to Jerusalem for punishment, Saul encounters the risen and glorified Christ - and his life turns upside down.

When the Babylonian sacked Jerusalem in August of 586 B.C., the Edomites--descendants of Jacob's twin brother, Esau--looted the city. Obadiah is a 1-page book--the shortest book of prophecy in the Bible--that signals God's displeasure with Edom's actions. Join Logos Bible Study's Dr. Bill Creasy as he makes a stunning discovery about one of Esau's descendants who will appear in the New Testament!

Written during a period of intense persecution under the Roman emperor Nero in 64-68 B.C., Mark offers an urgent message for a community in crisis. With its fast start (“Beginning the Gospel of Jesus Christ, Son of God... as it is written in Isaiah the prophet”), Mark hits the ground running, and he doesn’t slow down until the final episode at the end, in which the women who see Jesus’ empty tomb say nothing, for they were terrified." Mark’s Gospel is a clarion call to action. Master story teller, Dr. Bill Creasy, sounds the trumpet!

Often incorrectly referred to as one of Paul’s “prison epistles” (he was not in prison in Rome in A.D. 60-62; he was living in his own rented house, free to come and go as he pleased), Ephesians is a brilliant exposition of Paul’s thesis that we are “saved by grace through faith”. It is also a glittering display of Paul’s rhetorical fireworks. Logos Bible Study’s Dr. Bill Creasy examines this extraordinary epistle in detail.

Some think Leviticus is a “boring” book, yet it springs to life with the masterful storytelling skills of Dr. Bill Creasy. Listen as he weaves the texture, tone, and color of daily Israelite life during this amazing period of biblical history. With its emphasis on personal holiness, atonement, and sacrifice for sins, Leviticus separates the Israelites from their surrounding culture, calling them to be holy, as God is holy.

Luke is a Gentile writing for a particular person, another Gentile named Theophilus. In his Gospel, Luke provides a detailed and orderly account of the life and ministry of Jesus. Although Matthew, Mark, and Luke draw from many of the same sources for their material, each Gospel writer adapts his material for his particular audience and purpose. Luke presents his material in a brilliant prose style, as he creates a specific voice for his narrator and specific, identifiable voices for his characters.