God, who created all things and upholds all things by the word of His power, will one day come in judgement upon this world.
Read More...Monthly Archives:: October 2009
Jesus Christ – The Righteous Judge
The most awesome event imaginable will take place on Judgment Day – that day in which every man, woman, boy and girl will stand before the Lord Jesus Christ to receive their final sentence, either of everlasting happiness and glory, or everlasting misery and torment.
Read More...Jesus Christ – The Deliverer from Wrath
I have often been asked the question, “How could a God of love send people to a real hell for all eternity?”
Read More...Jesus Christ – The Risen Lord
There are two truths that every person needs to know about Jesus Christ: 1) He was raised from the dead; and 2) He is now the reigning Lord of the universe.
Read More...Jesus Christ – The Crucified Savior
The cross of Jesus Christ — what was it that transpired nearly two thousand years ago when a poor, obscure man, was executed by having his hands and feet nailed to two timbers and left to die as a common criminal?
Read More...Jesus Christ – The God-Man
Just who was Jesus Christ? Your eternal destiny depends on how you answer that question!
Read More...Jesus Christ – What Will You Do With HIm?
Allow me to introduce you to the most lovely and glorious person this world has ever known — Jesus Christ.
Read More...Does God Desire The Salvation Of All Men?
Does God really desire the salvation of all men? Over the last two thousand years of church history there have been two major views held by Christians regarding this question. A closely related question is, “Why are certain people saved rather than others?” Calvinists claim that the deciding factor in a man’s salvation is God’s will while the Arminian just as decidedly affirms it is man’s will. The question really comes down to, “Does God’s sovereign will or man’s free will ultimately determine who will be saved?
Read More...The Sinners Desperate Need for Sovereign Grace
During the summer of 1991, my mind was arrested by the truths of sovereign grace. For a full year I could think of little else. I found myself delighting in God’s unconditional election, particular redemption, effectual calling, and final preservation of His people. However, these glorious truths would have little luster, and make no sense, if it were not for the Biblical teaching on the sinner’s desperate condition. It is not until we understand how serious the bad news actually is, that we are able to adequately appreciate how wonderful the good news is!
Read More...Christ in Genesis, part 4 (Christ – Our Heavenly Bridegroom)
Christ – Our Heavenly Bridegroom
Bible commentators have long seen in Genesis 2: 18-25 a picture of the union between Christ and His church. Before you brush aside that suggestion as the product of a fertile imagination, consider how the apostle Paul viewed Adam’s marriage to Eve. In Ephesians 5:22-25 Paul tells the wives to be subject to their own husbands, as to the Lord, for the husband is the head of the wife, as Christ also is the head of the church. He goes on to tell the husbands to love their wives as Christ loved the church and gave Himself up for her.
Read More...Christ in Genesis, part 3 (Christ – The Tree Of Life)
Christ – The Tree of Life
Out of all of God’s creation, only two trees were given special names – the Tree of Life and the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil. The Lord God planted both of them in the midst of the garden. Evidently He wanted these two trees displayed in a very prominent position so that man might have free access to them. Notice that God gave no command that man should not eat from the Tree of Life. It would seem, rather, that He gave man every encouragement to come and partake of it, rather than the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil.
Read More...Christ in Genesis, part 2 (Christ Our Sabbath)
Christ – Our Sabbath
Over the past two thousand years there has been much disagreement and controversy over the subject of the Sabbath. During the 17th century, the Puritans sought to enforce the Sabbath by having the civil magistrate fine offenders. The Seventh Day Adventists have historically taught that Sunday worship is the mark of the beast, and all that bear that mark will be cast into the lake of fire. Today, many churches will not fellowship with or partner in the spread of the gospel together with those churches that don’t hold their particular view of the Sabbath, although 99% of their doctrine is identical.
Read More...Christ in Genesis, part 1 (Christ the Creator)
Christ – The Creator
To be sure, Christ is the focus of the gospels, epistles and Revelation, but surely not an Old Testament book like Genesis. Not so fast! Jesus Himself taught that He was the central sum and substance of the Old Testament scriptures. He stated emphatically, “You search the Scriptures, because you think that in them you have eternal life; and it is these that bear witness of Me… For if you believed Moses, you would believe Me; for he wrote of Me” (Jn.5:39,46).
Read More...The Suffering and Glory of God’s Servant
Isaiah chapter 53 is one of the most wonderful and precious chapters in the entire Bible. Martin Luther, the great reformer, said that it ought to be written on parchment of gold and lettered in diamonds. It has been referred to as the “golden passional of the Old Testament” and the “holy of holies of Isaiah.” Nowhere in the Old Testament does the glorious gospel of Jesus Christ shine more brilliantly than in Isaiah 53.
Read More...The Role of Women in Church Meetings
If the Bible teaches that our church meetings should be open and participatory, what role should the women play? This is a good question, and one that needs answering. There are two passages in the New Testament, which seem to place restrictions on women in the meetings of the church.
Read More...Observing The Lord’s Supper
As I officiated over the Lord’s Supper on that predictable Sunday morning in November of 1995, I had a nagging feeling that something was not right. This particular communion Sunday proved to be little different from others we had celebrated in the past five years of my ministry as a teaching elder at Milpitas Bible Fellowship (MBF). I had read testimonies of saints in centuries past who found deep and intimate fellowship with Christ through this holy ordinance. I had believed and taught that the observance of the Lord’s Supper was a very special and significant occasion in the life of every local church. Why then, wasn’t it more powerful in my own life? The stark reality was that my own observance of the Lord’s Supper was neither very special nor significant.
Read More...Discovering Participatory Church Meetings
The traditional Protestant worship service today strongly resembles a show business performance. In both we find ushers, programs, music, costumes, lighting, a chorus, a stage, a script, an audience, and a master of ceremonies. (Christian Smith, Going To The Root, Herald Press, p.88.) The congregation sits passively as the audience while the pastor performs. When the congregation is permitted to participate in the meeting, they are restricted to singing in unison, antiphonal readings, dropping money into the offering plate, and taking notes during the sermon. The ordained clergy are expected to perform all significant ministry. Meanwhile, ninety-nine percent of God’s people attend worship services Sunday after Sunday for years on end, without ever contributing any true spiritual ministry to the body of gathered believers.
Is this the way God intended for His church to meet?
Read More...Discovering Interactive Teaching
The modern day “sermon” lies at the very heart of most contemporary “worship services.” It comes replete with many distinguishing characteristics. It often takes the form of a lengthy gospel message, being a “preaching” rather than a “teaching.” Additionally, it is usually delivered in a monologue lecture format, with no opportunity for feedback or dialogue from the congregation. Furthermore, there is no opportunity for anyone to question the teacher, evaluate the teaching, or spontaneously contribute an insight on the subject being taught. Morever, many believers today tacitly assume that the pastor is the only one who is uniquely qualified and gifted to teach the Word of God to the congregation. Finally, we assume that the way pastors deliver their teaching to the church is virtually the same as the way Christ, His apostles, and the early church taught their congregations.
Read More...Discovering the Purpose of Church Meetings
Have you ever stopped to ask yourself why the church of Jesus Christ assembles together? More importantly, have you ever searched the New Testament to seek the answer to that question? Many Christians reveal cloudy thinking when they state that the purpose of the meetings of the church is to worship, evangelize, or listen to a sermon. These may be the primary reasons for most church “services” today, but are they the purposes given in Scripture?
Read More...The Traditional Church Vs. The NT Church
We have created a chart that lists differences from the New Testament Church and today’s more Traditional Church.
Read More...Marriage And Divorce
I think we can all readily agree that the modern problem of divorce has hit epidemic proportions. In fact a few years ago I read that a jewelry store in Southern California was actually renting wedding rings! The problem of divorce has been getting worse and worse as the 20th century has sped by with very little, if any, relief in sight for this problem. Along with divorce comes multiple other problems, including the breakup of families, insecurity, loneliness, estrangement of children, and single parent families.
Read More...How to Deal With Lust
We live today in a sex-crazed age where unbridled indulgence in sexual passion abounds. Lust is being promoted through the most powerful media ever known to man. Our preoccupation with sex is being used by advertisers to sell their products like the toothpaste ad which states that it “gives your mouth sex appeal”. Another ad sells shaving cream and declares “Take it off; take it all off.” Another sells detergent nicknamed “The Stripper!” Sexual lust seems to be the uninterrupted theme of our society’s entertainment. Americans have adopted the playboy philosophy – “if it feels good, do it — anything is OK, as long as you don’t hurt anyone else.”
Read More...How To Deal With Anger
Man’s first crime was that of murder. Gen.4:8 says “And Cain told Abel his brother, and it came about when they were in the field, that Cain rose up against Abel his brother and killed him”. In our own day, we have seen the arrests of mass murderers whose names have become household words. Over 25,000 murders are committed in the U.S. every year. That’s approximately 70 a day! If we were to add suicide (self-murder) and abortions (pre-birth murder), the numbers would be staggering! Violence and killing fill our television and movie screens! Admittedly, most of us will never commit an actual murder. But Jesus is teaching us in this passage that if we manifest unrighteous anger, contempt or slander towards someone else, we have the seeds of murder growing already in our heart.
Read More...The Master Artist
As good as these human artists are at their craft, I want you to direct your gaze to an even greater One. This Artist is not just good. He’s not just great. He’s the best there is! He’s perfect! He doesn’t just produce a work of art that closely resembles what He has in mind. He produces a work of art that is exactly what He has in mind! In fact, no one else is even in His league. He’s far greater than Leonardo Da Vinci, Michaelangelo, Rembrandt, or Picasso. This Artist is able to take any piece of canvass and transform it into a masterpiece. In fact, every work He begins ends up as a masterpiece. I’m speaking, of course, of God Almighty!
Read More...The Believer’s Marathon
As difficult and grueling as a marathon might be for a runner, the Bible records another marathon that every Christian must run which is just as challenging. It’s the Christian Life, and it will take just as much discipline, fortitude and determination to snap the winner’s tape in heaven as it takes someone to finish the Boston Marathon down here!
In Hebrews 12:1-2, the main thought is found in the words “let us run.” All the other verbs in this text are secondary. They all spin off of this phrase “let us run.” God is calling us to run the Race of Life! He’s calling us to give the Christian life everything we’ve got, so that one day we will cross the finish line in heaven with joy!
Read More...How To Study The Bible
The Bible is the most popular book the world has ever known. Year after year more Bibles are printed and sold than any other book in the world. In spite of the Bible’s popularity, however, comparatively few people actually read it. In the February 1, 1990 edition of USA Today, a poll taken only three months previously was cited indicating that only eleven per cent of Americans read the Bible every day, and more than half read it less than once a month or never at all. Why would the world’s most widely published and distributed book be read so infrequently?
Read More...How Can I Be Sure I’m A Christian?
I think you will quickly agree with me that there are few questions that are as vital as this one! Whether or not you are a Christian will determine your eternal destiny. Whether you will spend eternity in the bliss of heavenly happiness or in the torments of the damned in hell will be determined by whether or not you proved to be one of God’s own people! With that much at stake, you bet it’s important that you’re SURE that you are a Christian! I want to be of some help to you in determining a solid, biblical answer to this question.
Read More...What Is A Christian?
What is a Christian? In our day and age there are numerous answers being given to that question. Some believe that anyone born in the United States is a Christian. Others believe that anyone who attends a Christian church is a Christian. Still others believe that anyone who lives an honest and upright life is a Christian. All of these definitions are faulty at best and eternally damning at worst.
Read More...Jim Jones and Ted Robinson
Recently I spent some time studying the life of the Reverend Jim Jones, leader of the People’s Temple which received worldwide news coverage after the 1978 mass suicide of 913 individuals in Jonestown, Guyana. What I read fascinated, angered, saddened and terrified me. The more I read, the more I saw definite parallels with Ted Robinson, pastor of Faith Community Church which my wife and I attended from 1980 to 1988. My wife and I rose in the ranks over time to become elders and part of the inner-circle of committed members at Faith Community. As I have studied the life of Jim Jones, I have been shocked and alarmed to observe so many parallels between the two men, but also relieved to find some important contrasts as well; these observations have helped me to formulate some important principles for anyone thinking about joining a church.
Read More...A Weekend With the “Moonies”
One of the characteristics of children that I have always valued is their readiness to take another person’s word at face value. In this respect, there is a wonderful innocence that is beautiful to behold in small children. It is only as we grow to adulthood that we lose that quality. Sooner or later we all must learn that it is not safe to take everyone’s word at face value. There are many people in this world who prey upon the gullible and unsuspecting.
Read More...The Resurrection of Jesus Christ: Myth Or Fact?
If someone is able to successfully dislodge the foundation stone of the resurrection of Jesus Christ, the whole edifice of Christianity will come tumbling down. The apostle Paul said as much over 1,900 years ago when he penned these words: “…if Christ has not been raised, your faith is worthless; you are still in your sins… If we have hoped in Christ in this life only, we are of all men most to be pitied” (1Cor.15:17,19)
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