Who is “Poor” in Spirit? Jesus said in Mathew 5, verse 3; “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.” I was reading in Thayer’s Greek Lexicon, and it says that “poor” means.. “to be beggarly, and destitute, and afflicted”, and that it refers to “one who is crouched in wretchedness”. And then it says; “It has always had a bad…
Each One Is Tempted I want to talk to you today about temptation. And when I talk about temptation, I’m specifically talking about the temptation to commit sin. I’m not talking about the temptation to have another piece of chocolate cake, or the temptation to splurge on something that you know you really don’t need. I’m talking about the temptation to sin. The temptation to do something…
Receiving the Holy Spirit This part of our study of the Holy Spirit, deals with receiving the Holy Spirit. To begin with, we need to understand that receiving the Holy Spirit, is not the same thing as receiving “the gift” of the Holy Spirit. Receiving “the gift” of the Holy Spirit is spoken of in Acts 2:38. In that verse, the “gift” being spoken of is…
Are You For God, Or Against God? Would you open your bibles to Mathew chapter 12; I want to read verses 30, 31, and 32; Verse 30 says; “He who is not with Me, is against Me, and he who does not gather with Me, scatters.” Jesus is teaching that there is no “middle ground” when it comes to God. You’re either for God, or you’re against…
The Fatness of God The bible says, in Psalm 36, verses 7 & 8; “How precious is Thy lovingkindness O God! And the children of men take refuge in the shadow of Thy wings. They drink their fill, of the fatness of Thy house, and Thou does give them to drink of the river of Thy delights.” What’s “the fatness of God”?…
A Saved Condition, and a Lost Condition This is Part 2 of the lesson called “Spiritual Conditions”. In “Spiritual Conditions – Part 1, I referred to this as “food for thought”. And I’d like you to look at this lesson as more “food for thought”. The reason I call it that, is because there’s more than one way to look at this subject, and so this…
What’s the “Nature” of Man? The bible tells us that a human being is made up of two “natures”. We have a physical nature, and we have a spiritual nature. Genesis 2, verse 7 tells us; Then the Lord God formed man of the dust of the ground, (that’s our physical nature) and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life..” (that’s our spiritual…
He Has Risen! Would this be a good day to talk about the resurrection of Christ? Personally, I think every day, is a good day to talk about all things Christ. The bible talks about the resurrection. Here’s a few things that it says; “He is not here, for He has risen..” Mathew 28, verse 6. “He has risen, He is not here..” …
Literal Translations vs Paraphrasing Most English versions of the bible do a pretty good job of trying to give a literal translation of what has been written in the original Greek text. However, at times, the translators personal opinions have entered into their decision on how to translate a word. An example of this is how the KJ translators, have translated the word “Passover”, in Acts 12,…
Faith or Works, or Both? The title of this lesson is ” Justification By Faith, Perfected By works”. But let me explain exactly what is meant by that.. The justification that God gives to a person, is because of their faith, which has been “perfected”, or “made complete”, through their works. The word “works” simply refers to deeds that are done. But I’m not talking about doing…
What’s Your Spiritual Condition ? I just want to give you some “food for thought” today. Here’s a lesson on what the bible teaches, about what I call, “spiritual conditions”. When I say “spiritual conditions”, I am contrasting, being in a spiritual “condition”, with being in spiritual “place”. I believe that when our bibles use the word “place” in regard to our spiritual destiny, such as it…
Are You in as Good a Condition, as You Used to be ? Suppose you needed to buy a car, but you didn’t have much money, you’d probably have to look for an older car, that didn’t cost so much. But then you’d have to worry about what condition it would be in. So you find someone advertising an old car, and you ask him; How does…
Blushing Have you ever felt embarrassed, and blushed because of it? Listen to what an encyclopedia says about blushing; “If we blush about doing something we shouldn’t have done, it shows that we are ashamed or embarrassed, that we recognize that something is out of place. It shows that we are sorry about this. It shows that we want to put things right. To blush at…
A Study of The Book of Acts; The Acts of the Apostles Welcome to our study of the book of Acts. The proper title should probably be, “The Acts of the Apostles”, because that’s really what the book tells of. It tells of the various things which the apostles of Jesus Christ did, from the time that Jesus ascended back to heaven, until the end of the apostle Paul’s…
Who Raised Jesus From the Dead? Who raised Jesus from the dead? The SPIRIT did! The Holy Spirit of God raised Jesus from the dead! God raised Jesus, through the power of His Holy Spirit, who specifically accomplishes the will of God. And that very same Spirit will also raise us, from being dead in sin, IF we allow that Spirit to dwell in us. So then,…
“In The Spirit” The apostle John wrote in Revelation 1, verse 10; “I was in the spirit on the Lord’s day.” What did John mean by that? What did he mean when he said, “I was in the spirit..” ? Did John’s spirit leave his body on that day? The apostle Paul said in 2 Corinthians 12, verse 2, that he was “caught up…
Take Time to Smell the Roses Have you ever heard this saying; “Nature doesn’t hurry, but everything gets accomplished”. Isn’t it nice how that works? No hurry, but yet everything gets accomplished. The bible says; “There is an appointed time for everything. And there is a time for every delight under heaven.” Eccl 3, verse 1 We’re a part of nature; Why…
Abiding In Christ In our previous lesson, we considered the worship act of partaking of the Lord’s supper on the first day of the week. The first day of the week is the only day mentioned in scripture, as the day when Christians engaged in this worship act. Since we’re told in 2 John, verse 9, to “abide in the teaching of Christ”, and to…
I want to talk about at least five aspects of giving. And those five aspects are; Bountifully, (or generously) Cheerfully, Purposefully, Proportionately, and Sacrificially. Giving Generously The Lord tells us in 2 Corinthians 9, verse 6, to give generously. That verse says; “Now this I say, he who sows sparingly, shall also reap sparingly; And he who sows bountifully, shall also reap bountifully.” It’s…
Other Days Of The Week Let’s deal with the question of whether or not it’s acceptable to God, to partake of the Lord’s supper, on a day other than the first day of the week? In our previous lesson, we saw clearly from the bible, that God has instructed us, through command and example, to come together on the first day of the week, for the purpose…