Is It Sinful To Eat In the Same Building That We Worship In? The scriptures say, in 1 Cor 11:22, “What! Do you not have houses to eat and drink in? Or do you despise the assembly of God, and shame those who have nothing? What shall I say to you? Shall I praise you? In this I will not praise you.” That is the verse of scripture…
What Exactly is the Grace of God ? Ephesians 2, verses 8 & 9 tell us, “For by grace you have been saved, through faith, and that not of yourselves, it is a gift of God, not as a result of works, that no one should boast.” What exactly does it mean, when it says, “By grace you have been saved”? The simple answer is actually given…
A Verse Out Of Context There was a well-known preacher named Johnny Ramsey, who’s passed on now. But Johnny had a saying that he liked to use, and that is; “A text, taken out of context, is a pretext”. A clearer way to put it is; “A verse of scripture, taken out of it’s context, becomes a pretext”. A “pretext”, is a reason given as justification for something,…
The Resurrection Body The subject of the resurrection body has sparked a lot of interest among Christians. This is evidenced by the frequency of articles published in Christian periodicals and newspapers pertaining to this subject. But it’s really not a very confusing issue at all, if we are simply willing to hear what the bible says, and believe what it says. Many times writers will quote verses…
How Should We Use God’s Money? The question that we’ve been examining is; How is a congregation authorized to use it’s money? We have clear examples in the new testament, of congregations sending money to other congregations who are in need, and also of congregations using their money to help members of their own congregation. But the question remains; Do we have the authority from the bible,…
The Collection For the Saints In our previous lesson, we talked extensively about 1 Cor 16:1-2. We saw how these verses dealt specifically with the collection of money to send to the needy saints in the Jerusalem congregation. The key phrase being.. “..concerning the collection which is FOR the saints..” And we noted that those verses do authorize two things. First, it authorizes us to have…
The Weekly Collection A question that has divided the church, is that of how we are authorized to use the money collected, through the weekly contribution. The premier verse of scripture that we generally go to, for our authorization to have a weekly contribution, is 1 Cor 16:1-2. Here’s the verse.. “Moreover, concerning the collection which is for the saints, as I have directed the congregations of Galatia, so…
The Lost Sheep, the Lost Coin, the Lost Son There’s a story in Luke 15:4-7, telling of a man who had 100 sheep, but had lost one of them. And he searched and searched until he found it. And when he found it, he gathered his friends and neighbors together and said; “Rejoice with me, for I have found my sheep which was lost.” V-6 Then V’s…
The Gospel, the basics of Salvation “Now I make known to you brethren, the gospel, which I delivered to you, which also you received, in which also you stand, by which also you are saved; If you hold fast to the word which I preached to you, unless you believed in vain.” “For I delivered to you, as of first importance, what I also received; That Christ died…
How Long is a Day? Were the days of creation, 24 hour days? Or were they much, much longer? I suppose that question will be argued till the end of time. The real question should be.. Why would it even matter? What possible difference could it make to your salvation, or to my salvation, how long God took to create the world? Could God have created everything there…
Genesis 2:1-3 “Thus the heavens and the earth were completed, and all their hosts. And by the seventh day, God completed His work which He had done, and He rested on the seventh day from all the work which He had done.” Gen 2:1-2 “Then God blessed the seventh day, and sanctified it, because in it, He rested from all his work which God had created and made.” …
Ethics 101 Here’s a question that lies at the very core of both humanity, and religion. What is morality? This is a question that’s inseparable from the very life we live. Our every action and decision is based upon our concept of morality. Even for someone whose actions seem to you, or to me, to be based on a lack of morality, their very actions that we “question”…
What is Religion ? Religion typically involves the belief in a god, doesn’t it? Mono-theism is the belief in ONE god, such as the God of the bible. Poly-theism, is the belief in MANY gods, such as in Hinduism, which is idolatry. And then there is Human-theism (or Humanism for short) which is basically the belief that man is his OWN god, which again is idolatry. …
Tempted by Lust James 1:14-15 says, “But each one is tempted when he is enticed and drawn away by his own lust. Then, when lust has conceived, it gives birth to sin, and when sin is accomplished (or completed) it brings forth death.” We’re told in Romans 6:23, “For the wages of sin is death.. but the free gift of God, is eternal life in Christ Jesus…
A Study of the Body, Soul and Spirit Genesis 2:7, “Then the Lord God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils, the breath of life, and man became a living soul.” God formed the physical body of man (Adam) but that body had no life in it. It was in essence just like a dead body, it was lifeless. James 2:26 …
“The Lord is my Rock” 2 Sam 2:22 The bible uses the word “rock”, many times. The word appears 118 times in the KJV of the bible, and 32 of those times, it refers to our Savior. Sometimes those references were to our God, as our Savior, and the other times it refers to Jesus Christ. You’ve heard the phrase, “The Rock of our salvation”. That phrase was used one time in the bible,…
A Spiritual Dwelling of God We as Christians, are a “dwelling of God, in OUR spirit”. The caption underneath the above picture explains precisely HOW the Spirit of God, dwells in our spirits. God’s Spirit dwells in us ONLY as we abide in the teachings of Jesus, and obey His commands. “God is Spirit and those who worship Him, must worship in spirit and in truth.” John 4:24. Our worship…
The Body of Christ, Doing What God Says to Do Individual Christians, members of the body of Christ, each DOING what God has instructed us to do. That’s how God has set up His congregation of the saved. Do you ever get the impression that a lot of members of religious groups believe that the DOING is set aside for only a select few, maybe even just for what they call “clergy”? …
Do You Have God’s Authority ? One day while Jesus was teaching the people in the temple, the Jewish chief priests and scribes and elders came to Him and said, “Tell us by what authority you are doing these things?” Luke 20:8 We all recognize that in establishing a teaching or doctrine, or in other words in establishing “rules”, we must have the authority to do so….
Is There a Balance Between Sin and Repentance ? One of the questions that I received here on the website was, “How do we balance our repentance with the level of our sin?” I’m sure the thought behind that question is that if you have sinned a lot, you must repent a lot. And vice-versa; If we only sin a little, we only need to repent a…