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,…
Should We Pray a Sinner’s Prayer ? There are countless people who have been told, that they can be saved by believing in Jesus Christ, and by praying the “sinner’s prayer”. The problem with this is that the bible never tells us such a thing. The bible does indeed tell us several things, that we must do to be saved, but saying a “sinner’s prayer” is not one…
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…
The Worship Service Today’s worship services, are no doubt a little different from the worship services described in the bible. We’ve tried to pattern ourselves as much as we can, after the examples given in the new testament, but there are some things that we just can’t duplicate. For instance; The bible says in 1 Cor 14:26, “What is the outcome then brethren? When you assemble,…
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 Narrow Way Jesus said, in Mathew 7:13-14, “Enter by the narrow gate. For the gate is wide, and the way is broad that leads to destruction, and many are those who enter by it. For the gate is small, and the way is narrow, that leads to life, and few there be who find it.” The apostle John wrote in 2 John, verses 9-11, “Anyone…
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 Stairway to the Temple The stairway of Ahaz is mentioned twice in the old testament. Once in 2 Kings 20:9-11, and again in Isaiah 38:8. Ahaz was the king of Judah from 735 to 715 BC. But he wasn’t a very good king. He basically aligned himself with the nation of Assyria, and he adopted the worship of foreign idols, and he even lost control…
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…
There’s Power in the Blood I’d like to call your attention to the words of 1 John 1:6-7. “If we say we have fellowship with Him, and walk in darkness, we lie and do not the truth. But if we walk in the light, as He is in the light, we have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ His Son, cleanses us…
“Study to show thyself approved..” 2 Tim 2:15 How willing are you to study the bible? Not just to read the bible, but to study it? I know how encouraging it can be to just pick up the bible and to read God’s word. But how willing are you to really sit down and study? God wants us all to be willing to go beyond what …
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 God and Father I’d like to show you from the bible, how God in His entirety, is our Father; and how every aspect of God, is also our Father. The word God, refers to the entirety of God; All the aspects of God, all in one. While the words, the Father, and the Son, and the Word, and the Spirit, all refer to individual aspects of…
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.” …
“Perfect love casts out fear”. Those words are part of 1 John 4, verse 18. What does that mean? “Perfect love, casts out fear”. Does that mean that if you could love “perfectly” that you’d never be afraid of anything in your life? Does that mean you won’t be afraid of snakes and spiders, or afraid of the dark, or whatever it is that you might…
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”…
Capernaum and Hades In our previous study, we had looked at an example of how hades was used in a figurative way, in Mathew 11:23, where Capernaum, who was “exalted to heaven” would be “brought down to hades”. Now we’re going to see how hades is again used in a figurative sense in the story of the rich man and Lazarus, from Luke 16:19-31. We’ll just examine a…
Hades, the Unseen Realm The word translated “hades”, is the Greek word hah’-dace. The meaning is.. “to not see”, or in other words, “unseen”. It means “the unseen realm”. Hades is the unseen realm where spirits live after being separated from the body at death. Our spirits are still living beings, they are souls, even after they leave our bodies. We’re told in Ecclesiastes 12:7, …