“AND HE DIED” There are two main purposes to this chapter. First is to show that the line of Christ (Luke 3:36-38) contains real, living, breathing people. They are not legendary figures but historic. These are accounts of people with their years numbered rather precisely. In this respect not at all like the legends of […]
Jesus mission while he was upon the earth was to seek and to save the lost (Luke 19:10). Inasmuch as the church belongs to her Lord (Matt. 16:18), she is to be about that same mission as well. Within that mission, there are those who need to be saved and there are those who are […]
THE LAND PROMISE In ch. 12:1 God had sent Abraham to the land of Canaan but here He promises the land to Abraham and to his seed. Coupled with this is a promise that the heirs of Abraham would be so numerous that they could not be numbered. The primary audience was the children of […]
It is not uncommon to hear sincere religious folks speak of being saved by “faith only”. They say, “All you have to do is believe in the Lord Jesus Christ”. Their statement is designed to convey the concept that one is saved at the exact point in time when one believes in Jesus. Those who […]
Emerging Church Movement and Absolute Truth In August of 1991 my wife and I visited Vicksburg, Mississippi on our honeymoon. One sight we could not miss was the Mississippi River. The United States Geological Service estimates that approximately 373 billion gallons of water flow by Vicksburg every day. That water comes from the thousands of […]
From the New Yorker comes this headline: “Red Sex, Blue Sex – Why Do So Many Evangelical Teen-Agers Become Pregnant?” A quote from the article:
Today we are privileged to start a gospel meeting. Let us not take this opportunity to study God’s word lightly. Let us not take this opportunity to have fellowship with one another less than seriously. Let us not take this time to be evangelistic with any less zeal than we would the most important event […]
When it comes to the question of whether baptism is prerequisite for salvation, Mark 16:15, 16 stands out as a clear beacon in contrast to the fog of the doctrines and teachings of men today. The words of Jesus as recorded by inspiration of the Holy Spirit in this passage ring clear and true among […]
In Titus 2:14 – KJV, Christians are deemed as a “peculiar people”. For most folks, this term means “weird” or “unusual”, and in a sense this meaning is not altogether foreign to the common English translation. However, the idea behind this adjective in the Greek use of the term, is that such a people has […]
A brief introduction to the book of Acts in preparation for a series of posts on the text of the book.
From the very day of its establishment, the Lord’s church erupted like a blast of dynamite in the first century world of the Roman Empire (Acts 2:41; Acts 4:4; Acts 5:14; Acts 8:1,4). The church was such a dynamic, spiritually militant force that it was referred to as those who had “turned the world upside […]
“I don’t understand the concept of the silence of the scriptures.” This is an increasingly voiced sentiment. However, we do understand the prohibitive nature of the silence of the scriptures to some degree. For example, take the Lord’s Supper. Jesus said, “This do in remembrance of me.” This is a positive command. Jesus didn’t have […]
A querist asks, “My friend and I were having a conversation the other day on whether or not cursing is a sin. He said that curse words were made to mean what they do by society. I was wondering if there is any biblical information on this topic and if it is sinful.” So we […]
The Bible doctrine of fellowship is a difficult subject for many because of the strong emotions involved in personal relationships. No one wants to withdraw fellowship from anyone, especially their friends and family. Yet the Bible teaches clearly in such passages as Matthew 18, 1 Corinthians 5, 2 Thessalonians 3, and Romans 16:17 that sometimes […]
After the mingling of the righteous line of Seth with the unrighteous line of Cain mankind became so corrupt that “the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every intention of the thoughts of his heart was ONLY EVIL continually.” Mankind became a cesspool of sin. Imagine the evil that goes on […]
The game of pretense. We know that children play the game, and in their time of life it is innocent and a great deal of fun. But then, there’s the grown-up world, and for those in Christ, there is the reality set forth in the Word of God. Christianity is not the religion of pretense. […]
One of the arguments that is used to defend church tradition as a source of religious authority is that the Bible speaks regarding traditions that the apostles held. It is pointed out that in 2 Thessalonians 3:6 Paul demands that Christians walk in submission to the traditions that they received from the apostles. Moreover, others […]
As people, we sometimes have funny concepts about growing old. We don’t want to become old, but neither do we want to die young. Douglas MacArthur is quoted as saying, “Nobody grows old by merely living a number of years. People grow old only by deserting their ideals. Years may wrinkle the skin, but to […]
Have you ever heard of the Baron Karl Friedrich Hieronymus Freiherr von Munchhausen? He was a German army cavalry officer who was born in Bodenwerder (Germany) and lived from 1720-1797, but so far as we know, he never accomplished any great or notable feat worthy of historical fame. So why is the good Baron famous? […]