Spiritual Growth
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Military Service: When Duty Conflicts with the Law of God
There is inherently a fundamental conflict with those that are contemplating joining or have joined the military. That is, the military pledge of allegiance conflicts with God’s Word and His unchanging law that commands not to kill another person. “You shall not murder.” Exodus 20:13 “You shall not murder.” Deuteronomy 5:17 United States Soldiers Creed…
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Faith During COVID: Trusting God in a Time of Crisis
Government stay at home orders and directives for churches to remain closed during the peak of the COVID-19 pandemic have created significant tension and dismay, with many congregants and church leaders. As a result, many pastors, elders, church leaders have defied the order, risking fines and jail, to continue having in-church worship services, even while…
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Christian Marriage: Lessons from Romans 7 on Love and Commitment
Do you not know, brothers — for I am speaking to men who know the law — that the law (Torah) has authority over a man only as long as he lives? For example, by law (Torah) a married woman is bound to her husband as long as he is alive, but if her husband…
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Bible Questions and Answers: Truths That Shape Our Destiny
Answering these 5 questions will determine your eternal destiny : 1. What has my record been for the (day ending or) year that is just closing? 2. What advancements have I made in the Christian life? 3. What victories have I gained? 4. What have I done to help others and lead them to Christ? 5. What is my daily experience with…
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Meditation in the Bible: An 11-Step Process for Spiritual Growth
What is the main truth of this verse? What other Scripture can I find to illuminate this verse? Is there any word or part of this verse which I do not understand? Is there a command or a word of advice here to obey? Is there a good example to follow? Is there a sin…
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Jesus Christ: The Man the World Needs Most Today
The world needs a leader. A leader that understands the human condition. Kind, compassionate. One who exhibits other-centered love, not self-love. One who has experienced what living in poverty is like. One who was betrayed by His friends and mocked for His love and grace. One whose life mission was grossly misunderstood. One who was wounded for our…
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Death and Resurrection: The Infinite Sacrifice of the Messiah
ASSURANCE OF SALVATION “Is He my Savior? Can I lay hold upon His merits this very hour? Can I commit the keeping of my soul to Jesus Christ today? Yes. How? What assurance have I? I point you to Christ of Calvary. Can you stand under the shadow of the cross and there talk your…
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Faithfulness of God: Was It Abraham’s Trust or God’s Promise?
Abraham is called the “father of the faithful.” This identification is true, not because Abraham was always faithful, but he is still is regarded as the the “father of the faithful,” because his experience is so reflective of the experiences of so many of us – sometimes strong in faith, sometimes failing and putting Christ…
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Millennium: A Thousand Years of Peace, Judgment, and Renewal
At the second coming of Jesus, the Millennium begins. With the saints in heaven and the wicked dead on earth, Satan and his demonic hosts are bound in isolation to a desolate planet in complete ruins. With nobody to tempt and deceive, the devil and all his fallen angels are left alone to contemplate their…
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Second Coming of Jesus Christ: Hope, Glory, and Final Redemption
As the suffering, struggling children of God flee from the rage of the wicked and wrestle in their hearts to be assured of God’s favor, suddenly, an unusual cloud approaches the earth, small at first, but increasing in size until it fills the whole sky. The followers of Jesus recognize this as their Savior returning to earth…
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Jacob’s Trouble: A Time of Testing Before Christ’s Return
God’s people enter an experience of deep spiritual heart- searching and self- examination, tightening their grip on God’s grace, and not their own good works, as their only hope. Each one sees their life of sin and feels their unworthiness before God, but the Holy Spirit impresses upon them a sense of God’s acceptance and love. Their…
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New Heaven and Earth: God’s Promise of Eternal Restoration
As the earth is cleansed by fire, the saints abide safely in the city of God, the New Jerusalem. The trauma of the whole ordeal, including the destruction of the wicked, is so overwhelming that the righteous are weeping. But God, who is perfect with empathetic love, “will wipe away every tear from their eyes”…
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Song of Moses: A Hymn of Deliverance and God’s Faithfulness
Lessons from the ancient Israelites can be learned. Had Israel continued in faith and gone on singing and had not once stopped to murmur, they would have speedily reached Zion, the city whose Builder and Maker is God. When the redeemed of the Lord do at last stand on Mount Zion, having the harps of…
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Word of God: Finding Life, Power, and Truth in Scripture
The Jews found it difficult to believe the words of Christ, that He would give them Himself to eat. They said, “How can this man give us flesh to eat?” Jesus repeated the statement still more emphatically and then said: “It is the Spirit that quickens, the flesh profits nothing; the words that I speak unto…
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Mercy and Justice: How God Balances Grace with Righteousness
Through Jesus, God’s mercy was manifested to men; but mercy does not set aside justice. The law reveals the attributes of God’s character, and not a jot or a tittle of it could be changed to meet in his fallen condition. God did not change His law, but He sacrificed Himself, in Christ, for man’s redemption. “God…
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Sinai and Calvary: The Riven Rock of Law and Grace
When God spoke the law from Sinai, that living stream of water, which gushed forth from the smitten rock in Horeb, was still flowing. If it had ceased to flow, the Israelites would have been in as bad condition as before, for it was their only water supply, their only hope of life. It was from…
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Spiritual Growth: Building on the Foundation of God’s Government
The ten commandments on the two tables of stone were in the ark, under the mercy seat, showing that the law of God is the basis of His throne and government. “The Lord reigns; Let the earth rejoice let the multitude of isles be glad thereat. Clouds and darkness are round about Him; righteousness and judgment…
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What Does In Christ Mean? Living in Union with Jesus
The key phrase that runs throughout Paul’s epistles some 64 times is the recurring phrase, the central theme of Paul’s theology, which is the expression “in Christ” or “in Christ Jesus”. This phrase is sometimes expressed by other synonymous phrases such as in Him, by Him, through Him, in the Beloved, together with Him, etc. If these…
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Promises of God: Seven Things He Will Do for His Children
An everlasting covenant was made with Abraham and his descendants. It was a covenant of faith. The covenant of God with Abraham assured to him and his seed the righteousness of the law by faith. Not by works but by faith. The covenant was so ample in its scope that it embraced all nations, even…
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Carnal Christians: The Divide Between Spirit and Flesh
The New Testament divides Christians into two camps: spiritual and carnal. Paul wrote to the Christians at Corinth; “I, brethren could not speak unto you as unto spiritual, but as unto carnal, even as to babes in Christ.” 1 Corinthians 3:1. Notice that Paul doesn’t refer to these carnal Christians as the unconverted, but as babes in Christ. Babies as you…
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The Work of the Holy Spirit in Our Lives: Guiding and Transforming
Pray that the mighty energies of the Holy Spirit, with all their quickening, recuperative, and transforming power, may fall like an electric shock on the palsy-stricken soul, causing every nerve to thrill with new life, restoring the whole man from his dead, earthly, sensual state to spiritual soundness. You will thus become partakers of the divine nature, having escaped…
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Sons of God: Sharing in the Life and Nature of the Father
Not those whose hearts are touched by the Spirit, not those who now and then yield to its power, but they that are led by the Spirit, they that build wisely, sharing the life of God, are the sons of God. Build wisely on the sure foundation of God’s Word. Do you desire to become a…
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Price of Redemption: God’s Sacrifice and the Cost of Grace
God suffered with His Son. In the agony of Gethsemane, the death of Calvary, the heart of Infinite Love paid the price of our redemption…. Nothing less than the Infinite Sacrifice made by Christ in behalf of fallen man could express the Father’s love to lost humanity…. It is from the Father’s heart that the streams of divine…
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God’s Love: Our Father Cares and Gives the Greatest Gift
Jesus pointed His hearers to the Ruler of the universe, under the new name, “Our Father.” He would have them understand how tenderly the heart of God yearned over them. He teaches that God cares for every lost soul; that “like as a father pities his children, so the Lord pities them that fear Him.” Psalm 103:13.…