We recently completed a 15-lesson series of video lessons on 1 Timothy. You can click on the video player below to begin watching the series. Or you can scroll down to go directly to individual lessons.Continue Reading
November 21, 2022
Answering Basic Questions (Part 10): Who Is the Holy Spirit?
The New Testament talks a lot about the Holy Spirit, yet many do not have a clear understanding of who or what the Holy Spirit is. However, it is important that we recognize who (not what) the Holy Spirit is and understand His work and purpose.
Who is the Holy Spirit? Let us notice four points about Him.Continue Reading
November 16, 2022
Can We Entertain Angels Today?
The beginning of Hebrews 13 contains a series of brief admonitions about showing brotherly love (v. 1), being hospitable (v. 2), remembering brethren in prison (v. 3), holding marriage in honor (v. 4), being content (v. 5-6), and so on. One particular statement related to the instruction about hospitality has led to questions and speculations among brethren. Notice what the Hebrew writer said:
“Do not neglect to show hospitality to strangers, for by this some have entertained angels without knowing it” (Hebrews 13:2).
What does it mean to entertain angels? Who has done this? Can we do this today? If so, how do we show hospitality to angels?Continue Reading
November 14, 2022
Answering Basic Questions (Part 9): What Is Worship?
Many people equate being religious with worship, and for good reason. Worship may not be all that we do in service to God, but it must be a necessary and fundamental part of it.
What is worship? Let us consider four points about this subject.Continue Reading
November 12, 2022
Book Review: Digital Dominion
In our modern culture, nearly everyone we meet has a phone in their pocket and/or a computer in their home (and likely more digital devices than that). Anyone reading this will be reading it on a screen. Anymore, this is simply the easiest and quickest way to access information and see the content we are interested in.
The problem with this comes when we are not mindful of how we are using these devices. As author Jeff Mingee stated in the book, Digital Dominion, “when it comes to our digital devices, we are tempted to forego mindful dominion and instead enter in with mindless consumption. So, who is controlling who?” (Digital Dominion: Five Questions Christians Should Ask to Take Control of Their Digital Devices, p. 26).
The premise of the book is that when God created man, He gave Him dominion over the world. “Then God blessed them, and God said to them, ‘Be fruitful and multiply; fill the earth and subdue it; have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over every living thing that moves on the earth’” (Genesis 1:28, NKJV).Continue Reading
November 7, 2022
Answering Basic Questions (Part 8): What Is Bible Authority?
Man has come up with many different things to do in the name of religion. Yet when it comes to deciding what we will do in our service to God, the only way we can know how to please Him is by looking to His word. But how does His word help us discern His will? That is a matter of Bible authority.
What is Bible authority? We are going to discuss some fundamental points here.Continue Reading
November 2, 2022
An Unknown but Knowable God
When Paul was in Athens, Luke recorded that “his spirit was being provoked within him as he was observing the city full of idols” (Acts 17:16). This prompted him to teach “in the synagogue” and “in the market place every day with those who happened to be present” (Acts 17:17). His message piqued the interest of the philosophers who brought him to the Areopagus so they could hear more about the “strange things” (Acts 17:20) he was teaching.
Though the people of the city were “very religious” (Acts 17:22), the God of heaven was “unknown” (Acts 17:23) to them. So Paul proceeded to teach them about the one true God.
“The God who made the world and all things in it, since He is Lord of heaven and earth, does not dwell in temples made with hands; nor is He served by human hands, as though He needed anything, since He Himself gives to all people life and breath and all things; and He made from one man every nation of mankind to live on all the face of the earth, having determined their appointed times and the boundaries of their habitation, that they would seek God, if perhaps they might grope for Him and find Him, though He is not far from each one of us; for in Him we live and move and exist, as even some of your own poets have said, ‘For we are His children.’ Being then the children of God, we ought not to think that the Divine Nature is like gold or silver or stone, an image formed by the art and thought of man” (Acts 17:24-29).
We encounter many today who are like the Athenians. They simply do not know God. How can we begin to teach them? Consider what Paul explained on this occasion to these pagan philosophers.Continue Reading
