November 30, 2006

Spiritual Recessions and Depressions

[Article written by Matt Nevins. Originally published in his email newsletter “The Lamp.”]

Our economy undergoes business cycles which acts like a wave where there are periods of expansion and retraction. Growth occurs during times of expansion until it reaches a certain maximum level, the peak of the cycle. After reaching this peak, a recession, or downward motion where growth is declining for a time (our economic system expects periods of recession to last 6 months or greater in general). If the depression continues for an unusual length of time and becomes severe, where there is a continual decline in overall growth, a depression could occur. Economics has various tools and methods to control these cycles to prevent severe periods of growth and decline. Many monitor the economy, both the monetary authority as well as the general public, and attempt to predict future activity and try to adjust accordingly. It is really interesting that people take a great deal of time to understand our economic system of growth and decline and willfully neglect to monitor the periods of spiritual growth and decline. If monitoring and certain adjustments are not made, then great times of spiritual depressions can occur in Christians which can potentially cause the losing of souls.
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November 1, 2006

The Proper View of Worship

Jesus and the Samaritan Woman

John recorded the occasion in which Jesus spoke with a Samaritan woman. Among the topics He discussed with her was worship (John 4:19-24). He told her that God is seeking people to worship Him (John 4:23). Those who do worship Him “must worship in spirit and truth” (John 4:24). We often talk about worshiping in truth – doing what God has said to do when we gather together to worship. Worshiping in spirit refers to our attitude and mindset. This will be our focus in this article. How should we approach our worship to God?
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November 1, 2006

A False Sense of Security

The prophet Amos said, “Woe to those who are at ease in Zion and to those who feel secure in the mountain of Samaria” (Amos 6:1). Amos was prophesying of the coming judgment against the nation of Israel. Despite the warnings, the people felt at ease. They believed they were safe and that nothing could happen to them. Yet they were not safe. They had a false sense of security.

Just before this he spoke of the “day of the Lord” (Amos 5:18). Throughout Scripture, this phrase is used to denote judgment – punishment of the wicked and reward of the righteous. Those who were “at ease” and felt “secure” (Amos 6:1) would look forward to this day. The righteous should always look forward to the day of the Lord. Yet these people had no reason to look forward to it.
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November 1, 2006

Quenching the Spirit

Near the close of Paul’s first epistle to Thessalonica, he gave several brief exhortations. One of these was the instruction, “Do not quench the Spirit” (1 Thessalonians 5:19). What does it mean to “quench the Spirit”? The Greek word that is translated quench means to extinguish, or put out. This makes us think of extinguishing a fire. The word of God is compared to a fire elsewhere as Jeremiah described it as “a burning fire shut up in my bones” (Jeremiah 20:9).

We should also remember that the gospel is “the power of God for salvation” (Romans 1:16). To “quench the Spirit” is to remove the power from the gospel. After all, the revealed word is the product of the Spirit (2 Timothy 3:16; 1 Corinthians 2:10-13; John 15:26-27). The gospel is designed to convert the lost and edify the saved. Quenching the Spirit prevents these things and, ultimately, will cause us to forfeit our salvation. So we should look at how we are to preach so as not to quench the Spirit. How do we “quench the Spirit”?
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November 1, 2006

Right and Wrong

Many are uncomfortable with the idea that there is an unchanging moral standard. They do not want to think of truth being absolute. They want it to be subjective. They do not like to think of things as being “black and white” but want to believe there is a lot of “gray area.” They think whatever is right should be determined by the individual and be based upon the situation. But the Bible teaches that there is a clear difference between right and wrong. Let us turn our attention to Jesus’ conclusion to the Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 7:13-29) in which He showed five areas where is a distinct difference between right and wrong.
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October 28, 2006

Are Miracles Performed Today?

[Article written by Matt Nevins. Originally published in his email newsletter “The Lamp.”]

The Bible is filled with examples where the power of God is demonstrated through the use of miracles. Events such as creation (Gen. 1), the global flood and restoration of an inhabitable world (Gen. 7-8), walking on water (Mark 6:45-52), the healing of the blind (Mark 8:22-26), or the resurrection of the Christ (Mt. 28:1-7) are miracles that could only have been accomplished by the power of God. Miracles were accomplished for a specific purpose; with the purpose fulfilled the presence of miracles would no longer be needed. For miracles to be performed today, the purpose for miracle usage in the first century would be still present in the modern world, and the ability passed by the same means.
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October 1, 2006

A Preacher and His Support

God’s intention is for those who devote their time to the preaching of the gospel to receive financial support for their work. Paul taught this in his first letter to Corinth: “So also the Lord directed those who proclaim the gospel to get their living from the gospel” (1 Corinthians 9:14).
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