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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October 1, 2006

Render to God the Things that are God’s

Roman Coin

Matthew recorded an encounter between Jesus and the Pharisees in which they came to test Jesus (Matthew 22:15-22). They were trying to “trap Him in what He said” (Matthew 22:15). So they sent some of their disciples with some of the Herodians to question Him. They prefaced their question with flattery. “Teacher, we know that You are truthful and teach the way of God in truth, and defer to no one; for You are not partial to any” (Matthew 22:16). Though they had evil motives (Matthew 22:18), their statement about Christ was true. He taught the truth regardless of how some might react to it. We should emulate our Lord’s attitude.

Their question designed to trap Jesus was this: “Is it lawful to give a poll-tax to Caesar, or not?” (Matthew 22:17). They probably figured any truthful answer might be able to be used to accuse Jesus. They knew Jesus would give a truthful answer and not sidestep the issue like others might. But Jesus knew their evil hearts (Matthew 22:18) and gave them a truthful answer they could not use against Him. He asked for a coin that would be used for the tax. Upon receiving the coin, He asked, “Whose likeness [image, KJV] and inscription is this?” (Matthew 22:20). They answered, “Caesar’s” (Matthew 22:21).
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October 1, 2006

A Brief Review of Calvinism

We are not to believe everything we hear. John warned, “Do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, because many false prophets have gone out into the world” (1 John 4:1). We test the spirits (teachers and their teaching) by the inspired, infallible word of God (2 Timothy 3:16; John 17:17; Psalm 119:160).

Some of the most common doctrines in the denominational world fall under the heading of Calvinism. Calvinism simply refers to the doctrines and teachings of John Calvin and his followers. Calvin was a theologian from the 1500′s who greatly influenced the Reformation movement. He was a brilliant man, but brilliance does not always translate into faithfulness to God or one accurately handling His word (cf. 1 Corinthians 1:26-27). These doctrines are accepted by many, but are not taught in the word of God.
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