October 6, 2011

How God Is Able to Establish You

Bible

As Paul concluded his epistle to the Romans, he praised God for His ability to establish them (Romans 16:25-27). This means He was able to make them strong, complete, and equipped to follow Him and to face the trials that exist in this life. Is God able to establish us today? If so, how?

Earlier in this letter, Paul expressed a desire to come to them in Rome: “For I long to see you so that I may impart some spiritual gift to you, that you may be established” (Romans 1:11). What were these spiritual gifts that Paul would impart to them in order to establish them? These miraculous gifts of the Spirit are enumerated in the first letter to Corinth and included such gifts as knowledge, prophecy, and the ability to speak in tongues (1 Corinthians 12:7-11). Do we need to have some miraculous spiritual gift in order to be established today? If so, we are in trouble because Paul later said that such miraculous spiritual gifts would be “done away” and replaced with the completed revelation in the word of God (1 Corinthians 13:8-10). This is what we need in order to be established today – the word of God. In our text, Paul described the word in several different ways, showing how it is able to establish us.
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June 30, 2011

Sins of the Rich Man

Jesus’ story of the rich man and Lazarus (Luke 16:19-31) is fairly well-known to most Bible students. One man lived a life of luxury but found himself in torments after he died. The other was a poor beggar in this life yet was comforted after death in a place of paradise.

Once in torments, the rich man appealed to Abraham to allow Lazarus to go to his brothers and warn them of the punishment that awaited them (Luke 16:27-28). Since the rich man ended up in this undesirable place, it would be good for us to notice this man’s sins that Jesus mentioned in this passage. These are a few of the things we need to avoid if we want to escape the terrible fate that belonged to this man.
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March 23, 2011

The Faith of Daniel’s Friends

Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-nego

While the Jews were in Babylonian captivity, King Nebuchadnezzar made a huge, golden statue and commanded the people of every nation and language to fall down and worship the image when they would hear the sound of the music. Those who refused would be cast into a furnace of fire (Daniel 3:1-6).

Most of the people complied with the king’s order and worshiped the image at the prescribed times (Daniel 3:7). However, three young men – Shadrach, Meshach and Abed-nego – did not (Daniel 3:12). These men were among the Jews who had been taken captive and were companions of Daniel (Daniel 1:6-7). They now found themselves before an angry king:
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February 11, 2011

Are the Jews Still God’s Chosen People Today?

Flag of Israel

The United States, both its people and its government, have generally been supportive of Israel over the years. While I personally believe this is good, it is not for the reason that is often given by those who are or want to sound religious. Many today will say that we need to support Israel because the Jews are God’s chosen people. The necessary conclusion then is that if we want to remain in God’s good favor, we must continue to support the nation of Israel. This reasoning is faulty and without Biblical support.

This is not to say that the Jews were never God’s chosen people. The Scriptures plainly tell us that they were. Notice what Moses told the children of Israel after their deliverance from Egypt:
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January 7, 2011

Did God Use the “Big Bang” to Create the Universe?

Space

For a long time there has been a conflict between the teaching of the Bible and the beliefs of the scientific community in general over the origin of the universe. On one hand, you have the Biblical account of God creating the universe from nothing in six days. On the other hand, you have a theory held by many scientists that says the universe came into being when a ball of matter of unknown origin exploded (”Big Bang”), sending particles shooting through space, which eventually, somehow, formed planets and stars, bred life, and, over millions of years, through a long string of lucky mutations, those first single-cell organisms evolved into every living thing that we see in the world today.

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October 31, 2010

The Demons Also Believe

Ice Devil

The Scriptures plainly teach that we are saved by faith (John 8:24; Romans 5:1). But what kind of faith saves us? Is it simply a belief in Christ as the Savior? Is it an obedient faith? Sadly, the religious world is divided over the nature of faith, even though the Scriptures give us a clear answer regarding the type of faith that saves us.
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August 23, 2010

Who Will Be Lost? Who Will Be Saved?

Thinking young man

Anyone who has even a mild interest in spiritual things wants to go to heaven. Do you just want to go, or are you really going? How can we know if we are going to heaven or not?

Many times when one tries to explain who is and who is not going to heaven, charges are made that such a one is judging others. It is of prime importance that we understand who it is that is the Judge, for there is only one (James 4:12). Paul said, “We must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ” (2 Corinthians 5:10).

It does not matter what you or I think. What matters is what He thinks. Judgment will be made according to His word (John 12:48). So what does the word of God say? First of all, it says that many will be lost while only a few will be saved (Matthew 7:13-14). If we want to be among the saved, we ought to find out what His word says about who will be saved and who will be lost.
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