April 15, 2026

Repeated for Emphasis

Emphasis

Several passages in the Bible repeat a phrase to emphasize a thought and help us remember it. We will notice a few in this article.

But why is this necessary?

Oftentimes, we may hear something, understand it, but immediately think of an excuse to justify not doing it. We think, perhaps even subconsciously, “Yeah, but…” and then come up with a reason for not doing what we are told to do. Then we dismiss it. Yet when the instruction is repeated, our minds receive a signal that we really do need to take this seriously. So let us consider a few examples in the New Testament.Continue Reading

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March 26, 2026

The Apostles vs. Franklin Graham (03/26/26)

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Plain Bible Teaching Podcast

This week, we’re talking about an event in Peru where Franklin Graham preached to 90,000 people, which reportedly led to thousands of conversions. That sounds great, right? It does until you know about the message being preached. It is not the same gospel message that the apostles taught in the first century. We’re going to examine that in our episode today.Continue Reading

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January 7, 2026

Salvation: Past, Present, and Future

BaptismFor many religious people, when they talk about salvation, they talk about “getting” saved. It is common to hear phrases like these:

  • When did you get saved?
  • I got saved when I was fifteen years old.
  • Several people were getting saved at the revival.

However, despite how frequently we hear phrases like those in conversations with religious people, the Bible never talks about salvation in this way. Instead, the New Testament refers to people being saved.

This is significant because it emphasizes our dependence upon God for our salvation. Salvation is not something we “get” on our own. Instead, we are dependent upon God to save us. Even when there are conditions we must meet (which we will discuss), we are relying upon God to save us. Therefore, the New Testament talks about being saved (passive, something that is done for us) rather than getting saved (active, something we do or obtain for ourselves).

In fact, the New Testament describes aspects of our salvation (being saved) that relate to the past, present, and future. Let us consider a few different passages.Continue Reading

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May 29, 2025

Reaching Conspiracy Theorists (05/29/25)

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Plain Bible Teaching Podcast

This week, we’re talking about those who might be labeled as “conspiracy theorists” and whether they can be reached with the gospel. It has been reported that Joe Rogan, a popular podcast host known for embracing or entertaining conspiracy theories, has recently been attending church services. Could someone like that really be converted? We’re going to talk about that today.

Find the script for this episode on Substack.

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April 21, 2025

Big Words in the Bible (Part 5): Resurrection

Big Words in the Bible

The final word we will discuss in our series is resurrection. It is likely the one with which we are the most familiar. There is a lot we could say about it, but we will consider some highlights to show why this word is so important. As we will see, without this, none of the other words we have studied in this series would matter.

“Paul, a bond-servant of Christ Jesus, called as an apostle, set apart for the gospel of God, which He promised beforehand through His prophets in the holy Scriptures, concerning His Son, who was born of a descendant of David according to the flesh, who was declared the Son of God with power by the resurrection from the dead, according to the Spirit of holiness, Jesus Christ our Lord, through whom we have received grace and apostleship to bring about the obedience of faith among all the Gentiles for His name’s sake, among whom you also are the called of Jesus Christ…” (Romans 1:1-6).

The word translated as “resurrection” (anastasis) means a raising from the dead. It describes one being raised to new life. Jesus died on the cross and was raised from the dead, which gives us hope beyond this life.Continue Reading

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August 28, 2024

Our Common Salvation

Woman being baptized

“Beloved, while I was making every effort to write you about our common salvation, I felt the necessity to write to you appealing that you contend earnestly for the faith which was once for all handed down to the saints” (Jude 3).

The verse above is often cited to show the need for Christians to engage in a spiritual battle for the cause of Christ. We are to “put on the full armor of God” (Ephesians 6:11), which enables us to “fight the good fight of faith” (1 Timothy 6:12). In doing this, Jude explained that we must “contend earnestly for the faith.” This is just as important today as it was when Jude penned these words in the first century.*

However, Jude’s original intention was to write about another topic – “our common salvation.” This was (and is) a vitally important subject, but because of the pressing need to “contend earnestly for the faith,” the Holy Spirit saw fit to have the inspired writer deliver a different message than Jude originally intended. Whether Jude ever delivered a follow-up message on that topic – in person or in writing – we do not know. However, the idea of “our common salvation” is worthy of our consideration, so we will discuss that in this article.Continue Reading

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May 3, 2023

Conduct Yourselves in a Manner Worthy of the Gospel

Reading an Open Bible

When Paul wrote to the church at Philippi, there were very few problems that he needed to correct. These brethren were faithfully following the Lord and were an encouragement to the apostle. So he encouraged them to continue serving the Lord in a way that would please Him. Consider the following verses:

“Only conduct yourselves in a manner worthy of the gospel of Christ, so that whether I come and see you or remain absent, I will hear of you that you are standing firm in one spirit, with one mind striving together for the faith of the gospel; in no way alarmed by your opponents—which is a sign of destruction for them, but of salvation for you, and that too, from God. For to you it has been granted for Christ’s sake, not only to believe in Him, but also to suffer for His sake, experiencing the same conflict which you saw in me, and now hear to be in me” (Philippians 1:27-30).

In the passage above, Paul told them to “conduct [themselves] in a manner worthy of the gospel.” This indicates that the gospel calls us to a higher standard, and Christians must strive to live up to it. But what exactly does that mean? How can we do this today? Let us consider what Paul wrote in this passage about how we can “conduct [ourselves] in a manner worthy of the gospel.”Continue Reading

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