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Regular articles and contributions from church brethren for spiritual edification and encouragement.
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Regular articles and contributions from church brethren for spiritual edification and encouragement.
It often goes unnoticed that our risen Lord's first activity, mere hours after His resurrection, was to conduct an intense scripture study with two disciples. Luke records it in Luke 24:13-33,- an open-air Scripture class along the seven-mile road from Jerusalem to the village of Emmaus (Luke 24:13). We are not told how many hours the class lasted but the lesson was about "all that the prophets have spoken (about the Christ having to suffer before entering His glory) (Luke 24:25-26).
"Navigating through" a literal or symbolic path involves avoiding or overcoming obstacles while moving towards a destination or goal. Scripture uses the picture of a journey to describe human life as it makes its way through the world's chaos,- encountering the distractions of the "wide gates" and "broad ways" which cannot lead to life (Matthew 7:14),- until we arrive at the final destination of our faith, which is the salvation of our soul (1 Peter 1:9).
We cannot know God's perspective of the world today and His will for its inhabitants beyond what He has revealed in the inspired scriptures (Deuteronomy 29:29; 2 Timothy 3:16-17). Similarly, we cannot declare His views about mankind's condition and what He intends to do about it unless we are informed of such matters by His oracles (1 Peter 4:11).
Currently, 27 out of 50 states in the United States of America, the US federal government itself and the US military (over its personnel) have legal provision to impose the death penalty for some crimes, with 4 of these states having approved gubernatorial pause on capital punishment. Tennessee is one such state (without gubernatorial pause).
Knowing what is good to do and what is evil to avoid doing is merely the first step in systematically acquiring the "knowledge" of good and evil. That "knowledge" may be accessed by memorizing the elements of the Bible's many "Catalogues of Virtues and Vices." However, actually "knowing" good and evil must be put to practical and fruitful use so that we recognise good and evil in as many as in our daily life.
It cannot be denied that eating the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil resulted in Adam and Eve acquiring some degree of the knowledge which,- up to that point in time,- was God's alone to possess (Genesis 3:6-7) Even God admitted that their first sin of disobedience had that limited effect (Genesis 3: 22).
Good and evil are polar opposites in our moral continuum (Psalm 34:14). The two cannot be confused because calling good "evil" is as great a wrongdoing as calling evil "good" (Isaiah 5:20). Instead, a necessary life-skill is the ability to distinguish good from evil; we should always hold fast to that which is good and hate that which is evil (1 Thessalonians 5:21-22).
"Fellowship" among individuals is essentially about companionship (sharing friendly company) built upon common purpose and belief. Among Christians, fellowship supplements devotion to the apostles' doctrine (or teaching), the Lord's Supper and prayers (Acts 2:42).
The truths of the Christian faith derive as much from the inspired words of Jesus' apostles as from the words of Jesus Himself. This is because they would receive revelation in addition to what our Lord had time to convey to them while He was on earth (John 14:25-26; 16:12-15). Hence, the apostle Paul states his writings are the commandments of the Lord (1 Corinthians 14:37), being God's word (1 Thessalonians 2:13).
In our Lord's final hour of freedom, just before He led His disciples into the garden of Gethsemane (John 18:1; Matthew 26:36) where He would be arrested, His thoughts turned to them, specifically how they would be perceived by the world to whom they were to be sent with God's plan of salvation.
God's word tells us, "... The righteous will be in everlasting remembrance" (Psalm 112:6) and "The memory of the righteous is blessed..." (Proverbs 10:7). Besides appreciating the good that they do for others' benefit, the conduct of the righteous are worthy of our emulation, as are the examples of holy men when they imitate Christ (1 Corinthians 11:1). Christians, too, need to be reminded that, "... God is not unjust to forget (our) work and labor of love which (we) have shown toward His name ... do not become sluggish, but imitate those who tbrough faith and patience inherit the promises"(Hebrews 6:10, 12).
A "worship service" of the churches of Christ refers to the Sunday (i.e."first day of the week") assembly (i.e. "coming together") of Christians (i.e. "disciples" or "learners" of Christ, Acts 11:26) to participate in five distinct acts of worshipping God as instructed by His word.
Of course, there are matters about God's universe which are secret, being known by Him alone. However, the things which He has revealed to man are meant to be understood, obeyed and transmitted to other men with a similar charge to preserve and spread the same complete message, unadulterated (Deuteronomy 29:29; Mark 16:15; 2 Timothy 2:2).
Christianity is the religion of Bible authority. Christians are "disciples" (i.e. learners) of Jesus Christ (Acts 11:26) and therefore imitators of Him in belief and practice (1 Corinthians 11:1; Ephesians 4:32 to 5:2). Christians call Him their "Lord" and so must obey His commandments (John 14:15; Matthew 7:21-27; Luke 6:46).
"Abiding" in Jesus' word means staying faithful to all His commands i.e. believing in who He is (John 8:24), confessing Him as God's Son (Matthew 10:32), repenting of sins (Luke 13:3, 5), being baptised (Mark 16:16) and being faithful to the end (Revelation 2:10).
To hope is to acknowledge that "Man who is born of woman is of few days and full of trouble" (Job 14:1) and "... all the works that are done under the sun ... all is vanity and grasping for the wind" (Ecclesiastes 1:14). We sense, intuitively, that there can, and ought, to be a better human existence somewhere and sometime else.
Generally, "faith" (Greek PISTEO) is belief, i.e. agreement or trust in a thought which becomes the reason for certain "hopes" (Greek ELPIS) which, in turn, conditions our character and conduct. For the Christian, even when push comes to shove, matters of faith (affecting our "HEAD" or intellect) influence our hope (touching our "HEART" or desire) to move our "HANDS" (moving us to act in certain ways that exhibit LOVE (Greek AGAPE, self-sacrificial regard for others).
Since faith is based on substantial evidence (Hebrews 11:1) provided by God's creation (Romans 1:19-20) interpreted by His word (Acts 17:11), the growth of the faith of Christians can only come about by their continous keen observation of God's creation (including man's thought and actions) interpreted by a proper handling of God's word, the holy scriptures (2 Timothy 2:15).
The cultivation of personal faith is too important a matter for anyone to ignore for ìts ultimate end or purpose is "the salvation of your souls." (1 Peter 1:9). At its core is belief in the person, work and words of Jesus Christ as the only-begotten Son of God so that we can receive the gift of life in Christ's name (John 20:31)
It should have been easier during the First Century A.D. to persuade the unconvinced of the Gospel plan of salvation. This was the Age of Miracles when works of signs and wonders accompanied the preaching and teaching of Jesus' apostles (Acts 5:12) and other disciples who had the apostles' hands laid upon them (Acts 8:14-19).
God's word does encourage every Bible-believer, Christian or otherwise, to "Examine yourself as to whether you are in the faith. Test yourselves. Do you not know yourselves, that Jesus Christ is in you?- unless indeed you are disqualified."
God is spirit (John 4:24) and without physical form, being invisible,- to humankind, at least,- (Deuteronomy 4:12; John 5:37; 1 Timothy 1:17; 6:16; 1 John 4:12). If any human "saw" God, he or she would expect to die (Exodus 24:10-11; 33:18-23).
The Salem Witch Trials were a series of court proceedings, criminal convictions and consequential executions carried out in colonial Massachusetts, America, from February 1692 to May 1693.
If you scour the internet for articles on the American artist Thomas Kinkade (1958-2012), you will find more harsh criticism than praise for his works. If you search deeper for his artwork, you will find very many realistic depictions of a variety of unidentifiable landscapes.
Upon reflection, the death rituals of the Torajan testify to the fact that humans have the God-given intuitive awareness of eternity in our hearts even though we are unsure of how our Maker and Sustainer will work it out for us (Ecclesiastes 3:11)
To recapitulate, although the 66 books of the Bible are the product of some 40 authors writing under Divine inspiration across almost 1500 years, their contents contain very many cross-references among them. Numerous references in the form of prophecies, antitypes, quotations and allusions to Old Testament (OT) content are contained in New Testament (NT) books.
To demonstrate fulfilled prophecies, and foreshadows, about Jesus Christ, the books of the New Testament cite about 300 QUOTATIONS from the Old Testament with reference mainly to His life and death. In writing and speech, a "quotation" or "quote" is the exact repetition of a sentence, phrase or passage from a speech or text that someone else has said or written. Often, the original speaker or writer of the quotation is identified (or "cited") by name by way of attribution.
Each year, on May 1, a Labour Day public holiday in Malaysia if it falls during work days, the Subang Jaya church of Christ brings together evangelists and missionaries toiling in God's kingdom as far away from our shores as the African continent to remind us of the Great Commission (Matthew 28:18-20)
A CHRISTOPHANY recorded in Old Testament scripture is an actual, but momentary, appearence to humans of Him who would much later become Jesus Chrìst at His incarnation in Mary' womb.
To identify references to Christ in all of the scriptures of the Old Testament as Jesus Himself instructs us (Luke 24:25-27, 44-47), as did His apostles (Acts 3:18-24), we have to know what to look out for in the Old Testament. To begin with, we must consider inspired records of the actual appearence of Christ to people BEFORE He took human form by being born of a woman, Mary (Galatians 4:4-5).