We have 2 of our church members in Ethiopia this week working with preachers from throughout Ethiopia. These are Bob Owen and Steve Patton. It is amazing how the gospel of Christ has been accepted in that country. It seems much more readily accepted and growing there than in many other countries of the world, perhaps even in the U.S. We were once a Christian nation, but more and more we are getting away from that. Unless that changes it will likely be the downfall of our nation--just my prediction. I digress.
The point of this lesson is that it was the command of Jesus to His disciples just before He left them that they were to spread the Word. Note this teaching at the very end of Matthew:
"All authority in heaven and on earth has been to given to me. Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age."
Then in the first chapter of the book of Acts, just before Jesus ascends to heaven, He gives this statement to His apostles:
"...you will be My witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth."
At the beginning of Acts 8 we read that this spread of the gospel begins: On that day a great persecution broke out against the church at Jerusalem, and all except the apostles were scattered throughout Judea and Samaria."
The book of Acts chronicles the growth of the church throughout the known world at that time. And speaking of Ethiopia, there is an interesting story at the end of chapter 8 of Acts that tells of a Jewish man who came up from Ethiopia and was converted to Christ. I will let you read that one on your own if you wish, but it is an interesting read of a conversion.
The charge of Jesus was made primarily to His apostles. But we know that He expected this effort to continue long after the apostles were dead and gone. It is up to us now to see that the Word is spread throughout the world. We can do this at home and abroad.
Let's do our part. Thanks for reading and have a great week!
Sunday, August 24, 2014
Saturday, August 16, 2014
Maturity
The Bible talks a lot about the importance of God's people being mature. This was the subject of the apostle Paul's comments in Hebrews 5 & 6. The following are excerpts from that:
"We have much to say about this, but it is hard to explain because you are slow to learn. In fact, though by this time you ought to be teachers, you need someone to teach you the elementary truths of God's word all over again. You need milk, not solid food! Anyone who lives on milk, being still an infant, is not acquainted with the teaching about righteousness. But solid food is for the mature, who by constant use have trained themselves to distinguish good from evil."
The teaching here is clear: We need to first get the learning of the basics, then move on to matters of Righteousness. That is where the real meat of the Word lies. Continuing:
"Therefore let us leave the elementary teachings about Christ and go on to maturity, not laying again the foundation of repentance from acts that lead to death, and of faith in God, instruction about baptisms, the laying on of hands, the resurrection of the dead, and eternal judgment."
In this latter passage, Paul gives some examples of what he would consider elementary. But the only detailed matter of maturity given here is "righteousness." He is looking for us to be righteous people. But note that we first should give some consideration, show some understanding of the basics, the basic beliefs of Christianity. Having that, we are to move on to a higher calling, a calling to seek perfection, holiness, as God is Holy. I am certainly not saying that we can be perfect, that we can reach the level of holiness that our Lord has; but this is to be our goal.
Let us all think about maturity.....and the need to seek that. May God bless you this week!
"We have much to say about this, but it is hard to explain because you are slow to learn. In fact, though by this time you ought to be teachers, you need someone to teach you the elementary truths of God's word all over again. You need milk, not solid food! Anyone who lives on milk, being still an infant, is not acquainted with the teaching about righteousness. But solid food is for the mature, who by constant use have trained themselves to distinguish good from evil."
The teaching here is clear: We need to first get the learning of the basics, then move on to matters of Righteousness. That is where the real meat of the Word lies. Continuing:
"Therefore let us leave the elementary teachings about Christ and go on to maturity, not laying again the foundation of repentance from acts that lead to death, and of faith in God, instruction about baptisms, the laying on of hands, the resurrection of the dead, and eternal judgment."
In this latter passage, Paul gives some examples of what he would consider elementary. But the only detailed matter of maturity given here is "righteousness." He is looking for us to be righteous people. But note that we first should give some consideration, show some understanding of the basics, the basic beliefs of Christianity. Having that, we are to move on to a higher calling, a calling to seek perfection, holiness, as God is Holy. I am certainly not saying that we can be perfect, that we can reach the level of holiness that our Lord has; but this is to be our goal.
Let us all think about maturity.....and the need to seek that. May God bless you this week!
Saturday, August 9, 2014
"It is Finished"
The last words of Jesus, "It is finished," ring in our ears. It is true that His life is finished at that moment. One account says that He made a loud cry, then it was over. But there is something special about the final words that go much deeper than the obvious.
This moment in time, the giving of the life of the Messiah, had been planned from the beginning. We could go all the way back to the 3rd chapter of Genesis, right at the beginning of the Bible, to see that there would come a time when Jesus would have to die on this earth. Note Genesis 3 beginning in verse 14 where the Lord was speaking to the Serpent and concludes with "And you shall bruise His heel", speaking of Jesus being bruised by Satan. But we know that Satan would never win that battle, a point that is made more than clear in the book of Revelation.
All through the Bible we find that there are references to the coming of the Lord Jesus, and eventually to His death. It was always God's plan to offer His Son in order to redeem the sins of man, of you and me.
So when Jesus made His final statement, "It is finished", He was not only saying that His life was over, He was saying that His ministry was over, that this was the end of all that had been prophesied about Him. He had fulfilled all that had been spoken by the prophets about the coming Savior, the coming Kingdom, and the redemption of man.
But perhaps we shouldn't overlook the fact that it was the end of all the suffering that He went through for us. For sure, we never want to minimize the severity of that.....and the wonderful sacrifice that was made....allowing us to have the beauty of heaven forever.
And so, it was finished, but it was also a great beginning. It represented the beginning of a new era, a new Way, the Way of Jesus. We see this come to fruition in the book of Acts as the apostles go forth to develop the church.
What a great plan that our God had for us! Thanks for reading and have a great week!
This moment in time, the giving of the life of the Messiah, had been planned from the beginning. We could go all the way back to the 3rd chapter of Genesis, right at the beginning of the Bible, to see that there would come a time when Jesus would have to die on this earth. Note Genesis 3 beginning in verse 14 where the Lord was speaking to the Serpent and concludes with "And you shall bruise His heel", speaking of Jesus being bruised by Satan. But we know that Satan would never win that battle, a point that is made more than clear in the book of Revelation.
All through the Bible we find that there are references to the coming of the Lord Jesus, and eventually to His death. It was always God's plan to offer His Son in order to redeem the sins of man, of you and me.
So when Jesus made His final statement, "It is finished", He was not only saying that His life was over, He was saying that His ministry was over, that this was the end of all that had been prophesied about Him. He had fulfilled all that had been spoken by the prophets about the coming Savior, the coming Kingdom, and the redemption of man.
But perhaps we shouldn't overlook the fact that it was the end of all the suffering that He went through for us. For sure, we never want to minimize the severity of that.....and the wonderful sacrifice that was made....allowing us to have the beauty of heaven forever.
And so, it was finished, but it was also a great beginning. It represented the beginning of a new era, a new Way, the Way of Jesus. We see this come to fruition in the book of Acts as the apostles go forth to develop the church.
What a great plan that our God had for us! Thanks for reading and have a great week!
Saturday, August 2, 2014
Grace
Maybe there is no more beautiful word in all of the English language than "grace." For the Christian it is the free gift of God, the giving of favor to us that is not deserved. We don't deserve the benefits, the salvation, that He offers. We haven't earned it, aren't entitled to it; but we get it.
Oh, there are some qualifications: We have to be Christians, believers, followers. We have to dedicate our lives to Him. We have to believe that Jesus is the Son of God. And we have to try to live as He lived when He was here on this earth.
I think of the Prodigal Son as recorded in Luke 15. He was a bad son. He left home and took his inheritance with him. He wasted his life in partying....and nothing good. One day he realized that he had lost it all and followed the wrong path. He decided that he should go home and ask his father to just let him work as a servant, not as a son but as one of the lowly workers around the place. But his father gave him grace, letting him come back as a son...and with a great celebration for his return.
This is how our father extends grace to us. We haven't lived a perfect life; have turned away from God many times, ignoring what was right and doing what we wanted. But God loves us and accepts us back. We could use the term "mercy," but grace goes even further than mercy. God's grace is everything to us, salvation to us who cannot save ourselves.
Paul, in 2 Corinthians 12, asked God to relieve him of his "thorn in the flesh," some ailment that was a severe bother to him. The Lord answered by saying, "My grace is sufficient for you." All else pales in comparison to His grace.
"But God, who is rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in trespasses, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved), and raised us up together, and made us sit together in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, that in the ages to come He might show the exceeding riches of His grace in His kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast. For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them." Ephesians 2:4-10
Praise God for His wonderful grace. Thanks for reading again. God bless you with His grace!
Oh, there are some qualifications: We have to be Christians, believers, followers. We have to dedicate our lives to Him. We have to believe that Jesus is the Son of God. And we have to try to live as He lived when He was here on this earth.
I think of the Prodigal Son as recorded in Luke 15. He was a bad son. He left home and took his inheritance with him. He wasted his life in partying....and nothing good. One day he realized that he had lost it all and followed the wrong path. He decided that he should go home and ask his father to just let him work as a servant, not as a son but as one of the lowly workers around the place. But his father gave him grace, letting him come back as a son...and with a great celebration for his return.
This is how our father extends grace to us. We haven't lived a perfect life; have turned away from God many times, ignoring what was right and doing what we wanted. But God loves us and accepts us back. We could use the term "mercy," but grace goes even further than mercy. God's grace is everything to us, salvation to us who cannot save ourselves.
Paul, in 2 Corinthians 12, asked God to relieve him of his "thorn in the flesh," some ailment that was a severe bother to him. The Lord answered by saying, "My grace is sufficient for you." All else pales in comparison to His grace.
"But God, who is rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in trespasses, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved), and raised us up together, and made us sit together in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, that in the ages to come He might show the exceeding riches of His grace in His kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast. For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them." Ephesians 2:4-10
Praise God for His wonderful grace. Thanks for reading again. God bless you with His grace!
Saturday, July 26, 2014
A Gospel of Inclusion
It is so great that the Bible answers so many of the questions of life for us. We don't have to wonder what God wants from us. We know how He wants to be worshiped, where we came from, why we exist, where we are heading. We know what our attitudes should be toward so many things; how we are to live and how we are to treat others. And that brings us to today's discussion of inclusion.
The Bible, the New Testament, and Jesus Himself, make it clear that we are to be people who reach out to all cultures, all peoples. In this writing we will look at some Bible examples that give us clear instruction on the matter.
I always think of the Good Samaritan who went out of his way a lot to help a Jewish man, a man not of his people. Others had passed this injured man by, but not the Samaritan.
In Acts 6 we read of Grecian widows who were not having their needs met. The Jewish Christian widows were being cared for but not the Grecians. The apostles recognized that they did not have the time to see to every need so they appointed certain men to see out for this need.
In Acts 15 there were disagreements between Christians because some Jewish Christians were insisting that Christian men should be circumcised according to Jewish Law. This was settled by the apostles, taking away this requirement.
And we see the Corinthian church being instructed in 1 Corinthians 16 to send help to the Christians in Jerusalem who were in need. It didn't matter that it was Gentiles helping Jewish Christians, or for that matter, Jewish Christians helping Gentile Christians.
We know that the NT teaching is to do good to all men, especially those of the household of faith...i.e., Christians. So we see that we should treat all men alike for all are the same in God's eyes.
"You are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus, for all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ. There is neither Jew nor Greek, slave nor free, male nor female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus." (Galatians 3:26)
It all comes down to an attitude...an attitude of love. Thanks for reading. Have a great week....and feel the love!
The Bible, the New Testament, and Jesus Himself, make it clear that we are to be people who reach out to all cultures, all peoples. In this writing we will look at some Bible examples that give us clear instruction on the matter.
I always think of the Good Samaritan who went out of his way a lot to help a Jewish man, a man not of his people. Others had passed this injured man by, but not the Samaritan.
In Acts 6 we read of Grecian widows who were not having their needs met. The Jewish Christian widows were being cared for but not the Grecians. The apostles recognized that they did not have the time to see to every need so they appointed certain men to see out for this need.
In Acts 15 there were disagreements between Christians because some Jewish Christians were insisting that Christian men should be circumcised according to Jewish Law. This was settled by the apostles, taking away this requirement.
And we see the Corinthian church being instructed in 1 Corinthians 16 to send help to the Christians in Jerusalem who were in need. It didn't matter that it was Gentiles helping Jewish Christians, or for that matter, Jewish Christians helping Gentile Christians.
We know that the NT teaching is to do good to all men, especially those of the household of faith...i.e., Christians. So we see that we should treat all men alike for all are the same in God's eyes.
"You are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus, for all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ. There is neither Jew nor Greek, slave nor free, male nor female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus." (Galatians 3:26)
It all comes down to an attitude...an attitude of love. Thanks for reading. Have a great week....and feel the love!
Saturday, July 19, 2014
Which Denomination is the Best?
What is the answer to the best denomination to be a part of today? Fortunately, the New Testament gives the clear answer to the question so that we do not have to wonder about this. Let's look at 1 Corinthians 1 starting with verse 10:
"I appeal to you, brothers, In the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, that all of you agree with one another so that there may be no divisions among you and that you may be perfectly united in mind and thought. My brothers, some from Chloe's household have informed me that there are quarrels among you. What I mean is this: One of you says, 'I follow Paul'; another, 'I follow Apollos'; another, 'I follow Cephas'; still another, 'I follow Christ.' Is Christ divided? Were you baptized into the name of Paul?..."
The answer is clear. There is no best denomination. In fact, there should be no denomination, realizing that the word simply means to divide. As Christians, we are one. We have one Lord, Jesus Christ. Unity is taught all through the Bible. Just before His death, Jesus prayed in John 17 that His followers would be united. And this passage in Ephesians 4 shows us the importance of unity:
"Make every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace. There is one body and one Spirit--just as you were called to one hope when you were called--one Lord, one faith, one baptism....."
It is obvious that Jesus and Paul were very concerned about the unity of Christians. We might ask how we can be unified and is that possible. The answer lies in just being Christians, just following the teaching of the Bible, just being today what Christians were in the days of the New Testament. Meanwhile, while we make this journey to being what Christ wants us to be, we are to "be completely humble and gentle", as it says in Eph. 4, with one another; to love one another and seek the best for one another.
Let's just be Christians. Thanks for reading. Have a great week.
"I appeal to you, brothers, In the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, that all of you agree with one another so that there may be no divisions among you and that you may be perfectly united in mind and thought. My brothers, some from Chloe's household have informed me that there are quarrels among you. What I mean is this: One of you says, 'I follow Paul'; another, 'I follow Apollos'; another, 'I follow Cephas'; still another, 'I follow Christ.' Is Christ divided? Were you baptized into the name of Paul?..."
The answer is clear. There is no best denomination. In fact, there should be no denomination, realizing that the word simply means to divide. As Christians, we are one. We have one Lord, Jesus Christ. Unity is taught all through the Bible. Just before His death, Jesus prayed in John 17 that His followers would be united. And this passage in Ephesians 4 shows us the importance of unity:
"Make every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace. There is one body and one Spirit--just as you were called to one hope when you were called--one Lord, one faith, one baptism....."
It is obvious that Jesus and Paul were very concerned about the unity of Christians. We might ask how we can be unified and is that possible. The answer lies in just being Christians, just following the teaching of the Bible, just being today what Christians were in the days of the New Testament. Meanwhile, while we make this journey to being what Christ wants us to be, we are to "be completely humble and gentle", as it says in Eph. 4, with one another; to love one another and seek the best for one another.
Let's just be Christians. Thanks for reading. Have a great week.
Sunday, July 13, 2014
God Always Provides
All through the Bible we see that God loves His people....and He always provides for His people. Today's lesson shows the example of this principle when God provided manna and quails for the people of Israel. God had brought the people out of the land of Egypt, out of slavery and oppression, had helped them cross the Red Sea on dry land by parting the waters, and was leading them toward the promised land. God delivered them and thought they would be appreciative.
Soon, the people became concerned about the lack of food and started complaining. We learn from the Bible that God does not appreciate complaining. He was upset with His people, but He showed great patience with them and love, too. He gave them manna and quails. We read in Exodus 16 that the manna was a type of bread dough that they got from God in the morning and baked. Then quails were provided in the evening which they would boil for eating.
We read on in the Old Testament that the Israelites were so turning away from God that He made them wander in the wilderness for 40 years before going into the promised land, the land of Canaan, what is today the nation of Israel. Later in this period of wandering, God again became upset with their complaining. Numbers 11 tells, "Now when the people complained, it displeased the Lord; for the Lord heard it, and His anger was aroused. So the fire of the Lord burned among them, and consumed some in the outskirts of the camp." They then began complaining about the lack of meat again. Apparently, the quails had been stopped for awhile and now they were unhappy. God provided them quails again but in such quantity that it made them sick.
There are many lessons to be drawn here. The main one is that God is extremely gracious to His people. He saves, He delivers, He wants to help them...and does. It is the same with us today who are His followers. He not only gave us His only Son, but He continues to give and to care.
Another lesson is that God doesn't appreciate complaining. He didn't like it then and He doesn't like it now.
In summary, we must first be sure that we are committed to Him, that we are a true follower. And we should know that He provides, He takes care of His own. And we must appreciate the care and love He gives us, not complaining in any way.
Thanks for reading. I hope your week is great!
Soon, the people became concerned about the lack of food and started complaining. We learn from the Bible that God does not appreciate complaining. He was upset with His people, but He showed great patience with them and love, too. He gave them manna and quails. We read in Exodus 16 that the manna was a type of bread dough that they got from God in the morning and baked. Then quails were provided in the evening which they would boil for eating.
We read on in the Old Testament that the Israelites were so turning away from God that He made them wander in the wilderness for 40 years before going into the promised land, the land of Canaan, what is today the nation of Israel. Later in this period of wandering, God again became upset with their complaining. Numbers 11 tells, "Now when the people complained, it displeased the Lord; for the Lord heard it, and His anger was aroused. So the fire of the Lord burned among them, and consumed some in the outskirts of the camp." They then began complaining about the lack of meat again. Apparently, the quails had been stopped for awhile and now they were unhappy. God provided them quails again but in such quantity that it made them sick.
There are many lessons to be drawn here. The main one is that God is extremely gracious to His people. He saves, He delivers, He wants to help them...and does. It is the same with us today who are His followers. He not only gave us His only Son, but He continues to give and to care.
Another lesson is that God doesn't appreciate complaining. He didn't like it then and He doesn't like it now.
In summary, we must first be sure that we are committed to Him, that we are a true follower. And we should know that He provides, He takes care of His own. And we must appreciate the care and love He gives us, not complaining in any way.
Thanks for reading. I hope your week is great!
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