Category Christian Life
If we have repented of our sin before God, and come to Jesus Christ in faith, receiving His atonement for our sins, and the gift of eternal life from God, how should we then live? The Bible tells us that everyone who is in Christ is a new creation; old things are passed away, and all things have been made new. We are told that the Holy Spirit lives within each re-born child of God. If we are indeed new creatures born of the Spirit through faith in Jesus Christ, we can no longer live as though we are only bodies of flesh, subject to the fleshly desires that entice us to sin in the first place. Rather our lives should be a reflection of the power of God in us, making us look as the new creatures we have become, a glorious reflection of the Saviour Who bought us. |
Beloved, doing all diligence to be writing to you concerning the common salvation, I have had necessity to write to you entreating to be contending for the faith once being given to the saints."
Jude was pressed also, that urging them to “contend earnestly” for that faith was imperative.Read More
To sin is to miss the target. That requires there be a target to be missed. Paul said that, where no law is, sin is not imputed, because sin is “transgression” – violation – of law. From this, we learn that the target is whatever “law” has been issued. Until we have a target, we cannot be held responsible for failing to hit it. And God, Who is just, does not count our sin against us apart from our having been given that target – His perfect nature and His spoken commands.
Paul refers to the Law of Moses as being like a school-master, tutoring Israel to righteousness. The “Ten Commandments” were God’s summary of there moral conduct that should be reflected in the life of any Israelite who believed and revered God...
Read MoreOwe no one any thing, but to love one another…” Romans 13:8 (a)
Implications:
We are to avoid indebtedness; we must pay or render whatever we owe. Debt is an obligation, not an option.
Love is a debt. Debt is an obligation, not an option. We are therefore obligated to love one another; we may not choose to decline.
Paul’s instructions are written to the Christians in Rome in response to questions arising about the relationship between Christ’s saints – a new reality for that generation – and the civil government of a pagan kingdom. But those instructions are applicable to everyone who falls into the definition of “every soul” in verse one.
In 13:1, Paul says that “every soul” should subject themselves those in superior jurisdictions, which jurisdictions are determined and assigned by...
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Satan is the enemy who first presented sin as desirable, enticing Eve to oppose God's command. Once she and Adam had sinned, Satan was their accuser before God, seeking their condemnation and punishment. Parents are often guilty, whether deliberately or negligently, of filling the role of Satan in their children's lives by introducing sin into the lives of their children, then punishing the children for their wrong-doing. We must never bring anything into the life of a child that draws them away from God through sin or unfaithfulness.Read More
I had an eureka moment one morning as I was thinking with some frustration about the reality of “church”: go to a place to sit with other people for an hour as some fellow tells you what to think about God, the Bible, and your faith, with no opportunity permitted to question, challenge, correct, or rebuke. Sit down – stand up – sing this – pray that – hear what I’m telling you, that God told me to say and don’t question it, even when you know I’m lying.
And I realized more consciously that we suffer from Rome...
Read MoreChristmas time is here, and as with many of the past Christmases, some well-meaning, and other self-righteous, professors of Christian faith begin to slander and condemn the saints of Christ who chose to celebrate the birth of the Saviour on and around December 25. They regularly repeat the false accusation that Christmas (and Easter in its turn) are pagan festivals reappropriated by Christians to somehow clean up the paganism and give Christians something better to do at that feast time.
The second accusation is that all of the symbols of Christmas are pagan...
Read MoreChristians believe the Old Testament, but do not follow it. What does this mean?
The Old Testament is history, prophecy, and commands to a specific people. Insofar as we read of first things (In the beginning…), early development of a region and of a people, and God’s declaration of what would come after, Christians believe the Old Testament. We recognize and accept that God Which created the universe was the sole presence before creation, and has provided us with information concerning that event that is incontrovertible because He caused it to happen...
Read MoreJeremiah 7:8-10 Behold, ye trust in lying words, that cannot profit.
Will ye steal, murder, and commit adultery, and swear falsely, and burn incense unto Baal, and walk after other gods whom ye know not, and come and stand before me in this house, which is called by my name, and say, “We are delivered to do all these abominations?”‘”
The words were spoken to Israel, but there is a principle for Christ’s church as well: We were not delivered from the condemnation of sin so that we should continue to live in sin, doing those things which God has condemned, and despising God in favour of other, more appealing “gods” that serve our satisfaction instead of our deepest need.
God’s word to us is clear concerning what is right and wrong, what is wicked and what is good...
or “What Must I Do To Be Saved?”
Nothing is of greater importance than to know the true God and to know what is required for us to be on good terms with the true God. The only way to know God and to know what God has said concerning our condition and relationship with God, is to study from the Bible what God has revealed concerning our sin and His salvation.
With every discussion of what we must believe, the answer to what constitutes the message of the gospel of salvation must begin with what the Bible says about The Gospel, so we will look first at those passages in which the Bible writers used the specific word “gospel”...
Read MoreEvery time a parent brings sin into their home, we become responsible for its influence on our children. Children are always learning; every observation they make, every experience they have, affects their ideas about God and eternity, their understanding of what it means to be human, of how to interact with community in general and other people in particular, their perception of what is right and wrong, and how to engage it. Whether we work deliberately to teach our children or not, the children continually develop their values and ideas as they observe our decisions and conduct.
Parents who speak of God and Christ and salvation while entertaining themselves on that which endorses what God has revealed to be wicked, belie the seriousness of evil before their children, and teach them to “c...
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