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• A Heart Right With God (Test Your Heart)

  ster WongMixxMySpaceNetvouzNewsvineoneviewOnlyWirePlugIMPropellerRedditSegnaloShoutwireSimpySlashdotSurphaceSphinnSpurlSquidooStumbleUponTechnoratiThisNextTwitterWebrideWindows LiveYahoo!Email This to a Friend  Link HTML:  Permalink:  If you like this then please subscribe to the RSS Feed.Powered by Bookmarkify™ More »In Acts 8:21 Peter uttered the following words to Simon who was in his com…

• Sin in the Desert–Testing God at Massah and Meribah

  One lesson that is clearly taught in the Bible is that man is not to test God.  Moses in speaking to the children of Israel told them, “You shall not put the Lord your God to the test, as you tested him at Massah.” (Deut. 6:16 NASB)  Jesus in speaking with the devil while he was being tempted said, “It is written, ‘You shall not put the Lord your God to the test.” (Matt: 4:7 NASB)  Paul in telling us not to follow t…

• The Heart of Man from a Biblical Perspective

  p the man.  Each of these aspects of the human heart is worth taking a look at. (1) The heart is the thinking aspect of man.  “For as he thinks in his heart, so is he.” (Prov. 23:7 NKJV)  Jesus asks, “Why do you think evil in your hearts?” (Matt. 9:4 NKJV)  “For out of the heart proceed evil thoughts.” (Matt. 15:19 NKJV)  “If that evil servant says in his heart, ‘My master is delaying his coming.’” (Matt. 24:48 NKJV)  The evil servant says this i…

• The Hardening of the Human Heart

  in that the implication is that a person might well get to the point where he/she is so hardened that they can no longer repent and thus lose all possibility of  being forgiven.  Sufficient hardening leads to damnation.  When your heart becomes so hard you cannot repent, for your heart will not allow it, you are done. The spiritual heart of man can be likened to cement in that when cement is wet, before it has settled and dried, you can fashion i…

• Healing For the Brokenhearted

  He was despised, and we did not esteem Him.” (Isa. 53:3 NASU)  Why do you think Jesus was a man of sorrows?  Was it physical affliction?  Was it poverty?  Or, was it a heart men broke?  Reread the verse and you will get your answer. The Psalmist says, speaking of Jesus prophetically, “But I am a worm and not a man, a reproach of men and despised by the people.  All who see me sneer at me.” (Psalms 22:6 NASU)  John says, “H…

• Christian Circumcision

  heaven (salvation by works) or is it because God gave me a command, I have faith in him to know that he knows best, I love him, and thus my heart is such that I am driven to obey?  It becomes a matter of the heart.  Never let yourself be misled by one belittling obedience to a command.  In reality such a person is encouraging rebellion against God and has a heart that is not right with God. This brings us up to the era of Christianity.  When Chri…

• God’s Hardening of the Human Heart

  Does God ever harden people’s hearts?  No doubt about it.  Every Bible student is aware of God’s hardening the heart of Pharaoh back in the book of Exodus.  This was God’s plan before Moses arrived in Egypt.  “And the LORD said to Moses, “When you go back to Egypt, see that you do all those wonders before Pharaoh which I have put in your hand. But I will harden his heart, so that he will not let the people go.”…

• Keep Your Heart With All Diligence

  If you are like me you were always a little fearful that you were perhaps not normal.  That is to say you have struggled being the person you ought to be and like Eve have desired the forbidden fruit and the thought has come to your mind that that is not normal, not normal for those who want to do what is right.  We get to the point where we question our heart.  Maybe we just have a bad heart.  Maybe we are just a little more depraved than other…

• He Went Away Grieved

  be endless.  He wants to know what to do to inherit eternal life (Mark 10:17 NAS).  Jesus runs off a list of commandments, “Do not murder, do not commit adultery, do not steal, do not bear false witness, do not defraud, honor your father and mother” (Mark 10:19 NAS) and the young man tells Jesus, “I have kept all these things from my youth up.” (Mark 10:20, NAS)  Most parents would be pleased to have a son such as this. He had never stolen from a…

• Why Do Men Run From God?

  up; You understand my thought afar off.   You comprehend my path and my lying down,  And are acquainted with all my ways.   For there is not a word on my tongue, But behold, O LORD, You know it altogether…Where can I go from Your Spirit?   Or where can I flee from Your presence?  If I ascend into heaven, You are there; If I make my bed in hell, behold, You are there.   If I take the wings of the morning,  And dwell in the uttermost parts of the …

• Faith is Not Just What You Believe

  was. Bible faith is meant to develop and grow and become strong.  The Bible says Abraham’s faith was so strong that he believed God would raise Isaac up from the dead in order to fulfill the promise he had made that “In Isaac your seed shall be called.”  So, Abraham would sacrifice Isaac in full faith that God would raise him back up from the dead. (Heb. 11:17-19) But, I think we have perhaps as strong a statement of faith as we will likely find …

• The Parable of the 10 Virgins–7 Lessons

  doors of opportunity for you. The lesson is simple enough.  Do today what you need to get done and do not put it off any longer.  The Bible never promises a tomorrow.  “You do not know what will happen tomorrow.  For what is your life?  It is even a vapor that appears for a little time and then vanishes away.” (James 4:14 NKJV)  “Behold, now is the accepted time; behold, now is the day of salvation.” (2 Cor. 6:2 NKJV)  When Noah built the ark an…

• Does God Really Care?

  ered ridicule, hatred, continual persecution from his enemies in so far as they were able to do it, was continually judged to be evil, and finally was betrayed, beaten, and murdered without justice.  What a life to live.  Put yourself in his place.  During his lifetime every move he made, every word he spoke, was cast in the worst light possible by his enemies.  As far as they were concerned he could do no good.  How would you like to have people…

• Better to Never Have Been Born–Why?

  the “tough guys” and the rebellious who think they are not going to fear Jesus on that day.  When that day arrives you will know terror, you will know you are no longer in charge, and there will not be a doubt in your mind.  There will be terror on that day like no man has ever experienced in this life. The reality is that we have no English word that can describe the kind of terror those who have disobeyed God all their life and hav…

• Instrumental Music in Christian Worship–Is it God’s Will?

    Do I want as my authority for worship what men gave or what God gave?  They say it doesn’t matter; God doesn’t care.  How can we know this?  I repeat, how can we know this?  How can you be sure?  Do you just know it because your heart tells you so? Jeremiah said, (Jer. 17:9 NKJV), “The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it?”  Again the Lord says, “For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your way…

• The Conscience as a Witness

  in Deut. 8:3 by Moses by inspiration of the Holy Spirit. No, we cannot ignore our conscience.  I do not argue that we can for we cannot.  I only argue that our conscience must be trained by the word of God as found in the New Testament, God’s law for man today, and that we may need to retrain our conscience to bring it into accord with that word.  Saul, who was to become the apostle Paul, had to when he met up with Jesus on the road to Dama…

• The Heart

  The Heart of Man from a Biblical Perspective A Heart Right With God (Test Your Heart) Keep Your Heart With All Diligence The Hardening of the Human Heart God’s Hardening of the Human Heart He Went Away Grieved Healing For the Brokenhearted Audio Sermons (by Waymon Swain) Blessed Are the Pure in Heart (Part I) Blessed Are the Pure in Heart (Part II) Love Motives …

• Must a Man Seek God?

  ng or studying the Bible, with worship, or obedience to God’s specific commandments. Whether they realize it or not this approach to salvation is an attempt to be saved by the works of man–it is an attempt to work your way to heaven based on personal goodness.  It reminds me of Rom. 10:3, “For they being ignorant of God’s righteousness, and seeking to establish their own righteousness, have not submitted to the righteousne…

• The Struggle to be a Spiritually Minded Man or Woman

  t. When God created man he said, “Let us make man in our image, according to our likeness.” (Gen. 1:26 NKJV)  Only man was created in the image of God.  Jesus said of man in John 10:34, “Is it not written in your law, ‘I said, “You are gods.” ‘ ” (NKJV)  I am not going to try and tell you what Jesus meant by that statement other than to say it indicates we are not to live like animals.  We are to be…

• Never Give Up

  us to stay in good standing in our job even if it means sacrificing our Christian life.  It is easy to eventually end up as a Christian drop out. This can happen and it does happen all of the time–the more professional your job, the more responsibility you have, the more of an executive position you hold the tougher it becomes.  Expectations are so great and the kinds of people we often work with are far from having Christian character, ju…

• The Grace of God and the Parable of the Laborers–Is God Just?

  of the laborers found in Matt. 20:1-16 is a perfect example and is also an excellent illustration of how man feels he knows more about what is just and right than God does. The passage is too long to quote here but I will jog your memory and summarize it for you.  A man had a vineyard and needed workers.  He went out to hire workers for his vineyard 5 different times during the course of the day each time sending them directly to work as they wer…

• God’s Willingness to Forgive–King Manasseh

  ance from the depths of the heart each time.  So, we are not keeping count of how many times a particular sin might be committed and God still forgive but we are talking about an attitude that is often found.  Rest assured if your sin breaks your heart and as a Christian you ask God’s forgiveness he is merciful and will forgive.  If you are determined to fight the temptation when confronted again, even though you might fail, God will forgive. The…

• The Kingdom of God and the New Birth–A Matter of Timing

  s. We need to trace the history of the kingdom that was established by Jesus.  When the angel Gabriel appeared to Mary to announce the events about to overtake her here is what he said, “And behold, you will conceive in your womb and bring forth a Son, and shall call His name JESUS. He will be great, and will be called the Son of the Highest; and the Lord God will give Him the throne of His father David. And He will reign over the house of …

• Lessons for the Church from Isaiah (Chapter 1)

  t or will not repent of it.  I would like to have people pray for me as I am sure you would as well if you are a believer but that said I know the prayers of a certain class that might pray for me would all be for naught.  Is your life such that if you had a family member in need of prayer you could pray with hope that the prayer would be accepted by God?  Are you the righteous man or woman whose prayer avails much (James 5:16)? We also need to r…

• Jesus Defines Repentance

  world. The second comment I will make in passing is that the order of the wording does not necessarily imply that the one action preceded the other.  Paul, in Rom. 10:9, puts confession before faith, “that if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised him from the dead, you will be saved.” (NKJV)  Do you think Paul meant to imply that confession is to come before faith?  How would that work?  How coul…

• Fools, Speech, and Christianity

  “But I say to you that everyone who is angry with his brother shall be guilty before the court; and whoever shall say to his brother, ‘Raca,’ shall be guilty before the supreme court; and whoever shall say, ‘You fool,’ shall be guilty enough to go into the fiery hell.  If therefore you are presenting your offering at the altar, and there remember that your brother has something against you, leave your offering there…

• The Peace Found in Forgiveness of Others

  r the day of redemption.” (Eph. 3:30 NKJV)  If a Christian can grieve God how about all those who know the truth of the gospel but will not obey it?  Do you think they grieve God?  If you think the one you will not forgive is your enemy do you think you are God’s friend all the while grieving him?  So we see the one who will not forgive needs forgiving himself. It would be good to hear some scripture on the subject of forgiveness and our great ne…

• Reconciling With a Brother

  “But I say to you that everyone who is angry with his brother shall be guilty before the court; and whoever shall say to his brother, ‘Raca,’ shall be guilty before the supreme court; and whoever shall say, ‘You fool,’ shall be guilty enough to go into the fiery hell.  If therefore you are presenting your offering at the altar, and there remember that your brother has something against you, leave your offering there…

• Finding Truth in Divided Christendom

  of individual opinion is a common thought.  Consequently, it is not unusual to hear sentiments like just as long as you believe in Jesus and are sincere that is all that matters and any church will do, just find the church of your choice. It is easy enough for the sincere seeker after truth to just throw up his/her hands in despair and give up but the Bible makes it clear that truth can be known and that it does matter what one believes and obeys…

• The Joy and the Danger of a Clean Conscience

  steadfast spirit within me.” (Psalms 51:10 NAS) Do you think God did that?  I remind you that the words spoken here were David’s but he spoke under inspiration guided by the Holy Spirit.  So what you may ask? Ask yourself why God wanted this passage recorded in holy writ?  Why did he want it worded the way it was?  For whose benefit was it written? I think Paul answered that question in Rom. 15:4, “For whatever was written in e…

• Moses, the Waters of Marah, and a Lesson for Today

  k in Ex. 3:16-17 before the plagues, before Moses ever entered Egypt after his exile, God told Moses at the burning bush incident to, “Go and gather the elders of Israel together, and say to them, ‘The Lord God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, of Isaac, and of Jacob, appeared to me, saying, ‘I have surely visited you and seen what is done to you in Egypt; and I have said I will bring you up out of the affliction of Egypt to …

• Deeper Spiritual Understanding–How do I Acquire It?

  now the Old Testament scriptures in the sense that they could tell you what they said.  Their problem was one of understanding them and making proper application but that was a result of heart failure. When you have developed your own religion as they had by the time of Jesus, an admixture of truth mixed in with manmade traditions that had the affect of law even to the extent of overriding the law of God (Mark 7:6-13), the heart ceases to be inte…

• Mt. Sinai and the Day of Judgment

  221;  However, while the original language can be technically translated either way the NKJV is correct, it should be voice rather than thunder. How do I know?  Deut. 4:10-13, “Remember the day you stood before the Lord your God at Horeb, when the Lord said to me, ‘Assemble the people to me, that I may let them hear my words so they may learn to fear me all the days they live on the earth, and that they may teach their children.’…

• A Good and Pure Conscience

  A good and pure conscience is essential to a person’s happiness and sense of well-being.  One can never depend on his/her conscience as an infallible guide for that it is not the function of the conscience, not its role, but nevertheless violate your conscience and the end result is a sense of guilt, sorrow, and unhappiness. The conscience is that which is within us that pricks us, perhaps troubles us would be a better way of putting it, w…

• Fear God

  ould lead us to such faithfulness and dedication and I might add to peace and joy.  It is ours for the taking but we must first conquer ourselves. Paul told those who were already Christians at Ephesus to “put off, concerning your former conduct, the old man which grows corrupt according to the deceitful lusts, and be renewed in the spirit of your mind, and that you put on the new man which was created according to God, in righteousness and true …

• The Need to Sing in Worship

  singing.  If it was just a matter of having a bad cold, a sore throat, or something along those lines there would be no problem.  Sometimes we cannot sing. It is not for me to judge you when you do not sing for I do not know your situation but when Sunday after Sunday rolls around and you never sing while physically able to do so there is a problem.  When you never or only very rarely sing there is a problem. What is that problem?  The question …

• Who Gets to Decide–God or the Church?

  .  So you can believe what Jesus said but cannot take it literally.  Please tell me what that means?  Does it mean what he said about Jonah was just a fish story?  How many other fish stories did he tell? You may be saying to yourself this guy is talking crazy.  Hey, I believe the Bible is the actual word of God to be taken literally.  I am not the one in the tight spot.  I am not the one who has questions to answer. If the New Testament is only …

• Christian Wars–A Misnomer

  is not from here.” (John 18:36 NKJV) He told the one who sought to protect him by physical force at the time of his arrest, the one who used his sword and cut off the ear of the servant of the high priest, to “Put your sword in its place, for all who take the sword will perish by the sword.” (Matt. 26:52 NKJV)  And then again, “But I tell you not to resist an evil person. But whoever slaps you on your right cheek, turn the…

• The Church as the Family of God–Things Found in It

  us willingly and gladly should we need it, people who do love us.  One of the saddest things one can experience in life, a gut wrenching experience, is to feel alone, to feel abandoned, to feel you matter to no one.  It rips your heart out and then shreds it to pieces. Many people truly are alone; no one cares enough even to pray for them and the saddest thing is many who are in this condition realize it.  It is not hidden from them and they thu…

• Acceptable Prayer

  , “They have abandoned the Lord, they have despised the Holy One of Israel, they have turned away from Him.” (Isa. 1:4 NASU)  Then he follows up in verse 15 speaking the words of God, “So when you spread out your hands in prayer, I will hide My eyes from you; Yes, even though you multiply prayers, I will not listen.” (Isa. 1:15 NASU) For a person’s prayer to be found acceptable to God one prerequisite is to be a fait…

• Non-Offensive Christianity

  are overly meek and quiet need to put on the Lord’s battle armor and go to war for the time being so they can have peace in a later time, the hereafter.  It is an either/or choice, you either do it or you don’t.  Your future depends on your decision.  Do not delude yourself into thinking there is such a thing as not taking sides and setting on the sidelines for that is Satan’s default position.  That is Satan’s side. &nbs…

• One Church—A Thing Hard to Accept

  221; rather than the phrase “grown dull.”  The Jewish heart had been hardened but it was of their own doing, of their own will.  Man hardens his own heart and we are warned against doing that, “Do not harden your hearts as in the rebellion.” (Heb. 3:15 NKJV)  The Jewish heart was that way because they were happy with their present state of affairs, their present state of being, and hardened against any disruption of what w…

• The Cleansing of the Church at Ephesus

  Many believe the church at Ephesus (the church being the membership) was cleansed from sin by faith based on the teachings of their denomination and the famous Ephesian passage found in chapter 2 verses 8 and 9, “For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; not as a result of works, that no one should boast.” (NAS)  Many, many passages of the New Testament teach that salvation is a matter of …

• The Lord’s Supper as a Part of a Larger Meal–Right or Wrong?

  t time frame take time out and observe the Lord’s Supper. It is said in so many words that all Paul meant when he said to eat and drink in their houses (words to that effect) is to just eat enough at home to knock the top off your hunger so you do not make a hog of yourself when you arrive at the assembly where a meal will be served and eat it all up before others arrive. Believe it if you can. The very verses that are said to prove this prove ju…

• The Prodigal Son–When He Came to Himself

  int in time in his life, totally against it.  Here is a paraphrase of what the preacher/Bible professor told him.  He says words to the effect that I will pray for you that such events (meaning negative things) will come into your life that will open your eyes and heart.  I have thought about that statement for years.  It was a prayer for adversity. I have come to believe the Bible professor was right in making a statement of that kind and offeri…

• The Faith of Enoch

  obey but would obey readily and promptly.  In doing so we would be walking with God and pleasing God as Enoch did.  Much of Christendom is today guilty of disbelief while calling it faith.  Faith is more than just what is in your mind.  The faith that leads to one’s salvation is coupled with obedience and cannot be uncoupled.  You obey because you believe, you disobey because you disbelieve or just do not believe strongly enough to obey. N…

• The Christian, Politics, and the Government

  l deal with them on the last day.  “’Vengeance is mine, I will repay,’ says the Lord.” (Rom. 12:19 NKJV)  As for the Christian God says, “give place to wrath” (Rom. 12:19 NKJV) or as the ESV translates it, “never avenge yourselves, but leave it to the wrath of God.” (Rom. 12:19 ESV) The Bible teaches we ought to pray for those in authority.  “Therefore I exhort first of all that supplications, prayers, intercessions, and giving of thanks be…

• Diotrephes Loves To Have the Preeminence

  es had, the desire to be seen as special among God’s people, to be the man. In Acts 20 Paul calls the elders of the church at Ephesus to meet with him and tells them what the future would bring.  He says, in part, “from among yourselves men will rise up, speaking perverse things, to draw away the disciples after themselves.” (Acts 20:30, NKJV)  Elders in the church desiring power, the praise of men, desiring their very own flock.  Forget about th…

• Looking Down Your Nose

  The expression “looking down your nose” was and is an American idiom used with reference to looking upon someone dishonorably with a degree of contempt.  It is felt that the person so looked upon is beneath the one doing the judging in respect to honor and dignity.  That is the subject of this article. James says: “My brethren, do not hold the faith of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Lord of glory, with partiality.  For if there sho…

• Jesus and the Furnace of Fire

  d molesters, etc., the very worst society has to offer.  It is not a place for the average man or woman is the general thinking. The Bible teaches no such thing.  What it does teach is that it is very possible for you and me, your wife, your husband, your daughter, your son, your mother or dad, your neighbor, your friend, some of the best people you know to end up in what the Bible calls the furnace of fire.  And what people cannot comprehend and…

• What Is Baptism (the Sprinkling Hoax)

  to be found in the fact that by the time the Bible came to be translated into English man had decided on his own initiative that sprinkling would do just as well as immersion.  If you translate the Greek and you are honest in your scholarship you will have to use the word immerse or dip.  If you do that what will that do to your doctrine of sprinkling?  It will destroy it.  That cannot be allowed to happen.  What is the solution?  Don’t tra…

• Jesus the Foundation of and the Builder of the Church

  Lest the reader be misled by the title reading into it what is not there the church that is being talked about in this article may not be the one you are a member of so proceed if at all with caution having been forewarned.  You can judge for yourself after reading.  I begin with Jesus as the foundation of the church. After Jesus’ arrest he was brought before the Jewish council where he was asked, “‘Are you then the Son of God?…

• Israel’s Rebellion at the Red Sea

  The children of Israel that God sent Moses to bring out of Egyptian bondage into the Promised Land were a faithless group almost from the very beginning.  Their rebellion against God began before Mt. Sinai and even before the Red Sea crossing.  The Psalmist said, “Our fathers in Egypt did not understand your wonders; they did not remember the multitude of your mercies, but rebelled by the sea–the Red Sea.” (Psa. 106:7 NKJV)  It…

• Resource Sites

  iscussion on faith and opinion.) The Sonship of Christ  (Be sure and scroll down the page once you get to it.  This is an extremely unique and valuable one of a kind sermon.  It details the relationship of Christ the Son with God the Father like nothing else I have ever read, a late 1800′s sermon by Dr. T. W. Brents.) Short Essays in Biblical Criticism  (Have you ever had to deal with someone who would ridicule or find fault with the Bible …

• Weak, Defiled, and Seared Consciences

  nto violating his conscience which with God is sin.  “He who doubts is condemned if he eats, because his eating is not from faith; and whatever is not from faith is sin.” (Rom. 14:23 NAS)  To do a thing that is in your mind doubtful is to violate your conscience (defile it) and sin.  Your heart was not pure in the act you allowed yourself to do. Why is the one with a weak conscience easily led into defiling his conscience?  Paul indic…

• Regrets

  t.  Not only had he done this great evil it also brought with it great consequences resulting in much harm down the road to others.  Hear the words of Nathan the prophet, “Now therefore the sword shall never depart from your house, because you have despised me and have taken the wife of Uriah the Hittite to be your wife.  Thus says the Lord, ‘Behold, I will raise up evil against you out of your own house.  And I will take your wives b…

• The Faithfulness of Jesus to God the Father

  he himself became subject (willingly) to the Father. The Hebrew writer makes this clear when he says: “But to the son he says: ‘Your throne, O God, is forever and ever; a scepter of righteousness is the scepter of your kingdom.  You have loved righteousness and hated lawlessness; therefore God, your God, has anointed you with the oil of gladness more than your companions.’” (Heb. 1:8-9 NKJV) Jesus who was himself God (read…

• The Army of the Lord–the Church

  who was wrong, over who would be saved and who would not, over the way to heaven.  Too many people today see this as an exceedingly nasty type of fighting that drives people away from Christ they say.  Hey, don’t talk to me.  Your fight would be with Jesus, Paul, Jude, and others. Jesus said, “Do not think that I came to bring peace on earth.  I did not come to bring peace but a sword.  For I have come to ‘set a man against his father, a daughter…

• When did Obedience Become Legalism?

  We seem to be living in a time in the present Christian era where people seem to feel that all that matters in Christianity is love and God’s grace, that obedience is simply legalism, and that people do not have to obey Bible commands for salvation (except, of course, for the command to believe in Jesus as the Savior). Grace is made cheap.  Live as you like, call yourself a Christian, and God’s grace will cover you.  It is said it is what is in …

• Is Church Attendance Essential for Christian Salvation?

  with the saints is a failure to love God, a failure to love Jesus.  Can such a one be saved? Jesus said, “The first of all the commandments is: ‘Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is one.  And you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, and with all your strength.’  This is the first commandment.” (Mark 12:29-30 NKJV) Does one love God who has no desire to go worship him with the other sa…

• What is it a Man Must Believe in Order to be Saved?

  he Day of Judgment.  One must believe that God is. But this passage also teaches it is not enough to just believe God exists but you have to believe he is a rewarder of those who diligently seek him.  You have to believe that your efforts to seek him (learn his will and obey it) will be rewarded provided you do such seeking with diligence.  This eliminates the passive believer from salvation.  God is not a rewarder of the passive believer but of …

• Ashamed of Jesus and His Words

  before men and uphold his honor in that regard than there are people who are willing to accept his words. First of all I want you all to understand that the words of Jesus are not just confined to the words printed in red in your New Testament.  Jesus, in John 16, spoke of the coming of the Holy Spirit and said this, “He will guide you into all the truth; for He will not speak on His own initiative, but whatever He hears, He will speak; an…

• The Need to Preach on Sin

  knew he had to punish sin but made provision to do that through his son Jesus, Jesus suffering for us, even before the world began.  “Knowing that you were not redeemed with corruptible things, like silver or gold, from your aimless conduct received by tradition from your fathers, but with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot.  He indeed was foreordained before the foundation of the world.” (1 Pe…

• Faith and Baptism in Paul’s Preaching

  , and asks of them the question, “Sirs, what must I do to be saved?” (Acts 16:30 NAS)  The entire conversion account follows: “And they said, ‘Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you shall be saved, you and your household.’  And they spoke the word of the Lord to him together with all who were in his house.  And he took them that very hour of the night and washed their wounds, and immediately he was baptized, he and all h…

• How Does One Get Into the Church Christ Built?

  obtain salvation.  There would be nothing he could do about it as it would be entirely in God’s hands.  It does not work that way.  At the close of the first gospel sermon ever preached Peter exhorted the crowd saying, “Save yourselves from this untoward generation.” (Acts 2:40 KJV)  Other more modern translations use the words “be saved” but the thought is the same.  It is up to the individual.  The individual has something to do.  Salvation is…

• Abuse of the Old Testament

  the Hebrew writer has been talking about Moses and Christ and how Christ is superior to Moses and then in verse 7 and 8 says, “Therefore, as the Holy Spirit says:  ‘Today, if you will hear His voice, Do not harden your hearts.” (NKJV)  The day of hearing Moses is over as regards law to be followed.  Hear the voice of Christ which is the voice of God.  Hear it today.  Jesus says, “the word which you hear is not Mine but the…

• Be Faithful to the Lord (The Conversion of Lydia)

  God did the very thing in converting Lydia that he says, through his word, that he does not do and that he condemns in us.  None of us believe that.  Lydia’s heart was opened by God’s word in the same natural way yours and mine is.  For example, all of us have read passages in the Bible that condemns us in something we have done at one time or another resulting in a pang of guilt and sorrow within us.  Is that the Holy Spirit acting …

• Is Holy Spirit Baptism The Baptism That Saves?

  is death?”  By using the word “us” Paul includes himself.  Let us hear Ananias at the time of Paul’s baptism, Acts 22:16, “‘And now why are you waiting? Arise and be baptized, and wash away your sins, calling on the name of the Lord.’”  It sounds to me like the responsibility is on Paul to “arise and be baptized.”  It sounds like it is something Paul can attend to.  He can’t if it …

• Faith, Manna, and Grumbling Against God

  y had had with God that he would provide and care for them.  Did it?  To ask is to answer. One cannot grumble against God and think that God will not hear it (a lesson for us today).  Moses said to them, “The Lord hears your grumblings which you grumble against him.” (Ex. 16:8 NASB)  He hears ours too.  God himself testified, “I have heard the grumblings of the sons of Israel.” (Ex. 16:12 NASB) God decides to provide for t…

• Is Denominational Baptism Scriptural?

  change the meaning of his inspired word or to add to it.  “These things we also speak, not in words which man’s wisdom teaches but which the Holy Spirit teaches.” (1 Cor. 2:13 NKJV) The words baptize, baptism, etc., found in your New Testament were words from the Greek carried over into the English without ever being translated.  We call them transliterated words.  Why were these Greek words never translated?  Because the Greek means to submerge…

• Abraham’s Faith (Faith Accounted for Righteousness)

  th quoting a scripture found in Gen. 15:6, “Abraham believed God, and it was accounted to him for righteousness.” (NKJV)  The context in Gen. 15 is God’s promise to Abraham that “one who will come from your own body shall be your heir” (Gen. 15:4 NKJV) and that his descendants would be as the stars of heaven, impossible to count them for their number (Gen. 15:5).  Abraham believed that and it was “accounted to …

• A New Creation in Christ

  rd and accept his rule over us?  The faith that saves says yes we do and we will die with Jesus in baptism and arise a new creation.  The faith that says “no we will make our own decisions about baptism quite apart from your commands Lord” is the faith that dooms and is the faith held by way too many people today.  If it be said I can be a new creation without baptism then you will have to invent the way for you can search until you d…

• Behold the Judge is Standing at the Door

  of using force of any kind to convert people.  In the Muslim religion that might work but not in the faith God requires as found in the Bible. Where does a man run to in order to get away from God?  “Where can I go from your Spirit?  Or where can I flee from your presence?  If I ascend into heaven, you are there; if I make my bed in hell, behold, you are there.” (Psalms 139:7-8 NKJV)  Jonah tried running away from God but did not get …

• Abortion Luke 1 – All You Need to Know

  iage, homosexual unions, abortion, or whatever, it makes no difference what public opinion polls say the majority believe and are willing to accept–not with God.  God does not care. “‘For My thoughts are not your thoughts, Nor are your ways My ways,’ says the LORD.” (Isa. 55:8 NKJV)  To the sinner in Psalms 50:21 God says, “You thought that I was altogether like you.” (NKJV)  Mistake!  Big Mistake!!  Our …

• The Silence of the Scriptures

  octrine overrides scripture.  Where does one find in scripture the idea of praying to dead saints just as an example?  I have got time.  I can wait but it is certain I will be dead before you find the passage teaching such in your New Testament. When one takes the position Luther took one cannot complain too much, and be consistent, about wild innovations in the church.  If what is not forbidden is permitted then pretty much anything goes.  In se…

• Paul’s Conversion (Justified by Faith)

  hy Ananias was sent to Saul is to read what Jesus and Ananias had to say about it.  Jesus said it was so Saul “might receive his sight.” (Acts 9:12 NKJV)  Ananias said Jesus “has sent me that you may receive your sight and be filled with the Holy Spirit.” (Acts 9:17 NKJV)  The only other comment we have on why Ananias was sent to Saul is found in Acts 9:6 and Acts 22:10 both quoted two paragraphs above.  So what was it tha…

• Why Men Do Not Believe

  osed to the truth in all good conscience but that will not make my error into truth nor will it turn the truth into error.  Jacob believed a lie and was sure Joseph was dead.  His feelings did not make the error truth.  Trust your feelings and you risk your eternal life.  Trust what God’s word says and not your feelings about it.  Trust and obey for that is the way. Yet, I think there is little doubt that in religion today feelings prevail …

• Unhappy With the Church of Christ?

  f the New Testament church was to exist on earth today with a single name, identity, belief, and practice then it would destroy denominationalism which is the very thing denominationalism cannot allow and will not accept.  If your faith and practice in your congregation was identical to that of a New Testament church, say the church in Jerusalem or Antioch of the first century, do not kid yourself into thinking that the denominations would admit …

• Three Benefits of Being a Christian in This Life – Hope, Love, Peace

  is God’s delight (Prov. 15:8 NKJV).  The Lord “hears the prayer of the righteous.” (Prov. 15:29) Paul says, “Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God; and the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.” (Philippians 4:6-7 NKJV) With God there is hope, hope enough to keep …

• Indifference – The Great Destroyer

  ence to me. I just don’t care. My indifference in that matter hurts neither me nor you nor anyone else. However, what if you drive that car we were just talking about while drunk? Would I then be indifferent? Not toward your driving I wouldn’t be. What if you have a child who is indifferent toward school and getting a good education? Would that concern you? Would you be indifferent toward that? Even more so what if you have a son or d…

• Cornelius’ Conversion–Final Thoughts

  ure, preached Jesus to him. Now as they went down the road, they came to some water. And the eunuch said, “See, here is water. What hinders me from being baptized?” Then Philip said, “If you believe with all your heart, you may.” And he answered and said, “I believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God.” So he commanded the chariot to stand still. And both Philip and the eunuch went down into the water, and he b…

• Faith Comes by Hearing the Word of God–the Implications

  psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs to God.  “And do not be drunk with wine, in which is dissipation; but be filled with the Spirit, speaking to one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody in your heart to the Lord.” (Eph. 5:18-19 NKJV)  There is direct word from God on the subject.  My faith on singing comes from hearing God’s word.  It is objective, not subjective.  “So then faith comes by hearing, and hearing …

• Without Natural Affection and Covenant Breakers

  t it omits the word “implacable.” Here is a case where both of these older translations are more accurate than any of the newer ones, more accurate in exactness of the meaning of the original Greek words used (feel free to do your own research). For covenantbreakers (it is one word in the KJ) the ESV has “faithless,” the NAS and the NKJV have “untrustworthy.”  These words are close enough you can see where the modern day t…

• Hypocrites in the Church

  true, he pretends to be what he is not, he is a pretender and deceitful.  Well, what is the opposite of that?  The antonyms for hypocrisy given by the Merriam Webster Dictionary are genuineness and sincerity.  Thus every time your Bible commands honesty and sincerity of heart it condemns hypocrisy. One needs to read no further than Matthew to get Jesus’ take on hypocrisy.  He calls the Pharisees and scribes hypocrites and then says to them,…

• Things God Cannot Do

  ng God cannot be tempted to do. True, there will be problems that enter my life but they will be for my growth and improvement.  “Brethren, count it all joy when you fall into various trials, knowing that the testing of your faith produces patience.  But let patience have its perfect work, that you may be perfect and complete lacking nothing.” (James 1:2-4 NKJV) (4) God, Titus tells us, “cannot lie.” (Titus 1:2 NKJV)  Titu…

• The Sin of Being Unthankful and the Need for Thanksgiving

  to the bone.  It tells us they do not care about us and it hurts.  It is a sin for a person to respond to an act of kindness and love that way. In Luke 6:35 Jesus ties the unthankful with those who are evil.  “But love your enemies, do good, and lend, hoping for nothing in return; and you reward will be great, and you will be sons of the most high.  For he is kind to the unthankful and evil.” (NKJV) He goes on to say in the next vers…

• Religious Titles Forbidden in Christianity

  I recently got into a discussion with a messianic Jew who insisted he had the right to use the title “Rabbi” without any violation of scripture.  I pointed him to Matt. 23:8, “but you, do not be called ‘Rabbi’; for One is your Teacher, the Christ, and you are all brethren” (NKJV) to no avail.  He is not alone for you could point a Catholic priest to Matt. 23:9, “do not call anyone on earth your father; f…

• Demas Has Forsaken Me

  long and hard before we quit.  Quitters not only do not win they lose everything.  We should learn that.  Quitters in the spiritual realm do not come in second or third.  They lose everything. John says, (2 John 8), “Look to yourselves, that we do not lose those things we worked for, but that we may receive a full reward.”  We think it very ill advised and foolish when one drops out of school after having put in years of work and losing and wast…

• Honestly Deceived

  e way and lies to him saying that he too was a prophet (this part being true) but also saying that an angel had spoken to him “by the word of the Lord” (1 Kings 13:18 NKJV) and that the angel said, “bring him back with you to your house, that he may eat bread and drink water” (1 Kings 13:18 NKJV) which was a lie.  The Bible says, “He lied to him.” (1 Kings 13:18) The man of God from Judah, a prophet, was lied to and swallowed the lie as the sayin…

• The Church Christ Built–Marks of Identification

  p his heart from him, how does the love of God abide in him?” (1 John 3:17 NKJV) Much that you see being done in churches today was never a part of the New Testament church.  There were no ball teams, no seminars on how to do your taxes, or lose weight, no business enterprises to raise money versus giving it out of your own pocket, and the list could go on and on.  We need to learn what work the New Testament churches were involved in and get bac…

• What Must a Man Believe to be Saved by the Gospel?

  proved he was who he claimed to be, proved him to be God’s son, meaning he had the power to forgive sins and save man.  His resurrection was essential.  Paul goes so far as to say, “If Christ has not been raised, your faith is worthless.” (1 Cor. 15:17 NAS)  Why would that be true?  Because without the resurrection it would have shown Jesus to be an imposter. Think about it as follows.  If Jesus was lying all the while he was o…

• Things People Do Not Know About the Church

  , are being built up a spiritual house, a holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.” (1 Peter 2:5 NKJV) Paul told Timothy, “I write so that you may know how you ought to conduct yourself in the house of God, which is the church of the living God.” (1 Tim. 3:15 NKJV)  One is either a living stone in that building of God or else he is no part of it at all.  Can one be saved outside it?  To ask is to a…

• Saved by Jesus Outside the Church?

  Christians. Paul, in writing to Timothy, speaks of “the house of God, which is the church of the living God.” (1 Tim. 3:15 NKJV)  He told Timothy he was writing “so that you may know how you ought to conduct yourself in the house of God, which is the church of the living God” (1 Tim. 3:15) thus he expected and knew Timothy to be in that house of God (the church).  And, if you will read the whole book of 1 Timothy you will …

• I Can Do All Things Through Christ

  repented the very first day the gospel of Christ was preached. (Acts 2)   One cannot separate power from God’s word nor can one separate God from his word.  The word has the power it does because it is his word, not mine nor yours.  There is power in that word to create faith and thus change lives as well as give strength to them. When Paul said, “I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me” (Philippians 4:13 NKJV) he was both speaking…

• Anger

  A Treatise on Matt. 5:22-24—Part 1–Anger “But I say to you that everyone who is angry with his brother shall be guilty before the court; and whoever shall say to his brother, ‘Raca,’ shall be guilty before the supreme court; and whoever shall say, ‘You fool,’ shall be guilty enough to go into the fiery hell. If therefore you are presenting your offering at the altar, and there remember that your brother has s…

• What Does the Phrase “My Name” Mean in the Bible?

  20;forget me.”  For another example along the same line see Zech. 13:9. Lev. 19:12 is another example where God says to the children of Israel, “You shall not swear falsely by my name, so as to profane the name of your God; I am the Lord.” (NASU)  To do so would have reflected badly back on God as though God was approving such conduct.  His character was to be kept unblemished.  Don’t use God’s name, for the name rep…

• Christianity and Multiculturalism

  is “the Savior of all men” (1 Tim. 4:10 NKJV), not just the Savior of one nationality, or one language, or one race of people.  In this sense then certainly the gospel is multicultural.  Where you live, what color your skin is, what language you speak, whether or not you are rich or poor, handsome or plain, educated or uneducated, young or old, the way you dress, or what you eat, or the kind of work you do, etc., has nothing at all to…

• How Does the Blood of Jesus and Baptism Tie Together

  6:3)  Paul says if we did that we shall live with him thus the blood of Jesus must be contacted in the waters of baptism.  It is only through his blood that we have life.  Then Paul says in Eph. 5:25-26, “Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ also loved the church and gave Himself for her, that He might sanctify and cleanse her with the washing of water by the word.” (Eph. 5:25-26 NKJV)  Does anyone believe the church Jesus loved …

• For By Grace You Have Been Saved Through Faith Alone

  No, Eph. 2:8-9 does not read that way but that is the way most seem to want to read it.  Let me quote the verses for you from the New King James version. “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.” There is no believer in his right mind who would discount the grace of God in man’s salvation.  You do not believe you deserve to be sav…

• Ways into Christ–How Many Ways Are There?

  d to him on the road to Damascus.  Was he saved?  The Lord sent Ananias to him with a message indicating God did not consider him to be for Ananias says to Paul, “Now why are you waiting?  Arise and be baptized, and wash away your sins.” (Acts 22:16 NKJV)  When a man’s sins are gone, washed away, he is “in Christ.” Paul equates baptism into Christ with putting on Christ.  “For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ.” (Gal….

• They Loved the Praise of Men

  creator.  We live for God, not man. We have been purchased with the blood of Christ (Acts 20:28, Eph. 1:13-14).  We have been bought by him and we are his, he owns us, “For you were bought at a price; therefore glorify God in your body and in your spirit, which are God’s.” (1 Cor. 6:20 NKJV)  We are the sons, the children of God (1 John 3:2), “his own special people.” (1 Peter 2:9, NKJV) The praise of men is vain.  It cannot keep the sorrow out o…

• Can one be Just a Christian in Christ’s Church without being in a Denomination?

  d women are willing to forget just about everything they have been taught in denominationalism and just take the Bible alone as their guide.  If the church Jesus built does not exist as an operating entity upon earth today in your locality, wherever that be, as it did in the first century in the Middle East, there is only one reason for it in lands where the Bible is readily available–men love their denominations and would rather have them …

• The Wicked Shall be Turned into Hell

  eeking to establish their own righteousness, have not submitted to the righteousness of God.” (NKJV)  We will establish our own righteousness and his (God’s) is not needed nor welcomed.  Friends when you get to be your own God, get to where you think you are better than God, you are getting to be what they called in my youth “too big for your britches.” People in America seem to think America is God’s own special peo…

• Spiritual Mirages

  ne so and received from God an answer they were instructed and warned not to go to Egypt. “Then hear now the word of the LORD, O remnant of Judah! Thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel: ‘If you wholly set your faces to enter Egypt, and go to dwell there, then it shall be that the sword which you feared shall overtake you there in the land of Egypt; the famine of which you were afraid shall follow close after you there in Egyp…

• Abel’s Sacrifice by Faith versus Cain’s Sacrifice

  is countenance fell.” (NKJV) It is probably worthwhile to read what followed seemingly immediately afterwards in conversation between God and Cain.  “So the Lord said to Cain, ‘Why are you angry? And why has your countenance fallen?  If you do well, will you not be accepted? And if you do not do well, sin lies at the door. And its desire is for you, but you should rule over it.’” (Gen. 4:6-7 NKJV)  It doesn’t s…

• Bible Contradictions on Salvation?

  York: New American Library, 1950; 1978.) Martin Luther’s doctrine does indeed make Paul and James contradict one another.  That fact alone ought to tell you he was wrong in his theology no matter how sincere.  Any time your doctrine makes the Bible contradict itself this tells you, if you will listen, that your doctrine is in error, that you are wrong in your thinking, and need a new approach to understanding the scripture. In the first pl…

• Who Governs the Church if We Follow the Bible?

  now how to rule his own house, how will he take care of the church of God?” (1 Tim. 3:4-5 NKJV)  In the book of Hebrews we are instructed to “obey those who rule over you, and be submissive, for they watch out for your souls, as those who must give account.” (Heb. 13:17 NKJV)  The elders were to take care of the local church of God of which they were members and from which they had been appointed ruling it in accord with GodR…

• Jesus’ Baptism and You?

  eousness.’  Then he allowed Him.”  (Matt. 3:15 NKJV) Why was Jesus baptized?  To fulfill all righteousness for that is what he says.  What did he mean by that?  The answer is found in Psalms 119:172, “My tongue shall speak of Your word, For all Your commandments are righteousness.”  Jesus was baptized because it was the righteous thing to do for God had commanded it and all of God’s commandments are righteousness. In Matt. 21 Jesus is being confr…

• What Does The Phrase “Born Of Water And The Spirit” Mean? (The New Birth)

  g else.  My question to him would be why but he is not telling in his book. Let us now deal with the passage and make it as simple as it really is.  I begin by saying that it is essential to come to a correct understanding as your and my eternal life both depend on it.  Jesus says if we are not “born of water and the Spirit” we cannot enter into the kingdom of God. I need not tell you that salvation is in God’s kingdom, not outs…

• Canaan and Heaven–How God Gives

  promised land) is said to be a free gift from God it is no more said to be a free gift than was the promised land to the children of Israel in the Old Testament beginning with the original promise to Abraham in Gen. 12:7, “To your descendants I will give this land.” (NKJV) (See also Gen. 13:15, 17) To Moses God said, regarding Abraham’s descendants the children of Israel, “I have also established my covenant with them, to give them the land of Ca…

• Pray For Others Lest You Sin

  for God’s people.  Are we exempt from doing the same?  Are we under no obligation? During Jesus’ ministry he once was asked what the greatest commandment in the law was. (Matt. 22:36)  His response was love for God “with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind” (Matt. 22:37 NKJV) but he then went on to talk about the second greatest commandment which was “love your neighbor as yourself.” (Matt. 22:39 NKJV)  Do we pray for ours…

• Christ the Savior of the Body but Which One–the Matter of Timing?

  but after Christ’s purchase of the church with his own blood (Acts 20:28 NKJV).  That would mean no one at Ephesus, Corinth, Philippi, or any other city mentioned in the New Testament was saved. If you admit the obvious that your denomination is not the church Christ built then troubling questions arise.  Why does it exist? Who built it?  Jesus built his church but the chronology says your church is not his church so who built it?  Did God go ab…

• The Pleasures of Sin

  ppose a man can become a slave to pleasure?  Paul in Titus 3:4 says that in the last days some will be, “lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God.” (NKJV)  Back in Romans he said, “Do you not know that to whom you present yourselves slaves to obey, you are that one’s slaves whom you obey, whether of sin to death, or of obedience to righteousness?” (Rom. 6:16 NKJV)  One can become addicted to a particular pleasure where it becomes an idol repl…

• Christianity, Homosexuality, and Gay Marriage–What Do We Do With the Bible?

  One of the wonderful things about America is that we have gotten to be smarter than God (hope you recognize satire when you read it).  We are now wiser than he is, we know better than he does how to love our fellowman and what is inherently right, and we no longer need his word as any kind of a guide to life.  God if you will just take a seat over here to our left behind us and let us handle this we will take care of it.  Yes, maybe you had it r…

• God’s Plea–On Christ’s Behalf be Reconciled to God

  m. 18:29 NKJV)  When he was told that was not the case, that Absalom was dead, the Bible gives us some of the most heart wrenching words ever uttered by a father. “O my son Absalom—my son, my son Absalom—if only I had died in your place!  O Absalom my son, my son!” (2 Sam. 18:33 NKJV)  The Bible says David, “was deeply moved, and went up to the chamber over the gate, and wept.” (2 Sam. 18:33 NKJV)  You always love your child no matter how deeply …

• Singing and Playing in Christian Worship

  I have learned over time that no matter how familiar you are with a subject given enough time you are bound to hear something you never heard before.  It is a historical fact that instrumental music was never used in Christian worship until well over 600 years after the establishment of the church.  A simple Google search on the topic with the word “history” added will get you all the information your heart could desire. This is a historical fac…

• The Church as the Body of Christ–Which Means What?

  on its face.  How many bodies do you have?  It makes as much sense to ask one as to ask the other.  Besides, even if we were that dull, Paul tells us, “There is one body and one Spirit, just as you were called in one hope of your calling.” (Eph. 4:4 NKJV)  There is an idea held by many that each of the individual denominations is a member of the body of Christ and that taken collectively they make up the church.  Talk about an absolute perversio…

• Misunderstanding the Grace of God

  Sometime back I had an article rejected that I had submitted to an article directory, a site that says it is a Christian article directory.  It was a short article entitled “Receiving the Gospel” which, if you like, you can find on this site and read for yourself.  It was deemed to be unfit for a Christian article directory.  The editor of the directory made it clear to me in an e-mail that he believed man was saved by grace without …

• Faith

  (This is a different article than the John 3:16 article above.) What Must a Man Believe to be Saved by the Gospel of Christ? The Kind of Faith in God That Destroys Faith Based on Deception–Gen. 37:31-33 Faith in the New Testament–Different Meanings How Was Noah Saved Through Water? He Feared Though He Slay Me Why Men Do Not Believe Did Christ Rise From the Dead or is Faith Folly? Audio Sermons  (by Waymon Swain) Faith–What it …

• Three Attitudes That Destroy the Hope of Salvation

  ceeded beyond our desires or expectations in raising a generation of people who have come to feel they need no help, none at all, that they can do it all by themselves as little kids are prone to say.  If you can do it all by yourself then you do not need God in your life do you and that is the problem when we take the attitude of self-sufficiency too far. The Bible gives an account of just such a man–the parable of the rich fool (a landown…

• If Miracles Have Ceased–the Implications

  Have miracles ceased?  They have if we are talking about the kind of miracles performed by Jesus, the apostles, and those possessed of spiritual gifts in New Testament times.  The purpose of those miracles was to confirm that the word spoken was from God himself.  Such confirmation was needed.  Put yourself in the shoes of those living back then.  Here one comes into your midst claiming to speak for God.  Is he delusional, a mad man?  Is he a ch…

• Faith in the New Testament–Different Meanings

  book I have entitled An Expository Dictionary of New Testament Words by W. E. Vine.  This is a standard work, a word definition book quite well known by Bible students.  This book allows you to take the English word found in your King James Bible, look it up in this dictionary, and it will give you the Greek word or words behind the English, and give you the meaning of those Greek words as used in the scriptures in the first century.  When I loo…

• Faith Based On Deception–Gen. 37:31-33

  Gen. 37:31-33, “So they took Joseph’s tunic, killed a kid of the goats, and dipped the tunic in the blood. Then they sent the tunic of many colors, and they brought it to their father and said, ‘We have found this. Do you know whether it is your son’s tunic or not?’ And he recognized it and said, ‘It is my son’s tunic. A wild beast has devoured him. Without doubt Joseph is torn to pieces.’” (…

• Born Again At The Point Of Faith – John 1:12-13

  version experience. Paul most certainly believed when confronted by Jesus himself on the road to Damascus (Acts 22) but when Ananias came to him 3 days later he told Paul to “‘Arise, and be baptized, and wash away your sins, calling on his name.’” (Acts 22:16 NAS)  Do you not find it strikingly strange that a man who believes with his whole heart still has sins 3 days later?  It shouldn’t because Paul was begotten th…

• Praying to God to Bless the Bread–Really?

  ess us by “turning away every one of you from his iniquities.”  The ESV is even plainer for it reads, “God, having raised up his servant, sent him to you first, to bless you by turning every one  of you from your wickedness.”  This blessing came to man by means of the cross and the gospel which if believed and obeyed results in the greatest blessing possible that could be bestowed upon a man—eternal life. We next come to t…

• Peter’s Preaching and the Apostle’s Preaching

  nd this would include Paul when he later became an apostle. This was what Peter preached in his second gospel sermon recorded in Acts 3 as well when he quoted Moses, “For Moses truly said to the fathers, ‘The Lord your God will raise up for you a Prophet like me from your brethren.  Him you shall hear in all things, whatever He says to you.  And it shall come to pass that every soul who will not hear that Prophet shall be utterly dest…

• The Washing of Water by the Word–Baptism and Salvation

  Baptism is essential to salvation but there are many non-believers.  I want to deal with one passage today that teaches this but which is seldom used because the word baptize is not found in the passage.  The phrase used is “washing of water” as found in Eph. 5:25-27. Eph. 5:25-27, “Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ also loved the church and gave himself for it, that he might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water by the word,…

• The Case of Cornelius and the Holy Spirit

  s on the day of Pentecost for the message never changed.  What was preached in one place was preached in every place.  They were the things the angel said Peter would tell them–”tell you words by which you and all your household will be saved.” (Acts 11:14 NKJV)  An essential part of that word that we know Peter spoke was baptism for the text says “he commanded them to be baptized.”  (Acts 10:48 NKJV)  Without preach…

• How Was Noah Saved Through Water?

  en. 6:8 NKJV)  One cannot emphasize too much the teaching of this text.  That said it goes against almost everything that men today have to say about grace.  Grace today, as men see it, means you need do nothing at all toward your own salvation other than believe in Jesus.  If more was required of you that would be, so they reason, salvation by works. How did God show Noah grace?  Was it not by telling him what was going to happen (judgment was t…

• Mary of Bethany–Doing What You Can

  must be continually building a spiritual relationship with God. (3) One must accept the fact that one will be criticized even for doing good on occasion.  I am not saying that will always be the case but it will happen.  Read your New Testament and see how many times Jesus was criticized for doing good.  It would be interesting to add the total up.  Anyone who has ever read the New Testament knows this happened to him time and time and time again…

• Bible Authority, Foot Washing, the Holy Kiss, and Head Coverings?

  m up with no scriptural authority required. It has always been terribly difficult for me to see how one gives glory to God by adding to his word and doing things he has not commanded as acts of worship–a kind of make up your own worship as you go.  Everyone who has ever read the Old Testament knows God had what he wanted in worship and service listed down to the minutest degree and I say that respectfully and do not mean those things were o…

• Are Paul’s Writings as Authoritative as Jesus’ Words?

  as been made. Before Jesus ascended back to heaven he promised to send the Holy Spirit to his apostles.  “But the helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, he will teach you all things, and bring to your remembrance all things that I said to you.” (John 14:26 NKJV)  “I will pray the Father, and he will give you another helper (the Holy Spirit–DS) … even the Spirit of truth.” (John 14:16-17 NKJV) …

• Repentance–How Can I Be Sure?

  orry can be and yet not repent nor be pleasing to God. Paul speaks of another kind of sorrow in the same passage in 2 Cor. 7, a sorrow that leads to repentance.  He says, “Now I rejoice, not that you were made sorry, but that your sorrow led to repentance.  For you were made sorry in a godly manner, that you might suffer loss from us in nothing.” (2 Cor. 7:9 NKJV)  From this we learn that there is a type of sorrow that leads to repentance. In 2 C…

• The Grace of God in Baptism

  nse it with the washing of water by the word.” (Eph. 5:26 NKJV) The washing is done with water. It is baptism. Ananias told Saul, soon to be Paul, “And now why are you waiting? Arise and be baptized, and wash away your sins, calling on the name of the Lord.” (Acts 22:16 NKJV) The washing was done in baptism. The writer of the book of Hebrews encourages Christians in saying, “Let us draw near with a true heart in full assur…

• The Truth So Called Christians Will Not Accept

  . D. when the Roman army took Jerusalem with massive loss of life.  The Bible says that when Jesus drew near to Jerusalem, “He saw the city and wept over it, saying, ‘If you had known, even you, especially in this your day, the things that make for your peace!  But now they are hidden from your eyes.  For days will come upon you when your enemies will build an embankment around you, surround you and close you in on every side, and lev…

• Obedience of Faith and Justification by Faith–Opposing Doctrines?

  lease him, for he who comes to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of those who seek him.” (Heb. 11:6 NAS) Jesus said, in speaking of himself in John 8:24, “unless you believe that I am he, you shall die in your sins.” (NAS)  Jesus again, “he who has disbelieved shall be condemned.” (Mark 16:16 NAS)  We might say disbelieved what?  The gospel message (1 Cor. 15:1-4, Mark 16:15-16), the fact that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of …

• The Sin of Contempt (Verbal Abuse)

  “But I say to you that everyone who is angry with his brother shall be guilty before the court; and whoever shall say to his brother, ‘Raca,’ shall be guilty before the supreme court; and whoever shall say, ‘You fool,’ shall be guilty enough to go into the fiery hell.  If therefore you are presenting your offering at the altar, and there remember that your brother has something against you, leave your offering there…

• The Parable of the Talents–the Sin of Fear

  profit. The spiritual application is that God gives to each of us the ability to take whatever gifts he has given us to work with and use them to go, and do, and prosper in working spiritually in and for his kingdom.  In New Testament times God gave miraculous spiritual gifts which men (and women) were expected to exercise “for the profit of all.” (1 Cor. 12:7 NKJV)  “All” in this verse taken in context is a reference to …

• Faith, Works, and Baptism

  to address that issue in Rom. 6:1 where he says, “What shall we say then?  Shall we continue in sin that grace may abound?” (NKJV)  Remember it is “by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God.” (Eph. 2:8 NKJV) Paul never ever meant to be understood that way (that obedience was optional and made little to no difference) even though it has become, I would venture to surmise, …

• The Kind of Faith in God That Destroys

  the word is used to stand for and represent everything that Christ requires of us (the word “faith” or “believe” used as a synecdoche). It is the kind of faith where if God told you to go out and offer your only begotten son as a sacrifice, as he did Abraham, you would do it.  It is the kind of faith where if you were told to go build an ark for there would be a worldwide flood you would believe it enough to do it.  It is …

• Denominationalism’s Sin Against Peter

  The apostle Peter has taken a beating among denominationalists.  I would feel sorry for him save for the fact that I would be feeling sorry for the wrong party seeing as how he was an inspired apostle of God and his antagonists are but mere flesh and blood men and totally uninspired. It was not always the way it is today.  For at least a few hundred years after his sermon in Acts 2 he was honored by those who proclaimed faith in God and belief i…

• The New Birth and Water

  ry to back up his statement of what the thinking was in the early years of the church.  Do a Google search on the article title given above and unless it has been taken down just recently you can find and read the article for yourself. Because an interpretation is old does not make it right but conversely because an interpretation is new does not make it right either.  Christianity is now about 2,000 years old.  For about 1500 years of that most …

• The Chastening of the Lord

  the child’s point of view? How about a child that wants to run into the road and will not listen until you spank him?  How about forcing a child to go to school as a youngster when tears and fears abound in him and it breaks your heart that you cannot allow him to stay home with you?  Yes, parents often have to do things with and to their children that are unpleasant to both parent and child. Are we not God’s children?  How is it we would think …

• The Fragrance of Christ

  . 30:19, spoke words that are applicable to us today as well.  “I call heaven and earth as witnesses today against you, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing; therefore choose life, that both you and your descendants may live.” (NKJV)  Why not choose Christ?         …

• Waymon Swain’s Audio Sermons

  Characters (1 sermon) Bible Conversions (5 sermons) Christian Living (26 sermons) Faith (7 sermons) Forgiveness (6 sermons) God the Father, Christ, and the Holy Spirit (10 sermons) Grace (3 sermons) New Birth (7 sermons) Old Testament Studies (13 sermons) Prayer (1 sermon) Salvation (26 sermons) Sin (21 sermons) The Church (7 sermons) The Heart (4 sermons) The Kingdom of God (1 sermon) Word of God (5 sermons) Worship (2 sermons) …

• He Feared

  he high priest.  We all remember how confident Peter was in his faith.  He tells the Lord that even if he has to die he will not deny him.  We know the rest of the story. We ought not to be over confident.  Until our faith is tested we can talk all we want.  The proof is in the testing.  Many people fail at this point.  You and I perhaps have also.   We are okay when there are no problems but when things turn against us we begin to doubt God’s lo…

• Is America a Christian Nation—the Sandra Fluke Controversy

  I write this under the date of March 6, 2012.  By now virtually everyone who follows the news at all has heard of Sandra Fluke, the Georgetown University law student, who testified before a portion of Congress recently arguing that birth control pills should be covered by her employer’s health care plan.  She argued that it is just too expensive for students to purchase the pills on their own. As you know the President’s health care …

• Are the New Testament Scriptures Alone a Sufficient Guide to Heaven?

  y as the word was first preached to man after Christ’s resurrection. A little later in Acts 4 upon the release of Peter and John from arrest and imprisonment a prayer is uttered by the disciples.  “Lord … grant to Your servants that with all boldness they may speak Your word, by stretching out Your hand to heal, and that signs and wonders may be done through the name of Your holy Servant Jesus.” (Acts 4: 29-30 NKJV)  Then in ver…

• Christianity–Who Rules Reason or Emotions?

  A man is either led in life by his reason or his emotions and which makes all the difference in the world.  A life ruled by emotions is a life destined for disaster, a life where reason is always found in the back seat where it cannot be heard over the roar of the engine of emotion as it propels an individual down the road of life. When emotions rule your life everything is done on the basis of feelings with minimal thought being given to truth …

• Walk in Truth—the Joy of John the Apostle

  e.  Instead of being ashamed of what had happened and how they were tolerating it Paul says they were instead “puffed up.” (1 Cor. 5:2 NKJV)  The New Living Translation puts it this way, “You are so proud of yourselves, but you should be mourning in sorrow and shame. And you should remove this man from your fellowship.” (1 Cor. 5:2 NLT) That is where I see much of American Christendom today.  It should be in sorrow and sha…

• More on Willful Sin—Can Anyone be Saved?

  ned, we make Him a liar, and His word is not in us.” (1 John 1:10 NKJV) The Christian who sins needs to confess his sins to God after having become penitent.  “Now I rejoice, not that you were made sorry, but that your sorrow led to repentance. For you were made sorry in a godly manner, that you might suffer loss from us in nothing.  For godly sorrow produces repentance leading to salvation, not to be regretted; but the sorrow of the …

• The Book of Ecclesiastes

  211;it is the gift of God.” (Eccl. 3:11-13 NKJV) That is not a depressing message.  It is a joyous message.  It is also a message of how to live one’s life–”do good,” work and enjoy the good from your labor, “it is the gift of God.” “So I perceived that nothing is better than that a man should rejoice in his own works, for that is his heritage.” (Eccl. 3:22 NKJV)  Work and rejoice in your work…

• If Baptism is Not Essential for Salvation

  al for salvation Ananias is proven to be nothing less than an old (?) fool who did not know what he was talking about in Acts 22:16 when he told Saul (who was to become Paul the apostle), “Arise and be baptized, and wash away your sins.” (NKJV)  What sins?  There are none to be washed away if salvation comes at the point of faith.  Surely, after seeing Jesus on the road to Damascus and talking with him Saul was no longer an unbeliever or doubter …

• Whatcha Gonna Do When They Come For You?

  etty certain of this, that even though you may feel helpless you will not just set and mope but you will try and do something to alleviate the situation and to make things more tolerable and less disastrous.  You will give it your best shot and that is what you ought to do. For most people the most fearful thing that is seen coming is death and yet we often fail to make preparation to meet it.  I overheard an older couple awhile back conversing w…

• Must the Christian Keep the Sabbath?

  t how to gather the manna, store it, and use it. “This is what the Lord has said: ‘Tomorrow is a Sabbath rest, a holy Sabbath to the Lord. Bake what you will bake today, and boil what you will boil; and lay up for yourselves all that remains, to be kept until morning.’” (Ex. 16:23 NKJV)  The next day comes, “Then Moses said, ‘Eat that today, for today is a Sabbath to the Lord; today you will not find it in the …

• The Blessing of Affliction and the Goodness of God

  In the book of Psalms 119, verse 71, there is a passage that has come to have personal meaning to me as I have contemplated it over time and made application to the things that have befallen me.  The Psalmist said, “It is good for me that I have been afflicted.” (NKJV)  Earlier in the same chapter the writer had said, “Before I was afflicted I went astray, but now I keep your word.” (Psalms 119:67 NKJV) We all learn very early in life that we wi…

• King Saul–As Long as It Glorifies God

  spired men to rebuke us but we will get by only so long for “all things are naked and open to the eyes of him to whom we must give account.” (Heb. 4:13 NKJV) Samuel said this stubbornness, arrogance, presumption (depending on your translation) was as iniquity and idolatry.  Why would he say that?  The Keil and Delitzsch Commentary on the Old Testament in dealing with this verse makes an excellent point.  I quote, “All conscious disobedience is ac…

• Salvation (Becoming a Christian)

  ce of God When One Obeys the Gospel Things That Happen With Gospel Obedience What if I Miss Heaven? The Three Fold Nature of the Gospel A Crucial Difference No Condemnation Promises God Has Not Made The Seed of the Kingdom Is Your Name Written There? The Doctrine of Eternal Life The Goodness and Severity of God There is No Difference Are You Ready? All Spiritual Blessings Are in Christ Abiding in The Doctrine Making the Right Choices Things God H…

• Repent–How Hard It Is To Do

  f God.  When they are destroyed ceasing to be viewed as commands for our time then who needs to repent?  My point is that what you believe has a great deal to do with whether or not you will repent.  What do you believe about yourself?  What do you believe about the Bible? But, I want to get back to the rulers who would not repent, being unwilling to confess Jesus, as found in John 12:42-43.  Belief was not the problem but the joy of the things o…

• Christian Living

  Up Does God Really Care? Three Benefits of Being a Christian in This Life – Hope, Love, Peace The Struggle to be a Spiritually Minded Man or Woman Fear God Regrets If Miracles Have Ceased–the Implications Work Out Your Own Salvation Behold the Judge is Standing at the Door Looking Down Your Nose He Went Away Grieved Bible Authority, Foot Washing, the Holy Kiss, and Head Coverings King Saul–As Long as it Glorifies God When Did Ob…

• Though He Slay Me

  of Paul’s words in Rom. 8:18, “For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us.” (NKJV)  He is speaking to Christians. Do you ever despair in your life?  I know Paul did at least once.  He said in 2 Cor. 1:8-9, speaking of the trouble he had in Asia, “we were burdened beyond measure, above strength, so that we despaired even of life.  Yes, we had the sentence of d…

• Did Christ Rise From the Dead or is Faith Folly?

  Paul, in answer to the question proposed, would say faith is but folly if Christ did not rise from the dead.  “For if the dead do not rise, then Christ is not risen. And if Christ is not risen, your faith is futile; you are still in your sins!” (1 Cor. 15:16-17 NKJV)  If Christ did not rise from the dead what hope do we have as we grow old and face the inevitable?  Are we but animals? The evolutionist would say yes we are only animals and talk l…

• Which Denomination Did Jesus Build?

  re in denominational churches generally all agree that those in other denominations can and will be saved the same as they will be.  Which means what? It logically follows if you hold to that thinking that you can never admit your denomination is the one church Jesus built.  If you did that it would put all other denominations outside the church thus you have to take the position this woman took.  Jesus is “the Savior of the body” (Ep…

• Assorted

  gs Christianity, Homosexuality, and Gay Marriage When Did Obedience Become Legalism? Healing For the Brokenhearted Better to Have Never Been Born Though He Slay Me The Fragrance of Christ Deeper Spiritual Understanding Things God Cannot Do Without Natural Affection and Covenant Breakers The Christian, Politics, and the Government Why Men Do Not Believe Did Christ Rise From the Dead or is Faith Folly? Denominationalism’s Sin Against Peter Wh…

• Parable of the Tares–No Middle Ground

  nd sowed tares among the wheat and went his way.  But when the grain had sprouted and produced a crop, then the tares also appeared.  So the servants of the owner came and said to him, ‘Sir, did you not sow good seed in your field? How then does it have tares?’  He said to them, ‘An enemy has done this.’ The servants said to him, ‘Do you want us then to go and gather them up?’  But he said, ‘No, lest whil…

• Lincoln’s Tomb and Jesus’ Tomb

  e to see this more clearly as time goes by.  The things that upset us once upon a time no longer matter.  As the Psalmist said in Psalms 90:10 of our life, “it is soon cut off, and we fly away.” (NKJV)  What does it matter if your son or daughter spills the milk, makes a C rather than a B, ends up working as a clerk rather than as a doctor?  These things do not matter.  Life is soon cut off and we fly away. The spiritually mature man or woman is …

• Worship

  The Lord’s Supper as a Part of a Larger Meal–Right or Wrong? Praying to God to Bless the Bread The Need to Sing in Worship Instrumental Music in Christian Worship–Is It God’s Will? Singing and Playing in Christian Worship Confirmation Sunday–No Bibles Required Bible Authority, Foot Washing, the Holy Kiss, and Head Coverings King Saul–As Long as it Glorifies God Audio Sermons (by Waymon Swain) The Lord’s…

• The Mysterious Eloquent Evangelist

  hn.  The writer says, quoting from the original ASV of 1901, “Else would they not have ceased to be offered? because the worshippers, having been once cleansed, would have had no more consciousness of sins.”  When your sins have been forgiven they have been forgiven.  There is no need for a second baptism and so Apollos having been baptized once with John’s baptism did not need to be baptized again. When the church first began i…

• Work Out Your Own Salvation

  t basis. Let me quote the Philippians passage to you so we will have it before us and know what it says. “Therefore, my beloved, as you have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling; for it is God who works in you both to will and to do for his good pleasure.” (Phil. 2:12-13 NKJV) Is this a correct translation of the Greek text?  It is according to the American…

• Confirmation Sunday–No Bibles Required

  ;s or God’s?  A junior high school student could quickly figure the answer to that one out. She says it is a public expression reconfirming the baptism received as an infant.  Book, chapter, and verse?  Don’t hold your breath waiting for scripture.  You will literally die of old age before you ever get scripture for this practice for it does not exist in the word of God. As for infant baptism it is another topic for another day.  If a…

• Ghost Hunting and Consulting the Dead

  is not just a matter of walking through a building and seeing what happens but it always, sooner or later, comes down to an attempt to make contact with the dead and that is where the problem comes in.  Why?  Because of what God has said. “There shall not be found among you anyone who makes his son or his daughter pass through the fire, or one who practices witchcraft, or a soothsayer, or one who interprets omens, or a sorcerer, or one who conju…

• Ignorance Does Not Excuse Sin

  to sin unintentionally in these verses is to sin in ignorance.) God’s nature is such that he cannot bear nor tolerate sin.  The Psalmist said, in prophecy of Jesus, “You love righteousness and hate wickedness; therefore God, your God, has anointed you with the oil of gladness more than your companions.” (Psalm 45:7 NKJV)  Jesus hates wickedness and wickedness is just another name for sin.  God’s people are also to hate evil.  “You who love the L…

• Everlasting Life–The Believer of John 3:16

  ome for visitation and we hear how this man or woman is now in a better place. Jesus never taught even once what such men have assumed.  John 5:24 offers a commentary on John 3:16, as do many other passages throughout the New Testament, concerning who the believer of John 3:16 is.  When Jesus says in John 5:24, “he who hears my word” (and, of course, believes in God the Father) will have everlasting life he is not adding to what is re…

• Why Men Today Cannot Be Saved Like The Thief On The Cross?

  talking to you and me.  The only lessons in the account of the rich young ruler that could be made applicable to us is (1) a man may be very religious but lost and (2) the danger of having a hidden idol in one’s heart. Your salvation and mine does not depend on what Jesus did or did not tell a man living under the Law of Moses some time prior to his own death on the cross.  Our salvation depends on what Jesus says directly to you and me to…

• Are Works Essential for Christian Salvation?

  are works essential for Christian salvation, is easily answered by taking one such passage and doing exactly that.  The passage is Eph. 2:8-9 which reads, “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.” (NKJV)  We read that and immediately answer our question by saying no works are not essential for Christian salvation.  The only problem with …

• Saved by Faith or Saved by Holy Spirit Baptism–Which Is It?

  n a man?  It looks a lot like it.  This was a prevalent doctrine here in the United States in the early 1800′s.  Are we having a revival of it? But, here is a question for the reader–if this is the way it works is your faith strong enough, are you devout enough, (or is it do you work at it hard enough?), to get God to baptize you with the Holy Spirit so you can be saved?  Are you as good as Cornelius was? On the other hand if Corneliu…

• Disobedience to Jesus

  believe. But this brings up a very important point–faith leads to obedience for if a man believes then he obeys.  Let me give an example.  If you are in an office and a voice comes over the intercom telling you to lock your door and take cover an armed terrorist has entered the building what you do will depend on what you believe.  Will you take it as a prank (thinking the person on the intercom is joking and telling you a lie) or will you…

• Peter’s Second Gospel Sermon

  only one issue–what did Peter tell those he preached to on this second preaching occasion that they needed to do in order to be saved?  The answer to that is found in Acts 3:19, “Repent therefore and return, that your sins may be wiped away, in order that times of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord.” (NAS)  The English Standard Version has, “Repent therefore, and turn again, that your sins may be blotted ou…

• Fornication–Take It Lightly at Your Peril

  rers, nor homosexuals, nor sodomites, nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners will inherit the kingdom of God.” (1 Cor. 6:9-10 NKJV) One more passage and then I close.  “Therefore put to death your members which are on the earth:  fornication, uncleanness, passion, evil desire, and covetousness, which is idolatry.  Because of these things the wrath of God is coming upon the sons of disobedience, in which you also …

• The Great Commission and Cornelius

  the word “in” where it says “in the name” should correctly be translated by the word “into?”  That is to say the Greek means “into.”  If you do not believe that check it out for yourself by getting a New American Standard original edition reference Bible and check the side margin, or center column, references out.  If you do not have one here is what you will find, the exact words, “Lit., into…

• God the Father, Christ, and the Holy Spirit

  Does God Really Care? Things God Cannot Do Jesus as the Bread of Life Jesus and the Furnace of Fire Behold the Judge is Standing at the Door The Need to Preach on Sin What Does the Phrase “My Name” Mean in the Bible?   Audio Sermons (by Waymon Swain) Wonderful Jesus Who Is Jesus? Born To Die The Appearance of Jesus All Spiritual Blessings Are in Christ Enemies of Christ The Holy Spirit (Part I) The Holy Spirit (Part II) The Ho…

• Word of God

  Are Paul’s Writings as Authoritative as Jesus’ Words? Are the New Testament Scriptures Alone a Sufficient Guide to Heaven? Finding Truth in Divided Christendom Walk in Truth The Need to Preach on Sin I Can Do All Things Through Christ If Miracles Have Ceased–the Implications Audio Sermons (by Waymon Swain) What a Preacher Must Preach The Power of the Word of God to Change Lives False Standards of Authority What the Word of God…

• Who is the Believer in John 3:16?

  included, as it should.  It clearly teaches, for it clearly states, that the believer in Jesus will have eternal life.  But, unfortunately, this a verse that has been isolated not only from the rest of the teaching of the New Testament but even ripped from its immediate context and thus made to mean what men desire it to mean versus what it teaches when taken in context. Who is this person who will have everlasting life?  Who is this believer?  I…

• The Conversion of the Philippian Jailer

  to do to be saved.  It was just not completely clear to him what those things would be.  In response to the jailer’s question Paul and Silas tell him to “believe in the Lord Jesus, and you shall be saved, you and your household.” (Acts 16:31 NAS)  This was a statement that needed clarification calling for preaching.  What does it mean to “believe in the Lord Jesus”?  The jailer needed to know.  What was to be believ…

• Jesus as the Bread of Life (John 6:48)

  izes strict obedience to keeping God’s commandments and they somehow feel as though to do so is unspiritual.  If that is true what do you do with Jesus?  Has there ever been a stricter legalist if commandment keeping is your definition of being a legalist?  Think a long time about that before answering.  Was Jesus a legalist and unspiritual?  Is that what a man is today if he follows in the footsteps of Jesus trying to obey every commandmen…

• The Kingdom of God

  The Kingdom of God and The New Birth   Audio Sermons (by Waymon Swain) The Seed of the Kingdom …

• Philip Preaching the Gospel in Samaria

  gospel was preached and believed or received it led to people being baptized.  There has to be a reason for that. Is baptism a part of the gospel?  Is it a part of the good news?  It is if it is “for the forgiveness of your sins” as per Acts 2:38.  It is if Peter preached it.  It is if Philip preached it.  It is if these two Holy Spirit inspired men preached it. Only when one receives the word, the gospel, only when one believes it, …

• Christ and Baptism in Colossians

  body of the flesh by the circumcision of Christ; having been buried with him in baptism, in which you were also raised up with him through faith in the working of God, who raised him from the dead.  And when you were dead in your transgressions and the uncircumcision of your flesh, he made you alive together with him, having forgiven us all our transgressions.” (NAS) The passage begins with the phrase “in him.”  In him, in Christ, is life, a new…

• Sin

  Honestly Deceived The Pleasures of Sin Better to Have Never Been Born Jesus and the Furnace of Fire Willful Sin–Can Anyone be Saved? More on Willful Sin–Can Anyone be Saved? Three Attitudes That Destroy the Hope of Salvation Disobedience to Jesus Must a Man Seek God Indifference – The Great Destroyer Looking Down Your Nose Ghost Hunting and Consulting the Dead Christianity, Homosexuality, and Gay Marriage The Wicked Shall be Tu…

• Children of Israel

  Israel’s Rebellion at the Red Sea Moses, the Waters of Marah, and a Lesson for Today Faith, Manna, and Grumbling Against God Sin in the Desert–Testing God at Massah and Meribah Mt. Sinai and the Day of Judgment Canaan and Heaven–How God Gives The Chastening of the Lord …

• Gospel Obedience at Corinth

  Philippian jailer–in which in both instances those being converted were baptized.  Paul himself, in his conversion, was baptized.  You may recall the words of Ananias to him, “arise, and be baptized, and wash away your sins.” (Acts 22:16 NAS)  I might add that it is hard to wash away your sins if you do not have any so evidently Ananias felt pretty sure that Paul still had some that needed to be taken care of.  Many modern day p…

• Was Cornelius Saved Before Baptism? (Cornelius’ Conversion)

  he same subject.  Why do so?  Because there is absolutely no possibility that Holy Spirit inspired men, some apostles, could have gotten it wrong.  The case of Cornelius is unique in the respect that he appears to have been a godly man even prior to his conversion.  In Acts 10:2 the Bible says of him that he was “a devout man, and one who feared God with all his household, and gave many alms to the Jewish people, and prayed to God continual…

• Christ Did Not Send Paul to Baptize

  of Paul than anyone else in becoming a Christian?  The command to Paul by Ananias, a man sent directly by the Lord himself (see Acts 9:10-16) to Paul (at that time called Saul), was “arise and be baptized, and wash away your sins.” (Acts 22:16 NKJV) Most today, if they were to be consistent in what they teach, would have to tell you that Ananias was mistaken and could not possibly have meant what he said about Paul having sins to be w…

• Grace

  Misunderstanding the Grace of God For by Grace You Have Been Saved by Faith Alone The Grace of God and the Parable of the Laborers How Was Noah Saved Through Water   Audio Sermons (by Waymon Swain) How God’s Grace Works The Gospel of the Grace of God Noah Found Grace …

• Old Testament Studies

  Abuse of the Old Testament The Book of Ecclesiastes King Saul–As Long as it Glorifies God Canaan and Heaven–How God Gives Must the Christian Keep the Sabbath? Spiritual Mirages  (a lesson from Jeremiah) Audio Sermons (by Waymon Swain) Moses–The Fork in the Road When Your Walking Stick Comes Home The Valley of Dry Bones The Weaver’s Shuttle Remove Not the Ancient Landmarks On to Canaan But He Lingered The Day of Decision …

• Baptism

  Baptism has been a hot topic down through the ages–who should be baptized, why, for what purpose, are there any prerequisites, what is accomplished in it, does it matter, is it essential for salvation or have anything at all to do with it, what is baptism (is it sprinkling, pouring, immersion, or take your choice?).  So many questions but are there no answers?  Was God such a poor communicator that he could not make the subject clear?  Wha…

• The Church

  Things People Do Not Know About the Church How Does One Get Into the Church Christ Built? Saved by Jesus Outside the Church Jesus the Foundation of and Builder of the Church One Church–A Thing Hard to Accept Which Denomination Did Jesus Build? The Church as the Family of God–Things Found in It The Church Christ Built–Marks of Identification Can One be Just a Christian in Christ’s Church Without being in a Denomination? Ch…

• DennySmith.Net

  creative common license found at http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/  Please follow the guidelines there given and please attribute the article to me, its author, rather than to take it, delete my name, and put your name on it.  Not only is that theft but when an occasional reader comes along and finds the exact same article in two different places with two different author names on it that reader wonders who is the liar and it dim…

• Receiving the Gospel (Acts 2:41)

  one who does not believe that baptism is essential for remission of sins can choose his poison here.  What had Peter preached?  “Repent, and let each of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins ….” (Acts 2:38 NAS)  Will one “believe” what Peter said as per the New Living Translation, or will he “welcome Peter’s message” as per the International Standard Version, o…

• Baptized For the Dead

  ns. But, many will object to the last point.  Remember who established the church at Corinth–Paul.  He is the one doing the preaching.  He is the one Ananias told, in Acts 22:16, to “Arise and be baptized, and wash away your sins, calling on the name of the Lord.” (Acts 22:16 NKJV)  Is Paul who had to be baptized to wash away his sins going to then turn around and tell the Corinthians, “yes, I had to but you don’t?”  Why are man…

• Willful Sin–Can Anyone Be Saved?

  The text for this article is Heb. 10:26-27, “For if we sin willfully after we have received the knowledge of the truth, there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins.  But a certain fearful expectation of judgment, and fiery indignation which will devour the adversaries.” (NKJV) These verses have probably caused Christians about as much anguish as any you will find in the pages of the New Testament.  Make no mistake about it the verse…

• New Birth

  Born Again at the Point of Faith – John 1:12-13 Paul’s Conversion (Justified by Faith) What Does the Phrase “Born of Water and the Spirit” Mean? The Kingdom of God and The New Birth The New Birth and Water A New Creation in Christ The Truth So Called Christians Will Not Accept   Audio Sermons (by Waymon Swain) Born Again When One Obeys the Gospel Things That Happen With Gospel Obedience Why I Am a Christian Keeping…

• Preaching Jesus Means Preaching Baptism–The Conversion of the Ethiopian Eunuch

  said on the Day of Pentecost baptism is for the remission of sins (Acts 2:38) without which one cannot be saved. When Philip preached in the city of Samaria the Bible says he preached “the good news about the kingdom of God and the name of Jesus Christ” (Acts 8:12 NAS) with the result being that men and women “were being baptized” (Acts 8:12 NAS).  Here in Acts 8:35-36 he has an audience of only one man and in a different …

• Repentance

  Jesus Defines Repentance Repentance–How Can I Be Sure? Repent–How Hard It Is To Do Peter’s Second Gospel Sermon Willful Sin–Can Anyone be Saved? More on Willful Sin–Can Anyone be Saved? The Chastening of the Lord The Blessing of Affliction and the Goodness of God …

• The Two Covenants

  The Kingdom of God and The New Birth Abuse of the Old Testament Must the Christian Keep the Sabbath? …

• Forgiveness

  God’s Willingness to Forgive–King Manasseh Willful Sin–Can Anyone be Saved? More on Willful Sin–Can Anyone be Saved? The Need to Preach on Sin The Peace Found in the Forgiveness of Others Audio Sermons (by Waymon Swain) Forgiveness Contacting the Blood of Salvation No Condemnation Is Your Name Written There? The Goodness and Severity of God Are You Ready? …

• Bible Conversions

  sion of Lydia The Conversion of the Philippian Jailer Gospel Obedience at Corinth   Audio Sermons  (by Waymon Swain) The Ethiopian Eunuch The Conversion of Saul Philip Preaches the Gospel The Seed of the Kingdom Promises God Has Not Made …

• Bible Characters

  Mary of Bethany–Doing What You Can Demas Has Forsaken Me Diotrephes Loves to Have the Preeminence The Mysterious Eloquent Evangelist Never Give Up (Moses and David) Regrets He Feared (Peter) Honestly Deceived (the young prophet and Eve) He Went Away Grieved (the rich young ruler) King Saul–As Long as it Glorifies God They Loved the Praise of Men Audio Sermons (by Waymon Swain) Moses–The Fork in the Road …