Ultimately, we know that God has all things under control. The powers that be are ordained by God. They have no power except what God gave them. Even people like Judas, Pontius Pilate, and Caiaphas have a purpose in God’s overall plan. God can use the evil activities of wicked people to fulfill his purposes. Read More ...
On Resurrection Sunday, we gladly affirm with Thomas that Jesus is both our Lord and our God. We believe that Jesus rose from the dead and that he gives eternal life to those who trust in him. We can experience resurrection from spiritual death because of the death and resurrection of Jesus. His resurrection guarantees the resurrection of every believer. Read More ...
The church should be a place of warm personal relationships and close friendships. We should be abundant in our expressions of love, unity, and friendship. Read More ...
Christianity is a received faith. We don’t change it or update it. There is nothing new or improved in the Christian faith. We retain what we were taught, especially when we have learned them from faithful believers. Read More ...
If the evidences of salvation are present, then you can be assured of your salvation. If the evidences of salvation are lacking or questionable—especially if you are guilty of the sins he mentions in this context—then you may be disqualified—a reprobate, one who fails the test. Read More ...
Imagine if Paul wrote us a letter in which he stated his plans to come and visit us. I wonder what we would need to clean up in preparation for his visit. What problems would we want to resolve before he got here? Are there any sins of the spirit or of the flesh that we would need to repent of? Now is the time to repent. Read More ...
Following Paul’s pattern here, we must continue to serve God by serving others, even when they are unloving, disloyal, and unappreciative. We continue serving even when we have to spend our own resources, even when we feel spent in the process. We can do that because, ultimately, we are serving God by serving such people. Our highest goal is to serve God, and sometimes that requires serving others who are not so nice. But we persevere, we continue to serve because we love the souls of men. Read More ...
I recently read an article that reflects the passage we are looking at today. The author, a former pastor wrote: When we presented some changes [to the church by-laws] that…
Maybe God will remove our thorns in the flesh; I hope he does. But if not, God’s grace is available for us as we experience afflictions and infirmities. Many of us have thorns in the flesh that we deal with. I trust that our testimony is the same as Paul’s—we’ve found that God’s grace is sufficient; we remain spiritually strong even when physically weak and afflicted. We keep on serving God in spite of our thorns and weaknesses because of God’s grace and strength. Read More ...