The Beginning of a New Church and the Place of Discipleship In That
When you arrive into a town or city as a missionary, let’s assume it’s just you. You don’t have anyone else. You start with evangelism. You start with preaching the gospel. You really don’t know that anyone will be saved, but that’s how you start if you are a missionary. A church is built on […]
The Circularity and Wholeness of the Beatitudes As a New Covenant Corollary to God’s Law
Part One God is One and His Law Is One. One could say the Old Covenant is One. The New Covenant doesn’t differ than the Old Covenant. It is a corollary to it, so in the same way the Law is circular and whole, the Beatitudes of Jesus are. The New Covenant assumes that man […]
There is no balm in Gilead to heal the sin sick soul
The famous hymn “There is a Balm in Gilead” begins: There is a balm in Gilead To make the wounded whole There is a balm in Gilead To heal the sin-sick soul … The song is based on Jeremiah 8:22: Jer. 8:22 Is there no balm in Gilead; is there no physician there? why then […]
The Circularity and Wholeness of the Ten Commandments and, Hence, God’s Law
God is one, so His Word is one and His Law is one. It can explain James 2:10: For whosoever shall keep the whole law, and yet offend in one point, he is guilty of all. James says offend one point in the law, offend the whole law. It’s like being controlled by the Holy […]
The Place of Fear in a True Church and With True Worship
I’ve read recently, “Fear is not a virtue.” A company called, American Virtue Clothing prints “Fear Is Not a Virtue” on its clothing. Heather Delapi argues that “fear” isn’t found in the lists of virtues of scripture, hence is not a virtue. The English word “fear” is found 385 times in the King James Version of the […]
What Is Worldly Worship?
At least twenty years ago, from scripture I came to the following as a definition of worship. It is my definition, but I believe it reflects what the Bible says. “Worship is acknowledging or recognizing God for Who He is according to His Word and giving Him what He says that He wants.” If I […]
The Love of an Unsaved or Unconverted Person: What Is It?
Going door-to-door this last week — I’ve started that in earnest again with the change in weather — I went to a door that was wide open at an upstairs apartment. I could see the two twenty-something men, who were inside, and as I started to talk to them, one of them said, “No thank […]
No Divorce–Just Legal Separation!
Scripture plainly teaches that God hates divorce, e. g. Mark 10:11-12: And he saith unto them, Whosoever shall put away his wife, and marry another, committeth adultery against her. And if a woman shall put away her husband, and be married to another, she committeth adultery. But what about “legal separation”? Can a believer justify […]
Psalm 106: Becoming Your Worship
Reading Psalm 106 this week, a psalm accounting the history of Israel, I came to verses 19-20: 19 They made a calf in Horeb, and worshipped the molten image. 20 Thus they changed their glory into the similitude of an ox that eateth grass. Man was made in the image of God. Since he is […]
Evangelical Psalms of David
Part One In an earlier post, I pointed to psalms that served the cause of evangelism from the Old Testament. Even as I wrote that piece, I knew there were more. Two circumstances coincide in my life: one, my reading through the Bible twice this year, so that I’m in the psalms now, and two, […]