In the New Testament you won’t find the term “church membership” anywhere. That doesn’t mean it’s not there though. It’s kind of like “Trinity.” Some words you don’t see in Scripture. It’s the same picture when it comes to membership, what it means to be a committed part of a body of Christ, a local […]
In the last article we saw that the idea of covenant is biblical and we also saw that throughout church history covenant between believers of a local church was commonly practiced. In this article I would like to look at the biblical source of church covenant. Because of the new covenant we are members of […]
A covenant is generally defined as “a written agreement or promise usually under seal between two or more parties especially for the performance of some action.” (Merriam-Webster’s Collegiate Dictionary) Within the Scriptures, we find a number of examples of covenants, some between God and man (Genesis 6; Genesis 9; Genesis 15; Ezekiel 20; Hosea 2; Jeremiah 31; Matthew 26), while others […]
My life is filled with interruptions, inconveniences, frustrations, and unexpected events. Things break. Accidents happen. The phone rings. Just when we don’t need another added expense, something breaks. Unexpected illnesses change my carefully crafted plans. I could go on and on. You probably could too. Though these interruptions are unexpected and catch me off guard, […]
We saw previously in the Word that the source of power is the Holy Spirit. Now we will consider how this power is manifested in the Christian life. Moody titles this chapter “Power in Operation”. He says, “Power in operation is the action of the Spirit, or the fruit of the Spirit.” (Galatians 5:22-23) Moody […]
1 Corinthians 4:20 says, “For the kingdom of God does not consist in talk but in power.” What is that power? Where does it come from? Can we live in a way that hinders this power? Are there different ways we experience this power? What does it look like to live in this power? Likely […]
Over the past few weeks in our study of 1 Corinthians there have been a couple of verses and topics that could almost seem contradictory if we don’t understand the idea of future grace. In 1 Corinthians 3:21-23 Paul says, “So let no one boast in men. For all things are yours, whether Paul or […]
Imagine being one of the 12 disciples. You’ve surrendered your life to Jesus, He said “Follow Me” and you dropped everything and followed, you listened and watched Him teach in the temple and on hillsides, and went to Him for His instruction every day for more than three years. Now imagine that the very Messiah […]
As I’ve been reading through the gospels I’ve noticed that it would be easy to view the disciples as ignorant of many of the things Jesus was trying to teach. They didn’t understand that He had to die. They didn’t understand that His kingdom was not of this world. They didn’t understand the parables He […]
“In this the love of God was made manifest among us, that God sent his only Son into the world, so that we might live through him. In this is love, not that we have loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins.” (1 John […]