“It is wrong, but is it a salvation issue!” What about failure to pray regularly (I Thes 5:17), or to contribute to the church each Sunday (I Cor 16:1-2), or to attend the Christian assembly on the Lord’s day (Heb 10:25), or to add mechanical music or rhythmic clapping to singing praises (Eph 5:19)? Is
God’s power works through man to do His work “Moses stretched out his hand over the sea … the sea became dry land and the waters were divided” (Ex 14:21). Man can become the tool of God to accomplish His purpose. “It is God which works in you” (Phil 2:13). He sent forth the gospel to
When sinful man comes back to God, God grants His favor anew. “All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God” (Rom 3:23). The pay man gets for his sin is eternal punishment and separation from God: “The wages of sin is death” (Rom 6:23). When we were born, our pure spirit came
God instructs about behavior of older men, older women, younger women and also instructions are given to the young men. In his letter to young evangelist Titus, Paul writes: “Encourage the young men to be self-controlled … set an example by doing what is good … in your teaching show integrity, seriousness of speech, so
Paul wrote a letter that caused sorrow, but he said he did not regret what he had done. “I do not regret it … I see that my letter hurt you, but only for a little while. Yet now I am happy, not because you were made sorry, but because your sorrow led you to
“Membership” is spoken of in Acts 2:47: “The Lord added to the church daily such as should be saved.” The church in Jerusalem began when about 3,000 were “added” by the Lord. “They continued together in the apostles’ doctrine and fellowship, in breaking of bread and prayers” (vs 41f). This act of adding Christians together
John Calvin (1509-1564) was one of the most influential teachers in the history of Christianity and was founder of the Presbyterian church. Over 50 million people regard themselves Calvinist (example: Baptists). It is based on five false doctrines (“TULIP”): 1. TOTAL HEREDITARY DEPRAVITY. Every child is born guilty of inherited sin, totally corrupt spiritually and
Chapter 1: JONAH RUNS FROM GOD. He escaped from his assigned duty by going in the opposite direction. He slept in a storm at sea, the only preacher on record who admitted: “I am your problem, so get rid of me!” The mariners prayed (not to their gods, but to Jehovah). It seems he converted
Acts chapter two records the first conversions to Christ after His resurrection. Jesus earlier prayed for himself, his apostles and all believers (John 17), then his suffering and death followed as he had predicted, saying that “repentance and forgiveness of sins” would be preached to all nations beginning in Jerusalem (Lk 24:46-48). All arrows point
Jesus did not surround himself with spiritual people. He always welcomed common people, outcasts and notorious sinners. A particular scandal arose from his association with tax collectors Zachaeus and Matthew (Lk19:1-9). He outraged religious leaders when he reached out to such people. He even ate with them and sat at their tables. The spiritually elite
