Acts 2 is a marvelous chapter in the Bible. Here is recorded the first Gospel sermon after the resurrection of Christ. Peter, one of the spokesmen, preached the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus. So convincing were his Holy Spirit inspired words that the multitudes were compelled to cry out, “What shall we do?” Peter told them in plain, simple and understandable language what they must do. About three thousand believed and obeyed the commands that Peter gave. But, what about the rest of those in that great audience? What do you think of them? They heard the same message, but did not respond in a positive way. Why? Don’t you wish you knew what they were thinking? I do! However, the only thing that we are told, and that by implication, is that they did not gladly receive the Holy Spirit inspired words of Peter. Did they have other interests, another agenda? Whatever it was, they did not obey the commands stated by Peter, and thus, were not saved. Neither were they added to the Lord’s church.     That same message is there for all today. Have you gladly received and obeyed it, or are you like those others on that day, still in your sins? Do you really want to be like “them?”

In Psalm 122:1 David said, “I was glad when they said to me, ‘Let us go into the house of the Lord.’” The house of the Lord in David’s day was the Tabernacle. It would be Solomon’s responsibility to build the Temple where God would put His presence. It is interesting to me that there was only one Tabernacle, and later on, one Temple. I know of no one who would claim that there were many tabernacles or many temples where one could go to the one of his choice.     In Isaiah chapter 2, the prophet speaks of a time when the Lord’s house would be established. In 1 Timothy 3:15, we learn that the house of God is “the church of the living God.” Isaiah did not speak of the “houses” of the Lord. Neither did Paul say that the “houses” of God are the “churches” of the living God. Jesus stated in Matthew 16:18, “…I will build my church…,” not “churches.”     Did any Israelite ever talk about “going to the temple of your choice?” Why then, since Jesus, Paul and others spoke of the one body, one church and one house, do we hear some today talk about “going to the church of your choice?” It is God who gives the choice, and He only gave one church, thus one choice. The attitude of “many churches” is of man, not of God.

These were difficult days. By swearing and lying, killing and stealing and committing adultery, they broke all restraint. Bloodshed was followed with more bloodshed. The land itself mourned, and everyone living there languished. What horrible conditions in which to live! The source of these troubles, however, was easy enough to diagnose. There was no knowledge of God in the land, of His will, of truth, mercy and justice. While there was much external religious activity, it was based on human emotions, not the revealed will of God. Everyone’s image of God was based on their own desires, not on God’s revelation of Himself in Scripture, His revealed truth. The result was Hosea’s cry that, “My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge” (Hosea 4:6).     The above description, while written almost 2,700 years ago, would well fit our day and age. While there is a lot of talk about God, Jesus and spirituality, there is little time spent in the only source available that reveals them clearly and authoritatively, the Bible. Emotions and feelings take priority and God must conform to these. Actually, it must be the other way around. Our knowledge and understanding of God must grab our attention, focus our emotions and motivate our actions. Paul spoke of the Jews of his day …“I bear them witness that they have a zeal for God, but not according to knowledge. For, being ignorant of the righteousness that comes from God, and seeking to establish their own, they did not …

It is with amazement that some might call arrogance with which this author views many naïve, misdirected calls to “do the loving thing” in religious matters. Call it what opponents may, any “loving thing” needs biblical definition.     Consider examples of misguided pleas:     1) If men differ on how to be saved, “do the loving thing” and do not challenge views. Let all believe what they will, and let God sort it out in the end.     2) If people are engaged in what one sees as sin, but they seem happy, “the loving thing” is to just live and let live. They’ll answer to God for it, and no one on earth is their judge.     Consider, now, biblical responses:     1) If the Bible speaks on the plan of salvation, students of the Bible have the responsibility to rightly understand it (2 Timothy 2:15) and teach it (2 Timothy 2:2). The loving thing is to gently and to humbly (2 Timothy 2:24-25) confront error in the hopes that truth will be understood and heeded (John 8:32; 1 Timothy 2:4).     2) “Brethren, if any man is overtaken in a trespass, you who are spiritual restore such a one in a spirit of gentleness, considering yourself lest you also be tempted. Bear one another’s burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ” (Galatians 6:1-2). What more need be said?     Granted, the truly loving thing will carry with it some the air of judgmental pomposity. Paul sharply rebuked the Galatian church …

Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary defines “persevere” as “to persist in a state, enterprise, or undertaking in spite of counterinfluences, opposition, or discouragement.” Perseverance is a “key word” in the Christian’s life because without it one will surely digress into unfaithfulness and ultimately be rejected and burned as the chaff when it has been separated from the good grain (Luke 3:17).     God has neither deceived us by telling us that living a faithful Christian life will be easy, nor has he told us we may win the incorruptible crown of eternal life by charting our own courses (Jeremiah 10:23), or by seeking the downhill path of least resistance. Rather, our Father has revealed how we are engaged in a life and death struggle where our adversary, the devil, wants to separate us from the Shepherd and Bishop of our souls (1 Peter 2:25). Like Peter, Satan wants to sift us as wheat (Luke 22:31). Like a lion, Satan’s heart is definitively set on tearing us “to shreds” in destruction (1 Peter 5:8).     The great news is, however, you and I can escape “the tempter’s charm” and we can overcome in this spiritual warfare because “God is faithful.” In addition to “delivering us out of the kingdom of darkness” (Colossians 1:13), he has given us “access into his grace” (Romans 5:2), along with everything pertaining to “life and godliness” (2 Peter 1:3). Our Lord’s apostle, Paul, writes, “There hath no temptation taken you but such as is common to man: but God …

In our Lord’s famed address on a mountain near the Sea of Galilee, He powerfully taught the multitude of individuals who had gathered around regarding an array of spiritual principles that were to guide His disciples in their daily lives. In the beginning of the discourse, Jesus delivers what is commonly referred to as the “beatitudes” (Matthew 5:3-12). Within this portion of Scripture, Jesus pronounced incomparable blessings to befall us when we possess certain qualities of spirit and behave in a way that is worthy of the kingdom of heaven. If you and I are judicious, we will consciously pursue the cultivating of these attitudes that we may be in complete alignment with Jesus Christ and continually grow in His favor.     May you and I never forget that we are daily to reflect the unity that we share with God by manifesting a spiritual like–mindedness. It is imperative we hold and highly esteem the same spiritual values as our Father, His Son and the Holy Spirit.     May we carefully consider a couple of Jesus’ affirmations from the text: First, “Blessed are the merciful: for they shall obtain mercy” (verse 7). Second, “Blessed are the peacemakers: for they shall be called the children of God” (verse 9). Do we agree with Jesus here?     God is “rich in mercy” (Ephesians 2:4), and he calls upon you and me to follow His example in extending mercy to others (cf. Matthew 23:23). God’s will and power unite those who are truth-seeking and truth-loving. …

Editor, Voice of Truth International & foreign evangelist for 45 years      All people have enemies. Even though Jesus Christ lived a sinless life, He had enemies. Not only did He have enemies, but they were religious enemies—men who hated Him because He was righteous and because He taught that all must be righteous in order to be acceptable to God. The end result was that He was finally crucified on the cross. The Romans—the secular government—crucified Him, but His religious enemies were the ones actually responsible for His death.     We also have enemies. We who have obeyed the Gospel and are members of the Lord’s family are surrounded by people who oppose us. We are trying to live the Christian life so we can go to heaven, but still there are those who resent us, find fault with us and work against us. The world offers all of its temptations, trying to lead us away from the Lord. Unbelief, humanism and materialism are tools of evil being used to destroy us, while the misplaced zeal of false religious bodies and false religious leaders is set in opposition to Christ and to us because we follow Him. And, always, there is Satan, our archenemy, with his host of followers, working to see our souls condemned in hell. Peter warns, “Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour.” (l Peter 5:8).     So how do we deal with our enemies? …

Jesus said in John 8:32, “Ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.” There seems to be an increasing number of influential and scholarly brethren who are teaching, “You do not have to know the truth to be made free.” Their reasoning goes like this, if I understand it properly: “No one knows all the truth. So if one had to know all the truth to be made free from sin, no one could be free from sin. For example, when we were baptized, none of us knew all the blessings that God promised His children. He could, therefore, believe all sorts of error, such as that he was saved by faith only, and still he would be made free from sin as long as he was baptized with the notion, attitude or opinion that his baptism under those circumstances was obedience to God and would please Him.” I suggest it would be more fitting for those philosophers to give an exegesis of John 8:32 and tell exactly what truth a person has to know to be free from what thing or things rather than simply to deny the truth Jesus spoke.     Of course, a person does not have to know all the truth about oak trees in order to be free from wrong ideas about how to raise peanuts. Nor does one have to know all the truth about everything God revealed in order to be saved. It has often been pointed out that those on Pentecost, …

 I often write about the view from the deck in the back of our house. I love to see it on a clear night when all of the stars can be clearly seen, and constellations identified. That just can’t be done in the city. I also love to see it as the dusk falls over the eastern sky, and the sun sets on the other side of the house. But, probably my favorite time to gaze into the eastern sky is during the dawning of the day. On a clear night, I can see that star I am always talking about. This morning, however, a particular thought struck me.     I opened the door and stepped out on the deck. The view over those South Alabama rolling hills to the east of our home was absolutely breathtaking. I have often written and spoken publicly about the awe-inspiring beauty that is as if God has taken His finger and painted the brightest of colors on the eastern sky. The deep purples and the radiant reds are splashed magnificently against the blues of the sky that grow from the darkest of blues to the bright blue of the daytime sky. I will never get tired of seeing this marvelous example of the heavens declaring the glory of God, and the firmament showing his handiwork.     But, as I enjoyed the ethereal pleasure of the moment this morning, a thought struck me. While the beauty of the sky on a clear morning is still marvelous, …

From our twenty-first century perspective, Christian love is a sensate quality. It is something experiential; it is something that we feel internally. Love is a warm, affectionate, reciprocal bond that is shared by brethren.     When the apostle Paul petitioned God on behalf of the Philippian saints, he said, “And this I pray, that your love may abound still more and more in knowledge and discernment” (Philippians 1:9). Did you catch that? “…that your love [Greek, agape] may abound…in knowledge and discernment.” Arthur Pink, in his work, Gleaning from Paul, made the following observation about his passage: “The apostle longed that their love might be so informed and their understanding so guided by spiritual judgment and sense that on all occasions they would be able to distinguish between truth and error in doctrine” (p. 209).     His point merits our attention. The modern concept of love, in at least some segments of the church today, is more of an emotional sentimentality (cf. Romans 10:2), as opposed to the informed, judicial agape that Paul desired for his brethren in Philippi.1 For many, love is an unconditional, familial acceptance that overlooks, and even ignores, objective truth. In fact, it is frequently viewed as an acceptable substitute for soundness of doctrine (cf. 1 Timothy 1:10; 2 Timothy 1:13; 4:3; Titus 1:9, 13; 2:1). Brethren are afraid to offend anyone—under any circumstance—and so their relationship to a brother, family member or friend supersedes their allegiance to divine will (cf. Luke 14:26).     While there is certainly nothing wrong with enjoying warm …

The Bible, especially in the Old Testament, speaks often of great and powerful kings whose leadership was honorable and mighty, of men who were noble and wealthy, having great influence on the people. However, mingled into those accounts, and literally filling the Old Testament record, are those powerful stories with timeless messages and lessons to be learned, which are not of kings and leaders, but of the common, everyday individual. Consider Gideon, the weakest of the weak (cf. Judges 6:15) and Rahab, the harlot from Jericho. These had no honor, no wealth, no fame and no power. But what they did have was great faith, and that made all the difference. Sometimes we need to be reminded of the power of one—rich or poor, powerful or weak—and of the fact that even one soul’s faith has the ability to inspire, encourage and make a difference in other’s lives. Consider some New Testament examples.     The Syrophoenician Woman – In Matthew 15, we find an unusual and yet moving encounter in the Lord’s ministry. A Gentile woman approaches Jesus seeking aid for her afflicted daughter, to which Jesus at first does not even respond. He then challenges her faith with a statement amounting to little more than “No.” Consider this woman’s obstacles: she was a woman, she was a Gentile woman, and she had most likely never met Jesus, nor saw him perform a miracle. She sought healing based solely on the word of others. When she approached him, she was ignored, and even after his friends tried …

Several years ago, there was an article in the newspaper about a schoolteacher in a city in Alaska who lost his job because of his lengthy record of being tardy for his classes. It was revealed that the teacher had a real problem about being hard to wake up in the mornings. His wife related that it was nearly impossible to awaken her husband. Instead of one alarm clock, several were used, but to no avail. Various methods were also used to arouse him from a deep sleep, but such were generally unsuccessful. This individual stated that his problem was inherited and was actually a sickness. One could not help but have some sadness in learning about his plight. But on the other hand, the story could be considered humorous except for the seriousness of the matter. I am reminded of the passage in Proverbs 20:13 that reads, “Do not love sleep, lest you come to poverty; Open your eyes, and you will be satisfied with bread.”     The ‘sleeping teacher’ is not alone. The church is blessed with many ‘sleeping brethren’ who are very difficult to arouse out of slumber. I speak not simply of physical encephalitis. Spiritual sleepiness is quite often manifested by the outward actions. Take for example members who drag in late for the periods of Bible study on Sunday morning and Wednesday evening (that is if they come at all). If they treated their employers in the same manner that they treat the Lord, they like the teacher would …

The Bible is not a textbook on world history per se, rather, it is a history of the dealings of God with mankind in order to bring about our redemption through the death of Christ on the cross. However, when the Bible speaks of events that transpired in the course of the history of the world, it always speaks of those events accurately and in harmony with the best historical and archaeological research. This is one of the greatest evidences for God’s having revealed the Bible, for had that not been the case, one can only wonder how Moses would have learned of the cities and monarchs visited by Abraham, and hundreds of other details that are stated in the Bible that the writers had no way of knowing on their own. It cannot be claimed that these were oral traditions handed down, for, oral traditions handed down do not have the unity found in the Bible. The Bible was written by thirty-nine or forty authors over a period of approximately sixteen hundred years. Yet, the unity and historical accuracy of the Sacred Volume transcends its being a mere human production. To demonstrate that oral traditions change from one society to another and one century to another, just look at the different accounts that have been found of the great flood of Noah. Different traditions say different things, and in different societies different things are emphasized, even to the changing of names and numbers. But not so with the Bible, yet …