It is known fact that all “good sports” are not Christians, in the strictest sense of the word, but every true Christian is always a good sport! I watched a group of “church league” softball players one afternoon, long ago, and I really got an education on sportsmanship and Christianity. During the heat of competition, one group seemed to laugh at all of their mistakes, and generally speaking, those guys seemed to be having the time of their lives, even though they also seemed to be losing. Their speech was good, above reproach, and their attitude attested to the fact that they were good sportsmen. The group which won (?) the game was representing another “church” group, and to say the least, their conduct and speech was disgraceful. They were constantly bickering, were quick to contest a call that did not suit them, and their use of expletives bordered upon plain ugly talk. They displayed anything but good sportsmanship and Christianity. When an umpire ruled in a way that did not please them, they would fuss and quarrel like a spoiled brat, instead of acting like gentlemen, or as a representative of a “church group” that insisted upon fair play and clean speech. I am thoroughly convinced that “Christians” must set the proper example in all that they say, and do; and this sort of attitude will reflect itself in their consideration of others, fair play and mature actions. A Christian does not “bag” 12 squirrels when the bag limit …

What kind of records do we keep? Well, we may keep records of the bills that need to be paid each month, or when the oil in the car needs changed, or maybe the birthdays of family members. However, why do we keep records? Well, it is simple, because we want to remember things. There are a lot of things we like to remember so we write them down or find other ways to remember them. Yet, there is one thing the Bible tells us that we are not to keep record of and that is other’s wrongs. Even though the Bible teaches against keeping records of other’s wrongs, how many times have we brought up the past in a disagreement? It is like the one fellow who was talking to the preacher about the troubles in his marriage. The husband said, “Every time my wife and I get in an argument she gets historical.” The preacher said, “Don’t you mean hysterical.” “No,” replied the husband, “I mean historical; she brings up all my past mistakes.” It is tough to live your life with someone who never forgets. In 1 Corinthians 13:5, Paul’s instruction on love states that “[Love] is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs.” If we truly love one another Paul reminds us that we are not to remember the wrongs that others have committed towards us, especially when we have dealt with them in a biblical …

From our perspective it seems so strange. They were with Jesus. Heard His teaching. Witnessed His miracles. Were prepared by Him for what was coming. Experienced His authority. How could the disciples not understand? How could they notexpect Jesus’ resurrection? Why did they doubt, not believe and lose hope? Jesus began to tell the disciples He must die and be raised from the dead. “And Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him, saying, ‘Far be it from you, Lord! This shall never happen to you’” (Matthew 16:22). Jesus died on the cross. His dead, lifeless, body was laid in the tomb, partially prepared for burial. “When the Sabbath was past, Mary Magdalene and Mary the mother of James and Salome bought spices, so that they might go and anoint him” (Mark 16:1). They came to finish the preparation of the body of Jesus. There was no expectation of His resurrection. Jesus told them! Yes, but none of the disciples understood. That is not the way it was supposed to be. Those Jews who believed in resurrection believed in a final resurrection of all God’s people. There was no expectation of God’s Messiah, of one person, being raised first. When Mary Magdalene came to the tomb and found the body of Jesus gone, she did not rejoice. “So she ran and went to Simon Peter and the other disciple, the one whom Jesus loved, and said to them, ‘They have taken the Lord out of the tomb, and we do not know …

Valentine’s Day is best known as a time when people show their love and affection to others, usually through the sending of cards and gifts, typically candy and flowers. The US Greeting Card Association estimates over 1 billion cards are sent on this occasion. The event is typically associated with romance, although there are cards for all kinds of relationships, including relatives, friendships and even one’s boss! Interestingly enough, the term Valentine is more than the name of a greeting card, or a term of endearment for another. It originated with an individual by the same name purported to have been martyred for his Christian faith in the late 200’s A.D. Stories regarding his life surfaced well after his death, sometime around A.D. 1493, so there is no degree of certainty or credibility that can be attached to them. However, one thing that seems to be associated with this person was the idea of sacrificial love, seen in his dying for his faith. The transition from this to romance happened during the time of Chaucer (A.D. 1343-1400). While I’m not saying the expression of love is wrong, in harmony with the will of God, it is interesting to me how the world always wants to put its own spin on things. Such is the nature of the world. I doubt few today realize that there was a person named Valentine, and that the love he represented was supposed to be sacrificial and spiritual. Our concept today has been dictated by …

Outside of the Lord Himself, there is no other individual within the pages of Scripture about whom we know more than Moses. There are four books of the Old Testament dedicated to his leadership (Exodus), his role as lawgiver (Leviticus), his “survival skills” (Numbers) and his speeches (Deuteronomy). Within the pages of these four books, God reveals to man an individual who did not seek fame or personal glory. Yet, Moses was exactly the type of leader the children of Israel needed. It is interesting to note that one of the greatest leaders of biblical record was not, at first, a willing participant. When God called Moses from the burning bush (Exodus 3:1-10), Moses responded by giving every possible excuse he could find as to why God had made a mistake. However, his caution and fear in taking the job showed that he was exactly the type of leader Israel needed. God found in Moses an individual who understood that he could not lead these people by himself. Rather, he needed help, not just from God, but from those around him as well. Without the assistance of men such as Jethro, Aaron and Joshua, Moses’ life would have been far more difficult than it already was! Moses was not self-centered, but instead was willing on a number of occasions to sacrifice himself for the people he led. It is, therefore, obvious that as Moses led the people of Israel, he placed his trust, not in himself, but in God. There …

I served in the prisoner of war command during the Korean War. We had 60,000 prisoners and there were 3,000 of us. Such numbers kept life interesting to say the least. About eight or ten months after getting back to the U. S. and home, I got in my 1951 Ford and headed for the oil fields of New Mexico. Somewhere west of Dallas, I began to see billboards advertising something called “smorgasbord.” Being a fellow who grew up in the hills of Tennessee, I had never heard of this stuff. My mother never made any of it that I could recall. I decided that I would just pull into one of those places and have me a taste of this exotic food called smorgasbord, just to see what it was like. Much to my chagrin and embarrassment I learned that this stuff was not a “food” but a way of serving it. All it was, was a buffet place where one could pick and choose what he liked. As one begins to think about it, a lot of religions and religious people are choosing the “smorgasbord” system to believe and practice their particular brand of religion or “church.” However, their system is as old as mankind. Let us notice a few examples. Adam and Eve were the first. They were told by God what their duties and privileges were. They were also given a command of prohibition. Not being satisfied with God’s way, they chose another way. We all …

The Church is the most glorious institution in existence! God’s Word reveals the church in promise (Genesis 3:15; Ephesians 1:4-5), prophecy (Daniel 2:44), preparation (Matthew 16:18; Mark 9:1), perfection (Acts 2:41-47) and preservation (Revelation 12-22). Christ is the head of the church (Ephesians 1:22-23), Savior of the body (Ephesians 5:23), theme of the Bible (Luke 1:68) and key to both the inspiration (John 12:48) and interpretation (Luke 22:27, 44-45) of Scripture. Truly, Christ is the center of both the Bible and the church. The goal in church-growth must reflect our desire to be a Christ-centered church. This means Christians must strive to be: 1. A Converted Church. Christians must be more than convinced, they must be converted; converted to Jesus not preachers, elders, deacons or anyone else. We must be converted to Jesus (Acts 3:19; 1 Corinthians 1:18)! 2. A Convicted Church. The pulse of a local congregation must beat in unison. We must have “one heart and one soul” (Acts 4:32). We must be “likeminded, having the same love, being of one accord, of one mind” (Philippians 2:2). We must stand together on the solid rock of Jesus (Ephesians 6:10-11; Matthew 7:25). 3. A Cooperating Church. The letter “I” does not appear in the word team or church. We are all a part of the body of Christ. We must work together (1 Corinthians 12:12-27). The Christians on Pentecost “were together, and had all things common” (Acts 2:44). If we do not work together, we will segment and separate. However, there must be “no division among you” (1 Corinthians 1:10). 4. A …

It was Monday. Oh, yes, in every way it was Monday. No need to go into all that was making it a real Monday, but it had not been fun. I was on the way home from Mobile and I stopped at a rest area to take a break and to try to deal with one of this particular Monday’s crises. As I pulled up, it started pouring down rain. I jumped from the truck and headed into the building. My phone was running out of battery power as I made a call I needed to make, and I did not want to make while driving. I realized it was low, and ran out to the truck to get a wall-plug that I had with me (hadn’t gotten a car charger yet). As I neared the truck, I reached in my pocket, and stopped right there in the rain. My keys weren’t there. I went on and looked in the passenger window, and there in my locked truck, right there in the ignition, were my keys. About an hour and $65.00 later, I had my keys and completed my call. While I stood for a few minutes letting my phone charge some more, I must have looked pretty perplexed, because a fellow who was walking by said to me, “Whatever is worrying you, just take comfort that you have not just driven 350 miles, one way, to absolutely blow a job interview.” He continued, “I took a 16 hour training …

When Jesus instituted the Lord’s Supper during the last Passover supper, which He ate with His disciples, He set in place one avenue of Christian worship (Matthew 26:29). Christians proclaim the Lord’s death in this memorial feast (1 Corinthians 11:26). We do this on the first day of the week because it is authorized by approved example (Acts 20:7). The divinely appointed elements of the Lord’s Supper are unleavened bread, representative of the body of Christ, and the fruit of the vine, symbolizing the blood of Christ (1 Corinthians 11:23-26). We partake of these emblems in remembrance of Christ’s death. When Paul wrote the church of God at Corinth, he found it necessary to correct some abuses they were making of the Lord’s Supper. He had praised them for their loyalty (1 Corinthians 11:2), but because of the shameful condition that existed in the Lord’s Day worship, he could not praise them for that (1 Corinthians 11:20-22). Whatever the cause, it appears they were turning the Lord’s Supper into a common meal. In addition, there were divisions within the congregation, and they were not respecting each other as brethren. This unbrotherly attitude may be where the problems all started. Incidentally, this passage does not condemn the eating of food in a church building. If this was wrong, the church of the first century would not have been able to worship in their homes where the families ate their food. Paul didn’t condemn the Corinthians for eating in the place of …

In John 3:14-15 we read, “And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of man be lifted up: that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have eternal life.” Thus, Jesus points to the serpent as a type of Himself. From this, we can get some important lessons. Of what does the type consist? The Israelites were a sinful people. We are a sinful people. The wages of sin is death (Romans 6:23), and we have all sinned and fall short of the glory of God (Romans 3:23). The cure was not found in men searching for an antidote, killing the snakes, compromising and making an offering to the serpents, examining their wounds and applying a mustard plaster, but in lifting up the serpent that they might look upon it and live. The antitype is Christ being lifted up, and our trust being put in Him. If there is any one verse in the Bible that shows that believing in the Son includes obeying His commands, John 3:36 does. “He that believeth on [pisteuon] the Son hath everlasting life and he that believeth not [apeithon – which means, “does not obey”] shall not see life.” To state it another way, “Saving faith is always an obedient faith.” It does not really matter whether the command to them was “Look and live,” or “Crawl out and touch the pole and live,” the principle is that when the Christ was offered for our salvation …

“For the law was given through Moses, but grace and truth came through Jesus Christ” (John 1:17). We often use this verse to contrast the old Mosaic Law with the new way of grace and truth through Jesus Christ. We emphasize to our religious neighbors that we are no longer under the Law of Moses but under a different system made possible by the death of our Lord. However, we must be careful that we do not leave the wrong impression in the minds of others, that is, the Law of Moses was void of God’s grace or that the system of grace excludes law. The grace of God preceded the Law of Moses and was included in it. Regardless of when a person lived in ages past, there had to be a response to the unmerited favor of God in order to receive the benefits therein. Paul declared in Romans 4:16, “Therefore it is faith that it might be according to grace, so that the promise might be sure to all the seed, not only to those who are of the law, but also those who are of the faith of Abraham, who is the father of all.” A person was never accepted of God simply because of his/her race or national origin. He/she had to possess that faith like Abraham had in order to be blessed by the grace of God. That kind of faith motivated one to obey the commands of God. “By faith Abel offered to …

Jesus promised to “build my church” (Matthew 16:18). The church is owned by Jesus Christ (Romans 16:16) and is spoken of as “churches of Christ.” However, let’s take a look in this article from the other side of the coin. What was the relationship of the church back to Jesus? The church in the New Testament upheld the Lord in a mighty way and a frail way. The members were human beings seeking to be more spiritual in their outlook on life while they lived in various cities of their time like Jerusalem, Corinth, Ephesus, Thessalonica and Rome. The directives of 1 Corinthians 15 are to be steadfast and unmovable and always abounding in the work of the Lord. The imperatives continue in the next chapter: watch ye, stand fast in the faith, quit (act) ye like men and be strong (1 Corinthians 16:13). This is the teaching to those of the first century church. Did they follow the orders given? We must note that some did and some did not. Now, down the stream of time to our day, are we following these admonitions? Some are and some are not. So, what should we all do? Certainly, teachers and preachers of God’s Word must continue the faithful presentation of the message (2 Timothy 4:1-4). Fellow brethren should listen and heed the message because Jesus would have it to be this way. Without love the early church was taught that their labors amounted to no value (1 Corinthians 13). They …

The word “inerrancy means,” “incapable of making mistakes, or containing no mistakes.” Men for hundreds of years have sought to find errors or mistakes within the pages of the Sacred Volume, but none have been found. Several books have been written alleging that there are errors, mistakes and contradictions in the Bible, but these books have been found to be in error because the authors did not carefully read their Bibles before beginning their critical work. In this brief article, we propose to look at one or two of these so-called mistakes of the Bible and demonstrate that if men had only read their Bibles more carefully, they would not have found themselves in the foolish position of affirming the existence of something that does not exist. In 1 Corinthians 10:1-13, the amicable apostle Paul was urging the Corinthian church to greater faithfulness in its service to Christ, by reminding Christians of the mistakes of the Jewish people in the past. One incident to which he made reference is recorded in Numbers 25, and speaks of a plague that came on the Israelites because they committed harlotry with the people of Moab. The plague came to an end when Phinehas, grandson to Aaron, and son of Eleazar, followed an Israelite man and a Moabite woman into a tent and killed them both with a javelin. The number of people who died in that plague, according to the Book of Numbers was twenty-four thousand (25:9). When Paul made reference to this …

Do you get the feeling that people are not as polite as in times past? Showing appreciation by saying, “Thank you,” seems rare among many today. Do I think that people do not appreciate receiving a kind word, or you doing something for them? No, I do not! I believe people welcome such things and that has not changed. As I see it, the problem is a lack of good manners. What has happened?Good Propriety and Politeness Is Needed Simply put, many have not been taught good manners. Teaching decent civil demeanor must start at a young age. By schooling those that are youngsters, the aim is to show respect as a normal reaction in our interaction with people. The term, “Yes sir,” and the like are unknown for too many. Instead of “Yes sir,” you may get a grunt or something like that. For many, this is normal speech. It matters not to whom one is speaking. Be it Mother or Father, the schoolteacher or a policeman, impoliteness is the usual response for many. It is sad to observe those who have never been taught good manners. Sadder is to view those who know politeness is needed in our society; however, they have chosen to be ill-mannered rascals. “To present a good impression, you must act like you weren’t raised in a barn! It is difficult dealing with those having no manners or concern for others. A huge societal issue is a general lack of respect for what has …

How often do you think about your relationship with God? Have you given it much thought recently? Do you realize Satan wants us to live each day as though there is no God? Can we become so busy with such important things that we forget His presence and our real dependence on Him? Is it possible for you and me to become quite similar to those spoken of in Scripture who did not like to retain the knowledge of God in their minds? What do you think about the current state of your relationship with God? Are you and I in the great number of those in our society who would rather not think about that? Does that make us feel a bit uncomfortable? Or, do you have a healthy, thriving relationship? If you are willing to examine and evaluate in light of Scripture, what do you think God thinks about the state of your relationship with Him? Is God well-pleased? Have you given thought to what changes God may want you to make to produce a stronger, more satisfying relationship with Him? Have you thought about examining the life of Jesus to determine what it was, specifically, that enabled Him to have such a close-knit, tight relationship with our Heavenly Father? Do you suppose Jesus can give us insight into building a stronger, meaningful relationship with the Father in heaven? What relationship do you experience with another/others that is more significant than the relationship you and I are able …

Paul told the young preacher Timothy, “And that from a child thou hast known the holy scriptures, which are able to make thee wise unto salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus. All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness: That the man of God may be perfect, thoroughly furnished unto all good works” (2 Timothy 3:15-17). We are told by Peter in 2 Peter 1:3 that “According as His divine power hath given unto us all things that pertain unto life and godliness, through the knowledge of Him that hath called us to glory and virtue.” Friends, we have been given the perfect law of liberty (James 1:25). We are to “earnestly contend for the faith which was once delivered unto the saints” (Jude 3). We are not to go beyond that which is written (1 Corinthians 4:6). We are to abide in the doctrine (that is the teaching of Christ) (2 John 9-11). We cannot have fellowship with those, or even encourage those, who depart from it or go beyond it. A special curse rests on any man who comes with a different gospel than what the apostles taught (Galatians 1:6-9). The Gospel of the first century is sufficient for the twenty-first century and every century thereafter if God sees fit for time on earth to continue (Matthew 24;35; Romans 1:16-17). I affirm that the Bible is all sufficient and that it, therefore, meets …

Heaven is a place of great mystery. We are told things about it, but yet, there are many things still unknown to us. Heaven is a word that conjures up positive emotions. Most everyone views heaven in a positive way, except atheists, who believe there is no such place. Almost every religious person believes he is going there, and for that matter, most non-religious people believe they are going there, too. However, the Bible says only the obedient will be going (Hebrews 5:8-9). I want to go to heaven more than anything in the world, and the following are some reasons why I want to go there. I want to go to heaven because of who will be there. God will be in heaven. I look forward to basking in His glory and majesty. What a privilege it will be to be in the presence of His power for all eternity. Our fellow brethren will also be in heaven. In fact, brethren from all the ages will be there. Family members that died as faithful Christians will be there. Great Gospel preachers and elders will be there. All the faithful Bible characters of all time will be there. Can you imagine meeting and talking with the apostle Paul? What about conversing with our Lord? How wonderful that will truly be. I want to go to heaven because of the things that will be there. Heaven will be a place of beauty. It is described in Revelation 21 as a city with walls …