I applaud all proper efforts of elders and churches to find and use all scriptural principles of church growth. All research into why we have failed to grow as the early church did should reveal many positive and negative factors. We can find many positive factors with an analysis of Acts 2 and the following chapters. At least one negative factor or things that contribute to our failures came to mind as I was studying the Seventh Chapter of Joshua. Israel had been promised wonderful things in Joshua 1. “Every place that the sole of your foot shall tread upon, that have I given to you” (Joshua 1:3). God continued with other great promises, but we cannot fail to note that as in all cases of God’s gracious gifts, those promises were conditional. Verse 7 begins some of those conditions. They involved being courageous, not turning aside from observing the commandments and meditating on them day and night. Those promises hardly begin to compare with ours. As Peter says, “Whereby are given unto us exceeding great and precious promises” (2 Peter 1:4). The scope of them is suggested in Ephesians 1:3 where Paul says, “Who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ.” In fact, He is “able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think” (Ephesians 3:4). Yet, with all those promises, in many places today with million dollar plants [facilities], multiple ministries with salaries of hundreds of thousands of dollars to …

Atheists are people who believe there is no God. Of course nothing could be more opposite to what we believe as Christians. We believe in the Almighty Creator – One who is eternal, who created the universe with His words, who sustains the universe as it is today, who will destroy the earth one day with fire, and one before whom we will stand in judgment. However, atheists scoff at such notions. They think God-believing people are weak, imagining up a God that does not exist to use Him as a crutch to get through life. Atheists view themselves as intellectuals who have achieved some higher knowledge than Christians. They’re smarter than we are; just ask them, they will tell you. However, have you ever considered what really would be the outcome if they were right? What if there really was no God? John Lennon wrote these words in his now famous song “Imagine”: “Imagine there’s no Heaven; it’s easy if you try. No Hell below us, above us only sky.” So what would the world be like if God did not exist? If There Is No God, ThenWe Are All Here By Accident Christians believe that mankind is uniquely special because we were created in the image of God (Genesis 1:26-27). Atheists believe there is no greater power that created us. We all just evolved. If that is the case, then we have no purpose for being here. We are just animals – just molecules in motion. We have …

Kathleen Murphy claims that golf saved her life. Here’s her story in her own words: Six years ago, when I was 58, I was playing in the Tuesday-morning women’s league at Exmoor Country Club just south of Lake Forest, IL. …On the long par-4 16th we all hit our drives to the same area in the fairway. I was first to hit. I smacked my dependable 3-wood pin-high but 15 yards right of the green, and the ball disappeared as it settled into the rough. Anticipating that looking for my ball might delay play, I sidestepped to the rough and began walking forward to get a head start. The group’s next shot, struck by Lois Burns (with whom I was playing for the first time), was a shanked 3-wood that flew sideways and hit me directly in the back of the head. I can still remember how the sound exploded in my ears. Immediately, Murphy’s teammates loaded her into the golf cart and carried her to the Emergency Room at the nearby Highland Park Hospital. A CAT scan and an MRI confirmed that her skull was not fractured, but the doctor began asking Murphy some questions. “Have you been experiencing headaches, bouts of dizziness, etc.?” Murphy said, “No.” The doctor was asking her these questions because the scans had revealed an apple-sized tumor that occupied nearly the entire right side of her brain. The doctors estimated that the tumor had been growing there for perhaps 15 years. More tests revealed …

Hope is a “four-letter” word that means so much. When we have hope, we have a feeling that what we desire will happen or that what we want will come to pass. Hope causes us to expect a good outcome. It causes us to desire what Abraham Lincoln said in speaking of the American Civil War. “Fondly do we hope, fervently do we pray that this mighty scourge of war may speedily pass away.” He hoped for something that did come to pass and we’re all blessed for it. Alexander Pope, an 18th Century English poet, made a statement that we’ve all heard at some time: “Hope springs eternal in the human breast.” The explanation for his statement is that he believed people would always continue to have hope, and we do! Even though we may have sufficient evidence that things cannot possibly turn out the way we want them to, we still have hope that something will happen to cause things to turn out the way we want. In a sermon at one of the meetings he held here, brother Dean Fugett defined hope this way: “Hope is the confident expectation of something that has been promised.” When one is told or believes “it will get better,” there is an earnest expectation for that to happen. The apostle Paul frequently spoke on the subject of hope, helping us to understand what hope is. He said, “Abraham, the father of us all, who, against hope believed in hope, that he …

As we move from late May to early June, across our nation colleges and high schools celebrate students who have achieved whatever it is that organization has required for them to graduate. Graduation cannot be seen as an end, whether it is from pre-kindergarten (yes, they even have those now), to kindergarten (yes, even those) to sixth grade (yes…) to high school, to an AA, a BA, a MA or even a Ph.D. Graduations, which are seen as an end, do injustice to the doors they open to one’s future. Graduation is all about opening more doors. The doors of life are many. The journey we call life is filled with many opportunities and obstacles. Both opportunity and obstacle have a way of becoming either positive or negative based on how an individual handles them. The greatest journey we are all on is the journey we take, the path we walk as we live our Christian lives. Jesus stated, “If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow Me” (Luke 9:23). The most important graduation we all will experience will be the one from this mortal body to an immortal body. It is an eternity in heaven we must spend this life pursuing. Taking up our crosses involves taking on those hardships, making them opportunities and those opportunities with the right frame of reference. The reference we must have to be one of Jesus’ is that of self-denial and humility. It …

We may sometimes find it difficult to have a true love for others, even our brethren. When Paul wrote the brethren in Thessalonica, it was evident that he cared for them. He had established the church when he was on his second missionary journey (Acts 17:1-11). He went on to Corinth and eventually wrote the two epistles for the brethren in Thessalonica (and us). Scholars tell us these letters can be dated about 50-51 A.D. If you are searching for Thessalonica, it is on the Macedonian peninsula near the Aegean Sea. When Paul began the first letter, it was quite evident that he wanted the best for those brethren. He desired for them grace and peace “from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ” (1 Thessalonians 1:1). This is certainly an indication of his love for them. What was it about the church that made it easy for Paul to love them? To start with, they were the church, and they were “in God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.” He was always giving thanks for them (v. 2). If you are thanking God for someone, it’s pretty hard not to love them, too. He could easily love them because he remembered their work of faith, their labor of love and their steadfastness (v. 3). He could love them because they had become followers of the Lord (v. 6) Paul could love the brethren in Thessalonica because they were good examples (vv.7-8). He could also love them because …

Jesus said that we are to worship the Lord our God and serve Him only (Matthew 4:10; Luke 4:8). Under the Old Covenant, God’s people had strict rules about how to worship Him. The priests had to bathe themselves before coming into the presence of God and were to wear certain clothes as they performed their duties (Exodus 28-29). There were regulations concerning the various sacrifices (Leviticus 1-7). There were certain times of the year when they were to present themselves before God to worship (Exodus 23). The Israelites had all these instructions on how to properly worship God, but this is not the case with the new covenant. There is no checklist provided in the New Testament that tells us what is acceptable or what is unacceptable. This does not mean, however, that anything goes, for Jesus told the Samaritan woman that those who worship God must do so in spirit and in truth (John 4:24). Since God desires obedience rather than sacrifice (1 Samuel 15:22), it behooves us as partakers of the New Covenant that we search the New Testament Scriptures to see what God has authorized, and then, to do it. [Editor’s Note: The New Testament provides instructions, approved examples and divinely given implications respecting every aspect of Christianity that we need to know to please God. In addition, several lists of sins clearly show what God prohibits. Therefore, both from positive and negative lessons throughout the Gospel, mankind can know what is expected of him. This is …

Isn’t evolution wonderful? Of course, I say this as a pun. As we consider the complexities of the natural world and how splendidly our bodies are designed, we marvel in profound awe and give recognition to our Creator, God Almighty. The evolutionist wants us to believe that by sheer chance over eons of time all living beings came forth. How is that possible? Presently, I am being treated for Glaucoma using eye drops each day to relieve pressure in my eyes. My good doctor has been keeping a check on me for years. Finally about a year ago, I was put on medication that will save my vision. I am grateful to my Creator and the knowledge of medical personnel who treat our ailments to the best of their ability. In the July 6, 2011 edition of the New Albany Gazette, a fine newspaper of the small town of New Albany, Mississippi, an advertisement article caught my eye. The following is the short article written by William S. Mayo, D.O., Double Board Ophthalmologist and Eye Surgeon, Mayo Eye Center. How the Brain “Sees” If you think about it, the eyes may be tasked with collecting imagery from the world around us, but it is the brain’s job to make sense of the information collected by the eyes and enable us to see. To take things one step further, researchers wanted to know whether there is an area of the brain that is actually responsible for reading. Using functional MRI (fMRI) …

After executing his plot to avenge his sister Tamar’s rape (2 Samuel 13:1-14) by the slaying of Amnon (13:28-29), Absalom left for Geshur in Syria for three years (13:38). He stayed there until finally given permission to return to his own house, being aided by Joab (14:1-23). Over a period of time, Absalom gave a lot of energy to endearing himself to the people of Israel. He became quite the politician as he, among other things, built himself up while promoting dissatisfaction toward David and his staff, suggesting they were incapable of settling their disputes in an equitable way. By his actions Absalom “stole the hearts of the men of Israel” (2 Samuel 15:1-6). Absalom wanted to be the King, and he led a rebellion against King David. Absalom would do whatever necessary to become king even if it meant murdering his own father. Absalom was able to garner a significant following, which included the elders of the people (2 Samuel 17:4). Set the actions of Absalom in contrast with those of a man by the name of Ittai, the Gittite. Such a vast number of Israel had cast their lot to follow and crown Absalom to succeed his father that David was fearful for their lives and began to lead out of Jerusalem those loyal to him. Then said the king to Ittai the Gittite, Wherefore goest thou also with us? return to thy place, and abide with the king: for thou art a stranger, and also an exile. …

“Therefore by Him let us continually offer the sacrifice of praise to God, that is, the fruit of our lips, giving thanks to His name.” “I will declare Your name to My brethren; In the midst of the assembly I will sing praise to You” (Hebrews 13:15; 2:12). Recently in our worship assembly on Sunday morning, the song leader had us to pause for a time of silence and to concentrate on why we had assembled. He then announced the numbers of the first two songs he had selected for the congregation to sing. He asked us to stand and sing. The songs he had carefully selected were songs of praise. The first one was entitled, “We Shall Assemble.” The lyrics clearly set the tone for our coming together as the children of God: “We shall assemble on the mountain, we shall assemble at the throne. With humble hearts into His presence, we bring an offering of song. Glory and honor and dominion unto the Lamb, unto the King. Oh, hallelujah, hallelujah! We sing the song of the redeemed.” The following three hymns we sang were all songs of praise and adoration rendered to our Heavenly Father and His Son Jesus Christ. They were, “To God Be the Glory,” “Glorify Thy Name” and “Worthy Art Thou.” When it came time to partake of the Supper of our Lord, there really was no reason to have a song “to help us prepare for the communion.” Our hearts had been concentrating on …

Abram’s nephew was in a lot of trouble. In roughly 2084 B.C., the kings of Sodom and Gomorrah, where Lot lived, had been overtaken by a group of warlike kings. They sacked Sodom, captured Lot and his household, and then fled north. In Abram’s era, most cities had their own kings. Wars and rivalries among kings were common during this time. A conquered city paid tribute to the victorious king. In Genesis 14:1-24, we see that Chedorlaomer was apparently quite a powerful king. Nothing really is known about him except what we read in the Bible. Five cities including Sodom had paid tribute to him for over twelve years. The five cities of Sodom, Gomorrah, Admah, Zeboiim and Bela (Zoar) formed an alliance and rebelled by withholding tribute. Chedorlaomer reacted swiftly and conquered them all. When he defeated Sodom, he captured Lot, his family and his possessions. Abram, with only 318 men, chased Chedorlaomer’s army and attacked it near Damascus. With God’s help, he gave chase and rescued Lot, his family and their possessions. What happened after that was even more incredible. Melchizedek, the King of Salem (Jerusalem), visited Abram to congratulate him and pronounce a blessing on him in the name of “God Most High, Possessor of heaven and earth” (Genesis 14:19). This was unheard of. In those days, people invoked the names of Baal and other false local deities. So, what was so remarkable about this? Abram, who was just learning to trust in the God who created …

The armistice had been signed; the shooting and killing had ended; it was time to go home. My name appeared on the roster to be on the ship in the harbor. After five days of being poked here and prodded there, and opening and saying, “Ah,” to everyone who had on a lab coat, we finally boarded ship. At about four o’clock in the afternoon the anchor was hauled in, the ship’s horn let out a long blast, the screws began to turn, and we began to move out of the Inchon harbor and into the Yellow Sea. We were going home! The Bible has much to say about man’s eternal destiny. If man is living faithfully, his eternal home will be heaven. Interestingly enough, nowhere is hell ever referred to as a place of life and happiness, but rather of death, pain, eternal torment and destruction. Jesus spoke of heaven “in My Father’s house” as a place of mansions. In the Revelation John pictured it as a place of immense beauty, a place where there is no pain, sorrow or sickness. He pictured it as a place where there will be no need of the sun because God Himself will be the Light. There is an old Negro spiritual that states, “Everybody talking about it, ain’t gonna be going there – heaven, heaven.” How true those words. The Scriptures tell us that only those who do the will of God will be there. All others will be doomed to …

In 1 John 3, John contemplated the redemptive work of God through Jesus Christ. In Verse 1, John proclaimed that Christians are loved of God, children of God and strangers to the world. In Verse 2, he gave Christians a glimpse into what they shall become in the future; namely, they will become like Jesus Christ at His return. Beginning in Verse 3, John expounded upon what Christians should be. In Verse 3, John set forth a universal truth, “And every man that hath this hope in him purifieth himself.” The biblical definition of hope is “desire with the expectation to receive.” It is much more than a wish because it is rooted in the belief that you will actually receive what is desired. The belief Christians have is not based on a “leap in the dark,” but instead, it is based on a solid foundation of evidence in the Word of God (Romans 10:17; Hebrews 11:1). A Christian’s hope to become “like him” and to “see him as he is” on the Judgment Day resides “in Him.” The resurrection of Jesus Christ gives Christians hope that they will likewise be resurrected unto life eternal (1 Corinthians 15:17-22). The hope that Christians have in Jesus is contingent upon their “purification.” The word translated “purifieth” means to be void of defilement and looks very similar to the word translated “holy.” The process of purification is a continuous and lifelong pursuit. The pursuit of purification begins at immersion (“baptism”) when one is …

The blessing of “Christ in you” is called “the hope of glory.” Unfortunately, there are those that have false hope (1 Corinthians 15:19). False hope will ultimately make one miserable. It’s hope in money, intellect, abilities, ceremonies and dead works. Thus, to live without Christ is to die without hope! Dante, in The Inferno, said the sign over the gate to Hell reads, “Abandon all hope, ye who enter here.” There is no comfort at death except the sure hope of heaven. The word “hope” is a Greek word that means “confidence.” Those who belong to Christ have confidence of glory because they have been cleansed by Jesus’ blood. They have confidence because of His resurrection; they are confident of a better place. Therefore, the Christian’s hope is not the uncertain things of this world, but the well-grounded expectation of that which God has prepared for and promised to His people. What does “the hope of glory”involve? A Good Hope Paul said, “Now may our Lord Jesus Christ Himself, and our God and Father, who has loved us and given us everlasting consolation and good hope by grace, comfort your hearts and establish you in every good word and work” (2 Thessalonians 2:16-17). In our intercessions and petitions, we would do well to remember God’s past faithfulness and present blessings. His faithfulness in the past is a promise of His faithfulness for the future. Consider this illustration: A man watched a little league baseball game one afternoon. He asked a boy …

Do you ever have periods of depression? There are so many events that can disappoint us. Even more disheartening are letdowns from people. In this life we cannot escape disappointments from our fellows. Jesus said: “It is impossible but that occasions of stumbling should come” (Luke 17:1). We are powerless to control what others might do, but we can decide how we will respond. Let’s consider what difference forethought can make. Have you ever had an agitated interchange of words with someone, only later to think of what you should have said? After-the-fact we come up with many great things that could have been said. Since we know that disappointments will come, we can make some mental preparation. Visualize how you ought to respond when a let-down occurs. Listen to the disappointment in these words of Jesus. “O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, that killeth the prophets, and stoneth them that are sent unto her! how often would I have gathered thy children together, even as a hen gathereth her chickens under her wings, and ye would not!” (Matthew 23:37). The Jewish rejection of their promised Messiah was tragic. His heart was broken. The Master’s response is humbling. Did He allow this affront to derail His plans? Did He turn His back and walk away? Quite the opposite. His back was burdened with the cross, and He died for us all – “while we were enemies” (Romans 5:10). Our blessed Lord did not respond with prolonged discouragement. One definition of “discouragement” is “the state of being discouraged.” Discouragement …

Robert Ingersoll, an atheist, paid tribute to his deceased brother, Ebon C. Ingersoll, in Washington, D.C. on May 31, 1879. He said, Life is a narrow vale between the cold and barren peaks of two eternities. We strive in vain to look beyond the heights. We cry aloud, and the only answer is the echo of our wailing cry. From the voiceless lips of the unreplying dead there comes no word; but in the night of death hope sees a star and listening love can hear the rustle of a wing. He who sleeps here, when dying, mistaking the approach of death for a return of health, whispered with his latest breath, “I am better now.” Let us believe, in spite of doubts and dogmas and tears and fears that these dear words are true of all the countless dead. Contrast Ingersoll’s baseless longing for hope with Peter’s words to Christians confronting persecution. Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to His abundant mercy has begotten us again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to an inheritance incorruptible and undefiled and that does not fade away, reserved in heaven for you, who are kept by the power of God through faith for salvation ready to be revealed in the last time (1 Peter 1:3-5). The word “blessed,” according to Thayer, means “praised.” God is particularly to be praised because of his great mercy that leads to men …

For quite some time now brethren have been discussing the question, “Is the entirety of a Christian’s life worship to God?” Some in the brotherhood have taken the position that it does. A few have gone so far as to make outrageous assertions to “drive home the point” of what they consider the all-encompassing nature of worship. For example, a statement from a writer appeared in print in which he said: “All of life is worship to God…even changing diapers.” Such an affirmation is void of truth and is nothing less than absurd. It borders on sacrilege, if in fact it’s not. To say that “changing diapers” is worship to God reflects a gross misunderstanding of what worship is all about. According to the International Standard Bible Encyclopedia (Vol. 5, 3110), worship is defined as, “Honor, reverence, homage, in thought, feeling, or act, [whether] paid to men, angels, spiritual beings, or to Deity.” (Obviously, a person could be deceived into worshiping some inanimate object, or some other human being, but for this article, we are using the word worship as a conscious homage, reverence and praise offered to the true and living God.) In the Old Testament the principal Hebrew word used for worship, “shahah,” carries the connotation of “bowing down to.” According to the ISBE article, from a composite of all Old Testament teaching on the subject, the idea for worship is “the reverential attitude of mind and body, combined with the…notions of religious adoration, obedience, and service.” In the New Testament, the …

“Yet you do not know what your life will be like tomorrow. You are just a vapor that appears for a little while and then vanishes away” (James 4:14). There is a line in the movie “The Quiet Man,” which starred John Wayne and Maureen O’Hara, in which O’Hara, playing John Wayne’s wife, said, “I must have my things about me!” It seems many today have the same philosophy about life. We easily get caught up in having our things about us, but forget life isn’t about the things we accumulate. It’s interesting, as we go through life, the things we must have about us change frequently. We accumulate all sorts of stuff, but we are never satisfied with what we have, being attracted to whatever is the latest and the greatest. We have to go here, see this, do that, but the gratification from it all is short lived, and we want to move on to other experiences. In the process of indulging desires, we may miss out on what life is all about. Things may loom large in importance to us, until someone close to us has to deal with an accident, a serious illness or something else that threatens his or her time on earth, or that someone else becomes oneself. When faced with one’s own mortality, or that of a loved one, things no longer seem that intriguing. We are reminded at such times that what really matters are those we love and care for, relationships with each …