I know some of you have already read the title, and the jokes have already started coming to the tip of your tongue. I also know that like myself, many people have had family members who literally can no longer remember who they are, and that is no joking matter. However, I believe once we are past those things, we all can quickly understand what we are talking about. In James 1:23-24, we read that anyone who is a hearer of the Word but not a doer “is like a man observing his natural face in a mirror; for he observes himself, goes away, and immediately forgets what kind of man he was.” We all can recognize that it makes no sense to hear the Word of God and then to not use it to help change our lives. We also understand how dangerous those kinds of actions are for us and for our souls. In James, the illustration that is used is a man looking at his face in the mirror, and when he walks away, he immediately forgets what he looked like. Is that helpful, or is that dangerous? When you look in the mirror, there are two things that you see: the good and the bad. If you walk away and forget what you looked like, that does not help you at all. In fact, it could be dangerous. If you walk away, knowing you have sin in your life, but you never do anything to change, …

Now Jesus sat opposite the treasury and saw how the people put money into the treasury. And many who were rich put in much. Then one poor widow came and threw in two mites, which make a quadrans. So He called His disciples to Himself and said to them, “Assuredly, I say to you that this poor widow has put in more than all those who have given to the treasury; for they all put in out of their abundance, but she out of her poverty put in all that she had, her whole livelihood.” (Mark 12:41-44) Have you ever heard someone say something like, “If I were rich, I would give a lot of money to the Lord’s work? I think of all kinds of good I would do…”? The question for us is this: Even if you are not rich, what are you doing for the Lord with what you have? Jesus praised the widow who gave the two mites, a tiny amount of money, and He commended her for her generosity. Whether rich or poor, we should give generously. Regardless of our social position, we should give sacrificially. No matter who we are, we should give as an act of loving worship to God who has blessed us with all things. Notice in the incident above that Jesus made no promise that God would multiply her physical blessings because she gave all. Jesus made no promise that her life would be easier, or even that she would have enough …

King David, in Psalm 19:13, prayed to God, saying, “Keep back your servant also from presumptuous sins; let them not have dominion over me…” To sin presumptuously against God means to defy or to refuse to obey God, and thus to show disrespect to God’s authority. The sin of presumption is one of the deadliest sins. Those who were found sinning presumptuously against God in Old Testament time were certainly and promptly punished (Numbers 15:30-31), as the following examples show. In 1 Samuel 15, we read about Saul, the first king of Israel. God, through His prophet Samuel, had commanded Saul to go to Amalek and to utterly destroy all and everything of the Amalekites because of their hostility toward Israel when the new nation was coming out of Egypt. Saul gathered his army and went to Amalek to do what God had commanded him to do. When he was coming back from Amalek, Samuel met him on the way. On seeing Samuel, Saul proudly said to him, “Blessed are you of the Lord! I have performed the commandment of the Lord.” But Samuel said to him, “What then is this bleating of the sheep in my ears, and the lowing of the oxen which I hear?” To that Saul replied, “They [that is, the people who had accompanied him] have brought them from the Amalekites, for the people spared the best of the sheep and the oxen, to sacrifice to the Lord your God; and the rest we have …

The story is told of two soldiers who had recently been released from a prison camp in Siberia following World War II. “We did our best,” said an officer, “to repatriate the men as fast as possible, but many were still there when winter threatened to close up the port.” Only a limited number could board the last small boat. Among those waiting to be transported were two who had been friends all through the war. One of them was selected, but the other seemed doomed to remain behind. An order was given that those who were leaving could take only one important item of luggage. The heart of the man who was chosen went out to his friend, so he emptied his duffel bag of its prized souvenirs and his personal belongings and told his companion to get into the canvas sack. Then carefully lifting the bag onto his shoulders, he boarded the ship with his dear friend—his single, most precious possession! Because of our sins, you and I are doomed! “For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God” (Romans 3:23) and “the wages of sin is death” (Romans 6:23). However, Jesus Christ died on the cross on our behalf as payment for our sins (2 Corinthians 5:21). Jesus did this willingly so that you and I might gain safe passage “home” to live together with our Heavenly Father for eternity. Our “ticket” home came at a great personal cost to Him; however, His self-sacrifice …

Evangelism requires preaching the Gospel and converting souls from sin. This is how Christ lived, what He taught and what His followers practiced. The full message of the Gospel was preached for the first time in approximately A.D. 33, and within less than 30 years, it had been taken to all the world. What a story! Jesus was always on the move during His personal ministry. He went to villages and to cities. He spoke to multitudes and to individuals. He used physical acts to teach spiritual lessons. No man ever spoke with greater authority or showed the power of God more clearly in His mighty works. Truly, He is the Son of God. Calling twelve men, known as apostles, Jesus taught them and trained them to carry on His work after His death, burial and resurrection. Some of His final words were, “Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost: Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and, lo, I am with you always, even unto the end of the world. Amen” (Matthew 28 19-20). Just before returning to the Father, He said to the apostles, “But ye shall receive power, after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you: and ye shall be witnesses unto me both in Jerusalem, and in all Judaea, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth” (Acts 1:8). Turning to …

I have been around a few people who are totally uncivil and rude. They can and will manipulate anyone who gets in their way. A word has developed throughout the past 100 years to describe such a negative characteristic, and that is “Svengali.” Never heard of it; well, you are not alone. Some information on this type of uncaring, controlling evil person noted as follows: Svengali is a fictional character of George du Maurier’s 1894 novel Trilby. Svengali would either fawn or bully and could be grossly impertinent. The word “Svengali” has come to be used as a common noun referring to a person who, with evil intent, controls another person by persuasion or deceit. The Svengali may use pseudo-kindness to get the other person to do what the Svengali desires. The word is also used frequently for any kind of coach who dominates a performer or for an unaccountable but influential adviser who has control of a politician or candidate. (Wikipedia). A further definition is “one who manipulates or controls another as by some mesmeric or sinister influence.” A Svengali-type person is one who is intrusive and presumptuous. Such a one is brash, self-assertive and will deceitfully control people. (Several movies were made about Svengali; John Barrymore played Svengali in a 1931 movie.) As I dwelled on the character of Svengali, my thought process started to think about a New Testament character by the name of Diotrephes found in 3 John. In my judgment, Diotrephes had many of the character …

Some years ago, I visited with a family that had two dogs. One was a boxer, and the other was a Pekingese. They both loved attention and scratches on the head. On that day, I scratched the head of the smaller Pekingese, and while that was going on, the boxer decided to nudge her head and knock my hand off of the smaller dog so she could get the same amount of scratching and love. Needless to say, the Pekingese was jealous of this and began to bark in protest. I have often wondered who was more jealous of the attention. This humorous story reminds me that when it comes to our pets, jealousy can be light-hearted and fun to watch. In human beings, it leads to a whole lot of trouble. There is also a jealousy that reflects the heart of our God as we are told by Moses and Paul. In Exodus 34:14, we read, “For you shall worship no other god, for the Lord, whose name is Jealous, is a jealous God.” Paul penned, “For I feel a divine jealousy for you, since I betrothed you to one husband, to present you as a pure virgin to Christ” (2 Corinthians 11:2). This divine or “godly jealousy” about which Paul wrote was sincere in that the Corinthians were always in danger of losing their spiritual purity and being “led astray from a sincere and pure devotion to Christ” (2 Corinthians 11:3). God told Moses when He gave the …

People often hold to one of two positions. Some say that God is loving and will never send men to a place like Hell even if they don’t believe in Christ. Others believe that despite their faith in the Lord, they will still be lost. The truth is that unbelief will condemn the best of us, and a simple application of Bible truths to our lives will work to save the worst of us. Romans 8:31 says, “If God be for us, who can be against us?” This text is directed to people who believe that their lives will never be good enough to be saved. God posed the question of Romans 8:31 to Christians who fear becoming lost. All kinds of answers come to our minds when we think about the question, “If God be for us, who can be against us?” The devil is against us. The world and our own humanity are against us. The list of people and things that are against us is truly endless. However, the point here is this. Everything that is against us is powerless with God on our side. As a husband is for his wife, or parents are for their children, God is for Christians. Romans 8:32 tells us how much God is for his people. He “did not spare His own Son but delivered Him up for us all.” Yes, Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures (1 Corinthians 15:3). “Greater love hath no man than this, …

Abraham raised his hand to plunge the knife into his son, Isaac, the son of promise, when the angel of the Lord stopped him with a word. Then, the Lord said, “Now I know that you fear God seeing you have not withheld your son, your only son, from me” (Genesis 22:12). Isaac was loved by Abraham, as all fathers love their sons. Beyond that, however, Isaac was the son of whom God had said, “Through Isaac shall your offspring be named” (Genesis 21:11). Every promise God had made to Abraham was to be fulfilled in Abraham’s descendants through Isaac, not in Abraham himself. So, Abraham had faith that God would keep his promises to raise up children through Isaac, even if he also had faith enough to kill Isaac as God commanded.

No doubt about it, we live in a very busy age with so many things to be done that sometimes 24-hour days are not long enough. How quickly we can become “swamped” by the multiplicity of jobs to be done, people for whom to do things, taking care of ourselves (and often we truly neglect this one) and etc. How easy it is to push some things, even important ones, to the back burner just to get through the day. Case in point: We just did this very thing because of the stress and pressure of getting through our days at the hospital while the staff was trying to determine what needs to happen with me. My wife and I nearly always have our daily devotional and Bible reading just before bedtime, but while hospitalized overnight this past week, it just slipped by us. We had the Bible with us, and the hospital even provides one. It was just the concern, “busy-ness” and stress of being in a different place that apparently took precedent. It just so happened that when we got home I picked up a copy of The Spiritual Sword publication to read, and the Editor, Alan Highers, had used as his editorial: “The Danger of Forgetting God.” It sounded like it was directed at me! Some of his comments follow: Every life has priorities. By priorities, we mean those things that matter most. With some, it may be making money. This does not mean being industrious or hard-working, but it encompasses …

Some people claim that Christ will return to earth to set up His kingdom and begin reigning on earth. However, they overlook one important fact: He set up His kingdom long ago. He has already been reigning almost two thousand years! In Mark 9:1, Jesus told His disciples, “Assuredly, I say to you that there are some standing here who will not taste death till they see the kingdom of God present with power.” Jesus clearly told them that the kingdom would come very soon within the lifetime of some of the people who were standing there. Later, all of those people died, and they’ve been dead for many centuries. So, the coming of the kingdom cannot be a future event. In Colossians 1:13, Paul said this about God: “He has delivered us from the power of darkness and conveyed us into the kingdom of the Son of His love.” This clearly shows that the kingdom of Christ had already been established before Paul wrote Colossians. In the first century, he and every Christian had already been “conveyed” (transferred) into the kingdom of Christ. Therefore, we know that the kingdom came soon after the words of Jesus in Mark 9:1, and before the words of Paul in Colossians 1:13. Every person who obeys the Gospel becomes a citizen of His kingdom (Philippians 3:20), a member of His body, the church (Colossians 1:18; Galatians 3:26-27). There is no need to guess when the kingdom of Christ came. Acts 2 shows that the kingdom …

It took an incident at Walmart, a ride in an ambulance and eight days in two different hospitals to get the message to me, but I got the message in a forceful way, a message of truth that I didn’t want to hear. That message—I have diabetes! This is not the first time in my life that I have received truth that I didn’t want to hear. When the doctor told us that there was no hope for our small daughter, and when she died several hours later, this was not a message that I wanted to hear. When the phone call came that told us that our 24-year-old son had been killed in an automobile accident, I didn’t want to accept that message either. Anyone who has received similar messages knows what I mean. We also know that in spite of all the denial, the weeping and all of the “If I had only…” thoughts, nothing changed the facts of the messages. I have diabetes, and all the denial I may want to have does not change one iota the truth of that fact. I now have only two choices: Obey the rules and regulations that are necessary to keep it under control or go on and act like I don’t have the disease and suffer the awful consequences that will surely come as a result. Which do think I intend to do? Man is in sin—this is a fact! Truth—biblical truth—will make him free. That truth is tough and unbending. …

What a blessing it is to be “in Christ” and daily live our lives unto Him who loved us and gave Himself for us! The apostle Paul developed and maintained a “can do” and an eager attitude as a Christian. “I can do all things through him who strengthens me” (Philippians 4:13 ESV). What can I do for Jesus? Ours is a life of becoming someone greater than we used to be. Ours is a life of radical change and transformation so, as we develop, others can say, “I see an increasing likeness of his Father in him.”

The baby is born. From the first cry, all the baby knows is, “I need this now!” There is no time beyond right now. “I need to eat, now. It’s 2:00 in the morning; what does that mean? All I know is I am hungry!” As the child grows, hopefully there is greater and greater recognition that there is more than right now. Some grasp it at a younger age, some much later (maybe never). Maturity brings the recognition that life is not a sprint, but a marathon. Spirituality We must not “flame up and flame out” spiritually. We have a “course to run.” As Paul faced death, he could confidently say, “I have finished my course” (2 Timothy 4:7). Jesus told the churches of Asia, “Be faithful unto death” (Revelation 2:10). Our spiritual life will have ups-and-downs, but we just have to keep going. Marriage Too many couples today seem to view marriage as a sprint, so when things get hard, they are ready to give up and quit. Only when a couple enters marriage viewing it as a lifelong marathon will it be successful, knowing that it is worth the run! Life If we are blessed with years, we realize life is a marathon. It has those wonderful parts that light our lives up and give lasting memories. It has the little things that bring a smile to our faces, those sweet, tiny things. For example, the phone rings, and a little 18-month-old voice says, “Hey Pawpaw.” What a precious memory! …

The physical act of kneeling is normally associated with an attitude of humility and a submissive will of the individual doing the kneeling. Normally, it is not done in protest. Often a person will kneel and pray, asking God to heal his loved one who is critically ill. We have seen a grieving widow kneeling beside the flag covered casket containing the body of her husband who was killed during combat. Luke records in Acts 20:36 and in Acts 21:5 that the apostle Paul “knelt down and prayed” before he left his brothers and sisters in Christ and continued on his journey to Jerusalem. It must have been a very emotional scene as men, perhaps weeping, thought that they would not see the apostle again. Bible students are acutely aware of Stephen, the first martyr for Christ (Acts 7). He was being stoned to death by those people who were opposed to the truth he was preaching. The last words recorded by Luke that Stephen uttered appears in Acts 7:60. It reads, “Then he knelt down and cried out with a loud voice, ‘Lord do not charge them with this sin,’ And when he had said this, he fell asleep.” How merciful and forgiving was this servant of God, while kneeling, knowing his death was imminent! Jesus Christ, while in the Garden of Gethsemane, “knelt down and prayed.” Our Lord was a humble servant of His Father and He prayed, “Father, if it is Your will, take this cup away …

Most of the writing we have seen by our brethren on this subject over the past 40 years dealt primarily with the fact that James and Paul were not contradictory though Paul teaches justification by faith and James teaches justification by works. Paul nowhere even implies that we are justified at the point of faith or by faith alone. Nor does James suggest that the good works a man may do are the grounds for his justification or that it was not based on his faith. In fact, he specifically affirms the necessity of faith demonstrated by obedience. In our judgment, this aspect of the subject has been well covered by our brethren. The reasoning has been something like this: Abraham was justified (declared to be just) when he offered his son on the altar (James 2:21). This shows that “faith without works is dead,” and that faith was perfected by obedience (James 2:20). The principle is true in our justification (salvation from past sins). We trust in God, but until that trust leads us to obey God in baptism, we are not justified by our faith. The reasoning is true, and the conclusion is valid. However, it seems to me that there is an additional truth that needs to be emphasized. Neither Moses, Paul nor James were talking about Abraham being saved from his past sins and being translated into a different kingdom or a relationship as in the case of an alien sinner today. We have heard it discussed in …

The apostle John commanded, “Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world” (1 John 2:15). This imperative should motivate us, both individually and collectively, to change the world. Consider a story that I read some time ago. A man decided that he would change the world, but, he wasn’t successful. So, he decided to change the country, but he wasn’t successful. Therefore, he decided to change his community, but he wasn’t successful. So, he decided to change his family, but he wasn’t successful. Finally, he decided to change himself. He was successful! Then, his family changed, and they affected their street. The people on the street affected their community, and the people of the community affected their country. Then, the people of the country affected the world. Yes, we can change the world, one person at a time, and that process begins with transforming our own minds and persons (Romans 12:2). As time goes by and the years come and go, may we set our minds to be better each year than we have been in time past. Doing that will make it more likely to build better and larger congregations of God’s people in our respective communities.

Most who may read this article will probably be Christian men and women, who upon becoming Christians no doubt understood that baptism into Christ (Galatians 3:27) was not the end but the beginning of a life dedicated unto Christ. This entails knowledge that our Lord requires much of us in this life, even though things in life may discourage us from doing the will of the Lord. This “much” required by the Lord requires Christians to be a forgiving people (Ephesians 4:32). However, some things may discourage us from so doing. Though forgiveness may be challenging to practice, may we always be committed to maintaining a spirit of forgiveness so that we may forgive others as the Lord so directs.

The language the New Testament was written in is koine Greek. Greek is a case-based language, and by that we are referring to a grammatical category determined by the syntactic or semantic function of a noun or pronoun. The case value reflects the grammatical function performed by that word in a phrase. For example, in Romans 16:16, Paul stated, “All the churches of Christ greet you.” In this instance, the prepositional phrase, “of Christ,” is a possessive genitive. A possessive genitive is where the head noun (church) is owned by the genitive noun (Christ). Thus, Paul spoke of the church being owned by or belonging to Christ. While this may seem like nothing more than a lesson in grammar, it is of vital importance in how we view the church. Jesus had previously said He would build His church on the truth of Peter’s confession that Jesus is the Son of God (Matthew 16:16, 18). The purchase price of the church was the blood of Christ, shed on the cross (Acts 20:28). Christ is head of the church (Ephesians 1:22-23) because of Who He is and what He has done. He has all authority (Matthew 28:18), and so it is His will, which is in harmony with that of the Father (John 3:35; 6:38), that the church must follow (Ephesians 5:24). It is totally and completely logical, and appropriate then, for the church to wear the name of the Lord. For religious groups to identify their denomination by something other than He …

Luke’s opening remarks seem to indicate that he thought of Acts as a continuation of his previous account of the works and the words of our Lord. He wrote, “The former account I made, O Theophilus, of all that Jesus began both to do and teach” (Acts 1:1). The church is, after all, the body of Christ (Ephesians 1:22-23). Paul’s persecution of the church thus resulted in the Lord asking, “Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting Me?” (Acts 9:4). It might, then, be said that Acts gives its readers an overview of the workings of Jesus over the next thirty years following His resurrection. The book is certainly consistent with Jesus’ stated purpose for coming to earth. He told Zacchaeus, “For the Son of Man has come to seek and to save that which was lost” (Luke 19:10). McGarvey explained his understanding of Luke’s purpose in the introduction to his original commentary on Acts. Much of the greater part of Acts may be resolved into a detailed history of cases of conversion, and of unsuccessful attempts at the conversion of sinners. If we extract from it all cases of this kind, with the facts and incidents preparatory to each and immediately consequent upon it, we will have exhausted almost the entire contents of the narrative. Anyone wishing to understand the Lord’s purpose in building His church needs to look no further than this great book. It gives a very clear picture of the actions carried out by the earliest disciples …