God’s “kingdom” is an often-misunderstood concept. “Church of Christ” always means kingdom of God,” but “kingdom of God” does not always mean “church of Christ” (Matthew 5:18-20). Context must always determine meaning. Also, the terms “kingdom of God” and “kingdom of heaven” are interchangeable terms (Matthew 19:23-24). Truly understanding the nature of God’s kingdom will both strengthen the Christian and help evangelize the lost. This is why God’s kingdom was a staple subject of preaching in the Book of Acts (1:3; 8:12; 19:8; 20:25; 28:23, 31). Meaning of “Kingdom” “Kingdom” is from a Greek word (basileia) that means “kingship, royal power, royal rule” (Daniel 4:31, 36). Secondarily, it refers to “the territory ruled over by a king.” Therefore, it first means “reign and not realm” (Revelation 11:15). Consider the parables in this light (Matthew 13:11, 24-32). Consider the priority object to be sought in this light (Matthew 6:33). Consider also some difficult “kingdom” passages in this light (Matthew 5:19; 8:11-12; 11:12; Luke 17:20-21). Since the rule of God does not operate in a void, “kingdom” does imply people living under that rule, and hence, the derivative meaning of realm. “Kingdom” and the Old Testament Since kingdom primarily means “royal rule,” it is evident that God has always had a kingdom, although there have been different manifestations of it (Exodus 15:18). At least some aspect of God’s “kingdom” was a present reality in the faith of the Old Testament. The psalmist declared, “The Lord has established His throne in heaven, And …

Life is but a stopping place. It might be called a resting place as we are traveling from here to sweet eternity. We all have a destination for our journey, but different paths along the way. We’re all meant to learn some things, but we were never meant to remain here. Our destination is far greater than we could ever know. For some, the journey is short, while for others, the journey is long and slow. When the journey ends, perhaps we will claim a great reward. We may find an everlasting peace together with the Lord Jesus and God the Father [and God the Holy Spirit]. When we go home for the holidays, to a commencement ceremony, a wedding celebration or perhaps just a vacation, there is a price, a cost, a fare for that journey. It is the same for the journey of life. We research the ins and outs of getting to our anticipated destination. Our Creator gave us a guidebook to insure our safe arrival at the chosen destination. Within that book He placed plans and expectations for us. Our God is the Author of the book, and His son Jesus Christ is our Travel Guide. In order that we may reach that sweet eternity, we must heed every instruction that God gave us. We must go where He says go and avoid all from which He asks us to refrain. When Jesus instructed us to put ourselves in a position of second place importance, He …

“Therefore I ask that you do not lose heart at my tribulations for you, which is your glory” (Ephesians 3:13 NKJV). In this passage of Scripture, Paul encouraged Christians in Ephesus not to become discouraged, especially considering what Paul’s ministry for the Gospel had brought to him. He had to deal with tribulations or the trouble preaching the Gospel can bring. Tribulations refer to trouble or trials that can be traced to the Gospel and what it brings to those seeking to live by its precepts. It can be discouraging to seek to live for God and then have to face troubles in doing so. Satan wants to keep us from seeking the will of God in our lives. He uses situations and people to dishearten us, to try to divert our attention away from the will of God, back to the world, a way of life that puts us back in sin, which only brings more trouble to life. This certainly can bring about a negative influence in how we make our choices in life, in how we live our lives. Seeing the tribulations Paul’s life in Christ brought to him, Ephesian Christians must have wondered if perhaps Paul’s lifestyle was contrary to what God wanted, since it brought these results. He encouraged them not to give up, to realize this is to the glory of God and for them as well. The phrase “lose heart” means to turn out to be a coward, to lose one’s courage. In …

Many seem to believe truth is either non-existent, unattainable or ever changing. God’s people, however, must help the world see the unchanging truth that will set them free (John 8:32). Paul told Timothy the church is the “pillar and ground of the truth” (1 Timothy 3:15). In other words, the church is the column and the prop that holds up the truth. Jesus’ prayer shows the Truth is important because it is the means of man’s sanctification. No wonder Jesus gave His followers the assignment of taking the good news to every creature (Mark 16:15-16)! The church is to teach the truth. Peter and John said they were compelled to preach (Acts 4:20). Later, all the apostles were arrested because of the impact of their preaching. After an angel set them free, they were found in the Temple teaching. They were recaptured, threatened and beaten, but did not stop preaching daily (Acts 5:25, 42). Those scattered by the persecution following the death of Stephen preached wherever they went (Acts 8:4). Paul reminded the Ephesian elders of his teaching in their city day and night (Acts 20:20). The church must send teachers with the Truth. Christ’s mission for Paul was carrying Jesus’ name to “Gentiles, kings, and the children of Israel” (Acts 9:15). Barnabas was sent to Antioch to encourage young Christians. He found Paul to help him, and they taught for a year (Acts 11:22-26). That same church prayed and fasted before Paul and Barnabas went on their missionary journey (Acts 13:2-3). Each …

I don’t know about you, but I imagine it’s hard to find a happier creature on earth than a mouse in a bucket of cheese! Can you imagine the contentment, the abundance and peace a hungry mouse would experience in a case like this? Sure, the cheese would get eaten and the poor mouse would go hungry again, but what a feast of blessings for our furry friend. Like many people, I have experienced that kind of happiness. The blessings I received, however, were of the longer-lasting sort, the everlasting sort, and when I found the way to that happy state, all I wanted to do was share that happiness with others. In Psalm 1:1, David told about blessedness, but not just any kind. Biblical blessedness is a supreme kind of happiness. It is an incomparable joy – the joy of knowing, with confidence, that you are held joyfully in the heart of our Creator. All my life, I was hungry for the truth. I thirsted for spiritual peace and understanding. I searched many philosophies and found nothing except pure unaltered Christianity that made any sense. I searched different faith groups that claimed to be Christians but found them lacking in love and obedience to the laws of Christ. He said if we loved Him, we would obey Him. John 14:15 is so simple that anyone being honest with himself can understand it! In Romans 3:23, we read that “all have sinned.” Therefore, we need a Savior because our sin …

Many of us “old timers” grew up with a saying of “waste not, want not.” We were taught that if we took care of our resources (even though they might have been meager), we would always have enough to get by. As youngsters, we didn’t have all the available and easy-to-get merchandise that is available today. Nowadays, we may waste more in just a few days than we may have had during a whole month in days gone by. Times are different. The feeling of prosperity and plenty has caused us to not be nearly as careful to protect our means as we were a few years ago. We sorely need to remember and apply the “waste not, want not” mentality. From the beginning, God gave man work to do to keep him busy and to protect his God-given livelihood. “Then the Lord God took the man and put him in the garden of Eden to tend and keep it” (Genesis 2:15 NKJV). Had Adam not kept (that is cared for) the Garden and what it was to produce to provide life, he would not have had the means of survival that God had planned for him. God did not create a mass of disarray for “…God saw everything that He had made, and indeed it was very good…” (Genesis 1:31). All of God’s creation was made for a purpose and was orderly and productive. He intended for mankind to take care of it, and that still applies today. We …

We live in an age where people do not feel that they are bound by honor, commitment and principle. Instead, they live their lives looking for what makes them happy. They will argue that all God really wants is for them to be happy or if they are happy, God must be as well. Ecclesiastes may be the single most applicable book of the Old Testament to our lives today. It is the account of Solomon’s search for truth and for the purpose of our existence on this earth. It details the various ways and means by which he tested what had value in life and how it all brought him back to the conclusion that the ultimate purpose of a life that would not end empty (in vanity) is to “Fear God, and keep His commandments” (Ecclesiastes 12:13 NKJV). Within his trials and studies, Solomon focused one section on pleasure and happiness. Notice what he said. I said in my heart, “Come now, I will test you with mirth; therefore enjoy pleasure”; but surely, this also was vanity. I said of laughter – “Madness!”; and of mirth, “What does it accomplish?” I searched in my heart how to gratify my flesh with wine, while guiding my heart with wisdom, and how to lay hold on folly, till I might see what was good for the sons of men to do under heaven all the days of their lives. I made my works great, I built myself houses, and planted …

It has been said that a mother once asked, “At what age should I begin to teach my child?” The person replied, “How old is he now?” The mother said, “Two years.” His response was, “You have already lost about two years.” Recent studies indicate that babies may begin to learn some things even before they are born. However, it is a fallacy to suppose that children will love their homes and learn properly from them just because they eat and sleep there. Wise parents will not only try to make their children satisfied and happy in their home environment, but they will also try to make home a place where good memories will be created that will serve good purposes in the difficult years that lie ahead. Parents should provide room and occasion somewhere in the house for indoor activities that will charm, educate and improve the child so that he will not be restless for the street when school hours are over. Projects should also be included to broaden his interest in nature, hobbies or other things that will enrich his life as he grows older. If parents would deliberately find ways to create in their children a love and a respect for nature as part of God’s heritage, and a love of study and learning about all that is around them, great results could follow. The child will then be interested in where we came from, what our purpose in life is, how to achieve that purpose …

The importance of true doctrine is plainly and forcefully taught in the Scriptures. Even the casual and untrained eye can readily observe this simple truth. One who desires to please God, yet expresses a diminishing attitude toward doctrine, indicates that he has been taught by word or by example to have such an attitude. Our soul’s salvation depends upon adhering to true and sound doctrine as it is revealed in God’s holy Word. Notice a few passages that teach this great truth. With such an array of passages pointing out the absolute necessity of teaching, defending and obeying sound doctrine (many more such passages could be produced), it is almost inconceivable that one could misunderstand the importance of teaching and of abiding in true doctrine. However, just recently one who was apparently sincere in her statement voiced the following words: “Winning souls is more important than doctrinal differences.” In answer to such a statement, we would emphatically affirm that one cannot win even one soul to Christ without the pure and sound doctrine. This is why denominationalism is wrong. It wins many souls to its creeds, but none are won to Christ by its teachings. We would ask some questions concerning this lady’s remark. Did she learn this attitude toward true doctrine from the Bible? Did any apostle, any writer of Scripture or the Lord Himself ever set forth anything akin to this position? Of course, the answer to both questions is a resounding, “No!” The fact of the matter is that …

I love the spring of the year. It’s like the world is waking up from a long winter’s nap, and in some ways it is. Those winter days can sometimes be cold and dark, and everything kind of seems gray and dull. However, with springtime, we often get to feel that pleasant warmth provided by the sun, and we get to see those beautiful, bold colors provided by the blooming flowers, the trees and the rest of God’s beautiful creation. In the springtime, the world wakes up, and new life appears all around us. This reminds me of the new life that we can have in Christ Jesus. How many times have you heard people talking about searching for purpose or meaning in life? How many times have you heard somebody say they wished they could start over as they thought about all the things they did in their lives? People struggle with things like that, and if we will only look to God, we can find the answers. According to Ecclesiastes 12:13, our purpose here is to “fear God and keep His commandments.” This is to be mankind’s all. Yet, mankind has not always chosen to serve God. Since the first man and the first woman, people have sinned. In fact, we “all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God” (Romans 3:23). We sin when we are “lured and enticed” by our own desires (James 1:14). We have made those choices, and because of our sins, …

In Paul’s last letter, he warned of conditions in the latter days. Before proceeding, the caveat must be established that the last days have been ongoing since the day of Pentecost following the death, resurrection and ascension of Jesus Christ. Peter, pressed to explain the apostles’ behavior of speaking in unstudied languages, explained that it was the fulfillment of the prophet Joel’s passage, where Peter began by saying, “But this is what was spoken by the prophet Joel: ‘And it shall come to pass in the last days…’” (Acts 2:16-17 NKJV). Following the Patriarchal and Mosaic eras came the Christian era. After that, there will be no more (2 Peter 3:10-12). Thus, these days in which we are amenable to Christ are the last days (Hebrews 1:1-4). Paul said that those last days would be characterized by compounded sinfulness. To paraphrase and comment (for the reader can read the passage for himself), 2 Timothy 3:1-4 indicates a love for everything unholy, beginning with a love of self, proceeding to a love of money, intensified by a prideful disregard for even the most basic and tender of authorities (parents). Further, people will be bull-headed and love their lustful pleasures instead of their God. They will even feign righteousness (v. 5) and lead people away with a remarkably stubborn resistance to truth (vs. 6-8). There will be a limitation or a point beyond the extent of God’s “longsuffering” (v. 9; cf. 2 Peter 3:9), but a lot of damage will be done …

Are you excited about today? Excited about its opportunities? Its possibilities? Do you have confidence today in what God can do? Confidence in His peace? His joy? What about your future? Do you think it’s bright? Do you think it gets brighter once you pass from this temporal world? What about your past? Are you comfortable with it? Can you accept it? If you have trouble with today, your future or your past, why not take Jesus’ words in John 10:10 to heart? He’s promised an abundant life, and His promises never fail. Today, how will your actions and attitudes show that you believe Jesus’ promise?

The next thing you purchase could be a lifetime supply. This isn’t a sweepstakes. Read the first line again. It’s a fact we take for granted most seconds of every day. It would drive us crazy spending every waking hour wondering if it was our last. Perhaps we couldn’t even sleep due to fear. So, what do we do? Scripture teaches us that we need to live for our last hour, not wonder about it. Decide about What to Wonder – If the Lord wills. Come now, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we will go to such and such a city, spend a year there, buy and sell, and make a profit”; whereas you do not know what will happen tomorrow. For what is your life? It is even a vapor that appears for a little time and then vanishes away. Instead you ought to say, “If the Lord wills, we shall live and do this or that.” But now you boast in your arrogance. All such boasting is evil. Therefore, to him who knows to do good and does not do it, to him it is sin. (James 4:13-17 NKJV) Learn about What Not to Worry – Not Things. Then one from the crowd said to Him, “Teacher, tell my brother to divide the inheritance with me.” But He said to him, “Man, who made Me a judge or an arbitrator over you?” And He said to them, “Take heed and beware of covetousness, for one’s life does not …

As Virginia and I were on our way home following the Sunday morning assembly, we saw a beautiful tree in its magnificent golden splendor, and I thought of the words of God, the Creator of the heavens and the earth in Genesis 8:22. It reads, “While the earth remains, Seedtime and harvest, Cold and heat, Winter and summer, And day and night Shall not cease” (NKJV). God remains faithful to His promise. We have the changing of the seasons. Autumn, with the beautiful and diverse colors of the foliage, is a favorite season of the year. Yet, we know that soon the array of such beauty will end, and winter will begin. I also thought about the cycles of life and the comparison of the seasons we experience. Some of us are past autumn, and now we are in the winter of our lives. However, winter has its own beauty as does old age. While the valley has its splendor, the view from the mountain top is often more beautiful. Because of God’s grace and the death of His Son, we know that we are nearer to our home than ever before. Following winter, spring will soon follow with new life springing forth in the vegetative kingdom. The child of God finds comfort in the words of the apostle Paul in 1 Corinthians 15:50-56, which says: Now this I say, brethren, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God; nor does corruption inherit incorruption. Behold, I tell you a mystery: We …

Water movement is one cause of soil erosion, which may result from flooding, rainwater runoff or melting snow. The water takes soil from one place (e.g., a riverbank or a mountain top) and deposits it somewhere else (e.g., a delta). As the soil gets moved from one place to another, some areas lose soil while other places are built up. Erosion may result in fertile soil being washed downstream. Farmers and gardeners living upstream need to replace their soil, while people downstream benefit from the erosion upstream. Water movement is not the only cause for erosion, for wind also does its part, too. In either case, soil does not do anything to cause or to prevent erosion. Soil is affected by weather and does not have any control over whether it gets moved or stays in place. Our faith also can either grow, or it can erode away. We often read and hear about ways to grow our faith. We may even start to engage in activities that help our faith. However, we can also engage in activities that result in the erosion of our faith. How often do we think about sabotaging our faith? What kind of activities cause our faith to erode away? Not Paying Attention to God’s Word – The writer of Hebrews penned, “Therefore we must give the more earnest heed to the things we have heard, lest we drift away…how shall we escape if we neglect so great a salvation…” (Hebrews 2:1, 3a NKJV). If we …

The Bible contains many valuable lessons for its readers. In addition to providing a pathway that leads to eternal life, it contains information about successfully raising children. Sometimes the most powerful examples are negative ones, and the book of 1 Samuel contains a lesson regarding Eli and his unwillingness to chasten his wicked sons. Eli was the one who instructed Samuel to be a servant of the tabernacle and receive instructions from God. While God’s Word generally portrays Eli in a positive manner, it treats Eli’s sons differently. First Samuel 3:12-13 says, “In that day I will perform against Eli all that I have spoken concerning his house, from beginning to end. For I have told him that I will judge his house forever for the iniquity which he knows, because his sons made themselves vile, and he did not restrain them” (NKJV). Eli was culpable in the behaviors of his children because as the text says, “He did not restrain them.” That is, he never rebuked them for their lewd behavior. Every parent would do well to take note of how Eli failed in raising his sons. Eli was unwilling to correct his sons because he honored them more than he did God. First Samuel 2:29 says, “Why do you kick at My sacrifice and My offering which I have commanded in My dwelling place, and honor your sons more than Me, to make yourselves fat with the best of all the offerings of Israel My people?” This is a powerful lesson …

Life is full of choices. The most important of these choices is to choose God. It cannot be overemphasized that being a follower of God is a choice. Even the nation of Israel, which God rescued from Egyptian slavery and which entered into a covenant with Him, still encountered choices it needed to make on multiple occasions. Especially twice God called upon His people to make the most important of all choices. “I call heaven and earth as witnesses today against you, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing; therefore choose life, that both you and your descendants may live” (Deuteronomy 30:19 NKJV). “‘And if it seems evil to you to serve the Lord, choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve, whether the gods which your fathers served that were on the other side of the River, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you dwell. But as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.’ So the people answered and said: ‘Far be it from us that we should forsake the Lord to serve other gods’” (Joshua 24:15-16). Sometimes the Israelites made good choices while at other times they chose poorly. The book of Judges chronicles the cycles of Israel’s faithfulness and unfaithfulness. Fast forward 1,000 years to the time of Jesus, and God still presents this same choice – whether or not to “choose life.” He never compels any to believe and to be baptized. “He who …

Jesus said, “But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you” (Matthew 6:33 NKJV). He was speaking about food, clothing and such like. Just before that in verses 19-20, our Lord said, “Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal; but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.” Luke 12:15 records Jesus saying, “…For one’s life does not consist in the abundance of the things he possesses.” The apostle Paul wrote, “For we brought nothing into this world, and it is certain we can carry nothing out. And having food and clothing, with these we shall be content. But those who desire to be rich fall into temptation and a snare, and into many foolish and harmful lusts which drown men in destruction and perdition” (1 Timothy 6:7-9). Many years ago, I saw a man on a television show making a confession. He said, “All my life has been devoted to making money. In doing so, I have lost all my friends and most of my family. Here I stand in my late eighties not far from standing before the Lord in Judgment, and I am spiritually destitute.” Jesus told the rich young ruler, “If you want to be perfect, go, …