Have you ever been homesick? I think at present, I might be one of the people who can clearly explain how homesick feels! It’s been nearly three months since I came to the US. I had to leave my home, my people and everything I have in India for my Masters in the US. At first, I felt happy and excited, but my urge to see my home is exponentially increasing as days go by. I always cherish the good times spent with my dear ones, and I look forward to going back home after completing my education. Last week, I was meditating on Revelation 21-22, and the idea that my home is Heaven hit me hard. The apostle Paul penned, “For our citizenship is in heaven, from which we also eagerly wait for the Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, who will transform our lowly body that it may be conformed to His glorious body, according to the working by which He is able even to subdue all things to Himself” (Philippians 3:20-21 NKJV). I just want to reflect on the thought of how homesick we ought to feel for our eternal home. The other day, I saw a video on YouTube in which a mother recently took her kids to a brand-new home. The kids knew that they bought a home, but still, they were surprised by the size of the house. They asked, “Mom, why didn’t you tell us that our new house is this big?” The reality …

“Therefore gird up the loins of your mind, be sober, and rest your hope fully upon the grace that is to be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ” (1 Peter 1:13 NKJV). Proverbs 23:7 says that as a person thinks in his heart, so is he. Before we can get our lives and affairs in order, we must get our minds in order. Our text above talks about getting our minds focused on the hope of our grace and being fully committed to our work for the Lord. Peter was a fisherman. In his time, fishermen and most other men usually wore two layers of clothing. The outer layer was like a robe, often tied with a sash or a belt. The inner layer was usually a wrap of cloth that would be tied and tucked around the waist. When one would run, and often for work, he would reach down and take the bottom of the wrap, pull it up and tuck it in the waist, essentially turning it into a pair of loose pants. Girding up your loins was an idiom for getting down to business or getting serious about something. The coming of our Lord is nearer than when these words were written thousands of years ago. More than ever, we need to be ready for our Lord to come back. We need to have our minds and our lives focused on our Christian responsibilities. Too often, people take lightly worship and service of …

Because there is such a close relationship between our thinking, talking and acting, we need to use words with extreme care. Not only do preachers and teachers need to realize this, but we also need to teach our listeners to practice thinking and talking more accurately. Although many connected with the church of our Lord may now ridicule the idea of calling Bible things by Bible names, it is especially important that we use Bible words in the proper way. Such things as saying, “We do not believe in music in the church” has led some who are not familiar with our services to think we do not even sing. Expressions such as, “The church of Christ teaches (some particular doctrine)” do disservice to the cause of Christ, for they imply that the church of Christ is some entity that originates doctrine. Just now, I read an excellent article on discouragement. The author so aptly pointed out the dangers of discouragement and suggested that it was one device of Satan to destroy our effectiveness. That is true, but I want to suggest an additional thought. Many of us use the words “discouragement” and “disappointment” as if they were synonyms. They are not. If we do not recognize the difference, we may use the expression, “I am discouraged” then act that way and be defeated. Even Jesus was disappointed, but who would be so bold as to say He did not have courage? If a person is “discouraged,” he loses his …

Many of us have memorized 1 Thessalonians 5:17, or at least have heard it quoted many times. Paul states: “Pray without ceasing” (NKJV). Someone told me we could state it another way, “Do not cease your prayer life.” What Paul encouraged was a spirit of prayer always accompanying us through life. What a wonderful blessing as we go through the activities of each day. We are mindful that God is fully aware of what is going on in our lives. We read in Colossians 4:2-4, “Continue earnestly in prayer, being vigilant in it with thanksgiving; meanwhile praying also for us, that God would open to us a door for the word, to speak the mystery of Christ, for which I am also in chains, that I may make it manifest, as I ought to speak.” We need to pray often for open doors – opportunities to share with others the Gospel message about Jesus. Even though Paul was a prisoner, that did not cause him to lose his desire and hope for open doors for sharing the Gospel. As we go through life, we must look for opportunities with our hearts and eyes to take advantage of encounters we have in our lives to teach and influence others to love God and to keep His commandments (John 14:15).

In an age of pluralism and multiculturalism, emphasis is placed upon many different ideas about God, the church, worship and other details of religion. It seems that any person’s view is valid even if it does not mesh with Scripture. Finding God’s direction is important in an age when anything bearing the title “church” is deemed acceptable regardless of its doctrinal stands. While diversity might be the order of the day, unity is Christ’s desire for all who would be His followers. John 17:20-21 says, “I do not pray for these alone, but also for those who will believe in Me through their word; that they all may be one, as You, Father, are in Me, and I in You; that they also may be one in Us, that the world may believe that You sent Me” (NKJV). In accordance with the prayer that Jesus uttered in John 17, it is apparent that Jesus wants all His disciples to be unified. This being the case, the Bible teaches that division in the church is sinful. This was a problem that Paul addressed in the church at Corinth. First Corinthians 1:10 reads, “Now I plead with you, brethren, by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that you all speak the same thing, and that there be no divisions among you, but that you be perfectly joined together in the same mind and in the same judgment.” In the first part of this book, it is evident that they were divided …

God created all things that were created within one literal week (Genesis 1:1-31). Moses elsewhere confirmed that God actually took six days to create everything, “For in six days the Lord made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and all that is in them…” (Exodus 20:11 NKJV). The creation account ends with a seventh day, “Thus the heavens and the earth, and all the host of them, were finished. And on the seventh day God ended His work which He had done, and He rested on the seventh day from all His work which He had done” (Genesis 2:1-2). The term translated “were finished” means God brought to completion His work. “Rest” does not mean God was tired but that He ceased creative activity (Hebrews 4:4). The universe is no longer in a process of being created. Genesis 1 does not allow for additional creation, but it permits procreation and self-perpetuation. “Host” is a collective term that refers to an organized and disciplined body (cf., Genesis 21:22; Deuteronomy 4:19; 1 Kings 22:19). It designates the total, made up of the various component parts in the planned design of creation. God called the previous days either “good” or “very good,” but it is the seventh day alone that God sanctified. “Then God blessed the seventh day and sanctified it, because in it He rested from all His work which God had created and made” (Genesis 2:3). “Sanctified” means to make “holy” or to set apart. Nothing in the creation context …

When one thinks of the church of the New Testament, he has to realize that the church of the Bible is distinctive. It is different from all other religious organizations. Let us notice some of these differences. First, Christ said, “…I will build my church…” (Matthew 16:18). We find several things from this verse. (1) Christ is the builder. (2) The church belongs to Christ, for He said, “my church.” (3) Christ used the singular tense (church not churches); therefore, there is one, not a multitude of churches differing from each other. Second, Bible prophecy states that the Lord’s church would have its beginning in the city of Jerusalem. Now it shall come to pass in the latter days That the mountain of the Lord’s house Shall be established on the top of the mountains, And shall be exalted above the hills; And all nations shall flow to it. Many people shall come and say, “Come, and let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, To the house of the God of Jacob; He will teach us His ways, And we shall walk in His paths.” For out of Zion shall go forth the law, And the word of the Lord from Jerusalem. (Isaiah 2:2-3NKJV) Yet, today, most religious people list Rome, Zurich, Holland, England, America, etc. when asked where their church had its beginning. Third, the Bible states that Christ is the Head of His church. Paul, speaking of what God did, stated, “And He put all things under …

A church sign had the following, “Orthodoxy does not persuade.” The first thing I did was look up “orthodoxy” to be sure I understood it. “Orthodoxy” is a transliteration of orthodoxia, which means right opinion. In other words, it is right doctrine, as the word “orthodox” would suggest. Is the sign right? Our Lord commanded His followers to go “…make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age” (Matthew 28:19-20). Jesus expected His followers to teach others in a way to persuade them to become disciples. Paul went to the synagogue in Thessalonica for three Sabbaths and “…reasoned with them from the Scriptures, explaining and demonstrating that the Christ had to suffer and rise again from the dead, and saying, ‘This Jesus whom I preach to you is the Christ’…” (Acts 17:2-3). The whole idea behind the word “reasoned” is to put together an argument intended to persuade. In this case, it was to persuade men that Jesus was the promised Messiah. Paul also reasoned and persuaded in Corinth (Acts 18:4). He told the Corinthian Christians that everyone must appear before Christ’s judgment seat to receive according to his or her deeds. “Knowing, therefore, the terror of the Lord, we persuade men…” (2 Corinthians 5:11). Right teaching, as authorized by our Lord, …

The Bible is one book, but within its pages, there are sixty-six different books. A uniting theme runs throughout the pages of Scripture: the salvation of man and the glorification of God. It is interesting to observe the variety that the Holy Spirit chose to include within the canon of Scripture. There are books with 150 chapters or divisions like the Psalms. One can read long prophetic discourses like Isaiah or historical books like Genesis that covers thousands of years. We encounter the four inspired biographies of the life of Jesus (Matthew, Mark, Luke and John) when we turn our attention to the New Testament. Next, we read the historical book of Acts, followed by the epistles to churches and individuals. While many of the epistles contain double-digit chapters, there are several books of shorter length. We should keep in mind that the length of a book in the Bible says nothing of the book’s importance. No book is in the Bible by accident. Every book that we have was breathed out by God and preserved through His amazing providence (Isaiah 40:8; 2 Timothy 3:16-17). There is only one single-chapter book in the Old Testament, the book of Obadiah, but there are four in the New Testament. I want to briefly cover the shortest books in the New Testament and impress upon us why they are worthy of our attention and study. Philemon: Forgiveness and Reconciliation The book of Philemon contains just 25 verses. Paul wrote this letter to his …