“This is that which was spoken by the prophet Joel; ‘And it shall come to pass in the last days, says the LORD, I will pour out of my Spirit upon all flesh…then whosoever shall call on the name of the Lord shall be saved’” (Acts 2:16, 17, 21). Peter spoke these words on the Day of Pentecost, just after the Holy Spirit had been poured out on the band of 120 disciples of Jesus who were waiting in Jerusalem to be “baptized with…
Drug or alcohol addiction is difficult enough to lick if we are aware we are addicted, but if we haven’t recognized or admitted we are hooked, it is impossible to do so. I would like to make today our great “day of intervention,” when we are all confronted and made to face, by our spiritual family that loves us, this incontrovertible fact—”You are addicted to the fruit of the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil, and it is killing you!” In the…
Even though I know God ordained my life from conception, looking back, I recognize my first conscious, personal experience with Him was while attending Falls Creek, a Southern Baptist Youth Camp in Oklahoma. I can see now that from that time, the summer before I entered the University of Oklahoma, God had me in HIs cross hairs. The next such experience was at OU, three years later, at a meeting to which a good friend took me. There were about ten other students. We…
The leader, or “the person in charge,” in any situation is not the strongest, loudest, smartest, holiest, wiliest, most experienced, or any other personal characteristic that person may have. The leader is always recognized by only one thing—the person in charge is the one who makes the final decision. In the three institutions of the kingdom of God—family, church and civil government—my contention is that, biblically, the governmental leadership in each institution, or, how final decisions are made in that institution, is unique. We…
The “everyone participates”’ type church meeting the Bible suggests, and to which last week’s blog alluded, brings up some obvious questions. The most immediate is “How can a church gathering larger than about a dozen people function like that? That sounds more like a ‘home group’ to me. Is there a regular church like you’re describing?” Before discussing that issue, let me emphasize, again, the necessary foundation that is always understood as we address all church issues—the gospel of the full-on, unlimited, it-is-finished grace…
If the church’s first essential function is providing an opportunity for all the members (even the church leadership) to “walk in the light” and “confess their sins one to another,” as we saw last week, what is the second one? It is the goal of the church that every member, even the ones we deem “weaker,” has the opportunity to contribute to the ministry of the church. The members of the biblical church are not simply passive observers of the ministry of “the staff”…
The “body” metaphor for the church tells us that the Head (Jesus) is in Heaven, while the body (the church) is down here, on the earth. Though detached geographically, the body, based on the immediate, experiential wishes of the Head, is busily “doing the stuff” of the family business of ruling over this earth—loving, standing firm for truth, and proclaiming the good news of the gospel as opportunities arise. This is God’s plan for us. In other words, in the biblical vision of the…
Last week we looked at the first of the four metaphors the Bible uses to describe the church of Jesus Christ—the church is made up of the children of the family of God. But the church is also a body, a bride, and a temple. The church as God’s family emphasizes its permanent unity; the church as the body of Christ illustrates its function here on the earth; the church as the bride of Christ pictures its exclusive position as the object of God’s…
The predominant picture of God that we get as we read the Old Testament is that of an all powerful, awesome, unapproachable God who communicates to His covenant people through His selected intermediaries, such as Moses (Exodus 19:10-25). The concept of God as a personal father was largely unknown to the Jew, even though there were a few hints in the Old Testament. It remained for Jesus, as the God-Man, to reveal fully, first, the fatherhood of God toward Jesus Himself, and then toward…
“For it is God who is producing in you both the desire and the ability to do what pleases him” (Philippians 2:13 – ISV). We remembered last week that we are no longer living by obedience to the law of God, the knowledge of good and evil, the way mankind in Adam was tricked to live in the Garden of Eden. No, we now live by faith, i.e., simply doing what God, by His Spirit in our hearts, tells us to do, with no…