The Times

Don’t Waste Your Life: Oh, that young and old would turn off the television, take a long walk, and dream about feats of courage for a cause ten thousand times more important than American democracy - as precious as that is...

Do You Believe in Anything Worth Contending For: It's popular today to live a trivial life and to have a trivial worldview. If you want to maintain a trivial worldview, avoid difficulties, and entertain yourself, you can. You can turn on a sitcom. You can play a video game. You can go to an arts and crafts fair. You don't have to take life seriously. If you avoid trying to expose false belief systems for what they are, it's called "tolerance" and "respect". Taking the path of least resistance has never been so popular.

What if Life is not Fair? Life is filled with hardships and disappointments, blessings and joy. As Christians, we have true joy because we have been given the absolute confidence that everything has meaning and benefit to the believer who follows Christ. Unfortunately we also struggle with the misconceptions that life is supposed to be ‘happy all the time’.
 

 The Knowledge, Fear and Worship of God (Section)

God and Worship: Knowing God. Is it possible to experience God, without complicating things by adding all that theological gobbledy-gook? And why do some Christians seem to experience a much closer intimacy or reverent familiarity with God that is foreign to many of us. Fearing God? Because many teachings and doctrines within our churches today portray God only as all loving, many assume there is no reason to fear Him. For those who only think that God loves everyone, they would do well to study Scripture more carefully. An essential component is missing in human thinking... "there is no fear of God before their eyes." Romans 3:10-18. Worship.. The great single need of the moment is that light-hearted superficial religionists be struck down with a vision of God high and lifted up, with His train filling the temple” Instead what we see in so many churches is "McWorship" of a "McDeity." Taking God’s Name In Vain.. When God commanded that His name not be used in vain, are we to understand this to mean YHWH, one of the names of God, or are we to take this to mean any form of God's titles too?
 

Holiness (Section)

Holiness and Overcoming Temptation If we may sum up the core meaning of holiness, it is not "good" but rather "set apart" -- and therefore, good. Try to imagine someone teaching in a modern Protestant church in America today and claiming that you must attain a certain level of righteousness to be saved. That person would immediately be branded as a false teacher who is teaching that we are saved by works, rather than grace. Yet, that is exactly what Jesus taught in the Sermon on the Mount!...  Anyone who professes Christianity without this kind of perfection is as phony as the proverbial three dollar bill. Section includes The Great Gospel Deception (Online Book) Exposing the False Promise of Heaven Without Holiness.
 

The Christian and Knowledge (Section)

The Christian and Knowledge All Christians have thoughts about God and should be pursuing a knowledge of Him in scriptural understanding. We are all theologians. The question is not whether we have a theology but rather, if we have a good or bad theology. Also for most Christians today, the challenge of learning how to discern orthodox from heretical doctrine has apparently not been faced. Either they treat doctrine as minimally important and so regard charges of "heresy" as rude and unloving, or they treat doctrine as all-important and so regard anyone who disagrees with them in the slightest as a heretic.  How does the Bible does tell us to test teaching, prophecy and actions.
 

Faith And Works
[or Grace and Holiness] (Section)

Faith and Works It seems that the only Scripture a Bible-believer knows about good works is that we are not saved by them and that they are virtually insignificant. But James' argument is simple... People act according to their beliefs. He minces no words in describing the specific spiritual actions expected of Christians. And No, Isaiah 64:6 is not a ‘proof-text’ to show that good works, obedience, virtue are all useless.... You have to quote the verse in context.
 

The Bible (Section)

Reading And Understanding Your Bible includes 10 steps To Bible Literacy, What Are We Looking For In The Bible? 12 Golden Rules, Never Read A Bible verse, The Use of Commentaries, Sermons on The Bible, Why People Find the Bible Difficult and More.

The Church

The Pattern Of The New Testament Church Christ’s church, consists entirely of a priesthood of believers who have been “baptized into Christ” . There never was and should not be any clergy-laity distinction. Additionally it is fact of history that the early church met in the homes of its members. No special church buildings were constructed during the New Testament era, nor or for the following two hundred years. The New Testament knows nothing of an inert, believer-priesthood whose only function is to passively absorb sermons and pass the offering plate.

The Lord’s Supper

The Lord’s Supper The Lord's Supper, sometimes called communion, the Table of the Lord, the agape or the Eucharist, is limited in most churches to a sip of wine and a piece of bread. Why then is it called a "supper" in the NT

Baptism

What is Baptism A look at 4 basic Questions: Can you go to heaven by being baptized? What is baptism? When should someone be baptized? Why should someone be baptized?

Prayer (Section)

Prayer Unanswered Prayer, Ritual Prayer, Persistent Prayer, Praying in The Spirit, Jesus’ Blueprint for Prayer.

The Mandate (Section)

The Great Commission The greatest obstacle to the Gospel is silence. By remaining silent and hoping that our Christian life will testify for itself we fail to keep the Lord’s commandment.... “go ye into all the world, and preach the Gospel to every creature.” But why is it so hard to say those first few words about the most important Person in my life? Why do I hesitate to pass along the best news I have ever heard?
 

Women

The Christian Woman The 10 Lies of Feminism At its inception, the feminist movement, accompanied by the sexual revolution, made a series of enticing, exciting promises to women... supposed to enhance a woman's quality of life and improve her options, as well as her relations with men. Now, a decade or so later, women have had to face the fact that, in many ways, feminism and liberation made promises that could not be delivered. A Woman of Strength As Christian women living in a society that offers so many distorted or inadequate models for women, we need an ideal that applies in all its dimensions to the circumstances we now live in, yet remains fully expressive of God's purpose for women. How Should Christian Women Dress? Too many times, when you see a group of girls standing around, there is very little difference in dress between those who profess to know Christ and those who don’t. Modesty Matters! Women in The Church Several articles on the role of women in the church... The Role of Women in the Bible, women in the heart of God, should women teach in church, women’s lib, headcovering and modesty.
 

Confrontation, Forgiveness and Reconciliation and Love

Forgiveness Does God expect us to forgive everyone who sins against us, even those who don't humble themselves, admit their sin, and request forgiveness? As we study Scripture closely, we discover that the answer is "No." To the surprise of many Christians, Scripture clearly states that, although we are commanded to love everyone, we are not required to forgive everyone.

What is "Agape" and How Did It Work? We tend to assume at once that "love" means what it does to us in modern times -- in this case, a mushy sentimentality that never says a harsh word and never steps on the toes of others. but conceptually, it is certainly possible to love one's enemies, and yet also attack them; and the same for one's disciples or allies.
 

Christian Spiritual Practices

Fasting has been out of vogue for at least 150 years. In the twentieth century church, the idea seems alien to us. God's Word assumes that fasting will be a regular part of a Christian's life. Yet for most of us, it's not. If we were to make a study of fasting in the Bible most of us would find ourselves very challenged about this neglected area of Christian discipline.

What Patterns of Prayer and Worship Can Do What is the fruit of observing patterns of prayer and celebration? Does it lead to a stifling institutionalism or a deeper knowledge of God in Christ? How can observing times and seasons support the life of the Christian family and the life of the Christian community.
 

Misc

The Unforgivable Sin
To those who are troubled: the surest sign that you have not committed the blasphemy against the Holy Spirit is the very fact that you are worried about it, because that shows that the Holy Spirit is very definitely on speaking terms with you!

Christian Environmentalism
It’s not hard to notice that the environmental issue receives very little attention in Christian circles. There are so many other significant issues that occupy our attention that we seem to think of the environment as somebody else's issue

The Christian and Personal Resolutions
As Christians, a usually miserable ratio of success to failure should cause us to examine the whole concept of the new year's resolution from a Biblical perspective. When we do this, we are immediately confronted with several obvious problems:

Moses’ Law Or Christ’s Law
Are the Ten Commandments (from the Old Testament) supposed to be the rules by which present-day Christians live? One might think so because the Ten Commandments have been placed on the walls of our courtrooms, school rooms, and churches. I suspect a huge preponderance of people, Christians and non-Christians believe that the Ten Commandments are basic rules by which all of us are to live.  Is that true for Christians?

Corrosive Christianity (Salt of The Earth) What was Jesus thinking? Why didn’t he tell us to be the “honey’ of the earth? Try as I might, I can’t think of a single situation where salt tastes sweet. However if Jesus told us that we were salt wouldn’t it be a good idea to study the function of the thing he told us to be? Wouldn’t it be a good idea to figure out what salt does?

The Strength to be “Weak”
I know the title seems to be a contradiction from what we deem to be the norm, but being a disciple of Jesus Christ could hardly be viewed as normal. The “weakness” that I am speaking of is one born out of strength. It comes from within and it’s deeply rooted in the power of choice, having the strength to choose to be meek.
 

Christian Apologetics (Section)

Defending The Faith Many people refuse to believe without some evidence, as indeed they should, but there is a common misnomer among many Christians that apologetics never helps to bring anyone to Christ. This is a serious misrepresentation of the facts. (Several Articles)
 

Legalism Vs. Grace (Section)

Legalism Vs. Grace Legalism and legalistic are words that we Christians use with reckless abandon, but can we define this word accurately? Do we regard some of our traditions with as much authority as Scripture? Is it possible that we have set up fences of conduct for ourselves by which we also judge the conduct of others? The very nature of Christian liberty is such that you can't really draw the line. Where the line is drawn is in the direct, specific, and explicit commands of God. The danger that we take things that are not actually commands, maybe general principles, and find an applicational rule, and we make that rule equal with God's law
 

 Growth

How to Grow in Christian Faith and Life In this day of instant coffee, instant pudding, instant replays, instant pictures, instant loans and instant debt, some Christians want to skip the growth process. We want instant sainthood — not seeds, but fruit! We want to be grown up, but We don't want to grow up. Don't count on death to do for you then what you are unwilling to do for yourself with God's help here and now.

Cultivating Christian Convictions Convictions are more than personal preferences or subjective opinions; they involve strong beliefs that manifest themselves in actions. Having convictions is being so thoroughly convinced that something is absolutely true that you take a stand for it regardless of the consequences.

Are You Emotionally Mature? In this age, people no longer base decisions and actions on solid moral values. They have been programmed to act according to their feelings. Emotions are something that all Christians must battle. Are you controlling your emotions?

God’s Tests This is the very first principle we too must grasp if we are to understand anything about God’s tests: Trust must be earned.  God only promotes those whom He can trust. For that reason, He will test us to see if we can be trusted
 

Money and Finances

Biblical Perspective on Money, Giving, Debt etc. The management of personal finances is one of the biggest concerns of the modern world. However it may surprise you to learnt that Jesus had more to say about money and possessions than virtually anything else. Biblical teaching about money is very clear, very consistent, and quite radical. . Given how much of our time is spent earning, spending, giving, saving or worrying about money, we need to know exactly what he said
 

Daily Living

Devotion, Not Devotions Do you have to have ‘daily devotions’ to be a good Christian?

Do You Need Spiritual Exercise? If you are wondering where the joy and peace is you may be spiritually run down and need to ask yourself the obvious questions.- "Am I exercising myself spiritually? Am I receiving sufficient spiritual nourishment?" You can not expect to sit in church and be spiritually nourished one hour per week, be influenced and motivated by the world the rest of the week, and expect to experience the joy and peace Jesus promised. Your diet and your exercise are not properly balanced.

The Will of God No other concern commands more interest or arouses more anxiety among Evangelicals than discovering the will of God.

100% God/100% Man When we're seeking counsel on a problem, the response, "Just let God do it," leaves something to be desired. Does this common phrase reflect bad doctrine? Or should we, as Lee Ezell said, "Pray toward Heaven. Row toward shore."

How Do You Determine Your Spiritual Gift?
A spiritual gifts inventory that some have found helpful. I hope you do too. (These are limited to the ministry gifts and do not include the foundational gifts of apostleship or prophet, nor the sign gifts of tongues, interpretation of tongues, healings or miracles.)
 

Entertainment and The Media

Entertainment and The Media In our world something has gone terribly wrong. Tv, Video Games, Movies, Fantasy Games and The Media are all a major part of the problem and possibly dangerous influences that can conform us to the world. But there are usually two or more sides to an issue. To categorically declare that all entertainment is "evil" would be simplistic and erroneous. But to accept all of them uncritically as "harmless" would also be simplistic and erroneous — and could lead to some undesirable consequences. How can a Christian make an intelligent assessment of these major influences, remembering that As Christians we are to live a pure lifestyle, even in private.
 

Separation and Warfare

The Christian and Worldliness   What does Christian separation mean? Your effectiveness as a Christian hangs on your concept of what separation means.

WORLDLINESS …What is it? Just what is the Bible definition of worldliness? Must a follower of Jesus Christ completely isolate himself from the world, and everything in it, in order to avoid being worldly? Must Christians be odd, weird or completely “out of step” with the world? Do they need to sound and look “religious” in order to avoid worldliness?

The World, The Flesh, And The Devil The Bible teaches that each disciple of our Lord has a number of enemies and that life here on earth is both a testing ground and a battleground.  Three in particular that the Christian faces in his daily life of faith are the world, the flesh, and the devil. These enemies war with the Christian as long as he continues beset with personal human frailties and is confined in an imperfect society.

The Armour of God What we often forget, is that all this stuff about armour is part of a letter. Paul didn’t just tag it on as an afterthought. These verses in Ephesians 6 fit in somehow with the rest of Ephesians. Hopefully, by looking carefully at how they fit in, and at what they actually say, we will be able to paint a slightly clearer picture of the battle in which we are engaged.
 

Dark Night Of The Soul
No connection with John of The Cross. The phrase well describes some difficult times in our lives.

The Everlasting Rock Several attitudes toward God and toward ourselves, which prevent us from seeing God as the rock he is.

Walking in Darkness This is something that will happen to every single Christian who wants to be involved in the work of God, or to any Christian who has truly set his heart on pleasing God.

When The Brook Dries Up When God arranges the end of Cherith and the brook dries up it is time to move on. The drying up of the brook is the gentle nudge of God back into the work which the Father has called you to do.

Do You Feel Like Giving Up? What do I do when temptation rolls over me like a flood? When my inadequacies overwhelm me and I see the reality of my weaknesses? Give up? Quit?
 

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