Category: Subject Index

On the front page of the September 2007 edition of the Christian Chronicle newspaper, under the heading “Faith and Football” was a picture of high school football players, kneeling with their coaches in prayer, with the following caption beneath:

“Assistant head coach Ken Robinson leads Greater Atlanta Christian School’s varsity team in prayer at a camp at Georgia Tech. The Spartans, who have a 120-39 record since 1994, have advanced to the state playoffs 12 straight seasons. The team made it to the state quarterfinals last year, finishing 11-2.”

The Christian Chronicle calls itself: “An International Newspaper for Churches of Christ.” You may ask yourself, what does football have to do with Churches of Christ? Good question! The answer, of course, is nothing at all. But, that has not stopped those who wish to change the mission of the Lord’s church from securing the spiritual welfare of men, to securing their social welfare. This is the mistake of the social gospel concept. It trivializes the purpose of the Lord’s church.

Continue reading “In The News: Faith and Football” →

Committment and self-examination are important in successfully applying the truth of God’s word successfully in our lives.

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The phrase “hold fast” is used numerous times in the New Testament, teaching us the necessity to be steadfast in our pursuit of God’s Word, and the hope of Heaven.

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Jesus Christ was a maverick on earth. He continually questioned the wisdom of men and societal conventions. As his followers, we too will be different from the world in our teaching and perceptions.

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Hebrews 7 & 8. The text reveals that Christ is a superior high priest, and his covenant is superior to the Old covenant. The Old Covenant has passed away, and we under the authority of the New Covenant.

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With God’s help, and instruction from scripture, we have the capability of overcoming temptation.

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2 Timothy 3:16-17

The text reveals that God furnishes us with all needed instruction through the Scriptures.

Some have objected that the context indicates Paul was referring to the Old Testament scriptures, in that the New Testament had not yet been compiled.

This observation is true, to a point. As such, it indicates that Paul recognized the Old Testament to be of import in knowing the will of God. While we are not bound to the Old Covenant under Christ, the Old Testament scriptures do instruct and furnish us, (cf. Romans 15:4).
But, we must recognize that what Paul said of the Old Testament is true of the New Testament as well. In fact, for a man to be thoroughly furnished, he must heed all the scriptures.

The New Testament writings are scripture too, (2 Peter 1:16-21), and when we consider God’s instructions, we must not ignore what was spoken by our Lord (cf. Hebrews 1:1-4; 2:1-4).

Sermon by Guest Speaker Joshua Cox. Christians are to shine as lights in the world. This indicates that the Christian’s influence, shown in various aspects of his life as lived for God, should serve to give glory to God and influence others for good.

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The aim of the Restoration Movement was the attaining of truth. Those who know and apply the truth are able to be Christians identical to those in the New Testament. Truth is knowable, and the restoration of the Lord’s church is immanently attainable.

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(Note: Following is an email exchange I had last week. This man’s emails are reproduced exactly (with misspellings). Study with this man continues, as he has emailed again with a few quibbles and revealed himself more clearly as one who advocates homosexuality). His main contention is that “Love” is a good thing, and can not be abused. He ignored most of the arguments I made in the following email to him).

Saw your email on a Christian site that talked against homosexuality, so just wondered if you knew where there was anything against same sex romantic love as I can’t find anything on this in my bible.

Name Withheld

—–*—–*—–*—–*—–*—–

________,

I am glad to correspond with you regarding your question. In order to do so, I need some clarification.

Continue reading “A Conversation Regarding Homosexuality” →

The New Testament clearly reveals that the mode of baptism, intrinsic in the term as well as clear from the context of scripture, is immersion. Sprinkling water as a substitute to immersion in water is an innovation from man without divine approval.

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The apostle Paul reveals to us if we are to attain the goal of eternity in heaven, it is required that we make it our aim in life to be pleasing to God (cf. 2 Corinthians 5:7-11).

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LOS ANGELES (AP) – Democratic presidential contenders faced pointed questions on gay marriage and the basis for sexual orientation in a forum that forced candidates to confront politically touchy issues that have vexed a nation.

Former Sen. John Edwards found himself discussing whether he is comfortable around gay people – he said he is. New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson appeared to struggle with a question about why people become gay or lesbian. Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton ended up defending the record of her husband, former President Clinton, on gay rights.

Continue reading “In The News: Democrats on Gay Issues” →

“Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom, teaching and admonishing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with grace in your hearts to the Lord. And whatever you do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through Him.” (Colossians 3:16-17)

Here in the Colossian epistle, Paul gives several exhortations which are rather closely tied together. Simply, they are:

1. Let the Word of Christ dwell in you richly with all wisdom.
2. Teach each other by singing spiritual songs with grace in your hearts to the Lord.
3. Do all things by the authority of Jesus Christ.

Underlying each of these is an emphasis on the importance of doctrine in the life of those who name the name of Christ. Jesus said, “And you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free” (John 8:32).

Continue reading “The Word of Christ” →

Romans 13:1-2

Let every soul be subject to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except from God, and the authorities that exist are appointed by God. Therefore whoever resists the authority resists the ordinance of God, and those who resist will bring judgment on themselves.

Governments and nations have their place at God’s pleasure. They remain in power as long as God permits, and their rise and fall is determined by His will. This is clearly affirmed by Paul in his address to the Athenians (cf. Acts 17:26-28).

While a government is in power, Christians are required to submit to its laws. Contrary to common perception, Jesus did not advocate disobedience to civil authorities. This is true regardless of a governments corruptness, or antagonism toward God and His people. This is clearly established by Jesus’ instructions to his disciples to pay taxes to the Roman government (cf. Matt. 22:21).

The exception to this is the secular government’s compelling a Christian to disobey God. In such cases, we must “obey God rather than men” (Acts 5:29).

The question, “Must we obey the government?”, is not determined by whether it is corrupt, but whether its laws corrupt us!