Category: Subject Index
Study Material Categorized by Subject
Sermon: Regret
All of us experience regret from time to time. Sin causes regret for the Christian. We all sin. How do we handle our feelings of regret? Our soul depends on the answer!
The Patternists: Restoring a Penitent Man
In 1 Corinthians 5, the apostle Paul admonished the congregation there for maintaining fellowship with a sexually immoral man, “such sexual immorality as is not even named among the Gentiles—that a man has his father’s wife!” (1).
He called upon them to withdraw their fellowship from this man. “Deliver such a one to Satan for the destruction of the flesh…” (5). The purpose of this disciple was “…that his spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord Jesus” (5).
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We Are Confident
Paul, in his second letter to the Corinthians used two phrases to characterize his view of his standing with God. He wrote, “we are always confident…” (5:6); and “We are confident…” (5:8). His reason for his confidence? “For we walk by faith, not by sight” (5:7).
Paul began this section of the letter by stating, “For we know that if our earthly house, this tent, is destroyed, we have a building from God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens” (5:1).
Through the eye of faith, Christians can look at “the things which are not seen…” (4:18). Faith is the “substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen” (Hebrews 11:1).
While our faith is focused on the spiritual, the unseen, the eternal—that faith is not unreasonable. Our faith is based in the rational testimony of both God and man. God said, “This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased” (Matthew 3:17). He established that by both the miracles Jesus performed (cf. John 20:30-31), and by raising Him from the dead (cf. Acts 2:32). The human witnesses of that resurrection ran into the hundreds, including the preeminent enemy of that Lord in that day, Saul of Tarsus (cf. 1 Corinthians 15:1-11).
Do you have that confidence? If you believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God, then you should be confident! Our faith is in the true God of Heaven and His begotten Son!
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Sermon: Forgiveness
A short lesson by Josh Cox, expressing some fundamental truths about Forgivness and our responsibility to have a forgiving spirit.
Sermon: Before Abraham Was, I AM
Lesson 24 in series: Jesus continues to defend His claims to be the Son of God to the unbelieving Jews in John 8:48-59
The Patternists: The Purpose of Musical Worship
One mark of Christian worship is its simplicity. Though much pomp and circumstance has cropped up in the centuries following Christ’s establishment of His church, the first century Christians were humble and in the worship they offered up to God.
When they gathered together on the Lord’s day, they prayed, sang, gave as they were prospered by God, heard the word of God taught, and remembered the Lord’s death through the simple feast Jesus instituted. There were calls for them to wait on one another, to be unified, to edify one another, and to give glory to God. Worship was never about them. Never about their own talents. Never about how the church could serve them. It was always and only about what they could do for God and for each other.
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Will So Come!
In Acts 1, as Jesus’ disciples were looking up to the heavens having followed the ascension of their Lord into the clouds, two angels of God addressed them, “Men of Galilee, why do you stand gazing up into heaven? This same Jesus, who was taken up from you into heaven, will so come in like manner as you saw Him go into heaven” (vs. 11).
There are lessons to be learned from Jesus’ ascension:
- This was God’s exaltation of His Son. After He did the work of the Father, Jesus returned to God’s right hand. It is there where He presently reigns in His kingdom!
- Gazing upward is not truly preparing for Jesus’ second coming. The angels asked, “why do you stand gazing up.” This is a good question to ask today of those who seek to predict Jesus’ second coming. We know He will come “as a thief in the night.” There is no predicting the day. Preparation comes through faith and obedience!
- The promise of His second coming is sure and similar to His departure. This is God’s promise. Jesus will come again. When Jesus comes, those who are His, “shall be caught up together with them [the resurrected dead] in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And thus we shall always be with the Lord” (1 Thessalonians 4:17).
We rejoice in the truth revealed in our text. When Jesus left, He promised to return! “I will come again and receive you to Myself; that where I am, there you may be also” (John 14:3).
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Sermon: A Shield About Me
A discussion of Psalm 3. When we are overwhelmed with troubles, cares, and the opposition of those opposed to righteousness, we can find solace in the fact that God is a shield about us. With his protection, we can overcome.
Sermon: The Truth Shall Make You Free
Lesson 23 in our series of Jesus teaching in the gospel of John covers 8:31-47. Jesus affirms the power of truth to free men from the slavery of sin. Also, he contends that the religious leaders have Satan as their father, because they are like him.
Joyful Expectations
Back in the early spring, there was so much uncertainty about the future. I truly thought that the COVID virus would impact our lives for only a short period of time. When we as a congregation began to talk about how to handle the circumstances, that was the question I was asking myself. How long? Three months? Six months? Never did I think we would be looking at over a year of limited social interaction, and compromises to ensure safe assembly. Some other congregations in other states and other places have yet to return to any semblance of a normal worship schedule.
The Patternists: Entrusted by God
The necessity, on every occasion, to respond to God’s authority in an appropriate manner is a central pattern found throughout scripture. While men feel that God is permissive and does not expect fealty from men, the Bible reveals otherwise, both explicitly, and implicitly.
As an example, consider Paul’s explanation of his God given stewardship in his first letter to the Thessalonians. “But as we have been approved by God to be entrusted with the gospel, even so we speak, not as pleasing men, but God who tests our hearts” (1 Thessalonians 2:4).
Beware of Dogs!
“Beware of dogs, beware of evil workers, beware of the mutilation!” (Philippians 3:2).
Paul here refers to the Judaizing teachers, who sought to “spy out our liberty which we have in Christ Jesus, that they might bring us into bondage” (cf. Galatians 2:4).
Any departure from the gospel of Christ brings the condemnation of God upon them (cf. Galatians 1:9), and endangers the souls of those who might be influenced by them.
Paul’s words were strong. While our society holds a soft place in its collective heart for domesticated canines, the term “dog” meant something far different in the first century. Most were vicious and untrained, roaming streets, and feeding on garbage. Consider the words of the prophet Ahijah, “The dogs shall eat whoever belongs to Jeroboam and dies in the city, and the birds of the air shall eat whoever dies in the field; for the Lord has spoken!” (1 Kings 14:11).
As such, when the term is used to describe a person, it was always a term of strong derision, just as Paul used it here, (cf. 2 Samuel 16:9 for another example of this).
How do we feel about those who teach error? Do we note the danger they bring, and denounce without equivocation their efforts to bewitch the vulnerable? Or, do we tolerate or accept them as they spread their lies?
We must stand with Paul, denounce the false teacher, reject his error, keep the church pure!
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Sermon: Ugliness
Just like in Roman times, our society is full of ugliness and sin. Violence, oppression, immorality, vitriol and corruption is everywhere. What is the proper Christian response?
Sermon: Preaching and Persecution (Acts 5)
Peter and the rest of the apostles were persecuted by the angry High Priest and council in Jerusalem (Acts 5). Their response to the persecution give us wonderful lessons we can apply to our own efforts to share the gospel.
The Patternists: Behave Like a Christian
One of the paragraph headings the translators add to the book of Romans is found in the context of Romans 12:9-21. It reads “Behave Like a Christian.”
Though supplied by uninspired men, the paragraph heading is well chosen. There are certain behaviors that should be characteristic of Christians. We are servants and disciples of Jesus. Our lives must reflect that in order to please Him. So, what are these behaviors, as listed by Paul in this passage?
