Posts from 2023 (Page 2)

What is the body of Christ? This thought is not being directed at the literal physical body of Jesus Christ, but rather the body of Christ that was established on the day of Pentecost. The body of Christ is the church as Paul explains to us in Eph. 1:22–23 KJV “And hath put all things under his feet, and gave him to be the head over all things to the church, Which is his body, the fulness of him that…

Events in this life tend to get in the way of what we need to remember. We might remember that a sports game is playing on television today, or that we need to make a trip to the grocery store to pick up some milk. Maybe you need to pick up the kids from ball practice or take them to the doctor’s office. With all the things that we do in this life, are we remembering to pray to the…

We have been given a precious and wonderful gift, given to us by the God of Heaven and earth. We are taught about this gift within the Holy Scriptures of our Lord. The gift is called the assurance of salvation. To define this term quickly and efficiently we say the following: Peace of mind and security of the soul when man understands and obeys the plan of God. Without this blessing, you and I could quickly ruin our lives with…

The San Diego Zoo acquired a few young elephants in the early 1980’s. These elephants were young males. These elephants were on their best behavior for a while. They eventually became rowdy! They would fight, chase the zoo keepers at feeding time and generally just be very difficult to handle. No one knew what to do. So the idea was to buy an old adult male to put into the enclosure with them. So that is what the zoo officials…

Every year we leave our comfortable homes and go to a rugged campground for a week. It is a fun time together. It is hot. It is hard. Beds are different. Wildlife is all around us. IT IS NOT A VACATION! So why do we go? Why is it so important? Summer Christian youth camps are a time to grow closer to God through His Word. The central point of camp is the Bible. At Camp Ida, we have bible…

We have heard it said, frequently, that certain events in our lives are “miracles”. It could be that a person walks away from a automobile accident that was devastating or that a child is born into this world and those events be put into the category of the miraculous. Is this true?!? Is this statement not true? What, is a miracle, biblically speaking? A miracle is when Deity, that is the Everlasting God, bypasses the natural order which He placed…

I have been asked to explain a passage of God’s Holy Word which we all may be very familiar. It is found in Acts chapter 8. As we pick up the narrative of Acts 8, that latter portion of the chapter deals with a man who is searching for the truth of God’s Word. The preacher, Phillip, was sent to this Eunuch from Ethiopia who is having a little trouble understanding a section of Scripture found in Isaiah 53. This…

The Bible has only one theme: the redemption of mankind. Everything encapsulated in the Holy Writ is to point each one of us toward God. To fully understand this is to understand the one need man has—salvation. After a man hears and believes the truth of God’s Word, repents of sin, makes a confession of Christ and is baptized into Christ. That’s it, right?!? Is there anything else? Well, yes… the child of God then is required by God to…

The Bible has only one theme: the redemption of mankind. Everything encapsulated in the Holy Writ is to point each one of us toward God. To fully understand this is to understand the need one need man has—salvation. After a man hears and believes the truth of God’s Word, repents of sin, what is the next step? The next step is to confess that Jesus is the only Son of God, the Christ. God’s requires CONFESSION- Matthew 10:32-33, 1 John…

The Bible has only one theme: the redemption of mankind. Everything encapsulated in the Holy Writ is to point each one of us toward God. To fully understand this is to understand the need one need man has—salvation. After a man hears and believes the truth of God’s Word, what is the next step? Repentance is defined as the changing of ones mind which results in a change of ones actions. God’s Word teaches us to REPENT- Matthew 21:28-32, Acts…

The Bible has only one theme: the redemption of mankind. Everything encapsulated in the Holy Writ is to point each one of us toward God. To fully understand this is to understand the need one need man has—salvation. After a man hears, what is next? The answer is- that man will either believe or he will not. To follow God’s plan for salvation- faith is key! Man must have FAITH- John 8:24, Mark 16:16, Hebrew 11:6, John 16:31, 1 John…

God’s Holy Word holds for us many firsts. Today let’s explore the last first. The question is: “What happens when we die?” The only glimpse into this question is found in Luke 16:19-31. Let’s take a few moments and explore this topic. Two men are found in this passage, a rich man and a beggar named Lazarus. We are told that this rich man had the ‘good life’. He ate well. He had plenty of money. He had a nice…