The dangers of distance preaching
By Steven Mock The first church in Jerusalem was formed in Acts 2 when Peter preached a powerful, Spirit-filled, convicting message. God used Peter’s words to convert 3,000 people who were baptized and started meeting together. Verse 42 tells us they had four priorities as a local church: the apostles’ teaching, fellowship, the Lord’s Supper, and praying. All four of these priorities are important but the apostles’ teaching is probably mentioned first because it was
Spirit filling and spiritual maturity
By Randall Fox "Be filled with the Spirit" Ephesians 5:18 The command to be Spirit-filled is one of the most vital imperatives for the Christian life. Yet one of the most misunderstood and neglected. The meaning of the command to be filled with the Spirit further unfolds as we look at other usages of the word "filled." In John 12:3, the word "fill" is used to describe a permeating fragrance when Mary anointed the feet
With regard to essential doctrines
By Charles Spurgeon The tree can do without some of its branches, though the loss of them might be an injury; but it cannot live at all without its roots: the roots are essential; take those away, and the plant must wither. And thus my dear friends, there are things essential in the Christian religion. . . . With regard to essential doctrines, it is very desirable for us to be established in the faith.
Charles Spurgeon on sin
Henceforth we should not serve sin. Romans 6:6 "Christian, what do you have to do with sin? Has it not cost you enough already? Burned child, will you play with fire? When you have already been between the jaws of the lion, will you step into his den a second time? Have you not had enough of the old serpent? Did he not poison all your veins once, and will you play upon the hole
Third dimension intelligence
By Rusty Leupp In this article, I challenge the very existence of the third dimension of intelligence and make a startling correlation between the third dimension of thought and the non-physical realm we so long to deny. Well, here we go: Intelligence is always an interesting topic, because we all know what it is, but nobody can really define it. It's like in geometry, you had your three undefined terms: point, line, plane. Well, intelligence
The providence of God
By Nabeel Zaydan As we live our days, sometimes we're going along and suddenly we're knocked down by some unexpected circumstance. Everything is out of focus and we begin gasping for our spiritual breath. Nothing seems to matter then except our circumstances. It may be a tragedy, a physical illness, a loss of job, children in trouble, financial problems, or one of a hundred things. At such a time as this, the most important thing
What do I know about my God?
By Mardi Collier This is a start to a list of the characteristics of God that will help you in your study of beginning to know Him. It is vitally important to study Who our God is and have a knowledge of Him because it is the very foundation of our Christian faith. Every decision we make in our "every-day lives" should be impacted by what we believe about our God. Satan is the father
The pick, the brush, and the word
By Dr. Dan Olinger "I besieged and conquered Samaria and led away as booty 27,290 inhabitants of it." These are the words of the Assyrian emperor Sargon II, the man who sent his general, Sennacherib, to bring God's judgment on the backslidden Northern Kingdom of Israel in 722 BC. But these words are not from the Bible; they emerged from the Near Eastern sands centuries later as a silent but eloquent witness to the truth
We can trust the Bible
By Charles A. Hauser, Jr. Throughout history man has tried to minimize the importance and influence of the Bible. At times, the Bible was kept from people; programs were designed to destroy it. Some wished to negate the influence of a particular book, as did Dionysius in the early church. He tried to cast doubt regarding the apostolic authorship of Revelation, because it teaches Christ's literal reign on earth. The last two centuries reflect scholars'
Prophesy fulfilled in Jesus
The Bible, including the Torah, the Prophets, and the Psalms, is a book about Jesus Christ. Christ is at the centre of every story, every page. In Jesus' day, many of the Jewish people did not understand this. On the road to Emmaus, the Bible teaches that Jesus personally explained these things to some men: "And beginning at Moses and all the prophets, he expounded unto them in all the scriptures the things concerning himself."