The Judgment Seat of Christ (part 1)
Dr. Mark Cambron, one of my first and best mentors, taught me that repetition is theological mucilage. And he repeated that phrase over and over again. I really had no clue at that time what he meant. But God etched the words in my mind, nonetheless. He repeated it so...
Personal Relationship versus Personal Responsibility
We are responsible to God as His children to live our lives pleasing to Him. Our challenge is to allow the Spirit of God to glorify (shed light upon) Christ through us. The way to do this is to keep short sin accounts with God. However, we do not always cooperate with...
Be Sure Your Sin Will Find You Out (part 2)
God told the Jews that their sin would always find them out (Numbers 32:23). Because of Achan’s secret sin, the anger of the Lord burned against the children of Israel (Joshua 7:1). They began to lose battles. Joshua was confused and began to whine and complain. God’s...
Be Sure Your Sin Will Find You Out (part 1)
We must catch a small glimpse of two areas of the Christian’s personal accountability before God: personal sin and personal stewardship. Christians are not sinless people! The Bible does not hide this fact. Noah was a sinner. Abraham was a sinner. Isaac was a sinner....
What is “the Christian life”?
I am assuming that the reader has believed the gospel and given testimony to that fact through baptism. My short definition of “the Christian life” is “a close, personal, private, intimate, relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ, that begins with knowledge and ends...
Good Stewards of the Manifold Grace of God
Pondering yesterday’s post! Peter had said, “As each one has received a gift, minister it to one another, as good stewards of the manifold grace of God. If anyone speaks, let him speak as the oracles of God. If anyone ministers, let him do it as with the ability which...
The Ability to Finish Well
When Christians reach spiritual maturity, they will no longer be like children – confused, constantly fussing, and captivated by every false teacher that attracts them with “a new view.” Instead, they will “speak the truth in love and will grow up in all things into...
Formula for Church Growth
Some of the most famous words spoken by Jesus Christ are “I will build my church and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it” (Matthew 16:18). Some of the most important words penned by Paul are “Now you are the body of Christ and members individually” (1...
The Mystery of Christ
For hundreds of years God had worked exclusively through the Jews, but He promised Abraham that in him all the nations of the earth would be blessed (Genesis 12:3). This may appear at first to be kind of Oh Hum! Who cares? But this is what much of the Bible is all...
We Are to Live by Faith
We are to live by faith and not by sight (2 Corinthians 5:7). Abraham left his home in Chaldea to follow the living God by faith. He received his inheritance in Canaan by faith. He lived in a tent his entire life. Not much protection against rain, robbers, or critters...
First Comes the Root, Then the Fruit
As you have received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk you in Him (Colossians 2:6). How do we receive Christ? We receive Him by faith alone (Ephesians 2:8). The Christian life is to be lived by faith alone. We are to walk (one moment at a time) by faith and not by sight...
A Faith That Works
The Word of God makes abundantly clear that human works have no part in God’s saving grace. If a single work is added to the work of Christ for salvation, no matter how sincere, grace is nullified, and life will not come (Romans 4:4–5). The obvious reason is that by...