September 27, 2007 by Administrator.

“Now to the King eternal, immortal, invisible, the only God, be honor and glory forever and ever. Amen.” ~ 1 Timothy 1:17 NASB

Posted in Glory to God, Biblical Study | 2 Comments »

September 24, 2007 by Administrator.

Do we really appreciate how Christ came to earth for us? Is it appreciation when we read the first chapters of Luke or Matthew only around Christmas time, but don’t think about it anytime other time? We sing hymns to the Lord rejoicing His miraculous birth in December, but January through mid-November we put it aside. Why? Is His birth more special in the late autumn, early winter season? Is it just because of the Christmas holiday? Churches and believers won’t sing songs of His birth after this month and definitely won’t sing of it before. Throughout the year we sing of crucifixion and resurrection. Why can’t we sing of all these three events all year long? It was truly an enjoyable time when my family and I sang “O Come, O Come, Emmanuel” in the month of August. Without Christ’s birth, we would never have had a Savior. Without his death, Christians would not be redeemed from their sins. Without His resurrection, our faith would be nothing. Let us sing and appreciate all of these events. Forget the seasonal tradition, sing hosanna!

Posted in Glory to God | No Comments »

September 20, 2007 by Administrator.

Day by day, I hear the phrase, “I love him”, “I love her”, or “I love you”. Yet, when I hear these sayings from various people and consider the situation, I begin to doubt the meaning of “love”. It appears to me that the word “love” has a very warped view from the meaning it is given in Scripture. The word is very abused. I think as Americans, we have a selfish meaning for it. It seems that we “love” someone when it benefits us in some way. We believe that some individual makes us happy. We desire the companionship of others for a number of reasons. A few of them are happiness, affection, and loneliness. For these three basic things, the motive behind each one is selfishness. We think that he/she will make us happy. We want their affection. We don’t want to be lonely. Did Christ love us because of what He could receive in return? If He had… no one would have been saved by His blood. Christ’s love was the purest act of unselfishness. He died for us when the masses hated Him and His disciples deserted, denied, and betrayed Him. Was Jesus getting anything in return for His love? Was He getting happiness, affection, and the satisfaction of not being alone? It says in 1 Corinthians, “love is not self-seeking.” As followers of Christ, we have the example of how to live a life with love. There is no greater love for one, than when someone lays down his life for his friends. I believe this verse is saying that unselfishness is the key. Would someone die for another if his or her ulterior motive was selfishness? I really don’t think so. The next time you go to say, “I love you”, are you meaning it the Biblical or American way? The meaning of love is found in Christ Jesus.

Posted in Biblical Thoughts, Today's World | 1 Comment »

September 15, 2007 by Administrator.

All of us have at one time or another been brokenhearted for a number of reasons. As Christians, when our hearts are broken is when we draw closest to the Lord Jesus. When all is well in our lives we tend to forget why we need the Lord. Read here what the Bible says about the brokenhearted in Psalm 34:18-22 NASB:

The LORD is near to the brokenhearted and saves those who are crushed in spirit. Many are the afflictions of the righteous, but the LORD delivers him out of them all. He keeps all his bones, not one of them is broken. Evil shall slay the wicked, and those who hate the righteous will be condemned. The LORD redeems the soul of His servants, and none of those who take refuge in Him will be condemned.

There is refuge in the Lord. Though the wicked may not suffer as much as the righteous during life, they will suffer eternally in their condemnation. Our crushed spirits must only lean on Him or else we have no protection. He keeps our bones from being broken and saves our hearts. Cry out to Jesus. He is our only isle of hope.

Posted in Hope, Biblical Study, Encouragement | No Comments »

September 11, 2007 by Administrator.

I still see Christians being plagued by the condmenation, “judge not”. Even though I posted on this several months ago, I feel the need to refresh this topic.

We are all quite familiar with the verse “Judge not, lest ye be judged” in Matthew 7. Sadly, this verse has become a modern secular tool against Christianity. Claiming Christians and non-Christians alike use this verse to quiet the voices of any who try to condemn sin. This verse has been completely distorted for the individual moral convictions of whoever uses it. People will deliberately overlook countless Scriptures where God makes declarations of His hate for certain sins. Instead, “Christians” and the unsaved use this verse to dismantle other Christians for condemning sins that they don’t feel should be judged. Of course, we are to show love. But Christ has not called us to be so loving to the world that we disregard anything they do. God loved the children of Israel, but He would not sit back and tolerate their sinful, rebellious acts. Am I expected by the Lord to be tolerant? Proverbs 8:13 says that the fear of the Lord is to hate evil. How do these conforming individuals explain verses like these? I understand that I should not judge others of their faults if I am too struggling hard with it myself. Yet, the fact of the matter is that we are not called, as followers of Christ, to make others feel comfortable in their sin. The Word of God is full of convicting messages. The Holy Spirit used those same convicting pages to draw me to Himself. If you don’t want people to feel convicted or guilty for their actions, then you are showing that you don’t want others to condemn you for your own actions. When people use this verse in defense of sin, they are really saying, “Tolerate, lest ye be not tolerated.” 

Posted in Church, Biblical Thoughts, Today's World, Christian Applications | 1 Comment »

September 7, 2007 by Administrator.

Let me present you with an interesting thought: “What is the biblical purpose of church choirs?” The word “choir” is not mentioned in the New Testament and very few times in the Old Testament. What is the current purpose for choirs in church? Countless times I have heard from people, “… you should hear the choir sing!” Over and over again I hear praise for the beauty of the choir and their songs. If they sing exceptionally well, they’ll get an “Amen!” Why? The attenders say “amen” because they are impressed by the choir or stirred emotionally.

Back to the first question: “What is the biblical purpose of church choirs?” I have thrown this question around in some church circles. Of course the answer is, “to praise God”. That may be true. Typically choirs will consist of members who believe that they to have pleasant voices. This collection of trained voices is intended to give God praise with their skilled voices before the congregation. Choir members seem to have better singing voices than those in the congregation. Therefore they lift up their pleasant voices to God by singing a long, powerful song in their shiny robes. However, does this not redirect the praise from God to the choir? Selecting particular voices to sing unique songs before an audience does not necessarily give all the glory to God. A large portion of glory is going to the accomplished choir. One could even say that solos point more to man than to God.  Christians should agree that all glory and honor needs to belong to our Lord Jesus. Would it not be beneficial to start observing all things that take away from the glory of our Lord and point to man? Would it not be just as honoring-if not more so-to have congregational singing to God? This would hinder man-centered praise or potential man-centered praise. We would all agree that the Mormon Tabernacle Choir is not giving praise to God. Is it because they are lost or because the emphasis is on them? This topic may be petty to some, but I have seen many choirs that make a show of their performance and the church is thrilled. I wonder, “Where is God’s glory in this?” Tell me your thoughts on the biblical purpose of choirs. As a former choir member, I look back and see more man-glorification than God-glorification.

Posted in Church, Biblical Thoughts | 9 Comments »

September 3, 2007 by Administrator.

Sadly, there is a widespread inflation across American churches. Many churches keep unrealistic, dishonest numbers about their church membership/enrollment. I scratch my head every time I hear of a church having 1,000 members, but only 400 show up every Sunday morning. At the Sunday night service they’ll have 175 on average. Oh, and let’s not even talk about the Wednesday evening service. Why keep “members” on the list when they haven’t showed up in over two years? Quite frankly, it’s dishonest to have inflated memberships numbers of people who are no longer in the church or have gone somewhere else but haven’t informed the church. I remember listening to an elderly woman at a local church who helped in recording the Sunday School attendance. Their church’s goal was to surpass an enrollment of 500 for Sunday School. Currently their attendance was in the 300’s, but their enrollment was in 400’s. She suggested to the other volunteers that the enrolled people who haven’t attended in years be removed. That way the church would have more true numbers. However, the other members grew angry and accused her of trying to hinder the church from reaching its goal. But her point was that the church should have a true, accurate enrollment. She was also accused of shutting the “un-attenders” out from the gospel if they removed their names. I remember this woman being very troubled about her church’s goal at that time. What was their priority? Was it to reach the lost or to reach 500? Was it to reach the goal honestly or just to reach 500 on inflated records? I myself have heard of church leaders saying that by removing “un-attenders” from membership would be like shutting the door of salvation in their face. This was quite absurd. Strangely, no attempt was being made to bring back these un-attenders, but heaven-forbid you remove them from the church membership. They might be condemned to hell if God tells them at the throne that their membership had expired at Abilene Church of God. Is it dishonest to keep inflated numbers on the church records? Is it dishonest to tell your investors that your business makes more revenue than it really does? Is it dishonest to tell your boss that you completed more tasks than you really have? Is it dishonest to keep inflated records in the church? On second thought, I wouldn’t say it’s dishonest, I would say that it’s a lie.

Posted in Church, Today's World | No Comments »