Loneliness

Go Visit Someone Today

There is a word that is chilling to our culture today; that word is “alienated.”  The word “alienate” means to cause to withdraw or isolate.  To be alienated is to be alone.  Loneliness is one of the greatest fears that we have.  It has driven some to insanity, and caused others to end their lives.  It is the father of despair and hopelessness.  What causes alienation?

Combat loneliness!  Reach out to someone!

Combat loneliness! Reach out to someone!

Alienation is the result of failing to treat others with respect by acting upon our selfish desires (James 1:14-15).  Selfishness displays no true concern for others.  That lack of concern works in two ways.  First, others will observe it and seek to insulate themselves against it by not associating with us.  They will not want to be used as mere tools for our satisfaction.  Such reduces people to being objects instead of a persons.Second, those showing no concern for others will also cease associating with anyone who is not interested in satisfying their selfish desires.  They mistakenly believe that it is the satisfaction of their desires that affirms their value as persons.They assume that anyone who does not satisfy them shows no concern for them.  They will only see people who are treating them as objects instead of persons.

How important is it, then, that 1) we do not identify ourselves with our own desires, and 2) that we have enough respect for others to include them in our lives even when they behave selfishly?  The Bible teaches us true respect for others by letting us know that we are 1) persons created in God’s image (Gen.1:27), and 2) worth the life of God’s Son, Jesus (John 6:51).  When we identify with Him, we won’t identify with our desires (Galatians 2:20).  We will also submit ourselves to God to be used in unselfish service for others (Romans 6:17-19).  So, go visit someone today and affirm both your value and theirs.  God bless you, and I love you.

Posted in Kevin Cauley | Tagged , , , | Comments Off on Loneliness

You Will Receive Power

You Will Receive Power

But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth. – Acts 1:8

Who will receive power?  When? What are we talking about?

Who will receive power? When? What are we talking about?

Have you built your ark yet?

Seriously…have you?

No?  Why not?

I mean, you want to follow God, right?  Didn’t he command that an ark be built in Genesis?  He sure did (Gen. 6:14-16).

So again I ask:  Have you built your ark yet?  If not, you better get cracking, don’t you think?

What’s this you say?  You’re not Noah?  What’s that got to do with anything?

Oh, I see.  You’re saying that God gave that command to Noah, not you.  So it was Noah, not you, that he required to build an ark.  I get it now.  Thanks.

———————-

The above dialogue is an illustration of how ridiculous our conclusions can be if we read passages of the Bible and don’t practice the simple hermeneutic of taking into account who is talking, to whom they are talking, and the circumstances surrounding the conversation.  Millions of Bible readers practice this hermeneutic every time they read the Genesis account of Noah and conclude that God wanted Noah, not them, to build an ark.  That’s why we don’t see numerous arks popping up all over the world (and where would they get the gopher wood, anyway?)

Yet when it comes to the topic of the Holy Spirit, so many of those same people fail to practice the same hermeneutic.  So many professed followers of Christ talk regularly of “being moved” by the “power of the Spirit,” “being filled with the Spirit” to do this or that, “being led by the Spirit” to say this or that, etc., and point to passages in the Bible like today’s Scripture which talk of such things.  However, the questions must still be asked.  In these passages, who was talking, to whom was he talking, and what were the circumstances surrounding the conversation?

In today’s Scripture, a survey of the context surrounding Acts 1:8 shows that it is Jesus talking to his apostles after his resurrection and immediately before his ascension.  They had asked if he would restore the kingdom to Israel (Acts 1:6), still not understanding that Christ’s kingdom was spiritual in nature (John 18:36; Luke 17:20-21) and would come in the form of the church (Col. 1:13; Rev. 1:4, 6, 9; Matt. 16:18-19).  Rather than directly answering their question, he prophesied to them what would happen to them ten days later on the day of Pentecost, the day the church began and the day when the Holy Spirit would come upon the apostles and grant them miraculous power (Acts 2:1ff).  Starting on that day, Acts records that the apostles and those whom they converted would bring the good news of Jesus throughout the world.

A further study of Acts, along with 1 Corinthians 12-14, reveals that miraculous power from the Holy Spirit was given in various measures to the early Christians whenever an apostle laid their hands upon them.  These miraculous gifts were prophesied to cease when God’s Word became complete, something which happened centuries ago.  Thus, miraculous power from the Spirit – being miraculously led by the Spirit, called by the Spirit, doing miracles by the Spirit, having the Spirit “speak” to you in visions, etc. – does not happen today as it did in biblical times.  Rather, we are led by the Spirit in a more indirect sense: when we follow the Spirit-inspired Word of God, the Bible.

Granted, this is a deep study…but it is an understandable study, especially if one remembers to take into account the context of each passage which talks about miraculous power of the Holy Spirit like today’s Scripture reading.

Posted in Jon Mitchell | Tagged , , , | Comments Off on You Will Receive Power

A Lesson in Galilee

Among so Many

Our Lord had sent out the twelve on the limited commission of going to the Jews to tell them about the coming Kingdom. They had been given power to heal the sick and to cast out demons (Luke 9:1). When they returned to Him, they told Jesus of all that they had done. He took them away from the multitude to a deserted place on the east shores of the Sea of Galilee. They did not know the lesson He was about to teach them.

What were eyes on in Galilee?

What were eyes on in Galilee?

The multitudes followed Jesus and the apostles, and Jesus spent hours teaching them about the Kingdom. As the day ended, the disciples came to Jesus and told Him to send the multitude away that they might find food and lodging. How startled these men must have been when Jesus said, “You give them something to eat” (Luke 9:13). With weak faith, they reminded the Lord that it would take at least 200 days’ wages to feed so many. They told Jesus there was a young man who had five barley loaves of bread, two small fish and then added, “But what are they among so many” (John 6:9)?

Think about this for just a minute. They had just returned from days of healing, teaching and casting out demons but were still looking at the world without any faith. Eyes without faith see the world so differently from those with faith. What are the loaves and fish compared to their needs? The real truth is that a child’s lunch and the Lord are no problem at all when He is there.

Is it possible that we react to situations in our lives without realizing that the “insurmountable” problems we are facing are meaningless when the Lord is with us? The storms of life are so immense when we look at them, but faith allows us to look at these storms and understand that the Lord is far greater than all storms.

The Lord has always dealt with His people and purposely used “powerless” individuals to bring glory to Himself. Had God chosen mass armies to deal with the pagan armies all the glory would be given to men, and He would be left out. The land which flowed with milk and honey and giants living in cities with walls which reached heaven could so easily be conquered by “grasshoppers” with the Lord among them (Num. 13). Remember also the Lord’s use of Gideon’s army of 300 and the destruction of the Midianites.

So, as you face the storms of life, look at it through eyes so different from those of men without God. They say, “What are these (loaves and fish) among so many?” Eyes of faith, look not at the loaves and fish, but see them in the hands of Jesus with the hungry multitudes and see the twelve baskets filled with leftovers! “What is the Lord, among so many?”

Posted in Dan Jenkins | Tagged , , | Comments Off on A Lesson in Galilee

Paciencia: ¡NUNCA TE DES POR VENCIDO!

¡NUNCA TE DES POR VENCIDO!
Estamos a punto de terminar año y de parte de todos los que formamos parte de esta pagina web: “church of christ articles” más que agradecidos con usted por haber estado visitando nuestra web durante este año. Han sido más de quinientas mil palabras que se han escrito durante todo el año en  nuestros artículos con el único fin de poder ayudarle a usted un poco más, y de poder además animarle. Son trescientos sesenta y cinco días al año, cada uno de ellos con buenas y malas experiencias. Estoy seguro que estamos muy agradecidos con el Señor por tantas buenas cosas que sucedieron en este año en nuestras vidas,  tal vez; en este año usted encontró a su media naranjada, o fue celebrada su boda, o nació su hijo (a) o quizás encontró en buen empleo. Cualquiera que sea el caso, contamos con mucho entusiasmo esas bendiciones pero… Como Job preguntó hace unos cuantos miles de años atrás “…Recibimos el bien de parte de Dios, ¿y no recibiremos también el mal?…” (Job 2:10 RV2015).  Es fácil reconocer que este hombre como quizás muchas personas hoy no tenía una idea muy clara de Dios. En la declaración anterior él asume que el mal también proviene de Dios, sin embargo nosotros sí tenemos toda la revelación completa y solamente basta echar un ojo en Sant 1:17 para entender que Dios origina lo bueno únicamente y que lo malo no proviene de El, aunque en muchas veces El permite (que es muy diferente) que sucedan cosas malas para poner a prueba nuestra fidelidad, y afinar nuestro amor para con nuestro Dios.  Job capítulos más tardes logra observar el cuadro más correctamente: “De oídas había oído de ti pero ahora mis ojos te ven” (Job 42:5 RV2015).  Sabe algo respetado amigo, a nosotros  muchas veces nos cuesta ser agradecido con Dios en todo tiempo. No se que haya sido lo peor que haya pasado usted en este año: tal vez la muerte de un ser querido, o una separación de su pareja, o no sé quizás lo corrieron del trabajo o peor aún no tiene uno. Al menos quien escribe puede decir que los ministros cristianos muchas veces pasamos por situaciones tremendas de desesperación, angustias, amarguras y para ser honesto hasta de dejar el ministerio (no puedo mentir). Pero cada cristiano debería de estar agradecido con el Señor por cada una de estas tremendas situaciones en las que nos entramos,  y note que digo cristianos, y la razón  es porque somos los únicos con la capacidad de ver lo positivo en lo negativo. Cristo pudo ver vida abundante para miles y miles con su muerte, y sus seguidores también vamos aprendiendo a poder ver vida en la muerte en todo sentido.

Senor, Dame Paciencia.

Senor, Dame Paciencia.

En Santiago 1:3 la versión más popular entre nosotros Reina Valera 1960 dice: “sabiendo que la prueba de vuestra fe, produce paciencia”(énfasis mío añadido HLM), y es una lástima que muchas veces no podamos apreciar más a fondo el verdadero sentido de este pasaje tan corto pero tan poderoso. Tal vez estemos tentados a pensar que paciencia es cuando voy al banco y estoy haciendo fila con paciencia en el sentido de estar pasivo. La palabra que se encuentra resaltada como “paciencia” es “hypome” en el idioma original. Bien, la raíz etimológica de este sustantivo es hupomeno y  es una palabra que aparece unas 32 veces en el N.T, al parecer de uso bastante común. El significado alude a algo como: constancia, resistencia. También en el N.T es una característica muy remarcada en alguien que no es movido del propósito que deliberadamente ha decidido escoger, y que su lealtad y fe no cambian aún en los más altos sufrimientos, alguien que soporta, alguien que al mismo tiene se sustenta. Es la misma palabra griega que fue traducida en Lucas 8:15 como perseverancia. ¿Esto nos gusta, no? Todos queremos aguantar como guerreros de Cristo, soportar todos los embates, ser sustentados por el Señor, como dicen en mi pueblo: ser un roble, pero para Dios, permita sugerirle que no existe otra manera de lograr esto si antes no pasamos por las pruebas. He estado en clases bíblicas y sermones incluso sobre este tema pero parece que la parte de las pruebas se ha visto siempre como en un tono negativo y hay que evitarlo, sabe para que Cristo resucitara con poder y con gloria primero tenía que pasar por la vergüenza  y deshonra de morir en la cruz, me llama la atención como el escritor de los Hebreos dice que “por el gozo que tenía delante de El, fue a la cruz” (Heb.12:1-2). Considero que hay que deteneos de pedir siempre al Padre que nos saque de las tribulaciones… porque eso no va a suceder, de hecho deberíamos de pedir al Padre más bien que nos ayude a ser firmes en medio de las tribulaciones, que nos ayude a nunca negar su nombre, que fortalezca nuestras espíritu para nunca salirnos del camino aún si tenemos que ir gateando pero que podamos andar en ese camino, debemos de pedir al Padre que a travez de su providencia nos envíe a los hombres  correctos para llorar sobre ellos y que nuestros oídos puedan escuchar la voces más sabias en medio de la angustia ¿Pero que tiene que ver todo esto con el titulo de arriba? !No te rindas!, esa es la clave de todo y yo añadiría ¡POR FAVOR JAMAS, JAMAS TE RINDAS!. El hermano Bod  Spurlin talentoso predicador del evangelio, sufrió una tremenda crisis de esclerosis multiple, así que después de predicar por 30 años ahora su trabajo comienza a limitarse a un bastón, luego una silla de ruedas y por último a una cama de hospital. Aún estando en el hospital el hermano escribió tres libros y cuando se le preguntó como podia estar tan radiante con tantas discapacidades y tantos problemas de salud el hermano respondió: “mi enfermedad nunca ha tocado mi corazón”.  Amigo mío esa es la clave, nunca se rinda. La audiencia de Pablo en Hechos 14 lo dejó medio muerto,  ¿y que hizo? ¿fue a la corte y los demandó? se puso de pie y volvió a ingresar a la misma ciudad… ¡que determinación, que valentía, que perseverancia…! sin embargo al pedir que se le quitara el aguijón de la carte también se le dijo lo mismo que se nos dice a nosotros: “bástate de mi gracia porque mi poder se perfecciona en las debilidades”  (2Co.12:9). Como Pablo, como Cristo jamás se dé usted por vencido, no siempre vamos a ganar todas las batallas y hay que saber aceptar cuando hemos perdido, sin embargo es muy diferente a abandonar el campo de batalla y salir corriendo desesperadamente, desanímese no importa, llore si es necesario pero no tire la toalla no huya porque su enemigo no tiene intenciones de huir. Enfrentemos nuestros temores nuestros proyectos y planes para este nuevo año, agradezcamos a Dios por cada momento bonito pero también estemos agradecidos con el Señor por cada escenario horrendo que vendrá (y vaya que si vendrán) porque es la única manera para poder pulirnos como el oro y para poder traer gloria al Señor. Hay una razón bastante concreta del porque no debemos nunca de darnos por vencidos, el apóstol Pablo escribe: “No nos cansemos, pues, de hacer bien; porque a su tiempo segaremos, si no desmayamos.” (Gálatas 6:9). El cielo es suyo y mío solo si no, nos damos por vencidos.  

Posted in Heiner Montealto | Tagged , , | Comments Off on Paciencia: ¡NUNCA TE DES POR VENCIDO!

Man Made Stories?

Man Made Stories

It is fashionable in certain circles to assume that the Bible is but a collection of man-made stories, crafted from whole cloth, for the purpose of imparting a particular philosophy, or in order to stir up certain emotions.

The Bible isn't stories, but rather History recorded by God.

The Bible isn’t stories, but rather History recorded by God.

By such a reckoning, the only value of the Bible is in its ability to encourage people to be nice to one another through the creation of a community of like minded individuals. But, also by such a reckoning, one should not take the Bible too seriously; at least no more seriously than any other made-up story. It is placed on the same level as books such as the Quran, or old myths, such as those from Greece.

This attitude, so prevalent in our modern culture, is not new. We can see evidences of it throughout the history of the church. Over time, men have frequently added their own stories, interpretations and explanations to the sacred page, giving their fictions the same weight as sacred edict. When we observe religious leaders who feel quite comfortable making whatever alterations they desire to the Bible message in order to conform its words to their own opinions or desires, we can know that we are observing a person who does not take the Bible seriously.

If the Bible were only a collection of myths, then it is true that men have the right to change it however they want to suit themselves. But the problem with this sort of mentality is that it ignores the manner in which the message of the Gospel of Christ is grounded in actual historical events. If the Bible is historically accurate then it moves beyond myth, and becomes something far more profound.

Peter recognized the importance of this fact, and the inclination of some to doubt the message, when he reminded his readers of the nature of his testimony: “For we did not follow cleverly devised myths when we made known to you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but we were eyewitnesses of his majesty. For when he received honor and glory from God the Father, and the voice was borne to him by the Majestic Glory, ‘This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased,’ we ourselves heard this very voice borne from heaven, for we were with him on the holy mountain. (2 Peter 1:16-18; ESV)

This question of the historical reality of Christianity is one that is central to the discussion of the faith, and it really boils down to a single question: did Jesus rise from the dead, or did He not?

Nor does the Bible itself shy away from the importance of this question. The apostle Paul argued in his epistle to the Corinthians: “But if there is no resurrection of the dead, then Christ is not risen.  And if Christ is not risen, then our preaching is empty and your faith is also empty.” (1 Corinthians 15:13-14; NKJV)

Paul did not write this because he had any doubts about the historicity of the resurrection of Christ from the dead. Concerning the risen Lord, Paul had evidence, the evidence of eye-witnesses. As he would write, the risen Jesus “was seen by Cephas, then by the twelve. After that He was seen by over five hundred brethren at once, of whom the greater part remain to the present, but some have fallen asleep. After that He was seen by James, then by all the apostles. Then last of all He was seen by me also.” (1 Corinthians 15:5-7; NKJV)

So convicted was Paul by what he had seen and heard, he changed his life, giving up all that he had once held precious, facing poverty, persecution and ridicule – just so he could share with people the reality of a risen Christ. (cf. Philippians 3:7-11)

Nor was Paul alone in this. All of the apostles did the same. We know for a historical fact that these men preached the gospel all across the known world, spreading out from Jerusalem to share a message of a risen savior. We also know that they never benefitted materially from doing so. In fact, they eschewed riches and honor for the sake of sharing their message with as many as possible. They frequently died horrible, violent deaths, but they never recanted the simple facts to which they bore witness: that in the days of Pontius Pilate, a religious figure named Jesus was crucified on a cross, and after three days he rose from the dead.

If Jesus truly rose from the dead, then His testimony concerning spiritual matters, including His own divinity, moves from the realm of opinion, and becomes far more compelling. If a man can rise from the dead, just as he himself predicted, the pronouncements of that man concerning life after death, how to avoid judgment, and all the rest must be taken seriously. There are good reasons to trust Him and follow Him, that we too might share in the resurrection He promised. Paul’s reasoning in this matter is quite sound.

If the claims of the apostles were mere fictions, then Christianity is a vain religion, with nothing but false claims and false hope. But if we accept the historical reality of their testimony, a reality attested to in the first century by hundreds of other eyewitnesses, then we must accept that the Gospel is a message that demands our full attention. Indeed, it demands of us the same dedication and sacrifice as that of its original witnesses.

 

 

Posted in Jonathan McAnulty | Tagged , , , | Comments Off on Man Made Stories?