Jesus Our High Standard

A mother and her small son were talking and as they talked, her son asked, “Mother, where did you live when Jesus was a boy?” The mother replied, “Why, I wasn’t alive then, son. Jesus lived a long time ago–‐ about 2,000 years ago.” The boy said, “Oh, I thought He lived when you were little. You always seem to be talking about Him.”

It is a wonderful thing to be known as someone who is always talking about Jesus. It is clear that the things we talk about the most are the things that are closest to our hearts. When we think about Jesus, we can talk about his birth. We can talk about his work or we can talk about the relationship he had with his disciples who walked with Him. But, one of the themes that stands out the most in regards to Jesus is that of his influence.

We all should know that true Christianity brings freedom. Jesus said, “to those Jews which believed on him, If ye continue in my word, then are ye my disciples indeed; And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free . . . If the Son therefore shall make you free, ye shall be free indeed.” (John 8:31‐32, 36). Thus, Christ frees people from superstitions and the bondage of sin. It puts within them the desire and ability to live above sin. And so, through hearing, believing, and obeying the teaching of Christ, His disciples come to know the truth. They have been influenced by Christ greatly. And so, because of His influence, we can understand that to know the truth is not just to know facts. It is to put into practice that truth.

Truly, Jesus has influenced our world. From the Bible we learn that Jesus raised women to new heights of respect and to honor your mother (John 19:26‐27). In Luke 7:36‐39, it tells of a woman who came and anointed the feet of Jesus in which He impacted her life. In Acts 8‐9, Saul of Tarsus was the chief persecutor of early Christians. He dragged people to prison. When they did not recant their faith, he was a party to their execution. But he had a dramatic encounter with the risen Christ on his way to Damascus and he was transformed from Saul, the enemy of Christianity, to Paul, the main propagator of its message. He let his position of prestige in Jewish society, to become a traveling missionary who experienced incredible suffering in order to share the love of Christ throughout the Roman empire. Jesus changed the life of so many and has greatly influenced the world. Thus, one of the highest standards of living in the world is to hear the Gospel preached and to be able to read, study and apply the Bible to our lives.

Throughout history, the influence Jesus had on the lives of people has never been surpassed. No other great leader has inspired so many positive changes in the lives of his followers. People who know about the risen Christ and yield to the will of His Father and baptized and arise to walk in a new life (Romans 6:3‐4). And so, their outlook on life is altered forever and staying true to their faith, they do not hesitate to face hardship. You know, many focus on themselves in the world. We are grateful to have a Savior who was not focused on Himself, but on you. How has he influenced your life?

Posted in Robert Notgrass | Tagged , , , | Comments Off on Jesus Our High Standard

What is Repentance?

Repentance is what results when godly sorrow meets a godly response. It comes about when we change our attitude and our action toward sin. Thayer’s Bible Dictionary defines the Greek word for repent in this way, “To change one’s mind; to change one’s mind for better, heartily to amend with abhorrence of one’s past sins.”

Repentance is a life-changing event and it begins when sin in our life is pointed out to us by the gospel. When we are convicted in our hearts of that sin, we are made sorrowful. This is Godly sorrow. “For godly sorrow worketh repentance to salvation not to be repented of…” (2 Corinthians 7:10) Godly sorrow is what brings about the desire for change and the proper actions that demonstrate that change in our lives.

In contrast to Godly sorrow, worldly sorrow “worketh death” (2 Corinthians 7:10) and comes about not as a response to the gospel, but as a response brought on by the consequences of sin. Worldly sorrow results when a person “gets caught” or is made to suffer the consequences of his sin. Only when the consequences become severe enough does worldly sorrow lead one to change his life. This model of repentance does not reflect a positive response to the gospel but a negative response to stimuli, not unlike a cow being shocked with an electric cattle prod. True repentance, on the other hand, can only come as a positive response to the gospel.

Repentance, along with faith can only be demonstrated by a positive response to the gospel. It is this positive response that “worketh salvation not to be repented of…” (2 Corinthians 7:10). We respond positively to the gospel when we confess Christ and submit ourselves to His will and are baptized. Once we have been baptized, we must continue to pattern our lives after the gospel. This is the “process” of repentance for the alien sinner, but what about repentance for the Christian? One who is already a Christian, when he commits sin, he must also repent. This is accomplished when his godly sorrow brings him back into contact with the blood of Christ, through admission of guilt and fervent prayer.

Simply changing our attitude and action toward sin and being immersed is not enough to affect true repentance. True repentance requires that amends or restitution be made. If we stole money from a person, in order to truly repent, we must do our best to make restitution and return the money. All right thinking people can plainly see the need to make restitution when it comes to theft, murder, or any other crime.

But often the same people that recognize this need for restitution regarding crime and punishment do not see a need when it comes to moral issues. When a man and woman who are not scripturally married are exposed to the gospel and godly sorrow results, some times they are told that they can “repent” without dissolving their unscriptural marriage. (See Matthew 19:3-9) But this type of “repentance” is not scriptural because it leaves out restitution. If a robber breaks into a man’s home, steals his TV, his DVD player and his wife and later repents, all can see that he must return the TV and DVD player. But when it comes to “wife stealing,” many people say that it is OK, because the robber was not a Christian at the time. Restitution is necessary every time our sin affects another person.

What about murderers? How can they make restitution? Can they bring back the one they killed? Sometimes full restitution is impossible. The Bible illustrates this in Ephesians 4:28 “Let him that stole steal no more: but rather let him labour, working with his hands the thing which is good, that he may have to give to him that needeth.” The thief must stop his thieving ways; he must to find a way to make an honest living; and he must use what he earns to give to those in need. That is restitution – he is no longer a taker, he is now a giver.

This is exactly what John “The Immerser” was speaking of when he said, “Bring forth therefore fruits meet for repentance…” (Matthew 3:8) In other words, he was telling them to show or demonstrate their repentance by their works. Just as James challenged with regard to faith, “Yea, a man may say, Thou hast faith, and I have works: shew me thy faith without thy works, and I will shew thee my faith by my works.” (James 2:18). John was saying to the scribes and Pharisees, “Show forth works that demonstrate your repentance!”

Have you repented, truly repented, of your sins?

Posted in Jack McNiel | Tagged , , | Comments Off on What is Repentance?

A Thousand Generations

The words of Moses about the attributes of God are filled with so many treasures. As the Jews were about to enter into the Promised Land, he assembled Israel and described the nature of the God that they served. “Therefore know that the Lord your God, He is God, the faithful God who keeps covenant and mercy for a thousand generations with those who love Him and keep His commandments” (Deut. 7:9). Look at how Moses described our God.

The Lord is God. God is not His name; it is who He is. While we may often refer to Him as God and begin to think that is His name, it is actually a description of the fact that He is above all creation. While we often use many terms to refer to Him, His name is Jehovah (Ex. 6:3). What does it mean when the Bible so often states that He is God?  Think of the lowest single cell life form there is, and then think of life which is above that cell. As one gets near the most complex of life forms, we find man. Yet, above man are the angels, and above angels are the archangels. Then, there is an immeasurable gap and at the highest level there is the Almighty, the Supreme One, the Eternal Ruler, the Creator, the One who made the world and above all. This is the meaning of, “The Lord is God.”

The Lord is faithful. These words used by Moses proclaim that God can be trusted. He is the same yesterday, today and forever! He is the eternal, unchanging One. James says that there is no variation in the shadow He has cast since time began (James 1:17). The trust placed in Him by Enoch, Moses, David and even Jesus, when He was on the earth, is the same trust we can place in Him. He is eternally trustworthy!

The Lord is merciful. Like all His attributes, His mercy is infinite. Moses says that His mercy endures for a thousand generations. To see how remarkable this is, consider that when Moses said these words there had been only thirty generations since Adam! Take this number literally and you can see that we are still at the beginning of those thousand generations! Here is the point. He is eternally merciful, and His grace reaches to you!

Read the passage again. Take time to read the verse above and below the one we have discussed. We are truly blessed. Jehovah is God. Jehovah is faithful. Jehovah is merciful. Jehovah is our God!

Posted in Dan Jenkins | Tagged , , , | Comments Off on A Thousand Generations

Get Scientific

Get Scientific: We Laugh and Cry for a Reason

The young man was extremely frustrated. He had come to the seminar as a skeptic, with hopes of debunking much of the material that was being presented. However, during the question and answer period this college student quickly realized the weakness of his case, and he became angry at having never seen some of the scientific studies that indicated the Earth was relatively young. He asked a few additional questions and began to shake his head. Finally, holding the microphone in both hands he looked up and asked: “Why haven’t they ever taught us this stuff?”

Great question. I suspect the reason many young people are never introduced to the errors associated with the evolutionary theory is because students would quickly realize that this theory is foolish and should be abandoned. Add to this the fact that this is a godless theory that has ultimately become a religion for those who have stiffened their necks against God, and one can begin to understand why evolutionists are extremely protective about what is taught in the classroom. They don’t want anyone loosening the grip they currently have in the academic world.

Textbooks today brashly assert organic evolution as a “fact.” Yet, these same textbooks gloss over the fact that evolution cannot explain: (1) how non-living material produced living material; (2) from whence matter for the Universe originated; and (3) the design found in nature. These are major hurdles for the evolutionary theory, and yet this is the only theory for origins that is legally taught in most classrooms. If we desire young people to be open minded and critical thinkers, then why are they only exposed to one contaminated theory for the origin of mankind? That is not educating—it’s indoctrinating. And our tax dollars are funding it.

In previous years, textbooks correctly taught students the Law of Biogenesis: that life comes only from other life. This law of science was established after empirical evidence demonstrated that life cannot spontaneously arise from non-life in nature. This is not a theory or hypothesis, but rather, a scientific law that has never been observed to be incorrect. Current textbooks however, have dropped the Law of Biogenesis in favor of abiogenesis—a theory that teaches students the possibility that life can arise from non-life under “suitable circumstances.” Do we have any scientific data to back up this new theory of abiogensis? Absolutely not—but at least it doesn’t contradict the evolutionary theory. Have we lost the ability to reason? How logical is it to replace a scientific law with an unproven theory?

While evolutionists may have the backing and support of the mainstream media, many Darwinians realize how damaging that spotlight can be when left to shine on their beloved theory too long. Students who are taught to think critically and not swallow whatever is thrown out before them quickly realize Darwin’s theory falls short in many areas. For instance, does the evolutionary theory have a suitable explanation for:

  • why we laugh/cry?
  • for human altruism/charity?
  • for the origin of language?
  • for the origin of the human consciousness?

But this is only the beginning. The evolutionary theory cannot even adequately explain the origin of sex and gender? Think about it for a moment. How do you simultaneously evolve a separate male and female—with all of the necessary internal organs—all the while, still being able to reproduce during this evolutionary “transition” period? What good is a partially evolved uterus? Do we have examples of transitional stages between asexual and sexual reproduction? Additionally, if the sole purpose of a creature is to replicate its own genes (e.g., survival of the fittest), then wouldn’t asexual reproduction make more sense? Why go to the trouble of “evolving” separate male and female anatomy, when all one would have to do is split or bud off? Evolutionists might argue that sexual reproduction evolved because of the need for diversity—but such speculations are not a part of real science, as no one has successfully demonstrated how this “need” can cause such major physiological changes. Speculations are easy to pronounce, but rarely stand up to the test.

Respected Swedish biologist Sören Lövtrup once declared: “I suppose that nobody will deny that it is a great misfortune if an entire branch of science becomes addicted to a false theory. But this is what has happened in biology…. I believe that one day the Darwinian myth will be ranked the greatest deceit in the history of science. When this happens, many people will pose the question: How did this ever happen?” (1987). How indeed?!

Posted in Brad Harrub | Tagged , , , , | Comments Off on Get Scientific

Appreciate God

Humanity has always faced problems—one is the  trouble of appreciating what it means to become  a Christian and to have the fellowship of God,  especially during good times. The exception is when  many find themselves with problems, concerns, ordeals  and such like. When we face these, we tend to stop and  think about how wonderful it is to be a Christian. It is  much easier when we are faced with the loss of a loved  one or some other trial in life to stop and realize how  amazing it is to have God as our Father and Christ as our  Savior. We ask ourselves the question, “How could I live  and face these trials of life if I were not a Christian?”  However, when life becomes easy again, it is easy for  us to stop thinking about about how magnificent it is to  be in fellowship with God. As we live everyday, we do  not face these as constant trials, and it is not that easy to  remember what a blessing it is to be in fellowship with  God. Christians today who are missing other blessings  we enjoy realize how wonderful it is to be a Christian  and to be able to assemble with the saints.

Therefore, here is one problem we face. This was a  problem that the nation of Israel had. They had a problem  in grasping what a blessing it was to have fellowship with  God above all the other nations of the earth. No other  nation was as blessed as they were. Because they did  not comprehend the blessings they enjoyed, it was hard  for them to appreciate the responsibilities that they had.  The failure to value their responsibilities finally led them  to the place where they thought that the responsibilities  had nothing to do with their being in fellowship with  God. They imagined they were the special people of  God, and that because Abraham was their father, God  would never cut them off (cf. John 8:33-39). Had they  studied carefully the Old Testament (especially the book  of Leviticus) and thought about the lessons therein, they  never would have come to that conclusion. Above all  else, the book of Leviticus stresses that the holiness of  God demands holy and righteous living by people who  have His fellowship. The whole importance of the book  is to show the significance of fellowship with God and  the responsibilities that appear when one is in fellowship  with God, and a failure to meet these responsibilities is  to end up finally losing this blessed divine fellowship.

Therefore, the Old Testament is not as obsolete as  we may think it is, because that principle is true today  since it is based upon the character of God. God says,  “ For I am the Lord, I change not ” (Mal. 3:6). He is not  a man. Therefore, the unchanging character of God  means that principles that are true today are just as true  as they were in the Old Testament. It is important that we  think carefully about these things and learn the lessons  involved. Do we really appreciate God?

Posted in Sam Willcut | Tagged , , , | Comments Off on Appreciate God