Biblical Teachings

The Holy Spirit’s leadership is always right, but sin can cause us to misread His directions.   John 16:12-15   12 I have yet many things to say unto you, but ye cannot bear them now. 13 Howbeit when he, the Spirit of truth, is come, he will guide you into all truth: for he shall not speak of himself; but whatsoever he shall hear, that shall he speak: and he will shew you things to come. 14 He shall glorify me: for he shall receive of mine, and shall shew it unto you. 15 All things that the Father …

Read more

Reflections For there is one God, and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus. (1 Tim 2:5) A, “mediator,” is a proxy; one who connects two parties. Jesus Christ is the sole Mediator between the believer and God. If Christ is in us, then by His very presence in us, we are joined to both Him and the Father. Now, notice what this means: It means that there must NEVER be anyone or anything introduced into our relationship with God who acts as ANOTHER mediator. There are no mediators in addition to Christ – there is no …

Read more

Titus 3:5-8(KJV) 5 Not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to his mercy he saved us, by the washing of regeneration, and renewing of the Holy Ghost; 6 Which he shed on us abundantly through Jesus Christ our Saviour; 7 That being justified by his grace, we should be made heirs according to the hope of eternal life. 8 This is a faithful saying, and these things I will that thou affirm constantly, that they which have believed in God might be careful to maintain good works. These things are good and profitable unto men. When …

Read more

Reflections From the Psalms He hath said in his heart, I shall not be moved: for I shall never be in adversity. (Ps. 10:6) The human race is cursed with the delusion of self-sufficiency, which is equal to self-righteousness. You don’t have to be religious to be self-righteous. Self-righteousness is simply the delusion that you are RIGHT – it is thinking that you have a RIGHT-NESS — that you are sufficient in yourself. The fact that this is often carried over into Christianity is because those who claim to profess Christ have never seen the Truth about themselves. Thus, they …

Read more

Jesus said to the woman, “the hour cometh, and now is.” Then He dismissed the whole system that had existed up to that time. It was the whole system of Judaism according to the Old Testament. In one sentence, He dismissed the whole dispensation. And He introduced an altogether new order of things. What did He mean? Because when He said the hour cometh, and now is, He did not mean literally just an hour and so many minutes. He meant that it was the first hour of the new day. With this hour an altogether new day has come. …

Read more

WAS ISRAEL’S MONARCHY OF GOD OR OF MAN? By Thomas S.McCall,Th.D.  Jesus asked the Jewish leaders if the baptism of John was of human or divine origin.  Matthew 21:25   “The baptism of John was from what source, from heaven or from men?” And they began reasoning among themselves, saying, “If we say, ‘From heaven,’ He will say to us, ‘Then why did you not believe him?’ (NASB) As our Lord Jesus indicated, it is important to know whether any event or institution is of God or of man.  Many believe that the Israeli monarchy was of human origin and …

Read more

For by grace are you saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: Not of works, lest any man should boast. For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God has before ordained that we should walk in them. (Eph. 2:8-10) The relationship between grace, faith, and our works, is given in this passage. In short, we are saved BY grace, THROUGH faith, UNTO good works. If we alter this relationship we are in danger of creating a false gospel; a false Christianity. It is a fact that faith …

Read more

A Bible Study by Jack Kelley “In your anger do not sin. Do not let the sun go down while you are still angry, and do not give the devil a foothold (Ephesians 4:26).” This is the verse the Lord impressed upon my heart as I was asking for a topic for this article. It’s familiar to anyone who has ever experienced any Christian counseling, and like many Bible verses it bears closer examination. Translations differ slightly in rendering this passage and the Greek contains some interesting insights, but Paul was quoting from Psalm 4 where the intent of the …

Read more

Dr, Mike Murphy As I have battled with cancer, finding myself coming home from the local hospital has become familiar to me.  But as I found myself again heading home, it was not my cancer that had brought me to the hospital that day.  It was a friend of several years, and the desire to spend a few moments with his family.  A couple of days before, he had suffered a massive stroke, and was now taking his last breaths in the hospital’s ICU. It had been a few years since I had seen my friend.  Like so many, we …

Read more

Reflections Jesus Christ has already won every victory there is to win. Consequently, when the Bible speaks of the necessity for a saint to overcome, it is not talking about overcoming that which Christ has already defeated. Christ defeated Satan, and bore every sin ever committed by every human being. But if this is the case, then what must a believer overcome? It should be obvious to any believer that despite the finished and full victory of Jesus Christ that we do not initially seem to be able to live in much of that victory. If Christ has won all …

Read more

Reflections From the Psalms The Lord is known by the judgment which he executes: the wicked is snared in the work of his own hands. Higgaion. Selah. (Ps. 9:16) Despite the tendency for human beings to think of the judgment of God in negative terms, God’s judgment is always intended by Him to be REDEMPTIVE in nature. In other words, as it says in this Psalm, God makes Himself known by His judgments – God makes Himself known for the purpose of giving the one judged the opportunity to turn back to God in faith. Human beings are not only …

Read more

John 11:1-44 Lazarus was sick. And Mary and Martha sent for Jesus so that He could come and heal him. But when Jesus heard that Lazarus was sick, He did not go to him. Instead, He stayed where He was another two days. He also said, “This sickness is not unto death, but for the glory of God, that the Son of God might be glorified thereby.” (John 11:4) Clearly, Jesus wasn’t the least bit concerned about this situation. He fully intended to take His time getting to Lazarus. Have you ever felt as if God just HAD to act …

Read more

How different will be the state of the believer in heaven from what it is here! Here he is born to toil and suffer weariness, but in the land of the immortal, fatigue is never known. Anxious to serve his Master, he finds his strength unequal to his zeal: his constant cry is, “Help me to serve thee, O my God.” If he be thoroughly active, he will have much labour; not too much for his will, but more than enough for his power, so that he will cry out, “I am not wearied of the labour, but I am …

Read more