Jesus. The Way, the Truth, and the Life.
Over a game of Cribbage, two opponents started discussing the place of luck. One sincere Christian said, “Of course luck exists! Why would God care about all the little details, like who wins in a game of Cribbage?” And the other Christian thought, “No, no, no.”
So, the latter Christian (the real one) wrote this article about the sovereign God and how He cares about everything, even the winner or loser in a seemingly unimportant game of Cribbage.
John 14:26 can be a confusing verse. It talks about how unless we hate our parents and our families, that we cannot be disciples of Christ. Tim takes a quick look at this statement and gives his take.
Random thoughts can pop into your mind. And often those thoughts are negative.
You’re no good. You’re ugly. You’re condemned. God doesn’t love you.
But thoughts are often deceptive. Our thoughts can be deceptions from Satan. We must learn theological truth in order to combat thoughts that may lead us astray.
There is a reason Satan is called the accuser of the brethren. He wants us to be confused. He wants us to be scared. He wants us to doubt our faith.
This is an interesting study, because after the Spirit of God came on Saul and after he was given a different heart and was a different person, he still disobeyed God in significant ways. Disobedience was bound up in Saul and not even the Spirit’s presence was enough encouragement to lead him to obey. God makes it very clear; God’s rejection of Saul was because Saul had rejected the word of the LORD (1 Samuel 15:23). The Spirit of God will not dwell in a disobedient heart.
Read the full article below.
How do Evangelicals deal with the following verses?
Acts 2:38, Acts 22:16, 1 Peter 3:21 and Mark 16:16 all seem pretty clear. But Evangelicals have twisted them up to mean something they don’t mean.
Haven’t they?
If we had a “most popular” topic on the website, this might be it. People are forever thinking they’re not saved because they’ve committed heinous sins or because they’ve sinned for long periods of time.
That is not what the Bible teaches. Look at David and what he did with Bathsheeba and Uriah. Look at Manasseh and the evils that he did. Look at Peter. Look at Paul. There are so many in the Bible that committed purposeful and high-handed sins. Yet they received forgiveness.
And so can you. So can you.
Rather than get sidetracked by the enemy on our past sins, we must be like Paul and forget those things which are behind so that we might press forward for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus (Philippians 3:13-14). He is faithful and just to forgive our sins, if we do not waiver but hold fast to His promise to do just that.
This is the never-ending topic. I think, perhaps, we shouldn’t post any more articles on it. But here’s one more.
If Jesus said that those who believe will be saved, then that is what I affirm. I add nothing to it lest I be found adding to His word. It is not faith plus works. It is not faith plus circumcision. It is not faith plus keeping the law. It is not faith plus the Lord’s supper. It is not faith plus assembling with the believers. It is not faith plus baptism.
Not too long ago (depending on how you count time), someone sent in the following, somewhat obscure question. As always, Tim took the time to give a substantial answer.
I have been a Christian for almost 4 years now and one thing has always confused me. Jesus died on the cross for our sins and in so doing, took our punishment and paid our debt. Yet, if we don’t have Christ, our debt requires an eternity in hell. How is it that His one time death on earth paid for our eternity in hell?
God forgives all sin. Even deliberate sin. Right?
We’ve received so many inquiries on this over the years. People worry. And worry. And worry. For what?
God is not a God of worry. In fact, He tells us not to worry (Matthew 6:34; Luke 12:25; John 14:27). We need to place our hope in Him and trust that He’s got our best interests in mind.
But when we sin, we become disconnected from God (Isaiah 59:2). That distance, that separation–that’s what brings the fear. When we aren’t in tune with His spirit, we’re bound to feel stress.
I’m going to say what the article says. If God didn’t forgive purposeful sin, then none of us would have any hope. We’ve all done it. The pillars of our Christian faith–Peter, Paul, King David–they did it.
God forgives those who confess and forsake their sin. Period. That’s what the Bible says (1 John 1:9; Proverbs 28:13). Believe it.
Nick Phelps, our newest contributor, recently wrote his thoughts on blasphemy of the Holy Spirit. What is it? Is it something we need to be overly concerned about? What does the Bible say about it?