One of the marks of a true servant of God is his honesty and integrity: he practices what he preaches. This does not mean he is sinlessly perfect, but that he sincerely seeks to obey the Word of God. He tries to maintain a good conscience. A conscience can become...
Each Christian has at least one spiritual gift that he or she must use to the glory of God and the building up of the church. We are stewards; God has entrusted these gifts to us that we might use them for the good of His church. He even gives...
God’s purpose in our redemption is not simply to rescue us from hell, as great a work as that is. His ultimate purpose in our salvation is that for all eternity the church might praise God for His grace (Ephesians 1:6, 12, and 14). If God has an eternal purpose...
Obedience to God’s Word is proof of our love for Him. There are three motives for obedience: We can obey because we have to, because we need to, or because we want to. A slave obeys because he has to. If he doesn’t obey he will be punished. An employee...
Psalm 145 was written with one purpose in mind: to praise the Lord. Notice that there are no requests and no confessions of sin in Psalm 145. It is pure praise! Just listen to the psalmist as he speaks to the Lord! “I will extol [exalt] Thee I will bless...
What really is “legalism”? It is the belief that I can become holy and please God by obeying laws. It is measuring spirituality by a list of do’s and don’ts. The weakness of legalism is that it sees sins (plural) but not sin (the root of the trouble). It judges...
We must never underestimate the importance of the resurrection of Jesus Christ. The world believes that Jesus died, but not that He arose from the dead. What is the significance of the Resurrection? It proves that Jesus is God’s Son. Jesus stated that He had authority to lay down His...
A distraught wife sought out a Christian marriage counselor and told her sad story of a marriage about to dissolve. “But we have so much!” she kept saying, “Look at this diamond ring on my finger. Why, it’s worth thousands! We have an expensive mansion in an exclusive area. We...
Hospitality is a virtue that is commanded and commended throughout the Scriptures. Moses included it in the Law. Jesus enjoyed hospitality while He was on earth, and so did the apostles in their ministry. Human hospitality is a reflection of God’s hospitality to us. Abraham was hospitable to three strangers,...
No matter how difficult the fiery trial may become, a Christian always has hope. In his first epistle, Peter gave reasons for this hopeful attitude. • We have God’s grace. Our salvation is because of His grace. He called us before we called on Him. We have tasted that the...