Friends, do you understand how dangerous it is for people to believe that no matter what they do, they cannot lose their salvation and go to Hell, even though God says they can? Many churches teach a doctrine called “Perseverance of the Saints,” which is part of a false doctrine called Calvinism (named after John Calvin). They allege that a saved child of God may “fall” into sin, but somehow God will ultimately keep him from losing his salvation.… Read more
The Book of Life and Falling from Grace
The first time the Book of Life is mentioned in the Bible, God said He would blot names out of it: “…him will I blot out of my book” (Exodus 32:32-33). Also, the last time the Book of Life is mentioned in the Bible, it says God will take people out of it: “…God shall take away his part out of the book of life…” (Revelation 22:19; see also 3:5; Psalm 69:28). A Baptist preacher I studied with this week said that God would never take someone’s name from the Book of Life, and another one I studied with in recent years claimed that God never said He would do that.… Read more
10 Questions for Those Who Doubt God’s Providence
Although we do not understand everything about God’s providence (Esther 4:14; Rom. 11:33), faithful Christians should firmly believe in the non-miraculous providence of God today. We can ask our loving Heavenly Father for anything according to His will, and He hears and grants our requests (1 Pet. 3:12; 1 Jn. 5:14-15). Sometimes we do not know what God’s will is (such as when we are deciding where to live or what job offer to accept), and we simply pray for wisdom and for God’s will to be done (Mt.… Read more
10 Things for Which Christians Can Pray
Those who believe and obey the Gospel of Christ are blessed to have access to God the Father through His Son (Acts 2:36-42), and they may pray for things such as:
1. Forgiveness (Acts 8:22-24; Jam. 5:16; 1 Jn. 1:9)
2. Daily necessities (Matt. 6:11)
3. Deliverance from evil (Matt. 6:13)
4. Strength, boldness (Eph. 3:14-21; 6:18-19)
5. Opportunities (Col. 4:3; cf. 1 Cor. 16:9)
6. Wisdom (Jam. 1:5)
7. Other Christians (1 Thess. 5:25; Heb. 13:18)
8. Government leaders and all men (1 Tim.… Read more
The “Model Prayer” of Matthew 6 (for us)
1. Address the Father
2. Honor His name
3. Pray for the kingdom (the kingdom/church has come, but we can pray for it to spread, pray for the members, congregations, etc.)
4. Pray for God’s will to be done
5. Pray for daily necessities (“daily bread”)
6. Pray for forgiveness
7. Pray for deliverance from the evil one
8. Acknowledge God’s sovereignty and glory
9. Today we pray in Jesus’ name (John 16:23-24)
10. Say, “Amen”
Note: Jesus gave us an example of prayer, not to be quoted verbatim.… Read more
Ten Tips for Leading Public Prayers
1. Speak clearly and respectfully to God the Father in Jesus’ name
2. Use first person plural pronouns (we, us, our), not I, me, my
3. Think about your prayer in advance if possible
4. Honor prayer requests as much as possible (glancing at a note is ok)
5. If you make a mistake, fix it if possible and move on
6. Pray pertaining to the situation (Is this an opening prayer? closing prayer? prayer before communion? prayer before giving? prayer for someone to be forgiven?… Read more
A Living Faith
Works without faith = dead works (Heb. 9:14).
Faith without works = dead faith (Jam. 2:14-26).
Faith including works of obedience to God’s New Testament commands = a living faith granting salvation by God’s grace and the blood of Christ (Matt. 7:21-27; 26:28; 28:18-20; John 14:15, 21-24; 15:10, 14; Acts 2:38-41; 10:34-35, 48; 22:16; Rom. 1:5; 2:5-10; 6:3-5, 16-18; 16:26; Gal. 5:6; Eph. 2:1-19; Php. 2:12; Titus 1:16; 2:11-14; Heb. 5:9; 10:22; 1 Pet. 1:22; 3:20-21; 1 John 1:6-2:6; 5:3; Rev.… Read more
Keeping the Unity of the Spirit
In Ephesians chapter four, Paul said Christians must endeavor to keep the unity of the Spirit (unity based on what the Spirit revealed), being bound together in peace and love (Eph. 4:2-3), but unity and peace are destroyed when people deviate from what the Spirit revealed in the Bible. The Holy Spirit gave us the “seven ones” of unity (Eph. 4:4-6), and to be united we must all agree upon these critical criteria:
- “There is one body,” Christ’s one church for which He died (Eph.
How Are We Using Our Days?
A 30-year-old person has lived about 11,000 days. 50 years is 18,250 days. An 80-year-old has lived over 29,000 days! What have we done with our days, and what are we doing with our days? God will hold us accountable for how we have spent the time He gave us (Matthew 25:14-30). Will we be justified to tell God we had no time for Him, the very one who gave us our existence? Do we realize how valuable time is, and do we use our time wisely?… Read more
Death Reminds Us
Someone I knew from my childhood passed away recently, and the death of someone we know often has a way of reminding us of what is most important. The older I get, the more people I know who leave this life and go on to the next. Places I knew when I was young are not the same as they were when I was growing up, and I am constantly reminded that this world and everyone in it is passing away.… Read more
It’s Called Fornication
Having sex outside of a God-approved marriage is called fornication: “Nevertheless, to avoid fornication, let every man have his own wife, and let every woman have her own husband” (1 Corinthians 7:2). The Bible plainly says that those who commit fornication without repenting and becoming faithful to God will not be going to Heaven: “Now the works of the flesh are manifest, which are these…fornication…of the which I tell you before, as I have also told you in time past, that they which do such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God” (Galatians 5:19-21; cf.… Read more
Dialing the Wrong Number
If a man wants to call his father on the phone, several digits must be dialed exactly right, and in the correct order. If the last digit is an eight, and he dials a nine, he will not reach his father. Truth is often narrow, and missing only one detail can often cause complete failure. To reach the Father in Heaven, there are steps He has given man to follow. They are not difficult to understand, but they must be done exactly as He specified, and in the correct order, to reach Him.… Read more
We Don’t Love Jesus If We Don’t Obey Jesus
Did Jesus emphasize obedience to His commands, or simply believing in Him and trusting that “faith alone” will be enough? The following words are all from the same discourse to His disciples. Notice how He ties love with obedience: “If ye love me, keep my commandments…He that hath my commandments, and keepeth them, he it is that loveth me: and he that loveth me shall be loved of my Father, and I will love him…If a man love me, he will keep my words: and my Father will love him, and we will come unto him, and make our abode with him.… Read more
False Teacher Warning: John MacArthur
Regarding false teachers and the need to warn, see Matthew 7:15-20; Romans 16:17; Ephesians 5:20; Colossians 1:28; 1 John 4:1; 2 John 9-11.
In this short 2-minute video linked below, listen carefully to the question asked at the beginning which proves that water baptism is essential, because God plainly and repeatedly said so. Please read the rebuttal to MacArthur’s answer below after watching the video.
Please think objectively. Did MacArthur’s response really prove anything? He tried to explain away all those plain verses, to no avail.… Read more
Ignorance is Not Bliss
First John 2:16 lists three categories of sin: “the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life.” These are ways Satan tempts men to sin against God (Gen. 3; Mt. 4), but the Bible also speaks of another category of sin—sins of ignorance. Many have sinned against God in ignorance without being motivated by selfish desires of the flesh, lust of the eyes, or the pride of life. Even so, ignorance does not excuse disobedience to God, so the saying, “Ignorance is bliss” is not a Biblical concept.… Read more