Articles by Jason Patrick Hilburn
Many believe that as long as a person believes in Jesus, the church he attends does not matter; but the truth is that the church one attends matters greatly:
An Artificial Intelligence (A.I.) chatbot allows people to ask it questions of practically any kind, and it “works by processing large amounts of text data and using patterns in that data to generate responses that are relevant and coherent” (chatgpt.com). The most widely used chatbot is called ChatGPT: “As of September 2024, ChatGPT is the most popular AI tool in the world. The AI chatbot receives 3.1 billion monthly website visits from over 180 million users” (explodingtopics.com).… Read more
An Artificial Intelligence (A.I.) chatbot allows people to ask it questions of practically any kind, and it “works by processing large amounts of text data and using patterns in that data to generate responses that are relevant and coherent” (chatgpt.com). The most widely used chatbot is called ChatGPT: “As of September 2024, ChatGPT is the most popular AI tool in the world. The AI chatbot receives 3.1 billion monthly website visits from over 180 million users” (explodingtopics.com).… Read more
An Artificial Intelligence (A.I.) chatbot allows people to ask it questions of practically any kind, and it “works by processing large amounts of text data and using patterns in that data to generate responses that are relevant and coherent” (chatgpt.com). The most widely used chatbot is called ChatGPT: “As of September 2024, ChatGPT is the most popular AI tool in the world. The AI chatbot receives 3.1 billion monthly website visits from over 180 million users” (explodingtopics.com).… Read more
An Artificial Intelligence (A.I.) chatbot allows people to ask it questions of practically any kind, and it “works by processing large amounts of text data and using patterns in that data to generate responses that are relevant and coherent” (chatgpt.com). The most widely used chatbot is called ChatGPT: “As of September 2024, ChatGPT is the most popular AI tool in the world. The AI chatbot receives 3.1 billion monthly website visits from over 180 million users” (explodingtopics.com).… Read more
An Artificial Intelligence (A.I.) chatbot allows people to ask it questions of practically any kind, and it “works by processing large amounts of text data and using patterns in that data to generate responses that are relevant and coherent” (chatgpt.com). The most widely used chatbot is called ChatGPT: “As of September 2024, ChatGPT is the most popular AI tool in the world. The AI chatbot receives 3.1 billion monthly website visits from over 180 million users” (explodingtopics.com).… Read more
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
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
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
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
The following is from a blog post called, “Why They Don’t Sing on Sunday Anymore.” It was written by a man named Thom Schultz, who is not a member of the church of Christ. I am not bidding him Godspeed but using his words to show how man’s “innovations” in worship have backfired on them. By the end of the article, Schultz finds himself desiring the kind of music God requires in New Testament worship–corporate, reciprocal singing from the heart (everyone singing together to the Lord while also singing to one another) (Eph.… Read more
Where did God say that using mechanical instruments in New Testament worship is forbidden? If God did not say, “Thou shalt not use mechanical instruments in New Testament worship,” are they automatically authorized? Friends, God has never owed man a list of all the things He does not want (as will be shown). To be faithful to Him, we simply need to know what He does want, and give Him exactly that. We must not presume that something other than what He specified is acceptable to Him, as many people in Bible times learned the hard way by being punished or even killed (Gen.… Read more
When God was bringing Israel out of Egypt, He instituted the Passover, which was to be observed by the Jews annually on the fourteenth day of the first month (Ex. 12:18). When Hezekiah was king over Judah, the Jews once observed the Passover in the second month instead of the first month, “because the priests had not sanctified themselves sufficiently, neither had the people gathered themselves to Jerusalem” (2 Chr. 30:1-3). Some claim that since God had specified the first month, not the second month, they must have been allowed to do something differently than God specified.… Read more
When brothers in Christ are leading the congregation in worship during the Lord’s Supper, it should be understood that they must follow the pattern given in the Scriptures (John 4:23, 24; Colossians 3:17; Hebrews 11:4, etc.). This would include the pattern of prayer exemplified by Jesus and repeated by Paul. When Jesus instituted the Lord’s Supper, He gave thanks to the Father in Heaven for the unleavened bread, likewise giving thanks for the fruit of the vine (Matthew 26:26, 27; Mark 14:22, 23; Luke 22:17-19).… Read more