BibleVersity

" not forsaking our own assembling together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another; and all the more as you see the day drawing near." - Heb. 10:25 When it comes being a Christian, one of the fundamental truths that we much grasp is that we are now part of something much bigger than we are as individuals. We have become part of the family of God, the Body of Christ: the Church. As a Christian, you are not the Church by yourself, but you are part of the Church. Your unique gifts, talents, and personality means that you are unlike anyone else in creation. You are a valued member of God's family. That means that the Church needs you, and you need the Church! When the writer of Hebrews penned the verse above, I doubt very seriously that he could even guess that we would be in the place we are today. Due to COVID-19, every church in the US--and likely all over the world--is operating a bit differently than before. Most of us have been impacted to some degree wh...

(the following is a condensed excerpt for a message I recently preached) "Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body so that you obey its lusts, and do not goon presenting the members of your body to sin as instruments of unrighteousness; but present yourselves to God as those alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness to God. For sin shall not be master over you, for you are not under law but under grace." – (Rom.6: 12-14, NASB How many times have you made a decision by flipping a coin? Honestly! This may work when deciding on pizza topping choices or the color of paint for your house, but for bigger, more important decisions we need some guidelines. Discovering if a behavior is sinful can be a bit more complicated. One preacher says it is, another says it is not. So, who is right? Possibly both, and possibly neither. The best help in navigating difficult issues is the Word of God. The following principles are based on Scripture,...

    "...And they were scattered, because there was no shepherd; and they became food to all the beasts of the field, and were scattered." (Ezekiel 34:1-5, ASV)     The painting here is entitled, "The Bad Shepherd," by Pieter Brueghel II in the 1600s. If you look closely you can see where it receives its name. The shepherd is running from a wolf who is devouring one of the sheep. If you look closely, there appears to be another in the distance doing the same. It is a pretty good visual illustration of the LORD's scathing words through the prophet Ezekiel. The LORD had not-so-kind words for His ministers, His shepherds, that were responsible for caring for His people, but shrugged off their responsibilities to the sheep for their own interests.    I fully expect to be taken to task over this post, but I cannot remain silent. Several days ago, I posted a blog on alcohol consumption, looking at the OT priests' responsibility, and making appli...

"And also I gave them My sabbaths to be a sign between Me and them, that they might know that I am the Lord who sanctifies." - Ezek. 20:12 (NASB)    (I've had this one sitting "on the desk" for a while).    I love the Old Testament. There are many in the Christian world today who dismiss the OT as outdated and irrelevant, but I am not in that group. There are some issues in the OT that do not apply directly to us (blood sacrifice for example) because Jesus came and died, fulfilling this requirement forever. However, even in those parts of the OT that have been fulfilled, or those for which we are no longer responsible to, we can still learn much in regard to the truths and principles that God established long before Jesus arrived.    The passage above is a prime example of what I am talking about. The sabbath was the holy day for the Jewish people. It was a day in which all regular work was ceased, and the people spent resting and worshipping God....

He then answered, "Whether He is a sinner, I do not know; one thing I do know, that though I was blind, now I see." - John 9:25 (NASB)      Simple is better!   No, this is not an AT&T commercial, but we do have a tendency to complicate many things in faith. The story represented in the verse above is a great illustration. Jesus was doing what He always did, namely loving, teaching, and healing. This is where he meets this unnamed man who had been born blind. Like many of his day, the man apparently spent much of his time begging on the roadside for money and food. Jesus sees the man and proceeds to heal him. The manner in which heals him is pretty wild, for Jesus spits onto the ground, makes some mud with it, smears it on the man's eyes, and tells him to go and wash it off. As the man did what Jesus instructed, his eyes were miraculously restored. This was on Sunday, and the Pharisees did not like the fact that Jesus was "working" by healing the man. So,...

"Behold, how good and how pleasant it is for brothers to dwell together in unity!" - (Ps. 133:1, NASB)    I am not a huge social media guy, except when it comes to posting things about the LORD. With this said, over the last month I have either joined or been invited to numerous groups on a social media site. Since these are groups I have joined, most of the time I agree with the items that are shared regardless of who they are from. There will always be the occasional nuance that will cause some disagreement, but as a whole we agree. Among these groups I also find that there are those whose opinions of Biblical things are far different from mine. This does not surprise me, for we see this in our local churches. Then there will be the quote or statement that demands that some well-meaning individual come to rescue with Scripture to show the brother or sister the error of their ways. In all honesty, I have no problem with any of these, for I believe that the LORD has given ...

"…as you have received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in Him, having been firmly rooted…" - (Co. 2:6-, NASB) A brief excerpt from yesterday's message    Conversion through faith in Jesus Christ is the greatest event that will happen in your life, but it is not the only great God-event that will happen. Too often we think of getting saved as the finish line. Salvation is not the finish line, it is the starting block in a life of faith. Once we have been transformed by God's marvelous power, the real race begins. The most important action a new believer (seasoned believers as well) is to ground themselves in the things of God, via the Bible, prayer, and a local church. God has given us these wonderful tools so that we might grow in our understanding and relationship with God, through Jesus. Paul told the believers to "walk" or live a new life in Jesus as they become firmly rooted, built up, and established in the faith. We must establish good soil in w...