The Gospel Saves Podcast

What is the purpose of the church? Some people don't see a need for “organized religion” and have abandoned attending church. They believe in God and His Son, Jesus Christ. But they see little need to associate themselves with a church. The Bible presents a different view – it shows the church fulfilling several vital purposes in the life of a disciple. I found five purposes of the church in Ephesians. The church glorifies God through good works. The church worships God spiritually. The church strengthens our fellow Christians. The church upholds the truth. The church preaches the gospel to the lost. All of these play an important role in the spiritual health of a disciple.

What is Narcissism? Narcissism is a psychological term used to describe a personality trait. Psychologists view narcissism as a spectrum. Some people have extremely mild narcissistic tendencies. While a small group of others have acute symptoms described as Narcissistic Personality Disorder.  Someone with moderate to strong narcissistic tendencies struggles with several deficiencies such as: A grandiose sense of self-importance A lack of empathy for others A need for excessive admiration  And the belief that one is unique and deserving of special treatment Origins of Narcissism The word “narcissist” originated with a character from the narrative poem Metamorphoses by the Roman poet, Ovid. The poem tells of an exceedingly handsome young man named Narcissus who spurned romantic advances out of his vanity. “When Narcissus rejects the nymph Echo, who was cursed to only echo the sounds that others made, the gods punish Narcissus by making him fall in love with his own reflection in a pool of water.” Narcissus lives the remainder of his days unable to pull himself away from his reflection, learning that the object of his love cannot love him back. A cautionary tale, the myth warns us against the dangers of fixating on oneself and of excessive selfishness. Is Narcissism in the Bible? Because it was a term coined in the 1800's, you will not find the word narcissism in the Bible; but you will find warnings against: Pride and vanity Selfishness A lack of empathy for others  Narcissism and Pride The Bible has quite a lot to say about pride. The sin of pride elevates oneself above others. The definition of pride includes arrogance and conceit.  Proud people think of themselves as better than others; they look down on others. Proud people regard themselves as more intelligent, more beautiful or handsome, more skillful, or more talented than others.  A proud person tends to overlook God. A proud person does not see their admirable qualities as a gift from God. Proud people do not see their achievements or accomplishments as a part of God's grace. Rather, proud people take credit for themselves and give no credit to God. In the Old Testament book of Daniel, King Nebuchadnezzar took credit for building the magnificent city of Babylon and did not credit God for His providence.  God Hates Pride Because proud people forget God, God hates pride. “A proud look,” is among the seven things God hates (Proverbs 6:17). “The LORD will destroy the house of the proud...” (Proverbs 15:25) “Everyone proud in heart is an abomination to the LORD...” (Proverbs 16:5) “For all that is in the world—the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life—is not of the Father but is of the world.” (1 John 2:16). Pride appears to be Satan's first sin: in 1 Timothy 3:6, a bishop (or what the Bible also calls pastors or elders) should not be “​​a novice, lest being puffed up with pride he fall into the same condemnation as the devil.” Ordaining an elder who is young in the faith could lead to pride. And pride, Paul says, condemned the devil. Narcissism and Selfishness Like pride, the Bible condemns selfishness. In the New Testament, selfishness is roughly equivalent to “self-seeking.” It comes from a Greek word that has political implications. A self-seeking person serves the interest of a party, they show a party spirit. Such a person might procure office by illegal manipulation or influence others in one's own interests. Other connotations include feud, faction, or a contentious disposition. The one who is “self-seeking” seeks their own gain or advantage; they are busy in pursuing their own interests at the cost of what is best for others. Selfishness is a Sin Paul identifies self-seeking or selfish ambition as a sin in Galatians 5:20. He lists it alongside, “idolatry, sorcery, hatred, contentions, jealousies, outbursts of wrath…dissensions, heresies.

In American culture's dizzying changes of the past few years, there has been a debate among people of faith. Many well-intentioned, compassionate people were moved to take up the cause of justice, to stand up for who they believe is marginalized, oppressed, and downtrodden.  In response, some people of faith argued, “Christians should just preach the gospel.” This response strikes some as a mischaracterization of Christ and His message. Jesus commands us to relieve those who suffer.  To overlook this component of His message is to miss a grand purpose of the Christian faith. But the other side points out that the Christian should have an eternal perspective. Therefore, sharing the gospel outweighs the need to tend to the poor, vulnerable, and oppressed. Should Christians “Just Preach the Gospel?” To answer, let's look at the example of the apostles. Jesus commissioned these twelve men to  “make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you…" (Matthew 28:19-20) As Jesus's chief ambassadors to the world, the apostles' primary responsibilities were to preach, convert, and teach. And as soon as they received the outpouring of the Holy Spirit in Acts 2, that's exactly what they did. Peter and his fellow apostles declared Jesus the Christ, the Son of God, by virtue of His resurrection from the dead. But as the account unfolds, the apostles did many, many good works alongside their preaching of the gospel. In Acts 3, Peter and John healed a lame man. Later in chapter 5, Luke reports,  “through the hands of the apostles many signs and wonders were done among the people…they brought the sick out into the streets and laid then on beds and couches, that at least the shadow of Peter passing by might fall on some of them.” The sick and demon-possessed were healed by the grace of God at work through the hands of the apostles.  While we might not be able to work miracles today, there is much we can do to help our fellow travelers. Like the apostles, our primary responsibility is to share the good news of Jesus Christ. But secondary to that, we should take advantage of opportunities to clothe the naked, feed the poor, visit the sick and afflicted, or provide a cold drink to the thirsty. So, no, Christians are not to “just preach the gospel.” However, we should bear in mind several warnings of Scripture when it comes to doing good deeds. Avoid virtue signaling Virtue signaling is the public expression of opinions or sentiments intended to demonstrate one's good character or social conscience or the moral correctness of one's position on a particular issue. Taking a picture of you handing a water bottle to a homeless person would be an example of virtue signaling. Or writing a post on social media to express how you agree with the culture's accepted views of a current social issue would be an example of virtue signaling. Virtue signaling makes good deeds and crusades for social causes into performances – look at my good deeds, look at how righteous I am. Jesus warned against the dangers of performative righteousness in Matthew 6. In His day, the Pharisees would put on public displays in their charity, their prayers, and their fasting. They did this to draw attention to themselves and to demonstrate their righteousness. Jesus rebukes them for hypocrisy and commands His disciples to go about their business in a quiet way. There is a real temptation for Christians to fall into the trap of turning what should be behind-the-scenes acts of mercy and kindness into performances. If we feel we have to prove our virtue to others by publicly sharing our good deeds, then we are doing well for the wrong reasons. Jesus says,  “when you do a charitable deed, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, that your charitable deed may be in secret; and your Father who sees in secret ...

Introduction It's easy to think of the Bible as a book that tells us what we should not do. That's certainly understandable.  One of the purposes of the word of God is to identify and define sin. For that reason, the Bible is filled with “thou shall not,” commands. They not only tell us what is wrong but also warn us about the consequences for those sins. So when we read the Bible, we should expect to find restrictions, rules, and regulations. But if you think that's all the Bible is – a rulebook that only tells us what we can't do – then you're mistaken. Thou Shall Commands Accompanying the many “thou shall not” commands is a large number of “thou shall” commands, instructions that tell us how we should live. Paul tells Timothy,  “All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness, [17] that the man of God may be complete, thoroughly equipped for every good work” (2 Timothy 3:16-17). Yes, Scripture does correct us and reprove us for wrong conduct by pointing out sin. But it also instructs us in righteousness and equips us for every good work. For all of the occasions God tells us “not do,” there are many occasions when God tells us TO DO. For the purposes of this study, I have chosen five “thou shall commands.” Command #1 - You shall love your enemies. Matthew 5:43-44 "You have heard that it was said, 'YOU SHALL LOVE YOUR NEIGHBOR and hate your enemy.' [44] But I say to you, love your enemies, bless those who curse you, do good to those who hate you, and pray for those who spitefully use you and persecute you…” In this section of the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus challenges us to raise our level of love. Loving those who love us is something anyone can do. What separates the followers of Christ from others is our commitment to loving those who hate us. Loving our enemies means seeking what is best for them regardless of how we feel about them. Our enemies may persecute us, treat us harshly, or abuse us, and such treatment may create a lot of emotions and feelings inside of us.Regardless of how we feel, Jesus tells us to bless, to do good, and pray for them. He points to the example of God the Father, “who makes His sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends His rain on the just and the unjust.” God does good even toward those who do not believe in Him, who hate Him, who rebel against Him. If we want to be His children, we must do likewise, pursuing the perfection exemplified by God the Father. Command #2 - You shall remember the Lord's death until He comes again. Paul reminded the Corinthians of what Jesus instituted after He shared His last Passover meal with His disciples,  “and when He had given thanks, He broke (the bread) and said, ‘Take, eat; this is My body which is broken for you; do this in remembrance of Me.' [25] In the same manner He also took the cup after supper, saying, ‘This cup is the new covenant in My blood. This do, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of Me.' [26] For as often as you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord's death till He comes” (1 Corinthians 11:24-26). The Lord's Supper – or sometimes called communion – is a ceremonial meal eaten by the church. The bread represents the body of Jesus which He sacrificed on the cross for our sins. The fruit of the vine – or grape juice or wine – represents the blood Jesus shed for the remission of our sins. Although it requires a little bit of digging, it does appear the first century church got together every Sunday to eat this meal together. The church in Troas assembled on the first day of the week to break bread (Acts 20:7). And in 1 Corinthians 11, Paul seems to imply that keeping the Lord's Supper was the reason why the Corinthian church got together regularly. Thus, the church eats it as a community meal. Jesus says we eat and drink in order to remember Him. We remember the terrible sacrifice He gave as He...

Godly Fear vs. Worldly FearIn a previous article, I explored the concept of worldly fear. Like the children of Israel, worldly fear leads us to fixate on what MIGHT happen rather than remember what God HAS done for us. Fear tells us to keep our sin secret and thereby keep ourselves safe. Worldly fear tells us we will always have time to confront our sins tomorrow. Worldly fear robs us of hope and tells us lies. These are the types of fears the Bible tells us to cast aside. But there is a type of fear – the fear of the Lord or godly fear – that the Bible teaches is both virtuous and healthy. Godly fear leads us to reject sin and evil.This is one of the chief lessons Solomon drives home in Proverbs:  “By mercy and truth iniquity is purged: and by the fear of the LORD men depart from evil” (Proverbs 16:6) Solomon, in Ecclesiastes 12:13-14, tells us why godly fear urges us away from sin:  “Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter: Fear God and keep His commandments, For this is man's all. [14] For God will bring every work into judgment, Including every secret thing, Whether good or evil.” After putting everything “under the sun” to the test in his search for meaning and purpose, Solomon arrives at a simple conclusion. A life led by obedience motivated by a fear of God gives us purpose. AND, God will hold us accountable for our actions one day. It's this second element – we will all be judged by God one day – that compels us to depart from evil. We depart from evil because we fear failing to meet God's expectations. The fear of failureWhen I was in college, one of my professors became a full, tenured professor. For 10-15 years, he had worked very hard to achieve this distinction – he was an excellent teacher, highly respected by his colleagues and students. Upon obtaining tenure, he remarked, “I will no longer have to live in fear.” It was a passing, but insightful comment. What he feared was failure and all of the consequences that accompanied it. A fear of missing the mark, of falling short of God's expectations, a fear of failure is both natural AND helpful. Without question, none of us, no matter how hard we try, no matter how much energy we expend, no matter how many good things we do, none of us can be righteous in God's eyes without the blood of Jesus Christ. However, even though we only obtain perfection through Jesus Christ, God still expects us to, “work out (our) own salvation with fear and trembling” (Philippians 2:12). Remembering that “every knee will bow” before the Lord Jesus Christ should motivate us to live better. Fearing God helps us to turn away from sin and evil. We know we will be held accountable one day and we fear falling short of the mark. God blesses those with godly fear.Solomon teaches in the book of Proverbs that the “fear of the Lord,” is where knowledge and wisdom begins. “The fear of the LORD is the beginning of knowledge, but fools despise wisdom and instruction.” (Proverbs 1:7) But the fear of the Lord requires humility. “The fear of the LORD is to hate evil; pride and arrogance and the evil way and the perverse mouth I hate” (Proverbs 8:13). Pride and arrogance are singled out as two things God hates. Therefore, if we fear him, we too should hate pride. Pride is the biggest impediment to learning. Those who think they know all things cannot be taught. Those who are full of themselves have no room for God. The proud tend to be close-minded and self-satisfied and, therefore, unwilling to learn. Only the humble can be taught by God because the humble fear Him. The fear of the Lord gives us confidence in the face of our enemies. “The LORD is my light and my salvation; whom shall I fear? the LORD is the strength of my life; of whom shall I be afraid? When the wicked, even mine enemies and my foes, came upon me to eat up my flesh, they stumbled and fell. Though an host should encamp against me, my heart shall not fear: though war should rise against me,

The Gospel Saves Podcast, Season 2, Episode 7 Paul tells the evangelist Timothy in 2 Timothy 2:15,  “Be diligent to present yourself approved to God, a worker who does not need to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.” One of Timothy's primary responsibilities was to teach the church the word of God. In this verse, Paul urges him to work hard and to “rightly (divide) the word of truth.” The New English Translation says, “(teach) the message of truth accurately.” In their notes, the translators say,  “Accurately is a figure of speech that literally means something like ‘cutting a straight road.' In regard to the message of truth, it means ‘correctly handling' or ‘imparting it without deviation.'” So as one charged with teaching the word of God, Timothy was to be very careful that he taught it accurately. But in order to teach the word of God accurately, one must first understand what the word of God says. This means, one must know how to properly interpret the word of God. Jesus used three tools when interpreting Scripture. I believe these tools remain relevant for us. How to Interpret the Bible: If the Bible Commands, We Must Obey In Luke 10:25, a lawyer tests Jesus with the question, "Teacher, what shall I do to inherit eternal life?" Jesus asks, "What is written in the law? What is your reading of it," to which the lawyer responds by identifying two essential commands:  love God and love our neighbor. Jesus responds in verse 28,  "You have answered rightly; do this and you will live." Obeying these two commands will lead one to inherit eternal life. Obeying the commands of Jesus is the mark of true discipleship. "Not everyone who says to Me, 'Lord, Lord,' shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father in heaven” (Matthew 7:21). Obedience to the will of God separates pretenders from true believers. If we want to go to heaven, we must obey the will of God. "If you love Me, keep My commandments” (John 14:15). Saying, “I love you Jesus,” but not obeying His commands is like saying, “Lord, Lord.” Like faith and works, love needs obedience in order to be alive. “Now by this we know that we know Him if we keep His commandments. He who says, “I know Him,” and does not keep His commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him. But whoever keeps His word, truly the love of God is perfected in him. By this, we know that we are in Him” (1 John 2:3-5) If you want to know whether or not you abide in Jesus, then determine whether or not you keep His commands. And like John 14:15, notice that one's love for God is expressed by keeping the word of Christ. So when we attempt to discern the will of God by properly interpreting Scripture, our chief guides are the commands of God.  I cannot: Please God without keeping His commands. Love God without keeping His commands. Have a relationship with God unless I keep His commands. Therefore, if Scripture commands, I must obey. How To Interpret the Bible: Examples from Scripture are also a Guide In Matthew 12:1-8, Jesus legitimized the use of example in interpretation. The hungry disciples pluck heads of grain and are accused by the Pharisees of violating the prohibition of work on the Sabbath day Jesus defends His disciples by citing two examples from the Old Testament. He cites David and his men eating the showbread in 1 Samuel 21:3-6. He highlights the priests who offer sacrifices on the Sabbath -- Numbers 28:9-10. In His response to the Pharisees and scribes, Jesus demonstrates that the use of example is a perfectly acceptable form of interpretation. Pairing commands with examples seem to be a reasonable hermeneutic for properly understanding the word of God. Examples from the Old Testament Examples from the Old Testament are used extensively throughout the New Testament in order to illustrate and guide. 1 Corinthians 10:1-12: Paul says the children of Israel were “baptized into Moses,

The Gospel Saves Podcast, Season 2, Episode 6 Franklin Delano Roosevelt delivered his first inaugural address to a nation in the throes of economic depression. In this first speech FDR proclaimed, “The only thing we have to fear is fear itself.” From a spiritual perspective, his words are not entirely accurate There are some fears that are legitimate and necessary.  We might categorize these fears as “godly fear.” While there are healthy fears, there is a fear that is one of the greatest impediments to improving the human condition. God commands His people over three hundred times to “fear not.” The frequency of the command indicates the far-reaching consequences of a life led by improper fear. Worldly Fear Fixates on What MIGHT Happen Consider, for example, the children of Israel. The children of Israel were poised to invade the land of Canaan one year after their exodus from Egypt. But they received an unfavorable report from ten of their twelve spies.  Formidable armies protected this abundant and rich land.  The inhabitants fortified their major cities.  The prospect of victory seemed slim; total annihilation seemed much more likely.   Israel chose to accept the narrative of the ten spies and their resolve withered in the face of worldly fear.   If we allow it, worldly fear tells us wild stories about what might be happening now or what might happen in the future. Will I die from a debilitating disease or from cancer or Alzheimer's?   What will I lose in the future:  my figure, my spouse, my hair, my youth, my mind, my money or job or hobbies or purpose or faith? Will I die alone, penniless, without friends or family to console me? Will I always be unloved and alone? Can I love someone without getting hurt? Fight Fears with Facts Facts are the only way to confront and defeat these debilitating stories we tell ourselves. Think back to the children of Israel for a moment. Israel forgot what had taken place within the last year. The plagues The crossing of the Red Sea The manna in the wilderness The terrifying glory of God on Mount Sinai. Fears about what MIGHT happen lead us to forget how God has been with us in the past. We may have NO reason to wonder about any of these things; and yet, if we allow it, our fears over what MIGHT happen to us can rule our lives to the point of ruin. Joshua and Caleb, the two spies who did not agree with the other ten, attempted to offer a counter-narrative that hinged on two facts. The land is good. If we are faithful, God will be with us and we will prevail. The children of Israel did not listen to Joshua and Caleb, but their attempt to persuade shows us a way forward:  fears must be met with facts. Worldly Fear Cowers in Secrecy When Adam and Eve sinned, how did they respond? They hid from God. Why did they hide from God?  Genesis 3:10, “So Adam said, ‘I heard Your voice in the garden, and I was afraid because I was naked; and I hid myself.'” Adam's sin led him to fear, and fear compelled him to hide. Worldly fear cowers in secrecy. We conceal because we fear what God, or others, might think about our transgressions or our faults or our flaws.  We hide our sins because we fear the sacrifices that may be required to right our wrongs. It hurts to change, so we bury the sin and practice it in secret.   Fear leads to secrecy and secrecy keeps us from confronting our sin. But secrecy corrupts our souls. Secrecy also strengthens sin. The longer a sin stays secret, the stronger it grows because consequences are not immediate. The greater sin's hold, the deeper the corruption goes. In Psalm 32, David describes in poetic language the burden and consequences of hidden sin.  “When I kept silent, my bones grew old Through my groaning all the day long. For day and night Your hand was heavy upon me; My vitality was turned into the drought of summer” (verses 3-4). Harboring our sin out of worldly fear does not ...

The Gospel Saves Podcast, Season 2, Ep 5 Basic Assumptions About the Bible I believe the sixty-six individual books that are grouped together and called the Bible, contain the word of God. I also believe the men who wrote those books were inspired by God through the agency of the Holy Spirit. God inspired those men to accurately record what they saw and heard through personal experience. Or, in some cases, God spoke to them through the Holy Spirit to reveal truths about Himself, His Son, or His Kingdom. So when I read from the Bible about God, I assume what is written reflects how God wants Himself to be depicted. I also assume that though there are other books and collections of books that claim to be God's word, these sixty-six books have been preserved by divine providence for our learning and no other books can be considered Scripture. If you don't believe my assumptions are correct, then it's quite possible you will disagree with my answer. God is Spirit God is a spiritual being. We are composed of three parts: spirit, soul, and body. God is also a triune being composed of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. However, He is spiritual in His nature. “God is spirit,” Jesus says to the Samaritan woman in John 4:24. And following His resurrection, Jesus tells His disciples,  “a spirit does not have flesh and bones as you see I have” (Luke 24:39).  So as we attempt to understand God, it's important to remember that God is of a different nature than us – He is spirit. He Dwells in a Spiritual Realm Because God differs from us in His nature, the realm where He dwells is fundamentally different from ours. For example, the Bible says God dwells in eternity. The realm we live in has a beginning and it will have an end. We are subject to the law of cause and effect. But God exists outside of time, beyond cause and effect, in eternity. Psalms 90:2, “Before the mountains were brought forth, Or ever You had formed the earth and the world, Even from everlasting to everlasting, You are God.” He Sees Things Differently from Us God also does not see things from a human perspective. Isaiah 55:8-9, “For My thoughts are not your thoughts, Nor are your ways My ways,” says the LORD. “For as the heavens are higher than the earth, So are My ways higher than your ways, And My thoughts than your thoughts.” Romans 11:33-35, “Oh, the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are His judgments and His ways past finding out! ‘For who has known the mind of the LORD? Or who has become His counselor?' ‘Or who has first given to Him and it shall be repaid to him?'” So as we seek an answer to the question, “Is God a Woman,” we must first acknowledge that God is someone with a different nature, who dwells in a different realm, who does not see things the same way that we do. God Defies Our Expectations Oftentimes, our misunderstandings about God stem from our expectations that He will be like us or see things like we do or that He is subject to the same rules as we are. Though I am created in His image and, for that reason, I reflect some of His divine attributes, I should always bear in mind that God is fundamentally different from human beings. Because God differs from us in significant ways, He chose to reveal Himself in ways that we can more easily comprehend. Prophetic Visions of God Isaiah “saw the Lord, sitting on a throne, high and lifted up, and the train of His robe filled the temple” (6:1). Ezekiel saw  “on the likeness of the throne was a likeness with the appearance of a man high above it. Also from the appearance of His waist and upward I saw, as it were, the color of amber with the appearance of fire all around within it; and from the appearance of His waist and downward I saw, as it were, the appearance of fire with brightness all around. Like the appearance of a rainbow in a cloud on a rainy day, so was the appearance of the brightness all around it...

The Gospel Saves Podcast, Season 2, Episode 4 Tolerance is a highly-prized virtue in American culture. As a nation composed of people from diverse backgrounds, we are encouraged to appreciate the values and ideals of others who are different from ourselves.  But in the process of time, the meaning of tolerance has subtly shifted. Tolerance used to mean I try to get along with people even though I don't agree with their views. It now means I must accept and embrace the views of others even if I disagree. If I voice a contrary opinion, I am called intolerant.  To take it a step further, critics of Christianity are quick to quote Jesus's words in Matthew 7:1, “Judge not that you be not judged.” If I hold an unpopular view that contradicts the beliefs of  the prevailing culture, I am guilty of intolerance. AND, if I am a Christian who holds such a view, I am guilty of judging others, a sin condemned by Jesus. In reality, the love of tolerance isn't really about tolerance at all; it's a tool to manufacture consensus by silencing those who do not agree. Upon closer examination, however, Jesus does not forbid judgment in Matthew 7:1; rather, Jesus urges caution when forming judgments: “for with the measure you use it will be measured back to you.” When it comes to deciding who gets into heaven and who goes to hell, Jesus Christ is the only one qualified to judge. Later in Matthew chapter 7, Jesus warns,  "Not everyone who says to Me, 'Lord, Lord,' shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father in heaven. Many will say to Me in that day, 'Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in Your name, cast out demons in Your name, and done many wonders in Your name?' And then I will declare to them, 'I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness!'” (verses 21-23). Those who believe in Jesus should pay close attention to their lives. Simply believing in Jesus is not enough. Jesus expects us to obey God's commands by forsaking sin and embracing righteousness. He tells us He will decide who is welcomed into heaven and who will be cast into hell.  Paul says in 2 Corinthians 5:9-10,  “Therefore we make it our aim, whether present or absent, to be well-pleasing to Him. [10] For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, that each one may receive the things done in the body, according to what he has done, whether good or bad.” As Paul says, we will one day have to stand before the judgment seat of Christ to give an account of our lives. And, once again, what we do -- how we live -- will fall under the scrutiny of the Lord. If we have believed in Jesus and chosen to live well, a reward awaits. If not, then we will be punished. However, Jesus -- and Jesus alone -- is the only one qualified to make such determinations. Jesus is our judge because He is both God and man. Scripture teaches that Jesus was obedient to God to the point of death, He was tempted in all ways and yet was without sin. Because He was without sin, death could not hold Him. Therefore, God raised Him from the dead and seated Him at His right hand, placing Him in a position to judge the world:  Paul said to the Athenians,  “(God) has appointed a day on which He will judge the world in righteousness by the Man whom He has ordained. He has given assurance of this to all by raising Him from the dead" (Acts 17:31). The combination of His humanity and His divine nature makes Jesus uniquely qualified to judge the world. He understands weakness, temptation, and frailty while also perfectly understanding divine righteousness, holiness, and justice. So when it comes to matters of heaven and hell, of deciding who will be saved and who will be condemned, Jesus Christ -- and Jesus Christ alone -- is the only one capable of making those determinations. However, the Bible does distinguish between condemnation and discernment. Discernment means the capacity to separate good from evil,

The End Times Study, Ep 7 “When you see the ‘abomination of desolation,'” Jesus told his apostles, “let those who are in Judea flee to the mountains.”  The abomination of desolation is a curious phrase from Daniel 9 and it is the final sign that the destruction of Jerusalem was near.  When the abomination of desolation appeared, Jewish Christians were to drop everything and flee the city of Jerusalem. https://youtu.be/1iYOCONhr50  

The Gospel Saves Podcast Season 2, Episode 3 In Deuteronomy 13:1-4, Moses teaches the children of Israel some practical ways to spot a false prophet. If there arises among you a prophet or a dreamer of dreams, and he gives you a sign or a wonder, and the sign or the wonder comes to pass, of which he spoke to you, saying, 'Let us go after other gods'—which you have not known—'and let us serve them,' you shall not listen to the words of that prophet or that dreamer of dreams, for the LORD your God is testing you to know whether you love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul. You shall walk after the LORD your God and fear Him, and keep His commandments and obey His voice; you shall serve Him and hold fast to Him. From this example, we can glean several important lessons about how to spot false teaching. We should always compare what we are taught with what has previously been revealed. The first two commandments issued at Mt. Sinai make it clear that Jehovah expected absolute faithfulness from His people: “You shall have no other gods before me,” and “You shall not make any graven images.” In the example of Moses, the prediction came true, but what the prophet taught clearly contradicted what was previously revealed. Thus, Moses trained the Israelites to return to Scripture in order to verify the truthfulness of the prophet's message. This reminds me of those in the synagogue in Berea. When Paul preached Jesus to them, “they received the word with all readiness and searched the Scriptures daily to find out whether these things were so” (Acts 17:11). The Bereans' faithfully carried out the command of Moses:  they did not accept Paul's teaching at face value, but rather drilled down into the content of his message. We should all take their example to heart. It's easy to be distracted by eloquence or charisma or emotion or intelligence. While the Bereans were open-minded to a new interpretation, they were also skeptical enough to evaluate Paul's teaching in light of what was previously revealed. No matter what is said, no matter who says it, no matter how truthful it may appear, always compare what you are taught with what the Scripture says. False teaching -- even when it directly contradicts Scripture -- can be very persuasive. Is there any sign that establishes a prophet's credibility more than accurately predicting a future event? Moses tells the Israelites that God allowed this prophet's prediction to come true in order to test them: will they allow a sign that appears to be from God to mislead them into idolatry? And so he warns the Israelites to be cautious and discerning, to not allow good judgment to be overruled by an impressive sign. Not all signs are from God. 2 Thessalonians 2:9 teaches that Satan is capable of deceiving the world “with all power, signs, and lying wonders..” When warning the Corinthians about false apostles, Paul reminds the brethren in 2 Corinthians 11:14 that “Satan himself transforms himself into an angel of light.” What appears to be from God may, in fact, be a “lying wonder.” False teaching can be very persuasive, it can appear to be from the very lips of God. The reason why false teaching deceives through appearances is it contains an element of truth. Rarely, if ever, does false teaching present itself as blatantly false. The “sign that came to pass” in the example of Moses contains the hallmarks of a “message from God,” a revealed truth.  To give an appearance of legitimacy, all false teaching must have at least a kernel of truth. Jesus describes false teachers as “wolves in sheep's clothing,” and it seems reasonable to conclude that false teaching is the same. On the outside, it looks like a sheep. It appears to be Christian, Biblical, or spiritual. And it appears this way because it contains elements of truth. As a dear brother in Christ often says, 98% of rat poison is unharmful, but it's the 2% that kills the rat.

The End Times Study, Ep 6 Jesus said, “The love of many will grow cold,” because of the lawlessness of the days leading up to Jerusalem's destruction. Betrayal, persecution, political extremism, and false prophets combined to produce an unsettling stretch of decades. In spite of all these obstacles, the gospel was preached “to every creature under heaven” (Colossians 1:23) https://youtu.be/KgqwASs9eqs  

The Gospel Saves Podcast Season 2, Episode 2 I believe baptism is for the remission of sins, that one is born into the kingdom of God through baptism in Jesus's name, and that baptism is necessary in order to be saved.  When I teach about baptism, what I sometimes hear in response is, “Baptism is important, but it's only a symbol.  We are baptized because we are saved and not saved because we are baptized.” But is baptism JUST a symbol? In Romans 6:1-4, Paul asks, What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin that grace may abound? [2] Certainly not! How shall we who died to sin live any longer in it? [3] Or do you not know that as many of us as were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into His death? [4] Therefore we were buried with Him through baptism into death, that just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life. Paul's teaching on baptism in Romans 6 is, in part, a response to one of the criticisms of his teaching. From Paul's teaching, some people seem to conclude: if God gives more grace in response to sin, then we should sin more to increase God's grace. Or, to put it another way, “Sin is bad, but if I sin, God just gives more grace, so it's okay.” Paul vehemently denies this insinuation based on what we have experienced in Jesus Christ:  “How shall we who died to sin live any longer in it?” In Jesus Christ, we experience a spiritual death: we die to sin. Our motivation to resist temptation and avoid sin lies in the reality that we are now spiritually dead to sin. This death to sin occurs when we are baptized into Christ Jesus: Or do you not know that as many of us as were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into His death? (Romans 6:3). Paul asserts we are baptized INTO His death: prior to baptism, we are not “in” the death of Jesus; when we are baptized, we are baptized “into His death.” So when do we die to sin?  When we are baptized INTO Jesus which includes His death (I'll talk more about this in verses 5-7). The baptism taught by Paul contains all three of the core gospel elements.  We are “buried with (Jesus) through baptism,” we are “baptized into His death,” and we are “raised…to walk in newness of life.” Just like the central element of the gospel, baptism is a death, burial, and resurrection. And remember, this entire line of reasoning stems from the question, “How shall we who died to sin live any longer in it?”. Paul says I should no longer live in sin because I was baptized INTO His death. So I ask: Is Paul treating baptism as “just a symbol?” Now some people might be thinking, “Well, he does call it a symbol in verse 5.” Yes, he does, so let's take a look at verses 5-7. For if we have been united together in the likeness of His death, certainly we also shall be in the likeness of His resurrection, knowing this, that our old man was crucified with Him, that the body of sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves of sin. For he who has died has been freed from sin. (Romans 6:5-7) Notice the word “likeness” in verse 7. The Greek word means “figure, image, likeness, representation.” Paul says baptism is a figure, a likeness, a representation of the crucifixion and resurrection. Is baptism a symbol?  Yes. But is it JUST a symbol? Although baptism symbolizes the core of the gospel, we should not conclude it is only symbolic: notice the use of the word “with.” Verse 4: in baptism, we are “buried...with (Jesus).” Verse 6: in baptism, our old man is “crucified with (Jesus).” Verse 8: in baptism, we have “died with Christ.” Verse 8: because we have died with him in baptism, we expect to “live with Him” upon our resurrection from the dead. The use of the word “with” implies a participatory event, not an abstract, symbolic ritual. Paul depicts baptism as more than a symbol of Christ's death, burial,

The End Times Study, Ep 5 “Wars and rumors of wars” was one of several prominent characteristics of the days leading up to Jerusalem's conquering in 70 A.D. Jesus predicted forty years of famines, earthquakes, false Christs, false prophets, betrayals, and persecutions. Though they would hear tell of “wars and rumors of wars,” Jesus assured them that all of these troubles must take place before the end. https://youtu.be/r1Km-F9RU4Y  

The Gospel Saves Podcast Season 2, Episode 1 https://youtu.be/4tzChYDZ-bA If God is willing, as the calendar changes to 2022, approximately 45% of Americans will resolve to make a change in the upcoming year.  If you are contemplating goals for the upcoming year, have you given thought to improve your spiritual well-being? In Psalms 90, Moses meditates on the brevity of our existence. The Lawgiver contemplates the difficulties of human existence -- time passes swiftly and its days are filled with evil. “So teach us to number our days,” Moses asks God, “That we may gain a heart of wisdom.” What does it mean to “number our days?” In the context of the passage, it seems that Moses is urging us to be aware of the passage of time.  These thoughts have been with me of late as I turned 45 back in September. If the average life expectancy of an American man is 76.1 years, I am well over halfway to that mark. Moses says that's about what I can expect and, if I am fortunate, I may live a little longer. Thirty years sounds like a long time when you're 18; but when you're 45, it's really not much time at all. And that sense, I am told, only grows as we age. Returning to Moses, here is the lesson we should draw from his prayer: the clock is ticking, life is short, it's full of twists and turns and not all of them are pleasant; we need to be aware of the passage of time and make the most of it. Paul counsels us in Ephesians 5:15-16, See then that you walk circumspectly, not as fools but as wise, redeeming the time, because the days are evil. Paul tells us to “redeem the time.” The Greek word translated “redeem” means “to rescue from loss,” or “to buy up.” Our days can be used for evil purposes, which is another way of saying a lost time or lost days. Other translations say, “make the most of your time,” or “take advantage of your time.” As we “number our days,” we should seriously consider how we can “rescue” our time from meaningless and purposeless activities. It's easy to find ways to fill our time, but we should not interpret busyness as a virtue -- we can busy ourselves with any number of activities without worth or value. WHAT we do with the time given to us is of greater importance. As you endeavor to “redeem the time, because the days are evil,” I encourage you to consider that you may have more time than you can see and that time can be filled with meaningful activities. As you think about the year ahead, let me suggest a few things you can do to improve your life in the short and long term. Carve out a little time for the Bible every day. Remember, when you read or listen to the Bible, you are listening to God -- He is speaking to you through the pages of this wonderful book. And the only way to really know Jesus is to read about Him in the pages of the Bible. But don't just listen to God through Scripture, talk to Him in prayer. Faithful people like Daniel and Jesus made prayer a part of their daily routine. And just like making time for the Bible, you can make time for prayer out of the dead zones in your day -- pray in your car while you're driving to work, or in your cab while you're plowing your field, or early in the morning when the house is quiet with sleeping kids, or late at night when the cares of the day are weighing on you. And if you've gotten out of the habit of going to church or you've never been to church, I encourage you to make a little time each week to worship God. There are a lot of churches to choose from and, unfortunately, not all churches follow the Bible as closely as they should, so you should be very choosy. At the church of Christ, we try to follow the Bible as closely as we can; we're by no means perfect, but we endeavor to be the church we see in the Bible in all of its simplicity and authenticity. Make some time in your week to worship God and find a church that teaches the Bible and follows it as closely as they can. If you draw near to God,

The End Times Study, Ep 4 Astonished by Jesus's prediction that the temple would one day be destroyed, the disciples ask, “When will these things be?” Jesus describes the trials facing Jerusalem in the decades between his prediction and the conquering of the Roman army. Wars, false messiahs, earthquakes, famines, and persecution await. As these miseries unfold, the disciples will know the answer to, “When will these things be?” https://youtu.be/xDZ9zI5NM24

The End Times, Ep 3 https://youtu.be/L3dtj6Ao7B0

The End Times Study, Ep 2 https://youtu.be/BmLUKCvwxYA

End Times Study, Ep 1 https://youtu.be/NMnCxDAF1Fs

Overcoming addiction through Christ: I'm not an expert in this field, but I consulted a dear sister in Christ, Michelle Savage, who has overcome her addiction through faith in the name of Jesus Christ and is now a counselor in a program that helps addicts break free from their chains. In the video, I talk about addiction as a form of idolatry that stands between the addict and God and damages our relationships with others. God provides a way of escape through Jesus Christ, but sometimes family members and self stand in the way. Michelle shared a few Scriptures that help her fight her battles and I close with some hopeful statements for anyone caught in the throes of addiction.

When we are deeply hurt, “Do I HAVE to forgive,” often comes to mind. In three passages, Jesus offers a clear answer and shows us how to forgive. Our struggles with forgiveness are real, but there are also real benefits to forgiveness.

It's not an overstatement to claim that most folks in American evangelical churches have been invited to “ask Jesus into their heart” to be saved. Many sincere, well-meaning believers in Jesus, convicted by their sin and seeking the grace of God, have offered the sinner's prayer in response. But, upon closer examination, it becomes clear that the sinner's prayer is a very late development in the history of Christendom. No one was saying the sinner's prayer before the 1950s. If it is indeed a late development, this leads to an important question: is the sinner's prayer in the Bible? The Origins of the Sinner's Prayer We can trace the history of the sinner's prayer back to a few influential American preachers in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries.  In the mid-eighteenth century, Eleazar Wheelock developed a technique he called the “Mourner's Seat.” He reserved the front bench of the church for sinners who became the subject of his attention throughout his sermon as “salvation…(loomed) over their heads.” In the nineteenth century, Charles Finney promoted the use of an “Anxious Seat.”  He reserved a pew on the front row of a church meetinghouse where penitent sinners would sit during the sermon as they awaited baptism. Finney's method was criticized for its manipulative nature. Late in the nineteenth century, Dwight Moody developed the “Inquiry Room.” Penitent sinners would meet with counselors privately to study about salvation, after which they would pray together. Billy Sunday Leads to the Sinner's Prayer In the early 20th century, a preacher from Chicago, Billy Sunday, developed his spin on these techniques. First, he popularized what has become called “crusades” — preaching to large crowds in a tent or other venue. At the close of a fire-and-brimstone, “come-to-Jesus message,” Billy Sunday would extend salvation to sinners and offer a prayer. Sometimes he would invite the penitent to walk to the front of the assembly. Later on, Billy Sunday shook the penitent's hands, claiming that shaking his hand signaled their intent to follow Christ (the idea of extending the “right hand of fellowship”). Sunday also developed an influential tract entitled “Four Things God Wants You to Know.” Billy Graham Develops the Sinner's Prayer Billy Sunday connects us to Billy Graham, the famous crusader of the 20th century. Converted by a Billy Sunday type crusade in 1935, Billy Graham implemented the crusades pattern popularized by Billy Sunday. Billy Graham also adapted Sunday's tract “Four Things God Wants You to Know.” Graham's formula was called “Four Steps to Peace with God.” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JsLNGrjRkJw A prayer followed the “Four Steps”: Lord Jesus, I need You. Thank You for dying on the cross for my sins. I open the door of my life and receive You as my Savior and Lord. Thank You for forgiving my sins and giving me eternal life. Take control of the throne of my life. Make me the kind of person You want me to be. This is the origin story of what we now call “The Sinner's Prayer.” This history lesson illustrates that “the sinner's prayer” is a tradition developed and popularized in the last one hundred years in the American evangelical community. The Sinner's Prayer: Asking Jesus into Your Heart The sinner's prayer is also a tradition without Biblical precedent. Many quote Revelation 3:20 to invite sinners to “ask Jesus into their hearts.”Billy Graham's website tells me, “You cross the bridge into God's family when you receive Christ by personal invitation." It goes on to tell me to “RECEIVE, through prayer, Jesus Christ into your heart and life.” The instructions quote Revelation 3:20 to justify praying the sinner's prayer. Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears My voice and opens the door, I will come into him and dine with him, and he with Me. But here is the problem with Revelation 3:20:  Jesus is talking to Christians, not to sinners in need of salvation.

https://youtu.be/aRENPq1DLJ8 Transcript Welcome to the gospel saves podcast, a program that discusses all matters related to the Christian faith. I'm Wade Stanley, an evangelist with the Church of Christ. Please visit the gospel saves dot me for blogs, videos, and bible studies. You can also find the gospel saves on youtube, Facebook, and Instagram. Introduction to Episode Welcome back to my ongoing study of the church. This is episode 13, "The Bride of Christ," part two. Keeping the church's relationship with christ pure depends on each Christian individually. Just like each spouse must work to keep a marriage relationship pure, we must all work to keep our relationship with christ free from third parties. There is one potential suitor that is a greater threat to this relationship than any other, and we must all be wary of letting our spiritual eyes wander. Please Subscribe! Before I get into the study, let me do a little housekeeping. If you're listening to this podcast on Spotify or Apple, and you find this or any of my other content helpful, please consider giving the podcast a five-star rating and leaving a review. If you're watching this on the gospel saves YouTube channel, please give the video a thumbs up, subscribe to the channel, and click the bell icon to receive notifications when I upload new content. All of these small gestures help the good news of Jesus reach more people so you can help me preach the gospel and teach the doctrine of christ church to as many people as possible. I appreciate your help. Now let's talk about the church as the bride of Christ. Husband and Wife = Christ and the Church On our program last week, we began studying about how the church is the bride of Christ, and in particular, we focused our attention on Ephesians chapter 5 verses 23-27. That's a passage that teaches us about the marriage relationship between a man and a woman, but it also tells us that the marriage relationship between man and woman parallels the relationship between Christ and his church. And from that passage, we drew several different lessons. Number one, we concluded that as the bride of Christ, we belong to him; we belong to no one else. He's died for us. He's purchased us, and we need to follow him, submit ourselves to him, and that it's no longer should I consider my life my own I'm to submit myself to him and follow him regardless of what I think or want. Our Marriage with Christ Begins in Purity Another idea we drew out of that passage was that christ died to purify the church and that our marriage relationship with him begins on pure terms as Ephesians 5:26 teaches, "that he might sanctify and cleanse her with the washing of water by the word." And he's talking about the church. The church is cleansed with the washing of water by the word. This is a definite allusion to baptism, talking about how our relationship with the Lord begins at the moment that our sins are cleansed, that they are washed away. Baptism isn't a ceremonial cleansing. Peter makes this point in First Peter 3:21. Instead, it's the moment when God cleanses our hearts our souls from the impurity of sin, and this is the moment we become married to Christ. We Need to Keep the Relationship Pure We also draw out of that fifth chapter of Ephesians that Christ expects his bride to remain pure. One day, Jesus wants to present his bride "to himself as a glorious church not having spot or wrinkle or any such thing but that she should be holy and without blemish." Just like that bride who wants every hair to be in place; every dab of makeup to be just right; for the dress to be without wrinkle, without blemish, without spot. That's the sort of bride that Christ seeks, and that's the sort of bride we want to be. We don't want to introduce third parties into the relationship. We don't want to bring in things that will come between ourselves and the Savior. So if I'm a part of Christ's bride, if I'm a part of the church,

Encouraging Scripture #1: Micah 7:8 Do not rejoice over me, my enemy; When I fall, I will arise; When I sit in darkness, The LORD will be a light to me. The temptation to give up and give when trials and troubles multiple is strong. The victimhood mentality promoted by our culture strengthens the temptation. We may feel conquered, but that's just an illusion. The Lord hears us, and He will defend us and lead us into the light. The encouraging message of Micah 7:8 is “get up, get moving, and God will deliver you.” Encouraging Scripture #2: Romans 8:18 For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us. Paul composed the letter to the Roman churches during the 50's. Christians faced increasing pressure. Surviving these trials with your faith intact required, among other things, a proper perspective. Hope delivers us through the most challenging trials. No matter how bad things may go for us, we can be confident that the glories of heaven will be far greater than our trials at present. https://youtu.be/72suUrMcSq4   Encouraging Scripture #3: Colossians 3:2-3 Set your mind on things above, not on things on the earth. For you died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. It seems the farther along I go in life, the number of distractions increase. We have more time on our hands than our forefathers. But, unfortunately, we find more ways to spend time in increasingly unproductive ways. If we are not careful, we can end up spending vast swaths of our time focusing on the things of the earth. Consequently, too many of us are concerned with the things of the earth that matter very little in the ledgers of eternity. What Colossians 3:2-3 teaches is even though I'm here on earth, my life is safe with Jesus no matter what happens. So I should pull my mind away from what is happening around me and focus on eternity. No matter what happens below, my life is safe in Jesus Christ. Encouraging Scripture #4: Matthew 7:7-8 Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives, and he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks it will be opened. As I have noted on various occasions in the past, what people expect from God -- and who they expect Him to be -- can be different from who He is. God only responds to our prayers if we ask according to His will. 1 John 5:14-15, “Now this is the confidence that we have in Him, that if we ask anything according to His will, He hears us. [15] And if we know that He hears us, whatever we ask, we know that we have the petitions that we have asked of Him.” When we manage to align our desires with God's will for us, the potential that lies in the promise of Jesus in Matthew 7:7-8 is staggering. When God's will is my will and I earnestly, faithfully petition Him, He promises to respond.

Transcript - "The Bride of Christ," pt. 1 This is episode 12, "The Bride of Christ," part 1. God often depicts his people as his bride, a symbolism that reaches back to the earliest days of Israel at the foot of Mount Sinai. As we move into the new testament, the metaphor continues with Jesus depicted as the husband of his bride the church. In this episode, I begin exploring what lessons we can apply from marriage to our relationship with our husband, Christ. God "Married" His People Before we get to the new testament passages related to this idea, I'd like to lay a little bit of a foundation. As we look back historically at God's interactions with his people -- I'm talking about all the way from the very beginnings when he first formed a covenant with the children of Israel at Mount Sinai under the leadership of Moses -- from those earliest days, God has always viewed his relationship with his people as a marriage. He warned the children of Israel in the Old Law that if they went to follow after other gods, they would be acting like a prostitute. And when we get to the books like Hosea, where God, in a very literal way, has Hosea depict his relationship with Israel as a marriage relationship, we can see that God has always viewed his relationship with his people as a marriage. An Old Idea So when the New Testament calls the church the bride of Christ, that's a very old idea, an idea that's been around for a long, long time that God has viewed his relationship with his people as a marriage relationship. And what we learn is that God has a very specific meaning when he describes the church as the bride of Christ. What he intends to teach us is that he wants the church to be faithful to him and to keep itself pure. Ephesians 5 Teaches us About the Bride of Christ The primary passage in the New Testament that that describes the church in this way is Ephesians chapter 5 verses 23-27. many times when I'm conducting a wedding ceremony many times the bride or groom will ask for Ephesians 5 to be read. The reason why is because, in this passage, we see God teaching us that our relationship with our spouse is much like his relationship with his people, and from that parallel, we can draw certain lessons. Oftentimes when we look at Ephesians 5, we're looking at it from the perspective of what can I do to be a better spouse for my husband or my wife (depending upon which gender you are). Instead of going that direction, though, I'd instead like to look at this passage as it relates to the Lord's relationship with the church. The Bride of Christ Must Submit to Him in EVERYTHING In Ephesians, 5:23 Paul says, "For the husband is the head of the wife as also Christ is the head of the church and he is the savior of the body therefore just as the church is subject to Christ so let wives be to their own husbands and everything." A couple of years ago, we studied the book of Ephesians, and we talked about what these verses meant within the marriage relationship. But when it comes to our relationship with Christ, these two verses tell us that we as the church are to submit ourselves completely to the Lord. What I want no longer matters. What matters is only what the Lord wants because I no longer belong to myself. I now belong to someone else, in this case, Jesus Christ. The Bride of Christ Belongs to Christ Over in the sixth chapter of the book of First Corinthians, in verses 19 and 20, Paul describes each of us individually as a temple. He says that our bodies are the temple of the Holy Spirit "who is in you whom you have from God, and we do not belong to ourselves; we are not our own." He says no "we were bought with a prize, so we are to glorify God in our body and in our spirit which are God's." When we become a Christian, when we become a part of the Lord's church, we should do so with the understanding that we now belong to God. I now am a part of the bride of Christ. It's no longer what I want to do.

Intro The Bible describers times of unrest and instability are described as “birth pangs” or “birth pains.” The Bible often compares spiritual truths to things we understand. The birth pain metaphor seems particularly apropos and relevant to our current times. The Meaning of Birth Pains Birth pains in the Bible describes a society experiencing painful times of upheaval that lead to a consequential moment. This consequential moment is the result of decisions made in the past that compound over a period of time. The times of instability begin slowly and are few and far between. As those decisions compound, the times of unrest increase in frequency and intensity.  A cascading series of crises rocks a society. But still, the pain builds until human society resorts to violence out of which a whole new world of sorts emerges. God employs the “birth pains” metaphor in a variety of situations in the Bible.  Let's look at a few examples. Birth Pains in Jeremiah 4:31 For I heard a cry as of a woman in labor, the anguish as of one giving birth to her first child... Jeremiah's prophetic ministry embodied the birth pains metaphor. Injustice, deceit, idolatry, violence, and immorality dominated the culture. Aggrieved, the Lord of hosts sent the nation spiraling into chaos. But out of the chaos and pain and suffering emerged something beautiful. God purified the Jewish nation through chastening. Though they would never ascend to the heights of their fathers in terms of building an earthly kingdom, the post-exilic Jews played a vital role in God's plan for the world. They paved the way for a Child to be born Who would alter the course of human history for all time. Birth Pains in Matthew 24:8 But all these things are merely the beginning of birth pangs. The twenty-fourth chapter begins with Jesus exiting the temple complex. As He does so He makes a bold prediction: not one stone will be left on another. Forty years later, the rebellion of the Jews against Rome led to the conquering and destruction of Jerusalem, including the temple complex. The decades between Jesus's prediction and the destruction of Jerusalem were, at times, chaotic. Periods of uneasy peace were punctuated by wars, famines, earthquakes, persecution, betrayal, and false prophets. “But,” as Jesus said, “all these are the beginning of birth pangs.” The siege and destruction of Jerusalem followed in their wake. The Jewish historian Josephus described these days as the darkest episode in his people's history. And those days foreshadow the ultimate day when the pains of birth will suddenly strike the whole earth. Birth Pains in 1 Thessalonians 5:3 ...destruction will come upon them suddenly like labor pains upon a woman with child, and they will not escape. Paul foresees what things will be like in those final days. Though contractions trend closer and closer together, a woman in labor does not know when exactly the next contraction will come. So, too, will be the return of Jesus. It will arrive suddenly like a thief in the night, like a groom returning for his bride, like the final contraction before birth. And like the warnings of Matthew 24, what emerges from these birth pains is the unremitting wrath of God. Lift up Your Heads! If you have found yourself overwhelmed lately, I encourage you to take to heart the words of Jesus in Luke 21:28, “But when these things begin to take place, straighten up and lift up your heads, because your redemption is drawing near.” Pull your eyes away from the TV, the tablet, and the phone. Don't allow the fears and anxieties of those who do not know God to knock you off the path. Straighten up. Live the right way, live like you want to live forever, be the people God has called us to be. Lift up your heads. Jesus will return with a heavenly retinue. Look for His return, long for His return, set your mind on things above. Whether or not Jesus returns in this time is irrelevant.

https://youtu.be/jrM0qwisxRY The Body of Christ, pt 3 - Transcript Welcome back to my ongoing study of the church. This is episode 11, "The Body of Christ," part three. In this episode, we think about how to consider one another in the body of Christ. Building up the body of christ requires open eyes, open hearts, and a little bit of imagination. We, of course, do not want to be gossips and busybodies. But Scripture commands us over 30 times to serve one another in various ways. When we carefully think about how to serve the body of Christ, we motivate others to love and good works. The Church Needs to Assemble! The church as a body needs to come together on a regular basis. We need to see ourselves as members of a Christian community. We're not individuals serving God, but rather we are part of a bigger organization, a bigger organism. We are part of a body and, we shouldn't -- as the writer of Hebrews says in Hebrews chapter 10, verses 24 and 25-- abandon coming together. The answer is not to forsake the body but rather to get together with the body and what we want to do is to consider one another -- as he says in verse number 24. I need to think about how I can help my fellow brother and sister in Christ. The Body of Christ Gets Together for Each Other We come to church not for our own benefit. We come to church because we're there to worship God first and foremost. But second, we are there for the sake of our brothers and sisters in Christ. And when we come together, we need to take some time to evaluate what the needs of our brothers and sisters are. To give some careful thought -- some planning -- as to how I can best serve my fellow Christians. Here are a few things that you can keep in mind as you consider your fellow brothers and sisters in Christ. Think about the age demographics in the congregation. Is it mostly a younger congregation or an older one? Maybe there's a balance between the two. What does each of those age brackets need in order to remain spiritually healthy? What do the young need, and what do the old need? Give that some thought. Is there anyone sick in the body of Christ? You might think about: is there anyone with chronic health problems in your congregation? Is there someone who just is always sick? Well, there's an opportunity! Give some thought to how you can help that person. Are there widows in the church? If there are widows, do they have a family who's looking after them? First Timothy chapter 5, verses 3 through 6 makes it very plain that (extended) family needs to take care of widows. And if there's no (extended) family taking care of widows, that's something we in the church can do. Give that some thought. Are you praying for the sick in the church? I know a lot of churches have lists of people who have made prayer requests. Are you keeping your own list? Are there folks who are sick physically, sick in your congregation, who need prayers? Is there someone in the body of Christ who has fallen on hard times? Maybe they've lost a job due to cutbacks at work or due to sickness. There's a way we can certainly serve in emergency circumstances. It's appropriate for the church to help brothers or sisters out like that. And we as individuals can also find opportunities to help them. Are you helping the leaders of your church? The Bible talks about how every congregation needs elders. Are you being supportive of those elders? Are you praying for them both privately and publicly? Are you striving to keep your life as clean as possible? Remember in Hebrews chapter 13 verse number 17, the writer of Hebrews says, Obey those who rule over you and be submissive for they watch out for your souls as those who must give an account let them do so with joy and not with grief, for that would be unprofitable for you. Elders have to give an account for your soul. Are you keeping your life clean so that you're making their jobs easier? That's a way that you can consider your leaders...

Heaven is a Mystery Will we know each other in heaven? We will not understand some aspects of “what happens after death” until we experience them. For example, John tells us that while we know we will be resurrected from the dead, we know very little about the type of body we will inhabit. We do know our resurrected body will be like the resurrected body of Jesus (1 John 3:2).  Other than that, we know very little about our resurrected body. What will we do in heaven?  Will all of our eternal existence be spent praising God?  Or will God assign us certain responsibilities like some of the angels?   So for all the New Testament reveals about “what happens after death,” much remains shrouded in mystery. Will We Know Each Other in Heaven?  I Hope So!  But... One question many of us want answered is, “Will we know each other in heaven?” From the outset, let me say, “I hope so.” I would like to see many dear people again if at all possible.  However, there are some who would answer, “No, we will not know each other in heaven.” Their reasoning goes something like this:   Scripture says in Revelation 21:4, “And God will wipe away every tear from their eyes; there shall be no more death, nor sorrow, nor crying. There shall be no more pain, for the former things have passed away.”  In heaven, God eliminates all causes for sorrow. No more reasons to cry or to feel pain remain. If that's true, then what about people we knew and loved here on earth who did not make it to heaven?   If we know one another in heaven. And if we know there are people close to us who are not in heaven. Would we not be sorrowful knowing they were in hell? Thus, it might be better if God erased or altered our memories of our earthly lives in some way so that we would not be cognizant of who is missing. No memories mean no reason for sorrow. Two Key Points But this line of reasoning — though it makes some sense — overlooks a couple of key points. The first is the most obvious:  do we have any clear scriptural evidence that God will comfort us in this way? Do other Bible passages indicate that our memories will be altered to the degree we will not know one another? Is there any corroborating evidence that supports this extrapolation? The second is less obvious:  can we fully anticipate how we will be impacted by divine judgment? I have an inkling of what it will be like to stand before the throne of God in judgment. But it's only a notion based on scant information provided by the Bible. The Impact of Divine Judgment When God reaches the end of his discourse with Job, the righteous man's response is insightful. Job confesses he has no response.  He speculated about things he had no right to speculate about. For the first time Job sees the real God. The reality of God leaves Job humbled and speechless. There no longer remains an objection to be raised or a grievance to be aired. Job's example reminds me of what Paul says in Romans 3:19, “Now we know that whatever the law says, it says to those who are under the law, that every mouth may be stopped, and all the world may become guilty before God.”  The judgment of God stops – it halts or closes – the mouths of everyone. If I see someone I love condemned to hell will I weep? I think so, it's difficult to imagine that such a thing would not upset me. Will I carry that sorrow into heaven? It's difficult to imagine I would not. But again, we're all a bit like Job in this instance. Seeing God in all of His majesty and experiencing divine judgment will affect us in ways we cannot anticipate. It is impossible to fully anticipate how the judgment of God will impact all of us and its ensuing implications.   The Impact of Divine Comfort On the flip side, we also cannot fully anticipate the depth and breadth and length and height of divine comfort. God comforts us in countless ways as we walk by faith. But God's methods of consolation — like all of His blessings — ar...

Transcript This is episode 10, "The Body of Christ," part 2. In this study, I consider the principles taught by Paul in First Corinthians 14. Even though we no longer live in an age of miraculous gifts, the principles taught by Paul are timeless. For example, if we see an opportunity to serve in the kingdom of God, and we are not naturally gifted in that area, God will help us grow into this role of service. When we pair this desire to serve with our genuine desire to motivate one another, we find a powerful and edifying combination. We Serve the Body of Christ One of the points that I was emphasizing on our last program was the need for all of us to recognize that we don't go to church for ourselves. We go to church to serve other people and to worship God. That our focus needs not to be on ourselves but on putting the talents and abilities that God has given us to work in the service of our fellow Christians and in service to him as worship. This attitude is upheld by Paul in passages like Romans chapter 12 verses 3 through 8, where he tells us to examine the gifts that God has given us and to put those gifts to work put them to use in service in the kingdom of God. Grow in Our Service And as we talked about in our last program, Jesus warns us not to bury our talents. To not set these things aside out of fear but rather to put them to work. He expects us to grow. He expects to see an increase in those talents. So put them to work. Put them to use. Grow in them and do so not out of your own personal gain or your own personal benefit. But rather for the benefit of other people. And as I left off on our last week's program, I was talking about how if you see a need in the church, don't wait for someone else to do it. 1 Corinthians 14 I'd like to take a moment to talk about the book of First Corinthians, chapter 14. And I want to recognize from the outset that in First Corinthians 14, Paul is talking to a congregation that has miraculous manifestations of the spirit. They've got miraculous gifts, spiritual gifts that they are putting to work. Some of them are prophets; some of them can speak in tongues; some of them can interpret tongues; some of them can heal. Now I don't believe that these gifts have persisted in the church. I think it's very clear from the New Testament that these gifts were only available through the laying on of the hands of apostles. Paul was an apostle. He helped start the church in Corinth. And because he was an apostle, he could lay his hands on these folks, and they could receive these miraculous gifts. So while I don't believe we're living in the same type of age where we have miraculous gifts, I do think that the principles that paul is talking about in first corinthians chapters 12, 13, and 14 continue to apply to us today. That even though we might not have the same gifts, the principles that are behind putting those gifts to work are universal. Desire to Serve the Body of Christ In verse number 1 of chapter 14, he says, "Pursue love and desire spiritual gifts but especially that you may prophesy." That attitude of desiring a spiritual gift -- of wanting to do something in the kingdom of God -- is still needed in our day and age. And as he says down in verses 12 and 13, in their time, it was possible for them to want to have a spiritual gift to ask God for it. And if they asked in faith with the right kind of attitude, they would receive it. He says in verses 12 and 13, "Even so you since you are zealous for spiritual gifts let it be for the edification of the church that you seek to excel therefore let him who speaks in a tongue pray that he may interpret." Paul's point here is if you've got a desire to serve in the kingdom of God, don't desire to be able to do this for your own glory, for your own honor, for your own reputation. Instead, desire it so that you can help make the body stronger. The idea of edification means we are building up.

If someone were to ask you, "How do you define Christian identity," how would you respond? I recently heard an insightful comment on a podcast I listen to regularly. At one point, the participants discussed the issue of identity, a hot topic in our day and age. One of the participants observed, "Augustine (of Hippo, the esteemed theologian) would have never known how to answer questions of identity. The topic would have bewildered and confused him."  I rather suspect many of us feel the same way. Having grown up in a different time, we may have never considered how to answer the question, "Who am I?" But in a day and age when people define themselves according to their sexuality, or their gender identity, or their choice of pronouns, or any number of other possibilities, Christians must have an answer prepared. Postmodernist Roots The evolving views of personal identity are rooted in what's known as postmodernist philosophy. In the 1950s, European philosophers (and some American philosophers) grappled with what the world experienced in World War 2. The philosophy we call postmodernism emerged, a critique of Western Civilization.  French philosophers impacted postmodern philosophy more than their contemporaries: Foucault, Derrida, and Leconte. But, for the most part, their writings are pretty challenging to read, and their philosophy was impossible to live by. Because it was so inaccessible and tended toward nihilism, postmodern philosophy seemed to die away by the late 1970s and early '80s.  In the early 1990s, feminist and black intellectuals breathed new life into postmodernism. Women's studies and black studies programs in universities began adopting tenets of postmodern philosophy. It crept into other disciplines like sociology and psychology, and education. Eventually, its growth led to creating additional "studies" in American universities such as queer studies, gender studies, etc. By the 2010s, postmodern philosophy was the prevailing ideology undergirding much of the university experience in America. Two Core Principles These disciplines managed to adapt two principles of an unintelligible philosophy into simple but powerful and persuasive axioms. First of all, the truth cannot be known or attained. Therefore, in their estimation, absolute truth does not exist. Truth is left to the individual to define through such means as "lived experience. Since one cannot know the truth, power and hierarchies coalesced in societies to determine what can be understood and how it is known. Simply put, there is no absolute truth. Therefore, the powerful define the truth to serve their ends. These two principles lead to four important themes retained from the philosophies of the postmodernists mentioned above. All boundaries are blurred.  Categories like "male and female" are not real; they are inventions. Sometimes you will hear the phrase "social construct." The powerful invent these "social constructs" to marginalize and oppress women, gays, transgender, and other minority groups. Language is a part of the power structure.  The powerful use language as a tool to acquire and maintain power. One shifts the balance of power in favor of the marginalized by changing the language. Therefore, either changing pronouns or inventing new pronouns takes power away from the oppressor and puts the power in the hands of the marginalized. All cultures are equal. No one culture is superior to another. Those in the Western world have not risen to prominence because of a superior culture. Instead, we have used the oppressor's tools better than our rivals. Superior ideals and values do not exist. All explanations for success in any realm reduce to power. The concerns of the individual are of less value to society than the concerns of marginalized groups. If I, out of conscience, object to the pronouns chosen by a person, I am in the wrong. Therefore, I must subordinate my rights as an individual,

Transcript This is episode nine, "The Body of Christ," part one. In this episode, I confront a deadly spiritual illness in the American religious community, what some call a "sit and get" mentality. Too many believers in God view church attendance and membership from a "What do I get from it" angle instead of the more biblical view of, "What can I give?" Contributions from every part of the body are needed to keep the church vital and vibrant. "Give and live" should be our mantra. In this spiritual house, we as priests are worshiping God worshiping him, as Jesus says, in spirit and truth. And last week, we talked about the types of attitudes that worship requires. How it requires a sense of reverence and humility and devotion and a willingness to serve. And it's on that last idea, this idea of service, that I'd like to begin today. What Does it Mean to be in the BODY of Christ? I'd like to talk for the next couple of weeks about how the church is the body of Christ and what that idea of a body really means. I've alluded to this in past episodes. But I want to just come right out and say that I have seen an illness in the American religious community that I think is very, very damaging. Many, many years ago, I was talking with a woman who was sharing with me her reasons for going to church. And she said, "You know I go to church because that's the one time of the week that's all mine. I think about where I'm at; I think about what's going on in my life. And that's the time when no one can bother me. Nobody can talk with me. It's just me." I remember thinking at the time that that seemed to make some sense. But the more I have thought about it since then, it's given me pause. I don't think that this woman was particularly unique in America. And it seems to me that a lot of Americans (and I'm, of course, painting with very broad brush strokes here, talking in very general terms) a lot of Americans may only go to church because of what they think they can get out of it. This is not the attitude, though, that God teaches us in the New Testament. The Body of Christ is Like the Human Body And it's certainly not the attitude that a body -- a human body -- adopts whenever you cut yourself or injure yourself in some way. Do you realize that your body all of a sudden becomes focused on healing that broken part -- that part that's been injured -- that injury kicks off a very intricate process where almost the entire body dedicates itself to healing almost immediately. And this is the sort of thing that the New Testament writers have in mind when they compare the church to a body. It's not just within the sense of being in connection with Jesus (who is the head of the church, and we are the body). It's much more than that. It's the interdependence of the various parts of the body upon one another. That connectedness that the writers of the new testament are drawing us toward. The Parable of the Talents One of the ways that we as Christians can be effective members of the church is to put to work the gifts that God has given us. Do you remember the parable of the talents? Jesus taught this parable. He says that a master gave to three different servants three different amounts. He gives to one five talents, to another two talents, and to one, one talent. And then he goes on his way, leaves them to their own devices, and expects upon his return that they will have done something with those talents. And if you're familiar with the parable, you know how it ends. He comes back, and to the one whom he had given five talents, he had doubled that amount. He now had ten talents. The master is very, very pleased with this. He praises that servant. And the one to whom he had given two talents that person had put those talents to work and had doubled their amount as well. And again, the master is very, very pleased with what the servant has done. But the servant with one talent took his talent,

This study focuses on the various attitudes we should adopt as we worship God in spirit: reverence, humility, devotion, and self-sacrifice. These attitudes run counter to the selfish, casual, proud, and religiously apathetic culture of twenty-first-century America. And when we add sincere gratitude and adoration and real sacrifice to our attitude of worship, we are truly worshipping God in spirit.

Do we inherit Adam's sin? When Adam ate the fruit from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, he set in motion consequences for the human race. Among those consequences is death. Scripture, however, is clear -- guilt for sin does not transmit from one generation to the next. So while we are subject to the consequences of the "original sin" is it accurate to say we inherit the guilt for this sin?

"I'm a Christian, but I don't need the church," is an opinion many people hold. And, who could blame them, given the amount of nonsense in the American religious landscape? But the New Testament could not be clearer: Christians need the church.

While the New Testament teaches the idea that Christians are, as individuals, the temple of God through the indwelling of the Holy Spirit, it also teaches us that the church -- the gathering together of Christians -- is also God's temple. When the church assembles, it does so for the purpose of worshipping God in spirit and truth, the type of worship God seeks.

At the end of the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus predicts there will be many disappointed people on the final day of judgment. Too many people believe they serve God, but they practice lawlessness; though they may have done amazing things for the kingdom of God, Jesus expects He will one day say, “I never knew you.” And so, He challenges us to go beyond simply hearing His word; the wise person, Jesus says, hears His word and obeys. Such a life can withstand the trials of this world and will be fit to enjoy the eternal treasures in the next.

Jesus shocked His apostles when He said it was difficult for the rich to enter heaven. "Who then is saved?" they asked. It's a good question to think about. A lot of people say we're saved by faith only. Is that true? What exactly saves us?

God's plan for the church reveals that all members are priests, ministers, and saints. Because all Christians are the clergy, we are sanctified to minister and sacrifice to God. Our sacrifices as priests consist of denying ourselves by offering up our lives as a sacrifice, words of praise, and the good works we do for others.

One of the reasons why the way to eternal life is narrow and difficult is there are many potential distractions along the way. In the parable of the sower, Jesus reveals how the pressures of persecution, times of trial, and love for the things of this world hinder the work of the gospel in some people's lives. He highlights a different concern in the Sermon on the Mount:  Jesus warns about the influence of prophets who appear to be righteous, but under the surface, they intend to lead disciples astray.

What does it mean to tempt God? Jesus would not cast Himself from the temple lest He tempt God and Moses warned the children of Israel about the dangers of tempting God. How might we be in danger of making the same mistake? And, how do we avoid placing our souls in such a precarious position?

When Jesus answered, "What must I do to inherit eternal life," He once again flipped the orthodox narrative. The history of the Samaritans and their shared animosity with the Jews made a Samaritan hero unlikely. But no one could deny that between a priest, a Levite, and a Samaritan, only one was truly a neighbor.

Deflecting responsibility by blaming others is a tendency as old as the Garden. And the epidemic of victimhood is not unique to this generation. These longstanding weaknesses are highlighted by Scripture and are contrasted with admirable people who assumed full responsibility, even for sins and consequences that were not their own making.

The Bible's depiction of God is multi-faceted, ranging from "God is love" to "God is a consuming fire." God does attempt to draw humanity to Him with goodness, forbearance, and long-suffering. But He warns us that these overtures will not last forever. He will judge the world, and it is helpful to consider how He will go about evaluating our lives.

The New Testament compares the church to a temple wherein God dwells. The church is not a physical structure, rather it is composed of the people who call on God's name, built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets with Jesus Christ as our cornerstone. We are not only the temple, but we are also the priests, ministering to God and to one another.

After warning us about the dangers of judging others too critically, Jesus assures us that if we seek what is true and right, we will find it. He reminds us that if we love our neighbor as ourselves, we have fulfilled the spirit of the Law and the Prophets. But his next warning is, perhaps, the most important of all -- the way to eternal life is narrow and difficult and only a few people will find it.

Many Christians believe all sins are equal, but this is an idea without Biblical support. All sins are equal in one respect -- one sin is sufficient to condemn one's soul -- but sins are not equal in all respects. Jesus taught us that some sins are greater than others.

The Bible divides the world into nations on the basis of family and that concept is seen in the church. To be a part of God's kingdom, one must be born into His kingdom. Jesus loosens the bonds of sin and makes us a part of God's household and thus a part of God's holy nation.

“Judge not, that you be not judged,” is the most quoted -- and the most misquoted -- of Jesus's teachings. What is often interpreted as a censure of judgment in all circumstances turns out to be quite different upon closer examination. It is inevitable for us to notice faults in others; Jesus urges us to move with caution, to set our own lives in order before we attempt to help fix someone else. And, at the end of the day, it might be better for us to leave well enough alone -- sometimes our good intentions are unappreciated by the one we try to help.

When will Jesus return is a question on the mind of all Christians. Human beings have a tendency to believe things are worse now than ever, which leaves Christians thinking the end must be at any moment. But even Jesus did not know the day or hour of His return, so He tells us to be prepared for His arrival at any time.

Fasting, like prayer, is an ancient practice observed by many religious people. It was not uncommon for the Pharisees to use fasting as another way to prove their righteousness. Though He does not command fasting, Jesus regulates it by advising us to keep our fasts between ourselves and God. He also warns us about the dangers of materialism, encouraging us instead to “lay up treasure in heaven,” fixing our perspective and priorities on what will last for eternity.

Christians, like our adopted forefather Abraham, are called by God to walk by faith. Like Abraham, we must leave what we love behind, we cannot always know what will be ahead, and the reward for faithfulness is seldom immediate.