GIVE A DEFENSE OF YOUR HOPE
The ability to “give a defense to everyone who asks you a reason for the hope that is in you, with meekness and fear” is not inborn (1 Pet. 3:15). “Defense” is translated from apologia which is a “speech in defense” (Thayer, 65). Such a defense of one's hope is to be “a reasoned statement or argument” (Online Bible Greek Lexicon). It requires deliberate faith and diligent study to learn the word of God… |
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LET'S NOT BE NARROW
(by Roy E. Cogdill)One of the most dreadful things many people can imagine is that they will be accused of "narrow mindedness" in religion. That literally scares them to death; the very thought that they might be considered narrow drives them completely away from the truth. Yet it should not. Truth is narrow. There is nothing liberal or generous about truth; it all narrows down to just one fact. The proper answer to the mathematical…
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“It’s Just Singing”
Years ago the church we were a part of would occasionally devote a service to
hymn singing. One good, knowledgeable brother who was usually faithful to
attend the assemblies, would choose not to come then, because, as he put it, “It’s
just singing.” I have also heard people say, “Some people like to sing, but that’s
just not my personality.”
How would you answer this question: “Why should we sing in worship to God?”
A quick answer could be, “Because He has commanded it.” However there is
much more involved than that.
God created us with the capacity… -
WEAK BUT STRONG
(John Humphries)This paradox looks to Hebrews 11:34 where the “weak” were made “strong”. These were people of faith in God many years before New Testament times. They were able to prevail against overwhelming forces and extreme challenges because of their faith. They would appear to be weak and small in the eyes of the world. But they were examples of spiritual strength because of God's grace and mighty hand. Through the trying and testing of their faith, they became strong…
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Rehoboam was King Solomon’s son and heir. When Solomon died, the leaders of the people made a request of Rehoboam before they would submit to his rule: they asked him to lighten the burdens (taxation, forced labor on government projects, etc.) that they had endured under Solomon.
Before answering, Rehoboam consulted the older men who had served his father. They told him that if he would be a servant to the people and grant their petition, he would win their loyalty. But Rehoboam rejected their advice and went to his younger peers.…
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Time Flies, but You Are the Pilot
Do you ever find yourself asking the question, “where did the time go?”. As I get
older, that feels like something I find myself asking quite often. Whether it’s in a
small sense of losing track of time out on the golf course, or a larger scope of
seeing 28 years of my life pass in what felt like mere seconds. The strange thing
about time is that no matter how fast or slow it may seem, the clock still ticks at
sixty seconds per minute, sixty minutes per hour and twenty-four hours per… -
Abraham: Father of Faith and Faithful Father
Out of all the men in the ancient world, why did God choose Abraham to receive
His blessings and his promises? Abraham had many remarkable traits such as
his generosity and hospitable nature, his honorable dealings with others, and his
godly attitudes and respect for the Lord. Even so, scripture reveals another
important reason that might go unnoticed: God chose Abraham because of the
kind of father he would be. In Genesis 18:19, God says of Abraham “For I have
chosen him, that he may command his children and his household after him to -
I AM A SINFUL MAN
(Michael R. Baggett)“...for I am not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance” (Matthew 9:13).
When you read about the Pharisees do you get the impression they think they are “all that and a bag of chips?” The Pharisees criticized Jesus for eating with tax collectors who were known to overtax people for personal gain. When the Pharisees asked why Jesus ate with sinners, Jesus told them “...I am not come…
