Tag: salvation

Jesus Warned About The Dangers Of Traditions

In vain do they worship me, teaching as doctrines the commandments of men.’ You leave the commandment of God and hold to the tradition of men.” And he said to them, “You have a fine way of rejecting the commandment of God in order to establish your tradition! Thus making void the word of God by your tradition that you have handed down. (Mark 7:7-9,13 ESV)

This passage is one of the more severe rebukes Jesus ever delivered. Notice his rebuke isn’t because they don’t worship; instead, he says they worship in vain. And it’s significant that this rebuke was triggered by the seemingly innocent tradition of washing hands. But Jesus said when we hold to the tradition of men, we leave the commandment of God. The word leave comes from the same root word as divorce. Which means, we are separating ourselves from God’s truth in order to embrace our traditions. And by separating ourselves from God’s truth, we are forfeiting His true purposes for us.

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Do Christians Have To Sin?

It’s important to understand that we’re not addressing the question, “Have you quit sinning?”. Keeping track of how long it’s been since you last sinned leads to self-focus and a preoccupation with your personal performance. It’s an unhealthy focus and it doesn’t accomplish God’s purposes in our life.

The question we need to answer, is “Have I been set free from the power of sin?”. This will lead us to focus on God Himself, to examine what His word declares about who we are in Christ and what God has accomplished for us through His great salvation.

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Is Sin A Big Deal To God?

Sin is a major topic in the Bible. The words sin, evil, and wicked appear more than 2,300 times in their various forms, and this doesn’t even include the numerous times specific sins are mentioned. This level of communication from God indicates just how important this issue is to Him, and how much He desires His people to have a proper understanding of sin. Yet, despite this abundance of communication, many believers have a misguided, unbiblical perception of sin.

Reading an article that focuses on sin may not be that appealing, but I pray you will commit to reading all of this because it addresses some foundational truths that are vital to our walk with the Lord. And at its core this article isn’t really about sin, it’s about becoming all that God desires us to be.

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Leadership vs Discipleship

Leadership is about people leading people. Discipleship is about people following Christ. These are distinctly different things. The goal of leadership is to organize and direct people so they can be utilized as a resource. The goal of discipleship is for people to grow into the fullness of who they are in Christ. The Bible places a strong emphasis on discipleship. On leadership… not so much.

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Jesus Has Expectations

It’s hard to comprehend the measure of love that motivated Jesus, the Son of God, to leave the glories of heaven, with the purpose of dying a criminal’s cruel death on a cross. Scripture says the love of Christ surpasses knowledge. But, by the power of the Holy Spirit, God wants us to know and even to comprehend this amazing love, and to be rooted and grounded in this love 1. We cannot over-emphasize the love that Jesus has for us. However, we can, and often do, misinterpret what this love looks like in action.

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Are We Saved Just By Believing?

The Bible tells us, that without exception, all people are lost, meaning that our sin separates us from a holy God 1. But the Bible also proclaims that the lost can be saved and restored to right relationship with God. Since it’s dealing with man’s eternal state, the Bible provides a lot of information regarding salvation. Yet, it’s scary how some people pick and choose among the scriptures and teach things about salvation that are not consistent with the gospel that God proclaims in His word.

If we can’t clearly communicate God’s plan of salvation for the lost, then nothing else we’re saying or doing has merit. At stake are people’s eternal destinies, so we must get this right.

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Do Sunday Sermons Fulfill God’s Plan?

Most Christians consider preaching to be a fundamental requirement of the church, and the Sunday morning sermon is commonly revered as the most important event that takes place in the church each week. While it’s clear that the Bible strongly endorses the ministry of God’s word, is the church’s traditional notion of preaching consistent with the way preaching is presented in the Bible?

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The Danger Of Cherry-Picking The Scriptures

The Bible has a lot to say about the love and goodness of God, and these truths are incredibly positive and reassuring. But it’s a mistake to isolate scriptures that are personally encouraging, and treat them as if this is all the Bible has to say about God; as if he is always this way and cannot be any other way.

The definition of cherry-picking is to choose and take only the most beneficial items from what is available. This approach to the Bible is a temptation that is quite easy to fall into, but it results in a distorted view of God himself, and an inaccurate assessment of where we personally stand with him. If we value an honest and healthy relationship with the Lord, we must persistently seek and welcome everything that God says to us throughout the scriptures.

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