From Jay Bowman

It is axiomatic in the Bible that, other things being equal, the learned should teach the unlearned. See Ezra 7:10, 25; 1 Timothy 1:7; Hebrews 5:12 to 6:3; James 3:1, etc. Yet, it is not uncommon to find some unlearned but voluble brother up doing the teaching and preaching while an informed evangelist sits by in astonishment at what his ears present to his mind. The Bible says, “Let all things be done for edification” (Romans 14:19; 1 Corinthians 14:26b, NKJV).^[1]

^[1] Bowman, J. (1995). The Evangelist and the Church . In D. Bowman (Ed.), Christianity Magazine: May 1995, Volume 12, Number 4 (D. Bowman, Ed.) (15). Jacksonville, FL: Christianity Magazine.

Who is in your “car?”

(Source Below)

On September 5, 1989, a horrible car accident took place in the eastern United States. A car with several passengers was driving on a steep mountain highway when the driver lost control. The car careened off the road, over the sheer cliff, and plunged more than sixty feet into the gully below. While there were concussions, broken bones, and minor lacerations, remarkably, no one died.

When I first heard the story on the news, I couldn’t believe I had correctly heard the specifics. And once I learned the details, the story became that much more incredible. The car was filled with fourteen passengers—eleven of them children. This was not a van or an SUV; this was a midsize car. The passengers had literally stuffed themselves into the car. This reminded me of my childhood when we would regularly shove, twist, and pack nine or ten into the back seat of my parents’ Pontiac. When the drive-in movie theater charged per car and not per person, making yourself a human sardine was a small sacrifice.

When the car went off the cliff, though it spun in midair, by the grace of God the tires landed nearly flush. And although there was an incredible impact that caused serious injury, all fourteen survived. Medical personnel consulted with engineers to discuss the “miracle,” and together they concluded that because the car was full, the occupants literally acted as shock absorbers for one another. The impact of the crash was shared by all. Furthermore, they determined that if the car had eleven or fewer occupants, the odds were high that everyone would have been killed instantly.

The story caused me to consider who is in my car. Crashes are inevitable. Who are the faithful friends with me in my car? I can name a number of friends for whom I am immensely grateful. Woe to the one who crashes and finds that he is in his car alone. Commit to risking friendship. The benefits are eternal.

Source – Survive or Thrive: 6 Relationships Every Pastor Needs (PastorServe Series)

Jimmy Dodd

Hebrews 12:25-29

“Our God is a Consuming Fire”

See that you do not refuse him who is speaking. For if they did not escape when they refused him who warned them on earth, much less will we escape if we reject him who warns from heaven. At that time his voice shook the earth, but now he has promised, “Yet once more I will shake not only the earth but also the heavens.”  This phrase, “Yet once more,” indicates the removal of things that are shaken—that is, things that have been made—in order that the things that cannot be shaken may remain. Therefore let us be grateful for receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, and thus let us offer to God acceptable worship, with reverence and awe, for our God is a consuming fire.

There is this simple, sobering truth. When God speaks, everybody ought to listen. When God spoke to Moses on the Mountain, he trembled. When God spoke to the prophets, like Isaiah, he said, “Woe is me, for I am lost.” When God spoke to Abraham, he listened and obeyed. When God speaks, everybody ought to listen.

Now, when you open the Bible and read, think of that as God speaking to you. You’ve got mail from God? Will you read it? Will you take it seriously? Will you follow His directions?

In this passage, the writer is clear. If, under the Old Covenant, refusing to listen to God was serious – how much more serious, to refuse to listen to God, who sent His Son to die for us!

God has established a kingdom that cannot be shaken. John 3 teaches, we are born into that kingdom. In that kingdom, we are to be faithful citizens, living under the rule of the King, Jesus Christ.

It is this serious – Our God is a consuming fire! Therefore, let us offer to God acceptable worship, with reverence and awe.

Responsibilities of Christian Women

By Annie Laurie Wolfum

Reprint 2020

{This tract was given to me by Loyce Rogers in 2019. I scanned it for current reprint, without revision or edits; only formatting changes. Annie Laurie Wolfum lived from 1900 to 1978, a noted English Teacher at Mission High School and member of the Laurel Heights Church of Christ.}

Immediately before the ascension, Jesus gave his apostles the great commission (Mt. 28:18-20; Mk. 24:44-48; 1 Cor. 15:1-4). In Jerusalem, on the day of Pentecost following, the gospel was first preached in its fullness. Three thousand obeyed that day. It is reasonable to suppose that the number included women. All three thousand believed, repented, and were baptized (Acts 2:37-41). Today men and women do the same things when they obey the gospel. The Lord has had only one plan of salvation — the gospel (Rom. 1:16-17). It is His plan now.

However, Christians must grow in grace and knowledge of the truth so long as they live (Acts 2:42; 20:32; II Pet. 1:5-7). It is a shame for Christians not to grow (Heb. 5:12-14). Indeed it is a sin not to grow. Christians must also practice in their daily lives the principles of truth as detailed in apostolic teaching and recorded by the Holy Spirit in the New Testament (1 Cor. 15:58; Gal. 5:16).

Both Paul and Peter give special admonitions to men, to women, to children. Without making God a respecter of persons, these instructions vary according to the needs of the group addressed. Of God’s wisdom there is no lack. He knows all men and their utmost need and has given them all things pertaining to life and godliness. This article is a study of Scriptures that teach women’s responsibilities as Christians.

DAUGHTERS

First a woman is a daughter. She may also in the course of her life be a wife, a mother, a grandmother, and perhaps a widow. You know how God made woman from a rib of the man Adam, whom he had already made. Adam called her woman because she was taken out of man (Gen. 2:23). He also called her Eve because she was the mother of all living (Gen. 3:20). These facts are important in the man-woman relationship (I Tim. 2:11-13). 

The world scoffs at the truth in these matters, but Christian women obey God rather than follow public opinion. Let us investigate God’s will for those women who wish to serve him. Continue reading “Responsibilities of Women” →

Can we get just a little over-confident?

I read the other day about a little girl, working on a homework assignment. Working diligently and with confidence. Her father said, “what are you working on?”

She said – “I’m writing a report on the condition of the world and how to bring peace.”

The father said, “Isn’t that a pretty big order for a young girl?”

She said, “Oh no . . . there are three of us in class working on it!”

Isaiah Insights #11

Warren E. Berkley – wberkley.podbean.com

Holy, Holy, Holy

Isa. 6:1-3

With this podcasts, we move into Isaiah chapter 6. Isaiah’s vision of the Lord and His commitment to respond to the Lord’s call.

First, who is He responding to? “The Lord sitting upon a throne, high and lifted up,” and identified by this declaration: “Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts; the whole earth is full of His glory.”

One of the first steps one takes out of sin and into salvation is – recognition of who God is. He is holy. That means, He stands apart, “high and lifted up.” He is different, separate from man – absolutely powerful and perfect; deserving of man’s highest regard. Later in the book of Isaiah – this statement: “To whom they will you liken Me, that I should be his equal? Says the Holy One,” (Isa. 40:25).

Isaiah was tremendously impacted by the presence of the Holy One, distinquished in His spendor. And, not just holy – but for emphasis: “Holy, Holy, Holy.”

When one obeys the gospel, the person is not just complying with conditions, submitted to commands and changing his or her life. We must think of responding to the Holy and Almight God.

Reverence is, therefore, a part of conversion; an essential part. We are fearing God and keeping His commandments – when we first step out of sin into Christ through repentance and baptism

Like Isaiah, we are stimulated by His holiness and responsive to who He is. We will put Him first now; we will be mindful of Him day after day; we will be daily disciples of His Son; we will embrace His people and reach the lost.

Because, we know who we are responding to. The Holy, Almighty God.

I like this quote from Ray Ortlund.

The holiness of God distinguishes him absolutely, even from the sinless angels. The Bible speaks of the splendor of God’s holiness (Psalm 29:2), the majesty of God’s holiness (Exodus 15:11), the incomparability of God’s holiness (Isaiah 40:25). His holiness is simply his God-ness in all his attributes, works, and ways. And he is not just holy; he is “holy, holy, holy,” each word boosting the force of the previous one exponentially.

Please take time to reflect on this and make certain your life is founded on your reverence for who God is.

Ortlund Jr., Raymond C.. Isaiah (Preaching the Word) (p. 77). Crossway. Kindle Edition.

From Christianity Magazine archives, documentation below.

The Biblical View of Sexuality

by Steve Patton

CHRISTIANS HAVE avoided few subjects as much as that of sex. To even say the word makes a lot of Christians very uncomfortable. Yet the sexual act is a frequent topic of discussion in the Bible and those discussions are not always negative. During a time when sex is being perverted and abused on every hand, it is time for Christians to emphasize, both publicly and privately, God’s stated views regarding sex. If we don’t, we will raise a generation that has little idea of the beauty and wholesomeness of true marital sexual love.

The basic principles of sexual relationships are clear from Scripture. First, sex is to be shared only between a male and a female. This is how God created mankind in the beginning. He taught Adam and Eve to cohabit when He said, “Be fruitful and multiply and replenish the earth” (Genesis 1:28). Few sins are pictured as repugnant to God as homosexuality. Homosexuals were to be put to death under the law of Moses (Leviticus 20:13). Paul pictured male and female homosexuals as the vilest of sinners (Romans 1:26–27). They will be lost eternally (1 Corinthians 6:9–10). The second important biblical principle is that sex is to be shared only in marriage. Hebrews 13:4 says, “Marriage is honorable in all, and the bed undefiled.” Here is the only approved place for sexual relationships: a husband and wife sharing this wondrous experience only with each other. “Fornicators and adulterers God will judge” (Hebrews 13:4).

It seems, though, that these strong scriptural prohibitions of illicit sex have caused many Christians to believe that there is something wrong with all sex. They believe the Bible teaches that marital act is only for propagation of the race. Such an attitude has caused serious marital problems for many and limited proper discussion of this most important part of the marital relationship. Let’s get a clear understanding of God’s positive attitude toward sex.

God designed and made male and female. He pronounced them “very good.” Adam and Eve had the same capacity for sex (including the powerful sexual urges) that we have today. God meant for it to be that way. When God presented Adam with his wife, both Adam and Eve were naked and were not ashamed (Genesis 2:25). That is the way God intended for it to be. In the innocence of a perfect state in the garden, God intended the man and woman to fully enjoy each other. Regrettably, Satan has twisted and corrupted attitudes toward sex so that even Christians have trouble appreciating what God originally intended.

God also meant sex to be a very pleasurable and guiltless experience in marriage. He commanded Adam and Eve to engage in sex (Genesis 1:28). The wise man wrote in Proverbs 5:18–19: “Let your fountain be blessed; And rejoice in the wife of your youth.” How was he to do this? “Let her breasts satisfy you at all times; And be ravished always with her love.” Solomon was extremely frank about such matters (see Song of Solomon 4:1–16). His figurative language was not intended to cover up his picture of his mutual enjoyment of each part of his bride’s body. What a man and woman do together in the marriage bed is honorable (Hebrews 13:4). Christians should learn to view the marital act with the same wholesomeness and beauty as does their God.

The mutual obligations that a husband and wife share are mentioned in 1 Corinthians 7. There Paul teaches that to withhold sex from your partner is a sin. Each is to recognize the power they have over their partner in this area and not abuse this power. No Christian uses the marital act as a reward for getting his or her way or withholds it as a punishment. Sex is not a tool. It is a gift of God for good to be shared in a loving and caring manner.

One other principle that I believe is being abused today is that of sex for procreation. It is obviously a God-given teaching. That does not mean that the act can only be engaged in for the purpose of producing offspring. Passages already examined clearly indicate it is also intended for pleasure. However, the narcissistic world we live in has produced people who marry but want no part of having children. They totally separate the marital act from procreation. I am convinced that such a practice is wrong. One of the purposes of marriage is to propagate the race. Christians who marry should want children. If ever there was a time when more godly children were needed, it is today. However, even among Christians, there are some who would be so selfish that they would want the pleasures of marriage but not the bother of children. I believe such people need to reexamine the purposes of marriage and see if they are not being selfish and ungodly in their attitudes and goals. Let us, however, not be too quick to judge a childless couple, for often they do desire children but have been unable to have them.

When God gave the capacity for sexual love, He gave us one of life’s most wonderful blessings. Let Christians proclaim the beauty of this blessing while also teaching its proper use. Even in a perverted and corrupt world Christians can enjoy such a blessing just as God intended.^[1]

^[1] Patton, S. (1992). The Biblical View of Sexuality. (D. Bowman, Ed.)Christianity Magazine, 9(8), 17.