The Bible has more to say about what it means to love than merely "to love." One must eventually focus the discussion to the question of what it means to love God and neighbor. This is not up to one's subjective beliefs. John said in 1 John 5:2-3 "By this we know that we love the children of God, when we love God, and keep his commandments. For this is the love of God, that we keep his commandments: and his commandments are not grievous." We cannot love God without keeping His commandments. We cannot love our neighbor without keeping God's commandments.
Many commentators appeal to in this passage to justify the coming of a second literal earth. They suggest that the "creation groaning" refers to the physical creation and it will be renewed after the second coming of Christ. This is not correct. The Bible teaches that this creation will be burned up (2 Peter 3:7-12). So the creation as a whole is not going to be redeemed. Only the individuals who become sons of God will be redeemed, both body and spirit.
“adversary.” In the Bible, the two names usually refer to the same being. Peter writes, “Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil walks about like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour” (1 Peter 5:8). The Devil, who is Satan, is a real person who threatens God’s people. Where did he come from?
Today, God’s temple is the Christian. Paul wrote, “Or do you not know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and you are not your own?” (1 Corinthians 6:19). His Most Holy Place is in heaven where Jesus Christ sits on the right hand of the throne of God (Hebrews 8:1). Jesus abandoned the temple in Matthew 23. God the Father abandoned it when its stewards put His Son to death on the cross.
May one be faithful to the Lord by attending another church that is not the church of Christ? If it is not a congregation that is practicing and believing what the Lord has commanded, then one’s attendance is just as significant to the Lord as attendance at a baseball game or some other non-spiritual event. As far as the Lord is concerned, there is only one body (Ephesians 4:4), and the body is the church. Those who are not His body are not His church and attending those organizations means nothing to the Lord.
God has a structure for authority in the creation. “But I would have you know, that the head of every man is Christ; and the head of the woman is the man; and the head of Christ is God.” This is not suggesting that men and women have different value in the Lord’s eyes, but they do have different roles in the chain of authority. Christians must observe and respect those roles even when the modern culture rejects them.
In Mark 16:15, 16, Jesus commanded the apostles to preach the gospel to every creature. Jesus said, "He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved. He that believeth not shall be condemned." Notice that it takes both belief and baptism for salvation. In Acts 2:38, the men and women who had crucified Jesus asked what they needed to do be saved, "Men and brethren what shall we do?" Peter responded, "Repent and be baptized everyone of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of your sins." Baptism is said here to be "for the remission of your sins."
God conceived Jesus in the womb of Mary by the power of the Holy Spirit. This was a very special act of creation that God performed that did not happen according to the normal process. While the conception of Jesus Christ was miraculous, the birth of Jesus Christ was perfectly normal. Jesus was born to His mother Mary in a stable. Luke 2:6-7 says, “So it was, that while they were there, the days were completed for her to be delivered. And she brought forth her firstborn Son, and wrapped Him in swaddling cloths, and laid Him in a manger, because there was no room for them in the inn.”
It can be hard to try to like things that we don’t like, or even hate, but when we look at it from God’s perspective, and not from our own limited point of view, we can learn to appreciate everything that happens in this world. That is the kind of attitude that God wants us to have. He wants us to be thankful for everything that He has made for the purpose that He has made it. First Timothy 4:4 says, “For every creature of God is good, and nothing is to be refused if it is received with thanksgiving; for it is sanctified by the word of God and prayer.”
In Romans 14, Paul discusses sins that occur due to an individual’s scruples. These are personal convictions that are not on the level of doctrinal mandates.
God shows His relationship to us through His Son, Jesus Christ, and the blessings that result from being a Christian. Galatians 3:26-27 says, “For ye are all sons of God, through faith, in Christ Jesus. For as many of you as were baptized into Christ did put on Christ.” We have a relationship with God the Father that is the same as Jesus Christ. We are children of God.
To be “in Jesus” is to be in the body of Christ. To be in the body of Christ is to have one’s sins forgiven because of Christ’s sacrifice. Acts 20:28 says that Christ purchased the church with His own blood. If one is not in the church, then the blood of Christ does not cover his sins. Jesus is the Savior of His body (Ephesians 5:23). To be outside of the body means that one has not had his sins forgiven and has not been saved. In other words, he is still considered an unforgiven sinner by God.
The Bible specifically forbids forsaking the assembling of the saints in Hebrews 10:24-25, “And let us consider one another in order to stir up love and good works, not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as is the manner of some, but exhorting one another, and so much the more as you see the Day approaching.” The assembly is an essential part of New Testament Christianity and has been since the time of Jesus.
In Matthew 19:4-6, “And he answered and said, Have ye not read, that he who made them from the beginning made them male and female, and said, For this cause shall a man leave his father and mother, and shall cleave to his wife; and the two shall become one flesh? So that they are no more two, but one flesh. What therefore God hath joined together, let not man put asunder.” God wants marriage to consist of a man and a woman. What God has joined together, man is not permitted to put asunder without penalty. To say that homosexuality is permitted by God would be to do just that.
In 1 Samuel 8:1-3 we read about the sons of Samuel. “And it came to pass, when Samuel was old, that he made his sons judges over Israel. Now the name of his first-born was Joel; and the name of his second, Abijah: they were judges in Beer-sheba. And his sons walked not in his ways, but turned aside after lucre, and took bribes, and perverted justice.”
The Bible does not tell Christians what to believe about the contemporary social agenda referred to as “global warming,” or “climate change.” The Bible does assure the believer that God has control of the seasons and that no significant alternation of the yearly cycle will be disrupted by human activity.
he Bible does not tell us the exact date that Jesus was born. What it does tell us is that shepherds were in the fields watching their flocks by night (Luke 2:8). The cool winter weather would not have been particularly good conditions for doing this. So, December 25th was probably not the time of year that Jesus was born at all. They would have taken their flocks out in the spring and summer when the grass was growing well for grazing.
Jesus was and is Deity. In Him dwelt all the fullness of the godhead bodily according to Colossians 2:9. The relationship he sustained to the Father was so close that He could say when Phillip asked Him to show the Father, "Have I been so long time with you, and yet hast thou not known me, Philip? He that hath seen me hath seen the Father; and how sayest thou then, Shew us the Father? Believest thou not that I am in the Father, and the Father in me? The words that I speak unto you I speak not of myself: but the Father that dwelleth in me, he doeth the works. Believe me that I am in the Father, and the Father in me: or else believe me for the very works’ sake" (John 14:9-11).
