Challenges to Family Unity
Family members outside of the home who participate in Christian values will bolster family unity. Those who do not will be a source of disunity by introducing ideas and concepts […]
Category: Bulletin Articles
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Core Spiritual Practices for Unity in the Home
There are great spiritual forces trying to destroy the home. Satan hates mankind and wants to demolish everything that God loves including our families. The world does not love Christians; […]
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Good Things Happen to Bad People
The book of Job teaches us that bad things sometimes happen to good people; that is part of God’s plan to test and refine the righteous. There is another lesson […]
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God Must Lead our Homes
Husbands and wives can agree on who will lead the home—God! When people reject God’s word, they distort the pattern of leadership in the home. Adam and Eve’s home was […]
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Spiritual Leaders Needed in the Home!
Every organization needs leadership. The home is no different. Just because it is a small organization does not mean leadership is not required. For the home to accomplish its God-given […]
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Patterns of Communication
Good communication skills require planning, patience, and practice. One cannot resolve all communication issues overnight. Sometimes, it takes time to think and to understand. We may need to broach the topic multiple times to communicate clearly.
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Good Marriages Have Good Communication
When married couples love and respect each other, they will tell each other the truth. A relationship built on a lie will not last very long. Ephesians 4:25 says, “Therefore, putting away lying, ‘Let each one of you speak truth with his neighbor,’ for we are members of one another.” This means that spouses do not keep secrets from one another. They are open, honest, and transparent. It also means that spouses must talk to one another about perceived problems in a constructive way.
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Living By Faith in the New Year
Where does our focus need to be in 2023? Jesus tells us. “‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.’ This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like it: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ On these two commandments hang all the Law and the Prophets” (Matthew 22:37-40). How do we do this? Come to church. Read the Bible. Pray to God. Take care of your family. Help the needy. Love your enemies. “Fear God and keep His commandments for this is man’s all” (Ecclesiastes 12:13).
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The Gift Given for All Time
Do we feel the same joy for the gift God gave to us as we do for those fleeting baubles that we exchange each December? When Paul wrote, “Rejoice in the Lord always, and again I say rejoice” (Philippians 4:4), he had Jesus in mind. He is the gift given for all time with whom and by whom we may rejoice forever. After the “season of giving” has ended, God’s gift giving goes on.
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Telling the Truth
It is important that we tell the truth regardless of how uncomfortable that may be. That does not mean that we must be mean spirited or belligerent to do it. We must speak the truth in love (Ephesians 4:15). Lies, however, are so appealing to many today. This is because people generally want to justify how they act without worrying about whether what they are saying and doing is right or wrong.
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Families Must Be Built on God’s Word (Part 2)
God wants godly offspring from marriage. The unique purpose of marriage is for loving parents to have, shelter, and rear children so that they may become godly adults. It takes both a husband and wife being faithful to each other over a lifetime to do this.
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Families Must Be Built on God’s Word (Part 1)
God is the foundation of all spiritual families. Psalm 127:1a says, “Unless the Lord builds the house, They labor in vain who build it.” We want to build our families with the Lord as the foundation. God wants great families!
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Why God Should Be The Foundation of Government
Truth that rests on God’s revelation means the unchanging word of God serves as the underlying basis for government. Truth that rests on man’s reason results in fickle public opinion making the law. The difference is between a government that fundamentally stays the same and one that changes with popular opinion.
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I Love the Church Because It is God’s Community of Love
God created people to live in love and fellowship with one another. This was His original plan in the garden of Eden. He said about Adam, “It is not good […]
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Is Holy Spirit Baptism the Baptism that Jesus Commanded?
Jesus commanded men to baptize other men (Matthew 28:18-20, Mark 16:16). What baptism did He command? He did not command a baptism that only He could do, but that all His disciples could do, namely, water baptism. “Jesus answered, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except one be born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God” (John 3:5). To be born of water and the Spirit is to be baptized in water according to the teaching of the Holy Spirit. Acts 8:12-13 says Philip baptized those who heard and believed the word in water. They did not receive the Holy Spirit, however, until John and Peter came later (Acts 8:16).
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What is Holy Spirit Baptism?
The baptism of the Holy Spirit was a direct overwhelming of a person by the Holy Spirit instigated by Jesus Christ Himself for the purpose of miraculously demonstrating divine approval. The Bible only records two bona fide instances of Holy Spirit baptism that are labeled as such.
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Are We Saved by Grace?
Yes, we are saved by grace. Ephesians 2:8-10 says, "for by grace have ye been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; not of works, that no man should glory. For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God afore prepared that we should walk in them." Some accuse the churches of Christ of not believing this. They reason that since we teach that baptism saves, we are not teaching salvation by grace but by works of merit. What Paul wrote, however, does not exclude works of obedience. He also says that we are created for good works.
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Was the Thief on the Cross Saved without Baptism?
The thief on the cross was saved, but was he saved without baptism? We do not know. We cannot say that he was NEVER baptized. John baptized many. Matthew 3:5-6 says, “Then Jerusalem, all Judea, and all the region around the Jordan went out to him and were baptized by him in the Jordan, confessing their sins.” John 4:1 says, “…Jesus made and baptized more disciples than John.” How could one absolutely KNOW that the thief on the cross was not among these people? Given Matthew and John’s statements regarding the number of people who were baptized, it is more likely that he was.
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It Might Draw a Crowd
It doesn’t matter if it does bring in people; you still have a dangerous problem. Just because people will flock to see something doesn’t make it safe or good. Unscriptural worship is like a toxic waste that can eat away the children of God in worldly self seeking people. Just because it may draw a crowd does not make it right.
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Teach the World to Sing
It doesn’t matter what your voice sounds like on its own, when the church gathers together and lifts up praises to God in harmony, it is a beautiful thing to God. They are functioning like a body, each part working in one purpose for the whole. Not Me but Us.