When reflecting on his work, Darwin, said "I was a young man with unformed ideas. I threw out queries, suggestions, wondering all the time over everything; and to my astonishment...
"Ofttimes, when a cloud is full of rain and ready to fall, a wind comes and drives it away; and when the will is ready to bring forth its sin, God diverts it by...
Three Biblical Principles of Godly Dress
Recently, I have heard a new doctrine proposed. It is that unfaithful Christians of this age will not be in the kingdom. That is, they will not participate in the millennial reign of Christ on earth, but will...
While doing a study on the life of the apostle Paul, I began to wonder if he was actually named Saul after the 1st king of Israel. I began to make comparisons between the two and found several things that they had in common. The name Saul means "desired" while the name Paul means "little". It's interesting to think that Paul started off as Saul, or the one to be desired, but when God got a hold of him, he became Paul the little one. Sounds like the words of John the Baptist when he said of Christ, "He must increase, but I must decrease." John 3:30
I praise the Lord God as the source of rest for the weary! We are commanded: "Rest in the LORD, and wait patiently for him" (Psalm 37:7). The destination of the obedient believer is to enter into His rest (Psalm 95:11). The blessed Saviour Jesus Christ tells us to take His yoke on us and learn of Him in order to find rest for our souls (Matthew 11:28-29). This rest is offered not only to the Jewish nation, but also to the Gentiles; and we will all find that "his rest shall be glorious" (Isaiah 11:10). When we trust in the Lord, we enter into that rest for our souls by ceasing to seek entrance into heaven by our own works (Hebrews 4:10). But, there "remaineth therefore a rest to the people of God" (Hebrews 4:9). One day, we will enter into that glorious rest. I can rest in my Lord. He gives rest to my soul and will bring me one day into His glorious, heavenly rest. What a Lord and Saviour we have!
In 1 Corinthians 14:24-25, Paul stressed the superiority of prophesying (as in the preaching of truth) over speaking in tongues, especially for the unbeliever. According to 1 Corinthians 14:3, prophesying is for edification, exhortation, and comfort. Therefore, Paul in this chapter is dealing with the aspects of prophesying that perfectly match Bible preaching today. When the unbeliever hears such preaching, "he is convinced of all, he is judged of all: And thus are the secrets of his heart made manifest" (v.24-25). This is the purpose of true preaching for the unbeliever. The word, convince, is related to the word convict. Jesus asked those opposing Him, "Which of you convinceth me of sin?" (John 8:46). The preaching of the word should convince the sinners, bring the sinners into judgment, and reveal the secrets of their hearts. Does your preaching do this? Does the preaching you listen to do this? When the unbeliever is so convinced, "falling down on his face he will worship God, and report that God is in you of a truth" (1 Corinthians 14:25). May we see once again the power of such preaching in our churches.
On three different occasions the Apostle Paul admonishes believers to be followers of him (see 1Corinthians 4:6; 1Corinthians 11:1; and Philippians 3:17). With this in mind we ought to preach the gospel which Paul preached. We find this gospel defined in 1Corinthians 15:1-4, where it says the gospel includes the death, burial and resurrection according to the scriptures. Today we are taught by many of the necessity of baptism for salvation. Apparently Paul did not know this for he said, "For Christ sent me not to baptize, but to preach the gospel" (1Corinthians 1:17). Notice that Paul contradicted the gospel and baptism as if they were not the same. If Paul believed that baptism was necessary for salvation, then he was one of the biggest hypocrites ever to walk the face of this earth. He should have been going all over the countryside dunking people in water instead of wasting his time in prison for preaching the gospel.
