Staying single and devoting oneself to the church was considered taking the high road to heaven. Those who did were conquering lust and therefore spiritually superior to those who caved to the flesh, fell in love, married and raised a family. That began changing about 500 years ago when Christian reformers put family on a pedestal with game-changing teachings that sexuality and spirituality aren’t incompatible and that making a marriage work would do more to get you into heaven than staying ...
Ephesians 4:7 says, “But unto every one of us is given grace according to the measure of the gift of Christ.” Here, Paul moves from unity and what we all have in common; to our individuality as believers. We each have a different gift, and where we lack in an area, other believers who are gifted in that area help us along.
The Bible teaches that there is no sin that a person can commit that goes beyond the forgiveness of God if the sinner truly repents, except one…that is blasphemy of the Holy Spirit. Matthew 12:31, “Therefore I say to you, any sin and blasphemy shall be forgiven people, but blasphemy against the Spirit shall not be forgiven.” Jesus even said that you can sin against Him, the Son, and be forgiven.
So what is blasphemy of the Holy Spirit?
I wish I knew the author of the following story so that I could give credit where credit is due. It was submitted by a student in a Sociology class taught by Dr. Reed H. Bradford at BYU back in the 1960s. He shared it with other students and I have kept it all these years.
A fellow went to the doctor who told him that he had a bad illness and only a year to live. So he decided to talk to a minister. After the man explained his situation, he asked the minister if there was anything he could do. “What you should do is go out and buy a late ‘70 or early ‘80 model broken down pickup truck, then go get married to the meanest, ugliest woman you can find, and buy yourselves an old house trailer in need of repairs and go live in the desert.” The fellow asked,
Last week we examined, “Where Did All the People Come From?” We discovered they came from Noah’s Ark, then from the Tower of Babel in the Tigris-Euphrates Valley in Southern modern day Iraq. Scholars and archaeologists in the past 120 have verified the reliability of the Genesis account of where the descendants of Noah’s three sons; Shem, Ham and Japheth, settled throughout the world, as recorded in Genesis 10, called the “Table of Nations.
Last week we noted Noah’s eldest son, ...
A second covenant. The Bible can be divided into two covenant’s, the old and the new. When Jesus died on the cross, the giving of His blood, gave force to the new covenant. As the Hebrew writer said, “For where a covenant is there must of necessity be the death of the one who made it.
Noah’s Ark in Williamstown, Kentucky is the most incredible, inspirational sight I have seen on planet Earth and I have been to Israel, Jordan and Egypt three times. So the Ark made a real impression on me. It is built to original specifications found in Genesis 6. The account of the Noah’s Flood, actually God’s Flood, has been proven to be geologically and scientifically verifiable.
Every Sunday, and at times throughout each week, we pray for people, and sometimes I remember to add our own names on the list! It all depends on what we are all going through, and who needs prayer the most. During my research on prayer in my King James Reference Bible, I came across a good list of things we ought to ask GOD for help with for our own personal growth.
Graduation is the celebration of a “new beginning.” Years of study, work and effort bring us to a new phase in our life. We may know that God had provided for us in the past, and that He has blessings ahead of us, but that does not mean that we will not have challenges along the way.
