The Culture of Hope Founded on Faith
{BE SURE TO PRAYERFULLY VOTE ON TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 6}
To Live Within the Culture Of Hope
One of my prayer partners and I were talking the other day about why “bad” things happen to Christians. The reasons include God’s training by testing, God’s glory, the spread of the gospel, Satan’s sieve, or the consequences of unconfessed sin. I addressed this in my book The Culture of Hope Founded on Faith and so I decided to incorporate part of chapter 8…..
We Love Him Because He First Loved Us
Bible Scholars generally agree that there are four different Greek words, with their varying tenses and usages, that are translated “love” in English. Only three of the four are found in the New Testament.
Eros (eh-rahs) is romantic, physical love involved in sex and passion. Eros does not appear in the New Testament.
Phileo (fi-lay-oh) is friendship love, the affection and emotional connection between friends. While the word…..
The Marital Metaphor
This summer we had a number of workmen coming and going in our house to make renovations and to prepare the house for sale. One day one of them overheard me thank my husband for doing the repair he had just completed. The workman guffawed (yes, there is such a thing, defined as a “loud, unrestrained burst of laughter”) and said, “I don’t believe it. A wife saying thank you to her husband for something he fixed!”
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Christians and the Vote
Today I need to sidetrack for a time-sensitive issue. In just three and a half weeks we have the opportunity to participate in a very important aspect of our American citizenship. The upcoming elections gives each of us our say regarding laws and representatives in the legislative and executive branches of federal and state government. I have heard too many American citizens say they don’t vote because what difference does one vote make anyway? In Lassen…..
Charity Applied
The New Testament talks a lot about love. In the series on 1 John I explored that topic a little bit. Simply put, in 1 John love of one another is shown to be a key outcome of our salvation. If we know God, we live love because of the love of God in us. Without God’s love in us, we would not love others as we ought and therefore we cannot prove that we are saved or…..
1 John, Part 12 – The Summary
In this final installment of the 1 John series, we will summarize the answer John gives to the question of how we know we belong to God. Quite simply it is found in 1 John 3:24, “And he that keeps His commandments dwells in Him, and He in him. And hereby we know that He abides in us, by the Spirit which He has given us.” As John MacArthur states, “…Good works do…..
1 John, Part 11b – More of What We Know
Throughout 1 John, we are told in various ways what we need to know for both our assurance of salvation and our firm understanding regarding Jesus Christ, the Son of God. But there are also places in 1 John that cite that “we know” specific information. Last week we explored the first four of the “we know” statements. This week we’ll look at the other four.
Our prayers are the…..
1 John, Part 11a – “We Know”
Throughout 1 John, we are told in various ways what we need to know for both our assurance of salvation and our firm understanding regarding Jesus Christ, the Son of God. But there are also places in 1 John that cite that “we know” specific information.
The first one is 1 John 2:3, “And hereby we do know that we know Him, if we keep His commandments.” We’ve met this verse several times…..
1 John, Part 10 – Assurance
That the apostle John addresses the issue of assurance of salvation based on the outcomes of salvation in 1 John indicates that he recognized a confusion about this among the believers of his time. Basically 1 John gives us three attributes of the Christian life by which we have assurance of our salvation, no matter what our circumstances or feelings: faith based on sound doctrine, obedience to the Word of God, and love for…..
1 John, Part 9 – Error
One of the purposes that John wrote the First Epistle of John to the early Christians was to confirm the truth of who Jesus is and that He is the source of our salvation. 1 John 5:13 says, “These things have I written unto you that believe on the name of the Son of God; that you may know that you have eternal life, and that you may believe on the name of the…..