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Abiding In The Doctrine Of Christ (2 John 9)

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When Christ Returns

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When Christ Returns

Preached for the church of Christ Northside on 10/17/21

  • The Biblical Fact Will Be Realized
    • The Return of Christ is a Biblical Fact! (Col. 3:4; Heb. 9:28; Acts 1:11).
    • He WILL come in the same way He left – in the clouds.
    • It’s a FACT – “When,” not “if.”
  • The Biblical Uncertainly Will End
    • The time of His coming is unknown (Mark 13:35-37).
      • There have always been those teaching false doctrine about His return (1 Thess. 4:13-18).
      • Many won’t continue in their wait for His return (2 Pet. 3:4; Luke 18:8).
    • We must stay watchful! (Matt. 24:44; 1 Thess. 5:1-6; 1 Cor. 11:26).
  • The Biblical Purpose Will Be Fulfilled
    • The dead will be raised (Jn. 5:28, 29).
    • The universal judgment will be carried out (Matt. 25:31-33; 2 Cor. 5:10; Acts 17:31).
    • The final judgment will depend on our faithfulness to Christ (Matt. 25:41, 46).
    • If it happened today, where would you be in that great assembly – left or right / sheep or goat?

Neither Catholic Nor Protestant

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Many have the perception that there are only two options for those claiming faith in Christ, either Catholic or Protestant. But that’s not true! There is the original New Testament church, which is neither Catholic nor Protestant, just Christian.

Post your questions and comment for further discussion of this video, or contact me directly. I would love to hear from you and continue the discussion.

Zeal For The Lord’s House

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Twice Jesus cleansed the temple during His earthly ministry. The record of John 2:13-17 says that it was the fulfillment of what was written, “Zeal for Your house has eaten Me up” (Psalm 69:9). This lesson asks the question, what if we had the same zeal for the Lord’s house (the church, 1 Tim. 3:15), that Jesus did?

When We Have Zeal For The Lord’s House…

  • We will be bold in our defense of that house (Jn. 2:13f; Acts 4:23-31).
  • We will be uncompromising in our cleansing of that house (1 Cor. 5:1-8, 11; 2 Thess. 3:6; Rom. 16:17; Tit. 3:9-11).
  • We will keep that house clean even when we are reproached for doing it (cf. Ps. 69:7-9).
  • The Lord’s House today is the church (1 Tim. 3:15).
  • Do we have the zeal of Christ to cleanse the Lord’s house, no matter what it takes?

Whole Person Knowledge

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Recently, a Bible Q-n-A viewer posted a comment regarding the difference between the Pentecostal Church and “the Churches of Christ.” The main difference, according to the viewer, is that the Pentecostals view everything through the lens of emotionalism and the “the Churches of Christ” view everything strictly by reason and logic. That’s
not a complement! After reading the comment, it was clear to me that this viewer had, at best, an incomplete view of how we study and apply Scripture. Based on my exchanges with this viewer I am more inclined to believe that the comment was purposeful and biased critique of the church. Following is the response I posted to their comment.

“I believe you have incorrectly portrayed the view of ‘the churches of Christ’ in your post. We do not appeal to reason alone to the exclusion of anything else. We use all the
human faculties to “rightly divide the word of truth.” We also correctly recognize the place of these faculties. Reason/logic – experience – emotion.

Just as Christ is Head of the church (Eph. 1:22, 23), reason is the head of understanding. While a true – deep – understanding of God’s word includes experiential knowledge, that still must begin with reason and logic (2 Tim. 2:15). To truly know Christ in our lives we must experience Christ in our lives (cf. Matt. 11:29). We do that by
living out His word properly understood and applied (1 Jn. 2:3-6).

When we use reason and logic to understand the text and apply (experience) it in our lives it produces the correct emotional response, which again deepens our complete knowledge of Christ (Acts 2:37, 41; 8:39; 16:34; et al). That complete knowledge of Christ involves the complete human faculty – not anything alone.

Jesus said that we love the Lord our God with all of our heart (intellect, including emotion), soul (life), and mind (the psychological faculty of understanding, reasoning, thinking, and deciding— ‘mind.’ – Louw & Nida). The problem we have with denominationalism in general – more clearly expressed in the charismatic/Pentecostal denominations – is the tendency to discredit the clear meaning of the text because they put emotion and/or experience before reason.

There is a proper order to everything, including a full, rich, and deep understanding of about any information, especially biblical information. Reason comes first then the
emotional response to knowing the truth and a deepening understanding – appreciation – of the truth by experiencing it in practice (reason, emotion, experience).”

 

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