Posts Tagged ‘Apostle Paul’
ARE YOU A BEREAN CHRISTIAN?
Wednesday, February 8th, 2017
Are you a man or woman of the Spirit? Are you a man or woman of the Truth? Are you a follower of Jesus Christ, the Creator and Savior of the World? We are not speaking of the current age run by those who are worldly, with their untested theories and notions? We speak of that which each individual, who is saved and born again with the indwelling Spirit alive inside, knows as Truth.
The “world” we speak of, the “cosmos” is the entire package. We know that God Himself said in His revealed Word of Truth – the Bible, just WHO He is, WHO we are, WHAT we did and HOW we come back to a right relationship with Him. The Bereans were a different breed of Christian believers. They didn’t have powerpoints, never-used smartphone bible apps and dusty multiple bibles on the shelf at home. They probably had one scroll which their two or three teachers could read, rolled up in receptacle as found in any Judean synagogue, and the Rabbi or newly converted Christian leader would read for them.
What distinguished them from everyone else was their Passion for the Truth, the Word of God. Their passion for rightly dividing the Word caused them to double-check every teacher with what God says to see if they were actually telling the Truth. Oh, that we would have such Christians in the West today. Oh that people would be so passionate about accuracy and the Word of God, in context, and would then seek Him out even more through prayer and supplication.
Scripture tells us thus, about these amazing small band of believers. Contrary to some of the Hebrews under persecution (in the Book of Hebrews) who were about to bolt, the Bereans studied and were encouraged. We read here in Acts 17:10-11: The brethren immediately sent Paul and Silas away by night to Berea, and when they arrived, they went into the synagogue of the Jews. Now these were more noble-minded than those in Thessalonica, for they received the word with great eagerness, examining the Scriptures daily to see whether these things were so…..
ROCK SOLID FAITH FOR TROUBLED TIMES – PART 1
Sunday, October 23rd, 2016
The parallels of Scripture with corrupt Modern American cultural Christianity are stunning. You can find those in the debased Corinthian church; the legalistic Galatian church or the easily swayed Colossian church, just to name a few. As King Solomon once said “there is nothing new under the sun”. Indeed, the calendar year changes but people remain the same. This is true in 21st century America as it was in Colosse.
In this New Testament Epistle, the Apostle Paul shows the obstacles facing the pure teaching of the Gospel by the various and sundry corruptions of it, then as they are now. Paul, under the Power of the Holy Spirit, gives three warnings in Colossians Chapter 2 which are worth looking into, in light of what we face today in Modern Christianity. There is a serious reason for a very much needed look at these warnings, because the direct fruit of deviation from the Word of God is with us now.
We see it in the rise of the “None’s” – most of whom are increasingly people in their teens, 20’s and early 30’s who have not just walked away from our churches but believe in absolutely nothing. The Pew Research Center and Christian Pollster George Barna have both confirmed that over 1/3 of people under the age of 35 believe in nothing, and that means nothing higher than themselves. As for any “religious” affiliation, they have “none”. Hence the name….