I still have a little trouble understanding why the First Christians didn’t get it when Jesus told them what they supposed to do about the Gospel. And Jesus came and spoke unto them, saying, All …
Christian Origins #16 - Galatians
Sometimes we answer questions too quickly, when we would be far better off saying I don’t know and waiting until we do. Nowhere is this more true than in religion. It is hard to discuss …
Christian Origins #15 - Galatians
Visualize a horizontal line. That line represents perfection in keeping the law. Everything below that line is sin. Everything above that line is righteousness. Simple, right? But wait, if the line represents perfection in keeping …
Christian Origins #14 - Galatians
It is odd, don’t you think, that man is so dissatisfied with God? Seriously, we seem to think that we can improve on what he has done. It is one thing when we do this …
Christian Origins #13 - Acts & Galatians
It is almost funny, in reading thorough the life of the apostle Paul, how often his friends had to get him out of town to save his neck. Paul was a firebrand. He was a …
Saving the Family
View PostThe Life & Teachings of Paul #35 - 1 Timothy
Let no man despise your youth; but be an example of the believers, in word, in conduct, in love, in spirit, in faith, in purity. Till I come, give attendance to reading, to exhortation, to …
On Christians and Judaism #1
What did the first Christians believe about Judaism? When I speak of the first Christians, I mean all Christians everywhere in the years the New Testament was being written—say between the ascension of Christ and …
Christian Origins #12 - Acts
When you read the New Testament, you really want to see a group of people united in purpose, thoroughly converted, working together for the greater purpose of converting the world to Christ. It is a …
Christian Origins #11 - Acts
Imagine that you attend a small church of, say, 50 people. You have been meeting together for quite a long time. You have a common set of beliefs and practices. You get along well together. …
Christian Origins #10 - Acts
The very first Christian missionaries in all history were a couple of men named Saul and Barnabas. (We know Saul better as the Apostle Paul.) They had no pattern to go by, no methodology, no …
Christian Origins #9 - Acts
The greatest missionary church in history was established by men whose names we do not even know. No, it wasn’t Jerusalem, in spite of everything that happened there. We know that every missionary effort ever …
Here I Am, Lord
View PostThe Life & Teachings of Paul #34 - 1 Timothy
But the goal of our instruction is love from a pure heart and a good conscience and a sincere faith. For some men, straying from these things, have turned aside to fruitless discussion, wanting to …
About the Old Testament
What did the first Christians believe about the Old Testament? I might as well have asked what they believed about the Bible because, as the faith developed, the Old Testament was all the written word …
Christian Origins #8 - Acts
I would not like to suggest the apostles of Jesus were stubborn or blockheaded, because that would not be fair. The transition they were having to make was no simple matter. It is easy from …
Christian Origins #7 - Acts
You have to wonder about a man like Saul of Tarsus. Here’s a man that we will come to know as the apostle Paul—probably the strongest intellectual figure in the history of Christianity, the man …
Christian Origins #6 - Acts
There is a great divide between Christianity and Judaism. And it goes back a lot further than most people realize. It goes back way beyond Paul, and way beyond the early days of the church. …
Christian Origins #5 - Acts
I think it is fair to say that God used the power of the Holy Spirit to jump start the early Christian church. They started with 120 members, then baptized 3,000 people in one day. …