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Bearingthecross
Monday, 3 May 2010
Daily Devotional

Daily Devonational

These articles of faith is presented to you in hopes that they will inspire you to search for the truth of God's word. Some are portions of articles with links to the full articles. Some are full articles as written with permission to use them from the sites which granted permission under the terms stated on those sites.

1) Did Jesus Fail In His· Mission?--Gospel Minutes see link: http://www.wfcoc.org/WFCoC/Minutes_2009_files/gm052209.pdf

 

2) JESUS IS JOINED TO SALVATION (Part 1)

We have already seen that God has joined Himself to this universe, that God is the creator of all things. We have seen that God has joined Himself to the Bible, that God is the author of this book, and the evidences are overwhelming to show that this is the case. And, we have seen that God has joined Himself to Jesus, that God and Jesus are one. In John 10:30, Jesus said that He and the Father are one; they are one in nature, one in purpose, one in doctrine. No man can come to God except through Jesus Christ.---Truth for the World

* read the rest of the article here: http://www.tftw2.org/Articles/Jesussalvation1.htm

 

3) Desiring Truth

Kevin Cauley |

One summer, a friend of mine and I went to Colorado to climb mountains. To get there, we drove all night from the very southeastern tip of Texas (near Beaumont) beginning Sunday night around 8:00 P.M, and arrived in Trinidad on Monday afternoon around 4:00 P.M. The first mountain that we climbed was outside of Trinidad. This was the first time that I had climbed to such heights and did not know what to expect.

When we got up Tuesday morning, we were ready to go. We ate a hearty breakfast and then took with us sandwiches, soda, and a few bottles of water. We chose an old utility road as our path up the side of the mountain. If you know anything about climbing mountains, switching back is the preferred way to get up. This road, being a utility road, didn’t switch back at all; it just went straight up. Every step was like climbing up the bleachers of a stadium, except this stadium was close to 10,000 feet in height. It was one of the smaller mountains in Colorado, but when you’re doing a direct ascent, size doesn’t matter too much, at least, it didn’t to me. Our plan was to picnic on the top of the mountain, and that we did, but not without finishing our last beverage. The way down we would hike dry. By the time we got near the bottom, the temperature was somewhere in the mid 90s, a relative hot day for the state, and the cattle water troughs were starting to look pretty good. We finally got to the main road, reached a farmhouse, and after placating a barking, but hungry, dog with a left-over peanut butter sandwich, we were able to ask the farmer for a drink. He offered glasses, but we asked for the hose. That water was pumped from a mountain well and was the sweetest, best tasting, most desired, perhaps most needed water that I have ever had in my life.

The deepest physical need that the body can have is the need for water. Without this precious substance, our bodies would dehydrate to the point of death in three to four days. Anywhere that man has ever gone to live, he has either taken a supply of water with him, or he has settled in an area where there is an abundant source of water. The human body both wants and needs water.

Jesus experienced this very human sensation when he approached a woman of Samaria and asked her for a drink (John 4:5-7). This Samaritan woman thought it strange that Jesus, a Jew, would ask of her a drink of water. Ever the master teacher, Jesus replied not with a comment motivated by physical desires, but by spiritual. "If you knew the gift of God, and who it is who says to you, ‘Give Me a drink,’ you would have asked Him, and He would have given you living water" (John 4:10 NKJV). When Jesus offers the "water of life," He offers the very thing upon which the life of our soul depends the most

From the preacherfiles.com

With permission to use with the terms stated on the site.

 

4) Can We Understand the Bible Alike?

Sometimes when people disagree with one another about what the Bible teaches, they just dismiss the problem as though a mutual understanding is impossible or unnecessary. They may say, "It's just a matter of interpretation." But can we understand the Bible alike? What does the Bible itself say?

John 17:17 tells us that God's word is truth. Yet, everyone realizes that truth does not contradict itself. Since the Bible is truth, it necessarily follows that two contradictory views of the Bible cannot both be right. If one man teaches one thing and another man teaches the opposite, it must be that one or the other does not know the truth. Yet, Jesus promised in John 8:32, "Ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free." So, we can know the truth, and when we do we will not contradict one another.

Suppose one man said "two plus two equals four," and another said "two plus two equals three," and another said "two plus two equals five." Would we say, "Oh well, it's just a matter of interpretation, and all of them are right"? Of course not. What has happened is that one man understood that answer correctly, and the other two misunderstood differently! So it is with the Bible. We may misunderstand differently; but when we understand the Bible, we will understand it alike.

In 1 Corinthians 1:13 Paul wrote to men who were becoming divided religiously. He asked them: "Is Christ divided?" Does Jesus contradict Himself? Of course not! If He did, He would be a hypocrite! How then can two men contradict one another about what Jesus' taught and both be right? The answer is they cannot. If they contradict one another, one is wrong and the other is right, or else both are wrong!

Our purpose in studying he Bible must be to learn the message God intended for us to learn. We might misunderstand that message differently; but when we understand it, we will understand it alike.

For more information on this subject, please visit our Bible Instruction web site at www.gospelway.com/instruct/ and study our in-depth articles there about the importance of Bible study, how to study the Bible, and the danger of human authority in religion.

(c) Copyright David E. Pratte, 4/2007

With permission to use as stated on gospelway.com  webpage.

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5) The Ancient Gospel in the Modern World

By Tim Nichols---TheBible.net

Most religious groups change with the times. The Lord's church must challenge the times to change.

 

When Christianity was first introduced to mankind, it was designed to be the means by which all people of all races, nationalities, cultures and times could be forgiven of their sins, have fellowship with God and find their way to heaven. It was to be preached first "in Jerusalem, and in all Judea" then in Samaria" and then "unto the uttermost parts of the earth" (Acts 1:8). When the apostles preached to the multitudes in Acts 2 they were addressing Jews who were "out of every nation under heaven" (Acts 2:5). (read the rest of the article here: http://www.thebible.net/modules.php?name=Read&itemid=190&cat=3


Posted by bearingthecross at 9:34 AM EDT
Updated: Monday, 3 May 2010 9:39 AM EDT
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Sunday, 2 May 2010
Daily Devonational

Today's devonational are collection of articles about the flood and Noah's Ark. I hope you will fine them useful in your search for God's truth.

 

1) The First "Ancient Mariner"

The original story of "The Ancient Mariner"

was written several centuries before the "The

Rhyme of the Ancient Mariner" was added to

our literature. The story of Noah and the Ark is

loved and appreciated by multitudes who have

never gone to sea, or taken an ocean voyage.---Gospel Minutes

Read therest of the article here: http://www.wfcoc.org/WFCoC/Minutes_2009_files/gm050809.pdf

2) God's Judgment - The Flood

 

We will not be able to cover every event of the Bible in this study, but one story that we cannot overlook is the account of the great flood that God sent on the wicked world of Noah's day.

FROM ADAM TO NOAH

About 1,600 years after God made Adam and Eve the world had become so wicked most of the people on the earth were disobeying God. In this wicked world lived one righteous man with his family. He was Noah. Because the world was so evil, God determined to destroy all the evil people and save Noah and his family.( read the rest of this article on: http://www.tftw2.org/BCC/courses/bcc_ibs_l4.html

 

3) The Rainbow – God’s Covenant With The World

Mike Riley In Genesis 9:15-16, God told Noah and his sons, "And I will remember my covenant, which is between me and you and every living creature of all flesh; and the waters shall no more become a flood to destroy all flesh. And the bow shall be in the cloud; and I will look upon it, that I may remember the everlasting covenant between God and every living creature of all flesh that is upon the earth."The rainbow is a beautiful token of the Lord that continues to testify of the covenant that He made with the world and all flesh (Genesis 9:11-13). It is a perfect reminder of our Lord’s protection and the keeping of His promises. In 2 Peter 3:3-6, Peter speaks of scoffers of the word who, in the last days, will deny the creation and the flood. This has most assuredly begun. In just the past one hundred and fifty years, creation has been mocked by many and replaced by theories of inorganic evolution and spontaneous generation. The flood has been denied as a universal event and is affirmed to be nothing more than a legendary story of oral tradition that has made its way into the holy Scriptures. The testimony of both creation and the flood has been forgotten by many in the world. Reflections about the rainbow sign have also been corrupted. Some people now view it as a symbol of homosexual pride and gay "rights." This "view" shows total disrespect to the Creator who designed sexual relationships to be in marriage between male and female (Genesis 1:27; Genesis 5:2; cf. Matthew 19:4). To corrupt the symbol of His covenant by associating with such a despicable and ungodly manner of life is purely vile and disgraceful.Even though man might forget the promise God gave through the rainbow, the Lord has not forgotten. He is not slack concerning His promises, and He will follow through with them. Our Lord is longsuffering, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance (2 Peter 3:9). He will save those who serve Him just as He will surely destroy those who are disobedient (2 Thessalonians 1:3-10; cf. 1 Thessalonians 4:16-18). God’s rainbow should cause us to appreciate the surety of His promises (Hebrews 6:10-19; cf. Romans 15:8; 2 Corinthians 1:20).

The Preacher files.com: http://preachersfiles.com/the-rainbow-gods-covenant-with-the-world/

With permission from the terms written on preacherfiles.com webpage

 

4) Dinosaurs, Creation, Evolution, and the Flood

Does the existence of dinosaurs conflict with the Bible teaching about Creation and the Flood? Actually, there is no reason why dinosaurs would need to be specifically mentioned in the Bible (though some people believe they are referred to in certain passages in Job and elsewhere). There are many other animals that exist even today but are not mentioned directly in the Bible.

The Bible clearly states that God made all the animals (land animals, birds, and sea animals) on the fifth and sixth days of creation (Gen. 1:20-25). That would have included the dinosaurs. Like many other animals, however, many of them have become extinct since creation.

Three points are of special interest. First, if the dinosaurs survived till the time of the flood, they would have been on the ark with Noah. Studies have shown that there would have been plenty of room for them. Remember, Noah was told to take a male and female, but age was not specified. He could have taken babies of the larger animals to save room. However, the studies indicate that there would have been room even had he taken adults. That was a big boat. (See books such as The Genesis Flood, by Morris and Whitcomb).

Second, dinosaurs are reptiles. Unlike mammals and birds, reptiles continue to grow all their lives. Prior to the flood, men lived to extremely great ages (see Gen. 5). It is likely that this was because conditions on the earth before the flood were more conducive to long lives than afterward. Conditions on the earth would have undergone major changes as a result of the flood. If animals also lived to comparatively longer ages before the flood, that would have made some mighty large reptiles, even of the kind of reptiles we have now. So it is entirely possible that the dinosaurs were very large reptiles that grew so large because they lived long ages before the flood. However, after the flood conditions changed on earth so that reptiles ceased to live so long and therefore ceased to grow so large. And many of the larger animals, including dinosaurs, may have simply become extinct after the flood.

Third, the flood would explain the huge beds of fossils of animals of all kinds, including the dinosaurs.

In short, dinosaurs pose no serious problem whatever for the Bible doctrine of creation.

For further study I encourage the reader to go to www.gospelway.com/creation/ and study our online articles about creation and evolution. We discuss the problems involved in evolution and evidence that the days in Genesis 1 are literal days.

(c) Copyright David E. Pratte, 9/2005

With permission from the terms written on the gospelway.com webpage


Posted by bearingthecross at 10:03 AM EDT
Updated: Sunday, 2 May 2010 10:09 AM EDT
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Saturday, 1 May 2010
Daily Devonational

Todays Devonational

The following are collection of articles or link to articles of faith and study, I hope these will help you in your search for the truth of God's word.

1) The Path: "Our world can be quite heartless. We are

Surrounded by people who are homeless, out of work and destitute. Yet,

many will not find a way to help or reach out,

because it is just too hard, or too inconvenient, or too expensive."---Gospel Minutes

http://www.wfcoc.org/WFCoC/Minutes_2009_files/gm050109.pdf

 

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2) INFANT BAPTISM

There are some churches who sprinkle water on babies and call it baptism. Is infant baptism from heaven or from men? We will show in this article why infant baptism is wrong. ---TFTW

http://www.tftw2.org/Articles/infantbaptism.htm

 

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3) Is the Bible Inspired?

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"All Scripture is given by inspiration of God" (2 Timothy 3:16). This is the Bible’s claim. If this claim is true, then the Bible is a Divine message. If it is not true, then the Bible is a fraud and a lie. There is no middle ground.

Of the many proofs we could offer for the inspiration of the Bible, consider fulfilled prophecy. Mere men, by their own human wisdom, cannot consistently predict the distant future in detail (James 4:14). Yet Bible writers predicted the future hundreds of times, and their predictions never once failed!

One example is Ezekiel chapter 26, which predicted the destruction of the ancient seaport of Tyre. When Ezekiel wrote, Tyre was a thriving mainland metropolis, yet he predicted many enemies would attack the city. Finally the city would be completely destroyed and cast into the sea.

History shows that many armies did besiege Tyre, but they could not capture it because the inhabitants would flee to an offshore island where the armies could not reach them. Finally Alexander the Great arrived. When the people fled to the island, Alexander’s army took the stones and dust of the city, threw them into the water, and built a causeway to the island. Then they marched across the causeway and captured the people of Tyre.

But note especially verse 14 where God said that Tyre "shall never be rebuilt, for I the Lord have spoken." Any skeptic can personally witness the fulfillment of Ezekiel’s prophecy because the location of ancient Tyre is well known. Go and see for yourself where Alexander built a causeway by throwing the stones of the city into the water, just as God predicted. See for yourself that the mainland city (as it was when Ezekiel prophesied) has never again been built as it was before God predicted its downfall.

If a person doubts the inspiration of the Bible, let him explain how Ezekiel knew so clearly the future of the ancient city of Tyre.

For more information on this subject, please visit our Bible Instruction web site at www.gospelway.com/instruct/ and study our in-depth articles there about Bible claims to inspiration and the evidence for God, Jesus, and the Bible.


Posted by bearingthecross at 10:06 AM EDT
Updated: Saturday, 1 May 2010 10:17 AM EDT
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Friday, 30 April 2010
Daily Devonational

 Why Have Some Called Us a “Cult?”
Kevin Cauley--preachersfiles.com

This past Wednesday night in the high school class, one of our astute and observant high school students asked me why some are calling us a cult. After the death of Matthew Winkler, there were several in the media who were seeking to “analyze” the situation. One Nancy Grace on CNN invited a Baptist “pastor” to come and answer some questions. During this interview, the “pastor” said that the church of Christ was a cult like religion. While he didn’t come out and call us an outright cult, there are others who do. Why do some refer to the churches of Christ as a cult?

First, there has been some confusion between the churches of Christ and the International Churches of Christ which is the former Boston Movement, a.k.a. Crossroads Movement. While the ICOC had its origins among churches of Christ, their practices were not consistent with what we practice and they rapidly became identified as a separate religions group. Some of their practices included a one man leader type system in a hierarchical pyramid style organization. They also held to the practice of “prayer partners” where one would confess sins to a “higher” Christian. These confessions would then be used to manipulate the “lower” Christian into the “correct” behavior. With such mind manipulation techniques and a single charismatic leader many correctly identified them as a cult. Unfortunately, the distinction between the ICOC and the “mainline” churches of Christ was not so clear in the minds of observers. One government document in the 90s identified the “Church of Christ” as the most rapidly growing cult in the United States. In that same document there was a footnote that identified “churches of Christ” as the ICOC or Boston Movement, but this was not commonly understood. This failure to understand the difference between these two bodies has contributed largely to the confusion that many today have.

Second, many in the denominational world consider us a cult because of our teaching regarding the one nature of the church. The Bible clearly teaches that there is one body (Ephesians 4:4) and that that one body is the church (Ephesians 1:22-23). The denominational world identifies this body as all of the denominations. However, this is not how the Bible identifies Christ’s body. The Bible teaches that the one body of Christ isn’t divided into denominations (1 Corinthians 1:10-13), but united under a single doctrine (Ephesians 4:1-6) and that Christ expects his church to have unity based upon this doctrine (John 17:20-23). That’s not the picture of the church that we find in the denominational world today. Denominationalism teaches that one may believe any of various different doctrines so long as one doesn’t condemn any other denomination. Such a picture of the church is foreign to the teaching of scripture which demands like-mindedness in doctrinal matters (Philippians 2:2). Thus, because churches of Christ teach that denominationalism is sinful, divisive, and aberrant to the New Testament’s teaching regarding the nature of the church, denominationalists can only respond with the accusation that we must be a cult regardless of what our practices are. In essence, what they have done is defined the word “cult” to mean anything other than acceptance of the denominational world, a definition of convenience at best.

Finally, because the churches of Christ teach the necessity of baptism prior to salvation, denominationalists level the accusation of “cult” against us. It doesn’t matter to them that the Bible itself teaches the necessity of baptism prior to salvation in such passages as Mark 16:15, Acts 2:38, Acts 22:16, Romans 6:1-11, Galatians 3:27-29, Colossians 2:11-13 and 1 Peter 3:21. So in essence, this is the classical logical fallacy of argumentum ad hominem (attack the man or in this case, the church). In essence the argument is, “Don’t believe that baptism is necessary for salvation because they are a cult and cults can’t be believed!” There is no effort to deal with the actual issue of what the Bible plainly teaches. In essence, they label us a cult because they can’t refute what is plainly taught in the scriptures and what we believe.

It is sad that denominational leaders and people outside of the church will blindly accept such accusations and criticisms without investigation, but that is exactly what occurs. The Lord’s church has experienced such criticism since its inception (Acts 24:5, 28:22). Even Jesus was accused unjustly (Matthew 9:34). We, however, as the church, ought not to let such unwarranted criticisms move us away from the truth of the scriptures; we have truth and it sets us free from the shackles of denominational teaching and practices, which practices are rapidly leading the denominations into the acceptance of immorality in our day and age. The church of Christ is not a cult regardless what others say. Let us continue to hold fast to the truths of scripture regarding the nature of the church, the plan of salvation, and religious practices that are pleasing to God and not man (Galatians 1:10).

Preacher files.com site: http://preachersfiles.com/why-have-some-called-us-a-cult/


Posted by bearingthecross at 7:49 PM EDT
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Daily Devonational

The Bible Doctrine of Creation:
How Essential Is It to the Faith of a Christian?

How important is the doctrine of creation to the Christian faith? May a believer accept theistic or organic evolution? Is the Genesis account of creation literal history and fact, or is it figurative myth and legend? May we believe the days of creation were long ages, or must we accept them as literal days? How does creation relate to the wisdom, power, Deity, and eternal nature of God? How fundamental is creation as evidence for the existence of the one true God and for the Bible as God's word?-Gospelway.com: http://www.gospelway.com/creation/creation_significance.php

 


Posted by bearingthecross at 3:29 PM EDT
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Daily Devotional

Is The Bible Complete?
Mike Riley--The Preacher Files
http://preachersfiles.com/is-the-bible-complete/

A querist asks, “How would you prove that the Bible is completely finished and that adding to the Bible is no longer necessary?”

Paul states in 2 Timothy 3:16-17, “All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness: That the man of God may be perfect, throughly furnished unto all good works.” The phrase, “All scripture” is all inclusive of “all” the inspired words (or writings – Gk. “graphe”) of God (cf. 2 Peter 1:20-21; John 6:63).

2 Peter 1:3 tells us that we have been given “all things” that pertain to life and godliness, “through the knowledge of him….” The “knowledge” of Christ (2 Peter 1:2) can be fully known by a study of both Old and New Testaments, which contain the totality of inspired scripture (Psalm 119:160; Psalm 139:17). Without a knowledge of the totality of the inspired scriptures, how could we have been given “all things” that pertain to life and godliness?

Jude 1:3 tells us that the faith was “once for all delivered to the saints.” The meaning here is that the God’s truth has been “once” delivered for all time. It is a permanent delivery from God that will never be superseded, amended or modified (Deuteronomy 4:2; Proverbs 30:6; Revelation 22:18-19; cf. Gal. 1:6-12).

Additionally, James 1:25 states, “But whoso looketh into the perfect law of liberty, and continueth [therein], he being not a forgetful hearer, but a doer of the work, this man shall be blessed in his deed.” The word “perfect” in this passage is translated from the Greek word, “teleios” which signifies “having reached its end” (telos), “finished, complete, perfect.” In James 1:25, the word is “referring to the complete revelation of God’s will and ways, whether in the completed Scriptures or in the hearafter” (Vine’s, 1996, p. 466).


Posted by bearingthecross at 2:43 PM EDT
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Daily Devonational
Did God Trick Us?
By Barry Newton (December 30, 2009)
We missed previous airings. So when we stumbled upon the 1997 television event “The Greatest Secrets of Magic Revealed,” recently filling the airwaves, we were hooked
Read the rest of the article http://www.forthright.net/hands-on_faith/did_god_try_to_trick_us.html

Posted by bearingthecross at 2:13 PM EDT
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Daily Devonational

The Hope of Israel"
The apostle Paul had been arrested and
taken to Rome for trial before Ceesar. Allowed
some liberty, he contacted the leaders of the Jews in Rome.---Gospel Minutes
Read the rest of the article here: http://www.wfcoc.org/WFCoC/Minutes_2009_files/gm042409.pdf

 


Posted by bearingthecross at 10:08 AM EDT
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Thursday, 29 April 2010
Daily Devonational
The Example
We live in a highly competitive world. From
the not so serious things like sports and rivalries, to the very
serious things like trade, politics and war, we often find
ourselves in competitions. ---Gospel Minutes
Read the entire article here: http://www.wfcoc.org/WFCoC/Minutes_2009_files/gm041709.pdf

Posted by bearingthecross at 4:26 PM EDT
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The swimming pool of life---Peter Ripley
As I was swimming today I thought you can view life as a big swimming pool.
One end you start out in life, but the water you are swimming in is sin.
You approach the other end of the pool, which represent death, if you become a christian, the water now turns to blood, Christ blood, which covers the water of sin. You now can turn around from death back to life. But those without Christ blood that covers sins, you only swim towards death. Why not choose life?

Posted by bearingthecross at 3:24 PM EDT
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