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Archive for the ‘Teaching’ Category

These Signs Shall Follow

Posted in Crucified, God's Glory, Healing, Jesus, Prayer, Salvation, Satan, Sin, Teaching, The Father, The Holy Spirit, The Righteous, The Word on April 22, 2011| Leave a Comment »

19So then, when the Lord Jesus had spoken to them, He was received up into heaven and sat down at the right hand of God.

 20And they went out and preached everywhere, while the Lord worked with them, and confirmed the word by the signs that followed. Mark 16: 19-20

 3how will we escape if we neglect so great a salvation? After it was at the first spoken through the Lord, it was confirmed to us by those who heard,

 4God also testifying with them, both by signs and wonders and by various miracles and by gifts of the Holy Spirit according to His own will.  Hebrews 2: 3-4

Today is Good Friday and Sunday is Easter.  As Christians we celebrate the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ during this time.  Usually on Easter weekend, churches have the largest attendance of the year.  So many churches preach the gospel message hoping that many will give their life to Christ.

When Jesus commissioned the disciples after His resurrection, He told them that when they went out to preach the gospel, signs and wonders would follow them.  They would be able to cast out demons, lay hands on the sick and they would be healed.  We are also told in the above scriptures that God confirms the message of salvation by both signs and wonders and various miracles.  We cannot have the gospel preached without evidence of signs, wonders and miracles.  Otherwise we are simply preaching a message with no power behind it.

We should not only anticipate a great soul harvest this weekend, but we should expect to see it all including signs, wonders and miracles.  Their purpose is to confirm the gospel message and point people to Jesus.  So we should expect to see miracles, healings take place, deliverance from demons, etc.  Of course the greatest miracle of all is when a person is saved – that person was once dead in their sin and is made alive in Christ.

So let’s invite the lost, the sick and shut in, the hopeless, the downtrodden, those bound, etc.; and expect God to show up and deliver them all.  Let our prayer be that God will confirm His covenant, made through the death and resurrection of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, by the miracles, signs and wonders that will point all men to Jesus.

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Train A Child

Posted in Law, Teaching on October 7, 2010| Leave a Comment »

Train a child in the way he should go, and when he is old he will not turn from it.  Proverbs 22:6

This past summer we went on a Mission Trip to Uganda, and we took our young children with us to the remote areas we visited.  One weekend we ministered at a church in a small village.  Our children never complained about the lack of their usual comforts (TV, snacks, toys, etc.).  Instead my son wanted to stay with his father to “preach”.  I was amazed how my son mimicked his father’s every move while he preached.  He even held a small bible in his hands and stood next to his father while he preached to the people.  Wherever we went my son wanted to be next to his father preaching.  Both my son and daughter laid hands on people and prayed for them.  Yet they are only six and four years old.

As I have watched my children grow I am constantly amazed at how impressionable they are.  They truly are like sponges.  They take in whatever they see or hear.  Everything influences our children (parents, siblings, teachers, friends, relatives, entertainment, etc.)  Who is influencing your child?

There are days my son wants to be Batman, Superman, Spiderman, or even Tigger.  Most of the time he wants to be like his dad.  He wants to wear the same clothes, walk like him and talks like him.  As parents we have such a huge influence over our children and we are expected to train them starting when they are born.

They say that 90% of a child’s personality is developed by the age of 5.  This means the first five years are crucial and we the parents should be the one influencing our children and training them in the way they should go.  The scripture above tells us that if we do this they will not depart from it when they grow old.  Kids may rebel in their teens or early 20s, trying their best to be unlike their parents, but eventually most turn out like mom or dad.  If we parents do not influence and train our child someone else will.

It really does take a village to raise a child.  Even if you do not have children yourself, know that you are an influence on the youth.  They see us and they are watching.  They listen to our speech, watch what we do, and imitate what they see.  The above scripture works both ways – if you train a child to do badly, when he is old he will do bad.  Children will grow up doing as adults what they are trained to do as children.  The youth are our responsibility and we all have a responsibility to raise the next generation of godly men and women – who shun evil and fear God.

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Stop Judging

Posted in Teaching on June 4, 2010| Leave a Comment »

12So then, each of us will give an account of himself to God.

 13Therefore let us stop passing judgment on one another. Instead, make up your mind not to put any stumbling block or obstacle in your brother’s way. Romans 14:12-13

Today I was listening to a program by a man doing a bible study.  In the study he was picking apart the teaching of the gospel by certain groups of people who say we live in the age of grace.  I didn’t fully understand what the man was discussing but he spent most of his time criticizing others and nitpicking their teachings.

As Christians we are very quick to judge others.  It seems so instinctive to criticize and judge our brothers instead of encouraging, or edifying them.  By judging them we actually put stumbling blocks in their way.

We don’t have to fret, everyone will give an account to God.  We are to love, encourage, and build each other up.  It doesn’t mean we ignore sin.  However, we should not spend our time finding fault with others and criticizing them for it.  Imagine if God did that?  Then who could stand before Him?  Remember we are to be Christ like.  After all we are Christians.

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Sound Doctrine

Posted in Teaching, The Word on March 16, 2010| Leave a Comment »

For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but wanting to have their ears tickled, they will accumulate for themselves teachers in accordance to their own desires, and will turn away their ears from the truth and will turn aside to myths. 2 Timothy 4:3-4

When we turn away from truth it is easily to be deceived.  We are living in a time when more and more people want to listen to those that tell them want they want to hear instead of what they need to hear.  So they will gather around those that teach in accordance to their own desire. 

I recently read an editorial from a pastor that was so excited that Washington D.C. recently passed a same sex marriage law.  I was not bothered that this pastor was looking forward to marrying people of the same sex, but I was bothered that this pastor was trying to teach in the article that Jesus would have embraced the idea and that marriage was simply about two people who loved each other.  Of course those that want to marry the same sex hailed this pastor and the teaching.

We have to be very careful who we listen to in the church and what we consider good teaching.  Too often we would rather listen to preachers and teachers who are telling us feel good messages instead of the truth.  Remember the devil is the father of all lies and is out to deceive us from the truth.  So we must secure ourselves in sound doctrine and judge anyone’s word against the word of God.

There are many false doctrines that are gaining in popularity and increasing in number.  A big fascination these days is new age teachings.  On the surface they sound good and make you feel good but when you begin to really study what is being taught a lot of these teachings are based on us fulfilling our own selfish desires and not living according to God’s plan and purpose.

The purpose of pastors, teachers and preachers is to teach the word of God – to reprove, rebuke, exhort with patience and instruction in order to build up the body of Christ and prepare the saints for the work of ministry.

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