One Great Commitment?
Sunday School Confusion As our little Sunday School class has been studying through LifeWay’s Bible Studies for Life: Unvarnished Truth: Life’s Greatest Story, this past week’s lesson was a disappointment. Previous lesson titles included, One Great Creator; One Great Problem; and One Great Savior. All were fine. But the title of this week’s lesson (Session […]
Born from Above
by Art Farstad, originally published in a 1991 edition of The GES News Have you ever heard or had a conversation something like the following? “Are you a Christian?” “Well of course I’m a Christian! Do you think I’m a heathen? I’m an American!” “Well, I mean do you believe…” “I believe in God.” “But […]
Esau-An Example of a Believer (Hebrews 12:15-17)
by Ken Yates In Hebrews 12:15-17, the author gives Esau as an example to his readers. Here is what he says: Looking diligently lest any man fail of the grace of God; lest any root of bitterness springing up trouble you, and thereby many be defiled; Lest there be any fornicator, or profane person, as […]
The Final Judgment
by Zane Hodges In John’s well-known description of the Final Judgment in Revelation 20:11-14, we do not even find a reference to sins, much less a reference to unforgiven sins. Instead, we are told, “the dead were judged acording to theirworks, by the things which were written in the books” (Rev 20:12; italics added). To […]
Is Repentance the Flip Side of Faith?
by Bob Wilkin I heard it when I was on staff with Campus Crusade for Christ. I heard it in some of my classes at Dallas Theological Seminary. I’ve heard it a lot in the three decades since I graduated from seminary. It is often said that repentance is the flip side of faith. Imagine […]
Do Reformed Theologians Teach That Faith Is Obedience?
“I am aware of no recognized Calvinist or Reformed theologian who says that faith is obedience or that faith is perseverance.” So claimed Wayne Grudem in his “Free Grace” Theology: 5 Ways It Diminishes the Gospel (p. 74). But Grudem adds the caveat, “They will say that saving faith results in obedience and that faith […]
Future Salvation in the Book of Hebrews
Recently, I was doing some studying in the book of Hebrews. The book has always interested me because it is often used by people to say that a believer can lose his eternal salvation. Others say the book focuses on the fact if you are “really” saved you would never commit really bad sins. The […]
Houses, Lands, and Family—A Hundredfold
So Jesus answered and said, “Assuredly, I say to you, there is no one who has left house or brothers or sisters or father or mother or wife or children or lands, for My sake and the gospel’s, who shall not receive a hundredfold now in this time—houses and brothers and sisters and mothers and […]
Finishing Well
by Bob Wilkin My wife and I changed churches in 1992. We had been in a large Bible church. We moved to a small Plymouth Brethren church. Zane Hodges was one of the preachers at the church. I remember hearing teaching from him on perseverance that challenged my thinking. Before I went to the PB […]
The Wonder of Gratitude for Grace
by Shawn Lazar, excerpted from an article in the September/October edition of Grace in Focus We All Are Grateful When People Do Us Favors Of course, it is common enough to appreciate the small favors people do for us. Social life is filled with little kindnesses that differentiate friendship from mere civility. But such courtesies […]