Pastor Joel Laswell

I want to look at is the effects of influence in relation to the Sin Issue. As those who profess to be Christians, we want to have a positive influence upon those within our sphere, right? But we also need to realize the effects that influence has upon us, and the source of that influence--whether it is good or bad... this is needed in order for any change to take place in our walk with the Lord.

In most cases when this is talked about more time is spent showing how Saul behaved toward David than David toward Saul but we can learn a lot by looking at David's reactions toward Saul and how the true church should react toward the professed. What always starts the process of apostasy is when sin is not dealt with as the Lord says it should be and that little leaven then pervades the entire chu...

Now lets say that in your personal situation you have pointed out sin in your church, your church turned against your call for repentance of sin and you have obeyed the Lord and separated from that assembly--that organization. What is your attitude now to be toward that church organization?

I learned a life lesson from my coaches when I was young and participated in sports and that is the fundamentals are what will get you through the tough spots. So I was drilled every day in practice with the fundamentals of the game and found by experience that my coaches were correct. God teaches the same thing in the Bible about fundamentals. If we understand the fundamental principles of God's...

There are a couple of other things to consider in regard to these principles in Matthew 5 and 18. The first deals with the ‘time’ element involved… such as ‘when do you take witnesses with you?’ and ‘when do you take it to the church?’ etc… The second has to do with ‘how’ you contact the one who sinned against you. How to start the process outlined by Jesus.

What do you do if someone sins against you? How do you deal righteously with such an issue? We are to do as God has done towards us who have sinned against Him, and Jesus tells us how that is to be done. So I want to start by looking at the biblical principle we are to use when someone trespasses against us personally, and not necessarily in public though it could be. It is found in Matthew 18, an...

So what are the Biblical checks and balances in God's word that are to protect the church from the ravages of sin and apostasy, and promote the welfare of its members and the corpus itself? That is the topic of this study. How do we deal with the sin issue in the corpus--the body, the church? What are the principles and right motivation needed to rightly handle the Sin Issue in the church?

Twelve basic Bible study principles that can and should be used by the first time reader to the scholar.

Jesus gave several warnings to His followers concerning their future and the closing scenes in the great controversy between good and evil. One such warning is found in Matthew 24:24, "For there shall arise false Christs, and false prophets, and shall show great signs and wonders; insomuch that, if it were possible, they shall deceive the very elect." Now we could spend a lot of time just on this...

Not until we can see the sin of someone else as our sin too can we learn to love him as Christ has loved us. The reason is that in loving us Jesus took our sin upon Himself. When He died on His cross, we died with Him—corporately--in principle. If this seems to be bad news, there is also good news: Christ forgave His murderers (see Luke 23:34), and that means He also forgave us..... those who have...

In part one I asked a very important question about this succession of the corporation of Christ and it was this: is this succession organizational, or is it the succession of truth? In other words, do we find the truth by submitting to the Church, or do we find the Church by submitting to the truth? The concept as to what constitutes succession in the Corpus Christi--the body of Christ--the churc...

A few studies ago I had put a little bug in your ears about this subject and said that if we understand this issue better then it would make some of the decisions of God that we read about in the Bible make sense to us. Like causing a worldwide flood to destroy man, His destruction of wicked nations, of entire families, and His decision to leave the people He had first chosen to be a nation of pri...

Some more questions have arisen during this series concerning the different types of sin the Bible talks about and errors associated with those types, so I want to spend some time looking at that. These errors mainly deal with sins of ignorance, which the church rarely addresses, and errors dealing with the unpardonable sin. I want to look at the four categories of sin that the Bible addresses wit...

As we begin, I want to invite you to open to the book of Revelation. The last chapters in the Bible are chapters that we should all take special time to study. Right at the end of the book God gives final and closing instructions to His people. Some of the most important instructions and commands in the Bible are found in the last three or four chapters.

We’ve talked about the first and second steps in the salvation process in order to be justified in God’s sight, and how these steps relate to the third angel’s message of Revelation 14:9-12; and these first two steps are repentance and confession. But what do we do once we’ve been made right with God through these first two steps? Is that all that’s required in order for us to be assured a place i...

Step one to Overcoming Sin is repentance and you can’t be justified by faith without repentance, and neither can you be justified by faith without confessing your sins. The two steps come very close together. What does it mean to confess? The Greek word means to: admit the truth of an accusation. Essentially you are saying that the accusations against you are true. But it implies more than just a...

The subject of this particular study is one that nearly all Christians and non-Christians alike think they understand, but many really don’t when you see what the Bible teaches. There are many people today who have false ideas about the nature of true repentance, and I’d like to take some time to talk about it with you.

I want to share something with you that is very practical when it comes to our battle with sin. Not some speculation or abstract theory, but something we can actually use to help us become more like Jesus and thus be ready to meet Him in peace when He comes, and isn’t that what we want?

Our God is loving and merciful but He will not wait on us forever! There has to be a reason that involves this issue of sin that prolongs the finishing of The Great Controversy between Christ and Satan. What about secret sins? Have you ever heard about secret sins?

We have been studying how Jesus walked when confronted with the temptations of the great deceiver so we may learn to do likewise when tempted. What was the third temptation and how did Jesus overcome it?

We studied the first wilderness temptation of Jesus the last time we were together. And as we look into this second temptation experience of Jesus we will see that within every human heart the great conflict through which Christ passed in the wilderness of temptation is repeated.

How is Jesus our example, especially when it comes to battling temptation? Jesus went through the same attacks that we go through beloved yet He overcame these temptations by constantly drawing on that same power that is available to us. I want to concentrate on this example of Jesus on how to deal with temptations for that is the way Satan tries to convince us into choosing to sin--to be lawless.

A question arises very often when I speak about the sin issue and in particular, these truths about the will and conscience and educating the conscience and that question has to do with temptation--namely: what is temptation and is it a sin? Let us get an answer from the Bible to this question.

There are no material things that we can take with us out of this world, but there are some things that we can take with us out of this world. I want to talk to you about one of those things, and probably the most important of all. It is something that we use commonly in our every day speech and yet there are many people, if you ask them, they could not define exactly what it is. It has a great de...

So I finally looked at this flower bed the other day and it is a real mess. This pervasive plant has really taken root and is choking out the beautiful flowers. It is going to be a lot of work for me to uproot this plant from the flower bed without destroying the flowers. I have to be sure that I remove it at the root or it will continue to be a terrible problem. Sin is the same way in our life. O...