The church of Christ on McDermott Road

One of the primary mistakes Christians make when we study the Bible is we often approach the Bible with our minds already made up about what we believe

The apostle John had much to say about the subject of love. He said we should love “because love is from God.”

An incredibly important Greek word in the New Testament is the word, “telos.” It means the aim, the goal, the end, or the ultimate fulfillment of some thing.

I believe the book of Romans is Paul’s attempt to unify the Jewish and Gentile Christians in Rome.

Jesus said that the greatest commands in the Law were to love God and love your neighbor.

The truth that is hidden in the parable of the treasure hidden in a field and the parable of the pearl of great price may very well be the most difficult to accept.

Jesus told two parables back-to-back, both illustrating similar points. The first parable is about a mustard seed and the second about a woman hiding leaven in three measures of flour.

The second parable contrasts the wheat and the weeds that are in a field. The wheat was planted by the farmer, but the weeds were planted by the farmer’s enemy.

The first parable in Matthew 13 is a story about a farmer sowing seed in his field. This story frustrated the disciples, but Jesus explained to them what it meant (see Matthew 13:18-23).

Many people think Jesus told parables for the same reason preachers and teachers use illustrations in their lessons, to make the message clearer for everyone present.

Parents, grandparents, and the entire Christian community must lead the next generation.

God told His people to be diligent teachers; to talk about the Law constantly; when they were sitting at home, when they were traveling, when they got up in the morning, and when they went to bed at night (Deut. 6:7).

Parental permissiveness may sound like a good idea in twenty-first century America, but one could hardly read the Law of Moses and think God would advocate for permissive parenting.

God’s covenant people were told to, “love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might” (Deut. 6:5).

In this first lesson we will focus on the phrase, “Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one” (Deut. 6:4)

The conclusion of Paul’s discussion of the Resurrection is this, “Therefore, my beloved brothers, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that in the Lord your labor is not in vain.”

Paul said, “If the dead are not raised, ‘Let us eat and drink, for tomorrow we die’” (vs. 32). But because the dead are raised - because the Resurrection is true - we must “not go on sinning” (vs. 34).

Paul said, “If Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile and you are still in your sins” (vs. 17). But, since Christ has been raised from the dead, we no that we are NOT still in our sins.

Jesus put His trust in His Father. He obeyed. He went to the cross in faith, trusting that God would raise Him from the dead.

In this first lesson we will introduce the series by talking about the certainty of Jesus’ Resurrection.

Finally, as exiles in modern-day Babylon, we must “seek the welfare of the city” (Jeremiah 29:7).

The temptation to conform will always be present. It’s easy to compromise what is right.

Making an impact on the world around us requires that we speak of who God is and what He has done for us.

If we are going to resist the temptation to isolate ourselves as well as the temptation to be assimilated into our culture, then the first step is to know - and remember - our true identity in Christ.

Wealth easily enslaves, but Jesus sets us free from that bondage.