United Church of God Raleigh

Seek First the Kingdom of God John 3:1-2  Nicodemus “you are a great teacher sent from God” Verses 3-8  Jesus reply seems enigmatic… why wasn’t He more straightforward? Why not something like:“Nicodemus… actually I am God. Technically the Father and I together are God, we are one, we are a family. You are correct in that I was sent here, you see the Father sent me. You haven’t met the Father yet…...

Daniel the Interpreter of Dreams Daniel was placed, by God, into an important position within the court of the Babylonian King. He was put there to witness to God's sovereign power over all nations. The lesson for you and me is this: because God controls and directs the affairs of the earth kingdoms we should be mindful that He can and does control the events of your life. Daniel 1:17-21  God was...

The Church of God teaches and proclaims a coming 1,000 year millennial rule of Christ on earth. We consider it an important phase of God's plan of salvation and spiritual birth into His family. This fall we will celebrate the biblical festival called the Feast of Tabernacles. That celebration will include plenty of talk and instruction about this interesting 1,000 year time period called "the...

How Should We Worship God? A great way to answer this is to quote Jesus Himself who says "worship God in spirit and in truth". Lots of information is packed into that short phrase. Let's investigate more closely and see what we find. One day Jesus was travelling through a region in Judea known as Samaria. The region of Samaria roughly aligned with the region once occupied by the 10 northern tr...

God's commandments tell us to rest on the 7th day of each week. But the Sabbath rest is more than just a "day off". It is a day for spiritual instruction and fellowship with other believers. In addition to being a day of rest from our regular work, the 7th day is a day we are commanded to gather together for a “holy convocation”, see Leviticus 23:3. If you would like to learn more about the 7th da...

  Voluntary fasting is recorded in both the old and new testament. In addition to general references to fasting, scripture specifically mentions that David fasted, Jesus fasted, and Paul fasted. What does the scriptures say about how biblical fasting can help us grow in grace and knowledge? Booklet offer: https://www.ucg.org/bible-study-tools/booklets/what-happens-after-death

A bad tree yields  bad fruit… good fruit comes from a good tree… out of the abundance of the heart so a person speaks… and so they act. Jesus words tell us that sin happens because of bad thinking which leads to bad behavior. The big culprits are lust of the flesh, covetousness, and the pride of life. Today we are going to look at pride. We'll try to define pride, we’ll explore 5 areas where p...

The Ongoing Problem of Sin  The 7 day feast of unleavened bread follows the observance of the Passover… which is fitting since It pictures what must take place after the Passover. The central theme and message of the days of unleavened bread is addressing the ongoing problem of sin. Each Passover is a memorial of Jesus death which pays the penalty we earned through our past sins. After the wonderf...

Some biblical prophecy concerned the first coming of Christ and some of it looks ahead to the time His return in great power and glory. We read of kingdoms rising and falling, troubles of persecution, war, disease. All these were present from the time the prophecy was given through the intervening 2,000 years of human history, yet seem to insistent as the final days approach. Deception and false p...

Vows and CommitmentEach new year that comes makes us all think about what the year ahead will be like. Many people decide to start off the new year with some plans... very often called "new year's resolutions"... usually focused on some form of self improvement. New year's resolutions are a running joke in our culture... because they are most often abandoned sometime within the next few mo...

The Riddle of the BeastThe book of Revelation is Jesus Christ's final written words to His church. These words foretell future events as they relate to the Church of God. The book is both a revealing and a riddle. A riddle is a word puzzle in which the answer is understandable based upon what is said, yet not understood by anyone but the riddler. Here's a classic riddle you may have heard; "what i...

Mercy is part of the emotional makeup of the living God... when God wants to tell us about himself to us and reveal some of the inner workings of His being... MERCY tops the list. But what is mercy? When referring to God's mercy are we merely using another means of saying God's grace? Does God's mercy serve the same function as His forgiveness? IF different … how are they different? I...

The ox in a ditch principle is found in Luke 14:1-6. From this short section of scripture we get an important perspective on Sabbath keeping: It is right and proper to alleviate the suffering of others on the Sabbath. The example of the ox falling into a hole it cannot get out of also adds the element of an emergency and danger where immediate action is required. Actions required to alleviate suff...