We’re down to the final study in our Wendesday night journey through the “one another’s” of the New Testament. This one is pretty awesome - we’re to comfort one another. It’s based on 1 Thessalonians 4:13-17, a familiar passage to many. It concerns itself with Jesus’ second coming, which forms the basis of our comfort of one another. Read the rest of this entry »

America is becoming a graveyard for churches. Across the land stand tombstones that were once church buildings. Some of these churches failed to accomodate changing neighborhoods. Others became unfaithful to the Word and God gave them up. Some destroyed themselves - they committed ecclesiastical suicide. It is these of whom we are going to study.

Galatians 5:13 - 6:5 is a passage full of huge themes that we won’t have time to cover, and since our primary focus is on the “one another’s” of the New Testament, we’ll focus on those phrases in context throughout the passage. I see the overall theme of the passage as being walking together in the Spirit. Read the rest of this entry »

As we’ve journeyed through some of the “one another’s” of the New Testament, I’ve become more and more convinced that these are some of the Bible’s most difficult teachings to keep. I can look in my own life each week and see examples of times I’ve not honored these principles. But to ignore them will destroy the fellowship of God’s people.

We (beginning with me) must use them as an evaluation tool of our willingness to relate to one another differently than we would if we did not belong to Christ. This week’s “one another” is again really three “one another’s.” In fact, they spread out over two chapters of Romans, and I want to allow James to illustrate the truths. Read the rest of this entry »

We’ve been going through the “one another’s” of the New Testament on Wednesdays at Bethel and it’s been a nice journey so far. I think the Scriptures themselves can simply break our hearts over the need for a close bond of fellowship within God’s family.

The first was “love one another,” which had to do with extending an unconditional, God-like love toward other believers as a witness to the world that we are Jesus’ disciples. Last week was “wash one another’s feet,” which emphasizes service to other believers. It’s humbling to picture Jesus stooping at our imperfect, dirty feet to cleanse us in His rich fellowship.

This week’s study is from Romans 12:10 in which Paul says, “Be kindly affectioned one to another with brotherly love; in honor preferring one another.” I think it’s a challenging admonition. Loving and serving are tough, but this one is equally tough because it requires us to give up so much of our selfishness. I think there are three key ideas conveyed. Read the rest of this entry »

Various Scriptures

ONE GREAT TRUTH: God inspired His word to define the church in such a way that our greatest goal becomes to draw together around a common mission. Read the rest of this entry »