There may be some things in the Bible which are difficult to understand, but there are others which are so simply stated but often are easily overlooked. Two of these truths are that Jesus established the church and that He never wanted it to be changed. Read Matthew 16:18 and notice how easy it is to understand the promise Jesus made before…

Baptism is one of those topics that seems like it should be simple, but there are so many different ideas regarding it and so many different practices of it that one can easily get confused trying to figure out what he actually needs to know.  Is there a way to simplify this topic?  Is there a way to strip away all of…

There are bits of information in the Bible that leave us wondering, “Why are these here?” Random acts like when John wrote that Jesus “was sitting thus on the well” when talking with the Samaritan woman (4:6). Other strange bits of information are found in the genealogies, especially in the early ones of Cain, Adam and Noah (Gen. 4:17-26; 10:1ff). Did you…

When Paul wrote his second letter to Timothy, he knew the end was near. He looked back over his life and used two illustrations from the Grecian games to describe it. He mentioned fighting (wrestling or boxing) and racing. “I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith” (4:6). It is at times like this…

The book of Acts begins by telling the reader what Jesus did for the forty days that He was on the earth between His resurrection and His ascension.  It simply says that He with His apostles, “to whom He also presented Himself alive after His suffering by many infallible proofs, being seen by them during forty days and speaking of the things…

Florida is not the innocent sunshine state with decent tax laws and a good place to retire. According to a new study by Wallethub, we are the second most sinful state behind Nevada. To rank the states, they compared data from 43 metrics that ranked each state in seven areas: anger and hatred, jealousy, excesses and vices, greed, lust, vanity, and laziness.…

While many know the details of the lives of some of the kings of Israel like David and Solomon, their lives would be so blessed today by studying the details of the life of king Hezekiah. He was king of the southern kingdom of Judah when the ten northern tribes were destroyed by the Assyrians. Assyria’s army then came and surrounded Jerusalem.…

First Corinthians 5:12 draws a contrast between those “who are outside” and those “who are inside.”  What is Paul talking about?  He is contrasting “people of this world” (5:10) with one who is “a brother” in the family of God (5:11).  “Insiders” (if we may use that word accommodatively) are those who are “inside” Christ (wherein is salvation, 2 Tim. 2:10) and…