The Gospel Of Repentance

The original Greek word for world is the word cosmos. In the gospel of John world is used several different ways. Let’s go over them. 1.       John 1:10 – He was in the world, and the world was made through Him, and the world did not know  Him. In this verse the word world is making reference to the physical planet earth we live in and the fact that Jesus in eternity past created the universe. Both Col 1:15 and Heb 1:2 tells us that Jesus created all things. 2.       John 1:29 – Behold the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world.                In this passage John the Baptist is introducing to His disciples and others that Jesus is the Messiah that will take away sins. Automatically when we see the word world, we conclude that it is inclusive. The word world here has to refer only to the elect and/or chosen of God. Remember Matt 1:21 say...

We are converted as individuals, but function as a body – The Church. We must love God (vertical) and love our brothers/sisters (horizontal). OT word that described the congregation Israel is the Hebrew word  (qahal). Two Greek words that describe the Church are ekklesia (church or congregation), and synagog (as in Jewish synagogue or assembly). The word used for the Universal Church is: katholikos ; means general or universal. This is where we get the English word Catholic. Jesus referred to His Church as a body , a household, and a temple. The Church in relation to Israel – the church and Israel are distinct. But there are four possible views on this relationship: 1.        Unification view – argues the church and Israel are essentially identical 2.        Suppression view – argues the church is not Israel but has replaced or superceded it 3.        Distincti...

3 Key definitions: 1. Spirit baptism is the act of Christ whereby He unites the NT believer with himself and with every other believer through the indwelling Spirit. 2. A Spiritual gift is an extraordinary, recognizable, Spirit-given ability for service in the church 3. A local church is an assembly of baptized professing believers in Christ, organized to accomplish God’s will. Pneumatology – the area of systematic theology that is concerned with the person and work of the Holy Spirit.  The Holy Spirit can be placed in theology proper as well as pneumatology because the subjects of main theology and the doctrine of the Spirit are interwoven  Hebrew term for Spirit is ruah usually translated Spirit. Ruah can also mean wind or breath  Greek term for Spirit is pneuma. In the gospel of John the Spirit of God is also called the parakletos. In this sense the Spirit is our legal advocate. He is also a comforter  The Spirit is also called the Spirit of Truth which relates ...

When this question is asked, we are dealing with two ideas, peccability (the ability to sin), and impeccability (the inability to sin). This is a question that needs to be thought about and answered logically. The Bible makes it clear that Jesus is God in the flesh (Isa 9:6; John 1:1; 8:58; 14:9; Titus 2:3; Heb 1:8-9). So as a result of being God, He is incapable of sinning. As God Jesus is perfect. Sin is against the nature of God. Think about it, if Jesus could sin, He would have been disqualified as a sacrifice for mankind’s sins. And if He could sin, He would not be God. Opponents of this view would declare “how then could the temptations of Jesus be real if He was incapable of sinning?" We can look at our own lives to answer that question. There are a multitude of things we are tempted with that we do not give into. Drunkenness, fornication, adultery, getting high, stealing, cursing, lying, et al.  Just because Jesus never sinned does not mean the temptations to sin...

This title question often coincides with the statement, “It doesn’t matter what you believe as long as you are sincere!” That is a popular phrase these days but, is the statement true? Well, let’s analyze it for a moment. When those two Jets deliberately flew into the two trade center buildings in New York City on September 11, 2001, the terrorist group AL-QAEDA headed by Osama Bin Laden were on a suicide mission. The terrorists that hijacked those planes were sincere in their belief that Allah would grant them entrance into heaven if they completed their jihad (holy war) mission against unbelievers (the U.S.). To become a martyr in the name of Allah grants a Muslim entrance into heaven. That is why it is normal for young people in the religion to strap explosives to themselves and blow themselves and others up in the name of Allah. Mind you, that is an extreme way to be sincere, but this practice is sincerely wrong. It does matter what we believe. Just because someon...

In regards to salvation, we are dealing with basically four types of people. They are: 1.       Those  who are not saved and know they are not saved 2.        Those who are not saved  but believe they are saved 3.       Those who are saved, but are not sure they are saved 4.        Those who are saved and know they are saved With the first group I recently had the opportunity to preach at a Men’s juvenile detention center. During my discussion I came across a young man who said not only was he going to hell, he wanted to go to hell! Shocking. He had no desire to go heaven. Perhaps because of the state of mind he was in which was obviously hopeless at that point, he may have regarded death as a relief from his current miserable life. He may have had so much self hatred that hell was solace for him and heaven was sheer fantasy. I don’t know. The dev...