An Unbeliever’s Theory: Jesus Did Not Die
by Paul K. Williams In December 1983, I debated Ahmed Deedat, head of the Islamic Propagation Society, on whether Jesus was raised from the dead. Deedat tried to show from the New Testament that Jesus did not die on the cross. He said Jesus became unconscious, that the thrust of the spear in his side…
Read MoreNot Because of Your Righteousness
by Zeke Flores “It is not because of your righteousness … for you are a stubborn people” (Deuteronomy 9:6). Deuteronomy 9 is a humbling chapter. In Deuteronomy 9:6, Moses tells Israel about their stubbornness. That’s blunt, but necessary. Israel needed to understand that God’s blessings weren’t rewards for good behavior; they were expressions of His…
Read MoreMatthew 24
by Billy Boyd Matthew 24 may be the most difficult chapter in the book. Jesus tells his disciples what will come to pass, and his language is sometimes figurative, exaggerated, and apocalyptic. Many wise and respected commentators have struggled with this chapter and differed over its particulars, so do not be discouraged if you find…
Read MoreDid we cross the line?
Question: Hello Minister, I have a question that I’m hoping you can help me understand through Scripture. I was born outside of marriage, but both of my parents later became Christians, repented, and eventually married. Because of that, I grew up being taught very seriously about sexual immorality, temptation, and how sin affects our relationship…
Read MoreWhat Led to the Triumphal Entry
by Clay Gentry Here’s something else to add to the old “I’ve Never Noticed That Before File”: We all know the account of the Triumphal Entry, but have you ever paid attention to how each Gospel writer frames the crowd’s response to His arrival? They don’t just record what happened; they intentionally set the stage…
Read MoreSoldier, Athlete, Farmer
by Edwin Crozier Keep in mind the last sentence of II Timothy: “Grace be with you.” The “you” is plural. In other words, as with his first letter to Timothy and the letter to Titus, Paul expects the entire congregation to read this letter, not just Timothy. Paul is not merely telling Timothy what work…
Read MoreReligious Teachers
by Hugh DeLong “Then Jesus spoke to the crowds and to His disciples, saying: ‘The scribes and the Pharisees have seated themselves in the chair of Moses; therefore all that they tell you, do and observe, but do not do according to their deeds; for they say things and do not do them'” (Matthew 23:1-3).…
Read MoreGod’s Word in My Heart
https://www.lavistachurchofchrist.org/cms/wp-content/uploads/2026/08/Gods-Word-in-My-Heart.mp3 by Jeffrey W. Hamilton Download Audio Text: Psalms 119:9-16 I. God’s Word is important to the Christian A. It tells us how to live – II Timothy 3:16-17 B. It has everything we need to know about life and godliness – II Peter 1:3 C. But it is frustrating for many when there is a passage we…
Read MoreStanding for the Truth Without Being Obnoxious
by David Gibson Firm but Kind God expects Christians to take a firm stand on morals and doctrine. But how can we do this without unnecessarily closing doors? “The Lord’s bond-servant must not be quarrelsome, but be kind to all, able to teach, patient when wronged, with gentleness correcting those who are in opposition, if…
Read MoreI Understand, but I Have My Own Ideas
by Jefferson David Tant While talking with a young woman I had several Bible studies with, I asked whether she had read something I had given her. Her reply was, “Yes, and I understand, but I have my own ideas.” Hers is not an uncommon reaction when discussing what the Bible teaches. This kind of…
Read MorePerceptions of God’s Word
https://www.lavistachurchofchrist.org/cms/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/Perceptions-of-Gods-Word-1.mp3 by Jeffrey W. Hamilton Download Audio Text: Malachi 3:16-4:3 I. The prophet Malachi declared there would be a distinction between the wicked and righteous A. The rising day would burn the wicked like chaff, but serve as healing balm for the righteous. B. The same event produces two dramatically different results. C. The result did not depend…
Read MoreDoes the Roman Catholic Church decide on matters not directly mentioned in the Bible?
Question: I watched a debate about sola scriptura, and a Catholic apologist made the following argument against it. He said the Bible doesn’t specifically address some things. One thing he pointed out was prepubescent marriage and cousin marriage. His question was: if the bible is the sole source of faith and doctrine, where does the…
Read MoreGod Is Our Creator
by Samuel A. Matthews “In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth” (Genesis 1:1 KJV). Loved ones, the first verse in the Bible accounts for the existence of the created universe in a way with which no alternative, God-hating, human evolution theory, denominational, or world religion can begin to compare. Time, force, energy,…
Read MoreEvidence for the Faith
by David Gibson What evidence is there for believing: 1) God exists, 2) Jesus is His Son, and 3) the Bible is His word? God Exists “… His invisible attributes … have been clearly seen, being understood through what has been made, so that they are without excuse” (Romans 1:20). Jesus Is His Son The…
Read MoreWere the five foolish virgins lost?
Question: Hello, I would like to discuss with you the ultimate fate of the five foolish virgins who were shut out. My understanding is that the five foolish virgins simply missed out on sharing the Millennial Feast with God and rejoicing in Christ’s presence; God’s statement that He did not “know” them signifies His disapproval…
Read MoreI Feel That I Am Saved
Author Unknown via Seeking Things Above A gospel preacher was talking to a woman who said she knew she was saved. The preacher said, “How do you know you are saved?” She made the following reply, “I was attending a religious service one time and all of a sudden I felt light as a feather—I…
Read MoreEmpty Pages
by Gilbert Alexander via Seeking Things Above When children are born, they are like books full of empty pages. Some have more pages than others, but we don’t know how many pages each one has. What we must understand is that we, as parents and elders, are helping write each page in each book. Each…
Read MoreAdolescent Delinquency Linked to Unsupervised Free Time
Source: José Tadeu Arantes, “Unsupervised free time increases the likelihood that adolescents will engage in violent behavior, 21-country study finds,” Phys.org, 12 August 2026. “A study involving more than 58,000 adolescents from 21 countries found that “unstructured free time”—defined as periods without adult supervision or activities guided by educational, cultural or athletic goals—is strongly associated…
Read MoreDid You Ask Him to Worship with You?
by Bobby K. Thompson via The Old Hickory Bulletin, Jackson, TN We might not feel we can accomplish great tasks, but there is something all of us can do. We can invite those with whom we have contact during the week to worship with us on the Lord’s day. This certainly does not require a…
Read MoreTriumphant Entry
by Hugh DeLong As we come to the ending of Matthew’s telling of the good news about the Messiah – Jesus, we come to the paragraph labeled in most English Bibles as ‘The Triumphant Entry’. In some ways this has always seemed a misnomer, for he enters Jerusalem to end up crucified. We back up…
Read MoreDo you still have free will after accepting God?
Question: I had one of our members ask me a question I’m not sure how to answer. The question is: Do Christians who have accepted God still have free will? Answer: If a Christian did not have free will, then he could not be lost. See: There’s No Security for the Believer in “Once Saved, Always…
Read MoreI’ve been feeling very depressed
Question: Dear Sir, I recently suffered a blow—specifically, the affliction of physical illness—and I have been feeling sorrowful and distressed. When I am at church among my fellow Christian brothers and sisters, I regain my strength and feel filled with hope. Yet, when I return home and face my current situation, I see no hope;…
Read MoreRemember God’s Goodness
by Zeke Flores “Only give heed to yourself and keep your soul diligently, so that you do not forget the things which your eyes have seen” (Deuteronomy 4:9). Deuteronomy 4 is one of the most passionate calls to remember God’s goodness. Moses tells Israel to be careful not to forget it. Forgetting isn’t about memory…
Read MoreHave You Not Read
by Hugh DeLong Matthew 19 is an important chapter concerning the biblical teaching on divorce and remarriage. However, underlying that whole issue is the issue of the Bible: its reliability and its authority. The Pharisees came to test Jesus by asking a question concerning what God allows/approves of. Where would Jesus go to find such…
Read MoreDeath a Blessing to the Saints
by Isaac Watts Do flesh and nature dread to die? And timorous thoughts our minds enslave? But grace can raise our hopes on high, And quell the terrors of the grave. What! Shall we run to gain the crown, Yet grieve to think the goal so near? Afraid to have our labours done, And finish…
Read MoreDem Bones and the Invitation
by Edward T. Rangel Every once in a while, the question comes up, the opinions make their usual rounds on social media, everybody gets their two cents in, and then the subject disappears again until “dem bones” are resurrected a few months or years later. Well, dem bones are rattling again. What is the topic…
Read MoreWhere did the concept of one man and one woman come from?
Question: Where was this concept of one man and one woman first introduced, and why did early people marry many women and have many concubines? Were there no marriage laws among early mankind? Did God ignore or permit early people to marry and have relations with as many women as they wished? Answer: The concept…
Read MoreGreatness and Humility
by Hugh DeLong Who is the greatest in the kingdom of God? Out of all the people in Galilee, out of all the people who came to see Jesus, out of all the disciples who followed Jesus, the apostles were chosen. Is that not enough? No, they constantly argued about which of them was the…
Read MoreGod’s Victory Over Enemies
by Zeke Flores “Do not fear them, for Yahweh your God is the one fighting for you” (Deuteronomy 3:22). Deuteronomy 3 highlights God’s victory over powerful enemies, especially King Og of Bashan. Moses reminds Israel that God’s power supports them. This wasn’t just encouragement; it was a command rooted in experience. Israel had already seen God…
Read MoreShopping and Communion Kits
by Clay Gentry What do shopping at Kroger and prepackaged communion kits have in common? It starts with a small change I noticed at Kroger last night that completely changes how checking out feels. It used to be that after everything was scanned, the screen would scroll through line after line of your “Kroger Savings.”…
Read MoreUnconditional Love (Benton)
by Terry W Benton Daily Points of Light from Heaven Is God’s love unconditional? If so, what does it mean? There is no doubt that the core character of God is that His endearing quality is love. Yet that very point is not understood. We bring to the table our own concepts of what we…
Read MoreConsider the Source (Hamilton)
https://www.lavistachurchofchrist.org/cms/wp-content/uploads/2007/08/Consider-the-Source.mp3 by Jeffrey W. Hamilton Download Audio Text: II Chronicles 24:15-22 I. A fellow preacher, whom I’ve corresponded with for several years, wrote concerned about how to address a problem. A. He had recently contacted a man who had been in a preacher’s training program and moved into the area a few months prior. Interestingly, the…
Read MoreCan someone remain in an adulterous marriage without sin?
Question: The minister at my congregation recently led a Bible study on marriage, divorce, and remarriage. During the study, he said that he agrees with Matthew 19:9, which teaches that a spouse may divorce someone because of sexual immorality. However, he then argued that the guilty party is also permitted to remarry. He repeatedly emphasized…
Read MorePriest vs. Prophets
by Tommy Peeler An idea largely abandoned in this time to explain the religion of Israel is that the priests and prophets taught different ideas about what their God wanted and what was needed to be pleasing to Him. The idea was that the priests of Israel taught a religion that emphasized ritual, sacrifice, and…
Read MoreOpen My Eyes That I Might See (Sermon)
https://www.lavistachurchofchrist.org/cms/wp-content/uploads/2015/11/Open-My-Eyes-That-I-Might-See.mp3 by Jeffrey W. Hamilton Download Audio Text: Hebrews 5:11-14 I. Discerning good – Hebrews 5:11-14 A. I can understand a person not recognizing evil, but how does a person miss good? B. The topic under discussion was seeing that Jesus was like Melchizedek 1. This was something needful and good 2. But the audience could not see it…
Read MoreSince no church is perfect, can we attend any church?
Question: Why do people have the “no church is perfect” mentality? I had a conversation with my mother about a church she was trying to convince me to go to. It was a church I knew about, and I told her I didn’t want to go because the church she spoke of was part of…
Read MoreModesty for Men 101
by Tol Burk It’s summertime, so there will be articles about modesty, but before you ignore this one, I ask you to stop and read it. Usually the emphasis is on swimming attire and such. But modesty is much more than showing some skin—you can be immodest in the dead of winter. For the sake…
Read MoreThe Evidence of Nature
by Elton Trueblood, The Logic of Belief, p. 158-159 via Sentry Magazine, Vol. 22, No. 1, March 1996 “The chief strength of atheistic naturalism has lain in the notion that the material world needs no explanation, external to itself, that it is, indeed, a perpetual motion machine, which had no beginning and will have no end. But…
Read MoreFound: A Legendary City that History Forgot
from U.S. News and World Report, December 4, 1995, p. 10 via Sentry Magazine, Vol. 22 No. 1, March 1996 They lived, legend said, more than 4,000 years ago, mining ore and worshiping a god that lived in their fabled capital, Urkesh. Modern history remembered their contemporaries—the Sumerians and the Semites—but it all but forgot the Hurrians…
Read MoreAdventures with Alaskan Dinosaur Bones
by Margaret Helder, Creation Science Dialog, Vol. 21 No. 3 via Sentry Magazine, Vol. 22 No. 1, March 1996 Sponsored by Creation Research Science Education Foundation, five men went to Alaska in July 1994 to collect unfossilized dinosaur bones. They included John Whitmore (Associate Professor of Geology at Cedarville College, Ohio); Mike Liston (outdoor and rescue specialist);…
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