Posts Tagged ‘worldliness’
Observations on Worldliness
by George Bosworth We cannot grow spiritually when we cling to worldliness. Nothing new in that statement! But consider I Corinthians 3:3-4: “For since there is envy and strife among you, are you not worldly and behaving like mere humans? For whenever one says “I belong to Paul”, and another says “I belong to Apollos”,…
Read MoreCalled to Rise Above
https://www.lavistachurchofchrist.org/cms/wp-content/uploads/2015/03/Called-to-Rise-Above.mp3 by Jeffrey W. Hamilton Text: Ephesians 4:17-24 I. I found an article the other day by Ray Gonzalez, of Mexico, that started me thinking … There’s Shorty, just standing … scoping out the morning. Where will he strike today? Like a tiger, he is smelling the air to see where he may find prey.…
Read MoreCulture Wars
https://www.lavistachurchofchrist.org/cms/wp-content/uploads/2023/01/Culture-Wars.mp3 by Jeffrey W. Hamilton Text: Ecclesiastes 1:3-11 I. Some questions are hard to answer A. Not because the Bible is unclear on the subject B. But because there is a strong cultural bias against the correct answer C. Example of idolatry 1. We have no difficulties denouncing idol worship today 2. Even non-Christians understand that an idol is worthless…
Read MoreIt is so hard to escape the sin in the world
Question: Hello there. I have just gotten back into church again and I have been studying the Bible. Almost everything I watch has cuss words in them. I want to buy a language blocker for all my streaming services. It will block out bad language and nudity. Will that still be wrong? Maybe I’m just…
Read MoreFocus on Your Goal
https://www.lavistachurchofchrist.org/cms/wp-content/uploads/2022/11/Focus-on-Your-Goal.mp3 Text: Colossians 3:1-4 I. In the fantasy, Alice in Wonderland, Alice came to a junction that led in different directions. The Cheshire Cat was nearby, so Alice asked for advice. “Would you tell me, please, which way I ought to go from here?” The cat said, “That depends a good deal on where you…
Read MoreWhat Is Tolerated Today Becomes Accepted Tomorrow
by Dick Millwee Many years ago I read a quote that I found to be true. This was the quote: “What is tolerated today becomes accepted tomorrow.” Whoever said that said a mouthful and hit the nail on the head. Let me give a couple of examples. In 1939 a movie was made that had…
Read MoreSojourners and Pilgrims
by Ed Brand Peter urges saints to regard themselves as sojourners and pilgrims. A sojourner is one who lives among aliens. Pilgrims live in a strange place, away from one’s own people. Hostility is injected into this alien, strange place by the phrase, which wars against the soul (I Peter 2:11). He says the present…
Read MoreIs it wrong to love anything man-made or belonging to this world?
Question: Hi, Sorry for the numerous questions I’m about to ask, but they all revolve around the subjects of secular entertainment and materialism so it made sense to me to ask them together. I grew up with a love of playing video games, watching movies, reading comic books, etc. About a year ago I began…
Read MoreSetting Your Mind on the Things of God
by Doy Moyer What we are trained to think about truth will be determined by whether we are thinking the things of God or the things of man. Recall that in Jesus’ rebuke of Peter’s reaction to Jesus talking about His own death, Jesus said, “For you are not setting your mind on the things…
Read MoreThe Devil’s Inoculation
by Dee Bowman I was watching a ball game the other night. Between innings, a commercial came on in which a man was asked by his wife, “Do I look fat in this dress?” He replied, “Yes, you do.” The answer had a catastrophic effect. She bawled — and I don’t men she cried —…
Read MoreCanceled!
by Jefferson David Tant During our recent Christmas holidays, several churches around the country canceled their Sunday services. Some of the statements made by church spokesmen probably revealed more than they realized, as they not only reflected an attitude towards the mistaken idea concerning the birth of Christ but an attitude towards the religion of…
Read MoreWhat did Demas love?
Question: I was doing some digging about Demas. Demas left Paul because he loved the world. We aren’t supposed to love the world. It’s never said if Demas ever got back in a right relationship with the Lord, but if he died in the state of loving the world, then he died lost. Upon further research,…
Read MorePharaoh’s Compromises
https://www.lavistachurchofchrist.org/cms/wp-content/uploads/2019/03/PharaohsCompromises.mp3 Text: II Corinthians 6:14-7:1 I. Most of here, even the little children, can tell the story of Moses and the ten plagues. A. It is exciting to read about the wonders God wrought against the Egyptians B. And even more amazing to see how stubborn a man, Pharaoh, can be despite the overwhelming evidence arrayed against…
Read MoreWorldliness
https://www.lavistachurchofchrist.org/cms/wp-content/uploads/2017/09/Worldliness.mp3 by Jeffrey W. Hamilton Text: Ephesians 2:1-10 I. From the beginning, Christians have struggled with living in a world of sin without being a part of that world. A. Paul’s struggle – Romans 7:14-25 B. Some would take Paul’s words and say that as long as I intend to please God, it doesn’t matter what I…
Read MoreIs it normal to get depressed over the worldly-minded?
Question: Is it normal to get depressed because there are people in the world who hate God, and even more so because those who claim to be Christians have thought processes that are not much different than those out in the world? Answer: “Brethren, join in following my example, and observe those who walk according…
Read MorePride of the World
https://www.lavistachurchofchrist.org/cms/wp-content/uploads/2016/09/PrideOfTheWorld.mp3 by Andrew Long
Read MoreDo Not Love the World
by Dennis Stackhouse The fact that Christian people are to be different from those who do not follow Christ, is clearly stated for us in I John 2:15-17: “Do not love the world nor the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all…
Read MoreI don’t know why I hide what I’m doing from my older brother
Question: Have you ever felt uncomfortable with someone who isn’t a devoted Christian or not a believer at all? This happens to me many times with my brother. Whenever someone tries to correct him, he immediately gets mad and defensive. He says he believes in God, but really he’s not convinced. He’s involved in fornication,…
Read MoreHow do I deal with my friends’ poor conversations?
Question: I have two friends who I talk to regularly. I associate with them on a weekly basis more or less. One of them believes in God though he is not “devoted” as one would say and the other is an atheist. Both of them know clearly that I am a Christian, and they don’t…
Read MoreDo I let my daughter hang out with worldly people in hopes of leading them to God?
Question: I was addicted to alcohol and used drugs from the time I was 11 until about 25. I had a baby at 25 and began thinking strongly about how my parents’ choices and life of sin had shaped me into the person I had been. After feeling something in my life needed to change…
Read MoreIs abstract art and thinking abstractly diving into worldly thought?
Question: Is it OK to observe and draw abstract art because abstract art is all about changing thought patterns and perceptions of things? But I don’t want to depart in my thinking of God. I don’t want to be tricked into worldly thought patterns. Answer: Worldly thinking is focusing on things of this world, such…
Read MoreCan a person who was once a Christian, but now is as worldly as anyone else, come back?
Question: Hello, I John 1:9 says that “If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” but would that apply to someone who’s a baptized Christian but has been away from God for several months, committed fornication and has been very close to atheism? Mostly the atheism…
Read MoreMust I shun my worldly family and friends?
Question: Hello, I was reading one of your Q&A’s and a question came to mind about I Corinthians 5:9-11, “I wrote to you in my epistle not to keep company with sexually immoral people. Yet I certainly did not mean with the sexually immoral people of this world, or with the covetous, or extortioners, or…
Read MoreWhat does it mean to love the world?
Question: What does it mean to love the world? Answer: “Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world–the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of…
Read MoreI Got Sick of the World
by Gerry Sandusky “You were not redeemed with corruptible things, like silver or gold, from your aimless conduct received by tradition from your fathers but with the precious blood of Christ” (I Peter 1:18-19). My religious background could be summed up by saying there was almost none. My Baptist grandmother took me to the Methodist…
Read MoreWhat Can Kill a Church?
by Jeffrey W. Hamilton Text: Revelation 3:1-6 I. The certainty of life is that it will eventually be followed by death – Ecclesiastes 9:5 A. And it is not just people who die, churches die as well. 1. Unlike people, churches don’t have to die, but they do. B. The church at Sardis appeared to be alive, but…
Read MoreHorns of Destruction
by Jeffrey W. Hamilton Text: Zechariah 1:18-21 I. Zechariah, at the end of Judah’s captivity, was given a vision of four horns A. Horns are used symbolically to represent power. 1. In particular, the horns represented the power of the nations around Judah (see verse 21) 2. II Kings 18:11-12 – Assyria pulled away the northern tribes 3. II…
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