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Occasionally, I find myself reading the Bible and learning doctrine out of obligation or responsibility. Paul gives instruction in this matter as he speaks to young Timothy regarding the purpose of knowledge and obedience: “The aim of our charge is love that issues from a pure heart and a good conscience and a sincere faith” (1 Timothy 1:5).

During our Good Friday worship time, Adam read from Romans 5. Verses 1-5 summarize the wonderful news of the gospel: justification, peace with God, access by faith into grace and rejoicing in hope of glory. And, more than that, Paul says, we can rejoice in suffering because suffering produces endurance, endurance produces character, character produces hope and we have hope because of God’s love through the Holy Spirit.

Resurrection. It’s a startling word, a thrilling concept, and a spiritual keystone. It’s an essential for Christianity, a target for skeptics, and a theme for mythology and religions alike. This week gives us as a church another chance to focus uniquely on our central belief that Jesus rose from the dead. But within our church and without, reactions to this glorious truth can vary widely. Such has always been the case, as even a quick survey of biblical history will show.

Was the Great Commission given by Jesus Christ only for certain people in the church or was it a command to every believer? In the text, Jesus Christ is speaking directly to the eleven disciples after His resurrection and before His ascension. Given the context, the question is, Does the command given by Christ to the eleven apply to us? The answer is found in the command “teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you.” “All that I have commanded you” includes this command to make disciples, baptize and teach others. In order for the work of making disciples to continue beyond the disciples’ generation

God has providentially placed a few recent circumstances in my life to make me consider the reality of death. As many of you know, I’ve experienced the loss of two loved ones this past year. God has also used His Word through recent messages from Nathan Busenitz, Pastor Whitcomb and Upward to help me properly interpret my experiences and to further consider death and hope. While I’ve learned many different lessons, I would like to address one in particular: with all of the death, suffering and persecution in this world–followed by ensuing judgment–our hope should not be set on the things of this world!

Isn’t it fascinating to think about the all-knowing nature of our God? Our eternal God spoke the heavens into place. His perfect design of creation was not studied or learned; he knows everything (Isaiah 40:13-14). There is nothing that God ever improved upon knowing. He never needs an advanced study of any subject, any place or anyone. Our time in history is called “the Information Age,” and God does not even need to process it; He, by nature, already knows it. It’s an interesting concept, but God does not discover anything. I wonder what He thinks when mankind finally makes a scientific discovery. For instance

We have all heard our pastors say, “You say what you say and do what you do, because of what you think. And you think what you think because of what you believe about God, His Word and yourself.” This saying is very practical for us to use in correcting sin in our lives. Doctrine leads to thoughts, which lead to action. When dealing with a particular sin in our lives, we should be able to trace the sinful action all the way back to see where our doctrine is wrong.