Religious

Glad tidings

2 Corinthians 4-7 is actually a continuation of Paul’s expression of true love to the Church at Corinth. The Apostle is serving the Corinthians by sacrificing his worldly fame to tell the whole truth of the Gospel. As many commentators before me have already said the message of the Cross of Christ is a paradox. Jesus told the brothers James and John in the presence of their Mother that Greatness in Heaven is obtained via becoming a servant. Jesus ushered in his Kingdom, by becoming a servant obedient to a death of crucifixion. God’s love for the world is his good news.

Still ...

2 Corinthians Chapters 1-3
I have struggled with trying to group and summarize 2 Corinthians individual chapters more than any other letters in the Bible. I have prayed over the book, plus reread all of 2 Corinthians countless times trying to form the body for an outline.

When the Seat is Empty, the Prodigal Hasn’t Come Home, Values Have Evolved, and Your Healing Hasn’t Come.

Holidays hurt for some people, especially the big three for a Christian, which are Christmas, Thanksgiving, and Easter. As we grow older, more and more family and friends have passed, more seats are empty and more loneliness creeps in. Years rapidly pass and then it’s just one or two of you left. Christmas becomes more about memories than presence, and presents are few if any. As Christians we know the best gift has already been given to us. “Thanks be to God for His indescribable gift!” 2 Corinthians 9:15. The indescribable gift is the Son of God that offers us eternal salvation.

Still Crazy After All These Tears

Back in July of 2023, we started our study of the Corinthian Church, set up in the first century A.D. by Paul. Our goal, as always, is to foster readers’ interest in the Holy Bible, that they may study the scriptures further for themselves.
So as not to lose our readers’ interest, we attempt to keep our articles reasonably short. We also try to choose pithy titles, to help capture the intent of the original author’s subject matter.
For our introductory article to 1 Corinthians, we chose “A church gone wild” as our title to help summarize what 1 Corinthians is all about.

The Changing of the Watch

The prophets looked ahead and held a watch so true.
To see His incarnation that would soon come into view.
The single star announced His birth, with the angels, just a few.
To the shepherds on the hillside who would soon be watching too.
The disciples watched His life, and His death upon the cross,
And saw the resurrection as hope for pain of loss.

Does X mark the spot?

Once there was a name that mattered more than space,
But now there is an X that often fills the place,
Reserved once for the Savior, the King of all Kings.
Now to Santa, to Frosty, to Rudolph we sing.
While out in the blizzards and cold pouring rain,
Sits the orphan, the homeless, despised, and ashamed.
With our presents, our profit, our margin of gain,
The Christ child forgotten again and again.
Let’s open our hearts as the wise men once did,
Bring Jesus inside and not keep Him hid,

Is there no resurrection of the dead?

In Paul’s first letter to the Corinthians he saves addressing the early Church’s biggest doctrinal problem for last. That problem was that certain people within the Church denied the resurrection of the dead.
1 Corinthians 15:12 KJV: Now if Christ be preached that he rose from the dead, how say some among you that there is no resurrection of the dead?

Peacocks in the Church

Peacocks are often used as a symbol of pride and vanity. The male peafowl are known for their piercing calls and their extravagant plumage. It can be quite the sight to see a peacock preening in full strut.
The preening peacock’s full tail feather display not only attracts the peahens, but it gets the attention of any creature in his vicinity, including humans.

How to move from fear to faith to knowing

Romans 8:28 “And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose.”
Fear is a form of worry. We worry about so many different things. Ninety-five percent of the things we worry about never happen.
Then suddenly multiple things happen that we were not worried about, which creates a huge emotional storm in our life. Often when something bad happens almost every aspect of our life is impacted. We feel like we are being bombarded and attacked on every front.

I’ve got love in my tummy

“Yummy, yummy, yummy, I’ve got love in my tummy” is the first line of the 1968 pop single by the bubble gum band Ohio Express. Time magazine included the song in its 2011 list of songs with “silly lyrics.” I often use various memory devices to aid my recall of scripture concepts. One of the memory devices I use is association. Since silly song lines are easy to remember, one can use something silly to help recall something serious.

And such were some of you

1 Corinthians 6:9-11 KJV
Know ye not that the unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom of God? Be not deceived: neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor abusers of themselves with mankind,
[10] Nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners, shall inherit the kingdom of God.
[11] And such were some of you: but ye are washed, but ye are sanctified, but ye are justified in the name of the Lord Jesus, and by the Spirit of our God.

Why can’t we all get along?

1 Corinthians 1:10-11 KJV
Now I beseech you, brethren, by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that ye all speak the same thing, and that there be no divisions among you; but that ye be perfectly joined together in the same mind and in the same judgment. [11] For it hath been declared unto me of you, my brethren, by them which are of the house of Chloe, that there are contentions among you.
This is part two of a series on 1 Corinthians. Which is Paul’s letter of correction through stern love to a first century church with a lot of problems.

Keith Pierce, missions strategist, explains his approach

I grew up on the Knox County side of the Union County line, which kind of made me a double agent. I went to Halls High School but spent a big part of my life on my Papaw’s farm in Union County, and plenty of time on Norris Lake, mostly at Hickory Star Marina.
I was saved at Milan Baptist Church in Maynardville and later received the call to share the Gospel of Jesus Christ. I had no idea what I was doing but I made a commitment to God that if He would open the doors, I would go through them. That was several years ago.

A church gone wild

The church at Corinth had a lot of problems! The Christian Bible doesn’t sugarcoat anything. Paul’s first letter to the Corinthians is a prime example of the blunt truth, often detailed in the pages of the Bible.

Rightly Dividing the Word of Truth?

It has been my privilege to write for Historic Union County for over five years. This month, I am reprinting my first article to remind myself and any readers I may have of the purpose of our teaching. I also want to sincerely say thanks for reading, and I hope my teaching has been a benefit.
In 2 Timothy 2:15 the Apostle Paul charged Timothy to … “rightly divide the word of truth.”

The most misunderstood book in The New Testament

The last book in the Bible, which is commonly called “Revelations,” is arguably the most misunderstood book in the New Testament.
One major contributing factor to this misunderstanding is that the colloquialism “Revelations” is not the actual name of the book. The title as given by the KJV translators is The Revelation or more fully The Revelation of Saint John the Devine.
The book is not “Revelations” as in many, but rather one single Revelation. We simply need to look no further than the first verse to know this is true:
Revelation 1:1 KJV

A deep dive into Matthew 4:19

For every event involving Jesus in the New Testament there is a corresponding Old Testament backstory.
Matthew 4:19 is that famous verse in which Jesus calls his first disciples to become “fishers of men.”
As with most biblical events this backstory naturally starts in the book of Genesis, which everyone should already know means “the beginning.” “In the beginning God created the heaven and earth.” (Genesis 1:1)

Weighed in the balance

Daniel 5:27 KJV [27] TEKEL ; Thou art weighed in the balances, and art found wanting.
Being a fisherman, I know a little bit about scales! Pun intended. Both the scales which cover most fishes and the modern electronic weight scales used to weigh fish.
Before the electronic scale there was the spring scale which was first made by Richard Salter around 1770 in England. Long before that, the weight of anything men valued was determined by a balancing scale.

The Last Day

By Archie Wilson Jr.
It is a common belief across many ideologies that at some point in time there will be a last day. Even science acknowledges the inevitability of a last day for our planet; as the universe, or our sun will eventually destroy the earth in some manner, usually involving intense heat.
Go figure!
The point being we have a general consensus across the board that at sometime in the future the gig is up for us all. So what does the Bible say about that universally expected last day?

The Last Days

he meaning of ‘The Last Days’
What does the KJV Bible mean by the term “The Last Days”?
Digging into the “last days” term we find a few other similar terms the KJV uses: like “Latter Days” and “end of the days;” “time of the end;” or “day of the Lord,” all of which indicate a promise to come after a length of time. The Old and New Testament authors are very particular in how these “last days” terms are used, so as to make a clear distinction between a longer period of time, as opposed to a single last day.

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