Well, after some deliberation I have decided to study this small book of Philippians on Sunday morning and I anticipate completing this book by the beginning of our summer season. One interesting thing about the book of Philippians is that it was most likely written when Paul was in prison in Rome.  At the end of the book of Romans, Paul was telling the Christians there that he was looking forward to coming to see them.  And yet I doubt that he had anticipated that God would bring him to Rome in chains.  Yet while he was in prison there,

Read More…

Today we are going to finish our study of Jude.  This short letter was written by Jude who says he was the brother of James.  What he does not mention is that he is also the half brother of Jesus Christ.  They had the same mother -Mary, but different fathers, Joseph being the father of James and Jude, and the Holy Spirit being the father of Jesus. But what Jude does say about his relationship to Jesus is that he is a bond servant to his Master and Lord, Jesus the Messiah. Jude wrote this letter to the churches of

Read More…

We begin this section of scripture with Jude uttering the phrase, “Woe to them!”  It is a phrase that cannot be understood without the context of what came before it.  And so if we have not been here in the last couple of weeks, we must find out who is “them”.  Who is Jude talking about.  We find the  answer to that question back in vs 4, “For certain persons have crept in unnoticed, those who were long beforehand marked out for this condemnation, ungodly persons who turn the grace of our God into licentiousness and deny our only Master

Read More…

Reminders from history, Jude 5-10                                                             Psalm 119: 49-56 There are primarily two basic themes prevalent in theology in Christendom today.  But only one is correct theology, and the other one is incorrect, even though it is the most popular.  The most common theology, the most popular theology,  has as it’s premise that God exists to serve man.  They may not say it so crassly, but nevertheless, that is the basics

Read More…

Well, today we are beginning a study in the book of Jude.  It’s a very small book, just one chapter, and should take only about three weeks or so.  I thought that in some ways, Jude continued some of the same themes that Peter had been addressing in his 2nd epistle, and so it seemed fitting to continue with a brief series in Jude. Peter as you know, if you’ve been here for our last few messages, was concerned with the fact that in the last days there would be false prophets who would rise up in the church and

Read More…

This is a relatively somber and difficult passage that we have before us today. Peter devoted an entire chapter to the subject of false prophets. If it was an appropriate warning for his day, how much more is it relevant to us today when the church at large has practically abandoned the truth in favor of political correctness?  I believe  the key to understanding this entire passage is found in the phrase at the beginning of vs 10: “those who walk according to the flesh in the lust of uncleanness and despise authority.”  Everything in this passage is predicated on

Read More…

One of the most popular artists of all time, and one that is still very popular today, was a man by the name of Vincent Van Gogh.  In 1885, at a time when society was embracing science’s view of evolution and long held beliefs in the Bible were under attack, Van Gogh painted a picture which he called Sill Life with Bible.  In the painting, against a dark background there is a large, open Bible on a table with a candle beside it which has burned out.  In front of the Bible is a small book, painted in yellow, of

Read More…

Peter is writing to the church at large near the end of his life, in order to shore up the foundations of the church, to strengthen the fortifications of the church, against the assaults by the enemy of the church.  And the enemy always assaults the church in the area of the authority and sufficiency of the Word of God.  The Word of God is always under attack.  It has been so since the beginning of the church, and it is even more so today.   Back in Peter’s day, the assault of false doctrine took the form of Gnosticism. 

Read More…

There are two extremes in view of salvation or Christianity today.  One is that which is based entirely on works, ceremonies, baptism, membership, rituals, confession, etc., and because of which they have virtually no assurance of their salvation, because they are really never able to achieve righteousness of such a degree that they can feel confident they will attain heaven. On the opposite end of the spectrum in view of Christianity is that since salvation is all by grace, that is the unmerited favor of God, since you are saved by no exertion of your own, you are kept saved,

Read More…