Friday, July 30, 2010

What can I do?

A lot of us hopefully want to be like Christ. But when we see Him in the Bible living a perfect life, working miracles, and teaching to the point of astonishing the multitudes, we feel like we can’t be like Jesus.


So what’s the answer? Luke 19:5 says, “And when Jesus came to the place, he looked up, and saw him, and said unto him, Zacchaeus, make haste, and come down; for to day I must abide at thy house.” Jesus then used His opportunity to talk to Zacchaeus about the ways of God. When Zacchaeus, realizing that he was wrong, said, “Behold, Lord, the half of my goods I give to the poor; and if I have taken any thing from any man by false accusation, I restore him fourfold,” the Lord responded, “This day is salvation come to this house, forsomuch as he also is a son of Abraham” (Luke 19:8-9). The Son of man came to seek and save the lost.


What can you do? You can do your best to teach the gospel and convert others. This will make you like the Master! We can’t live perfectly or work miracles, but we can be like Him when we preach the gospel of the kingdom. This is not “settling for second best;” this is the most important work we can do, so let’s get to work!


Kyle Campbell

Wednesday, July 28, 2010

The work is finished

John 17:4 says, “I have glorified thee on the earth: I have finished the work which thou gavest me to do.” When the Lord prayed, He acknowledged that His work was almost complete. He would soon be betrayed, go to trial, and be crucified. While on the cross, He said, “It is finished” (John 19:30). At that point, He died and established the His new covenant with man.


When His work was finished, everything relating to redemption and salvation was brought to completion. There was nothing else remaining that could have been done. Premillennialists state that Jesus did not finish what He wanted to do because of His rejection by the Jews. His kingdom would be established at some point in the future, and the church was set up as an afterthought or parenthesis.


But Jesus Himself said that His work is finished, not that it was “put off” until another time. People who disregard what Jesus says misapply and misinterpret the Bible -- to their destruction.


Kyle Campbell

Tuesday, July 20, 2010

Whom do you follow?

The question is important because it defines who we are as Christians. In providing the correct answer, we will first consider who Jesus followed. In John 17:25-26, Jesus prayed, “O righteous Father, the world hath not known thee: but I have known thee, and these have known that thou hast sent me. And I have declared unto them thy name, and will declare it: that the love wherewith thou hast loved me may be in them, and I in them.”


Who followed Jesus? The apostles followed Jesus. In 1 Corinthians 11:1, Paul wrote, “Be ye followers of me, even as I also am of Christ” (cf. Philippians 3:17; 4:9; 1 Thessalonians 1:6; 2 Thessalonians 3:7-9). Jesus had said, “When he has brought out all his own, he goes before them, and the sheep follow him, for they know his voice” (John 10:4).


Drawing this “chain” to a conclusion, Christians now are to follow the instructions of the apostles. Acts 2:42 says, “And they continued stedfastly in the apostles’ doctrine and fellowship, and in breaking of bread, and in prayers.” If you want to follow the right source, look to Jesus and the disciples. What they did, you can do. If you do this, you will be right before God!


Kyle Campbell

Saturday, July 10, 2010

Vigilance

Although we are living in a world of softness and hesitancy to discuss religion, Christians must maintain an aggressiveness in defending the gospel. Paul said that Satan can make evil and error sound very pleasing and enticing (2 Corinthians 11:13-15). Therefore, we need to be vigilant.


Are we being unreasonable? The Holy Spirit explicitly said that false teachers would come (1 Timothy 4:1-3). Paul warned the elders that false teachers would arise from both inside the church and outside the church (Acts 20:28-30). Error must be attacked for people will not endure sound doctrine (2 Timothy 4:2-4).


If someone changes the gospel, they might as well throw it away (Galatians 1:8-9). When Christians encounter different gospels, they need to address them and teach against it. God cannot miraculously defend the gospel today. He depends upon us to be good caretakers of the word (1 Corinthians 4:1-2).


Kyle Campbell

Friday, July 9, 2010

Sandcastles

If you’ve ever made a sandcastle on the beach, you know it doesn’t last very long. The tide comes in and destroys it in no time. Jesus used an analogy of a wise and foolish man in Matthew 7:24-27. He told us that the foolish man built his house on the sand, and when the storm came, it was completely washed away.


This fact helps to remind us of the fact that nothing in life will last. Ecclesiastes extensively develops this topic with the phrase, “vanity of vanities” almost 30 times. Because nothing will last, we need to build our lives around the teachings of Jesus.


If you refuse this good advice, you will be like building your life on a sandcastle -- it will soon be gone. Is your life focused on Christ? If you obey Him and be baptized, your sins will be washed away and you will be “in Christ” (Acts 22:16; Galatians 3:26-27). Please contact us if you would like to study further.


Kyle Campbell

Thursday, July 1, 2010

Archaeology: The Jerusalem escape tunnel

In August 2007, while searching for ancient Jerusalem’s main road, Israeli archeologists stumbled across the drainage channel that the Jews used to escape the invading Romans in A.D. 70.


Pottery shards, vessel fragments and coins from the era were also discovered inside the channel, attesting to its age.


The half-mile channel was dug beneath what would become the main road of Jerusalem. Under threat from Romans ransacking Jerusalem 2,000 years ago, many of the city’s Jewish residents crowded into it to hide and later flee the attack through Jerusalem’s southern end unnoticed.


Kyle Campbell