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Growth is a process and a progression. Just as the stages of life, we are conceived, born, grow to be toddlers, children, adolescents and finally become adults. We then grow older until we become old people and die. The process of life continues with our children and grandchildren. In the same way there is a process in our spiritual growth. We are converted or born again, we study the scriptures, pray, fellowship with the brethren and increase always in faith.   Abounding in Faith And this I pray, that your love may abound still more and more in real knowledge and all discernment,  so that you may approve the things that are excellent, in order to be sincere and blameless until the day of Christ; having been filled with the fruit of righteousness which comes through Jesus Christ, to the glory and praise of God. Philippians 1:9 – 11 (NASB) Today we will be looking at the progression of spiritual growth as presented in Philippians 1:9 – 11. Paul’s prayer to his audience is that they abound in love and that that love may abound in real knowledge and all discernment. All of this to the end that we may approve the things that are excellent. This in turn brings sincerity and blamelessness even unto the day of Christ Jesus. This love that is mentioned in today’s on-line bible study is more than just a Christian sentiment, but is rooted in knowledge and understanding. This knowledge and understanding springs from personal bible study where the gospel is ‘heard’ and this produces faith. The word faith in the New Testament is Pistis which in its active form means to believe. Unlike our common understanding of faith over the years – faith is not just a matter of trust, but believing beyond present or former knowledge. It is a knowing where there is no present thing to substantiate that knowledge.     Selflessness The place God wishes to take us is where we are more like Christ in our love for each other, even as is depicted by the gospel. It is that place where we think of others as being more worthy than ourselves. Rudy ‘the Bear’ challenges his hearers by using the analogy of parents’ love for their children. Parents are more knowledgeable than their children and do what is best for them, even if it means giving their lives for their health, their safety and their benefit. In the same way, our Heavenly Father gave His Son for us His children. Jesus was willing to die so that all may have a choice of eternal life. The gos

  The need to study the scriptures is great and necessary. Study of the scriptures is more than just reading – it is examining and mentally ingesting the messages they have for us. Once we have established that daily pattern, it is more difficult to be carried away by unscriptural doctrines.   Arguments Take for example the  doctrine of using only one cup. One may ask, should the one cup be taken literally? Or does “the cup” speak of its content. Many are stunted in their spiritual growth because they glibly accept everything that is presented to them without thinking or even examining the scriptures as we are trying to do in this on-line Bible study. Such persons do not reason out the scriptures as we are encouraged to do in 2 Timothy 2:15 (NASB): Be diligent to present yourself approved to God as a workman  who does not need to be ashamed, accurately handling the word of truth.   Studying helps us make connections to the problems that we are facing. As we ‘accurately handle the word of truth’, it is an interaction with God. We are doing something by studying God’s revealed Word and God is doing something in us. This is part of the process that propels us towards maturity in the church of Christ. Arguments from the deviators of true scriptural doctrine may not be fruitful for us, for as Rudy ‘the Bear’ commented in todays on-line bible study, “If we operate within the same limitations that they operate under, [and] then they have a strong argument.” Therefore the importance of small group Bible study, on-line bible study, adult bible study – whatever the type – bible study helps us to avoid stupid arguments that hinder our spiritual growth. By learning the Scriptures ,we are able to better recognize base ,unbiblical silliness for what it is and it will be less likely that our walk with Christ will be diverted by the latest doctrinal deviation.       New Creation Teachers have a very important role to play in ensuring that what is taught by the church of Christ reaches the heart, soul and mind. Even so, in our on-line bible study of the Gospel, we will examine various scriptures that will impress on you what God would have you learn and understand, so that you may experience true spiritual growth and become more like Christ. Consider, Proverbs 23:7, For as he [a man] thinks within himself, so he is. Christ wishes for us to die to sin and the sinful nature, and be re-created in His image. Persons who know

How do I decide which church to attend? There are two perspectives. non- Christian, who wishes to find truth about of God and His plan of salvation New Testament Christian who knows, what the Bible teaches about recognizing the Lord’s church.

Religious Hypocrisy Being godly precedes doing godly. When we emphasize the doing over the being, we become like the Pharisees. That’s also the problem with so many religions today, they emphasize on the doing instead of understanding the being first. However, Christianity is a religion of “being” because God emphasizes on the renewal of the internal, because it’s what inside that counts. To understand this truth more, let’s look at Matthew 23:23-27, wherein Jesus had a climactic confrontation with the Scribes and Pharisees. We can see in this chapter the seven woes of the Lord Jesus towards these religious leaders of Israel. In verses 23-24, the Lord Jesus said, “Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye pay tithe of mint and anise and cummin, and have omitted the weightier matters of the law, judgment, mercy, and faith: these ought ye to have done, and not to leave the other undone. Ye blind guides, which strain at a gnat, and swallow a camel.”   Meaning, they are focusing all their attention on the particulars of behavior and have completely omitted to consider the more important issue of motive. In verses 25-27, the Lord continued, “Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye make clean the outside of the cup and of the platter, but within they are full of extortion and excess. Thou blind Pharisee, cleanse first that which is within the cup and platter, that the outside of them may be clean also. Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye are like unto whited sepulchers, which indeed appear beautiful outward, but are within full of dead men's bones, and of all uncleanness.”   You see, it is really possible for you and me to appear somehow “somebody,” as if we’re righteous and godly. And yet, in reality, if our hearts are not really honest, what we’re doing is just putting on a good face. Christianity is not like this. Your behavior is not the one that makes you righteous before God; that was actually the Pharisees’ philosophy, rather than the internal conversion of the heart to Christ. In verse 28, Jesus continued, "So you, too, outwardly appear righteous to men, but inwardly you are full of hypocrisy and lawlessness.” The word “lawlessness” here in the Greek has to do with a condition without the law, or from Thayer’s Greek definition, it means a “frame of mind or a state of being in which one commits or can commit lawlessness or iniquitous deeds.” That’s wh

The Gospel and Spiritual Growth Episode 20: The Bible, the Foundation of our Faith Christianity and the Bible Christianity as a religion is unique in a sense that it doesn’t have any comparison in its inherent truth and grace. Thus, it is important that as 21st century members of the Lord’s church, our faith on the validity and authority of the Bible must be firm. We must have a clear biblical position in every aspect of our lives. What the Bible says must be also what we say and do. It is our source of knowledge concerning who God is, who Christ is, our relationship with God, and other matters of faith. Without the Bible, human knowledge will become hearsay, guesswork, and mysticism. Thus, the Bible is the solid and trustworthy foundation for our faith and life. We should not base our belief on our feelings. We shouldn’t follow the Jews in their so-called faith in God that doesn’t have substance. The apostle Paul said concerning them in Romans 3:1-3, What advantage then hath the Jew? Or what profit is there of circumcision? Much every way: chiefly, because that unto them were committed the oracles of God. For what if some did not believe? Shall their unbelief make the faith of God without effect? So you see, even though they have the Scriptures and they teach it, yet they don’t know what they are talking about. Even our Lord Jesus said concerning their approach on the Scriptures, in John 5:39 “Search the scriptures; for in them ye think ye have eternal life: and they are they which testify of me.” The Problem of Human Religion And yet even though they search the Scriptures, the problem is, according to Jesus in John 8:31-32, “If ye continue in my word, then are ye my disciples indeed” Here we see a “contingency.” It is expressed by a contingent preposition “if.” It is a logical expression that says, “If A, then B.” And applied to this verse, Christ is saying, “if” you continue in my word” (that’s A) then B will happen to you, which is the fact that you are indeed my disciples. And if a person is truly a disciple of the Lord what will happen is, according to Christ on the following verse, “And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.” That’s it. We will be set free because Christ is the truth that sets free. It is also related to the saving love of God which our Lord said in John 3:16, saying, “For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in

How does one grow in Faith? This is the 19th episode of the Bible study series The Gospel and Spiritual Growth. In this episode, we will look into more details on what the Bible says about growing in Christ. Why the need to learn? Our previous lessons taught us that the Gospel is the only power of God unto salvation. We also learned that by faith we attain spiritual growth. The Bible provides instructions on how one grows in faith. However, knowing the dynamics about how one grows in faith does not help us to achieve spiritual growth. It can however help us on the other areas which are; To avoid being misled by well-meaning yet not well-reasoned “religious” brethren whose doctrine has already been debunked by the New Testament, and To mature our understanding of what God wants of us based on the New Testament. There are prevailing thoughts that have become dominant especially in this age. So much so that if we want to mature in our understanding of what God wants from us, we need to mature in our understanding of what the New Testament really says. How does the one grow in faith? The following are answers of fellow Bible study students on the question. The speaker further elaborates on the points of the answers. We grow from faith to faith. It is a process. Romans 10:17 “So faith comes from hearing, and hearing by the word of Christ.” Faith is a cycle that begins with faith and ends with even greater faith. In other words, the gospel interacts with us such that we not only listen to it but we hear in such a way that we gain some small amount of understanding. The result for understanding is a natural desire for more understanding. From this hearing or understanding, our faith grows. Romans 10:17 “Faith comes as a result of hearing…,” an activity itself resulting from a decision to be open and receptive to messages delivered. This verse is in a context where Paul was trying to explain why Israel doesn’t accept Christ. He is discussing the phenomenon of hearing a message and the difference between those who audit or hear it with their ears which leads to faith as opposed to those who audit but do not share the same experience. Paul gives these explanations; First, in Romans 10:10 “for with the heart a person believes, resulting in righteousness, and with the mouth he confesses, resulting in salvation” The difference is whether the hearer allows or does not allow his heart (psyche) to receive the message as valid. It involves a wil

On A Better Bible Study Podcast, Rudy discusses with church of Christ members, the question as to where to they should worship. How do I decide which church to attend? There are two basic positions from which to ask this question.  The perspective ...

dealing out retribution to those who do not know God and to those who do not obey the Gospel of our Lord Jesus. (2 Thessalonians 1:8 NASB95) One thing we can glean from 2 Thessalonians 1:8 is that the Gospel  is to be obeyed. This is a key verse when trying to evangelize denominational people, whether you find them in actual denominations or in the church of Christ. This verse is great because it naturally starts a conversation about, “What is the Gospel?” Gospel of Christ What is the Gospel of Christ? The Gospel is the story about the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus, the implications thereof. Exodus 28:41-43 1 Samuel 9:16-17 1 Kings 9:19 Anointed Which kinds of people are anointed in the Old Testament? Priest Prophets and Kings “You shall put them on Aaron your brother and on his sons with him; and you shall anoint them and ordain them and consecrate them, that they may serve Me as priests. “You shall make for them linen breeches to cover their bare flesh; they shall reach from the loins even to the thighs.     “They shall be on Aaron and on his sons when they enter the tent of meeting, or when they approach the altar to minister in the holy place, so that they do not incur guilt and die. It shall be a statute forever to him and to his descendants after him. (Exodus 28:41-43 NASB95) “About this time tomorrow I will send you a man from the land of Benjamin, and you shall anoint him to be prince over My people Israel; and he will deliver My people from the hand of the Philistines. For I have regarded My people, because their cry has come to Me.” When Samuel saw Saul, the Lord said to him, “Behold, the man of whom I spoke to you! This one shall rule over My people.” (1 Samuel 9:16-17 NASB95) and all the storage cities which Solomon had, even the cities for his chariots and the cities for his horsemen, and all that it pleased Solomon to build in Jerusalem, in Lebanon, and in all the land under his rule. (1 Kings 9:19 NASB95) Obey the Gospel 2 Thessalonians 1:6-8 dealing out retribution to those who do not know God and to those who do not obey the Gospel of our Lord Jesus. (2 Thessalonians 1:8 NASB95) Paul was writing to the church of Christ in Thessalonica. A number of things were occurring to the brethren there.  Paul referred to some tribulation that they were having. For after all it is only just for God to repay with affliction those who afflict you, to give relief to you who are afflicted and to us

This is the second part of the review before we switch our focus to spiritual growth. Greek Words We are reviewing the exam. The Greek words defined here, in the context in which they occur, are important to the text and the topic that we have been discussing, which is the Gospel. Dyanomos - Question 1 Romans 1:16 What is dynamos? It means power. Dynamos of God is the power of God. When dynamos is used in Romans 1:12, it is the power of God unto salvation. This word is in the singular. We can therefore say that the Gospel is the (singular) power of God unto salvation If God’s power of salvation is Gospel and we want our evangelism to be successful, it is going to center on the Gospel. Given the understanding that  we gain from Romans 1:16, why would we choose to use any other thing or any other method than the Gospel? Evangelion – Question 2 Evangelize comes from the Greek word evangelion. It means Gospel. If you are going to evangelize someone you are going to Gospelize someone. Baptism Acts 2 Acts 10 Over the years, we Americans have changed the word baptized to mean  anything from sprinkling  to pouring water over somebody’s head to full immersion. It really means immerse. In Acts 2 and 10, when Christians are baptized by the Holy Spirit, it means that they were overwhelmed. They were immersed. It does not mean that they are sprinkled, or somebody poured the Holy Spirit over their heads, or anything symbolic like that. It means immersion. Faith, Love, Hate We’ve changed the meaning of the words faith, love and hate.  Today those three words don’t mean what they meant in Biblical times. When  Jesus says, “"If anyone comes to Me, and does not hate his own father and mother and wife and children and brothers and sisters, yes, and even his own life, he cannot be My disciple.” We have misused the word “hate” and so don’t understand why Jesus wants us to despise our parents in order to follow him. It doesn’t make sense to us. We have to go back and look at what  hate actually means. Today, when we say we hate something, we are talking about some kind of despising or aversion that is highly charged with emotion. That is not what hate was intended to be in the New Testament. We did the same thing for the words love and faith. We have to go back and see what the Bible says in Hebrews 11 about faith. Evangelism Evangelism means all sorts of things to different people in the church. However, in the New Testament  it mean

On Better Bible Study Podcast, in the 16th episode of the series titled The Gospel and Spiritual Growth Bible Study, Rudy reviews the most important concepts, definitions and topics to Church of Christ members. Wrapping up our concentration on the gospel, we will be focusing on spiritual growth. Salvation Power Salvation that God provides us is in the Gospel. It is the power of God unto salvation. This very big sentence is important to people who want to convert other people and also to any believer.  If this singular power of God unto salvation played no role in the believer’s conversion then there was no conversion. Doctrinally our predecessors taught us that we have to deal with 90% of people, who say if you believe that is enough, if you are a believer then you are saved. Obedience   For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek. (Romans 1:16 NSAB95) Roman 1:16 tell us that the Gospel is the power of God unto salvation, the singular power. dealing out retribution to those who do not know God and to those who do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus. [2Th 1:8 NASB] Knowing this, you can only conclude that the Gospel must be obeyed. Obedience to the gospel is far more complex, it is far more involved than simply going to a baptistery or to the lake and saying I do. Baptism is the death part of the obedience.  Coming up is part of the obedience; we are raised to walk in newness of life. When a Christian is buried with Christ something happened prior to the burial, allowing that burial to permit resurrection to walk in newness of life. What is that? It is death. Therefore we have been buried with Him through baptism into death, so that as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, so we too might walk in newness of life. (Romans 6:4 NASB95) Power of God A number of complex things take place as part of the obedience to the gospel. To believers and to the people who want to convert, this sentence in Romans 1 is extremely important, it is the power of God. It doesn’t say that it is the legal requirement, the equivalent of signing on a dotted line, the ritualistic thing, it says it is the power of God. When studying the gospel we are studying about the power of God, how did it affect us - did it move us, what is the interactive role that it plays in our conversion? If it played no role, then we are not converted, nei