What does Your Spirit do? Part 1

By Jim Mettenbrink

In the last article, we considered the Bible’s declaration that humans consist of three separate parts – body (matter), soul (life force; Leviticus 17:11), and the spirit (eternal part) (1 Thessalonians 5:23). (By the way this in contrast to all living non-humans. Although many have accepted the evolutionary ruse that humans are animals, thus animals are our relatives, nowhere in the Bible is an eternal spirit assigned to an animal). The life force and the spirit are not tangible, but literally invisible. They cannot be touched or contained. One looks at his body and says, this is my body. One does not say, this is me. Inherently, a person knows he is actually separate from the body, that it is a container of the spirit. Yet nowhere is your spirit found in the body. It is invisible. As noted in the last article, at the moment of death Jesus and Stephen commended their spirits to the Father (Luke 23:46; Acts 7:59). Other than one’s spirit is the eternal part, what is its character? Note, without the Bible, we do not have a clue that we even have a spirit, let alone its traits.

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God vs Naturalism

By Jim Mettenbrink

“If the Foundations are Destroyed….”
Restoring the Foundations begins with You
God vs Naturalism

We live in a world that increasingly believes in naturalism, i.e., everything must have a “natural” explanation vs a supernatural cause. In a discussion with a young person who claims to be an atheist, said he does not believe in anything he can not see (matter). He is a naturalist. To acknowledge God, would contradict his belief. Is his belief reasonable?

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How it happened: From Faith in God to Faith in Man – Part 2

By Jim Mettenbrink

Each generation grows up thinking everything is normal, that is, it has always been like this. Such is the failure to read unrevised history. Currently, we live in an increasingly anti-God culture. Or has it always been this way? The scattered churches across the countryside, in the USA testify otherwise. But how did this transformation happen?

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How it happened: From Faith in God to Faith in Man – Part 1

By Jim Mettenbrink

Although God has planted a sense of His presence in the spirit of each person, man in his rebellious selfishness wants to deny that so he can be his own god, i.e., do what he wants to do without impunity – no accountability to anyone – let alone to stand before God. This the #1 weakness in each of us.

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Why I Attend Wednesday Night Church Services

By Neal Pollard

  • I need the fellowship of Christian family in the middle of a week spent exposed to the world.
  • I draw strength from the teaching of God’s Word and the comments others make on the subject being studied.
  • Others need my encouragement and influence, and my presence can be so faith-building to them.
  • Bible class teachers have taken precious time to prepare and deliver their material.
  • I believe God is pleased with my making such a commitment and a sacrifice, though it’s so little compared to all that He has done for me.
  • It builds my interest in spiritual things.
  • I believe it helps contribute to the overall strength and influence of the local church.
  • It is an affirmation of the eldership’s wisdom to have such classes in the first place, where they seek to help give me spiritual food.
  • I live by the philosophy that I make time for what is most important and valuable.
  • My family is guided by my leadership and priorities.
  • I live in a nation that allows me to freely assemble to build and express my faith, and I do not want to take that for granted.
  • I have so many great memories of Wednesdays, and I continue to make them.
  • Though I have often arrived tired and frazzled, I have almost always left rejuvenated and rejoicing.
  • I want to.

What would you add?

Let Not Your Heart Be Troubled

By Donnie Bates

“Do not let your heart be troubled; believe in God, believe also on Me” (John 14:1). I really do not know of a more encouraging verse than this one. Jesus Himself tells us to not let our hearts be troubled. About…what? What is the context?

Jesus was preparing His disciples for His departure; His return to heaven to sit at the right hand of the Father, to rule over His eternal kingdom. But look at it from the apostles’ perspective. It is a terrifying feeling to know that a comfortable time or relationship is changing or ending. We know when a loved one who is faithful to God dies, we will see him/her again if we ourselves live a faithful life. Still we don’t like that separation. When a young couple has their first child and prepares to leave the hospital, there can be a feeling of panic that comes with the realization that there is no little button at the side of the bed at home that will bring a nurse when you press it.

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On the Front

By Donnie Bates

Several years ago, I wrote the following story. It is a fictional account of the Good Fight that all Christians are fighting. It was originally written to call attention to the fact that all of us are in a fight. It is the story of one old soldier, doing his very best to remain faithful to his King, fight the Good Fight and help as many of his fellow soldiers as possible.

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Running In The Wrong Direction

By Tom Wacaster

Roy “Wrong Way” Riegels played center on the 1928 University of California football team, The Golden Bears, which had 6-1-2 record at the close of the 1928 regular season. On January 1, 1929, the Golden Bears faced the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets at the Rose Bowl in Pasadena, California, USA. Midway through the second quarter, Riegels, who played center on both offensive and defensive lines and who was then playing in a role similar to that of the modern defensive nose guard or nose tackle, picked up a fumble by Tech’s Jack “Stumpy” Thomason. Just 30 yards away from the Yellow Jackets’ end zone, Riegels was somehow turned around and ran 69 yards in the wrong direction. The following describes what transpired from Riegels’ perspective:

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Wheeled Crosses

by Cory Waddell

And he said to all, “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me. Luke 9:23 (ESV)

Several years ago, I saw a man walking down the street with a big wooden cross on his shoulder, positioned in the way we often see depicted in movies of Jesus on the road to his crucifixion. No doubt the man’s goal was to make a point about faithfulness to Christ by literally “taking up his cross.” Perhaps he desired to inspire people through his sacrificial gesture of publicly bearing this load of a religious symbol through the streets of the city. It inspired me, but not in the way he may have anticipated.

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Enlightened, Empowered, Lost

By Brad Harrub

Dear friend, it’s been a long time since I’ve seen you smile. Oh, I see you “smiling” in social media posts, but there is a distinct difference in your smile today, versus 2-3 years ago. You’ve lost that spark that used to light up your entire face. There is a bitterness and hardness in your posts that makes me sad. It seems that you have gone off to college and have been “enlightened” by professors who want you to have a more open mind, and in the process, you have turned your back on almost everything you were taught when you were younger. And that “enlightenment” has brought with it a dark cloud that hovers over you.

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