Throughout history it is puzzling to see the church change its doctrine from one generation to the next. How does this happen? If the Bible clearly states a truth and the church believes the truth, how then does the church’s doctrine change?
Growing up in church, I often heard preachers talk about the flesh and the spirit. As I understood it, the flesh was bad and the spirit was good. I was not to live in the flesh, walk after the flesh, and enjoy fleshly things. Yet, this confused me, because I looked at myself and understood that I was just a guy made out of flesh. So, what is the Bible talking about when it uses that word, flesh?
The majority of the books found in the New Testament are actually letters sent from a particular person to a church, region or individual. We call these books epistles or letters. Some of the letters in the New Testament were long and formal like Romans, while others were short and personal like Philemon. An amanuensis was a professional scribe that was used to physically write the letter while the author would dictate.
Being a pastor I am surrounded by preachers and have the opportunity to go to church all of the time, but I seldom have the opportunity to sit down in a church and listen to another brother preach. That is why I am so excited about the upcoming Bible Conference at Southern Hills! It takes place January 27-29 and it will be a blast. We have invited 4 preachers from across the country who will be bringing the Word of God.
I have often sat with those in our church who have recently come to faith in Jesus Christ, as they retell the story of their conversion there is almost without fail a reference to “something missing.” “I had a job, a family and a home. My life seemed good but something was missing. Then I came to Southern Hills… or Then someone shared Christ… or Then I found a Bible…”
As a student of Scripture begins to go deeper into the realm of Bible study he will begin to ask or be asked the most frustrating questions. Such as, who wrote this specific book, to whom was it written and when specifically was it written? If we are not careful we will look at these questions as pure trivia without truly understanding the value of their answers. Though it is true that the Scriptures are eternal (Psalm 119:89) and the truest author is the Holy Spirit (II Timothy 3:16), the date of the penning and the human penman are extremely important to a proper understanding of any book of the Bible. For our purposes we will use the book of Acts as an example:
God has given us the incredible gift of speech yet there are certain things you should never allow to escape your lips. If you do these fatal phrases will hurt you or those around you.
After spending the last 10 years in ministry in Las Vegas I cannot tell you how many times I have asked a person, “Are you a Christian? or How did you become a Christian?” And though I have heard many solid testimonies of God’s saving grace and genuine stories of Biblical conversion, I quite often hear rather unbiblical answers to these simple questions.
