Continuing with our theme of new covenant church life, there are two Greek words translated “church” or “fellowship” in the New Testament. The first, ecclesia, represents government and structure, and koinonia is the bonding and vital union of the church members. In much of the present structure of...

Because the Lord is building His church out of living stones—people—the great works He is building will not be completed quickly, or easily. Those who leave during the process, before the body of Christ has become what we are called to be, will not likely be part of the church at the end. They will...

Human idealism is one of the worst enemies of truth and perhaps the biggest deceiver of zealous Christians. Zeal is not the problem, since the exhortation to overcome lukewarmness is to “be zealous therefore and repent” (see Revelation 3:19). We could use more zeal in these times, and our King...

If our goal is to truly abide in the King (as it should be for every Christian), we should treat everyone with courtesy and respect. We do this because we will be in the office with our co-workers and bosses, and also because, even if they are not yet Christians, He loves them and died for them...

Just because we know in part, doesn’t mean we can’t be confident in what we know. However, we should always walk in humility, knowing there is always more to every story. We can have great confidence in the basic doctrines of faith that are clear in Scripture and should stand on these without...

We have been addressing the veils that must be removed to see the glory of the Lord without distorting it. The next veil is judging everyone and everything by one bad experience. For example, I’ve heard of people visiting a church and making sweeping, general judgments about that church based on...

Faith is the recognition of the One in Whom we believe; seeing Jesus as He is now—not just as He was or will be or as we think He should be. This is not as simple as it may seem, since we must see His glory with an “unveiled face” to see Him as He is (see 2 Corinthians 3:17). The veils that distort...

Faith is based on the recognition of the One in whom we believe. It is seeing Jesus as He is now, not just as He was or as He will be. Jesus said He is the manna that came down from heaven. He is the Bread of life. He said in Matthew 4:4, “ It is written, ‘man shall not live on bread alone, but by...

Not many Christians are disciples. If we read Jesus’ definitions of His disciples, we would know this is true. Even when He walked the earth, only a few who followed Him were His disciples. Being a convert, a believer in Jesus as the Messiah and in His sacrifice on the cross for our redemption is a...

As we mentioned last week, true faith is faith in God—not in a principle, an outcome, or in our faith, but in Him. Faith is the currency of the kingdom. In the new covenant, we are called to walk by faith and in truth. If we are not walking in all the benefits Jesus went to the cross to provide,...