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Spiritual Disciplines of the Early Church: Ancient Practices for the 21st Century

...God, have mercy on me, a sinner”.   Simplicity Finally, the last thing I’ll look at here is living a simple life. This is based on Acts 4:32–35; Matt 19:21. Jesus said to him, “If you want to be perfect, go, sell what you have, and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow me.” Matthew 19:21 (WEB) Maybe the hardest discipline is to live as though you depend fully on God and are free and able to give away anything (and maybe everything) if God so asks or presents the opportunity, without stressing or wanting to hold onto our possessions. Many early Christians who were wealthy when they converted gave most of...

Slavery in the Bible – Does God Condone Slavery?

...actually mercy that the Lord allowed them to live in slavery, rather than to be destroyed for their extreme rebellion against God in embracing false gods, living in gross sin, and directly rejecting God’s people and God Himself. Because God judged these people in this way, does not mean forced slavery in itself is OK. God also judged His own people when they fell into idolatry and sin by allowing them to be enslaved and by allowing some to be murdered. Does that mean murder is OK? No. But God deals with sinful man by allowing the devil to do evil to those rebellious people. The devil means these things for evil, but God uses these things for good (Genesis 50...

The Deity of Christ in the Gospel of Matthew - Part 1

...there is mercy, And with Him is abundant redemption. And He will redeem Israel from all his guilty deeds.” And significantly; Isaiah 43:11“I, only I, am the Lord, and there is no saviour besides Me Some may object here that this must be some kind of hyperbole because others have the same title “saviour” assigned to them and approved in scripture, such as;” 2 Kings 13:4-5“Then Jehoahaz appeased the Lord, and the Lord listened to him; for He saw the oppression of Israel, how the king of Aram oppressed them. And the Lord gave Israel a savior, so that they escaped from under the hand of the Arameans; and the sons of Israel lived in their ten...

Great is the Mystery of Faith!

...ight Show mercy, was bound in order that He might loose, was seized in order that He might release, suffered in order that He might feel compassion, died in order that He might give life, was laid in the grave that He might raise from the dead. – Melito of Sardis, Discourse on Soul and Body Speaking to "mysteries", it reminds me of this verse that Paul writes to Timothy, which is also poetic in its structure and is possibly an early form of a hymn, as some scholars believe: 1 Timothy 3:16 (HCSB) And most certainly, the mystery of godliness is great: [God] was manifested in the flesh, vindicated in the Spirit, seen by angels, preached among the natio...

He is risen!

...  Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! By his great mercy he has given us a new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, and into an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you, who are being protected by the power of God through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time. — 1 Peter 1:3-5...

The Coming of Jesus: The Olivet Discourse – Part 2

...d out for mercy or offered resistance. … such was the height of the hill and the magnitude of the blazing pile that the entire city seemed to be ablaze; and the noise - nothing more deafening and frightening could be imagined.   This burning of the city and the temple is also what we can see in Revelation 18:9 which talks about the great city Babylon being ablaze, where the fires could be seen from afar by onlookers. There were the war cries of the Roman legions as they swept onwards en masse, the yells of the rebels encircled by fire and sword, the panic of the people who, cut off above, fled into the arms of the enemy, and their shrieks as they met...