The time of adolescence is set by some to be between ten to approximately twenty-two years of age. Others say that the time extends until the young people become financially independent of their parents. Regardless of the age that is set there are a number of items that should be considered when working with adolescents. Youth ministers and youth workers, Sunday school teachers and even parents may profit from good information concerning this age.
Adolescence becomes a time when many changes begin to take place. Adolescents are becoming aware of body changes as well as the different reflections in their voices. Even some changes can be rather embarrassing. For instance, what about the young lady that grows to be about three to four inches above the young guys in the same class. Even body changes may become obstacles for some to understand and to manage.
Not only do their bodies begin to produce hormones, but their emotions seem to begin to rage and even go out of control at times. Just a slight suggestion by a parent to some young teens may be met with explosive words like, "Please Mom, let me do it myself'. Many times they really do not hear just how loud, explosive and obtuse they really are. A gentle reply such as, "Wow! You almost took my head off," may cause some teens to begin to hear themselves. Parents should be very patient and understanding during the teen years since it is such a new area with all kinds of new experiences having to be met by their young teens. Sometimes two or three warnings are necessary for the teens to really hear themselves.
Another major factor that young people face is that of developing an identity. In order to develop that identity they must try things, and try many new things. Young people usually begin to step forward with trying things by the age of thirteen or fourteen if not sooner. The Church and parents must keep in mind just how much they need to socialize with others their own age. Being with and communicating to other young people does help them to discover who they are, what they like to do and not do, and it gives them the opportunities to take chances. Little by little they take small chances and try things in order to discover what they like or dislike. Socials are a critical time for them since people learn much about themselves from being with other friends and neighbors.
Adolescence also becomes a time of examination and contemplation. One factor that often surfaces revolves around a natural agnostic-atheistic period in their lives. Young people may question God and His Word as well as the miracles and events that they see recorded in the Bible. Quite often during this time they are trying to see if they can make the God of Mom and Dad their own God. This item of contemplation may become rather trying for them as they ferret through all their questions. What may really help them during this period would be to have their youth ministers and Sunday school teachers to share prophecies with them from the Bible. Another major factor would be to have teachers at Church to share critical information about the resurrection of Jesus Christ. Jesus said that He would give one sign-the resurrection. That is one item of many to study and to present to adolescents.
These are only a few mentioned dynamics that adolescents wrestle with concerning growing up. Since this time is so new for them we must be both patient and caring with them.
Anxiety may play an array of tricks upon us. Anxiety may even be so crippling and paralyzing that we think we are going mad. Please let me explain. When anxiety grips us it causes us not to be able to concentrate as effectively. Our minds race in a number of directions, and we just cannot concentrate or focus upon one thing at a time. Anxiety causes us to have four or five things racing through our heads at one time. Some have expressed to us that they believe they are going crazy because of the bombardment of thoughts and lack of being able to focus.
Please let us set your minds at ease. That is the consequence of anxiety. It keeps us from focusing upon only one thing, and yes, thoughts do seem to race uncontrollably. People have expressed that they feel out of their bodies at times or that they do not really feel present; they feel somewhat unconscious. One lady expressed to us that as she worked that day she felt that she was not in her body, but up on the wall looking down at herself as she worked. She said, "I know you think that I am crazy, so just go ahead and tell me that." The poor thing did not understand that anxiety can overwhelm us to the point that many times we just do not feel present and in our own bodies. Not to worry; we assure you that you are not losing your mind. It is simply a common result of anxiety.
Another result from anxiety may cause abnormal realities about our bodies. One person shared with us that as he sat at work one day his stomach began to swell hugely, and then it retracted. He said that his stomach swelled again, and then his arm lengthened somewhat. The poor fellow thought that he had completely lost his mind. Once working with us to alleviate the anxieties in his life he never experienced that again.
Please note what even happens to students. We call it test anxiety. When we have anxieties we cannot concentrate on what the teacher is saying, or on what we are studying. Why? Our minds are racing, and we have four or five things on our minds. Therefore much that is said in class is missed. Anxiety doubles our odds and works against us at test time. Not only does it keep us from learning properly, but when taking tests, it blocks recall as well. Thus, what is in our minds is blocked to a great extent just because anxiety can easily create what we call BLOCKING. We just cannot recall things due to the pressure (the anxiety) on our minds.
What can be done to help this mess? Please note Matthew 6:25-33. What we need to do is to exchange the fear, worry, tension, anxiety or whatever we may call it, for TRUST. Trust, did you say trust? Yes, we have hundreds of millions of neurons in our minds programmed to help us worry. Now we must record new ways of thinking. Each time we are worrying or fretting over something or sense that we are being overcome by anxiety, we need to stop, and say, "Lord, I feel overwhelmed, out of control, but I make the decision to place my trust in You." I may have to do this many times a day, and may have to practice it for months and months before it really begins to work. But, not to worry, slowly but surely, I am turning my lack of trust and worry, my anxieties, over to God and replacing them with trust.
Please remember, old habits are hard to break. Do not give up. We have been worrying and may have been so full of anxiety for years that we need to practice TRUSTING GOD for years before that new approach becomes a part of us. Starting now, however, is better than not starting at all. Note how far you will be in a year from now if you get started. Change comes slowly, but it truly can come.
ARISTIDES: second century And when a child has been born to one of them (Christians), they give thanks to God; and if it should die as an infant, they give thanks the more, because it has departed life sinless. [Apology 15.11 ]
BARNABAS: believed to be a Christian of Alexandria who wrote between A.D. 70 & 100. Since he renewed us in the forgiveness of sins, he made us into another image, so as to have the soul of children , as if he were indeed refashioning us. (6.11)
HERMAS: second century; author of The Shepherd. Considered one of the Apostolic Fathers. Those who believed are such as these: they are like innocent infants, in whose heart no wickedness enters and who do not know what evil is but always remain in innocence. Such as these will undoubtedly live in the kingdom of God, because in no way did they defile the commandments of God but innocently remain in the same frame of mind all the days of their life. As many of you then who will continue and be as infants, with no wickedness, will be more honored than all others, for all infants are honored before God and are in the first rank before him. Blessed are all of you, therefore, who remove evil from yourselves and put on guiltlessness. (Similitudes 9.29.1-3=106.1-3) 1, the angel of repentance, judge all of you to be blessed who are as innocent as infants, because your part is good and honorable before God. (Ibid. 9.31.3=108.3)
ATHENAGORAS: second century Christian apologist Although all human beings who die are resurrected, not all those resurrected are judged. If justice in the judgment were the only cause of the resurrection, it would follow, of course, that those who have not sinned nor done good, namely quite young children would not be resurrected. (On the Resurrection 14)
CLEMENT OF ALEXANDRIA: (A.D. 150-215), probably an Athenian by birth. For this was what was said ... (Matthew 18:3 ) pure in flesh, holy in soul by abstinence from evil deeds; God shows that he would have us to be such as he has generated us from our mother, the water. (Miscellanies 4.25. 106. 1-2)
IRENAEUS: (A.D. 130-200), Bishop of Lyons. Heard Polycarp as a boy; maybe from Smyrna.
For he came to save all by means of himself-all, I say, who by him are born again to God—infants, children, adolescents, young people, and old people. (Against Heresies 2.22.4)
TERTULLIAN: (A.D. 160-225), African Church Father. Brought up in Carthage as a pagan. SPEAKING AGAINST THE BAPTIZING OF CHILDREN
According to the circumstances and nature, and also age, of each person, the delay of baptism is more suitable, especially in the case of small children. ....Let them become Christians when they are
able to know Christ. In what respect does the innocent period of life hasten to the remission of sins? Should we act more cautiously in worldly matters, so that divine things are given to those to
whom earthly property in not given? Let them learn to ask for salvation so that you may be seen to have given "to him who asks." (On Baptism 18)
HYPPOLYTUS: (A.D. 170-236) His history is Roman but he is a Greek. Disciple of Irenaeus. And they shall baptize the little children first. And if they can answer for themselves, let them answer. But if they cannot, let their parents answer or someone from their family. And next they shall baptize the grown men; and last the women (Apostolic Tradition 21. 3-5)
ORIGEN: (A.D. 185-254) Alexandrian Biblical critic, exegete, theologian and writer. I take this occasion to discuss something which our brothers often inquire about. Infants are baptized for the remission of sins. Of what kinds? Or when did they sin? But since "No one is exempt from stain, one removes the stain by the mystery of baptism. For this reason infants also are baptized. For, "Unless one is born of water and the Spirit he cannot enter the kingdom of heaven." (Homily on Like 14:4) He quotes Psalm 51:5 and Job 14:4 and then says: These verses may be adduced when it is asked why, since the baptism of the church is given for the remission of sins, baptism according to the practice of the church is given even to infants; since indeed if there is in infants nothing which ought to pertain to forgiveness and mercy, the grace of baptism would be superfluous. (Holily on Leviticus 8.3) Origen quotes Leviticus 12:8 and Psalm 51:5, and then says: For this also the church had a tradition for the apostles, to give baptism even to infants. For they to whom the secrets of the divine mysteries were given knew that there is in all persons the natural stains of sin which must be washed away by the water and the Spirit. On account of these stains the body itself is called the body of sin. (Commentary on Romans 5:19)
CYPRIAN: (Death-A.D. 258) Bishop of Carthage; pagan rhetorician converted to Christianity. If, when they afterwards come to believe, forgiveness of sins is granted even to the worst transgressors and to those who have previously sinned much against God, and if no one is held back from baptism and grace; how much less ought an infant to be held back, who physically according to Adam, the infant has contracted the contagion of the ancient death by its first birth. The infant approaches that much more easily to the reception of the forgiveness of sins because the sins remitted to it are not its own, but those of another. (Epistle 64 [58])
EUSEBIUS: (A.D. 260-339) Bishop of Caesarea in Palestine; Father of Church History.
An infant, going to the place of the saints, being without sin through his age, rests in peace.
Infant baptism was unknown for years in the early Church. But after an idea of stain upon the infant began to creep into the early Church, then, so did the need to do something about the stain. Next came the solution, baptism for the infant. However, this is an early invention of doctrine by early theologians who did not understand the Scriptures.
Depression is that feeling of gloom and doom or that feeling of hopelessness and uselessness that just hangs around and nags at us. It robs us of our energy and it causes us to feel like WHAT'S THE USE about anything. We say in abnormal psychology class at NEOBC that the depressed person is the GIVING UP PERSONALITY. Why do we say that? Because depression robs us of that energy and the commitment to go forward with our lives. So, what can we do?
First consider this! A number of things may cause depression. Let's consider a few of the big ones. Depression may be caused simply by negative thinking. That is, we see the dark side or the down side of everything instead of the possibilities and the excitement of going forward with things and with our lives for the Lord. But here is the big PROBLEM that causes depression. It is that thing or things that have passed us by. But what do you mean by that? Listen closely! What swims around in your mind most of the day? What thing occupies your mind? Say it more clearly! O.K. To what goals, aims, desires or wishes are you clinging? What is it that has passed you by and without it your life has passed you by and you can never have satisfaction or happiness because you missed your opportunity in life. To what hopelessness are you clinging. Is it that education you never received, or that other job or vocation that you should have taken, or is it that other person you should have married? Or is it the family or the home that you will never have? Just what is it? Again, what is it that has passed you by and now you can never, ever be happy?
Now, let's look at those things differently. Everyone of us has had opportunities, seasons, potential mates, jobs and vocations that we could have considered differently. But life and maturity requires that we let go of that PAST WISHFUL THINKING, and consider where we are right now. What we are required to do in order to become mature is to both face and accept life where we are today, and not to cling to the past. We have to let it go. But how do I do that? Romans 12:2 says that we become changed people by the renewing of our minds. Therefore, in order to help ourselves we must do this. Each time the nagging thoughts of the past enter our minds we must make the conscious effort to renew our minds. We must think, That is the past and the present requires me to focus on the here and now. So here I am, and I will focus on today and make the best of it. Make plans to go forward and concentrate or the present and the future. Commit to the Lord your ways and decide that those ways will be to go forward for Him and His Kingdom. After all, that is why I am here, to serve Him. And He can overcome for me anything that I have missed in the past; He can and will make me sufficient. I just have to stay focused upon Him and what He can do with me and through me. So am I willing to do that for Him and to really, really let go of the past and the wasted time by thinking about today and going forward with Him concerning my life and the service that I can render to Him?
What else can I do? Forgive yourself for mistakes in the past and forgive anyone whom you think may have held you back. Come out of retirement from the negative thinking and realize that God is so powerful and so full of wisdom that He can use anybody at any level if only he or she will let go of the past and step out and trust Him. Begin to educate yourself for greater and grander service for God. Take small steps by volunteering at Church and doing those jobs faithfully. Then, once proving your faithfulness, graduate to even greater service for Him and show yourselves faithful to those commitments. That's what you can do. So pray, seek wise counsel about both the time you have available and your ability level for now and get involved as you educate yourself for more exciting works to come. - Don Cooper
What is faith anyway? How do we attain it? Do we pray for it, or feel in our minds that we need to be better and better persons before we can attain a greater degree of faith? What is the answer?
Faith is the acceptance of testimony. What in the world is that? Well, the testimony to what we refer is the Bible. Faith, as Alexander Campbell said, is the acceptance of that testimony, or the acceptance of scripture. Romans 10:17 says, So faith comes from hearing, and hearing by the word of Christ. That means that I have to hear the word and then contemplate it over and over again to understand it.
Or, let the Lord say it Himself. Please note John 17:20, concerning what Jesus said. I do not ask on behalf of these alone, but for those also who believe in Me through their word. What is Jesus saying? He is saying He not only asks something from God for the disciples alone, but for all the ones in the world who will believe on Him. But how will they believe? How does this faith come? Jesus answers it right there. These people will believe on Him by or through the words that these eleven men speak. They will believe on Me, Jesus says, through the words that the apostles speak.
There are other scriptures that exclaim the same thing. For instance, please note I Corinthians 3: 5 What then is Apollos? And what is Paul? Servants through whom you believed even as the Lord gave opportunity to each one? There Paul is saying that the Corinthians obtained faith from the words that Apollos and he taught them. So then, faith comes by hearing and studying and contemplating the word of God. And that is why Paul says in Romans 10:14, How then will they call on Him in whom they have not believed? How will they believe in Him whom they have not heard? And how will they hear without a preacher? And in verse fifteen Paul says, How will they preach unless they are sent? Just as it is written, HOW BEAUTIFUL ARE THE FEET OF THOSE WHO BRING GOOD NEWS OF GOOD THINGS!
So here is my answer; faith comes from hearing and studying the word. I don't know how many times I have heard it said on the radio or television that if you lack faith, then pray for it. But that is not the entire answer. If I lack faith I MUST also study the Word of God. Therefore, I am in control of just how much faith I want to have. It is within my grasp. - Don Cooper
Have you ever been hurt? If you are reading this then you are a person who has experienced some hurt in your life. Often when we have been hurt we just stay in our hurt, experiencing the hurt and pain over and over again. We want to bring an end to the pain, but we don't know how. There is a way out - a very clear, Biblical answer as to how to deal with this problem.
Under all hurt there is anger, or you may call it frustration or aggravation. Many of us do not recognize or admit our anger because we are afraid if we did we do not know what it would cause us to do. Anger causes three things. One, anger will keep you in your hurt. You will experience the emotional pain every day and it will rob you of much of your energy and happiness. Secondly, that anger will cause you to develop an attitude. That attitude may be a desire to take revenge or strike out at the person who has hurt you, or you may want to retreat from that person and not have anything to do with them. Another way the anger may affect you is by your going numb and you may stay in this numbness because no one can hurt you when you are numb. Numbness comes from feeling two opposite emotions about the same person, resulting in those emotions colliding and canceling each other out. For instance, you may love someone deeply but you are so angry with the person because of the way he or she has hurt you. Those two feelings can easily come together and cancel one another out and you go numb. And when you are numb you feel you are safe because no one can hurt you while you are in that state of numbness. The third big thing anger causes is that you may want to project your anger out towards others, but instead, you turn it in on yourself. Why? Because if you let go of your anger you don't know if you will be able to control yourself, so you turn it in on yourself and anger turned inward ends up in the form of depression.
So there it is, your anger causes you to stay in your hurt, to develop an attitude and it may also cause you to become very depressed. There is only one thing you can work on in that whole mess and that is the anger. Desensitizing yourself to the hurt and anger is not the answer. Displacing the anger on a punching bag or stomping up and down the stairs will not do it either; nor will driving down the road at ninety miles per hour. We are clearly given the answer as to what to do with our anger when God, in His Word, tells us to forgive it. When I say this you may think the only thing God cares about is letting the person who hurt you off the hook, but that is not correct. That person still has to answer to God, but God cares about healing you. God designed forgiveness to heal you. Since God made you and loves you and knows what is best for you, why wouldn't you want to do what He says? God says to forgive those who have hurt you so you can heal and experience more energy and joy in life.
When you choose to forgive, you let go of the debt that the person who wronged you owes you and the following chain of events occurs. Forgiveness melts the anger that is keeping your hurt alive as well as fostering your attitude and fueling your depression. God designed forgiveness in order to melt your anger so that you may heal from your hurt, your attitudes and your depression. These are some of the tremendous blessings God pours out on us when we are obedient to Him and are willing to forgive. However, when you first begin the forgiveness process you sometimes get worse. Why? Because you begin to become aware of all the hurt and pain you have been repressing. Hurtful things you haven't thought about in years may begin to surface. This is God's way of bringing up the past so you can now deal with it in the correct way. How is that? Make what I sometimes jokingly call a "hit list" - make a list of all those people who have hurt you, but then turn that hit list into a forgiveness list.
How do you go about forgiving a person? You forgive by saying the words. You say to yourself and to the Lord, I forgive... This creates cognitive dissonance. What is cognitive dissonance? It means there is a difference between what you are saying and what you are feeling. And as you continue to say you forgive a person, eventually you will begin to feel release from all that hurt and pain that he or she has caused you. You are releasing or letting go of the tremendous debt that person owes you.
How much or how often should you forgive? you may ask. Seventy times seven, Jesus said. Pain and hurt go so deep that you may spend months forgiving others. So forgive everyday. You may say, What if I say I forgive someone but don't feel like it am I then being a hypocrite? No, you do things everyday that you may not feel like doing, but they are necessary to do. One example is going to work. Are you excited about going to work everyday? No, but you choose to go anyway because it is necessary. It is necessary for us to forgive, because God commands it and it heals us.
Forgiveness is a serious thing to contemplate. We need to remember that in the model prayer (Matthew 6) we are instructed to pray that God will forgive us as we forgive others - meaning forgive us as much as we are willing to forgive others and no more. Jesus tells us how important it is for us to forgive when He gives His own commentary at the end of the prayer. There we see that forgiveness is conditional. If we are not willing to forgive, then God will not forgive us.
So, do you want to heal from all the hurt and pain that you have experienced in the past? It is up to you to begin the process. Make that forgiveness list and begin to forgive each one and keep doing it until the pain subsides. And remember, this is God's way of healing you so that you may experience that abundant life that He says is available for you.
One final note: can you guess the most difficult person to forgive? You got it; YOU are that person. You may ask, How do I forgive myself? You say the words - over and over again — for months or longer if need be — until you feel release from that particular situation. If you really want to heal, it is up to you; God has given you the answer. - Don Cooper
Have you ever wondered about all the confusing ideologies about the way of salvation? For instance, some say a person is saved by faith and faith alone, or faith plus nothing. Still others say that a man is saved by grace, and still others say by grace alone. One person even said that if baptism is added to grace then a person is not saved by grace. But why is there so much controversy?
During the Reformation of the 16th and 17th centuries the reformers were revolting from the teachings of Roman Catholicism. They felt to add anything to faith would open the door to that slippery slope back to Catholicism. Thus Protestants settled on faith and then some even said that God gives the faith; a person can do nothing for his salvation. In other words, God has to do it all or it is a work and therefore, man is earning his salvation.
What does the Bible say about all the confusion? The Word of God sees two aspects to salvation. There is God's part and there is man's part. For God, His part is Grace. That is what actually saves a person. It is the grace of God on God's part that saves one. Ephesians 2:5,8 express this thought. And the "it is the gift of God" in Ephesians 2:8, refers to salvation and not to faith. Even John Calvin was honest enough to admit that.
Now concerning man's part there must be certain things to which he responds. He must have faith, repent of his sins, and he is also commanded to be baptized. Please note that baptism is commanded. If God is God and Jesus is Lord then why do some say baptism is not necessary when the God of heaven is commanding it? I Peter 3:19-21 says that even the like figure baptism does now save a person. But how one may ask? Baptism is the last thing that a man submits to in the salvation process in order to be connected to the grace of God. Note the following chart:
| MAN'S PART | GOD'S PART |
|---|---|
| FAITH | GRACE |
| REPENTENCE | |
| BAPTISM | |
People have run across those who turn to one Scripture in the Bible and shout that verse and that verse only. Excellent hermeneutic rules (the science of interpretation), say that Scripture must accord with Scripture wherever found. So, in other words, all the Scriptures, not just one or two, must be used when interpreting the Bible or any subject noted in the Bible.
To use only one scripture and to ignore the rest is similar to the following illustration. Two brothers attend the reading of their father's will. The lawyer says that on page one the older brother receives the two million dollar business of his father. The younger brother receives two million dollars of stocks that the father had. Then the lawyer turns to page eleven and reads the statement that says, "Whatever is left over from the will the lawyer receives."
The two sons respond with dismay. What about pages 2 through 10 that were left out? The lawyer says that they are not important. But the two brothers say, "Did not father give to one of us the collection of antique cars valued at ten million dollars? And what about the three hundred acre farm that father had with at least one hundred prized cows on it and the horse farm that has over one million dollars worth of prized horses? And what about the home estate in the mountains valued at two million dollars and the one-half ownership in the corporation in another state that father had?" But the lawyer retorts, "I am only going to read pages one and eleven."
That is what transpires with God's Word when someone decides that one or two verses will suffice to interpret the mind of God when it comes to salvation. That person has left out a majority of God's Will. So sad, is it not? Yes, but it happens all the time. Faith comes by hearing the Word. One has to read it or to hear it and contemplate it so that faith will grow. And the Bible also commands repentance. Acts 2:37,38 set in the context of verse 36 states that one must repent especially because he has not realized that he has not made Jesus his Lord.
And for those who say that all one has to do in order to be saved is pray this prayer, or say to call on His name, or to say the words, I believe, is that not `word salvation'? And did that not take a work of the mind to think to do that? Isn't it funny when a stick doesn't have two ends? How can one have one end of the stick but not the other end. That is how confusing they have made salvation.
Stop and think. When does a person have enough faith? How does he know? And where does it say that if he has faith God will give him a feeling, or an experience, or a vision. In psychiatry those people are put on medication.
One of the most important questions that a person must ponder should be that of salvation. And how much faith or how much repentance does a person need? He needs enough faith and repentance to say that he believes that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and desires earnestly to be immersed into Christ for the remission of his sins and to receive the indwelling of the Holy Spirit. Especially note that faith and repentance should be tied closely to Acts 2:36. Let all Israel know that God has made Him both Lord and Christ, this Jesus whom you have crucified. A person must accept Him as Lord over his life and not just as savior and then go his merry way. He now has the Lord to obey.
Please note how easy God makes it to receive His wonderful Grace, and what assurances He offers when it comes to exactly what a person must do in order to receive such a priceless gift as salvation. The man's part is to obey whatever God says; for God's part He then gives grace to the obedient one who accepts Jesus as Lord.
WHAT IS SALVATION? There are two factors involved when we discuss salvation. One is the grounds of salvation or God's part, and the other refers to the conditions of salvation which is man's part. The grounds of salvation is GRACE. That is what God grants to us when we obey Him. We must put ourselves in position with God, however, to receive His grace. That refers to man's part or what man must do in order to be saved.
IS SALVATION A WORK? Salvation is not a work. We do not do any work in order to receive salvation. We only obey what God tells us to do; that is obedience. We may receive a check for one million dollars, and we are told to go to the bank and cash the check in order to have the money. By going to the bank did we earn a million dollars? No, not at all. We only obeyed directions given to us concerning how we may receive the money. The same thing applies to God's grace and the salvation that He gives us. We simply obey Him. Obedience did not earn a thing; it was only an act of obedience. Please note the following:
GROUNDS FOR SALVATION-GOD'S PART — Grace (Ephesians 2:5,8)
CONDITIONS FOR SALVATION-MAN'S PART — Faith: the acceptance of testimony or trust in God. — Repentance: a change of lordships in our lives or a complete change of thinking-Christ is now my Lord. I change both my thinking and my direction in life. He now leads me. I am so sorry for my sins that I want to never return to that way of life ever again.— Baptism: it is immersion in water as an act of obedience. Note Acts 2:26-38. Acts 22:16. I Peter 3:19-21. Romans 6:1-6, etc. Acts 22:16; Paul had been repenting and fasting for three days. He had become acquainted with Jesus on the Damascus Road, and therefore, knew that He was real. Note that knowing or believing that Jesus existed, or even repenting and fasting for three days did not remove his sins. He was told after three days to be baptized in order to wash away his sins. Please note that this verse, Acts 22:16, agrees with Acts 2:38. NOTE THE WORD BELIEVING IS ACTIVISTIC. We have to do something in order to believe. Believing is an activistic verb in the Greek language and believing is an ongoing act, a continued act. If I really believe I will obey.
DOES FAITH SAVE? Please note that in Romans and other places Paul is referring to the FAITH WAY. Paul sums up the plan of salvation by calling it the FAITH WAY. The Jews believed in work salvation. They believed that by keeping the Law they earned salvation. We call that the works way. Paul uses Faith versus Works as shorthand to stand for either approach. Either we accept the faith way or the works way.
AFTER WE ARE SAVED WHAT DO WE DO? Please see Ephesians 2:9,10. We were not saved by works, but by grace. We are now saved by obedience; that is, by repentance and baptism to do good works. Good works do not earn salvation because we already have salvation. Good works express our continued obedience to God. We were saved by His grace to do good works. Again, good works do not earn salvation; we already have salvation. We do good works to remain obedient to God. Again note Eph. 2:9,10. That is why James says that Faith without works is dead. Good works do not save us, but they express our obedience to God. These good works also express our appreciation to God for giving to us His salvation.
MANY PROTESTANTS DO NOT CONNECT SALVATION TO FAITH, REPENTANCE AND BAPTISM. Why is that? During the Protestant Reformation they adopted the idea of Faith Alone, or faith plus nothing else. The Protestants were so afraid that if they admitted to doing even one thing for their salvation then they would be moving back to the Roman Catholic position of a works' salvation. Some Protestants were so afraid of the Roman Catholic position that they even denied Romans 10:17, which says that Faith comes by hearing the Word. They said that the Word is preached, but we cannot understand it, so God works a miracle in us and He gives us faith. They believe that there is absolutely nothing that we can do to have or to gain that faith. Therefore, God does it all. Some may ask, "Then why does God not give all of us that faith?" They often respond, God gives it to those whom He has predestined to have faith. Some may ask, "Then why is God so unfair; why did He not give faith to everyone?" They may respond by saying, You cannot fathom the mind of God. He is so deep that we just cannot answer that. But that is a way of just protecting their theological system.
Isn't it interesting that this system did not develop until the early Church had been in existence for hundreds of years. Please note in the article on BAPTISM how that the early Church believed both in adult baptism for the remission of sins, and believed that babies were born without sin. Check out how the Church began to go down that slope to the thoughts that children were sinful, or stained, or something, and therefore, needed to be cleansed of that sin or stain or whatever they imagined it was.
Please note also how much we study theology, but it is the theology of Augustine, or Calvin, or Luther, etc. Why don't we go back and just study the Bible and what the early Church said about Bible. Why don't we see what the early Church said about these subjects for the first three hundred years of the existence of the Church? Should we not do that? BAPTISM IS NOT A WORK OF SALVATION TO MERIT ANYTHING. Baptism is simply an act of obedience. It merits nothing from God. Baptism is commanded, therefore we obey. Nothing is deserving of God's grace. We are baptized because the procedure is commanded. We want to be obedient to His command.
WHAT IS GRACE? HOW DO WE DEFINE IT? We may define God's grace a couple of ways: 1. Grace is God's undeserved, unmerited, unearned favor. 2. Another way to define it is to say that grace is God's way of helping me when it was utterly impossible to help myself or for anyone else to help me other than God Himself.
If we really want to be like Christ then one of the things that we must do is to add the Fruit of the Spirit to our lives. How is that done we may ask? Do we just pray for it and ask God to dump it all into our heads? No, that is not the answer. Then how is it done? How do we obtain those beautiful items that make us more like Christ. The answer follows so contemplate it closely.
In Galatians 5:22 and 23 Paul lists the Fruit of the Spirit for us. Please note that fruit is singular. These fruit seem to be gifts sitting upon a shelf; we just need to take a jar of love or joy down off the shelf and pour it into our minds or brains. Then we will be full of love or joy. And what about patience? Well, we will just pour it into our brain so we will have patience and have it now, right now. How about that!
Sorry, but it does not work that way. Please: go to II Peter 1:5-7. Note carefully what it says there; it says to supply to your life. Some translations say, add. That word could be understood as lavish; lavish upon ourselves these fruits. That word has a tremendous history. The ancient world loved acting and singing upon the stage. Thus the ancients sent talent scouts all over the known world in order to search for these talented people. When talented people were found they were lavished with gifts in order to entice them to return to their country to perform. Once there the ancients would lavish gifts upon them in order to keep them. That is the very word that Peter uses. We are to lavish this fruit of the Spirit upon ourselves.
How is that done we may ask? The process of obtaining the fruit of the Spirit is accomplished in this way. The best place to learn to love is in very unloving situations. We must determine or choose to practice love in each situation. And the best way to learn patience is to practice it in impatient situations. We make a commitment and choose or determine to practice patience. Thus, we see that the beautiful fruit of the Spirit is learned, and it is learned by practicing it. And may we understand that one of the main parts of the power of God is already in us. We call it determination. Please note that in I Peter 2:22 and following, when Jesus was reviled what did He do? He determined or purposed in His heart not to revile in return, but committed His mind or heart to God to focus on how God would want Him to act in every situation, even the death of the cross.
So, what about it? Can we determine in our hearts to practice these fruit? Are we willing enough to become more like Jesus. We know the plan of salvation, but are we aware that once a Christian we are now to grow into the maturity of Christ Himself? Or are we like those people who have claimed to be of Christ, but we can't see any difference between them and the world. We have seen some of the worst attitudes portrayed by Christians in our churches, at congregational dinners and even at leadership meetings. We have been baptized but not much else has changed over the years. Let us think about it; one of the most important things we need to be accomplishing is growing into the likeness of Christ by choosing to add to our lives daily the beautiful fruit of the Spirit. - Don Cooper
Some elements of society would have us believe that men are rather useless and unnecessary in the family. What about that? Are they right or is the opposite actually true? To answer that question we must first examine factors that happen to young people as they individuate.
At about the age of twelve or thirteen, sometimes earlier or later, young people begin to individuate. That means that they begin to see themselves as an individual. They also see themselves as separated from the family. They desire to spend less time with family activities and more time alone or time with their peers (young people their own ages). During this time young men begin to tune out women. Men become more important to them for many reasons. One is male modeling. These young men are watching dad, or they are watching a coach or high school teacher and are identifying and maybe even internalizing from these men — they are making the teacher's values and philosophies, etc. their own. Since this process is true the Church would want to see that they have plenty of men involved in the leadership and programs of the Church, or the young men will view the Church as a place run by women. And remember, we just said that these young men are tuning out adult women at this stage in development. Again, what is the reason? Young men need adult men in their lives to provide male modeling in order to know how to grow, how to act and conduct themselves as men and to learn how to cope with life as a man. These are a few factors among many that we can mention as to the tremendous importance of the father in the family.
But what about the young ladies? Do they need Dad? Some in society say no, but are they right? NOT AT ALL. Young ladies, from childhood up, need men and especially Dad involved in their lives. What is the reason for this? Young ladies receive from Dad both their confidence and their competence to function in a world that is full of not only women but men as well when it comes to the many facets of life. Not to have this confidence and competence which they derive from fathers, and older men who take the time to appreciate them, these young ladies may doubt their own abilities to function well in life.
So, men, especially Christian men, what should you do? Become involved in the lives of young people, but especially in the lives of your children and teenagers. Have a men's night out. Go to a place and have a meal with the young men in the family. Then take in a sporting event together, or if Wednesday evening, head to Wednesday night Church. Plan a time on Saturdays once per month to spend a few hours with your sons. Every now and then have them to invite a male friend or two along who has no good role model in his life.
What about your daughters? Have a Dad and daughters' night out. Let them say, within reason, where they want to eat and how they wish to dress. Naturally this must fit within your budget, but just do it. Daughters need their Dad involved in their lives. While out, ask them about themselves and let them talk. And remember, one of the most important gifts that you can give to you child is your time.
Dads, God has blessed you with your children and He wants to use you to help shape and mold them into His image. - Don Cooper
When we hear the word piety it seems as though it's just another one of those religious words preachers throw around that seem so mystical and illusive that they are beyond comprehension. Well let's take a look at the word and see how much we really can understand about it. One aspect of the word piety means that we have an intimate relationship with our heavenly Father. But how does that relationship develop? Consider this, if any of us wants to grow in any relationship one thing we must do is communicate. We must share our thoughts and feelings with the other person. For instance, a husband and wife do not grow in a relationship unless they take time to do things together and to communicate. However, so often we only talk about those subjects that are so very safe, such as the weather or the house.
But what are we saying when we choose to only talk about those safe areas? We stay on those subjects because we do not want to talk about our feelings and our innermost thoughts. Those thoughts are too threatening since we may unveil ourselves and expose ourselves. We men especially will not talk about our feelings because we think it is too unmanly to do so, and we have never been taught to talk about them. We just stuff all those feelings down inside ourselves so that we do not look weak or vulnerable. And talking about the weather is much safer, isn't it?
To grow in a relationship we must take the risk of opening up and sharing ourselves. We must share what we really think. We must take that risk even if it means that we may look both weak and vulnerable. But we just will not do that because it is too exposing and too risky, so we play the games of life, Well, do you think it will rain today? Ah, it might; you never know about the weather. Yes, it's so safe isn't it? After all, we don't cause the rain, do we?
That is what we often do with God. We play it safe with Him. Bless those missionaries and the church and the members; well God, just bless them all, Amen. What about mentioning, God, I am so out of touch with you; I am not right with You, and many times I don't even have the energy or the concern to work on making things right with You. What about a prayer like that? Do we see the point? Piety is a deep intimate relationship with our Father. That means we have to communicate to Him, and be real, open, and honest with Him about our thoughts and feelings. Besides, He already knows them anyway, but we need to communicate them to Him in order to grow closer to Him. Here is the secret; we communicate to God through prayer and He communicates back to us through His Word. That is the secret; prayer and Bible study. The Bible is sixty-six books of the mind of the living God. And the beauty of it all is that we are directly in control of just how close we want to be with God. Yes, the answer is communication. We talk to Him through prayer, and He talks to us through His Word. Therefore, I am directly in control of how close and how intimate I want to be with God.
May we summarize by saying if we want to be close to someone we have to communicate to that person regularly; we must be both honest and open, and we must be the very same way with God. He loves us so much and desires a deep, intimate relationship with us. - Don Cooper
What is a psychopath? This is a good question. A psychopath is a person without a conscience. He often uses people in order to bring excitement, reward, or self-satisfaction to himself. Since he has no conscience, he will do whatever he wants to another person simply to bring pleasure to himself.
How does someone become such a monster? Creating a psychopath can be done very simply: having rules in place when raising a child, but when he breaks the rules, having no consequences that the child has to face. He just simply breaks the rules and no one holds him responsible. As a matter of fact, someone over him may displace the blame onto others, or may even offer the child excuses for his own mistakes. So sad, isn't it? But it happens. Thus, because the child does not have to face the consequences of his actions, he does not develop a conscience.
You may ask, "Where are these psychopaths residing?" The answer is everywhere. They are everywhere. They may be in sales or any business whatsoever that affords them the opportunities to rip people off. They enjoy ripping people off at the other person's expense. Remember, psychopaths are out to please themselves and, often times this happens at the expense of others.
What about the sadistic psychopath who tortures people and murders them after being done with them? How is this monster created? It is scary, but it can happen quite simply. Abusing a child horribly will lead to his becoming determined to take revenge, or being determined to take back control over his life. While being beaten and abused as a child, he loses all sense of control and power over his life. Then later in adulthood, he may punish and torture people just to take back the control that he never had, and in taking someone's life, he takes the ultimate control.
Taking back the control of their lives can easily cause psychopaths to become serial killers. That is one of many reasons for serial killers surfacing. The more they murder, the more they take control. Such killers may very often return to the scene of the crime, or where the body is left, just to experience the thrill again of the taking of a human life. All the thrill of the actual murder returns to many of the killers. If they do not return to the scene or the body, trophies taken from the person killed provide a similar pleasure. They may look at the belongings of the murdered victim and experience feelings similar to those they experienced when they committed the murder. Often the feeling may be a surge of an overwhelming sense of power.
Hitler, in his childhood, wanted to become a priest. In his youth, he was often on his own and frequently slept on the streets. Even though he had Jewish friends, he saw the prosperity of the Jewish people and began building hatred toward them. His father treated him harshly, and Hitler possessed this hatred for the Jews, and the combination of these two things primed him to become a monster. Hitler even had his generals killed if they did not follow his directives. One general who helped Jewish people escape from Germany was ordered to obey the directives of Hitler or drink poison. The next day in 1939, the general wrote a note to his wife and drank the poison, protecting his entire family from being sent to a German concentration camp.
All that is necessary for a psychopath or a sadistic serial killer to emerge is a few simple things. Never hold a child responsible for his actions, and he is on the road to not developing a conscience — a sense of what is right and what is wrong. Therefore, he has no problem using anyone or anything in order to receive pleasure. For the sadistic serial killer, just treat him harshly during childhood and let him sense that he has no control over his life. Let him see that he is at the mercy of evil people who do not care about him, but only want to punish him and keep on punishing him. Those dynamics create one of the most evil monsters imaginable to be set loose on society, and it is all so simply and thoughtlessly done.
The question has often been asked, How many millions of people would society have to sift through before enough sadistic and evil people could be found to run a death camp similar to those of Nazi Germany? The answer is scary. Almost any city in America with a population of 100,000 contains enough sadistic people of serial killer proportion to run such a camp. And guess what? They cannot be spotted based on their appearance. Many of those killers look like humble, ordinary citizens who live in any small community. So be careful out there; be really careful.
God has placed an awesome responsibility on all of us who have a part in raising and teaching children. Please do not take this responsibility lightly. Study God's Word, take classes and learn all you can to properly help train your children, grand children and all those you come in contact with to know God and to walk in His ways.
Be careful not to confuse love and acceptance. Break ups often result with one or both quickly becoming involved with a new partner. This is confusing acceptance for love. Re-engagement or becoming attached on the rebound is confusing acceptance for love.
When parents who are divorced do marry again they may want to pull the family together and do things together since they have been hurting for so long. If the family has teenagers, and they are included, the teens will kick the family apart. They are individuating. They don't want to be with the small children and many times they don't want to be out with the parents.
If a divorced lady meets a new man the children will turn the anger they have for father upon him. They cannot take their anger out on dad, or he will move further away. Thus the new man will receive all the pent up anger they have for dad. She needs to have the new man to come by and repair something, and she needs to not act interested in him at all. Let the children learn him and accept him before she displays interest.
If a divorced lady has small children she does not need to let her date pick her up at the house. Small children will see him as daddy. If she dates others they will become confused. Which one is daddy? She needs to have him around to meet the children only after the two are really serious about their relationship.
Be very careful not to allow siblings to fuss or to criticize sarcastically. This allows them to learn patterns that they carry into marriage.
Always express your opinions positively. You can say, "I have your best interest in mind when saying this; your outfit does not look the best. I wanted to tell you before your date picked you up."
Many Christians have grown up with low self-esteem. Why is that? One possibility is that we have never been taught to find our personal value in God. When this value is not found in God, it is incorrectly sought after in various other areas of life. For instance, we may place our value in work. Thus, we work in order to feel as if our life has value. We may think, I have a job, therefore, I count, but then if we are laid off and cannot find work we may easily feel like nothing. Proper self-esteem must come from God. If we do not find self-esteem in who we are — God's child, then we will be tempted to find it in productivity — how well we do our work. In this case, we feel we only have value if we are producing something.
The longer we continue in life not fulfilling self-esteem God's way the harder it is to change. We must realize that for years we have been programming millions of neurons in our brain to think one way about self-esteem, but now we must program additional neurons to think in a different way. To do this we must change the way we think. Romans 12: 2, says that we become a changed person by the renewing of our mind. We now have to think differently. We begin by believing and saying every day, "My Heavenly Father loves me, values me, cares for me and never takes His eyes and mind off me. But wait a minute — there are six billion people on earth; how can God concentrate on us and all the rest of the people at the same time? Sometimes that makes us feel so unimportant, but it really only shows the amazing wonder and might of our God's mind. He can concentrate on all of us at the same time. That is no problem for God. He can give each one of us His full attention because He is God. His capacity to do that is one of the many unbelievable attributes that God possesses.
Then why do we so often lack self-esteem? Because we have not been taught proper self-esteem from childhood. Each of us must begin right now to understand and to believe God's view of us because the longer we wait the harder it becomes. Self-esteem is based in God. Our worth is in being God's child, not in our work or in accomplishing something great. That does not work anyway because if we have excelled in a job someone can come along and simply do it better. Concerning work, we should do a good job but not to gain self-esteem. We have self-esteem because of who we are -- we are God's child. Now we can go to work not to gain self-esteem, but to be productive. Remember, to gain true self-esteem we must change the way we think and say several times a day, "My Heavenly Father loves me, values me, cares for me and never takes His mind off me." It is so important that we also teach this to our children and grand children every day, as well as to those in Sunday school classes.
What are the results of lacking good self-esteem? We can put a lot of pressure on ourselves in order to succeed, and this may easily create anger. The anger comes because we can never relax. We have to keep the pressure on in order to succeed. In addition, we may procrastinate simply because there is too much pressure on us to do something right. Therefore, we just back away from the project due to all the pressure because it creates a mental block and we can just never get to that work or project.
Another result of low self-esteem is we try harder to be liked by everyone because we think being accepted by others helps to bolster our self-esteem. Since we need these people to like us we can never say no to them when they ask us to do something for fear they will be displeased with us. Thus, we accept the project, but we are angry with them for asking us to do the project. However, since we cannot be angry with the very ones we need to accept us, we turn the anger inward on ourselves. We do not sense it because we have repressed it, but anger that is turned inward almost always ends up creating depression in us.
Turning anger inward also often causes us to become numb. When we continue to sabotage ourselves by allowing others to use us, we become more and more numb to life and to ourselves. Slowly but certainly, we become more like a zombie and less like a person. However, is it not important to serve in God's Kingdom? Yes, but our motives must be right. Serve out of love for God, not from a desire to have others accept us. Then weigh the costs and determine whether or not we have the time to properly do the task or service that is asked of us. That is the difference. If we find we have trouble saying, No, then we need to make a commitment that we will always think and pray for three days or more about any new work or service offered to us before accepting it. That will keep us from volunteering before we have carefully considered the investment of our time and energy. Remember, it is better to do one job or ministry well before taking on two or three. Now you may say, But these other works are important and no one is volunteering. That may be true, but if we take on several jobs and do not have the time or energy for them then one or more of the jobs will always suffer. It is better to do one job well than several only half way.
As we think about all this, what has been our problem? Our problem has been seeking to fulfill our self-esteem incorrectly. We have found it in productivity and not in who we are. We are God's child and we have value because we belong to Him. Again, should we not do ministry? Yes, we should do it, but not to boost self-esteem. Do ministry because we already have selfesteem and acceptance from God, not to get self-esteem from working in minis
Do we have to wait until we have self-esteem before we start a ministry for God? No, not at all! Start a ministry or service that has already been prayed about, well thought out, well planned, and one for which you have the time to invest. If you are not sure what ministry you would like to be a part of, begin with prayer, survey your likes and dislikes, assess your abilities and seek wise counsel. If nothing seems clear then volunteer to help someone who is already in a ministry in order to gain experience and to assess your abilities in that service. Tell the leader of that ministry that you want to volunteer for a period of time to discover whether or not you can add to that ministry of service.
While doing this service for God we need to keep reminding ourselves that our value is in who we are. We are not doing this ministry to gain self-esteem, but to be obedient to God because he wants us and expects us to serve Him. That kind of service should provide satisfaction and not self-esteem. We find self-esteem in who we are; we find obedience and satisfaction in serving Him.
Remember, we have value - not because of what we do, but because of who we are. We are a child of the living God. He loves us, values us, cares for us and never takes His mind off us. So quietly begin to plan in order to enter ministry for God, deriving your self-esteem from Him.
Bible is 66 books of the mind of God, what He has chosen to reveal to us.
Chosen is a word that is so confusing since so much teaching about it has led us astray. Originally, chosen ones or chosen of God was a way that the New Testament expressed and identified those who had accepted the Gospel. Note II Thessalonians 2:13-14 But note it carefully. But we should always give thanks to God for you, brethren, beloved by the Lord, because God has chosen you from the beginning for salvation through sanctification by the Spirit and faith in the truth. Now note verse 14 carefully, very carefully: It was for this He called you through our gospel, that you may gain the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ. They were called by the preaching of the Gospel; they had to hear it and accept it. So they heard the Gospel preached to them, they accepted it, and they were then called the chosen of God.
Christ means the Anointed of God or the Messiah
Faith means the acceptance of testimony. The testimony is the Bible. We have to read it and examine it in order to have faith, Acts 17:11, Note Romans 10:17, So faith comes from hearing, and hearing by the word of Christ. Note John 17:20, I do not ask on behalf of these alone, but for those also who believe in Me through their word. What is He saying here? Jesus prays for all those people who will believe on Him by the preaching and teaching of the apostles. These people will come to believe in Jesus by hearing the Word of God or Word of Christ as it is both preached and taught. Note I Cor. 3:5, What then is Apollos? And what is Paul? Servants through whom you believed, even as the Lord gave opportunity to each one. So the way that the Corinthians came to believe was that they heard Paul and Apollos preach and teach. faith comes by hearing and hearing by the word of God. This is the most elementary definition of faith. Faith may stand for doctrine, etc.
The Fruit of the Spirit is listed in Galatians 5: 22-23. There they sound like gifts that God gives to us and rightly so. But please note II Peter 1: 5-7. There we see that we need to take the Fruit and apply or add it to our lives. How, you may ask? By purposefully being a loving person in an unlovely situation; by being patient in a very impatient situation, etc. God is saying I have given you the Bible; I gave you your brain or mind, now use it. You build character when you practice these things. Please note verse five carefully: add or supply or apply these items to yourself, to your life. In other words the best time to use and practice each fruit is when you are in situations that the very opposite of that fruit is being expressed. Just make up your mind that you are going to act and think the way God wants you to in every situation.
Gospel means good news or good message. The Anglo Saxons translated the Greek word euaggelion into god-spil or good-story. Gospel means good news, or good story. Gospel is the good news about Jesus Christ
Grace means unmerited, unearned, or undeserved favor. Grace is God helping me in a way that it was utterly impossible for me to help myself.
Hope is a futuristic expectation. It is something that is coming in the future and I know that it is coming because of God's promises. It is a reality expected in the future.
Joy in Philippians is an attitude. The attitude is being deeply satisfied with Jesus. When I think of what all He has done for me, presently does and will do in the future, then I become deeply satisfied with Jesus. In general, joy can be my satisfaction and my being pleased with God and all that He does.
Justification means being made right by God. He is the One who wipes our slate clean. He is the One who forgives us our sins at baptism: Acts 2:38; Acts 22:16, etc. To be made right or righteous is the same as being justified. We obey and God makes us righteous or He justifies us. He makes us Just. Our sin is removed.
Lord means God. When Moses said in Exodus 3: 14, whom shall I say sent me, God said to answer, I am that I am. That is the name of God. When the Hebrew Bible was translated into the Greek, the Septuagint (abbreviated, LXX), the name of God was translated KURIOS. In English that word is LORD. When Jesus was called Lord in the first century every Christian knew that the New Testament writers were calling Him God. He is God the Son, the Son of God, the second Person of the Godhead.
Love is thinking the best and doing the best for everyone. It is not an emotion but includes emotion or affect. Once one thinks and does the best over and over again feeling can come and even return. Couples who claim that they have fallen out of love can begin to think the best and keep doing the best for each other and feeling can return. Love is a decision that I make; I choose to love my wife or people of the world. Love is a choice; it is something that I choose to do.
Meekness is being under control. A meek person is one who can keep his temper and can control his attitudes. He remains calmly under control at all times.
Truth means the reality of God. It means that which is real, or it means reality. God's Word is real; you can trust it. God is the only One Who can back up totally what He says that He will do.