Be Thou An Example

                            Two Benefits To Being a Christian                                                                         Noah Olson Something that only Christians can expirience. Something that is of joy. Something we will talk about today. Today I have chosen two benefits we Christians have that the world cannot have. I want to focus on what the joys of being of the church are, and how maybe by those joys we can turn others to Christ. Firstly and simply, we Christians are condemned to Hell no more. Now...... let us be careful with this phrase, for in more simpler terms only those who endure to the end will be saved. As Romans 8:1 says There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit. Only those who live unto Christ Jesus will not go to Hell. Now this verse does not prove the doctrine of "ONCE SAVED ALWAYS SAVED" but simply tells us that we Christians if we are faithful UNTIL dea

Do you know the Shepherd? Jesus speaks in parables many times, but I want to take a few short minutes to look at a particular one. If you look in John 10:1-18, He gives a parable about a Shepherd. While we can take many things away from these verses, I want to look at two. First of all, are you of the sheepfold? We see that there is only one way to enter the sheep and be known of the Shepherd and that is through the door, which is Christ (vs. 7). We see in John 14:6 that Jesus says, “I am THE way, THE truth, and THE life. No man cometh unto the Father, but by Me.” Jesus is the only way to be added into the flock. We also see that the flock is the church and that the only way to be added into it is baptism (Acts 2:47, Galatians 3:27). Are we of the flock? And if we have been added to the flock, are we listening to our Shepherd? We see in the parable how obedient the sheep were to their Shepherd and didn’t listen when others tried to lead the sheep away. Are we living after God’s word

                               Questions On Denominations                                                                 By: Noah Olson Question:    I want to ask you three questions about denominations. Please answer them with  Biblical truth.                      1) Are there Christians scattered in various denominations?                      2) What is wrong with denominations?                      3) Is the Church of Christ a denomination? Answer:  I will answer them with the truth and only the truth. A very good set of questions that must be answered. Someone in the member of the church, said that we don't need to teach our children about the denominational doctrines because they might fall prey to them and follow them. But the preacher asks how will they know how to refute them and bring those people to Christ if they don't know their ways? We as Christians are commanded to preach the word(2 Tim 4:2) and when someone asks us about the Word of God, we are

People love to talk. Even the most quiet of people, when given the right topic, can gab on and on and on. Preachers are especially notorious for this phenomenon. When a preacher is given the opportunity to preach, he won’t stop until everyone’s left or fallen asleep! If you ask him why he preaches, he’ll quote you 2 Timothy 2:4, "Preach the word; be instant in season, out of season; reprove, rebuke, exhort with all longsuffering and doctrine.” I guess preachers think it’s there job therefore to have their audiences suffer long! The only reason you should be upset at a preacher is if: A) he is preaching false doctrine; or B) he is preaching truth and you are living in sin.  In Acts 3 and 4, Peter and John preached and performed a miracle in the temple. Acts 4:1-2, “And as they spake unto the people,the priests, and the captain of the temple, and the Sadducees, came upon them, Being grieved that they taught the people, and preached through Jesus the resurrection from the de

                              Be Thou An Example Like Joseph                                                                        Noah Olson One Biblical Character that I love to go to for an example is Joseph. Looking back at his life we can see that he was one who was faithful unto the almighty God. I want to look at 3 different things today. Temptation, Forgiveness, and Love. As we look at Joseph's example, let us try to mirror our example to one faithful character. Joseph throughout his life was faced with many trials. He was faced with the hatred of his brothers, (Gen 37:4) the betrayal of his brothers by beating him and selling him(Genesis 37:12-36), and being asked to commit fornication twice.(Gen 39:7-12) But throughout all of this, he found grace in God's eyes.(Gen 39:4)  With the examples shown, he resisted the temptation and followed what God would have him to do.. (Gen 39:9). Are we willing to face temptation like Joseph? Are we willing to resist the devil?

Thomas Edison once said “The secret of success is focus of purpose.” This is true for the Christian today. If we are going to succeed in religion, and if we are going to receive that crown of life at then end of our lives, then we must have a purpose -we must have a goal in our mind constantly.  In Hebrews 12:1-2, the Hebrews writer said “Wherefore seeing we also are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset  us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us, Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of  our  faith; who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God.”  The writer said again, “let us run ... the race that is set before us, Looking unto Jesus....” Whenever you drive at night, do you use your headlights? Whenever you drive in unfamiliar locations, do you use your Siri? Whenever we drive,

When we get baptized and become Christians, we gave ourselves fully to God. We sing the song at camp Pierce My Ear, “Pierce my ear, o Lord, my God. Take me to your door this day. For I will serve no other God. Lord, I’m here to stay.” . It comes from Exodus 21:2-6. That is an example of how we should be as Christians. When we make that commitment, much like the servant, it’s for life. Some have said that Ivan the great went to go be married, under one condition, that he be baptized. When the 500 soldiers he took with him heard this, they decided to be baptized too, but they were unsure on what to do since they knew if they were Christians, they couldn’t carry on being the bloodthirsty warriors they were. So, they came up with a solution. When the priest went down into the water with them, the soldiers drew their swords and held them above the water. They wanted to give themselves to God, but not all of themselves. They didn’t wanna give up their past or the lives they were living. Ps

I think a lot of times we “water down” parts of the Bible because we teach them to children. Zacchaeus is one that I noticed recently I didn’t know much about. I knew stuff about him, but mainly just the stuff we sing in the song as kids. Even when reading through it, it seems like the mentality most times is that it’s just a “kid’s story” and miss out on a lot of the details we can learn from. (Luke 19:1-10) We see here that he was a tax collector. If you look back at how tax collectors were at the time, you see that they were hated among most, if not all, people. They were given what to tax the people by the Roman government and only they knew what that number was, so often times, they would overcharge people and keep the extra money for themselves. And seeing as it says that Zacchaeus was rich, that could have been what he did. We see that he still wanted to see Jesus. When Jesus saw him and said that He would come to his house, we see the reaction from the people in the crowd. Th