In today’s Little Lesson, we’re going to talk about faith and hope. Faith and hope are not the same. And Scripture gives us a very clear explanation that differentiates between the two.
Hebrews 11:1 says that “faith is the assurance of things hoped for.” So clearly faith has an assurance that hope doesn’t have. Hope is always saying “maybe,” but faith is always very confident. Much more confident than is hope.
This is the third Little Lesson where we’ll be discussing this subject of the security of the believer. Is it unconditional, or is it conditional?
When you believe in Jesus, does that guarantee that you have a salvation that there’s no possible way you could forfeit? Or is your security conditional? Conditional upon you continuing in the faith, as evidenced by your continued walk of obedience to the commandments of our Lord Jesus Christ?
We ask for a second time, is it possible for a true Christian to forfeit their salvation, under certain circumstances? I started answering this question in our last Little Lesson.
We’ve looked at 1 Corinthians 6:9-10 where Paul definitely says that certain categories of people who are involved in the most grievous types of sin as a lifestyle—as a practice—will not inherit the kingdom of God.
Today’s question is another good one. We hear it often: can true Christians lose their salvation? First of all, I don’t like how the question is phrased because it implies that you can lose your salvation just like you lose your car keys: totally accidentally, never expecting it. In fact, you don’t even realize it until sometime after you discover that they’re lost.
The answer to that question is: absolutely not. Salvation is very precious and valuable. It’s not something that you get accidentally and, certainly, it’s not something that you lose accidentally.
Today we’re looking at divorce and remarriage a third time. Is it adultery in God’s eyes to be married again after a divorce? Should Christians who were divorced in the past but are now married divorce their current spouses? And, if possible, should they get back to their previous spouses? In God’s eyes, are they still married to their previous spouses?
We’re going to continue talking about divorce and remarriage, particularly the idea that those who have been divorced and remarried need to divorce again because, allegedly, “in God’s eyes,” they’re married to the original spouse because the marriage covenant is unbreakable.
Are you living in adultery if you’ve been divorced and remarried? Let me say right from the start in this Little Lesson that I don’t need to come up with any kind of doctrine to justify myself.
I’m very blessed and fortunate to have married a wonderful woman 38 years ago, and I’m still married to her. And there is no end in sight! Our vows were ’til death do us part, and due in large part to her long suffering, we’re still together.
What do you tell a child—or anyone—who is dying of a terminal disease? Today’s Little Lesson is very much on a serious note, but we do get questions like this one. People face a lot of tragedy.
In fact, most of us, at some point or another in our lifetime, face what could be called tragedy. Some to a greater degree, some to a lesser degree. And during those times we begin to ask questions. We begin to wonder, “What’s going on? Is there a God? If there is a God, does He really care? Because if He cared, it seems like He would do something about this.”
Have you prayed to speak in tongues, but still have not spoken in tongues? What’s hindering you? Today’s article is the third post discussing the subject of speaking in tongues.
Today we’re going to continue talking about speaking in other tongues, which is certainly a biblical topic. You can find it from the lips of Jesus in Mark 16. You can find it throughout the Book of Acts. You can find it in 1 Corinthians 12 and 14.
And speaking in tongues is something that millions upon millions of Christians around the world today would say they’ve experienced and experience on a regular basis during their prayer and devotional times.