Did Jesus Fulfill the Law?

The Apostle Paul warned that “in the last days perilous times will come” (II Timothy 3:1). Jesus warned that as the time for his second coming approaches “because lawlessness will abound, the love of many will grow cold” (Matthew 24:12). Certainly we are living today in increasingly “perilous times,” and witnessing increasingly pervasive lawlessness of historical proportions.

Unfortunately, popular “Christianity,” while historically having some moderating influence on the natural human tendancy toward lawlessness, and encouraging moral restraint, has at the same time tended to encourage lawlessness through erroneous teachings regarding the laws of God. One rather common misunderstanding is the idea that Jesus “fulfilled the law” for us, so we don’t have to, although the idea may not necessarily be stated in such stark terms.

This has been by no means necessarily a teaching of all professing Christian Churches or ministers, but is nevertheless a misunderstanding among many who view themselves as Christians, that has been fostered at least partly by doctrines taught within their churches.

What is the real meaning of Jesus’ statement concerning fulfilling the law, and how does that affect your obligations concerning God’s word?

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Wentzville, MO 63385
USA

What Are True Values?

Not infrequently in public discourse we hear the word “values” mentioned. Many of the issues we face as a nation and a world boil down to a question of values. For example, the questions of abortion, human rights, women’s rights, homosexual rights, religious expression, family, out of control government spending and national debt? Do these issues have anything to do with values?

Nearly every political and social issue you can name touches on the personal values of citizens and the public values of the nation. There is a sense among many people that the United States, as well as other nations, has abandoned sound values and that fact accounts for many of the problems the nation faces, along with the world in general.

The profound changes that have occurred in recent decades in the nation’s values are seen reflected in pathologies such as the dramatic increase in out ­of ­wedlock births, incidence of drug abuse, proliferation of pornography and social changes such as legalization of abortion, same-sex “marriage,” dramatic increases in criminal activity, and many other aspects of personal behavior and public life.

What are values? Are values important, and if so why? Does it matter what your values are? Finally, what are the “true values”? The Bible has answers to the question of values that may surprise you.

The Foundation of Godly Faith

Have you considered the question of what is the foundation of your faith? Or what is the proper foundation of godly faith according to Scripture? The faith of many is on a weak or flawed foundation. It may be on a human personality, on false teachings, on confidence in one’s own opinions or rationalizations, on popular opinion, or what others among their friends and aquaintances believe. It may be in an organization, perhaps a Church.

The faith of one who would be a genuine disciple of Jesus Christ must not be founded on any of the things mentioned above.

In our message titled “The Foundation of Godly Faith” by Rod Reynolds is explained clearly from the Scriptures what your faith must be founded on and how having the right foundation is essential to your relationship with God and how it is of benefit to you spiritually, and how you may go about building and maintaining your faith on the proper foundation.

Copyright © 2024 by Messenger Church of God

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This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.

cogmessenger.org

Messenger Church of God
PO Box 619
Wentzville, MO 63385
USA

Binding and Loosing, Part 2

The idea that God gives to some individual or individuals unrestrained authority to make judgments that only he can make concerning salvation, condemnation, and matters of doctrine and law, reward and punishment, has been a cause of unbounded confusion and immense injustice for vast numbers of people.

What did Jesus mean when he said, “…whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven”? Indeed, did he even say such a thing?

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Messenger Church of God
PO Box 619
Wentzville, MO 63385
USA

How Important Is Doctrine?

Have you given any thought to the question of how important is doctrine to the life of a Christian? Should we be all that concerned about the doctrines taught by the Church we fellowship with? Or is “Church” to be more of a social club where doctrine takes a back seat, and is more or less irrelevant? Does doctrine cause division? And if so, does that mean we should disdain doctrine? How does doctrine affect one’s relationship with God? What is the connection between doctrine and the Holy Spirit? What is the responsibility of the ministry, and of each individual member, with regard to doctrine? It’s very clear from the what the Bible has to say that having the correct understanding about doctrine is of vital importance to anyone who wants to be a Christian as the Bible defines a Christian.

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.

Messenger Church of God
PO Box 619
Wentzville, MO 63385
USA

cogmessenger.org