There is no more satisfying statement to the New Testament believer than John’s on the Isle of Patmos, “I was in the Spirit on the Lord’s Day” (Rev. 1:10). That says everything to us. John was a believer who possessed the Holy Spirit, who, though no one else cared what he did that day, made […]
You are browsing archives for
Author: Rick Shrader
In The Law of Christ
When Paul wrote that if we walked in the Spirit we would not fulfill the lust of the flesh (Gal. 5:16) and that if we bore one another’s burdens we would fulfill the law of Christ (Gal. 6:2), he was lifting us to higher ground than we commonly know. To the Romans he wrote, “for […]
Why We Love The Brethren
Love is one of those things that almost all people think they possess. Brotherly love is something that almost all believers would say they possess and practice as well as most Christians. We know God has loved the world of people, that believers ought to love other believers, and yet we also know that there […]
In Jesus’ Name
12 Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that believeth on me, the works that I do shall he do also; and greater works than these shall he do; because I go unto my Father. 13 And whatsoever ye shall ask in my name, that will I do, that the Father may be glorified in […]
The Providence of God and why we are tha...
“In every thing give thanks: for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you” (1 Thes. 5:18). “Giving thanks always for all things unto God and the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ” (Eph. 5:20). One of the most difficult things for us to do is to give God […]
Apostasy, Then and Now
I think we have finally gotten over any love of Halloween in our churches. That pagan holiday with its ghosts and goblins, witches and broomsticks, can thankfully be gone from our church calendars. I don’t know of any Christian church that celebrated it this year. When the origins of customs remain unknown and harmless (such […]
Is Holiness A Doctrine?
I was born in 1950. The last half of the twentieth century and now into the first half of the twenty first has been an interesting time to be alive. In addition to the fast and ever-changing world in which we live, I think the church life of the average American believer has been an […]
Things that Peep and Mutter
“And when they shall say unto you, Seek unto them that have familiar spirits, and unto wizards that peep, and that mutter: should not a people seek unto their God? for the living to the dead? To the law and to the testimony: if they speak not according to this word, it is because there is no […]
Hiding The Gospel From Faith Alone
No thinking person likes it when a salesman beats around the bush before explaining the reason he’s talking with him. Who likes to get those dinner-time calls asking for someone by name, as if it were an old friend, that turn out to be telemarketers? Beating around the bush, bait and switch, hawking one’s wares, […]
The Bema Seat of Christ
The Bema Seat of Christ is the Judgment Seat of Christ. “Bema” is the transliteration of the Greek word and “Judgment” is the usual English translation of that word. Paul appeared at Gallio’s bema seat in Corinth (Acts 18:12), at Herod’s bema seat in Caesarea (Acts 23:35), and at Nero’s bema seat in Rome (Acts […]