The local church is made up of individual believers. Each believer comes into the church by testimony of his faith in Christ exhibited by believer’s baptism. The local church is the earthly expression of the body of Christ and must keep itself pure, by all human means, of unbelief within its members. Only in this […]
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Author: Rick Shrader
The Local Church: A Unique Entity
I remember hearing an older preacher say that he grew up in church and was bored most of the time. Frankly, I cannot relate to that because it wasn’t my experience at all. I certainly did not know much of what went on in the whole church nor did I understand the complexities of church […]
The Wiles of the Devil
Few studies in the Bible have greater impact on our lives than knowing our arch enemy, Satan. In our little world of empires and dictators, nuclear weapons and terrorists, space travel and internet, we often forget that the Scripture tells us “we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities and powers, against the […]
Pleasing God
For this cause we also, since the day we heard it, do not cease to pray for you, and to desire that ye might be filled with the knowledge of his will in all wisdom and spiritual understanding; That ye might walk worthy of the Lord unto all pleasing, being fruitful in every good work, and […]
How Relevant is Relevancy?
For a generation now the church has been concerned about whether or not the world is listening to our message. Books and articles continue to bemoan our plight of a decreasing effectiveness in evangelism and church attendance. This has caused many to make drastic changes to the methodology and polity of the church. But even […]
Does the Rapture Still Make Sense? (Part...
The rapture of the church still makes sense to the premillennial, dispensational position. Because God’s plan for Israel and the Church are different, the Church is not appointed to the time of Israel’s tribulation. Also, because God’s promises to Israel are taken literally, the events surrounding the Day of the Lord (judgment, return in glory, […]
Does the Rapture Still Make Sense? (Part...
I grew up listening to prophetic preaching. There was no doubt that this preaching was premillennial as well as dispensational. The rapture was always presented as pretribulational (occurring before the great tribulation period). For me these were grand days of my young adulthood. The church I grew up in was large with well-known guest speakers […]
Let the Church be the Church (Part 2)
Having shown that our conservative, traditional churches are not guilty of legalism, it is also necessary to show that our familiar form of local church polity is still closer to the New Testament pattern. Paul’s letter to the church at Galatia was written mostly to combat (true) legalism, but it was also written to expose […]
Let the Church be the Church (Part 1)
There is a common canard today that our conservative churches are full of legalists. We have been called grace killers, fighting fundamentalists, Pharisees, and a host of other colorful descriptions. The charge of legalism, of course, is not only false but is a misleading and sometimes dishonest accusation. The truth is that there is no […]
Jesus in the Midst
We often talk about Jesus being the center of our lives but we are not always so consistent in showing it. John was on the Isle of Patmos for the Word of God and the testimony of Jesus Christ when Jesus appeared to him standing in the midst of the seven golden candlesticks (Rev. 1:12-13). […]