Shortly before His death, Jesus spoke to His disciples about love – the love He had for them and the love they were to have for Him.

“Greater love has no one than this, that one lay down his life for his friends. You are My friends if you do what I command you” (John 15:13-14).

Jesus would soon demonstrate His love for His disciples and all mankind. Even though He had the authority to call down twelve legions of angels to prevent Him from going to the cross (Matthew 26:52-53), He willingly surrendered His life to make that sacrifice for us (John 10:18). Paul reminds us that Jesus did this “while we were yet sinners” (Romans 5:8). Jesus did not just say that He loved us, He showed it clearly for all to see.

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I recently finished reading Aaron Erhardt’s book, Coming to Christ: A Study of the Detailed Conversions in Acts. As you can probably gather from the title, this book examines the conversion accounts in the book of Acts in order to show the consistent pattern for God’s plan of salvation.

Aaron does a good job explaining these passages in a way that is easy to understand. The Scriptures teach the essentiality of baptism for salvation and Aaron points this out in every case. Of course, much of the religious world denies that baptism is necessary for salvation. So Aaron also has a chapter addressing several arguments that are made against baptism.

The material in this book would be good for anyone who needs to learn what the Bible says about obeying the gospel. It is also good for Christians so that they might be prepared to teach others who are outside of the body of Christ and be equipped to show them what God requires of man.

You can learn more about this book by visiting the author’s website: Erhardt Publications.

Children grow up learning about Noah and the ark. As adults, we study the record of the flood and strive to learn the lessons it teaches – why it happened, how Noah was saved, Noah’s example of obedience, as so on. But there are also important lessons for us that came immediately after the flood. We will notice a few in this article.

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The local church is God’s “missionary society” — the organization through which we work to spread the gospel. Though man has concocted many different schemes and systems since the time when Jesus established His church, the Lord’s design is that His message is proclaimed through the work of individuals and local churches. Paul mentions the church in Thessalonica as an example of how this simple arrangement can be successful.

“For the word of the Lord has sounded forth from you, not only in Macedonia and Achaia, but also in every place your faith toward God has gone forth, so that we have no need to say anything” (1 Thessalonians 1:8).

The influence of this congregation affected not just the city in which they were, but also the whole province (Macedonia) and the neighboring province (Achaia). Their reputation had even spread beyond that. While a congregation may certainly support preachers who work in distant places (2 Corinthians 11:8; Philippians 4:15-16), a lot of our focus should naturally be on spreading the gospel locally — starting in our home city and, as we can, move out from there.

This is what the church in Thessalonica did. They were able to reach not just that city, but also Macedonia and Achaia. We are not told exactly what they did. But we do see several things mentioned in the New Testament that individuals and congregations can do to spread the gospel in the surrounding area. Let us notice some of these.

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After leaving Samaria, Philip met a eunuch from Ethiopia traveling home from Jerusalem and reading from the prophet Isaiah (Acts 8:26-33). This man wanted to understand what he was reading so he asked Philip, “Please tell me, of whom does the prophet say this? Of himself or of someone else?” (Acts 8:34). At this point, “Philip opened his mouth, and beginning from this Scripture he preached Jesus to him” (Acts 8:35).

Every conversion, whether recorded in the New Testament or those that occur today, will begin with this. The story of Jesus is the heart of the gospel message (1 Corinthians 15:3-4). Jesus is the cornerstone of the foundation upon which we are built (Ephesians 2:19-21). Jesus is “the way, and the truth, and the life” (John 14:6). So Philip preached Jesus, just as we must do today.

The text implies the inclusion of baptism in Philip’s teaching about Jesus. The first thing we see after Luke records Philip preaching Jesus is this: “As they went along the road they came to some water; and the eunuch said, ‘Look! Water! What prevents me from being baptized?’” (Acts 8:36). This would be an odd question if Philip had not already been discussing baptism with the eunuch.

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The sin of adultery is explicitly condemned in Scripture. It was prohibited in the Ten Commandments (Exodus 20:14) which God gave as a foundation for the nation of Israel. In the New Testament, Paul lists adulterers as those who “will not inherit the kingdom of God” (1 Corinthians 6:9). The Hebrew writer tells us that adulterers will be judged by God (Hebrews 13:4). In fact, Jesus gave fornication (which is adultery when committed by a married person) as the only cause that gave one divine permission to put away his spouse (Matthew 19:9).

Not only does God specifically condemn adultery, but society generally looks down upon it as well. The wise man said, “Men do not despise a thief if he steals to satisfy himself when he is hungry; but when he is found, he must repay sevenfold; he must give all the substance of his house. The one who commits adultery with a woman is lacking sense; he who would destroy himself does it. Wounds and disgrace he will find, and his reproach will not be blotted out. For jealousy enrages a man, and he will not spare in the day of vengeance” (Proverbs 6:30-34). This passage does not justify stealing while condemning adultery — both were condemned (Exodus 20:14-15). But his point is that man tends to be sympathetic toward one who steals solely out of hunger. For the adulterer, there is no excuse in the eyes of man — particularly with the husband of the wife who participated in the affair. Instead, the adulterer becomes a target for wounds, disgrace, and vengeance.

Despite the fact that there are many deterrents to adultery, this sin remains prevalent. Why is that? I believe we can begin to see why as we examine the warnings about the adulteress in Proverbs 7. As she is described in this chapter, we see her doing everything she can to remove the roadblocks that stand between a man and adultery. She wants to portray the sin as not only pleasurable, but also convenient and without consequence. Let us notice some of the roadblocks — those things which help deter us from committing adultery — and see how the adulteress strives to take those roadblocks out of the way.

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Anyone who follows politics and elections has seen dramatic shifts in public opinion. One week a candidate may be at the top of the polls. The next week he starts to fall. Then the week after he is at the bottom of the field. This is just one common example of how quickly the public can go from having a favorable opinion of a person, product, or position to having an unfavorable opinion. When we study the gospel of John, we also see this type of shift in the public’s opinion of Jesus.

After Jesus performed a miracle and fed five thousand people (John 6:1-14), this great crowd He had attracted turned into — at least for a moment — a group of zealous followers. He was so popular with the people at this time that “they were intending to come and take Him by force and make Him king” (John 6:15). At this point in time, these people were willing to risk their own lives and fight in a revolution against the mighty army of the Roman empire in order to place Jesus on the throne. Though their concept of the Lord’s kingdom was flawed, their zeal and determination was certainly commendable.

Unfortunately, this crowd’s zeal was short-lived. By the end of this same chapter, “many of His disciples withdrew and were not walking with Him anymore” (John 6:66). In fact, at the end of John’s gospel, not only were the Jews no longer willing to fight the Romans in order to make Jesus their king, they became enemies to Jesus and loyal supporters of Rome. When the Roman governor Pilate presented Jesus to the crowd, they cried out, “Away with Him, away with Him, crucify Him!” Pilate asked, “Shall I crucify your King?” To which the chief priests answered, “We have no king but Caesar” (John 19:15).

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