How the Church May Use Its Money

Collection Plate

Now concerning the collection for the saints, as I directed the churches of Galatia, so do you also. On the first day of every week each one of you is to put aside and save, as he may prosper, so that no collections be made when I come” (1 Corinthians 16:1-2).

The passage above shows the practice of churches in the first century under the direction of the apostles taking up a collection on the first day of the week. Brethren often cite this as the reason why Christians today continue to give on the first day of each week when they assemble with their local congregations.

But why do we give on the first day of each week? Besides following this example, what is the purpose of doing this? After we put our money in the collection plate, what does the church do with it? Are there any instructions or principles in the New Testament that would inform us about the church’s use of that money? We are going to consider these questions in this article.Continue Reading

The Death of a Pope (01.19.23)

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Plain Bible Teaching Podcast

This week we’re talking about the death of Pope Benedict XVI. The former pope passed away on December 31st. He resigned in 2013 – the first pope to do so since the early 15th century. Of course, many people are taking this time to remember his life and the contributions he made to the Catholic Church and the world in general. But we want to take the opportunity to discuss, not Pope Benedict XVI, but the whole concept of the “pope” and what the Bible says about that.Continue Reading

Southern Baptist Leaders Release Secret Sex Abuser Database (06.09.22)

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Plain Bible Teaching Podcast

This week we’re going to be talking about the sex abuse scandal within the Southern Baptist Convention. After mentioning this briefly a couple weeks ago in our monthly news roundup, I wanted to spend some more time talking about it because there is a lot to discuss. So we’re going to consider some lessons in our episode today.Continue Reading

Monthly News Roundup (03.31.22)

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Plain Bible Teaching Podcast

This is the last episode for the month of March – time for our monthly news roundup. In this episode, we’ll be talking about how politics has affected churches coming out of the pandemic, another church leaving the global Hillsong Church, and defining what a woman is.Continue Reading

Can (Should) Congregations Be “Marked”? (Episode 12)

Plain Bible Teaching Podcast

The question we’ll be considering in this episode was submitted via the podcast question submission form:

Can (should) congregations be “marked”?

If a local church drifts into apostasy, should we warn others about the congregation? If so, how should we do it? Is there some type of “official” designation we can place upon it?

Additional resources:

Do you have a question you would like to submit for a future episode? Fill out the Plain Bible Teaching Podcast question form.

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The Blessing of Autonomy

Church building in the trees

One characteristic of the Lord’s church that makes it different from most churches of men is autonomy. Autonomous local churches are not linked together in or through some larger organizational structure.

Why did the Lord design the church to be this way? Obviously, we cannot always know every reason behind instructions that have been given in the Scriptures. Our responsibility is simply to follow the Lord’s instructions whether we understand the reason behind them or not. However, we can look to the Bible to see what has been revealed that would indicate certain blessings of autonomy.Continue Reading

Who Were the 7,000?

Elijah

Following the showdown with the prophets of Baal, Elijah was forced to flee from Jezebel (1 Kings 19:1-3). He had just participated in a great victory for the cause of the Lord, but because of the opposition he was facing he prayed for the Lord to take his life (1 Kings 19:4). He explained to God why he felt the way that he did:

I have been very zealous for the Lord, the God of hosts; for the sons of Israel have forsaken Your covenant, torn down Your altars and killed Your prophets with the sword. And I alone am left; and they seek my life, to take it away” (1 Kings 19:10).

Elijah believed he was the only one left serving the Lord. Yet there were others. In fact, God told Elijah that there were “7,000 in Israel, all the knees that have not bowed to Baal and every mouth that has not kissed him” (1 Kings 19:18).

Who were these 7,000 individuals about whom the Lord spoke? More importantly, what lessons can we learn from them to apply to us today?
Continue Reading