After Jesus ascended back to the Father, two angels appeared with a very specific message. Acts 1:9–11 (ESV) 9 And when he had said these things, as they were looking on, he was lifted up, and a cloud took him out of their sight. 10 And while they were gazing into heaven as he went, […]

We saw last night that the kingdom of God was established in the first century.  There is no need to wait for the kingdom to come because it is already here, and it is the Lord’s church.  When Jesus comes back, it will be to get the kingdom He set up the first time He […]

A part of the good news that Jesus preached when He was here on earth was that the kingdom of God was at hand. Matthew 4:17 (NKJV) 17 From that time Jesus began to preach and to say, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.” This was the ongoing message of Christ throughout […]

In this series on the Lord’s church, we have seen that first-century Christians did not have the luxury of having the completed New Testament in written form, at least not during most of the century.  They survived without it because many possessed the miraculous measure of the Holy Spirit, which they received by the laying […]

The Lord’s church was a miraculous church in the first century.  The apostles of Christ were guild by the Spirit, having been baptized with the Holy Spirit (John 16:13; Acts 1:5), possessed miraculous powers, and could transfer those powers to others by laying hands on them (Acts 8:18-19).  When the apostles would establish a new […]

Those who believe that the miraculous age continues today seem to make the same mistake that the saints at Corinth made—elevating the gift of tongue speaking over the rest of the gifts.  All charismatic churches may not claim that they have seen the dead raised, but they do all claim to speak in tongues regularly.  […]

The miraculous age ended by the end of the first century.  No one today can speak in tongues.  There are no living prophets today.  No one is raising the dead, healing the blind, or making it so the lame can walk again.  Those miracles have ceased. How can we be sure that miracles have ceased?  […]

In last night’s blog, I indicated that miracles have ceased.  I looked at it simply from a logical standpoint, pointing out that if miracles were still going on today, they would be of the same nature as they were in the first century.  The fact that they are not says volumes about the veracity of […]

In the early twentieth century, there was a so-called revival of Pentecostalism.  Pentecostalism describes a religious movement more than it does an organized church.  There are what we call Pentecostal churches, the largest of which are the Assemblies of God and the Church of God in Christ, but there is a spirit of Pentecostalism in […]

We all know that God desires that His people praise Him through music.  The question is, “What kind of music does God desire?”  We have made the scriptural case for singing praises to God without the accompaniment of musical instruments.  There is absolutely no doubt that this is what the first-century church did under the […]