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In this episode we continue our discussion of miracles and whether or not they have ceased. We begin by looking at that Paul wrote to the church at Corinth about the spiritual gifts they had and how they were to use them. We find out that the gift of prophecy was more important than the gift of tongues. We note that Paul says the gift of tongues were a sign to unbelievers. Paul reminds them that God is not the author of confusion and what they did with the gifts could not contribute to a confused assembly or worship. All things had to be done decently and in order. We note that Paul tells the wives of the prophets to ask their husbands any questions they may have had at home, so they didn't interfere with the reception of the prophecies in the church. We look at the time Philip was preaching in Samaria where Simon the sorcerer was. Some of he Samaritans obeyed the gospel and were baptized, and Simon did as well. We talk about the fact that even though Philip could perform miracles, he could not cause the Samaritan Christians to receive the Holy Spirit. It took the laying on of the hands of the apostles for them to receive the Holy Spirit. We also look at the example of Paul finding some disciples at Ephesus who he asked if they had received the Holy Spirit. They had not and we discuss the fact that it took the laying on of Paul's hands to accomplish that. We discuss more about the gifts of the Holy Spirit, how they were passed on and if they lasted. We note that Paul said there were gifts that were more important than the extraordinary, supernatural gifts. We talk about them. Listen to this 30-minute study to learn when the gifts ceased and why they did. Have your Bible handy so you can verify what we are saying. There is a transcript provided for your convenience.

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In this episode we continue our study of miracles by asking if they exist or happen today as they did in New Testament times? We note that just about all of Jesus testimony or preaching was verified by miracles. We talk about what Nicodemus said about that as well as other passages that John wrote. We mention that references to the miracles performed at that time can be found in secular writings of the time. Before discussing the gifts of the Holy Spirit, we are reminded again that the Holy Spirit fell independently upon individuals only three times and look at those times. We begin our study of the gifts of the Holy Spirit by noting that they are discussed by Paul in 1 Corinthians chapters 12, 13 and 14. We talk about the purpose of the gifts by noting they existed while the words were being preached and written down and before all of the New Testament words were delivered. We note that Paul said that while this was being done, the gospel was proclaimed to whole world at that time. We look at 1 Corinthians 12 where Paul writes about the diversities of gifts. We talk about Jesus' prayer for unity among His people and how the gifts of the Holy Spirit ensures the unity of the words received and taught. Paul identifies the gifts and we note them in this episode. We talk about how Paul uses the human body and some of its members to show the purpose of the spiritual gifts to the local church at the time. We look at what Paul says about there being a more excellent way than the Holy Spirit's gifts. Paul writes about the gift of tongues and prophesy and notes why one is better than the other. We run out of time before we can finish this discussion. So, we will start there next week. Take about 30 - minutes to listen in on our discussion. Have your Bible handy so you can verify what we are saying. There is a transcription of this Buzzsprout episode provided for your convenience.

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In the last episode, we talked about when the apostles were baptized in the Holy Spirit on Pentecost in Acts chapter 2. We  then began discussing when Cornelius  and his family and friends were baptized in the Holy Spirit as recorded in Acts chapter 10. We read the entire chapter, 48 verses, in sections with short comments regarding what was recorded. We noticed that in verses 1 through 8 Cornelius is described as an Italian military man and consequently a Gentile and a devout man. These verses describe how Cornelius was addressed by an angel and told to go to Joppa and seek Peter the apostle. In the next section, verses 9-16, Peter has a vision to teach him that Gentiles are acceptable to God under the New Testament just as Jews are. In verses 17-33 we note that those Cornelius sent to seek Peter arrived to tell Peter to come to his house. At his house, Peter and Cornelius described what they were told. The record of Peter's sermon is contained in verses 34-43. In verses 44-48 we find that the Holy Spirit fell upon all those who heard the word. We discuss what Peter said. In particular the fact that God shows no partiality and accepts any who will obey Him. We discuss what Peter said in Acts 2:38 and note that even though the Holy Spirit fell on those in Cornelius' house, they were still commanded to be baptized in water, the name of the Lord. We have seen two examples of the baptism of the Holy Spirit and we believe these are the only ones in the New Testament except the special occasion when the Holy Spirit descended upon Jesus in Marl 1:10. In the next episode, we will begin looking at the gifts of the Holy Spirit and the miracles related to that. Take about 30-minutes to listen in on our discussion. Have your Bible handy so you can verify what we are saying. There is a transcript of this Buzzsprout episode provided for your convenience.

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We begin this episode by noting that on the day of Pentecost, according to Acts 1:1-4 that the Jewish apostles were filled with the Holy Spirit or baptized in the Holy Spirit and spoke in languages or tongues that they never learned. We discuss the fact that this occurred for a special reason which was to be able to speak in the foreign languages of the Jews that were there for Pentecost so they could teach them the gospel. We look at what Peter had to say at that time when he referred to Joel's prophecy about that occasion. We read what Peter said to those gathered and note that there were three thousand individuals who repented and were baptized and that Jesus added them to His Church, the Church of Christ. We note that all of the miracles that Jesus performed had their effect immediately. We look at the next time the baptism of the Holy Spirit occurred which was upon Cornelius, an Italian military officer and his household, who were all Gentiles. The record of this is in Acts 10 verses 1 through 48. This was necessary to convince Peter and the other Jews that the Gentiles were also acceptable to God and were required to obey the gospel just as the Jews were. We begin reading the passages in Acts 10 and run out of time before finishing the reading. We will start the next episode by beginning our reading at Verse 23 and finish through to verse 48. We will then discuss what Cornelius and his household did. Take about 30-minutes to listen in on our discussion. Have your Bible handy so you can verify what we are saying. For your convenience, there is a transcription of this Buzzsprout episode provided.

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We continue to lay the scriptural groundwork to learn if miracles exist today. We noted again that the Hebrew writer tells us that in the Old Testament, God spoke to the patriarchs through the prophets, but now speaks to us through Jesus. We noted in the last lesson that we don't receive God's Word in any other way today than by hearing, reading and studying the bible. We looked at the passages that teach us that in the last lesson and we mention those passages in this episode. We talk about the Christians in Berea who we are told that they searched the scriptures to make sure what the apostles were telling them was true. We discuss what Paul said about the gospel and what it consists of. In that discussion we note that there were a lot of witnesses that were with Jesus after He was resurrected including the apostles. Jesus told the apostles a number of things that would occur in Jerusalem. We note what is said about Pentecost and what happened on that occasion that relates to the subject of miracles. We point out in this episode that Jesus said He didn't teach the apostles everything they needed to know and He would send the Holy Spirit to teach them all truth. We note that John says that Jesus performed more miracles than what are recorded in the Bible. Those that are recorded are designed to prove who Jesus is. We will continue in the next episodes to look at the miracles performed by others in the New Testament and discuss the reason they were performed. Take about 30-minutes to listen in on our discussion. Have your Bible handy so you can verify what we are saying. There is a transcript of this Buzzsprout provided for your convenience.

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In this episode, Arnie, Fred and Glenn talk about whether miracles exist today. Remember that as members of the Church of Christ, we believe, teach and trust the Bible as being the revealed Word of God as the scriptures teach us. We discuss two of these scriptures to begin this episode. We note that Paul told the Hebrew Christians how God communicated to those in the Old Testament as well as how He communicates to us today. We talk about this. Next, we look at a passage that tells us that we must use what the Bible says when we are teaching or preaching to others. We note that many people today point to a lot of things that happen as being miracles. We begin by looking at the miracles in the Bible to help us decide if miracles, signs, or wonders occur today. As we look at Bible passages that relate to miracles that were performed by Jesus and His apostles, we learn that all of them are actions that are outside of the laws of nature. It is something done that is supernatural and not explained from natural law such as bringing a person back to life who was dead for 4 days. We find that in the New Testament that we are told that miracles, signs and wonders are done to confirm the speaker as one teaching or preaching the truth and to confirm the truth itself. We look at the Bible passages that teach us that is true. We note that we are given a warning to be very careful with God's Word, to give, "more earnest heed to the things we have heard." We read a number of scriptures that tell us about some of the miracles, signs and wonders that were done. In particular, we look at what Jesus said about the miracles, signs and wonders He performed and why He did them. The miracles confirmed the words recorded in the Bible as being complete in the first century and those words tell us not to add to the words that were confirmed nor take away from them.   Once those words were confirmed in the first century, the miracles ceased. Take about 30-minutes to listen to our discussion in this episode. Have your Bible handy so you can verify what we are saying. There is a transcript of this Buzzsprout episode provided for your convenience.

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We begin this episode by noting that Calvinism conflicts with God's character by teaching that God decided who would be saved and who would be lost before He created anything. This unconditional election contradicts God's justice, His love, His impartiality, His goodness, and His mercy. God created mankind as free moral agents who can choose to obey Him or not. We move on to the last portion of Calvinism, which is limited atonement, the L in the TULIP acronym. Limited atonement says that Christ died only for the elect, those God unconditionally elected to be saved. Of course, if God had already decided who would be saved, there would be no need for Christ to die. We note some passages that say that Jesus died for the world, for all, and for everyone which easily contradicts the false doctrine of limited atonement. We look at what Peter says about Jesus dying for the false teachers who would be among the people. We discuss where Paul said that Christ and God don't want any to perish, even the wicked. They want them to repent, turn from their sins and obey the gospel. We continue to look at Bible passages that say Christ died for all people, not a select few as Calvinism teaches. We look at the first gospel sermon Peter preached on Pentecost and note that of the thousands who were there, it was those who gladly received the word who were baptized. They were told to save themselves from the perverse generation of the day. There were three thousand who chose to do so by obeying what Peter told them they must do to save themselves. Take about 30-minutes to listen in on our discussion. Have your Bible handy so you can verify what we are saying. There is a transcript provided of this Buzzsprout episode for your convenience.

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We continue our discussion of the Calvinist Doctrine identified with the acronym TULIP. In this episode, we talk about unconditional election which is the U in TULIP. This is believed, taught and followed by many in denominational churches Unconditional election claims that before creation God chose certain individuals to be saved and certain individuals to be lost in hell. We will discuss the fact that the Bible consistently teaches that election is conditional based on one's faith and the result of that faith or obedience. We read John 3 verse 16 and include other verses in its context. We talk about the fact that in the context, the individual is doing something in order to come to the light. We look at a number of passages that say that an individual must obey what God and the Lord say in the New Testament. If God had already determined who would be saved and who would be lost, these passages would mean nothing to us. There are a number of passages that say we must obey the Lord's commandments in order to know Him. We look at those and again note that these passages prove unconditional election to be a false doctrine. God also commands all men everywhere to repent. This is another action the men must make the choice to obey and do. So, this leads us to discuss the fact that the Bible says that God desires all men to be saved. We look at what Paul told Timothy about God wanting all men to come to a knowledge of the truth which is the means of leading men to salvation when they obey it. We talk about how this relates to unconditional election. We ran out of time, so we'll have to finish this subject next week. Take about 30-minutes to listen in on our discussion. Have your Bible handy so you can verify what we are saying. There is a transcript of this Buzzsprout episode provided for your convenience.

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We begin this episode completing our discussion of Total Depravity which is the T in the acronym TULIP which describes Calvinism. This false teaching is found in most denominations and begins when people are taught that we inherit sin from our parents which began with Adam and Eve. We talk about Paul telling the Christians in Ephesus that we are created for good works, the Hebrew writer says that sin is something that one does willfully and finally, Peter says we will all be judged for not obeying the gospel and living faithfully. We move on to the next portion of the TULIP doctrine which is represented by the letter I which stands for the false doctrine of irresistible grace. We discuss how this doctrine says that the Holy Spirit's inward call cannot be resisted. We look at what Stephen told those Jewish leaders as they were getting ready to stone him, how they resisted the Holy Spirit just as their fathers did. We look at what Jesus said concerning Jerusalem's unwillingness to accept His protection. We note that God's grace is offered to all, not just a select few.  We discuss a number of passages that show this. We then note that salvation is presented to us as an invitation, not an irresistible force. We see that in the last chapter in the Revelation the invitation to come appears three times and is to all people universally. We talk about the fact that making choices is discussed in a number of passages and is incompatible with the compulsion demanded by irresistible grace. We note passages that discuss people who obeyed the gospel and then decided to leave it, showing us, that people have the free will to choose to do so. We look at what Isaiah wrote concerning the Lord pleading with His people to obey Him and return to Him. The implication is that they could and did refuse. This is inconsistent with the false doctrine of irresistible grace. Our conclusion is that grace is certainly powerful, but not irresistible. Take about 30-minutes to listen in on our discussion. Have your Bible handy so you can verify what is being said. There is a transcript of this Buzzsprout episode provided for your convenience.     

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We note from our last session that a Christian can fall away from grace and be lost. We also noted that a fallen Christian can be restored to that state of grace by repenting and confession one's sins to God and He will forgive him. We noted that Paul told the Christians in Ephesus to take up the whole armor of God in order to withstand Satan's fiery darts and we pointed out that if there was no danger of falling away because of Satan's attacks, that passage would not be needed.  We move on in this episode to discuss the false doctrine of what is called Total Depravity which is taught and believed by many who call themselves Christians. Total Depravity teaches that humans are sinful from birth having inherited the sins of their parents. This sin originated with Adam and Eve who passed it to their children and ultimately to the entire human race. We discuss those passages in Genesis where Adam and Eve were deceived by Satan to disobey what God had commanded them. We talk about the consequences of sin and in particular what God said to Adam, Eve and Satan. David spoke of his sin in Psalm 51 and we discuss the correct understanding of what he said. Those who teach Total Depravity misapply this passage along with a number of others. We point out that in Genesis Chapter 8, the Lord says our hearts become evil in our youth, not our birth. We continue this session by discussing what causes sin and the fact that each individual must makes choices of right or wrong that result in sin. Infants and young children have no knowledge of right and wrong. They must be taught the difference by their parents. Our last point in this discussion is to look at what Jesus said concerning who is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven.  Jesus used a little child to answer that question. We close this session out by talking about the fact that sin always is a choice just as doing right is always a choice. We read and comment on several passages that show this. Take about 30-minutes to listen in on our discussion. Have your Bible handy so you can verify what we are saying. There is a transcript of this Buzzsprout episode provided for your convenience.