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Sanctification, Teens, and Self-Control

Feast of Tabernacles Sermon by John W. Ritenbaugh

Young people are responsible for the spiritual knowledge that they have learned from their parents, as well as the custodianship of spiritual blessings.

Fear Not (Part Two)

CGG Weekly by John Reiss

Most of us have been brave on occasion, but perhaps other times we have been timid. What can we do to avoid being a coward when it matters most?

What's Going On Up There?

Article by Staff

Does it seem like your prayers never reach God's throne—that at best they are only recorded on His answering machine? Here is another way to look at prayer.

Make Sure of Your Focus (1998)

Sermon by John W. Ritenbaugh

Our focus should be to seek God's kingdom, reciprocating God's love, committing ourselves to a life of service, fulfilling His purpose without complaining.

A Place of Safety? (Part 5)

Sermon by John W. Ritenbaugh

Obsessing about the Place of Safety is a sure way to disqualify oneself from it. God calls some faithful, zealous ones for martyrdom during the Tribulation.

Idolatrous Suppressors of the Truth

Sermon by Martin G. Collins

When John talks about idols, he is going far beyond things like statues, icons, and crucifixes, but instead anything people focus on first.

The Olivet Prophecy Paradox

Sermon by David C. Grabbe

Some have been perplexed about the apparent paradox within Christ's Olivet Prophecy which, on one hand, describes the end time in human history—so severe that without the intervention of Almighty God, no flesh would survive. But, on the other hand, Christ compares those same days to the ordinary routines of Noah's and Lot's times, namely eating, drinking, marrying, buying, and selling, that is, life carrying on as if nothing were amiss. The paradox can be neutralized by realizing that Christ does not emphasize the prosperity but the suddenness of the destruction, striking when people least expect it. The paradox is also resolved when we realize the incredible ability of people to adapt to suffering such as the victims of the Warsaw Ghetto during WWII when people maintained a sense of "normal life" amid horrific conditions, some heroically, while others betrayed their fellow victims through compromise. Humans have an incredible resilience seeming "normal" even though tribulation. The true danger is not the result of human weapons or disasters, but Almighty God's "days of vengeance" on both Israel and the gentile nations for rebellion and oppression. In this context, unless God shortens those days, all flesh would perish. Adaptability can numb us to sin. Just as elites of the Warsaw Ghetto danced among the corpses, God's people tragically can adapt to lawlessness as their love turns ice cold. God's people must resist adapting to sin and spiritual complacency but stay ready for Christ's unexpected return.

The Agape Evolution

Sermonette by Bill Onisick

In one context, evolution is absolutely real:the transition of one of God's called-out ones from a state of fear to a state of transcendental agape love.

Consequences of a Wrong Focus (Part Two)

CGG Weekly by Clyde Finklea

Contempt manifests itself in bad feelings and wrong attitudes against the source of the problem and against God and the purposes He seeks to accomplish.