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Conscience (Part 1)
Sermon by John W. RitenbaughConscience functions as an inner faculty that decides moral rightness or wrongness by responding to the standards absorbed through education and cultural environment. It operates as knowledge along with the cognitive self, approving or disapproving conduct according to what has been learned rather than any innate set of values installed at birth. Because human nature tends to degenerate when left to itself, conscience readily adjusts, often subconsciously, to whatever moral and ethical climate surrounds it. In an environment sliding downward, it permits actions once regarded as unacceptable, allowing the mind to rationalize and eventually accept lower standards without deliberate resistance. This adaptability appears when false doctrine enters a congregation. As people accept teachings that deviate from apostolic truth, their moral education shifts, their conscience follows the new direction, and ethical restraints weaken. The same process operated in the apostle Paul before conversion, enabling him to persecute Christians with a clear conscience rooted in incomplete education. Similar patterns occurred among those who later justified killing fellow believers as service to God. In each case the conscience remained sincere yet approved conduct contrary to God's way because the underlying standards were faulty. Left unchecked, the adjustment continues through progressive stages: initial horror yields to regret, then rationalization, justification, acceptance, and finally indifference. The result is a defiled or seared conscience no longer able to restrain wrong moral judgments. Conscious effort is therefore required to continue in the doctrine already received, allowing the conscience to be retrained upward by God's revelation. When the heart accepts divine truth, the conscience aligns with it, faith acts, and love is produced. Without such deliberate resistance, conscience follows the prevailing culture downward, confirming that it must be continually evaluated and educated by God's standards rather than trusted as an infallible guide.
Conscience (Part 2)
Sermon by John W. RitenbaughA conscience can only function according to what it knows, and will automatically adjust in the way it is exercised. Conscience follows conduct.
America's Conscience Seared with a Hot Iron
Commentary by David F. Maas'Righteous' Lot represents those who become accustomed to the sin around them, progressively searing their consciences, similar to spiritual neuropathy.
Conscience (Part 3)
Sermon by John W. RitenbaughLawful behavior with a wrong attitude, motivated by pride, displaying lack of sensitivity to others or lack of wisdom, also constitutes sin.
What Sin Does
Article by John W. RitenbaughSin is driven by the attitudes of Satan, the Adversary of God and man, and it is the cause of the misery and destruction we witness everywhere.
This Body of Death
'Prophecy Watch' by Ted E. BowlingThe Romans would torture murderers by shackling them to their victims, a striking picture of a sinful individual's relationship with his iniquities.
Is It Salvational? (Part Three)
CGG Weekly by David C. GrabbeWhen Jesus returns, many will be prohibited from entering the Kingdom! They think they know Him, yet they are just using Him to make themselves important.
Conditioned Response
Sermon by Martin G. CollinsThe defilement that begins in the heart is shaped, molded, and conditioned by the media, training people to override their conscience, desensitizing them.
Elements of Motivation (Part Six)
Sermon by John W. RitenbaughEven though sin offers fleeting pleasure, we must learn to intensely hate sin, regarding this product of Satan as a destroyer of everything God loves.
What Do We Do at the End of an Age?
Sermon by David C. GrabbeIn this unstable world, the only solution is to decisively prioritize our relationship with God. That relationship is the only secure footing at the end of an age.
The First Commandment: Idolatry
Sermon by John W. RitenbaughIdolatry is the most frequently committed sin, seen in five commandments. God challenges us to either defend our body of beliefs or drop them in favor of His.
Joseph: A Saga of Excellence (Part Three)
Sermon by John W. RitenbaughEven allowing for mankind's free moral agency and propensity to stumble, God still works out His purpose, even when people do not know it is for their good.
The Fifth Teacher (Part Three)
CGG Weekly by David C. GrabbeThe fifth teacher in Corinth was not a person but the 'wisdom' of the time, whispered by countless voices, overriding the truth that God had revealed to them.
The Same Plumb Line
Commentary by David C. GrabbeA former president was sexually immoral, lied with impunity, and misused his position. The same is true of the current one. Will we apply God's standard equally?
Every Action Has a Reaction
Feast of Tabernacles Sermon by John W. RitenbaughEvery action has a corresponding reaction; even the little things we do matter. Sin produces increase (the leavening effect) just as righteousness does.
The Olivet Prophecy Paradox
Sermon by David C. GrabbeThe Olivet Prophecy describes both a unique time of destruction and upheaval but also commonplace activities like eating, drinking, and marrying. How can this be?
Purpose-Driven Churches (Part 1)
Sermon by John W. RitenbaughDespite the growing popularity of Purpose-Driven churches, national immorality is still increasing. The 'emerging church' grows numerically by suppressing truth.
Abraham (Part Nine)
Sermon/Bible Study by John W. RitenbaughGod helps us to overcome our problems in an unraveling process, sometimes taking us back through the consequences of the bad habits we have accumulated.