Obeying the Gospel
If a person wanted to become a Christian, what would he actually need to do? Obeying the Gospel looks into the Scriptures to answer this crucial question, exploring both the “how” and the “why” of becoming a Christian.
The Household of God (August 5)
It is not the church building but the members of God’s spiritual family who make up His “house,” as made clear by the translation “household” …
January
- In the Beginning (January 1)
- Sin (January 2)
- Salvation (January 3)
- The Gospel of Jesus Christ (January 4)
- Obeying the Gospel (January 5)
- Continuing to Obey the Gospel (January 6)
- The Hope of the Gospel (January 7)
- Hearing the Truth (January 8)
- Grieving Our Sins (January 9)
- Counting the Cost (January 10)
- Trusting Our Father (January 11)
- Making the Commitment (January 12)
- Dying with Christ (January 13)
- Keeping the Faith (January 14)
- Sharing the Faith (January 15)
- With What Attitude Should We Come to Jesus? (January 16)
- The Light of the World (January 17)
- Alpha and Omega (January 18)
- In Christ: Reconciliation to God (January 19)
- God Has Made Him Both Lord and Christ (January 20)
- Repent and Be Baptized (January 21)
- Jesus: the Way, the Truth, the Life (January 22)
- Disciples, Christians (January 23)
- Justified (January 24)
- Exulting in Hope (January 25)
- The Obedience of Faith (January 26)
- Crucified with Christ (January 27)
- The Importance of Jesus’ Miracles (January 28)
- There Is No Freedom Except in the Truth (January 29)
- Faith in the Powerful Working of God (January 30)
- The Gospel: The Power of God for Salvation (January 31)
February
- It Is by God’s Grace That We Are Saved (February 1)
- The Words of Eternal Life (February 2)
- Are We Willing to Learn from Our Limits (February 3)
- When Comfort and Confidence Are Dangerous (February 4)
- That We Should Not Perish (February 5)
- Faithful Love (February 6)
- What Sin Is (February 7)
- Do We Deny the Lord’s Diagnosis? (February 8)
- What If We Could Solve Every Problem but One? (February 9)
- Sowing and Reaping (February 10)
- The Horrible Lie We Tell Ourselves (February 11)
- Trusting God’s Chosen Means (February 12)
- Beginning with This Scripture (February 13)
- Appeal to God for a Good Conscience (February 14)
- Despised and Rejected by Men (February 15)
- With His Wounds We Are Healed (February 16)
- Like a Lamb (February 17)
- The Knowable God (February 18)
- All the Fullness of God (February 19)
- The Exact Imprint of God’s Nature (February 20)
- A New Covenant (February 21)
- Written on Their Hearts (February 22)
- They Shall All Know Me (February 23)
- Out of Zion Shall Go Forth the Law (February 24)
- Adam’s Helpless Race (February 25)
- Alive Together with Christ (February 26)
- Perfection, Corruption, Restoration (February 27)
- The Resurrection of the Messiah (February 28)
- This Jesus Is the Christ (February 29)
March
- The Gospel of God’s Kingdom (March 1)
- Zacchaeus: A Lost Soul Needing to Be Saved (March 2)
- Why We Study the Scriptures (March 3)
- Trustworthiness of the Scriptures – 1 (March 4)
- Trustworthiness of the Scriptures – 2 (March 5)
- Seeing the Seriousness of Our Own Sins (March 6)
- The Highest (and Hardest) Kind of Honesty (March 7)
- The Worst Words We Can Imagine (March 8)
- Through Jesus Christ, the Forgiveness of Sins (March 9)
- The Sinner’s Prayer (March 10)
- Born Again (March 11)
- Abraham, the Father of the Faithful (March 12)
- Faith: the Mainspring of Righteousness (March 13)
- Where the Righteousness of God Is Revealed (March 14)
- The Sorrow That Seeks Salvation (March 15)
- God’s Promise to David (March 16)
- An Indestructible Kingdom (March 17)
- A New Creation in Christ (March 18)
- Governed by God (March 19)
- Deferring to God’s Revealed Will (March 20)
- The Way of God More Accurately (March 21)
- Our Relationship to God: Friendship or Enmity? (March 22)
- Without Our Savior, Our Sins Will Kill Us (March 23)
- The Path to Death Does Not Lead to Life (March 24)
- Our Faith Must Be Confessed (March 25)
- Studying ‘the Church’ in the Scriptures (March 26)
- Which Synagogue? Messiah? Church? (March 27)
- What Kind of Heart Is the Lord Looking For? (March 28)
- No Turning Back, No Turning Back (March 29)
- Is Jesus the Only Way? (March 30)
- Come, One and All (March 31)
April
- An Everlasting Dominion (April 1)
- A Different Kind of Kingdom (April 2)
- Kingdom and Church (April 3)
- The Unseen God Is Not Unreal (April 4)
- It Was Foretold That the Messiah Would Suffer (April 5)
- The Messiah’s Humiliation (April 6)
- I Am the Resurrection and the Life (April 7)
- Jesus, the Author and Finisher of Our Faith (April 8)
- The Blessings of the Broken Heart (April 9)
- A New Prophet Like Moses (April 10)
- God’s Promise to Abraham (April 11)
- Kingdom of Priests, Holy Nation (April 12)
- A Child Is Born, A Son Is Given (April 13)
- The King’s Unpromising Birth (April 14)
- The Keys of the Kingdom (April 15)
- The Lordship of David’s Lord (April 16)
- Faith and Reason (April 17)
- Faith and Trust (April 18)
- Baptism Is Immersion (April 19)
- The Return of Elijah (April 20)
- A Tragic Disregard for God’s Requirements (April 21)
- God Will Not Be Trifled With (April 22)
- With All Your Heart and Soul (April 23)
- Setting Apart Christ as Lord in Our Hearts (April 24)
- Do We Really Mean Our Nice-Sounding Words? (April 25)
- We Have To Be Taught What We Need (April 26)
- A Bag with Holes (April 27)
- Repentance from the Heart (April 28)
- You Will Be My People, I Will Be Your God (April 29)
- The Gospel: Words and Power (April 30)
May
- Ezra’s Godly Sorrow (May 1)
- What God Has Graciously Revealed to Us (May 2)
- God’s Glory in the Church and in Christ Jesus (May 3)
- Christ and the Church (May 4)
- Christ Gave Himself Up for the Church (May 5)
- Members of His Body, Nourished and Cherished (May 6)
- The Hand That Made Us Is Divine (May 7)
- The Spacious Firmament on High (May 8)
- Listen to Him (May 9)
- The Scriptures (May 10)
- Responding Rightly to Grace (May 11)
- Soul Health (May 12)
- Don’t We Remember What We Saw? (May 13)
- Knowing God, Eternal Life (May 14)
- A Ransom for All (May 15)
- If Our Concept of God Is Wrong (May 16)
- The Body of Christ (May 17)
- Obtained with Christ’s Blood (May 18)
- We Can’t Exclude God and Still Have Him (May 19)
- The Sin of Self-Sufficiency (May 20)
- The Messiah’s Rule (May 21)
- King of Kings, Lord of Lords (May 22)
- The Churches in Asia (May 23)
- We Prefer (May 24)
- Christ Jesus, Our Hope (May 25)
- Is the Gospel Unlikely? Is the Gospel True? (May 26)
- The Honest Acknowledgment of Our Sins (May 27)
- A Broken and Contrite Heart (May 28)
- From Death to Life (May 29)
- Who Are the ‘People of God’? (May 30)
- When the Old Self Is Crucified (May 31)
June
- The Tempting Lure of ‘Self-Realization’ (June 1)
- Salvation Is Not Earned, but It May Be Forfeited (June 2)
- The Incarnate Word (June 3)
- Sin Strikes Deeper Than We Admit (June 4)
- Jesus’ Final Instructions to His Apostles (June 5)
- Delivered from the Power of Death (June 6)
- From God, for Our Profit (June 7)
- What We Need to Be Saved From (June 8)
- Saved From, Saved For (June 9)
- The Importance of the Apostles (June 10)
- Normative Nature of the Apostles’ Teaching (June 11)
- The Apostles: Doubters Who Became Evangelists (June 12)
- Does Jesus’ Resurrection Really Matter? (June 13)
- Assurance That Jesus Will Be Our Judge (June 14)
- An Insurmountable Objection (June 15)
- Different Soils, Different Hearers (June 16)
- Letting the Scriptures Decide (June 17)
- A Powerful Clue to God’s Nature (June 18)
- That Where I Am You May Be Also (June 19)
- Lessons from Naaman (June 20)
- The Fallacy of Original Sin (June 21)
- Scriptural Teaching About God’s ‘Election’ (June 22)
- God’s Grace Is Not ‘Irresistible’ (June 23)
- The Lord’s Supper, the Lord’s People (June 24)
- God’s Steadfast Love (June 25)
- Learning About the Father From the Son (June 26)
- Jesus’ Mission: He Came to Save Sinners (June 27)
- Learning About Love from God (June 28)
- Away from the Presence of the Lord (June 29)
- The Resurrection of Condemnation (June 30)
July
- Whole Heart, Willing Mind (July 1)
- Present Kingdom, Future Kingdom (July 2)
- Some Strong Statements About the Kingdom (July 3)
- To Him Be Glory and Dominion (July 4)
- What the Heirs Will Inherit: Eternal Life (July 5)
- Saints (July 6)
- The Lion of Judah (July 7)
- The Excitement of Finding the Messiah (July 8)
- Both Just and the Justifier (July 9)
- You Shall Not Add or Take Away (July 10)
- When I See the Blood (July 11)
- You Shall Be Holy (July 12)
- A Dangerously False Sense of Security (July 13)
- Incline Your Heart to the Lord (July 14)
- The Hearts of the Children of Mankind (July 15)
- Wholehearted Repentance vs. Pretense (July 16)
- Josiah, the Tenderhearted (July 17)
- God Heard Their Cry (July 18)
- When We Don’t Want To Be Delivered (July 19)
- Sin Is Always Against God (July 20)
- Life in the Son (July 21)
- A Distinction That Will Be Unavoidable (July 22)
- Those Who Take Refuge in Him (July 23)
- You Never Know Who Will Be Receptive (July 24)
- How Do We ‘Rend’ Our Hearts? (July 25)
- Job’s Faith (July 26)
- Delivered by a Strong Hand (July 27)
- There Arose Another Generation (July 28)
- Once Saved, Is It Possible for Us to Be Lost? (July 29)
- Love’s Fire (July 30)
- Israel’s Day of Atonement (July 31)
August
- What About the ‘churches of Christ’? (August 9)
- Faith: What End Is It Meant to Have? (August 10)
- If God Commands It, We Can Be Courageous (August 11)
- The Value of the Gospel Is in the Resurrection (August 12)
- God’s Wrath Is a Part of His Character (August 13)
- Which Sins Do We Preach Against the Most? (August 14)
- What If We Deny the Incarnation? (August 15)
- The Essential Truth about God’s Son (August 16)
- Reverence vs. Pick and Choose (August 17)
- Is It Possible to ‘Drift’ Away from Christ? (August 18)
- None of Us Has Anybody We Can Look Down On (August 19)
- Humbly Receiving the Word (August 20)
- Humbling Himself, He Became Obedient (August 21)
- Every Knee Will Bow, Every Tongue Confess (August 22)
- Christ’s Weapons Are Not Fleshly (August 23)
- Willful Refusal to Obey (August 24)
- Refreshment in the Lord (August 25)
- When We Reach God’s Goal (August 26)
- What Trust Moves Us to Do (August 27)
- Confessing Our Sins (August 28)
- Seeking the Kingdom of God First (August 29)
- What the Lordship of Christ Means (August 30)
- Choices That Exclude Each Other (August 31)
- Christ’s Ambassadors (August 1)
- The Church Manifests God’s Wisdom (August 2)
- After Becoming a Christian, Then What? (August 3)
- Grace to Help in Time of Need (August 4)
- The Household of God (August 5)
September
- Enter by the Narrow Gate (September 1)
- Nominal Christians (September 2)
- Sensitivity to Sin (September 3)
- Conformity to Christ: Both a Fact and a Process (September 4)
- God’s Way Is Conducive to Humility (September 5)
- Human Progress Is Perilous (September 6)
- The Power of Pentecost (September 7)
- We Don’t Get to Design the Path to God (September 8)
- ‘In the Right Church’ and Still Lost? (September 9)
- If We’re Not Disturbed, We’re Not Listening (September 10)
- Trust, the Only Path to Truth, Is Dangerous (September 11)
- Salvation by Baptism Only? (September 12)
- Forgiveness and Transformation (September 13)
- What If ‘Reason’ Were Just a ‘Natural’ Process? (September 14)
- Appraising Jesus (September 15)
- In Christ, What Are We Saved From? (September 16)
- Rescuing All Three Parts of the Human Mind (September 17)
- Freedom from Slavery to Sin (September 18)
- What ‘Christlikeness’ Means (September 19)
- Keep Yourselves in the Love of God (September 20)
- No Other Name by Which We Must Be Saved (September 21)
- Obeying the Gospel Means Trusting in Christ (September 22)
- Individually . . . and Together (September 23)
- Eternal Glory (September 24)
- Longing to Put On Our Heavenly Dwelling (September 25)
- The Kingdom of Our Lord and of His Christ (September 26)
- They Shall See His Face (September 27)
- Father, Son, and Holy Spirit (September 28)
- Baptism Is for Believers (September 29)
- The Prospect of Persecution (September 30)
October
- A Living Hope (October 1)
- The Church in Corinth (October 2)
- The Church in Philippi (October 3)
- The Washing of Water with the Word (October 4)
- A Ransomed People (October 5)
- And They Will Be His People (October 6)
- A People for His Own Possession (October 7)
- I Will Be Their God (October 8)
- A People for God’s Name (October 9)
- The Way (October 10)
- Everywhere in Every Church (October 11)
- The Apostles (October 12)
- The Apostolic Traditions (October 13)
- Restoration as a Principle (October 14)
- Restoration as an Ongoing Work (October 15)
- Apostasy Was Foretold (October 16)
- Accept Forgiveness, Grow in Godliness (October 17)
- Jesus Is Fairer, Jesus Is Purer (October 18)
- His Wonderful Passion and Purity (October 19)
- Immanuel (October 20)
- Christ in Us, the Hope of Glory (October 21)
- If Faith Does Not Act, It Does Not Save (October 22)
- We Must All Appear (October 23)
- What Was Written in the Hebrew Scriptures (October 24)
- Why Saul, the Rabbi, Obeyed the Gospel of Christ (October 25)
- The Good Confession (October 26)
- Each Must Choose (October 27)
- The Faith Is Worth Contending For (October 28)
- There Are Those Who Pervert God’s Grace (October 29)
- In a World of Futility, How Should We Live? (October 30)
- Every Deed Will Be Tested (October 31)
November
- After Baptism, What’s Different? (November 1)
- Self Must Be Crucified (November 2)
- Henceforth (November 3)
- Choose Life! (November 4)
- Testing Everything by the Scriptures (November 5)
- Turning from the Power of Satan to God (November 6)
- Hastening the Coming (November 7)
- Take My Yoke Upon You (November 8)
- A Decision Only We Can Make (November 9)
- The Samaritan Syndrome (November 10)
- Don’t Limp! Decide! (November 11)
- No Christianity without Correctability (November 12)
- The Gospel Is True, but We Must Pay Attention (November 13)
- The Power (and Beauty) of Commitment (November 14)
- The Church in Splendor (November 15)
- Opportunity to Seek God (November 16)
- Even in Christ, We Are Not Yet Fully Alive (November 17)
- Confident in Christ . . . and Careful (November 18)
- When the Feeling of Salvation Fails Us (November 19)
- Jesus Christ, Our Example (November 20)
- Have We ‘Put On’ Christ? (November 21)
- O to Be Like Thee! (November 22)
- Obedience Is a Choice (November 23)
- A Sobering (and Encouraging) Thought (November 24)
- If We Have Died to Sin (November 25)
- Honest About Our Transgressions (November 26)
- Faith Has Consequences (November 27)
- Called, Beloved, Kept (November 28)
- Judged by Our Response to Jesus’ Word (November 29)
- Entrance Into the Eternal Kingdom (November 30)
December
- Jesus Christ and Him Crucified (December 1)
- Putting Our Hand to the Plow (December 2)
- God Will Judge the World in Righteousness (December 3)
- We Are Not Saved by Those We Are Connected To (December 4)
- Made in God’s Image, We Long for His Fellowship (December 5)
- A Gentle Knock at the Door (December 6)
- The Deadliest Temptation (December 7)
- Flee! Don’t Look Back! (December 8)
- Jesus, the Crisis-Producer (December 9)
- The Most Disturbing Message in the World (December 10)
- Obedience Is Not a Negative Concept (December 11)
- Looking Beyond Our Salvation to the Savior (December 12)
- God, the Support of the Saved (December 13)
- In Christ, We Can Be Everything God Intended (December 14)
- Will All Be Saved? (December 15)
- What Happens When We Say No? (December 16)
- We Can’t Get Back to God on Our Own (December 17)
- Seeing the Truth, Deciding to Respond (December 18)
- The Two Great Alternatives (December 19)
- What Profit? (December 20)
- Real Restoration to God (December 21)
- A Victory Given by God (December 22)
- Come to Jesus, Do Not Tarry (December 23)
- When You Return, Expect a Celebration (December 24)
- Are You a Christian? (December 25)
- Have You Accepted Christ? (December 26)
- Forgiven, Saved, Born Again (December 27)
- Examining Ourselves (December 28)
- Have You Died with Christ? (December 29)
- Have You Obeyed the Gospel? (December 30)
- What Hinders You? (December 31)