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.
A Bag with Holes (April 27)
When mankind rebelled against Him, God subjected the world to "futility" (Romans 8:20,21), preventing us from controlling everything we want to control. He lets us learn from the humbling experience of pouring our efforts into a bag with holes in it.
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)
May
- 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
- 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)
- I Will Build My Church (August 6)
- Christ to His People: Congregate! (August 7)
- Wanting to Associate with Faithful Disciples (August 8)
- 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)
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)