In this series on the Lord’s church, we have seen that first-century Christians did not have the luxury of having the completed New Testament in written form, at least not during most of the century.  They survived without it because many possessed the miraculous measure of the Holy Spirit, which they received by the laying […]

The Lord’s church was a miraculous church in the first century.  The apostles of Christ were guild by the Spirit, having been baptized with the Holy Spirit (John 16:13; Acts 1:5), possessed miraculous powers, and could transfer those powers to others by laying hands on them (Acts 8:18-19).  When the apostles would establish a new […]

Those who believe that the miraculous age continues today seem to make the same mistake that the saints at Corinth made—elevating the gift of tongue speaking over the rest of the gifts.  All charismatic churches may not claim that they have seen the dead raised, but they do all claim to speak in tongues regularly.  […]

The miraculous age ended by the end of the first century.  No one today can speak in tongues.  There are no living prophets today.  No one is raising the dead, healing the blind, or making it so the lame can walk again.  Those miracles have ceased. How can we be sure that miracles have ceased?  […]

In last night’s blog, I indicated that miracles have ceased.  I looked at it simply from a logical standpoint, pointing out that if miracles were still going on today, they would be of the same nature as they were in the first century.  The fact that they are not says volumes about the veracity of […]

In the early twentieth century, there was a so-called revival of Pentecostalism.  Pentecostalism describes a religious movement more than it does an organized church.  There are what we call Pentecostal churches, the largest of which are the Assemblies of God and the Church of God in Christ, but there is a spirit of Pentecostalism in […]

We all know that God desires that His people praise Him through music.  The question is, “What kind of music does God desire?”  We have made the scriptural case for singing praises to God without the accompaniment of musical instruments.  There is absolutely no doubt that this is what the first-century church did under the […]

There have been many attempts to justify using musical instruments in worship.  The first question that will often be asked when confronted with the truth that there is no authority in the Bible for the use of them is, “What about David?”  However, we have seen in this study that we are not under the […]

In the last few blogs, we have been considering what kind of music God desires from His people today.  There was a time, under the law of Moses, when He commanded His people to play musical instruments.  However, in this dispensation, we do not have such a command.  Today we are simply commanded to sing […]

In our last blog, I emphasized that the kind of music God desires today is singing.  Specifically, a cappella singing or singing without the accompaniment of musical instruments.  How do I know this is true?  I know it because that is the only kind of music that is authorized by the New Testament, and, as […]