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The Twelve Apostles #3 - Thomas The Doubter In the four Gospels, we actually only have the accounts of the salvation of six of the twelve apostles: Andrew and John, Peter, Philip, Nathanael, and Matthew. The situations surrounding the other six and how they came to Jesus is not covered therein - however, they were more than likely with Jesus almost since the beginning of His public ministry, after His baptism by John the Baptist and His temptation in the wilderness. (See Acts 1:21-22 and John chapter 1) Thomas was also known as Didymus - both names mean "The Twin" (Didymus being the Greek equivalent of Thomas). While we know nothing about his twin, whether he ever got saved or not, or how close they might have been in appearance or in their relationship as siblings, this was obviously something that characterized Thomas in some way. Other than the three lists of the twelve apostles given in the Gospels, there are five other times where Thomas is mentioned specifically by name...

Justifying Ourselves Or Accepting Responsibility? There was a situation that was bothering me and I let myself get somewhat bitter about it. I would try to tell myself it didn't really matter and I was right in my reactions, but my spirit was uneasy whenever I thought about this person or the situation. Then I would try to make myself feel better by telling myself I have the right to be annoyed because of the way this other person had reacted. Tonight I was under conviction and wanting to make it right - the Holy Spirit wouldn't let me go until I had been reconciled with this person. I wrote an apology, and in it I stated I was sorry for my reactions - but then I had justified myself, in a way stating that I did this because you did that. Then hit Send . Then my heart smote me. That isn't an apology, that is not taking responsibility for my actions, words, etc. That is still placing the blame on others. How many times have we all (especially me) been guilty of that? Thank t...

I just wanted to give everyone an invitation to my new Blog: Songs In The Night . It looks like a good avenue to be able to post sound poetry and hymns/songs. I do have my own personal poetry site ( Home Of The Real McCoy ), and one of my webpartners has a section on her family site where we keep poems by others ( Trenholms Of Kelowna ) - but there is never enough time to make new pages for these two parts of EarnestlyContending (plus so many of the free graphics sites keep disappearing - so it is hard to always find an appropriate background). This new website gives me an opportunity to share poems with others on a regular basis, without having to send them out on a mailing list or make pages for them. Lord willing, I hope to post a new one each day - whether by myself or others - including sometimes little notes as to where the poems came from, how they influenced me, etc. After I have posted a bunch, I will also make up a Table Of Contents page where I can list them alphabetically,...

Immanuel When once I mourned a load of sin; When conscience felt a wound within; When all my works were thrown away; When on my knees I knelt to pray, Then, blissful hour, remembered well, I learned Thy love, Immanuel. When storms of sorrow toss my soul; When waves of care around me roll; When comforts sink, when joys shall flee; When hopeless griefs shall gape for me, One word the tempest's rage shall quell - That word, Thy name, Immanuel. When for the truth I suffer shame; When foes pour scandal on my name; When cruel taunts and jeers abound; When "Bulls of Bashan" gird me round, Secure within Thy tower I'll dwell - That tower, Thy grace, Immanuel. When hell enraged lifts up her roar; When Satan stops my path before; When fiends rejoice and wait my end; When legioned hosts their arrows send, Fear not, my soul, but hurl at hell Thy battle-cry, Immanuel. When down the hill of life I go; When o'er my feet death's waters flow; When in the deep'ning flood I s...

The Twelve Apostles #2 - Bold And Rash Peter Peter is perhaps the Apostle we have the most information on. He was well known for his boldness, and his rashness. He was quick to step out in faith, and often the first to speak out. Sometimes his rashness got him in trouble... He was one of the first to become a follower of Christ, and later one of the first Jesus called into full-time service. While his boldness is commendable and worth imitating, we can learn a lesson from his rashness too. In Matthew 16, we see Jesus observing the multitude around Him. He then turned to His disciples and the following conversation takes place: Matthew 16:13-17 When Jesus came into the coasts of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, saying, Whom do men say that I the Son of man am? And they said, Some say that thou art John the Baptist: some, Elias; and others, Jeremias, or one of the prophets. He saith unto them, But whom say ye that I am? And Simon Peter answered and said, Thou art the Christ, th...

Praise the Lord! My websites are back up and running! If you have tried some of my links in my posts (whether to my poetry site or my Bible study site especially) and they didn't work for you - now you will find they are working just fine. For various reasons we had to switch servers several weeks ago, and we were missing certain registration information. We were going to wait until this coming up Monday and then buy a different domain name, if we couldn't obtain this info by then. We were not looking forward to losing any of our readership base (because we had no way to redirect from the old site), but I was determined to trust the Lord with this. If you have not visited any of my sites (and my webparters' sites) or if it has been a while, please stop by and check them out. You might like what you find there. Our Domain name (with all its subdomains) is: EarnestlyContending - on each homepage you will find a link to all the subdomains in the left menu bar. On EC (which is...

The Lord Is Able What the Lord is able to do in our lives: 1) Able to give you an inheritance. Acts 20:32 And now, brethren, I commend you to God, and to the word of His grace, which is able to build you up, and to give you an inheritance among all them which are sanctified. 2) Able to fulfill all His promises. Romans 4:21 And being fully persuaded that, what He had promised, He was able also to perform. 3) Able to make you stand. Romans 14:4 Who art thou that judgest another man's servant? to his own master he standeth or falleth. Yea, he shall be holden up: for God is able to make him stand. 4) Able to make all grace abound towards you (able to give you all you need to serve Him). 2 Corinthians 9:8 And God is able to make all grace abound toward you; that ye, always having all sufficiency in all things, may abound to every good work. 5) Able to do exceeding abundantly. Ephesians 3:20 Now unto Him that is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to...

What's New With You? So often Christians ask me this and this answer always comes to mind: Lamentations 3:21-23 This I recall to my mind, therefore have I hope. It is of the LORD'S mercies that we are not consumed, because his compassions fail not. They are new every morning : great is thy faithfulness. Because I am: 2 Corinthians 5:17 Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature : old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new . With: Ezekiel 36:26 A new heart also will I give you, and a new spirit will I put within you: and I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh, and I will give you an heart of flesh. And I have access to: Hebrews 10:20-22 By a new and living way , which he hath consecrated for us, through the veil, that is to say, his flesh; And having an high priest over the house of God; Let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience, and our bodies washed with pure w...

The Twelve Apostles #1 - Simon The Zealot I think it might be worthwhile to present a series on the twelve apostles. I do not know how many I will cover, but I definitely want to dig deeper in some aspects of the lives of these Bible characters. On Friday, I preached on Simon the zealot, or Simon Zelotes as he is referred to in Acts 1:13 and Luke 6. The Bible doesn't say much about him, except stating that he was one of the twelve that Jesus chose to be with Him and sent forth to preach (see Mark 3:14). It is interesting that the word apostle means "one sent forth." These twelve were uniquely sent forth to be ambassadors for the Lord Jesus Christ. Luke 6:12-16 And it came to pass in those days, that he went out into a mountain to pray, and continued all night in prayer to God. And when it was day, he called unto him his disciples: and of them he chose twelve, whom also he named apostles; Simon, (whom he also named Peter,) and Andrew his brother, James and John, Philip and...

Genesis 1:1 & The Trinity Genesis 1:1 In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth. Genesis 1:1 - "This one verse refutes all of man's false philosophies concerning the origin and meaning of the world: 1) It refutes atheism, because the universe was created by God . 2) It refutes pantheism, for God is transcendent to that which He created. 3) It refutes polytheism, for one God created all things. 4) It refutes dualism, because God was alone when He created. 5) It refutes materialism, for matter had a beginning . 6) It refutes humanism, because God, not man , is the ultimate reality. 7) It refutes evolutionism, because God created all things." - Henry Morris, The Genesis Record , p. 38. --------------------------------------- The Trinity in creation - chapter one: Vs. 1 - The Father is the source of all things. Vs. 2 - The Spirit is the energizer of all things. Vs. 3 - The Word (Son) is the revealer of all things. --------------------------------------- Un...

I thought it might be beneficial to list all studies/devotionals that I have put in this blog, for those who want to be able to quickly find one again, or for those who may be perusing this blog and are wondering what is in it. I have put an * beside the studies that were a tremendous blessing or encouragement to me when studying them out. Any messages that I preached at the Gospel Mission have @ beside them. All links below will open in a separate window. If you read only one article on this website, please let this be it: God's Simple Plan of Salvation It concerns the most important decision you will ever make in your life! Don't let this opportunity to be saved pass you by. Note:  My original Bible study site is  Eagle's Wings Ministries  (this link takes you to the Table Of Contents for it). In light of the repeated hacks on our main domain (ie.  Earnestlycontending.com  and the loss of all previous content, I am duplicating the studies here so as to avoid h...

Sevens In The Psalms I was reminded of these yesterday: I find it interesting to note that there is a seven-fold division within the Word of God itself . The Old Testament was divided by the Jews into the Law of Moses (the OT historical books - Genesis to Esther), the Prophets (Isaiah to Malachi), and the Psalms (or Writings - Job to Song of Solomon). (See Luke 24:44) In the New Testament, we have the four Gospels (the life of Christ), Acts (early church history), the Epistles (Romans to Jude), and End-times Prophecy (Revelation). There are also seven dispensations (by this I mean eras, nothing hyper-dispensational here - not referring to different ways of salvation or doctrines, as some mean when they use this term) of man's history , as presented in the Bible itself. 1) Innocence (in the Garden - from Creation to the Fall) 2) Pre-Deluvian Age (from the Fall to the Flood) 3) The Patriarchs (Fathers of Israel - from the Flood to the Law) 4) The Law (the time of Moses to the tim...

Genesis 15 - Thy Shield Genesis 15:1 After these things the word of the LORD came unto Abram in a vision, saying, Fear not, Abram: I am thy shield , and thy exceeding great reward. This study builds a little bit on another one I posted last month, Shadows And Wings . The idea of God being our shield (and buckler) certainly gives us the idea of protection. There are a range of shields that compass the believer in Scripture. Though these first two passages don't mention God as a shield, His protection is certainly contrasted with that of man's weapons of war (see 2 Corinthians 10:3-5): 1 Samuel 17:45-47 Then said David to the Philistine, Thou comest to me with a sword, and with a spear, and with a shield: but I come to thee in the name of the LORD of hosts, the God of the armies of Israel, whom thou hast defied. This day will the LORD deliver thee into mine hand; and I will smite thee, and take thine head from thee; and I will give the carcases of the host of the Philistines this...