I grew up in a house and a church that loved Jesus. All of my friends came from church. I attended church regularly. I sang the songs. I read the Bible. I went to the summer camps and ski trips. From a young age I considered myself a Christian because of these things. How could I not be a Christian since I was surrounded by Christian things?  

Consider what follows as a simple encouragement to press into a life of love in practical ways. A life God has called us to, saved us for, and modeled for us. Here is what gospel affection looks like, presented practically in 10 Ways to Love Your Brothers and Sisters.

1. Biblical accountability. Godly fellow elders are a great means for holding the pastor accountable to live, teach, and lead faithfully. In addition, sharing authority among a number of men can keep one man from wrongly lording it over the congregation.

Every church has leaders.                    

Starting from that universal reality, the real question we need to ask is What kind of leaders should the church have? Did God intend his church to be led by just anyone? Or did he give some outline, some matrix, some set of instructions for church leadership?

THE BIBLICAL MODEL                 

According to the Bible, the church is to be led by a plurality of called, qualfiied men known as elders. Let’s examine each aspect of this definition.

"But this is the one to whom I will look: he who is humble and contrite in spirit and trembles at my word." – Isaiah 66:2

"Humble yourselves, therefore, under the mighty hand of God so that at the proper time he may exalt you." – 1 Peter 5:6

If God has generously created food “to be gratefully shared in by those who believe and know the truth” (1 Tim. 4:3), what possible reason could there be for abstinence? It seems like something reserved for weird people, odd people, or at worst, the masochist who somehow enjoys inflicting pain upon himself! So we need to take a moment and determine, as best we can, what the Bible says about fasting. Let me do this by highlighting six fundamental truths about fasting.

Critics who doubt the reliability and trustworthiness of the biblical accounts of Jesus' life have issued a make-or-break challenge to the church. They ask us: “How can we be sure the Bible can be trusted as accurate?”

It's common to see the argument that the Scriptures we have today aren't the same as what was written by the apostles in the first century. Such arguments attempt to portray the Bible as unreliable and therefore irrelevant. As we will see, however, these challenges do not stand up to scrutiny.

In the previous chapters we have discussed at some length the person and work of God the Father, and, more recently, the person and work of God the Son, Jesus Christ. We have also examined the biblical evidence for the deity and distinct personality of the Holy Spirit (in connection with the doctrine of the Trinity). It is appropriate now in this chapter that we focus on the distinctive work of the Holy Spirit. Among the different activities of the members of the Trinity, what activities are said to be especially the work of God the Holy Spirit? 

Although several definitions have been given for the gift of prophecy, a fresh examination of the New Testament teaching on this gift will show that it should be defined not as “predicting the future,” nor as “proclaiming a word from the Lord,” nor as “powerful preaching”—but rather as “telling something that God has spontaneously brought to mind.” The first four points in the following material support this conclusion; the remaining points deal with other considerations regarding this gift.