As another year becomes history, we are again reminded of the brevity of life; our lives pass as quickly as a mist of steam (James 4:14). Compared to the Lord, who is from everlasting to everlasting (Psalm 90:2), our days are but a handbreadth (Psalm 39:5). We must “redeem” or “buy up” the time we have here on earth, using our time wisely (Ephesians 5:16). How can we do this?

First of all, we cannot redeem the time by idly wishing we had more time without changing our priorities. Many people wish they had more time, but how do they spend the time they have? Martha thought she had to get things accomplished around the house before she could listen to Jesus, but Mary decided to listen to Jesus first before serving around the house (Luke 10:40-42). These sisters had the same opportunities, but they chose differently. We decide how we spend much of our time. How will you spend your time in 2016? You can spend it doing what you think you have to do, or what others think you should do, but do not forget that you have the choice to use it doing what God wants you to do.

Another consideration to help us redeem the time is to not allow the past to rob us of our future. In Philippians 3, Paul speaks briefly of his past life. His advancement in Judaism brought him to a level unequaled by his contemporaries. He could have rested on his laurels so to speak and said he had accomplished enough in religious service. When Christ appeared to him on the road to Damascus, he could have responded by claiming he was too deep in the religious group that opposed Christ to turn from it. But he didn’t. While Paul mentioned the past from time to time, he did not allow his past persecution of the church to cripple him with depression. Instead he said, “this one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those things which are before, I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus” (Philippians 3:13-14). When we dwell on past mistakes we give them the power to rob more of our time: our present and future. Let us not be debilitated by what we have been in the past, but be encouraged by what we can be in the future. We must move onward and upward in 2016.

Finally, we must consider that not every moment of 2016 will be rosy for us. Perhaps something may happen to us that will change us forever. Truly, none of us know what awaits us. Will suffering come our way? Perhaps. If it does we must be resolute that we will be faithful to the Lord. God has promised never to leave us or forsake us (Hebrews 13:5), but that does not mean that Christians face no trouble. God made life to test our faith. He keeps the future from us so that we will cling to Him and serve Him out of love. If we knew the future, we would try to control each situation we would face to avoid all pain, instead of trusting in the Lord day by day. “In the day of prosperity be joyful, but in the day of adversity consider: God also hath set the one over against the other, to the end that man should find nothing after him” (Ecclesiastes 7:14). Whatever 2016 holds for you, determine that you will trust in the Lord (Proverbs 3:5-6).

-Mark Day

Zechariah prophesied many details of the coming Messiah. In Zechariah 13:1, he spoke of the era when the Messiah would come, saying, “In that day there shall be a fountain opened to the house of David and to the inhabitants of Jerusalem for sin and for uncleanness.” The Messiah quoted from Zechariah 13 when He approached the final, culminating hours of His earthly life. In Mark 14:27, Jesus quotes from Zechariah 13:7, in His last meeting with His disciples before the crucifixion, to indicate that very soon, in fulfillment of prophecy, the shepherd would be smitten, and sheep scattered. What to the disciples seemed as the most unimaginable, ungodly deed, utterly against the will of God, was in reality a divine appointment for the cleansing of mankind (Acts 2:23). Thus the Father speaks in personification to the sword, an instrument of death, to awake against His shepherd, “the man that is my fellow,” indicating the human and divine natures that Christ possessed while here on earth (Zechariah 13:7).

God became a man in order to die for us (Philippians 2:5-10). He was named “JESUS: for he shall save his people from their sins” (Matthew 1:21). His forerunner identified Him as “the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world” (John 1:29). He Himself declared that He came for those who were sin sick (Mark 2:17). When the murder of God’s innocent lamb was finished, the soldier took a spear and opened up the cleansing fountain of blood and water (John 19:34). From that time forgiveness of sins has been preached (Luke 24:47). Jesus loves us and washes us from our sins in His own blood (Revelation 1:5). Jesus commissioned water baptism as the means by which men can be washed in His blood and be saved (Mark 16:16). In baptism, sins are remitted (Acts 2:38), blotted out (Acts 3:19), and washed away (Acts 22:16). The marvelous characteristic of the new covenant is that Jesus’ blood has been shed so that sins can be remitted (Matthew 26:28) and remembered no more (Hebrews 8:12).

How could the murder of His only begotten Son be part of God’s plan? It is because He loves us and desires to show mercy to us through His Son (1 John 4:9). For this reason, “it pleased the Lord to bruise him” (Isaiah 53:10). With such a wonderful spiritual blessing before us, we can join in with Micah and say, “Who is a God like unto thee, that pardoneth iniquity, and passeth by the transgression of the remnant of his heritage? he retaineth not his anger for ever, because he delighteth in mercy. He will turn again, he will have compassion upon us; he will subdue our iniquities; and thou wilt cast all their sins into the depths of the sea” (Micah 7:18-19).

All praise to God for opening up a cleansing fountain through His Son’s blood. Will you be washed in it?

There is a fountain filled with blood

drawn from Emmanuel’s veins;

and sinners plunged beneath that flood

lose all their guilty stains.

-Mark Day

Every year we see and hear them during the holiday season. You hear their bells ringing, you see them standing in front of stores with a collection pot hung from a tripod for people to drop in their money. They call themselves the Salvation Army.

As I was sitting in a Bible Study recently, reference was made to the Salvation Army. At which point I made the comment that they were, in fact a denomination. Many folks associate the Salvation Army with the charitable works they engage in yet just as many people do not realize that they are also a religious organization.

So, due to the time of year we are seeing the collection pots and hearing the ringing of the bells, consider a few points regarding the Salvation Army from their own website (http://www.salvationarmy.com) as we revisit this topic.

1. “The movement (The Salvation Army – JDS), founded in 1865 by William Booth, has spread from London, England, to many parts of the world.”

The Bible teaches that the Lord Jesus Christ built His church on Pentecost in 33 AD in Jerusalem. Jesus said “And I say also unto thee, That thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church; and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.” Matthew 16:18

On the day of Pentecost the Bible says in Acts 2:47, “…And the Lord added to the church daily such as should be saved.”

2. “We believe that our first parents were created in a state of innocency, but by their disobedience they lost their purity and happiness, and that in consequence of their fall all men have become sinners, totally depraved, and as such are justly exposed to the wrath of God.”

This is from the Calvinistic doctrine of Total Hereditary Depravity. The Bible teaches that sin is something we do, not something we inherit. 1 Jn. 3:4, “Whosoever committeth sin transgresseth also the law: for sin is the transgression of the law.” Man is responsible for his own sin, not the sin of others. Ezekiel 18:20, “The soul that sinneth, it shall die. The son shall not bear the iniquity of the father, neither shall the father bear the iniquity of the son: the righteousness of the righteous shall be upon him, and the wickedness of the wicked shall be upon him.”

3. “We believe that repentance toward God, faith in our Lord Jesus Christ and regeneration by the Holy Spirit are necessary to salvation.” “We maintain that no external observance can rightly be said to be essential to salvation or to the receiving of divine grace and that the biblical truth is that we can meet with God and receive his grace anywhere at any time through faith.”

The Bible teaches the absolute necessity of baptism for salvation. Mark. 16:16, “He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved; but he that believeth not shall be damned.

1 Pet. 3:21, “The like figure whereunto even baptism doth also now save us (not the putting away of the filth of the flesh, but the answer of a good conscience toward God,) by the resurrection of Jesus Christ”

Space prevents us from further examination; however it is clear that to support the Salvation Army is to support a denomination and the Biblical error they teach. “And have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, but rather reprove them.” – Ephesians 5:11.

– Jerry Sturgill

We often wonder what the world is coming to; just how long will evil progress in our world? The Bible ought to be at the forefront of our focus when we have such questions. That God wrote the Bible is evident from many of its characteristics, one of which is its controlled way of describing evil in the world. There is no shocked helplessness at the evil acts of men, but rather a reminder that God is in control over the kingdom of men and works according to His own timetable (Daniel 4:25).

Just as farmers wait as long it takes for their crops to mature before they harvest them, God waits until the time is ripe to punish wicked nations. Often we can become anxious and impatient about evil, wondering when God will deal with it. Men in the Bible did this as well. Jeremiah questioned how long God would allow the wicked to prosper (Jeremiah 12:1-4). Habakkuk knew that God was of purer eyes than to behold evil (Hab. 1:13), but was troubled because to him it seemed that God was idly looking at wrongdoing (Hab. 1:2-4). John saw the souls of them who were slain under the altar crying out, “How long, O Lord, holy and true, dost thou not judge and avenge our blood on them that dwell on the earth?” (Revelation 6:10); an evident representation of God’s sense of justice being so sensitive that innocent blood screams out to Him (cf. Genesis 6:4).

God will punish when the time is ripe. In Genesis 15:16, God promised Abraham that his descendants (Israel) would inherit the land where Abraham was sojourning (Canaan), when the iniquity of the present inhabitants (the Amorites) was full. However, before that time Israel would be a servant in the land of Egypt until the time was right for God to judge them (Genesis 15:13-14). God had plans to bless Israel and to punish Egypt and the people of Canaan, but it was all according to His time. When will the iniquity of our nation be full? God alone knows. He sent His Son to save the world “when the fullness of time was come” (Galatians 4:4).

Revelation 14:13-20 portrays an angel being sent forth with instructions to reap the earth with a sharp sickle gathering God’s people for deliverance and the wicked for punishment. The destruction of Jerusalem in AD 70 came when the time was ripe. Jesus’ parable of the wheat and the tares in Matthew 13:24-43 gives a glimpse of the harvest that will take place at the end of time. God harvests when the time is ripe for individuals and nations. He will issue His last and great harvest at the end of time. It is up to us to make sure we are prepared for the reaping when the time is ripe.

–Mark Day