Articles by Marty Kessler

Some say, that the baptism Jesus commissioned in Matthew 28:18-20 is, “an outward sign of an inward grace”. This sounds very nice and quite religious, but though I have heard it for years, I cannot believe that it is true. My problem is that this teaching just isn’t found anywhere in the Bible. I have asked some who make this claim to show me where it is taught, but as yet none o...

Trust God to be totally aware of the situation about which I am worrying so much about and to do something about it - After all, you and I are so limited in such things as what we know, what we can do about what we know, where we can be, how much energy we have to expend… well, you get the picture. God is not limited in any of these ways. Ephesians 3:20 says that He is able to do far more t...

Through the years, I’ve heard a lot of people claim that baptism is not an essential part of our salvation because the thief Jesus took into Paradise was not baptized. Is this sound reasoning? I don’t believe it is for a number of reasons, a few of which I will try to explain below. #1 That thief lived and died under the Old Testament, or Covenant - He died next to the Lord in a time o...

In the Oklahoma City news this week was an article about a small group of Satan worshipers who were having a “Blasphemy ritual” in a local civic center designed to parody a Catholic exorcism. As I watched the reports and listened to the representative of the Satanic cult and two local Baptist ministers making commentary on the whole thing I made a few observations. The first thing I no...

1. Be sexually pure because it is right. Sexual purity is used in Revelation 14:1-5 to express righteousness. Genesis 1:26-31 and 2:18-25 make it clear that marriage is the only relationship designed for the expression of intimate sexuality (so do many other Bible passages). Defilement comes from sexual relationships outside of marriage. 2. Be sexually pure to maintain your dignity, self-respect a...

Since the beginnings of Christianity, the sign of the fish has been used as a symbol of the faith. Although there is no mention of its use in Jesus’ teachings, or that of His apostles or prophets, in many ways it seems an apt symbol to use, assuming any symbol at all should be employed as it has been. But why use the fish? Perhaps the best place to begin answering this question is in the spe...

We humans form habits. The Bible tells of some who were a part of the church, but had developed the habit of forsaking the assembling of the church. The writer warns that that is a bad habit that can lead to a “terrifying expectation of judgment”, Hebrews 10:26-27. The best counter to that bad habit would be to develop the good habit of attending the assemblies of the church on a faith...

(from Genesis 3:1-24)   Life gets tougher when you don’t do what is right Adam and Even had it made in the garden. Every need was fulfilled and they were together with God, the source of all good things. They crossed an obvious line into disobedience against what they knew to be right and their whole lives changed. Don’t listen to a liar, especially one who doesn’t have your...

While there is no passage outlining the exact order of that final day, we can read of each of the following events and know that they will be included:  First of all, that day will come at a time when we are not expecting it:  For this reason you also must be ready; for the Son of Man is coming at an hour when you do not think He will. Matthew 24:44  …you yourselves know full...

I have known a lot of people through the years who made it a practice to avoid the issue of their need for Jesus. They do so in the vain hope that their own morality will be their salvation. Actually, what they are counting on is that their lack of gross immorality is their ticket to not being punished. You can see this idea in popular movies such as “Ghost” (1990... man, has it really...

On July fourth, 1776, the Continental Congress of the thirteen American colonies declared their independence from Great Britain. A new nation was born taking upon itself the responsibility for self-government. But the founding fathers, and indeed other national leaders who followed them, understood that without the dependence of individual citizens on Almighty God, our form of government would be ...

  Just wondering if the average “Joe” is at all familiar with modern abortion techniques? I thought that since, among other reasons, this is a hot political issue, you should be aware of just how some of them work. You may want to sit down before you read these.  First there is the “suction aspiration method” which utilizes a very powerful vacuum. The vacuum hose ...

I have observed that there is sometimes confusion over what place pride should play in our lives. As I see it, there are two kinds of pride. One I would refer to as “virtuous pride” and the other, “arrogant pride”. I believe that all pride, both virtuous and arrogant, is based in our individual concepts of rightness. What I mean is that each of us has a concept of something...

The title is taken from the book of Nehemiah chapter four and verse six. Here is described the progress of the Israelites as they rebuilt the walls of Jerusalem after returning from exile in Babylon. It was a huge undertaking, and they had many detractors, but nothing stopped them simply because they were committed. Each one of them knew why they had come back and each one must certainly have had ...

The Differences Between Holy Spirit Baptism and Great Commission Baptism (part #2)   Below is a continuation of last week’s article highlighting some of the differences between Holy Spirit baptism and the baptism of the great commission.   HSB is not required for all believers, whereas GCB is required               Nowhere...

Last week we noted the news report about President Jimmy Carter  leaving the Southern Baptists because of their views on the role of  women in the home and church. The singular question I believe we should ask is, "What does Jesus teach us about the role of women in the church?" After all, if we   claim to be His followers, we should follow Him in this regard as well as in...

As reported in the news of late, President Jimmy Carter has left the Southern Baptist church because they supposedly teach that women are to be subservient to their husbands and also refuse to ordain women as ministers.  Was he right?   What does the Bible say?   To begin with, God made woman (Eve), because He knew that the man (Adam) He had created, needed help (and that hasn&lsquo...

  As noted in last week’s article, Jesus made it clear that the miracles, wonders, and signs that He did were for the purpose of affirming His identity as the Son of God (Matthew 11:4-5 & John 10:25).   It should not surprise us then, that on Pentecost, Luke tells us that the first thing that the apostle Peter said as he began preaching about Jesus was this:   Men of Israe...

  Somewhere around 900BC, the prophet Elijah raised a poor widow’s son from the dead.  When she saw what he had done, she said:                “Now I know that you are a man of God and that the word of the Lord in your mouth is truth.”             ...

  I recently had an opportunity to do a little fishing.  I began with my fly rod.  Of course every fisherman knows the sensation of being filled with anticipation at the first cast.  But this time, nothing happened.  I changed my aim and dropped my fly in another spot.  Still nothing.   This continued for a while until I was convinced that I needed to switch to s...