Tag Archives: Resurrection

HARMONY OF THE RESURRECTION ACCOUNTS

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HARMONY OF THE RESURRECTION ACCOUNTS JACK COTTRELL My effort to harmonize these accounts assumes that the people who are described as being at the tomb and encountering Jesus there did not all leave together from their homes or arrive together at the tomb. I suggest the following possible schedule of events. (Originally there were drawings with #1-8.) 1. After midnight, early hours of the morning, before dawn. Two or more groups of women begin to make their way toward the tomb to complete the burial, with one group including Mary Magdalene, who proceeds more quickly than the others and continues … Continue reading →

GOD’S FOREKNOWLEDGE: WHY IS IT IMPORTANT?

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GOD’S FOREKNOWLEDGE: WHY IS IT IMPORTANT? JACK COTTRELL – JUNE 2016 My adult Bible study class (First Church of Christ, Greendale, IN) has been studying the book of Romans. Today was our second Sunday on Romans 8:29, and our focus was the foreknowledge of God. Among other things I presented four reasons why God’s foreknowledge is an important doctrine. (It is just serendipitous that all four points are alliterative—all begin with “Pr–”.) I. PROPHECY. Generic prophecy is by definition any message spoken on behalf of someone else. One major kind of prophecy, though, is predictive prophecy, i.e., a message that … Continue reading →

YOUR WORST ENEMY: DEATH

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YOUR WORST ENEMY: DEATH! (A sermon by Jack Cottrell — October 2014) INTRODUCTION. We all know about villains: Darth Vader, Hannibal Lecter, Freddy Krueger, Godzilla, the Joker, the Penguin—to name a few fictitious ones. In real life we could name Stalin, Hitler, Idi Amin, Pol Pot, and Sadam Hussein. The worst villain of all, though, is DEATH! The event of death may be defined simply and briefly as the loss of life. As a state, death is simply the absence of life (where life is the normal state). It is a state of separation from the source of life. We … Continue reading →

CAN ONE BE “SPIRITUALLY ALIVE” WITHOUT BAPTISM? (PART ONE)

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CAN ONE BE “SPIRITUALLY ALIVE” WITHOUT BAPTISM? (PART ONE) by Jack Cottrell (Notes) on Thursday, April 18, 2013 at 8:47am QUESTION: When I was a young adult I learned that baptism was important for my salvation, so I was immersed. My problem is that this did not seem to result in the death to sin and rebirth to new spiritual life described in Romans 6:1-4 and Colossians 2:12 as happening in baptism. At another time, however, quite separate from my baptism, I went through a particularly strong life event when I did die to self and begin to live for … Continue reading →

IS THE LORD’S SUPPER “MORE THAN AN MEMORIAL”?

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IS THE LORD’S SUPPER “MORE THAN AN MEMORIAL”? by Jack Cottrell (Notes) on Thursday, December 13, 2012 at 3:55pm My friend, former student, and fellow Kingdom-worker Tom Lawson has written a very provocative article on the Lord’s Supper:  “More Than a Memorial,”  in the 1/29/12 issue of Christian Standard (pp. 6-8).  He challenges the view that the Supper is “merely symbolic” and that the bread and juice are just “emblems” of the body and blood of Christ. Instead, Brother Lawson suggests that eating the loaf and drinking the cup are a real partaking of the actual body and blood of … Continue reading →

ARE WE BORN SINNERS?

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ARE WE BORN SINNERS? by Jack Cottrell (Notes) on Wednesday, October 31, 2012 at 7:08pm QUESTION: Are we human beings born sinners? What effect, if any, did the sin of Adam and Eve have on all their offspring? Did it affect our ability to choose whether or not to sin? ANSWER: This question is about the doctrine of original sin, which in one form or another is held by a large portion of Christendom. This doctrine says that Adam’s sin did indeed affect all of his descendants in serious ways. As early as the third century Christian writers began to … Continue reading →

WHAT HAPPENED TO OLD TESTAMENT SAINTS WHEN THEY DIED?

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WHAT HAPPENED TO OLD TESTAMENT SAINTS WHEN THEY DIED? by Jack Cottrell (Notes) on Wednesday, October 31, 2012 at 2:02pm QUESTION: I know that we Christians go to Paradise to be with Jesus when die. But what about OT saints? What happened to them when they died? Did they go to Paradise? How could they, since Christ had not yet died for their sins? What does the Bible say? ANSWER: I answered a similar question a couple of years ago, but I will do it here again and include a couple of extra thoughts. A common idea has existed in … Continue reading →

WHAT HAPPENED TO OLD TESTAMENT SAINTS WHEN THEY DIED?

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WHAT HAPPENED TO OLD TESTAMENT SAINTS WHEN THEY DIED? by Jack Cottrell (Notes) on Wednesday, October 31, 2012 at 1:55pm QUESTION: I know that we Christians go to Paradise to be with Jesus when die. But what about OT saints? What happened to them when they died? Did they go to Paradise? How could they, since Christ had not yet died for their sins? What does the Bible say? ANSWER: I answered a similar question a couple of years ago, but I will do it here again and include a couple of extra thoughts. A common idea has existed in … Continue reading →

WHAT HAPPENED TO OLD TESTAMENT SAINTS WHEN THEY DIED?

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WHAT HAPPENED TO OLD TESTAMENT SAINTS WHEN THEY DIED? by Jack Cottrell (Notes) on Wednesday, October 31, 2012 at 1:52pm QUESTION: I know that we Christians go to Paradise to be with Jesus when die. But what about OT saints? What happened to them when they died? Did they go to Paradise? How could they, since Christ had not yet died for their sins? What does the Bible say? ANSWER: I answered a similar question a couple of years ago, but I will do it here again and include a couple of extra thoughts. A common idea has existed in … Continue reading →

WHAT IS CENTRAL TO OUR LIVES?

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WHAT IS CENTRAL TO OUR LIVES? by Jack Cottrell (Notes) on Tuesday, September 11, 2012 at 10:56am QUESTION: In my understanding and in my experience as a Christian, Jesus is the center of everything we do. Yet in your note about Jesus and the Biblical world view, you say Jesus is not the center. How can this be? ANSWER: Several of my readers were confused and/or upset by my Facebook note on how Jesus relates to the Biblical world view. They were disturbed that I said that God’s work of creation is the fundamental, foundational, central element of our world … Continue reading →