Choosing the Field of Battle
David Grabbe explores Satan's strategy at getting people distracted, choosing his own field of battle, forcing us to argue the wrong things, twisting scripture, making mountains out of molehills and molehills out of mountains. The debate used by Prot... 

Christ's Death, Resurrection, and Ascension
In this sermon on the death, resurrection, and ascension of Christ, Richard Ritenbaugh, using three consecutive Psalms (22-24), affirms that Jesus Christ was the antitype, perfectly fulfilling the Old Testament types, slain as the Lamb of God on Pass... 

Church History (Part 1): A.D. 31-325
Martin Collins asserts that the large Christian-professing church ruling over the world was not God's church, but Satan's counterfeit. God's church has always been, and will continue to be, small, often fighting for its survival against treacherous w... 

Church History (Part 2): A.D. 325-1161
In this sermon on church history, Martin Collins traces the Pergamos and the beginning of the Thyatira eras of God's church. The Pergamos era, lasting from 325-1104 AD occurred in exile, totally within the bounds of Satan's empire. During this time, ... 

Church History (Part 3): A.D. 1161-1585
In this third installment of the Church History series, Martin Collins picks up the thread of the Thyatira era, beginning with the work of Peter Waldo, the Waldensians, the Albigensians battling the oppressive Roman Catholic church with the Papal bul... 

Church History (Part 4) A.D.1585-1934
Martin Collins characterizes the Sardis era (c. 1585-1934) as a time of forgetfulness and dying spirituality. Few of this era did not defile their garments. Many were labeled by their critics as Anabaptist or Seventh Day Baptists (larger Protestant S... 

Church History (Part 5) AD 1934 - Present
In this concluding sermon on church history, Martin Collins describes the Philadelphia era (1934-1972, two full 19-year time cycles), a time when a tiny church with little inherent strength, with God's help, blanketed the airwaves with the gospel, ob... 

Does Doctrine Really Matter? (Part 14)
Since God has authorized no day other than the Sabbath, John Ritenbaugh observes that Sunday worship is a pagan deviation, perpetuated by Hellenistic Gnosticism, a multi-faceted movement that despises Yahweh, the Sabbath, and God's laws. Though Const... 

Does God Always Accept Our Worship Of Him?
Clyde Finklea, exploring several different contexts in which worship occurs, indicates that some forms and modes of worship are not acceptable to Almighty God. The reason Cain's offering was rejected while Abel's was accepted stemmed from the conditi... 

Eating Out on the Sabbath
John Ritenbaugh examines four areas in which hairsplitting or non-salvation issues (such as eating white sugar, observing the right calendar, or occasionally eating out on the Sabbath) have threatened the unity of fellowship. What has brought about t... 

Fulfilling The Law
David Grabbe, commenting upon the fierce culture war waged between evangelicals on the Christian right and ACLU types on the far left, with public displays of the Ten Commandments placed in jeopardy, points out the inconsistent stance of many mainstr... 

Gentile Abstentions
Richard Ritenbaugh cautions that James did not expunge the Ten Commandments by offering special instructions to Gentile converts in Acts 15:24-29. These instructions addressed special problems inherent to these converts, practices that would be abhor... 

God's Rest (Part 1)
Using II Corinthians 5:14-17 as a foundation, John Ritenbaugh affirms that after the initiation of the conversion process, the hostility that formerly existed between God and us has been removed, leading to a state of peace and rest. Although we ofte... 

God's Rest (Part 2)
In this message, John Ritenbaugh identifies the two principal causes robbing us of Christ's promised legacy of peace (John 14:27) as (1) pride (the father of all sins) - first appearing in Satan (Ezekiel 28:14 and Isaiah 14:14) and (2) the subsequent... 

God's Rest (Part 3)
John Ritenbaugh explores the relationship between keeping God's commandments and attaining great peace (Psalm 119:165), and the relationship between lust, coveting, or inordinate desire(I John 2:16, James 1:14-15), and the malicious destruction of pe... 

God's Rest (Part 4)
Coveting is the fountainhead of all other sins. Jesus located the heart (or thoughts) as the source of defilement or behavior (Mark 7:21-23, Matthew 5:21-22, 27-30). The imagination which God has given us can be fed on pure thoughts (Phil. 4:8) or on... 

God's Rest and the Millennium
In this message on God's Millennial rest, Richard Ritenbaugh points out that both the Hebrew word shabbat and the Greek translation of the word katapausis denote cessation or stoppage rather than repose or sleep. It represents a cessation of worldly ... 

Jesus Is Lord Over The Sabbath
Ted Bowling, reflecting on a conversation he had with several business associates about which day they attended religious services, realizes that in most situations God is not recognized or acknowledged in the decision to keep a segment of time holy.... 

John (Part 9)
In this ninth installment, expounding the book of John, John Ritenbaugh reiterates that the woman at the well in John 4 could easily represent the church, initially called out of the world in an immoral state, having a confrontation with Christ leadi... 

Knowing God: Formality and Customs (Part 2)
John Ritenbaugh admonishes that we must continually upgrade our decorum and formality in our approach to God, striving to emulate Him in all that we do. Our culture (paralleling the second law of thermo-dynamics) has seriously degenerated in decorum ... 

Knowing God: Formality and Customs (Part 1)
John Ritenbaugh cautions that placing our hope in the wrong thing can jeopardize our relationship with God. We must remember that God alone is the source from whom all blessings flow, and that we need to reciprocate those gifts back to God,fearing an... 

Mark 1:21-34
In this broadcast on Mark 1, Herbert W. Armstrong asserts that few have heard the real gospel that Christ taught or follow the example Christ set, including honoring and respecting the seventh-day Sabbath. The major churches of this world derive litt... 

My Parents Won't Let Me!
Clyde Finklea, addressing the youth of the congregation, reflects upon the peer pressure experienced by young people, who continually defer to the “my parents won’t let me” or the “church won’t let me” excuse. One young man, who played baseball, was... 

No Longer Brain Dead
Mark Schindler, reflecting that 40 is the number of trial and, coincidentally, the number of his and Nancy’s anniversary, ruminates about the early days when he asked his future father-in-law’s permission to marry his daughter. Forty years constitute... 

Sabbathkeeping (Part 1)
In this introduction to the Sabbath Keeping series, John Ritenbaugh warns that keeping the right days on the calendar is no guarantee of attaining a right relationship with God. How and why a person keeps the Sabbath determines whether this test comm... 

Sabbathkeeping (Part 2)
In this second installment of the Sabbath Keeping series, John Ritenbaugh reminds us that the Sabbath constitutes a recurring appointment with the Deity, a special time for developing and building our relationship with God. It is from the proper use ... 

Sabbathkeeping (Part 3)
In this third installment of the Sabbath Keeping series, John Ritenbaugh emphasizes that the biblical instructions (found in both the Old and new Testaments) pertaining to Sabbath keeping apply far more to the Israel of God (Galatians 6:16), the spir... 

Sabbathkeeping (Part 4)
In this concluding installment of the Sabbath keeping series, John Ritenbaugh emphasizes that God's people must exercise correct judgment as to what is permitted on the Sabbath and what is not. God's law is not so inflexible that He will not allow al... 

The Commandments (Part 5)
In this fifth installment of the Ten Commandments series, John Ritenbaugh reminds us that the Sabbath is a memorial to the awesome creative power of Almighty God, a period of time God purposefully sanctified and set apart for the benefit of mankind, ... 

The Commandments (Part 6)
In this sixth installment of the Ten Commandments series, John Ritenbaugh reiterates that God gave the Sabbath (a sanctified, set- apart period of recurring time) to His people in order that they come to know Him intimately, learning to live as He li... 

The Commandments (Part 7)
In this seventh installment of the Ten Commandments series, John Ritenbaugh again emphasizes the burden-relieving, liberating and redemptive aspect of the Sabbath, suggesting that the seemingly provocative healings that Jesus performed on the Sabbath... 

The Commandments (Part 9)
In this ninth installment of the Ten Commandment series, John Ritenbaugh warns that benign neglect of the Sabbath covenant can incrementally lead us into idolatry, as it apparently led Solomon into idolatry. We are admonished to respect or treat this... 

The Covenants, Grace, and Law (Part 15)
In this fifteenth installment of the Covenants, Grace and Law series, John Ritenbaugh asserts that things written in the Old Testament were written entirely for Christians. The operations of both the Old and New Covenants overlap. The differences foc... 

The Covenants, Grace, and Law (Part 18)
John Ritenbaugh reiterates that the entire Old Testament was written with the New Testament church in mind. Certain temporary ceremonial sacrifices, washings, and rituals were set aside when the spiritual reality—such as Christ's sacrifice replacing ... 

The Covenants, Grace, and Law (Part 19)
In this nineteenth installment of the Covenant, Grace and Law series, John Ritenbaugh, countering the naive assumption that the spirit of the law does away with the letter, insists that without the letter, there is no spirit because no foundations ar... 

The Covenants, Grace, and Law (Part 21)
In this twenty first installment of the Covenants, Grace and Law series, John Ritenbaugh affirms that the way to be undefiled (to become sanctified, developing character) is to walk in the Law of the Lord (Psalm 119:1). We must do God's Word or it wi... 

The Covenants, Grace, and Law (Part 22)
In this twenty second installment of the Covenants Grace and Law series, John Ritenbaugh affirms that the Word of God is not ever improved by syncretizing or alloying it with human philosophy, a pattern of reasoning which often begins with a faulty o... 

The Covenants, Grace, and Law (Part 23)
In this twenty-third installment of the Covenants, Law and Grace series, John Ritenbaugh focuses upon two sets of verses (Colossians 2:16-18 and Galatians 4:9-10) which certain Protestant theologians have blasphemously charged that Paul was referring... 

The Covenants, Grace, and Law (Part 24)
In this twenty fourth installment in the Covenant, Grace and Law series, John Ritenbaugh reiterates that the days, months, and times referred to in Galatians 4:10 do not refer to Jewish Holy Days or the law of God, but to Pagan Gnostic rites connecte... 

The Covenants, Grace, and Law (Part 29)
John Ritenbaugh provides a summary of the Covenants, Grace and Law series: 1. Realize the position carnal man comes from: completely under Satan' sway, antagonistic to God's law (Romans 8:7). 2. Always work from clear, unambiguous scriptures (Matthew... 

The Covenants, Grace, and Law (Part 5)
In this fifth installment of the Covenants, Grace and Law series, John Ritenbaugh reminds us that under both the Old and New Covenants, refusal to keep to keep God's Law severs our relationship with Him. Like loving parents who give rules to their ch... 

The Covenants, Grace, and Law (Part 8)
In this eighth installment of "The Covenants, Grace and Law" series, John Ritenbaugh explains that justification is not the end of the salvation process, but merely the doorway to a more involved process of sanctification, symbolized by the... 

The Fourth Commandment (Part 1)
In this first installment of the Fourth Commandment series, John Ritenbaugh stresses that the Sabbath is the major means by which He protects His investment, the spiritual creation of His family. The Sabbath, far from being the least of the commandme... 

The Fourth Commandment (Part 2)
In this second installment of the Fourth Commandment series, John Ritenbaugh asserts that the two major purposes for the Sabbath are to (1) remind us that God is Creator and (2) to remind us that we were once in abject bondage and slavery to sin. Chr... 

The Fourth Commandment (Part 3)
In this third installment of the Fourth Commandment series, John Ritenbaugh reiterates that the dual purpose for the Sabbath consists of (1) a memorial of God's physical creation and (2) a memorial of our redemption from bondage. Bondage is the conse... 

The Fourth Commandment (Part 4)
In this fourth installment of the Fourth Commandment series, John Ritenbaugh warns us that because of our close proximity to a materialistic world filled with man's works, our faith cannot take root. The Sabbath is the day consecrated by God for buil... 

The Fourth Commandment (Part 5)
In concluding the Fourth Commandment series, John Ritenbaugh emphasizes that the reason for refraining from work or pleasure on the Sabbath is not labor or muscular energy, but the overall motivation for expending this energy. Proper preparation for ... 

The Fourth Commandment: Idolatry
John Ritenbaugh reflects on a Catholic Priest's answer to a question about why the Sabbath was allegedly changed from Saturday to Sunday. The priest, in his reasoning was 99% wrong. God has determined what and how we worship. The world's religions, i... 

The Importance of Doctrine
In this sobering sermon, John Ritenbaugh warns of the consequences of assimilating or fellowshipping outside of God's called out church. People who vainly or naively suppose they are supplementing their spiritual diet with a poisonous blend of heresy... 

The Preparation Day
David Grabbe affirms that God, as a part of His Providence, gave us the preparation day to prepare for the Sabbath. The preparation day is intended to allow people to make sure that mundane activities do not interfere with the holy time set apart for... 

The 'Rest' of Hebrews 4
John Ritenbaugh, focusing upon the promise of rest alluded to in Hebrews 4;9, emphasizes the need to endure, persevere, overcoming doubts and unbelief- something many of our forebears (described in Hebrews 3 and 4) did not successfully attain. When w... 

The Sabbath a Delight
Focusing upon Isaiah 58: 13-14, Ted Bowling analyzes how we are to go about making the Sabbath a delight. The Sabbath pictures a freedom from bondage and prefigures the joy of living in God's Kingdom. The Sabbath infuses us with hope. God wants us to... 

The Second Commandment: Idolatry
John Ritenbaugh, reiterating the apostle Paul's warning in Romans 1:28, affirms that when mankind turns its back on God Almighty, God allows man to degenerate into carnality, acquiring a reprobate mind. A reprobate mind is totally devoid of proper ju... 

Wavesheaf Day in the New Testament
David Grabbe shows that the phrase "first day of the week" in the various gospel accounts of Jesus Christ's appearance should be translated "first of the weeks" (mia sabbaton). This is the wavesheaf day -- the day after the Sabbat... 

Which Day Is the Christian Sabbath?
In this telecast, Herbert W. Armstrong recounts the experience in which his wife Loma, through her "religious fanaticism" goaded him into an in-depth search of biblical and historical sources, clearly substantiating the seventh day Sabbath.... 

Why Are We Here?
John Ritenbaugh, affirming that the Sabbath was made for mankind and that Christ is the Lord of the Sabbath, does not conclude, as some Protestant theologians have erroneously inferred, that the manner of Sabbath observance is no longer important, no... 

Worship and Culture (Part 2)
Richard Ritenbaugh, acknowledging the deleterious effects of modern culture upon worship, examines New Testament examples of worship to glean some principles. Throughout Acts, we learn that: 1) people assembled together, 2) men and women worshipped t...