5 minutes a day
5 days a week
1 New Testament in a year

There are 261 weekdays in a year, and there are 260 chapters in the New Testament. By reading one chapter, Monday through Friday, you will read the whole New Testament by the end of the year. The Daily Cup series is to help with that goal.

Happy Studying!

"The LORD is my chosen portion and my cup." -- Psalm 16:5

Click here for a pdf of the study schedule - CLICK HERE

Why do some churches not allow musical instruments?  Ephesians 5:19 says to speak to one another with psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs.  “Sing and make music in your heart to the Lord...”  The Greek definition of psalms says “from a set piece of music or a sacred ode accompanied with the voice, harp, or other instrument”.

Sincerely,
Don’t Mean To Harp

Dear Don’t Mean To Harp,

The reasons some churches don’t use musical instruments (ours included) is because of the very verse you mentioned.  In the New Testament, we are commanded to “speak to one another” and “make melody in our hearts” (Eph. 5:19).  Col 3:16 says that we should “sing with grace in our hearts”, and 1 Cor 14:15 says that we should “sing with our spirit” and “sing with understanding”.  All of these verses clearly tell us what to be offering God in worship – heartfelt singing.

It is true that a psalm means “a piece of music or sacred ode accompanied with the voice, harp, or other instrument”, and if God hadn’t specified what accompaniment we should use, we could use any instrument we wanted… but God did specify what instrument He wanted us to use.  He wanted us to use our voices and heartstrings.  Incidentally, the word ‘acappella’ means ‘as the church’ because the early church never used instruments in their worship.  Instruments weren’t introduced into worship services until the sixth century.  The church of the first century understood that when God asked for them to sing – that meant they should only sing.  Since we desire to do exactly what the Bible says and neither add nor subtract from God’s Word (Rev 22:18-19), we simply use our voices.  God doesn’t ask for instruments in His worship, and we don’t go beyond what He has written (1 Cor 4:6).

5 minutes a day
5 days a week
1 New Testament in a year

There are 261 weekdays in a year, and there are 260 chapters in the New Testament. By reading one chapter, Monday through Friday, you will read the whole New Testament by the end of the year. The Daily Cup series is to help with that goal.

Happy Studying!

"The LORD is my chosen portion and my cup." -- Psalm 16:5

Click here for a pdf of the study schedule - CLICK HERE

Please clarify the interpretation of 1 Corinthians 11:1-16.  In church, we are required to pray individually and corporately.  I see women in church and on T.V. ministries lead prayers and prophesy without head covering.  In 1 Cor 11:1, Paul says, " Imitate me, just as I also imitate Christ".  Verse two says, "... Keep the traditions just as I delivered them to you."  Verse sixteen says, "But if anyone seems to be contentious, we have no such custom, nor do the churches of God."

Sincerely,
Keep Your Hat On

Dear Keep Your Hat On,

Women must always have their heads covered while praying (1 Cor 11:5), but God has built into every woman a permanent head-covering – her hair (1 Cor 11:15).  God designed men and women differently… this should be no surprise to anyone that has ever dealt with the opposite gender!  Men are to be the leaders in the home (Eph 5:23) and the church (Tit 1:5-6).  Women are the heart of the family (Tit 2:4-5), and men are not complete without them (1 Cor 11:12).  Both genders are equal heirs of salvation, but they are designed with different strengths and roles (1 Pet 3:7).  One way that God signifies this is by having men look different from women.  When women have long hair and men have short hair – it pleases God (1 Cor 11:14-15).  There are varying degrees of long and short hair, but ultimately – men are to look like men, and women are to look like women.  This principle is even borne out in the Old Testament (Deu 22:5).  The teachings of 1 Cor 11:1-16 are simply teaching that a woman’s long hair is a God-given covering for her head, and men are not to have that same covering due to their varying roles in leadership.

I have a friend that says he is a true born-again christian, but he has been having a lot of problems in his life and has thought about taking his own life.  His question was if you were to take your own life, even if he is really saved, if he was to do something like that, he wanted to know if he would go to hell.  I told him I didn’t think so; I think once you are saved under Jesus’ blood, you’re always saved no matter what.  Is there any verse in the Bible that talks about that?  If so, could you give that to me, so that I can talk to my friend?  Thank you so much.

Sincerely,
Friend To The Hurting

Dear Friend To The Hurting,

People can lose their salvation. Heb 6:4-6 and Heb 10:26-27 outline that if someone rejects God’s Word (even after becoming a christian), they will go to hell just like any other unbeliever. And that is the key to the whole thing – is suicide an example of rejecting God’s Word and sinning willfully?

Suicide certainly is condemned. Suicide is murder, self-murder, and is therefore very clearly a sin (Rev 21:8). The only difference between suicide and murdering someone else is that you don’t get a chance to repent after suicide. Suicide is a final decision and leaves no room for correction or for asking forgiveness. Therefore, in most cases, it would be fair to say that suicide will send you to hell. It is a willful act of disobedience against God without opportunity for repentance.

We here at AYP only hesitate to say, “All people who commit suicide go to hell,” because God never specifically makes that statement. The final judgment belongs to God (Heb 12:23), but we certainly wouldn’t want to face that judgment with our own blood on our hands.