Church Blog (Page 10)

The assembly should highlight the week of every faithful child of God. This period of worship, study, and devotion provides the much-needed focus and spiritual context for life that the world attacks as dull or meaningless. Every gathering offers yet another opportunity to remind ourselves of the extent of God’s interest, the depth of God’s love, and the might of God’s power—all exercised throughout millennia for our personal and eternal benefit. However, even many Christians fail to appreciate this blessing.…

In the closing verses of John, Jesus foretold the nature of the death of Peter. He reminded Peter of that time when he was young and could dress himself and was free to go wherever he wanted. He then said, “But when you are old another will gird you and carry you where you do not wish.” The Holy Spirit then adds these comments, “This He said to show by what kind of death he was to glorify God” (John…

How long do you wait? You are at a traffic light. It goes from red to green. The person in front of you is clearly distracted, and your lane is the only one not moving. How long do you wait before you take action? You are seated at a restaurant. Ten minutes pass, and no one has taken your drink order. It is busy but not slammed. They should’ve come to the table by now. How long do you wait…

Prayer is a resource and an honor that not all enjoy. Through the power of prayer, we can receive forgiveness from God, boldness from God, peace from God, opportunity from God, strength from God, healing from God, wisdom from God, and tranquility from God. For those that do not have the privilege of prayer, their prayers will be an abomination to God. Their prayers will fall on deaf ears. Their prayers will be hindered. Their prayers will not be answered…

While the Bible clearly affirms that it will completely supply us in every aspect of our work for the Lord (2 Tim. 3:16- 17), some do not believe it. While the Bible clearly affirms that it contains everything which pertains to life and godliness (2 Pet. 1:3), some do not believe it. Consider the following. Several years ago in a Bible study with the Jehovah’s Witnesses I asked them, “If I only had a Bible, what would be the odds…

When we think about all of the various sins there are in the world, we might think there are hundreds or thousands of different kinds of sinners. However, if we narrow it down, we may come up with a number much smaller, representing the types of sinners on earth. In Luke 7:36-50, Jesus was in a house with two sinners. However, these two sinners were very different from each other. The first sinner was the owner of the house. He…

So, as you walk through the church building or when sitting in a pew you see a person who is a visitor. What do you say to them? It may be an awkward moment, but it is obvious that saying the right thing is so important. Below are seven ideas of what each of us can say to cause visitors to return again. These ideas are not original (I found them in a blog by Thomas Rainer), but they might…

The words of Paul to the Corinthians reveal so much about the response to the gospel when the lost hear it. “For you see your calling, brethren, that not many wise according to the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble, are called” (1 Cor. 2:26). Why is this true? All of mankind is invited to come to Jesus, but so many of the mighty and noble do not answer the invitation. Much can be learned by looking at those…

One of the most “controversial” topics in the new testament appears in 1 Timothy 2:11-15, when Paul addresses the subject of a woman’s public role in the church. Through the last half of the twentieth century, and especially now, in the twenty-first, much of western society has recoiled in disgust from the very idea that there could or should be any distinction at between the roles of men and women within the church. Liberal protestantism led the way in asserting…

Some of the most specific biblical instructions about prayer appear in 1 Timothy 2. Here, the Holy Spirit not only gives us direction about the various “types” of prayers we may employ, he also points us toward some of the “objects” for whom our spirits and voices should be raised in prayer. While Paul does not give an exhaustive list of “prayer topics” in this context, the words of verses 1-2 show that the prayers we offer to our Father…

The scholarly community generally describes the letters Paul wrote to Timothy and Titus as the “pastoral” epistles. This is not really an accurate description because it derives from the denominational concept of a preacher as being THE “pastor” of a congregation. The new testament shows a distinctly different picture of the church, with each congregation having multiple “pastors” (i.e., shepherds, elders, overseers), not the “one-man-rule” so common in modern denominationalism. (Acts 14:23 shows clearly that each individual congregation had plural…

Yiddish folklore offers a telling tale about gossipers and rumormongers. One such man told so many malicious untruths about a local resident that he became overwhelmed with remorse and went to his neighbor begging forgiveness. “Sir,” the penitent man pleaded, “Please tell me how I might make amends.” His neighbor replied, “Take these two feather pillows; go to the public square and there cut the pillows open. Wave them in the air. Then return that we may at once settle…