Has it struck you in recent years that there seems to be a growing trend of spiritual immaturity in churches today? I know that is a rather broad-brush stroke, but I just want to pose this idea for consideration from a few angles. Immature Beliefs Consider the various views about God: God is the “big…
For nearly a decade cable television’s History Channel has broadcast a reality program called The Curse of Oak Island. The show follows the efforts of Rick and Marty Lagina, originally from Michigan, who search for hidden treasure on a small island off the shore of Nova Scotia, Canada. The thought that lost treasure might be…
My sermon text a couple weeks ago was, “We urge you, brethren, admonish the unruly, encourage the fainthearted, help the weak, be patient with everyone” (1 Thess 5:14). It’s a highly practical verse for local church ministry, and it teaches that appropriate spiritual care varies from situation to situation. Some people need direct, strong confrontation…
In Paul’s great valedictory address in 2 Timothy 4:6-8, he declares that he is eagerly waiting for a “crown of righteousness” that will be not only given to him, but to everyone who awaits the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. While not addressing other crowns in scripture, this particular crown merits special attention. The…
Tucked in the cover of my Bible where I can enjoy them each day are photographs of dear friends who came into God’s family via the channel of relationships. They’re all different, spanning the gamut from a former atheist and his family to a lovely redheaded woman from Texas who has become one of my…
The apostle Thomas sometimes gets a bad wrap because of his words the day of Christ’s resurrection, “Unless I see in his hands the mark of the nails, and place my finger into the mark of the nails, and place my hand into his side, I will never believe” (John 20:25). However, in reflecting upon…
“And unto the angel of the church in Smyrna write; These things says the first and the last, which was dead, and is alive; I know thy works, and tribulation, and poverty, (but thou art rich) and I know the blasphemy of them which say they are Jews, and are not, but are the synagogue…
In 1943, a classics professor at Princeton named P. R. Coleman-Norton—according to his article in a peer-reviewed theology journal—visited a Moroccan mosque, where he saw “a single unnumbered page of Greek” (see p. 439 here). He quickly identified the parchment as a portion of an anonymous Latin commentary on Matthew’s Gospel translated into Greek. But,…
Of course not. Obviously! Really? Are you sure? Our church has been involved in addictions ministries for a number of years now, but more people might need a ministry like this than just those that think they need it. We had the great blessing of having Dr. Jim Berg ministering to us recently. There were…
Sports fans can be strange. Really, any kind of fan can act in very strange ways because, after all, ‘fan’ is short for ‘fanatic’ and fanatics can assign a seriousness and energy to their cause that results in all manner of unusual behavior: Grown men will paint their faces in the colors of their team…