Whenever I announce the topic of prayer as the focus of a message or a series in our church, I find a response of keen interest from our people. We all have the sense of the disciples when they begged the Lord, “Teach us to pray.” Last summer, we published an edition of FrontLine devoted…
The night before his crucifixion, Jesus prepared his disciples for the challenges they would experience when he left them (John 16:1-4, 31-33). He assured them that though he would leave them soon through death, he would return to them soon through the resurrection (John 16:19-22). By leaving them, he would make it possible for the…
Kristopher Schaal Even secular culture cannot help but make moral judgments. Sometimes Christians can affirm the world’s ethic and sometimes we must challenge it. [footnote] For instance, I would argue that generally speaking, we should affirm #MeToo but challenge LGBTQ.[/footnote] Sometimes the culture gets it right and sometimes it is wrong. One of the ways…
FrontLine March/April 2019 | VOLUME 29 | NUMBER 2 In America, big churches are getting bigger and small churches are getting smaller. According to the Hartford Institute and Leadership Network, America boasted 150 “mega-churches” (2000 or more in the congregation) in 1980 and is home to nearly 2000 of them today. Simultaneously, the median attendance…
We do not often address this topic openly, but Paul did. I do cover this thoroughly in premarital counseling, but there are so many more people that need to understand this biblical truth. It is absolutely essential, not only to the quality marital relationship but to New Testament sanctification. Let the husband render to his…
Occasionally I will hear someone lament, “No one is discipling me,” or “I don’t have anyone to disciple.” Typically these kinds of complaints stem from the common assumption that disciple making requires an arrangement between a disciple maker and a disciple to work through a curriculum or to train the disciple in some ministry skill.…
Some years ago I was looking for an illustration to fill out a point in a sermon. I’ve collected various resources over the years. Most of them sit on my shelf gathering dust! With the advent of the internet, we now have illustrations at our fingertips, so it should be much easier now, right? On…
After riding by horseback around his estate in freezing rain and snow, George Washington woke up with an inflamed throat and was unable to breathe properly. When doctors examined his condition, they prescribed a procedure called “bloodletting,” which followed the prevailing medical opinion that removing blood from the body would reduce inflammation. In this case,…
In Romans 8:29 we learn that God has predestinated us to be conformed to the image of His Son. That is the ultimate end of all things — that God is going to make us, His people, like His Son Jesus Christ. That is why we were created originally. With the fall of man, we…
The prosperity of American culture breeds sin. For any believer, it is hard to deny this. We first see wealth as a means to happiness through the comfort of security, or the ability to get what we want. In the end, we often sacrifice our true happiness for wealth. Isaiah saw the same problems in…