Posts Tagged ‘Church Life’
The Persevering Church at Philadelphia
The human body can overcome many challenging feats of strength and endurance. If you have ever done any serious physical training regimen, like running or weightlifting, you know this to be true. If you have practiced for a 10K or a marathon, you know the strain and anxiety when you reach that last mile. You…
Read MoreThe Dying Church at Sardis
Revelation 3.1-6 This letter is the fifth in a series of seven letters written to churches in Asia Minor at the end of the first century AD. In these letters, John gave a personal message from Christ to each church. Each message expressed Christ’s up-close perspective on the spiritual condition of each one. Just as…
Read MoreThe Corrupt Church at Thyatira
This letter is the fourth in a series of seven letters written to churches in Asia Minor at the end of the first century AD. In these letters, John gave a personal message from Christ to each church. Each message expressed Christ’s up-close perspective on the spiritual condition of each one. Just as we benefit…
Read MoreAre You Missing Church because of Covid?
In the corona crisis, some Christians are fearful even of their regular habits of church attendance. Some tried, but their fears won out, and they’ve stopped attending. Some are too fearful even to try. We are sympathetic, we understand the fears. Some of us simply push our fears down and act contrary to our fears…
Read MoreThe Oppressed Church at Smyrna
This letter is the second in a series of seven letters written to churches in Asia Minor at the end of the first century AD. In these letters, John gave a personal message from Christ to each church. Each message expressed Christ’s up-close perspective on the spiritual condition of each one. Just as we benefit…
Read MoreAvoiding the Extremes: Worship in the Cold and Heat
Recent discussions about restricting indoor worship sparked my curiosity. Some places allow limited outdoor gatherings, but these are only effective in moderate weather locations. Some places, like the city where I live, have glorious summers that very rarely suffer through extreme heat. Even in our hottest days, outside worship could be tolerable if we were…
Read MoreThe Weak Church: Making Much of Christ
Planted in Weakness Christianity has enjoyed a position of strength in Western society for a long time. The church once commanded kings, encompassed nations, and dominated the world. But things were not always this way. Before the Emperor Constantine legalized Christianity in the Byzantine Empire through the Edict of Milan in 313 A.D., Christianity was…
Read MoreContention in the Church
One issue dominates the first four chapters of 1 Corinthians. It’s contention in the church. The Reformer, Ulrich Zwingli wrote: How does it happen that we Christians who are united by such powerful agencies have much greater quarrels than unbelievers? And how does it happen that in a Confederacy in which until now a fraternal…
Read MoreThe Church after Covid – Where Is It Going?
A recent Christian Post article reports on a Barna study of church participation during the recent “lockdown” weeks of the Covid-19 crisis. The Christian Post article opens with this: One-third of all practicing Christians haven’t been watching either their own church online or another church’s streaming worship services since the state lockdowns in response to…
Read MorePraying for an Understanding Spirit
When you’re not sure how to pray for other Christians, you should follow the example of Paul by thanking God for them (Eph 1:15-16). You can also follow his example by asking God to give them a spirit of understanding (Eph 1:17). That is what he did when he “mentioned” them to God in prayer…
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