Category: CHRISTIAN LIFE
How to Use Your Pastors for All They’re Worth
Do you take advantage of your pastors? Pastors (also called “elders” in Scripture) are assigned the role of leading the local church, and they are invested by God with the authority commensurate with this responsibility. History has taught us that following a leader can be frighteningly...
How to Encourage Your Pastor This Summer
Attendance, and unfortunately enthusiasm, is significantly lacking in most local churches during the summer months. Vacations, reunions, camps, and other activities take people out of town, leaving even the main worship service of the week with gaps in the pews wider than a dump truck. A...
How Do You Respond When Admonished?
As we pulled into one of the gates at the Atlanta airport, I knew I would miss my connecting flight. Nevertheless, I sprinted through one of the world’s largest airports to a gate that was a few terminals away, hoping that I could still make it....
Hospitality for Gospel Advance
I occasionally travel around the country in order to teach the Bible in various settings, typically staying in the home of a pastor or church members. Looking back over several years of these experiences, I can confidently say that joyous hospitality is a boon to my...
Helping Friends Who Receive The Call We All Dread
It’s happened to all of us. We get a call or an email letting us know that someone we love has a family member in the hospital in serious condition, and we want to help. Our hearts immediately turn to prayer, but along with that, we...
Hearing Aids for Believers
Let’s face it-sometimes it is hard to get much out of the sermon or teaching you receive in your church. While some of the blame often lies at the feet of the presenter, it is still the obligation of the listener to scratch for something nourishing...
Guaranteed Ways to Make Your Pastor Rejoice
Are you the kind of church member who makes your pastor’s ministry a joy? (Hebrews 13:17) Do you esteem in love the pastors that God has put over you? (1 Thessalonians 5:12-13) Do you honor those elders who “work hard at preaching and teaching?” (1 Timothy...
Getting the Most Out of the Public Reading of Scripture
Some of the ladies of the first church I pastored started digging around in their purses the moment I announced the passage of Scripture I was going to read. It was a nearly synchronized hunt for a piece of gum. Usually, they offered a piece to...
Four Miles from Church
How important is faithful church attendance for the Christian? One man who understood its importance was the father of 19th century missionary John Paton. Living four miles from their church in Dumfries, Scotland, Paton writes, . . . during all these forty years my father was...
Conquering the Shy Chromosome
Like it or not, much of church life and our impact on society depends on conversation. Do you do much of that? It is the responsibility of everybody in the church—including the shy people. There may be a shy chromosome in the genes somewhere, but if...
