Category: CHURCH & MINISTRY
Should We Still be Devoted to the Public Reading of Scripture?
Is the Bible read much at your church’s meetings? Should it be? At the beginning of 1 Timothy 4, Paul says the false teachers in Ephesus were “devoting themselves to . . . teachings of demons” (v. 1). Later in the chapter, he charges Timothy: “Until...
The Gift of Love: When Do I Die?
It was told as true, but I cannot be sure of that. However, such love as I’m about to show you has been seen in the history of the world many times, in one form or another. It is sacrificial love, like Christ’s. It is the...
Seeking and Saving Zacchaeus, the Wee Little Man
“Zacchaeus was a wee little man, and a wee little man was he.” The story of Jesus seeking and saving Zacchaeus is found in Luke 19:1-10. The song, quoted above and throughout, is sung by children throughout the English-speaking church world. It memorably summarizes the Zacchaeus...
False Teachers: What to Do with the Poison in the Water
In telling the fictitious story of Barnabas Sackett coming on a ship from England to America in the 1600s, Louis L’Amour describes Sackett’s shipmates like this: “They were rascals, no question of that, and a dirty, poisonous lot, enough to kill the fish for miles if...
God’s Way, Not Ours: Kingdom Advance Out of Something Awful
The story of the death of the first martyr of the early church, Stephen, is both ugly and spectacular (see Acts 7:54-60). The ugliness of Stephen’s murderers is found in such phrases as these: “they were enraged” (v. 54); “they ground their teeth at him” (v....
The Most Loving Church I Have Ever Experienced
The Lord saved me when I was a freshman in high school in the context of a para-church ministry. Unfortunately, I didn’t commit to a local church once I was a follower of Jesus. Oh, I attended church — actually, more than one. But I wasn’t...
Spiritual Lepers Made Clean
Some lepers in Jesus’ day had it worse than others. We know of one man in the Bible who had a severe case of leprosy because Luke writes, “While he was in one of the cities, there came a man full of leprosy” (5:12a). Did you...
The Goodness of Light
As I grow older, I find myself noticing darkness more and more. Perhaps my increasing awareness is due to a mild decline in my vision, my 20/20 days being long past! In any case my awareness of darkness was accentuated a few weeks ago when we...
Why Satan Cannot Stop Gospel Advance
Satan hates the progress of the gospel. This was quickly evident once Paul and Barnabas went out from the church in Antioch on the first local church effort to reach the nations with the gospel (Acts 13-14). Early on that journey they were in Paphos on the island...
Evangelism Even I Can Do
“Evangelism is too hard! That must be someone else’s job.” We’ve probably all thought this when introduced to intense “evangelism training” programs that seemed intimidating. Granted, they have a place in the church and the Lord has used them to help people think through ways to...
