Posts from 2021

Posts from 2021

What to Say to Visitors

So, as you walk through the church building or when sitting in a pew you see a person who is a visitor. What do you say to them? It may be an awkward moment, but it is obvious that saying the right thing is so important. Below are seven ideas of what each of us can say to cause visitors to return again. These ideas are not original (I found them in a blog by Thomas Rainer), but they might…

God’s Final Words in the OT

Thirty-seven of the thirty-nine books of the Old Testament had been written when Zechariah began his work as a prophet. What had God not reveal to His chosen nation? What more needed to be said before the close of that part of the Bible? The answer to these questions emphasizes the importance of the words of this prophet. In the final three chapters of Zechariah, God’s messenger looks to the future to show the Jews that God had some remarkable…

The Thief on the Cross

The cross of Jesus stands as the central event in human history. Of all the great accomplishments of mankind, none can rival what Jesus accomplished on the cross. That being the case, why then is the record of Jesus’ death, the greatest accomplishment in human history, cluttered with peripheral information about the death of an irrelevant thief, who happened to die on the same day? As an answer to that question, may I suggest that the death of the penitent…

When the Going Gets Tough

We have all had times in our lives when things get tough. The world has a way of throwing challenges our way when we least expect it or when we are least capable of handling them. Sometimes the challenges get so difficult that we may want to give up. What should we do when we get to that point? We should follow the example of three men in the Bible who faced very difficult challenges but kept the faith: Jeremiah,…

Responding to True Miracles

There was no way one could see the miracles of Jesus and not be forced to make a decision about who He was. Unlike the “miracles” of televangelists of our day, His miracles were always instantaneous, complete healing and never a failure. He immediately restored hands visibly deformed, cleansed those whose leprosy was obvious to all, and He even raised the dead. What an amazing contrast between what He did and those pseudo-miracles of our day. Look at the impact…

Am I Careless or Carefree?

Even though they technically mean the same thing, you know the difference. The first insinuates you don’t care about the bad around you when you actually should, because there is more to it. The second insinuates that you don’t worry about the bad around you, because you know you don’t need to. There are two men discussed in scripture that stayed asleep during a storm. The first one we think about is Jesus! Mark 4:37-38 shows Jesus being carefree in…

What Does It Mean to Turn to God?

In the book of 1 Thessalonians Paul is so thankful for these Christians faithfulness. In Acts 17, Paul established this church and had to leave very soon because of persecution. Since that moment, Paul had worried about these Christians. So, he sent Timothy to them to check on them and make sure they were going to be okay (1 Thessalonians 3:1-3). When Timothy reported back to Paul, Paul was thrilled to hear that these Christians had remained faithful and continued…

Who is Jesus?

Who is Jesus? That may seem like an odd question, but let’s consider it for a moment. Who is Jesus? There are so many ways to answer that question! He was a carpenter. (Mk 6:3) He was a Nazarene and a man from the tribe of Judah. (Matt. 2:23; Heb. 7:14) But these answers don’t really get to the heart of who Jesus is. Think about the Gospel accounts that we have, and ask yourself the question – who is…

Defeating Bitterness

Many of us think that it’s harmless to harbor negative emotions toward other people. We often excuse it as something natural, like when we get angry at bona fide injustice or unfairness. At other times, we spin negativity into something positive, such as when we hold a grudge against someone else as a defense mechanism to remind us that we cannot trust them. Bitterness can be of those things. But if we are going to be the salt and light…

The Christ of Christianity

There is perhaps no more significant study in Christendom than the study of Jesus Christ. Without the humanity and deity of Christ, there no longer remains a fruitful approach to the Christian lifestyle. We have to come to terms with Jesus being the King of kings in addition to our propitiation. As God, He demands our obedience to live as His people (Ex. 19:5). As man, He seeks to develop a deep and eternal relationship, one that could be described…

More than Morals

What makes a Christian? There are many places to go to find that answer, but my favorite is Colossians 3. Skipping over v.1-4 for now Colossians 3:5-9 illustrates what the Christian life does not look like. Following that we see the picture of a Christian in v.12-17. A Christian should strive to be merciful, kind, humble, meek, patient, caring, and forgiving, loving, peaceful, and thankful. However, these characteristics alone do not make one a Christian. They are good morals, and…

True Contradictions?

One of the lessons that I taught in logic class was the nature of contradiction. True contradictions are rare because they depend upon very specific details conflicting with each other. For example, suppose someone came running into the building and said that there was basketball size hail coming down outside. We would immediately think about the weather. Was it sunny when we walked in? Cloudy? What was the temperature like? Did the forecast even call for a storm? Some might…