Church Life
-
People of the Book
God has always wanted His people to be “people of the book.” He had Moses write down the book of genealogy so that man could trace himself back to Adam and thus remember his Creator (Genesis 5:1). He had Moses read the book of the law to the Israelites so they would vow to keep every word (Exodus 24:7). Joshua also read the book of the law to God’s people, including every blessing and every curse (Joshua 8:34). Providentially, God allowed Hilkiah, the priest, to find the book when it had been neglected and lost (2 Kings 22:8). Later, after the Jews had returned from captivity, the book was read once…
-
Twenty-Six
One would like to think that a place of worship would provide a safe environment for people. Sadly, that no longer seems to be the case. Not long ago, the largest mass shooting in the history of the state of Texas took place on a Sunday morning at a relatively small church in a small town. According to one report I read, every person who was in attendance that Sunday was either killed or wounded. As the news began to spread, it was widely reported that a total of twenty-six people lost their lives that day. I was intrigued by the wording of a report posted a week later on nytimes.com. I found one…
-
What Makes a Day Good?
Do you ever have one of those days where you just realize all is going well and things are good in the world? I had one of those today and as I sit here tonight trying to reflect, it makes me wonder: what was so special about today? What made today so good compared to yesterday or tomorrow? Nothing spectacular really happened. I did manage to get up on time, which is always a nice start for me. It was a normal day at school with a positive start celebrating a recent success of some of my kids. I still had lessons to teach and paperwork to complete. Some of…
-
How Titus 2 Will Transform a Church (and Save a Bundle of Money in the Process)
Families are struggling. Even in the church, families are going through rough times. We can act like it isn’t happening, or we can face it head-on. While there is nothing wrong with this approach, for many congregations the default response is to hire someone. “Let’s get a younger preacher who can relate to these families.” (Never mind the fact that, since he’s young, he’s probably struggling, too!) “Let’s add a family minister to our staff.” “We need to add a counseling center.” Trust me, none of these are necessarily bad things, and in many cases, they can provide a great help to a congregation. But in our rush to think…
-
3 Ways to Stay Positive When You Are Depressed
“It’s the most wonderful time of the year….It’s the hap..happiest season of all.” That’s what the song says anyway. It would be great if this were truly the case in every situation. But in reality, the holidays can be stressful. There are so many things to get done, and the weather turns dark and dreary and cold. People are more depressed from December to February than during any other time of the year. And if there have been major disappointments or if there has been recent loss of life, Christmas can be far from cheerful. So here are a few tips on how to stay positive when all of the…
-
Huge Leadership Principles in One Short Verse
Most of us are at least somewhat familiar with the unusual tactics employed by Gideon to win a battle against seemingly insurmountable odds. We are given this information in Judges 7 about the size of the opposition to Gideon and his men: …the Midianites and the Amalekites and all the people of the East lay along the valley like locusts in abundance, and their camels were without number, as the sand that is on the seashore in abundance (Judges 7:12). As the events recorded in Judges 7 progress, we learn how Gideon’s army shrank from 32,000 to 300. Those of us who are familiar with this material are aware of how that…
-
Is Thanksgiving Over?
The turkey is all gone. The other left-overs have all been eaten or are growing fuzz in their containers in the refrigerator. The blow-up mattresses have all been deflated and put back in their containers. The blankets and extra pillows are back on the closet shelf. The sheets, towels, and tablecloths are all washed and back in the linen closets. Games and songbooks are neatly stored in the cabinet and basket in which they live. The noise and laughter of eleven people being under one roof is gone and the house is very quiet again. The memories of funny stories and actions live on in our minds, but Thanksgiving 2017 is over. Those of…
-
What is Your Identity?
We live in a time of labels. Everyone has to have an identity and we seem to want to group together with people based on certain labels. More than that, we live in times where we are continually standing for “rights” or “privileges” based on those labels. Some are gender-based. Some are based on ethnicity or skin color. Many in our modern culture base their identity on their sexuality. We describe ourselves by our jobs, or marital status, teams we root for, and more. It seems that, unless we fit into a certain category, we aren’t accepted by today’s world. It’s almost as if you have to check just the…
-
The Peacemaker
Telemachus was a monk who lived in the 4th century. He went to Rome and found chaos in the streets. The commotion was over the gladiators. He was amazed that four centuries after Christ had come people were still killing each other for sport. When he arrived at the Coliseum the gladiators were shouting, “Hail Caesar, we will die for Caesar.” He jumped over the railing and went out into the middle of the field, got between two gladiators, held up his hands and said: “In the name of Christ, forbear.” The crowd protested and began to shout, “Run him through, Run him through.” A gladiator came over and hit…
-
But Daniel — Then Daniel
Most of us will never be in a place of prominence like Daniel. I have no illusions about ever being “…the third ruler in the kingdom…” (Dan. 5:29). I don’t have any expectations about my words or actions ever being reported by the national news media. While our “sphere of influence” may not be as large as his, our Lord expects that influence to be positive (cf. Matt. 5:13-16). It seems to me that there are a couple of things learned from Daniel that can help us to do that. In the opening verses of the book that bears his name, we learn about a number of young men who were taken…
