Church Life
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Here’s to Faithful Deacons
The congregation where I preach is currently in the process of searching for and then, Lord willing, appointing additional deacons. It is an exciting time, as we consider the men of our congregation who are faithful servants, as well as various areas where our congregation could use their help. The older I get, the more I see the wisdom in God’s plan for the organization of the church, with each autonomous congregation being overseen and pastored by a group of elders, and with deacons providing special service in various areas. I do feel, however, that deacons are often overlooked. While elders are the leaders, deacons–when they do what they are…
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Is It Ever Alright to be Jealous?
Yes. It is sometimes permissible, if not necessary, to be jealous. Let’s face it – Our God is a jealous God. Exodus 34:14 even says that His name is “Jealous.” This Hebrew word in the original text indicates that God is not going to put up with any rival, such that any departure from one’s desire for Him to pursue someone or something else would bring about His severe and justified anger. Therefore – He’s jealous. It’s a relationship thing. It’s an ownership thing. It’s a love thing. There are legitimate reasons for humans to practice godly jealousy. But really quickly let’s first discuss what godly jealousy is not. Godly…
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Good Enough for Who It’s For
If I remember correctly, my first baseball “uniform” consisted of a baseball cap and a t-shirt. The t-shirt had the name of a local funeral home on the front of it and a number on the back. The man who owned the funeral home knew that he was not trying to supply uniforms for a major league team. He was just kind enough to try to help some seven-year-old boys get a start. He probably thought at the time (and rightly so), “Those t-shirts and caps are good enough for who it’s for.“ If that is what he thought, he was correct. We were just a group of seven-year-old boys who were excited about…
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The Final Step in Jethro’s Advice to Moses
Exodus 18 is very often used in leadership books written by Christian writers. Many have described it as the foundation of the US legal system (and other similar systems throughout history). It simply is the idea of delegation, but it took someone giving Moses the idea before it ever became a reality. Jethro, who was the father-in-law of Moses, saw that Moses was attempting to take care of every dispute among the people, and he was making both the people and himself weary. So Jethro had a simple but needed idea. Basically, he told Moses to only handle the biggest disputes and let trusted men handle smaller groups of people…
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Something Love Will Never Do
What is your first response to the sins that are committed by other people? Wait a minute, should I clarify? Let’s say that someone who doesn’t like you or who has hurt you in some way does something to stain their character. Maybe they do something that is obviously not morally right. What is the first thing that goes through your mind? OK let’s go again. This time let’s say your sweet grandmother was to sin? (Yes, grandmothers sin, too). Let’s say she does something that is obviously not becoming a person who claims to be a Christian. Now, what’s your first response? Should the identity of the person matter…
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How’s Your Readjusting Going?
The post that appeared here last week was originally scheduled for a little over a year ago. [Here is that post.] That did not happen, though, because of some “production issues.” A little editing was done in order for what I wrote at that time to be able to be published last week. Those “production issues” have provided a unique opportunity. They have allowed something that has taken a year to develop to be condensed into only a week. A year or so ago, when I wrote what was posted only last week, I was writing in anticipation of a new phase in my life. On December 31, 2016, I “retired” from full-time local preaching. On…
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Who Are You?
In a recent article by Steve Higginbotham (available here), he talked about his wife’s practice of copying out–by hand–the words of the Bible. I decided to try this method of study this year. One of the selling points Steve mentioned is that we write slower than we read and, as a byproduct, we can absorb more of what we are seeing, reading, and writing. (As a teacher, this also speaks to my love of multisensory learning!) As I was writing out John 1, I found my first gem. In verse 19, we see that the “Jews sent priests and Levites from Jerusalem to ask him, ‘Who are you?’” This made me…
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Making Time for Bible Reading and Study
Right off the bat, let me say: this article is not being written to shame you if you struggle with Bible reading or time for personal Bible study! A whole lot of people have wonderful intentions, but simply do not make the time to read through the Bible or to study some intriguing section of Scripture in depth. That said, let me offer just a few ways you can get started. If the time excuse is what keeps you from doing this, here are some things you might want to try or keep in mind. It Doesn’t Take a Lot of Time Each Day. I think this is what keeps most…
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Making Sure New is Better
It was one of the ancient scholars who said, “Nothing is permanent, except change.” Things in life are going to change. You cannot stop change. You age. You go through different periods of life, and you cannot return to the past. I look at another year coming and going – there have been changes in family and friendships because of the losing and the gaining of people. There is also the development of different traditions and experiences. William Arthur Ward said, “Change, like sunshine, can be a friend or a foe, a blessing or a curse, a dawn or a dusk.” How we respond to inevitable change is really the difference…
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A Body — Not a Machine!
Those who know me would probably testify to the fact that one of my favorite descriptions of the church is that of a body. I love to spend time reading, thinking about, and speaking on the verses in Romans 12 and 1 Corinthians 12 (and elsewhere) which speak directly to that description. There are so many good, helpful, and challenging implications and instructions in those passages. Events over the last year have caused me to consider and appreciate this description even more than has ever been the case. For almost four decades, my “professional identity” was that of a full-time located gospel preacher. I began my adult life as a high school…