We will be with our family again today–our eighth different family reunion location in eight weeks. Over the past seven weeks we have visited and worshipped with our brothers and sisters in Tulsa, Lexington, Nashville, McAlester, Solola, Antigua, and Guatemala City. Except for Jan’s preference for English-speaking worship, each week has been a unique and …
Monthly Archives: March 2012
Guatemala, March 2012
The work accomplished in Guatemala was beyond expectations. The brief summary is visits to six local churches for studies, preaching and teaching; visits and studies with several different groups of brothers and sisters; individual studies to answer Bible questions and strengthen and train leaders and potential leaders; a visit to Health Talents clinic in Chichicastenango/Lemoa; …
Education and Foolishness
We don’t know what to do with education. I regularly hear comments and read sermon segments that belittle study, academic pursuits, and learning. Of course, most of these are references to advanced learning and collegiate or graduate ministry training. On the surface, it appears the church is still “for” education–we maintain our Bible schools and …
Finding Your PLACE
Where do you “fit” in the church? Every Christian has a place, but every place isn’t for every Christian (1 Cor. 12:12ff; Eph. 4:11-16) Here are five steps to help you toward finding your place. 1. Personal Discovery Who are you? Think and pray about the things that make you you. Think and pray about …
It’s Sunday Again: “Going about it backwards”
My question today is simple: Have we focused on the changed life so much that we have forgotten that the foundational element in Christianity is the exchanged life? We are “into” transformation, valid Bible principle, essential, ultimate goal. Formation is big business. Spiritual formation sounds good–who wouldn’t want it? But….I fear that too much of …
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The Treasure in….Plastic WalMart Bags
As I studied the text of 2 Corinthians 4, the parallel seemed obvious to me. In my mental search for contemporary parallels to first century clay pots, WalMart bags are a definite possibility. One deacon remarked, “Bet you never saw a clay pot stuck in the top of a tree!” One has to admit that …
It’s Always About People
Jan and I have lived in several different places during forty plus years of marriage–four states, thirty-one years of full-time ministry in six churches (25 years of full-time ministry with three churches), and a dozen years in two universities. We have enjoyed each place we have lived for its uniqueness. We have roamed pine forests …
We Have Seen the Lord….
…and it has made all the difference! In John 20, the other apostles told Thomas, “We have seen the Lord!” In 2 Corinthians 3-4, Paul says that the ability to see God (through Jesus Christ) is one of the advantages of new covenant ministry. The ministry of the Spirit is a ministry of God’s unveiled …
Yield [Romans 6]
“Do not render your members to sin as instruments of unrighteousness, but render yourselves to God as those alive from the dead and your members to God as instruments of righteousness.” (Rom. 6:13). How shall we translate the little Greek word paristemi? The KJV uses yield; the NET translates present; the NIV uses offer. The …
When I Don’t Understand
The Bible is indeed Good News! The Bible is good news for the world, the Bible is good news for Christians. Every good and perfect gift is from God. This text from James says God is the giver of all good gifts. God is the giver of all we need. In Matthew 7, we find …