“Thank you for inviting me to church, but I’m not much of a church-goer. I am a pretty good person, though. Fact is, I’m a little better than some of the people you go to church with.” Has anyone ever told you something like this? Many people in the world are indeed “good.” They obey…
Is there something lacking in your Bible class? Is it as engaging or convicting as it could be? Do you find yourself attending Bible class out of habit or compulsion, but not much else? Are you a teacher who feels burned out, ill-trained, or unqualified? Is it tough putting together a lesson each week? Are…
Introduction Immediately after arriving in heaven, Osama bin Laden encounters an irate George Washington, who punches him in the nose and bellows, “How dare you try to destroy the nation I helped establish!” Patrick Henry joins the attack, kicking him in the shins. Then James Madison delivers a ringing slap, and Thomas Jefferson gives Osama…
The Old Testament was written in Hebrew, the New Testament in Greek. In the fourth century, a scholar named Jerome translated both Testaments into Latin. In time this translation, the Vulgate, became the official Bible of the Roman Catholic Church. The priests studied and cited it long after Latin ceased to be a living language.…
“As I passed along, and observed the objects of your worship,” Paul told the Athenians at the Areopagus, “I found also an altar with this inscription, ‘To an unknown God.’ What therefore you worship as unknown, this I proclaim to you” (Acts 17:23). The pagans in Greece were worshiping God, but it was a blind…
Is there something lacking in your Bible class? Is it as engaging or convicting as it could be? Do you find yourself attending Bible class out of habit or compulsion, but not much else? Are you a teacher who feels burned out, ill-trained, or unqualified? Is it tough putting together a lesson each week? Are…
Several years ago a friend forwarded me the following email. I have revised and edited the original message: “Isn’t it strange how a $20 bill seems like such a large amount when you donate it to the church but such a small amount when you go shopping for groceries or clothes? “Isn’t it strange how…
By Brent Smith [Brent Smith is the preaching minister of the Trenton Church of Christ in Trenton, Tennessee.] On February 4, 2004, Mark Zuckerberg and a few other Harvard students launched the Facebook website. It was extremely popular with the younger generation, but it didn’t take long before senior citizens were on board the…
Some Christians experience opposition to the faith in their own families. Parents, siblings, and even spouses may take devious pleasure in pointing out the flaws of church members or saying hurtful things about the teachings the church stands for. Anyone dealing with this discouragement is in excellent company. Jesus himself initially lacked the support of…
Jesus meets the Samaritan woman at the Sychar well. He offers her “living water” (John 4:10), but several things make accepting his offer difficult. She is hindered by racial prejudice, lack of spiritual discernment, an immoral lifestyle, false religious beliefs, and cultural discrimination against women. This familiar story is in John 4, but the chapter…