The second lesson in our series “Broken Vessels: How God uses Imperfect People” deals with God’s power to use us in spite of our weaknesses. The example is Moses, whom we recall was used by God to lead the people of Israel out of slavery in Egypt. Moses had his excuses and used them but […]
Part of our Bible Study series for the Christian Index. Text – John 18:15-18, 25-27; 21:15-19 For the next six weeks we will look at God’s grace in restoring “Broken Vessels: How God uses Imperfect People.” There are two things God’s people often pray about and long for. One is the eradication of evil. Because […]
This blog is part of our Bible Study series written for the Christian Index. Haggai was a contemporary of Zechariah. Both prophesied in Jerusalem shortly after the return of the exiles from Babylon under Zerubbabel (Ezra 5:1-2; 6:14). The first task was the rebuilding of the Temple, but the returned exiles faced much opposition. Like […]
christianindex.org/bible-study-july-9-encourage-one-another/ Acts 11:19-26 There are two things that should encourage the church – the saving of souls and the planting of new churches – whose purpose is saving souls! The church at Antioch became the center of a great church planting movement. What joy this brought to the Lord and what an encouragement to the […]
With baptism numbers in the Southern Baptist Convention at the lowest level since the 1940’s I would submit that we need to take more seriously exactly what God’s mission for the church is. The following is a Bible Study lesson originally prepared for the Christian Index. We meet the earliest followers of Jesus in John 1. […]
We are living in a day when the things of God are mostly ignored in society. Sadly the church is often just as guilty as the society of ignoring the things of God. Last year we were all deeply saddened at the tragic and senseless murder of nine church goers at a Wednesday evening prayer […]
There is new rule in case you missed it. You are not a Christian if you believe in border security or building walls to protect the nation’s security. So says California Governor Jerry Brown. Long known as a great theologian and expert in the Christian faith, Governor Brown recently declared this new tenant of the […]
There are three reasons a pastor, and for that matter any professing Christian, should be a teetotaler: because of the Social Impact, the Scriptural Injunctions, and the Spiritual Influence. In a previous article we covered the social impact of alcohol. We turn our attention now to the next point. THE SCRIPTURAL INJUNCTIONS AGAINST ALCOHOL One […]
In Part 1 of this series we stated clearly that the best option for a believer in Christ is total abstinence from all that can intoxicate. We made the point that the wine Jesus drank is not the same as the wine available today. We stated that it is logical that our Lord’s character would […]
For most of our history Baptists have opposed the use and sale of beverage alcohol. Today there are many preachers, from numerous denominational groups, including some Southern Baptists, who are moving in a new, modern direction on the issue. These pastors are not only imbibing but they are encouraging the social and moderate use of alcohol […]