Happy Easter! Now Let’s Live Like It!

Isn’t it good to know that Jesus’ resurrection won’t be the last?
“Listen, I tell you a mystery: We will not all sleep, but we will all be changed—in a flash, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, the dead will be raised imperishable, and we will be [...]

Small Group Curriculum - Acts of the Apostles

This is a series of lessons that we just finished up last month in our LIFE groups. Again, feel free to use these in any way that is helpful to you and your ministry. I only ask that these not be published for profit.
Introducing Acts (Acts 1)
Cut to the Heart (Acts 2:1-41)
The First Church (Acts [...]

Gospel of Mark - From Fear to Faith (4:35-5:43)

The NIV chapter break between 4 and 5 is in an unfortunate place. 4:1-34 is a distinct unit and 4:35-41 clearly fits together better with the miracles in chapter 5. There is a common theme in the four miracles in these verses. In each one people are afraid and each time Jesus points to the [...]

Socio, Socio, Wherefore Art Thou Socio?

I have to hand it to Ben Witherington III. His Socio-Rhetorical commentaries are to serious study what N.T. Wright’s “For Everyone” series is for a lighter and more accessible study. I have worked through his Socio-Rhetorical commentary on Corinthians and I have just started working through the one on Mark. Both are excellent. I have [...]

An Encouragement from Ephesians 2

The book of Ephesians is full of encouraging words and truths about God. One of my favorites is found in 2:6 - “And God raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus, in order that in the coming ages he might show the incomparable riches of [...]

Ripening Issues in the Church of Christ - Alienated Older People

This is the last of the Ripening Issues in the CofC series. This is one that I am most worried about because the other issues all load into this one. There is pretty close biblical parallel that can help us handle this issue. For many years people thought Paul wrote Romans as a general layout [...]

Killing Ourselves with the Cure

With the discovery of Penicillin by Alexander Fleming in 1928 came the alleviation of infections that had once been life threatening. In the 80 years since then hundreds of different types of antibiotics have been engineered that have addressed countless problems and have saved millions of lives. Then we hear the headlines about MERSA and [...]

Understanding God’s Will for Your Life

In Reggie McNeal’s book A Work of Heart he makes this statement about being called,
The call is a mystery. It begins and ends with God, but it loops through a very human individual. It is personal, yet bigger than the person. The call comes out of who we are as well as shaping who we [...]

What Does Paul refer to as “Scripture” in 2 Timothy 3:14-17

I recently received this email from a friend of mine,
Matt,
I have a question about 2 Timothy 3:14-17, which reads:
“14 But as for you, continue in what you have learned and have become
convinced of, because you know those from whom you learned it, 15 and
how from infancy you have known the holy Scriptures, which are able [...]

Living Out Jesus’ Mission (Luke 4)

In Luke 4 we find the following story,
Jesus returned to Galilee in the power of the Spirit, and news about him spread through the whole countryside. He taught in their synagogues, and everyone praised him.
He went to Nazareth, where he had been brought up, and on the Sabbath day he went into the synagogue, as [...]