25 Tiny Ways to Welcome Kids in Church
Kids in the church flourish when they are known, loved, served, and engaged.
Make Kids Feel Valued. Say “I’m so glad you’re here!” Give kids a high five, fist bump, or handshake (a kid-appropriate “holy kiss,” 2 Cor. 13:12). Take time to stop and listen when kids tell stories about their week. Carry mints or other small treats to give to kids (with parent permission). In these small ways... Continue Reading
What Does “The Prayer of a Righteous Man is Powerful and Effective” Mean?
This verse motivates us to cry out to God because He uses our prayers to change the world.
Effective prayer has greater results than we can imagine. God is “able to do far more abundantly than all that we ask or think” (Ephesians 3:20). Do you pray as if this were true? No, as I’ve mentioned God isn’t always going to answer us in the way or timing we want. But when we... Continue Reading
Man of Sin, Son of Destruction
The Thessalonians must be solid in their grasp of truth, for, as John said, this spirit of antichrist already is in the world (1 John 4:1-3). Paul’s understanding is the same, “The mystery of lawlessness is already at work” (7).
The man of lawlessness, in the style of Nebuchadnezzar in Daniel 3:1-7 or Darius in Daniel 6:6-9, claims all the power and prerogatives of a god. He makes himself the final point of loyalty for all his subjects. He opposes every object of worship other than himself, exalts himself above them and even inserts his... Continue Reading
The Spiritual Discipline of Thanksgiving
Becoming Psalm 100 People
Jesus’s blood seals our fate, and his Holy Spirit is our guarantee. The Father himself loves us. And if we have the Father’s love, we have everything we’ll ever need because he’s a good Father. The spiritual discipline of thanksgiving gives us eyes to see the goodness of God, and when we see the goodness... Continue Reading
New Bible Translation: The Anti-woke Version
Sick and tired of wokeness? Here is a new translation of the Bible entitled the “Anti-woke Version.”
Fifty of the most conservative scholars in the world have come together to translate the Bible from its original Hebrew and Greek, employing the functional equivalence model, with a view to maintain a conservative standard of theology and practice in the churches and in our culture. A special announcement from textandtranslation.org. Sick and tired... Continue Reading
The Fear of Sin and the Fear of the Lord
False worship elevates ritual and religiosity and degrades God’s true standard of righteousness. Worship degenerates into obtaining our goals and desires and avoiding tragedy.
Love for God and His people and the fear of God demand that we flee from idolatry. Paul sums up everything that went before in this discussion about food offered to idols with this one principle: “Do all to the glory of God” (v.10:31). Commitment to God’s glory above my own desires will lead me to... Continue Reading
Psalm 127: Unless the Lord Builds the House
We must depend on God for absolutely everything and must, to the best of our abilities, seek his will to be accomplished and not our own.
The one who trusts in the Lord will, like the Psalmist, know the joys of fruitful labor and the delight of sweet rest. They will, Lord willing, know the rich blessing and heritage of an abundance of children, far greater than all other material blessings this earth has to offer. Such are the blessings when... Continue Reading
Serving Where We are Needed
The Lord has equipped His people for service in ways that work together.
In matters of serving the church body, we should first consider how the Lord has equipped us to serve others instead of what our preference might be or what such service might cost us in time or energy. This cost will look different at different times. The cost to the woman at Bethany was an... Continue Reading
“To Him Who is Able” — An Exposition of Jude (Part Two)
Jude is able to remind his readers that God has a long history of dealing with false teachers and apostates, and those men who were currently troubling the churches to which Jude is writing, face certain judgment.
In light of the damage done by the false teachers, Jude exhorts the members of these churches to “have mercy on those who doubt; save others by snatching them out of the fire; to others show mercy with fear, hating even the garment stained by the flesh.” It was the sacred duty of the pastors,... Continue Reading
Difficult Bible Passages: 1 Corinthians 3:19
Refusing to love God with your mind is not a mark of godliness.
None of us have all the truth. We can learn from others. For some silly Christian to come along and pretend he is more spiritual than all of us because he only listens to Scripture is not a sign of being really spiritual and holy – it is an indication of carnality and arrogance. Refusing to love... Continue Reading
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