More Articles from Around the Web

If the Church Will Have Glory, It Must Come from God We take God lightly. We treat him flippantly. We are too busy saying “whee” in church when we should be saying “woe is me.” The weightiness, the gravity, the all-encompassing and awe-inspiring glory of the Creator God, the Great I AM, is woefully neglected in far too many places where something resembling worship takes place. But God will not have it.

Ignore the Noise and Shepherd the Flock Among You Last weekend, I came across another controversy and felt myself getting sucked in. I needed the reminder of 1 Peter 5:2Open in Logos Bible Software (if available): “Shepherd the flock of God that is among you.” I’m a shepherd of a particular flock. God has given me, along with other elders, oversight of that congregation. That’s my charge. I don’t need to get involved with every issue out there. I need to care for the people entrusted to me. Sometimes the best thing we can do is turn off social media and news sites and serve the people God’s given to us.

Overcoming the New Leadership Pandemic--Isolation and Loneliness The paradox of our culture is this. We’ve never been better connected than we are today. And we’ve never felt more alone.This has become worse and worse as the pandemic has gone on. So many of us have a thousand friends online, but nobody to talk to (at a deep level) in real life. Loneliness has become a modern epidemic.

7 Powerful Sermon Topics You Should Repeat Often Some lessons have to be repeated ad infinitum. “Let me remind you … ” is a phrase that shows up a lot in the epistles of the Apostle Paul.The most important spiritual truths need to be emphasized again and again if the hearers are to truly learn them and benefit from them.

Does Leviticus 18 Apply to New Testament Believers? The question regarding the role of the Old Testament in the life of a Christian has occasioned multiple books, blog posts, and sermons. And overall, believers historically have landed on solid ground. But ask the average church member if the book of Leviticus offers any teaching applicable for today, and the response may surprise you.

Six Considerations Before You Share on Social Media Last year I did a series of blogs on what Scripture has to say about the power of the tongue. The cumulative weight of those verses is stunning. In today’s social media world, which allows us to publish comments to the world with the mere push of a button, more than ever we as God’s people need to read and meditate on Scripture, and examine our heart and habits. We need to be slower to anger and slower to speak, and quicker to hear and think biblically.

Why We Must Keep Returning to the Bible The Bible is life-changing. Not only does reading and responding to God’s Word change our lives today, but it can continue to change our lives as we keep coming back to it over and over throughout our lives. It’s not enough just to have the Word, but we need to incorporate the habit into our lives to keep coming back to the Word.

What Sanctification Looks Like As I led a Bible study on sanctification, I shared three scriptural narratives of the Christian life. The first: a renewal, death-and-resurrection narrative about repentance and each new day being filled with God’s forgiveness. The second: a story of God’s people journeying through the perilous wilderness where they face struggles and spiritual attacks. And third: an image of a life of service—becoming living sacrifices pleasing to God, engaging with neighbors, and sharing joys and burdens in community. “Which one of these images describes your life right now?” I asked. Unsurprisingly, the participants picked different ones.

The Church’s Soul-Care Moment The past year has been filled with challenges and difficulties, from the risk of COVID-19 to its various lockdowns and restrictions; from the protests of the summer to the election to the events of January 6. But underneath the headlines and debates, underneath the health-department orders and tweet storms, has been a steady stream of human suffering.

Why the Transgender Conversation Is Changing Last Friday, a bill that would ban transgender athletes from competing in middle, high school, and college sports passed in the West Virginia legislature. At least 20 different state legislatures have introduced transgender athlete bans in 2021. While South Dakota’s governor Kristi Noem vetoed a proposed ban, Tennessee, Arkansas, and Mississippi have signed these changes into law.