Just a Nobody?
So you think you’re “just a nobody”? It doesn’t matter to God what you think about yourself. It’s what he…
Justification and Righteousness by Faith
God called Abraham out of Mesopotamia and promised to give his descendants the land of Canaan. After Abraham was in…
Justified by Faith, Not by Law (Galatians 2:15-21)
Paul explains that Jews are saved by faith, not by keeping the law: “We ourselves are Jews by birth and…
Karl Barth: "Prophet" to the Church
Swiss theologian Karl Barth has been called “the most outstanding and consistently evangelical theologian that the world has seen in…
Karl Barth: The Most Important Election Ever
No, we are not talking about the U.S. presidential election. We’re talking about the election that affects all nations and…
Keep on Walking
In developing nations people walk for miles along roads. In crowded and remote areas, day and night, you see people…
Keeping Perspective
Neat and tidy! That’s how I like it! A place for everything and everything in its place! I like routine,…
Kitchen-Bin Guidance
As I keyboard these words, I can hear the faint sounds of my little granddaughter learning from her mother that…
Knowing God
In Psalm 113:5-6, the psalmist asks: “Who is like the Lord our God, the One who sits enthroned on high,…
Label Me Loved
As long as I can remember, I have never been comfortable with labels. I guess it goes back to when…
Lay Members’ Role in the Early Church
Acts 2 describes the setting: God-fearing Jews from various nations had gathered in Jerusalem for the Day of Pentecost. The…
Lazarus and the Rich Man, by J. Michael Feazell
Let’s look at a passage that is often interpreted as proving that all who die without having come to faith…
Lazarus and the Rich Man, by Paul Kroll
Jesus told the story of Lazarus the beggar and the rich man to illustrate a point about having an authentic…
Lazarus and the Rich Man: A Tale of Unbelief
Have you ever heard that God is incapable of reaching those who do not become believers before they die? It’s…
Leaders in Truth (Titus 1:1-16)
In the first chapter of his letter to Titus, Paul describes the qualities of a good church leader. He warns…
Leadership in the Church
Since every Christian has the Holy Spirit, and the Holy Spirit teaches each of us, is there any need for…
Leadership in the Church – An Examination of Eight Words
The New Testament mentions a wide variety of leaders in the church: apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors, teachers, bishops, elders and…
Leading in Spiritual Formation
A Pastor’s Main Business Introduction There is so much to learn and so much to do, it is difficult for…
Leading With Love
One Congregation’s Success Story in Reaching Out to Young People Most churches want to reach young people. The congregation I…
Learning to Be Like Christ in Everyday Life
We were made to be like Jesus—but how is that different than trying to be like Buddha or Confucius? How…
Lessons From the Life of King David
For an overview of what will be covered in this section, read 1 Samuel 16:1–1 Kings 2:12. “In Hebron [David]…
Let God Be God
May I ask you a couple of personal questions? You don’t have to respond out loud; silent answers will do….
Let Someone Else Do It!
A common unspoken (or sometimes spoken) attitude is, I don’t have to do (fill in the blank) because someone else…
Let the Little Children Come
Matthew 19:13-15; Mark 10:13-15; Luke 18:15-17 My daughter proudly clasped a red poppy in her chubby little hand, so anxious…
Letter Regarding Pacifism
I read your article “War in the Old Testament” and especially “Pacifism and the Church of God” with more than…
Leviticus: Living a Holy Life
The Five Sacrifices: chapters 1-7 Prelude: chapter 1:1-2 As he had promised, God met with Moses in the tabernacle to…
Life in Christ: Living Like a Christian
Christians are saved by God’s gift, not by works (Ephesians 2:8-9). Good behavior cannot earn us salvation. But Christianity does…
Like a Weaned Child
Sometimes I skim over verses in the Bible that don’t mean anything to me personally without taking time to delve…
List of 17th-Century English Seventh-day Churches with their earliest known dates
“Sabbatary Christians,” site unknown 1607 Traskites, London 1617 Burton-on-Trent, Derbyshire 1650 Leominster, Herefordshire 1650 Dorchester, Dorsetshire 1652 Henry Jessey’s group,…
Literal and Figurative
How to understand the language of the Bible. Jesus took bread and said, “Take and eat; this is my body”…
Little Stars: A Story of Faith, Love and Vision from Thailand
I first met Chugait Garmolgomut in the early ’80s, when I was International Student Coordinator for Ambassador College in Pasadena,…
Little Steps in the Right Direction
About the time Cho Cheung-hui was beginning his deadly rampage at Virginia Tech, I was in our local drugstore replenishing…
Live to Save
Once I was saved by a taxi driver. It was the late afternoon in hot and dusty Lagos, Nigeria. I…
Live Within Your Means
Often, families find that the totals in their bank accounts are quite inadequate and depressing. One reason may be that…
Living in Terrible Times (2 Timothy 2:16-3:13)
Paul advises, if you don’t want to be embarrassed, then “avoid godless chatter, because those who indulge in it will…
Living in the Present
Many people live in the past, constantly lamenting what might have been. Instead of accepting what cannot be changed and…
Living the Gospel
As followers of Jesus Christ, we proclaim the gospel—we announce the good news of what Christ has done for all…
Living the Trinitarian Life
I’ve got a problem. Actually, I’ve got two problems. They are kind of personal problems, so I hope you don’t…
Living Today
Mooroolbark Christian Fellowship (MCF) in the eastern suburbs of Melbourne, Australia, began to reach out into its community about seven…
Living Water
In the developed world, we don’t really need to pray, “Give us this day our daily bread.” Our supermarkets have…
Loaded Bibles and Made-up Minds
All of us bring our biases, prejudices and preconceived ideas to the Bible, like it or not. Not long ago,…
Lonely in Love
When you were single, you may have expected marriage to solve your problem with loneliness. After all, didn’t God say,…
Looking for a Better Life
A sermon on Ephesians 4 Our nation is full of immigrants. Many of us were born in a different nation,…
Looking for Love…
Our English word “love” covers a wide variety of meanings, depending on context. But that was not a problem in…
Lopsided Grace
It’s been said there are only about seven stories in the whole world, and the storyline of every book or…
Losing Our Gospel "Buts"
Have you heard the big gospel BUT? It goes something like this: “Yes, yes … of course we’re saved by…
Lost in New Orleans
I was 12 years old, my parents took me and my two brothers and my best friend to New Orleans…
Love Like a Mother (1 Thessalonians 2:1-8)
Paul began preaching the gospel in Macedonia somewhere around the year A.D. 50. After some success, he was forced to…
Love One Another
I have just been through the heart-rending experience of discovering that a married couple – for whom I have enormous…
Love Others: Mission Impossible?
Your mission, should you decide to accept it, is to love others unconditionally (as God has loved you) and in…
Lovers of Pleasure…Are We Trying Too Hard to Be Happy?
In 2 Timothy 3:3-5, there is a list of negative trends that characterize life in “the last days.” People will…
Loving God: Foundation for Youth Ministry
“Is there anything else you would like to discuss before we conclude?” I asked the group of counselors sitting before…
Loving in Deed
One day my mother helped throw her littlest brother out of the haymow. The haymow, a hay storage area high…
Loving Them to the End
Ruby Jones seems in no hurry to tell me why she was on the front cover of Newsweek (July 10,…
Luke 1:1-38 – Announcing the King
Luke begins his book about Jesus with a preface that describes his research methods. His introduction (all one sentence in…
Luke 1:39-80 – Two Songs of Praise
After the angel Gabriel told Mary that her relative Elizabeth was pregnant in old age, “Mary got ready and hurried…
Luke 15 – The Prodigal God
One of Jesus’ best-loved parables reveals far more about God’s love than we might at first think. Most Christians are…
Luke 2:1-21 – A Savior Is Born
Luke begins his book with dramatic announcements: angelic messages, songs of praise, and miracles. This is only the beginning, for…