Index of All Articles
| “If You Really Had Repented…” | If you had really repented, you wouldn’t have done it again” is a refrain many tormented souls have heard from… |
| “In Jesus’ Name”: Reflections On Why Our Prayers Matter | I’ve spent most of my life ending my prayers with, “In Jesus’ name, Amen.” It was what I was taught, and… |
| “People, I Just Want To Say, You Know, Can’t We All Get Along?” | Rodney King, whose 1991 videotaped beating at the hands of Los Angeles police officers gained national attention, uttered those words… |
| 1 Corinthians 12 – Exegetical Notes | Features of the literary structure Paul writes, I don’t want you to be ignorant about the spiritual things (v.1). This… |
| 1 Corinthians 13 – The Most Excellent Way | The church in first-century Corinth was plagued with social divisions and rivalries. Paul explained to them that God gives different… |
| 1 Corinthians 15:1-11 – The Resurrection | Dan Rogers: Good morning everyone. Good to see you here once again and as usual, it’s time now in our… |
| 1 Peter 1 – Real Wealth Lasts Forever | The apostle Peter wrote a letter to several churches in areas that are now part of Turkey. He greets them… |
| 1 Peter 2 – Special Roles For Special People | Peter has just reminded his readers that humans have only a fleeting glory, but “the word of the Lord stands… |
| 1 Peter 3 – Setting A Good Example | In chapter 2 Peter advised readers to have such good behavior that unbelievers will have nothing bad to say about… |
| 1 Thessalonians 3:9-13 – Paul’s Prayer For The Thessalonians | Paul thanks God for their continuing faithfulness: “How can we thank God enough for you in return for all the… |
| 1,900 Years Of Revelation | The mark of the beast. Armageddon. The Four Horsemen. 666. Babylon the great. The seven last plagues. The bottomless pit…. |
| 2 Peter 1 – Plan For Spiritual Success | The second letter of Peter is written “to those who through the righteousness of our God and Savior Jesus Christ… |
| 21st-Century Bystander | For the last several years, I’ve written about bystanders whose lives were touched by Jesus as he walked the face… |
| 40 Days Of Discipleship: A Self-Paced Doctrinal Instruction Plan | We recommend that church leaders pursue formal education that gives both breadth and depth.[1] However, formal education is not practical… |
| 40 Days Of Discipleship: The Second 40 Days | This is the second collection in our series for church leaders who want to deepen their theological education with free… |
| 40 Days Of Discipleship: The Third 40 Days | This is the third volume in our series for church leaders who want to continue their theological education with free… |
| A Balanced Approach To Bible Prophecy | Many Christians need an overview of prophecy, to put prophecy into perspective. That is because many Christians overemphasize prophecy and… |
| A Better Way To Rest | Let’s summarize what we have seen about the Sabbath: The Bible does not say the Sabbath was commanded at creation…. |
| A Biblical View Of The Spirit World | The spirit world is widely discussed in secular as well as religious circles. However, it is important to remember that… |
| A Brief Guide To Better Bible Study | I. Introduction A. What does it mean to aim for “better” Bible study? Not a bigger quantity, but better in… |
| A Brief History Of Grace Communion International | Jesus Christ changes lives. He can change an organization, too. This is the story of how the Lord changed our… |
| A Brief Introduction To Grace Communion International | Who we are Grace Communion International began with a radio and magazine ministry in the early 1930s. With sincerity and… |
| A Budget That Works | Like it or not, money is an important part of our lives. You’ve heard the cliché, “Money can’t buy happiness.”… |
| A Call For Tolerance On Christmas | In Luke 2:10-11, an angel of God describes the birth of Jesus as “good tidings of great joy for all the… |
| A Call For Tolerance On Easter | Christians should remember Christ’s resurrection, just as we remember his death. The two go together. The New Testament does not… |
| A Call To Live The Future Here And Now | Chapter 2 of The Gospel: Your Invitation to the Kingdom Some people can get quite excited about Bible prophecy, it seems,… |
| A Case Of Mistaken Identity | We used to think that we were the only true church on earth. We understood the Bible in a way… |
| A Chart Of Israelite Annual Festivals | Festival Date Origin Rituals Passover and the Days of Unleavened Bread Leviticus 23:4-8 14th day of the first month, Nisan… |
| A Child Of An Alcoholic Speaks Out! | How a childhood marred by alcoholism was overcome. My mother was 21 and not married when I was conceived. She… |
| A Christian Council About Old Testament Laws | Acts 15 describes the most important meeting the early church had. The future of the church was at stake —… |
| A Church Reborn | During the past 10 years, the Holy Spirit has blessed us with unprecedented growth in doctrinal understanding and in sensitivity… |
| A Closer Look | Here’s why each Christian needs the church — and why the church needs each Christian. Grace Communion International reflects its… |
| A Closer Look At The Crucifixion | Today, some methods of execution, such as electrocution, are called “cruel and unusual punishment.” No execution mode ever fit that definition… |
| A Command Paul Did Not Obey (1 Corinthians 9:1-15) | In his first letter to the Corinthian church, Paul deals with a number of questions the Corinthian Christians had. Some… |
| A Covenant Of Forgiveness | How do you forgive someone and go on with your life? It is not easy, is it? Some cultures have… |
| A Cup Of Cold Water | As she hurried toward her car, focused on her errand from the law firm she worked for, she couldn’t help… |
| A Death In Jerusalem | On a spring day in Jerusalem, a man named Jesus was tortured and executed by the Roman government. But after… |
| A Few Examples Of Obsolete Laws | 1. Were the old covenant sacrifices and rituals a “shadow” of better things? Hebrews 10:1. Were these symbolic rituals spiritually… |
| A Few Points To Consider About Worship Days | Can we remain together when we observe different sets of worship days? If Christ is in us, we can. This… |
| A Fool For Christ | In my back yard I have a garden statue of St. Francis. I thought he would be right at home… |
| A Generous Orthodoxy | A Generous Orthodoxy by Brian McLaren Reviewed by Fraser Henderson The word orthodoxy raises either hopes or disparaging mutters in… |
| A Glimpse Of The Journey | The remarkable transformation of the Worldwide Church of God [now named Grace Communion International] never fails to amaze us. Recognizing… |
| A God Of Chaos? | Do you ever feel you’re in a chaotic mess? I’m spending much of my time either trying to avoid chaos… |
| A Good Way To Go | Chad and I cling to each other in the roaring rip tide of the Persian Gulf. We can feel the… |
| A Harmony Of The Conversion And Commission Of Paul | Acts 9:1-30; 22:3-21; 26:9-20, NIV Saul in Jerusalem 9:1 Meanwhile, Saul was still breathing out… |
| A High Priest Who Can Sympathize (Hebrews 4:12-16) | The author of Hebrews exhorts the readers to respond to Jesus. Why should we be so careful to respond? “For… |
| A High School Reunion Story | I recently had the good pleasure of attending my 30-year high school reunion. It was better than the 10th and… |
| A Hunger For God | Woody Allen is not only a comedian, but also sometimes a philosopher with serious observations about life. As a movie… |
| A Lesson From Laundry | Laundry is one of those things you know you have to do, unless you can get someone else to do… |
| A Lesson In Humility | A mark of maturity is the ability to admit your mistakes and grow from them. When we are young, the… |
| A Letter From Death Row | This frank and moving letter confirms the timeless wisdom of Proverbs 1:10-19. As the Living Bible, a paraphrased version, says:… |
| A Life Of Generosity | We live in financially uncertain times. The stock market is bouncing up and down, several banks have been consolidated, it’s… |
| A Living Letter Of Recommendation (2 Corinthians 3:1-6) | Paul begins this chapter by pointing out that he, the apostle Christ used to begin the Corinthian church, did not… |
| A Matter Of Perspective | This is the worst day ever!” my sleepy preschooler said. “My oatmeal is too hot.” “Just blow on it while… |
| A Message The World Forgot | Forty years ago, two men landed on the moon. One of them spoke unforgettable words. The other did something equally… |
| A Miracle In Torn Blue Jeans | By Michael Houghton My wife and I moved to the Great Lakes area of the Mid-West eight years ago to… |
| A Model For All Believers (1 Thessalonians 1:1-10) | After a short ministry in Thessalonica, Paul was forced to leave (Acts 17:1-10). Probably less than a year later, Paul… |
| A Mother’s Love | Frederick W. Robertson, a 19th-century English preacher, gave a memorable sermon titled “Isaac Blessing His Sons.” Robertson read Rebekah’s words… |
| A Mountain Of Joy (Hebrews 12:18-29) | After exhorting readers to continue in the Christian faith, Hebrews gives further encouragement by painting a picture of the choice… |
| A Mystery Revealed | In reading this … you will be able to understand my insight into the mystery of Christ, which was not… |
| A Neighborhood Watched | The sight never ceases to intrigue me. I drive past it several times a week and my eyes rove over… |
| A New Generation Of Leaders | As we get older, the questions we ask about the future begin not just with “what,” but “who”? This is… |
| A New Look At Passion Week | I have a confession to make. For years, Passion Week, or Holy Week, depressed me. It seemed my pastor would… |
| A New Look At The Good Samaritan | The Good Samaritan is one of Jesus’ most popular parables. Preachers often use it to encourage people to be unselfish,… |
| A New Year — A New Life | For many people, the new year is a time to leave old problems and fears behind and get a fresh… |
| A Perfect Sacrifice (Hebrews 9:11-14) | Christ’s work in heaven (verses 11-15) Now, in contrast to the ritual works of the old covenant, we are told… |
| A Place Where Everybody Belongs | An historic event occurred in Australia on February 13. Prime Minister Kevin Rudd opened Parliament with a bi-partisan motion of… |
| A Plea For Unity (1 Corinthians 1:10-18) | A divided congregation He begins with a plea for unity: “I appeal to you, brothers and sisters, by the name… |
| A Priest Like Melchizedek (Hebrews 7:1-22) | The New Testament often quotes the Old Testament. One of the most commonly quoted verses is Psalm 110:1: “The Lord… |
| A Response To “Why The Seventh Day?” | Will Eva, editor of Ministry, a Seventh-day Adventist magazine, asked an important question in a two-part editorial titled “Why the… |
| A Sample Budget | blurb |
| A Servant Of The People | Transformed by Truth, by Joseph Tkach Chapter 6 It had been a long, grueling, and even frightening battle. But on… |
| A Sign Forever | Signs are important. We could hardly get along without them. We have signs for road safety, for identifying stores, indicating… |
| A Simple Matter Of Trust | How can you be sure you are in the kingdom of God and not destined for the lake of fire?… |
| A Slave As A Brother (Philemon 1-21) | Some scholars have read Paul’s letter to Philemon as sowing the seeds of abolition, as suggesting that all Christian slavemasters… |
| A Sorry State Of Affairs – Understanding The Power Of An Apology | “Why should I apologize to the descendants of slaves, or the holocaust, or the Northern Irish? I didn’t do it…. |
| A Story From Joshua, Relevant For The Church Today | There is an interesting story in the book of Joshua that I think relates to our church situation today. The… |
| A Struggle: Law, Sin, And Me (Romans 7) | In his letter to the Romans, Paul has explained that we are saved by grace, not by observing the law,… |
| A Study Of The Incarnation | Of all events in Jesus’ life, three stand out as most significant and most celebrated: his birth, death and resurrection…. |
| A Study Series On Ephesians | Ephesians: The Divine Purpose in Christ – Introduction The Divine Purpose in Christ: Ephesians 1:3-14 The Divine Knowledge and Power… |
| A Tasty Sandwich (Mark 11) | Have you ever picked up one of those small, multi-layered sandwiches at a buffet and been surprised at how tasty it… |
| A Theological Look At Evangelism | Let’s start with the Trinity as a doctrine, which says that God is best described as Father, Son, and Holy… |
| A Theology Of The Holy Spirit | Part 1: Introduction Seeking to understand and know the Holy Spirit is a wonderful and rewarding endeavor. It ties in… |
| A Time For Love | In the Broadway play, A Raisin in the Sun, a father dies and is survived by his wife, a son… |
| A Timely Gift | “African time” is a standard joke among black and whites in Africa. It refers to a lack of punctuality. Once… |
| A Visit With Tom Torrance, Master Theologian | John McKenna first met his mentor, Tom Torrance, in 1982 at Fuller Theological Seminary, when the visiting professor delivered the Payton… |
| A Week To Change Your Life | Every summer we hold a series of camps in many locations around the country. We’d like you to come to… |
| A Word From Our Sponsor | “A Word From Our Sponsor” was a series of messages based on the Bible. The video version is no longer… |
| About Our Founder | Herbert Armstrong emphasized that Christianity is a way of life. In 1926, Herbert Armstrong was a newspaper advertising agent in… |
| Abraham – The Real Story | As a boy I heard the story of Abraham recounted at least once a week, and it usually went something… |
| Abraham, Isaac And Jacob: Were They Real People? | A hundred years ago, many Bible critics claimed that stories of the patriarchs were nothing more than religious fiction. The… |
| Abraham, Isaac, Jacob And Moses (Hebrews 11:17-28) | It is easy to have faith when everything is going well. But faith is needed most when we face danger…. |
| Abram, The Real Story | As a boy I heard the story of Abraham recounted at least once a week, and it usually went something… |
| Acting Wisely During A Recession | A conversation with Brent Baker Christian Odyssey: There is talk of a recession. What exactly is a recession? Brent Baker:… |
| Acts 4:24-30: How Shall We Pray? | Acts 4:24-30 contains one of the most inspiring prayers in Scripture. The believers were living in dangerous circumstances. In this… |
| Acts Chapter 1 | The Dedications of Luke and Acts (Luke 1:1-4; Acts 1:1-2) Luke began his book, which we call the “Acts of… |
| Acts Chapter 10 | The Gospel Goes to Cornelius, a Gentile (Acts 10:1-11:18) Part 1: Chapter 10 The Gentile challenge Luke now begins to… |
| Acts Chapter 11 | The Gospel Goes to Gentiles, Part 2 (Acts 11) The Gentile challenge The conversion of Cornelius is a milestone in… |
| Acts Chapter 12 | Peter Freed From Prison (Acts 12) About this time (12:1) Luke next turns his attention to an important episode of… |
| Acts Chapter 13 | Chapter 13: Paul Takes the Gospel to Cyprus and Asia Minor (Acts 12:25-14:28) Barnabas and Saul take Mark (12:25) The… |
| Acts Chapter 14 | Chapter 14: Paul Takes the Gospel to Asia Minor, Continued Missionaries at Iconium (14:1-3) Iconium (modern Konya) is the next… |
| Acts Chapter 15 | The Council at Jerusalem (Acts 15) “Certain people came down” (15:1) While Paul and Barnabas are teaching at Antioch, some… |
| Acts Chapter 16 | The second missionary journey, continued (Acts 16) Derbe and Lystra (16:1-2) After his pastoral visit to the churches in Syria… |
| Acts Chapter 17 | The gospel goes into Macedonia and Greece On to Thessalonica (17:1) After Paul, Silas and Timothy leave Philippi, they travel… |
| Acts Chapter 18 | Paul left Athens (18:1) Sometime after Paul’s defense before the Areopagus, Paul left Athens. Luke doesn’t say how long Paul… |
| Acts Chapter 19 | Paul at Ephesus (Acts 19:1) While Apollos was at Corinth, Paul came to the important port of Ephesus, a city… |
| Acts Chapter 2 | The Day of Pentecost (2:1) The day called “Pentecost” is named after the Greek word pentekostos, which means “fiftieth.” It was the… |
| Acts Chapter 20 | From Macedonia and Greece to Jerusalem (Acts 20:1-21:16) To Macedonia (Acts 20:1-2) A short time after the tumult caused by… |
| Acts Chapter 21 | Put out to sea (Acts 21:1-3) Luke continued to reflect the emotional scene surrounding Paul’s departure by saying the travelers… |
| Acts Chapter 22 | “Brothers and fathers, listen…” (Acts 22:1) Luke was concerned with Paul as a credible witness for the gospel both before… |
| Acts Chapter 23 | “In all good conscience” (Acts 23:1-2) Luke dispensed with any introductory material in his narration of Paul’s attempted defense before… |
| Acts Chapter 24 | Paul the Prisoner of Rome, continued Jews bring charges (Acts 24:1-4) Five days after Paul arrived in Caesarea, the Jewish… |
| Acts Chapter 25 | Festus goes to Jerusalem (Acts 25:1-3) As a new governor, Festus needed to become familiar with the local authorities. Three… |
| Acts Chapter 26 | Agrippa opens the inquest (Acts 26:1) Though Luke described Paul’s speech as a “defense,” the occasion was a fact-finding investigation… |
| Acts Chapter 27 | Paul sails for Rome (Acts 27:1-28:15) Luke as eyewitness (Acts 27:1) Sometime after Paul’s meeting with Agrippa, Festus made arrangements for… |
| Acts Chapter 28 | Safety on Malta (Acts 28:1-2) Everyone either swam to the island or rode in on debris, and safely reached shore… |
| Acts Chapter 3 | The Jerusalem Ministry of Peter and John ACTS 3:1-4:22 Peter and John (3:1) Acts 3 describes the dramatic healing of a… |
| Acts Chapter 4 | The Jerusalem Ministry of Peter and John Acts 3:1-4:22, continued Sadducees vs. apostles (4:1-2) Luke now begins to develop an… |
| Acts Chapter 5 | The Jerusalem Church, continued Ananias and Sapphira (5:1) In chapter 4, Luke painted an idealistic portrait of the Jerusalem church… |
| Acts Chapter 6 | Persecution Strikes the Church, continued Hebraic and Grecian Jews (6:1) Luke turns away from the conflict between the Sanhedrin and… |
| Acts Chapter 7 | Acts Chapter 7: Persecution Strikes the Church, part 3 Stephen’s speech before the Sanhedrin (7:2-53) Stephen’s response is the longest… |
| Acts Chapter 8 | The Church Expands Into Judea, Galilee and Samaria (Acts 8) A young man named Saul (8:1) Luke next introduces the… |
| Acts Chapter 9 | The conversion of Paul (Acts 9) Persecution threatened in other cities (9:1-2) Luke’s account now switches to describe the conversion… |
| Additional Articles About Christian Living | Christian life articles in Discipleship 101 and 40 Days of Discipleship: Christian Life, by Michael Morrison Obeying God, by J…. |
| Additional Articles About God | The top five articles The God Revealed in Jesus Christ (an introduction to Trinitarian faith) An Introduction to God, by Michael… |
| Additional Articles About The Bible | Is the Bible reliable? The Written Word of God, by Michael Morrison God Speaks to Us! by Paul Kroll Ancient Words…But… |
| Additional Articles About The Church, Worship, Ministries, And Gci | “From him [Jesus Christ] the whole body, joined and held together by every supporting ligament, grows and builds itself up… |
| Additional Articles About The Good News | I want to remind you of the gospel…. What I received I passed on to you as of first importance:… |
| Additional Articles About Theology And The Trinity | The top five articles Foundations of Theology for Grace Communion International One in Three and Three in One Is the… |
| Adopted – Specially Chosen | From my first memories, I have known I was adopted. Momma and Daddy had told me since I can remember… |
| Adoption: A Forgetting And A Remembering | I was four years old when my first brother was adopted. Given my understanding of “the birds and the bees”… |
| Advice To Husbands From A Nomadic Tribe | The Tuareg, once a nomadic tribe in the Sahara Desert, but now living mostly in Western Africa, have a saying:… |
| Afraid Of God? | Are you a little afraid of God? Do you worry that he has something against you? When I feel that… |
| Agreeing To Disagree | Many of us assume that everyone we meet should like us. I have no such unrealistic expectation. How could everyone… |
| Alcohol – What The Bible Really Says | Many religious people believe that God has forbidden any use of alcoholic beverages — that any use of alcohol is… |
| Alcohol And Teenagers | UNITED STATES Over 4.5 million teenagers between age 14 and 17 are problem drinkers. In 1980, 30.1 percent of the… |
| Alcoholism — A Disease? | At times, scientists, clinicians and others debate whether to call alcoholism a “disease.” Usage of the term is usually acceptable… |
| Alcoholism Is Treatable | Thousands of alcoholics are helped to stop drinking every year. The chances of recovery are good if alcohol abuse or… |
| All For God’s Honor, Glory And Praise | It is important for our hearts to be right. Our hearts need to be given to God in entirety. All… |
| All For The Sake Of The Gospel (1 Corinthians 9:16-23) | The gospel is Paul’s priority: “When I preach the gospel, I cannot boast, since I am compelled to preach. Woe… |
| All Israel Will Be Saved (Romans 11) | In Romans 9 and 10, Paul describes a theological problem: Most Jews are rejecting the gospel. Not only are they… |
| All Wisdom And Knowledge (Colossians 2:1-5) | In Colossians 1, Paul prays for the readers’ wisdom, understanding, and Christian life (1:9-14). He reminds them of how great… |
| Already In The Kingdom (Colossians 1:1-14) | Colosse was a small city in Asia Minor, not important for much of anything — it is known to us… |
| Amos 7 – When Mercy Fails | Amos 7 addresses the role of mercy in God’s judgment. The book of Amos begins by announcing punishments on nations… |
| An Anchor For Life | Have you ever felt that you needed an anchor for your life? That the storms of life were trying to… |
| An Answer In The Dark | I stood there in unbelief as the man forced open the screen door and stepped into my living room, pointing a… |
| An Elephant’s Tail | Short though the elephant’s tail may be, he can still flick away flies with it… (West African proverb) Have you… |
| An Exhortation To Give (2 Corinthians 9:1-5) | As Paul worked to spread the gospel in the gentile world, he also worked to have the gentiles give an… |
| An Introduction To God | As Christians, our most basic religious belief is that God exists. By the capitalized word “God,” we mean the God… |
| An Introduction To Trinitarian Theology | I. Introduction: why we need this A. Stating the topic We say that we have a “Trinitarian theology.” However, most… |
| An Overview Of The Geologic Record | “You can prove anything from the Bible” may seem to be true to someone who is vaguely acquainted with the… |
| Ancient Words…But Ever True? Can We Still Trust The Bible? | It used to be so easy, didn’t it? We had the King James Bible, perhaps with the words of Jesus in… |
| And The Word Was God | Some people ask how to understand John 1:1, since some people claim that this verse should read that the Word was… |
| Anger: A Battle We Can Win | The manifestations of the emotion of anger are so numerous that Dr. W.B. Cannon of Harvard required an entire printed… |
| Anglo-Israelism And The United States & Britain In Prophecy | For several decades, the Worldwide Church of God (predecessor to Grace Communion International) published a book titled The United States… |
| Annual Festivals | As part of his covenant with the Israelites, God commanded them to observe various annual festivals. These festivals symbolized facets… |
| Anointing The Sick | Anointing of the sick may take place wherever it is needed: at home, in the hospital, or before or after… |
| Another Letter To An Adventist | After I sent the first letter to Will Eva, he responded with a letter of his own. I respond to… |
| Another Look At Faith | One night recently I couldn’t sleep, and after an hour or so of tossing and turning I got up and… |
| Answering Questions About Our Theology | The label, “Incarnational Trinitarian theology” is descriptive rather than prescriptive for our doctrinal statements. Our critics sometimes want to label… |
| Apostles And Epistles | The first Christians were Jews. But as Christianity spread, it reached people in the Greek and Roman world and introduced… |
| Appendix 2 Of Sabbath, Circumcision And Tithing: For Further Reading | You might find some of the following materials helpful: Bacchiocchi, Samuele. From Sabbath to Sunday. Biblical Perspectives, 1987. A book with an… |
| Appreciating Christ’s Sacrifice | While reading a list of the 100 best novels written since 1900, I noted that there were two by Vladimir… |
| Approaching The Light | God, the blessed and only Ruler, the King of kings and Lord of lords, who alone is immortal and who… |
| Are Gci Members Allowed To Speak In Tongues? | Question: Many people in our fellowship have visited other churches. Some have spoken in tongues. Are members allowed to speak in… |
| Are Geologic Strata The Result Of The Biblical Flood? | Many people who revere the Bible, both in the church and outside, assume that most of the earth’s sedimentary strata… |
| Are Old Testament Laws Still Binding On Christians? | Christians often wonder, Are Old Testament laws still in force? The New Testament gives two basic answers to this question: Yes,… |
| Are Prophecies Commands For Christians? | Question: Prophecies suggest that the Sabbath and annual festivals will be kept in the kingdom of God (e.g., Isaiah 66:23; Zechariah… |
| Are Some Meats Unclean? | Among the regulations God gave the ancient Israelites were various laws about cleanness and uncleanness. These laws were not concerned… |
| Are There Three Resurrections? | Some people teach that there will be three resurrections: Of the saints at Christ’s return, before the millennial reign of Christ,… |
| Are You Living Beyond Your Means? | I live in a society in which I regularly receive offers for credit cards. The offers tell me I am… |
| Are You Out Of Your Mind? (1 Corinthians 14:13-25) | The believers in Corinth liked to speak in tongues, but Paul encouraged them to focus instead on gifts that build… |
| Articles About Children’s Ministry | Emphasis on Ministry to Children Developing a Children’s Ministry (comprehensive manual) Seeking Lost Children Nurturing Believing Children Equipping Children for Ministry… |
| Articles About Christian Holidays | Articles about Christmas |
| Articles About Church History | For all chuch history articles in one PDF document, click here. Easter in the Church Is Jesus Really God? A… |
| Articles About Evangelism | “I want to remind you of the gospel…. What I received I passed on to you as of first importance:… |
| Articles About Family And Childrearing | Family In Marriage… 1 + 1 = 1 Lonely in Love Before You Divorce Your Child’s #1 Teacher Love One… |
| Articles About Military Service & War | Though war should always be the last resort, Scripture teaches that nations must act in a timely and decisive manner… |
| Articles About Money And Generosity | Personal Money Management Six Steps to Financial Security Are You Living Beyond Your Means? Live Within Your Means A Budget… |
| Articles About Personal Money Management | Here are articles from GCI that address principles of sound |
| Articles About Science, The Bible, And Faith | Please click here to go to the correct page. |
| Articles About Speaking In Tongues | “In the church I would rather speak five intelligible words to instruct others than ten thousand words in a tongue”… |
| Articles About Spiritual Gifts | “About spiritual gifts, brothers, I do not want you to be ignorant…. To each one the manifestation of the Spirit… |
| Articles About The Bible | and |
| Articles About The Birth Of Jesus | The Miracle of Jesus’ Birth The Shepherd’s Story Genealogies of Jesus God in the Flesh He Gave Himself He Pitched… |
| Articles About The Covenants | Moses and the Old Covenant (part of SCT) Jesus and the Old Covenant Laws (part of OTL) Jesus and the New Covenant (part… |
| Articles About The Holy Spirit | The top four articles The Holy Spirit, by Michael Morrison The Holy Spirit Is the Personal Presence of God, by… |
| Articles About The Lord’s Supper | Partaking of the promises The three-fold meaning of the Lord’s Supper The Lord’s Supper reminds us of God’s love How… |
| Articles About Theology | The Bible teaches that God passionately loves you, even though he knows all the wrong stuff you’ve done. He eagerly… |
| Articles About Trials And Suffering | The suffering God “Dear friends, do not be surprised at the painful trial you are suffering, as though something strange… |
| Articles About What Happens After Death | and |
| Articles About Worship | Worship Resources (on GCI Resources website) John 4: True worship Responding to God with worship Worship—a small group study What… |
| Articles About Youth Ministry | Below are articles that address ministry with youths (primarily focused on teens). For articles about ministry with children, click here. |
| Articles On The Book Of Genesis | What Does Genesis 1 Really Teach? Genesis 1: Are the Six Days of Creation Literal or Figurative? The Battle Over… |
| Artwork By Alexandre Bida Of The Life Of Christ | From Christ in Art; or, The Gospel Life of Jesus: With the Bida Illustrations. by Edward Eggleston. New York: Fords,… |
| Artwork By Alexandre Bida Of The Life Of Christ, Part 2 | From Christ in Art; or, The Gospel Life of Jesus: With the Bida Illustrations. by Edward Eggleston. New York: Fords,… |
| Artwork By Gustave Dore | These images have been scanned from old books. The copyright has expired; you may copy and use the images as… |
| Artwork By James Tissot | These illustrations are scanned from a book. The copyright has expired. You may copy and use the images in whatever… |
| Artwork From Lyman Abbott’s Commentary On Acts | Illustrations From An Illustrated Commentary on The Acts of the Apostles, by Rev. Lyman Abbott. vol. 4. |
| Artwork From Old Books | We offer here a variety of images we have scanned from old books – almost all of it in black… |
| Artwork From The Bible And Its Story, Vol. 1 | Illustrations from Genesis The Bible and Its Story Taught by One Thousand Picture Lessons, vol. 1. edited by Charles F…. |
| Artwork From The Bible And Its Story, Vol. 10 | Illustrations from the book of Acts, the epistles, and Revelation Illustrations from volume 10 of The Bible and its Story… |
| Artwork From The Bible And Its Story, Vol. 2 | Illustrations from Exodus through Deuteronomy The Bible and Its Story Taught by One Thousand Picture Lessons, vol. 2. edited by… |
| Artwork From The Bible And Its Story, Vol. 3 | Illustrations from Joshua, Judges, Ruth and 1 Samuel The Bible and Its Story Taught by One Thousand Picture Lessons, vol…. |
| Artwork From The Bible And Its Story, Vol. 6 | Illustrations from Esther, Job, Psalms The Bible and Its Story Taught by One Thousand Picture Lessons, vol. 6. edited by… |
| Artwork From The Bible And Its Story, Vol. 7 | Proverbs, Song of Solomon, Isaiah, Jeremiah, Hosea, Joel, Amos, Micah, Zephaniah, Habakkuk The Bible and Its Story Taught by One… |
| Artwork From The Bible And Its Story, Vol. 8 | Illustrations from volume 8 of The Bible and its Story Taught by One Thousand Picture Lessons, edited by Charles F…. |
| Artwork From The Bible And Its Story, Vol. 9 | Illustrations of the Ministry of Christ, part 1– – – – Click here for part 2 All the pictures are… |
| Artwork From The Bible And Its Story, Vol. 9 & 10 | The Gospels, part 2 Illustrations from volumes 9 and 10 of The Bible and its Story Taught by One Thousand… |
| Artwork From The Gospels In Art (1904) | Paintings reproduced in The Gospels in Art: The Life of Christ by Great Painters From Fra Angelico to Holman Hunt…. |
| Artwork From The People’s Bible, Vol. 1 | and |
| Artwork From The People’s Bible, Vol. 2 | Illustrations from The People’s Bible History, volume 2, published 1895. For volume 1, click here Simeon blesses Jesus Pharisee and… |
| Artwork From Thomas Lewin’s Life Of Paul | Illustrations from The Life and Epistles of St. Paul, by Thomas Lewin. 5th ed. London: George Bell & Sons, 1890. |
| Artwork Of King David | Jesse presents his sons to Samuel — James Tissot David and Jonathan — Ken Tunell David dancing in front of… |
| Artwork: Jesus In The Temple At Age 12 | Jesus in the temple at age 12, illustrations by Ken Tunell, Gustave Dore, Monte Wolverton, and James Tissot: |
| Artwork: The Samaritan Woman | Illustrations by Carl Bloch, Gustave Dore, Julius Schnoor, and Alexander Bida |
| As Ugly As Sin | Last summer, we took our grandchildren to the zoo. It was one of those progressive zoos where they try to… |
| Astrophysics And Apologetics | The following article originally appeared in 1999. John Halford conducted the interview. David Wilkinson is one of a rare breed—an… |
| At Greater Risk – Women And Alcohol | Shrill sirens from somewhere outside interrupt the tall blonde at the lectern. “Aren’t you glad that’s not for you?” she… |
| Athanasius Lists The New Testament Writings | The 27 books of the New Testament are the Scriptures of the church. They are understood to be written by… |
| Atheist Chaplains? | Why is it that atheists often are seen as rational and logical while Christians are seen as desperately clinging to… |
| Attacked By An Answered Prayer | A while back I felt the need to ask God to help me know he was in me and working… |
| Attitudes That Please God (Romans 12:9-21) | Paul summarizes by saying, “Love must be sincere” (v. 9). All service should be sincere — gifts should be motivated… |
| Audio Lectures By Thomas F. Torrance | These are audio lectures – a series of 10 lectures Thomas F. Torrance gave with the title of “Ground and… |
| Audio Resources From The 2010 Gci Conference | Following are audio files of the main sessions given at our international conference in Orlando. Video is not available. Cathy… |
| Augustine “Father” Of The Western Church | Augustine (354-430) has been called the most significant Christian theologian “since New Testament times.”1 He was born Augustinus Aurelius in the… |
| Australia | Loading player… John McLean, co-author of Lead With Your Strengths, is the GCI National Director and Missions Director for Australia…. |
| Avoiding The Pitfall Of Panentheism | Gary Deddo Panentheism is the name of a misleading and misguided approach to thinking about the relationship between God and God’s… |
| Back To The Future Of Youth Ministry | Youth ministry is a very slippery topic. It is difficult to even pinpoint its origin because youth ministry has yet… |
| Balance: “The” Financial Worldview | A prudent financial worldview can be summed up best in one word: balance. In other words, as stewards of God’s… |
| Baptism | A baptism service can take place during the worship service or at any convenient location and time. In our congregations,… |
| Baptism Of An Infant | A baptism service can take place during the worship service or at any convenient location and time. In our congregations,… |
| Baptism Pictures The Gospel | Rituals were a prominent part of Old Testament worship—there were annual rituals, monthly rituals, weekly rituals, and daily rituals. There were… |
| Baptism: Commemorating Christ’s Commitment To Us | We gathered around a swimming pool anticipating the ceremony about to begin. One person stepped into the shallow end of… |
| Bathsheba: Mother And Queen | The following story is based on events in 2 Samuel 11–17 and 1 Kings 1–2. Dozing beneath the tapestries hung… |
| Be Devoted To Scripture | One of Christianity’s most important doctrines is that of the authority of Scripture. Scripture is the basis for what we… |
| Be Ye Perfect | Reading “Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect” in Matthew 5:48 reminds me… |
| Before You Divorce | “This is it, I can’t take it anymore! This marriage is over!” With these heated words, Jerry announced the end… |
| Behavioral Expectations In The New Covenant | The most important command of the Bible is this: “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with… |
| Behavioral Standards In Christianity | Related articles: The role of law in the Christian life Obeying God Christians are not under the Law of Moses,… |
| Being Human | After a long dry spell, the rain was welcome. My family and I watched the huge drops fall on our… |
| Being Missional | I looked the four teenage boys straight in the eyes and they looked right back at me—friendly and accepting. I… |
| Believer’s Baptism | Though prominent in Old Testament worship, there are just a few rituals in Christian worship. Most Protestant churches (including GCI)… |
| Believing The Gospel | Many Christians are afraid of the gospel. We are afraid of the gospel because it is too good. Many of… |
| Believing Thomas | I don’t know how you deal with disappointment, but I have a method I’ve used since I was a child…. |
| Benediction To Romans (Romans 16:25-27) | Now to him who is able to establish you in accordance with my gospel, the message I proclaim about Jesus… |
| Between Death And Resurrection (2 Corinthians 5:1-10) | Everyone eventually dies. But the gospel says that everyone will be resurrected — brought back to life. When will this… |
| Beware Theological Labels | As our understanding of who God is (our theology) developed, we began using the term “Incarnational Trinitarian theology” to identify… |
| Beyond Death | Time and tide wait for no man, observes an English proverb. For most, time moves too quickly. We cannot find… |
| Beyond Old And New Perspectives On Paul | A critically engaging conference based on Douglas Campbell’s book: The deliverance of God. Held at King’s College London on December 16-17, 2011…. |
| Beyond The Reach Of Science | We should be careful not to overstep the purpose of the Genesis account by reading it as a scientific treatise… |
| Bible Concepts From The Historical Books | The questions on Bible concepts, facts and trivia review the material covered in this lesson. To get the most out… |
| Bible Concepts From The Torah | The following questions on Bible concepts review material covered in this overview of the Pentateuch. To get more out of… |
| Bible Concepts: Books Of Poetry | The questions review the material covered in this series. You may wish to write out the answers, but do not… |
| Bible Facts From The Historical Books | This section asks you to recall some basic facts from the books of Joshua through 2 Samuel. After selecting one… |
| Bible Facts From The Torah | This section asks you to recall some basic facts from the Pentateuch. After selecting one of the four choices, you… |
| Bible Facts: Books Of Poetry | This section asks you to recall some basic facts from the books of Job through Song of Songs. After selecting… |
| Bible Prophecy: What’s It All About? | Nothing sells like prophecy. It’s true. A church or ministry can have goofy theology, an oddball leader and ridiculously strict… |
| Bible Study – A Small Group Study | In the spiritual discipline of study, we engage ourselves, above all, with the written and spoken Word of God. In… |
| Bible Study Secrets | Tips from the scholars. “I’m not getting as much as I would like to out of my personal Bible study…. |
| Bible Trivia From The Historical Books | You may find these questions to be challenging as well as fun. Some of the answers you may know immediately…. |
| Bible Trivia From The Torah | You may find these questions to be challenging as well as fun. Some of the answers you may know immediately…. |
| Bible Trivia: Books Of Poetry | You may find these questions to be challenging as well as fun. Some of the answers you may know immediately…. |
| Big Sandy Revisited | It is always a bittersweet experience to go back after several years to revisit a home you have lived in… |
| Billy Graham: Evangelist To The World | My one purpose in life is to help people find a personal relationship with God, which, I believe, comes through… |
| Black History Month: An Interview With Curtis May | J. Michael Feazell interviewed Curtis May, director of the Office of Reconciliation Ministries, an outreach ministry affiliated with Grace Communion… |
| Bless Children With Jesus’ Love | In this series we are examining five principles for effective ministry to children. In the first article, I summarized all five… |
| Blessed Are The Dung Beetles | Kruger National Park, South Africa: Like all visitors to this world-famous wildlife reserve, my friends and I hoped to see… |
| Blessed Are The Includers | My son, Johnathan, had a bad day at preschool the other day. I didn’t realize how bad, however, until I… |
| Blessing In Disguise | Late last year, Australia experienced the worst floods in our history, followed by cyclones, while other parts of the country… |
| Blessing Of A Child | The Blessing of Children should normally take place during the worship service, but it can also take place in a… |
| Books About Our Doctrinal Transformation | We do not sell books through this website. However, we do point you to where you can purchase books relevant… |
| Books And Magazines Providing Clergy Family Support | Books for Pastors’ Wives: Counsel for Pastors’ Wives, Diane Langberg Married to a Pastor’s Wife, A Read-Together, Write Together Book… |
| Born To Die | The Christian faith proclaims that at a specific time and place, the Son of God became flesh and lived among… |
| Breaking The Ice – Getting Started With The Bible | Let’s go through the Bible together from start to finish. There is a lot of territory to cover, but we’ll… |
| Bridging The Generation Gap | The popular term “generation gap” refers to the chasm separating a younger generation from an older generation and has probably… |
| Bring The Cattle Together | Cattle herding is part of their occupation. Livestock is one of the measures of their wealth. They use oxen to… |
| Buddy – The Mighty Lizard Hunter | When our children were small, we moved to the Sunshine state with no pets. Most Floridians know that while gators… |
| Building Stronger Families: Articles About Marriage And Family | Here are articles about marriage, parenting and related topics. For curricula and other resources that address these topics, go to… |
| Building Unity: The Story Of Euodia And Syntyche | Let me tell you about two people who worked side-by-side in the church. But something happened. They fell into a… |
| Building Young Believers Through Adoration | In this youth ministry equipping and training series we are exploring ways youth ministry workers and leaders may actively participate… |
| Building Young Believers Through Community | Ministry is far more than programs—it involves relationships where young people, assisted by caring adults, come to know and embrace… |
| Building Young Believers Through Nurture | Those who minister to youths (parents, pastors, youth ministry workers and youth ministry leaders) have the rewarding challenge of assisting… |
| Building Young Believers Through Serving | In this series we’ve been addressing strategies for advancing healthy youth ministry in and through congregations. This ministry is far… |
| Burnout Prevention | Symptoms: Depression, burnout, fatigue, lack of joy, withdrawal, sleep disturbance, difficulty in facing life each day. Physical symptoms, called depressive equivalents:… |
| Buy One Set One Free | How do you get ready for the day? We all have our own routines, but I imagine that soap, deodorant,… |
| By Faith, Not By Sight | Chapter Two of “This Is Living Faith” It was electrifying news: Jesus Christ had risen from the dead! Just as… |
| Can God’s Sabbath Law Be “Done Away”? | Many people assume that because the weekly Sabbath is in the Ten Commandments, it must therefore be a law for… |
| Can Old Covenant Worship Laws Become New Covenant Spiritual “Shadows”? | The Christian Sabbath is life in Jesus Christ, in whom every believer finds true rest. The weekly seventh-day Sabbath is… |
| Can We Trust Science? | Perhaps you remember these lyrics from a popular song in the opera Porgy and Bess: It ain’t necessarily so It… |
| Can We Trust The Gospels? | Are the Gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke and John historically reliable documents? Has modern New Testament scholarship undermined the historical… |
| Can You Do That In School? – Separation Of Church And State | It has been said that we all have two things in common: death and taxes. Most Americans share a third… |
| Can You Hear The Holy Spirit? | When the church in Antioch gathered for worship, the Holy Spirit spoke to them: “Set apart for me Barnabas and… |
| Can You Trust The Holy Spirit To Save You? | I was talking with a friend who had been a Christian for many years. The topic of his baptism came… |
| Care To Do What Is Good (Titus 3:8-15) | “This is a trustworthy saying,” Paul notes. We can be sure that God saves us by his mercy, not by… |
| Caution Against Churches Endorsing Political Candidates | Recently in the United States, Canada and elsewhere, major elections have been held. While we can be tempted to express… |
| Celebrate Our Savior | Most Christians observe annual memorials of various events in the life of Jesus Christ. Some celebrate his birth, baptism, transfiguration,… |
| Celebrate The Spring Festivals | Praise be to God! He has given us the victory through our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ! The spring festival… |
| Celebrating “Holland” | “Welcome to Holland” is an insightful essay written in 1987 by Emily Perl Kingsley about the shock of giving birth… |
| Celebrating Jesus’ Ascension | Many Christians celebrate the Ascension of our Lord Jesus Christ. Some celebrate exactly 40 days after Easter; others celebrate the following… |
| Celebrating The Lord’s Supper At Home | The Lord’s Supper is a memorial of our Savior’s death by which he atoned for all our sins. Those who… |
| Celebrating The Resurrection Of Jesus Christ | On a Sunday morning long ago, when the disciples of Jesus first encountered their risen Lord, they “came to him,… |
| Celebration – A Small Group Study | Introduction When Jesus entered the world as a human being, great celebration was taking place in heaven, as the angel… |
| Cell-Based Church: Community, Nurturing, Outreach | Some visionaries of church growth believe that the cell-based model of ministry is an important model of the church in… |
| Central And Eastern Europe, And Spain | Germany and Austria Loading player… There are about 130 members attending or affiliated with our five congregations or small groups… |
| Ceremonies For Pastoral Use | Below are ceremonies in Word 97 format. Right-click and chose “save link as…” You may change the font and margins… |
| Changed Lives | My husband and I were once privileged to share a meal with Jaime Escalante, the math teacher who inspired underachievers… |
| Changing Faces | Nowadays, the fountain of youth wields a scalpel, a bottle of Botox, and collagen injections. Years can be shaved off… |
| Choose Your Future: What Options Are There For A Small Church? | a review article Small churches have numerous options for the future — some more attractive than others, some more workable… |
| Choosing A Bible: A User’s Guide | Before you begin your Bible study, take some time to choose your translation. A friend from Japan was telling me… |
| Chosen People, Promised Land – Israel And Judah | Now we come to a section of the Bible that is primarily history. Other sections contain history mixed with laws,… |
| Christ Is The Answer (Hebrews 10:5-10) | The author begins verse 5 with the word “therefore,” meaning “because of what I have just said.” Here, we might… |
| Christ Our Atonement | The governor found himself forced to consider the death penalty for an innocent man. Powerful political forces pressured him to… |
| Christ The Creator And Redeemer (Colossians 1:15-28) | Christ is supreme (verses 15-23) In a poetic passage, Paul then describes how great Christ is: “The Son is the… |
| Christ The End Of The Law (Romans 10:1-4) | In Romans 9 to 11, Paul deals with Israel’s role in God’s plan. Does the new covenant, and the salvation of… |
| Christ Was Raised (1 Corinthians 15:1-11) | Every spring, Easter reminds Christians that Jesus rose from the dead. His resurrection was certainly good news for him, and… |
| Christ’s Resurrection: Our Hope Of Salvation | “If Christ has not been raised,” the apostle Paul taught, “your faith is futile; you are still in your sins”… |
| Christian Behavior (1 Thessalonians 4:1-12) | Paul has reminded the believers in Thessalonica of their faithfulness in midst of some trials. Now he reminds them of… |
| Christian Life | When we accept Jesus Christ as our Savior, we have begun the Christian life. Accepting Christ is only a beginning… |
| Christian Odyssey 2005-2014 – Pdf Files | 2014 Winter 2014 Spring 2014 Summer 2014 2013 Spring 2013 Summer 2013 Fall 2013 2012 Feb.-March 2012 April-May 2012 June-August… |
| Christianity: Only For Dummies? | When Tammy is not with me, I never know who might sit next to me on an airplane. I’ve sat… |
| Christians And The Government (Romans 13:1-7) | In Romans 12, Paul wrote that we should be living sacrifices, transformed in our minds so that we please God… |
| Christians And The Law Of Moses: A Study Of Acts 15 | Acts 15 describes the most important meeting the early church had. The future of the church was at stake—was it… |
| Christians Obey God | 1. What did Jesus tell his disciples to preach? Matthew 28:19-20; Mark 16:15-16; Luke 24:46-47. Jesus told his disciples to preach… |
| Christmas Eve Sermon, 1994 | Transformed by Truth, by Joseph Tkach Chapter 2 No one would deny that the gospel, the message of salvation through faith… |
| Christmas Light | “In him was life, and that life was the light of men” (John 1:4). Brilliant displays of light and color… |
| Christmas Past And Present In The Church | Have you ever wondered how Christmas came to be part of the annual Christian calendar? Here’s the fascinating story, which… |
| Christmas Past And Present In The Church | The Advent-Christmas season is almost upon us, that joyful time of year when we celebrate the birth of our Lord… |
| Chronology Of The Day Christ Died | Time Event Evening Jesus washes feet and institutes the symbols of bread and wine. He foretells his betrayal. (Matthew… |
| Church And Ministry Articles | From Christ the whole body, joined and held together by every supporting ligament, grows and builds itself up in love,… |
| Church Buildings And Church Growth | Sometimes a congregation that has declined in numbers and morale comes to believe that their situation could be reversed if… |
| Church: Some Assembly Required | Just across the road from our home is a beautiful church. Many of our neighbors go there on Sunday morning… |
| Church: What’s On The Menu? | Even though I am what some would consider a professional nomad, I realized after a recent trip overseas that I… |
| Circumcision – A Test Case For Evaluating Old Testament Laws | Circumcision was an essential part of religious practice for the nation of Israel. Is circumcision a required practice for Christians… |
| Circumcision: A New Way To Keep An Old Law | Almost all Christians agree that circumcision is an obsolete law, for the New Testament is very clear about it. But… |
| Clarifying Our Theological Vision | This essay by Dr. Gary Deddo (with an introduction from Dr. Joseph Tkach) clarifies key concepts of the incarnational Trinitarian theology embraced by… |
| Cleaning Up Katrina – After The Cameras Moved On | When Hurricane Katrina inundated New Orleans, we all watched in disbelief as a major U.S. city suffered one of the… |
| Closing Benediction (Hebrews 13:17-25) | The author closes this paragraph with another reference to leaders: “Have confidence in your leaders and submit to their authority,… |
| Closing Thanks (Philippians 4:10-23) | A thank-you note Paul then thanks the church for the help they sent him while he was in prison: “I… |
| Cocoon Or Community? | Some believers struggle to belong to the church It’s hard to let down your defenses and, more or less, give… |
| Code Of Ethics For Gci Elders | Preamble The Code of Ethics for Elders is designed to edify the body of Christ. We pray it will be… |
| Color Crazy | Friends, I feel compelled to alert us all to a most serious issue lurking beneath the surface of our current… |
| Colossians 2:14 And The “Handwriting Of Requirements” | Christ “wiped out the handwriting of requirements that was against us…having nailed it to the cross” (Colossians 2:14, NKJ). What… |
| Comforted By The Word | It is amazing how often we read in the Bible this exhortation from God: “Don’t be afraid. Don’t be terrified!” It… |
| Comic Relief | I have been a professional comic-book illustrator for over 20 years. I started with DC comics in 1983. The work… |
| Coming To Know God | Christ’s gospel invites you to satisfy the restless longing all humans share. I was about 6 months old when my… |
| Commemorating The Crucifixion | Almost 2,000 years ago, a Jewish carpenter was condemned as a dangerous religious and political rebel. He was executed in… |
| Commentary On 1 & 2 Corinthians | The Wisdom of Weakness: A Study of 1 Corinthians 1 A Command Paul Did Not Obey — 1 Corinthians 9… |
| Commentary On 1 Thessalonians | A model for all believers: 1 Thessalonians 1 We were not a burden: 1 Thessalonians 2 Greek word: ekklesia. Paul’s… |
| Commentary On Colossians | The Colossian Heresy Already in the Kingdom: A Study of Colossians 1 Victory on the Cross: A Study of Colossians… |
| Commentary On Galatians | Paul started several churches in the province of Galatia and then moved on to other regions. Then he learned that… |
| Commentary On Hebrews | The Reflection of God’s Glory (Hebrews 1:1-12) Pay Attention! (Hebrews 1:13-2:4) Perfect Through Suffering (Hebrews 2:5-12) Freed From the Fear… |
| Commentary On Philippians | Joy, Hope and Love: Paul’s Letter from Prison Joy in Jesus Christ: A Study of Philippians 1 The Example of… |
| Commentary On Philippians | Joy, Hope and Love: Paul’s Letter from Prison Joy in Jesus Christ: A Study of Philippians 1 The Example of… |
| Commentary On Romans | In the year A.D. 57, Paul was getting ready to go to Jerusalem with an offering from the churches in Greece. Although… |
| Commentary On The Book Of Revelation | Revelation, Apocalyptic Writing and the Old Testament Revelation: Book of Cosmic Symbols 1,900 Years of Revelation A Vision of Victory… |
| Commentary On The General Epistles | James 5:14 and Healing Real Wealth Lasts Forever: A Study of 1 Peter 1 Special Roles for Special People: A… |
| Commentary On The Pastoral Epistles: 1 & 2 Timothy, And Titus | The Law Used Properly: 1 Timothy 1:3-11 God Wants All to Be Saved: 1 Timothy 2:1-7 Paul’s Policy on Women… |
| Comments About “The Word Of Faith” Movement | Comment: I appreciate what we have said about our need for discernment and why some people seem to be interested in… |
| Commissioning A Ministry Leader | The commissioning of a ministry leader should take place during the worship service in the congregation where the ministry leader… |
| Communication With The Dead: Is It Possible? | What happens after death? Is there a life beyond the grave? If so, is it possible to communicate with those… |
| Communion | In Communion, we participate in the death and resurrection of our Lord, who shed his blood on the cross and… |
| Comparison Of Old And New Covenants | Feature Old Covenant New Covenant When established at Exodus at crucifixion Parties: God and national Israel (Ex. 19-24) Christians (Luke… |
| Complete List Of All Articles On Archive.Gci.Org | This list compiles our various index pages. It includes You’re Included, but not Speaking of Life and other miscellaneous videos. … |
| Confession – A Small Group Study | Introduction The awesome God we worship is eager to forgive us, as is revealed in the words of Psalm 103:… |
| Confessions Of A Part-Time Waitress | I don’t have a lot of spare time between waiting on tables. But may I take just a moment to… |
| Confessions Of A Youth Evangelist | It was the right idea, but the focus was wrong. I worked for more than a decade with an organization… |
| Confirmation Ceremony | A confirmation service can take place during the worship service or at any convenient location and time. In our congregations,… |
| Conflict At Rome: Romans 14 | Have you ever heard someone in the church say, “I just want to go somewhere I can be comfortable”? Some… |
| Connections (The Journal) | Connections is a journal written by ministry wives and women in ministry of Grace Communion International. We are making it available to everyone… |
| Connections For Clergy Family Support | Resources for a successful ministry and life Personal Counseling or Retreat Needs Marble Retreat is one of the most established… |
| Conspiracy Theories And Rejection | Transformed by Truth, by Joseph Tkach Chapter 5 Just before he died in January 1986, Herbert Armstrong told his handpicked successor—my… |
| Coping With Stress…Without Alcohol Or Drugs | What do we see in the world around us? Overcrowding. Interpersonal conflicts. Economic uncertainty. International strife. Uncertainty about the future…. |
| Courage In The Commission | The famous American pilot Eddie Rickenbacker once said, “Courage is doing what you’re afraid to do. There can be no… |
| Covenant Enacted By Blood (Hebrews 9:15-23) | Our salvation was obtained, the author of Hebrews tells us, because Christ “has died as a ransom to set them… |
| Covenant, Law And God’s Faithfulness | Central to GCI’s reformation is the teaching that God’s covenant with humanity was fulfilled on our behalf in Jesus Christ. By looking back from the vantage point of Jesus’ declaration on the cross, “It is finished,” we are able to understand not only what God was doing with Israel via the covenant (to which was added the Mosaic law), but also God’s related plan for all humanity that reaches back “before the creation of the world” (Ephesians 1:4). |
| Covenants In The Bible | To understand the old and new covenants, we need to first understand what the word covenant means. In simple terms,… |
| Creation And Evolution: How Did God Bring About The Rich Variety Of Species On Earth? | Almost 150 years ago Charles Darwin published The Origin of Species. The debate between science and religion has been fast… |
| Creation Out Of Nothing | One of the more enigmatic questions posed by our understanding of the cosmos is this: Why is there something instead… |
| Creation Vs. Evolution | The ongoing creation versus evolution debate made the news when Ken Hamm, a prominent proponent of young earth creationism, debated… |
| Crossing Borders 2011 – Muchas Gracias | In December 2011, Crossing Borders mission team had an eventful trip to Mexico to deliver shoebox gifts to our partner… |
| Crossing Borders – Camp With A Mission | OK, so you’ve been there, done that and got a drawer full of camp T-shirts. Then perhaps you are ready… |
| Crossing Borders Summer Trip 2015 | This summer, as we have done for the last six years, Crossing Borders mission camp crossed into Nuevo Laredo, Mexico,… |
| Crossing Your “Red Sea” | “Then the Lord said to Moses, ‘Why are you crying out to me? Tell the Israelites to move on…. |
| Crown Of Thorns | When Jesus was on trial for his life, the soldiers twisted thorns into a makeshift crown and jammed it on his head… |
| Daddy’s Gone | Your friend has just suffered a severe loss. How can you help? I stared at the empty chair by the… |
| David And Uriah: Are You Losing Faith? | Reading between the lines: David and Uriah The story of David, and the books of Samuel in general, are considered… |
| Dawkins’ God | Dawkins’ God: Gene, Memes and the Meaning of Life by Alister McGrath Reviewed by John Halford One thing I have… |
| Days Don’t Matter – Or Do They? | I have encouraged congregations to set aside old covenant customs, in keeping with the example set by Paul, in order… |
| Dead To Sin — Oh Really? | I grew up on a farm, so I know something about animals—great and small. Animals are still part of my… |
| Dealing With Difficulties (Hebrews 12:3-17) | We are exhorted to follow the example of Jesus. What kind of example did he set for us? “For the… |
| Dealing With Disagreements (Romans 14:1-12) | Paul’s letter to the Romans is his most systematic presentation of the gospel. He explains human sinfulness and the forgiveness… |
| Death Ain’t What It Used To Be | While sipping coffee and browsing news one morning, I came across a lead sentence so amusing I had to write… |
| Death Will Be Defeated (1 Corinthians 15:51-58) | A dramatic change In eternity, we will not need blood to circulate oxygen to our muscles. Flesh and blood is… |
| Decree Of The Council Of Jerusalem (Acts 15) Part 1: The Literary Flow Of Acts 15 | Acts 15 is the center of the book of Acts. In the story-flow of Acts, the Jerusalem council resolves crucial… |
| Decree Of The Council Of Jerusalem (Acts 15) Part 2: The Decree’s Purpose | The Four Requirements The decree told gentile Christians to abstain from four things.15 Minor variations occur in order and number… |
| Denominational Support | Connections A GCI denomination-wide journal that was published for ministers, wives and their families. The journal provided peer support, wisdom,… |
| Depth Perception | An important part of learning to drive is depth perception. Drivers need to know where they are in relation to… |
| Deuteronomy: God’s People Challenged | Outline of Deuteronomy Introduction (1:1-5) Historical prologue (1:6–4:43) Stipulations (4:44–26:19) Blessings and curses (27:1–30:20) Succession arrangements and public readings (31:1–34:12)… |
| Developing A Children’s Ministry | The purpose of this paper is to provide guidance in helping churches develop an effective children’s ministry. It offers a… |
| Developing A Spending Plan With A “Virtual Cookie Jar” | From what I can tell, very few people today have a spending plan, or budget, to manage their personal finances…. |
| Did God Forsake Jesus On The Cross? | Quotes from Theologians on the Interview Program You’re Included In Alphabetical Order The Trinity says that God is both above… |
| Did Moses Steal The Ten Commandments? | Shushan, which lies 200 miles east of Babylon, was the capital of ancient Elam (Susiana), and later the winter palace… |
| Did The Jews Kill Jesus? | Part of the controversy surrounding the movie The Passion of the Christ is whether the film is anti-Semitic. Does it blame the… |
| Did You Kill Jesus Christ? | Some preachers say that humanity in general and each of us personally is responsible for the death of Jesus Christ…. |
| Dietary Laws And Uncleanness | In this study, we will examine what the Bible says about being “clean” and “unclean,” but we must explain that… |
| Digging Up The Bible | What type of clothing did the patriarch Abraham and his family wear? Was there really a King David or a… |
| Disaster In New Orleans! | In America’s worst natural disaster, nearly a million people were displaced by Hurricane Katrina. Tens of thousands were stranded without power,… |
| Disciplemaking Ministry: Communication Of The Word | In writing that “all Scripture is God-breathed” (2 Timothy 3:16a), Paul reminds us that God inspired the Bible. He also… |
| Disciplemaking Ministry: Conclusion | The powerful principle that underlies the foundations of youth ministry is that the Holy Spirit makes disciples of Jesus. Our… |
| Disciplemaking Ministry: Creating A Biblical Group Image In Your Youth Ministry | One evening after returning from a long day at work, I plopped into an oversized chair and flicked on the… |
| Disciplemaking Ministry: Creating An Atmosphere Of Love | Love expressed and experienced among members of the body is absolutely essential if that body is to be healthy and… |
| Disciplemaking Ministry: Having A “Commitment To Contact” In Your Youth Ministry | In Carl Sagan’s novel Contact, an astronomer devotes her life to making contact with intelligent beings beyond our solar system…. |
| Disciplemaking Ministry: Introduction | Youth ministry involves obedience to the Great Commandment to love, expressed through obedience to the Great Commission to make disciples…. |
| Disciplemaking Ministry: Prayerful Dependence | Inspiring event I crept closer to the circle of about 20 adolescent boys to listen in on their conversation. They… |
| Disciplemaking Ministry: The Adoration Of Christ | One of my favorite Christmas hymns, “O Come, All Ye Faithful,” invites people to “come and behold him,” Jesus—the One… |
| Disciplemaking Youth Ministry Includes Equipping Workers | In our youth ministry articles, we are focusing on following the disciplemaking ministry patterns that Jesus modeled and then commanded… |
| Disciples Who Didn’t Understand | Christianity has never been doctrinally perfect. Even the apostolic churches were not perfect. In fact, much of the New Testament… |
| Discipleship 101 | Here are 30 articles that cover 10 major doctrines of the Christian faith. The entire series of 30 articles is… |
| Discovering Adoption | One night in 1975, while waiting for his meal in a restaurant, Gary Klahr struck up a conversation with a man… |
| Discovering Handel’s Messiah | One of the greatest musical masterpieces of all time was written by a man on the edge of despair. In… |
| Discussion Of “Thomas F. Torrance: Theologian Of The Trinity” | Panel Discussion of Paul D. Molnar’s book, Thomas F. Torrance: Theologian of the Trinity (Ashgate, 2009).This panel was held on… |
| Diversity And Unity In Spiritual Gifts (1 Corinthians 12:1-11) | The church members in Corinth asked Paul a number of questions, and Paul responded in the letter we know as… |
| Divine Healing — What, Why, How? | Illness is a serious matter, but it is simple to define — it is a physical malfunction of one’s body…. |
| Do All Religions Lead To God? | Perhaps you’ve heard people say that all religions lead to God. This idea is called religious pluralism. Pluralism comes in… |
| Do Good To All (Galatians 6:1-16) | In many of his letters, Paul concludes with a list of commands. In Galatians, he gives a series of proverbs…. |
| Do Grace And Law Conflict? | God has provided a wonderful plan of salvation, based not on human merit but on his grace (Ephesians 2:8-9). This… |
| Do It Anyway | I marvel when I see my daughters work with their children. Once, when Sherisa instructed her son to do a… |
| Do Recent Discoveries In Science Offer Evidence For The Existence Of God? | This is part 1 of a debate. Yes – Fred Heeren No–Bernard J Leikind From the editor This article is… |
| Do Recent Discoveries In Science Offer Evidence For The Existence Of God? – Rebuttal | part 2 of a debate Rebuttal by Bernard J Leikind In his essay, my friendly dinner companion tells us his… |
| Do We Go To Heaven When We Die? | Some people ridicule the idea of “going to heaven.” However, Paul says that we are already seated in heavenly places… |
| Do We Have The Right Books In The Bible? | Who decided which books should be in the New Testament? In Dan Brown’s novel The Da Vinci Code, one of… |
| Do We Teach Universalism? | Some who criticize Trinitarian theology claim that it teaches universalism—the belief that everyone will be saved, regardless of whether they… |
| Do You Believe? | I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in me will live, even though he dies; and… |
| Do You Have The Holy Spirit? | Christians sometimes wonder whether they have been given God’s Holy Spirit. What are some guidelines we can use in trying… |
| Do You Have Time For A Happier Marriage? | To spend time with someone is to say: “I value you and value being with you. I love you and… |
| Doctrinal Comparisons – Three Sects | This chart compares the teachings of three groups that split away from the Worldwide Church of God. Philadelphia Church… |
| Does Christianity Offer The Best Reason For A Moral And Meaningful Life? – No | The burden is on Fred In a debate, the affirmative side has the more difficult task. It has the obligation… |
| Does Christianity Offer The Best Reason For A Moral And Meaningful Life? – Rebuttals | In this last round of the debate, atheistic physicist Bernard Leikind demands proofs that Christianity is superior, while defending the… |
| Does Christianity Offer The Best Reason For A Moral And Meaningful Life? – Yes | Here are some of the biggest, bottom-line questions Christians, atheists, agnostics, and thinkers of all religions ask one another when… |
| Does Elohim Refer To A Family Of Divine Beings? | The word elohim can refer to the true God, to a false god, to angels, and to human beings. In… |
| Does Gci Reject Pentecostal Churches? | Comment: Some church members liked our interview with Hank Hanegraaff. Other members, however, feel that the contents of those articles to… |
| Does God Hate Christmas? | Spend five minutes surfing the Internet for information about Christmas and you’ll find websites calling for an end to its… |
| Does God Have A Body? | Some groups, such as the Mormons and some in what is called the “word of faith” movement, teach that God… |
| Does God Heal The Sick? | – |
| Does God Make Mistakes? | God does not change (Malachi 3:6; James 1:17). Indeed, his Hebrew name Yahweh indicates that he is The One Who Is, or… |
| Does God Play Dice? | You believe in a God who plays dice, and I in complete law and order. – Albert Einstein, Letter to… |
| Does God Want To Punish Sinners, Or To Rescue Them? (Romans 1:18-32) | Paul introduces his letter to the Romans as a letter about the gospel, and he describes the gospel as “the… |
| Does Hebrews 4:9 Command Us To Keep The Sabbath? | Those who believe that Christians are required to keep the seventh-day Sabbath, especially as it applies to resting from work,… |
| Does It All Depend? | A few years ago, the Princeton Religion Research Center publication Emerging Trends reported that 56 percent of Americans, “with most… |
| Does It Matter When Jesus Was Born? | During the season of Advent, most Christian churches are in a “countdown” to the celebration of Jesus’ birth at Christmas…. |
| Does Mark 2:27-28 Command Christians To Observe The Weekly Sabbath? | Let us begin by quoting Mark 2:27-28. Jesus was speaking to the Pharisees: “The Sabbath was made for man, not… |
| Does Modern Cosmology Point To A Biblical Creator? | Yes – Fred Heeren No–Bernard J Leikind In the last round, each debater presented his best evidence for his answer to the… |
| Does The Doctrine Of The Trinity Teach Three Gods? | Some people take issue with the use of the word “Person” in the doctrine of the Trinity when the word… |
| Does Zechariah 14:16-21 Command Christians To Keep Festivals? | Question: Prophecies indicate that the Sabbath and annual festivals will be kept in God’s ideal age (e.g., Isaiah 66:23; Zechariah… |
| Dog Is Love | Dog is Love” is a popular bumper sticker in western North Carolina where I live. It seems to be a… |
| Doing What Comes “Naturally” | They call the process of becoming an American citizen “naturalization.” It’s a good name, because when you live in a… |
| Don’t Just Accept The Trinity | About 15 years ago, when my denomination was correcting certain longstanding doctrinal errors, I was asked to supervise our churches… |
| Don’t Just Go – Leave A Good Legacy | Have you ever heard of the phrase “a parting shot”? It is a term from archery and is a distortion… |
| Don’t Be Surprised (1 Thessalonians 5:1-11) | In almost every one of his letters, Paul refers to the return of Christ. But he rarely gives any details…. |
| Don’t Cry For Jesus | “Don’t Cry for Jesus” was one of the most memorable sermons I have ever heard. It was given by Dr…. |
| Dr. Proverb | What do you call a Christian Board Certified Family Physician who created a musical genre called “HealthHop®” as a strategy… |
| Drawing First Blood | I’d like to say that I finally overcame my lifelong fear of donating blood, but that wouldn’t quite be true…. |
| Dumpy, Dumpy Moments | In an effort not to disturb my slumber, my wife quietly slipped through the house trying not to let light… |
| Duty Of Care? What Is A Christian’s Responsibility Toward The Rest Of Creation? | Although he does not realize it, the outstanding British naturalist and broadcaster Sir David Attenborough inspired this article. It was… |
| Dying And Rising With Christ | Union and communion with God Now let’s take a closer look at our relationship with God and with one another…. |
| Early Church History: A Broadening Perspective | “We must look at the whole past and not just those parts that make us feel good,” argues an American… |
| Earthquake – Tsunami – Are We Near The End? | Devastating earthquakes. Tsunamis and volcanic eruptions. Political turmoil across the Middle East and northern Africa. A worldwide economic crisis. No… |
| East From West | Each spring, we celebrate the great sacrifice of Jesus Christ, by which our sins are forgiven and our eternal future is… |
| Easter In The Church | The death and resurrection of Jesus have been the central events of the church’s faith confession since it was founded… |
| Easter Sunday | Let’s explore Easter Sunday and its message concerning Jesus’ resurrection. This celebration powerfully proclaims the gospel of our Lord and… |
| Ecclesiastes: The Voice Of Experience | Thesis: chapter 1:1-2 Solomon packed more experience into one lifetime than most people dream of. He built the great temple… |
| Edification Or Building Up Through Cell Groups | Have you ever wanted to have a Christian friend who really knew you? This friend would know and understand you… |
| Educational Institutions Associated With Gci | Why should church leaders get formal training? We offer several reasons: to worship God with our mind as well as… |
| Eighteen “Truths” Restored By Herbert Armstrong | Armstrong’s “18 Truths” Kernel of Truth Armstrong’s Mistake 1) The government of God. When Christ comes, He will restore God’s… |
| Einstein And Theology | Albert Einstein has always been a fascinating personality to me. More than a hundred years ago, he wrote a paper… |
| Elizabeth | Luke 1:5–8 Mary danced across our threshold. Even after several days of mountainous travel, her lovely dark eyes sparkled and… |
| Embracing Trinitarian Theology | Almost ten years ago Jesus called me, and the two churches I serve, to a profound awakening in our understanding… |
| Emmanuel, Our Redeemer | As I think about Jesus, the opening words from a beautiful hymn keep running through my mind: “There is a… |
| Emphasis On Ministry To Children | The book of Proverbs makes this observation: “Train children in the right way, and when old, they will not stray”… |
| Enjoy The Ride | “I am glad it is over,” my friend told me two days after Christmas. Her reasons included all the hectic… |
| Enriched In Jesus Christ (1 Corinthians 1:1-9) | The church in Corinth was beset by problems — divided into rich and poor, sophisticated and simple, the talented and… |
| Enslaved To Righteousness (Romans 6) | In Romans 5, Paul says that Christ saved us even while we were sinners. We are saved by grace, not… |
| Entering God’s Rest | In chapter two, we saw that the law given to Israel at Sinai, which includes the Ten Commandments, was designed to… |
| Entering God’s Rest (Hebrews 4:1-11) | The letter to the Hebrews weaves theology and practical application. After each doctrinal section, it urges the readers to do… |
| Ephesians 1:15-23 – The Divine Knowledge And Power In Christ | Key text:“I pray also that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may know the… |
| Ephesians 1:3-14 – The Divine Purpose In Christ | Key text: “And he made known to us the mystery of his will according to his good pleasure, which he… |
| Ephesians 2 – Grace And Peace | Paul’s letter to the church at Ephesus is filled with numerous theological and practical insights. Chapter 2 takes us from… |
| Ephesians 2:1-10 – The Divine Grace In Christ | Key text: “But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, made us alive with… |
| Ephesians 2:11-22 – The Divine Reconciliation In Christ | Key text: “For he himself is our peace, who has made the two one and has destroyed the barrier, the… |
| Ephesians 3:1-12 – The Divine Mystery In Christ | Key text: “This mystery is that through the gospel the Gentiles are heirs together with Israel, members together of one… |
| Ephesians 3:14-21 – The Divine Love In Christ | Key text: “And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power, together with all the… |
| Ephesians 4:1-16 – The Call To Unity In Christ | Key text: “There is one body and one Spirit — just as you were called to one hope when you… |
| Ephesians 4:25-5:2 – The Call To Good Conduct In Christ | Key text: “Follow God’s example, therefore, as dearly loved children and walk in the way of love, just as Christ loved… |
| Ephesians 4:7-16 – The Call To Ministry In Christ | Key text: “It was he who gave some to be apostles, some to be prophets, some to be evangelists, and… |
| Ephesians 5 – Christian Life And Marriage | In Ephesians, Paul makes it clear that we are saved by grace, not by our works (Eph. 2:8). But he… |
| Ephesians 5:15-20 – Be Filled With The Spirit | Transformed by the Spirit Since God cares about what we do, Paul advises: “Be very careful, then, how you live… |
| Ephesians 5:21-33 – The Call To Submission In Christ | Key text: “Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ loved the church and gave himself up to her to make… |
| Ephesians 5:8-14 – The Call To Example In Christ | Key text: “ Lesson objective: To understand that the Christian community is called upon to follow the ethical example of… |
| Ephesians 6:1-9 – The Call To Submission In Christ | Key text: “Serve wholeheartedly, as if you were serving the Lord, not men, because you know that the Lord will… |
| Ephesians 6:10-20 – The Call To Armor In Christ | Key text: “Finally, be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power. Put on the full armor of God… |
| Ephesians: The Divine Purpose In Christ – Introduction | “And he made known to us the mystery of his will according to his good pleasure, which he purposed in… |
| Equipping Children For Ministry | Jesus said, “Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of God belongs… |
| Equipping Our Youths For Peer Evangelism | Our goal in youth ministry is to help children, teens and college-age young adults become active followers of Jesus. A… |
| Eternal Blessings | How thankful we can be for what God has given us! We have physical blessings, of course, but our most… |
| Eternally God’s Son? | One of the most natural mistakes commonly made with regard to God’s nature is in the assertion that the Logos… |
| Ev-Angela’s Sermon | Angela showed us an amazing example of evangelism. She invited seven members of the same family to church last month,… |
| Evaluating Spiritual Gifts | “My friends, you asked me about spiritual gifts,” Paul wrote the Corinthian Christians (1 Corinthians 12:1; quotes are from the… |
| Evangelism In San Antonio | On Pentecost in San Antonio we had a full house. We were glad to see so many people there. At… |
| Evangelizing Postmodern Youths | Youth Ministry To lead a person to Christ, you have to reach them where they are and communicate with them… |
| Even The Worst Things Will Come To An End | Recently I visited Nairobi, the capital city of Kenya, and spoke to a number of people about what happened in… |
| Ever Seen Roasted Corn Grow? | In Southern Africa, we enjoy green maize, or corn, during the summer months. We eat it roasted, cooked, steamed, pounded,… |
| Every Member Is Needed (1 Corinthians 12:12-31) | One body with many parts (verses 12-16) Paul compares the church to a human body: “Just as a body, though… |
| Everyone Needs The Gospel (Romans 2) | As part of Paul’s presentation of the gospel, he explains why it is needed. Paul begins with a typical Jewish… |
| Evidence Of Black Africans In The Bible | In 1992, I took a class at Emory University in Atlanta called Introduction to the Old Testament. As I read… |
| Evidence Of The Resurrection | Christians, Jews, and atheists agree that Jesus was crucified and buried. The crucial belief for Christianity is that he was… |
| Exactly What We Need (Hebrews 7:23-28) | The author then contrasts the mortality of the Levitical priests with the immortality of Jesus Christ: “Now there have been… |
| Example Of The Apostles | Scripture doesn’t actually say that the apostles kept the Sabbath, but they probably did (many Jewish Christians were keeping ceremonial… |
| Examples Of Humility (Philippians 2:14-29) | “Do everything without complaining or arguing,” Paul writes, “so that you may become blameless and pure, children of God without… |
| Exodus: Birth Of A Nation | Israel in Egypt Chapters 1:1-12:36 Setting the scene: chapter 1 Exodus opens with a list of “the sons of Israel”… |
| Expedient Indeed | Jesus said it, so it’s true—and the obedient disciple in me accepts it. But hasn’t always understood it. What is… |
| Explore The Gospel Of John: “That They Might Have Life” | Vital lessons from the Gospel of John New Christians are often advised to begin their Bible reading with the Gospel… |
| Explore The Gospels: Luke | The Gospel of Luke and the Acts of the Apostles are the two parts of a work addressed to Theophilus… |
| Explore The Gospels: Mark | A Bible, especially if it is an older version, can look about as inviting to read as a telephone directory…. |
| Explore The Gospels: Matthew | Who was Matthew? Early church tradition attributes this Gospel to Matthew, the tax collector chosen by Jesus to be an… |
| Exploring 1 & 2 Samuel | What’s in a name? It may seem strange that the books of Samuel are named after a figure who is… |
| Exploring Deuteronomy | What’s in a name? The name Deuteronomy comes from the Septuagint title Deuteronomion, which means “second law.” The title is… |
| Exploring Ecclesiastes | What’s in a name? The book begins, “The words of the Teacher [Hebrew: Qoheleth]” (1:1). In the Greek Old Testament,… |
| Exploring Exodus | What’s in a name? The English name Exodus comes from the Septuagint title for the book, Exodos, which means “road… |
| Exploring Genesis | What’s in a name? Genesis is a transliteration of a Greek word meaning “origin,” “beginning” or “generation.” This name was… |
| Exploring Joshua | What’s in a name? The book is named after its leading character, Joshua, who was appointed by God to lead… |
| Exploring Judges | What’s in a name? Judges records the history of Israel during the generations that came after Joshua. One passage summarizes… |
| Exploring Leviticus | What’s in a name? The opening word of Leviticus is wayyiqra’, which means “and he called.” The Jews used this… |
| Exploring Luke | Although the author does not name himself in this book, early church tradition is unanimous in saying that the third… |
| Exploring Mark | Explore the Gospels: Mark The Fig Tree and the Temple in Mark 11:12-16 Everyone Must Die! A Study of Mark… |
| Exploring Matthew | Explore the Gospels: Matthew Matthew 1:1-16 – Forty-two Men and Five Women Matthew 1:18-23 – A Virgin Will Give Birth… |
| Exploring Numbers | What’s in a name? The title of this book in the Septuagint is Arithmoi, which translates into English as Numbers…. |
| Exploring Proverbs | What’s in a name? In the Hebrew Bible, this book begins with the words Mishlei Shelomoh Bhen-Dawid, meaning “Proverbs of… |
| Exploring Psalms | David plays the kinnor, or lyre. This is the most frequently mentioned instrument in the Bible, found in 42 places…. |
| Exploring Ruth | Ruth is the leading character in this book, which is named after her. The name Ruth means “mercy.” The story… |
| Exploring The Acts Of The Apostles | This book is commonly called “The Acts of the Apostles,” but it does not discuss most of the apostles –… |
| Exploring The Book Of Acts: Introduction | What’s in a name? The traditional name for this book is “Acts of the Apostles,” but a more accurate name… |
| Exploring The Gospel Of John | Explore the Gospel of John: “That They Might Have Life” Reflections on the Gospel of John – a series by… |
| Exploring The Gospels | How many points in a parable? |
| Exploring The Song Of Songs | What’s in a name? “The song of songs, which is Solomon’s” (KJV) is a translation of the Hebrew name of… |
| Exploring The Word Of God, From Genesis To Revelation | We have numerous articles on the Bible, too many for one page. The following pages list our articles section by… |
| Exploring The Word Of God: Books Of Poetry And Wisdom | The trial of Job Exploring Psalms Psalms: when you talk to God Music in ancient Israel The key to biblical poetry… |
| Exploring The Word Of God: Hebrews Through Revelation | Hebrews & the general epistles |
| Exploring The Word Of God: Historical Books | the |
| Exploring The Word Of God: The Books Of Moses | The Hebrew word Torah means “instruction,” and this is the word that Jews use for the first five books of the… |
| Exploring The Word Of God: The Epistles Of Paul | For a large PDF file that contains all the articles below, click here. Reading Through Romans — a series by… |
| Facing An Uncertain Future | The Luhya people of western Kenya have a saying about the uncertainties of future life. It goes, “Injila shiboolanga akali… |
| Facing Up To Autism | Before my son was born, I had a few friends who had children with autism. But I had no clue… |
| Fact Sheet: Gci Statement Of Beliefs | We believe… There is one God—Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. God the Father made all things through the Son, sent… |
| Fact Sheet: Grace Communion International | Grace Communion International, a nonprofit corporation, is active in almost 100 countries and territories and maintains its international administrative offices… |
| Faith And Healing | Many have asked, “If God has not bound himself to heal every sick Christian every time, then how can I… |
| Faith In Victory And In Death (Hebrews 11:29-12:2) | As illustrations of faith, the author presents two more examples from the Exodus: “By faith he kept the Passover and… |
| Faithful Heroes (Hebrews 11:1-16) | Hebrews 11 is often called the faith chapter. It describes how various people responded in faith to what God said… |
| Fasting – A Small Group Study | Introduction If you seek a closer walk with God, consider fasting. Throughout Scripture, fasting refers to abstaining from food, or… |
| Fasting And Repentance After The Salem Witch Trials | On Jan. 15, 1697, the town of Salem and the Massachusetts Bay Colony proclaimed a day of fasting and repentance… |
| Fellowship With God: Our Greatest Priority | You may have heard the story about two Christians who were talking about their churches, and in the course of… |
| Fighting Your “Goliaths” | Our illustration highlights the bravery of the shepherd boy, David, who with a single slingshot defeated the heavily armed giant,… |
| Final Exhortations (Hebrews 13:1-16) | As the author of Hebrews reaches the end of his letter, he encourages the readers to be faithful to Christ…. |
| Financials—The Way To Financial Freedom | In the previous column I introduced the importance of budgets and balance sheets (two primary financial statements or simply “financials”)… |
| Finding God | “I found it!”, a sudden rash of bumper stickers boldly proclaimed some years ago. They referred to the discovery of… |
| Finding Meaning In Tragedy | Scripture tells us that God can be trusted to take good care of those who put their faith in him…. |
| Finding Righteousness | As Christians, we know that salvation comes by grace and not by works. It’s part of the bedrock of Christian… |
| Five Simple Rules For Bible Study | The Bible is a complex book, but it has a simple message. There’s enough wisdom in it for a lifetime… |
| Flood Geology And Related Fallacies | by Alan Hayward A related article: Are geologic strata the result of the Flood? Originally published as chapter 8 of Creation and… |
| Fluffing The Faith | Once I had the perfect feather pillow. It had been beautifully shaped by years of use, and with it I… |
| Foreword To Transformed By Truth | Foreword to Transformed by Truth Book written by Joseph Tkach Foreword written by Hank Hanegraaff The Worldwide Church of God… |
| Forgive Us Our Trespasses | The Worldwide Church of God [now named Grace Communion International]…has changed its position on numerous long-held beliefs and practices during… |
| Form Or Substance? | In Mesopotamian thought, the purpose of human existence was to provide the gods with the necessities and luxuries of life…. |
| Fostering An Evangelistic Culture | Pastors and ministry leaders have many important responsibilities. One is to help shape within their congregation or ministry a culture… |
| Foundations Of Theology For Grace Communion International | Acts 17:11 tells us that the Bereans “…examined the Scriptures every day” to see if what Paul said about Jesus was… |
| Four Kinds Of Nothingness | One of the more enigmatic questions posed by our understanding of the cosmos is “Why is there something instead… |
| Four Major Worldviews | This article presents a summary of four worldviews that are prominent in the world today. A “worldview” is a way… |
| Four Observations About “Toronto” Manifestations | Some “manifestations” of the charismatic revival are unusual. I have in mind the “Toronto Blessing” (which occurred in the Vineyard… |
| Four Point Plan For Spiritual Growth | What is the goal of our Christian lives? It is to become like Jesus Christ. Robert Mulholland Jr. puts it… |
| Free In The Divine Freedom | “OK, I see that I can rest assured in my salvation in Christ. And I can’t tell you how great… |
| Free To Be | Who would you say was the greatest man ever born? If you are a Christian, you might say, “Why, Jesus… |
| Free To Live – A Conference With Dr. Baxter Kruger | Conference by C. Baxter Kruger, Ph.D. The following resources were recorded during a conference held by GCI members in Grand… |
| Freed From Slavery | Jews celebrate the Passover as a yearly reminder of the time when God rescued them from slavery in Egypt. But Christians… |
| Freed From The Fear Of Death (Hebrews 2:14-18) | Then Hebrews quotes from Isaiah 8:17: “I will put my trust in him.” (Isaiah 8 is also a messianic passage;… |
| From Balance To Balance Sheets | Did you give any thought to your personal financial philosophy from the last article: a) most toys wins; b) a… |
| From Both Sides Now | I don’t read The Wall Street Journal every day, but this particular article on the “Opinion” page caught my eye.1… |
| From Comfort To Relationship: My Journey From Calvinism To Trinitarian Theology | How do you think? I have found this question demands more than a cursory consideration as we pursue truth… |
| From Eternity To Here | Transformed by Truth, by Joseph Tkach Epilogue As I close this book I’d like to address two separate audiences… |
| From Guilt To Grace (Romans 3) | In Romans 2, Paul explains that both Jews and Gentiles need the gospel — everyone needs salvation, or rescue from… |
| From My Heart To Yours | This is the last article I’ll write for Christian Odyssey, since this is the last issue of the magazine. Sometimes decisions happen… |
| From Sunday To Sabbath: Bibliography | Ames, William. The Marrow of Theology. Edited and translated by John D. Eusden. Durham, North Carolina: The Labyrinth Press. 1968. Ball, Bryan… |
| From Sunday To Sabbath: The Puritan Origins Of Modern Seventh-Day Sabbatarianism | Sabbatarianism is usually defined as the belief that Christians should observe a particular day of the week as the Sabbath,… |
| From The Cornfields To The City – How A Small Church Reinvented Itself | Two Friday evenings each month members of Abundant Grace Church gather in their building in the Charlotte Community of Rochester,… |
| From The Fringe To The Fold | How the Worldwide Church of God discovered the plain truth of the gospel For most of a half-century, no book… |
| Fulfilling The Law | The apostle Paul once wrote of love as a “continuing debt” to one another, saying, “he who loves his fellow… |
| Funeral For A Friend | Yesterday I officiated at a funeral for a good friend. It happens more often as we age. Diagnosis confirmed,… |
| Funeral Service | This is the standard funeral service for Grace Communion International. However, the details of a funeral service are primarily the… |
| Gci Membership In Evangelical Organizations | All India Christian Council CEDECOL – evangelical churches in Colombia Christian Management Australia Association Christlicher Kirchen, Germany Evangelical Alliance United… |
| Gci Mission, Vision And Objectives | As an international Christian denomination we are a diverse fellowship that is united by our pursuit of the mission, vision and objectives noted below. For… |
| Gci Statement Of Financial Stewardship | Grace Communion International, together with its affiliated entities, takes seriously the matter of financial stewardship and strives to abide by… |
| Gcnext Mission | Planting seeds for GCI’s next generation. GCnext is the name for our U.S. domestic mission work with a focus on planting… |
| Genealogies Of Jesus | Genealogies fulfilled several purposes in the ancient world. Rulers used such lists to justify their power and authority. They were… |
| Generosity As A Way Of Life | I have known Mark Vincent for several years. He has presented seminars on Christian stewardship at our ministerial conferences in the United… |
| Genesis 1: Are The Six Days Of Creation Literal Or Figurative? | The first chapter of the Bible says that God made heaven and earth and every living thing in six days…. |
| Genesis 1: The Evolution Vs. Creation Controversy | Grace Communion International teaches that the God of the Bible is the Creator. We believe in the inspired declaration of… |
| Genesis 2:2-3 — God’s “Rest” And The Sabbath | Genesis 2:2-3 is sometimes used in an attempt to prove that Christians must keep the seventh-day Sabbath. It is important… |
| Genesis: “In The Beginning…” From Creation To Abraham | “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth” (Genesis 1:1). These famous opening words of the Bible express… |
| Genesis: Isaac And Jacob | Genesis 25:19-36:42 Jacob and Esau: chapter 25:19–34 In the Hebrew culture, a woman’s inability to have children was a reproach…. |
| Get Ready To Learn! (Hebrews 5:11-14) | The author has mentioned Melchizedek, but he is not yet ready to get into the details. First, he wants to… |
| Get Salty | In some areas of the world salt can be difficult to come by. Occasionally it goes stale and seems to… |
| Getting A Grip On Repentance | “A horrible dread.” That was how the young man described his deep fear that God had rejected him because of… |
| Getting It Back To Front | Although I was born in England, I have lived in the USA for many years. But there is something about… |
| Getting Real | Most of us go to great lengths to look good in the eyes of others, but according to Jesus, it… |
| Gifts And Fruit Of The Holy Spirit | The gifts of the Spirit are God-given abilities distributed as God knows is best for different aspects of Christian service…. |
| Give Me A Break! | It’s been a bad morning. One of those mornings where everything goes wrong. It started first crack out of the… |
| Give Me One Good Reason To Go To Church | “Why do I need to belong to a church? Why shouldn’t I just believe in Jesus and live a good… |
| Give Ministry Opportunities To Children | So far in this series, we’ve noted that children’s ministries are effective as they Bless children with Jesus’ love Relate… |
| Give Now, In A Recession? | Economy in Shambles,” “Unemployment Rate Skyrockets,” “Chrysler and GM Bankrupt,” “Retirement Savings Evaporate,” “Housing Prices Plummet.” Nearly 60 banks have… |
| Giving Honor And Love To Pastors | Paul told the Thessalonians, “Now we ask you, brothers, to respect those who work hard among you, and are over… |
| Global Lessons From The Worldwide Church Of God | Gleanings for world missions from a wayward movement gone aright. How does the American evangelical community respond when one of… |
| Go Ahead – Spend, Spend, Spend | In times of great economic challenge, most people’s behavior changes. They tend to pull back and be more conservative. I’d… |
| Go And Do Likewise | It may seem like a strange question to ask Christians, but here it goes anyway. Do you love God? And… |
| God Bless America | The events of Sept. 11, 2001, affected the American psyche. There was a sudden upsurge in patriotism, and a willingness… |
| God Brought My Heart To San Francisco | I came to live in the USA from Trinidad and Tobago in 1975. My wife, Renee, is from the Philippines…. |
| God In The Flesh | The birth of Jesus Christ marked the beginning of the most important sequence of events of all history. His birth,… |
| God Is In Our Moments | My dad used to say time goes so fast it seems as if every other day is Thursday. When time… |
| God Is… (Introduction To The Booklet) | If you could ask God one question, what would it be? Maybe you would ask a big question: What is… |
| God Knows Each Of His Children | In summer 1998 newspapers carried an intriguing story about the tomb of the unknown soldier in Arlington National Cemetery. The… |
| God Lives Under The Bed | I envy Kevin. My brother, Kevin, thinks God lives under his bed. At least that’s what I heard him say… |
| God Offers You Hope | What could be more comforting than to experience the reality of God’s love for you? The good news is that… |
| God Speaks To Us! | The Bible is a window. Have you opened it lately? Almost all American households have one or more Bibles. Yet… |
| God Told Me… | “God told me to move my family to Saudi Arabia.” Alex stared at his friend, wondering if he was just… |
| God Wants All To Be Saved (1 Timothy 2:1-7) | Paul sent Timothy to Ephesus to correct a few doctrinal problems in the church. He also sent Timothy a letter… |
| God’s Grace | Ask 20 ministers from multiple denominations to define grace and you’ll likely get many different definitions, along with some lively… |
| God’s Masterpiece, By Barbara Dahlgren | My husband and I have been privileged to visit some world-famous art museums. I consider it a privilege; my husband… |
| God’s Names And Titles | The names of God and the words used for God found in the Old Testament reflect a Semitic world’s commitment… |
| God’s Relationship With His People In The Books Of History (Joshua-Esther) | Israel’s history can be summarized by the word failure. In the books of Moses, God’s relationship with the Israelites is described… |
| God’s Relationship With His People In The Books Of Moses | In the second century, a Christian leader named Marcion suggested we get rid of the Old Testament. He created his… |
| God’s Relationship With His People In The Prophets | In ancient tribal societies, if a man wanted to adopt a child, the ceremony was simple: “I will be to… |
| God’s Video | When I was a junior in college, I was invited to go on a weekend retreat sponsored by one of… |
| God’s Wrath | The Bible tells us that “God is love” (1 John 4:8). He chooses to do good, to help human beings…. |
| God’s Relationship With His People In The Psalms | Although a few of the psalms survey the history of God’s people, most of the psalms describe an individual’s relationship… |
| Going Deeper With Financial Freedom | In my last column I introduced the term “financial freedom” as no longer needing to rely on others (parents, friends,… |
| Going For The Gold | How should a Christian pursue success in a world of cutthroat competition? We all want success. We don’t… |
| Going On A Guilt Trip? | Guilt trips. They’re all the rage, you know. Everybody’s taking them. No date restrictions. Availability unlimited. People of all ages… |
| Gone Fishing In Africa | Our churches in in Africa are alive with excitement. We follow Jesus so he can make us fishers of people… |
| Good Friday And Easter Sunday | Each spring, we celebrate the death and resurrection of Jesus. These are pivotal celebrations because all that we believe and… |
| Good News For Ordinary People | Chapter 1: What Was the Message of Jesus Christ? Almost 2,000 years ago, a Jewish carpenter began to preach. He… |
| Good News In An Alabaster Jar (Matthew 26) | Matthew 26 records an interesting episode in the life of Jesus, just two days before he was killed. This was… |
| Good News To The Poor | World Vision was founded in 1950 by Bob Pierce in response to the needs of Korean War orphans. It has… |
| Good People Needed (1 Timothy 3:1-16) | Paul gives Timothy instructions about how the church should function and how to address some problems in first-century Ephesus. In… |
| Good Things | Melanie was going through a time of serious stress. Amidst family and financial problems, she still had to find the… |
| Good Things In Small Packages | Most Christians are in small churches. Though megachurches usually get more attention, small churches are the backbone of Christianity. People… |
| Goodwill To All Men? | On the day Jesus was born, a choir of angels sang: “Glory to God in the highest, and on earth… |
| Gossiping The Gospel | If we, as congregations and individuals, are to be effective in participating with Jesus in his work of evangelism, we… |
| Grace | ”If righteousness could be gained through the law,” Paul wrote, “Christ died for nothing!” (Galatians 2:21). The only alternative, he… |
| Grace And Discipline – A Small Group Study | Christians live in grace and by grace, not by works. We cannot boast about our own works, no matter how… |
| Grace And Obedience | Even after centuries of debate, Christians still have not settled on how best to speak about the connection between faith… |
| Grace And Truth | “The law was given through Moses,” John tells us, but “grace and truth came through Jesus Christ” (John 1:17). God… |
| Grace From First To Last | Grace is the first word in the name of our denomination. We chose it, but not because it sounds “religious.”… |
| Grace To Be Who You Are | I enjoy riding a bicycle for exercise and try to ride almost every day. One day this past summer, believe… |
| Grace To The Gluttons | “Cretans are always liars, evil brutes, lazy gluttons,” Paul wrote to a young pastor on the island of Crete. “Therefore,… |
| Grace Walk, By Steve Mcvey; Reviewed By Barbara Dahlgren | Grace Walk: What You’ve Always Wanted in the Christian Life by Steve McVey Reviewed by Barbara Dahlgren Have you striven… |
| Grace-Based Behavior (Titus 2:11-14) | Grace-based behavior Paul then gives a theological reason for teaching people to be well-behaved: “For the grace of God that… |
| Grace: A License To Sin? | It is a constant wonder how we guardians of the true faith can become so skilled at gumming up the… |
| Grace: An E-Ticket Ride | You’d think that the transition from a legalistic religion to an understanding of the gospel of grace would make life… |
| Graduate Club Manual – Introductory Articles | This manual is a free educational service provided by Grace Communion International for use by speech club participants. Copyright ©… |
| Graduate Club Manual – Speeches 1-6 | Lesson 1: One-Point Speech Purpose Whenever we communicate with people—whether in a speech, a letter, a meeting, a memo or… |
| Grandma’s Old Church | When you travel outside of North America, the definition of “old” takes on an entirely different meaning. In my part… |
| Greek, Hebrew And The Middle-Aged Man | What on earth was I thinking of? To paraphrase the comedian Steve Martin, the problem with foreign languages is that… |
| Greetings, Friends (Romans 16:1-24) | In the last chapter of Romans, Paul greets a large number of people and gives a few closing exhortations. These… |
| Groping In The Dark | Chapter Two Astronomy was among the first of the sciences to be developed in the West. The early civilizations of… |
| Groping In The Dark – Part 2 | 1360 Copernicus’ heliocentric (sun-centered theory is published (1543) Galileo builds his first telescope (1609) Galileo sees Jupiter’s moons and Saturn’s… |
| Groping In The Light | Max Planck (1858-1947) Chapter Three Perhaps we should not blame Max Planck’s teacher for telling him physics was a dead-end… |
| Growing In Christ | After you become a Christian, what do you do? The Bible tells us that Christians normally do certain things to… |
| Guarding Hitler’s Deputy | Back in the ’60s, when I was in the army, I was stationed in Berlin for two years. This was… |
| Guidance – A Small Group Study | Introduction The discipline of seeking guidance goes to the heart of walking with God. Guidance involves us hearing God’s voice… |
| Guided Tour Of The Bible | Most Americans have a Bible, but many have never read it. Perhaps they started to read it, but gave up… |
| Guidelines To An Understanding Of The Person And Work Of The Holy Spirit | Seeking to understand and know the Holy Spirit is a wonderful and rewarding endeavor. It ties in with every aspect… |
| Haiti – Help And Hope | By John Halford Sadly, it took an earthquake that leveled Haiti to put it on the map. Before January 12,… |
| Hand In Hand | I enjoy watching people at airports and bus stations. Someone is reading a book. A few people are reading newspapers… |
| Hardwired To Believe? | In The Message, Eugene Peterson has a wonderful way of highlighting the nuances in Scripture that may be missed in… |
| Hark! The Herald Angels Sing | In 1739, Charles Wesley wrote the lyrics to a song he called, “Hark How All the Welkin Ring Glory to… |
| Harvest Seasons Of Ancient Israel | Various biblical laws and stories refer to ancient Israelite crops and harvests. It may therefore be helpful to have some… |
| Has The New Covenant Been Made? | Several people teach that Christians should keep the Sabbath and several other laws that are found in the Old Testament…. |
| He Ain’t Heavy | Having the right piece of plastic has surely changed our lives in the past quarter century. These lightweight, individualized, magnetically… |
| He Gave Himself | God came into time and space in the Incarnation. He united himself with us, giving us the greatest gift. “When… |
| He Is Risen! | A Series About Jesus Christ “He was delivered over to death for our sins and was raised to life for… |
| He Knows Us Like That | I think I know my daughter pretty well. We spend a lot of time together and enjoy each other’s company…. |
| He Lives Within Us | Do you sometimes feel that God is absent from your life? The Holy Spirit can change that for you. The… |
| He Lives! | In March or April, Christians throughout the world celebrate Easter in remembrance of Jesus’ resurrection. The Easter season continues until… |
| He Oughta’ Be Shot! | I couldn’t help overhearing the two men at the doctor’s office. “Well, I used to go to that church, but… |
| He Pitched His Tent | The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the One… |
| He’s Alive! | Did it really happen? The question is far more than academic. Because if Jesus Christ really died on a Roman… |
| He’s Only Human | Well, the election is over and America has a new president-elect. Soon he will take office, and on his shoulders… |
| Healing (An Article) | God performed dramatic miracles in the Old Testament and in the New. Many of these were dramatic healings. God still… |
| Hear Today, Or Gone Tomorrow! – The Prophets | Earlier in this tour of the Bible, we saw how people — even a people who were given much by… |
| Heart Trouble | “God doesn’t require people to keep Old Testament laws,” the man said. “He looks on the heart.” That’s true—God does… |
| Heaven | Do Christians go to heaven when they die? Paul said that when he died, he would go to be with… |
| Heaven’s Above – Or Is It? | Shortly after you die, you will find yourself in a queue outside the pearly gates, waiting for an interview with… |
| Hebrews And The Change Of Covenants | The book of Hebrews also has much to say about the covenants. Again, we will go through the relevant passages… |
| Hell | “If your right hand causes you to sin, cut it off and throw it away,” said Jesus. “It is better… |
| Help For Family Members Of Alcoholics | Nonalcoholic spouses and children of alcoholics often believe they are alone in their difficulties in coping with an alcoholic family… |
| Help My Unbelief (Mark 9) | One of my favorite biblical characters is the unnamed man who brought his demon-possessed son to Jesus and asked for… |
| Help Those Who Are Weak In Faith (Romans 15:1-3) | In Romans 15, Paul completes his discussion of how Christians who are strong in the faith should help those whose… |
| Her Beauty And Her Terror | “I love a sunburnt country… I love her far horizons, I love her jewel-sea Her beauty and her terror …”1… |
| Here He Comes, Ready Or Not | Don’t you wish that Jesus would return? That all the wretchedness and wickedness that we see around us would end,… |
| Here’s Good News For Everyone! | [Jesus said] “God’s Spirit is on me; he’s chosen me to preach the Message of good news to the poor, sent me… |
| Hindsight: Faith Reframing Tragedy | Oratorio. Opera. Popular. Sacred. She could — and did — sing it all. Genes, training and hard work conspired wonderfully… |
| Holidaygreetings.Com | I don’t do much for the holidays. I string up a few lights, more for a coziness factor in the… |
| Home Base – A Series By Jeb Egbert | Jeb Egbert focused his ministry on youth and education for 30 years. He has spent considerable time working in camp… |
| Home Office Mission, Values And Objectives | Our International Home Office in Charlotte, North Carolina, operates in accordance with the following mission, values and objectives. Home Office… |
| Hope Floats | By Brenda Plonis Before (left) and after surgery. Mercy Ships first captured my attention at an exhibition in the United… |
| Hope For The Hopeless | Newspapers are full of bad news—economic uncertainties, persistent problems in Iraq, more strife and terrorism. Many Americans are pessimistic not… |
| Hope For The Left Behind Church – Interview With Ruth Tucker | Is bigger always better? Are numbers the only way to measure success? Not according to Ruth Tucker, author of Left… |
| Hosea: The Great Reversal Of The Great I-Am | The Book of Hosea is the first book of the Book of the Twelve, the so-called Minor Prophets of the… |
| How Archaeology Confirms The Bible | I enjoy reading about archaeology—it’s an important and fascinating field of study that helps us understand how ancient people lived… |
| How Are You Today? | Recently heard a story from a proud grandfather. His 14-month-old grandson, I’ll call him James, had recently learned to put… |
| How Beethoven Helped Me Understand The Bible | Like most people, I enjoy Beethoven’s symphonies. Or to be strictly honest, like most people I enjoy parts of Beethoven’s… |
| How Camps Support Healthy Youth Ministries | We have a camp ministry that serves children, teens and college-age young adults. Most of the camps are held during… |
| How Could We Have Believed These Things? | Transformed by Truth, by Joseph Tkach Chapter 11 Sometime ago I was talking on the air with Hank Hanegraaff… |
| How Do We Know About Jesus? | The four evangelists, Matthew, Mark, Luke and John, have given us a remarkable record of the life and work of… |
| How God Reveals Himself | Chapter 2 of God Is… Imagine, for a moment, that you are God. You created all things – including human… |
| How I Found My Way To Follow Jesus | John N. Biswas prints the following testimonial in a tract he uses in evangelistic efforts in Bangladesh. On March 22,… |
| How Land Animals Have Changed Through Geologic Time | Few groups of organisms have changed as dramatically through geologic time as have backboned animals that live on land. In… |
| How Long Was Jesus In The Tomb? | The Gospels tell us that the day on which the women discovered that Jesus’ tomb was empty was Sunday morning…. |
| How Many Gods Does God Say There Are? | Scriptures that show there is only one God Some Bible passages are difficult to understand. Others are easy. The Bible… |
| How Many Points In A Parable? | Book review: Interpreting the Parables by Craig L. Blomberg. 1990. Downers Grove, Illinois: InterVarsity Press. 334 pages. (A new edition… |
| How Much Is Freedom Worth? | Jesus once helped a woman who had been held captive 12 years by a health problem that had made her… |
| How Often Should We Participate In The Lord’s Supper? | Shortly before his death, Jesus shared a meal with his disciples. He shared a cup of wine with them, and… |
| How Plants And Animals Have Changed Through The Geologic Eras | Summary: If we could enter a time machine and travel millions of years back in time, what would we see?… |
| How Russia Became Christian | Each July 15, Eastern Orthodox, Roman Catholic and some Protestant Christians commemorate the baptism of Prince Vladimir (956-1015). He was… |
| How Selfish Is Your Christianity? | The Akamba tribe in Kenya have a proverb, “Mbiti ye mwana ndiisua ikamina.” It means, “Even the hyena with a… |
| How The Worldwide Church Of God Found The Truth Of The Gospel | 9 January 1997 The Inside Story of the Dramatic Turnaround of the Church Started by Herbert W. Armstrong as told… |
| How To Be Effective And Memorable | Recently an aspiring writer asked me, “What is the secret to writing a memorable and effective article?” That is a… |
| How To Become A Christian | If you want to become a Christian, the first and most important step has already been done: God has chosen… |
| How To Create A Dvd From An Iso File | ImgBurn DVD Burning Software ImgBurn is free software for writing an ISO-format DVD to a DVD disk. You must have… |
| How To Fix People | We live in a quick-fix society. If we want a quick lunch, we eat fast food. If we want a… |
| How To Interpret Bible Prophecy | There are many difficulties involved in interpreting prophecy, but if we take the Bible seriously, we need to study prophecy,… |
| How To Make Your Congregation Youth-Friendly | All Christians share in the challenge and responsibility of making our congregations places where people of all ages are encouraged… |
| How To Resist Temptation | Satan tempted Jesus in the desert, and Jesus responded by quoting scripture (Matthew 4). However, as you have probably noticed,… |
| How We Got The Bible In English | It was a bleak December afternoon, and a visitor was walking in the graveyard of the parish church of Lutterworth,… |
| How You Can Help Others | Do you know how to help a person who’s dealing with death — whether his or her own impending death… |
| Human Rules Of No Value (Colossians 2:20-23) | Paul now uses another argument, building on what he has already written: “If with Christ you died to the elemental… |
| Humanity’s Relationship With God | Chapter 6 of God Is… What do humans want to know about God? Perhaps the best initial question is, “Who… |
| Humans In The Image Of God | God created the first humans in the image of God, in the likeness of God (Genesis 1:26-30). What does the… |
| I Am Pilate’s Wife | Matthew 27:11-66 I woke up suddenly, startled and shaken. I stared at the ceiling, momentarily relieved, thinking my nightmare about… |
| I Don’t Believe In Atheists | I Don’t Believe in Atheists by Chris Hedges Reviewed by Neil Earle Chris Hedges is a best-selling author, a graduate… |
| I Preached The Sermon On The Mount | Israel. Golan Heights. Syria. Lebanon. These are the modern names of some of the places surrounding Capernaum, the base area… |
| I Think God Hates Me! | I am a trustee of a British Christian magazine. We are not a church, nor a counseling agency, but often… |
| I Thought I Would Lose My Job! | More of us are experiencing financial insecurity these days. We know we should have faith in God, seek wise advice,… |
| I Want To Accept Jesus, But… | Advice for young people thinking about committing their lives to Jesus Christ. “I want to accept Jesus, but I’m afraid. I’m not… |
| I’m Dreaming Of A Quantum Christmas | The wise men who came from the East to worship the infant Jesus were the scientists of their day. Known… |
| I’ve Been Taken; I’ve Been Rescued | A movie came out a few years ago entitled Taken that really made me think about my love for my… |
| If I Were God | Let’s be perfectly honest—sometimes it’s hard for me to understand God. He just doesn’t make the decisions I would make… |
| If Jesus Were Married… | Jesus was not married. But let’s suppose for a minute what some people seem to think he would have done. Jesus would… |
| If Necessary, Use Words | I am writing this from northern Thailand, where I was invited to attend the opening of a new school that… |
| If You Are Going To Kratchi | The Ewe language of southeastern Ghana has a saying that emerges from the salt trade along the Volta River. The… |
| If You Hide The Sickness, You Hide The Treatment | The forest-dwelling Bassa people of Cameroon have a saying that goes, “U sooh nkon, u sooh yag matibla.” Translated into… |
| If You Knew Susie… | A dear old friend died recently. It was sad, but not tragic, because she was well into her 90s, and… |
| If You’re Happy And You Know It, Binky! | Next to my house in rural Indiana there is a row of blue spruce trees. A family of rabbits has… |
| Imagery Of The Feast Of Tabernacles In The Gospels | by Dan Rogers M.Th. paper, Chandler School of Theology INTRODUCTION The Nature and Significance of the Topic The purpose of… |
| Imagery Of The Feast Of Tabernacles In The Gospels, Bibliography | Abrahams, Israel. Studies in Pharisaism and the Gospels, First and Second Series. New York: Ktav Publishing House, 1967. Abramovits, H. A… |
| Imagery Of The Feast Of Tabernacles In The Gospels, Chapter 1 | The Feast of Tabernacles in and Around the New Testament Period Introduction The Feast of Tabernacles was one of ancient… |
| Imagery Of The Feast Of Tabernacles In The Gospels, Chapter 2 | Imagery of the Feast of Tabernacles in the Transfiguration Introduction In this chapter we will examine the narrative of the… |
| Imagery Of The Feast Of Tabernacles In The Gospels, Chapter 3 | Imagery of the Feast of Tabernacles in the Triumphal Entry Introduction In this chapter we will examine an incident which… |
| Imagery Of The Feast Of Tabernacles In The Gospels, Chapter 4 | Imagery of the Feast of Tabernacles in John 7-9Introduction The only explicit reference to the Feast of Tabernacles in… |
| Imagery Of The Feast Of Tabernacles In The Gospels, Conclusions | The purpose of this investigation has been to examine the possible allusions to the Feast of Tabernacles in the Gospel… |
| Immortality: The “Mother Of All Changes” | There’s nothing certain in life except death and taxes, goes the old saying. We might be able to deal with… |
| Impress Yourself | The Bible says that we should not compare ourselves to others, but it’s hard not to. For some of us,… |
| In Christ We Trust | Christianity is based largely on trust. We have been given exceedingly great and precious promises, but for the most part… |
| In God We Trust | God wants us to trust him. We are to trust in him, not in ourselves. We are to trust that… |
| In Marriage… 1 + 1 = 1 | When it comes to marriage, the Bible’s first book says 1 + 1 should equal 1. It tells us two “I’s” must… |
| In Remembrance Of What? | Funny, isn’t it, how you can read a scripture many times and still miss something obvious? It even happens to… |
| In Search Of The Eternal | Chapter 1 of God Is… Humans have always wrestled with questions like “How did we get here?” and “What should… |
| In Search Of The God Of The Gasps | Three thousand years ago, King David looked up into the heavens and was moved to write with jaw-dropping awe: “The… |
| In The Steps Of The Apostle Paul | The message of salvation Paul carried to Europe 2,000 years ago can give us new hope for the future. About… |
| Incarnational Trinitarian Theology: A Brief Outline | We believe that theology should be rooted in the Bible, especially the New Testament. We see a reliable theology articulated… |
| Infant Baptism | Grace Communion International practices both believer’s baptism (baptizing people who have come to personal faith in Jesus Christ) and infant baptism… |
| Inheritors, Not Slaves (Galatians 4:1-31) | How can Gentiles inherit the promises God gave to Abraham? Some people said that Gentiles ought to keep the laws… |
| Insights Into Solitude | A personal walk through the 23rd Psalm offers reflection into a Christian’s need to take time to be alone with… |
| Inspiration, Authority, And Reliability Of Scripture | The inspiration of Scripture Affirmation: We accept the Bible as the inspired Word of God. The writers were inspired, moved… |
| Installation Of A Pastor | The installation of a pastor should take place during a worship service in the congregation where the pastor will be… |
| Intergenerational Ministry | People today are often lumped into categories based on the year they were born, and assigned labels such as the… |
| Intern Program | redirects to https://resources.gci.org/intern-program |
| Interview With Robert F. Capon | Robert Farrar Capon GCI Pastor Tim Brassell conducted an interview in 2004 with Christian author Robert Farrar Capon in the… |
| Introduction To Moral Development | A few years ago, while trying to find a book in the library, I chanced upon a book titled Moral… |
| Introduction To Transformed By Truth | By Joseph Tkach While I love to read books, this is the first one I have attempted to write. As the… |
| Invisible Missionaries In China | An important part of preaching the gospel effectively is being sensitive to opportunities. An excellent example of this is the… |
| Involve Children In Your Life | We can involve children in the life of the church in many ways. Children’s ministry programs are vital—things such as… |
| Irenaeus And The Second Century Church | Irenaeus has been called the most important Christian theologian between the apostles and the third century. He was a Greek… |
| Is A Short-Term Mission Worth It? | Traditionally, a missionary’s work required tremendous commitment—many years or even a lifetime away from home, living in remote areas in… |
| Is Anything Too Hard For God? | Even the greatest faith imaginable would be of little worth if the supreme God were not faithful. But God is… |
| Is Birthday Celebration A Sin? | Birthday observance as a doctrine is not discussed in the Bible. In short, birthdays are not condemned in Scripture as… |
| Is Christmas A Sin? | Some Christians believe that Christians should not observe Christmas. Some object to the commercialism of the holiday; others object to its origins…. |
| Is Eating The Lamb Of God Only An Annual Event? | “Look,” said John the Baptist, “the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world” (John 1:29). When… |
| Is Elohim A Plural Word? | People will occasionally read statements to the effect that the Hebrew word elohim is plural, as can be seen from… |
| Is Gci A Charismatic Church? | Question: Is Grace Communion International a charismatic church? Answer: We are not a pentecostal church, nor would we describe ourselves as charismatic…. |
| Is God A Family? | I’m sometimes asked why we do not refer to God as a “family.” Isn’t that term appropriate, given that there… |
| Is God In Control? | Many Christians like to say that God is in control, that he has a plan for your life, and that… |
| Is Grace Too Good To Be True? | Non-believers and even some believers see God’s grace as something too good to be true. How about you? I think… |
| Is It A Sin To Observe Easter? | Some Christian churches teach that Christians should not observe Easter because the holiday supposedly originated in paganism. We feel qualified… |
| Is Jesus Enough? | With recent events in the Middle East, the attention of many Americans has been drawn to the members of our… |
| Is Jesus Really God? | A Look at the Arian Controversy Few Christians are aware that two of the most fundamental doctrines of the Christian… |
| Is Jesus The Only Way Of Salvation? | People sometimes object to the Christian belief that salvation is given only through Jesus Christ. In our pluralistic society, tolerance… |
| Is Leviticus 23:3 A Command To Have Worship Services On The Weekly Sabbath? | We read the following command from Jesus in Luke 5:14, when he healed someone: “Show yourself to the priest and… |
| Is The Bible Just A White Man’s Book? | Illustration inspired by an Egyptian mural from the tomb of Seti I by Dan Rogers What an incredibly politically incorrect… |
| Is The Bible Just A White Man’s Book? Part 2 | In part one of this article we discovered that God created all people of all races in his image and… |
| Is The Cross A Pagan Symbol? | You wondered if the word “cross” or any items representing a cross should be used by Christians. Some people believe… |
| Is The Doctrine Of The Trinity In The Bible? | Some people who reject the Trinity doctrine claim that the word “Trinity” is not found in Scripture. Of course, there… |
| Is The Sabbath A Moral Law Or A Ceremonial Law? | Though theologians commonly divide Old Testament laws into the categories of moral, ceremonial and civil, the Bible does not make… |
| Is The Sabbath Required For Christians Today? | The Bible says, “Remember the Sabbath day by keeping it holy” (Exodus 20:8). God’s people were told to rest on… |
| Is There A “Sabbath Principle” For Christians To Keep? | The old covenant requirement for Sabbath rest does not apply to Christians. It was part of Israel’s Mosaic Law that… |
| Is There A Spirit World? | A spirit world—if there is such a thing—would exist beyond the physical dimensions. It could not be measured or understood… |
| Is There Only One Right Way To Worship God? | Liturgy has become a hot topic in the church. “Excuse me, but what’s a liturgy?” you ask. Liturgy is the… |
| Is This A Con? | Transformed by Truth, by Joseph Tkach Chapter 1 Yeah, right. Those two words fairly sum up the most common response of evangelicals when… |
| Is Tithing Required In The New Covenant? | Does the Bible tell us to pay at least 10 percent of our incomes to the church? This paper examines the… |
| Israel Hears But Does Not Believe (Romans 10:16-21) | Paul says in verse 16: “But not all have obeyed the good news, for Isaiah [53:1] says, ‘Lord, who has… |
| Israel’s Opportunity For Salvation (Romans 10:5-15) | Contrast between law and gospel Throughout this section of Romans, Paul uses the Old Testament for support. (There are more… |
| It Can’t Be Depression…I’m A Christian | But it can be depression, and you need to know how to recognize it and what to do about it…. |
| It Isn’t Just About How He Died | I didn’t see Mel Gibson’s The Passion of the Christ, and I don’t want to. Hearing that the movie is… |
| It Was Ok For Timothy | He was in charge of a congregation, and the work was challenging. He needed help, support and knowledge if he… |
| It’s Hard To Forgive | Jesus often said that God is merciful. But he also said, in a statement that can send chills up the… |
| It’s Not What You Aren’t That Counts | I would like to introduce you to two remarkable people I have met. They reminded me of something that we… |
| It’s Not What You Have – It’s Who Has You | I know I shouldn’t tease my wife, but sometimes I just can’t help it. For example she’ll say, “Dan, what… |
| James 5:14 And Healing | A passage from the Old Testament, Psalm 103:3, says the Lord “forgives all your sins and heals all your diseases.”… |
| Jeremiah 10 And Christmas Trees | Christians opposed to Christmas have often argued that Jeremiah condemns Christmas trees. They believe that Jeremiah 10:2-4 is quite plain — Christmas… |
| Jesus – Alive Forevermore! | Jesus did not stay dead for long. Early Sunday morning, near sunrise, some disciples discovered that the Son of God… |
| Jesus – Tempted On Our Behalf | Scripture tells us that Jesus, our High Priest, was “tempted in every way, just as we are—yet he did not… |
| Jesus – The Suffering God | Is God fair? This question was answered once and for all 2,000 years ago by Jesus. God came in human flesh… |
| Jesus And Judaism | “What more than anything else,” says Josephus, the first-century Jewish historian, “incited them to the war was an ambiguous oracle,… |
| Jesus And Laws | How did Jesus fulfill the law? (Matthew 5:17-19) In Matthew’s account of the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus said: Do… |
| Jesus And The New Covenant | 1. Did Old Testament prophets predict that God would make a new covenant with his people? Jeremiah 31:31-34. Would this be… |
| Jesus And The Old Covenant Laws | 1. Did Jesus ever break God’s law? Hebrews 4:15. Did his parents obey the law regarding circumcision? Luke 2:21. Did they… |
| Jesus And The Sabbath | This article is chapter 12 of Sabbath, Circumcision and Tithing. For many people, the most persuasive argument in support of the… |
| Jesus And The Sabbath (Study Paper) | Question: Scripture tells us that Jesus kept the Sabbath (for example, Luke 4:16). Was he teaching us how to observe the… |
| Jesus And The Samaritan Woman (John 4) | Dan: Good morning. It’s good to see all of you here today. We’ve had a nice time singing and worshipping… |
| Jesus And Women | In the first-century world, the way Jesus treated women was considered revolutionary. Mary, mother of Jesus When she became a… |
| Jesus Came To Do Away With Sin (Hebrews 9:24-28) | “Christ did not enter a sanctuary made with human hands that was only a copy of the true one; he… |
| Jesus Christ Of ‘One Substance With The Father’ | The Council of Nicea, May-August, A.D. 325 May 20, 325 was a watershed date in the history of the Christian… |
| Jesus Christ’s Last Sermon | Jesus Christ spent his final hours of human life nailed to a cross. Despised and rejected by the world he… |
| Jesus Encounters A Despised Sinner | Matthew 9:9-17 Key text: “On hearing this, Jesus said, ‘It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the… |
| Jesus Encounters A Disabled Man | John 9:1-41 Illustration by Henry Hofmann, copyright 1898 Key text: “As long as it is day, we must do the… |
| Jesus Encounters A Foreign Woman | Matthew 15:21-28 Key text: “A Canaanite woman from that vicinity came to him, crying out, ‘Lord, Son of David, have… |
| Jesus Encounters A Religious Leader | John 3:1-18 Illustration by the Wandsbecker Art Institute, some time before 1910 Key text: “Jesus answered, ‘I tell you the… |
| Jesus Encounters A Rich Man | Mark 10:17-31 Key text: “As Jesus started on his way, a man ran up to him and fell on his… |
| Jesus Encounters A Samaritan Woman | John 4:1-42 Illustration by Henry Hofmann. Key text: “Jesus answered her, ‘If you knew the gift of God and who… |
| Jesus Encounters A Sinful Woman | Luke 7:36-50 Key text: “When the Pharisee who had invited him saw this, he said to himself, ‘If this man… |
| Jesus Helps Us In Everyday Trials | From birth to death, Jesus had a difficult life. He had moments of joy, and hours of pain — and… |
| Jesus Kept The Sabbath. Shouldn’t We Follow His Example? | Jesus was a Jew, born under the law (Galatians 4:4), and he did many Jewish things: Attended synagogues (Luke 4:16)…. |
| Jesus Knows What You’re Going Through | Jesus knows what you’re going through. He’s been there. He knows how you feel. He knows you. Isn’t it time… |
| Jesus Loves Them, This I Know | People were also bringing babies to Jesus to have him touch them. When the disciples saw this, they rebuked them…. |
| Jesus Qualified As A High Priest (Hebrews 5:1-10 ) | At the end of Hebrews 4, the author gives this exhortation: since we have a high priest who can sympathize… |
| Jesus Reveals God | Chapter 4 of God Is… The Bible teaches that God is one. There are not two Gods, or three, or… |
| Jesus The Messiah | Now we come to the New Testament. The title page of this section of your Bible probably includes the words of… |
| Jesus Walks On The Water (Matthew 14) | Dan Rogers: Good morning, everyone. We’ve had a nice service so far, and it’s now time for the section where… |
| Jesus Was Not Alone | On a small hill just outside of Jerusalem, a troublemaking teacher was killed on a cross. He was not alone…. |
| Jesus Went With Him | “The world is so empty if one thinks only of mountains, rivers and cities; but to know someone who thinks… |
| Jesus—The Complete Salvation Package | Near the end of his Gospel, the apostle John made these intriguing comments: “Jesus performed many other signs in the… |
| Jesus, The Sabbath And Old Testament Festivals | Should Christians follow Jesus’ example and keep the weekly Sabbath and the Old Testament annual festivals as holy time? We… |
| Jesus’ Acceptance | Christians often joyfully proclaim that “Jesus accepts everyone” and “does not judge anyone.” Though there is gospel truth in these… |
| Jesus’ Benediction | Often when travelling, I’m asked to speak to churches, conferences and board meetings. Sometimes I’m asked to give the closing… |
| Jesus’ Resurrection Pictured In The Old Testament | In the spring months of each year, our thoughts are directed toward the death and resurrection of our Savior, Jesus… |
| Jews And Gentiles Together (Romans 15:4-13) | Some people might wonder why Paul uses the Old Testament so much. He has already used it dozens of times,… |
| Joanna | Luke 8:1-3; 23:8-12; 24:1-12; Mark 6:14-32; Acts 13:1 John the Baptist had been murdered! It was a chilling example of… |
| John 1: The Word Made Flesh | John does not start “the story of Jesus” in the usual way. He says nothing about the way Jesus was… |
| John 10: Which Voice Do You Hear? | Jesus told a parable and, as usual, the people did not understand him. So he explained it: “I am the… |
| John 10:10 – The Abundant Life | Many preachers quote John 10:10 as support for the idea that Christianity leads to physical prosperity and “every good thing.”… |
| John 11: Lazarus, Come Out | Jesus raised Lazarus from the dead. It was a tremendous miracle, showing that Jesus has the power to raise us… |
| John 12:12-19 – Right Words, But The Wrong Reason | Each year, one week before Easter, Christian churches observe Palm Sunday, commemorating the day Jesus rode into Jerusalem on a… |
| John 13: Footwashing: An Example Of Service | On the evening he was betrayed, Jesus “poured water into a basin and began to wash his disciples’ feet, drying them… |
| John 14: In His Name | “Whatever you ask in my name,” Jesus said, “I will do it” (John 14:13). Some people seem to think that… |
| John 19: Crowned With Thorns | When Jesus was on trial for his life, the soldiers twisted thorns into a makeshift crown and jammed it on… |
| John 2: Turning Water Into Wine | The Gospel of John tells an interesting story near the beginning of Jesus’ ministry: He went to a wedding and… |
| John 20:18-29 – Can You Believe It? | Jesus died on a cross. So have many other people. But only one came back to life—Jesus. The early church… |
| John 3: An Odyssey Of Faith | The Christian life is more than a simple path. It involves crises, transitions and surprises as well as victories and… |
| John 4: True Worship | Jews and Samaritans simply didn’t get along. The trouble went way back, five centuries or so, to the days of… |
| John 6: ‘Let Nothing Be Wasted’ | Jesus saw a large crowd coming toward him, and he asked Philip, “Where will we buy enough bread for all… |
| John 9: A Blinding Light | “I am the light of the world,” said Jesus. “I have come into this world so that the blind will… |
| John The Baptist Prepares The Way For Jesus | John was preaching a baptism of repentance. And this was his message: “After me will come one more powerful than I,… |
| Joseph: The Hand Of God | For an overview of what will be covered in this chapter, read Genesis 37-50. The Egyptian officer prodded his horses… |
| Joshua: Conflict And Conquest | Joshua as leader: chapter 1 Joshua is one of the Bible’s great books of courage and faith. God told Joshua:… |
| Journey To The Middle Of The World | I have wanted to go to Ecuador ever since I heard Danny Oertli perform his song “God Will Repay” at… |
| Joy — Despite Pain And Suffering | The apostle Paul had many pains and persecutions, but he also had much joy. In Romans 8, we see that… |
| Joy In Jesus Christ (Philippians 1:3-11) | Paul’s letter to the church in Philippi says more about joy than any other New Testament book. Even though Paul… |
| Joy, Hope And Love: Paul’s Letter From Prison | Paul has been called the greatest Christian who ever lived. He also suffered greatly for the name of Jesus Christ…. |
| Judges: Gideon And His Son | Episode four: Gideon: Judges 6-8 Unfortunately, the Israelites again reverted to their sinful ways and “did evil in the eyes… |
| Judges: Jephthah And Samson | Episode five: Jephthah: Judges 10:1-12:7 Tola and Jair (Judges 10:1-5) were among the so-called “minor” judges. They performed judicial functions… |
| Judges: The Danites And Civil War | The Danites move north: Judges 17-18 The last five chapters of Judges relate two episodes that occurred early in the… |
| Judges: The Misery Of Sin | Partial conquest: Judges 1 After Joshua’s death, the Israelites asked God, “Who will be the first to go up and… |
| Jumping To Conclusions | When my husband was a guest speaker at a church in Illinois many years ago, I sat in the congregation… |
| 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 Gospel Of Mark | The |
| 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,… |
| Listening | Years ago I helped escort a group of teens on an educational tour of Washington, D.C. Our hotel was on… |
| 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… |
| Luke 2:22-52 – What Child Is This? | Luke reports two events between Jesus’ birth and the beginning of his ministry. These are not reported out of idle… |
| Luke 24 – The Road To Emmaus | It’s a familiar story, so I’ll just go through it quickly, and save my comments for the end. In Luke… |
| Luke’s “Orderly” Account – An Examination Of Biblical Precision | Luke tells us that his book is an “orderly” account of the story of Jesus Christ (Luke 1:3, NIV). What… |
| Luke’s Legacy To Women | “Hail, thou that art highly favoured, the Lord is with thee: blessed art thou among women” (Luke 1:28, King James… |
| Lunch Basket Extraordinaire | Matthew 14:13-21; John 6:1-15 The bread was still hot, fresh from the hearth. I had just milled the flour the… |
| Majors And Minors | “Mom, when can I get my ears pierced?” my 12-year-old son asked. “Mom, I want a tattoo,” my 17-year-old daughter… |
| Making Friends With The Disabled | We all have things we want to say and ideas we’d like to share, and we love it when someone… |
| Making Grace Look Good (Titus 2:1-10) | In the second chapter of Titus, Paul tells us that people often judge the gospel by the way we live…. |
| Making History In Montana | During 2006, the United States will continue to celebrate the bicentennial of the epic journey of exploration by Lewis and… |
| Malawi Summer | They didn’t know the country. They didn’t know each other. But for Carrie, Alberta and Kayla, a summer spent teaching… |
| Managing The Postmodern Church | A conversation with Dr. Karl Moore, Associate Professor at the Faculty of Management, McGill University in Montreal, Canada. He also… |
| Manual Of Early Evangelism – Introduction | When he saw the crowds, he had compassion on them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a… |
| Mark 1:1-8 – A Lesson About Power | Baptism is not unique to Christianity. The use of water in purification and cleansing rites is as old as recorded… |
| Mark 1:1-8 – A Lesson In Humility | Who would you say was the greatest man ever born? If you are a Christian, you might say, “Why, Jesus… |
| Mark 1:1-8 – A Lesson In Transition | How would you describe the message of John the Baptist? Mark said that John preached “a baptism of repentance for… |
| Mark 1:12-13 – A Lesson About Temptation | “I can resist anything but temptation!” says the bumper sticker. It’s funny, but as with so many things, one of… |
| Mark 1:14-15 – A Lesson About Fulfillment | John’s message of repentance was over; the time had come for Jesus’ message to begin. Jesus’ message is not identical… |
| Mark 1:16-20 – A Lesson About Fishing | When I was a small boy growing up in northern Louisiana, I went fishing every chance I got. By age… |
| Mark 1:21-28 – A Lesson About Authority | The teachers of the law didn’t speak with their own authority. They necessarily prefaced their comments with something like “There… |
| Mark 1:29-34 – A Lesson About Asking | Even Jesus needed a rest. The synagogue let out in time for the Sabbath meal at noon, and Jesus went… |
| Mark 1:35-39 – A Lesson About Priorities | What’s important? We usually consider whatever is the most urgent to be the most important. When we need to use… |
| Mark 1:40-45 – A Lesson About Misperception | We are not going to talk about begging Jesus on our knees for healing. I suppose many people have taken… |
| Mark 1:9-11 – A Lesson About Baptism | Have you ever wondered why Jesus, who was sinless, would need to be baptized? After all, baptism is a sign… |
| Mark 11:12-16 – The Fig Tree And The Temple | Jesus’ cursing of the unfruitful fig tree presents Christians with a dilemma unique in the Gospels. A cursory reading of… |
| Mark 2:1-12 – A Lesson About Healing | This is a story about a lame man whose friends believed that Jesus could heal him. At last they found… |
| Mark 2:13-17 – A Lesson About Assumptions | The Pharisees assumed that if a person ate with sinners, that person was a sinner, too. Levi was a Jew… |
| Mark 2:18-22 – A Lesson About Old And New | The primary fast of the Jews was the Day of Atonement, one of the seven annual solemn assemblies of the… |
| Mark 2:23-28 – A Lesson About God’s Love | One Sabbath Jesus was going through the grainfields, and as his disciples walked along, they began to pick some heads… |
| Mark 3:13-19 – Another Lesson About Authority | Jesus went up on a mountainside and called to him those he wanted, and they came to him. He appointed… |
| Mark 3:20-27 – A Lesson About Envy | Then Jesus entered a house, and again a crowd gathered, so that he and his disciples were not even able… |
| Mark 3:22-30 – A Lesson About Damnation | The teachers of the law who came down from Jerusalem said, “He is possessed by Beelzebul! By the prince of… |
| Mark 3:7-12 – A Lesson About Appearances | Things are not always as they appear. That was certainly the case with Jesus. The crowd saw a miracle-worker, a… |
| Mark 4:10-13 – A Lesson About Hard Hearts | Again Jesus began to teach by the lake…. The Twelve and the others around him asked him about the parables. He… |
| Mark 4:14-15 – A Lesson About Satan | He taught them many things by parables…. The farmer sows the word. Some people are like seed along the path, where… |
| Mark 4:16-20 – A Lesson About Seeds | Others, like seed sown on rocky places, hear the word and at once receive it with joy. But since they… |
| Mark 4:21-25 – A Lesson About Measurement | He said to them, “Do you bring in a lamp to put it under a bowl or a bed? Instead, don’t… |
| Mark 4:30-34 – A Lesson About Lessons | Again he said, “What shall we say the kingdom of God is like, or what parable shall we use to… |
| Mark 4:35-41 – A Lesson About Storms | The crises of life have often been compared to stormy seas. They come upon us whether we like it or… |
| Mark 5:1-18 – Jesus Is Coming | They went across the lake to the region of the Gerasenes. When Jesus got out of the boat, a man… |
| Mark 5:21-43 – A Lesson About Hope | Then one of the synagogue leaders, named Jairus, came, and when he saw |
| Mark 6:1-13 – Lessons About Faith, And Instructions | Jesus left there and went to his hometown, accompanied by his disciples. When the Sabbath came, he began to teach… |
| Mark 6:14-29 – A Lesson About Guilty Consciences | But when Herod heard this, he said, “John, whom I beheaded, has been raised from the dead!” Herod Antipas was… |
| Mark 8:27-38 – Everyone Must Die! | Jesus did most of his ministry in the Jewish areas of Galilee and Judea. But on at least one occasion,… |
| Mark 9:1-13 – The Transfiguration | The disciples are discouraged — even dismayed. They thought they were following a Messiah into a glorious kingdom. But then… |
| Marketing The Gospel | In one of his earliest movies, John Wayne tells another cowboy, “I don’t like branding—it hurts in the wrong place!”… |
| Martha | Luke 10:38-42; John 12:1-7 Mary was really beginning to get on my nerves. There was so much to do. I… |
| Mary Jones And The First Major Worldwide Bible Society | Mary Jones was born Dec. 16, 1784 in the Welsh village of Llanfihangely Pennant. From an early age, Mary longed… |
| Mary Magdalene | John 19:25-30; 20:1-18 I probably have more reasons than anyone to respond with fierce loyalty to our Lord. He lifted… |
| Mary Sister Of Lazarus | Matthew 26:6-10; Mark 14:3-10; John 12:1-7 I stood silently in the doorway of the common room where a special meal… |
| Materialism Or Idealism? | A good friend recently told me about his new diet based on portion control and healthy food choices (like tofu)…. |
| Mateship: Imago Aussie? | A few years ago a book was published about Australia, called The Lucky Country. Although the term found its way… |
| Matthew 1:1-16 – Forty-Two Men And Five Women | Many modern readers feel that the New Testament begins in the most boring way possible: a list of unusual and hard-to-pronounce… |
| Matthew 1:18-23 – The Virgin Will Give Birth To A Son | In his book about Jesus, Matthew frequently says that Jesus fulfilled verses from the Old Testament. One example comes in the… |
| Matthew 13: Parables Of The Kingdom | We need to make sure that our description of the kingdom is compatible with the description Jesus gave. Jesus often… |
| Matthew 16 – What Kind Of Messiah? | Jesus praised Peter for accurately identifying him as the Messiah, and he promised him great authority. But in almost the… |
| Matthew 18 – Parable Of The Unforgiving Servant | It’s Hard to Forgive Jesus often said that God is merciful. But he also said, in a statement that can… |
| Matthew 20 – Parable Of Workers In The Vineyard | A parable of unfairness In Matthew 20 is the parable of the workers in the vineyard. Some men worked all… |
| Matthew 24:20 – Why Pray Not To Flee On The Sabbath? | Jesus told his followers to “pray that your flight will not take place in winter or on the Sabbath” (Matthew… |
| Matthew 5 – Sermon On The Mount | Even non-Christians have heard of the Sermon on the Mount. Christians have heard many sermons on it, but still find… |
| Matthew 5:17-19 And The “Law” | Do Jesus’ words in Matthew 5:17-19 tell Christians they must keep the seventh-day Sabbath and other Old Testament commands? Some… |
| Matthew 6 – Sermon On The Mount, Part 2 | Jesus teaches a high standard of righteousness, requiring sincerity in the heart. In startling words, he warns us against anger,… |
| Matthew 7 – Sermon On The Mount, Part 3 | In Matthew 5, Jesus explains that true righteousness is internal, a matter of the heart, not just of behavior. In… |
| Matthew 9 – The Purpose Of Healings | Matthew 9, like most other chapters in Matthew, tells of several events in the life of Christ. But these are… |
| Maundy Thursday And “Holy Week” | The calendar or weekly bulletin published by your local congregation might have said the following for a Thursday in March… |
| Media From The 2013 International Conference | The following Audio and Video resources are from the 2013 International Conference and can be viewed or downloaded by using… |
| Media From The 2014 Regional Conferences | The following Audio and Video resources are from the 2014 Regional Conferences and can be viewed or downloaded by using… |
| Media From The Uk 2012 Denominational Conference | Main Session Recordings from 2012 UK Denominational Conference The following Audio and Video resources are from the 2012 UK… |
| Medical Science And The Bible | Should a Christian use the services of medical doctors? Does the Bible forbid the use of medicines? If it is… |
| Meditation – A Small Group Study | Introduction When considering meditation, some people think of images such as incense, candles, dark rooms filled with people sitting cross-legged… |
| Meeting A Living Legend | It isn’t often that a man gets to meet one of his boyhood heroes. I grew up in the racially… |
| Meeting Jesus On The Road To Ethiopia | Few books of the Bible can match the Acts of the Apostles for sheer evangelistic thrill. Acts begins with the… |
| Men And Women In Genesis 1-3 | Preface Does the Bible require men and women to have different roles in the church? Although the Old Testament does… |
| Men And Women In The Books Of Moses | Preface Many of the practices, events and laws contained in the Old Testament might seem strange to us. However, the… |
| Merry Christmas | Sometimes it’s nice to state the obvious—that’s what most Christmas cards do. In celebrating Christmas, it’s not the date of… |
| Mid-Life Melancholy | The good news is: According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the suicide rate for teens has… |
| Mildew, Meats, And Cleanliness | Among the rules God gave the ancient Israelites were various laws about cleanness and uncleanness. The primary purpose of these… |
| Mind And Matter | So where are we? Science is now probing at levels in nature where phenomena seem to blur and dissolve into… |
| Ministering To The Singles In Our Churches | By age 30, probably most of his boyhood friends had already married. Maybe they had little children who scurried around… |
| Ministry Coaching | Because research and our experience show that being coached greatly enhances ministry effectiveness, GCI Church Administration and Development (CAD) trains… |
| Ministry Competency | This is part two of a three-part curriculum designed for equipping church workers and leaders. Click here for part 1… |
| Ministry Foundations | This is part one of a three-part curriculum designed for equipping church workers and leaders. Click here for part 2… |
| Ministry Means Service | When the Bible talks about “ministry,” what is it talking about? When it says that Christians are to be involved… |
| Ministry Strategy | This is part three of a three-part curriculum designed for equipping church workers and leaders. Click here for part 1… |
| Miriam: First Lady Of The Exodus | “Great queen of Egypt, I believe we can all see that the Hebrew child will not accept nourishment from those… |
| Mirror, Mirror | What do you see when you look in the mirror? Snow White’s evil stepmother, who turned out to be a… |
| Mission / Purpose | People who have a purpose in life live healthier and longer lives, concluded neuropsychologist, Patricia Boyle. Dr. Boyle was quoted… |
| Mission Bound | In August 2008, a group of young Christians led by Michael and Janet Morrison were planning to go to the… |
| Modern Slavery – The Unheard Cries | Mention the word “slavery” and what comes to mind? Probably Abraham Lincoln and the Emancipation Proclamation of 1863. Or perhaps… |
| Modification, Formation, And Reformation In Youth Ministry | The following article appears here with permission from Steve Argue and Dave Livermore, who advocate focusing youth ministry on spiritual… |
| Mom, I’m Not Sure There Is A God! | My 17-year-old daughter has continually surprised me from the moment she was two minutes old—when the attending medical team commented… |
| Mom, I’m So Proud Of You! | Mary with Melonen, one of the art students she taught while in Addis Abbaba Cliff presenting one of our college… |
| Money And Worship | Are offerings in church an unpleasant mixing of the spiritual and the secular? Perhaps sometimes they have been — but… |
| More Parables Of The Kingdom | Matthew 13 is the largest collection of parables that are specifically said to be about the kingdom of God. But… |
| More Than A Tool | I like to go to home improvement stores and look at gardening tools. I love a well-shaped pair of pruning… |
| Moses And The Old Covenant | 1. God promised to bless Abraham’s descendants and give them the land of Canaan. But first, they had to move into… |
| Moving Mountains And Cursing Fig Trees | Have you ever wondered why Jesus said some of the things he said? For example, Mark 11:22-24suggests that if,… |
| Moving Mountains In Appalachia | Pikeville, Kentucky, had a problem. Flat land is scarce in the Appalachians, and this horseshoe-shaped city had to share its… |
| Mozambique Adventure | I expected our trip to Mozambique to be challenging. What I didn’t expect was that my assistant would be arrested… |
| Music In Ancient Israel | By Victor H. Matthews, Ph.D., professor of Biblical Studies at Southwest Missouri State University. Even in its most primitive forms,… |
| Must We Choose Between Science And The Bible? | Is there an insoluble conflict between the two? The Bible says God created the earth and all that is in it…. |
| My Father’s Living Will | “Your father’s blessings are greater than the blessings of the ancient mountains, than the bounty of the age-old hills.”—Genesis 49:26… |
| My Mother’s Prayer | I had my first love affair when I was just 6 years old. It’s true…but it’s probably not what you’re… |
| My New Mission Field | I’ve been doing missions for years. Short-term, part-time, full-time-in-the-field-missions—you name it, I’ve done it. And I’m tired. Not just the… |
| My Pilgrimage | Transformed by Truth, by Joseph Tkach Chapter 3 Several years ago the famous neurologist Dr. Oliver Sacks wrote a fascinating book titled… |
| My Struggle With Pornography | The “open letter” at right, by Chuck Swindoll, brings to the fore an issue that churches around the world have… |
| My World | I hate to admit it, but my world tends to revolve around ME and all things related to ME—my home,… |
| Myk Habets Interview: Jesus And The Spirit | This interview was originally done for the video series titled You’re Included. The technical quality was not sufficient for it to be… |
| Myk Habets Interview: Jesus The Anointed Son | This interview was originally done for the video series titled You’re Included. The technical quality was not sufficient for it… |
| Myk Habets Interview: The Creeds And The Trinity | MM: One of the distinctives of the Christian faith is a belief in the Trinity. The word is not found… |
| Myk Habets Interview: Theosis: Participation In The Divine Nature | This interview was originally done for the video series titled You’re Included. The technical quality was not sufficient for it to be… |
| Nae Accepts Worldwide Church Of God | National Association of Evangelicals Press Release, May 7, 1997 Transformed Church Finds Acceptance and Fellowship in Evangelical Community NAE Accepts… |
| Nae Statement Of Faith | Here is the Statement of Faith of the National Association of Evangelicals (NAE): We believe the Bible to be the… |
| Net Worth Statement | the |
| New Clothes For New People (Colossians 3:12-25) | How should we live? “Therefore, as God’s chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness7… |
| New Covenant Commands | 1. What is the most important command of the New Testament? Matthew 22:37. Since there is only one God, and Jesus… |
| New Glory – How Becoming A Citizen Helped Me Understand The Christian Faith Better | When Jesus died, rose and ascended to the Father, he established a new relationship between humanity and God—a new covenant…. |
| New In Christ | I saw an interesting article the other day. The gist of it was that in some cultures, people are more… |
| New Life In Christ, By Michael Morrison | God created us for a wonderful purpose: that we might live forever with him in joy, love, perfect holiness, and… |
| New Life In Christ, By Paul Kroll | Dietrich Bonhoeffer, a leader in the German Confessional Church, was arrested by the Gestapo in April 1943. A year later,… |
| New Wineskins: Celebrating Salvation In Christ | In the previous chapter we saw that worship is our response to the gracious acts of God on our behalf. For ancient… |
| No Contest – Why The Argument Over Genesis? | One doesn’t have to be religious to know that a great controversy surrounds the first chapter in the Bible. The… |
| No One Knows When Christ Will Return | The Bible nowhere tells us, directly or indirectly, when Jesus Christ will return. When Jesus returns is not as important… |
| Nobody Prepares You | I work for a parachurch organization called Youth for Christ. Recently, several co-workers and I had an enlightening conversation during… |
| Not Ashamed Of The Gospel (Romans 1:1-17) | In the year A.D. 57, Paul was on his third missionary journey, getting ready to go back to Jerusalem with… |
| Not Long Now… | Not long now,” the nurse says. Can’t say I’ll be sorry when it comes. I don’t want to die. I… |
| Not Putting Your Gift In Storage | “Being ordained gave me a sense of responsibility that I felt I could not put in storage. I had something… |
| Nothing Is Unclean In Itself (Romans 14:13-18) | Avoid offense Paul now speaks to the strong, to those who eat everything, and encourages them to be careful about… |
| Now Wash Your Hands | Do you lend a helping hand? Togetherness is a strong tradition in African society. The idea is that no one… |
| Numbers: Life As A Pilgrimage | Organization for Worship: Chapters 1-10:10 Moses numbers the tribes: chapters 1–2 One month after setting up the tabernacle, Moses and… |
| Nurture Children In The Way Of Jesus | In this series we’re addressing five principles for effective ministry to children. We’ve discussed blessing children with Jesus’ love, relating… |
| Nurturing Believing Children | The Holy Spirit helps believers grow as disciples of Jesus who are becoming more and more like their Master. This… |
| Nurturing Young Believers | The great joy of those who minister to children, teens and college-age young adults is seeing them in fellowship with… |
| Obeying God | Some people worry that if we emphasize God’s grace, that people will stop caring about how they behave. Well, they… |
| Oh Come, All Ye Wasteful | No kidding—I really did see “Oh Come, All Ye Wasteful” on a store window! The message is no longer subtle… |
| Oh No… I’m A Mother-In-Law! | I’ve heard a number of women say this, always accompanied by a grimace of distaste. There are many derogatory jokes… |
| Old Testament Laws Before Moses | Although the laws of Moses are the focus of this series, the story doesn’t begin with Moses. It begins in… |
| On Being A Child Of God | Jesus’ disciples sometimes had delusions of self-importance. They once asked Jesus, “Who is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven?”… |
| On Death And Dying | Death is a reality of life. To some, death is a horrible unknown. For others, it is a time of… |
| On Mission In The Bahamas | In the video below, GCI Mission Developer Charles Fleming interviews GCI Pastor Robert McKinney about the disciple-making approaches Robert and… |
| On Theology Of The Word Of God | Karl Barth’s concept of the threefold form of the Word of God may be stated as follows: The Word of… |
| Once Pagan, Always Pagan? | Does Deuteronomy 12:30-31 mean that it is sinful to have Christian celebrations on days that used to be celebrated in honor… |
| One ‘Mere Christian’ In Church History Clive Staples Lewis | He was listed as one of the 10 most influential Christians of the 20th century by Christian History magazine, along… |
| One And Three | The first Christian missionaries preached the gospel in a pagan, polytheistic world. They preached that there was only one God,… |
| One At A Time, Please (1 Corinthians 14:26-39) | What did first-century believers do in their worship meetings? The Bible gives us only a few glimpses into the details…. |
| One In Three And Three In One | Chapter 5 of God Is… The Bible never compromises the fact that God is one. Yet, Jesus’ incarnation and work… |
| Only One God | The Bible proclaims plainly and clearly that there is one and only one God. When the Bible says that God is… |
| Only One Name | Many Christians believe that all people who do not accept the gospel before they die are eternally lost and without… |
| Open Arms: Welcoming The Worldwide Church Of God | It happened one evening early February 1996. I was reading the magazine of the Worldwide Church of God, a group… |
| Open Letter To A Wealthy Man | “Sell everything you have and give to the poor,” said Jesus to a rich man (Luke 18:22). Jesus’ demand is… |
| Opening The Eyes — A Step At A Time | Christians are occasionally challenged to study afresh some subjects we thought we already understood. And when we think we understand… |
| Ordinary People Who Changed The World | When we ask God to let his will be done in our lives, how much do we mean it? Though… |
| Ordination Of An Elder | Ordination to the office of elder should normally take place during the worship service in the congregation where the elder… |
| Organizing The Collection (2 Corinthians 8:16-24) | Three trustworthy men To help the Corinthians be confident that their offering would be used in the right way, Paul… |
| Our Adoption As God’s Children | In joyous praise the apostle Paul writes of our salvation in Jesus Christ: Praise be to the God and Father… |
| Our Adoption Story | Eric and I always wanted a big family. We already had two boys when our third child, Stuart, was born… |
| Our Allegiance Is In Heaven (Philippians 3:17-4:1) | Good examples Paul has a reason to explain his eagerness — he wants the Philippians to share his approach. “All… |
| Our Bulgarian Connection: Interview With Nikolay Nikolov | During the Communist era, Bulgaria was one of the regimes hostile toward Christianity. In spite of constant harassment and persecution,… |
| Our Children’s Heroes | I waited anxiously for my father to come home. I was 11 years old at the time, and I knew… |
| Our Goal: Christ Formed In Us | It is always helpful to look at our goal. Just what is it that we are working toward? What is… |
| Our Greatest Needs: Prayer And Study | What is the greatest need that the church has? I believe that our greatest need is to draw closer to God. This… |
| Our Mission And Ministries | Our mission: Living and sharing the gospel Grace Communion International is committed to living and sharing the good news of… |
| Our Mission And Vision | We are sometimes asked to describe a vision for our future in the way a CEO might cast a vision… |
| Our Mission: To Disciple | A call and challenge for every Christian is to share the good news of Jesus and make disciples. As disciples… |
| Our Need For Spiritual Training | We encourage lay members to become more involved in ministry, in doing the work God has gifted them for. The… |
| Our Relationship With God | Part 1: Learning to be like Christ God has created us “in his own image,” and that this image is… |
| Our Relationship With Jesus Christ | Doctrine is only one portion of authentic Christianity. It is important — it is essential that the church teach right… |
| Our Resurrection With Christ | Each year, we celebrate that Christ our Lord has risen — and he is alive forevermore as our Savior, our… |
| Our Story | We are an international Christian fellowship with about 50,000 members formed into 900 churches spread across 100 countries. We began… |
| Our Strange Dead God | From the various medals, statues and drawings adorning his car, it was obvious that my taxi driver was Hindu. He… |
| Our Sure Foundation | A story near the end of the book of Judges is a legacy to the emptiness of religion that is… |
| Our Upward, Inward And Outward Responsibilities | “Built together.” That’s how Paul describes the church in Ephesians 2:22. Throughout the Bible, we are confronted with the fact… |
| Our Values | What we value most reflects what we are as individuals and as a church. Members of our denomination are diverse… |
| Our Values, Emphasis, And Ministries | We look to the future with hope and vision… We find ourselves at a historic crossroad. As we follow Jesus… |
| Overcoming Alcohol Abuse | Why is the abuse of alcohol one of the greatest causes of loss of human productivity, and of suffering and… |
| Overcoming Alcohol Abuse – A Series Of Articles | This post exists because a “book” cannot be in a category. This post redirects to a book. It’s time to… |
| Overview Of Doctrinal Errors In Herbert Armstrong’s Mystery Of The Ages | Shortly before his death in 1986, Herbert W. Armstrong, founder of the Worldwide Church of God, compiled many of his… |
| Pacifism And The Church Of God | During the American Civil War, Sabbatarian Adventists in the state of Iowa petitioned their state legislature for official recognition as… |
| Pacifism Series – Summation | We have now completed our journey through the Bible’s treatment of war and peace. We began with the Edenic ideal…. |
| Paganism — Where Should Christians Draw The Line? | Paganism is a controversial subject. Can we use pagan customs in the church of God? We already do. Simply because something… |
| Paganism, Pagans And Pagan Customs | Rather than address the subject of Christmas directly, this article will consider the broader topics of paganism, pagans and pagan practices in… |
| Palm Sunday | Early in its history, the Christian church, desiring to worship Jesus by focusing on the great saving events of his… |
| Parable Of The Lost Son | The parable of the prodigal son (Luke 15:11-32) is perhaps better named the parable of the lost son, since it… |
| Parenting “Do Over” Advice From Grandparents | Life doesn’t give us the opportunity for “do-overs.” I wish it did. There are things I have regretted about how… |
| Partaking Of The Promises | “The Lord Jesus, on the night he was betrayed, took bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it… |
| Participating With Jesus In His Gospel Work | Many people want to understand how to respond to Jesus’ command to “make disciples” (Matthew 28:18-20). As Professor Eddie Gibbs… |
| Participatory, Trinitarian Christian Faith – Conference By Elmer Colyer | Presentations by Dr. Elmer Colyer The following resource is from the 2011 Canadian National Conference – Hosted August 10-12… |
| Past, Present And Future Of Salvation (Romans 5) | In the first four chapters of Romans, Paul announced that the gospel is a message about the righteousness of God… |
| Paul And The New Covenant (2 Corinthians 3:7-11) | The new contrasted with the old covenant Paul has already mentioned “tablets of stone,” and then the “new covenant.” He… |
| Paul And The Old Covenant | 1. Paul dealt with questions about the covenants in several letters. Did he consider himself a minister of the old… |
| Paul And The Sabbath (Chapter In Sct) | In all of Paul’s epistles, the word “Sabbath” is used only once. Perhaps this should tell us something — at… |
| Paul And The Sabbath (Study Paper) | Paul’s custom was to keep the Sabbath (Acts 13:14; 16:13; 17:2). Shouldn’t we should follow his example in this (1 Corinthians… |
| Paul Describes His Conversion (Galatians 1:11-24) | Paul’s commission from God To support his point, and to show that the opponents were not telling the truth, Paul… |
| Paul Preaches The Good News | Chapter 3 of Good News for Ordinary People We have looked at the four Gospels and the book of Acts… |
| Paul Sent To The Gentiles (Galatians 2:1-14) | Someone had been telling the Galatian Christians false stories about Paul’s relationship with the original apostles and the Jerusalem church…. |
| Paul’s Anguish For His People (Romans 9) | Romans chapters 9-11 pose a question: Are these chapters a digression, or an important part of the letter? Paul has… |
| Paul’s Concern For The Thessalonians (1 Thessalonians 3:1-8) | Paul, Silas and Timothy had been chased out of Macedonia, but they did not abandon the infant churches they left… |
| Paul’s Farewell Letter (2 Timothy 1:1-14) | During the reign of Emperor Nero, the apostle Paul was placed on “death row” in a Roman prison. Although he… |
| Paul’s Pastoral Prayers | Prayer is an essential part of our relationship with God. It has been called one of the tools of Christian… |
| Paul’s Prayer For The Believers (1 Thessalonians 3:9-13) | Paul thanks God for their continuing faithfulness: “How can we thank God enough for you in return for all the… |
| Paul’s Ministry To The Gentiles (Romans 15:14-33) | With tact, Paul explains why he wrote to the Roman church: “I myself am convinced, my brothers and sisters, that… |
| Paul’s Policy On Women: Three Key Questions | In 1 Timothy 2, verse 12, Paul writes: “I do not permit a woman to teach or to have authority… |
| Pay Attention! (Hebrews 1:13-2:4) | Hebrews 1:13: “But to which of the angels has he [God] ever said, ‘Sit at my right hand until I… |
| Pd & Me | It’s the weekend and I’m dog-sitting for a friend. PD is a 3-year-old miniature dachshund with more energy than is… |
| Peace At Any Price? | “When I was with the Jews, I acted like a Jew,” Paul said. “When I was with people who thought… |
| Peace In Christ | In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus told his listeners, “Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called children… |
| Pentecost — For The Church Today | We can read what happened, but we cannot experience what Jesus’ disciples felt after Jesus was resurrected. They had already… |
| Pentecost: Power For The Gospel | Jesus promised his disciples: “I am going to send you what my Father has promised; but stay in the city… |
| Pentecost: The Birth Of The Church | After his resurrection, Jesus appeared to his disciples and instructed them for 40 days, after which he ascended to heaven…. |
| Perfect Results (Hebrews 10:11-25) | Perfect forever (verses 11-18) Our acceptance by God does not depend on the performance of rituals (either ancient or modern)… |
| Perfect Through Suffering (Hebrews 2:5-12) | Jesus the human (verses 5-9) Before the author explains how Jesus changes our worship, he lays a foundation. He reviews… |
| Perichor…What? | A discussion with C. Baxter Kruger, founder of Perichoresis, Inc. Christian Odyssey: Most of us can’t even pronounce perichoresis, much… |
| Perichoresis – What’s That? | A discussion with C. Baxter Kruger, founder of Perichoresis, Inc. Question: Most of us can’t even pronounce perichoresis, much less… |
| Persecution, Penance And “The Lapsed” | For the first 300 years of the church’s history, believers faced many local and empire-wide persecutions of varying intensity. One… |
| Peter’s Story: Coming To Christ | Peter, the fisherman-disciple, embarked on a lifetime journey with Jesus Christ. We can do the same. Their small fishing… |
| Peter’s Wife | Matthew 8:14-16; Mark 1:29-34; Luke 4:38-41 It seemed that the entire city had turned up at our house! As soon… |
| Photos In Transformed By Truth | Photos from Transformed by Truth, between pages 128 and 129. First page: Next page Left: Herbert Armstrong in… |
| Photos In Transformed By Truth, Page 2 | Photos from Transformed by Truth, between pages 128 and 129. Second page: Next page Above: The Salem, Oregon store… |
| Photos In Transformed By Truth, Page 3 | Photos from Transformed by Truth, between pages 128 and 129. Third page: Next page Main photo: Sermon notes from evangelistic… |
| Photos In Transformed By Truth, Page 4 | Photos from Transformed by Truth, between pages 128 and 129. Fourth page: Next page Evangelistic campaign flyers. |
| Photos In Transformed By Truth, Page 5 | Fifth page of photos from Transformed by Truth, between pages 128 and 129. Next page Top photo: The first issue… |
| Photos In Transformed By Truth, Page 6 | Sixth page of photos from Transformed by Truth, between pages 128 and 129. Next page Left: Armstrong emerging from the… |
| Photos In Transformed By Truth, Page 7 | Seventh page of photos from Transformed by Truth, between pages 128 and 129. Next page Joseph W. Tkach, Sr., successor… |
| Photos In Transformed By Truth, Page 8 | Eighth page of photos from Transformed by Truth, between pages 128 and 129. Left: A young Joseph Tkach, Jr., with… |
| Planting A Seed For The Gospel | I received some fruit in the mail recently that made my day. It made me pause and, with deep appreciation,… |
| Playing Jesus—A Discussion With Bruce Marchiano | In his Epistle to the Romans, Paul reminds us to “clothe yourselves with the Lord Jesus Christ” (Romans 13:1). The Greek… |
| Police Q&A | Question: Is it permissible for a Christian to be in the police and carry a gun on the job? Answer: Yes. Romans… |
| Popcorn And God | I love the salt, butter and crunch of hot, fresh popcorn. It’s my snack of choice in the evening, even… |
| Portrait Of A Woman And Jesus | We interview Barbara Quillen Egbert, who published Portrait of a Woman and Jesus. Q: Why did you write Portrait of a… |
| Poverty And Generosity | In Paul’s second letter to the believers in Corinth, he gave an excellent illustration of how the wonderful gift of… |
| Poverty And Generosity (2 Corinthians 8:1-6) | When Paul met with the original apostles, they agreed to divide the mission field — Paul would focus on the… |
| Prayer – A Small Group Study | Introduction Prayer changes us. Prayer changes lives. Prayer changes history. It is a way to feel God’s heartbeat. Knowing who… |
| Prayer: When You Don’t Know What To Say… | For many of us, prayer is like mowing the lawn. We know we should, and we feel better when we… |
| Prayer: A Cry For Help | Some people make prayer sound like a duty, as a work that faithful Christians must perform. Some make it sound… |
| Prayer: Does It Make Any Difference? | A discussion with Philip Yancey Multi-award winning writer Philip Yancey has written books that have explored many of the mysteries… |
| Praying For My Enemies | A few weeks ago during a winter storm, there was an automobile accident on the freeway entrance ramp that I… |
| Praying For The Peace Of Jerusalem | War never seems to go away, especially in the Middle East. Whenever events start heating up in that unhappy and unstable… |
| Praying Like Elijah | “Elijah was a man just like us,” we’re told in James 5:17-18. “He prayed earnestly that it would not rain,… |
| Praying With Great Interest | Have you ever heard the way an idea is phrased and thought “I’ve got to remember that”? I have, and… |
| Preach The Word! (2 Timothy 3:14-4:5) | The written word (verses 14-17) “But as for you, continue in what you have learned and have become convinced of,… |
| Preaching In The Book Of Acts Part 1: Peter | The church today is a continuation of first-century Christianity. We do not imitate every cultural detail of the church, but… |
| Preaching In The Book Of Acts Part 2: Paul | In Acts 11, Luke tells us about some developments in Antioch in Syria. Greek-speaking Jews had been telling Gentiles “the… |
| Preaching In The Early Church: A Bible Study | What is the true gospel, the gospel revealed in the Bible? There are several ways to approach Scripture to learn… |
| Predestination: Does God Choose Your Fate? | “I am wondering about predestination. Are some people predestined to be saved and the rest predestined not to be saved?”… |
| Preparing For The Lord’s Return (1 Thessalonians 4:13-18) | Paul’s next topic is the return of Christ — the only place in his letters where he gives details about… |
| Principles Of Effective Children’s Ministry: Bring The Children | Jesus said, “Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of heaven belongs… |
| Printable Pamphlets | The following articles are formatted in Word to fit on one sheet of paper — printed both sides and folded… |
| Privacy Policy | What information do we collect? We collect information from you when you register on our site, make a donation, subscribe… |
| Proverbs 31: Portrait Of A Godly Woman | For thousands of years, God-fearing women have looked to the noble, or virtuous (KJV), woman of Proverbs 31 as their… |
| Proverbs: Words Of Wisdom | The Importance of Wisdom: Chapters 1-9 Purpose: Proverbs 1:1-6 Solomon’s wisdom exceeded that of everyone before him. The book of… |
| Psalms Can Help You Pray | The Psalms show us the Old Testament community of faith relating openly and honestly to the God of Israel. They… |
| Psalms In The New Testament | The book of Psalms had an immense influence on New Testament writers. They have many quotes from several Old Testament… |
| Psalms: Thematic Collections | Different collections of Psalms In general, the psalms do not follow each other in any discernible pattern. One psalm may… |
| Psalms: When You Talk To God | A Psalm for every occasion The book of Psalms can be one of the most effective tools in building your… |
| Purposes Of The Church | Why do we meet together each week for worship and instruction? Couldn’t we, with a lot less bother, worship at… |
| Put On The Armor Of God | Christianity is a life and death struggle for eternal stakes. But we are promised victory. Rich, bustling, cosmopolitan Ephesus—a city… |
| Puzzles And Premises | When I hear private interpretations of the Bible, I’m reminded of Grandma Maudie’s puzzle pounding. When I was growing up,… |
| Question & Answers About The Lord’s Supper | What is the meaning of the Lord’s Supper? Is it wrong to use the term “Lord’s Supper”? What kind of… |
| Questions About 1 Timothy 2:11-15 | Preface by Joseph Tkach The endnotes for this study are in a separate document. Click here to see that document. For… |
| Questions About 1 Timothy 2:11-15 – Endnotes | [1] Craig Blomberg, “Neither Hierarchicalist Nor Egalitarian: Gender Roles in Paul,” in Two Views on Women in Ministry (ed. James Beck and Craig… |
| Questions And Answers About Trinitarian Theology | Let’s address several questions and objections. Are you saying there is no difference between a Christian and a non-Christian? No…. |
| R. J. Foster Letter About Prophecy | In November 1995, Richard J. Foster wrote the following letter to those on his Renovaré mailing list. It provides some… |
| Radical Love | The love of God is Foolishness …. Don’t blame me for saying this; blame the apostle Paul. In his letter to… |
| Rain To Rainbows | In Jane Austen’s Mansfield Park, Aunt Norris couldn’t bring herself to be happy for her niece, Fanny Price. When Cousin… |
| Reaching Out With The Gospel | What is the best, most effective way to share the gospel with others? This is a question our church has… |
| Ready To Do Good (Titus 2:15-3:3) | So Paul summarizes his point: “These, then, are the things you should teach. Encourage and rebuke with all authority. Do not… |
| Redeemed From The Curse Of The Law (Galatians 3:1-22) | How could anyone believe it? How could the people taught by Paul himself go so quickly astray into false doctrines?… |
| Regrets? I’ve Had Quite A Few | Over the last couple of years I have read about a number of retiring CEOs who were asked by various… |
| Reincarnation | Reincarnation is the belief that after death a person’s identity or “soul” takes up residence at birth in another human… |
| Rejoice In The Gospel (Philippians 1:12-20) | Priority of the gospel The believers in Philippi had heard of his arrest and imprisonment, so Paul reassures them “that… |
| Rejoice! Christ Has Risen! A Bible Study | In one of Paul’s most emphatic statements, he declared, “If Christ has not been raised, our preaching is useless and… |
| Relate To Children At Their Level | In the previous article in this series, we looked at the principle: Bless children with Jesus’ love. We come now… |
| Relationship With Christ: A Bible Study | Various words are used to illustrate different truths of the gospel. The word justification comes from a law-court setting, and… |
| Relationships In And Out Of The Church (Colossians 4:1-18) | Good words for everyone In chapter 4, Paul begins to address everyone: “Devote yourselves to prayer, being watchful and thankful…. |
| Releasing God’s Power Through Prayer | A.W. Tozer said, “What comes into our minds when we think about God is the most important thing about us”… |
| Religion In An Age Of Science | McNair Lecture, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, March 23, 1993 John Polkinghorne, Queens’ College, Cambridge I have spent most… |
| Remember To Breathe | I have five absolutely gorgeous and delightful teenaged granddaughters, ages 13 to 18, who live nearby. It was so simple… |
| Remembering God | There are many positive things about aging. Unfortunately I can’t remember what they are. That’s my problem. I can’t remember… |
| Renewal Of Wedding Vows | Introduction The officiant says: “[Husband’s first name] and [wife’s first name], you have asked to renew your marriage vows on… |
| Repentance | I once counseled a young man who was deeply afraid that God had rejected him because of his repeated sins. “I… |
| Responding To God | When I began taking medication for a minor skin condition, I was told that three out of 10 people don’t… |
| Responding To God With Faith | God is powerful, and he is good. He always uses his enormous power to further his promise of love and… |
| Responding To God With Worship | We respond to God with worship, because worship is simply giving God what is fitting. He is praiseworthy, not only… |
| Responding To God’s Grace In Our Relationships | How do we respond to God’s grace? One way that we respond is by extending grace to others, in our… |
| Responding To Jesus With Prayer | How do we respond to the risen Jesus? The book of Hebrews tells us: Since Jesus has risen into heaven… |
| Responding To The Church With Teamwork | Sometimes Christians assume that full-time pastors serve the Lord more than other members do. Although that may be true in… |
| Responsibilities In Sickness | Diseases or injuries can be some of the most severe trials of one’s life. Because the suffering of such trials… |
| Responsibilities To “One Another” | The Greek word allelon gives us a helpful introduction to the ways in which Christians should serve each other, because… |
| Resurrection And Ascension: What It Means To Be ‘In Christ’ | “In Christ.” It’s a phrase we’ve all heard. Albert Schweitzer called “being-in-Christ” the prime enigma of the apostle Paul’s teaching…. |
| Revelation 11 – The Two Witnesses | Many Christians through the ages have wondered who the “two witnesses” of Revelation 11 happen to be. The two witnesses… |
| Revelation 12 – Jesus And The Church | In the beginning of Revelation 12, John records his vision of a pregnant woman about to give birth. He sees… |
| Revelation 13 And Its “Beasts” | The two beasts described in Revelation 13 are among the most enigmatic parts of the book of Revelation, and they… |
| Revelation 13 And The “Mark Of The Beast” | For centuries Christians have speculated about the meaning of the “mark of the beast” and the number 666, both of… |
| Revelation 20 – The Millennium | The idea of a thousand-year reign of Christ – a millennium – is found in only two verses in the… |
| Revelation 3:1-6 – Sardis: The “Dead” Church | The “dead” church The church at Sardis was described as being “dead” (3:1). It appeared to be alive – had… |
| Revelation 3:14-22 – Laodicea: The Complacent Church | Christ introduced himself to the church at Laodicea as “the Amen, the faithful and true witness, the ruler of God’s… |
| Revelation 3:7-13 – The Church At Philadelphia And The Key Of David | The church that kept the faith Up to this point, phrases from the vision of chapter 1 were used to… |
| Revelation 6 – The Six Seals | Chapter six of Revelation continues John’s vision in the throne room of heaven. His eyes fix on the Lamb (Jesus… |
| Revelation 7 – Who Are The 144,000? | The 144,000 martyrs are described in the first vision John sees in book of Revelation, chapter 7. Later, he will… |
| Revelation It’s No Mystery | The book of Revelation holds special interest for many Christians. With its strange, many-headed monsters and mystifying symbols, Revelation has… |
| Revelation, Apocalyptic Writing And The Old Testament | The book of Revelation belongs to a class of chiefly Jewish (and later Christian) literature called “apocalyptic.” The word “apocalypse”… |
| Revelation: A Vision Of Victory | In a time of declining faith, we need the Revelation message Living faith in God is one of the burning… |
| Revelation: Book Of Cosmic Symbols | To understand Revelation it is helpful to think of this writing as first and foremost a book of symbols. For… |
| Revelation: Book Of Cosmic Symbols | To understand Revelation it is helpful to think of this writing as first and foremost a book of symbols. For… |
| Review Of I, Judas | I, Judas by Taylor Caldwell Reviewed by Kerry Gubb If God can speak through a donkey,1 he can also “speak” to… |
| Revisiting The New Physics | Fall 2015 marked the 100th anniversary of Albert Einstein’s releasing his General Theory of Relativity to the world. That was… |
| Rich In Good Works (2 Corinthians 9:6-15) | Expect a blessing “Remember this: Whoever sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and whoever sows generously will also reap generously”… |
| Right Idea… Wrong Foundation | 800 years ago, the people of Pisa in Italy decided to build a tower. The tower was to have bells… |
| Right In Their Own Eyes – An Interview With Paul Johnson | The mind-set described in the last chapters of Judges, when “all the people did what was right in their own… |
| Romans 13 And Christian Submission To Civil Government | In Romans 13, the apostle Paul writes that, “Everyone must submit himself to the governing authorities.” Does this mean that… |
| Romans 8:18-37 – The Certainty Of God’s Love | Throughout the book of Romans, Paul explains that God counts us as righteous through faith in Christ. Even though we… |
| Roots Of The Worldwide Church Of God | This chart shows the historical relationships of the Seventh-day Baptists, Seventh-day Adventists, Church of God Seventh Day, Advent Christian Church, Church… |
| Rumor Has It | The old Hee-Haw television show had a segment where a group of gossipy women sang a song saying they really… |
| Running Away From Intimacy | We Christians are supposed to be happy. Even when — especially when — things go wrong. We are not immune… |
| Ruth: Naomi And Ruth | Naomi and Ruth: Ruth 1 “In the days when the judges ruled, there was a famine in the land, and… |
| Ruth: Romance And Redemption | Ruth meets Boaz: Ruth 2 In Israel, the barley harvest began in the spring. The community in Bethlehem observed God’s… |
| Sabbath And Sunday – A New Hypothesis | My reconstruction I agree with the reasons Maxwell has given, but I wish to add one: Jewish Christians had a… |
| Sabbath And Sunday – Adventist Theories | Bacchiocchi’s theory Modern Sunday-keeping Christians often conclude that the apostles authorized or even commanded Gentiles to meet on Sundays instead… |
| Sabbath And Sunday In Early Christianity | Introduction The earliest Christians were Torah-observant Jews in Jerusalem, who attended Jewish festivals and observed Temple rituals (Acts 2:1; 3:1;… |
| Sabbath And Sunday In The Early Church | The earliest Christians were law-abiding Jews in Jerusalem, who attended Jewish festivals and observed Temple rituals (Acts 2:1; 3:1; 15:5;… |
| Sabbath And Sunday In The Early Second Century | Early second century Our earliest evidence from the second century comes from the letter of Pliny to Trajan, describing the… |
| Sabbath And Sunday In The Writings Of Irenaeus | Irenaeus, bishop of Lyons in the last half of the second century, also gives us lengthy comments on the Sabbath,… |
| Sabbath, Circumcision, And Tithing | redirect to /book/sabbath-circumcision-and-tithing/ |
| Sabbath, Circumcision, And Tithing – Introduction | Many Christians have questions about the laws of the Old Testament. Many people claim to keep the Ten Commandments, for… |
| Sabbath, Circumcision, And Tithing: Which Old Testament Laws Apply To Christians? | Many Christians have questions about the laws of the Old Testament. Many people claim to keep the Ten Commandments, for… |
| Safe In God’s Hands | Where was God when the tsunami struck in the Indian Ocean on Dec. 26, 2004? Is God useless in a crisis?… |
| Salome | Matthew 20:20-23 Yes, Jesus had said he was going to die, but we assumed his work had just begun. My… |
| Salvation By Grace | 1. Does everyone fall short of what God commands? Romans 3:9-10, 23. What is the penalty of sin? Romans 6:23; 5:12…. |
| Samuel And Saul | Birth of Samuel: 1 Samuel 1:1-2:11 The book of 1 Samuel begins at a time when the judges still ruled… |
| Sanctification | According to the Concise Oxford Dictionary, to sanctify is “to set apart or observe [something] as holy” or “to purify… |
| Satan: God’s Defeated Adversary | There are two unfortunate trends in the Western world today regarding Satan the devil, who is mentioned in the New… |
| Saved By God’s Mercy (Titus 3:4-7) | “But when the kindness and love of God our Savior appeared, he saved us, not because of righteous things we… |
| Saved By His Life | “These things are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by… |
| Say It Loud, Say It Clear | In March, 1989 Mike and Mechanics had the #1 song on the Billboard charts with the smash hit, The Living… |
| Saying Grace Graciously | I have been thinking about how we “ask a blessing” at mealtime. Quite often we say something like this: “Please… |
| School In Thailand Expands | Chugait Garmolgomut and his wife Amphorn (Fong) run schools in the city of Chiang Mai, Thailand. I recently helped Chugait… |
| Science And Bible, Evolution And Faith | In one of the most famous clashes between science and religion, the Church in the 17th century said that the… |
| Science And Religion: Bridging The Gap | Since the beginning of the 20th century, scientists have been exploring an entirely new way of looking at the world… |
| Scientific Theology | Are science and theology at odds? Unfortunately many people think so. Thankfully, however, many scientists and theologians have come against… |
| Scripture: God’s Gift – Part 2 | In the first part of this essay, we considered how Scripture is a gift of the living and speaking God…. |
| Scripture: God’s Gift – Part 3 | Guidelines for approaching Scripture reverently with prayer by faith Since, as we have been discussing, Scripture is the gift of… |
| Scripture: God’s Gift – Part 4 | Rules for Interpreting Scripture As I said at the end of part three in this series, “With the Center of… |
| Scripture: God’s Gift – Part 5 | Reality and the Meaning of Scripture This next-to-last article in this series covers several more aspects of listening to, studying… |
| Scripture: God’s Gift – Part 6 | Concluding Principles We now conclude this series with several principles that help us interpret Scripture in ways that honor its… |
| Scripture: God’s Gift | The Christian church down through the ages has always regarded the Bible as indispensable for its worship, devotion and life…. |
| Scripture: God’s Gift – Part 1 | This is part one of a six-part series by Gary Deddo on interpreting Scripture. Links at the bottom of the… |
| Seeking A Center For The Church | Our Identity and Our Mission Various authors have various ideas about what Christian churches ought to be doing – and… |
| Seeking Lost Children | The overarching mission (purpose) of children’s ministry is help children come to Jesus and then mature as his followers (disciples)…. |
| Self Portrait | Did you hear recently that what might be a Rembrandt self-portrait was discovered hidden under another of the Dutch master’s… |
| Send Us Some Children – A Story Of Transformation | One gloomy Sunday morning in February 2003, I looked out over my “congregation” in Lexington, Ohio—that week it was just… |
| Service – A Small Group Study | Introduction When we think about the spiritual disciplines, the discipline of service may be the easiest for us to visualize…. |
| Serving As God Has Enabled (Romans 12:1-8) | In his letter to the Romans, Paul has presented the gospel — from our need for divine rescue to the… |
| Serving With Jesus In The Local Community: Meal And Prayer | GCI’s Abundant Grace Fellowship in Ft. Myers, FL, met to consider where we were and where we needed to go…. |
| Setting Up Your Money Plan | the |
| Seven Annual Sabbaths | 1. As God was speaking the old covenant from Mt. Sinai, what kind of annual festivals did he command? Exodus 23:14-17…. |
| Seven Letters To Seven Churches | Revelation’s seven letters to seven congregations in the Roman province of Asia provide us with a glimpse into the spiritual… |
| Share God’s Love (Jesus And Zacchaeus) | Hi everyone, I’m here today to tell you that God loves you. Now, if you’re a Christian, you’re probably saying,… |
| Sharing A Secret | I’ve got a secret—and you probably have one, too. But it’s no longer a secret. It’s been revealed in the… |
| Sharing In Jesus’ Life | Christianity is not about what we do for God; it is about being a part of what Jesus is doing,… |
| Sharing In The Life Of Christ (Romans 8:1-17) | Paul’s letter to the Romans can be divided into three major parts: a presentation of the gospel (chapters 1-8), the… |
| Sharing The Gospel | After Jesus had been resurrected and had appeared to his disciples for several weeks, he took them to the Mount… |
| Sharing Your Faith | “Everyone knows the Bible is filled with contradictions,” I asserted, smugly assuming that I had scored a point in the… |
| Sharing Your Faith – A Series | 1. Sharing your faith. “Everyone knows the Bible is filled with contradictions,” I asserted, smugly assuming that I had scored… |
| Sharing Your Faith In A Post-Christian World | Many people today in our postmodern and post-Christian world have no desire to “get back to God.” They have no… |
| Sharing Your Faith… Through Friendship | Some of us have a hard time expressing ourselves. We’re not good with small talk. We’re not witty. Get us… |
| Sharing Your Faith… With A Muslim | “You’re an American?” The Syrian was astonished. He had not expected to encounter an American inside the mosque. I was… |
| Sharing Your Faith… With A New Ager | Does the cross give us a bridge across the chasm? Or is the chasm only an illusion created by our… |
| Sharing Your Faith… With Another Christian | Everyone needs an Aunt Helen. My Aunt Helen was a schoolteacher for many years along the stormy windblown coast of… |
| Sharing Your Faith… With The Unchurched | By some estimates, 55 to 78 million adults in the United States seem content without attending church (Lee Strobel, Inside… |
| She Made Home Happy | An important lesson from an unusual epitaph “Axsher. Now there’s a name for your baby,” I teased. Pausing before a… |
| Should Believers Be Baptized? | Is baptism essential to the Christian life? Should people be baptized again if they change churches or denominations? Is it… |
| Should Christians Celebrate Easter? | A few churches teach that Easter is a pagan holiday. They frown on the idea of celebrating the resurrection of… |
| Should Christians Celebrate Halloween? | May Christians and their children participate in Halloween activities? To answer this question, we should first distinguish the secular observance… |
| Should Christians Keep The Law Of Moses? – What About The Ten Commandments? | When Jesus was on earth, he kept the laws of Moses — but he also criticized them. Soon after he… |
| Should Intelligent Design Be Taught In The Science Classroom? | In the last few years the concept of Intelligent Design (ID) has really hit the news headlines. Articles in major… |
| Should You Look To The Stars? | Are you a “Capricorn” or a “Scorpio”? Should you avoid strangers today? Should you be contemplating marriage? Is this a… |
| Should You Plant A Church? | Randy Bloom, then Director of Church Multiplication Ministries for Grace Communion International, interviewed Ed Stetzer, President of LifeWay Research. An… |
| Should You Take The Bible Literally? | Has anyone ever looked at you, with a smirk on his face perhaps, and asked, “Do you take the Bible… |
| Show Up — Declare — Or Win? | How would Christ have us preach the gospel? Three broad approaches are in use today. Evangelism can be thought of… |
| Silence And Solitude | Introduction In today’s world a wide range of impulses bombards us. We have radios in our homes, in our offices,… |
| Silk Purses From Sows’ Ears | Some lessons from the “worst movie ever made” The home video and VCR boom of the early 1980s gave a… |
| Sinners In The Arms Of A Loving God | “The world will probably be converted into…a vast ocean of fire, in which the wicked shall be overwhelmed…their heads, their… |
| Six Functions Of The Church | Why do we meet together each week for worship and instruction? With a lot less bother, couldn’t we worship at… |
| Six Reasons To Obey God | If God saves us by grace, apart from the good works that we do (Titus 3:5), why should we obey… |
| Six Steps To Financial Security | If you’re like most people, having enough money for a decent and secure life is one of your major concerns…. |
| Slugging It Out | I don’t usually like to lead you up the garden path, but I wonder if you could join me on… |
| Small Change Leads To Big Mission | Last week I watched with pride as my daughter shared with the congregation experiences from her seven-week mission trip to… |
| Small Groups Or Cell Groups? | What is the difference between small groups and cell groups? Good question. The terms “small groups” and “cell groups” are… |
| Small Miracles | Early last summer, Gianni and Mirella Tarroni had much to look forward to. Gianni could retire in a few months…. |
| Small Things | The splendor of King Solomon’s Temple in Jerusalem was renowned. Skilled craftsmen used only the finest materials in construction. Cedar… |
| So How Did It Go? | A report from the Philippines We interviewed four young people who were about to embark on a short-term mission trip… |
| So Why Collide Hadrons? (And What Are They, Anyway?) | An interview with Dr. Keith Baker, professor at Yale University and an experimental particle and nuclear physicist. He is a… |
| So Why Go To Camp? | Because it’s fun, you make friends, and you learn a lot of really cool stuff. That’s why! Making new friends. Fishing in… |
| Sold…For Thirty Pieces Of Silver | Skimming the pages of a book about Jesus recently, my eye fell on a caption: “The Messiah sold for thirty… |
| Solving Your Credit Problems | If you are a consumer in one of the world’s more affluent nations, there’s a good chance that you have… |
| Son-Block | Do you get frustrated with other people? The other day in a supermarket I lost my cool. I was looking… |
| Song Of Songs: A Lover’s Paradise | The bond of love One of God’s greatest gifts to humanity is the special bond of love between a husband… |
| Sorting The Seed | Advancements in plant genetics and engineering has brought higher yields, control of plant disease and pest control, fuller taste and… |
| Soul And Spirit In Scripture | Christians sometimes wonder about the difference between the “soul” and the “spirit.” When discussing the “soul,” they wonder if it… |
| Special Report: What You Have Heard Is True! | About 30 years after the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ, it seems that a wealthy man named Theophilus became… |
| Speech Club – Toastmaster, Language Word Power, Tongue Twisters | Be a Successful Toastmaster Your responsibility is to get the speakers off to the best start possible. You must be… |
| Speech Club – Evaluation, Business, Tabletopics | Here’s How to Evaluate The whole purpose of the evaluator is to help the speaker. Talk directly to the person you… |
| Speech Club Introductory Articles | How to Use This Manual As soon as you receive this manual, read all the material up to and including… |
| Speech Club Manual | Table of Contents Introductory articles Lessons 1-4 Lessons 5-8 Lessons 9-12 Evalution, business and tabletopics Toastmaster and other roles Program… |
| Speech Club Speeches 1-4 | 1. This Is My Life Purpose Why would you talk about yourself, when one of the rules of being a… |
| Speech Club Speeches 5-8 | 5. Get the Facts Purpose Fact is reality. Fact is truth. Many people claim to have the truth, but few can substantiate… |
| Speech Club Speeches 9-12 | 9. Instruct Purpose This speech should have all the ingredients of a complete speech – purpose, clarity, color, facts and action… |
| Spiritual Discipline – A Lifestyle | Introduction In concluding this series on spiritual disciplines, it is our hope that this study series was helpful in your… |
| Spiritual Disciplines | This is the start of a series of 15 small group studies. Our loving God wants us to live a… |
| Spiritual Gifts And Church Growth | Christ gives each of us grace, in the form of spiritual gifts, as he determines to apportion it (Eph. 4:7)…. |
| Spiritual Gifts Are Given For Service | We understand from Scripture some basic points about the spiritual gifts God gives his people: Every member has at least… |
| Spiritual Gifts For The Gospel | Look around — not only are the fields white and ready for harvest, there are already many laborers in the… |
| Spiritual Growth, Gifts, And Disciplines | Spiritual growth The primary means of spiritual growth are Bible study, prayer, participation in a local church, trials, and living… |
| Spiritual Warfare | Put on the full armor of God,” Paul writes in Ephesians 6:11, “so that you can take your stand against… |
| Spiritual Warfare And You | Six questions to ask Rita was confused. She had been a believer for over three years, and now a leading… |
| Stages Of Grief | Not everyone goes through these “stages” in the same order. Sometimes one is skipped, or is repeated. Shock and numbness… |
| Standing Fast In Hope As Haiti’s Misery Continues | In 2010, the small, poverty-ridden Caribbean nation of Haiti was struck with a crippling earthquake, soon followed by a devastating… |
| Standing In Christ Alone | “OK, I can see that we’re saved by grace and not by works, but I’m still not clear on a… |
| Standing In The Light | I pray that we never lose the inner joy that by God’s grace the Christmas season can bring to us…. |
| Standing In The Light | It was December of 1996 that the headquarters congregation of our denomination first sang hymns about the birth of Christ…. |
| Stars Of Wonder | I recently spent a warm summer evening in the country reclining on a friend’s deck. I was amazed to be… |
| Starting Right And Finishing Well (Philippians 3:4-14) | Paul writes to the church in Philippi to encourage them to rejoice in their trials and to be considerate of… |
| Stay Focused On Jesus | Jesus must remain our focus throughout the year. He alone is the final and ultimate revelation of who God is… |
| Stay Tuned | Every now and then my car needs a tune-up. Not necessarily because it stops working. It can still take me… |
| Stewardship Involves All Of Life | Part 1: Our Lives Are Not Our Own The New Testament, although emphasizing grace, has hundreds of commands. These are… |
| Stewardship Of Talents | Christian churches sometimes talk about the idea of “stewardship,” but especially for new people, it is often an unfamiliar word…. |
| Stewardship: Our Lives Are Not Our Own | The New Testament, although emphasizing grace, has hundreds of commands. These are not requirements for salvation, but rather describe the results of… |
| Sticking Together | Having a wholesome breakfast prepares us for the day ahead. In many parts of Africa people eat a corn-based porridge… |
| Still Small Voices | I was recently asked to be one of several guest speakers at a women’s conference in South Africa. It was… |
| Stirred – But Not Shaken | Unlike James Bond’s famous cocktails, our faith should be stirred, but not shaken. These are stirring times to be a… |
| Strip These Words From Your Communication | The young couple across the restaurant aisle were obviously angry with one another. The portion of their conversation reaching… |
| Strong Theology Vs. Weak Theology | One of the best definitions of theology is the one ascribed to Anselm of Canterbury (1033-1109), who called it “faith… |
| Submission – A Small Group Study | Introduction As we examine and learn about the life of Jesus Christ, we see that his willingness to serve had… |
| Suffering And Worship | Several years ago, I started a series of messages in my church on worship. As I looked at Scriptures and… |
| Summary Of The Gospel (2 Timothy 2:8-15) | The gospel (verses 8-13) Paul now moves to another topic, and a different style. He begins with a pithy saying:… |
| Surviving The Wilderness | I have almost caught up to the 21st century. I say “almost” because I still don’t have a smart phone,… |
| T.F. Torrance A Theologian For Our Times | T.F. Torrance Theological Fellowship Meeting 2012 Hosted Friday, November 16th. 2012 in Chicago, IL Reverend Father Protopresbyter George Dion… |
| Table Illustrating Doctrinal Differences And Similarities Between Religious Groups | Table Illustrating Doctrinal Differences and Similarities* Doctrinal Question Anglicans Puritans Seventh-day Sabbatarians Is the Sabbath a Creation ordinance? No Yes… |
| Take The Leap | Jesus once told a story about two kinds of people who went to the temple to pray. One of them… |
| Talking With God | We can communicate with God as our Father through the Holy Spirit. “THIS WEEK,” reported Newsweek magazine, “more [Americans] will pray than… |
| Talking With Paul Young | The author of The Shack shares his thoughts about his best-selling novel. I’m the most accidental author you’ll ever meet…. |
| Teaching Kids About Money | Even while your children are small — 3 to 6 years old — you can begin teaching them about money…. |
| Teamwork In The Church | Sometimes Christians assume that full-time pastors serve the Lord more than other members do. Although that may be true in… |
| Ted And Me, And Anthony, Too: The Joy Of Mentoring | By yourself you’re unprotected. With a friend you can face the worst. Can you round up a third? A three-stranded… |
| Teen Ministry: Rethinking Our Paradigm | We are in a “whole new ball game” as we face the complex issues affecting today’s teens in our media-driven… |
| Tell Peter | The life of Peter, Jesus’ friend and leading disciple, is a lesson for all who are discouraged. He struggled with… |
| Text Speak | Dear BF (Best Friends), My first encounter with text-speak came a few years ago when I received an e-mail with… |
| Thank You For Your Donation | Your donation form has been sent to one of our operators for processing. We appreciate your support for the gospel… |
| Thanksgiving | Give thanks with a grateful heart Give thanks to the Holy One Give thanks because He’s given Jesus Christ, His… |
| The Abundant Life | Christ came so we might have life and have it more abundantly (John 10:10). Some modern preachers want us to… |
| The African-American Church | “Eleven o’clock Sunday morning is the most segregated hour, and Sunday school is still the most segregated school of the… |
| The Apostles’ Creed | As the Christian church spread throughout the Roman world in the first century, and as the first leaders died out,… |
| The Art Of Possibility | The Art of Possibility by Rosamund Stone Zander and Benjamin Zander Reviewed by Nan Kuhlman The Art of Possibility, by… |
| The Ascension And The Return Of Christ | In Acts 1:9, we are told: “After Jesus said this, he was taken up before their very eyes, and a… |
| The Audacity To Hope | I hadn’t yet been born when Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. pricked the conscience of the nation with the audacity… |
| The Basics For New Christians | For a nine-session course to use in teaching new Christians the fundamental elements of what it means to be a Christian, go… |
| The Battle Over Genesis 1 | How are Bible-believing Christians in the late 20th century supposed to understand the crucial first chapter of Scripture? “In the… |
| The Battle Over Hell | It was my first visit to the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City. I was standing before The… |
| The Beauty Within | It was a warm summer’s day, so my daughter, two grandsons and I decided to visit the rummage sale at… |
| The Beginning – The First Five Books Of The Bible | The first book of the Old Testament is Genesis, often subtitled “The First Book of Moses.” Tradition says it was… |
| The Best Story Of All: The Gospel | I enjoy reading a book or watching a movie in which a good story unfolds. I especially enjoy it when… |
| The Bi-Vocational Pastor | Misconceptions about “bi-vocational” pastors Increasingly pastors find themselves having to work part-time in a secular profession. They have to do… |
| The Bible: Truth Or Fiction? | Is the Bible the truth of God or merely composed of human ideas? In January 1989, John Shelby Spong, the… |
| The Biblical Understanding Of Truth | My purpose in presenting the above four worldviews is to emphasise their differences. Unless you believe that anything can be true (which… |
| The Big Bang | A recent Wall Street Journal (WSJ) article quoted a poll showing that 51% of Americans do not believe the universe… |
| The Big Bang Points To Creation | For several decades, the prevailing view in cosmology was called the “steady state” theory, the idea that the universe has… |
| The Big Bang Theory | Time Temperature 10-43 sec. Universe is about the size of a dust grain; the fundamental forces initially… |
| The Birth Of Jesus: A Story Of Shame | Jesus’ birth involves more humiliation than glory. The Son of God was in glory, but he saw us living in… |
| The Blame Game And Other Games | Have you ever suffered and then blamed yourself for your misfortune? Perhaps you questioned your faith? You worried that God… |
| The Bond Of Love | Who’s dat?” This is the repeated question of my 1-year-old as she points at people and clutches her favorite book,… |
| The Boy In The Airport | On a windy and cold summer day 20 years ago, I stood in the Aberdeen airport in Aberdeen, Scotland, waiting… |
| The Bread Of Heaven | Jesus said to them, “I tell you the truth, it is not Moses who has given you the bread from… |
| The Bride’s Story | I had been dreaming of this day since I was a little girl because my groom and I had been… |
| The Central Plank Cracks | Transformed by Truth, by Joseph Tkach Chapter 9 British or Anglo-Israelism is a doctrine of little interest to most Evangelicals…. |
| The Certainty Of God’s Love (Romans 8:18-39) | Throughout the book of Romans, Paul has argued that God counts us as righteous because of what Christ has done…. |
| The Christian Life And Our Participation In Christ’s Continuing Ministry | The nature and obligations of the Christian life have received increased emphasis in recent years, especially within evangelical branches of the church in North America, whether within mainline denominations, historically evangelical denominations or independent churches. This emphasis in itself is not problematic and could be an indicator of a growing awareness that being Christian requires a living coherence of piety and practice, faith and obedience, private devotion and public witness, personal holiness and social righteousness. |
| The Christian Sabbath (A Booklet) | Chapter 1: The Law and the Promise Chapter 2: The Law and the Spirit Chapter 3: Entering God’s Rest Chapter… |
| The Christian Sabbath: The Law And The Promise | Some churches teach that Christians ought to keep the seventh-day Sabbath. The basis of this conviction is usually the belief… |
| The Church And Its Ministry | In this essay, Dr. Gary Deddo shows how incarnational Trinitarian theology informs our understanding of the church and its practice of ministry. For additional… |
| The Church, The Kingdom, And Human Government | Introduction Scripture declares that the resurrected and ascended Jesus Christ is Lord and Savior of all the cosmos! This singular… |
| The Church’s Leaky Basement | If water is coming in through your ceiling, you can put a bucket under the leak, then climb up and… |
| The Church’s Worship Calendar | Worship is the divinely created response to the glory of God. It is motivated by divine love and springs from… |
| The Churches At Ephesus, Smyrna, Pergamum And Thyatira (Revelation 2) | Ephesus: The persevering church In the opening letter to the church at Ephesus, Christ is pictured as walking among the… |
| The Colossian Heresy | Jewish legalism — dissident liberalism — or pagan superstition? What was the problem that shook God’s church at Colossae? While… |
| The Coming Of The Lord | What do you think would be the biggest event that could occur on the world scene? Another world war? The… |
| The Comma Of Luke 23:43 | Did Jesus Christ tell the thief on the cross that they would be together in Paradise that very day, or… |
| The Communion Of Saints | The teachings of Jesus often challenge us—they set before us an ideal that is extremely difficult to live up to…. |
| The Concept Of Nature In The Thought Of John Philoponus | “We must now ask how this dynamic and relational way of thinking in his science, strictly in accordance with the nature or… |
| The Controversy About Using “Sacred Names” For God | Now and then, people will encounter a “sacred names” group that insists that it is essential to call God and… |
| The Council Of Chalcedon And The “Two Natures” Controversy | In A.D. 381 the Council of Constantinople rejected the teaching of an elderly bishop from Syria, named Apollinaris. Apollinaris had… |
| The Covenants And The Sabbath: The Biblical Evidence | Are Christians obligated to keep the Sabbath rest law of Exodus 20:8-11? Some Christians believe that the Sabbath must be observed… |
| The Cross As A Symbol | Jesus said, “Anyone who does not take his cross and follow me is not worthy of me” (Matthew 10:38). He… |
| The Curious Incident Of The Dog In The Night-Time | The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time by Mark Haddon Reviewed by Victoria Feazell A friend sent me… |
| The Date Of Jesus’ Birth | Many Christians acknowledge that no one knows the exact day Jesus was born. The precise date of Jesus’ birth is… |
| The Day I Fired Myself | I’m a control freak. I’ve known this for a long time, but when my patient and longsuffering husband pointed out… |
| The Dead Sea Scrolls 60 Years Later | Some of the caves in the sandstone cliffs at Qumran near the Dead Sea, where the first scrolls were found… |
| The Deity Of The Holy Spirit | Christianity has traditionally taught that the Holy Spirit is the third Person or Hypostasis of the Godhead. Some, however, have… |
| The Disciples Encounter A Messianic Ministry | Acts 18:24-19:10 Scene in a synagogue, as depicted by James Tissot Key text: “For he vigorously refuted the Jews in… |
| The Disciples Encounter Mass Evangelism | Acts 2:1-47 The Holy Spirit comes on Pentecost, by Martin Schaffner, 16th century Key text: “Those who accepted his message… |
| The Disciples Encounter Prison Ministries | Acts 16:16-40 Earthquake in the prison, as depicted by Sir James Thornhill Key text: “About midnight Paul and Silas were… |
| The Disciples Encounter Spirit-Led Evangelism | Acts 8:26-40 Philip and the Ethiopian with the scroll of Isaiah, as depicted by Wilhelm Ebbinghaus Key text: “The Spirit… |
| The Disciples Encounter Street Ministries | Acts 3:1-26 Peter and John with the lame man at the temple, as depicted by Raphael Key text: “When all… |
| The Disciples Encounter Worldview Evangelism | Acts 17:16-34 Paul preaches in Athens about the unknown God, as depicted by Gebhard Fugel Key text: “A group of… |
| The Divine Drama | Do you know what is God doing in your life? And what is he doing in the world as a… |
| The Doctrine Of The Trinity – Does It Make Any Difference? | Ask ten average Christians in ten average churches to explain the doctrine of the Trinity, and you’ll probably get ten… |
| The Dual Nature Of Jesus Christ | Critics and inquirers alike often question a core tenet of Christian belief — that Jesus Christ is both fully God… |
| The Early Church And The Law Of Moses | Many early Christians did not completely understand the significance of what Jesus did. Even several decades after Jesus’ death, many… |
| The Election That Really Counts | Most Americans are eagerly anticipating the November elections, hoping that a new president will mean a new beginning for our… |
| The Empty Tomb—What’s In It For You? | We don’t know precisely when. We are not sure exactly where. But early one morning nearly 2000 years ago, something… |
| The Empty Tomb: Reasons To Believe | Jesus Christ’s resurrection from a rock sepulcher galvanized the faith of early Christians. The empty tomb and the appearances of… |
| The End Is A New Beginning | If there is no future, then it would be foolish to have faith in Christ (1 Corinthians 15:19). Prophecy is… |
| The Enigma Of Herbert W. Armstrong | Transformed by Truth, by Joseph Tkach Chapter 12 Advisory to all current or former members of the Worldwide Church of… |
| The Eternal Validity Of God’s Law | Physical circumcision, which was once commanded by God, is no longer required. How can this be? God, the perfect and… |
| The Example Of Abraham (Romans 4) | In the last section of Romans 3, Paul declares that the gospel of salvation announces a righteousness from God, a… |
| The Example Of Jesus (Philippians 2:1-13) | Paul, in prison, is writing to thank and encourage Christians in Philippi. They face their own trials and have their… |
| The Faith Of Abraham | For an overview of what will be covered in this chapter, read Genesis 12–25. Abraham is without question one of… |
| The Faith Of An Atheist | A discussion with Alister McGrath Interview conducted by John Halford JH: Many Christians, when confronted with arguments against the existence… |
| The Favor Of The King | Like many Americans, I enjoy keeping up with the British royals. The birth of the newest prince in July was… |
| The First Church Christmas | “Joy to the world!” Christians look forward to a joyous Christmas season each year. Yet, surprisingly, for the first 300… |
| The First Reforms | Transformed by Truth, by Joseph Tkach Chapter 8 Not long before he died, Herbert Armstrong my dad that some… |
| The Forgettery | A conversation with one of my teenage sons sometimes goes kind of like this: I say, “Did you make your… |
| The Founding Fathers | By John Drane, Ph.D., professor of Religious Studies at Stirling University, Scotland. The story begins with Abraham — or, rather,… |
| The Four Gospels | the |
| The Freedom Of The Person Of Christ | It is necessary to grasp the meaning of three freedoms if we are going to be able to explain the full… |
| The Funeral Pyres Of Kathmandu | Standing on the edge of the Bagmati River, I could see the funeral pyres lining the opposite bank. The steps… |
| The Gathering Storm | The ancient story of Noah building his ark is much more than history. God instructed Noah to build the ark… |
| The Gci Statement Of Beliefs | Christians are exhorted to “grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ” (2 Peter 3:18)…. |
| The Gentle Giant | Seven-feet-two-inches-tall Richard Kiel is probably best known as the actor who played the horrific “Jaws” character in the James Bond… |
| The Gift | I have received many gifts in my life. Some were precisely what I had hoped for, while others were a… |
| The Gift Of Prophecy (1 Corinthians 14:1-12) | The early Christians in Corinth were fascinated with spiritual gifts. After telling them to “desire the greater gifts” (12:31), Paul… |
| The Gift Of Suffering (Philippians 1:21-30) | Paul was in jail, considering the possibility that he might be killed because he had been preaching the gospel of… |
| The Glorious Freedom | By John McKenna From left: Pastor Kang of the Oriental Mission Church, John McKenna, vice president; and Jae Soon Lim, president of… |
| The Gloves Are Off | It was a beautiful, sparkling day outside as I walked into the clinic. One of the technicians quickly greeted me… |
| The Goal Of The Christian Life | What is the goal of the Christian life, and how do we help one another get there? One old catechism… |
| The God Of This World | Satan’s influence is pervasive. He can affect the unwary and strong as well as the weak and insecure. He would… |
| The God Revealed In Jesus Christ – A Booklet | An Introduction to Trinitarian Faith To download a copy of this booklet click a link: PDF / ePub / mobi. It… |
| The Good Life — God Is Working In Us | The vast majority of human beings hunger for the “good life.” But the good life means different things to different… |
| The Good News | Belief in Jesus Christ calls for action. We believe in one God, who has revealed himself as Father, Son, and… |
| The Good News Of Salvation: A Bible Study | In the first century, many Jews looked for a Messiah who would lead the Jewish nation to international power, wealth… |
| The Gospel According To Paul: A Bible Study | Let us see how Paul describes the gospel. We’ll proceed book by book, just skimming the surface, looking primarily at… |
| The Gospel According To Sam | Some people help you understand what the gospel is all about. They cut through all our theological bickering, personality conflicts and… |
| The Gospel And Superman | “I don’t think this world needs Superman. This world doesn’t need a savior,” Lois Lane tells the Man of Steel… |
| The Gospel Really Is Good News | When people gather in churches after a disaster, they come to hear words of comfort, encouragement and hope. Yet, try… |
| The Gospel Revealed (Galatians 1:1-12) | Paul started several churches in the province of Galatia and then moved on to other regions. Then he learned that… |
| The Gospel: It’s Not Fair! | Jesus didn’t carry any swords or spears. He didn’t have an army behind him. His only weapons were his words,… |
| The Gospels And The Gospel | After a three-year study (1991-94), George Barna arrived at a sobering conclusion: “Spiritually speaking, many Christians try to run before… |
| The Gospels And Us | The witnesses to Jesus’ life and their associates affirm that they correctly passed on Jesus’ teachings to us. Can we… |
| The Grace Of Giving (2 Corinthians 8:7-15) | Paul wanted to encourage the believers in Corinth to give generously to the collection he had organized for the poor… |
| The Great Awakening | In 1734, Northampton village in the colony of Massachusetts experienced a remarkable revival that became the catalyst for revivals throughout… |
| The Great Disappointment | On October 22, 1844, as many as 100,000 Christians gathered on hillsides, in meeting places and in meadows. They were… |
| The Great Schism Of The Church | July 6, 1054 was rapidly approaching, and the Christian world was about to experience a major event on the road… |
| The Greatest Birth Story | I was born in a Navy hospital in Pensacola, Florida. No one knew I was breach until the wrong end… |
| The Greatest Commandment | Someone once asked Jesus which command was the most important. He answered, “Love the Lord your God with all your… |
| The Hero Who Wouldn’t | At several times in Jesus’ ministry, he attracted crowds of people who wanted to make him king, but he refused…. |
| The Holy Spirit | The Holy Spirit is God at work—creating, speaking, transforming us, living within us, working in us. Although the Holy Spirit… |
| The Holy Spirit At Work | “The Lord [Jesus] is the Spirit” (2 Corinthians 3:17) and “God [the Father] is Spirit” (John 4:24). Biblically speaking, the… |
| The Holy Spirit Is The Personal Presence Of God Himself | Christians believe in one God whose being is the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. We do not worship… |
| The Importance Of Doctrine | “I don’t want to study doctrine,” one person said. “I’m tired of doctrine. I want sermons to be short and… |
| The Incarnation: The Greatest Miracle | Which is the greatest miracle of all? Many Christians would point to the resurrection of Jesus after his death on… |
| The Intermediate State | Between a person’s death and the resurrection, is the person conscious, or not? Most Christians believe that the person is… |
| The Irony Of It All | So one atheist was Christmas shopping with another atheist. The mall was crowded, but people were jolly. The Yuletide music… |
| The Jonah Syndrome | How I learned to stop worrying, and meet the Assyrians “Show proper respect to everyone; love the brotherhood of believers,… |
| The Joy Of Salvation | Have you ever noticed that we tend to appreciate things more after they are gone? People take better care of… |
| The Key To Biblical Poetry | How can we increase in biblical understanding? One way is to learn more about biblical poetry. Several books in the… |
| The Kingdom Of God | Introduction Down through the ages, the kingdom of God has been the focus of much Christian teaching, and rightly so…. |
| The Lady With The Lamp | I don’t know her name. But for about 20 minutes, she was Florence Nightingale for me. They called her “The… |
| The Last Judgment | What should God do about evil? Many people have mixed feelings about what God should do. On one hand, they… |
| The Law And The Spirit | In chapter one we saw that the Sinai law, or law of Moses, was God’s covenant with ancient Israel and not with… |
| The Law Could Not Save Us (Hebrews 10:1-4) | The book of Hebrews explains that Jesus Christ is the perfect priest and the perfect sacrifice. Chapter 10 concludes the… |
| The Law Is Holy, Just And Good — A Study Of Matthew 5 | We are no longer under the supervision of the law, writes Paul (Galatians 3:25). But the same apostle also writes,… |
| The Law Of Love (Romans 13:8-14) | The law of love After saying that we should pay whatever we owe, Paul shifts the subject back to love:… |
| The Law Used Properly (1 Timothy 1:3-11) | The early church had doctrinal disagreements and behavioral problems. Paul asked Timothy to take care of several problems in Ephesus…. |
| The Life And Ministry Of Jesus Christ | Our top four articles: Who Is This Man? by Michael Morrison Who Was Jesus Before His Human Birth? by Paul Kroll… |
| The Life And Times Of Martin Luther King, Jr. | 1929-1968 Martin Luther King Jr. was a major leader of the U.S. civil rights movement beginning in the mid-1950s. Americans… |
| The Light Of Lights | My teenage son is a Hoosier fan and one of his Christmas gifts was that I would take him to… |
| The Limits Of Wisdom | In this series, we have commented on the tremendous value of wisdom. The wisdom literature, especially Proverbs and Ecclesiastes, gives… |
| The Lord Is My Shepherd | One of the best-loved passages in the Bible is Psalm 23. Its simple affirmation of complete trust and confidence in… |
| The Lord Our God, The Lord Is One | Chapter 3 of God Is… Judaism. Christianity. Islam. These three great faiths all look to Abraham as their father. Abraham… |
| The Lord’s Supper Reminds Us Of God’s Love | As often as we observe the Lord’s Supper, we should let it remind us afresh of God’s love for us,… |
| The Loss Of A Loved One | My wife was in bed. She’d been there for about three weeks with what we had been told was a… |
| The Meaning Of Christmas | In the Christmas season we celebrate the joy of Jesus’ birth. It is the story of the Son of God… |
| The Message Of Hosea 11 | Hosea 11 illustrates God’s persevering love for his children – a love so strong that it continues despite rebellion, a… |
| The Message Of Jesus: A Bible Study | This is the first of a series of six Bible studies. Although you may get the gist of the answer… |
| The Messianic Secret | Have you ever wondered why Jesus never preached Jesus? He went about doing good, the Bible tells us. He healed… |
| The Miracle Of Jesus’ Birth | “Can you read that?” The tourist asked me, pointing to a large silver star bearing a Latin inscription: “Hic de… |
| The Miracle Workers | My favorite movie of all time is The Miracle Worker, the story of blind, deaf Helen Keller and her teacher,… |
| The Miracles Of Jesus: Aid Or Obstacle To Your Faith? | Some scholars say that the miracles of Jesus are hoaxes. If they are right, Jesus cannot be our Savior. In… |
| The Most Excellent Way (1 Corinthians 13:1-13) | The church in first-century Corinth was plagued with social divisions and rivalries. Paul explained to them that God gives different… |
| The Movie Of Life | “All the world’s a stage,” said Shakespeare in As You Like It, “and all the men and women [are] merely players: They… |
| The Name Of God | When God called to Moses out of the burning bush, telling him to free the Israelites from bondage in Egypt,… |
| The Name Of The Lord’s Supper | Passover, Communion, Lord’s Supper, Eucharist: All are traditional names for the observance commemorating Jesus’ death. Should we use any (or… |
| The Nature Of Leadership In The Church | Preface Our doctrinal team is examining what the Bible says about whether women may serve in the office of elder…. |
| The Need For “Depth Perception” In Church History | An important part of learning to drive is depth perception. Drivers need to know where they are in relation to… |
| The New Atheists | I marvel at the way God created humanity in his own image, giving us rich and vivid imaginations and creativity…. |
| The New Covenant And The Sabbath | This is a sermon given by Joseph W. Tkach, Sr., then Pastor General of the Worldwide Church of God. The sermon was… |
| The New Covenant In A Nutshell | Someone asked, “We know that the new covenant brought an end to various old covenant rituals. But what is the… |
| The New Covenant Is Older Than You Think | Christians are under the guidance and authority of the new covenant, not the old covenant. This brings up an important… |
| The New Covenant Makes Some Biblical Laws Obsolete | Early Christians may have been surprised that any biblical command (including the sacrifices and rituals) could become unnecessary. If God had given… |
| The New Niv: Popular English Translation Updated | Biblica (formerly known as the International Bible Society) has announced an update for the New International Version. Since the NIV… |
| The Nicene Creed | Ancient Greeks believed in a wide variety of gods and goddesses – beings who fought one another, were immoral, dishonest… |
| The Nicene Creed’s Incarnational Trinitarian Roots | As noted by TF Torrance in The Trinitarian Faith, the Nicene Creed is the work of the Greek-speaking early church fathers in carefully expressing crucial points of the Gospel where it was being seriously misrepresented under the influence of a dualistic Greek (Hellenized) philosophy. That philosophy posited that God, being one, perfect and unchangeable, must, necessarily, be separate from and have nothing to do with physical matter (including flawed human beings). |
| The Nightingales Of Bangladesh | Dr. John Biswas, founder of Bengali Evangelical Association (BEA), has worked for more than 20 years to bring the gospel… |
| The Numbers Game | Some people insist on forcing contrived numerical patterns into the biblical text, which lead to spectacular, but unwarranted, conclusions. Such… |
| The Object Of Worship | The law given to ancient Israel was designed to last only until Christ came, and it should not be confused… |
| The Old And New Covenants | redirect |
| The Old Covenant And The Law Of Moses | There are three major foundations for understanding the covenants and the Old Testament law. All three give the same conclusion…. |
| The Origins Of Sunday Worship In The Early Church | Introduction This article examines the evidence that some Christian communities began meeting on the first day of the week after… |
| The Parable Of The Ugly Cat | Jesus drew lessons from lilies, trees, sparrows and fish and even has some complimentary things to say about dogs. I… |
| The Passover-Easter-Quartodeciman Controversy | Early church history contains records of an obscure, but once quite heated controversy — the Quartodeciman controversy. (Quartodeciman refers to… |
| The Pastor’s Calling | Many people have no idea what pastors do, and it’s not unusual for pastors to feel inadequate in their role…. |
| The Perfect Communicator | Speaking and listening are not ends in themselves. They are means to an end. The real goal of communications is… |
| The Place Of Obedience In The Christian Life | bridge from category to book |
| The Power Of Intent | Many people want to understand how to respond to Christ’s command that we are part of his Great Commission. They… |
| The Power Of The Atom | On August 6, 1945, a single atomic bomb was dropped on Hiroshima, Japan, devastating most of the city (below). Photo… |
| The Power Of The Resurrection | Christians accept the resurrection accounts on faith, but it is a faith sealed by the inward testimony of the Holy… |
| The Prayer God Always Answers | How can you be confident God will listen and reply to your prayer? The answer is simply to pray a… |
| The Present And Future Kingdom Of God | “Repent, for the kingdom of God is at hand.” John the Baptist and Jesus proclaimed the nearness of God’s kingdom… |
| The Prince Of Peace | When Jesus Christ was born, a company of angels proclaimed, “Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace… |
| The Prince Who Smells Good | Different cultures use a great variety of words and expressions for “God.” In Madagascar, an island country off the southeast… |
| The Problem Of Evil – A Biblical Theodicy | If God is great and God is good, then why would he allow evil to exist? Evil is a daily reality…. |
| The Problem Of Forgiveness | In my city a few years ago, a woman started out from home with her two young sons to visit… |
| The Prominence Of Women In The Gospel Of Luke | Women were prominent in Luke’s portrayal of Jesus’ life. Elizabeth, mother of John the Baptist: Elizabeth was the mother of… |
| The Prophetic Meaning Of Daniel 2 And 7 | Do Daniel 2 and 7 predict events of our day, such as the rise of the European Community? Where might… |
| The Prophets | The Prophetic Meaning of Daniel 2 and 7 Hosea: The Great Reversal of the Great I-Am The Message of Hosea… |
| The Prophets And The Sabbath | Let’s now consider two facts about the Sabbath in the Old Testament: The Israelites were punished severely for breaking the… |
| The Protestant Church In Hitler’s Germany And The Barmen Declaration | On January 30, 1933, German President Paul von Hindenburg appointed Adolf Hitler Chancellor of Germany. Less than two months later,… |
| The Purpose Of Blessings | People often ask why God allows trials. When we are in a trial, we want to know why. Why has… |
| The Purpose Of Freedom (Galatians 5:1-25) | Paul has vigorously argued that Christians are not enslaved to sin and not enslaved to law. How then do we… |
| The Quest For The Ideal Church | Are you on a quest to find The Ideal Church? Perhaps you know the one I mean. It is the church… |
| The Question Of Christ’s Prayers | Some people ask: Since God is one, why did Jesus have to pray to the Father? Behind this question lies… |
| The Radical Consequences Of Justification | The article “The Radical Consequences of Justification” is Part III of Thomas F. Torrance’s longer article “Justification: its Radical Nature… |
| The Rain Won’t Stop Until… | A friend from the Chewa tribe taught me a proverb from the Eastern Province in Zambia that goes like this: “Mvula… |
| The Real Christmas Miracle Story | Every Christmas season, Christians give thanks to our heavenly Father for his love and grace, showered upon us through the birth… |
| The Reflection Of God’s Glory (Hebrews 1:1-12) | In the first century, some Jews believed in Jesus as the Messiah and yet still wanted all the rituals of… |
| The Religion Of Atheism | Shakespeare’s line from Hamlet, “The lady doth protest too much, methinks,” often is quoted to describe someone who seeks to… |
| The Resurrection Body (1 Corinthians 15:35-50) | Ancient Greek philosophers believed that the world of spirit is perfect, whereas the world of matter is bad. The human… |
| The Resurrection Of Jesus: A History Of Interpretation | The resurrection of Jesus has traditionally been a central claim of Christianity. The New Testament documents report that his disciples… |
| The Resurrection Of Jesus: A History Of Interpretation – Endnotes | 1 1 Cor 15:14. New Revised Standard used throughout. 2 Mark 16:11. Although this verse was apparently not in the… |
| The Resurrection Of The Body And Why It Matters | When Christ returns, the dead will be resurrected. “With what body do they come?” some ask. Will their atoms be… |
| The Resurrection: Our Hope For The Future | The apostle Paul tells us, “If there is no resurrection of the dead, then not even Christ has been raised…. |
| The Return Of The Prodigal Son | The Return of the Prodigal Son by Henri Nouwen Reviewed by Terry Akers Henri Nouwen (1932-1996), a Dutch Catholic priest,… |
| The Rewards Of Following Christ | Peter once asked Jesus, “We have left everything to follow you! What then will there be for us?” (Matthew 19:27)…. |
| The Right Hand Of Fellowship | Transformed by Truth, by Joseph Tkach Chapter 4 When word first started to circulate about the transformation taking place in… |
| The Right Place At The Right Time | At a meeting on how to attract more customers in our direct-selling business, one woman shared her strategy: to be… |
| The Road To Nicea, And Beyond | Henry Ford is supposed to have said “History is bunk!” Abraham Lincoln’s insight, “we cannot escape history,” is much closer… |
| The Role Of The Decalogue In Christian Ethics | How are Christians to evaluate the laws of the Torah? How are we to use these writings, some of which… |
| The Role Of The Law In Christian Life | In Paul’s theology, near the center of his good news message about Jesus Christ, is the doctrine of justification by… |
| The Role Of The Ten Commandments In Christian Life | The Sabbath is part of the Ten Commandments. If the Sabbath can be done away, at least in its literal… |
| The Sabbath And The Ten Commandments | The Sabbath was commanded before Sinai — only a few weeks before. We find it in Exodus 16. There, Moses… |
| The Sabbath In Acts And The Epistles | 1. In Antioch, what did Paul do on the Sabbath? Acts 13:14. In Corinth, what did he do? Acts 18:1-4. Did… |
| The Sabbath: Hebrews 4:9 And Other Questions | Does Hebrews 4:9 command Christians to keep the Sabbath? The epistle to the Hebrews may have been written to Jewish believers who… |
| The Sacred-Name Question | Some people claim that God must be addressed by the Hebrew name YHWH, and that unless we call him Yahweh we are… |
| The Scarred Frog Blanket | My 4-year-old son stomped into the kitchen and announced, “Mommy, I was playing, and a hole ripped in my frog… |
| The Search For The Real Words Of Jesus | Some scholars think the Gospels attribute sayings to Jesus he never made. The Gospel writers denied that they put their own… |
| The Second-Best Christmas Gift | Sam wakes slowly as the sun breaks through the window. It is a Saturday morning in January. Sam smiles, remembering… |
| The Serpent And You | In the paradise of Eden, Adam and Eve had all they needed. They were content at first. God had given… |
| The Shepherd’s Story | “And there were in the same country shepherds living in the fields, keeping watch over their flocks by night.” A… |
| The Single-Parenting Challenge | There were no chairs, so we sat on the floor. Elaine (not her real name) shared the three-room, basement apartment… |
| The Skill Of The Writers | Biblical authors put much thought and effort into composing God’s Word. They wanted to make sure that the reader would… |
| The Slide Into Alcohol Abuse | The slide into alcohol abuse can be gradual and subtle. Many in society use alcohol to cope with their daily… |
| The Spark Of Life | The beginning of life has always amazed me. The fact that God designed life to start from something as small… |
| The Spirit Brings Freedom (2 Corinthians 3:12-4:2) | Paul’s boldness in Christ Once Paul understood the change, he was strengthened and encouraged: “Therefore, since we have such a… |
| The Storms Of Life | Years ago, traveling preachers would come to town, pitch a large tent, preach the gospel nightly for about a week,… |
| The Strange List Of Widows (1 Timothy 5:1-16) | Most people read this chapter without thinking much about it. Almost no one has ever heard a sermon on it…. |
| The Strange Variety Of Old Testament Laws | Someone once asked Jesus, Out of all the laws in the Bible, which is the most important? (Matthew 22:36). Jesus… |
| The Suffering God | I don’t get it. Why does God just stand by and let such horrible things happen as go on in this … |
| The Superior Ministry Of Jesus (Hebrews 8:1-13) | The New Testament tells us that Jesus is our intercessor, our mediator, our Savior and King. But only the book… |
| The Sword | Luke 2:25-39; 4:16-30; 8:19; Mark 3:20-21; 31-35; 15:42-47 Tears of relief flooded my eyes when Joseph of Arimathea was allowed… |
| The Synagogue Ruler’s Wife | Matthew 9:18-19; 23-26; Mark 5:22-24; 35-43; Luke 8:41-42; 49-56 I will never, ever forget the day I met Jesus. Our… |
| The Syro-Phoenician Mother | Matthew 15:21-28; Mark 7:24-30 I was beyond desperate. My precious little girl was terrified and completely out of her mind…. |
| The Thief’s Story | “Two robbers were crucified with him, one on his right and one on his left” (Mark 15:27). Our cell was… |
| The Three-Fold Meaning Of The Lord’s Supper | The Lord’s Supper is a reminder of what Jesus did in the past, a symbol of our present relationship with… |
| The Time Has Come For My Departure (2 Timothy 4:6-18) | Paul is in prison, waiting for his last trial. He knows that he will probably lose and then be executed… |
| The Tree | The evergreen tree symbolizes the faithfulness of God, remaining forever the same, even during the darkness and cold of winter. The… |
| The Trial Of Job | Have you experienced pain and suffering? Then you have shared Job’s anguish and perhaps his wonderment. Like Job, you also… |
| The Trinity: 1 + 1 + 1 = 1 ? | It Just Doesn’t Add Up The Father is God, and the Son is God, and the Holy Spirit is God,… |
| The Trinity: Just A Doctrine? | Ask ten average Christians in ten average churches to explain the doctrine of the Trinity, and you’ll probably get ten… |
| The Two Natures Of Jesus Christ | Critics and inquirers alike often question a core tenet of Christian belief — that Jesus Christ is both fully God… |
| The Ultimate Philosophical Question | We’ve all had children ask us questions like, “Where do babies come from?” And there are the incessant “Why?” questions… |
| The Unclean Woman | Mark 5:21-42 People cautiously stepped aside when I walked by. Most were disgusted by my presence. I was the unclean… |
| The Unexpected Messiah | Why didn’t Jesus go down in history as a failure? In fact, why did he go down in history at… |
| The Untold “Unstory” Of Trophimus | We who live by faith in Jesus Christ have no need of patron saints, secondary role models or supplementary heroes…. |
| The Use And Misuse Of Spiritual Gifts | We have come to a greater awareness of the spiritual gifts God gives his people. We understand from Scripture some… |
| The Weekly Sabbath — Jesus’ Example | Of all Old Testament laws, the weekly Sabbath is probably the most controversial today. Many Christians believe they ought to… |
| The Weekly Worship Service | I. Overview This is a suggested order for the weekly worship service of the congregation. GCI does not require a… |
| The Wisdom Of Weakness (1 Corinthians 1:18-31) | The message about a crucified Messiah might seem preposterous to some people, but God uses that message to bring salvation… |
| The Woman Accused Of Adultery | John 8:1-11 Just before dawn, the door to our hiding place burst open and slammed against the wall. Scribes and… |
| The Worst Day Of Your Life Could Be The Best | Have you ever had a really bad day? Maybe you’ve been fired, totaled your car, and, just when you thought… |
| The Written Word Of God | How do we know who Jesus is, or what he taught? How do we know when a teaching is false?… |
| The Yoke Was On Me! | No — it’s neither misprint nor “typo.” The yoke really was on me. Both of us, two students participating in… |
| Theater Of The Imagination | Little did I know in my senior year of college that we were having fun participating in a centuries-old form… |
| Theology Affects The Way We Live | Ideas have consequences. The way we think about God affects the way we respond to him. In other words, our… |
| Theology As A Framework For Life And Ministry | Theology is important to us because it offers a framework for our belief in God. But there is a lot… |
| Theology In Perspective | Good theology is important, for bad theology distorts our understanding of God and our relationship with him. However, it’s important… |
| Theology, Science And Genesis | Genesis is perhaps the most debated book in the Bible, largely because its purpose and nature are often misunderstood. Fundamentalists… |
| Theology: What Difference Does It Make? | “Don’t talk to me about theology. Just teach me the Bible.” To the average Christian, theology might sound like something… |
| There Is A Hole In My Campus | While visiting California recently I decided to stop off at a private parochial high school where I used to teach… |
| There Is Much Work To Do | Good things are happening in the church of Jesus Christ! But we cannot take credit for it — it is… |
| There She Is! | Every time I walked in the door, Dad would clap his hands, look pleased and say, “There she is!” He… |
| These Pancakes Taste Like Rubber! | About 3 pm one Tuesday, we received a phone call informing us that my Aunt Polly, my late mom’s beloved… |
| Think About Jesus And Be Faithful (Hebrews 3:1-19) | How can we be faithful? How can we help one another? Hebrews 3 addresses these questions. They are as important… |
| Think On Good Things (Philippians 4:1-9) | As Paul nears the end of his friendly letter to the church in Philippi, he encourages his readers to focus… |
| This Is Eternal Life | We invite you to participate in the same life-transforming adventure that Jesus Christ offered his first disciples. Nearly 2,000 years… |
| This Is Living Faith | Living faith, the kind of faith described in the Bible, can transform your life, enabling you to enjoy a close, personal… |
| Those Called Together | Here’s why each Christian needs the church — and why the church needs each Christian. What comes to mind when… |
| Thoughts About Consciousness | Philosophers and theologians refer to what is called the mind-body problem. This is not a problem about fine-motor coordination (like… |
| Three Aspects, One Great Event | In his Gospel and epistles, the apostle John tells us that God is light, love and life. These three key… |
| Three Basics Of Christian Life | The book of Acts tells us that the first Christians “devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and to the fellowship,… |
| Three Days And Three Nights In The Tomb? | In Matthew 12:40, Jesus says that he will be buried “three days and three nights.” We used to teach 1)… |
| Three Historic Christian Creeds | A creed is a brief statement of faith used to list important truths, to clarify doctrinal points and to distinguish… |
| Three Reasons To Give | God’s old covenant people had to give at least 10 percent of their income, plus offerings on other occasions. In… |
| Three Rs For Easter | Teachers tell us that to lay the foundation for a good education, students need to master the three academic Rs—Reading,… |
| Three Views Of The Millennium | Three Views of the Millennium For many Christians, the millennium is a very important doctrine. For some, it is “the… |
| Three-Month Spending Worksheet | See below to download this chart in either Word or pdf format. |
| Time For New Methods | No sooner had I written the article “Time for New Trees” than it seemed the Lord had another series of… |
| Time For New Trees | It is an interesting time in the life of the Williams family apple orchard. Our 35 acres of trees in… |
| Time Of Refreshing | Living water will refresh even the most parched and desolate of our hearts— if we believe in the One from… |
| Timeless Truths In Cultural Clothes: The Authority Of The New Testament Writings | Most Christians accept the Bible as authoritative, as a book that gives reliable spiritual guidance. If we took a survey… |
| Tired Of Life, With Everything To Live For | As a member of our local Ministerial Association, I take my turn with a Bible Study at one of the… |
| Tithing | Many Christian churches are quite willing to do away with Sabbaths and dietary laws, but some are not willing to… |
| Tithing In Israel | God instituted a financial system in Israel that enabled the Levitical priesthood to perform its religious functions. This system also… |
| To Know And Do The Will Of God | We’re delighted when friends express interest in our denomination. We’d like to share with you some of our basic values… |
| To Know Christ And Him Crucified | The death of Jesus on the cross was the single most important act in human history. Without his death, we… |
| Tongues-Speaking In Corinth | On Paul’s second major journey to preach the gospel to gentiles, he went into Europe, preaching briefly in Philippi, Thessalonica,… |
| Too Much Grace? | The Nature of Grace Sometimes I’ve heard expressed a concern about emphasizing grace too much. The suggested corrective to this… |
| Too Old To Be Useful? | When, 17 years ago, my eldest daughter announced that she was pregnant, everyone in the family was delighted. Except me…. |
| Touching The World In Two Ways | Some people think that Christianity is interesting, but basically irrelevant—a harmless superstition. It’s fine for you, they might say, but… |
| Train Up A Child… | Most Christian parents want nothing more than for their children to know Jesus Christ. For years I read several scriptural… |
| Transformations In The History Of Cosmology | Abstract: The argument of this essay would help us to see the need to overcome the dualistic tendencies of our thought… |
| Transformed By Christ: A Brief History Of Grace Communion International | In the early 1930s, Herbert Armstrong began a ministry that eventually became our denomination. He had many unusual doctrines. He… |
| Transformed By Truth | redirects to /books/transformed-by-truth |
| Treasure In The Trash | The American children’s television series Sesame Street, well known for its “Muppets” characters, premiered on November 10, 1969, and it… |
| Trials And Faith | Some Christians think that they have a guaranteed a way to escape trials. They point to biblical promises that God… |
| Trials, Faith, And Healing | How do trials relate to the “name it and claim it” teaching, also known as the “word of faith” teaching?… |
| Truce On Earth, Good Will Toward Men | Many years ago, I met an old soldier. A very old soldier. Frank Sumpter was more than 100 years old… |
| Trumpets: A Festival Fulfilled In Christ | September often includes the Jewish festival called “Rosh Hashanah,” which in Hebrew means “the head of the year.” Among the traditions practiced… |
| Trust And Transformation | An ancient story from the poet Rumi tells about a young man named Nasuh who had a job in a… |
| Trusting God With The Problem Of Sin | “OK, I understand that the blood of Christ covers all sin. And I understand that there is nothing I can… |
| Truth In Advertising | Have you ever watched a TV advertisement that makes an offer that seems so outstanding, and the price so ridiculously cheap,… |
| Truth: A Choice To Be Made | Truth calls for a response. We can face the light of God’s truth as it is revealed in the person… |
| Tsunami Report—An Insider’s View | Greetings from Singapore, where I have just had a meeting with one of the senior leaders of the body of… |
| Turn-Key Or Makeover? | If you are thinking about finding a new church home, you might want to consider doing your shopping with a… |
| Twilight Of Faith | Chapter One Millions of species share this planet. But only we humans have developed science and religion. Only we have… |
| Two Peas, Same Pod? | Humans have a natural proclivity for creating a routine. Once we find something that works, we tend to do it… |
| Two Truths We Learn From Jesus’ Death | Jesus Christ died for us, forgiving all our debts, rescuing us from the slavery of sin, redeeming us from its… |
| Types Of Psalms | Royal Psalms Scholars often refer to some of the psalms as “royal” psalms. These psalms are not all of one… |
| Typology Of Israelite Annual Festivals | The New Testament declares that Old Testament laws were “shadows” of Jesus Christ. Colossians 2:16-17 states this about the days… |
| U.S. Church Administration Manuals | U.S. Church Administration Manual PDF format (requires Adobe Acrobat Reader or another PDF reader) To access other manuals, click… |
| Underlining Life | Recently I read a book that challenged me, upset me and tested my attitude in a very unusual way. A… |
| Understanding Genesis For All It’s Worth | Interview with Christian Minister and Marine Biologist Dr. Dennis Gordon I’ve always, ever since a child, been interested in nature…. |
| Unmasking Male Depression | In this article, I would like to explore what I consider perhaps to be one of the most significant challenges… |
| Up, Down, And Content Through It All | On a shelf in my office stands a first-place trophy for bowling. Draped over it is a last-place crying towel…. |
| Upward, Inward And Outward In Words And Deeds | People sometimes use the phrase “upward, inward, and outward” to describe our Christian lives. “Upward” refers to our relationship with… |
| Urge Protection | The first intimation I had that something was wrong was when my wife came down to the barn where I… |
| Using Christmas To Teach Children About Jesus | Parents or guardians are usually the most important influences in children’s spiritual development. This presents both a responsibility and an… |
| Using Knowledge Wisely | Not long ago I was conversing with a man about some special understanding he had reached while doing biblical research…. |
| Vacation Or Mission? | Do short-term mission trips do anyone any good? |
| Vatican Ii And The Future Of Church Unity | On October 11, 1962, twenty-four hundred Roman Catholic bishops marched phalanx-style in rows of six through St. Peter’s Square. Behind… |
| Victory On The Cross (Colossians 2:6-19) | The believers in Colossae are doing quite well, but Paul wants to help them resist not only bizarre teachings, but… |
| Walking In His Steps | For almost 2,000 years, people have responded to Jesus’ challenge to follow him. His call continues to confront us… |
| War And Vengeance In The Epistles And Revelation | No pacifists were among the Old Testament righteous. In the law, loving neighbor did not exclude all possibility of killing… |
| War In The Old Testament | This is the first article in a series that addresses the topic of military service and warfare and the related… |
| Warfare And The Ethics Of Jesus Christ | The Sermon on the Mount If Christian pacifism has a basis, it must be found in the New Testament. Yet… |
| Warning Signals Of Financial Trouble | Based on information from the American Bankers Association, here are 10 warning signals that can help you determine if you… |
| Was Jesus Crucified On A Wednesday? | In Matthew 12:40, Jesus says that he will be buried “three days and three nights.” Some people teach 1) that… |
| Was Jesus Plan “B?” | The apostle Paul declares that the Father “predestined us to adoption as sons [and daughters] through Jesus Christ to Himself”… |
| Was The Sabbath Commanded At Creation? | Now we are better prepared to study the specific issue of the Sabbath, which may be the most controversial of… |
| Was The Sabbath Made For All Human Beings? | After the Pharisees criticized Jesus for allowing his disciples to pick some grain on the Sabbath day, Jesus said, “The… |
| Washing Your Children In The Word | I was recently reflecting on a particularly difficult period of my life, a time when my wife, Barb, and I… |
| Watching God Work In The Philippines | “We aren’t coming for a vacation—we are coming to serve. We don’t want to be a burden—we want to do… |
| Waters Of Life | Sometimes we forget what a blessing it is to be able to turn on a faucet and have fresh, clean,… |
| We Are All One In Christ (Galatians 3:23-29) | Paul writes: “Before faith came” [that is, before Christ], “we [the Jews] were held captive under the law, imprisoned until… |
| We Are Growing In Important Ways | Our denomination was founded by people who were committed in sacrifice and prayer to build a powerful radio ministry. Today,… |
| We Are Living In ‘The Last Days’ | Do we see “the signs of the times”? “Mark this,” Paul wrote. “There will be terrible times in the last days”… |
| We Don’t Trust You | Hi Pastor Rick, welcome to our church. We wanted to say we liked your sermon, and we don’t want you… |
| We Say Goodbye… …But Then What Happens When We Die? | A much-loved relative had died “full of years,” as the King James Bible quaintly puts it. Family and friends gathered… |
| We Were Always On His Mind | The doctrine of the Trinity has been with us for more than 1,600 years. Most Christians consider it to be… |
| We Were Not A Burden (1 Thessalonians 2:9-13) | Paul had been accused of tricking the believers in Thessalonika, of using them just to get support for himself. He… |
| We Will Live Again! (1 Corinthians 15:12-20) | All in vain? After noting that the gospel includes the news of Jesus’ resurrection, Paul begins to reason: “But if… |
| We’re Often Asked | Here are GCI’s answers to some frequently asked questions. For additional ones, click here then click on “FAQ.” Who is God?… |
| Weapons And Warfare In Ancient Israel | By James Moyer, Ph.D., chairman of the Department of Religious Studies, Southwest Missouri State University. The book of Judges describes… |
| Wedding Ceremony | [Man’s first name] and [woman’s first name], together with their families and friends, appreciate your attendance to share their joy… |
| Welcome To Our Fellowship | the |
| What About “Eternal Security”? | The doctrine of eternal security in theological language is referred to as the “perseverance of the saints.” In common expression… |
| What About “The Rapture”? | The “rapture” is a belief among some Christians about what happens to believers before Jesus’ return in glory. They use… |
| What About Biblical Prophecy? | The church sees prophecy in the following contexts. First, there is a past aspect to the gospel, in which Christ… |
| What About Divorce And Remarriage? | To understand the biblical teaching on divorce and remarriage, we should begin with an overview of marriage. God instituted marriage, we… |
| What About The “Intermediate State”? | The intermediate state is the condition of the dead until the resurrection of the body. Christians hold various viewpoints on… |
| What About The Ten Commandments And “The Law”? | Some Christians ask: “If the Law is done away, how do we know what God expects of us, and what… |
| What And Why Healing | Sickness, disease and injuries are among mankind’s greatest foes. Here is God’s message of hope for the sick and injured…. |
| What Are Human Beings? | When we look at the heavens, when we consider the moon and stars, when we consider the enormity of the… |
| What Are Spiritual Disciplines? | “I see that salvation is accomplished by God from start to finish and not by me, but I’d still like… |
| What Did The Apostles Preach? | Chapter 2 of Good News for Ordinary People The book of Acts shows a dramatic change in the disciples. No more… |
| What Do The Scriptures Say About The Sabbath? | Part 1: The Books of Moses Some Christians observe the Sabbath on the seventh day of the week – Friday… |
| What Do The Writings And The Prophets Say About The Sabbath? | The Israelites were punished for breaking the Sabbath (Nehemiah 13:17-18; Jeremiah 17:27). They were promised blessings for keeping the Sabbath… |
| What Do You Mean. . .”Jesus Is God”? | Jesus Christ is the second Person of the Godhead, sent by the Father as Jesus Christ to be God revealed… |
| What Does “Perish” Mean? | Question: Some theologians say that unrepentant sinners will “perish in the lake of fire.” What does this mean? Answer: The… |
| What Does Deuteronomy 12:30-31 Forbid? | ‘You must not worship God in their way’ Some people claim that Deuteronomy 12:30-31commands us not to borrow any… |
| What Does Deuteronomy 6:4 Mean? | “Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one.” (Deut. 6:4) The problem in translating this verse is… |
| What Does Genesis 1 Really Teach? | The debate between Christianity and science concerns not just the scientific facts, but how they fit in with the teaching… |
| What Does It Mean To Be Born Again? | What does the Bible mean when it refers to being “born again”? The phrase, spoken by Jesus, is found in… |
| What Does Jesus Have To Do With Easter? | Hints of sunrise dimmed the eastern stars. Through the darkness Mary Magdalene hurried to the garden tomb that Joseph of… |
| What Does Jesus Want For Christmas? | Shortly after Jesus was born, wise men brought him gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh. These were quite valuable—presents that… |
| What Does The Bible Say About The Sabbath? | Overview Q&A article: Is the Sabbath required for Christians today? The Sabbath in the Books of Moses The “rest” of… |
| What Does The Bible Say About War And Violence? | t |
| What Events Are Worth Celebrating? | These things are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by… |
| What Happens In Heaven… | My friends have a sign at their lake cabin: “What happens at the cabin, stays at the cabin.” A spin… |
| What Happens When We Die? | A funeral is never easy, but this one was going to be particularly difficult. Janet seemed to be a successful,… |
| What Is “Heaven”? | Is “heaven” a place, a condition of existence, a close relationship with God, or something else? Do the righteous go… |
| What Is Alcoholism? | It is common to speak of drinking problems in terms of drunkenness or alcoholism. What is not generally understood is… |
| What Is An Evangelical? | What is an “evangelical” Christian? We are members of the National Association of Evangelicals, and we have called ourselves an… |
| What Is Christianity? | Linked and described below are six articles that address key issues related to Christianity. 1. New Life in Christ It’s easy… |
| What Is Salvation? | “Why am I alive?” “Does my life have any purpose?” “What will happen to me after I die?” You’ve probably… |
| What Is Salvation? | Salvation is a rescue operation. To understand salvation, we need to know what the problem was, what God did about… |
| What Is Sin? | People sometimes ask us to explain what the Bible means when it speaks of sin. When they ask about the… |
| What Is The Church? | The Bible says that people who have faith in Christ become part of the “church.” What is the church? How… |
| What Is The Law Of God For Christians? | In the King James Version, 1 John 3:4 defines sin as “the transgression of the law.” John was referring to… |
| What Is Time? | Perhaps you’ll chuckle when I tell you that Does Anybody Really Know What Time It Is?, by the rock group… |
| What Is Truth And Does It Matter? | A recent Barna Research Group survey on what Americans believe asked the question, “Is there absolute Truth?” Sixty-six percent of… |
| What Is Truth? | https://archive.gci.org/books/what-is-truth/ |
| What Is Worship? A Survey Of Scripture | This article explores the topic of worship, looking at how the people of God worshiped before Moses, after Moses, and… |
| What Is Youth Ministry? | I was sitting on the deck outside the house at a youth summer camp a few years back. It was… |
| What Jesus Said About Himself: A Bible Study | Jesus preached the kingdom of God. However, the early church preached mostly about Jesus. Is there a contradiction in this?… |
| What Jesus’ Incarnation Shows Us About What It Means To Be A Human | “The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us” (John 1:14) is arguably the most profound and exciting statement… |
| What Jesus’ Parables Reveal | About one third of Jesus Christ’s recorded teachings are in the form of parables. What do they mean? Only the… |
| What Law Is “Done Away” And What “Law” Do Christians Keep? | Some Christians believe that they should keep old covenant observances such as the weekly and annual Sabbaths. A person is… |
| What Makes A Church Grow? | What creates church growth? Are members responsible for growth of the body of Christ? Jesus used an analogy from farming… |
| What Matthew 24 Tells Us About “The End” | D.A. Carson, a New Testament scholar, begins his commentary on Matthew 24 with the following words: “Few chapters of the… |
| What Paul Wished Members Knew About Ministers | Second Corinthians is a highly personal piece of writing in which the apostle Paul strips himself bare. Throughout this letter,… |
| What Scripture Says About The Annual Festivals | Part 1: The Old Testament Evidence As part of his covenant with the Israelites, weGod commanded them to observe various… |
| What The Bible Says About Divorce And Remarriage | “Anyone who divorces his wife and marries another woman commits adultery, and the man who marries a divorced woman commits… |
| What The Bible Says About Speaking In Tongues | this page is a bridge from a category to a book |
| What The Bible Says About Speaking In Tongues | “What you are seeing is real,” a church member told the visitor. “These people are filled with the Holy Spirit.”… |
| What The Festivals Picture | The old covenant included a wide variety of religious rituals and duties. There were special garments, special incense, special offerings,… |
| What The Gospels Teach About Jesus | It is difficult to summarize in one article what the Gospels teach us about Jesus Christ. These four books contain more than 100 pages… |
| What The Gospels Teach Us About Angels And Demons | Angels Angels are spirit beings, messengers and servants of God. They have a special role in four major events of… |
| What The Gospels Teach Us About God | The Gospels are books about Jesus Christ. But these four books also tell us much about God the Father. Even… |
| What The Gospels Teach Us About Jesus | It is difficult to summarize in this short space what the Gospels say about Jesus Christ. These four books contain… |
| What The Gospels Teach Us About The Holy Spirit | The Holy Spirit was an essential part of Jesus’ ministry. Not only was Jesus enlivened by the Spirit, Jesus also… |
| What The Gospels Teach Us About The Scriptures | The Scriptures were an important part of Jesus’ work. He used the Old Testament as an authoritative basis for beliefs… |
| What Time Is It? | How many times a day do we ask the question, “What time is it?” Sounds like a simple enough matter… |
| What We Believed | Transformed by Truth, by Joseph Tkach Chapter 7 A lifelong evangelical who recently has become my friend told me… |
| What, Me Take A Bible Course Online? | Online learning, although well-established in formal education circles, is often a new (and thus daunting) experience. But you won’t need… |
| What, Why, When, How, Where, Who | Journalism students memorize the following poem from Rudyard Kipling’s The Elephant’s Childto help them remember the best way to gather information:… |
| What’s All This “Jesus Stuff”? | Transformed by Truth, by Joseph Tkach Chapter 10 How could we get our people to take their focus off British-Israelism… |
| What’s In A Name? | Grace, Communion, and International When our denomination decided to change its name to Grace Communion International (GCI), some were puzzled…. |
| What’s So Special About Trinitarian Theology? | Learning more about the nature of God has dominated my Bible study for the last decade. I find it to… |
| Whatever Happened To Church Growth? | A discussion with Dr. Eddie Gibbs Question: Church growth was a popular idea 15 or 20 years ago. It promised… |
| When “No, Thank You” Is Rude | I grew up using the phrases “please,” “thank you,” “yes, sir” and “yes, ma’am.” These were the polite things… |
| When A Loved One Dies | This page is a bridge between category and book. It is included in a category but it redirects to a… |
| When Astronomy Became A Theological Football | Imagine a book on astronomy being condemned as heretical by a Christian church. This is precisely what happened to De… |
| When Bad Things Happen | Just as Jesus trusted himself to God in the miscarriage of justice that resulted in his execution, so he stands… |
| When Did Jesus Eat The “Last Supper”? | Many people have wondered whether Jesus ate what is called the “Last Supper” on the evening when the Jews ate… |
| When I Am Bigger… | It was the day after my mother’s funeral. I felt so tired and empty, greatly missing my mother’s loving presence…wanting… |
| When It Comes To Spending, Patience Pays Off | “If it is good, why can’t I have it now? Why should I have to wait?” Sound familiar? Most of… |
| When The Sleeping Warrior Awoke | In November 2010, GCI European Mission Developer James Henderson and his wife, Shirley, were attacked by a Cape buffalo in… |
| When Trees Grow Together | By Kalengule Kaoma An African Jacaranda tree graces our front yard. It is quite leafy right now, and a couple… |
| When Was Jesus Born? | The Gospel of Matthew indicates that Jesus was born before the death of Herod the Great (Matthew 2:1, 15, 19)…. |
| When We Fall Short | “Some of the pastors in my region are discouraged,” a district superintendent said. “They haven’t been able to rally their… |
| When You Fast… | Who—me? Fast—what’s that? Many Christians fast only when they have to — which is almost never. Since the new covenant does not… |
| When Your Church Says It’s Wrong | Imagine growing up, as I did, with the understanding that you are set apart from the rest of the world… |
| Where Are We Now In Prophecy? | Is this “the end time”? What should we be doing about it? World events are heating up!” “The beast of… |
| Where Are You, Lord? | I had words with God this morning. Not the usual kind of words. These were blunt, direct words. I was… |
| Where Did The Hittites Come From, And Does It Matter? | “I always enjoy your articles,” a friend told me. “Why don’t you write anymore?” Articles about Genesis in “Exploring the… |
| Where Is Love? | As a leader of Grace Communion International, I hear about many inspiring outreach projects that our congregations are engaged in… |
| Where Was God? | If God loves people, why does he wipe them out? We can’t help but ask that after a disaster such… |
| Where Was Golgotha? | Where did the pivotal event of all the ages take place? Archaeology sheds new light on an old controversy. The… |
| Where We Have Been; Where We Are Going | Christ-centered life, based on the Bible, is our legacy and our future. We press forward, motivated by our upward call… |
| Which Is The Best Translation? | Go into any Christian bookstore — or just a general bookseller in America today—and ask for a Bible. You will… |
| Which Old Testament Laws Apply To Christians Today? | When Christians read the Old Testament, they are often puzzled. They find many laws that seem to be part of… |
| Which Old Testament Laws Apply To Christians Today? – Introduction | Introduction When Christians read the Old Testament, they are often puzzled. They find many laws that seem to be part… |
| Which Old Testament Laws Are Required For Christians? | the |
| Who Ever Thought… A Ministry Partnership In Nepal | Meet Deben Sam. Deben is a young man—quiet, resolute, and unobtrusive, but with a heart that agonises for those who… |
| Who Is “Babylon”? | Who is the “great harlot” and Babylon the Great? The “great prostitute,” as the Greek is sometimes translated, is discussed… |
| Who Is God? | Is God a nice old man in the sky? A cranky being who wants to dish out “justice” on you?… |
| Who Is Jesus? | For Christians, there are two very important questions: “Who is Jesus?” and “Who is the God revealed in Jesus?” To… |
| Who Is Jesus? | Jesus Christ, the Son of God, is the central figure of the Christian faith. The Bible says a lot about… |
| Who Is The “Antichrist” And “Man Of Sin”? | Christians throughout the history of the church have been fascinated about the identity of the “antichrist,” mentioned in the New… |
| Who Is The Holy Spirit? | Is the Holy Spirit some invisible force-field of energy? A power like electricity? Is the Spirit personal, or impersonal? The… |
| Who Is This Man? | Jesus asked his disciples, “Who do people say that I am?” That question confronts us, too: Who is this man?… |
| Who Jesus Really Was | The Gospel of John concentrates on Jesus’ divine identity. John says nothing specific about Jesus’ birth. His interest is to show… |
| Who Stole My Church? By Gordon Macdonald; Reviewed By Barbara Dahlgren | Who Stole My Church? What to Do When the Church You Love Enters the 21st Century by Gordon MacDonald Reviewed… |
| Who Was Jesus Before His Human Birth? | Did Jesus exist before his human birth? What or who was Jesus before his incarnation? Was he the God of… |
| Who’s Afraid Of God’s Judgment? | Imagine a courtroom scene. You are accused of a crime and now on trial. Problem is, you know you are… |
| Who’s Afraid Of The Big, Bad… Lion? | The Maasai tribe are the great lion hunters of East Africa, and stories of their courage in attack and victory… |
| Whole Life Stewardship | Introduction As we grow in our Christian lives, we come to a deeper and deeper realization that every good thing… |
| Wholehearted: Finding Personal Wholeness In Jesus | The essence of the Christian life is participation with Jesus, by the Spirit, in the fellowship Jesus has with the Father… |
| Whose Hope? What Future? Jeremiah 29:11 | They call it “going viral.” Almost overnight a video, a news item, or perhaps a piece of music rockets from… |
| Why Be Christian? | It’s a good time to ask what advantage there is in being a Christian. The Christian world is suffering a… |
| Why Be Concerned About Mission? | In Clean Jokes and Inspirational Stories, Rod Dykstra tells about a successful young executive who was driving through a neighborhood… |
| Why Bother With Theology? | Many people find theology to be complicated, confusing and even irrelevant. They wonder why they should bother with it at… |
| Why Did Jesus Die? | In March or April of each year, Christian churches typically set aside a day to commemorate the death of Jesus… |
| Why Did Jesus Have To Die? | Jesus had an amazingly productive ministry, teaching and healing thousands. He attracted large crowds and had potential for much more…. |
| Why Do We Need Four Gospels? | At the heart of Christianity is the person and work of Jesus Christ. So we would expect the Christian Scriptures… |
| Why Does God Allow Evil? | Each week is a week of tragedy. There are wars, there is ethnic violence, there is state-sponsored persecution or a… |
| Why Don’t More People Go To Church? | What can we do to help the unchurched find their way home to the Father? The most precious gift God… |
| Why God Allows People To Do Evil | Cain and Abel, by Gustave Dore The Bible shows that God allows humans to have freedom of choice. He didn’t stop… |
| Why God Allows Suffering | Tragedies strike saint and sinner alike. Is God fair? Does it matter to him? If we believe in God,… |
| Why Jesus Gives Us Hope | The Old Testament is a story of frustrated hope. It begins by telling us that humans were created in the… |
| Why Jesus’ Resurrection Is Important | Our top five articles Jesus: Alive Forevermore!, by Michael Morrison He’s Alive!, by J. Michael Feazell Evidence of the Resurrection,… |
| Why Must Christians Suffer? | An unspoken belief among many Christians is that a dedicated follower of Christ will be immune to misfortune.Tragically, the promulgators… |
| Why Our Worship Style Is Changing | God has done marvelous things for us! The love he has shown us in Jesus Christ is beyond our ability… |
| Why Remember The Crucifixion? A Bible Study | Almost 2,000 years ago, a Jewish carpenter was condemned as a dangerous religious and political rebel. He was executed in… |
| Why Should We Tell People About Jesus? | Reflections on Romans 10:1-15 In Romans 10:1Paul says that it was his heart’s desire to see his fellow Israelites saved…. |
| Why Something Rather Than Nothing? | At a recent U.S. regional conference, I enjoyed discussing Albert Einstein’s historic work with meteorological scientist Michael Anderson, a friend… |
| Why Study The Bible? | “That you might have life” Early in the first century a man from Galilee appeared with a message about the… |
| Why The Devil May Care | From the Bible we know that there are other powerful beings in heaven known as angels. Most of them are… |
| Why The Historical Jesus Matters | by Stephen T. Davis Suppose one day an astronaut from some far-off galaxy entered my office. Suppose our space traveler… |
| Why The Messiah Had To Die | Many first-century Jews expected a Messiah. Groaning under the oppression of occupation forces, they prayed for God to give them… |
| Why Was Jesus’ Death Important? | The Bible tells the story of Jesus from four perspectives (the four Gospels: Matthew, Mark, Luke and John). All four… |
| Why We Resist The Truth | John, referring to Jesus, says: “The light has come into the world, and people who do evil things are judged guilty because… |
| Why Were All The Apostles Male? | The all-male apostles As the evidence in parts 1 and 2 indicates, scholars are generally agreed that Jesus treated women… |
| Why Were You Born? | This article is part of a series titled The Purpose for Human Life. You may download a PDF of that… |
| Why Would Anyone Want To Be A Christian? | In several nations, it is illegal to become a Christian. But people become Christians anyway — despite penalties and even… |
| Why You Need The Church | The second chapter of the book of Acts tells the story of the birth of the New Testament church. It… |
| Widow Of Nain | Luke 7:11-16 The last place I wanted to be was in another funeral procession, with my anguish laid bare in… |
| Will Humans Become Gods? | Christians are called the children of God, and children normally grow up to be like their parent(s). Does this mean… |
| Will My Homeland Live Again? | “Haiti will not die, Haiti must not die!” So said Haiti’s President Rene Preval, on the day of national mourning,… |
| Will You Respond Like A Berean? | It was the Sabbath in Berea, although for most of the inhabitants, it was just another day — an ordinary… |
| William Seymour And The Rise Of Pentecostalism | April 2006 was the 100th anniversary of a momentous revolution in Christianity that began at 312 Azusa Street in a… |
| William Tyndale And The Birth Of The English Bible | On October 6, 1536, Englishman William Tyndale (c.1494-1536) was strangled by the civil executioner in Belgium and his dead body… |
| William Tyndale And The Birth Of The English Bible | On October 6, 1536, Englishman William Tyndale (c.1494-1536) was strangled by the civil executioner in Belgium and his dead body… |
| William Wilberforce: Christian Abolitionist, Reformer, Statesman | “God Almighty has set before me two great objects, the suppression of the slave trade and the reformation of manners,”… |
| Winning From The Start | Reflections on a very Special Olympics Once again, the Olympic spirit is about to capture the hearts and minds of… |
| With What Body Are The Dead Raised? | The resurrection of believers to immortality at Christ’s appearing is the hope of all Christians. It’s not surprising, then, that… |
| Woman, Wife, Widow | Death is hard for all of us, but a young widow has to try to explain it to her children… |
| Women “Should Remain Silent” – A Study Of 1 Corinthians 14:34-35 | Preface In 1 Corinthians 14:34-35, Paul wrote: “As in all the congregations of the saints, women should remain silent in… |
| Women In Ancient Israel — From The Conquest To The Exile | Preface by Joseph Tkach In the previous article, we noted that the laws of Moses must be evaluated by New Testament… |
| Women In Church Leadership Study Papers | the |
| Women In Church Leadership: An Introduction | In 2003, we announced that we would be formally considering the role of women in the church. We invited members and… |
| Women In Church Leadership: Conclusion | Preface Many people can probably agree with Thomas Schreiner when he writes, “The role of women in the church is… |
| Women In Leadership | The New Testament teaches that all Christians should minister to one another, each person serving as his or her gifts… |
| Women In Ministry | Here are articles that look at what the Bible teaches concerning women in general and their role in ministry in… |
| Women In The Early Church | Preface In the following paper, the doctrinal team surveys biblical evidence on the role of women in the apostolic church…. |
| Women In The Ministry Of Jesus | James Hurley writes, “The most striking thing about the role of women in the life and teaching of Jesus is… |
| Women In The Teachings Of Jesus | Preface by Joseph Tkach Conservative and liberal commentators are generally agreed on this: Jesus treated women well—despite the male-dominated culture… |
| Women Of Faith: Yesterday, Now And Forever | “God is not ashamed to be called their God.” This profound statement is found in Hebrews 11, the faith chapter… |
| Women Who Pray Or Prophesy: 1 Corinthians 11:3-16 | Preface The endnotes for this study are in a separate document. Click here to see that document in a new window. One… |
| Women Who Pray Or Prophesy: 1 Corinthians 11:3-16 – Endnotes | [1] Craig Blomberg, 1 Corinthians (The NIV Application Commentary; Zondervan, 1994), 214. Another scholar writes, “Commentators vary widely in their understanding of the… |
| Women Who Spoke The Word Of God | Women have an increasing role in the work of the church. Women not only lead women in “women’s ministries,” but… |
| Words Of Wisdom And Praise | Now we arrive at the “poetical books” or “wisdom literature.” Now we turn from God’s relationship with the nation of… |
| Work Hard For The Lord (2 Timothy 1:15-2:7) | Paul then refers to his own situation in Rome: “You know that everyone in the province of Asia has deserted… |
| Working Through Your Grief | A slight breeze stirred the morning air as the military honor guard removed the Stars and Stripes flag from the… |
| Working Together For The Gospel | The Great Commission (Matthew 28:19-20) states the purpose of the church. It involves going in order to make disciples, whom… |
| Workshop Resources From The 2010 Conference | There were numerous workshop presentations at the 2010 GCI International Conference in Orlando. Most of them were not recorded, either… |
| Worldwide Church Of God Organizational Splits | Chart based on information available in 1997. We are not attempting to keep the chart up to date. |
| Worship – A Small Group Study | Introduction “The Lamb is worthy – the Lamb who was slain. He is worthy to receive the power, and the… |
| Worship In Grace Communion International | It’s a warm, life-changing experience! I can remember as if it were yesterday – my first visit to this church…. |
| Worship In The First Tabernacle (Hebrews 9:1-10) | The book of Hebrews tells us that Jesus Christ is the mediator of a better covenant. He has a better… |
| Worship Looks Back, Looks Forward | The ancient Israelites recited their history as a reminder of who they were in the world, what their relationship with… |
| Worshipping In Spirit And In Truth | In the last few decades, many churches have made major changes in the way they conduct worship. They have become… |
| Worth A Million Words | I am the pastor of an average-sized church. Not wanting to see our congregation focus only on its own local… |
| Worthy Is The Lamb (Revelation 5) | One of the most paradoxical parts of Revelation is John’s vision of the lion followed immediately by a slain lamb. As… |
| Would You Have Chosen Barabbas? | Pontius Pilate knew he had no real reason to have Jesus killed. But the mob outside, urged on by their… |
| Wwjd? | Two minutes ago I Google-searched the expression “WWJD.” 805,000 hits! WWJD, the acronym for “What would Jesus do?” is such… |
| Yes! God Hears | You don’t have to struggle alone in your challenges and trials. In the darkness, terrifying sounds awakened Moses Carver and… |
| You Believe, Now You Want To Belong | You believe in God. You take time to study the Bible. You take time to pray. But something is still… |
| You Can Prove What Elohim Means | In Genesis 1:26, God says, “Let us make man in our image.” “Let us….” Does this mean that there is… |
| You Could Lose Your Job! | One of the most disruptive and fearful situations that we will face in our lives is the sudden loss of… |
| You’d Have To Have Been There | Right now, my country is parched — panting weakly in the throes of thirst. “Worst drought in history” is how… |
| You’re Included Catalog Of All Interviews | GCI’s video program You’re Included features half hour long interviews with theologians on various aspects of Trinitarian theology. The catalog below links… |
| Your Child’s #1 Teacher | As the last bridesmaid began her measured walk down the aisle, little Anthony looked quickly to John. Seeing John’s reassuring… |
| Your Church Needs You | During World War II, some posters displayed a stern Uncle Sam pointing and saying, “Your country needs you!” Many people… |
| Your Invitation To The Kingdom Of God | Everyone has some concept of right and wrong, and everyone has done something wrong even by his or her own… |
| Your Life Is Hidden In Christ (Colossians 3:1-11) | Paul has explained that we were buried with Christ and raised to new life in him (Col. 2:12). We are… |
| Your Mother Is Still Your Mother | Maliko came from a poor family, but he was able to attend a boarding high school. One day his mother… |
| Your Part In The Lord’s Table | Places in the Heart, Robert Benton’s Academy Award-winning film about the Depression-era U.S. South, ends on a mystical note. The… |
| Youth Ministry — The Importance Of Prayer | It’s a tough world. The devil, our fallen nature, a self-centered and materialistic culture, all are having a powerful effect… |
| Youth Ministry And The Great Commission | Healthy youth ministry, like all authentic Christian ministry, originates with God and flows from the person of Jesus through the… |
| Youth Ministry Includes Developing Young Leaders | For any ministry to have lasting impact, new leaders must be identified, trained and mobilized. During his earthly ministry, Jesus… |
| Youth Ministry Values and Mission | In youth ministry, we need to ask three key questions: Why youth ministry? (What are our core values?) What should… |
| Youth Ministry: Playing as A Team | As long as I can remember I’ve loved football. When I was 12 years old, my brother, two neighbor kids,… |
| Youth Ministry: The Emphasis Must Be Spiritual | For a good deal of my 25-plus years in youth ministry, I held to a mistaken philosophy. I believed that… |
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