A Sunday when we didn’t have enough people in our building for a pickup basketball game turned out to be a Sunday on which our ministry may have been broader than it has ever been.
The Hebrews were instructed to observe a Sabbath year every seven years and a Jubilee year every 50. Even a simpleton such as I can see how complicated those instructions are.
Pastors and congregations, fasten your seat belts, secure your crash helmets, and get ready. The 2020 elections are coming, whether we’re ready or not.
January marked the 50th anniversary of my brother Dennis’s death. The sheer volume of days, months, and years is staggering. But it’s more than that. I’m amazed that after five decades, the dull ache of loss persists.
One of the challenges followers of God experience is that, although God is sovereign, God sometimes allows things to occur that we do not understand, and life may not go the way we envisioned. But even amid those realities, God is still in control.
As Christians, we tend to view our sin as personal, to be eliminated as much as possible throughout our lifetime so that we may walk closer with God. Our Sunday School teacher, Nat Burns, used to remind us years ago: “Keep your sin list short
Jeremiah 23:1-6 holds many similarities to Game of Thrones. Jeremiah’s context is filled with kingdoms that were at odds with each other, and political and military jockeying by multiple kings who either wanted power or were afraid of losing it.
Sin winds its way into our lives so insidiously we excuse ourselves as though we are morally blinded. The Bible tells us when mankind calls sin good, we have lost our way.
Confronted with the crass materialism of our times, people of faith often assume a superior attitude, as if the unchurched are the only ones who have their priorities all mixed up. But are we, the followers of Jesus, any less enslaved?