Posts by University Church of Christ

As the wearied Israelites neared the mountain, many were awed by its majesty. From the deserts through which they had wandered, the jagged peak of Sinai rose as a stony monument to how far they had come. Only three months into their flight from Egypt, the nation needed respite, and the shade of Sinai provided rest. However, her majesty quickly turned to terror when God spoke to the people in the midst of thunder and lightning, and a cloud of…

Attributed to King David, Psalm 31 is the prayer of the righteous sufferer. In the psalm, the worshiper pledges to trust in the Lord and find refuge in him (vv. 1-5). Then he gives thanks to the Lord for delivering him from the hand of the enemy (vv. 6-8). He admits his distress is a result of his sin but trusts in the graciousness of God to overcome his iniquity (vv. 9-10). The oppression of his neighbors weighs heavily on…

One of the most important themes in the New Testament is persecution—a terrifying concept, but one vital to the survival of the early church and beyond. It may be confidently said that persecution was as necessary to the spread of the gospel as preaching was. Jesus warned his disciples, “Woe to you, when all people speak well of you” (Luke 6:26). Again, “If the world hates you, know that it has hated me before it hated you…therefore the world hates…

Dying from exhaustion, he fell before a stunned audience whispering only one word—the last he ever spoke. What message was so important that hills and valleys couldn’t deter Pheidippides that day in 490 BC.? Why did he wear himself out on the 26-mile road from Marathon to Athens? What one word was sacred enough, vital enough, and glorious enough to claim his life? “Victory.” The mythic legend of Pheidippides inspired the modern marathon, but his message inspires the soul. Victory…

His life was filled with desperation. His son was possessed by a demon that caused him to seize, fall, and convulse. Imagine the father’s pleas and prayers. What was happening to his son? Why his precious child? Who could help him? Then hope came in a rumor about Jesus of Nazareth and his disciples. The distraught father carried his son to Jesus. When he got to the band of disciples, Jesus, Peter, James, and John were gone, so he asked…

“From there you will seek the Lord your God and you will find him, if you search after him with all your heart and with all you soul” (Deut. 4:29). In his farewell addresses of Deuteronomy, Moses reminds the people of God’s law and covenant with the fledgling nation. His sermons point to the vastness of God’s grace in adopting the nation. Moses also focuses on what God wanted in return. It was not mere obedience to a set of…

A couple of years ago, Don Lemon, a former CNN news anchor, appeared on The View, a daytime talk show. The interview welcomed Lemon into an arena of adoring fans where they discussed his book on race relations and his thoughts about the Catholic Church not blessing same sex marriage since he is a practicing homosexual married to another man. Lemon’s foray into theology revealed both his arrogance and ignorance to a degree seldom seen before. Lemon crossed the line…

It’s a morbid rendition of a Top Ten list, an accounting of the world’s greatest fears: public speaking, death, spiders, darkness, heights, social situations, flying, open spaces, thunder, and confined spaces. Michael Klepper got it right in the title of his book I’d Rather Die Than Give a Speech. Public speaking edged out dying as the world’s greatest phobia…but only slightly. Why is dying one of the worst fears? Some people fear the unknown and they want to know what…

Often in God’s warnings against national Israel there are promises of hope, visions of peace and restoration. In Isaiah 34, God pronounced judgment on the nations and outlined their destruction with fury and rage. However, he followed that with a picture of salvation in Isaiah 35. Isaiah described the approaching prosperity. The desert, wilderness, and dry land would sprout blossoms. Lebanon, Carmel, and Sharon, known for their beauty, would share that beauty with the desert (35:1-2). Waters would fill the…

Not so long ago, a person’s neighbor lived next door. Porches served as meeting places for friends. And fences were shorter, allowing neighbors to share news from one backyard to the next. At that time whole neighborhoods came together for barbecues and yard sales. Those days have gone the way of duck tails and poodle skirts. Today, a person’s closest friends may live a hundred miles away, and climate-controlled homes have moved families off the porch and onto the couch.…

Among early church fathers, Irenaeus of Lyons was one of the foremost champions of “orthodoxy” during the second century. His work and writings helped defend the life and person of Jesus against the divisive and dismissive doctrines of the Gnostics. The exact year of Irenaeus’s birth is unknown, most modern scholars agree on 130 CE. He grew up in Smyrna and learned about Jesus from the martyr Polycarp, a student of the apostle John. Irenaeus called Polycarp a “powerful and…

I admit it: VBS strikes a little fear in my heart. The time commitment, the energy to prepare, the trips to Lowe’s, (among other things) make me anxious about VBS. Then add the words “in the park,” and my anxiety rockets. Doesn’t Jason Carroll know we live in Texas and it’s June? We might as well have VBS on the surface of the sun. I was praying for some kind of divine intervention. That was my idea leading up to…