Church Blog (Page 2)

Of all the minor prophets Obadiah might be the most minor of them all. Keep in mind that this designation is neither about rank nor importance. The term “minor prophet” is simply a nickname earned by the sheer volume and length of these books. Of the 12, Obadiah is the shortest. This one chapter, 21-verse book is not only shorter than the other 11 Minor Prophet books, but also the shortest book in all the Old Testament. There are a…

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…

Someone recently asked, “What is the status of a person’s salvation if they disagree with the ‘Church of Christ’s interpretation’ of scripture?” He went on to explain, “I ask because I am a member and still struggle with interpretation. I know some people at the ‘CoC’ who don’t agree with everything that is taught. I go to the ‘CoC’ because I believe they follow God’s word more closely than other churches.” We appreciate the sincerity of this person to ask…

Mark writes with a unique style compared to Jesus’ other biographers. He is usually more concise. Each event he chooses to record fits perfectly into his overall narrative. And he emphasizes ideas and situations with a curious device that many Markan scholars technically call a “sandwich.” A Markan sandwich consists of a story or account that gets interrupted by something else, then the original story resumes and concludes. The original story serves as the first piece of bread. The interruption…

I like to watch American Pickers, a show that follows antique dealers all over the country as they scour dilapidated barns and overstuffed homes for treasures they can buy and resell. The main picker, Mike Wolfe, often uses the phrase, “If you want something, the best time to buy is when you see it.” In other words, if you are looking for a rare item and you find it, you better buy it because the opportunity may not come again.…