Church Controversy Must Be Controlled

Church

The eloquent penman Wayne Jackson offers another fine article from his Christian Courier website. We highly recommend the website to our readers as a fine site with a wide variety of articles for your consideration.

One article in particular was posted today and should be required reading for every church member. Entitled Church Controversies, Jackson reminds us that many things should be settled in the family and not hung out on a line for all to see. We have observed with great sadness some brethren using the internet to assault other brethren over issues that the world just doesn’t need to see. Please read this article carefully.

(Thanks to one of our elders, Scott Kelly who sent this to me. Thanks Scott!)

Resurrection Under Attack – Again

1 Corinthians, Bible General,

Time Magazine Online is attacking the resurrection of Jesus Christ. In an article published Monday, the magazine reports a dubious claim by a Jewish collector that an inscription has been found which shows the idea of three days in the tomb and then a resurrection was already known of in Jewish legend before Jesus actually did it. The article, entitled Was Jesus’ Resurrection a Sequel? appears at their online site, www.time.com. The claim is that a writing, dated before Jesus, records a command from the angel Gabriel to a Jewish rebel named Simon about the time of Jesus’ birth. The translation, which is open to much controversy, states: “In three days you shall live. I Gabriel command you. Continue reading Resurrection Under Attack – Again →

Love

Colossians,

Continuing my thoughts on the Colossian letter, I come to Colossians 3:14:

“Beyond all these things put on love, which is the perfect bond of unity.”

To appreciate the depth of this verse, we ought look back to the immediately preceding verses to gain the proper context.

Paul has encouraged Christians to dress themselves in certain qualities. Namely, compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness, patience, forbearance, and forgiveness (Colossians 3:12, 13). All of these are high-grade qualities and closely match what Paul told the Galatians in Galatians 5:22, 23. I think we would all agree that this is a list of characteristics many people seek for today. Aren’t these the kind of traits you desire in people who you work with? As you might expect however, Paul moves further and draws us higher with his writings. Continue reading Love →

Incarnation

John

“And the word became flesh…” (John 1:14)

There may be no more powerful statement that the phrase above. “The word became flesh” encompasses everything we know about God’s love and about his plan for mankind. Let’s look carefully and dig a little deeper here.

“The word…” John writes here of something called the “word.” We need go back only a few verses to understand what he means. “In the beginning was the word, and the word was with God, and the word was God. He was in the beginning with God” (John 1:1). Translating the Greek word LOGOS, we would normally understand it to mean Continue reading Incarnation →

Freedom

Matthew, Romans, , , ,

Romans 5:6, 15-17

Matthew 18:21-35

Independence Day is upon us and we celebrate the founding of our great nation. Marked by outdoor parties with mounds of ribs, beans and potato salad we will stuff ourselves immensely and then settle down to watch a sky-show of fireworks. Many will hardly consider the cost of our Declaration of Independence in 1776. It’s was the ever wise Benjamin Franklin who warned his fellow freedom seekers “We must hang together , gentlemen…else, we shall most assuredly hang separately.” Freedom always comes with a steep price.

As followers of Christ, we are bought with a steep price: Continue reading Freedom →

Soul for Sale

Culture, ,

“For what will a man give in exchange for his soul?” (Mark 8:37)

It’s been a long time since I was really shocked by anything I’ve seen in our present culture. Morals are almost invisible. There is no shame anymore. Sinners are now victims and there no longer exists a right way or a wrong way.

However, it was surprising and unsettling to read the Associated Press story about Walter Scott, age 24 of New Zealand. Scott sold his soul to Hell for $3800. Continue reading Soul for Sale →

Dead and Gone

Colossians,

“For you have died and your life is hidden with Christ in God.” (Colossians 3:3)

While preparing for lessons to be delivered at Indian Creek Youth Camp I came across this short but very powerful verse. It seems to strike at the very heart of Christian living. In fact, if we can ever fully appreciate what it says we will be changed.

In the context, the apostle Paul writes to Christians who were being slowly drawn back into the ancient Law of Moses. In the preceding chapter Paul warned them not to leave Christ for the old ways which could not save but instead to remain firm in their commitment and dedication to the Lord Jesus Christ. It is in this context that Paul delivers the statement above.

The Christian man or woman no longer belongs to themselves; Continue reading Dead and Gone →

Welcome to the Study!

General

I guess it takes a touch of arrogance to create and write a blog. After all, the central assumption is that you have something worth saying and something worth hearing. Truthfully, I have neither. However God certainly has something to say and His word is worth hearing. So, with the intent to speak God’s word, I am happy to inaugurate the Preacher’s Study blog.

The plan to is to write briefly about passages of Scripture that impact me in my study. I also hope to write about our culture and identify certain issues that are impacted by the Bible. So often I come across passages that I really want to talk about but that do not fit concisely into a sermon or Bible class. Time in the pulpit is sacred time and ought not be taken up with Oprah style chit-chat. The blog will allow me greater freedom to discuss some of those issues.

However, you will find that Bible study will make up a significant amount of the content of Preacher’s Study. In the sidebar you will see links to various books of Scripture that have corresponding articles. Over time, all 66 books will be covered.

Comments from readers are greatly desired. To eliminate advertisements and any inappropriate content, I do moderate all comments. Don’t expect to see your comment immediately but it won’t take too long to appear.

Thanks for dropping by and do let me hear from you!

-Bryant