Theology & Bible

Theology & Bible helps Christians understand Scripture and the core teachings of the Christian faith. Explore Bible-based articles on biblical interpretation, doctrine, salvation, the Holy Spirit, baptism, communion, creation, and key themes across the Old and New Testaments. You’ll find thoughtful guidance for studying the Bible faithfully, applying God’s Word to life and ministry, and growing in theological clarity rooted in the gospel. Whether you’re a church leader, teacher, student, or everyday disciple, this hub equips you to know God through Scripture and live with conviction and hope.

January 9, 2017

Christian Standard

Lesson for January 15, 2017: Praise God the Provider (Psalm 65)

Dr. Mark Scott wrote this treatment of the International Sunday School Lesson. Scott teaches preaching and New Testament at Ozark Christian College, Joplin, Missouri. This lesson treatment is published in the January 8, 2017, issue of The Lookout magazine, and is also available online at www.lookoutmag.com. ______ By Mark Scott  “Blessed art Thou, O Lord our God, King of the universe, who brings forth bread from the earth.” Our Jewish friends call this the Traditional Ha-Motzi Blessing, which is recited before eating bread on the Sabbath. Psalm 65 may be something like a predecessor to that prayer. It praises God for his provision. The superscription

January 6, 2017

Christian Standard

John at the Cross

By Ron Davis As Jesus died, John stood at the cross. The apostle describes the scene in his Gospel, John 19:25, 26. He is the one who called himself “the disciple whom he loved.” He fully sensed and experienced Jesus” love. Jesus did love John. He saw in John a young man capable of a lifetime commitment. And that was realized. John”s love for Jesus is likewise obvious. He saw in Jesus the One long promised, the One who would save. He saw the Word incarnate. That is why he stood at the cross. Heartbroken. He was losing his good

January 2, 2017

Christian Standard

Lesson for January 8, 2017: Praise God with a New Song (Psalm 96)

Dr. Mark Scott wrote this treatment of the International Sunday School Lesson. Scott teaches preaching and New Testament at Ozark Christian College, Joplin, Missouri. This lesson treatment is published in the January 1, 2017, issue of The Lookout magazine, and is also available online at www.lookoutmag.com. ______ By Mark Scott  The Psalms improve your song. If your song is exuberant, a psalm will sound like seventy-six trombones in a marching band. If your song is a lament, the psalm will sound like the blues. For every season of the heart, there is a psalm. Much like the preaching of Jesus, there is something for everyone.

December 26, 2016

Christian Standard

Lesson for January 1, 2017: Praise God for Creation (Psalm 33:1-9)

Dr. Mark Scott wrote this treatment of the International Sunday School Lesson. Scott teaches preaching and New Testament at Ozark Christian College, Joplin, Missouri. This lesson treatment is published in the December 25, 2016, issue of The Lookout magazine, and is also available online at www.lookoutmag.com. ______ By Mark Scott  Mother Nature is not God”s wife, but creation is God”s gift. It is therefore obvious that God”s people praise him for that gift. And it is right to start that praise on the first day of a new year. Creation arose from the character and power of God and finds its foundation in his identity.

December 19, 2016

Christian Standard

Lesson for December 25, 2016: The Savior Has Arrived (Luke 2:1-21)

Dr. Mark Scott wrote this treatment of the International Sunday School Lesson. Scott teaches preaching and New Testament at Ozark Christian College, Joplin, Missouri. This lesson treatment is published in the December 18 issue of The Lookout magazine, and is also available online at www.lookoutmag.com. ______ By Mark Scott  “The Savior has arrived.” That is quite a headline. Big news. Make no mistake””this is a big day for the church. Joni Eareckson Tada said, “If God can become man, then everything else is easy.” Paul Scherer, who taught homiletics at Princeton Theological Seminary, said, “God came walking down the stairs of heaven with a baby

December 16, 2016

Christian Standard

Eucharist

By Daniel Schantz “Enter into His gates with thanksgiving, And into His courts with praise” (Psalm 100:4, New King James Version). Eucharist is a term for the Lord”s Supper that means “to give thanks.” Giving thanks is something like a digital password to the presence of God, perhaps because it represents humility. When someone does something wonderful for me, I must acknowledge it before I do anything else. Imagine you are attending a Super Bowl. You have good seats and the stands are full. The game is a nail-bitter to the end, but whenever there is a touchdown, no one stands,

December 12, 2016

Christian Standard

Lesson for December 18, 2016: The Forerunner of the Savior (Luke 1:1-23, 57-66)

Dr. Mark Scott wrote this treatment of the International Sunday School Lesson. Scott teaches preaching and New Testament at Ozark Christian College, Joplin, Missouri. This lesson treatment is published in the December 11 issue of The Lookout magazine, and is also available online at www.lookoutmag.com. ______ By Mark Scott  Musicians have their warm-up acts, knights have their introducers, kings have their cupbearers, and the Messiah had his forerunner. A forerunner is a predecessor, literally someone who runs before. For Jesus that person was John the Baptist. John the Baptist ran before Jesus. Today”s text backs up from last week”s lesson. Before Gabriel made the

December 11, 2016

Christian Standard

Mystery, Model, Hope

By Chad Ragsdale Difficult to comprehend, frustrating to explain, the fact that God became flesh is central to our faith. And he did it through the birth of a baby to a virgin. Sometimes I wonder what Christmas at Job”s house would have been like. Holidays can be especially difficult for families living in the wake of tragedy. The songs, parties, and decorations might have the opposite of their intended effect. Rather than inspiring goodwill and joy, they only amplify loss and grief. So try to imagine living through Job”s unimaginable loss while also navigating the joy, festivity, and family

December 7, 2016

Christian Standard

Incarnation

By Jim Tune “”˜The virgin will conceive and give birth to a son, and they will call him Immanuel” (which means “˜God with us”)” (Matthew 1:23). We build our walls and we call it peace. In Northern Ireland, miles and miles of “peace walls” snake through Belfast and some other cities to separate Catholic and Protestant neighborhoods. The first walls were built in 1969 during the outbreak of “the Troubles.” Even since the Good Friday peace agreement was finally reached in 1998, many miles of new walls have been built. Forty-eight peace walls exist in Northern Ireland today. They divide

December 5, 2016

Christian Standard

Lesson for December 11, 2016: The Affirmation of the Promise (Luke 1:39-56)

Dr. Mark Scott wrote this treatment of the International Sunday School Lesson. Scott teaches preaching and New Testament at Ozark Christian College, Joplin, Missouri. This lesson treatment is published in the December 4 issue of The Lookout magazine, and is also available online at www.lookoutmag.com. ______ By Mark Scott  Few things feel as good as affirmation. Is this because we are so insecure or our self-esteem is so poor? Or is it because we rightfully long for proper affirmation? While in Israel this past summer, our tour group affirmed our tour guide, Mike, at the Garden Tomb. Alan Ahlgrim spoke words of affirmation and

November 28, 2016

Christian Standard

Lesson for December 4, 2016: God Promises a Savior (Luke 1:26-38)

Dr. Mark Scott wrote this treatment of the International Sunday School Lesson. Scott teaches preaching and New Testament at Ozark Christian College, Joplin, Missouri. This lesson treatment is published in the November 27 issue of The Lookout magazine, and is also available online at www.lookoutmag.com. ______ By Mark Scott  One thing that we can take to the bank is that God always keeps his word. He does not make a promise and then fail to keep it, and God could not have made a greater promise to the world than the promise of sending a Savior. During this Christmas season we are studying Luke

November 25, 2016

Christian Standard

See the Body

By Diane Stortz A young woman visited a service and was surprised by how Communion was served. The elements representing Jesus” body and blood were placed on tables around the perimeter of the room, and worshippers got out of their seats and walked to one of the tables. Some people ate the bread and drank the juice right at the tables. Some took the elements back to their seats for reflection and prayer. Some people stayed seated and prayed awhile before they went to one of the tables. Still others picked up the bread and juice and then gathered as

November 21, 2016

Christian Standard

Lesson for November 27, 2016: First and Last (Revelation 22:8-21)

Dr. Mark Scott wrote this treatment of the International Sunday School Lesson. Scott teaches preaching and New Testament at Ozark Christian College, Joplin, Missouri. This lesson treatment is published in the November 20 issue of The Lookout magazine, and is also available online at www.lookoutmag.com. ______ By Mark Scott  On this first day of Advent we consider the last passage of the Bible. God had the first word (Genesis 1:3), and he will get the last word (Revelation 22:20). Our lessons this month have gone to great length to describe the Holy City. Words fail us to describe its beauty. Sometimes the beauty of

November 14, 2016

Christian Standard

Lesson for November 20, 2016: Living Waters (Revelation 22:1-7)

Dr. Mark Scott wrote this treatment of the International Sunday School Lesson. Scott teaches preaching and New Testament at Ozark Christian College, Joplin, Missouri. This lesson treatment is published in the November 13 issue of The Lookout magazine, and is also available online at www.lookoutmag.com. ______ By Mark Scott  So much of our environment and lives have to do with water. Think of how much of the earth is water. Think of how much of the human body is water. Israel is a dry land in the midst of various bodies of water. Our older son purchased a T-shirt in Israel for his oldest

November 7, 2016

Christian Standard

Lesson for November 13, 2016: New Jerusalem (Revelation 21:9-27)

Dr. Mark Scott wrote this treatment of the International Sunday School Lesson. Scott teaches preaching and New Testament at Ozark Christian College, Joplin, Missouri. This lesson treatment is published in the November 6 issue of The Lookout magazine, and is also available online at www.lookoutmag.com. ______ By Mark Scott  Jerusalem is a stunning city. When the sun hits this city of stone, it sparkles. But the New Jerusalem that John saw in his vision sparkled even more. John utilized vivid language to describe what he saw. Much of this may be literally what John saw. But because John had never seen anything like this, some

October 31, 2016

Christian Standard

Lesson for November 6, 2016: Brand New (Revelation 21:1-8)

Dr. Mark Scott wrote this treatment of the International Sunday School Lesson. Scott teaches preaching and New Testament at Ozark Christian College, Joplin, Missouri. This lesson treatment is published in the October 30 issue of The Lookout magazine, and is also available online at www.lookoutmag.com. ______ By Mark Scott  The New Testament has two different Greek words translated new (four times in our text). One is “chronos,” which refers to something new in time. The other is “kairos,” which refers to something new in quality. John uses the latter when describing Heaven. Our next four lessons describe Heaven in terms of a social reality that

October 28, 2016

Christian Standard

And When He Had Given Thanks

By Ron Davis One of the curious elements of the Passover Jesus shared with his apostles in the upper room, as recorded in Luke 22:14-20, is the comment, “he gave thanks.” Thanks? For what exactly? Jesus is hours away from being arrested, cruelly abused, and murdered in humiliation. And he knows it full well. Thanks! For what? For the material elements themselves? A simple “loaf” of unleavened bread, the commonest of food, better suited to fill a stomach than to nourish. The drinkable juice of a plant that grew clusters so large and plentiful and of which some shriveled on

October 24, 2016

Christian Standard

Lesson for October 30, 2016: Model of Endurance (Hebrews 12:1-13)

Dr. Mark Scott wrote this treatment of the International Sunday School Lesson. Scott teaches preaching and New Testament at Ozark Christian College, Joplin, Missouri. This lesson treatment is published in the October 23 issue of The Lookout magazine, and is also available online at www.lookoutmag.com. ______ By Mark Scott  One of my college professors titled a chapel sermon, “Love.” We thought the text would be 1 Corinthians 13, or John 3, or even Hosea 11. Instead it was our text for today. Simply put, discipline is love, and Jesus modeled it. Our text today shows that Jesus is the model of endurance, and it is

October 17, 2016

Christian Standard

Lesson for October 23, 2016: The High Priest Forever (Hebrews 7)

Dr. Mark Scott wrote this treatment of the International Sunday School Lesson. Scott teaches preaching and New Testament at Ozark Christian College, Joplin, Missouri. This lesson treatment is published in the October 16 issue of The Lookout magazine, and is also available online at www.lookoutmag.com. ______ By Mark Scott  How long is forever? On this side of eternity, forever is difficult to define. Sometimes in the Bible forever just means a long time (Nehemiah 2:3; Psalm 13:1). Sometimes in the Bible forever means time unending (Psalm 29:10; 115:18). The Old Testament predicted several aspects of the Messiah. At the very least he was to be

October 10, 2016

Christian Standard

Lesson for October 16, 2016: The Great High Priest (Hebrews 4:14″“5:10)

Dr. Mark Scott wrote this treatment of the International Sunday School Lesson. Scott teaches preaching and New Testament at Ozark Christian College, Joplin, Missouri. This lesson treatment is published in the October 9 issue of The Lookout magazine, and is also available online at www.lookoutmag.com. ______ By Mark Scott  The Bible is full of priests. There is a sense in which all of God”s people are priests (Exodus 19:6; 1 Peter 2:9; Revelation 1:6). But there is another sense in which certain people were called especially to represent God to the people and to represent the people to God. Some of these priests were exemplary

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