January 19, 2026
Doug Redford contrasts Seasonal Affective Disorder with “Sin’s Affective Disorder,” tracing darkness back to Eden and pointing to Jesus as the Light. Communion each Lord’s Day restores spiritual order and hope in Christ’s victory.
December 22, 2025
From the first day of the year to the last, from the beginning to the end, Jesus is “the First and the Last, the Beginning and the End” (Revelation 22:13).
October 21, 2024
Before the cross, Jesus had seen death’s impact and he had heard the cries of those who had lost friends and loved ones, but at the cross, Jesus experienced the full measure of its indescribable pain and horror.
October 10, 2022
For many of us, though, confession is the most difficult kind of prayer. Why is it so difficult? Here are four reasons . . .
May 30, 2022
We all can relate to Jonah because at some point we all have tried to run from God. The Lord said go, and we said no. The Lord said speak, and we stayed silent. He sent us to Nineveh, and we headed for Tarshish. . . .
April 11, 2022
If you survey a crowd about their favorite flowers, crocuses probably won’t make the list. They aren’t tall like sunflowers, elegant like orchids, or fragrant like hyacinths and lilacs. . . .
February 28, 2022
By Stuart Powell God created humanity as male and female. He took care of their need for relationships by teaching them how to love him and each other. When they sinned and learned of their nakedness, God covered their shame, as explained in the Tree of Life Version: “Adonai Elohim made Adam and his wife tunics of skin and He clothed them” (Genesis 3:21). This is the first record of God clothing humanity. Initially, Adam and Eve knew nothing of evil, shame, or clothing. When they disobeyed, the fruit opened their eyes to evil, and evil exposed their shame. God
April 1, 2021
I visited many churches for various reasons during 2020. In quite a few houses of worship, I experienced roughly the same thing. As the doors opened, I could feel vibrations from the percussion and bass in my chest. The smell of coffee would drift toward my nose and awaken me. The welcoming team would greet me and ask about my week with genuine interest. “Don’t forget to check in on social media!” they would say. Sign-up sheets for “groups who do life together” and other activities to “get involved” were on strategically placed tables. Finally, I’d enter the sanctuary, grab
February 22, 2021
By Stuart Powell As a child, did you ever try to hide from your parents after a disobedient act? Did you seek sanctuary somewhere in your house? Was it even a good hiding place? Such a foolish reaction stretches back to the beginning of sin on earth. When the woman saw that the fruit of the tree was good for food and pleasing to the eye, and also desirable for gaining wisdom, she took some and ate it. She also gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he ate it. Then the eyes of both of them
January 28, 2019
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 issue no. 1 (weeks 5–8; February 3–24, 2019) of The Lookout magazine, and is also available online at www.lookoutmag.com. ______ Lesson Aim: Know that God is with you even when you make mistakes.. ______ By Mark Scott The word closer sums up much of the Bible’s content. God is always wanting to get closer to people. Even in our text today God is pictured as walking in the garden (near Adam and Eve) in the
August 27, 2018
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 issue no. 9 (weeks 33–36; August 19—September 9, 2018) of The Lookout magazine, and is also available online at www.lookoutmag.com. ______ Beginning with this batch of four lessons, the weekly Bible lessons are based on a scope and sequence prepared by Christian Standard Media. For more information, click here. ______ By Mark Scott Sin is a “knotty” problem. The word not appears three times in our lesson text (Genesis 3:1, 3, and 4). The
April 12, 2017
By Jim Tune Three men sat together. After ordering food, one began to open up. Men usually speak about safe topics: work, sports, family. This time the man took a risk and dropped the mask. He felt exposed. He felt shame. Genesis 2:25 describes Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden before the fall: “And the man and his wife were both naked and were not ashamed.” Kids and teens snicker at the verse. Later we begin to understand that we long for what Adam and Eve experienced: to be fully known and to be loved at the same
August 8, 2016
By Joe Boyd Not long ago in Cincinnati, where I live, a very unfortunate accident occurred at the Cincinnati Zoo and Botanical Garden. As you probably remember, a young boy somehow made his way into the gorilla habitat. Ultimately it resulted in the hard decision to kill Harambe, a powerful and beautiful western lowland gorilla, for the sake of the child”s life. Soon after that, the deadliest mass shooting in U.S. history happened in Orlando, Florida. A gunman entered a gay nightclub and killed 49 people, injuring 53 others. (And some of the injured are still clinging to life as
December 13, 2013
What are we to think of ourselves, to make of ourselves, because God became a man in Jesus? How does Jesus help us understand and define our own humanity? By Jon Weatherly What is a human? The story is told of two medieval philosophers discussing that question. One said, “A human is a featherless, two-legged creature.” The second excused himself, then returned an hour later with a plucked chicken. We need a better definition. Or perhaps we humans are better off describing our experience rather than formulating a definition. So what is our experience? We are like and unlike other
September 2, 2013
By Sam E. Stone “First Things” is the theme that ties this quarter”s lessons together, using excerpts from both Genesis and Exodus. We will see not only the first days of creation, but also how God formed his people Israel as the first nation, and then how their first freedom came about. Moses wrote Genesis. Inspired by God, he recorded things that only the Creator could know. Because of this, Scripture gives the only definitive account of creation. Each day is described in Genesis 1. Today”s text provides more details about what happened on the sixth day, when the Lord
August 2, 2013
By David Timms In 1938 and 1939, as war loomed in Europe, a young British stockbroker changed his plans from taking a skiing holiday in Switzerland to helping in a Jewish refugee camp in Czechoslovakia. With that last-minute change of plans, he was able to help rescue 669 Jewish children from Czechoslovakia just before the Nazis took control. He found those children new homes in England and raised funds to guarantee each child could return home when (and if) it became safe to do so. He also quietly recorded their names, the names of their new parents, and the addresses
March 31, 2011
By Karen Rees Twice recently I had the job of trying to find the truth. The first instance had to do with serious allegations made by one of our church members against another. Was the allegation nothing more than vicious gossip by “member A” who was upset with “member B” over a secondary issue? Or was “member A” telling the truth? If so, “member B” needed to repent of serious sin. The second instance had to do with Priya, a Sri Lankan household servant and friend of our Sri Lankan church member. Priya had been admitted to a hospital”s psychiatric
January 11, 2011
By Jeff Arthur It happened about six months after our church launched in 2007. I had preached about Abraham and Isaac that Sunday morning. After the service, one of our ladies told me she was familiar with Abraham and Isaac, because she had drawn the image of Abraham offering Isaac to God while pursuing her degree in art. But she had never heard of other Bible characters I had been talking about in my sermons. That resonated with me all week long. I knew I was preaching to a group divided into three parts””non-Christians, nominal churchgoers, and former Catholics””and that
August 20, 2006
By Tim Harlow I fulfilled a long-standing promise to my wife and took her to Hawaii for our 20th anniversary. We had never been to Hawaii together, and I have to tell you it is everything we expected. It is the Garden of Eden, as best I could imagine. It was like some kind of dream””perfect weather, tropical fruit, and hula people. But we had to come back to Chicago in February. There was something about the 100-degree shift in temperature (it was 15 below zero wind chill when we landed) that caused me to ask myself, How did this
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April 28, 2026
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April 28, 2026
David Faust
April 28, 2026
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